That’s not our property tax freeze bill - more games just like they did a couple weeks ago in the House. More phony reforms from Speaker Madigan and President Cullerton.
*** UPDATE 2 *** Rep. Jack Franks explains the differences between his proposal and the governor’s via text…
Mine starts in 2015, Rauner’s starts in 2016. The governor’s has prevailing wage, mine does not. Mine does not allow for an increase in the debt extension where his does
A new state-by-state analysis from the Pew Charitable Trusts shows that Wisconsin experienced the biggest decline in middle-class households in the country between the years 2000 and 2013.
The study found that the percentage of households in the middle class dropped in all 50 states, with Wisconsin’s drop from 54.6 percent to 48.9 percent being the most significant. Moreover, Wisconsin saw a 14 percent decline in median household income.
GUIDELINES FOR PROCEEDINGS 15 CR 315 U.S.A. v. HASTERT
The following procedures will apply in connection with the arraignment in U.S.A. v. Hastert, scheduled to commence at 2:00 p.m. on Tuesday, June 9, 2015 in Courtroom 1441.
• The U.S. Marshals Service will be in charge of providing security and may limit seating as necessary to ensure the safety of all present.
• All cell phones, laptops, and other electronic devices must be turned off while in courtroom 1441.
• Seats will be reserved for news organizations with reporters assigned to the courthouse on a full-time basis: Associated Press, Bloomberg News, Chicago Daily Law Bulletin, Chicago Sun-Times, Chicago Tribune, Daily Southtown and WBBM-AM. Each organization is allowed one reserved seat in this row, and must be present at 1:40 p.m. in the hallway outside the courtroom.
• Sketch artists will be provided a seat and must be present at 1:40 p.m. in the hallway outside the courtroom.
• All other media and public will line up in the public corridor outside courtroom 1441. Admission to the courtroom will be on a first come, first served basis. Once all seats are occupied, the courtroom will be closed and those without seats will be directed to the overflow courtroom, 1425.
• Due to other court proceedings, media and spectators may not line up prior to 11:30 a.m.
• Courtroom 1425 will be an audio overflow courtroom only. The media may use laptops and smart phones, etc. to work on their stories in courtroom 1425, but may not record, stream, or photograph while in the courtroom pursuant to Local Rule 83.1. The audio feed will also be streamed to the media office on the second floor.
• Photographing and video or audio recording or transmission of court proceedings is prohibited.
• No beverages or food (other than water at counsel table or the witness stand) are allowed in the courtroom.
• No conversations or disruptive gestures are permitted in the courtroom.
• No interviews or interview requests are permitted on the 14th floor or any other floor of the E.M. Dirksen U.S. Courthouse other than in the lobby, pursuant to General Order 07-001.
• Pursuant to General Order 07-001, found at www.ilnd.uscourts.gov, Clerk’s Office Page/Media Information, interviews may occur only in the media area of the lobby. Filming of any security equipment or uniformed security personnel is prohibited.
• Media personnel will have lobby access until 6:00 p.m.
• The recording, streaming, or use of cameras is not allowed in the courthouse, except in the
media area in the lobby.
• Cameras are prohibited in all areas of the courthouse except in the media area of the lobby.
• The U.S. Marshals Service is allowed to restrict the entrance to the media area in the lobby should there arise a life safety issue with occupancy.
• The media is reminded that public safety must be considered, and any action that may cause an unsafe environment will be addressed by the U.S. Marshals Service.
• Failure to comply with these rules will result in removal from the courtroom. Any violation of a court order will be addressed appropriately.
* My absolute favorite line from the session so far is Richard Goldberg’s response to a member’s question during a House approp hearing last week…
“I’m sorry, but your question falls outside the purview of this sham hearing.”
I’ve actually used that line on somebody else since then (substituting “conversation” for “hearing”)
* The quote by the governor’s top legislative liaison perfectly illustrates what Kurt Erickson calls the Rauner administration’s “full-blown snark attack” on Democrats.
My own take about the escalating Raunerite snark, posted earlier today…
Other governors may have prostrated themselves humbly before you [Democrats], but Rauner is unlike anything you’ve ever seen. Yeah, the administration’s response was hugely over the top. But that’s the way they roll. Have you forgotten the 2014 campaign already? These folks are stone cold killers. And they ain’t changing. Plus, it’s just show business. Don’t take it personally.
