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* My weekly syndicated newspaper column…
“Today, I laid out more than $1 billion in structural reforms,” Republican gubernatorial candidate Bruce Rauner boasted to his supporters via a blast e-mail last week.
Baloney.
Rauner’s press conference to announce a billion dollars in alleged budget savings was an almost total farce.
Fully half of what Rauner said he could save – $500 million at the Department of Central Management Services – came with absolutely no details. Rauner did provide some annual totals for emergency and sole-source contracts, but he’d have to get rid of almost all of those, with all those government services they involve, to hit his goal. It’s a total sleight of hand with no actual basis in reality, but it gets him half way to his magic billion dollars, so it was included.
Another $250 million would come from implementing “Medicaid verification reform,” but those reforms are ongoing, although not to Rauner’s liking. The private company hired to root out ineligible Medicaid recipients started with the lowest of low hanging fruit. And even then, lots of people were restored to the Medicaid rolls after filling out the proper forms. So projecting a $250 million savings based on the initial work by that private contractor, before its actions were reversed, is a complete fantasy.
In other words, three-quarters of Rauner’s billion dollars is either magic money or already in the pipeline.
Part of what Rauner did last week was what every candidate does. He highlighted some press clippings about Quinn administration screwups, which he claims totaled $140 million.
But almost half that amount – $60 million – was overtime costs for prison workers. Rauner wants to hire more guards, but that would actually add state costs for things like training, more full-time salaries and benefits. Should there be more prison guards? Sure. But don’t pretend that it’ll save money.
Yet another $40 million in “wasteful spending” cited by Rauner was actually an upgrade of the state’s probation system, which has been badly neglected for years. Another $12 million was what Rauner called “Medicaid payments to deceased individuals.” Rauner’s former investment firm owned a bunch of nursing homes and hospitals, so he ought to know that Medicaid doesn’t make direct payments to patients, alive or dead. And while this was most definitely a Quinn administration screwup, the government has recovered most of the money that was sent to managed care providers, mainly hospitals.
So, out of $140 million in “waste” touted by Rauner, at least $112 million isn’t actually waste or has been or will be recovered.
Add the $500 million magic money savings from CMS, plus the highly doubtful $250 million savings in Medicaid plus the $112 million in “waste” that isn’t actually waste and he had $862 million in savings that aren’t really there – out of the billion dollars he said he had identified.
Oh, but there’s more.
I’ll even be charitable and give Rauner all of his savings on questionable capital projects. But these aren’t annual cash savings. The state takes out long-term loans for construction projects and Rauner pointed to some projects totaling about $11.5 million. Yes, many of those projects are goofy. No argument there. Spending an eye-popping $10 million to rehab a decrepit private theater in Chicago is a justifiable target for critics. But cutting out that project won’t save $10 million a year. It’ll save maybe a tenth of that.
And, heck, grant him his idea to move legislators to a 401(k) plan, which is probably unconstitutional, but he claims it will save $60 million – over 30 years. Annualize that out and it’s a $2 million annual savings.
I won’t even point out that Rauner counted some savings twice. OK, I did point it out, but I won’t put it in the final tally. He wants a 10 percent cut in constitutional offices and General Assembly spending, which he says will save $40 million. But he also wants to merge the offices of the comptroller and treasurer, which he says will save $12 million.
The bottom line is that out of a $36 billion or so state budget, Rauner successfully and accurately identified maybe $70 million in overspending per year – or less than 0.2 percent of the budget.
Hey, I’m not knocking $70 million. Every little bit helps. But when you advertise a billion dollars in savings and your provable savings add up to only about 7 percent of that, pardon me if I’m not exactly inspired.
“We need to stop the false choice of dangerous cuts to government services or higher taxes,” Rauner claimed last week.
What we need, Bruce, is a serious conversation.
* Lots of folks jumped on Rauner’s case…
* Paul Merrion: Rauner offers few specifics to challenge Quinn on Illinois budget: “He says he has a plan, and this isn’t a plan. It’s not even an introduction to a plan,” says former GOP state Rep. Jim Nowlan, a retired professor of political science at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign’s Institute of Government and Public Affairs. “It’s a mistake because it’s going to be ridiculed.”
