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Monday, Jun 9, 2014 - Posted by Rich Miller

Gov. Pat Quinn today signed into law a pension measure backed by Mayor Rahm Emanuel that would cut benefits and raise the retirement age for workers in two of the city’s pension funds.

Today was the deadline for Quinn to act on the legislation, and he had been mulling it over since lawmakers sent it to him in April. The bill presented a bit of a political quandary for the re-election-seeking Quinn. That’s because it requires the city to make higher yearly pension contributions, which Emanuel has said he would seek to pay for through a property tax increase. Quinn has campaigned on reducing the property tax burden.

Quinn received cover in the form of a separate bill he signed last week that will allow the city to raise 911 fees on land lines and cellphones by up to $1.40 a month, to $3.90. If the City Council increases the fee by the full amount, it would generate an estimated $50 million a year – which could put off the need for a property tax increase until after next year’s city elections.

* Rauner’s response…

Gubernatorial candidate Bruce Rauner today criticized Gov. Pat Quinn for breaking his promise to Chicago homeowners by signing a law that will force City Hall to raise their property taxes.

“I would have vetoed this law – but Pat Quinn likes to raise taxes and left homeowners holding the bag again,” Rauner said. “This should have been a no-brainer – veto the bill, don’t squeeze Chicago families even more.”

Despite pledging to lower property taxes for homeowners, Gov. Quinn broke yet another promise by signing the Chicago pension bill into law, thereby forcing City Hall to raise property taxes on hardworking Chicagoans. Even if the city diverted $50 million in new 911 emergency phone tax revenue to pay for the pension bill, City Hall would still face a massive shortfall over the five-year phase-in, paving the way for a massive property tax hike.

It also should be noted that the 911 tax will only cover the first year of the pension reform legislation - because it’s just a $50 million tax and sunsets in a year.

* From the ILGOP…

Tim Schneider, the Chairman of the Illinois Republican Party, released the following statement this afternoon following Gov. Pat Quinn’s signature of the Chicago pension legislation:

“Pat Quinn just signed the hardworking taxpayers up for five straight years of property tax hikes.

“He said he ‘read the fine print,’ said his ‘conscience’ guided his decision, and then he signed the bill anyway.

“It shouldn’t surprise anyone: Pat Quinn has spent the last five years putting government first and the taxpayers last in every decision he’s made. Illinois families already struggle with some of the highest property taxes in the country, forcing seniors out of their homes and doing real damage to our business climate. And despite all that, Pat Quinn just put them on the hook for hundreds of millions more.

“It’s clear that we need a major change in Illinois, starting with a governor who will finally stand up to tax hikes, not sign them.”

* Gov. Quinn’s signing statement…

* Mayor Rahm Emanuel…

Since day one, my administration has worked to strengthen the City’s finances by making the necessary cuts and reforms to spending, which have resulted in reducing the structural deficit by half. Finding a long-term solution to our pension crisis is a critical piece to securing Chicago’s economic future.

Working with 30 union leaders who were willing to compromise and be part of the solution, and with the General Assembly and Governor Quinn, we have taken a big step in addressing Chicago’s pension crisis. This pension reform and retirement security plan marks a significant step forward for Chicago. It ensures that we can continue to deliver the services that residents rely upon, safeguards the retirements that 61,000 workers and retirees expect, and respects our taxpayers.

This balanced plan relies on efficiencies and savings as part of a long-term funding solution, and I intend to work with City Council in the coming months to find alternative options to replace property taxes as the source of the City’s first pension payment.

Today’s action is another step toward correcting the series of financial challenges that have been building over the last few decades. I thank the Governor for his leadership, the General Assembly, and our partners in labor who worked with us to reach a responsible long-term solution that will allow us to chart a stronger future for Chicago.

* From the We Are One coalition…

“Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s pension-slashing plan, now signed by the Governor, is wrong for Chicago. This is no victory for the Mayor, but a huge, missed opportunity to find a truly fair, constitutional solution.

