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| Can Illinois Republicans and Democrats Work Together? Quinn Hopes So |
When lawmakers return to Springfield for the fall veto session, the hope from Governor Pat Quinn is that they will work on campaign finance reform.
Quinn and other top Democrats say they will work with Republicans, but some Republican leaders are skeptical.
House Minority Leader Tom Cross (R-Oswego) says if you look at recent history, it's not likely to happen. "I'll believe it when I see it," Cross said. "That has not happened and it's kinda what we went through last session on the budget. At the very last day or two or three or four days they said hey, by the way, we want you to come to the table, so history has not shown that they want to include us [until] the very last minute."
Cross says aside from campaign finance reform, there is a lot more reform that must be done before Republicans would even consider going along with an income tax increase, a proposal by Quinn to dig the state out of its financial hole. He says lawmakers must work on changing the primary election date, recall, special election rules and redistricting.
Meanwhile, Senate Minority Leader Christine Rodogno (D-Lemont) says she takes Quinn at face value, but still questions if Republicans will be involved. "I take the governor at face value with that. However our experience has not been that so far."
She says the only time she was included in the campaign finance reform bill was a brief meeting with a Democratic senator and a brief talk with Senate President John Cullerton (D-Chicago).
(Illinois Radio Network) |
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| 08 28 09 by Newsroom |
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