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*** UPDATED x3 *** This just in… Yes for Independent Maps Withdraws Redistricting Petitions

Friday, Jun 27, 2014 - Posted by Rich Miller

* From a press release…

Yes for Independent Maps on Friday withdrew its petitions seeking a referendum on a constitutional amendment to remove politics from the process of drawing legislative district boundary lines. Deborah Harrington, Chair of Yes for Independent Maps, issued the following statement after Cook County Circuit Court Judge Mary Mikva’s ruling prohibiting the State Board of Elections from taking any further actions on the petitions:

In her ruling, Judge Mikva held that the redistricting initiative as written does not fall within the scope of a ballot initiative permitted by Section 3, Article XIV of the Constitution. The good news is that Judge Mikva concluded that “redistricting appears to be fair game for amendment” by a ballot initiative process and specifically upheld many of the components of the redistricting initiative.

We have concluded that we are not going to proceed in this election cycle. Instead, we will put the lessons learned in this campaign and from the judge’s ruling to good use. This experience will make us better prepared to win the next campaign to give voters an opportunity to have a voice in the redistricting process.

We built an unprecedented bipartisan statewide coalition of more than 5,000 volunteers and 1,000 contributors, including groups as broad-based as AARP Illinois, the League of Women Voters of Illinois, the Illinois Chamber of Commerce and grassroots organizations representing diverse and minority communities. Together, we will continue the fight to reform an issue that once mattered only to politicians but now is on the minds of Illinois citizens.

The reform would not have taken effect until after the 2020 Census. We still have at least two more statewide elections – in 2016 and 2018 – to bring a redistricting amendment before voters and an opportunity to revise the language to address Judge Mikva’s objections.

Redistricting reform elsewhere in America has been just as difficult. For example, California’s recent reform required three attempts before it became reality. We remain committed to changing the status quo and enacting a redistricting process that will give Illinoisans a stronger voice in how their state is governed.

My bet is that the problems with their petitions had more to do with it. They have tons of money, why not fight on in the courts if their petitions were soild?

*** UPDATE 1 *** The remappers’ press release deeply undercuts the argument by supporters of Bruce Rauner’s term limits case that this was a politicized court decision.

Let’s review, shall we?

On the one hand, the State Board of Elections was allegedly “evil” because they were just doing their job when finding serious faults with the remap reform petitions, but on the other hand the Board OK’d Rauner’s term limits petitions.

On the one hand, Judge Mikva is the handmaiden of the “combine” for striking down these two initatives today, but on the other hand the remappers didn’t disagree with her opinion.

Of course, screamers are gonna scream and professional victims are gonna claim they were victimized.

As such, I’m sure the Tribune editorial board (comprised of the shrillest screamers and the most professional of all Illinois political victims) will have no problems reconciling this extreme cognitive dissonance in its own collective mind - whatever’s left of it, that is.

*** UPDATE 2 *** I told subscribers last week that Mike Kasper’s crew had found about 20,000 duplicated signatures in their review. This is from Rick Pearson

Just a few days ago, attorneys for the opponents [of the remap reform effort] headed up by Michael Kasper, who has longtime ties to Democratic House Speaker Michael Madigan, laid out a series of claims that they found numerous examples of repeat signatures in violation of state law, incomplete information from petition circulators and even a few cases where nearly entire pages appeared to be duplicated, with identical names in the identical order. That is a telltale sign of “round-tabling,” a time-dishonored tradition in which people sit around a table and take turns signing petitions, choosing names out of a phone book or just making them up.

But, yeah. The State Board of Elections is evil.

*** UPDATE 3 *** Sun-Times editorial

(M)any of the board of election questions appear legitimate. The questioning was not all about politics, as some have suggested.

I’d go further and say it wasn’t at all about politics. If you’re not registered to vote, your signature doesn’t count. Period. No arguing. If you’re signing dozens of times, they don’t count, either. If somebody is signing for you, it doesn’t count.

