Some of the big ideas Illinois Governor Bruce Rauner outlined Thursday in his State of the State Address aren’t likely to get very far. Rauner acknowledged up front that voters elected him, a Republican, and a super majority of Democrats in the legislature.
"They don’t want partisan bickering, political infightin’, or personal conflict to get in the way of servin’ the needs of the families of Illinois."
Rauner spoke of inequities in granting contracts to minority-owned companies. And prison conditions that he called “unacceptable.”
Many Democrats say they support those initiatives. But they are already bristling at Rauner’s insistence that labor unions are to blame for the state’s financial problems.
Rauner says he wants local governments to create so-called Right to Work laws, similar to those that caused major protests in Wisconsin and Indiana.
Democrats like west suburban State Senator Linda Holmes say unions are the organizations that helped create the middle class, and attacking them won’t fix the state’s financial problems.