* 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.
* The uproar over Gov. Pat Quinn’s proposal to force consolidation of local school districts continues unabated, even though passage of such laws has been rare in the past. Quinn defended his plan yesterday…
Quinn said the state could save $100 million by cutting the Illinois’ 868 school districts to about 300. Illinois has the third-most school districts in the nation behind Texas and California, and about 200 districts have just a single school.
“It’s just do we need so much of a layer of administration?” Quinn said. “I think I saw somewhere where there are 270-some school superintendents who make more money than the governor. I’m not so sure we need so many of them. Some of these school superintendents are supervising one school.”
He said he has assigned Lt. Gov. Sheila Simon to work on the consolidation issue.
“She’s from downstate Illinois and is sensitive to the importance of maintaining our schools, but not necessarily having more school districts than you can shake a stick at,” Quinn said. “Sometimes you have a grade school district and a high school district in the same place. And all these buildings and all these administrators and all these people who work for the administrators. We don’t need as many folks at the top level. We need folks on the front line.”
* Senate President John Cullerton thinks that the state should offer more financial incentives to prompt schools to consolidate, rather than apply force…
For example, the state could help two merging districts build a new high school, as well as establish a way for the state to help retire any debt from a financially strapped district that wants to consolidate with a wealthier district.
“If you try to force this on schools and communities, I’m afraid it will go nowhere in the legislature,” Cullerton said in a release Monday. “Ideally, we want to be able to make certain school districts an offer they, in effect, can’t refuse.”
Quinn budget spokeswoman Kelly Kraft said Cullerton’s ideas won’t spur enough consolidation.
“The incentive based approach has been in place for at least a decade and even though it had early success, this approach has not led to the consolidation the Quinn administration feels is needed to bring about more efficiencies in the operations of schools as well as a reduction in administrative costs to save taxpayers money,” Kraft noted in a message Monday.
* But wait until the school advocates get fully riled up about this bill which isn’t going anywhere…
A bill to dissolve all 869 school districts in Illinois by July 2012 and create 102 countywide school districts has created a firestorm of protest among local school officials.
They aren’t mincing words regarding House Bill 1886, introduced by state Rep. Bob Rita (D-Blue Island).
“It’s one of the worst ideas I ever heard of,” said Dean Casper, school board president in Community School District 146 in Tinley Park. “It’s overreaching and destructive.” […]
Under Rita’s plan, Chicago Public Schools would remain a district and the other 144 school districts in Cook County could be consolidated into one or two districts.
* Related…
* Quinn defends call for merging school districts: Quinn also stood by his proposal to cut state support for school transportation expenses. He said that would allow schools to transfer $95 million to education programs. [Matt Vanover, a spokesman for the state Board of Education] said transportation already has been cut significantly. It was reduced by nearly $140 million this fiscal year. The board requested a $134 million increase in school transportation funding, which still would have fallen short of the fiscal year 2010 school transportation budget.
* Speaker Madigan, GOP Leader Cross meet on state fiscal woes: “We’ve been meeting, four or five times so far,” Mr. Cross says. “I think we both realize we have a huge problem.” … Mr. Madigan’s spokesman admits to “maybe a couple” of sessions and says they dealt less with pensions than imposing overall state spending limits. But even that is a change.
* Education expert calls Emanuel’s schools plan ‘sewage’ and offers alternative: During remarks at a Tuesday panel to discuss the group’s manifesto, William Watkins, a professor of education at University of Illinois at Chicago, called Emanuel’s plan a piece of sewage, drawing laughter from the audience of more than 200 teachers, education students and school reform advocates.
* Students blast move to make City Colleges’ chiefs reapply for jobs
* Business, elected officials meet with state legislators: “There are going to be cuts. I’m talking about painful cuts,” warned Sen. Dale Righter, R-Charleston. “We’re talking about cuts in K-12 education and higher education, all the way down the line.”
* Immigrant advocates rally in Springfield for state funding
* Former Illinois House speaker calls human services cuts ‘disastrous‘
* Illinois unemployment drops slightly: The Illinois jobless rate dipped slightly, to 9 percent, in January, the 12th straight monthly decline. The unemployment rate fell 0.2 percent from the December rate, and is appreciably lower than the year-ago’s revised 11.2 percent unemployment rate in January 2010.
