State Rep. John Bradley (D-Marion) has entered his name for consideration in the 12th Congressional District race.
Applications from candidates interested in replacing Brad Harriman on the Democratic side of the ballot were due Friday. Harriman withdrew from the race after winning the spring primary due to medical reasons.
In a statement released Friday, Bradley said he had submitted an application “in order to continue the deliberations over what’s best for my children and our area.” […]
If Bradley is chosen by the Democrats – and if he chooses to then run – he would have his name removed from the race for the 117th District of the Illinois House of Representatives. Bradley is currently unopposed in seeking re-election to that seat. The Democratic Central Committee would then have to find a candidate to fill Bradley’s spot on that ballot.
A caucus effort from his supporters has landed Kell school district Superintendent Christopher McCann on the Republican ballot for the 117th District state representative in November’s general election.
Illinois State Board of Elections filings show Christopher McCann’s candidacy effective and active beginning June 4.
He will oppose state Rep. John Bradley, D-Marion, if the incumbent Bradley is not selected for the Democratic nominee in the 12th Congressional District race. Bradley is among at least five candidates who have submitted applications to a selection committee, with retiring U.S. Rep. Jerry Costello, D-Belleville, and Randolph County Circuit Clerk Barb Brown acting as co-chairs.
If Bradley is chosen, his name would be taken off the ballot and the state Democratic Central Committee in the 117th District would have until Aug. 23 to find a replacement.
* And the Illinois Republican Party has complaints about the way the 12th CD selection process is going…
Any of the 10 contenders can take part in the public interviews Saturday at the city hall in Chester, about 60 miles southeast of St. Louis, Brown said.
“Unless something happens, I think that vote would happen (Saturday) after the interviews are complete,” she told The Associated Press.
Brown again declined to disclose names of those seeking to succeed Costello, saying the candidates deserved to retain their privacy until making themselves public during the interviews.
“Clearly, it’s their option if they want to be public,” she said. “It’s the chairmen’s feeling that if the people haven’t put themselves out there, we wouldn’t. It really isn’t anything other than that.”
Brown said the process of finding Harriman’s replacement would be open and transparent. But the state’s GOP chief argued that’s been anything but the case.
“The selection committee has done a disservice to the voters of the 12th District by not releasing the number of applicants and their names,” Illinois Republican Party chairman Pat Brady said in a statement Tuesday. “Members of the committee have spoken about potentially having a candidate by the end of the month and how `quickly’ they think they will be able to select a nominee. When choosing a nominee for Congress, is quickly and secretly really in the best interest of the voters?”
Brown waved off such criticism, touting the openness of Saturday’s interviews and the belief “we’re being very respectful of the people putting themselves forward in this process.”
“We would never consider a vote for anyone unwilling to step forward before the public and the press,” she said. “None of us have been in this situation before. We’re trying to be careful and do it right.”
* Word is going around that Gov. Pat Quinn’s administration has sent out a letter announcing that all prison closures will move forward. The Tamms super max facility in deep southern Illinois, is scheduled for closure on August 31st. Dwight’s prison and the Murphysboro juvenile boot camp will also close on August 31st. The Joliet facility will close in October.
This is a press release just sent out by Rep. Brandon Phelps about the announcement…
State Rep. Brandon Phelps (D-Harrisburg) released the following statement regarding Governor Pat Quinn’s planned August 31, 2012 closure of the Tamms Correctional Center and other Southern Illinois facilities:
“I am disappointed and shocked by the governor’s out-of-touch efforts to close the Tamms Correctional Center, one of the few facilities in the state that deals with the most disruptive, violent and problematic offenders. This decision will put 300 Southern Illinoisans in the unemployment line.
We all know that Illinois is facing a huge financial crisis that will require government to cut back and reduce spending. But if the governor wants to show he is serious about getting the state to live within its means, he should focus on all of the waste and mismanagement that occurs in Springfield and Chicago on a daily basis before handing out pink slips to all the employees at Tamms, and again unfairly targeting Southern Illinois facilities which he has now done.
The governor’s plan is not a responsible way to address the state’s financial problems, which is why I proposed a plan where the prison could be retooled to become more of a standard prison. This would save much needed jobs and help to address the overcrowding within our state’s prisons. I believe that Governor Quinn does not know the huge mistake he is making. His bad decision will damage the local economy and make life even more difficult for many families who are already struggling to make ends meet. We need to collectively come together as Southern Illinois residents and pray for those families who will be affected by this closure. The Illinois Department of Corrections and Department of Juvenile Justice has informed me that affected employees will receive a new layoff packet with a revised list of available vacancies and an amended seniority roster.”
