* The We Are One Illinois coalition of labor groups has offered up what it calls a “framework” for pension reform. From a press release…
According to the framework any pension proposal must include the following:
1. A guarantee that the state will pay its portion as required. That hasn’t happened for decades, as legislatures have diverted money to other programs.
2. A true look at revenue by closing loopholes for big corporations that hurt taxpayers of Illinois. Closing loopholes such as those giving special treatment to the offshore profits of oil companies and foreign dividends of large corporations could generate nearly $900 million a year. This annual amount could be dedicated to the retirement systems and yield more than $80 billion by 2045.
3. No inclusion of current retirees, who are living on an earned and needed pension and cannot re-enter the job market.
The framework’s final point states:
With a guarantee that the state would pay its portion, the members who are reliant on the pension systems for their retirement security would offer to help the state by paying more, even though they have contributed their portion over the years. (This increase may differ for the various pension plans.)
The Illinois Republican Party has relentlessly bashed House Speaker Michael Madigan almost every day via press release during the past few months. Not many of those statements have been covered by the media, but the GOP is obviously hoping to make Madigan an issue in this election by blaming him for just about every problem in Illinois, even more than they did two years ago.
Madigan has also been hammered by the Chicago Tribune in a series of stories about his alleged conflicts of interest. Madigan initially dismissed the criticisms as “garbage,” but eventually responded point by point in a letter that was mostly ignored by the media, and never addressed by the Tribune itself. The Tribune’s editorial board has led the charge against the Speaker over the years, demanding his toppling as the House’s top guy.
House Republicans have tried for at least two decades to make the Speaker an issue in campaigns. It’s never really succeeded, mainly because people hadn’t heard enough about Madigan to be moved by the GOP’s negative advertising.
Since it seems clear that the GOP plans to use Madigan as its favorite target again this year, I went looking for a poll to see if attacking him now might work in a state House race after years of bad publicity. A northern suburban legislative district that leans Republican seemed a good place to look because the Tribune is read pretty widely up there and the residents might be more inclined to accept the fact that Madigan was bad for Illinois.
Campaigns being campaigns, I can’t divulge which district this poll comes from, but it was paid for by a northern suburban Republican. It was a legitimate live telephone poll of 301 people taken by a national pollster in mid July.
Again, this district leans Republican, so the Madigan numbers are probably a bit worse than they would be statewide.
Madigan’s “image” was tested by the poll, which found his positive rating at just 16 percent, while his negative rating was at 44 percent. Just 3 percent had a strongly positive view of his image, while 31 percent had a strongly negative view.
But 40 percent had either never heard of Madigan (17 percent) or had no opinion (23 percent). This is generally regarded as a well-educated region with politically aware voters, yet a very large percentage of that population doesn’t really seem to care either way about the Speaker.
The crosstabs have a much higher margin of error than the full poll’s 5.7 percent, but they’re still worth a look.
In the age brackets, Madigan’s worst rating comes from people 65 and over. A whopping 63 percent of people in that age range have a negative opinion of Speaker Madigan, with 53 percent having a strongly negative viewpoint. Only 8 percent of that age group have a positive view of the Speaker and 29 percent have either never heard of him (9) or have no opinion (20) .
58 percent of those aged 55–64 had a negative view of Madigan, while 42 percent of those who were 45–54 have a negative view of Madigan, and of those who were 18–44, 28 percent have a negative view of Madigan.
The general rule of thumb in politics is that the older one gets, the more one votes. And this poll in this particular district clearly shows that the older one gets, the more one despises Michael J. Madigan.
Among independents, a voting bloc that tends to lean more Republican, 46 percent have a negative view of Madigan, with 31 percent having a strongly negative view. But 43 percent have either never heard of Madigan (17) or didn’t have an opinion (26). And 56 percent of independents aged 55 and up have a negative view of Madigan, while a third either didn’t know about him or had no opinion.
The bottom line here is that there are some real dangers for the Democrats with Madigan’s negative image. His 59 percent negative rating among older women, who tend to be more independent, is high enough on its own to set off alarm bells, at least in this district. Even 41 percent of Democrats aged 55 and older have a negative view of him, according to the poll. So, yes, the cumulative result is the attacks may be having some impact. We’ll know more as the campaign proceeds.
* The Question: Is your opinion of Speaker Madigan positive, negative or do you not have an opinion? Take the poll and then explain your answer in comments, please.
* I was given a prison tour several years ago by the Department of Corrections. We went to mostly maximum security facilities, and I was far from the first reporter who went on such a tour. But Gov. Pat Quinn, who constantly touts himself as being for more open government, has repeatedly denied requests by the media to tour even minimum security prisons. One can only wonder what the governor is hiding…
Want to know what conditions are like inside Illinois’ prisons? You’ll have to take someone else’s word for it.
