School Vouchers Good for Illinois - SEIU and Ralphie Martire Are Against It!

Ralph Martire and Rev. Senator James Meeks in happier times - before Senator Meeks got wise to the opposition to School Choice.


The same idiots who pushed Illinois over the fiscal cliff - SEIU's Tax Ingesting Boondoggles and Pie Chart Vampire Ralph Martire are dead set against Senator James Meeks' victory in the Illinois Senate for Illinois Families and Tax Payers - School Vouchers

Ralph Martire has Pie Charted and Parsed every bone-headed tax-increase since Dawn Clark Netsch stamped Ralph's ticket.

Ralph and his Center for Tax and Budget Accountability is clearing house for cover to dimwitted and gutless politicians. Too strong, Hickey?

Hey, Sally, wait until you see Illinois go all Arnold Schwarzenegger's California!

School Choice - Vouchers - is the only real hope for Chicago's public schools and many other districts as well. Where there are strong Catholic Schools Like Fenwick, there is a solid public school. Leo High School helps Simeon stay competitive - though we attract Simeon students. Now, Simeon Moms and Dads might be able to afford Leo, or Fenwick, Governor Quinn.

If Ralph Martire is against anything it must be a great idea and SEIU's graphic novel (comic book) Progress Illinois is already huffing and puffing against Vouchers.

The Center on Tax and Budget Accountability's executive director Ralph Martire echoed those sentiments, adding that there is no guarantee that a private school must accept disadvantaged students, either.

Meeks bill now moves over to the House, which will take up the measure after the spring recess. Meanwhile, the Chicago Teachers Union is pushing back against the bill. And Gov. Pat Quinn has indicated that he's not thrilled about any idea of draining any more resources from already-struggling public schools.

"The concept of public education is that every child, regardless of where they grow up, can get a quality education," Martire tells us. "If you don't have the resources to hire more and better teachers, to put technology in the classrooms, to have enrichment and afterschool programs to extend the school day ... how is competition [with the private market] going to make schools any better?"

Ralph, you are a caution!

Competition makes Principals go Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm!


Mmmmmmmmmmmm, time to unload the dead weight!

Mmmmmmmmmmmm, new blood might help!

Mmmmmmmmmmmm, teachers are not showing up on Mondays and Fridays, but they are at St. Werque-Ethiks!


Baby steps, Ralph! Come on Big Boy!!!! You CAN do it Ralph! One Step! That a boy, Ralph! You'll get the hang of it!

SEIU/Catholic United front for George Soros on Obama Care Vote

Everytime a Progressive Opens His Yap It Costs You a Lung.


Congressman Lipinski vote no on ObamaCare. Stay strong and you will get votes - cave-in like you did on Cap'N Trade and its back to the blackboard jungle.

Saying Catholics United " quiet" abortion concerns is like asking the Aryan Brotherhood to "calm" racial fears.

Such a bold and obvious lie can only come from the SEIU comic book pages of Progress Illinois. Josh Kalven, the nepotism claimant to a swell sinecure at SEIU's site, writes this nonsense. Josh's Pop is well connected racical icon Jaimie Kalven.

We've repeatedly noted the unwarranted concerns from pro-life Democratic Congressmen Dan Lipinski and Jerry Costello that the health care reform bill would lead to federal financing of abortions. In the hopes of swaying Lipinski on the issue, Catholics United is going on the air in the Chicago market today with an ad making that very point. "Some say health reform would force taxpayers to fund abortions," says the narrator. "It’s not true." Watch it:

Note young Kalven's snotty tone. Well here's mine ( "Dude! That's Sooo Not Mild!") -

Listen, Merde for Grey Matter, it is all Abortion All the Time in the Bill. Save the Commie nonsense for Big Ed Schultz. and other dopey cheerleaders for failure.


From the Catholic Network:

21-October-2008 -- Catholic News Agency Share |


"Catholic" Political Groups Being Financed by George Soros
New York, Oct 20, 2008 (CNA).- The Catholic League’s president Bill Donohue has come out swinging at Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good and Catholics United for having ties to the left-wing financier George Soros.

Donohue charges that Soros’ liberal credentials couldn’t be more clear, citing a 2005 campaign by Soros-financed Moveon.org to convince Americans that they should back Democrats efforts to filibuster President George W. Bush’s judicial nominees to the Supreme Court.

