* I’ve been wondering who would be the first, and the “winner” doesn’t really surprise me. Republican Joe Birkett is the first Illinois politician (that I know of, anyway) to use the Iranian democracy protests to his own political advantage. From an e-mail…
Recognize the Heroes in Iran … Honor Them by Fighting for Reform at Home
As we speak, reformers in Iran are showing us what it means to treasure the right to vote and protest government.
In the wake of questionable election results in which Iranian despot Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was “re-elected” …. Iranian students and reformers have taken to the streets to protest.
Despite a media blackout, Iranian citizens are risking their lives to use online tools like YouTube and Twitter to tell their story to the rest of the world. Some of these protesters have been beaten, jailed or killed for their efforts.
It is a stark reminder that we should never take for granted our right to vote – and that we should avoid becoming apathetic amid our distrust of the corruption-plagued government that has inflicted Illinois for the past six years. […]
P.S. To reform Illinois, we need the financial resources to match the Democrats. Your immediate online investment in honest government can help us do just that.
* Meanwhile, Democratic Treasurer and US Senate candidate Alexi Giannoulias made his first post at Daily Kos today…
So, I’ve set a goal for my campaign: 5,000 grassroots volunteers signed up on our website. If you believe that the person elected to President Obama’s seat should wage a campaign he would be proud of, then join us today.
* And Greg Hinz thinks Mark Kirk should run for governor…
But if there ever were a time to bring an outside moderate to Springfield, someone who knows government but hasn’t even vaguely been part of creating the utter mess Illinois government has become, it’s now. Consider: change, reform, unity. Remind you of the campaign another Illinoisan ran recently, congressman?
Sometimes in politics, you’ve got to play on the field where your game works best, even if it isn’t the field you know best. If Mark Kirk wants to move up right now, his best play is for governor, not the Senate.
Quinn asked Democratic state officials to also take his side on the budget, in particular Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan, who’s been mulling a run for governor.
QUINN: If you want to run for governor or be governor, you gotta get in the arena. You can’t be on the sidelines.
* The SJ-R tells legislative Republicans to get off their duffs and help solve the budget problem…
Cut first, reform the budget process, then “discuss” new revenues. This is the Republican creed on Illinois’ two-year, $12 billion budget deficit. House Republican votes are needed to pass a budget that doesn’t massacre services and state employees by the fiscal year’s July 1 start.
This principle is reasonable if considered in a vacuum. But the impossibility of major budget reforms before the July deadline and the near certainty of layoffs and service cuts if it is blown make this an unreasonable stance. Legislators need to find the revenue now.
* Senate GOP Leader Christine Radogno compared Gov. Quinn to Rod Blagojevich and lit into him…
“He is trying to instill panic. I think that is cynical, I think it is morally unacceptable and it is very Rod Blagojevich-like. It is wrong, wrong, wrong and it doesn’t need to be happening,” Radogno said
Radogno, however, did concede Friday that cutting the state budget alone will not come up with the cash needed to make ends meet. “Cuts are one piece of the puzzle and they may not be enough to entirely solve the problem,” she said
She also said she wants pension and Medicaid reform before considering a tax hike.
* I’ve been warning the governor’s people about this for weeks, but considered it a bit too tinfoil hatty for publication and deleted it from stories at least twice…
There are many theories floating around about how all of this will play out. Here’s one from an experienced Statehouse veteran that is intriguing.
July 1 comes and goes with Quinn and the four leaders agreeing to nothing. Quinn could accept the budget sent to him by lawmakers and try to stretch the spending through an entire year, slashing and hacking programs along the way. Or he could spend wildly to spare job losses and program cuts now and hope that something is resolved before the state runs completely out of money in January or February.
Under this scenario, the Legislature returns sometime after Christmas but before Jan. 15 and raises the income tax. That puts it after the deadline for people to file to run for the General Assembly. It also puts it just before the primary election, an election where we already know Quinn will have opponents, maybe even including the speaker’s daughter.
…Adding… Also, as I’ve told subscribers and column readers, this can’t be done without a lot of other legislation, which is another reason I’ve deleted it from stories that I was writing.
It’s tough to find people who truly believe that Gov. Pat Quinn will ultimately approve draconian budget cuts in the coming fiscal year in order to force a tax increase. But his people insist it’s coming, and the administrative planning appears to be moving forward with deliberate speed.
