Jay Travis.
We will see today if Michael Madigan twisted enough arms, as a Springfield observer said to me yesterday, to give Rahm his pension theft.
If it did, we will see another court battle.
Wasn’t it fascinating to hear the Sun-Times Springfield reporter Dave McKinney on Chicago Tonight last evening?
… Some legislators are nervous about voting for Rahm’s pension-busting bill because of Jay Travis’ CTU-backed near defeat of Christian Mitchell. This according to Chicago Sun-Times Springfield Bureau Chief Dave McKinney who was interviewed by Carol Marin on Chicago Tonight. I confirmed it with McKinney on Twitter.
Mike Klonsky @mikeklonsky
@davemckinney123 Did u tell Carol M that legislators were worried by CTU-backed near defeat of Christian Mitchell? Or did I hear you wrong?Dave McKinney @davemckinney123
@mikeklonsky I had one House Dem suggest that was a factor giving some heartburn today given where the CTU was on the bill.
I had heard so many pundits and experts on election politics mocking the money, effort and personal investment extended by the CTU on behalf of Jay Tavis’ run against Christian Mitchell.
Some people still don’t get it. There were two different union election strategies on display in March. One that was defensive, reactive and reflected barely a strategy at all. The other, demonstrated by our support of Will Guzzardi and Jay Travis, took the offensive, defied conventional wisdom, was based on a core belief that we could change the political landscape in favor of working families.
At another point on last night’s Chicago Tonight Michael Madigan was asked about the constitutionality of Rahm’s pension theft – it appears to be even more unconstitutional than SB1, if that is possible.
Madigan wouldn’t answer.
Wait.
Haven’t we been told that SB1 will certainly be upheld by the Illinois Supreme Court because Madigan has all the judges in his pocket? Didn’t some leaders want us to accept a little unconstitutional diminishment of our pensions – to do anything to avoid defending our constitutional rights in court?
Anders Lindall of AFSCME, also on the Chicago Tonight panel with the brilliant Amanda Kass of the Center for Tax and Budget Accountability, did a great job of presenting the united position of the Chicago We Are One coalition of public employee unions.
Chicago We Are One includes the Chicago Federation of Labor, Chicago Teachers Union, Fraternal Order of Police Chicago Lodge 7, Chicago Firefighters Union Local 2 (Associated Fire Fighters of Illinois), AFSCME Council 31, Chicago Police Sergeants’ Association, Chicago Police Lieutenants’ Association, Service Employees International Union Local 73, National Public Pension Coalition, and the Illinois Nurses Association.
Given that the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Local 73 broke ranks and supported the Mayor’s pension grab, one can only imagine what their next lunch meeting will be like.
“You sit next to Christine Boardman.”
“No you!”
What SEIU’s scab-like action on the pension grab shows is that wearing the union label is not enough.
Those that want to declare you pro-union or anti-union based only on whether you support our union leadership on one issue or another – or even on a whole string of bad decisions – ignore reality.
Fred Klonsky 
Too bad IEA leadership didn’t have the cojoñes that Chicago We Are One has. Instead of going on the offensive, IEA actively offensively by rolling over and playing dead with our legislators. We all need to demand a refund of our years of having to pay union dues for what, a milk toast approach?