* Another week in the books. Man, this summer is going by way too fast.
I dunno about you, but I’m planning to spend some serious quality time at the Illinois State Fair this weekend. And if you’re looking for info, there is no better place than the State Journal-Register’s website. Click here for their stories and extremely helpful guides.
Gov. Pat Quinn admitted he’s already making headway on his goal to eat his way through the fair. Even before he snipped the ribbon for the official opening today, the governor had jumped in following Thursday night’s pre-fair parade.
He acknowledged — under his breath — that he had downed three pork chops on a stick and an elephant ear. An aide to the Democratic governor also copped to Quinn having some ice cream too.
I saw the governor out and about last night. He was having such a good time that I didn’t have the heart to approach him.
* I also ran into US Sen. Mark Kirk last night. He was on his way to sample the chocolate covered bacon. He even offered to buy me one, but I declined. I have enough problems without eating something like that. Kirk won’t be at Republican Day next week because he has Navy Reserve duty, so he was trying to get as much out of his 2011 State Fair experience as he could yesterday.
* State Treasurer Dan Rutherford was at the parade and on the grounds last night, but he “officially” kicked off his State Fair experience today with a ride down the Giant Slide…
Republican Treasurer Dan Rutherford stole the schtick of former GOP Gov. Jim Thompson and his thunderous rides down the Giant Slide two decades before.
Rutherford said he’s gone on the ride for years. But this time — or actually all three times he rode down the slide today — it was symbolic of this week’s wild slide of the stock markets.
Lt. Gov. Sheila Simon says she plans to make history at this year’s Illinois State Fair. Simon will play banjo with her band, Loose Gravel, on Wednesday.
Her office says she’s the first constitutional officer in history to perform with her own band at the annual agricultural showcase.
Loose Gravel was featured earlier this month on ABC7…
An eclectic blues and boogie based band with traces of folk, rock, country, funk, and lush vocal harmonies, formed in 1998. Members are Jayme McCarroll (mando, harmonica, guitar, percussion, vocals), Lynda Killoran (bass, drums, vocals), Maria Johnson (piano/keyboard, guitar, vocals), Cindy Clark (guitar, drums, vocals), and Sheila Simon (banjo, bassoon, vocals). A “democratic” band, members take turns singing lead and providing multi-part vocal back-up across a wide range of original material and cover songs. The band has been together for 12 years. They all sing and they all write songs. They have 1 CD out and play mostly folk rock and blues.
* My daughter Vanessa’s birthday is today. I’m hoping she can spend some time with me at the Fair this year as we’ve done in years past. Anyway, this song was one of our mutual favorites when she was a kid, so it goes out to her…
* Sorry for the very late posting of this. I was out of the office much of today.
Anyway, I was checking Google News last night and came across this news story from St. John’s Antigua during a search for “George Ryan”…
In the meantime, the League will on Friday host a major public forum on the issue of continuing electoral reform. Starting at 8 pm at the George Ryan Conference Center on Camacho’s Avenue, the discussion will be led by Professor Paget Henry, Rhodes Scholar Karen-Mae Hill, Barrister E Ann Henry and former UN Ambassador Lionel “Max” Hurst. Lawyer Ralph Francis will moderate. [Empasis added.]
The George Ryan Conference Center is apparently at the CityView Hotel…
We host functions from the grand to the intimate, including meetings, company parties, departmental retreats, dinners, seminars, reunions, weddings and holiday themed events. Gatherings can be accommodated either at the George Ryan Conference Center or the City View Conference Rooms.
I sent the hotel an e-mail message last night asking if the conference room was named after “our” George Ryan, but didn’t receive a response. I also couldn’t find any photos.
* The Question: Use your imagination to describe the George Ryan Conference Center.
Best commenter gets a beverage at the State Fair beer tent of his or her choice.
* Sen. Dick Durbin was in East St. Louis this week to talk about violence…
The public housing complexes on the east side of the river might just be the deadliest places in the country, but efforts are underway to secure the area.
Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) is bringing in federal law enforcement to help state and local authorities crack down on crime. Figures show that East St. Louis is nearly twice as dangerous as even the worst streets in Chicago.
Durbin later told reporters in a news conference that city leaders have to get more involved and take a look at the number of liquor stores that are within blocks of each other and that stay open all night long and are directly related to some of the crime that’s occurring. He said the nightclub scene also is a source of the crime, often because of the outsiders who come to East St. Louis.
“Take a look at the crime because of your decision. Innocent people are dying because of your decision,” Durbin said in reference to city leaders. […]
Durbin, who was born and raised in East St. Louis, said he was happy to come home, but unhappy about the statistics relating to violent crimes in East St. Louis.
“Residents of East St. Louis suffer from one of the highest violent crime and homicide rates in the country,” said the Senate’s assistant majority leader. “It’s not a new problem, but it’s a problem that demands a new solution. The people living and raising their families in this community deserve better. As an East St. Louis native, it pains me to see my old hometown in such distress.”
Less than 24 hours after Illinois Senator Dick Durbin made scathing remarks about East St. Louis leaders, Mayor Alvin Parks ordered sales at liquor stores to end by 1 a.m.
Mayor Parks says he’s been thinking about making the move for awhile, but last weekend was the last straw. On Saturday night, the mayor reports seeing crowds hanging out at gas stations and liquor stores as late as 6 a.m. – three hours after those stored were allowed to sell alcohol.
“Some of the gas stations have become almost like club scenes,” says Mayor Parks.
The mayor didn’t change the hours of the local nightclubs, however.
The Illinois fiscal 2012 budget doesn’t address the state’s “sizeable backlog of unpaid bills and an unsustainable ascent” in spending for pension benefits, Moody’s Investors Service said in a report. […]
Still, the tax increases are a short-term solution because the rates decrease in 2015, leaving the state with a “significant funding burden” to meet its unfunded pension liability of about $80 billion and the likelihood that late payments to vendors will persist, Moody’s said.
“The state may be able to use increased tax revenue to chip away at its large balance of past-due budgetary payment obligations, but it has not adopted a comprehensive plan to do so,” the company said. […]
“Because of its financial weakness, Illinois is less well positioned than other states to handle a renewed downturn in the national economy,” Moody’s said.
The story on the Moody’s warning from Wednesday is here.
* WLS Radio posted a story yesterday afternoon in anticipation of a possible downgrade, which, thankfully, didn’t happen…
One of the credit rating agencies - Moody’s - is reportedly thinking about downgrading the credit rating of the state of Illinois and WLS Radio’s Bill Cameron says Illinois Republicans say this is no time for Gov. Pat Quinn to try to do more borrowing.
Republicans say they’ve blocked Quinn from borrowing more billions before and will again if he tries to do it in the current climate of rising interest rates.
But Quinn says the state needs to pay its bills now, and he says this about the Republicans.
“The notion that you put your head in the sand and pretend that these debts don’t exist is not a good way to go. It isn’t good for our economy.”
Moody’s has already warned that it is worried about a handful of states, which it says it could downgrade. The 5 states are Maryland, South Carolina, New Mexico, Tennessee and Virginia, which remain under review.
Maryland, Virginia and New Mexico have comparatively high percentages of federal employees and contracts, the ratings company said. New Mexico, South Carolina and Tennessee depend more on Medicaid money versus the national average, Moody’s said.
Moody’s also indicated some states are safer than others and are less vulnerable to a downgrade.
The 10 top-rated states are Alaska, Delaware, Georgia, Indiana, Iowa, Missouri, North Carolina, Texas, Utah and Vermont. They would be cut only in the event that the federal rating is dropped by more than one level, Moody’s said.
* I ran into one of the governor’s spokespeople at the State Fair last night. She wasn’t really pleased with my Sun-Times column, which was posted on the paper’s site in the early evening. But, hey, them’s the breaks…
‘I think you want a governor who’s thoughtful and thinks of everything before deciding an important matter.”
