Court Ruling Improves Illinois’ Chances on Appeal of Concealed Gun Law
The 5th Federal Circuit Court of Appeals in Texas just held that the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution does not guarantee the right to carry concealed weapons in public (NRA v. McCraw, decided May 20, 2013). The ruling is similar to the ruling in February 2013 by the 10th Circuit in Colorado and is consistent with a March 2013 decision by the 4th Circuit in Maryland and a November 2012 decision by the 2d Circuit in New York. All of the decisions upheld restrictions on carrying concealed weapons despite challenges that were based on the Second Amendment.
“Every federal appeals court that has looked at this issue has come to the same conclusion, except the 7th Circuit in Illinois,” said Lee Goodman, organizer of the Stop Concealed Carry Coalition. “It’s clear that the Illinois decision is an anomaly and should be appealed.”
Illinois’ Attorney General Lisa Madigan has not appealed the Illinois case, and she has not stated whether she intends to appeal. In the meantime, the Illinois legislature has been trying, under deadline pressure from the court decision, to agree upon a law that would legalize carrying concealed weapons, even though the majority of Illinoisans do not want such a law.
“Seldom does a line of recent court decisions point so clearly towards victory,” said Goodman. “Lisa Madigan should stop stalling and should appeal. She should read the court decisions, not just her popularity polls.”
Actually, the case was about whether a Texas state law prohibiting 18-20 year olds from carrying concealed weapons in public was constitutional. The court ruled there was ample precedent to uphold the ban.
Illinois completely outlawed all concealed carry by civilians. That’s an entirely different matter.
HB 2675 would expose children to sexually inappropriate material in the name of sex education. The bill could be called for a vote as early as this afternoon or anytime during the next ten days in the Senate. It appears the votes are there for passage. This is very serious.
Please join us in calling out to God, asking for His mercy and protection for children.
Our children’s innocence is truly at stake here. Exposing young children to sexually explicit material and assuming they already are or will be sexually active, will only encourage early sexual experimentation ultimately changing the course of their lives. The bill targets children starting at age 11.
Please join us in praying that God would stop this bill.
Pray:
* God would hold this bill back between now and when the General Assembly adjourns on Friday, May 31st.
* God would convict those “undecided” that this is not in the best interest of children.
* Lawmakers would realize that schools already have the option of choosing this type of sex ed curriculum and do not need another mandate.
* Lawmakers would realize this very sensitive issue is best left to parents and local school officials.
* Lawmakers would realize that sexual purity should be desired, valued and encouraged in the schools.
* We are also asking God to forgive the corporate Church for its apathy towards this volatile issue and others that have contributed to the erosion of our culture.
God gave us the solution to the insurmountable problems we face.
…if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land. 2 Chronicles 7:14
Scripture indicates how important children are to Him and the penalty for causing them to sin. We firmly believe that God can stop and wants to stop this bill. But it’s up to us as His people.
…with God all things are possible. Matthew 19:26
Pray also for these following senators who are uncommitted on HB 2675:
Pam Althoff (R-McHenry)
Bill Cunningham (D-Chicago)
Napoleon Harris (D-Harvey)
Michael Hastings (D-Matteson)
Mike Jacobs (D-Moline)
Patricia Van Pelt (D-Chicago)
Steve Stadelman (D-Rockford)
Jacqueline Collins (D-Chicago)
*** UPDATE *** The bill passed. Offered without comment…
A proposal that revamps sex education in Illinois public schools to include information about contraception and sexually transmitted diseases has cleared the state Senate.
Current state law says sex education should focus on abstinence as the “expected norm.” Schools can opt out of teaching sex education altogether.
The bill senators approved Wednesday says sex education curriculum would still stress abstinence but include information on protection and STDs. Districts would still have the option of not teaching sex education and parents could chose to opt out their children.
Senators voted 37 to 21. The House approved it last month and a spokeswoman says Gov. Pat Quinn supports it.
The roll call is here. Sen. Althoff voted “No.” Everyone else on the above list voted “Yes.”
* Should the sale of gun magazines which can hold more than 10 rounds of ammunition be banned in Illinois? Take the poll and then explain your answer in comments, please.
We hope this note finds you and your Illinois Senate well. How fortunate that we can write a postscript to our “Dear President Cullerton,” letter published Tuesday: We were relieved later in the day to finally see actuarial math attached to your plan, the one labor supports.
Pension fund managers for teachers, state workers and university personnel ran the numbers on your plan. We’re quite certain that you were among the disappointed.
Instead of the estimated $46 billion in savings to taxpayers that you had projected over the next 30 years, your plan would save closer to $40 billion — at best: That number includes potential savings when existing pension bonds mature and free up some money. But if future legislators divert that money to anything other than pension burdens, your plan’s savings drop to $30 billion.
