1. "Postponing the day of reckoning is taxing delayed, only with a steeper price, and increased pain for our working families, when the bill finally comes due."
2. "Our costs of government have grown rapidly, while our tax base - families and companies who pay for it all - is declining. Illinois today has fewer jobs and lower family incomes than we had in 1999. Think about that. Absolutely shocking. Unacceptable! Our people deserve so much better."
3. "That leaves us with only two choices: either you give the executive branch the authority to cut spending to live within our revenues. Or, we agree - together - on economic and governmental reforms, to accompany a negotiated balance of spending reductions and revenue, that ensures that Illinois can be both compassionate and competitive. You choose. But please, choose now."
4. "Let's stop wasting time by voting on spending bills you know must be vetoed - and then doing it again and again and again. The people of Illinois are sick and tired of this - they want us to work together, not watch another pointless cycle of votes and vetoes."
5. "Political attempts by the legislature to intervene at the 11th hour, and alter a binding contract, are a direct attack on Illinois taxpayers - a direct attack on all the people across Illinois whose services depend on state funding. We simply can't afford to increase the cost of our bureaucracy by three billion dollars. Legislation to force that kind of spending, and blow a giant hole in our budget, will be vetoed."
6. "We must fully fund this foundation level as a first step toward reforming our school funding formula. Our current formula doesn't meet the needs of our children. Past attempts to fix the formula didn't work because they pitted communities against each other."
7. "This year, we are already seeing this cynical strategy being deployed. After years of financial mismanagement, our largest school system is threatening a lawsuit against the state. Such a course could set back funding formula reform for years to come, and ignores reality. Not only did Chicago Public Schools ask for the current arrangement, they are benefiting from a special deal. CPS receives an extra $600 million more every year than school districts with similar student demographics. Any school funding reform proposal that involves taking money from one school district and giving it to another, is doomed to fail."
8. "The true solution to fixing our budget is to raise revenue by expanding our tax base and growing our economy - not by raising taxes and driving more jobs and families out of our state."
9. "With my hand outstretched - with a genuine desire to compromise - with respect - I humbly ask you to join me in transforming our state for the better."
10. "Turnarounds are about changing direction. From loss to growth. From decline to expansion. From deficit to surplus. For the economy. For jobs. For taxpayers. For our children. For our future."
NEXT ARTICLE: Illinois is about to become the land of the lost 2016 budget year
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