[posted by Mike Murray]
* Gov. Quinn uses personal cell phone for work
Gov. Pat Quinn uses his own BlackBerry for government business, saying it saves taxpayers the cost of providing an official cell phone. The practice also allows the governor to avoid public records laws.
By using his own phone, Quinn can make official calls and conduct business by e-mail without having to disclose any of his activities under the Freedom of Information Act.
The Democratic governor won’t voluntarily release phone records for his private BlackBerry.
* Quinn: No free fair passes for legislators
There are no free rides for state lawmakers looking to get into this year’s Illinois State Fair, Gov. Pat Quinn says.
Quinn’s administration confirmed that lawmakers and their staffs will not get free entrance passes for the fair, which starts up Friday.
In an interview with The State Journal-Register Monday afternoon, Quinn said that fits with state government facing tight financial and budget times.
“They just have to understand that everybody’s part of the shared sacrifice,” Quinn said. “I think everybody is in and nobody’s left out.”
* State’s constitutional officers curb spending
Secretary of State Jesse White, Comptroller Dan Hynes, Attorney General Lisa Madigan and Treasurer Alexi Giannoulias are all taking steps to rein in spending in their offices.[…]
White has the second largest office in the state and will be coping with a budget just slightly less than it was in the 2009 fiscal year, said spokesman Dave Druker.[…]
Madigan’s office gets its revenue both from general state taxes and from money generated from legal action undertaken by the attorney general, including environmental cases, whistleblower lawsuits and consumer fraud actions. Spillane said the office will be more dependent than ever on money from those sources. She said Madigan promised Quinn that the office would rely as little as possible on general state taxes, which will enable that money to be used on other government spending.[…]
Compared to July 1, 2008, the attorney general’s office has 28 fewer attorneys and 20 fewer support staff, Spillane said.
* More state employees required to take unpaid days off
An undisclosed number of workers in the state comptroller’s office are being forced to take five days of unpaid leave as part of the latest budget-cutting move in state government.
On Friday, Comptroller Dan Hynes became the latest statewide officer to impose furlough days on employees he controls.
The move, affecting workers with higher pay in his office, is part of an overall $2.8 million belt-tightening effort under way in Hynes’ office. A similar plan was put in place during the last fiscal year.
Hynes’ move comes as Gov. Pat Quinn is attempting to move forward on his own furlough plan, which could affect thousands more workers in agencies he controls. Other statewide officers are mulling their options.
* State to continue paying for burials of poor
Despite threats to the contrary, the state will continue paying for the burials of Illinois’ poorest people.
In the past month, there was concern among county coroners that the state would eliminate $12 million or so used for burying people whose families can’t otherwise afford it.
It would have been just one of many budget cuts considered as top officials work through Illinois’ money troubles.
* Stimulus cash is raining little joy on Illinois schools
About $2 billion in federal stimulus money will boost Illinois state education spending to record levels this school year.
The state Board of Education expects to get nearly $10.7 billion in state and federal money, $400 million more than last year.
But unlike in Missouri, where stimulus cash will swell spending by more than 10 percent, the bump in Illinois is just 4 percent of the state education budget.[…]
A 7 percent dip in state revenue, coupled with old debt, has forced Illinois to cut deeply. While stimulus money is filling some of those holes, in general, schools are getting fewer state dollars to use as they wish — and more federal funds that must be used for specific purposes.
* Lawmakers urge tax cap extension
Chicago politicians and grass-roots community groups led a call for extension of the 7 percent Expanded Homeowner Exemption Monday.
“This is not a North Side issue,” said state Rep. John Fritchey, a Chicago Democrat. “It is an issue that encompasses the area.”
First proposed six years ago by County Assessor James Houlihan, passed the following year and extended in 2007, the EHE - or “the 7 percent cap bill,” as Fritchey called it - sets a limit of 7 percent on increases in the assessed value of homeowners’ property from year to year in Cook County. Yet, the extension called for it to be phased out by setting diminishing maximum savings each year. It was to expire entirely in Chicago next year and is being phased out across the county, with the Northern suburbs the year after that and Western and Southern suburbs the year after that. Fritchey warned that puts local citizens at risk for massive property tax hikes, even as home values decline in a down economy.