There’s absolutely nothing subjective about that whatsoever. The only subjective objections dealt with 12 percent of those rejected, and the Board of Elections has a reputation for being quite lenient on that particular issue (Chicago is just the reverse). So if the state board said those were illegible signatures/addresses to the point where they couldn’t figure out who the heck signed them, then it’s pretty likely that the signatures weren’t legible. Same goes for matching petition signatures with voter registration signatures. The city is known for being hugely picky, the state is not.

The cold, hard fact is the remappers had no chance with that flawed stack of petitions they submitted.

  Comments Off      


Reader comments closed for the weekend

Friday, Jun 27, 2014 - Posted by Rich Miller

* John Hiatt will play us out. Turn it all the way up, kids

All those bad old days are gone

  Comments Off      


Senger claims DC going “all in”

Friday, Jun 27, 2014 - Posted by Rich Miller

* In an anti-DC age, this might not be the greatest word choice, but it’s still quite significant. From a Darlene Senger e-mail to supporters..

I wanted to share some great news with you. We just got back from Washington yesterday and guess what, they are going all in. I’m not just saying that to try and pump up the room, they really are.

In fact, just to show how invested they really are, they made a $100,000 investment. That’s money in hand and ready to use to take on Bill Foster now! THIS IS HUGE. That means that Washington is seeing the same things we are, and that is the voters of the 11th district are ready for a change and they want Darlene Senger!

This race is moving fast. Just a couple weeks ago we saw a poll come out showing us within 4.5 points. What many don’t know is that in just 40 days our campaign moved 4 points. This is HUGE, and it is because of your help and the groundwork we are doing now.

  13 Comments      


Initial pension ruling could come next year

Friday, Jun 27, 2014 - Posted by Rich Miller

* Most figured it would be a couple of years before this played itself out, so this AP story isn’t too surprising

A ruling on whether Illinois’ pension overhaul law is constitutional could be delayed until next year after a Sangamon County judge decided Thursday he wants to hear all the arguments raised on the issue.

The (Springfield) State Journal-Register reported Friday that Circuit Judge Jon Belz rejected the proposal by lawyers for retiree groups challenging the law to first rule on whether the plan violates the state Constitution’s prohibition on diminishing or impairing pension benefits.

Belz ruled that it could lead to piecemeal opinions on various aspects of the law, actually prolonging the final resolution.

The schedule the judge laid out would take the case into December.

  11 Comments      


It’s gonna be a long year, campers

Friday, Jun 27, 2014 - Posted by Rich Miller

* More shenanigans

The Illinois Republican Party sent a phony media advisory to WGN on Friday saying U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin would call on Gov. Quinn to testify at a special, legislative committee hearing about state funds that were allegedly misused. The advisory stated Durbin would issue the challenge during a ribbon-cutting ceremony at a train station in Bellwood. […]

“But, this is a new low to put out a phony press release, supposedly from my office, and to involve my official staff in a campaign war, is unfair and inaccurate, and I think the Illinois State Republican Party ought to apologize to the media,” said Durbin. […]

On Thursday, the Quinn campaign misleadingly said Republican gubernatorial candidate Bruce Rauner would be available to answer questions about how he used his clout and wealth to receive special treatment.

  16 Comments      


Question of the day

Friday, Jun 27, 2014 - Posted by Rich Miller

* She had a lousy end of session and blamed the wrong people for her defeat. That and other things made me lose a lot of confidence in her overall abilities this spring

Less than a week after allies of Mayor Rahm Emanuel announced they were creating a fund-raising behemoth known as a Super PAC, Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle suggested she may be closing the door to challenging Emanuel in 2015.

When asked Thursday why no credible challenger to Emanuel has emerged, Preckwinkle said: “I don’t know. You should talk to people who are thinking about running for mayor.” […]

Last week, Ken Snyder, a political consultant for Preckwinkle, criticized Emanuel’s new Super PAC, saying, “This is obviously an attempt to create a phony arms-length between Rahm and negative attack ads against a potential opponent, which no one will believe is true and reveals that Rahm’s camp doesn’t believe he can win by exclusively talking about his record.”

