Pulse: Walsh Jr. will juggle jobs
May 6, 2012 9:26PM
Larry Walsh Jr.
Updated: June 8, 2012 8:06AM
The committee that picked Larry Walsh Jr. to fill the state 86th House seat vacated by Jack McGuire wanted “a full-time legislator,” said Will County Democratic Party Chairman Scott Pyles. Walsh has another job. He’s secretary-treasurer for District 8 of the Machinists union that represents Caterpillar workers now on strike in Joliet. Pyles said it was his understanding that Walsh is taking a leave of absence.
He is, Walsh said, but only for the month of May. Otherwise, Walsh said, his union is willing to accommodate his new role as a state legislator.
Solidarity
About a dozen union leaders showed up at the meeting in which Walsh was announced as the new representative for District 86.
“We wanted to show our support (for Walsh),” said Charlie Hanus, president of the Will-Grundy Central Trades & Labor Council.
“It’s great to have an actual working man as a state representative,” Hanus said. Walsh was a welder at Caterpillar before becoming secretary-treasurer for Machinists District 8.
Read between the lines
Gov. Pat Quinn’s office sent a mixed message last week in a statement responding to a legislative commission’s advisory vote to keep open Illinois Youth Center-Joliet, Dwight Correctional Center, and other prison facilities scheduled for closing by the governor.
The statement said Quinn would work with legislators but “we must continue to deal with our budget challenges and make the difficult decisions necessary to restore fiscal stability in Illinois.”
Look closer
They look but they do not see.
That’s what store clerks often do when selling cigarettes to minors, Joe Clement, a Joliet police investigator, told retailers last week in a meeting to explain the city’s proposed tobacco ordinance.
“In my experience with compliance checks, the clerk takes the ID, looks at it, and hands it back. They’re not even reading it,” Clement said.
Bob Okon contributed to Pulse.
