* I kept comments opened later than usual because of the two attorney general opinions and I was awaiting a response from the governor’s office, which hasn’t yet arrived. I’m done for now.
* Attorney General Lisa Madigan has just issued two formal opinions. One was about the ability of local units of government to establish their own “right to work” zones. Nope, says Madigan…
She also said local governments cannot opt out of state prevailing wage laws.
I’ll have the links in a moment.
…Adding… The right to work opinion is here. The prevailing wage opinion is here.
There has been some fear within organized labor that Gov. Bruce Rauner and/or his anti-union allies were hoping to convince a local government to set up its own right to work zone or attempt to opt out of other labor laws. These opinions make that much less likely to happen.
…Adding… Sen. Gary Forby and Rep. Jay Hoffman requested the opinion. Here’s Forby’s statement…
“I guess that’s that. The Attorney General’s opinion makes it pretty clear this is a matter for state lawmakers, and the Southern Illinois lawmakers I know – on both sides of the aisle – aren’t going to hurt working families,” said Senator Forby.
“Maybe now the governor can start focusing on putting people back to work in Southern Illinois. People around here just want jobs where they’ll be respected with an honest wage for an honest day’s work.”
*** UPDATE 1 *** This is more of a repudiation of Rauner than I previously realized. The opinion says basically that it’s “all or nothing.” Rauner has been saying he doesn’t want the whole state to be right to work, but does think locals should be given the opportunity to create their own zones. Madigan says in the opinion that the entire state has to be right to work. Local zones aren’t permitted, even with a state law.
…Adding More… Illinois AFL-CIO President Michael T. Carrigan…
“While Gov. Rauner continues his obsessive war on unions and the middle class, he just keeps running into huge road blocks – like the law.
The Attorney General’s opinions on right to work zones and prevailing wage are confirmation of what we suspected from the outset.
I think the people of the state would actually appreciate the Governor working on the pressing issues in front of us, instead of continually proposing illegal and politically-motivated fixes to non-existent problems.”
*** UPDATE 2 *** The response…
“The Rauner administration respectfully disagrees with the Attorney General’s opinion regarding local right-to-work. The administration is confident that with enabling legislation from the state, local governments can create employee empowerment zones.”
* The reporter and the subject know each other, so I’ll believe this Bloomberg piece when I see it…
This week began like most of Mike Flynn’s recent weeks. The conservative strategist was in a slow, tedious war with Comcast, trying to get NBC affiliates in some key political states to run a two-minute commercial from his Conservative War Chest PAC. The providers had been uninterested in taking money for a video jeremiad against their news divisions, so they’d been resisting. Cleta Mitchell, the ultra-connected conservative attorney and American Conservative Union board member, was making legal arguments. By Friday, if there was no progress, she’d prepare an FCC complaint, and the well-covered crusade against media bias would escalate.
And then Aaron Schock happened. The Illinois congressman’s somewhat surprising resignation (he’d been tumbling from scandal to scandal, but had not told leaders that he’d be leaving) opened up a congressional seat in the stretch of rural Illinois where Flynn was raised. In 2010, he’d consulted for Bobby Schilling, a Republican candidate who unseated a Democrat in a district that overlapped with the new 18th. (A Democratic gerrymander, in 2011, merged parts of the districts and helped shore up Schock while taking out Schilling.) Conservatives in the district called Flynn and told him to consider running.
“This is a longstanding conservative district, and I think the people who live there are annoyed by their representation,” said Flynn. “It’s the same story all over Illinois. I don’t know what these elected officials are doing. We have these professional politicians who are totally failing us.” […]
Flynn… estimated that he’d need $500,000 to $700,000 to mount his own bid. He’d spent more than 20 years in politics, much of it in Illinois, much of the recent work in the high-dollar world of issue PACs. If he was convinced that the money was there, he imagined an anti-establishment campaign that could capitalize on conservative disappointment with the new Congress. He hadn’t lived in the district in 20 years (at 47, he’s 14 years older than the disgraced Schock), but he had roots there, and an existing family business. He had a message.
“I can’t believe this Republican Congress is funding something that the courts already found to be illegal,” he said, referring to President Obama’s executive actions on immigration. If he won, and he got a 2017 vote on the speaker of the House, he’d be inclined to back “a conservative” instead of John Boehner.
These seats don’t come up a lot, so there’s always a scramble when they do. But he hasn’t lived in the district in 20 years and is likely a totally unknown quantity there.
The Tea Party Patriots announced today the addition of Michael Flynn to serve as Political Director of a newly formed Super PAC – Tea Party Patriots Citizens Fund. With years of campaign and political experience, Flynn will lead the Tea Party Patriots Citizens Fund’s efforts to grow the Tea Party’s presence in Congress as it continues its fight against the Washington establishment.
