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Don’t hold your breath

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Illinois

* My weekly syndicated newspaper column…

Top folks in the governor’s office said they didn’t quite understand last week why the Senate Democrats and House Speaker Michael Madigan’s spokesman were so upset with them about canceling last Thursday’s leaders meeting to discuss ending the long Statehouse impasse and finishing up an incomplete budget.

Gov. Bruce Rauner’s chief of staff reached out to Rep. Greg Harris (D-Chicago) last Wednesday to see whether he’d finished up a budget framework. Harris, who Madigan refers to as his “chief budget negotiator,” had reportedly made it clear earlier in the process that he wanted to get input from House Democratic membership before moving forward with any budget proposal. He hadn’t yet been able to do that, which led to the decision by the governor’s office to cancel last Thursday’s meeting.

Trouble is, the press release announcing that cancellation was sent at almost exactly the same time as top Democratic staff were informed of the news. And that led to internal confusion and more than a little anger.
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“I’m seriously floored by this,” said one clearly ticked off top Dem involved with the negotiations. “Every time we start to make progress they pull the plug.”

Public comments by Madigan’s spokesman (who is not involved with negotiations) were a bit harsh: “Somehow they had it in their heads that we’re going to take over some executive action [by proposing a full budget]. I don’t think that’s going to happen,” Steve Brown told the Chicago Sun-Times.

But the real reason the Democrats haven’t presented a plan after almost two years of demanding that Rauner propose one is that if they do lay out an actual spending plan, they’d have to essentially reveal the size of the tax hike they’d prefer, which is why Rauner hasn’t done it, either.

It wouldn’t be difficult for the governor to take the Democrats’ spending proposals, subtract out expected state revenues and then label what wasn’t yet funded as “the Democrats’ tax hike plan.” Or, more likely, “the Mike Madigan tax hike plan,” since the Republicans truly relish whacking the unpopular House Speaker.

That may not happen, but the complete lack of trust among Statehouse leaders exacerbated by the governor’s year-round campaign style pretty much makes that expectation a reality.

After all, I already get more than a dozen e-mails almost every day from the Illinois Republican Party slamming individual House and Senate Democrats for being Madigan’s minions. A “tax hike proposal” from Madigan could exponentially increase those attacks.

Not to mention that the governor’s state party sent a video “tracker” to the Statehouse this month to harass a few politically vulnerable House Democrats. The party posted video of one somewhat embarrassing encounter on YouTube. This stuff is, at the least, inanely juvenile and, at most, darkly autocratic. The governor’s party shouldn’t be paying people to follow opposing party legislators around Springfield with a camera. Period. And it could easily escalate out of control if the other side starts responding in kind.

In the past, the leaders and the governor would all figuratively hold hands and jump off the tax hike cliff together. But, in the past, nobody was blasting out campaign press releases just days after the campaign ended and hounding legislators with video trackers. So, nobody trusts anyone enough to do that now.

And that’s why Senate President John Cullerton went on WTTW’s “Chicago Tonight” program last week and said, “It’s not a matter of who’s going first,” but then firmly and repeatedly demanded that Rauner had to be the one to go first.

Even so, they actually appear to be making some slow progress behind the scenes.

Despite public comments by Republican leaders that reconstituting the rank and file legislative working groups was a waste of time, a small group planned to meet last Friday with the governor’s people to engage on a workers’ compensation reform plan. Cullerton said earlier in the week that he was confident a deal could be struck, particularly if it focused on weeding out fraud and abuse. Speaker Madigan said after last Tuesday’s meeting that he was willing to negotiate on that topic.

Another small working group was also scheduled to talk about local government consolidation and state mandate relief. Madigan said he was willing to engage on that topic as well. Madigan also said last week he was willing to talk about pension reform, which is another major Rauner demand and for which Cullerton already has a proposal.

They just need to find a way to trust each other enough to make it all happen. Don’t bet on it yet.

posted by Rich Miller
Monday, Dec 12, 16 @ 9:05 am

Comments

Rauner isn’t spending a hundred million dollars to do any heavy lifting in his retirement. It’s his hobby, he’s paying a lot for it, he’s entitled to do it as he wishes.

Comment by wordslinger Monday, Dec 12, 16 @ 9:13 am
Step one in developing the trust necessary would be for Rauner to stop with the instant partisan attacks. You can say its both sides doing this, but, as Rich said, both sides were able to hold hands and jump together before Rauner came on the scene. he is clearly the variable that has changed the equation. Knock it off, Governor!

Comment by Anon Monday, Dec 12, 16 @ 9:16 am
” both sides were able to hold hands and jump together before Rauner came on the scene.” There’s that status quo thing again! /s

Comment by Skeptic Monday, Dec 12, 16 @ 9:20 am
Once again Rich nails it and cuts through the partisan hype coming from both parties. I wish everyone in the state would read this and regardless of party affiliation contact their reps and the governor’s office and demand a resolution to this mess.

