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* Legislative Democrats have been holding rallies and other media events the past several days to highlight budget issues…
What started off as a positive rally last week to pull community and social service groups together in a collective voice to oppose budget cuts proposed by Gov. Bruce Rauner turned sour during the final minutes of the event.
The June 25 rally, hosted by members of the Illinois Legislative Black Caucus, drew a standing-room only crowd of concerned citizens and advocacy groups at Austin’s Senior Satellite Center, 5071 W. Congress Pkwy. […]
But as the crowd began to file out after the two-hour rally was winding down, a visibly shaken and emotional Lightford quickly came back to the podium with some unfortunate news: Rauner had just vetoed the budget sent to him by state lawmakers, only a day after signing off on a bill that would provide the funds needed to allow public elementary and high schools to open in the fall.
“At first, it was just a little surprising that the governor would sign the education portion yesterday, and then turn around today and cut the entire bill,” Lightford said. “But it just shows me the selfishness in the way he’s looking to govern, that if we don’t give him everything he wants, then he’s willing to hurt people.”
* Phil Kadner…
A Southland mayor referred to the governor as “Rauner Hood” because he’s the opposite of Robin Hood, “he steals from the poor and gives to the rich.”
Also Thursday, State Sen. Michael Hastings, D-Tinley Park, called on the head of the Illinois Department of Human Services to quit while addressing a legislative black caucus rally at South Suburban College, where elected officials detailed the devastating impact of budget cuts on Southland social services.
The next day, at a forum on “The State Budget and Its Impact on the Southland Region” at Governors State University, speakers from the south suburban chapter of United Way and from Voices for Illinois Children talked about Gov. Bruce Rauner’s decision to veto a budget plan that was underfunded by $3 billion to $4 billion. They said the veto would harm local communities by cutting aid to disabled people and single parents who rely on day care and by eliminating summer jobs programs for youngsters.
At each of the forums, people in the audience were encouraged to support tax increases to adequately pay for programs for people in need.
* More…
State Rep. Brandon Phelps (118th District) was hot under the collar Monday, June 22, and not just because of the warm temperatures outside the Williamson County Programs on Aging building in Herrin.
“The governor’s making us sweat, too,” said Phelps, a Democrat from Harrisburg, who joined 117th District State Rep.John Bradley, D-Marion, and 59th District State Sen. Gary Forby, D-Benton, at a press conference to discuss their opposition to Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner’s budget plan.
Among the proposed cuts in Rauner’s plan, the three lamented proposals to close Southern Illinois facilities and reduce or eliminate funding for certain rural health care treatments, home energy assistance, in-home care for the elderly and other services.
“The governor should be focused on cutting waste in Springfield and Chicago, not cutting jobs here in Southern Illinois,” Phelps said.
* But one didn’t quite go as planned…
With Illinois just one day away from shutting down services, residents filled a room at the Fountaindale Public Library on Monday night to air concerns to Democrat lawmakers.
Some expressed concern over what could happen to key state services if a budget deal is not struck by the end of Tuesday, while others criticized lawmakers for not compromising with Gov. Bruce Rauner on his reform proposals. […]
Joe Nichols of Shorewood was quick to point out the blame should not fall solely on Rauner, who is six months into his first term and blasted the Democratic Party for years of operating Illinois in the red.
“I think, you, the Democratic Party should hang its head in shame. [Rauner] has a mess on his hands, and who created this mess?” Nichols said. “We’re constantly talking about ‘Oh, Rauner’s cutting this, Rauner’s cutting that. He’s the bad guy.’ … Yet we don’t seem to have the money. Well, I’m going to throw it right back in your lap and ask what are you going to do about it?”
posted by Rich Miller
Tuesday, Jun 30, 15 @ 11:09 am
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Democracy, gotta love it.
Comment by walker Tuesday, Jun 30, 15 @ 11:13 am
==Surprising–
Anyone who is surprised by anything that transpires in this circus should resign because you are not up to the task.
If you believe he was going to sign a budget that was illegal and unconstitutional, you are delusional.
…so said Phelps, Bradley, and Forby, as they peeked from the snug surroundings of Mike Madigan’s pocket….
