* As you know, I try to stay away from national issues as much as possible here. But, congressional campaigns qualify as state politics, so I do posts on them when appropriate.
The problem, of course, is that national politics brings out the crazy in people. And national political posts bring crazy people to the blog. We had some commenter problems earlier this week with a congressional post, and I just deleted a couple of comments from a rather strange person in today’s post.
* The Question: What advice would regular commenters/readers give to newbie commenters here?
* This is obviously a significant boost for Krishnamoorthi over Tammy Duckworth…
Democratic congressional hopeful Raja Krishmanoorthi just added a big - and often elusive - name to his list of supporters.
He says that former 8th District Congresswoman Melissa Bean, of Barrington, plans to release a statement supporting the Hoffman Estates lawyer and laboratory president. We got first dibs.
“Raja’s priorities are well aligned with the families and businesses of Illinois’ 8th Congressional District. He and his wife have been raising their two sons in Hoffman Estates, so they know the challenges that families here are facing and are invested personally in the success of suburban public schools. As President of a small business, he also recognizes that greater innovation is critical to our economic strength. His candidacy brings extensive public sector experience, an impressive academic background, and a Midwest work ethic to the race,” the statement reads.
Krishnamoorthi is a perpetual motion machine. He never stopped working even after he lost that close statewide primary to David Miller last year. He called me so many times that I started getting irritated. Like I cared about a guy who lost a primary. But I knew he’d be back, I just didn’t know where. Duckworth is a good candidate, but she has her work cut out for her here.
A former state representative from Madison County said he may challenge U.S. Rep. Tim Johnson, R-Urbana, in the new 13th Congressional District.
Jay Hoffman of Collinsville is the second Democrat to express interest in the race. David Gill, a physician from Bloomington, said Wednesday that he also may seek the Democratic nomination in the newly redrawn congressional district that runs from Urbana through 14 central and southwestern Illinois counties to the Metro East suburbs. It also includes Decatur, Springfield and most of Bloomington-Normal.
“The district is such,” Hoffman said Thursday, “that I think the issues I’ve always stood for — job creation, ensuring that working families have a voice — would be a good fit for me.
“But I’m also looking at other options, including returning to the Illinois General Assembly.”
Hoffman said “a lot of people,” including officials with the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, have contacted him about the 13th District seat.
Hoffman told me this week that he’d probably decide by the middle of July whether to make the congressional bid. There are those who think that Johnson won’t run again if he draws a tough Democratic challenger. We’ll see. Hoffman, of course, has his downsides. He was Rod Blagojevich’s House floor leader back in the day. But he played no role in the two trials, so that helps his cause.
* And Springfield fixture Gene Callahan’s daughter appears to be gearing up hard for the 17th District seat…
East Moline Alderwoman Cheri Bustos is moving toward a Democratic bid for the 17th Congressional District nomination.
Bustos said Wednesday she will resign her position as vice president of communications for Iowa Health System at the end of the month and tentatively plans to make an announcement about a candidacy on June 30. […]
Bustos, a former Quad-City Times reporter, joined Trinity about 10 years ago and went to Iowa Health System in 2008. She was elected as East Moline’s 4th ward alderwoman in 2007. […]
Already, state Sen. Dave Koehler, D-Peoria, has announced his candidacy and made his first visit as a candidate to the Quad-Cities on Tuesday. Former Rock Island Mayor Mark Schwiebert, former state Rep. Mike Boland of East Moline and Porter McNeil of Moline have said they might make bids, too. McNeil was the spokesman for former state comptroller Dan Hynes.
* GOP Civil War Erupts: Tea Party Freshman Rips Chamber CEO Tom Donahue: Rep. Joe Walsh (R-IL) appeared on Fox News, where he tore into Donohue for threatening House Republicans: I found Tom Donahue’s comments outrageous, tone-deaf, totally establishment, and doesn’t understand at all where we’re at right now…If Tom Donahue is more comfortable having Nancy Pelosi as Speaker next year because he wants to get rid of all of us tea party, fiscally-conservative freshman who came here on a mission to save our kids from the debt we’re placing on their backs, then fine. He can have Nancy Pelosi as his Speaker.
* Some deficit hawks have major debts: In other cases, freshman lawmakers had been living on more modest means. Rep. Joe Walsh, R-Ill., who squeaked to victory with tea party backing, reported that his assets might be as low as $3,004.
* Prominent Congressmen Dumped BP Stock After Oil Spill
* House Retirement Watch Begins: Although both GOP Reps. Judy Biggert (Ill.) and Joe Barton (Texas) have signaled they plan to run for re-election, the proposed maps in their respective states include lots of changes to the territory they represent. Democrats are keeping tabs on both.
