By Greg Halbleib
BLOOMINGTON – Gov. Bruce Rauner said Illinois has fallen behind the rest of the nation’s growth and that’s a main reason behind the state’s money troubles.
“If we had grown at the nation’s average for the last 15 years, we wouldn’t have a budget deficit today,” the Republican governor told WJBC’s Scott Laughlin. “We wouldn’t have any unpaid bills today, we wouldn’t have needed the 2011 tax hike that the super-majority Democrats put on the people of Illinois, and we would have $19 billion more cash in the state treasury.”
Rauner said after one year in office, he shakes his head most at how the party line takes priority over digging into issues.
“Far and away, the biggest surprise is how much reality and truth doesn’t impact the behavior of politicians,” Rauner said, directed at Democrats. “Dealing with the true problems and getting down underneath and dealing with the real issues is just not part of their world. I had no idea to the degree that it’s spin over reality with these guys.”
Rauner repeated his frequent complaint that Democrats have not passed a balanced budget in the past 20 years, yet question his spending proposals.
Greg Halbleib can be reached at greg@wjbc.com.