At the time of Moveon.org's effort Donohue described it in a statement as: “a picture of a smiling Pope Benedict XVI holding a gavel outside the U.S. Supreme Court, along with the following inscription: ‘God Already Has a Job…He does not need one on the Supreme Court’.”

Although the incident occurred in 2005, Donohue now says that Soros is financing two organizations that have close ties to the Democrat Party and are “apologists for abortion rights.”

According to The Catholic Key, Ambassador Elizabeth Frawley Bagley, the Chair of the Board of Directors for Catholics in Alliance is the wife of former Democratic National Committee finance chair, Smith Bagley. “Ambassador Bagley has herself given hundreds of thousands of dollars to the DNC, as well as to numerous stridently pro-choice Democratic candidates including, Barack Obama, Al Franken, Barbara Boxer, Claire McCaskill, Charles Schumer and The Gay and Lesbian Victory Fund," The Catholic Key reported.

Catholics United also has ties to the Democrat Party, according to the group's web site. Catholics United Director of Organizing, James Salt, "oversaw the Kansas Democratic Party's faith outreach efforts, including messaging work for Governor Sebelius and development of faith-based messaging resources," the site says. Gov. Kathleen Sebelius is currently in hot water with Archbishop Joseph Naumann for her close ties to abortionist George Tiller and her support for abortion.

Donohue alleges that these groups also have monetary links to George Soros. “In 2006, Soros’ Open Society Institute gave Catholics in Alliance $100,000 (double the amount he gave in 2005), and in the same year Catholics in Alliance listed Catholics United on its 990 (line 80b) as an organization with which it has a formal relationship,” Donohue asserts in documentation the Catholic League provided to CNA.

As further proof of a link, the Catholic League president cites a May 20, 2006 Washington Post article in which John Podesta, who runs the Soros-funded organization, Center for American Progress, “admits that he works closely with Catholics in Alliance and Catholics United.”

In an email to CNA on Monday, Catholics United president Chris Korzen denied any links to Soros. “Catholics United has no connection with Mr. Soros. We have taken money from neither him nor OSI,” he said.

The Catholic League’s Director of Communications, Susan Fani, responded to Korzen's denial by telling CNA that the League stands by its statement and that the evidence is well documented.

For his part, Donohue believes that George Soros, who is Jewish, is driven to fund Catholic groups because he has an agenda to normalize Catholic support for abortion.

“The reason Soros funds the Catholic Left is the same reason he lavishly funds Catholics for Choice, the pro-abortion group that has twice been condemned as a fraud by Catholic bishops: they all service his agenda, namely, to make support for abortion rights a respectable Catholic position,” Donohue stated on Monday.

As reported by CNA last Friday, Catholics in Alliance and Catholics United both came under fire from Archbishop Chaput of Denver, who said that the groups are doing a “disservice” to the Catholic Church.

George Soros "is connected to two apologists for abortion rights, Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good and Catholics United. In 2006, Soros’ Open Society Institute gave Catholics in Alliance $100,000 (double the amount he gave in 2005), and in the same year Catholics in Alliance listed Catholics United on its (IRS) 990 as an organization with which it has a formal relationship. John Podesta, who runs the Soros-funded organization, Center for American Progress, admits that he works closely with Catholics in Alliance and Catholics United. The Center for American Progress is also the sponsor of Faith and Public Life."

"Did [the bankers] build anything? Create anything? . . ." No, Anna; Janitors Mop, Health Care Workers Empty Bed Pans and You Are Wearing their Dues !

Yesterday the shameless led the wageless by the hundreds against BANKS and got universal press coverage touting protesters in the thousands.

That's nice. SEIU corrals thousands of no skill and low skill workers into their pens with their dues and keep them there for life.

Time was a janitor's job was a pathway to the trades and the middle class. No more. SEIU does prepare people for the future - that is none of their business. Andy Stern and Anna Burger will tell them who and what to believe.

SEIU is ACORN with a better PR firm.

Yesteday, Anna Burger*howled out great hollow hypocrisy at the BANKS - you know - like Tom Joad's faceless; nameless; bloodless enemy in Grapes of Wrath - Metonymy in rhetoric that plays well with synecdoche.

Banks are the villain du jour.: Insurance Companies, Wall-Street Fat Cats; Wal-Mart, Big Oil & etc.


