Governor

Today's NG:

Even before Gov. Pat Quinn formally proposed his budget that includes a cut in the state revenue sharing program with cities and counties, there were howls from local government.

Champaign County Administrator Deb Busey said Quinn’s planned reduction in income tax sharing with municipalities would mean a loss of $795,000 to the county. The governor will propose today a reduction from 10 percent to 7 percent in the amount of income tax revenue the state passes on to local governments.

“To us that’s a 30 percent drop in the revenue stream,” Busey said at Tuesday’s county board committee of the whole meeting. “In 2008 that generated over $3 million.”

Discuss.

We will know more tomorrow:

The Illinois Republican Party finally may have a nominee for governor.

 State Sen. Kirk Dillard, who's been trailing colleague Bill Brady by a couple of hundred votes, has scheduled a press conference for Friday afternoon, and all indications are that he finally will concede the race.

 A press advisory sent out a bit ago says only that Mr. Dillard will "provide an update on the status of his campaign," following a meeting of the Illinois State Board of Elections to certify final election totals.

Discuss.

(Disclosure:  I helped Kirk Dillard's campaign for Governor.)

Heh:

Meet “Mr. Sick and Tired,” one of Gov. Pat Quinn’s newly solicited budget advisers.

“Mr. Sick and Tired,” a Chicago resident, suggests a dramatic pay cut to elected officials to help balance the state budget.

His is one of thousands of recommendations from Illinois citizens using the state’s new budget Web site, which seeks input from everyday citizens on state government’s messy finance situation.

“Try living off the low wages that normal every day Chicago citizens do,” “Mr. Sick and Tired” wrote. “I’m 35 years old and I get paid $15 per hour and am taxed to the point where I can barely make my rent every month and feed myself.”

“Mr. Sick and Tired” joins “Whizzo the Budget Fixer” and many other concerned Illinoisans who now have Quinn’s ear heading into the budget season.

I think the authors of the piece are missing the point of posting budget information online - it's not just to give citizens the opportunity to comment, but to also allow those who are interested to better inform themselves as to what their government is proposing.  Sunshine and transparency are good things, and we need more of both.

And, for good measure, here's Sen. Bill Brady:

State Sen. Bill Brady, a Bloomington Republican likely to be Quinn’s challenger for governor this fall, said the site will be useful only if used correctly.

“It it’s treated like a blog, with only a number of people paying attention, then it will be useless information,” he said.

You cut me deep, Sen. Brady.  You cut me real deep.  :-)

Mother Tribune:

Even as state Sen. Kirk Dillard still hopes a counting error will cut into state Sen. Bill Brady's slim lead in the Republican governor's contest, he's already helping his rival prepare for the general election campaign against Democratic Gov. Pat Quinn.

"Other than Bill, no one wants this over faster than I do," said Dillard, a veteran lawmaker from Hinsdale. "I want to get on with my life."

Dillard's comments came Tuesday as county clerks and election officials representing the 110 ballot-counting agencies across Illinois sent the findings of their canvass of Feb. 2 primary results to the State Board of Elections. The elections panel is scheduled to certify the results March 5.

But Dillard indicated he might not wait that long to decide the fate of his campaign for governor. Trailing Brady by about 250 votes, Dillard has set a bar of finishing 100 votes or fewer behind his rival as the trigger for a recount.

"I'd prefer to say up or down before" March 5, Dillard said, adding that he wants to hear a final figure issued from a state elections official.

I am very, very gratified that the two candidates and two campaigns have been cordial and cooperative.

(Disclosure: I helped Kirk Dillard's campaign for Governor.  I guess the past tense there says it all.)

Champaign County's final results from the Primary election are in, and late-arriving totals added 12 votes for Bill Brady and 6 votes for Kirk Dillard.  Similar final counts are happening throughout Illinois today, and should provide a clearer picture about who won the Republican nomination for Governor.

As an aside, I managed 299 votes for Precinct Committeeman in City of Champaign 38, the fourth-highest total in the County.  Thanks to everyone who voted for me.