And for the most part, that someone has to be the state of Illinois or the union that represents correctional officers and other prison workers.
Gov. Pat Quinn, a Democrat, is steadfast in his opinion that media tours of the state’s taxpayer-funded prisons, even the minimum-security ones, are a security risk and not a good idea.
“Prisons aren’t country clubs. They’re not there to be visited and looked at. I think we have to make sure they’re secure, and I think the security of the public is paramount when it comes to prisons,” Quinn said during questioning by reporters after he cut the ribbon for the 2012 Illinois State Fair in Springfield.
The issue of prison tours gained traction this week after a report by Chicago public radio station WBEZ that one of its reporters was turned down when he asked for a tour of the minimum-security prison in Vienna to investigate conditions there for prisoners.
Other reporters’ prison tour requests have been turned down, as well.
“I think it’s important that we listen to those who are on the front line at the prison with respect to working there and understanding their decisions regarding the safety of the prison,” Quinn said Friday. “Our corrections officials who are running the prisons are wardens. They have expertise that we ought to pay attention to.”
But Alan Mills, legal director at the Uptown People’s Law Center in Chicago, which represents Illinois inmates in legal cases, said Quinn is off base.
“Clearly, not only is it in the public’s interest, I think it’s the public’s right to know what’s going on in the prisons. Government should never be able to force the public to rely on its own version of the events. That’s what journalists and outside watchdogs are for,” Mills said. “The argument about security is hogwash.”
Mills said state officials have allowed tours of the Stateville and Dwight prisons regularly, and they have run tours of Tamms “when it suits their interests.”
“So there is no reason why they can’t run a tour and allow access to a medium-security prison. Do they have to assign someone to walk you through? Yes, but so what?” he said. “I think the public is legitimately able to conclude from their refusal to let people in that they don’t want people to see what’s going on in there.”
* Treasurer Dan Rutherford led prison tours when he was a state legislator and doesn’t understand Quinn’s adamant refusal to let reporters inside…
“I would concur with him that they are not country clubs. I would add to that they are also not tourist attractions,” Rutherford said in a conference call following Quinn’s remarks.
“I think it’s important that under the right conditions and right security escorts, that the media and policy makers have a chance to see the inside of the penitentiaries, ask the questions, dialogue with the staff and - for that matter - dialogue with the inmates,” Rutherford said.
Rutherford, a Republican, said the Democratic governor’s decision “gives the perception of hiding something, even if one’s not.”
* WBEZ wants to get inside some prisons. The station has been reporting on some deplorable conditions, including…
Overcrowding in the Illinois prison system has officials putting inmates in some rather unusual places. Men recently released from Vienna prison describe being housed with 600 other inmates in an administration building with only seven toilets.
Mayo says, “I thought to myself this is supposed to be a minimum security institution, but this was more like a maximum security institution in that I couldn’t believe that they would actually expect people to live under those type of conditions. The place is infested with rats and the rats were so aggressive that we used to call them kangaroo rats ’cause while I was there quite a few guys had rats actually jump up in bed with them.”
Okay, one last, and disturbing, example of life in Building 19. It comes from attorney Alan Mills at the Uptown People’s Law Center in Chicago. Mills says a cockroach burrowed into the ear of an inmate while he slept and it had to be surgically removed.
“The wax in [the] ear is one of the things that roaches will eat,” Mills said. Mills has talked to inmates at Vienna but he hasn’t actually been allowed to see the conditions for himself.
John Maki has. “Building 19 was one of the most depressing things I’ve seen in my life,” Maki said. “I just thought this is a human tragedy on a lot of levels. Part of me thought what a terrible way to spend taxpayer dollars.”
* Meanwhile, Gov. Pat Quinn’s press secretary told reporters last week that an e-mail exchange about moving a southern Illinois press conference was available online. Not quite…
Gov. Pat Quinn’s office continues to withhold emails that could shed light on whether his staff moved the location of a southern Illinois news conference to avoid protesters.
Even so, his spokeswoman says he remains committed to the issue of transparency in state government.
One document his office released Wednesday, apparently an exchange of emails, is completely censored — or “redacted.” Officials blacked out even the dates and times of the emails and the names of the senders and recipients.
“This is the most redacted email I’ve seen,” said Esther Seitz, a media law attorney in Springfield. “I’ve seen an email where at least the subject and the ‘from’ and ‘to’ lines were disclosed, but the content of this email was blocked in whole.
“Pretty much, (the governor’s office is) withholding the entire document. I don’t see why they’re giving you that email at all. There’s no point.”
* This new law has been touted by several business groups and editorial pages as good government…
The law took effect immediately and extends [the enterprise zone program] that began in 1982 for another 25 years. Enterprise zones essentially give tax breaks to businesses within the designated areas. The breaks include an exemption from the retailers’ occupation tax paid on building materials and a tax credit for jobs created.
