Missing-In-Action, Gov. Rauner Surfaces at U.S. Supreme Court

While Gov. Bruce Rauner is unable to propose a budget until state labor laws are completely gutted of union protections, he did find time to file a “friend of the court” brief with the U.S. Supreme Court a few weeks ago. In it, he backs a California school teacher who is arguing that she has a First Amendment right not pay union dues (Friedrichs v. California Teachers Association et al.). In his brief, he lays all of the blame for Illinois’ budgetary woes on public unions: “These union benefits have contributed to a remarkable structural budget deficit and to repeated credit rating downgrades in Illinois. In fiscal year 2015, pension costs attributable to the general fund exceeded $7.5 billion, or about 24% of state-source general fund revenue.” He doesn't mention that Illinois lawmakers, starting in the mid-1990s, failed to make required pension contributions—and over the years, these pension-skipping budgets snowballed the pension deficit. Democrats and Republicans are responsible for this, preferring to start new spending programs (Democrats) or walk away from legal funding commitments (Republicans). That's the Illinois way to make a budget. Gov. Rauner has found the real villain: it’s those selfish public school teachers who are corrupting Illinois. Like this evil IEA member on a recent field trip to indulge her selfish interests....