By Haley Kosik/WJEZ News

The battle between Democratic lawmakers and Gov. Bruce Rauner will be playing out through T.V. ads this week.  The ads, purchased by Rauner’s campaign committee, began airing yesterday across the state, specifically targeting House Speaker Michael Madigan (D-Chicago).

State Rep. Barbara Flynn Currie (D-Chicago), who is the House majority leader, doesn’t think the attacks will help Rauner’s legislative agenda or the ongoing budget talks.  “It would seem to me that it doesn’t set a very pleasant table for negotiation, and it doesn’t seem to me either that this works politically when the elections come around in November 2016. So what I don’t understand what he’s thinking,” said Currie.

Currie suggests Rauner may have already soured relationships with Democratic legislators during his stops around the state last week, when he questioned whether certain lawmakers were only loyal to Madigan and his “Chicago machine.”