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Edgar: Brady budget plan “simplistic”

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Illinois

* As I told you last week, former Gov. Jim Edgar is keeping up the public pressure on Sen. Bill Brady’s proposal to cut state spending by 10 percent across the board. But the report I linked to didn’t include this quote by Edgar about the Brady plan…

[Edgar] does not agree with the Republican candidate for governor Bill Brady’s “across-the-board 10 percent cuts in programs. It’s too simplistic.”

A governor must set priorities, Edgar said.

“Some programs are just more essential than others. (But) every section of society will be affected and pay part of the price for the fiscal mismanagement for the past 10 years,” he said.

Edgar offered up a mixed review of Gov. Quinn…

Edgar said he has come around to thinking that Quinn has pretty good first instincts.

“His second instincts are lousy. He needs to say, ‘Here’s what I think we ought to do,’ and stick with it. The last thing (the legislature) wants from a governor is unpredictability,” Edgar said.

He’s absolutely right about that. The constant flip-flopping is a nightmare.

* Speaking of the budget…

Auditor General William Holland reported Tuesday that as of last June 30, the state was renting office space in 116 locations where its leases had expired. That’s 22 percent of the state’s 525 leases. Ten percent have been “holdovers” for five years or more, Holland said. […]

Procurement reform that took effect Jan. 1 prohibits any holdover lease of more than six months. Beginning July 1, the comptroller is to withhold payment for any rented space where the lease has been expired that long.

All but 19 of the 116 holdover leases as of June 30 had expired at least six months previously. Fifty-seven had been expired at least five years. The oldest had run out in 1998. […]

“The [Department of Central Management Services] has not assessed effective utilization of the space and has not negotiated terms that may be more favorable to the state,” Holland wrote.

CMS is supposed to be a manager. It’s supposed to help the state save money with its huge purchasing powers. Screwups like this are just inexcusable.

* The United Republican Fund is using frustration over a proposed tax hike to build its cellphone call list. From a press release…

When it comes to Pat Quinn’s tax hike, Republicans don’t just need to be the party of “No.”

We need to be the party of, “Hell, no!”

After mortgaging our state’s future through eight years of pension schemes, Big Labor giveaways, waste, fraud and abuse — it’s simply wrong that the Democrats in Springfield want to punish us in a bad economy with higher taxes.

By texting “NO” to 77007, you will receive an immediate link on your phone allowing you to immediately call Pat Quinn’s office.

We’ve already sent him thousands of emails in the past few months — now it’s time to hit the phones.

* Related and a roundup…

* Lots of Questions Still Need Answers in Youth Prison Merger

* State’s top educator hopes for solution to crisis

* Special education schools plead for fewer cuts

* Schools: Act now on college aid

* Thousands in region could lose care

* Davlin: Wait and see on Quinn tax plan

* New rules on teen driving bring results

* New Illinois rules address dental sedation risk

* Route 51 Coalition expects to hear some good news on state funding from governor on Thursday

* State Capitol Q&A: Crime victims’ rights subject of amendment proposal

* Ill. bill giving adopted children access to birth certificates advances

* SJR: Time has come for enforcement of smoking ban

* Report: Save $1.5 million with DuPage takeover of water agency

posted by Rich Miller
Wednesday, Apr 14, 10 @ 12:36 pm

Comments

How’d that phone call strategy work for ‘em in the health care vote?

Comment by Deep South Wednesday, Apr 14, 10 @ 12:56 pm
At some point, Brady’s going to have to choose: reach out to Edgar and try get him on board with some new proposal, or punch him back and say Edgar was part of the problem.

The longer this goes on, the bigger an issue this will be, especially as suburban voters seek to get to know Brady.

Comment by wordslinger Wednesday, Apr 14, 10 @ 12:59 pm
Brady is a pretty simple guy in general. Cut from every agency without thinking, killing 30 pets at a time is better than 1 at a time, etc…

Comment by Small Town Liberal Wednesday, Apr 14, 10 @ 1:08 pm
Deep South-

why don’t you ask Bart Stupak how it worked.

Comment by Easy Wednesday, Apr 14, 10 @ 1:10 pm
Former Gov. Jim Edgar is wrong.

Brady’s plan isn’t “simplistic.”

It’s childish.

