58 Comments - wordslinger - Wednesday, Jan 20, 16 @ 9:33 am: Will the governor be at the podium drinking a glass of water while Durkin and Radogno speak? - Anon221 - Wednesday, Jan 20, 16 @ 9:37 am: WGN might be going live- http://wgntv.com/2016/01/20/gop-plan-proposes-bankruptcy-state-takeover-of-cps/ - Demoralized - Wednesday, Jan 20, 16 @ 9:48 am: ==Radogno says there is a crisis of confidence in leadership in Chicago== That’s rich. I hate to tell you Senator but that crisis extends to you and the rest of our “leaders” in this state. - Michelle Flaherty - Wednesday, Jan 20, 16 @ 9:48 am: Radogno’s gone from demanding local control to pushing state takeovers. That’s quite a turnaround agenda. - Ravenswood Right Winger - Wednesday, Jan 20, 16 @ 9:56 am: an elected school board..hopefully Chicago’s progressives take notice. - anon - Wednesday, Jan 20, 16 @ 9:56 am: Though I generally disagree with the minority leaders, I think they make one good point, namely that all the other public school districts in the state are already subject to state takeover. Why exempt CPS? - JS Mill - Wednesday, Jan 20, 16 @ 9:58 am: Beth Purvis is not the state superintendent, she is the Illinois Secretary of Education. Tony Smith is the State Superintendent. Get it right folks. - West Loop Chicago - Wednesday, Jan 20, 16 @ 10:01 am: How would not allowing Unions contribute to School board candidates be constitutional? - 360 Degree TurnAround - Wednesday, Jan 20, 16 @ 10:01 am: They should form a new group to do this. “Republicans for big government”. - 360 Degree TurnAround - Wednesday, Jan 20, 16 @ 10:03 am: Hey every House Republican candidate - now you can be tied to Durkin and Radogno, who supports taking over YOUR local school district. - JS Mill - Wednesday, Jan 20, 16 @ 10:04 am: =Why exempt CPS?= CPS has an entire section of the school code dedicated to them. They have their own set of rules that were created by the legislative representation, mostly at the behest of CPS and CTU. That is what they wanted, that is the “Why?” - Norseman - Wednesday, Jan 20, 16 @ 10:04 am: Michelle shoots and scores. - Carhartt Representative - Wednesday, Jan 20, 16 @ 10:05 am: =How would not allowing Unions contribute to School board candidates be constitutional?= It wouldn’t be, especially when anti-union groups many of which who do business with CPS would not face a similar barrier. - 360 Degree TurnAround - Wednesday, Jan 20, 16 @ 10:05 am: Brandon Phelps and Gary Forby should be loving this - Republicans support state take over of local school districts. - Anonymous - Wednesday, Jan 20, 16 @ 10:07 am: JS Mill - Tony Smith and James Applegate are Beth Purvis’ lap dogs. - Ducky LaMoore - Wednesday, Jan 20, 16 @ 10:12 am: ===Radogno’s gone from demanding local control to pushing state takeovers.=== Forced school consolidation was part of the Rauner agenda during the campaign. Nobody listened. This is just an extension of that policy. It should surprise no one that Radogno would be on board. - GraduatedCollegeStudent - Wednesday, Jan 20, 16 @ 10:12 am: ===Though I generally disagree with the minority leaders, I think they make one good point, namely that all the other public school districts in the state are already subject to state takeover. Why exempt CPS?=== CPS has 10 times as many students as the next largest district. That’s why its not treated the same as the other districts in the state. - Anonymous - Wednesday, Jan 20, 16 @ 10:14 am: Sandack? Maybe grooming to replace Durkin? who who .. - wordslinger - Wednesday, Jan 20, 16 @ 10:18 am: –Beth Purvis is not the state superintendent, she is the Illinois Secretary of Education. – Also, there’s no such thing as an “Illinois Secretary of Education.” It’s just something Gov. Noah made up as he loaded up his office with two of everything, like a COO and a chief of staff. - Mouthy - Wednesday, Jan 20, 16 @ 10:19 am: It’s amazing what you can do with the purchase of one state representative… - Michelle Flaherty - Wednesday, Jan 20, 16 @ 10:19 am: I’ve got to question the GOP leaders’ judgment here. I mean WHO thought it was a good idea to invite Sandack? - Keyrock - Wednesday, Jan 20, 16 @ 10:19 am: The Phoney War is ending. The Blitzkrieg is about to begin. It will be followed by the Battle of Chicago. Start building the bunkers? - Anon221 - Wednesday, Jan 20, 16 @ 10:19 am: Fitch’s downgrade of CPS (17 hours ago)- http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160119006885/en/Fitch-Downgrades-Chicago-Board-Ed-IL-ULTGOs - anon - Wednesday, Jan 20, 16 @ 10:20 am: === CPS has 10 times as many students as the next largest district. That’s why its not treated the same as the other districts in the state. === So CPS is too big to fail? CPS wants to be treated like every other school district when it comes to the State paying the normal employer