Latest Post | Last 10 Posts | Archives
Previous Post: Thanks for the props, but we need to do a whole lot better
Next Post: Unclear on the concept
Posted in:
* Daily Herald…
Gov. Bruce Rauner toured two Northwest suburban businesses Tuesday, touting both as prime examples of the role Illinois should be playing in the national and global economy.
Rauner helped cut the ribbon on a new processing plant for Richelieu Foods, Inc. in Wheeling, and then admired the research and development in progress at Gas Technology Institute in Des Plaines, aimed at creating new sources of energy through a process called gasification. […]
O’Connor said that while the costs of doing business in Illinois are a little higher than other places the company could have gone, the state’s transportation infrastructure, location and workforce weigh in its favor. The company expects to have more than 100 employees working at the Wheeling facility by the end of the year,
While Rauner called Richelieu’s new 115,000-square-foot plant a good sign for Illinois’ economy, he said all is not well with the state. Not every business is capable of overcoming the state’s challenges as Richelieu is, he said.
“We don’t have nearly the successes we deserve,” Rauner said.
* The governor is fond of publicly name-checking Rep. Elaine Nekritz whenever he wants to point to a Democrat who favors some of his non-budget reforms. Nekritz was at yesterday’s event, and, as usual, diplomatically spoke her mind…
“I think we can do more of selling ourselves rather than selling ourselves short,” said State Rep. Elaine Nekritz.
Nekritz - one of the Democrats at the ribbon-cutting - aimed her comment at Rauner, who has spent much of his first term criticizing the state’s business climate. Nekritz said companies like Richelieu will respond if Illinois does a better job selling itself.
“A lot of states take advantage of the fact that they can point the finger at us and say ’see how bad they are’. Again, we need to do better but we also need to do better at promoting ourselves,” Nekritz said.
But the governor warned that announcements like this do not happen often enough.
“We should have far more. Too often, when we have a good announcement we also have announcements of folks leaving or moving to another state,” Rauner said.
posted by Rich Miller
Wednesday, Sep 7, 16 @ 9:53 am
Sorry, comments are closed at this time.
Previous Post: Thanks for the props, but we need to do a whole lot better
Next Post: Unclear on the concept
WordPress Mobile Edition available at alexking.org.
powered by WordPress.
Selling the concept of lower wages (which can bring with it a greater reliance on public services like healthcare) is not selling the state or doing the job of Governor.
There are smart things that we can do to improve, worker’s comp seems like it has bi partisan support. You can push for those incremental improvements without bashing everyone in the state that you do not like (labor).
Comment by JS Mill Wednesday, Sep 7, 16 @ 10:02 am
Can we, as a state, chalk up small victories and try to build on those? In politics and in business.
Comment by Trolling Troll Wednesday, Sep 7, 16 @ 10:02 am
Companies don’t move to Illinois based on words. They move based on the business climate.
Comment by Chicagonk Wednesday, Sep 7, 16 @ 10:05 am
“But the governor warned that announcements like this do not happen often enough.”
Quite right. So… where has Rauner and Co. been when expansions by Amazon are happening throughout the state (http://www.homeworldbusiness.com/amazon-building-illinois-fulfilment-center/) ? Or, why hasn’t some SuperStar been blaming Madigan because the Small Business Centers are closing throughout the state (http://tinyurl.com/j7bzytm)? If Intersect Illinois isn’t making Illinois Great Again, does that mean nuthin’ is happenin’??? Rauner keeps Illinois in his back pocket and only pulls it out when he wants to make his points and promote his agenda when it comes to economics. Maybe his next venture should be in growing mushrooms.
Comment by Anon221 Wednesday, Sep 7, 16 @ 10:09 am
I’d also venture to say that there is also a supply of fresh water that influences that decision.
Comment by Doug Simpson Wednesday, Sep 7, 16 @ 10:14 am
Translation:
Nekritz to Rauner: ‘Quit Being Governor Eeyore”
Comment by Winnin' Wednesday, Sep 7, 16 @ 10:16 am
Starving the state’s universities can’t be helping the sales pitch either.
Comment by Cubs in '16 Wednesday, Sep 7, 16 @ 10:17 am
Agree with Nekritz. Let’s all just change the tone and tenor of our State messaging and things should gradually improve. Businesses and people will react positively to positive words. I mean, it worked well for the 12 or so years of all Democratic rule pre-Rauner, right? /sx12
Comment by Deft Wing Wednesday, Sep 7, 16 @ 10:18 am
===Agree with Nekritz. Let’s all just change the tone and tenor===
Don’t argue like a child. That’s not what she said.
Comment by Rich Miller Wednesday, Sep 7, 16 @ 10:19 am
=They move based on the business climate.=
I think that is partially correct, but in reality they move based on their needs and how that “climate” directly affects them. Even if the climate is poor, it could be favorable to their particular line of work and thus move anyway.
Comment by JS Mill Wednesday, Sep 7, 16 @ 10:27 am
Companies are not expanding in Illinois relative to other states and our unemployment rate confirms this.
