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Senator Cool

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Illinois

* My weekly syndicated newspaper column…

During the last couple weeks of the spring state legislative session, Senate President Don Harmon got whacked twice by allies, including Gov. J.B. Pritzker, but still managed to keep his cool.

On May 14, the pro-choice powerhouse group Personal PAC issued a blistering press release blasting the Senate supermajority for an “unacceptable decision” to strip abortion services from the governor’s birth equity bill, which banned co-pays and other added insurance costs for most prenatal and postnatal care. Pritzker quickly chimed in, saying if the House-approved bill was indeed stripped of abortion coverage, he wouldn’t sign it.

Eleven days later — the day before the Senate took up the state budget package — an internal administration talking points memo was mistakenly sent as a blast text message by a member of Pritzker’s staff to House Democrats. The incendiary blast text was sent shortly after the Senate Democrats, in consultation with the Republicans, amended a House bill reforming the Illinois Prisoner Review Board.

The Senate’s bipartisan amendment included requirements like live-streaming Prisoner Review Board hearings, which the Pritzker administration claimed at the time would cost a fortune and, according to the mistakenly texted memo, was actually part of a plan to undermine the state’s Mandatory Supervised Release program because hearing officers would be intimidated into not releasing deserving prisoners while being video streamed.

“This is a right-wing wolf in disingenuous transparency clothing,” the administration’s text told House Dems. “It eliminates [Mandatory Supervised Release] by design. And it’s appalling that senate democrats [sic] are so eager to please their Republican friends that they would undermine justice and push to keep people incarcerated who, by measure of actual law, should be out on MSR.”

There was real fear in the building the accidental broadside could derail the budget.
Budget package stayed on track

Through it all, though, Harmon didn’t overreact. The entire budget package cleared his chamber with far more Democratic support than it received days later in the House. Things could’ve been so much different.

“It did not trouble me in a way it may have in the past,” Harmon told me last week after I asked if he had matured over the years.

The Senate, he pointed out, eventually “passed the birth equity bill, and in the form it was passed.” He later added, “I think there were some misunderstandings that could’ve been resolved by a telephone call.”

And Harmon said of the Prisoner Review Board amendment imbroglio: “We weren’t intending to pick fights. It was a bit of a surprise to me the level of engagement and the way it happened. I’d much rather work with the governor to make this work than to spin our wheels for nothing.” He said he’d be “happy” to have a conversation with the governor to “make sure all voices are heard” going forward.

“In the end, we’re judged by what we produce, not the rough drafts in between,” Harmon said. “The partnership with the governor, responsible budgeting has been a real anchor here for all of us, I think. And again, my priorities going into any session are to do the best I can to make sure the members of our caucus have the opportunity to advance legislation that’s important to them and to make sure we adopt a responsible, balanced budget. So, I try to focus on those things and not worry about the political flame-throwing that just seems to be part of our process.”

Harmon and the governor didn’t start off on the best terms. The two were old allies, but their top staffs just did not mesh well, to say the least.

But Harmon told me things started to change toward the end of the 2023 spring session. “I think the challenges we faced in passing the budget last year have solidified the relationship between the Senate staff and the governor’s staff and demonstrated our ability to work well together,” he told me.

Harmon wouldn’t specify what those “challenges” were, but it’s pretty obvious what he meant.

Last year, House Speaker Chris Welch agreed to a budget deal with the other two leaders. An announcement was made, but then Welch got heat from his caucus and needed to find more money for his members. Rather than walk away, Harmon and Pritzker and their staffs worked with Welch to find a solution.

Former House Speaker Michael Madigan wouldn’t have been nearly as accommodating, to say the least. Making accommodations and overlooking attacks just weren’t his thing. Times have indeed changed.

posted by Rich Miller
Monday, Jul 8, 24 @ 7:52 am

Comments

And for the better too…….

Comment by Downstate Surveyor Monday, Jul 8, 24 @ 8:28 am
We need a heck of a lot more like him. And as a RINO we need them on all sides. Like “judge what we produce not the rough draft”

Comment by DuPage Saint Monday, Jul 8, 24 @ 8:42 am
A Speaker who fights for his caucus instead of overlooking them. A leader that leads with empathy for others. Sounds like things have gotten much better in Springfield for House members. Times have indeed changed.

Comment by Springfield Watcher Monday, Jul 8, 24 @ 9:10 am
===I think there were some misunderstandings that could’ve been resolved by a telephone call.===

Wise words to live by.

Comment by Three Dimensional Checkers Monday, Jul 8, 24 @ 9:19 am
–Former House Speaker Michael Madigan wouldn’t have been nearly as accommodating.–

MJM also would have controlled the budget process and without the end of session shambles that occurred in the House this year.

Comment by King Louis XVI Monday, Jul 8, 24 @ 9:28 am
== “…misunderstandings that could’ve been resolved by a telephone call.” ==

Amen. Seemed like there was a shoot-first-and-ask-questions-later approach from the abortion rights groups and the governor’s office on these issues. That’s rarely a good way to practice legislative politics — a space where behind the scenes diplomacy carries the day way more often than comms staff talking points.

Comment by Telly Monday, Jul 8, 24 @ 10:09 am
Ive been saying for years, Harmon is boring. And yet, his methodical cool approach keeps winning supermajorities and passing key legislation. He isnt flashy. Thats to his credit as well.

Not a single one of his members will ever lose because they voted for Don for Senate President.

If anyone follows UK politics, the new Prime Minister Keir Starmer reminds me of Harmon in many ways. He’s dull yet deadly effective and just piles up big wins.

Comment by low level Monday, Jul 8, 24 @ 12:09 pm
This whole article seems like an attempt to rehab Harmon’s image after he lost a seat in 2022 when the House gained 5. He got fined in 2022 for running a bad Supreme Court PAC and lost an appeal to the state board of elections, and then lost a $2 million race in the primary to the CTU. Senator Cool, maybe; but definitely not a political genius or Keri Starmer.

Comment by Another perspective Monday, Jul 8, 24 @ 1:20 pm
===This whole article seems like an attempt===

Geez the conspiracy theories are wild today. But to be clear, that thought never once crossed my mind. Try to stay on topic.

Comment by Rich Miller Monday, Jul 8, 24 @ 1:26 pm
…Also, the column was about governing, not campaigns. All the rest of that campaign stuff you mentioned has been covered here. If you are a subscriber, you know I also asked Harmon about that primary.

Comment by Rich Miller Monday, Jul 8, 24 @ 1:32 pm
==Senator Cool, maybe; but definitely not a political genius or Keri Starmer.==

To start, its Keir Starmer, not “Keri”. Second, even Labour had some unexpected losses the other day, similar to Harmon’s 2022 loss you mentioned. Finally, Don Harmon has consistently returned to Springfield with record setting supermajorities. In entire history of Illinois, no Senate leader has had as big of a majority as he has with the exception of Dem gains during the Great Depression. Your comment is inane.

Comment by low level Monday, Jul 8, 24 @ 3:15 pm