May 22--A day after a partisan pep talk in which he told Republicans they must pick off Speaker Michael Madigan's Democrats in the November election, Gov. Bruce Rauner on Sunday suggested the opposition party should help him reach a grand compromise on a state budget.
Rauner's call came as lawmakers prepared to return to Springfield for the final days of the regular session, which is scheduled to end May 31. By calling a rare Sunday news conference to make his case, the governor was trying to set the tone for the week, casting himself as willing to compromise and sending the ball into Democrats' court.
"This is not about partisan politics," Rauner said at a steel plant in Bedford Park. "This is about coming together to get to compromises to reform our economic climate, grow jobs, grow family incomes, get more value for taxpayers. Right now, we've got nine days left. I'm excited, I'm optimistic that we can come together with the General Assembly and get bipartisan reforms done."
That was a different tone than Rauner struck a day earlier at the Illinois GOP convention in Peoria. There, Rauner called on Republican supporters to help "bring in the resources and put together the biggest ground game that's ever been done in legislative races in Illinois history," in order to "pick up seats against (Democratic House Speaker) Mike Madigan's Democrats and the Chicago Democratic machine."
The nearly 11-month budget impasse between Rauner and ruling Democrats in the General Assembly has left lawmakers from both parties worried about how they'll explain the dysfunction to voters this fall, and Rauner is trying to capitalize on that anxiety to force a deal now. But Democratic leaders see an upcoming presidential election year, during which Democrats typically do well at the polls, and have not shown signs of breaking under the pressure.
The impasse is rooted in a dispute over a legislative agenda that Rauner has tied to a tax increase to help balance the state's books. Billed by Rauner as his "turnaround agenda reforms," Rauner wants a sometimes shifting combination of legislation aimed at helping businesses and government cut costs, in part by reducing worker rights.
Among the agenda items are freezing local property taxes while allowing local governments to limit collective bargaining rights, changing the workers' compensation system so that employees face tougher standards to prove an injury happened on the job and establishing term limits for elected officials.
Rauner argued Sunday that the legislation is needed to fix "the issues that the business community cares about so that they can have confidence in the future of Illinois, the regulatory red tape and burden on our businesses can be reduced and we can grow our economy and get higher quality of life for families across the state."
Madigan, however, has long contended that Rauner's ideas would hurt the middle class and that the governor should focus on putting together a tax-and-spending plan for state government without attaching other legislation to the process.
Rauner asserted on Sunday that Madigan's rank and file are willing to compromise and have been saying so behind the scenes. But in recent weeks, there has been little indication of movement from Democrats and the two sides appear as deadlocked as ever.
