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The gift that keeps on giving

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Illinois

City Council on Monday night agreed to drop its appeal and pay $117,836 to cover attorneys’ fees for unions that sued over Rockford’s 2015 endorsement of former Gov. Bruce Rauner’s “turnaround agenda.”

Rockford had appealed Chief Judge Eugene Doherty’s decision ordering the city to reimburse lawyers representing unions that had sued the city, claiming officials had violated the Illinois Open Meetings Act as it approved the endorsement.

City Legal Director Nicholas Meyer said the unions did not prove the majority of their case and that the city doesn’t feel it should be forced to pay attorneys fees. However, the city decided to drop its appeal because it was unlikely to win. […]

Doherty also noted that both the governor and the mayor who supported it are no longer in office and that “legislatively, the entire subject matter is a dead letter.”

* Thank the Illinois Municipal League for helping gin that one up…

The resolution was sent from the governor’s office through the Illinois Municipal League to cities and villages, along with an email from Illinois Municipal League Executive Director Brad Cole.

More…

“The governor’s office has asked that we follow up with mayors and managers on the Turnaround Agenda information and provide a resolution… that is supportive of his administration’s efforts,” Cole wrote in an email Monday.

Cole, a former mayor of Carbondale and one-time Republican candidate for lieutenant governor, attached a sample resolution to his email.

It notes, “Voters in our community should be allowed to decide via referendum whether or not employees should be forced to join a union or pay dues as a condition of employment.”

posted by Rich Miller
Tuesday, Jul 21, 20 @ 2:35 pm

Comments

Can anyone tell me the difference between the Illinois Municipal league, and the Chamber of Commerce?

The manner in which the IML has addressed the amount of lead water pipes in towns across the state(by completely ignoring it), seems more like the approach a Chamber of Commerce would take.

Lets not talk about it at all, because even the discussion would be bad for business.

I just don’t see the difference between the two groups any longer. What may have once been a good organization, seems to have fallen to the equivalent of a regulatory capture.

Comment by TheInvisibleMan Tuesday, Jul 21, 20 @ 2:39 pm
By nearly every measure, Illinois was worse off when Rauner was Governor.

Example… 6,485

Comment by Oswego Willy Tuesday, Jul 21, 20 @ 2:41 pm
This was a stupid decision by the City then. Look, bargain collectively and state your positions clearly. That’s the way to address issues with a union. And by the way, the Open Meetings Act isn’t a surprise. Why the heck would a city council member want to hide deliberations from the public?

Comment by Mongo Tuesday, Jul 21, 20 @ 2:41 pm
Hey, Rich - Hope you’re doing well! Just wanted to let you know that Rockford is no longer moving forward with the Turnaround Agenda.

Best,
ck

Comment by ck Tuesday, Jul 21, 20 @ 3:31 pm
Bruce Rauner - the gift that keeps on giving. He sure showed those unions. He would have saved everyone money had he stopeed his war on unions.

Comment by Demoralized Tuesday, Jul 21, 20 @ 3:35 pm
Rauner left a deep and resistant stain…hopefully,one that will be removed in the next election.

Comment by Dotnonymous Tuesday, Jul 21, 20 @ 4:07 pm
Thanks for the link to The Southern Illinoisan Rich. It brought back memories of a January morning in 2015. MetroWest held its annual Legislative Breakfast at Waubonsee CC in Sugar Grove. During the mingle period, some young staffers, later to be identified as part of the BTIA, were placing handouts at each table. They were fairly simple tables showing the amount of reserve funds each municipality had. A few folks at my table were pondering the meaning of the handout when I suggested ‘leverage’.

Comment by Proud Sucker Tuesday, Jul 21, 20 @ 4:07 pm
This is only tangentially related, but how are attorneys’ fees determined when awarded in a lawsuit? Is it always actual costs, or are there limits? A Medicare-style fee schedule might be useful to rein in costs of lawsuits.

Comment by thechampaignlife Tuesday, Jul 21, 20 @ 4:46 pm
@Oswego Willy -

Pritzker has been commendable but imperfect.

I cannot imagine how bad things could be right now if Rauner were at the helm. I just can’t.

Comment by Yellow Dog Democrat Tuesday, Jul 21, 20 @ 7:14 pm
=== I cannot imagine===

The ways things are, I’m trying to deal with, thought-wise, how bad the White House response has been.

Comment by Oswego Willy Tuesday, Jul 21, 20 @ 7:20 pm