Republican Jim Durkin’s Astonishing Statement On The Legislative Session

In a state where government is built on lies, borrowing, spending and taxing, it’s no surprise to see so much celebration over the recently concluded legislative session.

But the most stupefying reaction is the written statement by Republican Senate Minority Leader Jim Durkin. The full text is reproduced below.

“No tax increases,” he says. For God’s sake, does he think nobody reads the news? There’s a doubling of the current 19-cent-per-gallon state gas tax, increased charges for vehicle registrations, an allowance for Cook County municipalities to levy a 3-cent-per-gallon motor fuel tax, higher cigarette taxes, heavy new taxes on parking and a huge new cut for government in expanded gambling and sports betting. Maybe he thinks he’s being cute because most of that is technically in the capital plan and not the budget, but come on. Money is fungible, there’s huge overlap and a tax is a tax.

And the budget was “balanced” this year and last, Durkin says. Many from both parties made that claim last year, but state tells bond buyers a different story when the consequence for lying is a fraud charge. The offering statement – the official disclosure document – for a bond offering in August said there was a $1.2 billion imbalance in the last budget. We wrote about it then, but don’t take our word for it. See Yvette Shields’ article in The Bond Buyer, headlined “Illinois offering document paints a gloomier picture than its politicians.”

Republican Senate Minority Leader Jim Durkin

Even that number drastically understates the true imbalance because it’s based on phony cash-only accounting standards. As we’ve explained often, the state has consistently run deficits averaging about $10 billion per year. The budget hasn’t been truly imbalanced since 2001. The new budget will be little different. We’ll be looking at it in detail soon. It was among the thousands of pages dumped on the General Assembly last week.

Durkin’s statement lists the reforms the legislature passed. They’re meaningful but nothing that will turn the direction of the state. They’re being characterized by some as concessions by Democrats, but are they? They are common sense measures and there was little reason to oppose them. They should have been implemented before. That didn’t happen because Democrats controlling the legislature were determined to allow nothing to pass during the Rauner Administration that might be seen as a victory for him. Now, they will have their list of “reforms” to boast about.

This was the most “consequential” legislative session in Illinois history, many are saying. That’s probably true, whatever your perspective. Consequential in a catastrophic sense, is our view. We also hope it’s consequential for Jim Durkin and every other officeholder saying things as preposterous as he said, Republican and Democratic alike.

*Mark Glennon is founder of Wirepoints

Text of Durkin’s Statement:

 Illinois House Republican Leader Jim Durkin (R-Western Springs) released the following statement on the end of this year’s legislative session: 

“The end of this legislative was another historic moment for the House Republicans. Not only did we pass a bipartisan, balanced budget without any tax increases, but we also achieved significant business reforms for our communities that will boost the economy across our state. As I’ve said before, we can get great things done for Illinois families as long as we respect the principles and priorities of each caucus. In doing so, we have passed historic education reform, two bipartisan, balanced budgets and now important reforms that will grow jobs. I am proud to have worked with the legislative leaders and the Governor to finally do what’s right for Illinois families and businesses.”

Reforms include:

  • Creation of the Blue Collar Jobs Act – which will attract large scale construction projects.
  • Creation of a Data Center Tax Incentive – which will enhance the state’s ability to locate data centers in Illinois by providing tax incentives.
  • Reinstatement of the Manufacturer’s Purchase Credit – to encourage further investments in manufacturing in Illinois.
  • Elimination of the antiquated Illinois Franchise Tax.
  • Elimination of cap on the Retailer’s Discount.
  • Tabling of Senate Bill 1407 – a bill that aimed to impose wage and regulatory requirements on refineries, ethanol plants, and chemical facilities.

 

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Hank Scorpio
4 years ago

I find myself increasingly rooting for a recession…

debtsor
4 years ago
Reply to  Hank Scorpio

Me too, any business that does well in recessionary times will make a killing…foreclosures, REO’s, bankruptcies, restructuring, criminal lawyers, security, car repos, car repair (no one wants to buy new cars so repair shops do awesome), collection agencies, and so on and so on…..

Citizen Kane
4 years ago

If all these taxes and fees are implemented, it is the DEATH of Illinois.

r neville
4 years ago

Durkin is “lying faster than a dog can trot”, as my Granddad used to say. He’s clearly complicit in the Madigan Machine’s corruption, fraud and theft.

Rick
4 years ago

No coroner investigations allowed if planned parenthood kills a mother. Some kind of warped protection there should the family decide to find out why mom died getting an abortion. Scumbag laws.

mark@combinedresources.us
4 years ago

Jim Durkin must think all republicans are idiots he is a useless corrupt democrat . We need term limits now and politicians should receive no benefits. Lets get people who care about themselves not their pocket books.

NB-Chicago
4 years ago

Mark–disagree, the sad reality is nobody reads or even listens to any news of substance. 99% of folks view of the outside world is derived from their twitter/ facebook feed

4 years ago

The Republicans got what they wanted. Bill Brady rolled over in the Senate as well. Schmucks with no spines.

