![]() Maintaining their super majorities is an obsession, for two reasons:įirst, it increases their cash haul from special interests and lobbyists. Madigan has one more than he needs, and Cullerton has four. That is critically important, inasmuch as the vote of 60 percent of the members can override the governor’s veto and pass bills in post-June sessions. The Democrats have a 39-20 Senate super majority and a 71-47 House super majority. However, every bill voted out of committee goes to the Rules Committee, controlled by the "Two Tops," and few ever get to the floor. ![]() Of the 177 legislators, up to 147 get that $6,500 stipend, and every committee has a staff and legal counsel, so the output of new laws and regulations, not to mention hair-brained ideas, is substantial. In the Senate there are 20 committees, commissions or task forces, but there are 60 in the House. Legislators are paid an extra $6,500 if they are a committee chairman or the ranking Republican on the committee. "There are constant committee meetings." D’Amico is the chairman of the Transportation: Vehicles and Safety Committee. "That’s not true," state Representative John D’Amico (D-15) said. New Hampshire pays $200 per year.Ībout the toughest daily decisions a legislator has to make, it is said only somewhat facetiously, is when to have the first martini and which lobbyist will buy it. Illinois’ salaries are the fifth highest in the nation. ![]() There’s nothing constructive to do, except spend their $111 per diem allowance, collect their annual salary of $67,836, schmooze with lobbyists, return their cell phone messages, find some work for their three-person Springfield staff, and wait to be told how to vote (if a Democrat) or to be totally ignored (if a Republican). When the General Assembly is in session, usually for two or three days per week in January, February and March and four or five days per week during April and May, all the legislators need do is show up and loiter. All determinations are decreed by Illinois House Speaker Mike Madigan and Senate President John Cullerton, with Governor Bruce Rauner playing a bit part. That would keep 175 of Illinois’ 177 state senators and state representatives out of mischief.Īfter all, they’re superfluous and irrelevant. The way to fix gridlock in Springfield is to post a "No Loitering" sign in the state capitol. ![]()
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