Illinois Senate President John Cullerton today suggested the state should start taxing the retirement income of senior citizens who are able to afford it. […]
“It would just be a matter of fairness,” said Cullerton, a Chicago Democrat.
Details are still being worked out, but Cullerton said the state could bring in could bring in upward of $1.6 billion a year. Cullerton said the money could be used to provide tax relief elsewhere, whether that be lowering the corporate income tax rate, reworking sales tax rates or some other idea. […]
“I think it’s important that we always be open to reviewing the tax code,” Quinn said, restating his call for a commission to review the state’s tax laws with attention to fairness to “everyday taxpayers” and economic growth. “I think everything should be looked at. You know, how we go about it is obviously something we have to work together on.”
Thoughts?
*** UPDATE *** I’ll have more for subscribers tomorrow, but Cullerton just told me the idea behind this proposal would be to lower overall rates. None of the money raised from tax retirement income would be used for programs. Instead, it would be used to lower the overall income tax rate.
* Karen Lewis, the president of the Chicago Teachers Union, fired back in an op-ed…
Tribune: Fire teachers faster.
Union: The Tribune claims that it can take two to five years for a teacher to be dismissed. Actually, the average is about one year. What the editorial board failed to mention is that once the teacher completes but still fails supervised remediation, that teacher is no longer in the classroom. Also unacknowledged is that CPS always appeals dismissal cases that are overturned by the Illinois State Board of Education, prolonging the process. That gets expensive when you factor in back pay for the years teachers are kept out of the classroom.
* She also included this surprising stat…
Not many know this, but 50 percent of teachers leave CPS within five years. In my 23 years of teaching, nine times out of 10 when I ask a teacher why she or he is leaving the answer is, “It’s not the kids. It’s the system.”
* From an e-mail exchange with the IFT…
The new teacher evaluation system that is being developed will make a larger impact on teacher quality than any changes to the dismissal hearing process. This new system will force administrators to do a better job evaluating teachers and the student growth model (test scores are a part of this) will provide a much more solid case for why someone is or isn’t doing the job at a level that is satisfactory. We have always said that when a district has a good case, a teacher usually resigns.
More importantly, that new evaluation system will also help teachers identify ways they can do the job even better. At the Ed. reform hearings, even the business guys said the number one purpose for evaluations is to help your employees improve.
* Meanwhile, Catalyst reports that limiting teacher tenure and all but abolishing their right to strike is dead at the Statehouse. Instead, Senate negotiators are working with all sides to come up with other reforms…
The goal, sources say, is for “performance” – as measured by students’ test scores and other types of assessments – to count more in a dismissal or assignment decision than mere years of experience as a teacher. Tenure will still count, but in a subordinate way.
From such general concepts the negotiators plow into the details, which can become a bit sticky.
* But Progress Illinois isn’t convinced that the tenure/strike bill is dead…
Still, the all-of-a-sudden powerful group, Stand for Children raised big bucks, contributed heavily to influential lawmakers, and hired major lobbyists. Oh, and Chicago Mayor-elect Rahm Emanuel supports the proposal as well. This bill isn’t dead; it’s just sleeping.
Unions will never forget how Speaker Madigan rammed through a hostile pension reform bill when the unions thought they had a deal going with Senate President Cullerton to save the same amount of money. They’re not letting their guards down.
* Related…
* Study: Single-school districts expensive - Cost per student is up to $2,000 more than in multi-school districts
* State targets number of superintendents, salaries
* Interim CPS chief plans for the long haul but hasn’t talked to Rahm Emanuel - CPS chief Terry Mazany doesn’t expect to be in charge long, but he’s reversing predecessor Ron Huberman and leaving Rahm Emanuel a new education plan
* Cepeda: New school reform empowers parents, but so does ‘No Child’
* Staunton plans to start drug, alcohol testing: Students at Staunton High School could be tested for drugs and alcohol under reasonable suspicion, starting with the 2011-2012 school year, Staunton High School Principal Ed Fletcher said.
*** UPDATE 2 *** The walkout concept spreads to Illinois…
Dolton officials have slashed a contract proposed for a firm headed by the mayor’s daughter from more than $1 million to just $2 after questions from the Tribune.
And taking a nod from Wisconsin protesters, two Dolton trustees said they plan to boycott tonight’s village board meeting, where trustees are set to vote on the proposed contract — and every meeting until the proposal is taken off the table.
Without the two trustees, the village board won’t have a quorum and therefore can’t vote.
“We’ve got the same players with just different titles and more money,” said Trustee Deborah Green, who along with Trustee Willie Lowe plans to boycott meetings.
Senate Dems late [last night] sought to downplay Minority Leader Mark Miller’s comments that they plan to return to the Capitol soon for a vote on the budget repair bill to put their GOP colleagues on record in the face of polls that show the legislation is not sitting well with the public. […]
But a Miller spokesman and two of his Dem colleagues insisted nothing has really changed for the caucus and Dems continue to seek alterations to the repair bill.
Sen. Bob Jauch, who along with Sen. Tim Cullen has been part of the negotiations with the governor’s staff, said Dems have known all along they would have to return to Wisconsin at some point. That position hasn’t changed in the past two weeks, and he said Dems want to force their Republican colleagues to show the public whether they stand with the governor or with workers when it comes to the proposed changes.
