Republican Candidate For Illinois Governor Says Shutting Down State An Option
From the party who brought you the shutdown of the federal government comes a gubernatorial candidate who is promoting the idea of shutting down his state.
“I apologize but we may have to go through a little rough times and we have to do what Ronald Reagan did with the air traffic controllers,” Rauner said referencing Reagan’s decision in 1981 to fire 11,000 striking air traffic controllers.
“We sort of have to do a do-over and shut things down for a little while, that’s what we’re going to do,” Rauner said.
Rauner, a millionaire businessman and first-time candidate from the wealthy suburb of Winnetka on Chicago’s North Shore, beat out three state lawmakers in the March GOP primary, and will go on to face Quinn in November’s general election.
D.B. Hirsch is a political activist, news junkie, and retired ad copy writer and spin doctor. He lives in Brooklyn, New York.
Tommy6860 August 4th, 2014 at 8:23 pm
Sadly, this dork would still get paid while no one is working for those whose tax dollars pay them. :/
Linda1961 August 4th, 2014 at 8:31 pm
If a government shuts down, it is a failure. Why can’t gopers see that?
mea_mark August 4th, 2014 at 9:22 pm
Ask RJ, it his state too. I would like to know what he thinks of the potential damage to the economy he lives in.
Rusty Shackleford August 5th, 2014 at 12:28 am
That’s the fundamental pillar of their campaigning: claim the government can’t do anything and get elected to prove it.
arc99 August 4th, 2014 at 8:33 pm
As long as they amend the Illinois state constitution to specify that no legislator who votes to shut down the government will receive any pay or benefits (including their government health insurance) for the duration of the shutdown. There would be no retroactive compensation for lost pay. Legislators who vote in opposition to the shutdown would continue to receive full compensation. In this special circumstance, the governor would cast an official aye or nay vote for the record and would be subject to the same conditions.
So make that change to your constitution, Governor Wannabe and go for it.
Otherwise, as the saying goes, don’t let your mouth write checks that your a$$ can’t cash.
Carla Akins August 4th, 2014 at 9:18 pm
He’s not very familiar with US history. Reagan fired the Air Traffic Controllers because they went on strike. He refused to negotiate as they had a non-strike clause, it had nothing to do with belt-tightening due to budgetary reasons.
mea_mark August 4th, 2014 at 9:24 pm
A GOPer that doesn’t know history, naah that can’t be true.
Eric Trommater August 4th, 2014 at 9:42 pm
Why would anyone want to be Governor of Illinois? You have an almost 50 % chance of serving at least 10 years in prison.
tiredoftea August 4th, 2014 at 10:53 pm
It’s a prerequisite for office that they elect white collar criminals.
Eric Trommater August 4th, 2014 at 11:04 pm
It’s a bit like the period after the English Civil War and the Glorious Revolution when no one wanted to be King or Queen of England because they tended to kill their monachs or run them out of the country on a rail. One of the reasons the Hanoverians ended up with the crown, even though George I was like 26 times removed from it by blood, was that quite a few of the people in front of him felt it was safer to stay where they were.
Robert Keith Johnston August 5th, 2014 at 1:19 am
I wonder what his chances for election are now since he made that statement!
–RKJ
LiberalMD August 5th, 2014 at 4:22 am
John Boehner needs to have a sit-down conversation with this fellow.
John Tarter August 5th, 2014 at 7:56 am
Illinois is so far in the financial hole, would this really hurt? Contrast Democrat run Illinois with their next door neighbor Wisconsin where under the great Republican Scott Walker their debts are paid up and they have money in the bank.
Joseph Williams August 5th, 2014 at 9:12 am
Why contrast different States? Contrast the Democrat run California vs the Republican run State.
Contrast the financial footing of the Democratic run country vs. the Republican run nation.
R.J. Carter August 5th, 2014 at 9:27 am
He’s not Pat Quinn, so he’s got that in his favor.
labman57 August 5th, 2014 at 9:34 am
Imagine if a corporate manager was being interviewed to determine if he or she was the right person to become the next CEO of a large company, and his/her solution to improving the corporation was to simply shut it down.
Hmmm … do you think the Board of Directors would leap to their feet and declare:
“Brilliant! You’ve got the job!”