Reformers say they’re ready to bargain
Thursday, May 7, 2009 - Posted by Rich Miller
* John Patterson called up a member of the governor’s reform commission, former state Sen. Duane Noland, and asked him if he would have voted for all the commission’s recommendations if he was still in the General Assembly…
“That’s a great question. Would I vote for the whole thing? Probably not. But I don’t believe that’s what we’ve asked.”
“We never felt we had all the answers. That’d be pretty naïve.”
“Nobody said it had to be “all or none.”
So, I just called Noland and read to him a passage from the commission’s report…
As such, we cannot endorse efforts to selectively implement some reforms while ignoring other key proposals. Half-measures will not suffice to repair our State’s troubled infrastructure or our citizens’ broken confidence.
Noland said he didn’t even know that statement was in there.
* Senate President John Cullerton and commission chairman Pat Collins just held a press conference to say they are negotiating on a reform bill. That’s good to hear.
Collins, however, insisted that he hasn’t been confrontational or ever demanded an “all or nothing” approach. OK, here’s another line from the report which was widely quoted by newspaper editorial boards…
This blueprint for reform will be meaningless unless the changes we have envisioned become reality.
Collins was never confrontational? From his City Club address…
“We should get people in there who will take a position and vote, or we should shrink the legislature even further”
He later retracted that shrinking comment, but he can’t possibly say he was never confrontational…
“What this state needs a little bit more of is people who aren’t cowering in their shadow because they’re afraid of how somebody is going to react to the truth,” Patrick M. Collins told the City Club of Chicago on Wednesday.
Collins also took a shot at me today. Perhaps if he had returned the last three phone calls I’ve made to him he could’ve said this stuff to me, personally.
Questioning the details or the consequences of some of your proposals is not somehow evil, Mr. Collins. It’s the American way.
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This just in…
Thursday, May 7, 2009 - Posted by Rich Miller
* 12:47 pm - House Speaker Michael Madigan just told reporters that he’s introduced a bill that will wipe out all Rod Blagojevich [and George Ryan] appointees to all state boards and commissions and state jobs. We’re talking hundreds and hundreds of people [actually, about 3,000 state employees and 90 boards and commissions] here.
Madigan said he was acting because he didn’t think Gov. Pat Quinn was moving fast enough on his fumigation pledge. More in a bit.
Madigan also said he would support an income tax increase as long as it doesn’t grow the size of government. Paying existing bills, he said, was the top priority.
* 1:19 pm - More…
House Speaker Michael Madigan says he has no objections from other top Democratic leaders to his idea to fire 3,000 state workers appointed and hired by two ex-governors.
Madigan says he’s discussed House Bill 4450 with Gov. Pat Quinn and Senate President John Cullerton. Madigan says Quinn did not object to the idea, and Cullerton favors it.
From the bill’s synopsis…
The designated officials and employees are (i) the heads, assistant heads, and deputy heads of executive State agencies who were nominated by the Governor between January 11, 1999 and January 29, 2009 for a position that requires the advice and consent of the Senate,
(ii) members of executive boards or commissions who were nominated by the Governor between those dates for a position that requires the advice and consent of the Senate,
(iii) employees of executive State agencies or executive boards or commissions, whose employment in a exempt position began between those dates,
(iv) employees of executive State agencies or executive boards or commissions, appointed to a term appointment between those dates, and
(v) any other official or employee who was nominated by the Governor between those dates for a position that requires the advice and consent of the Senate. Executive State agencies and executive boards or commissions are those of the executive branch not under the jurisdiction and control of the Lieutenant Governor, Attorney General, Secretary of State, Treasurer, or Comptroller.
There’s a 60-day transition process in the bill.
Click here for a list of the agencies, boards and commissions impacted by this legislation.
More…
“I’m not satisfied by the pace of change, and I want to accelerate the pace of change,” Madigan told reporters.
[Let’s close this one out and move comments to a fresh post. Thanks.]
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Campaign 2010 roundup
Thursday, May 7, 2009 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Slate has Attorney General Lisa Madigan on a list of 20 possible US Supreme Court nominees. I kid you not…
Lisa Madigan, 42, is a rising star in Illinois politics, a friend and former colleague of Barack Obama’s from the Illinois state Senate, and the current attorney general of the state. She is said to be considering a run for governor, and the New York Times named her among a roster of down-the-road candidates for the first female president.
