CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) -- Governor Pritzker said he's willing to negotiate and compromise on the 2022 budget plan he outlined Wednesday - to a point.
Illinois House Republican Leader Jim Durkin said he’s disheartened by Governor Pritzker wanting to cancel some business tax incentives to balance his budget. On the other hand, advocates for Early Childhood Education are applauding extra money for that.
And the Governor said he’s ready to listen to both sides as the budget moves towards passage.
"Compromise, hard work, and a willingness to make tough decisions is going to be required of all of us," Pritzker said. "I enter the process of negotiation with an open mind. I have only one hard and fast rule: we aren't going to treat people who have been decimated by this pandemic as roadkill."
Still, the Governor said he’s losing patience with some critics, who he said denigrated people on unemployment and wanted to cut money for health careL until the pandemic. Now they complain about him not doing enough to help those people.
In addition to sketching out his budget priorities, Governor Pritzker said he wants lawmakers to pass ethics reform this spring.
"Nobody should hold the title of both legislator and lobbyist at the same time. We need meaningful disclosure of conflicts of interest," he said.
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But Ted Dabrowski, president of the conservative Wirepoints research group, criticized the Governor for not mentioning pension reform, a huge economic issue in his address. And he’s also critical of the Governor vowing to end some corporate tax breaks.
"We need more jobs, we need more investment. We have been losing people. We have been losing our tax base. We need to keep our corporations here. We can't afford to make it more expensive," Dabrowski said.
"We've got the biggest populations losses in the country. We've got the highest taxes in the country; the biggest pension debt by far in the country and home values have been falling. My concern is that this budget doesn't do anything to make those things improve."
Also, he suggested avoiding an income tax increase was a no-brainer, so Pritzker does not get points for that.
The Illinois Retail Merchants Association also criticizes Pritzker for raising the costs of businesses across the state.