When asked Thursday if Emanuel’s allies were trying to send Preckwinkle a message by creating the Super PAC — a political action committed without fund-raising limits that would be run separately from Emanuel’s re-election campaign — Preckwinkle deflected the question, saying: “If you want to know what the mayor thinks, you should ask him.”

* Meanwhile

Chicago Teachers Union President Karen Lewis said Thursday she is “seriously thinking” about mounting a formal challenge to Rahm Emanuel.

“I’m a little sick of the mayor and I don’t see anyone stepping up,” Lewis told the Chicago Sun-Times by telephone Thursday evening. “I am seriously thinking about it.” […]

Lewis has praised the leadership style of Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle as “less confrontational” than Emanuel’s and said a few weeks ago that Preckwinkle would defeat him in a head-to-head race. […]

“I’m not looking to make anybody’s election year easy at all, especially someone who doesn’t want to make our lives easy,” Lewis said in May after a speech at the City Club of Chicago. “So if there’s a way we can have some reasonable conversation, then sure, but if not, it’s going to be contentious, absolutely, as it should.”

I’m told that Lewis really does want to run if Preckwinkle or a reasonable facsimile thereof doesn’t jump in.

* The Question: On a scale of 1 to 5, with 5 being the most likely, how likely is it that Karen Lewis could defeat Mayor Emanuel next year? Take the poll and then explain your answer in comments, please.


survey tools

  35 Comments      


This just in… Judge strikes down two proposed constitutional amendments

Friday, Jun 27, 2014 - Posted by Rich Miller

* 12:07 pm - From a Bruce Rauner press release…

Just moments ago, Cook County Circuit Court Judge Mary Mikva ruled against the Committee for Legislative Reform and Term Limits and in favor of the Madigan-backed lawsuit to prevent the people of Illinois from voting on the Term Limits and Reform constitutional amendment in November.

“Today we saw the entrenched special interests that fund and support the political status quo prevail, and the people of Illinois be denied the right to chose for themselves if term limits should be the law in Illinois,” said Term Limits and Reform Executive Director Mark Campbell. “We’ve always known that term limits opponents would use the courts to try to protect the failed status quo, and we’ve long been prepared to defend our initiative in the Illinois Supreme Court, which we intend to do. We are confident that we will prevail there, and the people’s voices will be heard in November.”

More in a bit.

* 12:09 pm - I have confirmed that both constitutional amendments were struck down as unconstitutional today - term limits and remap reform. I’m currently trying to get a copy of the judge’s ruling. Stay tuned.

* 1:14 pm
- Sorry for the unavoidable delay. To read the opinion, click here.

* The Sun-Times story is all about Madigan

In a win for Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan, a Cook County judge on Friday ruled in favor of a lawsuit that aimed to stop two referendums on the November ballot — one that would impose term limits, the other that would change the state’s redistricting process.

Cook County Judge Mary Mikva permanently enjoined election officials from putting either measure on the ballot.

Behind the lawsuit was Madigan, who opposes both measures. Madigan has previously derided both proposed referendums as “all Republican politics.”

* The Tribune went for substance

Mikva said that in deciding previous cases, the Illinois Supreme Court’s “precedent dictates a very narrow provision for allowing the voters to directly enact amendments to the Illinois Constitution.”

Mikva ruled that “any term limits initiative appears to be outside what is permissible” under the state constitution and previous court rulings. She said term limits by themselves have been found not to affect “structural or procedural” changes in the legislature. She said adding other components, such as changing the number of senators and representatives “cannot save this initiative.” […]

As for the remap amendment, Mikva said “a differently drafted redistricting initiative could be valid,” but the one submitted went beyond changing the structure and procedure of the General Assembly by limiting who could draw the new map lines. […]

Under previous state Supreme Court rulings there is a limited window for using petition initiative attempts to change the 1970 Illinois Constitution. Such initiatives must affect both the structure and procedure of the General Assembly to be eligible for the ballot.

