 But the Bloomington
senator may have his own endorsement deal to
answer for, after a month of pledging to exempt one of his largest
labor supporters from his 10 percent cuts.Brady made headlines on
Sept. 7 when he was endorsed by the largest police union in the
state, the 34,000-member Fraternal Order of Police.
"I am committed to ensuring that you have the best information
and intelligence available in real time to do your job. And the best
training, resources and equipment to do your job as well," he said
in a release following the endorsement.
That commitment has trumped the senator's pledge to reduce all
government departments by 10 percent.
He said as recently as the first gubernatorial debate on Sept. 29
that he would not be cutting anything other than self-identified
"waste" from public safety departments -- a far cry from the "dime
on every dollar" cuts he has proposed for other areas of government.
"I sat there encouraged and surprised (by the announcement),"
said Ted Street, president of the Fraternal Order of Police.
Street said Brady assured union leaders at a private meeting in
July that they would be at the table when cuts are made: a move he
said "has never been done before."
"Sen. Brady has reached out and asked that I facilitate a meeting
between state troopers lodge (of the union) ... and the Department
of Corrections lodge ... to come up with and organize cost-cutting
measures," Street said. "Sen. Brady has offered us input, a voice of
representation in the decision-making process."
Brady blasted Quinn for a deal the governor negotiated with the
American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees union
shortly after the group endorsed him. The deal will prevent the
state from laying off workers, in exchange for furlough days, wage
freezes and cost-cutting measures identified by the union itself.
Brady said such measures represented only "limited budget
efficiencies" and the entire deal smacked of "pay-to-play politics"
a la the Rod Blagojevich era. Former Gov. Rod Blagojevich this
summer was convicted of one count of corruption in federal court,
and is set to be retried on the remaining 20-plus counts early in
2011.
Brady's campaign says that bringing the union to the table to
negotiate cuts is nothing out of the ordinary for his management
style.
"Bill asks everybody on the street and it is going to take
everybody's input and ideas to recover from the fiscal crisis Pat
Quinn has put us in," campaign spokeswoman Patty Schuh said. "Bill's
talked to the education association, he's talked to AFSCME, he's
talked to everybody."
The Quinn campaign is skeptical the senator will stay true to his
pledges to exempt even his supporters in public safety from cuts.
"He's given no details like that. We've never seen any commitment
about protecting public safety or other front-line employees from
cuts," Quinn spokeswoman Mica Matsoff said.
Brady has made public safety a staple in his campaign. Quinn's
handling of an early prisoner release program that freed more than
1,700 inmates, including violent offenders, has been the subject of
more campaign advertising than any other issue.
"I'm Bill Brady and as governor, I'll protect you," he said in
his most recent campaign advertisement, dubbed "The Right Thing."
[to top of second column] |
The senator would be hard-pressed to attack Quinn for the early
release program while pledging drastic cuts to the budgets of cops
and prison guards statewide. But he now finds himself accusing Quinn
of selling out the people of Illinois for his suspect deals with
political supporters, while negotiating a similar one on a signature
issue. His two-pronged attack now appears double-edged.
What it all comes down to is timing, according to one political
observer.
Kent Redfield, director of the Institute for Legislative Studies
at the University of Illinois Springfield, said both candidates have
acted as their own worst enemies by inviting scrutiny into their
respective endorsements.
"What was really bad about (Quinn's deal) is the timing of it and
the way it was handled; it certainly gives the appearance of -- if
not a quid pro quo -- some kind of trade-off, which is just made for
TV ads," he said.
"(Brady's) certainly isn't as dramatic because we are not signing
any legal documents with them, but when you're making policy
pronouncements about people who are endorsing you, you're raising
questions in people's minds about what is going on; it's corrosive
to public support," he said.
The Republican's poll numbers have already fallen victim to
corrosion. Recent polls show Brady trailing the governor by the
narrowest of margins, after seeing his early lead whittled away by
attack ads from the Quinn camp.
Brady has responded by invoking the memory of recently convicted
former governor -- and Quinn running mate -- Rod Blagojevich in
campaigns ads and mailers. He has posted six press releases,
including one TV ad, likening the AFSCME deal to the corrupt
politics of Quinn's predecessor.
"Every time he sells us out, we learn that Pat Quinn's only
priority is Pat Quinn," a grave voice reads above newspaper
editorials criticizing the "pay-to-play" deal. "We need a clean
break now."
That message appeals to Brady's constituents in the police union.
"In looking at the membership of the Illinois FOP, they are
following with the national trend of out with the old and in with
the new," Street said.
The union boss said his members have yet to appoint
representatives to negotiate cuts with Brady in the event he is
voted governor, but he expects a meeting to occur before the
election.
Brady is confident negotiations can produce more efficiency in
the sector.
"Bill has said everything is going to be looked at when he makes
the budget cuts, and he has been told there has been waste fraud and
abuse and that reasonable cuts can be made to public safety," Schuh
said.
[Illinois
Statehouse News; By BILL McMORRIS]
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