“I think he’s speaking the truth that at some point – and I don’t know when soon is – at some point we have to say we’ve done all we can,” Jauch said. […]
Miller spokesman Mike Browne insisted there was nothing really new in Miller’s comments and that Dems continue trying to keep the lines of communication open in what has been a fluid situation.
[ *** End Of Updates *** ]
* We don’t know when the cheeseheads are leaving, but the Wall Street Journal is reporting that the decision has been made to go back North…
Playing a game of political chicken, Democratic senators who fled Wisconsin to stymie restrictions on public-employee unions said Sunday they planned to come back from exile soon, betting that even though their return will allow the bill to pass, the curbs are so unpopular they’ll taint the state’s Republican governor and legislators. […]
Sen. Mark Miller said he and his fellow Democrats intend to let the full Senate vote on Gov. Scott Walker’s “budget-repair” bill, which includes the proposed limits on public unions’ collective-bargaining rights. The bill, which had been blocked because the missing Democrats were needed for the Senate to have enough members present to vote on it, is expected to pass the Republican-controlled chamber.
He said he thinks recent polls showing voter discontent with Mr. Walker over limits on bargaining rights have been “disastrous” for the governor and Republicans and give Democrats more leverage to seek changes in a broader two-year budget bill Mr. Walker proposed Tuesday. […]
Mr. Miller declined to say how soon the Democratic senators, who left for Illinois on Feb. 17, would return. He said the group needed to address several issues first—including the resolution Senate Republicans passed last week that holds the Democrats in contempt and orders police to detain them when they return to Wisconsin.
One of the Democrats is seven months pregnant, which weighed on the decision.
The decision by House Democrats to stay away from the Statehouse will start affecting their bank accounts this week. House Speaker Brian Bosma announced last week that absent lawmakers will be subject to fines of $250 per day beginning Monday. There has been no sign from Democrats that they will be back in the chamber when it is called to session Monday afternoon.
Bosma says the decision to issue the monetary penalties wasn’t taken “lightly or flippantly,” but Republicans have “done everything we can do to try to encourage the minority members to return to perform the duties they’ve sworn to perform.”
Democrat Kreg Battles tells our partners at Network Indiana/WIBC what is really needed “language that will bring people together” and the fines will only serve to “continue the divide.”
Once the Wisconsin Dems go home, the pressure will really ramp up on the Hoosiers to follow suit.
* Related…
* Poll: Most Want Gov. Walker To Reach Compromise: When they were asked if Gov. Walker should strike a compromise with Democrats and unions over this repair bill, 65 percent of respondents said he should, while 33 percent said that Gov. Walker should stand strong no matter how long the protests last.
* Democratic legislators embracing tactic to gain leverage: Fleeing
* Indiana Democrats try to explain boycott in Web meetings, calls: “The longer it goes on, the more heat there is, not just for Democrats to come back, but for the Republicans to negotiate,” said Senate Minority Leader Vi Simpson, D-Bloomington. “The public temperament for these kinds of things … there is a finite end to it.”
* Indiana House sets $250 daily fines for boycotters: “The atmosphere is suddenly as hostile as when we left,” he said in a telephone conference with reporters. “We thought there was improvement, but obviously not.”
* The Tribune has run some interesting stories recently on the subject of crime and punishment…
Bill Larson was shocked to learn that his sister’s killer would soon be allowed to walk freely around the grounds of the Elgin Mental Health Center.
Larson has lived uneasily with the knowledge that his family’s home is barely six miles from the facility where his nephew Karl Sneider is receiving treatment after being found not guilty by reason of insanity in the 2003 decapitation slaying of his mother.
A Cook County judge’s decision in December to increase Sneider’s freedom only heightened his alarm, Larson said. Sneider has received permission to take unsupervised walks at the mental health center. He also will be allowed to make supervised trips to the library or go shopping — privileges often granted to patients on the pathway to possible early release.
The judge’s action angered Larson, who said he learned of the relaxed restrictions from a prosecutor. He would have preferred to find out, he said, from the Department of Human Services. As the state agency responsible for treating Sneider, it is only required by law to notify those relatives who request status updates whenever their loved ones’ killers are allowed to temporarily leave state hospitals or are released from custody.
Sneider wants to be notified when the killer’s status changes. It may not seem unreasonable, but it could cause a bureaucratic nightmare.
* The paper also ran an editorial the other day which focused on the heartbreak of families left behind facing murderers’ ludicrous parole hearings…
Every couple of years, we’re forced to revisit the horror of May 4, 1976 — the day Patricia Columbo and her lover murdered her parents and her 13-year-old brother in Elk Grove Village.
Columbo’s father was shot four times and bludgeoned with a lamp. Her mother was shot once between the eyes, and her throat was slit. Her brother was shot once and stabbed repeatedly with scissors. All three were found with what looked like cigarette burns on their bodies.
Columbo and Frank De Luca both got 200 to 300 years in prison. They began their sentences in September 1977. Go ahead, do the math.
Then think about this: Patricia Columbo is preparing to ask the Illinois Prisoner Review Board to let her out. It will be her 17th try
You’d think if somebody got 200 years in prison, they wouldn’t be eligible for parole so soon. You’d be wrong. It’s also something to consider when pondering the elimination of the death penalty. Should survivors be forced to endure this crud year after year?
* This crime doesn’t warrant the death penalty, but I hope they find these morons and lock ‘em up…
Vandals fired yellow paint-balls at a statue of Martin Luther King, Jr. located near the Illinois statehouse, Secretary of State Jesse White’s office announced Friday.