The governor has three choices:
• He could veto the budget approved by the General Assembly and force a showdown overtime session. The budget will fund only half of social service programs for next fiscal year. A veto would create an immediate confrontation, but it also would put him in the same sort of league with Rod Blagojevich, and Quinn doesn’t want or need that comparison. Plus, the overtime session could drag on for weeks as leaders try to put together another budget plan. And until there is a plan, Republicans will face no real pressure to act. Instead, they’ll get daily opportunities to bash Quinn and the Democrats.
• Quinn also is being urged to treat the “50 percent budget” as if it’s really a six-month budget. This plan would put off a vote on taxes until next year. But the governor’s office maintains that this can’t be done legally.
• The third option is to sign the budget into law as is, which will lead to horrific cuts. That’s the direction Quinn is heading. Yes, he has appeared to back off of some big fights. And, yes, he’s a deeply liberal and religious man who abhors the very idea of massive cuts, particularly the billions of dollars slashed from human service grant programs.
“I don’t believe in holding the Sword of Damocles over the heads of innocent people,” Quinn said last week.
But that mythical sword soon will become all too real. At least two state prisons reportedly are on the chopping block. Thousands of state employees could be laid off if the union doesn’t agree to other cutbacks. Quinn said last week that the cuts to private human service agency grants alone would result in 200,000 job losses.
Quinn will have to hope that the threat of doom will be enough to move legislators to action. “I’m disappointed that we aren’t having enough urgency,” Quinn said. Urgency assuredly will hit the fan soon.
Threats alone may not work. Legislators have heard doomsday warnings for years and nothing has ever come of it. Late last year, many were predicting a government shutdown by spring because the legislature had adjourned with a $2 billion-plus deficit and revenues were tanking right along with the economy. A shutdown never happened.
Once they’ve been around for a while, legislators realize that almost everybody they deal with is always in crisis mode: If the state doesn’t do “X,” then catastrophe is certain. But those catastrophes never seem to come.
Quinn’s first attempt at threatening doomsday last month was met with yawns. The bottom line was nobody took him seriously. They still don’t.
Quinn appeared to run from a fight with the teachers and public employee unions when he succumbed way too soon on a plan to force workers to pay more into their pension plans.
The lifelong reformer has been excoriated by reform groups for “caving” to the old bulls on campaign finance reform.
If you look weak in this business, you are weak.
His repeated homilies to the poor and outcast make people believe he won’t play a role in their devastation. Therefore, his warnings probably won’t work.
The governor should reread Cicero’s story about that infamous sword. The actual lesson is that the powerful are not as happy as they seem because they are under constant, perilous threat.
“There can be nothing happy for the person over whom some fear always looms,” Cicero explained.
Quinn has been on the outside mocking insiders all his adult life, and now he’s gotten what he always wanted and is on top of the heap, only to look up and see a gigantic sword dangling by a thread over his head. The peasant Damocles had envied the king’s power, but he panicked and fled at the sight of the sword hanging above the throne.
In the coming days, we’re going to find out what Quinn is really made of.
* The National Law Journal claims that the Department of Justice may rein in “honest services” prosecutions while the Supreme Court considers an appeal…
A key weapon in the arsenal of U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald and his prosecutors in Chicago has been a section of the federal anti-fraud statute that makes it a crime to deprive citizens or corporate shareholders of “honest services.” It’s been used to convict dozens of state and local government officials, as well as newspaper magnate Conrad Black and former Gov. George Ryan of Illinois. Fitzgerald cited the honest services in the April indictment of another ex-Illinois governor, Rod Blagojevich.
But the U.S. Supreme Court’s May decision to review Black’s 2007 conviction may put the brakes on the honest services provision. The U.S. Department of Justice is likely to rein in use of the provision, 18 U.S.C. 1346, until the high court rules on Black’s appeal next term, former federal prosecutors say. “Anytime that there’s a high-profile review of a conviction, the department tends to just stop in its tracks, and this is a very high-profile review,” said Matt Orwig, a partner and criminal defense attorney in the Dallas office of Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal and former U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Texas. “There’s going to have to be some very careful analysis of how they’ve approached these cases in the past.” […]
Orwig, who didn’t recall using the charge when he was a U.S. attorney, said he thinks the section has been “over-used.” It was the lead charge lodged by U.S. attorney offices against 79 suspects in fiscal year 2007, up from 63 in 2005 and 28 in 2000. (The Justice Department doesn’t consistently track it as a secondary charge.)
Is it getting out of hand? I’ve been hearing lots of comments both for and against this type of prosecution. Prosecutors, like most bureaucrats, will usually tend to take their mandates to the extreme. That’s why we don’t allow bureaucrats to rule us unfettered, despite what some editorial boards may wish for.
