* The Lake County News-Sun’s “Talk of the County” is like an online letters to the editor page. I figure that this anonymous opinion posted to the page is pretty much the thinking behind Joe Walsh’s most committed followers…
Rep. Joe Walsh is a man who sticks by his word. He does what he says. He’s not a wimpy wishy-washy politician. I pick my battles. And don’t give me the poor example of not paying child support. The truth will come out. Those who are without sin can throw the first stone. And you have thrown yours by talking about someone without the facts.
Discuss.
* WBEZ’s Sam Hudzik tried to get Walsh’s GOP primary opponent Randy Hultgren to talk about whether he would run a negative campaign. Hultgren carefully dodged every question…
Last week, I chatted with Hultgren about the expected primary. I asked him if he would bring up the child support issue.
HULTGREN: You know, we’re going to talk about what we’ve been doing. I don’t, I really don’t know, what all is going to happen in this. I hope it doesn’t happen. I’m still hopeful that the courts are going to do the right thing and change these districts. So, what we’re going to do is focus on what we’ve been doing, and the good work that we’ve done for the people. […] In this district, particularly, I know that people are sick and tired of negative campaigns. I know in the media that, that people – they like that. But in this, there’s so much positive, that I feel like I can talk about, of what we’ve been doing and what we’ve done and what we’re going to do, that that’s going to be the focus.
I pointed out to Hultgren that his statement left the door open to using personal issues. He replied that his “focus is going to be on a positive race,” but added…
HULTGREN: There’s so many other things that play into it, of what people on the radio will say or what people in newspapers will say, but our focus is going to be positive. I think that’s absolutely what the 14th Congressional District wants.
Noting negative races in the past, Hultgren said, “I’m going to do everything I can to make sure that doesn’t happen again.”
So does that mean he’s personally pledging to run a positive race?
HULTGREN: Well, my focus is going to be on talking about positive things. We’re, I’ve, I’m careful on pledges, other than my pledges to serve the people that I represent as best as I possibly can, and to tell the truth, and to follow through on what I said I was going to do. Those are the pledges I’ve made and those are the pledges I’m going to keep.
That, my friends, is a careful answer.
Yep.
* And speaking of embattled incumbents, Republican state Sen. Suzi Schmidt now has a primary opponent…
Saying that incumbent state Sen. Suzi Schmidt will “have to run against her own incriminating 9-1-1 tapes” in the 2012 elections, former Lake County Board member Larry Leafblad of Grayslake formally declared his candidacy Monday to face his fellow Republican in the March 20 primary.
“The whole world was watching. Suzi mortally wounded herself,” Leafblad said in an appearance at the Round Lake Beach Cultural and Civic Center, referring to three domestic incidents between Schmidt and her husband, Robert, between December 2010 and Sept. 26 this year.
While neither Schmidt nor her husband were charged with any offenses in the incidents, Leafblad said he believes they made her “vulnerable next fall” among voters.
“The politicians that are tied to Suzi’s kite, because she’s got connections, (are) kind of circling the wagons around her right now,” Leafblad said following his formal remarks. “But the people are not. I’ve talked to 250, maybe 300 people throughout the last week or so (who) are very concerned that a Democrat could just walk into the position.”
* Meanwhile, Scott Reeder is rightfully not pleased with former state Rep. Mike Boland, who can’t make up his mind whether he will run for Congress or state Senate and is passing petitions for both offices…
Passing petitions to run for two different offices at the same time is sort like asking a gal to marry you, while still keeping your options open with the girl down the street.
Is Boland a two-timer pledging his devotion to the people of the 17th Congressional district while flirting with the voters in the 36th State Senate District?
* And Scott Cisek was remarkably candid about Congressman Jesse Jackson, Jr.’s primary race against former US Rep. Debbie Halvorson…
“Another city person getting in the race could only help Deb Halverson,” Cook County Democratic Party Political Director Scott Cisek said. […]
Though Jackson is already lining up support from local leaders in the black community, most onlookers downplayed the racial dynamic in the contest. Halvorson’s appeal to women could be a bigger factor, local Democrats speculated, especially in light of Jackson’s admitted affair.
Jackson “could have some real difficulty with women voters of every stripe,” Cisek said.
I’m assuming the Jackson campaign will use Halvorson’s pro-gun voting record to prevent her from winning over female voters, but Cisek has a good point.
*** UPDATE *** I can’t believe I forgot to post Mark Brown’s column here. The whole idea for this post came to me when I read his piece about the new Starz series “Boss” starring Kelsey Grammer as a Chicago mayor…
The scene is shot in the actual City Council chambers, which unfortunately may be its only brush with reality.
At one point, Mayor Kane becomes so frustrated with the City Council refusing to go along with him on a particularly outlandish scheme that he clears the chambers of the press and public, shuts off the lights (and presumably the sound system) in the upstairs gallery and decrees:
“Hand over the hardware. Laptops, BlackBerries, phones, iPads. All of it. No word in, no word out. No Twitter. No Facebook. Nothing.”
Mayor Kane goes on to tell the aldermen they will stay there until they vote his way, and if they don’t, he’ll make their votes public. The aldermen grumble, then throw their electronic devices into a box as ordered, but still refuse to vote with the mayor.
Somebody has got to be kidding.
That could happen in the General Assembly, because the Legislature is exempt from the Open Meetings Act. Something similar has actually happened, although it wasn’t done to strongarm members. But there’s no way a Chicago mayor could get away with pulling a stunt like that. And, as Brown points out in his column, there’s almost no way a Chicago mayor would ever need to do something like that.
[ *** End Of Update *** ]
* Gov. Pat Quinn’s administration has found an interesting way of getting around Freedom of Information Requests: Don’t keep records in the first place…
Hundreds of people saw Lady Antebellum, M.C. Hammer, Jason Aldean and other recording artists at the Illinois State Fair this year for free, courtesy of the governor’s office and the Department of Agriculture. But those agencies did not keep records of who received the tickets.
The state gave out 1,997 tickets, valued at from about $10 to $40, with the majority of them going to television and radio stations for promotional purposes to dole out to listeners and viewers. The governor’s office, the Department of Agriculture and the state fair received their own allotment of 654 tickets. The State Journal-Register filed a Freedom of Information Act request for information on who received the tickets.
* What’s next, a dispute over the shape of the table? Sheesh…
With every passing hour, the meeting between Chicago Public Schools officials and the Chicago Teachers Union to discuss longer school days appears less likely.
Last week, CTU President Karen Lewis had said she and her union officers were ready to talk about the district’s controversial plan, but suggested union headquarters as a meeting location.
CPS countered by suggesting the two parties meet at a school that has chosen to add 90 minutes to its school day.
And since then, the talks have stalled.
* Bad timing all around? Steve Stevlic has resigned as Chicago Tea Party director after it came out that he’d been busted last year for soliciting a prostitute. But according to a rival tea party group, Stevlic ought to also resign from the IPI…
Mr. Stevlic, of the 6800 block of West Cermak Rd in Berwyn, was removed from our tea party two years ago for inappropriate behavior towards a female tea party member. We never worked with him or his group and never will.