These guys could not get a CCW bill out of Madigan when he knew the law was unconstitutional until the Court made him. Forby and Phelps lost a 20 million dollar state facility at the hand of Quinn. What exactly are you guys doing for Southern IL, other then giving the keys to the car to the Chicago Speaker.
Comment by the Patriot Tuesday, Jun 30, 15 @ 11:16 am
If you’re going to go after Rauner owning it and getting “called” on the past… And not prepared to respond, welp, it’s no wonder the Dems can’t get it to stick.
It’s about choices. Never has a governor made so many choices, and owned so few.
If Rauner is indeed the hero for making the cuts necessary after the 12 years of Blago-Quinn, then let the Governor stand up and say “I’m doing it. These are my choices, I chose.”
So, let Rauner be judged on fixing the mess, not praised for … not… taking the heat.
The Rauner Cuts are choices by an administration. If those opposing the cuts can’t make it about the choices in a narrative, you don’t have a narrative, you just a slogan.
Comment by Oswego Willy Tuesday, Jun 30, 15 @ 11:29 am
The middle class is decreasing in Illinois, but the Democrats want to continue the old method of tax and spend!
Comment by Anonymous Tuesday, Jun 30, 15 @ 11:29 am
So I take it Rauner is abandoning any plan to raise taxes on exchange for his agenda and is all in on non budget changes and cutting the budget???
Comment by LIberty Tuesday, Jun 30, 15 @ 11:38 am
“But it just shows me the selfishness in the way he’s looking to govern, that if we don’t give him everything he wants, then he’s willing to hurt people.”
How about you give him just ONE thing he wants, and see what happens? Maybe try that.
Comment by Anon Tuesday, Jun 30, 15 @ 11:40 am
===“The governor should be focused on cutting waste in Springfield and Chicago, not cutting jobs here in Southern Illinois,” Phelps said.====
Wow, what a statesman. Lightford is never a surprise. No depth, but plenty of bluster. It is a bit difficult though to put together an event to share something when you really have nothing to share. The people are more on to this with every passing day.
You can tell some of them that water ain’t wet, but not most of them. Chickens are coming home to roost and it’s very uncomfortable.
Comment by A guy Tuesday, Jun 30, 15 @ 11:44 am
The Governor is absolutely right on this: the Democrats only want to talk about tax increases. They have no interest in any reform whatsoever.
You may say his reform agenda is unrelated to the State budget, and I disagree. Not only does our State’s economic climate have a direct impact on our State’s revenue, but Rauner believes (and most agree) that everything in Springfield is broken, it’s all related to each other in that context.
Comment by Not it Tuesday, Jun 30, 15 @ 11:44 am
==How about you give him just ONE thing he wants, and see what happens? Maybe try that.== Like a Property Tax freeze?
Comment by SAP Tuesday, Jun 30, 15 @ 11:46 am
Whatever you say, Senator Lightford.
I wonder how much “compromise” Senator Lightford was willing to negotiate when she was part of the working groups. She seems like an “all or nothing” kind of elected officials. In the past her remarks seem to boil down to either “if you cut programs at all, you hate the poor” and “if you vote against education spending, you could care less about the kids”.
Comment by Team Sleep Tuesday, Jun 30, 15 @ 11:50 am
Is MySuburanLife incapable of writing “Democratic”?
Comment by Precinct Captain Tuesday, Jun 30, 15 @ 11:55 am
The Democrats have no interest in a reform agenda that is intended to take from the middle class and enrich the corporations by privatizing Illinois’ public schools. The corporations can’t wait to get their hands on the billions in profits they see in doing this.
Comment by Enviro Tuesday, Jun 30, 15 @ 11:58 am
Tell me about our terrible economic climate… Wisconsin is doing just great! Why does the Governor want to invite the type of businesses that are interested in exploiting the workers of this state by paying them sub-standard wages and sub-standard benefits? The people of Illinois are not interested the Governor’s race to the bottom agenda.
Comment by Umm like Tuesday, Jun 30, 15 @ 12:10 pm
I like the Rauner Hood idea. Will we soon see him standing outside events like Quinnochio did?
Comment by Stuff Happens Tuesday, Jun 30, 15 @ 12:17 pm
So far Rauner has done nothing but squawk.
