Where has this kind of pragmatism gotten us?

I sent an email to the local IEA office this morning canceling my seat on the bus to Springfield next Wednesday.

It wouldn’t feel right going to Springfield to lobby against SB2404 on a bus paid for by the IEA.

Even though I pay dues.

SB2404 is the deal worked out between Democratic Senate President John Cullerton and the We Are One coalition of state employee unions.

You can see the details of the deal here.

I asked my colleagues in our new Skokie chapter of IEA -Retired what they thought about going to Springfield.

I only heard negatives.

A couple of local presidents called to say they were canceling. My old local’s President, Erin Breen, said there wasn’t a whole lot of enthusiasm for going in the first place. This deal pretty much put a fork in it.

If what I have been hearing is widespread, IEA should just cancel the Lobby Day.

Conceptually, this is the same forced choice for consideration bill that Cullerton first devised as an end run around the constitutional pension protection clause. Only the choices have been tweeked.

But Cullerton and the labor leadership will claim it is now constitutional because both sides have agreed to it.

My consigliere, Glen Brown, says they will argue that because the union coalition agreed to modification through contract principles, it is legal. They have done this before when they raised our contribution seven times since 1939. Needless to say, Glen doesn’t agree that this argument will prevent a legal fight.

The theory of contract modification may not keep someone or a group like the Illinois Retired Teachers Association (I am a member), from going to court if SB2404 becomes law.

This is still a big if.

It appears likely to pass the Senate because Cullerton released the details of the compromise only after presenting it to the Democratic Caucus, which is a huge majority in the Illinois Senate.

Is is likely to pass Madigan’s House?

There are two theories.

One is that this deal represents a political battle between Cullerton and Madigan over who is Big Dog.

Another more Machiavellian theory is that the two of them are in this together. They are playing a good cop – bad cop game.

To be fair, I have also heard from some in the IEA who are telling me that we have to be pragmatic.

“This is the best the leadership could get. Crossing our arms and yelling ‘no” will get us nowhere.”

But this kind of pragmatism has a history.

It gave us the pension ramp in 1995.

It gave us the two-tier pension system. That royally screwed every teacher in TRS who was hired after January 1, 2011.

It gave us the Performance Evaluation Reform Act (PERA) so the state would qualify for Race to the Top.

It gave us Senate Bill 7.

The horrible Senate Bill 7.

There is nothing pragmatic about this kind of pragmatism. Pragmatism means doing what works.

We have said all along that this is a revenue problem, not a pension benefit problem.

SB2404 does nothing to address the revenue problem.

Does anyone believe that a promise to fund the system without changing the way we raise revenue is a promise that will be kept?

The thieves in Springfield know, as they have always known, that the union leadership can be pushed to a point of fear and capitulation.

If the deal goes through? The state’s political leaders will be back again for more.

They always come back for more.

Because for them it always works.

They are pragmatic after all.

But each time we fall for it, it comes back to bite us in the butt.