With the Democratic National Convention coming to Chicago, most people I talk with are paying close attention to the presidential race and are all but ignoring the races at the congressional and state legislative levels.
This is unfortunate. Although the presidential race is important, it is the races at the congressional and legislative levels that we should be paying more attention to.
One need only look at what happened in Springfield this past April when Gov. Jim Edgar proposed a state constitutional amendment regarding school funding. The governor had a difficult enough time finding sponsors for his measure, much less a vote. Speaker Lee Daniels and state Senate President James “Pate” Philip showed in no uncertain terms who was in charge when they buried the bill in committee and denied the governor a vote.
In Washington, House Speaker Newt Gingrich and then-Majority Leader Robert Dole showed who was in the driver’s seat during the budget standoff last winter. President Clinton’s budget was soundly defeated and debate centered around the Republican plan. The president was relegated to either signing or vetoing the Republican cuts.
With this in mind, I hope the Tribune will spend more time covering the congressional and state legislative races and that readers will really take the time to look at the contests in their congressional and legislative districts. While they may not be as exciting as the Clinton-Dole matchup, recent events have shown that whoever controls the legislatures controls the agenda.
