Document dump!
Wednesday, Sep 9, 2015 - Posted by Rich Miller
* From Assistant Attorney General Caitlin Knutte…
OFFICE OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL S’T'ATE OF ILLINOIS
September 8, 2015
VIA ELECTRONIC MAIL
Mr. John Kraft
7060 Illinois Highway 1
Paris, Illinois 61944
john@illinoisleaks.com
RE: Freedom of Information Act Request 2015 FOIA 036774
Dear Mr.Kraft:
Thank you for writing to the Office of the Illinois Attorney General with your request for information pursuant to the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) (5 ILCS 140/1 et seq. (West 2014)).
In an e-mail received on August 10, 2015, you requested “[c]opies of all communication between anyone employed with Illinois Attorney General’s office and “Capitol Fax” - for the past 24 months.”
Pursuant to section 3(e)( iii) of FOIA (5 ILCS 140/3(e)( iii) (West 2014)), we extended the time to respond by five business days on August 17, 2015, because the request was couched in categorical terms and required an extensive search for the records responsive to it.
We further extended the deadline for this office to respond to September 8, 2015, per a telephone conversation you and I had on August 24, 2015.
Per our telephone conversation on August 28, 2015, you agreed to exclude attachments to any responsive e-mails from the scope of your request.
Your request is granted in part and denied in part. Some responsive records are being withheld from copying and distribution pursuant to section 7( 1)( a) of FOIA. 5 ILCS 140/7( 1)( a) ( West 2014). Section 7( 1)( a) of FOIA exempts from disclosure “[i]nformation specifically prohibited from disclosure by federal or State law or rules and regulations implementing federal or State law.” The federal Copyright Act (17 USC § 101 et seq. (West 2014)) provides that “the owner of [a] copyright * * * has the exclusive rights to do and to authorize any of the following:”
1) to reproduce the copyrighted work in copies[;] [and]
3) to distribute copies * * * of the copyrighted work to the public by sale or other transfer of ownership[.]”(Emphasis added.) 17 USC§§106(1),( 3)(West2014).
The Office of the Attorney General maintains a subscription to the publication, Capitol Fax. As a result, a representative of this office receives an e-mail from Capitol Fax containing a copy of the Capitol Fax publication each time a new issue is disseminated. The Capitol Fax is a copyrighted work. Accordingly, this office is withholding approximately 625 pages of the Capitol Fax that constitute copyrighted works, exempt from copying and distribution pursuant to section 7(1)(a) of FOIA and the Copyright Act. Please note that the withheld records themselves do not contain any notes, writings, or other annotations and were not the subject of any e-mail exchanges.
While this office is prohibited from copying and distributing the responsive copyrighted works, we may make the records available for public inspection. See Ill. Att’y Gen. PAC Req. Rev. Ltr. 11145, issued January 12, 2011. If you would like to review copies of the Capitol Fax received by this office, you may do so at the Attorney General’ s Springfield office during normal business hours. Please contact me at (312) 814-xxxx if you wish to schedule a time to review the indicated records.
With regard to the records we are providing today, we have redacted unique identifiers as” private information” as that term is defined in section 2(c-5) of FOIA (5 ILCS 140/2(c-5)(West 2014)). ” Private information” is exempt from disclosure under section 7(1)(b) of FOIA. 5 ILCS 140/7(1)(b) (West 2014). Specifically, we have redacted personal telephone numbers and a personal e-mail address.
And then it goes on to explain how to appeal the partial denial.
* Download it all yourself…
* AG FOIA letter
* E-mails, Part 1
* E-mails, Part 2
They really screwed up. They shoulda FOIA’d me going back 25 months instead of just 24. Wow, I sure lucked out there, as did all of my fellow cabal members.
/snark
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* From the attorney general’s office…
We always thoroughly consider all of our legal options in every case. In the pension case, we asked the U.S. Supreme Court for a routine extension of time to allow us to consider whether to seek review of the case by that Court.
After completing our analysis, we have decided not to ask the Court to review the case.