“Senate Bill 1922 would slash the value of pensions by one-third within twenty years of retirement. It inordinately hurts women, people of color, and low-income workers and retirees, disrupting and harming our city’s communities.

“Our coalition has presented numerous alternatives that would rebalance our tax code and ask those who can most afford it — the wealthiest among us — to pay their fair share. Unfortunately, some elected officials have chosen to ignore the constitution and these fairer revenue alternatives, opting instead to slash the retirement life savings of our city’s public health professionals, teachers’ aides, librarians, cafeteria workers, and other public employees and retirees.

“The Mayor’s plan is unfair and unconstitutional, and our unions intend to seek justice and will be preparing to file suit.”

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Plastic micro-beads to be phased out here

Monday, Jun 9, 2014 - Posted by Rich Miller

* AP…

Gov. Pat Quinn has signed a law he says makes Illinois the first state nationwide to ban products containing so-called microbeads.

Synthetic plastic microbeads are found in soaps and cosmetics and billed as a way to exfoliate.

* The little beads were apparently on their way out anyway…

Johnson & Johnson, Unilever and L’Oreal already have information on their websites explaining their plans for gradually eliminating the scrub beads from their products and testing for natural alternatives, like ground seeds or nuts.

Unilever says on its website that it plans to complete its phaseout of microbeads globally by 2015.

Until the products are off the shelves, consumers who don’t wish to use products with the plastic bits should watch out for products that list polyethylene and polypropylene in their ingredient lists, according to the Alliance for the Great Lakes, an advocate for protection of the Great Lakes.

* The problems they cause…

These tiny plastic particles have been the focus of environmentalists who argue they pose long-term pollution problems because of their small size, particularly in the Great Lakes which contain 20 percent of the world’s freshwater. Microbeads are so small they can pass through water filtration systems and be mistaken as food by fish in the Great Lakes.

The ability of microbeads to soak up toxins in the water has scientists and environmentalists concerned those chemicals will eventually work their way up the food chain where they’ll be ingested by other animals and even humans. Sherri Mason, an associate professor of chemistry at State University in New York, told NPR Lake Ontario contains as much as 1.1 million plastic particles per square kilometer.

* Phase-out schedule…

The law would phase out the small plastic beads that are used in some exfoliating body scrubs and whitening toothpastes. Manufacturers will have to stop including the beads in products by 2017, and stores can no longer sell products with them after 2018. The use of the beads in prescription medicines, such as toothpastes or acne washes, will be eliminated in 2019. Consumers can identify products containing the plastic pieces by checking for polyethylene or polypropylene in the ingredients list.

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Question of the day

Monday, Jun 9, 2014 - Posted by Rich Miller

* The Democratic Party of Illinois is to _____ as the Illinois Republican Party is to _____?

108 Comments

But for a bounced check…

Monday, Jun 9, 2014 - Posted by Rich Miller

* The Quinnsters have repeatedly said that “not one penny” was spent before the election on the governor’s anti-violence initiative. True. But only because they essentially bounced a check…

Gov. Pat Quinn’s administration has long said its troubled, $54 million anti-violence program didn’t spend a dime before the governor’s 2010 general election, despite opponents contending it was a rush-job, “political slush fund,” the governor used to drive critical voters to the polls.

New emails obtained by the Sun-Times, however, indicate the administration had attempted to move large amounts of tax dollars into the Neighborhood Recovery Initiative three weeks before the Nov. 2 election, a critical period when Quinn was in a tough contest against Republican challenger Bill Brady. Quinn eventually prevailed, winning by about 31,000 votes.

Attempts to move the money onto the streets early on failed, however, when there were “insufficient funds” ready to pay for the new initiative. […]

Records show the Illinois comptroller’s office issued a voucher, saying the money would be used for “Gov Neighborhood Recovery Initiative.” However, the attempts backfired, when there were “insufficient funds” to pay the request made by the then-head of the anti-violence program.

Oops.

