Rauner announces “turnaround team”
Thursday, Jan 22, 2015 - Posted by Rich Miller
* From a press release…
Following a presentation at the University of Chicago, where he laid out a number of structural issues facing Illinois, Governor Bruce Rauner today announced his Turnaround Team, a group of extremely talented individuals who have deep experience in management, budgets, and streamlining bureaucracies.
“Our current trajectory is unsustainable as a state,” said Gov. Rauner. “I’ve long promised to bring superstars from both inside Illinois and out to help turn our state around and I know Donna, Trey and Linda are the perfect trio to do just that.”
Donna Arduin, CFO
Donna Arduin has established a reputation for bringing government spending under control through long-term policy planning and fiscally responsible budgeting. She is a veteran of state budget management and tax reform and as budget director, led toward responsibility the budgets of Michigan, under Governor Engler; New York, under Governor Pataki; Florida under Governor Bush; and California, under Governor Schwarzenegger. A graduate of Duke University, Arduin graduated magna cum laude with honors in economics and public policy. Prior to her career in the public sector, she worked as an analyst in New York and Tokyo in the private financial markets for Morgan Stanley and Long-Term Credit Bank of Japan.
Trey Childress, Deputy Governor
Trey Childress served as the COO for the State of Georgia under two governors. He was responsible for leadership and supervision of Georgia’s 50 state departments, agencies, and boards and commissions while leading government transformation initiatives. Prior to that, he served as the Director of the Governor’s Office of Planning & Budget, and was responsible for the State’s $32 billion budget, annual capital outlay portfolio of $1 billion and state business planning during the unprecedented revenue losses of the Great Recession. Childress previously served as Senior Adviser and Director of Policy for the Office of the Governor with the successful passage of more than 30 signature policy initiatives in education, health care, transportation, taxation and natural resources. He began his career in public service working with the former Georgia Information Technology Policy Council, the Georgia Technology Authority and the Office of Planning & Budget. During his service, Georgia was recognized as one of the best managed states in the country by Governing Magazine. Childress earned a master’s degree in public policy and bachelor’s degrees in industrial and systems engineering and international affairs from the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta.
Linda Lingle, Senior Adviser
Linda Lingle was the first woman elected governor of Hawaii, serving two terms from 2002-2010. Gov. Lingle oversaw a $10 billion annual budget and made state government more transparent, responsive and accountable. Prior to her role as governor, she served as the Mayor of Maui County for eight years, and was a member of the Maui County Council for ten years prior to that. Gov. Lingle began her career as the founder, editor and owner of the Moloka’i Free Press. She earned a bachelor’s degree in journalism from California State University, Northridge. She is a native of St. Louis, Mo.
Arduin has a consulting business with Arthur Laffer. She has repeatedly pushed for huge budget and tax cuts elsewhere, including in Kansas. More background here.
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Cicero’s Dominick on a roll
Thursday, Jan 22, 2015 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Back in 2012-13, the Sun-Times and other media outlets went on a crusade against Cicero’s town president and printed pretty much anything that came out of his opponent Juan Ochoa’s mouth. Here’s how the CS-T reported the election results…
Cicero voters Tuesday ignored allegations of corruption, sexual harassment and nepotism in town hall and overwhelmingly re-elected Larry Dominick for a third term as the leader of the hardscrabble western suburb.
* Ochoa filed a lawsuit during the campaign…
In a lawsuit filed Monday in Cook County Circuit Court, challenger Juan Ochoa says Larry Dominick, town officials and the Cicero Voters Alliance “have launched an extensive crusade” of harassment and intimidation to stop him from running for office.
Along with stalking claims, the suit alleges the organization has violated the Illinois Election Code, falsely accused Ochoa of using gang members in his campaign and has tried to split the Hispanic vote by putting other Hispanic candidates on the ballot.
“Larry Dominick and the Cicero political committee is a criminal organization, and they are actively suppressing the vote, lying and intimidating voters,” said Ochoa’s attorney, Frank Avila. “We have filed a suit to bring justice and change to Cicero.”
* Well, that lawsuit was eventually ruled to be a politically motivated SLAPP suit, meaning it was designed to curtail free speech rights.
And then today, a Cook County judge awarded the Town of Cicero and Dominick’s Cicero Voters Alliance a total of $30,000 in legal fees. Click here to read the order.