The Illinois Secretary of State Police is investigating the vandalism, which was reported around 7 a.m.
According to a statement from White’s office, no other statue or structure in the capitol complex was damaged. The statue has been cleaned and no permanent damage was sustained.
* Meanwhile, the concealed carry issue is really heating up at the Statehouse this year. Subscribers know what’s behind this push, but take it from me it’s quite real…
On Tuesday, a House panel stocked with a number of downstate gun-rights backers is expected to once again approve legislation to make Illinois the 49th state to allow citizens with special training to carry guns in public.
On Thursday, thousands of gun activists are scheduled to descend on the Statehouse for an annual rally organized by the Illinois State Rifle Association.
* Drop the act, sign the bill: But the question remains: is it so important to execute Gacy that Illinois runs the risk of executing someone against whom horrific charges are filed but considerably less evidence exists?
* Gun rights groups to test political strength: State Sen. Dave Koehler, D-Peoria, chief co-sponsor of one of six concealed carry bills introduced in the General Assembly this session, predicts some version of concealed carry will pass in the Senate - if it’s called for a vote.
* Bradley backs gun rights legislation: Called House Bill 3, it would keep cities from adding to existing state laws greater restrictions on acquiring, owning or transfer-ring firearms. Bradley said he’s defending Second Amendment rights by backing the bill. A Bradley news release stated 38 municipalities have firearms laws more restrictive than those of the state. Bradley criticized colleagues who favor tougher firearms laws as “gun-grabbing politicians” trying to erode Second Amendment rights at the state level.
* Beverly lawmaker introduces gun-control bill: State Rep. Bill Cunningham (D-Chicago) hopes to give school officials the ability to report troubling behavior in students and prevent people they think could be dangerous from buying guns or ammunition.
* Guns and politics: Traver’s sin? In 2007 he worked with the International Association of Police Chiefs and the Chicago-based Joyce Foundation on a report that recommended anti-violence measures, including firearms restrictions. We’re talking such measures as a ban on armor-piercing bullets and military-style assault weapons.
* Guns and privacy: That business about the dangers of releasing public records is a stretch, though. Gun enthusiasts, lobbyists and some lawmakers are waving their arms, warning that if the FOID records are released, bad guys will use them to determine which houses can be safely burglarized because their occupants don’t have guns. Or they’ll use them to determine which houses are occupied by permit holders so they can break in and steal those guns. Those arguments came up in Florida, too, though nobody could name a time when anything like that actually happened. But never mind. Sooner or later someone’s bound to get hurt, the gun crowd says, and when it happens, it will be Attorney General Lisa Madigan’s fault for telling the ISP to hand over the records. What a crock. Their quarrel is with the public records law, not the attorney general.
* Debating guns is never smooth sailing: Guns are not even good on ships likely to meet pirates because guns “invite escalation,” said Yerkes. “In general, if you shoot at someone, they’re going to shoot back. Firing an RPG at an oil tanker is not that great.” To me, if it’s a bad idea to arm a container vessel going through the Gulf of Aden, it’s a worse idea to arm your bungalow on Golf Road. But that’s just me. If having a MAC-10 makes you feel better, by all means and God Bless America. But does it really upset your world if the magazine in that weapon holds 10 bullets instead of 30? Really? That I can’t understand. Maybe if you explain it in an angry tirade, with lots of personal insults and capital letters, it will begin to make sense. Or maybe not.
* Hey Rahm: Settlements, reversal in cop abuse cases show challenge of next top cop: First, the city has agreed to pay $3 million for the police shooting of Michael Pleasance in 2003. The 23-year-old unarmed man was gunned down by police officer Alvin Weems, who was trying to break up a fight. Although the officer maintained that Pleasance had struggled for his gun, a video released after his family sued the city showed that Pleasance was a bystander.
* Saturday night’s shooting of four killed Devin Dyer, just a week after his 18th birthday - Shooting in Austin neighborhood leaves 1 dead, 3 injured
* My weekly syndicated newspaper column contains a newly revised pension payment number from the Auditor General’s office. Last week, the office claimed the coming fiscal year’s payment, including debt service, would be $5.4 billion. But then AG Bill Holland called me Friday to revise that up to $6.2 billion. The column also corrects a misinterpretation I had on the blog last week about whether unions could negotiate pension benefit changes. Turns out, they can’t…
If you thought Illinois government might get a tiny breather after raising income taxes, think again.
The Illinois House’s new revenue projection for next fiscal year, which begins in July, is $759 million lower than the governor’s. However, the House’s forecast also is $2.2 billion below Gov. Pat Quinn’s projected spending for the coming fiscal year.
Quinn’s proposed budget was whacked last month by Democrats and Republicans alike for its brutal slashing of several human service programs. But even with those Quinn cuts, if the House revenue forecast is used in the final product, they’ll still have to find $2.2 billion in additional spending reductions.
The bad news doesn’t end there. According to some revised numbers issued by the auditor general Friday, next year’s required state pension payment, including debt service, will be $6.2 billion.
Overall, that pension payment will eat up all but about a few hundred million dollars of the recently approved state income tax hike.
And there may not be anything that anybody can do about it.
The Senate Democrats released an opinion by their well-regarded chief legal counsel, Eric Madiar, last week which claimed that pension benefits for current employees are a constitutionally protected contract which cannot be altered.
