Gov. Bruce Rauner’s turnaround agenda suffered a setback Monday night when Crete Mayor Michael Einhorn decided not to call for a vote supporting the governor’s effort after an outpouring of union opposition at a village board meeting.
“I didn’t call for a vote because it would have failed,” Einhorn told me. “I’m not ruling out another vote in the future, but it’s unlikely. I agreed to sit down with the union people and talk about our problems and see if there’s some way we can agree on a way to solve them.”
Einhorn is the only Southland mayor I’m aware of who responded so far to the governor’s plea to mayors throughout the state to endorse his turnaround agenda for Illinois by having their town’s aldermen or trustees pass local resolutions endorsing his plan. Among its components are right-to-work zones, lower wages for government workers and contractors, workers’ compensation reform and tort reform.
During a barnstorming tour of the state, Rauner has emphasized giving municipalities more control over collective bargaining, reducing state mandates that force local governments to increase pension contributions to police and firefighters and allowing voters to decide a lot of these issues through referendum, which many mayors have claimed would be a violation of federal and state laws.
Rauner, a Republican, has concentrated on pressuring mayors to back his turnaround agenda in an apparent effort to bring pressure on the state legislature, which is controlled by Democrats.
He has not only met with the mayors’ leadership organizations, such as the South Suburban Mayors and Managers Association and the Southwest Conference of Mayors, but his office has stayed in close touch with mayors who have indicated they support his agenda, including Einhorn.
After I wrote a column last week quoting Einhorn as saying he was going to tweak the wording of the turnaround resolution devised by the governor’s office, despite warnings from the South Suburban Mayors and Managers Association that the governor didn’t want such a change, Einhorn said he received a call from Rauner’s staff.
“They made it clear that the language of the resolution can be changed, and they have no problem with that,” he said. “The language of the resolution is not written in stone. It is just suggested language, which makes sense.”
But several Southland mayors who were in meetings with Rauner told me that they were under the impression that the language was “take it or leave it,” although when I asked them if the governor had actually used those words, or ones that expressed a similar message, they all said “no.” Yet they emphasized that was the “feeling” they came away with from their meetings with Rauner and his staff.
To illustrate just how focused the governor’s office is on passing these resolutions in cities and villages across Illinois, Einhorn on Tuesday got a call from the governor’s staff asking him how the meeting had gone.
“I told them the same thing I told you,” Einhorn said. “I didn’t call the resolution for a vote and didn’t know if it would come back up.”
Einhorn emphasized that he is not a Republican (I indicated he was in a previous column) but an independent who decides his positions “based on the issues or the person, not the political party.”
But Einhorn embraces most of Rauner’s proposed reforms, particularly those that would eliminate the state’s authority to tell municipalities how much they must contribute to fire and police pension funds.
“I’m at the point where I have to decide whether to buy a new squad car for our police department or allocate that money to the pension fund,” he said. “Our (police and firefighters) can retire at the age of 51 after 30 years of service and get a 75 percent pension for the rest of their lives plus 3 percent increases every year. That’s unsustainable. And their widows get the full benefit should those people getting the pensions die.
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“This year, the police want a 17 percent increase in their pensions. Our pensions are 70 to 75 percent funded, which is a lot better than some communities in the south suburbs.
“I don’t have the answers, but our state and our local governments are facing serious financial problems. We’re going to die a slow financial death if the problems don’t go away. It is a grave situation and everyone is going to have to make some sacrifices to get us out of the situation.
“We can’t tax our way out of this problem. My residents are totally against increasing taxes. They blame the village for their property (tax bills) and 60 to 70 percent of that bill goes to the school districts, not to the village.
“The governor is trying to find a way out of this crisis, and I support him in doing that. I figured it was the right thing to do to bring his turnaround resolution to our village board. When the governor of the state asks you to do something, I figure you owe it to him to at least bring the issue up. But the village board was going to vote ‘no’ so I saw no point in calling it for a vote. That wouldn’t have accomplished anything.”
Well, from the point of view of the overflow crowd at Monday night’s meeting, it might have sent the message to Rauner that the elected officials in Crete oppose his turnaround agenda.
It seems to me that the governor has failed to take his case to the public in an effective manner and has left the impression that he’s mostly interested in going to war with the unions.
He’s said he wants to eliminate the ability of unions to finance political campaigns in Illinois, wants to take away collective bargaining rights that are part of state and federal law and wants to reduce the prevailing wage, which means taking money out of union workers’ paychecks. The fact that the unions are fighting back with everything they have should surprise no one.
As for mayors throughout the state, while they like the idea of reducing state mandates for police and fire pensions, they’re not prepared to go to war with the unions, particularly since state and federal laws and court rulings indicate that they lack the power to do many of the things that Rauner is asking them to endorse.
Only a few municipalities throughout Illinois have passed Rauner’s turnaround resolution, despite what several mayors told me was unprecedented lobbying by the governor and his staff.
Rauner has also threatened to take away half the income tax revenue that the state shares with local governments to help plug the hole in the state’s budget, which would create a financial crisis in some struggling municipalities.
In order to accomplish any of his agenda, Rauner is going to have to go beyond his Republican base for support, and so far he’s failing in dramatic fashion.
On the other hand, in addition to uniting unions in opposition to his agenda, his proposed budget cuts have brought almost every social service agency into the debate — all arguing for funds to help the mentally ill, developmentally disabled, elderly and single parents.
All of this while bashing the Illinois Supreme Court, which is about to rule on the constitutionality of the state’s pension bailout plan. A ruling finding it unconstitutional would create a crisis without a solution.
I believe the governor remains popular with the people of this state who generally want to see taxes cut, state spending reduced and political reforms to restore integrity in Springfield.
But his ability to lead toward a solution seems lacking. Maybe the problems are just too big. Maybe he hasn’t had enough time. Maybe he’s still learning. I hope that’s the case.
Because this state and many of its municipalities need a leader who can unite opposing forces, not drive a wedge between them that widens the gulf.