– MrJM

Comment by MrJM Wednesday, Apr 14, 10 @ 1:11 pm
Ahem - CMS stands for Completely Mismanaged Screwballs. This is the result of giving CMS way too much power (I believe it was all Blago’s doing that this occurred). Some things should never had gone under their umbrella and what they perceived as problems their solutions made things worse.

Comment by Segatari Wednesday, Apr 14, 10 @ 1:13 pm
Edgar is a spoiled, silver-haired former governor elected years ago. The fact that he was followed up in office by Ryan and Blagojevich only makes him look bigger than he was. Had Illinois voted into office Glen Poshard, the Former Governor would attract as much attention to his utterings today as Lance Bass.

Comment by VanillaMan Wednesday, Apr 14, 10 @ 1:16 pm
I don’t see how or why Brady should listen to edgar. He’s popular with the old guard establishment which if anyone hasn’t noticed was absolutely destroyed in the primary outside of mark kirk and you could argue he’s a new guy on the scene since he was just elected in 2000.

Edgar as 2 options, join the new emerging gop which is doing what he couldn’t for the last 10 years which is to win on conservative principles or he can stop running his mouth.

Comment by shore Wednesday, Apr 14, 10 @ 1:23 pm
Re: CMS

Wouldn’t it be a good thing if maybe we had a strong forensic audit of all those contracts over at CMS to catch things like this….

Just sayin’

Comment by John Bambenek Wednesday, Apr 14, 10 @ 1:38 pm
The inexcusable screwup at CMS is only the tip of the iceberg. CMS does nothing quickly, efficiently or cost effectively. The consolidation of IT services is a prime example. I would love to see the cost comparison before and after IT consolidation. The increase has to be astronomical. I’ve seen some of the figures. Astounding.

Comment by Springfield Sceptic Wednesday, Apr 14, 10 @ 1:41 pm
Deep South-The GOP educating the people about the devastatingly bad Obamacare Bill worked extremely well with the thinking electorate. They knew it was a bad deal and told their “Representatives” to stop it. The problem was that the “representatives” only represented their own selfish, corrupt interests and thus we now have a terribly damaging bill that no one except those wanting more despotic Federal power over our lives could support.

MrJM, what’s “childish” is not Brady’s suggestion that 10% overall cuts in the budget be a starting point for negotiations for right sizing state government, but that you don’t recognize it as such.

It starts the debate going about what the state’s priorities are, and gives all those groups being affected an opportunity to defend their spending practices. That’s been needed for along time, but RINOs and Dems have been fighting such accountability like the plague over the last 15 years.

A “justify it or cut it” challenge makes perfect sense to ADULTS, and 10% is a good start in Illinois.

Apparently Quinn thinks the most expendable people on the state dole are the 17,000 young, non-tenured teachers he plans to put out on the street.

Brady could have gotten into a very detailed budgetary thesis on how much ending the wasteful “prevailing wage act” would save, the postive budget impact of cutting unnecessary “All Kids” piggybacking coverage, savings from reducing the Medicaid eligibility to a fair 100% of poverty level for those who aren’t eligible for employer health insurance, and dozens of other things that will need to be negotiated to reduce spending to sustainable levels.

The problem is that all that detail would lose all impact on the public.

He made it simple. We’re going to cut 10% off the budget and reduce growth to sustainable levels in the future.

Start with the higher goal then work out the details.

That’s the way you adjust budgets in hard times in business and family finance.

I can understand why this would confuse you. We haven’t seen logical, competent financial management in Illinois for a generation.

Compare this with the flip flopping indecisiveness and union protectionism of Quinn, and it’s pretty clear which of them is truly “childish”!

Comment by PalosParkBob Wednesday, Apr 14, 10 @ 1:47 pm
- Wouldn’t it be a good thing if maybe we had a strong forensic audit of all those contracts over at CMS to catch things like this…. -

You mean like what the Auditor General’s office did?

Comment by Small Town Liberal Wednesday, Apr 14, 10 @ 1:51 pm
I still think two things are at play in Edgar’s rants. One, his preferred candidate lost. Two, he’s upset that Brady hasn’t reached out to him. Sour grapes make for sour whine.

STL - as much respect as I have for Mr. Holland, how often do state leaders follow his suggestions?

