This just in…
Monday, Apr 25, 2011 - Posted by Rich Miller
* 4:38 pm - Well, so much for breaking this news to subscribers tomorrow morning. From a press release…
Pat Quinn today announced three top appointments to his executive cabinet. Today’s actions are the latest in a series of appointments Governor Quinn is making as he continues to fulfill his commitment to creating jobs, fostering economic development and increasing efficiency and accountability in all areas of state government.
Governor Quinn today named Salvador “Tony” Godinez to lead the Illinois Department of Corrections (IDOC). Acting Director Gladyse Taylor will return to her previous position as assistant director. The Governor also re-appointed Warren Ribley as director of the Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity (DCEO) and Major General William Enyart as Illinois’ Adjutant General, directing the state’s Department of Military Affairs.
“Tony Godinez, Warren Ribley and General William Enyart have devoted their careers to public service, and the people of Illinois will benefit from their wealth of knowledge and experience,” said Governor Quinn. “I thank Gladyse Taylor for her dedication and leadership and look forward to her continued work on behalf of the people of Illinois.”
Currently the executive director of the Cook County Sheriff’s Department of Corrections, Godinez has spent 37 years working in the correctional system, including as warden of Stateville Correctional Center, as well as chief of operations and chief of staff at IDOC.
Previously, Godinez also served as warden of Ely State Prison, a maximum security facility in Ely, Nevada, and as a corrections administrator in Michigan, Delaware, Louisiana and Puerto Rico. A graduate of the University of Illinois-Chicago and Chicago State University, Godinez has participated in professional associations related to anti-violence and corrections policy nationwide.
Warren Ribley was appointed by Governor Quinn to lead DCEO in March 2009. Since then, Ribley has overseen agency efforts to foster job creation and economic growth in Illinois, by building the state’s green economy, attracting high-growth industries to locate and expand in Illinois, increasing opportunities for global trade and providing support for job training and continuing education. As director of DCEO, Ribley has overseen the state’s efforts to attract or retain more than 100 businesses, leveraging $3.3 billion in private investment and creating or retaining more than 26,600 jobs.
Major General William Enyart was appointed as the 37th Adjutant General of the State of Illinois in 2007. In addition to advising the Governor on military matters and overseeing the Illinois Department of Military Affairs, he is the senior officer for both the Illinois Army and Air National Guard, overseeing 13,500 men and women in uniform. In his military career, General Enyart has earned numerous awards and decorations, serving abroad in Italy, Japan and Ukraine, and completing assignments including service in the infantry, as well as in the Judge Advocate General Corps. [Emphasis added]
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* It’s a pretty darned slow news day out there. But a longtime source just told me, “Hey, at least you have the Blagojevich trial.”
Um, not so much. WLS…
Once through security and after replacing his belt - which all have to remove for search - he spotted a shiny copper penny on the floor.
WLS court reporter Holly Garland mentioned to him it was likely a “lucky penny,” Blagojevich promptly picked it up and handed it to Garland.
Returning the penny to him, Garland said, “you’ll need this more than I,” at which point he took it back, said thanks, and clasped his hands around it.
Sun-Times…
A potential juror who was questioned for Rod Blagojevich’s retrial this morning, noted on her jury questionnaire that she had a potential conflict in May.
“You don’t want to miss Oprah on May 10?” Judge James Zagel asked the woman.
Zagel asked if she had one ticket to attend the Oprah Winfrey Show, whose days in Chicago are numbered.
“Four tickets,” she corrected him.
Tribune…
Referring to a questionnaire one woman juror filled out, Zagel noted she had mused about the difficulty of sorting out the credibility of witnesses who cut a plea deal to testify for prosecutors, something that will play out in the Blagojevich trial.
“There’s no machine that can tell you when they are truthful,” said Zagel, noting that’s what juries must figure out.
The process of sorting out conflicting claims and credibility at the trial is not unlike being a mom, the judge continued. “It actually may not be that dissimilar from the decision you had to make many years ago when you had to decide which child was telling you the truth,” he explained.