* Some worry that the attacks by Goldberg, et al will hinder a budget/Turnaround Agenda solution.
Meh.
Rank and file Democrats won’t be in the room if this thing is ever settled. So, in the end (if there is an end) their opinion of Goldberg and the other Raunerites probably won’t matter.
* The author of my favorite quote, who, believe it or not, is also one of my favorite people in the Rauner administration…
A bill sponsored by state Rep. Jay Hoffman, D-Swansea, that could allow significant savings for Belleville taxpayers by allowing for the dissolution of Belleville Township has passed through the Illinois House and Senate and will now be sent to the governor. […]
Current law only permits townships to be dissolved if there is a county-wide vote approving the dissolution of all townships within the county. Hoffman’s bill, House Bill 3693, allows the members of the Belleville Township Board and Belleville City Council to approve a dissolution ordinance without requiring a countywide vote.
Belleville Township’s lone task is providing temporary general welfare assistance to families who are waiting to receive state aid. The township uses an operating cost of $288,000 and only provides $177,000 in assistance to local families.
That’s some pretty darned low hanging fruit right there.
* I bring this up because Lt. Gov. Evelyn Sanguinetti’s task force on reducing the number of local governments has been bogged down over her apparent insistence on a handful of anti-union proposals…
The panel met May 20 at the offices of the Illinois Municipal League in Springfield. That meeting came after two previous meetings in April and in May had to be canceled.
But, not enough members showed up May 20 to have a quorum, leaving the committee unable to vote on recommendations designed to jump-start the consolidation process.
Some of the absences were by design. Labor unions, for example, opposed recommendations affecting the prevailing wage, privatization and relief from unfunded state mandates.
The unions then called union-friendly members of the committee and asked them to simply stay away from the meeting.
Afterward, Sanguinetti pledged to work hard to ensure enough members show up at a late June meeting to have an official vote.
U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) says a fundraising e-mail isn’t the same as him making an official endorsement in next year’s Senate race. Durbin sent out a fundraising request on behalf of the Senate bid of U.S. Rep. Tammy Duckworth (D-Hoffman Estates), calling her “a friend” and “a champion,” but he says that’s not a formal endorsement. He says he’s helping with fundraising since the campaign is heating up earlier than he’d hoped.
“The interesting thing about this Senate race is it’s starting so darn early,” Durbin said. “You know, the incumbent senator has started television ads. There’s discussion about primary opponents, and so that’s the reason the e-mail was sent.”
Durbin has said he will endorse and campaign for the Democratic nominee in the race. His fundraising e-mail mentioned how he encouraged Duckworth to run for Congress, but he dismisses the notion that he “discovered her.”
Expect an Illinois GOP press release explaining how this is just horrible for Duckworth in five… four… three…
Domestic-violence organizations also are facing severe funding issues. It is considered one of the “non-critical” social services on the chopping block under Gov. Bruce Rauner’s proposed budget cuts.
Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner’s proposed budget cuts would drop funding to Southern Illinois University Edwardsville to a level last received in 1986. SIUE faces $19.6 million in cutbacks. That scenario would have devastating effects.
Also on the chopping block is a program that provides funding for low-income renters and homeowners who can’t afford to pay their energy bill.
Catholic Charities, which serves Grundy, Will and other counties in the region, said they often refer clients to the Will County Center for Community Concerns, which administers the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program.
“There’s quite a few,” said Pam Terrell, community services division director. “It’s a resource that’s very much needed in our area.”
Worst-case scenario, she said, people will be evicted from their homes and wind up in homeless shelters if they can’t pay the electricity bill.
“I hate to see something like this happen. People who require this program are likely already behind in bills. If this program is all of the sudden not there, you have people living paycheck-to-paycheck who could become homeless,” she said.
For the most part, governors own budget decisions.
* But there are those who are hoping to spread the blame. And they do have a point…
We get letters over the Internet machine aimed at persuading Gov. Bruce Rauner to not be such a meanie and to stop making budget cuts that will damage poor people, children, road contractors, universities and, well, just about everybody who relies on the state’s tax receipts for one thing or another.
One I read came from Kris Kieper, head of the YWCA Rockford. The YWCA is administering the state-funded day care assistance program. The letter explains that the governor intends to increase co-pays for parents, freeze intakes, create waiting lists and begin background checks for day care providers based on the clients they serve, to save money. […]
Outrage should be directed to people like former Gov. Pat Quinn, who went on a $405 million spending spree AFTER he was defeated in the Nov. 4 general election. Quinn doled out grants like crazy, putting our state deeper in debt.
