1. - Levois - Monday, Oct 1, 07 @ 10:03 am:

   I liked your line about how Illinois likes its pork and social programs. Seems somewhat fitting. Oh and if Nordquist sticks around long enough someone might start to not like pork and social programs.




2. - IDOT'er - Monday, Oct 1, 07 @ 10:19 am:

   Anyone have a copy of the complete list of Capital Projects in the IL Senate GOP MOU? I think the list is about 5x larger than the abbreviated list given in some of the AP stories.




3. - Angry Chicagoan - Monday, Oct 1, 07 @ 10:19 am:

   Illinois likes its pork because frankly, the public sector in Illinois does not spend very much compared to most neighboring states. Minnesota is a much higher spending state — and, not by coincidence, the Minnesota Republican Party is much more conservative. Minnesota is close to the limit of what people are willing to spend. Illinois is not. Minnesota politicians who propose a tax increase of any kind are on thin ice. The only Illinois tax that’s at the limit of public tolerance is the property tax.




4. - paddyrollingstone - Monday, Oct 1, 07 @ 10:21 am:

   Norquist is a real sweetheart. I wonder if he visits his old pal Jack Abramoff in the Big House?

   http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grover_Norquist:

   ATR (Americans for Tax Relief) kept a small percentage of the funds that passed though the organization. In May 1999, Norquist asked Abramoff “What is the status of the Choctaw stuff?”, in an email. “I have a 75g [$75,000] hole in my budget from last year. ouch.” Abramoff eventually grew annoyed at the amount that Norquist took off the top before sending the money on, e-mails show. “Grover kept another $25 k!” Abramoff wrote in a February 2000 note to himself.

   Emails released in an October 12, 2006 report by the US Senate Finance Committee investigation, show that Norquist exchanged support for cash donations to ATR. Abramoff asked Norquist, “I have sent over a $50K contribution from DH2 (the mutual fund client). Any sense as to where we are on the op-ed placement?” To which Norquist replied, “The Wash Times told me they were running the piece. . .

   In 1997, Norquist and lawyer David Safavian (who was later sentenced to 18 months in prison for lying and obstruction in connection with dealings with Abramoff) founded a lobbying firm, the Merritt Group, later renamed Janus-Merritt Strategies (sometimes referred to as “Janus Merritt” or simply “Janus”). Over the next five years, the firm’s clients included international companies, Indian gaming interests, the government of Pakistan and the government of Gabon, and the American Muslim Council and Abdurahman Alamoudi, a fierce supporter of Hamas and Hezbollah. Senate disclosure reports on file show that for years Janus-Merritt registered as a lobbyist for Alamoudi. In 2002, Janus-Merritt was sold to the firm Williams Mullen. Norquist has refused to release tax records of the firm for the period during which he and Safavian owned the company.




5. - one of the 35 - Monday, Oct 1, 07 @ 10:34 am:

   While I understand the point Schnorf is trying to make, I think it is focusing on the wrong question. The goal of no tax increases for 4 years is very short sighted. By adhering to this goal, Blagojevich has placed the state in terrible current financial condition. You can’t continue to increase spending at this rate and not raise revenues. Normal economic growth can’t support the rate of increased spending generated by the poorly thought out programs of this administration.




6. - Team Sleep - Monday, Oct 1, 07 @ 11:18 am:

   I don’t like paying taxes just as much as the next guy. But government is in place for a reason, and unfortunately a large(r)-scale government that provides a safety net and assistance for those less fortunate is essential in a wealthy country of 303 million. The size and scope of the government should be debated, but you cannot scale back Medicare and Social Security.

   Arnold Schwarzenegger made a great speech over the weekend. He told the British Conservative Party that what people really care about are the issues and not the parties. He is right: I guarantee you there are more Republicans who care about health care for all and worker’s rights than the national GOP cares to admit, and there are more Democrats who want to win the War on Terror and keep a presence in Iraq than the national Dems want to admit.

   The problem is that the current party power structure in D.C. either refuses to see it that way or just doesn’t care. Thus, partisan bickering continues and people can keep pointing fingers. I had more civil conversations in kindergarten than many legislators have in Springfield and D.C.




7. - Arthur Andersen - Monday, Oct 1, 07 @ 11:39 am:

   Before anyone gets carried away about Steve Schnorf’s comment, let’s recall how the budget was “balanced” without raising taxes “on people.”

   I think it was by first putting 15 months worth of pension contributions on the people’s Mastercard (bonds) and then raising hundreds of fees, many paid by people. Then special funds were raided, in many cases taking people’s money that had been put there for a specific purpose and using the cash to reduce a deficit. Then back to the pensions for a 50% reduction in FYs 2006 and 07. I’m guessing that Director Schnorf did not foresee all of this in his crystal ball when he predicted a tax increase would be needed in Blago’s first term.




8. - cermak_rd - Monday, Oct 1, 07 @ 12:05 pm:

   People may not like to pay taxes, but they want their elderly parents to receive the government benefits they were promised. They want to be able to drive over a bridge with some kind of certainty that it won’t collapse out from under them. They want a government big enough to competently pull off an evacuation in the event of a terrorist attack or natural disaster. They want the police or fire personnel to be available in the event of a crime or fire. They want someone to protect their property from looting after a natural disaster. They want a department of government that can deal with children orphaned by death or incarceration and they don’t want to see people starving in the streets. It would seem that the average citizen wants a small government, but a bigger one than Gov. Norquist thinks they should want.




9. - Team Sleep - Monday, Oct 1, 07 @ 12:29 pm:

   Good point, cermak.