* We talked about Illinois Republican Party Chairman Pat Brady’s attacks on House Speaker Madigan and Attorney General Lisa Madigan last week. Chairman Brady talked about his “Leprechaun” dig at Speaker Madigan and his “press release” mocking AG Madigan in advance of Father’s Day with the Associated Press…
Brady said his goal is to make a statewide issue out of Madigan’s decades in power. “The message we’re going to drive home is that a vote for any Democrat is a vote for Michael Madigan,” he said.
Madigan spokesman Steve Brown said the “petty” strategy won’t affect pension negotiations and won’t succeed at the ballot box. He predicted it will eat up Republican resources without helping them win any legislative races.
“Attacking people’s families seldom does anybody any good,” Brown said.
* The Question: Will attacking the Madigan family help the Republicans win campaigns this November? Take the poll and then explain your answer in comments, please.
TOPINKA: DEVELOPMENTALLY
DISABLED WILL BE PRIORITIZED
Comptroller orders immediate payment for programs
SPRINGFIELD – Illinois Comptroller Judy Baar Topinka on Tuesday announced that she has directed her staff to prioritize payments for day programs, child group homes, community living facilities, and other programs serving the developmentally disabled.
The direction from the state Fiscal Officer comes after the Department of Human Services notified service providers of payment delays caused by an insufficient appropriation in the Fiscal Year 2012 budget. The Department noted that payments would not be processed until after July 1, and then be subject to ongoing state payment delays.
Topinka said her office will immediately begin making payments when the new fiscal year begins July 1.
“Those serving the Developmentally Disabled should know that we will make their payments as soon as the information reaches our door,” said Topinka, noting her policy of prioritizing payment for the state’s most vulnerable residents. “People literally rely on these programs for survival, and they will take priority.”
Topinka noted that while services for the Developmentally Disabled will be prioritized, her office today has more than 164,000 unpaid bills totaling $4.4 billion to businesses, schools, hospitals and service agencies throughout the state. When additional bills at state agencies are added in, including $1.5 billion in past due Medicaid payments, the state bill backlog reaches an estimated $8.5 billion.
[ *** End Of Update *** ]
* As you already know, the Quinn administration is defending itself against charges that it is needlessly and perhaps even dangerously rushing transfers of developmentally disabled state facility residents to private group homes. And now, the Quinn administration is admitting that providers of services for the developmentally disabled won’t be paid this month…
The state of Illinois has informed developmental-disability providers that it can’t pay them for a month of services this fiscal year.
Service providers, such as Developmental Services Center in Champaign, were notified by letter from the Department of Human Services on Monday. Here is a link to the letter.
Department officials could not be reached for comment this morning, but Kevin Casey, director of the division of developmental disabilities, states in the letter that pediatric intermediate care facilities will experience about four-and-a-half months delay in funding.
Among those services that won’t be fully paid for the current fiscal year ending June 30 are child group homes, community living facilities, therapies, equipment, training and individual support services.
The deferred payments will not be processed until after July 1, 2012, and after the State Fiscal Year 2013 budget is finalized. When the payments are submitted in FY13, they will still be subject to the ongoing delays at the Comptroller’s Office based on the receipt of State revenues.
Please be aware that this deferral of payments will delay all DD payments, including those to Providers with an Expedited Payment status. Expedited payment status serves to expedite the release of payment requests submitted to the Comptroller’s Office. Because DHS will be unable to submit the deferrals to the Comptroller until FY13, all deferred payments will be delayed
Illinois has the worst funded public pension system among the 50 states, according to a Pew Center on the States study released Monday.
The Land of Lincoln joined Connecticut, Kentucky and Rhode Island for having among the poorest funded public pension systems in the nation.
In 2010, the most recent year data for all 50 states is available for the study, each of those four states had an unfunded pension liability of at least 55 percent, according to the report.
“For states that do face really severe funding challenges … it’s a competition between raising taxes, cutting services or finding ways to reduce the costs for both current employees and retirees,” David Draine, senior researcher for the Pew Center on the States, a nonprofit that studies issues facing state governments.