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* WaPo…
Two dozen House Republicans have agreed to privately detail their “legislative strategy” to party operatives, promising to offer “political justifications” for their goals in Congress.
The Daily 202 obtained a copy of the three-page contract that the National Republican Congressional Committee requires members to sign if they want to participate in its Patriot Program. The initiative, designed to protect potentially vulnerable incumbents, brings with it special attention and access to mounds of campaign cash. But strings are attached.
One of the 13 requirements is to submit an off-year “campaign plan” that includes: “Detailed, written legislative strategy that provides short-, intermediate-, and long-term legislative goals, including political justifications for those goals.” […]
The closely-held document offers a window into how much autonomy lawmakers often must forfeit to unelected Washington insiders. For instance, in exchange for reelection support, lawmakers must promise to exclusively use vendors sanctioned by establishment-aligned party chieftains, attend training sessions and raise six figures for the NRCC. They must also commit to holding a certain amount of cash-on-hand at the end of each fundraising quarter and limit their spending.
* The Schneider campaign followed up today…
Brad Schneider is calling for Republican Bob Dold to explain to voters why he signed a secret contract with the National Republican Congressional Committee that required he submit his legislative agenda in exchange for financial donations to his campaign.
Last week, the Washington Post reported that Republican House members in the NRCC’s Patriot Program, including Bob Dold, signed a lengthy contract with this Republican political committee. The contract, which is not disclosed to the public, requires members to detail out their legislative agenda, including “political justifications for those goals.”
In exchange for signing the contract, members will receive what the Washington Post described as “special attention and access to mounds of campaign cash.”
“This is an example of everything that’s wrong with Washington,” said Democrat Brad Schneider. “These backroom deals Bob Dold has signed raises issues of transparency, hypocrisy, and of ethics, and Bob Dold needs to explain these secretive agreements to voters.”
“How can Bob Dold claim to be an independent voice for the people of Illinois when he is signing secret contracts about legislative agendas with Republican leadership?” Schneider continued. “Getting reelected should never be more important than doing what’s right.”
The full NRCC Memo can be found here.
* Meanwhile, from Church World Service…
Representatives Bob Dold (IL-10) and Peter Roskam (IL-6) joined a group of more than a dozen Members of Congress today at a conference featuring the founder of Refugee Resettlement Watch, a blog the Southern Poverty Law Center has determined is funded in part by groups with white-supremacy and hate group ties.
“The business of hate has no place in our legislative process, let alone even gaining an audience with Members of Congress,” Church World Service President and CEO, the Rev. John L. McCullough said. “I would have thought better of these men and women elected to leadership.”
As the world continues to wrestle with a panoply of humanitarian needs unfolding as Syrians flee violence, Church World Service has called on the U.S. government to break its silence and dormancy by opening the door to 200,000 refugees in the coming federal fiscal year, including at least 100,000 Syrians.
“The U.S. has been staggeringly silent in this crisis, and we must do much more,” CWS Immigration and Refugee Program Director, Erol Kekic said. “Our lawmakers on Capitol Hill should be giving time to crafting a U.S. plan, joining the rest of the world in a response. Instead, these members are giving valuable time to groups who would turn their backs on people in need because of fear and hate.”
Representatives Dold and Roskam were part of an invitation-only event with Ann Corcoran, the founder of the blog site that promotes anti-refugee and anti-immigrant sentiment.
Since 1946, Church World Service has supported refugees and others displaced from their homes, in addition to providing sustainable relief and development solutions to communities that wrestle with hunger and poverty.
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*** UPDATED x1 *** What the… ?
Wednesday, Sep 9, 2015 - Posted by Rich Miller
* I think perhaps the Department might wanna answer the question posed in the third graf..
Ten people in western Illinois now have died from Legionnaires’ disease after a state veterans home in Quincy reported two new fatalities among its residents.
An outbreak first identified in late August has sickened 53 residents at the home, nine of whom died. State and local public health officials have not disclosed how the 10th victim contracted the disease, a severe form of pneumonia.
