Tuesday night, I attended a legislative forum/meet and greet with our area state representatives and state senators (we have 3 a piece for our little gerrymandered county of 34,000). Also in attendance was our Republican Congressman, John Shimkus of the 19th Illinois Congressional. The evening started out decent enough - light appetizers, drinks, and idle chitchat. After the social, the invited attendees gave brief speeches about issues facing Washington DC and Springfield. One has no idea how bad off Illinois is under Gov. Quinn and the Democrats in Springfield until you hear our state reps and senators explain how Emperor Quinn, King Madigan, and Prince Cullerton refuse to do anything but spend. But that’s for another post…
After the briefs speeches, the floor was open to questions from the audience. Since it was a Chamber of Commerce event, 98% of those in the room were businessmen and women, and/or their spouses. Questions ranged from Obamacare’s tax provisions to government spending in DC and Springfield. However, one particular question rattled Congressman Shimkus really….really bad.
The questions posed that set Congressman Shimkus off was the subject of PLAs or Project Labor Agreements. As stated by the questioner - a local area contractor, one of the first executive orders of President Obama was to require PLAs for contracted federal work. When the questioner pushed Shimkus about his vote against House Amendment 147 to HR 1 which would have blocked the federal government from requiring PLAs, Shimkus got just a little bent out of shape.
Shimkus stated that he felt that the questioner was essentially ambushing him at a public event, stated that he had met with the questioner for an hour over that issue and stated that he felt like he was being attacked. From there, Shimkus admonished the questioner several times for asking the question, then dodged around the entire PLA issue altogether ultimately stated the motion failed on a tie vote anway. Another guest, Dom Durbin (who has had his own recent unpleasant run-in with unions in Springfield, Illinois) sitting at the questioner’s table, tried handing Shimkus a copy of a PLA which apparently Shimkus had agreed to actually read a PLA at some point during their previous meeting.
As I sat in the audience, I was very uncomfortable with the way Shimkus handled himself. At one point, he looked at the questioner and said that we live in a democratic society, and if he didn’t like it, “that’s why we have primaries” and “you’re more than welcome to come at me”. Shimkus also touted his 88% rating with the Chamber and that “I would have 100%, except probably for that vote”. Basically what it boils down to is Shimkus got called out for betraying his conservative credentials…and the questioner never got at the other questionable Shimkus no vote on House Amendment 169 to HR 1, which if I understand it correctly, would have done away with prevailing wage requirements for contractors doing business with the federal government.
There is an understory to all of this as well. Recently, it came to my attention that there is a group here in my area trying to unionize the construction workers in the area. This group goes by a very innocuous name - “A Better Effingham”. The flier they have been distributing looks harmless enough and never really mentions “union” but it is implied all the same within the flier itself (emphasis actually on the flier, not added by me):
“If you are a construction worker in this area, this is approximately what your wages should be $24.40 per. hour.”
“You should have good healthcare for you and your family.”
“You should have a decent pension so you can retire with dignity.”
“You should have better job security on the job.”
“You should have better safety on the job, so you can return home and be with family at the end of the day.”
Sounds ok, right? I mean, who doesn’t want most of those things? But if you go to their Facebook page, you’ll see numerous links to various labor union groups in the Midwest and Illinois.
So between this local development, the US economy, Illinois’ anti-business stances, and Shimkus’ PLA votes, the questioner - a construction contractor - is more than a little on edge regarding his business. Shimkus took the contractor’s question as a public ambush and reacted horribly to being confronted about his votes. I don’t fault the contractor for doing what he did. It seems our side gets bent out of shape very quickly when we hold their feet to the fire, but we elected our people to do a job and for those that claim conservative principles (like Shimkus), we expect them to vote those conservative principles. Otherwise, they shouldn’t get shocked or blow a gasket when they get called out on the mat for voting opposite their convictions.
Originally posted at Redstate.com, updated for Downstate Illinois Advocate
CHEAP LABOR.
Is that what you want?
You BETTER get organized - not much time left before the corporations and banks gain complete control.
"Conservatives" are corporation's best friends... and willing partner.
The top 1% own 80% of the wealth. They want more.
Organized UNIONIZED workers are the only way to stop the complete destruction of the great middle class.
TURN OFF FOX.
... and Shimkus is a worthless rubber-stamping preacherman who knows nothing about governing... but neither do the people who keep voting for him... and AGAINST THEIR BEST INTEREST.
TURN OFF FOX.
TURN OFF LIMPBALLS TOO.
Reply to this
Not cheap labor, but fair business practices. We always hear the howlings against the evil corporations and their supposed allies, the conservatives. Who pray-tell, used their super majority to use taxpayer dollars to buy GM and force a sale of Chrysler? Was not conservatives. It was our friends on the left. And if you were a long time reader of this blog, you would know that I did not support TARP either under our former President. But we can play the game of left/right all day.
