Jurors at former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich’s corruption retrial have finished their fifth day of deliberations without a verdict.
The jurors headed home Thursday, hours after they sent a note to the judge. A court official at the federal court in Chicago says the jurors will resume on Monday.
Friday is my wife’s birthday, so posting will be light.
“The state’s construction program should continue uninterrupted. The Senate intends to return to the Capitol on Wednesday to fully fund the construction program for the full 12-month period.
There are still major structural deficiencies in the House budget that will become clear in the months ahead. I look forward to having the opportunity to address issues such as the underfunding of education and social service commitments.”
The Senate is scheduled to return to regular session at noon on Wednesday, June 22.
Translation: The Senate Democrats have backed off their attempt to attach budgetary add-ons to the capital/road bill. The drama appears to be over. Subscribers can learn lots more by clicking here.
…Adding… The House Speaker has already directed his members to return next Wednesday and his spokesman said that nothing has changed so far.
…Adding More… The decision couldn’t have come too soon. Illinois’ unemployment rate rose for the first time in 15 months…
Illinois employers added 8,200 new jobs in May but the state’s unemployment rate inched up to 8.9 percent from 8.7 percent in April as more 9,800 people joined the ranks of job seekers, the Illinois Department of Employment Security reported Thursday. […]
Since the recovery began, Illinois has experienced 1.9 percent job growth versus 1.4 percent nationally. But the May statistics indicate that while the state continues to add new jobs, the rate of growth is slowing. The three-month moving average of monthly job additions slipped to 6,600 in May from 15,400 in March. The agency also revised April’s reported increase of 9,900 new jobs down to 9,100.
That could help explain the uptick in the state’s unemployment rate, which derives from a separate survey. But an agency spokesman said the increase may also owe to other seasonal and cyclical factors and wasn’t entirely unexpected.
He said May tends to produce a surge in the number of people looking for jobs because students and workers whose jobs are tied to the school year begin to enter the workforce. Also, at this point in the economic cycle people who lost their jobs during the recession and became too discouraged to look for a new one may be reentering the market, which increases the percentage of unemployed, but may actually reflect increased optimism.
…Adding still more… From the governor’s office…
In a decision that is critical to Illinois’ continued economic recovery, the four legislative caucuses have agreed to the Governor’s proposal to pass a 12-month capital appropriations bill next week, and in the fall discuss reallocation of funding within the $33.2 billion state budget based on the priorities of the Senate Democrats.
This agreement will ensure that the state’s biggest jobs program continues, creating thousands of jobs building roads and repairing bridges throughout our state, and boosting our economic recovery.
* The media kinda freaked out a little today when Rod Blagojevich trial attorneys were called back to the federal courthouse. Turns out, the jury had a question…
In a written note to U.S. District Judge James Zagel, jurors said they wanted clarification on a paragraph of page 28 of their legal instructions that spell out four elements needed to prove wire fraud.
In the third of those four elements, the government must prove beyond a reasonable doubt that “the scheme to defraud involved a materially false and fraudulent pretense, representation, promise or concealment.” […]
The word “materiality” is defined in the instructions, leading the judge to speculate the jury might want more information on the part of the instruction that includes the terms “pretense, representation, promise or concealment.”
Zagel said the lawyers may have to do some legal research on the issue before answering the jury’s question.
There are 10 counts of wire fraud and they are the first 10 of the indictment. Nine relate to the senate seat charges, and one relates to the alleged shakedown of Children’s Memorial Hospital.
Attorneys and the judge said they will tell jurors to read further into the jury instructions, as there is some clarification there, and said they will ask the jury to be more specific about where their confusion lies.
There was no indication early Thursday afternoon that the jury wanted to meet Friday, which could indicate they aren’t very close to a verdict.
Counts 1 through 10 of the indictment charge the defendant with wire fraud.
To sustain the charge of wire fraud, as charged in Counts 1 through 10, the government must prove the following propositions beyond a reasonable doubt: First, that the defendant knowingly devised or participated in a scheme to defraud the public of its right to the honest services of Rod Blagojevich or John Harris by demanding, soliciting, seeking, asking for, or agreeing to accept, a bribe in the manner described in the particular Count you are considering;
Second, that the defendant did so with the intent to defraud;
Third, that the scheme to defraud involved a materially false and fraudulent pretense, representation, promise, or concealment; and
Fourth, that for the purpose of carrying out the scheme or attempting to do so, the defendant used or caused the use of interstate wire communications to take place in the manner charged in the particular Count you are considering.
If you find from your consideration of all the evidence that each of these propositions has been proved beyond a reasonable doubt, you should find the defendant guilty of the particular count you are considering. If, on the other hand, you find from your consideration of all the evidence that any of these propositions has not been proved beyond a reasonable doubt, you should find the defendant not guilty of the particular count you are considering.
Gov. Pat Quinn today signed a bill into law preventing state officials from putting their name or likeness on taxpayer funded signs.