But could the “contract” with those workers be changed via collective bargaining with government employee unions?
“No,” Madiar says.
As Madiar points out, Illinois’ Public Labor Relations Act does not allow public employee unions to bargain on pension issues. New York’s state law does allow union pension benefit negotiations, Madiar said, adding that New York’s Democratic governor is attempting to strike a deal with the unions to roll back pension benefits.
Madiar says his interpretation of Illinois law is that the pension obligation is an “individual right.” He compared it to the U.S. Constitution’s First Amendment, which he pointed out is not a “pooled” right that can be collectively negotiated away.
Madiar didn’t completely rule out the possibility of a change to the state’s labor relations law to allow unions to bargain away pension benefits on behalf of their members. But he said there likely would also have to be some “acceptance mechanism” by individuals included in the law for it to be constitutionally valid.
It’s also possible, even probable, that if a union did agree to pension givebacks, it could face decertification elections among its various units. Such a move likely then would exempt the newly nonunion employees from any new pension agreement.
In other words, if Madiar’s read is correct, there may be almost nothing that can be done about the state’s pension payment problems.
Meanwhile, back at the ranch, the House’s five appropriations committees will get to work on the new budget this week, using their chamber’s revenue estimates as a spending cap. So far, the Senate has not come up with its own revenue estimate, but it’s expected to be somewhere around the House’s forecast. But the two chambers aren’t even sure as of yet how they intend to reconcile any differences between their revenue forecasts and appropriations levels.
Quite a few Republicans believe the Democrats’ budget exercise is all for show. The Democratic leaders and the governor, the Republicans predict, eventually will cave to pressure from House and Senate members and activists and agree to use the Commission on Government Forecasting and Accountability’s revenue projection, which was $1.7 billion higher than the House’s projection. They very well could be right, but, so far, House Speaker Michael Madigan seems bound and determined to proceed with the lower figure.
And if all that news isn’t bad enough for you, the state has borrowed almost $300 million more from the federal government for its unemployment insurance program just since the beginning of January. The state’s total federal debt is close to $2.7 billion. The debt was interest free until a federal loan program expired Jan. 1. The interest payments are now starting to pile up.
Indiana just enacted a law to pay off its $2 billion in debt by 2019, which resulted in a 21 percent average cut in unemployment checks and a 13 percent tax increase for business. Illinois’ unemployment insurance rate already is one of the highest in the country.
Welcome to Illinois, where the lousy news just never seems to stop.
* Keep that revised pension payment in mind when reading this story…
Most states, on average, have to devote only about 4 percent of their budgets to pensions for government retirees.
But Illinois, in the upcoming fiscal year, will devote what amounts to roughly 15 percent of its budget toward the pensions of its retirees.
Illinois’ prepaid tuition program, a 12-year-old financial plan enabling children to attend state colleges at today’s prices when they have grown up, has the deepest shortfall of any such fund in the United States and is plowing money into unconventional — and some financial experts say high-risk — investments to close the gap.
The deficit of the College Illinois Prepaid Tuition Program also is far larger than the fund is declaring. Administrators recently adopted new calculations that mask its size.
The performance of the $1.1-billion fund is crucial to ensuring that the prepaid plan’s nearly 55,000 family participants get what they have paid for. That’s because, unlike in five other states, Illinois doesn’t promise to bail out the fund if it runs short of cash, contrary to what even some savvy investors and financial planners think. Instead, state law requires only that the governor ask the Legislature for help if the program can’t meet its commitments. Lawmakers are under no obligation to act.
* Other budget stuff…
* Lawmakers looking into reforming pension system — again
* City and State employee pensions face the chopping block
* Black Caucus Meets With Quinn To Discuss Human Services Cuts: State Rep. William Davis (D-East Hazel Crest) told Progress Illinois the meeting wasn’t antagonistic. But he didn’t mince words about what he sees as the consequences of the cuts either. The reductions are “a blueprint for African Americans going to the Department of Corrections,” Davis said. Particularly frustrating is the fact that the cuts are on the table now while corrections is reccommended for a 14.6 percent increase in General Revenue Fund dollars in next year’s budget. “We met with the governor … about other places the pain could be spread around instead of just on poor people,” said State Rep. LaShawn Ford (D-Chicago).
* Finke: Test of wills on budget: The test of wills is going to be with the Senate. Senate Democrats don’t sound like they’re going to just accept the House approach or the House revenue numbers. They could well decide the state can safely spend more money, particularly on human services programs, than the House wants to spend. At some point, they’ll both have to agree on something if the state is going to get a new budget.
* IMPACT fears effects of budget cuts: Concerned disability rights advocates from the Alton area will join others from around Illinois in Springfield on March 15 to protest the governor’s proposed budget that would cut program funding.
* Funding for prison computer improvements depends on legislature: The Illinois Department of Corrections is in the midst of a $30 million, multi-phase overhaul of its antiquated computer systems, but continuing the project depends upon the General Assembly paying for it in the next fiscal year.
* $1 million contract for mayor’s daughter is on table in Dolton: If approved, LL Care and Fitness would earn $117,000 a month, totaling $1.4 million a year, to manage the Dorchester Center, an independent living and banquet facility for low-income seniors, according to records obtained by the Tribune.
