Is Bruce Rauner hedging on campaign tax promise with “stunningly bad” assessment?

Nov 21, 2014

Gov.-elect Bruce Rauner this week was in the Capitol during the Legislature’s fall veto session and gave a frank assessment of Illinois’ state finances.

Rauner said the state is in “stunningly bad” fiscal shape as he met with reporters at a press conference in the Rotunda.

The statement sparked some speculation that Rauner may be preparing for what Statehouse insiders call a “Big Jim moment” — a reference to former Gov. Jim Thompson, who advocated for a tax increase after he took office and got a better look at the state’s books.

It would be quite an about-face for Rauner, who campaigned on a very strong theme of allowing the income tax rate to fall by 25 percent as scheduled on Jan. 1. But if Rauner wants the income tax rate to be higher than the 3.75 percent now required by state law, he’s going to have to ask the Democrat-controlled legislature for it. It could be the first big test of Rauner’s deal-making skills when he becomes governor on Jan. 12.

A day before Rauner’s Springfield press conference, Treasurer-elect Mike Frerichs met with reporters for his first public speech since being named the winner in his race with Republican Tom Cross. Frerichs’ victory was a measurement of the political temperature of Illinois, which elected Democrats to four of the six statewide offices in the Nov. 4 election.

That’s what we’re talking about on this week’s “Only in Illinois.”