A Rickey Hendon special
Tuesday, Sep 9, 2014 - Posted by Rich Miller
* This ad for aldermanic candidate Gabe Beukinga that slams Ald. Walter Burnett is appearing on African-American radio. As the title of this piece suggests, it’s a familiar style for longtime blog readers. And, of course, it’s a must-listen, even if an actor actually portrays the former state Senator in the spot…
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Point and counterpoint on corruption
Tuesday, Sep 9, 2014 - Posted by Rich Miller
* From today’s debate we have this coverage in the Sun-Times…
Rauner repeatedly worked to link Quinn and imprisoned former Gov. Rod Blagojevich, accusing Quinn of doing little to curb patronage and cronyism under his administration:
“The only difference between Pat and Rod is the hair,” Rauner said.
“[Quinn] is part of the same system that’s failed for decades…He, Blagojevich and Madigan, that got us into this mess. I’m gonna get us out.”
Rauner accused Quinn of expanding patronage under his administration, accusing the state’s Central Management Services agency of being a haven for political hires.
“He’s taken no action on it, Why? Because Central Management Services is a cesspool of cronyism and patronage,” Rauner said. “That’s where the machine, Springfield, Democratic patronage workers go. That organization, that bureaucracy is designed to maximize the number of people workin’ in it and the pay of the people workin’ in it. Pat Quinn won’t go after that because that’s the core of his campaign troops…that’s incredibly wasteful.”
* In response, Quinn mainly repeated what he’s already said about IDOT. It wasn’t his fault. It was the IDOT Secretary’s fault. And he mainly counter-attacked Rauner’s business dealings. Tribune…
Quinn maintained Rauner “made a fortune out of the misfortune” of everyday people in companies and nursing homes the challenger’s venture capitalist firm took over. […]
Quinn argued Rauner engaged in “pay to play” as his former firm GTCR got pension business in Pennsylvania and gave political contributions to Democratic Gov. Ed Rendell, who said earlier this year he once put in a good word to help Rauner’s private equity firm win pension business following Rauner’s $300,000 donation to Rendell’s campaign fund.
* More on that angle from the SJ-R…
Quinn said Rauner dodged responsibility with companies in which his former investment firm, GTCR, was involved. A criminal investigation found executives at a Michigan-based company falsified financial information to make the company appear more valuable. Rauner stepped down from the board and his firm sold most of its stock — making at least $32 million — shortly before the stock’s value plummeted, the Tribune reported. Investors lost about $285 million.
“This is a classic example of what was said to be one of the biggest accounting frauds in American history. … He ran out the door, took the profits and left all the shareholders and customers and workers holding the bag,” Quinn said.
Thoughts?
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Question of the day
Tuesday, Sep 9, 2014 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Press release…
Attorney General Lisa Madigan [yesterday] announced a legislative proposal that will allow nursing home residents and their families to provide video or audio monitoring devices in their rooms to ensure their safety and well-being.
The initiative stems from recent complaints Madigan has received from residents and their families who are concerned for their relatives’ care and security. Madigan’s proposal would allow residents of nursing homes and rehabilitation facilities or their family members to purchase and install video or audio monitoring devices in their rooms.
The Attorney General cited an increasing need for additional safety measures at Illinois nursing homes as the state’s population continues to age. Currently, Illinois has over 1,200 nursing home facilities with over 100,000 residents. The U.S. Census Bureau also estimates that by 2030, 22.3 percent of Illinois’ population will be aged 60 and older, an increase of more than 28 percent from 2012.
“At some point, we are all likely to face having a family member in a nursing home,” Attorney General Madigan said. “Providing residents and their families the option to install monitoring devices in their rooms will provide peace of mind that our loved ones are being cared for in the best possible manner.”
* React…
In a statement, Health Care Council of Illinois, which lobbies on behalf of the nursing home industry, did not indicate whether the group was for or against the proposal.
“We look forward to working with our elected officials in reviewing data on this issue and making sure our residents are protected,” Pat Comstock, the executive director of the group, was quoted as saying. “The safety of all our residents is of the highest priority.” Comstock added that privacy of residents is also a serious concern.