AP…
A federal judge is questioning everyone from a painter to a teacher to a quilt maker as part of the jury selection process in former Gov. Rod Blagojevich’s corruption trial.
In interviews that lasted about five minutes each, U.S. District Judge James Zagel asked 13 potential jurors Monday morning about how much they followed Blagojevich’s trial last summer.
* About the only “news” was a new filing by the prosecutors involving one of Blagojevich’s TV appearances…
The Blagojevich prosecutors are seeking to introduce an appearance by the former governor from January 27, 2009, on MSNBC’s “Rachel Maddow Show.”
The prosecutors want to play the tape, to prove that Blagojevich should have know that his activities were improper. […]
Prosecutors say they need to play that tape, to “rebut the defendant’s defense that he did not realize the nature of his conduct, and that he had ‘no idea’ he could not do what he did.”
Transcript…
MADDOW: Do you agree that it would be wrong, it would be criminal for you to try to exchange Barack Obama’s U.S. senate seat, that appointment, for something that would be of value to you. You agree that that would be wrong.
BLAGOJEVICH: Oh, absolutely.
MADDOW: Yeah. Did…
BLAGOJEVICH: A personal, you know, one for the other personal gain?
MADDOW: Yeah.
BLAGOJEVICH: Absolutely.
MADDOW: And you didn’t do that?
BLAGOJEVICH: Absolutely not.
Actually, Rod, you did.
Busted.
…Adding… From the government’s motion…
The government cannot predict with certainty the contours of the defense to be presented in the upcoming retrial. In the first trial, however, defendant attempted through cross-examination of government witnesses to suggest that he did not know, and had no way of knowing that his conduct was unlawful because, among other things, none of his advisors told him that was the case, and because such conduct was not unusual.
From his own lawyer’s comments at the last trial…
Tell me one piece of evidence that came in here when he said, no, on such and such a date Quinlan said “no, it’s illegal,” or on such and such a date, “Governor, that’s illegal, you can’t do that”? Tell me one time? Just one time. Have them play one tape. You had about 5500 conversations and not one did they play for you where they say, “you can’t do this Governor”? It’s the exact opposite. This man had no idea that you couldn’t do it because everybody told him he could, and not only could, should, and not only should —
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Today’s numbers
Monday, Apr 25, 2011 - Posted by Rich Miller
* The reforms of the teacher pension system were bigger than many figured…
While the state won’t catch up on the debt it has incurred for existing teachers’ pensions for at least three decades, by 2036, it will basically stop having to pay for pensions for teachers hired after Jan. 1.
An actuary’s report for the state Teachers’ Retirement System projects that as more teachers come into the system under the second tier of benefits approved by the General Assembly in 2009, the new teachers will pay a big chunk of the debt owed by the state.
“The tier 2 members are really paying more than the benefits are worth,” said Kathleen Farney, TRS’s director of research. “So not only are they paying for their own benefits, but they’re actually helping reduce the unfunded liability that was accrued before they were even hired.”
While the legislature’s intent in creating second-tier benefits for new teachers, state workers, university employees, legislators and judges was to reduce the state’s costs, “they kind of overshot” in the case of teachers, Farney said.
I asked about this topic a couple of weeks ago, and was not informed of the audit, which was completed in early December. Instead, I was told this by TRS, among other things…
The real rub for Tier II members is the “cap” on how much of a Tier II teacher’s salary can be counted toward their pension. Right now the cap is $106,800. It doesn’t affect that many people…now. But over time as the cap increases with inflation, so will salaries…and salaries will probably increase faster than the cap.
In time more teachers than not will have a portion of their salaries not counted toward their pension and that portion will increase every year. And over time as the cap hinders the ultimate size of a person’s pension, it’s expected by our actuaries that the benefit will not be large enough to meet the minimum standards of Social Security for a stand-alone pension plan. At that point it’s expected that the federal government will force teachers into Social Security, which increases school district costs.
So, the budgetary news isn’t all good.