An Illinois House committee has passed a measure that would allow farmers to grow industrial hemp for commercial purposes, such as to make rope, clothing and other accessories. […]
House Bill 1383 says farmers wishing to grow, produce, or sell industrial hemp or related projects must be licensed on a yearly basis through the Department of Agriculture. State Rep. Norine Hammond (R-Macomb) was one of two representatives to vote no on the measure. Her Western Illinois district is mostly farmland, most of which she says is already spoken for. […]
The Illinois Farm Bureau is on record as supporting the measure, but other agencies such as the Illinois State Police have not weighed in. Hammond says the only way she’d support the measure is if the state police back it.
* The Question: Should the growing of industrial hemp - which is bred in a way that minimizes THC content - be legalized in Illinois?
Take the poll and then, please, explain your answer in comments. I’ve noticed we’ve been getting fewer comments when I run these polls, so I’m not sure I will continue posting these things if that trend continues…
* Attorney General Lisa Madigan’s recent ruling that names of FOID card holders must be made public might’ve been calculated as a compromise, of sorts. Just the names would be released, not addresses. The Associated Press likely demanded the list to find out if the cards were being given to people who shouldn’t have them, which is not unreasonable considering reporting in other states…
An investigation by the South Florida Sun-Sentinel published in 2007 found that 1,400 people who were given concealed-carry licenses in the first half of 2006 had earlier pleaded guilty or no contest to felonies but qualified for guns because of a loophole in the law.
In Memphis, Tenn., The Commercial Appeal found at least 70 people in the Memphis area who had concealed-carry permits despite violent histories including robbery, assault and domestic violence. A firestorm erupted after the newspaper posted an online database in 2008 of names of all concealed-carry permit holders in Tennessee.
Legislatures in Florida and Tennessee have since voted to make information on permit holders private.
The Indianapolis Star found hundreds of people convicted of felonies or other “questionable” cases in which people were subsequently granted concealed-carry permits, often over protests cases from local law enforcement officials and in some instances where it appeared the state police had a legal obligation to deny them.
Assistant Public Access Counselor Matthew Rogina, citing federal court decisions as well as Illinois law, wrote in a letter to the state police attorney that disclosing the names “cannot be characterized as highly personal or objectionable.” He wrote that there is a “public interest” in releasing the information, citing the example of an individual who may have become ineligible to carry.
“Therefore, even if disclosure of the names and expiration of the (Firearm Owner’s Identification Card) card owners did constitute an unwarranted invasion of personal privacy, this fact is outweighed by the public interest that exists in ensuring the integrity of the (police) database,” he wrote.
Gun advocates would like to keep secret the identity of those who hold the FOID cards, which are supposed to keep people with criminal records or mental illness from buying guns. Anti-gun activists, on the other hand, argue that making the names public is one way to ensure the FOID system is working.
Licensed gun dealers and gun shows are not supposed to sell a gun to anyone who lacks a valid FOID, but who can say the system is working if all records are kept private?
We can’t see how releasing just the names of the state’s 1.3 million FOID holders poses much of a privacy risk, except perhaps for folks with truly unusual names. In a state as big as Illinois, a lot of people share the same name.
* But as we saw yesterday in comments, the backlash is intense…
“The Attorney General’s recent statements place every citizen in Illinois at risk,” contended [Rep. David Reis]. “Citizens without a FOID card could be subject to crimes because criminals will now have a road map to each house in rural communities and neighborhoods unarmed and vulnerable to attack.
“This is a dangerous and short-sighted decision which flies in the face of common sense.”
“Gangbangers and others that want to know where to go to get firearms, they get that Firearm Owner’s ID list and say, ‘OK, this home here in the 13th ward probably has guns, let’s break in this one,’” [Sen. Kirk Dillard] said.
[State Representative John Cavaletto] believes otherwise and says the issue is simple - Privacy is paramount. “It should be a no-no… we shouldn’t do this,” he says. “I’m going to try and help co-sponsor the bill to stop it.”
[Rep. Ron Stephens] is trying to short-circuit the disagreement with legislation. Though he claims Illinois law already bars the police from making the gun permit registry public, he’s pushing a bill that would clearly prohibit that information from being released except in connection with a criminal investigation.
Stephens’ bill narrowly failed in committee on a 5-5 vote Wednesday, but under state law, the committee can reconsider it. Stephens said he’ll bring it back for a do-over in the next couple weeks.
“This is an important issue about freedom. … We will persist,” Stephens said.
Illinois Republicans are organizing a petition drive to block the release of information about people authorized to have guns. […]
[GOP Party Chairman Pat Brady] says taxpayers should not depend on majority Democrats in the Legislature to “shout down this Madigan attempt to take away our right to privacy.” He says they should sign the petition in favor of legislation keeping the records confidential.
