Latest Post | Last 10 Posts | Archives
Previous Post: Who’s telling the truth?
Next Post: Unemployment rate unchanged, IDES still gloomy
Posted in:
* Daily Herald…
Elk Grove Village’s mayor and board of trustees will rescind their support for Gov. Bruce Rauner’s “Turnaround Agenda” amid the threat of a lawsuit from a suburban-based labor union.
Neither village officials nor a representative of International Union of Operating Engineers 150 on Wednesday would discuss the basis for a potential lawsuit stemming from the board’s April 2015 vote backing the Republican governor’s plan. […]
The village board unanimously approved a settlement Tuesday with Local 150. Under the deal, the village promises to formally rescind support of the Rauner agenda in a public vote by Jan. 31, 2017, and the union agreed to forgo any legal challenges.
Both sides said the settlement is unrelated to an investigation into whether the mayor and five board trustees qualify to collect pensions. After the village board passed the resolution backing the governor’s agenda last year, Countryside-based Local 150 accused board members of working too few hours for membership in the Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund — prompting an investigation by the pension fund’s attorneys.
* The Journal-Topics connects more dots…
Tuesday, Mayor Craig Johnson said the village was facing possible litigation if it did not rescind the resolution. […]
Local 150 spokesman Ed Maher said the union brought actions in court against the McHenry County Board and the city of Rockford for violations of the Illinois Open Meetings Act related to those two governments’ passage of similar resolutions supporting Rauner’s “Turnaround Agenda.”
After the 2015 meeting, Maher and other union officials were critical of the fact that, although an agenda item was posted on the village website 48 hours in advance of the April 28 meeting, the village did not post a copy of the full resolution supporting parts of the “Turnaround Agenda” on the website in advance of the meeting.
The Illinois Open Meetings Act requires only that items which would be voted on by village trustees or members of other public boards or commissioners as “action items” be listed 48 hours in advance on agendas. The open meetings law does not require the full language of a proposed ordinance or resolution be posted in advance.
* Rauner had a real opportunity at the start of his term to woo the more conservative construction trade unions and use that alliance to yank the public unions’ chains. Several of those trade unions had already pushed for public employee pension reform - at Speaker Madigan’s behest, no less. Rauner made big promises of a major capital bill during the campaign, but he’s barely talked about it since then. The trade unionists would’ve swooned over him had he done that.
Instead of focusing all of his immediate attention on getting things done, the rookie governor went off on a bizarre, Randian speaking tour for the first four months of his first spring session, telling everyone who would listen the magical benefits of “right to work” and eliminating the prevailing wage - completely impossible dreams with the makeup of the Illinois General Assembly.
Gov. Rauner basically launched an existential war right out of the gate, which united all unions as never before and arc-welded the Democratic Party to them. They firmly believe that if one goes down, so does the other. That ain’t the greatest atmosphere for compromise.
And now, even some of the governor’s most pathetically symbolic early “victories” are being rolled back at the local level while the state burns to the ground.
Congratulations, dude.
/rant
posted by Rich Miller
Thursday, Dec 15, 16 @ 11:58 am
Sorry, comments are closed at this time.
Previous Post: Who’s telling the truth?
Next Post: Unemployment rate unchanged, IDES still gloomy
WordPress Mobile Edition available at alexking.org.
powered by WordPress.
Rauner’s list of accomplishments begins with the corporate bailout of Exelon and ends with a rate hike by Com Ed and Ameren. And also the devastation of higher education and human services. Plus $10 billion in unpaid bills. And, also, a large and climbing pension debt.
Heck of a job, Raunie.
Comment by 47th Ward Thursday, Dec 15, 16 @ 12:04 pm
Rauner ran for Governor to weaken unions. Putting aside whether or not that’s a good idea or not, it’s been the central organizing idea of his public life, from his early interactions with Preckwinkle to now.
It’s just a shame that that wasn’t clear during the campaign.
Comment by Arsenal Thursday, Dec 15, 16 @ 12:08 pm
Very satisfying news. He still has Madeupville’s support but that’s about it.
Comment by Anonymous Thursday, Dec 15, 16 @ 12:08 pm
>> They firmly believe that if one goes down, so does the other.
They ain’t wrong…
Comment by ZC Thursday, Dec 15, 16 @ 12:09 pm
==which united all unions as never before and arc-welded the Democratic Party to them==
Which, as anyone who attended 2013’s Democrat Day will tell you, is the craziest damn thing…
Comment by Arsenal Thursday, Dec 15, 16 @ 12:11 pm
What took so long for this rant to finally appear? I’ve been saying this since the robber baron was pushing for a run in 2012.
Comment by Donny Thursday, Dec 15, 16 @ 12:16 pm
>Heck of a job, Raunie.