pension payment. They can’t have it both ways — demanding equal treatment when it benefits them, but exemption when it doesn’t. - Oswego Willy - Wednesday, Jan 20, 16 @ 10:20 am: Bankruptcy? Mayor Sandack vs. Rep. Sandack. That’s Rauner for ya… Ball Game, Representative? - Oswego Willy - Wednesday, Jan 20, 16 @ 10:23 am: Sandack was there to make sure… … “Dang” sure Rauner got what Rauner wanted, said and heard. Owls, man… Owls - Team Sleep - Wednesday, Jan 20, 16 @ 10:29 am: Does anyone who takes potshots at Sandack actually remember what he was like before Rauner was elected? He was about the same and very vociferous and boisterous. The manner in which he questioned legislation and intent in 2014 was not really much different than how he handled the same things in 2015. He and Dale Righter are two peas in a pod. They both actually read and attempt to (and usually succeed at) understanding legislation. Sandack is just a bit louder than Righter. I personally think he would make a good House GOP (or at least HRO) Leader. I am partisan, yes, but I like the guy and appreciate the time he puts into his job. - lake county democrat - Wednesday, Jan 20, 16 @ 10:30 am: So CPS gets to shed much of its $1.1 billion debt and free up more future income to spend on students and/or lower property taxes for Chicago, and the voters get an elected school board - obviously this is a terrible idea that deserves no consideration whatsoever. - Team Sleep - Wednesday, Jan 20, 16 @ 10:30 am: So, in a roundabout way, I think Sandack will at times go overboard with this CPS push, but he will also know everything backwards and forwards and be able to cogently argue his points and concerns. - Norseman - Wednesday, Jan 20, 16 @ 10:32 am: === So CPS is too big to fail? === The kids are too important to let it fail. - Oswego Willy - Wednesday, Jan 20, 16 @ 10:32 am: ===He was about the same and very vociferous and boisterous.=== I do. I nominated him for a Golden Horseshoe. I understood Sandack’s role, after Bost, after Black. Is Sandack the same… Sandack isn’t the same. - alas - Wednesday, Jan 20, 16 @ 10:34 am: Watch out - next the drinking water will get the turnaround. See Michigan - Team Sleep - Wednesday, Jan 20, 16 @ 10:38 am: Willy, in my mind Sandack is the same. He just has a better “platform” (metaphorically, at least) from which he can drive home whatever it is he is attempting to explain or push. When the Dems took over the U.S. House and Senate in 2006, the national GOP got dinged for being loud and boisterous. Perhaps rightfully so, but nonetheless they were labeled as such. They fought tooth-and-nail against cap & trade, the ACA and most stimulus-related issues. Again, not debating the merit but just reiterating the narrative. And then they retook the House and eventually the Senate, and people are sometimes surprised at where they stand. The stances are about the same - maybe not exact, but close - but because they reentered into power the narrative shifted and past actions were almost forgotten. - wordslinger - Wednesday, Jan 20, 16 @ 10:39 am: If state intervention is necessary, what’s wrong with the previous model, the Chicago School Finance Authority? Just kidding. The goal is bankruptcy and union-busting, like everything else is with this crew. - JS Mill - Wednesday, Jan 20, 16 @ 10:45 am: =JS Mill - Tony Smith and James Applegate are Beth Purvis’ lap dogs.= Don’t know Applegate, but I do know Smith and he is not a “lap dog” by any stretch of the imagination. @Wordslinger- With respect- it is a position now and if you are in public education you had better take notice. There have been people in similar roles in the past, but yes Rauner did make this one up. Again, with respect. - Oswego Willy - Wednesday, Jan 20, 16 @ 10:46 am: - Team Sleep - As always, with respect, You have to appreciate my situation. ‘Tween us, I want autonomous GOP GA Caucuses to succeed and assist in helping the Governor learn to govern, and, in reverse, use the “Gorillas of Pate” mentality to make the Governor learn to negotiate in complete good faith and be a partner to the GA. Then Rauner wins… If Rauner wanted to govern. “Simple” Your example of 2006 won’t work. “Why?” Fighting… Fighting the executive, as a legislature is impactful. Fighting a legislativr control and having your own party’s executive look inept going it… is NOT the same. “Fire Madigan, 2.0″ will be a loser. Fighting unions? Jury’s out, but Rauner has beat them/fooled them once… With respect, as always. OW - 47th Ward - Wednesday, Jan 20, 16 @ 10:48 am: Rauner, Radogno and Durkin have their hands full in Springfield. What makes anyone think they can straighten out Chicago and CPS too? Ooda Loops? More like Fruit Loops if you ask me. - Team Sleep - Wednesday, Jan 20, 16 @ 10:49 am: Willy - duly noted. My point was more so to highlight that