1. - wordslinger - Wednesday, Jul 1, 09 @ 2:19 pm:

   Quinn takes a hand. Everybody’s running out of cards.




2. - A Citizen - Wednesday, Jul 1, 09 @ 2:21 pm:

   Astounding! He actually did what he said he would do. The Flip-Flops must be at the shoe shop getting a new soul.




3. - John Bambenek - Wednesday, Jul 1, 09 @ 2:22 pm:

   I’m not sure winning a hand with 9 high constitute bragging rights ;)




4. - Sewanee - Wednesday, Jul 1, 09 @ 2:24 pm:

   I like how he holds it up afterward for all to see. Like a new father holding his veto baby.




5. - Reality Check - Wednesday, Jul 1, 09 @ 2:26 pm:

   Atta Boy Gov! It’s not what you say that people respect it’s what you do, and today you did the right thing. And that aint no flip flop.




6. - Josh - Wednesday, Jul 1, 09 @ 2:28 pm:

   Ok, ok, so did he veto any of the other budget bills? If he wants maximum pressure for his budget, why not veto the state operations bill?




7. - Niles Township - Wednesday, Jul 1, 09 @ 2:30 pm:

   Good move. Let’s see if he has the guts to stick to his guns.




8. - Bill - Wednesday, Jul 1, 09 @ 2:30 pm:

   Last night he lobbied against 70%, today he vetoes 50%. Somehow I don’t think Maddie and the Mushrooms are going to react at all well to this feeble attempt at pressure. They might just send him a 40% budget next.




9. - walter sobchak - Wednesday, Jul 1, 09 @ 2:31 pm:

   Left out of the SEIU statement: Governor Quinn stuck his thumb in the eye of many more millions of Illinois taxpayers who fund all of these programs brought to you by special interests. As a massive recession rages and taxpaying families have seen their net worth decimated by housing losses, IRA values falling, and job cutbacks, he has opted for increased taxation rather than living within the state’s means. He hopes, and we here at SEIU hope, that common taxpayers don’t organize themselves as our groups do and continue to pay without protest. Why cut anything when we hold all the power through voter apathy and strategic campaign donations?




10. - Child's Play - Wednesday, Jul 1, 09 @ 2:37 pm:

    Great video Rich! The dramatic stamping exercise is like watching a little kid play Governor. At least he isn’t into playing to the camera’s like Blagojevich.




11. - Idontgetit - Wednesday, Jul 1, 09 @ 2:38 pm:

    The state site has been down for about a hour or 2.




12. - Oh Patty Boy... - Wednesday, Jul 1, 09 @ 2:40 pm:

    Governor SMASH!!!




13. - John Bambenek - Wednesday, Jul 1, 09 @ 2:40 pm:

    On blackberry right now and don’t recall, what are the #s for the other budget bills that were sent to gov?




14. - Arthur Andersen - Wednesday, Jul 1, 09 @ 2:41 pm:

    He shoulda stopped after the dramatic thump of the rubber stamp. (Can’t believe Blago never used that gimmick, or perhaps he feared getting an ink stain on the Oxxford suit)

    Everything after that was vintage Pat Quinn, the platitudinous poltroon.

    Enough.




15. - Time out - Wednesday, Jul 1, 09 @ 2:42 pm:

    Any idea as to whether Quinn will call lawmakers back before the proposed July 14 date?




16. - Donnie - Wednesday, Jul 1, 09 @ 2:42 pm:

    A family member of mine works in social services, and as a result of this, they were forced to lay off 10% of their staff today. What a joke. Rah, rah, SEIU.




17. - transplant - Wednesday, Jul 1, 09 @ 2:45 pm:

    Whew! I’m SO glad it wasn’t just me having problems with the state website today.




18. - website probs - Wednesday, Jul 1, 09 @ 2:46 pm:

    I can get to the state’s main website from my computer and phone. Is it still down for anyone?




19. - Cassandra - Wednesday, Jul 1, 09 @ 2:47 pm:

    Well, fair is the operative word here.

    To me, fair would be he makes the $2billion in cuts (transparency paramount, website we can check to verify), temporary personal tax increase (2 years max), no more than 1 percentage point increase and corporate increase to maximum permitted by personal increase, return to orginally proposed personal exemption increase. With that, it’s up to him and his Blago budgeteers how he manages state government. Borrowing and successfully closing some corporate loopholes, 3 percent upfront witholding on independent contractors, the possibilities are many and varied. Might take a little thought and a little work.




20. - OneMan - Wednesday, Jul 1, 09 @ 2:52 pm:

    He has a veto stamp? I thought that just happened on Schoolhouse rock




21. - Mom to 50 - Wednesday, Jul 1, 09 @ 3:04 pm:

    OneMan-
    Wouldn’t it be great if you could just get one on ebay?




22. - Jimmre - Wednesday, Jul 1, 09 @ 3:12 pm:

    Try il.gov instead of illinois.gov. It worked for me.




23. - Segatari - Wednesday, Jul 1, 09 @ 3:31 pm:

    The state website is running just fine right now.




24. - huh? - Wednesday, Jul 1, 09 @ 4:10 pm:

    Wait a minute….the Governor wants money for social service programs. The General Assembly appropriates every penny the State has and that only covers 50% of the social service grants. The Governor decides he wants more money. The Governor vetoes the bill that provides 50% - now he has nothing.

    After flip-flopping, what guarantee is there that he’ll even get 50% now? I’m with Hynes. This is totally irresponsible.

    WE ONLY HAVE SO MUCH MONEY! Take what you can get, work to stretch each dollar, keep some services, cut some services, and then spend the next few weeks/months trying to get an income tax increase. Why does he think shutting down government will provoke people to support a tax increase? Showing people that govt provides less services isn’t exactly going to convince them that we need to raise taxes.




25. - Mary, Sterling - Wednesday, Jul 1, 09 @ 7:02 pm:

    GOOD, Donnie. It’s a start. Time you state workers took some hits. Your family is no more important than MINE. Quit stealing my wages. Cut, cut, cut. 17000+ private sector jobs lost in IL in May. 10000 state worker cut in one fell swoop will be JUST the tonic. Blue collar working poor here.




26. - Rich Miller - Wednesday, Jul 1, 09 @ 7:11 pm:

    This was an interesting experience for me. Pure photo op for photographers and video only. My first.

    I hesitated about going in for a while, then decided what the heck. Quinn’s press staff was very nice when they gently explained the groundrules, acknowledging that I was a complete newbie.

    Weird.

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