* City signs $2.5 million deal for solar-powered trash compactors: The Daley administration has signed a contract with Massachusetts-based BigBelly Solar to provide at least 400 solar-powered trash compactors in the central business district, where pedestrian traffic is heaviest and trash bins need frequent pickups. Each unit holds five times the garbage of a normal trash can and has its own built-in sensor that alerts the city when it’s full. There’s also an attached container for recyclables.
* Treasurers want tax sale reform softened: The Illinois County Treasurers Association is pushing back against a reform bill sponsored by state Sen. Bill Haine, D-Alton, aimed at making delinquent tax sales fairer and more transparent across the state. Specifically, the treasurers group wants Haine to amend provisions in his bill requiring all county treasurers to videotape and audiotape delinquent property tax sales and to use automated bidding procedures. Such mandates would be too costly for some of the state’s smaller counties to put into place, said Dan Welch, the group’s president.
* Transit board seats give elected officials a second public paycheck
* No simple fix to Illinois’ workers’ comp system, officials agree: Most of those involved in Illinois workers’ compensation system agree reforms are needed, but there’s no agreement yet on what form those changes should take. “It’s a very complex issue – we’re moving along, but I wouldn’t say we’ve reached any major agreements,” said Rep. Dan Brady, R-Bloomington, who represents Illinois House Republicans on a bipartisan workers’ comp committee set up by Gov. Pat Quinn.
* Flood waters rising?: Southern Illinois towns along the Mississippi and Ohio Rivers are making preparations for the possibility of flooding as the waters continue to rise. With weekend rain and the potential for more wet weather early this week, county emergency management personnel are hoping for the best but preparing sandbags just in case.
* Editorial: Online sales tax bill would help Illinois: If forced to collect sales taxes, the affiliates could shut down or move to other states, reducing overall economic activity here. Big online retailers such as Amazon could sever their relationships with local affiliates, again hurting the local economy. The bottom-line success of similar legislation in other states is heavily debated and has led to lengthy litigation.
* Judge to weigh rival plans in Trib bankruptcy case: The hearing edges Tribune Co. closer toward shedding most of the roughly $13 billion that it carried into bankruptcy protection. If it can unload the debt, the company believes it can make money while it tries to adapt to a marketing shift to the Internet.
* Bank kicks off investment on West Side: U.S. Bank unveiled its plans Friday to invest on Chicago’s West Side, highlighting a $600,000 investment and plans to renovate six foreclosed homes in Austin and Maywood that have already begun.
* Five energy companies take on ComEd to power Chicago area
* Chicago says it cost $37.3 million to remove blizzard snow - Tab for airports alone put at $14.5 million
* City’s share of Jesse White Tumbler gym doubles, to $10 million
* Among Blacks, Mayoral Election Forces a Push for New Ideas and Leaders: “I call them the ‘remember-when crew’” Mr. Jackson said. “Remember when Harold said this? Remember when Harold did that? We need to honor and respect the accomplishments of our elders. But it’s time for them to step back and allow us to serve.”
* Alderman to Rahm Emanuel: Back off Ed Burke: “It would be real hard for a lot of the aldermen to go against Burke. We’re all good to each other. We support each other,” said Ald. Walter Burnett (27th), chairman of the Council’s Black Caucus.
* Rahm Emanuel launches political operation: “New Chicago Committee”: Mayor elect Rahm Emanuel is creating a political action committee, called the “New Chicago Committee,” to bankroll his political operation which will include raising money and donating to other candidates–from aldermanic on up–and causes. Emanuel Deputy Campaign Manager Tom Bowen–who managed Forrest Claypool’s independent Cook County Assesors race–and Alexi Giannoulias’ Senate Democratic primary–will helm the New Chicago Committee.
* Daley’s Legacy of Libraries, Culture and Literacy
* Fulton Board chairman silent on filling vacant seat - Democrats divided over nomination of WIU student Tommy Bohler
* 4:32 pm - It’s late Friday afternoon and Gov. Pat Quinn’s office just sent out a list of bills he’s signed. The death penalty repeal bill is not one of them. I’m told nothing is planned by the governor’s office on that issue today.
We’d been hearing that Quinn would likely do a bill signing at Northwestern University, the home of the Center on Wrongful Convictions.
But Northwestern, of course, has a freaking gigantic national PR headache on its hands right now, so an event there might not be prudent. I seriously doubt the governor would want to answer awkward questions about a live sex act performed for NW students after he signed such an historic bill.
The deadline for deciding what to do about the death penalty repeal measure is March 18th.
Supposedly, we can expect Quinn to take action sometime next week. Perhaps in the middle of the week.
* New Jersey Gov. Christie is a bit on the sensitive side. When he was asked to respond to ads taken out in three New Jersey publications Monday by the somewhat mysterious political action committee For a Better Chicago, he lashed out at Gov. Pat Quinn…
“Let me tell you something: We won’t lose any business to Illinois as long as Pat Quinn’s the governor,” Christie, a Republican, said during a news conference Thursday. “He’s a disaster.”
The Chicago group said it’s taking out the ads to set the record straight on which state has the best business climate.
“We understand that governors have to be cheerleaders for their states, but the claims Gov. Christie is making are so far from the truth,” said Jake Braun, For a Better Chicago spokesman.
The Chicago ads, which say “Rhetoric is nice, reality matters,” focus on New Jersey’s high property taxes and cost of living.
The comment came after a question about a nonprofit group, For a Better Chicago, taking out advertisements in New Jersey publications, such as NJ Biz, highlighting the Garden State’s less-than-stellar tax reputation. The ad claims that “Illinois has a better tax environment for business than New Jersey,” and it printed the telephone numbers of business development offices in Illinois state government.