Consider this for Madigan’s column: She successfully argued a case before the Supreme Court, the first attorney general to personally do so in 25 years—while seven months pregnant. The case, Illinois v. Caballes, gave police the authority to use drug-sniffing dogs on the outside of a stopped vehicle without a warrant or reason to suspect possession.
As Law.com notes, Madigan has other serious law-and-order bona fides, such as advocating for stricter supervision and registration of sex offenders, stronger methamphetamine laws, and scrutiny of the state’s gaming industry… Like Obama, Madigan has a background in community organizing. She also taught young women in South Africa during apartheid.
Pat Quinn can only hope, but I wouldn’t hold my breath if I was him. Thankfully, I’m not.
* The Toronto Star’s Washington bureau believes Chris Kennedy is a go…
Others close to Kennedy, 45, say the decision to run is a done deal and that in 2010 he will seek the Democratic slot for Obama’s old Senate seat, currently held by controversial appointee Roland Burris.
* Republican gubernatorial hopeful Joe Birkett takes yet another shot at fellow hopeful Bob Schillerstrom…
“I haven’t seen him anywhere in the state other than DuPage and Cook,” Birkett said. “I’m the top Republican vote-getter in the state of Illinois for the past 10 years. I get more votes per dollar than any candidate and that’s a fact. And the reason for that is I have strong record and strong roots here in Illinois.”
Highlighting your perennial candidacies is probably not the greatest idea in the world.
* Speaking of perennial candidates, David McAloon is running for the 11th Congressional District.
…Adding… Springfield Alderman Frank Edwards is running for governor? I don’t get it.
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Question of the day
Thursday, May 7, 2009 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Setup…
An effort by lawmakers to not let former Gov. Rod Blagojevich benefit financially from media deals was approved unanimously by a Senate panel Wednesday.
The proposal lets the state seize any money that a convicted public official makes from a book, movie, television, radio or Internet deal. […]
Officials’ earnings would be safe if they aren’t convicted or have already served out their sentence.
* Question: Is this fair and reasonable? Explain.
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Mid-morning Shorts
Thursday, May 7, 2009 - Posted by Mike Murray
* Former Chicago Ald. Leon Despres dead at 101
* Leon Despres Dies at 101
* Former Alderman Leon Despres Dies At 101
* Leon Despres, 1908-2009: Chicago alderman challenged elder Mayor Daley
* Former Ald. Leon Despres voted early, often for Chicago reform
* The grand independent
* Leon Despres Remembered
* Job cuts hit 6-month low in April, Illinois mass layoffs also decline
* New jobless claims unexpectedly plunge
* Keep Hartmarx in business
* Mayor Daley order: Up to 16 unpaid days off for some city workers to ease budget crunch
Mayor Daley today will order 3,500 nonunion employees to take up to 16 days off without pay by Dec. 31, turning up the heat on union leaders to agree to similar concessions.
Last month, Daley threatened to lay off 1,600 city employees — none sworn police officers or firefighters — unless organized labor agrees to another round of givebacks to erase a $300 million shortfall.
They were asked to pick their poison from a $68.9 million menu that includes two furlough days a month for nine months ($24.9 million); comp time instead of cash for overtime ($17.8 million); making six remaining 2009 holidays unpaid ($9 million); a 5 percent pay cut ($12.9 million) and eliminating the July 1 increase in the prevailing wage ($12.9 million).
So far, none of the unions has agreed to cuts. Some are concerned about how city givebacks would impact private-sector negotiations. Others want a guarantee that, if concessions are granted, there won’t be layoffs for the next two years.
* Mayor Daley unveils plan to spend $19.5 million in federal stimulus funds
* Cook County Board: President Todd Stroger rethinks tax-repeal veto
* Stroger may not veto Cook County sales tax repeal
“The county sales tax . . . was very detrimental. . . . The retailers will tell you that. This is very, very serious for them,” Daley said.
He said county commissioners “realized what an impact it had upon everyone in Cook County — a very negative impact. . . . It was strictly something that, I think, they had to do.”
Saying he’s not trying to pick a fight, Stroger told the Sun-Times: “The city has raised nine different taxes in the last two years.”
The mayor has raised taxes, fines and fees by a whopping $329 million, including the largest property tax increase in Chicago history. In 2005, his $85.7 million tax package included a one-quarter of one percent increase in the Chicago sales tax.
* Murphy says Todd Stroger deserves a statue
“All the independent Democrats, all the Republicans on the county board, have been saying the sales tax hike wasn’t needed,” Murphy said. “So I decided to vote to repeal the tax hike, and now we’ll see what they do. I want to see how they deal with all the program cuts, how they balance the budget. Let them deal with all the criticism.”