The measure was a response to Gov. Rod Blagojevich’s decision years ago to plaster his name on nearly three dozen signs on the Illinois Tollway at what Quinn said was a cost of almost $500,000.
Lawmakers tried twice before to pass such a ban but failed. State law already banned such politician self-promotion in public service announcements and state-funded ads touting programs.
“Government belongs to the people,” said Governor Quinn. “When state government gets the word out about a program or service that will help people, it should not be an excuse for officials to promote themselves.”
Senate Bill 1344 adds billboards and electronic billboards to an existing law that prohibits state elected officials from using their names, likenesses and voices in television, radio, newspaper and magazine advertisements purchased as part of state program awareness efforts.
Under current law, state officials are also barred from using their names and likenesses on bumper stickers, buttons, magnets and other promotional items.
The legislation was sponsored by State Senator Matt Murphy (R-Palatine) and State Representative Chris Nybo (R-Elmhurst). The bill overwhelmingly passed the General Assembly with bipartisan support. It takes effect immediately.
“This is a common sense measure that’s long overdue,” said Representative Nybo. “Taxpayers deserve to have their hard-earned money treated more responsibly by their representatives who are elected to serve the people, not their own personal interests.”
Today’s event took place at the Cermak Toll Plaza on the Tri-State Tollway, which previously displayed the name of Illinois’ former Governor.
You also said the tax increase is temporarily. Can you categorically say taxes come down in four years?
Quinn’s response…
It’s a temporary tax in order to pay off bills that had to be paid off. The fiscally responsible thing to do is pay your bills. I think that’s the only honest way to go. In Illinois, I believe honesty is the only policy. As governor, we’ve been able to show that.
He should’ve started by being honest about the tax hike, which was designed to (mostly) erase the structural deficit and fund a massive, longterm bond plan to pay off overdue bills.
* Yesterday, CME Group Executive Chairman Terry Duffy was on CNBC and was asked about Gov. Quinn’s promise that the tax hike would be temporary…
“I’ve never seen too many taxes that are temporary,” Duffy commented Wednesday.
Illinois has increased its income tax rate just three times in 40 years. One increase was allowed to expire, one was made permanent after a Republican actively campaigned for governor on behalf of making it permanent while his Democratic opponent was against permanency, and now this one.
* The Question: Do you think the General Assembly will pass a bill in four years that will be signed into law making the current income tax increase permanent? Or, will the tax increase sunset, either because the permanency legislation fails or because of a conscious decision to let it go away? Take the poll and then explain your answer in comments.
* According to the AP, 107 companies will lose state tax breaks worth (on paper) over $100 million in the next three years. The tax breaks are handed out over time, so this isn’t a one-time budget hit. And, sometimes, companies don’t even use their credits because they haven’t followed through on their promises for one reason or another...
The companies that made deals that expire between 2012 and 2014 promised to keep more than 12,000 jobs in Illinois and create another more than 10,000 positions. In some cases, according to state records, those companies haven’t used the tax credits. Whitley and others said the most likely reasons are that the company didn’t add jobs as intended, or the company didn’t have profits to use the tax credit against.
Deals that expire next year include $34.7 million in tax breaks that J.P. Morgan Chase used after agreeing to keep 2,247 jobs at locations in Chicago, Elgin and Elk Grove Village, and $6.72 million in breaks provided to the Robert Bosch Tool Corp. after that company agreed not to move 444 jobs from a facility in Mount Prospect.
Deere & Company has used $7.28 million in tax credits as part of a deal expiring in 2013 that requires the company to keep 350 jobs in place and create 30 more at facilities in Moline, East Moline and Silvis.
In 2014, a deal with audio electronic maker Shure Inc. is set to expire. The company has cashed in $7.28 million in tax credits after agreeing to keep its headquarters and 570 jobs in state, in Niles, rather than look elsewhere. Also that year, a state deal with Abbot Laboratories to keep 260 jobs in Des Plaines and create another 50 expires.
MWSP points to a 49 percent surge in profit for Illinois-based companies during 2010, adding that the top five publicly traded corporations in the state made $19.7 billion in profit last year. That profit should translate to more revenue for the state, MWSP says, but that’s not likely.
The group points to a depreciation tax break for corporations that cost the state $600 million last year, saying Illinois needs to decouple from similar federal tax breaks that cost the state money.
“Large corporations in Illinois are raking in massive profits while the state struggles to make ends meet,” MWSP says, explaining that a temporary federal tax break for businesses in 2012 means companies can depreciate capital expenditures all at once instead of parceling them out over time. That will cost Illinois an estimated $600 million because the state’s corporate income tax is based on how much federal tax a corporation pays.
MWSP also claims that two large national banks operating in Illinois have greatly reduced their loans to small businesses, hampering business development. From 2007 to 2010, Bank of America reduced small business loans in Illinois by 97 percent, while JP Morgan Chase reduced the same loans by 70 percent, according to data from the U.S. Small Business Administration, which tracks the loans. MWSP says that decline has had “a dramatic effect on unemployment in Illinois,” citing the loss of 371,000 jobs in Illinois since 2008.