The ad was in apparent retaliation to an earlier Christie effort to draw businesses away from Illinois to New Jersey, citing a harsh tax climate in Quinn’s state.
Quinn’s press office didn’t meet fire with fire.
“We’re not going to respond to personal attacks like that,” said Brie Callahan, Quinn’s press secretary. “Gov. Quinn is focused on moving Illinois forward, making Illinois an even stronger economic competitor.”
Thoughts?
*** UPDATE 1 *** The complete, official response from Gov. Quinn’s office…
“We were fourth in the nation in creating jobs last year, while New Jersey was last. Site Selection magazine just named Illinois in their top 10, New Jersey was nowhere to be found. Instead of making personal attacks on other governors, Governor Quinn is focused on getting our state’s fiscal house in order and continuing to make Illinois an even stronger economic competitor.”
…Adding… Keep in mind that, unlike Christie’s ads bashing Illinois, these ads on Chicago’s and Illinois’ behalf are privately funded. NJ Biz, where one of the ads will appear, has more…
According to Greg Goldner, chair of FBC — a nonprofit focused on job creation and business development — the purpose of the ads is to change the rhetoric and let people know that Illinois is a good place to do business.
“Our state has taken action to deal with its deficit,” Goldner said. “These governors from other states, notably New Jersey and Wisconsin, have jumped into the fray and developed messages that they have better business climates — and that’s just not the case.” […]
The retaliation ad campaign didn’t come about because Illinois was worried about losing its businesses to New Jersey, Goldner said. Rather, the organization wanted to show the reality, and that no one in Chicago was fooled. He maintained that Illinois has a better business climate, but granted that New Jersey has other advantages, such as location.
*** UPDATE 2 *** I just talked to Goldner via e-mail. Apparently, more ads are in the works, including for Wisconsin. My own suggestion: “Escape From Wisconsin.” Do you have any ideas for Goldner’s crew?
A dugout scuffle between Carlos Silva and Aramis Ramirez occurred Wednesday after the Cubs gave up six first-inning runs in an exhibition game vs. Milwaukee.
The fight was quickly broken up by players and coaches and order was restored. It began when Silva gave up six runs and watched his teammates commit three errors behind him, including one by Ramirez.
“You’ve got two ticked off people,” manager Mike Quade said. “It was a brutal first inning. Plenty of blame to go around. Maybe it’s what we freaking need — maybe we need to get ticked off. It’s Day Four of spring training. I’ve got no business getting all fired up on four days of work, but today was really tough to watch, and it hasn’t been fun to begin with.”
I got news for you, Quade. Managing that minor league team won’t ever be fun. You’re doomed.
* The Question: How good will the White Sox be this year? Take the poll and then explain your answer in comments, please…
Newly fiscally conservative Democrats in the Illinois House unveiled numbers Thursday they say will limit state spending. Lawmakers said they will base the next state budget on $33.2 billion in state revenue. […]
Quinn’s budget office came up with a $33.9 billion number. The differences stem from varied estimates as to how much Illinois will get from the new personal and corporate income tax increase passed in January. COGFA is guessing $2.1 billion. Quinn’s budget office is guessing $1.8 billion.
The governor’s spending plan comes with a price tag of more than $35 billion.
Notice the difference between the governor’s proposed spending and the House’s new revenue projections. About $2 billion.
The plan, though, is for Bradley and other Revenue Committee members to talk to appropriations committee chairs to determine how much money each will have to allocate. Those committees deal with broad areas of government, such as elementary and secondary education, higher education, human services, public safety and general services.
“We will allocate as fairly as possible,” Bradley said. […]
The House is also only half the equation. The state budget must be approved by the Senate as well, and the Senate is taking its own approach to the budget.
“The Senate president is aware of the House’s approach, but the Senate Democratic caucus will not rely on House projections,” said Rikeesha Phelon, spokeswoman for Senate President John Cullerton, D-Chicago. “We will do our own evaluations while analyzing (various revenue estimates).”
The financial hole in Illinois’ government pension systems grew even larger last year, the state auditor reported Thursday — a problem that tends to increase pressure on a state budget already stretched too far.
The long-term gap between what Illinois owes future retirees and the money available to pay them jumped 21 percent under a new measuring system, Auditor General William Holland reported. Even under the old system, the gap grew by 10 percent.
Illinois government employees, downstate teachers and university staff have been promised $139 billion worth of retirement benefits, but the pension systems have only $63 billion in assets. Eventually, the state will have to come up with money to make up that difference. […]
The amount owed [for pensions] in the next budget will top $5.4 billion, the auditor said. That’s part of the massive budget deficit haunting Illinois.
More than two dozen seniors and advocates from local social service agencies gathered Thursday at the Decatur-Macon County Senior Center to protest the cuts to senior services in Gov. Pat Quinn’s proposed budget.
The budget calls for the elimination of the Circuit Breaker and Illinois Cares Rx programs, which assist low-income seniors and people with disabilities. Among the benefits of the programs are access to transportation and help paying for prescription drugs and property taxes. […]
“Please don’t balance the budget on the backs of low-income seniors,” Groendal said, adding that some who rely on the programs could face hospitalization, life in a nursing home or even death without them.
She shared part of a letter she wrote to Quinn, including some possible alternatives to cutting the programs completely - part of her “tweak it, don’t take it” approach.
