A Difference of Opinion

On May 16 Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner vetoed Illinois House Bill 580, known to its supporters as “the fair arbitration bill”. The governor’s veto message, AFSCME’s response, and the governor’s open letter to the people of Illinois are all reproduced at Capitol Fax.com. That link may not be permanent. You can also find Gov. Rauner’s open letter at the Springfield State Journal-Register and the AFSCME response on the local’s web site.

Here’s a snippet from the governor’s veto message:

Today I veto House Bill 580. Nearly one year ago, the General Assembly passed an almost identical bill, Senate Bill 1229. I vetoed that bill because it was a dangerous, unprecedented attack on our taxpayers. HB 580 recycles the same dangerous proposal that I vetoed last fall.

Prior to the veto override vote on SB 1229 and within the last few days, newspaper editorial boards from all corners of the state – north to south, urban and rural, heavily Democrat and Republican districts, and those with large union and non-union readerships – wrote about the dangers of stripping taxpayers of their voice at the collective bargaining table.

The editors at The Southern wrote, “[n]othing like SB 1229 exists anywhere in the country. Nor should it. It’s an open assault on transparent representative government.” The Pantagraph in Bloomington wrote, “This is a terrible piece of legislation that should have never received much attention.” Just yesterday, the Dispatch-Argus rightly called HB 580 “worse than the original.” And The News-Gazette described HB 580 as “wrong on so many levels that it represents Exhibit A for the sloppy, irresponsible manner in which our failed state has been and continues to be run.”

HB 580 goes even further than SB 1229 did, sneaking in additional costly language under the guise of technical changes. For the reasons I explain in this message, our taxpayers rightly insist that HB 580 not become law.

From AFSCME’s response:

Public service workers in state government keep us safe, protect kids, respond to emergencies and much more. They want to stay on the job to serve their communities, not be forced out on strike, and they deserve fair pay and health care they can afford. This bill seeks compromise and avoids a strike by allowing an independent, neutral third party to settle the differences between workers and management. It is the process already used for tens of thousands of fire fighters, police officers, correctional workers and others throughout Illinois.

Beneath Governor Rauner’s false claims and wild exaggerations about the bill is this reality: The governor walked away from negotiations with our union in January and is seeking total power to unilaterally impose his demands, including forcing state and university employees to pay double their current costs for health care. Given that power, the governor could impose his demands and leave state employees no choice but to strike. That’s exactly what Rauner as a candidate vowed to do.

Governor Rauner doesn’t like HB 580 because it would require him to be moderate and seek compromise. He wants his way or no way at all. Public service workers in state government want better for the millions of citizens we serve. That’s why new polls show voters support the fair arbitration bill by 3-1 margins even in Republican districts, and why we will urge all lawmakers of both parties to protect public services, ensure fairness and override the governor’s veto of HB 580.

And from the governor’s open letter:

For too many years, Illinoisans have been misled. Employees in state government have been misled. Taxpayers who fund government have been misled. Recipients of public services, including our most vulnerable residents, have also been misled. The consequences are before us, and they are dire.

I ran for office to right these wrongs. I believe that solving our state’s crisis requires a simple first step — for someone to tell the truth. So here it is.

The truth is that Illinois is broke. Our taxpayers, who pay the highest property taxes in the nation, are maxed out and local governments continue to raise property taxes.

Illinoisans also pay the highest sales tax in the nation and Chicago plans to raise its sales tax even higher. Illinois’s relatively low income tax is the only thing that maintains Illinois’s status as a medium-tax state. Instituting a graduated state income tax would require an amendment to the state’s constitution.

Who’s right? I think they both are. Gov. Rauner is arguing his case as well as he can and so is AFSCME.

The question that needs to be asked is whether Illinois’s problems can be solved by raising taxes and I think it’s obvious that they can’t. Illinois has gone for nearly a year without a budget. The way forward is through compromise. Illinois’s legislature needs to give Gov. Rauner at least some of what he wants, as bitter a pill as that is to swallow, and Gov. Rauner needs to allow the legislature to raise taxes, even though the clearest interpretation of his election to the governorship is that it was a rebellion against the previous increase in the state’s income tax. That temporary increase was sold as a way to solve Illinois’s fiscal problems. Instead of doing what they had promised Illinois’s legislators used the extra tax revenue to boost spending without solving the underlying problems.

Equally obviously, the main stumbling block to compromise is Illinois House Speaker Mike Madigan. He’s held that office for most of the last 40 years so his fingerprints are all over Illinois’s economic and fiscal messes.