* The Question: Do you support this concept? Take the poll and then explain your answer in comments, please.
survey tool
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Ignoring undeniable realities
Tuesday, Sep 9, 2014 - Posted by Rich Miller
* From today’s debate…
Rauner was asked whether he was asking voters to take his budget and educations plans on faith since his plans to freeze property taxes and reduce income taxes so far don’t appear to add up.
“We have the money for our schools, if we put it in the schools,” Rauner began, before he was asked to come off of talking points and make his promises add up.
“We close corporate welfare loopholes, we reform our tax code, we cut wasteful spending, we put in regulatory changes to grow the economy,” Rauner offered as ways to balance the budget.
* Um, no. Unless he wants to raise taxes even higher than they are now. From the Center for Tax and Budget Accountability…
On July 17, 2014, Bruce Rauner, the Republican nominee for Governor, released his long anticipated position paper on fiscal policy, dubbed the “Bring Back Blueprint: Jobs and Growth Agenda” (the “Blueprint”). The Blueprint represents candidate Rauner’s most complete policy statement on how to resolve the very real and serious fiscal problems that have plagued Illinois state government for decades.
In summary, those fiscal problems start with a projected deficit of $6.5 billion in the General Fund budget that was enacted for the state’s current fiscal year, FY2015, which began on July 1, 2014 and will end on June 30, 2015. (CTBA’s analysis of the FY2015 budget that passed into law is at available at CTBA’s website www.ctbaonline.org or by clicking here and CTBA’s analysis of the FY2015 budget proposed by Governor Quinn which did not pass the General Assembly is available by clicking here). For context, the projected FY2015 General Fund deficit of $6.5 billion represents 26.4 percent of all spending scheduled for public services this year.1 Unfortunately, running a General Fund deficit is nothing new in Illinois. According to the state Comptroller, this is the 25th consecutive year the state has run a General Fund deficit. That is a problem because $9 out of every $10 of General Fund spending goes to education (Pre-K through higher education, 34 percent), healthcare (29 percent), human services (19 percent), and public safety (7 percent).
Moreover, without a change in law, the General Fund deficit will worsen materially in FY2016. That is because the temporary state income tax rate increases passed as part of the Taxpayer Accountability and Budget Stabilization Act of 2011 (TABSA) are scheduled to phase-down, from 5 percent to 3.75 percent for the personal income tax, and from 7 percent to 5.25 percent for the corporate. Both state income tax rates will phase-down commencing on January 1, 2015, which is halfway through the state’s current fiscal year. This means the revenue loss from the rate phase-down is somewhat mitigated this year, as it will only pertain for six months. In FY2016, however, the lower income tax rates will be fully in effect for the whole year, causing significantly greater revenue loss. The net result will be that in FY2016, the state will realize a loss of revenue of around $3 billion from FY2015 levels—on top of the extant $6.5 billion deficit. [Emphasis added.]
But there’s plenty of money to go around.
Right.
* The CTBA also analyzed Rauner’s plan to cut nearly a billion dollars out of the budget and concluded that it would save a tenth of that.
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* During today’s debate, Gov. Pat Quinn claimed that House Republican Leader Jim Durkin told him that Bruce Rauner was trying to “buy” legislative votes against the pension reform bill. Rauner adamantly denied that he had offered anyone money or campaign contributions for a “No” vote.
Well, Leader Durkin and Senate Republican Leader Christine Radogno just issued this joint response to Quinn’s “outrageous and false statements”…
“Governor Quinn has reached a new low and is so desperate to deflect from the fact he’s under federal investigation that he is now making up outrageous and unfounded claims about Bruce Rauner. The only person who bribes legislators for votes is Pat Quinn. The only candidate in this race under federal investigation for corruption is Pat Quinn.”
*** UPDATE 1 *** The governor is standing by his statement.
*** UPDATE 2 *** Last December, Leaders Durkin and Radogno talked to the media about the vote on the pension reform bill and the lack of Republican support.
“Did the Rauner campaign or his allies make this more complicated among your caucuses?” they were asked. Leader Radogno responded “Absolutely, that made it more complicated.”
Radogno was asked why…
“It’s the political influence. And obviously he’s very wealthy, and so that’s a piece of it, too. I mean, people think about campaign funding. They think about what support they’ll get when they’re running. They think about their own political futures. They think about the people that are around Bruce Rauner and how they relate to them and their campaigns.”