The Illinois Department of Veterans Affairs said Wednesday that it planned to treat the home’s water systems with a chemical disinfectant. An agency spokesman could not immediately answer why that step had not been taken sooner.
Oy.
*** UPDATE *** OK, so I just got off the phone with Illinois Department of Public Health Director Nirav Shah and Illinois Department of Veterans’ Affairs Director Erica Jeffries.
I think the AP took a needless cheap shot in its above story.
Back on July 31st, a veterans home resident went to the hospital with pneumonia-like symptons. He was treated and then returned to the home. On August 7th, it was discovered that the resident had Legionnaire’s Disease. The “vast majority” of cases every year in the US are isolated and do not spread, said Director Shah, but they went on alert.
Two weeks later, on August 21st, another patient exhibited the same symptoms. That day, the state shut down the water system and began cleaning the ice machines, water tanks, cooling tower, etc.
Residents were given bottled water and sponge baths until some new shower filters could be delivered from Europe. The filter openings are so small that Legionnaire’s Disease can’t get through. Two filters have been installed in each residential building, which has greatly boosted resident morale, according to Director Jeffries.
With all of that done, they turned to finishing the cleanup. This has been no small, or easy task. The home encompasses 48 buildings on 200 acres with just one plumbing system.
It’s actually more complicated than this, but I don’t have all day to write about it and it appears that the residents weren’t being exposed to tainted water after the home shut down its water system in August, so there you have it.
Move along.
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* With a hat tip to an alert commenter, you had to figure this would happen sooner or later…
A pair of lottery winners have filed a federal lawsuit against the Illinois Lottery, which still is selling tickets despite its inability to pay prizes greater than $25,000 until state lawmakers pass a budget.
“How the heck can they do this, and they’re still selling tickets?” said Homer Glen resident Rhonda Rasche, 48, who is still waiting for the $50,000 she won in July from a $3 scratch-off ticket. “If I was the one selling raffle tickets and I didn’t pay, I would be sued or in jail or both. I feel like it’s fraud.” […]
The suit claims the lottery has continued to pay wages — including the $142,000 salary of acting lottery director B.R. Lane — and money owed to the agency’s troubled private management company, Northstar Lottery Group. […]
“The plaintiffs … are seeking to compel the state to pay the prize money to Lottery winners,” Chicago-based attorney Thomas Zimmerman Jr., who is representing the plaintiffs, said in a written statement Wednesday. “The lawsuit also seeks a court order to halt the sale of lottery tickets with potential winnings in excess of $25,000, and to stop the payment of operational and administrative expenses of the lottery, until all lottery winners are paid.”
*** UPDATE 1 *** Monique…
*** UPDATE 2 *** Nope…
From: Richard Goldberg, Deputy Chief of Staff for Legislative Affairs To: Members of the Illinois Senate
Date: September 9, 2015
Re: Opposition to Floor Amendment 1 to SB 2046
After consulting with Director Tim Nuding of the Governor’s Office of Management and Budget, I am writing to express the administration’s opposition to Floor Amendment 1 to SB 2046.
Several months ago, Senators Biss, Bush, Morrison, Landek and Noland voted against HB 4165, a bill making appropriations at unbalanced funding levels for the Department of Human Services, the Department of Healthcare and Family Services and the Department of Veterans’ Affairs. In addition to their votes in opposition (joining all Republican members), Senator Tom Cullerton opted not to vote on the bill either.
Floor Amendment 1 to SB 2046 makes billions of dollars in appropriations at unbalanced funding levels – no different than the legislation these Senators previously opposed. Nearly four months after they first opposed this unbalanced budget, nothing has changed. Floor Amendment 1 to SB 2046 merely represents the latest multi-billion dollar piecemeal attempt to pass the very same unbalanced budget Senators Biss, Bush, Morrison, Landek and Noland opposed four months ago – the same cynical attempt to stick the taxpayers of Illinois with a massive tax hike without reform.
