* Last week, Congressman Jesse Jackson, Jr.’s spokesman told the Associated Press that none of the three African-American congressmen from Illinois would help fund the legal defense of the new district map…
Jackson spokesman Frank Watkins said Illinois’ Democratic members of Congress were asked to donate $10,000 each to help fight the Republican legal challenge. Jackson, Davis and Rush won’t be contributing to the legal defense, he said
* Well, the AP followed up and found that the delegation is not as unanimous as Jackson’s spokesman made it out to be…
Democratic Congressman Danny Davis on Friday backed away from statements made by colleague Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. that he wouldn’t help defend the state’s new congressional map being challenged in court by Republicans.
Davis said he had yet to decide whether he would kick in $10,000, as Illinois’ Democratic members of Congress were asked to do, to help pay to fight the legal challenge of a map that Jackson has suggested may put politics ahead of minority rights.
“I have not reached the point of saying at this juncture that I will not participate in the defense of the map,” Davis told The Associated Press. “I’m actually in the process of deciding whether or not I’m going to participate.” He said he would decide soon.
I checked with Congressman Bobby Rush’s press aide Renee Ferguson and was told this afternoon that no final decision had been made by her boss, either.
In other words, Jackson appears to have gotten ahead of the game here.
*** UPDATE *** It appears that Congressman Gutierrez is not all that happy with Jackson, either…
Other Illinois Democrats — especially Gutierrez — are furious that he’s bringing up these concerns months after the mapmaking process. Jackson’s concerns also play into a Republican lawsuit to overturn the map.
Tension between the two Illinois Members spilled onto the House floor last week when Gutierrez angrily confronted Jackson Thursday during votes. On Friday, one Member described a palpable hostility between Jackson and Gutierrez on the floor. At one moment, Gutierrez walked toward Jackson, who immediately stood up and walked the other way.
Gutierrez didn’t want to comment on the situation with Jackson, declining to make eye contact during most of a brief interview.
“I don’t want to just shoot off at the mouth as some Congressmen do,” Gutierrez said. “I want to carefully consider, otherwise those who speak without carefully considering what they have to say, come off as buffoons, and I certainly don’t want that.”
Wow.
It’s no wonder that the other two members are backing off.
[ *** End Of Update *** ]
* Speaking of remaps…
Republican leaders have challenged the new legislative map in a federal lawsuit, alleging it discriminates against minorities. They also said it discriminates against Republicans by putting the party’s incumbents together.
[State Rep. Randy Ramey, chair of the DuPage County GOP] said he does not expect the courts to make things easier for DuPage Republicans, because he doubts the suit will succeed.
“The legislative lawsuit, and you have to look at the past history, has never moved forward,” Ramey said.
Ramey adds that if that suit - now in federal court - is bumped to state court, it would face a system dominated by Democrats.
“If it goes through the Democratic courts and gets to the Democratic Supreme Court in Illinois, I don’t see how they change it,” he said.
* In other politics news, considering all that’s happened in the last few years, he might want to drop the middle name…
A source who was there this morning says that Patrick Daley Thompson, the former mayor’s nephew, showed up at a Democratic Party pre-slating meeting this morning and announced that he’s running for a seat on the Water Reclamation District of Metropolitan Chicago.
At least one seat will be vacant next year because incumbent board member and President Terry O’Brien is retiring from that job, multiple party sources told me. (Mr. O’Brien in 2010 ran for president of the Cook County Board, losing to Toni Preckwinkle in the Democratic primary.)
Mr. Thompson is related to Mr. Daley through the former mayor’s sister. He gained fame a few years ago when he bought the Bridgeport bungalow in which Mr. Daley and his brothers were raised by the late Mayor Richard J. Daley and his wife, Eleanor “Sis” Daley.
Mr. Daley’s spokeswoman said she believes he is unaware of his nephew’s ambitions but would check to see if he wants to comment.
