By Eric Stock

BLOOMINGTON – A Democratic candidate for Illinois Governor told letter carriers in Normal Friday that the assault on working families that their predecessors fought against a half-century ago still persists today.

Businessman Chris Kennedy said Gov. Bruce Rauner is part of the problem.

“The current governor has no respect for people who earn a wage and he’s assaulted them every way he can,” Kennedy said.

Kennedy added he has no confidence that Rauner can help forge a budget agreement. Rauner has called a special session next week ahead of the June 30 budget deadline.

“If he simply removed himself and let the adults in the room, the leaders of the Republican Party and the leaders of the Democratic Party negotiate a budget and agreed to sign whatever they voted for on a bipartisan basis, I think you’d have a budget very quickly,” Kennedy declared. “But that’s not what’s happening.”

Kennedy accused the governor of threatening those in his own party with a primary opponent if they “step out of line.”

Speaking at the National Association of Letter Carriers State convention at the Marriott in Normal, Kennedy referenced the 1970 letter carriers strike in New York, which ended not long after President Richard Nixon sent in the National Guard to deliver the mail.

Kennedy is one of six candidates who has declared his candidacy for the Democratic nomination for Illinois Governor in 2018.

Eric Stock can be reached at [email protected].