* Subscribers are already well aware of a report about several maxed out contributions by two very wealthy to little county Republican Party committees and groups all over the state. Much of those contributions then were contributed back to the Illinois Republican Party via tickets to a Karl Rove fundraising event. Bernie Schoenberg takes the story one step further, however, and connects those contributions to a 13th Congressional District hopeful…
Rodney Davis of Taylorville, one of four remaining candidates for the nod, ran the Republican “victory” coordinated campaign effort in Illinois in 2010. He spent most of 2011 as acting executive director of the state party.
Davis said he did have a role in helping the Griffins find GOP organizations to contribute to, but those donations were “absolutely not” linked to the Rove event.
“I introduced some of those county party chairmen to Mrs. Griffin, absolutely,” Davis said. “Each of those counties knew from Day 1, they have the ability to spend that money to help elect Republicans, and that’s what they’re going to do.”
* Davis worked for Illinois Republican Party Chairman Pat Brady when those contributions were raised. Brady is now chairing the search committee to replace retiring Congressman Tim Johnson on the ballot. From Bernie…
Pat Brady, as state party chairman, is overseeing the selection process and reiterated that he is staying neutral. Still, in defending Davis’ role in party activities, he also heaped praise on Davis.
Brady said Davis did “an unbelievable job” running the Illinois victory program in the 2010 cycle, when the GOP won a majority of U.S. House seats in the state. Brady also said he basically took five months off from party work last year to help his wife, JULIE, in her continuing battle with cancer. During that time, he said, Davis handled party restructuring and worked to pay off the party’s debt.
“He’s really transformed it into an effective organization and done everything that I’ve ever asked him,” Brady said of Davis.
Brady won’t have a vote on the final selection, but his close connection and high praise for one of the potential ballot appointees is causing some consternation with the other camps.
Jerry Clarke, another potential replacement, is a member of the Illinois Republican Party Central Committee.
* The Question: Should Republican Party Chairman Pat Brady recuse himself from the Tim Johnson replacement search? Take the poll and then explain your answer in comments, please.
* Subscribers were tipped to this bill earlier in the week. It passed the Senate Executive Committee yesterday and is now on the floor…
Illinois’ Senate leader wants to require publicly traded corporations operating in the state to disclose certain financial information, an idea Republicans and business groups criticized.
Senate President John Cullerton, D-Chicago, introduced the Corporate Disclosure and Responsibility Act on Wednesday and said the goal is to help the state and public evaluate the effectiveness and need for corporate tax breaks, such as the deal offered last year to the CME Group Inc. and Sears Holdings Corp., aimed at keeping them in Illinois.
“Publicly traded corporations already tell shareholders how their investments resulted in losses and profits,” Cullerton said. “The people of Illinois deserve the same transparency.” […]
Senate Minority leader Christine Radogno, R-Lemont, said it was “political gamesmanship” on the part of Cullerton and Senate Democrats, calling the measure “a cheap shot to the business community.”
As part of its economic development efforts, the state has awarded incentive packages to companies that agree to invest in the state and create jobs here, allowing them to take credits against their corporate income taxes. But since some companies pay no income taxes for a variety of reasons, the state has broadened some packages to allow them to retain a portion of the employee income taxes they withhold from paychecks.
“We are being asked to approve bills giving money to companies that apparently don’t pay (income) taxes,” Cullerton said. “It would be helpful to know what the situation is.”
* Cullerton made reference during the hearing to a similar Wisconsin law, but even before the hearing began some business lobsters were saying this was political payback to the Illinois Chamber…
But a source who would know says there’s another reason for the measure, perhaps the main reason. That would be the recent appearance by conservative GOP Gov. Scott Walker of Wisconsin at a Springfield luncheon sponsored by the Illinois Chamber of Commerce.
The appearance by a figure who has rankled organized labor in his state came as officials in this state are talking to unions about a pension-reform deal. So the timing was bad.
Moreover, it turns out, Wisconsin already has on its books a law that includes a portion of what Mr. Cullerton is proposing to do here.
Chamber chief Doug Whitley says he’s heard the same thing. And he sure isn’t happy about it.
“If it’s just a manner of having fun and sending a message I can understand that,” he emailed me. “But not only is it just totally unnecessary, it just sends off more warning bells” to companies that might want to set up shop here.
Adds Mr. Whitley: Mr. Cullerton takes “pleasure in reminding us” that things could be made worse for business in Illinois. And Mr. Whitley’s response: “Get over it, already.”
