“Thousands of dollars” in state grants awarded to bolster health care in minority communities instead went to pay campaign workers for former state Sen. Rickey Hendon and Democratic candidates Hendon supported, a Chicago nurse has told investigators.
The nurse, Tonja Cook, 44, detailed her allegations in four interviews with state and federal authorities between October 2010 and May 2011, records show. […]
Those previously undisclosed reports portray Hendon, along with his political organization, as the beneficiary of state grant funds that Hendon helped obtain for the Chicago Chapter of the National Black Nurses Association, which Davis and Cook helped run. […]
Cook, who was the association’s treasurer, told authorities Davis would use money from those grants to “give as much as $500 in cash to as many as 10 individuals attending the weekly Monday meetings at the campaign offices of Hendon to go out and conduct campaign work for Hendon and other local politicians,” according to the investigators’ reports.
Those reports were supposed to have been filed under seal but were included, apparently inadvertently, in the online court records for the criminal case against Davis and Cook. They are now under seal.
“Cook said she and Davis would meet with Rickey Hendon and discuss state grants” and “attend political fund-raisers for mainly Hendon,” the reports say.
“Davis told Cook to ‘donate to Hendon because he is helping us,’ ” the investigators quote Cook as telling them.
They say Cook told them that, on four or five occasions in the summer of 2006, “Davis instructed Cook to cash checks to generate thousands of dollars in cash from the grants.
“Grant funds were used to pay for political work to help certain candidates like Hendon,” outgoing Metropolitan Water Reclamation District Commissioner Patricia Horton, “an alderman from the West Side of Chicago possibly named Ed Smith or Ed Williams, a judge whose name she could not recall at this moment and possibly others,” the reports say. “Davis herself usually paid the political workers in cash but did not obtain receipts.”
If that was cash she’d be keeping anyway via her own salary, that’s one thing. But if it was cash which was supposed to be going to programs, there could be trouble.
* Sen. Michael Noland was bashed by one of his local columnists over the weekend, but the thrashing paled in comparison to what happened to Noland on the Senate floor last week…
But Sen. Noland has never bowed to anything, much less logic. Sensing an opportunity to be the center of attention and to pretend to wield the power and influence he’ll never have, not only did he refuse to bring the amended bill up for a vote, but he wouldn’t relinquish sponsorship of it either.
And that folks, effectively killed it.
But get this. Noland isn’t arguing that the eavesdropping statute should stand. He’s saying his bill doesn’t go far enough in providing police the unfettered right to record citizens.
“If you’re approaching someone on the street with a video camera, there’s notice that the whole world is watching,” Noland said, “When the whole world is watching, people tend to behave better.”
I suppose he’s referring to how well it’s worked with the Syrian regime and reality TV shows. If cameras really did make people behave better, my first suggestion would be to point one directly at the senator.
Noland added that broader surveillance powers would keep both officers and the public safer and save money by reducing criminal litigation cases. Call me crazy, but if an officer pointed a camera at me for no reason, that might actually make me want to file a lawsuit.
I can see it now. A posse of Elgin police officers roaming the riverfront, camcorders firmly in hand, while the real criminals wreak havoc upon the rest of the city. Just to be on the safe side, perhaps we should start practicing our best Bob Fosse moves now to keep ’em from getting bored.
I smell another reality show.
Noland insisted he wasn’t hijacking his own bill; he was only trying to make it better. He said he wants to “reconcile” it with current court decisions because “audiovisual evidence is compelling” and that law enforcement groups were behind him.
C’mon, any time you threaten to expand police surveillance powers, that’s bound to make ’em downright giddy.
Noland was literally ridiculed on the Senate floor Thursday night by his fellow Senate Democrats for bringing his bill to the floor. I’ve never seen anything like it. Usually, the Senate observes fairly strict decorum rules. I’ve asked our friends at BlueRoomStream.com for the video, but they’re doing server work today, so maybe I’ll get it tomorrow.
* Meanwhile, I’m sorry, but it’s my own humble opinion that filing charges against somebody who threatens to deck you during a media scrum is just unnecessary…
Local TV reporter Jay Levine was found not guilty of misdemeanor assault Friday for a brief verbal tussle with conservative commentator William Kelly during an interview of Rahm Emanuel.
During a short hearing in the Cook County court at Belmont and Western, Judge Geary Kull noted that Levine didn’t raise a fist in the incident, which was recorded and is available on YouTube.
Though Levine said he was going to “deck” Kelly, Kelly’s behavior was “not indicative of an individual who reasonably feared Mr. Levine would strike him,” the judge said.
“Clearly Mr. Kelly wasn’t aware it was threat because he had to ask Mr. Levine if it was a threat,” Kull said.
On the Web video, Kelly badgers Emanuel with questions and opinions while Levine and another local reporter tried to interview him.
Kelly testified in court Friday that he thought Levine’s threat was legitimate.
