The first time I ever went to Springfield, Illinois was in 1975. Anne, our daughter and I were heading out on a road trip to Los Angeles. We had planned to leave early in the morning, but by mid-afternoon the day before we were all packed and ready to go.
“Why not leave now,” I asked?
“Why not,” said Anne.
By 6PM we were in Springfield. Enough time to check out the Capitol, rub Lincoln’s nose and find a motel.
In the years since, particularly over the past ten years, I have been to Springfield way too many times. That’s what you have to do if you are trying to keep members of the General Assembly from doing bad things.
Usually I go by bus in May. That is when the IEA schedules Lobby Day.
May 2nd a couple of IEA locals and retired teachers will take the bus again. So far we have about 60 folks going. If more want to come, we may add a couple of cars and make it a caravan.
Tuesday, Wisconsin’s Governor Scott Walker is speaking in Springfield to the pro-business Chamber of Commerce.
“We did pick Walker partially, because he was controversial,” said Illinois Chamber of Commerce president Doug Whitley. “But mainly we picked him because he inherited a multi-billion-dollar budget problem and fixed it.
That’s the Chamber for you. They want to turn Illinois into Wisconsin.
Did Doug notice that Walker is about to be thrown out of office because of his fix?
Expect a large group of union folks to be in Springfield on Tuesday to give Walker a big Illinois welcome.
“We plan to run him out of town,” said Anders Lindall of AFSCME.
Walker’s visit coincides with the release of the Governor’s panel which is charged with addressing state public service worker pensions.
The IEA’s position is that any proposals dealing with our pensions must bring stability to the pension system, be constitutional (meaning no reduction in benefits), and fair to the employees who have paid their share for 40 years while the state has not.
That’s also the message we will be bringing to Springfield on May 2nd.
Fred Klonsky 