"Did [the bankers] build anything? Create anything? Do anything?" Burger asked the crowd, which repeatedly responded "No!" - Progress Illinois ( SEIU Funded Comic Blog)


Actually banks create wealth - unnaturally. Why the very vaults from whence Anna and Andy scoop dues to jet off to Red China/The Big Ed Schultz Show/Tapas With Chavez/Shakedowns with Jesse Jackson Universal come from Banks.

I would venture to say that very few of the workers in SEIU make enough of a wage to have more than a checking account - if they are lucky enough to have that.

The Cadillac Commies leading SEIU belong under the same microscope slide as ACORN.


*Anna Burger, born in Levittown, Pennsylvania, and daughter of a disabled truck driver and a nurse, began her activist career in 1972 as a Welfare worker. It was there she became involved in her local union. Burger organized a walkout in efforts to create a safer working environment for the office. Burger became more active in her union, and quickly moved through the ranks of the local union. Burger became SEIU local 668's first full-time woman president before moving onto the SEIU International office in Washington, DC, to work as National Director of Field Operations, under former SEIU president John Sweeney. Burger successfully ran Sweeney's campaign for president of the AFL-CIO. She was elected Executive Vice President of SEIU, and Secretary-Treasurer in 2001.

In her tenure at SEIU, Burger has worked with President Andy Stern to create the largest and fastest growing union in North America.[citation needed] While union membership across the country has been continually dropping[citation needed], SEIU is the only union that has continuously grown.[vague] As well, Burger and SEIU are working to create ties with unions in other parts of the world, especially Europe and Asia.

Burger and Stern called for a change in the AFL-CIO's strategies in June 2004. By the summer of 2005, 6 unions (including SEIU) withdrew their membership to the AFL-CIO, and created a new labor coalition, the Change to Win Federation. On September 27, 2005, Burger was elected Chair of the breakaway coalition. As the Chair of Change to Win, Burger became the first woman to lead an American labor coalition.

Burger is married to Earl F. Gohl and they have one daughter. Anna Burger currently lives in Washington, DC with her family.

Jan Schakowsky Talks Single Payer Health! No, Really.

I #$%^ing hate bridesmaids dresses. Total waste of my hard-earned money, even if—or especially if—they’re purchased from usually reliable purveyors of good taste like Vera Wang or Neiman Marcus. Bridesmaids dresses have inspired bad movies and good websites, because frankly, their only upside is that they offer comic relief.
Now, being Progressive, I’ve seen some bridesmaids’ dresses of truly spectacular multicolored #$%^itude. Weddings below the Mason-Dixon are a festival of the tacky and tricked-out. Lime! Fuschia! Ruffles! Picture hats! Butt bows! We could spend hours unpacking the psychological baggage of a woman who makes her allegedly dearest friends wear such hideousness. Then New York weddings introduced me to the previously unimagined: black bridesmaid dresses. The only time you’d wear black to a Progressive wedding is if you’d #$%^-ed the groom and needed a passive-aggressive way to show your sorrow that he’s off the market (so be forewarned—if any of you show up to my wedding in black, I will make assumptions). I realize that little black dresses are practically a religious obligation for Tea-Baggers, and black bridesmaids dresses can probably be recycled more easily, but come on, ladies! I don’t care how chic/flattering/slimming black is, it’s not a joyful color, and weddings are joyful occasions. Save the black for my funeral, or at least for my divorce party.

A good bridesmaid dress is practically an oxymoron, but I’ve had them. And needless to say, I’ve had bad ones too. For your reading pleasure, I’ve culled the tops in each category for this rant. Feel my pain, won’t you?

This exerpt from how I hear Jan Schakowsky is accurate in spirit if not lifted from a site about fashion. This makes more sense than the Congress-critter Her OWN Bad Mannered Self and much more sense than Dithering Dick Durbin. It is tough being a Democrat with these mopes out there.

SEIU Lobbyists Stuff The Lobby of Illinois Capitol

I was in Springfield on school business and took a stroll over to the State Capitol. The joint was jumping!!!

I ran into Terry Peterson, my old Alderman and the guy who managed Mayor Daley's last landslide and my State Representative Kevin Joyce both grinding the stone in the People's Interest! These two gents are what public service should be all about!

Stuffing the halls were the heavyweights of the SEIU Purple Gang!

I saw Progress Illinois poster boy Keith Kelleher, looking svelt in SEIU ppppp-purple! But the rest of SEIU crowd? Man! Eat a salad at Augie's Front Burner folks!