* 1:33 pm - One thing to note about the Rauner camp’s response and the Sun-Times story is that this judge was agreed to by all parties. They could’ve objected, but they didn’t.

Just keep that in mind when the professional victims start screaming.

* 1:41 - From the Quinn campaign…

Quinn for Illinois spokesman Izabela Miltko issued the below statement regarding today’s court ruling on Bruce Rauner’s poorly-drafted proposal. The Governor strongly supports term limits and redistricting reform that ensures equal representation of minorities. Miltko said:

“Governor Pat Quinn has strongly supported term limits since 1993 when he spearheaded a statewide petition drive for a citizen referendum to establish term limits in Illinois.

“During that petition drive, Bruce Rauner was nowhere to be found. Now, 20 years later, he turns up with a poorly drafted, election-year proposal. Rauner has nobody but himself to blame for harming the term limits cause.

“As the Governor said in 1994 and believes to this day, it is unfortunate that the people of Illinois have been denied the ability to enact pure term limits directly through referendum as Governor Quinn has long advocated.”

In 1980, Quinn led the successful petition and referendum drive that enacted the Cutback Amendment, which reduced the size of the Illinois House from 177 members from 118. This was the first and only constitutional amendment ever enacted by citizen petition and referendum in Illinois history.

  94 Comments      


*** UPDATED x1 - Quinn vetoes bill *** Both sides of the fight

Friday, Jun 27, 2014 - Posted by Rich Miller

*** UPDATE *** Gov. Pat Quinn vetoed the bill late Friday afternoon. The veto message is here.

[ *** End Of Update *** ]

* The Better Government Association wants Gov. Pat Quinn to veto this bill

On the all-important issue of government transparency, lawmakers took a giant step backwards with uncharacteristic speed.

A weakening of our most valuable transparency tool, the Freedom of Information Act, breezed through both chambers in a single week in May.

Motivated by suburban government complaints about the strain of responding to comprehensive FOIA requests, lawmakers passed HB3796, which gives municipalities additional time to respond to so-called “voluminous” requests from citizens, and lets them charge the FOIA filers up to $100.

The extra time’s not a deal-breaker, but the fees are arbitrary and unreasonably high, which seriously undermines the ability of regular citizens to access the public information they’re entitled to.

* Look, there are some strange people out there who file loads of FOIA requests. It has become a problem for some local governments, and they’re not all in the suburbs

“We actually do hear from quite a few (municipalities),” said Joe Schatteman, who handles FOIA issues for the Illinois Municipal League, which supported the bill.

“There was a central Illinois community that came to our office, and they brought this volume of requests that this one person had,” said Schatteman, who also is a Chatham village trustee. “It was a community that had two staff people. In order for them to fill these FOIA requests, they had to pay these two staff people overtime. The other portion of their job duties when unfulfilled for two or three weeks. When it gets to a point of disruption of government services for the general good, that’s when we have concerns.”

[Sponsoring Rep. Bob Rita] said he is trying to address a problem faced by Tinley Park, a city in his House district.

“They get an enormous amount of requests in for enormous amounts of data or information through electronic format,” Rita said. Current FOIA law does not allow cities to charge fees for information delivered in electronic format.

“I’ve seen some of the requests,” Rita said. “It’s like give me every email between Employee A and Employee B and Employee C for the last four years. They’ve had some real issues with the same person continuously asking for enormous amounts of information.”

* But I do agree with these aspects of the Illinois Policy Institute’s otherwise hyperbolic objections

HB 3786 has an incredibly narrow definition of what constitutes a voluminous requestor.

“(h) ‘Voluminous request’ means a request that: (i) includes more than 5 individual requests for more than 5 different categories of records or a combination of individual requests that total request for more than 5 different categories of records in a period of 20 business days; or (ii) requires the compilation of more than 500 letter or legal-sized pages of public records unless a single requested record exceeds 500 pages.”

