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| RAUNER: Will he get last word after all? |
The
Illinois House is scheduled to be in session on Thursday. While it is unlikely
they will do anything of any lasting substance, it will give Madigan the chance
to do things meant to fight back against the governor.
WHO
HAS MADE it clear that he wants his politically partisan agenda passed, and is
willing to force its passage by tying it to the attempts to create a state
budget for the fiscal year that begins July 1.
Of
course, we should keep in mind that Rauner’s latest attack effort on Wednesday
by announcing a plan to cut the state budget so severely AND try to claim the
cuts are all Madigan’s fault was motivated in part by the way the Democratic
legislative leaders blasted him on the last regularly-scheduled day of the
General Assembly’s session on Sunday.
The
Illiana Tollway dying, along with all state museums being closed and state
airplanes being cut off except for “emergency purposes” comes across as petty
by the governor.
That
was when Madigan compared Rauner to former Gov. Rod Blagojevich – whose efforts
to strong-arm the Legislature into accepting his authority caused so much
resentment that it was the genesis of the desire to impeach him!
BUT
THOSE ATTACKS were a response to Rauner’s insistence that his ideological
desires were more important than the actual business of government.
The
point of this recitation is that Madigan, along with state Senate President
John Cullerton, D-Chicago, have an ongoing battle with the governor. One that
has shown both sides to be rather juvenile. Any insistence that either one of
these three guys is “absolutely right” and the other is “diabolically wrong” IS
the problem.
So
what we’re likely to get on Thursday is more juvenile nonsense. Which is a
shame. Perhaps it is time for Madigan (and Cullerton) to show they’re the
bigger people.
Although
the talk that the Illinois House will consider a bill to implement something
resembling worker’s compensation doesn’t seem all that legitimate. Because it
seems that Madigan’s staff has concocted something that has little to do with
what Rauner actually wants.
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| Did anyone ever envision the people here could behave so foolishly? |
COULD
THIS BE merely another measure that the Democratic supermajority votes to
reject? Thereby causing rhetorical claims that “nobody wants this!”
More
politicking. Which the longer it goes on, the more difficult it will become to
actually approve a balanced budget for the state of Illinois.
There
is the complicating factor, as far as Rauner is concerned, in that he does have
a solid Democratic majority in both chambers of the General Assembly. The “supermajority,”
meaning there are enough Democrats on hand to override any veto attempt the
governor might make.
It
is the reason that Rauner and his backers are wrong when they say that his
victory in last year’s election gives him the authority to force the need for
the conservative ideologue changes he’d like to see to benefit his
business-oriented allies.
VOTERS
DIDN’T DO anything in 2014 to change the fact that this is a
Democratic-dominated Legislature. They are a power to be dealt with, and they
have their own supporters with interests that are just as legitimate as those
business executives!
So
we’ll all, or at least those of us who are politically obsessed, be watching on
Thursday to see how Madigan rebuts Rauner’s talk of closing prisons – and claiming
the newly-unemployed guards are now out-of-work because of Madigan.
It
makes me wonder if the primary reason for Rauner to call a Cabinet meeting
Wednesday afternoon (and opening the first few minutes of the event to
reporter-types) was to give him a chance to take a few more digs at Madigan before the political puppet show that will take place on Thursday.
That
is the real problem Illinois government faces these days! That is what we
really need to overcome!
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