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* Do you think Gov. Pat Quinn will actually follow through to the end with today’s announced facility closings and worker layoffs? Or is this a bluff? Take the poll and then explain your answer in comments, please. Thanks.
posted by Rich Miller
Thursday, Sep 8, 11 @ 1:49 pm
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He expects to get his way during veto session especially with his cracker jack staff making his case as usual. LOL. Snark intended
Comment by Cassiopeia Thursday, Sep 8, 11 @ 1:54 pm
I picked “its something else” because its becoming increasingly obvious Quinn’s left hand doesn’t know what his right hand is signing
Comment by Roadiepig Thursday, Sep 8, 11 @ 1:56 pm
“Do you think Gov. Pat Quinn will actually follow through to the end with today’s announced facility closings and worker layoffs? Or is this a bluff?”
He intends to follow through, but it will end up as a weak bluff.
– MrJM
Comment by MrJM Thursday, Sep 8, 11 @ 1:58 pm
“He’s serious.”
That could mean he is seriously bluffing about something else.
Comment by Floyd Smoot Thursday, Sep 8, 11 @ 2:02 pm
If taking the kind of abuse he’s about to take - all the while only “kidding” or “bluffing,” one would have to conclude he is a nut job. And if he’s not bluffing and I don’t think he is; he has effectively honked off a large swath of the G.A. And that was a huge misstep.
He has to remember the hellish atmosphere when Gov. B announced the closure of Vandalia and took a whack at Pontiac. Endless demonstration; endless bickering; endless sessions. Good luck Pat – this may be the end for you too.
Comment by in absentia Thursday, Sep 8, 11 @ 2:04 pm
It’s going to be whatever happens. If it goes through, he meant it. If it gets fixed, it was a bluff
Comment by Crow04 Thursday, Sep 8, 11 @ 2:05 pm
Bluff? Hey guys, the state is broke! Quinn almost doubled the income tax rate, and the state is still broke! There is no money. Who can’t understand this (other than certain unions)?
Comment by formerpolitico Thursday, Sep 8, 11 @ 2:06 pm
I think it is a ploy to get more appropriations in either the fall session or in January, when the dems will have complete control again.
We just received a memo from the Secretary of Human Services outlining what will occur.
Here is the info she provided:
“DHS today delivered to the Commission on Government Forecasting and Accountability (COGFA) proposed plans to close three State psychiatric hospitals for persons with mental illness and two State developmental centers. They include:
Singer Mental Health Center in Rockford,
Chester Mental Health Center in Chester,
Tinley Park Mental Health Center in Tinley Park,
Mabley Developmental Center in Dixon and the
Jacksonville Developmental Center in Jacksonville.
Proposed closures must go through a process that includes review and recommendation from COGFA members. This process includes a 30-day comment period and requires that within 50 days, the Commission shall file an advisory opinion. In the interim, DHS may take no action to implement the recommendation for closure of a State facility.”
So it take up to 80 days for anything at all to happen on these closures. Plenty of time for behind the scenes dealing. We are looking at late December at the earliest. Additionally, the union contract requires a 30 day notice for layoffs. This could move any closings well into the new year.
Comment by Fed Up Thursday, Sep 8, 11 @ 2:16 pm
Another in a long line of bluffs to get everyone stirred up. I acknowledge that at some point the sky might actually fall when Henny Penny squawks or there might actually be a wolf when Peter cries out, so it’s not outside the possibility that some of this could come to pass, but I can’t attribute whatever happens next to the Governor’s announcement or leadership. It’s kind of like the broken clock: it’s still right twice a day.
Comment by Earnest Thursday, Sep 8, 11 @ 2:17 pm
Historically speaking there is a pretty strong negative correlation between things Quinn says and things he does.
Comment by Dirt Digger Thursday, Sep 8, 11 @ 2:22 pm
It’s something else. I think Quinn thinks a supplemental is needed, and I believe Cullerton agrees with him. Whether that’s enough to get Madigan on board remains to be seen, but I don’t think Quinn is bluffing. And I don’t think he wants to close these facilities.
We’ve been playing musical chairs for some time in Illinois now. The music stopped, and Quinn figured out he didn’t have a chair to sit in. Now he’s saying the General Assembly has the ability to give him a chair, but it’s up to them. If they don’t give him a chair, he’ll take AFSCME’s.
Comment by 47th Ward Thursday, Sep 8, 11 @ 2:23 pm
It’s going to be a bluff,unless Cullerton or Madagin changes his mind.
Comment by mokenavince Thursday, Sep 8, 11 @ 2:27 pm
If it’s an appropriation issue they could get a supplemental but there needs to be cash behind it.