Government documents can be quite long. A single board packet for a modestly sized municipality in Illinois can easily total 200 to 300 pages. Ask for two or three board packets and you are now considered a voluminous requestor.

If a citizen watchdog simply asked for all of the documents in our 10-Point Transparency Checklist, the law would allow public bodies to immediately label them as a voluminous requestor.

And the financial implications of the bill would be a real burden for most citizen requesters.

If the electronic record is in PDF format, a $100 charge would be leveed if it takes up more than 160 megabytes of data space. If it isn’t in PDF format, requesters could be charged up to $100 for more than 4 megabytes of data.

For context, Google Drive gives users 15 gigabytes of cloud storage – that’s 15,360 megabytes – for free.

Currently, for electronic requests, public bodies are only allowed to charge the cost of the recording medium to transmit the data, which is usually $1 or less. The proposed charge of up to $100 represents a potential 10,000 percent increase in the cost of a citizen making a simple FOIA request.

* The bill had wide bipartisan support in both chambers. This reflects the undeniable fact that “voluminous requesters” are a real problem in some communities.

But the fees are way too high and the trigger is way too low. There should be a compromise here. Quinn ought to AV the bill.

* Meanwhile...

Around 30 people showed up at a Clark County Park District Board meeting in May, hoping to speak openly about recent park-related controversies. After most sat through a 2-1/2 hour closed session, the board returned to open session only to inform the crowd that they would not be allowed to speak to board members.

That’s when John Kraft, a member of a local watchdog group, sprang into action. Rising to his feet, Kraft informed the entire board that he was placing them under citizen’s arrest for violating the Illinois Open Meetings Act, specifically the provision that ensures the public can address their elected representatives at an official meeting.

Wow. But it gets even better

For “eight or nine months” Kraft says he’s been holding a printout of the citizen’s arrest statute in his wallet — just in case he had to invoke it against a public board that failed to allow public comment. […]

Clark County Sheriff Jerry Parsley personally responded to the scene that night, because he knew it was a heated situation. He told the BGA that Kraft handled the citizen’s arrest responsibly, and the board was definitely in violation of the Open Meetings Act by not allowing the public to speak.

“It’s not that they should have. They’re mandated to,” Parsley said. “The people need to have their voice. It’s not a dictatorship. It’s a democracy.”

Good for the sheriff.

* So, while some citizens may be making a nuisance of themselves just to do it, it’s important to remember that local governments have a very bad habit of breaking these very clear state laws

A citizen’s arrest may be rare, but Open Meetings Act violations are a widespread problem in Illinois. The Illinois attorney general’s office says it fielded nearly 400 complaints in 2013. Many of those ended in re-training of public officials in violation, a spokeswoman said.

In fact, the spokeswoman said that in the Clark County Park District Board’s case, all seven board members were up-to-date on required Open Meetings Act training provided through the attorney general’s office.

Sheesh.

  30 Comments      


A look at what the Supreme Court could do in Harris v. Quinn

Friday, Jun 27, 2014 - Posted by Rich Miller

* Don Moss sent this out to his members. It’s a pretty good wrap-up, so check it out…

SUPREME COURT DECISION ON HARRIS V. QUINN EXPECTED MONDAY - What started as a relatively minor lawsuit by Pam Harris, a home based parent of a child with severe disabilities in McHenry, Illinois who was fighting an Executive Order by Governor Quinn that would allow for the unionization of parents caring for their children, has taken on major proportions that could affect public employee unions nationwide. As we previously indicated, there are three possible outcomes:

A. The Court could rule that family members can be unionized. If this happens, would those parents become state employees, entitled to collective bargaining, insurance and pensions?

B. The Court could block unionization of family members taking care of their children but do nothing else affecting existing state employees..

