* Treasurer Dan Rutherford said the General Assembly should go ahead and pass pension reform, pushing people into 401(k)-style plans by using much higher pension contribution rates, and then let the courts decide whether it’s constitutional or not…
“It should be litigated. For years and years, we’ve been, `Oh, it’s unconstitutional.’ Litigate it,” Rutherford said at a news conference. “Because until we do it, nobody is going to really know.”
A major union said the idea wouldn’t raise the same “constitutional red flags” as simply reducing benefits. Some government employees, such as university officials, already have that pension choice, said a spokesman for the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees.
But spokesman Anders Lindall said AFSCME opposes Rutherford’s proposal. He said it wouldn’t fix the state’s pension problems — particularly state government’s failure to contribute its full share of retirement costs over the years. […]
Lindall said several other states have given employees a choice but have seen “very low” participation in 401(k)-style plans.
* Editorial: Present? Yes. Jobs? Nah: Nice to see in the official record that Senate President John Cullerton was “present” as the state continues to chase away jobs. Congrats to his fellow Chicago Democrat, Sen. Kwame Raoul, for being “present” when reform that might have helped jump-start Illinois’ sluggish economy went down.
* Bill spurred by Bianchi legal costs: A bill under consideration in Springfield would help protect county governments like McHenry County where legal bills related to the special investigation of State’s Attorney Louis Bianchi total more than $300,000. House Bill 2558, which passed through the House last week, would allow the courts to hire other public prosecutors to keep costs manageable when a sitting public official is investigated and goes to trial. It also would require that the scope of a probe be well defined and that county boards be provided itemized cost estimates and bills.
* Rep. Sara Feigenholtz opposes state plan to restrict HIV/AIDS drugs access
* Illinois announces reduced access to HIV Medication Assistance, Effective July 1
This is the first time Illinois’ Democrats have controlled the entire state government during a redistricting year. That means they can draw the map any way they want, and there’s nothing the Republicans can do but whine about “extreme partisanship.” I’m sure they’d welcome proposals to reduce the number of Republicans to pre-Abraham Lincoln levels.
* And the Chicago Tribune recently editorialized about the remap process…
The bad news is that Democrats control both houses of the legislature and the governor’s mansion, which means they can and will pass a map all by themselves. They aren’t going to listen to Republicans. We’ll know soon enough if they’re listening to the public.
* The Question: Is Illinois’ remap process unfair because Republicans are excluded? Take the poll and then explain your answer in comments, please.
* A new poll conducted by the Midwest Initiative at Monmouth College of 500 registered voters in eight Midwestern states found that when people are asked to identify which states they thought of when they heard the word “Midwest,” Illinois comes out on top…
Since there were 500 respondents, those 255 mentions of Illinois is a majority.
There is a weak correlation between state of residence and the states named, for the eight states from which respondents were drawn were listed by one hundred or more respondents as Midwestern.
If there is a pattern here, it is one of an absence of consensus and, at one level, a bit of confusion about the Midwest. The inclusion of Ohio and Michigan suggests that the Midwest still carries some identification with the historic “Old Northwest” of the Northwest Territories (Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio, and Wisconsin), though Iowa, so often thought of as the quintessential Midwestern state, finished second in the number of times named despite having only 5% of the total respondents.
* Another question asked what values respondents thought of when they heard the word “Midwest”…
* “All things considered, on a scale of 1-10 (with 1 being not satisfied at all and 10 being extremely satisfied), how satisfied are you to live in the Midwest?”…
About 75 percent rate their satisfaction at 6-10. Not bad at all.
* A bright outlook for the future…
* But Midwesterners really don’t like the way things are heading right now…
* And globalization and trade are not always viewed as positive things…
* Methodology…
Live calls to 500 registered voters in eight Midwestern states: Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Ohio and Wisconsin. The random sample poll was conducted from March 23-24 and has a margin of error of +/- 4.4% at a 95% confidence level.
An ex-lawmaker whose appointment to the state parole board ran into trouble amid Senate questions about a potential quid pro quo has landed a new state job.
Former Democratic Rep. Careen Gordon started Monday as an $84,000-a-year associate general counsel for the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation.
Gordon landed in the new post a month after resigning her spot on the Illinois Prisoner Review Board instead of facing a difficult Senate confirmation vote. Critics questioned whether Gov. Pat Quinn gave Gordon the nearly $86,000-a-year job as political payback for key vote in favor of a tax increase in January. […]
Sen. Matt Murphy, R-Palatine, said Quinn’s decision to hire Gordon again is a “slap in the face of everybody in the Senate who beat back this blatant pay-to-play.”
Quinn and Gordon have both denied any quid pro quo, and it’s highly doubtful anything was done in an illegal manner (the new US Supreme Court requires proof of a bribe, and that’s most certainly not the case here). But, a deal’s a deal, so Gordon was going to get a gig one way or another.
An opinion by the Illinois Attorney General calling for the release of results of medical testing on prison guards who filed successful workers’ compensation claims speaks of the public’s fundamental right to know how its money is spent.
Despite this broad language, this single decision announced Monday in response to a Belleville News-Democrat Freedom of Information request is limited. It cannot legally compel the state’s Central Management Services to release other basic records that relate to how taxpayer money is spent on workers’ compensation claims, said attorney general spokeswoman Natalie Bauer.
Bauer said that Central Management Services, or CMS, contends it can withhold virtually all financial and other records related to workers’ compensation based on a state law that allows “proprietary” information regarding the operation of an “insurance pool” to be off limits to the public.
Under this interpretation, no Illinois taxpayer can learn how tens of millions of dollars in taxes are spent by CMS, which manages claims for the Illinois Workers’ Compensation Commission, critics contend. For instance, the newspaper’s weeks-long effort to find out how much public money has been spent to treat workers’ compensation arbitrator Kathleen Hagan’s leg injury is still pending before the attorney general. CMS refused to provide this information.
* Oh, this is rich. The Illinois Republican Party apparently thinks that Rod Blagojevich is a trustworthy source. Why else would the state party use Blagojevich to blast away at its favorite target, Speaker Madigan? Sheesh…
As I’ve written time and time again, this goofy Blagojevich fantasy about appointing Lisa Madigan to the US Senate was an alibi, not a plan.
* Blagojevich claims Axelrod spoke to him about running for president: Asked about Blagojevich’s claim, Axelrod said he stood by comments he made April 8 before the City Club of Chicago. Axelrod, who ran Blagojevich’s 1996 campaign for Congress, told the audience he declined to help Blagojevich run for governor because he “did not see in him the qualities for executive leadership.”
A 35-year-old fugitive from Ohio was arrested after he allegedly abandoned a stolen vehicle and fled on foot into the woods near the University of Illinois Springfield on Tuesday afternoon.
The search for Alan J. Gordon prompted email alerts to UIS students and parents in the Ball-Chatham School District.
Gordon, who was taken into custody about an hour and a half after the search began, is accused of crashing the stolen car near a wooded area along the UIS soccer fields on the campus’ east side, according to Chief Deputy Jack Campbell of the Sangamon County Sheriff’s Office.
I didn’t even know it was going on.
Anyway, how did your neighborhood fare during yesterday’s storms?
