Governor Rauner’s Priorities

Oh, you need money for regular Illinoisans? Talk to the hand.

Valuable details about our new governor’s priorities from Rich Miller at his incomparable Capitol Fax Blog.  Here’s the outline in case you’re thinking not to scroll down:

• Cuts to digital literacy programs,
• cuts to LIHEAP,
• cuts to mass transit,
• cuts to municipal governments,
• cuts to universities
• and a quarter million dollars a year for one person…

Read on.  Here’s Rich:

Priorities, priorities

Friday, Mar 20, 2015

* Cuts to digital literacy programs…

Vickie Oriekaose is in her third week of free classes to get certified as a Microsoft Office Specialist, which she hopes will help her land a job that offers decent pay. Microsoft estimates that people who are certified can make as much as $16,000 a year more than workers who aren’t accredited.

“I’m trying to get back into the workforce,” said the 58-year-old widow, who has been a stay-at-home mom. Oriekaose has a son who is a senior in high school, and twins who are sophomores.

But the Eliminate the Digital Divide grant program, which this year is providing $4.1 million to 102 organizations that are training 25,000 people, would lose funding under the proposed 2016 budget of Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner.

* Cuts to LIHEAP…

Today, I had to call about 100 poor, elderly, and disabled people to tell them that Illinois LIHEAP ended early (low-income energy assistance) because the state refused to match federal funds due to “austerity” measures. This is a safety-net program that many low-income people have come to rely on to supplement their rising electric bills. Thanks for making me do your dirty work, Governor Rauner — nobody becomes a billionaire without stepping on a few little guys along the way.

* Cuts to mass transit…

Transit fare increases and service cuts are “very likely” if Gov. Bruce Rauner’s proposal to trim nearly $170 million in state funding from the CTA, Metra and Pace becomes a reality, RTA officials warned Wednesday.

The Chicago Transit Authority would be “disproportionately” and “hardest hit” by the plan, shouldering a $130 million revenue loss — up from an original estimate of $105 million, Regional Transportation Authority officials said.

To put the CTA revenue loss in perspective, the RTA estimated it was the equivalent of what a hefty 30 percent jump in CTA fares would generate.

* Cuts to municipal governments…

Champaign County Board members are on record as against proposed budget cuts that would strip at least $1.6 million a year from the county, or about 5 percent of its general fund.

The county board Thursday night passed a resolution protesting the cuts proposed by Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner. The resolution was adopted 15-5 with the “no” votes coming from Republican board members Stan Harper, John Jay, Gary Maxwell, Max Mitchell and Jack Anderson.

* Cuts to universities…

A tuition increase is off the table this year but just about everything else is on it at the University of Illinois if big budget cuts are enacted, top UI officials told lawmakers Thursday.

Gov. Bruce Rauner’s proposed budget calls for a 31.5 percent, or $209 million, reduction at the UI for the fiscal year beginning July 1.

In separate appearances before House and Senate appropriations committees, UI officials outlined possible areas for cuts: personnel, student employment, extension services, public broadcasting and more deferred maintenance.

But Republican members of both the Senate and the House prodded university officials to seek efficiencies and to embrace reforms, including changes in workers compensation and procurement policies.

* And a quarter million dollars a year for one person…

A former Chicago charter schools executive is earning $250,000 a year to spearhead Gov. Bruce Rauner’s top education initiatives, a salary that is more than double what her predecessors received and places her as the highest-paid member of a Cabinet already under scrutiny for its lofty paychecks. […]

Purvis is being paid as an independent contractor and accepting neither state health nor retirement benefits, according to the governor’s office.

From 2003 until last year, Purvis, who holds a doctorate in special education, served as CEO of the Chicago International Charter School, a network of 15 schools in Chicago and Rockford. She previously worked as a special education teacher in Maryland and Tennessee, as a professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago and served on education advisory councils under the last two Illinois governors.

In an interview with the AP, Purvis said her salary is “commensurate with what I’ve been paid in the past” and cited her three decades of experience. Rauner spokeswoman Catherine Kelly called Purvis “one of the few education experts in the country prepared to lead a true cradle to career approach to education.”

Look, I don’t usually care about state salaries. And I fully understand how difficult it is to recruit top talent with government money. But, man, is the governor ever gonna take a licking on this one.