Capitol Fax.com - Your Illinois News Radar » 2010

Tuesday, Mar 2, 2010 - Posted by Rich Miller

* I’ve been telling subscribers about this for at least a couple of weeks now. Speaker Madigan and Senate President Cullerton are both hoping to run a six-month budget this May…

Just days after the Civic Federation’s Lawrence Msall cast an ominous warning on WTTW’s Chicago Tonight that absent new tax revenue, “we run the risk of the state’s entire financial system collapsing,”a team of journalists convened on the set Friday night to talk about the political calculations for actually passing an inevitable income tax increase.

At one point, host Joel Weisman asked his panelists: “Where does Mike Madigan stand on it?”

“Where he’s always been,” veteran political reporter Mike Flannery responded. “He wants to protect his Democratic caucus. Madigan has set the earliest ever adjournment deadline, May 7 … [T]he thinking in Springfield is [pass] a six month budget, get the heck out of town.”

In theory, the “six month budget” would allow the Democrats to get through Election Day without putting any votes on an income tax hike.

The “theory” would be to pass another budget like the one they did last year, giving the governor tremendous authority to decide which budgetary line items to save and which to cut. If Quinn is reelected, then they’d take up a tax vote (if needed) in the January lame duck session. If Bill Brady is elected, they’ll just dump the problem in his hands.

* The Question: Your thoughts on this idea?

…Adding… Yes, the story is wrong about the “earliest ever” adjournment date. They adjourned April 15th one year. Stick to the question, please.

101 Comments

A bill we probably don’t need and some we might

Tuesday, Mar 2, 2010 - Posted by Rich Miller

* Yikes…

Picture this scene: Six or seven police officers struggle for a half hour on the floor with an uncooperative man while a phlebotomist repeatedly jabs the man’s hand with a needle, trying to draw blood.

It’s not a pretty picture. But it’s one you could see in Illinois if a bill that last week passed out of an Illinois House committee becomes law.

As the law stands now, police — even with a subpoena — are not allowed to use force to draw a suspect’s blood. House Bill 4969 would change that, allowing “all necessary and reasonable force” to obtain a blood sample.

The bill’s sponsor, state Rep. Keith Farnham (D-Elgin), says he introduced the bill at the request of the Kane County state’s attorney’s office, which has staged occasional “no refusal” weekends since 2008 to crack down on DUI suspects who refuse Breathalyzer tests. […]

The scene described above — cops fighting a suspect for a blood sample — did in fact take place in Arizona, where the man was left with a hand so swollen he couldn’t use his thumb. Former Cook County Judge Daniel M. Locallo, who sits on the Illinois State Bar Association’s Criminal Law Section, calls it an example of “frontier justice.”

Farnham barely won his race last year, so apparently he thinks he has to look super-tough on crime and cooperate fully with his local prosecutor to win this time around. But this seems to be a bit much, no?

* Here’s an interesting populist notion…

Legislation pending in the Illinois House would prohibit businesses from hiring based on a person’s credit history to spare people who lose their jobs and their homes from being “double victimized” when they can’t find new work, its top supporter said Monday.

“Can you imagine you’re someone who, at no fault of your own, you lose everything — you’re laid off, you can’t afford your mortgage so you lose your home — and then when you’re trying to get back on your feet, you got companies running credit checks on you while you’re looking for jobs?” said Rep. Jack Franks (D-Woodstock), chief House sponsor.

I have a pretty good life, so I really can’t complain about much. However, I’d like to see some legislation to stop mobile phone companies from running those over-long explanatory messages (often with several-second pauses) during voice mail messages. I’m pretty sure everybody knows how to leave a message at the beep. I’m also pretty sure that those several seconds add up to huge profits when taken in the aggregate.

* It might also be nice if not-for-profits that don’t tell the truth about their lobbying expenses be somehow penalized, but I won’t hold my breath, especially considering the subject of this particular story…

Chicago Children’s Museum officials said they plan to amend the museum’s federal tax filings to reveal its City Council lobbyists and how much they were paid in recent years after the Tribune asked why it had failed to do so.

According to council members, several professionals were hired to lobby aldermen — who in June 2008 sided with Mayor Richard Daley and approved a controversial plan to build a museum in Grant Park.

But those lobbyists weren’t disclosed, as required, on the museum’s Internal Revenue Service reports for a two-year period ending June 30, 2008, according to recent not-for-profit filings at the Illinois attorney general’s office.

“It was an administrative error, and we are currently amending those tax returns,” said museum spokesman Natalie Kreiger.

That’s a pretty big error.

* Related…

* Meeks’ School Voucher Plan Moves Ahead: His voucher proposal would allow parents of students in the academically lowest 10 percent of Chicago Public Schools to have the option of sending their children to a private school, if space is available.