* MWSP’s state legislative agenda didn’t go so well this spring…
House Bill 1109, which would allow municipal governments to put liens on vacant properties owned by banks for failure to maintain the properties, died in committee. House Bill 1810 would have allowed the state to charge banks a $500 fee for each home foreclosure to go toward foreclosure counseling, but that bill also died in committee. The General Assembly did create a Foreclosure Prevention Program Fund to be supported by revenues from a major gambling expansion.
Thursday, Jun 16, 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.
* We talked about this yesterday, but it’s worth going over again…
The state’s top gambling regulator blasted the large gambling expansion lawmakers approved last month, saying it was not well thought out and would erode oversight.
Illinois Gaming Board Chairman Aaron Jaffe criticized the way the proposal made its way through the General Assembly in the waning days of session, saying the bill is too big and too technical to have been approved in just two days. He also questioned efforts since then to re-shape the bill to avoid a possible veto from Gov. Pat Quinn, saying those conversations should have taken place before a vote, not after.
“You can’t make perfume out of a pile of garbage,” Jaffe said.
“I realize that the state is in financial trouble, if gaming is the way that our leaders want to go, so be it. But they should do it in a fashion other than the way they did this particular bill,” he added. “It’s chock-full of items, that in my opinion, would never pass on their own.”
* If you listen to the raw audio of the meeting, you’ll hear Chairman Jaffe say some other things that mostly went unreported.
For instance, Jaffe criticized the General Assembly on several points, and offered up some suggestions, including “Make sure that other legitimate businesses are not cannibalized.”
Jaffe didn’t specify whether these “legitimate businesses” were other casinos or whether they were restaurants, nightclubs, etc. near the new casinos. Either way, that sentiment does seem outside his purview.
* “I would like to know how these areas were selected and why they have come to life at this particular time,” Jaffe said about the bill’s site-specific language, adding “This board spent months finding the proper place for the tenth license.”
He’s right about that, but the General Assembly has picked sites in the past. They chose Rosemont, but the gaming board declined to site a casino there, claiming mob influence. Instead, they put the casino next door in Des Plaines, even though an internal report I obtained years ago warned that there would be little difference in problems by placing a casino in that town. By the way, the process to open that casino has taken more than a decade, not just months.
But the General Assembly also designated East St. Louis as a riverboat host many years ago. The chairman may have forgotten that.
And I’m not sure whether the chairman reads the newspapers, but Rockford, Danville the south suburbs (not site specific) and Park City have all been in the running for a casino for years, if not decades. This was no evil, underhanded ploy.
* “This bill was passed in two days,” Jaffe said, adding “They don’t follow parliamentary procedures as they should.”
Actually, the bill took about 20 years to pass. You run the bill when you have the votes, and that’s what they did. And, as far as I can tell, parliamentary procedures were followed.
* The chairman also seemed to be confused about the governor’s amendatory veto powers. He said the AV is only supposed to be used for “tweaks,” and that if they do a major AV, “I think we can only be assured that there will be another court case.”
First of all, the governor’s AV powers are extraordinary in this state. Secondly, the idea is not to do an AV, but to pass a trailer bill.
* Jaffe also said the General Assembly should make sure to “minimize social ills.” That’s not a bad idea at all, but I’m not sure how this is Jaffe’s business.
* That’s not to say that Chairman Jaffe didn’t make some good points. For instance…
Jaffe said the staff of the Gaming Board, which now numbers 210 people, would have to “double in size” in order to do an adequate job of policing the state’s expansive gambling industry, and no funding exists to permit that possibility.
He also said the drafters of the bill crafted it in a way that would lead to inevitable turf battles between the Gaming Board, the Illinois Racing Board and new boards that would be created to oversee casino gambling in Chicago and at the Illinois State Fairgrounds.
The board should have more oversight funds. And the complicated new board structure may, indeed, cause some problems, although some believe he’s just trying to protect his own turf.
“I have grave concerns about [Jaffe’s] comments. It’s clear he’s gone way beyond the borders of his job as a regulator,” [sponsoring Rep. Lou Lang] said Wednesday. “If he wants to go back and be a legislator, he ought to run for the Legislature. If he wants to postulate on the constitutionality of a bill, he ought to go back to being a judge. But he’s neither of those things.”
Jaffe does have a duty to blow the whistle when he thinks he sees something untoward. Not everything is his business, so he should confine it to his role. If he’d just made his points without going into all the extraneous sideshow, I’d have an easier time backing him up. But that wouldn’t have generated nearly as much media coverage. The guy knows what he’s doing. Give him credit for that.
* Meanwhile, as subscribers already know, Lang, Sen. Terry Link and other top legislators are meeting with the governor today to discuss the gaming bill…
Link said he is open to talking with Quinn if the governor has any suggestions on how to downsize the measure. But said the casino set to go in his district near Waukegan would have to remain.