Comment by Bonsaso Thursday, Sep 8, 11 @ 2:28 pm
It’s a bluff, but sometimes bluffs get called and you have to play the cards you have. So it all still could happen.
I get the feeling Quinn thinks he’s going to get some more money out of the GA by signing the casino bill. But he wants the money first.
Comment by wordslinger Thursday, Sep 8, 11 @ 2:29 pm
I call it as something else as I have not noticed direct lines between Quinn’s statements and ultimate results.
Comment by D.P. Gumby Thursday, Sep 8, 11 @ 2:29 pm
I know something has to change but no one wants to give anything up…. He is can’t back down now, can he? Wouldn’t he look like a-a-a-a-a FOOL?
Comment by Lil Enchilada Thursday, Sep 8, 11 @ 2:35 pm
I know he’s threatened this kind of thing time and time again. But he’s not bluffing– if the GA doesn’t mix it up a little, there won’t be money to pay for these things.
The reality is this cash is NOT that hard to come up with, so there’s a pretty small likelihood these closures will actually happen (which is not the same thing as him bluffing.) He hinted that there were some possible accounting errors that would lead to making up some of the needed cash, and said the cuts could be avoided all together if his vetoes were sustained. While that’s not likely, it is likely there’s some general shuffling that can be done to keep AFSCME happy.
It’s also possible the revenue estimates really were off base, and that there will be more money to work with than we thought.
That said, if there is no more cash, the Gov can’t simply print more to keep these things going. Right?
Comment by WhoElseGoesDown Thursday, Sep 8, 11 @ 2:40 pm
47th took the words right outta my mouth…BTW, where the hell is Madigan these days? If I remember correctly, didn’t he and the House Republicans have an alliance and cram this budget down the throats of the GA last Spring?
I beleive he wears the jacket for this mess to the nth degree…he loves to fiddle whilst the State budget tanks, shrug his shoulders, have Steve Brown issue some irksome statement and or just disappear at times like this…
Comment by Loop Lady Thursday, Sep 8, 11 @ 2:41 pm
I voted something else. I don’t think Quinn is going to have to close the facilities, I think the GA will appropriate the money.
Comment by Small Town Liberal Thursday, Sep 8, 11 @ 2:42 pm
Quinn doesn’t even know.
Comment by Fed up Thursday, Sep 8, 11 @ 2:47 pm
Hey Earnest, get your storybooks right. Chicken Little said the sky was falling: Henny Penny baked bread.
Comment by lincolnlover Thursday, Sep 8, 11 @ 2:59 pm
He WANTS it to be a bluff but without a supplemental approp it will become reality. Unless they got the math wrong.
Comment by Hawkeye Thursday, Sep 8, 11 @ 3:14 pm
Politics for now. I trash Quinn plenty but the guy has a heart, which is his achillies heal. I have a hard time believing this public servant has the guts to layoff that many people.
And if the heart fails he will more than likely cave to the next legislative blow back that further destroys his image.
Comment by Dirty Red Thursday, Sep 8, 11 @ 3:14 pm
Can we all agree not to vote for this yahoo next time?
Comment by Homer J. Simpson Thursday, Sep 8, 11 @ 3:19 pm
Who won yesterday?!?!?! I’m dying to know. I thought I had a good entry.
Comment by Its Just Me Thursday, Sep 8, 11 @ 3:21 pm
Thanks for reminding me. Posted.
Comment by Rich Miller Thursday, Sep 8, 11 @ 3:27 pm
I’m not sure he has much choice. I think he might think it’s a bluff to get the legislature to pay for the stuff he feels they missed out, but I don’t think they’ll bite except in very select circumstances.
Comment by Angry Chicagoan Thursday, Sep 8, 11 @ 3:33 pm
Is there any way to vote for all three?
Comment by Cincinnatus Thursday, Sep 8, 11 @ 3:34 pm
This needs to be verified, but it looks like all of the closings are taking place in Republican strongholds. Its something else, because Quinn wants the GOP to back off on their “cuts only” budget strategy.
Comment by bobo Thursday, Sep 8, 11 @ 3:35 pm
bobo, that’s not true. Also, there’s another thread for that sort of comment. Stick to the question, please.
Comment by Rich Miller Thursday, Sep 8, 11 @ 3:37 pm
It’s a bluff. Why would anything change now??
Comment by TimB Thursday, Sep 8, 11 @ 3:38 pm
He is certainly not a serious person, and he is not bright enough to bluff. Must be something else.
Comment by wishbone Thursday, Sep 8, 11 @ 3:40 pm
It’s a bluff, a very risky one. He’s hoping to force more money out of the GA, but he’s playing this at the expense of the most fragile citizens in this state. Bad PR move.
