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Question of the day

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Illinois

* What grade would you give to the governor’s budget address and his actual proposed budget?

Please rate both, and explain both grades. Thanks.

posted by Rich Miller
Thursday, Mar 19, 09 @ 11:33 am

Comments

I’d give him a B for presentation (except for the crying and wrapping himself in the flag parts), and a D for his “steal from the rich and distribute to the poor” tax plan.

Comment by BrownandBlack Thursday, Mar 19, 09 @ 11:38 am
A for being blunt and honest. F for raising taxes during a recession.

Comment by So. ILL Thursday, Mar 19, 09 @ 11:41 am
B+ on the address for being straight forward, plain spoken. I would go with a B- on the budget. It is a grown-up budget that recognizes the problems the state has, but it still has some gimmicks, such as fund sweeps and unclear use of recovery dollars, that make me unhappy.

Comment by montrose Thursday, Mar 19, 09 @ 11:52 am
B+. It was honest and sincere. The interest groups and lobbyist may not like it, but this is reality.

It goes to show you no matter who is governor. No matter what the plan. Interest groups will fight it.

Quinn is for the people. Not the powerful special interests.

Its time we get this state back on track.

Comment by Taxman Thursday, Mar 19, 09 @ 11:56 am
A on the address. He had some good sound bites and highlites, tried to focus on the positive. I Would give a B+ on the budget. He made some tough decisions and had some good ideas for the problems we face. This gives us ideas and a solid foundation for the GA to move forward, unlike leaders who toss out ideas with little structure. I marked him down for some ideas which provide little overall budget impact and appear to have been included as feel good or talking pionts, such as furlough days, references to changing the retirment and benefit sytem. these are all locked out by contract, so he is making empty promises on these points, and overall the current cost reduction from these is a drop in a drop in a bucket.

Comment by Ghost Thursday, Mar 19, 09 @ 12:04 pm
A on the address. He was straightforward, sincere and humble. Not the bomb-thrower of 20 years ago. I’ll give an A to the GA for the warm and respectful bipartisan reception and civil tone of the post-address remarks. It’s good to have a new governor.

B- on the budget, which given the circumstances is a pretty high grade. I like the increase in exemptions; helps families. The pension proposals are a step in the right direction. The furlough days are kind of a gimmick. I would have preferred a gasoline tax increase for capital as more progressive and as a way to reward fuel conservation and using public transportation.

Comment by wordslinger Thursday, Mar 19, 09 @ 12:17 pm
A on the address. It wasn’t full of BS like the last 6. Quinn might not be perfect, but at least he is honest. Tax increases are not popular, but we are in a hell of a fix. I don’t like to pay taxes, but they are necessary.

Secondly, I liked the challenge that he laid out for the GA. There are plenty of “No-Men” on the (R) side of the isle. But if you don’t like the plan, offer up something. I hear the cries of “Cut Cut Cut” but nothing specific. If you hate familes, disabled, educators, veterans, and the poor….get out in front of it. If you have the cojoles to say no, at least present a counter-budget.

A on the budget itself. Again, no one likes tax increases, but we need to get out of this mess. Raising Taxes are like having kids. Financially, it will never be the “perfect” time for having a child. Unless you are Bill Gates, you will NEVER have enough money, time or energy. And yet I, and countless others in this state raise our children. And if the taxes go up, we will adjust. Life will go on.

Comment by How Ironic Thursday, Mar 19, 09 @ 12:22 pm
how is a gas tax more progressive???

Comment by dave Thursday, Mar 19, 09 @ 12:22 pm
A on the budget address. He was honest and forthright. Very refreshing.

F on the budget. Everyone in Illinois should contribute to bringing us out of debt - not just state employees. The pension proposal was very troubling. Lawmaker’s pension should be combined with state employees with the same percentage of 1.67% and number of years for retirement. Quinn should be the first to switch over - lead by example.

