* We may have a light week next week here at the ol’ blog because of the legislative break. We’ll see how it goes and what I feel like doing. In the meantime, Lucinda Williams will play us out. Turn it up…
But you got yourself into this mess and there’s nothing I can do
* Senate President John Cullerton called on the Senate Republicans to put their budget proposals into bill form soon, saying his side of the aisle was preparing to do just that in early May. Cullerton said the Senate appropriations committees will be considering amendments and invited the Republicans to offer their own proposals, digging at them a bit for holding press conferences about their budget cuts without introducing any actual legislation. Ironically enough, he said all this during a planned media availability.
“We’re going to go to the Reference Bureau, not the Blue room… and we’re going to vote on bills,” Cullerton said, adding, “I think they proposed cuts in education of something like $750 million. So, go to the Reference Bureau and get their amendment to cut the education budget by $750 million and let’s debate it.” Watch…
* Cullerton also said he was “surprised and disappointed” that Senate Republican Leader Christine Radogno wants to sit down over the next two weeks “to meet on an agreed-upon budget.” He said he’d meet with her, but he called it an “odd request,” considering that the committees will be considering legislation to deal with the budget.
“We will offer our amendments, we’ll urge them to vote for it. If they don’t think that we’re cutting enough, they can introduce their own amendments and then we can take votes on cutting some more.” Watch….
Radogno said she was wary about offering up her amendments because she figures the amendments would die in committee and there would be no floor votes on her members’ ideas.
[ *** End Of Updates *** ]
* Meanwhile, you probably already know that a Republican-backed worker’s compensation reform bill went down in defeat yesterday…
The Illinois Senate killed a bill late Thursday evening that would have dramatically overhauled the state’s workers’ compensation system – a system that all parties agree is rife with fraud and abuse. […]
[GOP Sen. Kyle McCarter’s] legislation, Senate Bill 1349, would have reduced the medical fee schedule for workers’ compensation procedures by 30 percent, given employers the right to choose an employee’s doctors and course of treatment for the first 60 days, adopted American Medical Association guidelines for determining impairment and required that the workplace be the primary cause of the injury – a principle known as causation.
Causation was the sticking point for Senate Republicans and the business community.
“If causation is not part of it (reform), it’s likely it will not be strong enough to make a difference,” Sen. David Luechtefeld, R-Okawville, said. […]
“I don’t want to pass a bill that will lead to more litigation, not less litigation – that’s not going to save anybody any money,” said Senate President John Cullerton, D-Chicago.
Most Democrats voted “Present.” The media take-aways is they did so to avoid being accused of voting against reform. Likely true, but it’s also a way to show that they’re not completely opposed to working with the Republicans. Sort of a legislative courtesy, I suppose you could say.
Among the stumbling blocks was disagreement over whether injured employees should be required to prove their injuries occurred at the workplace.
While GOP lawmakers argued it would crack down on fraud, Democrats said the clause would allow business owners to challenge claims and limit workers from collecting payments. […]
But Democrats and labor groups complained employees would lose the right to choose their own doctor. They said it also would prohibit many workers from receiving benefits.
Laborer’s International Union officials said the proposal would result in injured workers receiving less medical care and less money to live on while they recover.
Unions, trial lawyers and the docs were against it, so it went down. Not much of a surprise.
Chicago-area officials say the bill could cost them hundreds of millions, and maybe billions, of dollars a year. But the measure involved, S.B. 2194, nonetheless passed its first test at midday Friday, clearing the Illinois Senate with three votes to spare and heading to an uncertain fate in the House.
Technically, all the bill, sponsored by Sens. Toi Hutchinson, D-Olympia Fields, and Dan Kotowski, D-Park Ridge, would do is force the Illinois Department of Revenue to collect sales taxes based on one and only one factor: the location at which the item is purchased.
But local officials including Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle, DuPage County Chairman Dan Cronin and, reportedly, Mayor Richard M. Daley are telling lawmakers that the bill would do far more, threatening their ability to provide services.
For instance, according to an analysis circulated by the Regional Transportation Authority, the bill would allow most any firm to set up a satellite office in a low- or no-tax county, and route all its orders there via computer, even if the item is delivered and used in a higher-tax area, like Chicago or Cook County.
* Related…
* Naperville leaders pleased with workers’ comp reform efforts
* Gov. Pat Quinn spoke at a recent function for Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky. During his remarks, Quinn talked about his election, saying of his former opponent Bill Brady: “If I wasn’t here we’d have Scott Walker on steroids as our governor.” Watch…
* The Question: Should Gov. Quinn start toning down the rhetoric against Gov. Walker and others, or should he continue full speed ahead? Take the poll and then explain your answer in comments, please. Thanks.
