Because… Madigan!
Friday, Aug 20, 2021 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Sun-Times editorial on the climate/energy bill negotiations…
Talks have reached such a low that some negotiators are longing for the days of former House Speaker Michael Madigan. Whenever negotiations on a crucial piece of legislation hit an impasse back then, one negotiator quietly said, Madigan would call everybody together and essentially say, “You get this, you get this and you get this” — and a bill would get passed.
* NPR Illinois…
Both sides in the energy fight allege the other has injected new issues into negotiations, and leaders in both groups privately say their fight would not have reached such a fever pitch if Madigan were still around to call balls and strikes.
They are not wrong. I’ve heard the same things many, many times. But Big Daddy is gone. He’s not coming back, kids. Deal with it.
- Southern Skeptic - Friday, Aug 20, 21 @ 4:21 am:
World’s tiniest violin playing for those whining about this. Yea, advocates need to be responsible and negotiate in good faith to get stuff done. That’s a good thing. Not a bad thing.
Similarly, I heard a House D bemoan Madigan’s departure recently because they have to now raise their own money. Again, put on the big boy pants and get to work. Enough whining.
- Rabid - Friday, Aug 20, 21 @ 5:43 am:
Plus the DPI debacle created by the void
- Rabid - Friday, Aug 20, 21 @ 5:50 am:
Be careful what you wish for, you mite just get it all
- Flyin' Elvis'-Utah Chapter - Friday, Aug 20, 21 @ 6:51 am:
So, Madigan not the draconian puppet-master manipulting every string of human interaction for his own evil purposes that I was warned of for decades?
- Basic - Friday, Aug 20, 21 @ 7:46 am:
Can we get the names of the Democratic negotiators that told the media they want Madigan back?
- Bruce( no not him) - Friday, Aug 20, 21 @ 8:20 am:
But, what would Bob Hope do?
- Flyin' Elvis'-Utah Chapter - Friday, Aug 20, 21 @ 9:13 am:
Bruce (no not him)-
If we were at a bar, I’d buy you one.
- Perrid - Friday, Aug 20, 21 @ 9:14 am:
Basic, saying “Madigan was good at this part of the job” isn’t anywhere near the same as saying “we want Madigan back”. And it’s really, really obviously not the same thing.
- Wilson - Friday, Aug 20, 21 @ 9:38 am:
This is environmental lobbyist strategy 101 ar the statehouse. Don’t negotiate in good faith, threaten to blow up the deal at the end.
- ;) - Friday, Aug 20, 21 @ 9:48 am:
The members got what they deserved…it’s just the rest of us who have to pay the bill.
- Nobody Sent - Friday, Aug 20, 21 @ 10:11 am:
Madigan protected members from having to actually make decisions and potentially upset a constituent group. Now those that like to straddle the fence have to decide who to support. Nobody said being an adult would be easy.
- Candy Dogood - Friday, Aug 20, 21 @ 10:39 am:
This is a test of wills. The legislature needs to act to address climate change and if they’re not willing to stand up to a stakeholder that benefits from the continued destruction of our environment and the continued threat to the extinction of our species those individual legislators should continue getting out of the way for someone to have the courage to do the right thing.
Yes, owners of coal power plants that should never have been built in the first place need to take a bath. Those owners are municipalities? Welp, those municipalities should have thought better about who they elected and maybe those elected officials should never hold public office again because of the idiotic venture they embarked their communities on.
Labor also can’t afford to continue to select leaders that are more interested in protecting jobs in an industry that must stop existing as soon as possible rather than organizing workers in the new industries that we must develop in the struggle to save our civilization from our own pollution.
We cannot let a tiny fraction of organized labor drive us off a cliff.
It’s a shame that our Senate President lacks courage.
- Hannibal Lecter - Friday, Aug 20, 21 @ 10:56 am:
Candy DoGood - Pontificate much?
Although your convictions are strong, most people are more concerned with how they will get by day-to-day or year-to-year. Having a job or not having a job is more important to the average person than air pollution. Especially when there are places like China and India that will continue to pollute with no end in sight.
- DuPage - Friday, Aug 20, 21 @ 11:55 am:
China wants cleaner air but does not want to cripple their economy. They wanted to buy “clean” Wyoming coal to replace their own “dirty” coal. That deal was stopped by environmentalists who said “that is that much less coal that will ever be burned”. China simply bought the second cleanest coal they get. So all it accomplished is dirtier coal being burned, with more pollution. China is working on clean Thorium reactors and a fusion reactor, but in the meantime, China is still building coal plants.
- PeoriaDem - Friday, Aug 20, 21 @ 12:56 pm:
“ Although your convictions are strong, most people are more concerned with how they will get by day-to-day or year-to-year. Having a job or not having a job is more important to the average person than air pollution.”
Tell that to the people who live downwind of these coal fired power plants that have far higher rates of asthma and respiratory illness. They’re just trying to get by day to day and year to year too.
- Demoralized - Friday, Aug 20, 21 @ 1:30 pm:
==This is environmental lobbyist strategy 101 ar the statehouse. Don’t negotiate in good faith, threaten to blow up the deal at the end.==
Um, they aren’t the ones that blew up the deal. The unions did.
- Hannibal Lecter - Friday, Aug 20, 21 @ 1:59 pm:
=== Tell that to the people who live downwind of these coal fired power plants that have far higher rates of asthma and respiratory illness. They’re just trying to get by day to day and year to year too. ===
I get it. There are legitimate reasons to want to make this happen. But at the end of the day, the issue is not black and white. There are competing interests with legitimate concerns on both sides that need to be addressed. The purpose of my post was to get across that there are reasonable people that disagree on the side of an issue and that doesn’t make them bad people. The comments I was responding to ignored this fact. They would rather demonize the opposing point of view rather than trying to understand their perspective and try to come up with a solution. Its part of the reason there is no deal yet.
- Dotnonymous - Friday, Aug 20, 21 @ 3:19 pm:
- Hannibal Lecter - Friday, Aug 20, 21 @ 10:56 am:
Although your convictions are strong, most people are more concerned with…
Speaking for themselves?