Comment by Can't Say My Nickname Thursday, Mar 19, 09 @ 12:27 pm
“F on the budget. Everyone in Illinois should contribute to bringing us out of debt - not just state employees.”

I am not saying that the pension proposal offered may not need work, but claiming that the entire burden of fixing the state is on the backs of state employees is hyperbolic. Look at the budget. Everybody is getting hit in one way or another.

Comment by montrose Thursday, Mar 19, 09 @ 12:31 pm
Dave, in the sense that a guy putting thousands of miles on a ‘09 Hummer is paying the same bump in license fees as the guy who drives his 85 Chevette to church on Sundays.

Comment by wordslinger Thursday, Mar 19, 09 @ 12:31 pm
B+ for presentation. I would have given him an A except for his excessive use of the term “mean-spirited” and for not being more specific about the income tax rate he is seeking.

For content, B minus; I would have preferred more broad based but smaller tax hikes (including extension of the sales tax to services) and fewer retreaded budget gimmicks (i.e. skipping pension payments). But give him credit for at least being honest about the situation and boldly going where no governor has gone before in relation to future pension reforms.

Comment by Secret Square Thursday, Mar 19, 09 @ 12:32 pm
Give him a solid B on performance. Sometimes a bit of “deer in the headlights” and he tended to wander off script a few times. But no mistake that he truly believes what he espouses. Proposed budget gets a C-…no real spending changes proposed, no clear indication that any effort was made to look at current spending to look for redundancies or efficiencies (the proposed cuts look token at best with low-hanging fruit). Now, having said that, I’ll give the Governor some benefit of the doubt that in just seven weeks on the job I don’t think he’s had much time to do a top-to-bottom review of agency spending…but it is something that needs to be done. As far as anyone truly believing Illinois was going to get a better deal from Pat Quinn…they get an F-.

Comment by Commonsense in Illinois Thursday, Mar 19, 09 @ 12:34 pm
==Dave, in the sense that a guy putting thousands of miles on a ‘09 Hummer is paying the same bump in license fees as the guy who drives his 85 Chevette to church on Sundays. ==

That is not really progressive. You could also say that someone driving an ‘85 piece of crap will pay more than someone driving a ‘09 Prius.

Consumption taxes are, by definition, regressive. Low-income individuals will pay a larger percentage of their income for the same levels of consumption.

An income tax with large exemptions is much more progressive than a gas tax. Of course, I would have also liked to see an increase in the EITC and the creation of a child tax credit. But then again, I would have liked to see a larger income tax increase also.

Comment by dave Thursday, Mar 19, 09 @ 12:36 pm
A- on the speech. A little humility goes a long way these days. His emotional tribute to the fallen soldier was clearly genuine and heartfelt. A call to go forward as Lincoln would, “With humor, grace, and wisdom,” should be the goal
of all involved in this difficult process.

The budget itself, including the budget “disc” earns a gentleman’s C from Professor AA. The good-faith effort made by Gov. Quinn and his staff to actually have a balanced budget and realistic budgetary assumptions is clouded by a a good deal of residual smoke and mirrors left behind from the previous “administration.” Many important details of the budget were not clearly set forth in the documents as media and bloggers have noted. More importantly, the proposal appears to ignore valid concerns many Illinoisans and their representatives have raised for years, including property tax reform, reductions in State and overall Illinois government size and spending, and the use of pension raids as a program-enhancer or budget-balancing tool. A number of Filan/Blagojevich fiscal gimmicks remain, to Gov. Quinn’s detriment.

Comment by Arthur Andersen Thursday, Mar 19, 09 @ 12:40 pm
A- for presentation. He is easy to like. It’s good to see a Governor passion about something even though it’s not really budget related.

D for budget. Not nearly enough cuts. This still leaves over a 300M hole at the end of FY10. What happens if the economy doesn’t pick up? We won’t have the billions of recovery money to cover the hole. As I predicted, positions are increasing. They claim in order to receive the recovery money but what happens when the money runs out? Are the positions eliminated? I doubt it. They will fall into the category of too small to care about so let’s leave them there and focus on the big stuff.

