This week, the Illinois House and Senate adjourned Spring legislative session without approving a budget. It’s unprecedented the state is poised to start its second fiscal year next month without a spending plan in place.
Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner followed adjournment with a two-day tour of the state. The Republican governor made a stop in Pekin Wed. Earlier that day, Democratic Peoria State Senator Dave Koehler also met with reporters.
The nature of the debacle remains seemingly more adversarial than necessary.
If you were listening to the words of Governor Rauner and Senator Koehler Wednesday it might have been confusing.
Democratic Senator Dave Koehler says the bi-partisan legislative working groups are making progress and having good discussions. The Republican Governor says the House speaker is slow walking that process and its not really getting anywhere.
Gov. Rauner offered this critique of lawmaker’s work on Wed.:
“The general assembly didn’t pass a budget. They failed to pass a budget. Last year they failed to pass a balanced budget. This year they failed to pass a budget at all. Unbelievable dereliction of duty!,”Rauner said.
The Governor, flanked by four Republican lawmakers continued with a list of things he defines as legislative failures. His press staff had also handed out a single page press statement and two other pages with full-color state seals. They were titled “Chicago Machine Voting Record.” They were specific to Democratic Representative Jehan Gordon-Booth and Senator Dave Koehler, including the amount of money each has received from leadership over the roughly 10 years they’ve been in office. The numbers were derived in part from Illinois Board of Elections Financial filings that all lawmakers are obligated to make.
But when Senator Koehler was with reporters he was more optimistic. He says he anticipates some sort of stop-gap budget agreement in the next couple of weeks.
“The reality is that the only way we are going to really make progress is that we have to do something in a bipartisan way,” Koehler said. “And we’ve done that with some bills now. We’ve passed the social services $700 million bill, with good republican support on that. It’s on the governor’s desk right now.”
Koehler says there was bipartisan support for the bill that funds social services and higher education because the money is set aside and waiting to be applied for it’s intended purpose.
But Gov. Rauner also addressed similar concerns:
“We’ve introduced a bill to fund essential government services. Our correction system, our public safety system, our essential health care services, government operations, our universities. They need the support,” Rauner said. “So we’ve put in place a bill to fund them all with money available in special accounts right now. The money is in the government, it’s available, it’s fully funded. We should pass this bill appropriate this money so our essential services can continue.“
The takeaway might be to recognize at the heart of the matter, Republicans and Democrats share the same desired outcomes.
But the Governor can’t introduce legislative proposals based on the separation of powers of the Illinois Constitution. That includes his controversial “Turnaround” Agenda.
Brad McMillan is the head of the Institute for Principled Leadership at Bradley University. He says the partisan balance of the state’s top elected leaders and the constitutional balance of power, means the Governor and Legislative leaders have to find a way to work together. McMillan says failing that, it’s turned into a sad state of affairs:
“Neither party as far as I know has a lock on wisdom, and so there’s always value in listening to the other side and trying to find common ground,” McMillan said.
The Governor and Legislative leaders all say or at least seem on board with the idea of funding for K-12 and higher education, social and human services and economic growth is imperative to the state’s well-being. Really, who’s going to argue those points?
But McMillan says it’s hard to come together in a bipartisan fashion and negotiate better circumstance after high profile finger pointing and name calling.
“You’re simply not going to win over the other side with that kind of negative approach. It doesn’t work in personal relationships. It’s not going to work in government. It’s not going to work in any kind of company or organization that I can think of,” McMillan said.
McMillan says there’s more dysfunction in state government than the system can bare for much longer. He says the current state political climate isn’t good for anybody:
“We’ve just gotten to the point where unfortunately the gridlock has just gotten to the point for people in Illinois the most vulnerable have been thrown under the bus.”
This week’s turn of events means much renewed uncertainty statewide for public schools, colleges and universities and further instability for social and human service agencies.
McMillan says at Bradley University alone, the state’s budget-less status means Monetary Award Program or MAP Grant funding for about a 1,000 students still hasn’t come through for the last semester. He says it remains questionable for fall.