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* My weekly syndicated newspaper column….
As I write this, Governor Rod Blagojevich is contemplating yet another special legislative session to take up a newly revised $25 billion infrastructure repair proposal for transportation, schools and economic development.
Whatever happens, it certainly appears that any special session would be an exercise in futility. House Speaker Michael Madigan is not budging off his opposition to the governor’s capital construction plan, even in its newly revised and scaled-back form.
House Majority Leader Barbara Flynn Currie, who attended last week’s legislative leaders meeting on Madigan’s behalf, dumped all over the proposal’s remaining funding stream - leasing the Illinois Lottery to a private company. She wasn’t impressed with the fact that the governor had taken gaming expansion off the table as a funding mechanism, and she said Blagojevich ought to sign the “pay to play” bill to ban contractor contributions before anyone should even consider talking about a capital bill that will award tens of billions of dollars to many of those same contractors.
The governor, for his part, kept up his public attacks on Madigan for refusing to cooperate. After the leaders meeting, the governor’s staff leaked a harsh letter that Madigan allegedly sent to a Teamsters Union official: “I regret that you bought into the bull____ of the Blagojevich people.”
Yep. Another banner day in Illinois government.
The only conceivable reason for bringing legislators back to town would be to continue the Madigan bashing festivities, because it doesn’t look like he’s ready to cave any time soon.
Lots of people wonder why Madigan is refusing to cooperate on a concept that just about everyone agrees is vital to the state’s interests. They also wonder when, or even if, he’ll get off the dime and advance a proposal of his own.
I’ve pointed this out before, but it’s worth repeating. Last year, Madigan slow-walked several big legislative proposals, refusing to close any deal until it was done his way, on his timeline and was completely unconnected to other issues.
The mass transit bailout is a case in point.
Madigan stubbornly pushed the bailout plan, which was hammered out by the Chicago-area transit systems and their unions, when others wanted big changes. He refused demands to connect it to the governor’s health care dreams, or the capital bill and whatever else was brought up. The speaker persevered through a couple of dramatic “doomsday” shutdown deadlines and waited until the last possible moment before finally advancing his proposal. The governor used his amendatory veto powers on the bill to allow seniors to ride free, but other than that Madigan got his way.
Expect the same on the capital projects bill. When Madigan decides it’s time, he’ll do something. The trouble is, nobody knows when he’ll make that decision.
Meanwhile, Madigan is way out on a limb with this thing. He’s more isolated now than he’s ever been on any issue in his entire career. All the other legislative leaders, most of his political allies, and quite a few of his members oppose his current posture. That letter released by the governor’s office is a good example of just how rough he can be on anyone who takes a side other than his, and a whole lot of people have taken sides against him on this capital plan.
Yet, nothing seems to move Madigan. The governor’s evisceration of his daughter Lisa’s attorney general budget provoked ‘nary a peep. Traditional allies are pushed aside, the dire needs of a state slipping into recession are downplayed, editorials are ripped up, critics are scorned, and the end result is always the same: No movement.
Madigan has his reasons for refusing to work with Blagojevich and Jones. Many, many, many of them are sound. He’s been burned repeatedly by both men, and he simply doesn’t trust their word on anything.
“I got taken to school last year,” Madigan told Senate Republican Leader Watson about 2007’s disastrous, record-breaking overtime session. “So I figured while I was at school I might as well learn something.”
That “something” appears to be to refuse to cooperate until he’s ready to push his own plan.
But the bottom line is nobody really has a clue about what he’ll do and when he’ll do it. Madigan likes it that way, of course, but it can drive an observer absolutely crazy.
posted by Rich Miller
Monday, Aug 4, 08 @ 8:35 am
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Madigan, I believe, sees the governor being completely ineffective. He doesn’t want to be a shill for a complete failure, so he decides he is going to be the governor so to speak. And Flynn Currie is right, the gov should sign the pay to play bill before a capital plan comes into play. I understand why people don’t like the way Madigan plays this, but understand, it is for the best for everyone… everyone one except the governor and his cronies.