Comment by Cut It Thursday, Mar 19, 09 @ 12:42 pm
Give him an F on his Performance! The Crisis crap is getting old (Democrats have used it now for the last 6 years non stop) This is the same old left wing answers. The Budget is up 41% in the last 6 years! Inflation was less than 3% 3×6 is what?
As for the tax increase I give him an A for not pretending to be a moderate he is a liberal and he has used liberal policies to try to fix it.

As for representing the people I give him an F!

Comment by mover631 Thursday, Mar 19, 09 @ 12:44 pm
B+ on performance. It was a decent speech and he seemed to mean what he said.

B- on the budget. Times are tough, and I understand the need to sacrifice. Unions will negotiate over the pension stuff, so I’ll leave it to them.

I am not a fan of trying to balance the budget with education stimulus money, though admittedly I haven’t read the language that dictates what it can be used for. Based on what I’ve read on the blog, though, I think it does go against the intended use for the funds.

Comment by Some Guy Thursday, Mar 19, 09 @ 12:44 pm
His presentation was and press conferences were good.

Fox News and WGN both conducted phone polls and even though they are NOT scientific both produced bad news for Quinn. For both polls viewer opposition was nearly 90%.

I guess John & Jane Q Public aren’t happy.

Comment by Unsure Thursday, Mar 19, 09 @ 12:44 pm
B on presentation, A on budget.

No one is going to be happy here. The GA will dispose of what they think will hurt them most on both election days in 2010 (P&G). There aren’t going to be any heroes here.

For the most part, the budget is genuine. It doesn’t pander to labor or business (as evidenced on this blog), asks for across the board sacrifice (except for the GA) and pours concrete.

After all the moaning and groaning about RRB not being able to make tough decisions or making the wrong decisions when he made them, about not raising revenues or raising revenues the wrong way, about mismanagment or lack of management, about pay-to-play or not knowing how to play, about decision-making being so bureaucratic that decisions couldn’t be made, this at least has the semblance of reality to it.

You couldn’t ask for much more than that after Governor Game Show Host and his posse.

Comment by Ms Port Belly Mushroom Thursday, Mar 19, 09 @ 12:51 pm
===The Budget is up 41% in the last 6 years!===

FY2004 General Funds budget: $23.1 billion.

FY2010 General Funds budget (proposed): $28.7 billion (which is a 0.7 percent decrease from FY09).

Total percentage increase: 24.2.

FY2004 total all state budget appropriations: $52.6 billion.

FY2010 total all state approps (proposed): $56.1 billion.

Total percentage increase: 6.65.

Comment by Rich Miller Thursday, Mar 19, 09 @ 12:52 pm
I would give him a B for his presentation but am always, always cautious of kind politicians. I would give him a D on the content and plan as we are still after higher taxes to pay for not making the really hard ‘cut back spending’ choices. You simply cannot continue to squeeze the public and then move along in our old ways of spend, spend, spend. Sorry folks but the pain must come from substantial cuts in Education, Medicaid, and reductions in Union’s raises and benefits. Not paying into pension funds is not a choice. Want to change how the pensions are handled in the future, fine, but don’t borrow against the future savings. And no, I am not a union person. I think they are in great part responsible for both the demise in our state and national economy. If Governor Quinn had announced serious major cuts and restructuring of the way we fund education, Medicaid, and renegotiating union contracts, that would have been a bold thing to do. Yes, I know there are federal mandates but we must solve our own problems and watch the feds obligating us very carefully. We are essentially bankrupt and need to take chapter 11 type action. No time to be Mr. nice guy. It’s time to try and save ourselves from certain financial ruin. We are already in financial chaos with little backbone in our legislature. They are still trying to do what makes them re-electable without making hard, hard choices. Somebody had better start pounding the table and saying enough is enough. We are closer to sinking than to swimming. Oh, on a wonderful note…..only xx more days to the indictments!!