House sponsor Lou Lang (D-16th) will also be in on talks with Quinn.
“To the extent that I can accommodate the governor, I’m willing to listen to him. Willing to hear what he wants to do. But I’m not willing to state upfront that I’m prepared to shrink the bill down,” Lang said.
However, Lang said he won’t accept substantial changes.
Governor Quinn today appointed Malcolm Weems as director of the Illinois Department of Central Management Services (CMS). Today’s action is the latest in a series of appointments the Governor 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.
“The leadership and expertise Malcolm Weems has shown in helping my administration confront the most serious fiscal crisis in our state’s history make him perfectly-suited for this new role,” said Governor Quinn. “His experience will be invaluable as he leads the agency charged with finding savings and efficiencies throughout state government. I thank James Sledge for his years of dedicated service to the people of Illinois.”
Weems has served as chief of staff in the Governor’s Office of Management and Budget since 2009. He has also served as the agency’s associate director and as chief operations officer of procurement for CMS. Weems previously served as a finance manager for the Chicago Park district and is a member of the Governor’s Anti-Violence Commission.
“The Department of Central Management Services plays a critical role as the state continues to confront our fiscal challenges and looks to improve our minority contracting and hiring,” said Weems. “I look forward to utilizing my experience at the Office of Management and Budget to address these challenges and make our state government more efficient and effective.”
Weems is one of the few young, rising stars in this administration.
The median family income for a Freeport family is around $47,000 a year according to the 2010 U.S. Census. That compares to the U.S. median for a family of four at $50,006.
One day of special session for the Illinois General Assembly would cost Illinois’ beleaguered taxpayers $50,000.
Nonetheless, Gov. Pat Quinn this past week said he will call a special session this summer to address Illinois’ $31 billion statewide construction plan.
The governor will not actually be calling a “special session,” which would require that members receive their per diem checks. Per diem can’t be disbursed for regular session days after the end of May, and that’s what next week’s session will be. The two chamber leaders are calling their members back to town, so the taxpayers won’t be on the hook for that extra cost.
The Senate introduced a 12-day furlough plan, but never passed it. The House passed an identical proposal, but it’s still sitting in the Senate awaiting action.
Because this won’t be a special session, the General Assembly won’t be limited to what it can and cannot do. Members could take up that furlough plan, but there is opposition in the Senate. The media has completely ignored this failure to approve another furlough plan, so legislators may just ignore it.
* Now, onto the budget. The Senate Democrats were clearly hoping that Quinn would ally with them over their additional budgetary spending tacked onto the capital/road bill. As subscribers knew, the SDems also unveiled a plan a few days ago to extend the capital/road plan for just six months, so that the budget could be renegotiated in January. But Quinn wouldn’t go along with either plan…
“In his meeting with the legislative leaders, the governor was clear [in] his push for a 12-month capital budget with no conditions,” Matsoff said. “He also said that the leaders should come back in the fall when they could have discussions about reallocating some elements of the budget based on the Senate Democrats’ priorities — staying within the $33.2 billion” budget.
Yesterday’s meeting was a huge blow to the Senate Dems. They’re teleconferencing today to decide what to do. If they refuse to give in, we’re in for a nasty summer session.
* After some initial hesitation, the Republicans have decided that Quinn is right and that the state can’t fund construction projects after the end of the fiscal year and will have to start shutting down projects on Monday…
Cross says lawmakers are now on the fast-track to reach an agreement to keep the projects, which provide some 52,000 jobs, alive. He’s hesitantly setting aside his reservations about the governor’s claim that he can’t authorize spending beyond the end of the month to keep the projects running.
“The governor has a lot of authority in this arena and he’s taken the position he doesn’t have the authority, and I’ll take him at his word,” Cross said.
Agreeing with the governor simply puts more pressure on the recalcitrant Senate Democrats.
* Related…
* VIDEO: HGOP Leader Cross on capital, budget, etc.
* VIDEO: SGOP Leader Radogno on capital, budget, etc.
* We’ve never done one of these on Big Jim, so let’s give this a try. The former governor is holding a rare duck decoy, which he bought last year at an auction for $100,625. I kid you not…
Winner gets a free ticket to the July 25th White Sox game.
* 3:17 pm - The leaders have concluded their meeting with the governor. From a BlackBerrying pal who is on site…
leaders meet over….session day wednesday, probably look at 12-months capital bill…no new money
Translation: They’re coming back to town next Wednesday. They’ll try do do a “clean” capital bill for a year without any Senate Democratic add-ons.
The key to the future is how Senate President Cullerton’s caucus reacts. If they dig in their heels and demand that extra budgetary spending, it could be a very long summer.
* The Illinois Republican Party’s lawsuit to declare the tie-breaking provision of the state Constitution as unconstitutional has been denied a hearing by the Illinois Supreme Court.
The lawsuit was essentially a tactic by the Republicans to convince the top court to delay a final vote on the remap bill until after May 31st, when legislation would require a three-fifths, bipartisan majority for passage.
