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The bar is definitely not low
Tuesday, Nov 18, 2014 - Posted by Rich Miller
* From the Register-Mail…
For the first time in more than a decade a Republican will sit as Governor serving with a Democratic Legislature.
Knox College Political Science instructor Jim Nowlan said it’s going to be rough for Gov.-elect Bruce Rauner.
“He’s created expectations I’m afraid he can’t fulfill,” Nowlan said. “It will be interesting to see how quickly people sour if they do, they may not. It’s going to be tough for him to fulfill the public’s expectations.”
Yep.
He’s said that he wants to cut income taxes, freeze property taxes, raise school and university spending, keep prisons open, make prisons safer, beef up IDNR, stop child deaths with a better DCFS, end patronage, and on and on and on and on. He has promised the moon, but all he may be able to deliver is an asteroid - let’s just hope it doesn’t crash into the governor’s mansion.
And then there are all of his evasions, to the point where people generally just add whatever they think should be done to his tabula rasa.
The bar is high. Very, very high.
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* Senate President Pro Tempore Don Harmon penned an op-ed for his local paper about the incoming Rauner administration…
A divided government has virtues and vulnerabilities. With a Democratic legislature and a Republican governor, I do not foresee more of the bold, progressive policy victories we achieved over the last six years. Marriage equality, abolition of the death penalty, expanding health insurance to thousands of low-income adults — none of these victories would likely be possible in an age of divided government. Bipartisan power sharing may help us achieve difficult things, but not dramatic things.
A divided government does give us the opportunity, however, to deal in a more bipartisan fashion with the nuts and bolts of government. For more than a decade, we have adopted Democratic budgets paid for with Democratic revenue proposals. Now, Gov. Rauner and the Republican Party will own the state budget and need to provide revenues adequate to pay for their proposals.
I fully expect the Democratic majorities in the General Assembly to cooperate with the governor to achieve fair and balanced budgets. But fair and balanced budgets will require something we haven’t seen in recent years: the active engagement, sponsorship and affirmative votes of Republicans. The GOP has had the luxury of avoiding responsibility by voting “no” on necessary yet unpopular reforms. But now, with a governor of their own party, Republican legislators have responsibility for real, achievable solutions. This may be a rude awakening for my GOP friends but potentially good for Illinois. We shall see.
While divided government can lead to cooperation on certain issues, it leads to confrontation on others. With a Republican governor, the Democratic General Assembly will become even more important as the defender of progressive ideals. If Gov. Rauner advances proposals to do away with collective bargaining, adopt “right to work for less” proposals, repeal or lower the minimum wage or otherwise attack the bedrock of working families in Illinois, he should gird for a fierce fight.
Thoughts?
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Question of the day
Tuesday, Nov 18, 2014 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Today, our venerated commenter and celebrated budget expert Steve Schnorf turns 70. Happy birthday, Steve!
I love the guy. He looks like a biker, is always the pragmatist and thinks like a wonk…
* The Question: Caption?
Keep it clean, people.
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*** UPDATED x1 *** Quinn’s place in the hall
Tuesday, Nov 18, 2014 - Posted by Rich Miller
* One of Gov. Pat Quinn’s next decisions involves his official portrait…
Governor Quinn still has time to decide if he’ll have his portrait hanging in the Capitol building.
It’s around this time governors leaving office will usually start planning to leave their mark, which is a portrait in the Capitol building. But, it comes at a hefty price.
Officials tell us the paintings cost around $20,000.
The paintings of Illinois’ former leaders hang on the second floor of the building, in “The Hall of Governors.”
* But…
In 1994, when Quinn was state treasurer, he held a press conference to mock then-Senate President James “Pate” Philip for commissioning an $8,676 portrait that now hangs in the Senate chambers.
Philip, who left state government in 2003, ignored Quinn’s call to reimburse the state for the painting and his portrait remains in its place in the President’s Gallery overlooking the room where senators cast their votes.
