Editorial: No, lawmakers don't deserve raises, but when will they begin the 'real conversation'?

Illinois lawmakers haven't had a pay raise in seven years. It's probable that few Illinois residents believe they deserve one, and it's certain that accepting one that is due to kick in automatically will be a public-relations nightmare. Thousands of state public employees, after all, face the prospect of getting no paychecks at all if state leaders can't compromise on a budget that is already two months overdue.

So, the Illinois House voted 101-1 this week - finally, after the speaker relented and permitted a vote that Republicans asked for weeks ago - to forgo their 2 percent cost-of-living pay raise. Senate President John Cullerton appears set to permit the Senate to vote on the measure next week, and the governor has already said he is eager to sign it.

The action will stave off some public outcry presumably, and to be sure, it is not just the politic thing to do but the right thing. But it also sidesteps a more pertinent issue, one evident in the remarks of Barrington Hills Republican Rep. David McSweeney,

"What we should be doing is we should be in session around the clock," McSweeney said.

Ironically, the lone "no" vote against blocking the pay raises - Democratic Rep. William Davis, of Homewood - offered a similar assessment when, as reported by Associated Press, he declared the issue a distraction from the "real conversation" that should be going on in Springfield.

Both lawmakers are clearly right. Famously, candidate Bruce Rauner spent two years on the campaign trail promising to focus "like a laser" on getting the state's finances in order.

If that indeed has been the case now that he's governor, it's hard to see it in the current state of affairs, and it's clear that legislators, and particularly legislative leaders, haven't shared any such sense of urgency.

Instead, at a time when the governor should be questioning such things as whether the battle over local right-to-work zones really has to be fought right now and when lawmakers need to be admitting such things as that the public ought to be given the opportunity to vote on how legislative lines are drawn - both sides looking, that is, for potential points of compromise - we have what Speaker Michael Madigan describes as a "historic struggle" and what citizens of the state accurately see as a counterproductive collision of strong wills.

Yes, Rep. McSweeney, you all should be working round-the-clock toward settling the budget crisis. And yes, Rep. Davis, the raise issue is a distraction. But, from bobcat hunting to happy hours, you lawmakers have been satisfied to remain distracted up to now. You surely ought not be taking pay raises while the "real conversation" awaits your attention.

It's really kind of a wonder that you're willing to accept any pay at all.