More. Video. Gov. Christie in Pennsylvania today, campaigning for GOP governor and Senate candidates. "We must be the guardians at the gate".
More. Illinois final gubernatorial debate. Clout St:
Quinn portrayed Brady as the bearer of “nonsensical” plans that won’t lead the state forward, while Brady accused Quinn of standing by as ex-Gov. Rod Blagojevich ran Illinois into the ground. Quinn restated his support for an income tax increase to help ease the state's massive money woes during the hour-long debate broadcast by WTTW-Ch. 11. The governor said Brady has failed to offer details about how he'd bring the state out of the red other than implementing deep cuts.Brady for Illinois. More. Steve Huntley, Chicago Sun Times:
“Sen. Brady is irresponsible and he's reckless and he's wrong, and that's why people are very suspicious of his plans,” Quinn said. “They don't make sense, they're nonsensical.”
Brady countered that Quinn has had two years to fix the state's budget, but the pile of bills grows higher.
“He's not willing to face up to the tough decisions that a governor must make,” Brady said of Quinn. “Illinois' spending is out of control. Gov. Quinn has been unable to rein in state spending.”
Quinn maintains he has cut $3 billion in spending, but Brady noted that overall spending has gone up since Quinn took over for the impeached Blagojevich.
“It doesn't matter how many times you say it, it doesn't make it true,” Brady said of Quinn's budget claims.
In Illinois, irresponsible government has saddled the state with a $13 billion budget deficit and pension and other retirement obligations for government employees that add up to $130 billion by the reckoning of the Civic Committee of the Commercial Club of Chicago. A study by the American Legislative Exchange Council ranks Illinois 47th among all states in its economic outlook.
Gov. Quinn has been at the helm for almost two years and done nothing to inspire confidence that he can tame the forces driving the state toward insolvency, especially the public employee unions that have sunk their fangs into the taxpayers' jugular to support gold-plated pensions and benefits most of us can only dream of. He cuts a deal guaranteeing no layoffs to a big government workers union while proposing a tax increase.
Republican Bill Brady promises to cut the state out of its crisis, a course derided by his opponents and some experts as impossible. Still, no tax increase merits a minute's consideration until the state's economic infrastructure is reformed: government spending controlled and reduced, the tax and regulatory structure reworked to encourage business investment, and the pay, benefits and pensions of public employees brought in line with the private sector.
The Illinois Policy Institute has a plan that doesn't include raising taxes.
