North Cook News

An anti-Carol Sente mailer was sent out recently, alleging that in exchange for her vote in favor of union-wage hikes and other benefits, she received a campaign contribution of $15,000.

State Rep. Carol Sente (D-Vernon Hills) is seeking re-election to her District 59 state House seat against Republican Dawn Abernathy.

The mailer, paid for by Liberty Principles PAC, features a large check made out to "Sente's Public Sector Union Campaign Donors" and signed by Sente. The mailer said Sente is bankrupting Illinois to protect herself.

The mailer said Sente received a campaign contribution for her union-friendly votes. The Illinois State Board of Elections showed that Sente received a $15,000 donation from the union for her reelection campaign. This was the largest contribution she has received so far.

The mailer recommends that voters "Bounce Bad Check Carol" on Nov. 8.

  

Sente took office in 2009, selected to complete Kathy Ryg's term when she stepped down. Voters elected her to the same office in November 2010. Sente is currently in her third term in the House.

Once adjusted for the cost of living, the Illinois Policy Institute reported that Illinois state workers are the highest paid in the nation. Workers receive more than $59,000 per year, which is approximately $10,000 more than the national average for a state employee. The U.S. Bureau of Labor also ranked Illinois state workers as the highest paid in the nation, after adjusting for the cost of living.

Between 2005 and 2014, the median American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) union worker salaries rose by more than 40 percent. During the same period, which included the economic downturn of the 2007-09 Great Recession, private sector workers' earnings did not increase.

The wages and benefits cited on the mailer are taken from the July 1, 2012, memo of understanding (MOU) between the state and the AFSCME Council 31 and AFL-CIO. It provided increased wages and benefits to state employees. In the MOU, state worker wages increased by up to 29 percent. Workers' hours, with some exceptions, were reduced to 7.5 hours per day, or 37.5 hours per week. State workers also were allowed to take up to 10 days of unexcused absences without incurring penalties.

The state workers' pension benefits cited in the mailer, $1.6 million, were calculated on the basis of a 30-plus-year career and approximate life expectancy after retirement. The average retirement age of a SERS retiree is 59. The employee contribution would be $63,000, or 4 percent of the lifetime payout. In addition to the pension, retirees with more than 20 years of service also receive free health insurance.

  

The AFSCME contract expired June 30, 2015. Since then, the state and union have been in negotiations. Gov. Bruce Rauner offered to maintain the current salary levels while implementing a four-year wage freeze. To sweeten the deal, Rauner also offered merit-based bonuses.

  

The AFSCME union, which represents 35,000 state employees, demanded wage increases spread over four years that would range  from 11.5 percent to 29 percent. It also demanded overtime after 37.5 hours worked in a week and five weeks of vacation.

After a review, Administrative Law Judge Sarah Kerley issued a 250-page ruling on the negotiations in late August. Kerley recommended that the state and union return to the negotiating table to hammer out their differences. While some topics, including wages and benefits, remained unsettled, she said that to declare an impasse would put an unfair burden on union members. If the judge had declared an impasse, Rauner could have imposed the state's terms on the union.

While the state and union were negotiating, HB 580 was moving through the General Assembly. The House bill would have required mediation of expired state collective bargaining agreements. It passed the House on Feb. 16 and the Senate on March 3.

Sente voted in favor of HB 580. The intent of the bill was to remove Rauner from contract negotiations.

Rauner vetoed the bill.

The Liberty Principles PAC was founded by Dan Proft, a principal of Local Government Information Services (LGIS), which owns North Cook News.