Illinois could stand to gain a big piece of the stimulus pie - if Congress passes the approximately $800 billion spending package.
Illinois US Senator Dick Durbin says some money for school construction projects and discretionary spending has been cut back, but there are still plenty of dollars that could go to his home state.
DURBIN: If the state faces a $9 billion deficit as Comptroller (Dan) Hynes has indicated, I’m hoping that the stimulus package will infuse some $3 billion into the state, at a time to give the legislature and governor some relief, and I hope that over the next year or two, they can use that relief to put our state back on sound footing.
Durbin says Illinois stands to get around $2.5 billion for Medicaid with another $1 billion tagged for education programs.
First, the federal money will be doled out over two years.
Second, as I told subscribers this morning, the really big hit to the Illinois budget will come from a reported Senate elimination of a $25 billion US House-approved program that would’ve given states significant flexibility to deal directly with their own budget deficits, which are pretty darned high right now…
Illinois is hardly alone in its budget shortfall. Nationally, states are expecting an average shortfall equal to 17 percent of their operating budgets, but in Illinois it is 28 percent, said Elizabeth McNichol, a senior fellow at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities in Washington, D.C.
Get that? 28 percent of our operating budget. Yeehaw.
The education money mentioned by Durbin is essentially a pass-through that goes straight to school districts. It’ll help take pressure off state budgeteers, but it won’t directly patch holes.
* Here’s another explanation of what the Senate “moderate” deal cut out of the original House plan…
The original House-Senate “State Fiscal Stabilization Fund” was set at $79 billion over two years. After a small rakeoff for territories and administration, it was divided roughly into $39 billion to the states (with a pass-through to school districts for unused funds) to restore prior state education cuts; a $15 billion “state incentives grant” program keyed to progress towards state education goals (presumably those set by No Child Left Behind); and then a $25 billion fund that could literally go to any state function, including education. This last flexible fund is basically general revenue sharing, though unlike the old Nixon-era program, it all goes to the states.
The amendment killed the flexible fund entirely; cut the “state incentive grant” fund in half (to $7.5 billion); and then left the remaining $31 billion in the fund distributed to offset state education cuts. So in the state fiscal stabilization section alone, the $40 billion cut everybody’s talking about involves $25 billion in flexible money and $15 billion in education funding.
Governor Pat Quinn announced two major appointments to the governor’s staff by naming Jerome Stermer as Chief of Staff and Theodore T. Chung as General Counsel. Stermer was President of Voices for Illinois Children and Chung was a partner in the Chicago office of Perkins Coie LLP.
“I am very pleased these two experienced and honorable professionals are joining my Administration,” said Governor Quinn. “I look forward to working with them in behalf of the people of Illinois.”
Jerome Stermer, 65, is a highly-regarded manager and community leader. As president of Voices for Illinois Children since 1987, Stermer built that organization into a leading child advocacy group that promotes public investment in children’s education, health care and early development. Stermer also has an extensive background in state government including positions as assistant to the director at the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services and executive director of the Legislative Advisory Committee on Public Aid.
Theodore Chung, 42, is a partner in Perkins Coie’s litigation practice. Prior to joining Perkins in 2007, Chung was an Assistant U.S. Attorney in Chicago and a First Assistant Corporation Counsel to the City of Chicago. He also served has General Counsel to the recently-formed Illinois Reform Commission.
Governor Quinn added that other key personnel decisions will be announced within the near future.
…Adding… Both of these appointments give us quite a bit of insight into how Quinn intends to govern. Appointing a person who ran a social services advocacy group as chief of staff during an extreme budget crisis tells us a lot, as does appointing a former Assistant US Attorney as chief counsel.
In other words, he appears to be moving to the left budget-wise. Here’s part of Stermer’s farewell letter to Voices for Illinois Children…
As you well know, this is a critical time in our state’s history. We’re facing a multi-billion-dollar budget deficit, and the needs of children and families are becoming more pressing even as I write to you. Our new governor is confronted with many challenges, only one of them being to restore the public’s faith in our state government. Your dedication and commitment to children and families is needed now more than ever as we seek to engage all citizens in our efforts. As we’ve done together through the years, we must continue to push for progress in early learning and childcare, public education, healthcare, and all the issues so important to Illinois families.
…And Quinn’s appointment of Chung may signal that he’s more concerned with ethics issues than running day to day operations.
* This is one of the biggest problems for Rep. Feigenholtz and Commissioner Mike Quigley in the 5th CD special election race… …
Feigenholtz sported a well-known cadre of supporters, including endorsements from Equality Illinois Political Director Rick Garcia and Art Johnston, a popular co-founder of the gay rights group. Feigenholtz is going head-to-head for the GLBT vote with Cook County Commissioner Mike Quigley.
One key endorsement is off the table. Ald. Tom “Sticky Buns” Tunney (44th) is taking a pass. Chicago’s first and only openly gay alderman and Ann Sather’s proprietor is a longtime friend and ally of both, so he is not endorsing, though he will do fund-raising for both.
They’re going to split that 44th Ward and gay-friendly vote. They both need to get outside their base, and they are trying. Whether they succeed will determine if they have a chance in the March primary. Quigley has the name, Feigenholtz has the money. Rep. John Fritchey has the troop advantage.
