Frerichs responds to Cross candidacy
Wednesday, Aug 21, 2013 - Posted by Rich Miller
* From state Sen. Michael Frerichs, Democratic candidate for state treasurer…
State House Republican Leader Cross has been a Springfield insider for over two decades during which he contributed to many of the most hazardous fiscal decisions leading to our current financial crisis.
Leader Cross has championed a Republican caucus which has lost touch with the middle class and has sought to cut to the core the very programs that working families across Illinois depend on like public schools, and programs to protect Illinois’ seniors.
I look forward to a vigorous and exciting debate about how best to protect the retirement security and college savings of working and middle class families.
As the statement clearly indicates, this is likely gonna turn out to be a union/business proxy war over pension reform. Expect it to be high dollar and brutal.
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Ignoring the warning signs
Wednesday, Aug 21, 2013 - Posted by Rich Miller
* This story…
Illinois is outsourcing part of its Medicaid program to a company that is under a federal grand jury investigation in Louisiana, was disqualified from bidding in Arkansas, was ushered out of Maine and has been the subject of complaints in Utah.
The black marks against the company, including its firing in Louisiana in March, haven’t deterred Illinois officials, who say they are confident of their recently announced plan to use the company’s services through a partnership with Michigan.
Client Network Services Inc., an information technology company based in Gaithersburg, Md., will help Illinois set up an estimated $85 million system to handle processing and other administrative tasks for the state’s Medicaid program, the state-federal health program that covers about 2.8 million people.
Kinda reminds me of this story…
A testy Mayor Rahm Emanuel today promised to bring in outside help to determine whether indicted ex-Comptroller Amer Ahmad did anything improper here, and he defended his decision to hire Mr. Ahmad in the first place.
In his first comments since news broke that Mr. Ahmad allegedly was at the center of a shakedown scheme in his former post with the Ohio state treasurer’s office, Mr. Emanuel promised a “thorough, comprehensive and complete” review of Mr. Ahmad’s performance here — including as a voting member of all four of Chicago’s huge employee pension funds.
Though the probe will be led jointly by Corporation Counsel Steve Patton and Inspector General Joe Ferguson, “We’re going to ask an independent third party to (actually) do the review,” Mr. Emanuel said. “They have resources we don’t have.”
State officials say they’ve checked into Client Network Services and aren’t worried. Emanuel knew about clear warning signs in Ahmad’s recent past and hired him anyway after he was “vetted.”
* Bill Daley responds to the Medicaid story…
In the wake of today’s Chicago Tribune story detailing Governor Quinn’s outsourcing an $85 million no-bid Medicaid administration contract to a company under federal grand jury investigation, Democratic gubernatorial candidate Bill Daley called for the Governor to release all correspondence related to hiring the embattled firm.
“I am calling on Governor Quinn to release all correspondence and emails between his administration, the State of Michigan, this firm and their lobbyists regarding awarding a no-bid contract to a company under federal grand jury investigation. The State Inspector General should launch an immediate investigation into whether this inside deal was improperly awarded,” said Daley.
Client Network Services Inc. (CNSI) was awarded the no-bid contract under an unusual partnership with the State of Michigan even after Quinn administration officials admitted that they knew the firm was under federal investigation and had been fired, replaced or banned from bidding on similar projects in Louisiana, Arkansas and Maine.
“When it comes to giving this no bid contract to a company that is both under federal investigation and had its contract cancelled by other states, we need to know who spoke to whom about this agreement and who lobbied whom, especially because of the cloud of suspicion this company is under in other parts of the country,” added Daley.
The Chicago Tribune reported that Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal fired CNSI in March after his state received a subpoena from a federal investigation into improper and potentially illegal communications between CNSI and state officials. In addition to questionable practices in awarding the contract, CSNI underbid competitors only to come back and blindside Louisiana with a request for an additional $40 million in fees.
In July, Arkansas banned CNSI from bidding on their Medicaid program after they received unfavorable reviews from others states where CNSI does business. This is after CNSI’s debacle in Maine forced the state into $500 million in temporary payments resulting from CNSI’s system crashing in 2005. CNSI’s contract in Utah is also in question after getting bad reviews from the state.