Pleas for mercy should go to Democrats who control the General Assembly; they have passed two unbalanced budgets in a row.
Chuck’s not wrong, although I wouldn’t completely absolve Rauner here. It’s just that for many voters (and reporters) that’s a bit too complicated. Hence the Rauner plan to spend big money on TV if this thing goes to war and the government starts to really shut down. He’s gonna have to redirect that anger at the Democrats.
* Every policymaker in this state should read these two Tribune articles. The first one’s from last month…
Alarming levels of brain-damaging lead are poisoning more than a fifth of the children tested from some of the poorest parts of Chicago, even as the hazard has been largely eliminated in more prosperous neighborhoods, a Tribune investigation has found.
The toxic legacy of lead — added to paint and gasoline for nearly a century — once threatened kids throughout the nation’s third largest city. As Chicago’s overall rate of lead poisoning steadily dropped during the past two decades, the disparities between rich and poor grew wider.
Some census tracts, smaller geographic areas within neighborhoods, haven’t seen a case of lead poisoning in years. But children ages 5 and younger continue to be harmed at rates up to six times the city average in corners of predominantly African-American neighborhoods ravaged by extreme poverty, chronic violence and struggling schools, according to a Tribune analysis of city records.
In more than a fifth of the city’s census tracts, the rate of lead poisoning was higher in 2013 than it was five years earlier, the analysis showed. […]
In the upscale Lincoln Park neighborhood around DePaul University, more than 80 percent of kids tested in 1995 had elevated lead levels — about the same rate as the southeast corner of Austin, one of the city’s most impoverished neighborhoods.
By 2013 the rate for the DePaul neighborhood had plummeted to zero. But in the same part of Austin, testing found dangerous lead levels in nearly 24 percent of kids tested.
“People in neighborhoods like Englewood have faced multiple assaults over different periods of time — job losses, segregation, housing discrimination,” said Robert J. Sampson, a Harvard University researcher who has been studying Chicago for more than two decades. “Yet through all of that there is this persistent lead poisoning. It creates a social context where kids are at a clear disadvantage.”
Sampson recently added lead data to his existing research on poverty, education and crime in Englewood and other neighborhoods. The results, he said, were shocking. A map of lead poisoning rates among children younger than 6 in 1995, for instance, looks very similar to a map of aggravated assault rates in 2012, when those kids were 17 to 22 years old.
A former chief of lead poisoning prevention at the Chicago Department of Public Health, [Anne Evens] obtained the lead tests of more than 58,000 children born in the city from 1994 to 1998 and compared the results with how they performed on standardized tests in third grade.
Her peer-reviewed study, published in April in the scientific journal Environmental Health, found that exposure to lead during early childhood significantly increased the chance that a student would fail reading and math tests, even when controlling for other factors such as poverty, race, birth weight and the mother’s education level. […]
Jessica Wolpaw Reyes, an economist at Amherst College, studied what happened during the 1990s when Massachusetts embarked on an effort to eliminate lead paint hazards in homes with young children. She found the $5 million-a-year program helped reduce the number of students who performed poorly on standardized tests by 1 to 2 percentage points, with most of the benefits seen among children from low-income communities.
While that might not sound like much of an improvement, Reyes said, it was equivalent to what the state could have expected if it had closed the income gap between poor and middle-income communities by 22 percent.
Emphasis added for obvious reasons.
If there ever is a capital bill, lawmakers and the governor ought to make lead removal a serious priority.
It’s hard to argue with the growing body of research, but even if abatement doesn’t lower crime and increase learning abilities, lead is a nasty, nasty poison and removing it from the environment ought to be on our agenda.
* These three will be very high-level targets next year. From the IL GOP…
A Time for Choosing
It’s time for Sen. Forby, Rep. Bradley, and Rep. Phelps to stand up for taxpayers instead of President Cullerton and Speaker Madigan
Last week, Democrats in Springfield passed a budget with a $4 billion hole. Last year, they passed a budget that was unbalanced by $1.6 billion. The Democrats controlled by House Speaker Mike Madigan and Senate President John Cullerton reject reform and pass unbalanced budgets.
