Steve Forbes devotes space in the latest issue of Forbes magazine to the man now occupying the top job in Illinois state government.
The Land of Lincoln is indeed the most fiscally dysfunctional state in the nation and has the worst credit rating among the 50 states. Its public employee pension systems are wracked with abuses (at last count there were more than 11,000 retirees who each draw more than $100,000 a year) and are proportionally the country’s most underfunded. The state’s budget deficit this fiscal year is running at $1.6 billion; next year it’s projected to be $6.2 billion. In addition, the state is sitting on unpaid bills in excess of $6 billion. Its unemployment and worker compensation programs are both a mess, which is especially hurtful to small businesses. Illinois is arguably our most corrupt state: Four of its nine previous governors have gone to the slammer. Not surprisingly, the state has the worst job creation in the Midwest.
Roaring into this massive morass as Illinois’ new chief executive is a former venture capitalist turned radical reformer, Bruce Rauner. That a Republican could win the governorship in Barack Obama’s deep blue state is testament to the state’s distress. Democrats may still hold supermajorities in both houses of the legislature, but, with the force of a Paul Bunyan, Rauner is acting as if the opposite were true. He is vigorously and unapologetically pushing forward with changes on every front.
Upon taking the oath of office Rauner signed an executive order ending mandatory union dues for those state workers who don’t want to join a union or support its political agenda. His new budget includes big spending cuts, such as reductions in state aid to localities and outlays for Medicaid. (There’s one exception: Money for K-12 would go up $300 million.) He also wants to cut taxes, freeze property taxes (and ultimately have local voters approve them), bar public employee unions from making political contributions, and allow local jurisdictions to adopt right-to-work laws in order to help attract businesses.