* Meanwhile, this lawsuit hasn’t received much coverage here yet…
Four Illinois riverboat casinos are suing former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich as they continue to fight a state law that requires them to share their profits with the state’s ailing horse racing tracks.
In a federal RICO complaint, four casinos say former Gov. Rod Blagojevich used the governor’s office to enrich himself, his campaign committee and other conspirators. The casinos claim Blagojevich schemed with horse track owner John Johnston to secure enactment of the 2006 and 2008 Racing Act bills, which forced casinos to pay millions of dollars to five horse tracks, including Balmoral Park and Maywood Park, both owned or control by Johnston.
To conceal their actions, Johnston arranged for the money to be paid through several entities under his control, according to the complaint. As a result, the plaintiff casinos say they had to pay $89.2 million for redistribution to horse tracks and their owners, fattening the tracks’ profits at the plaintiffs’ expense.
The law was enacted in 2006 and mandated that the casino funds be transferred to the horse tracks for two years. The complaint says that after the 2006 passage, “Blagojevich and Johnston and possibly others in the horse racing industry, agreed that Johnston or his affiliates would pay Blagojevich or Friends of Blagojevich money in exchange for ensuring the enactment” of the law. The complaint says that a month after Mr. Blagojevich signed the 2006 law, Mr. Johnston contributed $125,000 to Friends of Blagojevich though various affiliates. “To conceal their unlawful scheme, Johnston arranged for this money to paid through several entities under his control,” the suit alleges.
Mr. Reinberg said Mr. Johnston’s campaign contributions to Mr. Blagojevich were routine, and timed to an annual June fundraiser for the Governor, and not payment for enactment of the initial 2006 law, as the suit alleges.
Mr. Johnston “never made a contribution to Governor Blagojevich or any other politician with a quid pro quo or any expectation that the Governor would act on his behalf,” Mr. Reinberg said.
The record is clear that it is the Chicago political machine that has brought Illinois, the Land of Lincoln, to its present intolerable state of corruption.
* Potential GOP US Senate candidate Mark Kirk has scheduled a press conference today to announce that he wants to throw people in prison for 25 years for trafficking “high potency” marijuana…
U.S. Rep. Mark Kirk will call for legislation Monday that would toughen drug-trafficking laws regarding a highly potent form of marijuana, with penalties of up to 25 years in prison for a first-time offense.
The law would target offenders who sell or distribute marijuana that has a THC content exceeding 15 percent, which is between 5 and 10 percentage points higher than average marijuana, according to Kirk’s office.
THC, or tetrahydrocannabinol, is the main active ingredient in marijuana.
Drug dealers are increasingly cross-breeding plants to produce high-potency variants of marijuana, which are called “kush” in street slang when they have 20 percent THC, Lake County Sheriff Mark Curran said.
But Bryan Brickner, a co-founder of the Illinois chapter of the National Organization to Reform Marijuana Laws said the law would target medical users. “He’s saying we want you to use the lower grade stuff — so you have to smoke more just to get the same amount of relief.”
And there’s some confusion in media reports about what this stuff really is. That top story from the Tribune claims he’s targeting pot that’s 20 percent THC. The Sun-Times says it’s 15 percent. And the Waukegan paper says…
“Kush,” a new strain of hydroponically grown marijuana that reportedly has five times the potency of strains from the early 1990s.
Whenever politicians get all hyper about some “new” drug, it’s time to be suspicious about their claims - and their proposed remedies. Remember that old saying: When the only tool you ever use is a hammer, everything looks like a nail.
* Meanwhile, GOP state Rep. Dave Winters describes what he’s been doing to round up support for lieutenant governor…
“I’ve been meeting with Republican leaders all over the state. I’ve met with Andy McKenna, the party chairman, and with (former) Gov. Jim Thompson. I’m getting a very good response throughout the state,“ Winters told me Friday.
* According to a new Rasmussen poll, 58 percent of Illinoisans don’t think the General Assembly can balance the state’s budget without an income tax hike…
How likely is it that the Illinois legislature can balance the state budget without increasing the state income tax?
11% Very likely
25% Somewhat likely
40% Not very likely
18% Not at all likely
6% Not sure
Because of the somewhat awkward wording of the question, it’s difficult to know whether the majority has no faith in the GA’s ability to do this without a tax hike, or they understand the budget problem better than most people think (and better than many newspaper editorial writers do). Or both.
The poll surveyed 500 likely voters and was conducted June 9th. MoE is +/- 4.5.