Quinn’s decision was timely, because the 97 enterprise zones around Illinois had been set to expire next year. Considering some of the bad publicity Quinn has received over the state’s image as being less than business-friendly — such as Peoria-based Caterpillar Inc.’s decision earlier this year to go to another state to build a new plant that will bring with it 1,400 jobs — the governor needed to do something to show that he wants businesses to stay and grow in Illinois.
The new law creates a board to oversee the process of determining which companies are eligible to participate in enterprise zones, and it will add a few of them. It also beefs up reporting requirements of companies receiving tax benefits from the program.
Quinn said enterprise zones have helped create and retain jobs. Businesses within enterprise zones have created more than 350,000 jobs, according to estimates from Quinn’s office.
Madison County’s experience with its enterprise zone has been more than positive. The Gateway Commerce Center is located at the intersection of Interstate 270 and Interstate 255/Illinois 255 and has convenient access to Interstates 55 and 70, as well as to airports, railroads and barge terminals.
The enterprise zone falls within the boundaries of both Edwardsville and Pontoon Beach, as well as unincorporated Madison County. Supporters say Gateway Commerce Center has added to the tax base of every taxing district that has property within the enterprise zone.
* I’ve driven by that Gateway Commerce Center. It’s huge. And it’s expanding…
An $80 million construction job and about 800 new, permanent jobs could be waiting in the wings if the Edwardsville City Council, Pontoon Beach Village Board and Madison County Board approve ordinances expanding the existing enterprise zone encompassing Gateway Commerce Center. […]
Besides the 800 new, permanent jobs at the new facility, the project represents 400 construction jobs over a 13-month period.
He said the warehouse would be twice the size of the 1.2 million-square-foot Hershey warehouse, one of the original developments in Gateway Commerce Center.
An exhaustive investigation conducted by the Franklin Center for Government and Public Integrity found that the two competing firms together have received or are promised more than $2.2 billion from American taxpayers over the past 15 years.
“Retail is not economic development. People don’t suddenly have more money to spend on hip waders because a new Bass Pro or Cabela’s comes to town,” says Greg Leroy, executive director of Good Jobs First, a non-partisan economic development watchdog group based in Washington, D.C. “All that happens is that money spent at local mom and pop retailers shifts to these big box retailers. When government gives these big box stores tax dollars, they are effectively picking who the winners and losers are going to be.”
* Cabela’s has received $551 million in local and state assistance during the past 15 years.
* Bass Pro Shops received $1.3 billion in local and state assistance during the same period.
* The federal government helped ensure liquidity for Cabela’s’ credit card division by providing $400 million in financing for the purchase of the company’s securitized debt.
Numbers don’t always tell the whole story, counters Larry Whitely, a spokesman for Bass Pro Shops, a privately held company based in Springfield, Missouri. Whitley argues the stores should be viewed as an amenity being added to a community — much like one might view a park or a library.
“These aren’t just stores – they are natural history museums,” he says. “Every store is designed to reflect the unique natural environment of the area in which it is located.” He adds that often a Bass Pro store is an anchor development that attracts additional retailers.
In fact, Ball State economist Hicks studied the economic impact of seven Cabela’s stores that opened between 1998 and 2003 and found that despite millions of dollars in economic development incentives given to the retailer, there had been no net gain in jobs detected in the communities one year after the stores opened.
“It’s not like folks suddenly have more money to spend on hip waders once a Cabela’s opens up. What generally happens is that instead of buying those hip waders from an independent business, they go to big box store,” says Leroy of Good Jobs First.
Gov. Pat Quinn used his veto power Friday to reject a bill that would have required utility companies to purchase a synthetic natural gas to be made at a proposed plant that was to be built in the East Side neighborhood.
Quinn’s rejection of the bill puts the future of the plant in jeopardy because the agreement requiring companies to purchase the gas for the next 30 years was considered part of the guarantee making the plant economically viable. The plant is to be operated by Leucadia National Corp. on a portion of the former Republic Steel site near 116th Street and Burley Avenue.
Tom Shepherd, a spokesman for the Hegewisch-based Southeast Environmental Task Force, said his group is not willing to proclaim the plant dead – even though it led lobbying efforts during the summer to encourage Quinn to reject the bill.
“There’s no simple answer,” Shepherd said. “This plant has some serious business interests that want it built, and they may try to resurrect it in the future.”
Police have arrested a 51-year-old man and seized a high-velocity air rifle in connection with pellet rifle shots that recently damaged a mosque in a northern Chicago suburb, authorities said Sunday.Police said David Conrad of Morton Grove was taken into custody and investigators seized an air rifle outfitted with a scope as part of their probe of the shooting Friday night at the Muslim Education Center in that same suburb.
