* This won’t go over too well with state employees.
The Commission on Government Forecasting and Accountability has a new study of the state employee group health insurance program. And by the looks of things, it appears that Gov. Quinn is all but foreclosing the preferred provider health insurance option and attempting to move state workers and retirees to HMOs…
Employees, under the Governor’s FY 2010 budget proposal, would pay increased premiums if they participate in the [PPO Quality Care Health Plan]. Currently, an employee in the QCHP pays an average of $89.57/month.
If the Governor’s proposals are implemented, as shown in Table 8, employee monthly premiums will rise to $309.56 a month or 245.5% and a non-Medicare retire would see their premiums increase from $12.98 a month on average to $582.71 a month on average or 4,389%.
Managed care HMO prices will only rise by about $10 a month, so this rate change proposal is pretty transparent. The change will also apply to legislators, so I’m wondering how that’ll go over.
AFSCME claims that moving just about everybody to HMOs will quickly drive up HMO rates. AFSCME also claims that this change cannot be implemented unless it is approved by the unions.
…Adding… Retirees who haven’t yet qualified for Medicare are shafted either way. Both their PPO and HMO rates are gonna zoom through the roof.
“It’s just another day,” Blagojevich said after the hearing.
[ *** End of Updates *** ]
* The Pew Research Center’s Project for Excellence in Journalism publishes a weekly study of various aspects of news coverage, including leading newsmakers. Here is an item from this week’s report…
From the narrative…
The battle for fifth-leading newsmaker (1%) was a tie between three very different types of celebrities. They included retiring pro football announcer John Madden; Melissa Huckaby, the woman charged in the murder of eight-year old California girl Sandra Cantu; and indicted former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich, who reportedly plans to ask a judge to allow him to travel to Costa Rica in order to be a contestant on the TV show, “I’m a Celebrity…Get Me Out of Here!”
With Blagojevich, reality is even stranger than reality television.
Tell me about it.
Blagojevich’s rating may go up this week, depending on the judge’s decision today. As you probably already know, Blagojevich has a court hearing today…
Tuesday’s hearing in Chicago comes one week after the ousted former governor said he wants permission to go to Costa Rica to take part in a reality TV show set in the jungle.
A more pressing matter is how much of his campaign fund U.S. District Judge James B. Zagel will let him use to pay his lawyers.
Apparently, they’re having yet another media circus at the federal building. More later.
* SEIU recently conducted a poll of Chicagoans. One of the areas the union’s pollster asked about was local city services. Click on the pic to see a better image of the results…
* The Question: Rate your own local government on those same criteria: Trash collection, snow removal, crime prevention and street repair.
* One of Gov. Quinn’s problems is that he likes to appoint friends to important posts instead of searching around for the best possible person. He did that with his completely inexperienced State Police director, among other positions.
At first, I thought Quinn’s appointment of his longtime friend and former personal physician Dr. Quentin Young to chair the horribly corrupt Illinois Health Facilities Planning Board wasn’t a bad move at all, despite the obviously disturbing trend about putting buddies into important slots. Young is widely respected and may have done a good job over there.
But another big problem with Quinn is that he’s not yet ready for prime time, partly because he often doesn’t do all his homework. Which leads us to this story, which combines both problems into one…
Dr. Quentin Young has withdrawn from consideration as chairman of the Illinois Health Facilities Planning Board, citing a potential conflict of interest.
Young, a former top official at Cook County Hospital and longtime advocate of health-care reform, “voluntarily withdrew his appointment upon discovering that his former medical group practice had partial ownership in a property that leases space to a health-care provider,” a spokesman for Gov. Quinn said.
* This story about vinyl chloride in south suburban Crestwood’s drinking water is pretty horrific. You can read the initial Tribune piece by clicking here if you’re unfamiliar with the situation. Here’s today’s Tribune update…
In a statement released Monday, Illinois EPA Director Doug Scott said “the public’s health never was at risk” because the well water was diluted with treated Lake Michigan water. But one of the chemicals found in Crestwood’s well, vinyl chloride, is so toxic that the U.S. EPA says there is no safe level of exposure.