Comment by Heartless Libertarian Monday, Aug 4, 08 @ 8:48 am
Heartless is right. For all of his faults and quirks, Madigan is the only “leader” in Illinois who can be trusted to craft something like a major capital program and do it reasonably “right”. Even the best of the others are lightweights by comparison which is why they hate Madigan so much.
Comment by Skirmisher Monday, Aug 4, 08 @ 8:58 am
I agree with currie that until the Gov signs the current ethics legislation that would keep him from using the capital plan funds to line his coffers. No more pay to play funding for this Gov. If the Gov won’t sign the ethics legislation as drafted, impeach him then pass a capital bill.
Also we need to pass a capital plan that the State can afford with current dollars. Enough of selling off the States future by pushing huge debt problems off until later. The pennies on the dollar lottery lease being a big example of just saddling our debt ridden future with even more crippling losses.
If we cant afford it now, then we cant afford it. No more bonds and slick schemes to transfer future dollars to todays budget at the cost of tomorrow.
Comment by Ghost Monday, Aug 4, 08 @ 9:01 am
Capt. Fax may think Madigan is out on a limb, but nothing can be further from the truth. Being attacked by a DramaQueen who is dropping in the polls to the point where he is about to be delisted does not really cause a problem.
Turning back the Pension Obligation Bond probably stopped the state from losing close to $1 billion of its newly invested money and not allowing another giveaway to the gamblers is a total plus for IL.
Keeping pace with Madigan only requires one to think in a common sense manner, not rush, leave the razzle dazzle machine at home and every once in awhile ask yourself how the guys on Dearborn street might view whatever grand plan is being hatched.
Comment by ReddByrd Monday, Aug 4, 08 @ 9:11 am
Amen, Reddbyrd!
Comment by Willie Stark Monday, Aug 4, 08 @ 9:15 am
The demand that the pay-to-play ethics bill be signed before a capital bill is passed, forces Blagojevich to do the right thing after he has shown the public an unwillingness to do so.
Madigan and Currie are demanding that Blagojevich choose between his political fundraising and our state’s infastructure and Blagojevich right now would rather raise money than govern - which should surprise no one.
Blagojevich will have to sign this bill. Then he has to hope that there are no other political conditions that will be forced on him before a capital plan is finished. Blagojevich is not in a position to dominate anyone. He played and lost. Carp all he wants and force special sessions on the General Assembly all he wants, he is flapping his wings and threatening to jump as below, nearly everyone is shouting for him to jump.
Madigan is not the monster here. We do not have a governor and he is doing what he can until a we get one. This is what happens when we elect a Blagojevich to office and watch him self destruct while Illinois slides into economic stagnation.
Even with a capital bill passed, Illinois will continue it’s slide. Our debts are massive, our credit is shredded and our state’s economy has been milked into stagnation with uncontrolled public spending. We were at a tipping point in 2002, and Blagojevich shoved us over the edge to satisfy his White House dreams. Our current situation is as dire as his political one, isn’t it?
Comment by VanillaMan Monday, Aug 4, 08 @ 9:20 am
The way I understand it, the Governor, the Senate President and the minority leaders in both chambers want to push the state into further debt. Debt is easy, but debt is very expensive. They want to lease assets that will decrease a fairly stable revenue stream. What Republican, or Democrat for that matter, would lease his/her personal business to build a home or pay for a new garage, then have to borrow to keep the lights on next year? Not many I would guess. But that is exactly what they want to do with public funds. I understand the Governor’s fiscal myopia and the Senate President’s lack of anything but self-interest, but the Republican leaders surprise me. The Speaker may be way out on a limb, and that limb may break or be cut off, but that does not make him wrong. (By the way, I saw The Dark Knight and it almost seemed like a metaphor for Illinois politics. I’ll let you guess who was Batman and who was the Joker.)
