* Eric Zorn had never heard of the Statehouse’s agreed bill process until he read a letter to the editor. So, he checked into it…
Q. Is it truly “little-known”?
A. Not in Springfield’s halls of power or among the business and labor interests that participate in it. When I ran portions of Gallo’s letter by an assortment of legislators, aides and interest-group officials, many took issue with the characterization. After all, they pointed out, the process has been used routinely for some 30 years, mostly to mediate unemployment, worker’s compensation and other issues in which business and labor interests are in conflict.
On the other hand, the term “agreed-bill process” has only appeared in five Tribune news stories about state government in the last quarter century. And when I asked my sources where and when these stakeholder meetings take place and who, exactly, is invited to participate, the answer was usually vague.
Five times in twenty-five years? Wow. I checked my subscriber archives and found 14 exact phrase matches in the past 18 months. But, that’s my thing, writing about stuff that everybody else in the media ignores.
The process has been used for decades to make sure that neither side gets an unfair advantage in any changes to unemployment insurance and workers’ compensation laws. Labor, business and other stakeholders like local governments and doctors and hospitals (in the case of workers’ comp) all effectively have veto power over everybody else’s proposals.
People once thought the process worked well, until the last workers’ comp agreed bill process produced a badly flawed law that skyrocketed costs here. The system was abandoned this year and a bill was run that was hotly opposed by the docs and hospitals and had lukewarm backing by some business and most of labor. But the system is still in place for unemployment insurance. Whether that’ll last is anybody’s guess. The state’s UI system is deep in the red and a fix is gonna be painful.
* The subject came up for Eric because of an effort by AARP to repeal a state law that reduces Social Security and disability retirement checks by half when seniors collect unemployment benefits. Illinois is just one of two states with such a law on the books. But because the item is subject to the agreed bill process, it can’t move on its own…
Repeal advocates say the offset reduces benefits each year for more than 17,000 Illinois residents over age 62. Opponents say that repeal would cost the strapped state unemployment insurance trust fund some $55 million annually and argue that hike would increase costs to business.
The proposed repeal has been introduced in Springfield every year since 2002, but despite bipartisan sponsorship, has never even gotten a vote in committee, much less a full floor debate. Repeal supporters contend that it dies at the whim of unelected advocates operating in the shadowy recesses of the agreed-bill process.
More than three-quarters of Illinois high school graduates aren’t completely ready for college, based on their ACT scores, state results of the college-admission test released Wednesday show.
Only 23 percent of Illinois’ 2011 high school graduating class — public and private — met college readiness standards in all four ACT subjects tested: English, reading, math and science.
The biggest drag on preparedness, data showed, was college-readiness in science. There, only 28 percent of the 2011 Illinois graduating class scored high enough to predict they will probably land a C or better in the typical college freshmen science course in biology, the ACT report indicated.
Among the state’s African-American students, only 6 percent met that same college-ready science bar.
And although Illinois is one of only four states that require all public high school students to take the ACT, its composite is not that far from the national average of 21.1, noted Mary Fergus, spokeswoman for the Illinois State Board of Education.
A legislative panel has cleared the way for Illinois to extend temporary health insurance coverage for state employees through June 30.
The Commission on Government Forecasting and Accountability voted 8-1 Tuesday for the extension.
The state now must negotiate new contracts with health insurance companies.
The temporary contracts were set to expire Sept. 28 and were put in place as litigation over state health insurance plans works its way through the courts.
A state health planning board has voted to approve Cook County’s controverial plan to close Oak Forest Hospital.
The Illinois Health Facilities and Services Review Board voted 7-1 Tuesday in favor of the proposal. One board member voted present. All three new board members appointed recently by Gov. Pat Quinn voted for the county’s plan.
But the vote included a condition requesting county officials return in one year to update the board on the implementation of their plan to convert the hospital to a regional outpatient center. The board also requested the that the county inform the board if they encounter any difficulty getting other local hospitals to take former Oak Forest patients.
The county now plans to close the hospital by Sept. 1.
* But hospitals are up in arms about this decision…
The Illinois Department of Revenue this morning denied three hospitals — including prominent Prentice Women’s Hospital at Northwestern Memorial — their property tax exemptions, a move that could force the hospitals to shell out millions of dollars a year in taxes.
Edward Hospital in Naperville and downstate Decatur Memorial Hospital also were denied, according to one-page rulings the Revenue Department provided.
A department spokeswoman would not specify why the hospitals were denied, referring to a document that outlined a multiprong test the department uses to decide whether a hospital qualifies for an exemption. The test includes a standard that hospitals must dispense “charity to all who need and apply.”
None of the denied hospitals listed uncompensated charity care on their financial statements as part of their exemption requests, the Revenue Department said. But in other records, Northwestern Memorial reported 1.85%, Edward Hospital 1.04% and Decatur Memorial 0.96% of net patient revenue was spent on charity care, the department said.
Edward and Decatur Memorial officials say they plan a vigorous appeal. Edward Hospital says it provided $77 million in charity care and community programs last year. Decatur Memorial officials say the denial was based on information from 2006 and they can prove the hospital currently meets the criteria for a tax exemption.
In a statement, Northwestern officials say they disagree with the decision and will review their options.