Illinois GOP spokesman John Blessing did tell us, though, that a lawsuit challenging the maps “more than likely” would come from a third-party group, not necessarily straight from the Republican Party.
“There are a lot of entities, including us, that are reviewing those maps,” Blessing said.
* A few days ago, the Chicago Tribune editorial board praised Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle and Mayor Rahm Emanuel while excoriating Gov. Pat Quinn…
Preckwinkle and Emanuel demand that their respective realms deliver not only for recipients of government spending, but also for the taxpayers who fund it. Both rookie executives plainly are sensitive to what they can, and cannot, ask of citizens battered by job losses, home foreclosures and aggressive taxation. Neither would define governance as the private sector serving the public sector. They talk instead of the public sector serving a private sector that, in return for supplying tax revenues, expects streamlining, value and competence.
Preckwinkle and Emanuel are in touch — with these demanding times, and with the challenges that face individuals and employers.
Then there’s Pat Quinn, a governor whose personal decency and love for his state are givens. Right there, the comparison to his fellow Democratic execs abruptly shifts into uncomfortable, unfavorable contrasts:
The rapid readiness for leadership that Preckwinkle and Emanuel exude is terrible fortune for Quinn. At a time when state government needs a tightly focused agenda and a leader with firm resolve — attributes for which Preckwinkle and Emanuel already are renowned — Quinn in Year Three of his governorship still is all reaction and appeasement. Watching Preckwinkle and Emanuel excel only reinforces a verdict we offered last autumn: Strength, constancy, innovation, iconoclasm, the courage to speak truth to power — by each of these leadership metrics, Quinn stands bent and pale.
Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle ran for the job as a reformer, but on Tuesday she found herself defending a decision to put two former southwest suburban state lawmakers on the county payroll.
Michael Carberry and John O’Sullivan served short stints last year as appointees to the Illinois House, but were out of office in January because they didn’t seek election last fall.
Now Carberry has landed as a nearly $100,000-a-year deputy director job in the county’s facilities management department. And O’Sullivan, the Worth Township Democratic committeeman, is making $85,000 a year as a regional superintendent at the Cook County Forest Preserve District.
Former County Board President Todd Stroger was criticized during his term for hiring the politically-connected. On election night last November, a victorious Preckwinkle told supporters she planned to “clean up county government by ending patronage.”
* The BGA helped do the probe, and the BGA’s director is quoted in the original Fox Chicago story…
Better Government Association Executive Director Andy Shaw said you’d have to be a pretty big believer in coincidences not to see the politics here.
“It sounds like a couple of guys went down to Springfield, did the bidding of the party to pass the tax hike, and as a result they’re awarded with jobs in Cook County,” Shaw said. “This sounds like business as usual and on its face it’s troubling.”
Even more troubling is the fact that O’Sullivan was fired by Cook County after the county’s inspector general found he had been falsifying his time card while working as a laborer at Stroger Hospital. O’Sullivan appealed the firing and got his job back. He said he was framed for not supporting Todd Stroger.
“Retaliation from that administration is what brought upon these bogus charges. Unproved on all the charges. And I received full back pay and benefits,” said O’Sullivan.
But Inspector General Pat Blanchard told us he stands by his finding that O’Sullivan was ripping off taxpayers. Preckwinkle said she never considered that allegation before awarding O’Sullivan with a plum county job.
Preckwinkle has a reputation for “being above politics.” Apparently, she’s not. That doesn’t make her corrupt or venal or anything. It makes her a (gasp!) politician. These things happen.
* Meanwhile, this is from the last part of the spring session and I simply forgot to post it. It’s a very good lesson for legislators in how not to deal with the media…
For the CTU, the rally sets the stage for another fight on Wednesday, when the new school board deals with a proposed longer school day and contractually-obligated four percent teacher pay raises.
“I don’t believe in slavery on any level. I don’t believe we should work for free. Ever. And we’re not going to,” said Lewis.
Slavery? Whew. That’s some overly charged rhetoric if ever there was overly charged rhetoric, especially considering this…
CPS officials say that even if the 4 percent hike is denied, 75 percent of teachers will still get a pay increase next year. They will qualify for step increases of 3 to 5 percent granted for more years of service.
Newly-seated Chicago School Board members ruled Wednesday that the cash-strapped CPS system does not have the money to cover promised 4 percent raises for teachers and other union workers.
The Chicago Teachers Union now has until the end of the day Monday to decide whether to reopen their contract with the district to negotiate on the issue.
The unanimous decision came after board members were told that nearly three-quarters of the system’s teachers will get some kind of raise — at a cost to the district of $35 million — even if the board refused to cover the 4 percent raises — which cost $80 million. […]
The vote came even after officials said the district’s deficit isn’t as bad as had been thought. During the meeting, new Chief Operating Officer Tim Cawley pinned the system’s current shortfall at $712 million, down from the $720 million the district had previously estimated. Still, plugging that budget hole, Cawley said, will be a “daunting challenge.”