The overall numbers are terrible for Illinois but actually pretty good in Chicago, especially downtown. This speaks to how our workers comp affects manufacturing but not the booming Chicago economy
Comment by Lucky Pierre Wednesday, Sep 7, 16 @ 10:37 am
“Transportation infrastructure” Did you catch that, all you road fund amendment naysayers? Sure Worker’s Comp Insurance is an issue, but it can be budgeted. While not getting your product to market because a bridge is out is a non-budgeted disaster.
So while a constitutional amendment is over the top, at least it shows manufacturers that Illinois is committed to maintaining its transportation infrastructure.
Comment by A Jack Wednesday, Sep 7, 16 @ 10:39 am
Naysayer in Chief
Comment by burbanite Wednesday, Sep 7, 16 @ 10:40 am
Now I’m confused. Did Rep. Nekritz have a hand in this company’s expansion, or assist it to expand? Helped it out at all? The article doesn’t say. Maybe someone can fill in the blanks here.
Was she invited to the event by the Governor’s office and the Mayor as a courtesy, and used that opportunity to get her little dig in? Sounds like it.
Even at events like this, the opportunity to dig the knife a little deeper was taken?
Isn’t that what voters in general are sick and tired of witnessing?
Just asking.
Comment by Louis G. Atsaves Wednesday, Sep 7, 16 @ 10:46 am
Will Rauner be at the ribbon-cuttings for the $1.1 billion expansion of the South Side Ford plants brokered by the UAW? That sounds like a good thing.
“Building Design and Construction” magazine reported a record $3.5 billion in foreign investment in Chicago area commercial real estate in 2015. They could have invested that money anywhere in the world outside the Death Spiral zone.
All those new skyscrapers going up in the Greater Loop — are they not subject to worker comp laws?
I would think there would be some inherent risk in the interaction of thousands of tons of heavy equipment, hundreds of thousand of tons of building materials and union iron workers catching steel beams 40 stories in the air.
Yet invest and build they still do, despite the absence of governor’s partisan political agenda poorly disguised as economics.
Perhaps Springfield doesn’t control the “state economy” after all. But pretending they do helps distract from the utter failure to deal with problems they can actually do something about.
Comment by Anonymous Wednesday, Sep 7, 16 @ 10:48 am
Rep. Nekritz has a knack for speaking the truth without being inflamatory. She was dead wrong about pension cutbacks being constitutional, but I still admire her candor.
Comment by anon Wednesday, Sep 7, 16 @ 11:02 am
**Even at events like this, the opportunity to dig the knife a little deeper was taken?**
Huh? You have a strange definition of “dig[ging] the knife a little deeper.”
Comment by JoeMaddon Wednesday, Sep 7, 16 @ 11:48 am
Ironic reply, Rich. But as you essentially said earlier in another posting … it’s your lawn.
Comment by Deft Wing Wednesday, Sep 7, 16 @ 12:23 pm
I think you are also unclear on what ironic means.
Comment by Rich Miller Wednesday, Sep 7, 16 @ 12:25 pm
=Even at events like this, the opportunity to dig the knife a little deeper was taken?=
You mean when like when the governor shows up at a school that he defunded and then says they need more funding?
Typically, even when I disagree with you, there is substance to your comments. This time though, your comments define ironic.
Comment by JS Mill Wednesday, Sep 7, 16 @ 12:31 pm
Oddly, they are really both right. There is room to compartmentalize the need to improve drastically (his point) and tout the natural advantages this city/state/region provide (her point)
Every race moves faster when you remove the hurdles.
Comment by A guy Wednesday, Sep 7, 16 @ 1:17 pm
=they are really both right.=
I agree with that statement.
But, I think the way the governor articulates his narrative is very negative. There is much to fix, no doubt there. I just don’t think you need to attack people to do it. That for me is a big difference from Nekritz, snarky comment not withstanding.
Comment by JS Mill Wednesday, Sep 7, 16 @ 3:03 pm
Two good points above there, JSM.
Rauner does come off now like the guy always yelling “Fire” in the theater, and we know what happens at the end of that story.
Comment by Arthur Andersen Wednesday, Sep 7, 16 @ 3:41 pm
Hey Artie, If the place is raging & on fire, by all means, yell “fire.” And that’s exactly what Rauner is doing.
Artie’s misuse of the above quote is the typical way. In fact, it is so often offered erroneously that Justice Holmes must be dizzy from the constant rolling.
“The most stringent protection of free speech would not protect a man in falsely shouting fire in a theatre and causing a panic.”
Rauner is correctly yelling fire … his is not only protected speech; it is needed speech.
Comment by Deft Wing Wednesday, Sep 7, 16 @ 4:23 pm
Deft, you might consider either some Dale Carnegie courses and/or the purchase of a thesaurus, as your work is seriously lacking in diplomacy as well as directionality.
With kindest personal regards,
-Artie
Comment by Arthur Andersen Wednesday, Sep 7, 16 @ 10:10 pm
@justacitizen You might want to consider changing your name to justatroll…just sayin.
Comment by PublicServant Thursday, Sep 8, 16 @ 6:34 am