Voters will have cast their choice for U.S. president by November 4, but one more president must be elected in Illinois. The general public won’t have a say in this one, however.
It’s solely internal, as Illinois Senate Democrats will pick a new presiding officer to replace outgoing President Emil Jones Jr., who will retire in January. His son, Emil Jones III, will fill his Senate seat, but the race to replace him at the helm of the chamber is exposing a lengthy list of candidates.
That could change this month, when the Demo-cratic Caucus is expected to firm up its votes for the next caucus chair and chamber spokesman — and it almost certainly will be a man because no female candidates had entered the race by mid-October.
Courts have ruled that 30 votes from among the 59 senators are needed to become Senate president, challenging the front-runners to gain enough support with so many candidates in the field.
The presiding officer holds extra-ordinary power, thanks to state statute. The president determines the flow of legislation and appoints members to legislative committees, which determines whether the panels are workable or unworkable.
But this year, the weight of the gavel carries with it high expectations for rehabilitating the chamber and refreshing the entire Statehouse climate.
“We’re atypical,” says Kent Redfield, a political scientist at the University of Illinois at Springfield. “We’re not normal in terms of how much power rests in the hands of the leaders versus the membership. In most state legislatures, members have a lot more say in things. Committees work a lot better. We’ve really gone to an extreme, so I think you can expect some movement back in the other direction.”
Transparency and consensus building are two items on everyone’s wish list.
Statehouse insiders hope a new leader will open up the process of advancing legislation, and they seek a willingness to cooperate with political parties in both chambers and with the governor’s office.
The sense of hope extends beyond the Capitol. The general public wants a new president who could break a multiyear stalemate among Gov. Rod Blagojevich, House Speaker Michael Madigan and Jones, all Chicago Democrats. Each participated in an extensive string of political power plays designed to put the others on the hot seat. And the triumvirate has caused the longest overtime legislative session in state history, followed by the dismal announcement to decrease essential state services, lay off hundreds of state employees and close 11 state parks and 13 state historic sites this year.
A Chicago Democrat on Jones’ leadership team says the outgoing Senate president is Blagojevich’s No. 1 ally and likens Jones to a World War II hero.
“He was the Gen. [George] Patton to his presidency,” says Sen. Donne Trotter, a Senate majority caucus whip. “We’ve literally been at war for the past few years. So he’s been a field general, and he’s going to be hard to replace.”
The slew of senators mentioned early in the race include at least four members of Jones’ leadership team and at least three who have slight or hardy independent streaks.
Sen. John Cullerton of Chicago is the longest-serving Democrat in his chamber and has a working history with the House speaker. Sen. James Clayborne of Belleville is the only downstate contender and a member of the Legislative?Black Caucus. Sen. Terry Link of Waukegan chairs the Lake County Democratic Party and has put a dent in the GOP?representation of the suburbs. Trotter lives in Chicago and is the key budget negotiator for his caucus.
All four serve on Jones’ leadership team.
Three not in Jones’ cabinet who have high-profile positions include Sen. Don Harmon of Oak Park, sponsor of this year’s ethics reforms banning so-called pay-to-play politics; Sen.?Jeff Schoenberg of Evanston, who sponsored legislation to bring in $4.5 billion of federal Medicaid funds for hospitals; and Sen. Ira Silverstein of Chicago, who chairs the powerful Executive Committee and says he enters the race only as a “compromise” candidate.
The new leader will completely change the dynamics of Illinois politics, says Sen. Mike Jacobs, an East Moline Democrat who is the third generation in his family to have worked with Jones. He also has publicly and privately clashed with the governor.
“No longer is it going to be a Blagojevich-Jones alliance against the speaker. I believe what’s going to happen now is it’s going to be a Senate and House against the governor. I think this is good because it puts back the three branches of government: executive, judicial, legislative.”
Jacobs notes that Jones’ leadership style has helped him build his caucus from 27 members to an extraordinary 37, enough to advance major legislation without needing Republican votes.
“I also think that kind of a leadership style that he had didn’t help him once he was in power,” Jacobs says. “I think his leadership style was more suited to gaining power. I think the next Senate president is going to be more of a facilitator, more of a compromiser. He’ll have to listen a little closer to his caucus.”
The next leader might heed the advice of Philip Rock, an Oak Park Democrat who served as the Senate’s presiding officer for seven terms between 1979 and 1993. He took the podium with the intent to infuse good government into the system and operate on one basic philosophy: “Treat all the members fairly.”
Every member should get a fair shot to debate legislation he or she deems important, Rock says.
“I think absent that, if you try to shut down or bypass or give short shrift to a member’s interest or abilities, you hurt the whole institution. There’s no reason why everything can’t be openly and fairly debated. It takes a little longer, but, frankly, it works a lot better.”
