36 Comments - 360 Degree Turnaround - Monday, Jul 3, 17 @ 4:31 pm: Is it because he couldn’t control his caucus? Is this a punishment from Rauner? - Boat captain - Monday, Jul 3, 17 @ 4:33 pm: He has taken a big hit on his leadership with the republicans voting for the revenue. Maybe is questioning himself. Or maybe Rainer is. A difficult thing for him personally to accept. - Markus - Monday, Jul 3, 17 @ 4:36 pm: Lead or resign? My guess is he’s the next to go. How long can you keep compromising your principles before you either stand up for them or throw in the towel? - Norseman - Monday, Jul 3, 17 @ 4:37 pm: I don’t see how GOP leaders (in name) disengaging from talks helps their cause. - Demoralized - Monday, Jul 3, 17 @ 4:38 pm: From the S&P release: “Conversely, in the event progress toward a budget falters,” Have we reached “falter” yet? - WTF - Monday, Jul 3, 17 @ 4:41 pm: “Have we reached “falter” yet?” I believe that’s on the schedule for tomorrow. - DuPage Saint - Monday, Jul 3, 17 @ 4:42 pm: So “leader” Brady is 0 for in leadership meetings Maybe they should have left position open; no difference - Chicago_Downstater - Monday, Jul 3, 17 @ 4:46 pm: Does the absence of Durkin mean anything for a potential override vote? I know it still has to get thru the Senate first before we worry about that, but won’t effectively abdicating his spot at the leaders’ table just hurt Durkin’s ability to peel off Republicab override votes should it come to that? It just seems to signal weakness to me, but that could just be wishful thinking on my part. At any rate, I hope we have a budget after all this smoke finally clears. - Nadia - Monday, Jul 3, 17 @ 4:48 pm: After losing 15 members on the tax vote he quits? Gives up when his party and supporters need him the most? Brady should be there to negotiate for his caucus, party and supporters. They quit while the Democrats and 15 Republicans avoid further catastrophic events with an unpopular vote. Now it’s only the Democrats at the bargaining table. I hope they do a limited Property Tax freeze, Work Comp reforms, and even some sort of leadership term limits. The Republicans will no doubt say all those reforms fall short, but wait they were not even in the room when they were all finalized. Looks like some poor strategy to me. - Markus - Monday, Jul 3, 17 @ 4:49 pm: A caucus now without a leader on a mission with no objective guided only by $50 million hanging over their heads. A brave few have begun to steer their own course, but can they avoid sailing over the edge of a flat earth? Coming soon to a ratings agency downgrade near you. - cdog - Monday, Jul 3, 17 @ 4:52 pm: I thought it was interesting that Durkin got a text message while he was speaking yesterday, on the floor. I cannot imagine what it would be like to deal with the private Rauner, and then be “forced” to carry water for him, in public. The public Rauner is awful enough. Don’t give up on the freeze. Madigan has said he is trustworthy. Hold him to it. - Anon221 - Monday, Jul 3, 17 @ 5:00 pm: If $50 million can buy Illinois, do Durkin and Brady consider that a “bargain”? Rauner sure seems to think so. - ILPundit - Monday, Jul 3, 17 @ 5:18 pm: Gee, it’s almost as if they don’t really care about the reforms after all. Maybe that’s because Rauner. Never. Wanted. A. Budget. - So.... - Monday, Jul 3, 17 @ 5:21 pm: ==Gee, it’s almost as if they don’t really care about the reforms after all. Maybe that’s because Rauner. Never. Wanted. A. Budget.== Or maybe it’s because the Speaker sent a message loud and clear yesterday that he has no intention of agreeing to any reforms worthy of the name. - The Captain - Monday, Jul 3, 17 @ 5:22 pm: There are a number of things the Republicans still want from the House, workers comp, property tax freeze, etc. and all this does is give the House Dems a free pass on those, at least for now. - Dandy Edward - Monday, Jul 3, 17 @ 5:25 pm: Does anyone know if Jim Durkin gave a reason for not showing up ? - So.... - Monday, Jul 3, 17 @ 5:27 pm: ==There are a number of things the Republicans still want from the House, workers comp, property tax freeze, etc. and all this does is give the House Dems a free pass on those, at least for now.== Why would they agree to anything when they’ve already got the tax increase they want? - The Dude Abides - Monday, Jul 3, 17 @ 5:28 pm: Remember when Madigan was being hammered by the GOP for rescheduling a meeting until the next day? That was a few months ago. Boy have things flipped around. Now the GOP leaders don’t appear to be interested in talking. I’m guessing Rauner instructed them not to. - wordslinger - Monday, Jul 3, 17 @ 5:35 pm: I thought not showing up for meetings was a bad thing. I’m sure I’ve heard that somewhere. - Nadia - Monday, Jul 3, 17 @ 5:43 pm: “So”- problem is there won’t be anyone there to agree with and I truly believe they are willing to agree to changes. Like I said earlier do some changes and run them tomorrow. If the Republicans vote no they live up to the party of “No” nomenclature. - JJ59 - Monday, Jul 3, 17 @ 5:52 pm: Wow thought we were all adults. Why is GOP leaders taking their toys and going home. - μολὼν λαβέ - Monday, Jul 3, 17 @ 6:01 pm: -Wow thought we were all adults. Why is GOP leaders taking their toys and going home.