* Reporters look at this issue as government refusing to make information public. It’s not all that different from, say, the Chicago Police Department’s refusal to release its files on David Koschman’s death…
Cook County prosecutors say they relied heavily on two “unbiased witnesses” in deciding they couldn’t charge anyone in the death of David Koschman following a 2004 confrontation in the Rush Street area that involved Mayor Daley’s nephew and three friends.
Now, one of those witnesses says prosecutors’ conclusion that Koschman “was the aggressor and had initiated the physical confrontation” is a “flat-out lie.”
The witness — Michael Connolly, an information-technology manager who previously had been interviewed by the Chicago Police Department — came forward Wednesday after reading a statement from prosecutors in Monday’s Chicago Sun-Times.
“The state’s attorney said all the witnesses involved said that David was the aggressor. That was a flat-out lie,” said Connolly, 36, who was drinking on Rush Street with a co-worker, Phillip Kohler.
* Gun owners and their supporters, on the other hand, view the AG’s order as a potentially dangerous government intrusion on their own personal privacy rights…
This would mean the release of your name, as a FOID holder. If you have a unique name, and an anti-gun employer, your job will be at risk.
Perhaps you are a collector, will you be targeted for your firearms collection? Will violent criminals be able to determine which households don’t have firearms for protection?
Lisa Madigan is no friend to firearms owners, she thinks that you need to have your name published to punish you for being a law-abiding gun owner.
I just don’t see how these two completely different world views can be reconciled. Do you?
* Could a casino/slots at tracks deal be for real this time? Greg Hinz notes that the Duchossois family (of Arlington International Racecourse fame) gave $46,000 to Rahm Emanuel’s campaign late in the game. Greg also checked around…
“If Mayor Rahm Emanuel is truly in favor of gambling expansion, I’d say its likelihood of passage is over 50%,” says state Sen. Kirk Dillard, R-Hinsdale, who knows the politics of this issue as well as anyone. […]
Even peppier is Senate President John Cullerton.
“A(n expansion) measure has passed the Senate twice. Cullerton’s conversations with House leaders leads him to believe there is sufficient support in the House to get it done this year,” his spokeswoman says. […]
(D)uring the campaign, Mr. Emanuel was pretty clear.
“We have a casino in Chicago, It’s called Hammond, Indiana,” Mr. Emanuel told WLS-TV’s Alan Krashesky. “I don’t come into this enthusiastic, but I accept the fact we’re losing too much revenue and we have too many needs. So I’m for it with the right type of restrictions and conditions.”
Keep in mind that the governor has been opposed to a major gaming expansion, but if the incoming mayor wants this, the leaders could use the opportunity to give him a nice house-warming present. Then again, these things tend to die of their own weight.
* In other city/state news, Bernie Schoenburg has a piece today about how Republican Congressman Aaron Schock contributed $10,000 via his two campaign committees to Democrat Susana Mendoza’s Chicago city clerk campaign…
Mendoza, who starts her new job May 16, stressed to me that the citywide job she won is officially nonpartisan. She added that other GOP colleagues also donated to her campaign, she’s always worked in a bipartisan way in Springfield, and the Chicagoans she’ll serve include independents and Republicans.
“Aaron reached out to me,” Mendoza said. “He was very excited to hear about my desire to run for citywide office.”
Mendoza said she and Schock are in touch “all the time.”
“It’s funny, because I disagree with like 90 percent of his political ideology,” she said. “But point being, we’re friends … and as a person I think Aaron Schock is wonderful.
Mendoza appeared in a TV ad for Schock when he first ran for Congress in 2008.
* Usually, bills based on extreme cases can get a bit outta hand. But there are lots of problems out there with visitation rights, with parents using children as weapons in nasty divorces. So, this may not be too unreasonable…
A bill that increases the penalties for parents who violate visitation agreements passed out of an Illinois House committee on Wednesday on a unanimous vote. The proposal now goes before the full House.
House Bill 1604 allows judges to impose fines and possible jail time if visitation is continually denied.
The so-called “Steven Watkins bill” stems from the 2008 case where Watkins was fatally shot when he went to pick up daughter Sidney, now 3, for a court-ordered visit in Ashland. Shirley Skinner, the grandmother of Watkins ‘ ex-wife, Jennifer Watkins , was convicted of first-degree murder in the killing and is serving a 70-year sentence.
