Court system supposed to protect us from overbearing politicos, but no more

Thus far, the federal court system has been sympathetic to Chicago in striking down efforts by President Donald J. Trump to eliminate the city’s laws that prevent its local police from being used by federal immigration officials to supplement their own efforts in harassing people.

The high court now Trump's rubber stamp?

But a part of me is constantly reminding myself that we haven’t heard the final word yet, and it’s always possible the ultimate court will come down in favor of the president – just because he’s the president from a certain political party.

WILL THE SUPREME Court of the United States use its 5-4 conservative-leaning majority and ultimately feel like issuing an order striking down “sanctuary cities” because it’s the desire of Donald Trump?

There already are those people who think the Supreme Court is inclined (possibly Wednesday morning) to rule against Illinois political interests in a case now pending as to whether public employee labor unions have a right to require government workers to join and pay dues.

Then, there’s the ruling the high court made Tuesday morning that says Trump’s efforts to impose travel restrictions against people from certain Middle East countries is acceptable – no matter how much many complain about its immorality, and how lower courts have ruled it is illegal.

Could “sanctuary cities” wind up facing the same fate some day? It is an issue yet to come before the high court. Yet it could also be a significant issue of sort come 2019.

TRUMP: Can't govern w/o allies in charge

THE SUPREME COURT, in the opinion issued Tuesday, said the president has the authority to get involved through executive orders in immigration policy, and also said it wasn’t terribly interested in hearing arguments about discrimination against Muslims.

But in the part that particularly amazes me, Chief Justice John Roberts wrote in the court’s opinion, “we (the court) express no view on the soundness of the (Trump immigration) policy.”

Meaning, the idea of the judicial branch providing a balance (specifically, being the force that keeps government officials from overstepping their bounds when they react too far) isn’t one that the high court particularly feels like honoring.

That is a scary thought, if you think about it.

ROBERTS: Backing up the president

BECAUSE THE MAJORITY of our society that is relying on the concept of “checks and balances” to keep a Trump presidency from imposing serious, and lasting, harm could find themselves let down beyond belief.

Just like what could happen in the case of Janus vs. AFSCME. That’s the case based on a lawsuit originally filed by Mark Janus, an Illinois government employee who resents the idea that he had to join the labor union in the first place.

His lawsuit seeks to strike down any such membership requirements in order to have his job, and theoretically could require the union to have to go back to each of its members and seek their permission to charge them union dues.

With anti-labor forces hoping they can persuade many workers to refuse to pay up, meaning the unions would lose significant revenues and be undermined to the point where they would become ineffectual.

MANY THINK THE current partisan leanings of the court will result in Janus prevailing – with those of us inclined to support labor hoping for a partisan political miracle.

Will union take a blow from high court?i

Which also is why I’m wondering what will become of the sanctuary cities issue – which thus far the courts have said the federal government is overstepping its bounds in trying to cut off federal funding to those cities wishing to protect all people from police harassment.

That is how it is perceived – as in local cops getting involved in immigration issues that they technically have no jurisdiction over and no particular knowledge about.

Those who support the “sanctuary city” concept believe it’s a matter of federal immigration officials doing their own jobs when it comes to immigration law. Will partisan politics cause the high court to ultimately disagree?

  -30-

15 days remain, yet no closer to having a state budget for Illinois government

I find it laughable when political observers think they’re being bold in predicting the likelihood that our state’s government officials will be able to put aside their differences and come up with a budget proposal for the upcoming 2018 fiscal year.
 

RAUNER: Re-election more important than budget?

The only truthful answer is that nobody knows, but everybody knows. Our state officials are likely to adjourn without taking any action towards a budget. The new fiscal year will begin July 1 without a spending plan in place.

WHICH MATTERS BECAUSE the state Constitution requires that government have a budget approved in order for government to operate. There are some programs that continue because the federal courts have deemed them too important to shut down (think Illinois Department of Corrections, for one).

But others have restrictions on how money can be spent, which means some bills just aren’t getting paid.

And because the partisan politicking that has occurred since the day in January 2015 that Bruce Rauner took the oath of office as governor, it has created a sense of chaos within our state that wouldn’t immediately be fixed even if our buffoonish legislators were to come to an agreement with the maroon of a governor we seem to have.

It would take time for things to resolve themselves back to the way they should be, and the longer our state lingers in budgetary chaos the longer the resolution time will stretch out to.

