state court restores fair share fees while union case is pending
A Circuit Court judge has issued an Agreed Order requiring state agencies to immediately reinstate the transmission of ‘fair share’ fees deducted from employee paychecks.
On March 5, the Illinois AFL-CIO and 26 unions representing more than 40,000 Illinois state employees filed suit in St. Clair County Circuit Court to invalidate an executive order issued by Governor Bruce Rauner that bars state agencies from collecting the fees, which are authorized under state law and multiple collective bargaining agreements. The fees cover the proportional cost to the union of providing representation to those employees.
The court order, issued by Associate Judge Christopher Kolker, is based on an agreement reached between the Rauner Administration and the affected labor unions. It requires the Administration to “remit fair share fees…pending the resolution of the case” and to transmit “the correct payroll information” regarding gross pay for affected employees to the Comptroller.
“We continue to believe that the governor’s executive order is meant to weaken the right of state employees to have effective union representation,” said Illinois AFL-CIO president Michael T. Carrigan. “We’re pleased that all fair share agreements will now be honored while our legal challenge is proceeding.”
Some of you old timers might remember Judge Kolker from his House staff days.
…Adding… From the governor’s office…
The Administration and the unions have reached an agreement that will speed up the case and remove legal obstacles to resolving the underlying First Amendment issues as efficiently as possible. As part of this deal, the unions agree to an expedited timeline for the case and to forego the possibility of compelled arbitration. In exchange, we resume paying fair share fees, but obviously we will still assist nonmembers in recovering those fees from the unions when we ultimately prevail. There are two tracks – one in federal court and the other in state court — to get this case in front of the U.S. Supreme Court, which is where it must be conclusively decided, as soon as possible.
* If Mike Flynn is really running to succeed Aaron Schock, he should do two things right away: 1) Put that mandatory FEC disclaimer on his website; and 2) Add a “contribute” button. Sheesh…
Conservative activist Mike Flynn has joined the race for Congress in the 18th Congressional District of Illinois.
For more than two decades, Mike has been a national leader in moving the conservative agenda forward. In 2009, as Editor in Chief of Andrew Breitbart’s BigGovernment website, Mike published the ACORN videos, ushering in the demise of this government funded liberal advocacy group.
But Mike hasn’t reserved his attacks to liberals. Just last year, he took on the Republican leadership for passing the omnibus spending bill that funded the government until September of this year, including full funding for Obamacare and Executive Amnesty for illegal immigrants.
Mike will lead the charge for change in DC. He’ll vote against John Boehner for Speaker of the House. He’ll sponsor and work for term limits. He’ll lead the fight against executive overreach. Mike will take on big special interests, both labor and business, that set the agenda in DC through political contributions and back room deals.
Mike believes that deal making shouldn’t decide who is our next Congressman from the 18th District. Mike doesn’t believe that we should hand our voice in Washington to someone whose principal accomplishment is having a father who worked for Barack Obama and was instrumental in passing the stimulus bill.
I suppose in some minds the attack on Sen. LaHood’s dad is fair game. But anybody who has ever talked with Darin LaHood for more than 30 seconds knows that Darin’s politics and Ray’s politics are light-years apart. What Darin does have is his dad’s last name, and that’ll play well.
Still, it’s gonna be a very low-turnout race. And the far Right tends to dominate those sorts of primary races.
Flynn has no name ID, hasn’t lived in the district in 20 years, hasn’t yet raised any money, but he’s a hardcore conservative with bigtime tea party connections and some campaign chops, so let’s see what he can do.
Then again, this could very well turn out to be a vanity campaign.
* I don’t think that this is necessarily a bad idea. It could be a good idea. But the timing is horrible…
After months of indecision, the Rauner administration is lifting a freeze it put on $100 million in business tax-incentive deals that had been approved in principle by outgoing Gov. Pat Quinn but not yet executed.
The Rauner administration and business sources confirm that an internal review of such spending was conducted and a decision reached to fulfill “commitments made by the Quinn administration” to companies including eBay, CapitalOne, CDW and SAC Wireless. Some deals reportedly were finalized in the past 10 days or so, others are still in process.
