SPRINGFIELD–With Election Day right around the corner, Governor Quinn announced that millions of dollars will be pouring to the state’s school districts.

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By Ashley Badgley

Illinois Statehouse News

SPRINGFIELD - With campaigns under way and seven months until the November election, a recent poll shows Republican Bill Brady ahead of Democratic Gov. Pat Quinn 43 percent to 33 percent in the state’s gubernatorial race.

The poll conducted by Public Policy Polling surveyed 591 adults in Illinois who had voted in at least one of the recent state elections, Tom Jensen of PPP said. The poll has a margin of error of plus-or-minus 4 percent.

Jensen said the poll is a reflection of Quinn’s approval rating as governor among voters, which the poll places at 25 percent.

The survey also showed Brady ahead 39 percent to Quinn’s 31 percent among independent voters. Among women voters, Brady also led with 42 percent, with Quinn tallying 32 percent.

“Certainly, Republicans are in good shape for the governor’s race and that has everything to do with Pat Quinn’s popularity right now,” Jensen said. “Fifty-three percent of voters in the state disapprove of the job he’s doing.”

Among minorities, Quinn was ahead with African-American voters with 51 percent, compared to Brady’s 17 percent. However, the African American population was the only minority group in which Quinn came out on top.

Jensen said he believes the polls will change in the upcoming months as people get to know Brady, practically a political unknown in Chicago and the suburbs. Brady was officially named the GOP candidate in March, after a too-close-to-call February primary race with state Sen. Kirk Dillard, R-Hinsdale.

The Brady campaign released a statement saying the PPP poll adds to the evidence that Brady is firmly ahead of Quinn. A Rasmussen Poll released March 8 also showed Brady leading Quinn.

“The release today of the fourth poll in four weeks that shows Brady significantly leading Gov. Quinn demonstrates again that voters in Illinois are looking for new leadership, ” according to the statement.

Quinn’s campaign did not return phone calls for comment.

Jensen, whose company is based in Raleigh, N.C., said Illinois is an interesting state in terms of the race for governor and politics in general.

And he noted that Brady’s low profile on the political radar is  an advantage for the Bloomington-based state senator.

“Illinois is definitely going to be one of the states that we prioritize in our polling over the course of 2010,” Jensen said. “It has a very competitive race for both senate and governor.”

PPP also surveyed the same 591 voters about the U.S. Senate race for the seat currently held by Roland Burris, who is not running for re-election. Burris was appointed to Barack Obama’s seat after Obama won the presidency in 2008.

The poll showed U.S. Rep. Mark Kirk, R- Illinois, ahead of State Treasurer Alexi Giannoulias 37 percent to 33 percent.

PPP plans to conduct polls for statewide races every other month until the November general election. The polls are self-financed.

Gov. Pat Quinn speaks about the passage of pension reforms in Springfield on 3-25-10

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By Kevin Lee 217-528-9604

SPRINGFIELD — Illinois’ elected officials have their work cut out for them if they want to straighten out the state’s bank account.

A joint legislative panel gathered on Tuesday to discuss the state’s massive budget deficit, which is estimated to be between $12 billion and $13 billion.

State Sen. Dave Syverson, R-Rockford, said state government needs to rein in spending.

“Many politicians like to act like Santa Claus. They like to give things away, but they don’t want to act like a responsible father and make the tough decisions. So my fear is that what we’re going to see this year is more borrowing,” he said.

David Vaught with Gov. Pat Quinn’s budget office said there are four ways to impact the state’s bank account: federal stimulus funds; borrowing plans; spending cuts; and tax increases.

Vaught said lawmakers had to contemplate the effects of further reductions in state spending.

“We’re beyond a situation where we can do what I call ‘efficiency cuts,’ where we save money and eliminate waste,” he said. “We’re at the point now where cuts are very real. They involve a reduction of services and they involve pain in many communities.”

State Sen. John Sullivan, D-Quincy, said a tax hike was necessary to combat the record deficit.

“The way out of our situation is, along with other reforms and changes, spending controls, so on and so forth…[it’s] going to take some additional revenue, so we’re talking about a tax increase,” he said.

Members of a legislative forecasting commission estimated the state’s budget deficit would exceed $12.2 billion by June 2011, the end of the upcoming budget year, if no changes are made.

Dan Long, executive director of the commission, said filling the budget shortfall will be especially difficult this budget year.

He noted that for the upcoming budget year, the state would receive fewer funds from the federal government as a result of the expiration of the stimulus plan.

Long added that the state employment rate will continue to remain high through 2011, even though the national economy could begin to recover by then.

“The unemployment rate will average 11.4 percent in calendar year 2010 and 10.5 percent in calendar year 2011,” he said. “So we don’t expect to see any improvement in the job situation for quite some time.”

State Sen. Mike Jacobs, D-East Moline, said he hoped lawmakers put the information to use.

“Hopefully we’ll do something. What I’m afraid of is that we’ll be so afraid to make a decision that we’ll cower and we will do nothing and therefore Illinois will still find itself $13 billion in debt,” he said.

Lawmakers will ruminate over the information until Quinn sets his budget agenda through an address next month.

The Quinn administration will release more details on the state’s budget through a state Web site, http://www.budget.illinois.gov, on Wednesday. The site will not become active until Wednesday.