* If it hasn’t been obvious to you that Treasurer Dan Rutherford is openly plotting a move up the political ladder in 2014 (likely to the governor’s office), even after reading his endless stream of Tweets about all the towns he’s visited since the start of the year, then this story might help…
State Treasurer Dan Rutherford, a globetrotting businessman during his tenure as a vice president with ServiceMaster, said he’s paying for his own flight to Beijing.
“My 25 years of experience in the private sector working on international business makes me especially optimistic about the benefits of this trip. I will be given several opportunities to represent Illinois to Chinese businesses with the hope of our state’s economy becoming the beneficiary,” Rutherford said in a prepared statement.
The 13-day trip comes as Gov. Pat Quinn prepares to make a similar visit to the Far East with an eye on selling more Illinois products in China and Japan.
Quinn, who will be gone for 12 days beginning in mid-September, will make stops in Beijing, Shanghai and Hong Kong in China and Tokyo, Japan.
Apparently, this is something of a “me too” trip since Quinn is heading to China next month. According to the AP, the Chinese People’s Institute for Foreign Affairs is paying for Rutherford’s expenses, excluding his flight.
* In other quasi-campaign stuff, Fox News picked up a story that has received pretty much zero coverage in Illinois, and for good reason…
Maybe the Fox folks don’t know that this guy is not even close to being a journalist. Or maybe they do and decided to ding Dick Durbin anyway. Either way, kudos to Jim Anderson of the Illinois Radio Network for not giving in to this “activist” during a media availability.
*** UPDATE 2 *** I just talked to Paul Green, who runs these City Club things. The press conferences have not ever been part of the official City Club lunchtime events. They’re mainly informal gatherings at the Maggiano’s bar.
No longer. From now on, the pressers will be held as part of the City Club festivities and, henceforth, the club will require that reporters show credentials. Security will also be present.
The public Q&A, however, will pretty much proceed as it always has.
[ *** End Of Update 2 *** ]
* Meanwhile, Finke says the State Fair political days should be held every other year…
If the state’s two major political parties decided to drop their special days at the Illinois State Fair in non-election years, would anyone care? Would anyone notice?
It’s been a tradition since forever that Democrats and Republicans each gather for one day at the fair. When an election is coming up, those rallies can be mildly entertaining. Candidates for offices will show up to get some face time with the crowd and media. You can generally count on one or more speakers to deliver a stemwinder to rev everyone up to get out the vote. There’s a general sense of enthusiasm around the place.
Compare that to Governor’s Day and Republican Day this year. It was like everyone was just going through the motions. We’ve always gathered at the fair one day a year, and the fair is on, so let’s get it over with. […]
It’s just that last week’s political days were sort of blah. If they were only held every other year, maybe they would seem a little more special.
Yes, this year’s events were boring and mostly news-free (although I found plenty to write about by ignoring the speeches and working the crowds and the receptions). But, as I’ve said before, that’s because we have no statewide election next year (the first time this has happened since 1999). Some of the bigger crowd turnouts I’ve seen have been in the off-years before a gubernatorial or US Senate election, when tons of primary candidates descend on the fairgrounds. So, switching to a biennial event doesn’t really make any sense.
Asked if he’s thinking about running for governor that year, Dillard gave a quick “yes.”
“I’m going to take a swing down to Williamson County, and I’ll be at the DuQuoin State Fair,” Dillard said. He said even if he doesn’t run statewide, he’ll continue to travel because “I love this state.”
Dillard finished just 193 votes behind state Sen. BILL BRADY, R-Bloomington, in last year’s gubernatorial primary, when more than 750,000 votes were cast. Seven candidates were on that ballot, and Dillard said party and business community leaders should try to avoid such a wide open and expensive contest. […]
“What bothers me most is wasting millions and millions of dollars that Mr. McKenna and others made us waste that Bill Brady could have used to win the governorship,” Dillard said.
* This is just one problem that former state Rep. Mike Boland will have to deal with in the congressional primary…
For example, while serving as a state representative, Mike Boland gave scholarships to the daughter of his largest individual campaign contributor.
