* An e-mail from Illinois GOP State Central Committeeman Mark Shaw announces Saturday’s cancellation…
From: Mark Shaw
Sent: Friday, March 08, 2013 10:17 PM
To: Illinois Republican State Central Committee
Subject: Rescheduling of March 9, 2013 State Central Committee Meeting
Dear GOP Leaders:
The March 9, 2013 State Central Committee Meeting is being rescheduled because the State Chairman has not responded to our request that he be present in person or by telephone for the meeting. Details about the new date, time and location of this meeting will be sent out to all of you once they are finalized. We are sorry for the late notice but we wanted to give the Chairman every opportunity to respond to our request that he be present in person or by telephone at this meeting.
Respectfully,
Chris Kachiroubas (C.D. 6)
Eugene Dawson (C.D. 
Mark Shaw (C.D. 10)
Barbara Peterson (C.D. 11)
Jerry Clarke (C.D. 15)
Bob Winchester (C.D. 19)
Mark L. Shaw, Esq.
SHAW LAW LTD.
Some of the back story is here.
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*** UPDATE *** I just talked to Dorgan. Sen. Mark Kirk called him today and he’s decided not to participate in the Brady vote. Kirk is supporting Brady’s retention.
That’s a class decision by Dorgan, much more than Brady deserves at this point.
In calling around, I’m told that there’s also a move afoot to cancel tomorrow’s meeting and give state central committee members some breathing room.
Stay tuned.
[ *** End Of Update *** ]
* The Sun-Times has a story up about tomorrow’s vote by the Republican Party that could oust chairman Pat Brady. I’m told there are three people who won’t say what they’ll do, and if all three vote against Brady, he’s out.
One of those three is Jack Dorgan, a Statehouse lobbyist whose partner is former House Majority Leader Jim McPike. Chairman Brady believes that Madigan is secretly pressuring Dorgan…
And while saying he has no direct proof, Brady believes Madigan or his minions are pressuring Dorgan to cast an anti-Brady vote as revenge for the “Fire Madigan” campaign Brady devised last year. That campaign included setting up a website last fall that sold an array of goods emblazoned with the “Fire Madigan” logo, including dog t-shirts.
“The math adds up,” Brady said of the possible Madigan link. “This is not an original thought by me. This is what a lot of people suspect is going on.
“No one has ever publicly taken him on,” Brady said of Madigan.
Wow. Interesting spin. Use the guy who beat you like a cheap rug last year to save your own hide by claiming that your enemies on the far right are actually his unwitting accomplices.
Dorgan’s response…
But Dorgan denied talking to Madigan or any of his emissaries about voting out Brady and called suggestions to the contrary “ludicrous.”
“Mike Madigan says as much to me as he says to anyone else, and that’s ‘Good morning,’” Dorgan said. “I got a text about this, and whoever’s saying this is making the most ridiculous statement I’ve ever heard in my life.
As with many Statehouse lobster partnerships, McPike handles the Democrats and Dorgan handles the Republicans. Dorgan is also extremely close to former state Rep. Skip Saviano, who was openly at war with Madigan until Madigan’s candidate beat him last November. Saviano and Madigan have since buried the hatchet.
Brady may have gone back to the “Fire Madigan” well one too many times with this one. Charging that one of his own state central committeemen is nothing more than a stooge for the other party is just way over the line.
I think I’ll keep comments open for a while.
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Today’s quote
Friday, Mar 8, 2013 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Sen. Kirk Dillard told the Daily Herald that he may wait until after the spring session is over to formally kick off his gubernatorial campaign. Asked about potential GOP rival Bruce Rauner, Dillard called him a friend and gave him some unsoliciated advice…
“I think there’s an important role for Bruce Rauner in state government. We need him,” Dillard said. “But it might not be the actual governorship where he can best serve the people of Illinois.”
