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* Sun-Times editorial…
The Democratic leadership’s spending plan, first passed by the House last week, was $7 billion short on revenue. It was nothing but a political document, a way to put Gov. Bruce Rauner on the spot — sign this joke or you will be to blame when the schools don’t open — and he made clear he would never sign it.
But Rauner’s own solution was only marginally more responsible. Completely reversing a stand he took just last week, the governor now wanted the Legislature to approve a stopgap measure to fund the state through the end of year, pulling money out of old pants’ pockets and forgotten wallets — one-time tricks. He would fund the worthiest causes — homeless programs, state parks and domestic violence prevention programs — but only by raiding the state’s Rainy Day Fund and the like. His “bridge plan,” as he would be the first to agree, would do nothing to improve long-term government stability and predictability.
Rauner remains an inept rookie politician. He still thinks like a private equity guy, not like a governor. He understands how power works in private business — he who has the most money wins — but not in politics. And he continues to treat the great city of Chicago, truly the beating heart of a healthy Illinois, like a corporate subsidiary to be shed if it fails to meet its quarterly earnings projections. […]
Rauner continues to insist on some degree of acceptance of his pro-business and anti-union “turnaround agenda” reforms before he’ll contemplate higher state taxes, though finding additional revenue ultimately is the only way a balanced state budget will be achieved. We sure wish we could divine Rauner’s bottom line on that.
And House Speaker Michael Madigan continues to insist that Rauner’s reforms would only hurt the middle class. But we’d like to know Madigan’s real bottom line, too. Or is he determined not to budge even an inch, biding his time until after the November elections, putting raw politics ahead of what’s best for Illinois?
posted by Rich Miller
Wednesday, Jun 1, 16 @ 9:19 am
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Previous Post: *** UPDATED x2 - U of I: “All options are on the table as we go forward” - Catholic Charities: “This is not a matter of politics, it is a matter of people’s lives” *** The consequences of failure
Next Post: Yes, there was an uprising and some agreement
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The rhetoric from today’s “StopGap” Tour will be telling. Will Rauner truly put aside the TurnAround, or will he recharge his attack mode on Blame_______.
Comment by Anon221 Wednesday, Jun 1, 16 @ 9:24 am
What we’ve learned from Rauner’s tenure is that he’s far better at campaigning than he is at governing. Today’s tour will be much of the same.
Comment by slow down Wednesday, Jun 1, 16 @ 9:30 am
Always chuckle when the media leaders fail to mention the S* pile, BigBrain, introduced budget had a $4 billion gap.
Comment by Annonin' Wednesday, Jun 1, 16 @ 9:31 am
There are some good points in the piece, but the Madigan “not budging an inch” is a false equivalency. Madigan deferred to Rauner by letting the “temporary” income tax hike expire, based on Rauner’s claims that he could produce a balanced budget without it.
Rauner responded with a the TA which has little or no impacts to offset the Madigan-Rauner tax expiration. The fact that Madigan won’t sign on to certain TA items for the FY ‘16 or ‘17 budgets is not equivalent to Rauner’s failure to come through with his promised budget “reforms”.
Comment by Qui Tam Wednesday, Jun 1, 16 @ 9:32 am
===Rauner remains an inept rookie politician.===
Nope. Sorry, no.
Rauner makes rookie mistakes, but knows exactly why he’s making them.
To the Post,
For me, when I get down to the “dirt” on all this… the sham votes, the constant campaigning, the triangulation, Labor, (and I’ll come back to that) education, social services…
It really begins and ends with trust.
When Ounce has Mrs. Rauner as its president and THEY feel the need to sue, yikes.
When Madigan and Cullerton are clueless to trusting what the other may want to do, wow.
And with Labor… When “the 7″ write, arguably the most disingenuous letter written about wanting people to work together, and then vote against their own constituents, that’s embarrassingly making trust a punch line, a gag, mocking and thinking no one will catch on. Breathtaking.
It’s trust. Trust is lacking.
So, yeah, a pox on everyone. No one is willing to be “fooled”, but no one is ready to reach out. They all need each other, while they are trying to make sure the other is under the bus at the end. The toxic environment that exists now, there’s not one actor, publicly, that says they have a trusting partner to move forward.
Think on that. Not one actor in this farce says publicly, “I trust the other side, we will get this done.”.
They all, all, will say publicly “They…they are disingenuous”. That’s real. That’s happened. That’s happening.
So, when an actual trust, and not phony trust, but “hey, we’re in this together. Trust me, I am trusting you”, then the pix can be lifted. Not a moment sooner.
Comment by Oswego Willy Wednesday, Jun 1, 16 @ 9:34 am
The bar is not very high for editorial board’s these days, but I thought this was a “marginally” better effort for the Sun Times.
Comment by JS Mill Wednesday, Jun 1, 16 @ 9:35 am
I am tired of analyzing this wreck.
Comment by Saluki Wednesday, Jun 1, 16 @ 9:36 am
Politicians understand the importance of building a coalition and that progress is incremental. For this reason that is why our Founders built in a House of Representatives to keep their finger to the wind of the people, and for their to be a Senate to be more deliberative.
