Jefferson’s Health Care Fix a Victim of Political Feud; Updated X1
Add comment August 8th, 2008
Rep. Chuck Jefferson, D-Rockford, set out to help people.
He sponsored a bill requiring health insurance policies to continue providing coverage to dependent, full-time college students who must leave school or reduce their classload to part-time because of a catastrophic illness or injury. His fellow lawmakers approved that plan overwhelmingly; the House voted 105-3 and the Senate voted 56-1, sending the measure to Gov. Rod Blagojevich’s desk.
Little did Jefferson know that his bill might amount to nothing more than ammunition in Blagojevich’s political war with House Speaker Michael Madigan, D-Chicago. Now Jefferson is staring at a bill that may be dead. And if it’s dead, he will need to start all over again by re-introducing it and maneuvering it through the legislative process all over again.
What did Blagojevich accomplish in hijacking and possibly killing Jefferson’s bill? He took a swipe at Madigan and other House Democrats. He won a day of favorable publicity. And that’s that.
So much for Jefferson trying to help people.
On Wednesday, Blagojevich vetoed Jefferson’s bill to add language giving parents the option of keeping their children on their private health plan until they turn 26 — or, in the case of veterans, the age of 30.
That may sound like a well-intentioned initiative from the governor. But the fact is that lawmakers — both Republicans and Democrats — are tired of Blagojevich attempting to force his will upon them.
Blagojevich, notorious for his absence from Springfield while lawmakers are in session, didn’t bother attempting to maneuver his initiative through the legislative process. Instead, he hijacked a bill sponsored by somebody who had already done that work.
Oh, and that person — Jefferson — just happened to be a Madigan surrogate.
Jefferson told the Register Star: “Whatever feud might be going on between Speaker Madigan and the governor, I’m not a part of that. And I don’t think that you need to make me a part of that by hijacking one of my bills.”
But Jefferson is a member of Madigan’s exclusive leadership team. That means he joins high-level meetings not attended by other House Democrats. And it means he’s under additional pressure to act in lockstep with Madigan — particularly when it counts, like when Madigan is waging a political war with the governor. In Blagojevich’s view, Jefferson is very much a Madigan guy.
It’s no accident that Blagojevich targeted one of Jefferson’s bills.
And if there was any doubt that Blagojevich had escalated the war by personally attacking Madigan’s closest allies, any such doubt was removed Friday morning when Blagojevich used an appearance at the State Fair to verbally attack Rep. Gary Hannig, D-Litchfield, for helping Madigan engineer the defeat of Blagojevich’s capital plan. Hannig is one of Madigan’s top lieutenants.
In 2007, Blagojevich’s administration canned the wife of Tim Mapes, Madigan’s trusted chief of staff.
There’s a chance that lawmakers could vote to override the governor’s veto of Jefferson’s bill, thereby putting Jefferson’s bill — without the governor’s language — into law. But it’s not such a great chance. For as long as Senate President Emil Jones Jr., D-Chicago, continues to serve as Blagojevich’s ally in chief, then it’s unlikely Jones will allow the Senate to vote on an override.
Lawmakers are even less likely to vote to accept the governor’s changes.
If both chambers of the Legislature don’t agree on whether to accept or reject the governor’s changes, then the bill is dead.
Blagojevich certainly knew all of this when he decided to hijack Jefferson’s bill. He did it anyway.
Update 1
Wow, Blagojevich sure did rip into Gary Hannig, the Madigan lieutenant, at the State Fair today. The audio is here.
He also ripped a group of 10 House Democrats he labeled the “double-dippers” — 10 state lawmakers also on the City of Chicago or Cook County payroll.
Basically, the governor argued that these 10 people, who all enjoy two paychecks, are hypocrites for sticking with Madigan, who engineered the defeat of Blagojevich’s capital plan. Blagojevich says the capital plan would generate hundreds of thousands of jobs.
According to a Blagojevich spokeswoman, the 10 “double-dippers” are:
Rep. Edward Acevedo
Rep. Luis Arroyo
Rep. John Bradley
Rep. Annazette Collins
Rep. John D’Amico
Rep. Monique Davis
Rep. Deborah Graham
Rep. Joe Lyons
Rep. Susana Mendoza
Rep. Cynthia Soto
“There’s nothing more important than getting our economy going in Springfield, in Decatur, in Rockford, in Carbondale, in Danville — than investing in our infrastructure and putting people to work,” Blagojevich said.
“And we have the Republican leaders supporting the capital program. We have the Democrats in the Senate supporting the capital program. And Mike Madigan and 10 double-dipping Chicago Democrats who work for the City of Chicago full-time and then have part-time jobs as state reps killed the jobs bill that impacts people in downstate Illinois,” he said. “So if people feel there is this sense that some from Chicago don’t care about them, just look at that roll call and I can appreciate their frustration.”
Yep, it’s safe to say the political war is on.