At stake are millions of dollars in tax revenues for local communities.
“Marijuana is not a gateway to the next hard drug, but the gateway to prison,” says Ford, who represents a district (the Eighth) that stretches from Chicago’s west side into the suburbs.
* Roundup…
* Quinn signs bill allowing mining near southern Illinois state park
* I’ve been wondering why President Obama was traveling to the tiny town of Atkinson today. I assumed it was about iowa politics, since Atkinson is near that state. But, it’s also about a little back-patting…
In this small Illinois farming community not far from the Iowa border, a shiny new fire station being built is testament to the stimulus plan that the Obama administration hoped would rescue the nation’s economy.
The construction job, which won a $1.3 million grant, was the kind of project the White House thought would create jobs in small towns across the nation, all the better if the locals gave Obama a little of the credit.
In the midst of a political storm over the state of the economy on his watch, Obama will find out if that’s the case when he holds one of two Illinois town halls in the community Wednesday as he wraps up a three-day, campaign-style bus tour in the Midwest. The town of 1,000 is rolling out the red carpet for him by lining parts of its main thoroughfares with more than 900 donated American flags.
Even before Obama sets foot in town, he has earned the praise of fire chief Bob Floming. Floming looks forward to the day this fall when the station is scheduled to open and he can fit all of their equipment inside instead of having to use a pole barn to hold the volunteer department’s three big rigs.
“I credit him for it, I really do,” Floming said of Obama.
After a series of stops in Minnesota and Iowa, Obama wraps up a three-day bus trip with a pair of town hall meetings in two small Henry County towns in western Illinois: Atkinson, population 1,100 (143 miles west of Chicago) and Alpha, population 671. At Alpha, Obama will appear at Country Corner Farm, an “agri-tourism” business.
While Obama needs to work to keep Minnesota and Iowa in his 2012 win column, the former Illinois senator is not seen as having any re-election problem in his adopted homestate.
I asked Obama strategist David Axelrod why Obama was swinging through Illinois and it was not, he told me, a matter of looking at electoral maps or polling. “Illinois is very much in the heartland and these small towns he is going to are very representative of communities all over the country,” Axelrod said.
The bus trip is official government business — White House advance staffers were at Wyffels on Monday. But the Republican National Committee has been sniping that it is a thinly disguised campaign run.
* Gov. Pat Quinn moved up the Governor’s Day events so he could participate in the festivities. As a result, he could miss his own fundraiser…
The Taxpayers for Quinn barbecue, minimum ticket price of $20, is scheduled to take place at a home in the 4400 block of Old Chatham Road immediately following the annual Governor’s Day rally at the Illinois State Fair, according to an invitation.
The rally will be at noon on the Director’s Lawn at the fair. Quinn probably will make that, but “I think he’s going to have to cut out early” to rendezvous with Obama, said David Rosen, the Quinn campaign’s finance director.
“He’s going to try and make the reception,” Rosen said of the fundraiser. “It’s not that far.”
But because of security surrounding the president, Rosen added, “his movements may be restricted so he can’t make it.”
As always, do your very best to keep those goofy DC talking points out of the comment section. I won’t have much time today to police y’all, and national politics tends to bring out the worst in people, so, please, take a breath. Thanks.
* Today is Governor’s Day at the Illinois State Fair. I’ll be there around noon and let you know if anything interesting happens.
Our annual “Miller vs. the flacks” celebrity harness race should start around 2:15 at the Grandstand. This year’s participants include Steve Brown of the House Democrats, John Patterson of the Senate Democrats (who won last year in his first outing) and Mica Matsoff from the governor’s office. The House and Senate Republican spokespeople couldn’t make it this time around. Bummer.
Gov. Brian Schweitzer is off to speak at Governor’s Day at the Illinois State Fair on Wednesday, the latest in a series of out-of-state speeches, but he pooh-poohed a national magazine report that he’s gearing up to run for president in 2016.
U.S. News & World Report columnist Paul Bedard wrote an article last week headlined, “Buzz Building for Montana Gov. Brian Schweitzer in 2016.”
The author compared Schweitzer, who “brought down the house” at the 2008 Democratic nominating convention, with Barack Obama, who did likewise at the 2004 convention, and Bill Clinton, who bored the audience in nominating Mike Dukakis in 1988.
Bedard said there is “lots of buzz that Schweitzer would be a natural presidential candidate in 2016.”
* Meanwhile, the horrific accident at the Indiana State Fair is on a lot of minds right now, including those of Illinois officials…
Illinois State Fair officials say they’ve double-checked safety procedures following a deadly stage collapse at the Indiana State Fair.
Illinois State Fair spokeswoman Amy Bliefnick says there’s a safety plan in place and it worked over the weekend.
State Police alerted fair officials of potential inclement weather Saturday, the same day of the collapse in Indiana. Within ten minutes, the fair was essentially shut down with officials using a public address system to tell fairgoers to get inside.
Also, Bliefnick says the roof on the main stage can be lowered in case of high winds.
Saturday afternoon, for example, the rigging was lowered when the fair received a report that a storm was heading toward Springfield that had the potential for 60 mph winds.
Illinois State Police monitor the weather, and alert fair officials when a problem arises.
Fair officials also shut down the carnival and told people over the public address system to seek cover in a building.