   People want efficient government. They want services but they don’t want a bloated bureaucracy that costs just as much as the services it provides. The lion’s share of Americans work in the private sector, and they see how bottom lines must be met while ensuring their firm or company retains staff and keeps the product or service viable. Unfortunately, government agencies aren’t always run that way. That is why people tyically dislike “the government”.




10. - Just My Opinion - Monday, Oct 1, 07 @ 1:52 pm:

    Sadly, I have come to the conclusion that Steve Schnorf is not part of the solution when it comes to the Blago budget mess. I would expect a former budget director to recognize that a tax increase can be far more than raising the percent of income tax taken from us. It’s bad enough that the current administration treats us like mushrooms but Mr. Schnorf’s denial of a tax increase by the Blago administration insults the intelligence of every single Illinois taxpayer. There have been many tax increases in the history of the Blago administration and Mr. Schnorf knows this. To go on public record and deny it now takes away any credibility Mr. Schnorf ever had. Sorry Steve, but you’re cut from the same cloth as John Filan.




11. - To Just - Monday, Oct 1, 07 @ 2:54 pm:

    Go read the quote again - Steve is correct.




12. - Just My Opinion - Monday, Oct 1, 07 @ 3:21 pm:

    I did go back and read it again and I stand by what I said. Steve said to Blago and Filan, “You guys can’t get through four years without a tax increase, it just can’t be done.’

    And then Steve backpeddled and said “And he absolutely proved that it could be. They’ve gotten through five years now without any increase in our two significant statewide taxes.”

    Steve’s first comment was, in my opinion, regarding tax increases that were all encompassing. Now he said it means no increase in our two significant statewide taxes. My dad used to call that speaking with a forked tongue.




13. - Cassandra - Monday, Oct 1, 07 @ 3:48 pm:

    It doesn’t matter what Schnorf thinks. He’s not the budget director any more…he’s ancient history. He was, like a lot of Republicans, pro tax, however and if he’s still part of Ralph Martire’s shop he’s still really pro-tax. Pro income and property tax. Pro taxing the middle class while leaving the rich alone to enjoy their riches.

    One should never assume that Republicans are anti- tax as one should never assume Dems are pro. Instead of using heuristics like party membership in evaluating the many pols we voters must assess,
    evaluate each one on his/her own statements and history. It’s harder but our pockets are slightly less likely to get picked.




14. - steve schnorf - Monday, Oct 1, 07 @ 3:55 pm:

    I didn’t say I agreed with the way they have approached the financial situation, and in fact I still believe that the Governor should raise the income tax. All I’m saying is that he said he wouldn’t, I thought he had to, he didn’t, and regardless of what we pundits think we know, the citizens re-elected him by a significant margin. It really isn’t very complicated. Read the words slowly, I’m sure you’ll understand them.




15. - Yellow Dog Democrat - Monday, Oct 1, 07 @ 4:36 pm:

    Cassandra, you obviously don’t know what the heck you’re talking about, and you’ve put me in the uncomfy position of defending a Republican.

    According to research backed by business groups, turning one high school drop-out into a college graduate doubles their average salary, reduces the spending burden for welfare and corrections, and increases property values in the communities where schools are improved.

    The Net Effect is that for every dollar you spend WISELY on education, taxpayers save $8.

    In the last capital budget passed in Illinois, we spent more money on prison construction than school construction. If you think shortchanging education is pro-taxpayer, you must have failed Economics 101.

    You don’t have to be a former budget director to understand that there are great costs associated with an under-educated workforce that need to be taken into account.

    And you don’t have to be an education expert to understand the value of good schools. Is it any wonder that Naperville, whose public schools produce more National Merit Scholars per capita than any other community in the state, is also one of our fastest growing cities?

    Sure, you’ll say. Money isn’t the answer.

    Tell that to Naperville, where teachers are paid 23% more, on average, than the rest of the state. And where they spend nearly $9400 per pupil, only $2 a day less per pupil than “bloated” Chicago, despite having far fewer at-risk kids making demands of them. Naperville’s school kids are 5% low-income, while Chicago’s are 86% low-income.




16. - Anonymous - Monday, Oct 1, 07 @ 7:27 pm:

    [The budget director for Republican governor Jim Edgar and George Ryan, Steve Schnorf] said he had to give the Blagojevich administration credit. During the transition, he said, “I said to him (Blagojevich) and to (then-budget chief) JOHN FILAN … ‘You guys can’t get through four years without a tax increase, it just can’t be done.’ And he said, ‘We think it can.’ And he absolutely proved that it could be. They’ve gotten through five years now without any increase in our two significant statewide taxes.”

    I’m surprised somebody as smart as Steve Schnorf said something like this. Maybe he just misspoke. To say that “they have proved” they could manage budgetarily shows an ignorance of what has gone on in the state since he left. I get irritated at those that used to be around who no longer are on the inside acting like they know how it is. Nothing has been proven. The way they have gotten through things is through illegal actions and slights of hand. Wake up Mr. Schnorf.




17. - Cassandra - Monday, Oct 1, 07 @ 7:48 pm:

    Ah, but the wisely part of spending is the problem.Dems (and their pro-tax Republican pals) persist in ignoring the huge corruption tax we pay in Illinois in addition to the huge unnecessary costs of patronage and poorly run government agencies, with DHS and DCFS being among the more dramatic examples, but by no means only.

    The pro-taxers see that as part of the package.
    You pay the taxes and part of that is paying for the corruption. It goes with the territory. And since the rich are undertaxed in this state, it goes with the middle class territory.

    Never been a fan of the governor but it’s my understanding that he came from a lower middle class family which had to watch its budget. So maybe he gets it that middle class families can’t be as cavalier as, say, wealthy ex-civil servants and wealthy Dem pols and lakefront libs about paying that corruption tax as part of the territory.

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