Governor Bruce Rauner has issued the following statement on the Senate’s decision to override his veto of SB 1229:
“Every Senator who voted to overturn our veto chose special interests over the taxpayers. They made it abundantly clear that they’d rather raise taxes than stand up to the politically powerful. It is now up to House members to take the responsible, pro-taxpayer position and uphold our veto.”
…Adding… From organized labor…
Illinois Senate super-majority overrides Rauner veto of fair arbitration bill
Union leaders: Bill ensures reasonable compromise and keeps Illinois working
By a vote of 38-15, a super-majority of state senators from every part of Illinois voted today to override Governor Bruce Rauner’s veto of the fair arbitration bill, Senate Bill 1229.
Applauding the action was the Illinois AFL-CIO and many unions that represent state workers and other public employees, including the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) Council 31, the Illinois Federation of Teachers (IFT), the Illinois Nurses Association (INA), the Laborers International Union of North America-Midwest Region, the Police Benevolent & Protective Association (PB&PA), SEIU Healthcare Illinois and the Illinois Education Association (IEA).
The legislation offers to state employees (such as child protection workers, nurses and caregivers) the option of the same fair arbitration process provided to state and local police, fire and prison security personnel in Illinois for more than 30 years.
The bill would help avert the potential conflict, hardship and disruption of a statewide strike or lockout by offering arbitration as an alternative means of resolving contract disputes between state employees’ unions and the Rauner Administration if ongoing negotiations fail to produce agreements.
To enact the bill, three-fifths of the state Senate and House of Representatives must vote to override the Governor’s veto. With the Senate’s action today, the House now has 15 days to follow suit.
As a candidate, Governor Rauner repeatedly vowed to “take a strike and shut down state government for a few weeks” in order to force workers to accept his extreme demands. More recently, the governor has made legislation that strips the rights of workers to bargain collectively a precondition of his willingness to enact a state budget or address other unrelated policy matters. And in a possible signal that the governor’s office is preparing to provoke a work stoppage, the Rauner Administration has reportedly solicited retirees to serve as strike breakers and considered mobilizing the National Guard.
“The Senate has done right by the citizens of Illinois today,” Illinois AFL-CIO president Michael Carrigan said. “Simply put, this legislation will make sure the state keeps working if negotiations fail.”
“State employees keep us safe, protect kids, care for veterans and provide countless other important services,” AFSCME Council 31 executive director Roberta Lynch said. “Public service workers want to be treated fairly, they don’t want to be forced out on strike, and today’s vote is a strong step in the right direction.”
“On behalf of the thousands of state employees represented by the IFT, I want to thank State Senators for standing up to protect the vital public services we all rely on,” said IFT President Dan Montgomery. “While it doesn’t provide the Governor with the political showdown he so obsessively desires, this legislation does help ensure state services will continue without interruption—a real priority to Illinois taxpayers.”
“After this resounding defeat, it is time for Bruce Rauner to follow the advice of Gov. Jim Edgar and shelve his anti-worker obsession so that a budget is passed and vulnerable Illinoisans are protected,” SEIU Healthcare Illinois president Keith Kelleher said. “We applaud the senators who stood up to his bully tactics and join the growing chorus who see the Rauner agenda for what it is—protection for billionaire interests and pain for everyone else.”
“Registered Nurses and the patients they care for deserve the fair and reasonable process provided by SB 1229,” INA executive director Alice Johnson said. “We thank the senators who, in voting for SB 1229, stood up for nurses and patients, and against an extremist agenda that seeks to force nurses to work while exhausted, putting lives at risk.
“Today’s vote shows again how far out of step Governor Rauner is with Illinois’ middle class,” said Sean Stott, Director of Governmental Affairs of the Laborers’ Midwest Region. “Rauner claims to want good-paying jobs in this state but is moving heaven and earth to cut workers’ pay and benefits. We thank the supermajority of senators who stood up to him today.”
“The governor’s statements contradict the facts. He has had months to negotiate but has failed to make any meaningful progress,” PB&PA Illinois director Sean Smoot said. “He says he will not lock workers out, but he has already sent layoff notices to employees. A layoff is quite simply a targeted lockout.”
“We believe it’s important that state services continue to be delivered to the people of Illinois by hardworking state employees,” IEA president Cinda Klickna said. “By voting to override the veto, the House will send the message that it’s time for the governor to stop pushing a personal agenda against unions and, instead, focus on solving Illinois’ real problems, starting with the state budget.”
One Republican, Sen. Sam McCann, voted to override.
The rally wasn’t without its foibles. Lt. Gov. Evelyn Sanguinetti, combating attacks by Democrats that the GOP has a “war on women,” twice hailed the late Judy Baar Topinka, a Republican, as the state’s first female comptroller. It actually was Democrat Dawn Clark Netsch, who 20 years earlier became the first woman elected to a statewide constitutional office in Illinois.
