GOP got to stir up Madigan resentment

We have Donald J. Trump as our president-elect these days because he managed a campaign strategy of getting people who really didn’t think too highly of him to despise the notion of his opponent winning the election that they voted for him anyway.
 

Will we come to despise Mike Madigan ...

It would seem that we in Illinois will be subjected to a repeat of that same strategy when it comes to our choice of governor for the 2018 election cycle. Who knows; we, the people of Illinois, could wind up producing an even uglier partisan political battle than what the nation endured in the now-complete 2016.

BECAUSE LET’S BE honest. Many of us don’t think very highly of Bruce Rauner’s first two years as governor. He hasn’t accomplished a thing he said he would, and has shown a willingness to take harmful actions toward government operations to achieve his partisan goals.

But the strategy that has been used in past election cycles is already being revved up for ’18 – we’re supposed to hate the notion of Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan, D-Chicago, as an all-domineering political hack and boss who keeps only his own interests in mind that we don’t think about how much we’d like to dump Rauner too!

The Illinois Republican Party has been giving us so many tidbits in recent weeks, all geared to the fact that on Wednesday, the General Assembly that was elected in November will convene in Springfield, Ill., to begin its work.

On that date, their first actions will include the choosing of new leadership.

REPUBLICANS ARE TRYING to plant the false notion that there’s somehow a chance that Madigan could be dumped from the leadership post he has held for all but two years since 1983.

 

... in way some hated thought of 'President' Clinton

Madigan isn’t going anywhere. He’s going to be chosen once again to be House speaker. The dominating thought process of Madigan vs. Rauner will not change – we’re not likely to get anything of significance accomplished.

In a sense, Republican operatives are lying when they say Madigan will be replaced. Of course, they know that. They’re not stupid! Venal (at times), yes. Stupid, no.

What they want is to create a sense of disappointment, then disgust and contempt, for the people who do wind up picking Madigan to be the Illinois House leader for the next two years.

 

Rauner always distanced himself from Trump, ...

BELIEVING THAT IT will create a sense of outrage that will have people so eager to vote against every Democrat they can find on the ballot that it would finally put Republicans back in a place they haven’t had since 1995-96 – a place where they would control all and treat their opposition with contempt.

That was how Republicans behaved in that two-year period (I remember vividly the blatantly partisan trash that was pulled back then), and it is a large part of the reason why I don’t have much sympathy for Republican political people when they complain about how they’re being abused by the Democratic majorities that now run things.

I couldn’t help but be amused by the latest Republican attack – an e-mail message offering up a “Boss Madigan” quiz that is supposed to show how Madigan is enriching himself at the expense of the Illinois people.

It blames Madigan for the fact that property taxes are so high. Of course, property taxes are set by local government entities over which Madigan has no control.

ALTHOUGH I KNOW there are local government entities (particularly school districts) that say they’d be able to lower their local tax levies IF ONLY the state would boost the funding it provides them.

 

... but will he resort to Donald-like tactics

Which is something that state officials would not want to do. They don’t want to have to take responsibility of providing even more money than they already do.

There are those who are hinting they wish Madigan (who has been a state legislator since the early 1970s) would retire. Then again, there also are those who think the real solution would be to dump Rauner from office. Perhaps we should think of a total ouster – although I don’t expect that to happen.

Instead, we’re likely to see if Rauner can turn Madigan into something the equivalent of what Trump did to Hillary Clinton. Somehow, I think Madigan is not going to take this as lightly as she did, and we could wind up with a political battleground that leaves carcasses strewn all over the place!

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EDITOR’S NOTE: For those of you strong enough to tolerate the partisan stench, here’s the quiz offered up by Republican partisans meant to imply that Mike Madigan is a partisan hack who’s responsible for your property tax bills being so high.