CURRIE: Leading Dem 'common ground' cmte

THAT IS WHY it is somewhat discouraging to see that our state officials don’t seem to be the least bit shaken up by the status we’re in. Perhaps they’ve become so adjusted to the chaos they’ve wrought that it doesn’t phase them any longer.

And they’re probably also counting on the fact that many amongst us in this state don’t really pay attention to the details of how our government operates. They’d probably like it if we’d focus more on outrage over Miss D.C.’s comments about being an “equalist” rather than a “feminist.”

Perhaps we should be more outraged over why Miss Illinois, Whitney Marie Wandland of Chicago, didn’t win. Our legislators would like it if we’d quit caring about this issue. Because they certainly seem to have moved on.

MADIGAN: Really calling the shots!

Rauner on Monday partook in a ceremony at the Willis Tower to welcome a Japanese economic development organization to Illinois, and also kicked off the opening of a Polish history exhibit at the Thompson Center state government building in Chicago.

AS FOR THE Legislature, a House committee on Wednesday will review the state’s education funding formula and pension reform bills may come up before another House committee on Tuesday.

We may also get some activity this week on a bill pending to make the board of education for the Chicago Public Schools an elected, rather than mayoral appointed, entity.

All of which are nice bits of business. But if state government doesn’t have full authority to operate and conduct its business, all of these details really are reminiscent of that old cliché about studying the china patterns and silverware on board the Titanic. The fact that the Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan-appointed budgetary negotiating team is meeting Tuesday to show off its “common ground” proposals seems more like an effort to pretend it’s trying “real hard” to find a resolution, without doing much of anything.

WANDLAND: Maybe this LuvaBull is more intriguing

The problem by this point is that our officials have become too comfortable with operating in chaos. Rauner, who has interfered with any serious efforts to put together a government budget, is so preoccupied with his anti-organized labor rhetoric that he’s tied into the issue under the guise of “reform” that he probably sees any concession at this point as failure.

WHEREAS DEMOCRATIC POLITICAL operatives who have stood firm against the governor for nearly two full years now wouldn’t see it as a victory if they could reach a budget agreement. I don’t doubt many wouldn’t mind the state enduring four full years of not having a budget in place.

Make Rauner the guy who was so incompetent that he couldn’t even put together a state budget. “Some reformer!,” they’re betting voters will think to themselves as they cast ballots in that November 2018 gubernatorial election.

There are those who are more interested in having an issue to trash the governor with rather than trying to resolve the problem.

All of which adds to the underlying problem of why many people are skeptical (to say the least) of their government – it has become one way too comfortable with people stepping into their voting booths and casting their ballots based on the concept of “Who do I hate the most?!?”

  -30-

EDITOR’S NOTE: This is one commentary where I would thoroughly enjoy it if unforeseen events occurred between now and May 31 prove me wrong. I feel fairly confident I won’t be.

For Rauner, is 3rd time the charm? Or is it Steeerike 3, Yer Outta Dere!!!

Wednesday is the day that Gov. Bruce Rauner will take his third crack at presenting a budget proposal for Illinois government’s upcoming fiscal year, which kicks off July 1.

RAUNER: At what point is it Bruce's fault?

It’s a routine ritual – the governor puts forth a spending plan, the opposition party in the Legislature says the governor is out of touch. His allies come to his defense, and in the end the General Assembly approves a plan that will be about 99 percent of what the governor asked for in the first place.

OR AT LEAST that’s the way things used to work each spring when it came to putting together the plan by which state government would spend the money it had available from state taxpayers and federal government grants.

For as we all know, Illinois government hasn’t had a formal budget in place since the 2015 fiscal year that was the end of the Pat Quinn era of state government. Rauner came into office with a desire to impose a series of changes meant to undermine the authority of organized labor.

Under the disguise of being “reform,” he has decided that getting these changes is more important than having a government that operates functionally.

While I don’t doubt that Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan, D-Chicago, is more than willing to play political games in order to mess with the governor’s mind and prolong any gaffes he makes, this standoff we have been in for two years now is truly going to be Rauner’s lasting legacy.

AND IT IS one that is now going into its third year. Rauner will make his third attempt at proposing a state government budget, even though he’s the governor who has never been able to get a budget passed into law.

 

MADIGAN: When will he be reasonable?