We also strongly suggest to all affiliated groups and organizations that support Steve Stevlic to stand him down. In particular, we suggest that John Tillman of the Illinois Policy Institute, where Stevan Stevlic, 36, was hired as an employee last week, fire him. We also demand, as tea partiers, that Steve Stevlic resign from his position and resign today. We just cannot afford him!
Actually, Stevlic is already gone. He resigned from IPI right after the revelations hit the media.
* An errant fax provides some insight into how things are done in St. Clair County…
St. Clair County Sheriff’s Department records clerk Joann Reed wanted a speeding ticket for the son of a deputy dismissed, but she didn’t go to a judge or jury in traffic court.
Instead, Reed faxed a copy of the Centreville Police Department’s ticket from the Sheriff’s Department’s fax machine to Centreville village attorney Carmen Durso, with a handwritten message: “Dismiss this case.”
The problem is, she didn’t fax the ticket to Durso. Reed accidentally faxed it to the News-Democrat’s newsroom.
Oops.
* This is just way too much power concentrated in one alderman’s hands…
Mayor Rahm Emanuel and Ald. Edward M. Burke (14th), chairman of the City Council’s Finance Committee, have agreed to work together to wring $15 million in savings out of the city’s $100-a-year million tab for workers compensation. […]
Burke, who has sole authority to process and settle workers compensation claims and handpick attorneys when claims are challenged, has agreed to more aggressively investigate and manage individual cases.
* Some of us wondered why Chicago’s Census effort was so mangled…
Illinois Secretary of State Jesse White’s Securities Department temporarily has revoked the securities license of Alvin Boutte Jr. after concluding that the Chicago municipal finance banker acted improperly in advising the agency that runs the state’s prepaid tuition program to invest $12.8 million in now-failed community lender ShoreBank Corp.
Mr. Boutte — a board member of the Illinois Sports Facilities Authority and recent co-chairman of a committee appointed by then-Mayor Richard M. Daley to provide a total count of the city’s population for the U.S. census — performed the “due diligence” review on behalf of the Illinois Student Assistance Commission for its investment in ShoreBank in late 2008. That investment was wiped out when ShoreBank failed in August 2010.
In its Oct. 3 order barring Mr. Boutte from offering or selling securities or providing investment advice, the Securities Department said Mr. Boutte misrepresented facts ISAC should have known before agreeing to invest and acted both as an adviser to ISAC and as a representative for ShoreBank in soliciting investors.
In March 2004, then-Mayor Richard M. Daley announced a deal that promised to save taxpayer money, reduce natural gas consumption and bring “green” jobs to Chicago.
But taxpayers might see red when they learn how the deal turned out. More than seven years later, the initiative has been quietly suspended amid problems with some of the equipment — and acknowledgements by city officials that taxpayers will probably lose money on the deal and never realize the energy savings that Daley touted, the Better Government Association has learned. […]
In the end, the BGA found that one of the few beneficiaries of the deal appears to be a businessman with close ties to Daley: United Service Cos. President and CEO Rick Simon, the former chairman of the Chicago Convention & Tourism Bureau and a South Loop neighbor of the ex-mayor.
Former Mayor Richard M. Daley on Monday denounced as “disgraceful” and a “personal insult to my wife” an internal audit concluding that recipients of city subsidies were told to donate to Maggie Daley’s After School Matters program.
The former mayor insisted that no arms were ever twisted to produce donations to the charity that his wife founded to occupy and educate Chicago teenagers. […]
Last week, Ferguson charged that After School Matters received $915,000 in contributions over a ten-year period from companies that received tax-increment-financing subsidies from the city.
TIF recipients interviewed by Ferguson’s investigators reported that, in the vast majority of cases, the charities were “unilaterally chosen” by the city with no specific standards for making those decisions.
* Related…
* Double-dipping in the teachers’ pension system: Michael Johnson didn’t wait until he retired as executive director of the Illinois Association of School Boards to start cashing in on his public pension. Johnson earned $324,785 in compensation from the Illinois Association of School Boards, or IASB, while simultaneously collecting $209,379.43 from the Illinois Teachers’ Retirement System between July 1, 2007, and July 1, 2008, according to documents obtained by Illinois Statehouse News.
* Union leaders pull down millions in public pensions: Former employees of the National Education Association, or NEA, Illinois Education Association, or IEA, Illinois Federation of Teachers, or IFT, and Illinois Association of School Boards, or IASB, drawing pensions have collected more than $47 million from the Illinois Teachers’ Retirement System, or TRS, to date.
* Feds investigating Cicero personnel practices: Federal authorities have interviewed dozens of current and former employees of the Town of Cicero, some under subpoena, as part of a wide-ranging investigation into the town’s personnel practices, the Chicago Sun-Times has learned. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, along with the U.S. Department of Justice, is conducting the investigation to determine whether to file a federal lawsuit against Cicero. Over the last three decades, the federal government has sued the town repeatedly over its hiring practices and alleged discrimination, but this investigation specifically targets practices under Town President Larry Dominick.
* Evans steps down as Country Club Hills police chief
* The Sox and Cubs had miserable seasons. The Bears were horrible last night. The NBA has canceled the first two weeks of the season. The Blackhawks ain’t what they used to be.
“We watch those (states) very carefully,” said Ben Bernanke, chairman of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve. “We also look at exposures of banks and other institutions to those states. We don’t see any immediate risk there.”
* This morning, Kirk released a report on Illinois finances that was somewhat accurate, but also out of date and, like his Greek theory, needlessly alarmist. For instance…
Illinois owes $8.3 billion in unpaid bills. That’s 10 times higher than the level in 2002.
Um, no. That number is way out of date. This is from a September report issued by the Illinois comptroller…
(T)he state ended fiscal year 2011 on June 30 with nearly $4 billion in unpaid bills dating back to January. When lapse period spending is included, the end-of-fiscal-year payment deficit balloons to $5.1 billion, which will be paid with fiscal year 2012 revenues.
Indeed, the State has put itself in a classic “debt spiral.” It borrows to cover deficit spending, so credit ratings fall and interest rates rise. Taxes go up but tax receipts still fall short because businesses aren’t growing and taxpayers are moving to other states. So, as if it were paying off a mortgage loan with a credit card, the government starts the cycle all over again by borrowing more and paying higher interest for the privilege.
Actually, there’s no new borrowing built into this fiscal year’s plan. And tax receipts are definitely not falling short since the tax hike.
* And even major budget players like Senate Appropriations Committee II Chairman Dan Kotowski are against more borrowing…
In the meantime, if the governor asks the General Assembly to borrow more money in the upcoming veto session, Kotowski said he would vote no.
“I wouldn’t support borrowing,” he said.
* Look, there’s no doubt that Illinois’ finances are not yet in order. Far from it. But as I’ve said time and again, it took the state decades to get into this mess, we cannot expect to get out of it in one year. It would certainly help if Gov. Pat Quinn were more committed to this goal, because the General Assembly can’t continue to do this on its own. And I’m not optimistic that the budget trend will remain. But Sen. Kirk should probably try using some updated numbers the next time he talks about his home state’s fiscal problems and avoid crying “Wolf.”