* Meanwhile…

Bruce Rauner has been citing Gov. Pat Quinn’s troubled $54.5 million anti-violence initiative as an example of “corruption and patronage” in Quinn’s administration — even though a church led by a Rauner ally got some of the state anti-violence cash.

Rauner, the Republican candidate for governor, for years served with the Rev. Marshall Hatch on a charter-school board and has talked about his relationship with Hatch and other African-American leaders on the campaign trail.

A onetime failed 29th Ward aldermanic candidate, Hatch, 56, is senior pastor of New Mount Pilgrim Missionary Baptist Church, 4301 W. Washington, which was awarded $192,000 in grant money through Quinn’s Neighborhood Recovery Initiative — the anti-violence program Rauner has blasted.

At his church, Hatch works with Benton Cook III, who has been a minister there for eight years. Cook, the husband of Cook County Circuit Court Clerk Dorothy Brown, has become a lightning rod for criticism of the Quinn program because he was paid $146,401 in salary and benefits over 22 months to work for it despite having a felony conviction for writing bad checks.

There are two morals to this story…

2) When you play in Chicago politics, as Rauner is doing, there are consequences, no matter how tenuous the ties.

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And speaking of the “shadow governor”…

Monday, Jun 9, 2014 - Posted by Rich Miller

* Greg Hinz reports that Bruce Rauner appears to be siding with Bob Schillerstrom for RTA Chairman over his vanquished GOP primary rival Kirk Dillard…

One source says Rauner staffers are making calls to RTA board members and those with influence on board members to urge backing for Mr. Schillerstrom. Another influential official says that Mr. Rauner himself has made it clear personally that Mr. Schillerstrom is his preferred candidate.

“There are issues there” between Messrs. Rauner and Dillard, said one official who regularly talks with Team Rauner. The nominee was upset when Mr. Dillard attended “a press conference” with Gov. Pat Quinn not too long after the primary, while failing to attend a post-primary GOP “unity breakfast” the day after the primary with the other three Republican gubernatorial candidates, the source said. […]

Mr. Dillard said talk about attending a “press conference” with Mr. Quinn apparently stems from the fact that both were at a recent groundbreaking for a building at Western Illinois University.

“There were 1,000 people there. I’m an alum. I sponsored the bill” appropriating funds for the building, Mr. Dillard said. “Am I not supposed to show up?”

Mess with the bull, get the horn, as they say. But could Rauner end up shoving Dillard even closer to Quinn?

34 Comments

Quinn replies to Shakman’s lawsuit

Monday, Jun 9, 2014 - Posted by Rich Miller

* From the Associated Press…

Gov. Pat Quinn has asked a federal court to reject Michael Shakman’s challenge to state hiring, saying the Chicago anti-patronage attorney has no authority to raise questions and seeks resolution that would unnecessarily disrupt government and undermine gubernatorial authority.

The Democratic governor’s request, which blames the now-imprisoned ex-Gov. Rod Blagojevich for any misconduct in hiring, was filed late Friday in U.S. District Court in Chicago.

Shakman, author of a landmark 1972 court decree prohibiting political hiring in Cook County government, renewed his suit against Quinn in April. It claims the administration violated the Shakman decree and another that regulates state hiring by improperly considering politics in employment and promotion at the Illinois Department of Transportation.

Shakman wants an investigation completed and a “special master” appointed to monitor and ensure proper hiring at all agencies under the governor’s control, a move Quinn’s lawyers reject as superfluous and threatening to duties — in this case, hiring — entrusted to government officials.

* The filing is here. One of the objections made by the Quinn administration is that some of this stuff is really old…

The allegations pertaining to the Blagojevich administration are based primarily on a Chicago Sun-Times article from October 16 and 17, 2009 which detailed violations from 2003-2005. As Blagojevich was removed from office on January 29, 2009, any claims pertaining to violations under his administration would have needed to have been brought by July 29, 2009 at the very latest.