If he does sit for the portrait, I’m assuming it won’t be state financed. Right, governor?
*** UPDATE *** The governor’s press secretary just told me that Quinn will use “private funds” for the portrait.
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Medicaid cost cut comes with a price
Tuesday, Nov 18, 2014 - Posted by Rich Miller
* This new drug has been a miracle for people with Hepatitis C…
With nearly a 95 percent cure rate in clinical trails, Sovaldi is being hailed as a major breakthrough for a disease that more than 3 million Americans carry. The drug’s price tag, though, is spooking health insurers and state Medicaid programs at a time when there’s a heightened effort to diagnose the liver disease.
* The Tribune had a story this week about strict limitations placed on Illinois Medicaid patients…
The high price of Sovaldi drove Illinois Medicaid’s hepatitis C spending to $22 million for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2014, up from $6.7 million the previous year, according to the Illinois Department of Healthcare and Family Services.
Facing higher costs, Medicaid officials stopped paying for any but the sickest patients to get the new drugs, drawing criticism from some liver doctors who have said the state is preventing them from properly treating their patients. […]
In addition to limiting Sovaldi to the sickest patients, the Illinois Department of Healthcare and Family Services has set two dozen criteria for who can get the drug, including requiring that patients have no evidence of drug or alcohol abuse in the last 12 months and barring treatments not approved by the Food and Drug Administration.
Spending on hepatitis C treatment dropped from $1 million per week to about $200,000 per week after the department adopted the restrictions, said Dr. Arvind Goyal, the department’s medical director. […]
The state did not start keeping track of how many patients it denied Sovaldi until October, Goyal said. For the month of October, 43 of 50 patients who requested the treatment were denied, according to the department.
The problem is that state policy could be increasing state costs down the line, when denied Medicaid patients wind up hospitalized.
* And, of course, Americans are getting the shaft…
Although Sovaldi cures hepatitis C in more than 90% of those who for whom it has been prescribed, the 12 week course of treatment in the U.S. is $84,000, which comes to $1,000 a pill.
While curing hepatitis C saves lives and prevents a lot of downstream healthcare costs for patients who, without this drug, could ultimately develop liver cancer or require a liver transplant, payers and politicians are in an uproar for a variety of reasons, not the least of which is that the drug is priced much higher in the U.S. than in the rest of the world. For example, in Europe, where the government negotiates the price, Sovaldi’s price tag is on the order of $55,000/patient.
While Gilead’s pricing strategy in the U.S. can be challenged, it has certainly taken a responsible approach to Sovaldi pricing in poorer countries. In Egypt and most recently in India, the cost of Sovaldi is going to be only $900/patient
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Looking for a job?
Tuesday, Nov 18, 2014 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Those of you who are nobody what nobody sent can now click here and apply for a job with the incoming Rauner administration.
* From the required “Vetting” section…
Business / Lobbying: Describe any business relationship, dealing or financial transaction which you have had during the last five years, whether for yourself, on behalf of a client, or acting as an agent which you believe may constitute an appearance of impropriety or could result in a potential conflict of interest in the position to which you want to be appointed. If none, please state. […]
Convictions: Have you ever been convicted of or entered a plea of guilty or nolo contendere or forfeited collateral for any criminal violation other than a minor traffic offense? (Minor traffic offenses do not include the Illinois offenses of operating under the influence of liquor, operating while impaired, reckless driving or the equivalent offenses in other states) […]
Opposition / Associations: Do you have any expectations of any group or individual voicing concern about your possible appointment? […]
Issues: In the last five years, have you been publicly identified, in person or by organizational membership, with a particularly controversial national, state or local issue? […]
Submission of Views: In the last five years, have you submitted oral or written views to any governmental authority, whether executive or legislative, or to the news media on any particularly controversial issue other than in an official governmental capacity? […]
Controversy: Is there anything in your personal or professional life that would cause controversy for you or the governor during a public review of your candidacy or your service as a gubernatorial appointee?