Like the judge said, if Kelly really thought Levine’s threat was legit, he wouldn’t have needed to ask.
I’ve seen worse threats at Statehouse gangbangs. George Ryan had to break up a fight between two TV cameramen back in the day. Elbows get thrown, things get said, and we deal with it and move on. It’s just part of the life.
* Who was the spring session’s biggest winner? Who was the spring session’s biggest loser? Please answer both questions and please explain both answers. Thanks.
* I don’t disagree with Civic Federation President Lawrence Msall’s viewpoint that the pension reform negotiations probably should’ve been far more data-driven. But I do have some significant quibbles. First, let’s hear him out…
The publicly debated and data-backed effort to repair Medicaid resulted in a package of bills that will likely prevent the collapse of vital services to the state’s most vulnerable residents. The closed path to pension reform lacked any meaningful data and led nowhere.
The road to repairing Medicaid included three key components that were absent in this week’s disjointed legislative maneuvering surrounding pension reform.
• First, lawmakers identified a shared goal of what the state needed to achieve: cut $2.7 billion from the Medicaid program. Lawmakers must be able to identify an equally specific goal for pension reform. The state currently projects it will spend 22.1% of its operating revenues on pension costs in fiscal year 2013 (including both contributions and payments on pension bonds). This percentage has grown from only 3.6% in fiscal 1996 and is expected to reach nearly 30% by the 2033 budget year. These costs are obviously unsustainable and will continue to crowd out the state’s ability to pay for basic government services. What percentage of operating resources can the state afford to spend on pensions? This answer to this question is essential to defining the goal of pension reform.
• During the Medicaid deliberations, lawmakers and the general public also had access to detailed information on the implications of all proposed options for achieving the shared goal. The Illinois Department of Healthcare and Family Services made information widely available on each of the proposed changes and their projected savings. The various pension reform proposals did not come with this kind of detailed analysis. Lawmakers and the public could only speculate on what the vague notions of cost savings would imply for the state, local governments, employees and retirees.
• Finally, meaningful reform requires a rigorous debate on the proposed options, involving all stakeholders. Such debate on pension reform was impossible without access to the kind of detailed information provided on the Medicaid program.
In the absence of a shared goal, detailed information and rigorous debate, pension costs will continue to crowd out other state spending priorities. There is no time to waste to get pension reform right: Every day of delay makes the solution more painful.
* I agree, generally, with the argument that Gov. Pat Quinn set a $2.7 billion goal for Medicaid and probably should’ve set some sort of hard long-term savings goal for pensions as well. Quinn had a plan, but he was malleable on all points.
I also agree that the various pension reform proposals should have come with lots more data and been publicly disseminated. I think there was probably a worry that sharing too much would harm some pretty delicate and intense negotiations. But a bit more openness and a lot more data should’ve been the rule here.
Also, it’s tough to foster any public debate - available data or not - when the unions refuse to discuss the finer points and insist on sticking to their public talking points about how the government’s historic underfunding is to blame and that workers shouldn’t be made to shoulder the entire burden.
Make sure to keep in mind that Msall’s Civic Federation and Ty Fahner’s Civic Committee of The Commercial Club of Chicago are two separate entities. Msall is the guy who sounded the legitimate alarm on the Medicaid crisis. The Civic Committee is the group that paid for that goofy billboard truck which was spotted near the Statehouse last week.
* I have some late breaking news for the Alton Telegraph editorial board: Most Metro East residents already drive across the river for their big cigarette purchases. The tax hike won’t make all that much of a difference…
But the tax increase surely will reduce revenues for thousands of businesses in Illinois counties that border neighboring states with lower taxes on cigarettes. That particularly applies to those counties that border Missouri, which has the lowest tax on cigarettes of any state at just 17 cents.
It’s a nightmare scenario for convenience stores and gas stations in cities such as Alton, where shoppers can take a short drive across the Mississippi River to find cheaper smokes in Missouri. Up until now, the difference between the states’ cigarette taxes amounted to 81 cents per pack, which might not be enough to drive a smoker to make that trip. But if the smoker buys cigarettes by the carton, 10 packs at a time, the difference already is roughly $8 per carton. And when the new Illinois tax kicks in, retailers here will have to charge some $18 more per carton than their counterparts in Missouri.
When you add that to the fact that gasoline consistently sells for 20 to 25 cents less per gallon in Missouri, because Illinois also imposes a sales tax on the fuel, retailers in border areas of our state are facing disaster. Thousands of customers will go across the state line to buy their cigarettes and gas up their cars, and while they’re visiting the convenience stores in the Show-Me State, they’re likely to buy a few snacks and beverages, as well, further cutting Illinois’ sales tax revenues.
If they’re not already crossing the bridge with an $8 a carton difference, then they’re just plain silly. There’s no way to compete with a 17 cents per pack cigarette tax without really hurting our own revenues and encouraging more smoking. And statewide policy should not be made to benefit one, smallish region.
