Springfield, IL. (ECWd) –
There comes a point and time when we simply have to bring things back down to the basics and educate the population as to what is true and what is not.
The propaganda machine in politics is used by both sides of the isle, and by all indications the Illinois Budget issue has been receiving the most propaganda from the left we have ever seen. Last week at EIU there were calls for action to flip a table or two as if violence is the answer. With screams of “give us our money” from University staff and calls to demand Governor Rauner to sign the budget, it makes us wonder if people are really that ignorant or do they just refuse to accept reality? (Read that story here)
I referenced the budget issue in that recent EIU story and a response was rather telling so we thought it best to once again educate the public.
Response we received to the EIU article:
“Illinois Constitution: SECTION 2. STATE FINANCE
“(a) The Governor shall prepare and submit to the General Assembly, at a time prescribed by law, a State budget for the ensuing fiscal year…Proposed expenditures shall not exceed funds estimated to be available for the fiscal year as shown in the budget.” Governor Rauner has yet to submit a balanced budget to the General Assembly. He also has line-item veto power, and could have surgically cut the budget that the GA passed and sent to him as his Plan B. But he did neither. So, I think maybe you guys should go back to covering what you do best, which is violations of open meetings laws. That, or at least do a little more homework on the statewide laws and issues.
Reading that comment, the uninformed reader would believe that Governor Rauner has yet to submit a budget to the General Assembly, and that the General Assembly passed one and sent it to him and he did nothing with it. I am betting most people already believe that. Sadly, for the person that posted the comment, they are wrong. But please, don’t take our word for it. Read it for yourself!
From the Budget the Governor Submitted to the General Assembly:
“If the state government spending were left on auto-pilot (or maintenance), total state expenditures and transfers out are estimated to be $38,210 million, an increase of $2,523 million, or 7.1 percent over 2015…….. This unprecedented projected deficit is unconscionable, which is why the Governor is
proposing a balanced budget that is the budget that Illinois can afford.”
That statement can be found on page 72 of the Budget submitted by the Governor to the General Assembly at 12 noon on February 18th, 2015, just as our state Constitution required. The entire budget can be downloaded or viewed below.
Now to the second part of the commenter’s claims that the General Assembly passed a budget and that Governor Rauner could simply line item veto things in it.
I challenge anyone to produce a budget that was passed by the General Assembly and sent to the Governor for signing. What was passed was a ‘spending bill’, which is not a budget. When all you present is what you want to spend and not disclose the required revenue side, there is nothing the Governor can do with that.
At some point, people are going to have to learn to investigate the claims being made and start calling people out. This very claim of the Governor not sending the General Assembly a budget hit our inbox months ago from another source, and that is when I filed the FOIA for the Budget and provided it to the person who insisted it did not exist, which is what they had been led to believe.
The budget exists, and to date the General Assembly has only provided an appropriations bill that does not disclose if such appropriations exceed funds estimated to be available during the year, which is constitutionally required under Article VIII Section 2b.
Once again, pesky facts get in the way of the propaganda!
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14 Comments
former Paris resident
Posted at 04:58h, 10 FebruaryMadigan has been the problem for years , he’s more a mafia leader than a public leader . He benefits from his office in his own business like most public officials’ . If he was gone their would be a better chance for both sides to come together but as long as he’s there Illinois will never have a budget . I am amazed at people who blame Rauner when before he was there Illinois never had a true balanced budget without accounting gimmicks .People are so blind and I have to go as far as to say , stupid too …
Right Winger
Posted at 01:06h, 10 FebruaryThe Illinois “isle.” Interesting.
Danni
Posted at 22:43h, 09 FebruaryAs uninformed as I am, even I knew our good Governor he had submitted a timely budget. But I make up for my lack of current events with my clairvoyance-I knew that short Irish Dude would stop the whole, big, entire, works. And I was right. Why are those dems so slow and so wrong-all the time? Because they only absorb the propaganda from Dick Kay and the Trib???
Kirk Allen
Posted at 21:35h, 09 FebruaryHow else can you explain that everyone is convinced there was never a budget provided by the Governor? The left drove the message and it stuck, even though it was not true. Don’t confuse laying blame with acknowledging who’s propaganda succeeded. Both sides have blame on the budget matter but the left has driven the propaganda. Two different issues.
MiddleMan
Posted at 08:33h, 10 FebruaryOf course there was a budget. But if you recall the good Governor submitted a budget that was only balanced because it include all the saving for the pension theft on day 1. Once the pension theft was ruled unconstitutional, what does that do to his submitted budget? It certainly isn’t (and some would say never was) balanced anymore. I would defer to a constitutional lawyer on if he is required to resubmit one, but as a Illinois citizen I think he should. Any if you don’t want him to, do you want the legislature to pass the one he submitted?
Kevin Horton
Posted at 10:36h, 10 FebruaryBravo, Middle Man. While these Edgar County watchdogs are accusing the media of slanted reporting, they are doing the same with their own slanted agenda. ECWD, Just tell the truth…. THE WHOLE TRUTH!
Kirk Allen
Posted at 11:41h, 10 FebruaryThe question is, DID HE or DID HE NOT submit a balanced budget. The answer is yes, he did. The fact it had savings from potential changes in the pension system does not negate the fact he did in fact provide the mandated budget. Now if you want to argue what do they do now that the courts ruled against those reforms, that is a whole other argument.
MiddleMan
Posted at 22:49h, 10 FebruaryYes he submitted a budget.
Was it balanced at the time? I find no analysis that says it was in any way balanced.
Pension saving. Three months before Rauner budget submission the district court ruled againt the reform citing the constitution. Yes they were appealing it to the supreme court, but that he included savings that at that time were ruled against was an act of fantasy. In reality, it was NOT balanced. Did you want the GA to pass that budget?
You are wrong
Posted at 09:48h, 26 FebruaryRauners budget WAS NOT BALANCED. Get over it
jmkraft
Posted at 14:53h, 26 FebruaryNo, you are wrong.
Jill Daane
Posted at 08:35h, 11 FebruaryThe pension reforms in Rauner’s proposed budget were never ruled unconstitutional and I believe that the General Assembly could have enacted a constitutional measure to realize those pension savings. Pat Quinn’s 2010 budget proposal relied on the General Assembly enacting a constitutional measure allowing $2.1 billion in borrowing. Likewise, Rauner’s proposal relied on the General Assembly enacting a constitutional pension reform measure. If the legislature passed the Rauner budget and the pension reform was subsequently found to be unconstitutional, the approximately $2 billion shortfall would have to be addressed in a budget adjustment bill—just as the $1.5 billion shortfall in the fiscal 2015 budget was addressed.
Another Watchdog Watcher
Posted at 20:36h, 09 February“Propaganda from the left”….now that is funny. I will give you that politics in Illinois is at a all time low but to lay blame on one side is just wrong.
Mary Jo Barbosa
Posted at 12:10h, 10 February“The propaganda machine in politics is used by both sides of the isle, and by all indications the Illinois Budget issue has been receiving the most propaganda from the left we have ever seen.”
What don’t you understand about the first part of this sentence? Yes, one side seems to be controlling the narrative on this and it isn’t the Governor’s office. The Universities, Unions, and even Mr. Madigan (who has held more press conferences this past year than ever during his tenure) have had the loudest voices and are in control of this stalemate.
Barry Kronenfeld
Posted at 14:39h, 12 FebruaryOf course universities and unions have spoke loudest – they’re the ones being targeted!