* The House Elections & Campaign Reform Committee held a hearing today to discuss the blowup this past fall over some county clerks mailing military absentee ballots late.
So, now seems to be a good time to publish an e-mail which was sent by Warren County Clerk Tina Conard in reply to a State Board of Elections e-mail in October notifying county clerks throughout the state that the Department of Justice and the attorney general’s office were investigating the matter and urging them to provide all information that they could.
Unfortunately for Clerk Conard, she hit “reply all,” so it’s been preserved for posterity…
We complied so I’m not too worried. But I would sure like to think that the DOJ has more important things to worry about than whether a soldier gets a ballot or not. But there’s one thing I think needs more attention if they are so hell bent on military getting ballots. GET US THE ADDRESS to send the ballot to!!! We had FVAOs from 2008 that we were told to use. Well in 4 years they could have moved on. Why is it my job to track these soldiers down?
I am sick and tired of catering to voters. Be a responsible adult to know: get us the information we will comply, know when to vote, how to vote and where to vote. Election officials shouldn’t have to have the DOJ or the AG breathing down our necks. If they’ve go that much time on their hands, then get out there and educate the voters.
Um, wow.
“I was probably just angry and venting,” Clerk Conard said when I called her today. “I apologize. I truly believe everybody has the right to vote. I wish every citizen would get out and vote.”
Soldiers, she said, “move so often that we don’t know where to send their ballots to. So I just think that there needs to be a better way to get a correct and current address to us.”
She also added: “I’ve not done one election since 2002 the same way because they keep changing the laws… Every election, it changes.”
The lesson: Take a deep breath and maybe a few moments before hitting the “send” button.
* The Champaign News Gazette’s latest editorial criticizes House Speaker Madigan’s proposed constitutional amendment to cap annual state spending increases to the average level of per capita income increases over the past five years…
Then, there is the matter of how the amendment is drafted. Does it really do what it purports to do?
Not according to the Illinois Policy Institute, a market-oriented political think tank.
Has she been allowed to testify at a Monday hearing, the IPI’s Karen Rasmussen would have pointed out that the amendment, even if passed in fall 2012, would not take effect until 2014, creating a four-year window in which spending could rise significantly.
Further, she said, the amendment would exempt $4 billion in mandated spending on public employee pension programs, creating another hole for more spending. Then, there is a provision allowing the governor, the comptroller, treasurer and state legislators to declare an emergency that would allow them to ignore the amendment’s requirements.
“(The amendment) is more akin to a blank check,” said Rasmussen.
Oh, please. Look, there are some loopholes in this thing. Special funds, for instance, don’t appear to be capped. And Ms. Rasmussen definitely should’ve been allowed to testify. But the editorial is just hokum on many levels.
The reason the effective date is the beginning of Fiscal Year 2014 is because FY14 is the first full fiscal year after the 2012 election, when the proposal would be voted on by the electorate. So, no great conspiracy there. Sheesh.
Pensions aren’t included because, I’m assuming, there’s another constitutional provision requiring the state to fulfill its contractual pension obligations. If you included pensions in the cap, their annual increases could force huge cuts to other programs. This is definitely a debatable point, but I wonder if the paper would agree to cuts in the U of I’s funding in order to make pension payments.
And that work-around provision derided by the IPI and the News-Gazette isn’t really a loophole. The governor declares an emergency. Then, both the comptroller and the treasurer have to agree there is an emergency. Then both chambers of the General Assembly can increase spending above the cap, but only with a three-fifths super-majority in each chamber. That ain’t really a loophole. And it’s certainly no “blank check.”
Had this limit been in place from fiscal years 1997 to 2009, Illinois would have saved a cumulative $29.4 billion over actual general spending.
It would save billions, we’d be almost $2 billion in the black right now if it had been in place, yet this proposal is, according to the IPI, a sham. Yeah. OK. What a crock.
The lesson: The IPI has essentially become an arm of the Illinois House Republican caucus, which has an interest in undermining anything the majority party proposes. Be wary of quoting them.
* A bill seemingly being fast-tracked by the Illinois General Assembly would add a new tax…
Beginning July 1, 2011, a retailer having a contract with a person located in this State under which the person, for a commission or other consideration based upon the sale of tangible personal property by the retailer, directly or indirectly refers potential customers to the retailer by a link on the person’s Internet website.