“When we heard there was a potential for 60 mph winds, we didn’t take any chances. We closed everything down,” Bliefnick said.
Saturday night’s tragic stage collapse during a concert at the Indiana State Fair that killed five and injured dozens has become a Public Relations nightmare for the Indiana Department of Homeland Security.
Emerging issues include potential structural or design flaws in the stage, evacuation plans, and organizers response to storm warnings.
A major question that remains unanswered is was a pre-concert inspection performed? and if so by what agency? What agency, if any is responsible for the inspections remains unclear, and therefore not likely that any inspection took place.
Initially, Indiana State Fair spokesman Andy Klotz said the state fire marshal’s office was responsible for inspections, but recanted on Monday, saying he wasn’t sure whose job it is.
* And the recent craziness up in Wisconsin has focused Illinois on security…
llinois State Police says security and safety is a top priority at the 2011 Illinois State Fair.
ISP is the law enforcement agency in charge of security at the fair that began on Friday. The annual event draws thousands of residents and tourists each year but is expected to be even busier this year because of cooler temperatures.
“The State Fair is an Illinois tradition and nationally recognized event, and we want everyone to enjoy the performances and fairground festivities safely,” said ISP Director Hiram Grau.
More than 150 Illinois State Police troopers are assigned to the State Fair along with specialized medical and fire units to assist. In addition to the uniformed troopers at the fairgrounds, administrators say the carnival area is being monitored by surveillance cameras, along with non-uniformed officers
* No State Fair post would be complete without something about the state budget…
Of all of the traditions at the Illinois State Fair — the fried food, the politics, the heat and dust — few are prized as much as Tuesday night’s Blue Ribbon Sale of Champions.
The annual sale allows young people to show their champion livestock, after competitions earlier in the week in Springfield, and sell them for big bucks on a bigger stage.
But even the auction of top livestock by youngsters has been touched by Illinois dismal finances.
The state still pays the youngsters, mostly middle- and high-schoolers from small towns statewide, state fair premiums for winning their respective shows. Prizes range from $25 to about $1,000. Winners of those competitions make it to the Sale of Champions.
The youngsters are paid thousands more from the Sale of Champions. They money is donated by people and companies in the spirit of charity and in support of agriculture.
That support from private donors is, in part, making up for dwindling support from the state.
Illinois’ 4-H Club chapters and Illinois’ FFA chapters, the largest groups for young people who are involved in agriculture, will get 20 percent of the money raised at the Sale of Champions. Those dollars will fill some of the void left by the state budget cuts both groups have absorbed.
The final 2012 state budget trimmed $1.7 million from the budget for 4-H and FFA lost about $150,000. The money raised from the Sale of Champions will not make up the difference, but will help support the programs. The 2011 Sale of Champions raised a total of $128,675 Tuesday.
* And, as I told you yesterday, unions are staging a protest today…
Several hundred state workers are planning to picket outside the state fair gates today.
Illinois AFL-CIO president Michael Carrigan says they want Governor Quinn to make good on negotiated pay raises.
He says it’s not just about the money, it’s about protecting the integrity of union contracts.
Carrigan says Quinn’s move to freeze union pay raises undermines worker rights.
* But enough about tragedies and security and money and such. The State Fair is about fun. Here’s a roundup…
* Big dreams come true for J’ville teen at Illinois State Fair
* Veteran band leader heads back to Illinois State Fair
* Yesterday’s hearing of the House Public Utilities Committee in the northern suburbs turned into a six-hour hostile roast of ComEd…
Heckled by its customers and berated by lawmakers, ComEd officials are promising a brighter tomorrow for thousands of customers kept in the dark by this summer’s record outages.
Faster response times based on ComEd’s proposed “smart grid” should help, consumer advocates agree. But vows of future improvements did nothing for those who showed up at a hearing Tuesday demanding more immediate progress and compensation. […]
At one point, the committee’s chairman, Rep. Thomas Holbrook, D-Belleville, tried to calm things down, saying, “Put down your torches and your pitchforks.”
Jamming the Highland Park Country Club, many seethed as ComEd officials talked about how this summer’s wild weather caused the outages. Ten significant storms hit the area with record or near-record extremes of wind, rain and heat, resulting in an unprecedented losses of power affecting 2.4 million customers.
* Opponents of ComEd’s smart grid/rate hike bill couldn’t have asked for a more perfect response from nature. This summer’s storms have hammered ComEd’s customers with multiple, often lengthy outages. ComEd has flooded the region with technicians from all over the country. This ComEd press release sums up the company’s outlook on life…
Appearing today before a House Public Utilities hearing in Highland Park, Ill., ComEd President and Chief Operating Officer Anne Pramaggiore and other members of ComEd’s executive team highlighted lessons learned from the utility’s summer storm restoration efforts and the steps it is taking to enhance its storm response, noting that essential electric grid modernization will be needed to meet the increasing needs of customers.
“Our crews did an outstanding job restoring customers’ power this summer under extremely difficult conditions but these storms have brought two major issues to the forefront,” said Pramaggiore. “We need to enhance our storm response performance, as well as make the investment in the tools and technologies that the electric grid requires to operate at peak effectiveness.”
