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Quinn to Blago: Assist veterans fired from state jobs

Posted November 12, 2007 10:00 pm

Mike Ramsey

State employees who recently lost their jobs protecting Illinois National Guard installations should be rehired or get government positions with comparable pay, Lt. Gov. Pat Quinn said Monday.

The state Department of Military Affairs on Nov. 1 laid off 20 employees, including 17 Guard members and veterans, who had been posted as security personnel at four bases. Agency officials said the federal government reduced funding that paid for the state guards and imposed new security requirements that the public employees could not meet under their job descriptions.

Quinn questioned the firings over the Veterans Day weekend, putting him at odds with his boss, Gov. Rod Blagojevich. The administration indicated most of the employees have since found other state government jobs, but Quinn said many have had to take cuts in pay.

He said the Blagojevich administration should reinstate the guards at their old jobs or ensure they make at least the same salaries in their new positions.

"I just think the state of Illinois should step up here," Quinn said following an unrelated news conference in Chicago. "We're the land of Lincoln. Abraham Lincoln said it's the duty of all of us on the home front to take good care of those who bear the battle."

Quinn also took issue with leaving a private, multi-national security firm, Securitas, in charge of the Guard bases. The state has an ongoing contract with Securitas to provide 70 private guards at the military facilities, department spokeswoman Lt. Col. Alicia Tate-Nadeau said. The private guards were already working at the bases and were not hired as replacements, she said.

The Illinois National Guard installations are at Springfield, Decatur, Marseilles and North Riverside.

The Blagojevich administration continued to blame the federal government and the Republican White House for forcing Illinois' hand.

"We think we should be doing things to make sure veterans can find work with the state, rather than making it harder," Abby Ottenhoff, a spokeswoman for the governor, said.

The union for the former state guards has questioned the administration's explanations, saying the state employees could have been re-classified to be able to meet the new federal security requirements. Tate-Nadeau, the state military spokeswoman, said the agency-employee guards were not able to carry firearms under their job descriptions.

Of the 20 public employees who had been stationed at Illinois military bases, 12 got other state jobs, three retired, and two are out on disability, Tate-Nadeau said. Another three have challenged their layoffs and await results of arbitration, she said.

Quinn's remarks over the weekend about Blagojevich's treatment of ex-service members came as the governor, with great fanfare, opened a new suburban toll way named in honor of veterans.

Quinn previously has challenged the administration over its spending priorities for veterans. Quinn and Blagojevich, both Chicago Democrats, publicly parted ways earlier this year over a tax the governor sought to impose on businesses.

Mike Ramsey can be reached at (312) 857-2323 or ghns-ramsey@sbcglobal.net.

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