Two
months into a record-breaking overtime legislative session, the four state
legislative leaders met last week to talk about the budget, but for the first
time ever they made a point not to invite Governor Rod Blagojevich.
Senate
President Emi Jones and House Speaker Michael Madigan, as well as very high
level members of the other two legislative caucuses, all described the talks as
generally positive.
The
governor's people also described the meeting as a positive event. Jones sat
down with the governor later to brief him about the meeting. The governor's
people say that Blagojevich also outlined where he wanted the budget talks to
go. The governor's office insisted that the two men are still on the same page.
Blagojevich and Jones have been practically welded at the hip all year, so
attending a budget negotiation without Blagojevich was seen as a major step by
the Senate President, which is why the governor's office was quick to claim
everything was still fine between the two men.
The
idea behind the meeting sans governor was that Blagojevich isn't much of a
negotiator. Instead of trying to find mutual solutions, the governor tends to
give canned speeches over and over again and endlessly repeats his talking
points, particularly about his demand for his much-beloved health insurance
plan for the uninsured. He's also quite abrasive and confrontational during the
negotiating sessions, particularly with House Speaker Michael Madigan and
Senate GOP Leader Frank Watson.
In
other words, he was more of a hindrance than a help when it came time to
negotiate the budget. On Friday, Blagojevich brought Sen. Watson into his
office to discuss "building a relationship," according to WLS Radio
reporter Ryan Hermes. If he had done that sort of thing six months ago, the
governor might not have had so many problems this year.
Blagojevich
tried for weeks to pass his health insurance bill out of the Senate in order to
gain some leverage against House Speaker Michael Madigan. The powerful
Democratic speaker has feuded openly with the governor for over a year, and he
had remained mum about whether he would allow the health insurance legislation
to proceed if the Senate passed it. Just to make sure, Madigan worked behind
the scenes to stall the bill in the Senate. The governor wanted to muscle the
insurance bill out and force Madigan to accept it, and thereby "prove"
his Democratic Party bona fides, or reject it, and confirm Blagojevich's often
repeated claim that the speaker and Democratic Party of Illinois chairman is in
reality a "right-wing Republican."
But,
for various reasons, including the governor's incompetence, arrogance and
intractability and the failure of Senate President Jones to unite his huge
Democratic majority this year on just about anything, the Senate has been
unable to pass the governor's health insurance legislation. That failure very
likely contributed to Jones' realization that the only way out of this overtime
session mess was to talk things over with the other legislative leaders and
leave Blagojevich out of it.
Sen.
Jones is a strong, practical negotiator, so if by taking the negotiating reins
from Blagojevich and continuing his arduous and difficult shuttle diplomacy
back and forth between the other leaders and the governor, he could wind up the
hero. If Madigan forces Blagojevich to cry "uncle," he'll consider
that a win for himself.
Blagojevich
has had to bow to Jones repeatedly this year, mainly because he had no other
choice. The governor has tied himself and his legislative hopes so closely to
the Senate leader that he's had to try and keep Jones as happy as possible, or
risk complete irrelevance. Blagojevich guessed, wrongly, that Jones' veto-proof
majority would mean easy wins in the Senate for his legislative agenda. But, if
Jones walked away, Blagojevich would be alone.
Nobody
else with power at the Statehouse trusts Blagojevich or particularly cares to
do business with him. The man has made more (and stronger) political enemies
than any governor I've covered in 17 years. Jones is all Blagojevich has left.
Sen.
Jones may be the only person in the world who can help Blagojevich save a
little face. As I write this, everybody in Springfield who has been dragged
along on this record-breaking farce is keeping their fingers crossed that Jones
will succeed and let us go on with our lives.
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Rich
Miller also publishes Capitol Fax, a daily political newsletter, and
thecapitolfaxblog.com