Link of Waukegan says he would be “a natural” in leading the caucus, given that he also leads one of the fastest-growing Democratic bases in the state. He says his independence is his strongest suit.
“I have no obligation to anyone. By not having an obligation to the speaker, not having an obligation to the governor, not having an obligation to [Chicago Mayor Richard Daley] or anyone else, [it] makes me have that ability to cross the line to work with Republicans and also cross the line to work with the House, the governor — and remember that my main objective is the caucus and the Senate.”
Diversity will serve as an asset, as well as a challenge, to the chamber president. African Americans, Latinos, suburban Chicago legislators and downstate lawmakers have their own subgroups and often use their memberships to gain leverage.
On a rare occasion this fall, they all agreed to restore budget cuts that threaten state recreational sites and human services, as well as to enact landmark ethics reforms.
But it took behind-the-scenes drama to get there. At one point, some Senate Democrats rumbled about a coup d’etat, of sorts, upon speculation that Jones again would side with Blagojevich and buck the budget restorations the House had unanimously approved a few weeks earlier. Cooler heads prevailed, and the Senate acted in accordance with the House to allow the governor to sweep about $221 million from dedicated state funds to restore money for human services, historic sites and state parks.
The governor approved part, but not all, of that plan.
The negotiations showcased members who consider themselves front-runners for the Senate presidency versus those who say they only will enter as “compromise” candidates if the caucus hits a stalemate.
Cullerton, majority caucus whip from Chicago, is one who describes himself as a front-runner. During negotiations, he cast the deal to restore state funds as “easy,” despite the false starts.
“Initially, it appeared that we were, once again, going to fight with the House, not talk to them, send a bill over and try to stick it to them,” he said during the legislative session. “That’s not what my suggestion was when we had our leadership meeting. And, quite frankly, I’m not going to take credit for it, but I suggested that we do exactly what we’re doing.
“And that’s the way it’s going to be next year after I get elected.”
Cullerton, an attorney with a Chicago law firm, adds that he spent 12 years in the House. His district runs along Lake Michigan on the north side of Chicago.
Some perceive Cullerton’s long history with Speaker Madigan as risky for the caucus’ independence.
Cullerton disagrees.
“Can you imagine having to apologize for having a relationship as a Democratic president of the Senate and getting along with the Democratic speaker of the House?” he says. “That’s ludicrous. I’m not going to work this hard as it will be to get this job and then turn the gavel over to the speaker. I’m going to serve the members who elected me. But after you do that, you sit down with the other side and try to work out agreements. And you do the same with the governor.”
Cullerton says he would be a different kind of leader from Jones.
“I think it would be just a different style, more inclined to work with the House, and I think I’d like to make it a little bit less toxic in terms of our relationship with the Republicans.”
Jones has worked with Republicans, most notably in 2007 when his chamber twice approved gaming expansions to pay for a major capital plan for road and school construction projects. But both versions died in the House.
Clayborne, assistant majority leader from the Metro East area, is another rumored front-runner and the only downstate member in the running. He has the cross-pollination that could attract support from factions within the caucus. He is the only African-American senator from outside the Chicago region. He grew up in East St. Louis and is an attorney with a national law firm based in Chicago with offices in Belleville and Edwardsville.
Clayborne points out that the 57th District is mostly urban but includes rural areas in St. Clair and Madison counties. He also cites examples of when he’s walked the line between the Democratic Party and downstate ideology by voting to protect gun-ownership laws and backing business-oriented legislation, including an attempt to exempt riverboats from the statewide smoking ban.
But he also voted with Chicago Democrats when he switched positions to be the 30th and deciding vote needed to rescue Chicago-area mass transit from financial implosion.
By switching his vote, Clayborne abandoned a downstate Democratic pact to withhold votes for a mass transit deal until the General Assembly advanced a statewide capital construction plan.
He explained: “I had to deal with reality. I want a capital bill. I think everybody in the Senate wants one. But until Madigan sits at the table and decides that we’re all going to negotiate in good faith like we did with medical malpractice, like we did with Ameren [utility rates], then why should we jeopardize services in Chicago?” He added that the Chicago plan also benefited downstate mass transit districts by increasing state aid for operating costs.
Clayborne has the backing of the Downstate Caucus.
“He’s my first choice,” says Sen. Deanna Demuzio of Carlinville.
If Clayborne doesn’t win, she says downstate legislators will keep an open mind and compromise on a candidate who can grow with the responsibilities of the job.
One of those candidates could be Harmon. His district includes west suburban Chicago and O’Hare Inter-national Airport, as well as significant African-American and Latino populations. Such diversity could give him leverage.
