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House Speaker Michael Madigan told a
firefighters’ group last week that he, Gov. Rod Blagojevich, and
Senate President Emil Jones are engaged in a “civil war” and
that “no prisoners” are being taken. This isn’t a unique insight. The fight between
Madigan and the Blagojevich-Jones alliance started long ago and has been
vicious, mean, and hurtful to many innocent bystanders. It resulted in an
11-month session last year, along with numerous lawsuits, special sessions,
and hordes of unresolved issues. It’s unusual for a politician to state things
publicly in such a stark manner, so when he does you can easily get the
idea that the situation is even worse than you thought. If that’s the
case, we’re in for some true nastiness. Madigan went through a long list of complaints for
the firefighters. The speaker is still hugely upset over the broken
state budget deal last year. Not since the legislative leaders began
negotiating the state budget behind closed doors has the deal been broken
as it was last year, when Jones refused to override the governor’s
surprise veto of projects for Madigan’s members after promising
Madigan to his face that he would override all vetoes. You may recall that the governor’s
administration also fired the wife of Madigan’s chief of staff;
dumped a Madigan ally as a lobbyist for the Illinois Finance Authority
because he was “too close” to the speaker; brutally slashed the
budget for the Illinois Arts Council, which is chaired by Madigan’s
wife; and bused in protesters who booed Madigan during his annual speech at
the state fair last summer, among plenty of other things. Despite all this, the governor’s staff seemed
taken aback by Madigan’s remarks last week. Madigan’s bold
words gave the governor a preview of what may be in store: lots more
trouble. Last week Madigan expanded the playing field to
include House Republicans, who had been going along with much of his
agenda. Madigan, who is also the state Democratic Party
chairman, has become convinced that House Republican Leader Tom Cross is
somehow in cahoots with Blagojevich, and he took some extreme action last
week to punish Cross for his perceived disloyalty. On Monday, Madigan unveiled a Democratic candidate
against state Rep. Angelo “Skip” Saviano, an influential
Republican legislator from Elmwood Park. Saviano has been a friend and ally
of Madigan’s for years, but the speaker apparently thought he had
strayed too far toward the governor’s position. The move against
Saviano stunned the Statehouse, which was probably the point. Then Madigan pushed two very anti-Republican bills to
the fore. One would reestablish straight party voting in Illinois, which
the Republicans eliminated after they lost the House in 1996. Considering
the very real probability that Barack Obama will be at the top of the
ticket this November, straight party voting could imperil a whole bunch of
suburban Republican incumbents. The other proposal would reinstate the Structural
Work Act, which allowed injured construction workers to sue someone besides
their own employers. Business groups hated the law, Republicans got it
repealed in 1995, and now Madigan wants to bring it back. A pal of mine said he planned to talk to Madigan
about Saviano and the rest of the speaker’s new agenda but had some
real fears that Madigan would then turn on him. He’s right. And the
same thing goes for the other two main characters in this drama,
Blagojevich and Jones: If you’re not with them all the way,
you’re against them, and God help you if that’s the case.
It’s why nothing gets resolved. Nobody can mediate this war.
Rich Miller
publishes Capitol Fax, a daily political newsletter, and
thecapitolfaxblog.com.
This article appears in Apr 10-16, 2008.