CapitolFax is reporting (subscribers only) that Jerry Clarke will be Bill Brady's campaign manager for the General Election, assuming Brady's 400-vote lead in the Republican Primary holds.

Clarke is currently serving as Chief of Staff to Congressman Tim Johnson (for whom I serve as campaign manager) and as Republican State Central Committeeman for the 15th District.  He's also pilot in the United States Army Reserves who has done three tours in Iraq, and is a good friend.

I've mocked claims that Illinois' House and Senate Republicans are somehow responsible for our current budget disaster, in language very similar to this:

What Madigan just flatly refuses to acknowledge is that Democrats could take the first major step toward fixing the state's finances all on their own. More specifically, they could bring to the floor some version of HB 174, which passed out of both the Illinois Senate and a House committee last May. In its basic form, this legislation brings in new revenue via an income tax hike while offsetting the burden on low-income taxpayers by boosting the state property tax credit and the Earned Income Tax Credit. Nine Democrats could vote against the bill and the caucus would still have enough votes to approve the measure by simple majority.

In short, Speaker Madigan and his allies in Springfield need to stop whining about the Republicans when they have the votes to pass a sustainable budget on their own. No one is going to buy the idea that the GOP is responsible for the inaction in Springfield. Such an argument makes the speaker -- and the party as a whole -- look dysfunctional and cowardly. Come November, that perception could hurt Madigan's precious majority more than an income tax increase.

(Emphasis added.)  The difference, this time, is that this is coming from Progress Illinois, an excellent liberal blog sponsored by SEIU.

They're right, of course.  If Democrats in Illinois think that the best solution to our budget problems is a tax increase, they can pass one all by themselves, with votes to spare.  They don't need Republicans any more than they need them for anything else.

PPP says, via CapFax, that Kirk Dillard and Dan Hynes have opened up narrow leads in the race for their respective parties' nominations for Governor:

A primary loss for Illinois Governor Pat Quinn is looking more and more possible. He trails Dan Hynes 41-40 in our poll of the race.

Hynes’ slight advantage is due largely to a 45-38 lead with African Americans, suggesting that a controversial ad featuring former Chicago Mayor Harold Washington making disparaging comments about Quinn may be working to Hynes’ advantage. The two candidates are tied among white voters with Quinn holding a 44-36 lead with Hispanics.

Quinn’s approval rating even among Democratic primary voters is just 38%, with an equal 38% disapproving of his job performance. 35% of voters view Hynes favorably to 25% unfavorably.

This race could still go either way but the momentum is in Hynes’ favor given his huge deficit in polling just a month ago.

The Republican race is even more up for grabs with five candidates polling within eight points of each other. Kirk Dillard is at 19%, followed by Andy McKenna with 17%, Bill Brady with 16%, Jim Ryan at 13%, and Adam Andrzejewski at 11%. Of the remaining candidates only Dan Proft with 7% is not in double digits.

Full poll here.

(Disclosure:  I am helping the Kirk Dillard for Governor campaign.)

Like you, I've been following the final few months of the primary campaign intently (and remain undecided.) I've always been interested in the "art" of the campaign, and the closing ads for the final 10 days are very interesting.

Bill Brady:

It, to me, is a very good ad. He hits his three main competitors on issues important to solid conservative voters: Ethics & Obama. But its also clear that he's behind. And he doesn't have enough money for the ad to stick over the final 10 days.

Kirk Dillard:

Hey, looky there, the "all Edgar, all the time" campaign continues. I love Jim Edgar, and he's clearly a commodity among Republican voters. But when he continues to mention the former Governor every 20 seconds in interviews, commercials, speeches, dinner conversation, it really gets old and annoying. Plus, I still yet to hear a good answer for this:

Andy McKenna:

Seriously, Andy McKenna? "What were they thinking?" I thought we had had enough of the Rod Blagojevich-style campaigning in this state. Did John Harris consult you from his house arrest? By the way, in this campaign, Andy McKenna has yet to run one positive ad. Negative, negative, negative is not a very smart way to convey the message of improvement in the state. At this rate, his people are hoping for a "hold our nose" primary win.

