 Will state parks close? Will poor people find it harder to qualify
for medical care? Will Illinois stop providing job training for the
disabled and counseling for troubled teens?Democratic Gov. Pat
Quinn and Republican challenger Bill Brady can't, or won't, provide
those kinds of details. Brady even plays down the idea that painful
sacrifice will be required in the face of the biggest budget crisis
in Illinois history.
The two candidates are clear, however, on the general approach
they'll use to fix the $13 billion problem.
Quinn has already cut billions in state spending and says he
might cut more, while also pursuing a $3 billion income tax increase
and continuing to let some bills go unpaid.
Brady absolutely rejects the idea of raising taxes. In fact, he
wants to cut them, arguing that it would help the economy and
ultimately produce more tax revenue. In the meantime, he promises to
cut state spending by 10 percent.
"I think they're both being very candid. What they're not doing
is being very detailed," said Steve Schnorf, who was budget director
under Republican Govs. Jim Edgar and George Ryan.
Schnorf argues that by declaring their approach to the deficit,
the candidates give voters the basic information they need. Other
budget-watchers disagree.
"I don't believe either of them has presented enough detail to
even make us think they have a clue," said Joan Walters, another
former Edgar budget director.
Several experts said their biggest worry isn't the lack of detail
-- it's the candidates' failure to convey the scope of the problem.
They said the candidates should be preparing the public for massive
cutbacks and government restructuring, not belt-tightening and a
simple tax increase.
"Those are not the real options. The problem is much deeper, I
believe," said R. Eden Martin, president of the Civic Committee of
the Commercial Club of Chicago. "I don't think anybody has been
dishonest. I just think nobody has given a complete, clear
description of the enormity of the problem."
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Quinn bristles at any suggestion that he hasn't been clear. He
often says he's the candidate who tells voters what they need to
hear instead of what they want to hear.
He has put forward annual budgets and made decisions about which
services to cut and what groups must wait longer to get state money.
But many of those cuts are lumped under broad headings like
"efficiency initiatives," leaving voters in the dark about exactly
what they mean.
Brady has said even less about his plans. He did not, for
instance, introduce legislation presenting an alternative to Quinn's
budget this spring. He sometimes indicates he would cut spending
across the board and other times says cuts would be more specific.
John Tillman, CEO of the conservative Illinois Policy Institute,
said there's a simple reason Quinn and Brady avoid ugly details when
they can: Each would use those details to attack the other.
"What I think is very clear to the people of Illinois is the
pathway that each of gubernatorial candidates would choose," Tillman
said.
[Associated Press;
By CHRISTOPHER WILLS]
Copyright 2010 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This
material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or
redistributed.
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