That’s not much, is it John, compared with some $150 billion that a rival House pension plan is projected to save taxpayers. Plus, your plan would free up only $560 million in the budget for fiscal year 2015. That’s lower than the $850 million estimate you’ve used.
Aww. How sweet.
Those folks are really quite something, eh?
One problem, though: the House’s pension plan hasn’t yet been examined by the actuaries.
* And Senate President Cullerton doesn’t seem to care about what the Tribsters are saying…
Illinois Senate President John Cullerton is urging a House vote on his pension-reform plan even though Speaker Michael Madigan has his own proposal.
Cullerton told The Associated Press Wednesday he believes House members want to vote on his measure to close a $97 billion debt in the pension systems.
House members say the Cullerton legislation doesn’t save enough money. Cullerton says it can survive a court challenge.
* The Illinois Federation of Teachers’ president isn’t backing down, either…
“We have public employee unions saying, ‘Look, we’ll put in the order of $50 billion or more on the table to solve a public problem. I don’t think there’s any other state where that is happening,” Montgomery said.
Montgomery says the Senate plan is constitutional because it gives retirees a choice, unlike the House plan.
The measure gives workers and retirees a choice of benefit packages. For example, workers who want to receive 3 percent cost-of-living increases compounded annually wouldn’t get health insurance.
Even though the Senate pension proposal won’t save as much as the House plan, Montgomery said will still go a long way toward reforming Illinois’ broken pension system
* Here’s some audio of a Montgomery interview from this morning…
At about the the 3:30 mark, Montgomery claims that Nekritz’s own numbers “have never added up,” and blasts her for cutting benefits for the middle class.
Illinois House members said Tuesday that Senate President John Cullerton’s pension reform proposal saves less than 60 percent of what he has predicted.
Reps. Elaine Nekritz and Darlene Senger released numbers from an actuarial study of the Cullerton plan that showed it would reduce the public employee pension system debt, now at $97 billion, by less than $6 billion. Cullerton, a Chicago Democrat, says his plan would reduce that obligation by $10 billion.
Lawmakers continue to wrestle with the monstrous unfunded liability; there are just 10 days left in the scheduled session of the General Assembly.
Nekritz and Senger met with reporters to lay out the calculations on the Cullerton bill, which was done by pension system actuaries. But they noted the decrease could vary depending on factors used to compute it _ House Democrats say $5.2 billion, the GOP says $5.7 billion.
It’s just corrupt, isn’t it? This game is legal, but it’s also corrupt. It’s not fair. It leads to little competition, little turnover and little change in party leadership. If the fix is in before any of us even go to the polls to vote, how can we expect the elected officials whose salaries we’re paying to pay attention to us?
This is why we need to change the process. No process is perfect, but several other states like Ohio and California and others have changed theirs. And Reboot Illinois is working with CHANGE Illinois! to try to improve our map-making process.
* California, meanwhile, has term limits and an open primary system as well as a reformed redistricting process. The result…
For the first time, California had an open primary system in which the top two candidates, regardless of party, advanced to November. And they ran in districts drawn by a nonpartisan commission instead of by lawmakers protecting their own safe seats.
The result was 38 new Assembly members, 9 new state Senators
California’s Assembly actually has fewer members than Illinois’ House - 80 - so its 38 new Assembly members equals a 47.5 turnover rate. Illinois has 118 House members and 25 new members, for a 21 percent turnover rate - worse than California’s.
California has 40 Senators, so 8 new members equals a 20 percent turnover rate. Illinois has 59 Senators, so 16 new Senators equals a 27 percent turnover rate - better than California’s, despite their laws.
* From the Illinois Education Association’s website…
Rumors at the Statehouse indicate Speaker Madigan’s proposal to shift the state’s costs for employee pensions to local school districts and local taxpayers could come up for a vote in the Illinois House today. This measure could drastically reduce programs and personnel in local school districts.
Please call 888-412-6570 and tell your state representative to VOTE NO ON ANY BILL CONTAINING THE COST SHIFT.
I’ve asked Speaker Madigan’s office for a comment.
Wednesday, May 22, 2013 - Posted by Advertising Department
[The following is a paid advertisement.]
Beneath Chicago’s streets lie gas mains that were put in place, in some cases, when horses and buggies were driving overhead. With natural gas prices at historic lows, we need to focus on replacing these outdated mains and modernizing our aging gas infrastructure. This investment will make natural gas delivery safer, quicker and more reliable. It will be better for the environment, and it will create jobs.