* On to politics. You can click the image for a larger view, but here are favorable ratings for Lisa Madigan, Roland Burris, Pat Quinn, Chris Kennedy and Rod Blagojevich…
Lisa Madigan continues to be one of the most popular politicians in Illinois. A 65 percent favorable rating is pretty darned good.
* Should Lisa Madigan run for Governor or Senate?
21% Governor
23% Senate
56% Not sure
No help there.
* Gov. Quinn’s numbers are still super soft…
* Should Pat Quinn run for re-election as Governor of Illinois in 2010?
32% Yes
34% No
34% Not sure
* How would you rate the job Pat Quinn has been doing as Governor… ?
* How likely is it that Pat Quinn will be reelected as Governor?
8% Very likely
48% Somewhat likely
28% Not very likely
4% Not at all likely
13% Not sure
* If Quinn runs for re-election as Governor, would you definitely vote for him, definitely vote against him, or would it depend upon who was running against him?
13% Definitely vote for him
23% Definitely vote against him
63% It would depend on who was running against him
2% Not sure
* If anything in this poll gets covered, it’s likely this question…
* To win his appointment to the United States Senate, how likely is it that Roland Burris was involved in unethical pay to play politics?
50% Very likely
27% Somewhat likely
9% Not very likely
2% Not at all likely
12% Not sure
Sixty-one percent (61%) of Illinois voters now say they would definitely vote against Democratic Senator Roland Burris if he runs for a full term in 2010, according to a new Rasmussen Reports telephone survey in the state.
That result is up from 54% back in April. Burris was named to the Senate by since-impeached Governor Rod Blagojevich to fill the seat vacated by Barack Obama.
Only six percent (6%) of voters would definitely vote for Burris, while 32% say their vote would depend on who runs against him.
Burris has not yet said whether he intends to seek a full term in the Senate next year, but 74% of Illinois voters say he should not run. Just 13% say he should.
Flowers, superintendent of the Suburban Cook County Regional Office of Education, not only hired his two sisters and a nephew to work for him but has dipped into the office cash when the paycheck wasn’t enough for his relatives.
Less than a year after his election, he approved a $6,000 cash advance to sister Barbara Flowers.
“Repayments were to occur each pay period starting on April 4, 2008. The payroll register does not show any repayments between this date and June 30, 2008,” according to a report by the state’s auditor general, who this week called on the Illinois attorney general and Cook County state’s attorney to investigate Flowers’ operation of the office.
County president Todd Stroger’s cousin, former chief financial officer Donna Dunnings, gave her former secretary paid time off that he did not earn for workdays he was locked in county jail. Dunnings also signed time cards that claimed Cole worked weekends that he did not show up at the office, county records show.
To date, national home prices have declined by 27%. Fitch Rating’s revised peak-to-trough expectation is for prices to decline by 36% from the peak price achieved in mid-2006. The additional 9% decline represents a 12.5% decline from today’s levels.
About a quarter of manufacturing companies and more than 40 percent of service-sector employers plan to hire workers in June, the highest totals in six months, the Society for Human Resource Management reports. It’s a bit of good news, even if the figures are substantially lower than they were a year ago.
The Labor Department’s most recent Job Openings and Labor Turnover report showed some pockets of growth for the first time in months: 458,000 openings for lawyers, accountants and other professional business services, up 30,000.
During the school year that ended Friday, about 84 percent of Chicago public school students received free or reduced-price breakfasts and lunches, meaning that with summer’s arrival, nearly 342,000 children are no longer receiving the meals each day in their school cafeterias.
Given those numbers and the weak economy, local food pantries fear a need will appear this summer in Chicago like never before.
“It’s definitely an issue that food pantries have talked about for a long time. But this year, it could be a more pronounced issue,” said Bob Dolgan, spokesman for the Greater Chicago Food Depository, which reported a 36 percent increase in overall demand this year.
How can you sell little bottles of water for three bucks and still go broke? Yes, financial situations are complex. And yes, Six Flags — the New York-based amusement park company that runs, among its 20 locations, Six Flags Great America in Gurnee — had a good year last year. But still it’s $2.4 billion in debt and filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.
* Downstate Illinois carbon capture coal plant back on track
The Auto Club’s most recent Fuel Gauge Report estimates that in Illinois, regular unleaded gasoline has increased 45 cents during the past month, forecasting an average cost of $2.85 per gallon for the month of June, which is still $1.27 lower per gallon than last year.
Mayor Daley and a small entourage from the Chicago 2016 organizing committee and the U.S. Olympic Committee are traveling to Olympic headquarters in Lausanne, Switzerland, to make a final sales pitch before as many as 90 of the 100 members of the International Olympic Committee — the governing body that plans to announce Oct. 2 which city gets the Games.
