* During a hearing in Springfield today, Sangamon County Judge John Belz said the pension reform case should be fast-tracked because of the Supreme Court’s decision that government employee health insurance premiums were protected by the state Constitution and couldn’t be raised. Kurt Erickson has details…
Belz told attorneys gathered for a hearing Thursday that the court’s decision in the health insurance case was like “an elephant in the room.”
“I can’t stick my head in sand and act like it isn’t there,” Belz said. […]
“As fast as we can move it along within reason the better,” Belz said.
“This can be wrapped up by the end of this year,” said attorney John Fitzgerald, who represents a group of retired teachers.
…Adding… From We Are One Illinois…
“Our members had an encouraging day in court, and we’re hopeful that this will be resolved soon in our favor. The Kanerva decision confirmed our long held belief that the pension protection clause of the constitution is absolute and without exception.”
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* I really like the visual quality of Bobby Schilling’s new TV ad…
* Script…
Bobby Schilling: “I know these roads—lived here my whole life. I know our people, our places, and our perseverance. I know our struggles—and our successes. This is my home. This is where Christie and I are raising our 10 kids. It’s where I started our family restaurant. I know first-hand how Washington makes it hard for families and workers, and I want to stop it. I’m Bobby Schilling, and I approve this message because I know we’re all on this road together.”
*** UPDATE *** From the Cheri Bustos campaign…
“Bobby Schilling’s first ad is a blatant attempt to hide the ‘Real Bobby Schilling’s’ record of putting the Tea Party first and Illinois middle class families last. In Congress, Schilling voted to protect tax breaks for corporations that ship jobs overseas, to end the Medicare guarantee for seniors and walked out of a public meeting with workers whose jobs were shipped to China. Now he’s making a six figure salary working for one of his campaign contributors helping wealthy Chinese businessmen game the immigration system. If this is what he means by ‘leading by example’ Illinois working families will reject him once again this November.”
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* Cumulus, which owns several Chicago radio stations including WLS, has decided to no longer air a radio ad paid for by the New Prosperity Foundation which targeted Democratic Congressman Brad Schneider. We discussed the group’s two radio ads yesterday. The offending line was this…
Finally, last month, after promising to release his tax returns, Schneider offered the public only a one-page summary that hides his wealth and then barred reporters from obtaining the actual return, like nearly every other member of Congress does.”
* But the Schneider campaign pointed to several media stories like this one…
Both U.S. Rep. Brad Schneider (D-10th) and his Republican opponent, former U.S. Rep. Robert Dold, have released their 2013 tax returns to the Journal & Topics Newspapers.
So, the ad came down, but you can still listen to it here if you want…
No response yet from the New Prosperity Foundation.
…Adding… From Staci McCabe at the Schneider campaign…
“This false ad goes down as just another example of Republicans willing to say anything to elect their reliable Republican ally Bob Dold.”
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Crossover appeal
Thursday, Sep 4, 2014 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Two new Reboot polls…
* Jesse White leads 61-26-5, with 7 percent undecided
* Lisa Madigan leads 54-30-5, with 7 percent undecided
White’s support among Republicans is 37 percent and he’s getting 55 percent of independents. Madigan is supported by 23 percent of Republicans and 49 percent of independents. Madigan’s opponent doesn’t have the cash to change that dynamic, but isn’t giving up. From a press release…
Republican Attorney General Candidate Paul Schimpf held a press conference [yesterday] and called on Attorney General Lisa Madigan to recuse herself from giving legal advice on all matters involving the Neighborhood Recovery Initiative (“NRI”). Madigan has told the media that she doesn’t believe she has a conflict of interest.
“Ms. Madigan’s inability to understand that there is a conflict of interest in this situation calls into question her competence to serve as Attorney General for the State of Illinois,” said Schimpf. “Her belief is contrary to the fundamentals of practicing law as defined by the Illinois Rules of Professional Conduct Rule 1.7 on Conflicts of Interest. Ms. Madigan, as Attorney General, was in a position to provide oversight on this program and failed to do so – a fact not in dispute. She is a material witness in the investigation of the failed Neighborhood Recovery Initiative and needs to recuse herself as soon as possible in this matter.”