But Illinois’ current regulatory system is unpredictable and hampering investment. Illinois natural gas utilities need a legislative solution to have the confidence to invest and provide customers with the safe and reliable service they expect.
The 2013 Natural Gas Consumer, Safety and Reliability Act (Senate Bill 2266, HAM #3) will bring the Illinois regulatory system into the 21st century. If passed and signed into law, this legislation will provide a necessary mechanism that will allow for gas utilities to recover, in a timely manner, investments made to upgrade and improve natural gas distribution systems. Investments which will in result benefit Illinois consumers and improve our state’s environment.
The live feed (click here to watch) currently shows an empty lobby, but stay tuned.
DNA Info reports that the Chicago Teachers’ Union has sent five busloads of people down to Springfield to demand that the General Assembly pass a school closing moratorium bill.
* BRS has updated its post…
Clarification on an earlier message…Protesters were being removed from the Chicago closure meeting not the Springfield rally.
*** UPDATE - 11:56 am *** There was a big protest outside the House chambers as several dozen CTU protesters attempted to crash through the front doors and stage a sit-in. They chanted “No school closings!” and the cops dragged them off. Video soon.
* Eric Zorn often writes about the ludicrous inadequacy of public apologies. As such, he has created some rules. For instance, apologies are necessary when you answer “Yes” to these two questions…
1. Did you or those who represent or answer to you do or say something that caused discomfort, or worse, to others?
2. Would you undo this act if you could?
* Apologies, he writes, are “worthless if they’re conditional.” For instance…
The grudging apology — “if anyone was offended …” — or the passive “mistakes were made” expression of blameless regret is simply churlish and not worth the time it takes to utter.
Zorn had a good takedown of a recent Illinois State Rifle Association “apology,” which you can read by clicking here. (On a side note, I’m not receiving any e-mailed ISRA rants lately. Either the group has been muzzled after its stupid rhetorical attacks on gun violence victims or I’m off its blast e-mail list.)
* Zorn writes today about an assistant Cook County State’s Attorney who called a couple of defendants “mutts” The state’s attorney’s office issued this statement…
“It was an unfortunate and inappropriate comment,” [Sally Daly, spokeswoman for Cook County State’s Attorney Anita Alvarez] responded. “The prosecutor apologized to the court immediately and we regret the statement.”
That seems like a reasonable apology to me.
* Which brings us to another apology. I told you the other day that state Sens. Marty Sandoval and Donne Trotter had sent a very harsh letter to the governor calling for the ouster of Dept. of Health and Family Services Director Julie Hamos. WUIS talked to Trotter…
Quinn’s office, however, says he still supports Hamos, which didn’t go over well with Sen. Donne Trotter, D-Chicago, who co-signed the letter.
TROTTER: “Hitler supported Goebbels too and his propaganda he was pushing forth during his crusade. So if this is the person, this is the face you want to represent your administration, then we need to get rid of both of them.”
Ugh.
That was just a stupid thing to say, and I told Sen. Trotter so not long after I saw the Public Radio story. Not only did he invoke Godwin’s Law, but Hamos is the daughter of Holocaust survivors.
Sheesh.
* Trotter said he was planning to write an apology. Here’s the beginning of what he wrote…
I apologize to Director Hamos.
My comments were inappropriate and wrong.
No weasel words. No qualifiers.
* But he’s obviously still upset about what Hamos and Quinn are doing, and he refuses to back down from that. The statement continues…
My focus will remain on the egregious disregard toward some of the most vulnerable people in our state: the mentally ill, the profoundly disabled, the sickest, the old and young.
Our state’s fiscal status should not result in the negligent disregard of our weakest.
Our governor’s mantra is “everybody in, nobody left out,” and now he is condoning leaving the weakest out.
Additionally, I would like to thank Chicago Jewish Federation President Steven B. Nasatir for calling for cooler heads and less rhetoric and for acknowledging that I have a history of speaking out against intolerance, something that I will continue to do.
The Jewish Federation had denounced Trotter’s comments shortly before he issued his apology. Trotter called the group’s executive director and apologized, then called Director Hamos’ cell phone and apologized on her voicemail. Hamos refused public comment on the matter yesterday.
As members of the House and Senate work to piece together a spending plan before they are scheduled to leave town on May 31, the governor’s push to hire new prison guards, state troopers and welfare workers is being weighed against his plan to reduce funding for other state programs.
In the Senate, for example, Democrats who control the chamber say they plan to eliminate one of three requested training classes for Illinois State Police cadets.
Senators also may reduce the number of new workers Quinn wants in the overcrowded state prison system, said state Sen. Heather Steans, D-Chicago, who is helping to craft the budget blueprint in the Senate.