C. The Court could bar all government workers from involuntarily having to pay union dues if they choose not to do so–in effect a nationwide right-to-work law. This would be a major change that would affect public school teachers, firemen, police and other government workers on the local, county and state levels.

​We received the following message yesterday from Pam Harris:

    Dear Don,

    So you see, we will learn the Harris v Quinn decision on Monday shortly after 9 am. I have no idea why they are holding it to the last day of their term. It never entered my mind that this case would rocket to such importance.

    I am preparing a statement and will be sure to send it to you as soon as the decision is issued.

    People far smarter than I believe that Justice Alito has written the decision for the majority. This makes it slightly more probable that the decision will favor the Plaintiffs. : )

    But ​I​ have learned long ago that reading tea leaves is an exercise in futility.

    Come Monday, we will know. Then we can hopefully find a way to all move forward.

    With kind regards,

    Pam ​

Thoughts?

  20 Comments      


*** UPDATED x2 *** Putting it into context

Friday, Jun 27, 2014 - Posted by Rich Miller

* From a press release…

As organizers prepare for this year’s Chicago Pride Parade, expected to attract record-breaking numbers past last year’s one million mark, LGBT couples and leaders gathered today to condemn Bruce Rauner for his intolerant stance against marriage equality and thousands of gay and lesbian Illinois families.

“An enemy of equality could become governor of our state. He poses a clear and present danger to our ability to protect our loved ones through marriage. That man is Bruce Rauner. Over and over, he has made it clear he opposes the freedom to marry and has chosen the side of bigotry and intolerance,” said Art Johnston, the co-founder of Equality Illinois. […]

On the very day marriage equality passed in Springfield – November 5, 2013 – Rauner was the keynote speaker at a Tea Party meeting in Quincy. He was asked whether he would sign the legislation if he were governor, and Rauner said: “If I were governor, I would veto it.” Listen to the full audio here.

“Last year, Rauner said he would have vetoed marriage equality if he was governor. A few weeks ago, he said he favored repealing it if that’s what the voters asked for in a popular referendum. This is the Rauner Social Agenda – that basic fairness and protections for Illinois families should be vetoed or repealed. That is wrong,” said State Representative Greg Harris, the lead sponsor of the Illinois marriage equality bill.

* They linked to my website. Here’s what I posted last December

If Bruce Rauner wins the Republican nomination for governor, he’s gonna have a little trouble running to the center because he’s on tape saying things like he would’ve vetoed the gay marriage bill.

Rauner was asked about his position at a Quincy tea party event not long ago. He explained that he wanted a statewide referendum on gay marriage before a legislative vote, so he would’ve vetoed the bill. Of course, an ad could simply use his “If I were governor I would veto” line to make him look like a winger. Listen to the exchange…

That wasn’t exactly difficult to predict, and, as we’re seeing, it has now come true.

* Rauner is trying to remain cagey on the issue to avoid upsetting his GOP base. So, a surrogate was dispatched to do a bit of damage control. Sun-Times

Former state GOP Chairman Pat Brady, a staunch Rauner supporter, said the banner’s veto statement was “taken out of context.” He called Rauner a social moderate and a fiscal conservative who has no “social agenda.”

“He has said all along he was for a referendum, meaning the people should decide the issue. But there are bigger issues. This issue has been decided. Bruce Rauner is not an enemy of this issue. He’s comfortable with it. Nothing’s going to change. A year from now marriage equality is probably going to be federal law. It’s a non-issue,” Brady said.

Brady said he would attend the parade. A Rauner spokesman confirmed the gubernatorial candidate will not attend the parade due to a scheduling conflict.

A “scheduling conflict”?

Heh.

*** UPDATE 1 *** Quinn’s campaign points out that governors don’t get to “check a referendum button.” You either sign a bill or you veto it. And Rauner did, in fact, say he’d veto it.