There’s been little to no coverage of AG Madigan’s role in NRI. She was, indeed, on the board that oversaw the program. A bit more is here.
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Insidery campaign stuff
Thursday, Sep 4, 2014 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Greg Hinz takes a look at Gov. Quinn’s field operation…
Meet Nellie Sires, a “proud resident of Rogers Park since 2004″ — and the field director of Mr. Quinn’s re-election campaign. Over the next two months, her job is to ignore the daily back and forth of the brawl with GOP nominee Bruce Rauner and, using the latest analytics and tracking methods, identify millions of Quinn fans and potential Quinn fans and get them to the polls. […]
Over coffee, she told me that Mr. Quinn hopes to replicate much of the neighbor-on-neighbor style of organizing that Barack Obama used so successfully in 2008 and 2012.
The model depends on first using the state’s database of roughly 7.3 million registered voters and then figuring out which ones are most open to Mr. Quinn’s message.
To do so, the campaign is employing a variety of high and low tech, everything from working closely with Chicago political leaders, especially in African-American wards, and hiring a Chicago- and Washington-based “big data” company, Civis Analytics, which built the Quinn campaign’s model.
* Meanwhile, WBEZ has been running a series of stories about political types who are rarely profiled. From the station’s opposition research piece…
“You don’t win races by just telling people what a wonderful person you are,” said Dennis Gragert, a veteran Democratic opposition researcher based in Chicago.
Gragert and several other opposition researchers say they abide by the rules and ethics of what’s fair game. Most important, they say attacks against a candidate must be verifiably true, and they can’t be too personal or you could face a backlash, like with the hairdresser ad. Every oppo researcher contacted for this story said they had turned down work that required them to dig up information about an opponent they thought was too personal.
All in all, the opposition researchers who spoke with WBEZ say they sleep just fine at night, because all those negative ads actually work, even if voters say they hate them.
Still, even Gragert does betray a moment of empathy.
“Sometimes I think about, if that was me on the other end, would I like that?” he said. “All right, that’s not for me to like, it is - it is reality. It’s not something where you say, well that shouldn’t be the case. That is the case.”
* Voice-over artists…
“When you’re doing voice-over work, it’s almost as though you have no life, when you’re doing political campaigns,” said Wanda Christine Hudson, who has been doing voice-over work for more than four decades.
Wanda Christine - as she’s known professionally - says working campaigns is a lot different than her usual commercial or video game voice-over gigs: Political season means abruptly cancelled lunch plans, sleeping by your phone and voicing ads in the dead of night.
* Pollsters…
“Good pollsters don’t tell a candidate what to say,” McGrath said. “The political graveyard is scattered with failed candidates who try to be something they weren’t. And it’s not in our interest to use a poll to tell somebody to be something they’re not.”
McGrath says voters can sense when candidates are faking it. And dishonesty doesn’t poll very well.
I know you’re busy, but all of the above pieces are worth a full read.
…Adding… A few more stories from Campaigns & Elections…
* Is Twitter ruining young press operatives?: Far too often, operatives are lured into snarky back-and-forth Twitter duels that seem all-important and exciting, but fail the most basic test of campaigns. How does this get me votes? If it doesn’t get you votes, it doesn’t matter.
* Searching through the attack ads: When campaigns deluge television viewers with an inescapable 30-second ad, campaigns usually see a subsequent spike in searches online concerning that message. Research conducted in 2012 found that 64 percent of persuadable voters had used a search engine to fact-check claims made by political candidates.
