* Somebody brought up this very same point over drinks last night…
Unions contend that Rauner is deliberately choking their resources in an attempt to weaken their position as they head into negotiations for a new employment contract, which is supposed to take effect July 1.
The Illinois AFL-CIO is the lead plaintiff in most of the cases, so they’re handling the money end. But AFSCME is named in the governor’s federal case and it has long had the Chicago firm of Cornfield & Feldman on retainer. They’re probably not cheap.
But an AFSCME spokesman avoided talking about short-term union finances today and focused instead on the long term, saying, in part, “The array of Rauner attacks seems clearly intended to wipe out the labor movement in Illinois, and not just in the public sector… Everybody understands what this is really about.”
* Meanwhile, the Illinois Policy Institute has become an issue in a Chicago aldermanic race. From a press release…
Alderman Mary O’Connor of the 41st Ward called on her opponent Anthony Napolitano to return campaign contributions from a right-wing, “dark money” organization with ties to the Illinois Policy Institute. Today, the Liberty Justice Center, an IPI backed law firm, filed a motion in court to bust unions in Illinois through the denial of collecting “fair share” dues. Napolitano has received thousands of dollars from the IPI’s sister organization, the Illinois Opportunity Project.
“41st ward families are sick and tired of the never-ending assault on unions who give working people a collective voice, and they deserve better than a candidate who takes money from the right-wing organizations pushing that very agenda. Anthony should immediately return the money he received from the extremist groups supporting his campaign, and denounce their union-busting efforts. They have no place in the 41st ward,” said O’Connor.
O’Connor, who was endorsed by the Chicago Federation of Labor, has fought for working people as Alderman the past four years in office through policies such as water and sewer reconstruction, a program that has put numerous union members to work rebuilding Chicago’s aging infrastructure. Her efforts have earned her the support of 9 labor organizations in her campaign for reelection.
Napolitano has taken thousands of dollars from organizations tied to the anti-union efforts of the Illinois Policy Institute and the Rauner administration.
* The totals aren’t much, just $3k from the Policy Institute’s political arm and $1k from the 43rd Ward GOP…
43rd Ward Republican Committeeman Chris Cleveland: “If Bruce Wins This Election, Then We Republicans Will Have a Mandate, A Very Big One, To Take on the Unions.” According to post by Chris Cleveland on 43rdwardrepublicans.com, “Bruce Rauner has made standing up to government unions the centerpiece of his campaign. He’ll follow through on it. And that, in my opinion, makes him the right choice for governor. I like Bill Brady, really I do. But now, a week out, neither he nor Dan Rutherford are serious contenders for the nomination. It’s time to make a choice, Rauner or Dillard. It’s an easy one. If Bruce wins this election, then we Republicans will have a mandate, a very big one, to take on the unions. We can go after them on the pension problem they created. We can go after them on failing schools. We can go after them on wild overspending. We can go after them on corruption. Imagine having a mandate, here in Illinois, to do what Scott Walker did in Wisconsin. Bruce will have it. The Rauner campaign didn’t write this. I did. And I mean it. Seriously, if you haven’t yet voted, please vote for Bruce Rauner. It’s time.”
* Despite that, Napolitano is getting even bigger bucks from firefighters and police unions.
The New York Times had an interesting story the other day about this very topic…
In recent weeks, Gov. Bruce Rauner of Illinois has traveled the state promoting his proposal for more than $2 billion in cuts to pensions for public employees. All public employees, that is, except police officers and firefighters.
“Those who put their lives on the line in service to our state deserve to be treated differently,” Mr. Rauner said in his February budget address to the state legislature.
By announcing the exemption, Mr. Rauner was following the lead of other Republican governors in the Midwest who have imposed unwelcome changes on state and local employees in the name of saving money and improving services.
In 2011, Gov. Scott Walker of Wisconsin introduced a bill that would roll back collective bargaining rights for government workers and require them to contribute more toward their own pensions and health coverage. He excluded police officers and firefighters from the legislation, known as Act 10, which he signed the following month.
On the state level, the first responder unions are not falling for the rhetoric. But this Chicago thing is an interesting little twist.
*** UPDATE *** With a hat tip to a commenter…
Rauner told WAND’s Doug Wolfe on Monday cities can offset the losses if a series of his reforms are enacted by the Illinois legislature. Among those would be giving municipalities more control over negotiating with police and fire unions. And, giving cities more control over police and fire pensions.
“If local governments can control what gets collectively bargained, who has to join a union or not in the local government, that frees up a significant amount of money as well,” Rauner stated. “They (police & fire) work for the local taxpayers, the local citizens. And there should be more control, local control of those pension issues.”
The commenter notes…
So just like right to work, he isn’t for it, but leave it up to someone else to do the dirty work.
- Liberty - Tuesday, Mar 24, 15 @ 11:13 am:
If SB1 flies, Rauner will be right there to take pensions from those groups as well.
- A guy - Tuesday, Mar 24, 15 @ 11:16 am:
Alderman O’Connor is talking like a person who’s tree has been shook. $4k total contributions she’s railing about???
I’m waiting for her to get on a box in Bughouse Square and demand that those ultra- right wing cops and firemen contributions be returned at once.
Yeah, me either.
- Skeptic - Tuesday, Mar 24, 15 @ 11:17 am:
“We can go after them on the pension problem they created” Umm…I respectfully disagree.
