Embrace politics and get things done
Thursday, Jun 6, 2013 - Posted by Rich Miller
* James Krohe Jr. writes about California’s fiscal turnaround…
Only three years after it faced a budget deficit of about $27 billion, Sacramento expects to end the year at least $500 million in the black. Budgets have been cut and taxes raised, thanks to voter approval of a significant tax increase that fell mostly on annual incomes higher than $1 million. As a result, the State of California in February was given its first credit upgrade in six years, leaving Illinois as the state lowest-rated by Wall Street.
Even in the Land of the Makeover this is an eyebrow-raising turnaround. How did it happen? Part of the credit must go to Jerry Brown, the current governor. Readers younger than cell phones might be interested to learn that Brown, who was elected governor in 2010 at the age of 72, had also been elected governor in 1974 and 1978. He also served California as secretary of state and attorney general when not studying Zen meditation in Japan, volunteering for Mother Teresa in India and mayoring (for eight years) Oakland, one of the least governable cities in America. (As governor he maintains his working office in Oakland, which is a little like Illinois’ Mr. Quinn doing his work from Waukegan.)
Widely derided in the 1970s as Governor Moonbeam, Brown for years was a reason to mock California. Today – wiser, and not in the least bit sadder – Brown is a reason to envy California. Why? Because he is a politician, and a good one. Brown didn’t steer California back into deep water by being a “leader” but by assessing possibilities accurately, picking fights he could win, resorting to compromise when it was needed and exhortation only when it was likely to work.
* He then connects Brown’s success to Gov. Pat Quinn’s - and our own state’s - failures…
The contrast with Mr. Quinn is plain. As a citizen-advocate and later as a largely ceremonial lieutenant governor, Quinn got experience demanding what government should do but never had to learn how to do it. […]
While Brown is perhaps the most interesting person among major American politicians, it is too much to describe him as a political genius. Illinois used to routinely produce politicians with similar gifts; its voters even elected some of them governor, the most recent one being George Ryan. But these days much of the public (and much of the Republican Party) thinks that possession of political skills disqualifies a person for public office. In such dim light, a Jerry Brown will cast a shadow much larger than he is.
Still, Illinois could do much worse than to find itself a Brown, as veteran journalist James Fallows suggests in his profile of the governor in The Atlantic (“Jerry Brown’s Political Reboot”). “A country conditioned to dismiss the skills of deal making, persuasion and sheer immersion in politics,” writes Fallows, “can learn a great deal from what he has achieved.” And what is that? That, borrowing from Fallows, repairing the damage that disdain for politics can do demands an all-fronts embrace of, yes, politics.
I cannot agree more. We used to be a state that worked. No longer.
- RonOglesby - Thursday, Jun 6, 13 @ 10:36 am:
Cali made that tax increase yes. But they also realized a HUGE bump in revenue due to people planning to avoid a boat load of taxes and taking profit/cash now… Even inside Cali their GA is fighting right now over spending MORE money and lots of them realize this bump is possibly temporary and the “surplus” is actually a predicted surplus. And their predictions for the last 8 years or so have been terrible.
Can use Cali to bash Quinn its like using our Temp Income tax hike at one point to bash Cali.
- sal-says - Thursday, Jun 6, 13 @ 10:38 am:
“I cannot agree more. We used to be a state that worked. No longer.”
YES. And it seems the same is true in DC as well.
- Loop Lady - Thursday, Jun 6, 13 @ 10:39 am:
As I have mentioned previously on the blog, CA and NY both have viable two party systems in their State. I am a liberal Dem and will be thinking twice about voting for any Democrat running for state office.
They have had ten years to improve the lot of the State and its citizens and have squandered any and mostly all opportunities to do so. They care more about their egos, re-election, and pork more than doing what is best for the people.
I also am leaning toward supporting term limits…
Enough is enough.
- ZC - Thursday, Jun 6, 13 @ 10:49 am:
I was reading a book about the New Deal era and I came across the following quotes about Hugh Johnson, FDR’s original head for the National Recovery Administration.