This is widely known as the Amazon Tax. Supporters include the state’s retail merchants. They claim it will raise $150 million a year in revenues. But the Tax Foundation begs to differ…
Word is that Illinois legislators are considering click-through nexus, also known as an “Amazon tax,” pushed by revenue officials who claim that it would raise $150 million a year in revenue. Such laws, nicknamed after their most visible target, require retailers that have contracts with “affiliates”-independent persons within the state who post a link to an out-of-state business on their website and get a share of revenues from the out-of-state business-to collect the state’s sales tax. They exist in New York, Rhode Island, North Carolina, and Colorado. […]
Illinois’s version is a traditional first-generation “Amazon” tax that targets affiliates. Contrary to the claims of supporters, Amazon taxes do not provide easy revenue. In fact, the nation’s first few Amazon taxes have not produced any revenue at all, and there is some evidence of lost revenue. For instance, Rhode Island has seen no additional sales tax revenue from its Amazon tax, and because Amazon reacted by discontinuing its affiliate program, Rhode Islanders are earning less income and paying less income tax. There’s no reason why Illinois wouldn’t suffer the same fate.
The lesson: Don’t count your chickens, etc.
…Adding… The Better Government Association is throwing an “election watch” party next month. The shindig is being held at the Chicago offices of the Jenner & Block law firm. The firm lobbies the Statehouse for Midwest Gaming & Entertainment, LLC, which owns the Des Plaines casino.
The lesson: There’s nothing wrong with this at all. The firm has a solid reputation. But reformers are often quick to point out these one degree of separation appearances of conflicts of interest, so a quick background check is usually in order.
Wednesday, Jan 5, 2011 - Posted by Capitol Fax Blog Advertising Department
[The following is a paid advertisement.]
“We hope lawmakers see through the hyperbolic spin against this project and vote to bring jobs to central Illinois and put Illinois among the leaders in clean-coal technology.”
• Nearly 10 million labor hours needed to build plant - resulting in almost 2,500 construction jobs at peak
• TEC will create 16,000 direct and indirect jobs during each of the four years of construction and 1,215 direct and indirect permanent jobs - U of I / Illinois Chamber study
• “Clean coal development produces significant energy, jobs, economic development and significant, long-term positive economic impact on the state” - U of I / Illinois Chamber study
Taylorville protects ratepayers
• Residential and small business customer rate impact capped at 2.015%
• No cost to ratepayers before 2015, when TEC comes online
• 2/3 of possible cost overruns paid for by project developer
Taylorville safeguards the environment
• Emissions comparable to natural gas generation
• Net reduction of nearly 2 million tons of CO2, and 11,600 tons of SO2 and NOX annually leading to $181 million – $437 million in annual health care savings
• Dry cooling design cuts water needed by 70% - no fresh water used for cooling
Taylorville supported by leading consumer advocates and working people
• Attorney General Madigan
• Citizens Utility Board (CUB)
• Illinois Power Agency
• AFL-CIO
Governor Pat Quinn [yesterday] announced that Mica Matsoff will join the Governor’s Office as the new director of communications. She will work closely with the Governor and senior-level staff as the Quinn Administration begins a new term of office. […]
As director of communications, Matsoff will be a key advisor to Governor Quinn, planning and overseeing the execution of the administration’s internal and external communications. She will work closely with senior members of the Governor’s staff and cabinet as they develop policies that impact the people of Illinois. […]
Previously Matsoff worked as the director of communications at Quinn for Illinois where she managed all press operations. She also served as the director of public relations for Chicago 2016, Chicago’s Olympic and Paralympic Games bid. She returns to state government after previously working as a spokesperson for the Departments of Commerce and Economic Opportunity (DCEO) and Employment Security. Prior to that, she spent several years at the public relations firm Edelman.
Matsoff replaces Ashley Cross, who is moving over to Illinois Department of Juvenile Justice as its new chief of staff.
Now that former Sen. Carol Moseley Braun has changed her mind and released her federal income tax returns Tuesday, we not only have a clearer understanding of why she wanted to put it off until after the mayoral election but also what may have motivated her to come out of political retirement in the first place.
Simply put, it looks like she needs a job, and these tax returns aren’t going to help her get one on the 5th Floor of City Hall.
Following in the footsteps of Bill Brady and Alexi Giannoulias, Braun neither paid nor owed any federal income taxes for either 2008 or 2009, her returns show.
* The details are scant, but the numbers ain’t good…
Braun did not release schedules or statements to go along with her 1040 forms, so it is difficult to discern many details about her financial situation.
But her 2008 federal income tax return shows she lost more than $225,000 that year, including more than $200,000 in what she called a “net operating loss,” though the source of the loss was not identified. Braun, a former U.S. Senator, state legislator and county recorder of deeds, claimed no wages in 2009.