* Timeliness is also an issue with the current administration…

Plaintiffs allege that the violations pertaining to the Quinn administration arise out conduct that ended in “early 2012.” … To timely recover for such conduct, Plaintiffs would have had to bring a claim by June 29, 2013 at the very latest. Plaintiffs did not file their motion until April 22, 2014. Even assuming Plaintiffs were unaware of such conduct until the BGA report came out on August 14, 2013, Plaintiffs had until February 10, 2014 to seek relief for such claims. Plaintiffs did not contact Defendant until March 13, 2014 and did not file the most recent motion until April 22, 2014. Thus, their request for relief as to the current administration is untimely and is barred.

* The Quinn response also claims that “Plaintiffs’ request for relief with respect to those allegations in the 2009 motion has been abandoned by Plaintiffs“…

Plaintiffs filed a strikingly similar motion in 2009 to which the Governor’s Office filed a response requesting the court dismiss such request for relief. Despite the Governor’s Office filing a response requesting dismissal, Plaintiffs failed to respond, either before or after the parties’ settlement discussions, but rather let the Governor’s response linger on the docket for more than four years without taking any action. Plaintiffs now attempt to resurrect those same claims. Because Plaintiffs never responded to the Office of the Governor’s response, to the extent Plaintiffs now seek relief based on the allegations contained in their 2009 motion, such relief must be denied.

* The plaintiffs don’t have the right to pursue relief concerning hiring practices, Quinn believes…

Plaintiffs have never secured a judgment against any Governor with respect to hiring practices… because no previous Governor was a signatory to any of the other Shakman decrees, Governor Quinn is not bound by any of their terms… In sum, Plaintiffs are not seeking to enforce an existing judgment between themselves and the Governor in their plea for injunctive relief with respect to allegations about hiring practices. Instead, they attempt to avoid ever litigating this issue by bootstrapping their claim to the terms of the 1972 Consent Decree via the Court’s decision in Rutan.

* Plaintiffs don’t have standing, Quinn argues…

There is no basis to conclude that Plaintiffs are suffering a “continuing, present” harm that is “sufficiently real and immediate” to justify the extraordinary injunctive relief they now seek… As the Supreme Court has made clear, “‘[p]ast exposure to illegal conduct does not in itself show a present case or controversy regarding injunctive relief . . . if unaccompanied by any continuing, present adverse effects.’”

* And there is no need for a special master…

Plaintiffs’ allegations, which are based on information and belief derived primarily from media sources, only allege violations pertaining to IDOT. Yet Plaintiffs seek a Special Master to cover all employment under the Governor within the Northern District of Illinois. The Governor oversees the vast majority of the State’s agencies and as a result, state employees. There is no basis for a Special Master to monitor all of the employment under the Governor when the allegations relate only to IDOT.

Further, as Plaintiffs allege, the OEIG commenced an investigation into the alleged wrongful practices. The OEIG has not issued its report and recommendations. To appoint a Special Master is unwarranted and, in advance of the OEIG concluding its investigation and issuing its report and recommendations, is premature.

* But the most immediate political issue is Shakman’s request for discovery. Quinn wants the court to rule on its objections before allowing discovery to proceed. The implications are obvious here. If Shakman goes nosing around the Quinn administration’s hiring practices, who knows what sort of targeted leaks could result?

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Rate the new Oberweis ad

Monday, Jun 9, 2014 - Posted by Rich Miller

* US Senate candidate Jim Oberweis is touted in a new radio ad as someone who boosted a woman into finance management…

Click to listen

37 Comments

Today’s quotables

Monday, Jun 9, 2014 - Posted by Rich Miller

* Illinois Coal Association President Phil Gonet…

“I’m a global warming denier. I’ll be upfront about that,” Gonet said. “I think that this climate change issue is the greatest hoax that’s ever been perpetuated upon a human race.”

* Mayor Rahm Emanuel…

Chicago police Superintendent Garry McCarthy was “cracking jokes” not long after undergoing a medical procedure to unblock his arteries Thursday at a downtown hospital, his second-in command said, but the department disclosed scant details about what happened. […]

Asked if he had any concerns about McCarthy returning to his high-pressured job, Emanuel quipped, “I’m a spin doctor, not a medical doctor.”

