By Bernard Schoenburg, Political Writer
Posted Aug. 12, 2015 at 10:06 PM
They were talking to a partisan crowd, but both U.S. Sen. DICK DURBIN, D-Ill., and state Sen. ANDY MANAR, D-Bunker Hill, said this week that they think Illinois voters are feeling some buyers’ remorse over the election of Republican Gov. BRUCE RAUNER.“Take heart with the fact that the voters across the state are starting to realize that they may have made a mistake,” Springfield resident Durbin said at a Sangamon County Democratic Party fundraiser at the Hilton Springfield Monday. “People are starting to say, ‘Is this how you manage things in the mess that we’re in today?’ We’re seeing what happens when you bring the Wall Street mentality into the governance of a great state like Illinois.”Durbin was, of course, referring to the budget standoff between Rauner and the Democratic legislature. Democrats generally say cuts and new revenue are needed to patch the state’s budget hole, but Rauner says he wants some agreement on his “turnaround agenda” before he’ll back a Democratic plan. Parts of that agenda include cutbacks in collective bargaining rights for public unions and allowing local governments to avoid paying prevailing wages on public projects.Durbin said in his speech that he wanted to thank “our friends in organized labor,” and said he pledged any help needed to MICHAEL CARRIGAN of Decatur, president of the Illinois AFL-CIO.“I said to Mike, ‘There have been so many times in my life when I needed you and you were there, and now you need me and a lot of people like me, to stand behind organized labor.’“They’re facing the toughest attack and assault they ever have, and it’s time for us to stand by their side,” Durbin said.Manar, a former chairman of the Macoupin County Board, told the crowd that Democrats are all for giving spending needed scrutiny, but also talked of the importance of programs that help children and build infrastructure.Manar also said the “severe disagreement” being played out at the Capitol is happening because “we are not for reducing the rights of workers in this state.”“There’s no middle ground there,” Manar said to applause. “There’s plenty of ways that we can find middle ground and compromise with the governor, but not on this one. You don’t improve Illinois by paying teachers less. Illinois isn’t going to grow by reducing bargaining rights of employees in both the private and public sector.”