* More stuff…
* Judge denies Catholic Charities’ request for reconsideration: The state Department of Children and Family Services can begin canceling its adoption and foster care contracts with Catholic Charities, Sangamon County Circuit Judge John Schmidt ruled this afternoon. Schmidt denied Catholic Charities’ emergency request to stay his earlier ruling that the group had no right to such state contracts. Schmidt also denied Catholic Charities’ motion to reconsider that ruling. Catholic Charities will now ask the Illinois 4th District Appellate court to stay Schmidt’s ruling while it appeals it to that court, according to attorneys for Catholic Charities agencies associated with the Springfield, Peoria, Belleville and Joliet dioceses.
* Schoenburg: Clutter reconsiders open-primary push
* Warren: Fox News’ Cheap Shot at Quigley
* Boone’s Saloon opens
* Illinois Huntley Tea Party to Hold Forum on Concealed Carry
* Seven former Chicago aldermen now lobbying City Hall
* Ramey pleads guilty in DUI case: DuPage County Republican chairman and state Rep. Randy Ramey pleaded guilty Monday to driving under the influence and was fined $1,750 and ordered to perform 100 hours of community service. The six-year state representative, elected to take the helm of the county party in late July, also was placed on one year of supervision and ordered to attend counseling and participate on a victim impact panel.
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Budget optics
Monday, Sep 26, 2011 - Posted by Rich Miller
* This might look worse than it really is…
Two Republican statewide officeholders who have criticized government spending and want to consolidate it have handed out pay raises to dozens of employees during a fiscal crisis. […]
The salary increases were discovered in an analysis of payroll records by the Better Government Association, a Chicago-based nonprofit group which showed the findings to The Associated Press.
BGA Executive Director Andy Shaw pointed out that Rutherford and Topinka were elected as fiscal conservatives. “These are tough economic times, so they should realize that this is not the time to hand out pay raises to political appointees who already enjoy generous salaries and benefits,” Shaw said.
“Political appointees?” Maybe not…
Rutherford spokeswoman Melissa Hahn took exception to the BGA’s assertion that the treasurer was rewarding appointees who might be political allies. She said 18 of 19 raises went to staffers whose tenure predated Rutherford, a former state senator, “so raises are clearly not targeting employees who the treasurer brought in when he took office.”
* Again, neither office received a budget increase this fiscal year. And according to the comptroller’s office, back when Loleta Didrickson was comptroller the office employed 450 people. It now employs 230, which is ten percent less than its currently authorized headcount.
As reported by the AP, all of the raises Comptroller Topinka gave were to non-union employees. Her union workers are in line for 4.5 percent contractual pay raises this year, so she thought it only fair to give her non-union workers a 3 percent raise. That seems like decent management. For a striking contrast, check the mood of non-union employees under Gov. Pat Quinn, who haven’t seen a raise in years. A small handful of Topinka’s employees did receive more than the 3 percent hikes.
* NCSL has taken a look at recent state tax hikes and tax cuts. The full report is here…
The nine states with net tax cuts greater than 1 percent are California, Iowa, Maine, Michigan, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio and West Virginia. The nine states with net increases of more than 1 percent are Connecticut, Hawaii, Illinois, Indiana, Maryland, Nevada, Oklahoma, Oregon and Vermont.
Indiana? Huh. I thought it was a tax haven or something.
* And check out what Connecticut did…
…extended the temporary corporate income tax surcharge for two years and doubled the rate from 10 percent to 20 percent.
…limited the transfer of film production credits
…expanded its sales tax base to a number of services including pet grooming, spa services, cosmetic surgery, motor vehicle towing, yoga classes and non-prescription medicine, among others.
…expects to generate nearly $400 million by imposing a new tax on hospital net revenue and a new resident day user fee for certain intermediate care facilities. Lawmakers also increased the cap on nursing home resident user fees.
…increased the excise tax on cigarettes by $0.40 per pack and nearly doubled the tax on other tobacco products from 27.5 percent to 50 percent.
…raised the alcoholic beverage excise tax by 20 percent to generate $10 million.
…increased the base diesel tax for a projected $8.5 million.
…established a new tax on the generation of electricity for an additional $71 million.
…raised the hotel room occupancy tax
* Related…
* Family sues after asthmatic boy sent to 3 hospitals in 11 hours
* Kane fears cost of new sex offender regulations: The bill would require a heightened compliance from the county system, but without funding to do the required work. It will create a drastic increase in man-hours and personnel to reach compliance, officials said, so the committee decided not to support the bill in its current form.