Let me be clear: a vote in favor of Floor Amendment 1 to SB 2046 is a vote for an unbalanced budget, a vote for a massive tax hike without reform and a blatant disregard of the legislature’s constitutional duty to pass a full, balanced budget. Should SB 2046 as amended reach the Governor’s desk, he would veto it.
Rather than pursuing this failed Groundhog Day strategy of putting unbalanced budgets up for a vote every few weeks, we urge Senate Democrats to come back to the negotiating table to pursue compromise, reform and a balanced budget.
*** UPDATE 3 *** From Rikeesha Phelon…
Rather than jumping at every opportunity to send snarky letters from the second floor to the third, the administration should consider holding legitimate budget meetings with the leaders to resolve fiscal issues. Cullerton will show up. Until then, pardon us while we try to advance solutions that meet basic human services responsibilities for the people of this state.
Bye.
She then added…
And what is this “negotiating table” that they speak of?
*** UPDATE 4 *** And it passes…
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Question of the day
Wednesday, Sep 9, 2015 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Pictured on the right, state Rep. Scott Drury…
* The Question: Caption?
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Well, at least they’re doing something today
Wednesday, Sep 9, 2015 - Posted by Rich Miller
* An interesting press release on a subject about which I was completely unaware…
WHO: Rob Karr, Illinois Retail Merchants Association president and CEO
Jeff Pape, president of WrestlingGear.Com, Ltd. based in Elmhurst
Bob Jones, president of American Sale based in Tinley Park
WHAT: IRMA members will testify before the Illinois Senate Revenue Committee about issues retailers unfairly face with qui tam lawsuits in this state, specifically related to application of sales taxes on shipping and handling charges.
For example, one retailer who will testify was sued by a Chicago attorney (who has filed hundreds of these lawsuits as a plaintiff to collect unpaid Illinois Use Tax) over an online purchase that brought about $0.80 sales tax into question. The Illinois-based retailer was abiding by Illinois law and interpretation of the Illinois Department of Revenue, but ending up spending about $25,000 fighting this lawsuit, plus an undetermined amount lost in sales and profits while spending time fighting this lawsuit. Interpretation of state tax law and regulations issued by IDOR should be the exclusive purview of the Illinois Department of Revenue.
*Qui tam lawsuits are civil suits filed against a person or company who is believed to have committed fraud against the government. Qui tam lawsuits are filed by whistleblowers under the False Claims Act, which gives whistleblowers a reward or a percentage of what’s recovered if the qui tam lawsuit he/she files recovers money for the government.
WHEN: 2:30 p.m., Wednesday, September 9, 2015
WHERE: Illinois Senate Revenue Committee Hearing
Room 212
Illinois Capitol, 301 S. 2nd Street
…Adding… Background here.
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Myth or excuse?
Wednesday, Sep 9, 2015 - Posted by Rich Miller
* From the Illinois Policy Institute’s news service about a Senate hearing yesterday…
Tim Nuding, Gov. Bruce Rauner’s budget director, said the governor’s office is doing all it can, but the burden remains on the Legislature to pass a balanced budget.
“We’re doing what we can do with tools we’ve been given to manage toward a balanced budget,” Nuding said.
The panel’s Democrats didn’t warm to the idea the budget mess was entirely on the Legislature or particularly on majority Democrats.
“I just find it kind of unhelpful and it sort of makes my teeth hurt to hear this consistent effort to throw the hot potato of blame around when, in fact, there is no possible resolution to these these problems that exists exclusively in the executive or legislative branches,” Biss said.
Although he nodded in recognition of Biss’ point regarding a three-branched government, Nuding said it was disingenuous for Democrats to say the governor could have simply crafted a workable budget by applying his veto pen to an underfunded Democratic spending plan.
Rauner’s simply using his power as governor to rewrite certain lines or to reduce certain amounts wasn’t going to get the job done, Nuding said.
“That’s a myth,” Nuding said, explaining that neither math nor the law nor the General Assembly as it is now constituted would allow for such an easy answer.
“To sit there and make a characterization that we could have solved this problem simply with the veto pen — that is just not accurate,” he said.