* Doug Finke: Rauner budget is definitely, um, something - Well, people demanded budget information from Bruce Rauner, and last week he finally came out with something. Just what it was depends on your perspective.
* Kurt Erickson: One of his ideas is to sell off most of the state’s fleet of airplanes. He says we shouldn’t be paying thousands of dollars to fly people when they can drive between Springfield and Chicago for $65 one way. That figure seemed odd. According to our calculations, the state employee mileage reimbursement for driving between the Capitol and the main state office building in Chicago is about $114 one way. Rauner spokesman Mike Schrimpf said the figure was based on a lower mileage reimbursement rate used by members of the General Assembly. That’s fine, but that doesn’t account for the various attorneys, legislative liaisons, agency directors and others who must trek between the two cities to do the state’s business.
* Mark Brown: Rauner should be red-faced over meager reform ‘Blueprint’: I found it fairly dumbfounding on Thursday when Rauner, with three caged chickens at his side, completely laid an egg with his first attempt to show there’s some substance behind the slick campaign that won the Republican primary.
* Carol Marin: Bruce Rauner’s game of chicken: You don’t found and grow a private equity enterprise like GTCR. — the “R” stood for Rauner — without a granular understanding of how to make money in the most sophisticated ways possible. And so it is amazing — if not disheartening — to read the mere pamphlet that the Rauner campaign took more than a year to produce. It’s a brochure, not a plan. And specifics? It’s just the same old campaign trope.
* Matt Dietrich: Rauner’s budget plan is mighty thin gruel: But for a candidate who has promised innovation that will “shake up Springfield,” this was beyond disappointing.
* SJ-R editorial: Rauner’s blueprint falls a few billion short: In the end, what Rauner presented is 11 pages of populist talking points. Quinn has taken heat for floating plenty of populist ideas of his own through the years, but he also has had to deal with very real, very difficult issues during his time as governor. Fiscally conservative Rauner should take no pride in putting forth such superficial ideas.
* WSIL: Bruce Rauner Unveils Unspecific Reform Plans: “It’s pretty clear that he’s got to say more. If he’s not going to raise taxes, then I think he owes the people of Illinois some specifics about what he wants to cut. It’s not going to be pleasant, nobody’s going to like it, but it’s time people be told the truth,” says David Yepsen with the Paul Simon Public Policy Institute.
* WICS: Democrats and Republicans React to Rauner Budget Plan: “How does he plan to make up for the loss of $7 billion of revenue when the income tax expires at the end of the year?” [former Republican State Senator Larry Bomke] said.
* NBC5: Most amusingly, a Twitter parody account — dubbed The Rauner Chicken — has surfaced to mock Rauner’s poultry gimmick and all squawking thereof.
* Chuck Sweeny: Bruce Rauner’s 10-point plan: One thing Illinois has in abundance is fairy dust, enough to supply all the Disney theme parks.
No surprise, the Chicago Tribune editorial board was silent.
…Adding… More from that Paul Merrion piece…
A spokesman for Mr. Rauner declines to discuss how the plan was developed. Some observers question whether the campaign, which didn’t have an in-house policy team until after the March primary, has the staff in place to produce more detailed proposals.
Lobbyists and interest groups recently have been talking to two new staffers: Aaron Winters, a former top aide to Illinois Sen. Mark Kirk, and David Wu, former Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels’ policy director. Neither has any Illinois budget experience. The campaign also is relying on state legislators and their staffs.
Enphasis added for obvious reasons.
…Adding More… Oops. I forgot to post my own take from my Crain’s column…
The poorly thought-out list of budget cuts that Mr. Rauner presented June 12 won’t stop him from being slammed for not proposing detailed tax and spending plans. But he can’t actually propose a “real” budget that doesn’t include tax hike revenues because he’d have to make gigantic cuts. And those cuts would alienate large swaths of Latinos, African-Americans and suburban women. So, he’ll probably propose a fake budget.