But the decision to go ahead with deals under the state’s Economic Development for a Growing Economy program may be controversial — both because Rauner and others have criticized the EDGE program, and because he has suspended $26 million in social services grants and $180 million in park grants that had been approved by Quinn but not yet been disbursed.
Rauner has cited the state’s financial woes in freezing those monies. A spokeswoman said the EDGE credit will proceed “because they have no impact on the current fiscal year.”
That part about the impact on this fiscal year is probably true because it takes a while to get these things going. But, man, they nitpick $26 million for indigent burials, autism programs, etc. and then give some huge corporations EDGE credits?
Whew.
* The Question: The Rauner administration’s new slogan?
…Adding… From the IFT…
“If anyone is still unclear about Governor Rauner’s priorities, look no further,” said Aviva Bowen, IFT Director of Communications. “Giving tax breaks to big corporations while slashing millions from the services our most vulnerable citizens rely upon is beyond the pale.
“Cutting funding for autism, homelessness, parks, and after-school programs before asking the most wealthy to chip in a dime is completely out of touch with what Illinois wants or deserves.”
Acting a couple of weeks after Mayor Rahm Emanuel wrote about a dozen Indiana firms inviting them to move here, World Business Chicago chief Jeff Malehorn drove to Indianapolis on April 6 to meet with companies that could set up shop here in the Windy City.
Malehorn declined to disclose who he talked with. But he does say he met with officials from three companies and is confident that at least one and probably two of them will open some operations here in the near future.
“I am quite confident we will get jobs,” said Malehorn, whose group also mailed CEOs of 80 Indiana companies offering to assist in moving some or part of the business here.
One company is a digital mobile-phone outfit that is seriously considering setting up a Chicago office because of the larger number of young tech workers here. The second is a rapidly expanding health care company and the third is in transportation logistics—all sectors that WBC has targeted.
I am writing you today on behalf of Mayor Rahm Emanuel, Chairman of World Business Chicago, which is the economic development agency for Chicago. Together we would like to urge you to consider Chicago’s considerable advantages as a location for your company.
Chicago will provide your business with unparalleled opportunity at the epicenter of North American business. Both start-ups and established companies alike, including Google, Motorola Mobility, GrubHub, Yelp, Microsoft, Uber, Groupon, Salesforce, LinkedIn, and many more, all have recently announced major expansions and relocations here, employing thousands in Chicago - and for good reason. Our city provides the top-notch talent, and the creative, vibrant environment that enables them to grow and thrive here.
I am positive that you would find Chicago a truly global city with a world class business environment, a vast and diverse talent pool of millions, and a central location with easy global air access to clients and operations. Our diverse economy rivals nations and we are consistently ranked in the top ten global cities and economies in the world.
As an economic development agency driving growth and job creation, we are collectively focused on making Chicago the most business-friendly city in the nation, and hope to have the opportunity to welcome your firm to Chicago as the newest members of our vibrant and engaged business community.
We are proud Chicago is ranked the number one city for corporate relocations in the United States for two years running, and are confident that Chicago will provide you with exceptional opportunities for continued growth and talent attraction. I am eager to assist you with such an effort.
* Gov. Rauner, however, would rather wait until after his “Turnaround Agenda” is completed before chasing after Indiana companies…
Rauner also waved away the controversy over an Indiana religious freedom law, that some opinion writers viewed as a chance for Illinois to poach jobs from the neighboring state, calling it a “headline opportunity,” not a real one.
“Believe me, I am going to rip — try to rip the economic guts out of Indiana,” Rauner said. “I am one of the baddest, you know, enemies anybody can have. And when I set a goal, we do it. I don’t care what the headline is. I want the results. And we’re coming after Indiana big time. But you know what, we’re going to do it on our terms, the right way.”
What he means by “the right way” is that he’ll weaken unions, lower benefits for workers, lower taxes and then and only then will he go after those jobs.
But what happens if his plan isn’t implemented?
And shouldn’t he be working with the mayor on this poaching operation right now?
* If you saw the update below, you know that the governor’s office claims a handful of municipalities have passed Gov. Bruce Rauner’s draft “Turnaround Agenda” resolution, which includes the local “right to work zone” language…
The following towns have passed the resolution.
East Dundee
Clinton
Cambridge
Makanda
Charleston
I have the PDFs coming.