I agree, but would also recognize the positive accomplishments in criminal justice reform and also increasing federal reimbursements at DCFS.
Comment by Earnest Thursday, Dec 15, 16 @ 12:16 pm
As a conservative, this governor’s administration has been a complete nightmare. Like watching a gorilla with a microscope. Worse, he is miserable at communication, leadership and sales. He couldn’t woo a starving tom-cat to a saucer of milk.
He got lucky at our expense. We’ll be paying for Rauner’s gubernatorial flop for a decade. He has a reverse Midas Touch on every issue dear to good government conservatives. Glad Calvin Coolidge isn’t here to witness Rauner’s ham-handed discrediting of conservative principles.
2018 cannot come soon enough.
Comment by VanillaMan Thursday, Dec 15, 16 @ 12:18 pm
I remember some AFSCME spokesman saying, back in January or February 2015, how good Rauner was for membership. After his executive order that tried to divert fair share dues from AFSCME to state coffers, a slew of fair share members signed up for full membership.
Rock on, Gov. 1.4 percent.
Comment by Nick Name Thursday, Dec 15, 16 @ 12:19 pm
===What took so long for this rant to finally appear? ===
Didja miss all of 2015 here?
===I’ve been saying this since the robber baron was pushing for a run in 2012. ===
Where? To the mirror?
Comment by Rich Miller Thursday, Dec 15, 16 @ 12:19 pm
Can’t wait until ck starts sending emails listing the towns that have rescinded the turnaround agenda. I mean if passing the turnaround agenda is newsworthy then Surely rescinding it would be considered newsworthy by the governor’s office. /s
Comment by Union proud Thursday, Dec 15, 16 @ 12:20 pm
To Rich’s Comments
So on point.
The Decaur Mistake and the tour that followed, for absolutely NO particular reason besides Rauner distain for Labor really pushed me, speaking for me, far enough away that my 3 asks, FY2015 Fix, FY2016 Budget, and Labor Peace seems millions away from “IMpossible”…
Rauner shoulda tried to splinter Labor in half, made peace with 150, made it about the Public Sector Labor, less first responders, and try to cobble, with Speaker Madigan, workable and passable Labor “reforms” that allowed victories and budgets.
I was in that train in November/December 2014, and I felt I had the best interest of the state in those thoughts.
Rauner blew up the state for nothing that could get 60 and 30, destroyed the ILGOP for an ideology that isn’t a welcoming to to Labor in his Raunerite Party, and Rauner has burned the bridges back TO Labor with his ridiculousness against anything NOT Raunerism.
Rich, your rant is Restaurant-Quality. It’s Rauner first fail, and allows this continued failure to continue…
… the 2012 Quote… makes me wonder while it was a huge mistake, it also could be the type of mistake that gets the feature desired, and is far from being a bug.
Outstanding post, Rich.
Comment by Oswego Willy Thursday, Dec 15, 16 @ 12:21 pm
I was told “ck” has the Madeupville response ready, it’s just really cold where the Rauner Word Jumble is so its not responding as quick.
“Thanks!”
Comment by Oswego Willy Thursday, Dec 15, 16 @ 12:24 pm
It’s the same union that hosted Judy Barr Topinka’s memorial service. https://www.meaningfulfunerals.net/home/index.cfm?action=public%3Aobituaries.view&o_id=2857564&fh_id=12605
Comment by NoGifts Thursday, Dec 15, 16 @ 12:24 pm
That’s not a rant, Rich. It is spot on analysis of Bruce Rauner’s core idealogical principles and the political consequences.
Comment by Freddy Thursday, Dec 15, 16 @ 12:25 pm
==Rauner shoulda tried to splinter Labor in half, made peace with 150, made it about the Public Sector Labor, less first responders, and try to cobble, with Speaker Madigan, workable and passable Labor “reforms” that allowed victories and budgets.==
As a lefty, my biggest fear in December ‘14 was that Madigan/Cullerton would sell out parts of the Democratic coalition to hand Rauner exactly these victories.
How quaint those fears were…
Comment by Arsenal Thursday, Dec 15, 16 @ 12:26 pm
- Arsenal -
We were so young back then, so naive…
Well, the naive part might be more honest than anything.
Comment by Oswego Willy Thursday, Dec 15, 16 @ 12:28 pm
Basically this rookie with no political experience became Governor and stumbled so badly right out of the gate that he screwed his chances of being a successful Governor by his actions in his first 6 months.
Comment by The Dude Abides Thursday, Dec 15, 16 @ 12:33 pm
What I don’t understand is why you hold onto the fantasy that Rauner isn’t achieving exactly what he wanted, the destruction of social services and public education. His actions make it clear, this was never an either or scenario.