After more than 80 years in power, Mike Madigan and John Cullerton wield unmatched power over their House and Senate members. Sen.Gary Forby, Rep. John Bradley, and Rep. Brandon Phelps claim to represent Southern Illinois, but they are controlled by the heavy hand of John Cullerton and Mike Madigan.
It’s time for Forby, Bradley, and Phelps to stand up for Southern Illinois taxpayers instead of their Chicago bosses Madigan & Cullerton.
Sen. Gary Forby
The Budget Constructed By Madigan And Cullerton For FY2015 Was Unbalanced By $1.6 Billion. “Illinois lawmakers moved Monday to plug a gaping $1.6 billion hole in this year’s state budget after weeks of tense negotiations between a Republican governor and Democratic-led Legislature over authority to transfer funds as money runs out for social programs such as subsidized day care. (”Illinois House Passes Plan To Fill State’s $1.6 Billion Budget Hole,” The Associated Press, 3/24/2015)
Forby Voted To Pass Madigan And Cullerton’s Unbalanced FY2015 Budget. (Illinois General Assembly Records, Accessed 6/7/2015)
The Budget Constructed By Madigan And Cullerton For FY2016 Is Unbalanced By More Than $3 Billion. “House Democrats worked into the evening Tuesday to push through major parts of a new budget they acknowledge is at least $3 billion short in an effort to force new Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner to eventually go along with a tax increase to fill the deficit.” (Monique Garcia and Kim Geiger, “Illinois Democrats Push Ahead With Budget That’s $3 Billion Short,” Chicago Tribune, 5/26/2015)
Forby Voted To Pass Madigan And Cullerton’s Unbalanced FY2016 Budget Bills.(Illinois General Assembly Records, Accessed 6/7/2015)
Forby Has Taken $695,131 From Madigan, Cullerton And Committees They Control. (Illinois Board of Elections, Accessed 6/7/2015)
Rep. John Bradley
The Budget Constructed By Madigan And Cullerton For FY2015 Was Unbalanced By $1.6 Billion. “Illinois lawmakers moved Monday to plug a gaping $1.6 billion hole in this year’s state budget after weeks of tense negotiations between a Republican governor and Democratic-led Legislature over authority to transfer funds as money runs out for social programs such as subsidized day care. (”Illinois House Passes Plan To Fill State’s $1.6 Billion Budget Hole,” The Associated Press, 3/24/2015)
Bradley Voted To Pass Madigan And Cullerton’s Unbalanced FY2015 Budget. (Illinois General Assembly Records, Accessed 6/7/2015)
The Budget Constructed By Madigan And Cullerton For FY2016 Is Unbalanced By More Than $3 Billion. “House Democrats worked into the evening Tuesday to push through major parts of a new budget they acknowledge is at least $3 billion short in an effort to force new Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner to eventually go along with a tax increase to fill the deficit.” (Monique Garcia and Kim Geiger, “Illinois Democrats Push Ahead With Budget That’s $3 Billion Short,” Chicago Tribune, 5/26/2015)
Bradley Voted To Pass Madigan And Cullerton’s Unbalanced FY2016 Budget Bills.(Illinois General Assembly Records, Accessed 6/7/2015)
Bradley Voted To Pass Madigan And Cullerton’s 67% Tax Increase. (SB2505, 1/11/2011)
Bradley Has Taken $71,979 From Madigan And Committees He Controls. (Illinois Board of Elections, Accessed 6/7/2015)
Rep. Brandon Phelps
The Budget Constructed By Madigan And Cullerton For FY2015 Was Unbalanced By $1.6 Billion. “Illinois lawmakers moved Monday to plug a gaping $1.6 billion hole in this year’s state budget after weeks of tense negotiations between a Republican governor and Democratic-led Legislature over authority to transfer funds as money runs out for social programs such as subsidized day care. (”Illinois House Passes Plan To Fill State’s $1.6 Billion Budget Hole,” The Associated Press, 3/24/2015)
Phelps Voted To Pass Madigan And Cullerton’s Unbalanced FY2015 Budget. (Illinois General Assembly Records, Accessed 6/7/2015)
The Budget Constructed By Madigan And Cullerton For FY2016 Is Unbalanced By More Than $3 Billion. “House Democrats worked into the evening Tuesday to push through major parts of a new budget they acknowledge is at least $3 billion short in an effort to force new Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner to eventually go along with a tax increase to fill the deficit.” (Monique Garcia and Kim Geiger, “Illinois Democrats Push Ahead With Budget That’s $3 Billion Short,” Chicago Tribune, 5/26/2015)
Phelps Voted To Pass Madigan And Cullerton’s Unbalanced FY2016 Budget Bills.(Illinois General Assembly Records, Accessed 6/7/2015)
Phelps Has Taken $74,815 From Madigan And Committees He Controls. (Illinois Board of Elections, Accessed 6/7/2015)
*** UPDATE 1 *** The governor will speak in that area today…
Daily Public Schedule: June 8, 2015
What: Governor Discusses the Turnaround Agenda’s Impact on Williamson County
Where: Black Diamond Harley Davidson
2400 Williamson County Pkwy., Marion
Date: Monday, June 8, 2015
Time: 12:00 p.m.