Comment by Captain Flume Monday, Aug 4, 08 @ 9:32 am
It is refreshing to see “thoughtful posts” such as the ones above, not bashing ALL Dem’s. I blog a lot on the State Journal Reg (gimme a break - I live here!). Most bloggers just lump all Dem’s in one huge irresponsible and ineffective heap. Nice to see a difference here!!
Comment by Spi Dem Grrl Monday, Aug 4, 08 @ 9:36 am
RICH
I disagree with your conclusion that “Madigan is way out on a limb”. Even if your analysis is correct you fail to realize “this guy has wings” and should the limb break he will just fly to a higher branch on the tree.
The real question is “where are Blago and Jones”?
Their limb has fallen and they are on the ground thrashing around with no place to hide.
Comment by MOON Monday, Aug 4, 08 @ 9:40 am
These games are all fine for the politico’s, but guess what, the real people of Illinois are without work, and those who already suffer the most are suffering more. And the reason? Three grown men can’t play in the sandbox together. Shame on all of them.
Comment by Leigh Monday, Aug 4, 08 @ 9:48 am
Doug Finke in the SJR had a nice piece on Sunday - reminding us that the Governor’s current capitol development plan is exactly as he introduced it in the spring — $25 million and only paid for by the Lottery lease. That plan passed the Senate only after it was loaded up with pork, so the Governor may not even have the Senate on his side for this reiteration. As Doug said, makes last March, April, and May seem pretty useless, for all the infighting…
Comment by Capitol View Monday, Aug 4, 08 @ 9:50 am
The Speaker worshippers are out in full force today. How can one guy be soooo good? Shame on you, Rich, for not bowing and genuflecting in print to pay homage to the great one.
My question is if the Speaker is so magnificent how come the state is in such a mess. These problems, especially the fiscal ones, took decades to get this bad. Madigan has been in office since the seventies. Why didn’t he do something before now.
There appears to be at least the beginnings of a compromise among three of the four “leaders”.
C’mon, great one, put aside your pettiness and work out a deal.
Comment by Bill Monday, Aug 4, 08 @ 9:59 am
BILL
The reason the State is in such a mess is due to Blago!
If you have any grasp of history you would know Illinois’s problems, above and beyond the norm, appeared when the current Gov. took office.
Prior to 2002 Illinois never faced the fiscal and politico problems that are now with us.
The only new kid on the block since 2002 is Blago!
The source of Illinois’s problems are obvious, it is the Gov.
Comment by MOON Monday, Aug 4, 08 @ 10:14 am
MOON, take a breath. It takes three to tango in this state. There’s plenty of blame to go around.
Comment by Rich Miller Monday, Aug 4, 08 @ 10:20 am
The very last thing this state needs right now is a disgraced and lame duck Governor selling off asset’s and spending money like a drunken sailor to prop up what’s left of his supporters.
If we are not careful, we will wake up 3 years from now and wonder how we let a con-man railroad us into some of the worst decisions in our State’s history. It appears MJM is the only one willing to stop the madness and he needs to be commended regardless of any personal political motivation.
And for everyone who disagrees with the Speaker’s methods, you can take consolation in knowing it must be an absolute nightmare dealing with the present administration and I am sure the stress will take it’s toll on MJM’s tenure.
Comment by Phineas J. Whoopee Monday, Aug 4, 08 @ 10:23 am
I would like to believe that more taxpayers than usual feel great unease about selling a public asset to the private sector, a private sector which only buys when it sees a clear profit. That same US private sector whose massive greed led to all those crazy mortgage schemes and, eventually, to the housing crisis and associated economic meltdown that is going on right now this moment.
If somebody wants to buy it, they think they can make money on it…money that we won’t see. A lot of Blago cronies and “campaign contributors” will likely cut some money out of the pile, quite a lot of money, for themselves. So Blago’s opinions on the sale are highly suspect and, as always, clouded by greed.
Whatever his reasons or motives, Madigan is correct if he is trying to stop the Lottery sale.
We taxpayers are giving away money if we let the sale happen. Blago is likely hoping that those same Illinoisians who didn’t see the housing bubble for what was will fall for a lottery sale, with it s promise of instant money at no extra cost. But the cost will be huge down the line.
