Capitol Fax.com - Your Illinois News Radar » 2009

Monday, Jun 1, 2009 - Posted by Mike Murray

I have bumped up the information and videos from the Press conference held after the meeting due to their importance.

Begin post-meeting coverage

*1:27 pm - The meeting has ended. I missed the first 10 minutes of the press conference and so I do not have video of each leader’s individual statement that was made in the beginning. However I do have footage from the Q & A session and Speaker Madigan talked to the press for a few minutes after the group press conference. Before I put the video up, here are some key points from the press conference.

* Governor Quinn said their discussions were positive and would not say if he would sign the 50% cut budget.

* Quinn said he would like to have the issue resolved by July 1st, but he will send out notifications to groups who work on behalf of the state to let them know that they will no longer receive funding as of July 1st. (These groups are mostly social services providers and non-profits who receive grants from the state). Quinn said the layoffs would affect thousands of people.

* Republican Leadership stressed the need to completely reform the structure of government before taking on the budget.

* Cross claimed that Democrats did not include Republicans in negotiations.

* Leaders agreed to continue dialogue on the issue, and the next meting will be this Thursday in Chicago.

* 2:20 pm - Speaker Madigan addressed the notion that he was trying to get the tax increase passed…

* 2:28 pm -Speaker Madigan on a question about whether more should have been done to work with Republicans…

*2:34 pm - Gov. Quinn said that this week the state will begin mailing out notifications to state funded organizations about the possibility of funding reductions beginning July 1…

* 2:37 pm - Quinn also said he was more likely to sign capital bill now that it includes 400 million for high speed rail…

* 2:44 pm - Finally, here is 6 minutes of raw video from the Speaker’s interview with the press. It covers a variety of issues. Definitely worth a watch…

Begin pre-meeting coverage

* 12:06 pm - The 10am leadership meeting with the Governor was rescheduled for 11am when Speaker Madigan and President Cullerton failed to show up by 10:30. Madigan and Cullerton finally both showed up at 11:30 and the meeting is now underway. Leader Cross spoke with the media before he went into the Governor’s office for the 11 O’clock meeting. We will have some video up in the next 15 minutes or so.

* 12:13 pm - Cross addressed the House GOP agenda for the leadership meeting. He plan’s on discussing the budget and ethics reform…

* 12:20 pm -This video is worth a gander. Cross responded to questions about Speaker Madigan’s motivations as well as the possibility that Lisa Madigan might factor into the equation. Watch…

* 12:24 pm - Cross reminded the media that the Governor Quinn currenlty has a full fiscal year budget on the table…

* 12:32 pm - Cross reiterates his belief that the Governor should sign the capital bill, however he understands Quinn’s objection. That said, Cross needs to see some supporting documentation before he can accept the claim that IL will bu unable to sell bonds without first balancing the budget…

* 12:37 pm - Finally, Cross grades the progress on ethics reform in IL. “C- or D+ at best” …

* Hopefully we will have more video once the meeting is over.

62 Comments

Question of the day

Monday, Jun 1, 2009 - Posted by Rich Miller

* I know it’s not actually over yet, but who are your top winners and losers from the spring session? Explain fully, please.

76 Comments

Special interests whacked by the leaders

Monday, Jun 1, 2009 - Posted by Rich Miller

* My weekly syndicated newspaper column takes a look at the campaign finance reform bill, which was passed by both chambers and is on its way to the governor…

While reform groups, newspaper editorial boards, Republicans and others blasted a campaign finance reform bill passed by the Illinois Senate last week, there were a couple of big surprises which went almost unnoticed.

For instance, powerful leaders of Statehouse special interest groups said they would be hobbled by the bill.

The legislation not only caps the amount of money that political action commitees can give to candidates, it also caps the cash that PACs can raise from its own members - an almost unheard of limit on political activity.

PACs are limited from accepting any contributions over $10,000 a year from “natural persons” and can’t take more than $20,000 per year from corporations, labor unions and associations.

