 Citing an unnamed “scheduling conflict,” Illinois House Speaker Michael J.
Madigan declined to attend a meeting of legislative leaders Gov. Bruce Rauner
proposed for Nov. 14. Following Madigan’s announcement, Illinois Senate
President John Cullerton withdrew plans to attend the meeting.
Gov. Bruce Rauner has called for unity between Democrats in Republicans, asking
that they listen to taxpayers and work toward a balanced budget and other
reforms necessary to get the failing state back on track.
“We must include reforms that the people of Illinois are calling for—economic
reform to spur job growth, education reform to ensure that every child has
access to a quality education, political reform to return power back to the
people, property tax reform to give homeowners and business owners much needed
relief, and pension reform to get our state’s financial footing back on the
right track,” the governor wrote in an op-ed published in Crain’s Chicago
Business.
Illinois Democrats lost seats in both chambers of the General Assembly after the
Nov. 8 election, dropping four seats in the House and two seats in the Senate.
While the Democratic leaders retain majorities in their respective chambers, the
Democrat’s loss of four seats in the House drops Madigan’s caucus below the
supermajority status that would allow them to override any gubernatorial veto.
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 Nov. 8 also marks the first time since 2004 that Madigan’s House
Democrats have lost a seat in a presidential election year, and the
first time losing multiple seats in a presidential election year
since 1992.
In the wake of Madigan and Cullerton’s decision not to attend the
leadership meeting, at least two Democrat representatives are
questioning whether they’ll vote for Madigan as House speaker in
January 2016. According to Capitol Fax, state Rep. Will Guzzardi,
D-Chicago, and state Rep. Kelly Cassidy, D-Chicago, expressed a
desire to meet with Madigan to address their concerns before
committing to vote for his re-election as House speaker.
Since 1983, no House Democrat has voted for someone other than
Madigan for House speaker.
Rauner’s office indicated that the Nov. 14 meeting would hopefully
go on as planned, with only House Republican Minority Leader Jim
Durkin, D-Burr Ridge, and Senate Republican Minority Leader
Christine Radogno, R-Lemont, in attendance. In a statement,
Cullerton expressed a desire to reschedule the meeting for as soon
as Nov. 15. A statement from Madigan conveyed that he would
“continue to work to schedule a meeting,” but offered no indication
as to when.
Illinois has now been without a state budget since July 1, 2015. The
temporary spending bill politicians passed in June is set to expire
at the end of November.
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