 |
| Also the day the Senate will try again to solve state budget |
As
in Bastille Day, that holiday on July 14 related to the French Revolution and
the overthrow of King Louis XVI.
THERE
WILL BE celebrations in Chicago (in the shadow of the Picasso at Daley Plaza –
to be exact). But that day is also the date that the Illinois Senate is
scheduled to convene again at the Statehouse.
Which
means that legislative officials don’t foresee any reason to think that Gov.
Bruce Rauner, a Republican, and the Democratic leaders of the General Assembly
will actually come to an agreement on anything they could vote for to implement
a state budget for the fiscal year that began on Wednesday.
Barring
a miracle, that session to be held a week from Tuesday will be nothing more
than the senators meeting, formally telling each other that there’s still
nothing to be done, then adjourning to go back home until a
yet-to-be-determined date in the future.
Now
I know some people are going to try to claim that it’s irresponsible for the
legislators to hide back in their home districts and do nothing while the state
lingers without a budget in place and the potential for agencies to have to
shut down their activity because there’s nothing in place (except for public
education) to tell them how to spend their money.
BUT
IT REALLY isn’t. Because this is a dispute amongst the leadership over issues
that really have nothing to do with budgeting.
 |
| RAUNER: Does he think he's Louis XVI? |
I
was actually pleased to see the Illinois House of Representatives last month
reject an effort to implement a status quo budget that would only be in place
for the month of July.
Keep
government going while the officials talk seriously about the long-term budget,
is their line of logic. Which is nonsense.
All
that would do is encourage a sense of laziness amongst the political people –
who probably are going to need to feel pressure and contempt from the public
before they finally get off their derrieres and do something to resolve the
situation.
 |
| MADIGAN: As revolutionary seems a stretch |
AS
OF NOW, I don’t have a clue when that will happen. Anybody else who says they
know is seriously lying to all of us.
Because
this is a partisan spat between people who are trying to assert their authority
as “top dog” of the Illinois Statehouse scene.
Illinois
House Speaker Michael Madigan, D-Chicago, likes the idea of being the top guy
whose intense knowledge of the workings of the legislative process makes him
the guy who enables things to happen, while Rauner is the guy who thinks that
having the gubernatorial title entitles him to call the shots to benefit the
desires of his business-oriented buddies.
But
Madigan does have that “veto proof majority” in his own chamber and in the
Illinois Senate that enables him to thumb his nose at the governor
WHICH
IS WHAT the two of them are doing to each other. It’s all about one-upmanship.
Everything Rauner has done in recent weeks has been geared toward trying to
place the blame for anything that does wrong on Madigan.
Because
the reality is that the governor will be the one who gets smacked around once
people lose a state payroll check or aid payment of some sort. It’s part of
being the guv, which isn’t as good a post as being “king” – remember Mel Brooks
as Louis XVI in “History of the World, Part 1?”
That
could be all too appropriate. Since we have officials who currently are acting
in a French Revolution mentality – they want to do the “Off with their head”
routine to the other guy.
While
the masses of Illinois get offended enough at politicians who tell us all the equivalent of "Let them eat cake" that we want to bring in
the guillotine for use on everybody.
-30-
No comments:
Post a Comment