Walsh Explains Late Night Tax Vote Switch
Rep. Larry Walsh, Jr. (D-Elwood) (Photo: Shaw Media)
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It was 4:30 in the morning last Wednesday in Springfield. House Democrats had already passed a budget bill but had failed to pass a package of tax increases on business to balance the budget.
Not only had they failed to do so once, they failed twice.
That’s when moderate Democrat Rep. Larry Walsh, Jr. (D-Elwood), who had voted against the budget, against the Budget Implementation bill (BIMP), and had voted against the tax increase the first time (and second time, mistakenly, after Republicans pulled a fast one) switched his vote.
Speaking to The Illinoize Monday, Walsh said there was a struggle between moderate and progressive Democrats over how to balance the budget and whether there should be tax increases, cuts, or a combination of both.
“Myself and others weren’t totally in favor of the proposed budget that was put forth,” Walsh said. He and four other House Democrats voted against the budget. “We had different ideas. We were trying to get them introduced or at least talked about. I had some asks that weren’t included in the budget.”
Numerous sources indicated during the final week of budget talks that a group of moderate Democrats was arguing for cuts in state spending. About $75 million was cut in the final budget, which is considered a drop in the bucket in a $53 billion budget package.
Walsh, who has served in the House since 2012, said he opposed the tax increases on business in the final budget package.
“Unfortunately, I was not a big fan of increasing taxes in an election year. It’s not a good thing,” he said. “We live in a political world, we can’t dodge that. No matter if it effects regular folks or is on a different level. [Moderates] felt we had a different idea that would have achieved what the Governor wanted and the Senate and our budgeteers had agreed to without [raising taxes.] So I held out my no vote.”
But, Walsh said, after the revenue package failed the first time early Wednesday morning, he became concerned the General Assembly would leave town without passing a balanced budget.
Walsh said he negotiated with House Democratic leadership for what he called “moderation” to the budget process.
Walsh wouldn’t say what House Speaker Chris Welch agreed to or if Welch directly asked him to change his vote.
“When push came to shove and the votes were getting very, very tight, they came to me and said “what can you do?” he said. “I’m going to expect a lot of changes moving forward and I’m not going to be shy about it.”
Walsh said he served through some of former Gov. Pat Quinn’s budgets, which he said were balanced “on paper” and the Rauner budget impasse and wasn’t going to allow the state to slip off a path of fiscal stability.
“The budget passed, the BIMP passed, [they were] going to be enacted,” Walsh said. “If there wasn’t a revenue package with it, there would be an unbalanced budget. Going back to the practice of unbalanced budgets isn’t what I’m here to do. This was the responsible thing to do. As much as I didn’t like it, I had to swallow my pride to do what the consensus of the General Assembly wanted to do.”
Walsh said killing the bill would “derail” the state’s fiscal health, but it doesn’t mean he’s happy with the way it concluded in the early morning hours last Wednesday.
“I thought we could do better,” he said.
