Harris may be a new majority ‘leader,’ but Madigan is still the ‘boss’

The Illinois House of Representatives made much of the fact they have a new majority leader – and that he’s not just another stereotypical white, male politico.

HARRIS: New House majority leader

State Rep. Greg Harris, D-Chicago, now has the title that technically makes him the head of the Democrats in the Illinois House. He’s the “majority leader,” while state Rep. James Durkin, R-Westchester, remains the “minority leader” since there are fewer Republicans in Springfield these days than Democrats.

DURING HIS 12 years thus far as a state legislator, Harris has gone through political life with the tag as only openly-gay legislator. Even now, the official statement declares Harris to be the “first openly-gay majority leader.”

Which the Democrats in charge are saying is evidence of their superiority when it comes to being open to all kinds of people.

“This is the first in a series of leadership appointments that will be announced in the coming days reflecting the diversity of our state and reflecting our caucus’ approach to the coming legislative session,” party officials said, in their prepared statement.

But before the conservative ideologues start to get all riled up over the idea of one of “those kinds of people” (actually, they’ll probably use cruder terms, but I’m trying to operate a family-style weblog here) being evidence of how much our society has declined, keep in mind that the “majority leader” title may well be the most overblown of all within Illinois government.

FLYNN-CURRIE: The former leader

FOR THE FACT is that both the majority and minority leaders in the Illinois House fall below that of the Illinois House speaker within the legislative pecking order.

And the role of “Mr. Speaker” in Illinois is, has been, and will remain the province of one Michael J. Madigan – who has been a state legislator for some five decades and has been the Speaker for all but two years since 1983.

As for the two-year period in which Madigan was reduced to the role of “minority leader,” it is regarded as a political aberration where Republican ideologues ran amok and we got the historic freak episode of “House Speaker Lee Daniels” with Robert Churchill as majority leader – before sanity was restored by voters in 1996.

MADIGAN: Still in charge!!!

I realize that within a purely legislative perspective, the “majority” leader fills some duties – largely in terms of keeping the individual Democratic legislators in line with the larger policy goals that the Speaker might want to take on.

MEANING IF NEWLY-elected legislator Anne Stava-Murray, D-Naperville, tries to carry on a Madigan-opposition technique to her government service, it will be Harris who gets to crack down on her – thereby leaving Madigan free to deal with larger issues.

Just as former Illinois House majority leader Barbara Flynn Currie, D-Chicago, served in the role of keeping Democrats in line. She served in that role since 1997, and likely would still be doing it if she hadn’t had to step aside for health reasons. Although her presence created the idea of a woman in a significant leadership position, just as how the previous majority leader, former state Rep. Jim McPike of Alton, gave the impression of a downstate official with a significant title.

I’m not trying to diminish the public service of either McPike or Currie. Both had public service stints I’m sure they’re not ashamed of.

It’s just to realize that no matter who has the title, Mike Madigan remains the “boss,” at least of the Springfield political scene – while realizing he’s there to enforce the political desires and needs of Chicago government.

ALL TOO SIMILAR to that scene from the old Star Wars’ film “Return of the Jedi” when the evil Darth Vader who has been running roughshod over the galaxy in the previous films suddenly kneels before the Emperor – his ultimate master.

Who's whom in Illinois political universe?

Which means the ultimate political bout could come following the mayoral election if someone whom Madigan doesn’t feel like kneeling to manages to win. Is he strengthening his hand now for a future political brawl?

But back to Harris – whose role will be to keep the machinery working so that an ultimate demise of the Democratic majority doesn’t become undermined by petty whining of an internal nature.

While the political rhetoric being spewed says Harris has helped achieve progressive goals on issues such as Medicaid and equal rights for same-gender couples, keep in mind they advanced only as far as Madigan himself permitted -- and he's still in charge!

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EXTRA: Do you believe?

Illinois state Rep. Barbara Flynn Currie and other legislators chosen by House Speaker Michael Madigan, D-Chicago, offered up their proposal Tuesday for what they say would be reforms of state government that would allow for a budget to be approved.

Without, of course, any of the anti-union ideas that Gov. Bruce Rauner puts forth as “reform.”

THE IDEA OF this tactic is that Democrats now can claim the image of trying to reach out to Rauner (with talk of insurance reform and eliminating corporate loopholes) without actually having to do much of anything. I’m sure when Rauner rejects them, they’ll claim they tried their darnedest, but to no avail.

Still no budget when the General Assembly reaches its scheduled adjournment date for summer break come May 31. Or even June 30, which is the end of the current fiscal year and when it will become officially two full years of budget-less Illinois government.