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*** UPDATE *** The Municipal League has updated with correct numbers…
The Governor’s Office is proposing to cap LGDF revenue distributions using State Fiscal Year 2012 as the base year. In other words, cities and counties would not receive any LGDF revenue growth above and beyond what was received in State Fiscal Year 2012. This is absolutely unacceptable!
There is very real discussion among legislators regarding capping LGDF revenue. The IML has had several conversations with legislators who share this view of putting LGDF revenue on the table. The prospect of having to cut spending priorities, such as education, has created a renewed sense of desperation for revenue. THEY WANT OUR MONEY!
The IML received advance notice that the Governor was looking at reducing LGDF revenue by $240 million. Using this number, we estimated that the financial impact would be $18.70 per resident. As it turns out, the $240 million included transfers from approximately 80 funds, including LGDF. The $18.70 estimate based upon that number is therefore too high.
We believe, however, that the Governor’s Office of Management and Budget (OMB) is vastly underestimating the financial impact of the proposed LGDF cap and that our revised estimate is more accurate. The OMB believes that cities and counties would “only” lose $68 million, or $5.30 per resident. Using data from the Illinois Department of Revenue and our own financial projections, we believe that the revenue loss would be approximately $148 million, or $11.50 per resident. Keep in mind that this only reflects the “cap” proposals. Other proposals may surface.
Again, this is absolutely unacceptable.
Local government revenues are further endangered each year that the underlying causes of the State’s financial crisis go unresolved. Legislators and the Governor are chafing at having to make spending cuts to critical priorities like education. This places LGDF at great risk.
We are barely into the first act of what will likely prove to be a long play. We urge our members to consistently remind legislators and the Governor that taking LGDF revenue will not solve the state’s financial problem, but will only create tremendous financial problems for hundreds of local governments throughout Illinois.
They also have a video.
[ *** End Of Update *** ]
* The Illinois Municipal League fired up the mayors with a Facebook post this week…
It’s on! The IML has learned that the Governor’s Office is proposing to reduce LGDF (state-shared income tax) revenue by $240 million. We have also learned that some legislators are supporting the use of LGDF revenue to address the state’s fiscal woes. To calculate the financial impact to each community, multiply the municipal population by $18.70. The IML STRONGLY urges that our members contact their legislators IMMEDIATELY in opposition to this proposed local revenue reduction. The IML will provide additional information as events develop.
Unfortunately, that’s not true. The $240 million is the total number of all automatic transfers that are being looked at by the governors. Local governments’ share of that is much smaller.
* Whatever the amount, the issue has mayors up in arms…
“It’s a classic example of the legislature not being able to take care of their own house and now looking to the cities who have been responsible with their money,” said Normal Mayor Chris Koos.
“This would just compound our own pension issues,” said Lincoln Mayor Keith Snyder.
“Just because the state of Illinois is going down the tubes doesn’t mean he’s got to take the cities down with him,” Marion Mayor Bob Butler said.
Downstate lawmakers say the proposal has mayors throughout the state stomping mad.
* In other budget-related news, Chicago Democrats have for months pushed a plan to shift a half a percentage point of employer pension costs to local school districts a year over a period of several years. The districts have resisted, and their allies in the General Assembly claim the cost shift would lead to property tax hikes.
But the GA cut education funding last year by $210 million, the second straight year of cuts. And the governor has proposed a $278 million cut this year, which amounts to three percent. One reason for the cuts is that state pension costs have zoomed ever higher. From the governor’s budget address…
Without pension reform, within two years, Illinois will be spending more on public pensions than on education.
* The reaction from schools has been predictably intense…
Roger Eddy, a former state lawmaker and school superintendent who now heads the Illinois Association of School Boards, said he’s not sure whether some districts will be able to collect enough local dollars to make up for the loss of state money.
In addition, under a law aimed at capping property taxes, school districts have limits on what they can raise from local taxpayers.
“It’s going to devastate school districts,” Eddy said of Quinn’s proposal.