Also, the Tribune might wanna check Kirk’s numbers before it allows itself to be used like it was today.
* A civil war is brewing inside the most influential conservative group in Congress: The Republican Study Committee, which has long served as the conservative policy nerve center for the House GOP, has been beset by infighting and disputes over the group’s mission… Alabama Reps. Jo Bonner and Martha Roby have dropped out of the group, as has Louisiana Rep. Bill Cassidy. At least one other, Illinois Rep. Adam Kinzinger, is in the process of leaving, according to a source familiar with his thinking. Bonner, who met with Jordan privately before he dropped out, said he’ll “be damned if I am going to sit by and watch our members fight against each other.” Roby, Cassidy and Kinzinger refused to comment on their departures. “There’s a bit of an überconservative environment that’s going on, and we can’t continue to shoot ourselves in the foot or have what I call a circular firing squad,” said Florida Rep. Allen West, a freshman member of the RSC who is remaining in the group.
* Jacksonville Developmental Center hearing moved to larger site: An Oct. 24 meeting of the legislative Commission on Government Forecasting and Accountability to hear testimony about the state’s plans to close the Jacksonville Developmental Center has been moved to the Bruner Recreation Center on the Illinois College campus.
* Mother Warns of Danger If Mental Health Facilities Are Closed: In 2008, Barb Carlson’s daughter, Jennifer, and three of her friends were killed when a woman diagnosed with schizophrenia set her Chicago apartment building on fire. A Cook County judge found Mary Smith not guilty by reason of insanity. During the trial, Smith’s family said they tried to get her help, but no one would take her. Carlson fears if Singer closes it’s a tragedy that could happen again. “I think he needs to consider the ramifications that this is going to cause” says Carlson. “I heard there is no plan in place to put people once they shut these facilities down. I can see down the road if we’re not careful the same thing is going to happen again.”
* As we area all painfully aware, CME Group’s chairman/CEO has announced that he hates Illinois’ tax hike and may move pieces of his company to another state. But a couple of plans are surfacing…
Recent studies have shown, however, that most large Illinois-based corporations do not pay income taxes at anywhere near the official rate. Large manufacturers such as Boeing and Caterpillar, for instance, tend to book sales elsewhere, and because Illinois imposes its income tax taxes only on profits from sales within the state, these companies pay substantially less than if all their profits were taxed.
The CME Group, in contrast, executes the vast majority of its millions of daily trades in Chicago.
CME Chairman Terrence Duffy recently told reporters that the way Illinois apportions income tax liability puts his exchange at a distinct disadvantage. If Caterpillar sells earth-moving equipment to an individual living outside Illinois, the transaction does not incur state taxes in Illinois.
So the CME Group is looking for relief. Under one scenario, its trades could be recorded in the home state of the buyer or seller of the futures contracts. Under another, the state and the city could provide a package of economic incentives-job training grants, TIF financing, property tax abatements – to partially offset the income tax hit. [emphasis added]
I checked with the governor’s budget office on this and they, in turn, checked with the Department of Revenue. The budget office’s response…
As a general matter, their sales should be sited to the location of their customers. It is perhaps an open question who their customers are - perhaps they are the clearinghouses.
So, it’s possible that the law could be tweaked to allow CME Group to avoid state taxes by using a different formula for how the point of sale is calculated. But a decision really needs to be made soon.
* Earlier in the year, Gov. Pat Quinn set a September 13th deadline for a resolution to the labor issues at McCormick Place. Quinn said he’d call a special session of the General Assembly if no deal was reached. But before the deadline expired, Quinn announced that there was no need for a special session because talks were progressing smoothly. Not everyone agrees…
Talks aimed at reviving labor reforms at McCormick Place are dragging on too long, and may end up doing too little to make Chicago competitive with other cities, the head of the city’s convention bureau is warning.
In a remarkably candid interview, Bruce Rauner, the chairman of the Chicago Convention & Tourism Bureau, says current and potential trade-show customers “are losing their patience” at lengthy talks among Springfield politicians.
With talks already weeks behind schedule, the Legislature’s fall veto session is running out of time to work on McCormick Place matters, he said. “It’s not clear how these negotiations will turn out, or how comprehensive the changes will be,” Mr. Rauner said.
“This decision has dragged on too long and, if it continues they (customers) could go elsewhere,” he added.
* Gov. Quinn has had since the end of May to craft an alternative to the gaming expansion bill. Legislators and others have complained that he won’t say what specific changes he’d like to make to the bill. Doug Finke is rightly unimpressed with the governor’s latest pronouncement…
Quinn said last week that he will detail his concerns about the gambling expansion by the end of the month. Whoopee.
Quinn has been bad-mouthing the bill for months, complaining variously that it’s too big, it weakens oversight of gambling, it will ruin the family atmosphere of the state fairgrounds, etc. etc. etc. But he’s never really detailed all of his objections so that lawmakers can attempt to work on a compromise
But now Quinn is ready to lay out all of his concerns - by the end of the month. The end of the month, of course, is when lawmakers will be back in Springfield for the veto session. They could end up drafting a final compromise on the fly.
You know how well things turn out when they are rushed through the Legislature.
However, Quinn apparently did say that a south suburban casino is out of the question…
Not that all trustees were as concerned about proposals of a south suburban casino. [Lansing] Village President Norm Abbott said Gov. Pat Quinn told south suburban mayors during a recent meeting that it was unlikely any casino would ever be located in the South Side or its surrounding suburbs.
“He (Quinn) told us there just won’t be a new casino on the South Side,” Abbott said.
* Related…
* Durflinger reflects on doing business with China
* Legislative update: Illinois Fall Veto Session looms week of Oct. 25
* Hispanic leaders want seat on health review board
Tuesday, Oct 11, 2011 - Posted by Advertising Department
CHICAGO TRIBUNE (6/9/11):“The utilities stand to earn a return of 6 percentage points over the 30-year Treasury rate—that’s a profit of more than 10 percent at present. The profit could soar if interest rates rise, and apart from a weak provision written into the measure, the sky’s the limit. The bill also has a rate cap that applies only to part of the period it covers. The formulas for both return on equity and rate caps should be strengthened.”
ROCKFORD REGISTER STAR (6/7/11):“As we wrote in a May 22 editorial, the complex regulatory process in Illinois has served consumers well. There’s no need for the company to do this end run and weaken protections in place for decades.” “…ComEd thinks the regulatory process is broken – and its remedy is a guarantee of double-digit profits for the next decade.”
CRAIN’S CHICAGO BUSINESS (6/27/11): “The bill guarantees the utility an investment return of more than 10% annually, paid for by its customers. It also would weaken regulatory oversight of ComEd, the monopoly electric supplier to homes and small businesses in Northern Illinois.”