She gave $15,891 to Boland’s campaign in 2005 and 2006, and her daughter received a free ride to Western Illinois University. After two years, she transferred to the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and her scholarship from Boland followed.
Boland, who left the Legislature earlier this year, now is seeking the Democratic nomination for the 17th Congressional District.
* McHenry County State’s Attorney Louis Bianchi says he’s running for a third term. You will recall that two corruption cases brought against Bianchi were both tossed out of court by a judge this year…
During trials in March and earlier this month, the special prosecutors offered so little evidence that Winnebago County Judge Joseph McGraw–appointed to hear the politically charged cases–acquitted Bianchi before he even presented a defense.
But Bianchi said his decision to seek a third term wasn’t prompted by a desire to repair his image following his legal struggles.
“The satisfaction is already there. I’ve been vindicated,” Bianchi said. “I don’t need another four years for that.”
Instead, Bianchi said if he’s re-elected he wants to continue with programs he instituted during his tenure, including stepped up efforts to collect unpaid fines and court costs, as well as a diversion program that allows first-time offenders to clear their records through public service work and education.
Republican Tom Pliura, a doctor and lawyer from LeRoy, is running against state Rep. Chapin Rose, R-Mahomet, for the GOP nomination in the 51st Senate District, which stretches from McLean County to the Indiana border.
Pliura, who has not previously held elective office, showed his inexperience as a campaigner during a stop at the state fair Thursday. He was wearing a Cubs hat, thus alienating all of the Cardinals and White Sox fans in the district.
* From a Post-Dispatch story about the clash between organized labor and Gov. Pat Quinn over Quinn’s halting of contractual wage increases for unionized public employees…
“We welcome them. They can stay as long as they want,” Quinn said of the [fleeing Wisconsin Democratic senators] in a February interview on MSNBC’s “Hardball with Chris Matthews.” Quinn in the interview lambasted anti-union sentiment in general, and his fellow governor Walker personally, accusing him of waging “a war on workers.”
“The people who teach our kids, who plow the snow off our interstates, those are working men and women and they deserve a decent pay and decent retirement,” Quinn said. “What Gov. Scott Walker’s doing in Wisconsin is just plain wrong.”
Some in the Illinois labor movement now view that interview with irony and bitterness — even to the point of comparing Quinn, unfavorably, with Walker.
“Whatever you think of what Scott Walker did … at least he changed the law (to do it). Pat Quinn is just ignoring the law, to flout collective bargaining rights,” said Anders Lindall, spokesman for the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) of Illinois.
* The Question: Is it fair to compare Gov. Pat Quinn to Gov. Scott Walker this way? Take the poll and then please explain your answer in comments.
* Peoria’s Catholic Bishop Daniel Jenky is not happy at all that the state has refused to contract with Catholic Charities for adoption and foster care services. In fact, he’s pretty darned upset…
Bishop Jenky pointed out that religious accommodations have been granted in states such as New York and Rhode Island regarding their establishment of civil unions. His Aug. 18 statement expressed sadness that “important elements of the political establishment in the state of Illinois are now basically at war with the Catholic community and seem to be destroying their institutions.” [Emphasis added]
Um, wow.
* In other news about religion and state, Secretary of State Jesse White is not happy about a new Illinois law that allows him to issue state identification cards without photos. The proposal was pushed to benefit the Amish, who have religious objections to photography…
“How do you use this document as a form of identification?” White said during an interview at the Illinois State Fair “You match the name with the face. I don’t see how that could take place without a picture.”
State Rep. Adam Brown, a Decatur Republican, pushed for the legislation during the spring legislative session. He said Amish leaders in Central Illinois wanted the exemption because of religious convictions about having their pictures taken. […]
Brown said he wants to work with White and the Illinois State Police to move forward with the idea. He has suggested the state police develop a separate, nonpublic database for Amish and other religious groups that could be called up to verify people opting against getting the pictures on the ID cards.
“I think an internal system could work very well,” Brown said. “We’ve also discussed using fingerprints. We definitely want to build safeguards into it.”