“We need to know why a company with a string of failures in other states which is also under investigation by the federal government would be given a no-bid contract by Governor Quinn’s administration,” concluded Daley.
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* Pat Quinn’s Cutback Amendment was the end of black Republicans in the Illinois House, until this week…
Republican officials have chosen a Kendall County sheriff’s deputy, who’ll be the first black Republican lawmaker in the state Legislature in three decades, to replace resigning state Rep. Pam Roth, of Morris.
John Anthony, 37, was appointed after GOP officials in the four counties making up the 75th District — Kendall, Grundy, Will and LaSalle — deliberated over nine potentials Monday. Their pick was announced Tuesday. […]
His appointment comes as Republicans have vowed to better reach out to minorities in the wake of major Election Day losses.
Anthony, who also has roots in Puerto Rico, will be the first black GOP state lawmaker since the early 1980s — something Thornton said was simply “icing on the cake.”
“He transcends,” she said.
It’ll be interesting to see what the House Black Caucus does now.
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Question of the day
Wednesday, Aug 21, 2013 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Yesterday, we talked a bit about about Republican state treasurer candidate Michael Scott Carter’s pledge to generate economic growth in “all 110 counties in Illinois.”
That would be eight more counties than Illinois actually has.
* The Question: What should we name our state’s “new” counties?
Obviously, snark is heavily encouraged.
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The Metra mess continues
Wednesday, Aug 21, 2013 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Ugh…
Metra officials repeatedly misled the public when they insisted that an unusually large severance package for former CEO Alex Clifford saved taxpayers millions of dollars in potential litigation costs, a bruising report from the Regional Transportation Authority suggests.
The transit agency offered Clifford a $718,000 departure deal in June after he threatened to file a whistle-blower lawsuit alleging political back-scratching and questionable contracts at the nation’s second-largest commuter service. Metra attorneys and board members have defended the settlement for weeks, saying the move thwarted a costly legal battle.
A preliminary RTA audit, however, found that Metra has an insurance policy that would have covered litigation costs if Clifford actually had sued, according to documents obtained by the Tribune. The agency’s deductible is $150,000 — a fraction of the cost of Clifford’s severance package.
* However…
Another Metra source says that it wasn’t nearly that simple, given that Mr. Clifford was threatening a whistleblower action that might have been difficult to cover insurance wise.
* But…
The acting chairman of the Metra board says he’s going to take a look to see if it’s legally and financially possible to undo the agency’s $718,000 “departure settlement” with ex-CEO and Executive Director Alex Clifford and instead shift the costs of his severance settlement to an insurance policy.
Responding to a storm of controversy, Jack Partelow told me he will spend much of the day talking to attorneys and others in an effort to determine if the agency can backtrack on the severance deal.
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* Leader Cross is holding an 11:30 conference call with his members, and I’ll give you more details then, but as subscribers already know, this is true…
After weeks of saying he would stay on as Illinois House GOP leader, Tom Cross apparently has decided to give up that post to run for Illinois treasurer.
Sources close to the leader reported last night that he intends to hold a conference call with House Republicans late this morning to announce that he is moving on. Mr. Cross himself was not available for comment, but the information came from top-notch sources.
Mr. Cross had been preparing to run for attorney general but took a pass when incumbent Democrat Lisa Madigan decided to run for a new term instead of governor.
Among other Republicans who have been considering a race is former DuPage County Board Chairman Bob Schillerstrom, but it’s not known whether he will oppose Mr. Cross, who as leader has had access to fairly considerable campaign cash.
*** UPDATE 1 *** Cross has asked his members to begin the process of a succession plan. He said he isn’t making any endorsements for his successor.
Cross wants the transition completed by the first week in October, but will be open to advancing the time frame.
He says he will be making a formal announcement for treasurer in two weeks.
Cross will serve out his term in the House.