Bill Farley, assistant superintendent for business operations for Wheaton-based Community Unit School District 200 in DuPage County, said that at some point the cuts have to stop.
“The state continues to whittle away at funding, which was lacking from the start, and it puts more and more pressure on the local community to pay for the education of our students,” he said.
* And…
Sycamore School District 427, already considering eliminating seven positions in part because of lack of state funding, could be out of close to $1 million in general state aid under Quinn’s plan, Glowiak said. Even more funding would be lost with transportation funding expected to be prorated at 19 percent.
“We seem to want to find scapegoats to beat up and the governor and a couple legislative leaders are making the scapegoat the pensions and schools and that’s disappointing,” Glowiak said.
The cut to transportation funding was the main concern for most local school officials, including James Briscoe, superintendent of DeKalb School District 428.
The district lost $300,000 in transportation funding this year, which contributed to a $2.3 million deficit, and is expected to lose even more this coming school year, Briscoe said. The steep cut to transportation almost assuredly means another deficit budget for the district, he said.
* Related…
* Franklin Hospital CEO: State owed $1.3M at end of ’12
* U. of Illinois looks to rely less on state support
* Officials still have hope for Dwight prison
* Quinn’s Bad-News Budget, With Deep Education Cuts, Has Justice Silver Lining
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Question(s) of the day
Friday, Mar 8, 2013 - Posted by Rich Miller
* I’ve been thinking lately of expanding our use of the ScribbleLive app. We already use it to keep track of minute-by-minute spring session news and other Illinois-related stuff.
* But what about using it for debates? For instance, I’ve already talked to the NRA and a gun control group about appearing live right here on the blog.
Readers, for instance, could ask questions via ScribbleLive’s comment feature. The questions would be held in moderation until I approved them and then the debaters would provide responses, and then react to each other.
I was thinking maybe we could convince Rep. Tom Morrison (R-Palatine), who sponsored the Illinois Policy Institute’s pension reform plan, with somebody on the other side, like maybe freshman Rep. Mike Smiddy (D-Hillsdale) who won election last year without help from the House Democrats, but with a big boost from AFSCME.
We couldn’t do debates on session days because I wouldn’t have the time. But we could invite guests from opposing sides of a particular issue which was being discussed that day to comment live on the ScribbleLIve session post.
* Question One: Who would you like to see debate? Explain, please, and no snark.
* Question Two: What other things could we do with ScribbleLive here? Again, explain and no snark.
You can click here to see the app’s capabilities if you’d like, and click here to see other ideas on the company’s blog.
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Tone down the rhetoric and look at the facts
Friday, Mar 8, 2013 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Sun-Times…
Nine out of ten of the Chicago Public School students potentially affected by school closings this year are black, a Chicago Sun-Times analysis has found, a discovery one community activist called a “lawsuit waiting to happen.”
Of those 129 schools located mostly on the South and West sides, 117 are majority black. And 119 of them have a percentage of black students higher than thedistrict average. At the 129 schools on CPS CEO Barbara Byrd-Bennett’s list of schools that could be closed this year, 88 percent of the students are black.
Schools with at least 90 percent black students account for 103 of the 129. Just nine are majority Hispanic.
The racial breakdown of the schools that could be closed is not in line with the overall demographics of the district. Across the city, 41.7 percent of CPS students are African American, 8.8 percent are white and 44.1 percent are Hispanic. The rest are Asian, Native American or members of other racial groups.
* Will Caskey blew a gasket when he read that story. Caskey, who lives in the city and has a young child, was furious at the paper’s analysis.
First, Caskey points out that since Chicago is still largely racially segregated, any given area that changes population tends to do so within one race, for instance…
On September 30, 2000 the CPS racial survey found 226,600 black students (52 percent), 152,031 Hispanic students (35 percent) and 41,890 white students (9.6 percent). As of October 10, 2012, the same survey found 163,595 black students (40.5 percent), 180,274 Hispanic students (44.7 percent), and 36,415 white students (9 percent). That is to say, black enrollment declined by 63,005 (27.8 percent), white enrollment declined by 5,475 (13 percent) and Hispanic enrollment increased by 28,243 (18.5 percent). Overall enrollment declined by 34,157 (437,618 to 403,461).
