In the News

Clout Street by the Chicago Tribune, May 29, 2008

While Senate President Emil Jones and his new chairman of the Senate Rules Committee have so far managed to avoid holding up-or-down votes on a pair of resolutions aimed at blocking legislative pay raises, the topic continues to rile up lawmakers who don’t think it’s appropriate to receive an 11.7 percent salary hike during a recession.

Fifteen lawmakers from the House and Senate gathered Thursday to denounce Jones' tactics and demand a Senate vote on the issue. The pay increases would push lawmakers’ base yearly salaries to $73,000 and also boost the pay of judges and statewide officials such as Democratic Gov. Rod Blagojevich.

Sen. Matt Murphy (R-Palatine) said the actions of Jones and Sen. Rickey Hendon (D-Chicago), the rules chairman, are a "great illustration of the abuse of power" in Springfield, and he urged his colleagues to support a bill he plans to reintroduce next year that would free bills trapped in Hendon's committee if a majority of lawmakers in the chamber have signed on as co-sponsors.

Lawmakers noted that such a measure would have allowed the Senate to take a vote on the pay raises because Sen. Susan Garrett (D-Lake Forest) has gathered 29 co-sponsors for her resolution opposing the hikes, or enough to pass the measure. Hendon told committee members last week he would not let Garrett’s resolution come up for a vote this spring. The rules committee is often described by lawmakers as a place where bills go to die if they are not supported by legislative leaders.

The House already has rejected the pay raises, which will take effect automatically unless the Senate also votes them down in six session days, according to Garrett and Rep. Fred Crespo (D-Hoffman Estates).

Garrett and other lawmakers said the ruckus over raises shows that the system of awarding the pay hikes is flawed and needs to be reformed. The most obvious thing that needs to happen, they said, is that lawmakers should be required to cast an affirmative vote to get the raises. Under a complicated process designed to insulate lawmakers from political fallout, the raises are set by a state review board and take effect unless both the House and Senate reject the recommendation.