* Are townships still necessary?: “Township governments can serve a really vital purpose,” [Emily Miller, policy and government affairs coordinator for the Better Government Association] said. “I think there is a difference between the way townships work to serve the community in rural areas versus urban areas. A lot of the township governments, for example, in Cook County, don’t actually serve that much of a role that isn’t already being covered by some other layer of government.
* Daniels willing to bet on land-based casinos: Gov. Mitch Daniels likely would be on board should state lawmakers authorize land-based gaming in response to expected increased casino competition from Illinois. “I’m open-minded about that,” Daniels said in an interview last week with The Times. “I always thought the whole boat requirement was a little odd.”
* Lang: Sign the gambling bill, create jobs
* Ex-Gov. Walker to current Gov. Quinn: Say no to more casinos
* Singer Mental Health Center’s future focus of public hearing
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Question of the day
Monday, Sep 26, 2011 - Posted by Rich Miller
* As a young kid, I was often sent to West Kankakee Liquors on Station Street for grownup supplies (times were different back then). The fastest way to the liquor store was through my grandma’s back yard, down the alley and in the back door, where I’d pass through a storage room. Old men would sit on cardboard cases of beer in that back room, drink, smoke and tell stories.
I loved walking through that room.
I don’t think I ever stopped to talk to anyone, and I don’t ever remember seeing Mayor Tommy Ryan there, but I wouldn’t have known who he was anyway. I was just a kid, and by then my parents no longer lived in Kankakee, so I didn’t much care who the mayor was.
But that distinct aroma of beer, cardboard boxes and cigarette smoke will be with me for the rest of my life. The same goes for my dad, who was regularly dispatched to that very same store when he was a kid.
My paternal grandfather, Laverne Miller, was a Kankakee Democrat and a devout Teamster. He was related to the liquor store’s owner, and was an occasional running buddy of Mayor Ryan’s, even though Ryan was a Republican.
I talked to Mayor Ryan about that back room years ago when his younger brother George was still governor. He remembered it well. The room had apparently become an icon in his mind for the way things used to be and should have been. Ryan shared some memories of my grandfather that I won’t go into here, but suffice it to say they liked to bust each others’ chops on occasion.
…Adding… From a commenter…
West K3 Liquor next door to Ryan’s Drug Store run by Mayor Tom and Co. Bd member, Chairman, State Rep/Speaker of the House, Sec. of State, Governor George Ryan. Suspect the liquor store and the barbershop on the other side of the drug store had favored nation status.
No tables, no bar, no stools, no bartender, no TV, no cocktails, (No Women) and, of course, No On Premise License.
Pay for your ”Little Joe” on the honor system and sit on the empty boxes of returnable bottles. Keep up with neighborhood news about Roper, A. O. Smith, General Foods, the Railroads, sports and K3 politics.
Truly an old fashioned neighborhood hangout.
All true.
* Mayor Ryan died Saturday…
Thomas J. Ryan, the 20-year mayor of Kankakee and longtime head of the Kankakee County Republican Central Committee, died late Saturday at Provena St. Mary’s Hospital in Kankakee.
Ryan, 83, the older brother of former Gov. George Ryan, was known as an outstanding youth baseball player, Kankakee High School graduate, Navy veteran and a partner in the family’s pharmacy business.
Elected mayor in his first attempt at politics in 1965, Ryan joked that he was the seventh man the Republicans approached to take on incumbent Ray Nourie, a Democrat. He promised to reduce racial tensions in the city, and is credited with breaking the color barrier in city administration.
“He was ‘Mr. Republican’,” said city 7th Ward Alderman Steven Hunter. “He ruled the city with a firm hand, and he appointed Ray Benn, the first African-American to serve on the Police and Fire Commission.
As with any politician, particularly those from Kankakee, Mayor Ryan had his faults. That town was just flat-out crooked. But, today, I can only think of that back room on Station St. and about how almost everybody associated with it has either passed on or moved on.
* The Question: Do you have any old-time political stories you’d like to share?
