Crack in the armor
Friday, Jun 2, 2017 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Senate President John Cullerton on WBEZ this morning…
I tell you what, when the Republicans in the House realize they’re going down with the ship, they should stand up, work with the speaker, work with us and the Republicans over in the Senate… Some of the worst criticisms of the governor I’ve heard have come from the Republicans.
That would require the House Speaker to actually want a deal. So far, it doesn’t look that way to me.
* From WLS AM…
Cullerton says the key is Republicans in the House.
“You know what, if there’s enough people to stand up on their hind legs over there and say, you know what governor, you’re mismanaging the government, we’re having disastrous results here, we need to do a deal with the Democrats and we’ll get the compromises you had originally agreed to. We’ll pass your original budget with your original tax rate and then it doesn’t make any difference what the governor says because they could override him and we could override him,” Cullerton said.
* But there was one development that went mostly unnoticed. Here’s a Public Radio story by Tom Lisi entitled “Republican Lawmakers Defy Rauner on 911 Services”…
The Illinois General Assembly voted to increase a fee on cell phone bills in order to fund 911 services. It was a rare example of Republican lawmakers defying the Rauner administration.
Negotiators involved in the legislation say the governor tried to pull Republican support because Rauner did not want Mayor Rahm Emanuel to get a win.
But GOP lawmakers ended up voting for the measure, which includes a cell phone fee increase in Chicago.
State Rep. Chad Hays, R-Catlin, says the attempt to fortify 911 service centers was going to fail because of “peripheral” reasons.
“And I suggested that I was not going to go home and tell the people in my community that when they dial 911, on the other end of the line it says, ‘Sorry this line has been disconnected,’ because the governor and the mayor of Chicago are in a wrestling match about something peripheral,” Hays said.
The governor simply did not want to give any more money to Chicago until the impasse was resolved and he had a hard brick on the legislation. But Republicans in both chambers ended up voting for the bill. 34 House Republicans voted for it and all but 3 Senators voted for the bill and Senate GOP Leader Radogno even added herself as a hyphenated co-sponsor on Wednesday.
* The lesson here is the governor can be beaten if the House Democrats decide to work with the House Republicans and come up with a real plan that individual Republicans can feel comfortable supporting.
* Related…
* Chicago phone tax could rise by 28 percent to save pension fund
* State lawmakers vote to hang up on landline phones
- From the 'Dale to HP - Friday, Jun 2, 17 @ 11:44 am:
===That would require the House Speaker to actually want a deal. So far, it doesn’t look that way to me.===
That’s not fair. Put 51 GOP votes on a tax hike, and you’ve got a deal.
- Lefty Lefty - Friday, Jun 2, 17 @ 11:45 am:
Seems like a good spot to ask a question of the experts here on this: since a budget will need a supermajority now, does this mean it automatically is veto-proof?
- Oswego Willy - Friday, Jun 2, 17 @ 11:46 am:
Leader Jim Durkin, I absolutely feel, could be the most important person under the Dome, including the Governor.
The question has always been…
“Will he?”
- JPC - Friday, Jun 2, 17 @ 11:47 am:
“* The lesson here is the governor can be beaten if the House Democrats decide to work with the House Republicans and come up with a real plan that individual Republicans can feel comfortable supporting.”
Therein the rub.
- Arsenal - Friday, Jun 2, 17 @ 11:48 am:
==does this mean it automatically is veto-proof?==
No, legislators can change their votes between the vote on the budget and the vote to override.
- Anonymous - Friday, Jun 2, 17 @ 11:50 am:
==Put 51 GOP votes on a tax hike, and you’ve got a deal.==
Put up bills that Repubs can work with, instead of calling a nothing bill reform, and maybe that would happen
- Been There - Friday, Jun 2, 17 @ 11:52 am:
===Leader Jim Durkin, I absolutely feel, could be the most important person under the Dome, including the Governor.