* You can watch the hearing by clicking here. More of what Nuding said…
“The Legislature, again, respectfully, has done little to nothing to change laws to reduce spending, either in the area of pensions, Medicaid rates, transfers out to local governments - any of those items that you control. Absent any changes there to reduce spending we are on target to spend somewhere in the range of $36 to $37 billion.
“Now, the administration has taken some steps which we’ve announced to try and manage in areas where we can. But the universe of spending areas where we have control is really quite limited because the Legislature, again, controls large pieces of the budget by the law, either through statute or continuing appropriations. And with the courts stepping in and enforcing consent decree payments without a budget in place, the amount of flexibility the administration has to manage this situation is even less.
“And we could solve all of this tomorrow if the Legislature would pass a balanced budget.”
* Director Nuding was then asked whether Rauner could’ve just used his line item veto powers…
“That’s a myth. That is a myth, Senator. The way this was structured, and it was by design, the governor did not have that option because of the spending that you lock in by law.
“So, let’s take as an example the Medicaid rates. The governor could’ve done a reduction veto on Medicaid spending. Wouldn’t have mattered at all, because spending is controlled by rates that are put in law by you. And we have to, by federal law, provide those services that are in statute by you. So to say that the governor could’ve line item vetoed or reduction vetoed is just simply inaccurate. The numbers don’t work.”
On Medicaid, at least, he’s right. Same goes for transfers out.
* But there’s a bunch of money beyond those two things. Rauner would not have been able to fully balance the budget, but he could’ve got it closer to balancing than it is now by using his veto powers.
Also, Gov. Rauner not only used his own lawyers to make sure employees got paid (which is a major fiscal burden), but he has yet to ask any of the stakeholders or courts to renegotiate the consent decrees.
Their hands are not completely tied here.
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More pension reform ideas
Wednesday, Sep 9, 2015 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Eric Zorn dusts off a pension reform idea that was first proposed by Senate President John Cullerton in 2013 and which, if constitutional, could save the state a billion dollars a year…
Case law in New York state, where the pension guarantees are as ironclad as they are in Illinois, says that, outside of contract agreements, state employees are not necessarily entitled to regular raises.
Therefore “a public employer has the right to condition its offering of a salary increase on that increase not counting for pension purposes,” said attorney Eric Madiar, Democratic Senate President John Cullerton’s well-regarded expert on pension law. “In other words, the employer can say, ‘I will give a $5,000 raise, but if you accept it, then that increase will only count as more money in your pocket, not also toward your salary basis for pension purposes when you retire.’” […]
“Salary is a key component of the formula used to determine the pension benefit, and clearly, altering the formula in order to diminish the benefit is unconstitutional,” said Anders Lindall, a spokesman for the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Council 31, the largest state employee union. Giving workers “a choice between diminished options is coercive,” Lindall said.
Madiar disagreed. “Folks may not like this choice and feel it is unfair, but that does not make it coercive under Illinois law,” he said. “Life, after all, is not fair. Illinois courts have made it clear that coercion does not exist when the party making the offer has the legal right to impose the condition the other party does not like. Hard bargaining is not coercion.”
You got a better idea?