North Side and openly gay state Rep. Greg Harris is backing a strange bedfellow: 40th Ward Ald. Patrick O’Connor, Mayor Daley’s unofficial City Council floor leader and longtime Northwest Side pol. O’Connor launched his Council career in the 1980s as a member of the infamous “Vrdolyak 29,” the white ethnic bloc that stymied the city’s first black mayor at every turn.
That probably won’t dilute the Feigenholtz/Quigley base all that much, but it won’t help, either.
* Meanwhile, the Tribune will not give Rep. Fritchey a break. He gets the Illinois AFL-CIO endorsement while Feigenholtz is scoring the SEIU nod, so the Tribune hed reads thusly: “Unions divided in race to replace Emanuel.” There’s no analysis at all about how many union members are in the district (the unions backing Fritchey have far more in-district members than SEIU, for instance), or the relative strength that each union has (SEIU has a ton of bodies it can deploy at will, many of them experienced with precinct work, but the Chicago teachers and AFSCME are no slouches, either).
However, the real point is this: If a candidate is having trouble with the biggest newsaper in town, one should always keep an eye on that candidate because the trouble often spreads to other media outlets.
Feigenholtz, by the way, will be endorsed by UNITE/HERE this week. The union hasn’t been a gigantic player in ward politics, but it is with SEIU in the Change to Win splinter group and so will play a role in the campaign.
…CLARIFICATION… Local 1 of UNITE/HERE, which is the hotel/restaurant arm, endorsed Rep. Fritchey. As noted in Morning Shorts today, UNITE/HERE is pretty divided these days.
Fritchey won the endorsement of IVI/IPO over the weekend. That’s usually a great addition to a campaign mailer, but not so much as far as troops are concerned.
John has recently been endorsed by the AFL-CIO, IFT, AFSCME, the Jewish Political Alliance of Illinois, the American Muslim Task Force and the Illinois Committee for Honest Government, to name a few.”
Also, Tom Geoghegan is being endorsed by the California Nurses Association/National Nurses Organizing Committe. That will be good for a check and a press pop, but maybe not much else. We’ll see.
* Also via PSB, is a Sun-Times story that we missed several days ago…
State Rep. Sara Feigenholtz is positioning herself as a progressive Democrat in the race to succeed Rahm Emanuel in Congress representing the North Side of Chicago and some of the west suburbs.
But one of her opponents is making sure voters know Feigenholtz’s name appears on two “clout lists” — lists of people who allegedly secured jobs for friends from then-Secretary of State George Ryan in the 1990s and from then-Gov. Rod Blagojevich’s administration.
State Rep. John Fritchey, a rival in the 5th Congressional District race, has been highlighting that connection in calls to voters.
Feigenholtz noted that Fritchey doesn’t mention that many elected officials in Illinois — including Emanuel, who is now President Obama’s White House chief of staff — also found their names on the list for acts as small as writing a letter of recommendation for people who got state jobs. That’s what Feigenholtz said landed her on both clout lists.
Add that to her missing the House ethics vote last week, toss in some expected controversy over her past campaign contributions and the nasty poll which stirred up a bit of ire and you can see a pattern develop, as least as far as campaigns are concerned. Nobody would ever actually come out and say that Feigenholtz is corrupt. They’ll just imply it.
Feigenholtz, however, can retaliate with misleading stuff like this, so it may all end up as a wash.
Two local state lawmakers say they’re already seeing progress with Illinois’ new governor, Pat Quinn. At a Republican breakfast [last week] in Washington [IL], State Senator Dan Rutherford and Representative Keith Sommer say the state is facing some serious problems.
Senator Dan Rutherford says Governor Pat Quinn is already making progress that’s benefiting central Illinois. […]
Senator Rutherford also gives Quinn an A+ for digging out what some called a problem for the Department of Natural Resources.
Both Republicans say the newly seated Democratic governor is helping steer the state the right way.
Sommer said, “It’s a whole different atmosphere, now people connect with the governor.”
* But it’s a different story with Republicans who never had to deal with Rod Blagojevich on a daily basis…
New Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn may not get much of a honeymoon. Republican Party officials peppered Quinn with criticisms the moment he was sworn in, and they promise to keep up the pressure as the 2010 election approaches.
The state’s top Republican, Andy McKenna, demanded immediately after Quinn took the oath of office that the new governor apologize for his relationship with scandal-plagued Gov. Rod Blagojevich. McKenna’s office also published a booklet detailing alleged hypocrisy in the Democratic party.
Quinn’s critics insist Blagojevich’s departure won’t change the direction of Illinois politics unless they pressure his replacement.
“Just because we put a new horse in the race doesn’t mean, to me, that we’ve got a new jockey,” said Richard Stubblefield, Jefferson County Republican Chairman.
That’s actually not a bad strategy. Let the GOP legislators praise Quinn (they will anyway because, as I noted at the top, everybody at the Statehouse is just pleased as punch right now that Blagojevich is gone) and have the other Repubs whack him.
