-By Warner Todd Huston
Newly minted Republican Representative Bobby Schilling from Illinois’ 17th district recently voted in favor of two pro-union amendments in Congress and the votes have caused some folks to go scratching their heads in trying to figure out why he did it.
Schilling ran as the business-oriented candidate against long-time Democrat incumbent Phil Hare, so his two pro-union votes are odd in light of his late campaign rhetoric. So, the Quad-City Times contacted Schilling’s office to find out what was going on.
Schilling’s office replied that one of the votes was simply a mistake. But the second vote Schilling stands up for unapologetically.
An Oopsie
Firstly, Schilling has publicly stated that his vote against the Guinta amendment was an accident. This amendment would have prevented the federal government from entering into Project Labor Agreements (PLAs) on federal construction projects. A PLA forces non-union construction companies to pay union wages, operate under union work rules, and pay into union pension and healthcare funds. PLAs also force non-union workers to pay union dues even if they aren’t in a union and, yes, even though they will never benefit from union pensions and healthcare plans.
Schilling isn’t the only Republican to claim that his vote in favor of keeping pro-union PLAs was an accident. Last week Representative Paul Ryan also apologized for his vote against the amendment saying he did so by accident.
Both Schilling and Ryan claim that they just got confused because so many amendments were offered in such a short period of time that they simply didn’t have time to fully grasp them all. Both Ryan and Schilling said that if given the chance they would vote against PLAs next time.
They may have that chance as a standalone bill has been introduced to eliminate PLAs.
Bacons Good and Good For Ya
As to the second pro-union bill, Schilling stands solidly behind his vote to protect the Davis Bacon act. The Davis-Bacon Act mandates that all federal construction projects pay workers the same pay as locally prevailing wages. This means that federal projects cannot come in and undercut wages in the area in which the project is being built. Last week’s amendment would have over turned the prevailing wage law.
Schilling says that he supports Davis-Bacon and is proud of his vote to keep it. Schilling’s spokesman said that, “As a former union member, [Congressman Schilling] thinks Davis-Bacon is a good thing.”
Party Animal
So, Schilling says he voted against the Guinta amendment by accident. OK, let’s accept that. We have nothing to say otherwise due to his short time on the Hill, of course. But what do we make of Schilling’s acceptance of an invite to a “thank you” reception sponsored by 15 unions, a party thrown to thank those GOP congressman for supporting the pro-union positions?
The Quad-City Times says that Schilling’s attendance at the meeting offers “an added twist” to Schilling’s claim that he voted against the Guinta amendment by accident. Me, I wouldn’t make too much of this attendance, though. Until we see a larger record of Schilling’s votes on union issues any finger pointing at his attendance at the “thank you” shindig would be pointless.
Let’s just file this one away in the wait-and-see bin and await further developments.
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“The only end of writing is to enable the reader better to enjoy life, or better to endure it.”
–Samuel Johnson
Warner Todd Huston is a Chicago based freelance writer. He has been writing opinion editorials and social criticism since early 2001 and before that he wrote articles on U.S. history for several small American magazines. His political columns are featured on many websites such as Andrew Breitbart’s BigGovernment.com, BigHollywood.com, and BigJournalism.com, as well as RightWingNews.com, RightPundits.com, CanadaFreePress.com, StoptheACLU.com, AmericanDaily.com, among many, many others. Mr. Huston is also endlessly amused that one of his articles formed the basis of an article in Germany’s Der Spiegel Magazine in 2008.
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