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* We’re gonna have to wait a bit longer…
Former Gov. Rod Blagojevich’s sentencing next month on his sweeping corruption charges has been postponed, according to a court order Monday.
No new date has been set.
The Oct. 6 date has always been tentative, and the postponement is not surprising largely because of Blagojevich’s co-defendant, William Cellini, is scheduled to go on trial next Monday in the same courtroom.
* The Sun-Times offered up an explanation for the delay on Friday…
Rod Blagojevich’s lawyer, Sheldon Sorosky, said [Friday] afternoon that he’s “quite certain” the ex-governor’s sentencing will be delayed.
“Our sentencing date is going to be continued,” Sorosky said, when told of the news that U.S. District Judge James Zagel kept Cellini’s Oct. 3 trial date intact and asked that prosecutors have witnesses ready for Oct. 5. Blagojevich’s sentencing right now is scheduled for Oct. 6. “It’s not going to happen, I’m telling you. It would taint the Cellini jury. I’m quite certain it will be continued.”
Cellini was a onetime co-defendant of Blagojevich. In court today, Cellini lawyer Dan Webb raised questions about publicity from Blagojevich in general affecting his client and asked that potential jurors be questioned individually.
* In related news, the Tribune’s Bill Cellini profile included this bit at the end…
Others who consider Cellini a friend expressed surprise that someone with that much political acumen would ever step over that line.
Former Gov. Jim Edgar, who has known Cellini for 30 years, called him a “very smart guy” who worked hard to lobby on behalf of clients.
“He never asked me to do anything that was illegal,” the former governor said. “When I told him no, he understood and didn’t put any pressure on. I would be surprised if Bill Cellini would do something that was dishonest, and I’d be surprised because he’s pretty smart at knowing the law.”
* The Trib also has a roundup of Cellini’s history…
Cellini and the roads
Cellini’s tenure as the state’s transportation czar led to his longtime leadership of the Illinois Asphalt Pavement Association, a potent source of campaign donations that last spring drew a variety of state officials to its conference in Springfield. Cellini was there, shaking hands and giving his typical greeting: “Hello, Big Guy.”
Cellini and real estate deals
In 1975, Cellini co-founded a real estate development firm that landed government leases and eventually expanded to Chicago with partnerships that included friends of prominent Democrats such as Mayor Richard M. Daley.
Cellini and the teacher pensions
By 1989, Cellini co-founded Commonwealth Realty Advisors, a firm that has invested hundreds of millions of dollars in state teacher pension funds. The trial centers on Cellini’s alleged attempted extortion of the operator of another investment fund who had not made a contribution to Blagojevich’s campaign.
Cellini and the boats
But it was 1990 that brought one of Cellini’s highest-profile successes. Cellini helped pull together the bipartisan group of investors that got one of the state’s first riverboat casino licenses under a law signed by Gov. Jim Thompson.
*** UPDATE 1 *** Judge Zagel has denied all of Rod Blagojevich’s post-trial motions…
A notice posted on the U.S. District Court’s website by Judge James Zagel says “post-trial motions are denied” and offers no explanation. It adds that a written ruling will be issued later.
Defense attorneys filed several motions, including one asking for a new trial. That 158-page motion lambasted the government and the presiding judge for an alleged lack of evenhandedness at trial
*** UPDATE 2 *** Yeah. This will happen…
Former Governor Rod Blagojevich’s lawyers will ask a federal judge to sentence the former governor to no prison time, the ex-governor’s attorney, Shelly Sorosky said today.
Sorosky called Blagojevich a “fit candidate” for probation when his sentencing does happen. Today, U.S. District Judge James Zagel announced the Oct. 6th sentencing date would be delayed. Sorosky predicts it will happen in early November.
“He’s a fit candidate for probation. The taxpayers never lost a dime. Blagojevich never received a dime,” Sorosky said of his client who was convicted on 17 of 20 counts of corruption in June. Blagojevich was convicted of trying to extract a job or campaign contribution in exchange for appointing a replacement to President Obama’s vacant Senate seat.
“And all the talk involving campaign contributions involved regular campaign donors who were just discussing with Blagojevich how much to give or who were big campaign contributors in the past,” Sorosky argued.
