Capitol Fax.com - Your Illinois News Radar » 2013

*** UPDATED x1 - He’s in *** Report: Dold staffing up for another run

Wednesday, May 8, 2013 - Posted by Rich Miller

*** UPDATE *** Dold is in. From an e-mail to supporters…

Over the past few months, I’ve had the opportunity to speak with many of you about the problems you are facing in your businesses, in your households, and in your communities. You have encouraged me to carry your voice forward in 2014.

With deep reflection, and strong support from you, Danielle and our kids, my family and friends, I wanted to share with you first that I’ve made the decision to step forward and run in 2014 to represent the 10th District of Illinois.

I want to personally thank you for your continued encouragement. Running for office is never an easy decision for any candidate or their families, but this decision is much larger than my family and I; it is about serving our community and country.

I hope you will join me as we lay out our vision, together, for a more prosperous 10th District.

Very truly yours,

Bob Dold

[ *** End Of Update *** ]

* Roll Call’s Emily Cahn reports…

Former Rep. Robert Dold, the Illinois Republican ousted after one term in 2012, is in the final stages of planning for a rematch in the 10th District.

Multiple sources confirm to CQ Roll Call that Dold has started to interview campaign staff and is close to officially jumping into the race.

In a brief phone interview, Dold cautioned he is still weighing the decision with his family. But he confirmed he will likely make a decision about the race “within the next several days.” […]

Dold’s campaign account remains open with the Federal Election Commission from the 2012 cycle, although he did not raise any funds in the first quarter of 2013.

Thoughts?

42 Comments

Question of the day

Wednesday, May 8, 2013 - Posted by Rich Miller

[I’ve changed this post to make it the QOTD.]

* There’s one born every minute. Suckers, that is…

Former Tea Party Congressman Joe Walsh has filed papers with the Federal Election Commission to form a new PAC.

Its name: Grow Up & Be Free.

“What I’m doing is I’ve been traveling the state for the last four months. We are trying to grow a movement of people in Illinois to tell their politicians - they want to grow up, keep more of what we’ve make… We already have 2,000 members,” Walsh told the Sun-Times on Tuesday.

No disrespect, but Joe Walsh’s childish outbursts are pretty well known, yet his PAC’s name is Grow Up & Be Free? Or, maybe it’s a message to his kids, to whom he appears to owe child support. And speaking of which, instead of traveling all over Illinois to raise federal funds, shouldn’t he be getting himself a jobby job?

* The Question: What other PAC names would be appropriate?

56 Comments

*** UPDATED x2 - AP buys into the hype *** No wild west here

Wednesday, May 8, 2013 - Posted by Rich Miller

*** UPDATE *** The Senate is planning a hearing on the medical marijuana bill this afternoon, so the coppers gave the Associated Press an 11th hour press release designed to strike fear into Senators’ hearts…

Leading Illinois law enforcement organizations say motorist safeguards in pending medical marijuana legislation are not strict enough to prevent traffic deaths.

The Illinois Association of Chiefs of Police and the Illinois Sheriffs’ Association sent a letter Wednesday to Gov. Pat Quinn and other state officials asking for tougher standards.

The Associated Press was given a copy in advance.

The AP didn’t even bother to find an opposing view. That’s just irresponsible. I don’t care if they are cops. Their word is not holy.

I e-mailed Dan Riffle of the Marijuana Policy Project about the development and he got back to me within ten minutes with this reply…

As a former prosecuting attorney, I know a thing or two about law enforcement and I can tell you the safeguards against driving under the influence in this bill are incredibly strict - arguably too strict. Patients who drive under the influence of cannabis would be charged under the exact same provisions that apply to anyone who drives under the influence of more impairing medications like OxyContin, Xanax, or Vicodin. The only difference would be that police would have more latitude to require a field sobriety test for medical cannabis patients.

The bill specifically states that “Nothing in this Act shall be construed to prevent the arrest or prosecution of a registered qualifying patient for reckless driving or driving under the influence where probable cause exists.” It also directs the Secretary of State to make a notation on the patient’s driving record that s/he is a qualifying patient and, unlike current law, gives implied consent to field sobriety tests. Patients who refuse a test will have their license suspended and ability to use medical cannabis revoked.