- RNUG - Tuesday, Mar 24, 15 @ 11:25 am:
== We can go after them on the pension problem they created ==
Facts don’t matter to this bunch; they just get in the way of the rhetoric …
- Salty - Tuesday, Mar 24, 15 @ 11:38 am:
Apparently when talking to a group to Decatur, the Governor said he was for local control over police and fire pensions. So just like right to work, he isn’t for it, but leave it up to someone else to do the dirty work.
http://www.wandtv.com/story/28594502/rauner-cities-should-have-more-control-of-police-fire-pensions
- Norseman - Tuesday, Mar 24, 15 @ 11:40 am:
### Gov. Bruce Rauner of Illinois has traveled the state promoting his proposal that questionably cuts $2 billion in state employee pensions. ###
There; fixed it for them.
- Phenomynous - Tuesday, Mar 24, 15 @ 11:47 am:
Ben Franklin played an integral role in transitioning the US into a Republic, not a Democracy. One key factor in this argument for a Republic was the tyranny of the majority.
Just wanted everyone to be clear on that one @11:03 am.
- Anonymous - Tuesday, Mar 24, 15 @ 11:54 am:
How exactly does allowing employees to opt out of being in the union save local governments by changing what has to be bargained. Federal law still requires that non-union/non-fair share employees get whatever is bargained. And federal law still requires the employer to bargain with whoever has been elected as the exclusive representative. So other than busting the union, how is this really supposed to save money?
- PublicServant - Tuesday, Mar 24, 15 @ 11:55 am:
It’s reasonable for the the police and firefighters to support one of their own for alderman. He’s been both a police officer and firefighter. I’m sure they figure he’s not going to vote to cut his own pension. Thus their support. It has nothing to do with them being otherwise anti-union. Self interest all the way.
- Norseman - Tuesday, Mar 24, 15 @ 11:57 am:
Anyone who believes this Governor deserves what they get. He makes used car salesmen look like saints. I doubt that a memorandum of agreement would mean anything.
- Anonymous - Tuesday, Mar 24, 15 @ 12:03 pm:
The play book is right out of animal farm.
- Mouthy - Tuesday, Mar 24, 15 @ 12:04 pm:
Leaving out the firefighters and police reminds me of the first (I think) pension bill that excluded judges. I think the judges were on to that too. All the governor’s union bashing is indicative of the republican strategy, like abortion clinics in the south, of harassing someone to death around the edges. It takes awhile to work but it works..
- VanillaMan - Tuesday, Mar 24, 15 @ 12:37 pm:
People who believe in Bruce Rauner end up with a bankrupted nursing home, instead of computer parts they thought they bought.
- illinifan - Tuesday, Mar 24, 15 @ 1:06 pm:
Rauner campaigned saying HE would not change police and fire pensions so many voted for him. This is his way of keeping his promise….let someone else lower the benefits for police and fire. He can stand at meetings with angry fire and police saying “it wasn’t me”.
- Amalia - Tuesday, Mar 24, 15 @ 1:42 pm:
Proft was active in Park Ridge politics so this is taking the act a bit further east in Ward 41. this is an interesting bit of transparency in the race.
- chi - Tuesday, Mar 24, 15 @ 2:21 pm:
“If local governments can control what gets collectively bargained, who has to join a union or not in the local government, that frees up a significant amount of money as well,”
Rauner is still scared to connect the dots. It’s not about “employee freedom”, it’s about paying workers less. But he won’t say it, he just says municipalities will magically have more money if they enact his laws.
- JS Mill - Tuesday, Mar 24, 15 @ 3:15 pm:
=So just like right to work, he isn’t for it, but leave it up to someone else to do the dirty work.=
That is completely spot on and also sums up what has been going on in Springfield for some time. So much change for so little real change. The tone is different but the honesty and integrity are still absent.
What Rauner likely meant is that I won’t mess with the State Police. Those guys protect me and Diana!
- Pacman - Tuesday, Mar 24, 15 @ 3:55 pm:
The cities do have a say on what’s negotiated during contract talks. The only thing non-negotiable is pensions, which are controlled by the pension code in the ILCS.
- Demoralized - Tuesday, Mar 24, 15 @ 4:21 pm:
==The cities do have a say on what’s negotiated during contract talks.==
He’s talking about VOTERS having a say (other than, you know, their votes for their particular elected officials).
- Newsclown - Tuesday, Mar 24, 15 @ 5:34 pm:
So, maybe I’m reading too much into this. But at a recent appearance visiting the Board of Professional Regulation, Rauner was quoted in a union flyer as saying during his standard unions bad/local choice speech:
“The Bible tells me to go out and make money”.
This makes me wonder: is Rauner one of those “Prosperity Gospel” believer types? That might explain a lot of the behaviors we’re seeing in Rauner.
- Pacman - Tuesday, Mar 24, 15 @ 5:37 pm:
“They (police & fire) work for the local taxpayers, the local citizens. And there should be more control, local control of those pension issues.”
But for that pesky IL. constitution.
- Six Degrees of Separation - Tuesday, Mar 24, 15 @ 7:45 pm:
And the locals indirectly already have a say in their pension obligations which are based on salary and terms of the employees under their direct supervision.
- Anon - Tuesday, Mar 24, 15 @ 8:36 pm:
I truly do not understand what this supposed Governor hopes to achieve. Destroying the rights that so many generations fought for and far to many died for. He won on never stating a single thing and now his is still talking out both sides. He needs to go.
- Jon Lester - Tuesday, Mar 24, 15 @ 10:01 pm:
Chris Clevland dosent and never will speak for BR. He is a political wannabee who has close ties to William Kelly. People like Clevland hurt Rauner more then help because of his far right wing agenda.