Hynes signals desire for court order on paychecks
<p class="BODY" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><font face="Imperial">Illinois Comptroller Dan Hynes seemingly encouraged a judge Thursday to order him to cut paychecks for state employees caught in the prolonged budget stalemate.</font>
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<p class="BODY" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><font face="Imperial">The American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Council 31 filed a class-action lawsuit in Christian County court on behalf of all state employees, AFSCME associate director Mike Newman announced at a Chicago news conference. He said ideally a state judge would hold a hearing as soon as today and compel Hynes to keep paychecks flowing.</font>
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<p class="BODY" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><font face="Imperial">That apparently would be fine with Hynes, a Chicago Democrat who has expressed sympathy for state workers.</font>
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<p class="BODY" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><font face="Imperial">"We welcome the lawsuit because a court order would allow us to legally pay employees," the comptroller said in a written statement.</font>
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<p class="BODY" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><font face="Imperial">Hynes previously said that, absent a state budget, he doesn't think he has the legal authority to issue payments to public employees, school districts and other entities. He warned that an initial wave of nearly 5,000 state employees would not get paid Aug. 15 if lawmakers and Gov. Rod Blagojevich failed this week to pass even an interim spending plan.</font>
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<p class="BODY" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><font face="Imperial">Among AFSCME's legal arguments is that federal law and case law supports the union's position, Newman said.</font>
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<p class="BODY" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><font face="Imperial">"The overriding principle under federal law is that the state has to pay employees for time worked," he said.</font>
<font face="Imperial">Blagojevich and most legislative leaders have been feuding over a state spending plan to replace the old budget that expired June 30; a one-month stopgap measure to which they agreed covered the month of July. Lately, leaders have negotiated without the governor, and the House OK'd an operating budget Thursday, paving the way for Senate approval.</font>
<p class="BODY" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><font face="Imperial">Newman said Blagojevich remains the potential wild card.</font>
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<p class="BODY" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><font face="Imperial">"The governor hasn't been a party to these negotiations, and we don't know what the governor's going to do," Newman cautioned. "There's no budget until the governor signs it."</font>
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<p class="BODY" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><font face="Imperial">AFSCME represents about 40,000 state employees but filed today's suit on behalf of non-union state workers, too, Newman said.</font>
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<p class="BODY" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><font face="Imperial">Mike Ramsey can be reached at (312) 857-2323 or ghns-ramsey@sbcglobal.net.</font>