"The top 1% own 80% of the wealth. They want more".
Your figure is a bit off. Try the top 20% own 80% (St. Louis Post-Dispatch April 24, 2011). In addition, the top 25% pay 86.3% of the taxes. (With citation as I do in all my posts when quoting figures/stats/facts so as to not earn your admonishment of plagiarism.)
"Organized UNIONIZED workers are the only way to stop the complete destruction of the great middle class."
I own that book, it's called the Communist Manifesto. It is also backbone of the labor union movement and we'll find the same arguments in both places. Don't take my word for it, you only have to read a history book, or even a novel or two like Upton Sinclair's The Jungle.
You will be hard pressed to find me argue in favor of free and unfettered capitalism. That's one of the main differences between a conservative and a libertarian. I believe in a smaller, less intrusive government as a conservative, not the hands off approach of the libertarian. To paraphrase a passage from Jonah Goldberg's Liberal Fascism - libertarianism would be perfect if it only had workable policies dealing with the poor and foreign policy. Libertarianism fails to address either adequately.
I do have to give labor unions their just due though. Without them, we would not have the 40 hour work week, 8 hour work day, worker safety regulations, overtime, and child labor laws. And for that, they deserve a thank you. However, most, if not all of what the unions of the early 1900s gave us is now codified in law or is enforced by a government bureaucracy in Washington DC or Springfield. They had a time and a place, much like women's suffrage units - women now have the right to vote, but we don't see those suffrage units today because they have outgrown their usefulness.
Now, let me address the PLA situation. If a workforce wants to unionize, that's up to them, but the workers AND the ownership should not be pressured or dictated into unionizing by the government. If a union workforce can do the job quicker, cheaper, and safer, then why do we need the government to step in and tell a business what price they must bid their contract for? It would seem to me that the union contractor would win every time if they can do it faster, cheaper, and safer. Instead, those that are non-union contractors must pay prevailing wage when a job might be done cheaper, faster, and safer than the unionized contractor. We need only to look in our backyards on how this effects us. Remember about 3 years ago when the Supporters of Stewardson-Strasburg donated money and put up a new sign in front of the Stew-Stras High School? What happened to them for their good deed? They got an investigation by the Illinois Dept. of Labor because they didn't pay prevailing wage. Illinois' way of saying thank you I guess.
Finally, just so you know, I generally don't listen to Rush; I'm usually at work, school or working in my yard when he is on. Besides, I don't need someone else to tell me how to think, period. The same applies for Hannity, O'Rielly, or any other entertainer/commentator. And I don't get my all my news from Fox News. I believe in reading multiple sources, from all sides before I formulate an argument. If you want would like to know where else I get my news from, I usually troll through Politico.com, The Hill.com, Huff-Po, St. Louis Post-Dispatch online, Chicago Tribune online, RealClearPolitics, (NY Times and WSJ before they went pay-per-view) and various other online news/newspaper sites. That's not to mention first hand experience and having discussions with people on a daily basis that don't align with my political or social views. In fact, on Sundays especially, I tune into Meet The Press, not Fox News Sunday. In other words, I take my marching orders from nobody.
Reply to this
REPORT: In 12 Years, Income For Richest 400 Americans Quadruples, Tax Rate Nearly Halved
http://thinkprogress.org/2011/04/18/tax-disparity-chart/">http://thinkprogress.org/2011/04/18/tax-disparity-chart/
House Republicans Revive Lie That Richest One Percent Of Taxpayers Pay 40 Percent Of All Taxes
http://wonkroom.thinkprogress.org/2011/04/20/house-gop-tax-lie/
[...]
And therein lies the real story: the richest one percent of Americans pay such a large share of federal income taxes because they make such a large share of the overall income
[...]
Income inequality in the U.S. is currently the worst its been since the 1920s. Just the richest 400 Americans hold more wealth than the bottom 50 percent of Americans combined, and the richest 10 percent of Americans control two-thirds of the country’s net worth.
[...]
Tax Dodging By Corporations And The Wealthy Cost the Average U.S. Taxpayer $434 Last Year
http://wonkroom.thinkprogress.org/2011/04/18/tax-dodging-434/
CHARTS: The GOP’s ’21st-Century’ Budget Slashes Investments In Education, Infrastructure And Science
http://wonkroom.thinkprogress.org/2011/04/16/gop-invest-charts/
like i said, "wrong-headed".
all the citation you need right here:
http://thinkprogress.org/
now, i'm out...
Reply to this
*
http://undergroundpolitictimes.blogspot.com/2011/04/there-was-time-in-this-country.html
*
pass it on!
.
Reply to this