After being scapegoated and demonized, the “CMS Two” finally get a modicum of justice…
Two former state workers at the center of Gov. Rod Blagojevich’s effort to portray himself as a corruption-buster violated hiring rules but should not have been fired, a judge said Friday evening.
Administrative Law Judge Anthony Dos Santos recommended that Dawn DeFraties and Michael Casey be suspended for 14 days.
Blagojevich aides fired the two former managers of the Department of Central Management Services in April 2006 for allegedly rigging hiring procedures for favored jobseekers.
The administration said they cut corners to give some applicants a better chance at posts and pressured evaluators to give top “A” grades to sub-par applications from clout-connected candidates.
Dos Santos, in a 51-page ruling filed late Friday and obtained by The Associated Press, said the state proved violations against the pair, but not to the extent originally alleged.
“Neither Ms. DeFraties nor Mr. Casey directly or indirectly fixed the grading process,” Dos Santos wrote. “They did not order an ‘A’ to be given if one was not deserved.”
The judge also suggested throwing out charges of insubordination against the two for failing to answer questions from a lawyer hired by Blagojevich to investigate hiring irregularities. Dos Santos said the lawyer never informed the pair they could be fired for not cooperating.
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Weekend reading
Friday, May 4, 2007 - Posted by Rich Miller
The Chicago Sun-Times now has a printable “afternoon edition,” so I figure we can have a not-so-printable weekend edition. Here are some bits I missed earlier today and stuff that came in later as I was working on other things…
* This fight has also been playing out at the Statehouse, and I’ll have more on that next week…
FBI agents visited Joliet last week and asked questions about a land deal involving labor leader Joe Ward and the construction of his upscale Shorewood home overlooking the DuPage River.
Meanwhile, Gov. Rod Blagojevich recently appointed Ward to the Department of Labor Advisory Board.
Ward, 56, is the longtime treasurer of the International Union of Operating Engineers Local 150, a powerful, politically connected organization. It represents 20,000 workers who run cranes and other pieces of heavy construction machinery in Illinois, Indiana and Iowa. The union has a business office and hall in Joliet, 1050 NE Frontage Road.
Ward is in a bitter race with current union President Bill Dugan to become the next Local 150 president. In recent months, the candidates have filed dueling lawsuits including allegations of defamation, palm greasing and dirty dealing.
* Anita Mahajan, of leaning out the window and denying to a reporter that she knew the Blagojevich’s fame, was indicted today…
A woman with close ties to Gov. Rod Blagojevich and his wife, Patricia, has been indicted on charges that she bilked the state of more than $2 million for services her company never performed, Cook County prosecutors said today.
Anita K. Mahajan, 56, who was originally charged in March, appeared today before Cook County Circuit Court Judge Thomas Hennelly who announced the indictment and set May 24 for her arraignment.
* It was alleged in a couple of different Lee Newspaper articles that Sen. Gary Forby gave Senate President Emil Jones a “high five” after Jones killed off Forby’s amendment to include ComEd in the Ameren rate rollback and freeze bill. Those articles caused Forby a whole lot of headaches back in his district, but now the Marion Daily Republican has Senate Majority Leader Debbie Halvorson backing up Forby’s claim.
Senator Forby characterized the report of a friendly exchange of high fives as a “complete and utter lie.â€
Senator Debbie Halvorson (D-Crete, District 40) told the Marion Daily Republican Monday that she was sitting next to Senator Jones when Gary Forby walked up to the Senate President’s desk.
Senator Halvorson said, “After the vote, Forby came over to the senate president’s desk and his hand was clenched.
“He went to bang his fist on the Senate President’s desk and the Senate President reached across his desk to shake his hand. But Senator Forby’s hand was clenched. “Then Gary continued to bang his fist on the table. Anyone hearing what Forby said could not have thought it was a pleasant exchange. And in no way was there a high five,†said Senator Halvorson.
* MDR columnist Tom Kane takes the newspaper chain to task on the Forby story…
So here’s my point. If I could find a corroborating witness for Senator Forby’s claim in 20 minutes, why didn’t a newspaper with more resources than mine make the same effort?
