Quinn to meet with Downstaters Thursday

Gov. Quinn will meet with downstate lawmakers Thursday at the Governor's Mansion, according to a release from his office.

For those of you whose memories lapsed during the Rod Era, the mansion is located in Springfield, not Ravenswood Gardens.

Expect Quinn to tell downstate lawmakers that without a tax increase, the Doomsday Budget will:

- Force mass lay-offs at state prisons;
- Force mass lay-offs at state universities, as college financial aid is eliminated for 130,000 students;
- Force the closure of 2/3 of the social service agencies in downstate Illinois;
- Force the closure of most human services field offices in rural Illinois;
- Drive unemployment up 1 to 3%.

Expect downstate lawmakers to remain steadfast in their opposition to voting for a tax increase. Not that they are necessarily opposed to a tax increase, they just want someone else to vote for it.

Quinn's already scheduled a press conference afterward. I hope for his sake it goes better than the last one.