Other state officials cool to Quinn’s call for cuts

SPRINGFIELD — Illinois statewide officials, particularly Democrats, are giving a cool response to Gov. Pat Quinn’s call for them to share the pain of the state’s financial troubles by cutting their budgets 9 percent.

None of the independent constitutional officials — attorney general, secretary of state, comptroller and treasurer — has flatly rejected the Democratic governor. But some of them come close.

Both Secretary of State Jesse White and Attorney General Lisa Madigan say their top priority is making sure the operations of their offices aren’t harmed seriously. Aides to the two Democrats said they’re still “crunching the numbers” to see how close they can get to Quinn’s 9 percent target.

A third Democratic official, Lt. Gov. Sheila Simon, embraced Quinn’s target and proposed cutting her tiny office’s budget by nearly $200,000. But she is essentially a part of the Quinn administration. It would have been remarkable if she hadn’t followed his lead.

As for the Republicans, neither Comptroller Judy Baar Topinka nor Treasurer Dan Rutherford committed to hitting the governor’s 9 percent target, but aides said they would try.

Quinn, visiting a school in the Chicago suburbs Tuesday, said every dollar that other officials cut from their budgets is money that can be spent on other important needs.

“I can’t see where their bureaucracy budget is more important than the education of these children,” Quinn said.

Last week, Quinn proposed a budget that would cut 1.6 percent from spending by the agencies under his control. He also called for a roughly 19 percent reduction in Medicaid spending and a major overhaul of government pension systems. Quinn said he was cutting his own office’s budget 9 percent, and he called on other constitutional officers to do the same.

The attorney general said her office hasn’t recovered from a 25 percent budget cut in 2006. Staff lawyers haven’t gotten raises in six years and are constantly being lured away to private-sector jobs, Madigan said.

Madigan says her office’s legal efforts brought in more than $900 million to the state last year, so she wants to avoid any cuts that would threaten those results. “The goal is to generate more revenue, and our goal is to do that in the most cost-efficient manner possible,” she said in an interview with The Associated Press.

The secretary of state hasn’t yet figured out how much he will cut spending, a spokesman said. The key worry is cutting so much that the office undoes years of progress away from long lines and poor customer service.

“We really wouldn’t want to go back to that,” said White spokesman David Druker.

Topinka supports efficient spending and “will work to meet whatever goal is set” by legislators, said spokesman Brad Hahn.

Rutherford spokeswoman Catie Sheehan said the treasurer has already cut 2 percent but “is looking to accomplish the additional 7 percent budget cut.”