* Rep. Rich Brauer (R-Petersburg) is resigning from the House effective Friday. Brauer has been widely rumored to be moving into the Rauner administration.
* Last year’s winner of our Golden Horseshoe Award for Best Insider is moving up in the world…
Nancy Kimme, who was the top aide to the late Illinois Comptroller Judy Baar Topinka, is hanging out a lobbying shingle. Given that she privately was very much inside Gov. Bruce Rauner’s kitchen cabinet, she should do quite well.
Kimme’s clients so far include the Illinois Hospital Association—man, do they need help, given what Rauner is proposing to do with cuts to Medicaid—the Illinois Casino Gaming Association, Ameren and a cable TV group. All are top clients.
“I am going to lobby both the General Assembly and the (Rauner) administration,” Kimme tells me in an email. “That’s the one good thing about being around so long. I have gotten to know a lot of folks.”
She should do more than quite well. She’s one of those people who knows everybody and everything and has been indispensable to Team Rauner. They’ll be lining up around the block to give her contracts.
She’ll also be setting up Comptroller Munger’s campaign.
Wednesday, Feb 18, 2015 - Posted by Advertising Department
[The following is a paid advertisement.]
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That’s two BILLION with a B. And yet this wildly profitable company is asking US for a bailout while Illinois struggles. So let’s review:
In 2014, EXELON made $5,665,753 per day or $236,073 per hour
When legislators are being asked to slash everything from education to healthcare to mental health services, and when Crain’s Chicago Business says Exelon actually MADE money from its Illinois Nuclear Fleet, how can anyone think having struggling Illinois businesses and families bail out a highly profitable company is a good use of OUR money?
* The Tribune has a profile today on Donna Arduin, Gov. Rauner’s $30,000 a month CFO. Here are a couple of excerpts about her time in New York and California…
While Arduin was working for Pataki, the state enacted tax cuts, reduced the number of employees and had a run of budget surpluses. But those successes came at a time when tax revenues were booming from a bull market. Pataki was criticized for not preparing for tougher times ahead, and after a recession hit in 2001, Albany again faced major budget problems. […]
Schwarzenegger used voter-approved borrowing to finance the state deficit and won a one-year, $2 billion cut from education. The rest of the budget was balanced by shifting local property tax revenue and transportation funds, and raising some taxes and fees.
Arduin lasted just 11 months in Sacramento. Some said she had never intended to stay more than a year, but others questioned whether the political environment drove her away.
“Maybe it was difficult because it was a Democratic legislature facing a Republican governor, but it’s also possible that a governor and a finance director with a different approach might have made some headway,” said Graves, the budget advocate. “A lot of it has to do with personal relationships. It seems pretty clear that Donna Arduin did not put much stock in developing personal relationships with members of the legislature.”
* A group called the United Working Families has been pushing stories on Arduin for the past few days. Here’s the latest…
Cutting Medicaid for the sake of cutting, then hoping “for the best”
Before she became more polished in selling her massive cuts to Medicaid, Arduin experienced a rare moment of candor, explaining massive cuts to Medicaid acknowledging that there was nothing to support an argument that it produced efficiency.
In 1995, as a deputy budget director for New York Gov. George Pataki, she told the New York Times: “The first thing you can do is hope that the cut will force industries to create efficiencies. We can only hope for the best there.”
(“In New York The Dying Days of Expansive Government” The New York Times, May 8, 1995)
Replacing more effective drugs with down-brand, generic alternatives
Arduin proposed a cost-cutting plan for then-Florida Gov. “Jeb” Bush to replace effective drugs for Medicaid recipients with down-brand, less-effective generic alternatives. “If they started switching people from the new drugs to the old drugs, it would turn the clock back years,” one critic told the St. Petersburg Times in 1999.
(“Plans Push Cheaper Medicines” St. Petersburg Times, February 28, 1999)
Political appointees limit drugs to Medicaid patients
Arduin’s radical plan for Jeb Bush included installing a politically-appointed panel that “would describe which drugs require authorization,” according to the St. Petersburg Times.
(“Medicaid Cost-Cutters looking to lose Viagra” St. Petersburg Times, April 19, 1999)
Getting “compassionate conservative” rhetoric down, Arduin begins to claim that limiting Medicaid drugs was to benefit other social programs
Where before Arduin provided no “compassionate conservative” justification, in 2000, she justified a draconian program to limit Medicaid drugs by claiming (falsely) that it was being done to expand other social spending. She told the Ledger that, “We’re trying to manage our funds better so we can use the funds for other needs like developmental disabilities and improving student achievement.”