* 5 essential practices for reaching inboxes
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* From the twitters…
* Rauner campaign response…
“We didn’t know a person’s income level was a qualification for office. Pat Quinn thinks only corrupt career politicians who have screwed up Springfield for decades are qualified to lead our state. The people of Illinois know better than that.” - Rauner spokesperson Mike Schrimpf
* The Question: On a scale of one to four, with four being the best, please rate the Rauner campaign response. Take the poll and then explain your answer in comments, please.
survey services
*** UPDATE *** Vallas has walked back his comment…
Later, Vallas sought to clarify his comments, telling the Tribune in an interview that it was not Rauner’s wealth that should disqualify him as governor but that “his wealth informs his policies.”
“Whether it’s his promising to eliminate the minimum wage, or taxing consumption, or slashing funding for public schools, it’s clear who Bruce Rauner benefits in his policies,” Vallas said. “It’s that his wealth and his experiences seem to be driving and seem to be informing his policies.”
“My problem isn’t the wealth, my problem is that his policies are being driven by his wealth and driven by his private business practices. That’s my fundamental problem with Bruce Rauner and the approach he is taking and it’s in stark contrast with what drives Pat Quinn.”
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And here it is again…
Thursday, Sep 4, 2014 - Posted by Rich Miller
* From a press release…
The Illinois State Chamber of Commerce, one of the oldest statewide business organizations in the nation, is issuing its first ever endorsement for the office of Treasurer and is backing Republican candidate Tom Cross. Illinois State Chamber of Commerce CEO Todd Maisch said Cross’ commitment to balancing the budget and fighting corruption will serve taxpayers and employers well.
“Tom Cross has distinguished himself as a leader in the fight for responsible, accountable government,” said Maisch. “As House Republican Leader, he fought for common sense lawsuit reform, worked to reduce burdensome regulations and vigorously opposed the Quinn income tax increase. Tom Cross is exactly the type of Treasurer we need to protect taxpayers. Cross’ plans to demand a balanced budget, and take on corruption and fraud are among the reasons we took the historic step of endorsing him for Treasurer.”
* But check out the main subject matter of the Mike Frerichs campaign response…
Rep. Tom Cross is the ultimate Springfield insider, voting over the past 20 years with the special interests and against the interests of Illinois families. In return, lobbyists showered Tom Cross with more than $22,000 in free meals in recent years, but those meals were likely cooked and served by minimum wage workers whose income isn’t keeping up with rising costs thanks to Tom Cross who has opposed raising the minimum wage three times.
Now we know that Tom Cross’ closest ally and one of his biggest donors, Bruce Rauner, would abolish the minimum wage altogether if he could. Those are not the values that Mike Frerichs was raised with in Central Illinois or that he will bring to the Treasurer’s office.
The Illinois Chamber of Commerce is part of a group of business interests that are working against raising the minimum wage from $8.25 to $10.00 in Illinois. Rep. Tom Cross has not voted to raise the minimum wage three times in his 20-year Springfield career (2003, 2006, and 2014). If Rep. Cross had his way, the minimum wage in Illinois would still be $5.15 as it was in 2003 when he first voted against raising it.
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* Earlier this morning, we discussed Brian Mackey’s column which contained some quotes from Bruce Rauner about the government’s role in the economy. He made those remarks during a 2011 panel discussion. A labor union source found another Rauner quote from that same panel. The pre-candidate was asked “Could you talk about the increasingly unequal distribution of wealth in this country?” Rauner’s response…
“You know, we can complain about it, we can try to tax more, redistribute income, whatever. Or encourage more unionization, which is, or raise the uh, another standard one, let’s raise the minimum wage.
“Those are all in a lot of ways counter-productive, in my opinion.”
Video…
Like I told you yesterday, prepare to hear more about this issue as the campaign progresses, not less.
The full video is here. The above quote starts around the 1 hour, 28 minute mark. But what the union guy didn’t include was the last part of the quote…
“What it’s really about is education.”
Rauner was arguing that education was important to the knowledge-base economy. He’s right about that part, although I don’t see how cutting state and local revenues will accomplish his goals. But, whatever, the rest of his comment opens him up yet again to claims that he’s a heartless plutocrat.
By the way, Rauner also said there’s “a financial tumor growing” in the nation, caused by public sector unions.