Comment by Justice Thursday, Mar 19, 09 @ 12:53 pm
“Over the last six years, we have seen state spending grow by over $9 billion—a 41% increase,” Tom Cross said today.

Comment by mover631 Thursday, Mar 19, 09 @ 1:05 pm
I agree with Can’tSay except I rate the budget a little higher.

I give the address an A. I liked the don’t say no unless you have an adequate solution challenge. Not that any of them are paying attention to that.

I give the Budget a D. I agree with the point that all state employees should be on the same pension system and on the same health care system. There is no reason for more than one class of state employee. Some will argue that certain high risk employees, State police, prison workers, should have a higher pension multiplier, which they do. However, they also have a higher rate of pay because they are in those jobs so they are doubly rewarded for the same thing.

I also agree that the 2% pension contribution is not fair. First of all, state employees gave back 4% in state paid pension payments in lieu of a raise during Edgar’s austerity program. This was to avoid layoffs of State employees. Then Blago came along and took another 2%. All the while this was going on the State was not making it’s payments to the pension system even though it is required by law since 1995. Now Quinn wants to take another 2% and is still not making full payments to the pension fund. As others have said this budget smells like John Filan. I don’t know if he was consulted or what input he might have had but one of the things I had hoped was that when Quinn took over we would see an across the board change from Blago’s people and their way of doing things. Given that most of those people are still around at hundreds of thousands of dollars each for hacks in deputy director positions, etc. that didn’t exist before Blago, evidently we are not going to see those changes. Why were those cuts not made BEFORE this budget was put together? I am seeing the same filtering out of information as it goes up the chain that became the SOP when Blago took over. What is delivered to the Director’s level is what those just below him want him to hear not what is actually going on. Mr. Quinn needs to understand that State employee morale is at an all time low and taking more whacks at us won’t help. However it seems as though Blago’s theme of “The beatings will continue until morale improves.” is being carried on by the new Administration.

And for those who think being a state employee is cushy, I would ask how they would like to be getting calls from collection agencies because the state isn’t paying insurance claims and figures to be behind by many months for the foreseeable future. Providers aren’t accepting those excuses and the employee is left on the hook because of this budget mess.

Comment by Irish Thursday, Mar 19, 09 @ 1:06 pm
An A for presentation. I felt he was passionate, honest and it is clear he wants to do a good job.

I give his budget a D-. I did the tax calculator to see what our families increase would be and wanted to throw up. And then I took our small business in to consideration and became seriously ill.

Comment by leigh Thursday, Mar 19, 09 @ 1:09 pm
B for presentation. He was pretty honest and open about the situation even though he danced around a few of them, like cutbacks. A far cry from his predecessor.

D for substance. I am one who has felt for months that tax and fee increases during a serious recession are counter-productive. I have been plugging in figures for the tax calculator, and so far I don’t see any real savings to taxpayers, unless you are “octo-mom.” Increasing gas taxes is regressive to the poor, like sales taxes. I also would have scored him higher in this category if the budget showed some serious pain in the form of cutbacks. Not paying pension funds? What, again? Rolling debt into the future to avoid budgeting for it today? What, again? Did I have to hear a radio ad from the state about a 1-800 “stop smoking” hotline the same day of his proposal?

I know he hasn’t had much time in office, but I expected something better substance wise. I always felt he was a policy-wonk type of guy but this budget seems to be more the product of a gadfly than a wonk.

Comment by Louis G. Atsaves Thursday, Mar 19, 09 @ 1:24 pm
B for presentations
D for budget - we may have a new governor but have same old blago budget people

Comment by Anonymous Thursday, Mar 19, 09 @ 1:40 pm
What I heard of the address was A- (at least). The call for shared sacrifice was appropriate. The call for suggestions instead of simply saying “No.” was also very appropriate.

The budget is probably a C. It was put together quickly and during a crisis, so I would be surprised at a better product. I think tripling the personal exemptions does not fit with the idea of shared sacrifice, doubling would have been OK. (We really need to amend the constitution to allow bracketing.)

