Capitol Fax.com - Your Illinois News Radar » 2007

Monday, Jul 9, 2007 - Posted by Rich Miller

* 9:50 am - This is not exactly breaking news, but I thought you’d want to hear some audio from yesterday’s press bangs after the leaders meeting (which included several dozen legislators). Click the links to download the MP3 files…

* Speaker Madigan

* Senate GOP Leader Watson

* Rep. Jay Hoffman, speaking for the governor’s team (Part 1)

* Hoffman, Part 2

* Hoffman, Part 3

* 1:14 pm - From Eric Krol…

We’re here live at Gov. Rod Blagojevich’s daily event, an anti-gun measure press pop designed to pump up legislation sponsored by freshman Democratic Sen. Dan Kotowski of Park Ridge to ban the “high-capacity ammunition feeding devices that are needed to operate assault weapons,” according to an administration release.

We’re waiting to see if Sen. Kotowski shows up. After all, last year, he told the Daily Herald he would not vote for fellow Democrat Blagojevich for governor and instead would write in the name of Cook County State’s Attorney Dick Devine. We’ll see if Kotowski shows up to bask in the glow of the TV lights or stays true to his anti-Blagojevich stance. […]

We’ll also be looking to see whether the governor continues his public feud with House Speaker Michael J. Madigan or tamps it down to try to get a little closer to, you know, actually starting to negotiate a budget deal.

* 1:21 pm - Today’s leaders meeting is tentatively scheduled for 4:30 pm.

* 1:29 pm - Paul counted 27 Senators in the chamber today, out of 59 total members. That’s more than yesterday (18), but is still pathetic. The Senate adjourned yet again without conducting any business whatsoever after about a seven-minute session. 84 of 118 House members were present.

* 1:34 pm - Sen. Kotowski did not attend the governor’s Chicago press conference today, according to a reporter at the scene.

* 1:35 pm - The guv fled without taking questions from reporters. Still waiting on the proclamation to see what, exactly, the special session will focus on.

* 1:45 pm - The governor did not formally announce a special session on gun control today, but the gist was that one would be called in the near future on Kotowski’s bill to ban certain high-capacity ammo clips and possibly other bills out there as well.

As I already told you, the Illinois State Rifle Association sent out an overheated press release yesterday which claimed, in part…

It is expected that Kotowski will introduce legislation that would result in the banning and forced confiscation of most of your guns.

That ain’t gonna happen. If any legislation like that was ever introduced, it would get no more than a tiny handful of votes in each chamber.

* 2:47 pm - Rep. Osterman just said he would only call SB 1007 (Kotowski’s large-magazine ban) when he has the votes to pass it. He also said he hoped that the prime focus of the overtime session remains on the state budget, but said that he thinks there’s time to deal with this issue as well. It sounded a little like he was trying to distance himself from the governor’s hot-dogging on the issue.

* 2:56 pm - Krol updates us on the governor’s presser…

Guv was a half hour late. Relatives of gun crime victims spoke, often emotionally. Blagojevich used the event as opportunity to bash legislative leaders who wouldn’t call this bill banning high-volume ammo clips. He didn’t mention Madigan by name, but the inference was clear.

As was made perfectly clear by Rep. Osterman, he will call the Kotowski bill for a vote when he has the votes to pass it. That means, obviously, that he doesn’t have the votes yet. So, the attack by the governor claiming that unnamed legislative leaders are holding up Kotowski’s bill is completely false.

* 3:14 pm - Here’s more on the governor’s flat-out deception on the Kotowski-Osterman bill…

He says he wants a special session to deal with a bill that would ban large capacity ammunition clips.

And why a special session?

Governor Blagojevich drew a dotted line between the bill’s dormancy and House Speaker Michael Madigan.

“How is it that a bill that passed… the State Senate that would ban ammunition clips like this, didn’t get a chance to have a vote in the House?”

Because it didn’t - and doesn’t - have enough votes to pass, governor.

He may have finally overreached on this one.

