Attribute the following statement to Tim Schneider, Chairman of the Illinois Republican Party:
“I would like to congratulate State Senator Darin LaHood (R-Dunlap) on his primary election victory.
Voters of the 18th Congressional District have chosen a consistent, conservative leader for Central Illinois and Western Illinois. Darin LaHood will fight to pass term limits, rein in the national debt, repeal & replace Obamacare, and ensure transparency in government.
The Illinois Republican Party will work hard over the next two months to ensure that Darin LaHood is Illinois’ next Congressman.”
National Republican Congressional Committee Chairman Greg Walden issued the following statement on Darin LaHood’s victory tonight in the Illinois 18th Congressional District’s special primary election.
“Congratulations to Darin LaHood on his well-earned victory this evening. Just as he did in the state of Illinois, Darin will stand up for Illinois families and fight to create jobs, balance the budget and strengthen our economy. I’m confident that Darin will continue to run a strong campaign in the general election so he can serve the families of Illinois’ 18th District in Congress.”
State Sen. Darin LaHood easily won his party’s nomination in the 18th Congressional District special Republican primary election, according to early, partial results.
As of 8:55 p.m. Tuesday, the Peorian was leading in limited returns, with 22,672 votes, or 69 percent of the vote. Next in line was political writer Mike Flynn, a Quincy native, with 9,424 or 29 percent of the vote.
* From the same guy who vetoed their salaries in the first place…
From: Governor Bruce Rauner
Date: July 7, 2015 at 4:59:47 PM CDT
To: xxxxx.SendAll@illinois.gov
Subject: A Message from Governor Bruce Rauner
Reply-To: no Reply@All
Good afternoon:
I want to update you on our latest efforts to do all we can to ensure you are paid in full and in a timely fashion for the work you do on behalf of the people of Illinois.
This morning a Cook County judge issued a ruling barring the Comptroller from paying all state employees full wages. Instead, the judge ruled that only some employees can be paid the federal minimum wage. Due to the state’s antiquated payroll systems, the Comptroller said she is unable to differentiate state employees in order to pay some the minimum wage. As a result, under this court’s ruling, no state employees would be paid.
Our administration is doing everything in our power to make sure that doesn’t happen.
We’ve just filed an expedited appeal in the First District Appellate Court seeking to overturn today’s order.
Additionally, our Administration is currently drafting legislation that will make state employee pay a continuing appropriation for the fiscal year, guaranteeing you get paid. Legislators are already guaranteed their pay this month under continuing appropriations - you should be too. The legislation will be introduced by Leader Durkin and Leader Radogno as soon as it is ready.
Additionally, a separate legal effort filed in St. Clair County is ongoing, and we expect movement on that case later in the week.
I know these are very challenging times. On behalf of all the people of Illinois, thank you for your continued service. Our administration will continue to update you as this issue progresses.
* From Lance Trover on the Senate-passed one-month budget…
The unbalanced one-month budget does not provide full-pay for all state employees, and the governor has been clear that an out-of-balance one month budget is the same as an out-of-balance 12-month budget.
Last year the General Assembly passed a law to guarantee their salaries are paid with or without a state budget.
As a matter of fairness, the governor would support a similar continuing appropriations for this fiscal year for all state employees.
All of a sudden he’s Mother Jones.
*** UPDATE 1 *** I asked Speaker Madigan’s spokesman Steve Brown for a comment.
“The real solution is have a budget… and not non-budget issues,” he said.
“The continuing appropriation was designed to protect different groups from political shenanigans, as we’ve seen with previous governors and we’ve sort of seen suggested with this governor,” Brown added, a clear reference to Pat Quinn vetoing legislator salaries and Gov. Rauner vetoing legislative pay raises.
“But aren’t state workers being subjected to ‘political shenanigans’?” I asked.
“That could come to a halt quickly if you just pass a budget,” Brown said. “The better way to do it is have a full budget approved for Fiscal Year 16.”
Brown also suggested that Gov. Rauner could’ve avoided this problem by not vetoing state worker salaries from the budget to begin with.
That’s a fair point.
*** UPDATE 2 *** From Senate President John Cullerton’s spokesperson Rikeesha Phelon…
The policy is worth reviewing. That said the administration is asking the public to dismiss the fact that they chose a shutdown. The words are nice but the actions tell a different story.
*** UPDATE 3 *** From Leader Durkin’s office…
Dear Speaker Madigan,
Tomorrow will be our sixth week since our scheduled adjournment without an enacted budget. During that time little progress has been made, and we are no closer to a solution than we were on May 31st. An enacted budget requires fairness to the taxpayers and our job creators.