Steven Watkins’ parents were granted visitation rights with Sidney, but Jennifer Watkins has not produced the girl for court-ordered visits.
* The bill does a lot more than impose fines and jail time. It grants judges a lot of new powers…
Amends the Illinois Vehicle Code and the Illinois Marriage and Dissolution of Marriage Act. Provides that the court, upon finding that a party engaged in visitation abuse, may: suspend the offending party’s Illinois driving privileges pursuant to the Illinois Vehicle Code until the court has determined that there has been sufficient compliance for a sufficient period of time with the court’s order concerning visitation and that full driving privileges shall be reinstated; order that the offending party be issued a family responsibility driving permit to allow limited driving privileges for employment and medical purposes; order that an entity that issued a professional license to the offending party suspend or revoke the party’s professional license for a period of no more than 6 months; and fine the party not more than $500 for each finding of visitation abuse. Provides that a finding of visitation abuse constitutes a change in circumstances for purposes of a modification of a custody judgment. Provides that if a parent has been previously found in contempt by the court for visitation abuse, the court may further: incarcerate the offending parent one day for each day of denied visitation; or require the offending party to post a $5,000 bond subject to forfeiture for the purpose of assuring compliance with future visitation.
* By the way, an arrest warrant has been issued for Jennifer Watkins because she defied a judge’s order...
A Cass County judge has ordered the arrest of the widow of the late Steven Watkins for not allowing visits between the couple’s 3-year-old daughter and the murdered man’s parents.
The visits between Sidney Watkins and her paternal grandparents, Dale and Penny Watkins, stopped Nov. 26 because the child and mother Jennifer Watkins reportedly moved to Florida.
Jennifer Watkins did not appear Tuesday at a hearing on multiple petitions that Dale and Penny Watkins’ attorneys filed seeking she be held in contempt of court and a warrant issued for her arrest.
Jennifer Watkins’ attorneys, Michael Goldberg of Chicago and Dan Fultz of Springfield, told Judge Bob Hardwick Jr. they do not know where she is and could not provide any defense because they have been unable to communicate with her.
Thoughts?
…Adding… This ruling may not go down well with some…
The First Amendment protects hateful protests at military funerals, the Supreme Court ruled on Wednesday in an 8-1 decision.
“Speech is powerful,” Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. wrote for the majority. “It can stir people to action, move them to tears of both joy and sorrow, and — as it did here — inflict great pain.”
But under the First Amendment, he went on, “we cannot react to that pain by punishing the speaker.” Instead, the national commitment to free speech, he said, requires protection of “even hurtful speech on public issues to ensure that we do not stifle public debate.”
Illinois already has a law on its books restricting the protests (which were enacted because of those idiot cultists who protest at military funerals), but there was a push this year to strengthen it…
State Rep. Frank Mautino, D-Spring Valley, is backing legislation to discourage loud and threatening protests at funerals.
“Hateful rhetoric has no place at private ceremonies like funerals where mourners should be able to pay their final respects in peace,” said Mautino. “That right cannot be infringed, so we should do all we can to keep discouraging, despicable protests from taking place at funerals, especially when fallen soldiers are laid to rest.”
In response to demonstrations by a Kansas-based group that regularly protests the families and funerals of soldiers killed in Iraq and Afghanistan, including funerals in Illinois, in 2006 Mautino and the General Assembly passed the Let Them Rest in Peace Act — a law prohibiting anyone from protesting loudly, blocking access to and from any funeral and displaying threatening words or images 30 minutes before, during and 30 minutes after a funeral or memorial service.
Under current law, protesters cannot be within 200 feet of the entrance or exit of the cemetery or memorial facility. The law defines protesting as disorderly conduct, which includes loud protests of singing, chanting, whistling or yelling, and displaying any visual images that convey fighting words or actual or veiled threats against any other person.
* Who is your favorite Illinois politician who is not from the party you generally support? In other words, if you’re a Democrat, who is your fave Repub? Etc.
Let’s keep this confined to currently serving politicos, please. Thanks.
* This won’t cause any controversy and over-hyped misinterpretation at all. Nope…
The names of people authorized to own guns in Illinois is public information that the state must disclose, the attorney general has ruled.
The Illinois State Police determines who gets Firearm Owners Identification cards but has always kept the information confidential.
Attorney General Lisa Madigan’s office issued a letter Monday rejecting state police arguments that releasing the information is an invasion of privacy prohibited by the state public-records law or that disclosure would endanger the lives of gun owners.