Jim Ryan:

The former Attorney General has yet to spend much money on televison, especially downstate. That's a result of not having any money and hoping to win the race based only on name recognition. He doesn't have a "closing" ad, per say, but this is the most current. Sure, it works fine, but its nothing more than a puff piece. No real issues, no real plans. Come to think of it, that's exactly how he's running his campaign.

Dan Hynes:

The Comptroller's highly charged (and highly entertaining) Harold Washington ad is not running downstate. That's probably a good idea, because most voters downstate would hear "Harold Washington" and ask "who?" Hammering the Governor on the painfully-bungled prisoner release program connects with regular people, especially of the "not in my backyard" community. Plus, showing off the general disorganization and filp-floppery of the Quinn term is like taking candy from a baby. Dan Hynes is competent, and the Republican's worst nightmare in the fall. 

Pat Quinn:

Obviously, the Governor is in all-out defensive mode, with his numbers plummeting, and Dan Hynes on his heels. His latest ad, and I would assume we see something new for the final 4-5 days, hits Hynes on the Burr Oak scandal in Chicago. But, frankly, its too little too late on that issue. Quinn really seems to be in a pickle here, because he doesn't have a lot of accomplishments to go back on in his year as Governor. What he has done, since day one, is clamor for an income tax increase, he has bungled ethics reform, and when he "saved" MAP funding and social services, he never found the money to pay for it. Just threw a stack of unpayable checks at them. He is in a signficiant bind in the final 10 days.

What do you like/dislike about these ads?

I voted early this week, and as usual the staff at the County Clerk's office handled things flawlessly.  A picture, though is worth a thousand words:

Things are going to get interesting this last ten days.  The Illinois GOP Governor's primary has been pretty civil to date, but the trends are going to result in lots of attacks from all corners.  Please remember, that at the end of the day, only one thing matters:  putting Illinois back to work.  I remain convinced that Kirk Dillard is the candidate who is both most likely to win next November, and who is most capable of competently governing on conservative prinicples once elected.  I hope you will join me in voting for Kirk Dillard for Governor.

Oh, and one more picture after the break, for vanity's sake: (click on "read more"):

This is from an email from the Kirk Dillard for Governor campaign, with which I am affiliated:

Our latest poll shows us gaining strength and putting some distance between Kirk Dillard and his opposition. While we employ both interview and automated polls, our large-sample automated returns are clearly showing that Illinois Republicans are making up their minds about the Primary Election, and Kirk Dillard is their top choice.

These large-sample (2,000-3,000+ participants) polls are always conducted in the most straight-forward manner possible. Unlike our opponents who have been conducting push-polls, our surveys simply ask each participant who they will vote for in the race for Governor and then reads the list of candidates so they can choose. This is the same method that correctly predicted the GOP upset win in the New Jersey gubernatorial race, and is considered by many sources, including the Wall Street Journal, to be the most accurate method of predicting the outcome on Election Day.

These polls show that Kirk Dillard’s message about re-building Illinois' economy, curtailing Springfield's wild spending habits and bringing ethical, proven leadership to the governor's office is resonating:

Andrezejewski 5.64%
Brady 8.30%
Dillard 22.38%
McKenna 13.52%
Proft 6.03%
Ryan 10.26%
Schillerstrom 2.13%
Unsure 31.74%

Especially heartening is the fact that the gains we've made are being realized throughout the state, and are strongest among those most likely to voter.

Undecideds are still the plurality.  And this is a poll from one of the campaigns, so if that makes it worthless to you, so be it.  There has been precious little public polling on the GOP Governor's primary since the new year, so I thought I'd share it.  Rich Miller has a little bit more on it here:

I did see the background material on the Dillard poll, and they make a decent case that Dillard - and McKenna - are both spiking upwards.

