Governor Rauner & legislative leaders hopeful after meeting, but still disagree on core issues

A meeting of Gov. Bruce Rauner and four legislative leaders in Chicago on Tuesday afternoon yielded some mild optimism and word that more talks — including among governor’s and legislative staff — are planned for the near future.

But the Republican governor and the Democrats who lead supermajorities in both chambers of the General Assembly still seem far apart on their core positions.

“This was a good meeting,” House Speaker Michael Madigan, D-Chicago, said after the session in the governor’s offices at the James R. Thompson Center.

But the speaker also said there were no breakthroughs: “We all know from experience that when you get into a budget impasse of this nature that it’s a bunch of small steps, there’s not going to be any big leaps to success.” Read the entire story in Reboot.