* From a press release…
“I am happy that this purely political move to grab pre-election publicity back in 2012 has been exposed for the fraud that it is,” said President Dominick.
“The only people who were harassing voters were the street gang members identified in the Chicago Crime Commission Street Gang Handbook who worked on Ochoa’s campaign. The vast majority of voters saw through Ochoa’s phony campaign lies. And the voters and public stood by my administration’s proven record of delivering new jobs, new businesses, improving safety, fighting street gangs, and increasing services for everyone including Senior Citizens, youth and families.”
Ochoa’s lawsuit was filed on Dec. 11, 2012 by political activist and lawyer Frank Avila Jr., the son of controversial Water Reclamation District Trustee Frank Avila, Sr. The Ochoa/Avila lawsuit had been dismissed twice by the courts, first on Dec. 5, 2013 and again on July 21, 2014.
* Meanwhile…
A federal appeals court last week ordered that a Hinsdale attorney be sanctioned for misconduct, a move that could potentially return to the Town of Cicero’s coffers $287,500 in legal fees.
A United States Court of Appeals 7th Circuit panel last Monday, January 12, handed down an opinion and, essentially, ordered federal judge Thomas Durkin to sanction attorney Dana Kurtz of suburban Hinsdale for “serious misconduct”.
The court’s decision involves a 2008 case in which Kurtz sued Cicero and Town President Larry Dominick for allegedly firing a city employee, Merced Rojas, over his support of a Dominick political opponent.
Judge Frank Easterbrook, who wrote the appeals panel’s six-page opinion, faulted Durkin for neglecting to sanction Kurtz’s misconduct at the trial where her victory over Cicero was quickly set-aside by judge James Holderman.
That opinion is here.
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Former Hawaii governor to be state’s COO
Thursday, Jan 22, 2015 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Sun-Times…
Gov. Bruce Rauner on Thursday announced that former Hawaii Gov. Linda Lingle will join his administration.
In remarks at the University of Chicago’s Booth School of Business, Rauner said Lindle will come on board in what appears to be the newly created position of chief operating officer.
Before he was chief of staff, Jack Lavin was chief operating officer. So, this isn’t a new title, but we’ll see what Rauner’s job concept entails.
* In other appointment news…
Springfield Ward 6 Ald. Cory Jobe is transitioning into a new state job.
He was deputy chief of staff to late Comptroller Judy Baar Topinka and has retained that position under new Comptroller Leslie Munger. But after the spring legislative session, he will be full time in a new job as the state’s director of tourism, said Lance Trover, spokesman for Gov. Bruce Rauner.
Trover said Wednesday that Jobe will split time between being director of tourism and working for the comptroller until the session ends. The target date for completion of the session is May 31.
“While transitioning, he will remain on the comptroller’s payroll,” Trover said, adding that he did not believe the tourism salary for Jobe has been set.
Jobe has focused on tourism in the city council and is well-versed on the topic.
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As if we don’t have enough problems right now…
Thursday, Jan 22, 2015 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Jamey Dunn…
According to a report released by the U.S. Census Bureau this year, the percentage of the population age 65 and older increased from 4.1 percent in 1900 to 14 percent in 2013. The Census Bureau projects that by 2030, nearly one in five residents will be 65 or older.
The demographic trends in Illinois are similar. Census estimates for 2013 peg Illinois’ over-65 population at almost 14 percent.
By 2030, that number is expected to go up to 18 percent, meaning that an estimated 2.4 million people in the state will be 65 or older.
And that means higher costs for services like Medicaid and even prisons…
Thirteen percent of inmates in the Illinois Department of Corrections are 50 years old or older, according to statistics compiled by the Chicago Reader. If current trends bear out, the number of inmates 50 or older will double within six years. Incarceration costs for older inmates can be twice as expensive as those for younger ones.
…Adding… From IDOC…
Based on the average cost of approximately $22,000 per year inmate in IDOC, incarceration of its 7,729 inmates over age 50 costs approximately $170 million per year. That is roughly 13.4% of the Department’s annual budget–between 1/7 and 1/8 of the budget, which is much, much less than the “one third” stated in the Illinois Issues/WUIS piece.