Twelve years of reckless spending by the Democrat majority has produced nothing more than record deficits and one of the highest rates of unemployment in the country. Illinois currently has the 13th highest unemployment rate, while nationally ranking 29th in job creation and 42nd in wage growth.
I continue to believe, as do a great a majority of Illinoisans, that we cannot tax our way out of Illinois’ fiscal mess. Our budget solutions cannot be devoid of reform. To grow our economy and balance the budget, we must enact job-creating reforms that yield higher revenues while also reducing government spending.
This week, the Democrat majority will likely attempt to pass a short term budget that, according to the Illinois Office of Management and Budget, would put the state on a course to spend $4 Billion more than it can afford. Accordingly, I respectfully request that you hold an accompanying roll call vote on legislation that would raise taxes for Fiscal Year 2016 by $4 Billion to satisfy your caucus’ spending desires.
While our caucus will oppose both measures, if no such vote on a tax increase occurs or if such legislation fails to pass, we will all have a clear indication that rank-and-file members of your caucus agree with Governor Rauner that reform is necessary before revenue is even considered.
* I went to the Saturday and Sunday Grateful Dead shows. Awesome music, incredible times. I teared up more than I’m willing to admit, and I smiled the rest of the time.
Big, big thanks to the Chicago Police Department for hanging back and being cool…
Chicago police had not been notified of any arrests in connection with the weekend concerts, a police representative said Monday morning.
Imagine that. 200,000 attendees over three days and not a single arrest, even though a constantly noticeable, um, greenish odor was in the air throughout.
Just legalize it already.
* The concerts brought in fans from all over the country. Several Deadheads I spoke with had never been to the city before, and, without exception, they all said they loved it (I did have to inform some of them, however, that the cops might not always be so cool about smoking weed on Michigan Ave. once the shows were finally over) .
That band did Chicago an amazing favor by choosing to end their run at Soldier Field. I hope the city can build on the weekend’s good will.
* I attended the Sunday show with IMA poobah Greg Baise and his son. Believe it or not, Greg went to his first Dead show in 1971 at the Fox Theater. He’s been talking about the “Fare Thee Well” shows since the moment they were announced and, man, did he ever have a good time (and, for the record, I did witness him politely refuse something which might have emitted a greenish odor).
Baise wore a t-shirt he bought at an “alternative” type of store in Asheville, NC. He was awfully proud of it. And then we spotted a guy a few rows down wearing the exact same shirt. I asked the man to pose for a pic…
“Mike Flynn is the kind of courageous conservative we need in Washington,” Cruz said in a statement Monday. “When Andrew Breitbart launched BigGovernment.com to expose ACORN and fight back against the institutional left and the political class, he chose Mike Flynn as his lieutenant. For 6 years, Flynn helped expose the media’s lies and led many fights against the Obama Administration and Washington’s entrenched political establishment.”
“I’m happy to endorse his campaign for Congress. With Flynn, Central Illinois will have a strong voice to uphold the constitution, defend the 2nd Amendment and stand up to the media and political elite,” Cruz said.
Cruz, who has been noted as a maverick among Republican establishment ranks, lines up with national conservative political pundit John Fund, Erick Erickson and Dana Loesch. He’s also been backed by Congressman Louie Gohmert of Texas.
The primary election is today, so Cruz is a little late to the party.
* You gotta wonder if the Rauner folks will appeal. Stay tuned…
A Cook County judge has ruled Illinois may not continue to pay state workers in full during an ongoing budget impasse.
Judge Diane Joan Larsen ruled Tuesday that Illinois Comptroller Leslie Munger may pay only some workers who are covered under a federal law. Those workers would receive federal minimum wage plus overtime.
But attorneys for Munger say it would take the state as long as a year to determine which employees would be paid under federal law and how much.
They say that effectively means no workers will be paid until Gov. Bruce Rauner and Democrats who control the Legislature approve a budget.
Defendant [Comptroller Munger] is enjoined, in the absence of enacted appropriations legislation, from processing vouchers for payment of state employee payroll except vouchers that comply only with the minimum federal minimum wage and overtime requirements of the federal Fair Labor Standards Act.
The agreed order, which lists everything that can be paid, is here.
