Some Republicans in Illinois have taken to regularly bashing Republican state legislative leaders for seeking support from the Illinois Education Association, a teachers’ union that has for decades worked to help elect Republicans who are sympathetic to their issues.

With longtime wealthy Republican contributors and fundraisers dying, moving to warmer climes and/or retiring, the IEA and more conservative labor unions can help close the funding and precinct worker gap. But those who do are instantly declared to be persona non grata “Republicans in Name Only” by some folks who want no ties whatsoever with public employee unions.

On the surface, at least, it’s a legitimate policy dispute. Former Gov. Bruce Rauner wiped out years of hard work by the IEA when he insisted that Republican legis

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