Rauner budget guru to stay on board through August

 

SPRINGFIELD — A $30,000-per-month consultant brought in to help Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner craft a budget will remain on the job even though her original contract called for her to be finished by May 31.

In a brief announcement, Rauner's office said the contract of chief financial officer Donna Arduin would run until a final budget is signed, or by Aug. 28, whichever is first.

In addition, her new contract cuts her salary in half to $15,000 per month, meaning she will earn an estimated $45,000 this summer.

"She will continue working with the Governor's Office of Management and Budget on enacting a balanced budget," the governor's office said.

The extension is just one more example of the ongoing fallout from the failure of the Republican governor and the Democratic-controlled General Assembly to agree on a budget plan by the Legislature's scheduled May 31 adjournment date.

The two sides are locked in a contentious battle over Rauner's insistence that parts of his business-friendly agenda be put in place before he agrees to any kind of tax increase designed to balance the budget.

Arduin was among a handful of high-profile hires made by Rauner, who took over in January as the first Republican chief executive in a dozen years. Before her Illinois hiring, Arduin helped prepare budgets for Republican governors in New York, California, Florida and Michigan.

Arduin, the president of Arduin, Laffer & Moore Econometrics, is noted for "simplifying property taxes and reducing the size of state governments" — two issues that have kept Rauner and Democrats from reaching a budget agreement.

Rauner previously called Arduin "the smartest state government budget person in America."

Rauner budget guru to stay on board through August

Washington's Most Expensive Speakers

 

After finishing a long term in public office, many politicians earn healthy amounts of cash through speaking engagements. Indeed, booking one of America’s more recognizable public figures comes with a hefty pricetag. Even though speaking engagements can prove highly lucrative for politicians, they can also be risky. The extortionate prices charged by some speakers have, somewhat unsurprisingly, sometimes led to accusations of greed.

So who are the costliest public speakers in the United States? ABC News took a look at some of the country’s highest speaking fees with Donald Trump coming first by a huge distance. The billionaire earned an incredible $1.5 million for each of his 17 speeches (where he was contracted to speak for an hour) at The Learning Annex’s “real estate wealth expos” in 2006 and 2007. According to ABC, The Donald will make a speech for $200,000 and up so his price may not always stretch into the millions.

Economist Ben Bernanke makes up to $400,000 per speaking engagement, placing him second on the list while Bill or Hillary Clinton would cost somewhere around $200,000. Former Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner would also pick up $200,000 per speaking engagement while the bill for availing of George W. Bush and Condoleeza Rice’s speaking skills would come to $150,000. If you intend hiring one of America’s more recognisable public figures for a speech, you should start saving.

*Click below to enlarge (charted by Statista)

From:  Washington's Most Expensive Speakers [Infographic]