That’s Gov. Pat Quinn, speaking to reporters Thursday afternoon in Chicago.
Yes, that’s the same governor who seems to be best known for his policy flip-flops and his disjointed, ad-hoc style than any sort of coherent, sound governance.
Remember Quinn’s pledge not to raise the income tax by more than a single percentage point? He said he would veto anything above that. But then he signed a 2 percentage point tax increase into law months later.
Quinn’s business policy seems to be to hand out tax dollars to every big corporate executive who walks into his office and threatens to move to another state.
His budget proposal this year was so full of pie-in-the-sky dreaming that the General Assembly — which has not exactly been a bastion of fiscal conservatism — was forced to drag him back down to Earth by making big cuts.
But there are those who strongly believe he really does spend a lot of time thinking things through.
Several weeks ago, I had a long conversation with someone who knows Quinn far better than I do.
We talked not long after Quinn vetoed part of the new state budget.
Among other things, the governor eliminated salaries for regional school superintendents, even though they are elected officials and have several duties under Illinois law.
“ ‘Bad Pat’ does things he doesn’t want to do, like cutting education, cutting human services and cutting the regional superintendents,” she said. “Then ‘Good Pat’ swoops in and saves the day! He thinks this makes him look like a heroic problem solver.”
I tried to pass off her comments as a joke. I had never heard anything like that before, and I figured that the budget veto was just pure incompetence. But she said she was serious.
“He keeps setting up crisis situations so he can jump in with the diving catch. He doesn’t understand that people remember the crises a lot longer than they remember the catch — especially when the diving catch requires spending money we don’t have.”
“He keeps trying to play 3-D chess when the situation only requires checkers,” she concluded.
Again, this person has known Gov. Quinn a whole lot longer and better than I have.
And if she’s right, then we’re in bigger trouble than I ever thought.
I mean, Illinois has enough problems without creating new ones for sport.
Now that the federal government’s bond rating has been lowered and the markets have gone all nutso, Illinois can ill afford more drama.
What we need is clear-headed thinking and a firm resolve not only to get the state’s still shaky budget in order but also to somehow improve our job climate. Yes, that’s a tall order. Even the federal government hasn’t been able to figure that one out.
When Quinn patted himself on the back for being “thoughtful” and “thinking of everything,” he was referring to the weeks he has spent considering what to do about the gaming expansion bill.
No matter what else you may think of it, gaming expansion will undoubtedly bring in more revenue to the state and create jobs.
Mayor Rahm Emanuel really wants a new casino for Chicago for those very same reasons.
Quinn doesn’t mind giving Chicago a casino, but he doesn’t want Downstate communities such as Danville and Rockford to have their own, which makes little sense.
Instead of trying to look like a dramatic superhero, he ought to just fix the regulatory shortcomings in the bill and start putting some people to work.
* Related…
* No quick help offered for regional superintendents: Gov. Pat Quinn Thursday repeated that his administration is working on a plan to pay regional school superintendents out of local funds, but he still offered no immediate relief for the superintendents and their assistants, who have gone without pay since July 1. Speaking before the start of the Illinois State Fair parade, Quinn talked of developing a plan “to help them out in the short term,” but did not elaborate.
* Arlington Park chairman hasn’t forgotten friends lost in WWII
* Report: Overcrowding worsens conditions at Vandalia prison: Gov. Pat Quinn’s decision to halt an early prisoner release program has led to woeful living conditions for inmates at the Vandalia Correctional Center, a new report concludes. In a scathing review of the 90-year-old minimum-security lockup, a prison watchdog group said the state’s rapidly growing inmate population has forced prison personnel to house offenders in areas of the facility that periodically flood, causing mold and mildew and potential health problems for the prisoners.
* Economy is focus of Illinois Black Chamber of Commerce conference
State Farm Insurance plans to give its Illinois customers a chance to lower — or raise — their rates depending on their driving habits.
