On March 20^th standing Governor of Illinois Bruce Rauner faced up against Jeanne Ives for the Republican ticket for the 2018 Illinois Gubernatorial primary. At 51.4% to 48.6%, Governor Rauner beat Ives for the Republican spot later in November of this year.
Despite recent controversy surrounding Governor Rauner’s previous term as governor, the public voted him for a slim majority. Yet we cannot forget about the 793 days wherein Illinois did not have a complete fiscal budget.
Between July 1, 2015 until August 31, 2017 Senate, House and Governor could not decide on a fiscal budget for the state. In 2015, Rauner vetoed several fiscal bills and fought with Speaker of the House  Michael Madigan over the main concerns that should be addressed with each Fiscal Year policy. In March of 2017 Rauner and his House and Senate attempted to vote on bills which included school funding, but, the bills were not voted on. In July of 2017, Rauner was given a bill for a tax increase, which was passed by the House. This bill was promptly vetoed by Rauner and then later the next day both House and Senate overturned Rauner’s veto. This joint operation finally provided some amount of fiscal responsibility for the state; the first time since 2015. On August 1, 2017, a final FY policy was sent to the governor, which was vetoed. The bill’s veto was overturned by Senate, but the House failed to overturn the veto. The bill was heatedly debated in a bipartisan manner, and finally, Illinois was given its first full FY policy since 2015.
This monster of a controversy may be a boring read, but it concerns every citizen of Illinois. Even though Augustana College is a private college, the inner machinations of the state’s fiscal responsibility affect us all either personally or as a school. Even as I subscribe to a conservative ideology, the past exploits of Rauner are concerning. His policies are quite split in nature, and while this is usually a good quality, Bruce Rauner is definitely not the ideal candidate for office and may surely lose to Democratic candidate J.B. Pritzker. As a state, we don’t need another 793-day fiasco.