The State Police say they “respectfully disagree” with AG Madigan’s opinion, which was prompted by a FOIA request by the Associated Press.
* There aren’t any state laws which specifically keep the information private, but you can expect legislators will be moving measures to do so. Gubernatorial candidate state Sen. Kirk Dillard already introduced a bill in January…
“In January I introduced legislation that would declare Firearm Owners Identification information private. I am urging Director Keen by letter to give lawmakers the opportunity to consider my legislation before making this information public,” Dillard said.
He said he is worried the information could be used by criminals and commercial solicitors.
“I will also ask Senate President John Cullerton and House Speaker Michael Madigan to expedite consideration on this landmark issue of privacy and public safety,” he said. “In this era of Big Brotherism, I am concerned that the list will not only be used by commercial solicitors, but could be used by criminals to identify which homes might contain a firearm, so they know which homes to systematically burglarize.
“The attorney general’s opinion will compromise firearm regulation if people are worried that their names will be identified, which could lead to more straw purchases of guns or total non-compliance,” Dillard said. “This is not about guns — it’s about privacy and public safety.”
Proponents of releasing the information argue that it’s a public policy issue. “There should be public scrutiny on any licensing system, whether it’s to own or to buy or to carry,” Brian Malte of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence told the Tribune. “The public has a right to know how well those systems are working, especially when it involves firearms.” But opponents of releasing the information, such as Todd Vandermyde, Illinois lobbyist for the National Rifle Association, think that if people know who has a card who doesn’t, those who own and don’t own firearms alike will become targets. “You potentially make us targets,” Vandermyde told the Tribune. “Or, on the inverse, you could say, ‘These are the homes that don’t have FOID cards so it’s likely they don’t have guns, so therefore they make better targets.’”
* But the fears appear to be at least somewhat overblown. From a Madigan letter to Illinois Review…
The only information our office has advised should be released is the FOID cardholder’s name and the effective date or expiration date of the card. No other personal information is to be released.
So, there won’t be any addresses released. Not even the names of towns would be listed.
State officials are investigating whether religious agencies that receive public funds to license foster care parents are breaking anti-discrimination laws if they turn away openly gay parents.
If they are found in violation, Lutheran Child and Family Services, Catholic Charities in five regions and the Evangelical Child and Family Agency will have to license openly gay foster parents or lose millions of state dollars, potentially disrupting more than 3,000 foster children in their care.
Though Illinois legislators championing the civil union bill earlier this year insisted that religious institutions would not be forced to bless same-sex unions, it said nothing about same-sex parents.
Now, Attorney General Lisa Madigan, Gov. Pat Quinn’s legal team and the Department of Children and Family Services are carefully researching the Illinois Human Rights Act, the Civil Union Act and the Illinois Constitution to determine whether they prohibit agencies from considering sexual orientation as a factor in foster care and adoption. In Illinois, all adults who adopt or become foster care providers must obtain foster care licenses.
*** UPDATE *** The Illinois Policy Institute’s John O’Hara was on Chicago Tonight yesterday and said the real issue here was whether the country will have “two classes of people: a highly politically powerful, public employee unions and everyone else who pays for their salaries.” Watch…
[ *** End Of Update *** ]
* One of the refugee legislators from Indiana was at the Illinois Statehouse last night and spoke briefly at a Senate Education Committee meeting…
[Rep. Mara Candelaria Reardon] said she chose to stop by the education committee because the subject is “one of the reasons we’re fighting.”
“The most important thing that we can do is provide a free and quality education to our students,” Reardon said. “The fact that this governor in Indiana does not recognize the contributions that educators make is very disappointing to me”
State Sen. James Meeks, D-Chicago, chairman of the committee, used his microphone to ask the fleeing lawmaker: “Is there any kind of reward for you?” […]
Reardon said she would remain in Urbana, Ill., for “as long as it takes.”
I was at a different meeting and missed that one. But it’s kind of ironic that she stopped by an education hearing, considering what the Illinois Federation of Teachers thinks about a proposed education reform…
(T)he Illinois Federation of Teachers is watching a proposed legislation that they say is an attempt to eliminate collective bargaining for teachers.
“It’s actually worse than that Gov. Walker is proposing in Wisconsin,” said federation spokesman Dave Comerford. He said the proposal would make it so “the district could legally walk in and say they’re going to cut pay and there’s literally no recourse” for the unions.