The Bloomington-based insurer said that in September it will start putting a monitoring device in vehicles driven by customers who choose to be part of the program.
Missy Lundberg, a spokesperson for State Farm, said the devices will monitor mileage, acceleration, braking and other factors. Safer drivers will get lower rates and those who aren’t as safe will see rates go up.
* The Question: Should Illinois law allow voluntary electronic driver monitoring programs like State Farm’s? Take the poll and then explain your answer in comments, please.
Representatives of the Illinois Association of Regional Superintendents of Schools met with Quinn administration officials again Wednesday, but reached no agreement. Association president Bob Daiber said administration officials talked about having legislation prepared to resolve the issue. However, it was not made available to the regional superintendents.
“We don’t know what’s in the legislation. We don’t know if it is good or bad,” Daiber said. […]
Quinn budget spokesman Kelly Kraft said the draft legislation would shift funding for regional superintendents to the personal property replacement fund.
“We continue to have constructive meetings with representatives as we examine mechanisms for payment as quickly as possible,” she said.
* Progress Illinois sees the possibility of a work stoppage in the regional superintendents’ official statement…
The association is committed to finding a solution that suits everyone as quickly as possible. But it’s clear our individual members are facing various growing personal difficulties and may have no choice but to take action on their own to deal with the situation.
* A possible Republican congressional candidate who is also a regional superintendent tried to put the best face on the crisis…
Darlene J. Ruscitti, superintendent of the DuPage Regional Office of Education, has yet to receive a paycheck from the job. Ruscitti was elected in the fall and took office last month.
But continuing to work was “never a question for me,” she said.
“I know it seems silly to work with no pay, but I have to believe in good government and that we will work things out.”
State officials have made it official: Beginning later this month, there will be no more money to help pay funeral and burial costs for poor people.
In a letter sent to 600 funeral directors, cemeteries and coroners Friday, the Illinois Department of Human Services said it would only guarantee payments for funeral and burial claims through Aug. 15. […]
In previous years, the $12.6 million program paid for about 12,000 funerals and burials for deceased people who have been receiving public aid. Funeral homes that participate in the program receive a maximum of $1,103 for a funeral and $552 for a burial.
In the budget approved by lawmakers and signed by Gov. Pat Quinn, funding for the program dropped to $1.9 million.
The agency overseeing the College Illinois prepaid tuition program will pay former Executive Director Andrew Davis $98,000 to leave and avert potential litigation under his employment contract.
A slate of newly appointed board members by Gov. Pat Quinn removed Mr. Davis as head of the Illinois Student Assistance Commission last month because of his controversial management of the college savings plan. But at the time he was put on paid leave.
* ComEd just can’t catch a break in the media, and for good reason…
The Bears’ third practice in the span of five days was thrown off kilter when a ComEd power outage in sections of Bourbonnais turned out the field lights in the middle of the Bears’ practice. After a wait of some 30 minutes, with no sign of power returning, the team piled into Olivet Nazarene University buses and headed for nearby Bradley Bourbonnais Community High School several blocks away but at least with lights.
* Congressman Bobby Rush held a job fair this week for several dozen railroad openings. It was wildly, and sadly, successful…
Thousands gathered on the campus of Chicago State University to take part in a job fair hosted by Illinois Congressman Bobby Rush.
The Chicago Democrat says he was inspired to host Tuesday’s event because of planned railroad improvements on Chicago’s South Side.
Six railroad companies were present. BNSF human resources director Duncan Brown says the railroad has 75 job openings in Galesburg, with starting salaries around $58,000.
* Other news…
* CTA head pledges no fare hikes this year, but won’t say plans for 2012
* No new taxes to plug city budget deficit, Emanuel says
Thursday, Aug 11, 2011 - Posted by Advertising Department
The following is a paid advertisement.
