43 Comments - Jake Elwood - Thursday, Aug 6, 15 @ 11:56 am: The Governor needs to love somebody beside himself on the TV screen - Tournaround Agenda - Thursday, Aug 6, 15 @ 11:57 am: We’ve all been saying that for months, Rich. If only someone in the governor’s inner circle would convey the sentiment. - Oswego Willy - Thursday, Aug 6, 15 @ 12:03 pm: It’s been 7 months. There is no budget, no overall labor peace, no significant Turnaround Agenda items passed, besides some well done criminal justice legislation, no clear legislative agenda rolled out or even close to executed… … The Deputy for Legislative Affairs, and his snark is the only “amusing” aspect of the non-governing governance. A man mocking the processes is the highlight of the Administration. I said in January; Budget, AFSCME contract, Legislative wins seen as bipartisan. That would have been an incredible first legislative session for any governor, let alone a rookie, a novice in the aspects of state government. To paraphrase Candidate Bruce Rauner; “Bruce Rauner failed…” - How Ironic - Thursday, Aug 6, 15 @ 12:05 pm: Breaking News - Bruce Rauner has purchased a new yacht, christening it today after his many legislative accomplishments. It’s being aptly named “The U-Boat”. - Phil - Thursday, Aug 6, 15 @ 12:07 pm: “Special deal”!? Cullerton’s bill sunsets the CPS block grant from the education formula (thereby abolishing a special deal Chicago gets and inviting the opposition of CTU,) and treats CPS the same as every other school district in the state when it comes to employer pension contribution. The bill levels the playing field. Rich is right, this is Washington style win-the-news-cycle spin from Rauner. I can’t hear the reporters question in that video…did any of the reporters bother to ask Rauner how this constitutes a special deal? - The Captain - Thursday, Aug 6, 15 @ 12:10 pm: I too would like to see the Governor stop campaigning and start governing but 8 months into this administration it’s clear that that’s unlikely to happen any time soon, if ever, and there doesn’t appear to be anything on the horizon significant enough to change the Governor’s preferred tactics. While I’m sure the general public is not eager to see a prolonged campaign-style war, I continue to hope that the opposition will better organize themselves to fight fire with fire, there is a lot of fertile ground here. Team Rauner hasn’t had to defend very often and they’ve exploited that luxury to play a lot (a lot) of offense. I hope that some combination of organized labor, the House Dems, the Senate Dems and/or Chicago’s 5th floor recognize that there are a number of opportunities to choose from to put Team Rauner on the defensive and it may help advance their interests if some entity was doing that. After all, the Rauner team has demonstrated a willingness to sacrifice logical/philosophical consistency (see above) in order to win a news cycle. If the hope of the Democrats under the dome is to negotiate with the Governor on matters that are “reasonable” then it would be in their interests for someone to force him to defend those positions that are unreasonable, he’s shown a willingness to move off of unreasonable demands in the past when challenged. - Phenomynous - Thursday, Aug 6, 15 @ 12:16 pm: Giving another $200+ million to Chicago every year from here until who knows when isn’t a great idea. I get that they need help, but the City really needs to show that they are serious about addressing their fiscal condition. It’s been said a million times, but it’s time for the property taxpayers in Chicago to pony up. If the City can show it is serious then the state should step in and help. The state isn’t exactly on firm financial footing either. Chicago has historically covered and levied their own pension costs. That all changed when the state bailed out Chicago in 1995 to give them “flexibility” with their funds and increased the amount the state gives to CPS (block grants). They turned that flexibility and injection of state funds into property tax relief. It’s hard to feel sorry for the City when they purposefully put themselves into this situation. - Norseman - Thursday, Aug 6, 15 @ 12:27 pm: === The campaign is over. It’s time to start governing, governor. === But Rich, it’s so hard doing this governing stuff. Mickey isn’t giving me the toys I want and my servants haven’t been able to pry them from him. You gotta give a guy a little temper tantrum here and there. - Precinct Captain - Thursday, Aug 6, 15 @ 12:30 pm: ==- Phenomynous - Thursday, Aug 6, 15 @ 12:16 pm:== The $200 million is the normal cost for CPS pensions. If the state won’t pony up, then the suburbs and downstate should pick their pension costs up by their own bootstraps instead of divvying them up to everyone else–including Chicago. As for the governor, there is no hope. - JS Mill - Thursday, Aug 6, 15 @ 12:31 pm: More than 1/8 of the way through his term and still not actually doing the job. - PC - Thursday, Aug 6, 15 @ 12:43 pm: I get that it’s the normal cost (plus some $ for health insurance). However, employers in TRS have never levied for pension costs. Chicago always has, and only in the past 20 years have they shirked their responsibility to do so. My point is, Chicago has misused/abused relief and additional funding from the state and turned it into property tax relief. The City is the most property wealthy area in the state, they can afford to