Editorial Roundup: Illinois

Arlington Heights Daily Herald. May 25, 2021.

Editorial: Remap shows Illinois Democrats' devotion to democracy isn't real

Before he became Illinois House speaker, Emanuel 'œChris'ť Welch of Hillside said he was a big believer in fair maps and redistricting reform.

Bunk.

Last week -- on a Friday night beyond the grasp of headline writers, on the same schedule when all the things politicians are ashamed of get released -- Welch showed what he truly believes.

That's when Democrats released new partisan legislative maps filled with so many flaws and based on such insufficient data that they are sure to be the subject of legal battles.

What do Welch and his cronies believe?

Power. Getting it, keeping it, expanding it. Manipulating whatever needs to be manipulated to ensure it. Ignoring the tenets of democracy if need be. Disrespecting the voters they presumably are trying to serve.

Perhaps we should be grateful that they didn't send a fighter jet up to hijack a plane over Springfield with a political dissident on board.

For the past many weeks, we have been treated to Democrats throughout the land warning of Republican voter suppression efforts in state after state, decrying specious audits of election results that Donald Trump had tried mightily to overturn.

These things, the Democrats have said, amount to a grave threat to democracy. They have a point. Those things do threaten our democracy.

In preaching these things, Democrats would have you believe that they are devoted to democracy.

Bunk.

Where's the commitment to democracy here in Illinois?

Where's the concern about voter suppression here? Here, as a matter of fact, it's beyond voter suppression. Here it's matter of making voters extraneous. Here, for all intents and purposes, it's a matter of suppressing the relevance of the voter -- the politicians pick the voters rather than the voters picking the politicians.

What do the Democrats believe? They believe what all political parties believe, what George Washington warned us partisans would believe.

Power. Getting it, keeping it, expanding it. Manipulating whatever needs to be manipulated to ensure it. Ignoring the tenets of democracy if need be. Disrespecting the voters they presumably are elected to serve.

Across the nation, Democrats ask where are the Republicans who value country over party?

Here in Illinois, let us ask that of the Democrats. Where are you?

When he was running for office, Gov. J.B. Pritzker pledged himself to fair maps and redistricting reform.

We need him now to carry out that pledge.

We need him to veto this map, with its clearly partisan design. We need him to seek court approval to delay the remap deadlines until reliable Census data is available.

We need him to honor his pledge to the voters. We need him to honor his oath to the democracy. We need him to be one of those Democrats who speak up.

Let his pledge be one of honor. Not bunk.

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Champaign News-Gazette. May 30, 2021.

Editorial: Vague language in worker amendment poses big problem

Messing with the Illinois Constitution opens the door to all kinds of potential problems.

The overwhelming majority of Illinois legislators have for years professed support for putting a state constitutional amendment on the ballot that would establish a bipartisan redistricting process.

Despite that profession of zealous support, it somehow never happened. But legislators showed this past week that the amendment process isn't nearly so sclerotic when they're serious.

That's why voters will have the opportunity in November 2022 - 18 months from now - to vote on a proposed state constitutional amendment to give organized labor - particularly public employee labor unions - vast new power.

Billed as a proposal that would ban right-to-work options, the amendment is written so vaguely as to be beyond safe definition as to its real meaning.

Many people may not be familiar with the meaning of a 'œright to work'ť state. It means that workers who are not interested in joining a union cannot be compelled to do so. That's a controversial concept to union leaders because they fear without the power to coerce unwilling workers into joining, a union will lose clout all around - at the bargaining table and at the ballot box.

Even though Illinois is surrounded by right-to-work states, Illinois is not one, and it probably never will be, regardless of whether the amendment passes. When former Gov. Bruce Rauner sought to persuade local communities to adopt such laws, he was soundly defeated.

Illinois' approach was established by the governor and legislature, as it should be. A constitution is intended to establish a broad framework of rules under which legislators can have a relatively free hand to make their choices as to the best approach in dealing with the issues of the day.