Comment by Team Sleep Wednesday, Apr 14, 10 @ 1:56 pm
–He’s popular with the old guard establishment which if anyone hasn’t noticed was absolutely destroyed in the primary outside of mark kirk and you could argue he’s a new guy on the scene since he was just elected in 2000–

The Old Guard, by your definition, split its vote three ways. They put up a lot more votes than Brady in the primary. Dillard would have won with Schillerstrom’s votes.

There’s such a long way to go, Brady shouldn’t assume he has the GOP base locked down. Edgar certainly has influence there and can’t be ignored.

Comment by wordslinger Wednesday, Apr 14, 10 @ 1:58 pm
Edgar’s right, though I would label Brady’s plans as “uninformed” as well as “simplistic”. Anyone who know anything about Illinois law should know Brady’s 10% cut across the board cannot entirely happen due to constitutional considerations. Whatever would be legal would both hurt vital state services and prevent federal matching funds from flowing into the state. Last I checked, less money coming to the state is a bad thing.

Comment by jonbtuba Wednesday, Apr 14, 10 @ 2:12 pm
I am in the camp that Edgar should support his party’s candidate or pipe down until after the election–or maybe longer!

One other story you posted: On first instinct, I oppose the ability of adopted kids (as adults) to obtain birth certificates. I don’t like that the birth mothers (what about dads if id’d?) must opt out. Why should people have to opt out? I don’t think the state should give away people’s information unless they expressly permit it. With most domestic adoptions being fairly open, the birth mother would have already arranged with the agency how a child may find her, if she’s open to it. Agencies are also better at obtaining what might be vital medical information from birth mothers for the benefit of the adopting family. The state need not step into these private matters. [We have personal experience in this area.] Unfair or not, it might be very painful to the birth mother to face the circumstances of the pregnancy of the adopted child.

Comment by Peggy SO-IL Wednesday, Apr 14, 10 @ 2:12 pm
Don’t worry real people, Small Time Liberal. You make sure those unwanted stray pets get killed one at a time. That would take a lot longer and need more taxpayer funded jobs to accomplish. It’s a jobs creation program.

Comment by Joe from Joliet Wednesday, Apr 14, 10 @ 2:13 pm
Team Sleep - All I was saying was that JB’s wistful reference to Adam A’s plan for forensic audits would have accomplished the same thing that the Auditor General’s office accomplished. I’m not saying that accomplishment means anything will get done necessarily.

Comment by Small Town Liberal Wednesday, Apr 14, 10 @ 2:14 pm
Joe from Joliet - You’re so clever.

Comment by Small Town Liberal Wednesday, Apr 14, 10 @ 2:16 pm
Look how much help Edgar was to Dillard - a has been who stands on the sidelines and complains cause his guy didn’t win. What a whiner. It can only hurt the GOP that Edgar keeps pontificating - Brady has to figure out how to get some support from Edgar rather than the public harrassment.

Comment by dupage dan Wednesday, Apr 14, 10 @ 2:34 pm
Small Town Liberal-

The Auditor General does not do forensic audits unless he is authorized by resolution to do so.

Nice try though.

Audits aren’t the same as forensic audits.

Comment by John Bambenek Wednesday, Apr 14, 10 @ 2:38 pm
Thanks for another illuminating display of your expertise John, truly impressed. So what would your forensic audit do in this case, explain how everyone was feeling about the problem? The point is that a problem was discovered. A different audit isn’t whats needed, solutions and accountability are. Nice try though.

Comment by Small Town Liberal Wednesday, Apr 14, 10 @ 2:57 pm
Since only 75% of Illinois Fed taxes return to Illinois, let’s cut expenses 10% across the board so the FMAP programs bring back even less. Excellent!

Comment by zatoichi Wednesday, Apr 14, 10 @ 3:50 pm
Forensic audits focus on “fraud” versus “error identification” and “error prevention” of traditional audits.

Comment by David Ormsby Wednesday, Apr 14, 10 @ 3:52 pm
You’re wrong, jonbtuba. Less money going to the state to pay for excessive pensions and overpay for construction work is NOT a bad thing!

Less money going to support our families and for businesses to create private sector jobs in Illinois because of Quinn tax increases IS a bad thing!

