Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner now has spent months trying, with little success, to convince the General Assembly and regular Illinoisans that his union reduction plans are the right way to enter a budget discussion. But Reboot Illinois' Madeleine Doubek says Rauner might finally have found a message that sticks:
Earlier this summer, someone said to me something along the lines of, "I support what Rauner is trying to do, except that union stuff. I really don't get what he's trying to do to unions."
I suspect there are a lot of Illinoisans who have been thinking the same thing. If you're not an activist, far-right Republican, or an activist, far-left, dyed-in-the-wool Democrat who studied Gov. Bruce Rauner before the general election, you're somewhere in that silent-majority middle, surprised at how vehement Rauner is in insisting upon changes for unions.
Before he announced his candidacy, Rauner talked and wrote about his distaste for the way he saw "union bosses" in a corrupt, conflict-ridden cabal, primarily with Democratic lawmakers. Unions fuel their campaigns and, in return, secure generous salaries and benefits for their members, he said. Republican activists heard this theme from him, but once the primary was past, that line of attack nearly disappeared until Inauguration Day. In the general election campaign, he used to say he was "pro union," noting his grandfather's union membership.
After he took office, the attacks and the anti-union ideas flowed freely. Unions should not collect "fair-share" fees from government workers who don't belong to the union. Unions shouldn't be allowed to make campaign donations, he said. The state should have "right-to-work" zones where local governments could decide whether union fees are collected and whether to pay prevailing wage rates. Rauner traveled to several downstate and suburban communities early on and then pushed mayors and councils to endorse his anti-union ideas to pressure super-majority Democratic lawmakers to go along. Every plan he's offered since May has had language that alters collective bargaining or prevailing wage rules.
In a state that has voted more Democratic blue in recent presidential election years, the anti-union aspects of the governor's Turnaround Tour largely failed. After all, Democratic super majorities still were elected along with Rauner last November. Of course, they were elected from a map Democrats drew and with campaign money and workers that largely came from unions.
Continue reading at Reboot Illinois to see why Rauner's union pushbacks failed, including because of high union membership in the state.
Rauner has said he would be more willing to talk about passing a budget if legislative Democrats were more willing to talk about these union deals. But going a long time with no legal budget (even if 80 percent of spending is still being carried out like normal) still isn't good for the state. Mark Fitton of the Illinois News Network explains that "lawyers for the developmentally disabled, care providers and the state are to meet in federal court Tuesday morning over whether the state is meetings its obligations under consent degree rising from a 2005 lawsuit" as the budget stalemate drags on. Get the whole story at Reboot Illinois.