* Ralph Martire argues for using a higher revenue number for next fiscal year…
Overstating projected revenue would lead to irresponsible deficit spending, but understating revenue would lead to irresponsible spending cuts that hurt everyone from school kids to seniors, while causing job loss in the private sector.
The Senate used revenue estimates developed by the nonpartisan Commission on Government Forecasting and Analysis. COGFA is staffed by professionals whose sole job is to forecast and analyze fiscal matters. Over the last decade, COGFA’s revenue forecast has averaged being within 1.4 percent of the actual revenue generated in those years. The last decade includes the Great Recession, making COGFA’s miniscule margin of error that much more impressive.
The House revenue projection is primarily a political compromise reached between some House Republicans and Democrats, who are concerned about overspending. Given the stakes, this is no time for political concerns to get in the way of accuracy. Even using the highly accurate projections made by COGFA, some painful cuts may still be required. Making matters worse in the name of political compromise is not fiscally — or morally — responsible.
But, as I’ve explained before, putting too much into next year’s spending base could have a disastrous impact down the road, when the tax hike is set to expire. Dismissing that very real problem by focusing in on one spending year is not a good idea.
* James Warren totals up the amount of money paid out by Chicago for Shakman Decree violations since 2005…
*Claimants: nearly $12 million
*The monitor and her firm’s attorneys: just over $5 million
*The monitor’s consultants: nearly $2 million
*Plaintiff Michael Shakman and his attorneys: about $4.5 million
*The city’s primary outside law firm, Laner, Muchin, Dombrow, Becker, Levin and Tominberg, Ltd.: just over $1 million.
Shakman’s firm is doing a pretty brisk business.
* More numbers…
* Quinn grants 85 clemency requests, denies 189
* Rutherford to address Menard County Republicans: “I’ve always been told, if you don’t get 20 percent of the city of Chicago, you don’t win, and we got 22 percent and we won,” he said of the 2010 treasurer race in which he defeated Democratic opponent Robin Kelly with 50 percent of the popular vote.
* Taking great pleasure at small savings: One line-item that caught my eye was “Reduction in mobile phone usage — $14,000.” Rutherford asked his employees with state-paid cellphones to turn them in if they couldn’t justify the need, and 26 out of 36 subsequently surrendered their phones.
* Illinois to start tracking bicycle ‘dooring’ collisions
* Hundreds of Cook County Health Patients Caught Off-Guard By Furlough Day
* Jobe tops in down year for Springfield aldermanic fundraising
* Commissioner John Fritchey owes over $24,000 for property taxes: “My wife acted upon advice from her attorney and ceased payment on the property taxes, as well as the mortgage,” he says. “While I questioned the advice from her lawyer, I have no choice but to accept the decisions she made. Divorce brings a number of hardships. These are among them.”… He says their house is now under contract, and the taxes will be paid when the sale is completed. “They will be paid in full at the closing of the house, which is scheduled to take place in approximately 60 days,” Fritchey says.
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Question of the day
Monday, Apr 25, 2011 - Posted by Rich Miller
* John Boch, President of Guns Save Life, continued to make harsh comments over the weekend about a Jewish state Senator’s request that Boch’s group apologize for comparing an attorney general’s ruling to Adolph Hitler’s actions during the Holocaust. AG Madigan, you will no doubt recall, ruled that the Associated Press’ request for FOID cardholders’ names ought to be granted…
An Illinois Senator is demanding a guns-rights group apologize for using the yellow Star of David to compare gun owners’ problems to Holocaust victims. […]
The gun rights group defended the use of the Star of David by saying the Holocaust began with Jews in Germany being identified, then disarmed, then annihilation. […]
“It’s a horrible analogy. It’s not only Jews but non-Jews that were killed in the Holocaust,” Senator Ira Silverstein said. “They’re trying to make a point, I understand, but the way they’re making their point is totally unacceptable.” […]
When asked if he had the intention of apologizing, John Boch, President of Guns Save Life, replied, “Hell no.” […]
“The mantra is supposed to be ‘never forget’ and ‘never again,’ not ’stick your head in the sand and whine like a little girl when you see Holocaust imagery,’” Boch said.