The group responsible for the proposal, which was heard by a special committee convened by Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan (D-Chicago), is supported by a coalition of child advocacy and business groups. While Comerford said they are by no means taking these measures for granted, “I think our lawmakers are watching what’s going on [in Madison] and saying they hope it won’t happen here.”
The leader of boycotting House Democrats plans to return to Indianapolis.
Spokesman John Schorg says House Minority Leader Patrick Bauer will return from Illinois to Indianapolis for a meeting on Wednesday, but it is not clear if the meeting will be with Republican House Speaker Brian Bosma.
House Republican spokeswoman Tory Flynn says Bosma does not have any meeting scheduled with Bauer.
[Sen. Tim Cullen, D-Janesville] said he was one of the Dems who met [Monday] with Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald, R-Juneau, near Kenosha. He said the meeting was cordial and Dems gave Fitzgerald a list of changes to the budget repair bill that they wanted.
Fitzgerald took the suggestions to the speaker and guv, and they exchanged counter offers later in the day, but couldn’t reach a compromise, Cullen said.
He said he spoke with Fitzgerald this morning, but it wasn’t a negotiating session.
“The door may be closed to the kinds of changes that we need,” Cullen said. “But I think the possibility of talking again will be there.”
* A first-hand look at Wisconsin lawmakers’ life on the lam - Democratic state senator Bob Jauch from Poplar and the rest of the 14 senators who escaped from Wisconsin spent parts of several days last week in the charming northern Illinois town of 22,000 where the movie “Groundhog Day” was filmed.
* Even Without Muni Bond Sale, Wisconsin Not in Fiscal Peril
* Why Your Boss Is Wrong About You: As anybody who has ever worked in any institution — private or public — knows, one of the primary ways employee effectiveness is judged is the performance review. And nothing could be less fair than that.
* Cook County law aimed at tax lawyers questioned: A Cook County ordinance aimed at Assessor Joe Berrios and the piles of money that tax attorneys threw at him during last year’s assessor’s race may be unconstitutional. That’s the opinion of the state’s attorney’s office, which in a Feb. 8 memo says campaign donation limits are a matter of state law, and the county ordinance “violates the separation of powers doctrine established in … the Illinois Constitution.“
* Lawyers warned their Berrios contributions could be illegal
* Foreman: Deadlocked Blago jurors held ‘reunion’: He says a lone holdout juror who prevented conviction on several serious charges helped organize the union but, at the last minute, wasn’t able to attend.
* Immigration crackdown nets 678 arrests, including 14 in Chicago area
* State’s universities urged to partner for more research funding - U. of I. board chief Kennedy calls for more cooperation with businesses and politicians
* Chicago Police Supt. Jody Weis quits; Terry Hillard returns
* Agency says it has no file on 2000 complaint about doctor - Physician now seeks to have court records of another incident sealed
This article concludes that legislation enacted to unilaterally reduce the pension benefits of current employees would violate the Pension Clause based on the Clause’s text and origins, constitutional convention debates revealing the framers’ intent, contemporaneous news articles demonstrating voters’ understanding of the Clause, and a host of court decisions construing the Clause.
This circumstance, coupled with the fact that the legislature already had a poor track record of making its actuarially-required pension contributions, caused public employee groups to lobby Convention delegates to include the Pension Clause. These groups reasoned that constitutional protection was necessary because the General Assembly would renege on its pension obligations to public servants during a financial crisis. Convention delegates agreed and included the Clause to foreclose that result.
* Can benefits be unilaterally changed by the General Assembly for current employees? Madiar says no…
The article finds that the Pension Clause not only makes a public employee’s participation in a pension system an enforceable contractual relationship, but also constitutionally protects the pension benefit rights contained in the Illinois Pension Code when an employee joins a pension system, including employee contribution rates. The Clause also safeguards pension benefit enhancements that are later added during employment. Further, the Clause ensures that pensions will be paid even if a pension system defaults or is on the verge of default.
* However, there is a way to change those benefits. And it involves that new national bugaboo word “collective bargaining”…
(W)hile the Clause bars the General Assembly from adversely changing the benefit rights of current employees via unilateral action, these rights are “contractual” in nature and may be modified through contractual principles. In sum, while welching on public pension promises is not an option for Illinois as some legal and civic commentators have suggested, legitimate contract principles provide a solution to mitigate this crisis.
That looks to be the Senate Democrats’ stance for the spring session: It’s up to the governor to negotiate any pension changes with the public worker unions.