Yes, this cigarette tax hike will have an impact. But it will be relatively small - not the “nightmare scenario” envisioned by the Telegraph. That cig business has already been lost.
I’ve been spending a lot of time in the Metro East lately (partly because there are some big upcoming races there and I’m attempting to further boost my knowledge of the region in advance). I’m happy to report that there appear to be thriving convenience stores everywhere, so they seem to be weathering the border competition pretty well so far.
* And what would the Telegraph have done with Medicaid restructuring without that $700 million in revenue from the cigarette tax? Would they have cut funding even more for their local hospitals, which pay far higher salaries and create much better jobs than convenience stores? Or would they have kicked even more people off health care, which would’ve most certainly hurt their purchasing power and caused an even greater ripple effect on local businesses?
It’s really easy to complain and predict the end of the world every time the General Assembly passes a bill. It’s a whole lot tougher to actually solve the very real problems of the day.
* The speculation that Bill Brady is probably running for reelection is no surprise at all. He’s almost definitely in for a third straight try. The fact that he’s paying closer attention to his voting record this time around is what might be the bigger surprise…
When the gambling expansion bill was approved by the Illinois Senate last week, state Sen. Bill Brady, R-Bloomington, was a “present” vote.
When he ran for governor in 2010, Brady said he was beat up for approving an easement in Champaign close to a subdivision owned by his family’s development company, Brady Homes.
“In this case, I have an equity interest in a hotel in Danville, Illinois. And, when Danville was thrown into the bill, my ethics officer advised me that I should declare a conflict by voting present,” Brady said.
The gambling expansion bill includes five new casino licenses, including ones in Danville and Chicago, as well as slot machines at racetracks.
Brady’s answer made it seem as though he’s considering another run for governor.
“At frustrating times like the end of the session sure lead me to realize there’s a lack of leadership in Springfield, and there’s certainly a lot I think I can do. But, I think I’m going to reserve that answer until probably after the election in November,” Brady said.
Senate President John Cullerton, D-Chicago, flatly predicted Quinn will veto the bill. He said senators would then pass another version of the measure.
Quinn refused to say whether he would sign, veto or use his powers to rewrite the gambling bill. The governor also would not directly answer whether he continues to oppose slot machines at horse racing tracks — the reason he gave for opposing last year’s casino legislation.
The governor said he is focused on whether the latest bill has tough ethics standards.
“We must have integrity, strong no-nonsense ethics standards, and if we apply that over and over again, we’ll be a better state,” Quinn said.
Gambling expansion sponsor Sen. Terry Link, D-Waukegan, has said he’ll push a bill this fall with more oversight of the Chicago casino and a ban on political contributions from gambling licensees. Such changes could allow Quinn to more easily pivot and go along with the gambling measure if he’s inclined to do so.
Additionally, Sen. Terry Link, a Waukegan Democrat and sponsor of the bill, filed additional legislation Thursday that would add more ethics provisions, including a ban on campaign donations from some gambling interests.
“We answered every request that (Quinn) could have,” Link said. “I don’t know what more I can do for him.”
Link’s additional legislation could be key to luring Quinn’s support.
“I have a great deal of hope we can do it. We probably just don’t have the language yet,” Duchossois said. “I think that will come through. I think that’s what we’re trying to put together.”
Lame duck lawmakers could also play a role if an override vote is needed this fall. Already there are 12 suburban lawmakers among other lame ducks across the state. And that number will grow after the Nov. 6 election. Lawmakers relieved from the political pressures of facing re-election could be more willing to vote for a controversial plan.
* Gov. Pat Quinn, the Tribune editorial board, myself and several others have repeatedly warned that failure to pass both Medicaid and pension reform this spring would lead to a significant bond rating downgrade. Medicaid reform did pass with (mostly) bipartisan support (except for the Senate Republicans, who took themselves out of the game again), but pension reform stalled. So, how did the raters react? Here’s a quick roundup.
Karen Krop, an analyst at Fitch Ratings, said while she has not seen details as yet, the fact the budget was passed on time with Medicaid reforms “that seemed significant for cost controls” was a positive move for Illinois.
She said that Fitch’s ‘A’ rating with a stable outlook was more reflective of Illinois’ fiscal balance and operations, and any pension reform would be considered positive.
* A Moody’s analyst conceded that the ratings agency understands the political problems involved, but wanted some action relatively soon…
But Moody’s Investors Service analyst Ted Hampton said on Friday the credit ratings agency was looking for “significant” action on Illinois’ pensions.
“Any sign the state is at an impasse and is unable to move forward on this issue would be a negative credit factor,” Hampton said, adding that Moody’s recognizes the political and legal challenges involved.
“The state’s pension challenges remain staggering regardless what happens in Springfield in the next few weeks,” he said, adding there was no “silver bullet” that will make the enormous unfunded pension liability immediately disappear.
