WirePoints: Kumbaya Won’t Fix Illinois
“Politicians, do your jobs.” “Compromise.” “Can’t we all get along?” In the endless repetition of calls like that the underlying thought is that “passing a budget” means the spending cuts now painfully felt will go away.
They won’t. They can’t. It doesn’t matter whether one or the other side caves completely or they split the difference — for the next several years, that is, until longer term solutions hopefully can pass and take hold.
As Comptroller Leslie Munger recently pointed out, if we tried to cover current operations from an income tax increase, the rate would have to rise from 3.75 percent now to 7 to 8 percent. She added that she didn’t know any lawmaker who would vote for it and any business that wouldn’t flee. She’s obviously right on both points. At it’s current rate of income and expenses, the state is loosing $6.2 billion per year — even with the spending cuts now already in place, and ignoring the continuing, massive pension underfunding not counted in that number.
Journal Standard: State money isn't coming back, agencies
I’ve read scores of articles, editorials and guest columns pleading for Illinois’ political leaders to stop their fighting and pass a budget so that state money for grants to poor college students, money for state universities and community colleges can be restored.
Other pleas have come from social service agencies that have contracts with the state to provide services to the disabled, the elderly and the developmentally challenged. Still more pleas have come from agencies that work to counsel at-risk youngsters.
Cities and counties haven’t gotten money they’ve been promised.
Charlotte Observer: Obama re-ignites fight over drawing Illinois' political maps
At first blush, it may have seemed like a rare moment of bipartisanship at the Illinois Capitol: Democratic President Barack Obama called for changes to a process for drawing political maps that too often favors one party, bringing Republican lawmakers to their feet.
“In America, politicians should not pick their voters; voters should pick their politicians,” Obama said during last week’s speech in Springfield, echoing comments from his final State of the Union address.
But Illinois’ redistricting process is shaping up to be one of the biggest battles of 2016, as a bipartisan group of supporters and Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner push to put a measure on the November ballot and opponents, including some top Democrats, argue it would “devastate the voices of minority communities.”
Pantagraph: No budget, no problem; Rauner to pitch next year's plan
A week after President Obama called for bipartisan compromise in speech before the General Assembly, Gov. Bruce Rauner will address that deeply divided body about his plan for next year’s state budget — despite the fact that Illinois doesn’t have a budget for the current fiscal year.
The first-term Republican and the Legislature remain deadlocked after eight months. Despite impending layoffs at public universities, disruption of social services, and reality that Illinois is digging itself billions of dollars deeper into debt due to declining revenue and court-mandated spending, there’s no resolution in sight.
Democrats say Rauner continues to insist on passing portions of his union-weakening “Turnaround Agenda” before he’ll agree to tax increases to balance the budget. The governor says he and fellow Republicans are seeking structural reforms to increase revenue by growing the economy, but Democrats offer only tax hikes and budget cuts.
SJR: Illinois' new auditor general questioned about campaign expenses
Frank Mautino is off to a rocky start as Illinois auditor general.
Not long after the former Democratic state representative from Spring Valley and House deputy majority leader took office Jan. 1, he was faced with questions about his use of campaign funds.
Reports filed with the State Board of Elections show the Committee for Frank J. Mautino made loan repayments to a local bank that far exceeded the amount borrowed. The committee spent large sums on car repairs and gasoline at a single service station. In addition, Mautino’s political fundraising continued after he was confirmed as auditor general.