* Meanwhile, apparently the Illinois economy didn’t crash in the late 00’s because the world economy crashed. Nope, it crashed because the state gradually raised its minimum wage…
The minimum wage in Illinois rose four times between 2006 and 2010. Unemployment rates climbed, along with home foreclosures and the number of families living in extreme poverty.
The rest of the column is pretty good, though…
They know that state and federal welfare programs punish workers who move up the pay scale. Federal benefits for housing assistance or food stamps or day care start to drop off once someone is earning about $22,000 a year. Take a promotion, and you’ll lose your child care subsidy. It makes no sense.
The politicians here and in Washington, D.C., know that affordable housing is a scarcity. They know expanding the earned income tax credit to younger workers would put real money into the pockets of the working poor.
They know that reducing mandatory minimum prison sentences for nonviolent drug offenders and giving businesses more incentives to hire people with criminal records would enable millions of men and women to better care for their families. The Tribune’s Jon Yates recently wrote of a man who didn’t qualify for the Chicago Transit Authority’s ex-offender apprenticeship program because his criminal record wasn’t current enough. Yes. True story.
* And, on a related note, from the twitters…
That’s two, two Illinois ballot issues in one, in case you’re keeping score at home.
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Unclear on the concepts
Thursday, Sep 4, 2014 - Posted by Rich Miller
* WICS TV…
The legislators in charge of the investigation into Gov. Pat Quinn’s anti-violence program say they have not received all the emails they subpoenaed in July.
This morning, the Legislative Audit Commission went to the Department of Central Management Service in Springfield to supervise the search, and to make sure they can get all the information.
But the Governor’s Office told them they cannot access the system because of attorney-client privilege. […]
The Legislative Audit Commission says despite the setback, they will continue to pursue the emails. The federal investigation into the program is also reviewing emails as well.
Actually, no. The Legislative Audit Commission officially said no such thing, and it was a single member, GOP state Rep. David Reis, who went to CMS yesterday…
Rep. David Reis, R-Willow Hill, was not given access to state email systems by officials at the state Department of Central Management Services, who cited state and federal law and security concerns as the basis for their decision.
“The governor’s office and Gov. Quinn himself have repeatedly stated that they want to be open and transparent, and that anyone involved with this failed program should be open and forthcoming,” Reis said in a prepared statement. “What we witnessed today was a denial of my rights as a legislator to review state records. Quinn’s people are not following his own orders.”
Legislators do have some privileged rights, but, as we’ve discussed before, they can’t just break the law…
A CMS spokeswoman confirmed a visit by Reis and an accompanying computer forensic analyst to the agency’s Springfield offices Wednesday that lasted “several minutes” but referred questions to a letter acting CMS Director Simone McNeil sent to Reis on Tuesday.
“As a matter of security and because federal and state laws protect much of the information we possess, we cannot legally grant you or your expert access to our email systems,” McNeil wrote in her letter to him.
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* Brian Mackey in Illinois Issues magazine…
Rauner insists his proposals — including a gradual roll-back of the income tax hike, restrictions on lawsuits and an expansion of the sales tax to include some services — would spur growth in the number of jobs. [Richard Dye, an economist with the University of Illinois’ Institute of Government and Public Affairs] says it’s possible for tax policy changes to sometimes — “not generally, but sometimes” — have an effect on jobs. But there are many other factors that more directly affect a state’s employment: “the overall economic condition, the capital stock and education level of the state, the national economy, incentives by other states, and so on,” Dye says. “All things that are beyond the governor’s control.”
So why do candidates claim prowess in job creation? “The advantage to the candidate is that most people don’t read the economics literature,” Dye says. “There is this vague association [between] the time a particular politician is in power and what happens to the economy.” Lubotsky amplifies this point, acknowledging that job claims would be useful to candidates for advertising purposes: “They can’t go out and say, ‘You should vote for me, but honestly, what I do won’t have much of an effect.’ ”
He’s right. Few politicians would make such a statement. But a private citizen might.
