The state of the State

A BRAVE new world of Illinois politics is on the way. So say the strange smoke signals from the Capitol at the anarchic close of the first session of the 81st General Assembly. Surely the old ways are rapidly withering when a Republican governor and a new Chicago mayor can't force-feed a "simple" road program to the legislature. Hizzonor is truly dead.

Nature abhors a vacuum, though. The external leadership authority of governor and mayor, if spurned, must be replaced. The new leadership will probably emerge in the suburbs. The successful June 30 filibuster by suburban lawmakers which killed the Byrne-Thompson transportation plan was a precursor of the likely clout suburbanites will wield.

The suburban revolt was fomented by a proposed increase in the sales tax in Cook County and five surrounding counties, a tax increase that would have funded the Regional Transportation Authority (RTA). The RTA has been troubling the suburbs and "collar counties" since its inception in 1972. There is strong anti-RTA feeling --crossing party lines -- among most suburban and collar district representatives that the six-county taxing authority of RTA gouges the outlying areas to the advantage of Chicago. Anti-RTA lawmakers like Rep. Cal L. Skinner Jr. (R., Woodstock), say their districts get too little services for too much taxes. Skinner would like to end RTA's taxing power outside Chicago.

The growth of suburbs and suburban clout may inevitably lead to the death of RTA after the 1981 redistricting. In this session of the legislature the Byrne-Thompson plan took a beating largely because anti-RTA feeling was underestimated and party loyalty was overrated. The alliance between suburban Cook County Republicans and collar county Democrats like Speaker William A. Redmond of Bensenville was natural. It needed to be dealt with before Gov. James R. Thompson and Mayor Jane M. Byrne submitted their road show June 22, or else the plan should have been drafted to appeal more to an alliance of Chicago Democrats and downstaters of both parties. As it was, the package had something for everyone -- to dislike.

Chicago would have had to give up hopes of ever finishing the Crosstown Expressway's "Burnham Corridor" as well as the Franklin Street subway. The sacrifices would have freed $1.8 billion in federal highway funds to help support the poor RTA. More importantly, Cook County would have been saddled with the largest share of the proposed sales tax increase, an added 1 percent, in contrast to the 1/2 percent increase asked of each collar county. The existing 5 cent per gallon gas tax in the RTA district would, in compensation, have been scrapped. In net effect, the tax exchange would have produced a quadrupling of Cook County's support of RTA. Those suburbanites who hate RTA most hated the idea of paying even more for it, or paying more than the collarites.

But Chicago legislators were also faced with an unwelcome alternative: without a tax boost RTA would fall $56 million in the red, unless a 20 to 30 percent RTA fare increase were levied. Byrne and Thompson may have expected this to convince Chicagoans to vote for their plan, but some legislators -- aware of the regressive nature of either tax -- preferred to indirectly cause a fare increase rather than directly voting for a tax increase. Next year is an election year, after all.

August 1979 / Illinois Issues / 2

Mayor Byrne later showed her contempt for this fine point when she verbally lashed House Majority Leader Michael J. Madigan for "sitting on his hands" by failing to secure the support of fellow Chicago Democrats for the plan. "We will call it the Madigan-Redmond fare increase," she said, ignoring the fact that Speaker Redmond is from DuPage County, where opposition to RTA is strongest. He was probably glad to hear the mayor blast him. And he must have been jubilant about getting in one last shot at his archenemy, the governor.

Redmond's role in blocking the Byrne-Thompson plan was most apparent June 29, when he refused to call the vehicle bill. That left a clear path for the successful filibuster by suburban road plan opponents on June 30. (After midnight the plan needed 107 votes rather than 89.)

Too much, too late
It is not self-evident that the plan would have passed if it had been brought to a vote (which it never was). Two of the main problems were that legislative leaders in the House were not involved in the planning, and that the package was put forward too late in the session for adequate revisions to be worked out.

Even downstate lawmakers, whose districts seemed called upon to sacrifice the least under the package, evinced considerable hostility. Republican downstaters appeared upset that they had not been consulted during the compromise stage. "As far as I'm concerned, the governor is very incompetent when he doesn't keep legislators informed of what's going on," said Sen. Max Coffey (R., Charleston). "He made a promise face-to-face with me that he would keep me informed and he hasn't."

Downstate Democrats were unhappy with the level of funding that would be channelled to downstate road projects. They also did not like the 1.5 cent per gallon increase proposed for the gas tax, or the fact that new downstate local road work funds would be contingent upon a hike in the gas tax. Funds for RTA and Chicago roads -- they pointed out -- would have been guaranteed whether or not the higher gas tax of 9 cents a gallon statewide was accepted. "Only downstate local governments stand to lose without a gas tax increase," said Rep. Gerald A. Bradley (D., Bloomington). Bradley also charged that downstaters would be asked to shell out millions more in gas taxes to finance improvements in only a third of the 3,000 miles of deteriorated highways, with most repairs to be made upstate.

Screamed like billy-oh
However, the net tax increase for downstate under the Byrne-Thompson package would have been a mere $40 million, according to estimates based upon subtracting the proposed $50 million tax break in the state income tax exemption from the $90 million hike in the state gasoline tax. And downstate would have received an additional $150 million in federal funds when Chicago agreed not to build its remaining 13.5 miles (Burnham leg) of the Crosstown and to scrap the Franklin Street subway.

The intransigence of the General Assembly created no clear winners on the transportation front. But it did make Gov. Thompson and Mayor Byrne look bad, which may to some extent have been the point. Suburban Democrat legislators flexed enough muscle to convince casual bystanders that they were on the verge of becoming independent of party machinery. The truth was, though, that party leadership within the legislature was not being exerted to coerce votes. Collar county Republicans screamed like billy-oh about their governor's supposed sellout to Chicago on RTA funding. Yet there was nothing new about the governor's lack of rapport with or influence over lawmakers in his own party, or about his willingness to compromise with Chicago on funding matters which he considers essential to the state's long-term welfare.

A new day
Although it is a new day when the mayor of Chicago cannot exert visible clout over Democrats in the legislature, it is not so unusual for any lawmaker to avoid voting for a tax increase, or for Democrats to avoid giving a Republican governor credit for maneuvering a four-year road program through the General Assembly. The program might have ended up looking too much like statesmanship three years hence, since without dramatic aid, Illinois roads will deteriorate, perhaps, to the point where commerce and industry will suffer losses in millions of dollars. Legislators, aware of this, would like to come up with a road program on their own, preferably one which does not call for any major visible tax increase.

Some lawmakers, including House Minority Leader George Ryan believe that is still possible, either this fall, or in a special session. A new proposal worked out by House leaders Madigan and Ryan July 9 (one more in a long line of alternatives to the Byrne-Thompson fiasco) did not receive much acceptance immediately from legislators, but may represent a new starting point for talks.

Exasperated, Gov. Thompson ordered director of the Department of Transportation John Kramer to begin drafting another plan on July 12.

August 1979 / Illinois Issues / 29

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