Althoff on Pat Quinn’s State of the State Speech

A press release from State Senator Pam Althoff:

Althoff reacts to Governor’s State of the State address

SPRINGFIELD, IL – State Senator Pamela Althoff (R-McHenry) said Governor Quinn’s annual State of the State address to lawmakers on January 29 followed the typical pattern of previous years – long on positive rhetoric and short on details.

Governor Quinn mentioned repeatedly in his address that Illinois is making a comeback. Althoff said that while the state has made some great strides, there is still a long way to go.

“Yes, Illinois has made some significant strides in recent years, but now isn’t the time to spend more with new programs,” she said.

“Nor is it the time to let meaningful reforms slide and fall through the cracks, as we’ve recently seen with the Medicaid reforms we passed in 2012.

“Original savings that were projected to be $1.6 billion have now been reduced to $1.2 billion.

“Furthermore, the third party company Maximus, which was hired by the state to find Medicaid enrollees that should not be in the system, was fired in order appease the state’s largest public employee union.

“Before the company was fired, they had only gone through a small fraction of the Medicaid enrollees and saved taxpayers over $44 million.

Pam Althoff and Barb Wheeler

Pam Althoff and Barb Wheeler

“Now, the state will be forced to hire more state workers and spend millions more. These are the areas that should have remained as a focus of cost efficiency.”

Althoff also mentioned Governor Quinn’s touting of new jobs created, but noted that Illinois is far from the rosy picture he painted in his address.

“Sure Illinois has added some private sector jobs, but we are still last of the last in job creation and last on almost every other list,” Althoff said.

“Illinois is projected to be last in job growth for this year, has the worst financial condition of any state, and has the fourth highest unemployment rate and the worst credit in the nation.

“These are not good indicators and we should not be celebrating just yet. Additionally, his speech was contradictory.

“He wants to raise the minimum wage, believing it will improve the job climate, but it will only hurt businesses in the process. Illinois will remain last on these national lists with policies like that enacted.”

“I would have liked to see him outline how to improve Illinois’ job and business climate and how we are going to improve our fiscal management, not just say that the state will be better in five years,” Althoff said. “I’m willing to buckle down and get the job done, but I’m not sure he is.”


Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *