One of the things that became crystal clear last week during the Illinois Senate's debate over a new state budget was that the Democratic legislative leaders have completely broken the budget-making process.

It's no big secret that more and more power has been concentrated into the hands of the leaders - the House speaker and the Senate president. And now they have it all.

Long gone are the days when the appropriations committees had any input. Also vanished is the "budgeteers" system, in which appropriations chairs and experts from each caucus would sit down to hash out the budget's details. Instead, all of the work is now being done by staff at the leaders' absolute direction.

As a consequence, senators barely had any idea about what they were voting for last week when they approved a budget along party lines. The committee hearing before the vote provided precious few details and instead revolved around partisan bickering over a Democratic maneuver solely designed to embarrass the Republicans. Republicans repeatedly denounced the budget process as far too rushed and wholly un-transparent, and they were right.

The Illinois General Assembly usually tries to adjourn by the end of May. That hasn't worked out too well the past few years as partisan bickering, the state's huge budget problems, and the bloody war between former Governor Rod Blagojevich and House Speaker Michael Madigan forced months-long overtime sessions.

The last time the legislature truly got out early was in 1999, when then-Senate President Pate Philip demanded they adjourn by April 15. After legislators left town, I didn't know what to do with myself. There were no statewide elections at all the following year, which meant that absolutely nothing was going on in the political world. So, I went to Kosovo to cover the war and then took my daughter on a tour of Europe and went with my dad to Hungary, Poland, and Slovakia. It was quite an adventure. Later that year, I went to Cuba during then-Governor George Ryan's official visit. I have fond memories of that year. I actually had a life back then.

This year, though, the calendar says the General Assembly plans to adjourn by May 7. I haven't really experienced a May without grueling work hours since those halcyon days of 1999, so that pleases me. But I'm not holding my breath, because of all the carnage I've seen the past few years. I just can't bring myself to believe.

It seems like everywhere you look these days, the Illinois Democrats are getting hammered.

Most of the Democratic carnage is self-inflicted, like the Scott Lee Cohen debacle, or the brutal gubernatorial primary, or the troubles at U.S. Senate candidate Alexi Giannoulias' family bank, or the decision to run a lobbyist with close connections to House Speaker Michael Madigan for Cook County assessor.

But some of the media coverage is going far over the top lately, and a few people in Chicago really need to take a breath already.

In roughly 10 and a half hours last week, the House and Senate introduced, debated, and passed sweeping pension-reform legislation by overwhelming majorities in both chambers.

The breadth of the legislation and the speed with which it passed despite heated opposition by hugely powerful Statehouse interests has not been seen in Springfield in decades, if ever. The only thing to compare it to is when House Speaker Michael Madigan turned against his trial-lawyer allies and muscled through medical-malpractice-reform legislation a few years ago. But that didn't happen in a single day. And while the trial lawyers are very important players, their campaign cash and staff assistance pale in comparison to what the public-employee unions regularly give.