Capitol Fax.com - Your Illinois News Radar » What’s the harm? Ask Pat Quinn

What’s the harm? Ask Pat Quinn

Monday, Jun 22, 2015

* From a News-Gazette editorial about Gov. Bruce Rauner’s new TV ads…

What’s going on here? There is an old political maxim — if you can’t make them see the light, you can make them feel the heat.

Rauner is trying to peel away enough of Madigan’s legislative caucus to persuade the all-powerful speaker to entertain a few of Rauner’s legislative proposals, including modifications to the state’s workers’-compensation law. […]

So while Rauner and legislative leaders continue to talk, the TV ads will continue to play.

It’s an odd way to do legislative business.

But Illinois has become an odd state, one in which some of its leaders cling desperately to a status quo that has failed the people of this state. In that context, how much more harm can Rauner’s TV ads do?

* Yes, this is about making MJM et al “feel the heat.” Agreed, even though this is a relatively light check into the boards. But how does that ad “peel away enough of Madigan’s legislative caucus to persuade the all-powerful speaker to entertain a few of Rauner’s legislative proposals”? I’m not quite understanding how the CN-G is arriving at that conclusion.

And, by the way, they aren’t talking.

Whenever somebody or some institution appear to be cheerleading for war, or at least cheerleading one side in a coming war, their claims and predictions should always be put under a microscope and compared to actual facts and history.

* Let’s revisit my Crain’s Chicago Business column for this week…

In July 2013, Gov. Pat Quinn vetoed lawmakers’ salaries and stipends out of the state budget. He “hit them in the wallet,” he said, to spur action on pension reform.

Instead, all legislative progress suddenly and completely stopped on pension reform for a few months until a court finally ruled that the governor’s veto was unconstitutional. No way were legislators going to let Quinn push them around.

I could very well be wrong, but if legislators wouldn’t cave to protect their own pocketbooks, what makes anyone think they’ll cry “Uncle!” over somebody else’s problems?

Plus, legislators surely know, as they did with Quinn, that they can’t allow a precedent like this to be set: getting Rauner’s approval on the budget by giving in on his legislative agenda. If Democrats capitulate now, then the governor will just do it all over again when next year’s budget negotiations begin.

And then there’s the impact of that Rauner ad about Madigan. […]

Judging by history, including the Quinn paycheck ordeal, I get where the speaker is coming from, to some extent.

As long as Rauner’s TV ads are on the air, Madigan probably is not going to move even a millimeter. Doing so only would invite more ads in the future.

As noted previously, the governor’s ad isn’t devastating the process right now. As soon as the ad eventually comes down the two sides can probably resume talking. I just don’t see Madigan talking until then, however.

Then again, it’s not like he was talking all that much before the ads went up.

- Posted by Rich Miller

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