I'll have more thoughts on McKenna in a bit.  :-)

As most everyone on here know, I'm helping Kirk Dillard's campaign for the Republican nomination.  It should come as no surprise to you that I was hoping to win the endorsement of the News-Gazette, even though such endorsements are worth less and less in an age of declining newspaper circulation and increasing distrust of newspaper editorializing.  In addition, I've had my disagreements with NG endorsements before, most particularly when I find them to be completely illogical. 

As an example, in early 2009, the NG endorsed D'Anne Winston for City of Champaign Township Supervisor.  While I disagreed with the selection, the reasoning behind it was baffling.  In the very editorial in which they endorsed Winston, the NG explained that they were opposed to her on what they considered the most important issue, and they had taken issue numerous times with how the office had been run while she worked there.  Yet they endorsed her based on her experience - the very experience they said they disagreed with.  As I said, it was baffling.

This weekend, the NG endorsed Sen. Bill Brady for Governor.  Again, I'm affiliated with one of Brady's opponents, but Sen. Brady is a good candidate who would be a nominee I could proudly support if he should win the nomination.  His candidacy isn't the issue here, but rather it is again the NG's illogical reasoning behind supporting the candidate.

The NG argues:

Illinois is dominated by Chicago Democrats. All six statewide offices and both top legislative leadership positions are held by Chicagoans. To them, downstate Illinois is more of a theory than a reality. It's a non-factor – except as a place to collect votes occasionally – when it comes to policy issues.

Voters need to restore a balance to the state's political calculus if any area other than Cook County is to have a seat at the table. Brady's opponents are from the Chicago and suburban areas and are, therefore, less inclined to understand geographical issues as clearly as Brady.

They go on to laud Brady's devotion to a ten-percent across-the-board spending cut for every aspect of State Government.  The illogical aspect of the endorsement is that on one hand they proclaim Brady a champion of downstate who understands geographic issues, while the paper simultaneously praises a ham-handed plan for spending cuts that will disproportionately impact the very downstate communities like Champaign-Urbana, Macomb, Carbondale and Springfield that Sen. Brady is supposedly best able to represent. 

For example, the UI budget has been cut by about 30 percent in real dollars since the Democrats took control of state government in 2003.  Other downstate institutions of higher education have been similarly impacted.  Yet Brady, and the NG, think that the lack of leadership by Illinois Democrats should be compacted by endorsing a plan for indiscriminate spending cuts that is the very abdication of leadership.  And the NG proclaims this while touting Brady as the best hope for Downstate voters.  It just doesn't make sense.

Please join me in support Sen. Kirk Dillard for Governor on February 2.  And thanks for reading.

I can argue all sorts of reasons why Dan Hynes is a better candidate than our current governor, but I imagine any readers here can check out the candidates' policies on their pages and history themselves for such a determination pretty quick. I'd just like to add to that consideration, especially those leaning towards or on the fence about Quinn, something that honestly should not be forgotten.

Our last election led to Illinois being center stage of a national embarrassment. This was not some unexpected shocker given that the guy who won the last Democratic Party primary was already under state and federal investigation with several corrupt acts in the public domain. And while Quinn personally vouched for the integrity and honesty of that man, and would love to get away with playing dumb now... don't let him.

I'll let the guy who ran the anti-corruption campaign against Blagojevich in that primary explain why people like Quinn simply do not deserve re-election in the State of Illinois let alone any position of trust over Illinois citizens (in its entirety here):

In 2006 I challenged Rod Blagojevich in the Democratic primary for governor. I ran because Blagojevich sold out the public for piles of campaign cash.

 

I said “no” to Blagojevich when it mattered.

 

A very savvy pol recently said to me, “Ed, if we only knew then what we know now.” I replied that we did know it then. He laughed and admitted it was so. That’s a far more grown up response than the “I-knew-it-was-bad-but not-this-bad” dodge that’s in vogue.

 

They all knew. The majority of the House impeachment report cited documents that were public before the election — the same documents I cited when arguing the governor should not be re-elected. Instead of standing with me at the time, the party leaders poured over my petitions to see if they could keep me off the ballot.

