EXTRA: Is state’s budget battle about to devolve into Chicago vs. rural Ill. brawl? Yes, if Rauner gets his way

It’s no secret that Gov. Bruce Rauner is prepared to play partisan politics hardball in his effort to force the General Assembly into giving approval to at least a few of the anti-organized labor measures he views as essential to benefit business interests in Illinois.

But for someone who claims he’s being revolutionary and shaking up the way things are being done in this state, his tactics seem so retro. So repetitive of the past.

HOW ELSE TO view the appearances the governor made Monday in Marion and Belleville? Both of which are Southern Illinois communities whose legislators are of the Democratic Party persuasion.

They are part of the majority that is so large that Democrats can literally ignore Rauner’s rhetoric. They can override anything the governor chooses to veto – which ultimately puts the power of government in the hands of Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan and state Senate President John Cullerton, both Chicago Democrats.

So how does Rauner try to overcome a Legislature that is stacked against him? By trying to change this from Democrat vs. Republican to Chicago vs. the rest of the state.

Trying to make it so that those non-Chicago area communities that have Democratic Party representation will bolt from following their legislative leaders and choose to back him instead.

TURNING THIS INTO an urban vs. rural brawl could work amongst some people. After all, much of the reason that former Gov. Pat Quinn didn’t get re-election was the perception among some Illinoisans that they wanted a rural-oriented leadership within state government.

But if that attitude had truly been prevalent in 2014, then Rauner never would have won the Republican primary to begin with.

Which is why I believe that if Rauner is truly to be successful, he’s going to have to be more broad-based in his appeal than to be the governor of rural Illinois. And I don’t think tactics like the ones he used on Monday are going to accomplish that.

Rauner made a point of criticizing the local legislators in Marion and Bellville (a St. Louis-area suburb) to, “stand up for taxpayers instead of Speaker Madigan and President Cullerton.”

AMONG THOSE WHO came under criticism Monday were state Sens. Gary Forby of Benton, Bill Haine of Alton and James Claybourne of Belleville, along with state Reps. John Bradley of Marion, Brandon Phelps of Harrisburg, Jay Hoffman of Swansea, Jerry Costello of Smithson and Daniel Beiser of Alton. Not exactly like-minded, identical communities.

Yet all the rhetoric is generic. The Southern Illinois and St. Louis-area legislators are being treated as an anonymous lump by the Rauner backers.

Which sounds so much like the accusations that Raunerites are making about the same legislators – that they’re acting like generic Chicago-type pols. I have always found that line of logic to be so laughable.

Unless Rauner really believes that the only way for them to think independently is for them to behave in lock-step unison with the business-oriented thought process he’s trying to impose on all of Illinois.

SO RAUNER IS trying to split the Democratic caucuses in the Legislature based on geography – hoping to isolate Chicago and its inner suburbs which account for about 45 percent of the state’s population and which has made it clear on many occasions that it has no support for the trash that Rauner talks.

Which may be the strength that legislators in opposition to Rauner may have to being able to remain firm to their principles and not be forced to give in to the guv.

There are a lot of people who have their own ideas about what constitutes reform, and they all have a right to be taken into account.

The sooner the governor realizes that fact and the notion that is way is not the only way to achieve reform (and a balanced budget), the sooner the nonsense talk will come to an end at the Statehouse in Springfield.

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EXTRA: Quinn on hand for tribute to a Cardinal; How will the Cubs fans react?

Now, he's a bridge

I realize that the greater St. Louis metro area spills over into Illinois (similar to how metro Chicago includes a piece of Indiana). Yet I can’t help but think it a bit odd that our governor was among the dignitaries on hand Saturday for the opening of a new bridge that pays tribute, in part, to the St. Louis Cardinals’ great Stan Musial.

Would a Missouri governor feel compelled to be on hand if something were named for Chicago Cubs great Ernie Banks? At least in his case, it could be justified by saying he once played for the Kansas City Monarchs of the Negro leagues of old.

BUT QUINN WAS among the political people who showed up for the ceremonies marking the new bridge that connects St. Louis to East St. Louis – which makes it a major entryway to people entering Illinois from the southwest.

And Quinn justifies the appearance by saying it’s the first new bridge built in that area in four decades. A “catalyst for business development and job creation for the future?,” as Quinn phrased it.

Let’s only hope so. Because I wonder how many people hear the name “East St. Louis” and automatically envision the Griswold family driving through town on their way to Walley World (remember “National Lampoon’s Vacation”)?

Officially, the new bridge is the Stan Musial Veterans Memorial Bridge, which means it pays tribute to the military veterans that Quinn likes to honor any chance he gets.

IT’S TOO BAD that this wasn’t a bridge named (for whatever reason) for Lou Brock. He was, after all, both a Cardinal and a Cub.

Although I suspect that reminding Cubs fans of that deal would probably kill off any chance that they would consider voting for him in the November general election.

Can we pretend it didn't happen?

