GOP candidates square off in Springfield debate

By Jamey Dunn

Republican candidates for governor traded barbs at tonight’s debate but avoided attacking state Treasurer Dan Rutherford, who has been battling sexual harassment allegations.

Hinsdale Sen. Kirk Dillard was the most aggressive when it came to criticizing his opponents. When candidates were given an opportunity at the end of the debate to make clarifications, Dillard took the time to list why he believes the other Republicans would not do well in the general election. He brought up venture capitalist Bruce Rauner’s business connections to former Gov. Rod Blagojevich’s crony, Stuart Levine, who is currently serving time in federal prison. Levine was a key witness for the feds in the case against Blagojevich and others charged with political corruption. He received a shortened sentence as part of a plea deal.

“He’s very very much someone with a pattern of pay-to-play politics in his personal, professional and political life,” Dillard said of Rauner after the debate at the Hoogland Center for the Arts in Springfield. Dillard also noted Bloomington Sen. Bill Brady’s very conservative social views and a recent story calling into question whether Brady took a vote on a tax issue that benefited members of his family. “I only bring up things that have been on the front page of statewide newspapers,” Dillard said when asked by reporters about going on the offensive.

Brady reaffirmed during the debate that he does not support abortion, even in cases of rape and incest, and that he does support allowing school districts to opt to teach creationism. But he said those issues are not the focus of his campaign. He also said that as governor, he would not have the power to end abortion in the state. “I do also realize there’s something called the U.S. Constitution,” Brady said “No governor in this country can eliminate a women’s right to choose, but I am not going to back away from my pro-life beliefs. I believe government has an obligation to protect innocent human life.”

After the debate, Brady dismissed Dillard’s negative comments as “desperate.” “He’s at the bottom of the polls. He’s got a fledgling campaign that’s just not getting off the ground, and he’s going to try to bring up things whether they make sense or not,” Brady said.

While Brady and Dillard were critical of each other and Rauner, they avoided beating up on Rutherford, who is facing a harassment lawsuit. Edmund Michalowski, who worked for Rutherford from 2011 until he resigned this month, is suing Rutherford and his chief of staff, Kyle Ham. Michalowski alleges that both men pressured him to do campaign work on state time, including fundraising for Rutherford. He also claims that Rutherford sexually harassed him by groping him and offering him advancement for sex. Rutherford has denied all the allegations and called into question some of the timeline presented in the case. He has also accused Rauner of being behind the allegations, which come at a politically inconvenient time for Rutherford. However, Rutherford, who is from Chenoa, said during the debate that he has no proof that Rauner is involved.

“It’s very unfortunate,” Brady said after the debate. “If Dan Rutherford‘s innocent, this is a bizarre and terrible situation. If he’s not innocent, it’s a bizarre and terrible situation.”

Rauner, who is leading in the polls, refrained from going negative and generally ignored the comments that his opponents made.

In a segment of the debate that ran counter to many conservative talking points, three of the candidates spoke positively about public employee unions. “Illinois is not Indiana. We’re not Wisconsin. We are a state that has a proud organized-labor history,” Dillard said. The Illinois Education Association, a teacher’s union, recently endorsed Dillard. He noted that endorsement during tonight’s debate. Dillard said the way to get fair deals with unions is to talk with them, not to “demonize” them.

 “Certainly public and private sector unions have done a lot to assist in enhancing the quality of life for the people they represent,” Brady said. “They’ve been a pillar of our country, and they’ve been important to us.” Brady said that unions “provide for” the “skilled workforce” that is needed to run state government.

“I happen to believe in the right to collectively bargain, both in the private sector and in public sector,” Rutherford said. Dillard, Brady and Rutherford all agreed that as the percentage of union employees has grown, some jobs in state government have been unionized that should not be.

The venue of the forum may have been a factor in the praise. According to statistics from the city of Springfield, state government is the largest employer in the city by far. In fact, the state workforce has nearly as many Springfield residents as the rest of the top nine largest employers in the area.

Rauner, who frequently derides “union bosses” in his campaign ads, said, “I’m not against the existence of government unions, but workers should be free to choose whether to be in a union or not.” But Rauner also said: “When a government union boss has power with taxpayer-funded union dues to influence politicians through campaign cash and campaign workers that are free but actually paid or by taxpayers ... it’s a conflict of interest, and it’s a corrupting influence. And the result of it is, spending goes up, taxes go up and businesses leave our state.”

Rauner, who is from Winnetka, was the only of the four who did not stick around to talk to reporters after the debate. Rutherford fielded questions about his legal troubles. Most of the queries pertained to why he would not release the results of an independent investigation he initiated when he first went public with the fact that he was being accused of improper behavior by an employee. The treasurer vowed to make the findings of the investigation public but then did not because he said his lawyers advised him not to as long as he is the subject of a federal lawsuit. “I am absolutely not frightened,” Rutherford said of the findings of the investigation. However, he says that neither he nor his campaign advisers have read the report. “I have not read. I have not asked for it. No, I am not going to read the report right now.” He admitted that the suit has cast a shadow over his bid for governor. “I will say that our candidacy has a challenge, and I understand that. I would be better off, I believe, if this report was released.”

Rutherford employee claims sex harassment, push to campaign

By Jamey Dunn

A former employee filed a lawsuit today accusing GOP gubernatorial candidate and state Treasurer Dan Rutherford of sexual harassment and pressuring employees to perform campaign work.

Edmund Michalowski, who worked for Rutherford from 2011 until he resigned this month, is suing Rutherford and his chief of staff, Kyle Ham. Michalowski alleges that both men pressured him to do campaign work, including fundraising for Rutherford. Michalowksi’s suit claims that he was passed over for promotions and raises while other workers who performed campaign work saw advancements and pay increases. Michalowski worked as director of community affairs and marketing for the treasurer. According to his lawsuit, he received a promotion and took on more duties without getting a raise.

“In 2013, Rutherford screamed to another employee of the Treasurer’s Office that Plaintiff was ‘useless to him’ because he had not helped him sufficiently politically,” the lawsuit says. Before being hired by the treasurer, Michalowski worked for the secretary of state’s office. He also alleges that Rutherford made several unwanted sexual advances, including groping him, and that Rutherford offered him professional advancement in exchange for sex. The lawsuit says that Michalowski went to Rutherford’s Chenoa home for a retreat, but that there were no other staff members there when he arrived. He says that after dinner, he went to the guest room and that Rutherford came in and groped him. “Rutherford entered Plaintiff’s bedroom and grabbed at Plaintiff’s genital area. Plaintiff immediately forced Rutherford off of him. Plaintiff gathered his belongings and left. Plaintiff informed Ham of the incident shortly thereafter, to which Ham replied, ‘At least we have job security’ and that ‘it’ had happened to him as well,” the lawsuit says.