“We’ve seen record foreclosures in every community,” said state Rep. Kevin Joyce, a Southwest suburban Democrat from Worth.
* Lawmakers’ plan: Add jobs, save money
A bipartisan effort from two Southern Illinois lawmakers will be launched today in an attempt to save the jobs of hundreds of state prison guards.
State Reps. Brandon Phelps, D-Harris-burg, and Mike Bost, R-Murphysboro, are scheduled to speak at a 10 a.m. news conference at Vienna Correctional Center in Johnson County, detailing how the state could avoid layoffs, hire more employees and save money in the Illinois Department of Corrections.
Gov. Pat Quinn has called for $1 billion in cuts to IDOC for the 2010 fiscal year, a move that will cause more than 400 employees to lose their jobs by Sept. 30 and could result in as many as 1,000 layoffs within the budget cycle.
Losing additional jobs at Illinois’ already understaffed prisons will only cost the state more money it can’t pay, Bost said, noting last week’s auditor general report, which revealed IDOC paid nearly $50 million in overtime for prison guards in 2008.
* Gov. Pat Quinn signs environmental legislation
Gov. Pat Quinn signed legislation Monday that he said will benefit the environment.
Quinn signed one bill that prohibits health care institutions from flushing medicines that haven’t been used into public wastewater systems. Any violators would be fined.
Another bill tracks how much water is used by high-capacity wells throughout Illinois and requires anyone who wants to develop a well to notify the local Soil and Water Conservation District.
* Press release: Gov signs many bills [well over 20 pieces of legislation listed in this article]
* HB 7 in Detail: Ballot Questions
HB 7, the campaign finance measure, has garnered a lot of media attention, none of it positive. (see, for instance, today’s editorial in the Daily Herald). The bill was sent to Gov. Quinn on June 30, and he has until later this month to decide whether to sign it, veto it, recommend changes with an amendatory veto, or allow it to become law without his signature.
Our [ICPR] opposition to HB 7 is well known. Yes, we object to the provisions that would allow for astronomically high contributions. Where federal law allows contributions of $2,400 for people and $5,000 from political committees each election, HB 7 allows contributions of up to $10,000 from people and $90,000 from committees each calendar year. But that is far from the only flawed section of the bill. Over the next few days, we intend to outline our concerns with the non-limit parts of the bill. Some of these reflect ambiguous drafting. Some reflect intentional changes to the statute that will have adverse consequences. In the next few days, we’ll focus on different parts of HB 7, other than the astronomical dollar amounts, in order to explain our concerns.
Start with how HB 7 treats ballot questions. HB 7 defines “single candidate committee” (on page 39 of the bill) as:
* Veto weak campaign finance bill
* Voters must make redistricting a priority
* Traffic to be changed around Illinois State Fair
The Illinois Department of Transportation says traffic around the fairgrounds in Springfield will run in a counterclockwise one-way pattern. That means there will be several closures
The changes start Thursday morning.
The fair starts Friday in Springfield and runs until Aug. 23. The diverted traffic pattern will end the following day.
* Ban on texting while driving a partial solution
- 19th Ward - Tuesday, Aug 11, 09 @ 11:24 am:
Are anyone’s home values increasing 7% a year (21% over 3 Years) anymore? The 7% “solution” was legislation for a very different time in Cook County. Didn’t the assessor say that assessed values are being decreased for 2009?
- susie - Tuesday, Aug 11, 09 @ 11:29 am:
I hadn’t even considered the public records side of the Governor using his personal blackberry/cell phone. while I like to give the benefit of the doubt to everyone–at least early in a discussion!–I really was surprised when I read about this in the Peoria Journal Star this morning, that the Governor refuses to release his phone records. if he is such a proponent of open communications and a new way of doing business (such an over used phrase–sorry)in IL gov’t, then he most definitely needs to release those records.
