Monday, June 12, 2017

"How Illinois became America's failed state"

Pol:
To troll Rauner about the budget, Pritzker's campaign created "Tick Tock the Budget Clock," a character dressed as a clock, who follows Rauner at his public events carrying a sign that displays the number of days the state has gone without a budget.

...

It’s increasingly possible that Rauner — who promised that he carried negotiation credibility and the know-how to fix the state’s finances — could complete his four-year term in office without ever having passed a budget. At that point, economic forecasts indicate the state’s unpaid bill pile would soar beyond $20 billion. The bill backlog was at about $6 billion when Rauner first took office.

...

But just as the Senate lawmakers neared a series of bipartisan votes, Rauner pulled the plug, saying the deal didn’t go far enough. Senate Democrats eventually passed their own budget, including voting on a huge tax hike as well as $3 billion in spending cuts to balance the budget before sending it to the House.

Rauner not only promised a veto, but the Republican Party — which he funds almost entirely himself — also began running robocalls in targeted House districts, attempting to shame Democrats from casting a vote for the measure.
Via.