*** UPDATE 2 *** Press release…
AFSCME Council 31 executive director Roberta Lynch issued this statement in response to the July 7 decision of Cook County Circuit Court judge Diane Larsen that, in the absence of a state spending plan for Fiscal Year 2016, Illinois state employees should be paid in accordance with the federal Fair Labor Standards Act (only minimum wage and applicable overtime) or not paid at all:
“Public service workers in state government are on the job despite the lack of a state budget for the fiscal year that started July 1. Throughout Illinois they are keeping their communities safe, protecting kids, caring for veterans and people with disabilities, and providing countless other vital public services – and they should be paid for their work on time and in full. We are disappointed by the Cook County judge’s decision to the contrary, and we intend to appeal it.
“In addition, AFSCME and other unions representing state employees have filed a separate case on an impairment of contract claim in St. Clair County, and we hope to appear before a judge in that proceeding this week.”
As we’ve seen time and again, the higher you go in the judicial branch, the closer to the actual Constitution you get. I wouldn’t bet on the success of any appeal.
“The court’s decision is constrained by the Illinois constitution,” [Judge Larsen] said.
But Larsen said the constitution allows for a “narrow” exception, giving the state comptroller’s office the authority to temporarily cut checks, paying minimum wage and overtime — under the federal Federal Fair Labor Standards Act. […]
“Their position, unfortunately, will result in no one getting paid,” said David Gustman, an attorney representing the comptroller’s office. […]
“We’re not here to represent the desired choice, we’re here to represent the required choice,” said Brett Legner, a lawyer representing the attorney general’s office, adding: “We’re not here without sympathy, we’re not here because we want to be.”
*** UPDATE 4 *** Lance Trover…
“The governor believes state workers should be paid in full. He has asked CMS to explore all of its legal options, including seeking an expedited appeal of this order or other emergency relief to ensure that employees are paid and critical state services are not disrupted.”
*** UPDATE 5 *** Attorney General Lisa Madigan…
This entire situation has been caused by the failure of the Governor and the Legislature to enact a budget.
The Attorney General has been fighting to make sure that the State can legally provide critical government services to the people most in need of them.
The court’s order authorizes only payments that can be made legally without a budget, for example, services for children in the foster care system, low-income families who cannot afford to pay for groceries, and mentally and physically disabled individuals who need residential support. By doing this, the order ensures individuals who are dependent on these critical government services are not hurt by the Governor’s and Legislature’s failure to enact a budget.
I absolutely want State employees to be paid their full wages. But the Illinois Constitution and case law are clear: The State cannot pay employees without a budget. The judge’s order reaffirms this. It remains up to the Governor and the Legislature to enact a state budget to allow for necessary government operations and programs to continue.
*** UPDATE 6 *** Press release…
Following is the response of SEIU Healthcare Illinois Vice President James Muhammad to a Cook County judge’s ruling today that the State of Illinois cannot pay workers in full without an approved budget:
“A principle outcome of today’s ruling in Cook County is that it further puts at risk critical services for vulnerable seniors and people with disabilities throughout Illinois. The ruling highlights the need for Gov. Rauner to stop his political posturing, negotiate in good faith and come to the table with solutions to a budget crisis he looks to have courted.
“Vulnerable Illinoisans already are being harmed by Gov. Rauner’s days of crisis that have done nothing to solve our long-term problems but have done everything to avoid meeting the immediate needs of the most vulnerable.”
*** UPDATE 7 *** I mentioned this very thing last week as something the judge might say. She did. From the Tribune…
Larsen also scolded the state for failing to put in place a system for making the payroll changes after the 2007 ordeal. Larsen said years of inaction on that issue was “unfortunate,” but not a compelling legal reason to circumvent the state constitution.
*** UPDATE 8 *** Press release…
Comptroller Leslie Geissler Munger released the following statement Tuesday in response to a court ruling that state employees may not be paid during the budget impasse:
“I am disappointed and respectfully disagree with today’s ruling. We went to Court to ensure that my office can comply with federal law and compensate employees for services they are already providing to the state. Ultimately, that can best be accomplished by paying all workers as scheduled. I am most concerned about the impact this decision will have on our ability to pay those providing services to our most vulnerable residents, and I will continue to seek a remedy with their interests at the forefront of my mind.
“My office will soon file an appeal to today’s decision and will provide further information as it becomes available.”
The state of Illinois has been ordered to keep funding its child-protection services during an ongoing impasse over passing a state budget.
U.S. District Judge Jorge Alonso issued the order in response to a filing by the American Civil Liberties Union, which wanted the court to enforce a long-standing consent decree about child-protection funding and thereby force Illinois Comptroller Leslie Munger to keep money flowing.
