In what for too long has essentially been a one-party state, you expect the dominant party to be – partisan.
They are because they can be.
They do whatever they want and rub the nominal opposition's noses in it.
But the more they get away with, the more they think they can get away with, and, eventually, they go too far.
Even in Illinois, where so many of its citizens have been uninvolved to the point that they'll put up with almost anything from their paternalistic leaders – yes, even here, there's one of those lines in the sand that really can't be crossed.
Lisa Madigan may have crossed it.
Mark Glennon of WirePoints sums up the situation succinctly: “Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan went to court yesterday to stop state worker paychecks during the government shutdown or to allow payment of no more $7.25 an hour – the minimum wage. That action, together with the background story behind it – use of the courts to deliberately sabotage an agreement both workers and the state want – comprise one of the most sordid chapters of Illinois politics in recent memory.”
Why would Lisa do such a thing? It's not what she did the last time there was a state budget crisis. Last time, she helped make sure that public employees would be paid their proper wages on time. Of course, last time there was a Democrat governor involved. This time, it's a Republican.
“Lisa Madigan wants chaos and hardship to result from the budget impasse for the purpose of embarrassing the Rauner administration,” Glennon explains, “and she has sacrificed the interests of workers and the state towards that goal.”
Glennon contends that “Lisa Madigan's career would be over if people understood what she is up to with her worker pay lawsuit.”
When re-election time rolls around, Lisa's likely to want a do-over, but the citizens and public employees of Illinois that she betrayed for partisan political gain are not likely to give it to her.