Giving some hope to decent government in Illinois, Rich Miller of the Capitol Fax reports that caucuses are showing some muscle to the current 4 tops:
CAUCUS POWER Non-party caucuses may be coming into their own this year.
The Legislative Minority Caucus has been moving plenty of bills through the General Assembly and was able to impose its will on the O’Hare bill. It also convinced Senate President Emil Jones not to take away Sen. Rickey Hendon’s committee chairmanship earlier this spring. The caucus will also likely have more to say about the budget.
The Latino Caucus extracted a major pound of flesh from SBC last week. The Southland Caucus could actually make the Peotone Airport a reality. As mentioned above, the Downstate House Dems are working the road bill while the Downstate House GOPs are pushing the nursing home stuff.
And the ever-more-powerful Conference of Women Legislators has been zipping women-friendly bills through the General Assembly all session and will undoubtedly make changes in the budget, as it has so often in the past.
Despite rules and traditions in both chambers designed to concentrate legislative power in the hands of the four leaders, members are finding ways to get things done on their own. This is a very good thing.