If SB 1652 is enacted into law and grid modernization proceeds on course, ComEd customers could save $2.8 billion on their electric bills over the 20-year life of the smart meters according to a comprehensive analysis by Black & Veatch, the consultancy charged with evaluating the one-year smart meter pilot approved by the Illinois Commerce Commission.
This savings would be over and above any savings customers would see by using smart meters to manage their own energy usage.
The jobs and economic development opportunities generated by this investment will provide a much-needed push to our state’s economy. Coupled with new pricing options and opportunities for customers to lower their electricity bills, this legislation will positively benefit every customer in the state.
* The Chicago media has been in an uproar this week about how former legislator Bob Molaro gave legislative scholarships to children of a supporter who lived outside his district. But the nonprofit news site ChicagoTalks.org found last year that this was a widespread problem…
Sixty-two members of the Illinois General Assembly broke the law over the course of six years by awarding free tuition to the state’s public universities to 122 college students who didn’t live in the right legislative district.
The state lawmakers – several of whom serve in leadership positions – violated the law they had passed in the 1970s, the last time major changes were made to the century-old legislative scholarship program. Controversy over the program flared again this past year after a series of articles by ChicagoTalks that found repeated instances of scholarships being awarded to campaign donors, politically connected families and, in at least one instance, a lawmaker’s relative. ChicagoTalks also identified five legislators who require scholarship applicants to register to vote, a practice one constitutional lawyer called illegal. […]
ChicagoTalks contacted the offices of all 62 lawmakers. Those legislators or staff who responded to interview requests confirmed they made mistakes and offered explanations like an aide for Rep. Karen May (D -Highland Park) did, saying the student received the scholarship because his application had been delivered by a guidance counselor from a school that was located in the district.
The student moved to a different district, but because he had started the school year at Highland Park he was able to finish the school year there. Since his application came from a school in the district, they assumed he lived in the district as well.
An aide to Sen. Larry Bomke (R-Springfield) said she assumed the senator had all of Rochester in his district, but now realizes that a portion is in another senatorial district.
“I look all of them up, and these two fell through the cracks,” said Lori Bottrell.
Sen. Pamela Althoff (R-McHenry) said the five students who received scholarships outside of her district were overlooked because they lived on the borders. […]
Most of the students willing to talk were unaware they applied and received a scholarship out of district. But, one recipient, Jasmine Lindsay, said Rep. Annazette Collins (D-Chicago) gave her the scholarship even though she knew Lindsay didn’t live in district. Lindsay said the representative told her father that students in her district were not taking advantage of the program.
“Annazette wasn’t getting reached out to so she reached out to me,” said Lindsay.
* Hat tip to the Chicago Tribune editorial page, which had this to say today…
We hope the U.S. attorney saw that story.
The law, on the books since 1905, allows each of the state’s 177 lawmakers to award the equivalent of two four-year scholarships to a state university. It’s supposed to help students who might not otherwise be able to attend college. But too many lawmakers have come to regard the scholarships as a personal entitlement, something they can use to reward supporters or please their pals. Who pays for it? Other students. The Legislature doesn’t fund the scholarships, so the universities pass along the costs in the form of higher tuition.
* As you probably already know, Gov. Pat Quinn used his amendatory veto power on a legislative scholarship bill to eliminate the program…
Gov. Pat Quinn on Wednesday ratcheted up pressure to abolish the state’s oft-abused legislative scholarship program, asking lawmakers to end the century-old perks this fall and to voluntarily stop handing them out now.
For the second year in a row, Quinn used his veto powers on a bill seeking to tighten the tuition waiver program at public universities. Last year, he vetoed the entire bill. This time, he rewrote the measure to ban the scholarships.
What’s also different this year is that the governor acted only days after the disclosure that federal authorities have subpoenaed the legislative scholarship records of former state Rep. Robert Molaro, D-Chicago, who retired in 2008.
* Mark Brown has some history in his column today…
Investigative reporters have been pointing out the abuses since at least the early 1970s, always followed by a movement to eliminate the program. Each and every time nothing has happened.
