KANE COUNTY - In response to Cliff Surges' questions about union contributions, Karen McConnaughay's campaign manager Doug O'Brien told Illinois Review Monday that the Surges campaign is using desperate tactics to stay alive in the 33rd Senate District GOP race.
"The Surges campaign is sinking so fast, all he can do is make accusations," O'Brien said. "Cliff has no understanding of the process of collective bargaining."
As Board Chairman in Kane County, GOP Senate candidate McConnaughay has been directly involved in union negotiations for several years, and handled them so well that she's earned union trust and support, O'Brien said.
"Just like the Tribune said today in their endorsement, Karen knows how to get things done. Working through labor negotiations with union representatives and accepting their contributions doesn't change her opinion towards unions at all."
O'Brien said county officials are forced to negotiate with public sector union reps, and if no agreement is reached, the disagreement goes to arbitation. Those arbitrators are appointed by the governor, and they make the final decision. "Those arbitrators Governor Quinn has appointed are not friendly," he said.
And those union contracts bring up another issue that Surges doesn't seem to understand, O'Brien said. Placing a tax cap on county taxes may sound good to property owners, but it's impossible to stay within a reasonable county budget when unions demand regular, non-negotiable pay increases.
Capping property taxes as is being proposed for Kane County's budget puts a huge strain on a county's budget while cutting of potential revenue sources.
"And don't forget that to balance Kane County's budget Karen took on AFSCME, eliminating 60 AFSCME jobs," O'Brien said via phone. "That was a huge political battlefield for Karen."
O'Brien said McConnaughay's positions on project labor agreements, public sector unions and other union-related questions on the conservative coalition's candidate survey remains firmly intact.
Both Cliff Surges and Karen McConnaughay responded to the candidate survey distributed by 11 groups working together to form a conservative coalition for survey purposes. The surveys are available on Illinois Review.com.