Listen…
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* From the Rauner campaign…
In case you weren’t watching this morning’s Chicago Tribune Editorial Board Debate, Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn was unable to complete the debate without multiple incidents of staff passing him notes and whispering in his ear. Here’s one example caught on camera: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sai06pWsWMg&feature=youtu.be#aid=P3NZURdtn4A.
Some of you may remember a similar incident in the Florida gubernatorial race back in 2010:
Aide fired over Florida debate foul
By the CNN Political Unit
October 26, 2010 1:36 p.m. EDT
http://www.cnn.com/2010/POLITICS/10/26/florida.debate.foul/index.html
Tampa, Florida (CNN) — A campaign aide to Florida gubernatorial candidate Alex Sink has been removed after the Democratic nominee was sent a text message during a televised debate — in violation of the rules that the candidates agreed to.
Sink’s campaign did not name the advisor. But a campaign spokesman confirmed it was Brian May, who signed the rules agreement before the Monday evening debate.
The incident took place at the CNN/St. Petersburg Times Florida gubernatorial debate when Sink’s make-up artist delivered a two-sentence message on a cell phone during a break.
Republican nominee Rick Scott, who was sitting next to Sink in the nationally televised debate, noticed the violation and notified a CNN official. The CNN official approached the make-up artist and Sink, and confiscated the cell phone.
The message read: “The attorney who [w]on the Sykes suit said alex sink did nothing wrong. Tell not to let him keep talking about her.”
* There were no such rules during today’s debate, but here’s the video…
He’s the governor, so he ought to be able to debate his opponent without any help.
*** UPDATE 1 *** I just spoke with Brooke Anderson, who’s the person above whispering in Quinn’s ear. Anderson said all of her notes she passed, all of her whispers were to tell the governor one thing and one thing only: “Sit up straight.”
Apparently, the governor has a bad habit of slouching, which doesn’t look good on TV.
*** UPDATE 2 *** From the Rauner campaign…
Yikes.
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In retrospect…
Tuesday, Sep 9, 2014 - Posted by Rich Miller
* We talked about this TV ad yesterday, but here’s something I didn’t catch at first…
Rauner’s campaign is running an ad that features Rauner talking to Ditka in Ditka’s Near North Side Restaurant in Chicago. Ditka tells Rauner how to treat special interests. “You attack…Bam… Hit ‘em right in the mouth.”
The aggressive advice from the former NFL player and Super Bowl-winning coach (currently an on-air personality) is hitting some people the wrong way just now. The NFL is currently taking a massive public relations hit itself for its initially lax punishment of Ravens running back Ray Rice, who was seen on video punching his fiancee right in the mouth in an Atlantic City elevator.
* That “Hit ‘em right in the mouth” quote got even worse when Ditka talked about that disgusting Ray Rice video on ESPN…
“I don’t know Ray at all,” Ditka said before, for some reason, feeling the need to continue. “I’m sure he’s not a bad guy, but he made a bad mistake.
“Hey, two lives, are ruined,” Ditka said. “These two lives are ruined. His earning power is destroyed. That’s an important thing.”
* Sports radio went batty on Ditka yesterday, but he also said this…
“If nothing comes out of this, if nothing ever comes out of this, except as a lesson to the players and the league today, understand, this cannot be tolerated and cannot happen, then you’ve accomplished something.”
Even so, it’s probably not a good idea to run that ad again.
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Rauner distances himself from Tillman remarks
Tuesday, Sep 9, 2014 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Bruce Rauner was asked yesterday about our post on controversial, possibly racial remarks made by the Illinois Policy Institute’s John Tillman in 2011 while Rauner sat at the same dais. From the Tribune…
Tillman argued that youths on the South and West Sides are hurt by a high minimum wage that keep employers from being able to offer them jobs.
“So those kids keep walking, and they walk, and they get to the corner. And what do they find on the corner? They find a member of the gang offering them a job to be a drug runner. Is that the choice we want to make?” said Tillman, whose group advocates eliminating the minimum wage.
Quinn’s campaign sent out Cook County President Toni Preckwinkle on the governor’s behalf, and she called the comments “100 percent wrong and offensive to those of us who have worked to stem the tide of violence and drugs in our communities.”