* 3:24 pm - The latest special session proclamation is out. This one, called for tomorrow at one o’clock, is about the budget for the state’s supportive living program. Read it here.

* 4:46 pm - Illinois Information Service has the raw tape of the governor’s gun announcement today. Go here or just listen below…

[audio:gov-7-9.mp3]

The IIS story is below…

[audio:gunwrap.mp3]

143 Comments

Question of the Day

Monday, Jul 9, 2007 - Posted by Paul Richardson

Rich asked me to come up with today’s question. I’ve been out of town for a week and am trying to ease back into the “statehouse zone.” Let’s try this general one…

Question: If Pat Quinn was the Governor of Illinois, what would we be doing right now?

62 Comments

The games continue

Monday, Jul 9, 2007 - Posted by Rich Miller

* This Blagojevich quote is neither true nor helpful to finishing anytime soon…

“We could finish this yesterday, if Speaker Madigan would simply come back and work with Senate President [Emil] Jones and me and pass a budget that reflects the values and the priorities of the Democratic Party.”

The Senate can’t pass gas, let alone a budget. And the Republicans are now at the table. He’s using Madigan to obscure the fact that he couldn’t get anything done before May 31st, and that blame game is not helping move the ball forward now.

* Remember yesterday when Madigan said that the governor had worked out a deal with the Senate so that its members could stay home yesterday but House members got no such deal? Here’s the Senate census…

As a result, the Senate met briefly Sunday and took no action. Only 18 of its 59 members showed. Just 79 of 118 House members did the same.

* More woes…

Finally, there’s a number on the table for the budget. Unfortunately, lawmakers still can’t agree on what the number is.

The budgeteers submitted a report to the governor and the legislative leaders at the leader’s meeting today at the governor’s mansion. Legislators also were invited to attend.

“The report from the budgeteers appeared to be inconclusive,” House Speaker Michael Madigan said. “My expectation is that the governor will continue to work with the budgeteers to make the report more definitive, more concrete, which will better able us to move forward on this budget.”

While budget negotiations appeared to move forward, legislators still aren’t on the same page. “There was a piece of paper with numbers, and the numbers are the numbers, but in terms of the discussion, there was disagreement,” Madigan said.

Sen. Donne Trotter, his chamber’s budget expert, said so far, there’s an $874 million hole in the budget.

* This story was originally in Capitol Fax and caused a storm of comments on the blog last week. It was converted into my syndicated newspaper column. Please try to read the whole thing before commenting…

Some may disagree, but I believe that this pension “crisis” the state finds itself in right now is almost completely bogus. And since Gov. Rod Blagojevich has called what looks to be a never-ending special legislative session to deal with this problem, I figured I’d weigh in.

The 1994 law that supposedly “solved” the pension funding issue is not some holy writ handed down from on high. It was originally designed to make sure that the state’s various pension systems were 90 percent funded by 2045. Both of those numbers are viewed by editorial writers, political reporters and many politicians as somehow sacred. They aren’t. They’re simply figures essentially pulled out of a hat 13 years ago by a governor, Jim Edgar, who knew he wouldn’t have to pay the price during his tenure. […]

If Illinois were a small, private corporation in danger of eventually going out of business, then the 90 percent funding levels would be a good thing. The 90 percent level would ensure that no matter what happened to the company, worker pensions would be almost perpetually self-funding.

But Illinois is neither a small corporation nor in danger of going out of business. And the Illinois Constitution requires that state employees receive their promised pension payouts no matter the condition of the state’s finances. A more reasonable figure of 75 or 80 percent would likely still guarantee a reasonable level of health, while not breaking our bank accounts now.

And what’s with this 2045 number? Well, it looked good in 1994. The bill took effect in 1995, so a 2045 goal was exactly 50 years away. That’s a nice, round number, to be sure, but as far as I can tell it has no real actuarial validity.

