At Issue: Democratic Governor Candidate Daniel Biss Talks Rauner's Failure
CHICAGO (CBS) -- Democratic candidate for governor Daniel Biss said Bruce Rauner may already be running re-election campaign commercials, but his record as Illinois Governor is clearly one of failure.
State Senator Daniel Biss is quick to label Governor Bruce Rauner's time in office as a failure, but he said there is enough blame to go around for the budget crisis. While The Governor's running commercials saying he can fix things, Evanston Democrat Biss knows many residents doubt that any politicians are really working for them. WBBM's Political Editor Craig Dellimore reports from the Loop.
"The people of Illinois have really low expectations of their politicians in Springfield and they have low expectations because they have had poor outcome for decades and decades," Biss said. "We have to be willing to stand up and expect more, unless we are willing to demand more, we are not going to get more. This campaign is about saying - listen it's been hard, yes we are hurting, but now is the time to demand a government that actually works for ordinary people."
Senator Biss said that with the state still without a budget, there is no way Governor Rauner can bill himself as someone who can fix Illinois. It's worse off than when he took over, Biss said.
Biss said the state needs to get more in taxes from millionaires and billionaires like Rauner. But he would not get specific about where budget cuts should be made.
"There are conversations to happen across state government, and I think making the kind of cuts that have been made to core services, whether its early childhood, higher education - which has resulted in raising tuition, is the opposite of what we have to do, that is the opposite of investing in people," Biss said.
Democratic hopeful Senator Daniel Biss is the guest on our "At Issue" program this weekend and you can hear more of his comments Sunday at 9:30 a.m. and 9:30 p.m.