Leslie Munger, who Rauner appointed to the comptroller job following Topinka’s death late last year, said she was “proud to be here as the governor’s wingman, so to speak, on the budget issues.” Munger is seeking to retain the post in a special statewide election next year.
With a backdrop of supporters holding up letters reading “Our Home,” Rauner said, “You mess with my home Speaker Madigan, you picked the wrong guy.”
“Speaker Madigan, you know what, he’s got ice water in his veins. He’s standing his ground,” Rauner told reporters before taking the stage at the Director’s Lawn.
Rauner said Madigan “doesn’t care about central Illinois. He doesn’t care about agriculture. He’s about the Chicago machine. That just shows the kind of political manipulation that’s going on here.”
A spokesman for House Speaker Michael Madigan says Gov. Bruce Rauner, not the Chicago Democrat, is “Mr. Cut” and responsible for slashing social services because there’s no agreement on a yearlong state spending plan.
Rauner told reporters at the state fair that Madigan “has ice water in his veins,” inured to reductions in programs such as subsidized day care for working parents. Hundreds of protesters opposing the changes attempted to shout down GOP speakers.
Madigan spokesman Steve Brown said the reduced spending is Rauner’s doing.
Brown says, “The only cuts that were done were by the governor, so if the guy wants to look about for who’s responsible for cuts, he should just stare right in the mirror, and that mug he sees coming back at him is ‘Mr. Cut.’”
The governor also said that if Senate President Cullerton overrides his veto of the AFSCME no strike bill, then that proves he is essentially Madigan’s puppet (paraphrasing).
*** UPDATE *** Cullerton’s spokesperson responds to the governor saying the Senate President will show he’s under Madigan’s thumb if he overrides the AFSCME bill veto today…
The Governor is attempting to reduce the Senate President’s leadership to fit into today’s political talking points. He is undermining the “willing to compromise” image that he has tried to project regarding his relationship with the Senate President. Cullerton and his caucus will make a decision about the no strike and no lockout bill later today.
Wednesday, Aug 19, 2015 - Posted by Advertising Department
[The following is a paid advertisement.]
Exelon has been dropping not so subtle hints lately that it’s about to close its Quad Cities plant unless it gets a bailout. They’re complaining the plant is losing money. They’re complaining the energy market is getting worse.
But here’s what they’re not telling you:
• Exelon Profitability Grows: In the last six months alone, Exelon, the company that claims it needs a bailout has reported more than $1.3 BILLION in PROFITS.
•PJM Capacity Auction Revenues Substantial: The PJM grid operator that includes the ComEd service territory is conducting three auctions for “capacity”. These auctions will pay winning power companies hundreds of millions of dollars in additional revenue starting in June 2016.
•Carbon Regulations Likely To Boost Revenues: The US EPA finalized its rule restricting carbon emissions which will likely close some Illinois coal plants, resulting in higher prices for electricity and more revenue for Exelon.
EVEN IF EXELON ANNOUNCES IT’S CLOSING QUAD CITIES, IT’S NOT THAT SIMPLE
•No Closure Possible Before June 2017: because Exelon has already sold its Quad Cities power through that period.
• PJM Reliability Study Before Closure: If Exelon notifies PJM it is planning to close a plant, PJM will launch a study to determine if that plant is needed for grid reliability.
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Eastern Illinois University President David Glassman says the school is laying off 67 employees and says more people will lose jobs as the school wrestles with declining enrollment and financial uncertainties.
Glassman said in a news release Tuesday that another 51 open positions will not be filled.
Glassman said unspecified additional cuts will happen “very shortly.”
The jobs are civil service or administrative and professional positions rather than faculty.
And this may not be the end to job cuts at EIU, where enrollment has dropped from 11,630 students in 2010 to 8,913 in 2014. Glassman said more employees with administrative and professional or academic support positions will be notified “very shortly” of job eliminations or reductions.
Oof.
On the bright side, since no faculty members are being laid off, the student/teacher ratio will improve.
If he stays in, he could be competitive. The guy is personally wealthy and has lots of rich friends from his NFL days. But he’s not the greatest organizer. He was lucky not to get kicked off the ballot last time around, so we’ll see what sort of staff he hires.
* Biss never did have a shot at the nod, and he knew it…
Comptroller candidate Daniel Biss says Gov. Rauner pushing "radical anti-family, anti-union policies. "
The late Judy Baar Topinka always said she was a big fan of the state fair and now, her name is part of the fairgrounds. Governor Rauner, dedicated the sign that marks Judy Baar Topinka Lane that replaces Corn Dog Lane.
Springfield alderman Cory Jobe, who worked for the late comptroller, says Topinka would have loved the sign.