* Quinn will announce his new chief of staff today at 11, and it can’t come soon enough. Things have fallen through the cracks for a very long time…
Illinois hospitals and state government are poised to collect about $1 billion a year through a complicated maneuver involving the federal government, but the money hasn’t begun flowing because of the ex-governor’s legal troubles and the state’s cash crunch. […]
The first step in the assessment program, however, requires the state to come up with some cash - about $1 billion as of Friday. That hasn’t happened. […]
Annie Thompson, spokeswoman for the Illinois Department of Healthcare and Family Services, said payments to the hospitals should start by March 14. The law that authorizes the assessment plan gives the state 100 days to begin making payments, once the federal government approves the plan. The 100-day mark is March 14.
“The department is currently working with the governor’s budget office to identify resources available to begin making those payments,” Thompson said.
When the tollway board picked a new chief Friday to run the multibillion-dollar highway system that rings the suburbs, Gov. Pat Quinn knew nothing about it.
He read about it in the paper - and said he was “disturbed.”
“We are not going to take it quietly,” Quinn told the Daily Herald Sunday. “You can tell them, ‘I’m on my way.’”
Quinn should’ve had a chief of staff in place right away, or at least nearly right away. It’s the most important job in the administration and it can’t go unfilled for long.
As part of their “pay-to-play” probe of former Gov. Rod Blagojevich, federal investigators are examining state bid proposals and other records from 18 heavyweight engineering and construction companies that made hefty political contributions and got big contracts from the state and from City Hall, records show.
In all, the companies have made more than $3.6 million in campaign contributions since the mid-1990s, a Chicago Sun-Times analysis shows.
More than a third of that — about $1.3 million — went to Blagojevich, whose administration gave 11 of the companies $656 million in contracts since 2004.
Mayor Daley took $64,800 from the companies before he put a self-imposed ban on accepting campaign cash from city contractors in the wake of the Hired Truck scandal. Since 2004, 11 of the companies have gotten $183 million in city deals.
Notice the gigantic difference in money contributed to the two men. One of the companies was represented by John Wyma, the former Blagojevich insider who’s looking for an immunity deal. Another was represented by Lon Monk, Blagojevich’s former chief of staff. Both of those guys were bigtime Blagojevich fundraisers. The Blagojevich campaign guys were all about the money, and it shows in that above discrepancy.
* And Carol Marin speculates about the recent Chris Kelly federal indictment for bigtime alleged wrongdoing on an O’Hare Airport contract…
O’Hare has been a golden goose of possibilities for well-connected businesses and politicians. In the last year, Mayor Daley’s own Inspector General David Hoffman has, according to published reports, been probing contracts and political connections out at O’Hare.
And now we learn the feds have in their clutches former Daley aide and Blagojevich chief of staff John Harris, who — guess what? — did two tours of duty for the mayor out at O’Hare. Harris was arrested on Dec. 9. The Kelly indictment spans airport work from 1998-2006.
Where was John Harris during some of those years? In 1999, the mayor named him first deputy commissioner of aviation overseeing the “future of O’Hare,” the project manager for “design, financing and construction.”
A cooperating witness, imagine what Harris has been able to share with the government.
Imagine what Kelly could tell them, assuming he doesn’t stay on that hot tin roof much longer.
* This WaPo story comes out of Washington, DC, so it was most likely planted by somebody who is trying to recruit Lisa Madigan to run for US Senate…
The removal of former Gov. Rod Blagojevich and his subsequent replacement by now-Gov. Pat Quinn is still sorting itself out, but a real possibility exists that Quinn will face a serious primary challenge in 2010.
State Attorney General Lisa Madigan is clearly interested in being governor but, of late, there have been some reports that she may see a Senate race as the better (and easier) next step for her. Quinn has a chance to cast himself as the anti-Blagojevich to a public more than ready to move on. If he does, it’s possible he dodges a serious primary. If he stumbles, the sharks will be circling.
So far, Lisa Madigan seems pretty intent on running for governor. But like I said at the top, there is a DC recruitment drive.
Later in the piece, we get the state’s US Senate race…
[Appointed US Sen. Roland Burris] continues to play coy about whether he will run for a full term in 2010 but even if he does he seems likely to face a primary challenge from at least one major Democratic candidate with state Attorney General Lisa Madigan, Rep. Jan Schakowsky and state Treasurer Alexi Giannoulias most regularly mentioned. If Burris decides against a run, this could be a knock-down drag out fight with Madigan, if she wants to be in the Senate, the immediate favorite in an open seat scenario.
Again, don’t believe that Madigan stuff just yet and consider the source. She didn’t enjoy the legislative process all that much in the Illinois Senate, so the US Senate has never been a major goal.
Giannoulias was in DC again last week to meet with potential campaign staff, fundraisers, etc. He also met with US Sen. Dick Durbin, who said yesterday that Giannoulias would be a “formidable” candidate if he runs. Giannoulias is clearly gearing up for a Senate bid.
* AG Madigan even tweaked Gov. Quinn a bit the other day…
Rod Blagojevich’s removal from the governor’s office signals a new direction for how open records issues are handled in state government.
But will it be more cooperation or antagonism? Attorney General Lisa Madigan wants new Gov. Pat Quinn to set a tone of openness right away.
Madigan sent Quinn a letter on his first day in office, urging him to issue an executive order making open records access a priority. He should appoint special staffers to oversee records’ requests and review scores of denials by the Blagojevich administration to see if violations occurred, Madigan said.