* And S&P, which warned of a multiple downgrade if action wasn’t taken on both Medicaid and pensions this spring, was cautious…
However, an agreement on a budget for next year with reduced deficits and big Medicaid cutbacks was a positive sign for the New York credit rating agencies, assuming the details stand up to scrutiny. The question is whether long-term pension costs also can be curtailed.
“Pension reform is the other piece that’s pretty critical to where the state’s rating moves,” said Robin Prunty, lead Illinois credit rating analyst for New York-based Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services. “A lot will depend on whether there’s action on pension reform.” […]
“If there is no action on pension reform, that is not a positive from a credit standpoint,” said Ms. Prunty.
* A Democratic higher-up worried late last week that the momentum would be lost on pension reform if members were sent home while the leaders tried to cut a deal. So far, though, the media has been brutal. Check out this over the top CBS2 story that was picked up by the Illinois-hating Matt Drudge…
Illinois lawmakers may have gotten stymied on the issue of pension reform, a multi-billion-dollar mess affecting every taxpayer in the state.
But at least they managed to pass a bill involving miniature horses.
You heard that right. Under a measure the House sent to Gov. Quinn Thursday night – the evening members were supposed to consider a cost-saving pension bill – people with disabilities could use miniature horses as service animals in public places, much like guide dogs are used.
The vote was near-unanimous.
Whatever.
* First of all, the Americans with Disabilities Act already classifies miniature horses as guide animals. Illinois is just getting itself into compliance…
The Guide Horse Foundation says that guide horses have several characteristics that make them a great alternative when service dogs are not suitable, as guide horses can be useful for people with severe allergies or phobias to dogs, or people who want an animal likely to live longer than a dog. Miniature horses usually have a docile nature but can be strong enough to provide support while their handler gets up from a chair. As well, the foundation says the mini-steeds have shown excellent judgment and are not easily distracted by crowds.
* Secondly, the General Assembly passed several bills this session, including some pretty good ones, like this…
The House voted 68-50 Thursday to reinstate sentence credits for prisoners who stay out of trouble behind bars or participate in self-improvement programs.
Non-violent inmates could qualify for as much as six months’ time off their sentences.
Quinn shut down a similar program in 2009 after The Associated Press reported his Corrections Department released violent inmates weeks or even days after arriving at prison.
Now, the prison population is 14,000 over capacity. Officials fear a lawsuit over the congestion.
Then, of course, there was the Medicaid fix.
But talking about serious, bipartisan legislation to address very big problems would’ve completely ruined a masterful cheap shot. It’s so much easier to write about miniature horses.
At least for now, it doesn’t appear that rank-and-file legislators will have to spend much time in Springfield this summer — even though they failed to finish their work on pension reform last week.
Aides to Gov. Pat Quinn claim that they’ve learned from the mistakes of his predecessor, Rod Blagojevich, and won’t drag legislators back to the Statehouse for a grueling overtime session to try to resolve the pension funding crisis, which has already overwhelmed the state budget.
Blagojevich convened numerous overtime sessions, and they were all divisive political circuses. Plus, forcing legislators back to Springfield to sit around and wait for the leaders to come to an agreement means they’ll have plenty of time on their hands to bad-mouth the governor to reporters, who won’t have much to do, either.
Quinn signaled his understanding of this dynamic in an official statement issued after it was apparent that pension reform was dead in the water in the spring session.
“I will convene a meeting with (Senate) President Cullerton, (Senate Minority) Leader Radogno, (House) Speaker Madigan and (House Minority) Leader Cross in the coming week so we can forge a pension reform agreement as soon as possible and return to Springfield to enact it into law,” Quinn said.
There’s really no need to convene the full General Assembly because the real problem here is a fundamental disagreement among the legislative leaders.
Speaker Michael Madigan (D-Chicago) is insisting on shifting teacher pension costs away from the state and onto downstate and suburban school districts. House and Senate Republican leaders are adamantly opposed to such cost shifting, saying it would substantially boost property tax bills and punish wealthier school districts that tend to have higher pay for educators.
Madigan handed off control of the pension reform package to Tom Cross (R-Oswego) earlier in the week and allowed the bill to be amended to strip out the cost-shifting language at the behest of the governor.
But the next day, the last day of the legislative session, Madigan let it be known that he would be voting against the bill. That was all it took for his members to jump off it as well.
House members from Chicago were among those against the bill. Some were told by Quinn aides that Mayor Rahm Emanuel supported the revised legislation, but the mayor’s Springfield crew never got the word to work for the proposal.
Emanuel has pushed hard for the cost-shifting plan, believing that it’s unfair for Chicago Public Schools to pay its full share of employee pension costs while school districts outside the city have the state cover most of those costs.
With Madigan opposed and Emanuel not working for the bill, it quickly became clear to the governor’s office that there was simply no way to pass it. Cross told the House that this would be a “summer issue” and that emotions needed a chance to cool down.