* He continues…
(T)he Sun-Times’ conclusion (“The racial breakdown of the schools that could be closed is not in line with the overall demographics of the district.”) is nonsense. The closure criteria are not made in reference to the isolated enrollment in Chicago right now. They were made because population shifts left a lot of schools underutilized (and a lot of schools overcrowded). This distinction is, of course, lost on the Sun-Times, probably because crack journalism like looking at the U.S. Census web site is lost on them:
Indeed, the district claims the city has lost 145,000 children from 2000 to 2010, though school enrollment dropped by about 30,000 during the same decade. CPS cannot explain the disparity in the numbers.
Okay Sun Times, let me explain it. Per the 2010 census, there are 621,630 residents in Chicago under 18. Per the 2000 census, there were 844,298. That’s a decline of 222,668 residents under 18. Concurrently there was a CPS enrollment decline of 34,157. That means relative to change in total population under 18. CPS enrollment is actually doing great: in 2000 51.8 percent of residents under 18 were enrolled in CPS, whereas now 64.9 percent are. I know, math is hard. Maybe you should have paid more attention in school.
* The Sun-Times followed up today with a kinda/sorta walkback, presented as a he said/she said story…
Nine out of 10 Chicago Public School students potentially impacted by school closings are African-American because their neighborhoods suffered population losses, Mayor Rahm Emanuel said Thursday.
One day after a community activist branded the disproportionate impact on black students a “lawsuit waiting to happen,” Emanuel renewed his commitment to forge ahead with a politically explosive decision that Chicago has avoided for a decade.
“There has been a big change in the city over the last decade … and we need to make sure that our schools are reflective of the change in our city,” the mayor said.
“We have postponed this. It’s actually a postponement that’s adversely affected our children’s education. Now, we need to deal with it in a very sensitive way, in a compassionate way, but achieve the goal, like the longer school day, to give all our children a high-quality, valuable education so they can have a future that is worthy of those children.”
* In other Chicago school-related news, the UNO schools have agreed to allow a union. From a press release…
Chicago ACTS, UNO Announce Agreement Guaranteeing Charter Educators the Free Choice to Form a Union
Chicago—Today the Chicago Alliance of Charter School Teachers and Staff (Chicago ACTS) and the UNO charter organization announced an agreement that guarantees educators and staff at UNO schools the free choice to form a union. With 13 schools in Chicago, this agreement guarantees more than 300 educators the right to choose to unionize without fear of retaliation. More than 5,000 children attend UNO schools in Chicago.
“With this agreement, UNO teachers have the freedom to join with hundreds of other charter school teachers across Chicago who are using their collective voice to speak out for their profession and their students, said Chicago ACTS President Brian Harris. “Almost four years ago, my co-workers and I formed the first charter school teachers union in Chicago. We are united in the relentless pursuit of quality for our schools, and we are encouraged that UNO teachers now have the freedom to join with us to advocate on behalf of teachers, our students and our schools.”
More info here.
* Related…
* Emanuel regrets Quinn’s education budget cuts
* Editorial: Close schools over two years, not one
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* From Politico…
Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan spoke with several of the nation’s top progressive groups during a visit to Washington D.C. last week, further fueling expectations that the popular Democrat will run for governor in 2014.
Madigan is weighing a campaign for the state’s top office even though the Democratic incumbent, Gov. Pat Quinn, has said he plans to seek another term.
During a trip to the nation’s capital, Madigan discussed a possible campaign with strategists for the League of Conservation Voters, the prominent environmental group; and EMILY’s List, the group dedicated to electing Democratic women who support abortion rights, according to sources familiar with the conversations.