It’s a sentiment that Gov. Pat Quinn and others have been reinforcing. Quinn often says that as public pension costs in Illinois rise, they squeeze out other areas of state government.
“How much more information do we need from independent, outside entities to tell us we must make this giant step?” Quinn said during a news conference Monday.
* One of the ways of reducing the state’s costs is by shifting some of them down the food chain to local school districts, universities and community colleges. The latter two have already agreed to paying the employer portion of the pension costs. The school districts have not, and they’re being back-stopped by the House and Senate Republicans.
As subscribers already know, the governor’s office generated a list that purports to show that most school districts can handle the cost-shift. The Sun-Times also had a story today…
More than half of Illinois’ 800-plus school districts have more than one year’s worth of operating cash on hand, suggesting some downstate and suburban school systems might be able to shoulder part of the funding burden for educators’ pensions.
Those numbers from the State Board of Education were released Monday as Gov. Pat Quinn and the four legislative leaders prepare for a round of late-week negotiations on a package to help solve Illinois’ $83 billion pension crisis.
A Quinn aide Monday night said the results demonstrate that shifting some pension costs away from the state to school systems won’t pose a catastrophic financial hit to them.
“The bottom line is school districts can certainly afford to have a stake in the contracts they negotiate, and overall the numbers make it clear there is no excuse not to do pension reform and do it quickly,” Quinn spokeswoman Brooke Anderson said. […]
In its analysis, the State Board of Education cautioned that its figures are dated and don’t account for continued delays in state payments, a cut in the state education budget of $258 million and a possible diversion in corporate personal property replacement tax revenues to fund pension obligations, as some in the Legislature have advocated.
Taking those all into account would leave 128 of the state’s school systems in the red with no cash reserves by next June, the agency reported.
“A point-in-time measure from one year ago can’t be used as a measure of any district’s wherewithal or ability to sustain an ongoing liability,” said Mary Fergus, a spokeswoman for the State Board of Education. “These figures do not account for rising expenses, declining local revenue or a district’s long-term plans for these funds.”
* But a subscriber who works at a school district sent me this e-mail today…
Payroll and benefits for most districts is paid on a 12 month basis due to tax law. And, the 180 days is days in ession, not counting weekends. In reality, costs do not go down when not in session. The summer is when a great deal of maintenance work is performed, as well as purchasing for the upcoming year. We really are a year-round operation.
Also, keep in mind that many districts received 40+% of their revenue just days before the fund balances are reported to the state due to property tax receipts. Only a small portion of our revenue is received throughout the year. You really need to look at cash flow, which is an entirely different thing. I’m not disputing 313 days is still likely significantly more than needed, but it’s not entirely what it seems.
* Publicly, at least, the Republicans are still opposing the cost-shift idea…
Democrats say the proposal would force schools to be more accountable when they dole out pensions to employees. Republicans agree but say it also would drive property taxes up as schools look for money to cover the pension costs. Quinn argues that the shift would have an “imperceptible impact” on schools if it is phased in over 10 years or longer.
Senate Republican leader Christine Radogno, of Lemont, said it’s a policy conversation worth having but that the plan should not be tied to larger pension reforms that lawmakers agree on. Radogno contended that Democrats are purposely trying to delay broader pension changes until after the November election so they can avoid angering unions that typically support them at the polls.
“This is a stall tactic,” Radogno said.
Quinn said politics should not factor into the equation.
“I really don’t see the Election Day as really the key date. I think the date is really right away for pension reform,” Quinn said. “It’s beyond me how you can let this one issue hold up a fundamental overhaul of our public pension system that has been in the waiting for three decades.”
* Even so, at least one local school district decided not to wait for the cost-shift to take effect…
Democrats’ chief argument in trying to shift pension costs to local schools after decades of the state paying the bill is that school boards, by raising teachers’ salaries, hike pension costs without having to pay for it.
[Warrenville Unit District 200 Superintendent Brian Harris] said the District 200 school board has heard that argument loud and clear.
He helped finalize a contract just last week that takes away automatic 6 percent raises for teachers at the end of their careers that help raise their retirement benefits. Many school districts still have such provisions.
* So, I’ve been hearing for several years that I’m somehow related to the late, great Johnny Cash on my father’s side of the family. I’m also related to Thomas Jefferson on my mother’s side. Johnny Cash and Thomas Jefferson - that’s pretty darned cool if you ask me (and you didn’t).