The $15,954 she claimed as net income in 2009 appeared to be derived largely from public pensions from her former public positions.
* And the campaign wasn’t providing a whole lot of answers…
Braun aides referred questions about her taxes to attorney Louis Vitullo, a Braun friend and campaign volunteer.
Vitullo said he wasn’t prepared to answer many questions posed by the Chicago Sun-Times — including how Braun was able to borrow money in 2008 in the face of apparent financial distress — but said he would seek answers in the coming days.
“We’re pursuing any questions you have,” Vitullo said.
* I’ve heard that CMB writes some of her own press releases, which could explain the typo…
In her news release, Braun portrayed herself as an everyday Chicagoan fighting to keep her business afloat and took a shot at two of her opponents, former White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel and former Chicago School Board President Gery Chico.
“The reality is that unlike Mr. Emmanuel [sic] and Mr. Chico, who traded on their government relations for vast riches when they left office, I did not,” Braun said. “My tax returns are one measure of the fight I have waged to keep my business running. It is not unlike what many small business owners and regular Chicago families are going through.”
* Back to Mark Brown for this pithy remark about Braun’s blast at her rivals…
That’s a fair point for her to make, except there is some question in my mind about how much influence on which she had to trade.
Heh.
* This isn’t the first time that Braun has found herself in hot water over her income taxes. Eric Zorn has posted an extensive archive. Go check it out…
October 15, 1992: Democratic U.S. Senate nominee Carol Moseley Braun has refused to release copies of her 1988 income tax return, seven weeks after saying she would do so to prove that she was not paid for work as a lobbyist. Braun had promised to divulge her income sources for 1988 after denying an assertion by her Republican opponent, Richard Williamson, that she did lobbying work while in public office….”I have never lobbied for anybody, and my tax returns will show that I never earned $40,000 a year for any clients outside of” those she listed, Braun told reporters on Sept. 2. She said then that she would provide copies of her tax returns for 1988 and 1989. But Tuesday, Braun said a copy of the 1988 return would not be forthcoming. She previously released copies of what she said were her income tax returns for 1989 through 1991. “You’ve got more of mine than you do of my opponent’s. That’s all you’re going to get,” Braun said. Williamson, however, has released copies of what he said were his returns for 1988 through 1991.(Tribune)
* Meanwhile, Gery Chico’s rhetoric appears sound, but his plan is a bit on the thin side…
Calling City Hall the “number one impediment to job growth,” mayoral challenger Gery Chico unveiled a comprehensive plan Tuesday to “break down the bureaucratic wall” and attract the businesses and jobs Chicago so desperately needs.
The cornerstone of Chico’s plan is the appointment of a deputy mayor for business development and job creation who would preside over a “jobs cabinet” comprised of business, labor and academic leaders.
The deputy mayor would be singularly responsible for developing short- and long-term strategies for creating jobs, restructuring city departments and reducing taxes, fees and paperwork that serve as a disincentive to business. It would start with repeal of the $4-a-month-per-employee head tax despised by business.
“I’ve heard from way too many businesses that have tried to locate or expand in the city. All they tell you is their frustrating stories of having to deal with the maze of costly rules and regulations. In many cases, they simply don’t go forward. That means we lose jobs,” said Chico, whose first city job was in the Department of Planning.
No argument about the city being too much in the face of business, but how about coming up with a quick list of the problematic rules, paperwork, etc. that he wants to get rid of?
* And Carol Marin wondered aloud today about an attorney working for Burt Odelson, who is attempting to kick Rahm Emanuel off the ballot…
Even more interesting, though, was one of the attorneys assisting Odelson. His name is Tom Jaconetty, a $135,000 top aide to recently elected Cook County Assessor Joe Berrios.
Berrios also happens to be the chairman of the Cook County Democratic Party.
So should we assume that Berrios and the party are against Emanuel? That might be a good guess, since Berrios believes Emanuel was quietly backing his November opponent, Forrest Claypool. […]
Who is paying Jaconetty’s fee to dump Emanuel? “We haven’t really discussed it,” responded Jaconetty with a smile.
Weird, that. Madigan’s guy Mike Kasper is working for Emanuel and Berrios’ guy is working for Odelson.
* Related…
* No accounting for Braun’s bungling on the issue of her tax returns
* Lone bid for Taste of Chicago not going down well
* Alderman calls for hearings on $20 Taste of Chicago admission fee
* Report questions spending by former school board chiefs
* A group of state’s attorneys and victims’ families held a press conference yesterday to plead with the General Assembly not to abolish the death penalty. A vote could be taken today or tomorrow in the House…
Sheldon Sobol, Grundy County state’s attorney and president of the Illinois State’s Attorneys Association, said that the legislation was rushed through committee and that victims didn’t get a chance to be heard by lawmakers.