Crestwood told state regulators in 1986 that the village would get all of its tap water from Lake Michigan and would use the well only in an emergency. But records show Crestwood routinely kept drawing well water, relying on it for up to 20 percent of the village’s supply some months.
The well was finally shut off in December 2007, after the EPA tested the water for the first time in more than two decades. The agency found not only that the well still was contaminated but that Crestwood had been piping the water, untreated, to residents. […]
Before the Tribune story in Sunday’s editions, the only public hint that something might be wrong with Crestwood’s water was an Aug. 13 news release from the Illinois Department of Public Health. In the release, the agency warns that vinyl chloride might have contaminated private wells in the area, but it does not mention that village officials for years been adding contaminated water to the municipal water supply.
Crestwood Mayor Robert Stranczek did not return calls seeking comment Monday.
His father, Chester Stranczek, who served as mayor for 38 years before his son took the post, said he could not go into details about the water supply under his administration without consulting an attorney.
“But I can tell you that it was and is being tested,” he said when reached at his home in Florida. “I can guarantee you the well was being tested regarding IEPA rules and time lines. Even more.”
The former mayor, 78, has sipped on Crestwood tap water since he was born there.
“As far as the water being contaminated I don’t believe that,” he said. “Reports showed it was drinkable. Tests that were taken never showed that we had bad water.”
That’s some serious denial.
* The Kankakee Daily Journal has an editorial today about another major problem ignored by local and state officials…
Back in 1988, a Shell Oil pipeline broke, spilling gasoline into the soil and water table in Limestone Township.
Here we are in 2009, 21 years later. County chairmen have come and gone. State governments have come and gone. The Illinois Environmental Protection Agency, surely a toothless watchdog in this case, has yet to come up with the critical solution for Limestone residents.
That would be the construction of public water lines to carry unquestionably clean drinking water to the residents of Limestone Township.
You see, once the gasoline spilled into the soil, it occurred to such an extent that the volume would not easily break down. It will remain, toxic and treacherous, for the lifetime of anyone in its path.
Back in 2007, when Shell finally settled the case, it agreed to $46 million in compensation. Part of that was slated to build new water lines. But there was no timetable for completion. Those lines were promised in 2005.
They are still not there. Nor is there a firm date when they will arrive.
* My syndicated newspaper column this week takes a look at that poll we discussed late last week…
Pat Quinn is the most popular Illinois governor in more than a decade.
A new statewide poll conducted by Rasmussen Reports found that Gov. Quinn has a 61 percent job approval rating. The poll of 500 likely Illinois voters conducted April 14th claims that Quinn’s job approval rating is five points higher than US Sen. Dick Durbin’s 56 percent “favorable” rating, and six points lower than President Barack Obama’s home state 67 percent job approval rating. The poll’s margin of error was +/- 4.5 percentage points
That’s pretty darned good for a guy who has been widely denounced for proposing a “50 percent income tax increase.”
Drill into the numbers, though, and Quinn’s support is a bit soft, or “shallow,” as the case may be.
The vast majority of voter opinion is in the muddled middle, which isn’t surprising considering that he’s only been governor for less than three months and wasn’t elected on his own. Forty-four percent of likely voters “somewhat” approve of his job performance (compared to 16 percent who said the same about Obama) and 23 percent “somewhat” disapprove (9 percent for Obama).
Quinn’s “strongly” approve and “strongly” disapprove numbers are both fairly low - 17 and 14 percent, respectively. Few truly love or hate him at this point.
The governor’s “somewhat approve” numbers are near or above 40 percent in almost every single demographic, including Republicans. An impressive 41 percent of Republicans “somewhat” approve of Quinn’s job performance. Just 21 percent of GOP voters said the same about Obama. Almost half, 47 percent, of Democrats somewhat approve of his performance (13 percent for Obama), while 37 percent of conservatives, 46 percent of whites, 45 percent of blacks 39 percent of married people and 53 percent of unmarried folks all “somewhat” approve of Quinn’s performance in office.