My Aunt Janet traced the lineage back to Jefferson years ago, but for whatever reason I never really asked about the Cash thing until this past weekend, when I pressed my dad for details during Father’s Day brunch at a Gilman truck stop. (And, no, I’m not kidding about the truck stop. That’s where he wanted to meet. Yes, i have a blue collar background. And, yes, the food was mighty tasty.)
According to Dad, my great-great uncle was Johnny Cash’s great-grandfather. Apparently, the man left Kentucky one step ahead of the law. Family lore has it that he shot somebody (although probably not in Reno).
Anyway, I have no proof of this, just family oral history. But let’s celebrate with a video. I love this tune…
Then you took me to St. Louis later on down the river
* Do you have any famous ancestors? Let’s hear about them.
* The Pantagraph looked at grocery purchases from the beginning of the fiscal year through April…
According to the comptroller’s office, the General Assembly paid $20,015 for coffee supplies. Along with coffee, the money paid for tea, sugar, creamer, artificial sweeteners and drink-related supplies.
That amounted to about $113 in coffee-related spending for each of the 177 members of the House and Senate. Broken down further, that’s about $9.42 per month, per member, for java.
Except that the General Assembly has lots of employees. So the cost shouldn’t really be broken down “per member.”
* Illinois Review completely misread the story and filed this rewrite…
Since April of this year, Illinois taxpayers have spent $20,000 for coffee supplies for 177 members of the Illinois House and Senate. That’s about $113 per politician in the last 60 days.
And this is just coffee supplies. One can only imagine what our cost is for the actual coffee they drink for free.
1) It’s through April of this year, not since.
2) The coffee supplies category includes the cost of actual coffee, according to the article.
*** UPDATE *** It appears that the Illinois Review has retaliated, but of course they bungled it badly…
In his Southtown Star column, left-wing blogger Rich Miller delights in reviewing AFSCME’s mystical endorsement sessions last weekend
Actually, it was the Illinois AFL-CIO’s endorsement that I wrote about, not AFSCME. And it happened last week, not last weekend. Also, I suppose I’m left-wing when compared to IR. But then, pretty much everybody is. And the column appears statewide, not just in the Southtown Star.
* Gov. Pat Quinn reiterated his solid support for closing state facilities for the developmentally disabled last week…
Quinn made a point of reiterating his belief that residents of those facilities will be better off in community-based settings than in a state institution.
“I do believe in community care,” Quinn said. “I’m not sympathetic to the institutional approach.”
The governor’s comments came as the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees union slammed the administration for the way it is handling the moving of residents out of Jacksonville.
AFSCME said a contractor hired by the Illinois Department of Human Services has moved residents out of the institution with just 48 hours’ notice, no advance visits to determine the propriety of the placement and over the objections of staff.
AFSCME said one resident fell and suffered a broken bone after being moved, even though Jacksonville employees had objected to the placement of this individual.
“Given this level of dysfunction, we urge DHS to embrace the decision by the General Assembly to fully fund (Jacksonville Developmental Center),” the letter notes. “At the very least we urge you to slow this rushed process and do what you publicly promised — to transition residents only as quickly as safety allows.”
DHS issued a statement Thursday calling AFSCME’s allegations “absurd and misleading.”
“The process of transitioning individuals out of Jacksonville has been and will continue to be careful and deliberate,” DHS said. “There have been months of planning in this process, including the assessment of individuals’ needs, and those individuals were given the opportunity to visit sites and in some cases stay there to get a feel for their new environment. The individuals continue to be monitored weekly and are doing quite well.”
It’s tough to discern who’s right without a lot more information. Accidents do happen and transitions of this sort are never easy. I think we’ll need more evidence than a broken bone to see if DHS is doing the right thing here. Your thoughts?
* Roundup…
* State still losing taxes due from online sales The $9.4 million in self-reported sales taxes from online purchases so far this year in Illinois is up nearly 24 percent from the same period of 2011, according to figures from the state Department of Revenue. But more than a year after the Main Street Fairness Act attempted to step up enforcement, even supporters of the law acknowledge an estimated $150 million in sales taxes due from online sales go uncollected in Illinois.
* No limit on cigarette tax stamps, judge says: Illinois must sell as many cigarette tax stamps to distributors as they want, a Sangamon County judge decided Thursday. Shortly after the ruling, one distributor bought $13.2 million worth of stamps from the state, more than the state normally sells to all distributors in an entire week.