(“Bush Aims to Cut Medicaid Drug Costs” The Ledger [Lakeland, Fla] February 21, 2000)
Arduin’s “efficiency” rhetoric is a sham
As Arduin continued to work for Republican governors seeking to cut Medicaid and social services, her game plan was clear. A Florida lobbyist described it thusly in 2003: “There have been a lot of serious cuts proposed…It was always done in the name of efficiency and streamlining, and the rhetoric always followed that it was not going to hurt the delivery of servides, which in fact never was true.”
(“Budget auditor may target social services” Sacramento Bee [California] October 19, 2003)
Cuts to therapy for the disabled and AIDS programs and reduced payment rates for Medicaid
As part of her controversial 2003 proposal of cuts to California’s Medicaid program, Arduin targeted disabled children and immigrants with AIDS. As well, she sought lower payments to doctors and hospitals for Medicaid patients.(“Schwarzenegger Aide Offers First List of Proposed Budget Cuts” The New York Times November 26, 2003)
Would put tens of thousands of children on a waiting list for Medicaid
Arduin proposed placing tends of thousands of California children on a waiting list for Medicaid benefits as part of her 2003 proposal.
(“Schwarzenegger proposal alarms children health advocates” Associated Press December 1, 2003)
“Donna Arduin is (Gov. Schwarznegger’s) John Ashcroft.”
As she proposed massive cuts to California’s Medicaid program, Arduin was compared in 2004 to the ideologically pure member of George W. Bush’s cabinet. “Her history has been one of slashing and burning on social programs,” one legislator said.
(“Governor’s Hard-Nosed Budget Boss; Arduin Known for Tough Fiscal Views” San Jose Mercury News March 8, 2004)
Draconian proposals included ending access protections for developmentally disabled
Arduin’s massive cuts to Medicaid and social programs were rejected in budget talks in California in 2004, but not before she proposed ending legislation guaranteeing access to programs for the developmentally disabled, care for homebound family members and a string of Medicaid caps.
(“Revised budget backs off cuts; $103 billion plan mostly spares health services” Sacramento Bee [California] May 14, 2004)
Rejects legislative oversight and storms out of hearing
During Schwarznegger’s first week in office, according to the Los Angeles Times, Arduin stormed out of a committee hearing during a question. She left the position in California after 11 months and in controversy.
(“Audit to Leave Finance Position” Los Angeles Times October 14, 2004)
Sought to end $10 million program for strays and more quickly euthanize cats and dogs
As part of her round of cuts in California, Arduin proposed ending $10 million in aid to shelters which would have “shortened the length of time dogs and cats are kept alive at shelters.”
(”A Florida Transplant, Arduin was on Job for Less than a Year” San Francisco Chronicle October 14, 2004)
Anti-ObamaCare, free-market Medicaid voucher program a failure
Arduin has been a critic of ObamaCare and has proposed vouchers as a replacement. A pilot plan in Florida she supported was a total failure. “Hardly any of the 300,000 Medicaid patients enrolled in the pilot project…” the Ft. Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel reported.
(“Skimming Through the GOP Gubernatorial Job Plans” Sun-Sentinel [Fort Lauderdale, Florida] July 29, 2010)
* I’ll be on Jak Tichenor’s Illinois Lawmakers program today before and after the governor’s budget address. Click here to watch. You can watch Speaker Madigan’s budget react by clicking here.
Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner on Wednesday plans to propose a 6.7 percent increase in general school spending despite signals that he’ll call for major cuts elsewhere during his first budget speech.
A Rauner adviser said the governor will suggest a $300 million boost in general state aid, the main pot of state dollars for education. […]
The increase would build on the more than $4.5 billion lawmakers in general aid signed off on last year. However, it would fall $266 million short from what the Illinois State Board of Education says is needed to reach what’s called the “foundation level” — the minimum amount of spending per student to provide a basic education. That benchmark is $6,119 per pupil, which education officials said would require spending more than $5 billion a year.
Still, Rauner’s office said it was “proud of the commitment we are making in this budget,” saying education spending has been cut in recent years even when it didn’t need to be.
In a report released [yesterday], the Center for Tax and Budget Accountability—a group that leans left but generally gets its math right—says just 11.8 percent of Illinois individual income tax payers got 54.5 percent of the savings when… the tax rate dropped from 5 percent back to 3.75 percent. […]
According to the analysis of state tax collections, those with an adjusted gross income of more than $1 million make up just 2 percent of tax filers, but they got 13.5 percent of the savings, with an average of $37,000. Those with AGI of $200,000 to $1 million got 19.2 percent of the savings, and those earning between $100,000 and $200,000 captured 21.7 percent.
Of course, it’s hard to get much money out of low-income people who don’t make much. To put that a different way, the rich of course will benefit most from a tax cut, at least in the short run, because they make the most.
But the relative shares of who got what still are pretty stark. According to the analysis, the combined savings netted by every taxpayer in the state who reported AGI of under $35,000 was less than the savings earned by the 0.2 percent of taxpayers who are millionaires.