No one was wounded Friday, but a Muslim civil liberties group subsequently said the shots damaged an outer brick wall of the center shortly after worshippers observing the holy month of Ramadan broke their daily fast. […]
“This is obviously an alarming situation,” said Ahmed Rehab, director of the Chicago branch of the Council on American-Islamic Relations. “The weapon allegedly used in this incident is powerful enough to kill, and the projectiles reportedly came within inches of the head of the security guard on duty.”
A Morton Grove resident accused of shooting at a mosque during Friday night’s heavily attended Ramadan evening prayer service has complained for years about parking, lights and noise since the construction of the Muslim house of worship near his home, members of the mosque and neighbors said.
In 2003 and 2004, David Conrad, now 51, attended village hearings to oppose the mosque and expansion of the Muslim Education Center, said Berdella Wehrmacher, 90, who said she accompanied him to the meetings.
Several residents acknowledged that the controversy led to some hard feelings that linger today. But they also expressed shock at the allegations that Conrad — described as helpful and mild-mannered — shot at the mosque with a “high-velocity air rifle,” narrowly missing a security guard, according to police.
“One thing I’m sure of is that there are people here in this country — there is a radical strain of Islam in this country; it’s not just over there — trying to kill Americans every week,” Walsh said. “It is a real threat. And it is a threat that is much more at home now than it was right after 9/11.”
“It’s here, it’s in Elk Grove, it’s in Addison, it’s in Elgin, it’s here,” he said, referring to Chicago suburbs.
* We’ll have to wait and see whether the two incidents are somehow connected, but, really, is this sort of rhetoric necessary? Some say definitely not…
His town hall reference to Elk Grove, Addison and Elgin were meant, Walsh says, to suggest that no place is immune to threat.
His opponent says that kind of talk, with no specifics, is meant to spread fear.
“When he speaks he doesn’t speak as a lay person,” said congressional candidate Tammy Duckworth. “He speaks with the power of his seat, and he’s shown he’s not a suitable congressman for this district.”
The religious leaders who gathered Friday argue that it is too easy and too reckless to say radical Islam poses an imminent threat without specific intelligence define the threat.
* House GOP Leader Tom Cross says he won’t vote for the pension reform bill which passed the Senate. The bill only covers state workers and members of the General Assembly…
House Republican Leader Tom Cross, of Oswego, doesn’t plan to vote for the Senate bill, arguing a pension fix should be all-encompassing plan that “includes everybody.”
“I think it’s a mistake,” said Cross, who wants to air it out with House GOP members. “I think it’s nibbling around the edges at best.”
* Voting against the GARS reform would be politically dangerous for some of his more vulnerable members. But at least one of his members agrees that the GA should wait…
State Rep. Pam Roth, R-Morris, said, while doing nothing is not an option, she also has little faith that any real progress on any of the pension problems is possible in a single day of negotiations on Aug. 17.
“I, like many of my colleagues, aren’t interested in dealing with one or two of our pension system problems at a time,” said Roth. “And, if some of these solutions don’t go into effect until 2014 anyway, I feel we should have more time to consider them.”
* Speaking of politics, the Daily Herald’s poll of convention delegates included a political question about pension reform…
In a Daily Herald survey of more than 75 Republican and Democratic delegates to the upcoming political conventions, 63 percent of GOP respondents said they thought cutting pension benefits for teachers, state workers and others would gain their candidates votes.
And about 15 percent of Republicans thought the issue was best left until after the election. Another 15 percent thought the issue won’t affect voters.
Democrats were more split over the question, with about 35 percent thinking cutting pension benefits would cost their candidates votes and 31 percent thinking it would help them.
The split could reflect the complexity of the issue and Democrats’ conflicts over how best to balance an effort to fix the state’s finances while recognizing their close ties to union workers.
During the 12-month period ending June 30, nearly 4,750 rank-and-file state employees retired. That’s almost as many as the prior two years combined. […]
About 4,647 university workers retired during the budget year that ended June 30 — the highest number in at least five years and nearly 1,300 more than the year before. […]
Retirement numbers through the Teachers Retirement System, which covers public school teachers in the suburbs and Downstate, have been on the rise over the last three budget years. But between April and July — part of the teacher retirement season — the number has hovered slightly above and below 3,000 the past three calendar years.
* Related…
* ADDED: All or nothing approach divides pension-reform camps
* Editorial: Too little trust in pension cost-shift plan: That requires faith the state would give more money to schools, something it has failed to do for many years. Illinois is last among the 50 states in state share of school funding. Quinn and Madigan are saying, trust us. Sorry, history says we can’t.
