Introduction
Scott Drury (born 1962) is the Illinois state representative for the 58th district. The 58th district includes all or parts of Bannockburn, Deerfield, Glencoe, Highwood, Highland Park, Lake Bluff Lake Forest, Lincolnshire, Northbrook and North Chicago
Early life and career
Drury is a former Assistant U.S. Attorney, who currently works at a Chicago law firm. Drury is also an adjunct professor of law at the Northwestern University School of Law.
Political career
In 2012, Drury was elected to the Illinois House of Representatives, beating his opponent. Drury has served in the Illinois General Assembly since 2013. Drury was once the Vice Chair of the House Judiciary-Criminal Committee, but has since been removed from that position. He also used to serve on the House Personnel and Pensions Committee and an education committee- until being removed from that position as well. Additionally, in 2015, Drury was appointed to serve as a commissioner on the Governor's newly created Commission on Criminal Justice and Sentencing Reform.
In 2013, Representative Drury voted "yea" to a plan that amended state employee pension plans by drastically reducing the constitutionally protected benefits of Illinois state employees in retirement. The Illinois Supreme Court ultimately found these legislative changes to be unconstitutional.
In 2014, Representative Drury was instrumental in defeating a plan to tax people with seven-figure incomes, a so-called "millionaire's tax" intended to help balance The Illinois budget.
Drury and another Democrat, Rep. Jack Franks, joined every Republican lawmaker in publicly dismissing the millionaires’ tax, leaving the Democrats two votes shy of the 71 they need to move it forward.
Drury most recently voted "no" on an important labor vote in the House. House Democrats were attempting of over ride a veto by Governor Bruce Rauner on SB 1229. SB 1229 which would have empowered an arbitrator to settle negotiation disputes between public sector unions and the governor. Proponents of the bill argued that the bill's implementation would have impeded the Governor's ability to force a "lock-out" of state workers during contract negotiations. The House failed to override the Governor's veto by three votes.
On November 16, 2016, the Rauner administration announced its intention to impose "its best and final offer" on state workers. Should this occur, the AFSCME state workers' union would either have the choice of accpting the Rauner administration's contract terms, which they had peviously rejected, or go on strike.
Although nominally a member of the Democratic party, Rep. Drury often does not support union causes. This has earned him a lifetime ration of 53% on the AFL-CIO scorecard, the lowest among active Democratic politicians in Illinois.
On 1/26/17 The Chicago Tribune ran an article the highlighted Representative Drury's priorities. In the article entitled "Rebellious Democrat complains Madigan stiffed him on engraved clock", the newspaper noted that Representative Drury, the only House Democrat who didn’t vote for Michael Madigan to remain speaker says he’s being punished for his defiance.
The first sign? Rep. Scott Drury said he did not receive an engraved desk clock like the rest of his House Democratic colleagues.
To rectify this travesty of justice a GOFUNDME account was recently created in order to raise the$99 to purchase Scott Drury a clock.
At this time, the state of Illinois has been without a budget for two years.