Can Dillard ride opposite rails of teacher pension reform?

State Sen. Kirk Dillard is trying to ride wildly diverging forces to victory in his Republican bid for governor, banking on support from both a powerful teachers union and a conservative who has long opposed that union.

And the game plan is threatening to split his campaign at the seams.

"They are starting to scream already that he is a sellout," said Jack Roeser, head of the Family Taxpayers Foundation, of conservatives' reaction to Dillard's recent backing from the Illinois Education Association.

Roeser and the IEA are both backing Dillard, but they have opposing views on teacher pensions, a central issue the Hinsdale lawmaker will have to manage if he wins the state's top post.

Roeser has long ridiculed the teachers union-backed pensions as a waste of state cash. The union representing downstate and suburban teachers argues the pensions are below the national average, and it generally fights cuts to benefits.

Dillard touts this diversity of endorsements as a sign he can bring both sides of an issue together. "I can unite people with different viewpoints," Dillard said Monday.

Indeed, Dillard's top endorsement is from former Gov. Jim Edgar, under whom he served as chief of staff in the 1990s. Roeser challenged Edgar's second term in a 1994 GOP primary battle.

Roeser said he was first approached by businessman Ron Gidwitz and Greg Baise, head of the Illinois Manufacturers Association - two early and vital supporters for the Hinsdale lawmaker.

Roeser said Dillard "assured" him that he would fight for pension reform, stand up to the unions and support additional charter schools or voucher legislation. "If he retreats from all that stuff," Roeser says, "I will not aid him."

And the aid is considerable. Roeser says he is putting $250,000 into Dillard's campaign, not to mention his personal endorsement to potentially thousands of supporters.

But the help from the IEA could mean even more. The union has pumped more than $2.6 million into campaigns in the last decade and provided a formidable network of volunteers to candidates.

In announcing the endorsement, President Ken Swanson didn't address Dillard's position on pensions, but said in an online video that he "has a pragmatic vision of what this state needs to do to straighten out this mess we are in, to fund our schools, fund the state, put the tax policy right and make it a better place for all Illinois."

IEA spokesman Charles McBarron said it is understood Dillard and the union don't see eye-to-eye on all pension reform plans.

"There are certain issues on which we may have to agree to disagree," McBarron said. "We understand that is how it works."

It may also be of note that Dillard is one of only two in the seven-candidate primary field to not completely rule out raising taxes.

Dillard says he hasn't changed his position on pensions. In a Daily Herald survey, he supports lowering benefits for incoming teachers - a plan opposed by the unions. But he also pledged to "protect the benefits of current participants."

Roeser said Dillard told him he broadly supports a plan to increase teacher contributions to their pensions, reduce annual increases in pension payments to teachers and force local school districts to cover pensions costs for high salaries. Roeser said he isn't criticizing Dillard for accepting the IEA endorsement, but he would encourage him to make sure the union knows where he stands on pension reform.

"Why take money from these guys if they don't know what ... he is planning for?" Roeser said.

And while Roeser insists that some in his organization are upset with the IEA endorsement, he says it is "a little insulting" to knee-jerk denounce Dillard.

The GOP candidates are former state Attorney General Jim Ryan of Elmhurst, DuPage County Chairman Bob Schillerstrom of Naperville, Hinsdale businessman Adam Andrzejewski, Chicago conservative commentator Dan Proft, former state GOP Chairman Andy McKenna of Chicago and state Sen. Bill Brady of Bloomington.