* And pretty much anybody who is anybody in statewide Democratic politics was in DuPage County last night for a President’s Day dinner…
But Atty. Gen. Lisa Madigan tried to sound a hopeful note Sunday night, saying that while the ouster of the two-term Democratic governor involved “some of the most stressful, difficult times” in her career, she and other Democrats need to look forward.
“Look at the history of the good elected officials from the state of Illinois,” she said, citing Abraham Lincoln, Paul Simon and President Barack Obama. “There is no need to be ashamed.”
Yes, there is a need to be ashamed, but I can see part of her point.
* Meanwhile, ProPublica and the Tribune take a closer look at the guy who loaned and contributed $1.57 million to Roland Burris’s 2002 gubernatorial bid. Burris still owes Joseph Stroud $1.2 million from that race…
Shortly after the 2002 campaign ended, Burris phoned prosecutors and local police about criminal charges Stroud wanted filed against a former employee who had sued him, claiming wrongful termination, records show.
The businessman made it clear he had called on Burris, then a private citizen, because of Burris’ political résumé. “There is an appropriate person to go to who was formerly a state attorney general here in Illinois, I believe, to properly secure prosecution of a crime,” he testified in the ex-employee’s lawsuit.
Burris testified that Stroud’s contributions bought him no special access and he denied an allegation in the suit that Stroud had offered Burris $20,000 if the former employee were charged with eavesdropping because of tape recordings she made.
The owner of a local television station, WJYS-Ch. 62, Stroud denied making the offer. Burris, he testified, “received compensation enough. This was after I believe that I contributed a million-plus to his campaign.”
No charges were ever filed and Stroud also testified that he contributed so much money to Burris because it was in the best interests of the African-American community.
Before he was even sworn in, newly minted Senator Roland Burris had already filed paperwork allowing him to start fund-raising for the 2010 election. But he says that’s doesn’t necessarily mean he wants to run for the office when his term expires.
BURRIS: No that means I am in debt. I have legal bills, to the tune of $400,000
Burris said he had to pay for his staff out of his pocket while battling to be seated in the Senate, after his controversial appointment by then-Governor Rod Blagojevich.
BURRIS: I have to try to recoup those funds, because I am not a wealthy person.
Burris’ own law firm represented him during the appointment ordeal and they still hit him for 400 large?
* Burris really ought to answer questions about this…
Faced with pressure from state regulators and a multimillion-dollar deficit in a funeral trust fund, the Illinois Funeral Directors Association two years ago turned to Roland Burris for help.
Burris, appointed last month to the U.S. Senate from Illinois, met at least once in 2007 with state officials who had determined the IFDA’s pre-need funeral trust fund, set up to provide funerals for nearly 50,000 people in Illinois, had a $39 million shortfall as of the end of 2005.
Reached mid-afternoon Friday, Darrel Thompson, Burris’ chief of staff, said the senator was too busy with official duties to answer questions.
Just how effective Burris was as an IFDA lobbyist isn’t clear.
A holding tank broke open Sunday spilling about 65,000 gallons of oil sludge at a Caterpillar facility in Joliet.
The spill contaminated a three mile area around the Des Plaines River, but officials said it will not have any effect on human health.
The US Coast Guard, Environmental Protection Agency and Joliet officials placed a floating wall to keep the oil from spreading, and they are working to get it cleaned up.
Back when Wal-Mart first proposed opening stores in Chicago in 2004, the nation’s unemployment rate was 5.6 percent and the City Council thought it could afford the luxury of turning the company away. Big labor was at war with Wal-Mart because the company doesn’t have union workers. So Chicago politicians said Wal-Mart jobs weren’t good enough for Chicagoans. One store was allowed to open, but the company’s bid for more was spurned.
Now unemployment is at 7.6 percent, the economy is in desperate shape, companies are shedding workers. Nearly 600,000 Americans lost their jobs last month.
And here comes word that Wal-Mart still wants to put Chicagoans to work. The company is renewing its Chicago push. John Bisio, Wal-Mart’s Illinois director of public affairs and governmental relations, told us Friday that it is looking at “roughly a dozen potential locations” in the city.
With great fanfare in 2004, Unite — formerly called the Union of Needletrades, Industrial and Textile Employees — merged with Here, the larger Hotel Employees and Restaurant Employees International Union. But now Mr. Raynor and many of his supporters think the merger should be undone.
“This union has irreconcilable differences,” Mr. Raynor said. “The union should have a divorce.”
After all, nominating petitions will be starting to circulate as the summer draws to a close. Already prospective candidates for statewide office are publicly mulling over which office they intend to seek in the February primary - in 2010, not the one coming up in a couple weeks.
Welcome to the perpetual campaign.
Unless, of course, Gov. Pat Quinn or one of several legislators with competing proposals gets his way and rallies enough support to push back the Illinois primary to sometime when the temperatures are above freezing. Quinn is keen on September. Several others appear to favor August. Peoria Sen. Dale Risinger has a measure that would land the primary on the first Tuesday in June.
* From Mclatchy, we have the list of apparently agreed Senate cuts to the House-passed [and subsequent Senate add-ons] federal stimulus bill…
Here’re the cuts, according to Sen. Leahy’s office. Based on this list, the governors who’ve been the strongest supporters of the stimulus bill, because it offered them some relief in a terrible budget year, will cry the loudest. Schools, environmental programs and broadband expansion projects also take a hit.
