Progress Illinois

In his column today, the Chicago Tribune's Eric Zorn examines Republican Gov. Chris Christie's performance in New Jersey, seeking clues as to how GOP gubernatorial candidate Bill Brady may govern in Illinois should he be elected next week. Brady and Christie, of course, both have wheeled out a mish-mash of spending cuts, tax cuts, and other conservative nostrums as solutions to their respective states' budget crises.

Zorn finds that for all his bombast, Christie hasn't made much of a dent in the Garden State's $11 billion deficit, despite cutting spending by 4.2 percent in the state's most recent budget. Those cuts came primarily from education, state aid to local governments, and the end of a homeowner's tax rebate program targeted to seniors and lower- and middle-income households. On taxes, Christie has pushed through a property tax cap that will likely cause local governments to cut services down the road. And his biggest "accomplishment" on taxes has been lowering them for the state's wealthiest earners. Here's Zorn:

Christie's main achievement so far in this area has been to allow an income-tax surcharge on those earning more than $400,000 to expire, and to veto legislation that would have kept that surcharge only on those who earn more than $1 million a year.

While Christie's style -- blasting unions and talking "tea party tough" -- has raised his national profile, the substance of his policies aren't solving New Jersey's fiscal challenges. In this, Christie and Brady are clearly birds of a feather. For more on their connections, be sure to also check out our piece about infrastructure from yesterday and Zorn's round-up of links about the New Jersey governor.

GOP gubernatorial candidate Bill Brady's campaign fund is flush with insurance company money. Since July 1, insurers have contributed $588,000 to Brady, according to an analysis in today's State-Journal Register. From the insurance companies' perspective that pile of cash appears to be money well spent -- for Brady promised the newspaper as governor he'd add Illinois to a lawsuit that seeks to gut and overturn the landmark federal health care reform bill. And Brady refused to answer a simple question about whether or not as governor he'd instruct his appointees in various state agencies to not implement the reform bill. "I don't deal in hypotheticals," he said.

The contrast between Gov. Pat Quinn and Brady on the health care reform bill is sharp. Quinn's administration has convened a series of public meetings to consider how the state can maximize the benefits made available by the new health care bill. Members of the Health Care Reform Implementation Council are thinking about how to set up the necessary infrastructure so more than a million uninsured residents will be able to buy subsidized health care starting in 2014, readying key state departments for an expanded Medicaid program, and seeking out grants and resources from federal agencies.

For more on Brady's positions on health care, check out our piece on the topic from earlier this week. It bears repeating that securing the promises of the federal health care bill over the next few years may well hinge on the outcome of the elections next week.