What we need right now is not necessarily a Lottery lease nor a new pension bond scheme, as the governor has proposed. Instead, that 1994 law ought to first be revisited and revised. Is a 90 percent funding rate prudent or is it a Cadillac dream on a Hyundai budget? Does the 2045 payoff goal truly make sense or could it conceivably be put off by another 10, 20 or even more years?

* More budget stories, compiled by Paul…

* School funding reform unsettled

* Chambers: Under pressure, gov clinging to morsels of safety

* Editorial: Pressure will not translate into budget support

* Statehouse Insider: On the developing special session drama

* State’s budget discrepancy hits schools

* Lawmakers still far apart after special Sunday budget meeting

* Progress begins on the budget

* $40,000 later and little to show

* No shouting in Springfield- ‘call it progress’

23 Comments

Here we go again

Monday, Jul 9, 2007 - Posted by Rich Miller

There have been rumors about yet another Emil Jones Sun-Times story for days. Today is the day…

A technology company owned by Illinois Senate President Emil Jones’ stepson has landed more taxpayer-funded business — a fact that has gone largely unnoticed because the firm’s latest deals are buried in the fine print of state contracting documents.

Synch-Solutions stands to make more than $700,000 as a subcontractor to two consulting companies Gov. Blagojevich’s budget office hired to streamline government operations, records show. […]

Synch-Solutions CEO John D. Sterling asserted that his powerful Democratic stepfather “has in no way, shape or form influenced any business that Synch-Solutions has ever earned.” Jones’ spokeswoman, Cindy Davidsmeyer, agreed, saying, “President Jones has no knowledge of Synch-Solutions’ business dealings.”

Still, Synch-Solutions’ work for the governor’s budget office has largely been a secret. The state doesn’t track payments its vendors make to subcontractors. So it’s almost impossible to know what firms are being hired as subcontractors — let alone what they’re being paid.

Jones’ spokesperson said the Senate President has no knowledge of any of his stepson’s business dealings.

And this is an interesting little quote…

“The governor signed an executive order in February of this year barring anyone from his family from entering into any state contracts. If it’s good for his family, why isn’t it good for the legislative leaders?” said Rep. Jack Franks (D-Woodstock), chairman of the House State Government Administration Committee.

Not every contract that some politically connected person gets has to be a bad thing. Synch-Solutions seems to be a pretty well-run company. But the fact that it does so much business with entities that Emil Jones has sway with (the state, Exelon, City Colleges of Chicago, etc.) naturally draws attention to the company. It doesn’t help that Jones has other problems with nepotism.

In other words, this contract may be totally on the up and up, but Jones’ other questionable dealings make it news.

For more background purposes, this is from a story several weeks ago…

All told, more than $55 million in City Colleges business went to Synch Solutions from 1999 through 2006. […]

A few weeks ago, a bombshell hit at a City Colleges Board of Trustees meeting. The board voted — with no questions asked — to award all of the system’s IT consulting business to Synch Solutions and Sterling.

Only one company was invited to bid for the business: Synch Solutions.

The contract total was nearly $45 million over the next three years. Since 1999, the grand total of no-bid contracts from City Colleges has been $100 million…

16 Comments

Morning Shorts

Monday, Jul 9, 2007 - Posted by Paul Richardson

* Opinion: Chicago can’t compete without good trains

* Fading transportation services?

* Residents, lawmakers still waiting on electric rates deal

* Cashing in, or a justified pay hike?

In Illinois, the Compensation Review Board, appointed by the legislative leaders, is charged with recommending salary adjustments for lawmakers. The recommendations are automatic, unless lawmakers specifically reject them, which they’ve done for the past five years. This increase is meant to put salaries back in line for the bumps they passed over.

* Lt. Gov. Pat Quinn pushes for programs to aid military families

* Low wage workers benefit immediately from minimum wage hike

* Sun-Times Editorial: Stroger should have made diagnosis public

* Animal Farm: Duckworth won’t run again

* Tammy Duckworth backing away from another run for Congress; more here

5 Comments

« NEWER POSTS