The new logos say it all: "Decision 2018."
The crying towels many of us used after the 2016 national election are still moist with liberal tears, yet several local TV stations are already placing "Decision 2018" or "Vote 2018" flags on their news coverage of state politics.
"Give up, folks," the on-screen chyron might as well say.
"Better luck next cycle breaking the budget stalemate."
"Finger-pointing and posturing will resume until further notice."
Not that I ever had a lot of hope for the so-called grand bargain being hammered out in the state Senate. The idea, being birthed by Democratic Senate President John Cullerton and Republican Senate leader Christine Radogno, is to pass an interlocking legislative package that includes enough painful compromises for both sides that it will clear the way for a full-year budget deal that has eluded lawmakers since the summer of 2015.
Painful compromises call for tough votes — votes for tax increases and structural changes that, taken individually, supporters won’t like, but votes that, taken together, supporters will consider statesmanlike, lawmakers hope, by the next election.
Tough votes are tough to take in this case when lobbyists, activists, interest groups and think tanks are outraged by one or more elements of the grand bargain and demanding a vote of "no."
Tough votes are even tougher to take for the brave lawmaker who has serious worries that they may turn out to be futile. If, for example, the grand bargain falls apart before the final pieces are in place in the Senate, if Democratic House Speaker Michael Madigan rejects the package when it crosses the rotunda or if Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner refuses to sign off on it, all that the brave lawmaker has done is give his next opponent material for an attack mailer.
Illinois remains in crisis and what has Sen. Smith in the do-nothing General Assembly done about it? Voted to raise your taxes and restrict the rights of workers!
A grand bargain will require Republican and Democratic lawmakers to join hands and make a leap of faith together, trusting that the pleasure of resolution and certainty will inspire voters to absolve them of the pain of necessary sacrifice.
But so far, Gov. Rauner and Speaker Madigan seem to have their hands in their pockets. Both are evidently watching from the sidelines as the Senate edges up to and away from a complicated deal, all of which is made more complicated still by what the TV folks have branded "Decision 2018."
Rauner, who will be up for re-election next year, never really stopped campaigning. He and the state Republican Party he leads and bankrolls have been waging rhetorical war since 2014 on Madigan and seemingly any Democrat who has ever sided with him, in an effort to force them to agree to elements of Rauner’s pro-business, anti-union agenda.
Strangely, Rauner adopted a "what, who me?" pose of innocence when I asked him during a recent visit to the Tribune about the GOP’s new "Drop the Mike" campaign aimed at Madigan. "I haven’t heard that one," he said. "So, ‘Drop the Mike,’ is that what they’re doing?"
Yes! And they’re also bashing wealthy businessman and Democratic political legacy Chris Kennedy, who formally entered the primary race for governor Wednesday and whom Rauner quickly labeled "another Madigan crony" on Twitter.
Kennedy gave back, calling Rauner a "petulant child" who has "failed in every way."
The House and Senate district races aren’t underway yet, but with eyes turning to 2018, legislators’ aversion to political risk is likely to rise and prospects for a deliberately negotiated settlement are likely to fall.
Once again, I underscore my belief that Attorney General Lisa Madigan’s upcoming effort to plunge state government into chaos by persuading the courts that it’s unconstitutional to pay state workers without proper budgetary authority is our best hope. Only emergency panic over what TV ought to call "Destruction 2017" will overcome the paralysis now caused by "Decision 2018."
Twitter @EricZorn
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