Comment by Wensicia Thursday, Sep 8, 11 @ 3:50 pm
Why would this be a bluff? Oh I forgot, he will back down under pressure. Pressure from whom? AFSCME? Families? Providers? GA members talking a party line? Talk to higher ups within DHS. They are clear: they will run out of money by April. That’s money to pay for anything state ops, community services, salaries, grants, special projects, you name it. Just move those people living in state facilities to a community residential program. Those programs are not free and people needing special services can easily cost far more than the current state op rates. How about talking to the GA members who decided to cut the budgets. Ok, you cut. Now what happens? Without money how will the state pay any provider and without money what provider will take people with involved problems? Cutting sounds easy. Cuts hitting real people with real needs will come back to bite you.
Comment by zatoichi Thursday, Sep 8, 11 @ 3:55 pm
By doing this he has successfully split the two republican caucuses so as much as I hate to say it, this was a genius move by Quinn.
Comment by Poilitical Junkie Thursday, Sep 8, 11 @ 4:05 pm
For those of you who don’t know, the facility in Chester is the maximum security state psych hospital. This is housing for the most violent/dangerous mentally ill folk. Some of them have been found not guilty by reason of insanity. Most have violent actions in their past. The other MHCs in the state are not equipped to handle these and so staff and other patients in those facilities will be at risk.
Frankly, I don’t think PQ is “bluffing” here. I do think he is playing a game of chicken, tho. That is why I voted “something else”. Since he can’t appropriate the funds to cover the gap between revenue and costs he can only close, I suppose. PQ is counting on the GA to feel the pressure and respond.
I am not as keen a political observer as many here - I would wonder that perhaps there would be another way to get this done. Other governors would use other tactics. This will be interesting.
Comment by dupage dan Thursday, Sep 8, 11 @ 4:21 pm
I said it’s something else. Quinn is frustrated with people not working together. I think if he has to he will follow through.
Comment by 3rd Generation Chicago Native Thursday, Sep 8, 11 @ 4:25 pm
BTW - these closures and layoffs will “save” the state about $55 mil per the Tribune. Given the financials involved, this seems like “small potatoes”. Surely the GA can move some chairs around on the deck of the sinking Titanic, I mean state of Illinois, and get those funds over to where they are needed.
Comment by dupage dan Thursday, Sep 8, 11 @ 4:25 pm
Its a bluff. He is using the same play book as last year, just a different page. Look back to the debate over getting his tax increase passed. he picked who would be layed off, and what services would be cut by who would raise the biggest ruckus and make the most noise. Then, they had to pass a tax increase, they didnt have a choice, besides look at how many people want it. Now this year. He wanted to borrow $9 Billion and was told no he couldnt. So, now he puts up this plan to get the same reactions, and they will have to let him borrow the money he wants. If he were serious, he would cut unneeded expenditures, and stop new projects and give-aways. How much is this saving? How much will the state spend on a new exit ramp for Ford Motor Co? How much did he spend on his staff raises, and unneccessary promotions? How many useless Administrative jobs making over $100,00 will he eliminate? How many of these jobs has he created? He is doing this to draw your attention to the show in the center ring that he wants you to see, and just ignore the giant pink elephant behind the curtain
Comment by SO IL M Thursday, Sep 8, 11 @ 4:27 pm
Something else. This fellow is “A Rebel Without a Clue”.
Comment by Justice Thursday, Sep 8, 11 @ 4:30 pm
- I would wonder that perhaps there would be another way to get this done. -
I wonder, too. However, I certainly can’t think of any way. In this cut everything environment, I think some shouting for the cuts better wake up to what that really means. If Quinn can get the message that the GA caused this to stick with the citizens, those legislators are going to get some angry phone calls.
Comment by Small Town Liberal Thursday, Sep 8, 11 @ 4:32 pm
We voted. Something else because u did list don’t care
Comment by circularfiringsquad Thursday, Sep 8, 11 @ 4:41 pm
You know, trying to guess a Quinn motivation is similar to trying to guess the number of angels on a pin(head).
Comment by Cincinnatus Thursday, Sep 8, 11 @ 4:57 pm
he’s clueless, incompetent,spineless and a model flipper, and these are his good points.
Comment by jt Thursday, Sep 8, 11 @ 5:12 pm
If he was going to bluff, why not just say you are going to make cuts (you can’t name the facilities) and ask the leaders to talk about more funds, or annouce it as part of a budget address.
This is about this year’s budget if you think going to COGFA with notices to close is something done lightly you don’t know much about what the COGFA process involves.
Comment by Give Me A Break Thursday, Sep 8, 11 @ 5:26 pm
Any chance afscme’s lawyers asked him to do this?
Comment by Huey Thursday, Sep 8, 11 @ 5:26 pm
The sites he has selected (at least some) are not duplicated elsewhere in our state (CMH) and are not duplicated by community agencies. Bluff!