* Possible red-light camera ban faces Senate hurdle

* Illinois Primary Might be Moved Again

* Legislators take aim at new FOIA

* Recorder has risen quickly: Relationship with Hoffman has helped county official

* Ties to Jay Hoffman help Madison County recorder — just 31 — rise quickly in political circles

26 Comments

*** UPDATED x1 - Lt. guv applicants listed *** Kirk on offense; LG updates

Tuesday, Mar 2, 2010 - Posted by Rich Miller

* Alexi Giannoulias’ campaign is obviously planning to paint Mark Kirk as a definite vote to perpetuate the DC gridlock on President Obama’s proposals. Kirk is a smart guy, however, and is already trying to show that he won’t be an automatic “No” on everything…

U.S. Rep. Mark Kirk of Highland Park, the Republican candidate for U.S. Senate in Illinois, opposes a Kentucky Republican senator’s stand against extension of unemployment benefits.

Sen. Jim Bunning, R-Ky., is blocking action in the Senate to extend the benefits. The blocked legislation also includes some highway money and Bunning’s action has temporarily shut down more than 40 projects nationwide, including a $1 million road project in Alexander County in far southern Illinois.

“I voted for the unemployment extension last week,” Kirk told The State Journal-Register during a visit to Springfield Monday. “In Washington, 41 senators can stop something, but one senator can only delay it. My read on this is the vote is pretty much 99 to one.”

Kirk’s campaign recently admitted that their own polling showed pretty high approval ratings for Obama in Illinois. So, he has to make sure he is more identified with, say, the new Republican Massachusetts Senator, who broke the impasse on a recent jobs bill, than people like Bunning.

* Kirk also scored some big PR points on the Giannoulias family bank yesterday…

Republican U.S. Senate candidate Mark Kirk said Monday the fate of his Democratic rival’s family bank should be an issue of concern for voters.

“I think there’s no question that Alexi Giannoulias bears direct personal responsibility for reckless loans that could bankrupt the Broadway Bank,” Kirk said of the Democratic U.S. Senate nominee. “I also worry that the possible collapse of the Broadway Bank will leave taxpayers left paying for Alexi’s reckless loans.”

Kirk’s comments came after the Tribune reported Sunday that the bank’s chief executive, Demetris Giannoulias, said the family must raise at least $85 million by the end of April to prevent a government seizure of the financial institution. Demetris Giannoulias is the older brother of Alexi Giannoulias.

More…

“Alexi Giannoulias engaged in the same kind of reckless lending that brought our U.S. economy to its knees,” Kirk said.

The Giannoulias campaign response sounded more than a little canned…

“While Alexi hasn’t been at the bank for four years, Mark Kirk has been in Washington for a decade supporting the failed and reckless Bush policies that got us into this economic mess,” Strand said.

It’s not a bad point, mind you, but it just oozes “DC talking point” blandness.

* Meanwhile, failed Democratic comptroller candidate Raja Krishnamoorthi is stepping up his efforts to be appointed the Democratic lt. governor candidate…

In addition, the Indo-American Democratic Organization is trying to collect 10,000 signatures on Krishnamoorthi’s behalf to present to House Speaker Mike Madigan.

I just can’t see how they could skip over an also-ran in the lt. governor’s race and give the slot to an also-ran in the comptroller’s race. But both parties are actively courting Indo-Americans, who haven’t quite yet established themselves here. It’s a delicate balancing act for sure. And that may be why more are saying they should just leave the slot open, including, apparently, Senate President John Cullerton…

CBS 2 Political Editor Mike Flannery has learned top Dems are seriously considering leaving the slot open while simultaneously asking Illinois voters to abolish the office entirely. […]

Wiping out the office of lieutenant governor would save millions of tax dollars. And Illinois Senate President John Cullerton, D-Chicago, said Monday that having nobody as lieutenant governor would be preferable to the rookie Republican candidate.

He’s Jason Plummer, a 27-year-old whose main experience involves working for his father’s downstate lumber company. Democrats saw an opening last week, after Plummer stumbled repeatedly during an interview on WTTW’s “Chicago Tonight.”

Cullerton on Monday expressed interest in floating a constitutional referendum to abolish the office of lieutenant governor, following the embarrassment his party endured over Cohen. Voters could be asked to approve the measure on the November ballot, if super-majorities in the House and Senate can approve the proposal this spring.

*** UPDATE *** The Democratic Party of Illinois has published the list online of everyone who has applied to be considered for the open lt. governor slot, as well as their applications and their resumes. Some even supply references. Click here to see the list. Some of the bigger names aren’t on the list, like Rep. Art Turner, Raja, etc.

…Adding… The links on that page appear to be working now.

* Related…

* NBC5 Broadway Bank coverage

* ABC7 Broadway Bank coverage

70 Comments

“Cut somebody else”

Tuesday, Mar 2, 2010 - Posted by Rich Miller

* Dennis Byrne is only about half right today…

Nice try, governor, but when you asked the people of Illinois how to balance the state budget, you got thousands of responses, but not one that I could see who said cut my services or raise my taxes.

Actually, a quick scan of just the front page of the governor’s budget website comment section revealed numerous pleas to raise taxes and fees on everyone, not just the rich. Here are a few…

* How about raising the driver’s license fee…

* Please pass HB 174 to raise revenue now.