Nursing home managers and house flippers only understand 1 thing. How does it affect the bottom line. If the *turnaround agenda* was so important, there would be groundswell of opinion from the masses. And the current Governor would have swept into office with a mandate by tapping into this.
This editorial (the official opinion of the newspaper) does get it right.
Comment by John Reynolds Wednesday, Jun 1, 16 @ 9:40 am
–Rauner continues to insist on some degree of acceptance of his pro-business and anti-union “turnaround agenda” reforms before he’ll contemplate higher state taxes, though finding additional revenue ultimately is the only way a balanced state budget will be achieved. We sure wish we could divine Rauner’s bottom line on that.–
Geez, Rauner has them all snowed.
He doesn’t even have to make the case that his pre-conditions are relevant to the budget, or that their benefits are worth the damage.
Rauner is the first governor ever to assert that a budget is optional, and the edit boards buy it.
Comment by wordslinger Wednesday, Jun 1, 16 @ 9:42 am
Willy +1
Comment by Norseman Wednesday, Jun 1, 16 @ 9:52 am
“Rauner remains an inept rookie politician.”
Comment by @MisterJayEm Wednesday, Jun 1, 16 @ 10:17 am
===So, when an actual trust, and not phony trust, but “hey, we’re in this together. Trust me, I am trusting you”, then the pix can be lifted. Not a moment sooner.===
Ballgame. Rauner is called out daily for his “Yes but”s, his perfidy, his routinely throwing others under the bus, etc. (I’m sure there are more I’m forgetting) Other commenters call them out for calling Rauner out saying “Oh, it’s just campaign rhetoric” or accuse them of nit-picking. But I think I understand why these Rauner behaviors are called out. It’s not just because the commenters are liberal and/or they dislike Rauner. People’s distrust of Rauner doesn’t occur in a vacuum.
He set the tone on election night with an unnecessary lie about speaking with Madigan and Cullerton and has been consistently untruthful, vague, and secretive ever since. He publicly attacks opponents’ personal and professional character. How can these behaviors possibly engender trust? They may be effective in the business world but they don’t play well in governance. Trust can easily be lost but it almost always takes a long time to rebuild. Unfortunately, this state can’t afford that time. Can Rauner ever build enough trust with Dems to create a functional, working relationship? Rauner is gonna have to lose the arrogance and condescending rhetoric if there’s any chance of this happening. That’s not a political opinion of mine but more an understanding of how interpersonal relationships work.
Comment by Cubs in '16 Wednesday, Jun 1, 16 @ 10:23 am
Their editorial is spot-on, but this is the same Chicago Sun-Times which endorsed Rauner for governor. I would’ve appreciated a mea culpa.
Comment by Northsider Wednesday, Jun 1, 16 @ 11:20 am
Arguably it’s not the same Sun-Times that endorsed Rauner - that was an “instant Ferro production, now back to your regularly scheduled progressivism.”
Comment by lake county democrat Wednesday, Jun 1, 16 @ 11:49 am
==I would’ve appreciated a mea culpa.===
Yeah, you wait right here for that. How silly.
Comment by A guy Wednesday, Jun 1, 16 @ 12:01 pm
=== He still thinks like a private equity guy, not like a governor. He understands how power works in private business — he who has the most money wins — but not in politics. ===
This is unfair to business people overall. It is an accurate description of how Rauner’s former world of hostile takeovers and leveraged buyouts works. But business leaders who build companies, as opposed to dismantling them, need more than cold, hard-knuckle skills. They need vision and true leadership abilities to motivate others to share their vision and to join forces to realize it. They need to form strategic alliances built on trust. These skills could translate from business leadership into political leadership. But leadership of this sort was never prominent in this governor’s portfolio.
Comment by X-prof Wednesday, Jun 1, 16 @ 3:00 pm
Ugh. So the Governor wants to raid the Rainy Day Fund. Dude, it’s not raining — you just have to move the sprinkler away from the open window. (In other words, a Rainy Day Fund is not there to solve problems you created yourself.)
For heaven’s sake — bringing the income tax back down was supposed to jumpstart the economy. Instead, our unemployment rate is marching up and up and up. Those are real people, with real families and real lives. And they are losing their jobs so the Governor can make political points.
I don’t know how Rauner sleeps at night. I really don’t.
Comment by Soccermom Wednesday, Jun 1, 16 @ 3:51 pm
–I don’t know how Rauner sleeps at night. I really don’t.–
Very well, on a big pile of “I paid a lot for this retirement hobby, and I’ll do what I want.”
Comment by wordslinger Wednesday, Jun 1, 16 @ 4:25 pm
You’re right, Word, as usual. I forget that so many people in this world are untroubled by conscience. Man, I wish my mom hadn’t made me watch Pinocchio — this whole Jiminy Cricket thing has been worse than useless….
Comment by Soccermom Wednesday, Jun 1, 16 @ 4:27 pm