A young, once rising figure in the Illinois Republican party has quit the committee that runs the state party after the Sun-Times revealed the man’s ties to an Outlaw motorcycle gang member and a convicted wholesale drug dealer.
Craig Pesek, 34, is a key supporter and adviser to Cicero Town President Larry Dominick and a consultant to the town. A high school graduate who has managed a hot dog stand and a nightclub, Pesek was hired to oversee economic development in town and major building projects there.
Pesek and his older brother Jeff, 38, were caught on FBI surveillance in 2007 talking with Mark Polchan, an Outlaw motorcycle gang member, about Polchan’s fear he would be arrested for a mob-ordered bombing and whether the Peseks would post bond for him.
Last year, at Polchan’s federal criminal trial, a convicted drug dealer, Enrique “Henry” Rendon, testified that he was a silent investor in the Chicago nightclub, Ontourage. Craig Pesek is listed as the sole owner of the nightclub. Jeff Pesek testified under a grant of immunity from prosecution at Polchan’s trial that there were other people who helped Craig Pesek out with the club at the start, but that Craig Pesek never declared them as investors with the City of Chicago. […]
Illinois Republican Party Chairman Pat Brady said Craig Pesek had done “nothing wrong” but that Pesek offered his resignation Thursday from his seat on the state central committee representing the 4th Congressional District to avoid creating distractions for the party.
Perhaps Brady shouldn’t have been so quick to say that Pesek had done “nothing wrong.” That could come back to bite him.
The resignation of Craig Pesek as GOP State Central Committeeman (3rd Dist.) is yet another example of the decay in the Cook County GOP which could not win even one aldermanic seat, the governor’s race, or any state rep/senate seats in Cook County that matter.
Embarrassing allegations about Craig Pesek lend yet even more credence to the argument for direct election of GOP State Central Committee members. Conservatives and Tea Party members need to use this embarrassment as a clarion call for even greater hands-on action at the grass root level to elect candidates we can be proud of.
“The irony of Mr. Peraica’s comment is that he took tens of thousands of dollars of campaign contributions from Craig Pesek, hosted campaign events at Mr. Pesek’s night club, introduced Mr. Pesek to Republican Party leaders, and then fought tooth and nail to ensure that Mr. Pesek won a seat on the State Central Committee. If Republicans are embarrassed over these recent allegations, they should call Tony Peraica and thank him.”
Oof.
* But Peraica isn’t the only one complaining about the Republican Party these days. So is former Chicago Ald. Brian Doherty…
“They didn’t offer any assistance to us at all, I think shows very poorly on the Republican leadership in the state level, county level,” Doherty said Wednesday.
Doherty said party officials did not return phone calls during the campaign, but the heads of the state and county parties said Wednesday they never got those calls.
“We think it’s important that we do field candidates in these city council races, and we need more Republican representation on the city council,” said Pat Brady, chair of the Illinois GOP. “And that’s what we’re working towards.”
As for resources, Brady said there is only so much money to go around. […]
The head of the Cook County Republican Party, Lee Roupas, noted that his group did get involved in a different aldermanic race. Roupas said it donated $500 and recruited volunteers for 45th Ward candidate John Garrido. Garrido ended up losing by fewer than 30 votes.
* As for Peraica’s call for the passage of legislation to provide for the direct election of state central committee members, the bill passed the Senate the other day on a unanimous roll call. It’s passed the Senate before, but was held up in the House, where House Republican Leader Tom Cross is opposed. Democratic Rep. Lou Lang has picked up sponsorship.
* The accidental nature of former Sun-Times Chairman James Tyree’s death was not exactly played up in the media coverage. But the medical mistake was apparently serious enough to result in a threat from the federal government…
A threat by federal officials to end the University of Chicago Medical Center’s participation in Medicare after the death of Sun-Times Media Holdings Chairman James Tyree was dropped Thursday after a follow-up investigation found that problems identified at the hospital had been resolved.
In a public notice issued this week, the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) warned the hospital it would no longer make Medicare payments for inpatient services after April 28 because an investigation found “deficiencies . . . so serious they constitute an immediate threat to patient health and safety.”
The notice did not specify what prompted the investigation by the Illinois Department of Public Health and the Joint Commission, but sources said it was Tyree’s March 16 death at the hospital of an air embolism during removal of a dialysis catheter.
