On Chicago Public Schools’ first day back, Gov. Pat Quinn will appear at the Vanderpoel Elementary Magnet School on the South Side. Quinn has been hitting his opponent, Repubican Bruce Rauner, on his budget plans, arguing that a cut in the state income tax and a freeze on property taxes would serve a debilitating blow to education in Illinois.
Rauner has said he would grow the economy to create new revenue and counters that $500 million in education was cut under Quinn. Quinn’s camp, however, counters that Rauner is referring to a specific federal stimulus program that for a short term pumped money into the state, then ceased.
Around noon, Rauner will announce a new Veterans for Rauner Coalition at A Safe Haven on the City’s West Side. Rauner will appear with U.S. Sen. Mark Kirk, U.S. Rep. Adam Kinzinger, R-Ill., and other Illinois veterans. Rauner has seized on a patronage scandal within Quinn’s Illinois Department of Transportation, saying that political hires who were inappropriately placed in non-political jobs stole jobs from veterans — among others.
