What Rauner Is Up Against
From the Wall Street Journal
Governor Bruce Rauner is in the political dogfight of the year, trying to rescue Illinois from its economic decline under the state’s Democratic-public union machine. The battle is now in overtime as a standoff with the legislature has left the state running without a budget.
Illinois’s fiscal year ended June 30 without a budget agreement. Democrats who control the legislature sent Mr. Rauner a plan to spend $36 billion, despite the state’s projected revenues of $32 billion. Mr. Rauner vetoed all but the education portions of the spending, calling it “unconstitutional” for the already broke state to spend $4 billion more than it has coming in revenues.
Democrats wanted the veto because they were hoping the chaos of a government shutdown would be good politics. But Mr. Rauner defused the ploy by announcing he would keep paying state workers during the shutdown. In an awkward turn for Democrats, Attorney General Lisa Madigan (the daughter of House Speaker Michael Madigan) then went to court to ask for guidance on whether the state could continue to pay workers. Without a spending plan agreed to by lawmakers and the Governor, Ms. Madigan argued in her motion, the comptroller isn’t permitted to process vouchers for payment of state funds.
At first a Cook County judge ruled that state workers could not get their full salaries, but certain employees could be paid the federal minimum wage. That would be a bureaucratic nightmare for the state comptroller’s office, and the ruling is under appeal. Then a different judge in St. Clair County authorized the comptroller to continue issuing paychecks during the standoff, creating further confusion.
The twist is even more problematic for unions that found their traditional Democratic allies arguing against paychecks for public workers. American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Council 31 executive director Roberta Lynch ventured gently that “public service workers in state government are on the job despite the lack of a state budget - and they should be paid for their work on time and in full.”
Read more in our daily News Update...
From the Wall Street Journal
Governor Bruce Rauner is in the political dogfight of the year, trying to rescue Illinois from its economic decline under the state’s Democratic-public union machine. The battle is now in overtime as a standoff with the legislature has left the state running without a budget.
Illinois’s fiscal year ended June 30 without a budget agreement. Democrats who control the legislature sent Mr. Rauner a plan to spend $36 billion, despite the state’s projected revenues of $32 billion. Mr. Rauner vetoed all but the education portions of the spending, calling it “unconstitutional” for the already broke state to spend $4 billion more than it has coming in revenues.
Democrats wanted the veto because they were hoping the chaos of a government shutdown would be good politics. But Mr. Rauner defused the ploy by announcing he would keep paying state workers during the shutdown. In an awkward turn for Democrats, Attorney General Lisa Madigan (the daughter of House Speaker Michael Madigan) then went to court to ask for guidance on whether the state could continue to pay workers. Without a spending plan agreed to by lawmakers and the Governor, Ms. Madigan argued in her motion, the comptroller isn’t permitted to process vouchers for payment of state funds.
At first a Cook County judge ruled that state workers could not get their full salaries, but certain employees could be paid the federal minimum wage. That would be a bureaucratic nightmare for the state comptroller’s office, and the ruling is under appeal. Then a different judge in St. Clair County authorized the comptroller to continue issuing paychecks during the standoff, creating further confusion.
The twist is even more problematic for unions that found their traditional Democratic allies arguing against paychecks for public workers. American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Council 31 executive director Roberta Lynch ventured gently that “public service workers in state government are on the job despite the lack of a state budget - and they should be paid for their work on time and in full.”
Read more in our daily News Update...