80 Comments

The “shadow governor”

Monday, Jun 9, 2014 - Posted by Rich Miller

* My weekly syndicated newspaper column…

There were lots and of losers during the state legislative session which ended last month. But there were a few winners, so let’s take a look at them.

First up, Republican gubernatorial nominee Bruce Rauner.

Never before has a political party nominated a gubernatorial candidate who’s had more impact on legislative session than did Rauner. The gazillionaire’s unlimited supply of money and his constant threats to “Shake up Springfield” clearly put legislators of both parties on edge all spring - going back to even before he won the primary.

The Democrats surely know in their guts that much of what Rauner says about Springfield ain’t false. The long-entrenched powers that be stifle innovation and prevent actual compromise. Why wasn’t a scaled back income tax hike ever once debated? Because the top dogs didn’t want to talk about it. End of story.

House Speaker Michael Madigan introduced numerous pieces of legislation designed with Rauner in mind, including a tax surcharge on millionaires, which ended up as a non-binding question on the November ballot.

Rauner railed repeatedly against extending the income tax hike, and Democrats had to back off. Instead, they opted to punt the ball until after the election. If Rauner had lost the primary to a weaker Republican, odds are that the tax hike extension would’ve had a better chance of passage. Of course, if Rauner goes on to defeat Gov. Pat Quinn, the massive fiscal hole the General Assembly has created will be his problem - which ultimately makes him a loser as well.

Rauner’s hand was seen everywhere. Cook County pension reform failed, many say, because Rauner pushed against it. The $1.1 billion end of session road construction/repair bill was reportedly only agreed to by Republicans after Rauner OK’d it, hoping to please the GOP-leaning road builders.

Rauner became almost a shadow governor this spring.

Senate President John Cullerton was another winner.

The Senate President’s electoral prowess meant once again that he could do pretty much anything he wanted. His 40 Democratic votes out of 59 total Senate seats gave him enough cushion to sit back and watch while Speaker Madigan struggled all year to deal with his own, smaller super-majority.

Cullerton stood his ground on the budget when the income tax hike extension fell apart and made sure his members’ top interests were taken care of, particularly with a small Medicaid expansion. He pushed back when Madigan tried to muscle through a major change in the way the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum was administrated. He stood firm when pushed by Madigan to insert a requirement into the reauthorization of the court-stricken state eavesdropping law to require police to wear body cameras. He muscled through an innovative bill with his former chief of staff Sen. Andy Manar to fundamentally alter the way education is funded in Illinois. And out of all the Democrats under the dome, he appeared to be the least rattled by Rauner’s primary win. Cullerton may not have always made the best decisions (particularly when it came to ultimately killing the eavesdropping bill), but he appears to be coming into his own as a far more confident leader.

Legislative Republicans did pretty well too.

The weekend after the session ended, Kendall County Young Republican Chairman Brian Russell was busily scurrying to get himself onto the November ballot. He needed to collect 1,000 valid petition signatures in just three days to be appointed as the challenger to Sen. Linda Holmes (D-Aurora). Russell said he hadn’t heard it, but word was that Team Rauner had pledged six figures to back Russell’s candidacy.

Holmes’ district is pretty solidly Democratic, but this does show you why legislative Republicans have strutted around with renewed confidence since the March primary. They finally have a candidate at the top of the ticket who will not only give the Democrats a run for their money, but who will ensure that their own candidates have enough cash to compete. Holmes wasn’t even on the Republicans’ radar. They simply didn’t have the resources to challenge her.

But if Rauner wins this November, Republican legislators will have to do something completely different - vote for some pretty distasteful things to support their GOP governor or risk his considerable ire. For over a decade, the Republicans often sat back and hit their red buttons when it came time to pass important bills. But they’ll finally have to help govern if Rauner is in the mansion. That spectacle right there would almost be worth seeing Rauner win.

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