Rauner refused to answer questions about Tillman’s comments during his education event. A spokesman later said Rauner “does not believe the minimum wage leads to gang membership.” The policy institute said criticism was a desperate political attack.
Right under the bus.
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Chicago media finally catches on
Tuesday, Sep 9, 2014 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Notice a pattern here? Tribune…
Republican governor candidate Bruce Rauner on Monday promised to pump more money into education from preschool through college should he be elected, but failed to say how he’d pay for it and keep his earlier pledges to lower the income tax rate and freeze property taxes.
The so-called “blueprint” for education follows the pattern of similar proposals the first-time candidate has released in recent months about how he’d govern, containing broad themes but few specifics. Rauner previously has called for an overhaul of business tax credits, said he’d phase out the 2011 income tax increase over four years while broadening sales taxes to include some services and talked about cutting the state budget.
* ABC 7…
Republican candidate for governor Bruce released his education plan for Illinois on Monday and it calls for more spending, but fails to say where the money would come from.
Despite promises to roll back the state income tax rate and freeze property taxes, Rauner vows to increase, not cut, education spending.
* Sun-Times…
Rauner was pressed on how he could increase education money while freezing property taxes, which right now make up the bulk of funding for local schools. Rauner vowed he would increase money in his first year in office — something at least one expert called “fantasy.”
“We will increase education funding in year one, yes, absolutely,” Rauner said. “Other programs will need to be cut,” he said, without specifying which ones. […]
“There’s no way to make the numbers work in the short term without either massive cuts or to shift to broad-based consumption taxes,” said University of Illinois at Springfield Political Science professor emeritus Kent Redfield.
“If you’ve got a deficit situation and you take out a huge source of revenue, then you can’t increase funding in one area without massive cuts to social services, higher education, mental health institutions … It’s just a fantasy to believe that this can be done and still maintain the basic level of services that we have.”
Rauner said he has pointed to ways to cut government waste in the past and to tax services. But Redfield said Rauner’s proposal to tax services was not broad enough to do all that he’s promising, in part because it excludes financial services.
* AP Chicago Bureau…
Rauner’s 26-page education plan, laced with statistics and graphs, was short on specifics of how the venture capitalist would proceed with his ideas or what exactly he wanted to do. He called for an overhaul of how the state doles out money to school districts — a contentious issue in Illinois — but didn’t say what should be in the funding formula. His plan called for changing the way Illinois schools grant tenure and cited a Florida practice allowing annual contracts, but Rauner said he wouldn’t do away with tenure completely. […]
Rauner’s campaign didn’t provide a cost estimate on the plan, saying some ideas such as the tax credits were “revenue neutral.” However, Rauner vowed to increase education spending, even in the first year of office, without extending the temporary tax increase or raising property taxes.
He said his policies would help Illinois’ economy grow so much that additional revenue would come in from new jobs and, combined with other steps such as eliminating waste in state government, Illinois would be able to close a budget hole.
* Our beloved commenter and experienced budget hand Steve Schnorf will get the final word on this aspect of the Rauner proposal…
I like it that Bruce Rauner is becoming increasingly specific with the newer position papers he is putting out. To his paper:
>much of it is simply facts about our current education system, both K-12 and Higher Ed. Many of those facts are quite damning, that is undebateable.
>many of those nasty facts can’t be blamed on Governor Quinn since they have been bad for a long time before he became Governor. However, the significant reduction in education funding over the past 6 years is owned by the person who is Governor.
>some new (to Illinois) ideas are included, and some of them are probably worth trying.
>increasing both K-12 and Higher Ed funding is, in my opinion, a good and necessary idea. Inadequate K-12 funding does drive up property taxes, and inadequate Higher Ed funding has imposed a very large hidden middle class tax increase in the past 10 years.
>most of those new ideas will cost new money.
Aye, and now we come to the rub, don’t we? Bruce Rauner simply HAS to tell us how he’s going to pay for these things. Governor Quinn can’t pay for them in FY15 (and perhaps beyond), because the legislature has chosen to reduce our state tax revenues considerably. Candidate Rauner has told us he wants to reduce our income tax rate below even what it will become Jan 1. Fine, but cognitive dissonance is starting to kill me, since I can fairly quickly back of the envelope round number what our state tax revenues will be 5 years from now, giving Rauner credit for his policies increasing tax revenue growth at rates above what I believe they will actually be, and adding in his new proposed tax on services (which I think is a good idea, just not taken far enough). So far it just doesn’t add up. I’m looking forward to what’s to come.