The bottom line: medical marijuana patients who drive impaired can and will be prosecuted. It is irresponsible and simply false for these law enforcement officials to suggest otherwise.

*** UPDATE 2 *** More from the MPP…

Also, regarding blood/urine tests, the science is not conclusive on this. THC can remain in the system of someone who consumes marijuana for more than a week after use, so detecting it in a blood or urine sample doesn’t mean the driver is impaired.

There’s also no standard as to how much THC is evidence of impairment. The only way to figure out whether the driver is impaired is to observe their driving and conduct field sobriety testing, which the bill calls for and officers are well-trained in.

[ *** End Of Update *** ]

* The deputy director of government relations at the Marijuana Policy Project has penned an op-ed on why Illinois’ proposed medical marijuana law is different from the “wild” western states’ laws. For example…

Another common feature of medical marijuana laws adopted by Western states is the establishment of dispensaries, where patients are able to purchase marijuana. The proposal in Illinois includes a system of dispensaries, but there will hardly be a resemblance. California does not recognize or regulate dispensaries; that is left entirely up to the localities. In Colorado, dispensaries are tightly regulated by the state and localities, but there is no firm limit to their number, and several hundred are operating.

The Illinois bill, on the other hand, provides for a maximum of just 60 dispensing centers in the entire state, which will obtain marijuana from one of up to 22 cultivation sites (one per state police district). These facilities will be strictly regulated by the Illinois Department of Agriculture and Department of Financial and Professional Regulation. Medical marijuana also will be tested for pesticides and potency and sold in labeled, sealed, tamper-proof containers.

The inflamed rhetoric against this bill just doesn’t add up.

27 Comments

Madigan: Time for cost shift

Wednesday, May 8, 2013 - Posted by Rich Miller

* Speaker Madigan said he was holding a meeting this Thursday to discuss the cost shift…

House Speaker Michael Madigan is moving forward with a plan to require local school districts to pay their share of teacher pensions.

Currently the state covers pension payments for teachers in suburban Chicago and downstate Illinois.

Madigan says it’s a “free lunch” for those districts. He says the practice has exacerbated Illinois’ nearly $100 billion crisis and “should come to an end as soon as possible.”

More…

The announcement prompted questions from House Republican leader Tom Cross of Oswego, who has opposed the shift over concerns that property taxes would rise. Cross supported the comprehensive Madigan pension overhaul that the House passed last week.

But Madigan’s move on the cost shift prompted Cross to worry that the focus on fixing the overall retirement system would be lost.

“It’s a matter of staying on point,” Cross said. He said all legislative energy should be centered on getting an overall pension reform bill to the governor. After that happens, he said, the speaker could “talk about anything.”

* It faces a tough road ahead, but…

Jessica Handy, policy director for the education advocacy group Stand for Children, said if the state would pay for everything that it owes for public education, then it would be not be a problem for some schools to pay for their teachers’ pensions.

“We have incredible disparities within our school systems, and general state aid is the one funding mechanism that is fighting that,” Handy said. […]

Handy’s group is pushing a map that she says shows 26 of Illinois’ 102 counties would lose under a cost shift. But that means the majority of Illinois counties could see their schools helped if the state paid for classroom education and not teacher retirement.

“The districts with high property wealth and low poverty counts would prefer to have money (go to pensions),” Handy said. “The districts with high poverty counts and low levels of property wealth would be better if they took that money in general state aid.”

40 Comments

Lawsuit threat could hurt momentum

Wednesday, May 8, 2013 - Posted by Rich Miller

* This is not good news for Cullerton…

Senate President John Cullerton says one good reason to support his pension reform plan is that the unions won’t sue because they’re in on the deal, but already a group of retired teachers is prepared to go to court if the proposal becomes law.

The Illinois Retired Teachers Association, a group of 35,000 former public school teachers and educators, has fired off 5,000 emails expressing its opposition as the Cullerton plan comes up for votes in the Senate this week amid questions about whether it would save enough money.