“It would make no sense for this brand new board to shortchange the children who need a quality teacher in every classroom by voting down teachers’ raises. In terms of salary, CPS ranks 71st in salary for high school teachers and 38th in salary for elementary school teachers in this state,” said Karen Lewis with the Chicago Teachers’ Union.
“Mr. Brizzard, come to the school that my daughter goes to, without your suit and tie, just come up there unannounced and you’ll see what these teachers go through. So before you say, ‘Well we don’t have that money,’ the money is in that budget. The school has that money. If you go through the fraud and waste, there’s more than $100 million,” said parent Ronald Jackson.
They noticed that not all of them had the same number of pages for one of the phone calls in their transcript binders.
Some jurors noticed that there were nine pages for the phone call but others noticed there were five pages. The jurors all agreed they would not go further with that phone call until they got an answer.
Turns out that they were supposed to only have five pages for that phone call. Court security will go in and remove the pages for those who had the fuller transcript.
It was a good hint of what jurors are up to, however. The phone call in dispute was a Nov. 14, 2008 between the former governor and his brother, Robert. In it, they discuss Dick Durbin as well as fund-raiser Raghu Nayak.
* Maybe three things. First, prosecutors advised jurors to study the transcripts in chronological order. If that’s what they’re doing, then they have a long way to go before the last recordings on December 8th.
* Secondly, WLS had an interesting take on the jury as a whole…
Jury consultant and attorney, Mary Griffitts, founder of Trial Consulting Enterprises in Dallas, Texas tells WLS Radio’s Monica DeSantis, “women especially will take the time to make sure that everyone has a voice and everyone has been heard.”
Griffitts says the length of deliberations will take longer as “women are geared that way to listen to each other to talk about issues.”
The jury of 11 women and one male also has the added pressure of being the second trial jury and thus will do all they have to so a hung jury doesn’t occur again.
* And here’s the transcript of what may be the relevant aspect of that particular day’s conversation between Blagojevich and his brother Robert…
ROBERT BLAGOJEVICH: Ah, here just, by, information. I got two faxes that, from Ragu Nayak from various Indian organizations, and I can give you the names if you care, but I guess I assume they’re high-powered Indian organizations that are advocating that you choose Jesse Jr. as the next senator.
BLAGOJEVICH: Yeah don’t worry about it.
ROBERT BLAGOJEVICH: Okay, so I’ll, I’m just, by, by this discussion I’ve passed that information onto you.
BLAGOJEVICH: No. You know what, it’s better if you don’t pass it onto me. Just say no, I didn’t get a chance to send it to him.
ROBERT BLAGOJEVICH: Mm’kay.
BLAGOJEVICH: Yeah, no need to say you gave that to me.
(PAUSE)
ROBERT BLAGOJEVICH: Okay.
BLAGOJEVICH: You don’t…
ROBERT BLAGOJEVICH: Okay.
BLAGOJEVICH: …let him wonder if I saw it or not. Why should I like, a-, assume that I did and now I’m, you know rejecting them. You know what I’m saying?
ROBERT BLAGOJEVICH I hear ya. I hear ya.
(PAUSE)
BLAGOJEVICH: When’s the Indian fundraiser? When is that?
ROBERT BLAGOJEVICH: It’s, ah, I think it’s December 6th.
BLAGOJEVICH: Yeah. Okay.
ROBERT BLAGOJEVICH: Which is wh-,…
BLAGOJEVICH: I’m not gonna, you know, here again, that’s another tactical reason for waiting on this decision.
ROBERT BLAGOJEVICH: And let me give you one other and that is the Hispanic event’s the 5th.
BLAGOJEVICH: Correct.
ROBERT BLAGOJEVICH: And Gutierrez, I mean, I talked to Juan Ochoa last night. Evidently everybody’s working real hard on this thing, obviously to support you, but also to support Gutierrez. Now I don’t know if it’s to be chosen as senator but they just, it was just supporting Louie and you. Although it’s all, you know it’s all your money.
(PAUSE)
ROBERT BLAGOJEVICH: So I, I totally agree with you tactically. I think you’re right on.
(PAUSE)
BLAGOJEVICH: Yeah.
(PAUSE)
ROBERT BLAGOJEVICH: That is to drag it out. Not drag it out, but be deliberate.
Illinois Gaming Board chairman Aaron Jaffe yesterday (Tuesday) afternoon summed up his opinion of the new Illinois gambling expansion bill this way:
“You can’t make perfume out of a pile of garbage.”
In a prepared statement read at the beginning of Tuesday’s meeting in downtown Chicago, Jaffe, a retired state representative from Skokie and Cook County judge, charged that the new gaming bill is vague, massive, “very, very bad constitutionally” and could lead the state into years of litigation.
