Secretary of State Jesse White has an idea to help move legislative leaders and Gov. Bruce Rauner towards an agreement to end the budget stalemate.
White’s suggestion is having talks mediated by three ex-governors–Jim Thompson, Jim Edgar, and George Ryan.
When told about White’s idea, Rauner’s first reaction was to laugh, going on to say “this mess didn’t happen overnight, and what we’re not going to do is reproduce the dynamic that created it.”
In other State news, there’s overwhelming bipartisan support among Illinois voters for criminal justice reforms being promoted by Illinois’ Republican governor, according to a new poll released by the American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois.
Benjamin Ruddell, the ACLU of Illinois’ criminal justice policy attorney, says their poll of 800 voters from across the state, and from all political persuasions, produced several results, including nearly three-quarters of those polled agreeing the state’s criminal justice system isn’t working.
Ruddell says there was also significant support for relaxing penalties for nonviolent drug crimes and other nonviolent offenses. A commission prompted by Governor Bruce Rauner advanced 14 recommendations they hope will help achieve the governor’s goal of reducing the state’s prison population by 25 percent in the next decade.
