•July 19, 2017•

By Jim Nowlan
NP Guest Columnist

I had a dream during the recent turmoil over enactment of a state budget. The statuary on the Capitol campus in Springfield had tears running off their bronze cheeks onto the manicured lawn.

The box score for the recent enactment of a full-year yet incomplete budget would read: Illinois House Speaker Mike Madigan, 1; Gov. Bruce Rauner, 0, though indeed nobody in Illinois came out a winner.

Madigan won the box score because he prevailed in his quest to enact a budget without any of the business-friendly reforms demanded by Rauner.

Rauner may have won the politics of this ongoing soap opera, at least for the present, as he now has some money to spend and avoids blame for supporting the tax boost.

Early in his term, Rauner had been told by veteran outside counselors that the new governor could work with Madigan on a budget plus get some reforms.      Login or Subscribe to read the rest of this story.