*** UPDATE 2 *** From the House GOP…
STATEMENT FROM HOUSE REPUBLICAN LEADER TOM CROSS
This afternoon I shared with my colleagues in the House Republican Caucus my sincere appreciation for all of their support, hard-work and repeated confidence in me to serve as the House Republican Leader for the last 10 years. Serving as House Republican Leader has been an immense privilege and a humbling honor and I will forever cherish the friendships, the successes and yes, even the battles.
As I consider the challenge of serving Illinois at a higher level, I did ask my colleagues in the House Republican Caucus to begin the process of a succession plan so that a new leader may be chosen in preparation for the 2014 elections. I will be announcing my plans within the next two weeks and I remain committed to adding members to the House Republican Caucus.
*** UPDATE 3 *** Sen. Darin LaHood is backing Cross…
Republicans informed of Cross’s plan confirmed the details, including Republican Sen. Darin LaHood, who once considered a bid for treasurer but is now backing Cross.
“He will be a steady hand at the wheel of the treasurer’s office,” he said.
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Who wears short shorts?
Wednesday, Aug 21, 2013 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Umm…
A Southern Illinois courthouse is relaxing its dress code to allow visitors to wear shorts — if they’re long enough.
Jefferson County officials began enforcing a new dress code this week. The rules also banned pajamas, house slippers, hats, tank tops, muscle shirts and halter tops along with inappropriate or offensive logos.
But officials now say they’re relaxing the shorts ban to include “appropriate” items. But too-short shorts are still verboten — if their hemline is above a person’s fingertips when their arms are extended at their sides.
So, what if somebody has really short arms?
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Perennial candidate decamps to New Hampshire
Wednesday, Aug 21, 2013 - Posted by Rich Miller
* I wasn’t aware that Andy Martin had left Illinois. From a press release…
New Hampshire U. S. Senate candidate Andy Martin says aid to Greece should be on the 2014 U.S. election agenda
Andy is circulating a letter seeking the support of Greek-Americans to “put the issue of [aid to] Greece on the 2014 election agenda”
But he’s still bashing Mark Kirk…
I am committed to stopping the defamation of Greece by politicians such as Mark Kirk, and the creation of renewed respect for the crucial role Greece plays as Turkey increasingly slips into the orbit of radical Islam.
* Martin received 37,480 votes in the 2010 Republican US Senate primary. Kirk received over 420,000.
His long history of campaigns…
# U.S. Senator from Illinois, 1978 (Democratic primary)
# U.S. Senator from Illinois, 1980 (Democratic primary)
# U.S. House from Connecticut, 1986 (Republican primary)
# President of the United States, 1988 (Democratic primary)
# Governor of Florida, 1990 (Republican primary) 4th of five candidates 28,591 votes (4.30%)
# U.S. House from Florida, 1992 (Republican primary)
# Florida State Senate, 1996 (unsuccessful Republican nominee)
# U.S. Senator from Florida, 1998 (Republican primary) 2nd of two candidates 184,739 votes (33.60%)
# President of the United States, 2000 (Republican primary)
# U.S. Senator from Florida, 2000 (unsuccessful independent candidate) finished 7th of seven candidates with 15,889 votes (0.27%)
# U.S. Senator from Illinois, 2004 (Republican primary, removed from ballot according to Illinois State Board of Elections)
# U.S. Senator from Florida, 2004 (Republican primary)
# Governor of Illinois, 2006 (Republican primary) 5th of five candidates 6,095 votes (0.83%)
# U.S. Senator from Illinois, 2008 (Republican primary) 2nd of three candidates 240,548 (33.85%)
# U.S. Senator from Illinois, 2010 (Republican primary) 5th of six candidates 37,359 votes (5.0%)
# President of the United States, 2012 (Republican primary)
The guy has filed a ton of lawsuits, so be careful in comments.
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Anti gay marriage group hit with complaint
Wednesday, Aug 21, 2013 - Posted by Rich Miller
* From a press release…
The Illinois Campaign for Political Reform (ICPR) announced today that it has filed complaints against two Illinois SuperPACs for failing to comply with state election statutes. The committees, African American Clergy Coalition and Moving Aurora Forward #461, each received the majority of their funding from a single source, but failed to identify that source as their sponsoring entity in filings with the State Board of Elections as required by law.
