Quinn for Illinois

CHICAGO (Aug 2, 2010)— After numerous newspaper editorial boards, business owners, social service agencies and legislators have called for Sen. Bill Brady to release details on his proposal to solve the state’s fiscal crisis, Quinn for Illinois joined the call today for Sen. Brady to detail his plan for the state budget.

The Quinn campaign also announced the creation of a “Brady Budget Clock” on its Web site, QuinnforIllinois.com. The feature will track the number of days since Sen. Brady has been the Republican nominee for Governor, during which he has campaigned without any coherent plan to fix our state budget.

“Thus far, Sen. Brady has shown no understanding of what it takes to balance the budget,” Quinn campaign manager Ben Nuckels said.  “What he has said would require massive cuts to our schools and police departments across the state.  It would mean skyrocketing property taxes.  And it still leaves an $8 billion dollar hole.”

With just 12 weeks until Election Day, Brady hasn’t provided any details for his plan to address the budget gap. It makes sense that Brady would want to stay silent: His poorly considered and underdeveloped stated approach to the state budget has been met with criticism from across the political spectrum. Others have begun to question whether Brady has even a basic understanding of the intricacies of the budget.

Illinois GOP patriarch Gov. Jim Edgar has called Sen. Brady “naïve” when talking about the budget, adding that some of the programs Brady would cut “are a matter of life and death.”  Budget expert Ralph Martire, head of the Center for Tax and Budget Accountability, has called Brady’s statements on fiscal issues “idiotic at every level.”

As the campaign enters its final phase, the Brady Budget Clock will remind Illinois voters that Governor Quinn takes action while Bill Brady continues to sit on the sidelines. As a member of the Illinois General Assembly, he failed to participate in discussions or offer his own prescriptions. Instead, he followed politics as usual and left the capital without resolving the crisis.

"While Governor Quinn has shown leadership by taking decisive action and making the difficult decisions to reduce the state’s spending, Bill Brady hasn’t even attempted to offer his own solutions,” said Nuckels. "It shows that Brady either has no solutions or doesn’t have the courage to submit his ideas for public scrutiny.”

Faced with an unprecedented budget crisis and the nation's worst economy since the Great Depression, Gov. Pat Quinn has cut $3 billion in Illinois spending in the two budgets he has enacted—more than any governor in Illinois history.  He has also protected funding for education and public safety, despite a $1 billion decrease in Federal
revenue for the FY 2011 budget.

In the 21 months that Brady has campaigned without a plan for the state’s budget deficit, Gov. Pat Quinn has helped Illinois transform into the strongest business competitor in the Midwest, gaining 60,000 jobs in 2010.  He implemented the first comprehensive jobs plan in 10 years, creating more than 400,000 jobs. 

He has successfully secured investment packages that lured Ford, Astellas Pharma, UPS, and many other companies to stay in Illinois, expand in Illinois, or come to Illinois. While Sen. Brady hasn't taken any action, the Quinn Administration has helped start 432 new businesses and aided the expansion of 273 existing businesses—increasing Illinois exports by more than $400 million.

“It is incomprehensible that a gubernatorial candidate would fail to address our state's budget challenge,” Quinn's Communications Director, Mica Matsoff added. “Illinois voters need a real budget solution, not a platitude that could fit on a cocktail napkin.”

Should Bill Brady decide to formulate a detailed budget plan that specifies the cuts he would make, and its resulting impact on property tax rates throughout Illinois, the Brady Budget Clock will be taken down. However, Quinn for Illinois anticipates that this feature will remain on its site through Election Day.

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