Comment by Mongo Thursday, Sep 8, 11 @ 5:37 pm
It’s something else.
Being Serious (about budget cuts)? - not on your life. This is Pat Quinn we’re talking about here. If it were the Republicans or Mike Madigan, yeah, they’d be serious. Dead serious. Beyond Quinn’s capabilities to pull it off.
A Bluff? No chance. The guy couldn’t bluff his way out of a wet, torn, shredded paper sack. When you don’t have a poker face, you don’t bluff - don’t even try. That fits Pat Quinn to a “T”.
It’s got to be “Something Else”, likely as in “I want to make this somebody else’s problem like right now”.
Comment by Judgment Day Thursday, Sep 8, 11 @ 6:07 pm
OK, you say he’s bluffing because instead you know he really wants to…..? There aren’t any better answers, folks. There could well be a different (starting) list, but the old bills aren’t being paid, there are more under-approps than there are new revenue dollars, so there will be cuts.
The only way out would be if PQ and the GA are already willing to go back to the old way of just approping without regard to whether there are cash revenues to support the approps. I can’t imagine that happening yet.
The math on this is pretty implacable.
Comment by steve schnorf Thursday, Sep 8, 11 @ 6:16 pm
I don’t think this is a bluff in that he does not intend to follow through. The papers were calling him irrelevant a week or ago.
Closing facilities is something a Governor can do mostly on his own. True there is a review process in the legislature but they have to admit that the money isn’t there to run the programs.
The other high card Quinn is holding is that the state does need to close some of the mental health and developmental disabilities facilities. The numbers of people living there have shrunk drastically but the facilities stay open, keeping jobs in those counties. There’s no economic or service justification for the number of facilities anymore.
Instead of a bluff I think this is a good strategy. Start from a point of strength (the power to initiate facility closures) and know what you want. I am sure what Quinn wants is the debt refinance bill he failed to sell in the spring. That pays off the old bills, cuts the interest rate the state has to pay, and makes the cash flow from the tax increase go to FY2012 operations.
I think the end result will be closure of one or two of the underpopulated state facilities, authorization of the debt refinancing bonds, and peace and love throughout Springfield. For about ten minutes.
Comment by DuPage Dave Thursday, Sep 8, 11 @ 7:20 pm
I don’t think it’s a bluff at all. I’m starting to see crazy like a fox. I’m actually impressed and I’m a state worker. Somebody has to step up to the plate and take a swing.
Comment by Former Merit Comp Slave Thursday, Sep 8, 11 @ 7:33 pm
Ok. Layoffs are coming. What are the titles in these small agencies that will have the layoffs DHR, ICC, etc.? Any management titles? Will they eliminate any vacant positions at these agencies?
Comment by Blue Dog Thursday, Sep 8, 11 @ 7:38 pm
Bluff. He thinks the voters will blame heir legislators for this and not him. He is wrong about that; one governor is way easier to fi for that jacket than numerous reps and senators.
And I don’t understand why he thought he should go this way, unless Madigan is really that implacable. Quinn was Mister reconciliation and collaboration when he started the job, eager to talk to anybody and everybody in the GA. Now he seems all dug in.
Comment by Gregor Thursday, Sep 8, 11 @ 8:26 pm
Trust me. He’ll do it. He doesn’t want to…and he wants to use it as leverage against the General Assembley…but in the end, the money’s really not there…and he can’t keep pulling rabbits out of his hat. He’ll do it. He’ll feel horriable about it… but there really is no other choice. Everyone one who thinks this is a bluff is walking through a fog of political B.S. You have to look at the actual situation… If he has to do this, may as well take a jab at the GA as he bites the bullet. It’s a last-ditch-effort.
Comment by Tex Thursday, Sep 8, 11 @ 8:52 pm
I’m with Steve, I don’tthink this is a bluff at all. There isn’t enough $$ to fund the agency budgets and the bills are piling up. Unless Obama keeps printing money and handing it down to the states, there will have to be cuts. The money at the federal level is “free”, doesn’t everyone know that?
Comment by Holdingontomywallet Thursday, Sep 8, 11 @ 9:29 pm
I’m hoping it’s a bluff. DD is right, Chester is the only one of its kind in Illinois and houses some very dangerous people. We sent a fellow there on Tuesday and the court’s expert said the guy was the most psychotic individual he’s ever evaluated (Dr. has been in the business since 1977).
Quinn’s office told me today the plan is to move the residents of Chester to the Alton facility, which as a minimum security facility would have to be significantly modified to house residents from Chester. That’s one reason Chester is scheduled to be the last facility closed.
Comment by Transplant Thursday, Sep 8, 11 @ 10:35 pm