I appreciate his frugality in trying to save the taxpayers, but the $150.00 or so a month he is saving is a pittance to him keeping a lot of deadwood in some state agencies. if he really wants to save the taxpayers some money, then fumigate state agency deputies, assistants to directors, executive assistants, etc at the top of the agencies.
- Anon - Tuesday, Aug 11, 09 @ 11:52 am:
Sarah Palin was sued by some public-interest group seeking access to state-business-related emails she sent using her personal email account. I don’t know what the outcome of the litigation was, but the Gov can probably expect a similar demand for any information regarding his private phone usage that would be available to the public if he were using a state phone.
- wordslinger - Tuesday, Aug 11, 09 @ 12:07 pm:
If he’s using his personal phone for public business, I don’t believe he can claim privacy.
- Skeeter - Tuesday, Aug 11, 09 @ 12:22 pm:
Hmmmm. $200 a month, or access to government records, when the last two gov’s went to jail.
Which is more important . . .
Let’s ponder that one a bit.
Actually, I’m boggled that Quinn could be so deaf as to the public perception of his office. Hynes sure won’t make that mistake when he’s elected.
- Wumpus - Tuesday, Aug 11, 09 @ 12:26 pm:
Pat (Pal)-Quinn. He is not as stupid as he thinks we think he is.
- uh huh... - Tuesday, Aug 11, 09 @ 12:38 pm:
so wumpus are you suggesting that Mr. “clean” quinn was up to no good by using his personal phone to conduct state business?
Thank goodness for Andy Shaw at the BGA! His years of being a chicago political reporter will serve him well in his role at the BGA and make him relentless in his pursuit of politicans.
The way he went after Todd Stroger for his cel phone records pertaining to Tony Cole, Quinn better watch out and just voluntarily give up his phone records.
:)
- Obamarama - Tuesday, Aug 11, 09 @ 12:48 pm:
Public vs. private cell phone doesn’t matter–same for emails. Under FOIA, a judge could review and redact anything deemed to be an unwarranted invasion of personal privacy but that is about it.
It is ironic that Jay Stewart, formerly the E.D. of the BGA is now helping to conceal the very types of public records he sought to have disclosed in his last job. Can’t blame him though, he’s doing what his client is telling him to do.
- uh huh... - Tuesday, Aug 11, 09 @ 12:52 pm:
it’s not ironic about Jay Stewart. Really other than criticize the Storgers (Todd and John) what did he really do while heading the BGA?
Andy Shaw has done more in months than Stewart did in the years that he was there. It was kinda shady how quick stewart jumped ship to join the Quinn administration. I know that he used to work with Quinn, and maybe that’s what kept him quiet about quinn when he was at BGA.
Quinn did praise blago throughout 2006. Granted he wanted to get re-elected, but still. Sometimes saying nothing is the best thing to do.
- Helm - Tuesday, Aug 11, 09 @ 1:53 pm:
Anyone know the Bill Numbers for the environmental legislation referenced above ? Thanks.
- Mike Murray - Tuesday, Aug 11, 09 @ 1:54 pm:
It’s one of these, but u gotta do the leg work. http://thedome.sj-r.com/section/top-stories/press-release-gov-signs-many-bills/
- Helm - Tuesday, Aug 11, 09 @ 2:16 pm:
I actually checked that list prior to posting (didn’t want you to think I was THAT lazy) and they weren’t on there. No bother, found them on ilga.gov (SB 2184 and SB 1919).
Keep up the good work until Rich gets back!!
- Cassandra - Tuesday, Aug 11, 09 @ 2:19 pm:
Susie is right. We’ll pay for the phone. And I don’t care about the free passes to that silly state fair. This is all supposed to distract us from Quinn’s failure to manage the budget—keeping management deadwood in the upper echelons of nearly all state agencies being one of many
examples of bad governance–with, presumably, the aim of creating such chaos that our feckless legislators will vote for a big income tax increase at the end of the year. We’re supposed to ignore the tax increase and remember these
little symbolic gestures and vote him in for another term. His contempt for the electorate is showing and his use of symbolism is starting to overtake our Blago’s.