This was Bernard Baruch’s description of HJ: “I think he’s a good number-three man, maybe a number-two man, but he’s not a number-one man. He’s dangerous and unstable. He gets nervous and sometimes goes away for days without notice. I’m fond of him, but do tell the President to be careful.”
I remain fond of Pat Quinn myself, but it strikes me he is not now, and never has been, a “number-one man.”
- lake county democrat - Thursday, Jun 6, 13 @ 10:52 am:
And we’re blaming the politician who doesn’t have the power rather than the politician who does have the power and is obviously gumming things up to get his daughter elected because…why again?
- Belle - Thursday, Jun 6, 13 @ 10:52 am:
Agree with the previous posters—as a State, the parties need to function as a unit not as they are currently. Whether it’s MJM or just the way things are these days, someone needs to get us out of this problem of divided parties.
Term limits are imperative for the progress of this State and they need to be enforced in the City too.
- qcexaminer - Thursday, Jun 6, 13 @ 10:54 am:
Loop Lady, CA has had one party Dem rule for some time and in the last election, they completely destroyed the GOP and have massive majorities.
They have used that majority to increase taxes; Illinois Dems have used their massive majority to fight with themselves.
Big difference.
- anon - Thursday, Jun 6, 13 @ 11:16 am:
Readers younger than cellphones need to check out the Dead Kennedy’s California Uber Alles for an incisive take on Governor Jerry Brown.
- HenryVK - Thursday, Jun 6, 13 @ 11:20 am:
People really need to read that full Atlantic piece. http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2013/06/the-fixer/309324/
It has some additional insight as to the challenges faced by Brown, especially with regard to ballot initiatives.
Brown was facing a much tougher job than Quinn, and got it done.
Again though, read the whole thing.
- Excessively Rabid - Thursday, Jun 6, 13 @ 11:22 am:
I could agree more, if he didn’t exclude the dems from the idiocy. Exhibit A, the woman heckling Michelle at the $500 a plate house party the other night. We want everything and we want it yesterday. Yeah, that works.
- Optimist - Thursday, Jun 6, 13 @ 11:46 am:
Last time State operated well was during the term of Jim Edgar.
- Makandadawg - Thursday, Jun 6, 13 @ 11:53 am:
There is no going back in time. Illinois voters must learn to vote for leaders and not amateurs or yes men.
- roscoe tom - Thursday, Jun 6, 13 @ 12:05 pm:
To optimist, check the records and see if former Gov. Edgar didn’t contribut mightly to the pension problem or is it just rear view myopia.
- Formerly Known As... - Thursday, Jun 6, 13 @ 12:23 pm:
Could not agree more.
A number of states have turned things around in recent years. California is one of a few dramatic examples.
Meanwhile, we haven’t even maintained the status quo in Illinois despite our tax increase.
However, some of us we seem to differ in regards to where the blame resides.
It is not enough to simply blame Quinn. We must also:
- hold Madigan and Cullerton responsible, perhaps even more so than Quinn due to the length of the tenures.
- hold their predecessors complicit.
- hold the GOP accountable for allowing this state to devolve into single-party rule.
- hold the media accountable for watching this decay develop over the years
- hold the public accountable for voting with blinders on (JJJ’s reelection, etc.)
Nearly all the major players have let down the people of this state. And they’ve done so in bits and pieces for many, many years.
- stratten - Thursday, Jun 6, 13 @ 12:27 pm:
keep pounding the gov Rich…when Madigan couldnt even find a cell phone…you think Quinn has any responsibility for this mess when Madigan has been effectively running this state for the last 30 years?
- Levois - Thursday, Jun 6, 13 @ 12:32 pm:
This is surprising to say about California. Well done, although I still believe they have problems it’s probably not as dire as it has been. If only we could find someone like Gov. Brown here in this state. If there was an exodus from CALI for the condition of that state perhaps it’s been alleviated for now.