* Hopf: Approving pension reform not as easy as Quinn makes it seem
* According to Motorola Mobility, these layoffs mean that the company’s state tax incentives are “suspended”…
Motorola Mobility will move just 2,250 jobs when it moves its headquarters from Libertyville to Chicago’s Merchandise Mart, not the 3,000 jobs previously announced, as a result of Google’s announcement Monday it plans to cut 4,000 jobs worldwide in its wireless phone business.
For weeks, Mayor Rahm Emanuel has been touting the Motorola jobs coup as evidence of Chicago’s emergence as one of the nation’s technology centers.
Mayoral spokesman Tom Alexander acknowledged Monday that Motorola Mobility’s surprise announcement is a blow for Chicago.
It will reduce by 25 percent — or 750 jobs — the number of employees that Motorola Mobility will be moving to Chicago.
“Any time there are job losses, it’s not ideal, but this is an important step to make the company healthy for a long time,” Alexander said. “They’re still taking three and a half floors [at the Mart]. They’re still…making a $300 million commitment to Chicago [and] taking the same-sized lease. And they have every intention of growing the head-count once they get to Chicago. They still want to develop new technologies and advance their business. None of that changes.”
* The mayor’s office believes the layoffs are just temporary…
Last year, Motorola Mobility agreed to retain a local workforce of 2,500 workers and make $600 million in investments in exchange for tax credits of more than $10 million a year for 10 years. The layoffs announced on Monday will drop Motorola Mobility’s Chicago-area workforce below the 2,500-worker threshold needed to qualify for state incentives, Erickson said.
Those incentives “will be suspended until we have at least 2,500 again,” she said.
Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel and commercial real estate firm U.S. Equities Realty said United Continental Holdings Inc. (UAL) will move its corporate headquarters to the Willis Tower in downtown Chicago from its Elk Grove Village campus.
The Willis Tower is already home to United’s network operations center. After the move, United will occupy about 25% of the building and has extended its lease through 2028.
In a joint release, the mayor’s office and Chicago-based U.S. Equities Realty said United began moving its headquarters downtown in March 2007 and started moving its operations into Willis Tower in the fall of 2010. The new deal gives United 16 floors throughout the building.
Maybe he can get Sears to move back, too, and then change the name to the Sears Tower. Kinda has a ring to it, no?
* According to Buzzfeed, these photos of Republican congressional candidate Jason Plummer emerging from Air Force One and sitting behind a desk in the Oval Office were likely taken at the Reagan Presidential Library…
I’m gonna ask that Oswego Willy take a deeeeeep breath before commenting.
* After last night’s escapades, I’m planning to spend more time at the State Fair tonight. Some friends are coming in from out of town and we’re going to see Eric Church. As I’ve already told you, I wasn’t much into pop country until recently. I’m still not really into it, but there are some people I like, and he’s one of them.
I’m most looking forward to seeing Miranda Lambert next week. She’s got an edge to her that I dig a lot…
I got a mouth like a sailor
and yours is more like a Hallmark card
Gov. Pat Quinn visited striking Caterpillar workers on Friday, giving $10,000 toward a food fund but making no promises he could help broker an end to a strike that has entered its fourth month. […]
Quinn said he came to support striking workers and make a donation to the food fund. But he sidestepped questions from one reporters as to whether Caterpillar management was being fair to the workers.
He also did not make any promises to help broker an end to the strike, which began May 1, although many of the strikers urged the governor to get involved in the labor dispute as he walked among them and greeted them personally.
* The Cat workers rejected a second contract offer in May, after the strike began. Some highlights from that proposal…
The six-year contract would freeze wages for workers hired before May 2005 and set pay for those hired afterwards according to “market rates.” The share of health care costs workers would pay would rise from 10 to 20 percent by the end of the contract, and the company’s defined benefit pension plan would be replaced with a worker-contributed 401(k) plan.
Hmm.
Higher health care costs and whacked pension benefits.
Sound at all familiar?
…Adding… When a corporation does it, it’s bad, but when he does it, he’s fulfilling Abe Lincoln’s legacy…
As he opened the Illinois State Fair Friday, Gov. Pat Quinn said tackling the state’s enormous $83 billion pension debt would make the state’s most famous president proud.
“I think that it’s imperative that we do something for history,” Quinn said. “I think Abraham Lincoln would be very proud of us if we use government of the people to solve the problem for the people.”
* Last year, I ran into US Sen. Mark Kirk after the State Fair Twilight Parade. We chatted for a while and then he offered to buy me some chocolate covered bacon. I said I had enough problems in my life without eating that stuff, so he excused himself and went ahead and bought the delicacy.
I’m wondering if he still thinks that was such a great idea. (Like I can talk.)
* I was taking a look at the SJ-R’s State Fair section and found some odd foods…
* The Commission on Government Forecasting and Accountability has a new report on Fiscal Year 2013, and it’s not pleasant…
After exceeding expectations in FY 2012, the largely economically related sources are forecast to slow significantly as the recovery appears to be stalling out. With most econometric prognosticators anticipating little growth, coupled with the continuing disappointing jobs picture, there is little reason to believe underlying revenue growth will be able to match last fiscal year’s pace.