- Cindy Lou - Tuesday, Aug 11, 09 @ 3:04 pm:
One does not have to worry about your tax dollar paying for the peons who supply their own cellphone or who chance being strained and/or injured as of course there is no funding for peons to have a cell and there is no funding to purchase new proper and working other types of communications for in the field.
Might be interesting though to learn how many cells are paid for by taxdollars for both purchase and usage for the higher ups that likely have access to a landline already sitting around and also paid for by the citizens.
Miss Cindy Lou is in a rotten mood this week and is sick and tired of hearing “Quinn says…Quinn thinks…Quinn may… Quinn is going to…Quinn appointing yet another… Quinn, Quinn, Quinn. Seems to be a lot of maybe, should, could, gonna, blah, blah, but every little of actuals and even less in the right spots.
- uh huh... - Tuesday, Aug 11, 09 @ 3:30 pm:
State Senator De Leo is retiring. hmmm…
it will be interesting if he will be implicated in the blago mess this year or next. blago sure was calling De Leo out when the Senate outsed him earlier this year.
P.J. Cullerton wants to replace De Leo.
- Arthur Andersen - Tuesday, Aug 11, 09 @ 3:52 pm:
word, I believe the previous Missouri gov. and his senior staff got caught doing the same thing and a court ordered them to hand over the data.
L-A-W’s may vary, but fwiw.
Cassandra, I agree with you 100%.
Cindy Lou, I agree with you as well, but AA has seen quite a few plain old mopes running around the ‘Patch with fancy State BlackBerries. (dead giveaway-CMS inventory tag…)
PQ really has nothing to worry about if he gets a State BlackBerry. EMails sent to state workers are FOIAble from the recipient, and as far as the phone, CMS stopped collecting and distributing cell phone call detail from Verizon a couple years ago because it was too much work to send it out to all the State Agencies. (Note: the “too much work” exemption does not apply to Federal subpoenas.)
- Cindy Lou - Tuesday, Aug 11, 09 @ 4:43 pm:
Okay, AA, just toss another log on my already smouldering crappy mood this week ! Out here we can’t even get a working anything to communicate with. Getting anything to filter down has been next to impossible for a number of years. Unhappy to hear what little there is being hoarded in the patch.
- Obamarama - Tuesday, Aug 11, 09 @ 4:50 pm:
Going back, I think I may have been mistaken in my previous post. Quinn’s cell records probably wouldn’t be subject to disclosure under FOIA since no public body is even in possession of the bills/records. And since there is an exemption for producing/creating records that a public body does not usually maintain… not sure on this one. Thoughts?
- Shelbyville - Tuesday, Aug 11, 09 @ 5:22 pm:
Just carry 2 phones. They are small. Yours can be disposable. Get it on-line.
- uh huh... - Tuesday, Aug 11, 09 @ 7:44 pm:
Obamarama, not sure. In the case of Todd Stroger two things appeared to have happened:
1. everyone involved with tony cole while he was in jail used their government cell phones to communicate with him or about him
or
2. personal cell phones were used on county time to chat with and/or about cole.
this story isn’t clear—or maybe its just me. here’s the link
http://www.suntimes.com/news/politics/1667209,stroger-sued-failing-cell-records-071509.article
- Brennan - Wednesday, Aug 12, 09 @ 10:17 am:
Didn’t critics of the Bush Administration go ballistic when they learned that Karl Rove was carrying two blackberries: one issued by the government and one issued by the Republican National Committee?
I thought this was a legitimate complaint from critics, but I also thought Rove had a good point about adhering to the Hatch Amendment. If you cannot conduct affairs of your political party using government property then isn’t the logical move to conduct said affairs on the property of the political party?
It seems like a barely there edge. The privacy claims are legitimate. But the public access claims are also legitimate.
- chuddery - Wednesday, Aug 12, 09 @ 12:52 pm:
Brennan,
If I recall correctly, the issue with Rove was that he was conducting official business with his RNC email address, and then claimed those emails didn’t have to be saved under the provisions of the Presidential records act.