Q: What’s your prediction?
A: Miami Heat in four.
Q: No. About the pension vote in the Illinois General Assembly.
A: I remain convinced that the two chambers will not be able to agree on anything major this session. Unless…
Q: Unless what?
A: Unless they do. And if they do, it will go to court.
Q: Madigan says he has four votes on the court.
A: Madigan’s bluffing. Unless…
Q: Unless what?
A: Unless he’s not. The Illinois Supreme Court is elected and is a supremely political branch.
Q: What should we do while we wait for the court to decide?
A: Well. I think we need an inside and outside strategy. Inside the IEA and outside the IEA. We need to challenge the old way in which the IEA makes political recommendations. Check out that list of House members who voted with Madigan. I call them the “Madigan 62“. Many if not most of them received IEA’s IPACE recommendations.
Some will claim that we can’t just focus on one issue or use a single-issue litmus test for our endorsements. And in general I would agree. But this was the single most important vote on any issue of concern for teachers over the past four years.
There simply must be a push-back by our organization on what these elected officials did. Many of them looked our members in the eye and said they would not vote for an unconstitutional bill. And then did.
If our union is to have any respect we must be able to punish this betrayal.
But to do that we must change the way we do things in the IEA. To do that, the rank-and-file must challenge leadership to lead or we must find others to lead the IEA.
Q: What about the outside strategy.
A: I think we should primary members of the “Madigan 62” where possible.
Q: You sound like the Tea Party.
A: Well, okay. But the Tea Party without the racism, homophobia, anti-union, sexist, gun-crazed war-mongering.
There are already many vulnerable House members. Take Democrat Toni Berrios in my own House district. Will Guzzardi, a young activist with no money, took on Berrios last time. She is the daughter of one of the most powerful bosses in the Chicago Democratic Machine. Guzzarid came within 150 votes of beating her in the primary.
Q. Anything else?
A: I’m interested in hearing what others have to say.
Fred Klonsky 
Under no circumstances should the IEA recommend or finance legislators who swore to uphold the constitution as they voted against the constitution and our incomes. No teacher or retiree should contribute to their re-election campaigns with dollars or time. No members of We Are One Illinois should support any of them.
Why should we send money or donate time to people who betray us? Since the COLA legislation alone will reduce our actual pension checks in value by 30% or more within the next 20 years, who would be stupid enough to give them money as they steal from us?
We need to find progressive, pro-union, pro-public education people to oppose hacks in the most corrupt blue state in the nation. Party hacks are called hacks for a reason.
Boycott products and venues. Never vote for a madigan
Sent from my iPhone
I have to disagree with you, here, Fred. Last time, you predicted there would be no action, and there was PLENTY of action–all of it bad for us! Not that I’m a proficient soothsayer (and I hope I’m NOT!), but I’m thinking that they’re going to pass something–the Cullerton hot mess–with the coalition’s blessing BEFORE May 15th. Having said that, we will certainly be in a most peculiar position, with only the IRTA (which has been lurking on the sidelines {NOT part of the We are One coalition} which, I believe, to be good strategy) and our legal defense fund to file any lawsuit. What, is the IEA going to sue itself?!
We’ve attended this play before–“SB 7”–and the denouement is a killer.
Oh. I thought you were going to disagree with me about the Heat in four.
There are probably two more times these 62 people are going to vote on “pension reform” in the near future. No use saying unkind things about them that they can shrug off. They have to feel the heat now. I mean real heat…and I mean now before they even think about voting in a similar fashion again.