What: Governor Discusses the Turnaround Agenda’s Impact on St. Clair County
Where: Eckert’s Belleville County Store & Farm
951 S. Green Mount Rd., Belleville
Date: Monday, June 8, 2015
Time: 2:45 p.m.
*** UPDATE 2 *** As noted in the above update, the governor also plans to be in the Metro East today…
A Time for Choosing
It’s time for Metro East Democrats to stand up for taxpayers instead of President Cullerton and Speaker Madigan
Last week, Democrats in Springfield passed a budget with a $4 billion hole. Last year, they passed a budget that was unbalanced by $1.6 billion. The Democrats controlled by House Speaker Mike Madigan and Senate President John Cullerton reject reform and pass unbalanced budgets.
After more than 80 years in power, Mike Madigan and John Cullerton wield unmatched power over their House and Senate members. Sen. Bill Haine, Sen. James Claybourne, Rep. Jay Hoffman, Rep. Jerry Costello, and Rep. Daniel Beiser claim to represent Southern Illinois, but they are controlled by the heavy hand of John Cullerton and Mike Madigan.
It’s time for Haine, Claybourne, Hoffman, Costello, and Beiser to stand up for Southern Illinois taxpayers instead of their Chicago bosses Madigan & Cullerton.
Sen. Bill Haine
The Budget Constructed By Madigan And Cullerton For FY2015 Was Unbalanced By $1.6 Billion. “Illinois lawmakers moved Monday to plug a gaping $1.6 billion hole in this year’s state budget after weeks of tense negotiations between a Republican governor and Democratic-led Legislature over authority to transfer funds as money runs out for social programs such as subsidized day care. (”Illinois House Passes Plan To Fill State’s $1.6 Billion Budget Hole,” The Associated Press, 3/24/2015)
Haine Voted To Pass Madigan And Cullerton’s Unbalanced FY2015 Budget. (Illinois General Assembly Records, Accessed 6/7/2015)
The Budget Constructed By Madigan And Cullerton For FY2016 Is Unbalanced By More Than $3 Billion. “House Democrats worked into the evening Tuesday to push through major parts of a new budget they acknowledge is at least $3 billion short in an effort to force new Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner to eventually go along with a tax increase to fill the deficit.” (Monique Garcia and Kim Geiger, “Illinois Democrats Push Ahead With Budget That’s $3 Billion Short,” Chicago Tribune, 5/26/2015)
Haine Voted To Pass Madigan And Cullerton’s Unbalanced FY2016 Budget Bills. (Illinois General Assembly Records, Accessed 6/7/2015)
Haine Voted To Pass Madigan And Cullerton’s 67% Tax Increase. (SB2505, 1/11/2011)
Haine Has Taken $295,821 From Madigan, Cullerton And Committees They Control. (Illinois Board of Elections, Accessed 6/7/2015)
Sen. James Clayborne
The Budget Constructed By Madigan And Cullerton For FY2015 Was Unbalanced By $1.6 Billion. “Illinois lawmakers moved Monday to plug a gaping $1.6 billion hole in this year’s state budget after weeks of tense negotiations between a Republican governor and Democratic-led Legislature over authority to transfer funds as money runs out for social programs such as subsidized day care. (”Illinois House Passes Plan To Fill State’s $1.6 Billion Budget Hole,” The Associated Press, 3/24/2015)
Clayborne Voted To Pass Madigan And Cullerton’s Unbalanced FY2015 Budget. (Illinois General Assembly Records, Accessed 6/7/2015)
The Budget Constructed By Madigan And Cullerton For FY2016 Is Unbalanced By More Than $3 Billion. “House Democrats worked into the evening Tuesday to push through major parts of a new budget they acknowledge is at least $3 billion short in an effort to force new Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner to eventually go along with a tax increase to fill the deficit.” (Monique Garcia and Kim Geiger, “Illinois Democrats Push Ahead With Budget That’s $3 Billion Short,” Chicago Tribune, 5/26/2015)
Clayborne Voted To Pass Madigan And Cullerton’s Unbalanced FY2016 Budget Bills. (Illinois General Assembly Records, Accessed 6/7/2015)
Clayborne Voted To Pass Madigan And Cullerton’s 67% Tax Increase. (SB2505, 1/11/2011)
Clayborne Has Taken $63,194 From Madigan And Committees He Controls. (Illinois Board of Elections, Accessed 6/7/2015)
Rep. Jay Hoffman