Others, however, said this bill was political cover for liberals who will have to make some tough budget and pension votes in the coming weeks. The same thing goes for the minimum wage bill that’s still pending in Senate Exec.
Thursday, May 10, 2012 - Posted by Advertising Department
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“More people at work means more tax revenues coming in to help balance our city, county and state budgets.” Dave Whitmore, Business Manager, Ironworkers Local 4
“More than 50,000 jobs are at stake! Not only would SB 1849 create 20,000 new jobs, it would save more than 30,000 agri-business jobs that effect nearly every single one of Illinois’s 102 counties!”Former Rep. Bill Black, Chairman, the Illinois Revenue and Jobs Allliance.
* The most interesting thing about this roll call is not that the bill lost. It was always destined to lose. It’s that Sen. Gary Forby decided not to fight another day by pulling the bill out of the record. This was theater designed for the folks back home, not much more…
An effort to give lawmakers the power to block Gov. Pat Quinn from closing large state facilities fell one vote short of passage in the Senate on Wednesday.
State Sen. Gary Forby, whose district includes Tamms Correctional Center, which Quinn wants to shutter as part of a budget-cutting plan, had sought to give the General Assembly a say in whether closures can go forward.
But, the measure received just 29 of the 30 votes needed to move to the House for further deliberations.
Quinn wants to close adult prisons in Tamms and Dwight, youth prisons in Joliet and Murphysboro, a center for developmentally disabled residents in Centralia and numerous other state facilities. At stake are more than 2,000 jobs.
* That vote gave Gov. Pat Quinn a big boost in his attempt to cut the budget and force AFSCME and other unions to the bargaining table on pensions. Quinn also got some backing for his pension plan from the Illinois Chamber…
Illinois and Springfield Chamber of Commerce officials endorsed Gov. Pat Quinn’s ideas to restructure the state’s ailing pension systems on Wednesday, while expressing reservations about his idea to shift pension costs from the state to local school districts, community colleges and universities.
“These funds are literally looking at insolvency if we don’t make changes,” Illinois Chamber President Doug Whitley said of the pension systems.
But Whitley acknowledged that local chamber officials, including those in Springfield, are concerned about Quinn’s desire to gradually make local officials responsible for paying their workers’ pension payments.
Erich Bloxdorf, interim president of the Greater Springfield Chamber of Commerce, said cost-shifting should not occur until other changes are passed, “and only if local governments can control their pension benefits.”
* And in a somewhat surprising move, the Chamber also believes Quinn’s proposal to shift employer pension costs to school boards and universities has some merit. From a press release…
Although sensitive to the cost shift this provision will have on local governments and property owners, the Illinois Chamber believes this policy change has merit and should be pursued provided that local districts and public universities are assured a sufficient number of years to phase in the costs and assume the management responsibilities. Beside the fact that “the devil is always in the details” and we are still waiting for a bill to emerge, this proposal is sufficiently complicated and controversial for local communities it likely to be left for another day.
* If you were watching yesterday’s live session coverage post, you knew right away that this had happened…
House lawmakers moved [yesterday] to reduce the $800 million annual cost of insurance for retired state workers by making them pay more for health care that some now get for little or nothing.
The action unfolded as House Speaker Michael Madigan, D-Chicago, and Minority Leader Tom Cross, R-Oswego, implored colleagues to make the legislation part of a major effort to rein in billions of dollars in health-care for the poor, public employee pensions and the state’s budget overall.
“The prescription on the table is huge,” Madigan said. “This is one small part of it. …If we can’t do this, what in the world are we going to be able to do?”
Under the legislation, retired state workers, judges, lawmakers and university employees would have premiums for their group health insurance program set each year by the Quinn administration. The bill went to the Senate on a 74-43 vote.
CMS could still negotiate the premium levels with the unions, but JCAR will have the final say. So, collective bargaining will be severely diminished on this issue, but not totally eliminated.
* CMS plans to use several pension income tiers to set premium levels…
The percentage of health care costs the retiree would pay also would be based on pension level, according to a Quinn administration letter. Pension amounts would be broken into seven tiers. The higher the tier, the more the retiree will pay. The cost increase isn’t expected to be as significant for retirees on Medicare, but no one is expected to pay less than he or she is paying now, the letter said.