* My weekly syndicated newspaper column digs a bit deeper into the governor’s latest weird move…
Gov. Pat Quinn has been trying to get rid of Illinois Power Agency director Mark Pruitt almost since the day Quinn was sworn into office. He finally did it, but the move is backfiring.
The governor is a big cheerleader for alternative power like wind and solar. But Pruitt, whose main job is negotiating contracts with electricity generators on behalf of consumers, refused to sign some alt energy contracts because they’d cost consumers too much money.
Pruitt’s IPA was created after mega utility ComEd announced that it intended to buy electricity via a weird reverse auction system that was roundly slammed by Attorney General Lisa Madigan and every other reasonable political leader in Illinois. As a result, Pruitt claims to have saved Illinois electricity consumers $1.6 billion since 2007, and he has the numbers to back him up.
The IPA was created by House Speaker Michael Madigan, who to this day lists the creation as one of his greatest accomplishments. Pruitt wasn’t initially Speaker Madigan’s guy, but the speaker grew to respect him and found himself protecting Pruitt against Quinn’s hostility, eventually passing a bill this spring that removed the Power Agency from Quinn’s direct control. Quinn, in a move he’ll likely regret, vetoed Madigan’s proposal this summer.
Pruitt is most certainly an egghead, not an administrator. He initially tried to run the IPA by himself, which resulted in an embarrassing report by the Illinois auditor general. And although the Quinn administration denies it, word from inside is that the governor has blocked Pruitt from hiring staff, and Quinn has repeatedly taken money from Pruitt’s special fund to shore up the rest of the state budget. That turmoil is mainly why Speaker Madigan finally stepped in and attempted to insulate the power agency from Quinn’s meddling.
Back in June, Quinn tried to replace Pruitt with a lawyer who works for the attorney general’s office. The Senate Democrats decided that the lawyer didn’t meet the state law’s job requirements and quietly demanded that his name be withdrawn.
Quinn’s people still insist that the man was qualified. But they also claim, in a bizarre bit of pique, that he was actually pressured into withdrawing by the attorney general. The attorney general’s office flatly denies this allegation.
The governor’s folks say they asked Speaker Madigan for names to replace Pruitt but heard nothing back. That’s not surprising since Pruitt is Madigan’s guy.
Quinn finally ousted Pruitt last week and replaced him with Arlene Juracek, a retired ComEd executive. Juracek actually testified on behalf of the much-ridiculed reverse auction and admits to owning Exelon stock, but she won’t say how much.
Exelon, ComEd’s parent company, will be on the other side of the table when Juracek negotiates power prices. The Quinn people say the job requirements are so strict that they had little choice but to name Juracek to the post. Plus, they say, the Illinois Commerce Commission can veto any unfavorable deals Juracek might negotiate with her former parent company, which is cold comfort to the attorney general.
The bottom line here is that the governor has made a move that would’ve caused a gigantic uproar if Rod Blagojevich had done the same thing. Just imagine the hostile reaction if Blagojevich had appointed a ComEd retiree who still owns shares of her former parent company’s stock as the point person for negotiating power prices with that very company.
And below that bottom line is an even bigger problem. The governor has angered both the House speaker and the attorney general just weeks before the start of the fall veto session which was already looking like a disaster for Quinn as members prepare to override or reject almost all of his vetoes.
It’s not certain yet that Juracek’s nomination is doomed, but it is sure starting to look that way. The governor spent last week flying around to various downstate media markets to gin up public support for his veto of ComEd’s “Smart Grid” bill. How he can bash ComEd on the one hand and hire a ComEd veteran to negotiate electricity prices on the other is more than a bit beyond me.
Remember the dark days of 2007 when electric rates doubled and tripled because the power companies had been deregulated and they were buying high-priced power from themselves through a reverse auction? Juracek and the utilities loved the reverse auction idea. Obviously.
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The power agency was set up as an alternative to the reverse auctions, and Pruitt has done a great job for consumers, saving them an estimated $1.6 billion since 2009. We don’t understand why Quinn would replace him at all, but especially with someone who spent her career with ComEd.
Fortunately, the Senate will have to confirm Juracek. Let’s hope the senators have better sense than Quinn and say no to this appointment.
During the news conference, Quinn praised Juracek as his appointment to head the agency, despite criticism from Attorney General Lisa Madigan — who is often a supporter of the governor’s — that Juracek’s role in the 2006 electricity auction played a part in the considerable jump in the utility rates consumers pay.
“I’ve happened to know Arlene for some time. She’s worked with the utility company. We didn’t always agree, but she was prepared and knew the subjects backwards and forwards,” Quinn said. “I think it’s very good to have someone who is well-versed in the area of power procurement to represent the people of Illinois, the governments of Illinois and to get the best deal we can.”
Quinn said Juracek’s experience played a role in her appointment. State law, Quinn said, requires someone with 15 years of utility experience to take over the IPA’s top position.
In other words, despite Quinn’s longtime challenges to the utility industry as both governor and citizens advocate (his efforts helped form the Citizens Utility Board in 1983), he had to pull from the “other” side for this one.
* Related…
* Utilities gave legislators $1.3 million in push for ‘Smart Grid’ bill
* All ComEd bill provides is checkbook pain: He claims SB1652 does not guarantee utility profits. Read the bill: Page 82 clearly states that utility profits are tied to an automatic formula that is based on 30-year Treasury bonds. As bonds increase, so will ComEd and Ameren’s profits. Furthermore, Pages 84 to 86 state that year after year, ComEd and Ameren are guaranteed that their profit margins cannot fall below half a percentage point under what was reported the previous year. Mr. Romero also says that SB1652 includes consumer protections like a 2.5 percent cap. The reality, as stated in Pages 72-74 and 101-102, is that rate cap only applies for three of the bill’s 10 years, and that the so-called cap actually masks continuous increases in the delivery rates.
* If you have HBO, then you absolutely must watch Martin Scorsese’s new documentary on George Harrison, Living in the Material World.
The film builds on itself to give us an incredibly moving, beautiful and spiritual ending. In that way, Scorsese completely captures - and mirrors - George’s life. Harrison once referred to his religion as “a mystical energy encased in a sound structure,” but he might as well have been talking about himself.
From: cms.iisnews@illinois.gov
Subject: Press Release - CORR Doss Kuykendall at Large
Date: October 7, 2011 11:56:31 AM CDT
CHICAGO – October 7, 2011 – The Illinois Department of Corrections inmate at large is Doss Kuykendall who was incarcerated for burglary. He is housed at East Moline CC, a low level minimum security/work camp facility. Kuykendall is 43 years old, 5 ft. 8 inches tall- 190 pounds- with brown hair and blue eyes. He was last seen with a beard and long hair, but he may have altered his appearance.
The fugitive was taken into custody around 11 Friday morning by members of the Illinois Department of Corrections, Albany Police, and the Whiteside County Sheriff’s Department. The investigation into his escape continues.
Corrections sent another press release at 12:30 this afternoon announcing the capture.