Legislators whose bills continually get stalled and thwarted wind up becoming the subject of ridicule.

So the question arises what will we get from Rauner this year? Is he finally determined to show he’s capable of handling the operations of state government as many Republican governors have managed to do while dealing with Madigan as the Illinois House speaker?

Or are we truly moving forward to being on our way to having yet another year without a state budget – which is a hassle because of the Illinois Constitution requirements that a budget be in place for government to operate the way it should.

THERE HAVE BEEN efforts within the Illinois Senate to put together a budget plan that could get the state operating the way it should and enable officials to focus on the backlog of bills that now totals in the billions of dollars.

Although there are questions about whether the Illinois House of Representatives would follow suit and approve something, Besides, there also are the objections of Republican types who say this plan is nothing more than the same old tax hikes and (what they consider) overspending that has caused the financial situation that has Rauner so willing to thrown the proverbial monkey wrench into the works of state government.

So what will happen Wednesday?

I have no doubt Rauner will attempt to sound oratorical and try to make us think he’s having deep thoughts about our state’s future. Although I always suspect that our state officials don’t think too deeply about what they do – it would confuse them.

JUST LIKE THE legendary baseball catcher Yogi Berra who once said of the mechanics of hitting a baseball, “How can you hit and think at the same time?”

 

The wit and wisdom of Yogi applies too often

But at some point, Rauner is going to have to be the one who breaks – unless he really wants to be the one-term governor remembered because he couldn’t get a budget passed. There's only so far that all the GOP "Dump Madigan!" can go before people turn on the governor.

There’s a lot of rhetoric being spewed about Facebook and Twitter, with the slogan “Do the Job!” being used almost as an order to Rauner. If anything, Rauner could wind up appearing to be the reasonable one if he were to make serious efforts toward putting together a functional budget now. That is how he could convince people it's really Madigan's fault.

As for those ideological, anti-union dreams the governor has, they’ll still be there following the upcoming election cycle of 2018 – when the many millions of dollars of his own money that he’s putting into Republican political coffers may be capable of buying him a Legislature more sympathetic to his desires!

  -30-

Mitsubishi typical of corporate attitude; should we really cater to it too much?

It has been some three decades since I attended college in Bloomington, Ill., and the major local news story during the time I lived there was the arrival of an auto plant in neighboring Normal by Mitsubishi Motors.

A road sign soon to be obsolete

The coming of a U.S.-based auto plant by a Japanese company was a major event for that city – it supposedly put that central Illinois municipality on the international map. Unless you believe that Illinois State University has such a stellar reputation.

SO THE FACT that Mitsubishi officials let it be known recently that they’re closing that plant – and that the whole saga of Mitsubishi in central Illinois lasted all of 30 years tops – is a major blow to that community.

Yet somehow it doesn’t seem all that shocking that such a thing can happen.

Mitsubishi came to this state when it thought it could gain some sort of economic benefit for itself. The fact that it now no longer senses that benefit and thinks it can gain by going elsewhere is, in many ways, the way business operates.

Which is why I think it is ridiculous for government officials of a certain ideological bent to claim they’re being “pro-business” by conducting themselves in ways that are meant to cater to the whims of what corporate interests want.

WE’RE NOT GOING to get companies locating here with any particular loyalty by making these payoffs – which often involve giving assorted tax breaks to the companies to make them feel like the gross income they’re producing is theirs.

Mitsubishi made a fine auto in Illinois for 30 years

The activist-types who complain about this are often derided as being unrealistic, if not outright naïve. It also is argued that any loss of tax revenue by the local governments is made up for by the fact that the company employed people locally and helped boost the local economy.

The money they were paid in salaries got spent at local supermarkets and shopping malls and was used to make mortgage payments on local homes. Would the local community have been better off if those jobs hadn’t existed in the first place?

Now what makes me bring any of this up?

PART OF IT is the fact that I remember the local fanfare when Mitsubishi came to Illinois. One of the first vehicles off that assembly line, I seem to recall, was provided to then-Gov. James R. Thompson.

RAUNER: Will reforms result in more Mitsubishis

Heck, I remember buying a Mitsubishi vehicle (a Galant, to be exact) back during the 1990s stint that I lived in Springfield, Ill. I remember it as one of the best automobiles I ever owned.

But if we’re being totally honest about things, the fact that Mitsubishi is moving on is something that should have been expected. It may well be the “American Way” to look for a better deal elsewhere.