Comment by Daniel Plainview Thursday, Dec 15, 16 @ 12:33 pm
Everything went off the rails the moment Rauner stood in front of a PowerPoint presentation and revealed himself to be someone a majority of Illinoisans would have never voted for. Weeks into his new administration admnd Bruce thought that since he was elected, he also earned the Office.
Rauner never was trusted again. He should have just quit on the spot, right there in Decatur. Of all places to reveal his anti-labor surprise! A city that survived and thrived on union wages. Why there? How tone deaf could he have been?
Everything went off the rails the moment Bruce thought he could blow up the the racks and sell the scrap metal to one of his friends for cash.
Comment by VanillaMan Thursday, Dec 15, 16 @ 12:42 pm
Yep. He definitely blew it in the Spring of 2015. He didn’t know a good deal when he handed to him on a silver platter. He could have gotten his public sector union reforms,some other reforms, and we could have gotten a budget. He could have ridden that success coupled with handing out public works projects all over the state to an easy 2018 victory, and then he could have had a legitimate shot at drawing the maps and really controlling the process. Instead, he came to Springfield with this faux mandate and his ham-handed “give me everything I want or I’ll destroy you” style, surrounded himself with wartime consiglieres and here we are.
==What I don’t understand is why you hold onto the fantasy that Rauner isn’t achieving exactly what he wanted, the destruction of social services and public education. His actions make it clear, this was never an either or scenario.==
It has never been about that. It has always been about destroying Madigan (the boogeyman) and the unions. His dislike of public education is all about the unions.
Comment by Jaded Thursday, Dec 15, 16 @ 12:43 pm
Mr Plainview - we’ll never know for sure that he wanted those destroyed from the beginning, but once he got the heavy pushback that he is not used too - he dug in his heels and now here we are - circling the drain over someone’s bruised ego
Comment by Madness Thursday, Dec 15, 16 @ 12:46 pm
VanillaMan how do you think he boosted his income so much in office? /snark
Comment by Fixer Thursday, Dec 15, 16 @ 12:50 pm
I’m not the one on record attending an aides wedding Rich. I prefer the echo room to the mirror but same difference.
Comment by Donny Thursday, Dec 15, 16 @ 12:51 pm
===attending an aides wedding Rich===
LOL
Do you realize how utterly stupid you look posting a comment like that on a post like this?
Bite me.
Comment by Rich Miller Thursday, Dec 15, 16 @ 12:56 pm
Interesting that the article doesn’t indicate that Johnson or Elk Grove will disavow support for the Turnaround Agenda, just that the resolution will be repealed. Maybe the IMRF inquiry was the tip of the iceberg and Local 150 was also going to get involved in the municipal election? The filing period for Mayor Johnson and others opened on Monday. Maybe the litigation was a red herring?
Comment by Anon Thursday, Dec 15, 16 @ 1:19 pm
If afsxme and others would have backed Quinn we would have a balanced budget and no turnaround agenda , but a move forward agenda from ex business manager of district council 14 Chicago
Comment by Anonymous Thursday, Dec 15, 16 @ 1:20 pm
Madigan and the Elk Grove Villages he controls….
Comment by Moby Thursday, Dec 15, 16 @ 1:24 pm
Well said, Rich.
Comment by The Drummer Thursday, Dec 15, 16 @ 1:25 pm
Not so sure that Rauner set out to destroy social services and public education. More likely he thought it would be sufficient to take hostages. He didn’t think he’d actually have to shoot any; he expected acquiescence long before that would’ve been necessary. But now he’s in a corner, $50 million invested and nothing to show, so he doubles down and plunges ahead.
Comment by Anonymous Thursday, Dec 15, 16 @ 1:26 pm
I think Rauner’s achieving much of what he wants with squeeze-the-beast, sticking it to unionized and prevailing wage workers in higher ed, plus the contracted social service provider sector, an abomination to the Randian types.
Plus, he paid a lot of money for this hobby; he’ll do with it as he wishes.
The state of Illinois is now reduced to one giant government entitlement program for what this man “wants.”
Comment by wordslinger Thursday, Dec 15, 16 @ 1:26 pm
Anonymous at 1:20 pm:
Quinn didnt give us a balanced budget his first term and I suspect he wouldnt have been able to balance the budget for his fictional second term. Presuming Rauner loses re-election Im really curious how this problem will be solved. Illinois cant go from fiscal dereliction to fiscal responsible overnight.
Comment by Maximus Thursday, Dec 15, 16 @ 1:31 pm
== Quinn didnt give us a balanced budget his first term … ==
Quinn paid all the mandated contributions to the pension funds AND halved the backlog of bills that Blago left. By definition, paying off the backlog meant Quinn had a surplus in his budget because he paid more than the annual bills. Yes, he didn’t catch up on some items like disputed back pay and employee insurance claims, but overall Quinn paid all the bills and then some … except for the last year where everyone knew a shortage was coming when the income tax rated was scheduled to drop.
