Governor's Race Infighting Threatens Pension Deal
From Crain's Chicago Business
The proposed big pension deal in Springfield not only has set off a civil war among Democrats, with the party's labor base mobilizing its troops for a General Assembly showdown tomorrow. It also has Republicans going after each other with a vengeance in what may be a prequel of the GOP race for governor.
In an extraordinary series of developments in the past 24 hours, gubernatorial hopeful Bruce Rauner and other figures on the GOP right lambasted the deal that was reached by legislative leaders on the day before Thanksgiving, saying it's way too little and likely to lead to a tax hike. Joining them was the state party's nominal leader, U.S. Sen. Mark Kirk, who this morning put out a statement saying the plan "relies heavily on accounting gimmicks (and) fails to prevent a permanent income tax hike."
But at almost the exact moment Mr. Kirk was issuing his statement, Ty Fahner, president of the Civic Committee of the Commercial Club, generally considered Chicago's most influential big-business group, was telling me the "damned good bill" has his full support — and that Mr. Rauner is seeking the political impossible.
And one of Mr. Rauner's foes in the GOP primary, 2010 GOP nominee Bill Brady, is saying Mr. Rauner just wants to keep the pension issue alive to use against incumbent Gov. Pat Quinn in 2014. "It's political," Mr. Brady said.
Meanwhile, with Democrats divided, too, there absolutely is no guarantee anything will pass when lawmakers meet Tuesday.
Read more in our daily News Update...
From Crain's Chicago Business
The proposed big pension deal in Springfield not only has set off a civil war among Democrats, with the party's labor base mobilizing its troops for a General Assembly showdown tomorrow. It also has Republicans going after each other with a vengeance in what may be a prequel of the GOP race for governor.
In an extraordinary series of developments in the past 24 hours, gubernatorial hopeful Bruce Rauner and other figures on the GOP right lambasted the deal that was reached by legislative leaders on the day before Thanksgiving, saying it's way too little and likely to lead to a tax hike. Joining them was the state party's nominal leader, U.S. Sen. Mark Kirk, who this morning put out a statement saying the plan "relies heavily on accounting gimmicks (and) fails to prevent a permanent income tax hike."
But at almost the exact moment Mr. Kirk was issuing his statement, Ty Fahner, president of the Civic Committee of the Commercial Club, generally considered Chicago's most influential big-business group, was telling me the "damned good bill" has his full support — and that Mr. Rauner is seeking the political impossible.
And one of Mr. Rauner's foes in the GOP primary, 2010 GOP nominee Bill Brady, is saying Mr. Rauner just wants to keep the pension issue alive to use against incumbent Gov. Pat Quinn in 2014. "It's political," Mr. Brady said.
Meanwhile, with Democrats divided, too, there absolutely is no guarantee anything will pass when lawmakers meet Tuesday.
Read more in our daily News Update...