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Shanghai caption contest!
Monday, Sep 26, 2011 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Gov. Pat Quinn’s last Tweet from China was late Friday…
Spoke to 50 Shanghai bizs re: the advantages of invsting in IL, the midwest leader 4 tech, transportation and R&D
The pic…
Have at it.
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End it
Monday, Sep 26, 2011 - Posted by Rich Miller
* My weekly syndicated newspaper column…
If I’ve heard it once, I’ve heard it a thousand times: “Legislators don’t lose elections over what happens at the Statehouse, they lose because they don’t take care of business back home.”
There’s a lot of truth to that. Visible, accessible legislators with topnotch constituent services usually don’t lose elections. If you look at the roster of losing Democrats in 2010, you’ll see a bunch of incumbents who became invisible in their districts, or let things slide. That’s not a 100 percent hard and fast rule, of course. Nothing approaches universality in the political business. Some districts change, some people are elected as onetime flukes. But constituent services are all-important. Period. End of story.
In most parts of the state, however, taking care of the home front means making sure that local political and business powers are constantly stroked. And this is where members have often gone too far, particularly with the legislative scholarship program. The number of city, downstate and suburban party chairmen, precinct captains, fundraisers and other honchos who have “absolutely brilliant children totally deserving of these scholarships” has been a constant refrain. It is probably the most abused program in all of state government.
That’s not to say the scholarship program has done no good. Plenty of kids have gone to college, or medical school, or law school who never would’ve otherwise managed to do so without a legislative scholarship. Legislators often get into this business to help people, and many are deservedly proud of the real, honest good they’ve done with this program.
But recent revelations have convinced all but the most hardcore legislative adherents that this program is so rife with abuse that it must die.
How, for instance, can anyone defend Sen. Martin Sandoval (D-Cicero) handing out scholarships to five unrelated students whose “official” address all happened to be the home of Sandoval’s fundraiser and an Ed Burke precinct captain?
Former Rep. Bob Molaro (D-Chicago) also has been questioned about scholarships awarded to all four children of a campaign worker who doesn’t live in the district.
The Illinois State Board of Education forwarded the Sandoval case to the FBI, as well as one involving Rep. Dan Burke (D-Chicago), who gave a scholarship to the daughter of a legislative aide who didn’t’ appear to live in his district. The feds were already investigating the Molaro scholarship when the Board of Education referrals arrived.
ChicagoTalks.org took a look at legislative scholarships last summer and found that about a third of sitting state legislators had awarded scholarships to kids outside their districts. Some of those scholarships can easily be explained away because parents moved, or kids just went to school in the legislative district, or other honest mistakes were made. Some of the questioned scholarships also appear to have been totally legal. The Board of Elections’ online legislator locating system apparently isn’t 100 percent accurate.
Whatever the case, it’s against the law to award one of these scholarships to a student who doesn’t live in a legislator’s district, and it has been for a very long time. If the feds really wanted to, they could conceivably indict a large number of legislators for mail fraud. A very big chunk of the General Assembly might be wiped out on this residency issue (including, possibly, even some leaders). And it goes without saying that it’s totally indefensible to hand out scholarships to the progeny of party functionaries, brilliant or (far more likely) not.
If the General Assembly cannot find a way to once and for all reform this program, then legislators must end it. And, frankly, I’m not sure how the scholarship program can be reformed, since way too many legislators have resisted, circumvented or blatantly ignored past reforms.
If they want a district-based program for truly needy and deserving students, then they should set one up with real oversight and regulations. Otherwise, this must end, or the feds will do the job on their own and a whole lot of legislators might wind up in prison.
Heck, that could happen anyway.
Discuss.
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It doesn’t look like progress, but it is
Monday, Sep 26, 2011 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Today’s Tribune headline…
Illinois budget deficit to hit $8 billion despite tax increase
* Today’s Sun-Times headline…
Watchdog group: State deficit to grow to $5 billion
OK, what’s going on?
* Here’s the actual Civic Federation explanation…
The Institute for Illinois’ Fiscal Sustainability at the Civic Federation released its analysis of the enacted FY2012 State budget today. The report found that the spending plan will increase Illinois’ total general operating deficit to $5.0 billion by June 2012. The shortfall would be even larger if the State had not significantly underfunded Medicaid costs and business tax refunds.