Back in 2011, years before he declared his candidacy for governor, Rauner participated in a panel discussion at Dartmouth College on the future of the U.S. economy. After nearly an hour, conversation turned to the risky investor behavior that led to the Great Recession and the federal government’s role in regulating financial markets. Another panelist asked Rauner: “We had a giant financial crisis in which the financial sector caused a huge recession that haunts us to this day … shouldn’t we try and fix some of the problems that created the situation?”
Rauner said the government was making things worse. Then — and this is the key moment — he opined on the nature of large economies: “We’re talking about free markets. Markets are cyclical. Get over it. We’re not going to predict it. We’re not going to stop it. We’re not going to control it. That’s what it is.”
Rauner 2011 acknowledged that economic downturns are inevitable and opined that governments can do nothing to control them. Rauner 2014, however, seeks to blame Quinn for not taking the right steps to address Illinois’ economic woes. Rather than telling voters to “get over it,” he’s attempting to harness their anger to propel him into high office.
Discuss.
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* The DCCC is using clips from the infamous video of Rep. Mike Blost blowing up on the House floor against him. Pretty effective, if you ask me…
* Script…
Bost: These damn bills that come out of here all the damn time…
Announcer: Mike Bost keeps melting down in Springfield
Bost: … you should be ashamed of yourselves. I’m sick of it.
Announcer: Now Bost wants to be in Congress.
Bost: Enough! I feel like somebody trying to be released from Egypt. Let my people go!
Announcer: He’d make Washington … worse.
*** UPDATE *** RNCC response…
Nancy Pelosi’s campaign arm, the DCCC, is up on TV today with a new ad highlighting Mike Bost’s dedicated service to his constituents. As most Southern Illinois families know, Springfield is a disaster and under the Quinn-Madigan machine, folks are suffering. Thankfully, Mike Bost has been a leader in Springfield and has stood up to the Democratic cronies who try to push large tax hikes and bills that are bad for the state through with zero transparency.
Bost said enough is enough. Hopefully the DCCC will continue to run these ads which highlight Bost’s dedication and hard work.
NRCC Statement: “You can tell this TV ad was made by folks in DC who are out-of-touch with what’s really happening in Southern Illinois. While Nancy Pelosi may think Mike Bost’s dedicated service is strange, the families that have continued to vote for him throughout the years appreciate his passion and efforts to keep Pat Quinn’s toxic agenda out of Southern Illinois.” – Katie Prill, NRCC Spokeswoman
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Quinn again dodges the question
Thursday, Sep 4, 2014 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Umm…
Asked if all the [IDOT] employees whose hiring aroused concern had been fired, Quinn insisted he had addressed the matter.
“I acted on that the moment I learned about that,” he said. “I appointed a new secretary of transportation to carry out the rules exactly as they should be.”
That wasn’t even in the ballpark of a straight answer. There are dozens, maybe hundreds of those folks still on the state payroll. The Rauner campaign pounced…
In fact, Quinn has not acted. Dozens of illegal hires still remain in positions at IDOT. And Quinn refuses to explain how his subversion of veterans hiring preferences is any different than Rod Blagojevich’s. […]
”Pat Quinn clearly has no intention of ending illegal patronage inside his administration; he’s just waiting until November to ratchet up the corruption. At a time of record job losses and sky-high veterans unemployment, Pat Quinn cares more about keeping his cronies happy than letting Illinois workers compete for state jobs.” - Rauner campaign spokesperson Mike Schrimpf
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* Just imagine the TV ad this’ll inspire…
In a newly unearthed radio interview, Republican private equity investor Bruce Rauner admitted earlier this year that he once favored the outright elimination of Illinois’ minimum wage. […]
While acknowledging that he once supported an elimination of the minimum wage, Rauner said later in that Jan. 10, 2014, interview on Bloomington-based WJBC-AM that either ending or reducing the state’s minimum wage to the lower national standard, as he advocated during a candidates’ forum in the Quad Cities last December, was ill-advised on his part.
