* The bill passed by a vote of 114-0. From Speaker Madigan’s office…
Speaker Michael J. Madigan issued the following statement Monday after the House voted to pass Senate Bill 8, a package of reforms negotiated by Gov. Bruce Rauner to help streamline acquisition of goods and services, reducing costs to the state:
“Today’s passage of a procurement reform package requested by Governor Rauner is another instance in which House Democrats have followed through on our commitment to work cooperatively with the governor to reduce the cost of government and address the issues facing our state.
“This bill is the result of negotiation between legislators and the administration. In January, I directed the House State Government Administration Committee to thoroughly evaluate the governor’s procurement proposal, and that committee approved the governor’s plan with bipartisan support.
“The biggest issue facing Illinois remains the state budget. As the governor continues to hold other aspects of his agenda as pre-conditions to his cooperation on a full balanced budget, I renew my request that the governor immediately focus on working with House Democrats to find common ground and pass a budget for our state. Today’s agreement is proof that House Democrats are willing to make compromises to move Illinois forward.”
The bill is SB 8.
*** UPDATE 1 *** From Eleni Demertzis in the governor’s office…
Tiny, incremental steps to change our broken system are better than nothing, but what the House passed today is far from what is needed.
While Speaker Madigan’s Democrats continue to argue over how big of a tax hike to impose on the people of Illinois, the governor remains focused on enacting real and lasting property tax relief.
The governor has previously said that his procurement reforms could save a half-billion dollars a year. I’ve asked for some clarification.
*** UPDATE 2 *** The answer to my question…
Because they’ve removed the most important structural changes from the bill, we can’t give any estimate on savings but we know it won’t be anywhere near that number.
*** UPDATE 3 *** From Steve Brown…
If the Governor is saying the differences between the Senate bill and the House amendment won’t result in savings, here’s the list of changes. None of these should reduce the number, and there was a claim SB8 as it passed the House would save $70M a year [the same claim made in the Senate].
* The House amendment requires agencies to submit a list of exempt contracts to the CPO. The purpose of this is to increase transparency and establish one location where members and the public can find information about exempt contracts. This was not included in the bill as it passed the Senate.
* As it passed the Senate, the bill exempted from the Procurement Code (1) public private partnerships, and (2) food purchased for commercial resale by public universities. This is not included in the House amendment.
* As it passed the Senate, the bill removes the 90-day cap on emergency procurements for construction at the request of Capital Development Board. This is not included in the House amendment.
* As it passed the Senate, the bill gives agencies authority to use master contracts, interpreted without CPO oversight. The House amendment clarifies the CPO has authority and allows a CPO to void, ratify, or affirm a joint purchase that was in violation of the law under the Governmental Joint Purchasing Act. This language was initially requested by House GOP members.
* As it passed the Senate, the bill repeals the procurement reporting requirement. The House amendment clarifies this language, but does not repeal it.
* As it passed the Senate, the bill creates a Special Committee to review procurement laws and recommend improvements in (i) efficiency, (ii) minority, female, and veterans contracting, and (iii) Illinois preference purchasing. The House amendment does not remove the General Assembly from procurement discussions, but does includes a committee solely focused on minority, female, and veterans contracting.
* As it passed the Senate, the bill allows universities to enter a lease for 30 years if the lessor has to make more than $100K in improvements. This is not included in the House amendment.
* As it passed the Senate, the bill includes the use of prequalified pools for all areas of procurement. This is not included in the House amendment.
* As it passed the Senate, the bill allows universities to directly contract, without CPO oversight, with the Midwest Higher Education Cooperation Act for computer and technology equipment, or services, and insurance. The House amendment allows these purchases with CPO oversight.
* As it passed the Senate, the bill changes the Small Business Act to allow the state to count contractors and sub-contractors toward the goal of awarding 10% of total contract dollars to small businesses. This makes it easier to meet the 10% goal. The House amendment does not include subcontractors and moves the current requirements of the Small Business Act into the Procurement Code. The intent is to urge the State to enter into a greater number of contracts with small businesses.