* I’ve avoided this fight because, well, I’m not sure why. I just did. But here’s the latest salvo via press release…
Statement of Brady Campaign Acting President Dennis Henigan on Illinois Representative Joe Walsh’s October 3 letter responding to Henigan’s recent statement:
“Rep. Walsh recently argued that concealed carry of loaded guns should be legalized in Illinois because the Second Amendment is ‘the last line of defense between us and our government.’ When I suggested he ought to explain why his words should not be read as a thinly veiled justification for violence against government officials, the Congressman responded to me with a letter that is nothing but an exercise in misdirection and obfuscation. The letter is a dutiful repetition of gun lobby talking points, but not once does it explain, or even refer to, Walsh’s earlier statement that guns are ‘the last line of defense between us and our government.’
Rather than defend his earlier statement, Walsh’s letter raises new, and equally troubling, questions. He says that the Second Amendment was written because ‘Americans should be able [to] defend themselves from tyranny no matter what form it takes on.’ He then says that ‘Americans and especially Illinoisans are subject to a new form of tyranny — a big government bent on slowly dismantling our rights to own and carry a firearm.’
Again, Mr. Walsh, what are you saying here? That if Illinois does not allow the carrying of loaded, concealed guns in public, the Second Amendment justifies resistance by force of arms? Are you asserting a right of gun owners to threaten or engage in violent acts against government officials if the Illinois legislature does not agree that people should be free to carry loaded guns into restaurants, coffee shops and movie theaters in your state?
Discuss if you want.
* Five years ago, Walmart’s attempt to open a store in Chicago created such a public uproar that the resulting backlash led to a ton of incumbent aldermen being tossed out on their tails in the next election. Nowadays, Walmart is widely praised for providing much-needed services…
But since the company opened two SmallMarts — a “Walmart Express” store on Chicago’s south side in July and a “Neighborhood Market” on the western edge of Downtown last week — uproar over its alleged poor labor practices and detrimental effect on small businesses has largely dissipated, say Chicago leaders we spoke to.
“The debate about not letting in Walmart is kind of over,” said Illinois House Majority Leader Barbara Flynn Currie, a state legislature who represents the tony Hyde Park section of Chicago. “We need groceries in food deserts, and Walmart has fresh fruits and veggies.” […]
“The truth is that an overwhelming majority of Chicagoans wanted more affordable grocery options all along, a fact made clear as thousands of local residents — most of whom have never publicly voiced their opinion — show their support for Walmart by shopping our stores every day,” said Walmart spokesman Steve Restivo.
All true. It helped, though, that organized labor was able to cut a deal with the company which raised wages, albeit not to the level the unions really wanted.
* Broomfield, Colorado’s mayor is named Pat Quinn, and his opponent’s last name is Madigan. I kid you not…
All seven men running for a Broomfield office this year participated in Thursday’s event… Mayoral incumbent Pat Quinn and challenger Paul Madigan also participated.
Weird.
…Adding… Nice catch by a commenter…
I don’t know anything about them but there is also a national law firm with this interesting name: Quinn Emanuel
I’m guessing it’s time to change the slogan for the White Sox. I don’t think you can hire somebody like Robin Ventura as manager and say you’re “All In.”
Bringing in Terry Francona would have been an “All In” move. You could have made the case for Davey Martinez or Ryne Sandberg, who have paid their dues in the dugout. […]
If you’re a longtime Sox fan like me, you remember the Sox hired Don Kessinger as a first-time manager in 1979. We heard the same description as we did about Mr. Ventura: classy player, great guy, played baseball the right way. The former shortstop was fired in mid-season after compiling a 46-60 record.
Hopefully, Mr. Ventura will have a better run than Mr. Kessinger.
As for the new slogan, perhaps something involving patience might be in order. One piece of advice for the Sox: Please stay away from any Batman and Robin references.
* The Question: What should be the new White Sox slogan?
* WBEZ aired a really good story on Mike Kasper this morning. Kasper, as most of you know, is a Statehouse and Chicago lobbyist. But he’s also a bigtime Democratic lawyer. He handled the House impeachment process of Rod Blagojevich, defended Rahm Emanuel in his residency lawsuit, is the lead lawyer defending the Democrats’ new district maps, defends favored Dems during the petitioning process and helps knock unfavored Dems and Republicans off the ballot. He even does some personal legal work for members…
Kasper worked for [Rep. Monique Davis] in the 2008 election, when he tried to get her opponent disqualified from the race. Campaign finance reports indicate Kasper did not charge for that work, and Mike Madigan’s campaign picked up the tab for miscellaneous costs.
Kasper also worked pro bono for Davis a couple years ago, when she was sued for overdue rent on her Chicago office.
“Mr. Kasper is an excellent attorney,” Davis said. “He’s a very down-to-earth individual. I think he’s the kind of person that anyone could trust.”
Campaign legal work only occasionally shows up on campaign finance forms. So some politicians are accepting free legal services from a lawyer who’s also a lobbyist, without disclosing what’s essentially a gift. The director of the state board of elections said that’s because these legal expenses fall into a “gray area” of the law.
Since Kasper probably wrote that law, there’s most likely a good reason why it’s a “gray area.”
…Adding… Good points from commenter Willie Stark…
So, anyone who volunteers on a campaign should have to therefore report an in-kind in at least that amount for hours they spend in their volunteer activities. Is that what we mean to do? If not, how does disadvantaging a particular class of worker (lawyer) square with the freedom of association implicit in the first amendment’s freedom of assembly?
It doesn’t seem so black and white to me that those who in their professional lives bill at an hourly rate should have to also bill and report for their personal political activities, but maybe others can show how it is.
* There’s been a long Statehouse tradition of the best - and most favored - legislative staffers leaving after several years of service and becoming lobbyists. Kasper was House Speaker Michael Madigan’s chief legal counsel before moving up. One of Kasper’s lobbying partners is Courtney Nottage, ex-Senate President Emil Jones’ former chief of staff and his top campaign guy. Another is David Dring, who flacked for House GOP Leader Tom Cross. The firm’s lead lobster is Jim Fletcher. From his bio…
Mr. Fletcher has more than 30 years of experience in state government affairs. His governmental experience includes service as Deputy Governor of Illinois, Parliamentarian of the Illinois House of Representatives, Parliamentarian of the Illinois Senate, General Counsel and Executive Director of the Illinois Educational Facilities Authority, and Executive Director of the State of Illinois Liaison Commission of Higher Education.
Fletcher was a partner at Winston & Strawn before Jim Thompson left office and joined the firm. He’s a Statehouse legend and a walking history book. He’s also one of the most pleasant people you’ll ever meet. Fletcher’s firm even touts this New York Times quote on its website…
“clout heavy lobbyists”
Yep. And they are far from alone. Carter Hendren, Pate Philip’s former chief of staff and Jim Edgar’s first gubernatorial campaign manager is also a lobbyist. Hendren wields enormous backstage power in Republican circles. Tom Cullen, who ran Speaker Madigan’s campaign apparatus and took the House back from the Republicans in 1996, has a lobbying list as long as both your arms and is still very active in House Democratic campaigns.