* Related…
* Closer Look: Prairie chickens an election issue
* Will Bruce Rauner Convince Illinois to Give Up on the Prairie Chicken?: The population has continued to struggle, most recently because of the 2012 drought. Even after the controversial prairie chicken translocation of 2014, the population is vanishingly small, though the importing of 200 more is planned through 2016.
* Laura Washington: Rauner’s rainbow pitch off target: Bruce Rauner wants to govern Illinois. He aspires to assemble a leadership team to run and represent a racially and ethnically diverse state. Yet, this hugely successful businessman could not find diversity in his own back yard.
posted by Rich Miller
Monday, Jun 16, 14 @ 11:11 am
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So, was it an “Up” day?
Too soon?
Great read, Rich.
If your math can’t add, then don’t show your work until the math does work.
Comment by Oswego Willy Monday, Jun 16, 14 @ 11:17 am
I read Carol Marin’s article in the Bright One yesterday. At the very least, she should have credited you (R. Miller) as her source as the article seemed nearly lifted from the blog last week. In spirit, you’re still writing for the Sun Times! lol
Comment by A guy... Monday, Jun 16, 14 @ 11:18 am
Spot on Rich. Don’t expect a donation from Ken Griffin any time soon though pal…
Comment by PublicServant Monday, Jun 16, 14 @ 11:22 am
Rauner’s “blueprint” is a joke. The question is, will the voting public notice? At some point, will people outside the media notice that Rauner has refused to take a real stance on almost every substantive issue?
Comment by Roland the Headless Thompson Gunner Monday, Jun 16, 14 @ 11:23 am
It was really something.
You spend more than a year and millions on TV spots claiming everyone’s corrupt or stupid and that you have all the answers, promising “comprehensive, detailed plans.”
Then you come out with an “F” book report that looks like you slapped it together on the school bus.
He took a beating and it will continue. That’s what happens when you blow off reporters for more than a year, laugh in their faces, over-promise by a mile and fail to deliver anything.
He came off as a hustler. All smile and shoeshine, a salesman with nothing to sell. An unserious man of no substance.
Who does that remind you of?
Comment by wordslinger Monday, Jun 16, 14 @ 11:24 am
The Tribune editorial board might not have weighed in, but their news coverage was pretty brutal.
Comment by Yellow Dog Democrat Monday, Jun 16, 14 @ 11:25 am
Roland, baffling the public with baloney and obfuscation is the entire Rauner plan. The media needs to keep asking, and the public needs to pay attention. Rauner is counting on massive media buys to deluge voters into tuning out entirely, and either not voting, or just voting their gut without a lot of facts getting in the way.
Comment by PublicServant Monday, Jun 16, 14 @ 11:27 am
I may fundabmentally disgree with Rich Miller’s criticisms and the criticims of those reputable jouranalists referenced above regarding Rauner’s budgetary rollout, but I learn best from others and appreciate differing perspectives. That being said, I WILL NEVER accept the trite “race card” that Governor Quiin is injecting into to this increasingly contentious gubanatorial battle. Rauner is NOT a racist and is as intertested in recruiting capable folks for his team as he is in diversifying his trusted circle. Laura Washington should be ashamed of her “low-hanging fruit” argument, meant only to rev up us poor Black residents of Illinois who apparently only know how to vote for Democrats. I am Black State employee. A woman. An long-time Democrat. I do not see any of this purported diversity that Governor Quinn has embraced among his top brass in State government. Wasn’t it Governor Quinn, who in a despearte ploy to win the 2010 election, doled out monies to Chciago aldermen without insitituting any checks and balances for ensuring the funds were spent on eradciating neighborhood violence. Throw money at the Black community and they will come, I gues. Further, I see minorities, particularly Blacks, leaving State government in disappointment and dissatisfaction. Illinois is “in trouble” on so many levels. Let’s please address tax reform, budgetary spending, pension challenges, public sector unions, etc. On the issue of diversity, I refuse to give Governor Quinn credit where credit is certainly not due.
Comment by Black Ivy Monday, Jun 16, 14 @ 11:29 am
==”Rauner accurately identified maybe $70 Million in overspending per year”==
— in a “Plan” touted for saving “$1 Billion.”
Disgraceful, and embarrassing for someone claiming to be a knowledgeable business expert.