That softness might mean things could change in a hurry if voters decide he isn’t living up to expectations. His tax hike proposals, especially, could move numbers fast. So far, though, they haven’t, despite widespread reporting on the tax hike plan and lots of angry commentary against it. That’s incredibly good news for Quinn, at least for now.
Quinn’s “somewhat disapprove” numbers follow about the same sort of pattern. Thirty percent of Republicans, 19 percent of Democrats, 21 percent of whites and 24 percent of blacks all “somewhat” disapproved of Quinn’s job performance. Always keep in mind, of course, that margins of error in these subgroups will be substantially higher than the entire sample.
These appear to be the highest job approval ratings of any Illinois governor we’ve had since Jim Edgar left the governor’s office in January of 1999 with job approval ratings in the high 60s to mid 70s.
Former Gov. George Ryan’s numbers dropped like a rock soon after he was inaugurated because of the quickly expanding federal investigation and his flip-flop on a sales tax hike. Rod Blagojevich topped out at 55 percent in a January, 2004 Tribune survey, although he bragged at the time that his own polling showed he had a 66 percent approval rating.
People are obviously pleased with this new change in leadership, if understandably hesitant to give Quinn a full-throated endorsement.
This will also be welcome news for Illinois Democrats in general, who have been pummeled by scandal after scandal the past few years and are attempting to deal with a gigantic state budget deficit. The result will also likely embolden Quinn and possibly strengthen his hand in dealings with the General Assembly this spring.
But, like I said above, he has to be careful here.
For instance, the governor has spent a whole lot of time pointing fingers at everyone else for their ethical lapses, but has yet to issue any sort of mea culpa for his own role in Blagojevich’s rise to power. Quinn was blatantly used by Blagojevich in 2002 and in 2006 to help boost his own reformer bona fides and Quinn seemed always happy to comply.
Quinn repeatedly defended Blagojevich against charges of corruption and happily went along with the program in both the 2002 and 2006 campaigns. When it was evident to just about everyone that Blagojevich was a criminal, Quinn cheered almost every move.
He’s been able to get away with it because people (myself included) are so happy to finally be rid of the criminal ogre that we’ve been willing to cut Quinn extra slack.
* Several members of the Cook County Board signed a letter yesterday asking Cook County Clerk David Orr to call a special meeting Thursday at 10 o’clock so they could look into circumstances surrounding the mysterious firing of President Todd Stroger’s chief of staff.
Fearing that the county’s funds may have been abused, Cook County Commissioner Lawrence Suffredin (D-13th District) called on the U.S. Attorney to investigate the circumstances surrounding the firing of Cook County Chief Financial Officer Donna Dunnings.
Dunnings was forced to resign late Thursday night last week from her position as Cook County’s CFO by her cousin, County Board President Todd Stroger. It came in the wake of questionable dealings Dunnings had with another fired county employee, Tony Cole. A busboy working at Ruth’s Chris Steak House in River North, Cole was hired by Stroger when Stroger met him while having dinner there. Cole had been arrested on domestic violence charges involving an ex-girl friend and was bailed out several times by Dunnings who used undisclosed credit cards to pay the court bails.
“I am concerned about how much money might be missing. I don’t know that there is any. I have discovered over the weekend that one of these PR people Stroger hired was with Ms. Dunnings when she bailed out this individual Cole from the County Jail. She used a credit card,” said Suffredin during an interview Monday on WJJG 1530 AM’s “Radio Chicagoland.”
* Stroger’s explanation for the firing has been widely ridiculed…
Cook County President Todd Stroger explained why he fired his cousin, Chief Financial Officer Donna Dunnings, from her $175,000 job last week: for her own good and the good of the county.
When Stroger fired her, he knew the Chicago Sun-Times was poised to reveal Dunnings twice bailed her secretary Tony Cole out of jail after being arrested for violating an order of protection, and some county commissioners were planning to take her to task for it.
“All I can tell you is that I know certain commissioners were determined to drag Miss Dunnings through the mud, and I thought it was undeserved and it would not serve her or the county for that to happen,” Stroger told the Sun-Times Monday night.