* GOP Reps. David Harris and Mark Batinick do have another idea. From a press release…
State Representative Mark Batinick (R-Plainfield) will be joined by the House Revenue & Finance Committee Minority Spokesperson, State Representative David Harris (R-Arlington Heights) and suburban colleagues at a press conference on Thursday to announce the details of a pension reform proposal Representative Batinick filed this week in the Illinois General Assembly. They will discuss the budget impact of Illinois’ current pension shortfall of over $100 Billion and how the state can achieve long-term savings
* From their resolution…
WHEREAS, The General Assembly has not thoroughly broached the possibility of a pension or partial pension exchange option for participants in State-funded retirement systems, which would consist of giving participants a lump sum payment for their annuity or a portion of their annuity, as a viable olution to addressing short and long-term savings; and
WHEREAS, Many of those nearing retirement may be attracted to having more control over their retirement assets, but unfortunately the State does not provide a versatile and competitive alternative to the current pension arrangement; and
WHEREAS, Providing a lump sum payment in exchange for all or a portion of an annuity would provide a voluntary, constitutional approach to addressing the State’s pension obligations, while simultaneously providing participants the options and flexibility needed when planning for retirement; therefore, be it
RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE NINETY-NINTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we urge the Speaker of the House of Representatives and the Chairperson of the House Personnel and Pensions Committee to hold a series of hearings on how the State could potentially approach a lump sum exchange option; and be it further
RESOLVED, That the Committee invite interested parties and stakeholders to these hearings in hopes of better understanding the positive and negative outcomes of an exchange proposal as well as any potential barriers that would prevent an exchange option from becoming a common practice within our State-funded retirement systems.
Thoughts?
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*** UPDATED x1 *** Today’s number: $8.5 billion
Wednesday, Sep 9, 2015 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Keep in mind that January 1st is merely the half-way point of Fiscal Year 2016…
*** UPDATE *** Press release with emphasis added…
Comptroller Leslie Geissler Munger announced Wednesday that if the state continues its current rate of spending without a balanced budget, Illinois’ backlog of unpaid bills to schools, hospitals, businesses, social services and other vendors will exceed $8.5 billion by the end of the calendar year.
Munger said court orders, consent decrees, and statutory continuing appropriations (including debt service, pension payments, tax refunds and lawmaker salaries) are funding 90 percent of the state’s bills even though the General Assembly and Governor have been deadlocked on a budget since July 1. The problem is, the spending is based on FY 15 levels while revenue is based on FY 16 levels, which is running considerably lower due to the sunset of the temporary tax increase in January.
The unpaid bill estimate does not include payments for higher education, employee-retiree health insurance, student MAP grants, some Lottery winners, commercial spending, and other bills that will not be processed until a budget in place. Those expenses could account for an additional $4.3 billion in spending annually.
“Just over two months ago, I stood before you to warn that if the General Assembly and Governor were unable to pass a balanced budget, there would be severe consequences for the state,” Munger said. “Today I’m here to say that those consequences have come to pass and the situation will become more dire the longer we try to fund state services without a budget.”
At the end of August, the state’s unpaid bills to schools, hospitals, businesses, social service agencies and others totaled about $5.5 billion. That number has grown to $6 billion today. If there is no budget in place and the state’s spending trajectory continues, it will enter the New Year on January 1, 2016 owing an estimated $8.5 billion in unpaid bills. As the backlog grows, the state’s cash flow gets tighter and payments to nonprofits and other state vendors for provided services face further delays, Munger said.
Munger will continue to prioritize payments to nonprofits that serve children, the elderly, people with developmental or intellectual disabilities, and other vulnerable residents. They depend heavily on state funding and provide critical services at a lower cost than it would cost the state, she said.
“We will continue to do everything in our power to keep the state and our human service organizations afloat, but to be clear – our office performs triage every day simply to ensure the State of Illinois lives up to its core commitments,” Munger said. “For the sake of our families, businesses and organizations, it is time for members of the General Assembly to sit down with the Governor to find common ground and pass a balanced budget so we can fund our critical priorities.”
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Chris Crane: New Plan Will Help Ensure Reliable Power
Wednesday, Sep 9, 2015 - Posted by Advertising Department
[The following is a paid advertisement.]
The following is excerpted from a Daily Herald op-ed by Exelon Corporation President and CEO Chris Crane:
“Keeping the lights on, safely and reliably, is Exelon’s primary responsibility to customers. Part of that is planning ahead to make sure we have enough power to meet our region’s needs for years to come.
Over the past decade, the power generation system has dramatically changed. The grid was once powered almost entirely by highly reliable power plants like nuclear and coal, which have fuel on site and can run 24/7 in all weather conditions. Today it has moved toward natural gas, which is subject to supply disruption if home heating becomes critical or the gas delivery system freezes, and renewables, which only run when the sun shines or when the wind blows. …
While this shift has helped provide cleaner power, it has led to a major unintended consequence — the system is no longer sufficiently reliable, especially during extreme weather.