I don’t know how the Rauner supporters can defend this in any way.
However, I still think it might work with much of the voting public, and it’s all that Rauner can say now.
If Rauner actually listed the cuts to annual spending that he would/will need to make to hit the $Billion, the public might turn away from him en masse.
That’s why the GOP legislators refused to support Dem budget plans that cut that much and more.
Comment by Walker Monday, Jun 16, 14 @ 11:31 am
I’m guessing some of those CMS savings will be from hacking state employee/retiree health care.
Comment by foster brooks Monday, Jun 16, 14 @ 11:31 am
Voters like optimists, even optimists who have no real reason for their optimism. That’s a winner.
Quinn’s positioning for making the income tax permanent was pessimistic. Then he lost. Now he is saying the State needs the money. More pessimism. That isn’t a winner.
Bruce can claim that magical chickens will lay magical eggs so that taxes won’t have to go up - and I think voters will go - bleh - and vote for him.
What Quinn has to do is respond optimistically. He needs to show us how Illinois will work with him still being governor. Instead of promising magical budgets, he needs to show us a magical future. He really hurt himself with the entire income tax fiasco. But he needs to try.
Comment by VanillaMan Monday, Jun 16, 14 @ 11:32 am
why doesn’t he propose wiping out the Lt. Gov. office, and putting his running mate in the Governor’s Office as chief of staff?
More logical that most of his nonsense…
Comment by Anonymous Monday, Jun 16, 14 @ 11:35 am
===What Quinn has to do is respond optimistically. He needs to show us how Illinois will work with him still being governor.===
Or contrast the education of who Rauner is instead of who Rauner is pretending to do.
It’s not a referendum. Compare on contrast and education on Rauner is needed.
Comment by Oswego Willy Monday, Jun 16, 14 @ 11:35 am
why doesn’t he propose wiping out the Lt. Gov. office, and putting his running mate in the Governor’s Office as chief of staff?
More logical that most of his nonsense…
Comment by Capitol View Monday, Jun 16, 14 @ 11:36 am
I take this Rauner blueprint plan as proof — actual proof — that Rauner is nowhere near as smart as he thinks he is — or as smart as he’s been told.
I assumed the primary run-up stuff was just that — the typical zingers — some brutal, some less so — to get elected. It was business as usual. And I understand that primary voters are like folks who plaster their cars with bumper stickers — they want their definitive views to be desperately heard. And woe to anyone who gets in their way. Cuz, they’ve got a mission, darnit.
I get that.
But at this point — as much as I despise everything that Rauner stands for — I expected Rauner — the numbers guy, the business guy — to step in and say, okay, look, the primary is what it is — but here’s my plan. I expected him to honestly and authentically grapple with issues — and perhaps even admit uncertainty on some aspects. I expected an intellectual engagement.
What I see — and again, I’d never vote for Rauner — is hubris and braggadocio — the non-engaged stuff I’d expect from a 2nd rate business guy. Someone who never had to worry about much money wise and assumes that all the “decisions” he’s made merely reinforce the idea that he’s a brilliant business strategist. I’ve seen plenty of these guys — deeply unpleasant and dumb-as-rocks. Always divorced. Always talk the same way. Always have a dumb smile. Don’t like details. Don’t like talking to anyone who’s not a member.
Been there, done that.
Comment by Frenchie Mendoza Monday, Jun 16, 14 @ 11:49 am
A few hundred days late, and a few billion dollars short.
With all that money, you’d think Rauner could hire somebody who actually understands state budgeting. There are plenty of bright kids who have been through the Civic Federation, which is something of a budget boot camp. Why doesn’t Rauner put a couple of them on retainer to comb through the budget and come up with some actual useful ideas?
I suggest this only because I know Rauner would never do it. Gosh, it must be nice to be that arrogant…
Comment by Soccermom Monday, Jun 16, 14 @ 11:50 am
I believe that if Bruce Rauner came out and provided a blueprint that included replacing the director of the Illinois Department of Labor with a director that would create competitive prevailing wages, the entire country of organized labor would come after him and put Quinn back in office. The last thing the Rauner campaign can do is show their cards.
