Sept. 02--A significant showdown in state government's political stalemate is expected to unfold at the Capitol on Wednesday when Democrats led by House Speaker Michael Madigan attempt to override Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner's veto of a major labor bill.
The campaign-style effort on both sides has featured attack ads, automated phone calls and closed-door lobbying. The fight involving power, loyalty and campaign cash is both the latest example of the ongoing political intransigence in Springfield and a foreshadowing of how next year's state House and Senate elections may play out.
At stake is a measure backed by public employee unions that would require binding arbitration if Rauner and unionized workers reach an impasse in attempts to reach a new contract. In exchange, state workers could not be locked out or go on strike.
The state's collective bargaining agreement with the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Council 31 expired July 1, the start of the new budget year. Talks have been ongoing, though little progress has been reported.
The Democratic-controlled General Assembly approved the arbitration bill in May and Rauner vetoed it in late July. The Senate, however, voted to override the governor last month.
That set the stage for Wednesday's vote by the House. Madigan needs to collect 71 votes to thwart Rauner -- exactly the number of Democrats in the chamber. The speaker has said he has enough votes, but some of his members in potentially competitive legislative districts say they haven't yet decided whether to support the move. And it's questionable if any Republicans will cross Rauner to back an override.
Rauner has said the measure cuts to the heart of his governance, a mandate he believes voters gave him last fall to rein in excessive spending in a state controlled by Democrats for the previous dozen years. Handing control over raises in a union contract to an unelected arbitrator could cost the state money it doesn't have and force a tax increase, Rauner contends.
The legislation also goes to a central theme of his new administration in seeking to use the budget impasse to leverage a weakening of collective bargaining rights for public employees at the state and local levels and eliminate prevailing union wage rates on public construction contracts.
Democrats who control the legislature say the measure is a response to Rauner's repeated attempts to demonize public employee unions, calling them part of the "corrupt" system that has plagued Springfield. They contend Rauner's effort to take on unions represents an attack on the middle class.
The measure has created a rallying call on both sides.
Rauner has sent letters and met with individual lawmakers to urge them to sustain his veto. "It is a direct affront to Illinois taxpayers and to my ability to negotiate on their behalf," Rauner wrote.
This week, Rauner's office raised a new argument in favor of overriding the bill. General counsel John Barclay distributed a letter to agency directors saying the bill would prevent the hiring of more minority employees.
"If these regressive hiring practices are not eliminated in our next collective bargaining agreements, it will make it very difficult to adequately address the systemic underutilization of minorities throughout state government," Barclay wrote.
AFSCME responded by saying that union representation enhances the promotion rate of minorities.
As part of the campaign against an override, Rauner and his allies have secured support for the veto from many newspaper editorial boards, including the Chicago Tribune.
A super political action committee affiliated with a group that Rauner has heavily funded took out a full-page ad in the Sunday Tribune and sent out postcards that accused Democratic Rep. Carol Sente of being "for sale" to Madigan. Last fall, Sente won a Lake County race over Republican challenger Leslie Munger, who went on to become Rauner's hand-picked state comptroller.
"Everyone has put pressure on me -- people I don't know, my constituents, wherever I go," Sente told CLTV, specifically citing personal appeals from Rauner and Madigan. But Sente, who voted for the arbitration bill in May, said, "I am going to vote to support the override."
Another Rauner-backed political action committee has launched a series of automated phone calls into the districts of some Democrats and Republicans who have large union constituencies, urging the veto not be overridden.
On the union side, even organized labor groups unaffected by the legislation have put out alerts asking members to call their lawmakers to support an override. They include the Illinois Education Association, which represents teachers outside Chicago, and Service Employees International Union Healthcare Illinois, whose members provide child care and home health care for seniors and those with disabilities.
The House vote Wednesday is expected to be close, in contrast to the Senate, which overrode Rauner with two votes to spare.
The measure originally passed the House with 67 votes -- four shy of the 71 required to overturn Rauner's veto. Two Democrats were absent in May. As of Tuesday, at least two other Democrats say they are still on the fence: Rep. Jack Franks of Marengo and Rep. Andre Thapedi of Chicago, neither of whom cast a vote on the bill last time around.
Thapedi said he declined to weigh in because he had unanswered questions and could not understand why AFSCME would be willing to give up its ability to strike. Thapedi said while he has met with union officials about the bill, he has yet to hear from Rauner's office.
"Things can change in a matter of minutes, but I am a little surprised I have not heard back from the governor's office," Thapedi said. "I have the full perspective from the AFSCME folks, but I still don't quite understand why the unions would give up their hammer."
Franks called the battle a distraction from bigger issues, including an unresolved budget that's put state government on the path to spend a projected $6 billion more than it is taking in. He pointed to a report released this week by Moody's Investors Service that said continued gridlock past late September will make it difficult for the state to pay retiree pensions and health care, which could lead to a credit downgrade.
"I am really disappointed that we are focused on this instead of the real issues that are facing Illinois," Franks said of the legislation. "We are in one of the worst possible situations now ... we've totally lost our focus, we've allowed politics to take over policy."
Republicans insist their allegiances lie with their new GOP governor. Rauner has made no secret that he is willing to use his personal wealth and that of his allies to enforce discipline and put up primary challengers to those not willing to follow him.
Among Republicans, the main focus of a potential crossover is Rep. Raymond Poe of Springfield, a 20-year veteran. Like Sen. Sam McCann of Carlinville, the lone Republican senator to support the override, Poe has a large constituency of union members. Poe has been subjected to heavy lobbying by AFSCME, other unions and Rauner allies.
While House GOP leader Jim Durkin said he is encouraging all of his members to vote against the override, he would not speculate where the final vote may land. Durkin said it was likely to be an "emotional" vote, saying he is doing his best to address questions and dispel misinformation.
"AFSCME, I credit them, they are doing a very comprehensive job in reaching out to members of the legislature, one of them even reached out to me," Durkin said. "But the fact is our members are very thoughtful, they have a lot of questions and we are still working our way through them."
Like Rauner, Durkin said the vote is over "an incredibly powerful" issue of taking control of the collective bargaining process out of the governor's hands. Durkin warned the current pool of arbitrators were nominated under Democratic administrations.
Labor groups argue the governor wants to strip away rights to fair wages and health care. They note that a similar provision for binding arbitration exists for "first responder" public employees, such as police and firefighters, who are not allowed to strike.
"It appears that the governor wants to put collective bargaining out of business for all employees of the state of Illinois, so if you look at it from that perspective, is he forcing a strike, forcing some kind of action to call his bluff?" said Keith Turney, second vice president of the Illinois Fraternal Order of Police. "What we have found out through the arbitration process is it forces both sides to become a little more reasonable."
Monique Garcia reported from Springfield.
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