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Today’s quote

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* This quote comes from 1994, after the House Republicans had won control of the chamber in the national GOP landslide…

Steve Brown, House Speaker Michael Madigan’s spokesman, said at the time: “We’re obviously surprised by the overall outcome. [Republicans] are all out of excuses now. They’ll have to produce.”

Discuss.

posted by Rich Miller
Monday, Mar 11, 13 @ 8:29 am

Comments

What’s really telling about this quote is that it’s 20 years later and the same people are running the show.

Comment by Knome Sane Monday, Mar 11, 13 @ 8:33 am
Absolutely. The Dems and GOP can and do get together on some things (the House spending limit is an example).

But with those Dem super-majorities come responsibility and accountability. Some good things have been accomplished in recent years, but much more needs to be done.

Power for power’s-sake is a worthless goal. Time for heavy lifting. No one said it would be easy.

Comment by wordslinger Monday, Mar 11, 13 @ 9:03 am
–What’s really telling about this quote is that it’s 20 years later and the same people are running the show.–

Knome, my first job out of college 29 years ago was in Iowa, and included covering Gov. Branstad and Sens. Harkin and Grassley, lol. They’re still there, although Branstad did take a break for a while.

Comment by wordslinger Monday, Mar 11, 13 @ 9:05 am
Haunting words.

Comment by Keep Calm and Carry On Monday, Mar 11, 13 @ 9:06 am
Moreover, the Illinois Dems have advantages House Republicans did not back then.

Democratic super majority in the Illinois House, Illinois Senate and a Democratic Governor.

Funny how life works out sometimes.

Comment by Keep Calm and Carry On Monday, Mar 11, 13 @ 9:11 am
Rubber and glue, Mike?

Comment by Cincinnatus Monday, Mar 11, 13 @ 9:34 am
madigan doesn’t have to produce squat as long as his position is unquestioned and faces no significant threats. power is, in the end, all about maintaining control (power), not about producing…

Comment by bored now Monday, Mar 11, 13 @ 9:46 am
@ Wordslinger 9:05 =”included covering Gov. Branstad and Sens. Harkin and Grassley, lol.”=

Shoeless Joe: Is this heaven?

Ray Kinsella: No, it’s Iowa.

I can imagine Grassley, Harkin, and Branstad walking into the corn rows, disappearing into the evening, only to reappear in the morning. If I recall the Iowa Capitol layout, the corn grows right up to the front doors of the Capitol Building.

Comment by Knome Sane Monday, Mar 11, 13 @ 9:53 am
The bottom line is that Brown’s statement wasn’t an attempt at truth, it was the classic expectations set up oppositional powers use to hobble new election winners.

Did Brown really believe it? Obviously not since the same statement has been shunned by him and his employer for years.

Not the truth - just politics as usual.

Comment by VanillaMan Monday, Mar 11, 13 @ 10:00 am
Makes for a nice talking point for modern Republicans. Surprised we haven’t seen this exact quote pop up in speeches and interviews yet.

With apologies to UPS, “What can Brown do for you?”

Comment by Formerly Known As... Monday, Mar 11, 13 @ 10:52 am
If I remember … a vast majority of the Daniels Cornerstone Legislation was ruled Unconstitutional.

To the Post,

The quote is very telling and the HGOP and the SGOP should be using this when and wherever they can…

However … this statement does not give the HGOP license to “NV” every Bill on the Floor, or the extreme of just not showing up because the HDems have the votes to pass ‘X’.

Did Madigan have his whole Caucus “NV” at all when MJM was “Democratic Leader”?

The Brown quote has enormous weight if used in concert WITH voting, not “NV”ing …

BE engaged, but you get to go “Jacket-Free”… with that quote & the appearance of doing something, the HGOP can make some Hay … if they are also engaged.

Comment by Oswego Willy Monday, Mar 11, 13 @ 11:42 am
===a vast majority of the Daniels Cornerstone Legislation was ruled Unconstitutional. ===

I think only the Scaffolding Act changes survived.

Comment by Rich Miller Monday, Mar 11, 13 @ 11:43 am
===I think only the Scaffolding Act changes survived.===

The ban on straight party voting also survived. The GOP could have really used that in 2010 too. I love irony.