The challenges became clear during the 2014 polar vortex, when PJM, which operates an electric grid from northern Illinois to the mid-Atlantic, lost 22 percent of its power generation and came dangerously close to a large-scale blackout. A recent decision by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), the agency charged with ensuring the reliability of the grid, will help avoid such a crisis. …
The plan, known as capacity performance, only pays power plants that deliver power when promised — especially in the hottest or coldest weather — and imposes financial penalties on those that don’t. …
[A]uctions under the new plan [will] ensure enough supply for customers’ needs in years to come. …
Importantly, any auction proceeds will be reinvested in improving the reliability of our power plants…
Exelon is constantly investing in its nuclear power plants, spending nearly $1 billion annually to add the latest technologies and keep them operating safely and reliably. …
Now is an opportune time to implement these reforms for a more reliable grid that will keep homes lit and warm, businesses running, and our economy growing.”
Learn more about reliable nuclear energy at www.NuclearPowersIllinois.com
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Boykin out
Wednesday, Sep 9, 2015 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Not a huge surprise…
Boykin repeatedly hammered fellow African-American Andrea Zopp for voting to close 50 Chicago schools, so that’s some good news for Zopp and her Daley family backers…
[Bill] Daley, the son and brother of former Chicago mayors. who’s emerged as Zopp’s most prominent supporter. Dozens of other Chicago lawyers and businesspeople, many of whom have known Zopp for years, have also donated the maximum amount to her primary campaign. […]
Two city aldermen led the charge [against a Cook County Democratic Party Duckworth slating] Ed Burke, the dean of the Chicago City Council, and John Daley, Bill’s brother. […]
Daley, who now works for a Swiss hedge fund, has played a major role in raising cash for Zopp. He is a member of the campaign’s finance committee and told Campaign Pro he talks to Zopp’s team at least once a week. He and his wife held a fundraiser for her at their home in June.
The question now becomes what Sen. Napoleon Harris does. Will he stay in the race and maybe split the African-American vote with Zopp?
* Duckworth, by the way, came out in favor of the Iran deal this week. Zopp was already in favor, but Duckworth’s position is sure to draw direct fire from Sen. Mark Kirk, who has staked out a very strong position against the deal.
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Turn on the Wayback Machine
Wednesday, Sep 9, 2015 - Posted by Rich Miller
* From a Chicago Tribune editorial dated November 17, 2010…
Chicago teachers haven’t gone on strike since 1987. Credit Mayor Richard Daley, who has been willing to give teachers substantial raises to keep them in classrooms and off picket lines. And credit some leaders of the Chicago Teachers Union who saw the value in not even threatening strikes.
But the flush economic times are over. The schools face a huge budget shortfall — estimated at more than $700 million — in 2011. There are serious rumblings about a strike if the Chicago Board of Education can’t scrape up the money for raises guaranteed to teachers in the last year of a contract that expires in 2012.
Lawmakers need to block that threat. Just as state law prohibits firefighters and police officers from striking, so too should it stop teachers from walking out. Not just in Chicago, but across Illinois.
Cops and firefighters can’t strike because doing so would imperil public safety. They’re vital. Teachers can strike because … well, why? We think teachers, like police, are public employees crucial to the well-being of the community.
This year, the editorial board has been leading the charge against binding arbitration for AFSCME.
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Welcome to the fray
Wednesday, Sep 9, 2015 - Posted by Rich Miller
* When Politico announced it was moving in to Illinois, a bunch of people privately asked me what I thought.
I’m all for more bureaus, more coverage, more reporters, more competition. Period. Always have been.
Plus, I glanced at Politico’s other state operations, including Florida. To me, it looked like they have a more national focus and are competing for eyeballs with the big state media outlets, not people like me.