Rutherford denies all the claims, and travel vouchers produced by his office call Michalowski’s timeline on the day of the retreat into question. “State records reviewed by the treasurer’s office bear no resemblance to Michalowski’s allegations. For instance, Michalowski claims that he was harassed at ‘an overnight retreat’ at the treasurer’s home in Chenoa on April 2, 2011. However, a travel voucher submitted and signed by Michalowski for the date of April 2, 2011, shows he traveled home from Pontiac (not Chenoa) at 2 in the afternoon. Most importantly, contrary to his claim that he planned to stay the night and that he was harassed in the evening, the voucher indicates Michalowski returned to his residence in Chicago by 4 in the afternoon that day. An email written by Michalowski to another co-worker confirms that he traveled to Pontiac and returned home the same day,” said a statement from Rutherford’s office.

Rutherford announced a few weeks ago that he was initiating an external probe into allegations against him from an employee, but he said he could not describe the allegations at the time. “While an independent investigation is ongoing, the Illinois state treasurer’s office conducted an initial review of documents [that] Michalowski claims support these allegations, as well as its own records, and preliminarily found there was no merit,” said a statement from the office. Rutherford told reporters at a Schaumburg news conference that he plans to forge ahead with his gubernatorial bid. “I’m carrying on with my campaign,” he said. “We’re going to continue on.”

Rutherford says Rauner behind employee allegations

State Treasurer Dan Rutherford says that his opponent in the Republican gubernatorial primary, Bruce Rauner, is behind allegations being made about him by one of his employees.

Rutherford held a Chicago news conference today, where he told reporters that the lawyer of an employee approached his office and demanded a $300,000 settlement to keep the allegations against him quiet. Rutherford refused to reveal what the employee is accusing him of, saying his lawyer advised him not to reveal the details or the employee’s identity. “Let me make this very clear: There is absolutely no truth to the allegations. No factual support or merit,” he said in Chicago.

The employee’s lawyer, Christine Svenson, has ties to Rauner’s campaign, and Rutherford claims he is being set up by Rauner. But Rauner’s campaign staff says he had nothing to do with the allegations. “Treasurer Rutherford should spend his time answering the serious claims made against him by a state employee rather than trying to distract attention with false claims against us,” Mike Schrimpf, spokesman for Rauner’s campaign, said in a prepared statement. They said Rutherford’s campaign lawyer recommended Svenson and that she only worked for the campaign briefly. “The campaign hired Ms. Svenson to review and edit our office space lease last spring because our regular attorney had a conflict of interest with the landlord. We paid her a one-time fee of $3,500 for that service and never discussed anything with her related to the treasurer.”

Rutherford said he has internally investigated the issue and that he is also initiated an external review. “I find this to be very, very offensive,” he said.

Fact check: Republicans on the budget

By Jamey Dunn

If one of the Republican primary candidates ultimately wins the race for governor, he will face some challenging budget conditions. The temporary income tax increase, which was approved in 2011, will begin to sunset during the last half of next fiscal year. Projections from Gov. Pat Quinn’s budget office estimate that Illinois will have a $2 billion budget deficit by the end of Fiscal Year 2015 and $7.5 billion in unpaid bills.

During the Republican debate last week, GOP candidates shared some of the ideas and qualifications they would bring to the table when looking to address the state budget.

Sen. Kirk Dillard touted his experience working under former Republican Gov. Jim Edgar. “We inherited a $1 billion deficit in a recession and left a $1.5 billion surplus, all without an income tax increase,” Dillard said. He noted that during Edgar’s time in office, the state’s credit rating went up and the backlog of overdue bills was paid down.

It is true that Edgar’s administration started off with a budget deficit and left office with a budget surplus and paying the state’s bills on time. Edgar made some difficult budget choices, including cuts to Medicaid. The income tax did not increase. However, after being elected in 1990, Edgar made a temporary income tax hike permanent. He told Illinois Issues at the time that the cuts that would be needed to allow the increase to sunset would have been too deep. “There's no way you can make that amount of cuts without cutting into programs that I think everyone agrees are necessary.” Making the increase permanent was part of the platform Edgar ran on. "I won with everybody knowing my position. Nobody can be surprised on that one,” he said.

The budget recovery was also helped along by the economic boom of the mid-1990s. When Edgar took office, the country was in recession and Gross Domestic Product growth was nonexistent. By the time he left in 1999, GDP growth was almost 5 percent. Over the same period, the federal government went from a $269.3 billion deficit to a $125.6 billion surplus. Economic growth could go a long way toward improving the state’s current fiscal condition, but the kind of economic bubble the country experienced in the '90s is not likely to reoccur in the foreseeable future.

State Treasurer Dan Rutherford said he plans to conduct a performance review of all state agencies, similar to one he did when he entered his current office. Rutherford pointed to budget cuts he has made as treasurer. “I cut the budget of the state treasurer’s office by 2 percent, next fiscal year 3 percent and then 5 percent — a total of 10 percent. I’ve got the experience to do that,” he said.

Rutherford has not yet made that 5 percent cut but plans to call for it under his budget for next fiscal year. He has managed to cut his office’s budget over the last few years. Some of the substantial reductions include closing the treasurer’s satellite offices throughout the state, reducing staff through attrition, cutting the vehicle fleet and reducing phone lines. The general fund budget for the treasurer's office in the current fiscal year is about $9 million. To call it a drop in the bucket of the overall General Revenue Funds budget would be an overstatement. While Rutherford’s cost-saving measures do seem to be effective for his office, many state agencies have made similar moves to cut costs. There are only so many cars, phone lines and employees you can get rid of and still do the business of state government. Agencies that provide social programs, such as Medicaid, must have offices throughout the state that applicants can reach. To bridge the revenue gap that will follow the sunset of the tax increase, it will take more than such nibbling around the edges of the budget.

Sen. Bill Brady pointed to recent pension reform legislation as a good start on tackling Illinois’ budget troubles. “It will save the taxpayers $190 billion,” he said.

Brady has his savings number wrong. In reality, the plan was originally estimated to save about $160 billion over 30 years. But new estimates from the retirement systems now peg the savings at about $145 billion. The new law will have to survive a court challenge to produce any savings.

Brady also said he would eliminate the Illinois State Board of Education.

Again, ISBE’s spending makes up a small fraction of overall education costs. Brady said he would create a department under the governor’s office to oversee education. Such a department would presumably have staff, need office space, phone lines, even a travel budget. So the spending now going to ISBE would not be totally eliminated. When former Gov. Rod Blagojevich proposed a similar idea, his department of education would have cost about 80 percent as much as ISBE did at the time. Brady said his idea is not just about the savings but would “end the bureaucratic red tape that harms our children’s educational opportunities every day.”

He failed to mention however, that most of the mandates imposed on schools are voted into law by the Illinois General Assembly.

Bruce Rauner said he would focus on fighting union bosses, who he says are driving up the cost of government operations. He said he wants to use creative negotiating tactics, such as those employed by former Indiana Republican Gov. Mitch Daniels.

Daniels put a merit pay system in place in Indiana and effectively ended collective bargaining for public employees through an executive order in 2005. He was able to do that because the collective bargaining provisions were originally put in place through a previous executive order in 1989. Indiana lawmakers voted to codify Daniels' move in 2011, so future governors would not be able to restore collective bargaining with their executive power. Daniels signed that legislation into law. “He used executive order and the power of the government office to stand up to the power of the government union bosses that control the state governments around the nation and are driving up costs and driving down productivity,” Rauner said. Since collective bargaining rights are written into Illinois law, such a move may not be so simple, or even possible, here.

