* Kristen McQueary wants immediate action on the big stuff…
So far during the first week of the fall veto session, members of the Illinois House and Senate have debated appointments to various state boards and commissions, discussed the regulation of wind farms and passed resolutions mourning the deaths of at least two former lawmakers, including one of my favorites, Mary Lou Cowlishaw, who died in June.
State Rep. Kevin McCarthy (D-Orland Park) is sponsoring a resolution commending Tinley Park Fire Marshal Robert Bettenhausen for 57 years of service.
State Sen. A.J. Wilhelmi (D-Joliet) advanced a bill allowing farmers convicted of drunken driving to operate their tractors without breath-test devices, under certain circumstances.
And more than 100 other miscellaneous pieces of legislation are expected to move through the queue before lawmakers adjourn, again, for the holidays.
But serious action to improve the state’s fiscal situation? Nowhere - not even a bone tossed to make it appear so. Not even the shadow of an itty bitty bone fit for Paris Hilton’s chihuahua. Not a crumb.
No movement toward an income tax increase. No pronounced spending cuts. No combining of state agencies or constitutional offices. No legislator pay cuts. No additional furlough days. No across-the-board spending reductions. No caucus meetings to get serious about solutions. No pension borrowing plans. No plans. None.
Solving these things ain’t easy. If it was so simple, we’d have already seen action by now. The election put off any attempts to get at solutions. Now, they have to figure out where to go next.
This also takes some leadership. The governor,, for instance, has yet to issue a single policy proposal since the election except to demand that his income tax hike be passed before the General Assembly does anything else. But many in the GA want to look at cuts and other reforms before they get into the tax hike thing. The Senate just formed two bipartisan committees to come up with reforms for workers comp and Medicaid, so things are moving. But that will take time.
* The Sun-Times also wants immediate action…
But to suggest that Madigan can’t influence many of them — particularly if he offers up a budget plan that does more than raise taxes — is hogwash.
Madigan just came off a supremely successful election. He held on to his majority in the House because of shrewd planning, discipline and, yes, the tight control he exerts over Illinois Democrats.
But — and forgive our naivete here — what’s the point of holding power if you do nothing with it?
There is no issue of greater importance to Illinois government than setting the state on a path toward fiscal health.
Madigan does not hold all the cards, we’ll give him that.
But he sure holds a lot of them.
Yes, he does, and he’s not gonna play those cards until he’s ready. And nobody knows when that will be. The voters spoke this month, and nothing really changed. Get used to it, is all i can say.
Also, while the legislative leaders have enormous power, they’re still essentially herding cats. Politics is an art, and it’s an art of the possible. At the moment, they’re still figuring out what’s possible.
* As Illinois News Service notes, the first week of veto session is usually pretty quiet…
Looking for more excitement in your veto session? Come back for the second act.
This year’s annual two-week legislative veto session has, so far, failed to live up to its hype. Issues such as civil unions, abolition of the death penalty and medical marijuana have yet to surface. And a committee vote on a massive gaming expansion was postponed after advocates, opponents and residents overflowed the hearing room to testify. […]
Recovering from an expensive, often bitter campaign season, lawmakers are easing back into a legislative pace. But a public lack of activity doesn’t mean nothing is happening.
“This week is probably more of a week of getting things in place, and when we come back after Thanksgiving, that’s when I expect most of the substantial action on legislation will take place,” said state Sen. Dave Koehler, D-Pekin.
“Getting things in place” means getting votes. No lawmaker wants to roll out something controversial until it’s assured of passage, according to one political observer.
When Speaker Madigan added several January session days, he pretty much assured that legislators would put off action until then. Legislators are like most human beings. They respond best to deadline pressures. The goal line was moved back a month, so they’ll probably wait.
* If the train ever does start moving, things could happen pretty quickly. But that may be a while…
“Revenue, the budget and redistricting will all get linked together,” Redfield said. “I think it’s more likely that it’s going to happen in May rather than January.”
* It might happen sooner than that, but we’ll see. Those two bipartisan committees mentioned above are quite interesting…
Extending an olive branch to Republicans, the top Senate Democrat agreed Wednesday to study and possibly vote on workers compensation and Medicaid reforms in a move that could dislodge a stalled $3.7 billion borrowing plan favored by Gov. Quinn.
Senate President John Cull- erton (D-Chicago) announced the formation of committees to study both topics, which were key talking points for Republicans in the fall campaigns. The panels would advance legislation for a possible Senate vote in January.
Cullerton’s move comes amid efforts to persuade Republicans to back Quinn’s borrowing push to cover this year’s multibillion-dollar payment to state pension funds, though he insisted the move was not linked to the borrowing proposal.
The borrowing bill passed the House but is hung up in the Senate, where two Democrats have blocked it, necessitating GOP votes.
“If it takes away an argument from somebody who’s holding off, that would be a side benefit. You may recall, Republicans did pass the pension-borrowing in the House. Two voted for it. She voted for it in the past year,” Cullerton said, referring to Senate Minority Leader Christine Radogno (R-Lemont). “Yeah, if it helps her come around for it, it’s a bonus.”
Thoughts?
- bored now - Thursday, Nov 18, 10 @ 10:45 am:
kicking the can down the road is all the legislature has done in the ten years i’ve lived here. education reform (yep, that was the hot topic 10 years ago)? not a darn thing. property tax reform? nope, nadda, nothing. real government reform? oh, well, we all knew they were just joking about that.
madigan’s accomplishment in that decade? i think he got the dnc to pay for somebody’s health care or something.
leadership we can wait forever for…
- 47th Ward - Thursday, Nov 18, 10 @ 10:54 am:
I hear the violins and can smell the smoke. Time is running out for Illinois, and nobody in Springfield seems to care.
