We've seen this playbook before...and we defeated it

Amidst all the tumult of recent weeks regarding the inauguration of a new president of the United States, I realized that this month was also the 10th anniversary of another inauguration—the installation of Bruce Rauner as governor of Illinois. And I couldn’t help but fasten on the similarities of these two transitional moments.

Like Donald Trump, Bruce Rauner ran as a disrupter—and came into office promising to shake up Springfield, just as Trump is setting out to disrupt Washington, D.C. Trump, of course, has vastly more resources at his disposal to carry out his agenda, but Rauner was no less single-minded in his assault on government.

Like Rauner, Trump has a fierce dislike—maybe even hatred—of government workers and an intense determination to nullify the union rights and civil service standards that provide them with a measure of protection from the winds of political change and the whims of the politicians. 

Bruce Rauner arrived in Springfield convinced that as a super-wealthy, uber-elite private sector moneymaker, he knew more than anybody currently working for state government and that his brilliant organizational insights would enable him to quickly transform its mission and operations.

Just as we see with Donald Trump today, Rauner’s first priority was stirring up animosity toward public workers and their unions. That hostility was not just limited to state government.  Many people forget that one of his first campaigns was an effort to enact so-called “right-to-work” ordinances in units of local government all across Illinois that would function to drive unions out of cities and counties. The labor movement mobilized big time and blocked those efforts at every turn.

So Rauner, in collaboration with his allies at the Illinois Policy Institute (IPI), then turned all of his venom on state workers, seeking to portray them as overpaid and unproductive. He stalled contract negotiations, blocking pay raises and withholding step increases, and eventually tried to force a strike that would close down all of state government.  

Lacking even a vague vision of what streamlining state operations would actually look like, Rauner soon foundered, unable to demonstrate even minimal progress that actually improved the lives of Illinois citizens. In desperation, he actually brought the IPI operatives into leading positions in state government.  And, guess what? After all their years of attacking government, they couldn’t figure out a single thing to do to make it better—leading Rauner to get rid of most of them in a matter of months.

At the same time, he refused to participate in the budgeting process unless the state legislature acted to repeal union rights for public employees altogether—leaving the state adrift and thousands of those who depended on state funds frightened and confused.

The words are a little different but the policies coming out of D.C. today—fast and furious—are alarmingly similar. Trump too has turned his governmental streamlining operations over to outsiders—in this case, to the ultra-right-wing billionaire, Elon Musk. Yes, the same Elon Musk who said striking autoworkers should be fired and who fired his own employees by the thousands.

Meanwhile, Trump put another man in charge of the inner operations of the federal government. After denying any familiarity with the Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025 report issued last year, Trump has now appointed one of the document’s chief authors, Russell Vought, as the head of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB).  Vought’s animus toward government and government workers may be even more extreme than Musk’s—and unlike Musk he is not likely to easily get distracted by the opportunity to put a man on Mars (yes, in Musk-world, it will certainly be a man). 

It would appear that Vought views his mission as fomenting actual hatred of public employees,  recently saying: “When they wake up in the morning, we want them to not go to work because they are increasingly viewed as villains.”

Public workers as the “villains” of our time?

As we look back to the battles of a decade ago here in Illinois, one thing is very clear:  We won!  

Rauner never succeeded in his goal of permanently deconstructing state government.  He never succeeded in convincing the state legislature--or most Illinois citizens--that state employees were the enemies of the people. And, of course, he never succeeded in getting re-elected.

He was effectively blocked at every turn because AFSCME members, as well as our allies in other unions, refused to stand down or back down. Because we remained steadfast and determined to continue to do our jobs serving the people of this state to the best of our abilities.  Because we reminded our fellow citizens of the vital importance of the services we provide. And because we stood firm in unity and solidarity at the bargaining table, at marches and rallies, and—of course—at the ballot box.  

The lesson for today? We know that an injury to one is an injury to all. We know that when federal government workers are attacked and belittled, that is an attack on all of us—every government worker everywhere.  We know that if the basic rights of public sector workers can be taken away if they don’t conform to the ideology of the current officeholder, then none of us can count on keeping our jobs for very long. And, most importantly, we know that we can win. Bruce Rauner is long gone and we’re still here. If we remain united and determined to resist, we’ll still be standing strong four years from now.