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Yesterday’s quotables

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“When there is a meeting the speaker says nothing, the senate president talks a lot – and some of what he says is different out here than in [the meeting] and that’s a problem,” [Senate GOP Leader Christine Radogno] said.

Senate President John Cullerton, D- Chicago, said he wished they would meet more often and he wants to pledge that it will continue but, “The first thing we have to do is see if we can even agree on what the facts are before we even get to the part where we disagree on and [have] different opinions.” […]

“I thought it was a productive meeting. I think it was meaningful. I think it was good that we met,” Madigan told reporters. “We agreed that we’re going to meet again.”

Madigan did admit he is quiet in meetings, but defended himself stating, “I learned a long time ago, that when you talk, you don’t learn. And my purpose today was to listen, to learn.”

Um, OK.

* Cullerton had one of the better lines…

“I think we should pledge to continue to meet, because if we don’t meet, how are we supposed to know how to reach a conclusion? What if I wanted to surrender to you? Where was I supposed to go? So here I am, and we’re willing to talk.”

* Also…

Senate President John Cullerton, D-Chicago, said he was encouraged by the meeting and remains ready to negotiate.

But he also took a shot or two at Rauner’s leadership style, saying they governor should have summoned the leaders sooner and more frequently, and he implied Rauner needs to step up when it comes to the budget.

“The budget is our (the Legislature’s) problem and he’s just the governor? That doesn’t make sense,” Cullerton said.

And…

“I thought the best part was we agreed to have future meetings,” Democratic Senate President John Cullerton said afterward.

* Leader Durkin…

“The mess we find ourselves in today, including the worst credit rating under one party, Democrat control, falls into the hands of the Democrats,” a fiery Durkin said. […]

“Rather than meet you half way, our friends at the end of the aisle ran away,” Durkin said, adding Democrats view the budget impasse as a “war” without compromise.

“I’m sorry but I’ve seen this bad movie before. It doesn’t end well for the Illinois economy,” Durkin said.

* Gov. Rauner…

“I respectfully disagree that any of our ideas are extreme,” Rauner said.

* Leader Radogno went all in on the Turnaround Agenda…

[Radogno] threw Madigan’s words back at him: “The changes being suggested are reasonable. They are not extreme.”

As did Leader Durkin…

“There needs to be a willingness on behalf of Democratic leadership to say that those reform agenda items need to make some progress,” Durkin said. “There’s got to be reform before we get to anything else.” […]

“This never-ending tax-and-spend cycle has driven this state into the ditch,” Durkin said. “Revenue is not the answer; it is never going to be the answer.”

And…

“I think the governor’s very clear about what he is looking for; nothing’s changed,” House GOP leader Jim Durkin said. “And that’s not going to change either. There needs to be a willingness on behalf of the Democrat leadership to say that those reforms, agenda items the governor has specifically stated, that there needs to be made some progress.

“The Democrats talk about their core principle beliefs on certain issues as if they’re the only party that has core beliefs. We have some as well,” Durkin said.

* Last word…

“I’m not quite sure what the result of today’s meeting was,” said House Republican Leader Jim Durkin of Western Springs.

posted by Rich Miller
Wednesday, Dec 2, 15 @ 11:15 am

Comments

Yesterdays meeting makes me think of the cars that the Shriners Drive in Parades. Lots of movement, but are they really going anywhere?

Comment by Speaker Madigan Wednesday, Dec 2, 15 @ 11:19 am
==“I’m sorry but I’ve seen this bad movie before. It doesn’t end well for the Illinois economy,” Durkin said.==

Suggested QOTD: Name an example or two of such a movie.

Comment by Dave Dahl Wednesday, Dec 2, 15 @ 11:21 am
Still trying to figure out just where Durkin is coming from. His comments were destructive rather than helpful. And he is an intelligent and generally kind man. Maybe he was just playing his assigned role.

However, it sounded like he might be burned out from dealing in the House minority all these years, and has personified his policy issues.

Comment by walker Wednesday, Dec 2, 15 @ 11:25 am
Durkin said. “Revenue is not the answer; it is never going to be the answer.”
FYI…”never” is infinite. Hope Owl has a show description in the next month about Durkin eating his words. Great posturing, but not realistic.
If half of all gaming revenue over the past twenty years had gone into the Common School fund, local property taxpayers would be much better off. Better management and some Activity Based Costing please.
Oh, and how about the Governor’s balanced budget plan? Could we please get a schedule with real numbers which foots and crossfoots? Governor, you are 10 months behind of presenting your balanced budget. Governing includes leadership, including presenting a balanced budget. Very basic.

Comment by Beaner Wednesday, Dec 2, 15 @ 11:28 am
“The Democrats talk about their core principle beliefs on certain issues as if they’re the only party that has core beliefs. We have some as well.”