The city of Chicago Friday announced it would cut 1,504 unionized workers unless a last-minute deal is reached with labor unions. Gene Saffold is the city’s chief financial officer. He says layoff letters were being delivered to employees Friday through next Tuesday.
At the 10 intersections that have had cameras the longest, the number or red-light violations — and accompanying mailed-out tickets — has dropped 74 percent, on average, in the last four years.
An appointee of former Gov. Rod Blagojevich who had been under federal investigation for hiring fraud has been fired by the state’s child-welfare agency.
A spokesman for the Department of Children and Family Services says Robin Staggers’ last day as chief of staff was June 5. The DCFS spokesman wouldn’t discuss why she was dismissed.
Federal officials announced an agreement this morning that will restart plans to build an experimental coal plant in Mattoon, Ill. Supporters hailed the news as a victory for the Illinois economy and for efforts to curb global warming.
The agreement will at least temporarily resurrect the so-called FutureGen project, which the Bush administration had discontinued in 2008, citing rising cost estimates. The plant is expected to cost more than $2.4 billion, including five or so years of operating costs, U.S. Sen. Sen. Dick Durbin said this morning. Earlier estimates had put the cost at around $1.5 billion or more.
If completed, FutureGen would be the first commercial-scale effort in the country to test carbon capture and sequestration technology–an attempt to collect the greenhouse gas emissions from coal before they enter the atmosphere, then store those gases underground.
* Today’s winner is Patti Blagojevich, who complained that Pat Quinn disbanded her husband’s State Police security detail moments after Rod Blagojevich was removed from office…
“The unbelievably selfish lieutenant governor, who could have … afforded [us] security for a year after, three minutes after the impeachment, our troopers came in, some of them were crying, had to say goodbye.”
If Blagojevich had just stepped aside and temporarily given Quinn the office right after he was arrested, he would have kept his salary for at least the rest of the fiscal year and likely kept his detail. Too bad. Quinn also asked the Chicago police department to see what they could do after he pulled Blagojevich’s detail.
Also, during the GRT battle, Blagojevich pulled security away from constitutional officers who criticized his massive tax hike plan.
Hard to feel much sympathy for the man.
And, finally, there has been no Illinois tradition that I know of to give former governors State Police protection after they’ve left office. Blagojevich was impeached and removed, so he really didn’t deserve it.
* Related…
* Rob’s car in front of Rod’s house: There was no City of Chicago vehicle sticker on the front windshield. City Clerk’s office spokeswoman Kristine Williams said that “vehicle stickers must be on all vehicles principally garaged within the city limits,”and that drivers have 30 days to comply with this requirement (the basic passenger-car sticker costs $75) before being subject to a fine ($120).
Central Illinois lawmakers whose names appear on the University of Illinois’ so-called “clout list” for admissions say they never tried to force the Big Ten school to accept any particular student.
They have, however, occasionally contacted university lobbyists or trustees to ask about the status of a student who wants to go to the U of I. Lawmakers say there’s nothing wrong with such inquiries, which they typically make after hearing from an applicant’s anxious parents.
“It’s constituent services,” said Rep. David Leitch, R-Peoria. “It’s not like (me) calling them up and clouting some unqualified person in. That’s never happened — at least, I’ve never been a part of it.”
Leitch said the students he tries to help generally are on the U of I’s waiting list, meaning they haven’t been accepted or rejected. When a parent contacts him, he calls the university lobbyists who act as “legislative liaisons” to lawmakers and asks when the student might learn his or her fate. “Sometimes they’re in. Sometimes they’re not. I don’t view it as a big deal,” he said.
* The Question: Is this Tribune series on “clouting” U of I applicants really about legit legislative constituent services or unethical political pressure? I’m talking about overall here. There may be individual cases either way. Explain fully, as always.
So is it wrong for a lawmaker to make the phone call in the first place, even if the kid in question only got a 27 on his ACT? Is the very act of picking up the phone or talking to the university’s lobbyist wrong? Unethical? An abuse of power? If it is, we might as well disband the General Assembly. […]
We elect members to the state Legislature to cut red tape at state agencies, from the Environmental Protection Agency to the Illinois Department of Transportation to state schools and universities.
Having trouble getting the state comptroller to write your business a check for services provided? Questions about your disabled daughter’s group home? Stuck on a waiting list for a veterans home?
What about constituents with a family member at a downstate prison who want their loved one moved closer to home? If a lawmaker calls the Illinois Department of Corrections to inquire, are they “clouting” the system?