“Michael Flynn brings more than 20 years of experience in policy development, legislative affairs, media relations, political campaigns, and crisis communications to the team and we are thrilled to have him,” said Jenny Beth Martin, Chairman of the Tea Party Patriots Citizens Fund. “His immeasurable expertise will help us achieve our goal of electing candidates who are fighting to secure the economic future of our country.”
Breitbart News Executive Chairman Stephen K. Bannon said, “Mike Flynn was a trusted adviser to Andrew Breitbart and understands the nature of the fight ahead. With his detailed knowledge of the Tea Party and political campaigns he is the perfect choice for the Tea Party Patriots. Breitbart News looks forward to having Mike continue as a contributor on our pages.”
More background on Flynn is here. For Statehouse types, he’s Libby Brunsvold’s brother. He’s also a former Illinois House GOP staffer.
Keep in mind that the 18th CD is pretty darned conservative, and that special GOP primary will likely be loaded with hard-right voters.
Not so long ago, Exelon…was extolling the merits of an open market for power as its profits rolled in. Now, with power prices plunging, Exelon has lost enthusiasm for the open markets it championed in the 1990s and wants the Legislature to devise a new formula that will protect its profits, quite likely driving up utility bills for homeowners and businesses.
If Exelon is hard up, they can show us. The company should open its books to show how its nuclear fleet is performing.
What’s good for Exelon doesn’t much matter if it’s bad for the rest of Illinois.
Good old Exelon. The company has come up with legislation to subsidize its nuclear reactors, get electric users throughout the state to pay for it and claim it’s in the interest of clean energy.
State lawmakers need to see this bill for the dirty trick it is and kill it.
State Representative Mike Unes of East Peoria says he will not make a run to fill Congressman Aaron Schock’s 18th District seat.
The Republican issued the following statement:
“People from all walks of life have come forward and given me and my family such encouragement and support asking me to run in the special election. The positive feedback that I have received has been overwhelming and extremely humbling.
“As I said on Tuesday, I wanted to give this the careful consideration it deserves in consultation with my family. After careful consideration and, even with the love, support, and encouragement of my wife and kids, I will not be entering my name for consideration in this special election.”
* Also not a surprise is this DCCC press release…
Known for his prolific fundraising, soon-to-be-former Congressman Aaron Schock has raised hundreds of thousands of dollars for Republicans in Congress. Travel for some of that fundraising activity is what partially led to an ethics investigation and now his announced resignation. Now that it has become clear that thousands of taxpayer dollars went into Schock’s pocket, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee is calling on all recipients of Schock’s contributions to donate those funds to the Treasury to make the taxpayer whole.
“Aaron Schock made a name for himself jet-setting around the country raising dollars for Republicans – some of that at taxpayer expense,” said Matt Thornton of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. “If his soon-to-be-former colleagues in the House are truly as concerned with wasteful spending in Washington as they claim to be, then they will donate Schock’s money to the Treasury.”
Congressmen Bob Dold and Mike Bost each received $10K from a Schock campaign committee, according to the DCCC.
Rep. David Jolly, R-Indian Shores, is donating $5,000 he received from disgraced Rep. Aaron Schock, who announced yesterday he was resigning amid a scandal of misuing taxpayer money.
“In an abundance of good faith Congressman Jolly will be donating $2,500 to the Homeless Emergency Project in Clearwater to support veteran housing services and $2,500 to the Philip A. Bryant Melanoma Foundation,” his campaign spokeswoman Sarah Bascom told the Tampa Bay Times.
* The Question: Should Bob Dold and Mike Bost donate their Schock money to charity or otherwise jettison it? Take the poll and then explain your answer in comments, please.
* Some folks have asked me over the years why I use the “It’s just a bill” headline here on the ol’ blog.
Several years ago, I ribbed a legislator hard who was known back then for his friendliness with the utility interests. He’d just sponsored yet another in a long line of outrageous bills written by and for a utility company. My recollection is I referred to him as being what some used to call a “lady of the evening,” or (more likely) words to that effect.
“It’s just a bill, Rich,” was his cheery reply.
In other words, the legislation was, to him, merely a starting point. Plenty of negotiations were ahead and the bill would be changed. No worries.
But by sponsoring that legislation as written, he was allowing the utility company to set the terms of the coming debate. Sure, changes would be made to that bill, but it was still the utility’s bill. They controlled the debate, and the committee it would be heard in, as well as the chairman of that committee and the bill’s sponsor.
Commonwealth Edison on Thursday unveiled a plan that it billed as an expansion of ongoing efforts to overhaul the power grid and invest in renewable energy but that critics said would result in customers paying more to the electricity giant. […]
Opponents decried the move as an effort by the utility to set into law a major change in rate structures. They argue ComEd is trying to protect its bottom line by billing at peak usage times because households are increasingly becoming more energy-efficient.
