Illinois Democrats won an
historic victory at the polls this month. Not since the Franklin Roosevelt
landslide of 1936 have Democrats controlled every statewide office, both
chambers of the General Assembly and the Illinois Supreme Court.
But you'd never know it if
you were in Springfield last week. Instead of bringing them closer together,
the landslide has driven them further apart.
The annual veto session
began last week and the battle lines were drawn right off the bat, with a House
committee passing an electric utility rate freeze that's opposed by staunch
ComEd ally Senate President Emil Jones, and a Senate committee passing a
minimum wage increase strongly supported by the governor and looked upon with
dubious eyes by House Speaker Michael Madigan. The timing appeared deliberate
on both sides, and it probably was.
Jones, whose Senate
Democrats won a veto-proof majority this month, even took a public swipe at
Madigan, asking reporters "Who?" when queried about his relationship
with the House Speaker.
Jones has long believed
that Speaker Michael Madigan doesn't show him enough respect and that
Democratic Party of Illinois Chairman Michael Madigan does not adequately
represent the liberal interests of their party. Jones' new veto-proof majority
has given him some major bragging rights, so the proper respect will be
demanded. The grumbling has also been loud since the election about the state
party's failure to get involved in any races other than Madigan's Illinois
House contests. For instance, while the state Republican Party was sending out
mailers and doing media work on behalf of congressional candidates, Madigan's
only focus was maintaining his own majority. Madigan said last week that none
of the campaigns asked for the party's help, but a Jones partisan scoffed at the
excuse.
It's also no secret that
Governor Rod Blagojevich has long believed that Madigan is part of the problem
in Illinois. During his first term, the governor was eventually forced to fully
retreat from his attempts to help remake the party and sway Madigan's own
members against him. But he jumped right back into the saddle last week.
According to numerous
sources, Gov. Blagojevich suggested to a group of Democratic House members last
week that they should threaten to vote against Madigan for Speaker until he
agreed to support the governor's minimum wage increase legislation.
The unprecedented
interference in a caucus leader's internal affairs left longtime observers
shaking their heads in amazement that the governor would so directly challenge
Madigan so soon after the election.
"It remains to be
seen whether this is the last mistake of the governor's first term or the first
mistake of his second term," said Madigan spokesman Steve Brown, adding
that the Speaker is still open to working together with the governor in the
coming years.
Madigan has yet to commit
to passing the minimum wage legislation, which zoomed out of the Senate last
week. Several of Madigan's targeted incumbents were supported by big business
groups this year, so the Speaker is not eager to double-cross them so soon
after the election. He's also far more politically conservative than either
Blagojevich or Senate President Emil Jones, and appears to be setting himself
up as a dam against a possible flood of liberal proposals from the two
men.
The fact that a governor
who is under a dozen or so federal investigations, who didn't win a majority of
the popular vote and who still has a job disapproval rating in the high 50s
believes he is secure enough to lash out at the most entrenched legislative
leader in Illinois history is quite something to behold.
The two men are now even
fighting publicly over whether Madigan is actively snubbing the governor in
private.
The governor's office
claims that Blagojevich phoned Madigan twice last week to talk to him about the
minimum wage bill and the Speaker didn't return either call. Madigan's press
secretary said he wasn't aware of any calls from the governor's office. I asked
if he could check, just to make sure, but he declined, saying he would know
about something as important as calls from the governor.
The governor's press
office then tracked down the logs of one of the calls and reported back that
Blagojevich attempted to call Madigan last Tuesday afternoon at 2:51. The
Speaker's spokesman stuck by his claim, however.
Maybe Dr. Phil can perform
a relationship intervention. It may be the Democrats' only hope of avoiding a
massive implosion after their great "victory."
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Rich Miller also publishes
Capitol Fax, a daily political newsletter, and thecapitolfaxblog.com