* Measure would put small dent in backlog of state’s bills: Illinois lawmakers have found a way to whittle $1.3 billion from state government’s massive backlog of unpaid bills, but it comes too late for The Counseling Center of Lake View. The Chicago nonprofit, a mental health services provider, shut down at the end of April, waiting on about $200,000 in state money.
* Training funds may be out of governor’s reach as tool to attract, keep businesses in Illinois - Lawmakers want to dispense $6.8 million through five private entities, leaving the Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity in control of $615,800, down from $11 million in fiscal 2012
* Bill requiring state actuary about to become law: A bill requiring Illinois to hire a state actuary to report on the pension systems is about to become law. Democratic state Rep. Barbara Flynn Currie sponsored it. She says it’s simply a second set of eyes to go over figures that Illinois’ five pension systems already provide.
* Watchdog: How safe is your child’s school? It’s hard to find out - Across Illinois, districts fail to let state know about thousands of cases involving drugs, weapons and attacks on teachers
Former Gov. Jim Edgar says Illinois’ inability to pull together has cost the state dearly as it tries to dig itself out of a deep financial hole.
It’s a problem Edgar says he wants to chip away at with his new Edgar Fellows initiative at the Institute for Government and Public Affairs at the University of Illinois.
In August, a group of 40 younger politicians and other state officials and leaders will meet for a 4-day training session and follow-ups on key issues.
Along the way, Edgar hopes they’ll learn more about what he calls the poorly understood history of the state and make connections they’ll later draw on to reach across geographical and ideological lines.
“If they’re downstaters, maybe they’ll have an appreciation for some of the issues in Chicago and that all those people don’t have horns on their heads, and vice versa – that all the people downstate aren’t all hicks,” Edgar said in an interview Thursday with The Associated Press.
* The Question: What topics should be studied at Edgar’s training session? Snark is encouraged, but not required.
* Another “fake” Mike Madigan has appeared on Twitter…
@MayorEmanuel, the famously profane and famously fake Twitter account created in mockery of then-mayoral candidate Rahm Emanuel, by Chicago writer Dan Sinker, set a precedent for frustrated Illinoisans looking to express their angst towards some of the city and state’s political leaders.
So when Jeff Poole, a Chicago-based comedian and instructor at the Second City comedy club, read a series of stories in the Chicago Tribune spotlighting the alleged misbehavior of the powerful Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan, he decided to write several humorous posts about it on his private Facebook page.
He realized though, that the private posts wouldn’t get him any attention, so he started a Twitter account called @KingofIL, and began tweeting satirically from Madigan’s perspective. […]
“If I got money into a Super PAC, I’d love to hire a Madigan impersonator, and take him to Springfield, and run amok a little bit,” Poole said. “I just want to keep pushing the buttons until something happens. Even a cease-and-desist letter from the Madigans would be a victory for me — I just want some evidence that he’s listening.”
* The thing is, though, Poole’s posts are kinda lame. For instance…
Saw doc. about Henry Hill on TV last night. Could you imagine being around someone so arrogant they think they’re above the law?
* Poole apparently has no experience with state politics, and it really shows in his work. The other fake Madigan Twitter account, called “Da Speaker” and run by an unknown person or persons, is far wittier and demonstrates an actual understanding of state politics…
How can it be claimed that Cullerton disagrees with me when I’ve yet to demand obedience?
Heh.
* Poole, meanwhile, has an ongoing fascination with Madigan’s relationship to his wife, Shirley…
I yelled at Shirley until she cried. When I say I’m going to do something I do it, whether it’s needed or warranted.
* Illinois made possession of up to an ounce of marijuana a misdemeanor offense many, many years ago. But far too many people are still getting arrested for possession of small amounts. Other cities have turned to ticketing people for having a bit of pot on them to free up police for far more important work. Chicago is now doing the same, with Mayor Rahm Emanuel fully on board…
Mayor Rahm Emanuel and Police Superintendent Gary McCarthy both support an ordinance that would allow police officers to ticket anyone caught with a small amount of marijuana instead of going through the time-consuming arrest process that takes them off the street for hours at a time.
Police arrested more than 18,000 people last year for misdemeanor possession of 10 grams or less of marijuana, which “tied up more than 45,000 police hours,” McCarthy said in a statement. “The new ordinance nearly cuts that time in half… freeing up cops to address more serious crime.”