The investigation “pointed to the issue of training of individuals performing these [catheter] procedures,” CMS spokeswoman Elizabeth Surgener said. “When we looked into that, we found a lack of documentation of training in accordance with hospital policy.”
* Tyree died after an air bubble got into his bloodstream when a dialysis catheter was removed. This sort of mistake is classified as a “never event” by Medicare. But the hospital has apparently addressed the problem…
The U. of C. said it received a notice today that the medical center’s “participation in the Medicare program remains intact” after submitting a “thorough plan of correction to demonstrate continued and sustained compliance with the Medicare conditions of participation.”
Most health facilities that face the loss of Medicare funding eventually address government inquiries before funding is stripped.
Nevertheless, the government’s move shows the increasing seriousness those who pay for health care place on the quality of medical care. The error at the U. of C. that contributed to Tyree’s death falls into a category known as a “never event,” which means it is a preventable situation. […]
“Documentation, which was at the center of the investigation, has been improved and centralized,” the medical center said in today’s statement. “The investigations confirmed that all related personnel have appropriate training, experience, competency and credentialing.”
First, the Canadian man made sure the death penalty had been abolished in Illinois. Then he bugged his victim’s vehicle before tracking her down and shooting her to death. Then he turned himself in. […]
DuPage County State’s Attorney Robert Berlin said Smirnov shot the Westmont woman several times in the head and body as she left her office at 122 W. 22nd St. At one point during the shooting, Berlin said, Smirnov reloaded his .40-caliber handgun and kept firing.
“Clearly, it was premeditated,” Berlin said, calling the fatal shooting a “gut-wrenching, senseless crime.” […]
Berlin said that before the defendant’s return to Illinois, he had researched the death penalty and learned it was recently abolished here. He said Smirnov came back to the area with a “preconceived plan to take life.”
Vesel, 36, and Smirnov, who had once served in the Canadian military, had met through an online dating service in 2008, Berlin said, and Smirnov moved to the Chicago area to begin seeing her. But, after what Berlin called a “brief relationship,” Vesel resumed dating a previous boyfriend, the prosecutor said.
Smirnov returned to Canada but began harassing Vesel, who was living in Berwyn, by phone and the Internet, Berlin said. In 2009, Vesel filed a complaint with the Berwyn Police Department stating that Smirnov had threatened to harm her. She did not file for orders of protection in Cook or DuPage counties, Berlin said.
* I called State’s Attorney Robert Berlin this morning with a question. Did Smirnov decide to murder that poor woman before or after he’d researched whether Illinois had a death penalty?
Berlin said he didn’t yet know whether that was the case, but said an analysis of the alleged gunman’s computer will likely provide some answers. “I’m sure it will give us a lot more information.”
“Make sure Pat Quinn gets a copy of this story,” DuPage County State’s Attorney Robert Berlin said Thursday, reacting to Smirnov’s death penalty research. Berlin, a strong advocate of capital punishment, is an outspoken critic of the governor’s recent decision to abolish the death penalty in Illinois.
State’s Attorney Berlin said today that the comment came after the press conference had ended, and that while he didn’t regret saying it, he should’ve said “Governor Quinn.”
“The point I wanted to make,” Berlin said, “is that I want the governor and the General Assembly to be aware of the facts of the case.” Berlin says the state has debated back and forth for years about whether the death penalty is or is not a deterrent to crime. “I think this case proves that it is a deterrent,” he said.
“I do think there’s a good chance that if we still had the death penalty that this victim might still be alive. [Smirnov] might not have gone through with his plan,” Berlin said. Asked, however, if Smirnov had made any direct statements to that effect, Berlin said Smirnov hadn’t specifically said it.
* Obviously, this is a horrible turn of events. We might want to let this play out a little while before we jump to too many conclusions here. And this Smirnov guy is obviously quite disturbed. I can, however, certainly understand Berlin’s frustration and anger with the new law abolishing the death penalty. This is just an awful thing to happen.
So, everybody needs to take a very deep breath before commenting, please. Just because the media is screaming doesn’t mean we have to as well. Thanks.
*** UPDATE *** DuPage state Sen. Kirk Dillard is the first out of the legislative gate to use the case to argue that his colleagues need to at least partially reinstate the death penalty…
Dillard said the state needs to reinstate the death penalty for the “worst of the worst,” which he said were serial killers, murderers of children and people who murder witnesses to crimes.