* Tom Dart has been proclaimed a hero of the working class for refusing to enforce eviction notices, but today’s Sun-Times has a story which shows just how difficult it’ll be if Dart decides to move up the political ladder…
Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart is being sued for enforcing a “shackling policy” that requires correctional officers to shackle pregnant woman in the custody during and immediately after labor and delivery. […]
In labor, a sheriff’s deputy shackled Morales by her hand and foot to the hospital bed as required by Dart’s “shackling policy” and disregarded a physicians request to remove the shackles.
The sheriff deputy explained that Dart’s “shackling policy” required the shackles to stay on.
Not a pleasant mental image.
* Yet another Republican has emerged as a lieutenant governor candidate. Randy White. Click here to see his online ad. And here’s one of his newspaper op-eds…
People! It is time to remember our founding fathers’ intent. I have been to Washington. I have read the original documents on which this country was founded. I have seen the notes in the margins made by the men as they worked on each issue. They were basing everything on God-given principles. God is in every thought as they drew up the documents. Do we as Bible-Belt Americans realize the media-backed, popular candidates stand for the very things our founding fathers stood against, and would be appalled by?
* Republican Sen. Kirk Dillard said yesterday that he’s seriously considering a bid for governor, the same day he was scheduled to “co-host” a fundraiser for GOP Sen. Bill Brady’s gubernatorial campaign. He explains…
Dillard tells Animal Farm he signed on months ago for Brady’s local fundraiser and hasn’t asked for his name to be removed. But he won’t be attending. Instead, he has made plans to attend a fundraiser for Western llinois University.
“I gave Senator Brady permission to use my name before I began seriously considering a run for governor,” Dillard said.
* As I told you yesterday, earlier this week Congressman Patrick Kennedy took some seriously nasty shots at Alexi Giannoulias on behalf of his cousin Chris Kennedy.
Rep. Patrick Kennedy, who has struggled with depression, alcoholism and addiction for much of his life, said Friday that he has checked into a medical facility for treatment.
The Rhode Island Democrat, who sought treatment three years ago after an early-morning car crash near the U.S. Capitol, said in a statement that his recovery is a “lifelong process” and that he will do whatever it takes to preserve his health.
That might explain some things.
* Earlier this week, Kass touted former reform commission chairman Patrick Collins and others for Chicago mayor…
How about Reform Commission Chairman Patrick Collins, the former federal prosecutor? Collins has integrity. Others include Ald. Toni Preckwinkle (4th) and ex-Chicago schools chief Paul Vallas, who may lack hair but knows how to craft a budget.
* As I told you before, the Tribune editorial board lavished praise on Paul Vallas this week and begged him to come back and run for Cook County Board Chairman. Vallas, as you already know, announced yesterday that he would not run. Today, the Tribune whacks Vallas…
We’re thrilled that Huberman has put the central bureaucracy of Chicago’s school district — the second largest employer in the city, behind the federal government — on a diet. The job cuts come as the district faces a budget deficit of at least $475 million.
But his dramatic move leaves us wondering how these jobs survived the district’s two previous reform administrations. Why wasn’t this excess bureaucracy removed by Huberman’s predecessor, Arne Duncan, now the U.S. secretary of education, or by Paul Vallas, now running schools in New Orleans? Or did they help to create it?
Cook County GOP Chairman Lee Roupas said Thursday other candidates have been pondering a run and they see the post as winnable next year given the public’s dissatisfaction with the sales tax hike under county board President Todd Stroger, a Chicago Democrat.
Potential GOP candidates include state Sen. Matt Murphy of Palatine and a second run by Cook County Commissioner Tony Peraica of Riverside.
Sen. Murphy has already ruled out a run for the post and confirmed yesterday that he hasn’t changed his mind.
*** UPDATE 2 - 11:48 am *** This was in my in-box earlier and didn’t notice it. DCFS cuts announced…
Dear Provider,
The General Assembly recently approved a “50-percent budget” for fiscal year 2010 that cuts a long list of vital services and programs. This budget falls far short of meeting the statutory obligations and needs of the State, and fails to fulfill our basic commitments to the people of Illinois.
The legislature’s “50 percent budget” cuts $460,451,675 from $1,337,750,700 from the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services, severely impacting our ability to provide services.
Due to the General Assembly’s failure to approve the revenue plan proposed by Governor Quinn, the State of Illinois will no longer be able to afford contract # 0 for Fiscal Year 2010…
*** UPDATE 1 - 9:38 am *** DHS has sent a memo to providers telling them about upcoming budget cuts and how they will impact the private providers. Read the memo by clicking here.