Except you demand the majority party give up their core beliefs?

“I’m not quite sure what the result of today’s meeting was,”

Didn’t Rauner put that part in the script?

Comment by Wensicia Wednesday, Dec 2, 15 @ 11:29 am
I think they’re all crazy.

Comment by Flynn's Mom Wednesday, Dec 2, 15 @ 11:30 am
GOP if the meeting was public there would be no doublespeak

Comment by Anonymous Wednesday, Dec 2, 15 @ 11:30 am
Cullerton is the best hope for some sort of resolution. Rauner and Madigan are obessesed with winning and aren’t interested in finding a way for the other to save face — a necessary element to compromise. I fear Radogno and Durkin have been rendered useless because of Rauner’s cash…which is really too bad because they are both reasonable problem solvers. Until one of them is willing to show independence from the Guv, this stalemate will continue.

Comment by FRD Wednesday, Dec 2, 15 @ 11:32 am
So Madigan wants to meet, but then sits there like a dead stump during the meeting? How is that helping anything am except a false perception that he wants to resolve things?

Comment by Anonymous Wednesday, Dec 2, 15 @ 11:32 am
===Name an example or two of such a movie===

Airport ‘77. We all boarded Rauner’s privately owned jumbo jet, which subsequently crashed shortly after take-off and now we’re trapped under water waiting desperately for a rescue.

Starring Jimmy Stewart, Jack Lemmon, Olivia de Haviland, and the 12 million residents of Illinois.

Comment by 47th Ward Wednesday, Dec 2, 15 @ 11:33 am
The results from the meeting:

The 4 leaders and the Governor get to keep their positions with the privileges, pay, and stipends for doing absolutely nothing–except blame the guys on the other side of the aisle.

The taxpayers of Illinois: well we got the short end of the stick again.

Comment by train111 Wednesday, Dec 2, 15 @ 11:34 am
===“The mess we find ourselves in today, including the worst credit rating under one party, Democrat control, falls into the hands of the Democrats,” a fiery Durkin said. […]===

“Democrat control” … Ugh.

To the Post,

I have no beef with any of the Five; when Rauner hijacked this meeting, it played out as Rauner touted it.

I really enjoyed the Radogno line, it was resturant-quality.

The Cullerton “surrender” line won the meeting.

Understanding I’m a fan of Durkin, I still am, heck, I’ve even asked about Durkin to others, how is he doing, and wonder aloud how these positions will effect House races, when I hear Durkin say “Democrat controlled” and move farther away from middle ground, all I can do is hope he knows what he’s dooing.

I appreciate Leader Radogno’s position leading the SGOP. There are many “free thinkers” in that Caucus that are willing to embrace the Rauner agenda and showing less of an embracing of growing the numbers when they harden the positions. I root for Leader Radogno. It’s concerning for me hearing her pointed words and looking at the races her Caucus has, and how the narrative chosen will bring more members come November.

It’s one thing for both to choose the political line in the sand, but is that line more Rauner ideology and less Republican tent packing?

Doing the doable isn’t what I’m hearing. What I’m hearing is “Fire Madigan” first, governing second. The fear has to be not being heard, but being tuned out because of the fallout of these talking points.

The “Surrender Caucus” seems to not have won, per se, but “Hang in there!” is definitely not winning. Then, yesterday, it wasn’t the “hanging in there!” that was concerning, but the doubling down on the stalemate.

I wish them both good luck, come March and come November. If their own autonomy can be earned at the ballot box, let that autonomy be earned with a diverse new members, not the shrinking of their Caucus numbers and the monolithic tones of those who are left.

Govern within what can be, and maybe the GOP can be more than Carhartts and Vans, Strawberry shakes and selfie tweets.

Help the governor. Be a partner, not a part of the machinery.

Comment by Oswego Willy Wednesday, Dec 2, 15 @ 11:38 am
The governor said that the reforms in his TA are not extreme, and have proven to be working in many states that have similar reforms. Which states are they, and just how successful have the reforms been in those states? He never gets specific, but I am quite sure that many of his examples aren’t what he can call “successful”. He is a sham. What a poor excuse for a governor.

Comment by Big Joe Wednesday, Dec 2, 15 @ 11:39 am
===Name an example or two of such a movie===
“Titanic” or “The Poseidon Adventure” spring to mind as well.

Comment by Skeptic Wednesday, Dec 2, 15 @ 11:40 am
“Shecky” Cullerton had one of the better lines- if we don’t meet how are we supposed to reach a conclusion? What if I were to surrender to you? Where was so supposed to go?

Madigan burst that bubble in his press conference when he said they have been talking all along. There were working groups all summer- all ideas rejected.

