No surprise here, Quinn lies about raising state income taxes, gets elected, raises them to 5%, and we fall short 8 billion. How do folks avoid recognition that Quinn was elected to continue feeding the overbloated public pensions and benefits? Staying on this path will implode on business owners in this state, and collapse on the working people.

STOP GIVING ILLEGALS FREE HOSPITAL CARE. FREE WELFARE---FREE FOOD STAMPS--SECTION 8 HOUSING. IF WE DID THAT ? WE WOULD NOT HAVE THE FINANCIAL PROBLEMS.

Why do you think California is in debt ??? 5 Million illegals using their services for free.
But no one wants to talk about that, We do not want to lose the Hispanic votes.

What he said!!!!!!

The State is $8 BILLION in the hole and yet, they're going to pay out grant monies to us for the proposals at Rosewood Beach? You be the judge, kind reader.

Durbin wants a super train built from Chicago to St Louis. Long tome coming for Durbin to be called out and voted out!

Illinois is a lost cause. After electing Blago and then reelecting him, he goes to prison, with a state in shambles, they elect Quinn. Quinn gets elected, lies during the debate on taxes, raises taxes and we get an even larger deficit. Sorry, it will never come back, business owners are peace and out.

The State's budget situation has been years in the making and rests much more with the Legislature (your State Rep and State Senator if in office more than one, maybe two terms) than the Governor, although he as of late has his role to play in it too now. It was known back in 2003 (if not earlier) that something was amiss with the IL budget due to the structural deficit that exists. So, please do not vote for the same State Rep and State Senator in the next few election cycles and expect something to change (maybe even switch parties or better yet vote independent). In large part your State Rep and State Senator brought us to this dance by approving bad (fiscally unsound) state budgets year after year. Now, you just do not want to go home with them when the dance is over. Of course, the music is now playing, and to mix metaphors, the musician is none other than the piper himself.

No Dan, the people who came over from Europe were not illegals. What made them illegal. Was there a citizen process in place that would have made them legal. Was there a government in place whose laws they violated which made them illegal. No Dan, there wasn't, they were not illegals. Now did some dastardly stuff happen to those who lived here after hordes of Europeans arrived? Yes, terribly so. But the ones who arrived here peacefully, they were not illegals for the simple reason there wasn't a system established that they violated that would have made them so.

@Jose - We all know you are a troll with a fake user name and a bogus story.

The only way to change the culture in Springfield that pretends to balance budgets and leaves us with $8 billion in unpaid bills (not counting unfunded pension obligations) is to change our representatives in Springfield. Our incumbents (May and Garrett) are retiring and this is our opportunity to send to Springfield individuals who understand this fiscal madness has to end and is destroying this once great State. Want change in Springfield? Elect Arie Friedman for State Senate and Mark Shaw for State Representative. Sending a new set of Democrats who will bend to the will of their legislative leaders who continue to leave us in this mess is insanity. Both Karen May and Susan Garrett, for all their claims of "independence" voted for Michael Madigan for Speaker of the House during his multiple decade tenure there. Now Mr. Madigan will call for a special session of the legislature this August to throw out a Democrat from Chicago under indictment WHO HE HELPED ELECT during the primary, and will also bring up "Pension Reform" which will fail, but which will allow Democrats to claim that they voted for "Pension Reform." Let's stop the smoke and mirrors and elect Friedman and Shaw to clear the air down in Springfield!