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* My weekly syndicated newspaper column…
The Illinois Senate’s COVID mitigation protocols (testing, masks and limited remote voting) didn’t anticipate a partisan attempt to use a record-breaking virus surge to shut the chamber down, but that’s what almost happened last week.
The Senate Republicans were rightfully outraged the Democratic supermajority geared up to jam through a redistricting bill of several judicial circuits without so much as a proper hearing. So, they counted heads and determined they just might be able to force an adjournment without action if they stayed off the floor, thereby denying the Democrats a quorum. And since the Democrats weren’t planning to come back to town before petition circulation started, any delay could mean the end of the attempted court gerrymandering.
Two Senate Democrats had reportedly tested positive for the coronavirus after taking the mandated SHIELD test the evening before. Another Democrat had already announced he’d tested positive for the virus and was experiencing mild symptoms. Yet another was running late and couldn’t be there for the scheduled 11 o’clock start time.
A slew of others had various excuses for not being in Springfield, including one whose staff had tested positive and was quarantining to be on the safe side.
The Senate’s pandemic-era remote voting rule still requires a quorum to be physically present at the Capitol. The Democrats needed 29 members at the Statehouse to ensure there was an official quorum of 30. They didn’t need all 30 because a Republican would have to be on the floor to question the existence of a quorum. The Democrats have 41 members, but they couldn’t produce 29 bodies. Rank-and-file Democrats fumed at the bungling of the headcount and the Republican games.
So, top Democrats came up with a plan. The member who was running late was told to hurry up. Two members who tested positive were asked to sit in their cars in their Statehouse parking spots and participate from there. Another participated from her Statehouse office. Those three were deemed “present” even though they weren’t on the floor.
Voting while on the Capitol grounds but not in the chamber does have precedent. Former Sen. Bill Haine was very ill and couldn’t risk infection when the chamber overrode Bruce Rauner’s veto of the income tax hike in 2017. Haine voted from his Statehouse office, and the override motion prevailed with the bare minimum of 36.
But it turns out there was no rush to get people to town because a group of House Democratic lawmakers from Lake County banded together to stop the judicial remap bill until they got what they wanted. Some accommodations were eventually made, but it took a good long while.
The House Republicans later tried their own quorum stunt to block the remap bill, but the Democrats had 62 members on hand (three more than required) and the plot fizzled.
During debate on the House’s rules change to again allow remote voting earlier in the day, Rep. Tim Butler (R-Springfield) asked the chamber consider imposing some conditions on remote participation, since some members appeared to be abusing the rule (leaving session early and voting while driving home, for instance). Butler represents the Capital City, so he has an interest in protecting the livelihoods of the town’s businesses. Session injects a large amount of money into Springfield every year.
Rep. Butler is right. Some of these excuses are just ridiculous. Sen. Darren Bailey (R-Xenia) infamously voted remotely last year from a helicopter during a gubernatorial campaign tour. Some basic rules really ought to be put in place. And ditching session for campaigns should be at the top of the list (Sen. Bailey could be seen last week voting remotely while apparently driving his car).
But what Rep. Butler and others may not appreciate is that Democrats were furious at the parliamentary gamesmanship. There’s currently no desire to hurry back to town for floor action if they’re just going to sit around in potentially COVID-infested spaces for hours on end while one chamber or the other attempts to secure a quorum because of a lack of Republican cooperation.
This was an unusual case. I get it. The judicial subcircuit remap bill shouldn’t have been blatantly shoved through like that. It was an abuse of authority to rush through a bill to put more Democrats on local courts, and the Republicans were right to protest.
But I also don’t blame the Democrats for wanting to just stay in remote committee mode and not return to Springfield during the coming weeks while this surge blows over if this gamesmanship is going to be a habit.
posted by Rich Miller
Monday, Jan 10, 22 @ 8:47 am
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Good article.
Beyond their vocal complaining and gamesmanship, the republican caucus is a bit stuck between a rock and a hard place.
