•October 7, 2015•

By Jim Nowlan
NP Guest Columnist

I am going out on a limb to predict that Chicago’s fiscal plight, arguably even worse than that of the state, will force Gov. Bruce Rauner and House Speaker Mike Madigan into serious bargaining to ink a state budget. Somebody or something has to bring them together.

This past week I “ran my traps” of savvy lawmakers and lobbyists to find out what was going on in the budget stalemate. To quote Edward G. Robinson, who played gangsters in old black-and-white movies, “Nobody knows nuttin’.”

Even leading political pundit Rich Miller has thrown up his hands in frustration at the lack of information coming out of the hermetically sealed Rauner Administration.

My sources, to a man (and woman), see no end to the budget impasse, one saying that it will only end when the state runs out of money in March or April.

Another close observer opined that Madigan wants to wait until he sees what his caucus will look like after the filing deadline for reelection in December.

Further, if Madigan holds out until January, he will need only a simple majority, rather than a three-fifths vote until then, to enact a tax increase and budget reductions, the latter even more painful to many of his members than extracting more from taxpayers.     Login or Subscribe to read the rest of this story.