More significantly, the alderman who drafted the ordinance – which turns small amounts of pot into a ticketable, not jailable offense_ said it not only addresses concerns about fairness but also provides increased safety for city’s most dangerous neighborhoods.
In those cities in Illinois where possession has been decriminalized, officials said, the change resulted in cops having more time to address more serious crime and also resulted in additional revenue ending up in city coffers. It also meant that those ticketed faced some consequences for their actions, when in the past they often saw the charges against them completely dropped. Still, those ticketed for pot possession didn’t walk away with a criminal record, officials note. […]
Springfield Police Chief Robert Williams said giving his officers in 2009 the option to write tickets for small amounts of marijuana possession did free them up to prioritize more serious crimes.
It also benefits first-time younger offenders who avoid getting a permanent mark on their record, he said.
“It gives the officers some options and some tools, for which [offenders] don’t have a criminal record. I like to believe it’s given our young people some option not to be introduced into the criminal justice system formally,” he said.
But an arrest could still be necessary in cases involving small amounts of pot, he said.
“We’re being asked to do more with less. There are occasions when it frees up time. But I want to be clear that in certain situations … I strongly support them going through the more traditional things,” he said. “There are some things that are just the cost of doing business as far as what we do.”
Gov. Quinn told reporters Friday that city officials will decide what’s best for Chicago, but he believes police should be focusing on going after dangerous criminals.
“Violent street crime, I think, is where the public wants their law enforcement significantly deployed in order to fight back for the people,” he said.
Quinn said he doesn’t think the new ordinance would lead to the total legalization of marijuana in Illinois if it is passed.
Only a handful of state House Democratic incumbents targeted for defeat by the Republicans were endorsed by the Illinois AFL-CIO last week, but the damage to the Democratic Party’s chances this fall will likely be minimal.
Organized labor’s umbrella organization met in Springfield last week to make endorsements in state legislative and other races. Labor leaders turned a strong thumbs down to some suburban House Democratic members who’ve supported pension changes and voted to cut health insurance coverage for state retirees.
Labor fought pitched battles on several fronts this past spring. Public employee pensions and health insurance coverage were the most visible. Unlike neighboring states such as Indiana, organized labor has worked well with both parties here, and has historically been able to fend off the sort of attacks that Indiana’s unions were unable to when Hoosier legislators debated a so-called “right to work” bill this year. That bill is now law.
There were no massive protests this year in Springfield like there were in Wisconsin last year while the General Assembly considered changes to state worker benefit plans. That’s mainly because the unions were at the bargaining table here. Unions were completely shut out up north. But labor still didn’t get what it wanted here, and some union leaders were furious at the outcome.
AFSCME, which represents state employees, and other unions were hoping to withhold labor’s endorsements from several House incumbents and candidates because of those fights over pensions and retiree health care. The public employee unions were only partially successful.
Just three Downstate House Democratic incumbents who are heavily targeted for defeat by the Republicans were given labor’s nod. Reps. Pat Verschoore (D-Milan), Dan Beiser (D-Alton) and Jerry Costello II (D-Smithton) were endorsed. Unions are still pretty strong in those districts and are considered important to election outcomes, so Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan pushed unions hard for their endorsements.
But some suburban Democrats were left without labor’s backing.
Reps. Fred Crespo (D-Hoffman Estates), Michelle Mussman (D-Schaumburg) and Carol Sente (D-Vernon Hills) were not endorsed. According to one top labor official, the unions withheld their endorsements in those races as a warning to others that the AFL-CIO will not blindly follow the Democratic Party down its current conservative path.
However, those three Democrats represent suburban districts where organized labor is not hugely important, and some of those incumbents may eventually receive backing from individual unions which are locally influential. Ironically enough, Rep. Elaine Nekritz, who has played a key role in negotiating pension and health insurance changes for public employees and retirees, was endorsed by the AFL-CIO. Nekritz (D-Northbrook) is facing a fairly serious challenge this fall and she’s also in the process of becoming a top Madigan lieutenant.
Some of the biggest election battles in the House will be in “open” districts where no incumbents are running, and labor dutifully endorsed several Democratic candidates in those districts. The AFL-CIO also endorsed several Democrats who are challenging sitting Republican incumbents.