“I have said, on a number of occasions, that we could have a lower minimum wage or no minimum wage as part of increasing Illinois’ competitiveness. I’ve said that many times,”
“It’s a mistake for me to focus on lowering the minimum wage or eliminating it because there are better ways to increase Illinois’ competitiveness,” Rauner said at the time.
Yeah, he claimed his earlier position was a “mistake,” but he said what he said and it’s now fair game.
* I was out with a totally non-political friend last night who makes the minimum wage caring for the developmentally disabled at a central Illinois group home. I received a text from the governor’s campaign about the story and read Rauner’s quote aloud.
It didn’t go over well. At all. The first thing my friend said was, “That’s just great, I’m getting a pay cut.”
* Raw audio. Start listening at about the one-minute point…
*** UPDATE 1 *** From the DGA…
“This is the most revealing moment of Bruce Rauner’s candidacy. Throughout this campaign he has been a master of disguise - veiling his elitist and exploitative philosophies with flannel shirts and a cheap watch. But Rauner can’t hide from his own damning advocacy against real people living from paycheck to paycheck. By supporting the elimination of the minimum wage, Bruce Rauner has distinguished himself as the most dangerous candidate that Illinois’ working families have ever seen.”
From the Quinn campaign…
“We’re not surprised to learn that Republican billionaire Bruce Rauner advocated to eliminate the minimum wage this year.
“This is his real position, the one he’s trying to hide from voters to get elected.
“While Mr. Rauner originally said his comment about cutting the minimum wage was ‘flippant,’ this little-noticed audio clip proves otherwise. This is the real Bruce Rauner and this is what he truly believes.
“Whether he’s dropping $140,000 on a luxury wine membership or pushing to eliminate the minimum wage, Bruce Rauner is the most out-of-touch candidate for Governor in Illinois history.”
No major-party gubernatorial candidate in modern Illinois history has openly advocated for eliminating the minimum wage. Bruce Rauner is an out-of-touch Republican billionaire who got rich at the expense of the rest of us. His plan for Illinois would benefit the very wealthy like him while hurting working people. Bruce Rauner isn’t looking out for us.
*** UPDATE 2 *** Illinois Freedom PAC…
Rauner Again Caught Lying About Minimum Wage Position
Chicago, IL - This morning the Chicago Sun Times reports on billionaire Bruce Rauner’s admission he has advocated for eliminating the minimum wage on multiple occasions. Rauner made the admission during a January 10th radio interview with WBJC and also said he’d advocated for lowering the minimum wage. From today’s Sun Times …
“I have said, on a number of occasions, that we could have a lower minimum wage or no minimum wage as part of increasing Illinois’ competitiveness. I’ve said that many times,” Rauner told WJBC host Scott Laughlin.
However, he told the Chicago Sun Times at the very same time that he’d never called for cutting the minimum wage. From the January Sun Times piece…
“I never said that. I said we should tie the minimum wage in Illinois to the national minimum wage. I didn’t use numbers. I didn’t use $7.25. I didn’t say any of that,” Rauner said.
“Billionaire Bruce Rauner has been exposed once again for his blatant, repeated falsehoods and his disdain for hard working families,” said Neal Waltmire, Communications Director for Illinois Freedom PAC.
Rauner has been caught giving false and misleading statements when it comes to his budget, his outsourcing record, his Cayman Islands accounts, and the clout scandal involving his daughter’s admission to an elite public school.
*** UPDATE 3 *** IFT President Dan Montgomery…
“The more voters learn about the Real Rauner, the less we like,” said Dan Montgomery, President of the IFT and a high school English teacher of nearly 20 years. “The news that Bruce Rauner favors eliminating the minimum wage is appalling and demonstrates how completely out of touch the billionaire is with working families. He talks a good game in his empty TV commercials, but Bruce Rauner owes Illinois voters a real explanation for this extreme position and his fairy tale budget proposal, which would blow an $8-billion dollar hole in the state budget and force larger class sizes and devastating cuts to our public schools. Illinois families deserve better.”
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