March 31, 2017
Chicago Tribune
Should Obama save Chicago? That’s asking too much.
After eight years of the often thankless work required of the leader of the free world, Barack Obama seems to be enjoying doing what he wants. He’s visited the British Virgin Islands, Hawaii and French Polynesia. He’s gone kite-surfing, played golf, visited an art gallery and caught a Broadway play. After all the time and energy he put into running for president and being president, most Americans probably think he’s entitled to tend to his own needs.
But not everyone agrees. The headline on an opinion piece in The Wall Street Journal suggests that he get to work on a formidable new task: “Obama Should Make Saving Chicago His Pet Project.”
Which gives us an opportunity to discuss the post-presidential Obama. Expect to read many, many uninvited suggestions for how he should spend his time. The author of this commentary, Chicagoan Gary MacDougal, who served as CEO of Mark Controls Corp. and chairman of the Illinois Republican Party, wants the former president to take on the mission of reducing violence in the city where he once lived.
“He and Mayor Rahm Emanuel should form a citywide task force to find a way to stop the killing and start saving lives,” writes McDougal, who once served on a task force with him.
This suggestion brings to mind The Onion article that ran after the 2008 presidential election: “Black Man Given Nation’s Worst Job.” Obama may think he’s done enough in the way of public service by shepherding the economy out of a severe recession, enacting a major health care overhaul, revamping financial regulation and taking steps against climate change. If you think all that didn’t take a toll, compare photos of Obama in 2008 with those of 2016.
He has other pressing obligations, including some of value to people in Chicago. Planning, financing and building his presidential library and museum on the South Side will demand a lot of his attention before the planned 2021 opening. Obama has reportedly already started work on a memoir encompassing his White House years - and it no doubt will run longer than the 464-page “Dreams of My Father,” which covered less consequential years.
Why should he be the person to tackle violence in Chicago? Obama has spent little time here since becoming president. He and his wife Michelle have rented a house in Washington, where they are expected to stay at least until 15-year-old Sasha completes high school. He has no special expertise in crime prevention, and the relationships he once had with ordinary Chicagoans are no longer fresh. By now, others know the terrain much better than Obama does.
Besides, combating violence and its causes is really the job of the mayor, the City Council and the police superintendent. We’re not convinced a panel of worthies, no matter who they might be, would do a lot to instill peaceable behavior among gang members or other violent residents. But if a task force holds any promise, plenty of other locals could lend it credibility. How about the Rev. Otis Moss III, Chance the Rapper, the Rev. Michael Pfleger or Dwyane Wade? Community leaders whose names are not famous could be enlisted. Local business executives could offer help creating avenues for employment to steer young people out of trouble. Corporations and foundations ought to be encouraged to invest more in blighted areas.
Obama’s library and museum could be part of this effort, but it’s too much to expect the former president to be the savior of Chicago. In the first place, he has too many other things on his plate. In the second, who would want to break the news to Michelle?
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March 29, 2017
The (Champaign) News-Gazette
Ruling paves way for new ruling
The “fair share” dues issue just won’t go away.
The stage is just about set for an epic legal battle over the legal authority of labor unions to compel nonmembers to pay what are called “fair share” dues.
The issue was thought dead in March 2016 after a California-based legal challenge was rejected by the federal courts, a result prompted in part by the death of the late Justice Antonin Scalia. But it was revived by Democrat Hillary Clinton’s defeat last November, a stunning setback for union supporters that cleared the way for new President Donald Trump to nominate a conservative justice to replace Scalia instead of a liberal appointed by a Democratic president.
That’s a lot of political drama to go with the complicated legal issues. But the bottom line is that an Illinois-based case, one initiated by Gov. Bruce Rauner, is expected to be heard by the U.S. Supreme Court in the coming year.
The 7th Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago cleared the way for high-court action by unanimously backing the authority of public-employee unions to compel nonmembers to pay dues. The ruling was no surprise because the appellate justices had no alternative but to rely on existing law in the form of a 1977 high-court precedent - Abood v. Detroit Board of Education.
Jacob Huebert, the senior attorney at the Liberty Justice Center who represents the challengers, said he faces a June 19 deadline to ask for high-court review and will certainly do so.