He just needed a drumroll for effect

Comment by Lucky Pierre Wednesday, Dec 2, 15 @ 11:41 am
I just want to know what proof Rauner has that unions are the cause of Illinois’s problems? The Trib had a series a few weeks back on what is holding back the tech industry in Chicago. They talked about the lack of venture capital but nothing about unions.

Comment by Chicago Guy Wednesday, Dec 2, 15 @ 11:42 am
- 47th Ward -

I was thinking “Towering Inferno”, the architect in the building, the skimping on the necessary, “hostages” waiting to be rescued…

Steve McQueen, Paul Newman, Faye Dunaway, Richard Chamberlin, Robert Wagner, Fred Astaire… Willam
Holden, a cast of “thousands”

Comment by Oswego Willy Wednesday, Dec 2, 15 @ 11:48 am
===Name an example or two of such a movie===

Blatantly obvious to this reader that he meant the 1978 classic, “Rescue from Gilligan’s Island.”

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0078155/?mode=desktop&ref_=m_ft_dsk

Comment by Kasparov Wednesday, Dec 2, 15 @ 11:51 am
It’s definitely a disaster movie Willy. I liked the “trapped under water” parallel given the budget mess, but it’s definitely a man-made disaster of epic proportions. Cecil B. DeMille would love this script.

Comment by 47th Ward Wednesday, Dec 2, 15 @ 11:52 am
- 47 Ward -

The symbolic water is huge. You are right about that.

===…but it’s definitely a man-made disaster of epic proportions. Cecil B. DeMille would love this script.===

Spot On.

Comment by Oswego Willy Wednesday, Dec 2, 15 @ 12:00 pm
Could Rep. Durkin or Sen. Radogno explain how the governor’s “reforms” would benefit the “economy?”

Let’s take them one at a time.

“How Term Limits Benefit the Economy.”

“How Redistricting Reform Benefits the Economy.”

“How Ending Collective Bargaining for Local Government Workers Benefit the Economy.”

And, as an appendix:

“How Holding the State Budget Hostage for These ‘Reforms’ is Worth The Cost.”

Charts, graphs, numbers, all the good stuff required when making fiscal and economic projections.

After all these months, they haven’t even tried to present a rationale, real-world benefit to this stuff, or made a defense as to why it is worth sabotaging state government.

They just blurt the same dreary, unsupported talking points you could teach to a parakeet.

Comment by wordslinger Wednesday, Dec 2, 15 @ 12:17 pm
So both sides need to compromise, even on their “core beliefs”. There is a GOP Governor and a Dem Legislature.

Comment by Formerpol Wednesday, Dec 2, 15 @ 12:27 pm
Maniac - Michael Sembello, enhanced by VanillaMan

Just a Turnaround Artist on a Saturday night
Looking for the fight of his life
In the real time world no one sees him at all
They see he’s TEA Party crazy

Lowering working-class wages is key to his heart
Shoving Illinois into bankrupted blight
He got elected into the danger zone
Now wants RTW in Peoria and Dwight

He will cut you like a knife
if the fight becomes the fire
On the wire between will and what will be

He’s a maniac, maniac to the core
And he’s spending like he’s never spent before
He’s a maniac, maniac of the Top Four
And he don’t care whose ox he has to gore

On the ice blue line of insanity
That’s Springfield to both you and me
His logic is a complete mystery,
He wants to buy it then break it, you see

You work all your life, for that moment in time
You earn enough to just get by
But to him he thinks he owns the world
So you don’t have a chance
He believes he’s the king of finance

He has a cold competitive heat
Struggling stretching for the peak
Never stopping until he thinks he has the win

He’s a maniac, maniac I sure know
He’s wants to be the star of every show
He’s a maniac, maniac I sure know
We’ve seen his movie before, it is full of woe

He can outspend us like a bank
Until the Illinois economy is sank
As governor only he will decide what will be

He’s a maniac, maniac I sure know
We’re all his hostages in his pirate ship’s stow
He’s a maniac, maniac I sure feel
He see us like we’re Jeffrey Dahmer’s last meal

He’s a maniac, maniac I sure know!

Comment by VanillaMan Wednesday, Dec 2, 15 @ 12:41 pm
“Could Rep. Durkin or Sen. Radogno explain how the governor’s “reforms” would benefit the “economy?””
H/T to wordslinger

If the superstars can’t make their case, then what are you doing exactly?

Comment by Dee Lay Wednesday, Dec 2, 15 @ 12:43 pm
=== “I’m not quite sure what the result of today’s meeting was,” said House Republican Leader Jim Durkin of Western Springs. ===

The rest of the quote was, “Rauner hasn’t told me how to respond yet.”

