Two worries are obviously driving driving much of Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan's personal legislative agenda this year: low Democratic turnout in an off-year election for an unpopular governor and Republican gubernatorial candidate Bruce Rauner's millions in campaign spending.
"If you're an African American on the South Side, what motivates you to vote for [Governor] Pat Quinn when you wake up election morning?" was the blunt assessment of one longtime Madigan associate last week.
For example, Madigan signaled last week that despite his past reluctance to raise the minimum wage and his longtime alliance with the Illinois Retail Merchants Association (which is leading the charge against it), he's not opposed. Calling the idea a matter of "fairness" and "equity," Madigan told reporters last week: "I think you'll find the opposition to raising the minimum wage comes from people that have done pretty well in America, and for some strange reason they don't want others in America to participate in prosperity."
Asked if he was referring to Rauner, Madigan asked: "Who?"
Rauner claims to support an increase in the state's minimum wage if it's tied to business reforms, but Rauner previously "adamantly" opposed raising the wage and even once said he'd favor cutting it by a dollar an hour - to match the national minimum.
Madigan made his comments shortly after the House Judiciary Committee approved his constitutional amendment to bar anyone from being denied the right to register to vote and to vote based on race, gender, sexual orientation, income, national origin, or religion.
Several Republican states have attempted to suppress Democratic turnout by requiring voters to produce a government ID before casting their ballots. "According to the Brennan Center," Madigan told the committee last week, "approximately 25 percent of eligible African Americans and 16 percent of Hispanics don't have photo IDs." That's probably the first time that the speaker has ever publicly referenced the liberal group.
Madigan's proposal passed unanimously, despite some misgivings by Republicans. One GOP member of the committee, Representative Dwight Kay, is actually sponsoring legislation to require voter identification this year, but he did not oppose Madigan's measure.
And the speaker's proposed constitutional amendment to place a 3-percent surcharge on income over $1 million retroactive to January 1 was moved forward on the House floor last week. No Republicans have yet to emerge as supporters, so Madigan will likely need all 71 of his members to pass the proposal, which requires a three-fifths super-majority.
According to numerous sources, Madigan's leftward lurch toward Quinn took Rauner and his GOP campaign by surprise. They believed that Rauner's personal relationship with the speaker over the past few years would help salve the wounds, and that the old-school politician Madigan would understand the necessities of politics. Instead, Madigan apparently took great offense at the constant attacks (at one point, Rauner vowed to "go after" Madigan's friends and allies to get at the speaker), and the overwhelmingly negative reaction among trade unions to Rauner's harsh anti-union rhetoric has only fueled the speaker's resolve.
Madigan has long been known as a politician who prizes pragmatism above ideology, but he's been about as loyal an ally to the trade unions as anyone in Illinois history. Even that's not solely about ideology, however. Those unions provide a lot of money and foot soldiers to Madigan's organization.
Rauner also apparently didn't use a back-door channel to Madigan during the primary, which meant there was little to no ongoing communication between the men. Things obviously got out of control.
Madigan's moves have definitely not gone unnoticed by Rauner. Behind the scenes, some are saying that Rauner will counter this by contributing big bucks to House Republican coffers.
That doesn't seem to concern the Madigan folks. The Democratic legislative district map is pretty darned solid. (As I reported in a recent Crain's Chicago Business column, in 2012 House Democratic candidates received 53 percent of votes cast in House races statewide, yet they won 60 percent of the House races). And they've been successfully fending off the House Republicans for years.
But Madigan's poll numbers aren't good at all, to put it mildly, so there are plenty of other weapons in Rauner's arsenal. This could very well escalate into an all-out war. And Rauner has the bucks to do it.
Rich Miller also publishes Capitol Fax (a daily political newsletter) and CapitolFax.com.