Comment by Cassandra Monday, Aug 4, 08 @ 10:26 am
In the context of remarks about the Governor’s sociopathy, one practical definiion of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result.
Apparently there is little or no support in the House for the Governor’s lottery lease plan, but he keeps proposing the same plan and over again - political irrationality if not insanity.
I blame Blago and Jones more than Madigan, but I believe the Speaker has some resposibility for the impasse too - he’s not entirely blameless.
Ultimately, I think we need a clean sweep - a new Governor,new Senate President, and a new Speaker.If this were Japan, all three would fall on their swords,given their complete inablity to get necessary things done somehow for citizens -people are really beginning to suffer as a result of thier collective failures to curb ther egos and compromise.
Comment by Captain America Monday, Aug 4, 08 @ 10:31 am
Not true, MOON. My grasp of history is that the state’s pension funds were underfunded every year since the ’70s and before. The structural deficit continued to grow throughout the ’80s and 90s as the state spent money it didn’t have. In 2002, the state began the fiscal year with a $5 billion deficit as a result of the Ryan-Madigan budget. Has Rod been the greatest Governor since Altgeld? I’ll have to say no. Is he a disappointment as the first Democratic governor in almost 30 years? Probably. That doesn’t absolve the Speaker for watching the state deteriorate for the last 30 years. There is enough blame to go around. Its not only Rod’s fault. I guess you think that the worst thing Rod has done is to not let Little Mikey get his own way every time no matter how many times he holds his breadth and turns blue, takes his ball and goes home, etc..
Re-write and misinterpret history if it makes you feel better. That’s in the past.
What is important now is that a deal is reached not whose feelings are hurt or whose kid gets to be governor.
Comment by Bill Monday, Aug 4, 08 @ 10:32 am
RICH
In order “To Tango” you need to know how to dance.
Who in their right mind would dance with someone
(Blago), when all he does is continue to trip on his own 2 feet!
Comment by MOON Monday, Aug 4, 08 @ 10:58 am
Bill, you bring up some salient points, but the bottom line is, as Rich has pointed out on numerous occasions, the governor wears the jacket. And despite the shortcomings of Madigan, Jones, et al, ultimately the responsibility for the health of the state lies with the governor. And the state is in bad shape. End of story.
Comment by The Doc Monday, Aug 4, 08 @ 10:59 am
The state’s pension funds are underfunded, yes, on paper. But unless every state employee retires all at once, I don’t think the fund will go under.
As for the FY2002 budget, I think Pate Philip also had a hand in fashioning that document.
The Governor gets the praise and the Governor gets the blame. The responsibility always goes with the CEO, public or private.
Comment by Captain Flume Monday, Aug 4, 08 @ 11:05 am
Bill is right, its not improtant which corrupt governor is in office selling off state jobs and contracts, what is important is that we deny such a corrupt governor more money with which to shake donw contractors and sell jobs. it is critical that we keep a govenror who refuses to release approved education capital funds to schools and moves State jobs around to payy off supporters access to a huge cash reserve used like a club providing funds only to supporters and depriving them from detrators.
its time Illinois gets the help it needs, following the impeachement of our copprupt Governor we can pass a capital plan that will benefit the State.
Comment by Ghost Monday, Aug 4, 08 @ 11:39 am
All praise Madigan. He is a brilliant and charismatic individual and shall never be wrong. He runs this state single-handedly (except for all the things that go wrong, of course). He must protect us from the evil that is Jones and Blago.
Sigh. I guess I’m not surprised this will always be the tone in the comments section.
Come on guys, Rich is right, there’s plenty of blame to go around; Madigan is just as much of a stubborn contrary dip as the lot of them.
Comment by WonderBoy Monday, Aug 4, 08 @ 11:45 am
Bill is correct in his point that many problems have been accumulating over time. However giving the Governor a new source of money to play with while he continues to mine the campaign contributions from potential beneficiaries is a bad idea.