* Increase income taxes.

* Raising user fees (driver’s license, car registration, etc)

As I’ve been monitoring the comment section for the past few days, however, I have noticed that almost nobody has demanded that their own pet programs be cut. The teachers are flooding the site demanding no cuts to schools - or even saying they want more money for schools - and pretty much everyone else is focusing on cuts to “the other”…

* KEEP THE TEACHERS AND THEIR UNION OFF THIS WEBSITE!! THIS IS FOR HARD WORKING TAXPAYERS, NOT FOR A BUNCH OF WHINY OVERPAID FUTURE MILLIONAIRES!

* Have all elected and appointed state officials take off one day per week with no pay just as companies are asking of their employees.

Byrne’s conclusion…

The truth is that much of what the state spends is for things that someone in Illinois wants. If we’re to come anywhere close to balancing the budget, it will require more than a debate over bigger cuts versus higher taxes. It will require a fundamental downsizing of our expectations of what we, ourselves, can milk from the government.

That’s a good point. And as I’ve said many times before, when newspapers and their employees start editorializing in favor of getting rid of their industry’s bigtime tax breaks, I’ll be far more inclined to take their other positions more seriously. Just about everybody has their fingers in the state government pie. And that’s a big reason why it’s so hard to do anything about the size of government.

…Adding… Several people are leaving budget-cutting proposals in comments. As with the state site, these are all aimed at other folks. We’ve had numerous posts here about ways to cut the budget. Your little cut ideas don’t interest me unless you propose cutting something that you depend on. I may start deleting these comments if they continue. Don’t waste our time.

* Related…

* Our Opinion: Sorting through budget thoughts

* Local lawmakers warn of deep school cuts

* Teachers pension fund earns 15% return

* Keep up push to end costly ‘free’ rides for seniors

58 Comments

Morning Shorts

Tuesday, Mar 2, 2010 - Posted by Rich Miller

* Daley defends Chicago handgun ban on eve of Supreme Court hearing

* SCOTUS to ponder Chicago gun ban

* Daley Defends Handgun Ban

* Mayor Daley ‘optimistic’ U.S. Supreme Court will uphold city’s handgun ban

* The Evolution of Chicago’s Handgun Ban

* Chicago gun control case could change constitutional map

* Plaintiffs put sympathetic face on Chicago gun case

* Chicago man explains challenge of city’s handgun ban

* January spending increases but income growth slows

* Unemployed fear losing benefits as Republican senator filibusters to block extension

* Thousands to Lose Unemployment Benefits

* Project Shield a big drain on Cook County taxpayers

Cook County’s post-Sept. 11 security initiative, dubbed Project Shield, which has come under fire for being sharply over budget and years behind schedule, is proving to be an even bigger drain on taxpayers.

* City steps in to block Daley testimony at developer’s bribery trial

The city asks a judge to quash a defense subpoena seeking to call Chicago Mayor Richard Daley to testify at the bribery trial of developer Calvin Boender. Boender is set to go on trial next week on charges he bribed then-Ald. Isaac “Ike” Carothers to obtain support for a large project.

* Ex-congressman’s daughter: Polish-Americans are under-counted in Census

“Why are there no Poles on major boards and commissions?” Pucinski asked. “Why, on the short form for the Census are we not allowed to identify ethnic identity?”

* School Districts Waive Pulaski Day Off

* Naperville City Council to mull 3 measures to fill budget gap

Garbage tax, gas tax hike and fund transfers to be considered

* New commission will help guide La Grange Park’s sustainability efforts

* Deer hits car, ‘crash tax’ hits driver

On her way to work in Glendale Heights on Dec. 8, a deer jumped onto Locklin’s car, crushing the windshield. Locklin slammed on the brakes and caught her breath.[…]

The Westchester resident suffered only minor injuries, a few cuts and scrapes from the damaged windshield.

What hurt far more was a $350 bill from the Glenside Fire Protection District, a fee critics refer to as a “crash tax.”

* Carbondale city council to discuss 2010 budget

* ‘Swipe fees’ a hidden tax on the poor, most of all

“These fees are a hidden tax on all of us, and they hit the poor especially hard,” said the study’s author, Robert Shapiro, who was undersecretary of commerce for economic affairs in the Clinton administration.

To pay for the rewards programs, which are heavily skewed toward the higher-income brackets, the card companies have boosted the processing fees retailers pay. “The result is massive transfer of wealth from poor to rich” in the checkout line, said Shapiro.

* Downstate judge resigns after alleged threats: [Judge] Brunton was suspended for allegedly making threats, though the nature of them never has been spelled out. No charges have been filed.

* A loud, bizarre silence in Island Lake

Two weeks ago, Village President Debbie Herrmann surprised the community by announcing she placed Police Chief Anthony Sciarrone on administrative leave.

* UI Springfield chancellor to retire in October

* Owner of many Peoria radio stations declares bankruptcy

* New broadband network would reach deep into Central Illinois

5 Comments

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Tuesday, Mar 2, 2010 - Posted by Rich Miller

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