* As we’ve discussed several times before, several businesses have opened up “sales offices” in Downstate counties to avoid paying high local sales taxes in Cook and DuPage counties. Chicago, Cook County and the RTA defeated a bill earlier this year which would codify these havens into state law, but they failed to pass their own bill to kill the practice entirely. A Downstate judge ruled against the state’s efforts to collect unpaid sales taxes earlier this year, but the state is appealing.
Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s office said late Friday that the city plans to file a lawsuit early next week against Kankakee and Channahon. “There is money that should be going to Chicago that is going to other cities,” said Chris Mather, a spokeswoman for Emanuel. […]
Just how much money is at stake is hard to track. Kankakee, which observers think has the largest program, reported paying companies about $125 million in sales-tax rebates between 2002 and 2010, but if those sales had taken place in higher tax venues, they easily could have generated double or triple that amount. […]
Within the next week, as many as eight suburbs that are home to Plass Appliance & Furniture showrooms are expected to jointly send a letter to the Revenue Department, asking for a ruling on the company’s routing of sales through Channahon, said Martin Bourke, village administrator for Bloomingdale, a DuPage County suburb.
The retailer stopped paying taxes to Bloomingdale in January 2008, and the village estimates it has lost nearly $100,000 in that time. Plass executives did not respond to requests for comment.
The sale of Motorola Mobility Holdings Inc. to Google Inc. is interesting in many ways, not least for what it tells us about the effectiveness of state tax breaks for big employers.
The message: Subsidies such as those Illinois granted Motorola earlier this year count for little in an age of rapid-fire corporate consolidation. Corporate executives who negotiate tax breaks in exchange for promises to keep jobs in the state can easily turn around and sell the company to a buyer who places less value on the subsidies.
Gov. Pat Quinn gave Motorola generous payroll tax breaks in return for continuing to employ thousands in the state. A few months later, the Motorola execs who negotiated that deal agreed to sell their company to a California-based acquirer with little reason to care about Illinois jobs. Moving or eliminating those jobs might make financial sense to Google, even if it means sacrificing the subsidies. After all, Google is much bigger than Motorola, with different strategic objectives.
I don’t necessarily disagree. I do wonder, however, what the publication’s editorial board would’ve written had Motorola Mobility announced it was moving away earlier this year.
* Meanwhile, is the exodus to exurbia dead? It appears so, at least for now…
Between 2000 and 2010, Kendall was the fastest-growing county in the United States, with a growth rate of some 110 percent, according to the Census Bureau. In the Chicago area, Kendall was not the only faraway land of big dreams. Population soared, too, in distant suburban Kane, Will and McHenry Counties. Even in DeKalb County, tall-corn country nearly halfway to Iowa, newcomers were drawn by visions of castles on a cul-de-sac.
Now real estate experts say these far-flung housing developments are among the hardest hit by the housing downturn. In Yorkville, with a population of about 18,000, at least 10 subdivisions sit unfinished, with little sign of development soon.
“The Chicago region has been one of the hardest-hit markets in the country,” said Erik Doersching, the executive vice president of Tracy Cross & Associates, a real estate analysis firm in Schaumburg. “And the outlying areas are the most impacted.”
In 2009 and 2010, the top foreclosure rates in Illinois were in Kendall, Kane and Will Counties. On the new suburban frontier along the farthest fringes of the Chicago region, where cheap land and rising prices once triggered a rush of buyers, some newer developments have become ghost towns in places like Yorkville, Frankfort, Sugar Grove and Hampshire.
* And speaking of exurbia, a proposed toll hike would put us above some states, but not too far out of line with the rest of the country…
Currently, the tollway, which encompasses 286 miles of road, charges about 3 cents a mile for I-PASS customers in passenger cars.
On average, drivers in passenger cars using electronic tolling on the 157-mile Indiana Toll Road also pay about 3 cents a mile. On the 241-mile Ohio Turnpike, the toll average is 4.2 cents a mile, while further east, the Pennsylvania Turnpike charges 7.7 cents a mile and the 138-mile Massachusetts Turnpike levies 9 cents a mile.