This Governor has created many new and ‘innovative’ ways to repurpose money which was appropriated by the legislature.
I believe that Speaker Madigan is concerned about more future repurposing and has no reason to believe the Governor will keep his end of any bargain reached.
If that is his thinking, then I agree with the Speaker.
Comment by Plutocrat03 Monday, Aug 4, 08 @ 11:49 am
Looks like both of the BoyToys (Bill & WB) are back to work. If they think IL is a mess now, which it is like most states,I wonder what this mess would look like without Mike Madigan.
Imagine a decade of Lee Daniels and the antiChrist, a decade of the Blagoofers.
Nice try guys. But this jacket doesn’t fit
Comment by DumberThanYouThink Monday, Aug 4, 08 @ 12:03 pm
I seem to recall that when Edgar left office the State was running a surplus. I realize that doesn’t mean the pensions were fully funded, but there was a cash balance in the treasury, wasn’t there?
Comment by Springfield Sceptic Monday, Aug 4, 08 @ 12:09 pm
===but there was a cash balance in the treasury, wasn’t there?===
And it wasn’t used for the pension systems.
Much of it was also spent on “member initiatives” - a phrase coined during the last couple years of Edgar’s administration.
Comment by Rich Miller Monday, Aug 4, 08 @ 12:12 pm
Certainly the state’s pension problems had it’s genesis back in the Thompson years. Edgar did a decent job trying to contain this monster, but inevitably, Medicaid and pensions eventually crowded out just about everything else the state does. Over this time, we had 3 Republican governors who established the fiscal path that led us to where we are, and largely a Democratic-controlled legislature that was politically complicit. It seems that politics and fiscal responsibilty are too often inversely correlated.
The current governor assumed these problems when he won office, and yet with the exception of financing pension debt at lower interest rates (which bought the state a temporary repreive), he’s continued to manage the state’s finances in much the same way as his predesessors, including taking partial pension holidays in FY06 and FY07. The funding holidays helped him be able to gift a lot of pork programs leading up to his 2nd term. Madigan and Jones - again, complicit.
In the end, it’s become obvious, as it was last year, that the three top Democrats virtually cannot work together to advance anything of substance. Until that dynamic changes, it’s pretty clear that we’ll be stuck in a kind of spiraling decline.
Comment by Budget Watcher Monday, Aug 4, 08 @ 12:33 pm
Capt Flume - wanna buy a bridge?
Public pension systems don’t ‘go under’ - their underfunding just sucks the life out of the local economy - pay me now or pay me later.
Fund them, and the trust fund does the heavy lifting. Stiff them, and the task falls to future generations of taxpayers.
Big Jim started the ball rolling, and we are the future generation…
Comment by countryboy Monday, Aug 4, 08 @ 1:39 pm
I’ve always suspected that Madigan simply *won’t* play until Blagojevich’s crimina investigations are better defined. I’ve been assuming that Madigan is taking this cagey, distant stance because he simply doesn’t want to risk being identified or “on board” with anything Blagojevich until everything Blagojevich is more clearly defined.
Comment by Macbeth Monday, Aug 4, 08 @ 1:50 pm
Madigan is merely waiting for a federal indictment to be announced before he launches the impeachment. This will get him off the hook for having been forced to be a co-chairman of the re-election committee. It will also force Jones into a choice to back down and re-join Madigan’s side, or go down in flames with Rod. Someone needs to show the voters that there remain responsible dems that will take out the trash and clean up Springfield, or the repubs will end up getting another turn at bat.
The Speaker is Road Runner to Blago’s Coyote.
Comment by Gregor Monday, Aug 4, 08 @ 7:00 pm
I disagree that there is plenty of blame to go around. Madigan is stopping the lunacy of our governor. Republican or Democrat, that makes him a good man in my book, no matter what his political motivation is. But if he stabs us in the back, I will be the first to turn on him.
Comment by Heartless Libertarian Monday, Aug 4, 08 @ 8:13 pm