Rauner, along with the other candidates, said he would find savings in the state’s Medicaid program, which he called “broken” and “corrupt” “Based on studies that have come to light recently, it looks like close to half of the enrollees in our Medicaid system aren’t entitled to receive the benefits they’re getting, based on the report so far.” As part of sweeping Medicaid changes passed last year, the state is checking on Medicaid recipients to make sure they are eligible to receive benefits. So far, 315,000 cases have been reviewed, and 40 percent of those were found to be ineligible. But the first cases being tested were ones that were suspected of not being qualified for benefits. The benefits in most of these cases were canceled because there was no response to the requests for verification. The department does not expect the number to remain that high as it continues the verification process. “The cancellation rate is expected to come down because the reviews started with cases that had been flagged for having a discrepancy,” said a statement from the department.

While much of what the Republican candidates said about the budget during last week's debate was true, or mostly true, none of the candidates has offered a comprehensive plan for how he would address the budget shortfalls that will come as the tax increase steps down.

To be fair, neither has presumptive Democratic candidate, Gov. Pat Quinn. So far, Quinn has refused to talk about whether he would support an extension of the tax increase. By law, Quinn is required to propose an FY 2015 budget that is based on current revenues. His budget address is scheduled for February 19.

Republican candidates retract their claws for Peoria debate

By Jamey Dunn

Republican candidates for governor toned down the personal attacks and played up their experience and electability during a primary election debate this evening.

When the four candidates came together last week, they spent much of the time going after each other. Tonight’s debate, held in Peoria, was more subdued. The candidates covered a lot of old ground, such as questions over the minimum wage. They also fleshed out some of their policy visions, which included eliminating the Illinois State Board of Education and cutting state funding for Amtrak train service.

Venture capitalist Bruce Rauner focused on what he says are his four priorities: improving the economy, cutting government spending, reforming education and imposing term limits on state elected officials. In addition to running for governor, Rauner is backing a push to put a constitutional amendment on the general election ballot that would limit legislators to eight years in office.

Rauner said that if elected, he would advocate for moving state workers into 401(k)-type retirement plans. He also said workers should receive merit pay for increasing productivity and meeting goals. He said he thinks former Indiana Republican Gov. Mitch Daniels was the “the best governor in America.” Rauner said: “He brought 30 superstars from the Indiana business community to the state capital, allocated responsibility and had them oversee the government. I will do exactly the same thing here.”

Daniels put a merit pay system in place in Indiana and effectively ended collective bargaining for public employees through an executive order in 2005. He was able to do that because the collective bargaining provisions were originally put in place through a previous executive order in 1989. Indiana lawmakers voted to codify Daniels' move in 2011, so future governors would not be able to restore collective bargaining with their executive power. Daniels signed that legislation into law.

“He used executive order and the power of the government office to stand up to the power of the government union bosses that control the state governments around the nation and are driving up costs and driving down productivity,” Rauner said. Since collective bargaining rights are written into Illinois law, such a move may not be so simple, or even possible, here.

While Rauner said the recent pension reform legislation was marginal and called it a “Band-Aid on an open wound,” Sen. Bill Brady said his vote in favor of the bill illustrates his ability to make difficult decisions. “I know what it’s like to take the tough vote. That was meaningful. You know, it wasn’t easy to tell people who paid in the system, we’re going to cut the way their pension grows.” But Brady said it would save taxpayers money and ensure that benefits are there for retirees in the future.

When asked what else he might do to cut government spending, Brady, who is from Bloomington, said he would eliminate the Illinois State Board of Education. “Partly because it saves money. But mostly because it will end the bureaucratic red tape that harms our children’s educational opportunities every day,” he said of the proposal. Brady said he would instead form a smaller education agency that would work directly under the governor.  Former Democratic Gov. Rod Blagojevich had a similar plan. While he was able to reduce the size of the workforce at ISBE and other state agencies, he was never able to fully eliminate the agency.

Brady did take some digs at his fellow candidates. But he did so while rarely naming names and in a way that would have likely passed by the casual political observer. He did call out Rauner and Sen. Kirk Dillard on their stances on the minimum wage. Brady said the debate over the minimum wage that has gone on during the primary campaign has “damaged the brand’ of the Republican Party in the state. “Even businesses don’t want to see a cut in the minimum wage. They don’t want to see their employees' morale reduced and pay cut.” He added that the state cannot afford to increase the minimum wage.

Rauner, who is from Winnetka, has said in the past that he wanted to lower the minimum wage. He later reversed that statement, saying he would support an increase under certain circumstances. “It’s a double-edged sword ... and we need to be very thoughtful and cautious in our consideration of it,” he said during tonight’s debate. “Raising the minimum wage can help struggling families. However, raising the minimum wage can hurt small-business owners and can cause them to leave or close their doors or replace workers with machines. And that can end up hurting the very struggling families, struggling workers, it's designed to help.” He said he would back an increase if it came coupled with “comprehensive pro-business reforms,” such as worker's compensation changes and tax reforms.

Dillard said he does not support an increase to the minimum wage. However, he said that local marketplaces should “set the upper limits of the minimum wage.” He said, “It is clearly needed to be higher in places like Chicago than it would be in rural Tennessee.” Dillard added, “No one should be raising a family on a minimum wage.” He said elected officials should instead work to ensure that better paying jobs are available.

Gov. Pat Quinn, the presumptive Democratic nominee for governor, supports increasing the minimum wage.

State Treasurer Dan Rutherford agreed with Dillard. “We don’t want to have this be the base to which people try to aspire to, just to be at minimum wage.” Rutherford said he does not think the minimum wage can be increased now but said he is not closed off to the idea of discussing an increase in the future. “The idea of where we go in the future on the minimum wage is going to be contingent upon many other factors out there: where we are in the growth of this economy, where we are in regards to other business factors going on out there, where we are in regards to other taxes on our businesses.”

Generally Rutherford, who is from Chenoa, was the one candidate who discussed leaving room for negotiating most major issues if he becomes governor. He said he does not want to see the current income tax increase, which is due to begin stepping down in 2015, extended. However, he said he would come to the office with “everything on the table” so he could try to hammer out some major reforms. On the flip side, Brady vowed to veto any extension of the increase if he ends up behind the governor’s desk.

Rutherford did seem certain of at least one thing: He is unhappy with Amtrak. “There’s too many times you’re sitting there in a cold gravel parking lot waiting for a train that is four hours late,” he said when asked about state funding for the train service. Rutherford said that unless Amtrak could make its trains run on time, he does not support the state funding it.

When it came to making the case for their ability to win the general election, Rutherford was the most animated. He said he is a moderate who has won a statewide election and can reach out to diverse communities of voters. “I’m a reasonable Republican," Rutherford said. “I am not a Republican with horns and a tail.”

Brady said he could build off the name recognition he created with voters during his failed general election run against Quinn in 2010. He said his message could resonate with voters of all political stripes. “I don’t care if you’re an independent, Democrat or Republican, you can’t be happy with the highest unemployment [rate] practically in the nation,” Brady said of this race, “We’ll finish the job this time.” 