Rauner’s position is, at its core, a highly contrived dodge. And he has used it to pander to GOP audiences. For instance

At a meeting of the Northern Illinois Patriots on Nov. 12, 2013, an audience member asked Rauner, who is now the Republican nominee for governor, “Bruce, would you have vetoed the gay marriage bill?”

Rauner replied, “I would have. As I’ve said, as I’ve said from day one: I have not supported gay marriage, and I have not advocated for it. And I don’t advocate for or against it.”

The candidate continued, saying the matter should be left up to voters, and not the legislature — where it received final approval by the Illinois House Nov. 5. Rauner’s opponent, incumbent Gov. Pat Quinn, pushed for the bill’s passage and later signed it into law Nov. 20.

“I’ve said that voters should decide it directly in a referendum, and I’ve said that if it hasn’t gone to a referendum — if it came to my desk — I would have to veto it because it hasn’t been in a referendum yet,” Rauner said. “The voters should decide. I don’t think that politicians should force it on voters if they don’t want it and I don’t think that politicians should block it from voters if they do want it. I’m a limited government, let people decide what they want to do with their lives. That’s my view of things.”

Watch the accompanying video and you’ll see that the tea partiers applauded the way he talked about the issue.

* Related…

* Chicago Pride Parade: Which Politicians Will Appear, Which Won’t?

*** UPDATE 2 *** Rauner does have something else on his schedule Sunday…

Sunday Fun-Day in Support of Congressman Rodney Davis

Sunday, June 29, 2014

The Southern (map)
1840 W North Ave
Chicago, IL, 60622
United States
Host: Friends of Rodney
Special Guests: Senator Mark Kirk & Bruce Rauner Republican Nominee for Governor
Time: 4:00p.m. - 6:00p.m.
Cost: $250 per person, Sponsorships Available

Congressman Davis opposes gay marriage.

  18 Comments      


This just in… AFSCME’s Henry Bayer retires

Friday, Jun 27, 2014 - Posted by Rich Miller

* 9:59 am - From AFSCME Council 31…

Yesterday Henry Bayer announced his retirement from AFSCME Council 31 and submitted his resignation as executive director (effective July 31) to the union’s executive board.

The board unanimously elected longtime deputy director Roberta Lynch as the union’s new executive director. Roberta is a tenacious champion for workers and a veteran union leader who has served AFSCME for more than three decades.

Henry retires after 39 years with AFSCME to fulfill a longstanding commitment to his family. To ensure a smooth transition, he will continue to work for the union through the calendar year, with a special focus on the fall election in which the progress our union has made is at stake–not just for public-service workers but all working people in general and every Illinois resident who depends on the essential public services AFSCME members provide.

Few people have had more of an influence on Illinois politics than Henry Bayer. Love him or hate him, you have to agree the guy is a giant.

  24 Comments      


Today’s quotable

Friday, Jun 27, 2014 - Posted by Rich Miller

* After initially saying that he didn’t call Chicago schools CEO Arne Duncan about getting his daughter into a highly selective city public school when he actually had, then saying that his daughter’s test scores were sufficiently high to get into the school when the CPS Inspector General said they weren’t, then saying that his daughter was admitted under a special principals’ option program when the CPS IG said she wasn’t, here’s how Bruce Rauner’s campaign responded to Gov. Pat Quinn’s demand that he fess up

‘It’s disgusting that Pat Quinn and his allies are attempting to bully and tarnish a seventh grader’s stellar academic record, but that’s what governors under federal investigation for clout and abuse of taxpayer money do.”

That would be called a “pivot.” It would also be a dodge. But Rauner may or may not take reporters’ questions later today, so we’ll see what happens then.

  86 Comments      


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* Reader comments closed for the weekend
* Isabel’s afternoon roundup
* The Waukegan City Clerk was railroaded
* Whatever happened, the city has a $40 million budget hole it didn't disclose until now
* Manar gives state agencies budget guidance: Cut, cut, cut
* Roundup: Ex-Chicago Ald. Danny Solis testifies in Madigan corruption trial
* Open thread
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