“I doubt if you’ll ever get rid of it. It’s just considered another plum that you’re entitled to because of your office, and members don’t want to give that up.”
That’s what a prescient Chicago Democratic legislator told my former Sun-Times reporting partner Chuck Neubauer back in 1974. Neubauer, then at the Tribune, had been part of an investigation revealing numerous abuses, including one state senator giving a scholarship to his own wife, another awarding hers to the daughter of a Chicago alderman and a state rep who picked her own daughter.
But Neubauer would be the first to tell you he didn’t invent the genre. Somebody else had done similar stories before him.
* Gov. Quinn said this week that instead of legislative scholarships the state should strengthen the Monetary Award Program. But the state program has its problems as well…
Potentially hundreds of failing Chicago State University students received state financial aid even though their grades were so low that they shouldn’t have been allowed to take classes, according to testimony Wednesday at a state hearing.
The money could have gone to other low-income students in Illinois, Sen. Edward Maloney, D-Chicago, chair of the Senate Higher Education Committee, said at a meeting to review a troubling financial audit and other campus issues. […]
Maloney, who requested state financial aid information after the Tribune report, said that during the 2008-09 academic year, 449 Chicago State students received state grant money even though, under university policy, an untold number of them should have been dismissed for poor academic performance.
Of those students, 106 had a grade-point average of 0.0 and still received aid from the taxpayer-funded Monetary Award Program, known as MAP.
The state’s largest grant program for low-income students is persistently underfunded, and 151,000 qualified students were shut out of aid last year. The maximum MAP award is $4,968 a year. [Emphasis added.]
* Reuters posted a story late yesterday about a new warning from another ratings agency…
Moody’s Investors Services said on Wednesday that most state, local government and public authorities that issue debt in the municipal bond market are “well insulated from shock,” but added that some could be vulnerable to risk during major market volatility.
“Most municipal issuers are somewhat weaker than they were prior to the last major market disruption,” said Moody’s Managing Director Timothy Blake in a statement. “This is why some may face significant stress if hostile market conditions emerge.”
The ratings agency said it doesn’t expect widespread defaults or downgrades of more than a notch. It pointed out that most state and local governments use debt to fund capital projects, which could be put off for a while if access to credit was impaired. However….
State and local governments that issue debt to fund operating deficits or rely on short-term notes for seasonal cash flow needs may have greater exposure to risk, Moody’s said.
These issuers, such as California and Illinois, would be vulnerable if a slowing economy pushed their budgets off balance, leaving them fewer internal sources of funding, or if they could not function without borrowing cash.
Illinois regularly uses short-term notes for cash flow, and the governor’s initial borrowing plan to pay off overdue state bills also included money for operating expenses. That has since been pared back, but the plan has been blocked in the General Assembly.
* I asked the governor’s budget office for a response…
We continue to monitor the situation in the financial markets, but it is yet to be determined how market volatility will impact state economies.
Our focus remains on growing jobs and continuing to put our financial house in order by reducing spending, enacting Medicaid, worker’s compensation and pension reforms, as well as raising revenues to address the decades of fiscal mismanagement in our state.
llinois taxpayers face at least $85 billion in unfunded pension liabilities. But Gov. Pat Quinn seemed to rule out a pension reform proposal pending in the General Assembly on Wednesday.
“Their proposal laid an egg this past year,” he said.
It was the governor’s clearest statement yet that he opposes the pension reform bill sponsored by House Republican Leader Tom Cross, which would not change any retirement credits that have already been earned by current state employees. […]
This year’s tax increase that raised about six to seven billion dollars for the most part all went to this year’s pension obligation,” Cross said. “It’s the elephant in the room.”
Why do we need to address this? Because, that $85 billion figure we cited as the unfunded liability for pensions in Illinois — well, it’s predicated on a really wild and wacky assumption that our investments will earn an average 8.5 percent every year for the next 40 years.
Good luck with that after what world stock markets have just done.
