Quinn, Brady fire campaign salvos at teachers conference
In the first debate of the campaign for governor Friday, state Sen. Bill Brady told a packed hall of anxious teachers that he knows the tough choices needed to solve the state's financial crisis because he laid off 25 workers and withheld raises at his business.
Gov. Pat Quinn saw his opening.
"That is not a very good record in job creation," he shot back movements later.
The dig drew laughs and howls from the nearly 1,500 union members at the Illinois Education Association banquet in Rosemont - naturally not a friendly environment for Brady, a Republican conservative who has called for the abolition of the state education board and expansion of charter schools.
It may be remembered as the opening shot in what is set to be a long and fiery general election campaign. Voters on Nov. 2 will choose among Brady, Green Party candidate Rich Whitney and Quinn, a longtime Democratic champion of liberal causes.
Brady pulled his own punches Friday, claiming Quinn's budget plan was to "attack the classroom" with his $1.3 billion in education cuts.
"We cannot take money out of the pockets of families and businesses and solve this crisis," Brady said in rebuking Quinn's push to prevent education cuts by hiking the income tax rate 1 percentage point.
The line actually drew a few cheers from those in attendance, teachers who are set to benefit most from the tax increase. Thousands of teachers across the state are now getting pink-slipped by their local districts, as the state struggles to manage a $13 billion shortfall, prompting the union to launch an "SOS" lobbying effort to pass a tax hike. Union members in attendance Friday wore pink in recognition of the layoffs and waved "Save our Schools. Save our State" banners.
On the issues, Brady said he supports vouchers to divert tax dollars for private education, backs allowing local school boards to mandate the teaching of creationism and moving teachers to a 401K-style retirement plan instead of pensions.
All of those points drew boos from teachers, especially his call for an "employee-owned" retirement plan. But Brady seemed to score some points in stressing his support in the 1990s for full funding of teacher pensions and decrying cuts to education under Quinn's budget.
In particular, Brady said he would stop state borrowing against teacher pensions to cover budget shortfalls.
Quinn said he opposes vouchers, teaching creationism in public schools and a 401K-style plan for teachers.
However, he supports reducing pension benefits for incoming teachers, requiring them to work more years and perhaps take a reduced payout. That plan is not supported by the IEA, which represents most suburban and downstate teachers.
The union didn't back Quinn in the recent Democratic primary, choosing instead to side with Illinois Comptroller Dan Hynes, who opposed the governor's call for a so-called "two-tier" pension system.