The $5.0 billion projected year-end General Funds deficit includes an accumulated deficit from prior years of $4.6 billion and a FY2012 operating gap between revenues and expenditures of $454 million. However, FY2012 Medicaid costs are underfunded by as much as $1.7 billion. A loophole in the State’s budgetary law allows lawmakers to pay FY2012 Medicaid expenses in FY2013, effectively pushing current year expenditures off into the next fiscal year. The FY2012 budget also does not set aside enough income tax revenue to pay down a backlog of refunds the State owes to businesses, thus boosting the amount of revenue Illinois can spend on its operations.
The State is expected to end FY2012 with $5.5 billion in unpaid bills to vendors and local governments. An additional multi-billion payment backlog exists that is related to business tax refunds, employee and retiree health care and Medicaid. “While the budget process was somewhat improved this year, the Civic Federation cannot say the State of Illinois is better off,” said Laurence Msall, president of the Civic Federation. “By the end of FY2012, the State will have a payment backlog that could require over eight billion dollars in State money to pay off. The State’s finances have not been fixed.”
* It has taken Illinois over a decade to dig itself into this massive budget hole. So, of course, “The State’s finances have not been fixed.” This is a multi-year process to dig ourselves out with a combination of revenue increases and spending cuts. Fiscal year 2012 was just the first step.
* This graphic from the Civic Committee’s own report shows how tough the task is…
The state’s operating deficit is way down, and the state’s end of year balance was cut substantially. But because the state borrowed $5.4 billion last fiscal year (pensions, interfund and tobacco), our bottom line isn’t immediately better. Even so, we’re in far better shape because we didn’t use our “credit card” to pay operating expenses this fiscal year. All told, the state borrowed a whopping $12.1 billion to pay operating expenses between FY09 and FY11.
So, what the state did this year is a start, and not a horrible one, despite the gloom and doom from the headline writers. We’ve had a much better start than New Jersey, for instance, which is relying solely on cuts and apparently still has a $10.5 billion operating deficit. That’s double our operating deficit, both as a hard dollar figure and as a percentage of total budget.
* We’re not out of the woods yet, of course. Pension payments and related debt service jumped $562 million this fiscal year, and those payments will rise another $1.5 billion by Fiscal Year 2015 - the same year the income tax hike is scheduled to expire. The General Assembly took the easy way out and simply delayed Medicaid payments rather than cut provider rates (the payment delay was supported by hospitals and others who wanted to forestall any rate cuts). The governor and many legislators haven’t yet appeared to recognize the full extent of the problem (see below). And while the state has pared down the amount of income tax refunds owed to corporations by about $51 million this year, that backlog is still around $600 million.
* Related…
* New IDOT positions duplicate current state jobs: In the midst of the worst budget crisis in Illinois history, the state’s transportation agency has created a new layer of high-paying administrative jobs with duties that are already performed by current workers, according to records obtained by the Post-Dispatch. The 16 new positions offer top salaries of more than $100,000. They were posted in August, less than a month after the current workers officially joined a union over the objections of the agency.
* AG Madigan: Tax fraud among gas station operators is ‘pervasive’: More than one-fourth of Illinois gas station operators have underreported the amount of fuel they sell to the public, allowing them to pocket millions of dollars in sales tax owed to the state. Within the last 18 months, grand juries have indicted 14 Illinois gas station operators on charges of illegally withholding a portion of the sales taxes their customers paid at the pump.
* Rural enrollment decline leveling off: The unsettling trend of declining enrollment in many rural school districts seems to have stabilized this fall in several Central Illinois districts — a development educators hope continues for several reasons, not the least of which is money. More students generally mean more general state aid that is paid per student, and is based on a district’s average daily attendance.
* Support for M’Boro Youth Camp mounting: “Murphysboro Mayor Ron Williams, State Representative Mike Bost, State Representative Brandon Phelps, and State Senator Dave Luechtefeld have all come out in support of keeping this facility open, and these jobs in Murphysboro,” he said.