State Rep. Elaine Nekritz, D-57th, of Northbrook questioned ComEd’s maintenance and reliability practices.
“Your maintenance budget this year is lower than last year. If you cut your maintenance, then your service reliability will continue to decrease,” she said.
Nekritz pointed out that ComEd has decreased its tree-trimmers this year by 22 percent.
“Less maintenance and a decreasing staff will not meet our needs. It’s people, not smart meters, that will make the difference in serving customers,” she said.
“I had power companies from all over the world tell me that ComEd is a joke, that we are a third world country up here,” said Janet Much.
ComEd wants the state legislature to sign off on a rate increase to fund a smart grid program, which they said would diminish the number of power outages.
Highland Park Mayor Nancy Rotering said the bill that is before the legislature does not create enough accountability for ComEd and said she intends to question the company intensely about power outages in her municipality.
* Lots of local officials testified, and all appeared furious…
Highland Park Mayor Nancy Rotering said the city’s police station lacked power for four days after the storm and the fire station had no power for three days. Some residents reported downed power lines on their driveways that were not removed for several days.
“Public safety was at risk,” she said. “Illinois residents and villages expect more from ComEd.”
Highland Park Village Manager David Limardi said local residents disposed of “22 tons of spoiled food that we had to pick up” after the July 11 storm because of lengthy outages.
Bannockburn Village Manager Maria Lasday said the village had to provide policing where a downed power line was lying on a main road for a couple days. Eventually the village had to hire an electrician to remove it.
“It is unfair for ComEd to expect communities to provide policing where there are downed power lines or where streetlights are not working,” she said. “If ComEd is unable to move the power line or provide electrical service to the streetlight, then ComEd should be required to reimburse communities for their police services.”
A growing number of Chicago suburbs, including well-known municipalities like Oak Park and Oak Brook, are cutting the cord with Commonwealth Edison Co. and inking money-saving electricity deals with alternative suppliers on behalf of their residents and small businesses.
The latest to defect is west suburban North Aurora, which knocked 26% off ComEd’s price of electricity in a two-year contract with Integrys Energy Services, a sister company of Peoples Gas. Ten other small, far-flung suburbs, including south suburban New Lenox and west suburban Sugar Grove, have signed deals in recent weeks providing similar savings.
Some 20 Chicago-area municipalities have won voter approval in referendums to solicit bids from power suppliers. Together they represent about 90,000 ComEd customers, about 3% of the utility’s 3.8 million customers.
But with bigger cities interested in moving forward, as much as 20% of ComEd’s customers could move to alternative suppliers through municipal contracting, said Mark Pruitt, executive director of the Illinois Power Agency, which buys electricity on behalf of the state’s utility customers.
* One of the lead attorneys behind the League of Women Voters’ lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the state and federal remaps explained his position to the State Journal-Register…
[Tom Geoghegan] said the redistricting process in Illinois is like being told you have to move because of your political views.
“Suppose you were living in Springfield and the state government came by and knocked on the door and said, ‘You know, we have too many Democrats in Springfield and we’ve determined that you’re a Democrat and we don’t have enough over in Peoria and so we’re going to ask you to move,’” Geoghegan said. “You would say, ‘What! That’s a violation of my First Amendment rights.’ And you’d be right. The same thing happens when without moving your house, they move the district line to put you over here instead of over there.”
So, an admittedly blatantly partisan redistricting process is akin to forced mass relocations?
They might want to find a better analogy when they go before an actual judge. Just sayin…
* The Tribune reported today that Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel already has plans for the money generated by a proposed Chicago casino…
Mayor Rahm Emanuel on Monday offered some specifics for fixing schools, roads and public transit with money from a proposed Chicago casino, stepping up his pressure on Gov. Pat Quinn to approve a wide-ranging plan that would expand gambling statewide.
In an interview with the Tribune at his City Hall office, Emanuel said he would invest revenue from a city-owned casino to build or renovate up to 25 schools; double arterial street repaving to 80 miles a year over three years; replace 20 miles of “L” track each year to eliminate slow zones, rebuild 10 miles of elevated track structure each year and renovate 45 rail stations over five years; replace 40 miles of leaky city water mains; and overhaul five viaducts that are rusting away.
Quinn made it clear he doesn’t appreciate Emanuel’s repeated suggestions that he sign legislation to legalize a massive expansion of gambling statewide in addition to allowing Chicago to own a casino. […]
“What I have to do is carefully analyze this particular piece of legislation that has not arrived on my desk, so the notion that we’re spending the money before the law is passed is putting the cart before the horse,” Quinn said at an unrelated news conference. “I would urge the mayor to talk to our gaming board chairman, Judge Aaron Jaffe, because there are serious shortcomings in this law when it comes to honesty and integrity.” […]
“I don’t think any person with common sense, looking at the legislation today, would say that it has sufficient protections for the public.” Quinn said. “It’s great for gamblers and gaming interests, but it’s not, in my opinion, strong enough when it comes to protecting the public, and the people of Illinois come first.
“No mayor, no politician, no gambling race track owner or gambling casino owner is going to put themselves before the people of Illinois as long as I’m governor.”
