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* Finke…
You can’t blame this one on House Speaker Michael Madigan, although it wouldn’t be surprising if someone tried.
The recurring theme from Gov. Bruce Rauner and most Republicans for months has been that Madigan is the one blocking a resolution on the budget stalemate. Specifically, it was Madigan and the lawmakers he controls, according to the theme.
No doubt, Madigan is a very powerful politician. But even Madigan doesn’t control the Republicans. The Republicans, it appears, are controlled by Rauner, and the governor isn’t ready to accept the Senate’s “grand bargain” that’s been negotiated and tweaked for a couple of months now. Consequently, it was the Senate Republicans last week who effectively pulled the plug on the plan, at least for now.
Senate Democrats immediately charged that some of their Republican colleagues said Rauner threatened them if they voted in favor of the plan. Several Republicans denied that claim. But then, threats don’t have to be blatant to be delivered. Do you think there’s any Senate Republican who doesn’t recall that Rauner bankrolled a primary challenger to Sen. Sam McCann, R-Plainview, last year after McCann voted in favor a labor bill against Rauner’s wishes? So if Rauner says he thinks the bargain isn’t ready yet, enough said.
* Rauner says he still wants a deal…
But the governor called the notion that he was responsible for scuttling the compromise by threatening GOP lawmakers “ridiculous” and “goofy.”
“We’ve been trying to get a grand bargain and a compromise to grow jobs, get a balanced budget and properly fund our schools for months and months, and nobody wants to get a grand bargain more than me,” Rauner told reporters on Friday.
“And I’m willing to compromise. I’ve said there’s nothing that has to be in the deal. There’s no one thing or no two things that have to be in the deal, and I’m encouraging as I always have, both Democrats and Republicans to come together to compromise and get a deal and I’m encouraging it every day.”
* The SJ-R wants the Senate to keep trying…
On behalf of Illinois’ taxpayers, we implore Cullerton and Radogno to not give up. No one else has been willing to work on the difficult task of compromise. While most politicians under the dome view compromise as defeat, Cullerton and Radogno embraced it as a path toward fiscal stability and hope for the state.
* And this is a good point by the News-Gazette editorial board…
If it was easy, an agreement would have been reached long ago.
Yep.
posted by Rich Miller
Monday, Mar 6, 17 @ 9:34 am
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Fake Governor
Comment by Red Rider Monday, Mar 6, 17 @ 9:40 am
== ” … nobody wants to get a grand bargain more than me,” Rauner told reporters on Friday. ==
Why does the Governor’s frequent and insistent hyperbole sound so much like the President’s? “Believe me. Believe me!”
Comment by Linus Monday, Mar 6, 17 @ 9:43 am
The Senate grand bargain doesn’t have enough pork for Rauners corporate interests.
Not enough Roundup to stimulate growth!
Comment by Honeybear Monday, Mar 6, 17 @ 9:45 am
To the Post,
At what point do I start to believe, magically, Leader Radogno lost all support… and Rauner wasn’t actively sabotaging her?
From the Post, Finke…
===“We’ve been trying to get a grand bargain and a compromise to grow jobs, get a balanced budget and properly fund our schools for months and months, and nobody wants to get a grand bargain more than me,” Rauner told reporters on Friday.===
“We”, in this very specific instance, and quite embarrassingly sad, is the Royal “We” Rauner is trying to pass off in glib comments as a collective.
Read that stand alone statement. Even “ck” couldn’t get the Word Jumble calibrated better to articulate the “lone Rauner” demands and then try to seem as though her boss, “Boss Rauner” is with so many.
This quote also makes sharply and harshly clear; It’s matter of trust and Rauner is willing to burn allies as a cost to get all he (Rauner) wants, compromise or not. Rauner wants are the Compromise, not what Leader Radogno knows are the “wins”.
And let me be even clearer, when actions (undercutting Leader Radogno) and words don’t match, and these words that Rauner falsely says are trying to find compromise actually damage governing, that’s intentional pain by “Boss Rauner” unattainable goals.
Rauner wants 100% of his wants for the comprise Cullerton, Radogno… Illinois needs… and if that means being an “out-and-out phony”, Rauner will continue to say ridiculous things like this publicly, and tell others “you don’t want a $&@#% problem” to the weak in a Caucus “Boss Rauner” bought… ever so cheaply, and at the cost of everyone in this state.
Comment by Oswego Willy Monday, Mar 6, 17 @ 9:47 am
Looks to me that Gov. Raunger is afraid of Dan Proft. Proft speaks about the upcoming election cycle and the Gov. threatens each R in the Senate individually to NOT vote for the “Grand bargin”. Tail wagging the dog in my opinion.