Billion dollar cuts
$40 billion State Fiscal Stabilization
$16 billion School Construction
$7.5 billion of State Incentive Grants
$5.8 billion Health Prevention Activity
$4.5 billion GSA
$3.5 billion Higher Ed Construction (Eliminated)
$3.5 billion Federal Bldgs Greening
$2.25 Neighborhood Stabilization (Eliminate)
$2 billion broadband
$2 billion HIT Grants
$1.25 billion project based rental
$1 billion Head Start/Early Start
$1.2 billion in Retrofiting Project 8 Housing
$1 billion Energy Loan Guarantees
Million dollar cuts
$100 million FSA modernization
$50 million CSERES Research
$65 million Watershed Rehab
$30 million SD Salaries
$100 Distance Learning
$98 million School Nutrition
$50 million aquaculture
$100 million NIST
$100 million NOAA
$100 million Law Enforcement Wireless
$50 million Detention Trustee
$25 million Marshalls Construction
$100 million FBI Construction
$300 million Federal Prisons
$300 million BYRNE Formula [State and Local Law Enforcement]
$140 million BYRNE Competitive [State and Local Law Enforcement]
$10 million State and Local Law Enforcement
$50 million NASA
$50 million Aeronautics
$50 million Exploration
$50 million Cross Agency Support
$200 million NSF
$100 million Science
$300 million Fed Hybrid Vehicles
$50 million from DHS
$200 million TSA
$122 million for Coast Guard Cutters, modifies use
$25 million Fish and Wildlife
$55 million Historic Preservation
$20 million working capital fund
$200 million Superfund
$165 million Forest Svc Capital Improvement
$90 million State & Private Wildlife Fire Management
Changes included cutbacks in projects that likely would give the economy a quick lift, like $40 billion in aid to state governments for education and other programs. […]
Among the most difficult cuts… was the elimination of $40 billion in aid to states, money that economists say is an efficient way to pump up the economy by preventing layoffs, cuts in services or tax increases. [Emphasis added]
“And, we know for sure that the big spending programs of the New Deal did not work. In 1940, unemployment was still 15%. And, it’s widely agreed among economists, that what got us out of the doldrums that we were in during the Depression was the beginning of World War II.
The “beginning of World War II” brought massive spending increases, the likes of which were unseen during the Great Depression. So, if that’s McConnell’s model, then this ought to be a far larger bill.
* Related…
* Ray LaHood, speaking from Peoria, talks about infrastructure
* 2:16 pm - An Illinois appellate court has just ruled that former Gov. George Ryan can keep part of his pension.
The court held that since Ryan’s service in the Illinois General Assembly and as lt. governor had nothing to do with the criminal case against him, he could keep that portion of his pension.
Ryan’s case, by the way, was argued by Kyle DeJong at Winston & Strawn. It was his first argument in any court. Not a bad way to start out, especially since the other side was represented by Attorney General Lisa Madigan.
*** 2:34 pm *** Attorney General Lisa Madigan’s office just called to say the AG will file an appeal with the Illinois Supreme Court.
Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn says he has no immediate plans to lift the state’s moratorium on the death penalty.
The Democrat who last week replaced ousted former Gov. Rod Blagojevich says he supports capital punishment. But he says he worries innocent people have been sent to Illinois’ death row.
The Illinois Toll Highway Authority Board appointed today Michael King as its new acting executive director.
King has been the director of communications and marketing for the tollway for approximately the last three years. He replaces Dawn Catuara at the post after Catuara resigned effective today.
Rauch’s premise is that Rod Blagojevich’s “railroading” will come back to haunt Illinois. He’s flat-out wrong on several points.
* First and foremost, he seems to completely misunderstand Rod Blagojevich. Rauch asks what the hurry was to oust Blagojevich from office. Since Blagojevich was under “minute” surveillance, he wrote, why worry that the governor would do anything else illegal?
That’s easy. Just look at the record. Blagojevich knew very well that he was under intense investigation when he allegedly did all those things contained in the federal criminal complaint. There was an active grand jury, his friends had been indicted, and he knew the FBI was crawling all over him and that US Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald had placed a big target on his head.
But the criminal complaint was only one aspect of the impeachment article. The rest of the charges were based on Blagojevich’s repeated willful and malicious attempts at nullifying or sidestepping the General Assembly’s legitimate constitutional authority. And then he even refused to back away from his behavior during his closing argument to the Senate. He had to go.
Plus, government completely collapsed after Blagojevich’s arrest. He could no longer govern. He had to go. The sooner the better.
And, finally, as stated many times during the impeachment process, the object of the General Assembly’s move was to protect the citizenry from this guy. So, again, he had to go.
* Rauch obviously has no clue what went on in Springfield during the impeachment. He writes…
On the basis of six minutes of wiretapped conversation — six minutes out of what the Chicago Tribune reported were “thousands of hours of recordings made of the governor and his allies” — the governor is convicted by the Senate and turned out of office.
Um, no. Those recordings were only a small part of the total package. You’d think he would’ve checked that one.
* Rauch also writes…
And the political class was too cavalier about nullifying an election.
Too cavalier? They stood by for six years while the guy broke one state law after another, then finally acted after he was arrested by the FBI and they were too cavalier? Quite a few people in this state believe they didn’t act quickly enough.
