Progress Illinois

Over the weekend, Illinois Review posted a series of short interviews with five prospective GOP gubernatorial candidates asking how each would solve Illinois' budget crisis. As you might expect from Republicans fighting it out in a primary, all five advocated in favor of holding the line or cutting tax rates. They also blasted the Democrats for what they characterized as out-of-control spending. But when it came to specifics, the candidates largely violated what we refer to as the "Civic Fed Rule"; i.e, they failed to sufficiently explain how they would close an estimated $10 billion deficit next year.

You can head over to Illinois Review to watch all of the videos (excluding Sen. Matt Murphy, who didn't participate). In the meantime, we've transcribed excerpts from each segment where the candidates provided the most specificity. Here's what they had to say:

Sen. Kirk Dillard:

We are going to manage this state. We’re going to get a handle on Medicaid, which is now our state’s largest expenditure by cracking down on fraud. I’ve just spend two different sessions with former Speaker Newt Gingrich of the United States House … And Speaker Gingrich believes that 10 percent of all Medicaid is fraud. It’s our state’s largest expenditure and I’m going to work with my colleagues like Sen. Dale Righter of Matton and certain professionals to manage the care we are doing in Medicaid.

Let's just entertain the unsubstantiated claim that 10 percent of Medicaid spending in Illinois constitutes waste. After all, it's not like some abuse doesn't occur. In 2007, the state spent $12.6 billion on the program. Trimming the program by 10 percent would net the state an additional $1.26 billion in revenue -- a substantial number, but not nearly enough to cover the state's bills.

Sen. Bill Brady:

I’ll give you one example. Recently, Gov. Quinn has attacked our correctional institutions and he has attacked the very front-line workers, the correctional workers throughout the state, when really he should be addressing the political patronage, high-paid jobs that he and Gov. Blagojevich put in place in the Department of Corrections … And there’s positions running rampant. We’ve called for Gov. Quinn to fumigate those high-paid appointees, not only because the resources could be better spent at levels of entry or lower levels in terms of salary but because it’s time to do away with the politics of corruption and the political patronage associated with the Blagojevich/Quinn years.

We don't disagree that some of these political appointees can be fired. But there are only about 1,600 employees who earn more than $70,000 on the state payroll. Eliminating half -- as Democratic candidate Dan Hynes proposed yesterday -- will only save about $100 million dollars.

Bob Schillerstrom:

Well the first thing I’d do is quit talking about raising taxes. You know, the first thing we really hear coming out of Gov. Quinn’s mouth is that he wants to have this big income tax increase. And what I say to that is that’s the typical, Springfield easy way out. You raise taxes because then you don’t have to make any tough cuts.

Schillerstrom's interview was a bit shorter than the others, so there's a chance he expounded later in the conversation. If not, "tough cuts" is a pretty slim platform.

Dan Proft:

The second thing: statutory spending caps. No more politicians’ promises. No more hopes and dreams hoping that Springfield politicians will grow backbones and exercise some fiscal courage … Year over year, state spending -- by law -- cannot increase by any more than population growth plus inflation.

Proft deserves a bit more credit -- at least he proposes something concrete. Unfortunately, his solution won't work. Check out how a similar policy (PDF) enacted in Colorado damaged public services before voters loosened budget restrictions in 2005. Colorado ranked 47th in K-12 education funding by 2006, the state had eliminated all of its affordable housing and grant programs, and the percentage of low-income Colorado children who lack health insurance rose from 15 percent in 1991-92 to 27 percent in 2002-03.

Adam Andrezjewski

A University of Illinois Chicago professor did a study of state spending. And he said 5 percent … is just out and out wasteful spending. That nearly, for fiscal year 2009, would balance the budget. This was another area to look … Another place that I think has been properly identified by the Republicans in the Senate caucus is to privatize Medicaid and Medicare delivery stystem. They said that could save $2-3 billion on the budget.

A quick Google search could not turn up the UIC report Andrezjewski cites. Nor is the report linked on his website, which is pretty comprehensive compared to those of his colleagues. And the claim that privatizing Medicaid could save $3 billion has been widely dispelled, including by the Taxpayer Action Board, which pegged the potential savings at $100 million.