The question has always been…
“Will he?” ===
I couldn’t agree more. But it wouldn’t be easy and after Rauner poached some of his veteran members with jobs Jim may have looked at things differently.
- Perrid - Friday, Jun 2, 17 @ 11:55 am:
@Anonymous at 11:50
And if Republicans made demands, or wrote a bill, that Democrats could go along with that too would solve it. And round and round we go…
- Michelle Flaherty - Friday, Jun 2, 17 @ 11:56 am:
Jim Durkin. Most powerful man in state government.
People, this is what we’ve become.
- Oswego Willy - Friday, Jun 2, 17 @ 11:56 am:
I’ve also said for a very long time, I’d be beyond supportive of GOP Autonomous caucuses, designed to help Gov. Rauner to actually get things done.
I backed Leader Radogno and her efforts with the Grand Bargain, and I’d back Leader Durkin to come out to help Gov. Rauner too.
I’m thirsty for two caucuses that are being held hostage to see the power they have, if they work as one in the legislative.. TO help the Governor… by being their “own”… by being the catalyst to moving things… by being independent… for Rauner.
Man, I thirst for that.
- AC - Friday, Jun 2, 17 @ 12:01 pm:
==Leader Jim Durkin, I absolutely feel, could be the most important person under the Dome, including the Governor.==
I agree, but then again I thought that Radogno could’ve ended this as well, but then a bipartisan compromise that would’ve had both sides taking tough votes to end the impasse vanished. There’s a reason why sensible Republicans haven’t decided to push for an end to the impasse. The consequences for stepping out of line are severe, just ask Sam McCann who had surveillance teams following him and his family around everywhere he went, and some of the best opposition researchers in the country employed to find anything they could.
- Longsummer - Friday, Jun 2, 17 @ 12:05 pm:
Most Republicans voted for ATT, not 911.
- Rich Miller - Friday, Jun 2, 17 @ 12:09 pm:
===Most Republicans voted for ATT, not 911. ===
Nice spin. Not the case. There’s a tax hike in the bill.
- wordslinger - Friday, Jun 2, 17 @ 12:13 pm:
Seems like an outlier, this “revolt.” No one can dare risk 911 service — except the governor.
- Puddintaine - Friday, Jun 2, 17 @ 12:15 pm:
Perhaps the dread and insidious RoboCalls will become economically unfeasible with this new phone tax?
Winning.
- Rich Miller - Friday, Jun 2, 17 @ 12:16 pm:
===Seems like an outlier, this “revolt.” No one can dare risk 911 service===
I’d point out that no one can dare risk schools not opening in the fall.
- Telly - Friday, Jun 2, 17 @ 12:16 pm:
- Longsummer -
No doubt, AT&T did a lot of the heavy lifting. But more than a few downstate Repubs where hearing from their police and fire chiefs about their struggling 911 centers. Don’t forget, the last 911 bill forced consolidations and made some 911 centers reduce their fees.
- Longsummer - Friday, Jun 2, 17 @ 12:20 pm:
“Nice spin” If you don’t believe the ATT piece helped bring votes to that bill, then ok..
- Rich Miller - Friday, Jun 2, 17 @ 12:21 pm:
===If you don’t believe the ATT piece helped bring votes===
Whatever. The point is that the bill contained a tax hike. And lots of Republicans voted for it anyway. Usually, that’s a poison pill. You must not have been paying attention.
- The Captain - Friday, Jun 2, 17 @ 12:21 pm:
Fun exercise: imagine if Skip hadn’t used a bad word loudly in a restaurant and imagine if they hadn’t spent so much effort to beat him, you could probably get one of those end-run deals done again like the old days.
- wordslinger - Friday, Jun 2, 17 @ 12:25 pm:
I recall Rauner instructing his peeps to vote against a K-12 approp. — which they did — and then stabbing them in the back by signing it.
I’m guessing Rauner will take a stopgap again to avoid the risk of schools not opening. His rhetoric to the contrary, like all his rhetoric, is meaningless.