* I recently told a friend of mine at the Tribune that the people who really ought to worry should be the folks who run and work at the Chicago Sun-Times. They have a horrible website (slightly improved recently, but still awful), don’t fully utilize some highly regarded reporters and columnists (until fairly recently, Mark Brown’s top notch stuff has been mostly buried) and still haven’t installed a new Statehouse reporter.
Because the Sun-Times has so hobbled itself over the past year and a half, it’s made itself a target. So, in my opinion, even a semi-strong Politico staff and a reasonably accessible website could do big damage to the CS-T’s position.
* And if it wasn’t obvious before, it ought to be crystal clear now…
Natasha Korecki, one of Chicago’s premier political reporters, is leaving the Sun-Times after 12 years to join Politico, the authoritative source for coverage of politics and government.
Korecki will serve as a Chicago-based senior political reporter and will be responsible for compiling the daily Politico Playbook on Illinois politics, starting in late September.
Again, if Florida’s Playbook is any guide, it’s filled with Sunshine State angles on national stuff, with some state news tossed in.
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* Speaker Madigan isn’t the only one calling out Reps. Dunkin and Drury on the AFSCME bill…
It’s not typical for Madigan to rebuke House Democrats in such a public fashion. To buttress his contention that the votes to override Rauner would have been there if Dunkin had shown up, Madigan said unions had received the same assurances he had from rank-and-file House Democrats.
Earlier, Michael Carrigan, head of the state AFL-CIO, said in a statement he received assurances from Dunkin and Drury that they would vote for the override.
“In the days before the override vote, both Rep. Dunkin and Rep. Drury told representatives of AFL-CIO-affiliated unions that they supported the fair arbitration bill, and Rep. Dunkin indicated he would be returning from his New York City vacation and taking the train to Springfield to attend the legislative session. We are very disappointed that neither did so,” Carrigan said in the statement.
* And Dunkin responds…
“I’m trying not to be confrontational with any of my members. The speaker, in the last six-seven years, we’ve had issues, talked as men in private, as professionals. I don’t really want to be fighting him or any other colleague. That seems where this has headed,” Dunkin said.
Madigan is clearly more upset than usual, but Dunkin’s colleagues are far more angry at him for blowing off session last week than has been generally portrayed in the media. Many are demanding punishment. And I think that may be why MJM has taken this thing so far.
Plus, everybody probably needs a vacation, man. I know I do.
…Adding… Oops. I forgot to post an important link. Rep. Dunkin on WVON yesterday. Click here.
…Adding More… Reps. Dunkin and Drury were also on Chicago Tonight yesterday. Click here.
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Madigan doubles down on Dunkin, Drury
Wednesday, Sep 9, 2015 - Posted by Rich Miller
[Bumped up to Wednesday morning from Tuesday night for visibility.]
* Press release…
Good evening. Please find below a statement from House Speaker Michael Madigan regarding the outcome of the House’s override vote of the governor’s veto of Senate Bill 1229. For more information, please contact Steve Brown…
Madigan: House Overrides Governor’s Veto of Arbitration Bill if All 71 Democrats are Present
CHICAGO - House Speaker Michael J. Madigan on Tuesday released the following statement regarding the House override vote of the governor’s veto of Senate Bill 1229:
“It was my expectation that all 71 House Democrats would be in attendance for legislative session last Wednesday. Instead, 70 were present. Had all 71 Democrats been present, as was expected, the House would have voted to override the governor’s veto of Senate Bill 1229.
“Over the last several weeks, I worked with various interested stakeholders to gather support in the House to override the governor’s veto. During that time, every Democratic member of the House gave a commitment either to me or to these various groups that they would vote in favor of the override. Leading up to the vote, Representatives Dunkin and Drury, who had both previously voted for the bill, told members and representatives of labor that they would support the override motion. Even with Representative Dunkin’s absence, we called the bill for a vote at the request of the bill’s sponsor and AFSCME Council 31.
“I believe the failure to override the governor’s veto of Senate Bill 1229 will be used by the governor as part of his ongoing effort to bring down wages and the standard of living for middle-class families.”
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