“Which happens first?” As in the release of former state Rep. Derrick Smith from the West Side; or the agreement by Gov. Bruce Rauner and the General Assembly on a budget for state government for the fiscal year that begins July 1.
WHAT’S
FUNNY ABOUT that is the fact that Smith is the legislator who earlier this week
was sentenced to five months in prison on federal charges he accepted bribes.
Under
the federal system, he’ll have to do 85 percent of that time. With five months,
that means four-and-a-half months of real time served. He’ll get just a couple
of weeks off for good behavior.
That
means he’ll be a free man sometime in September. Probably right after Labor Day
he will have paid his debt to society, and we can go back to forgetting we ever
knew who he was (his stint in Springfield before getting caught in a criminal
investigation really was that short).
But
the partisan political differences between Gov. Bruce Rauner (the man who is
supposedly liked by 40 percent of the electorate and disliked by 36 percent –
with the remainder clueless about what to think) and the Democratic-leaning
state Legislature are so large that it is likely Smith will be free and there
still won’t be a budget in place.
EVEN
THOUGH THE General Assembly is expected under usual procedure to approve a
state budget for the upcoming year before their spring session ends at the end
of May.
Remember
that one year when Rod Blagojevich was governor when the differences of opinion
(that’s putting it mildly) between he and the Legislature were so great that
the matter didn’t get settled finally until about early December?
That
could wind up looking like a tea party by comparison to what could happen if
both Rauner and the Legislature’s leadership remain as pig-headed as they are
capable of being.
I
remember back to 1991 when the budget didn’t get approved until the early hour
of July 19 and people thought that was some sort of record moment that would
never again be achieved.
UNTIL
IN FUTURE years when it kept taking until early July to settle a spending plan
for state government. All of this was basically about then-Gov. Jim Edgar and
House Speaker Michael Madigan, D-Chicago, showing who could go longest without
blinking.
Personally,
I get the sense that Rauner has so many ideological points he wants to score
that he’s willing to remain stubborn on budget issues, which are serious
because of the fact that the budget approved last year really made no sense
unless you presumed the General Assembly would come back later in the year and
approve the extension of the state income tax hike that started withering away
at year’s end.
We
still have those pension funding issues. We have a governor who seems to think
he can merely force his views upon the public (which may be why nearly half of
all those who have an opinion disapprove of him).
And,
quite frankly, we have a House speaker with a veto-proof majority who’s more
than willing to make an effort to let the new governor who the real boss is of
Illinois government.
I
HAVE READ my share of gags on the Internet about how Smith may wind up being
released from prison and somehow get himself back into the Statehouse just in
time to vote on the final budget proposal.
Although
I think it more likely Smith will wind up spending the summer months at a minimum-security
prison facility serving his sentence, reading the news and shaking his head
with contempt at the knuckleheads in Springfield who are letting this budget
mess drag on and on.
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