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* AP…
Nearly five dozen Illinois Department of Transportation employees have been given a temporary reprieve from layoff because of a court agreement by Gov. Pat Quinn’s administration.
Quinn’s lawyers agreed late Monday in Sangamon County Circuit Court to disregard the Sept. 30 dismissal date for 58 so-called “staff assistants” until they have a hearing before a judge, according to Carl Draper, one of the Springfield-based attorneys for the workers.
Eliminating the staff assistant’s position was part of a reform Quinn announced last month after a blistering report about improper hiring at the agency. But the Teamsters union, which represents the workers, filed a lawsuit to block the dismissals.
Draper said a status hearing would be scheduled for late this month. He would not comment further.
* From the increasingly strident Bruce Rauner campaign…
Another Day, Another Pat Quinn Broken Promise
“Pat Quinn said he fired these illegal IDOT hires and now says he won’t. That’s on top of the other 103 illegal hires he’s already refusing to fire. Pat Quinn’s capacity to break his promises to the people of Illinois knows no bounds.” - Rauner spokesperson Mike Schrimpf
Oy. The guy agrees to a court delay and he’s breaking his promise?
These guys are making it almost impossible for themselves to govern should Rauner actually be elected.
posted by Rich Miller
Wednesday, Sep 24, 14 @ 11:50 am
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Rauner is basically saying that, if elected Governor, he would disregard the legal process. I think this echoes what we have been seeing with his GTCR businesses.
Comment by Illinoise Wednesday, Sep 24, 14 @ 11:54 am
He would want to governor.
Comment by Come on man! Wednesday, Sep 24, 14 @ 11:56 am
“Oy. The guy agrees to a court delay and he’s breaking his promise?”
Poor Mike Schrimpf. Lately, there just ain’t much happening in the courts that he does like.
– MrJM
Comment by MrJM Wednesday, Sep 24, 14 @ 11:58 am
Rauner’s idea of governing is to shut down government. In that respect, he’s right on track.
Comment by PublicServant Wednesday, Sep 24, 14 @ 11:58 am
Does Rauner understand that these workers are covered by a collective bargaining agreement ? Union workers cannot be fired on the spot without a hearing. The state will have the opportunity at that hearing to present evidence supporting its actions.
Comment by AFSCME Steward Wednesday, Sep 24, 14 @ 11:59 am
“increasingly strident” is exactly right Rich. Also increasingly desperate and increasingly less credible as each day passes.
Comment by Slow Down Wednesday, Sep 24, 14 @ 12:02 pm
It is pretty clear that Rauner’s disgraceful nursing home scandal — combined with his continued proactive, vile strategy of using a club to bludgeon Quinn — will hurt Rauner with seniors. He is in free fall.
Comment by Tim Snopes Wednesday, Sep 24, 14 @ 12:07 pm
He already lost those born after 1987, or a about a decade before that because they think Harold Washington is ancient history and could care less what he said about Quinn. Now he’s losing the seniors, or those close.
So Rauner has the 35-60 age group left. Good Luck Bruce!
Comment by 3rd Generation Chicago Native Wednesday, Sep 24, 14 @ 12:15 pm
Not a fan, but we all know what’s going to happen here. They’re going to drag this (and probably NRI, too) out until after the election, throw up their hands, Quinn will say, “Not my fault — Ann Schneider’s fault” and all the hacks will stay on board.
Comment by LincolnLounger Wednesday, Sep 24, 14 @ 12:18 pm
someone with some legal expertise enlighten me. What happened to “exhaust administrative remedies” before having standing in front of a court?
Comment by steve schnorf Wednesday, Sep 24, 14 @ 12:22 pm
I thought Rauner was all about “letting the courts sort it out” or something like that.
Comment by Pot calling kettle Wednesday, Sep 24, 14 @ 12:23 pm
This is what happens when everything is done through the prism of politics and not the legal, ethical, problem solving prism. Oh what a wicked web we weave when we first set out to deceive.
Comment by facts are stubborn things Wednesday, Sep 24, 14 @ 12:34 pm
This little DOT hiring event is a microcosm of the pension issue. Do what you want for political gain and then try and break the law and see what you can get a way with to clean it up. ie. Hire improperly and then when caught fire them illegally and on pensions don’t pay in the money to the system and then try to illegally take away the protected benefits. Oh if only the folks in Illinois would reward those who do things correctly and punish those who don’t.
Comment by facts are stubborn things Wednesday, Sep 24, 14 @ 12:37 pm
A rauner administration would spend more time in court than in the governors office. According to the article in crains this morning he’s looking into using executive order even in pension reform.This guy might be committed to Dunning if he keeps this up.
Comment by foster brooks Wednesday, Sep 24, 14 @ 12:38 pm
==These guys are making it almost impossible for themselves to govern should Rauner actually be elected==
Wholeheartedly agree. And if the Raunerbots were honest they would agree also.
