* Former Rep. and current registered lobbyist Mike Zalewski invited one of my very favorite Statehouse denizens onto his podcast this week: Lobbyist and former Senate Democratic staffer Ron Holmes. An excerpt…

Z: You worked on the assault weapons ban. Did you learn anything about the building or the way it works [while] working on that particular issue? Did anything surprise you about that? … Is there anything you took away from that process that was unique to you?

Holmes: Each day I go down to Springfield and and walk through those doors, I make it my intent to learn something about someone or something. And I think the biggest lesson from the assault weapons ban negotiations is that sometimes it’s better to just sit still and allow things to kind of work themselves out than being in a position where you’re just trying to force it.

Z: In that building specifically, no one has ever hurt themselves by waiting. That is the important thing about the way that place works.

Holmes: Yes. And when calm heads, you know, happen and people are able to put out their press releases back and forth and the finger-pointing with orders behind the scenes. And then it’s like ‘Alright, we saw. All right. Let’s, what is it that we’re really talking about here? What are the differences? Let’s put pen to paper and go.’ And by far that is one of the more interesting things that I learned from that.

The second thing is in many ways, one of my criticisms of the gun violence prevention movement has been - and I’ve been involved in many of the public safety bills that have passed over the last decade - has been that everyday violence isn’t always treated the same way as mass shootings. And the number of folks that also said, ‘Hey, what do you guys need for your community?’ was very emotional. Because I think that there’s always this divide in Springfield. Naturally, people always look for two sides of every story and so, to see surburban lawmakers also say to Black and Brown caucus members, ‘No, no, no. You absolutely should get these other things’ was very interesting to watch.

Z: It’s the nature of the building right now. The two chamber leaders, the House speaker and the Senate President, are prime ministers. They have to build coalitions on every single issue right now.

Holmes: And those coalitions look different on every issue. On every issue.

Z: It’s sausage-making every day. And you traditionally had, you know, Downstate caucus and lakefront caucus and the city caucus and all that, but it’s much more pronounced now. And quite frankly, what I worry about is the nature of the building when the next economic downturn occurs.

Holmes: Yeah. Everything’s all good when you’ve got a $50 billion budget and everybody’s able to walk away with something. But I think yeah, I mean, to your point, happy days aren’t always going to be here and how Democrats govern in times of downturn is just as important as times of prosperity.

Please pardon any transcription errors.