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Today’s number: $484.5 million
Monday, May 29, 2017 - Posted by Rich Miller
* That number is the payment backlog in the state’s Public Transportation Fund…
The RTA has resorted to short-term borrowing to stay current in its subsidy payments to the three transit agencies.
“We have maxed out our temporary short-term borrowing capacity,” Redden said.
CTA, Metra and Pace all have cash reserves, but the reserves are intended only as a stop-gap. Redden said all three agencies are looking at options that could include service cuts and fare hikes, which may be needed sometime in the coming quarter.
CTA and Pace have in place 2017 budgets that did not cut service or raise fares; in fact, Pace has augmented service, particularly on its expressway and tollway corridor services. Metra raised fares in February, with the intention of setting aside the additional revenues generated to help pay the local share of federally-funded projects.
…Adding… From the Senate President’s office…
The Senate President spoke at an Elmhurst College event a few weeks ago. His speech included this …
My friend Kirk Dillard, the former DuPage County state senator, is now chairman of the RTA. The state owes that agency about $400 million. The agency borrows to cover the shortfall.
Here’s the catch.
The state doesn’t pay the RTA interest on the money that’s late, but the RTA has to pay interest on the borrowing to cover the state money.
The agency ends up losing about $2 million a year because of this.
That’s enough to buy five new METRA cars or rehab three train stations, which are far better uses of the dollars than paying loan interest.
So, if you use METRA and you think the train cars are too crowded or too old or your local train station is rundown and needs updated, the state’s failure to pay its bills is to blame.
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A closer look at the GOMB memo
Monday, May 29, 2017 - Posted by Rich Miller
* AP…
The House has committee hearings scheduled Monday to continue reviewing the $37 billion budget plan the Senate approved. It includes $5.4 billion in revenue raised mostly by a 32 percent increase in the personal income tax rate from 3.75 percent to 4.95 percent.
The Senate sent the plan to the House last week. It also includes $3 billion in spending reductions.
* Tribune…
As Democrats were behind closed doors, Rauner budget director Scott Harry sent a letter to House members warning the governor would veto the Senate plan should it make it to his desk. Harry estimated the budget and tax plan was at least $435 million out of balance, and said it does nothing to pay down the bill backlog or put in place economic changes the governor has pushed such as a property tax freeze.
* Here’s that memo. I’ve added paragraph numbers so we can more easily dissect it…
From: Scott Harry, Director, Governor’s Office of Management and Budget To: Members of the Illinois House of Representatives
Date: May 28, 2017
Re: GOMB Analysis of SB 6
1) The Senate Democrats’ budget bill (SB 6) proposes to spend $5 billion more than the state’s fiscal year 2018 revenue forecast of $32 billion. Notably, Senate Democrats also passed a large tax increase to accompany SB 6 without any significant changes to our broken system – no real and lasting property tax relief and no economic reforms to grow the economy.
2) Drafted and voted upon without bipartisan support, SB 6 fails to make substantial spending cuts and has no real and hard spending cap beyond fiscal year 2018. If SB 6 were enacted, government spending would likely continue to explode, driving our state deeper into debt.
3) The Governor’s budget office estimates that even if the House enacted the Democrat-only tax hike proposal accompanying SB 6, the budget would be out of balance by at least $435 million in fiscal year 2018 (due to the lack of implementing legislation to achieve savings in the group health insurance program) and roughly $1 billion in fiscal year 2019. Furthermore, SB 6 takes no action to meaningfully pay down the bill backlog – concealing an even higher planned income tax rate than the Senate already passed.
4) From a technical drafting perspective, the FY17 appropriations in SB 6 were not drafted to address the true obligations of the state and fully cover commitments from FY16 and FY17. Other problems are caused by the drafting approach to structure the FY17 appropriations around spending authority that the Comptroller has established for consent decrees, court orders and continuing appropriations.
5) In sum, the House is considering a broken budget contingent on a large tax hike without any meaningful property tax relief or job creating reforms – which even if enacted would not even balance the budget. SB 6 is a lose-lose for taxpayers. If this bad deal for taxpayers comes to the Governor’s desk, he will veto it.