Then again, if he hadn’t shown up on Saturday, he might well have been accused of snubbing those baseball fans of Madison and St. Clair counties – which are among the few places outside of metro Chicago where Quinn might actually get significant numbers of votes.

How quickly the trivial gestures our political people make take on actual substantive results!

PART OF WHAT amuses me about this particular move is that putting Musial’s name on the bridge is supposed to make us forget how Cardinals fans in the Missouri Legislature actually named a nearby highway for Mark McGwire.

Oops, wrong team!!!

It was in the aftermath of 1998 and everybody was drunk with the spirit of those 70 home runs and Interstate 70 does pass through St. Louis. I remember people cheering at the sight of McGwire meeting personally with Pope John Paul II when the latter was in St. Louis early in 1999.

Of course, now that even McGwire admits he was using certain questionable substances to help bulk up his body to give him added strength for those “dingers” (remember The Simpsons? That’s what people really want to see), it seemed embarrassing.

Local officials actually went back to calling it the “Mark Twain Highway.”

NOW, CARDINALS FANS can still have a ballplayer’s name prominently displayed in the area near downtown St. Louis. And considering that Musial hasn’t played ball in 50 years (and died last year), it is unlikely he could do anything that would bring added shame on the St. Louis area.

Which may be the one way in which Chicago Cubs fans showed some restraint. To my knowledge, too many people got absolutely stupid in their worship of Sosa and his home runs all those years ago, but we don’t have anything named after him.

Except for those people who actually shelled out $19.95 (plus tax) to get a “Sammy Sosa Drive” sign. Which they can now use to whack themselves upside the heads while asking, “What was I thinking?!?”

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Did Pat Quinn just give St. Louis a jolt in their desires to attract ADM?

Perhaps Pat Quinn thinks his gubernatorial re-election bid will benefit with solid voter turnout from Madison and St. Clair counties – the parts of Illinois that also are part of the St. Louis metropolitan area.

QUINN: A dangerous political mix

That’s about the only line of logic I can think of that would make me comprehend why the governor would create a link between the issue of trying to keep Archer Daniels Midland Co. in Illinois AND trying to fix the funding flaws in pension programs overseen by state government.

FOR THE RECORD, ADM officials have said they want to move their world headquarters from Decatur to a large Midwestern city. They have hinted Chicago is their preference, but St. Louis and Minneapolis also have been mentioned in the mix.

To the goal of ensuring that Chicago comes out on top, the Illinois General Assembly is contemplating whether they should approve something resembling tax breaks for ADM IF they stay in an Illinois city. Such tax credits could come up for consideration during the veto session that begins later this month.

But Quinn is telling the Associated Press that he’ll use his veto power to kill off any such tax breaks – UNLESS the state Legislature also manages to approve an adequate plan for fixing pension funding mechanisms.

Whether or not pension funding will be addressed is questionable – some legislators are confident it can be addressed during the same veto session, while others say the sides are too far apart and that nothing will happen until next year AT THE SOONEST!!!

HOW WOULD IT play if Quinn wound up killing off a bid to keep one of rural Illinois’ major companies within the state, while also giving Chicago’s corporate presence another major player?

CULLERTON: A political balance?

Would it seem like Quinn is playing politics in ways that would encourage ADM to give one of those other cities more serious consideration?

The presence of O’Hare International Airport may be a major advantage, but if it meant avoiding the political games, I suspect ADM officials would learn to live with Lambert Airport in St. Louis.

Which might somehow mean that a few of those ADM executives who leave Decatur for the new world headquarters would wind up living in the St. Louis Metro East area. Or maybe not. Maybe they’ll all decide to live on the Missouri side of the Mississippi River? Or maybe Quinn fantasizes that they'll use high-speed rail to commute from Chicago TO St. Louis?

I COULD EASILY see this issue being spun into a negative that Quinn was willing to let a rural-based company leave the state, AND into a negative by Chicago interests that he thwarted local efforts to try to attract that company.

Could political gamesmanship make Lambert look better?

The last time I checked, Madison and St. Clair counties had solid Democratic Party organizations, but not strong enough to overcome opposition everywhere else in Illinois.

Which is why state Senate President John Cullerton, D-Chicago, is trying to make an appeal to both regions; what with his talk that the estimated $20 million worth of tax breaks being sought by ADM to move to Chicago should be balanced off with something to compensate Decatur for any jobs it loses due to the move.

I’m not sure I see what Quinn gains by linking the two issues – particularly since the General Assembly has made it clear on so many occasions that they’re not willing to do the political heavy-lifting required to resolve the pension problems.

HOW MANY “DEADLINES,” how many drop-dead dates, have come and gone with nothing being done on the issue? There’s plenty of blame to go around the General Assembly on this issue.

Quinn’s latest tactic comes across as the governor himself trying to grab a share of the blame, rather than letting the Legislature take the hits!

Which further convinces me that if Quinn prevails in next year’s election cycle, it’s going to be more due to the incompetence of his potential opponents than it will be anything positive the governor does himself.

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