Question of the day
Thursday, Feb 18, 2010 - Posted by Rich Miller
* The setup is about the news that the House approved a bill that would require legislators to formally approve the sale of Thomson prison to the federal government. The feds, of course, want to use the prison to incarcerate Guantanamo detainees, among others. Anyway, this is from the debate…
The legislation would allow lawmakers to vote on the sale of any state surplus property valued at more than $1 million, but the Thomson prison issue was the main topic of debate Wednesday.
Supporters of the Thomson deal argued loudly against the plan because it could prevent or delay the sale of the mostly unused maximum-security facility to the federal government. Local officials want the jobs that fully staffing the prison could create. […]
But others argued that because lawmakers had to approve the spending to build Thomson years ago, they should get to vote on whether the state sells it.
* The Question: Do you agree or disagree with this proposal? Explain.
We’ve had many, many debates here about the merits of the Thomson sale. Let’s just stick to the bill today, OK? Thanks.
[Shortened because long setups tend to make for fewer answers. Also, this question may not have enough pop, but oh well.]
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Running off the rails
Thursday, Feb 18, 2010 - Posted by Rich Miller
* The train is close to running off the rails. Literally, in some cases…
In a letter to Gov. Pat Quinn, the RTA complains that the ongoing delay in receiving $250 million due it [from the state] is forcing it to use borrowed money to pay debt service on outstanding bonds.
The RTA is approaching a “crisis point” regarding funds for current expenses, it said in the letter.
“If state funding is not forthcoming in the near future in amounts sufficient to pay our ongoing debt service obligations and resume providing … money to the service boards, disruptions to transit service across the region may be inevitable,” said the letter from Executive Director Steve Schlickman.
More…
A swelling, multibillion dollar deficit has left Illinois months behind in its payments to providers across the state.
For instance, the Williamson County Early Childhood Cooperative in southern Illinois is planning to send layoff notices to its 41 employees in the next few weeks because money from the state has not come through.
Judy Erwin, the director of the Illinois Board of Higher Education, warns that some colleges might not be able to stay open…
Not only is the state totally negligent in terms of their responsibility, but it is effectively privatizing higher education. We’re very close to that now, as it is, but we’re looking at schools that may not be able to keep their doors open to the end of the semester.
The Tribune wrung its hands…
What are the prospects that these pols will — out of public view — divine fixes that are fair to people who rely on state services, fair to health and other providers that deliver those services, and fair to taxpayers who bear the burden for it all?
And Progress Illinois rightly pounced…
We appreciate the Tribune’s call for transparent action from the General Assembly. But what specific “fixes” do they propose? And what is their definition of “fair”? Without more detail, these editorials are meaningless.
Meanwhile, the bickering continues…
A plan to borrow $250 million to capture matching federal Medicaid funds and start paying medical providers more quickly is now tied to a measure that would allow state universities to borrow money to fund their operating budgets. Both proposals are intended to address the issues of the state’s millions in overdue bills.
The short-term borrowing plan passed the House with Republican support, including approval from Minority Leader Rep. Tom Cross. It went on to stall in the Senate amid rumors that it lacked Republican support in the chamber. […]
Republican senators said [yesterday] that they support the plan to let schools borrow but are opposed to the state taking out another short-term loan because they say no plan has been offered for paying the money back.
They accused the Democrats of playing political games by putting the two proposals up for one vote as SB416. Sen. Dale Righter, a Mattoon Republican, called the meshing of the proposals “an ill-arranged marriage” that “creates concern” for legislators such as Righter, whose districts contain universities.
And if all that wasn’t bad enough…
Illinois was rated the most troubled pension system in the nation, with a 54 percent funding level and a total liability of more than $54 billion, according to a study of state-administered pension funds being released today.
More…
Pew also said that Illinois had set aside less than 1 percent of the funds it need to pay for $40 billion in health care and other benefits promised public sector retirees.
* Related…
* Nonprofit groups hang by a thread waiting for state funds - Much of Illinois’ $3.8 billion in unpaid bills is owed to organizations that help the most vulnerable
* Illinois public libraries face 16 percent funding cut: The General Assembly had asked that 23 percent be cut, but the decrease was held to 16 percent with the addition of some federal money into the pool, according to Pat McGuckin, a spokesman for the secretary of state’s office.
* Lawmakers call for study of college affordability: That’s a particularly tough assignment now. State government owes universities hundreds of millions of dollars in overdue payments.