Thanks
* This morning, Rauner got his biggest win…
McHenry County Board passes resolution supporting @GovRauner "Turnaround Agenda" on 16-5 vote.
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Rauner spoke with concerned taxpayers at Two Men and A Truck on North Alpine. Part of his Illinois turnaround tour. Rauner focused on empowering Rockford saying we need to get rid of unfunded mandates, consolidate government agencies and have local control of collective bargaining. Rauner also addressed Sportscore 2 funding.
“We’re very concerned about local economy and growth and we don’t want to have to make cuts unnecessarily. So what we’re going to try to do is get our agenda of the turnaround done now in the next few months. That will free up resources so some of the cuts don’t have to be as big and some of the other cuts don’t even have to happen at all. So by July we’ll really know. My goal is that by July we’ll know kind of where we’re at,” says Rauner.
Emphasis added for obvious reasons. Yesterday, Rauner told Steve Cochrane that he hoped to wrap things up in June.
* Rauner’s not the only one making this prediction, though…
Lawmakers and Gov. Bruce Rauner may be jawboning well into July to forge a budget compromise that Democrats and Republicans can live with. That’s the word from Sen. Dave Syverson, R-Rockford, and Rep. John Cabello, R-Machesney Park, who stopped by the Editorial Board on Monday.
“House Speaker Michael Madigan has told his caucus not to make vacation plans through July 15,” Cabello told us.
[Sen. Chapin Rose, R-Mahomet] and Sen. Dale Righter, R-Mattoon, championed reforming worker’s compensation and eliminating unfunded mandates in order to offset proposed cuts.
Across the board, officials said worker’s compensation reform would be a welcome change.
“It’s outrageously ridiculous in the state of Illinois. We all suffer from that,” Jensen said. “It is eating up a lot of money, but I don’t think it’s the solution to the entire state problem.”
Sen. Heather Stearns, a democrat from Chicago and the committee’s chairwoman, agreed. Worker’s compensation reform would only begin to mitigate the “devastating cuts” being proposed, she said.
There is no doubt that workers’ comp needs to be addressed here. Costs are too high. Period. And unfunded mandates are also a problem - although most of those mandates passed both chambers with huge majorities.
But most of this “Turnaround” agenda is pie in the sky stuff. And even if it all passed (and it won’t because “pie in the sky”) it wouldn’t free up the money the governor and his legislative pals say it would.
It’s being used as some sort of magical talisman that can solve all of our problems. Most likely, it’s setting the stage for blaming somebody else when other solutions need to be found.
* Then again, let’s revisit something from the Tribune’s earlier coverage…
“Crisis creates opportunity. Crisis creates leverage to change … and we’ve got to use that leverage of the crisis to force structural change,” said Rauner, borrowing from a political philosophy famously coined by his friend Rahm Emanuel that “you never want a serious crisis to go to waste.” […]
Asked how he intended to get a ban on union campaign contributions through a legislature that is heavily backed by organized labor, Rauner pointed to the binders his staff had prepared.
“Read it,” he said. “Change the law … that’s what our proposal is.”
Pressed to explain, Rauner simply said: “Crisis. Crisis creates leverage.”
Dragging this session into July would most definitely create several crises.
State Rep. Dan Brady, a Bloomington funeral home director, was among a majority of Republican lawmakers who last month voted for a fix to the current state budget. […]
“I was under the impression that action would stabilize things through the end of the fiscal year,” Brady said Tuesday.
On Friday, however, Rauner froze $26 million in funding for a variety of social service programs, including about $6.9 million that pays funeral expenses for poor people.
“I was not anticipating having this type of situation. I’m confused over it,” Brady said Tuesday. “I’m confused and surprised.”
*** UPDATE *** The Rauner folks say this approp committee exchange between Rep. Frank Mautino and budget director Tim Nuding shows legislators like Brady shouldn’t have been surprised. Emphasis in the original…
Mautino: And a final question to Rich or Tim. In the course of preparing for this year, the number of accounts at the Bureau of the Budget, Governor’s Office of Management and Budget, going back to through the years.
Nuding: No problem, I’m nostalgic about it too.