“She’d be pretty humble about it. You know, Judy was just an everyday, real Illinoisan. I think that’s what made her unique. Her straight-talk approach to issues made her stand out. Everybody thought she was just one of us,” said Jobe.
* She was a huge state fair fan. And I think she would’ve gotten a chuckle knowing that “Corn Dog Lane” is now named after her. One reason is the street is lined with porta-potties…
Wherever Judy is, she has to be laughing.
The blue curtain separating the ceremonies from the rest of “Judy Baar Topinka Lane” kept onlookers from seeing a line of porta-potties along what used to be “Corn Dog Lane.”
Topinka, a former state lawmaker, three-term treasurer, and Republican gubernatorial nominee in 2006, had just been elected to a second term as comptroller when she passed away in December.
“The fair was Judy’s Las Vegas,” said the master of ceremonies.
In addition to that, Sen. Karen McConnaughay sponsored legislation aimed at improving the state’s computer system and government websites, increasing transparency for people wanting to better understand the government, making it easier to see its inner-workings. It’s a staple of leading that was important to the late Judy Baar Topinka.
“What I believe to be a very important piece of legislation. Yes, it honors Judy, but it also represents what she thought was the most important part of being a public servant - that we work for the people,” said Sen. McConnaughay.
Before showing off the legislation, Gov. Rauner said that Judy Baar Topinka was, “A champion of this legislation and Karen McConnaughay carried it.”
Standing behind the auction pen as championship rabbits, chickens and goats came and went, Rauner made his move when Scotty, a Land of Lincoln grand champion steer, went up on the block. The governor, however, had a celebrity proxy do his bidding — Scotty McCreery, the Season 10 winner of “American Idol” and the steer’s namesake. The country singer was opening for Rascal Flatts, the evening’s grandstand concert headliner.
As the rapid-fire bidding slowed down, the auctioneer turned to Taylor Donelson, a McLean County girl who raised Scotty, and suggested she should ask the deep-pocketed governor if he could please bid $61,000. The teen turned to Rauner and made the request. The crowd roared, and Rauner threw up his arms in mock protest before giving a thumbs up. The bid set a new record.
The steer will be slaughtered, as is state fair custom, and the governor plans to give the meat to the University of Illinois. Auction proceeds are split among the young exhibitors and the Future Farmers of America and the 4-H youth organization.
* This officeholder really needs a primary so she can be held accountable…
Cook County Democratic leaders are leaning against backing State’s Attorney Anita Alvarez as she seeks a third term against three potential challengers next March.
During Tuesday’s endorsement session, a panel recommended an “open primary.” A final decision will come Wednesday, but it’s rare for the party to reject a committee recommendation.
County Board President Toni Preckwinkle is backing her onetime chief of staff, Kim Foxx, a former assistant state’s attorney who helped Preckwinkle lead an effort to lower the jail population and reform the juvenile justice system.
Other committeemen backed Donna More, a lawyer who was a county and federal prosecutor and Illinois Gaming Board attorney. Cook County Commissioner John Fritchey, a former assistant attorney general and state representative, said he’s running but did not ask for an endorsement.
With the loyalties of ward and township committeemen divided, Preckwinkle suggested the open-primary recommendation.
Alvarez acknowledged “there might be criticism from some members” of the committee, but she said, “I have been the most innovative state’s attorney in the history of the state’s attorney’s office.”
* And you just knew this would happen…
Anita Alvarez invokes diversity in asking Ck Cty Dems for endorsement. "I'm the only Latina on this ticket."
The surprise of the day was an unexpected push to slate [Todd] Stroger to fill the remaining two years on the term of Patrick Daley Thompson, who left his seat on the Water Reclamation District board to become 11th Ward alderman.
“Most of you knew my father, and I’d like to follow in his footsteps,” Stroger told committeemen, invoking his late father, John, his predecessor as county board president.
Influential Thornton Township Committeeman Frank Zuccarelli and Ald. Walter Burnett (27th) voiced support for Stroger.
On Wednesday, a group of Republican office holders had scheduled a “Day at the Races” as part of Governor’s Day activities at the fair.
The event, hosted by Comptroller Leslie Munger, U.S. Sen. Mark Kirk and several other Republicans, is set for the grandstand where harness horse racing takes place.
But there’s a problem. Due to budget constraints, there is no horse racing on Wednesday.
State Rep. Tim Butler, a Springfield Republican who is co-hosting the event, said the plan was to carry on a tradition launched by the late Comptroller Judy Baar Topinka.
When this year’s gala was put together, organizers were unaware racing would be canceled because of the stalemate that has left Illinois without a budget for nearly eight weeks.
“We’re calling it, “A Day at the Races Without the Races,’” Butler said.