Just this past Friday, the IBHE doled out the remaining $3 million in the “stop-gap” budget to six community colleges. These were the ones in the worst shape and some would not have been able to make payroll by mid-February. I know there has been a lot of talk about 4 years maybe closing their doors, but there are a number of 2 years in serious trouble as well.

Comment by G'Kar Monday, Dec 12, 16 @ 9:22 am
“There’s that status quo thing again!”

You mean like having an operational budget, providers and vendors being paid and state universities being able to plan for the future?

Comment by Give Me A Break Monday, Dec 12, 16 @ 9:24 am
The partisan Kabuki dance.

It’s like they just phone it in.

No accountability, until next election day.

Comment by Sir Reel Monday, Dec 12, 16 @ 9:35 am
===And that’s why Senate President John Cullerton went on WTTW’s “Chicago Tonight” program last week and said, “It’s not a matter of who’s going first,” but then firmly and repeatedly demanded that Rauner had to be the one to go first.===

Great line! And Cullerton usually seems like the most reasonable one of the bunch.

Comment by Robert the Bruce Monday, Dec 12, 16 @ 9:39 am
When there is no trust, it goes back to straight power and messaging.

The message has two parts. The first is that the Governor has a Constitutional Duty to propose a balanced budget.
The second is that nothing moves, nobody gets confirmed until the Governor does his Constitutional Duty.

Comment by Last Bull Moose Monday, Dec 12, 16 @ 9:39 am
When trust is traded for partisan political points… You get misunderstandings not based on words or actions, but the interpretations of what those words and actions mean.

Period.

That’s what’s happening, and no amount of discussions will be fruitful until these types of misunderstood interpretations are taken over by the truth of trust by all.

Comment by Oswego Willy Monday, Dec 12, 16 @ 9:43 am
At this pount, you are never going to achieve trust between Rauner and Madigan.

The best we can hope for is a Mexican standoff of somewhat mutual respect

Comment by RNUG Monday, Dec 12, 16 @ 9:48 am
Trust?
Could someone suggest to Capt. Fax that trust has not been expected for months — or more.

Now it is down to gaining some belief that BigBrain and the SuperStars still lack the basic skills to execute a complex agreement, carry out the details and perhaps turn down the juvenile but incessant messaging from the people who have all the BigBrainBucks in their account.

Let’s face GOPies in the legislature, who will be expected to walk the plank in big numbers on any revenue deal, don’t expect much from BigBrain Central.

We know this may stun some, but read it over slowly and believe

Comment by Annonin' Monday, Dec 12, 16 @ 9:52 am
Is it really just a matter of trust? Doesn’t the Governor still have a bottle of poison pills mistakenly labeled “Turnaround Agenda?”

Comment by HistProf Monday, Dec 12, 16 @ 9:54 am
The lack of trust is the single most glaring reason IL doesn’t have a budget. Rauner set the tone early by lying about the election night calls, calling just about everyone “corrupt”, and never ceasing with the campaign rhetoric. Say what you will about Madigan but if you’re honest with him, he’ll return it in kind. Dems can’t win for losing with this Gov. because whenever the required tax hike is mentioned, Rauner goes on the offensive. He hasn’t given anyone reason to trust him. It’s awfully hard to get things done when it’s not a question of whether you’ll be stabbed in the back but where and how many times.

Comment by Cubs in '16 Monday, Dec 12, 16 @ 9:55 am
- Give Me A Break - Monday, Dec 12, 16 @ 9:24 am:

=“There’s that status quo thing again!”

You mean like having an operational budget, providers and vendors being paid and state universities being able to plan for the future?=

They mean like passing vastly unbalanced budgets year after year with no responsible path or even pretending to try to do otherwise. It was easy for Madigan to go along when he got Republicans to go along. He’s not so effective when he actually has to acknowledge the other side won an election, and he might have to give on something he doesn’t really like. It’s called compromise, but he hasn’t really had to do it - at least not for a couple of decades or more.

Comment by LessAnon? Monday, Dec 12, 16 @ 10:01 am
I agree with RNUG. There will never be “peace in our time”. I don’t see compromise at all. I believe it is a fight to the political death. Being soft at this point will get you politically knocked out. To use one of Rich’s phrases we’ve got two armies trying to get the boot on the others neck. Discussions of trust seem almost foreign and quaint to me now. I know this is hard core but having a different tone won’t change the reality of the of the midair battle of two eagles, clawing and biting as we plummet.