Mautino: Well you have the right attitude for this year. A number of items that have been suspended and another number of accounts. In the course of passing this fix for this year, what will become the status of the suspended dollars? Cities have been notified that they maybe have a process or program in process over at DNR, EPA, that has been suspended, so those accounts are under suspended status. You may not have this handy here, but I’d like to know what the dollar value of the suspended account statewide is, and what the interaction is with the bill we’re passing today is. Will the status of those accounts be lifted? And may those project resume for those dollars.
Nuding: I would say, representative, that what we have done through the Governor’s Office of Management and Budget to try to address the FY15 problem… This bill works in concert with what we are already doing in terms of establishing reserves and looking at grants that are already out there. So that process will continue. I cannot report to you today how much we have frozen up. We are still actually working through that process with your agencies. As you know there are literally hundreds and thousands of grants out there that our agencies are evaluating, trying to figure out what needs to be frozen, what’s essential, what’s non-essential. We will continue to work through that process. Having said that, I would acknowledge that I do not that believe everything that is currently under review or frozen will ultimately be terminated. I think there will be some things that move forward. I don’t have specifics on that. Conversely, Representative, not all of them will. We need some of those savings to make that $1.6 billion hole balance in concert the bills that are in front of you today.
However, legislators I’ve talked to said they’d made it clear that those programs shouldn’t be cut. They also fully funded things like the autism program for a reason.
Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner said he probably didn’t choose his words carefully enough when he said the state Supreme Court is part of a “corrupt” judicial system.
In a meeting Wednesday night with the Quad-City Times editorial board, Rauner said he wasn’t singling out the high court, nor did he use the word “corrupt” again.
“I probably didn’t use words carefully enough,” he said. “I believe our judicial system is full of conflicts of interests. And the Supreme Court is part of the judicial system. It’s not the Supreme Court, per se, it’s the system.” […]
“My comments about the Supreme Court, one of the issues I raised is, you know, they’re opining on things that impact them, when they talk about pensions and health care and what not,” he said. “I’m just troubled by the conflict. I don’t criticize them. They’re doing the best they can. They’re good people. I don’t criticize individual judges or a particular court. The system, I think, has conflicts.”
* First of all, that’s not a walk-back, it’s a double-down.
* Secondly, he did indeed “criticize” the Supreme Court on stuff besides the “corrupt” angle…
“I don’t trust the Supreme Court to be rational in their decisions,” Rauner said. “I think they’re activist judges who want to be legislators.”
The justices on the high court signaled devotion to that language when they ruled in favor of retirees in a separate case last summer involving an attempt to make retirees pay more for their state-subsidized health care. The court ruled 6-1 that the language in the constitution was “aimed at protecting the right to receive the promised retirement benefits, not the adequacy of the funding to pay for them.”
Rauner told the Tribune on Monday he thought the court’s ruling in that case was “off base.” He said he wants to use a constitutional amendment to “end-run the years of lawsuits” that would come from his plan to reduce pension benefits.
“We can’t just let the Supreme Court decide these issues just with the vague language we’ve got now,” Rauner said. “I have no confidence.”
* Our commenter “walker” offered up a succinct critique yesterday…
Rauner really seems confused.
He calls a strict constructionist stance on Constitutional language “judicial activism.”
He then says the court is corrupted by politics, but then agrees with them by stating that we need changes to the Constitution to move forward with his versions of pension “reform.”
Really, folks — do those statements hang together?
* And as far as the “conflict of interest” regarding the courts ruling on the constitutionality of pension and health insurance laws, who the heck does he think should rule on those statutes? I mean, should all judges just step aside and let the other two branches do whatever they want?
That’s either a completely disingenuous argument or just plain juvenile logic.
“I’m open to tax reform. The critical thing is that we get structure change inside the state. If we just raise income taxes, which is what many people are encouraging me to do, they say put in a graduated income tax that will fix the problems,” said Rauner.
But, Rauner said raising taxes doesn’t always work. He points to similar problems in New Jersey that he said Illinois can’t repeat.
“New Jersey has high property taxes like us, high sales taxes like us. They’ve already put in a graduated income tax. They have very high taxes where they can’t afford to pay their pensions.”
