34 Comments - JohnnyPyleDriver - Tuesday, Jul 4, 17 @ 11:40 am: So essentially those non budget issues only matter to the extent the GOP has the leverage to impose their will? - GLG - Tuesday, Jul 4, 17 @ 11:41 am: Tell us Mr. Speaker, How many of these previous budget meeting did you fail to show up at? - Pot calling kettle - Tuesday, Jul 4, 17 @ 11:42 am: ==Senate GOP Leader Brady has indicated that if Durkin doesn’t go to the meetings then he won’t go, either.== Excellent show of leadership from Sen. Brady. - Lucky Pierre - Tuesday, Jul 4, 17 @ 11:43 am: The Speaker is now eager to negotiate the Governor’s personal, extreme right wing agenda? After two and half years of ignoring these issues? No pension reform, no property tax reform or votes on the Grand Bargain. Just a permanent income tax increase - 360 Degree Turnaround - Tuesday, Jul 4, 17 @ 11:43 am: The point to showing up is that you are a leader. You get paid extra for the job. Your constituents elect you to represent them. And they are derilect in their duty. - Anonymous - Tuesday, Jul 4, 17 @ 11:44 am: Not showing up doesn’t look like non attendance based on principles, it looks like they don’t care about the other issues. If they’re in your district I’m sorry, it’s embarrassing that they aren’t fighting for their constituents. As an independent this is just childish. I don’t agree with the democrats pushing this budget, but it’s necessary. However, the other side is just refusing to show… - Pot calling kettle - Tuesday, Jul 4, 17 @ 11:45 am: ==What exactly would be the point of attending?== Negotiation. The Gov. will sign the budget bills if you pass (or vote on) these “reform” bills. There is always something to negotiate. (Plus, there are fresh apples and witty banter.) - JJ59 - Tuesday, Jul 4, 17 @ 11:45 am: At my job, when a meeting is scheduled, I’m required to attend as part of my employment. Hmm, Leaders elect not to attend, but still receiving pay. What’s wrong with this picture. - DuPage - Tuesday, Jul 4, 17 @ 11:46 am: @11:35===More financing of old bills at high rates of interest=== Most, if not all of the reason for the interest rates going up in the last two years is due to Rauner. This is costing the state hundreds of millions of extra interest payments, and will continue for many years. - Ducky LaMoore - Tuesday, Jul 4, 17 @ 11:49 am: Why should Durkin show up when he can’t get republicans to vote for a property tax freeze that he helped negotiate? - So.... - Tuesday, Jul 4, 17 @ 11:50 am: Dems have already demonstrated they have the votes to override. They’ve shown zero willingness to negotiate honestly on reforms. So override the veto and own it. - Mama - Tuesday, Jul 4, 17 @ 11:51 am: The fact that the Republican leaders are not attending the leadership meetings speaks volumes. Rauner does not want a budget. What he wants is for the Dems to throw the unions under the bus, and that will never happen. - Anonymous - Tuesday, Jul 4, 17 @ 11:51 am: @11:50 regardless of that fact republicans who don’t show up are owning the fact that they don’t try to fight for their constituents… it’s really bad for image. - JJ59 - Tuesday, Jul 4, 17 @ 11:53 am: That’s what I don’t understand, GOP negotiate changes to get what they want. Then when it’s time to vote they either vote against it or vote present. - Back to the Mountains - Tuesday, Jul 4, 17 @ 11:53 am: == More financing of old bills at high rates of interest with no change in structure. == Borrowing to pay the backlog, even at a near junk rate, is cheaper than the PPA penalties we’re paying on these unpaid bills. == What exactly would be the point of attending? == The point would be to advocate for the non-budget issues that Rauner, et. al. nearly burnt the state down over. If they were important enough to risk financial oblivion, surely they’re worth discussing when oblivion is (at least for now) off the table, yes? - Mr. Smith - Tuesday, Jul 4, 17 @ 11:54 am: Republicans still refuse to own. If you want any consideration for negotiation, then quit hiding behind rhetoric and produce specific, detailed proposals that spell out exactly how you would fix the problems. Until you can manage that, you deserve no consideration. Every Democrat I know understands the need for tax reform and workman’s comp reform. They are thorny, complicated issues that do not lend themselves to simple solutions, which means they will take time to make happen. Both parties need to demonstrate that they are willing to get to work and find solutions to move us forward even when it isn’t easy or politically popular. - Hamlet's Ghost - Tuesday, Jul 4, 17 @ 11:54 am: @So Without 15 GOP votes the override fails. Then Durkin and Rauner own the junk bond rating. If MJM were truly evil, he’d release 2 or 3 Dems from the override vote. - Now What? - Tuesday, Jul 4, 17 @ 11:56 am: Using the “what’s the point” logic: why then, when the Governor never had the votes and didn’t know how to negotiate to get