Over the past weekend, Illinois Republican Bruce Rauner assailed
state legislators who accept campaign contributions from public
employee unions for being guilty of a "conflict of interest."…
When a public official who contrary to their duty to act for the benefit
of the public exploits the public or political relationship for
personal financial gain, they are guilty of a conflict of interest and
violating the public’s trust. Over the weekend, Illinois Republican
Governor Bruce Rauner assailed state legislators who accept campaign
contributions from public employee unions for being guilty of a “conflict of interest.” As is usually the case with any Republican, Rauner is guilty of psychological projection as well as gross hypocrisy.
Republicans hate public sector unions as a matter of
course and Rauner railed against Democrats he claimed were under the
influence of organized labor in determining state workers’ salaries and
benefits. Organized labor, or unions, represent public sector workers in
negotiating labor contracts according to the will of the workers; they
do not determine state workers’ salaries or benefits any more than state
legislators do. Rauner likely understands that bashing unions is very
popular among the cognitive challenged in Illinois.
Being a typical Republican, Rauner not only accused
organize labor, and the legislators they support, of everything except
committing human sacrifices, he claimed they were including manipulating
elections; more Republican projection. He also hypocritically dismissed
questions about his own glaringly monumental conflicts of interest in
taking very substantial campaign contributions from millionaire
executives at the financial firms that manage state pension money.
Rauner lied and said the millionaires funding his campaign and profiting
from controlling state employees’ pensions “are just taxpayers. They don’t do business with the state.”
The only thing he did not say was that those millionaires work for free
which is the case if they are not doing ‘business’ with the state.
Rauner is very Republican-angry at unions and took
out his rage on Democrats for accepting campaign donations from labor
organizations representing school teachers, law enforcement officers,
firefighters, and every other public sector employee from janitors to
animal control officers. Rauner implied that union officials were
manipulating the election process to rob taxpayers to pay public
employees. He said public workers were guilty of taking taxpayer money
and then using it against taxpayers’ best interests. Rauner believes
taxpayer money belongs to him and his rich friends, so he is on a
crusade to transfer pension funds to the wealthy elite to cover their,
and his, outrageous tax cuts.
In fact, during his tirade against Democrats and
organized labor, Rauner specifically cited a state pension shortfall
despite the lion’s share of his substantial fortune was made from fees
charged to institutional investors in public employee pension systems.
Rauner said that police officers, teachers, firefighters, and other
public workers have taken too much taxpayer money and then used that
money as a weapon against Illinois’ residents that includes school
teachers, police officers, public workers, and firefighters. He also
said they are doing it because organized labor contributes to the wrong
party; Democrats.
Rauner said, “When a government union leader can
sit across the table from an elected official after contributing to
their campaign and say we will negotiate what our pension is going to
be, what our work rules are going to be, what our healthcare is going to
be, it is a fundamental conflict of interest.” The problem with
Rauner’s assertion is that legislators do not negotiate with teachers,
law enforcement officers, firefighters, or public employees for wages,
pensions, work rules, or healthcare plans and Rauner knows it.
Negotiations are between the workers themselves and school districts,
city councils, and county supervisors; legislators are not involved in
negotiations at all, much less with their campaign donors because that
would be a conflict of interest; something Bruce Rauner certainly knows
more about than most, at least in Illinois.
For example, in his gubernatorial bid last year, and continuing, Rauner accepted
over $140,000 in campaign contributions from his high-paid executive
friends at the firms contracted to invest Illinois pension money; money
he is now attempting to rob from public employees. Rauner also accepted millions
more from his wealthy executive friends at other financial firms that
invest and charge exorbitant fees for managing public employee pension
funds. Rauner’s donors are liable to state regulation and oversight from
various boards overseeing Illinois pension investments that Rauner
controls. While Rauner was railing on Democrats’ organized labor
donations, he failed to mention that as Illinois governor he appoints
the members of those boards that oversee and manage state public pension
investments. It is what any reasonably intelligent human being would
label a gross conflict of interest.
What is even more astonishing about Rauner’s hypocrisy is that he was chairman, and according to Securities and Exchange documents, still holds a partnership stake in GTCR; the financial firm overseeing not one, but two separate
state retirement systems. That means that as governor he wields
significant control over Illinois public employees’ pension money that
he has a considerable personal financial stake in. It is beyond a shadow
of doubt that Rauner is a walking, talking epitome of conflict of
interest; and a lying hypocrite of the first order.
He is also a typical Republican; albeit an uber-rich
Wall Street Republican who is screeching about employee pensions he
claims is wreaking havoc on Illinois’ economy. Rauner is slashing
employee pensions in a budget move to maintain his own tax breaks as
Illinois’ governor amounting to $750,000 annually; something he refuses
to end for himself or his super-wealthy cohort no matter how threatened
with demise he claims Illinois’ economy or budget is.
Like every Republican, whether a governor or state
or federal legislator, Rauner is making truly Draconian budget cuts
affecting most Illinois’ residents, but particularly the least
fortunate; including drastically reducing public employee pension funds.
Rauner, like all Republicans, continues rejecting calls to raise taxes
on the extremely rich to bring in much-needed revenue because he will
be affected. Instead of continuing a temporary 1.25% income tax
surcharge on the richest Illinois residents that expired last year,
Rauner is eliminating funding for organizations providing services for
the disabled, autistic children, the homeless, safe school initiatives,
breast and cervical cancer programs, and cutting 31.5% from education.
Rauner is also moving state employees’ who make
middle class salaries ($45,000) or less to pension plans with
substantially lower benefits than they have paid for throughout their
working lives; likely to teach organized labor and Democrats a lesson.
There is a multitude
of other truly inhumane budget cuts totaling over $6 billion in
Rauner’s budget, but none of them will affect his personal $750,000 a
year tax break.
Rauner uses the typical Wall Street Republican line and says that in tough economic times “everyone must come together to address the reality that everyone can’t get everything they want;”
unless they are the uber-rich hypocritical governor who hates unions
and knows how to rob public employees’ pensions. There is little doubt
that Bruce Rauner is the most glaring example of a conflict of interest
in recent memory, and for what he is doing to the overwhelming majority
of Illinois residents he is evil incarnate.
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