One prominent Republican who’s skipping the fair festivities is first-term U.S. Sen. Mark Kirk, who is viewed as one of the top targets for Democrats nationally next year as the party looks to win back President Barack Obama’s former seat. A campaign spokesman said late Tuesday that Kirk has Iran briefings in Chicago on Wednesday.
Or not. All of the state’s political reporters attend the State Fair and Kirk surely knows that. Maybe he’s avoiding us.
(H)ere’s our look at the 2016 Senate landscape, ranked in terms of which seats look most likely to change hands next year:
1. Illinois (Sen. Mark Kirk (R) running for reelection) (Previous rank: 2)
Kirk needs to run close to a perfect race to win reelection in deep-blue Illinois. So far, he’s doing anything but. The first-term Republican has suffered a seemingly uninterrupted series of gaffes this year, causing even close allies to (temporarily) wonder if he should abandon his campaign. His likely opponent, Democratic Rep. Tammy Duckworth, has her own issues to worry about, including a potentially damaging civil lawsuit and a primary opponent. But for now, she looks like a clear-cut general-election favorite.
On Governor’s Day three years ago, Democratic Gov. Pat Quinn was booed off the stage at the fair director’s lawn and chased around the fairgrounds by public union members angry over his push to cut their pension benefits. The rancor prompted Democrats to avoid the fairgrounds the last two years.
It’s unclear what public employee unions may have planned Wednesday for Rauner’s day. But the Republican governor’s push to weaken collective bargaining rights for teachers and other government workers has become the most significant political issue in Illinois, with legislative candidate signature gathering for the 2016 elections set to begin next month.
The Dems didn’t really “avoid the fairgrounds,” but they did start requiring free tickets for entry, which kept out the boo birds.
Rauner has taken a page out of that Democratic playbook. No ticket, no entry today.
The woman, who for several decades oversaw Illinois day care, was asked by legislators last week to assess the impact [of Gov. Bruce Rauner’s new rules on child care program cuts].
“Devastating!” said Linda Saterfield.
“Will some of the people rejected for day care have to quit their jobs to take care of their own children?” asked State Rep. Lou Lang.
“That’s a possibility,” she responded.
On Tuesday, it was made known that Saterfield was ousted from her job after delivering that testimony.
When FOX 32 tried to contact Saterfield, a spokeswoman for the Rauner Administration called. She said Saterfield was reassigned to another post in the Department of Human Services “for internal personnel reasons.”
* I obtained a memo that she sent out to colleagues yesterday…
Dear Child Care Advisory Council Members-
Today I have been notified that effective immediately the Department is taking a new direction with leadership for Child Care and I am being replaced as the Associate Director of the Office of Early Childhood. I have been offered the position of Associate Director of Adult Supports and Basic Services. I will be relocating my office to 823 E. Monroe by next week but as of today I will no longer represent Child Care.
It has been my pleasure and honor to serve as the State Child Care Administrator since 1998 and I am proud of what we have accomplished together. We have enjoyed a wonderfully successful partnership and through our work have been recognized as a national leader in child care. We truly have much to be proud of in Illinois.
I will miss working with all of you. You have been wonderful volunteers and advocates for child care program over the years. With reauthorization underway it seems to be an appropriate time to bring in new leadership to take this program to the next level. I know you will provide the new Associate Director your commitment and I am certain you will continue to advocate on behalf of the families and children of this state. Thank you so much.
Sincerely,
Linda Saterfield
* And then this went out…
Yesterday we, as an Early Childhood Community, received the worst possible news, IDHS irrationally transferred Linda Saterfield out of child care after over 35 years of service. The viability of the entire child care system is now in question. In these incredibly difficult and tumultuous times we need Linda’s leadership and knowledge more than ever.
Within the next 2-3 hours please email the Governor’s Secretary of Education Beth.Purvis@illinois.gov urging her to take whatever action is necessary to walk back this terrible decision. Please feel free to share this email as quickly as possible with as many stakeholders as possible.
* From an Illinois Republican Party press release…
Governor’s Day Event on the Director’s Lawn
When: Wednesday, August 19th at 12:00PM CT (Press Set-up at 11:45AM CT)
Where: Director’s Lawn of the Illinois State Fair
Who: Republicans from all over Illinois will be in attendance to celebrate Governor Bruce Rauner. In addition to Governor Rauner, other Illinois Republican leaders will give remarks, including Lt. Governor Evelyn Sanguinetti, Comptroller Leslie Munger, Congressman John Shimkus, Congressman Randy Hultgren, Congressman Rodney Davis, State Senator Darin LaHood, Senate Republican Leader Christine Radogno, and House Republican Leader Jim Durkin.
Well, it is Governor’s Day. But that’s an odd choice of words.
