And these children that you spit on
As they try to change their worlds
Are immune to your consultations
They’re quite aware of what they’re going through
Friday, Jan 15, 2016 - Posted by Advertising Department
[The following is a paid advertisement.]
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AFSCME REFUSES TO COMPROMISE DESPITE BETTER COMPENSATION THAN MOST TAXPAYERS
Study Shows State Workers Earn 40% More than Private Sector Workers
NAPERVILLE — Americans for Prosperity-Illinois highlighted a study released in June 2015 by its sister organization, Americans for Prosperity Foundation, showing the total annual compensation, including salary and benefits, for Illinois state government employees is 39.6% higher than the compensation earned by comparable private sector workers.
“AFSCME has shown itself to be wildly out of touch with the financial realities facing the taxpayers who fund their compensation packages, as well as the fiscal calamity facing the state,” said Americans for Prosperity Illinois State Director David From. “This 2015 study shows that taxpayers are being asked to fund compensation packages that they themselves are not able to obtain. Yet, AFSCME continues to demand in negotiations that taxpayers pay for continued raises and unaffordable health care plans for its members, while refusing commonsensical reforms like triggering overtime after 40 hours per week rather than 37.5 hours.”
The Americans for Prosperity Foundation study found that Illinois state government employees receive a benefits package that is on average, three times more generous than is received by private sector workers. In particular, Illinois state employees receive health coverage, retiree health plans, and pension benefits that are substantially more generous than are paid in the private sector. The average Illinois state government employee in the data sample receives an annual salary of $56,919. In addition, Illinois employees receive annual benefits, either received in that year or accrued toward retirement, worth $55,791. A comparable Illinois private sector employee receives a slightly higher salary of $61,017 but annual benefits of only $19,725. Total annual compensation for Illinois state government employees equals $112,710 versus $80,742 for comparable private sector workers, a difference of $31,968 or 39.6 percent. The study author, Andrew Biggs, is a resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute in Washington, D.C., where he has written extensively on public employee compensation.
“Governor Rauner is right to stand up for the beleaguered Illinois taxpayers,” continued From. “AFSCME has continually pushed pay and pension packages that have contributed to the fiscal challenges facing the state. Rauner’s push for sensible changes and more modest pay increases are necessary and the right thing to do in the interest of taxpayers.”
“This latest inaction from the governor is just another step in his plan to make Illinois a right-to-work state. AFSCME has been able to negotiate contracts with governors for the past 30 years from each party in good faith. Just as with the budget, this governor is sidestepping negotiations and using the back door take employee benefits.
“Governor Rauner has said before that he wants chaos. What he fails to comprehend is the situation he’s creating means mothers and father can’t provide for their families, sick people go without health benefits and more people are steered to state-sponsored benefits instead of being able to provide for themselves. Now the governor’s hand-picked Labor Relations Board will decide whether or not the governor negotiated in good faith. I don’t think the people he appointed will decide against him. Looks corrupt if you ask me.”
Whew.
* Rep. Christian Mitchell…
“Today’s action by the governor is yet another example of him holding working families hostage to his far right political agenda. By walking away from the bargaining table, he continues to show an unwillingness to compromise.
“Public service workers – the people who help keep us safe, provide critical services for our most vulnerable, and respond to emergencies – deserve wages and working conditions that reflect the importance of the work they provide our state. They are often our neighbors, our friends or our family members. Today, Governor Rauner turned his back not just on our public service workers, but our entire state.
“I call on the governor to rejoin the bargaining table, negotiate in good faith, and find a solution that is fair to both our state employees and the citizens of Illinois.”
Despite an ongoing battle with the Chicago Teachers Union (which is backing his primary opponent to the hilt yet again), Rep. Mitchell has been endorsed by the Chicago Federation of Labor, Illinois AFL-CIO, AFSCME Council 31, SEIU Illinois State Council and others.
* Rep. Lou Lang…
“It is extremely disappointing that Governor Rauner has terminated negotiations with AFSCME. Apparently he wants to provoke a confrontation and disruption of state operations. That would mean the loss of vital services relied upon by millions of Illinois residents every day, as well as further instability in the state’s business climate.