The Republicans (and downstate and suburban Democrats) are so completely against any talk of shifting pension costs to school districts — even if they’re phased in over several years — that the issue appears almost impossible to resolve.
But Madigan and Emanuel know that there’s probably no better vehicle to attach the idea to than the politically important issue of pension reform, so they’re not giving up, either. The solution might be getting more school more money for Chicago, perhaps in a way that gives additional cash to education in general.
Then again, there’s been little willingness on Madigan’s part to move forward with a highly controversial pension bill that riles up teachers before the Nov. 6 election, when all 177 seats in the Legislature are up for election, many in new districts.
State and university workers and retirees are mostly concentrated in pockets around the state, so their political impact on legislators is limited. But public schoolteachers and retirees are everywhere. And there are a lot of them. And they are very politically active.
The Senate showed last week that it can pass a pension reform bill when it approved changes to the State Employees Retirement System on what appeared to be a carefully structured roll call.
That reinforced the idea that bringing the entire General Assembly back to town for an extended stay this summer is both unnecessary and a bad idea. If the leaders can be put on the same page, then the members will undoubtedly follow.
* Related…
* Pension reform faces uncertain path forward: So the focus may turn to how lawmakers can tweak their plans to force local school districts, community colleges and universities to pick up some of the state’s pension costs. “What we have to do is find common ground between both proposals,” Quinn said. Coming up with a new idea is possible, but it could be tricky as lawmakers have already used creative policy ideas to get this far. “If I’d thought of it (another plan), I would have put it on the table,” state Rep. Elaine Nekritz, a Northbrook Democrat.
* A near miss in Springfield on Illinois pension reform: But not everyone wants a quick solution to pensions. Collin Hitt, senior director of government affairs at the Illinois Policy Institute, a right-leaning think tank, said although he was surprised a pension deal didn’t pass, he wasn’t disappointed given the legislative gymnastics happening at the eleventh hour.
* Legislators headed to overtime: Rep. Don Moffitt, R-Gilson, said he would have been surprised if an agreement was reached before the session’s Thursday deadline. Sen John Sullivan, D-Rushville, said the complexity of reforming both Medicaid and pensions and the body’s time constraint worked against them. He said Medicaid was the more pressing issue because it had implications for the current budget.
* Quinn implores legislators on pension reform: Senate Republican leader Christine Radogno, of Lemont, said passage of even the slimmed-down pension reform represented a huge step forward, but said it’s “excruciatingly frustrating” that lawmakers failed to pass a comprehensive pension overhaul this spring.
* How pension-reform push spun out of control - Legislative squabbles, fear of alienating unions both played roles
* Ill. pension fix derailed; officials to try again: Did Madigan always intend for pension negotiations to collapse, perhaps as a way to please deep-pocketed unions who have long supported Democrats? Did he intentionally blow things up after realizing his own proposal couldn’t pass? Did he maneuver Republicans into presenting their plan and failing, hoping that it would embarrass Republicans and make his own proposal more palatable? House Minority Leader Tom Cross, R-Oswego, said he wasn’t sure… But Cross’ political organization claimed to know Madigan’s goal, sending out a fundraising appeal Friday that said Madigan abused his power and “got his wish of halting real reform.”
* Believe it or not, I’ve been listening to a lot of pop country lately. Hey, some of it is pretty darned good. So, when I went looking for a summer song to commemorate the end of the regular spring session, I thought this one might be appropriate…
Singing along with the radio
It’s such a beautiful sound
* Reporters often write only about what they see, or what they want to see. Here’s a standard article…
The Illinois Hospital Association took no chances as state lawmakers debated in recent weeks whether nonprofit hospitals should pay property taxes. It unleashed a self-described media blitz.
“My baby is sick — anyone help, please!” screamed an actress portraying a mother in radio ads aired in Chicago and 41 other markets starting in early May. A baby wailed, an ambulance siren blared and a voiceover asked what the terrified parent would do if no hospital were around.
The blitz worked. The Illinois General Assembly this week handed hospitals a long-sought victory: a sweeping legislative antidote to a recent state Supreme Court decision that threatened to slap many hospitals with potentially millions of dollars in tax liabilities just as they say they’re struggling to survive.
The radio ads worked? That was what passed the bill? OK. Or maybe it was the ad the IHA bought here. That seems more likely, actually, because legislators and staff actually saw that one. But, whatever. Ads weren’t the only factor highlighted in the story…
The association, representing about 200 hospitals and health systems, urged Illinoisans to write to state officials. By this week, the IHA reported, more than 12,000 people had signed an online petition. The group created templates for member hospitals to customize anti-tax e-mails to legislators and letters to local newspaper editors. And it suggested members provide kiosks or special computers for workers to send notes condemning property taxes for hospitals and Quinn’s proposed $2.7 billion in reductions to projected Medicaid payments.