Two tier retirement systems are not fair, either, but the gov may be boxed in by the constitution on changing the system for existing employees.

I think the years of excessive spending without raising taxes has made people (employee and everyone else) expect more than they should from the state. I doubt if anyone could stomach the cuts necessary to put budget in balance, so tax increases are necessary.

Comment by Pot calling kettle Thursday, Mar 19, 09 @ 1:43 pm
A for presentation. He was honest and sincere. That is new in IL govt.

C for budget only because he did not make enough cuts. I think they could have sharpened the pencil a little more.

All in all, I think it was a good day for Lisa Madigan — which is quite unfortunate.

Comment by Missy Thursday, Mar 19, 09 @ 1:48 pm
B+ on presentation, combing his hair down (to avert the Bozo style, and the glasses to make him look more intelligent) He is going to start a new taxpayer action board to evaluate all state programs and spending. His first act as Governor was the New Reform Commission headed up by Patrick Collins. He says this is only the beginning of the belt tightening.

He talked about reform, transparency, the future, being green, it all sounds good.

A brief overview of the budget is C, I wonder why so much capital improvements, etc. why is the AG office need all the replacement lighting? $72K wow what’s going on there? Even HVAC a Thompson center is half that price. Education and Emergency management are big ticket areas.
Also why is it U of I, that has such high tuition get so much money, next SIU?
Going through the budget I have so many questions on why this, why that.
The biggest chunk of money goes to IDOT.

Comment by Third Generation Chicago Native Thursday, Mar 19, 09 @ 2:01 pm
B for presentation, especially how well he does compared to Blagojevich.

D for budget, it balances itself on the backs of Illinoians who serve the public, and damages our ability to pull ourselves out of the Obama recession.

Comment by VanillaMan Thursday, Mar 19, 09 @ 2:27 pm
A-minus on the speech. It was real, he was genuine. The one thing I expected him to say, and he hasn’t is: “I’m asking for your permission to raise your taxes”. Quinn ably and succinctly laid out the needs and goals, and everybody agrees the stated goals are all good things we should do. Nobody wants to be the first one to say: “Okay, how much do I pay?” We have to slap the people around a little bit to snap them out of blagohypnosis and realize there is no magic credit card, stuff costs money to do, and if it’s worth doing, we gotta pay for it. We haven’t been paying enough for it, and it’s time to pay up.

Thank God for Quinn; he’s absolutely the right man at the right moment for this state. I think he’s going to get buried by a bunch of cowards and liars come election day, they all want him to wear the jacket for the tax increase all alone, and fix it so they can avoid taking criticism themselves. I don’t care. The good of the state for us and our children is more important than political ambition, and Pat may have to get crucified for our past sins, but its not of his making.

He’s just the janitor, come to clean the mess up and set everything back into places, after the kids with ADHD have run roughshod on it for six years.

Comment by Vogon Poet Thursday, Mar 19, 09 @ 3:13 pm
VM:

That was some trick by Obama, starting a recession singlehandedly before even getting elected!

Brilliant commentary as always.

Comment by charles in charge Thursday, Mar 19, 09 @ 3:24 pm
A for presentation; for being direct with his audience, and by not using flim-flam and style over substance. Of course, the bar set by the previous gov over the last 6 years could’ve been hurdled by an intoxicated West Side saloon patron falling out the exit on the way home. Still, PQ is, by most all accounts, a man who backs up what he says and can be believed (his 2006 endorsement of the governor’s ethics still stings…but it may well have been said sarcastically and not quoted that way).

On the budget, I was toying with “Incomplete” because it is a piece of sausage waiting to be made. But I will not cop out, and give him a “C”. On the plus side are his attempt at restoring fiscal solvency and being a good credit risk, as well as trying to avoid the brunt of the hurt to working families. On the negative side is the sense that the state’s business model needs to be put in order before we talk taxes, the out-of-nowhere Peotone airport proposal, and a few symbolic gestures of fiscal responsibility that don’t strike at the heart of the issue (like the week long school supply tax holiday).