chip in some before the state cleans up the mess. - Phenomynous - Thursday, Aug 6, 15 @ 12:45 pm: Above was me. Meant to address PC with the comment. - Truthteller - Thursday, Aug 6, 15 @ 12:46 pm: The Governor insists that restrictions on collective bargaining are key to straightening out local governments.The legislature singled out Chicago beginning in 1995 by restricting bargaining rights at CPS.It doesn’t seem that restrictions the CTU’S rights has solved the district’s problems. What evidence does the Governor have that it would solve anyone else’S problems? - Wordslinger - Thursday, Aug 6, 15 @ 12:50 pm: I dont see any method at all, sir. I’m starting to think that the governor has surrounded himself with a bunch of high-paid superstar sycophants who won’t risk their phoney-baloney jobs by challenging him or keeping him engaged and on task. The flip flops, the budget getting mostly funded without any input or legislative victory, the goofy and forgotten TV spot, the Mautino slam, the unnecessary downgrades….. There’s not a strategy at work here. That’s dangerous for any chief executive. The governor needs a grown up in the room who has the guts to tell him when he’s full of stuff. - BC - Thursday, Aug 6, 15 @ 1:01 pm: == Phenomynous == I’m with you in that there’s too much Springfield-bashing coming from City Hall. But remember, that 1995 “school reform” bill also drastically ramped down the amount of money Springfield allocated to the Chicago Teachers Pension Fund. Back then, the state picked up about a quarter of the employer contribution on Chicago’s behalf. Now the state picks up less than one percent, while picking up 100 percent for suburban and downstate school districts. So the $200 million in new funding proposed in Cullerton’s bill, combined with eliminating the block grant, does essentially “level the playing field” as a previous post noted. That 1995 law really sewed a lot of the seeds that have CPS in such bad shape today. Let’s count the ways: 1) It gave the mayor total control of the schools, which had the effect of eliminating any dissenting voices that might have stopped some of the risky financing schemes that have blown up in the school board’s face. 2) It eliminated the dedicated teacher pension levy from Chicago property tax bills, which created the huge pension debt. 3) It gave the school board the ability to take pension holidays, which, one could argue, gave them the flexibility to pick up a bigger portion of the teachers’ employee contribution, creating an unsustainable benefit for teachers that Claypool and Rauner were both complaining about yesterday. 4) It created the special block grants for Chicago, which made a complicated statewide funding formula even more complicated and unfair to the rest of the state. The 1995 “reform” was a Republican initiative under Edgar/Daniels/Pate, but Daley quietly backed it. So Daley-ites like Rahm and Claypool can’t complain too much. - Tournaround Agenda - Thursday, Aug 6, 15 @ 1:02 pm: Ooh, a press conference! Let me guess, more calls for breaking collective bargaining rights and blaming Madigan? His pressers have become as predictable as Madigan’s weekly “moderation” speeches. - Oswego Willy - Thursday, Aug 6, 15 @ 1:03 pm: To the Update; Isn’t that the M.O.? Create fake leverage, get called, double down, begin and end U-Turn. The Governor needs a Contrarian. He does. The Contrarian only needs to be listened to about 5% of the time, but that other 95% will make the Superstars game the moves out 1,000 times better than what we’ve seem these past 7 months. Please, Z, get a Contrarian, even if it’s so you ,as COS, can have both you and Contrarian tell the Governor ways this will game out and have better results. Please. - How Ironic - Thursday, Aug 6, 15 @ 1:09 pm: This is getting so bad, I’ll not be surprised if Madigan asks the Gov to begin ‘U-Turning in moderation’. Currently he’s at ‘extreme U-turning’. - VanillaMan - Thursday, Aug 6, 15 @ 1:14 pm: A VanillaMan Metaphor Bruce Rauner yesterday, clearly showed that he is the kind of guy who would make a car’s payment by stripping off the wheels and selling them to make a one month installment. Then next month, he would make the car’s payment by stripping off the front fenders and selling them. Then next month, Bruce would make the car’s payment by stripping off the rear fenders and selling them. Then he would strip the engine parts and sell each of them to make the car payments. Then when the car was bare, the money was gone, the car wasn’t able to go anywhere - then he would tell the bank to go ahead and repossess it because it was a very bad car that fell apart! - Wensicia - Thursday, Aug 6, 15 @ 1:18 pm: I’m starting to think this Governor is delusional. I’m not surprised his own people can’t talk to him, except to cheerlead his agenda. This guy only hears what he wants to hear and twists it to fit whatever mood he’s in that day. - Norseman - Thursday, Aug 6, 15 @ 1:20 pm: To the update. Inquiring minds want to know if we’ll see another u-turn. We’ll see if there’s an choral accompaniment singing Ring Around the Rosey. - How Ironic - Thursday, Aug 6, 15 @ 1:29 pm: VMan, Nearly perfect! Although I suspect Rauner would sell his junker to delusional geriatrician, thereby washing his hands of the ‘debt’, right before it went to collections. - Skeptic - Thursday, Aug 6, 15 @ 1:33 pm: “then he would tell the bank to go ahead and repossess it because