Representatives for both the Department of Children and Family Services and the comptroller’s office agreed agency employees should be paid.
Speaking later, ACLU attorney Heidi Dalenberg said disagreement had focused on whether the comptroller could pay agency workers under a 2009 order during a similar budget impasse. She says the new order ensured the payments were legally sound.
“Redistricting reform is absolutely essential to good government because it’s the voters who should be choosing legislators, not Speaker (MICHAEL) MADIGAN and the politicians he controls,” said Rauner spokeswoman CATHERINE KELLY via email. “The current process gives too much control to career politicians who are more concerned with protecting the political class than hard working families.”
Chicago Democrat Madigan is not only speaker of the House but also chairman of the Democratic Party of Illinois.
The response to Kelly? “They’re tipping their hand because this looks like it’s being motivated as a way for millionaires to drop more robots into the legislature,” Madigan spokesman STEVE BROWN said.
The Democrats are whistling past their own potential political graveyards here.
As I’ve said before, if Gov. Rauner is reelected, the Republicans will likely have a 50-50 chance of drawing the new map. And if the Independent Maps amendment gets on the ballot, the Democrats would be stuck with a process which protects the “geographic integrity of units of local government.” That could easily be interpreted as not backfilling a DuPage County district with Democratic-friendly Cook County turf, etc.
An environmental group on Tuesday plans to start airing more than $1 million in TV ads attacking U.S. Sen. Mark Kirk for a recent vote to block an Obama administration effort to curb global warming.
The Natural Resources Defense Council’s ad campaign, which it said will run through July 17 on Chicago broadcast and cable stations, comes as the first-term Republican senator already faces a difficult re-election effort next year.
The 30-second spot contends that a vote Kirk cast last month on an Environmental Protection Agency bill allowed power plants to “keep polluting our air.”
“Polluters are breathing a lot easier, but nearly 300,000 Illinois children aren’t,” the narrator says in the spot, which depicts pollution streaming from smokestacks, a field of withered corn and an infant breathing through a nebulizer mask.
Kirk, a member of the panel, had a provision in the Interior spending measure he was championing — a ban on sewage dumping into the Great Lakes by 2035. Kirk has worked on protecting Lake Michigan since he was a member of the House.
The sewage ban is one of his signature issues.
Nonetheless, Kirk was a key vote against an amendment by Sen. Tom Udall, D-N.M., which would have taken out of the EPA bill the provision letting states opt out of the Environmental Protection Agency’s Clean Power Plan. Udall would have prevailed if Kirk sided with him. […]
Kevin Artl, Kirk’s campaign manager said, “Sen. Kirk’s most recent clean water legislation creates a strict new ban on sewage dumping in the Great Lakes, including a $100,000 per day fine on polluters that would fund the construction of new treatment plants. The simple truth is that Sen. Kirk is responsible for the most aggressive measure ever taken to protect the Great Lakes.”
Kirk could not have been expected to vote against his own “landmark Great Lakes protection language,” Artl said.
The Sierra Club launched a week-long advertising campaign Monday to slam Sen. Mark Kirk (R-Ill.) for voting to scrap the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) climate rule for power plants.
The environmental group started its “aggressive” campaign with a full-page ad in the Daily Herald, circulated in Chicago’s suburbs.
It accuses Kirk of voting three times “to put big polluter profits before the health of Illinois families,” and urges readers to tell Kirk to “stop attacking clean air” and “support the Clean Power Plan.”
Kirk For Senate campaign manager Kevin Artl has released the following statement in response to the ads by the Natural Resources Defense Council attacking Senator Mark Kirk’s environmental policy record:
“Senator Kirk has shown bold, independent action in Congress to reduce carbon emissions, protect against air pollution and enact aggressive measures to protect our great lakes from polluters and oil spills. The recent partisan attack ads by DC special interest groups, the same groups that once praised Senator Kirk’s work on behalf of protecting the environment, are not only false but sickening, beyond the pale of reasonable discussion and should be taken down.”
Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner is proving to be quite adept at skirting responsibility for the current Statehouse impasse and impending government shutdown.
He has relentlessly painted himself as the good guy, even to the point of blatantly abandoning his previous stances.
For instance, Rauner has righteously slammed the Democrats’ “unconstitutional” unbalanced budget, even though his own proposed budget was also billions of dollars out of balance.
Rauner trashed that Democratic budget even after he signed the part which funded schools, thereby ensuring that he avoided blame if schools didn’t open on time.
Rauner warned in April that the state had no money to bail out Chicago, then offered $200 million a year in “found money” for the Chicago Public Schools to keep it from going belly up.