“She’s leaning heavily toward a run and was doing rounds to build relationships and gauge potential support,” one source said of Madigan.
* Phil Kadner, meanwhile, watched the governor’s budget address and is now completely fed up with Gov. Quinn…
Run, Lisa, run.
That was my reaction to Gov. Pat Quinn’s budget address on Wednesday.
It was a clear call for new leadership in Illinois, and Lisa Madigan, the state attorney general, ought to enter the race for governor.
Quinn is no leader. He is unable to rally public opinion. The Legislature repeatedly turns a deaf ear to his pleas for pension reform. He has no idea how to move the state forward.
Some newspaper editorial writers have written that Madigan should not run for office unless her father steps down as speaker of the House of Representatives. I think voters are capable of deciding for themselves if a father-daughter power combo bothers them.
With Quinn at about a 25 percent approval rating in some polls, the people of Illinois are desperate to hear a different kind of message from their governor.
Whether that’s Madigan or someone else makes no difference to me.
I just want to see as many qualified people as possible competing in next year’s gubernatorial election, and the attorney general is certainly one of those people. […]
Quinn used to think he had all the answers. It turns out, he didn’t even know the key question.
How do you lead Illinois?
Discuss.
*** UPDATE *** Greg Hinz on AG Madigan…
Another party source who would know says she’s begun making calls to major party “bundlers” — donors with large networks of friends. That’s more important now that Illinois finally has limits on the size of individual campaign donations. And I hear her forthcoming financial disclosure for the first quarter of the year will show her raking in quite a haul. […]
None of that is good for Mr. Daley, who let it be known a few weeks ago that he was seriously eying a race, but now is watching to let her make the first definitive move.
Sources close to Mr. Daley say he understands that his probability of winning the March 2014 Democratic primary would be pretty low in a three-way race with Ms. Madigan and incumbent Gov. Pat Quinn, who has said he’ll seek a new term.
As a result, Mr. Daley has told friends, it’s highly unlikely he will run if she does.
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Clergy warns lawmakers on gay marriage
Friday, Mar 8, 2013 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Upping the ante…
Some African-American clergy and conservative Catholics say they’ll ban Illinois lawmakers who vote for same-sex marriage from their churches.
About two dozen priests and pastors joined the Catholic Conference of Illinois to form a new religious coalition yesterday.
“We want to make sure that we a send a message to our elected officials that as a collective community and a collaborative, we will not allow you to speak in our churches, you will not be invited to our church when you’re running for office because we as a community are incensed,” said Bishop Lance Davis, senior pastor at a church in Dolton, who’s part of the group.
The measure is a part of a media campaign the coalition is planning to launch Friday. They’re going to 75 churches this weekend to ask people to contact lawmakers and urge them to vote against gay marriage. They also plan billboards, TV and radio ads.
Remember to keep a civil tongue in your head and also remember that there’s a First Amendment in this country and people are free to say what they want. No broadbrush attacks, please. Thanks.
* Nationally, though, things are moving away from them…
Support for gay marriage has ticked up over the last few months, particularly among Catholic voters, according to a new poll Friday.
Among Catholics, 54 percent back same-sex marriage, while 38 percent oppose it, the Quinnipiac University poll found. That’s a jump from December, when Catholic support for same-sex marriage was 49 percent to 43 percent. […]
Among all Americans, it’s a closer margin, with 47 percent supporting and 43 percent opposing. The pollsters noted that’s a dramatic reversal from their July 2008 survey, which found that 55 percent opposed same-sex marriage and 36 percent supported it. It’s also a slight rise in support since December, when Quinnipiac found 48 percent backed gay marriage and 46 percent opposed it.
* And here’s some info from an Illinois-based economic impact study conducted by the Williams Institute at the UCLA School of Law…
— As many as 11,525 same-sex couples who live in Illinois — about half of the 23,049 in Illinois, according to the 2010 Census — would choose to marry. (The report did not include spending estimates for out-of-state same-sex couples who might travel to Illinois to marry.)