* Rauch’s conclusion…
Whatever his wrongs, Blagojevich was right about this: The rules that removed him are not sufficiently distinguishable from a railroading, and they are wide open to abuse. We may find out, before long, that the door he was just shoved through swings both ways.
The Illinois trial rules were almost identical to the US Senate’s impeachment rules for Bill Clinton’s trial. Clinton was not convicted.
Also, unlike Nixon, Clinton and Reagan during Iran/Contra, this was a Democrat-on-Democrat process. There will be no partisan blowback like there was in DC. Who’s gonna retaliate? Blagojevich’s friends and allies? He has no friends and allies.
But I will admit, as I have before, that the next time a governor spends six years ignoring state laws; watches as pretty much all of his top fundraisers and advisors are indicted, imprisoned or are under investigation and/ior seeking immunity; is arrested by the FBI at 6 o’clock in the morning along with his chief of staff because he was caught on surveillance tapes doing some seriously dirty deeds; and then instead of attending the House impeachment hearings and the Senate trial, goes on national TV to blame all of his problems on a mythical “political witch hunt,” then he or she will also be impeached and removed from office. I guarantee it. This is really the only precedent set here.
…Adding… From comments…
The proper question is, what precedent would the GA be setting if they did nothing and let this guy stay in office? What would an Illinois official have to do to be thrown out of office? How much corruption are the citizens supposed to tolerate?
Head Start, Education for the Disadvantaged, School improvement, Child Nutrition, Firefighters, Transportation Security Administration, Coast Guard, Prisons, COPS Hiring, Violence Against Women, NASA, NSF, Western Area Power Administration, CDC, Food Stamps
Reductions:
Public Transit $3.4 billion, School Construction $60 billion
Those last two, especially, won’t go over well in the big cities, and Obama was supposed to be the president who understood cities.
* There are some increases…
Increases:
Defense operations and procurement, STAG Grants, Brownfields, Additional transportation funding
* Earlier this morning, the Washington Post had this list of items on the chopping block…
· $39.8 billion for state education departments to shore up school budgets.
· $14 billion for education programs, including special education and Head Start.
· $9.5 billion for Energy Department programs, including an environmental cleanup fund.
· $6.5 billion for space exploration, science programs and grants for local crime-fighting efforts.
Those education dollars are sorely needed. But I’m not sure yet what the exact impact will be on Illinois’ budget.
More as it develops.
*** UPDATE - 12:21 pm: Here’s the latest roundup…
* Politico: Education groups are flooding Capitol Hill with calls and e-mails to fight the push by Sens. Susan Collins (R-Maine) and Ben Nelson (D-Neb.) to slash around $50 billion from proposed new federal grants for state education aid.
* Gallup: Public Support for Stimulus Package Unchanged at 52%
* CBS Poll: Fifty-one percent of those surveyed support the stimulus package, while 39 percent do not. An additional 10 percent don’t know. Last month, 63 percent supported the package and just 24 percent opposed it.
* Congress Matters: C-SPAN2 says the working group looking to make cuts have gotten their number up to about $107 billion, going in the opposite direction from the walk-back we heard about yesterday.
* TPM: New Executive Pay Limits Added to Senate Stimulus
* NY Times: Democrats Cite Jobs Report as Stimulus Talks Continue
* 538: On Stimulus, Democrats Beating GOP On Party Unity [RedState view here]
* National Journal: How Obama Gets To 60 - Four GOP Senators Have Shown A Willingness To Cross Party Lines Consistently During The Stimulus Debate
The complicated state of the Senate stimulus debate just got more intense.
Sen. Olympia Snowe (ME), one of the four Republicans considered genuinely open to cooperation with Democrats on a workable economic recovery bill, just released a statement saying she was approached by Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) to come up with a list of trims from the $275 billion-plus tax section of the stimulus.
To be clear, this is separate from the $80 bilion-plus package of spending cuts that are being hashed out by a group of 15 or so centrist senators from both parties.
Several of the GOP’s most prominent governors blasted the stimulus plan making its way through Congress Thursday, urging Senate Republicans to resist passing the bill and taking aim at what they called unnecessary spending in the package.
My advice: Take away all their state specific programs for budgets, infrastructure, education, healthcare, etc. and give them to Illinois.
Amid stunning new job losses and yet another bank failure, key senators and the White House reached tentative agreement Friday night on an economic stimulus measure at the heart of President Barack Obama’s recovery plan.
Two officials said the emerging agreement was for a bill with a $780 billion price tag, but there was no immediate confirmation. […]
One Republican-proposed document outlined proposed cuts of more than $85 billion. Most of that –$60 billion — would come from money Democrats want to send to the states to avoid budget cuts for schools as well as law enforcement and other programs.
Talk of cuts in proposed education funds triggered a counterattack from advocates of school spending as well as unhappiness among Democrats.
One, Sen. Carl Levin of Michigan, told reporters he and others hoped that some of the funds on the chopping block would be restored next week when negotiations open on a House-Senate compromise.
The deal is believed to include about $80 billion in spending cuts, and possibly around $10 billion in tax benefits that would be eliminated, although details had not yet been made available.
Democrats were meeting this evening to sign off on the deal, with a series of votes scheduled to take place after 7 p.m. Unless Republicans object to moving forward, a final vote on the bill could happen at the conclusion of those votes.