That last graf contains a nonsensical comment, but more important is the fact that the governor is a wealthy man and he got a ton of campaign money from fantastically wealthy people during and after the campaign and he opposes a graduated income tax, which would most definitely hurt himself and his main campaign contributors.
That’s not a conflict of interest?
Of course it is. The world is full of conflicts. There is no possible world where conflicts of interest do not exist, except maybe in some freshman college classes.
* I’m sure all of this polls well. “He’s shaking things up and attacking the status quo just like he promised!” But, dealing with this governor is kinda like dealing with newbie commenters here who believe all solutions are simple and everything is black and white. Experienced adults know better.
* Union members and allies packed a Woodstock City Council hearing earlier this week to the point where it had to be moved to a much larger venue. The turnout worked, at least for now…
Woodstock City Council members balked on Gov. Bruce Rauner’s “Turnaround Agenda” resolution aimed at organized labor, after a large contingent of labor unions addressed the council and criticized the measure.
Rauner has asked cities and villages throughout the state to join his push against unions and pass the resolution. It urges state lawmakers to grant local governments and voters the choice to create right-to-work zones and details changes to prevailing wage and workers’ compensation laws.
On Tuesday, hundreds of area union members came to Woodstock to address the council before members were set to discuss and vote on Rauner’s resolution. The large turnout forced city officials to relocate the meeting to the larger Woodstock High School.
The council ultimately voted 5-2 to table the resolution – a request initiated by Mayor Brian Sager.
“I’m a part of Woodstock. If you vote for this resolution, this is what it does. You then give permission to Gov. Rauner to go around the state of Illinois and say Woodstock wants this,” Acosta said. “Well you know what? I’m a part of Woodstock and I don’t want this.”
But not everyone who addressed the council was part of a union.
“I’m a millionaire,” Woodstock’s Craig Hallenstein told the council. “I’m part of the 1 percent. I’m not a member of a union, and I agree with every comment made here. The biggest problem with this country is the declining middle class.”
A resolution to support several policies proposed by Gov. Bruce Rauner did not gain much traction with the Mount Zion Board of Trustees on Monday.
The board was presented with a resolution encompassing Rauner’s “Turnaround Agenda,” which ranges from changes to prevailing wage and workers compensation laws to the establishment of what are commonly called right to work zones, in which voters could decide if workers should be required to join labor unions.
Shelby County Board Chairman Dave Cruitt said Monday that the proposal backing right-to-work won’t be voted on when board members meet Wednesday.
“Too many of our board members don’t know enough about it,” Cruitt said. “We’re not going to act on it.” […]
[Iroquois] County Board Chairman Kyle Anderson said he hopes to bring the matter before a board committee Thursday with the goal of getting it on the full board’s agenda next week.
He said despite all members of the board being Republicans like Rauner, he’s unsure whether the resolution will be approved.
Moultrie County Board Chairman Dave McCabe said the issue has been put on hold until at least next month.
Iroquois County’s committee meeting on the issue earlier this week was also flooded with anti-resolution folks. I grew up in Iroquois County. A liberal bastion it ain’t.
* And…
GovRauner's "turnaround agenda" voted down 7-0 in Pingree Grove #twill#workers4il
At Gov. Bruce Rauner’s behest, the Kane County Board will approve a resolution supporting at least some parts of Rauner’s reform agenda. Deciding which parts may involve a discussion about the future ability of county employees to unionize.
Rauner met with county officials Tuesday to ask for the endorsement. County board Chairman Chris Lauzen said Rauner was explicit in saying the county should customize the endorsement to reflect only aspects where county officials agreed with the governor.
In a written statement, Lauzen indicated support of Rauner’s views about public employee unions. That view involves passing legislation giving local governments, such as Kane County, the ability to exclude several topics from union negotiations, such as wage negotiations, use of paid work time to conduct union negotiations, and the use of third-party contractors.
The debate on what to include in the resolution will begin in the board’s Legislative Committee, headed up by Aurora Democrat Brian Pollock. Pollock said the full board will debate the possible elements of the resolution and come to a consensus on what to say about unions.
“The chairman has said it’s up to the board to set the policy,” Pollock said. “And we’re looking forward to that discussion.”
So, it doesn’t look like the anti-union stuff has much of a chance there.
