Rose-colored glasses
Thursday, Jun 16, 2016 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Former Gov. Jim Edgar speaking the other day…
Edgar said budgets were accomplished in the ‘90s, despite many hardships, “because we compromised.” He called negotiations with Madigan during his tenure as governor during a budget impasse tense, but civil in the end because “we both tried to watch our rhetoric.”
“We might have thought about the other guy, but we didn’t go out and say it,” Edgar said.
The former governor usually has a pretty good memory. It’s truly amazing the number of details he can recall when you sit down and talk with him, as I have.
But when I read that above remark, something in the back of my mind clicked and I went hunting for a long-ago quote.
* Back in July of 1994, three and a half years into his first term, the General Assembly was embroiled in yet another overtime session and couldn’t agree on a budget…
For his part, Madigan opened the overtime session by questioning the governor’s emotional state.
“It would be very desirable if the chief executive of the state of Illinois would operate on a little more emotional stability,” Madigan said.
Edgar said he was “surprised” that Madigan would take that tone.
“I wouldn’t question his stability at all,” Edgar said. “I might question his political motives.”
* From a few days earlier…
Before the House adjourned, Madigan led approval of a two-week emergency spending authorization for the state. Edgar, however, vowed to veto it.
No state services, benefits or paychecks are in jeopardy, although Edgar said that the prospect of a payless payday for state employees in mid-July might be needed to leverage a final session-ending budget deal.
“I think it’s obvious today that (Democrats) are doing this for political reasons,” Edgar said. “I don’t know how long the speaker’s going to figure there’s some political reason to draw this out.”
* Much of this was forgotten because of what happened next…
Gov. Jim Edgar signed the $33.3 billion state budget bill into law Wednesday afternoon from the hospital where he is recuperating from emergency heart surgery, said an Edgar spokeswoman. The bill was a get-well greeting from the General Assembly.
- Triple fat - Thursday, Jun 16, 16 @ 12:31 pm:
Nobody called anybody a Chicago Boss! Maybe Edgar being ill and all was acting odd.
- Almost the Weekend - Thursday, Jun 16, 16 @ 12:33 pm:
Rich thank you for doing some background. It still is shocking to me that Edgar is able to reconstruct his own version of history.
Illinois’ fiscal mismanagement was a result of decades of poor decisions, not just the past 12. Unfortunately under Rauner in 1.5 years we can tack on another decade.
- Ducky LaMoore - Thursday, Jun 16, 16 @ 12:35 pm:
Aww shucks, its just too bad everyone involved is in good health. /s
- Triple fat - Thursday, Jun 16, 16 @ 12:36 pm:
Also questioning whether or not the Speaker was acting on political motives is pretty tame compared to Rauner’s accusations that the Speaker and Senate President are lining their pockets. Rauner of all people to make such an accusation.
- Norseman - Thursday, Jun 16, 16 @ 12:42 pm:
Mild compared to what we’ve seen the past 18 months.
- Formerly Known as Frenchie M - Thursday, Jun 16, 16 @ 12:42 pm:
But devil’s advocate here — and, yeah, I’m an outsider — but I’m a citizen of Illinois and I’ve lived here all my life. So …
Why *wouldn’t* Madigan be political? Why *wouldn’t* he do whatever it takes to maintain a certain kind of power?
And what’s to say that the next speaker — after probably a rough ride and some initial false steps — why wouldn’t the next speaker eventually emulate someone like Madigan — and maintain the political edge that maintains the necessary power?
It’s as though Madigan is tasked with this — essentially — evil manipulative ability that, heck, if was just *someone else* we’d actually get things done.
No, we wouldn’t. We’d be stuck, I suspect, the same way but with different actors.
- Gruntled University Employee - Thursday, Jun 16, 16 @ 12:46 pm:
==Gov. Jim Edgar signed the $33.3 billion state budget bill into law Wednesday afternoon from the hospital where he is recuperating==
Please correct me if I’m wrong but if Rauner is touting that Madigan’s budget, at 39 billion, is 7 billion upside down then over the last 22 years our budget has retracted 1.3 billion?
