* Barring major news developments I’m taking Monday off again. I’ve come to the conclusion that three-day weekends are the only way I can get a “real” summer. This almost campaign-like pace is messing with my soul.
* Today is Natalie Bauer Luce’s last day as Attorney General Lisa Madigan’s communications director. Nat’s heading to the private sector. I hope she’s prepared her replacement because I’ve pestered her at all hours, weekends, whatever for years. She’s never once complained. I wish her nothing but the best.
Natalie has had quite an exciting few weeks as her public service career has wound down, but she told me the other day it has helped keep her mind off the fact that she’s leaving people she loves working with.
I let Nat choose today’s play-out tune. She picked one she described as “an old family song that we use to kick off the start of every good party.” She also thought it was appropriate, considering the wild nature of the past several weeks. Turn it up for Van the Man…
* This takes away another major budgetary pressure point…
Working to protect hospitals at the greatest financial risk during the state budget impasse, the Department of Healthcare and Family Services today is announcing a financial action plan. Through a package of advance payments and agreements, HFS is providing funding assistance to the most vulnerable hospitals.
Using Fiscal Year 2015 lapse period funding authority, the department recently agreed to provide $32 million in advances on expected claims to eight “safety net” hospitals. These institutions are receiving an amount equivalent to what they are expected to bill over a two-month period. They will be required to repay the advances in the future.
“Unfortunately, healthcare providers, patients, and others who depend on state services are the ones who are caught in the middle of the current budget impasse,” said John Hoffman, director of communications for HFS. “The department is doing what it can, but it is up to the General Assembly to pass a balanced budget so hospitals can keep their doors open for our most vulnerable citizens.”
The following hospitals are receiving advances. These are among those most dependent on Medicaid resources for their operations.
St Anthony Hospital-Chicago
Mount Sinai Hospital
Norwegian American Hospital
La Rabida Children’s Hospital
Loretto Hospital
Jackson Park Hospital and Medical Center
South Shore Hospital
St Bernard Hospital
In addition, HFS has agreed to suspend a repayment plan with Roseland Community Hospital in Chicago. Roseland owes the state $3.4 million in assessments, a tax that hospitals are required to pay, and had agreed to make monthly repayments. That requirement is now being delayed pending a budget agreement for FY16.
“We understand that this action plan is no guarantee for any institution, but we are doing everything within our authority to help areas with the most need,” said Hoffman. “Hospitals and other service providers need budgetary certainty so that they can continue to serve our at-risk communities.”
* This is gonna have to work its way up gradually, apparently…
So, here’s where we are now. There’s an appeal in southern Illinois of the St. Clair County ruling. And the 1st District sent its case back to Cook County. Both of those cases will likely continue percolating.
* Gov. Rauner has just appointed Rev. Corey Brooks to the Illinois Tollway board…
* Brooks, you will recall, endorsed Rauner’s gubernatorial bid last year…
A South Side pastor who stuck his neck out by campaigning for Republicans Bruce Rauner and Jim Oberweis on Wednesday reflected on his decision, and the division it created in the African-American community.
“I took a beating, but it was all worth it,” Rev. Corey Brooks said a day after Rauner defeated Gov. Pat Quinn, but Oberweis lost to U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin.
WBBM Newsradio’s Mike Krauser reports Brooks, pastor of New Beginnings Church in Woodlawn, said he felt at times like he was the one running for office.
“I’ve discovered that … when you go against the status quo, and you go against what people have been doing for years, everybody is not going to be pleased with it,” he said.
* From the governor’s office…
Governor Bruce Rauner has appointed Pastor Corey Brooks to the Illinois Tollway Board. He has a strong track record of working with private and public entities to affect positive change in his community.
Currently, Brooks is the Senior Pastor at New Beginnings Church in Chicago. He founded the church in 2000. He leads a congregation of more than 2,000 members, including a staff of nearly 70, which has a budget of more than $1 million annually. His leadership has led to the church becoming a resource center for the community.
Previously, Brooks founded Project Hood, where he worked as a community activist. He took steps to combat gun violence in the City of Chicago and provided support to families impacted by the violence.
Brooks is a graduate of Ball State University. He earned a law degree from the University of Florida, as well as graduate degrees from the Dallas Theological Seminary and the Grace Theological Seminary. He lives in Chicago.