* And the Sun-Times editorial page has jumped into the fray…
The group’s twisted logic lays bare a profound disregard for historical truth. It was not the identification of Jews, or the loss of their firearms, that led to their deaths in the gas chambers. It was a maniacal government, supported by powerful cultural forces, that led to mass Jewish deaths.
To liken that march toward death to the simple naming of people who applied for a government ID card in Illinois is absurd.
There are legitimate arguments against releasing the names of gun owners, arguments that have been articulated by thoughtful gun-rights advocates.
But nobody has dared to resort to this kind of craven and offensive twisting of history — until now.
Up until now, the NRA has refused to comment on the matter. But the NRA’s concealed carry bill remains a few votes shy of passing the House, and too much more negative Boch publicity probably won’t help matters much. Ordering Boch to clam up might work, but he doesn’t appear to be the shrinking violet type. It might just all go away if nobody else picks up on it, or the situation might spiral outta control. So…
* The Question: Should Statehouse backers of the concealed carry proposal publicly denounce Boch’s comments or ignore them? Take the poll and then explain your answer in comments, please. Thanks.
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The fog of war
Monday, Apr 25, 2011 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Northwest Herald editor Dan McCaleb penned a column over the weekend decrying major cuts to human service programs, then added this…
And at the same time Quinn is proposing these massive cuts to social service agencies, he’s increasing by more than $100 million the wages and benefits of public employees in the Department of Human Services and at state institutions.
These are among the same public employees who are members of the state unions that backed Quinn in last year’s election.
So we know Quinn is good at taking care of those who take care of him.
As for everyone else, including those who need care the most … well, he just doesn’t care.
Our elected lawmakers need to see through this farce and restore this funding.
Those pay and benefit increases are directly tied to the state’s union contract, which was negotiated and signed by Rod Blagojevich, not Pat Quinn. The Northwest Herald has regularly called for budget cuts, but apparently isn’t quite up to snuff on what the budget actually is. The state spends the most on education, health care, human services, prisons and workers/retirees. Over 95 percent of state workers belong to a union, so their pay cannot be cut in the coming fiscal year. Other avenues must be found. I know it’s fashionable to bash public employees, but a little reality would be nice.
* The Chicago Tribune editorial board appears unclear on the concept of legislating. It wants lots more anti-union provisions in the Senate-approved education reform bill…
• The Senate bill requires a 75 percent vote of approval by teachers to authorize a strike in Chicago. That’s a fairly high bar, but as new school leadership gets established and Chicago sorts through its financial crisis and contract talks, children need a guarantee that they will be in school. The House should set at least a five-year moratorium on Chicago school strikes.
Performance Counts emerged from the Senate after months of bargaining. It’s a very good bill. It could be a great bill. That’s the challenge to House Speaker Michael Madigan, Minority Leader Tom Cross and their members. Make it great.
Take out the right to strike and there goes the teachers’ union support. That may sound just fine and dandy to the Tribune and many others, but passing such a hotly opposed bill would be quite a bit more difficult, if not impossible. It’s the difference between what Wisconsin rammed through and what Illinois is doing, on several fronts. By definition, compromises don’t satisfy everyone, or even anyone. It’s pretty easy to bloviate from an editorial boardroom. It’s a whole lot more difficult to actually pass legislation and get it signed into law. A tiny bit of recognition of this fact of life would be appreciated.
It’s more than obvious that the Tribune is itching for a fight with the CTU…
Emanuel isn’t calibrating each move to please this or that group, as Daley often did. Instead, the mayor-elect is trying to recruit the Get-It-Done Brigade. Consider:
His most controversial choice to date, Jean-Claude Brizard, will be CEO of Chicago Public Schools for one reason: Emanuel sees him as a pile-driving force for reform. That is, for putting student performance first. If teachers union officials in Rochester, N.Y., didn’t approve of Brizard, so be it. That tells Emanuel that Brizard probably is steely enough for what comes next; the Chicago Teachers Union plainly intends to resist much of Emanuel’s reform agenda. What’s more, Emanuel has bulwarked Brizard for whatever fight the union wants to instigate.