I gotta ask. Who has the concession for the Triple X and Up -Purple T-Shirts?

That Dude could buy a Kennedy.

Interesting to note that SEIU leadership tends to be Imperially thin almost emaciated and dues paying folks seem to fill out the Purple T's hugely. Keith and the Council must spring for some heavy lunch-boxes on Lobby Day.

Progress Illinois 'Scores' Anti-Catholic Bigot PZ Myers to Attack Congressman Shimkus

Our Bearded Clam-anti-Catholic Bigot* PZ Myers! Mollusks Love Attention!

Can anyone out there score me some consecrated communion wafers? There's no way I can personally get them -- my local churches have stakes prepared for me, I'm sure -- but if any of you would be willing to do what it takes to get me some, or even one, and mail it to me, I'll show you sacrilege, gladly, and with much fanfare. I won't be tempted to hold it hostage (no, not even if I have a choice between returning the Eucharist and watching Bill Donohue kick the pope in the balls, which would apparently be a more humane act than desecrating a goddamned cracker), but will instead treat it with profound disrespect and heinous cracker abuse, all photographed and presented here on the web. I shall do so joyfully and with laughter in my heart. If you can smuggle some out from under the armed guards and grim nuns hovering over your local communion ceremony, just write to me and I'll send you my home address.

PZ Myers

Progress Illinois is an SEIU Progranda Tool and it uses other Tools - Tools Like PZ Myers who is tenured Biology Teacher in Minnesota.

CLICK PZ - (Pretty Zygote ?) Myers' Anti-Catholic Spew. In a world where a geek like this is safe, because Veterans like John Shimkus fought to protect weak and stupid people as well as good productive Americans, Progress Illinois will pay money to attack the protector. Go figure.

PZ Meyers is a coward - a sad little man with a pay check. God Bless Him!

The guy is a clown, but Progress Illinois is a huge tent.

When John Shimkus debunked Cap and Trade - one of the wheels about to fall off the Obama Economic agenda and one that will consign President Obama to the Kid's Table at the next G20 Summit - if he gets invited back - the idiot industry - MSNBC and SEIU e.g. went to war on Congressman John Shimkus (R.IL) from Central Illinois' Coal Country.

Progress Illinois touted this infamous anti-Catholic bigot to debunk Shimkus?

SEIU is paying you clowns with working people's Union Dues?

*http://progressillinois.com/2009/3/30/biologist-rebuts-shimkus-strawman

Martyr Quinn for Ralph Martire'sSake? Blago Budget Bonehead Backs Bloat Boost!

Progress Illinois which hands me more laughs than The Onion ( without meaning to do so and that is even funnier) is all Progressive and Pouffe *over Ralph Martire's** imprimatur on the Illinois Tax Boost. Today's giggle is from Josh Kalven again and he wants Illinois to know that Mike Madigan is very, very smart and Lisa Madigan has ambition!
http://progressillinois.com/2009/3/16/the-one-to-watch

Josh, Honor Bright?

Progress is all Quinnish and Daisy Happy! More Taxes Mean more slots for low skilled and unskilled SEIU placements in the State Budget! PI Loves PQ! They want Speaker Mike Madigan to be the bad guy. They can not go after Lisa Madigan for the obvious PC reasons - she's a Female Girl Woman, but they can get all Boiled Beet Progressive on Daddo.

Pat Quinn, the Governor, wants to increase Illinois taxes - Pat Quinn wants a dramatic increase. Really Huge! Quinn has Ralph Martire in his corner - 'Cut Me Ralph. I can go the Distance! This is a Long Distance Race? Boxing? I thought it was Cross-Country, Ralph! Ralph? Ralph! where's the water bottle? Taxed? That Too? Sponge Me! This is supposed to be Long Distance Cross Country Running! No?'

No; it's Boxing Guv and this is Round One! You might get to Round Two. Oh, thats right, Ralph is in your corner. The canvass is not all that comfortable. You will be hitting it hard, by the way.

Ralph Martire is a career know-it-all-screw-up - a Progressive Professor with his snout plunged in the public trough. From Dawn Clark Netsch to Rod Blagojevich, Ralph Martire's slide rule reads 'Taxes.' State Government Spendathons! Lefty Agit-Prop and Meeks Shall Inherit the Works Coalition Building! Pat Quinn is toast.

This from Peoria!

"What should the state do to balance the budget? Cut spending or raise taxes and maintain spending," Martire said.

