8 Oct 2014

 AFSCME Sub-chapter 161

 Dear member:

 We will meet again at Ruby Tuesdays Restaurant at 5203 Old Orchard Road, Skokie, Il. On Wednesday, Oct 15th.The meeting starts at 11 AM.

Our speaker will be Ms. Emily Stewart. She is the Director of the Illinois Alliance of Retired Americans. The ILARA’s focus is principally on threats to Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid. This year, it is drawing the public’s attention to Bruce Rauner’s threat to our safety net programs in Illinois. Last month, it held a demonstration outside of Rauner’s loop campaign office. It was an organized action done by union retirees and union workers.

The balance of the meeting will be to discuss how to get out the member vote in order to defeat Rauner. We will have to vote on spending money for a mailer to all members.

 I have been phone banking at the Council 31 office. The calls are going to AFSCME members and retirees in Cook, Lake, and Dupage counties. As of Tuesday, October 7^th, we have reached 4000 of 16,000 members. The phones are being manned by workers and retirees. They are a great group to be working with every night. Roughly 80-85% of the members we reach are going to hold their noses and vote for Quinn. 5% are for Rauner and the rest haven’t made up their minds.

As of last night, I learned that Chicago Federation of Labor is calling the race a dead heat. Rauner at 44%, Quinn at 42%. Keep in mind, 6 months ago, Rauner had a comfortable 2 digit lead in the polls. In the CFL’s view this race will be won by the side that turns out their voters.

Sincerely,
Charlie Hogan