Would you buy a new house if you knew the carpenters who built it had skipped work half the time?
You probably wouldn’t. And I don’t think any contractors would allow their workers to get away with that kind of truancy.
Yet Bill Brady, builder of some of Central Illinois’ finest homes, has been skipping nearly half his state senate votes as he campaigns for governor.
According to the Daily Herald, Brady missed 207 out of 446 votes in late April and early May, a period when the General Assembly was working seven days a week in its futile effort to pass a budget.
Brady laughed when Daily Herald reporter Timothy Magaw asked about his absences, saying, “I’m balancing what I’m supposed to be doing. My responsibilities as a senator, I think, are being fulfilled.”
If his responsibilities as a senator include lunching on the sidewalk outside a downtown Chicago restaurant while the senate is in session, then, yes, they were being fulfilled. On May 3, I saw Brady outside 312 on LaSalle Street. I know it was him because I shouted “Bill Brady!” and he waved back. Brady was recorded as “Not Voting” on that day’s bills, which included a measure that would have increased penalties for employers who withhold their workers’ wages.
Politics
Brady loves to say that his business experience qualifies him to be governor. Lately, he’s been behaving like the kind of boss who enjoys the perks of owning a business, while leaving the hard work and sacrifice to his employees. When Brady released his income tax returns, we found out he avoided paying taxes by taking write-offs for his flailing construction business -- at the same time he was laying off workers.
If Brady really wants to run Illinois like a business, he should start by docking his own $75,000 salary for every vote he missed. It’s only fair. He’d probably do the same to a roofer who took a break from pounding tiles to run for the Bloomington City Council.