(B)y focusing the majority of tax relief on top income earners, the phase-down of the personal income tax rate cannot be expected to generate much economic activity. That’s because the economy is primarily made up of consumer spending, and typically, affluent families are not likely to spend most of the tax relief they receive, because their disposable income is already increasing significantly over time. Given this growth in disposable income, affluent families do not have significant unmet needs, and tend to save rather than spend what they receive in tax relief.
Low and middle income families, however, have greater unmet needs because in real terms their earnings are declining over time.1 So when low or middle income households obtain an additional dollar of income—say through targeted tax relief—they tend to spend that dollar in the consumer economy. Unfortunately, the bottom 60 percent of income earners in Illinois will receive only $491 million or 13.2 percent of the $3.7 billion in tax relief from the phase-down, which greatly diminishes any potential the phase-down has to stimulate spending.
In fact, to the extent that there is any mild stimulative impact that can be anticipated from the phase-down of the personal income tax rate, it will be negated by the public service spending cuts that will have to be made to pay for the $3.7 billion loss in recurring tax revenue it causes.
* A commenter pointed to this 2014 statement yesterday by Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle as an explanation for why Gov. Bruce Rauner is so hostile to unions. He’s always been hostile to unions…
[Preckwinkle] told a reporter that long before Rauner was a gubernatorial candidate, she had interviewed him for an opening on the board of the county health system, and was turned off by him then.
“First of all, he was very arrogant. He was a know-it-all,” Preckwinkle said.
“Second, he made claim to know about health care, and when I said, ‘What do you know?’ he said, ‘You know I own this health care company,’ and we’ve seen what that’s about. And then he went on a rant against public employee unions when I asked where the challenges were. I said, ‘You understand that almost all our workforce is unionized? How are you going to be an effective board member if that’s your attitude?’
Illinois’ new Republican governor on Wednesday will pitch a plan for fixing the state’s budget mess that includes deep cuts to Medicaid and higher education and a new plan for reducing pension costs, according to three lawmakers with knowledge of the proposal. […]
The three legislators, briefed on details of the plan discussed in a Tuesday meeting between Rauner and legislative leaders, told The Associated Press that the governor will recommend cutting Medicaid by $1.5 billion and reducing funding for higher education by nearly $400 million, or 31 percent. They said he’ll also propose reducing state aid to local governments and ask lawmakers to approve a new pension reform plan he says will save Illinois $2.2 billion. […]
A Rauner administration official said Tuesday the governor will call for hiring more prison guards and spending more money on mental health care for inmates. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because the person was not authorized to speak publicly before the noon speech.
The mental health funds are aimed at meeting a federal court mandate that requires Illinois to improve its services, while the official said hiring more than 470 new prison guards would reduce overtime costs by about $10 million.
Gov. Bruce Rauner’s proposed budget for the fiscal year that begins July 1 would establish the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum as an “independent entity,” according to an administration source with knowledge of the budget.
No details were immediately available on what form that entity would take.
The presidential library and museum is now managed by the Illinois Historic Preservation Agency, which oversees more than 50 historic sites and memorials across the state, including Lincoln’s Tomb and the Old State Capitol in Springfield and Cahokia Mounds in Collinsville.
Under Rauner’s proposal, the management of all sites under the Historic Preservation Agency — except the Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum in Springfield — would be transferred to the Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity. DCEO’s Illinois tourism office would be in charge of administration of the sites.
You’re not going to get a better overview unless you subscribe. Just sayin…
Rauner wants to cut off services for former foster care children who have passed the age of 18, the source said.
News of that recommendation already drew the ire of the American Civil Liberties Union, which has longstanding legal battles with the state and its child welfare agency.
“For us to essentially throw them out on the street at age 18, if that’s what the governor is going to propose, is just plain cruel,” said Benjamin Wolf, associate legal director of the ACLU of Illinois. “If you want to increase homelessness and suffering, abandoning them at age 18 is a good place to start.”
Child-related funding that was spared the budget ax includes early childhood education. The governor wants to increase state support by $25.3 million. He also wants to continue funding for the All Kids health care program, including for undocumented children, and leave intact health and human services programs for children of immigrants.
Rauner wants the ability to move funds within the current budget to plug gaps in a day care program that helps low-income parents. The state’s main tax collection agency, the Department of Corrections and the Illinois State Police also face funding challenges that could be resolved by giving the governor more flexibility to shuffle money within the budget.
Madigan, however, said that concept remains a hard sell among Democrats.
“There are certain members of the legislature, Democrats and Republicans, who will not be anxious to give up authority,” Madigan said. “It’s going to require some persuasion.”
Slipping, dodging, sneaking
Creeping hiding out down the street
See me life shaking with every who I meet
Refried confusion is making itself clear
Wonder which way do I go to get on out of here