it was a very bad car that fell apart!” because of the corrupt union bosses that made it of course. - Demoralized - Thursday, Aug 6, 15 @ 1:36 pm: I think the gist of what’s going on is that the Governor is not yet ready to give up on his losing battle to include anti-union provisions in legislation. I don’t see anything being settled until he does so. - Wensicia - Thursday, Aug 6, 15 @ 1:44 pm: @Demoralized I think Rauner believes he’s going to win, and nobody can tell him he’s not. - Anon - Thursday, Aug 6, 15 @ 1:47 pm: I wonder if he’s going to talk about the dictatorship of Springfield over Chicago? - Anonin' - Thursday, Aug 6, 15 @ 1:52 pm: Once again it is clear TeamBungle lost that chapter in their edition of Governor For Idiots - Rod - Thursday, Aug 6, 15 @ 2:16 pm: Phenomynous writes: “The City is the most property wealthy area in the state, they can afford to chip in some before the state cleans up the mess.” According to the data generated in relation to the various school funding reform bills sponsored by Sen Manar Chicago is not in terms of property wealth the richest in the state. The terms normally used are Available Local Resources (ALR)per student or EAV per student in the geographic area. Let’s recall commercial property is a different animal all together rather than residential property. There is also no question that the City of Chicago has a low property tax rate for schools and this has been discussed before, actually many times before on this blog. CPS as part of any solution to its problems should call a PTELL referendum to try to raise the rates above the CPI level. It also needs to be understood that there are vast tracts of Chicago where property values are so low that they won’t generate a lot of money even with the higher rates. Communities like Englewood, South Austin, and Armour Square, on the city’s South Side have such low property values that they are similar to Gary Indiana or parts of East St Louis. - Precinct Captain - Thursday, Aug 6, 15 @ 2:32 pm: What “reforms” is the city asking for governor? - Oswego Willy - Thursday, Aug 6, 15 @ 2:35 pm: ===So, either Claypool is lying or Rauner misunderstood?=== Why is Rauner always in the middle of an alleged miscommunication? - How Ironic - Thursday, Aug 6, 15 @ 2:44 pm: @OW, I’m sensing another installment of “Rauner House” where in this episode, it’s one sight gag after another when Bumbling Bruce keeps ‘misremembering’ conversations. - Phenomynous - Thursday, Aug 6, 15 @ 2:45 pm: Rod, What district benefits the most from the PTELL adjustment? ALR is based off of capped EAV, not actual wealth. And I wholeheartedly agree, and believe, the CTU should push hard for increased local support to the school system. It’s for the children. - Wensicia - Thursday, Aug 6, 15 @ 2:47 pm: As I said above, he hears what he wants to hear… - Oswego Willy - Thursday, Aug 6, 15 @ 2:50 pm: - How Ironic - It could a two-part cliffhanger, but everyone forgot what part 1 was about(?) - Tournaround Agenda - Thursday, Aug 6, 15 @ 2:57 pm: Rauner once heard that CPS wanted to lower costs, so he negotiated an agreement with them in his mind to do it through eliminating collective bargaining. - Union Dues - Thursday, Aug 6, 15 @ 3:49 pm: Maybe it would be best to state who made this request and specifically what it is. The general nature of the statement has me doubting. - Juvenal - Thursday, Aug 6, 15 @ 3:58 pm: Rich - At this point, they are not U-Turns. He is doing doughnuts in the Capitol parking lot. - Wordslinger - Thursday, Aug 6, 15 @ 4:36 pm: VMan, I'’ve been meaning to tell you, and for what it’s worth, the product of your epiphany has been a joy to behold, a devastating smackdown to the reactionary plutocrats and their cheap-hustler hangers-on. The perspective from the barrel is quite different, is it not? But I don’t care how you got where you are, you’ve upped your game, immensely, not because I agree with you more, but because you’ve obviously educated yourself and are a lot more mature, realistic, and empathetic to your neighbors. Good on you, kid, from this old, old, decrepit, scatter-brained man of 51. For you and yours, keep raising hell, kid. They deserve it. And you’re good at it. In these matters, I’m with you til the last dog dies. - Rich Miller - Thursday, Aug 6, 15 @ 4:37 pm: ===In these matters, I’m with you til the last dog dies.=== +1 - Oswego Willy - Thursday, Aug 6, 15 @ 5:01 pm: (Tips cap in respectful deference to - VanillaMan -) - Sue - Thursday, Aug 6, 15 @ 5:24 pm: PC is 100 percent on the mark. The City for years got substantial additional funds under the education appropriations intended to reconcile that it paid its own pension costs for CPS. Daley rather then make the pension fund contributions asked Springfiled for a 10 year pension holiday. In the mid 90’s the CPS pension was close to being fully funded. What a shock that after making no contributions for 10 plus years that the fund is now at 46 percent. Chicago had the benefit of low property taxes and extra education funding from Springfield. For my two cents-Rauner should tell the City to fix its own self imposed problems. - Jorge - Thursday, Aug 6, 15 @ 7:22 pm: VMan, that was a work of art. Well done. - Jake From Elwood - Friday, Aug 7, 15 @ 9:50 am: FYI, the first comment was not mine, but from a name jumper. I hope my contributions to this website are not that lame. Sorry, comments for this post are now closed.