* As we’ve discussed before, the National Conference of State Legislatures is holding its big annual meeting in Chicago next week. Check out this discussion on Thursday, called Balancing the Powers of Governors…
Legislatures often fare poorly when taking on the governor–the deck seems stacked in favor of the executive branch. Alan Rosenthal, the leading academic expert on state legislatures, advises legislative leaders on how to work with governors and play a consultative role in shaping their agendas. His new book, “The Best Job in Politics,” examines why governors are so successful at achieving their goals. He will be signing copies of his book, which will be available for purchase, right after the session.
I think Illinoisans can probably skip that one. Or maybe the governor could send a spy to see why other states have such powerful chief executives.
Staff, especially partisan and personal staff, often are working for the legislature by day and campaigning by night. Learn best practices on managing the state work/campaign work divide. Debate case studies demonstrating the ethical dilemmas inherent in serving in this dual role. Learn tips to help get you through the election and back through the capitol door.
* Facilitator: Peggy Kerns, NCSL
* Panelists: Patrick Fuller, Assembly Chief Clerk’s Office, Wisconsin Legislature * Tim Mapes, Office of the Speaker, Illinois General Assembly
* Naomi Miller, Texas House of Representatives
* Natalie O’Donnell Wood, NCSL
* As I’ve told you before, Lieutenant Gov. Sheila Simon agreed to appear at a Better Government Association fundraiser celebrating the return of The Onion headquarters to Chicago. Simon sang and played her banjo to the tune “We’re in the Jailhouse Now.” Check it out…
* Lyrics as supplied by LG Simon’s office…
We’ve had our share of governors who
Took some money from me and from you
They thought they were the smartest guys in town
They just could not hold in
Something f-in golden
Thanks to tapes we know exactly how
They’re in the jailhouse now
They’re in the jailhouse now
They had trials once or twice, and Colorado must be nice
They’re in the jailhouse now
Yodel…
We have a place named Dixon
Sure could use some fixin’
The city clerk there may have robbed the town
She has found her way
To have that city pay
To race her horses for a triple crown
She’s in the courthouse now
She’s in the courthouse now
She’s gambled once or twice, with public funds and loaded dice
She’s in the courthouse now
Yodel…
I see our state a different way
Work with my friends at the BGA
Think of better laws and write them down
The vote might be a squeaker
Did someone call the speaker?
I’ve heard he’s the sweetest guy around
We’re in the statehouse now
We’re in the statehouse now
We’ll try it once or twice, some real disclosure would be nice
We’re in the statehouse now
Heh.
Any lyrics you’d like to add? Maybe VanillaMan will return from his semi-retirement to help out.
* A few weeks ago, I visited a very good farmer friend of mine in rural Madison County. Rob and I, along with his niece and son, ventured out behind Rob’s farm house and shot his AR-15 rifle at an old washing machine. We used a 40-shot clip. His niece was the best shot among us.
I have to admit that I had a great time. I haven’t really shot guns much since I was a kid, growing up on a farm. We had some harmless fun, except maybe for my ear drums.
My former intern Owen Irwin knows Rob and recently called him “The most chill guy I’ve ever met.” That’s a pretty darned accurate description. Rob is the epitome of a law-abiding, upstanding citizen. He’s never been in trouble with the law. Not even a little bit.
I’m mostly an agnostic about guns. But Gov. Quinn said this week that the only reason for assault weapons was shooting at people. Rob’s never shot anybody.
And, indeed, Quinn’s proposed amendatory veto specifically exempts the possession of the big clips at Sparta’s World Shooting and Recreational Complex, at sanctioned Olympics events and for use “expressly permitted under the Wildlife Code.” Apparently, even the governor admits that there are more uses for these guns than just shooting people.
* So, for those of you who support the concept of an assault weapons ban and a ban on big bullet clips (if not the actual way the governor has gone about it), I’d like you to explain to me why Rob, specifically, should be prohibited by law from buying another rifle or clip like the ones he already has.
And I would appreciate it greatly if the pro-gunners would just lay back for a while and let the other side speak. Thanks.