Perhaps Quinn should consult with the Chicago News Cooperative, which reported not long ago that many of the Gaming Board’s objections to the bill were bogus…
The gaming board’s Jaffe and other critics have warned that the board does not have enough staff to properly vet the thousands of new casino employees the bill will create openings for. Last month alone the board reviewed more than 600 applicants for positions at casinos and racetracks.
Bilek, of the Crime Commission, said he was “suspicious and concerned” lawmakers purposely designed an expansion bill so enormous, the gaming board couldn’t possibly keep up.
Though the bill’s supporters dispute that claim, they do agree the board will need to hire more staff, and the legislature — according to Lang and Cullerton — is not opposed to helping facilitate that.
However, the gaming board’s staffing levels would be addressed in its appropriations bill, not in the gambling expansion bill, which requires a separate act of the legislature. Lang said he would “be happy to” introduce a bill supplementing the board’s budget if asked. Typically, state agency directors testify before House and Senate appropriations committees to request more money during the spring session. The gaming board did not testify in Springfield then because the gaming bill had not yet passed and the agency does not take positions on pending legislation, Illinois Gaming Board spokesman Gene O’Shea said in May.
The Senate Democrats sent along this analysis of the Gaming Board’s funding levels. Bottom line: Authorized headcount is more than double what it was two years ago and spending is up about 60 percent and they’ve been given everything they’ve asked for in the last two budget cycles, despite cuts to just about everybody else…
Since the beginning of the 2010 budget year, authorized state spending at the Gaming Board has increased nearly 60 percent and they’ve been authorized to more than double agency headcount - FY10 headcount of 84, in FY11 an estimated headcount of 201 and in FY12 the projected headcount is 220.
FY 10 (July 1, 2009 - June 30, 2010)
Gaming Board budget: $100.9 million
*Upon approval of video gaming an additional $27.4 million was budgeted for the Gaming Board for implementation.
Total FY 10 state funding: $128.3 million
*FY 11 (July 1, 2010 - June 30, 2011)
Gaming Board budget request: $137.3 million Gaming Board budget
authorized: $137.3 million
*FY 11 and FY 12 appropriations included a separate line item for Implementation and Administration of Video Gaming. The separate line item amount was $14 million for FY11 and $17.5 million for FY12.
*** UPDATE 1 *** About a hundred proponents of the gaming bill, including “Members of the Illinois Harness Horsemen’s Association (IHHA). Hospitality workers, 4-H members and families, various other agriculture groups,” will rally tomorrow at the Illinois State Fair’s grandstand and then march to the Governor’s Day festivities to express their support for the legislation. From a press release…
Hardworking horsemen and women have sent thousands of letters to Governor Pat Quinn this summer urging him to sign Senate Bill 744. If this bill does not pass, horseracing will continue to slide behind other racing states in the country and 30,000 agribusiness jobs will be jeopardized.
Other agriculture groups like county fairs, 4-H, soil and water conservation, hay and grain farmers also support SB744 because of the money it will provide for Illinois’ agriculture.
* Also, listen to the governor’s complete comments about the gaming bill…
“I will not allow Chicago’s future to be held hostage by Washington’s inaction. And I will not allow Chicago’s future to be held hostage because the state obviously has other financial issues and their resources have been drying up over the years,” the mayor said.
“Here’s a fresh set of resources, 7,000 to 10,000 people directly to work at the casino and another 15,000 to 20,000 people going to work in the construction industry rebuilding Chicago so it stays a world-class, economically-competitive city. I can’t think of another thing to do … if we want to be in control of our own destiny.’’
He added, “To compete against Shanghai, to compete against Paris, to compete against Hong Kong, to compete against L.A., Chicago has to rebuild its infrastructure and put its people to work.”
* A few years ago, AFSCME showed up to the Governor’s Day event and some members jeered Gov. Rod Blagojevich after he taunted them over their health insurance benefits. This time, things will be more tame. The union and its allies won’t actually be on the fairgrounds this time around, but will set up pickets carry signs and hand out fliers at every entrance to protest Gov. Pat Quinn’s decision to do away with contractually obligated union pay raises.
[Headline and lede changed because “picket” is a term of art. This isn’t a picket. It’s a protest.]
From a press release….
Calling attention to Governor Pat Quinn’s refusal to honor legally binding labor contracts, the We Are One Illinois coalition of the Illinois AFL-CIO and its affiliate unions representing public employees will hold activities to coincide with Wednesday’s Governor’s Day events at the Illinois State Fair in Springfield.
“We are disappointed and frustrated by Governor Quinn’s failure to keep his word to the men and women who do the real work of state government,” Illinois AFL-CIO president Michael T. Carrigan said. “They are police and caregivers, prison staff and emergency workers and thousands of other state employees who serve their fellow citizens every day. They deserve to know that the governor respects them and will honor his commitments. What’s at stake is the collective bargaining process for all working people in Illinois.”
* An AFSCME official told me a few minutes ago that his union has printed up 500 picket signs and he didn’t think there would be enough to go around. The schedule…
STATE FAIR (midday)
WHAT: Hundreds of state employees carry signs, hand out informational flyers, balloons and fans urging Gov. Quinn to keep his word and respect collective bargaining rights
WHO: Members of Police Benevolent & Protective Association, Laborers, Illinois Federation of Public Employees/Illinois Federation of Teachers, AFSCME Council 31 and more
WHERE: Outside public gates to Illinois State Fairgrounds
WHEN: 10:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. tomorrow, Wednesday, Aug. 17
* In other State Fair-related news, Democrats usually gather in Springfield the night before their Fair day for fundraisers and receptions. This year, however, there’s only one (maybe two) events that aren’t closed to the public. The county chairmen are hosting a funder at Brown’s this evening. Another event at the Governor’s Mansion is closed to the public.