It sounds to me like it’s not the unions who are doing the instigating here. After all, the CTU signed off on the Senate reform bill, despite taking it on the chin on numerous issues. But the Tribune wants more. Lots more. And they won’t stop until they get it.
Wars always have unintended, unforeseen consequences. So, rather than singing patriotic battle hymns as they attempt to march the city toward the ultimate showdown, perhaps a little sober and rational forethought would be the wiser course.
* And the State Journal-Register wants to push thousands of its subscribers out of their pension plans and let the Supreme Court sort it out…
As the General Assembly returns to work in the coming weeks — the House on Tuesday, the Senate on May 3 — we urge lawmakers to pass House Bill 149 — or some form of it — and initiate the inevitable court challenge that will yield an answer. The bill does not seek to cut benefits directly, instead giving employees hired before this year the option of paying more to keep their benefits the same or choosing between two alternate plans that offer lesser benefits. […]
The constitutional clause in question — “Membership in any pension or retirement system of the State, any unit of local government or school district, or any agency or instrumentality thereof, shall be an enforceable contractual relationship, the benefits of which shall not be diminished or impaired” — could reasonably be interpreted as allowing the state to ask for greater contributions as long as the benefits themselves are not “diminished or impaired.”
Then again, the Illinois Supreme Court could reasonably interpret that the options offered in HB 149 are a back-door form of diminishing or impairing benefits, thus violating the constitution. […]
The only thing certain in this matter is that Illinois needs an answer. The state can’t continue down its present path and expect anything but disastrous results… We see only one route to an answer and it leads directly to the Illinois Supreme Court. Let’s get this process moving.
Give them credit for guts.
Thoughts?
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* Former Gov. Rod Blagojevich’s attorneys are attempting to keep some embarrassing revelations out of his second trial, including the $400,000+ he and his wife spent on clothing…
“There was no impropriety whatsoever surrounding these purchases,” the attorneys wrote in a motion filed Friday night. “The fact that Blagojevich did not spend his money wisely or frugally is of no consequence to the government’s allegations that he schemed to obtain campaign contributions.”
The attorneys also asked judge James Zagel to bar testimony about the former governor’s work habits; specifically, his penchant for staying away from his official offices in Springfield and Chicago.
“This conduct is not illegal, but it is highly inflammatory and prejudicial,” the lawyers write. As examples, they cited testimony of former deputy governor Bob Greenlee, that Blagojevich was at the office as little as six to eight hours a week, and that he once avoided meeting with his finance chief by hiding in a bathroom.
Through his lawyers, Blagojevich also asked the judge to limit testimony about his efforts to obtain a job for his wife Patti, and allegations that he sought the dismissal of members of the Chicago Tribune editorial board in exchange for state help in renovations at Wrigley Field.
But Blagojevich is attempting to use his record in office to his advantage…
In the run-up to his corruption retrial, Rod Blagojevich portrayed himself in a blitz of media appearances as the victim of entrenched interests out to derail his enlightened populist agenda.
“I am fighting for my life’s work,” Blagojevich declared in a recent live TV appearance, one of many such public comments that prompted prosecutors to complain the impeached former governor was improperly seeking to sway potential jurors with pleas for sympathy.
The other side of that coin…
“For six years I blocked that income tax increase,” Blagojevich told the Tribune in a recent interview. “And had they not arrested me, there wouldn’t be that income tax increase today.”
Ralph Martire, executive director of a Chicago-based fiscal think tank, once served on a Blagojevich budget reform panel but found himself in the governor’s doghouse after publicly floating the idea of a tax increase. Martire said Blagojevich shouted obscenities at him in the halls of the Capitol.
