-By Warner Todd Huston
The Alliance for Worker Freedom has decided to send a letter to replacement Governor Pat Quinn of Illinois asking him how much his favoritism and goodies given to unions in the state have cost the taxpayers of Illinois. (I say “replacement gov.” because Quinn is the former Lt. Gov. that became the accidental gov. when Rod Blagojevich was indicted and then impeached from office)
Quinn is guilty of handing over the personal information of thousands of Illinois home-based support workers that receive state aid to take care of family members with severe medical conditions to several unions so that the unions could attempt to strongarm these people into a union. The executive order is #09-15, the Collective Bargaining By Individual Providers of Home-Based Support Services order.
Without regard to the privacy of the personal information of these people that receive state aid to take care of their relatives in their own homes, Gov. Quinn freely handed over their phone numbers and addresses to any union that wanted them. Many home healthcare workers have since been accosted by Service Employees International Union (SEIU) recruiters as well as operatives from the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME).
Why did he do this? No less than a political pay back of Democrats to unions that hand over hundreds of thousands of dollars in campaign contributions to the state Democratic Party. Does Pat Quinn care about the privacy of his constituents? Not if he can exploit them for more union campaign cash he sure doesn’t.
It’s all proof that even the purported man of the people, Pat Quinn, knows how to play it the Chicago way.
Office of Governor Quinn
207 State House
Springfield, IL 62706Dear Governor Quinn:
On behalf of the Alliance for Worker Freedom (AWF) I am urging you to rescind Section II of Executive Order 09-15, a copy of which is included, and to release all correspondence between your office and the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) and other unions with regard to the distribution of Illinoisans’ names, addresses, and telephone numbers.
Further, I request that you release all financial documents and declare the amount of taxpayer money and state resources spent to collect and maintain personal information databases that you turned over to the unions.
Illinois currently provides state funding to approximately 3,000 residents to assist family members with developmental disabilities through the Illinois’ Home-based Support Services Program. The personal information of people enrolled in the Support Services Program was distributed to two unions in accordance with Executive Order 09-15 which states, “the Department of Human Services shall provide to an organization interested in representing individual providers access to the names and addresses of current individual providers.”
By signing Executive Order 09-15, and circulating participants of Support Services Program’s information, you encourage unionization and subject your residents to union harassment and intimidation. Although your office claims impartiality, the distribution of residents’ personal information reveals a clear labor preference. Handing out personal information of in-home caregivers undoubtedly facilitates unionization, a practice your office maintains it does not support.
Since signing E.O. 09-15, in-home caregivers have been overwhelmed by never ending phone calls and extensive mailings advocating union membership. This behavior is unlikely to end, both the SEIU and the AFSCME are two of the most powerful unions in the country and have nearly unlimited funds to spend on increasing membership.
Therefore, I urge you to rescind or suspend Section II of E.O. 09-15 and provide the correspondence and financial documents requested above.
Thank you and I look forward to hearing from you.
Sincerely,
Brian M. Johnson, MPA
Executive DirectorCc: All Members of the IL State Legislature & All IL Federal Members of Congress
(Cross posted at RedCounty.com)
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Warner Todd Huston is a Chicago based freelance writer, has been writing opinion editorials and social criticism since early 2001 and is featured on many websites such as NewsBusters.org, RightWingNews.com, CanadaFreePress.com, StoptheACLU.com, TheRealityCheck.org, RedState.com, Human Events Magazine, AmericanDailyReview.com, and the New Media Journal, among many, many others. Additionally, he has been a frequent guest on talk-radio programs to discuss his opinion editorials and current events and is currently the co-host of “Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Conservatism” heard on BlogTalkRadio. Warner is also the editor of the Cook County Page for RedCounty.com.
He has also written for several history magazines and appears in the new book “Americans on Politics, Policy and Pop Culture” which can be purchased on amazon.com. He is also the owner and operator of PubliusForum.com. Feel free to contact him with any comments or questions : EMAIL Warner Todd Huston
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