An online petition worked? Well, maybe. I’m not sure how many legislators actually saw it, though. And then, of course, there was this…
For 2011 and the first quarter of 2012, the association contributed about $397,000 to state office holders, candidates and the state Democratic Party, according to the Illinois Campaign for Political Reform, a watchdog group. That included $143,000 to legislative leaders of both parties and $198,000 to other lawmakers in the General Assembly.
The IHA gave even more than that in 2010: $725,089.56. It has a very active, very aggressive political organization.
* But there’s more to this story. Hospitals are in every legislative district. And hospital boards are usually made up of the region’s biggest bigshots, who are accustomed to hob-knobbing with local politicos. Hospitals are also large employers, and their workers usually earn pretty good salaries. They are almost always involved with local charitable causes, spend big money on public relations and they advertise heavily in local media. As a result, they’re the most trusted institutions in almost every region. Crossing them ain’t easy.
The IHA lost its top lobbyist and political guru when Howard Peters retired. It recently hired AJ Wilhelmi right out of the state Senate. Wilhelmi had never been a lobbyist before, but he worked like a dog. He returned one of my calls after midnight one evening, waking me up.
Add all that up and it’s no great feat to figure out why they did pretty well this year. They almost always do.
That’s not to say they’re right all the time. They used to constantly battle with nurses in Springfield. Those fights hurt them. And getting crossways with the attorney general has had many downsides. She was right to question their level of charity care. Some of what they classified as charity was just silly PR.
* And they’ve been one of the most aggressive bill collectors of any industry, prompting legislation to clamp down on entities that seek to put people in jail for not paying a bill. From a press release…
Attorney General Lisa Madigan today applauded state lawmakers for supporting the Debtors’ Rights Act of 2012, a measure that would protect poor people from being jailed over unpaid debts.
House Bill 5434 would prevent creditors from abusing the court system to put debtors in jail to collect on a debt they are clearly unable to pay. Over the last year, Madigan has learned that residents in roughly a third of Illinois’ counties commonly face incarceration when they fail to appear in court over a previously entered judgment to pay a debt. In many of these cases, notices of court hearings were mailed to addresses that were no longer valid, leaving many debtors unaware of the hearings. In spite of the failure to notify the debtors, courts have frequently issued warrants for their arrests.
“Long ago, our society recognized that it was immoral to send a poor person to debtor’s prison. Yet this practice has reappeared in Illinois through creditors’ abuse of the courts,” Madigan said. “This legislation will ensure that people who have the means will pay their debts, while also preventing poor older and unemployed persons from being illegally and unfairly incarcerated.”
Compounding the problem, Madigan said, is that many victims of these practices are living solely on income that is legally protected from being used to pay outstanding debt judgments, including Social Security, unemployment insurance or veterans’ benefits.
Madigan’s legislation would also ban abusive and burdensome “pay or appear” orders that are routinely entered against debtors in some Illinois counties. These orders – which usually remain in effect for three years – require debtors to make a monthly payment or appear in court each month to explain why they are unable to pay, even if their financial circumstances have not improved. Madigan said if a debtor misses just one payment and court hearing, they can end up in jail. Debtors who have been victim to this practice typically owe outstanding medical bills, credit card debts or payday loans.
The legislation would amend the Code of Civil Procedure to codify and clarify practices followed by attorneys, creditors and courts across Illinois to ensure that courts make a finding of a consumer’s ability to pay before entering a payment order. The legislation also would prohibit payment orders that rely on legally protected income and prevent arrest warrants from being issued unless the debtor was personally served with a hearing notice.
The combination of mandated free care (pushed by AG Madigan) and the attorney general’s debtor protection bill were not hospital “wins.” But like all smart organizations, they recognized that getting what they wanted required giving up something else. So, they agreed to a scaled back (but still significant) Medicaid rate cut and they accepted the attorney general’s demands. That’s an optimal conclusion for pretty much everybody.
State lawmakers spent the final day of the spring session failing to act on the crucial issue of pension reform, instead approving a major gambling expansion that wasn’t at the top of the agenda.
Actually, the Senate did pass a major pension reform bill yesterday. It effects both the General Assembly and state employee retirement systems, and will almost undoubtedly either be eventually passed by the House and signed into law or the exact same language will be incorporated into a new reform law. The bill passed with 16 Democratic and 14 Republican votes and it showed that pension reform is legislatively and politically doable.
But you’ve got to read through 16 grafs of that story before you get to this…
While the House pension talks collapsed, the Senate sought to politically insulate itself by passing a plan affecting the pensions of themselves and state workers — even though the legislation was not taken up in the House.
I don’t get that logic. The Senate ought to be applauded for passing a pension bill that should’ve also cleared the House last night, but didn’t because of partisan infighting. And they passed the gaming bill because they could.