Seems like standard stuff.
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* AP…
Cross, the former Illinois House minority leader from Oswego, and his campaign are questioning the Chicago Board of Election Commissioners about the number of mailed ballots it has received and how it has accounted for them.
The board released a letter late Friday rebutting a majority of the claims, including its accounting for 4,600 absentee ballots and a claim that 1,406 previously unknown mail-in ballots were discovered in a closet. But the board acknowledged that 99 mail-in ballots that were received too late were inadvertently mingled with 459 legitimate ballots. Those 558 ballots were separated for possible “postelection court proceedings” under an agreement with election judges of both parties, board spokesman Jim Allen said.
The complaints by Cross’ lawyer William Quinlan prompted U.S. Sen. Mark Kirk to ask U.S. Attorney Zachary Fardon to “secure” questioned ballots and “establish the chain of custody.”
“Our home city of Chicago has an unfortunate reputation for voter fraud and producing bogus election results,” Kirk wrote in the letter obtained by the AP. Voters “find the alleged behavior repulsive and they demand a change.”
Allen responded by re-releasing the board’s Friday response to Quinlan and adding, “There are contents of that original letter drafted by Mr. Quinlan that are clearly uninformed, misguided, inaccurate, and absolutely reckless with the truth.”
* Meanwhile, you’ve probably noticed that the treasurer’s race numbers changed last night. Scott Kennedy explains why…
* DeWitt County – there were a total of 5 new votes over what was previously publicly reported and Cross gained 4 votes. These should be their final totals.
* Jasper County – there were a total of 4 new votes over what was previously publicly reported and Cross gained 4 votes. These should be their final totals.
* Marshall County – there were a total of 10 new votes over what was previously publicly reported and Cross gained 4 votes. These should be their final totals.
* Pope County – there were a total of 3 new votes over what was previously publicly reported and Cross gained 1 vote. These should be their final totals.
* Richland County – there were a total of 29 new votes over what was previously publicly reported and Cross gained 9 votes. These should be their final totals.
* Macoupin County – there were a total of 79 new votes over what was previously publicly reported and it was a push, the margin remains exactly the same. These should be their final totals.
* Bond County – there were a total of 2 new votes over what was previously publicly reported and Cross gained 2 votes. These should be their final totals.
* Morgan County – there were a total of 123 new votes over what was previously publicly reported and Cross gained 41 votes. These should be their final totals.
* Pike County – there were a total of 4 new votes over what was previously publicly reported and Cross gained 3 votes. These should be their final totals.
* Fayette County – there were a total of 26 new votes over what was previously publicly reported and Cross gained 11 votes. These should be their final totals.
* Kane (only, not including Aurora) – there were a total of 382 new votes over what was previously publicly reported and Cross gained 215 votes. I’m not sure if these are their final totals.
* Vermilion (only, not including Danville) – there were a total of 81 new votes over what was previously publicly reported and Frerichs gained 1 vote. These should be their final totals.
* And gives us a look ahead…
Here is what to expect for tomorrow and Wednesday. I expect the clerks will finalize and update the vote totals in each election authority tomorrow. The clerks will still have to complete the canvass and the totals won’t yet be certified but at least we won’t be expecting any further updates unless errors are found.
Technically the clerks have to wait to make sure no additional ballots come in the mail tomorrow so the updates are more likely to come later in the day. I will take a late lunch and check for updates during my lunch and then again after work.
On Wednesday I have to travel for work and will not be able to check for updates at all. I have given Rich Miller and his intern access to the Google Doc that is keeping track of these totals so they can make updates if needed.
Also, if you need to get updates faster anyone can copy/paste the data at the bottom of my tracker where it is listed by election authority and perform their own checks.
To make it easier to quickly see which totals are final I have them color coded. All the numbers for each election authority in blue are not yet final, the numbers in black are the numbers that are expected to be final.
