Meanwhile, In A State Not Far From Here...

Governor Hedgefund took time out from putting the hammer to the disabled and the indigent and complaining about how overpaid state workers are to plunder some funds for the disabled and the indigent so that he could wildly overpay one of his state workers.

From the Chicago Sun-Times:

Dems want Rauner to testify over why money for 'frailest, most vulnerable' went to $250k appointee

SPRINGFIELD — House Democrats on Thursday asked Gov. Bruce Rauner to appear before a House committee to explain why the governor’s office arranged to have his $250,000-a-year education czar paid out of money meant for “the frailest and most vulnerable populations in the state.”

The move follows a Chicago Sun-Times story, which revealed that Rauner’s office penned a $250,000 annual contract with the governor’s hand-picked education secretary, Beth Purvis, to be paid out of the Department of Human Services budget. The contract was signed three weeks before the governor’s office authorized $26 million in cuts to that same agency.

In a letter to Rauner, state Rep. Greg Harris, D-Chicago, questioned testimony by then-Acting DHS Secretary Gregory Bassi and then-interim secretary James Dimas “that the lack of available funding was responsible for the decision to eliminate or reduce funding for these vitally needed programs. These programs serve many of the frailest and most vulnerable populations in the state.”

While the cuts were restored for the remainder of this fiscal year, the administration has called for more cuts for services in FY16...

I'm so old I remember when Republicans thought czars were the end of the Republic.

But seriously, if you're a Koch-style Conservative, one of the big upsides in hiring a hedge-fund billionaire as your governor is that he doesn't even have to pretend to give a shit about the petty mortals who live here.  He can pay top dollar to hire a hit squad directly from the worst slash-and-burn Libertarian "think tanks", go after to poor and the weak with a chains saw and even announce his plan to screw kids with autism on World Autism Day and, worst case, when voters finally cast him out, he's still a billionaire and he has earned some equity with wingnut donors and power-brokers at the national level.

Are we having fun yet?