The Budget Constructed By Madigan And Cullerton For FY2015 Was Unbalanced By $1.6 Billion. “Illinois lawmakers moved Monday to plug a gaping $1.6 billion hole in this year’s state budget after weeks of tense negotiations between a Republican governor and Democratic-led Legislature over authority to transfer funds as money runs out for social programs such as subsidized day care. (”Illinois House Passes Plan To Fill State’s $1.6 Billion Budget Hole,” The Associated Press, 3/24/2015)
Hoffman Voted To Pass Madigan And Cullerton’s Unbalanced FY2015 Budget. (Illinois General Assembly Records, Accessed 6/7/2015)
The Budget Constructed By Madigan And Cullerton For FY2016 Is Unbalanced By More Than $3 Billion. “House Democrats worked into the evening Tuesday to push through major parts of a new budget they acknowledge is at least $3 billion short in an effort to force new Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner to eventually go along with a tax increase to fill the deficit.” (Monique Garcia and Kim Geiger, “Illinois Democrats Push Ahead With Budget That’s $3 Billion Short,” Chicago Tribune, 5/26/2015)
Hoffman Voted To Pass Madigan And Cullerton’s Unbalanced FY2016 Budget Bills. (Illinois General Assembly Records, Accessed 6/7/2015)
Hoffman Has Taken $351,178 From Madigan And Committees He Controls. (Illinois Board of Elections, Accessed 6/7/2015)
Rep. Jerry Costello
The Budget Constructed By Madigan And Cullerton For FY2015 Was Unbalanced By $1.6 Billion. “Illinois lawmakers moved Monday to plug a gaping $1.6 billion hole in this year’s state budget after weeks of tense negotiations between a Republican governor and Democratic-led Legislature over authority to transfer funds as money runs out for social programs such as subsidized day care. (”Illinois House Passes Plan To Fill State’s $1.6 Billion Budget Hole,” The Associated Press, 3/24/2015)
Costello Voted To Pass Madigan And Cullerton’s Unbalanced FY2015 Budget. (Illinois General Assembly Records, Accessed 6/7/2015)
The Budget Constructed By Madigan And Cullerton For FY2016 Is Unbalanced By More Than $3 Billion. “House Democrats worked into the evening Tuesday to push through major parts of a new budget they acknowledge is at least $3 billion short in an effort to force new Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner to eventually go along with a tax increase to fill the deficit.” (Monique Garcia and Kim Geiger, “Illinois Democrats Push Ahead With Budget That’s $3 Billion Short,” Chicago Tribune, 5/26/2015)
Costello Voted To Pass Madigan And Cullerton’s Unbalanced FY2016 Budget Bills. (Illinois General Assembly Records, Accessed 6/7/2015)
Costello Has Taken $192,851 From Madigan And Committees He Controls. (Illinois Board of Elections, Accessed 6/7/2015)
Rep. Daniel Beiser
The Budget Constructed By Madigan And Cullerton For FY2015 Was Unbalanced By $1.6 Billion. “Illinois lawmakers moved Monday to plug a gaping $1.6 billion hole in this year’s state budget after weeks of tense negotiations between a Republican governor and Democratic-led Legislature over authority to transfer funds as money runs out for social programs such as subsidized day care. (”Illinois House Passes Plan To Fill State’s $1.6 Billion Budget Hole,” The Associated Press, 3/24/2015)
Beiser Voted To Pass Madigan And Cullerton’s Unbalanced FY2015 Budget. (Illinois General Assembly Records, Accessed 6/7/2015)
The Budget Constructed By Madigan And Cullerton For FY2016 Is Unbalanced By More Than $3 Billion. “House Democrats worked into the evening Tuesday to push through major parts of a new budget they acknowledge is at least $3 billion short in an effort to force new Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner to eventually go along with a tax increase to fill the deficit.” (Monique Garcia and Kim Geiger, “Illinois Democrats Push Ahead With Budget That’s $3 Billion Short,” Chicago Tribune, 5/26/2015)
Beiser Voted To Pass Madigan And Cullerton’s Unbalanced FY2016 Budget Bills. (Illinois General Assembly Records, Accessed 6/7/2015)
Beiser Voted To Pass Madigan And Cullerton’s 67% Tax Increase. (SB2505, 1/11/2011)
Beiser Has Taken $242,997 From Madigan And Committees He Controls. (Illinois Board of Elections, Accessed 6/7/2015)
*** UPDATE 3 *** From the twitters…
.@GovRauner to legislators: are you loyal to Madigan or are you going to vote for taxpayers and homeowners?