“The most disingenuous and damaging part of Rod’s fiscal legacy is that he reinforced the notion for voters that they could have public services and never pay for them,” said Martire, of the Center for Tax and Budget Accountability. “Some people are amoral, but he’s a-fiscal.”
There might not’ve been an income tax hike, but the fiscal problems would’ve been far worse. Imagine another two years of that hugely expensive war between Blagojevich and Madigan et al. We’ll be paying off the costs of their guerre politique for years. Decades, even.
* Anyway, jury selection continues today in Blagojevich’s retrial, and Judge James Zagel is keeping the pool pretty wide open so far…
[Zagel] refused defense requests to send home several people who seemed biased against Blagojevich, including a retired auto shop owner who wrote that, “Based on news accounts, my personal bias is - he is guilty.” Zagel said he accepted the man’s assurances in court that he could set aside his preconceptions and focus solely on the evidence.
Ouch.
* Meanwhile, Laura Washington thinks Blagojevich and Donald Trump are a lot alike…
Imagine Blago as a role model. In 2010, before his first corruption trial, Blagojevich hung out with “The Donald” as a contestant on Celebrity Apprentice. His performance was short-lived and ignominious and he washed out of the competition after four episodes.
Blago’s wacky TV “appearances” were thinly veiled ploys to win sympathy from the jury pool. Given how his first federal corruption trial worked out, it may have worked.
It worked for Trump. The “Apprentice” boss man seemed uncharacteristically wistful when he “fired” the former governor. Trump said he felt “sorry” for him, and that Blagojevich had “a lot of courage.”
Blagojevich and Trump are brothers in limelight, both accomplished at mugging, preening and dissembling for the cameras. Each has a deep affection for spending other people’s money — for Blago, it was custom Oxxford suits. The Donald favors casinos and opulent office towers. Both have never met a tall tale they couldn’t top.
* FYI, Illinois Republican Party Chairman Pat Brady thinks Trump is not a serious candidate…
“No I think he’s irrelevant, and I don’t think he’s serious. This is a guy whose whole life is around branding his name. I mean who else has a building named after him that he built. Who else has a big jet with his name on the side of it,” Brady said.
Doug Ibendahl had a funny rejoinder…
Gee Pat, you’ve never heard of the James R. Thompson Center? Big building in Chicago’s Loop? Looks like a giant greenhouse?
Heh.
* Chairman Brady also talked about Blagojevich the other day…
The head of the Republican Party in Illinois says Rod Blagojevich could still be a political issue in the next statewide elections in 2014… He said the same people who initially supported Blagojevich for governor are still in power, so it’s still a political issue.
“Hopefully, when we put our candidate up to run for governor, we can remind them that Pat Quinn served as his lieutenant governor and, more importantly, the policies that Pat Quinn has pursued in his first year in office,” Brady said.
Bill Brady used Rod Blagojevich in one late TV ad against Pat Quinn, then pulled it off the air after only a day or so. The issue just doesn’t poll well. Brady is merely blowing smoke in advance of the trial, but that doesn’t mean his statements should be bought hook, line and sinker by the media, either.
The Blagojevich “issue” appears to have worked against one Democrat last year - former state Rep. Jay Hoffman, who was Blagojevich’s House floor leader. Other than that, it was a total dud.
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* David E. Smith, the executive director of the Illinois Family Institute is not happy with House Republican Leader Tom Cross…
House Republican Leader Tom Cross recently announced that he now supports HB 30, the medical marijuana legalization bill. This is very disconcerting. Marijuana activists are working hard to decriminalize marijuana and impede the U.S. anti-drug policy. The first step is for medical use.
Does Cross think the Illinois General Assembly should circumvent the medical and scientific experts at the Federal Drug Administration? Should state lawmakers ignore the many warnings by federal authorities like the National Institute on Drug Abuse and the Drug Enforcement Agency? Should lawmakers ignore the law enforcement community objections, including the Illinois Association of Chiefs of Police and Illinois Sheriffs’ Association, among others? Federal drug laws supersede state laws. HB 30 would create a licensing scheme contrary to federal law, making property owners, landlords and citizens liable to federal action. Lastly, Illinois lawmakers shouldn’t disregard Illinois’s DUI laws. HB 30 allows a medical marijuana patient to operate a motor vehicle after six hours of consuming marijuana, while research shows that a single joint with a moderate level of THC can impair a person’s ability to drive for more than 24 hours!