“When this bill is taken by the Legislature, they have not heard from the most important people that are impacted by this decision,” said Sobol.
Jamie Boyd, Kankakee County state’s attorney, who also has served on an Illinois Supreme Court committee on capital cases, said legislators have based their decision on saving money as the state faces a budget deficit of at least $13 billion.
“[Let’s] talk about the cost of the 18 murders that don’t occur every time someone is executed because we have the death penalty. Those are costs we’re saving,” said Boyd.
Steve Ferguson, Coles County state’s attorney, said certain heinous crimes “cry out” for the death penalty.
“I’ve had any other number of other murder cases that I’ve tried that I’ve not sought the death penalty,” he said. “They did not cry out for it. There are certain offenses that are just beyond the pale that the death penalty is the right verdict to pursue and the right verdict to render.”
The ban on executions remains in place today, though defendants are still being tried and sentenced to death. With the slow pace of capital cases in the system, just 15 men are awaiting execution in Illinois today, with no certainty about when or whether those sentences will be carried out.
Among them is Daniel Ramsey, who killed two girls in 1996, including the 12-year-old sister of his girlfriend. He shot her as she lay on a couch, begging for her life.
“Does he deserve to live? Not in my opinion,” said the victim’s father, Bill Sloop, 56, of Ferris, Ill. “The only true justice in this case is his death.”
Sloop and his wife, Barb, joined a coalition of state’s attorneys, prosecutors and victims’ families in the state Capitol Tuesday to plead for the General Assembly to slow down. Death-penalty proponents maintain that it’s unclear whether the death penalty creates a financial drain on the state because of the extra time and legal costs involved, as anti-death-penalty activists claim, and that some studies suggest it does in fact deter crime.
State Sen. Kwame Raoul, D-Chicago, Senate sponsor of the bill, disagreed that the debate had been rushed. “The committees and the studies have been taking place over the last 10 years,” he said.
He also expressed concern about the possibility of wrongful convictions.
“Law enforcement departments and prosecutors’ offices are made up of human beings, and human beings make errors, especially when there’s immense pressure on them to solve a crime,” Raoul said.
“The state shouldn’t be in the business of killing its citizens. I mean they just absolutely, positively should not be doing that,” said Rep. Karen Yarbrough, D-Proviso Township, Ill.
* Keep in mind that nothing is set in stone yet. Here’s the Sun-Times’ take on what’s going on…
Gov. Quinn and the two Democratic legislative leaders honed in on a potential tax-hike deal Tuesday that could raise the state’s share of workers’ paychecks to as much as 5 percent, a 66 percent jump.
Multiple options remained on the table and nothing had been finalized, but Quinn administration sources held out hope a tax-increase pact with House Speaker Michael Madigan (D-Chicago) and Senate President John Cullerton (D-Chicago) could be struck as soon as today.
Among the proposals discussed during two rounds of closed-door meetings between the three Democrats were increasing the individual income tax rate from 3 percent to 5 percent or increasing it by as little as one half of a percentage point. In both cases, the leaders were contemplating making at least part of the increases temporary, sources said.
Publicly, no one in the talks would divulge specifics on a tax plan, though Cullerton late Tuesday characterized both tax-hike scenarios as “pretty accurate.”
The governor also is floating the idea of borrowing approximately $14 billion, to be repaid over 14 years, largely to catch up on a backlog of unpaid bills, fully fund state worker pensions this budget year and help pay the costs for next year, a key lawmaker said. The borrowing would be repaid by raising the income tax rate by a quarter- or half-percentage point, above any other tax hike lawmakers might approve.
But internal polling of Madigan’s House Democrats showed significant support for a temporary 1-percentage-point increase in the state’s 3 percent personal income tax rate, with some arguing the hike would be too small to fix Illinois’ long-term budget imbalance, said a source familiar with the vote-counting effort who was not authorized to speak publicly. […]
One factor that could hurt Democratic support is Quinn’s reluctance to agree to limit state spending at current-year levels or lower. A spending cap has been a condition for some downstate Democrats to back an income tax hike.
It’s not an argument, it’s true. If they don’t make big cuts, a one-point hike ain’t enough.
“It’s political suicide for a lot of people, and we all know that, but the right thing has to be done here,” Lyons said. “Being popular isn’t always right. Being right isn’t always popular. The old cliche is so applicable toward this thing. It’s sad.”