Dillard, who is from Hinsdale, said his suburban connections, along with his ties to downstate -- he attended Western Illinois University and was married in central Illinois -- make him the ideal candidate. He also played up his executive experience as former Gov. Jim Edgar's chief of staff. Dillard said he is the only GOP hopeful who can win the general election. “I can guarantee you that all four of us up here us agree on one thing, and that’s that Pat Quinn needs to go, and that for too long, this state’s been controlled by one party and one city. We need to restore the political balance of Illinois.”

In the one of the most direct attacks during the debate, Dillard said that the negative press Rauner has begun to receive makes him a risky candidate. Most recently, court documents have surfaced tying Rauner’s former company, GTCR Golder Rauner, to neglect cases in nursing homes the company had invested in. In once case, a Florida jury awarded a $1 billion settlement to the family of Arlene Townsend, who died in one of the nursing homes at 69 years old after suffering more than a dozen falls and a hip fracture that went untreated for a week. “The drip, drip, drip, drip of stories day in and day out about Mr. Rauner’s business dealings and his history of pay-to-play activity will wash away our chances as a party to ever get rid of Pat Quinn in November,” Dillard said.

 Rauner did not respond to Dillard’s statement. Instead, he emphasized his business pedigree without going into the specifics of his business dealings and alluded to his vast wealth as a positive. “I’m not out looking for political career. I don’t need a job. I can’t be bought, intimidated. bribed, influenced. I can just stand up and fight for taxpayers, schoolchildren, homeowners, small-business owners,” he said. “I am not the problem. Everyone that I am running against has been part of the problem for decades.”

Politics swirl around pension vote

By Jamey Dunn

The political fallout has begun over a deal reached by legislative leaders to make changes to the state’s public employee pension systems.

The proposal, which is yet another version of Senate Bill 1, is projected to save $160 billion over 30 years and fully fund the pension system by 2043.

The legislation would reduce annual cost of living adjustments (COLAs) for current and future retirees. While previous plans have cut COLAs in a more straightforward way, this bill would apply differently to employees and retirees, depending on how long they worked and which retirement system they are a member. The current COLAs are 3 percent compounding interest. Under the new SB1, the COLA would be determined by 3 percent of salary or 3 percent of the product of years served multiplied by $800 for state employees or $1,000 for teachers and university employees. The COLA would be based on whichever number is smaller. The number for teachers and university employees is larger because workers in both systems generally do not get Social Security benefits. Some annual COLAs would be deferred for current employees upon retirement. The number is contingent of years of service.

Employees younger than 46 would also have to retire later. For each year an employee is younger than 46, an additional four months would be tacked onto the time he or she would have to work to receive full benefits. The proposal would also cap pensionable salary at $109,971, but that number would increase annually based on inflation. The plan would reduce the employee contribution toward retirement benefits by one percentage point and allow the systems to sue the state if it does not make its required payment. However, lawmakers could vote to change the payment schedule and reduce the annual payment. Since the details of the plan were released last week, candidates running in the 2014 elections have been weighing in.

Only one Republican gubernatorial candidate, Bloomington Sen. Bill Brady, came out strongly in favor of the proposal. “I will be voting in support of this legislation, which has been crafted through months of discussion, exhaustive analysis and legislative debate. It will not be an easy vote by any means; in fact it will be one of the most difficult votes I have ever cast,” Brady said in a written statement. Brady served on the conference committee that helped to craft the legislation. “It’s not fair to ask state employees and teachers who have paid every dime they owed to the system to make a sacrifice. It’s necessary, however, because governors and legislators who voted for budgets over the last decade did nothing more than delay the resolution we now have before us.”

Illinois Treasurer Dan Rutherford, who is running for the Republican nomination for governor, said the plan goes too far by not offering employees legitimate consideration for the benefits they would lose. “I have taken due consideration over the long Thanksgiving weekend to evaluate the proposal for State Public Pension Reform. Having examined the information available, I do not support the current legislation. I do not believe it will withstand judicial review should it pass the Illinois General Assembly,” Rutherford said in a written statement. “Strong beliefs are held in this debate, but fundamental to our rule of law is our Constitution. Our government’s obligation can be changed through a process involving adequate consideration to the employees. In my opinion, the legislation before us fails to address this relationship and offer adequate consideration in exchange for altering the pension benefits.”

Union leaders agree with Rutherford that the plan is unconstitutional. “It’s an unfair, unconstitutional scheme that undermines retirement security,” said a statement issued by the We are One Coalition last week.

University of Illinois leaders also oppose the bill. Previous versions of pension reform were based on proposals from the U of I’s Institute of Government and Public Affairs. “The University of Illinois called for a pension system that would be reasonable, responsible, sustainable and competitive with those offered by our peer institutions,” said an email to employees from U of I President Robert Easter; Phyllis Wise, chancellor of the U of I at Urbana-Champaign; Paula Allen-Meares, chancellor of U of I at Chicago; and Susan Koch, chancellor of the U of I at Springfield. “In our view, the legislation under consideration fails to meet those basic principles. The likely changes arguably lessen the retirement commitments made to employees and retirees, and their net effect also will harm the public higher education sector in Illinois.”

Hinsdale Republican Sen. Kirk Dillard, who also is running for governor, has yet to take a stance on the bill. He has instead called for multiple hearings and time before a vote to ensure that lawmakers understand the legislation. “Addressing pension reform is an essential first step in working our way out of a deep fiscal hole,” Dillard said. “But we must know what's in the bill and not rush a vote merely because we've been assured by the leaders and Gov. [Pat] Quinn that this is the best deal for the people of Illinois.” Dillard is not alone. Other Republican lawmakers have complained that they are being pushed to vote too quickly on the more-than-300-page bill.

 Supporters of the plan say the changes in the bill are nothing new to lawmakers who have been debating the issue for years. “We’ve been working on this issue for two years. There’s [been] plenty of time to take a look at every single aspect. It’s been debated, discussed, looked over, analyzed scrutinized — you name it,” Quinn said in Chicago today. “The time for review is fast eclipsing. It’s time now to vote. That’s what the people want. They want their legislators to take this bill that’s been discussed in many different ways and vote on it, and I think a vote ‘yes’ is the best way for our state to go.” Quinn said that the vote would be the “most important” fiscal vote taken by lawmakers during their legislative careers. But he said that anytime there is an important vote, opponents look for ways to block it. “There’s always going to be a do-nothing caucus, and they will say anything in order to continue to do nothing.” The governor added: “I think everyone who is interested in the future of Illinois, the common good, what’s good for taxpayers, should join us in urging a ‘yes’ vote tomorrow for the pension reform.”

Quinn’s own Lt. Gov. Sheila Simon issued a statement today opposing the plan. She says it should do more to protect low-income employees and retirees. “While I congratulate the legislative leaders who came together in a bipartisan way to produce a pension compromise, the proposed legislation puts too much of the burden on lower income workers and retirees,” she said. Simon is also in candidate mode. She is challenging Comptroller Judy Baar Topinka, and the statement was issued by her campaign staff.