Don’t forget the tax revenues lost as well…
If all of that doesn’t seem like a big enough challenge to Illinois, the state will also see its revenues shrink as more of its population leaves the workforce. Illinois relies heavily on income taxes but does not tax retirement income. Senior citizens also get a break on their property taxes, which fund local services and schools.
So, while seniors demand more from the state, they will be paying fewer of the tax dollars needed to keep the whole operation afloat. The Census Bureau estimates that by 2030, when all the Boomers will be over the age of 65, there will be fewer than three working age people to each person of retirement age in the country.
“On the revenue side, I think the issue doesn’t get enough attention,” says Kurt Thurmaier, chair of the Department of Public Administration at Northern Illinois University. “You have a smaller and smaller group of younger people who are earning income, and the equation just doesn’t balance.”
Oy.
Go read the whole thing.
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Rauner: Judicial system “broken”
Thursday, Jan 22, 2015 - Posted by Rich Miller
* From the twitters…
* And while I’m not sure we can draw a direct line between PM and Justice Karmeier, this can help show how money from trial lawyers isn’t the only problem…
As the U.S. Supreme Court hears another case testing the boundary lines for campaign contributions in judicial elections, new information has surfaced about the role money played in a hotly contested race last year for Illinois’ highest court.
The parent company of Philip Morris USA contributed a total of $500,000 on Oct. 6 and 8 to a Republican Party group, a few weeks after the Illinois Supreme Court agreed to hear the tobacco company’s appeal of a $10.1 billion verdict. About two weeks later, the Republican State Leadership Committee put $950,000 into independent campaign ads supporting the retention of Lloyd Karmeier, a Republican Illinois Supreme Court justice.
Previously, the only known contributions from the parent company, Altria Group, to the RSLC were made in 2013, totaling about $225,000.
Brian Mays, a spokesman for Richmond, Va.-based Altria, denied any impropriety.
“Neither Altria nor any of its companies contributed to Lloyd Karmeier’s 2004 election nor in 2014,” he said. “We did contribute $500,000 to the Republican State Leadership Committee. What’s important about that contribution is that we informed the RSLC both orally and in writing that our contributions could not be used in judicial elections.”
The other side spent $2 million against Karmeier, almost all from trial lawyers, many of whom are involved with big money cases pending before the court.
…Adding… From comments…
If Rauner agrees with you, then spending money is your first amendment right and people who try to regulate you are unpatriotic.
If Rauner disagrees with you, the system is broken because you might have influence.
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* From the Illinois Policy Institute…
Illinois logged a record exodus in 2014, sustaining a net loss of 95,000 people to other states, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. And two of North America’s largest moving companies revealed data showing that Illinois’ rate of outbound traffic spiked in 2014, confirming the Census Bureau’s numbers.
As a result of massive out-migration, Illinois’ population shrank by 10,000 people from July 2013-July 2014. This means that more people fled Illinois than were born in Illinois in 2014. The state’s population had not decreased since 1988. […]
Only New York lost more people to net migration, as the two states once again battled it out to be the nation’s largest exporter of talent. Meanwhile, states such as Texas, Florida, Arizona, Colorado and the Carolinas happily herded more of the nation’s talent pool across their borders.
* Tribune…
When demographer William Frey of the Brookings Institution analyzed the annual Census Bureau estimates, two facts jumped out at him. First, Florida overtook New York to become the third-most-populous state (after California and Texas). And second, Illinois is badly leaking people.
“The faucet is starting to turn up in terms of moving to the Sun Belt,” Frey tells us. “Obviously states in the Northeast and Midwest, like Illinois, are going to be part of that surge.” But still: “I was quite surprised by the Illinois out-migration and that there is negative growth.” […]
Three moving companies that look at migration patterns all note the high number of Illinois expats in new reports. Each company puts Illinois in the top three states for outbound shipments; Allied Van Lines ranks Illinois No. 1 with 1,372 net outbound moves. While these are limited figures reflecting the movement of entire households, demographers take them seriously as a snapshot of behavior by more affluent Americans.
The three states that attract the most Illinois residents are Texas, Florida and California, according to the Illinois Policy Institute, citing 2010 tax records, the most recent available. The moving companies see a lot of people heading for Oregon and North Carolina.
* Charting the state’s net loss history…
* And then there’s this from the Illinois Review…
In a chart recently published by the Illinois Department of Public Health, the agency showed that in 1990, 196,000 babies were born in Illinois. That proved to be the high mark for Illinois in the past 24 years.