Comment by Norseman Wednesday, Dec 2, 15 @ 1:01 pm
He see us like we’re Jeffrey Dahmer’s last meal

Umm….what a lyric!

Comment by Six Degrees of Separation Wednesday, Dec 2, 15 @ 1:07 pm
Dee Lay and Wordslinger, the flip side of the situation is why aren’t Madigan, Cullerton and others more effectively making the case that unions are not the source of our problems. The messaging I hear is that they want to deal with the budget first and other issues later. They aren’t fighting back on the idea that the reforms are not reforms - just ways for the rich to get more power and money.

Comment by Chicago Guy Wednesday, Dec 2, 15 @ 1:15 pm
==Democrats view the budget impasse as a “war” without compromise==

Not ==Democrats==.

Madigan.

Comment by Formerly Known As... Wednesday, Dec 2, 15 @ 1:25 pm
He couldn’t even ==compromise== on his childish desire to speak last, after the Governor, following the meeting.

smh.

Comment by Formerly Known As... Wednesday, Dec 2, 15 @ 1:30 pm
=== “I’m not quite sure what the result of today’s meeting was,” said House Republican Leader Jim Durkin of Western Springs. ===

Okay, Jim. Let me tell you what the result of today’s meeting was…. A total failure of management. It was you reading some statement about how reasonable the governor is while looking buffoonish. The result is more gridlock, more poor leadership. This meeting was supposed to be about a budget. But you and your people made it about some arbitrary agenda that you think needs passed before our deadbeat state will pay it’s bills. FAILURE, Jim. That is the result.

Comment by Ducky LaMoore Wednesday, Dec 2, 15 @ 1:31 pm
Chicago Guy, because it’s a fool’s errand to try to “prove” a negative.

Comment by wordslinger Wednesday, Dec 2, 15 @ 1:41 pm
“The Democrats talk about their core principle beliefs on certain issues as if they’re the only party that has core beliefs. We have some as well.”

Except you demand the majority party give up their core beliefs?

BEST analysis of the day!

Comment by forwhatitsworth Wednesday, Dec 2, 15 @ 1:43 pm
FKA, you’re quite obsessed with that the order of press statements.

I’m kind of thinking you really haven’t discovered the Da Vinci Code there.

Comment by wordslinger Wednesday, Dec 2, 15 @ 1:43 pm
One result of the meeting is more words Durkin will eventually have to eat, namely, “Revenue is not the answer. Revenue is never the answer.

Comment by nona Wednesday, Dec 2, 15 @ 1:47 pm
the parties have agreed on the shape of the table to be used for future meetings, that they will meet again, and what coffee will be served.

Comment by Ghost Wednesday, Dec 2, 15 @ 2:22 pm
–If the superstars can’t make the case, what are they doing exactly?–

Cashing powerful checks.

That’s why the governor supported the move down in St. Clair County to pay state employees without an appropriation.

That’s why Schrimpf freaked on twitter when the attorney general pursued a separate action in a Cook County courtroom, actually tweeting the room number, like a call to pack the room.

You think those guys were going to pursue this nonsense for free?

Not getting paid is for the little people — you know, Illinois citizens and businesses.

Comment by wordslinger Wednesday, Dec 2, 15 @ 3:07 pm
@wordslinger - hardly. It is the Speaker who was ==quite obsessed== with the order of press statements. We should all be as concerned as the Speaker was.

==@moniquegarcia GOP leaders, sans Rauner, came out to say not much got done. Now standoff between Madigan and Rauner on who will have last word today.==

When is the last time you saw such a childish ==standoff== over who gets to speak last? Middle school?

When is the last time you saw an adult lower on the ==organization chart== demand to give a closing statement instead of the CEO?

Have you ever seen Paul Ryan, Mitch McConnell or even Joe Biden order the President to speak first after a meeting?

What type of adult does that?

It was a remarkable act.

Comment by Formerly Known As... Wednesday, Dec 2, 15 @ 3:52 pm
===Have you ever seen Paul Ryan, Mitch McConnell or even Joe Biden order the President to speak first after a meeting?===

I’m old enough to remember when the Republicans didn’t get to speak after a SOTU address. That only became a thing when Bill Clinton was elected iirc.

You sound like a youngster FKA. What were you formerly known as, by the way? Was it “sophomore” by chance?

Comment by 47th Ward Wednesday, Dec 2, 15 @ 4:03 pm
@47th Ward - lol as kids say. Those happen to be the current Speaker of the House, President of the Senate and Vice President. Modern times.

The youngsters either don’t know Tip O’Neil or they think Cannon and Rayburn are building names.

Old timers know those names without the internet. Most old timers also possess the decorum to avoid starting a ==standoff== over who speaks to the media last.

Comment by Formerly Known As... Wednesday, Dec 2, 15 @ 6:23 pm