Cuts to Quinn’s request could be even deeper in the House.
“The governor wants a 10 percent increase in the Department of Corrections and we’re looking to cut the department by 3 percent,” said state Rep. David Reis, R-Willow Hill.
The governor said last year that closing Illinois prisons would mean he could transfer workers around and save the state money. Then he comes back and asked for a huge increase in its budget and lots more workers. Background from an older Tom Kasich piece…
Under Quinn’s budget, staffing would be up at almost every department and agency next year. Compared with actual headcounts in fiscal year 2012, it would be up by 42 employees at the Department of Aging, 15 at the Department of Agriculture, 83 at Central Management Services, 17 at Commerce and Economic Opportunity, 231 at the Department of Natural Resources, 182 at the Department of Corrections (including three more positions at the Danville Correctional Center), 904 at the Department of Human Services, 88 at the Department of Insurance, 30 at the lottery department, 384 at the Department of Healthcare and Family Services, 294 at the Department of Revenue, 197 at the Illinois State Police, 147 at the Department of Transportation, 29 at the Environmental Protection Agency, and 60 at the State Board of Education.
The administration says overtime costs are so high that they need more workers at DoC and the State Police.
* But the push to spare cuts to other programs could hurt DoC…
“How you deal with that $140 million [to pay back salary hikes] will impact (the budget), and they haven’t figured that out yet,” said Rep. Frank Mautino, D-Spring Valley. “Do you treat the back wages like old bills? Then they just have to wait in line because they are an old bill. If you are going to pay them (now), then you have to cut.”
Most of the workers who didn’t get the raises are employed at the departments of Corrections, Natural Resources and Human Services.
“Corrections would probably bear the brunt of it,” Mautino said. “It would mean maybe laying off 1,200, maybe closing two or three more facilities.”
Hinz wrote Griffin “displayed the kind of arrogance that only comes from a corporate CEO who is used to firing off orders and having them fulfilled,” and warned Republican gubernatorial candidate Bruce Rauner to avoid similar rhetorical excess…
The arguable frontrunner for the GOP gubernatorial nomination comes out of the same “I’m the boss” mold as Mr. Griffin, and in speeches is wont to say some of the same things about how unions are evil and only rich people know what’s right. That will not help him beat a Democrat in November 2014.
“(It’s) amazing that you can write something so full of petty malice against me, without (a) either proposing better alternatives or (b) being better informed,” Mr. Griffin emails me. “We are FAILING OUR CHILDREN. CONDEMNING them to a life of poverty and crime.”
“I have been involved in the matters of public education for over a decade,” he continues. “I was one of the largest contributors (if not the largest contributor) to Democrats for Educational Reform in Chicago. I have committed countless resource(s) to help secure a brighter future for our city’s children. And you have the audacity to attack me for caring?”
His conclusion: “Kudos to you for helping persuade other executives not to speak out. Why don’t you just send them the directions to move their businesses and jobs to Texas while you’re at it.”
Griffin said “the greatest mistake” of his career was not foreseeing the financial crisis. He said every bank would have failed had the government not intervened.
“We were losing hundreds of millions of dollars a week, if not more,” Griffin said. “CNBC parked a van in front of Citadel waiting to break the story of our demise. … We sold assets. We closed business lines. We let people go. We suspended redemptions. Our management team absorbed $500 million in costs on behalf of our investors, to demonstrate our commitment to the business and our belief in the future. And each day we bought one more day. And day by day, we bought ourselves a future.”
Wednesday, May 22, 2013 - Posted by Advertising Department
[The following is a paid advertisement.]
Work related to ComEd’s Smart Grid program created nearly 2,700 full-time equivalent jobs in the first quarter of 2013. These include nearly 900 direct full-time equivalent jobs at the utility and its contractors as submitted in a report to the Illinois Commerce Commission (ICC), plus nearly 1,800 indirect full-time equivalent positions.
ComEd’s grid modernization program produced 896 full-time equivalent positions, including 313 at the utility and 583 at its contractors. In addition, based on the proportion of direct to indirect jobs created by the program in 2012, ComEd estimates that 1,792 indirect jobs were generated in the first quarter among a variety of businesses that benefit from the ripple effect of capital spending. Throughout 2012, the Smart Grid program created 785 full- time equivalent jobs at the utility and its contractors along with an estimated 1,700 indirect jobs.
This important work is strengthening the state’s electric delivery system, improving reliability and helping keep Illinois competitive in a digital economy that requires high quality electric service.
Smart Grid job creation will continue to grow with the enactment of Senate Bill 9, which will put the program back on track by clarifying language in the original law. Members of the General Assembly should approve SB 9.