The new rule would slam corporate PACs like the Associated Beer Distributors of Illinois, according to ABDI President Bill Olson, who testified against the legislation during the Senate Executive Committee last week. Olson’s PAC is one of the most influential and wealthy in the state, but its success relies on a relatively small number of large contributions from its members. Several other business groups are in the same situation.

PACs would also be severely limited on what are called “in-kind” donations. Quite a few groups, particularly labor unions, don’t just give money to candidates. They also assign paid staff to campaigns, run phone banks, do mailers to their own members and even air TV ads. But the bill is written in a way which would include in-kind donations in a PAC’s $10,000 annual campaign contribution cap to candidates. So, most of that will apparently end.

The legislation allows only a “natural person” to make independent expenditures on behalf of candidates, so that option - which is used extensively under the federal campaign system - would not be available to PACs and other groups in Illinois.

By severely limiting spending activities, the hugely powerful legislative leaders will be able to more thoroughly control the message they want delivered to voters and prevent outside interference in campaigns.

Groups like the pro-choice Personal PAC spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on direct mail and other advertising during election cycles to define candidates as pro-choice or anti-abortion. That independent spending has made Personal PAC one of the most feared political forces in the state. But much of the group’s spending would likely be banned by this new legislation, unless it, and others, can find a way around the law.

Republicans blasted the bill because they said it was designed to strengthen the already powerful legislative leaders. They have a point. Besides the PAC limitations, the bill allows leaders like the House Speaker and the Senate President to make unlimited in-kind contributions. Their cash donations would be limited to $90,000 a year, but that means a Senate incumbent with a four-year term could still receive as much as $360,000 in cash from his or her leader.

The use of annual limits in the bill also came under fire by reformers.
Campaign contribution caps are often criticized as unfair to challengers because they limit how much money they can raise against incumbents who often have far more ties to the monied interests. On the federal level, though, contributions are capped per election cycle. For instance, PACs can only give $5,000 to a federal candidate for a primary race, even if that primary is for a US Senator who won’t run again until five years from now.

But under this state legislation, the caps are annual. That means a sitting governor can raise $10,000 every year for four years from a single PAC. Since his or her challenger wouldn’t likely gear up to run until the year before an election, a challenger would only get two, at most, bites from the same PAC apple, putting that person at a distinct disadvantage.

Some of the bill is quite good. But these annual caps are a horrible abuse of power by incumbents.

* And I never got around to posting anything about this topic last night…

A plan to fire 750 state workers and appointees brought on the payroll under two former governors hit a snag in the final hours of the legislative session Sunday.

The proposal, Senate Bill 1333, was put together by top Democratic leaders to help Gov. Pat Quinn get rid of people in jobs considered the most politically connected in state government.

Senators began debating the measure late Sunday, but some asked whether it went too far. […]

But before the debate was finished, Senate President John Cullerton delayed action so senators could turn to other pressing matters, including a new state budget, and the bill did not come up for consideration again before the legislature’s midnight deadline to wrap up work.

* Related…

* Ill. Senate OKs change in lawmakers’ pay process

* Illinois lawmakers vote to freeze cost-of-living increases

* Senate sends governor lawmaker furloughs

* Senator defends pay, GOP has fun

* Governor Go-along

* Lawmakers unload on reform panel …

* … But FOIA rewrite done right

* Crooked pols like fish in a barrel

* Ill. lawmakers OK first-ever campaign contribution limits

* Partisan support helps send reform bill to governor’s desk

* House passes plan to cap contributions

* Ill. passes first-ever campaign limits; critics call bill weak

* Campaign finance reform headed to the gov

18 Comments

The budget mess, via The Doors

Monday, Jun 1, 2009 - Posted by Rich Miller

* This is the end, beautiful friend…

State lawmakers have gone home for the summer – well, at least for a little bit of summer.

Legislators wrapped up their spring legislative session early this morning. But they’ll be back before too long because they sent Gov. Pat Quinn a budget for next year that only spends about 50 percent of the money needed and he’s planning meetings with legislative leaders to work out the differences.

* This is the end, My only friend, the end…

We have to stay after school,” Quinn said late Sunday. “Right now, the budget is not in balance. People will suffer.”