Which is why I find a lot of Gov. Bruce Rauner’s rhetoric about wanting to implement “reforms” to benefit business interests to be a step in the wrong direction.

DO WE REALLY want to give future Mitsubishis an excuse to come to Illinois for a time – only to move on when they come up with someone willing to make them a “better” offer in the future?

I’m more inclined to think that reform is about creating new business – not playing an endless game of getting existing business to move about and play musical chairs with the Great Lakes states. Leaving the workers without the representation that ultimately will look out for their rights when there is business conflict.

The companies we ought to be encouraging are going to be the ones that come here because they see great benefit to being physically located in our state and think they can create something rather unique here.

Otherwise, the Mitsubishi story of a company coming here for a few decades before moving on and leaving us empty shells of what once was will become all-too-common across Illinois; and that would be truly pathetic.

  -30-

Will workers get paid? Will legislators vote to override? Or will Wednesday be a whole lot of nothin’ in Springpatch?

Why do I suspect that employees of Illinois state government all will be anxiously checking out their bank accounts sometime Wednesday around mid-day.

Because for those workers who get their salaries deposited directly into their bank accounts, that’s usually about the time the money shows up so they can then withdraw it for use to pay whatever personal expenses they may have.

THIS PARTICULAR PAYDAY is unique because it is the first during which the current political spat between Gov. Bruce Rauner and the General Assembly’s leaders will have an impact.

There is no budget in place for state government, which theoretically means no money can be spent by state government.

Not even for the payroll for the workers who provide the services that we rely upon for state government.

Of course, we have the dueling court rulings.

A COOK COUNTY judge ruled that no budget means no payroll. Whereas a St. Clair County (as in suburban St. Louis) judge says payroll can be met because the state has contractual obligations to its workers that must be fulfilled.

Illinois Comptroller Leslie Munger has made it clear she wants to make the payroll and is prepared to ignore that pesky Cook County judge. She’ll go along with the court whose ruling will reduce the likelihood of her boss (Rauner) looking bad for having unpaid state workers.

But Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan this week filed a request with the Supreme Court of Illinois, basically asking them to take the two dueling rulings and figure out which one actually interprets the law correctly.

It’s always possible that the state’s high court could come in with an early morning decision that could pre-empt any desire by the Rauner people to pay state workers in order to keep them appeased while Rauner and the Legislature’s leadership fight it out amongst themselves for control of state government.

WHICH IS REALLY what this particular budget fight is all about. The two sides aren’t even talking about the budget. It’s about Rauner wanting to impose measures meant to undermine organized labor and the unions that represent state employees.

That is something Rauner’s corporate-type buddies desperately want, because they’re really not adept in figuring out how to grow a business into something profitable.

Their idea of success is to view expenses as money that rightfully should be profit! If only those damned employees would just be grateful for whatever they’re offered by corporate types, then we’d all be better off.

Or at least that’s what the corporate types think amongst themselves.

THAT IS WHY I find it ironic that Rauner types are relying on contractual obligations to labor unions as their reason to prevail. Those are the same types of contracts they’d just as soon undermine and view as the source of all evil within state government.

We’ll have to see how things turn out on Wednesday; not only with whether or not state employees get paid but also what the Legislature tries to do.

In theory, the Legislature could try to override the governor’s veto of the budget. Although whether their veto-proof majority would actually unite is questionable. No matter what Republicans say, it is their political party that is more likely to be in lock-step unity as opposed to Democrats who often can’t agree on what to order for lunch, let alone pull off a political maneuver of any consequence.

Besides, passing that budget would merely put state government seriously in arears as it calls for spending that state officials know they don’t have the income to support. Plugging that hole would be an ongoing problem and the political brawl would continue unabated.

  -30-

Rauner’s “Turnaround Agenda” reinforcing Illinois’ urban/rural split?

Gov. Bruce Rauner has his “Turnaround Agenda,” a set of policies meant to reinforce the anti-organized labor attitude he has expressed ever since he became a candidate for governor some two years ago.

The agenda is meant to reinforce the idea that local people should be allowed to undermine the authority of labor unions, and it is with that goal in mind that Rauner’s staff has been working to try to get local governments across Illinois to pass a resolution saying they support the agenda.