[ *** End of Updates *** ]
* The Daily Herald editorial board, once again, proves its own cluelessness…
Your leaders really are not helping. In the Senate, your leadership hung you out to dry by convincing six of you suburban Democrats to vote for a big tax hike that went nowhere and certainly wasn’t accompanied by budget cuts.
Actually, the tax plan voted on in the Senate would’ve forced $2 billion in budget cuts or reforms. Can’t that edit board pick up the phone and call its Statehouse bureau? Sheesh. And didn’t it read the Taxpayer Action Board report, wherein former state budget director Steve Schnorf wrote this about the board’s proposed budget reforms…
“My best personal estimate is that you will be able to save very little, if any, money in (fiscal 2010),” Schnorf wrote. “If I were working on the budget, I would be thrilled if there were $200 million in actual, achievable FY10 savings.”
Jones called for Governor Pat Quinn to get off his high horse and stop acting like former Governor Rod Blagojevich in traveling around the state using scare tactics. “Everybody’s been misinformed. They think the 50% budget that the House and Senate passed is at the Governor’s office and he’s going to sign it into law. He isn’t going to sign it into law. In fact, they haven’t even sent it to him. They aren’t about to send it to him. That was just a ploy to stir everybody up. Everybody thinks they’re getting a 50% cut, but we’ll work through this,” Jones said.
Thousands of state workers have their jobs on the line as officials continue debating whether to raise the income tax and how deeply government operations must be cut to balance the budget.
I’ve always thought that Illinois government functioned best when it was divided.
The anecdotal evidence is clear. For decades we had a Republican governor and a Democratic Legislature, or at least a Democratic House, and things went pretty well.
But under total Democratic rule, the process has appeared hopelessly broken.
For the third year in a row, the May 31 deadline for passing a state budget has been blown. Draconian budget cuts are coming without some sort of tax increase, but there’s been precious little progress on that front. Gov. Quinn seems unable to make any headway.
Whenever the budget was broken in the past, GOP governors were able to persuade Republican legislators to vote with the majority Democrats to get things done. Back in 1983, Illinois’ unemployment was higher than it is now. The state was flat broke. Yet, Republican Gov. Jim Thompson managed to increase both the income tax and the sales tax, and he did it with quite a few Republican votes.
Thompson recalled that he used to jog in Springfield’s Washington Park every morning and that House Republican leader Lee Daniels had a residence near the park.
“I bought a coffee pot and five pounds of coffee,” Thompson said. “I knocked on [Daniels’] door, barged in and said, ‘Listen, I’m not leaving until you come to my side if I have to come back every morning.’ And I did until we reached an agreement.
“I convinced him that I was determined to do this and I was willing to listen to his concerns, but that the matter was personal to me.”
Daniels says there was very little jogging involved. “Thompson was a walker,” the retired House GOP leader cracked. But there was a lot of coffee, and a whole lot of give-and-take.
The Republicans initially opposed Thompson’s proposal, Daniels said, “but we became aware that without some kind of revenue enhancement, there would be dramatic reductions in state services.”
As a minority leader, Daniels said, “I always thought my job was to present alternatives” to the majority’s proposals. “We weren’t saying ‘No, no, no.’ We came back with a variety of alternatives.” One of those alternatives was a temporary income tax increase. Thompson at first balked, but finally gave in; and the tax increase did, indeed, expire 18 months later.
But that give-and-take didn’t happen with the Republicans this spring. Not a single GOP legislator was willing to vote for an income tax increase in either chamber, though several privately expressed a willingness, even an eagerness, to do so. The Republicans also proposed no serious alternatives.
Thompson laid the blame for that at the Democrats’ feet. In his day and long after, Republicans always had a seat at the table. But this year, they were left out of the process until Democrats demanded in the final days of the session that Republicans vote for an income tax increase to fund a budget that they had no role in constructing.
Quinn asked Thompson to call House Republicans to get the lay of the land. Thompson said he told Quinn what their answer would be before he ever picked up the phone: “We were frozen out for six months and now you want our vote, but you don’t want our voice.”
So, I’ve revised my theory. What has been missing this year, and through most of the Rod Blagojevich years, is a governor who thought like a real leader.
“You gotta think about what it takes to get things accomplished,” Thompson said. “You gotta set your mind on what you need to do to get things done and to find the compromises so you can get stuff passed.”
* Potential state budget cuts spark protests in Crystal Lake, Woodstock: Howell was one of about 30 people Thursday who took part in a protest at Friendship House in Crystal Lake. A separate protest of about 20 people occurred later in the day in Woodstock outside of the office of state Rep. Jack Franks.