“My district forces me to be responsive to a variety of constituencies, and having to do that at home in my district is good training for working with those same constituencies here in the Capitol,” Harmon says, citing Rock’s advice to him to be fair to everyone. “I don’t think it gets more elemental than that.”
He most recently negotiated the ethics legislation that will prohibit businesses holding significant state contracts from donating to state officeholders who sign those contracts. The so-called pay-to-play ban took three years to unfold and will take effect January 1.
Blagojevich and Jones opposed Harmon’s bill, saying it didn’t go far enough. Jones stood on the Senate floor and sometimes pointed in Harmon’s direction when saying state contractors will still be able to give money to statewide political parties that turn around and filter the money to the officeholder who signs the contract, anyway.
Jones instead supported a broader ban proposed by Blagojevich. When that idea came to the Senate floor, Jones said those who oppose it just want to protect their fundraising abilities so they can campaign for higher office.
Harmon says approving a bill that almost everyone agrees is fatally flawed would undermine the behind-the-scenes negotiations already happening to expand state ethics laws. He says the vote also could give the impression that the Senate is more interested in the appearance of advancing comprehensive ethics reforms than it is in ironing out the complicated details with the House.
“Let’s negotiate this bill before we start throwing bombs across the building,” Harmon said before the Senate voted to approve the measure.
Silverstein, another contender, also urged his peers to vote “present” to demonstrate their opposition to the process but support of the concept.
As a “compromise” candidate, Silverstein describes himself as a “meat-and-potato type of guy.” That comes in handy as chair of the vocal Executive Committee, which can become unruly with political tactics. Case in point:?the ethics legislation that was subject to repeated rounds of politics.
“There’s no question you’re playing politics all the time,” Silverstein says, “but there’s a point in the game where you have to say, ‘OK, let’s put our cards on the table and see what we can get done.’”
He was elected to the Senate in 1999 as an upset candidate who was not endorsed by the Democratic Party. His district includes an ethnically diverse part of northern Cook County. He says if elected Senate president, his main goal would be to win back the trust of the public, work together and reform the way the caucus sets its priorities.
“We have to open the process. It hasn’t been so kosher sometimes here, and we have to make it a little more kosher, so to speak.”
With a new Senate president could come other changes the way the Senate operates.
Schoenberg is in the running and also says transparency is a priority. He proposes that caucus members not only elect their Senate president but that they also elect every person who holds a leadership position.
“That’s the best approach to take because it would be the glue that would bind a very diverse caucus together by giving everyone a sense of ownership in whatever we achieve from the very start,” he says. “I think that it would also provide an opportunity to have more diverse voices heard, as well as to provide greater opportunities for more women to serve in leadership.”
Schoenberg has served in the Senate since 1990 and is a suburban Chicago party leader. He also served six terms in the Illinois House. While in the Senate, he has sponsored three so-called hospital assessment plans, which attract billions of federal Medicaid dollars that are redistributed among hospitals that care for the neediest patients.
“That’s something where you literally have to balance the economic and health care needs of nearly 200 hospital markets throughout the state,” he says. “There are competing geographical and economic interests, and yet, we’ve been able to keep everyone laser-focused on getting the resources to where the needs are the greatest.”
He has an independent streak, too, rooted in his survival of an ideological shift when the state redrew the legislative map.
“I ran against the party initially to win and then was reapportioned into a 36 percent Democratic district,” he says. “Trust me, you sleep with your eyes open when fewer than four out of 10 voters call themselves Democrats. But it also challenged me to be more responsive and more innovative in my thinking.”
The new Senate president could, in fact, mark a new era and a new generation of politician. The high expectations, however, collide with the need for internal remediation. Former Senate President Rock says that could require new party leaders to wring out the system of political campaigns, which, nationwide, have become too expensive and so mean-spirited that they forever taint relationships.
“They pull some dirty trick on some candidate, and the candidate then gets lucky enough to get elected and be sworn in, and now everything’s supposed to be hunky-dory. Baloney. It never happens. These people carry a grudge on both sides of the aisle and both houses.”
Egos also will have to be checked at the door of the caucus meetings to select their leader.
It will be trial by fire,?Rock adds.
“It is not easy for a person who has been elected in his or her own right to admit that somebody else in that room is your equal or your better and should be supported for the office of presiding officer.”
On the other hand, if the selection process goes well, it could give rise to the rank-and-file legislator, says UIS political scientist Redfield.
For that to happen, legislators will have to change the chamber’s work ethic from the bottom up. “The members are going to have to step up and use the power,” he says, “or it’ll just flow back to the leaders.”
Bethany Jaeger can be reached at capitolbureau@aol.com.
Illinois Issues, November 2008