*** UPDATE *** When I posted this story, I decided that I’d wait until it hit 15 comments to open the discussion up to everyone. That threshold has been met. Everyone can now jump into the fray.
Therefore, we will likely see more back-patting press releases like this one in the coming weeks…
KOTOWSKI TO REFUSE ANY PER DIEM FOR SPECIAL SESSION
Calls on Legislators to Forgo Per Diem and Get the Job Done
8/1/2012
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Senator Dan Kotowski (D- Park Ridge) announced today that he will refuse any per diem and mileage reimbursement for the special session on August 17 and called on his colleagues in the General Assembly to do the same.
“I will not take tax payer money to go to Springfield and solve a problem that politicians created through decades of mismanagement and inaction,” said Kotowski. “Legislators work for taxpayers, and if we couldn’t get the job done by May 31, then it’s our responsibility to pass pension reform on our own dime.That’s why I’m calling on every member of the General Assembly to do the right thing and not accept any taxpayer funded per diem for the special session.”
The projected per diem and mileage reimbursement cost for members of the General Assembly during the special session is $40,000 per day.
Kotowski is in a Tier One race, so this press release was definitely necessary.
* Meanwhile, an admission by the governor that he called the special session because of threats by jittery bond rating agencies, rather than out of abt belief that a deal was imminent, probably won’t calm any NY nerves…
The Democratic governor acknowledged that his call for lawmakers to return to Springfield was driven more by fear that the state’s credit rating could be shredded further, raising borrowing and construction costs, than by a belief that a deal was close at hand.
“We have to deal with the credit-rating agencies. They wear green eyeshades. The idea that we have plenty of time is not always the right way to look at it,” Quinn said late Monday after appearing on a special on Tribune Co.-owned CLTV about the state’s pension problem.
“Don’t be too skeptical here,” he cautioned a reporter. “I don’t think most people in politics are excited about this. That’s one reason to be there (in Springfield). We want to do the whole thing, and I think there are people who do want to do the whole thing and get it resolved once and for all.”
To do so will require a comprehensive deal involving both Democrats and Republicans that spreads any political fallout or blame. But recent examples of such a product involving a major issue out of politically polarized Springfield are few.
* Related and a partial roundup…
* Cross: Cost of underfunded pensions may be higher
* The Daily Herald surveyed 132 Republicans who were elected to or picked for the national party convention this month and received 49 responses. Here’s the first of the stories from the DH survey…
Of the responses, 42.9 percent preferred Rubio. Another 12.2 percent selected Portman. Christie and Ryan received 10 percent of votes, respectively. Former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice was fifth, with 8.2 percent of votes.
State Rep. Dennis Reboletti of Elmhurst, a delegate, called each of the potential picks “outstanding individuals.” Reboletti described Christie and Ryan as “likable and genuine people,” but noted he feels the 41-year-old Rubio, the son of Cuban immigrants, “will be the choice because he can help carry Florida, reach out to the Latino community and court the younger vote. His story and upbringing are compelling.”
But delegate Bill Cadigan, of Winnetka, says he’s hoping for Chris Christie, because he thinks the boisterous governor “offers a personality contrast to Mitt Romney while embodying the fiscal conservative principles.”
Steve Kim, 10th District Romney delegate from Northbrook, said he’s curious to see what Romney does, adding that the question has been lobbed back and forth in most of his casual political discussions in recent weeks.
I’m told questions were also asked about the upcoming Republican gubernatorial primary (including potential candidates Sen. Matt Murphy, Sen. Dan Duffy Duffy, Treasurer Dan Rutherford, Sen. Kirk Dillard, and Congressman Aaron Schock), pension reform and gay marriage. Stay tuned.
* The State Journal-Register throws a much-needed jab at Gov. Pat Quinn’s administration for its recent excesses…
Unfortunately, his staff has began retaliating against those who criticize or ask questions about the administration’s decisions, an alarming, Nixonian display of pettiness. For example:
* The pattern started in June when the executive inspector general’s office went after two former parole agents who it believed leaked information to an Associated Press reporter who blew open the MGT-Push story. Attorney General Lisa Madigan’s office found the inspector general’s conclusion that the whistleblowers weren’t truthful was baseless. Quinn’s office wouldn’t say whether someone in the governor’s office initiated the ethics complaint, but it certainly had the most interest in rooting out the identities of the now-retired whistleblowers who nearly cost Quinn his political career.
