“Madigan lost or did he?” by Fred Klonsky

“For those of you who haven’t been following this story closely, the Governor has threatened to lock out state employees covered by the AFSCME collective bargaining agreement and shut down the state rather than bargain a fair contract.

“The state’s public employee union leadership supported SB1229 which would place a resolution into the hands of a third-party arbitrator, essentially removing Rauner from the process.




“SB1229 passed both houses of the state legislature and then was vetoed by the Governor. The veto was overruled by the super-majority of Democrats in the Senate but fell short by three votes in the House. Madigan’s House.

“Excuse me if I am suspicious. Labor is furious at Chicago Democrat Ken Dunkin, a Rahm supporter, who was conveniently out of town when the vote in the House went down. ‘I don’t work for Madigan,’ Dunkin said.

“Yet nobody counts votes like Madigan counts votes. He knew a week ahead of time that he didn’t have the 71 votes needed in the House to override Rauner’s veto. Yet the vote went ahead.

“Madigan doesn’t let those things happen unless he has a plan. Who loses politically if the AFSCME bargaining leads to a state shut-down? Rauner, not Madigan. And AFSCME workers lose too. As do the people they serve.

“What does Madigan care about collective bargaining rights? Not a bit. What does Madigan owe the public employee unions? Nothing.

“What have the leaders of the public employee unions done to fight Rauner other than to follow Madigan around like a bunch of puppy dogs? Nothing…

“I have been saying all along that the state’s public employee unions are missing an opportunity by letting The Speaker be our Speaker. We should be looking ahead three years and creating a pro-labor working families electoral alternative to Rauner.

“And Madigan Democrats: how many betrayals do we need to learn the lesson?”

From For the Speaker, Losing Is Winning by Fred Klonsky

Commentary (from a previous post):

Rauner and Madigan are not moved by moral considerations. They have no concern for the well-being of the middle class and the unfair burdens of impoverished people; they have no concern with protecting the rights and benefits of public employees and retirees; they have no concern about the requirements of reason and the laws of morality or the laws of freedom.

Rauner and Madigan do not care about morality and ethics. They do not care about breaking contracts. They do not care about obligations to others – about the fair distribution of the tax burden, about constitutional guarantees, about demanding more of others than they are willing to demand of themselves and their wealthy abettors.

They lack empathy and altruism. They are not concerned with promoting the well-being of others. They lack the capacity to sympathize. They are isolated in their elitist class. They have no connections to the middle class or the poor.

They demand sacrifices of the middle class and impoverished people and not of themselves. They do not view their conduct from a standpoint of values and interests of those they hurt. They view masses of people as a means to their own political ends.

They do not live up to their agreements or the established rules of justice. They are motivated solely by power, wealth and greed. They do not respect “rights of property and contracts”; they do not respect that “laws of morality are categorical”; they do not care that “the rightness or wrongness of an act depends on its consequences for everyone affected.” Neither one of these egocentric politicians can be trusted.

—Glen Brown