* Closing JDC would cost Morgan County $47 million, report finds
* Lincoln businesses fear closing of Logan prison
* Betting on Bernanke Returns 28% for Treasuries
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Good idea, but this is old news
Monday, Sep 26, 2011 - Posted by Rich Miller
* The Chicago Tribune editorial board calls for a “Truth Commission” in the wake of the Tribune’s recent disclosures about how some Chicago labor leaders are able to collect city pensions based on their union salaries…
At every turn, we the people are learning about insider deals and, yes, corruption. We realize that suggesting formation of an investigative panel risks a customary Illinois fate: Public officials here love to bury their problems in committees. But a group headed by, say, a former federal judge or prosecutor could unearth the many special deals that suffuse Illinois pension laws. A model here might be the so-called CLEAR Commission, which has been streamlining and updating the state’s criminal code. Its distinguished members have done good work while largely avoiding politics.
A Truth Commission, then, could cast light on these rampant abuses by pols and union leaders of rank-and-file workers and Illinois taxpayers. Then the rest of us taxpayers can apply whatever heat is necessary to enact significant reforms.
That’s not a bad idea. The General Assembly should go through pensions laws to weed out these egregious deals.
* And perhaps the Tribune or the proposed commission should start with a Sun-Times article published almost exactly two years ago which dug even deeper into Illinois’ past. The Sun-Times disclosed much of what the Tribune has been trumpeting for the past week as a major scoop. But it didn’t focus exclusively on union leaders, as the Tribune has. The Sun-Times actually went back to the beginning of the problem in 1957…
A Chicago Sun-Times examination of the state’s 17 largest government retirement plans found more than five dozen retired government workers whose pensions are based not on their public salaries but, instead, on what they were paid by labor unions, lobbying groups and other non-governmental organizations.
The practice goes back to at least 1957, when Illinois legislators passed a law allowing employees of the Illinois Municipal League — a non-governmental agency that lobbies Illinois lawmakers on behalf of suburbs and cities — to be part of the state’s generous pension plan. Other laws expanded the practice. […]
* Kenneth Alderson gets a state pension of $175,479 based on his pay as executive director of the Illinois Municipal League. Alderson, a onetime state employee, spent 36 years with the lobby group. Before he retired in January 2008, the league gave Alderson several raises that helped him get one of the biggest pensions from the Illinois Municipal Retirement League, the state pension plan for local governments.
Alderson contributed $148,678 toward his state pension — he has already recovered all of the money he invested — while the Illinois Municipal League contributed $1.7 million toward his pension, according to Louis Kosiba, the retirement plan’s executive director. While Alderson gets to benefit from being in a government pension plan, his pension won’t cost taxpayers any money, Kosiba said.
Alderson’s retirement plan appears to be far different than the one given to the labor leaders in that it’s actually funded. But that 1957 law opened the door to pensions for people who don’t actually work for government. It’s important to see how this began.
Indeed, the Sun-Times did a whole series of stories, including editorials, on this topic two years ago, including a bunch of stories on these labor pensions. And now the Tribune is claiming the story as its own. Typical.
* Now, back to the editorial…
In Springfield, House Republican Leader Tom Cross plans to push for a repeal of the 1991 law that allowed this particular abuse. Cross also says he will explore strengthening enforcement of provisions against fraudulently claiming eligibility for public pensions.
If Leader Cross is serious about real pension reform, he’ll combine that bill with his pension reform proposal…
Msall is calling on lawmakers to rein in pension costs by limiting benefits for current employees. It’s an effort led by House Republican leader Tom Cross of Oswego that has been met with skepticism from some leading Democrats, including Quinn. […]
“We cannot afford not to do pension reform,” Cross spokeswoman Sara Wojcicki Jimenez said.
Cross’ plan would ensure that employees keep the benefits they’ve earned to date, but give them three choices: stay in the current system and pay more, move to a lower-benefit tier that went into effect this year for new hires or enter into a 401(k)-style system.
Attach the labor union reform to a big pension overhaul, and a whole lot of his recalcitrant Republican members will be put seriously on the spot. If they vote against the bill, they can be whacked for supporting this pension abuse.
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