Meanwhile, Republican venture capitalist and gubernatorial hopeful Bruce Rauner slammed the proposal, saying it would “guarantee a future of higher taxes.” He said the cuts to benefits do not go far enough and proposes moving workers into a 401(k)-style plan. Rauner and others argue that employee benefits earned to date are protected by the Constitution, but future benefits are not. “Government workers and retirees deserve to be treated fairly. But let’s not forget who pays for this — it’s the hard working taxpayers of our state, who themselves are struggling to make ends meet in an economy that is weighed down by the fiscal blunders in Springfield,” he said in a prepared statement. “We can have a pension system that is fair to both sides of this transaction, the government workers and the taxpayers who pay for it. True reform would cap the current system and fully put in place a 401(k)-style program that is similar to the retirement plans of most Illinoisans. That’s fair to workers and taxpayers, and it ensures we will never face a pension crisis again.”

While Rauner dismissed SB 1, many other business leaders in the state have voiced their support. “The pension crisis is by far the most pressing economic issue facing the state of Illinois today. Despite rapidly escalating pension contributions that are consuming the state’s budget and crowding out funding for critical state services, the fiscal health of the pension funds themselves continues to deteriorate. The bill is a good bill and deserves your support. It incorporates a number of benefit reforms that have been widely discussed and that we have supported in the past,” said a letter sent to lawmakers and signed by several prominent representatives of Illinois business. Those signed on include Tyrone Fahner, president of the Civic Committee of the Commercial Club of Chicago, a group that led the charge for pension reform in the state; Gregory Baise, president of the Illinois Manufacturers' Association; David Vite, president of the Illinois Retail Merchants Association; and Doug Whitley, president of the Illinois Chamber of Commerce. “While not a solution to all of the state’s fiscal problems, this bill is a significant step forward. It will stabilize the pension systems and help put Illinois on the path to fiscal stability.”

Northbrook Democratic Rep. Elaine Nekritz, who served on the pension conference committee, said of the letter: “I think that that will be very significant in giving people the security that they need that the business interests in the state line up in support.” Nekritz said that while others might have different ideas about how to tackle the problem, they don’t have the votes needed to pass their plans. “We’ve always been trying to achieve a balance with this legislation, and I think that this is a balanced approach, a moderate approach, a compromise approach that actually can pass. It’s one thing to talk about all the things that you’d like to see, but if you can’t put votes on it, then it isn’t any good.”

Those who would rather not see the bill pass tomorrow say that the opposition coming at the issue from two different sides — some arguing that it does not cut benefits enough and others that it cuts too much — could manage to kill the bill through their combined lobbying efforts. “What happens tomorrow, I don’t know?” said Rep. Raymond Poe, a Springfield Republican. Poe represents many state workers and says he does not support the bill. “If both of those forces get together, we may be back to start over again. So who knows where we’re at for sure. ... It’s going to be funny tomorrow to see how that all shakes out.”

Evanston Democratic Sen. Daniel Biss, who also served on the conference committee, said that the opposition on both sides of the spectrum is to be expected. “It’s a compromise. There are those on the right who oppose compromise, who are hard-line dead-enders and don’t want to see us accomplish something. And so we have those opposing it. And of course there are those in [organized] labor who are very concerned that it gives too much, and I understand where they are coming from. But the bottom line is, this is a reasonable sound compromise that saves a lot of money, shelters the people in greatest need and puts us on a path to sustainability.”

Both the House and Senate plan to hold session tomorrow. A hearing on SB 1 is scheduled for 8:30 a.m.  It's difficult to deny the politics of the issue when they may have even had a hand in the timing of a potential vote. The deadline for candidates — including potential challengers to legislators — to file paperwork to appear on the spring primary election ballot passed at 5 p.m. on Monday.

Republicans pick running mates and begin to build platforms

By Jamey Dunn

Today is the first day that candidates can begin circulating petitions to get on the ballot, and Republican gubernatorial contenders have started announcing their running mates and are shaping their political platforms.

State Treasurer Dan Rutherford announced via Twitter that he chose Steve Kim, the 2010 Republican candidate for attorney general, as his lieutenant governor candidate. This is the first race under a new that law requires candidates for governor and lieutenant governor to pair up and run together during the primary election. If the Rutherford/Kim ticket goes all the way, Kim would be the first Asian-American elected to a statewide office in Illinois. Rutherford plans to hold a news conference on Thursday to announce officially that Kim will join his campaign. On his Twitter page, Rutherford said he would also announce the “unique and substantive” role that Kim would play in his administration. Kim has is a lawyer with a background in business and served as an adviser to former Gov. Jim Edgar.

Sen. Kirk Dillard, a Republican from Hinsdale, made several stops around the state today to showcase Republican state Rep. Jil Tracy as his running mate. However, he first made the announcement on Twitter yesterday. Tracy, a Republican from Quincy, has served in the House since 2006. She is originally from the Carbondale area and holds a law degree from Southern Illinois University. She worked as an assistant attorney general under former Republican Attorney General Jim Ryan. “Rep. Tracy is someone who could easily step in and be a great governor in the governor’s chair in Springfield. She thrives on getting things done for the people of Illinois, and she has the legislative experience to know how things work in Springfield. But like me she’s mature enough to know how things really ought to work in Springfield, and there is a difference,” Dillard said in Springfield today. If elected, Tracy said she hopes to be an ambassador to the business community and “find out how we’re going to create jobs in the private sector for people in Illinois.”

Republican candidate Bruce Rauner rolled out his plan to make changes to the Illinois General Assembly, including imposing term limits on lawmakers. Rauner is backing a constitutional amendment that would reduce the number of senators from 50 to 41 and increasing the House from 118 to 123. According to a news release from Rauner, the change would “make Senate elections more competitive and save the state money.”

The proposal also calls for changing the threshold to override a governor’s veto from a three-fifths majority to a two-thirds majority. Rauner hopes to gather enough signatures to get the amendment on the 2014 general election ballot, and he has created a political action committee to help with his efforts. If he does succeed in collecting the signatures needed, the amendment would also likely undergo a court challenge. The Illinois Constitution does allow for citizen-initiated amendments, but it limits them to the “structural and procedural subjects” of the article that governs the legislature. As state treasurer, current Gov. Pat Quinn tried to push a term limits initiative, but the amendment was struck down by the Illinois Supreme Court because it did not meet the standard of affecting both the structure and procedure of the legislative body.

This precedent may by why Rauner’s plan also shakes up the number of members in each chamber. Rauner said he wants the limit for governors, too, but the Constitution does not allow for changes to the executive branch via voter initiative. So term limits for the governor’s office could only be achieved if the General Assembly passed a constitutional amendment and voters approved it during a future general election.

Sticking with the digital trend that Republican candidates seem to be embracing, Rauner released a video via his YouTube channel making the case for his proposal. “Eight years and out for everybody,” he says in the video. “No more of this 30 years in power, making millions of dollars on the side from your law firm or your special deal. No more. Be a public servant: Serve the public and leave.” Dillard today called Rauner’s plan a gimmick designed to “attract attention to himself.” He said reducing the number of senators would leave people in less-populated areas with less representation. “The Senate districts will become so large that one won’t even really have the ability to really even see their senator. And I think it’s a real slap in the face to downstate Illinois.”