Writing legislative policy choices into the constitution merely restricts legislators' ability to address new problems with new solutions. Consider how much trouble advocates of higher state income taxes have had in trying to rid Illinois of its constitutionally-mandated flat tax.

Aside from the policy straight jacket that would be put in place, the amendment suffers from the vice of vagueness. How far could its interpretation be extended? The courts would have to decide multiple issues in the ensuing explosion of litigation.

The amendment grants 'œemployees'ť - any employee anywhere? - 'œthe fundamental right to bargain collectively.'ť Federal and state labor laws already provide options for unionization and collective bargaining.

Under the amendment, employees could not just bargain over wages and conditions but 'œto protect their economic welfare.'ť Since wages and working conditions are specifically mentioned in the proposed amendment, what does 'œprotection of economic welfare'ť mean?

How far would it go? The courts would have to decide, and answers could be all over the ballpark.

The amendment further states that 'œno law'ť shall be passed that 'œinterferes with, negates or diminishes'ť the rights of employees to bargain.

Federal labor law still would be controlling with respect to private sector unions. State law on public employee unions would be subordinate to the amendment, but to what end?

This amendment is a masterpiece of obfuscation sailing under the banner of making Illinois a constitutionally-mandated non-right-to-work state.

In other words, it's a Trojan horse.

One need not be a foe of unions or collective bargaining to have serious doubts as to the wisdom of this proposal. One can vigorously support the rights of employees - public or private - to work out their issues at the bargaining table without seeing this amendment as necessary to enhance their existing statutory rights.

Illinoisans will hear a lot about this measure, particularly as November 2022 draws closer. They are well advised to study the measure and its potential ramifications before they enter the voting booth.

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Chicago Tribune. May 27, 2021.

Editorial: Pro-union lawmaker pushes bill that would crush an Illinois success story

One of the strongest cogs in Illinois' economic engine is an industry that isn't necessarily a household name. Data centers.

They pretty much do what their name suggests. They're climate-controlled buildings that warehouse massive tranches of gigabits inside clusters of servers and data storage systems. Data centers play a role in everything from email and e-commerce to gaming and data backup and management. In an increasingly online world, data centers are far from bit players.

In 2019, the Chicago area ranked third in the country for data center capacity, behind northern Virginia and the Dallas-Fort Worth region. The data center industry generated for Illinois $7.1 billion in economic output in 2017, $877 million in tax revenue, and 31,500 jobs, according to a report commissioned by the Illinois Chamber of Commerce Foundation.

So what's got us worked up about data centers? Legislation with an amendment sponsored in the House by state Rep. Mark Walker, an Arlington Heights Democrat, that would require new and prospective data centers to sign so-called peace labor agreements with unions representing workers who maintain typical data center infrastructure, such as cooling and fire safety equipment, backup generators and water treatment systems. The measure is part of an amendment to the state's 2-year-old tax credit program for data centers, which Republicans pushed, that so far has brought in $5 billion in private investment to Illinois' data center industry.

Companies that want to set up data centers in this state now would have to hire union labor, if the amendment filed by Walker stays. It's easy to see what the fallout would be. The people behind data centers would shrug and say, Illinois is too expensive. Too many hoops to jump through. Let's take our business to Indiana, Iowa or a host of other states that offer tax incentives for data centers without any onerous union hiring mandates.

'œIt's all but certain we would see less projects and less investment in Illinois simply because of this provision,'ť Brad Tietz, vice president of government relations for the Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce, recently testified to the Illinois House Revenue Committee, as reported by Crain's Chicago Business. 'œIn the immediate term, this is likely $1 billion in additional investment that we are putting at risk.'ť

The solution is straightforward. This measure should never see the light of day. Lawmakers should kill it, and if it somehow makes it to Gov. J.B. Pritzker's desk, he should veto it. Data centers represent a rare bright spot in Illinois' otherwise sluggish economy. In a state struggling to stem the exodus of businesses, jobs and people, the last thing needed is yet another legislative burden that turns away investment Illinois so desperately needs.

What was Walker thinking? No clue.

END