Dillard Blames Quinn for U of I Cuts Applauds Ikenberry’s Tough Decisions

January 5, 2010 | Filed Under Chicago, Cook County, Education, Elections, GOP, Government, Corruption, Illinois, Republicans, State Government, Warner Todd Huston |

From the Kirk Dillard for Governor campaign…

Republican candidate for Governor Kirk Dillard applauded University of Illinois President Stanley Ikenberry for taking immediate steps to stem the flow of red ink at the University by implementing tough budget decisions, including mandatory furlough days. Dillard noted that the state’s flagship university is in dire straits because Governor Pat Quinn and Democrat leadership have failed to balance the state budget and owe nearly a half-billion dollars to the school.

“Stan Ikenberry has shown more leadership in his first two days on the job than Pat Quinn has demonstrated during his first year in office,” Dillard said. “Governor Quinn’s failure to balance the state budget has threatened the solvency of our great universities around the state. It is time that the voters of Illinois send Pat Quinn and his Democrat allies on a permanent furlough.”

Dillard noted that during the Edgar administration, vendors including universities were paid on an average of seventeen days while the current administration is taking more than 120 days. Recent news reports indicated that an emergency payment had to be made to Southern Illinois University in order to meet its payroll and that the same situation is occurring at the University of Illinois.

“Pat Quinn needs to immediately demonstrate he understands the urgency President Ikenberry and others face. He should start by bringing public employee unions to the bargaining table to renegotiate their state contract negotiated by Rod Blagojevich that guarantees unreasonable raises during tight economic times,” said Dillard. “State government needs to cut up the state’s credit cards and live within its means.”

First elected to the Illinois Senate in 1994, Dillard served as former Governor Jim Edgar’s first chief of staff and has been endorsed by Edgar.

www.dillardforgovernor.com

Bookmark to:

Tags: Publius+Forum, Warner+Todd+Huston, Illinois, Red+County, Election, Cook+County, Governor, GOP, Republicans

If you would like to make a comment, please register to do so. I hate to do that but there are so many spam-bots out there that deleting spam comments would be a full time job if I were to just open it up for anyone without asking them to jump through a few hoops first.

You must be registered and logged in to post a comment. Anyone can register. No registrant's information is kept, used, or sold. CLICK HERE TO REGISTER