For seven years, the state’s live birth numbers fell consistently until 1997, when it hit 180,000. The numbers huddled around that mark for eleven years, and then when the 2008 recession hit, not only did people leave Illinois seeking jobs, they took their babies and future babies with them. Live births in Illinois began to fall precipituously.
Illinois live births quickly fell from 180,000 in 2007 to just over 170,000 in 2009 and two years later, by another 10,000 to 160,000.
The chart…
* Related…
* Chicago area’s economic recovery lags other urban areas, study finds
* CPS school closings provided only modest gains to students
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A first for southern Illinois?
Thursday, Jan 22, 2015 - Posted by Rich Miller
* The Southern Illinoisan reports that newly inaugurated state Rep. Terri Bryant (R-Murphysboro) is the first female state legislator from deep southern Illinois…
“I don’t think there’s much doubt about that,” John Jackson of the Paul Simon Public Policy Institute at SIU said about Bryant being the area’s first female lawmaker.
Jackson, a longtime political scientist at SIU, said other women have run for the position in the area, but Bryant is the first to hold the office.
“This is a very traditional and socially conservative district and there has been a certain bias in favor of male candidates in the rural U.S. and internationally,” Jackson said.
He said it has been very hard for women to get elected because of the bias. He believes Bryant was elected because of, “The Republican red wave that over ran everything in sight.”
Even so, Jackson says that the number of women in the General Assembly dropped from 61 to 54.
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* Tribune…
The Rev. James Meeks took over as chairman of the State Board of Education on Wednesday and immediately backed the idea of a 10.7 percent increase in school spending despite the state’s serious financial woes. […]
Much of the proposed $729 million increase would be poured into general state aid to ensure at least $6,119 is spent on each pupil in Illinois. The current year’s budget provided only 89 percent of the money needed to fund per-pupil spending at the same level. […]
Sen. Kim Lightford, a Maywood Democrat and longtime education advocate, said lawmakers want to hear what Rauner intends to do. “Perhaps he’s got an idea that we’re not made aware of yet that will generate revenue,” she said.
A Rauner spokesman neither endorsed nor rejected the Meeks-led education board’s spending recommendations.
Keep in mind that candidate Rauner repeatedly claimed that Pat Quinn had cut state education spending, when spending had actually risen a bit.
Chairman Meeks has set the bar extremely high here during an extraordinary fiscal mess. Somehow, Rauner has to deal with a $9 billion deficit next fiscal year and still come up with more money for K-12.
Governing ain’t easy, particularly in Illinois right now.
* Meanwhile, Sen. Andy Manar has tweaked his school funding reform bill…
Manar’s revamped proposal would still require schools to demonstrate need before receiving almost any state money by showing how much local revenue they have to spend on students. Wealthier districts that rely largely on property tax revenues to fund their schools would receive less state aid, while property-poor districts would receive more.
Regional cost differences would be determined by separating areas into different labor markets and looking at the average salaries of college graduates within those markets.
In addition to accounting for regional cost differences, Manar also plans to see that districts with higher than average numbers of special education students receive more funding, as well as to require a more thorough reporting of how districts spend state money on bilingual programs.
Adding in the regional cost factor “makes a more realistic calculation of the cost of educating students across the state is,” according to Ben Boer, deputy director for education reform group Advance Illinois.
*** UPDATE *** Sen. Manar didn’t share the complete bill draft with the AP. He did send them some bullet points and here they are…
Subject: SB 1
Working from SB 16 as the Senate passed it, here are the changes we are likely to include:
Amendments to Address ELL Accountability: Ensuring accountability consistent with current law for funds provided on account of ELL students.
Special Education: Allowing districts to demonstrate a special education population higher than the statewide average, and allowing that percentage to be used for the formula (subject to a cap at 5% points above the statewide average)
Low-income: Continuing to use the DHS count through the 16-17 school year, and then moving to a count based on 185% of the federal poverty level once better data is available. The changes also propose a slight downward adjustment for the low-income concentration weighting factor (moving from .90 to .80).
Regionalization: Adding a regionalization factor based on the Comparable Wage Index developed for the National Center for Education Statistics. This index measures systemic, regional variations in the salaries of college graduates. This system is currently being used in Maryland, Massachusetts, and New York.