Comment by qualified someone nobody sent Monday, Mar 6, 17 @ 9:51 am
It’s pretty simple: the louder, more emphatic Rauner is about a point — getting a budget, feeling frustrated by the lack of social service funding — the more you know he’s lying.
All these “reading the tea-leaves” stories miss the point that Rauner embodies the KISS principle to a tee.
Comment by Bobby Catalpa Monday, Mar 6, 17 @ 9:54 am
===Looks to me that Gov. Raunger is afraid of Dan Proft. Proft speaks about the upcoming election cycle and the Gov. threatens each R in the Senate individually to NOT vote for the “Grand bargin”. Tail wagging the dog in my opinion.===
Yeah, um, “ok”…
Rauner and Uihlein are single-handedly funding Proft.
Until Rauner speaks out against Proft, or Rauner and Uihlein go public with a dispute on policy and tactics and Proft chooses Uihlein over Proft…
This is Rauner projecting his wants, left-handedly, so Rauner won’t be the face of obstruction but the funding mechanism for its messaging.
You may want to rethink how you see dogs, tails, and reality(?)
Comment by Oswego Willy Monday, Mar 6, 17 @ 9:56 am
Here’s the problem: the Senate Dems largely respect and trust Radogno, but she can’t deliver any Republican votes besides her own.
Rauner can deliver plenty of Republican votes, but the Dems don’t respect or trust him — and those ill feelings multiplied 10-fold last week. That make negotiations virtually impossible.
Rauner needs to send a third-party surrogate to the negotiating table with his authority to cut a deal — and it can’t be an individual who is loathed by Senate Dems even more than Rauner himself (subscribers know more.)
Comment by Roman Monday, Mar 6, 17 @ 9:59 am
Not sure why, but Team Superstar seems to have been caught pretty flat-footed by Senate Dems blaming him on this one.
Comment by Arsenal Monday, Mar 6, 17 @ 10:03 am
Radogno has just been thrown under the bus
Comment by Red Rider Monday, Mar 6, 17 @ 10:04 am
“[N]obody wants to get a grand bargain more than me,” Rauner told reporters on Friday. [but Dan Proft said “No”]
Comment by Hamlet's Ghost Monday, Mar 6, 17 @ 10:07 am
I wish Rauner would tell us the ways he has suffered during his budget impasse. Has he known want or need for even a second?
Comment by Albany Park Patriot Monday, Mar 6, 17 @ 10:10 am
Once Governor Proft is on board, the grand bargain will come together quickly.
Yet more impotence. And an utter lack of statesmanship.
Comment by Bobby Catalpa Monday, Mar 6, 17 @ 10:10 am
“I’ve said there’s nothing that has to be in the deal. There’s no one thing or no two things that have to be in the deal”
Talk about “goofy”
Why is the governor allowed to speak such blatant falsehoods without anyone pointing out how he is contradicting himself?
Comment by Henry Francis Monday, Mar 6, 17 @ 10:11 am
===an individual who is loathed by Senate Dems even more than Rauner himself (subscribers know more.)===
I’ve been wondering what Dunkin was up to these days… /s
Comment by Cubs in '16 Monday, Mar 6, 17 @ 10:13 am
…But then, threats don’t have to be blatant to be delivered.
So by this unsubstantiated claim, we now must set a standard that politicians are to be blamed for simply setting an agenda. If anyone in the GA happens to infer the governor’s motives based on this agenda, then he is to blame. Give me a break !
Comment by Lech W Monday, Mar 6, 17 @ 10:16 am
Dan Proft is an errand boy. Rauner is pulling the strings and telling Proft what to do and how to so it. Period.
The question now is, if the SDems accept some of his final final final changes, like tying the income tax increase to a property tax freeze timeline, and getting the IMA on-board with more WC changes, will that be enough for the Governor, or will he keep negotiatin’?
I don’t think the SDems can go much further. Somebody tell Goldberg that we’re pretty close to take it or leave it time.
Also tell him coffee is for closers.
Comment by 47th Ward Monday, Mar 6, 17 @ 10:17 am
===If anyone in the GA happens to infer the governor’s motives based on this agenda, then he is to blame. Give me a break !===
(Sigh)
Agendas are only worth something when they have…
60, 30, and a signature.
Otherwise they are either platitudes, or monkey wrenches when the person using leverage to get something not able to secure 60 and 30 blows up things that can get 60 and 30.
You don’t need a break, you need a shock into reality.
Comment by Oswego Willy Monday, Mar 6, 17 @ 10:22 am
Governor:
It insults our intelligence to suggest that the idea that you, and your money, which made up about 90% of the donations used by R’s during the last election cycle, controlling R legislators is “goofy.”
