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| MADIGAN: Got 98 percent of what he wanted |
Not
only did they take some significant posts away from Republicans who already
didn’t have much (a U.S. Senate seat, Illinois comptroller and a congressional
post in the northwest suburbs), they managed to minimize the political gains
that Gov. Bruce Rauner tried to make.
YES,
IT’S TRUE that the veto-proof majority that theoretically gave Illinois House
Speaker Michael Madigan, D-Chicago, the ability to slap the governor about
silly any time he saw fit is no more.
But
with 68 legislators (out of 118) now being solid Democrat and the three who are
no more being legislators who faced circumstances that often made them
unreliable votes for anything Madigan desired, I’d say “Mr. Speaker” now has a
more rigid grip over the people in his caucus.
It
doesn’t exactly sound like a loss to me.
Although
I’m sure that to the political mentality that thinks one in charge can never
have too much influence, it might sound like a gain for Republicans.
BUT
FOR THE millions of dollars that were spent by Rauner, once a venture
capitalist, out of his personal wealth and the personal money of his
business-oriented friends, I’d say that gaining three lone House seats and
still being on the short end of a 68-50 split ain’t all that much!
When
combined with the losses in the D.C. delegation from Illinois and the state
comptroller, I can’t help but think that Bruce Rauner is going to be a very
lonely individual on the Statehouse Scene – one who will think the era of ’95-96
when Republicans actually dominated in Springfield was somehow something
imagined.
And
my guess is that Democrats, led by Madigan and state Senate President John
Cullerton, D-Chicago, will be willing to go out of their way to portray the
governor as weak and ineffectual – just some sort of ol’ crank who can’t get
with the program that exists in Illinois.
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| RAUNER: Can he and Mr. Speaker play nice? |
At least until the 2018 election cycle (do we really want to have to think about that already?), when Rauner will have to come up for re-election – unless, by chance, he gets so frustrated with next year’s legislative activity that he decides to give up and retire.
FAT
CHANCE OF anything even close to that happening! Which means that the amount of
activity we’re likely to get from state government is going to equal the level
of nothingness we got during the past two years.
So
what should we make of the statement that Rauner issued Wednesday morning – the
one that talked about bipartisan cooperation and gave lip service to the notion
of political people working together.
“The
people of Illinois deserve prompt, bi-partisan action to solve problems and get
good things done – to make Illinois more competitive so we can be more
compassionate – to enact truly balanced budgets along with reforms that grow
more jobs and protect taxpayers.”
It
sounds nice. It would be nice to believe that it could happen.
YET
EXCUSE ME for being skeptical. Nobody who spends as many millions as Rauner did
to try to gain more influence is going to want cooperation – unless by that you
mean having the opposition back down and do what he wants them to do.
Our
situation in Springfield, which will get worse come January because the interim
budget that got passed back in June only runs through Dec. 31., is one in which
people would have to decide how much they really want to work together.
Instead,
we have a situation where they have spent the past several months keeping each
other apart. I’m also sure the fact that the few legislative gains made by
Republicans came out of Southern Illinois will only enhance the regional
tensions that already exist.
Which
may make Dems all-the-more rigid if they wind up sensing this is an urban vs.
rural battle in which they have to protect their homeland interests above all
else. It’s going to get ugly before it gets nicer.
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