often times a narrative stays the same but a power structure changes, and so the assumptions change as well. I get your point. - LINK - Wednesday, Jan 20, 16 @ 10:49 am: lake county democrat. Might be a good deal for CPS to shed the $1.1 billion but not so good for the businesses and people owed that money… - JS Mill - Wednesday, Jan 20, 16 @ 10:50 am: =So CPS gets to shed much of its $1.1 billion debt= So the new “conservative” (GOP) model is to skip out on your bills? Really? I mean, except for those owed to Wall Street of course. Wow, that really fits the personal accountability, small government mantra doesn’t it? /s Makes me sick, and I am sick of these guys and their false narratives like- this will be good for everyone- but in reality it is only good for very few. What happened to paying your bills? - Tommydanger - Wednesday, Jan 20, 16 @ 10:58 am: While you’re at it, perhaps you could donate some leadership too. - Team Sleep - Wednesday, Jan 20, 16 @ 10:58 am: People bringing up the GOP and bankruptcy/banking issues seem to forget that, in general, the majority of Congressional Republicans voted AGAINST the “too big to fail” bailout of 2008. Almost triple the amount of Congressional Dems voted in favor of the bank bailouts than voted against the bank bailouts. Most national Republicans voiced strenuous opposition to bailing out GM and Chrysler and voted as such. The argument was that perhaps it would be better to not use public moneys to take care of private businesses and their mistakes. For reference: The bank/financial bailout vote is here. http://clerk.house.gov/evs/2008/roll681.xml Auto bailout vote is here. http://clerk.house.gov/evs/2008/roll690.xml - Joe M - Wednesday, Jan 20, 16 @ 10:59 am: I have a feeling there is an anti-union poison pill in there somewhere? - GOP Extremist - Wednesday, Jan 20, 16 @ 11:04 am: “It only takes a simple majority.” If it’s so easy, why don’t they just pass Right to Work, lawsuit reform, map reforms, term limits, local controls, ect… All this nonsense and when it is voted down they’ll call it political theater. - Anonymous - Wednesday, Jan 20, 16 @ 11:05 am: The goal is bankruptcy? Whose fault is that? My money would be on the people who devastated the finances and budgets of CPS over many years and want to stay in charge. Not the people dealing with the fallout of their actions. - Oswego Willy - Wednesday, Jan 20, 16 @ 11:06 am: Again. Governor… Either name the Democrats, show your 60/30, show “who” is holding up these 22 Democrats (and Raunerite Ken Dunkin) from supportin’ your moves… … or be seen, by those payin’ attention, as someone disingenuous. Your choice… - Anonymous - Wednesday, Jan 20, 16 @ 11:18 am: Chicago Democrats took over the school system in 1995. They managed to drive it into insolvency in roughly 20 years. How long will it take to do the same to an entire state? - anon - Wednesday, Jan 20, 16 @ 11:20 am: === What happened to paying your bills? === In GOPspeak, bankruptcy is now called fiscal responsibility. - taxpayer - Wednesday, Jan 20, 16 @ 11:22 am: Bankruptcy is inevitable here. If not this year, then next or the year after. It just gets more and more expensive as it progresses. - Oswego Willy - Wednesday, Jan 20, 16 @ 11:26 am: ===Bankruptcy is inevitable here.=== LOL! Is there 60 and 30 to pass the Bankruptcy? Nothing can be inevitable if it can’t be law to begin with… Hilarious. - wordslinger - Wednesday, Jan 20, 16 @ 11:29 am: –People bringing up the GOP and bankruptcy/banking issues seem to forget that, in general, the majority of Congressional Republicans voted AGAINST the “too big to fail” bailout of 2008.– I’m really not seeing a connection. Gov. Rauner has been promoting muni bankruptcy since Day One. The Illinois GOP legislative leadership is pushing it this very moment. What does that have to do with Congressional Republicans, the banks and the auto industry? I think it’s clear the Illinois GOP goal is union busting, although the history of muni bankruptcy doesn’t really support that outcome. But, again, there is a previous model of state intervention in the Chicago schools that doesn’t involve bankruptcy and that is the Chicago School Finance Authority. I’m not advocating state intervention or a state bailout. I’m quite certain Chicago has the ways and means to come up with $500 million on its own. They just don’t want to. For those who live and work in Chicago, are there some mythical suburbs they can flee to with lower property taxes? - Team Sleep - Wednesday, Jan 20, 16 @ 11:46 am: Word, my response was pointed at JS Mill’s point about the whole concept of bankruptcy being picky and choosy. Congressional Republicans thought it was okay if some of the big banks and automakers had to declare bankruptcy, and some of the same guard who voted against the bailouts also thought that states