Calling a state senator’s push to get him axed from his public university job as “frivolous,” William Ayers today said lawmakers have more important things to do than to go after him.
Ayers, a former member of the radical Weather Underground group and a topic of heated discussion during the 2008 presidential campaign, was responding to a downstate Republican’s proposal to forbid a public university from employing someone who has “committed a violent act” against the United States or Illinois.
“This is absurd,” Ayers, 64, told a mostly young audience in a speech at Riverside-Brookfield High School. “It’s a waste of time.”
The Weather Underground bombed government buildings in protest of the Vietnam War. In a 2001 book, Ayers said he participated in the bombings but never hurt anyone. Charges were filed against him but were dropped in 1973.
Creates the Prohibition on University Employment Act. Prohibits a public university or a private university that receives State funds from employing a person who has committed an act of violence against the government of the United States of America or the State of Illinois.
* The Question: Should the General Assembly involve itself in this issue? Explain.
And, please, let’s not turn this into a rehash of the 2008 presidential campaign. Stick to the question. Thanks.
* I expected that yesterday’s Question of the Day would attract far fewer comments than the previous day’s question. Wednesday’s question, which asked you to identify $1 billion in government cuts, attracted 152 answers. Yesterday’s question, which asked you to identify another $3 billion in cuts, prompted just 61 responses.
Slashing that much government just isn’t easy, as you most likely discovered. And regardless of what newspaper editorial writers blather about, it’s even more difficult to do that in a legislative process, where everyone has political ideologies, constituencies, pet programs, etc. to protect.
Confronted with the [$9 billion deficit] number, numerous state officials have said this week they want to look at the state’s $61 billion budget and find ways to cut things out before thinking about raising various taxes.
[Anthony Liberatore, a professor of economics at Millikin University] says that might be hard, because some of the state’s biggest expenses, such as paying medical bills for the poor and its employees costly pensions, aren’t optional and can’t be cut.
“I don’t think you can trim your way out of $9 billion,” Liberatore said.
For example, the entirety of the state’s payroll, not including universities, is about $3.5 billion. So layoffs won’t cut into the deficit much, and union officials argue state services are more necessary during an economic downturn.
Pension payments are optional. The payments to the pension systems are required by law, but laws can always be changed. Quite a few commenters, including myself, suggested slashing pension funding. Former George Ryan budget director Steve Schnorf has done yeoman’s work in comments this week and offered up a critique of that viewpoint on Wednesday…
Pushing pension funding off is how we got here. If we hadn’t deferred pension payments in the past, our pension spending next year would be down the better part of $3 billion.
The battle we are fighting here, one in which we had some chance of victory, was lost when the Blagojevich administration paid its first pension payment out of one-time revenues. There was no way to recover after that. They needed to freeze spending (effectively, cut it) for at least two and probably three years except for pension contributions and Medicaid payment cycle. With 3 years of a billion +/- in revenue growth we would have gone into this current downturn in decent shape.
But that was predictably not possible for a D Gov with 2 D houses in the GA to do. Who was going to be the bad guy who said “no”? No one.
More than five years ago I told a group of eaters,”The good news is we are going to have an income tax increase in the future. The bad news is all the new money will already be spent.” Here we are.
But we can’t go back in time. And we’re in bad shape now with little way out. From a Schnorf comment this week…
Most of our state spending in Illinois is pass-thru; grants to community agencies who provide mental health, DD, adoption services, etc, Medicaid payments to vendors, school aid grants, etc. We have the lowest number of state employees per capita of any state in the Union.
That makes it extremely difficult to cut, because you’re putting business (both not for profit and for profit) and employees out of existence or out of work during a period of extreme employment crisis. Do we really want to toss literally tens of thousands of gainfully employed taxpayers onto the street right now?
[Gov. Pat Quinn] opened the door to reforming the state’s tax code.
QUINN: I think what we have to do is have a fair tax system in Illinois. We should look at that, and if we can enact reforms, we will do so, especially now, in hard times, when people are really suffering.
Quinn says he’ll “try hard” to make the tax system more progressive, a change he’s supported in the past. Illinois currently has a so-called flat tax, set at 3-percent of a resident’s income.
He can’t actually make the tax system totally progressive because the Constitution requires a flat tax. Make it too progressive with various income exemptions, and the courts may toss out the law as unconstitutional. Changing the constitution requires a three-fifths vote in both chambers and then a public referendum in 2010. That’s too late.
Christopher Kelly, a former campaign manager to former Gov. Rod Blagojevich, received another federal indictment today, this time alleging he rigged roofing contracts with two major airlines to pay for gambling debts and a house, among other things.
The most recent indictment says he allegedly funneled more than $1.18 million in proceeds from fraudulent contracts (see U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald’s news release here). He’s the president and owner of a roofing firm, which allegedly rigged bids to steer $8.5 million in “inflated contracts” for roofing work done on American Airlines and United Airlines facilities at O’Hare International Airport. The scheme allegedly helped Kelly pay $383,000 in personal gambling debts, $700,000 for a personal loan to buy a house and $40,000 in personal expenses. The scheme also granted $450,000 to a president of the consulting firm allegedly involved in the activities.
Check this out…
Kelly was charged with 11 counts of mail fraud and six counts of money laundering.