* Senate panel approves borrowing measure for state universities, Quinn
* Senate panel OKs bill to let universities borrow
* Illinois Universities Look for Cash Solutions
* Forby Pushes Bill to Allow Community Colleges to Borrow at Twice Limit
* U. of I. asks alumni to push state to pay $475 mil. owed
* Thousands rally for tax increase to fix Ill. budget
* Group Rallies In Favor Of State Income Tax Hike
* Pro-tax groups protest budget cuts at state Capitol
* Group warns that Illinois budget suffering: “What might have been a total package of approximately $9-10 billion over the whole lifetime of (the America Recovery and Reinvestment Act), you’re down to the last third of that, when making decisions for the FY11 budget,” said Michael Bird, senior federal affairs counsel with the organization.
* Sweeny: State tax increase could work, but who’d vote for it?
* Where there’s smoke, there’s usually more to tax
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Reform and Renewal
Thursday, Feb 18, 2010 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Senate President John Cullerton was forced to back down yesterday and promise not to hold another closed to the public “joint caucus” with the Republicans…
“You know what? Since everybody seems to be pretty upset about it, it’s not that big a deal. We just won’t do it anymore,” Cullerton told reporters, who were barred from the Wednesday morning session with representatives of the National Conference of State Legislatures.
He shoulda thought of that earlier. The Tribune editorial was predictably harsh…
Cullerton, D-Chicago, and every Democratic and Republican senator who played along, didn’t think you — or the reporters who try to keep an eye on politicians for you — had any place in that room. The open-meetings provision of the Illinois Constitution be damned. And never mind that you pay for the salaries, staffs and offices of every lawmaker in attendance: Sorry, citizens, it’s your money, not your business.
* Speaker Madigan doesn’t usually get much positive press, but his proposal to do away with the lt. governor’s office in four years is earning him at least a few plaudits. Southtown Star…
We don’t often use this space to offer an “attaboy” to Mike Madigan. But finally he’s listening. And making some sense. While the 38-member Democratic State Central Committee tries to dream up an electable, scandal-free running mate for Gov. Pat Quinn’s re-election bid in November, we urge lawmakers to listen to us and House Speaker Madigan and seize the opportunity to abolish the useless office of lieutenant governor once and for all.
Champaign News Gazette…
Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan moved quickly after the Cohen problem to propose a state constitutional amendment to abolish the office. Others have spoken up to suggest altering the office to avoid problems similar to those posed by Cohen.
But reform comes hard in Illinois, and Speaker Madigan has been criticized by Chicago politicians who don’t want to lose an office one of their fellow Democrats might someday seek. […]
Of course, Madigan is correct.
The Defender was not so kind…
The committee members were also correct to remind Madigan that he wears two hats – as Speaker of the House and as chair of the Democratic Central Committee – and sometimes they work at opposite interests. If the Speaker is unsure where one begins and one ends, perhaps he ought to step down from one, or the other, so he can be clear.
* The Tribune also blasted Madigan and applauded what it called a “political stunt” by the House Republicans to advance legislation to cap leadership contributions during fall campaigns…
So [House GOP Leader Tom Cross] put them on the spot by asking for a vote. Democratic House Speaker Mike Madigan told his members to block it. They did as they were told. They always do. That’s the point.
Sure, it was a political stunt, but an effective one. Cross raised the reform flag and invited the Democrats to salute. At least we know where they stand.
Actually, all we know for sure is that the Democrats voted against an admitted political stunt and that the Tribune despises them for it.
* And Mark Brown rightly bemoaned the fact that Illinois doesn’t keep track of the unofficial vote tally…
As strange as it may seem, Illinois keeps no running statewide tabulation of election results.
The State Board of Elections, which oversees elections in Illinois, collects no results on Election Night or even in the days afterward. The state’s 102 county clerks aren’t required to report any results to the state board before Feb. 23, which most will accomplish by mail. The state board will then have until March 5 to announce its official tally. […]
The only way for news organizations or candidates to compile a statewide total is to individually contact each of the state’s 110 different election jurisdictions and collect the numbers, which those jurisdictions are allowed to update right up until they are transmitted to the state. […]
By the next statewide election cycle two years from now, we should take one more important step toward modernizing our election administration and insist they adapt the electronic reporting system to give us the voting results from Election Night to completion.
The problem, of course, is that there’s no way that the State Board of Elections could possibly cope with this new responsibility without a complete and drastic overhaul of its pathetically outdated and ridiculously inadequate Internet infrastructure.