The Illinois tollway’s average would go to 6 cents a mile under the new proposal, but an individual’s cost increase could depend on his or her specific commute. The tollway’s plan proposes toll hikes of 35 cents at 40-cent plazas, 45 cents at 50-cent plazas, and increases at ramps ranging from 15 cents to 45 cents.
So, that would mean an I-PASS customer commuting daily from Arlington Heights to Lombard on I-355 and using tolled access ramps would pay $1.35 more a day, or $337.50 a year, assuming two weeks of vacation.
* Morris raises good questions in debate over tollway tolls
* Press Release: Governor Quinn Signs Bill to Reduce Transportation Costs for Illinois Businesses - New Law Modifies Truck Weight Limits to Increase Efficiency on Short Trips
* Kadner: This man doesn’t like deal that cuts electric rates
* Darin: The Smart Grid - A Better Forecast For Reliable Power and Clean Energy Jobs
Earlier this week, Emanuel ticked off the wish list of projects he intends to build with casino cash. It includes: 40 miles of roads and water mains; 25 new schools; 45 renovated CTA stations; 20 miles of new rail; 150 buildings to be made more energy efficient.
The mayor also talked about the other side of the equation: the steady “withdrawal” of state and federal funding that has created the infrastructure crisis.
The pressure tactic didn’t work with Quinn, who accused the mayor of “putting the cart before the horse” and spending casino cash he doesn’t have.
On Thursday, the mayor fired back on that point, too. Emanuel argued that he had shared the wish list with Quinn — and it was the governor who encouraged City Hall to make it public.
“I told him beforehand that this was how I was gonna use the money, and he asked me to lay it out specifically, which I’ve done,” the mayor said.
Since the Legislature adjourned at the end of May, Emanuel has met with Quinn as few as three times or as many as five, depending upon which side is counting. The controversial casino legislation passed by lawmakers this spring has come up during each meeting, both sides acknowledge.
* And the mayor’s office was apparently not pleased with this Quinn comment, either…
The governor’s office also pushed back by saying Quinn wouldn’t make a “rush to judgment” and approve the [casino] measure in light of the “parking-meter fiasco,” a reference to Daley’s unpopular long-term lease of the city meters.
The reference to the parking-meter controversy was viewed unfavorably in the new mayor’s shop. A frustrated Emanuel said he “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.”
* Gov. Pat Quinn said last week that he was still working on a solution to the crisis he created when he vetoed out the appropriations for regional superintendents’ salaries. But the superintendents filed suit on Friday, saying that they have exhausted all options with the governor.
I’ve asked for a copy of the lawsuit, but haven’t received it yet. I’ll post it when I get it…
The Illinois Association of Regional Superintendents of Schools said it had no choice but to take the dispute to court after trying for weeks to reach a compromise with Quinn. “We have exhausted all options in working with the governor’s office,” said Bob Daiber, president of the association and regional superintendent for Madison County. […]
“Having missed three consecutive pay periods has generated real hardships on association members that face mortgage payments, property tax bills and monthly cost of living expenses,” Daiber said in a statement. The lawsuit says one superintendent is now on an unspecified form of welfare.
The lawsuit, filed in Sangamon County Circuit Court, points out that the General Assembly created the offices in 1975, replacing what until then had been county superintendents. It argues Quinn doesn’t have authority to block the salaries of duly elected public officials. Even if the money specifically earmarked for their salaries is vetoed, the lawsuit claims, the State Board of Education must pay the salaries out of other funds.
The lawsuit argues that it is unlawful for the state to refuse to pay the regional superintendents’ salaries. The State Board of Education is required to pay salaries that are set by law, the suit says.
“It’s not up to us to create a law to pay ourselves,” Anderson said. “The law already exists, and we’re carrying out the responsibilities we’ve been elected to do, but we’re not being paid.”
Regional offices serve many functions, and Anderson said some of the major ones her office is responsible for are providing professional development and training for teachers, providing assessments to educators for certification and certificate renewal, acting as compliance officers and monitoring school compliance, conducting GED testing and assisting students and families through homelessness assistance and truancy programs.