Last night, Stroger acknowledged for the first time in an interview with Carol Marin on WTTW-Channel 11’s “Chicago Tonight” program a few troubling facts.
Stroger said he knew about one of Cole’s two arrests as a county employee, although Stroger wasn’t clear on which one.
He knew that Dunnings bailed out Cole in one instance, but said he did not know about the other.
And he knew that, despite all that, Cole got promoted.
Stroger acknowledged that another of his top lieutenants, Eugene Mullins, accompanied Dunnings to bail Cole out of jail — confirming a fact first reported by Chicago Sun-Times reporter Mark Konkol on the newspaper’s Web site Monday night.
The paper went on to demand answers to seven questions. Go read them all.
“President Stroger, I do want to talk about a few other things, but not until we’re done with this,” Marin said.
“We’re done now,” Stroger shot back.
Later, Marin asked, “It’s not true that the 8th Ward, which is your home ward, has a disproportionately high number of people who have been hired by the county?”
“I don’t know where you get your information, but I [bet] you couldn’t even tell me where the boundaries of the 8th Ward are!” Stroger replied.
WTTW hasn’t yet posted last night’s show online, but check back later.
*** UPDATE *** The Chicago Tonight episode is now online, and Progress Illinois has a snippit…
In the above clip, Stroger blames the Illinois State Police backlog of background checks for not knowing about Cole’s recent arrest problems.
Stroger says the background check process takes “2-3 months.” Cole appeared on the county payroll on October 14, 2008 — about six months ago. But Stroger didn’t receive the report on Cole until two weeks ago? Huh?
Mayor Daley’s $2.5 billion plan to privatize Midway Airport collapsed today for lack of financing, leaving taxpayers with a $126 million down payment, but no apparent way to shore up city pensions and rebuild Chicago’s aging infrastructure.
But, over the weekend, MidCo informed the city that it would be unable to raise the money. Instead, the consortium comprised of New York’s Citi Infrastructure Investors, YVR Airport Services Limited of Vancouver and Boston-based John Hancock Life Insurance walked away from the $126 million in earnest money it pledged.
But the bigger truth is, the city is out more than $2 billion, money that would have gone to retire debt, replenish way-underfunded employee pension funds, pay for capital projects for the 2016 Olympics, and other needs.
It’s gone. Adios. Au revoir. The $1 billion or so the city would have netted after retiring existing debt on Midway ain’t here no more.
At a City Hall news conference today, the Service Employees International Union maintained that Chicago has a $2.1 billion surplus — from tax-increment financing and by leasing the Skyway, parking meters and other assets — and should use that one-time windfall to avert layoffs and service cuts.
To bolster its case, the union revealed results of a new poll that shows voter discontent with city services and demand for “more transparency and accountability” in city finances. The union was joined by community leaders and a handful of progressive aldermen.
Denise Dixon, executive director of Action NOW, noted that the city created “rainy day funds” when Chicago parking meters were sold for $1.2 billion and the Chicago Skyway was leased for $1.83 billion.
“It’s a rainy day, but there’s a flood coming. And when the flood comes, that’s what we’re concerned about,” the mayor told reporters.
Talk about a no-brainer. Two Chicago aldermen think the public ought to know what’s going on with hundreds of millions of dollars in off-the-books property tax spending. Ald. Manny Flores (1st) and Scott Waguespack (32nd) have been trying for months to get their colleagues on the City Council to pass an ordinance requiring the city to post the details of its tax increment financing deals online.
Flores and Waguespack aren’t trying to shut down the TIF districts, which generated $550 million for the city in 2007. What they’re worried about is accountability. Because there’s so little oversight of TIF spending, those millions are basically a glorified slush fund for Mayor Richard Daley’s pet projects.
This cycle, top Democratic targets for retirement include Reps. Henry Brown Jr. (R-S.C.), Judy Biggert (R-Ill.), Ginny Brown-Waite (R-Fla.), John McHugh (R-N.Y.), Mary Bono Mack (R-Calif.), John Mica (R-Fla.), Elton Gallegly (R-Calif.) and Don Manzullo (R-Ill.).