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Rauner, Quinn to spar at 10 this morning
Tuesday, Sep 9, 2014 - Posted by Rich Miller
* The live video stream link is here. From the Tribune…
The contentious Illinois governor campaign will be coming to the Tribune editorial board today, as Democratic Gov. Pat Quinn, Republican challenger Bruce Rauner and their running mates will appear to answer questions about their platforms and certainly take shots at one another as the race enters its final months.
The candidates will appear at 10 a.m., and the debate will be streamed on chicagotribune.com.
* Follow along with ScribbleLive…
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NRCC slams Enyart for raising debt ceiling
Tuesday, Sep 9, 2014 - Posted by Rich Miller
* From the NRCC…
“Congressman Bill Enyart has sided with Nancy Pelosi over Southern Illinois families at every turn in Washington. Instead of fighting for the folks of the 12th District, Enyart has voted alongside the most liberal in Congress to raise the debt ceiling and give President Obama a blank check. Southern Illinois families have a better choice this November and that’s proven leader Mike Bost.” – Katie Prill, NRCC Spokeswoman
* The new TV ad…
* The script…
ANNCR: Bill Enyart promised to lead, but in Washington, he fell right in line.
On almost 90% of his votes, Enyart took Nancy Pelosi’s orders.
Voting 3 times to increase the debt ceiling.
Bill Enyart’s just not who we thought.
There is a better choice: Mike Bost. Will cut the debt and balance the budget.
A firefighter, former Marine.
Mike Bost won’t back down to party leaders.
A fighter for Southern Illinois.
The National Republican Congressional Committee is responsible for the content of this advertising.
Since one of the few item on Congress’ fall plate is raising the debt ceiling, I suppose the obvious question created by this new ad is where Rep. Bost stands on a potential government shutdown.
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* It’s about the minimum wage. Surprised? You shouldn’t be. From a press release…
Republican Bruce Rauner’s belief that the minimum wage should be eliminated completely is highlighted in a new 30-second television ad released today by the Quinn for Illinois campaign.
Earlier this year, Rauner publicly advocated for lowering the Illinois minimum wage and said he was “adamantly, adamantly” opposed to Gov. Quinn’s efforts to raise the minimum wage.
Then, just last week, new video surfaced showing Rauner - THIS YEAR - admitting that he advocated for eliminating the minimum wage completely.
Bruce Rauner has put his money where his mouth is, outsourcing American jobs to countries where child labor is prevalent and wages are low. He also is bankrolling a Tea Party organization that is working to eliminate the minimum wage in Illinois.
Said Quinn for Illinois Deputy Press Secretary Izabela Miltko:
“Billionaire Bruce Rauner’s true position, that there should be no minimum wage in Illinois, illustrates exactly how out-of-touch he is with Illinois values and how his policies would hurt working families.
“Mr. Rauner does not get ‘do-overs’ when it comes to his true belief that there should be no minimum wage in Illinois. His attempts to paper over his hostility to workers are as shameful as his position itself.”
* The ad…
* The script…
Narrator: “Bruce Rauner in his own words:”
Bruce Rauner: “I am adamantly, adamantly against raising the minimum wage.”
Narrator: “Now billionaire Bruce Rauner was caught saying he wants to eliminate the minimum wage completely.
“Eliminate the minimum wage? Taking thousands of dollars out of the pockets of hard-working families.
“Did Bruce Rauner really think no one would find out?”
*** UPDATE 1 *** From the Rauner campaign…
It should come as no surprise that Pat Quinn is lying about Bruce’s position on the minimum wage as he continues lying to the people of Illinois about corruption on his watch. The fact remains Bruce is the only candidate who has a real plan to raise the minimum wage.
*** UPDATE 2 *** McKinney reports this is a $750,000 buy…
Quinn’s campaign is putting roughly $750,000 behind the ad, which is running in television markets in Chicago, Champaign, Peoria and Paducah, Ky., a source familiar with the ad buy told Early & Often, the Chicago Sun-Times’ political portal.
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