* Meanwhile, House Speaker Michael Madigan advanced his latest constitutional amendment yesterday…
A state constitutional amendment aimed at making it harder to sweeten public employee pensions moved to the floor of the Illinois House Tuesday, but its sponsor, House Speaker Michael Madigan, couldn’t answer key questions about the measure.
If approved by voters, the amendment would require three-fifths votes by legislators to increase pension benefits for employees of state and local governments and school districts. Such changes now take only majority approval.
The bill passed out of the House Personnel and Pensions Committee on a 7-3, party-line vote with all Republicans, including Reps. Raymond Poe, R-Springfield, and Rich Brauer, R-Petersburg, voting “no.”
The two Republicans listed, it should be noted, have a whole lot of state employees in their districts.
Lawmakers last spring and last month approved slimmed-down pension benefits for new teachers, state university employees, state workers, judges, legislators, firefighters and police officers. But Madigan said he’s worked on his proposal for the past two years so the sins of the past aren’t repeated – especially after he’s left the Legislature.
“Certain representatives of those organizations have been telling people in casual conversations ‘We’re just going to wait it out until Madigan’ s out of there, and then we’re going to run bills to repeal all of it.’ That’s their attitude, and that’s what you’re looking at going forward,” he said. “And so this is designed to raise the bar. And simply say, ‘Look we now know, given the fiscal condition of the state pension systems and the local systems, that this is an extraordinary situation. This is not something that should be handled in the ordinary course. There ought to be a high bar to move these bills.”
* State insurance fraud investigators are now looking at Menard Correctional Center, where over half the state prison’s employees have filed workers compensation claims since January 1, 2008. The Belleville News-Democrat broke this astonishing story, and here’s their latest installment…
The investigation by the Illinois Department of Insurance follows news articles in the Belleville News-Democrat, which reported that since Jan. 1, 2008, at least $10 million in awards and payment for medical leave has been made in about 225 settled cases.
A total of 389 guards and other workers have filed more than 500 claims, including about 290 still pending. About 230 of these claimed injury for the underlying cause of “repetitive trauma,” including carpal tunnel syndrome, an injury of the wrist. The prison employs about 760 workers, of which 567 are guards.
Fairview Heights attorney Thomas Rich, whose office has handled a majority of the prison’s compensation claims since 2008, said that a check of his own records showed that an overwhelming proportion of repetitive trauma claims by state workers were approved without opposition.
A cynic might say word got around that the state was handing out free money and everybody jumped in line. It’s just crazy that the attorney general’s office allowed this to happen. But the gravy train appears to be over…
However, Rich said the approval rate has reversed since the legislature held recent hearings on reforming the workers’ compensation law and since the New-Democrat’s articles about repetitive trauma claims from Menard began this month.
“Now that the legislature has gone into session to ostensibly change the workers’ comp law, and now that the articles have appeared in the paper, ” he said, “The people who have been approving 19 out of 20 of these claims are having people look over their work and are now denying all repetitive (state worker) trauma claims … Now all anyone can do is go before a judge (arbitrator) and let it rip.”
* $5.9 million was awarded in settled claims where a prison employee, usually a guard, claimed injury due to repetitive trauma due to working manual locking systems and keys or other repetitive duties.
* $2.2 million was awarded because of accidents like falling and injuries due to overexertion.
* $1.6 million was paid to workers recuperating from injury.
* The paper’s recent editorial also made a good point…
Another factor is the “not our problem” attitude at the Department of Corrections. More than half of a prison’s workers are claiming work-related injuries, and the department’s response is that it doesn’t process the workers’ comp claims. Well, it does supervise these workers. With so many of them claiming work-related injuries, shouldn’t there be a review of working conditions? The spokeswoman said she wasn’t aware of any such plans.
Tuesday, Jan 4, 2011 - Posted by Capitol Fax Blog Advertising Department
[The following is a paid advertisement.]
Recently, Tenaska has been waging a scare campaign about available energy in Illinois and how desperately we need the power from the Taylorville Energy Center.
What they don’t tell you is this: The available Illinois power pool is 304,000 MW. Tenaska would contribute 544 MW to that pool. That’s two-tenths of one percent - like pouring a coffee cup into a bathtub.
Which would be perfectly fine – should even be encouraged – if it didn’t come with a special deal, above market price tag on consumers.
These are the facts:
• The power produced at the Tenaska plant would be five times more expensive than current market price for power. (21.3¢ per kilowatt hour for Tenaska power versus 4¢ per kilowatt hour current market)
• The hit to Illinois consumers: $286 Million per year, every year, for 30 years.