Each count carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.
The government all but lit an inferno under a former ally of ousted Gov. Rod Blagojevich on Thursday, searing him with a second indictment just three weeks after he pleaded guilty to a first.
Yet, former prosecutor Joel R. Levin, who helped put former Gov. George Ryan in prison and now is in private practice at Perkins Coie LLC, said it’s no secret that new charges give a new reason for Kelly to tell whatever he knows about Blagojevich.
“It just stands to reason that the higher penalties you’re facing, it just increases the incentive (to cooperate),” Levin noted.
More often than not, the tactic works for prosecutors.
“Obviously, there are some people who dig their heels in … but for most people, if the penalties they’re facing are severe enough, they are going to consider cooperation,” Levin said.
Kelly is important to the government because he was, for years, the go-to guy for fund-raising under Blagojevich and extremely close personally to the governor. He could fill in the blanks on alleged older schemes and help verify information provided by another potential key witness — indicted businessman and onetime fund-raiser Tony Rezko.
Word around the campfire is that somebody very close to Rod Blagojevich ratted Kelly out on this one.
State Rep. Sara Feigenholtz (D-Chicago), a candidate for a vacant North Side congressional seat, was the only one of 118 Illinois House members who skipped [yesterday’s] vote to create a new ethics committee. […]
State Rep. John Fritchey (D-Chicago), one of her rivals in the March 3 special primary in the 5th Congressional District, voted for the measure and made it a point to note Feigenholtz’s absence.
The excuse…
Feigenholtz instead spent the day in Chicago trying to “raise awareness of the threat” to funding for certain programs in the federal economic stimulus legislation being debated in Washington, campaign spokesman Kevin Franck said.
But…
Feigenholtz also spent part of the day attending a fundraiser for her congressional campaign.
That ain’t good.
* Mike Quigley’s campaign responded this morning via press release…
Instead of carrying out her legislative duties Thursday and vote for the reform legislation, the Chicago Tribune reported that Feigenholtz chose to attend a campaign fundraiser to help finance her Congressional race.
“As this incident shows, the contrast in this race could not be more stark,” said Tom Bowen, campaign manager for the Quigley for Congress campaign.
“Mike Quigley has fought Todd Stroger and politics as usual for 10 years on the county board. Sara Feigenholtz, on the other hand, cannot even be bothered to put her campaign on hold for a single day to cast a vote for reform.”
“Sara Feigenholtz’s campaign claims that she was busy ‘raising awareness’ about issues on Thursday. The only thing she was raising was cash,” Bowen added, “and voters are well aware that we need to end ‘politics as usual’ in Illinois. The way to do that is by electing a real reformer like Mike Quigley.”
It’s not like this was a close vote. The measure passed 117-0, after all.
The problem is more of perception. Feigenholtz held a fundraiser yesterday during the first ethics vote of the year, and was the only legislator of either party who missed that vote. Like I said above: Oops.
Watch for Quigley to try to turn this into a theme.
* Related…
* Petition challenges shrink field in race for Emanuel’s seat
* Interviews with Four Candidates Running for the 5th Congressional District
*** UPDATE *** Rep. Fritchey was endorsed by the Illinois AFL-CIO today.
The complex agreement, the first of its kind in the United States, nets the city a one-time cash payment of nearly $1.2 billion when the deal is closed this month.
But the city could have earned $1.5 billion—in today’s dollars—if it kept the meters and simply raised rates to the same levels it granted the winning bidder, according to H. Woods Bowman, a professor of public service at DePaul University. That’s nearly $300 million more than Chicago Parking Meters, a limited liability corporation formed by Morgan Stanley to operate the meters, will pay upfront, Bowman said.
For much of the last year, the controversial sale of a rail line that runs through the Chicago region has pitted communities against each other. The debate is all about rail traffic congestion and the price tag that comes with it, a cost cities and suburbs are clamoring to avoid. The deal that finalized Canadian National’s bid to buy the EJ&E line was inked last weekend. But it still faces resistance.
Citing the need for new investment to boost the sagging local economy, Wal-Mart is preparing a new push for approval of as many as five new stores in Chicago, sources said today.
Hispanic activists on Thursday demanded a bigger share of city jobs and contracts.
Although they vowed to boycott city-sponsored leadership events, they accepted Mayor Richard M. Daley’s invitation to discuss their grievances face-to-face.
With employers in no mood to hire, the unemployment rate is expected to jump to 7.5 percent in January from 7.2 percent in December, according to economists’ forecasts. If they are right, that would mark the highest jobless rate in 17 years.
And after suffering heavy job losses last year, the country probably lost another 524,000 jobs month, getting the new year off to a rotten start. Some think the number of jobs reductions in January will be higher - 600,000 or 700,000.
After announcing Tuesday night that 24 of the city’s total 267 positions will be eliminated beginning Feb. 27, the mayor said challenges are still ahead as police and fire pensions continue to rise along with health insurance premiums and the cost of road-repair materials and utilities.
U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin introduced legislation today to name the new federal courthouse in downtown Rockford for retired U.S. District Court Judge Stanley J. Roszkowski.
Embattled Township Assessor Sharon Eckersall defended herself Monday night against allegations that lawsuits brought against her in firing past deputy assessors have cost the taxpayers hundreds of thousands of dollars.