“ICPR believes strongly that the public has a right to know who is speaking about issues and candidates that will be on the ballot. Political donors should not be able to disguise their identities by running money through a SuperPAC,” said David Morrison, Deputy Director of ICPR.
Most political committees are barred from taking outsized contributions from a single source due to contribution limits, which have been in effect in Illinois since 2011. But SuperPACs are exempt from contribution limits and so may take vast sums from a single donor.
State law requires that all political committees list on their Statement of Organization (“D-1 form”) the name of any donor whose contributions account for more than one-third of their total receipts. Such donors are labeled “sponsoring entities.”
“SuperPACs should not be allowed to be political sock puppets. Political groups have a duty to the public to be honest about who they are,” said Morrison.
The complaints filed by ICPR allege the following violations of state law:
· African American Clergy Coalition formed in March of this year and since then has reported raising $82,000. All of that money came from the Washington DC- based National Organization for Marriage, but African American Clergy Coalition did not list that organization as its sponsoring entity.
· Moving Aurora Forward #461 formed in February of this year and since then has reported raising $23,800. More than three-fourths of that money, $18,000, came from Friends of Tom Weisner, but Moving Aurora Forward #461 did not list the committee, formed to support the mayor of Aurora, as a sponsoring entity.
ICPR routinely examines filings by SuperPACS precisely because they are not covered by contribution limits. Of the 17 SuperPACs now operating in Illinois, these two were the only ones that appear to have violated the sponsoring entity rule.
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Rauner forms new PAC, but can he succeed?
Wednesday, Aug 21, 2013 - Posted by Rich Miller
* As subscribers already know, Republican gubernatorial candidate Bruce Rauner has created a new PAC. The “Committee for Legislative Reform and Term Limits” has already raised over $200,000. The two top contributors are real estate magnate Howard Rich and a trust controlled by Sam Zell.
From the Trib…
Imposing term limits in Illinois will require asking voters to approve a constitutional amendment. To get it on the ballot, hundreds of thousands of signatures will have to be gathered. On Tuesday, Rauner spokesman Mike Schrimpf said that details of the petition drive, as well as the exact wording of the proposed term limit amendment, will be publicly announced “in the next few weeks.” […]
Traditional political action committees that support candidates for election also have limits on donations. But since Rauner’s term limits PAC is pushing a proposed question for the November 2014 general election ballot, there are no limits to what donors may contribute.
That means Rauner could give unlimited amounts of his own money to his PAC, ostensibly pushing term limits while helping to promote his candidacy for governor. Meanwhile, his opponents would continue to be hamstrung by state donation limits. […]
There’s another potential benefit for Rauner. If he wins the Republican primary in March and gets the term limit question on the November ballot, it could create a powerful way to drive turnout in a state where the Democratic Party controls Illinois government. The strategy is similar to one used by President George W. Bush in his successful 2004 re-election effort. Bush adviser Karl Rove got anti-gay marriage referendum questions on the ballot in several battleground states, including Ohio, drawing conservative voters to the polls.
* The Illinois Supreme Court ruled in the 1990s that citizen-initiated constitutional amendments must change both the structure of the General Assembly and its procedures. From the Constitution…
Amendments shall be limited to structural and procedural subjects contained in Article IV
From the court’s ruling…
The eligibility or qualifications of an individual legislator does not involve the structure of the legislature as an institution. The General Assembly would remain a bicameral legislature consisting of a House and Senate with a total of 177 members, and would maintain the same organization.
Likewise, the eligibility or qualifications of an individual legislator does not involve any of the General Assembly’s procedures. The process by which the General Assembly adopts a law would remain unchanged. […]
the proposed amendment does not meet either the structural or the procedural requirement of article XIV, section 3 [Emphasis added]
So, it’s quite likely that any term limit proposal would be prevented from appearing on the ballot. Still, it’ll give Rauner a rallying cry and an organizing tool
* Signature and other requirements…
(I)n order for a term limits initiative to come to a vote, a petition with signatures totaling 8 percent of the number of votes cast in the last gubernatorial election would first need to be approved.11 Moreover, the Illinois Supreme Court would then have to rule such an initiative permissible under Article XIV, Section 3.