Illinois’ net income tax revenues will be down, according to COGFA, because of the extra tax payments made this past April 15 which weren’t taken out of paychecks immediately after the tax hike took effect in January of the previous year. But net corporate income taxes are expected to grow by $214 million. After a barn-burner year, sales taxes are expected to grow only 1.6 percent.
State Sen. Mike Frerichs, D-Champaign, who is one of 11 legislative members of COGFA, said the new report will put greater pressure on lawmakers to cut spending again next year.
“I think a lot of my colleagues looked at the cuts we made this year and said, ‘We did it. We’re done,’” Frerichs said. “But I think this shows that there’s going to be a lot more pain in the next few years.”
Frerichs said that “next year could potentially be as bad or worse in terms of cuts to important services. It just means we’re going to have to work extra hard to protect the important parts of state government, and make sure our priorities downstate are protected.”
* The budget squeeze is one of the reasons that Gov. Pat Quinn has latched onto pension reform. He pushed it again yesterday…
Gov. Pat Quinn Thursday said lawmakers should consider a comprehensive pension-reform proposal when they return for a one-day special session next week.
Speaking before the start of the Illinois State Fair Twilight Parade, Quinn said lawmakers should consider a reform bill introduced this week by Rep. Elaine Nekritz, D-Northbrook.
Nekritz’s bill imposes the same changes on pensions for downstate teachers, university workers, state employees and state lawmakers. A bill approved in May by the Illinois Senate made changes only to pensions for state employees and lawmakers. […]
One problem with Nekritz’s legislation is that it was introduced as a brand-new bill and could not work its way through the General Assembly in a single day. The special session called by the governor is only scheduled to last Aug. 17. Quinn, though, said there are parliamentary techniques available to lawmakers to put the Nekritz proposal onto another bill and pass it in one day.
A retirement funding hole long pegged at $83 billion could hit nearly $93 billion by next summer if changes are not made, the administration projects. In turn, pension payments are gobbling up so much of the state budget so quickly that state government could be spending more on basic annual pension payments than it does on education within four years.
“This is a fire bell in the night,” Quinn said this week. “This is an alarm for all of us.” […]
But the Quinn team estimates that by mid-2016, state government will be spending $5.8 billion on grade schools and high schools and $6.2 billion on pensions. Although it is true that pension payments are scheduled to keep increasing in the coming years, the governor’s analysis also assumes that lawmakers will continue to cut education spending.
That point is disputed by many lawmakers, however. A spokeswoman for Senate Republican leader Christine Radogno of Lemont dismissed the Quinn estimates as “extremely unreliable.” […]
Depending on one’s point of view, the state already may have reached the schools-pensions imbalance Quinn projects will take place in four years. The state is making a $5.2 billion pension payment this year, but it’s also paying back $1.55 billion in pension-related loans taken out under former Gov. Rod Blagojevich and early in Quinn’s tenure. Totaled up, that $6.75 billion is greater than the $6.2 billion the state is spending on schools this year.
* And the Tribune thinks that just passing a SERS and General Assembly Retirement System reform would be a “baby step”…
At best, this bill would be a baby step up Mount Kilimanjaro. But that’s nowhere near enough.
* The Republican Party of Illinois has sent out a new e-mail which implies that retiring Chicago FBI chief Robert Grant was talking about House Speaker Michael Madigan in John Kass’ column today. The e-mail’s headline…
ICYMI: The Madigan Rules??
* From the e-mail…
Grant went on to say that there are politicians “who have networks of relationships, real estate firms, law firms, service firms, and you can’t get a permit passed unless you do business with those entities connected to the family.”
“There are aldermen who have networks of relationships, real estate firms, law firms, service firms, and you can’t get a permit passed unless you do business with those entities connected to the family.”
Speaker Madigan has had more than his share of failures. Just look around you. I’ve called him a walking conflict of interest. There really isn’t a need to make stuff up. Just sticking to the facts is more than enough. But I suppose that’s too much to ask of an organization that sees a Madigan ghost under every bed.
* I raised pigs one year when I was in 4-H. My grandfather and my uncle raised pigs. One of my good friends raised two pigs with his 4-H son this year. I helped out for a couple of days with those pigs and it reminded me that I really don’t like pigs all that much. I did have a lot of fun, and I’ll certainly do it again. They’re great people and I’ve enjoyed being back on a farm again. It’s just that I much prefer cattle. They smell better, at least to me.
Anyway, a friend of mine and I cut through the swine barn at the Illinois State Fair last night to get out of the rain. My friend literally hugged a pig while I took a photo. It was all great fun. Everybody was smiling, including the little girl who owned the pig and another friend who walked by while I was trying to take the picture.