“This bill is not funded like video gaming is not funded,” added Jaffe. He said that if the bill remains in tact and Gov. Quinn gives his stamp of approval, the gaming board will need to double its manpower to adequately regulate the huge increase in state licensed gambling. […]
“I’d like to know how these areas were selected,” he said. “The board spent months on the 10th license location.” That 10th license is for the Rivers Casino in Des Plaines. Besides Chicago, the other four casinos are slated to be located in Rockford, Danville, Park City and a South suburb. He also questioned the wisdom of permitting Chicago-owned slot machines at O’Hare and Midway without gaming board oversight.
“No one should get a license without being fully vetted,” he said.
[ *** End Of Update *** ]
* The Chicago Crime Commission has a new poll which the group claims shows that Illinoisans oppose the new gaming bill. From a press release…
Voters in Chicago and throughout Illinois strongly oppose the gambling expansion bill recently passed by the Illinois legislature, according to a new survey commissioned by the Chicago Crime Commission. The survey also reveals that Illinoisans would veto the gambling legislation and ask for greater review of future proposals.
“Governor Quinn has said repeatedly that he wants to hear from anyone with an opinion on the gambling expansion issue and today voters from throughout Illinois responded to his request,” according to J.R. Davis, Chairman and President of the Chicago Crime Commission. “If the average voter could sit down with the Governor, they would tell him this legislation is bad for Illinois and that they had little input into the decision making process,” he added.
DO YOU SUPPORT OR OPPOSE THE GAMING LEGISLATION THAT HAS BEEN PASSED BY THE STATE LEGISLATURE THAT WILL GREATLY EXPAND GAMBLING AND CLAIMS TO BE THE ANSWER TO THE FINANCIAL PROBLEMS FACING ILLINOIS?
Hardly unbiaased. Nobody, for instance, claims that the bill is the “answer to the financial problems” facing the state.
THE GAMING LEGISLATION THAT PROVIDES FOR MASSIVE EXPANSION OF GAMBLING, SUCH AS NEW CASINOS IN CHICAGO AND THE SUBURBS AS WELL AS SLOT MACHINES AT THE AIRPORTS AND RACETRACKS WILL BE HARMFUL TO THE QUALITY OF LIFE FOR ILLINOIS RESIDENTS.
* The poll was conducted by TelOpinion Research. I checked the pollster’s Web page…
Whether it was helping elect a Governor in Maine, a new Congressman in Louisiana or predicting the outcome of the United States Senate race in North Carolina, Tel Opinion Research had another successful year in helping elect Republicans throughout the United States.
Once again, Tel Opinion Research worked with Senate Republicans in North Carolina to help win the largest number of seats in North Carolina history and take control of the State Senate. We helped Illinois House Republicans structure their messages, and were in 66 congressional districts across the country.
I sure hope the Illinois House Republicans got better questions out of the pollster than these…
THE MONEY FROM TAXES ON CASINO GAMBLING THAT WILL END UP IN THE STATE’S TREASURY WILL NOT OFFSET THE HUMAN PROBLEMS AND NEGATIVE IMPACT ON SOCIETY THAT ARE ASSOCIATED WITH CASINO GAMBLING IN PLACES LIKE LAS VEGAS AND ATLANTIC CITY.
* This result, however, is useful. The question asked for right direction/wrong track in “your area of Illinois”…
* And so is this one. The question asked favorability ratings on the Illinois state legislature…
Leaders from the agricultural community gathered at the Statehouse Tuesday to urge the Governor to sign SB 744, the gaming expansion bill, because of its many benefits to agribusiness.
Supporters said SB 744 includes an agricultural component to the legislation, which includes maximum annual funding in the following areas:
• $5 million for county fairs
• $10 million for soil and water conversation districts
• $4 million for Cooperative Extension – match 100% of local funds
• $1 million for the Forestry Fund for CREP Forestry Assistance Program
• $2.5 million for the State’s historic sites
• $2.5 million Transfers to Parks and Conservation Fund for operations costs
• $100,000 in equine research to Illinois public universities
“The gaming provisions at the at the State Fairgrounds included in SB 744 also establishes the Future of Agriculture Fund, which would direct funding through the Illinois Department of Agriculture to county fairs, the Illinois Association of FFA (formerly Future Farmers of America) and the University of Illinois Extension 4-H programs. These programs are vital to fostering young’s people’s interest in agricultural careers,” explained Margaret Vaughn, Government Affairs Director for the Illinois Association of Agricultural Fairs (IAAF), who worked towards the passage of SB 744.
* I grew up going to the Iroquois County Fair every year, and Marvin Perzee has been running that fair for as long as I can remember. Marvin wants the gaming bill passed…
Marvin Perzee lives an hour and a half from Chicago, Danville and the other proposed casinos in Illinois, but as president of the Iroquois County Fair, he is one of the biggest supporters of gambling expansion in the state.
Perzee and a handful of other downstate, county fair officials visited the Capitol on Tuesday to tell Gov. Pat Quinn to sign the recently approved casino legislation.
Perzee said gambling in Chicago would pay for his fair in tiny Watseka.