I HAVE FOUND some amusement from reading the Capitol Fax newsletter’s website in recent days, as publisher Rich Miller is running tallies of which communities are feeling compelled to express their support for the governor’s desires to make Illinois a “right-to-work” state (implying that unions interfere with people getting jobs, rather than merely protecting their right to be compensated respectably for their work).

Day after day, it seems that every rural community across the southern third of Illinois, and even a few in central Illinois, adds to the list of Rauner supporters. Then again, the voters in those places were the bulk of Rauner supporters in the 2014 election cycle – so it’s no surprise!

Monday was the day they finally got a “big” city on board – the City Council in Rockford voted largely on partisan lines (The Register-Star newspaper reported that one Democrat flipped) to support the resolution.

I know some will remember the days when Rockford was the second-largest city in Illinois and will want to think that means something. Although considering that Aurora and Naperville are both now larger, and Joliet's growing population nips at the heels of Rockford, I'd say it means Rockford isn’t what it once was.

WHAT I HAVE noticed about this is that the trend doesn’t seem to be spreading into metro Chicago. If there are any communities among the roughly 260 municipalities that comprise the Chicago suburbs that have backed the idea, I’m not aware of them.

In fact, the only area community I have heard of that even considered the idea was Crete – a Will County town that realistically can be considered the southern tip of the Chicago area and the place where some would say downstate Illinois begins.

Even then, Michael Einhorn, the long-time village president tried rewriting Rauner’s agenda a bit to soften it up. But the trustees decided to postpone any kind of action.

Reading through the suburban press these days finds a lot of quotes from suburban mayors who just don’t want to touch the issue. Which when combined with the fact that Mayor Rahm Emanuel will likely be the leader of the effort to quash Rauner’s symbolic resolution from becoming reality (because it would interfere with many of the priorities Emanuel thinks the state should have) means this is turning into the two-thirds of Illinois’ population refusing to go along.

EVEN THOUGH I’M sure the masses in the remaining third will want to see themselves as representing the true sentiments of Illinois.

All the “Turnaround Agenda” (which includes such language as, “Voters in our community should be allowed to decide by referendum whether or not employees should be forced to join a union or pay dues as a condition of employment”) is doing is becoming more evidence of the “urban vs. rural” split that has become Illinois’ character.

If anything, Rauner by pushing this resolution (thinking that it will pressure legislators into giving in to the governor’s anti-union beliefs) is making that split bigger than usual.

I’d argue he’s becoming the source of the problem, rather than any attempt to become a solution.

HONESTLY, I WON’T be surprised if a lone suburban community or two wind up backing “Turnaround.” Naperville in onetime GOP bastion DuPage County took up the issue Tuesday night. There always are a few exceptions to the rule. But this isn’t a revolution sweeping its way across Illinois – the way Rauner backers would have us think.

If anything, I wonder if Makanda (the Southern Illinois municipality that was the long-time home of now-late Sen. Paul Simon) is the true way of how the Land of Lincoln thinks.

It seems their village officials voted to support the resolution earlier this month without realizing exactly what it meant. The Southern Illinoisan newspaper reported that village President Tina Shingleton said officials thought it was just a call for local control of local government.

Rather than part of an agenda to undermine organized labor and the people who work at such jobs – a desire that Makanda officials are now desperately trying to undo to avoid looking even more foolish than they already do!

  -30-

EDITOR’S NOTE: Will “Turnaround” be the issue that breaks up the Emanuel/Rauner friendship? Or at least membership in that pricey wine club?

What does it mean that a teachers’ union (allegedly) likes Dillard?

DILLARD: Do teachers really like him?

“Yawn!!!”

That’s about all the reaction I can generate from the word that the Illinois Education Association, whose locals represent schoolteachers throughout the suburbs and rest of the state, is telling its members they should support Kirk Dillard for governor in the upcoming Republican primary election.

IT WAS NEVER a secret that groups representing education interests don’t think much of the gubernatorial candidacy of Bruce Rauner – who is targeting his campaigning to reach out to the kinds of people who like to dump on organized labor any chance they get.

The various unions have said they are interested in trying to knock out Rauner now, so as to not have him gain any strength that might bolster him in the Nov. 4 general election cycle against Gov. Pat Quinn.

So the endorsement by this particular teachers’ union really means nothing more than that they find Dillard – the state senator from Hinsdale who thinks the fact that he was once chief of staff to Gov. Jim Edgar anoints him as the front-runner – less offensive than the other Republican candidates.