Under the legislature’s spending plan, hundreds of human service programs would get only 50 percent of the funding that Quinn requested for them. In a news release, Quinn’s office said that means 20,000 seniors will lose home care services, 80,000 low-income mothers will lose childcare services, and foster parents of 9,000 children will lose stipends.

Some lawmakers suggested state agencies could spend money under the budget as through they are fully funded, although acknowledging the money will run out after six months. By that time, they suggested, the General Assembly will come up with additional funding.

* Of our elaborate plans, the end…

Currie cautioned that state agencies under this plan should treat it as funding at lower levels for the entire year, rather than assuming lawmakers could fix the shortage in a few months.

“This is it. This is all we have to spend. When we spend these monies, our pockets are bare,” Currie said.

* Of everything that stands, the end…

Quinn is calling a summit with legisaltive leaders today at the Capitol in the hopes of breaking a logjam over raising taxes. Quinn says the state needs an income tax hike to help dig out of a huge deficit. Quinn says he has no plans to act on what’s been termed a “lights on” budget designed to keep government operating if no compromise is reached by the start of the new fiscal year July first.

Lawmakers left Springfield early this morning, but could be called back to town in the future. Quinn downplays specualtion of a long, drawn out budget battle.

* No safety or surprise, the end…

One more uncertainty from the lack of an agreed budget is when construction will begin for roads, bridges, schools and other infrastructure projects. Although the General Assembly approved a $26 billion construction program 10 days ago, with a second installment approved early Monday morning, Quinn said he wouldn’t sign it until lawmakers sent him a balanced budget.

He said bond-rating agencies and bond buyers wouldn’t buy bonds from a seller (the state) “as long as that seller has a gaping hole in its operating budget of billions of dollars. It’s just common sense.”

* I’ll never look into your eyes… again…

What was less clear was how Quinn intends to win support for the plan now that he needs even more votes than he did before.

The state’s new fiscal year starts July 1. Under the Illinois Constitution, any bill passed after midnight on May 31 — Sunday — cannot take effect until the following calendar year unless it is passed by a three-fifths vote. As of today, Quinn needs a “supermajority” in both chambers to win passage of a new budget.

That means he will now need votes from Republicans, who are likely to be even harder to sway than Democrats have been. Republicans have been clamoring for deeper spending cuts and government reforms before agreeing to any new taxes, and Sunday’s development will give them the muscle to press those demands.

* Can you picture what will be so limitless and free…

But Republicans say they’ve been left out of talks to this point and aren’t quick to help the Democratic majority pass tax hikes.

“You can’t come over to us on the last night and say, “let’s be bipartisan,” Cross said during the tax debate.

But Quinn said Republicans wanted to be able to say they voted against taxes and predicted they’ll flip in the coming weeks and put votes on a tax increase.

* Desperately in need of some stranger’s hand in a desperate land…

After Quinn’s evening press conference to wave the white flag on a pre-adjournment tax hike vote, Meeks slammed the governor for not pushing the plan until the legislative stopwatch expired.

“I’m not satisfied Gov. Quinn worked as hard as he could have,” Meeks said. “The governor should be meeting with 25 people who are ‘nos,’ trying to turn them into “yeses.” He should be meeting with them, rather than having a press conference.

* Lost in a Roman wilderness of pain…

The political punt on the budget deficit is similar to what Democratic leaders did last year. Unable to find an agreement on how to plug the budget hole, lawmakers sent an unbalanced budget to then-Gov. Rod Blagojevich and told him to use his executive authority to fix it.

* And all the children are insane…

Instead, the more likely scenario is that legislators will return to the Capitol in November, after they know how stiff their competition will be on the ballot next year, and try to reach agreement on a major tax increase to balance the budget.

Rep. Julie Hamos (D-Evanston) summed up what she thought many of her colleagues were thinking.

“We’re going to come back for veto session, and we’ll take care of the next six months,” she said during House debate on the makeshift budget.

