What
he did was rescinded eight executive orders that now-former Gov. Pat Quinn
approved in his final hours in office Monday morning. It shouldn’t be a shock;
Rauner has publicly said he’d like to rescind everything Quinn did in the final
two months he was in office.
BUT
THOSE ACTIONS by Quinn were described at the time of their approval as
potential landmines for the new governor – if he were to refuse to let them
remain in place, he’d be exposing himself to be a politically partisan hack in
his own right.
Some
believed Rauner might feel compelled to just let the acts remain in place to
avoid public criticism. Then again, those are probably the same people who
believe that every season is “the” season for the Chicago Cubs to succeed.
Which
is to say that Rauner is refusing to go along. But how will he take the
criticism that inevitably will fall upon him.
For
the record, the actions that got rescinded included a provision that anyone
working on a project that was a state contract would have to be paid a $10 per
hour minimum wage – the rate that Quinn had hoped all workers in Illinois would
receive as part of his final act in office.
ALSO,
QUINN WANTED all governors to be required to disclose their income levels and
other financial interests by publicly revealing their income tax refunds each
year while in office.
It
shouldn’t be a secret that Rauner would hate either idea.
He
is the guy who during his gubernatorial campaign initially opposed any minimum
wage increase, then said he might be willing to support something that
increased the current $8.25 level IF there also were changes in the law meant
to benefit business interests.
Which
makes it seem that he’s more interested in measures that organized labor will
hate than in trying to do anything to bolster the income level among people who
work in this state.
AND
AS FOR the tax disclosures, Rauner went through his whole campaign refusing to
reveal such information about himself. He wasn’t about to have a turnaround now
just because Quinn wanted to make Rauner look bad/foolish/corrupt in the
future!
So
Rauner showed us just how weak the power of an executive order truly is – it has
no permanent standing and can be eliminated at the whim of a future governor.
Which
is what all those people praising President Barack Obama’s use of executive
orders to impose immigration reform measures ought to keep in mind – nothing is
permanent, and ideologues can have their way in the future when (and it will
happen eventually) they get their own elected to prominent government posts.
I’m
sure Rauner is going to claim now and in the future when he continues to use
his authority to repeal acts that have their origins in the Quinn years that he’s
protecting the people of Illinois from irresponsible actions taken in the past.
I
ALSO EXPECT there are those who are ideologically inclined to want to believe Rauner
will be all too eager to claim that he’s just in his actions.
But
I wonder how many more people will wind up seeing these repeals as the act of
someone eager to use his newly-acquired political power to dominate the public
will?
Rauner
standing in the way of refusing to bolster the pay of even a few working people?
Refusing to reveal his income (because it would show just exactly how out of
touch his life is compared to the average working stiff)?
Rauner
may wind up wondering if there’s enough Tylenol in all of Illinois to cope with
the future headaches he may have provoked for himself.
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