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Cullerton: No apologies

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Illinois

* My weekly syndicated newspaper column…

Illinois Senate President John Cullerton has received a lot of bad press, sharp condemnation from Republicans and even some quiet criticism from his own members over the past month.

But Cullerton made no apologies during an interview last week for the way his caucus sought to hold the state’s public works bill hostage by tacking on $430 million in additional budget items. The move was rejected by both parties in the House and by the Senate Republicans and even, in the end, by Gov. Pat Quinn, who had pushed for additional spending all year. The General Assembly had to return to town last week so the Senate could officially back down from the spending and send a “clean” bill to the governor’s desk.

The Senate President told me numerous times over the past several months that he believed he could convince fellow Democrat House Speaker Michael Madigan to go along with his budget plans. In the end, however, Madigan stuck to a budget pact he’d made months earlier with House Republican Leader Tom Cross and beat back the Senate Democrats’ plan. So, what went wrong?

“I don’t think anything was a mistake,” Cullerton insisted. He blamed Cross for the collapse of his members’ spending plan. Cross, he said, couldn’t comprehend what the Senate Democrats were proposing: moving money away from some special state funds in order to pay for his caucus’ program spending demands. Cullerton claimed he first approached Cross about the idea three weeks before the end of the session. It wasn’t until the session’s end, he said, that Cross finally grasped the concept, but by then, Cullerton claimed, it was too late.

Several members of his own caucus have grumbled since May 31st about the way Cullerton seemed to give free rein to Black Caucus members and others who aggressively pushed for a showdown with Madigan over the budget and absolutely demanded the additional spending which caused all the trouble. At one point last month, many in that group wanted to force an overtime session rather than pass any budget bill.

Ironically enough, many of those same grumblers who said Cullerton needs to act more forcefully to quell the chaos within his caucus were also the most unhappy with the way former Senate President Emil Jones too often ran his show with a heavy hand. What seemed to irk them most, however, was that a minority of the caucus was able to once again force the majority into an untenable position.

To be fair, no caucus has experienced more internal revolts than the Senate Democrats over the past 40 years. It is, by far, the least “manageable” of the four legislative caucuses. And white legislators from the city and suburbs (in both chambers) always complain at the end of spring session that Downstaters, Latinos and African-Americans are being placated while they’re being left out.

The Senate President chose to look at the bright side.

“Rather than take us into overtime, I got the caucus to vote for the budget,” he pointed out. That was most certainly no mean feat considering the intensely heated opposition to the House’s budget within his own caucus. “My goal was to pass a budget, which we did.”

He also said he now has “leverage to renegotiate the budget in the middle of the fiscal year.” Why? Because, Cullerton said, the House’s budget is full of “phony” cuts. Indeed, the House put off well over a billion dollars in spending until after the end of the fiscal year.

Cullerton seems determined to undermine the legitimacy of that budget, and his focus appears to be on forcing Tom Cross to admit he made a mistake. It’s arguable, Cullerton said, that the Senate cut more than the House did. And the Republican Cross, he claimed “is unaware of how bad his budget is.”

“We’ll get our vindication, if you will, in January, when people realize that we have to cut the budget again,” Cullerton predicted.

As for the grumbling in his own caucus, Cullerton said that nobody has come to him with any of those concerns. “I’m not going to change my personality,” he said, adding “I don’t like to dictate to people.”

However, Cullerton also had a piece of advice for those in his caucus who are constantly clamoring for war with the House Speaker. “You do not win by fighting Mike Madigan.”

Very true.

* Meanwhile…

There’s another potential problem with the operations budget state lawmakers approved last month: Not enough money to pay all employee salaries for the full year that begins July 1.

“I don’t see Quinn announcing firings,” said state Rep. Frank Mautino, D-Spring Valley. “I think they will pay them until the money runs out.”

Quinn’s options are limited. He signed an agreement with the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees union to not lay off employees or close facilities before June 30, 2012, the end of AFSCME’s current state contract.

“There is not enough money in the budget to fully fund (salaries),” said Quinn budget spokeswoman Kelly Kraft. “This is something we continue to examine as we work to manage and implement an incomplete budget passed by the General Assembly.”

* And…

“There’s a lot of things in the House budget that need to be corrected,” Cullerton said Wednesday. “The House budget grossly under-appropriates a number of areas.”

As an example, the budget reduces spending on schools but didn’t change the way the money is distributed, which could result in the formula running out of money before the end of the next fiscal year.

Voices for Illinois Children, a statewide advocacy group, says the budget cuts spending on pre-school programs, which could result in a loss of services for 5,000 children.

Advocates for Illinoisans with disabilities say the plan shortchanges funding for state developmental centers like the Choate Developmental Center in Anna.

Discuss.

posted by Rich Miller
Monday, Jun 27, 11 @ 10:48 am

Comments

“We’ll get our vindication, if you will, in January, when people realize that we have to cut the budget again,” Cullerton predicted.

