Senator Jim Oberweis (or Milkin’ the System)
Sometimes money can’t buy you love - or even a seat on the
highest levels, but it can at least get you into Springfield. After unsuccessful runs for Governor, U.S.
Senator, and U.S. Representative; State Senator Jim Oberweis has finally made
his political debut. Now situated firmly
in the Capitol Building, unlike many other career legislators, he can be free
to act without the concerns or regards for trivial matters like salary,
retirement, or (in some cases) constitutional law. Welcome, Senator Oberweis.
Running so often in the past for so many offices, we can be
sure to know and understand just where our new state Senator stands on the
significant issues facing Illinoisans: in this case, the unfunded liability
owed to public workers for their pensions.
In fact, we can surmise that the Senator will carry these same past and
present attitudes and positions into his next (additional) run for Governor in
2014.
Would-be Governor, Senator Oberweis would have public
workers accept his personal belief that our pensions are in themselves benefits
and not a contract.
In a recent voicemail to a concerned pensioner, Oberweis warned:
“The state of Illinois cannot go
bankrupt, but if we don’t do something, one day in the not so distant
future those who are receiving pension benefits instead of getting a check
are going to get a letter saying we know we owe you a check this month,
but unfortunately we don’t have any money and we can’t make the payment. That’s
what I am fighting to prevent.”
Individuals like AFSCME’s
Henry Bayer, who remind legislators that the state is legally on the hook for
the unfunded liability of $100 billion (in real dollars) taken from the pension
funds, remain exponentially persona no grata around the dome. If the state cannot go bankrupt, well, then
find the money you stole from us. Such
sentiments inflame some Leaders and Senators.
In any case, such words should concern them.
Other cautious legislators
who raise concerns about Article XIII, Section 5, of the Illinois Constitution
are hushed while in the House of Madigan.
“Membership in any
pension or retirement system of the State, any unit of local government or
school district, or any agency or instrumentality thereof, shall be an enforceable
contractual relationship, the benefits of which shall not be diminished or
impaired.” Such phrasing means nothing to the likes
of would-be-Governor, State Senator Oberweis, who voted affirmatively for SB35,
the most draconian and unconstitutional of bills before the Senate last month.
SB 35 would cap
COLA’s , freeze any cost of living adjustment until age 67 or five years after
retirement, create a new Tier Three for new hires in TRS and SURS, increase retirement
ages and increase employee contributions. The Nekritz sister bill is in
transit from the House, and it’s probable that Oberweis will vote “aye” on that
duplicate. But why would we be
surprised? For would-be-Governor,
Senator Oberweis, public workers have always been “on the dole,” and especially
so public teachers.
When discussing fixes for
the public school systems in Illinois, Oberweis often cites free-market
principles as the panacea to eliminating all financial and educational problems,
and he reminds his many interviewers that his record of dealing with the
teamster unions at Oberweis Dairy clearly demonstrates his no-nonsense approach
to making business work – a transference he sees quite logical for everyone –
unions, schools, and charter-business owners.
In an interview conducted for “Public Affairs” with Jeff Berkowitz in
2005, the earlier-would-be Governor expressed support for charter schools,
vouchers systems, merit pay for teachers, no tenure at all - calling
tenure “ridiculous.” (http://jeffberkowitz.blogspot.com/2005/07/partial-transcripts-of-oberweis-on.html).
In education,
according to Senator Oberwies, everyone proves himself as manager of a
classroom, and nothing comes for free.
On the other hand, would-be Senator Oberweis (and his company) does not
always follow that righteous theorem in business practice and has ironically accepted
lucrative deals at the expense of Illinois taxpayers to fund operations for
building and developing his own businesses.
Let’s look at Skokie for one example.
Promising to be the
“anchor” store on Dempster in Skokie, Oberweis received a double parcel of land
for $400,000 that taxpayers funded with an additional $1.7 million last
April. Oberweis promised additional
incomes of $2 million for the city, if they funded his building project with
TIF money. The city conceded. According to one follower, it will take only
26 years for the city to break even (http://skokie.patch.com/blog_posts/cheeseburgers-tax-dollars-and-the-value-of-an-anchor-store). That’s
better than tenure.
But for would-be
Governor, State Senator Oberweis, there have always been those who do, and
those who don’t. And, quite honestly, pensioners
who receive a COLA are those who do not (and should not receive one). As he stated in his voicemail, Oberweis
believes, “ Unfortunately, some adjustment is going to have to be made and
probably the adjustment will have to be the COLA. Nobody in private industry has those COLA’s
anymore. They did thirty or forty years ago. But the companies that had them all went
bankrupt.” Oberweis goes on to name many
companies that have declared bankruptcy; in actually, most of them in order to
avoid the pension obligations they had built up over the years –
But Oberweis has
built his political past out of identifying those populations that threaten his
vision of the State and country. Why
would public sector workers be any different?
In fact, you might remember that would-be U.S. Senator Oberweis in 2004
ran a self-besmirching campaign warning of the 10,000 illegal aliens per day
and the later 2007 call for a national identification card to eliminate the
unwanted and un-industrious. It would appear
that past and future candidate Jim Oberweis would continue to warn us all
against what is dangerous to America, its workers, and its laws.
So would we.
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