* Several bands performed Lou Reed songs in concert this week. Click here for some videos.
My personal favorite tribute, though, was Neil Young, Elvis Costello, My Morning Jacket, Jenny Lewis and more performing “Oh! Sweet Nuthin’” on Wednesday night…
Say a word for Pearly Mae
She can’t tell the night from the day
They threw her out in the street
Just like a cat she landed on her feet
* The AP matched up Treasurer Dan Rutherford’s Tweets to his official public schedule and his state travel invoices…
“Just arriving to the DuPage Township Republicans Sunday Brunch fundraiser where I will be the guest speaker,” Rutherford tweeted one Sunday last fall. Hours later, he posted that he was speaking at a Joe Neal for Illinois Senate event and at a fundraiser for U.S. Rep. Bobby Schilling.
Those fundraisers came during his stay in the Chicago suburbs to promote the I-Cash program, which reconnects Illinois residents with financial property they misplaced. While the costs were hardly exorbitant — he stayed at a Red Roof Inn for $70 a night — the reports that Rutherford filed with the state don’t mention the political events but justify the expenses for “performing duties as state treasurer.” […]
The AP found more than 20 such mixed purpose trips by Rutherford over an 18-month period through a review of his social media posts, expense reports and official schedule. Half a dozen were in Chicago, where the treasurer has an office, but the others were in smaller towns across the state tied to the unclaimed property events. […]
Rutherford, of Chenoa, said his office’s I-Cash events are the important “anchor” his political schedule is based around while traveling. He said he doesn’t claim per diems, and he regularly turns down a security detail. And he said his campaign committee and other party funds pay for lodging, including when he was Illinois chairman for the Mitt Romney presidential campaign in 2012.
This is a common practice. You schedule campaign business around state business. Fly down south to cut a ribbon, then stick around for a fundraiser. However, neither of his two predecessors used the I-Cash program to justify extensive political travel.
What makes this story interesting is that Rutherford has made it so easy to track his movements.
* The Republicans on the pension reform conference committee have been demanding an optional 401(k) retirement plan. Public employees would be able to leave the pension system and start their own retirement accounts with a bit of matching state cash kicked in.
This is not a “cash-out” plan. It doesn’t allow employees to withdraw all the money they’ve put into the system to date. It allows them to exit the system and start their own retirement accounts moving forward. They’d still get the pension benefits they’d already earned up until that point.
Democrats have so far resisted it, partly out of fear that allowing such an optional plan could open the door to the end of a defined benefit plan down the road, as proposed by Bruce Rauner and others…
Republican gubernatorial candidate Bruce Rauner said Thursday he believes his proposed cap on earning additional pension benefits can pass constitutional muster.
Rauner said putting state workers into a 401(k)-style plan while saving pension benefits they have already earned will be sufficient to withstand a court challenge.
“We are not taking away anything historically accrued at all by that move,” Rauner said when asked if his plan was constitutional. […]
Asked later if he agreed with Rauner’s position on pension reform, [Republican attorney general candidate Paul Schimpf] said no.
“I would disagree with that,” he said. “I would have to see his actual plan before I decide to throw a flag on it. I do think a pension is a promise that needs to be kept. It is a contract under contract law.”
* There’s also worry about the loss of employee contributions into the current system (Speaker Madigan, for instance, mentioned this concern to me last week) with the optional plan. But once workers opt out of the mandated benefits system, the state’s overall financial burden would be lower because the government would no longer be on the hook for the employees’ mandated benefits from the day of the opt out forward. Moving every active duty teacher out of the TRS system and into a defined contribution plan, for example, would save at least $71.4 billion in state contributions through FY 2045.
Whatever the case, it’s doubtful that more than a handful of public employees would take advantage of such an option. There’s just no way that they would be financially better off, despite the rhetoric of some that workers should have the right to “control” their own retirement accounts. But some might do it anyway.
The one guarantee here is that the unions will freak out if this is approved. They’ll undoubtedly see this as a slippery slope to Raunerism.
…Adding… Something I meant to mention, but forgot while I was distracted by something else, is that SURS already has a defined contribution plan. Many thanks to a commenter for reminding me.
* The Question: Do you support giving public employees the option to exit the state pension system and set up their own individual retirement accounts with limited state matching contributions? Take the poll and then explain your answer in comments, please.
