There seems to be some confusion in Springfield about the meaning of the word "mandate."
Governor Pat Quinn proposed in March to raise the Illinois income tax by one percent in order to help close the state's massive budget gap. He stood by this pledge throughout a brutal campaign with Republican Bill Brady, who repeatedly attacked Quinn for wanting to hike taxes.
After defeating Brady in November -- albeit by a razor-thin margin -- Quinn said he had "a really strong mandate" to enact the tax increase.
Mike Madigan, the powerful Speaker of the State House, disagrees.
"I just didn't consider the result of the election to be a mandate for a tax increase. I didn't see it that way," Madigan said, according to the Chicago Sun-Times.
The two men's differences go beyond semantics. If Madigan doesn't see voters wanting a tax hike, he may well not let such a bill see the light of day.
Madigan, the leader of the House Democrats, currently has 70 Democratic votes in the legislature, a large enough majority to pass the one percent increase without any opposition support. But again, he is showing his reluctance to the measure by suggesting that he would want it to pass in a bipartisan fashion.
The speaker, who leads a 70-member contingent in the House, said he would not muscle through a tax increase for Quinn using only Democratic votes: "That's not my plan."
When asked why not, given that he controls a majority large enough to provide the 60 votes needed to pass a tax increase in early January, Madigan said, "You know, that word 'control' is one usually abused by media people, severely abused by media people.
"You can walk out there," he said, gesturing toward the House floor, "and ask those people . . . whether they're under control, and I think they'd say no."
Regardless, the Speaker retains a great deal of control over which bills see votes on the House floor. If he were to prevent the tax increase from coming up, Madigan would be dealing Quinn a cruel blow on one of the Governor's signature issues.
Interestingly, he might be more willing to hand Quinn a victory on an issue that has flown relatively under the radar: civil unions. "I think there's a good chance it'll pass," Madigan said the civil unions bill. Quinn hopes the bill will be a step towards full marriage equality for gay couples.
Both of the measures could come up during the current, six-day veto session of the legislature.
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