- You think St. Madigan’s statement about Rauner was being adult? Why would the Republicans show up? Madigan has been jerking around Illinois for decades. As always, compromise with Democrats means 100% capitulation to whatever they want. Can has been kicked, and nothing has changed. - Winnin' - Monday, Jul 3, 17 @ 6:15 pm: You can run, run, run, run, run, but you sure can’t hide. Until you start whining about Democrats leaving you out. - walker - Monday, Jul 3, 17 @ 6:31 pm: Teams of Senators and Reps, from both parties, have been working in good faith toward compromises on Workers’ Comp and other TA items for months, on and off. Some report they were close to agreement. Hopefully no one decides to go back to square one for general political reasons. - Gruntled University Employee - Monday, Jul 3, 17 @ 6:50 pm: Yet another “Profile in Courage”. - Lucky Pierre - Monday, Jul 3, 17 @ 6:53 pm: What makes anyone think Speaker Madigan will allow any real votes that are designed to pass instead of for campaign purposes on a single Turnaround Agenda item? He has said publicly these are the Governor’s personal agenda and he does not agree with any of them. All that talk about professionally and cooperatively working with the Governor on a budget was also complete hogwash. The Speaker did not consult with the Governor’s office on he budget he submitted. Representative Harris confirmed this yesterday. - Demoralized - Monday, Jul 3, 17 @ 7:32 pm: I wasn’t aware we had to play mother may I with the Governor. Nobody has stopped him from providing his ideas. Either he leads or gets out of the way. I think some in his party told him to get out of the way yesterday - anon - Monday, Jul 3, 17 @ 7:49 pm: === As always, compromise with Democrats means 100% capitulation to whatever they want.=== That’s not how compromise worked under Governors Thompson, Edgar and Ryan. - Jibba - Monday, Jul 3, 17 @ 8:16 pm: LP, neither the Dems nor the Repubs can force either to capitulate to any reforms. Rauner has tried REALLY hard, but failed, causing much damage in the process. That means only things that are really bipartisan can fly. Why not start there? I am willing to support a real dialogue on how much we tax, how we spend it, and how we collect it, and compare ourselves to our neighbors. Results might illuminate where true reform might occur. Can you support that, or does the lack of political damage to Dems leave you cold? - frisbee - Monday, Jul 3, 17 @ 8:41 pm: The Dems have been steamrolling budget bills over Durkin’s objections and pleas for more time for years. Yesterday the state needed something to appease the banksters and while it may be a bandaid if nothing else it bought us more time before the junk sign gets collectively held over our state. Why be a leader if your leading and representation is going to be some unknown message sent by your absence? - CEA - Monday, Jul 3, 17 @ 10:22 pm: I love the smell of leadership in the morning. - PassTheBudget&Revenue - Monday, Jul 3, 17 @ 11:15 pm: Leader Durkin & Leader Brady, you should not be leaders if you think you are to important to attend a leaders meeting to help figure out how to keep IL from crashing beyond repair. You should be working for the citizens of IL & no one else. - Lucky Pierre - Monday, Jul 3, 17 @ 11:53 pm: Please detail all of the bipartisan legislation that was hammered out at previous Leader’s meetings. They are for show only, nothing substantive has ever resulted from them. Speaker Madigan does not believe in bipartisanship. Senator Cullerton called Governor Quinn irrelevant. He paid lip service to working with Senator Radogno but the results speak for themselves, party line votes with no compromise with Republicans. - Galena Guy - Tuesday, Jul 4, 17 @ 1:56 am: To μολὼν λαβέ “Madigan has been jerking around Illinois for decades. As always, compromise with Democrats means 100% capitulation to whatever they want.” Well, he seems to have been able to cut a deal with governors - both Republican and Democrat- for decades now. I can think of only one thing that has changed. His initials are BVR…and it’s ALWAYS a good thing to insult the opposition leader and lie about a phone call as the FIRST thing you do when winning an election. #Howtowinfriendsndinfluencepeople. - Annonin' - Tuesday, Jul 4, 17 @ 6:05 am: Perhaps David Harris or Chad Hays and McCann could fill in - Lucky Pierre - Tuesday, Jul 4, 17 @ 6:21 am: How can you say with a straight face that the Speaker has been able to work well with the Governor’s office? Did you sleep through the Quinn administration? Blagoevich? How has he worked with Senate Democrats? House Republicans? Sorry, comments for this post are now closed.