Not long after that we had a conversation which went a little like this…
Me: Hey, did you wash your hands after hugging that pig?
Friend: Ha! No! I’m touching you!
Me: Agh!!! Don’t touch me with those pig hands! Wash your hands, man! Get away from me! Wash! Get away! Wash! Don’t touch me! No! Wash! Help! Mom!!!
I really, totally freaked out. Those who know me are probably laughing because I’m not a germaphobe at all. I can only guess that my dislike of pigs finally got the better of me last night. My friend did wash after my freakout and I’ve since apologized. I’m not so sure that I’ve been totally forgiven, however. I was a bit on the weird side.
The Illinois Department of Public Health says a child in the state has been diagnosed with a new strain of swine flu after attending a fair in Coles County.
As the Illinois State Fair ramps up in Springfield, the department is urging patrons to take precautions to avoid the flu which is spread from contact with pigs. Mark Ernst is the state veterinarian for Illinois. He says the State Fair is doing its part to combat health risks:
ERNST: “We’ve notified our staff that works the livestock exhibits, we do go through and check in the livestock. They’re aware of the possibility of influenza in swine and so they’ll certainly be more vigilent in looking for any type of respiratory infections or conditions that may be present in the swine.”
Hand-washing stations will be set-up in many spots throughout the fairgrounds. The flu’s symptoms are said to be similar to that of the regular seasonal flu. And the Illinois boy with the disease has not been hospitalized. Dozens of cases in other states have been reported. There is no vaccine for this strain of swine flu. The state’s health department says it’s possible, although rare, that the flu can also be spread between humans.
* Back when Rod Blagojevich was in charge, AFSCME showed up to Governor’s Day at the 2008 Illinois State Fair to protest his effort to cut their healthcare during contract negotiations. For a while, the union protesters drowned out the governor, who replied “They’re lucky to have a job.”
* Well, the union is planning yet another rally at this year’s Governor’s Day festivities. From the union’s website…
Wednesday, Aug. 15, is Governor’s Day at the Illinois State Fair. AFSCME will be there to ensure that fairgoers know about Gov. Quinn’s repeated attacks on working families in Illinois. Gather at the Main Gate at 11:30 a.m.
Quinn is trying to slash public employee pensions, withhold negotiated pay raises, cut retiree health care and push for huge contract concessions.
It’ll be a lot of fun with a very serious purpose-making sure that the voices of working families are heard.
* Two days later, on Friday the 17th, union members plan to rally at the Statehouse to protest pension reforms. The General Assembly will meet for a special session that day to take up the issue.
* AFSCME has been making a huge deal out of just about every incident of prison violence in order to convince people that closing Tamms and other facilities is a very unwise decision.
[Stacey Solano, spokeswoman for the Illinois Department of Corrections] said that the data that was supplied “clearly shows that there is no statistical correlation between staffing levels, (inmate) population or the closure and assault levels.”
Charts released by the Department of Corrections to the BND showed that inmate assaults on prison staff decreased at two of the state’s three maximum security lockups, the Pontiac and Stateville correctional centers. Pontiac dropped slightly from 108 such assaults in fiscal year 2011 to 98 in 2012 that ended July 1. And Stateville dropped from 95 to 57 during this same time.
At the maximum security Menard Correctional Center, the state’s largest prison, assaults increased over these same two years, rising from 21 to 36. The figures for Menard are lower overall because, since fiscal year 2008, the facility has spent most of the year on lockdown. In 2011, the prison was on lockdown for 235 days, compared to 13 for Pontiac and 75 for Stateville. No reason was given for the high number of lockdown days at Menard. […]
Overall, for the last three complete fiscal years, inmates assaults on prison employees throughout the entire prison system remained fairly steady. There were 420 in 2010, 502 in 2011 and 444 in 2012.
The only thing I’d say is that the number don’t include any incidents from July.
Also, if AFSMCE has a response I’ll be more than happy to publish it.
*** UPDATE 1 *** From AFSCME via e-mail…
Attached and below is data on staff and inmate assaults provided to the union by IDOC. We released this information at our July 19 hearing on prison safety at the Capitol and it was widely reported.
The chart…
More from the AFSCME e-mail…
We had requested FY 2012 data also but the administration claimed it was not available. Readers can decide for themselves if they believe the administration manipulated the subsequent release of that data. (Prison employees also believe these figures understate the human victims of violence behind bars, as the numbers refer to “incidents,” not individuals harmed. In other words, an attack in which an inmate harmed three employees is counted as one.)
In any case, the five-year trend of rising violence against employees and among inmates is clear.