I assume, however, that lots of folks will be out and about at the usual session hangouts. I’ll probably meander around until I find some people. Where will you be?
The Chicago Teachers Union blasted Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s plan to reward high-performing principals with merit pay, saying it could bring about the same kind of cheating that took place in Atlanta schools after principals were tempted with more money for higher test scores.
“The research is conclusive—merit pay does not work and can have troubling side effects—cheating, narrowing of curriculum and competition between teachers where collaboration is needed,” CTU President Karen GJ Lewis said. “Think Atlanta, New York City and Los Angeles: student standardized test scores were never intended to be nor should they be used for any personnel decision.
“Independent studies, including in Chicago, show that teaching to the test does not improve student achievement. An investigation in Atlanta concluded that pressure to meet testing targets led to widespread cheating in 44 schools. Similar investigations are underway across the country. Chicago and our students deserve better.”
In the Atlanta case, $17 million in bonuses were paid out over a 10-year period. One principal received $580,000. But to achieve the high test scores — and the bonuses — schools held “social gatherings in which answers were erased and corrected,“ according to The New York Times. “At Toomer, in the residential Kirkwood neighborhood east of downtown, the report claimed that some teachers either told students the answers or suggested them with voice inflection during testing.”
* Related…
* Today’s fair harness racing card features 15 races
* Press release: Recognition Wall To Be Erected On Illinois State Fairgrounds - Monument will pay tribute to those who have made the fair a premiere event, its patrons, vendors and exhibitors
* The Sun-Times had a great roundup of those still awaiting trial and sentencing in the federal investigation of Rod Blagojevich’s administration. Here are just a few, so go read the whole thing…
Stuart P. Levine, 65
Indicted: May 9, 2005
Pleaded guilty: Oct. 27, 2006
Levine — a top Republican fund-raiser turned Blagojevich campaign contributor — admitted using his appointment to two Illinois state boards to mastermind multimillion-dollar extortion schemes designed to enrich himself, Blagojevich adviser Tony Rezko and others. Levine, a former Highland Park resident now living in Skokie, used another board post — with the former Chicago Medical School, a private institution — to skim millions from construction deals the school gave to Jacob Kiferbaum.
Status: Awaiting sentencing.
P. Nicholas Hurtgen, 48
Indicted: May 9, 2005
Pleaded guilty: Feb. 25, 2009
Withdrawal of guilty plea: July 7, 2010
A onetime investment banker with Bear Stearns, Hurtgen, a Glencoe resident, had pleaded guilty to helping Levine defraud Illinois taxpayers by passing word to executives from Edward Hospital in Naperville that approval of a proposed Edward medical center would be blocked by Levine — then a member of the state’s hospital-construction board — unless the hospital hired Kiferbaum to build the project, which Bear Stearns hoped to finance.
Status: Withdrew his guilty plea after a U.S. Supreme Court ruling narrowed the scope of the federal honest-services fraud law. Prosecutors later dropped six of the seven charges Hurtgen faced, and a judge is hearing arguments about whether to drop the lone remaining charge.
Jacob Kiferbaum, 59
Indicted: May 9, 2005
Pleaded guilty: June 20, 2005
Kiferbaum, a onetime construction magnate also from Glencoe, admitted participating in Levine’s hospital-related schemes.
Status: Awaiting sentencing.
* Meanwhile, the Wall Street Journal believes that Sen. Mark Kirk’s efforts to restore “honest services fraud” to the criminal code is a big mistake…
Ronald Reagan once joked that one way to make sure crime doesn’t pay would be to let the government run it. If only the latest ideas moving through Congress in the name of fighting public corruption were jokes.
Since the Supreme Court limited the definition of “honest services” fraud in last year’s landmark Skilling v. U.S., the Obama Administration has been looking for a way to restore essentially unlimited prosecutorial discretion to bring white-collar cases. Last fall Assistant Attorney General Lanny Breuer told a Senate committee that Congress should act to “remedy” the Court’s decision. Three bills moving through the House and Senate would try to do so, expanding the reach of prosecutors to go after unpopular politicians or businesses whom they can’t pin with a real crime.
In Skilling, the Supreme Court ruled that the honest services statute was “unconstitutionally vague” and restricted its application to clear cases of bribery or kickbacks. The new legal template of Senate bills sponsored by Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy, the liberal Democrat, and Illinois Republican Mark Kirk would end run that change, transforming many state or local ethics violations into federal felonies any time there is an allegation of undisclosed “self-dealing.” A related House bill would expand the reach of mail- and wire-fraud statutes and loosen the requirements for proving federal bribery.
* Is this yet another example of a legislative scholarship awarded to somebody who didn’t live in a member’s district? Maybe…
State Rep. Dan Burke represents a Southwest Side district where three out of four residents don’t speak English and less than one in 10 has a bachelor’s degree.