Rauner has stated that Union Bosses are controlling Illinois and he wants reform associated with that. It’s a complicated issue.
Schaumburg has an interesting description of Prevailing Wage and the state law’s impact on tonights FLAGG agenda. This is a Home rule community that is documenting that they are paying 3x more for laborers than the private sector would charge.
http://vossire.ci.schaumburg.il.us/sirepub/mtgviewer.aspx?meetid=964&doctype=AGENDA
Comment by Pete Monday, Jun 16, 14 @ 11:52 am
Vanilla Man is spot on. Quinn really ought to be more of a happy warrior, rather than sulking in the face of those who have the temerity to run against him (Daley for a time, Rauner). In their joint appearances, Quinn projects embattled, rather than confident in the face of an opponent who is more and more coming to be seen as a political conman for Zell and Griffin’s .01% utterly lacking substance or seriousness.
Fine to criticize Rauner, there is an ample supply of material. However, “Rauner Sucks” is not the ticket to victory, governor. “Things could be really bad if you choose Rauner,” doesn’t do much, either. That’s: 1. abstract 2. the future. Voters have limited capacity/desire to process that. And, resting on your laurels isn’t sufficient, either.
Obama, Quinn people may care to remember, had positive plans and a vision for his next term, that accompanied his criticisms of Romney. So, forgive the question Quinnsters, but what does a next Quinn term look like in a state with substantial, ongoing challenges?
Comment by Willie Stark Monday, Jun 16, 14 @ 11:54 am
Ooph… How could Rauner’s camp not see this coming.
My guess is that Rauner was tired of being accused of being light on substance and pressed his staff, against their advice, to throw something together stat.
Comment by Just Oberving Monday, Jun 16, 14 @ 11:59 am
Rauner’s looking like a empty suit with a great PR team more and more every day. I don’t think that’s gonna work since relying on Quinn to mess up an election is an easy way to lose an election to Pat Quinn. Quinn might not be able to govern, but he’s a heck of a campaigner.
The Trib Ed Board is a joke. Their silence on anything anti-Rauner plus relentless Independent Maps editorials are just the latest in a longer and longer line of what are anti-democratic, do-as-we-say-not-as-we-do, we’re-right-because-we-said-so, seemingly pro-oligarchy editorials.
Comment by From the 'Dale to HP Monday, Jun 16, 14 @ 12:02 pm
Meanwhile, in Decatur, IL, the radio show host on WSOY blasted “the media” for questioning Rauner’s plan. I feel sorry for those people over there listening to Rauner hero worship.
Comment by Annie Monday, Jun 16, 14 @ 12:11 pm
Frenchie Mendoza–I feel the exact same way. From a purely political perspective, I was actually impressed with how disciplined Rauner was in the primary. I thought he basically did what he had to do to get the nomination. But I still thought he’d be putting more substance out there for the general. Disappointing and depressing.
Comment by Interested observer Monday, Jun 16, 14 @ 12:14 pm
Raunervich would have been better off to keep uttering his anti-government rhetoric than to throw out this piece of garbage of a so-called plan. Now he’s proven, he’s all style and no substance.
P.S. I hope he didn’t get help for this laughable product from Republican legislative staff. I want to believe they’re an intelligent and quality group.
Comment by Norseman Monday, Jun 16, 14 @ 12:22 pm
If everyone in the media, sans Tribune editorial board, keeps this up I imagine Rauner will start attacking the “lamestream” media next like a certain other clueless, though at least legitimate, politician. I figure he believes he has the Tribbies backing him all the way, and their silence kind of backs this up. But, bottom line, Quinn needs to step it up. He hasn’t anything to brag about on his own campaign yet and he can’t hope Rauner’s ignorance will sink him. Rauner has millions to spend on the fairy dust.
Comment by Wensicia Monday, Jun 16, 14 @ 12:32 pm
“He came off as a hustler. All smile and shoeshine, a salesman with nothing to sell. An unserious man of no substance.
Who does that remind you of?”
I assume you mean Blago, but that bill fits Quinn perfectly as well. I wish we had better candidates, but who would really want the job with the problems it’s facing?
