When the gavel fell Wednesday in the Illinois Senate and Republicans had completed their legislative takeover of Meigs Field, it signaled a new and daunting day in state politics that could make gridlock the rule of order.
Beyond the battle between Gov. Jim Edgar and Mayor Richard Daley over the tiny lakefront airstrip are concerns that important statewide issues, from school reform to redistributing the tax burden, will be overwhelmed by partisan bickering.
“We’re deeply concerned that the controversy over Meigs will obscure other truly important issues such as school reform,” said Jerry Roper, president and chief executive officer of the Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce, one of the area’s largest business groups.
“Businesses need educated and trained workers to stay here, say, in the year 2010. But with Meigs, it’s all become so partisan.”
Concerns about fallout from a round of intense warfare between the city and the state came as the Republican-run Senate followed the House and approved Edgar’s bill to give the state control of Meigs effective June 1.
If Daley does not compromise on his plan to demolish the airstrip and turn it into a park, GOP lawmakers plan another takeover vote in early January before the Republican-controlled legislature adjourns. That second vote would make the seizure effective immediately.
Chicago Democrats accused the GOP of a cynical power grab as lawyers for the city and the Chicago Park District hatched legal strategies and planned to take the battle back to federal court.
Meanwhile, Daley forces hinted that the mayor had a surprise up his sleeve–possibly including concrete barriers blocking the roads to and from Meigs.
Daley and Edgar repeatedly insisted that the Meigs fight had nothing to do with their dislike for each other and instead was a matter of responsibility and governance. But beyond the question of whether Meigs remains an airport or becomes a park, the fate of other policy matters are at stake.
One is the thorny issue of whether the state should force local governments to reduce property taxes in exchange for an increase in the state income tax to overhaul school funding.
Another is whether education reforms seep beyond Chicago’s borders to suburban and Downstate districts. A third is whether taxpayers help build a new stadium for the Bears.
Absent a compromise between Edgar and Daley, there is little doubt that the political grudges created this week will be held far into the future in Springfield. That worries Chicago business leaders.
Some lawmakers expressed similar sentiments and said they felt as if they were being caught in the middle of the Daley-Edgar fight.
“This issue is not about sound public policy. Instead, it’s about silly, petty politics,” said Sen. Penny Severns (D-Decatur).
At City Hall, surrounded by groups that support his plan to make Meigs a park, Daley insisted that there was nothing personal about his fight with Edgar. Yet in the next breath, Daley said of the governor and his Meigs power play: “He’s going to look back and say, `I regret that move.’ “
Daley also warned voters to expect the Meigs debate to drag on for months in the courts.
“I describe it as a 15-round title bout,” Daley said. “We have a long way to go. There are ups and downs on this. It is not over today. It is not over tomorrow.”
In Springfield, where the Senate approved the Meigs takeover on a mostly partisan 32-27 roll call, Edgar also denied that the battle had become personal. Instead, he said it was a matter of “principle,” given that Meigs had operated under a city-state agreement.
“I would like to put it behind us and move on,” the governor said. “It’s the same as if the mayor decided to rip up 10 miles of the Kennedy Expressway. That would have repercussions in the whole (transportation) system. That is the reason why I have chosen to take the action I’ve taken.”
Edgar maintained that city-state relations worsened because of the “unilateral” and “arbitrary” action by Daley to close Meigs on Sept. 30, when the city’s lease with the Park District for Northerly Island expired.
The governor indicated that he wouldn’t sign the newly passed takeover legislation right away. Instead, he will try to use the threat of the quick-seizure bill passing in January as a hammer to force Daley into a compromise that the mayor has been unwilling to make.
Edgar also wants to wait until the Civic Committee of the Commercial Club of Chicago issues a possible compromise plan calling for the preservation of Meigs and an expansion of lakefront parkland.
House Democratic leader Michael Madigan of Chicago, who will become speaker when Democrats take control of the House in the new General Assembly, has sought to downplay any thoughts of retribution against Republicans because of Meigs.
Some Republicans speculate that they are no worse off having voted to seize Meigs. They figure Madigan will treat them unfairly no matter what.
Still others contend that Madigan will be more motivated to tightly control his 60-58 majority and work to prevent his members from crossing over to join Republicans on some issues.
Democrats say the Republican seizure of Meigs has galvanized the disparate forces within Madigan’s House caucus.
Madigan spokesman Steve Brown said that, if anything, the Republican action has given Daley “renewed interest” in the importance of the 1998 governor’s race.
Democrats haven’t held the Executive Mansion since Dan Walker left in 1976, and most political pros think Daley wasn’t particularly enthusiastic about the 1990 and 1994 Democratic challengers to Edgar. Many Democrats think Daley’s mood will change with the 1998 governor’s race on the horizon.
“Thank you, Gov. Edgar,” Brown said.
He also warned that the state’s relationship with Washington might suffer if one of the mayor’s brothers, William, is named federal transportation secretary. As a member of President Clinton’s Cabinet, William Daley could wield considerable leverage against Edgar over federal road and other transportation projects.
But Edgar said the mayor has already persuaded the Clinton administration to oppose the governor’s proposed third regional airport near Peotone.
“I’ve dealt with Bill Daley. I’m sure he’s not going to do anything that’s going to upset his brother,” Edgar said. “But I haven’t seen anything that the current secretary of transportation (Federico Pena) has done that would upset the mayor of Chicago.”
House Speaker Lee Daniels (R-Elmhurst) said he’s not sure the Meigs vote will change city-state relations because they have been strained.
“I think, ultimately, this will be set aside. We’re going to do everything we can to address the issue of school funding and other critical issues for the people of the state of Illinois,” Daniels said. “We are professionals. We should act like professionals.”
But rank-and-file Democrats say the move by Edgar and Republicans won’t be forgotten, especially when it comes to issues such as changing the way schools are funded or building a new home for the Bears.
“It’s putting those issues on the back burner. It’s driving a stake, a wedge, between the leaders in this state, and it’s becoming personal. It’s going to hurt future negotiations on all these other projects,” said Sen. James DeLeo (D-Chicago). “It’s setting the tone for next year, and it’s setting the wrong tone for next year.”
Helping to foment the Meigs dispute, no doubt, will be lawyers.
Michael J. Hayes, a lawyer for the Park District, and Michael Forti and Stephen Patton, attorneys for the city, declined to discuss legal strategies, but documents on file in ongoing Meigs litigation show at least two possible avenues to challenge Edgar’s legislation.
The Federal Transportation Act says a state takeover of Meigs would require approval from the U.S. transportation secretary. Such approval could only be granted for an airport on publicly owned or Park District land if there was “no prudent and feasible alternative,” according to legal briefs filed in Cook County Circuit Court.
Lawyers for the city and the Park District would likely argue that Midway Airport is a feasible alternative.
In addition, the city and the Park District could invoke the Lake Michigan and Chicago Lakefront Protection Ordinance. That ordinance, enacted in 1973 under Chicago’s home-rule powers, says it’s illegal for a public agency to acquire lakefront property “without first having secured the approval . . . from the Chicago Plan Commission.”
If the city and Park District could persuade a judge that the ordinance applies, the state would wind up a loser because Daley controls the commission.
But Senate President James “Pate” Philip (R-Wood Dale) said the state thinks the ordinance does not apply.