So when it was time to hand out a free college education to someone under the century-old legislative scholarship program, whom did Burke pick?
Not someone who grew up in the working-class district straddling the Stevenson Expressway near Midway Airport. Instead, the 10-term lawmaker chose a young, Downstate woman he described as a member of his state government “family.”
A joint investigation by the Chicago Sun-Times and Better Government Association has raised unanswered questions about how Sarah Rae Dowis got nearly $70,000 in tuition set aside by Burke under a program beset for decades by cronyism, insider dealings and sleight of hand. Gov. Pat Quinn wants the General Assembly to abolish the program this fall.
Mayor Rahm Emanuel said Monday he is “working towards” settling outstanding police torture allegations against convicted former Area 2 Cmdr. Jon Burge because it’s “time we end” one of the ugliest chapters in the history of the Chicago Police Department.
“We have a future to build — not a past to settle. That’s what I look at,” the mayor said in an exclusive interview with the Chicago Sun-Times.
“How old is this now — 30 years old? … It is time we end it.”
Emanuel talked about the possibility of compensating Michael Tillman and other victims of police torture, even as he defended his decision to provide a legal defense for former Mayor Richard M. Daley for his role in the case.
It’s time to stop fighting these suits. There’s no doubt that torture was committed. Settle the claims with merit and move on.
* From a press release…
Governor Quinn has signed House Bill 83 (Yarbrough-Gabel, Collins-Steans), legislation that limits the use of incarceration, requiring juvenile court judges to first ensure that there is no less restrictive alternative available and to make every reasonable effort to keep youth at home.
“Incarceration in a state juvenile prison is expensive, $86,000 per bed in FY10, and has terrible outcomes with over half the youth returning to juvenile prison within three years,” said Elizabeth Clarke, President of the Juvenile Justice Initiative, one of the main proponents of the legislation. “Research demonstrates that community alternatives are cheaper and have far better outcomes with youth more likely to return to school and move on with their lives. This change will remind juvenile courts to conduct a thorough review of all less restrictive alternatives prior to sentencing a youth to the Department of Juvenile Justice.”
The sponsors of the bill concur that communities are safer when youth in conflict with the law are treated within their own community. “Not only is incarceration expensive – it doesn’t work,” said Sen. Annazette Collins, D-Chicago. “Community programs that follow nationally recognized best practices and focus on improving family and educational functioning have far better success at turning youth away from delinquency and keeping them involved in productive activities. Thus, we hope this change will remind juvenile courts to review all available options and exhaust every possible alternative prior to giving up on the youth.”
* Related…
* Firm tied to $16 million fraud gave to Cicero president’s campaign
* Interview: Garry McCarthy on the future of the Chicago Police Department
Anyone 60 years or older walked through the gates of the Illinois State Fair for free Monday as part of senior day, but freebies like this one are costing taxpayers millions of dollars every year as the fair continues to lose money.
The latest figures available show that the 10-day event in Springfield lost $2.8 million in 2009, and an even larger $3.7 million in 2008, or about 47 percent and 40 percent, respectively, according to Illinois auditor general reports. […]
“We’ve had vendors indicating that they’ve had three times the business in one day this year than they did (all 10 days) last year. So (when) those revenues increase and improve, it closes the gap between how much it costs and the actual return on that investment,” [Tom Jennings with the Department of Ag] said.
[Amy Bliefnick, manager of the state fair] said she had heard similar good news.
“We sold the most concert tickets we’ve ever sold. We sold 15,300 (Sunday night). Not only did those people buy tickets to the concert, they paid admission. They paid parking; they bought a few beverages and maybe a corn dog or two. Add all of that together and it helps,” Bliefnick said.
* The Question: Should the Illinois State Fair eliminate “freebie” admittance days like Monday’s Senior Day? Take the poll and then explain your answer in comments, please. Thanks.
* The League of Women Voters of Illinois has filed a federal lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the state and congressional remaps based on 1st Amendment partisanship rights, which would be a pretty unique interpretation if adopted by the courts. From a press release…
“In a series of recent decisions the United States Supreme Court has upheld the First Amendment rights of corporations and wealthy candidates. Today we are asking a federal court in Chicago to uphold the First Amendment rights of the voters of Illinois. The longstanding Illinois practice of assigning voters to districts based on their political views and voting histories violates the First Amendment rights of our members and others throughout Illinois,” said LWVIL President Jan Dorner.
Governor Pat Quinn, in signing the Congressional and General Assembly maps, pronounced them “competitive” and “fair.” The League of Women Voters of Illinois believes that the people of Illinois will achieve more genuinely competitive elections and have a more genuinely competitive political system if the Governor and General Assembly stay out of the business of picking and choosing the views they want voters to express, hear and receive in the districts where they live and vote.
The gerrymandering that both political parties have engaged in for decades has resulted in districts so tilted to one political party or the other and so rigged to guarantee the reelections of favored incumbents that voters in Illinois seldom have real choices in our elections. Our suit seeks to order the Governor and General Assembly to establish a new process for developing new legislative and Congressional districts through the selection of an impartial decision-maker or body that will ensure the least possible infringement on the First Amendment rights of the people of Illinois based on their political views, opinions, or beliefs.