* Tom Kasich writes about a former House Republican candidate’s trials and tribulations on the campaign trail as he attempted to keep his restaurant afloat…
“For me it always comes back to that I need to take care of my (restaurant) staff and to be honest, one of the things that was tough the last time is that I’m a very, very easy target,” [Rob Meister] said. “All it takes is someone to come in here or call or email or whatever and they can say they’d like to make a reservation for 40 people at 7 o’clock next Friday night. I take down their name and phone number and ask if they want me to do a private menu or anything. And then 20 minutes after they were supposed to show up I call them and they call me everything besides a nice person and slam the phone in my ear, and then I’m out money that I had booked for that space.“
Meister said the dirty tricks happened “weekly” when he ran against former state Rep. Naomi Jakobsson three years ago, a race he lost 69 percent to 31 percent.
“There were one-star reviews of the restaurant popping up (online) every other week where people wouldn’t even give the right information. They’d write about a dish that we don’t even serve that supposedly was super-cold,” he said. “Honestly, my Number One worry is it’s just so easy when you meticulously try to plan your week-to-week business. It’s easy for someone to throw a wrench into that.”
When things can get that mean in a lopsided district like former Rep. Jakobsson’s, just imagine how rough it gets during a hotly contested race in a much more equally drawn district.
My name is Maddie Murray, and I am a junior at New Trier High School. For my semester project, my partner Casi Radulovic and I wanted to advocate for special needs families regarding Rauner’s FY16 budget plan. As you may or may not know, this budget plan could harm thousands of special needs families throughout Illinois, particularly those that receive services through organizations like Glenkirk. In response, we created a video in which we interviewed four special needs families that use respite services from Glenkirk to highlight some of the impacts these cuts will have on families.
I had been referred to you through Josh Evans from IARF, who helped us a lot with our project. He suggested that we ask you to post our video on your blog to help inform the public and the representatives about these cuts.
Gov. Bruce Rauner says he wants [Rob Meister] to consider running for Senate, and is willing to bankroll his campaign to the tune of about a million dollars.
“He told me very specifically that he has 20 million dollars and that he’s working to do a million for 20 races that he thinks are the most winnable,” said Meister, the 32-year-old owner of Minneci’s Ristorante in southwest Champaign, and an unsuccessful candidate for state representative in 2012. […]
Meister said he has met with Rauner a few times, the most recent being last month at the Executive Mansion. […]
Meister knows he’s not the only potential candidate on Rauner’s radar. The governor has talked to Urbana attorney Erika Harold as well.
If he runs, he’d be up against appointed state Sen. Scott Bennett, who took Mike Frerichs’ seat when Frerichs was elected treasurer.
After five months, you’d think that the warring parties at the Illinois Statehouse would have learned something about each other. Instead, last week’s bitter and divisive House overtime session showed that they still fundamentally misunderstand one another.
What follows are some questions I’m hearing and my own responses.
Republicans: Why would the House Democrats propose such a weak workers’ compensation reform plan last week when they knew Gov. Bruce Rauner wants so much more?
The Democrats’ plan didn’t contain much real-world progress and actually regressed in part. Unless you read between the lines. Workers’ comp insurance essentially is a no-fault system designed to keep disputes out of the courts. For years, Republicans have attempted to insert “causation” into the system in order to weed out employees whose injuries are mostly not the fault of employers.