Tenaska describes this increase as small, says it won’t kill a single job statewide. You be the judge:
* The Chicago Public Schools will pay $1 million more every year in higher electricity costs because of this plant.
* The Metropolitan Water Reclamation District will pay $1.3 million more per year.
* An industrial supply business in central Illinois will pay $265,025 more.
* A state university will pay $208,959 more per year.
* A retail discount store in southern Illinois will pay $66,204 more per year.
Former Obama White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel meets the residency requirement to run for mayor of Chicago and will remain on the Feb. 22 primary ballot, a Cook County judge ruled Tuesday.
In a ruling issued early Tuesday afternoon, Cook County Circuit Judge Mark Ballard upheld an earlier 3-0 ruling by the Chicago Board of Election Commissioners that Emanuel, despite having lived in Washington, D.C., for the past two years to serve as President Obama’s chief of staff, is eligible to run.
“On the question of whether candidate Emanuel has satisfied the 1-year residency requirements… the court finds no error with the Board’s decision,” Ballard wrote. “We find the analysis presented by respondent candidate Emanuel to this court persuasive on the issue of whether an individual must have a ‘place to sleep’ to satisfy the litmus test of continued residence.”
Ballard heard arguments from lawyers from both sides during a 45-minute hearing on the 19th floor of the Daley Center. Burt Odelson, attorney for the objectors, argued Emanuel is trying to “re-write history” by claiming he was a Chicago resident, saying it was akin to the George Orwell’s book “1984.”
“But they can’t re-write the law,” Odelson said.
This thing is gonna go on for a while yet. Nothing is finalized, but the score is now 3-0 Emanuel (hearing officer, city elections board and circuit court).
…Adding… Emanuel statement…
The Board of Elections and the court have both now concluded what I have said all along – that the only reason I left town was to serve President Obama and that I always intended to return. Now that these decisions have been reached, Chicago voters should have the right to decide the election and to vote for me or against me. And they deserve to have the campaign focus on the challenges facing the city and the need for safe streets, strong schools, and stable city finances.
* In other news, former Chicago Inspector General David Hoffman, who set off a firestorm with his report on Chicago’s parking meter deal, now doubts the city can get out of it…
The idea sounds simple and very appealing: Cancel and renegotiate the much-despised deal that privatized Chicago’s parking meter system.
But the idea may well be too good to be true, with outside experts warning that cancellation, even if legal, could stick the city with a tab for more than $1 billion that it doesn’t have. […]
If a court were to overturn the parking meter contract, Morgan Stanley et al. “would have a good argument” to reclaim their $1.16 billion, says former Chicago Inspector General David Hoffman, who for two years has criticized the deal as providing an inadequate return.
The courts more than likely would order both sides “to return to the starting point,” Mr. Hoffman says. Meaning that Chicago would get the meters back, but the Morgan Stanley group would get its $1.16 billion back — money the city has already pretty well burned through to fill budget holes.
Even getting that far is questionable, Mr. Hoffman adds. “The idea that you can overturn this contract in court is just highly unlikely,” he says. And, given credit market conditions, the city “maybe” would do better if it rebid the pact today, and “maybe” would do worse.
* Related…
* Emanuel: Ads could help pay for after-school programs
* Four major Chicago mayoral candidates debate Jan. 27
* Senate President John Cullerton talked to reporters after a meeting today between himself, Gov. Pat Quinn and House Speaker Michael Madigan. He didn’t say much, but did say they’re looking at various versions of an income tax hike…
Senate President John Cullerton, D-Chicago, emerged from the meeting with Quinn and House Speaker Michael Madigan, D-Chicago, and said discussions are centering on a variation of a tax hike bill previously approved by the Senate, but stalled in the House. That bill raised the income tax by 66 percent.
“They are talking about trying to get the votes to pass an income tax, a variation of that out of the House,” Cullerton said. “Whatever it takes to pass an income tax (increase) is what they are talking about now.” […]
“It would be helpful to get some support from the other party,” Cullerton said. “We have a huge deficit we are trying to overcome. We are going to try to work on this today. If we have to come back and meet later, we will have to do that as well.” […]
Cullerton said he thinks the public understands the need for a tax hike.
“We have to pay our bills. We have to make sure out bond rating is improved and people see that going forward we can pay our bills,” Cullerton said. “If people look at it from that perspective, I think it is something they would accept.”
Cullerton said the governor has been meeting with Republicans about the tax hike ideas. He also said that the Senate would address school reform sometime in the new spring session if it can’t be done this week.