You could say that these guys (and they are almost all men) are the premium oil which makes the engine run. Their clients also provide a handy fundraising asset for their former employers. It’s almost a perfectly privatized political synergy.
But all have been meticulously trained over the years to dot their i’s and cross their t’s. These are not the sort of people who are likely to be caught up in a scandal (yeah, there was that MSI thing with the Senate Repubs, but it was a long time ago). They most certainly have a definite “in” with their former employers, which is why they’re hired. Yet, they don’t always pass their bills. Not even clout can pass a bad bill.
* The governor toured Downstate Illinois yesterday to pump up public support for his veto of the ComEd/Ameren “Smart Grid” bill. He didn’t focus much on the Smart Grid, however…
Gov. Pat Quinn on Thursday urged lawmakers not to override his veto of legislation that proponents say will modernize the state’s energy infrastructure through rate hikes and a more streamlined regulatory process.
With Ameren Illinois’ corporate headquarters in Peoria serving as a backdrop, Quinn said, “This is a fight” during the first of four public downstate stops to push back against any attempt to override his Sept. 12 veto of SB1652.
Proponents say the legislation institutes modest rate increases to build a better, “smart grid” system for power distribution.
“We have to make sure to get the word out for those who represent the people of central Illinois that if they override the veto, they are voting for an automatic rate increase for Ameren and for Chicago-based Commonwealth Edison,” Quinn added. “That is not good.”
Gov. Pat Quinn visited City Hall Thursday afternoon to stand with metro-east mayors in an effort to protect consumers from what he called potentially massive electric rate hikes.
Quinn said that he vetoed a bill earlier this year that he said gives unprecedented advantages to Ameren and other state utilities to raising rates at a time when consumers are struggling to make ends meet.
“It was a bad bill,” Quinn said. “It was bad for consumers, it was bad for businesses and it was bad for government. It was bad for the people of Illinois.”
Gov. Pat Quinn on Wednesday replaced the head of the independent Illinois Power Agency, which has saved consumers an estimated $1.6 billion on electric rates since 2009, with a retired 35-year veteran of Commonwealth Edison.
Quinn’s appointment of Arlene Juracek, which must be confirmed by the Illinois Senate, drew fire from Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan’s office.
“We have concerns about this appointment,'’ said Paul Gaynor, a spokesman for Madigan.
Gaynor said Juracek played a key role in an electricity auction in 2006 that caused some consumers’ rates to jump two to three times and ultimately resulted in a settlement of about $1 billion repaid to consumers, as well as the creation of the power agency to purchase electricity at the cheapest rates available.
House Speaker Michael Madigan has tried through legislation to have the IPA removed from Quinn’s oversight and moved to the Illinois Ethics Commission, but Quinn vetoed the plan. This issue could be resurrected in the coming veto session.
You should really go read the whole thing. This is a curious appointment, to say the least. The governor’s office claims their hands are tied by state law to the point where only a tiny number of people are qualified for the job, but putting a retired ComEd exec in charge of negotiating power prices with her former employer is more than a bit odd - especially when she still owns Exelon stock.
Nobody believes that Gov. Quinn has all of a sudden sold his soul to ComEd. If that happened, the ground would be getting mighty cold from Hell freezing over. The question here is about his judgement. And, as I pointed out to subscribers this morning, just imagine the uproar if Rod Blagojevich had hired a ComEd retiree to negotiate rates with her old boss.
Commonwealth Edison Co. has extolled the support of Illinois businesses in its bid to override Gov. Pat Quinn’s veto of the electricity rate hike bill. But while several companies that stand to benefit if the bill becomes law are pushing for the override, the largest commercial power users in the state are firmly against it and support the veto.
They are represented by a consortium of two dozen companies that calls itself the Illinois Industrial Energy Consumers and includes huge Illinois employers like Peoria-based Caterpillar Inc., North Chicago-based Abbott Laboratories Inc., Chicago-based steelmaker A. Finkl & Sons Co. and Decatur-based Archer Daniels Midland Co.
Greg Webb, ADM’s vice-president for state governmental relations, stood beside Mr. Quinn on Thursday as the governor was in Decatur as part of his barnstorming tour of Downstate to build support for sustaining his veto of the measure, SB1652.
“ADM, like other employers in Illinois, relies on competitively priced, reliably delivered electricity in order to operate,” Mr. Webb said. “SB1652, unfortunately, does not deliver on either of those counts. Its reliability provisions are not strong enough, and its rate provisions could very well lead to Illinois businesses paying higher rates than in neighboring states without commensurate benefits.”
“When I met with the media as our season ended, I identified one person at the very top of my managerial list,” general manager Ken Williams said in a statement. “I wanted someone who met very specific criteria centered around his leadership abilities. Robin Ventura was that man. His baseball knowledge and expertise, his professionalism, his familiarity with the White Sox and Chicago and his outstanding character make him absolutely the right person to lead our clubhouse and this organization into the seasons ahead.”
Ventura replaces Ozzie Guillen, who left the Sox for the Florida Marlins.
“When I rejoined the White Sox this June, I said this was my baseball home and that part of me never left the White Sox organization,” Ventura said in a statement. “My family and I are thrilled to be returning to Chicago. Managing a Major League Baseball team is a tremendous honor. It’s also an opportunity and a challenge.
I’ve checked Ventura’s bio and this appears to be his first ever coaching job.
Discuss.
…Adding… He may be a rookie manager, but he does have some fire in his belly. Trouble is, he ain’t much of a fighter. Remember this one?…
* Democrat Debbie Halvorson went on the offensive against Congressman Jesse Jackson, Jr. during a media appearance this morning. She blasted Jackson in her opening statement for being against the president’s proposed jobs bill…
“The current congressman is against the jobs bill. How can you be against the jobs bill when unemployment in Illinois is worse than the unemployment nationwide.”
* But Halvorson really let Jackson have it during the question and answer session with reporters…
“This president is gonna need help. We can’t have a congressman out there who is bashing his president, who is talking against his jobs bill, who votes against things that are important to him. The people of the 2nd Congressional District elect their congressman who’s gonna go to DC to support the president… It’s ridiculous…”
Keep in mind that this is an overwhelmingly Democratic district. This is all about winning the primary. The general won’t mean much unless a third party candidate gets into the race.
* “He’s got distractions,” Halvorson said of Jackson, noting that he’d been named to a list of the most corrupt members of Congress and was being investigated by the House Ethics Committee.
After bringing up a point about where Jackson actually lives, she was asked by a reporter if she was suggesting that he didn’t live in Chicago…
“I will tell you, I’m not suggesting. He lives in Washington, DC, he raises his family in Washington, DC. He does not come home.”
Later, she even claimed the same about his wife, Ald. Sandi Jackson…
“Rumor has it that she lives in DC, too.”
* Before last night’s presser, Congressman Jackson sent out a statement touting his job creation history…
“During the past 16 years, I have maintained a narrow focus on bringing jobs to the Southland. I’ve secured more than $900 million in federal investments in the 2nd Congressional District — more than any other congressman in the state during that period.”