However, as I wrote yesterday about a different proposal to give the SBE more duties, if average citizens actually started visiting the board’s website and saw how horrible it was, the board might finally have no choice but to change their stupid ways.
* Related…
* Team ticket would be best for state
* Petitions circulating about re-districting
* Sweeny: ‘Illinois Politics’ tells you the messy details
* No good reason to wait for budget
* When the state becomes a deadbeat: If it were a typical debtor, the state of Illinois would no doubt be trying to change its phone number right now - if it could even afford the phone.
* Strong-arm tactics on video gambling are disgusting
* Voice of The Southern: Take a stand against politics as usual in Illinois
* Jason Plummer presents his case for lieutenant guv
* Plummer: Not time to cut LG office
* Pols just pine for pointless posts
* Turn out the lights in the lieutenant governor’s office
* Congressmen Weigh in on Deleting Lieutenant Gov Office
* Dems concerned about eliminating lt. gov. position
* Hare rallies for re-election
* Tight race, tough tactics in Elgin GOP race
* Kane County votes all counted, but fighting might not be over
* Stark County treasurer won’t challenge seven-vote loss
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Ryan asks for clemency
Thursday, Feb 18, 2010 - Posted by Rich Miller
* In the wake of another attempt for presidential clemency for her husband, Lura Lynn Ryan tells Michael Sneed that she hoped for more help from President Obama than she’s been getting. According to Mrs. Ryan, the wife of imprisoned former Gov. George Ryan, Obama approached her during last year’s Abe Lincoln 200th birthday celebration and inquired about her husband…
.”He was very concerned,” she said. “I asked him to please bring my husband home. . . . And the president, who knows George well because they both served . . . together, was so kind and caring. He assured me not to worry and that everything was going to be OK. But then nothing happened.”
Ryan’s son, George Ryan Jr., said he made a recent written appeal to Obama.
“My mother is now on oxygen 24 hours a day for idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis,” he said. “We are not asking for a pardon, we are asking for him to come home.”
“I wrote to President Obama [that] mom was incredibly sick and not deserving of being alone now . . . and if nothing else please do this for my mom,” he said. “Mom went to the hospital in November thinking she had pneumonia. Instead, Mom was diagnosed with an incurable disease.
“There has now been a serious change in her condition, and that has resulted in a new push to free Dad to come home and be with her,” he added. “Her doctors feel my father should be home taking care of her.
I ran into George, Jr. a few months ago at a reception in Chicago - not long after Mrs. Ryan was diagnosed. I said I had seen Obama speaking to his mom at the Lincoln birthday event and asked what he had said to her. From what I recall, George said Obama told her to “hang in there.”
I get that Mrs. Ryan is devastated by these turns of events and that her children are very worried about her health. So many people still hate the former governor that it’s almost impossible to defend him. And he didn’t make it any easier with his defiant attitude all the way up to the day he left home for prison. There are also plenty of other women in Illinois who face problems every day because their husbands are behind bars, but they don’t get any publicity because their men weren’t famous or powerful.
In the end, though, it’s very difficult for me to just coldly turn away from Mrs. Ryan because I always had such a soft spot in my heart for her. I told George, Jr. that I would go see her, but I haven’t kept my word - partly because I’ve had to cope with the emotional rollercoaster of the deaths of two friends, partly because I’ve been so busy with the campaign, but also because I truly dread the experience. I know myself well enough to understand that I’d come away feeling incredibly sorry for her. I’m not sure I’m ready to deal with that.
* Carol Marin is also wondering whether another public figure is being unfairly treated…
At the risk of sounding soft on crime and corruption, I’m having a few pangs of sympathy for Betty Loren-Maltese.
That would shock her more than anybody.
But it’s true.
As I watched the former president of the town of Cicero report to the Salvation Army halfway house on Ashland Avenue to finish out the final weeks of her eight-year federal sentence, it seemed as though we in the media might have gone a touch overboard. A gaggle of reporters swarmed her Monday — with video run by virtually every print and television outlet in town including my own — as the 60-year-old Maltese wordlessly made her way from the parking lot to the door.
Public Enemy No. 1? That was Al Capone, also of Cicero.
Her? Not so much.
