Madigan declines to attend leadership meeting with Rauner

The Nov. 8 election saw Madigan lose his supermajority in the Illinois General Assembly. Now, two Democrats are calling on the speaker to present his solution set for a state in fiscal crisis before pledging to vote for his re-election as House speaker.

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.

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.