1) Oh, please. That is so misleading. Unlike the governor and his budget office, the Senate Democrats cut spending from the GOMB forecast and then added revenues. And that “large tax increase” was supported by the governor during negotiations.
2) The proposal didn’t receive GOP votes, but it most definitely received lots of Republican input. It makes billions of dollars more spending cuts than Gov. Rauner and his budget office proposed in February. And while there is no spending cap beyond FY 18, one can be enacted for FY 19 and beyond in the future. The governor could also simply propose a budget that has a spending cap.
…Adding… As mentioned in comments, Gov. Rauner’s agency directors all said during appropriations committee hearings that they couldn’t enumerate any cuts and that any cuts would be bad, yet Gov. Rauner’s budget director expects the Senate to find them anyway. Nice one.
3) The governor’s proposal to reduce spending on group health insurance requires changes to collective bargaining laws - something that Senate President Cullerton has completely ruled out. The Senate proposed the same reduction as Rauner did, but they put it on Rauner to achieve his spending reductions via the collective bargaining process and/or the courts.
And, seriously, they’re worried about a possible budget deficit in Fiscal Year 2019 that doesn’t even end for two more years? Really? Rauner can’t propose a solution to this alleged problem next February? From the Senate Democrats…
How much of his job is the governor expecting the Senate to do?
Exactly right.
I agree that it’s a copout for the Senate Democrats to punt on the bill backlog, among other things. No doubt about it. But Rauner did the exact same thing in his own budget proposal. From a May 9th report…
The Civic Federation’s Institute for Illinois’ Fiscal Suitability is not able to support Governor Rauner’s recommended FY2018 budget because it has an operating deficit of at least $4.6 billion, presents an insufficiently detailed plan for closing the gap and does not address Illinois’ massive backlog of bills.
And from the Senate Democrats…
Two weeks ago, the Senate came within 3 votes of passing a budget that cut deeper while also refinancing that debt, and I don’t recall the governor rounding up votes to try to help get it passed.
4) “Technical drafting” errors are fixable.
5) If this is a “broken budget,” then why doesn’t the governor’s budget office propose a real one?
* Also, here’s an important point from Rep. Greg Harris (D-Chicago)…
Harris said the whole budget discussion is taking place while Rauner is making public appearances and airing ads that attack the Democrats’ plan.
“They (Senate Democrats) actually passed a lot of the revenue ideas he’s been championing since he became governor,” Harris said. “He’s on social media and on paid advertising and on robocalls attacking people for doing the things he’s been suggesting.”
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* The House Republican floor leader…
“People are fed up. Not just the constituents, the members of my chamber,” says Steve Andersson, a Republican House member from the Batavia area who was named GOP floor leader in January. “I think the Senate is equally if not more frustrated. People are just not willing to leave this place without a budget by May 31st.”
He continues, “Now, maybe we’re wrong. This place is leadership-driven… But I sense there is so much pent up frustration. I think we all recognize that we are letting the state burn. We’ve destroyed our social-service safety net. In my opinion, at this point, there’s not enough reform to counter the damage we’ve done to the state in the past two years. and so for me, the biggest win is to create stability in this state. I want the [Turnaround Agenda] reforms. I agree with the governor that there are things in there we need to do. But the number one reform in my world is predictability and sustainability. Because people will stay [in the state] if they know what the rules of the game are.”
Emphasis added.
*** UPDATE *** From Rep. Andersson…
I, like all other members of the General Assembly, admit that this budget impasse is doing no favors to Illinois’ financial outlook. In no way did I insinuate any kind of “revolt”. Instead, we need to be spending this time picking up where the Senate left off and continue negotiations to find agreement and get this done by May 31st.
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[Bumped up to Sunday for visibility.]
* From JB Pritzker…
Governor Rauner’s property tax freeze is just a political stunt. Since day one, Governor Rauner’s strategy has been to starve social service agencies and local governments to force the crisis we now suffer from. His cynical approach has often led to the increases in property taxes he claims he wants to freeze. Governor Rauner should stop playing politics and offering gimmicks and start doing the job he was elected to do, including putting Illinois on a path to fiscal responsibility and the state providing additional support for education funding.