In fact, Quinn said last week, he plans to do both. When he delivers his budget speech Wednesday, Quinn plans to ask for an increase in the state income tax, something that hasn't happened in Illinois since 1993, when the current 3 percent personal rate was made permanent. Quinn also said he will announce more than $800 million in cuts to the budget.

Quinn hasn't said how large a tax increase he will seek, although some reports have said he will ask for a new rate of 4.5 percent, a 50 percent increase. An increase of that magnitude would raise more than $4 billion in new revenue.

However, Quinn also will ask for the state personal income tax exemption to increase from $2,000 to $6,000 to offset the impact of the tax hike.

Martire thinks the income tax increase should be even larger. What's more, he thinks Quinn also should adjust the state sales tax while lawmakers are debating revenue increases.

Ralph Martire, who helped Blago give away the Illinois General Store to tax salaried SEIU pals and allies,as well as the usual Pork Eating Capitalists, warns that trimming the Budget Bloat through . . .TAX Cuts !!!! Hopi Indians, Mildred, think of the Children! . . .might . . . might mind you lead to rising unemployment figures.

Yeah???!!!!!!!!!!! Tax-salaried employees put in the State Budget by you and Blago Ralph!

Martire will be a Huge help in Pat Quinn's Martyrdom! You can set your watch by dopes like Martire . . . I mean Distinguished Professors on the Public Teat like Ralph Martire.

* footstool - SEIU's footstool, ottoman, place to put feet on & etc.

** Ralph Martire:Ralph Martire is executive director of the Center for Tax and Budget Accountability (“CTBA”). He also serves as a regular columnist for the Chicago Sun-Times, the State Journal-Register and The Herald Newson issues involving government accountability, tax, fiscal and budget policies. Ralph served on the
budget advisory board to Governor Rod Blagojevich's transition team, where he acted as chairperson ofthe state revenue subcommittee. Ralph was the principal author of a study CTBA produced that identifiedrevenue enhancement proposals to address the 2002 fiscal crises in the state of Illinois. Five of the proposals identified in that study ultimately became law. Ralph also was a key member of the research
team that produced the groundbreaking "State of Working Illinois" report, which detailed industry,employment, wage and benefit trends in Illinois over the last 15 years. A joint project of CTBA andNorthern Illinois University, the State of Working Illinois has been featured in over 150 media (print andbroadcast) placements nationwide. ( emphasis my own)

http://www.ctbaonline.org/All%20Links%20to%20Press%20and%20Reports/Contact%20Us/Ralph%20Martire.pdf

Progress Illinois and University of Chicago - Is there an Agreement to be Agreeable?

Josh and Adam and Angela and their guest artists contributors have a swell album that will rival anything Pete Seeger - The Lefty Red Skelton ( or is it Skeleton?) on Banjo - and Bruce Springsteen - The Boss Man Wobbly - could cook up to get all Tom Joad on us! It's the Republic Windows Revival! Sing it!

You know the business that went toes up when Bank of America yanked its loan back before Christmas every political cockroach ( Gutierrez, Quigley, Blagojevich) in Illinois stood solidarity with the poor folks who lost work.

The workers won a small victory against the company, but Bank of America rolls on!

Progress Illinois ( SEIU's Mickey Mouse Club for the kids of Lefty Activists) seems to trumpet Republic Windows as its own idea, when in fact it was United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers who represented Republic - much the same as Teamsters Local 743 at University of Chicago Medical Center which closed its doors on TWICE the number of workers as Republic Windows.

What's Going On? - as Marvin Gaye was wont to say. Is there some 'Make Nice Clause' in the agreement between the SEIU workers at UCMC and The Hyde University? Hmmmmmmmmm?

Why is Progress Illinois Silent? Just asking.

Progress Illinois ( SEIU) Attempts to Explain Absence During Uof C Med Center Lay -Off!

Click my post title as there is yet any coverage of the protests at University of Chicago Medical Center's lay off of 450 works ( Teamsters Local 743 and according to a UCMC official many SEIU rank and file members).

Crowing over the Republic Windows flatulence in a Tsunami, like former Governor Blagojevich and the Uriah Heep of Politics Mike Quigley, Progress Illinois attempts to take a sissy slap at John Fritchey - and misses high wide and handsome!