For instance, Scott Drury (D-Highwood), who was running against Republican Lauren Turelli for retiring Rep. Karen May’s seat until Turelli dropped out this week, was endorsed, Stephanie Kifowit (D-Aurora) and Sue Scherer (D-Decatur), both of whom are running in hotly contested newly created districts, were endorsed. Katherine Cloonen (D-Kankakee), who is running to replace retiring Democratic Rep. Lisa Dugan, was also given the thumbs up. Jeremy Ly (D-Minooka), who’s up against GOP Rep. Pam Roth (R-Morris), was given the nod, as were Sam Yingling (D-Round Lake Beach) and Mike Smiddy (D-Hillsdale), both of whom are challenging Republican incumbents.
Labor also endorsed Republican state Rep. Saviano, who is being targeted heavily for defeat by the House Democrats. Saviano (R-Elmwood Park) usually gets labor’s endorsement, so it was no surprise.
The news was far better for the Senate Democrats. All of their most heavily targeted incumbents were endorsed, despite the fact that the Senate passed a state employee pension reform bill. No Senate Republican incumbents or candidates were endorsed. But the more important Democratic challengers to sitting Republicans or in open seat contests were also given the nod.
The bottom line is that the House Democrats barely got a slap on the wrist for what they did this past spring. It will take a much sterner rebuke from AFSCME and the teachers’ unions if the Democrats are to get any sort of “real” message.
* The DCFS personnel budget has been cut by $27 million, but making those reductions won’t be easy…
The proposed spending plan, which is awaiting action by the governor, will force the agency to reduce its 2,961 workers by 375.
But, because DCFS is operating under a 1991 court order that requires certain caseload levels for each employee, they cannot simply cut caseworkers.
Instead, the agency is looking at ending grants to social service agencies that provide assistance to troubled families. Officials also are investigating whether to curtail grants for child abuse prevention programs.
Nancy Ronquillo, president and CEO of the Children’s Home and Aid, a Chicago-based organization that contracts with DCFS to provide programs for troubled families throughout the state, said the reductions now could end up costing the state a lot more down the road.
As an example, she said counseling and support services that can help keep a child out of foster care are much less expensive that putting a child into foster care. […]
She said other programs potentially on the chopping block include six crisis nurseries that serve as safe havens for babies whose parents are struggling to overcome poverty, drugs or sexual abuse.
“All these reductions could result in either more children in foster care or more children in dangerous situations,” Ronquillo said.
* The financial troubles at the Illinois Department of Natural Resources are pretty well known…
Last year, the Adeline Jay Geo-Karis Illinois Beach State Park in Zion had to close after summer storms ripped through the area and knocked down or damaged hundreds of trees. The department couldn’t afford to hire a contractor to quickly clean up the safety hazards, so workers slowly chipped away at the job and the park reopened about nine months later, having lost hundreds of thousands of dollars in camping revenue, Miller said.
The agency ran into other problems during southern Illinois floods last year. Conservation police were called in to help rescue those trapped by the rising water but had to borrow boats from other agencies because the ones they normally use were in such bad shape.
This year, Miller said, he is concerned that a wave of employee retirements may make it difficult to keep sites staffed and open. The agency has been under a hiring freeze for the last decade, and staff levels have dropped from 2,400 employees in 2002 to about 1,100 employees now. But that number may drop even lower, as 80 workers have already expressed interest in retiring this year amid ongoing talks about reforming the state’s public employee pension system. More than 200 others are also eligible for retirement this year.
A new proposal emerged that would raise license plate fees for all motorists by $2, with the money being used to keep parks open and repair those suffering from years of neglect. The proposal narrowly passed the House last month but failed to get enough support in the Senate during the waning hours of the spring session.
Sponsoring Rep. Frank Mautino, D-Spring Valley, had said the measure would raise $15 million in its first year and $32 million in later years for the DNR.
* But that bill had difficulties passing in the House. It took two tries on May 31st to get enough votes. And then the Senate didn’t take up the proposal until after midnight, meaning that the bill needed a three-fifths majority. It would’ve likely passed had the Senate voted on it before midnight beccause it received 33 votes - 3 more than a standard majority.
I watched the Senate debate that night and the Republicans made a good point. The Democrats under the last two governors have, for years, short-changed IDNR. Their budget choices led to these problems, the Republicans said, and now the Democrats wanted to increase fees to solve the problem of their own making.
The Democrats, for their part, rightly pointed to the problems of crumbling infrastructure and lack of staff and pleaded for help.
The end result is it will likely be January before this plan can be run again, unless the governor reprioritizes his budget this fall.