For previous updates I’ve written a little blurb after each one explaining the update. Here is that history in table format. Since almost all 110 election authorities are expected to have an update in the next day or two I probably won’t write up each one, I am going to try to keep this table up to date and just reference the table.
His tracker is here.
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Strapped school districts battling it out
Tuesday, Nov 18, 2014 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Tribune…
Illinois school districts ended up nearly $1 billion in the hole in 2013, dipping into reserves or borrowing to pay the bills, according to the latest finance data, painting a grim picture of the state’s public school system.
While statewide school deficits aren’t unusual — some have been much higher over the years — the red ink comes just two years after districts as a whole were in the black and at a time when a fight over state education dollars has become more fervent and widespread. […]
Overall, more than 500 of the state’s roughly 860 districts spent more than they took in during the 2012-13 school year, struggling to cover losses in state and federal dollars and leaning more on local taxpayers. Even taking into account surpluses in other districts, the public school system’s red ink totaled $931 million, state data show. Districts that continue to operate in the red risk state intervention and other consequences.
Despite the deficits, spending per student continued to climb to an average of $12,045 statewide, with some districts in the Chicago region spending more than $20,000 per child, a Tribune analysis found
* Meanwhile…
Elgin School District U46 is looking to fill buses headed to Springfield on Tuesday to rally for the funding reforms that would benefit the district.
For those who cannot attend, school administrators throughout the Fox Valley are urging residents to voice their opinions on the proposed school funding reform package by providing testimony that will be included as part of the record.
The efforts are part of a call-to-action from school districts throughout Illinois who are taking sides in a debate over Senate Bill 16, a plan that shifts how the state funds education. The issue is hitting the forefront because of a joint hearing between the Illinois House’s Appropriations-Elementary and Secondary Education Committee and the Elementary and Secondary Education Committee.
The committees are scheduled to take up Senate Bill 16, also known as the School Funding Reform Act of 2014, at 3 p.m. Tuesday in Room 114 of the Capitol.
* More on the bill…
A resolution sponsored by Republican Rep. Ron Sandack and co-sponsored by 20 of the 47 members of the House GOP caucus decries what it called Manar’s “piecemeal reallocation” of school funding that will lead hundreds of districts to “deep budget reductions and financial uncertainty.”
Rauner, who invested millions in education reform before running for office, indicated during an October debate that he doesn’t support Manar’s bill, even though he thinks Illinois’ school funding formula should be overhauled. His spokesman, Mike Schrimpf, said Rauner would not elaborate at this time beyond what he’d said during the debate. […]
[Rep. Will Davis] said he hopes the proposal could come up for a vote as early as the General Assembly’s last session in early January before the inauguration of Rauner, who would likely veto it. […]
“There remains a good amount of concern about the bill in its current form,” said Steve Brown, Madigan’s spokesman. “(But) there’s no doubt some changes need to be made in how we fund schools.”
* And…
The Senate architect of the plan says he doesn’t know if lawmakers will push something to Democratic Gov. Pat Quinn before Republican Bruce Rauner is sworn into office in January.
“This is going to take the House some time,” said state Sen. Andy Manar, a Bunker Hill Democrat. “That’s the process the House is starting.”
* But Finke reports that all the excitement today will be for naught, at least for now. The bill’s sponsor is saying it won’t be called for a while…
However, the House won’t take action on changing the state funding formula until next spring at the earliest.
“Sen. Manar has done a great job over there, and he knows that we’re going to be doing a lot more work on it,” Chapa LaVia said. “He knows that the bill won’t be called in this General Assembly.”
Chapa LaVia noted that there has been pushback from more affluent school districts that fear they will lose money under a revised funding formula. She said she hopes the hearings will focus attention on the need not only to revise the distribution formula but also to put more money into education overall.
“I need as many people at the table, pro and anti on this, so we can all come to an agreement that we have short-sheeted the kids of the state of Illinois for way too long,” she said.