- Michelle Flaherty - Friday, Jun 2, 17 @ 12:27 pm:
2017: the year that saw Jim Durkin emerge as the most powerful man in state government and Jeannie Ives sponsor a massive tax hike.
- Oswego Willy - Friday, Jun 2, 17 @ 12:31 pm:
- Michelle Flaherty -
“In a world where a Confederate honoring, no tax hike, conservatives wants a tax increase discussed… and one of the Durkin boys rules the Capitol Dome like a conquering hostage to his captor… “
- pawn - Friday, Jun 2, 17 @ 12:34 pm:
OW, Michelle, I want to see that movie.
- Arock - Friday, Jun 2, 17 @ 12:38 pm:
“You know what, if there’s enough people to stand up on their hind legs over there and say, you know what governor, you’re mismanaging the government.”- Madigan has been mismanaging the House for 32 years and they keep electing him Speaker, why doesn’t Cullerton tell the House Democrats to stand up to Madigan and get something done?
- Oswego Willy - Friday, Jun 2, 17 @ 12:41 pm:
===…why doesn’t Cullerton tell the House Democrats to stand up to Madigan and get something done?===
Huh?
Madigan is preventing Dems from… wanting to fund Higher Ed, to pay Social Services?
“No, stop! Don’t vote for things we know need funding svdcsd believe in!”
You’re having a tough day, lol.
- Sox Fan - Friday, Jun 2, 17 @ 12:42 pm:
===And I suggested that I was not going to go home and tell the people in my community that when they dial 911, on the other end of the line it says, ‘Sorry this line has been disconnected,’ because the governor and the mayor of Chicago are in a wrestling match about something peripheral,” Hays said.===
What about the people who have lost other services? Is Rep Hays ok with saying “Sorry you lost this service because the governor and the Speaker are in a wrestling match about something peripheral”
- James Knell - Friday, Jun 2, 17 @ 12:48 pm:
=== Seems like an outlier, this “revolt.” No one can dare risk 911 service — except the governor. ===
Yeah, but even outliers establish borders and ranges of possibility. I don’t think Rauner is interested in anything but domination. I’ve not see any hint of a vision of deescalation and cooperative governance from him. Perhaps I’m a “hard-boiled idealist” but I’ve seen other states make good progress when leaders back off a little and agree to work on the good stuff for awhile. I hear Illinois used to be like that.
- Roman - Friday, Jun 2, 17 @ 1:04 pm:
The Senate Prez reaching out to the House GOP caucus.
Cullerton keeps opening a path for Rauner to triangulate Madigan, but the Guv either ignores it or doesn’t know how to execute it. Is this the willful destruction of state government or political malpractice? There are no other explanations for Rauner’s conduct.
- Mav - Friday, Jun 2, 17 @ 1:11 pm:
So the House Republicans have stood up to Rauner on a few issues now. Good for them.
Where is the House Democrats independence? Can anyone name a time they stood up to Madigan on a vote? They talk up independence, but never show it on a vote.
- Oswego Willy - Friday, Jun 2, 17 @ 1:14 pm:
===Where is the House Democrats independence? Can anyone name a time they stood up to Madigan on a vote? They talk up independence, but never show it on a vote.===
Please explain the Conceal Carry and SSM vote tallies. Get back to us.
“No, I’ll wait”
See, it’s about getting 60, but not about giving cover to those who need it when cobbling the 60z
- Oswego Willy - Friday, Jun 2, 17 @ 3:19 pm:
- pawn -
Look for it on Netflix!!
- Kellee Babick - Wednesday, Jun 7, 17 @ 2:47 am:
I’m amazed, I must say. Seldom do I come across a blog that’s equally educative and interesting, and without a doubt, you’ve hit the nail on the head. The issue is an issue that too few people are speaking intelligently about. I am very happy I came across this in my search for something concerning this.|