Comment by Honeybear Monday, Dec 12, 16 @ 10:08 am
===He’s not so effective when he actually has to acknowledge the other side won an election, and he might have to give on something he doesn’t really like.===

(Sigh)

When “the other side’s” main budget maneuver was breaking trust with the Good Friday Massacre cuts, you can’t “blame Madigan!”.

It’s as thou you didn’t even read anything above.

Trust. Trust is needed.

You’re more concerned about “who won” and who needs to “get over” whatever.

Keep up, please. Understand what’s at play, not the way you can manipulate unhelpful talking point.

K? K.

Comment by Oswego Willy Monday, Dec 12, 16 @ 10:12 am
“acknowledge the other side won an election” Well, regardless of the outcome of the election, there’s still that pesky 60/30 thing to deal with.

Comment by Skeptic Monday, Dec 12, 16 @ 10:19 am
A couple of weeks ago the Speaker mentioned coming up with some Memorandums Of Understanding. That is because Madigan and the Democrats mistrust Rauner. Rauner wasted no time poisoning the well when he assumed office. It really is a shame how the Administration has handled things. Their primary directive has been to make the new GOP (Raunerite Party) the majority party in Illinois. They should have just concentrated on improving the fiscal health of this state. We could have and should have had some meaningful changes in place by now.

Comment by The Dude Abides Monday, Dec 12, 16 @ 10:23 am
RNUG, regarding your “…….” stand off; I have great respect for your comments and perspectives, but you may wish to retire that expression. I have done so with that and many others that I heard and repeated as a kid.

Comment by Tommydanger Monday, Dec 12, 16 @ 10:41 am
“acknowledge the other side won an election”

And the Speaker and his members won their elections meaning they have a seat at the table, as such Rauner needs to work them too.

See how this government thing works?

Comment by Anonymous Monday, Dec 12, 16 @ 10:43 am
Sorry, anonymous at 10:43 was me.

Comment by Give Me A Break Monday, Dec 12, 16 @ 10:48 am
This reminds me of the scene in Stripes where Russell and Bill Murray are in a lineup with Hulka trying to determine fault for some violation. Murray begins to lean forward to accept responsibility, but stops himself as Russell steps forward.

Anyway, trust would be nice, but it ain’t gonna happen on either side. We can all debate forever who is the cause of the lack of trust, but that’ll get us nowhere. How about ideas on how to accomplish the task without trust?

They’ve got to reach the point where they both own the finished product, which will have revenue increases and real spending decreases. Neither has to go first, they go together, as Rich said. Maybe a retreat where they catch their falling coworker! JK…. They need to try something out of the box. Perhaps they could start with an exercise where each side writes the balanced budget they believe the other side wants. Maybe take the other side’s role for a bit. Sounds crazy even as I write it, but something crazy could be needed to break the ice.

Comment by Anony Monday, Dec 12, 16 @ 10:58 am
Perhaps a less crazy idea is to hire a mediator (not an arbitrator). The main advantage of this would be that s/he would eliminate the problem of who goes first by being the one to go first on issues each side feels unwilling to propose first.

Comment by Anony Monday, Dec 12, 16 @ 11:04 am
Re Robert the Bruce - “Cullerton usually seems like the most reasonable one of the bunch.” It’s a cultivated image that has served little purpose in the present context except for Governor Rauner trying to rhetorically pit President Cullerton against the Speaker. With the election of Trump if there ever was a time for Democrat partisan politics it’s now. Most compromises made will be on the terms of the Republicans given their vision of national ascendency.

Comment by Rod Monday, Dec 12, 16 @ 11:42 am
Petty men argue like kids,while our State twists in the wind.
It just never ends. All noise,all the time. I’m sick of all 3 of them and the people who are lead around by them. Bring back the smoke filled rooms,and the wheeler dealers.
At least they made progress ,not rot.

Comment by Mokenavince Monday, Dec 12, 16 @ 12:07 pm
“All the noise, noise, noise, noise!”

Welcome to Whoville.

Comment by Steve Polite Monday, Dec 12, 16 @ 1:14 pm
At least the pretense that we don’t require a tax increase to balance the budget, is starting to disappear from the public/press discourse.

Comment by walker Monday, Dec 12, 16 @ 1:16 pm
==The partisan Kabuki dance.==

I remain hopeful that the Kabuki is just a cover for better things happening backstage.

Comment by walker Monday, Dec 12, 16 @ 2:18 pm
Did someone say,’fraud and abuse’?

Comment by blue dog dem Monday, Dec 12, 16 @ 5:00 pm
-Tommydanger-

I thought about it before posting but I couldn’t come up with another shorthand phrase to easily convey the idea.

Comment by RNUG Monday, Dec 12, 16 @ 6:22 pm
RNUG, use “Illinois standoff.” It’s perfectly PC and factually correct as well.

Comment by Arthur Andersen Monday, Dec 12, 16 @ 6:30 pm