Aaron Chambers identifies Madigan’s principles for a budget:
SPECIFICALLY, HE SAID his team would not use borrowed money to cover the state’s operations, would not spend more money than the state collects and would not engage in balloon financing — a type of borrowing championed by Blagojevich that involves putting off principal payments for several years.
One doesn’t have to like the Speaker or even trust him to see that a budget that respects these basic principles is sound and puts the State of Illinois on a basic level of financial credibility to plan for the future. While the Governor has insisted on no new sales or income tax hikes, he has attempted to claim he’d find efficiency and alternative financing.
Unfortunately, we now know the efficiency gains are a disaster and his alternative financing is largely putting off the pain to deal with it in the future.