Quinn has said he continues to support term limits. However, if he is elected to serve another term as governor, he would exceed the eight-year limit that he once advocated for lawmakers.

There have been no indications yet from Quinn, his Democratic opponent Bill Daley or Bloomington Republican Sen. Bill Brady about their choices for running mates. Current Lt. Gov. Sheila Simon is challenging Republican Comptroller Judy Baar Topinka. One person who will not have to worry about picking a lieutenant governor candidate is Chicago Democratic Sen. Kwame Raoul. He was considering a bid for the governor’s office but announced last week that he would not run. Raoul said he wanted to instead focus on his job as a lawmaker and his role as chair of a special committee working to draft legislation to change the public employee pension systems.

Republican candidates highlight what they hope are winning qualities

By Jamey Dunn

Republican candidates for governor touted their electability at political events centered on the state fair today.

Four candidates are taking a shot at winning the Republican nomination this year. Three are familiar faces, and one is a newcomer. Businessman Bruce Rauner rode his Harley motorcycle into Springfield for today’s party breakfast and Republican Day at the fair. Talking to reporters on his way into breakfast, the first-time political candidate refused to get specific on a number of issues, including same-sex marriage and whether motorcyclists should be legally required to wear helmets. Rauner would only say that he always wears one. There is no law in Illinois that requires helmets, but there have been several attempts to pass one in recent years. Each time, the efforts have been defeated by the influential motorcycle lobbying group ABATE. “Today, it’s about victory and unifying the party,” Rauner said when asked to comment about his stances on social issues.

He was only willing to get specific on one issue. “We’re going to get term limits put on everybody in Springfield. All the legislature, as well as the governor, both today and in the future.” Rauner said that lawmakers and the governor should be restricted to serving eight years in office. Rauner would not say if he would support making Illinois a right-to-work state. But he did say he looks to former Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels as a political role model. Daniels, whose name was in circulation as a possible presidential challenger to Barack Obama in 2012, signed legislation in 2012 making Indiana a right to work state.

While Rauner may look up to Daniels, the priorities he listed today did not sound too different from those in speeches given by Democrats on their political day yesterday. He said he wants to help grow jobs, employ veterans, address corruption by bringing efficiency and transparency to state government and improve education. Rauner highlighted the fact that he is somewhat of a political outsider who would bring business experience to the job. “I have never run for office in my life, but I love our state passionately, and I cannot stand to watch us go down the drain the way we are. I will not sit by and let it happen,” he said. “I’m going to bring business talent, business success, to the governorship in Illinois.”

Rauner said of himself, “I’ve been a leader at everything I’ve touched throughout my career.”

Treasurer Dan Rutherford pointed to his win for his current office as proof that he can defeat a Democratic opponent in the general election. “I’m the only candidate running for governor that has actually run a statewide race. I know how to win.” Rutherford has attributed much of that that victory to outreach efforts in minority communities. “I know how to win. I know that going into communities of diversity is imperative for us as Republicans to earn the right to governor — communities of diversity of ethnicity and religion. I’ve done it. A great part of success is just showing up.” He said he could appeal to the independents and even bring over some Democrats. Rutherford said he would be able to garner solid support in Cook County.

He took a veiled swipe at Rauner’s lack of political experience in his speech to party leaders this morning. “It is good to be back at the state fair. This is not my first time here.” Rutherford highlighted his own hands-on style of politicking. “I’ve been to every single [one of the]102 counties,” Rutherford said.

Bloomington state Sen. Bill Brady, who lost the 2010 race to Quinn, said that his failed bid for governor has helped him to gain name recognition across the state. He said that former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, brother of former president George W. Bush, encouraged him to run again. Brady said Bush told him that his own failed bid for governor of Florida helped him to eventually win the office.

Some political observers say that Brady’s conservative stances on social issues helped sink his campaign in 2010 because he was unable to gain the support of upstate moderates. But Brady said today that candidates have to make their opinions clear, come what may. “People have to know what you stand for. They know what I stand for. I stand for less government, lower taxes more private sector business. Regardless of who your candidate is, if they don’t know what you stand for, they don’t know what their supporting or not supporting.” However, Brady said that he thinks the focus of the 2014 race should be economic issues and not social policy.

Brady and the other candidates will likely not be able to match the wealthy Rauner’s ability to spend on his campaign. “We’ve conceded the fact that we’ll probably be outspent,” Brady said. “I don’t think there’s any question the people of Illinois regret their choice in the last election, and we’re going to win this time around.”

When asked what his biggest misstep in 2010 was, Brady did not have an answer. “I don’t know that I can point to that. What I can point to is that we’re going to run a strong campaign, build on what we’ve done and finish the job we started.”

Hinsdale state Sen. Kirk Dillard lost the primary to Brady in 2010 by fewer than 200 votes. Dillard noted that many pundits have since speculated that if he had beat Brady, he would be governor today. Dillard said to Republicans today that he could be the “unifier between the conservatives and moderates of our party.” Dillard said that he has appeal throughout Illinois and the “right profile” to win a statewide office. “I’m a suburbanite with strong downstate agricultural roots. I will be a governor for all of Illinois. I am not a regional candidate.”

Dillard pointed to his time as former Gov. Jim Edgar’s chief of staff as proof of his ability work with lawmakers and get things done. “I have experience that money cannot buy. ... I once worked for the last clean and competent governor of Illinois.” Edgar is again supporting Dillard’s bid for office. “I am the one candidate that is electable statewide. I know how to govern a Democrat legislature to get it to do things, and I’ve proven it as state senator as well as a gubernatorial aide — to get that Democrat legislature to live within its means,” Dillard said today. “I’m tested. I’m proven. And I’m committed to reinvigorating the Republican Party, but most importantly, making this great state of Illinois, the capital of the Midwest, work again.”

House Minority Leader Tom Cross was not in attendance today. The official line is that he had a prior family commitment and would be seeing his daughter off to college. However, rumors were circulating all day that he is considering a bid for treasurer. Cross had been planning a run for the attorney general’s office if Attorney General Lisa Madigan vacated the position. However, Madigan passed on a bid for governor and instead decided to seek reelection. While Cross was mulling his run, other members of his caucus were stepping forward in hopes of filling his leadership position. Since the revelation that Cross might stick around, he has been met with hostility from some of his members who were eyeing his job. Today, people close to the leader speculated that he may not have wanted to field questions from the press about a possible run for a different statewide office until he had made up his mind.

Senate Minority Leader Christine Radogno was on hand. She said she would not be endorsing anyone in the elections. “I could imagine endorsing all of them; consequently, I will endorse none of them. ... I think all of them could do a good job, so I am going to be 100 percent behind whomever wins.” Radogno urged all Republicans who will be out campaigning during the 2014 election season to “remind our voters to keep focused on the result of 10 years of Democratic control.” She added, “People in this state I hope are smart enough to realize at this point, 10 years of one-party control has not been good for them.”

Republican primary officially a four-way race

Sen. Kirk Dillard today jumped into the 2014 gubernatorial race.