Now, consumers can cut their energy bills by switching to more efficient light bulbs or buying more efficient appliances. Those investments pay off over time when consumers use less energy and bills decrease.
ComEd was vague about the expected impact on residential customers’ power bills. ComEd Senior Vice President Thomas O’Neill said the company was still evaluating its plan.
So, ComEd - one of the most sophisticated and successful lobbying entities in Illinois - doesn’t even have a ballpark on how much money it’ll make off its own bill?
An Illinois Senate committee advanced legislation Thursday to make sweet corn the official state vegetable, but not before giving the sponsor a tough time.
State Sen. Sam McCann, R-Plainview, introduced the proposal after being contacted by fourth-grade students in Chatham. […]
State Sen. Neil Anderson, R-Rock Island, was accompanied at the committee meeting by his son Steel.
“Just to give my colleague a little bit of a hard time. My son is in fourth grade. Steel, is corn a vegetable?” Anderson asked.
Steel replied no.
“Is it a grain?” Anderson asked.
“Yes,” Steel replied.
Doesn’t Illinois already have a bad enough reputation without making a grain our state vegetable?
Vickie Oriekaose is in her third week of free classes to get certified as a Microsoft Office Specialist, which she hopes will help her land a job that offers decent pay. Microsoft estimates that people who are certified can make as much as $16,000 a year more than workers who aren’t accredited.
“I’m trying to get back into the workforce,” said the 58-year-old widow, who has been a stay-at-home mom. Oriekaose has a son who is a senior in high school, and twins who are sophomores.
But the Eliminate the Digital Divide grant program, which this year is providing $4.1 million to 102 organizations that are training 25,000 people, would lose funding under the proposed 2016 budget of Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner.
Today, I had to call about 100 poor, elderly, and disabled people to tell them that Illinois LIHEAP ended early (low-income energy assistance) because the state refused to match federal funds due to “austerity” measures. This is a safety-net program that many low-income people have come to rely on to supplement their rising electric bills. Thanks for making me do your dirty work, Governor Rauner — nobody becomes a billionaire without stepping on a few little guys along the way.
Transit fare increases and service cuts are “very likely” if Gov. Bruce Rauner’s proposal to trim nearly $170 million in state funding from the CTA, Metra and Pace becomes a reality, RTA officials warned Wednesday.
The Chicago Transit Authority would be “disproportionately” and “hardest hit” by the plan, shouldering a $130 million revenue loss — up from an original estimate of $105 million, Regional Transportation Authority officials said.
To put the CTA revenue loss in perspective, the RTA estimated it was the equivalent of what a hefty 30 percent jump in CTA fares would generate.
Champaign County Board members are on record as against proposed budget cuts that would strip at least $1.6 million a year from the county, or about 5 percent of its general fund.
The county board Thursday night passed a resolution protesting the cuts proposed by Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner. The resolution was adopted 15-5 with the “no” votes coming from Republican board members Stan Harper, John Jay, Gary Maxwell, Max Mitchell and Jack Anderson.
A tuition increase is off the table this year but just about everything else is on it at the University of Illinois if big budget cuts are enacted, top UI officials told lawmakers Thursday.
Gov. Bruce Rauner’s proposed budget calls for a 31.5 percent, or $209 million, reduction at the UI for the fiscal year beginning July 1.
In separate appearances before House and Senate appropriations committees, UI officials outlined possible areas for cuts: personnel, student employment, extension services, public broadcasting and more deferred maintenance.
But Republican members of both the Senate and the House prodded university officials to seek efficiencies and to embrace reforms, including changes in workers compensation and procurement policies.
A former Chicago charter schools executive is earning $250,000 a year to spearhead Gov. Bruce Rauner’s top education initiatives, a salary that is more than double what her predecessors received and places her as the highest-paid member of a Cabinet already under scrutiny for its lofty paychecks. […]
Purvis is being paid as an independent contractor and accepting neither state health nor retirement benefits, according to the governor’s office.
From 2003 until last year, Purvis, who holds a doctorate in special education, served as CEO of the Chicago International Charter School, a network of 15 schools in Chicago and Rockford. She previously worked as a special education teacher in Maryland and Tennessee, as a professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago and served on education advisory councils under the last two Illinois governors.
In an interview with the AP, Purvis said her salary is “commensurate with what I’ve been paid in the past” and cited her three decades of experience. Rauner spokeswoman Catherine Kelly called Purvis “one of the few education experts in the country prepared to lead a true cradle to career approach to education.”
Look, I don’t usually care about state salaries. And I fully understand how difficult it is to recruit top talent with government money. But, man, is the governor ever gonna take a licking on this one.