Yes, it’s true that the GOP political operatives are thinking that with the lack of a competitive primary fight for governor and other political posts (does anybody think Tio Hardiman can top 10 percent of the vote on March 18?), there may be many voters ideologically leaning toward Democrats who will shift political parties for the primary to cast a vote for Dillard.

I’M JUST NOT convinced that it will be all that many people. Heck, Hardiman could wind up getting more votes than does any Republican gubernatorial candidate from a voter who usually leans Democrat!

 

RAUNER: Labor's Public Enemy No. 1?

I am convinced this is a whole lot of blather. Dillard – whom that Tribune poll earlier this week showed running dead last in the GOP primary for governor – may well be too far down for this to make any difference.

And I really believe much of the vote influenced by organized labor interests is going to remain in line with its usual thought process.

So yes, I believe that Rauner’s camp is being absurd with its own attacks on Dillard – whom he is trying to lambast for having anything to do with labor unions in any form.

AS RAUNER POINTED out in a statement he released Friday, Dillard has received campaign contributions in excess of $500,000 from unions that deal with state government during his time as an elected official.



QUINN: Will labor come back to Pat?

Considering, however, that Dillard has been in elected office since 1995, that means a half million dollars during a nearly two-decade period. Which really isn’t that much – particularly since most of that sum came specifically for Dillard’s failed 2010 bid for governor.

It comes across less as an attack against Dillard and more like a whine by Rauner that he’s not the one who’s getting the money – and that someone would dare to differ with him!

That’s what happens when one flaunts their own money about for a political campaign and makes it clear they’re going to be immune to the thoughts of certain parts of the political spectrum. You gain an enemy on Election Day.

BESIDES, I THINK that when the general election comes about, many of the people who cross over to Dillard will wind up coming back to Quinn. This may well be just another reason why whoever does win the Republican primary will wind up too bloodied to wage a serious fight against Quinn.

Who’s going to be well-rested and flush with campaign cash!

This could wind up being the photographic negative image of the 1994 election cycle – where Dawn Clark Netsch blew her financial wad to win a gubernatorial primary, and Edgar wound up tagging her right away with a negative image – one that she didn’t have enough money on hand to counter.

Rauner won’t be that broke on March 19. But Quinn will launch his political attack probably at 12:01 a.m. that very day! Which may sound mean-spirited. Then again, who really roots for the rich guy to prevail on Election Day?

  -30-

FREHRICHS: The IFT-preferred pol

EDITOR’S NOTE: For what it’s worth, the Illinois Federation of Teachers (which includes the outspoken Chicago Teachers Union) isn’t backing anybody for governor on March 18. In fact, the only statewide election endorsement they have made is for Michael Frehrichs, the Democrat running unopposed for state treasurer. Which may be a bigger yawn than the IEA backing Dillard.

EXTRA: Loss of photographers not about adapting to new technology as much as ol’ fashioned union-busting

A trekkie on the picket line?

It has been a week since the Chicago Sun-Times and all of its sister suburban papers made it public that it was letting go its entire photography staff.

They try to claim it is a matter of adapting to new technology and accepting that people want more video clips as part of their news reports on the Internet.

YET IT’S JUST a little too hard to swallow. I’d accept this a lot more easier if those Wrapports types who own the newspapers would just admit that a priority of theirs is getting rid of those photographers who were covered by a Chicago Newspaper Guild contract.

Because a lot of the people who are going to get hired in the future to accommodate all this desire for video clips are going to be younger types, and the company will probably go out of its way to ensure that the guild (a.k.a., the dreaded union) will never get their paws on these new people. Otherwise, at least a few of those photographic veterans would have been retained, and retrained.

Maybe the Sun-Times didn’t call out the cops to crack heads open when the photographers and their supporters picketed the newspaper’s offices Thursday morning. But the desire to not have to deal with a union was just as much a motivation as it was at a place like the old Republic Steel – where East Side neighborhood residents still pay tribute to the strikers who were killed on Memorial Day 76 years ago.

So it was totally appropriate that Chicago Teachers Union President Karen Lewis was among those who picketed the Sun-Times on Thursday, although I’m sure she also gains from the public recognition she will receive.

CTU boss Karen Lewis takes on new labor cause

 

AFTER ALL, SHE got herself on television, and that bolsters her name recognition for her own future causes.

