Trying to bridge the political divide created by Mike Madigan.

He's a great leader, Illinoisan and Friar.

As Jim Durkin was finishing up his speech accepting another term as House Republican leader on Wednesday, the Western Springs lawmaker made note that Mayor Rahm Emanuel was in attendance.

Durkin thanked Emanuel for coming to the inaugural ceremony and noted that his own legislative role as well as that of being a private attorney allows him to spend a lot of time in Chicago.

“My family and I and all our friends and, I presume, everybody here entertains in the city, the city of Chicago. It’s an amazing, amazing town. It’s the jewel by the lake and truly an international destination place,” he told the audience at the University of Illinois at Springfield.

But the niceties about the city ended there.

“I, like all of us here, are saddened, sickened and angry with the daily news reports of shootings and murders in the city of Chicago. This must come to an end,” said Durkin, frequently pounding a lectern to accentuate his message.

“We must take the streets back from those cowardly thugs who have destroyed neighborhoods and families. And this must be done with federal, state and local collaboration. We cannot go through another summer like we have witnessed in these past few years,” he said.

Durkin pledged to work with the Democratic majority in the legislature and with Emanuel to make streets safer and to ensure the safety of children following a year that saw more than 760 gun deaths in the city.

“While we have problems with our budget, no one should feel good about what is happening. We need to do more as a legislative body. Society needs to do more as well,” Durkin said.

“So, as I said, I will work with anyone to stop this. It’s personal for so many members of this body. It’s personal for people in this crowd. It’s personal for everyone in the state of Illinois who believes that everyone has a right to grow up safe and to be able to pursue the American dream without danger,” he said.

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Crocodile tears

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There are only two examples of infinity: The universe and human stupidity and I'm not sure about the universe.

They played Cullerton's and Madigan's speeches on Chicago Tonight yesterday. They were both quite conciliatory, especially Madigan's. Sure, it probably means nothing, but I wonder if these guys will finally find some common ground. Apparently Cullerton and the Republican Senate leaders have been pushing hard for compromises.

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Hawaii (fuck) You

You would hope that in Illinois even with Madigan something has got to give.

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Elections have consequences.

Hmm Madigan just wrote an op-ed in one of the Illinois newspapers. Here it is.

http://www.sj-r.com/opinion/20170111/ho ... e-illinois

House Speaker Michael Madigan: Economic growth a better way to improve Illinois

The last two years have been extremely difficult for our state. But with the inauguration of a new General Assembly today, we have an opportunity for a new way forward. Regardless of how any of us feel about the proposals laid out by Gov. Bruce Rauner, the elected leaders of our state must face Illinois' challenges together. Rather than placing blame and looking to find the worst in each other, we should focus on working together and finding common ground to address the issues facing our state.

In that spirit, I think we can all agree that legislators and the governor must take immediate action to address the state's budget crisis. There are people across Illinois whose lives are forever altered in a negative way because of our lack of a budget. If we have a repeat of the last two years, there will be more people forever harmed across our state. We can all agree that can't happen.

House Democrats agree with the governor that Illinois can and should improve our business climate. Improving our business climate will create new opportunities for families across Illinois and will provide a better standard of living for many of our state's residents.

But House Democrats don't agree that the only way to create jobs is to hurt the people who work in those jobs each day. I would like to suggest a better approach for improving our business climate than those who insist the only way to compete in a global economy is to join in a race to the bottom by cutting wages, and stripping away protections for workers in an effort to increase profits for businesses.

Crain's Chicago Business columnist Joe Cahill recently studied Donald Trump and Mike Pence's efforts to prevent the Carrier Corp. from outsourcing jobs from Indiana to Mexico. By committing $7 million in taxpayer incentives, they were able to keep one-third of the jobs in Indiana, but two-thirds of those jobs are still going to Mexico. No state in this country will ever offer lower labor costs than Mexico, which is why Mr. Cahill concluded that our economic development strategy cannot focus solely on costs, but must offer businesses the opportunity for growth.

The attributes that drive economic growth can be found right here in Illinois: We have first-class universities and nationally recognized research labs. We have a highly educated workforce. We have a world-class transportation infrastructure. We are home to innovative projects like Chicago's digital manufacturing initiative.

To this end, House Democrats will introduce and pursue an agenda that contains aggressive economic reforms to leverage these attributes, create jobs and improve the business climate, without hurting hard-working middle-class families.

If we must use a cost approach to helping businesses in Illinois, we could start by cutting the corporate income tax by at least 50 percent. This would allow businesses to spend more of their resources on creating jobs and improving our economy. However, many of the largest corporations in Illinois pay no income tax, putting the real economic drivers - small and medium-sized employers who do pay - at a tremendous disadvantage. If we cut the income tax rate by half, we should also level the playing field for those small and medium-sized businesses by creating a new corporate tax structure that eases the burden on most employers while ensuring that all businesses pay something.

We can also put Illinois jobs first by reinstating the EDGE tax credit for businesses that create new jobs. While we invest in businesses that invest in Illinois, we should also take the step of outlawing any future tax incentives for corporations that ship American jobs out of our country. I think it only makes sense that we should be investing tax dollars in companies that invest in Illinois.

Positioning Illinois as a place for growth also means investing in a strong middle class. This is why the House Democrats' agenda for economic growth will include an increase in the Earned Income Tax Credit, to help working families keep more of what they earn. And our agenda will include an increased minimum wage.

We will invest in education at all levels. We will work to make our tax code fairer and our schools stronger by requiring the wealthiest in our state to pay a small surcharge only on income over $1 million, with 100 percent of the new revenue going to fund our schools. A well-educated workforce will benefit our businesses in the long term.

We choose this pathway to create jobs, grow our economy and improve the business climate, rather than joining in a race to the bottom and lowering our standard of living by gutting protections for workers hurt on the job through no fault of their own, restricting collective bargaining rights and cutting middle-class wages.

We all see the challenges facing our state. We must address the budget crisis, and we must grow our economy. We can create growth without dismantling the middle class. The oaths taken today by new members of the General Assembly make these challenges ours together. I hope we can work together to address them.

- Michael J. Madigan, D-Chicago, is the speaker of the Illinois House.

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Hawaii (fuck) You

Let me guess. Another Irish hard-on from Fenwick.

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Ecclesiastes 5:8

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There are only two examples of infinity: The universe and human stupidity and I'm not sure about the universe.

I'd love to take Amanda Vinicky back into chambers and do unspeakable things to her on Christine Radogno's desk.

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Ecclesiastes 5:8

Gotta get up pretty early to sneak a fastball past JORR.

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oF Course! nothing like a STATE REP as they say doing the work of the POOR LITTLE COLLEGE KIDS. now, should there be something like this from the JOBS PRES,, maybe. BUT no need to 'break brad' with someone who KNOWS we are DEAD BROKE around hear. find me another guy - fine... NO ISSUES. but i don't need another folder pusher biting the hand that feeds him... or her!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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yeah, It's Big Brane!

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Power is always in the hands of the masses of men. What oppresses the masses is their own ignorance, their own short-sighted selfishness.
- Henry George