I know the Governor’s office is intensifying pressure on you to sustain his veto of SB 1229, the fair arbitration bill. Unfortunately, his crusade against this bill is based on hyperbole and misinformation. I wanted to respond specifically to some of the key misrepresentations in the governor’s memo sent to you today.
Arbitration is not a dangerous and alien idea. In fact, it is already in state law. As you know, this legislation merely extends to state workers the same fair arbitration process that Illinois law has provided for more than 30 years to municipal police and fire personnel and to state prison employees and state troopers.
Arbitration could avoid a strike if negotiations fail. Nothing in the legislation compels the parties to go to arbitration. In fact, either side could choose arbitration if negotiations fail to produce a settlement. As such, the bill does not short-circuit the negotiating process, but offers an additional path to a settlement free of the hardship, conflict and disruption that a lockout or strike could cause.
AFSCME has said repeatedly, and I reiterate, that it is our preference to reach a settlement at the bargaining table. We’ve been working diligently to achieve that goal and intend to continue to do so.
Our union has a four-decade track record with six different governors (and countless mayors, county executives and other elected leaders) of doing just that—bargaining in good faith to reach an agreement. The Rauner Administration does not have any such track record. The governor can point only to one settlement reached for one small unit of state workers on his watch.
On the other hand, we have his bellicose statements made more than once on the campaign trail that he’ll “take a strike and shut down state government” in order to impose his demands on state workers.
State employees remain deeply troubled by the threats he made then and the related actions he takes now: Reports of the administration recruiting strikebreakers among retirees or the National Guard; false characterizations of the compensation now earned by state workers and the proposals our union has made in negotiations; legislative poison-pill demands that would wipe out workers’ rights as a precondition of enacting other unrelated policies.
Arbitration is fair. The governor is wrong to insult the reputation of the experienced professionals who serve as independent arbitrators. Arbitrators are mutually chosen by both the employer and the union and they are guided by the law to consider factors including the state’s financial condition in crafting a fair settlement. There is no evidence to suggest that they rely on only a few states in forming their opinions, and even a cursory review of the arbitration decisions listed on the state labor board’s website makes clear that they rule at least as often—if not more often—in favor of the employer as the union.
False claims. It’s regrettable that the governor’s memo resorts to repeating disproven claims about state employee compensation. Illinois state employees do not earn salaries far in excess of other states, and a University of Illinois study found that state and local government workers earn 13.5% less than comparable private sector workers.
The governor’s misstatements about the pay of child protection workers, correctional officers, nurses, emergency responders, caregivers and all the other men and women who do the real work of state government are particularly offensive given the six-figure salaries and political clout hires reported among the governor’s own top staff. His administration’s push to replace a pay scale based on a worker’s job and experience with one based on who the boss likes best would open the door wide to similar cronyism throughout state government.
The governor’s claim that the union’s initial economic proposal would cost the state $1.6 billion borders on the ludicrous. The administration has failed to produce any accounting of this number, despite our union’s requests for the calculations to back it up. The governor’s memo likewise distorts many other of our proposals: AFSCME has not made a single proposal to “increase pension benefits”; we have proposed almost no changes to the state health plan; and our proposals regarding overtime are intended to reduce it, not increase it, but the administration has rejected them.
Act in the public interest, override the veto. One has to ask why the administration is resorting to such desperate tactics to defeat a perfectly reasonable piece of legislation. Why the over-the-top rhetoric, habitual falsehoods and political pressure tactics? The only plausible explanation is that the bill would provide stability where the governor wants conflict. The bill would prevent a strike when the governor has vowed to force one. And if negotiations fail to produce an agreement, the bill could allow independent arbitrators to craft a fair settlement instead of giving the governor free rein to impose his extreme demands.
In the end, each legislator must vote their conscience and their constituents. We hope you will look at all the facts and, in the name of ensuring stability of public services and fairness for public service workers, override the veto to enact SB 1229.
To: Members of the General Assembly
From: Bruce Rauner, Governor
Re: SB 1229
Date: August 18, 2015
Beginning tomorrow, you may be asked to consider overriding my veto of Senate Bill 1229. I strongly urge you not to vote to override. This bill is one of the worst pieces of legislation in Illinois history. It is a direct affront to Illinois taxpayers and to my ability to negotiate on their behalf. To put it simply, a vote to override my veto of SB 1229 is a vote to pave the way for a massive tax hike.
Our Administration has demonstrated a willingness to negotiate a fair contract with any reasonable partner. I have stated publicly and I also pledge in writing to you that we will not lock-out state employees. There is no reason our authority to negotiate on behalf of taxpayers regarding the state’s largest employment contract should be suddenly stripped away.
