SCOTT STANTIS 
GUEST VIEW
JUN 26, 2015
Illinois Governor Bruce Rauner (rightly) vetoed the state budget. In his message the governor offered a number of compromises and quid pro quos. Among them was assistance with Chicago Public Schools pension payments. in exchange, he asked for an up or down vote on term limits and redrawing the district lines in Illinois. Well, you can guess from the cartoon the reaction of State Senate President Cullerton and Speaker Mike Madigan. We are racing towards the financial abyss with these two punching the pedal.
Editor’s note: Today’s cartoon accompanies an editorial posted on chicagotribune.comshortly after Gov. Bruce Rauner vetoed all but the education portion of the budget Illinois Democrats sent him.
The editorial criticized House Speaker Michael Madigan and Senate President John Cullerton for reacting only to Rauner’s veto, not his offer to help Chicago Public Schools.
From the editorial:
Gov. Bruce Rauner announced Thursday he has vetoed the state budget that lawmakers passed in May, except for education appropriations, which he has approved.
His rejection of a spending plan that was hopelessly unbalanced came with a significant offer to Democratic leaders. In essence, the governor said, work with me here and we can save Chicago and its school system.
House Speaker Michael Madigan and Senate President John Cullerton focused on the sweeping budget veto. Surprise! They didn’t like it.
But they, and Illinois citizens, ought to take what happened Thursday as a significant offer to find agreement. Rauner gave financially besieged Chicago, Cook County and the Chicago Public Schools a lifeline.
He offered the state’s cornered Democratic leaders a lifeline too.
For more on the veto and Rauner’s accompanying message, click here.
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Scott Stantis is the editorial cartoonist of the Chicago Tribune. His work is syndicated in more than 125 newspapers and other publications. Arriving in Chicago as the Rod Blagojevich scandal developed, Stantis has drawn extensively about corruption and other issues related to Illinois state government and Chicago and Cook County government. A collection of his best Illinois cartoons from 2013 is here. We’ve also gathered his cartoons on the 2014 election in this collection.