* The war of statistics over Chicago teacher pay raises has begun in earnest. The administration points to these numbers…
* Even without the four percent previously-negotiated raises, 75 percent of all teachers will get automatic raises of between 1 percent and 5 percent for adding another year of experience or for increasing their credentials.
* Based on base salary alone, the minimum CPS starting teachers salary of $50,577 is No. 1 among the nation’s 10 largest cities. Its maximum salary, requiring a master’s degree, of $87,673 is No. 2, behind New York City. Its average salary also is among the top one or two, Human Capital Officer Alicia Winckler told board members.
Lewis called some of Winckler’s numbers “ridiculous’’ and claimed the added pay for another year of experience or added credentials amount to. at most, $35 to $50 more in take home pay every two weeks over 26 pay periods. “People tell me, `Oh, I thought I would get a raise and it’s only 20 bucks,’” Lewis said.
She also noted that across the state, CPS teacher pay is not that competitive. Lewis cited a May 31 Chicago Sun-Times report that found that CPS high school teachers average total compensation, with benefits, ranks No. 71 in the state. CPS elementary teachers came in No. 38.
* Private sector worker pay raises, from Aon Hewitt…
Average raise last year for Chicago workers: 2.6%
Average raise last year for U.S. workers: 2.4%
Average raise for Chicago workers this year: 2.8%*
Average raise for U.S. workers this year: 2.9%*
CPS teachers expected raise this year: 4% (rejected by school board)
The Board of Education simply has no more rabbits to pull from its budget hat.
We say that cautiously, knowing that CPS said much the same last year as it tried to persuade teachers to forgo their raise. And then, voila, CPS managed to fill its deficit without increasing class size or scaling back programs significantly.
But the big fixes available in the Great Recession years — including $364 million in extra federal dollars, $160 million in bond restructuring and $400 million in delayed pension payments — are gone.
The union has already notified the board that it wants to reopen the section of the contract regarding salaries, something it has the right to do. That could lead to compromise solutions or to reopening the entire agreement for negotiations. […]
If the board and union reopen negotiations and those talks stall, the new state legislation dictates that the two enter a fact-finding process with a third-party arbitrator. Then 75 percent of the voting union membership would be required to authorize a strike.
The angrier teachers become, the easier it’s gonna be to reach that 75 percent threshold. And comments like these probably aren’t helping…
Chicago public school students “got the shaft” under a union contract that ensured labor peace and guaranteed teachers annual 4 percent raises, Mayor Rahm Emanuel said Thursday.
A strike may be looming if Chicago teachers’ salaries aren’t increased, but it reportedly is not deterring Chicago Teachers Union chief Karen Lewis from going on a planned vacation. Hawaii?
To wit: Liz Brown, a CTU spokeswoman tells Sneed: “She [Lewis] has a private life and all of us need to take a vacation some time.” Although it was unclear when Lewis was actually leaving on vacation, word is she had scheduled it for this weekend.
Buckshot: Sneed hears Lewis sent new schools CEO Jean-Claude Brizard an ultimatum demanding negotiations on teacher salaries Wednesday night. “If Brizard wanted to meet with her for a cup of coffee immediately, it might be difficult if she’s in Hawaii,” said a source.
In 1966, a starting salary of $5,500 was the equivalent of $38,358 in 2011 dollars. By 1972, the starting salary of $9,570 was $51,739 in 2011 dollars—the highest of the nation’s ten largest cities. His successor, Robert Healey, asked for a ten percent raise the next year, which the board’s chief negotiator called “insane”; they settled for a presumably less insane 6.3 percent raise to $10,000, or $50,892. How did a 6.3 percent increase turn into a drop in current dollars? That’s what happens when you adjust to the wild inflation of the 1970s. Accordingly, the CTU came back the next year and asked for a 12 percent raise to compensate. […]
By 1976, CPS faced a budget deficit of $70.8 million ($281 million in 2001 dollars); teachers were then making $11,000 ($43,683) to $22,600 ($89,750), and the school board passed an 8.5 percent salary cut.
1978: teachers were making $11,900 ($41,243) to $24,800 ($85,950), the latter for a teacher with a doctorate and 15 years of experience. […]
1985: the minimum salary was $15,471 ($33,647) for a teacher with a bachelor’s degree. The maximum salary, for a teacher with a doctorate and 15 years experience, was $32,883 ($71,515). The average was $26,296 ($57,189). […]
1993: the minimum was $27,241 ($42,599); the maximum was $48,467 ($75,790); the article made a point to note that the starting salary for CPS was relatively high, while the maximum salary was relatively low. In other words, the pay range for Chicago Public Schools, compared to nearby regional districts, was narrow.