This is the first time AFSCME has ever demanded interest arbitration for all of its members rather than good faith collective bargaining, and the bill expires in four years. Hopefully this legislation is not related to the fact that I am the first Governor in Illinois history to be totally independent of AFSCME since it was first recognized under Governor Walker in the 1970’s.
Unfortunately, our political system in Illinois has inherent biases stacked against taxpayers. This legislation specifies that only a small group of predominantly pro-labor arbitrators may be selected to serve as the tie-breaking panel chair absent agreement. Last year, of the four interest arbitrations held using this roster of arbitrators where local units of government sought to freeze salaries for even a portion of the contract term, taxpayers lost every time.
Our system has also been set up so arbitrators use salary comps from very high-cost states (NY, NJ, PA) rather than emphasizing the five states that border us. This has resulted in Illinois government employees receiving compensation, when benefits are included, that is 22% higher than for the same jobs done by private citizens, and in many cases 30% or more higher than for the same work done by government employees in our surrounding states.
Illinois government employees are terrific. They deserve good salaries and attractive benefits. But their compensation should reflect merit more than seniority, similar to the system most taxpayers have in the private sector. We can and will pay higher salaries in the future, but pay should be based on productivity, not just the passage of time.
The system has to be fair for everyone, including our taxpayers. SB 1229 is especially harmful now because AFSCME’s current proposal would cost our taxpayers an additional $1.6 billion in salary, overtime, and pension costs and would eliminate $500 million per year in healthcare savings that is part of the health savings in both Democratic and Republican budgets.
AFSCME has proposed an expensive structure that would increase many salaries by 29% over 4 years, force the state to pay for premium health insurance benefits, extend those benefits to part-time and intermittent workers, increase overtime pay and dramatically increase pension benefits. We have told AFSCME at the bargaining table, and I cannot emphasize to you strongly enough, we cannot afford AFSCME’s extreme financial demands at this precarious time for our state.
That is why this legislation is so dangerous. Under SB 1229, labor arbitrators, unlike arbitrators in other disputes, are only given the option of picking between the state’s proposals and the union’s proposals, which is why the union has refused to make any concessions. The amount of spending the arbitrator would decide in this case is over $7 billion, or 20% of the state budget. Financial decisions of that magnitude should be decided at the bargaining table or by elected officials, not unelected labor arbitrators.
Again, to be clear, a vote to override my veto of SB 1229 is a vote to pave the way for a massive tax hike.
Finally, I have stated publicly and I also pledge in writing to you that we will not lock-out state employees. That pledge is also reflected in a binding legal agreement with AFSCME, known as a tolling agreement, which ensures that there can be no strike or lock-out as long as the parties are both bargaining in good faith at the bargaining table. Like the Teamsters, if AFSCME would commit to around the clock, non-stop, good-faith negotiations, I am confident we could reach a fair deal for taxpayers and their members.
The structure of our AFSCME contract is critical to the future of Illinois. We can and will negotiate a balance between the interests of government employees and those of taxpayers.
Every dollar we save inside state government is a dollar we can invest in our schools and social services. I ask you to join me in representing taxpayers, school children and our most vulnerable residents by upholding the veto of SB 1229.
During a swing through the Statehouse newsroom Tuesday, the first-term Republican chief executive said he is not getting involved in picking one of the 17 candidates seeking the GOP nomination.
“I am very clearly, specifically staying out of that,” Rauner told reporters before heading out to the Illinois State Fair.
Rauner did say he’s familiar with a big chunk of the field, including former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal and Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker.
“I have six pretty good personal friends running in the Republican primary,” Rauner said. “I’m pretty close to virtually all of the governors.”
* If he manages to get on the ballot and can raise a little cash, the Democrats’ chances will drop precipitously in the 13th…
David Gill, who has sought to represent Central Illinois in the nation’s capitol four previous times beginning a decade ago, announced Tuesday he will be making an independent bid in 2016 for the 13th Congressional District post. […]
If he collects enough signatures to qualify for the November 2016 ballot — he’ll need an estimated 15,000 registered voters — Gill is likely to face off against incumbent U.S. Rep. Rodney Davis, a second-term Republican from Taylorville. […]
Gill last ran for the seat in 2012 and lost by 1,002 votes to Davis.
He stepped aside in 2014 when the Democratic Party coalesced behind former Madison County Chief Judge Ann Callis.
It’s not that Davis was expected to lose, but having Gill on the ballot will make it that much tougher to recruit and push a quality Democratic candidate there. He’s a gift for Davis.
Envy isn’t a rational response to the upcoming 10-year anniversary of Hurricane Katrina.