 

The governor had spent his first term raking in campaign cash at the astonishing rate of $2,667 per hour, giving him millions to spend on re-election. (I won’t here revisit how he raised this cash, who is already jailed because of it, or what services the people of Illinois were cheated out of to secure these gifts.)

 

Nearly all of the state’s Democratic politicians calculated, correctly but shortsightedly, that rallying around the governor would ensure their re-election. Voters count on their leaders to stand up when it matters. Voters also deserve choices. With the 2006 election looming, Democrats could look forward to neither.

 

...

 

I ran a tough but underfunded campaign and came up short. Still, by the time the election came I had a lot more company than I did at the beginning. A handful of Democratic politicians began to distance themselves from the governor. A few were quite helpful. Many others publicly worked for the governor’s re-election but privately wished me well. Several editorial boards endorsed my campaign. More than a quarter of a million ordinary Democrats voted for me and I carried a handful of counties.

 

On election night 2006 I talked about our values and the better angels of the Democratic Party. I said we would ultimately prevail and clean up our state. A reporter followed up asking me if that was a concession. I certainly was conceding the night. But I never would, and never will, concede the fight to change the poisonous culture of corruption in Illinois.

 

Edwin Eisendrath challenged Rod Blagojevich in the 2006 Democratic Primary. Eisendrath served as HUD regional administrator in the Clinton administration and two terms as a Chicago alderman.

Quinn played a central role in ensuring Blagojevich's re-election. He threw away his reputation and dignity. The choice is simple: hold Blagojevich's enablers responsible this election season, or send them a clear message that voters no longer care about accountability.

I'm voting for accountability. I'm voting for Dan Hynes on February 2nd.

Gov. Pat Quinn is giving his State of the State speech today.  CapFax is liveblogging.

Tomorrow (Sunday) Nancy Brady will be at  Panera’s on Mattis and Kirby at 1:00 pm. She is a delightful, articulate lady and it will be an informal opportunity to chat with other women who want to hang out together on a cold winter day. I’ll even buy coffee for anyone who comes and mentions they saw the invite on IP.

Today's News-Gazette.

The University of Illinois should get some financial relief soon from a new round of state borrowing, according to Gov. Pat Quinn.

Quinn said Tuesday in a recorded press briefing that the state plans to borrow another $3.4 billion to meet pension obligations and provide about $1 billion in much-needed cash to reduce its backlog of bills.

The article also contains this whopper:

Quinn and Democratic leaders noted that they have supported tax increases to bring in more state revenue, but those measures require Republican support as well.

No, a tax increase does not require Republican support.  At any point during regular session, the General Assembly can pass a tax increase with a simple majority.  The Democrats have large majorities in both chambers and Gov. Quinn is a Democrat. They can pass a tax increase all by themselves, as soon as next week if they want to.  But he Democrats choose not to, year after year (here's last year's 50 percent income tax hike roll call for the House, with lots of Dems voting "no"), because they think they can force Republicans to support one during overtime, when a supermajority is needed.  And when Republicans don't, the Democrats think they can score political points by blaming Republicans for not covering for them, even though Republicans have been completely out of power since January 2003.

If the Democrats think a tax increase is the only way to fix this problem, they should do what they think is right as pass it immediately instead of pretending that Republicans are somehow standing in the way.  And journalists should stop covering for the Democrats by perpetuating this notion that Republicans are blocking Democrats from somehow doing what they know is the right thing to do.

I have begun to investigate the governor candidates for the republican primary.    I'm trying to figure out "how exactly" a particular governor candidate proposes he can turn this state around.  

In order of the most recent Tribune poll standings:

1. Jim Ryan has a 10 Step Plan.
2. Andy McKenna provides list of issues here.  
3. Bill Brady mentions that he has a blueprint on commercials.   Here are his list of issues.
4. Kirk Dillard has a comprehensive plan for making Illinois a destintion economy.   Here is his list of issues. 
5. Adam Andrzejewski's take on the issues can be found here.*
6. Dan Proft is talking policy revolution but I can't find find his plan on his website.*
7. Bob Schillerstrom has Timeout Initative that can be found here.*

5-7 are in a-z order b/c they were not individually identified in the Tribune article. 

