My dear wife has asked me to write a short post about the accomplishments of our governor, J.B. Pritzker, who is receiving a Crooks & Liars Hero Award.
Which is impossible.
You can either have a short post about J.B., or you can have a tally of his accomplishments, but not both. What he has done in terms of policy and budgeting alone would require a TL;DR that might kill the Crooks & Liars servers, and we can't have that.
If you're looking for him on BlueSky, he's at @govpritzker.illinois.gov and this is his latest, "Blue"? "Sky"? "Skittle"? What are we calling these things?
We're ensuring every mother, regardless of race, income, or zip code, has access to the care they deserve in Illinois.
I'm proud to announce an expansion in Medicaid coverage to include doula and lactation consultant services and closing another gap in maternal health care.
Under Pritzker, Illinois has passed four balanced budgets that lead to three credit upgrades in the past year...
Oh wait, that's the 2022 budget stuff.
Here's the 2023 budget stuff: Passed five balanced budgets that led to nine total credit upgrades since Governor Pritzker took office. This budget prioritized generational investments in early childhood education and childcare, the teacher pipeline, higher education, and efforts to fight poverty.
Which is an improvement over 2022 in at least two ways. First, is the obvious fiscal soundness of his policies. Hell, we even have a rainy day fund now! Second, whoever wrote the press release in 2022 has learned that it's poor rhetorical construction -- "this budget prioritized investments in key priorities" to use a variation on the word "priority" twice in one sentence.
Pritzker cut taxes on everyday needs like gas, groceries, and school supplies; while also providing property tax relief, tax rebates and an expansion of the Earned Income Tax Credit. He also oversaw a fifty percent increase in total tax reported from adult-use cannabis. Hence, the rainy day fund.
And if all that sounds like I lifted it from a press release, well, I did. That's what press releases are for.
If you'd like to read the whole thing, here's the link.
The tangible improvements that Illinois has seen during the Pritzker administration are impressive, but equally as impressive are the intangibles. J.B. Pritzker lets everyone know that he is a god damn Democrat and proud of it. A union supporter, and proud of it. A protector of a woman's right to choose, and proud of it. An LGBTQ ally, and proud of it.
And given what we all may be facing over the coming months and years, it is a comfort to know that the chief executive of my state is ready and willing to stand athwart the fascist mob and tell them "You shall not pass!" And has enough fuck-you money put by to make a go of it.
5 comments:
> "Blue"? "Sky"? "Skittle"? What are we calling these things?
How about "bolt" as in "a bolt from the blue"?
The State of New York approved $775 million to the Buffalo Bills for their new stadium. Gov. Pritzger told the the Bears and White Sox to fund their own stadium. Fantastic!
Excellent framing, and a richly deserved fuck you to William F. Buckley Jr. the "crypto-Nazi" (In 1968 on a nationally televised debate as Gore Vidal so accurately named his fascist ass) Buckley, who so arrogantly (as if a God) boasted of "standing athwart history, yelling STOP!"
So yeah; this; nails it:
"And given what we all may be facing over the coming months and years, it is a comfort to know that the chief executive of my state [J.B. Pritzker - D] is ready and willing to stand athwart the fascist mob and tell them "You shall not pass!"
And has enough fuck-you money put by to make a go of it
Oh yeah, Nebraska Governor recently addressed the reduction of our high property taxes. Our Gov. Hog farmer came out with a great tax cut while unable to accomplish that property tax reduction he stared out to do.
While he promises to return to the property tax and address it. He made sure to pass and sign a $10 million theft of our property taxes for our public schools and put t toward scholarships for private for profit religious schools.
In other words, force tax payers to Tithe to the religious organizations of his choice for these well off enough to pay to send their kids to these private schools.
as there is no scholarships for kids in public schools like this it caused a stir.
That stir put a petition repeal f that tax payer theft for religious private schools to repeal it.
The petition ballot measure to repeal passed big time and there is sad in the wealthy ranks in the state. A sad in the religious organizations that operate these private religious schools that wanted tax payer money to provide scholarships for their students while not providing the same for Public school students.
His issue to rid the state of the Blue dot and make it a winner take all now that he feels comfortable that Rushbo has indoctrinated a majority of right wingers to do this.
Another move to take right wing control of voters.
The Blue dot voting for Obama, Biden and kamala has irritated the anal of the state GOP so much, preparation H is not soothing the irritation anymore.
Then, While out riding a horse (like Putin does) God sent a spook and buck the Gov. off causing him to be hospitalized for several broken ribs.
So you got to figure he will blame us citizens and direct his governor's ire at his citizens for it.
Meanwhile, out here in California, Gavin Reptile has taken to cutting liberal priorities out of the budget to make up for the hole he blew in it giving money away so he could look all grown up like Joe Biden during the aftermath of the pandemic. Maybe I'm just bitter that I never got one of those $600 checks because as a SSDI recipient, I don't file state tax returns. No, there's no maybe about that. Me and all of the other truly low income Californians were not eligible for the giveaway. And speaking of "rainy day funds"? Guess what kept our schools mostly funded in the throes of the massive deficit? The rainy day fund demanded in the budget of Jerry Brown.
I'm glad you have a competent governor, and I hope ours turns out to be better than he's looking just now.
It's hard sometimes when you know that your own governor once fucked Kimberly Guilfoyle.
-Doug in Sugar Pine
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