Eight percent of the votes cast in the last gubernatorial election would equal 298,399 valid signatures.
* The term limits case involved Pat Quinn, who gathered over 400,000 signatures to get a term limits amendment on the ballot. This is how the then state treasurer reacted to the Supreme Court’s ruling…
In a statewide opinion poll published recently by the Chicago Tribune, nearly 70 percent of voters said they would vote in support of the term limit amendment if it appeared on the ballot in November. But in the midst of all this support for change, the Chicago Bar Association (CBA)—a registered lobby group of 21,000 lawyers—rushed forward to protect the political status quo. The CBA filed a lawsuit to block the Eight is Enough term limit referendum from appearing on the November 1994 ballot statewide.
Interestingly, the CBA also lobbied the General Assembly in support of a pay raise for judges. On the same day that the legislators approved the judicial pay raise, the Illinois Supreme Court agreed to hear the CBA challenge to the term limit referendum. Six weeks later, on August 10, in a 4-3 split decision, the Illinois Supreme Court denied voters the chance to vote on the term limit referendum this November. In a cowardly action, the court refused to explain why it will not allow Illinois voters the chance to participate fully in the democratic process.
Illinois is the first state in the nation to reject term limits before the people have had a chance to vote on the issue. The Illinois Supreme Court’s ruling against the Eight is Enough referendum is a slap in the faces of more than six million voters and is an insult to the highest ideals of democracy. The court’s majority ruling ignores the fact that the Illinois Constitution clearly gives voters the right to reform their legislature. The constitution provides citizens with the power of initiative and referendum. The authors of our state constitution wanted voters to be able to propose changes to the legislature in cases where, through self-interest, the General Assembly opposed them.
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*** UPDATED x1 *** Kicking up the hysteria
Wednesday, Aug 21, 2013 - Posted by Rich Miller
* From Guns Save Life…
Governor Patrick Quinn, the clueless, inept and bumbling Illinois chief executive, signed HB-1189 yesterday – a bill to end private transfers of guns between individuals. The bill also mandates the reporting of lost or stolen firearms within 72-hours of the loss, effectively penalizing gun owners a second time if their guns are stolen and they don’t detect it right away.
The only people affected by this legislation are the law-abiding Illinois residents.
“Guns are a plague on too many of our communities,” Quinn said at his big press conference.
No, governor. Anti-gun politicians are a plague on our entire state, handicapping the good guys against those criminal predators who ignore basic societal norms against murder, rape and robbery.
So, why wouldn’t gun owners want to know if a potential buyer has a valid FOID card? I don’t get it. It’s called responsible gun ownership. And how, exactly, does this “handicap the good guys?” I don’t get it. How do you know a buyer is a “good guy” if you can’t be certain that his or her FOID card is actually valid?
Also, if your gun is stolen, why wouldn’t you file a police report?
And, finally, first violations of these two new statutes are petty offenses, similar to a traffic ticket. They’re hardly “round ‘em up and throw away the key” laws.
If you say you’re a law-abider, then abide by and respect the law. Simple.
*** UPDATE *** From the Senate Dems…
Under the new FOID Card verification procedure, there is no penalty for failing to contact ISP to confirm a valid FOID Card.
Instead, there’s a “safe harbor” provision for people who do properly confirm with ISP. In the event that firearm is later misused, the owner who properly contacted ISP cannot be held liable for the misuse of that firearm. The bill specifically states that failure to comply with the new “requirement” shall not be punishable as a crime or petty offense. That was key in getting some members to support the legislation.
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Not by a long shot
Wednesday, Aug 21, 2013 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Finke…
One of the more popular items that was distributed at Republican Day at the fair was a bumper sticker. It read “Blagojevich. No longer our worst governor.”
I was given one of the bumper stickers, but I put it in my back pocket and it got a bit crumpled…
Say what you want about Pat Quinn, but worse than Rod Blagojevich? C’mon.
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