* It’s Illinois Chamber of Commerce day in Springfield, and the four heads of the General Assembly are speaking. Here’s Senate President Don Harmon…

* Here’s more of Harmon’s remarks. H/T Brenden Moore…

I want to begin by telling you a story. A few weeks ago at the Capitol, a swarm of TV cameras and reporters descended upon the hallway outside of my office. No, I had not done anything wrong. Nobody was getting arrested or indicted. Sad that I even have to say that. In fact, they weren’t even there for me. It turns out they were there because Jerry Reinsdorf, the billionaire owner of the Chicago White Sox and Chicago Bulls was in town and on his way to my office.

So in case you haven’t been following the news, Mr. Reinsdorf wants a new baseball stadium. As you may recall, the last time the state built him a baseball stadium, it became the stuff of political legend. Clocks were stopped, arms were twisted by then-Gov. Jim Thompson in the deal that happened. Now a quick disclaimer: I was nowhere near the Capital when that happened. In June of 88, I just graduated from Knox College in Galesburg and was preparing to start my first year of a grown up job. But anyways, yes, the White Sox and Mr. Reinsdorf are back with a new ask that’s reported in the press as high as $2 billion for public assistance with a new baseball stadium.

And look, I’m as big a sports fan is the next guy. And I’m always happy to listen to ideas. But I made it clear to them then and I’ve tried to make it clear in the media since that there’s next to no appetite to fund a new stadium with taxpayer dollars. So that’s why the media was camped outside of my office for what was my last meeting of the day.

But I want to tell you the story about what you didn’t read in the media, and that would be my first meeting of the day. I began with a group of advocates from Chicago Lighthouse. For those of you unfamiliar, the Chicago Lighthouse has worked for more than 100 years to provide equality, independence and dignity for the blind and visually-impaired. It has a nationally-recognized vision clinic and is considered a pioneer in vision care innovation. They wanted to talk to me about additional state support for programs that help the blind and visually-impaired find employment. We also learned that the Braille signage around the Capitol is in need of some updating. The Chicago Lighthouse does amazing work to help amazing people. And that’s pretty much how most days go at the Capital. People and groups come in and talk to me and ask for more. Sometimes it’s visually-impaired adults, sometimes it’s billionaire professional sports team owners. But the common theme running through all of this is that it’s often my job to let them down.

In my brief time as Senate President, l’ve confirmed my belief that the best definition of leadership is the ability to disappoint people at a rate they can digest. So when I tell people the key to success in Springfield, it’s progress. Nobody gets everything that they want. The key is whether you are making progress on your priorities. My personal priority for this session, once again, is a responsible, balanced budget. I know that Speaker Welch and Governor Pritzker share that goal.