Editorial: Now let’s hear from the Gov about that ‘grand bargain’

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For Illinois, having a plan beats no plan.

We didn’t say that. S&P Global Ratings said it. It’s the title of a report the bond rating agency released this week that says our state Legislature and governor had better stop fighting and put together a workable budget right now because people are fleeing Illinois faster than baseball fans in a thunderstorm.

The report also makes clear — the title says it all — that a “grand bargain” now being negotiated in Springfield is the grownup way to go. It would give everybody something and nobody everything, and the single-issue obstructionists would have to take a hike.

Negotiations on the grand bargain stumbled in the Senate this week, to nobody’s surprise, and what could make all the difference now is a clear expression from Gov. Bruce Rauner about what he can live with. A firm signal from the governor could push a deal over the finish line, at least in the Senate.

Republican legislators are not about to approve the bargain’s most radioactive elements, like tax increases, unless they feel reasonably confident Rauner will sign the interlocked package of bills and also have their back in the next elections.

Rauner has been reluctant until now to lay out his parameters for a final deal, and for good reason. He’s become a little radioactive himself. Senate Minority Leader Christine Radogno’s ability over the last two months to negotiate the bargain with Senate President John Cullerton could have been diminished had she been seen as just doing the governor’s bidding. If the governor has been working it, it’s been behind the scenes.

But now would be an excellent time for the governor to step up. What exactly is he willing to sign? The parameters Rauner lays out would reveal whether he truly supports a grand bargain full of painful compromises, as his encouraging words of late suggest, or is prepared to blow it up with demands no Senate Democrat — let alone any House Democrat — would ever agree to.

Cullerton, under pressure from fellow Democrats to show progress, would prefer to work the deal through the Senate in piecemeal form, calling a vote on each of the 12 component bills as soon as final language for that bill is agreed upon. There is a laudable public transparency in that approach. But Republicans are wary of voting to approve low-hanging fruit for fear of losing leverage in negotiations over more difficult issues.

We don’t care how the deal gets done so long as it gets done. But there’s a better argument for doing it Radogno’s preferred way — all at once, like dinner going through a python. That minimizes opportunities to sabotage the whole package.

We’re particularly perplexed, by the way, by union leaders who urge a vote against the package for fear of giving Rauner “a win.” As if anybody will be a winner once a deal is struck that could have been struck almost two years ago.

Cullerton tried the piecemeal approach on Wednesday. On the most difficult bill, one to reform the pension system, he got shot down. Only 18 senators voted yes and not one was a Republican. The lesson of the day seemed to be that Democrats can’t do this alone, even if they dared, and Republicans can’t stand on the sidelines.

Lost in this conversation is the question of where House Speaker Mike Madigan stands. The going assumption is that Rauner might — just might — be amenable to supporting Cullerton and Radogno’s grand bargain. He signaled as much in his State of the State speech last month when he departed from his written text to urge the Senate leaders to keep talking. And once Rauner and Radogno get on board, it’s a good bet House Minority Leader Jim Durkin will be able to deliver the necessary Republican votes in his chamber.

But Madigan? Who knows. The Speaker says he is opposed on principle to any effort to link budget negotiations to Rauner’s proposed pro-business reforms, such as changes in workers compensation rules. And Madigan is not wild about a governor who has publicly talked him down. But the grand bargain almost certainly will include at least a couple of Rauner’s reforms.

Every member of the Legislature, Republican or Democrat, should get behind the grand compromise. For the good of Illinois, make it work.

As Cullerton asked a couple of weeks ago, “If not this plan, then what?”

Then nothing. Then Illinois keeps punching itself in the face.

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