What the administration’s new figures discount is the first-hand, real-life experience of prison employees on the front lines – the men and women who put on the uniform and walk through the prison gates every day. They say that conditions are increasingly volatile and chaotic due to overcrowding, lack of staff, reclassification and transfer of inmates, and other Quinn Administration policies. The testimony given at the July 19 state Capitol hearing showed that in a personal and palpable way. To discount and seek to undermine the credibility of those who serve is deeply disrespectful of the risks they face and the sacrifices they make simply by going to work each day.
With respect to lockdowns, our members have observed on an anecdotal basis the same decline the administration’s figures reflect. But those fewer lockdowns appear to be part of a systematic effort by the Quinn Administration to cut the utilization of such security measures—we believe in order to artificially drive down costs without regard to safety and operational needs. When a facility is locked down (or shaken down for contraband such as weapons), all operations take longer and more intensive staff time is required to conduct meals, count inmates, search cells etc. That leads to increased overtime costs for staff. It has been apparent to our members for some time that lockdowns and shakedowns are being curtailed not because they are not needed but because the Quinn Administration is cutting corners to reduce costs.
Finally, to the administration’s lack of credibility on corrections matters, see the following chart on overcrowding we also issued at the July 19 Capitol forum. These are the true overcrowding statistics as most recently reported to the General Assembly by IDOC – not the misleading “operation capacity” category the Quinn Administration invented to mask the chaotic conditions it has allowed to fester in state prisons where inmates are now housed in hallways, basements, gymnasiums and closets because there is nowhere else to put them.
Click the pic for a larger image…
*** UPDATE 2 *** The Quinn administration responds to AFSCME’s contention that “an attack in which an inmate harmed three employees is counted as one”…
Each assault is counted individually during an incident. So when prison employees indicate they believe the figures understate violence— and say an inmate who harms three employees is counted as one—that’s not true. It is counted as three.
* We’ve discussed this topic here more than once, but Gov. Pat Quinn is still getting away with it, so I decided to raise the issue’s profile by putting it in my Sun-Times column…
Numbers are hard. People hate math. People really hate reading about numbers and math.
This is why politicians are so successful at using numbers to confuse people. The media too often just accept the numbers and move right along.
But there is a number sticking in my craw these days, and it’s driving me nuts that nobody else is really challenging the governor about it, so I’ve decided to talk about it here.
Wait! Don’t turn the page! It won’t be that bad. I promise. This stuff may look hard at first, but it’s really pretty simple.
Gov. Pat Quinn keeps saying the state goes $12.6 million further into the hole every day that a pension reform law isn’t passed. The additional debt is added to the overall unfunded pension liability. That’s a fancy phrase that describes the money the state should’ve paid into the pension systems over the years and didn’t — and still doesn’t. Every day that goes by without catching up on that unfunded liability means a day that the unfunded liability has a chance to grow.
The media has endlessly repeated this $12.6 million number, and some newspaper editorial pages have used it to demand an immediate pension fix.
The trouble is, the number is really misleading.
“We’ve said repeatedly that every day that goes by, $12.6 million is added to the pension liability,” the governor said this week. “Between now and the election, that’s about a billion dollars.”
Quinn wants the General Assembly to pass a pension-reform bill during a special session he called for Aug. 17. Quite a few legislators want to wait until after the election to pass a bill. They’d rather not have big-time money spent against them by public employee and teachers’ unions this fall. And don’t let anybody kid you, this sentiment is widespread on both sides of the aisle. Republicans as well as Democrats would rather just wait.
What Quinn doesn’t say, partly because nobody has pinned him down on it yet, is that none of the pension reform bills currently on the table will immediately stop that $12.6 million from adding up every day.
And since it’s summertime, any bill with an immediate effective date will require a three-fifths majority to pass. There’s no way the state’s legislative leaders can find that many votes.
They’re having real trouble coming up with simple majorities.
So because our state Constitution has a super-majority requirement for bills passed after May 31 with immediate effective dates, no reforms can conceivably take effect until at least June of next year.
Also, the green eyeshade types who run the state’s pension systems want any reform bills to include a July 1, 2013, implementation date to give them time to get everything ready.
In other words, it doesn’t matter if the Legislature approves a bill on Aug. 17 or waits until after the election because that $12.6 million will still accrue every day regardless of what happens.
The very real problem is the danger of a major downgrade from a credit ratings agency. A major downgrade could push the state’s debt into “junk bond” status, and then a whole lot of big institutions that buy government bonds wouldn’t be able to buy any more of ours. One such threat has apparently been issued already.
So, yes, there is a good reason to pass pension reform sooner rather than later. But this $12.6 million number the governor keeps talking about is, in reality, just scare tactic propaganda, and it should be treated as such.
Discuss.
*** UPDATE *** Gov. Quinn was finally asked today about his $12.6 million a day figure and he dodged the question, pointing instead to the last couple of paragraphs in my Sun-Times column. Listen…