Dillard specifically mentioned the case of Jeanine Nicarico of Naperville as a reason for the death penalty to be revived. In July 2009, Brian Dugan pleaded guilty to fatally bludgeoning Jeanine on Feb. 25, 1983, after kidnapping her from her home on a day she stayed home sick from school. A jury later sentenced him to death.
This came years after two other men were convicted of Nicarico’s murder, then later cleared. These wrongful convictions became a significant part of the argument in whether to repeal the death penalty.
Dugan already was serving life prison terms for the 1984 murder of Donna Schnorr of Geneva and the 1985 slaying of 7-year-old Melissa Ackerman of Somonauk.
* Wisconsin and other states really ought to take heed…
Illinois teachers unions have numbers and money that translate into influence at the state Capitol, but they’re still agreeing to major concessions on job security and strikes under legislation approved Thursday by the state Senate.
While union leaders said they were driven by what’s best for kids, they also acknowledge watching high-profile fights over public employee rights in Wisconsin, Ohio and Indiana.
“It made all the parties more cognizant that everyone was going to have to come away with less than their ideal on some issues,” IEA President Ken Swanson said Thursday. “But at the end of the day, this thing was too important to not come to agreement.”
The Senate showed yesterday that there are real paths to reform which do not require unilateral, partisan, mean-spirited attacks on school teachers. We can only hope that this approach will be applied to the other searing issues facing the General Assembly this year.
But the legislation still must pass muster in the House, where Speaker Michael Madigan (D-Chicago) advocated in the late 1990s for the outright elimination of teacher tenure and has bottled up attempts to allow teachers to take tenure from job to job as Lightford’s bill allows.
“For my part, I wasn’t willing to agree that this was the version that wouldn’t have any changes. That would be disingenuous,” said Rep. Roger Eddy (R-Hutsonville), a House GOP point person on education.
State Rep. Roger Eddy, R-Hutsonville, the House GOP’s point person on education, and House Majority Leader Barbara Flynn Currie, D-Chicago, both praised the Senate bill, but they also said it is unlikely that the House will rubber-stamp the Senate’s version.
“There are two chambers for a reason,” Currie said. “We, of course, will have our own ideas, but I think a lot of what I’ve read about what they plan to do sounds very much in keeping with our own agenda.”
“To expect everyone to summarily agree with something they haven’t read yet, that’s not how this process works,” Eddy said.
However, he added, “this bill, in many ways, achieves the goals that we all had when we started this process in the House (last year).”
Currie said Democrats have resisted some provisions in the bill before. But she also said she hopes changes made in the House “would not so upset the apple cart that we end up with nothing.”
* A unanimous vote in one chamber (in this case, the Senate) offers no guarantee of success in the other chamber. We’ve all seen 59-0 Senate bills fail in the House, and vice-versa. But this is a big deal, not some little “merely” bill, and there is clearly some serious momentum behind this legislation. For instance…
Chicago Mayor-elect Rahm Emanuel said he is pleased with the new reforms because it puts the Chicago Public School students on what he calls a level playing field. Emanuel said he campaigned on the components of the bill so he is relieved state legislators worked together to achieve a common goal.
“Like the police and fire, we will now have responsibility as teachers to provide essential services that make sure to raise the threshold,” Emanuel said.
“The kids in the state of Illinois — the entire state of Illinois — have a chance to get a better education because of this bill,” added Sen. Matt Murphy, R-Palatine, who predicted the legislation would help school boards save money and make sure the “better teachers stay and the lesser teachers go.” […]
“The reforms in this bill put Illinois at the head of the class nationally,” said Jessica Handy, policy director of Stand for Children. “Any one of these changes alone would be significant. Together they are monumental.”
When you get Matt Murphy, the Chicago Teachers Union and Stand for Children on the same page, you’ve truly accomplished something.
* The winner of yesterday’s caption contest is an anonymous commenter who contributed this gem…
Our next project is torte reform.
Perfect.
I’m going to have to trust whomever e-mails me to identify myself, but I think I can figure a way to verify the person’s identity. If you want that free lunch at Hickory River Smokehouse, with drinks thrown in by Greg Baise, send me an e-mail using one of the “contact” links on this page. Thanks and congrats. There were a whole lot of funny comments yesterday, by the way. Good job.
*** UPDATE *** OK, well, the winner lives in Chicago and he asked that I award the prize to someone else. Small Town Liberal…
These three may have moved slow, but it was only because these three didn’t have to move for anybody.