* Now, on to gaming. I was sitting in the Senate press box next to a reporter interviewing Sen. Jacqueline Collins about her gaming expansion vote. Collins told the reporter sitting next to me that she didn’t know who hit her switch because she was in the bathroom with a headache…
On the dubious strength of an errantly cast voting switch, the expansion plan passed on a 30-26 roll call, the bare majority needed to approve the bill and six votes shy of the vetoproof majority needed to overcome the objections of Quinn, who has criticized the legislation for its “ethical shortcomings.”
The development made for one of the more intriguing storylines on a hectic final day of the spring legislative session when lawmakers also voted to hike fees on satellite television customers, strip-club patrons.
On the gambling bill, which was backed by Mayor Rahm Emanuel, supporters used a parliamentary maneuver to immediately lock in the 30-26 roll call before state Sen. Jacqueline Collins (D-Chicago), a traditional opponent to gambling expansion, stood to say she wanted to have her “yes” vote reflected as a “no” in the official Senate record — even though that gesture carried no real effect and did not undo what had happened.
Collins told the Chicago Sun-Times that Sen. Donne Trotter (D-Chicago), who sits near her, deployed her voting switch when the gambling vote was taken even though she wasn’t at her seat.
“I have a headache, and I was in the back getting an aspirin. I always vote ‘no’ on gaming, but when I came out, I saw I’d been voted ‘yes,’” Collins said.
But, remember, she didn’t see who did it.
I didn’t see who hit her button either because I wasn’t on the floor. Ironically enough, I was up in Trotter’s office taking a little break, listening to the debate and talking to somebody about a piece I was thinking about writing. I spend time in several Statehouse offices during session days, hanging out and digging for stories, and his is one of my favorites.
* So, pardon me if I seem biased, but this is a bit much…
The top Republican in the chamber, Senate Minority Christine Radogno (R-Lemont), who voted against the gambling bill, called for an investigation. “That is absolutely wrong. It changed the outcome of a major issue,” she said.
We went down this phony road before with what the Sun-Times referred to as “Buttongate.” It was silly then, and it’s silly now. People who call the cops for stuff like that are the ones who are wrong. And did it really change the outcome? What most likely happened is a handful of Senators were watching the Big Board to make sure the bill got 30 votes. Once it hit that number, they felt free to vote “No.” Happens every day.
The approved budget cuts discretionary spending by $700 million with reductions hitting areas like education, universities, healthcare for the poor, and corrections, while increasing overall spending by about $400 million due to mandatory increases.
“Two years in a row, spending is going up,” said Republican state Sen. Matt Murphy of Palatine. “We are not closer to the fiscal responsibility needed.” Senate Republicans believe that billions in cuts are needed to avoid making permanent the temporary income tax hike approved last year.
Democrats counter that the slight increase still keeps state within self-imposed annual spending increases and that skyrocketing pension payments are driving the hike. The state will pay $5.2 billion into the pension system in fiscal 2013, up from $4.1 billion in the current fiscal year.
Spending is going up not because lots of new liberal Democratic programs are being created, but mainly because the state is finally making its full pension payment.
But Murphy is right that this budget does not make all the cuts necessary to avoid making the income tax hike permanent. The pension payments are just eating up pretty much all the revenue growth, requiring further cuts elsewhere.
Some Senate Democrats refused to vote for the House’s K-12 education budget the first time the legislation was called for a vote, and the measure failed. “We should be voting no on this bill because the House sent us a budget with further cuts to education. The House sent us a budget that only added back $50 million more in general state aid,” said Sen. Kimberly Lightford, a Democrat from Maywood. “We put a whole a lot of burden on the local school districts and at the same time continuously underfunded them.” (For more on the spending levels in the House budget, see yesterday’s blog.)
“Maybe some members did not get the memo that we don’t have any money,” said Sen. Dan Kotowski, a Democrat from Park Ridge “We are out of money.” But Senate President John Cullerton proposed some ways to find new revenue for education spending. House Bill 5440 would add a 5 percent tax to the gross profits of satellite television providers such as Dish Network and Direct TV. Cullerton said cable providers already pay the fee and that the legislation would bring in about $75 million. He also sponsored House Bill 5342, which would close some corporate tax loopholes for oil companies. He estimated that legislation could bring in $100 million. “Closing loopholes is definitely fair, and I think targeting certain tax credits is appropriate,” Cullerton said during a committee hearing on the legislation.
Senate Bill 2365 would dole out the new revenues According to an analysis from the Democrats:
$24.9 million would go toward early childhood education.
$134.7 million would go into general state aid for schools.
$15.4 million would go to the Monetary Assistance Program for college students.
$24 million would go into the Circuit Breaker program, which provides assistance for the elderly.
Cullerton’s bills passed without Republican votes. “It is just another tax increase. Pass it on to the people who have been nickeled and dimed to death,” said Sen. Dale Righter, Republican from Mattoon. But with the additional education spending, Democrats did not need the Republican votes to pass the bulk of the budget bills. The House’s education budget passed on a second floor vote.