Here is my opinion: the media are arrogant and assume their practitioners are in the right without doing an investigation. The public knows this and would be surprised if a newspaper behaved any differently than the one in question.
It’s one of many reasons that newspapers are losing their subscribers.
* I’m not even sure if I have a septic tank. I guess I should find out before I get hit with this fee…
The Illinois Senate has passed a bill that would exempt home owners with septic tanks from mandated testing that could cost 500-dollars a year in fees. However, Co-sponsor Senator John O. Jones of Mt. Vernon does have some concern about the future of the bill after a Chicago legislator grabbed the bill in the house at the request of the EPA. Jones says the EPA doesn’t like the bill and wants to charge everyone a fee. He reports the bill would grandfather everyone in that has a septic system that does not have the effluent leave their property.
* GOP Presidential candidate Mitt Romney took a swipe at US Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald during the debate this week. Cal Skinner has a nice catch at Illinoize…
Fitzgerald’s name was not mentioned, but Romney went into a virtual rant about what the Federal prosecutor did to Vice President Scooter Libby in a question of whether each thought Libby should be pardoned. Fitzgerald, of course, was that Federal prosecutor.
Nothing was mentioned about Fitzgerald’s fight against corruption in Illinois. […]
Bob Kjellander is Romney’s Illinois chairman.
* Dog Fight in the 50th blog had some good analysis of broken down warhorse Ald. Bernie Stone’s win…
* A Vote Divided
* It was a Turn-Out Election
* Voter Registration Effort Favored Stone
* You may have noticed a few new additions to the blog as we await connection to our new web hosting service. (The people over there have been great so far, but they’re working out some bugs and it will likely be Monday or Tuesday before we’re connected to a new, much faster server.)
Paul has conducted a dead link safari and killed or updated a whole bunch of links in the pulldown menus.
I’ve added a couple of three new news feeds, one for Dick Durbin and another for High Tech stuff, plus one for Illinois and local-related blogs.
I’ve also added two new legislative searches in the center column. You can now search for legislation by bill number or keyword right here at the blog.
* Friday Beer Blogging: Pretzel Edition
* And, yes, I know this is national, but I couldn’t resist. Is Karl Rove an atheist?
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Question of the day
Friday, May 4, 2007 - Posted by Rich Miller
* IlliniPundit looked at the smoking ban vote and came up with some interesting numbers and a great graphic…
The total vote in both houses for SB500, Smoke Free Illinois was 107 Yes, 65 No.
North of I-80 the vote was 99 Yes, 23 No.
South of I-80 the vote was 8 Yes, 42 No.
Notice how almost all downstate legislators representing districts that border other states voted “No.”
But that doesn’t have much to do with our question today. This article does. Legislators want to run another bill to lift the smoking ban for casinos…
State Sen. Mike Jacobs, D-East Moline, voted against the smoking ban and said he worries it will force gamblers out of casinos in his district and into casinos just minutes away in Iowa.
“What we are trying to do is put a little common sense into a bad bill that was recently passed,” Jacobs said. “I think that it would affect our bottom line in a very serious and negative way. We don’t want to lose our patrons to Iowa.”
State Rep. Lou Lang, D-Skokie, voted in favor of the ban, but agrees that exceptions should be made for casinos and tracks.
“The unintended consequence of the smoking ban, which I voted for, is to cost the state of Illinois significant amounts of money,” Lang said. “We ought to at least consider the notion that if we don’t allow…an exemption then we are in effect inviting casino customers to go across the river to Iowa and Missouri and gamble.”
And so does this column by the Peoria Journal-Star’s Phil Luciano…
But the ban also invades private clubs. That’s nuts.
Indeed, private clubs - veterans groups, marinas and the like - are often open to the public. But at their core, they are private: They exist to promote fraternal interests.
Most private clubs historically allow smoking. If outsiders enter a private club, they know they might sniff smoke.