Murphy still believes the higher tax is necessary.
“The president (Stroger) did the right thing,” she said. “There are county governments all over the country in deep financial trouble today, but not Cook County because we passed the sales tax hike.”
* Mayor Daley: Repeal sales-tax increase
“It’s not my job to stop it,” he said. “I have enough problems.” Asked if the unpopular tax increase has left Stroger, who’s seeking reelection next year, dead politically, Daley said, “No, I don’t think so. I don’t know why you would say that. He’s very hard-working.”
* Daley: Cook County sales tax increase ‘very detrimental’
* What the Sales Tax Repeal Means to Cook County’s Budget
Board President Todd Stroger says the tax repeal would cost Cook County $300-million. To make up for that, Stroger says several health clinics and two hospitals would have to be shut down.
Lawrence Msall is with The Civic Federation, a government watchdog group. He says he’s surprised the administration threatened to cut health services, seeing as a lot of the money from the sales tax increase has gone toward the county payroll.
* Stroger should skip veto of sales tax repeal, manage better
* 2010 County Board Election Getting Under Way
* Disgusted with Cook County? Then you should run for office
* Three nominated as new Sangamon County Democratic chairman
* Report: Most Chicago elevators aren’t inspected
* Leaping carp throws Ill. man from jet ski
* Google goats: Should Mayor Richard Daley hire herd to munch weeds?
* Preservation agency to rule on Reese; assessment of hospital campus’ historical significance is required, law says
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A pattern develops
Thursday, May 7, 2009 - Posted by Rich Miller
* This is good news for adjourning on time…
[Gov. Pat Quinn] still wants to raise the income tax and increase the personal exemption to shield low-income families from the increase, but he said he’s willing to negotiate on the personal exemption.
Just the other day, Quinn was refusing to negotiate on his proposal to triple the personal exemption to $6,000. While the personal exemption idea would be welcomed by familes with modest incomes, the resulting income tax hike has to be much higher to raise enough cash to help balance the budget.
* So, maybe Quinn will eventually back off any opposition he has to a temporary income tax hike as well…
The top Senate Democrat on Wednesday floated the idea of a temporary income tax increase as an alternative to Gov. Pat Quinn’s controversial plan to permanently raise the tax. […]
“If somebody says, ‘OK, I guess we need an income tax, but it ought to be temporary as we’ve done twice before in the last 30 years,’ that would be something that would be negotiable,” [Senate President John Cullerton] told a gathering of manufacturers and retailers. […]
Later asked about a temporary tax hike, Quinn said, “I really think we have to solve our problems. I don’t think it’s prudent to focus on the short term. … It’s better to roll up our sleeves and address the problem, once and for all.”
It’s always tough to get a read on a new governor, but I think I’m slowly figuring out how this one operates. Stake out a very tough position, adamantly refuse to compromise, then quickly move away from that position when opposition builds in order to cut a somewhat acceptable deal. He’s done this on ethics, he did it on personal exemptions and, as we already know, he backed away yesterday from his proposed 2 percent increase in state employee and teacher pension contributions…
Gov. Pat Quinn Wednesday dropped his proposal to have teachers, state workers and others pay more toward their public pension benefits.
And one can only wonder if his multi-billion dollar pension fund skim will survive…
A just-released report from the General Assembly’s Commission on Government Forecasting and Accountability said that, under Quinn’s plan, the financial health of the pension systems actually would get worse over the next few years. The report called for a new, long-term payment plan to ensure that Illinois’ pension debt can be eliminated over time.
The big question, however, is how far Quinn can ultimately be moved from his original positions. We’ll know in a few weeks.
* Meanwhile, this spat got a lot of attention yesterday…
House Speaker Michael Madigan said the disagreement had reached the point where he had avoided talking to House Republican Leader Tom Cross concerning a construction plan.
“I have no ill will towards Tom Cross … but my experience with Tom Cross has not been too good,” Madigan said. “The best way I say it is, in the case of the construction program, when the rubber hits the road, he’s not going to be there.”
But Bethany Jaeger tells us what’s really going on…
While he hasn’t meet with Madigan, Cross said he has met with both Senate leaders and the governor and talked about revenue ideas. “The bottom line is we’re all talking,” Cross said. “And they’re, I think, fairly productive talks of narrowing down some revenue streams to raise about $1 billion. I think it’s all good.” He specifically mentioned conversations about the House’s idea to legalize video poker and to the Senate’s idea to privatize the Illinois Lottery.