Comment by Six Degrees of Separation Thursday, Mar 19, 09 @ 3:38 pm
Pat has been presenting himself as a man of the people for some time, He did it again, a solid B. What he did not do was present himelf strongly enough as a protector of the people. In point of fact Blago and the GA were complicit in getting us where we are today. Blago is gone, Quinn should have sdopted the Trumanesque position of defending the people against the overspending by the legislature. That is the only way that the State can be saved and the only path to 2010 nomination and election. Otherwise LM looks like the independent protector of the people.

On the Budget itself he should have demanded accountability from the legislature and for each Department listed the projected sources and uses of funding, The people are becoming aware that the sweeps are a dirty way of avoiding accountability — providing additional political cover.

The budget as presented represents hopeful tinkering. . It provides patches but no solutions to endemic problems..

The income tax solution does not protect the people does not protect the people from future depradations by the GA or a future governor.

The budget must present itself as a set of preemptive solutions. It does not. It puts the people against the businesses whose growth must provide the additional tax revenue to work our way out of the problems we find ourselves in. It is a class warfare budget. It is not a beacon, it is a flickering candle.

rom me it gets a C minus.
Now to the budget

Comment by Truthful James Thursday, Mar 19, 09 @ 5:10 pm
B. I’m not particularly fond of Quinn’s flat speaking style, and the tax increase is no fun. But I don’t think anyone else, including the Trib, has addressed the state’s budget woes as honestly and clearly as Quinn.

Comment by avarus Thursday, Mar 19, 09 @ 8:44 pm
For those of you who think we can simply cut our way out of this budget deficit, you are idiots. Yes, I agree that some of the sacred cows probably have to be touched, but even doing that doesn’t solve the problem unless you totally gut programs. A tax increase is necessary to fix the mess we are in.

A- on the presentation. B on the budget.

Comment by RJW Thursday, Mar 19, 09 @ 8:58 pm
I Give Quinn an A+ due to his efforts to begin to shore up the Illinois budget crisis. The budget will not get the books back in the black over night, but Quinn is making the tough decisions. I applaud his work ethic and pursuing a budget with many goals.

I take exception and therefore give him an F about keeping state parks/historic sites closed. Opening the historic sites that were closed by the almost indicted author would cost the state very little and the re-openings would enrich the soul of Illinois. Having state parks and historic sites are one of the marketing points in trying to get more companies to bring businesses, families and tourists to Illinois. Currently and into this uncertain economic time, citizens will have much less disposable income, many are on fixed incomes or are on welfare. These less fortunate people and those with more economic means could deepen their appreciation for or learn to love Illinois by spending time at the parks and sites, especially as we have the summer months coming up when children and teachers have much more time on their hands (with less money).

How much can it really cost to provide citizens and tourists with access to Illinois heritage (parks and historic sites)?

The Cost to Benefit ratio leads heavily towards reopening these historical sites and state parks.

How crazy is it that we are celebrating Lincoln’s 200th birthday this year and will have an inordinate number of extra tourists than other years in Springfiels? But we have one major attraction CLOSED - The Dana Thomas House - a Frank Lloyd Wright creation? hmmmmm We will look like a very third rate place to visit from a tourist;s point of view and the rumors throughout the travel industry will spread and all because a tiny, tiny nit was slashed from a budget.

Dismiss state workers in unions for performing some state services and replace them with people that agree to more competitive salaries and benefits packages. This has to fix a lot of what ails the Illinois budget because being forced to pay union wages for any state work is killing the state’s economic status.

AIG exec’s are taking HUGE bonuses - I see quite a parallel between AIG holding taxpayers hostage as I see the state workers’ unions holding the state government hostage and burying the state’s economic health.

Off Soap Box

Comment by Leah Friday, Mar 20, 09 @ 1:04 am