When Illinois’ Auditor General William Holland announced last month that he’d decided to step down at the end of the year, everyone knew immediately what this state needs in his successor — someone exactly like Holland.
Or, perhaps, someone exactly like Holland’s predecessor, the late Robert Cronson.
As the state’s top financial watchdogs over the past 30 years, these two presided over audits of the executive branch in ways that make citizens proud of their government — they were honest, candid and, above all, nonpartisan. To be effective, the state’s financial watchdog has to be as tough on the Republicans as he is on the Democrats — no fears of or favors for anybody.
That’s why state Rep. Frank Mautino’s announcement that he wishes to succeed Holland raises serious concerns.
First of all, nobody, and I do mean nobody, would’ve claimed that Bill Holland was “above all, nonpartisan” when he was elected Auditor General.
He was the Senate President’s chief of staff. Phil Rock was a genuinely nice man. He needed a hit man. Holland perfectly fit that bill. I love the guy - now - but he was a partisan gunslinger in the day. Didn’t love him so much then. Whew.
And let’s just say Mr. Cronson had some, um, attendance issues that were ignored by his media pals. Also, he was needlessly and unconstructively confrontational at times, particularly with the Supreme Court. Holland worked that situation out soon after he was elected.
* Look if you think that Rep. Mautino isn’t qualified or doesn’t have the temperament or is too close to Speaker Madigan to be Auditor General, I’d disagree with you but feel free to make your case.
Just don’t construct a laughably wild fantasy to justify your position.
The bottom line is, unless and until the Illinois Supreme Court acts (or unless the trial judge follows all the rules and comes up with the same TRO), state workers are gonna get paid.
…Adding… Comptroller Munger…
“Today’s ruling removes any conflict between Court decisions and allows my office to continue paying all state employees for their work. My priority has consistently been to comply with federal mandates and do everything in my power under the law to pay workers for services they are already providing the state. Time will tell what, if any, additional Court action occurs but I remain confident that paying state employees for their work is the legal, fiscally responsible and right thing to do.”
*** UPDATE *** From the attorney general’s office…
The Appellate Court’s order means that there will be additional proceedings before a final decision will be made. Further, and more importantly, it means that the State will continue to operate without a budget and with a high degree of uncertainty, which could be quickly remedied if Governor and the Legislature would fulfill their duty to enact a budget.
Illinois now has an official state vegetable: corn.
Gov. Bruce Rauner signed it into law today without fanfare.
However, he’s scheduled to attend an annual sweet corn festival this evening in Chatham, a suburb of Springfield. Local elementary school students had promoted making sweet corn the state vegetable as a class project.
* Not everyone was amused…
Ugh. Families are struggling to make ends meet, but don't worry, we now have a state vegetable! #twill#comeon@ashmo217@WCIA3Drew
A class of fourth-graders in central Illinois was learning about state symbols when students stumbled upon a puzzling question: Why does Illinois have a state fruit but no state vegetable?
The students at Chatham Elementary School, south of Springfield, could not abide the oversight.
“Vegetables are just as important as fruit,” was how one of the students, Halena Stuart, put it.
So, the 9-year-olds turned to technology. They had a video chat with eighth-graders at Taylorville Junior High who taught them how a bill becomes a law. Then they used online surveys to poll students about which vegetable ought to be accorded the honor.
And lo and behold, they got a state senator, Plainview Republican Sam McCann, to introduce a bill this month to designate sweet corn Illinois’ vegetable of choice. (The state fruit is the Goldrush apple).
Also in attendance, Governor Bruce Rauner and his wife Diana. The governor helping to make this year’s festival even more special by signing a bill today making sweet corn Illinois’ official state vegetable.
The first couple also took part in shucking corn. The Chatham Sweet Corn Festival runs Friday through Saturday.
Athletes at a southern Illinois high school will keep the nickname Freeburg Midgets, despite the objections of a group representing people with dwarfism who find the name offensive.
About 500 people gathered at the Freeburg Community High School late Thursday to urge the school board not to dump the name that was coined nearly 100 years ago by a reporter after he watched the school’s short basketball team beat much larger opponents. […]
Megan Sabourin, a St. Louis woman with dwarfism who grew up near Freeburg, told people at the meeting how offensive the name is to her.
