John Cullerton

Public Affairs with Jeff Berkowitz - John Cullerton

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• published: 09 Jun 2008
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State Senator John Cullerton on Impeaching the Governor; Jack Roeser, Bill Brady and is Illinois a high tax state? Pat Brady, McKenna and Kjellander; Budget Deficits, Income Tax Increases, Pension Bond schemes and Fund Sweeps; Topinka, Chicago Tonight and Speaker Mike; School choice, the loss of Federal matching funds and a Capital Budget; Go to www.SenatorCullerton.com State Senator John Cullerton, now completing his third decade of service in the General Assembly, debates and discusses the issues with "Public Affairs," show host and executive legal recruiter Jeff Berkowitz. Senator Cullerton is in the running to become the next Senate President, should current Senate President Emil Jones become Ambassador to the country of his choice, if Senator Obama becomes President Obama. Senator Cullerton, who started his legal career as an Ass't Public Defender, is now with the St. Louis based, 350 attorney firm of Thompson Coburn. In addition to St. Louis, Thompson Coburn has offices in Washington, DC, Chicago and Belleville. Topics discussed on the show featuring Senator Cullerton include the 7% increase in spending in the State's operating budget-- is it unconstitutionally unbalanced? Is there really a two billion dollar hole in the budget? If so, it that deficit typical of prior budgets, adjusting for inflation? Did Governor Thompson, the current lawyer for Campaign Blagojevich, face similar, unbalanced budgets. If so, how did he handle them? How does the 16 Billion dollar pension bond scheme/sale figure into things? If Cullerton had been Governor, what would have done differently, starting in '03? Would Judy Baar Topinka have raised the income tax if she had won in '06? Does the answer to that question explain why she, and not Senator Rauschenberger, is now providing commentary on Chicago Tonight? Does Speaker Mike Madigan, along with all the other legislative leaders, want a Capital Budget? What would Speaker Mike prefer as the revenue stream for the Capital Budget? Would there be more support in the General Assembly for an increase in the income tax if the legislators were confident they could limit the uses of the money to education, financing the capital budget and reducing the payment cycle for Medicaid? Must a Capital Budget be passed this year to avoid Illinois losing federal matching funds? With Pat Brady being installed as the new Republican Committeeman, is Kjellander back in the saddle? Did Kjellander work with McKenna to achieve that? Would the Dems be more afraid of Senator Rauschenberger leading the charge against them than Pat Brady? Are the Dems anticipating a five-seat pick up in the State House in November? Will the Dems raise the Illinois income tax if they get that kind of pick up in the House? Can Cullerton name downstate Republicans who will support an increase in the income tax? How much of a net increase in state tax revenue is Cullerton talking about, come 2009? Is School Choice like "Change," or does it have real meaning? Are charter schools more saleable in Illinois than school vouchers? Are charter schools a good way to introduce competition into the provision of educational services, especially when you consider the political angle? Were the state caps on charter schools modified by the General Assembly this year? What about the teachers unions' efforts to clamp down on the expansion of charter schools by limiting the number of campuses per charter school? Did the teachers unions get their way? Is Jack Roeser right when he says the public schools in Illinois ought to be able to live on $250,000 per classroom? Where did he get that number? Does that mean that the public schools don't "need," more tax revenue? Does Senator Cullerton know Jack Roeser? Doesn't everybody? Is Senator Bill Brady right when he argues that lower tax rates will result in more private employers providing their employees more health care, and that would place a lower burden on the state to provide health care? Is Illinois a high tax state? In general, and specifically with respect to gasoline taxes? Should Governor Blagojevich be impeached? Will the State House vote to issue articles of impeachment?