The same man who often refers to the state employee union AFSCME as “AFSCAMMY” and who told the Chicago Tribune editorial board that the crisis of a state fiscal meltdown “creates opportunity” to get his non-budget issues passed, last week pledged to work arm in arm with the unions to make sure those poor state workers got their paychecks, even though the lack of a budget means there is no legal appropriation to do so.
He’s a clever dude, that one. He’ll say just about anything to shift the focus off of him and on to the Democrats.
Rauner said last week via an e-mail to state employees that he hadn’t heard any response to his newly proposed compromises on his non-budget demands which he wants resolved before he’ll even talk about the budget. But Senate President John Cullerton had been working with the governor on workers’ comp, property taxes and other issues, and many of Rauner’s “new” compromises weren’t new at all.
The Democrats have responded by pushing a proposal that they hope will help give them an edge on the governor. The Senate Democrats last week used their large veto-proof majority to pass a bill to fund a few “essential” state operations for one month, at a cost of $2.26 billion.
The legislation includes funding for things like sex offender GPS tracking, community care programs for the elderly, the Illinois Emergency Management Agency’s monitoring of nuclear sites and its natural disaster response, along with operational funding for veterans’ homes, the Illinois State Police, the Illinois School for the Deaf, the Illinois School for the Visually Impaired, the Illinois National Guard and DCFS group homes, foster homes and protective services,
That’s not an easy bill to vote against. The TV ads write themselves. But zero Republicans voted for it.
The House Democrats, who have a smaller majority than their Senate counterparts, couldn’t pass the bill on their own because they didn’t have all of their members in the chamber last week, but they still got Republicans on record as opposing it.
House Speaker Michael Madigan told reporters that he’d heard at least two House Republicans were willing to vote to keep the government from totally shutting down. But the House GOP leadership said the governor had placed a very large “brick” on the bill, and the Republicans complied with his wishes, as they pretty much always have since Rauner’s inauguration.
That constant compliance is starting to have a price.
Gov. Rauner met with the House Republican Caucus last week to thank them for sticking with him throughout the spring session and to ask them for more support during the overtime session.
Rauner thanked them for voting “Present” at his request on controversial bills which could get them in hot water with constituents. He was politely reminded, however, that they actually voted “No” on quite a few bills, including the education funding bill which the governor wound up signing into law.
Nobody enjoys getting the rug pulled out from under them, so the HGOPs have a right to be a little ticked off.
Some believe the Democrats hope to drive so many wedges between legislative Republicans and the governor that eventually the legislators will rise up and demand a resolution.
A revolt from below is highly unlikely, however. Rauner is Illinois’ first Republican governor in a dozen years, so Republican lawmakers truly want to help him succeed. Plus, the governor is sitting on an unlimited supply of campaign money and they want that cash for next year’s elections - and they don’t want any of it used against them.
Even so, it wouldn’t hurt if the more reasonable Republican lawmakers finally find the courage to suggest a way out of this mess.
For months, Gov. Bruce Rauner and his team have tried to play the Democratic state legislative leaders off each other. But Team Rauner now seems to be turning its attention elsewhere.
The House has met five times, and the Senate four. By party, Democrats recorded 38 absences and Republicans 37. […]
Two lawmakers missed more than two sessions. State Representative Monique Davis (D-Chicago) missed all five sessions in June. Representatives in her office declined to go into specific details regarding her absence.
State Senator Chris Nybo (R-Westmont) missed the first three sessions. Representatives from Nybo’s capitol office said the senator “had been busy catching up with work from his Chicago office.”
Some lawmakers cited travel plans, district events, and planned vacations as reasons for absences.
Rep. Davis has been ill. Sen. Nybo will likely take a bit of ribbing for that Chicago remark.
It also seems a little odd that even though Republicans make up just 38 percent of the General Assembly, they racked up almost half of all absences. Then again, they’re in the minority and they aren’t really voting for many bills when they are in town.
Tuesday, Jul 7, 2015 - Posted by Advertising Department
[The following is a paid advertisement.]
For the past year, credit unions across the country have been engaging a movement-wide celebration – the achievement of 100 million members. Leading up to this watershed moment, credit unions added a total of 2.85 million additional memberships over the previous year — the largest reported increase in more than a quarter century. From a national perspective, this means one in three Americans now belong to a credit union.