The caucus will vocally complain about the remote voting rules, but when the rubber meets the road they have to continue to allow this behavior for their own members to abuse as well - as evidenced by the behavior of Bailey. He’s far from an outlier either, as I’m sure we all remember Skillicorn voting from a parade a few hundred miles away - and that was even before remote voting was technically allowed. Those are just two recent examples, there are plenty more.
If the republican caucus wants to make changes, where is their submitted bill. Since session is over and they haven’t submitted anything along these lines, I’m left with the conclusion the republican caucus doesn’t actually want to make these changes in remote voting but instead will allow it to exist without a formal challenge for the sole purpose of generating campaign flyer headlines.
It may be nuance and it generally won’t land with the general public, but behavior like this is why I can’t take the IL republican party seriously.
Comment by TheInvisibleMan Monday, Jan 10, 22 @ 9:07 am
I am not certain we’re this is the correct use of gamesmanship. Per a dictionary definition;
===games·man·ship
/ˈɡāmzmənˌSHip/
Learn to pronounce
noun
noun: gamesmanship
the art of winning games by using various ploys and tactics to gain a psychological advantage.===
Republicans in Illinois don’t win. The stunt they tried shouldn’t count as gamesmanship because as serial losers it’s pretty evident that they have no familiarity with the “art of winning” anything other than uncontested elections and primaries against moderates.
Comment by Candy Dogood Monday, Jan 10, 22 @ 9:25 am
“The member who was running late was told to hurry up.”
The hours that I’ve waited for fellow Democrats who are “running late” could surely be measured in weeks.
Possibly months.
– MrJM
Comment by MisterJayEm Monday, Jan 10, 22 @ 9:42 am
I thought Republicans were opposed to absentee voting of any kind because it is rife with fraud. Maybe that only applies to election voting by mail, but how do we know that Italian satellites aren’t intercepting these remote votes by Illinois lawmakers and changing them electronically through smart thermostats installed at the statehouse?
Comment by Moral Minority Monday, Jan 10, 22 @ 9:46 am
Happy to see the author and the Sun Times take a bit of a risk in going “in the weeds” a bit to explain what was happening in Springfield in the General Assembly.
The article was well written and covered the situation in a way that citizens not that familiar with anything about State government could quickly understand.
It seems the Sunday Sun Times is the “go to” place to follow the “comings and goings” in Springfield.
Comment by Back to the Future Monday, Jan 10, 22 @ 10:33 am
What happened to the good days, like holding off voting on a budget until Skip could get back from a HS graduation. Now those were the days.
Comment by Give Me A Break Monday, Jan 10, 22 @ 12:31 pm
What I find funny is that the Senate still basically started on time (based on the long held tradition of Senate Standard Time).
Comment by SaulGoodman Monday, Jan 10, 22 @ 12:33 pm
To the post,
Rich breaking down the inside baseball, things I can read and read and read. Never get enough of it.
What’s important is grasping that the gamesmanship and wrangling and even the Republican play… it’s a chamber showing real life in asserting some sort of dynamics to getting things done, or making a point.
While all this was going on I found myself kind of “confused” to what was the end game, or the play at hand, or if there was a way to turn the tide. In the end, it played out as intended, but with some sidetracks.
It’s work like this that makes every nugget so tasty, every tidbit yummy, and institutional knowledge passed on so important to context.
Grateful for the share, glad it’s out there for us all to have the context. It’s not told anywhere, but “here”
Comment by Oswego Willy Monday, Jan 10, 22 @ 8:04 pm
@Moral Minority: Your words here brought a smile, given images like Darren Bailey voting while driving: “I thought Republicans were opposed to absentee voting of any kind because it is rife with fraud.”
Comment by Yooper in Diaspora Monday, Jan 10, 22 @ 9:29 pm
Well, I did see Bailey’s big black Ford Excursion on the road here in Louisville a couple of days ago. Fortunately I wasn’t close enough to see if Bailey himself was at the wheel or if the driver was using any electronic devices while driving. I expect Darren would have the good sense to pull to the side of the road beneath an overpass (to block possible interference from those satellites controlled by liberal Italians) while casting important Illinois Senate votes from his vehicle.
Comment by Moral Minority Monday, Jan 10, 22 @ 10:32 pm