To me this is just more indication that Rauner has no clue about governing. He’s still in a CEO mentality where you can say “jump” and everybody else says “how high”. I haven’t seen him say anything that will be able to be accomplished should he become governor.
Cut revenues and increase spending? Nope. That ain’t happening.
Unilaterally gut the union contract? Nope. That ain’t happening either.
The list goes on and on. For a guy who everybody claims is smart he is sure doing a good job being ignorant.
Comment by Demoralized Wednesday, Sep 24, 14 @ 12:42 pm
“So Rauner has the 35-60 age group left.”
We don’t care for him either.
– MrJM
Comment by MrJM Wednesday, Sep 24, 14 @ 12:43 pm
i’m not sure republicans have any interest in governing. the two republican governors that have shown a keen interest in governing are brownback in kansas and kasich in ohio, and neither are very popular (although kasich will glide to victory in november because democrats really jumped the shark with their candidate)…
Comment by bored now Wednesday, Sep 24, 14 @ 12:46 pm
Wait, we’re supposed to care about governing during the campaign season?
Comment by Not it Wednesday, Sep 24, 14 @ 12:46 pm
“They aren’t firing people fast enough!” Probably is not the the smoothest course to take for a billionaire hedge fund manager.
Watching the Rauner campaign in action makes me long for a Quinnochio sighting.
Comment by The Way I See It Wednesday, Sep 24, 14 @ 12:56 pm
To quote Buford T Justice, “What we’re dealing with here is total lack of respect for the law.”
Rauner has a lot of money, so he is obviously above the law in his mind.
Comment by Ducky LaMoore Wednesday, Sep 24, 14 @ 1:03 pm
So Rauner won’t be able to govern if he’s elected. You mean kind of like Quinn these past four years?
Comment by LincolnLounger Wednesday, Sep 24, 14 @ 1:16 pm
Quinn knows hes untouchable, business as usual in Illinois, back to the same old same old.
Quinn knows Rauner’s boat is taking water, so why not get in the recliner and get back to Illinois business as usual
Comment by THEGUN Wednesday, Sep 24, 14 @ 1:22 pm
If Rauner wins, I will feel really bad for his internal legal staff. They would have a very difficult time dealing with his shenanigans. He strikes me as the kind of guy who doesn’t like to be told no, and definitely wouldn’t want to listen to a government lawyer making $125K. It would be one constitutional crisis after the next.
Comment by huh Wednesday, Sep 24, 14 @ 1:25 pm
If these are political hires, how are they protected by a union? This could only happen if they use their first illegal position to get a union protected job, which should be illegal if they were illegally hired in the first place. Too many illegals!
Comment by G.I.Joe Wednesday, Sep 24, 14 @ 1:44 pm
if they hadnt agreed the court would prbably have enetered an emergency injunction to stop it for 10 days, and conduct a hearing for a temp injunction; the temp injyunction would probably be granted.
So this basically saves time and money and lets them go straight to the heart of the case.
Comment by Ghost Wednesday, Sep 24, 14 @ 2:32 pm
Schrimpf Communication Rule 1 : Leaving out little details like a court ruling is OK. Nobody will notice.
Comment by zatoichi Wednesday, Sep 24, 14 @ 2:53 pm
GI Joe - They are in a union because they come in under a false premise of a Rutan-exempt job (high-ranking, policy-making, confidential, spokesman) and once in get improperly laterally transferred or “interviewed” for a Rutan-covered position. In some cases, like the revised positions that replaced licensed engineers in IDOT’s Bureau of Maintenance, the Rutan-exemption went with the reclassification. Ahhhhh, watch…the fingers never leave my hand….
Comment by Mister M Wednesday, Sep 24, 14 @ 4:05 pm
If Rauner wins, I will feel really bad for his internal legal staff.
_______________________________________________
If Rauner doesn’t win, do you think Quinn’s legal staff has it any better? IDOT hiring is still going before a judge. Pension and benfits are still a mess and requiring legal work. Legislative pay withholding didn’t get better. And with the NRI still looming we have a good chance at Vallas as governor.
Comment by Pete Wednesday, Sep 24, 14 @ 4:48 pm
Geez. Wouldn’t it be nice if the candidates organizations could focus on actual ISSUES?
Dear Campaigns: Grow up, dump the kiddie dumps and deal with the issues. Tell us where you stand on IL finances. On Education. On helping the helpless. Both campaigns. How do you propose that IL will survive and get better?
Quoting Zorn RE: Rauner: “A goal without a plan is a wish, but a plan without details is a fantasy.”
Tell us you plans AND the dtails on how you will make it WORK!
Comment by sal-says Wednesday, Sep 24, 14 @ 5:29 pm