Political Rewind: State Takes Less from Feds, More From Taxpayers

Editor's Note: This article was created by aggregating news articles from Illinois Statehouse News that were written by various Illinois Statehouse News reporters.

Truth behind Quinn’s budget claims

Gov. Pat Quinn on Thursday delivered, what he called, phase two of his plan to "manage the state budget."

Quinn's plan would close seven state facilities and lay off more than 1,900 workers. The governor laid the blame for the closures and jobs cuts at the feet of the General Assembly and the Legislature's $33.2 billion budget for fiscal 2012.

The governor made numerous claims, most notably, that the budget limits his ability to spend state money.

Illinois Statehouse News consulted lawmakers, former government officials and advocates to check the truth behind Quinn's claims.

To read those truths, click HERE.

Lawmakers pan Quinn proposal

The closest Illinois lawmakers will come to agreeing with Gov. Pat Quinn's plan to close seven state facilities and layoff nearly 2,000 workers is an acknowledgement that state government could be trimmed.

But few, if any legislators here, are supporting the plan Quinn outlined Thursday afternoon.

In all, 1,938 state employees will be laid off.

But Quinn said he has no choice.

"We clearly do not have enough money in the budget, that was appropriated by the Legislature in the spring, to pay the personnel and facility costs of a number of facilities and people who work for the state of Illinois," the governor said.

Lawmakers see things differently.

State Sen. Bill Brady, R-Bloomington, who lost to Quinn in the 2010 gubernatorial race, said Quinn is targeting GOP lawmakers and Illinois residents with severe disabilities. 

"He's attacking six out of seven facilities that are in Republican districts; he's holding some of the most vulnerable citizens of our state hostage," Brady said.

Harsh words for Illinois’ new signature law

Scott Lee Cohen had the signatures to demonstrate he deserved to be on the ballot.In fact, he had 133,000 of them, five times the number required by law.

Cohen wheeled the 4-foot-high tower of nominating petitions on a dolly bound with screws and plywood into the Illinois State Board of Elections here, intimidating or preventing any challengers to stop his bid for office before it began.

The renegade candidate was on the ballot as an independent for governor in 2010, only to place in third with 135,000 votes.But Cohen will be the last candidate to deploy this strategy.

A new law that caps the number of signatures a candidate can submit to be eligible for a place on the ballot is undergoing its first test in the 2012 campaigns. 

 Illinois has long had minimum signature requirements that differed depending on the race. Every candidate, from local office to governor, must submit signatures showing voters’ support for them. Candidates could submit hundreds or thousands more signatures than the law required.

Illinois takes in more cash from taxpayers, less from feds

Taxpayers gave Illinois a $1.2-billion shot of cash in August, or $464 million more than last August.

Personal income tax revenue jumped by 68 percent for last month when compared with the same time in 2010, almost mirroring the personal income tax increase of 67 percent approved in January, according to a report issued by the Legislature’s Commission on Government Accountability and Forecasting, or COGFA, this week.

Overall, the state’s revenue jumped from $1.9 billion in August 2010 to $2.2 billion last month, an increase of 13 percent.

However, focusing on the month-to-month numbers won’t give an accurate picture of the state’s fiscal health, said Jim Muschinske, COGFA’s revenue manager and author of the August revenue report that outlines Illinois’ finances.

“I’ve been doing this for more than 20 years, and I don’t get excited over one month. There is just too much that happens on a month-by-month basis,” Muschinske said.