But with Aug. 29 fast approaching and New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu making media rounds, including at the Tribune Editorial Board, I find myself wishing for a storm in Chicago — an unpredictable, haughty, devastating swirl of fury. A dramatic levee break. Geysers bursting through manhole covers. A sleeping city, forced onto the rooftops. […]
So if you think somehow new leadership is going to right the ship, you might want to get your head checked. There is no sense of urgency about the city’s or the schools’ perpetual abyss. Not under Emanuel. Not with a new City Council. Not with a new board at CPS.
That’s why I find myself praying for a real storm.
OK, was anybody who pays attention at all surprised? I mean, she sits on the Tribune editorial board, which is too often the most irrational, hyperbolic body in the state of Illinois.
All of the borrowing kicks the can down the road, costs taxpayers hundreds of millions more in interest payments and jeopardizes other worthy programs, under the guise of what? Protecting middle-class taxpayers from a big hit? No, they’re lining us up for a firing squad.
That highlighted sentence gets to the very heart of the matter here. She actually equated higher taxes (in a city with some of the lowest property taxes in the state) with a governmental firing squad. No wonder she openly wished for a biblical-level disaster. She’s just fighting the good fight, speaking truth to power, storming the ramparts of the evil-doers…
Chicago needs urgent, revolutionary change.
That was from her non-apology follow-up, wherein she essentially blamed readers for misinterpreting the essence of her pure heart.
And it shows again the real problem here. What Chicago most desperately needs are clear, sober minds and fiscal sanity. The city must finally, rationally face up to its obligations and stop stomping its collective feet and screaming about how unfair everything is. Raise some taxes, cut some spending, work with the governor and the GA on a reasonable compromise in exchange for more state money. Find some real solutions and stop wailing like mad, drunken ivory tower pseudo-revolutionaries.
In other words, grow the heck up already.
* The best news out of this is that maybe, finally people will once and for all stop treating that editorial board seriously. As nice as they may be in person, when some of those board members get to work they don’t want their readers to think, they want them to seethe with vicious rage at a manufactured cartoon world of black and white. That makes them the worst sort of propagandists. And they were getting away with it until one of their own members stepped over the line and brought down some serious national heat.
On Friday, Rauner’s office sent a letter to state Rep. John Bradley asking that he reschedule Monday’s hearing of the House Revenue and Finance Committee so that it could be held in the capital city.
“With the Senate in session next week, the governor expects key budget, legislative and legal personnel to be working in the Capitol,” the letter noted.
The request was rejected and the committee meeting was held at one of the state’s Chicago office buildings.
Bradley, a Marion Democrat, said it was disrespectful of the administration not to show up. “I think it’s a very, very bad calculation. Its not good practice,” he said. […]
At the same time Bradley’s hearing was underway, Rauner outlined his latest push for a statewide property tax freeze at a nearby state office building.
“State government is fundamentally in Springfield,” Rauner told reporters. “Let’s hold these hearings in Springfield where our administration actually works.”
Gov. Bruce Rauner is combining several of his proposals into one bill, but that doesn’t seem to sway Democrats opposed to parts of his agenda.
Rauner’s consolidated legislation includes some old items (a property tax freeze, allowing local governments to limit collective bargaining and opt out of prevailing wage laws) and some new additions (allowing schools to use outside contractors for certain services, increased funding for impoverished school districts).
“I believe this is the single most important piece of legislation which we can pass this year,” Rauner said.
One bill is how Rauner would prefer it remain, as he called on House Speaker Michael Madigan not to try to separate the proposals.
“I’m asking the Speaker not to break the bill apart into little pieces, not to call sham votes on individual pieces. Debate the bill in its entirety and vote on the bill in its entirety,” Rauner said.
Bills, except bills for appropriations and for the codification, revision or rearrangement of laws, shall be confined to one subject. Appropriation bills shall be limited to the subject of appropriations.
We’ll talk more about the substance of the governor’s proposals later, but if you click here for the governor’s bill summary, you’ll see he appears to have illegally mixed in an appropriation and has combined several quite different subject matters together.
They want “one bill, one vote” so they can get the Democrats on record as being opposed to some of the bill’s more popular items, like a property tax freeze and (for Chicagoans) more money for CPS, or perhaps peel some Democrats away from their leaders.
But if they passed a law like this it would probably be shot down pretty quickly in the courts.
The absurd facade of this long-running state government impasse might best be summed up with two brief statements.
1) Gov. Bruce Rauner to Democrats: “Just support my plans to eviscerate organized labor and I’ll give you the rare privilege of voting to raise everybody’s income taxes.”
2) Democrats to Rauner: “Just accept our piddly little workers’ compensation reforms and we’ll let you put all Republican legislators on an income tax hike bill, which you can then, of course, gleefully sign into law.”
Those two statements bring to mind a long-ago description of the absurdist theatrical “Waiting for Godot.” It was, the reviewer wrote, a play in which “nothing happens, twice.”
Ain’t that the truth.
Neither of those two things ever will happen.