Comment by Anonymous Monday, Jun 16, 14 @ 12:55 pm
… but who would really want the job with the problems it’s facing?–
Plenty. And there have been lot tougher times, many times.
Refusing to recognize arithmetic as a branch of mathematics is not a sign of insurmountable problems, just weak stomachs.
Comment by wordslinger Monday, Jun 16, 14 @ 12:59 pm
===Who does that remind you of?”
I assume you mean Blago, but that bill fits Quinn perfectly as well.===
A laughable conclusion. Blago, absolutely. The Music Man, certainly. Quinn? That’s laughable. He’s no Harry Truman, but he’s more like “Give-’em-hell” Harry than he is to being a deceitful con man. For example, regarding the income tax Quinn, told the truth and a lot of people thought it was hell.
Comment by Mighty M. Mouse Monday, Jun 16, 14 @ 1:15 pm
Eliminate the Lt. Gov’s office… Yes. But I guess Bruce didn’t propose that because Evelyn is so qualified to become Gov and she is “talking to people who have never been talked to before” as we learned Friday from the Raunerians on Planet Rauner.
Comment by low level Monday, Jun 16, 14 @ 1:32 pm
Seems like people in Springfield are reading this way wrong.
Rauner produced a short document suggesting that we can solve all of our problems with a few painless cuts.
That’s what voters want to believe.
If you tell voters what they want to believe, they will vote for you.
What did voters hear last week? “If we just stop using state planes to fly chickens into Illinois, all of our problems can be solved.”
They also heard “We don’t need a lengthy budget. A few pages will do it. Solving our problems is easy!”
Who are they going to vote for? The guy that will solve their problems with no pain, or the guy who wants to raise their taxes, just like he did last time?
People here keep focusing on the reality of the budget.
Reality doesn’t matter now.
What matters now is effectively pandering.
And say what you want about Rauner, but the guy sure can pander.
Comment by Goooner Monday, Jun 16, 14 @ 1:32 pm
Where are the “superstars” waiting in the wings? Its one thing to join a hostile takeover, quite another to join a foundering ship
Comment by Anonymous Monday, Jun 16, 14 @ 1:41 pm
So Pete:
You’re expecting Rauner to save more than a $Billion in ways that have nothing to do with the blueprint that Rauner’s campaign just put out — and he’s not about to show his real hand to his opponents.
Maybe. Anything’s better than admitting he might not have the goods after all.
@Blsck Ivy: OK. Attack Quinn on using “the race card. I get why you won’t vote for him.”
Can’t defend this “Plan” by Rauner — change the subject.
Comment by Walker Monday, Jun 16, 14 @ 2:41 pm
The message Rauner’s fake “budget” sends me is that he thinks the voters of Illinois are stupid — you don’t put out a joke like this with a straight face unless you have no respect for your audience whatsoever.
Comment by kimocat Monday, Jun 16, 14 @ 2:41 pm
Unfortunately, I have to agree with Goooner. All the very deserved criticism of Rauner’s non-plan for the state budget is coming from sources that actually have a modicum of understanding of just how complex and huge our budget problem is. The general public, as Goooner points out, do not have that depth of understanding. They just don’t want their taxes increased, and they want the people they elect to be able to figure it out without it costing them more money. That is exactly what Rauner is promising. God help us.
Comment by Still anonymous Monday, Jun 16, 14 @ 3:32 pm
This says it better than I could:
“For every complex problem there is an answer that is clear, simple, and wrong.”
H. L. Mencken
That being said, this might do the trick for Rauner and fool the general public.
Comment by paddyrollngstone Monday, Jun 16, 14 @ 3:54 pm
Claiming $70,000,000 equals $1,000,000,000 is electoral math with great appeal.
It’s like “name that tune”, and Quinn has already given the wrong answer after hearing the complete song played for five years. Rauner is claiming he can name that tune in one note, and will give his answer in January 2015.
Comment by VanillaMan Monday, Jun 16, 14 @ 4:15 pm
–The last thing the Rauner campaign can do is show their cards.–
So he needs to hide his true intentions in order to get elected? And you’re okay with that?
Is he going to govern on the sneak, too? I don’t really view that as a great advance in Illinois political culture.