Leader Cross’ change in position means that the medical marijuana bill could pass the House this time around, according to its Democratic sponsor, Rep. Lou Lang…
“The best prospects for passing this bill now comes because we have cooperation from the other side of the aisle,” said Lang.
* But the former prosecutor isn’t going totally wobbly on the drug issue…
State Rep. Tom Cross, R-Oswego, and Will County State’s Attorney James Glasgow teamed up to ban drugs known as “bath salts,” “K2” and “spice.” […]
“These substances can be very dangerous and are being marketed in a way that implies they are safe,” Cross said. “These ‘bath salts’ aren’t your grandmother’s bath salts — they are very dangerous synthetic stimulants. ‘Spice’ is not something that you use for cooking — it is essentially a synthetic form of cannabis.”
* And neither is the Illinois Supreme Court…
If you get behind the wheel with traces of illegal drugs in your body, you potentially could face a prison sentence.
The Illinois Supreme Court on Thursday handed down the opinion in People v. Martin, reinstating Aaron Martin’s original conviction of aggravated driving under the influence and a six-year prison sentence.
Peoria County Circuit Court prosecutors convicted Martin of a charge of aggravated DUI because he was driving with methamphetamine in his body when his car crashed into an oncoming car, killing two people on Christmas night 2004.
The six other state justices unanimously concurred with Supreme Court Justice Mary Jane Theis’ 10-page opinion, which overturned the appellate court decision that ruled there was no “causal connection” to prove the drug had caused the crash, since the effects of the drug had likely worn off.
“In this case, it was shown that defendant driver caused the accident. Thus, there was no need to prove that he suffered from any degree of impairment which caused the accidental fatalities,” according to the high court’s opinion.
Marijuana can stay in your body for a month or more. The effect of this new Supreme Court opinion means that you could take one hit off a joint, get in a car crash a month later and then find yourself facing additional criminal charges because of the remaining residue in your body.
* Speaking of driving…
According to the National Safety Council, a quarter of all car crashes involve cell phone use, and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration estimates 9 percent of drivers are on their cell phones at any given moment.
Using the logic of People v. Martin, maybe one day when they discover you were on a cell phone a month before a car accident, they’ll up your penalties.
Discuss.
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Tax haven plan may backfire badly
Monday, Apr 25, 2011 - Posted by Rich Miller
* I’ve been telling subscribers about this bill for over a week now. It’s quite something…
Some big Chicago-area retailers have found a way to avoid paying high local sales taxes on their wholesale purchases. They’ve essentially set up their own “tax havens” in downstate counties that have no local sales taxes. The havens mostly are just one-person offices with a fax machine.
The retailers contract to purchase mass quantities of fuel or construction equipment or lumber or whatever, and then those contracts are faxed to their little downstate offices, stamped as received and then faxed back to headquarters and — voilà — no local sales taxes are owed.
In January, the Illinois Department of Revenue lost a court case filed by Hartney Fuel Oil Co., Putnam County and the town of Mark, Ill. (population 500).
Hartney is based in Cook County but had a “sales office” in no-tax Mark. The Department of Revenue claimed that Hartney owed sales taxes in Cook County, but a Putnam County judge disagreed.
Nobody really noticed. But then some folks got the bright idea of introducing a bill at the Statehouse to codify the downstate court case to make certain that all Chicago-area companies had the same option.
Bad move.
Introducing that legislation shone a light on the tax-avoidance scheme, and now all heck is breaking loose.
Proponents say this tax haven thing has been standard practice for 50 years and they’re just hoping to codify the judge’s ruling after the Department of Revenue changed its practices. They also claim that if their bill fails, companies will move their headquarters out of the Chicago area to avoid high sales tax rates.