In recent months Dillard, a Hinsdale Republican, made it no secret that he planned to run, but he officially kicked off his campaign today with a series of news conferences throughout the state. Dillard now joins three other Republican candidates in the race: businessman Bruce Rauner, State Treasurer Dan Rutherford and Sen. Bill Brady.

Dillard and Brady faced each other in the 2010 gubernatorial primary, which Brady won. Brady went on to lose the general election to Gov. Pat Quinn. Brady announced in June that he would make his third run for governor. “It’s time to finish the job we started four years ago,” Brady said at a Springfield stop on his campaign launch tour of the state. “Illinois can grow and prosper again. It starts with putting the right leadership at the top. There’s a lot of work to be done, and it is time to finish the job we started.” Brady made the case that his failed bid for governor helped to make him the best-known candidate out of the four Republicans. He also said that he and his team had “learned” from the defeat.

Dillard served as chief of staff to former Gov. Jim Edgar, and it seems likely his campaign will play up his experience. Edgar, who endorsed Dillard in 2009, has said that he would likely back Dillard if the state senator chose to run again. A new ad on Dillard's campaign website describes him as “more tested” and “better prepared” than his opponents. “He doesn’t need to go on a listening tour of the state; his entire life has been a listening tour. He’s heard the people of Illinois, and he knows what to do,” the ad says. The line appears to be a shot at Rauner, who took a listening tour of Illinois before announcing his own bid for the governor’s office. Rauner has already raised more than $1 million and has substantial private wealth to tap. He is expected to outspend his Republican opponents.

In Chicago, the first campaign stop of several that Dillard is making across the state today, he pitched himself as the Republican who can “win a general election” and go on to be an effective leader afterward. “It's not just enough to elect a Republican governor,” he said. “You have to be someone who can work with Democratic legislators.”

Busy weekend for Illinois Republicans

By Jamey Dunn

The last few days have been important for the Illinois Republican Party, as it chose a new chair and the first Republican gubernatorial candidate stepped forward.

After a closed-door meeting in Springfield on Saturday, the Republican State Central Committee choose Jack Dorgan, a lobbyist and trustee for the Village of Rosemont, to serve as state party chair. Dorgan replaces outgoing party chair Pat Brady, who resigned after conservatives complained about his pro-gay marriage stance, which runs counter to the Republicans' platform. (For more on Brady’s resignation and some of the challenges facing the party, see Illinois Issues May 2013.) “I'm excited about it. I'm a 30-year veteran of Republican politics of this state, and whether you like government or don't, it's there and it's a necessity,” Dorgan told reporters after he won the vote. Dorgan was the presumptive candidate, but he faced competition for the volunteer post that included Angel Garcia head of the Chicago Young Republicans and former Congressman Joe Walsh.

Illinois Treasurer Dan Rutherford told various media outlets last week that he plans to run for governor in 2014. However, he officially kicked off his campaign with a media tour that began on Sunday. Rutherford highlighted his ability to attract minority voters and support from voters in Chicago and the city’s suburbs. Rutherford cites these strategies as key to winning his treasurer bid in 2010. “We reached into people’s communities of diversity, whether it’s skin color or religion or cultural backgrounds, and resonated with what was important, not just to them but to everybody,” he said in Springfield. “And what I sense now is, we can win this race. I’m the only Republican looking to run for governor of Illinois that has actually won a statewide race.” He acknowledged that his party has work to do when it comes to finding supporters outside of its traditionally  Caucasian base in the state. “My Republican Party has got to do things differently. My Republican Party has got to understand and accept that the mosaic of Illinois is very diverse. And that there are people that pray to different god, and there are people that have different accents, and there people that have different skin, and there are people that have different mother countries.” “And with that being said, they have the same concerned that anyone else has, and that is about having a safe community in Chicago and elsewhere. It’s about having a job.”

Rutherford said he knows he will face a crowded primary election field, and if he survives that, a difficult general election. “We know this isn’t easy; it’s going to be a real challenge. And in my party’s primary, I know our front I’m going to be totally outspent. I understand that,” He said. “It’s going to be uphill. It’s not easy winning Illinois, as a Republican, and I know that it’s going to be a challenge. But we have the path to win, and I feel confident that we will.”

Quinn and Rutherford spar over borrowing

By Jamey Dunn

State Treasurer Dan Rutherford said today he will not keep quiet about his thoughts on state borrowing or Illinois’ dire financial situation.

Last week, Gov. Pat Quinn voiced frustration over Rutherford’s recent comments on the state’s debt and financial standing. Rutherford called Illinois the “most bankrupt state in the nation” and has publicly warned Wall Street investors not to buy more of the state's debt.

Quinn told reporters in Chicago that he is “disappointed” in Rutherford for not being more cooperative on billions in borrowing that Quinn has proposed to pay off some of the state’s backlog of overdue bills. “I used to be state treasurer, and I know you can work with a governor,” Quinn said. “I’m a little disappointed in Treasurer Rutherford.”

Quinn has argued that the interest costs on loans would be cheaper than the interest the state is required by law to pay vendors on late bills. “I think if we do it in a good public finance way, we can save the taxpayers millions of dollars and help our business get paid the vouchers and invoices that they have quicker.” The plan has failed to gain traction in the legislature.

When asked if Rutherford’s public negative comments created fears that could lead to a credit rating downgrade for the state, Quinn recalled an old security slogan. “My father was in the United States Navy. Loose lips sink ships, and I think maybe Treasurer Rutherford should commit that to memory.”

“The governor has got to understand that this is not a secret." Rutherford said today that Quinn and others cannot hide from the reality of the budget — especially new information from Moody’s Investor Services that the state’s required pension payment next fiscal year, estimated to be about $5.3 billion, will be more than $1 billion higher than the payment for the current fiscal year. Moody’s estimates that the payment will account for about 14 percent of general revenue fund spending for Fiscal Year 2013. The bond credit rating agency described the state’s pension obligation as a “credit negative.”

“When Moody’s just came out within the last week talking about this new revelation about the greater payments that are going to be necessary in our pension funds, that’s no secret, governor. Everybody knows it. We’ve got to address it.” He said that when lawmakers passed a tax increase in January, they should have leveraged the prospect of new revenue to force cuts and pensions reform as part of an overall plan. “They didn’t put together the rest of the deal. … They blew it here in Springfield.”

Rutherford said he is willing to work with Quinn on short term borrowing — to be repaid within a year — to address cash-flow issues. But he said he would continue to be a vocal opponent of any other new borrowing. “Don’t loan my state any more money, they are addicted to debt.”

Rutherford clarified his statement about the state being bankrupt, noting that Congress has not voted to allow states to default. However, Rutherford said if the state were a private entity, it would be facing bankruptcy. He said he does not support proposals to allow states to default because vendors who have done business with the state would potentially get short changed. “If someone sold bread to the Pontiac penitentiary, that vendor should get the dollar for dollar, rather than [price] negotiated by a federal bankruptcy judge and get 80 cents on the dollar.”

