Governor Bruce Rauner had several House Republicans over to the Executive Mansion last week to ask them to vote "present" when the House Democrats called their "right to work" bill the following day.
Right-to-work laws allow union members to not pay for any of their union's services, even though unions are required by federal law to serve all their members. The laws can cripple unions, which may help businesses but tends to drive down wages.
Why would the Democrats bring an anti-union bill to the House floor? Various reasons - one of them being that they are so opposed to the idea and the governor has pushed it so forcefully that they wanted to finally get the issue off the table by killing it dead. They also wanted to put the Republicans in a tight spot of choosing between the governor and their friends in organized labor.
Anyway, the governor's push last week was resisted by a handful of Republicans, even after House GOP Leader Jim Durkin demanded that they stick with the governor and vote "present."
Several eventually relented, and the governor reportedly said they would be free to vote "no" when a "real" bill is presented, but that they all needed to stick together and hit their yellow buttons to protest House Speaker Michael Madigan's ploy to put them all on the hot seat. It probably didn't hurt that Rauner contributed a grand total of $400,000 earlier in the week to what his staff said was every Republican legislator in Springfield.
The meeting at the mansion was often tense, insiders say, although there was reportedly a moment of levity when one of the governor's beloved dogs made a doo-doo in front of legislators while Rauner was giving his pitch.
Believe it or not, quite a few unions in this state have spent years wooing Republican legislators. The Illinois Education Association (IEA) has a strong presence in suburbia and Downstate, and the union has long endorsed a significant number of GOP candidates - including in tier-one races against Democrats. Getting on their wrong side can be a hazard to one's political health, which is just one reason why so many Republican legislators were nervous last week.
The IEA sent House Republicans a "simple" message last week: "We expect a 'no' vote," said one IEA lobbyist. "Show that you are supportive of the middle class. A vote to the contrary and they will have to explain themselves to our members."
The Republicans pleaded their case that the bill was mainly just political theater designed to make them look bad. But the IEA and other unions wouldn't budge, leaving legislators to choose between their party's governor (and his tens of millions of dollars in campaign cash) and their union allies.
Illinois AFL-CIO President Mike Carrigan said last week that "anything but a solid 'no' vote" will "not be tolerated and will be considered as an inexcusable vote against labor."
Carrigan also specifically said that "present" votes weren't acceptable. Skipping the vote altogether wouldn't be a good idea, either, Carrigan warned: "House member absences will be reviewed with suspicious eyes."
In the end, only one Republican sided openly with the unions and Democrats by voting "no" on the bill: Representative Raymond Poe of Springfield. Four union-friendly Republicans didn't vote at all (Representatives John Anthony, Bill Mitchell, Michael McAuliffe, and John Cabello). A few others didn't vote, either, but that likely had more to do with the process and/or their relationships with their party leaders than anything else.
Some Republicans with past union ties voted with the governor. Representative Dwight Kay, for instance, was endorsed by the IEA for the first time last year, but he voted "present."
One of Rauner's main goals is to split the Republican Party from all union ties. If the unions follow through with their threats, some of those ties will most certainly be broken.
And the Republicans aren't the ones that unions have to be worried about. The House Black Caucus sent a clear message to trade unions during the debate that they need to start admitting more minorities or they'll face retaliation.
Rauner has attempted to peel off black and Latino legislators from labor by playing up the historic "whiteness" of the trade unions and promising affirmative-action-style reforms. In remarks planned in advance with other Black Caucus members, Representative Ken Dunkin (D-Chicago) said during debate that the problem needed to be addressed soon or trouble could arise.
Almost all minority legislators stood during his speech and stared at the gallery where labor leaders were seated.
Rich Miller also publishes Capitol Fax (a daily political newsletter) and CapitolFax.com.
