Can an unchanged state government compromise anyway?

SPRINGFIELD — Just days after the election, Senate Republican Leader Christine Radogno was back in a Senate committee room, arguing the state shouldn't borrow more money to pay its bills.

The Lemont lawmaker echoed her party's campaigns, pushing back against some Democrats who've said the state has to borrow.

It was almost as if nothing had changed in the wake of last week's election. The Democrats have retained control of Illinois government, taking the governor's office and majority control of the House and Senate, though Republicans picked up a few seats.

And yet what happened next showed there just might be some change ahead that could take the state past the gridlock that has left it $13 billion in the red and with an embarrassing pile of unpaid bills to its schools, hospitals and more.

Senate President John Cullerton halted the debate on taking up to $4.1 billion in loans and postponed a vote for two weeks, in hopes of finding a way to get support from both parties.

“I would like to work toward bipartisan support on this issue,” the Chicago Democrat said.

A move like that won't turn feuding lawmakers into allies immediately. Cullerton may have simply been acknowledging he didn't have enough support to get the borrowing plan approved.

But that kind of cooperation or attempt at cooperation is what some lawmakers say has been lacking in Springfield.

Whether Illinois government's recent habits change, or don't, could be the critical question of the next year for a state that is crippled by its finances and so far unable to find a fix.

Gov. Pat Quinn will return to the governor's office for a full 4-year term. So while the GOP in Congress could spend the next two years trying to make sure President Barack Obama doesn't get re-elected, Quinn doesn't have the pressure of being on the ballot in two years.

“I think that creates maybe less incentive to play to the next election,” said Kent Redfield, a political scientist at the University of Illinois at Springfield.

Some Republicans and Democrats are both already talking about working together. But voters, used to some degree of dysfunction in Springfield in recent years, will likely believe it only when they see it.

Both parties spent months bashing each other during the election campaign, and those wounds might take some time to heal.

“You can see there's some tension in the room,” state Sen. John Millner, a Carol Stream Republican, said of the Senate's first day in session after the election.

“We're going to have to make some very tough decisions together,” Millner said.

And after months of arguing their points on the campaign trail, it might be tough for lawmakers to abandon those positions and compromise.

For example, state Sen. Michael Noland, an Elgin Democrat, said he'll continue to support an income tax increase if it comes with a break on suburban property tax bills. But House Speaker Michael Madigan has declined to call the plan for a vote in previous years.

“So the question is here: Is the speaker going to step up?” Noland said.

But Republicans aren't likely to easily budge on their anti-tax positions either.

State Rep. Ed Sullivan Jr., a Mundelein Republican, said several Democrats campaigned against income tax increases, too.

“The tax increase should be off the table,” Sullivan said.

Eventually, though, state leaders will take another crack at confronting the state's bleak finances. And if history is any guide, Redfield says, both parties will have to be involved before any painful cuts or tax increases are approved.

Even major piece of legislation approved recently gained support from at least some Republicans and Democrats. Last year, lawmakers raised the retirement age for most future state workers to save money on future pension costs.

And the year before, both parties joined to find at least some common ground on a massive public works program that former Gov. Rod Blagojevich could never accomplish in previous attempts.

So while Democrats remain in control of most of state government, Redfield said, any future accomplishments will almost certainly require compromise.

“You've got to get the Republicans to the table,” he said.