Manar has a good idea, but I still think the bill can’t move forward without some hold harmless provisions, and that’ll require a lot of money that the state simply doesn’t currently have. We’ll see.
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Schneider may be back in ‘16
Tuesday, Nov 18, 2014 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Considering that Bob Dold lost two years ago in a Democratic landslide and took his seat back from Brad Schneider in this big GOP year, a Schneider comeback wouldn’t be all that surprising. From Politico…
Illinois Rep. Brad Schneider, one of 10 House Democrats who lost reelection, stood before his 200 fellow congressional Democrats during a glum gathering Thursday to say goodbye and thank you.
When he finished, Schneider, a bespectacled and mild-mannered former business management consultant, was taken back by the reception. “Run again! Run again!” many of his colleagues chanted.
Only two weeks after a political blowout that left Democrats with their smallest House minority in over 80 years, at least a half-dozen of the party’s candidates who fell short are already being courted to run again in 2016. And some of them are seriously considering it.
Their thinking reflects what has become prevailing wisdom in Democratic circles: that presidential elections are as favorable to the party as midterms are punishing. Democrats who lost close races in battleground districts this year could just as easily come out on top in 2016, when the electorate is sure to be younger, more diverse and more liberal. […]
Republican strategists disagree. They argue that many of the Democrats are damaged after coming under a barrage of political attacks in 2014 and are unlikely to fare better if they try again.
“If I were a Republican incumbent in a tough district, I’d prefer a challenger with built-in negatives and a record to attack,” said Andy Sere, a GOP ad maker.
Thoughts?
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Rauner coming to town Thursday
Tuesday, Nov 18, 2014 - Posted by Rich Miller
* It’ll be mildly interesting to see which office Rauner chooses to use when he’s in town this week. That’s often interpreted as a sign of who’s most in favor. Then again, it’s also sometimes misinterpreted. And, then again, he may choose to go to legislators’ offices instead. Sun-Times…
Governor-elect Bruce Rauner is to arrive in Springfield in time for Thursday morning’s session.
Since winning the Nov. 4 election, Rauner has spoken to more than 50 lawmakers, his staff says. […]
Rauner is headed to Springfield after first traveling to Florida on Tuesday for the Republican Governors Association annual conference.
What Rauner won’t be doing in Springfield is lobbying on any issues — not the Uber bill or a proposal to increase the minimum wage — his staff says.
I still think that there’s more going on behind the scenes on that Uber bill than is being publicly acknowledged. And maybe even the minimum wage bill.
* And speaking of the minimum wage, from a press release…
Chicago working families are outraged at the news today that Speaker of the House Michael Madigan and State Senator John Cullerton are considering robbing Chicago of its freedom to set its own minimum wage, by annulling Chicago’s ‘home rule’ control over its own regulations and forcing the city to adopt a proposed statewide minimum wage of $10/hour.
According to the United States Department of Commerce, the cost of living in Chicago is higher than any other city in the Midwest, and 20.1% higher than the rest of Illinois. Local residents have spoken out demanding a higher minimum wage. In the March primary elections, 86% of voters in 103 precincts called for a citywide minimum wage of $15/hr, leading legislators to introduce a $15/hr ordinance into City Council in May.
By moving to revise state constitutional law to deny Chicago the right to raise its own minimum wage, Madigan and Cullerton are listening to the interests of low-wage employers and groups like the Illinois Retail Merchants Association, who have given them hundreds of thousands of dollars in campaign contributions, and new Republican Governor-Elect Bruce Rauner, who met privately with the two legislators last week, instead of the Chicago citizens they were elected to represent.
That would require a three-fifths super-majority in both chambers, which means Republican votes, particularly in the House. We’ll see.
* By the way, the House has some hearings scheduled for this afternoon. Click here to see the schedule. We’ll start our live coverage today at noonish.
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