“I don’t know yet whether we will file it on June 19 or sooner,” he said.
There is, of course, no guarantee the high court will accept any case for review. It rejects far more than it accepts. But the issue in the Illinois case is ripe for reconsideration because the justices split 4-4 on the issue last year, Scalia’s death leading to a no-decision that had the effect of upholding an appeals-court ruling favoring the union.
Huebert said “the case is an exceptionally strong candidate for Supreme Court review because the court has already shown … it wants to address this issue.”
The legal question is whether public-employee unions have the legal authority to compel payments that they contend represent the costs of representing nonmembers with management.
In a statement issued after last week’s decision, the Teamsters union said those payments cover the costs of “negotiating a collective bargaining agreement, litigating grievances, litigating unfair-labor-practice charges and other employment-related matters.”
Nonmembers, however, assert that payments they are required to make violate their rights of freedom of association and speech. Contending that they are compelled to finance union actions they do not support, the dissenters insist they are being forced to underwrite the union’s political agenda.
Rauner kicked off this legal fight in 2015 when he filed a lawsuit challenging fair-share payments. However, the courts dismissed Rauner’s lawsuit because he lacked legal standing. At the same time, however, the Liberty Justice Center joined Rauner’s lawsuit on behalf of state employees who object to “fair share.”
U.S. Judge Robert Gettleman allowed their challenge to stand because he said it was more efficient for them to join the Rauner litigation than file a separate lawsuit of their own.
The case is seen as politically significant because if the union loses its ability to coerce payments from nonmembers, it could lose support from current members.
“Fair shares” dues are less than regular dues, but still significant. More than 6,500 nonunion public employees paid about $650 each in 2015. Losing that money would represent a substantial setback for their unions, and the loss would be even greater if union members decided to opt out.
So the Illinois case is being watched, just as the California case was before it. That, of course, raises the stakes surrounding the confirmation hearing of high-court nominee Neil Gorsuch.
Gorsuch has given no hint as to how he might decide the issue. Nonetheless, Senate Democrats and their union supporters are extremely apprehensive about his appointment, the “fair share” dues issue being just one of their many concerns.
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April 2, 2017
The (Carbondale) Southern Illinoisan
Talking about child abuse necessary to combat issue
It can make people uncomfortable, uneasy. After all, there is nothing about the subject that is any good.
But we need to talk about it.
April is Child Abuse Awareness Month in Illinois, and throughout the country. With that, The Southern will publish a story every day to bring further awareness to the problem, and highlight the efforts of those working diligently to combat it throughout our region.
Southern Illinois has a lot of hard-working people and organizations that make it their mission to help abused children. With this series, we hope to do our part alongside the others who do such a great job - and all the while telling the stories of what they do and what they want to accomplish.
The way to start fixing this problem begins with talking about the problem, then doing something about it.
And Southern Illinois has a problem with child abuse. Statewide, there are 9.7 incidents of abuse per 1,000. In Southern Illinois, every single county’s rate is higher. Some counties clock double and almost triple the state rate.
Poverty is a major factor.
“In poor areas, abuse and neglect go up,” Franklin County State’s Attorney Evan Owens said Friday at a Child Abuse Awareness Month kick-off event at John A. Logan College.
Some of the other statistics provided by the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services are staggering.
Without a state budget in place, some organizations in Southern Illinois - and throughout the state - are having difficulties just keeping the doors open.
But, after all, life goes on with or without a budget. Just because we don’t have a budget doesn’t mean that the abuse stops or the need for these services stop.
If the numbers show anything, it’s that these services need more help. And poverty is prevalent in Southern Illinois. The help needs to come from somewhere.
Child abuse isn’t going to get any easier to talk to about. It will always be an uneasy subject.
But, if you see something, speak up. If you see a child in need, listen. If you see the signs for help or attention, by all means, help.
That’s the only way this problem will start to ease.
Friday’s event had four speakers deliver powerful messages to the crowd. But, Bob Cain, an area administrator for the Southern Region of DCFS, said something that especially stuck.
“Remember, one person can positively affect a child’s life for a lifetime.”
At the end of April, we hope our month-long series of stories will educate and inform our readers, and spurn many of you to action.
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