Whereas the Sun-Times’ recognition? They got professional smart-aleck Stephen Colbert to do a segment that on his Comedy Central program that made the newspaper look rather ridiculous.

And for what it’s worth, the difference in images in the newspaper is notable – particularly since the bulk of the pictures now appearing in the pages of the Sun-Times seem to be from the Associated Press.

As for this particular posting, the images accompanying it were shot with my own smartphone. And I’ll be the first to admit they look horrid; just as bad as they do when they get used on television newscasts. But this could be the future, if this particular trend catches on.

  -30-

Is the Twinkie the new New Coke?

This whole affair of the possible shut-down of Hostess products (“No More Twinkies!?!!”) is starting to take on the stink of New Coke.

Twinkies in space, according to this '70's era TV spot



Those of us who were around in the mid-1980s recall how the Coca-Cola Co. said it was changing its formula for the carbonated soft drink – only to revert back to the old formula after the public outcry was so intense.

WE NOW GET it under the brand name of “Classic Coke,” which makes me wonder if it was just a marketing spiel meant to make us appreciate more fully a product many of us were taking for granted and assumed would always be with us.

Which is how I think of all those snack cakes manufactured by Hostess – including the Ho Ho, the Ding Ding, the Suzy Q and the one that’s getting all the attention these days.

The Twinkie!

Hostess Bakeries has had its share of financial problems in recent years, and has tried to put the burden of balancing the company back to financial solvency on the backs of its workers and the labor union that represents them.

OFFICIALLY, THE REASON that company officials said Friday they’re shutting down is because not enough of the company’s employees were willing to cross the picket-line in the nine-day old strike that the union members were engaged in.

Company officials want their employees to take significant pay cuts; so significant that some employees say they’d be better off collecting unemployment benefits instead.

They’re trying to get the people of America to think in terms of those evil labor unions (whom they want to believe are closet Communists,  probably being led by their imperialist leader, Barack Obama) being responsible for them to not be able to get a Twinkie in the future.

Which is behind the fact that stores across the country have been seeing a rush on Twinkies and other Hostess products. People are trying to stock up on the snack cakes so as to postpone that moment when they eat their “final” Twinkie ever!

THAT KIND OF sentiment strikes me as someone who takes their snack cakes far too seriously. Then again, I recall people signing petitions and getting all worked up over the idea that somebody had tampered with their Coca Cola.

Of course, nothing is really a done deal.

There already has been speculation about all the other companies that might pay Hostess Bakeries some money for the rights to use product names such as “Twinkie” or “Ding Dong” on their own products.

There’s also the fact that a judge issued an order recently that is the reason why bakery and union officials spent Tuesday in mediation – hoping that the two sides can come to an agreement that will enable the bakeries to remain open and the Twinkies to keep coming off the assembly line.

BUT THEY COULD not. No one was willing to make anything resembling concessions. Which is why attorneys are preparing for a liquidation hearing scheduled for Wednesday.

That is, if the two sides remain stubborn (and it truly is the hard-line attitude of the company that is trying to place all blame on the union that is causing this situation). Who knows? Perhaps some sense can prevail? How ridiculous will all those people who stockpiled snack cakes during the weekend feel if it turns out that Hostess will continue to make Twinkies?



Is the Penguin behind this latest fiendish Twinkie plot?



For their sake, I hope they have ample freezer space to store all those boxes they bought. Because those things do go stale after a few days if they’re left out in the open – no matter what tales you’ve been told about Twinkies being edibly invincible.

And not even the six-year-old in me would want to eat a stale Twinkie.

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… it isn’t. Union hits political foul ball

Learning that the Chicago Teachers Union’s House of Delegates refused to give its approval to a settlement that could have put Chicago Public School students back in the classrooms as early as Monday gave me the same gut feeling as watching a baseball blown foul.

In my mind, I could hear the Harry Caray “home run” call when I learned last week that a tentative deal was in place.

HARRY GETTING ALL worked up (“It might be,”) over a deep fly ball that definitely is headed (“it could be,”) for the stands.

But then at the last second, that gust of wind from the south blows the ball just to the left of the foul pole – turning the would be “it is!” into a foul ball.

What makes this particular shot galling is that it is the delegates who seemed to be determined to will the ball foul. Picture the '75 World Series Carlton Fisk waving his hands in the opposite direction!