* Sneed tried today to get some heat off Maltese and onto somebody else who’s staying at the same halfway house…
• The kicker: Sneed is told [former City Water Commissioner Don Tomczak] is staying at the same Salvation Army halfway facility, 105 S. Ashland, as former Cicero President Betty Loren-Maltese, whose homecoming this week netted her headlines and an unwanted headache.
• The irony: “It’s shocking. This guy has come back with no cameras or swarms of media looking to get a grunt or comment,” said a Sneed source. “He ran a political army under two mayors — and when he got caught he flipped. Ironically, Maltese, who is now homeless and penniless, seems to be a better prison release story to the press. Amazing.”
• Backshot: A source who witnessed Tomczak’s corrupt largess once told Sneed: “He [Tomczak] knew how to turn on the city’s water spigot in order to pay his electioneering troops. He would pay you off with overtime money — although you never worked for it. He’d hand new recruits an expensive cigar with the quip: ‘Hey, Babe. You’re on the team.’ ”
• Slingshot: When Tomczak flipped, he told the feds: “Everything in the indictment is true. I did it all.” Maltese always maintained her innocence.
That indictment, by the way, is here.
* Zorn thinks Betty may be gearing up for something else…
Some of the fascination about the return to the Chicago area of former Cicero Mayor Betty Loren-Maltese after her long stint as a guest of the federal government surely relates to a lingering suspicion some of us have that, somehow, someway, she’ll be ba-a-a-a-ack. […]
Illinois law — 65 ILCS 5/3.1‑10‑5 (b) — says “A person is not eligible for an elective municipal office if that person…has been convicted in any court located in the United States of any infamous crime, bribery, perjury, or other felony,” but state and county offices are still possibilities. Something is telling us we haven’t heard or seen the last of Betty Loren-Maltese.
* Before we get all teary-eyed for the infamous, though, here’s something to sober you up…
The Chicago City Council is unlikely to go along with Mayor Richard Daley’s idea to allow the inspector general to investigate aldermen, but they might come up with an alternative to provide some measure of oversight, influential Ald. Ed Burke said today.
The longest serving aldermen, Burke, 14th, said he doesn’t think his colleagues will approve Daley’s proposal without changes.
“I haven’t taken a head count, but from what I’m hearing from comments, I would doubt it,” Burke told WLS-Radio reporter Bill Cameron.
* Related…
* George Ryan Asks President Obama For Clemency
* George Ryan’s wife and lawyer appeal to Obama
* Former Melrose Park police chief sentenced to prison
* Former Jefferson County treasurer faces sentencing
* City Hall moves to fire Carothers ally at water department
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Champaign refuses federal grant
Thursday, Feb 18, 2010 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Here’s something you don’t see every day. The Champaign city council voted to reject a small federal grant to expand underage-drinking enforcement. The reasoning may surprise you…
Prior to the vote, council member Tom Bruno said he would vote against acceptance of the grant because it raises questions about “the morality of accepting federal grant money for local purposes.”
Bruno said he has heard comments questioning the practice of taking dollars from nationwide taxpayers for a project that only benefits the local community.
Even the mayor voted to reject the grant, and hinted that he might also support rejecting a far larger, $30 million federal grant for high-speed Internet infrastructure…
Mayor Jerry Schweighart’s comments prior to Tuesday’s denial foreshadowed an anticipated vote on whether the city should accept a much larger grant to build a high-speed Internet network.
“We should be careful in accepting this grant in a small amount or a large amount like $30 million that’s coming down the pipe,” said Schweighart, who also voted not to accept the grant.
The irony here, of course, is that the area is awash in state and federal money because of the University of Illinois. All the K-12 schools get state and federal money. Champaign gets its portion of local government revenue sharing from the state.
So, if the Champaign city council wants to take this to its logical extreme, they’d start funding everything locally. One wonders what they’ll think about “outside” funding if a natural disaster ever strikes.
* Meanwhile, over in Aurora, the city has pulled out of a local meeting of Rep. Lou Lang’s statewide job creation task force…
On Feb. 26, Lang is set to be the special guest at a job creation luncheon organized by [Aurora Alderman Stephanie Kifowit]. The luncheon is being arranged through the alderman’s office, and Kifowit has asked that the $30 ticket price be made payable to the city of Aurora. The money, she said, will go toward paying for the lunch and for postage for the invitations.
Earlier this week, Kifowit sent an e-mail blast to nearly 1,000 people, inviting them to the event. But when she did so, she used an e-mail program paid for by her campaign committee, Friends of Stephanie Kifowit, and this program automatically appended the committee’s information to her message.