It’s like a house. If you visit a friend who smokes in his private residence, you have to assume the risk of smoke.
Question: Should casinos bordering other states and private clubs be exempted from the statewide smoking ban? Why or why not?
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A new revelation about Jones’ family
Friday, May 4, 2007 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Senate President Emil Jones addressed the ever-growing issue of his position and his family yesterday…
Senate President Emil Jones defended his family’s state jobs and business contracts, including one with the corporate parent of Commonwealth Edison, in a closed-door session Thursday with his Democratic members.
Jones “wasn’t remorseful” about published reports that tied his family to the lucrative jobs, but he wanted to clear the air during the closed-door meeting in the president’s office, according to one lawmaker who attended.
* But the Sun-Times had a new revelation today…
In Thursday’s editions, the Sun-Times and NBC5 disclosed Sterling’s business relationships with both Exelon and the City Colleges of Chicago — the latter of which awarded Sterling’s firm a $45 million no-bid technology deal on April 12.
Besides Sterling, Jones’ daughter, lobbyist Renee Rose, derives income linked to the City Colleges. She began lobbying members of the General Assembly on the college system’s behalf during the last year and a half, Jones spokeswoman Cindy Davidsmeyer said.
Davidsmeyer did not know the nature of the lobbying work, including whether any of it involved securing state computer grants that could have benefitted her stepbrother.
Rose’s work for the City Colleges was funneled to her through the law firm of Mayer, Brown, Rowe & Maw LLP, which she represents in Springfield. Mayer, Brown also lists Exelon as one of its clients, but both Davidsmeyer and an Exelon spokeswoman said Rose has done no lobbying work for the utility.
* The Rockford Register-Star says Jones ought to stop the games and “step aside on ComEd issues”…
Jones should bow out from any more ComEd dealings this session and find jobs for his other children outside of the state government or companies that do work for government.
* Some of Jones’ members rose to his defense…
“They say nine-tenths of everything is perception, but that doesn’t make it a fact,” said Sen. Donne Trotter, D-Chicago.
* And…
State Sen. Terry Link, a Waukegan Democrat and member of Jones’ leadership team, said he sees no problem with Sterling’s contract with the power company.
“I don’t think there’s any conflict whatsoever,†Link said. “He’s a grown man. It’s not like he’s a little kid at home.â€
* But at least one House Democrat expressed concerns…
“Obviously, it is something which concerns and troubles people throughout the state, and obviously it could have some impact on the negotiations,” [Rep. John Bradley (D-Marion)] said.
* Meanwhile, things aren’t going extremely well with the rate negotiations…
“I don’t think we’re close to a resolution at all,” said Rep. George Scully, D-Flossmoor. “I think that discussions are healthy, and I think that out of discussions a resolution can evolve.”
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* The Illinois State Medical Society came out against the gross receipts tax yesterday.
llinois’ foremost doctors group gave a thumbs-down Thursday to Gov. Rod Blagojevich’s sweeping health care reform plan and the new statewide corporate tax that he would use to pay for it.
The Illinois State Medical Society, a politically powerful association of 13,000 physicians statewide, said it still supported the idea of universal health care, just not the governor’s plan.
* More…
“I’m operating under the assumption that the gross-receipts tax isn’t going to pass, at least in its present form,” said Charles Wheeler, director of the public-affairs reporting program at the University of Illinois at Springfield.
The medical society’s criticisms are significant, he said, because the group apparently weighed the new money that doctors could receive under Illinois Covered against other details of the plan.
“I don’t know if it’s the last nail in the coffin,” he said. “From my perspective, the coffin lid was nailed shut some time ago.”
* Judy Baar Topinka claimed the tax proposal was “hideous.”
“This is just the biggest tax plan that’s ever been proposed, the biggest spending plan. He knows that the state is in hock; it’s in debt; it has no money,” she said in Chicago Thursday…
* Declaring the governor’s gross receipts tax “dead on arrival,” the Sun-Times editorial board suggests looking at a tax swap instead…
There is an alternative, but it will require the governor to reverse his opposition to raising the sales and income taxes. The governor is trying to avoid hitting up “working families” but he won’t admit the obvious — taxes imposed on businesses are passed on to working families anyway. He also says businesses aren’t paying their “fair share” of the income tax, ignoring the fact that businesses pay a host of other taxes.