Friday, Nov 1, 2013 - Posted by Advertising Department
[The following is a paid advertisement.]
After years of dangerous pollution from Ameren’s E.D. Edwards coal-fired power plant in Bartonville, Ill., local community members are not willing to let Texas-based energy giant Dynegy walk into town asking for a free pass to pollute their community.
Exposure to sulfur dioxide pollution for even five minutes can make it hard for a person to breathe and high levels of exposure to sulfur dioxide can send people to the emergency room
The decades-old, uncontrolled E.D. Edwards coal plant is part of Ameren’s no-cash sale of five Illinois coal plants to Dynegy. Peoria residents are extremely concerned that Dynegy lacks a plan to clean up the plant.
Dynegy, working locally as the unfunded Illinois Power Holdings subsidiary, has requested a variance from the Illinois Pollution Control Board (IPCB) to have until 2020 to comply with the Illinois State Multi-Pollutant Standard, a law established in 2006. The company is a willing buyer of Ameren’s coal plants, but falsely claims undue financial hardship as the reason it cannot comply with Illinois’ commonsense clean air standard. Dynegy is hinging the final sale agreement with Ameren on the IPCB’s variance decision.
Peoria residents know that they deserve more than Dynegy’s risky bet on coal in Illinois and years of more pollution. For the sake of Illinois’ future, Dynegy’s request for more time to pollute Illinois air must be denied.
The shutdown of as many as 68 Dominick’s grocery stores next month could produce the biggest layoff in metro Chicago in years, with upward of 6,600 employees at risk of losing their jobs. […]
According to executive search firm Challenger Gray & Christmas Inc., employers in Illinois cut a total of 2,202 jobs in Chicago in September — only about a third of the Dominick’s jobs at stake. The Bureau of Labor Statistics, meanwhile, reports that 5,513 people in the Chicago area reported losing a job associated with a mass layoff in the first three months of 2013. Again, that number is significantly below Dominick’s employee headcount.
A closely watched indicator of Chicago business activity surged last month as companies ignored the federal government shutdown and scrambled to ramp up production.
The Chicago Business Barometer hit 65.9 in October, up 10.2 points from September, its biggest one-month gain in 30 years.
Employment was up 4.5 points to 57.7, the highest level since June but far below the pace set by new orders and production.
“Purchasers say the increase was due to callbacks from layoffs, temporary workers and using interns to fill in the gap,” she added. “There wasn’t any really new hiring.”
Newspaper circulations in Chicago continued to drop this year as readers shifted to digital channels, while the companies that print the papers kept up efforts to charge for online products.
Average print circulation for the city’s biggest newspaper, Tribune Co.’s Chicago Tribune, declined 8 percent to 677,348 on Sundays and 12 percent to 413,655 on Wednesdays during the six months that ended with September, compared with the same six-month average for 2012, according to the Alliance for Audited Media.
At the Chicago Sun-Times, the average Sunday circulation fell 11 percent to 165,404 and the Wednesday circulation slid 13 percent to 167,493.
SNAP isn’t supposed to be easy or convenient, folks. Its supposed to be just enough to get by until you can improve your own situation. Anything more invites a cycle of poverty.
State Rep. Greg Harris (D-Chicago), the measure’s chief House sponsor, strongly hinted on Wednesday night that he plans to call the bill for a vote during the last week of the fall veto session which begins on Tuesday, November 5.
“I think my colleagues should be prepared next week to make history on marriage equality,” Harris told The Illinois Observer during his fall fundraiser in Chicago’s Uptown neighborhood.
“I spent the day making calls on marriage,” Harris said. “I’m very happy.”
Another Democratic lawmaker contacted by The Illinois Observer echoed Harris.
“Greg says he’s calling the bill next week and that’s he got the votes,” said the legislator. “I don’t know who he has flipped.” […]
“I understand the Speaker has renewed interest in the marriage bill,” a top Democratic lawmaker told The Illinois Observer.
That last sentence is probably the most important one.
One legislator who firmed up his support is Rep. Al Riley, an Olympia Fields Democrat who’s been hesitant to discuss his position publicly. He told The Associated Press he’s now a “yes.”
“I’m not in the business of discriminating against people,” he said. The road to “good public policy is that you don’t talk about it all the damn time.”
