* As subscribers read this morning, Gov. Pat Quinn is asking the Joint Committee on Administrative Rules to approve an emergency rule that implements his plan to scrap union worker pay raises…

Vicki Thomas, executive director of the Joint Committee on Administrative Rules, said the panel has a number of options, including one that could block the governor’s move. “Yes. They could stop it,” Thomas said Wednesday. […]

State Sen. John Jones, R-Mount Vernon, who also is a member of the panel, said he doesn’t support the governor’s decision. “I would be inclined to go against the governor,” Jones said. “I don’t know how you can go against the contract like that.” […]

Righter said the governor needs to explain why he thinks he is legally allowed to cancel the raises, given the state’s collective bargaining agreement with AFSCME. “Clearly, there are a lot of unanswered questions out there,” Righter said.

* These are all union pay raises, by the way. We’re not just talking about the 2 percent raise that was supposed to take effect July 1 under the contract…

* Meanwhile, the SJ-R reminded readers of how the governor blasted Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker earlier this year over his own dealings with public employee unions…

“In Illinois, we always believed in working together as a team and not kicking somebody in the shins,” Quinn said in February as he welcomed Wisconsin Democratic senators who had fled to Illinois to stop Walker’s move.

To be clear, we can’t exactly say our hearts go out to the 30,000 union employees who won’t receive raises that total 5.25 percent over the next seven months.

At a time when their non-union colleagues have gone years without raises, this was an exceedingly sweet deal. It also ignores the financial reality in which most private sector employees now live.

But Quinn signed off on it back in September, then accepted AFSCME’s endorsement in the November election.

He needs to live up to the agreement or bring the unions back into discussions to change it.

* And remember this classic from February? Quinn was on MSNBC and said those who don’t believe in giving unions a “voice at the table” ought to “soak their heads”…