Pat Quinn

Pick a Tax Hike and Stick With It

08/31/2010
by Kristina Rasmussen The group Americans for Tax Reform takes Governor Pat Quinn to task for his constantly-shifting tax hike plans: Today Grover Norquist, President of Americans for Tax Reform, called on Gov. Pat Quinn to be up front and honest about the true size of the income tax hike he has planned for Illinois families and job...

Ayes for Fiscal Reform

07/29/2010
by Ashley Muchow Hats off to Governor Pat Quinn and State Senator Pamela Althoff (R-McHenry) for their vocal support of greater transparency and responsible financial decision making in Springfield. It comes in the wake of a recent Institute report that showed 97 percent of the bill’s awaiting the governor’s signature have no fiscal note attached. After the legislature’s unprecedented...

Spotlight on Spending #7: One Out of Four – Public employee compensation

By Chris Andriesen
07/14/2010
The Problem Illinois’s state budget is billions of dollars in the hole, but that didn’t stop Illinois government from handing out pay increases to 46,000 state workers on July 1, 2010. Indeed, Governor Pat Quinn has handed out 43 raises (averaging 11.4 percent to his staff) since he took the oath of office. All areas of government...

Clueless in Illinois?

07/08/2010
by Kate Piercy From today’s Chicago Tribune Editorial page: “Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn has handed out raises — some of more than 20 percent — to his staff while proclaiming a message of ‘shared sacrifice’ and planning spending cuts of $1.4 billion because the state is awash in debt.” —The Associated Press, July 6, 2010. “Illinois ended...

Budget Cheat Sheet: Reading Between the Lines of Governor Quinn’s Budget Address

By Chris Andriesen
07/01/2010
Illinois Governor Pat Quinn’s new budget “fix” indicates he’s living in a fiscal fairy tale. His spending adjustment recommendations do not come remotely close to balancing the budget, and he has failed to offer clean break from the state’s perpetual fiscal mismanagement. Governor Quinn claims to make $1.4 billion in spending reductions for fiscal year...

Medicaid Transparency Bill Becomes Law!

06/28/2010
by Kristina Rasmussen The Medicaid transparency bill championed by Rep. Patti Bellock and the Illinois Policy Institute was signed into law by Governor Pat Quinn! The bill authorizes the Director of the Department of Healthcare and Family Services to create an online transparency portal like South Carolina’s website — let’s ask the Director to build onsunshine.illinois.gov and create one without delay. Director Julie...

A Jobs Governor?

06/21/2010
by Kristina Rasmussen Governor Pat Quinn fancies himself the “jobs governor.” Let’s see if the numbers hold up. From the Bureau of Labor Statistics: Quinn’s first month in office: February 2009 February 2009 employment: 6,035,873 Illinoisans February 2009 unemployment rate: 8.7 percent Quinn “jobs governor” claim: June 2010 April 2010 employment (latest available): 5,943,140 Illinoisans April 2010...

Spotlight on Spending #3: Upward Mobility Program

By Chris Andriesen
06/16/2010
The Problem Wish someone would pay for your continuing education so you could get a higher paying job? If you are a unionized Illinois state government employee, you’re in luck. The State of Illinois runs the Upward Mobility Program, which is “a career mobility program designed to give state employees an opportunity to advance to...
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FAQ: How the federal scholarship program would help Illinois students

Illinois students could soon benefit from scholarship money to help them find a tutor, attend ACT or SAT prep sessions, pay tuition, get special education services or assist with other academic needs. That will happen in Illinois only if Gov. J.B. Pritzker lets the state’s schoolchildren benefit from the Federal Scholarship Tax Credit program, established...

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Diana Graham

Process for unionizing non-state workers raises red flags

By Paul Kersey
06/19/2014

CBS Chicago: Illinois’ highest-paid superintendent receives $400K per year to oversee 1,200 students

By Ted Dabrowski
05/02/2016