But Halvorson dismissed Jackson’s claim…
“I don’t see a job that came from any of it. But it’s been doled out to the party leadership or maybe the mayors to gain that loyalty.”
* Halvorson was also asked about her past support from the NRA…
“You know what, guns don’t kill, criminals do. What we need to recognize is the fact that we need to protect people from the criminals who get the guns no matter what.”
* In other news, Abdon Pallasch is live-tweeting the Cook County Democratic Central Committee’s slating session. There’s some interesting news about Ald. Sandi Jackson attempting to derail the slating of State’s Attorney Anita Alvarez. First, her husband tries to derail a new district map backed by a Latino congressman, and now she goes after a Latina countywide official. Weird.
BlackBerry users click here. Everybody else can watch the ScribbleLive doohickey…
A day after state Rep. David Harris announced he wouldn’t be making a bid in the 8th District Republican primary, after all, a senior Republican operative tells us that DuPage Superintendent of Education Darlene Ruscitti is making phone calls to Republican delegates about running in the new 8th Congressional district.
The field is clear, I’m hearing, so she’ll be up against either Tammy Duckworth or Raja Krishnamoorthi.
Former Springfield Ald. Bill Clutter is no longer a candidate for state Senate.
Being a candidate for more than two months, Clutter said today, “totally diverted me from my business” as well as his work the Innocence Project, which seeks to reverse wrongful convictions.
Clutter, 53, who has an investigations and process server business, had been running for the Democratic nomination in the new 48th Senate District. He’s now endorsing the other Democrat in the race, Macoupin County Board Chairman Andy Manar of Bunker Hill.
“I think he’ll make a strong candidate to win the seat for the Democrats,” Clutter said of Manar, who is also chief of staff to Senate President John Cullerton, D-Chicago.
* House Republican Leader Tom Cross unveiled his economic plan in Chicago yesterday. As I’ve already told you, Cross has held some Downstate press conferences to tout the plan…
Cross cited lowering the fee for incorporating a new business to $100 from $750, extending existing enterprise zones, making permanent the research and development tax credit, raising the ceiling on estate tax liability, and allowing firms to carry losses into later tax years.
But Cross did not mention his proposed repeal of January’s corporate income tax increase, which was largely pushed through by Democrats.
“We’d go further if we were in charge,” Cross, of Oswego, later told reporters. Asked if Democrats had shown any willingness to discuss repealing or cutting the corporate tax, Cross said: “None at all. None at all.”
But Democratic Senate President John Cullerton has expressed an interest in looking into reducing the corporate rate, which jumped to 7 percent from 4.8 percent, in light of threats from several high-profile businesses to leave the state. […]
Cullerton has spoken on several occasions of lowering the corporate income tax rate in exchange for eliminating tax loopholes in a revenue-neutral fashion, said John Patterson, a Cullerton spokesman.
* Meanwhile, Laurence Msall, the President of The Civic Federation, is one of the media’s favorite go-to guys about our state’s budget and its pension problems. This is from his official bio…
As DCCA’s chief legislative liaison, Msall presented and successfully secured the passage of over 50 legislative initiatives including the tax and financial incentives used to retain the Sears merchandising group in Illinois, the creation of the State of Illinois tourism promotion program, the Illinois Enterprise Zone program, and reform of the State’s tax increment financing program.
So, Illinois TIFs were “reformed,” eh? Huh. OK. Did anyone tell the Chicago Reader?
* Msall helped pass a whole lot of business tax breaks that are now biting us in the rear. For instance, Sears…
In 1989 the state of Illinois needed to come up with a plan to keep Sears from moving out of state.
They came up with tax incentives. One of them was a property tax break program called an Economic Development Area (EDA) which took the money away from the D300 schools.
The EDA is set to expire in 2013. Sears is asking for a 15 year extension, which was then added as an amendment to SB 540
This Bill is set to be voted on October 25th, 2011.
* Most of the powers that be support this Sears EDA legislation. But as I’ve told you before, the local school district is hotly opposed…
“This is unusual in a way, for our part, to take a political side, but we are at a point right now where we are desperate,” Superintendent Michael Bregy said. “And because of what happened in the past with the Sears EDA being placed onto a bill and, at the 11th hour, almost being passed without any knowledge of our school district, we have taken a very vocal position in the issue because we have not been asked to be at the table.”
Bregy made those comments at a school board meeting earlier [last] month during which the board approved a contract with attorney Scott Nemanich of Hinshaw & Culbertson LLP to act as governmental relations counsel to the district. […]
“It’s not that anybody is against Sears. Our own parents in our district work at Sears. We’re not drawing a line in the sand against Sears,” Bregy said.
But a volunteer-based group, Advance 300 that’s affiliated with the district’s lobbying push sure looks like it’s “drawing a line in the sand against Sears.” From its website…
If the Sears EDA is extended, D300 will lose at least $14 million per year for the next 15 years that it should be getting in property taxes from the Sears property in Hoffman Estates. If we do not get that money the district, and our kids’ futures, will be devastated.
Tomorrow starts our call a ireesponsible lawmaker and invite them to our OCtober 13th Rally Day. Monday’s lucky invitee is Sen. Dan Kotkowski. Sen. Kotkowski’s bill - Seante Bill 540 is the bill that was amended to include the extension of the Sears EDA. While Sen. Kotkowski told D300 administrators that he would pull the amendment, he instead filed a motion for concurrence that could actually expedite the passage of the bill once the veto session starts on October 25th. Call the “Honorable” Senator today and ask him to join us at the October 13th Rally at Westfield so that he can explain to us why it’s better to pay greedy corporations than educate 21,000 kids!
Apparently, they need a lot more education money in that district because the group has a real problem with spelling errors.
* By the way, Ohio thinks it has an in with Sears. This is from the Columbus Dispatch…
In May, one week after initial reports about a possible Sears move, it was disclosed that the Sears chairman, billionaire hedge-fund manager Eddie Lampert, had bought a large stake in the Columbus-based discount retailer Big Lots. According to a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, the 1.3 million shares of Big Lots that Lampert acquired early this year were valued at $56.5 million.
The prospect of Sears becoming a central Ohio company could make “a lot of sense,” Columbus retail consultant Chris Boring said.
“Central Ohio is a hotbed for retail executives and retail consultants, especially with Ohio State graduating thousands of business graduates every year,” Boring said. “I think this would be a very fertile territory for Sears in terms of labor. The success of central Ohio’s other retailers speaks to that.”
* In other news, one can only wonder if this Supreme Court ruling will prompt the mayor to ask the General Assembly to change state law this fall or next spring…
The Illinois Supreme Court ruled that Chicago can’t collect amusement taxes from websites where tickets are resold.
In a victory for StubHub Inc., an online market for ticket resellers, the state’s high court said the city overstepped its home-rule powers when it required “agents” of ticket resellers to collect taxes owed on any markup over the face value of a ticket.
