By Mike Matejka
As the Illinois Legislature goes into its supposed final week of deliberations, there is still so much left undone. As this is recorded, we are all still awaiting a budget proposal from Governor Rauner, seeing which programs are preserved, which closed, gutted or left barely alive. Plus the overwhelming pension issue still awaits resolution.
Supposedly there are closed door special committee meetings crafting proposals, but nothing for public consumption.
Meanwhile, House Speaker Mike Madigan continues to cause consternation for Republicans, by drawing up individual items in Rauner’s Turn Around Illinois agenda for a vote.. The Republican response is voting present, therefore not taking a supportive stand on the Governor’s agenda. Some may call this game playing and it is game playing – but a very intensive game at which Speaker Madigan is the master. He is forcing Republicans to publicly side with the Governor on individual items that often are very unpopular with constituents back home.
From the outside, it looks like the Governor imagined that moving to Springfield would be like a hostile corporate take-over. The new CEO would shake up the corporation, bring in his own team and force radical reforms, all through executive power.
The Governor of Illinois is a powerful position, but it is not a like a corporate CEO. There is this very clumsy American power sharing style of government, with an executive, legislative and judicial division. The real key for a leader is not walking in like a CEO, but walking in knowing how to balance, cajole and lead disparate interests toward a common goal. It means not constantly name calling opponents, but spending time to listen to the many voices of Illinois.
It takes a gifted individual to do this. One Republican I always admired was Jim Thompson. I always remember walking through the Capitol one day and passing Big Jim, his shirt sleeves rolled up andwith a pre-occupied look on his face. Based on his path, he was coming from the Senate side of the Illinois Legislature. I recall that moment because Thompson was able to get business, labor, legislators and community interests to come together, talk through the State’s challenges, and arrive at solutions crafted through give and take, but most especially, respect for all parties involved.
Governor Rauner is new to politics. In some ways, that can be refreshing, but it can also be disastrous. Rhetoric is great for the campaign trail, but leadership in Springfield is a nuanced dance that requires some strange partners. For the sake of our state and our communities, I hope the orchestrated dance will begin soon, instead of a free for all.
Mike Matejka is the Governmental Affairs director for the Great Plains Laborers District Council, covering 11,000 union Laborers in northern Illinois, Iowa, Nebraska and South Dakota. He lives in Bloomington with his wife and daughter and their two dogs. He served on the Bloomington City Council for 18 years, is a past president of the McLean County Historical Society and Vice-President of the Illinois Labor History Society.
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