No BossMadigan? So who would herd the cats?
Gov. J.B. Pritzker andU.S. Sen. Dick Durbin have just made theirmoves onMike Madigan, speaker of the IllinoisHouse and chairman of the Illinois Democratic Party.
Theweek after an election is the time for makingmoves. Madigan is nowa serious Democratic Party liability, embroiled in that federal investigation of political corruption stretching fromChicago to Springfield and adding to his liability for candidates running under the party label.
Madigan has not been charged with any wrongdoing. But that didn’t stop Republicans fromhanging him like a blue-eyed Southwest Side albatross around every Democratic political neck they could find.
Technically, Pritzker and Durbinwere only talking about pushing BossMadigan out of the party chairmanship. Both in the days after the election strongly suggested he should step down. But there’smore to it. And they knowit.
What their nudge really does is encourage a rebellion to oustMadigan as speaker, the post fromwhich he has ruled Illinois government formore than three decades, as the last of the old-time big-city political bosses in America.
“But you don’t tell the king that he can sit in only one chair in the room,” said a guy who knows howitworks. “And that’s what they did, and if he resigns fromthe party chairmanship, the others willmove on the speakership andMadigan knows it. You don’t tell the king where to sit unless you’re asking for a battle.”
The state is in fiscal crisis, the money’s all gone, the debt keeps rising, and there might not be a federal bailout coming to save Pritzker fromhaving to make tough decisions.
He’ll have to make budget cuts, perhaps float a tax increase, just as the anti-Madigan forces plan their strategies for January when the speakership will be decided. That’s a recipe for chaos at a time Spring
field will require cohesion.
Madigan has herded the cats in Springfield for many years. And to allmy friends who see this as away to pryMadigan out of the speaker’s chair, ask yourselves:
Can Pritzker herd cats and do the heavy lifting? Does he have the leverage for it? Does he have the stomach for the kind of backroomdeal-cutting required? Does he have the history, the jobs given to spouses and children, the promotions, the contracts thatMadigan has cultivated after all these years?
When the first call is made, let’s say from aDemocratic caucus member with eyes on the speaker’s chair for herself or himself, who will be the first to know?
Madigan. And they will knowthat he will know.
And as an example of the kind of heavy lifting that will be necessary, consider what Madigan accomplished 10 years ago in March. He rushed necessary but controversial public pension reform legislation through the legislature before influential government employee and teachers unions had time to pick off lawmakers to vote against it. The legislation created a new “tier” ofworker benefits thatwere far less superior, and less expensive, for all new hires. The unionswere hotly against it.
ButMadigan sprung the bill as a surprise, got it through committee and onto the floor, and passed it in record time, before the rising up. He had to. He knew he had to. PositivelyHomeric.
Could Pritzker do something like that to fix the state’s budget mess? No.
Pritzker did spend $58 million of his own cash on his failed “fair tax” push and now needs someone to blame. So he blames Madigan. AndRepublicans. And billionaires.
But voters didn’t buy his tax plan. They knew itwasn’t only about soaking the rich butwould give Springfield the power to raise taxes, gradually, on the middle class too. Voters have been lied to for years. They don’t trust Springfield. And voters overwhelmingly said, “No.”
And Durbinwatched as longtime allies wereweakened, paintedwith thatMadigan corruption brush, as the promised blue Democraticwave failed to materialize in Illinois.
“Candidates who had little or no connection with himwhatsoeverwere being tarred asMadigan allies who are behind corruption and so forth and so on,” Durbin told Paris Schutz onWTTW’s “Chicago Tonight.” “Itwas really disconcerting to see the price thatwe paid on that. I hope he takes that to heart and understands that his presence as chairman of our party has not helped.”
After Durbin’s comments aboutMadigan and the party chairmanship, Pritzkerwas asked if he agreed.
“Yes,” said the governor. Madigan’s DemocraticHouse supermajority shrank by at least two seats. Democratic Illinois Supreme Court Justice TomKilbride, Madigan’s guy, lost his retention bid. Madigan funneled at least a half amillion dollars toKilbride, but conservatives tiedMadigan to the judge and Kilbride sank like a stone.
Durbin protege Betsy Dirksen Londrigan lost her bid to unseat RepublicanU.S. Rep. RodneyDavis by almost 10 percentage points.
And another Durbin ally, U.S. Rep. Cheri Bustos, the daughter of a Durbin mentor, the late Era “Gene” Callahan, had a tough campaign against Republican Esther Joy King.
Dick Durbin is a cautious man. He has survived ametamorphosis froma conservative pro-life Democrat to a liberal prochoice whip of the Senate. Heweighs every word. But if Democrats remain the minority in the Senate, he might be ready to take an ambassadorship if Joe Biden becomes president. Pritzkerwould appoint Durbin’s replacement.
Loyal readers knowthat I’ve been a strong critic of BossMadigan for years.
But he also is the most disciplined politician I’ve ever seen and is a legislative maestro. If Pritzker really is going to raise taxes and make serious budget cuts with another election coming, he’ll need experienced help.
It’s not like Pritzker paying a plumber to lift out some toilets. That’s amatter ofwriting a check.
Getting big bills through the legislature takes more than an ink pen. And there’s only one person down there who knows howto herd the cats.