* This really undermines Cullerton’s argument in favor of his plan…

IRTA Executive Director Jim Bachman called the changes “clearly unconstitutional.”

“The legislation may be less draconian than the bill sent over last week by the House of Representatives, but it still fails the test of constitutionality,” Bachman said in Tuesday’s statement. “If our organization sits back without a fight and allows changes to the spirit of our state’s laws governing enforceable contracts, then no agreement will ever again be safe from arbitrary dissolution under the law.”

Bachman noted the IRTA created a legal defense fund last year to be used to challenge pension legislation it believed to be unconstitutional.

The IRTA represents about 35,000 people. The state Teachers Retirement System said it has about 95,000 retired members.

* Cullerton’s proposal is attracting some support in the House, however…

Should the union-backed plan make it through the Senate, House lawmakers who voted just last week on a different idea to raise the retirement age, cut retirees’ benefits and make them pay more toward retirement would have to change their minds to approve it. Some suburban lawmakers who voted against Madigan’s plan said they might vote for Cullerton’s.

“It looks like it passes constitutional muster and I would potentially support it if it came to the House,” said state Rep. Dennis Reboletti, an Elmhurst Republican.

But state Rep. Elaine Nekritz, a Northbrook Democrat and pension expert, said offering teachers bad choices isn’t any more constitutional than the House’s proposal.

“For them to say that the legislature is giving people two choices, neither of which they have today, both of which are less than what they have today, I don’t know how that’s different from what we’re saying,” Nekritz said.

* But…

Madigan spokesman Steve Brown said the issue of the pension overhaul is “pretty well done,” since the House voted on it last week.

“Now we need to work on the cost shift,” said Brown, who contended that, based on the “fact sheet” Cullerton has passed around, the Senate plan “doesn’t appear to save any money.”

71 Comments

Not stellar

Wednesday, May 8, 2013 - Posted by Rich Miller

* The NRCC made some fun of Democratic congressional candidate Ann Callis’s interview with a Springfield TV station this week…

The NRCC went on to slam Callis’ interview with WICS-TV in its release, saying “she forgot to get the talking points from Washington Democrats on why she is running” and had an “awkward exchange” in which it “takes Callis three times before she rattles out an incoherent answer on why she is running.”

After the news reporter asked Callis what Davis has done so wrong that she decided to leave the judiciary to run for his seat, the now-former judge said Davis “is part of the problem in Washington and not part of the solution.”

“I have a proven record of reaching across the aisle … to get things done,” Callis said.

Citing the veterans’ court and mandatory foreclosure mediation program that she instituted during her time as chief judge, a position she held since 2006, Callis said in the interview that she is “result-oriented. That’s how I am.”

She also said that while she has had previous discussions with the Democratic National Committee about a potential Congressional run, the “tipping point” for her was her son, who recently enlisted in the military and graduated from officer candidate school.

“He decided to make this big sacrifice and I am making a different sacrifice to serve my country in my way,” Callis said, later adding that she feels blessed to know her purpose “and that’s public service.”

During the interview, Callis said she is not a current resident of the 13th District, but “signed a lease” and will begin living in Edwardsville in June.

* The interview wasn’t exactly spectacular. Callis smiled and bobbed her head a lot and tried to appear very non-judicial while evading questions. But what I found most interesting about the interview was that the TV guy repeated claimed it was “three and a half years” before Republican freshman Rodney Davis was up for reelection.

The dude didn’t even know that congressional terms are two years?

Are you kidding me?

The full interview is here. Watch it at your own peril.

23 Comments

Now they’re liberals?

Wednesday, May 8, 2013 - Posted by Rich Miller

* I don’t dispute any of the numbers in this Tribune editorial that blasts Senate President John Cullerton’s pension reform bill…

Madigan’s legislation does require more of government workers than Cullerton’s would. But it also bites a projected $140 billion out of the $380 billion taxpayers now are obligated to pay into the pension funds during the next 30 years. Cullerton’s bill would reduce those payments by a comparatively paltry $46 billion. […]

In preparation for the budget year that begins July 1, lawmakers in the House are considering cutting services, again, for the developmentally disabled. They are considering further reductions to child care programs for low-income families. They might have to cut payments for funerals and burials of those who receive Temporary Assistance for Needy Families. Also on the chopping block: schools for the deaf, the blind, the disabled.