* Meanwhile, State Superintendent of Education Christopher Koch is saying that suburban schools won’t have to worry too much about Gov. Pat Quinn’s consolidation idea…
For any unit district, there wouldn’t be as high a need for consolidation,” Koch said. “But we do have an issue in some populated areas of a disconnect with some high schools and their feeder elementaries. The need for consolidation really depends on the region. And communities have to be engaged in that conversation.”
Gov. Pat Quinn pitched the elimination of about 600 school districts via consolidation in his budget address last month. The idea is to save $100 million by reducing unnecessary administrative costs.
But Koch said that may not be a realistic goal or even the best selling point for consolidation. Indeed, consolidation may not even be on the table when it comes to most suburban school districts, he said.
“It’s an issue of what kids have access to,” Koch said. “In some areas of the state it’s hard for kids to have access to an advanced placement course or a rigorous curriculum. We know that that’s going to make a huge difference for them in being successful in college and careers.”
* And, as expected, one consolidation proposal was at least temporarily shelved while others are not being rushed…
Backlash over one plan reportedly has caused its sponsor to change his mind on the bill, which was scheduled for discussion in a committee meeting Thursday morning. That bill, sponsored by state Rep. Robert Rita (D-Blue Island), would have dissolved all school districts in the state, replacing them with one district per county, effective in July 2012.
Several other consolidation plans have been introduced in the state House and Senate this spring.
State Rep. Frank Mautino (D-Spring Valley) said it’s not likely any of those will be rushed through the General Assembly. The deadline to file bills passed last week, and committees have about three weeks to review bills.
State Rep. Richard Morthland, R-Moline, has received more than 200 e-mails from school officials voicing their concern.
“I’ve heard from superintendents and school board members across the state, literally, everywhere in the state, because I am on the committee that was hearing this before it would go to the floor,” said Morthland, a member of the House Counties and Townships Committee.
* Taxes not enough, Republicans want schools to charge more for Drivers’ Ed
* Taxpayers can’t afford costly tuition waivers: For years, Illinois taxpayers have been subsidizing tuition waivers for students selected by legislators and the children of state university employees. Sen. Christine Radogno, R-Lemont, wants the practice to end. She’s right, and the Illinois General Assembly should follow her lead.
* Editorial: State can’t get fiscal house in order if its books remain muddled
* Right up to the end, the cheerleaders in Carol Moseley Braun’s campaign were predicting she’d run up huge numbers in the black wards and among women. This is from a memo sent by the campaign to supporters on February 3rd…
Never has credible African-American received less than 75 percent of African-American vote.
Never has lone credible woman candidate lost woman vote in multi candidate race with three credible male candidates.
The problem, of course, was that she wasn’t a “credible” black or female candidate.
As late as the Thursday before election day, Braun adviser David Schaffer was still predicting Braun would score at least 60 percent among black voters. That’s some serious denial.
* Also, Braun campaign manager Mike Noonan has apparently decided to protect his reputation by going public…
Mike Noonan, Ms. Braun’s campaign manager, said the candidate and aides like Mr. Schaffer changed campaign strategy on the assumption that Ms. Braun was guaranteed the support of blacks when black leaders chose her as the community’s consensus candidate.
“It was a terrible mistake,” Mr. Noonan said this week. “The thinking was: ‘Why waste our time with African-American voters? They have no other place to go.’.” […]
Soon after that [nominating petition-gathering] success, Mr. Noonan said, he clashed with her. “We had fundamentally different views of how campaigns should be run,” he said, adding that Ms. Braun had made it impossible for him to schedule even the most basic campaign activities.
One e-mail shows that Ms. Braun canceled a meeting with an alderman on the eve of the event in December. “Nobody asked me about meeting with” the alderman, Ms. Braun wrote. “It can be rescheduled for another time that we clear.”
After a campaign loss like this, staff will almost always try to blame the candidate. In this instance, it’s almost entirely true. But going public is a bit on the gauche side.
* Meanwhile, if you want to see what can happen if you repeatedly fail to return a reporter’s calls, just read this story about Ald. Brendan Reilly’s involvement in the 46th Ward campaign…
One of [Reilly’s] top lieutenants in ousting longtime 42nd Ward Alderman Burt Natarus four years ago, Dave Clarkin, is likely to take over as manager of Ms. Phelan’s runoff campaign, she says. And there are lots of other rumors about precinct help Ms. Phelan is getting from Mr. Reilly — who, like Mr. Clarkin, once worked for Illinois House Speaker Mike Madigan.
So, what’s up?
The answer appears to be that, just like Mr. Madigan, Mr. Reilly is trying to carve out a role for himself as an influence peddler in the new City Council, someone who has allies not just because of his beliefs but because of his wallet.
Mr. Reilly — who’s failed to return several phone calls on what he’s doing in other wards this season — certainly won’t be the first Chicago official to try to build a coalition. At the legislative level, Mr. Madigan long has been a master at doing so.
But I find it a bit odd that someone hailed as a big reformer, like Mr. Reilly, can be so quiet about his reasons in messing around in wards that are dramatically different than his.
It’s a classic pile-on. I’ve done versions of this myself with people who won’t call me back. There’s a penalty for not cooperating. Usually, though, I prefer to stick to simply berating them for their silence.
