Why are the unions opposing Bruce Rauner?

So for those who are keeping score — well, the Illinois Republican Party is still just as pathetic as before.  To recap:

One candidate who’s trying to buy the election, spending gobs of his own money on TV ads that have no content except to say that he’ll be careful with taxpayers’ money and stick it to the unions.  So far as I can tell, his previous involvement in politics has all been of the “what’s in it for me?” sort.  An anti-Rauner group calling itself “Republicans for Fairness and Justice” or something like that sent out a mailer (once again, I can’t find a link to an article on this, and we tossed the mailer itself already) full of such accusations, and, to be honest, I find them entirely credible — using government connections and “pay to play” to enrich himself, and then building friendships by helping politically-connected people get rich, too.  (Frankly, the only way he’d get my vote is if he pledges to donate his entire personal fortune to state coffers.)

One candidate who’s dead in the water, not just because of a lawsuit alleging gay sexual harassment, but because, after spending state money on an investigation, he refused to make public the findings of the investigators. 

One candidate who’s so determinedly-centrist that he just won the teacher’s union endorsement.  I don’t understand this one.  Sure, it burnishes his bipartisanship credentials, but what’s the point of a Republican governor who will govern identically to a Democratic one?  One of the most damning moments of Quinn’s prior campaign was when he authorized an extremely generous long-term contract with a state employees’ union only to, immediately afterwards, receive the union’s endorsement.

And one candidate who’s far enough to the right that his electability is in serious doubt.

None of the candidates has given me any reason to believe they can truly solve Illinois’ entrenched problems — though I’ll admit that, so far as I can tell, they’re unsolvable as long as Illinois remains Madiganistan, so unseating Madigan sure ought to be a higher priority than the governor’s race.

And here come the unions, according to the latest Tribune article:  “Illinois Freedom [PAC] has raised nearly $2.1 million from public employee unions, including those representing teachers and state workers as well as cash for polling and research from another campaign fund set up by the Democratic Governors association” — money being used to air anti-Rauner attack ads.

Typically, one would imagine these attack ads, coming this soon, as an indicator that the Democrats and unions fear that Rauner would defeat Quinn, and their best chance is stopping him at the primary, to produce a less competitive candidate at general election time.  Do unions really think that Rauner’s personal spending will make him a threat at the General Election, rather than repelling voters once he faces a well-financed opponent, rather than the three Republicans who barely have two nickels to scrape together at this point?   Or is this just a practical investment?  Two million dollars in ads spent now pays dividends in producing a less-well-financed GOP opponent in November, and lower spending requirements in November?

And I don’t think Rauner can really do much to fight against the unions — but he can certainly put a halt to giving them the goodies they’re used to, like the generous uncontested contracts, or the plum arrangement of forcibly unionizing Medicaid-paid family caregivers.