Both Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot and Illinois Governor J. B. Pritzker are on the wrong track in managing the city and state, respectively. The editors of the Chicago Tribune observe:
If Lori Lightfoot were CEO and not Chicago’s mayor, the job cuts would be underway. Sometimes organizations must reduce personnel to survive or thrive, and that’s where Chicago government is right now, in financial survival mode due to COVID-19. So cue the layoffs and furloughs … if the city were a corporation.
This thought experiment usually ends quickly in Illinois. While CEOs concentrate on the bottom line, mayors and governors focus on reelection. Government workers in Cook County and Springfield are members of Democrat-led public employee unions that raise money and contribute foot soldiers, and it’s tough to fire your friends. It’s easier for political leaders to borrow money or raise taxes and increase fees, as slyly as possible, than to issue pink slips.
Pritzker’s handling of the state is even worse than Lightfoot’s of the city:
Gov. J.B. Pritzker is in the same boat. Where governors across the country reduced personnel and spending as revenues dropped off this spring, Pritzker did not. The coronavirus pandemic has taken a huge chunk out of tax revenues from restaurants, tourism and the convention trade due to his mandated shutdowns. Other governors separated essential and nonessential services and made appropriate reductions. Pritzker’s only solution so far has been to wait for the federal government and pass the blame. That’s not a plan.
They conclude:
Chicago is not a business, but it is a large organization reeling from a budget crisis. The only responsible way forward is to cut spending, and that means reducing the size and scope of city government, and the number of employees.
Don’t expect responsibility from them—they’re politicians. I strongly suspect they’ll continue to borrow and raise taxes as long as those remain options. They are unlikely to remain options for long. Chicago’s and Illinois’s credit ratings are just about as low as they can go. I wonder what Gov. Pritzker will do if his “Fair Tax” fails to pass the upcoming referendum?
One interesting point on the state budget was that it was partly “balanced” by money saved on healthcare costs because they hadn’t spent very much by June or whenever the budget had passed.
The main issue with the Governor though was that he gave raises to everyone when he took office, with the expectation that the Constitution would be amended to allow him to raise taxes. Some of these raises were probably owed from the previous administration, but he gave a lot of raises to non-union management. This class will probably retire in 4-8 years with lifetime annual pension benefits based upon these raises.
I don’t know if you saw the Rich Miller column where he accused the Governor of going soft on St. Louis metro lockdowns to appease local Democrats:
“On a crass political level, the Metro East was instrumental to Pritzker’s 2018 Democratic primary win. It’s also a vitally important region for his “Fair Tax†proposal. Without the full and fervent cooperation of those powerful local political organizations, there’s no dispute that his tax plan will be in serious trouble.
The plain fact of the matter, however, is that Pritzker cannot on the one hand say he values science over politics and then on the other even appear to cave on political grounds.”
https://chicago.suntimes.com/columnists/2020/8/28/21406148/rich-miller-column-pandemic-covid-19
I did not see it. I’ve made similar complaints myself. I have concluded that the science on which he bases his judgments is political science.
It bears mentioning that Illinois has the highest-paid public employees of any state, the largest number of public employees per 100K population, and least solvent pension system.
‘I wonder what Gov. Pritzker will do if his “Fair Tax†fails to pass the upcoming referendum?’
Spend away and declare the budget balanced using SJW math (2+2 = 5)
Is the referendum by mail-in ballot? Then passage a lock for Pritzker.