During my travels throughout the lovely Illinois landscape, I pick up some very interesting reports about our illustrious, hard-working, by the bootstraps gov. Or so he'd like us to believe.
So....for those of us who have been involved with working for the state, we know about Governor Quinn denying some contractual pay increases in the last couple of years. This was found not to be very nice and state employees won(yes, through AFSCME) the back pay for those increases. BUT...it's been dragging on and on and on.
So fast forward to 2015. There are 2 bills being considered to address the back pay as a supplemental budget item, one from a Democrat(Sue Sherer-Decatur), one Republican(central/downstate who has constituents that have been harmed), and just pay those that are still owed. Much of the back pay has already been paid, let's get it over with and done, right? So, the republican bill goes to committee faster, the roll call is great, everyone wants this to get done, the bill will pass out of committee easily, but....the rep is no where to be found...see, the representative who sponsored the bill has to call the bill before committee--not a co-sponsor, not a committee member, but the republican representative who authored the bill refuses to come to committee. Why? Because the Governor's staff have "reached out" to this representative and told him that he will NOT bring this to committee because the governor doesn't want him to(and we all know about that $20 Million PAC to primary those that don't listen to Lord Ruiner). Let that set in for a minute...even tho the courts have ruled that state employees are due the back pay because our contracts are just as sacrosanct as banksters, even tho this is a bipartisan endeavor that all support, Ruiner intimidates a representative to NOT do what is right by his constituents..so, Sue Scherer's bill had to be approved quickly before the deadline ran out for this session.
Now, this Republican legislator has always worked for his constituency, his constituency was directly affected by the back pay issue. Yes, a back pay bill was approved to go to the floor, but all of a sudden, this became an us vs. them rather than a bill that was right and fair, all approved. Per capita, there are probably more people that will be effected by this bill in downstate areas(that are more republican) but Ruiner didn't want the Republican party, HIS party, attached to it.
Another report of Bullying(assholeness):
Bruce the Ruiner. although he hasn't filed a single piece of legislation during this session, he's posted his Turnaround Illinois bullet list on the gov's website. OK, he won, he can post whatever he wants, but, unlike running a company, you don't just get to make policy and it's Law. is inviting our elected representatives to have breakfast/lunch with him. During this time he's pressing what he feels is the right way for his ideology for Illinois. He doesn't have any real bills, he doesn't want his fingerprints on the wreckage of the middle class. So he just plays the game of, "I feel this is what is good" and good to him is to make the rich much richer and the rest of us? Have we read a Christmas Carol before Scrooge had a heart?
So the governor calls in 3-4 legislators in, dems and repubs. He gives them his speech about how great
right to work zones would be and if prevailing wage is something of the past, we don't need no steenkin union wages, the reps ask the gov, where's your legislation, "well here's my proposal and you'll know what to do" and gives them his
"Turnaround Illinois" manifesto that's on the governor's website. In one meeting, Ruiner met with 4 democratic reps and a majority of them were also union members. His agenda was the right to work for less, getting rid of the pension protection, etc. Rauner tells the reps, we're not that far apart, I need 7 bills..so the lawmakers ask, where's your legislation? Rauner says to them, well, you'll know what I need, here's my plan, when you read this you'll be on board, you'll see; we're very close to being on the same page. When more questions are asked, he starts talking about how corrupt unions are, how unions are one of the reasons that businesses are leaving(which is another lie),etc. So, one of the reps states, "Governor, I'm a union member. What your plan has is damaging to my constituents and my fellow union members, I won't vote against them."
At this time, Ruiner gets very frustrated, the smile is gone and he looks at the rep and asks, "
Do you know how many union members are in Illinois?" The rep answers, "About 11%" Ruiner hits the table with his hand and yells, "
NO! (pound) 11(pound) point(pound) 4 percent!" Do you know how many union members will be in Illinois in 4 years?!! Zero(pound) point (pound) Zero!"
Sorry, I wasn't sure how to show his emphatic pounding on table to while trying to make his point. Now, actually, both Ruiner and the representative were wrong, About 15% of Illinois' working population are
union workers, but the point is clear. All Rauner wants to do is to bring back a feudal system where the rich keep everything and we work until we die(or starve, guess that'd be OK in his world also).
Just like your normal, everyday sociopath......
