Gov. Bruce Rauner and the legislative leaders went half a year without all getting together, but Thursday they met for the third time in as many weeks ... most of them anyway. A major player was missing.
The private meeting in the governor's office lasted an hour and 40 minutes.
Senate GOP Leader Christine Radogno described it as a "good" meeting.
"We are still talking about the same issues we've been talking about," she said. "We'll be digging in a little deeper on pensions and workers' comp. We also talked about redistricting reform, term limits."
There's a caveat. House Speaker Michael Madigan wasn't there.
"The fact is we're not going to move this along unless we're all are fully participating and actively involved in these negotiations," House Republican Leader Jim Durkin said. "We're four of us, we had a good discussion. But we're not going to get any further down the road unless we have everyone in this room."
Madigan's spokesman says the longtime Democratic leader had a "conflict in scheduling."
He wouldn't specify what that conflict was.
Illinois' other top Democrat, Senate President John Cullerton, was in attendance, but left through a back door. Neither he, nor Gov. Bruce Rauner, spoke afterward with the press.