votes, did he and the ILGOP keep pressing for reforms they knew they were never going to get? When the votes were close, why did the Governor torpedo a deal and do harm to Sen. Radogno and others? ILGOP owns this. - Canon - Tuesday, Jul 4, 17 @ 12:01 pm: That’s akin to the roadrunner complaining that wile e coyote will not keep chasing him. - former southerner - Tuesday, Jul 4, 17 @ 12:01 pm: Being in Senator Brady’s district he is behaving exactly as expected. Our state party’s biggest recent organizational failing was in the 2010 primary when three very good candidates stayed in and split the vote allowing a second tier to run and lose in the general. - Markus - Tuesday, Jul 4, 17 @ 12:04 pm: I suspect both leaders understand the ante has been upped and they will now have to deliver more green lights on reforms than they can muster. A budget being overridden and reforms failing to pass for lack of Republican support would hurt more than letting them die; “Because Madigan”. This is where the real “value” of reforms is revealed; they apparently are just not worth it compared to the value of “Because Madigan” in 2018. - Stevejh5 - Tuesday, Jul 4, 17 @ 12:20 pm: I am not a dem or rep but I have real respect for the republicans that stood up for stabilizing the state. They are true representatives. Not these windbags that say no to everything and are from well to do areas. - Lucky Pierre - Tuesday, Jul 4, 17 @ 12:22 pm: The Speaker does not want any meaningful reforms. If he did he would have allowed votes on reforms before the spending and revenue votes He would have received more Republican votes as well as no veto if he worked in a bipartisan manner - Stevejh5 - Tuesday, Jul 4, 17 @ 12:25 pm: I voted for Rauner and regret it. Not a fan of Dems either but at some point you have to understand that chaos theory does not work in government. It only hurts people. - Dozer - Tuesday, Jul 4, 17 @ 12:30 pm: The real question is does Durkin stick around? 15 members of his caucus just cut his legs out from underneath him. He’s got to be feeling pretty wounded. But when it looked like they might have had a upper hand on MJM, he turned the tables. Durkin gto all excited when MJM said no votes over the weekend. instead of a fit, he should have said he was disappointed and he was willing to keep meeting through the weekend to come to an agreement. Would MJM have flipped if Dirkin had been more demur on the floor? MJM would have looked to be more of the obstructionist. As it is the republicans once again pulled defeat from the jaws of victory - RNUG - Tuesday, Jul 4, 17 @ 12:37 pm: You can Lead, Follow, or Get Out if the Way. Guess we know Durkin’s choice. - DuPage Dave - Tuesday, Jul 4, 17 @ 1:04 pm: How does Radogno’s hasty exit make sense today? Everybody was patting her on the back Friday. Her leadership is sorely missed this week. Couldn’t she have waited a week or two? I still don’t get it. Brady has no leadership skills, apparently. - One hand //ing - Tuesday, Jul 4, 17 @ 1:23 pm: ===If he did he would have allowed votes on reforms before the spending and revenue votes=== He did. House passed negotiated a pension bill, government consolidation bill, and workers’ comp bill, all before the budget vote. They put the gov’s property tax freeze on the board too, and all the Republicans ran away. Please pay closer attention if you want to share your opinion. The governor doesn’t think you’re smart enough to know when he’s lying. Don’t prove him right. - JS Mill - Tuesday, Jul 4, 17 @ 1:34 pm: @RNUG- Yes the brave GOP leadership philosophy is….hide. - Gruntled University Employee - Tuesday, Jul 4, 17 @ 1:39 pm: Why show up when you know that your boss isn’t interested in any kind of compromise at all? He’s kind of an all or nothing kind of dude, the shcool funding bill proved that. - Lucky Pierre - Tuesday, Jul 4, 17 @ 2:32 pm: Obviously the Republicans did not think the reforms were meaningful enough or they would have voted to pass them. Do you think the House Republicans have abandoned these issues? - Oswego Willy - Tuesday, Jul 4, 17 @ 2:35 pm: ===Do you think the House Republicans have abandoned these issues?=== Looks like 15 did - Stand Tall - Tuesday, Jul 4, 17 @ 7:47 pm: The reforms that the Democrats offered were window dressing to say look we tried to compromise with the Republicans when it was all just B. S. that they knew they wouldn’t vote to pass. A sad day for true democracy on the Fourth. - RNUG - Tuesday, Jul 4, 17 @ 8:36 pm: == The reforms that the Democrats offered were window dressing to say look we tried to compromise with the Republicans when it was all just B. S. that they knew they wouldn’t vote to pass. == Most the bills proposed were the same as what the Governor wanted except for the union busting language. Without the union busting language, Rauner didn’t want the rest of the reforms. That tells you the goal wasn’t reform, it was union busting. Sorry, comments for this post are now closed.