Full disclosure missing from guest writer

Once again the Herald has a guest editorial written by someone whose affiliations and thereby motivations are only partly disclosed. Pat Hughes lists the Illinois Opportunity Project. Sounds nice. Sounds innocuous. Not many people would have heard of it. If he’d listed or the Daily Herald insisted on listing the Illinois Policy Institute and the Liberty PAC, people would understand more about his suggestions.

Hughes stated that negotiating in the open, with every comment made by either party printed in the newspaper, would work. I question that. Negotiation requires trust, and every suggestion in a negotiation has people who will ridicule it. We have a representative democracy to allow this to happen. That Mr. Hughes has issues with some representatives is handled at the ballot box.

He says that his proposal is not anti-union. That would make it unique among the proposals from the other groups he is affiliated with. As to his paragraph about some representatives taking contributions from unions and their supporters, it should be noted that the organizations Hughes is associated with exist for the express purpose of doling out money to their like-minded candidates (himself included). Pot, meet kettle. And Hughes’ payouts have not made the sale.

Mark Muehlhausen

Schaumburg