It’s a shameful, shameful list, and it doesn’t stop:

The Department of Children and Family Services is being asked to cut more than $107 million — a 15 percent cut in general revenue funding. Yes, the agency that investigates child abuse will once again get slashed. Last year, DCFS cut after-school and summer programs for 1,500 abused and neglected kids. Money for counseling for 300 children who had been adopted through DCFS was eliminated in Cook County. Across the state, 4,000 families identified as at risk of abuse and neglect lost prevention services. In short, Illinois is barely taking care of its most vulnerable.

Money for schools consistently has been cut and will be next year, too. The Illinois State Board of Education has been forced to parcel out minimal resources. Basically, the agency decides which schools to hurt less. Meanwhile, neighboring states are increasing school funding.

OK, I get it. We all get it.

But notice how the Tribune never made those claims about the little school kids and DCFS when it was screaming about how the General Assembly should not raise the income tax rate a few years ago.

When worker pension payments eat into government programs, that’s bad for the children. But cutting many of those same programs beneficial to children in order to avoid an income tax hike? Well, that’s just good government.

60 Comments

How can we miss you if you won’t go away?

Wednesday, May 8, 2013 - Posted by Rich Miller

* Be still, my beating heart…

Republican leaders, who orchestrated Brady’s exit strategy last month at a meeting in Tinley Park, said about a dozen real contenders are vying to replace Brady. That number is likely to be winnowed to five or fewer within the next two weeks after a Wednesday conference call of the state central committee members, they said.

Among the contenders is Jason Plummer, son of a wealthy Downstate lumber baron, who was the lieutenant governor running mate of state Sen. Bill Brady of Bloomington in 2010 and who lost a bid for Congress in southwestern Illinois last year.

Jason really thinks he has what it takes to run the state party, eh?

Okeedokee.

* Related…

* Pat Brady exits with blast, as Illinois GOP seeks new chief: “We have some really good people who get drowned out by this sliver of people who just care about things that aren’t very important,” he said. “If we just care about platform loyalty, we’re never going to attract enough people to win elections. . . .It drowns out our greatness, which a majority of people agree with us on: tax reform, limited government, education reform. . . .We need to emphasize the issues on which we can win elections. But it’s not the social issues. It’s just not.”

* Don’t expect the GOP to change on gay rights anytime soon: In other words, there hasn’t actually been a Republican shift on gay rights. Instead, Republicans have just been smarter about vocalizing their opposition to marriage equality and other anti-discrimination laws. Yes, a plurality of people who self-identify as Republican support same-sex marriage — 49 percent, according to a March survey from the Pew Research Center — but this doesn’t translate to support among the pool of Republican voters.

* GOP: Resignation of Brady is a chance to regroup

* Outgoing GOP chief Pat Brady warns leaders: ‘It’s not 1980 anymore’: “Certainly,” says Oberweis on the next chairman being pro-gay marriage. “I think it would be clear, hopefully, to all concerned if he or she supports gay marriage, that’s a private consideration. When addressing public issues, he or she will address issues that are supported in the party platform.”

* Editorial: GOP will be pressed to keep Brady’s momentum

94 Comments

*** LIVE *** SESSION COVERAGE

Wednesday, May 8, 2013 - Posted by Rich Miller

* Blackberry users click here…

3 Comments

Protect Consumers Uphold the SB 9 Veto

Wednesday, May 8, 2013 - Posted by Advertising Department

[The following is a paid advertisement.]

AARP urges legislators to uphold the Governor’s veto of Senate Bill 9.

Senate Bill 9 would burden Illinois consumers with retroactive electric rate hikes plus interest.

SB 9:

• Circumvents the pending case before the Illinois Appellate Court