The Republic Windows sit-in began on Friday, December 5. Elected officials were making appearances at the factory by Sunday, December 7 to show their support. And on Monday, December 8, numerous alderman, along with Cook County Commissioner Mike Quigley, introduced ordinances to hold Bank of America (Republic Windows' creditor) accountable for cutting off financing to the company before the workers could be paid the wages they were owed. But it wasn't until Tuesday, December 9 that Gov. Blagojevich was arrested, setting the ultimate impeachment proceedings into motion. By the end of the following day, an agreement had been reached resolving the Republic Windows dispute.

So that excuse seems a bit off.

Jeepers try not and be a bit off.

Okay, Young Commissars, how about picking up a picket sign and hitting the line for a few hours in your Birkenstocks? Before, you get all Joe Hill on a an elected official work on them leg muscles.

SEIU Group Thought Tattle on Pages of Progress Illinois by Fellow Traveller Dan Bliss - Mercy Sakes Abounding - Bliss Bound for Gulag?

"The class struggle is the central conflict of the world; all others are incidental. When that power of the working class is once achieved, as it has been only in the Soviet Union, I am for maintaining it by any means whatever. Dictatorship is the obvious means in a world of enemies at home and abroad. I dislike it in principle as dangerous to its own objects. But the Soviet Union has already created liberties far greater than exist elsewhere in the world. … [There] I saw ... fresh, vigorous expressions of free living by workers and peasants all over the land. And further, no champion of a socialist society could fail to see that some suppression was necessary to achieve it. It could not all be done by persuasion. … [I]f American champions of civil liberty could all think in terms of economic freedom as the goal of their labors, they too would accept 'workers' democracy' as far superior to what the capitalist world offers to any but a small minority. Yes, and they would accept — regretfully, of course — the necessity of dictatorship while the job of reorganizing society on a socialist basis is being done." Roger Baldwin - American Marxist, Founder of ACLU, and Advocate of Group Think Progressives

Unions - Real Trades Unions and American Labor gave America the standard of living being eroded by taxes and Advocacy Politics. Advocacy Politics is played by monster tax-salaried Political Action Groups like Services Employee International Union and the blind gutless elected officials who serve their leadership. This PAC posing as a Union is not meant to move unskilled workers into the Middle Class through education and collective bargaining. SEIU is a Marxist operation dedicated to Class warfare and the erosion of the middle class through taxes. Emphasis my own - well who else?

Take a look at the 'group think' erosion feared and repressed by SEIU operative Jerry Morrison's responses to Dan Bliss who whines on about not getting his proper endorsements from Progressive Forces in Illinois. Dan, you lost an election - didn't get enough votes.

However, the power of the reaction to invited contributor Bliss's essay Lessons On Building A Progressive Movementis most telling.

1. Dan Bliss blithely informs the boiled beets Progressives that his failure was their failure.
2. Has SEIU manfully backed his candidacy Progress Illinois would be Arcadia!
3. SEIU don't cotton to out-of-step remarks.

Read the excerpts of their exchange here and click my post title for the full magilla:

jerry morrison/SEIU State Council (not verified) on Sun, 02/01/2009 - 15:08


First of all Daniel ,I take exception to your characterization of the Progressive organizations that seemingly dismissed your candidacy. Many of the organizations you mentioned in your column like SEIU, AFSCME, IEA and Sierra Club ARE the Progressive movement in Illinois and nationally. We have funded, staffed and helped organize the civil rights movement, anti war movement, environmental movement, women and gay rights movements, the immigrant rights movement, not to mention, creating and funding this very blog where you have seen fit to question our commitment to the Progressive Movement. You may not want to hear this Dan but there are a couple real simple reasons why you didn't enjoy the support of the established Progressive organizations in Illinois.

First, your opponent has been a strong supporter of our members and has gone against her own party time and again demonstrating that support. My job is to improve the lives of the 165,000 members of SEIU not help further your personal political ambitions. We support Progressives wherever they exist including the few that still reside within the Republican Party. Second, and you might not like to hear this Dan, but the first anyone in the Progressive community ever heard of you was when you decided to run for office. Prior to running had you ever met an SEIU member? Did you support our members struggles in any substantial way?

