Gov. Rauner calls for change in State of the State address

“And that is not a business friendly environment in my opinion”.

Democratic Rep. Ken Dunkin of Chicago, who has miffed his fellow caucus members by siding with the governor on at least one pivotal vote, and who has received backing from a new Political Action Committee, the IllinoisGO PAC, that describes itself as pro-Democrats but is widely perceived as a front group for Rauner, shortly thereafter turned that criticism back on Madigan.

– He and Gov. Bruce Rauner, R-Winnetka, are back on the same page regarding a pension reform bill. “We need to work together for school reform and the structural reforms that will help all of IL”.

“So I think it would just make the whole state of Illinois’ lives easier if (Rauner) actually had a plan to share with us on what (he is) planning on doing now and why we’re in this kind of state that we are right now”.

“A full seven months after the start of the fiscal year, IL leaders have failed to carry out their most basic responsibility – enact a balanced budget that funds vital state services and invests in our state”.

Colleges, universities and their students have also been harmed.

Cullerton said immediately that was not the deal he signed off on and Madigan quickly sent out another of his news releases claiming how Rauner wants to “destroy the middle class”, etc.

The wife of Gov. Bruce Rauner is getting her own $100,000-a-year chief of staff amid a state budget impasse. “He caused this. He can end it”. In recent years, more than 300,000 manufacturing jobs have been lost, workers’ comp system needs fix, labor regulations need overhauling, property taxes need addressing and employer confidence needs to be restored. The governor’s proposals focus on some of the areas of state government that need the most attention.

Kim Maisch (MYESH’) is a small-business advocate.

“We are now in January and it’s been nearly a year”, she said. Scott Greenberger, executive editor with Pew, says in addition to social services cuts, one of Illinois’ biggest issues is lack of funding for higher education.

As far as Rauner’s education, it declared that he “graduated summa cum laude with a degree in economics and f-ing up a whole state”. “The people of IL deserve nothing less than the best education system in America”, the governor stated.

Rauner also said we need legislative redistricting reform. Democrats have refused, saying those changes will hurt working families and drive down wages.

We also heard another list of so-called education reforms today, the vast majority of which do nothing to improve teaching, learning, or student success.

Rauner did make a pitch for cooperation. He said “we must break from the politics of the past and do what is right for the future of our state”. So, I can link things together, too.

“Like a police department trains its officers and a transportation department trains its field workers, an IT department will be able to train its workers now in the 21st century technologies that we are going to be investing in”, Bhatt said.

But instead of citing chapter and verse of what Rauner got wrong as is my normal inclination, let me try instead to emphasize the points on which I agree with him. Kelley said the cuts are part of what he calls a scorched earth strategy and says they have hit seniors, children, the disabled, people of color and women the hardest.

Sen. Scott Bennett, D-Champaign, said “from the beginning of all of this has been the notion that the more reasonable party has been the Senate Democrats and our leadership”.

The Governor treated the enactment of a fully funded budget that invests in families and communities as an afterthought, failing to mention the issue until the final two minutes of his speech.