- Cincinnatus - Thursday, Nov 18, 10 @ 10:55 am:
Commissions = Legislators Punt
- CircularFiringSquad - Thursday, Nov 18, 10 @ 11:07 am:
Redfield proves again that he knows little
remap will not get going until the data comes in — April 1ish. No one will do a real deal on taxes, etc based on good intentions.
McQueary also showing a more vivid detachment from reality than usual.
- just sayin' - Thursday, Nov 18, 10 @ 11:10 am:
DUI farmers driving tractors? Is this a big problem? I’ve never even seen one pulled over by a cop.
- cassandra - Thursday, Nov 18, 10 @ 11:10 am:
I expect the pension borrowing bill will pass eventually because the alternatives are so much worse, including taxpayers having to pay even more for this state employee perk.
It is worth noting that many of the efforts of Illinois’ Democratic state political leadership have gone to shore up, well, themselves and their
colleagues in the state bureaucracy.
With a lot of help from public employee unions like AFSCME. Do taxpayers have a chance.
Legislators like Madigan and their staff, as well as the governor, are state employees after all.
Even before the election, Quinn moved to save unionized state bureaucrats from economic anxiety by signing a no-layoff clause with AFSCME through mid-2012. They’ll continue to get their salaries, hefty raises, and benefits through mid 2012 at least unless they are discharged for cause-a very rare event. And of course Quinn continues to hire employees at a brisk pace. Don’t the ones he hires through the end of the year, if they stay long enough, come in under the older more generous pension rules? There must be a big rush in state Personnel office activity these days.
And what is one of the first orders of business
in the veto session. Shoring up the state employee pensions, of course. Can’t have government employees worrying about their pensions. First things first.
In January, the first order of business may be
an income tax increase which falls heavily on the middle class, in order to pay for all this. First things first–themselves.
None of this was a secret, even during the campaign. We voted for the me-first politicians and they have responded to the mandate.
- Justice - Thursday, Nov 18, 10 @ 11:17 am:
Must be a sign at the Capitol that says “Leave your ‘junk’ at the door.” It’s pittifully obvious that they have. What a pathetic bunch of do nothings!
- Holdingontomywallet - Thursday, Nov 18, 10 @ 11:25 am:
Thoughts? The democrats have controlled the gov’s office, the house and the senate for the past eight years and we are $14 billion in the hole. They coudn’t even pass a budget last year. Ilinois voters put the same people back in office and expect positive results? Good luck with that…
- bored now - Thursday, Nov 18, 10 @ 11:30 am:
cassandra: lol. you may have “voted for the me-first politicians,” but i voted for quinn. in any other state, bill brady’s “me-first” vote on a bill that lined his “me-first” pockets would have gotten him a direct referral to an ethics committee.
the voters of illinois *rejected* your “me-first” candidate, pure and simple. there was never any question that brady wasn’t up for fixing illinois’ ills, and that his real intention was to take us back to the 14th century while he lined his pockets at the taxpayer’s expense. we may have to stumble out of this mess, but at least no one will accuse governor quinn of trying to rip off the taxpayers — and at least now we WON’T have three elected governors in a row end up in the federal penitentiary. a little integrity goes a long way in these difficult times…
- cassandra - Thursday, Nov 18, 10 @ 11:37 am:
bored now-
I didn’t say I voted for Brady. In fact, there are almost certainly a number of Republican legislators who are primarily interested in preserving and expanding the plush pensions and benefits and access to lucrative patronage deals enjoyed by Illinois’ state government and political classes.
- jake - Thursday, Nov 18, 10 @ 11:38 am:
Do the math. If there is any real action, it will happen in the lame duck session in early January, when the old legislature will be able to function with a simple majority.
- bored now - Thursday, Nov 18, 10 @ 11:52 am:
cassandra: democrats, too. that’s definitely part of the problem…
- Excessively Rabid - Thursday, Nov 18, 10 @ 1:10 pm:
Quinn needs to make the first move. He needs to reach out to Madigan; Madigan isn’t going to come to him, and until the two of them identify some common ground, I don’t think anything is going anywhere good. They need to sort this out face to face, not by making public statements.
- Yellow Dog Democrat - Thursday, Nov 18, 10 @ 1:47 pm:
@Excessively Rabid -
Good advice.
- DoubleDown - Thursday, Nov 18, 10 @ 2:20 pm:
State Sen. A.J. Wilhelmi (D-Joliet) advanced a bill allowing farmers convicted of drunken driving to operate their tractors without breath-test devices, under certain circumstances.
=================================================
What are the certain circumstances ??
Farm Tractors and School Bus’s on the same roads down near Peotone, Manhattan
- Anonymous - Thursday, Nov 18, 10 @ 5:25 pm:
Since CA recently had trouble selling more bonds, perhaps we’ll see action just before we increase our debt even further, especially since our bond rating is as bad or worse than CA.
Alternatively, we’ll see action just before the credit rating agencies threaten to drop our bond rating again…just like those instant pension reforms this past year.
Even Madigan must bow before market supply and demand if he wants to keep borrowing and spending unsustainably. Acting sooner, rather than later would be easier and prevent even more unpleasant surprises.
If we constrained leadership terms (and unequal campaign contributions), we might find a statesman, instead of a politician, to lead all citizens, not just favored friends and family.
- Rich Miller - Thursday, Nov 18, 10 @ 5:28 pm:
===Since CA recently had trouble selling more bonds, perhaps we’ll see action just before we increase our debt even further===
Or the Fed will step in.
- Rich Miller - Thursday, Nov 18, 10 @ 5:37 pm:
To the person I just deleted, I did so because after reading Wilhelmi’s bill I learned that he had been cheap-shotted by the columnist above. It does far more than that.