By Mike Matejka
On December 19, Governor Bruce Rauner held an unusually frank meeting with the Chicago Tribune editorial board. What is amazing is that he admitted to purposefully creating chaos.
The Tribune reminded the Governor of a statement he made in 2015, when the then new Governor, was just beginning his term. “Crisis creates opportunity. Crisis creates leverage to change … We’ve got to use that leverage of a crisis to force structural change,” Rauner said.
Rauner was more subdued on December 19, blaming House Speaker Mike Madigan and Republican legislators. He said, “We had the possibility of a transformation for the state with the crisis that we had – if we had a principled caucus. … We had the opportunity for a massive transformation. We lost that.”
Over the last three years, as Illinois has careened from budget crisis to budget crisis, Rauner’s mantra was to blame Speaker Madigan. Forget that constitutionally, it is the Governor’s, not the Speaker’s, job to present a budget. Remember all the schools, social service agencies and needed programs that were cast adrift and suffered because of a politically provoked crisis.
If Rauner wants to blame his Republican caucus for not having principles, at the least, commend Madigan for keeping his caucus together on their principles. They did not succumb to Rauner’s attacks on social services, education and labor unions. The pension crisis, which was blamed on workers, was a crisis created by Illinois government failing to pay its fair share. Most people forget that teachers and others are not Social Security eligible; they pay a portion of their salary toward their future pension; it was the State that failed to match those payments in a systematic way. Rauner’s attempt to cut pensions by blaming teachers and other workers was again, a manufactured crisis to try and force his agenda.
The Governor can blame the Speaker, can blame his caucus, can blame the State Legislature. As Rauner infamously said on December 4, “I am not in charge.” Being Governor means taking charge and taking responsibility, including for fabricating a crisis. There are other, more conciliatory ways to move an agenda – hopefully our Governor can learn them in his term’s final year.
Mike Matejka is the Governmental Affairs director for the Great Plains Laborers District Council, covering 11,000 union Laborers in northern Illinois, Iowa, Nebraska and South Dakota. He lives in Normal. He served on the Bloomington City Council for 18 years, is a past president of the McLean County Historical Society and Vice-President of the Illinois Labor History Society.
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