* At the end of June, the Belleville News Democrat began publishing an explosive series about how the Department of Human Services’ inspector general didn’t bother to investigate the deaths of physically and mentally disabled people who live outside state facilities, even after hospitals complained about their conditions. A DHS spokeswoman accused Belleville reporters of breaking state and federal privacy laws after they obtained private case files.
* Then last week, the Lee Enterprises Statehouse bureau reported the names of Department of Corrections inmates who are going to be moved out of state as a part of an interstate compact. That prompted a corrections official to write the reporter saying that if the names were disclosed, “the department will view your actions as attempting to promote disorder within the prison system.”
* And on Tuesday, the AP revealed that corrections officials ordered a “shakedown” of prison employees within minutes of union members from various state prisons holding a news conference to oppose Quinn’s shuttering of two prisons and two juvenile detention facilities because of safety concerns. The union said the unusual but legal searches of employees were a retaliation for the employees’ vocal opposition to Quinn’s plans, a charge denied by the governor’s office.
Perhaps these are coincidences and not an effort by the administration to clamp down on dissent and discourage those who would shed light on problems in state government from doing so.
But a pattern has emerged and a governor who is not shy about proclaiming his honesty, transparency and general goodness should be wary of it. Quinn should encourage his underlings to be more concerned about solving problems than burying them.
It’s also no coincidence that two of these cases involved inspectors general who abused or misused their powers of office. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, these tinhorn Barney Fife goofballs need to be reined in hard, legislatively if possible.
Either way, it’s time that the governor was pressed hard on these issues in public.
* Gov. Pat Quinn was asked by reporters at least twice during a press conference yesterday about whether he actually has the power to use an amendatory veto to drastically change a piece of legislation, as Quinn did yesterday with his assault weapons ban AV. Here’s the first reporter question…
Do you concede there are any limits on your AV power?
He didn’t.
* Second question…
Where is there in the Constitution that says the governor can add such substantive language on a different topic to a bill?
Quinn pointed to unnamed Illinois Supreme Court opinions and voter action.
The Governor may return a bill together with specific recommendations for change to the house in which it originated.
And that’s it.
* The Illinois Supreme Court has ruled that the governor’s AV powers go beyond just correcting errors or making minor changes. From People ex rel Klingert v. Howlett…
Our examination of the records of the [Illinois Constitutional] Convention shows that the following terms were used to describe the kinds of “specific recommendations for change” that were contemplated: “corrections;” “precise corrections;” “technical flaws;” “simple deletions;” “to clean up the language.” In response to the following question put by Delegate Netsch, however, “Then was it the Committee’s thought that the conditional veto would be available only to correct technical errors?” a committee member answered, “No, Ma’am.”
The Illinois Supreme Court was confronted with Gov. Richard B. Ogilvie’s amendatory veto which amended the title of the bill and substituted a reworded proposal for all of the text after the enacting clause, although reiterating verbatum much of the language of the bill as originally passed. The court was obviously troubled that the scope of the governor’s authority in the new Constitution was not clearly stated nor could it be found in the committee reports or debates.
The justices did not attempt to delineate the exact kinds of changes that would fall within the power of the governor, but merely stated that “[It can be said with certainty, however, that the] substitution of complete new bills, as attempted in the present case, is not authorized [by the Constitution].” [Emphasis added, and added text from the original opinion can be found here]
* So, Gov. Quinn’s amendatory veto appears to go way beyond even what Gov. Ogilvie tried. The Court has been clear that while governors are part of the legislative process, they cannot erase an entire bill and substitute their own language. Ogilvie used much of the same text from the original bill in his new proposal and the Court still shot it down. Quinn didn’t even bother with that nicety. He just wiped out the underlying bill entirely and wrote his own, new bill.
It’s a moot point, of course. As I told you yesterday, there’s no way this AV is going anywhere. But this sure looks like a major constitutional overreach by Gov. Quinn.