Comment by All the answers Tuesday, Jun 30, 15 @ 12:34 pm
I’m very new to this site, and this is my first post, but WOW
Comment by noon time drink Tuesday, Jun 30, 15 @ 12:45 pm
I’m very new to this site, and this is my first post, but WOW there’s a lot of sore losers in here. Rauner handily won the election in the only district that cannot be gerrymandered (i.e. a statewide election) and he’s using what is called political capital. Rauner is doing exactly what he was elected to do. And the irony is that the commenters here don’t even realize that the majority of citizens of IL who voted for Rauner are watching this play out and aren’t at all blaming Rauner for this implosion. They’re going to blame their local (D) rep. Rauner said once that he’s succeeded at everything he’s done in his life and he intended to succeed at governor. Amateur hour is in full swing in Springfield at the moment.
Comment by noon time drink Tuesday, Jun 30, 15 @ 12:46 pm
@ noon time drink
Are you a troll?
Comment by Anonymous Tuesday, Jun 30, 15 @ 12:51 pm
Forby and Phelps…..ha! They had it good when Quinn was in place…..agree with noon time drink…..there are a lot of people backing Rauner although they may not say that around their union friends….
Comment by Anonymous Tuesday, Jun 30, 15 @ 12:53 pm
===They had it good when Quinn was in place===
lol
Remember the Tamms closing?
Not so good.
Comment by Rich Miller Tuesday, Jun 30, 15 @ 12:56 pm
@ Noon Time Drink, Rauner got only 49.5% of the total ballots cast in Nov. and less than 25% of registered voters even bothered to vote for him. Not even close to a majority of IL citizens.
Comment by MyTwoCents Tuesday, Jun 30, 15 @ 1:02 pm
I’m not a troll. Everyone here is trashing Rauner yet they all seem to forget that he was elected by a majority of IL voters.
It’s a bit like visiting a fox news comment site where everyone is still calling Obama a Kenyan born dictator 6 years into his 8 years as president.
I don’t necessarily agree with everything Rauner is asking for, especially the tort reforms (except for the madison county reforms which are completely necessary) but i can’t imagine anyone who voted for rauner is going to be calling him “raunerhood” that’s just amateurish.
Comment by noon time drink Tuesday, Jun 30, 15 @ 1:02 pm
Rauner quite frankly was the only change that was available to statewide voters. IIRC, my districts up here near chicago gave me no one running in opposition to both my local reps. There was no one, what kind of a democracy is that? Rauner is doing what he was elected to do and now it’s time to make compromises, the people of the state of IL want it.
Comment by noon time drink Tuesday, Jun 30, 15 @ 1:04 pm
(Sigh)
===Everyone here is trashing Rauner yet they all seem to forget that he was elected by a majority of IL voters.===
No, Rauner seems to forget the legislature is co- equal.
===It’s a bit like visiting a fox news comment site where everyone is still calling Obama a Kenyan born dictator 6 years into his 8 years as president.====
So, your victimhood here is based on the premise of how others see the President? Are. You. New. Here? Being a victim here doesn’t usually go well, and claiming the crutch of other blog as the same as it is here, yikes.
===…but i can’t imagine anyone who voted for rauner is going to be calling him “raunerhood” that’s just amateurish.===
I’m guessing some AFSCME members that voted Rauner over Quinn might be calling him other names…
===Rauner is doing what he was elected to do and now it’s time to make compromises, the people of the state of IL want it.===
Rauner gets 71 and 36, then he’ll get some shakin’ and bringin’ back too.
Comment by Oswego Willy Tuesday, Jun 30, 15 @ 1:32 pm
“So, your victimhood here is based on the premise of how others see the President? Are. You. New. Here? Being a victim here doesn’t usually go well, and claiming the crutch of other blog as the same as it is here, yikes.”
Whoa, what a goofy response. I’m not sure how to even respond to that.
Well, this is my first time here, and probably now my last now too.
See y’all later!
Comment by noon time drink Tuesday, Jun 30, 15 @ 2:02 pm
===Everyone here is trashing Rauner yet they all seem to forget that he was elected by a majority of IL voters.===
Rauner was elected, on the basis of what we now know to be blatantly misleading campaign promises, to (1) not raise taxes, (2) root out inefficiency and waste, and (3) be a competent administrator. He was not elected to railroad his “turnaround agenda” that he kept silent about during the campaign or to run the state over the cliff.