I also have heard some portray this standoff as something like a religious war, where each side is so wedded to their own core beliefs, particularly when it comes to labor unions (Rauner against, Democrats for), that all rapprochement is impossible.
But, really, as absurd and hardline as the summer has most certainly appeared, I am increasingly becoming convinced that this overtime session cannot accurately be described as either of those things.
Rauner talks a good game, but as we’ve seen, he often backs off. He repeatedly threatened to shut down the government during last year’s campaign but instead has done everything possible to avoid a shutdown after vetoing most of the budget in June.
The governor has railed against unions but negotiated a state contract with the Teamsters that even includes collecting “fair share” fees that he believes are unconstitutional. He has made innumerable cuts that were quickly restored, whether through executive fiat, legislation he supports or court cases he backs.
House Speaker Michael Madigan likewise talks a very good game about “protecting the middle class,” but he hasn’t always been such a white knight for his core constituencies, either. He flipped on his much-favored trial lawyers and rammed through medical malpractice lawsuit reforms last decade.
The speaker made a deal that undercut trade unions at McCormick Place when asked to by Chicago’s mayor. He muscled through a Tier 2 pension plan for state workers and teachers that resulted in their boycott of him in the 2010 campaign. That led to the 2011 legislative education reforms (also pushed by the mayor and people like Rauner), aimed mostly at teachers and their unions, and legislation to cut back the number of state workers represented by AFSCME, along with pension reform Part 2.
To me, the key here is Mayor Rahm Emanuel. If he really is privately asking for some legislative limits on teachers’ union collective bargaining powers, as the governor has been telling reporters and anyone else who will listen, then you can expect the speaker and the Senate president eventually will go along.
Why would they? Because that’s what Democratic leaders from Chicago usually do when their mayor needs them. Not every time, but it’s a pretty safe bet.
And since Emanuel has not, as of this writing, actually denied the governor’s claim about what he really wants, I’m guessing the governor probably is telling the truth. Or at least a close enough version of reality to finally smoke out the mayor and have him prod his two leaders to move on a resolution that can be applied statewide.
As you know, the governor refuses to even talk about a budget until he gets some of his “turnaround agenda” passed, and keeping the teachers’ unions in check could go a long way toward that goal.
Until then, I think the Democratic leadership is content to continue their slow walk to oblivion and watch the governor’s poll numbers move inexorably down toward their own low positions, while galvanizing organized labor behind the Democratic Party like never before.
And as long as Rauner can keep most of government functioning, I don’t think he is prepared to make any major deals, either.
So the Democrats and the mayor and the governor could all choose to wait until the stuff really hits the fan this month and into next month, when the state government’s rapidly deteriorating condition could very well excuse an ugly deal in the minds of their respective constituencies.
Or they could just stick their necks out, act like statesmen and hammer out a compromise before the pain really begins.
Long story short: Despite several attempts at quitting, I’ve smoked cigarettes most of my adult life. I wasn’t feeling right about six weeks ago. So, I had a heart stress test, which found a problem. I had bypass surgery last Wednesday and it went so well that I was sent home on Sunday morning. I’ve also been medically cleared to briefly attend Governor’s Day and Democrat Day this week. My schedule will be somewhat reduced for a few weeks, but I really do feel pretty darned good, so don’t worry. All’s well that ends well and I will NEVER smoke again. Promise.
* Jerry Garcia may have saved my life.
For as long as I can remember, whenever my shoulders ached I knew I was coming down with something. They started hurting several days before the Grateful Dead shows in Chicago. And then when I was walking up a ramp to Soldier Field, my shoulders felt like they were on fire and I was short of breath and felt dizzy.
Later that Sunday evening during a random conversation, somebody mentioned that Jerry was 53 when he died.
I’m 53.
I went in to see my doctor and requested a stress test.
* I only told a few people what was going on. Even Barton didn’t know because I didn’t want to put him in an awkward position and I wanted him to focus on the task at hand, not on me.
My mom is staying with me this first week, so I’m in very good hands. My daughter was surprised yesterday that I was walking around my house like nothing had happened. I’m not in much pain and my lungs are rapidly improving. I’m pushing myself to get better, but not so much that I become exhausted. I want to improve a little every day, not regress. There will be some coverage gaps over the next few weeks, but I love my job and it keeps me sane, so I will keep writing.
* When I went in to meet my surgeon he told me he does a ton of bypasses every week, even sometimes on weekends. I asked him if that stressed him out. Nah, he said. Surgery isn’t stressful, it’s a calling. He told me his only stress comes from things that happen outside the operating room. From that point on I knew I was in excellent hands. Piece of cake.
The last thing I remember saying to my anesthesiologist before going under was, “Let’s get this show on the road, doc. I have a life to live.”
