Do I have to choose D or R?
Archpundit sent me to this post by ILPundit.
If the Democratic and Republican nominees are talking complete bullshit about the state budget, the media would cover an independent candidate that told the truth, right?
The basics, for those of you who are new, is this: Yes, the Governor has problems. But he is well positioned because he has cut all of the low-hanging fruit from the state budget, and held the line to an almost insane degree on general tax increases. This forces a Republican opponent into one of two positions of attack against him: 1) Identify new, deeper budget cuts – which all carry heavy political risk because the low hanging fruit is gone, or 2) Raise taxes – which is unpopular with “the base”.What if an independent runs on a sensible agenda for the state's budget woes?
If the Democratic and Republican nominees are talking complete bullshit about the state budget, the media would cover an independent candidate that told the truth, right?
posted by Carl Nyberg at 10:37 PM
10 Comments:
The national media allows the Bush administration to peddle lies and fantasies. Will the local media do better?
"If the Democratic and Republican nominees are talking complete bullshit about the state budget, the media would cover an independent candidate that told the truth, right?"
Carl,
When did you turn this into a comedy blog?
There is a lot of evidence that few people vote based on a coherent political philosophy--they vote on their gut, that is on their emotional reactions to the candidate and to certain emotionally charged issues.
Most people don't care about the state budget, especially if the income tax rate doesn't go up. It's Illinois, and people expect a certain amount of hanky panky concerning state monies. Who cares if the state pension system is underfunded or if special funds are mad because the guv is trying to raid them. Somebody will fix the pension system someday and everybody knows the special funds will survive.
Can the governor meet the visceral reaction test? It seems as if that's where a personable and articulate (and believably ethical) opponent has a chance.
Or, if there is a major ecomic downturn and rise in unemployment in Illinois, and that is unlikely to happen either.
I voted for Ryan over Poshard over "issues" and that was a royal mistake.
Where are you going to find an Independent in Illinois?
"Draft Beer and Lisa"
where did carl go?
Cut all the low-hanging fruit from the state budget?
Come on now. What about all those
associate deputies and assistant
associate deputies who make over (in some cases, way over)
$100,000 a year when you factor in their health and pension benefits.
If you cut out half of these people, nobody would notice. Oh wait, thought, most of them are political. Can't piss them off.
Just hope they come to work once in a while and don't get into any serious trouble that might embarrass the guv.
Dumbocrats. Just wait until they get to IDOT and the old DCCA. See what they find out about the grant monies. You won't have to worry about Bagocash any more.
Stefanski's title is actually deputy director of public and intermodal transportation, according to IDOT spokesman Matt Vanover. He earns $105,000 a year managing grants for mass transit agencies around the state, among other duties.
Stefanski did not return a call to his IDOT office Wednesday. A man who answered his cell phone hung up.
You can't be serious about cutting low hanging fruit when he increased the budget by one billion dollars a year!
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