Comment by RNUG Tuesday, Jun 30, 15 @ 2:08 pm
drink, clearly you’re new, because nowhere near a majority of Illinois voters voted for him. He spent 60 million dollars to beat the most unpopular governor in America by 160,000 votes
Comment by Anonymous Tuesday, Jun 30, 15 @ 2:19 pm
- RNUG - Tuesday, Jun 30, 15 @ 2:08 pm:==
Count me as a big fan of yours, but that explanation is naive on it’s best day.
Comment by A guy Tuesday, Jun 30, 15 @ 3:24 pm
So Mike Hastings is supporting a fat tax increase to avoid reform? Funny thing, he never campaigned on that when he ran for State Senate and school board.
The Hastings machine pretty much has the clout to weather any storm (anybody who can kick Maggie Crotty out on her derrier has a LOT of political muscle), but now Mike can be branded as a tax hiker. It won’t hurt now, but may when he runs for statewide office or Congress.
Time to start branding him this way now, GOP. This guy is going to go far if you don’t stop him.
Comment by Arizona Bob Tuesday, Jun 30, 15 @ 3:31 pm
Jim Edgar borrowed money from the State pension fund in 1995 and back loaded the repayments far into the future. The Republican controlled House and republican controlled Senate passed this legislation.
Now here we are dealing with these consequences but now it’s all the Democrats fault.
When politicians make statements that are factually incorrect the media should set the record straight before perpetuating the fallacy in print.
Comment by Chicago 20 Tuesday, Jun 30, 15 @ 4:09 pm
Chicago 20, speaking of inaccurate, Edgar did not “borrow” a dime from the pensions in 1995 or any other time. Let’s be clear. Contributions were insufficient and non-actuarially based. That is fundamentally different from reaching into the till and taking money, as in “borrowing.”
Comment by Arthur Andersen Tuesday, Jun 30, 15 @ 5:18 pm
Guy, since you hilariously had the nerve to call out RNUG on the three points he made, please rebut them, point by point, as to why they are “naive.”
Seriously, you insult RNUG as naive, Einstein? You can’t possibly be that unaware as to the shallowness of your contribution to the ongoing discussion.
And I don’t think anyone cares if you’re a “big fan” or “smitten” or who you “like.” Try tigerbeat.com.
Can you not engage like a thinking adult, or are you pulling a gag?
Comment by Wordslinger Tuesday, Jun 30, 15 @ 7:04 pm
==Rauner was elected, on the basis of what we now know to be blatantly misleading campaign promises, to (1) not raise taxes, (2) root out inefficiency and waste, and (3) be a competent administrator. He was not elected to railroad his “turnaround agenda” that he kept silent about during the campaign or to run the state over the cliff.==
Well said and I agree 1oo%.
Comment by Enviro Tuesday, Jun 30, 15 @ 7:58 pm
Seems like the Democrats are stuck and don’t know how to put a balanced budget together…without exposing themselves to being thrown out of office in 2016. Oh well.
Comment by Rauberbot Tuesday, Jun 30, 15 @ 8:15 pm
Bravo for Joe Nichols!! He is SPOT ON!!!
The budget is not in balance and taxes are not going up. Time for DEMs to make smart cuts proactively lest they make dumb draconian cuts very very soon.
Rauner is part of the solution. Madigan created the problem., I know who I am backing…
Comment by Johnny Inkslinger Tuesday, Jun 30, 15 @ 10:08 pm
Oh - Johnny Inkslinger -,
Rauner needs revenue. It’s coming, brace for it.
Rauner will own the increase he signs, so cheer away.
Comment by Oswego Willy Tuesday, Jun 30, 15 @ 10:15 pm
“Rauner will own the increase he signs, so cheer away. ”
Yeah and everyone who voted for him knows that taxes will eventually need to be raised, so there’s no shock there. what the anti-rauner has yet to realize is that this guy is no dummy, he’s out-maneuvering in less than six months the guy (MM) who’s been there for 40 years. Rauner is showing everyone that despite Madigan’s control for the years, it’s really been amateur hour for 40 years in Springfield. Everyone’s underestimated Rauner and guy’s practically Julius Caesar, he’ll never lose until the senate rises up and slays him on the senate floor (et tu, Durkin?)
Comment by noon time drink Wednesday, Jul 1, 15 @ 8:07 pm