- A guy - Thursday, Jun 16, 16 @ 12:51 pm:
You guys can rationalize anything. Really. Pate’s comments about Chicago back in those days make today’s comments sound like tiddly winks.
Madigan regularly challenged Edgar’s manhood and “sanity”. Edgar often seemed like a guy holding his breath until he passed out.
That’s when triangulation was perfected, if not invented. The resources to bribe one another just don’t exist anymore.
- JoanP - Thursday, Jun 16, 16 @ 12:55 pm:
I don’t know. As Norseman says, those remarks are pretty mild. Not to mention there are only a couple of them. Now, a day, heck, not an hour, goes by without some nastiness spewing forth. It’s incessant.
- Lomez - Thursday, Jun 16, 16 @ 12:59 pm:
==Much of this was forgotten because of what happened next…==
The old Edgar Republican “compromising”. Lol.
“Would you care for anything else at the moment, Mr. Speaker?” asked the Governor from his hospital bed.
- wordslinger - Thursday, Jun 16, 16 @ 1:05 pm:
–You guys can rationalize anything.–
Maybe they were “purposely bred” that way.
But you would know better than they would about that, of course.
–Pate’s comments about Chicago back in those days make today’s comments sound like tiddly winks.–
Actually, I’d say they’re about the same, when you go down the road as to who in the state is “hard-working” and “who pays the taxes,” and “crumbling prisons.”
Did Pate give Rauner his dog whistle?
- Trolling Troll - Thursday, Jun 16, 16 @ 1:13 pm:
According to the Google 33.3 billion in 1994 is 54 billion in 2016.
- Phenomynous - Thursday, Jun 16, 16 @ 1:25 pm:
The $33.3 billion in 1994 was All Funds, not GRF. All funds spending is around $66 billion now if I recall correctly.
- Ahoy! - Thursday, Jun 16, 16 @ 1:43 pm:
Good article and good reminder that we often forget about many of the fights after the dust settles.
I would also add that the State is in much worse shape now than we were in the 90’s, some of that is because of the pension ramp and all the other bipartisan kicking the can down the road.
- Maximus - Thursday, Jun 16, 16 @ 2:01 pm:
It was easy to pass budget back then due to them not being balanced right? Somehow the clause requiring a balanced budget was overlooked year after year so yeah, if you don’t have a certain dollar amount you have to be held to you can pass any budget. I need to check and see how far off balance some of those budgets under Edgar were.
- A guy - Thursday, Jun 16, 16 @ 2:10 pm:
==Did Pate give Rauner his dog whistle?===
I doubt it, but you can ask Pate. My guess is Rauner could afford his own.
What just now struck me is “Why do you hear Rauner’s dog whistle?”
- City Zen - Thursday, Jun 16, 16 @ 2:26 pm:
From the Cato Institute back in 1992:
Jim Edgar, Republican Legislature: Democratic
Took Office: 1/91
Grade: C
Edgar replaced long-time moderate, pro-tax Republican “Big Jim” Thompson in 1991. So far Edgar appears to be carved out of much the same stone. Illinois raised taxes more than any other Great Lakes state in 1991. Edgar refused to allow a controversial income tax surcharge to expire as scheduled; instead, he extended it through 1992. To his credit, Edgar warned voters of his support for extending the surtax before the election. During Edgar’s first year, spending grew moderately faster than inflation and growth in income. The budget and tax revenues grew slightly faster, thanks to the surtax. Edgar has a hefty budget deficit to tackle this year and next, and he has called for sharp spending cutbacks (even in the education), rather than further tax hikes. For Illinois taxpayers that would be a pleasant change.
- Formerly Known As... - Thursday, Jun 16, 16 @ 4:11 pm:
Well said on a Throwback Thursday.
xGov Edgar has a very good memory, but folks often see the past through =rose-colored glasses=. Time heals wounds and distance makes us grow fonder.
The State Museum could fill a wing with @Rich’s archive and memories, and double admission. It would be the smartest and snarkiest exhibit in the joint.
- PalumbrasWay - Thursday, Jun 16, 16 @ 8:17 pm:
O mighty Edgar, Tell us of these terrible hardships that you encountered as Governor during the longest peace time economic expansion since WW II? What a burden you must have carried for us poor lowly folk!