Comment by PalosParkBob Wednesday, Apr 14, 10 @ 3:59 pm
I guess Edgar has become a Democrat or still PO’d his guy didn’t win. Edgar’s coat-tails aren’t what they once were. He violates the GOP 11th commandment about once a week anymore. Does he have anything constructive to say? If it’s a “botched plan” …..do tell Jimmy & how it can be fixed. I’m with anyone who will take a stand and move a different direction with the state’s serious issues & this down, down economy. Quinn & Company can’t do it apparently. With the state about a notch away from literal bankruptcy , we need to do something ; or perhaps we can all sit on the park benches {the ones we’ll soon live under} and talk about it some more. Maybe invite Jimbo & we can discuss the “simplfied plan” further.

Comment by downstater II Wednesday, Apr 14, 10 @ 7:37 pm
Springfield Sceptic. How are you privy to such figures? I think you have probably seen something from a single agency perspective and not the aggregate of the agencies, boards and commissions. I was skeptical of the motive going into the consolodation (and still am) but now that I am in the middle of it, I can assure you that it needed to happen regardless of motive. Thank the agencies who years ago broke their licensing agreements that we are paying for now…that was expensive to say the least. Plug all the nubers in and I believe the taxpayer comes out on top.
I cannot in good consicience argue the efficiency point. It has to improve, if we were to go back and draft the employees that the agencies attempted to hide during the first draft there would be efficient staffing levels.

Comment by GeneralDisArray Wednesday, Apr 14, 10 @ 8:49 pm
Speaking of CMS, has anyone looked at how they are having agencies like DPH to abandon their warehouse lease and move into CMS properties forcing programs to trash thousands of dollars of items that wont fit in the new digs?

Comment by LINK Wednesday, Apr 14, 10 @ 9:41 pm
Wow, lot’s of Edgar Envy on the tube today. Sure, he’s better looking than you are, and yeah, he knows more about state government and governing than just about anybody alive in Illinois today, and sure, his poll numbers put yours to shame, but, still: trashing him for what he always did best, telling the simple truth and not bouncing around like spit on a griddle, seems kind of small minded.

I doubt he feels any great need to measure his against yours, since yours gets measured pretty accurately every time you run Alan Keyes or Jack Roeser or Steve Baer or the ice cream guy or whatever.

Comment by steve schnorf Wednesday, Apr 14, 10 @ 10:31 pm
“There’s such a long way to go, Brady shouldn’t assume he has the GOP base locked down. Edgar certainly has influence there and can’t be ignored.”

Edgar’s base is people who liked George Ryan and no Republican since. I’m going to go have a stiff drink in Edgar’s honor.

Comment by T.J. Thursday, Apr 15, 10 @ 4:09 am
Edgar needs to shut up already. If he wants to contribute, the campaign will be very glad to have him but he needs to work with them and stop his “I am Jim Edgar therefore I’m relevant” mantra. He’s starting to act like a certain “reverend” who pushes everyone out of the way to get his face in front of the cameras. Steve S - former Edgar staffer: I still hold Edgar as honorable — but not perfect. A lot of crap happened in that administration and you know it. He pulled a slight of hand early in his first term by calling for a “temporary tax increase” and then making it permanent. Might have been the right thing to do but still was deceptive.

Comment by Forcryingoutloud Thursday, Apr 15, 10 @ 8:14 am
As a long suffering state employee, it pains me to speak well of CMS … but the problems there are the result of all governors since creation (including the “sainted” Jim Edgar) have misused it for political reasons. The rest of the insanity is from unsupervised CMS employees building “Creatively Managed Sandcastles” trying to create job security.

The lease issue is to be laid directly at the feet of John Filan (consolidation to reduce headcount). I find it interesting when CMS used Illinois Property Asset Management, they focused on how the company was created to bid on the contract … and missed who the half owner was (Bill Cellini).

Bill Brady barely won - would he have won if Kirk Dillard had not been off the campaign trail that last weekend due to his father’s death?

Comment by Smitty Irving Thursday, Apr 15, 10 @ 10:25 am
fcol, it’s pretty hard to argue with people who have no idea what they are talking about. You pretty much disqualify yourself from the debate when you talk about Edgar asking for a first term tax increase. You obviously have no idea what you are talking about.

Comment by steve schnorf Thursday, Apr 15, 10 @ 2:16 pm