The city was seeking taxes, penalties and interest dating back to 2000 from StubHub and its parent company, San Jose-based eBay Inc., which acquired the San Francisco-based Internet firm for $307 million in 2007. […]
The circuit court bumped the case back to the Illinois Supreme Court, which ruled in an opinion issued Thursday that the state Legislature wanted “to allow Internet auction-listing services to opt out of any obligation regarding local tax collection. That is a policy decision this court is ill-advised to ignore.”
* Related…
* Quinn says he’s working on incentives for Ford: It’s not the first time Ford has received incentives to increase its workforce in Illinois. Since 2007, it has received at least $6.2 million in training funds and grants from the Large Business Development Assistance Program, according to the Illinois Corporate Accountability website.
* Navistar cutting about 130 jobs in Fort Wayne: Navistar International Corp. is planning to lay off about 130 workers from its Fort Wayne operations by the end of the year as it continues consolidation to a new headquarters in suburban Chicago.
* Quinn says he’ll detail gambling objections this month
* The FBI specifically warns against using its crime stats to make up silly rankings. From the agency’s website…
Each year when Crime in the United States is published, many entities—news media, tourism agencies, and other groups with an interest in crime in our Nation—use reported figures to compile rankings of cities and counties. These rankings, however, are merely a quick choice made by the data user; they provide no insight into the many variables that mold the crime in a particular town, city, county, state, region, or other jurisdiction. Consequently, these rankings lead to simplistic and/or incomplete analyses that often create misleading perceptions adversely affecting cities and counties, along with their residents. […]
For example, one city may report more crime than a comparable one, not because there is more crime, but rather because its law enforcement agency, through proactive efforts, identifies more offenses. Attitudes of the citizens toward crime and their crime reporting practices, especially concerning minor offenses, also have an impact on the volume of crimes known to police.
* There are other factors that play into this as well. Chicago isn’t ranked at all for violent crimes because of the way it collects data on forcible rape…
The data collection methodology for the offense of forcible rape used by Chicago, Illinois, does not comply with national Uniform Crime Reporting Program guidelines. Consequently, its figures for forcible rape and violent crime (of which forcible rape is a part) are not published in this table.
* But, sure enough, Forbes went ahead and did it anyway and ranked Springfield, IL as the third most violent city in the nation, after Detroit and Memphis…
The Springfield, Ill., metropolitan area ranks third on our list with 855 violent crimes per 100,000 residents in 2010. The Illinois state capital confounds analysts who try to interpret its relatively high crime rate. The unemployment rate was lower than the national average at 7% as of July so the economy wouldn’t seem to play a major role in crime. The area’s relatively young population – 66% of the city is under the age of 44 – may be a factor, as younger areas generally have higher rates of crime.
* Forbes used the FBI’s metropolitan statistical area breakdowns for its study. I went through the FBI’s list of crimes by Illinois cities and pulled out the worst of the bunch…
* But, of course, since there’s a ranking available by a national media outlet, we’re seeing lots of local coverage here…
* Local officials did their best to convince people that Forbes relied on faulty data…
Springfield Police Chief Robert Williams and Mayor Mike Houston expressed disbelief Tuesday at statistics that suggest greater Springfield is the third most-violent metropolitan area in the U.S. – behind only Detroit and Memphis. […]
Williams suggested the city’s ranking is due to Springfield being scrupulous about reporting crimes.
“I don’t want to point fingers at anyone else,” Williams said. “But I’ll tell you that we have a very strict interpretation as to how we report our crimes.
“We continue each year to compare apples to apples, and we see a downward trend,” he said. “I respectfully dispute those statistics, as well as the methodology.”
Unfortunately for Springfield, these lists have a way of taking on eternal life. Rockford, for all its image-building effort, will forever be dogged by finishing dead last — No. 300 — in Money magazine’s “most livable cities” lists in 1993 and 1996. (Rockford was rated the 10th most dangerous city in this week’s Forbes list.)
Again, we’re not in denial that Springfield should strive to be a safer place with less violent crime.
But Springfield as the third most dangerous city in America? Figuratively speaking, those are fighting words.
* I asked the Illinois Department of Employment Security to total up seasonally adjusted job growth and declines from January through August, the latest month available. I did this because we’re starting to see questions crop up here and there about whether the income tax hike is hurting Illinois’ economy. There are good arguments that the tax hike will definitely hurt us, and we’ll get into those in another post today, but as you can plainly see, the biggest net job losses since the January tax hike have been in government…
* Here are the monthly job growth/decline figures…
Both the U.S. and Illinois unemployment rates declined in January, February and March. The U.S. rate began to increase in April.
In May, the Illinois unemployment rate followed suit and began to increase.
In July and August, the stagnant national economy finally pushed the Illinois unemployment rate up at a steeper pace than the national average.
Latest revised estimates for Q1 2011 U.S. Gross Domestic Product shows a meager annual rate of 0.4 percent; 2011Q2 was 1.3 percent. These rates indicate that the U.S. will share the fate of most of the world’s largest economies - a period of slower growth.
Housing remains the national economy’s albatross. According to the U.S. Commerce Department, in the second quarter, residential investment — money spent on building, adding to and maintaining homes — accounted for just 2.2 percent of GDP. That’s the lowest level since 1945. If residential investment were to rebound to its average share of the economy from 1950 to 2000 of 4.7 percent, GDP would be 2.5 percent higher than it is now.
* Meanwhile, Gov. Pat Quinn talked to reporters yesterday for the first time since his trip to China. Raw audio…
“The revenues are going pretty well for Illinois in the major areas of revenue that the state receives. There won’t be much of a difference between the expenditures this fiscal year and the revenues that we derive. We may actually have more revenues than expenditures… We just have to get strong economic recovery as the very best way to deal with the budget deficit of the state.”
* The governor is absolutely right about how an economic recovery will help erase the budget problem. You cannot contract your way out of this mess. Just the opposite.
And he’s right that state revenues are doing well so far this fiscal year. Revenues are coming in pretty well. The problem isn’t now, however, the problem is the near future. The Commission on Governmental Forecasting and Accountability’s latest report urges lots of caution…
Caution Urged Despite Early Performance
While the economic sources have met the Commission’s expectations to date, the forward view of revenues should be tempered with the realization that some clouds on the horizon will serve to stymie a repeat of similar growth. […]
In addition, second half revenue performance would not escape if the current economic “soft patch” continues to be accompanied by stubbornly high unemployment. Looking ahead, continued economic malaise would jeopardize even modest revenues expectations well into FY 2013.
In other words, it’s no time to be spending more money. On the other hand, considering the economy, it’s not a good time to be cutting back, either. If this state had its act together, we could better respond to problems like these. We don’t, so we can’t. We’re essentially victims of our own irresponsibility.
* Related…
* Quinn would consider keeping prison open: But Quinn said the money to keep the prison open must come from re-allocation, and that he won’t borrow cash. The General Assembly would have to agree to re-allocate the money.
* Testimony begins today in Bill Cellini’s corruption trial. I’ll post some stories in the ScribbleLive program while we await the beginning. BlackBerry users click here, everybody else can just stay on this page and watch…