In violation of the First Amendment, the defendant Governor and General Assembly have placed Illinois residents into new state legislative and Congressional districts based at least in part on the partisan viewpoints and opinions such residents are likely to express or that they are likely to hear and receive. The redistricting principles set out in House Resolution 385 and Senate Resolution 249 state that each new district “was drawn taking into account the partisan composition of the District and of the Plan itself.” The General Assembly and Governor have unlawfully selected residents to speak, debate, assemble and vote in these districts based upon their political viewpoints and opinions, without safeguards against the misuse of such criteria to regulate or abridge First Amendment rights for partisan ends. […]
In the current redistricting process, no lottery took place since the Democratic Party controls both chambers of the General Assembly and the Governor is a Democrat.
Consequently, the General Assembly conducted redistricting without the limited and often ineffective safeguards of the Illinois Constitution to ensure that there is a bipartisan agreement on a map that does not favor one political group over another. […]
In creating the new districts in the Congressional Redistricting Act of 2011, the General Assembly used the same redistricting principles as it used for the creation of the state legislative districts – including “partisan composition.”
36. While Democratic leaders contend that the maps are competitive, Republican leaders have denied that the maps created under House Resolution 385 and Senate Resolution 249 are “competitive” or constitute anything but traditional partisan gerrymandering.
Tom Geoghegan, attorney for the league, said this is the first time to his knowledge that a remap has been challenged strictly on First Amendment reasons. But the action is consistent with recent U.S. Supreme Court decisions banning limits on donations by corporations and wealthy candidates as an affront to First Amendment guarantees, he said.
“Our suit seeks to order the governor and General Assembly to establish a new process,” League President Jan Dorner said, one that “will ensure the least possible infringement on the First Amendment rights.”
It’s an interesting argument. But gerrymandering — the process in which those drawing the map tilt it to their political advantage — is as old as America. We’ll see if the courts want to make some new law.
* I’m almost an absolutist when it comes to the 1st Amendment, so I have mixed feelings about the new law that prohibits protests within 300 feet of military funerals. But I have no mixed emotions at all about the idiotic morons at the Westboro Baptist “Church”…
Members of an anti-gay fundamentalist group known for their protests of military funerals will have to stay a bit farther away from such services under a measure Gov. Pat Quinn signed into law Sunday as the Illinois State Fair observed its Veterans Day.
In contrast with the shouting members of the Topeka, Kan.-based Westboro Baptist Church who often engage in outside funerals, Quinn quietly signed off on the “Let Them Rest In Peace Act,” which pushes protestors back another 100 feet to 300 feet - the equivalent of a football field’s length - at military funerals. Protests remain banned 30 minutes before and after funeral services.
A Westboro member labeled the new law as unconstitutional and said the church would continue its protests as it fights the laws in court.
“They can make (the ban distance) 100 miles, and it changes exactly nothing,” said Margie Phelps, a lawyer and the daughter of Westboro pastor Fred Phelps. “You all are delusional if you think you’re going to win this one.”
For those who aren’t familiar with the church, whose double-digit membership consists mostly of the children and other relations of patriarch Fred Phelps, they believe end times are nigh owing to our un-Christian ways. To ensure their own salvation, members go to soldiers’ funerals and other charged occasions like the first day of same-sex marriage in New York and scream and sing slurs while trampling the flag and rotating an array of aggressively obnoxious signs in the hopes of drawing media attention — which they inevitably do.
As church members see it, the point of yelling at the damned (pretty much everyone but them) isn’t to save us, but only to ensure we sinners have been warned so that our damnation won’t be on their hands. It’s nutty and not very consequential, though of course the groups the church targets sometimes have a tough time seeing it that way.
Talking to Margie Phelps, one of Fred’s daughters and the most vocal by far of the New York contingent, she boasted about how the media spreads her message despite her open contempt for it. Reading the Voice, she said, “I just skim through with my finger looking for our words. I don’t care how you encase them.”
Church members, she continued, had mastery of “the press, and Twitter, and social media. We’re skilled social marketers,” she said, crediting God with that development. Throughout the conversation, she lapsed into media jargon, like “close the loop,” alternating those thoughts with an almost random stream of vitriol.
* Speaking of free speech, WBBM TV truly ought to be ashamed of itself…
WBBM aired a story June 30 about a shooting in which two teenagers were wounded. It included video of the 4-year-old saying he wanted his own gun. The station edited out the rest of the boy’s statement that he wanted the gun because he wants to be a police officer.
Through communications director Shawnelle Richie, WBBM management admitted that employees made a mistake airing the video and compounded the error by editing the clip to take the boy’s comments out of context.
This was aired during the height of the alleged “wilding” wave, which resulted in a media frenzy. That CBS2 would actually lie about a story in order to perpetuate the craziness is beyond irresponsible. People ought to be fired for this, and those people should never be allowed to work in journalism ever again.
It’s no secret why members of Congress would shy away from holding open town hall meetings – it’s no fun getting yelled at by angry constituents or having an uncomfortable question become an unfortunate YouTube moment. By outsourcing the events to third parties that charge an entry fee to raise money, members of Congress can eliminate most of the riffraff while still – in some cases – allowing in reporters and TV cameras for a positive local news story.