Defendants listed in the lawsuit filed Friday include Quinn, Superintendent of Education Christopher Koch, members of the State Board of Education, Quinn budget director David Vaught and state Comptroller Judy Baar Topinka, while plaintiffs include Shannon Fehrholz, assistant regional superintendent for Sangamon County, whose husband is serving with the National Guard in Afghanistan, and Monte Newlin, regional superintendent of Clay, Crawford, Jasper, Lawrence and Richland counties, who has said he was forced to apply for food stamps to feed his wife and triplets because he has no income.
Way back in 1981, Gov. Jim Thompson got into a fight with the Illinois General Assembly over who should fund the salaries of county state’s attorneys.
By law, Illinois was on the hook for two-thirds of those salaries. Thompson originally proposed paying all of the state’s share, then decided that locals should pick up the tab and not the state. The General Assembly negotiated a deal with the governor to pay 80 percent of the required funding. But Thompson turned around and vetoed the entire appropriation.
The state’s attorneys all of a sudden weren’t getting paychecks and threatened to sue, county governments were enraged at having this financial hardship dumped on them, and the General Assembly worked itself into an uproar over Thompson’s decision to break their deal. Caught between a rock and a hard place, Thompson made an unprecedented move and simply declared that he’d “unvetoed” the appropriation. Democratic Comptroller Roland Burris announced that he would recognize the “unveto” as legitimate and go ahead and pay the state’s attorney salaries.
The premise was that since the General Assembly had not convened since the original veto and, therefore, hadn’t yet entered Thompson’s veto into the record as received, the original appropriation veto wasn’t completely official. The state’s attorneys were paid and all was forgotten.
Does this sound familiar to you?
It should.
Gov. Pat Quinn has put himself into the same trick box as Big Jim did all those years ago.
Quinn has tried to get rid of state funding for regional superintendents of schools for at least the past two years.
There are good arguments on both sides of this issue. The regional superintendents say they are mandated by the state to carry out a long list of specific statutory duties. Some districts find their work highly beneficial.
Another argument is that the superintendents are a needless layer of bureaucracy. When Cook County’s regional superintendent was abolished, hardly anybody noticed the difference, except for the money saved.
Quinn’s position is that regardless of whether these superintendents are needed or not, local taxpayers ought to be picking up the tab for their salaries. They are local elected officials, after all. And like countywide state’s attorneys, they ought to be paid for with local cash so the state can concentrate on using its resources elsewhere; especially since federal education funding has drastically declined since President Barack Obama’s stimulus program ended.
But once again, Quinn lost the argument with the General Assembly. The Legislature provided $11.3 million in state funding for the salaries of regional superintendents and their operating budgets.
Then, in a surprise move, Quinn vetoed all that state funding out of the budget.
No regional school superintendents have been paid since the state’s fiscal year began July 1st. The uproar has been as loud as it was predictable.
So, it may be no surprise to learn that a Thompsonesque unveto “solution” now is being pushed by some folks to solve the crisis that Quinn created. Quinn, some say, should just realize he made a mistake and undo his veto.
The push comes after the latest plan to resolve the situation fell flat on its face.
The Quinn administration wanted the Illinois State Board of Education to use its personnel budget to pay the regional superintendent salaries. Comptroller Judy Baar Topinka agreed to pay the salaries through the board if the deal could be cut, but the state board refused, worried that it might not be legal and that even if it was, the General Assembly wouldn’t replenish their already slashed personnel budget when the Legislature reconvenes this fall. Nobody really expects Quinn to follow in Thompson’s footsteps, however. Unlike Quinn, Thompson was never accused of being a chronic flip-flopper. And despite Thompson’s established precedent, Quinn would be mercilessly hammered in the media for making such a move. Plus, even with all the flipping and the flopping, Quinn absolutely hates to admit to being wrong.
The governor said last week that he was still looking for a way out of the problem, preferably through local funding. But that may have to wait until the late October legislative session. It’s a heck of a long time to live without a paycheck.