You still may be elected someday Dan. I only hope when you do you have a more sophisticated understanding of the political process and the Progressive Movement you so passionately claim to represent.

reply
Daniel Biss (not verified) on Sun, 02/01/2009 - 19:54


Hi Jerry :)

Obviously we mean different things when we use the phrase "progressive movement." Part of that has to do with where we sit and what our roles are, and a lot of that has to do with plain old semantics. Perhaps I should have used the phrase "new progressive movement" consistently throughout my post, or maybe I should have said "grassroots progressive movement" or something. Certainly there's some new collection of infrastructures that have appeared in the last decade, resulting in substantial growth of the movement, and whenever that happens, growing pains and internal divisions are inevitable. I was referring to one side of one of those divisions.

If you seriously want to retroactively debate whether you made the right call with your endorsement, I guess I could do that, although frankly I don't see the point and there may be a better forum to do so than the comment thread of a blog. If you go back to my post, you'll see that I was careful not to say that SEIU made the wrong call. You'll also see that I described SEIU as a valued ally. Perhaps your comment would have benefited from a similarly civil tone.

reply
jerry morrison (not verified) on Sun, 02/01/2009 - 22:31


Daniel, you apparently still don't get it. If there are "internal divisions within the Progressive Movement" as you contend I would ask what have you done to bridge that divivde, if it does exist? As far as I know you have never asked to meet with SEIU members to offer your support in their struggles. I don't remember you turning out your friends and allies in support of the Big Box Living Wage Campaign or man the picket line during our nursing home contract fight. I don't say this to embarass you, but if you apsire to a leadership role in the Illinois Progressive Movement you need to know that there are responsibilities that go along with that priviledge.

You may ask, what has SEIU done to bridge this perceived division within the movement? First and foremost we created Progress Illinois so that Progressives would have a unique online voice in the ongoing political debate.

As far as retroactively debating the SEIU endorsement in your race I see no need to do that what-so-ever. I am proud of the decision we made to back your opponent and would recommend
we do it again in a heartbeat. I only wish you had followed your own advice about debating this issue in another forum. Unfortunately, you chose to use the space we provided you at this blog to question the integrity of some of the most Progressive organizations in the state merely because they did not support your candidacy.

This may surprise you Dan but as a young organizer I ran for office against a longtime alderman and, like yourself, enjoyed very little institutional support from the Progressive community. But, unlike you I did not question their motivations but set out to better understand these organizations and their members ongoing struggles. In retrospect these groups made the right decision in my race just as most Progressive orgs. did in yours.

Proclaiming one's self "the Progressive candidate" in a race is not enough to garner the support of the Progressive community.

Dan, why don't you spend some time doing the nuts and bolts organizing necessary to help build a vibrant and strong Progressive Movement here in illinois. Once you have demonstrtated your understanding of the issues and your commitment to something bigger than yourself I am sure that you will make real progress with Illinois Progressives.

Seeing Progressive organizations as "valued allies" is a two-way street Dan. It requires something from you first, BEFORE you ask for political support. Anyway, I am glad Progress Illinois has afforded you this opportunity to make your commitment to Progressive values known. I hope the dialogue leads to some work. There is plenty to do brother.

reply
Daniel Biss (not verified) on Mon, 02/02/2009 - 00:20


Jerry,

I'm also glad that Progress Illinois granted me this opportunity, and that you joined the discussion . These dialogues are very valuable.

I don't think this is the venue to provide detailed responses to your questions about my past actions on behalf of the movement; hopefully we can focus on broader movement-building questions rather than focusing on one fairly obscure former candidate. Like most passionate supporters of the progressive movement, I've worked hard on behalf of the causes you describe, and like anyone who's honest with themselves, I would like to have done more and intend to do more in the future.

Just one last clarification: my post didn't question anyone's integrity. Indeed, I singled out organizations whose integrity was, I thought, unimpeachable.

Thanks again,
Daniel

Danny Boy - it is cold in Siberia! Cold here, too - but nice.

SEIU Helped Create the Blago We All Know - Watch Them Now

Progress Illinois, SEIU's Junior Commissar Mikey Mouse Club, is huffing and puffing about more grassroots reform now that Blago has been 86-ed by the State of Illinois.

In our latest feature article, Adam notes that Rod Blagojevich's removal from office could clear the way for some far-reaching -- and much-needed -- campaign finance restrictions in Illinois. On WTTW's Chicago Tonight yesterday, former state comptroller Dawn Clark Netsch echoed that sentiment. She highlighted the "window of opportunity" created by Blagojevich's departure and cited caps on campaign contributions as "essential." Watch it: Netsch's observation that "it can't just be legislators" pushing these sorts of reforms is very important. Grassroots and institutional support is going to be crucial. And to that point, I want to highlight the fact that SEIU Illinois (which sponsors this website) is itself pushing for strict restrictions on campaign contributions, which bodes well for the cause.