Adequacy Grant: Adding a new hold harmless “adequacy grant” that targets funding to relatively low-spend, high tax districts. “Low spend” is determined based on the district’s operating expense per pupil in comparison to an “adequacy target” based on the EFAB recommended funding level and the district’s weights based on its student characteristics.
Adequacy Study: Moving up the timeline for the adequacy study so the procurement and contracting for it will occur as soon as the bill is enacted and funding is appropriated for the study.
[ *** End Of Update *** ]
* And in other budget-related news…
Gov. Bruce Rauner has given the Illinois Tollway the greenlight to proceed with more than $1 billion worth of rebuilding and widening projects this year, officials said Wednesday.
The projects appeared to be on hold after Rauner issued an executive order his first day in office barring state agencies from awarding major contracts without approval from his administration.
The Tollway doesn’t use GRF money, so the spending wouldn’t have impacted the budget.
* Related…
* Kennedy revived University of Illinois—but at what cost?
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Not so blind and a whole lot of trust
Thursday, Jan 22, 2015 - Posted by Rich Miller
* The Tribune reports today that Gov. Bruce Rauner’s announcement that he’d put his assets into a blind trust wasn’t exactly accurate…
Documents made public by Rauner show he executed a power of attorney granting management authority over his investments to Roundtable Investment Partners, a firm in which Rauner is an investor. Roundtable’s CEO donated more than $50,000 to Rauner’s campaign, state records show. […]
He promised that all information about his investments would bypass him and be routed to Roundtable, and he also said Roundtable would be instructed to share with him only the minimum details he needs to accurately complete his state financial disclosure.
Those promises aren’t legally binding, of course.
* However, there’s a good reason why Rauner did it this way, says his spokesman. Illinois’ ethics law…
Lance Trover, a spokesman for Rauner, said the governor used the term “blind trust” to describe the type of safeguards he sought to replicate. Trover said it was not “feasible” for the Republican to establish a traditional blind trust and still comply with Illinois ethics law that requires officeholders to annually list investments doing business in the state.
“This is the strongest possible structure that both established blind trust procedures and allows the Rauners to fully comply with the state’s economic disclosure laws moving forward,” said Trover, who noted that blind trusts can be used to shield a politician’s assets from public view. “Doing this ensures to the people of Illinois that Gov. Rauner will not try to hide his financial assets behind a blind trust.”
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Supremes keep pension case on fast track
Thursday, Jan 22, 2015 - Posted by Rich Miller
* From yesterday…
Lawyers contesting the Illinois law that overhauls a state pension program that is $111 billion in debt are asking the state Supreme Court for an extra month to file arguments.
Attorneys for state employees, retired teachers and others who contest the constitutionality of the law say they need until March 16, WUIS-FM 91.9 radio in Springfield reported.
The high court agreed in December to fast-track the state’s appeal of a lower court ruling in November that the measure is unconstitutional.
The plaintiffs are challenging a law adopted in late 2013 that reduces pension benefits and raises the retirement age for workers 45 and younger to reduce a monstrous fiscal hole in the state’s pension accounts.
The attorneys wanted time to respond to a myriad of amicus briefs filed in support of the government’s case.
* The Supreme Court took a telling short cut today and simply denied the government’s request to allow the amicus briefs…
In light of the Court’s granting of defendants’ motion to hear this appeal on an expedited basis at the March 2015 term, all motions for leave to file briefs as amici curiae are DENIED.
The plaintiffs’ motion for an extension of time to file their appellees’ brief is DENIED AS MOOT.
The fast track continues.
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Today’s number: 19
Thursday, Jan 22, 2015 - Posted by Rich Miller
* WGN…
Latinos comprise 4% of state government, a number State Senator Iris Martinez says they fought for. Now 19 out of 29 Latino staffers have been let go without an interview and only a couple have been replaced by other Latinos.
Governor Rauner’s spokesperson says it’s only been a week and that they’re not done hiring. Lance Trouver says Latinos will definitely be hired. He says five staff members are Latino and even the lieutenant governor, Evelyn Sanguinetti, is Hispanic.
But Senator Martinez says she wants Latinos in high-level positions that work closely with the Hispanic community, such as public health and health and family services — all positions held by non-Latinos.
Four Latino cabinet members were let go. So far no Latinos have been hired to replace them.
Your thoughts?
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