Both Illinois Candidates for Governor Avoid the State’s Most Pressing Issue

Neither Gov. Bruce Rauner nor his Democratic opponent, J.B. Pritzker, are keen on talking about a topic both wealthy men purportedly know a lot about: money. At least not as it relates to the state's perennial budget problems.

If there’s something you'd think two super-rich candidates for Illinois governor would know about, it’s money. But neither Bruce Rauner, the Republican incumbent, nor J.B. Pritzker, his newly nominated Democratic opponent, spend much time talking about how to fix Illinois’ notorious budget mess.

Admittedly, the budget isn’t likely to rile up partisans for a primary election like attacks on President Donald Trump or the Chicago political machine. But without some fiscal plan, almost all of the candidates’ other promises could evaporate.

Setting a budget will be one of the first tasks for the governor who gets sworn in next January, and given the size of Illinois’ fiscal problems, it's a task that will likely consume a huge amount of his time. After all, the three major credit agencies all rate Illinois’ bonds just one notch above junk status. At this point even a small economic downturn or some other hiccup could trigger a downgrade, which would cause a big sell-off of Illinois debt and undoubtedly require the state to pay higher interest rates on it.

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