* As you’ll recall, an Oak Park newspaper reported this the other day…
Pritzker said that he opposed a property tax freeze, a favorite Rauner talking point, saying local communities should make that decision.
Pritzker has since been slammed repeatedly by the ILGOP and the Chicago Tribune editorial page.
* Now, here’s the transcript of what was asked and what Pritzker said…
AUDIENCE QUESTION: Bruce Rauner was downstate earlier this week saying the two greatest problems for small business are property tax and workers comp. And I know you’ve done work on this. Could you just tell us what you think about that claim?
PRITZKER: The two biggest problems in the state are property tax and workman’s comp? Okay, lets talk about that. Property taxes are a pretty big issue, but it’s an issue for a different reason than he says it’s an issue. He polled a property tax freeze. And it polls really well, because nobody wants to pay higher property taxes. And so that polls really well, and that’s why you see his commercials, it’s one of the first things he lists of things that he wants to do.
Look, nobody wants higher property taxes, but we can’t hamstring all of our local governments that way.
Here’s what I want to do. If you raise revenue at the state level and pay for education at the state level – constitutionally mandated at 50%, we’re only providing 26% — if you raise revenue at the state level and do it on a progressive basis, local governments will have choices, you all will have choices about whether you want to lower your property tax revenue for your city.
If you want a property tax break, you should go get that. He’s not advocating anything like that, by the way. And so, the best he can do is say property tax freeze, and then he throws the problem at you, at the local level to figure out what you’re going to do if you need a property tax increase, or you need more revenue. He’s not creating any jobs, so we’re not creating any more revenue around – 0.5 percent job growth last year, which is in the bottom third of states. So that’s the property tax issue.”
This is also nicely timed ahead of Chris Kennedy’s expected property tax/school funding announcement on Tuesday.
* Audio…
[I put this up really late in the day and I’m about to close comments. You can still comment below, but they won’t be visible to anyone. However, I’ll “release” them from moderation on Sunday.]
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* From an update to a post buried way down the page today…
Gov. Rauner also claimed that the Senate Democrats “caved in” to “the Speaker’s pressure” on the grand bargain. Rauner claimed yet again that Madigan sent interest groups to the Senate to kill the grand bargain.
“We need the members of the General Assembly in the Democratic caucus to not be afraid to stand up to Speaker Madigan,” Rauner told reporters.
I asked for a response from the Senate President’s office.
* From John Patterson, spokesman for Illinois Senate President John Cullerton…
“I don’t know if the governor realizes it yet, but the Senate balanced and approved the budget he proposed. He has an odd way of saying ‘thank you.’”
*** UPDATE *** Press release…
Senator Don Harmon, an Oak Park Democrat and president pro tempore of the Illinois Senate, issued the following statement about the Senate’s votes Friday to significantly reform Illinois’ workers’ compensation system:
“Senate Democrats sent a strong message today that, while we are open to working our partners in the business community to reform the state’s workers’ compensation system, we are not willing to do so entirely on the backs of Illinois workers. We were able to identify sensible reforms on both sides of the equation – the employer side and the employee side – that will help to bring costs down without inflicting additional and unnecessary financial harm on injured workers.
“Workers’ compensation reform is one of Governor Rauner’s demands to sign our balanced budget. We have delivered on that demand and many others. It’s time for him to deliver on ours – that he signs our budget so we can move the state forward.”
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Another hostage goes down
Friday, May 26, 2017 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Bloomington Pantagraph…
Responding to nearly two years without a state budget, The Baby Fold will discontinue residential treatment center services, the Normal-based human services agency announced Thursday.
The program, which was reduced from serving 28 children to 14 children in 2015, will cease operations June 30.
Including all its programs, Baby Fold serves more than 1,000 vulnerable children and families.
“We will be working diligently to arrange new placements for the children over the next 30 to 60 days so they can be well-settled prior to the next school year,” Baby Fold President and CEO Dianne Schultz said in a prepared statement.
