crossposted at prairie state blue
one of my favorite subjects is power. seems the same may be true of mike madigan, illinois house speaker, democratic party chair (who you may have noticed still hasn't included alexi giannoulias on his democratic party website), ward committeeman, machine cog. but you might be wondering, given the recent shenanigans, power to what end?
you may have heard that governor rod blagojevich has started referring to madigan as a republican (another version here) and calling him a "right wing conservative." he may have a point.
it doesn't take much attention to the study of madigan in recent years to get the impression he was more comfortable with a republican in the governor's mansion and a lot less democrats in the state senate. he already has a history of letting republicans chair committees when democrats were in the majority. and he maintains a strong coalition with republican leaders in both the state house and state senate. there's the distain that madigan had for the democratic national convention in 2004, showing up after everything was basically decided. that was apparently the first time blagojevich questioned whether madigan was truly a democrat.
the governor is not the only one who is wondering, given the fact that democrats control all the levers of power, why isn't a democratic agenda being implemented? why is the speaker aligning himself with republicans rather than democrats?
one of the questions at hand is why is madigan adamant about his "no growth budget" when the states are raking in much higher revenues, due in part to the high price of gasoline (which generates much tax revenue). higher revenues should have allowed for property tax relief, increased funding for education and public transportation, maybe even the governor's health care expansion -- if the pension funds hadn't been raided previously to make up budget shortfalls. but even madigan's laser-like focus on the budget shouldn't have precluded including elements of the democratic agenda. there's simply not a reasonable explanation as to why madigan resists it.
my own personal theory, based on my interest in the subject of power, is that madigan is more interested in his own power base than in pursuing any democratic agenda, progressive or otherwise. he does seem to epitomize the old combine approach to governance in illinios -- there's not two parties, but only one, the combine, that rules the state. presumably, blagojevich's message of reform was aimed at breaking the power of the combine, and tilting illinois government towards democratic issues like health care and increased spending for education and public transportation.
others share the view that the budget crisis has descended into a good old-fashioned pissing contest. and despite madigan's careful tutelage of some of illlinois' finest political minds, not everyone agrees with him that the governor is completely at fault here.
the governor has walked into this mess. the best you could say about the governor and his staff is that he came to the 2007 regular session unprepared for everything but the press release. the worst you could say is that rod's inept. both may be true, for all i know. but this was an inevitable clash, one that's been in the works since 2003, and madigan was also unprepared. instead of being a mentor for democrats in outliers, he's concerned himself only with holding on the the old guard. (some people think he has dynastic plans, as well.)
illinois has moved away from being a reddish state or even swing state. it is increasingly a blue state, as even the collar counties start to see democratic success in local, state and congressional elections. madigan, who grew up in a ward that apparently was reddish in the past, is behind the times and seems to be trying to prop up an archaic structure.
you don't have to support the governor's specific goals (or ambition) to acknowledge that it's time that democratic values start to be enacted into legislation. and madigan stands squarely in the way.
it's not like madigan is philosophically opposed to tax increases (or the tax swap). he's already deftly engineered a dramatic 18% increase in the state's income tax in his career. if there wasn't a personal showdown between the speaker and the governor, we have no idea whether the speaker would support increasing revenue stream for the democratic agenda. but at this point, he remains the primary roadblock to passing democratic values into law.
does that justify calling him a republican? well, the speaker has recently increased his caucus, but i don't get the feeling that this increases support for democratic issues. it may just increase michael madigan's power base. the current debate down in springfield is not just about a one-year budget, it's about the future of the democratic party here in illinois. will the dpi become an independent, more forward thinking institution aimed at supporting progressive values or will it continue to be one-half of the old illinois combine? madigan has allied himself with the past...