Radogno's "Cynical" Budget Attack
Over the weekend, Senate Minority Leader Christine Radogno
(R-Lamont) blasted Gov. Pat Quinn's ongoing campaign to raise awareness
about the devastating effects the state's 50-percent "bare-bones"
budget would have on people who use state services. As the Daily ...
Over the weekend, Senate Minority Leader Christine Radogno (R-Lamont) blasted Gov. Pat Quinn's ongoing campaign to raise awareness about the devastating effects the state's 50-percent "bare-bones" budget would have on people who use state services. As the Daily Herald reported, the GOP lawmaker called Quinn's approach "a shameless use and abuse of human service providers and the constituencies they serve."
She repeated this line of attack on FOX Chicago Sunday yesterday, calling the governor's strategy "cynical and almost immoral." But in doing so, Radogno completely ignores the outside constraints imposed on the General Assembly that make it virtually impossible to cut what she desires. Watch it here (the revelant clip begins at the 5:07 mark):
RADOGNO: What he’s done though is he’s said the shortage is exclusively in the human services area and I think in a cynical and almost immoral attempt to make those people put extraordinary pressure for the tax increase. The fact of the matter is, at the 50 percent level, government could continue for another six months while the necessary changes and reforms were brought into place.
Quinn certainly deserves some criticism for how he's handled the budget process so far. But the reason he is now focusing his proposed cuts on social services providers is simple: It's his only choice. As Voices For Illinois Children (VFIC) budget and policy expert Larry Joseph has pointed out, only about $4.2 billion of the $30.7 billion FY2010 budget is really open to cuts. And that section covers exactly the types of services Quinn is highlighting -- money for mental health services, home care and other services for people with physical disabilities, community health, and youth programs. From VFIC's report (PDF):
The proposed budget contains $30.7 billion in GF [General Fund] spending. Elementary-secondary education, higher education, and Medicaid, which account for about $17 billion, are largely protected by the [federal stimulus bill's] State Fiscal Stabilization Fund. Various other programs (about $1.2 billion) are also tied to federal grants. Pension contributions, debt service for pension obligation bonds, and employee group insurance account for another $3.1 billion. Statutory transfers — which mostly consist of revenue sharing with local governments and debt service for general obligation bonds — amount to $2.3 billion. The General Assembly would probably be reluctant to cut funding for the Department of Corrections ($1.2 billion), Department of Children and Family Services ($900 million), Department on Aging ($620 million), and Department of Juvenile Justice ($125 million).
To disagree with Quinn's proposal is one thing. But to claim that the budget realities he's putting forward are "cynical and immoral" is ridiculous.
Comments
Thank you for writing this piece and pointing out the absurdity of Sen. Radogno's claims. I am disheartened how quickly and how willing both Democrat and Republican legislators are to raise the specter of Gov. Blagojevich when criticizing Gov. Quinn but have not yet shown any similar willingness to reflect on what has been their own political bluffoonery in our state’s sorry saga.
The Republicans are right to be distrustful of the Democrats at this point; Governor Quinn did himself no favors by excluding Republicans from budget discussions. He needs to mend that fence and move on, conscious that if he excludes the Republicans again, the exclusion will be rightly viewed as strategy and the comparison to former Gov. Blagojevich would then be warranted.
But now it’s not. Now it’s the time for the Republican leadership to report on the cuts it deems necessary----itemize them, specify them, and publicize them. I don’t think any voter, whether Republican or Democrat, appreciates complaints without some substantive alternative.
In turn, I hope the Governor, with the support of Democratic leadership, will quickly and graciously make the compromises needed not just to craft a full year’s budget, but also to lay the cornerstone for a more trusting and productive relationship with the legislature, thus shedding the mantle of Gov. Blagojevich once and for all.
Huh? The $1.3 billion DCFS budget is being cut by $460 million; The $125 million DJJ budget is being cut by $124.75 million. There is no reluctance to cut these agencies.
"There is no reluctance to cut these agencies."
Yeah, that passage from the VFIC report is a bit outdated at this point (it was published about a month before the end of session). We just used that excerpt to demonstrate that there are a lot of strictures on the education and Medicaid portions of the budget.
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