“I’m hurt at the fact that they don’t see it as something negative. I’m hurt by the fact that we were in this community and we heard derogatory, disrespectful terms at the microphone,” Sabourin said.
“We recognize that it’s not intended to have a negative impact,” Little People of America President Gary Arnold said. “But with all the history and baggage that comes with the word, it still does. It sends a signal to youth that the use of the word ‘midget’ to describe a small person is acceptable and humorous,” he said.
But the overwhelming majority of the crowd was jubilant at the news that the mascot Freeburg has held so dear for so long wouldn’t be going anywhere. Most supporters of the nickname told the board their intent wasn’t to hurt anyone by using “Midgets” as a mascot. The name, they said, was a source of immense pride.
“It’s tradition,” Mary McGraw, a resident who wore a t-shirt that read “Don’t Mess with the Midget.”
“We’re not here to make fun of small people,” McGraw said. “I would have never realized how important (the mascot) was to so many people until just now when you see all these people. When someone messes with something like tradition, you decide something’s worth fighting for instead of letting it go.”
Another supporter, a man who told the board he was a Freeburg High graduate, drew loud applause when he said it didn’t matter what the board decided. “Once a Midget, always a Midget,” he said.
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the Illinois Chamber of Commerce bought $377,000 in television time in the Chicago market for a television spot starting Thursday touting Sen. Mark Kirk, R-Ill. […]
Earlier this month, an environmental group, the Natural Resources Defense Council purchased $1 million in ads on Chicago broadcast and cable outlets attacking Kirk for a vote he made allowing states to opt out of federal rules dealing with power plants and the environment. […]
Main messages of the spot: “Kirk is an independent leader fighting for Illinois” who is “bi-partisan,” a veteran and a protector of the Great Lakes.
* Sen. Daniel Biss is sitting on $1.2 million in his campaign account. Biss, of course, is running for comptroller in next year’s special election…
Biss, who has served in the legislature since 2011, raised $366,466 from April through the end of June, adding to the $870,058 he already had in his campaign fund. The Evanston lawmaker has raised another $12,130 since July 1. […]
Also eyeing a run is Chicago City Clerk Susana Mendoza, who served six terms in the Illinois House before winning election to the city post in 2011. Mendoza reported $381,741 to begin July after raising $226,210 in the three-month period.
Appointed Republican Comptroller Leslie Munger raised about $111K in the second quarter, leaving her with $113K in the bank.
In federal contests, Raja Krishnamoorthi reported raising $621,041 and had $596,296 to start July in his bid to win the Democratic nomination in the open-seat north and northwest suburban 8th Congressional District, outpacing two challengers. […]
Campaign reports filed with the Federal Election Commission showed Cullerton raised $134,760 in the three-month period and had $101,501 in his campaign bank account. Noland’s FEC report showed he raised $64,515 and had $61,587 to start July.
* And some notes from the Democrats on two Downstate Republicans…
Mike Bost:
Summary
* Raised: $298,409
* COH: $566,965
Highlights
* $2,500 from Halliburton Company Pac
* $1,000 from NRA Political Victory Fund
* $5,000 from ExxonMobil PAC and $1,000 from Chevron Employees Pac
[House Speaker Michael Madigan] cautioned reporters not to assume that the state’s budget crisis will be solved by negotiations between Governor Bruce Rauner and the Democrats who have veto-proof majorities in the General Assembly. […]
Pressed by reporters about why negotiations haven’t been pursued more urgently, Madigan said, “I don’t necessarily presume that there will be some kind of a deal put together between the governor and the legislative leaders.”
This might mean that MJM is figuring they’ll never come to terms on the governor’s “Turnaround Agenda,” or it might mean something else, or it may mean nothing at all. Madigan could’ve just been filling space.
“I don’t necessarily agree with the first part of your remarks, that in the end this will be negotiated between the governor, and the leaders. I don’t necessarily agree with that,” Madigan said. He later added, “(T)here are conversations going on but I don’t think you should proceed under any presumptions that are based upon what happened in the past…. I don’t necessarily presume that there will be some kind of a deal put together between the governor and the legislative leaders.”
What did Madigan mean by those remarks? The only way a budget can be passed without Rauner’s support — and, presumably without any support from Republicans in the House and Senate — would be for Democrats to use their three-fifths majorities to pass a budget and then override Rauner’s inevitable veto.