Both of those tax hikes passed, but they went nowhere in the House. Democratic Senators allowed themselves to be convinced that they’d actually done something when they really didn’t. That was pretty unserious, if you ask me.
* The Sun-Times editorial board points the finger of blame for the lack of pension reform at the two House leaders…
Quinn said Illinois has no choice but to dramatically reduce pension costs. He is absolutely right, and we hope he won’t let anything stand in his way. And, more importantly, we hope House Speaker Michael Madigan and House Republican Leader Tom Cross take up the cause with the same level of fervor.
The bill to lower the state’s crippling pension costs went down in flames after those leaders, who had successfully worked together most of the session, started butting heads.
One state representative explained it this way: “We’re caught in a game between Cross and Madigan and we don’t even know what game they’re playing.”
It’s time to end the games, and do the exceptionally hard but necessary work of protecting the state and its employee pension systems from insolvency.
But nothing important sails through the legislature without the speaker’s full support.
And it slowly became apparent Thursday that in dropping his sponsorship of the pension measure and tossing it into the lap of House Republican Leader Tom Cross, Madigan had sealed its doom.
I say slowly became apparent, because many of his own members were still guessing about his intentions even after a Madigan-controlled committee sent the measure to the full House first thing Thursday morning with some of his closest allies on board.
Then came word that Madigan himself intended to vote no, and the storm clouds slowly gathered until the point late Thursday evening when Cross announced that Gov. Pat Quinn had asked him to pull the plug for now — and try again in a few weeks.
In essence, Madigan was saying: Don’t blame me, blame the Republicans. It’s their bill now.
The Republicans, of course, had been telling us all along to blame Madigan, even though many admit they agree with the principle on which he was standing — that you can’t truly bring the pension costs under control once and for all until the people making the spending decisions are called upon to pay the bills.
In the blame game, both political parties put as much effort into making sure the other side gets the blame for the failure of some important piece of legislation as they put do into actually getting something accomplished.
The blame game is serious business. If played well, one side can gain political advantage over the other in the next election.
In focusing on Madigan, I’m not suggesting that he and his Democrats were any more to blame for the legislation’s failure than were the Republicans, who couldn’t put on enough votes to make it work. […]
I understand Madigan’s point about the cost shift, if that was truly his point, as nobody is ever sure what the speaker really wants, and most have given up trying to read his mind.
In the end, though, neither party brought you pension reform. A pox on both their houses until they come back and get it right.
Most importantly, Gov. Pat Quinn has firmly established a leadership role here, especially in his unsuccessful last-minute bid to appease House Republicans by signing onto Cross’s plan.
Still, how discouraging it is to conclude another legislative session unable to address one of the two most important issues for the state’s financial well being for the next three decades.
Quinn evidently wants pension reform just as urgently as the rating agencies that are now threatening to drop Illinois’ already dismal creditworthiness into free-fall. The possibility of reform wouldn’t have made it this far without his declaration in February that lawmakers had to solve the problem now.
Many Democrats and Republicans, under intense pressure from their pals in public employees unions, shied away from any vote that would have made changes to a state pension system at serious risk of insolvency. But timid avoidance has its limits: If more credit downgrades arrive, or if poor investment returns further imperil pension funds, members of both parties won’t be able to explain why they didn’t stabilize a system now $83 billion in the red.
So we encourage members of both parties to do pension reform right. And we encourage Quinn to make sure they do.
Your opinion?
* Related…
* Legislators punt on pension reform but pass gambling expansion
* As mentioned earlier, Gov. Pat Quinn will hold a press conference at 10 o’clock this morning to talk about the session. You can listen or watch the live stream by clicking here. I’ll post audio and/or video of the presser afterward in case you miss it.
* Session ran very late last night and so did the “end of session party,” which wasn’t really an end of session party because, well, we’re now in overtime.
The governor is expected to talk to reporters this morning about the failure to enact pension reform. He issued this release last night…
“While this has been a productive legislative session, our work is not done for the people of Illinois.
“Many members rose to the occasion to take difficult votes to save our Medicaid system from collapse, enact retiree healthcare reform and abolish the oft-abused legislative scholarship program. But we have not finished our work to reform Illinois’ pension system, which is drowning in an ocean of unfunded liability.
“As I have repeatedly made clear, inaction on pension reform is not a choice. We must fundamentally reform our pension system and we must enact bold reform that eliminates the unfunded liability.
“We have made great headway on stabilizing our pension system and we are very close to a solution, but we are not there yet. Therefore, I will convene a meeting with President Cullerton, Leader Radogno, Speaker Madigan, and Leader Cross in the coming week so we can forge a pension reform agreement as soon as possible and return to Springfield to enact it into law.”
* The Question: What should Gov. Pat Quinn say today about the lack of a pension reform agreement? Explain.
And, hey, it’s Friday and everybody’s probably tired from the late night session, so snark is heavily encouraged. I’ll be back with more posts once I finish the Fax.