- Robert the Bruce - Thursday, Jun 6, 13 @ 1:28 pm:
==you think Quinn has any responsibility for this mess when Madigan has been effectively running this state for the last 30 years?==
“Establish working relationship with Speaker Madigan” ought to have been fairly high on Gov. Quinn’s to-do list upon being elected, no?
- No Sense - Thursday, Jun 6, 13 @ 2:16 pm:
Mike Madigan has been running this state since Rod won office he also been in office far to long people don’t want to try a new book they keep reading the same book over and over again.
- wordslinger - Thursday, Jun 6, 13 @ 3:17 pm:
–They have used that majority to increase taxes; Illinois Dems have used their massive majority to fight with themselves.–
I seem to recall a tax increase in Illinois.
And Ron, most states, including Illinois, saw an unexpected bump in revenue due to profit-taking in the last quarter of 2012, although California’s was biggest.
But, to the main point, Quinn is the weakest governor since Walker. That’s not always a bad thing; I’m glad Blago wasn’t stronger (although he did have Jones and some big-shot Republicans for a long time).
I don’t think he’s really cut out to be an executive officer. And given his self-promotional outsider career, it wasn’t like he made a lot of pals in politics to begin with.
I could see him as a senator, picking his fights, and with no administrative responsibilities.
- Old and In The Way - Thursday, Jun 6, 13 @ 3:19 pm:
- Belle - Thursday, Jun 6, 13 @ 10:52 am:
Term limits are no panacea. Look at some of the states with term limits. There is no finer entertainment than amateurs trying to govern. I have seen this first hand. I am afraid the real problem lies with us, the voters. We have met the enemy and he is us! Pogo.
- Conservative Republican - Thursday, Jun 6, 13 @ 3:42 pm:
Wisconsin, Indiana, and Michigan are also “states that are working”, thanks to pragmatic, politically conservative leadership. See Scott Walker, Mitch Daniels, et al.
- RNUG - Thursday, Jun 6, 13 @ 4:49 pm:
Old and In The Way @ 3:19 pm:
I miss that comic strip … much political truth in it.
- Grandson of Man - Thursday, Jun 6, 13 @ 5:29 pm:
Sorry, I meant anti-abortion legislation in Indiana, not “anti-absorption” legislation. That was an autofill error.
In Illinois, the unions have been doing some nice things lately, with the AFSCME contract, SB 2404, and the McCormick Place compromise. If politicians try to do right to work in Illinois, I’ll be in the streets.
- Smitty Irving - Thursday, Jun 6, 13 @ 9:56 pm:
Where to begin …
Optimist - Jim Edgar’s budgetary surpluses were built upon his pension ramp-up law. You know, the law that continued underfunding the pensions from 1995 to 2010. The law that is eating up the budget alive. IF he had paid the actuarial amounts due, he wouldn’t have left office with the billion dollars in the bank Kirk Dillard was speaking about this week.
While Brown has to deal with initiatives, Quinn has to deal with: (1) pension guarantee in the Constitution; (2) flat income tax in the Constitution; and (3) Jim Edgar’s pension ramp-up law, which apparently Wall Street has deemed can’t be touched. Talent and ability aside, Brown didn’t have to deal with those things.
- Xylem - Friday, Jun 7, 13 @ 12:08 am:
Dear Rich:
I have to take issue with your point that Illinois used to be a state that worked. I think that the current pension crisis shows that for decades, Illinois has not worked. For decades, both democrats and republicans have failed the state and now we are paying for decades of failure.
Illinois did not really work. It was a facade of functionality. The curtain has been drawn back and we can see that for decades, the elected officials have been dithering and the state of Illinois is now paying the price of decades of bi-partisan failure. If Illinois “really” worked, we would not be in the position we are in today.
I think you should dispel the myth that Illinois used to be the state that worked. The whole premise on which its previous perceived functionality was based was flawed. That is, the state perennially failed to pay the full pension obligations. Instead, it used funds that should have gone to pay pension obligations to do other things. This decades-long failure is now costing the state in so many ways. I have personally had to change health insurance plans, the school my children attend have had to lay off teachers, and it goes on.
Respectfully,
Xylem