Look, the guy’s said. time and again, for more than a year, that he would be rolling out “comprehensive, detailed” plans, that he had all sorts of great ideas to “shake things up.”
His first crack at it was a humiliating joke, so he deserves the beating.
I don’t think we’ll see any more policy rollouts. Policy is not his thing.
He’s a salesman and he’s selling himself, so we’ll see a lot more spots and very little contact with smart-alecky reporters who ask questions.
Comment by wordslinger Monday, Jun 16, 14 @ 4:16 pm
The worse form of pandering. Say this is a real plan. Easy. Bozo Bruce.
This guy is really starting to remind me of Thomas Dewey in 1948. Give no specifics + sell yourself = Dewey victory.
I have never particularly cared for Pat Quinn, but at least he has made difficult choices.
Comment by low level Monday, Jun 16, 14 @ 5:06 pm
I agree that this budget post-it note play alrighty with Joe Voter.
That is the part I don’t get.
Joe voter wasn’t demanding a budget. Joe voter was happy with platitudes. The editorial boards, the reporters, the pundits, wonks and most of all Quinn were demanding budget specifics.
Rauner shoulda known how this would end.
Rich - worst roll out since the maiden voyage of the Titanic, maybe.
Still, might not matter.
Comment by Yellow Dog Democrat Monday, Jun 16, 14 @ 8:13 pm
Terrific Column, replete with thorough analysis, pinpointing the “farce” which Rauner’s so-called “Blueprint” for the future really is. So much smoke clouding the many Rauner mirrors in HIS Budget Room, your average Illinoisan would quickly get dizzy just steppin’ INto it, and soon pass out with this sorry excuse for REAL and detailed Budget Cuts…!
Comment by Just The Way It Is One Monday, Jun 16, 14 @ 8:27 pm
–I agree that this budget post-it note play alrighty with Joe Voter–
The audience wasn’t the general public, they’re not paying attention the second week of June.
The audience was the media who all had been promised by this guy for more than a year that he was bringing the heat on policy. They were there to take his measure.
It was a monumental flop and he came out looking like a lightweight.
Even worse, it plants the seed among reporters that he’d just been playing them all along. Kind of like when he lied to Bernie on the Payton Prep stuff.
He’d pretty much gotten a pass on policy up to now. But this performance will color media coverage of him until he shows some chops.
Comment by wordslinger Monday, Jun 16, 14 @ 8:32 pm
===The audience was the media who all had been promised by this guy for more than a year that he was bringing the heat on policy. They were there to take his measure.
It was a monumental flop and he came out looking like a lightweight.
Even worse, it plants the seed among reporters that he’d just been playing them all along. Kind of like when he lied to Bernie on the Payton Prep stuff.===
Spot On.
This was the opportunity to be seen as gubernatorial, and Rauner, and Evelyn too, stood up there with pages of 10 proposals that are glorified dot points with messy math and chickens to put this press fiasco in the harsh light of a reality Rauner himself has been trying to hide;
Bruce has nothing but platitudes, and after a year of goading, and laughing at the questions, and the 15 second web ads, and the money, all Bruce Rauner is really…is someone looking for anyone… to think he is important, and tell Bruce…how important he is too.
It’s not the governing, it’s the pat on the back and “atta boy, you show them” that is driving a race of vanity.
You have a year to roll a plan out, and you roll this out, with live fowl, then spin it as a “start”, it’s really the beginning of everyone meeting the real Bruce Rauner.
Comment by Oswego Willy Monday, Jun 16, 14 @ 8:47 pm
Wordslinger and OW - great points.
He’d have been better off not presenting anything. Instead, Rauner probably made it more difficult for himself and you really have to wonder if the Raunerians have any sense on Planet Rauner… or if the fancy UFO will just keep landing, making a scene , then disappearing once more.
Comment by low level Tuesday, Jun 17, 14 @ 6:49 am
Architects & designers are using this technology to present ideas.
University Visvesvaraya College of Engineering, Bangalore.
When it recognized a pattern, a meaning was
assigned.
Comment by anonymous browsing Wednesday, Jun 18, 14 @ 4:58 am