A lobbyist who worked for the bill claimed that after five state audits ruled against his clients, four moved out of Cook, with one going to Indiana.
The bill passed the Senate earlier this month, partly because opponents reacted too late to kill it.
The legislation has received scant media coverage so far, but it is considered a major threat by the Regional Transportation Authority, Cook County, the city of Chicago and several suburban taxing bodies, which worry that the legislation would lead to a vast out-migration of tax revenues.
Some suburban counties thought they could get some of those tax havens, until they realized their inclusion in the RTA’s regional sales tax zone meant they had no chance. So they no longer are supporting the bill.
The Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce’s support was crucial to the bill’s Senate passage, but the chamber reportedly received serious heat from Mayor Richard Daley and Mayor-elect Rahm Emanuel. So, it is backing away as well.
And the main lobbying firm which pushed the legislation through the Senate has withdrawn from the fight. The firm also represents the DuPage County Board, the chairman of which is now opposing the bill after initially backing it. That position change meant the lobbying firm had a conflict, so it’s out.
Meanwhile, House Speaker Michael Madigan’s spokesman said last week that while opinion is divided in the House over the bill’s future, with some downstaters pushing hard for its passage, Madigan has put the legislation “under very serious review” because the “alarm bells have been sounded.”
That may look like a hedge to you, but Madigan’s people usually don’t tip their hand so clearly. The wheels have come off this bill.
The RTA’s chief lobbyist is Madigan’s son-in-law, which doesn’t help the bill’s chances in the House, of course, but the strong opposition from pretty much the entire Chicago region’s governmental units is hugely important.
Also, the state senator who represents Madigan’s district, Steve Landek, forcefully opposed the tax bill in committee, claiming that much of the construction of the Chicago Fire’s soccer stadium in his district avoided local sales taxes by using those downstate tax havens.
And now, the Senate bill’s opponents are gearing up to introduce legislation of their own in the House that would officially kill off these tax havens. The measure likely will be tacked onto a broader bill dealing with taxation. Doing it that way would make it far tougher to vote against the provision.
The bottom line here is that the backers of the original Senate legislation might have set the stage for exactly the opposite of what they intended.
Instead of just letting the judicial branch handle the issue completely under everybody’s radar, they decided to move the fight into the General Assembly. But then everybody discovered what was going on.
Oops.
* Meanwhile, in other business-related news, ComEd’s big push got Phil Kadner wondering whether the company’s bill sponsor, Rep. Kevin McCarthy, is getting anything out of this spring session…
So I asked the ComEd president whether McCarthy had been promised a job in exchange for his support.
She smiled and said ComEd was pleased to have McCarthy sponsoring the bill because he’s smart, understands the issue and is an experienced legislator.
I asked McCarthy if he would promise not to ever accept a job from ComEd or act as a paid consultant for the company or become a lobbyist for the industry.
McCarthy said he has been promised nothing for his work on the bill and has spent years passing tough legislation in Springfield, earning the respect of House Speaker Michael Madigan (D-Chicago), who is confident in McCarthy’s ability to get the job done.
CUB’s Kolata said he has no reason to suspect McCarthy has been promised anything.
Reading between the lines isn’t too difficult there. We’ll have to see what happens, but if McCarthy is looking to get out, this would be a good time to do so, and with a major bill to push himself on to bigger and better things.
* Related…
* State’s decision to drop two HMOs causes worries
* Nuclear plant in Clinton running out of space for spent fuel
* Analysis by ZIP code shows mostly slipping values
* Chicago has highest gas price in nation
* Illinois is the Tenth Least Green State
* Editorial: At long last, we can see hope ahead
* Virgin America to enter Chicago market with a flourish
* Mayors: I-294, I-57 interchange needed
* Why Does WalMart Want In On Lakeview?
* Landmarks Illinois suggests other uses for Prentice hospital
* United Continental execs get raises after airline merger
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