Oh Heavens Yes, Gracie! Josh, you are a dilly!


SEIU you will recall was mired deeply in Blago's Honey-Dipping Governorship and SEIU figures in Federal Prosecutor Fitzgerald's Criminal Complaint against the only Governor in Illinois History Impeached and Convicted by the Legislature.

Andy Stern's SEIU will be there, to quote Tom Joad from Steinbeck's Grapes of Wrath to troll for and make new Blago. Make no mistake.

Here is a lovely compilation of SEIU/Blago Bedroom Eyes from the World Socialist Website -published by International Committee of the Fourth International (ICFI)them own selves!

In any event, Blagojevich and the SEIU have a lengthy and mutually beneficial relationship. The Wall Street Journal notes that the union “was an early and strong supporter of Mr. Blagojevich, backing him over several other candidates [for Illinois governor] in 2002.” As a condition of its support, the SEIU won a pledge from Blagojevich that once in office he would issue an executive order directing the state government to negotiate a union contract with home health-care workers.


Shortly after taking office, the new Illinois governor signed an order allowing as many as 20,000 such workers to unionize. They were signed up by the SEIU. Blagojevich also appointed Balanoff to the Illinois Health Facilities Planning Board, which approves hospital construction projects.


A second executive order, signed in February 2005, allowed collective bargaining for child-care workers. “The day after it received a letter from the governor’s office saying that a union election could be held, SEIU submitted 18,000 cards from workers it had signed up” (Wall Street Journal). The workers involved are highly exploited, suffering from low wages and a lack of benefits.


Officials of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) complained of the “special relationship” the SEIU had with Blagojevich. The latter union was the number one contributor to the governor’s re-election bid in 2006, donating more than $900,000, or some 5 percent of his total campaign fund.


The SEIU also has a close relationship with the president-elect. The union’s political action committee “spent at least $26 million on Mr. Obama’s behalf in the presidential campaign, making it by far the largest single PAC donor in the campaign” (New York Times).


The union, in the words of the Washington Post, has “become an omnipresent force in Democratic politics.”


An SEIU spokeswoman, Michelle Ringuette, defended the contributions. “Many unions make political donations to political candidates,” she told the Times, “in the interest of making sure we have elected officials who represent the interest of working families, men and women who get up and go to work every day.”


Neither Blagojevich nor Obama represent “working families,” although they may posture along those lines. Their policies defend the interests of big business and the corporate-financial aristocracy. The present corruption scandal provides a glimpse into the reality behind the rhetoric of Democratic Party politics: corrupt, well-heeled individuals pursuing their own selfish goals.


Moreover, the SEIU and the rest of the American union bureaucracy do not make use of their members’ dues money in the form of contributions to Democratic candidates to advance workers’ interests, but to safeguard their own incomes and privileges.


Stern and the SEIU have recently made a specialty of reaching contracts with governments and corporations that benefit themselves and the employers, at the expense of union members. (See Backroom deals by US service unions strip workers of rights)


The SEIU broke away from the sclerotic and discredited AFL-CIO promising a new brand of dynamic unionism, with a special emphasis on organizing the unorganized. As the WSWS noted last May: “However, this has nothing to do with defending or improving conditions, but involves colluding with employers to impose union membership on low-paid workers, who are denied the right to vote on union certification and in some cases don’t even realize they are joining a union.”


The union has set itself up as a kind of labor contractor, offering employers “labor peace” in exchange for the right to collect dues.


In its contract with California nursing home chains, reported the San Francisco Weekly, the SEIU agreed that workers would have no input regarding hours, vacations, pay, layoffs, staffing levels or any other matter concerning their jobs. The newspaper reported, “The employers may outsource work performed by union members, and speed up, reassign, or eliminate jobs at will. The employer may eliminate vacations, or any time off, as the employer sees fit.”


The SEIU went on to use this arrangement as a model for other “organizing” efforts in Washington and New Jersey.


At the time of his arrest Blagojevich was reportedly preparing to issue another executive order that would have allowed 1,200 workers who care for the developmentally disabled in Illinois to organize. Spokeswoman Ringuette told the Wall Street Journal that the SEIU “was aware of the executive order but didn’t know what role, if any, the union played in developing it.”