Doug
4 years ago

Illinois Democrats have declared war on Taxpayers and Job providers! This is just the beginning of the “Great Scorched Earth Death Spiral”

debtsor
4 years ago

I don’t understand why IL is so liberal. It never used to be this liberal. As a baseline, Trump had 2,100,000 million votes to Hillary’s 3,000,000. Compare that to 2000 when Bush had 2,000,000 votes to Gore’s 2,500,000 when the state population was 12.19M compared to today’s 12.79M. That’s an increase of 600,000 people in 16 years AND yet 500,000 of them vote Democrat. In 2000, Bush had 534,542 votes in Cook County to Gore’s 1,280,547. In 2016, Trump had 453,287 to Hillary’s 1,611,946, a drop of 81,000 R voters. But Cook County in 2016 has 166,000 fewer people today… Read more »

Doug
4 years ago
Reply to  debtsor

IMO, mostly Citizens of Mexico and other countries voting Illegally. Some immigrants voting legally.

debtsor
4 years ago
Reply to  Doug

That’s a heck of a lot of illegal voters. It just doesn’t make any sense. There’s something here. Maybe it’s higher voter turnout over the years, maybe it really is a more active Democratic voter base. I don’t know, but it boggles the mind to think that Cook County lost 166,000 people since 2000 but somehow this last presidential election had 331,000 more Democrat voters than 18 years ago. Maybe it’s explained by voter turnout, who knows, but it smells bad. Really bad.

Doug
4 years ago
Reply to  debtsor

Yes that is a lot of illegal voters.

Illinois Entrepreneur
4 years ago
Reply to  debtsor

That was informative. My answer is purely subjective, but I agree with Doug that people overlook the enormous legal and illegal immigration numbers that the Chicago region attracts. The vast majority of these are Mexicans, and they are VERY numerous. I’ve read that Chicago is now roughly 1/3rd white, 1/3 black and 1/3 Hispanic. I’m guessing that Hispanic 1st and 2nd generation immigrants overwhelmingly vote democrat. If you look at the state’s outmigration patterns, it appears to mainly be white middle class and white retirees. These are overwhelmingly conservative voters. So when you replace those people with immigrants, the above… Read more »

debtsor
4 years ago

But according to these stats Cook County gained 311,000 D voters between 2000 and 2018 whereas it only lost 81,000 R voters. The county as a whole lost 26,000 people. But somehow, somewhere, D’s managed to obtain an additional 311,000 Democrat voters in 18 years from a declining population base. Cook County has replaced every lost Republican voter with four new Democratic voters – even THOUGH THE POPULATION OF THE COUNTY HAS DECLINED! It just doesn’t make any sense that the minorities replacing the whites in Cook County all vote D and all vote at substantially higher rates than minorities… Read more »

Doug
4 years ago
Reply to  debtsor

This

” It just doesn’t make any sense that the minorities replacing the whites in Cook County all vote D and all vote at substantially higher rates than minorities in general and at higher rates than R’s votes.”

Wow, re-read your post, this is definite voter fraud on a grand scale. The machine really believes it’s untouchable after the Obama years.

Julie
4 years ago
Reply to  debtsor

Debtsor, here’s another possiblity: There is another universe of voters that I believe the Pritzker machine successfully mined–registered voters who don’t vote that lean Democrat. There were 8.041 million registered voters in 2018 according to ISBE (https://elections.il.gov/Downloads/abouttheboard/pdf/10_31_18pressrelease.pdf). And the tool they used was “Vote By Mail” (VBM)/ “Mail-In” or what used to be called “Absentee” ballots. There was a record number (https://www.chicagotribune.com/politics/elections/ct-met-mail-ballot-midterm-elections-20181001-story.html). What was once a way for a voter who was going to be “absent” on election day to vote, has turned into tool for, what I consider, massive abuse. My guess would be that JB paid for some… Read more »

Luther McCormick
4 years ago
Reply to  debtsor

AFSCME votes explain it.

Downstate_downtrodden
4 years ago

Illinois: where the RINO is (sadly) not an endangered species.

debtsor
4 years ago

A RINO as despicable as they are is still better than a D, in almost every case. Almost every case.

Bruce F.
4 years ago
Reply to  debtsor

I think they are all as despicable as the other. No…Rhino’s are worse….since they do it intentionally deceptive. Illinois is screwed. Only way out of this mess is to leave.

debtsor
4 years ago
Reply to  Bruce F.

This is wrong headed. RINO’s voted against the abortion bill and against the income take hikes.

A handful of RINOs became traitors when they overrode Rauner’s budget veto and most of them left office and they paid the price politically.

But in general, a RINO still has an R in front of their name and in some cases can be counted on voting R. Whereas a Democrat will *always* vote D. Always.

Randy S
4 years ago
Reply to  debtsor

That’s simply wrong. I don’t care what letter is behind your name it doesn’t make you a conservative and those who vote straight party line without knowing the candidates values are foolish. Many do but it’s foolish. Also there are a few moderate democrats who voted against the progressive tax and marijuana legalization but like with one imparticular legislator Pritzker offered him a cushy appointment in exchange for resigning so they could move a yes vote in. And in terms of Republicans voting against the income tax hike that Rauner vetoed that’s simply not true and 10 Republicans voted with… Read more »

debtsor
4 years ago
Reply to  Randy S

The recent income tax hike, the one that goes on the ballot, was pretty much a straight line party vote.

10 R’s overrode the veto, yes, but plenty of others RINOs did not.

Durkin is a loser but that’s what the Republican party gets when it has been almost gerrymandered out of existence.

Democrats almost always vote straight party especially in IL.
You should do the same for R’s otherwise you end up giving supermajorites to the D party, and we get this debacle of a messed up government.

4 years ago
Reply to  debtsor

I’m for anything the Voters of Illinois Vote for or against! If financial Bills are not put on a Public ballot not only are the voters, hopefully, against it-but; we can’t wait to Vote Out All Congressmen and Women of Illinois Government! Retired-Knowledgeable Teacher

4 years ago
Reply to  debtsor

This is a terrible post.

nixit
4 years ago

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