The Rostrum        By JACK R. VAN DER SLIK

Bargain politics: second best results

THE INDICATORS of public opinion that come my way reveal that many people have a low view of the integrity and vision of Illinois political leaders. Newspaper stories tell how the macho men of various factions got together and cut a deal. Readers get a whiff of personal advantage accruing to the deal makers.

Try this image as an alternative. Illinois has a textbook model of the American check-and-balance system of government. It works just the way the 18th century founder James Madison wanted the U.S. constitutional system to work. A politician himself, he took a dim view of human nature. Corrupt humankind, he believed, would abuse political power. "If men were angels," he said in The Federalist, No. 51, "no government would be necessary." But since men are not, government should be organized into competing branches with differing functions and authority. No single bias should dominate policymaking. One visionary leader should not call the shots. "Ambition must be made to counteract ambition."

Competition within government has its parallel on the outside. Madison feared the power of a few factions, and thus encouraged the formation of many. The best check on any single interest group would be more interest groups. He did not know the mathematicians's Law of Large Numbers, but he believed that diverse interests in competition would produce moderate policy outcomes.

One largely unappreciated fact about Illinois politics is the high effectiveness of the parts of its machinery. The governor's power is evident: proposing the budget, appointing key administrators, vetoing bills with a range of constitutional powers. The Office of the Governor is well staffed and highly visible, certainly equipped to play a key role in Illinois politics.

But the legislature is also strong. For every power of the governor the legislature has a counter. And the day is past when the legislature was outstaffed by the governor's office. The General Assembly has nine nonpartisan professional units for policy research, fiscal analysis, bill drafting, computer services, rule review, auditing and the like. Additionally there are four highly able partisan staffs — House and Senate Republicans and Democratic counterparts — which serve the party leaders and the committees. Legislators can command any needed information for translation into policymaking power.

Ascendant regionalism

Illinoisans do not feel a strong sense of state identity. In contrast to state pride among the people of Virginia, Massachusetts, Wisconsin, Oregon and Texas, there seems to be little "we" feeling in Illinois. Nor is there much moral fervor in our body politic. Walter Jacobson can waggle a finger at real or imagined wickedness and the Chicago papers can get in a lather about conflicts of interest or hints of public corruption. But Illinoisans do not transmit much passion about state issues. Taxing pop and beer cans is a matter of principle in Wisconsin. Abortion and ERA fights in several other states have pitted principles and highly principled people in vigorous debate. In Illinois principled partisans are quickly labeled ideologues or extremists and dismissed as tiresome and boring. Crusaders get no respect in Illinois. Instead of feeling unity, Illinoisans are divided by sectional identities.

This tripartite state consists of Chicago, the collar counties around Chicago, and downstate. Smallest in size and population (three million), Chicago nevertheless dominates formation of the political agenda. Traditionally, because the Democratic machine could control its officeholders in all three branches of government at the local, state and national levels, it had to be dealt with in every major issue of state politics. Downstate, a mixture of Republicans and Democrats, had political coherence in just one cause: to repress the power of the Chicago machine. Downstaters were especially good at using legislative control to limit Chicago.

But population shifts and reapportionment reforms forced on Illinois by the U.S. Supreme Court caused legislative weight to shift to suburban Cook County and the collar counties around it. The suburbanites, now more than four million, have a more complex love-hate relationship with the city than do the four million-plus in the remaining 96 counties. They love the urban amenities, market, facilities, media and highly specialized services; they hate the city's crime, slums, dirt and decaying infrastructure. More than anything else, they fight being taxed to pay for solutions to the city's ills.

In Illinois principled partisans are
quickly labeled idealogues or extremists and
dismisse as tiresome or boring

Of course, a close look at any section reveals the fractionation within. Chicago is a salad bowl with big chunks of Irish, German, Polish, black, Greek, Hispanic and other kinds of ethnicity fighting for power. The collar is as diverse. Waukegan in Lake County is very unlike Wheaton in DuPage County. Downstate lumps together Swedish Lutherans in the north, small town traditionalism in the west and south, advanced agribusiness in the state's midsection and urban poverty in East St. Louis.

Illinois' diversity has produced pluralism with a peculiar tradition of civil rights: Every group has the right and responsibility to look after its own interests because nobody else will. Regional and local issues find expression under two broad partisan tents and get faithful representation in the legislature's House and Senate. Politicians there are loyal and loud in their assertions for constituents. Sometimes this means playing games to get city, suburban or downstate support. But each must know his or her bottom line because when the time for compromise comes, it is better to accommodate than to be left out of the deal.

Factionalism prevents both Republicans and Democrats from taking ownership of a statewide view. Because the people lack a strong sense of state pride and identity, the policies of Illinois are rarely innovative, outstanding or comprehensive. Rather, they are imitative, moderate or incremental.

Second best policies

Our policymaking assumes a style I will call a "second best alternative."

Instead of trying to do "what is right," Republicans and Democrats play down ideology: It might exacerbate group differences within their sectional strong-holds. Four legislative leaders and the governor make deals on major issues that get support from legislators of both parties whose little bills and special favors for local districts also pass. The governor's abstract promises in a state of the state speech frame an agenda for horse trading and subsequent victory statements for the deals that result. A "winning record" becomes the basis of appeals for reelection.

The public interest in Illinois is a result of the political process. Major policies emerge after factional leaders find a common denominator to their divergent interests. The persisting deficiency of Illinois politics is that there is no coherent doctrine of statewide interests. Our top politicians are not chosen for their vision or commitment to issues. Their pragmatism does, however, prevent problems from piling up, and deadlocks do not persist. It may not be cheap, but bargain politics is an art form in Illinois that reflects our sectionalism and cultural diversity. Madison would have loved it.

Jack R. Van Der Slik is a professor of political studies and director of the Illinois Legislative Studies Center at Sangamon State University, Springfield. With Kent D. Redfield, associate director of the center, he is the author of Lawmaking in Illinois: Legislative Politics, People and Processes, published by the Office of Public Affairs Communication at Sangamon State (late summer 1986).

74/August & September 1986/IIlinois Issues