“Now we’re all in trouble financially, and we need a dedicated source of monies,” said Perzee.
Lawmakers designed the gambling expansion to pump money from the new casinos and other gambling venues into Illinois’ beleaguered horse-racing industry. Money from the horsemen and horse tracks is then pumped back into the state budget and spent on local county fairs.
Perzee said that money is then spent in local communities.
The fair’s address may be Watseka, but it’s closer to the far tinier Crescent City. Going to that fair is like stepping back in time. Anyway, if Perzee is for the gaming bill, then you know that other ag interests are fully on board.
* Steve Brubaker, a lobbyist for the Illinois Harness Horsemen’s Association, has some advice for Gov. Quinn about how to “fix” the gaming bill…
Brubaker did have some logical, if somewhat cynical, strategic advice on how Quinn might use his amendatory veto to reduce the scope of the bill, and still get those changes through the Legislature: By only angering the lawmakers who voted “no” the first time.
Part of the bill would allow the expansion of existing casinos like the Casino Queen. That part was put in there to try to get lawmakers from existing casino communities on board, but it mostly didn’t work. Metro East lawmakers and others representing casino areas mostly voted against the bill, because the existing casinos don’t want competition from new casinos and “racinos” at the horse tracks.
So by gutting the provision that allows existing casinos to expand, Quinn could claim to have scaled back the legislation, and the only lawmakers he’d lose in the approval vote are those were already opposed anyway. As Brubaker put it: “What, are they going to vote, ‘No, no!’?”
* Earlier this month, the Illinois ACLU asked the US Justice Department to investigate “the substantial racial disparate impact cause by consent searches conducted by Illinois State Police troopers of Hispanic and African American motorists.” The ACLU took a look at available data and concluded…
Data demonstrates that almost all motorists – between 94% and 99% — consent to a search when asked by an ISP trooper, suggesting that the coercive nature of the encounter renders the “consent” not truly voluntary. […]
…Hispanic and African American motorists are far more likely than white motorists to be subjected to consent searches by ISP troopers. Hispanic motorists were 2.7 to 4.0 times more likely to be consent searches (in the years between 2004 and 2009), and African Americans motorists were 1.8 to 3.2 times more likely. Remarkably, white motorists who consent to searches by ISP troopers are far more likely to have contraband than compared to Hispanic and African American motorists. [Emphasis added.]
Keep in mind that this is about “consent” searches, not searches based on reasonable cause. Those searches can be done without the driver’s consent.
“These [consent] searches are carried out on a hunch, and it’s clear the Illinois State Police have hunches more frequently with black or brown drivers, and that those hunches turn out to be wrong more frequently for black and brown drivers,” said Harvey Grossman, legal director for the ACLU of Illinois.
Grossman said the group decided to ask the Department of Justice to intervene because it would be quicker than a court case, and because the agency’s civil rights division has taken an active role under Obama.
A spokeswoman for the federal agency says it will review the complaint.
The ACLU’s figures show only 177 state police consent searches produced any contraband, and more than half of it came from white drivers. Mostly what troopers found was alcohol and drug paraphernalia. They found weapons only 14 times and more than 50 grams of drugs only eight times.
“Consent searches are a tool recognized and authorized by the U.S. Supreme Court,” department spokesman Scott Compton said in a statement. “In 2009, ISP requested consent from 2 out of every 1,000 motorists stopped. This statistic demonstrates that troopers … are not abusing the use of consent searches.”
He said state police were less likely than other departments to seek permission to search minority drivers. Overall, 2 percent of minority drivers were asked to allow a search during traffic stops in 2009, but among stops by the state police the figure was only 0.4 percent, down from 1.35 percent in 2005.
* But now the governor is stepping in and wants a review…
Gov. Pat Quinn has asked the head of the Illinois State Police to review allegations of racial bias in the department’s handling of searches during traffic stops.
* In other police-related news, Illinois’ extremely harsh eavesdropping law is racking up more outrageous felony charges against alleged violators, including Michael Allison…
This Robinson, Ill., man is facing four counts of violating the eavesdropping law for the recordings he made of police officers and a judge. Allison was suing the city to challenge a local zoning ordinance that prevented him from enjoying his hobby fixing up old cars: The municipal government was seizing his cars from his property and forcing him to pay to have them returned. Allison believed the local police were harassing him in retaliation for his lawsuit, so he began to record his conversations with them.
When Allison was eventually charged with violating the zoning ordinance, he asked for a court reporter to ensure there would be a record of his trial. He was told that misdemeanor charges didn’t entitle him to a court reporter. So Allison told court officials he’d be recording his trial with a digital recorder.
When Allison walked into the courtroom the day of his trial, the judge had him arrested for allegedly violating her right to privacy. Police then confiscated Allison’s digital recorder, where they also found the recordings he’d made of his conversations with cops.
Allison has no prior criminal record. If convicted, he faces up to 75 years in prison.
* Related…
* Jody Weis: My unused police plan showed city had enough officers