* Related…
* Capitol rally protests budget cuts: The event named “Rally for the Common Good” was lobbying for Gov. Pat Quinn to restore the $78 million in cuts he proposed to human services programs.
* Cigarette tax phase-in proposed: The study suggests increasing the tax over four years, a quarter per year, to avoid a sticker shock to smokers. The study claims that this model would result in more revenue in the long run because people would be more likely to accept a gradual increase and continue buying cigarettes in Illinois.
* Quinn, legislative leaders spar at Business Day event: House Speaker Michael Madigan, D-Chicago, said he doesn’t know if an income tax increase or major construction program will get approved this spring. He’s working with House Democrats to prioritize spending because of the state’s severe budget problems. “This is uncharted territory for everybody in the legislature,” Madigan said.
* House speaker avoids meetings with GOP chief
* State Stays Stingy While Artists Reel from Recession
* Quinn puts $21.2 M toward state parks
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* Earlier this week, the governor said…
With less than a month until lawmakers are set to leave for the summer, Quinn says he is not willing to compromise on his reform commission’s six part plan.
The Governor says “we have to get all” reforms pitched by the group of statehouse outsiders.
And then yesterday, he said…
Gov. Pat Quinn said Wednesday he’s willing to negotiate to get ethics reform approved…
“There’s always room in a democracy for negotiation,” Quinn told reporters after a speech to the Illinois Retail Merchants. “The idea is there is an excellent blueprint for reform and we want to use it to guide our steps forward. I’m optimistic about that. I think that in the next several weeks we’ll be able to make some substantial progress.”
I’m getting whiplash from all this back and forth.
* Senate President John Cullerton promised yesterday that all of the governor’s reform commission proposals would be addressed by his chamber…
“Absolutely. Every area that the commission raised we’ll have a response and more so,” Cullerton said, noting that lawmakers have taken several important actions, some even before Quinn’s panel took up the cause.
But the Tribune editorial board ridiculed Cullerton’s plan to route the commission reform proposals through the Executive Committee…
Letting committees decide which reforms to bring to the full House and Senate, and which ones to let die, would insulate many of the 177 legislators from having to take public stands on reform. The custom in Springfield is for leaders to protect vulnerable incumbents from casting votes that could lead to their defeats in the next election. Those vulnerable legislators love to say, “I would have voted for that bill, if only my leader had brought it to the floor.”
So let’s exterminate that charade now:
If Democrats abandon a reform proposal in committee — that is, without calling it for a vote of their full chambers — then citizens fairly can view that as if every Democrat in that chamber voted to kill it. This should encourage each rank-and-filer to tell Madigan and Cullerton: “I like being a legislator. So, please, bring every proposal to the floor for a vote.”
That assumes, of course, that voters will cast their ballots in 2010 based on this one issue. I’m not so sure.
Speaker Madigan took a shot at the Trib’s “up or down vote on the floor” threat…
“That’s the politics of Pat Collins. You want to make one guy look clean by making another guy look dirty,” said Madigan, a reference to the former federal prosecutor selected by Gov. Pat Quinn to head the commission.
He has a point.
* Cullerton, meanwhile, plans to meet with Pat Collins today. I’d like to be a fly on that wall.
* And Sen. Bill Brady, a Republican gubernatorial candidate, wants to force state employees to drop a dime on corruption…
State Senator Bill Brady wants to push reform in Illinois by strengthening the state’s “whistleblower” laws.
Brady would make the reporting of official misconduct mandatory for state employees, board members and commissioners.
Currently, suspected misdeeds are reported to “ethics officers,” .but not necessarily to law enforcement.
I’m curious what you think about this idea.
* Related…
* Measure to block automatic pay hike for elected officials moves to House floor
* Editorial: Don’t forget voters’ need for recall power
* Lisa Madigan: More open government
* Schoenburg: Ex-Lt. Gov. Wood says Illinois is primed for reform
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Intertube troubles
Thursday, May 7, 2009 - Posted by Rich Miller
Comcast Internet service is down in my intern Mike’s part of Springfield and in my neck of the woods. I have an alternate Intertubes connect, but Mike doesn’t so MS may not posted for awhile. I’m also running late, yet again, so just hang loose and use this as an open thread to discuss state politics and government. We’ll be with you shortly.
…And, we’re back… Things should go more smoothly now. We’ll have posts in a few.
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