One approach we have long advocated is contained in Senate Bill 750, which would generate more than $9 billion by extending the sales tax to certain services and by raising the individual income tax rate to 5 percent from 3 percent and the corporate rate to 8 percent from 4.8 percent. A huge chunk of that money — $3.6 billion — would be returned to taxpayers in the form of property tax relief or tax credits, with the rest going to education.
* But budget honcho John Filan declares the corporate income tax system “broken” in an op-ed.
Consider that in 2004, average individual tax filers paid $1,500 in taxes, while 12,500 of the largest corporations in Illinois with billions in annual revenue paid an average of $151 in corporate income tax. This simple statistic shows astounding inequity in our tax system that cannot continue.
Dozens of corporate loopholes for big businesses have increased the burden on individual taxpayers and small businesses. The governor’s proposed gross receipts tax is tailor-made to fix this inequity and exempts 85 percent of businesses in Illinois, in addition to exemptions for exports, retail food and prescription drugs.
What Filan isn’t telling you is that corporate tax receipts since 2004 have been way up.
* Meanwhile, the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, a liberal think tank, says the GRT isn’t a bad idea, but believes changes must be made…
One potential problem with a GRT is its impact on high-volume, low-profit margin businesses, for which the tax can represent a high percentage of potential profits. Another potential problem is that a GRT favors businesses that conduct most operations in-house over businesses that purchase intermediate goods and services from other firms, since the tax is imposed each time a business purchases inputs from an outside firm. (This latter problem is called “pyramiding.â€)
Illinois can address both of these problems, however, by allowing businesses to subtract the cost of goods purchased from other companies from the gross receipts subject to the tax. Texas and Kentucky allow a similar, although broader deduction. If the cost of purchased inputs were deductible, a retail discount clothing store — an example of a high-volume, low-margin operation — would pay GRT not on its total receipts, but on its receipts minus the amount it paid the wholesaler for the clothes it sold. This would eliminate the disadvantage that such a store would have under a GRT compared to a boutique clothing store with much fewer sales but a high profit on each sale.
Similarly, the ability to subtract the cost of purchased inputs would eliminate most pyramiding, since the taxes paid during the intermediate stage of production would be included in the purchasing business’s cost of purchased inputs and thus would not be taxed again. Modifying the GRT in this way would help level the playing field between companies that purchase goods and services from other companies and “vertically integrated†companies that include multiple stages of production and have in-house staff to provide legal, accounting, and other services.
The CBPP claims the change would reduce GRT revenues by 30-40 percent, but includes some other ideas to make up that shortfall. Go read the whole thing.
Thoughts?
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Morning Shorts
Friday, May 4, 2007 - Posted by Paul Richardson
* Governor took gifts from indicted contributor, wife got job
* Paul Vallas expected to to take over Katrina-ravaged school district; more here
* Student loan probe targets three Illinois alumni groups
* Illinois Senate to take up House’s OK on rail authority
* Haas: Illinois on the road to safer cycling
“Illinois law says vehicles must pass other vehicles by a reasonable distance,” said Ed Barsotti, executive director of the League of Illinois Bicyclists. “People don’t connect that that applies to bikes.”
* Old State Capitol dome open to public for single night
* Ex-Gov Thompson sticks to his guns
* Metra, CTA, Pace prepare for the worst
* Transit funding lamented
* RTA: System doomsday looms July 1st
* Daley’s plan to move oversight board is attacked; Dick Simpson’s take
* Tribune Editorial: Cops and the OPS
* City supervisor not guilty of on the job politicking
* Jailed “hired truck” official denied alcohol treatment by judge
* Steinberg: Former top cop Cline may head up Olympic security if Chicago wins bid
* Rockford tax bill snafu no ’sleight of hand’
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