Rauner’s poison pill
For all of the Tribune’s criticism of House Speaker Michael Madigan (however deserved) and lauding of Gov. Bruce Rauner (not so deserved), it’s the “poison pill” in the governor’s turnaround agenda that is the main barrier to achieving a budget. His demand that unions, his targeted opponents, surrender collective bargaining rights, which would prevent them from negotiating salary and benefits — unquestionably the heart of bargaining — should register as unacceptable to any fair-minded person, regardless of political persuasion.
You continue to present Rauner as willing to compromise, but that’s true on only lesser issues; his poison pill remains, despite its being cloaked in the euphemistic-sounding language of “local control.” Rauner’s “my way or the highway” insistence that his opposition give up its core bargaining issue is what’s allowing the impasse to continue.
— Richard Palzer, Clarendon Hills
