Public Meeting on Budget Impasse Could Happen
John Gregory -- Illinois Radio Network
If legislative leaders and Gov. Bruce Rauner are going to meet in public on the budget stalemate, who should set the agenda? The answers you get depend on which party you’re asking.
The same civic advocacy groups who asked for a public meeting to be held want a “bipartisan agenda” to guide it. State Sen. Jennifer Bertino-Tarrant (D-Shorewood) agrees that one person shouldn’t determine what’s going to be discussed.
“There’s a lot of issues, a lot of budgetary items, and I really hope that they’re each given an opportunity to submit what they would like to talk about,” Bertino-Tarrant said.
State Rep. Ron Sandack (R-Downers Grove) disagrees, saying it’s the proper role of the governor for Rauner to set the agenda for a meeting with legislative leaders.
“That’s just the way it is, whether it’s Gov. Rauner, Gov. Quinn, Gov. Blagojevich, et al, that’s the person who should set the agenda, call the meeting, and get things going,” Sandack said. “If we’re going to squabble over an agenda, man, we really have lost our bearings.”
The meeting is tentatively scheduled for November 18.