After Reilly finally called Hinz back, he explained that Molly Phelan supported his first aldermanic campaign and that Clarkin lives in the ward. Clarkin told me this week that he’s now hearing gunfire in his neighborhood during the day, when his wife takes their new baby outside, rather than just at night. That, he said, was a big motivation to get more involved in the runoff.
Also, the “influence peddler” accusation seems a bit much since Reilly was only apparently involved in two races. Madigan never confines himself to such minor power plays. These are the real players…
Mayor-elect Rahm Emanuel called on a secretly funded political group Thursday to disclose the names of donors behind its efforts to elect a pro-business, pro-Emanuel City Council.
Emanuel’s request came in response to Thursday’s Tribune story about the group For A Better Chicago. In turn, the group’s leader said future donations to council candidates will be transparent, and one alderman said she would return the group’s money.
Emanuel reiterated that his campaign is “totally independent” from the group that is aligned with his interests. But the group, run by a Chicago political consultant who managed Emanuel’s successful 2002 bid for Congress, shouldn’t use a “quirk in the law” to avoid revealing its donors, Emanuel said. […]
The Tribune reported that of the 14 runoff races for aldermen, For A Better Chicago has endorsed eight candidates. Seven of those eight candidates told the Tribune that Emanuel offered his support to them after his Feb. 22 election victory. The paper reported Thursday that none of the candidates in the other runoff races had received offers of support from Emanuel.
Emanuel dodged questions about why he has only offered help to runoff candidates who also are being backed by For A Better Chicago.
* What Does the For a Better Chicago PAC Want From Rahm Emanuel, Aldermen, and Us?: You can take a look at their endorsements. I added up how many times their 34 endorsements intersected with the endorsements of others, and it went like this: Sun-Times (29 out of the Sun-Times’s 43 endorsements), Tribune (26 out of 44), Chicago Federation of Labor (26 out of 38), Chamber of Commerce (23 out of 34), AFSCME (21 out of 29), Citizen Action (16 out of 25), SEIU (15 out of 29), IVI-IPO (11 out of 26), Chicago Teachers’ Union (10 out of 25).
* Rahm Emanuel likes Wilco, Lucinda Williams and idea of music district
* What is Emanuel thinking? Dropout solution is ridiculed: “Students who drop out of school should face consequences that force them to reconsider their action. Rahm will push for a law that immediately revokes the driver’s license of any student who drops out of high school.”
Pro-union labor laws and policies are the only thing standing between Illinois and the creation of about 44,000 more jobs and almost 3,000 new businesses, according to a 50-state study issued Wednesday by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.
* Wide-ranging state employment discrimination laws beyond federal requirements
* Significant restrictions on employer inquiries into applicant or employee history
* Not a right-to-work state
Those “wide-ranging” anti-discrimination laws above and beyond federal laws include sexual orientation protections. The “significant restrictions” on employer inquiries include worker credit histories. And, yes, we’re not a right-to-work state. That idea was even dropped by Indiana’s conservative Republican legislature the other day.
The large [Illinois] union presence is a major influence on the development of state labor and employment policy. State law provides a host of protections and benefits for union members. The state provides unemployment benefits to striking workers, and there are state laws permitting picketing in public rights-of-way and a requirement for an employer’s hiring advertisements to specify whether there is an existing strike or lockout.
* What states are their heroes? The Chamber’s “top tier” includes Alabama, with a 9.1 percent unemployment rate, Florida, which has a 12 percent unemployment rate, and Georgia, with its 10.4 percent unemployment rate. All of those rates are higher than ours. Others on their favorable list had lower unemployment rates, including Mississippi, Texas, Idaho and Kansas. Only Texas has a somewhat comparable economy to ours, but it also has rich oil and natural gas deposits, and that sector is booming right now.
* So, does this study have anything to do with reality? After all, Site Selection magazine measures real world behavior, not ideology-based projections. It put Illinois in its top ten and ranked the Chicago metro region as number one.
“We’re not pretending these are the only factors,” said Glenn Spencer, executive director of the Washington, D.C.-based chamber’s Workforce Freedom Initiative, noting that companies also looked at taxes, infrastructure, education and other variables when they decided where to invest. But the point of the study was to isolate the impact of labor laws and regulations, he said.
* Is there room for improvement? Absolutely. We have a very high number of labor and employment lawsuits here - about the same as Florida, which was one of the Chamber’s “top tier” states. And then there’s stuff like this…
Two Internet-based marketers Thursday urged Gov. Pat Quinn to veto a bill aimed at collecting state sales tax on website purchases and threatened to leave the state if Quinn did not.
“I spent the last 12 years of my life creating jobs,” said Tim Storm, chief executive officer of FatWallet.com, which employs 52 people. “I’m not asking for anything of Illinois but a veto.”
Storm’s website displays discounts from online merchants, such as Amazon.com or Overstock.com. He receives a commission when customers purchase from those sites.
The legislation would force Internet retailers to collect Illinois’ 6.25 percent sales tax on all purchases made in the state. Illinoisans are already required to pay that tax, but it is up to them to declare it.
* And, of course, our workers’ compensation premiums are outrageously high. The “reform” effort five years ago, which was agreed to by the business lobby, has failed miserably. It needs to be revisited. Gov. Pat Quinn said this week that he’s working on a fix, but nobody knows yet what it will be or if it can pass. But the very real problem of workers’ comp premiums is barely mentioned by the Chamber. Instead, the Chamber’s analysis is almost all about the unions.