— The state’s wedding business would see an increase of $74 million, and an increase of $29 million would be seen in tourism expenditures by out-of-town guests over the same period.
— Total state and local tax revenue would rise by $8.5 million, including an estimated $1-2 million in local sales taxes. The first year would produce $5.4 million of the increase.
— The boost in wedding spending will generate about 281 new jobs.
Other findings include an expected 16 guests per same-sex marriage, each of whom would spend about $155 per day during their visit. This translates to 184,400 wedding guests in three years, spending a total of $28.6 million.
The report also determined that over the first three years, 5,472 couples now in civil unions would marry, but without an accompanying ceremony.
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Oberweis: You first
Friday, Mar 8, 2013 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Covering the General Assembly tackle pension reform these days is a lot like watching a bunch of people standing on the edge of a cliff, with everybody hoping somebody else will jump first. Sen. Jim Oberweis (R-Sugar Grove) is no exception…
The 25th District Senator said he is willing to work in a bipartisan manner to address Illinois’ budget crisis, but Gov. Quinn and Democrat legislative leaders first need to start working together.
“Not only do the Democrats have control of the Governorship, they have supermajorities in both the House and the Senate. The Governor must work with his leaders – with Mike Madigan and John Cullerton – to fix this problem,” Oberweis said. “And if they can’t come to an agreement, then it is time to let the rest of us come to the table with our ideas.
* Most House Republicans appear to be following Oberweis’ advice…
For the second week in a row, the House Thursday devoted a segment of its day to considering changes in state-funded pension systems. Two of the three amendments considered by the House failed by wide margins, just as four amendments did last week.
However, lawmakers voted 65-7 in favor of an amendment that would cap a state retiree’s pensionable salary at the highest allowed under Social Security — currently $113,700 a year.
“This would remedy those situations where teachers and administrators later in their career have their salaries inflated to a significant amount and that salary becomes onerous upon the system,” said Rep. Mike Zalewski, D-Chicago. […]
Two Republicans — David Harris of Arlington Heights and David McSweeney of Cary — voted in favor of the amendment. Rep. Sue Scherer, D-Decatur, a retired school teacher who received late-career salary hikes, voted against the amendment.
* Madigan’s response…
When asked what the House’s next move on pensions would be, Madigan told reporters, “Well, the next move would be for you to go ask the Republicans why they don’t participate in voting.
“You know, in America you get elected through a Legislature to vote. That’s the American system, right? So, you should go over there and ask them, ‘Why aren’t you voting?’”
* The HGOP response to MJM…
“We feel that this issue is far too important to try to piecemeal a bill together,” said Sarah Wojcicki Jimenez, a spokeswoman for Cross. She said Republicans instead prefer moving HB 3411 through the traditional legislative process.
* Back to the bill…
Supporters said the measure would save $632 million in fiscal year 2014 starting July 1, which is small compared with a system of state pensions that is $96.8 billion short of full funding. The Illinois system is 39 percent funded, compared with the 80 percent considered healthy.
The approval gave hope to some lawmakers that wider reforms can eventually be agreed to.
“I think it demonstrates that the process that we’re going through, we don’t have to be so cynical about it, it can get us to a solution,” said Democratic Representative Elaine Nekritz, a leader in pushing for pension changes.
* Related…
* 4 Myths About Public Pension Retirees
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Give it a go
Friday, Mar 8, 2013 - Posted by Rich Miller
* My Sun-Times column…
Before “fracking” and horizontal oil drilling was tried in North Dakota, the state was producing about 80,000 barrels of the sticky black stuff a day, not much more than Illinois.
Last December, North Dakota pumped out almost 800,000 barrels a day, making it the second-largest oil producer in the nation, ahead of Alaska.
Thanks to fracking, jobs are now so bountiful that the biggest problem is persuading qualified workers to move to the remote state.