* SJ-R: The time is now: House Speaker Mike Madigan’s position appears to be that he won’t mobilize his Democratic members for a tax increase until some Republicans get on board, too. House Republican leader Tom Cross says that won’t happen until the Democrats get behind some budget reforms the Republicans want. Reps. Raymond Poe and Rich Brauer, both Republicans — voted against raising the income tax, but seem to be ignoring the potential catastrophic effects on their constituents and neither has proposed where exactly to cut state government to fill a $12 billion hole.
* Advocates to Lawmakers: “Don’t Drop the Ball”: Advocates for early childhood education took to the road Thursday to remind lawmakers that they need to “get on the ball” and find a different budget solution.
* Groups: Don’t ‘drop the ball’ on youth funding: About 71 people took their protest directly to local lawmakers on behalf of Child Care Resource and Referral, which operates out of John A. Logan College.
* State budget cuts squeeze day-care users, providers - Could hurt 3,200 local low-income families
* Quinn warns of budget consequences: “We have to make sure our state budget is balanced and has enough revenue to invest in important human services that are especially indispensable during a hard economic time,” the governor said.
* Quinn warns about upcoming cuts: “Do we want more suicides in Illinois? I don’t think so,” Quinn said outside the mental health center… The governor, who has been engaged in talks with legislative leaders, sidestepped a question about whether he would accept any of the budget cuts that Republicans have been urging. Instead, he focused on the need to raise revenue, noting it had been done in tough economic times before, including in the 1930s.
* Audits slap Ill. agencies for waste, lax oversight: The cases are tiny pieces of the state’s nearly $60 billion budget, but they could provide leverage for critics who say government spending cuts are needed before tax hikes proposed by Gov. Pat Quinn are even considered.
* ‘Very bad audit’ turns up trouble at education office: The state’s top auditor called for a criminal probe of the suburban Cook County regional education office after an audit found that the director repeatedly used a government credit card for personal expenses and approved questionable payments to relatives on his payroll.
The Institute, located at Southern Illinois University Carbondale, is reporting that its main endowment has lost 40 percent of its value and that its annual payout will drop from $300,000 to about $50,000 in the next fiscal year.
A federal judge in Chicago on Thursday approved a $37.5-million settlement between Sun-Times Media Group Inc. and shareholders who brought a class-action lawsuit against the publishing company for securities fraud allegedly committed during Conrad Black’s regime.
After his client was hit with a 3½-year sentence Thursday for the videotaped beating of a man in a wheelchair, a defense lawyer launched an explosive salvo against Chicago Police Supt. Jody Weis.
“I’ve got a message for all those fine officers in blue out there: After 15 years on the job, don’t snap. You’ll get thrown under the bus and it’ll be a federal bus and it’ll be by your own superintendent,” said a fuming Terry Gillespie, who represents former cop William Cozzi.
“This prosecution brought by Supt. Weis was misguided and vindictive,” Gillespie said.
The Illinois Gaming Association says casino revenues are still declining but not as sharply as they were in 2008. Tom Swoik is the head of the gaming association. He says last year’s drop in revenue was nearly 21-percent.
SWOIK: We believe that the majority of the revenue drop in 2008 was because of a smoking ban and the economy had some affect on that. And what we’re seeing the second year, the lower number drop of five or six percent is probably mostly because of the economy now.
More than 1,500 city employees — 400 more than anticipated — will receive layoff notices today, one day after union leaders boycotted Mayor Daley’s 11th-hour appeal for shared sacrifice over job cuts.
Uniformed police officers and firefighters will again be exempt from the July 15 cuts, forcing the ax to fall heavily on two housekeeping departments: Streets and Sanitation (323) and Water Management (295).
Some Chicago Public School teachers say African American teachers are being disproportionately laid off compared to non-minorities due to turnaround restaffing.
A Cook County State’s Attorney’s (CCSA) spokesman confirmed that a complaint has been received and an investigation into newly-elected Village Trustee George Alpogianis’ past felony convictions is underway that could lead to his removal from the village board.
Niles Village Attorney Joe Annunzio is backing away from statements he made late last month claiming newly elected Village Trustee George Alpogianis is not a convicted felon.
“The information used to claim that he (Alpogianis) was a convicted felon was incomplete,” Annunzio was quoted as saying in late May. “He’s not a convicted felon.”
But last week speaking with the Journal & Topics Newspapers, Annunzio tried to clarify his statement saying, “Given the documents I looked at, it (Alpogianis’ criminal record) was inconclusive and incom plete.”