So why is there a clearly growing recognition for credit unions among consumers? It’s because they know credit unions place their interests above all else. As not-for-profit, democratically led and cooperatively owned financial institutions, credit unions return their earnings to members in the forms of lower rates on loans and higher returns on savings. Nationally, consumers benefit to the tune of $6.6 billion annually because credit unions are tax-exempt. Here in Illinois, credit unions annually provide nearly $205 million in direct financial benefits to almost three million members.
It’s the structure of credit unions — cooperatives owned by their members — that allows them to maintain their focus on returning financial benefits to members. By doing so, credit unions have earned the satisfaction and trust of consumers, 100 million times over.
Southern Illinois Congressman Mike Bost says the U.S. Supreme Court’s recent ruling that same-sex marriage is a constitutional right puts clergy in a tough spot.
The Murphysboro republican says he doesn’t believe the high court’s justices should be deciding issues like this because many churches believe same-sex marriage is not right before God and should not be allowed.
“But, my fear is that ministers that come from a faith that do not believe it’s right, can be forced to perform marriage ceremonies, and thus violate what they believe is their oath before God.”
Oy.
* Perhaps he’s just trying to distract the folks back home from this…
Congress is moving away from its longtime use of taxpayer-financed mail to constituents, but not Rep. Mike Bost.
The freshman Republican from Murphysboro, Ill., spent almost $113,000 on what is called “franked” mail in the first three months in office, amounting to more than 244,000 pieces. That is nearly twice the amount spent by the next biggest frank-mail user.
He sent more individual pieces of mail in that time than the roughly 210,000 people who voted when Bost defeated Democrat Rep. Bill Enyart in last November’s election. […]
Because of the rise of electronic communications, franked mail is falling in usage, and it is under increased scrutiny. A Congressional Research Service report released in May said that the volume of mass mailings sent by members of Congress to constituents fell from 103 million in 2008 to 40.3 million last year. The cost to taxpayers in that window fell from $25.2 million to $15.8 million.
Mundelein Mayor Steve Lentz on Monday defended widely criticized comments he made about the legalization of gay marriage and other societal issues during an Independence Day speech. […]
Near the midpoint of his remarks Saturday morning at the village’s Fort Hill Heritage Center, Lentz said he wanted to “address the elephant in the room” and started talking about the Supreme Court’s recent ruling on marriage equality.
He called it one event in an ongoing “moral crisis” in the U.S.
Lentz went on to discuss people having children without being married, saying “the out-of-wedlock birthrate is just crazy high compared to our history.” Such parents are part of a “crisis against the family” in the U.S., Lentz said.
He then defended Prohibition, saying, “It’s just what the doctor ordered.”
Lentz then referenced an anthropologist who he said had, in the 1930s, studied different cultures. Lentz said the man, J.D. Unwin, found a link between conservative sexual practices and a society’s success.
“The cultures that had a strict code of marital monogamy, heterosexual marital monogamy, those cultures had the most vibrancy and affected those around them the most,” Lentz claimed in the speech. “When the wheels came off and the standards began to decline in that area, within two to three generations, that culture would end.” […]
In his remarks, Lentz also said the government can address social problems through the Constitution and used as example the 18th Amendment, which banned alcohol in the 1920s and early 1930s.
Lentz said alcohol caused issues such as spousal abuse and led to other societal ills. Prohibition worked, he said.
I wonder if Mayor Lentz actually looked around the world for countries that ban alcohol and severely punish homosexuals and women who have sex out of wedlock. He’d find them, for sure. I’m not so sure he’d want to live in them, or believe that they are infinitely superior to our own country.
Also, Mundelein is in Rep. Ed Sullivan’s district, one of the few Republicans who voted for gay marriage. Sullivan went on to thump a conservative challenger. The mayor may not quite understand his home turf.
State general fund spending on the three main agencies that handle the safety net has hovered around $5 billion for much of the past decade, which critics say is not enough to keep up with inflation.
Currently, Illinois has 22,000 people waiting for help and ranks 47th in funding those services, which can range from housing to medication management and transportation assistance, according to the State of the States, a project of the University of Colorado that tracks public spending for programs to address intellectual and developmental disabilities.
Illinois also ranks third nationwide for number of people living in state institutions, despite the fact that community care is more cost-effective: $53,000 per person annually vs. $248,000 per year for institutionalization, according to the Department of Human Services.
Carl LaMell, CEO of Clearbrook, said state support for programs like his Arlington Heights facility, which houses about 340 residents with disabilities, has been steadily chipped away.
“Every year, we’re pawns in this game,” said LaMell, noting that this will be the 10th consecutive year without a rate or cost of living increase.