I've learned a few ideas that I find interesting:

• Zero based budgeting
• Limit spending to population growth plus rate of inflation or some other metric.
• Funding the implementation of pro-business education at all levels.
• 401-k style retirement programs for state employees.
• Roll back taxes and fees to competitive levels no higher than any of our neighbor states.
• Institute a moratorium on all new programs.  No new programs will be signed into law until and unless long term funding for that program is secured.
• 72 hour minimum budget review period before budget can be passed into law.

Some highlights thus far:

• Kirk Dillards comprehensive plan is impressive!
• Dan Proft's message and web content is impressive!
• Adam A's issue overview is very impressive!

Who do you like for the upcoming gubernatorial races? Who do you dislike? I haven't heard much about the candidates nor heard much from them, so why not have a thread for praise/mud-slinging fun?

I'm leaning strongly towards supporting Dan Hynes in the primary myself. For an Illinois Democrat he seems to have far more credibility in opposing Blagojevich than perhaps most Democratic politicians in Illinois, and especially more than our current govenernor who threw out any claim to clean government by throwing his own reputation under the bus to vouch for Blago's integrity. He effectively threw away his own integrity so he could keep his Lt. Governor job. Just pathetic.

On the issues, I generally like Hynes' economic proposals though I have some strong concerns about how they may effect our competitiveness for businesses given some of his tax/revenue proposals. I do however support moving Illinois income taxes to a progressive system. On social issues I have some concerns about where he might stand and more importantly act on gun restrictions, but he appears to be the strongest candidate on LGBT issues with his support of full marriage rights as opposed to Quinn's separate but equal compromise and Republican candidates likely to make Quinn seem like an activist. In general he seems to be a pragmatic mix of fiscal moderate with social liberalism that seems to be a good fit for the state, even if I may not agree with him on everything.

I strongly dislike Quinn and if he wins the primary I'm likely to vote for a Republican in the general. He along with any other Democrat who aided Blago's corrupt idiocy that made Illinois a national laughingstock have revoked their license to govern in my eyes.

Now how about y'all?

There is water at the bottom of the ocean:

A rural Paris woman who has been an assistant to Gov. Pat Quinn for six years has suddenly resigned from her position as Quinn's deputy chief of staff.

Carolyn Brown Hodge, according to the Chicago Sun-Times, resigned from the governor's staff Friday night upon reports that the state's Office of the Executive Inspector General had confiscated her computer to determine whether she was doing political work on state time.

Remember, Brown Hodge isn't some Blagojevich holdover - she has been with Quinn for years, and was handpicked by Gov. Quinn for this job after he became Governor.  Remember this, and Gov. Quinn's loyal defense of Rod Blagojevich for six years as running mate and Lt. Governor, when Quinn is portrayed as some sort of anti-corruption reformer whose ethics cannot be questioned.

Former Governor Jim Edgar today endorsed Sen. Kirk Dillard, his former Chief of Staff, in the race for Governor:

"I am proud to endorse Kirk Dillard for governor because his experience and leadership will help steer our state through its current budget and ethical crisis," Edgar said at news conferences held in Chicago and Springfield.  Edgar, the popular two-term Republican Governor from 1991-1999, left office with the highest voter approval ratings of any Illinois Governor in modern history.

Dillard, elected four times to the Illinois Senate, was Edgar's first chief of staff in the Office of Governor. "Kirk knows what it takes to lead in tough times.  As my Chief of Staff, he played a key role in our success during my first term as Governor.  His in-depth knowledge and effective leadership were essential in helping me to restore fiscal discipline to the state," said Edgar, who was re-elected Governor by the largest margin in Illinois history.

The press release is here, and we'll have video, photos and news coverage collected there throughout the day as well.

(Disclosure: I'm helping Kirk Dillard's campaign for Governor.  Please volunteer or donate today!)