Voters did their jobs, now will lawmakers?
The slugfest that was election 2014 in Illinois had at least one clear winner: the question over raising the minimum wage.
In Chicago, some 87 percent of voters answered yes. Statewide, the percentage was at 67 percent. It passed overwhelmingly in some of the more conservative collar counties, including DuPage, McHenry and Lake counties.
As we’ve told readers repeatedly, however, the measure that Democrats made a centerpiece of their campaigns in Illinois was a nonbinding question.
So all it did was deliver an overwhelming message to lawmakers that the minimum wage in Illinois should increase to $10 an hour from $8.25 an hour.
That’s why the question was designed in such a way, politicians told us. It was meant to build consensus.
There were so many skeptics, from Republican Bruce Rauner on down, who scoffed at the Democrats’ intentions.
It was meant to drive out the vote, they screamed.
That was evidenced by the number of minimum wage questions on ballots nationwide. In five out of five states, the questioned passed.
In Illinois, Gov. Pat Quinn used it as the bedrock of his campaign.
Remember how Rauner got hit over the head with gaffe after gaffe regarding his changing stances on the minimum wage?
Remember how Democrats pushed that? Remember the new videos and new audio that surfaced demonizing Republicans who weren’t on board with the effort?
Now that state lawmakers are going back to work next week, we should expect the Democrat-held state Legislature to move on the matter, right?
“I think it’s incumbent upon us to follow up on Pat Quinn’s lead and make the will of the people the law of the land,” said state Sen. Don Harmon, D-Oak Park. Harmon made the comments on “Off Message,” which airs on our Early & Often political portal.
“I think we can pass it in the Senate. The House is another body,” Harmon added. “I haven’t done a vote count there, but I believe we can do what we told the people we were going to do.”
Representatives for leaders in both chambers say their members will discuss whether to tackle the matter. Even in his concession speech, Quinn vowed to push the matter before he leaves office.
If it’s voted on before Jan. 1, in order for it to have an immediate effective date, it would need supermajority, or three-fifths, vote. It could advance with a simple majority vote, but then it wouldn’t take effect until July 1.
Illinois House GOP Leader Jim Durkin, R-Western Springs, had a more cynical take on the likely outcome.
“I talked to the speaker and I was with the president of the Senate earlier [Thursday], and I don’t think we will see a vote on the minimum wage during the veto session,” Durkin said. “If the speaker wanted to pass the minimum wage, he had the 71 votes to do it. But they didn’t. I think they’re nervous about it; I believe it was put on the ballot to drive out the base, and I think we should wait for a new administration . . . when Bruce Rauner gets sworn in, to work with him and find the right balance.”
But Harmon objects, pointing again to the numbers.
“I don’t think it was a foregone conclusion that it would be earning 60 percent-plus of the vote in DuPage County and counties all over the state,” Harmon said. “That was an overwhelming mandate from every pocket in Illinois. . . . The minimum wage referendum passed by a wider margin than any candidate on the ballot.”
Even Rauner voted for it, Harmon added.
The people of Illinois endured a brutal campaign season, filled again with promise after promise.
This was the question they were asked to address: “Shall the minimum wage in Illinois for adults over the age of 18 be raised to $10 per hour by January 1, 2015?” The people said yes. So now lawmakers, what’s your answer?