House moving into ‘a new chapter’
Madigan vilifies Rauner; Dems boost numbers
SPRINGFIELD – As Democrats bolstered their numbers in Springfield on Wednesday ahead of Gov.elect J.B. Pritzker’s inauguration next week, Democratic House Speaker Michael Madigan tried to urge cooperation while vilifying Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner on his way out the door.
Madigan, the longest serving House speaker in American history, won the gavel again Wednesday as a new class of lawmakers was sworn into office. Senate President John Cullerton was easily elected, too, capping a blue wave in November that helped give the Democratic Party near total control of state government once Pritzker is sworn in Monday.
Rauner and Madigan sparred for much of the last four years, as the governor sought support for his probusiness agenda and the clash led to a historic twoyear budget stalemate. On the campaign trail, Rauner spent years and millions of dollars working to blame Madigan for most of the state’s ills.
“Four long years of character assassination. Four long years of personal vilification. Four long years of strident negotiating positions, also known as ‘my way or the highway,’ ” Madigan said.
“Some might say, as we put an end to these last four years, ‘Let’s just close the book,’ ” the speaker said. “As we do move beyond these last four years, let’s not just talk in terms of closing the book. Rather, let’s think in terms of closing one chapter of the book, (and) take lessons from that chapter so we can move to a new chapter where people work with people.”
Just one Democrat, new state Rep. Anne Stava-Murray of Naperville, didn’t vote for Madigan for speaker. Swearing him in was outgoing Attorney General Lisa Madigan, the speaker’s daughter.
“Congratulations,” she said. “You’re the speaker again.”
House Republican leader Jim Durkin of Western Springs also won re-election, and he reflected on Madigan’s new term with a quote from baseball legend Yogi Berra.
“It’s deja vu, all over again,” Durkin quipped. But he pledged the GOP would act in “good will and good faith” with Democrats, and asked the same from the speaker’s caucus.
“All of our constituents throughout the state deserve better than we have given them in recent memory,” Durkin said. “They are losing faith in Illinois, our government and our future here. We must — as a General Assembly, as a state — stop looking only toward the next election.”
Eyes will turn now to Pritzker, who attended the House ceremony. He takes over state government from Rauner on Monday facing big challenges. Illinois has a $7.4 billion pile of unpaid bills. Rebuilding roads and bridges will cost money. Payments for state worker and teacher retirements keeps going up. And that’s not to mention unexpected challenges any governor faces, such as natural disasters and changing political winds.
Rauner, meanwhile, presided over the Senate’s inaugural ceremony as outgoing Mayor Rahm Emanuel sat in the front row. The governor was applauded as he left the chamber afterward, perhaps for the last time.
“We may have had our differences, from time to time, but you took on a challenge when others merely complain from the sidelines,” Cullerton said to Rauner. “Thank you, and I wish you and your family the best.”
Senate Democrats have a 40-19 majority, such a big margin that some of them have to sit on the Republican side of the aisle because there aren’t enough desks on their side.
Cullerton and re-elected Senate Republican leader Bill Brady of Bloomington also spoke of cooperation. But the Democratic leader’s speech also touched on some points where the two parties almost certainly will clash in the coming months and years, despite all of Wednesday’s talk of togetherness.
“It’s about doing things like providing a living wage for honest work, because I think the employers of this state value their workers just as much as workers value their jobs,” Cullerton said. “And we want both to succeed. Raising the minimum wage is the right thing to do. And if you got all the way to the Illinois Senate and can’t do what’s right, what was the point, right?”
Brady, a former candidate for governor, also talked of trying to work with Cullerton and noted as many speakers did the 2017 changes to the state’s school funding formula.
“Inaugurations are an important opportunity to turn the page to a fresh start and to find common ground on the important issues facing Illinois,” Brady said.
The new 101st Illinois General Assembly comes with significant turnover. The last two years of partisan fights, budget wars and tough elections mean about 30 percent of the lawmakers who took the oath on Wednesday were different from the person who sat in the same seat two years ago.
Several Republicans who voted to raise income taxes in 2017 didn’t run for reelection again, and some big names left for other reasons — with several departures robbing the General Assembly of some of its most influential women.
Former Senate Republican leader Christine Radogno stepped aside just before the budget stalemate was resolved. Madigan’s top deputy, Barbara Flynn Currie, didn’t run for re-election. Juliana Stratton will be sworn in as lieutenant governor in less than a week. And state Rep. Jeanne Ives of Wheaton won’t return after her narrow loss in the Republican gubernatorial primary to Rauner.
Madigan on Wednesday opened his remarks by asking for prayers for Currie, who he said checked into a hospital after feeling ill while traveling to Chicago.
The mood for the inauguration, though, was generally festive. The ornate Senate chamber was packed with lawmakers’ families applauding each other. Vases of colorful flowers sat on desks, and bunting hung from the gallery where spectators watch the proceedings. A mariachi band waited in a hallway behind the Senate chamber after the ceremony.
And though both parties at times talked of togetherness, the next two years Democrats will have the votes and a governor to do what they want without Republican input if they stick together. In his speech, Cullerton referenced Democrats’ 40 senators to Republicans’ 19, a margin so big it’s known as a supermajority.
“To leader Brady, congratulations. The Republican caucus chose wisely in turning to you for leadership,” Cullerton said. “You’re going to be, and I really mean this, a super minority leader these next two years.”