* This poll will probably get a lot of media play because of who sponsored it, but check out the highlighted dates on this thing…
Governor Bruce Rauner’s job approval rating stands at 36.5 percent as he begins his term in office, according to a new poll of registered Illinois voters by the Paul Simon Public Policy Institute at Southern Illinois University Carbondale.
There were 31.4 percent who either strongly or somewhat disapproved and 23.1 percent who had no opinion about the newly-elected Republican chief executive.
The poll of 1,000 registered voters was taken Feb. 28 to March 10 and has a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points. […]
Rauner saw his highest job approval ratings Downstate, where 43.3 percent either approved or somewhat approved and only 26.7 percent disapproved or somewhat disapproved. In the Chicago suburbs, 34.6 percent approved and 32.2 percent disapproved of his performance.
Rauner’s lowest level of support was in Chicago, where 36.5 disapproved and 31.0 percent approved.
Partisanship is also strongly evident in Rauner’s job approvals. He enjoys the approval of 60.6 percent of Republicans, with only 10.3 percent who disapprove or somewhat disapprove. This is followed by 36.7 percent of Independents who approve and 32.7 percent who disapprove or somewhat disapprove. There are 46.1 percent of Democrats who disapprove or somewhat disapprove while only 24.2 percent approve or somewhat approve of the governor’s job performance so far.
February 28? That’s three weeks ago. And they spent 11 days on it? And then they sat on the results for ten more days?
Sheesh.
What, do they have an intern manually dialing an antique rotary phone while tabulating results on note cards or something?
Anyway, if this is accurate, the governor’s approval rating is already in Pat Quinn territory.
* And Illinoisans may not be feeling Rauner’s “turnaround” yet…
63.0 percent [said] that Illinois is going in the wrong direction and only 22.1 percent said we are going in the right direction.
* On to US Sen. Mark Kirk…
Kirk had a total of 44.5 percent who somewhat or strongly approved of the job he is doing, while 21.3 percent either somewhat or strongly disapproved of the job he is doing. These totals meant that Senator Kirk enjoys a net job approval rate of 23.2 percent.
Kirk’s highest approval ratings were in central city Chicago where 48 percent either approved or somewhat approved of the job he is doing, followed closely by 47.0 percent in the Chicago suburbs and 38.0 percent Downstate.
Most (53.1 percent) of Kirk’s fellow Republicans either approved or somewhat approved of the job he is doing with 16.4 percent who disapproved or somewhat approved. They were followed by 44.9 percent of Independents who approved or somewhat disapproved with 23.1 percent who disapproved or somewhat disapproved. Among Democrats, 40.5 percent approved or somewhat approved while 24.0 percent disapproved or somewhat disapproved of the job he is doing.
The FBI and the federal prosecutors in Illinois are investigating whether Rep. Aaron Schock broke the law in accounting for campaign expenses, according to people familiar with the matter. […]
The FBI has now begun delivering subpoenas seeking testimony before a grand jury in Springfield, Ill. […]
A U.S. law enforcement official says the investigation is at an early stage. Justice Department officials were monitoring published reports about Schock’s expense troubles and were taken by surprise when he announced his resignation, according to another U.S. law enforcement official.
So, his lawyer didn’t cut a deal before he resigned? Really bad move. He’s now a smaller target because he’s no longer in office, but he’s also a much easier target because US Attorneys have to jump through several hoops before they can indict an elected official.
Federal probers based in Springfield are looking into Rep. Aaron Schock (R-Ill.), spending of taxpayer and government money and other business dealings, the Chicago Sun-Times has learned. FBI agents have been delivering subpoenas and witnesses will be called before a grand jury in Springfield next month.
That Springfield US Attorney’s office is not to be trifled with. It’s become quite an impressive organization.
*** UPDATE 1 *** This is about a whole lot more than just campaign money. The AP has its alert out now…
A person familiar with the case tells The Associated Press that the Justice Department is formally investigating whether Rep. Aaron Schock of Illinois, who has submitted his resignation, committed crimes with his office expenditures and business dealings.
The government is convening a federal grand jury in Springfield, Illinois, this source says, and the FBI has started issuing subpoenas to compel people close to the Republican congressman to testify. The source spoke only on grounds of anonymity because the person wasn’t authorized to publicly discuss the case.
Agents with the FBI have delivered subpoenas to aides of U.S. Rep. Aaron Schock and demanded access to his records, a source said Friday.
Press reports and the source said the subpoenas were served to Schock’s Peoria office Thursday ahead of possible testimony next month to a federal grand jury sitting in Springfield.
* We’re coming a little late to this, but you can watch this morning’s legislative hearing on Rep. Ron Sandack’s municipal bankruptcy bill right here, via BlueRoomStream.com…