“I am saddened by the circumstances surrounding the state budget impasse that have made this decision necessary,” Schultz said. […]
The residential treatment center is for children who have been removed from their homes because of trauma, abuse or neglect and have significant mental health issues. The program in Normal is believed to be the only one of its kind in Central Illinois.
Ugh.
…Adding… Andrea Durbin at the Illinois Collaboration on Youth sent me the link to the above story and has given me permission to post her e-mail…
As with much of the recently-announced Lutheran Child and Family Services closures, this is not only due to lack of payment but also due to insufficient payment. Our elected officials need to have the political courage to face reality and address the continual erosion of the human services safety net with a real budget.
I know you know this, but I can’t help saying it again. It is unconscionable that abused and neglected children may go without effective treatment so we can have a political fight.
“The program in Normal is believed to be the only one of its kind in Central Illinois.”
Andi
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Dueling press releases: Rauner vs. DGA
Friday, May 26, 2017 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Gov. Rauner’s office…
Governor Rauner and Orland Park Mayor Keith Pekau joined homeowners Ken and Andi Borucke to urge the General Assembly to pass true, lasting property tax relief.
“Illinois home and business owners pay the highest property taxes in the nation. The median average for property taxes in Illinois is $3,995 compared to $1,085 average property taxes in Indiana,” said Governor Rauner. “We can’t just keep sticking it to the taxpayers without any real property tax relief.”
Under the governor’s proposal, property taxes would remain frozen unless voters chose to raise them through a referendum.
“In Orland Park, we remain committed to keeping your taxes as low as possible while still maintaining the quality of services you expect and deserve,” said Mayor Keith Pekau. “I am glad the Governor is pushing for property tax relief to help our residents.”
This week, Governor Rauner announced that any budget agreement that increases revenue must include real and lasting property tax relief. In making the announcement, he stressed that Illinois needs to make changes in order to grow the economy, create jobs and get state finances back on track.
“We love Illinois, but one thing we’ve never loved is our property taxes,” said homeowner Andi Borucke. “The current system doesn’t work and hurts working families like ours that have done everything right. We deserve to have more a voice in our property tax system. We keep paying more and more money, but see little value in return.”
* DGA…
Today Governor Rauner continues his campaign “negotiation” tour with a stop in Orland Park, 181 miles away from the State Capitol and a possible budget solution.
While Rauner postures in front of cameras, Illinois state institutions continue to suffer the disastrous effects of Bruce Rauner’s failed leadership. The “Women’s Center” in Carbondale, open for 45 years, announced staff cuts and said it could shut down programs in September. And Northeastern Illinois University announced it would be continuing its furlough program and faced serious program cuts.
The fact is simple – Governor Rauner is failing his responsibilities as Governor. From the Sun-Times Editorial:
“Rauner is running political ads, the goofy ones with the duct tape, laying the groundwork for his re-election next year. But he is not governing. As we said in a previous editorial, the first and most basic job of a CEO — and a governor is a CEO — is to produce a budget. The buck stops there.”
It’s time for Governor Rauner to go back to Springfield and finally pass a budget.
“Governor Rauner is marching Illinois towards an unprecedented third year without a budget,” said DGA Illinois Communications Director Sam Salustro. “And instead of exhibiting real leadership and working out a deal, Rauner is pulling stunts as far away from Springfield as possible. Illinois needs a Governor who’s going to deliver a budget, not one who’s going to chase cameras across the state.”
…Adding… From comments…
Uh, someone tell DGA the House just went home and session tomorrow is cancelled.
Oops!
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* Press release…
Pritzker Campaign Introduces Tick Tock The Budget Clock
Tick Tock Will Join Bruce Rauner For Breakfast Today At A Private Golf Course, Rich Harvest Farms, Then Later At An Orland Park Press Conference
Chicago, IL – Today, on day 695 without a budget, the Pritzker for Governor campaign is introducing Tick Tock the Budget Clock. Tick Tock joins Crisis Creatin’ Rauner, a multimedia campaign designed to highlight the budget crisis of Bruce Rauner’s own making and the families, schools, and social service agencies that continue to pay the price.