* Cullerton also confirmed a report in this morning’s Capitol Fax that he believes he now has enough votes to pass the $3.7 billion pension bond plan. The Senate fell one vote short during the spring session after the bill passed the House, and Cullerton said he has lined up enough Republican support to approve the legislation. The state doesn’t have the cash to make the pension payments, so the pension funds have been paying benefits out of assets for months.
* Meanwhile, House Speaker Madigan talked to reporters today after he testified in favor of yet another constitutional amendment which would require a three-fifths vote to increase state and local pension benefits. Check back in a few for video of that discussion.
…Adding… From an AARP press release urging rejection of Madigan’s TABOR legislation…
As a matter of policy, AARP opposes fixed, arbitrary, rigid caps on revenues and spending. Such constraints lead to vital services being shut down or severely diminished, and prevent states from responding to changing economic conditions – from recession and plant closings, to emergencies in public health, natural disasters, or terrorism.
HJRCA61 would impose such rigid and arbitrary caps on spending, making it impossible to meet new social and economic goals mandated by the courts or the federal government; it would tie the hands of elected officials – who have been chosen to make decisions about taxes and spending; and it would cut out citizens from fiscal policymaking – putting vital matters on auto pilot.
AARP has strongly and successfully opposed similar measures in states across the nation, from Oregon, to Maine, Washington, and most recently Florida where our members were instrumental in defeating a constitutional amendment. Even after a measure similar to HJRCA61 was passed in Colorado, the citizens of that state repealed it once they saw the devastating effect it had on the critical services they rely on, and on their very own livelihoods.
Recent studies have shown that HJRCA61 would lock Illinois’ current human services underfunding into the constitution, worsening an already critical situation for thousands of providers and millions of Illinoisans who need those services.
* Related…
* Rep. Hays enjoying brief stint in Black’s old office
Hang on to your pocketbooks, the Illinois Legislature is coming back to town.
With the collection of retiring and defeated, has-been lawmakers, scheming is afoot to increase your state income taxes by 66 percent.
If it happens this year, it will most likely happen during the next week, when the Legislature is in the final days of its lame-duck session.
It’s the most cowardly way of governing — voting on things when lawmakers are least accountable to the voters.
* The Question: If you had your druthers, would you prevent legislators from voting on anything except vetoes during the time period after the general election and before a new General Assembly is sworn in? Explain.
* The Taxpayers Bill of Rights proposal that I’ve been telling you about for the past couple of weeks got its first legislative hearing yesterday in the House. Speaker Madigan showed up to testify in favor of the legislation…
The Illinois House State Government Administration Committee on Monday approved the so-called Taxpayers Bill of Rights, a constitutional amendment that would limit increases in general revenue fund spending to the average increase in per capita personal income over the previous five years. […]
“I think (the amendment) is reflective of how a majority of citizens in the state feel today,” Madigan said. “I think the majority of the citizens in the state feel, ‘You know, the government ought to be like us – it ought to live within its means and not overspend.’”
The Illinois Policy Institute opposed the plan, even though it admitted the measure would save taxpayers big bucks…
Kristina Rasmussen of the Illinois Policy Institute, a conservative think tank, said in written testimony that Illinois would have spent $29 billion less if the limit had been in place from fiscal years 1997 to 2009.
“Fiscal year 2009 spending would have totaled $27.335 billion, or $1.8 billion less than available revenues,” she wrote.
The Illinois House will be asked to consider changes to a gaming expansion bill that the sponsor said are designed to help existing riverboat casinos whose revenues have been battered by the combined effects of the recession, competition from other states and Illinois’ indoor smoking ban.
Rep. Lou Lang, D-Skokie, the House sponsor of the gaming bill, declined to explain specifics of the proposed changes Monday.
However, he said the basic outline of the bill — adding four new riverboats, a land-based Chicago casino, placing slot machines at horse racing tracks and allowing existing riverboats to expand — will remain intact.
“There are going to be provisions in the [new legislation] that will recognize that current gaming operators will have some problems as a result of the smoking ban, as a result of the down economy, and as a result of the increased competition they are going to get under this [plan.],” Lang said. “We’re going to provide some credits to them that they are not getting today. We’re going to provide some opportunity for expansion. We’re going to try and make their way a little better.”
Lang is not yet saying what lawmakers will do to make it “better” for existing casinos, though he is quick to point out that the basics of the Senate plan, SB737, will not change.
“New riverboat licenses, slot machines at race tracks, a land-based casino in the city of Chicago… none of those are being changed. But it’s a 400-page [piece of legislation], there’s a lot of room in there for change,” Lang said.
However, the proposed legislation will most likely ruffle feathers among providers of long-term care for the elderly, developmentally disabled and mentally ill, Mautino said.
