Doesn't the General Assembly get it?

A recent statement from the governor's office had this to say regarding Governor Rauner's rejection of a short-term spending plan to keep the state operating beyond the July 1 start of fiscal year 2016 if no deal is reached over a full-year budget: "An unbalanced short-term budget with no real reforms is still a phony budget and unacceptable to the people of Illinois."

Clearly, the people of Illinois must agree. In November, the election of Bruce Rauner was the public's decision to end "business as usual" in Springfield. In an astounding feat, novice political candidate Rauner won every county in Illinois except notorious Cook County where Chicago is located, aptly described as a "dark pool of political corruption" for more than a century in a 2010 study by the University of Illinois.

We have big problems in Illinois. Gov. Rauner was elected by the people to get the budget mess under control since House and Senate Democrats couldn't. Does our General Assembly not understand what the people of Illinois said they want ... or do they just not care, despite what Gov. Rauner's resounding victory suggests?

Neither answer is acceptable from elected officials. It's time for them to stop playing games and start listening to the people who said this when they chose Rauner: From now on, we want a budget that sets a course of fiscal stability and solvency for Illinois.

Thankfully, this state's citizens were smart enough to realize that our future depends on it. The question remains, "Why aren't House and Senate Democrats in Springfield?"

Karen Parmelee

Naperville