State-Paid Campaign Signs

Rich Miller asks why Governor Rod Blagojevich should force the display of re-election signs in pharmacies.

They are not the first blatantly political signs nor are they the most widely posted political signs that the Blagojevich administration has forced businesses to post.

This one is allegedly about the virtually bogus Equal Pay Act, a “headline bill,” if there ever were one.

It is designed to make women think they are not getting paid enough and that Uncle Rod can help them get paid more.

In a press release concerning the first two years of operation of the union-backed state equal pay for equal work law, Governor Rod Blagojevich is quoted thusly,

"Women doing the same work as men should be paid the same wages."

Anyone disagree with that?

Then the First Feminist, wife Patti, says,

"The fact that many women in the state are still making about 70 cents for every dollar a man earns is a stark reminder that we have more to do."

The problem with putting that canard in an equal pay for equal work press release is that it has nothing to do with the law being enforced. It is the slogan for those who wish to impose state regulations on private sector salary patterns.

It's called "comparable worth."

Here's what long-time employment law lobbyist Jay Shattuck told me several years ago:

"They’re mixing apples and oranges. The Equal Pay Act is about paying people paying people the same for the same work. The statistic is about comparing wages of men earned in male-dominated professions with wages earned by women in different occupations.

"That’s the old comparable worth issue. It’s not equal pay. Comparable worth’s goal is to bring the salary in female-dominated occupations to the same level as male-dominated occupations. A female doing the same work as a male on a construction project would be paid the same.

"That doesn’t mean that a construction worker would get paid the same amount as a nurse.

"Comparable worth is about imposing a societal, subjective value system, rather than a market system for determining wages."

The incendiary poster shown above was forced onto every employer's wall by the Blagojevich administration.

So, the mandated pharmacy sign is not the first to have heavy political overtones.

Both signs are obviously aimed at convincing women to re-elect him.

And, on McHenry County Blog, read who is making an independent expenditure for radio ads on 8th congressional district Republican candidate David McSweeney's part.

And, if you have not dipped into the California Democratic primary, which features Chicago Democratic crook Joe Cari, I think you should. It sounds a lot like what I think the last week of our Illinois gubernatorial election will be. In the following, just change the names and the issues:

If viewers believe the negative ads by Westly, they might well conclude Angelides is a tax-raising, wetlands-filling, Lake Tahoe-polluting developer in the pocket of big oil and a Sacramento development baron, Angelo K. Tsakapoulos.

And if they believe the advertising by Angelides, they may think Westly is a tax-raising, pay-to-play politician schmoozing with corrupt businessmen and taking money from school children as a "twin" of Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.