Trenches of Democracy

The Chicago Tribune has identified Commissioner Suffredin as the decisive flip vote to enable Cook County president Stroger’s sales-tax increase. Ironically Suffredin’s website quotes him to the contrary; “At this point, I see no need for any increase in taxes. I am opposed to a sales tax because it is regressive and adversely affects the poorest members of the community.” So what happened? The Tribune explains:

$426 million per a year from taxpayers. . . Stroger’s budget includes more than 1,100 new jobs.

This travesty unfolded because Suffredin — who had labor leaders literally hovering behind him during deliberations — cut a deal that gave his decisive vote (and that $426 million) in new revenue to Stroger.(read more)

Tags: Budget, Cook County, Stroger, Suffredin

Illinois Works

While Illinois’s economy slows, Gov. Blagojevich responded last week with an unprecedented capital spending program, Illinois Works. Blagojevich’s $32 billion dollar budget eclipses the legacy of his big spending predecessor, convicted Gov. George Ryan.

Meanwhile, these grand visions for government spending fall on a backdrop of fiscal chaos. Illinois is already heavily in debt, unable meet it’s present financial commitments. Dennis Byrne of the Chicago Tribune comments:

Gov. Rod Blagojevich did it again last week. The roof is leaking, the electricity has been shut off, they’re coming to repossess the car, and he’s talking about adding a swimming pool and taking a Caribbean cruise.

Illinois is perhaps in the worst financial shape in memory and has the largest budget deficit of any U.S. state. But he’s proposing new programs and bigger giveaways. Blagojevich’s state of the state speech should have been delivered by Mad magazine’s Alfred E. Neuman. What, me worry?

To mask the state’s frightful condition, the governor reverted to the usual political blather that everything he’s doing is about the kids, families and people. The premise being, of course, that if you oppose his headlong dash into the financial bayou, you’re against kids, families and people… (read more)

Comptroller Dan Hynes complains “With the General Revenue Fund cash balance so low, there simply is not enough cash on hand to pay all of the bill presented for payment on any given day… it provides Illinois the dubious opportunity to retain its status as having the worst deficit in the nation for the fourth year in a row. (Tribune)”

Prosperity through Gov’t Spending

Convicted Gov. George Ryan’s massive pork barrel project, Illinois First, cost $12 billion in 1999. Now, Gov. Blagojevich’s Illinois Works program approaches $25 billion. Blagojevich rationalizes “I like the idea of a capital bill of the size and scope I am proposing because first and foremost, it means that we will put more than 700,000 people to work. More than 700,000 jobs. Good jobs. Jobs that pay good wages. Jobs that have good benefits. Jobs that help families. Jobs that help businesses. Jobs that strengthen our economy. . . (budget speech)”

There’s no such thing as a free lunch. The question is, how many jobs will a $25 billion dollar tax bill cost us? Which tax payers will eat this bill? Who will appease the big construction union, Local 150, the International Union of Operating Engineers?

Tags: Blagojevich, Illinois Works

Bureaucrats leading modern Labor movement

Recent highlights from a union article by Bethany Jaeger in February’s copy of Illinois Issues:

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• Nationwide, workers in the public sector had nearly five times the union membership relative to the private sector in 2006.

• While national union rates have dropped from 20% of the labor force in 1983 to 12% in 2006, Illinois union laborers were at 17% in 2006.

• Last year unions succeeded in urging the legislature to raise the state minimum wage to $7.50 an hour. Furthermore, this wage will increase by 25 cents a year to $8.25 in 2010.

• Labor union groups donated a combined $2.2 million 2005-2006. They’re also one of the top five political campaign donors since 1993, donating a collective $5.6 million, nearly all of it to Democratic candidates.

• 90% of AFSCME political campaign contributions from 1993 to 2006 went to Democrats according to studies from the University of Illinois in Springfield.

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Doug Whitley, president of the Illinois Chamber of Commerce, comments union influence will dominate “as long as the unions have a stranglehold on Democratic politics and that there is this symbiotic relationship between elected office and public employee unions.”

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So what’s next? Edward Smith, Laborers’ International Union of North America vice president and Midwest regional manager, adds, “Our No. 1 priority is a capital bill because without a capital bill, there’s no jobs. And without jobs, there’s no health insurance. Without jobs, there’s no pension. Without jobs, there’s no money to put food on the table, send your kids to college, school.”

This is where Gov. Blagojevich’s new “Illinois Works” capital program comes in.

(to read “Collective Action” click here)

Tags: Illinois, Unions