Quinn using guilt to sway lawmakers

[June 10, 2009]  CHICAGO (AP) -- Gov. Pat Quinn wants lawmakers to see what doomsday looks like if they don't pass a state budget with an income tax increase, so he is making the rounds of social service agencies to guilt lawmakers into doing what he wants.

Quinn stopped at a Chicago food bank this week, warning that people could go hungry if deep budget cuts are made. He visited a community agency last week and, surrounded by children, said the child care that low-income families depend on could be cut.

And on Tuesday, just hours before he was set to meet with lawmakers, he said mentoring and after-school programs would be "decimated" if deep budget cuts are made.

Skeptics say Quinn's strategy isn't working. Some lawmakers from both parties say it's too little, too late and a tactic overused by former Gov. Rod Blagojevich. Others argue that a serious debate about an income tax increase won't happen until officials improve government efficiency.

"I have to look my constituents in the eye and say, 'You know what, I've done everything possible and there's no other way.' Right now I can't even come close to saying that," said Rep. Jack Franks, a Democrat from Marengo.

Quinn tried again Tuesday during a three-hour meeting with the state's top four lawmakers, but there was still no agreement on a tax increase, with the legislative leaders focused more on budget cuts.

The Illinois Senate passed an income tax increase, but the House overwhelmingly rejected one before lawmakers adjourned their spring legislative session June 1.

Instead, lawmakers passed a makeshift budget that doesn't come close to covering the cost of running state government. Some say it will force $7 billion in cuts -- including whacking budgets for human services agencies by 50 percent.

Quinn is urgently working to get lawmakers to reconsider and come up with an alternative budget by July 1, when the new fiscal year starts. But any plan will require a super-majority by lawmakers, which means Democrats -- who control both the House and Senate -- will have to appeal to Republicans.

During Tuesday's meeting, Quinn and lawmakers discussed using managed care to help control Medicaid costs and taking other steps to make government more efficient. Quinn said he would create a commission to focus on job creation and another commission to review recommendations of an advisory board that studied government operations.

To get what he wants, Quinn has publicly appealed to lawmakers' sense of duty to help fix the budget problems he inherited when he replaced the ousted Blagojevich in January.

"We have to band together to make sure our kids get a fair shake. I can't think of a higher priority," Quinn told parents and employees last week at the Erie Neighborhood House on Chicago's West Side.

Among them was Marisol Rodriguez, a working mother who said five of her seven children attend Erie House, which provides low-income families with child care.

"Without child care, I'd be out on the street," she said.

The Greater Chicago Food Depository, one of the state's food banks, is already struggling to meet increased demand, and state budget cuts could force more people to use its services, said executive director Kate Maehr.

"I don't know that we can keep pulling the rabbit out of the hat. We're going to try like crazy to make sure that we do," she said.

Rep. Lou Lang, a Democrat from Skokie who voted for an income tax increase, said Quinn is late in turning to community groups to help urge lawmakers to support a tax increase.

"These are the things that should have taken place a long time ago," Lang said. "He could have turned them into an effective fighting force all across the state."

Republican state Sen. Dale Righter said Quinn's strategy largely isn't working because the unpopular Blagojevich often did the same thing. His pleas usually were ignored.

Righter said the budget lawmakers passed includes enough money to fund state operations for at least six months, providing some wiggle room to work out problems.

"So this notion of, if lawmakers don't pass this big tax increase and do it like really soon ... the sky is going to fall. I mean, it's just not realistic," Righter said.

[Associated Press; By DEANNA BELLANDI]

Associated Press writers Karen Hawkins and Sophia Tareen contributed to this report.

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