2000: the minimum was $35,000 ($49,928); the average was $48,879 ($64,140).
2003: the minimum salary was $34,538 ($42,415); the maximum was $61,451 ($75,466).
Friday, Jun 17, 2011 - Posted by Advertising Department
[The following is a paid advertisement.]
How About Illinois?
Illinois lawmakers aren’t the only policymakers talking about benefits of Smart Grid deployment. A new White House report, A Policy Framework for the 21st Century Grid, says the future of clean energy and its potential for economic development and jobs relies on a smart grid. We agree.
The White House report talks about building a “cost-effective smart grid,” “empowering consumers,” “facilitating a clean energy economy,” and “unlocking the potential for innovation.” Sound familiar? These are the same concepts embodied in Senate Bill 1652, the Energy Infrastructure Modernization Act.
SB 1652 seeks to strengthen our economy and create 2,000 jobs by investing an estimated $3 billion in a modern grid — while also strengthening regulatory oversight, accountability by utilities and giving consumers new tools to reduce their own energy usage and costs.
So, as the national conversation grows about the benefits of a smart grid on our economy, the environment, our homes and pocketbooks, Illinois is poised to become a leader rather than a follower. SB 1652 can help us deliver reliable power, bolster our economy and put Illinois at the forefront of innovation.
A $400,000 windfall is expected to allow the city to add a pair of playgrounds and a concession area to the Family Sports Park.
“The money is for a grant application that we filed a year and a half ago,” Parks and Recreation Department Director Mary Jeanne Hutchison said. “We just learned that we’re supposed to get it. But we’re trying not to get too excited because we’re dealing with the state of Illinois.”
Hutchison said the state’s budget woes have caused money for non-essential projects to dry up in many cases. She wasn’t optimistic about getting the grant. And she said she won’t rest easy about the funds until the check arrives in the city’s bank account.
John Micheli of Dalzell is a retired state employee and the state had given him a choice of health care options: Sign with a costly preferred plan or with a discounted HMO.
The savings should have made this an easy choice, but there was a problem. He and his wife Linda couldn’t find a single doctor in La Salle County signed up with the HMO. The state had, effectively, offered him no choice at all.
To make matters worse, Micheli’s wife Linda went to Ottawa on Wednesday for a scheduled meeting with Central Management Services to get some answers. She arrived, John Micheli said, to find the doors “locked tighter than a drum.” Nobody showed.
“I’m disgusted,” John Micheli said, adding sarcastically, “It’s Illinois government at its best.”
In short, back in April the state dropped insurance options offered beginning July 1 by Health Alliance and Humana, and added HMO options offered by Blue Cross Blue Shield of Illinois under the argument that the changeover could save as much as $100 million a year. But those moves were challenged both legally, by the dropped insurers, and legislatively, by lawmakers upset by both the lack of concrete answers offered by Gov. Pat Quinn’s administration and the dearth of choices available in some downstate communities.
Eventually, the state had to extend the sign-up deadlines, first through Friday, and then through Monday, to help people work through their confusion.
The matter got more complex when a state judge ordered some “open-access” plans dropped last week.
“They couldn’t have messed this up more if they’d stayed up nights trying,” said state Rep. David Leitch, R-Peoria. “What they’re putting all these people through is just ridiculous. . . . A lot of elderly and sick people are already in turmoil and already have a lot of things to be worrying about.”
From more than 100 jurors questioned, 11 women and just one man are tackling 20 counts remaining against Blagojevich, charged with fraud, extortion and corruption.
Is that a good thing for the former governor?
Yes, according to a lawyer involved in Blagojevich’s first trial.
“I told Shelly [Sorosky, defense attorney], ‘Knock every man off,’” said Michael Ettinger, the former attorney for Robert Blagojevich, Rod’s brother, campaign fund manager and codefendant before prosecutors dropped charges against him last year. “If I was picking the jury, I’d have excused every man I could.”
Illinois took one more small step Thursday in its Rod Blagojevich detox program.
From now on, politicians of the Blagojevich ilk can no longer use state dollars to plaster their names on state signs in a thinly disguised attempt to boost their political fortunes.
While the dispute over civil unions and foster care languishes between downstate Catholic Charities agencies and the state of Illinois, a child welfare agency based in Ottawa has agreed to take all of the foster care cases and hire all of the caseworkers and staff once handled by Catholic Charities in Rockford.
Illinois Department of Children and Family Services will transfer about 300 cases to Youth Services Bureau of Illinois Valley. […]
“We welcome that sort of effort by social work professionals to help children,” said Anthony Riordan, chief operating officer of Catholic Charities of the Diocese of Peoria.
