Mendoza Responds to Attacks from Pritzker, Staff
State Comptroller Susana Mendoza speaks with House Speaker Chris Welch at an event in 2022. (Photo: Chicago Tribune)
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A four second comment on a little-noticed downstate TV station has escalated into a war of words from Governor JB Pritzker and his top staff aiming their fire at another statewide elected Democrat.
State Comptroller Susana Mendoza was interviewed by Quincy TV station WGEM Tuesday, and generally offered praise of the Democratic budget passed by the General Assembly last week.
But it was one line that appeared to set off some alarms with Pritzker and his top staff.
“I would have liked to have seen, perhaps, some more cuts across the board,” she said in the interview.
“Across the board” cuts typically refer to a percentage from every department in state government. 2010 GOP gubernatorial nominee Bill Brady was ridiculed by Democrats during that campaign for proposing a 10% across the board cut.
Top Pritzker aides quickly attacked Mendoza.
“More cuts across the board was the other guy. We won,” Emily Miller, Pritzker’s Senior Advisor for Policy and Legislative Affairs, wrote on Twitter. “Conversations about spending priorities are both healthy & difficult, especially in tight budget years. Presenting a list of cuts isn’t easy but you gotta name specific lines to cut if you’re not coming with revenue ideas.”
Deputy Governor Andy Manar, who negotiates the budget, and John Atkinson, a Pritzker ally who chairs the Intersect Illinois board also criticized Mendoza online.
Pritzker was asked about Mendoza’s comments after he signed the state budget into law Wednesday, and he didn’t pass up the opportunity to dig at Mendoza, either.
“Across the board budget cuts, this idea is not an idea that Democrats believe in,” Pritzker said. “I’m willing to talk with anybody about good ideas for how to tighten up our budget, to make sure that we’re being efficient and spending money well, and making cuts. Happy to talk about all that. But you’ve gotta have specific ideas. It’s easy to make these proclamations that, usually, Republicans make about across the board cuts.”
In an interview this week for The Illinoize podcast, Mendoza says she chose her words wrong. She supports targeted cuts to state agencies, but not a broad cut to every line item.
“I will own the fact that…I did use the words ‘across the board’ when I was talking about wanting to see some sort of cuts,” Mendoza said. “I should have been more clear and said targeted cuts inside of state government.”
Mendoza touts that she held back 10% from her office budget in 2017 and for five years after, which she claims saved taxpayers $14 million, in a move she says showed fiscal restraint.
“I’m just saying we should always be looking internally in every budget, whether it’s a great budget year or a tough budget year, no matter the budget year, we should always be looking to see if there’s additional cuts that can be made without compromising service and government operations,” Mendoza said. “This should not be controversial in the slightest.”
Mendoza, who received more votes than any candidate in the state in 2022, including Gov. Pritzker, said she mostly has complimentary things to say about the new Democratic-passed budget.
“You’ve heard me advocate for fiscal responsibility since the moment I got elected, and I’ve done that by cutting my budgets and providing better services at lower taxpayer cost,” Mendoza said. “These are things that I take seriously as a Democrat. I am certainly not going to cede the title of fiscal responsibility or fiscal steward to the Republican Party. I don’t know why our party would ever suggest that only Republicans should talk about cutting costs where we can.”
Mendoza said she would strongly oppose any effort to tap into the state’s Rainy Day Fund to pay for operations in the next fiscal year or the potentially even more difficult FY26 budget. The Rainy Day Fund is set to hit close to $2.3 billion in the new budget.
Sources indicate there are tensions between Mendoza and some of Pritzker’s top staff, but Mendoza denied any issues, claiming she doesn’t have any “beef” with Pritzker or his staff.
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