“Not only are these benefits unaffordable given today’s fiscal situation, but they are far more generous than those provided by other governments to their employees and those provided by the private sector,” said House Speaker Michael Madigan (D-Chicago), who sponsored the bill along with House Minority Leader Tom Cross (R-Oswego).
“If you take this bill and compare it to other matters we’re being asked to do in this session, I say if we can’t do this bill, what are we going to be able to do?” Madigan asked.
Indeed, the health-care decision represents the first of several painful fiscal votes lawmakers face this month, when they are expected to impose $2.7 billion worth of Medicaid cuts and dramatically trim state and possibly city pension benefits.
Members voting “no” included state Reps. Adam Brown of Decatur, Bill Mitchell of Forsyth, Rich Morthland of Cordova, Brandon Phelps of Harrisburg, David Reis of Willow Hill, Chapin Rose of Mahomet, Keith Sommer of Morton and Pat Verschoore of Milan.
The House passed this by a fairly lopsided vote. But remember, this financial reform may be the easiest of the big three to accomplish. So when we see 43 “no” votes — including 18 Republicans —it makes us suspicious.
State Rep. Chapin Rose, of Mahomet, remember what you told us when you ran in the Republican primary this year? “A solution must be found” for unsustainable health care costs, you wrote in our questionnaire. The solution came to a vote Wednesday. You voted “no.”
Republican state Rep. Rosemary Mulligan, of Des Plaines, who voted against the bill, asked during debate how it would impact her own bottom line. She is retiring this year.
Our bottom line is this: Lawmakers, you created one unholy financial mess in this state. You know exactly what you have to do to fix it. Don’t come home until you do.
* Related…
* Savings From Eliminating Free Retiree Health Insurance Unknown
* The House Special Investigating Committee is meeting this morning at 10:30. Rep. Derrick Smith’s attorney is reportedly planning to attend the hearing and will speak. Expect fireworks.
* You can follow live Tweets here. You can find the House’s live audio/video feed for hearing room 114 here. The nice folks at BlueRoomStream.com have also provided us with a live embed…
[Embed removed because hearing is over.]
My intern Owen Irwin is at the hearing and we hope to have post-game media comments soon after. Check back here for updates.
* Gov. Pat Quinn released his income tax returns to the public this week. From a press release…
In addition to his $157,321.60 in salary as Governor in 2011, Governor Quinn reported interest income of $4.81, a taxable refund of $1,222, $18.04 in income from the Foreign Currency Fee litigation settlement fund and a $42,500 withdrawal from his SEP (Simplified Employee Pension Plan).
Governor Quinn paid $38,094.86 in federal income tax and $7,750.73 in state income tax in 2011. Quinn also paid $3,938 in property taxes on his home on the west side of Chicago. The Governor donated $11,562.72 to charity.
With a big hat tip to a reader, check this out. Click the pic for a better view…
OK, we’re going to do a little math here, but stick with me anyway.
The federal tax he reported paying was actually $1,607.48 less than the tax he reported owing. But he looks like he reversed the numbers. Instead of subtracting what he owed from what he paid, which would have given him a negative result, he subtracted what he paid from what he owed, and then asked for a $1,607.48 refund when he actually appears to owe that amount.
* This is really no big deal. Mistakes happen all the time. And he can probably clean this up by filing an amended return.
But it looks like he did his own taxes. Perhaps he needs to realize that he’s just too busy being governor to do this stuff by himself.
I asked the governor’s office for a response and haven’t yet heard back.
* By the way, the income tax hike he signed into law hit Quinn but good…
In 2010, Quinn paid about $4,400 in state taxes, while in 2011 the figure was $7,750.73.
* Audit: IL employee used state investments for personal gain: George Egan, former director of portfolio management for College Illinois!, and others also were given combined bonuses of $176,003 after resigning or being fired. Egan was a partner in a company, which was not identified in the report, that invested $500,000 in the Balestra Capital investment firm at the same time the firm was bidding on a contract with College Illinois!, according to the audit by Illinois Auditor General William Holland.
* A downside to Illinois’ open meetings training: The first time she tried it, she could get in. But after 25 minutes or so, the website froze. So Zohfeld tried again. And again, as she demonstrated last week. “And I’ll tab it and put in my secret password,” Zohfeld said in a jokingly hushed voice. “And [the screen] says, ‘Your login attempt was not successful. Please try again.’ So, let’s try it with a capital T.” That didn’t work either.