“There’s a provision in here for long-term care, where we’re going to take the pieces of the budget out of all of these other different agencies it’s located in – make one global budget, which would be for the long-term care side,” he said. “And then up to 4 percent of that total budget would then have to be spent on community services where the money follows the patient.”
The philosophy of “money following the person” is popular at both the state and federal levels since it generally is less expensive than institutional care. And the U.S. Supreme Court’s 1999 Olmstead decision calls for the disabled to live in the least restrictive environment possible.
“It’s something we haven’t done, but the courts have told us we need to do,” Mautino said. “So at this time, though it’s controversial, I would expect to see that in this bill.”
* Roundup…
* Report: State would gain $377M by raising cigarette tax: In light of the report by economist Frank Chaloupka at the University of Illinois at Chicago, Senate President John Cullerton said in a statement that “a cigarette tax is one of the most important agenda items for the coming year” because it would generate new revenue. The Chicago Democrat also noted the higher tax would reduce Medicaid costs attributed to smoking-related health concerns and reduce people’s desire to smoke.
* The Senate’s special committee on education reform met in Springfield yesterday, but Mayor Daley also weighed in on the topic. Hizzoner doesn’t think public school teachers should be allowed to strike…
[Daley] said he hopes state lawmakers pass a bill making it more difficult for them to walk off the job.
Daley made his comments at the ribbon cutting for the new Azuela Elementary School on West Marquette. The mayor acknowledged that the bill is controversial and that many people disagree with him. But he called a strike “unfair” to students. He went on to say that no one was going to treat teachers unfairly.
“You can’t give taxpayers money away all the time,” Daley said. “It’s not my money. It’s your money, it’s the taxpayers. It’s the taxpayers of the city of Chicago. And so we negotiate fairly and honestly what we can afford and what we can do.”
But most controversial, the measure would severely curb teachers’ power to strike. Now, teachers can strike after negotiations fail. But the proposal would mandate that the two sides go before a mediation panel and give the local school board the final say on whether to accept the mediators’ proposal or to impose its own settlement. Unions could strike only if the school board failed to make a final decision.
“The threat of a strike is so significant, it casts a very long shadow over the negotiating process,” said Robin Steans, executive director of Advance Illinois, an education-advocacy group that helped craft the proposal. “If you want the other reforms to stick, you have to deal with the strike issue in state law.”
The unions want school administrators and local school boards to be more responsible for what happens in a school district. Additionally, they are seeking professional training for school board members, a second certification for principals based on performance evaluations, and a list of programs that districts must maintain, said Ken Swanson, president of the Illinois Education Association. […]
Several union representatives said not all parts of the state’s first draft of reform are ill conceived. Like the proposal in the House, the unions would have performance ratings established in the Performance Evaluation and Review Act of 2010 count heavily when districts fill new and vacant positions.
“What we are proposing is all predicated on a successful implementation of the P.E.R.A. evaluation system so that we have a credible, solid base of reliable evaluations to work from. That is in our view absolutely critical,” Swanson said.
All schools in the state are slated to have the new evaluation system in place by 2016.
Additionally, like the House version of the plan, the unions want to see tenure based on good evaluation scores. The unions, however, want the length of time for earning tenure shortened from four years to three years, barring no poor evaluations.
After brusquely rejecting on Monday that she should release her income tax returns, Chicago mayoral candidate Carol Moseley Braun did an about face Monday night.
She now says she will release her tax records Tuesday, matching the disclosures made by her three major opponents.
“She changed her mind. It is no big deal,” Braun spokeswoman Renee Ferguson said. “She had intended to release them after Feb. 22 (Election Day), but everybody made such a big deal of it.”
Braun, who heads a coffee and tea company called Ambassador Organics, has suggested she has endured some recent financial challenges, including holding off on paying property taxes on her home because she was trying to keep the company functioning.
“I think it’s a nonstory. … Yes, I delayed paying them,” Braun told the Tribune in the fall. “I’m running a small business and I had to make a choice between paying my property taxes on Day 1 or day whatever it was and I chose the latter date. But they were paid.”
Opponents Rahm Emanuel, Miguel del Valle and Gery Chico each released their returns last month. Emanuel’s showed he and his wife made nearly $2 million during the last five years , and that they paid more than $300,000 in federal taxes.
Chico’s returns showed he made millions of dollars the last few years from his law firm, which lobbies City Hall on behalf of clients. Chico is a longtime City Hall insider, serving as Mayor Richard Daley’s chief of staff and Chicago Board of Education president.