North Dakota’s state government coffers are bursting with cash, and the governor wants to cut taxes and embark on a major infrastructure program for roads and schools, with plenty of money left over.
Fracking is legal in Illinois, but our regulations are ancient and nobody really knows if anybody is even doing it. The big companies say they’re waiting on new state regulations that are working their way through the General Assembly and new extraction fees, which have yet to be agreed to.
Some say that Illinois could be another North Dakota. We have gigantic shale deposits that have produced big results elsewhere. But not all shale deposits are equal. With our state’s notoriously bad luck, maybe nothing is actually there.
Then again, maybe there is something out there, and I think it’s worth a look.
I came to that conclusion even after watching the documentary “Gasland.” It’s a shocking film about how a reckless search for energy resources has hurt innocent people. A family in the movie can’t drink their own water because their well is so full of gas that they can literally light their tap water on fire. It’s a scary sight. Worse yet, nobody in the government wanted to do anything about it.
The movie has freaked people out all over the country. New York has banned fracking, which involves injecting fluids into the cracks of rock formations to force out gas and oil. The lower chamber in that state’s legislature just passed a bill to ban it for two more years, but the measure apparently faces an uphill climb in the Senate.
Illinois legislators, who can’t seem to get anything else done, found a way to bring the energy industry and environmentalists to the table and produce an agreement. The Sierra Club calls the proposed law the “strongest set of protections of any state in the country.” A representative with the Natural Resources Defense Council said the proposal will be “the strongest and most comprehensive law governing hydraulic fracturing — or ‘fracking’ — in the nation.”
There are some opponents, mainly some small groups in southern Illinois that don’t believe fracking can ever be done safely.
But this fracking proposal is immensely superior to anything in any other state. There’s actually a presumption of liability for contamination near fracking sites. So, if somebody’s tap water becomes flammable, they can more easily sue and recover damages.
There are mandated setbacks for population centers and water resources, some very toxic chemicals are banned, there are protections for the water supply during droughts and even regulations to help prevent fracking-induced earthquakes.
The list goes on. Strict waste storage rules, to stop the practice elsewhere of dumping waste into open ponds. Restrictions on venting of gas, which can cause smog. Public hearings, lots of testing, even citizen enforcement of the laws.
The next step is negotiating the extraction tax. The state can obviously use the money, so this is really important.
Maybe Illinois will finally do something right for a change, and maybe we’ll even get lucky and create a new industry here and lots of jobs. I think it’s definitely worth a shot.
* The AP is also running a story entitled “Illinois deal on fracking could be national model.” From the piece…
Michigan’s largest environmental coalition might be willing to take a cue from Illinois if lawmakers decide that fracking should be part of Michigan’s energy mix.
“We would love to see that kind of bipartisan cooperation,” said Hugh McDiarmid, spokesman for the Michigan Environmental Council. The Illinois bill “has a lot of good ideas and a lot of things … that mirror what we’re trying to achieve in Michigan” because stopping or banning fracking would be unrealistic. […]
California state Sen. Hannah-Beth Jackson said Illinois was able to negotiate many of the same protections she wants in her state, where energy companies are eying a shale formation near Santa Barbara that may have four times more oil than North Dakota. She said regulations proposed by the governor’s office were inadequate.
“It would be wonderful, frankly, if we could get everybody to sit down,” said Jackson, who introduced a bill to regulate fracking wastewater. “In California, there is the perception the companies are stonewalling and do not want to be subject to any oversight. I think if they are willing to sit down and talk, that would certainly be best way to do it.”
* Meanwhile…
The state Department of Employment Security says Illinois unemployment rose to 9 percent in January.
That was up from 8.7 percent in December and back to almost the 9.1 percent rate of January 2012.
Department Director Jay Rowell blamed the uneven recovery the state has experienced since the recession.
The number of unemployed people in the state rose by 4 percent to 594,800. The state added a relatively small 7,100 jobs in January.
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