Maybe Bad News Would Be Good for Illinois' Budget Crisis

That old adage about crisis begetting opportunity loses its punch when you take the crisis out of the equation.

It was only last week that Gov. Bruce Rauner was both bracing for and embracing a looming Illinois government shutdown.

"Change is hard. Change was always going to be hard, but we need to have change. If all we do is keep the status quo, and if all we do is just raise taxes to cover up the status quo, we'll continue in our long-term, slow decline," Rauner told employees of the Illinois Emergency Management Agency in Springfield on the final day of FY 2015.

Rauner's message, repeated in numerous headlines, was clear: The pain of a government shutdown is worth it if eventually it brings real change.

A week into a new budget year with no budget, however, the message seems to have shifted. Now Rauner, in a once-in-a-lifetime alliance with public employee unions, has vowed to make this budget-free period as painless as possible. Either by court order or by legislation, Rauner says he'll make sure government never shuts down, state employees never miss a paycheck and most Illinoisans will be minimally inconvenienced during what still will be referred to as a "shutdown."

I understand Rauner's desire to shield non-combatants from the flying shrapnel of his power struggle with House Speaker Michael Madigan. I also know the hardship that can come from missing a single paycheck, let alone several months' worth, as easily could happen in the situation at hand.

But I also know that Illinois politicians' chronic avoidance of these kinds of painful choices got the state government into the miserable financial condition it's in now.

For years, our leaders in Springfield deceived voters into believing they could afford far more government than they actually paid for.

Read the rest at Reboot Illinois, and check out this video of Rauner speaking July 8.



In his discussion, Rauner made it clear that he wanted to get the budget sorted out. But he wouldn't do it at the price of his dearly held ideas for "structural reforms," and so had a message for legislative Democrats: If you want to pass a tax increase in order to balance the budget, go ahead. But I'm not signing off on it, so you'd better make sure you have enough votes to override a veto. Read more about Rauner's remarks at Reboot Illinois.

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