The explanation given Sunday for the lack of a vote was that the delegates for the teachers felt rushed – even though a vote originally was expected Friday. They want to take their sweet time reviewing this deal.

I DON’T THINK they fully appreciate how much people were pleased to know that this “strike” was only going to be a week-long thing. The fact that it now will go into a second week is bound to shift the will of the public toward the tyrannical antics of Rahm Emanuel.

That’s the Rahm-bo who got his butt whupped by teachers union boss Karen Lewis. Yet it seems that her own delegates want to give Emanuel some first aid so he can resume the fight.

Which he seems determined to do. His reaction to learning of the lack of a vote of approval was to say that he will get a judge to issue an order that forces the teachers to go back to work.

If that happens, I wouldn’t be surprised if the Chicago Public Schools suddenly rescinded a lot of the points they were willing to concede.

SO HERE’S HOPING that these same delegates follow through with what Lewis says is possible – a vote on Tuesday that could result in classes resuming Wednesday. If they open any later, I could see the mood getting downright U-G-L-Y!

Those two days might not be much in the short-run. But the teachers have managed to give up some serious good will with the way they have handled this.

Talk about the potential for turning victory into defeat. This is the kind of maneuver that I would only expect the Chicago Cubs to be capable of doing. I wouldn’t have envisioned it possible in the field of labor negotiations.

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How often are gestures legitimate? Dems will figure out another way to get cash

Political people like to take actions that they believe give off the appearance of a grand gesture – even though they usually don’t amount to squat.

EMANUEL: Needs to focus? Who's kidding whom



That may be a bit crude. But it pretty much sums up what I think of Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s claim that he won’t do any fundraising for the time being on behalf of “Super PACs” meant to bolster the finances of groups that back Barack Obama for president.

I DON’T THINK the gesture really means much. Even though Emanuel is trying to make it appear as though he is making a substantial sacrifice – all on behalf of the effort to try to resolve the strike that caused the Chicago Public Schools to be shuttered on Monday.

Emanuel decided not to attend a House Majority political action committee event scheduled in Chicago on Monday afternoon. The Chicago Committee told the Chicago Tribune that Emanuel’s “first priority is the residents of the city of Chicago.”

As though engaging in any political activity would detract his time and attention from trying to smack the Chicago Public Schools officials in line so that they can reach agreement with the Chicago Teachers Union on a new contract.

All of which would allow for classes to resume. The sooner, the better. Because this labor dispute that some will say Emanuel provoked with his hard-line attitude threatens to become a national embarrassment to the Emanuel political reputation.

HOW “TOUGH” A guy can he be if he can get smacked about by a batch of school teachers? Although I’ll be the first to admit that Karen Lewis of the teachers’ union strikes me as a tough broad who can hold her own with anybody – even the mighty “Rahm-bo” himself.

But back to the point? Was this really essential an act to do?

Couldn’t Emanuel have somehow carried out his duties as a national political leader in addition to his parochial concerns?

It’s called multi-tasking, and many political people take a certain pride in being able to keep dozens of issues clear in their heads at any given time.

THE FACT THAT I doubt I could do it is the reason I couldn’t ever see myself running for electoral office, no matter how much the political process intrigues me. I have enough troubles keeping it straight what dozens of politicians think about the issues.

Besides, I was the one who thought it ridiculous last week when political people were giving Emanuel grief over the fact that he attended the Democratic National Convention in its early hours, before returning to Chicago to immerse himself in education and labor issues.

I don’t believe the reason we now have teachers on strike is because Emanuel wasn’t paying full attention to what was happening with the city’s negotiations with the teachers’ union.

So I certainly don’t think we’re going to resolve the resulting strike any time sooner just because Emanuel says he won’t be participating in any super PAC events until the labor dispute is resolved!

JUST THINK OF the mess this city would become if we didn’t have officials who could keep up with multiple issues and causes – which is the essence of what municipal government is all about.

An entity that maintains the services that we rely upon to live our lives in something resembling comfort.

Or should we suddenly expect trash collection to go straight down the toilet bowl on account of the fact that city officials are “focusing” on a new union contract for school teachers?

And somehow, I suspect that Democratic Party officials will figure out some way of getting those financially-loaded backers who would have written out checks on Monday to crack open the checkbooks on some other date in the next couple of months on behalf of somebody willing to call themselves a Donkey without feeling shame!

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