Budget crisis pits Illinois first family against each other



Illinois, for all intents and purposes, appears to be a mess, politically and financially, and it seems everyone is taking sides. This includes the Governor Bruce Rauner and his wife, Diana. According to CNN, in a recent statement released by a nonprofit foundation run by Diana Rauner, Illinois representatives were “urged to override her husband’s veto of a budget compromise that would end a two-year stalemate…”



The statement from both the Illinois Action for Children and the Ounce of Prevention Fund, where Ms. Rauner is president, read, in part: “We strongly urge the House of Representatives to now follow the Senate in voting to override the governor’s veto…”

This may make for tough sledding in the Rauner household. Governor Bruce Rauner is struggling to right the ship in his state, which hasn’t passed a budget in a while and is glaringly in the red. Some pundits have gone so far as to ask if Illinois is on the way to being declared a “failed state” … and they don’t mean this sarcastically.

Things are beyond bad for a state that hasn’t done a real-world accounting of expenditures and income in many years, simply coasting on “spending bills” for far more than should have been considered tenable…at least in the opinions of many watching events unfold. Of course, Illinois’ purported failures have become political fodder, and that makes it a PR mess, both for Rauner and for all the leaders in his state.

Meanwhile, the governor is livid about the whole budget contention. He wants it scuttled and would like to see the legislature come back with something very different. Rauner called the passed budget, which he vetoed, a “disaster” and followed that summation up with this colorful depiction: “This (budget) is not just a slap in the fact of Illinois taxpayers. This is a two-by-four smacked across the forehead of the people of Illinois…”

So, there’s no real wonder as to where the governor is coming from on this issue. The heart of his complaint is that, while the budget calls for a 32 percent tax increase, it does little to nothing to actually reform the spending that got the state into the mess in the first place. Saying this current budget proposal will “solve none of the problems” of his state, the governor believes he had no choice but to veto the legislation.

And, what does he have to say about his wife’s foundation’s commentary? Not much, at least publicly. When pressed by the media, the governor’s office “no commented” the query. They need to come up with a better narrative for all of this, and they need it quickly. Instead of complaining about the problem, the governor’s team would be better off suggesting solutions. While his veto will please voters angry about the budget, you can only go so far on “no.” At some point, voters expect to be inspired.


Robert Gillings is an award winning writer, producer, actor architectural designer, philosopher and financial consultant.

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