Rauner calls on Dems to cooperate

The Illinois AFL-CIO had a union teacher, painter, steelworker, fire fighter and others to denounce what they say is Gov. Bruce Rauner’s anti-union agenda a day before his State of the State address.

Governor Bruce Rauner delivered his second address Wednesday afternoon, but seven months without a budget is not what many people expected.

In a speech that lasted around a half-hour, Rauner restated his call for making changes in collective bargaining with public employee unions, requiring employees to bear greater proof that their injuries were job-related and creating limitations on civil damage awards.

Rauner also pushed for enacting term limits on elected officials – something Babcock is wholeheartedly behind.

But Rauner’s so-called turnaround hit a brick wall in the legislature, where House Speaker Michael Madigan pronounced it “extreme”.

A coalition of IL labor unions wasn’t buying the governor’s change in tone, calling his administration “an unmitigated disaster for the working people and most vulnerable citizens of IL”. And if we can’t get childcare then we can’t work, so we’re just what? “Words don’t feed seniors, keep college students in school or provide childcare for working families”.

The Huffington Post reports Chicago State, a majority-black university on the city’s south side, has committed to remaining open through the end of the spring semester even though it will run out of money in March, but President Thomas Calhoun Jr. has already warned staff and students the financial situation “may lead to a massive disruption of services”.

Democratic leaders say Rauner still wants right to work legislation and the elimination of the state’s prevailing wage law.

After hearing the State of the State address, Lewis said he has hope the budget will pass.

But, for now, the Cullerton-Rauner pension reform legislation that Chicago Tonight and Politics Tonight said last week would be DOA turns out to be “Alive and well”, as this reporter predicted.

Sen. Scott Bennett, D-Champaign, said “from the beginning of all of this has been the notion that the more reasonable party has been the Senate Democrats and our leadership”.

“All of us in this chamber have had a rough time in 2015”, Rauner added.

Now that Rauner has laid out his priorities, Republican Rep. Dan Brady of Bloomington said, it’s time for rank-and-file lawmakers to put forward legislation that presents options for moving forward with the budget and other issues. “We can not wait any longer to help the state”, said Gov. Rauner.

Rauner spoke of areas of compromise, including a prospective agreement with Senate chief Cullerton on a way to try to meet constitutional restrictions and change public employee pensions – an effort that could save $1 billion a year in costs to the nation’s most underfunded public retirement system. “And I see no benefit in not funding it at all”.

Rauner also will focus on steps he’s taking to make government more efficient, such as improving Illinois’ 1970s-era computer systems by consolidating all agencies’ information technology functions into one department.

Still, Rauner says this one should be fast-tracked.

“The Senate Democrats have been able to play in the sandbox since a year ago in a cooperative, bipartisan fashion with the governor”. “So a key element in the success of these programs is the absence of the current advocacy of the governor’s program”.

“Rauner might have no conception of the suffering he has caused, but as he continues to push his extreme agenda at the cost of vulnerable Illinoisans and workers, it increasingly looks like he’s in a state of denial”.

Cullerton issued a statement saying that while he appreciated the governor’s support for pension and education funding revisions, “there are many ideas of disagreement”.

“It eliminates some special benefits”.

“Really, there’s going to be a lot of pressure on Governor Rauner and legislators to figure something out”, says Greenberger. “And thats something that we can also work on”, he said.

“We’ll also talk about our challenges, and our failings so far”.