As the hours and days tick up, Tick Tock’s presence will serve as a constant reminder of the damage Rauner’s crisis is creating in Illinois. The fact is, it is past time that Illinois families receive a budget from their failed governor and Tick Tock won’t let Rauner forget it.
“Time is running out for Bruce Rauner to take responsibility for the crisis he has created and even though he runs away from reporters, Bruce Rauner won’t be able to hide from Tick Tock the Budget Clock,” said Pritzker campaign spokeswoman Jordan Abudayyeh. “As the clock counts up, this historic budget crisis of Rauner’s own creatin’ is doing irrevocable damage to our state. Rauner deserves a constant reminder of how his failed leadership has hurt working families across Illinois – and Tick Tock will remind him of the alarming mess he has created every step of the way.”
* The accompanying, um, Tick pic…
* Politico made Tick the lead story today…
It’s an anti-Bruce Rauner move right out of the Rauner playbook. Rauner’s campaign team, some of whom worked for former Sen. Mark Kirk, love these characters. During Kirk’s 2010 campaign, they sicced a shark to follow around his opponent, then-state Treasurer Alexi Giannoulias, to remind him of a loan to the mob-associated Michael “Jaws” Giorango. In 2014, the Rauner campaign came up with “Quinnochio” to badger then-Gov. Pat Quinn outside of events. That character was dressed up as Pinnocchio. If you’ve forgotten, here’s Quinnochio on youtube. They also slapped a mask on another staffer who dressed in an orange jumpsuit to represent imprisoned ex-Gov. Rod Blagojevich. […]
We’re confident the Rauner camp will come up with a rebuttal caricature in short order. But, gee, we can’t imagine what this race will look like when we’re actually within the same calendar year of an election.
…Adding… The Pritzker campaign seemed quite pleased this morning at all the attention their new mascot got from the TV types (those teevee people love them some visuals, no matter how silly they might be). But the Republicans sent me their own Tick pic…
True, but so was Quinnochio and they did it anyway. This stuff works.
…Adding More… Heh…
…Adding Still More… Check out the video clip to see how the Chicago TV cameras gravitated to the new mascot today. Like I said, this stuff works, even if it is goofy…
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* From Steve Brown…
The attached letter was sent by the Speaker after reviewing the recent report of the Civic Committee of the Commercial Club. It is a recounting of the Speaker’s effort to address a variety of issues. I thought it might be of interest.
* The letter…
May 25, 2017
Chairman Frederick H. Waddell
Civic Committee of the Commercial Club of Chicago 21 South Clark Street, Ste. 4301
Chicago, IL 60603
Dear Chairman Waddell:
I appreciate your recent report and its detailed recommendations on the state budget. I agree that our state is a vibrant place with much to offer as a center for innovation and growth, but the budget crisis is holding us back. I have stated repeatedly that the budget is the most important issue facing our state, and I wanted to make sure you and your colleagues are aware of what steps House Democrats have already taken to put Illinois on more sound financial footing.
Between Fiscal Year 2012 and Fiscal Year 2014, Democrats made significant progress in paying down the state’s backlog of old bills. Under Democratic budgets, the state’s debt dropped from over $8 billion in 2013 to $4.5 billion in July 2015. In fact, as a candidate Rauner criticized Illinois’ bill backlog in May 2013. However, Governor Rauner’s impasse has completely reversed the progress we made; after nearly two years without a budget, the backlog of unpaid bills has now grown to over $14 billion.
In recent years, House Democrats have pushed for cost-saving reforms to state pensions and the Medicaid system. We have also taken steps toward greater pension parity for Chicago; during the 99th General Assembly, House Democrats advanced Senate Bill 2822, which provides state funding for Chicago teacher’s pensions. Unfortunately, Governor Rauner vetoed this legislation.