But House Speaker Michael Madigan’s bill used the term “causal” in relation to a certain kind of injury. This was a pretty good indication that after more than 30 years as speaker, Madigan is moving away from his complete opposition to causation standards.
He appears willing to deal on this topic because he attached his language to a House bill that now can be amended by the Senate. If he had used a Senate bill, it would have been “take it or leave it.”
So build on the causation issue and ignore his other items that set the negotiations back. It’s not rocket science.
Democrats: Why won’t the Republicans accept the fact that we’re moving in their direction but can only go so far? We’re not Republicans.
The governor believes Republican legislators were far too content in the past to accept any crumbs the Democrats offered. Those days are over. We have a Republican governor who is demanding significant change. And with the session in overtime, he’s not going to want to look like he’s caving to Madigan, as so many of his predecessors did. The Democrats must keep moving toward the governor’s position or this thing ain’t ever gonna end.
Republicans: Madigan hasn’t moved an inch all spring. We’ve retreated on dozens of issues, so why won’t he give up a single priority?
He has. If you look at his floor actions as a negotiating process, Madigan has eliminated several of Rauner’s proposals from consideration by defeating them during floor votes. He did the very same thing to his millionaires’ tax proposal. The Republicans interpreted the floor vote as an insult to the wealthy governor. Well, yeah, but its defeat also effectively took the issue off the table. Ignore the show business and look for progress.
Democrats: Why did the Republicans go nuclear on Democrats in committee last week by claiming we were conducting a “sexist smear campaign” against one of their appointees who is drawing her $250,000 salary from a mostly unrelated state agency? We’ve held plenty of similar hearings about Democratic governors. It’s part of our budgetary oversight process.
Y’all were preparing to zing the governor with an over the top claim that he was stealing money from poor people in the Department of Human Services budget and giving it to his education czar. Other governors may have prostrated themselves humbly before you, but Rauner is unlike anything you’ve ever seen. Yeah, the administration’s response was hugely over the top. But that’s the way they roll. Have you forgotten the 2014 campaign already? These folks are stone cold killers. And they ain’t changing. Plus, it’s just show business. Don’t take it personally.
Republicans: Madigan negotiated privately and in good faith on the fiscal 2015 budget problem without all these silly floor votes and side shows. Why won’t he just sit down with us now and hash out the new budget and the governor’s turnaround agenda?
There was some initial anger over the “Good Friday Massacre,” when the governor unilaterally cut programs that Madigan had inserted, including autism assistance funding. But Madigan got over that because he had unilaterally put that money into the appropriations bill, so he figured he should have cleared it with Rauner. The tide changed in April. Why? Well, one reason is that that’s when local governments around the state began voting on the governor’s draft resolution in support of Rauner’s anti-union agenda. That freaked out labor to no end. Eventually, I think, Madigan decided that Rauner was more interested in campaigning than governing and sided with his fired-up base.
Plus, Madigan is, um . . . odd. He ain’t changing, either. You gotta figure him out if you really want a deal. If you don’t want a deal, fine. Otherwise, start learning.
The subscriber version of this included several additional points of possible compromise.
It seems to be an article of faith on the right that if Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner declares war and spends millions of dollars on TV attack ads targeting Democratic House Speaker Michael Madigan, Rauner will “win” and Madigan will “lose” and the speaker will be forced to negotiate with Rauner in good faith.
But I don’t think Madigan is going to cave any time soon.
When Senate President John Cullerton wanted to send the governor a separate education budget bill that exactly matched the governor’s own proposal, Madigan shot down the idea, reportedly because he didn’t want to take the chance that Rauner might sign it and schools would open on schedule this August.
In other words, the man appears serious about crashing the government if the governor declares all-out war.
In 2007 and 2008, when the world’s economy started to tank, Madigan ignored the growing economic and state fiscal disasters because he was determined to continue his fight with then-Gov. Rod Blagojevich. Madigan’s unwillingness to make peace is one reason the state was so ill-prepared to deal with the global crash.
Rauner has far more resources at his disposal than Blagojevich ever did, so the right’s firm belief in victory over Madigan seems unshakable. We’ve seen it in editorials, columns and press releases over the past several days, and we’re sure to see more.
But after talking with some top Rauner people, I don’t think…