should have the same “rights” to declare bankruptcy as a large corporation or even a large municipality does. That was it. I am not debating the merits of bankruptcy, but that is a consistent position. And you are correct - municipal bankruptcy is not a guaranteed shot across the bow at unions. - Rod - Wednesday, Jan 20, 16 @ 12:00 pm: Responding to Anonymous - 11:18 am: Yes its true that the Mayor of Chicago took over CPS in 1995 and it is also true that the Republicans in the General Assembly voted for the so called reform. It also should be noted that CPS was under the authority of the Chicago School Finance Authority from 1980 on for years and the full assembly allowed the SFA oversight to end. - JS Mill - Wednesday, Jan 20, 16 @ 12:30 pm: = my response was pointed at JS Mill’s point about the whole concept of bankruptcy being picky and choosy.= I was speaking to the state level GOP,I have given up on national politics. Since you brought it up,wasn’t is then president Bush and his team that wanted/bargained for the bailouts? At least in the beginning? OW and others have pointed out that muni-bankruptcy and the turnaround agenda are not about economics, at least no nearly as much as it is about union busting. how does the bankruptcy attract investment back to Illinois- dying to know that answer. - Team Sleep - Wednesday, Jan 20, 16 @ 12:38 pm: Bush was behind the bank bailouts - or at least Hank Paulsen, Jr. pushed him into that position - but the opposition from his own party was pretty stiff. - Anonymous - Wednesday, Jan 20, 16 @ 12:39 pm: Any alternatives from the Democratic side? Chicago could always raise taxes instead. Again. - Triple fat - Wednesday, Jan 20, 16 @ 3:47 pm: This is how Rauner “saved” a struggling school in the past. http://chicago.suntimes.com/uncategorized/7/71/155481/rauners-charter-school-takeover From the article “Sarah Howard thought Bruce Rauner was an angel who would rescue her financially troubled, academically struggling charter school in East Garfield Park. Instead, the would-be Republican candidate for Illinois governor took control of the Academy of Communications and Technology Charter School that Howard started, dumped her as executive director, suspended operations for two years, then turned it over to a NATIONAL CHARTER SCHOOL OPERATOR.” http://www.schoolsmatter.info/2015/03/rahm-shovels-teacher-pension-funds-to.html from the article -…disclosures follow a November report showing Chicago pension funds overseen by Emanuel appointees also invested money with companies whose executives have donated to the mayor’s campaign…We need the SEC to really investigate these donations from the same people who are managing the city’s pension money,” said Waguespack, who Emanuel’s political action committee unsuccessfully tried to defeat in Chicago’s March election. He added that the issue is particularly relevant in the April 7 mayoral runoff, arguing that the disclosures “reinforce the need of Chicago to have a mayor who isn’t going to have the kind of conflicts that Mayor Emanuel has created over the last four years.” Money Flowing Through ‘Fund Of Funds’ The investments in the firms of Emanuel’s donors and allies took place through so-called fund-of-funds vehicles: the pension system moves money to one financial company, which then distributes it to a portfolio of other investment firms. Funds of hedge funds have been criticized for having a double layer of fees, which leads to fees of 4 percent or higher — more than five times the fees paid by an average index-fund investor. In the case of Rauner’s company, GTCR, the teachers’ pension money flowed to the firm through several of that company’s private-equity funds. CTPF documents do not list GTCR as managing any Chicago pension money before Emanuel took office. Emanuel and Rauner have a long history. In addition to vacationing together, Emanuel worked with Rauner when as an investment banker he reportedly represented GTCR in a corporate takeover deal that saw the firm buy a home-security company for $479 million and then sell it for $1 billion only six months later. SEC documents indicate that Rauner continues to hold a stake in a GTCR subsidiary. GTCR documents filed with the SEC indicate that the firm may shift underperforming assets into other funds part-owned by public pension systems to “earn fees.” … Two interesting reads and further proof that the Governor’s foray into politics is nothing more than another money making scheme at the expense of Illinois taxpayers. Please read both articles. - Joe cannon - Wednesday, Jan 20, 16 @ 4:05 pm: Sneering how the Detroit teachers sick out will play into the messaging. Detroit schools in receivership now just love me GOP proposal and the conditions do look deplorable. Waiting to hear from brown in 3…2…1 Sorry, comments for this post are now closed.