For the record, Currie (a ranking House member from the Hyde Park neighborhood whom Madigan usually uses to do things he wants done without having his name directly tied to it) issued following statement:

“House Democrats believe the budget crisis demands immediate action, and it is our hope to show Governor Rauner that we stand ready to work with him. We plan to seek common ground with the governor on his proposals, and present him with items we believe should be part of the bargaining in order to encourage economic growth while lifting up the middle class.”

THE REAL QUESTION, of course, is this.

Do you believe it’s a sincere offer? That’s why we’re likely moving into Year Three of a budget-less Illinois, no matter how much Currie says publicly she finds that concept to be abhorrent.

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15 days remain, yet no closer to having a state budget for Illinois government

I find it laughable when political observers think they’re being bold in predicting the likelihood that our state’s government officials will be able to put aside their differences and come up with a budget proposal for the upcoming 2018 fiscal year.
 

RAUNER: Re-election more important than budget?

The only truthful answer is that nobody knows, but everybody knows. Our state officials are likely to adjourn without taking any action towards a budget. The new fiscal year will begin July 1 without a spending plan in place.

WHICH MATTERS BECAUSE the state Constitution requires that government have a budget approved in order for government to operate. There are some programs that continue because the federal courts have deemed them too important to shut down (think Illinois Department of Corrections, for one).

But others have restrictions on how money can be spent, which means some bills just aren’t getting paid.

And because the partisan politicking that has occurred since the day in January 2015 that Bruce Rauner took the oath of office as governor, it has created a sense of chaos within our state that wouldn’t immediately be fixed even if our buffoonish legislators were to come to an agreement with the maroon of a governor we seem to have.

It would take time for things to resolve themselves back to the way they should be, and the longer our state lingers in budgetary chaos the longer the resolution time will stretch out to.

CURRIE: Leading Dem 'common ground' cmte

THAT IS WHY it is somewhat discouraging to see that our state officials don’t seem to be the least bit shaken up by the status we’re in. Perhaps they’ve become so adjusted to the chaos they’ve wrought that it doesn’t phase them any longer.

And they’re probably also counting on the fact that many amongst us in this state don’t really pay attention to the details of how our government operates. They’d probably like it if we’d focus more on outrage over Miss D.C.’s comments about being an “equalist” rather than a “feminist.”

Perhaps we should be more outraged over why Miss Illinois, Whitney Marie Wandland of Chicago, didn’t win. Our legislators would like it if we’d quit caring about this issue. Because they certainly seem to have moved on.

MADIGAN: Really calling the shots!

Rauner on Monday partook in a ceremony at the Willis Tower to welcome a Japanese economic development organization to Illinois, and also kicked off the opening of a Polish history exhibit at the Thompson Center state government building in Chicago.

AS FOR THE Legislature, a House committee on Wednesday will review the state’s education funding formula and pension reform bills may come up before another House committee on Tuesday.

We may also get some activity this week on a bill pending to make the board of education for the Chicago Public Schools an elected, rather than mayoral appointed, entity.

All of which are nice bits of business. But if state government doesn’t have full authority to operate and conduct its business, all of these details really are reminiscent of that old cliché about studying the china patterns and silverware on board the Titanic. The fact that the Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan-appointed budgetary negotiating team is meeting Tuesday to show off its “common ground” proposals seems more like an effort to pretend it’s trying “real hard” to find a resolution, without doing much of anything.

WANDLAND: Maybe this LuvaBull is more intriguing

The problem by this point is that our officials have become too comfortable with operating in chaos. Rauner, who has interfered with any serious efforts to put together a government budget, is so preoccupied with his anti-organized labor rhetoric that he’s tied into the issue under the guise of “reform” that he probably sees any concession at this point as failure.

WHEREAS DEMOCRATIC POLITICAL operatives who have stood firm against the governor for nearly two full years now wouldn’t see it as a victory if they could reach a budget agreement. I don’t doubt many wouldn’t mind the state enduring four full years of not having a budget in place.

Make Rauner the guy who was so incompetent that he couldn’t even put together a state budget. “Some reformer!,” they’re betting voters will think to themselves as they cast ballots in that November 2018 gubernatorial election.

There are those who are more interested in having an issue to trash the governor with rather than trying to resolve the problem.

All of which adds to the underlying problem of why many people are skeptical (to say the least) of their government – it has become one way too comfortable with people stepping into their voting booths and casting their ballots based on the concept of “Who do I hate the most?!?”

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EDITOR’S NOTE: This is one commentary where I would thoroughly enjoy it if unforeseen events occurred between now and May 31 prove me wrong. I feel fairly confident I won’t be.