House Democrats also implemented significant reforms to the workers’ compensation system, and we are beginning to see the impact. Costs, injuries and claims have call dropped significantly since our law passed in 2011, and Illinois now has a lower frequency of medical payments per claim than Indiana, Iowa and Wisconsin. While the governor has prioritized further changes to the system, we have engaged in this dialogue. We have offered additional reforms that will make sure employers see the benefit of reform. This month, we passed House Bill 2525, which codifies causation standards to make sure only legitimate workplace injuries are compensable, and requires workers’ compensation insurers to pass these savings on to employers.
We’ve passed significant reforms to the criminal justice system that will help reduce costs. Last year, the House passed bipartisan legislation that expands the Department of Corrections’ ability to offer early release to some non-violent offenders, and give judges more flexibility in sentencing for some non-violent crimes.
House Democrats have led efforts to empower taxpayers to consolidate local government. In the 99th General Assembly, we passed House Bill 229, which expands a pilot program that will empower taxpayers to consolidate duplicative or unnecessary taxing bodies.
We continue to work toward education funding reform. A House Democratic plan would help students across the state and put all Illinois schools on an equal footing. But the Republican proposal is not a fair proposal for all our students; it slashes funding for the Chicago Public Schools. I would be interested in knowing which proposal you and your colleagues would prefer.
While we continually strive to address Illinois’ challenges, there are some proposals that have failed to find consensus within the General Assembly. Reductions to the Local Government Distributive Fund is one suggestion in your plan that has already been met with concern by Democrats and Republicans, who fear the loss of revenue for local governments will only force higher property taxes and cuts to public safety, health and other community services.
I remain committed to working in good faith with the governor to pass a full, responsible budget, and address the other major issues facing the state. Last week, I assigned four members of the House Democratic leadership team to meet with Governor Rauner and discuss his off-budget agenda items. Unfortunately, to date, the Governor has chosen not to meet with these members.
I hope you will join me in urging the governor to take up House Democrats’ offer and help us end this budget crisis.
With kindest personal regards, I remain
Sincerely yours,
MICHAEL J. MADIGAN
Speaker of the House
*** UPDATE 1 *** I’m told on background by the Rauner folks that during his 40-minute meeting with the governor last month, Speaker Madigan came right out and asked Rauner to cancel their meeting with the Civic Committee, which was scheduled for the following week. Rauner refused to comply, and then Madigan canceled. The Raunerites believe that Madigan only sent this letter today because they “outed” his refusal to meet with the Civic Committee.
*** UPDATE 2 *** Steve Brown in comments…
Gotta love those “deep background” update.
Now just a couple of facts.
The Speaker met with the Civic Committee in mid April
The group offered to bring themselves into the budget impasse. A similar offer was made by the Rev. Jesse Jackson Sr.
Given on-going activities in Springfield it did not appear necessary to engage either offer.
Today’s attempted history rewrite is both false and another glimpse to thinking of the administration.
*** UPDATE 3 *** Gov. Rauner told reporters today that Madigan’s letter is “intentionally misleading.”
“He refused to meet with the Civic Committee and me,” Madigan said, claiming that since then Madigan has refused to meet with the governor. “The Speaker has shown no interest in compromise for two years, zero interest.”
Gov. Rauner also claimed that the Senate Democrats “caved in” to “the Speaker’s pressure” on the grand bargain. Rauner claimed yet again that Madigan sent interest groups to the Senate to kill the grand bargain.
“We need the members of the General Assembly in the Democratic caucus to not be afraid to stand up to Speaker Madigan,” Rauner told reporters. “Speaker Madigan does not want any changes whatsoever. Zero. He just wants Republicans to support a massive tax hike that just sticks it to taxpayers with no property tax relief.”
Click here for the raw audio.
*** UPDATE 4 *** From the Civic Committee…
Statement in Response to Speaker Madigan’s Letter
“The Civic Committee has provided a comprehensive Framework for our State’s governmental leaders to solve our budget crisis. It is now their responsibility to compromise and pass a comprehensive budget package which will move our State forward. The people of Illinois are depending on it.”
- Kelly Welsh – President, The Civic Committee of The Commercial Club of Chicago
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