Below the body of the message, in fine print, each e-mail read “Paid for by Friends of Stephanie Kifowit,” followed by her campaign address.
Oops.
* In other local government news, the Rockford Register Star reports that the upcoming federal census could give 3 area communities home rule powers…
The legal status affords cities greater powers of taxation and other matters of government, such as code enforcement.
State law provides that a community automatically gets home rule status when its population reaches 25,000 or greater.
Belvidere was at 20,820 in 2000. Loves Park had a special census in 2005 that put the city at 22,476, and a year later a special census in Machesney Park found 22,704 living within its borders.
Rockford had home rule taken away by voters in 1983. Various attempts to reinstate it since have failed.
* Related…
* [Rockford], police union say talks have been ‘productive’
* [Normal]transportation center may open by 2012
* Tri-City Port gets $6 million in stimulus money
* Mid-America Port doesn’t get $48.9 million grant from TIGER program
* Three counties receive FEMA funds to supplement emergency food and shelter programs
* East Peoria eager to start road work
* Monmouth [city] council favors tax changes: One would increase the sales tax 1 percent and the other would eliminate the wheel tax sticker. If the council approves the measures, the city also would lower its portion of property taxes by an estimated 20 percent when the tax levy is set in December.
* Peoria councilman: Address middle-class flight: Spears also accused the council and the city’s staff of making decisions over the years that have helped drive away the middle class. He provided an example of a resident within his district who moved out because that person did not have a big enough driveway for a boat or an extra vehicle.
* $2 million in cuts proposed for Urbana schools
* Milton proposes $5.3M in school budget cuts
* SJ-R Opinion: Rochester schools face fiscal reality
* SJ-R Opinion: Both sides must give to find [Springfield] budget fix
* Federal stimulus funds to benefit Sangamon County health building
* Sandwich may hike liquor license fees
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Morning Shorts
Thursday, Feb 18, 2010 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Fox Valley region at top of state in health study
* State health rankings: McLean Co. 15th, Woodford 3rd
* Winnebago County 77th in state in health quality
* [Southern Illinois] Region among state’s least healthy
* Vermilion ranks low for health
* Ald. Beale claims votes to break Wal-Mart stalemate
* Five [Chicago] schools get reprieve, won’t close
* 5 Chicago schools slated for closing or overhaul are spared
* CTA calls union proposals too costly
The union proposals would cost the CTA more money by bringing back conductors on trains, replacing some CTA managers with union employees and using union labor for some snow-removal work that the CTA now contracts out, board Chairman Terry Peterson said.
* CTA cuts: no progress, disagreement on call for meeting
The Rev. Jesse Jackson appeared with bus union members at the CTA’s 95th Street Red Line L terminal today and said he wanted a meeting with CTA leaders but hasn’t gotten any response.
* CTA makes plea to unions over service cuts
* Officials search for Asian carp in Chicago area
* A New Phase in the Asian Carp Hunt
* Search for Asian Carp Continues
Crews braved cold weather to use nets and electric prods in an attempt to see if the invasive species has made its way into the chicago Area Waterway System from the Illinois River.
* Madigan files suit against 2 Chicago modeling agencies
Ms. Madigan says she has received 13 complaints against Glamour Model Talent Inc., 820 N. Orleans St., and its president John Vuolo,and Latte Model & Talent Agency Ltd. and its owner Robert Owczarek.
* Lisa Madigan warns against refund anticipation loans
* Ill. AG sues Chicago modeling agencies
* State, developer close on [Abraham Lincoln] hotel sale
* Balancing budget Preckwinkle’s biggest challenge?
Deputy Commissioner Tommie Talley has five days to respond to the dismissal, then Water Management Commissioner John Spatz will make a final decision on his employment, department spokesman Tom LaPorte said.
* McHenry Co. OKs $4 mil bond issue for building expansion
* Geneva to activate red-light cameras
* To fix flooding issue, O’Fallon TIF will grow
* Groundbreaking for Mississippi River bridge attracts big names
With an overall cost of about $685 million, the four-lane bridge project will link St. Clair County to downtown St. Louis, diverting Interstate 70 traffic from the overcongested Poplar Street Bridge two miles to the south. The bridge project also calls for extensive reconstruction of bridge approaches in both Missouri and Illinois, as well as interstate interchanges in Illinois.
* Hold on Kokopelli sale ‘government at its worst’
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