Riley was always leaning hard in that direction, but it is important for supporters to come out and say so.
Bishop Larry Trotter of Sweet Holy Spirit Church and his coalition of African American pastors around the Chicago area have spoken out against same-sex marriage with aggressive robocall and radio ads. He said the group, which argues marriage should remain between a man and a woman, has started lining up challengers, though he declined to name any. Candidates who want to run for office face an early December petition deadline.
“We have some very serious candidates who are going to run in several of these districts,” Trotter said. “They can’t come to church with our support and then go and vote (against our interests) in Springfield.”
In January 2012, the newspaper announced in an editorial that it was no longer going to endorse candidates, saying, “We have come to doubt the value of candidate endorsements by this newspaper or any newspaper, especially in a day when a multitude of information sources allow even a casual voter to be better informed than ever before.” The paper went on to state that “research on the matter suggests that editorial endorsements don’t change many votes.”
At that time, Bruce Rauner, former chairman of Chicago-based private-equity firm GTCR LLC, was an investor in Wrapports. He’s since sold his 10 percent stake and is a Republican candidate for governor.
The decision to pull back from endorsements came soon after the Sun-Times was purchased by Wrapports, whose chairman is Michael Ferro. It was clearly made by upper management at the firm, as the paper’s top editor, Jim Kirk, who is now also the paper’s publisher, expressed disagreement with the move.
The source said the turnaround came after much discussion with editorial managers and Mr. Ferro. (Through a spokeswoman, Mr. Kirk declined to comment today.)
Another voice pushing for endorsements? Chicago’s cabbies.
In casual discussions with taxi drivers, Wrapports executives came to realize that it’s easy for a voter to research the background and positions of a gubernatorial or U.S. Senate candidate, the source said. But it’s often more difficult to do that for judges, state representatives and other down-ballot candidates.
* Four of the ten pension reform conference committee members were on “Chicago Tonight” this week. Right up front, they were asked whether they thought a bill would be voted on during next week’s veto session. Sen. Matt Murphy (R-Palatine) said he thought it would happen, as did two Democrats, Sen. Kwame Raoul and Rep. Mike Zalewski.
Rep. Darlene Senger (R-Naperville), however, said “I’m not sure.”
Senger said she believed they were “not far off” from an agreement, but said she’d like to see more savings.
But her comments about not being sure appear to jibe with her caucus leader’s recent statement that he would rather wait for a good pension reform bill than rush into something next week.
* Sometimes, trying too hard to stay on message can complicate matters when reporters want to ask about different stuff…
Rauner earlier this week said on a Chicago radio show that high-speed rail is not a priority for Illinois. Asked about high-speed rail Thursday, Rauner initially avoided the questions.
“I have not studied high-speed rail issues,” he said. “I cannot comment on that.”
Reminded of his comments on the radio, Rauner said, “There are many priorities. I don’t think that’s one of the top few.”
He said the state needs to invest in all of its infrastructure to remain competitive.
So, he said he doesn’t like high-speed rail, but he hasn’t studied it so he can’t comment on it, but the state needs to invest in infrastructure to remain competitive.
Got all that?
* He also indicated that maybe he wasn’t as eager to “bulldoze Springfield” as his ads suggest…
He has been staking out the position of being an “outsider” who is going to “shake up Springfield.” After remarks to a Springfield Republican luncheon Thursday, he was more conciliatory toward one of the other thirds of state government.
“I’m excited to transform the government. I need to work with the legislature. I need to understand them. I’ve spent a lot of time getting to know the legislative leaders over the last couple of years,” Rauner said. “I’m going to get to know every member of the legislature,” he continued. “I am going to find ways to get legislation passed.”
Better Government Association President and CEO Andy Shaw and John Tillman of the Illinois Policy Institute discussed the State’s pension crisis and “corruption-as-usual culture” at the Union League Club of Chicago on Wednesday, October 30.
* Usually, I post a video at the end of the week when comments are turned off. But we’re gonna do something a little different today. I didn’t post many of Lou Reed’s “hits” earlier this week, and that may have disappointed some folks. So let’s start with the Velvet Underground’s “Rock & Roll”…
Jenny said when she was just about five years old
You know my parents are gonna be the death of us all
Two TV sets and two Cadillac cars
But you know, ain’t gonna help me at all
