Quinn for Illinois

Last week the Illinois Education Association endorsed Governor Quinn’s call for a one-percent education surcharge, saying it represents “a strong investment in public education.” 

This development came after an IEA candidates forum, where Governor Quinn and State Sen. Bill Brady met publicly for the first time in the General Election—setting the tone for the next eight months.   

What unfolded in the forum was very telling.  The IEA came with questions, and only Governor Quinn had real answers.  It was easy for him, because for his entire career, Governor Quinn has looked voters in the eye and told them the truth.

During the budget address, and again on Friday, he laid it all out there:

We’re $13 billion in the hole. We’re losing $1.3 BILLION in federal stimulus money for education, and we need to recoup that revenue.  We cut $2 billion last year, and we’re approaching a point where we can cut no more.  He did not create the problem, but he is determined to solve it.

Click here to watch what Governor Quinn had to say about the importance of education.

Wearing a blindfold, and wielding a machete, Bill Brady wants to take what he calls a “business-like” approach to solving our crisis and slash it by all by 10 percent. 

He’s indicated no specifics-- only fuzzy math that told us nothing about what he would do.  What Brady ignores is that the 10-percent cut he insists on would inevitably impact our human services, our health care, and education.

Bill Brady says his “experience in business” qualifies him to draft our budget and be our governor.   But businesses that make disastrous financial decisions don’t survive. Brady’s plan to slash contributions to our federally reimbursed Medicaid program would cost Illinois $1 billion dollars in reimbursements.

If this is the common sense we would see in a Bill Brady governorship, Illinois’ road to economic recovery will be much longer. Some, like former Republican Gov. Jim Edgar, say Brady’s plan is “naïve.” Others, that it is cynical.

We know it’s just plain wrong. 

Governor Quinn is right about solving Illinois’ fiscal crisis.  We need to start working on it now, and the gimmicks of the past will not work. We need your help.  Please join our effort.