How will the realization that the budget has to be cut vindicate Cullerton’s position of asking for over $400 million in new spending? I don’t get it.

Comment by Old Milwaukee Monday, Jun 27, 11 @ 10:51 am
Seems like the House kept the school fund distribution at the same schedule so that the schools get the money in a more timely fashion and so that Quinn can’t come in at the end of the school year and announce that certain payments, like transportation, will not be made. The money won’t run out if the school’s budget for the amount of money the State will actually be sending, and in reality they should probably budget even lower than that since the State hasn’t exactly followed through with their promises.

Comment by Realist Monday, Jun 27, 11 @ 10:59 am
The Governor might not have to lay off employees. From my understanding people are retiring at higher numbers due to the fear (rational or not) that a pension reform bill might affect them. This would provide a natural decrease in employment levels that might prevent layoffs.

Also, people are probably sick of me saying this, but these budget cuts would be a lot more palpable if there was a restricting plan to pay off the past due bills. Now people are getting their funding cut and not getting paid. Organizations cannot deal with this kind of cash-flow problem forever.

Comment by Ahoy Monday, Jun 27, 11 @ 11:16 am
“I think they will pay them until the money runs out.”

Madigan got what he wanted by squeezing Cross and the Repubs into a corner by signing on to the budget. Quinn is being reeled on. So the heat can be shared. Now comes the actual long term fun. When bucks run out, what gets closed, who gets rubber, and who gets shorted? Do the vendors get hit yet again so money can be moved to state union workers as part of another last minute flip? Groups with no reserves are in for serious changes. Cullerton gets some wiggle room by saying fix it in Fall, but there is no difference in running out of money or kicking the can. More posturing while providers of all kinds get whacked.

Comment by zatoichi Monday, Jun 27, 11 @ 11:22 am
Nice article Rich. Democrat Senate, House and Gov. yet you are able to point out both that this lousy budget is owned by the republican minority leader and that he is an idiot to boot!

Comment by Dwight Monday, Jun 27, 11 @ 11:24 am
–To be fair, no caucus has experienced more internal revolts than the Senate Democrats over the past 40 years. It is, by far, the least “manageable” of the four legislative caucuses.–

When Rock had the 30-29 majority-in-name-only, I always wondered who in the world would want to run that? Every Dem senator was a potential one-prima-donna wrecking crew over the most minor of parochial issues.

Comment by wordslinger Monday, Jun 27, 11 @ 11:49 am
“You do not win by fighting Mike Madigan”-Thompson, Edgar, and Ryan understood. Blagojevich was dumb enough that he thought he could; Quinn seems to forget it a lot… Cross plays political games, but (hopefully) actually understands the rules…

Comment by Downstate Commissioner Monday, Jun 27, 11 @ 11:51 am
==“There is not enough money in the budget to fully fund (salaries),” said Quinn budget spokeswoman Kelly Kraft. “This is something we continue to examine as we work to manage and implement an incomplete budget passed by the General Assembly.”==

Incomplete budget? We’re paying $105,000 per year for this?

Comment by Pat Robertson Monday, Jun 27, 11 @ 12:26 pm
Cullerton’s remark about Madigan prove,he’s smarter than he looks. These guy’s just can’t get anything right, I’m exasperated. This gotcha type
politics,just wears voters out no wonder only about 25% of the voters vote.

Comment by mokenavince Monday, Jun 27, 11 @ 1:24 pm
I’m with Old Milwaukee. Cullerton’s logic is loopy and his caucus members look just as foggy on the concept: $430m > 0.

Comment by Indeedy Monday, Jun 27, 11 @ 3:24 pm
–This gotcha type
politics,just wears voters out no wonder only about 25% of the voters vote.–

What’s the other 75% problem? I have no sympathy for them, and I suspect they’re the loudest complainers.

The Microwave Generation. If I don’t get what I want, when I want it, I quit.

Pursuit of happiness folks, not a guarantee.

Life’s like Vegas. Sometimes you’re up, sometimes you’re down, but the house always wins in the end. Doesn’t mean you didn’t have a good time.

Outside of the vaporous, abstract thoughts, how about we get all the troops out of Afghanistan right now? They’re risking their lives to defend the most corrupt, virulent smack dealers in the world.

The fate of ancient Afghanistan is not worth the life of one more American solider. Agreed?

Comment by wordslinger Monday, Jun 27, 11 @ 4:39 pm
Indeedy and Old Mildew, you guys might wanna check out the recent CapFax archives for the piece in which Rich laments the media’s inability to explain that the Senate Dems actually cut elsewhere in the budget to accomodate the restorations. Then you can go back a couple weeks and subscribe to the real CapFax report so you would have known that as the session ended.
SenDems were still working with the House revenue number. They weren’t adding to it.

Comment by Michelle Flaherty Monday, Jun 27, 11 @ 7:19 pm
I’m not as impressed with John Cullerton than it seems he is with himself. He seems to be quite the Irish drama queen.

Comment by VanillaMan Monday, Jun 27, 11 @ 7:34 pm