Comment by 47th Ward Monday, Mar 11, 13 @ 11:52 am
===The ban on straight party voting also survived. ===

Yeah, but that wasn’t in the Fast Track package. It was done during the 97 lame duck session after the HDems won the House back in 1996.

Comment by Rich Miller Monday, Mar 11, 13 @ 11:54 am
OK, thanks for the clarification. Your memory is way better than mine.

One thing that I’ve long wondered about is whether and when Madigan would move back to the proper Speaker’s office. Back in the 90s, I think it was fair to say moving every two years, potentially, was a hassle. And Madigan took the high road and stayed in the office suite long relegated to the minority party. But c’mon now, it’s been almost two decades and with this map, it might be time to move back to the official Speaker’s office.

If nothing else, it’ll just annoy Tom Cross, who doesn’t appear to be doing anything to justify the fancy office he’s in.

Comment by 47th Ward Monday, Mar 11, 13 @ 11:59 am
===If nothing else, it’ll just annoy Tom Cross,===

Two Points,

I recall the Office Space currently held by the Speaker is bigger, (not by much, but relatively) so why downsize floor space.

Second, how annoying must it be for Cross to be in the “Speaker’s Office”, but MJM keeps him there to remind Cross, “You have the ‘office’, but I have the gavel”

Just a thought.

Thanks, Rich for clarifying. I had a feeling at least 1 got through.

Comment by Oswego Willy Monday, Mar 11, 13 @ 12:35 pm
To the quote:

They had to produce, they didn’t produce, they haven’t produced, and increasingly, we should all wonder whether they can produce.

As for the “victory” over straight party voting, what a mistake.

The underlying assumption was voter fall-off in Chicago for down ballot races. didnt happen.

Instead, down ballot democrats started winning in the suburbs, particularly in legislative races, because folks voting Republican at the federal level started splitting their ticket.

Comment by Juvenal Monday, Mar 11, 13 @ 1:12 pm
The “welfare reform” was not struck down by the courts, either, however, it has pretty much been undone since those days…..

Comment by XGOPStaffer Monday, Mar 11, 13 @ 1:15 pm
Nearly 20 years later and the Illinois Republicans still haven’t produced. Heck, they can’t even make up their mind about Party Chairman.

Please, please, please, somebody find an adult to run that party.

Comment by anon sequitor Monday, Mar 11, 13 @ 1:53 pm
One lasting legacy of the GOP-controlled General Assembly was the much ballyhooed pension ramp up. Republicans bragged that the bill would make the pension system solvent. Here we are, as the ramp has been steeply rising, and the system is more unfunded than it was then.

It seems to me that Republicans have so far escaped much of the responsibility for this fiasco, which continued pension under funding for 15 more years, and which heavily back-loaded the payments.

Comment by reformer Monday, Mar 11, 13 @ 3:01 pm
Reformer, check your 1994 calendar and come back on that post. You have the events out of order.

Comment by Arthur Andersen Monday, Mar 11, 13 @ 3:10 pm
Bigger mistake: GOP campaigning against the ConCon. Hello, new map!

Comment by Cincinnatus Monday, Mar 11, 13 @ 3:42 pm
AA
The GOP controlled the ‘95-96 General Assembly. That’s when they passed, and Edgar signed, the pension ramp-up reform.

Comment by reformer Monday, Mar 11, 13 @ 4:19 pm
For tha sake of history, lets remember that Chicago school reform passed with Democratic help.

Jumping to today, while Republicans continue to insist that all of their ideas for pension reform be included in legislation that they say should be passed without a single
GOP vote, the biggest stumbling block remains public disinterest - or ambivelance at best - about pension reform.

Thanks to atleast a decade of Republican platitudes about balancing the budget by cutting waste, voters are struggling to grapple with all the bad choices before us.

Comment by Juvenal Monday, Mar 11, 13 @ 4:49 pm
reformer, that bill was passed and signed into law in 1994. First contributions under the now-infamous ramp were for Fiscal Year 1996, beginning 7/1/95.
See 40 ILCS/16-158 (b.2) for an example.

Comment by Arthur Andersen Monday, Mar 11, 13 @ 5:32 pm