The most positive thing to come out of last week's
umpteenth special legislative session was that Gov. Rod Blagojevich didn't call
another one for the next day.
Blagojevich had threatened to call lawmakers to town every
day until they passed a mass transit funding bill for the Chicago region. But
when almost none of his Senate Democratic allies bothered to show up last
Wednesday it was obvious they were voting with their feet. So, once again, the
governor conveniently forgot about a promise and skulked home to Chicago.
Just eight Senate Democrats - out of 37 - made it to
Springfield last Wednesday. Senate President Emil Jones, the governor's
staunchest ally this year, was a no-show. Sen. Carol Ronen, the governor's
floor leader who is about to retire, didn't show up either. Sen. Rickey Hendon,
the toughest critic of House Speaker Michael Madigan in the "upper"
chamber, was also not there (although Hendon was reportedly not feeling well).
Sen. James DeLeo, the governor's go-to guy for Hannah Montana tickets, was
nowhere to be found.
The governor sued House Speaker Michael Madigan last year
in an attempt to compel him to force his members to town during special
sessions. Madigan skipped last week's festivities, but the House, at least, had
a quorum present. Seventy House members answered the roll call, compared to a
14 or 15 across the Statehouse rotunda. There were almost as many reporters
present in the Senate as members.
This turn of events put the governor in a bit of a bind. He
often seems to live to bash Madigan, but even Blagojevich didn't have the
chutzpah required to slam the House Speaker for not coming to town when almost
no Senate Democrats made the trip. So, he contented himself with releasing a
generic slam on the General Assembly.
"WeĠre disappointed that most lawmakers failed to
appear for the special session called by the governor to fund the CTA and avert
a planned January 20 doomsday," his spokesperson said in a written
statement.
"Most" House members did show up, of course, but
the Senate dragged the curve way down.
One never knows what will go through the governor's mind at
a time like this. A couple of stray electrons in his brain could bump into each
other and set off an uncontrollable chain reaction that his staff and top
advisors are helpless to stop. So Statehouse types waited around for a signal
about what Blagojevich might do next. Several had come to town prepared for the
long haul, bringing enough clothes to get them through the weekend.
Thankfully, sanity finally prevailed. Or maybe it was
presidential politics.
One of the reasons that so many Democrats, particularly in
the Senate, weren't in town last week was because they were in Iowa campaigning
for their former legislative colleague, US Sen. Barack Obama. If the governor
had called another special session for Thursday - Iowa Caucus Day - and
harangued lawmakers into showing up, he could have been accused of sabotaging
Obama's campaign.
So instead of calling yet another fruitless, futile and
politically dangerous special session, the governor cut his losses and went
home. Considering the miserable legislative turnout, he probably spent more on
his flight back and forth to Springfield and his Chicago press conference than
the General Assembly spent on per diems.
In the end, last Wednesday was simply an expensive media opportunity for
one of the biggest publicity hounds in Illinois history.
And the press pop didn't even go all that well. Chicago
reporters wanted to ask him about the latest allegations contained in a federal
proffer that Blagojevich had bragged about how he could use state contracts to
raise campaign cash. The governor was forced to spend most of his time denying
that he was a crook and slamming the media for focusing on the negatives while
he was trying to do what's right for Illinois. It was a real George Ryan
moment. And we all know how that story ended.
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Rich Miller also publishes Capitol Fax, a daily political
newsletter, and thecapitolfaxblog.com.