Rutherford made his comments today at a news event announcing the start of an online auction to sell unclaimed property. After unclaimed property left in safety deposit boxes is held by banks for five years, it is passed on to the treasurer’s office, which then tries to locate the rightful owners. If the owners cannot be found, the state auctions off the property. Rutherford said the state has been searching for the owners of everything in the current auction for at least five years.

If owners come forward after an item has been sold, they are still entitled to the cash amount that the item was appraised for. Rutherford said of unclaimed property, much of which is kept in a vault under the state Capitol building, “it never becomes the property of the state. As the treasurer, I’m only the caretaker.” The online auction started today and will close  December 11. Rutherford said holding the auction online will bring the cost to the state down from about $29,000 to about $2,000.

Republicans say their time is coming in Illinois

State Treasurer Dan Rutherford takes the podium at the fair.

By Jamey Dunn

Illinois Republicans are optimistic about their party’s chances in the 2012 elections, if they can get their message across to voters.

“I think that America’s going to be looking at who is going to help lead us during an economically stressful time. Who’s going to help us with regards to jobs?” state Treasurer Dan Rutherford said at today’s Republican Day at the Illinois State Fair. He said Illinois Republicans need to reach outside of their traditional voting base and cannot count solely on the wave of popularity the Tea Party has found in other parts of the country. “The Tea Party brings a portion of the electorate, and more power to them in doing that. I just say that there is much more to wining a race in Illinois than just one specific segment. The traditional base of hard-core Republicans is not as large as the traditional base of hard-core Democrats. And for that reason, a candidate like me, who wins statewide races, has to understand that you need to reach into the independents and, to be very blunt with you, into the Democrats.”

Rutherford would not say if he plans to run for governor in the future. “I’m going to be a good state treasurer for the next few years, and we’ll make a decision later.”

Republicans believe their message of reduced spending and smaller government resonates in the down economy. “Incrementally, we continue to be the voice of reason,” said Sen. Bill Brady, a Bloomington Republican. Brady said Illinois voters need to get to know some Republican candidates better. “I think the people of Illinois are on a learning curve.” He says that “learning curve” is what made the difference in his failed run for governor last year. “At the end of the day, the undecideds didn’t get to know me as well as they felt they knew Gov. [Pat] Quinn, a career politician,” he said. Brady, who has served in the General Assembly for more than for 15 years, would not say whether he plans a third shot at the governor’s office.

The message Republicans were pushing today was opposition to borrowing. Quinn has renewed his call for the state to borrow to pay some or all of the estimated $4 billion backlog of overdue bills that Illinois owes to schools, social services providers, local governments and others. State Comptroller Judy Baar Topinka said the state has a stack of more than 190,000 bills, the oldest of which dates April 19, 2011.

“I’m just thrilled to death that we’re paying bills from 2011. We finally got out of 2010. We don’t have the money to pay it. It’s just that simple,” she said. Topinka joined Rutherford and the Republican legislative leaders to oppose borrowing to pay late bills, which they say will only dig the state into a deeper hole. Republicans also warn that with the recent Standard & Poor’s downgrade of the country’s credit rating and a specific warning to Illinois from the bond rating agency Moody’s, the cost of borrowing for the state may soon increase. “We actually do have a plan. … It’s not rocket science,” said Senate Minority Leader Christine Radogno. “It simply says you spend less money than you have coming in, and you start paying more bills down.” The Senate Republicans' plan called for $5 billion to $6 billion in budget cuts. Radogno said the plan would result in a budget surplus in five years.

Democrats criticized Republicans for not drafting their plan into legislation, saying such massive cuts to the state’s major spending areas of education, health care and human services are not so simple. They say some of the Republican plan would violate court orders and cause the state to miss out on substantial amounts of federal funding. “If there was an easy way out of this, we’d have figured it out a long time ago,” said Sen. John Sullivan, a Rushville Democrat. Sullivan sponsored several proposals to borrow to pay down the state’s backlog. He only called one of the bills, a proposal to borrow about $6.2 billion, for a vote, and it received a meager 19 “yes” votes. Sullivan said he is trying to sell lawmakers as well as voters on the idea, and he plans to push some version of the plan again. “I’m just trying to build a case,” he said.

Party chair Pat Brady address the crowd.

Both Sullivan and Quinn said the borrowing would actually be a restructuring of a debt the state already owes to those it has not paid for their services. Sullivan said he worries that businesses that work with the state may go under while Illinois fails to act quickly on the backlog. “I don’t even know how they're keeping the doors open in some instances.” He argues that the plan could help the state’s recovery. “Just imagine what putting $5 billion into the Illinois economy is going to do.”

In this year before the presidency and every seat in the General Assembly comes up for grabs, Illinois Republicans are working to raise the profile of their party and their message of fiscal responsibility. Republican Party Chair Pat Brady announced an Illinois straw poll — similar to the famous Iowa straw poll conducted last weekend — on Republican presidential candidates on November 5, one year before the election. Brady said the party plans to have polling locations in every county in the state. Brady put a positive spin on the spotty attendance at the Republican rally at the fair today, while noting that Democratic Party Chair and House Speaker Michael Madigan did not attend yesterday’s Democratic events. “This is a substantially better crowd than we had in the last off-]election] year, and we don’t bus people in because we gave them jobs. These are all people who came because they want to support the party.”

Treasurer calls for pension change

By Jamey Dunn

State Treasurer Dan Rutherford joined the list of Illinois politicians calling for changes to pension benefits for current state employees.

Rutherford, who left the Illinois Senate for the treasurer’s office, said he thinks the “biggest sticking points” in negotiations among lawmakers this session are workers’ compensation reform and whether they can cut back on retirement benefits for current employees.

House Speaker Michael Madigan and Minority Leader Tom Cross agree that lawmakers could alter future benefits for state employees. as long as they left untouched ones earned up to the date of the change. Senate President John Cullerton said he thinks such a plan would be unconstitutional and released a detailed legal opinion from his top staff lawyer that backed up his case. However, he has said he would not block a bill that would changed the system from a Senate vote, saying the ultimate decision is up to the Illinois Supreme Court.

Rutherford said he thinks that if employees were given the choice to stay in a system that offers guaranteed benefits — savings would come from requiring that employees make larger contributions— a change would pass legal muster. He added that it is time to test the concept in the courts.“It should be litigated. For years and years, we’ve [said] ‘oh it’s unconstitutional.' Litigate it. Until we do it, nobody’s going to really know. “

While Rutherford, a Republican, said he does not support Gov. Pat Quinn’s plan to borrow $8.75 billion to pay off the backlog of bills, he said he would consider short-term borrowing, especially if it would help the state capture federal funds.

“I’m not going to be a ‘no’ because I happen to be of a different party [than the governor.] I am going to be ‘let’s make this thing work.’ And if I don’t agree you, I’m going to be respectful, and we’re going to close the door, and we’re going to talk about it. And I feel very comfortable in my relationship right now with the governor and his budget people on what we can or cannot do as the state treasurer to help bring this around,” he said.

Quinn recently proposed $2 billion in borrowing, about half of which would be used to capture $750 million in Medicaid matching funds. Although Quinn has said such a plan would require legislative approval, Rutherford said he has been in talks with the governor’s budget office on alternative borrowing ideas to bring in the Medicaid funds.