And I’ll concede Quinn could have not balanced second term budgets if the tax wasn’t reinstated … but we’ll never know because the election didn’t play put that way.
By Quinn did balance budgets his first term …
Comment by RNUG Thursday, Dec 15, 16 @ 1:46 pm
Randian? What Rauner is proposing are simply policies that have worked in other states and municipalities that have adopted them.
Rauner campaigned on broad themes of reform and “shaking up Springfield”. When he got in, he went to the public to build support for more specific policy proposals. In the Illinois echo chamber of public employee union and biased, herd mentality media, that may seem bizarre. In the rest of the world it is refreshingly honest.
Illinois has had some bad Governors come out of its cesspool of a political culture. Rauner didn’t and he is different because of it. That is a good thing, not a bad thing.
Comment by In a Minute Thursday, Dec 15, 16 @ 2:26 pm
Illinois is more democratic than a lot of the other states where some of these slash-and-burn tactics have been attempted. It’s not -that- much more so … but Scott Walker would have been gone long ago if WI were just 5 percent more Democratic than it is.
Rauner came out of the gate way too strong. He either forgot you needed a sympathetic legislative chamber to do these sudden-strikes on organized labor, or he really thought he could starve Madigan’s caucus into submission. Either way: oops. Rauner met someone who plays as heartless power politics as he does.
Comment by ZC Thursday, Dec 15, 16 @ 2:27 pm
== he went to the public to build support for more specific policy proposals. ==
And how has that worked out?
Sure, term limits and property tax freezes are popular, but not because Rauner built support for them. They’ve always been popular and always will.
He hasn’t built support for a “specific policy proposal”
yet, let alone put 60 and 30 votes on a bill before the legislature. It’s called governing.
Comment by Roman Thursday, Dec 15, 16 @ 3:15 pm
=== In the rest of the world it is refreshingly honest===
This is Illinois, bruh. And the dude’s own favorite pollster has him seriously upside down.
Comment by Rich Miller Thursday, Dec 15, 16 @ 3:17 pm
In a Minute -
You mean like Kansas?
Comment by Smitty Irving Thursday, Dec 15, 16 @ 3:19 pm
– Rauner campaigned on broad themes of reform and “shaking up Springfield.”
LOL, empty statements that literally could be filled up with any concoction found on the ideological spectrum.
Comment by wordslinger Thursday, Dec 15, 16 @ 3:28 pm
===What took so long for this rant to finally appear?===
Go to the far-right column of this site and find the search box. Type in “your daily right to work update” and then tell me I didn’t do anything.
Nobody, but nobody was all over this crud like I was.
Comment by Rich Miller Thursday, Dec 15, 16 @ 3:59 pm
Rich is absolutely correct in his analysis. Rauner completely blew it when he went after the private trades while also attacking public sector unions. JBT understood the difference all too well, and the trades loved her for it. Rauner can still attempt to put it back together by publicly backing away from repealing the Prevailing Wage Act. But at this point, he may have pushed the trades too far into Madigan’s hands to undo his own forced error.
Comment by Bored Chairman Thursday, Dec 15, 16 @ 4:44 pm
- “telling everyone who would listen the magical benefits of “right to work” and eliminating the prevailing wage - completely impossible dreams with the makeup of the Illinois General Assembly.” - “In the rest of the world it is refreshingly honest”
Eliminating the prevailing wage and right to work legislation does not benefit any worker, anywhere. Numerous academic studies all come to the same conclusions. These issues have been discussed here before and for some reason just a few months later no one contests the completely unsubstantiated claimed results of eliminating prevailing wage or right to work legislation.
There are no savings for the taxpayers, just less money in the workers pockets, less spending, less taxes paid, less demand for manufacturers.
Comment by Chicago 20 Thursday, Dec 15, 16 @ 5:00 pm
Compeltely agree with Rich’s analysis- 100%. Moreover to add to this part:
===Rauner had a real opportunity at the start of his term to woo the more conservative construction trade unions and use that alliance to yank the public unions’ chains.===
Also agree, and I think the same will happen to our Billionaire president-elect. 2018 could be a remorseful back-swing by blue-collar america, and Rauner better watch out.
Comment by Boone's is Back Thursday, Dec 15, 16 @ 5:02 pm
A new plan is forming. Run the state into huge debt. HUGE. Tack on pensions debt. Repubs control all federal branches of government. Pass law to allow state bankruptcy. GA passes, Pres signs, courts uphold.
Problem solved.
Comment by A New Hope Thursday, Dec 15, 16 @ 5:36 pm