* Related…

* Companies that stand to profit waiting for green light

* FAQ on video poker proposal

* Local debates needed on video poker

* Controversial Metro East bond sent to Quinn

* $2.7 million wasted in grants

* Quinn and lawmakers dole out projects

32 Comments

Protected: SUBSCRIBERS ONLY - Today’s edition of Capitol Fax

Monday, Jun 1, 2009 - Posted by Rich Miller

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Morning Shorts

Monday, Jun 1, 2009 - Posted by Mike Murray

* Gas prices climb 19 cents over 2 weeks

* General Motors files for bankruptcy protection

* Homophobic alderman? Possibility stirs rage

The City Council may soon have its first openly homophobic alderman. If Mayor Daley decides to appoint the Rev. Wilfredo De Jesus to replace 26th Ward Ald. Billy Ocasio, Chicago’s GLBT activists might go ballistic. Then again, they might just punt.

Ocasio, who has resigned his seat and has signed on as a top adviser to Gov. Quinn, has asked Daley to appoint De Jesus, senior pastor of New Life Covenant Ministries, to replace him in the Humboldt Park ward.

De Jesus, an influential evangelical minister with 4,000 church members, has taken stands and uttered words that infuriate many in the city’s gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender community.

* Temporary Leader for 26th Ward Office

* Privatization causes chain reaction: no meters, so no place to park bikes

“The Bike Program is already reviewing areas where meters have been removed for possible bike rack installation, based on requests from citizens and aldermen,” said Steele. He said the best way to request a bike rack is through the Bike Program’s Web site (chicagobikes.org/ bikeparking) or by calling 311. More than 11,000 bike racks have been installed citywide to date, and that number will continue to grow.

* RTA still isn’t using reform power it was granted

* Drop in ad revenue hurting CTA

Titan Worldwide is supposed to pay the CTA an annual guaranteed amount for ads — this year it’s $23.5 million — and pay a certain amount of that each month. In March, it was $600,000 short of its anticipated payment of $1.9 million.

Titan’s revenues for the year are down 25 percent around the United States, and it has fallen short on payments to transit agencies around the country.

“We’re in discussions with them on how to address it,” said CTA spokeswoman Noelle Gaffney. “We expect them to meet their contractual obligation.”

If Titan isn’t able to meet its guaranty for the year, it will be another hit to the budget of the CTA, which is already struggling from decreased sales tax and real estate transfer tax revenues.

* City losing war against sight blight

* Traffic headaches begin today near Union Station

A reminder to motorists, pedestrians and anyone taking a bus to or from Union Station — Jackson Boulevard between Canal Street and Wacker Drive will close starting today through next spring for repairs to the viaduct.

* Jackson work alters bus routes

* Changes may clear way for local towns to save money on road salt

* The scandal at Rezko U.

The university president responded to the Tribune’s report with a dissembling statement as egregious as his school’s role in this admissions scheme. “First and most important, all admissions to the University of Illinois should be based on merit. . . .” B. Joseph White said. “[T]he Tribune makes no assertion that unqualified individuals were admitted to the University.”

False. As Friday’s paper reported, the Tribune’s investigation found that “University officials recognized that certain students were underqualified — but admitted them anyway. . . . University officials delayed admissions notification to weak candidates until the end of the school year to minimize the fallout at top feeder high schools.” That is, to hide blatant injustice.

White also tried to spin the customary defenses of public officials caught playing favorites: What happens here is no different than what happens at other schools; not that many applicants benefited; I think we deserve the public’s trust.

No, Mr. White. Neither you nor any other state official can justify cheating even one applicant. The questions here are grave:

* Two top-paid state hires on hot seat for U of I clout list

“The buck stops with Chancellor (Richard) Herman for the Urbana campus and with me for the entire University which includes the Urbana campus.”

Actually, a lot of bucks stop with both Herman and Joe White, the president of University of Illinois who wrote the above statement to me in an e-mail.

About a million dollars a year to pay their salaries, which are the two highest salaries paid in Illinois to any government employees.

* Sox fans know the score on the highways

7 Comments

Raw Video of President Cullerton and Leader Radogno

Monday, Jun 1, 2009 - Posted by Mike Murray

* 1:38 am - Here is raw video from Senate Leadership on today’s [yesterday’s] events

* President Cullerton

* Leader Radogno

11 Comments

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