Comment by AlfondoGonz Monday, Mar 6, 17 @ 10:38 am
=Here’s the problem: the Senate Dems largely respect and trust Radogno, but she can’t deliver any Republican votes besides her own.
Rauner can deliver plenty of Republican votes, but the Dems don’t respect or trust him — and those ill feelings multiplied 10-fold last week. That make negotiations virtually impossible.=
I think there is a lot of truth to both of those statements. And that is a real problem with getting things done.
Comment by JS Mill Monday, Mar 6, 17 @ 10:39 am
We are so way past “take it or leave it time” (TIOLIT), that we cannot see TIOLIT from where we are now. One would think that the business savvy SRepubs and/or Governor would get that, or are they realizing that they overplayed their hand?
Comment by The Real Just Me Monday, Mar 6, 17 @ 10:54 am
== Rauner can deliver plenty of Republican votes, but the Dems don’t respect or trust him — and those ill feelings multiplied 10-fold last week ==
Yep. My sense is a big portion of the Senate Dems have lost all patients with the “grand bargain” effort. If Cullerton starts negotiated directly with Rauner, it will only get worse.
Comment by OH Monday, Mar 6, 17 @ 10:56 am
Governor Rauner, when candidate Rauner, made it pretty clear that mission number 1 was breaking the money flow to the Illinois Democrat Party from organized labor, trial lawyers and law firms in particular to the Madigan controlled Friends of Michael J Madigan, the Democratic Majority fund, the Southwest Side 13th Ward fund and the Democratic Party of Illinois account. Senate President John Cullerton had $4.75 million in the three funds he operates at the start of the year and the flow of funds going to them has also been targeted by the Governor.
Leader Radogno never has had such an ambiguous agenda as the Governor, in fact for years she took union money, as did numerous other Illinois Republicans. I think it’s pretty clear that the so called grand bargain compromise insufficiently from the perspective of the Governor hurts the Democrat allies and limits their cash flow. I doubt that he has not communicated this to Senator Radogno privately, she has ignored the signals at her own peril. Publicly the Governor talks about half-baked deals, but is there any doubt privately he talks about the grand agenda of a power shift in Illinois. Now Radogno is the leader of nothing and has no real control over Republicans in the Senate.
George Ryan pretty much explained this not long ago, it’s no revelation. Ryan said: “Gov. Bruce Rauner wants to destroy the unions, and it’s Madigan’s lifeblood. Madigan has to save the unions; otherwise, he doesn’t survive. And it’s just as simple as that.” (Chicago Sun Times Feb 17, 2017)
Comment by Rod Monday, Mar 6, 17 @ 10:58 am
The best way for Rauner to show support for a grand bargain would have been to publicly support Radogno by condemning IPI and Proft attacks on her.
Cullerton will continue to try because he’s a class act. Having the door slammed in my face this last week, I wouldn’t. I’d make the GOP make a positive move in my direction.
Comment by Norseman Monday, Mar 6, 17 @ 11:34 am
Rauner credibility = 0.0%
Comment by DuPage Monday, Mar 6, 17 @ 12:38 pm
Rich, can you sort this out for us–can your sources say what Rauner told the Repubs about the bargain?
Comment by molly maguire Monday, Mar 6, 17 @ 12:41 pm
Rauner has absolute control over the executive branch, both GOP GA caucuses, the state GOP and sundry propaganda lackeys such as IPI and Proft. Others such as the Chamber and tronclodyte edit board sure behave like they’re bought and paid for.
That’s a Boss.
Perhaps people should start holding him accountable for his actions and their results on his watch.
Comment by Anonymous Monday, Mar 6, 17 @ 12:45 pm
=Rich, can you sort this out for us–can your sources say what Rauner told the Repubs about the bargain?=
He said it’s not 2018!
Comment by JAH Monday, Mar 6, 17 @ 1:10 pm
“If it was e̶a̶s̶y̶ actually the governor’s goal, an agreement would have been reached long ago.”
Occam’s Razor.
– MrJM
Comment by @MisterJayEm Monday, Mar 6, 17 @ 1:12 pm
Bobby Catalpa ==It’s pretty simple: the louder, more emphatic Rauner is about a point — getting a budget, feeling frustrated by the lack of social service funding — the more you know he’s lying.==
“The louder he talked of his honor, the faster we counted our spoons.” Ralph Waldo Emerson
Comment by Whatever Monday, Mar 6, 17 @ 3:11 pm
OMG. The Trib has an editorial up calling on the Governor and the GOP to fix things!
Comment by Keyrock Monday, Mar 6, 17 @ 4:00 pm
Because Rauner and the Republicans he controlls
Comment by facts are stubborn things Monday, Mar 6, 17 @ 7:35 pm