“That is why I and other lawmakers sought to enact a fair process for contract resolution through neutral arbitration last fall. Maintaining public services is critical, and such a process needs to become law.”
* Rep. Rob Martwick…
“I am extremely disappointed that Gov. Rauner is using procedural maneuvers in an attempt to force a strike by state workers. This action contradicts his promise to negotiate in good faith. The state workers have negotiated in good faith, have recently offered compromise on wages, health insurance and other important issues. Most importantly the employees have been and continue to be willing to negotiate.
Today, we see Gov. Rauner’s true intentions. His rhetoric during his campaign for governor was about forcing a strike, and today it is clear that he’s been on this path all along. His agreements with other bargaining units cover a very small portion of state employees. Now, along with his failings as governor to propose a balanced budget and find solutions to our state’s financial problems, he is putting Illinois taxpayers at risk of losing access to vital government services, causing more suffering for decent, hard-working families.”
So far, I’ve received no press releases from any Republican legislators or from the two caucus leaders (or the Democratic leaders, for that matter). Keep an eye on this for updates, however.
…Adding… Rep. Kelly Cassidy…
This morning, Governor Rauner declared an impasse in negotiations with AFSCME, the union that represents over 38,000 child protection workers, nursing aides, correctional officers, human service workers and other state employees. Prior to this week, there was no indication negotiations would be broken off, and AFSCME has expressed their willingness to continue to bargain and work to find common ground.
Declaring an impasse creates chaos and is not the path to reaching a fair agreement. Negotiations are inherently difficult, but dedication to working through differences and achieving compromise is critically important.
Our state employees that help to keep us safe, respond to emergencies and care for our most vulnerable deserve more than bad faith negotiations and brutal cuts. Their work is vitally important, and putting in whatever effort it takes to reach a fair agreement is equally important.
I strongly urge all parties to recommit to sincere negotiation and work through the process to achieve compromise. While it is unclear what the result of an impasse could be, a strike or lockout would be devastating. Our social service system has already faced crushing difficulties under the budget impasse, causing many organizations to reduce services or shut their doors. This would further reduce critically important services for our most vulnerable citizens.
* Sen. Dave Koehler…
Having already shutdown the state budget process, Gov. Bruce Rauner is now walking away from labor talks with the state’s largest employee union.
On Friday, his office said there is an impasse in negotiations, even though labor groups claim they are willing to keep working toward a compromise.
“The Governor’s asking for an impasse to be declared by the labor board is disappointing. If this is a step to force a last and best offer on state workers, it will add even more chaos to state government,” said State Senate Dave Koehler (D-Peoria). “This is why I supported SB1229 – to engage both sides into interest arbitration as a way to settle the labor contract with AFSCME. Interest arbitration has been used successfully with police and firefighters in Illinois for many years, and would offer a reasonable way to end this dispute.”
Though the Rauner administration has contended it has reached settlements with all other unions representing state employees, in fact, no settlements have been reached with the six other unions representing more than 25,000 state employees, including state troopers and thousands of child and home health care providers.
“What we don’t need is to force state workers out on strike. The situation with not having a budget is bad enough. Let’s not make things worse,” said Koehler. “Compromise is hard work. I urge all involved to look for ways either through arbitration or mediation, to resolve the differences between the administration and the union.”
According to AFSCME, this past week, the union presented three separate proposals to the State, in which wages and health care were modified to better align with the administration’s framework, and an IDOC proposal was altered to create a joint labor-management committee to improve rehabilitative opportunities for inmates.
* Sen. Linda Holmes…
State Sen. Linda Holmes issued the following statement in response to Gov. Bruce Rauner’s Unfair Labor Practices Act petition to the Labor Relations Board against the largest state employee union.
The move is the first step in the possible declaration of an impasse in negotiations, a move which could force employees to strike.
“Governor Rauner assured the state employees who protect children, provide care to veterans and the elderly, staff our prisons and maintain our infrastructure that he would not walk away from the bargaining table or provoke a strike,” said Holmes, D-Aurora. “We can see now that he does not intend to honor that promise.”
The governor’s office has reached settlements with unions representing about 5,000 state employees, but negotiations have continued with six unions representing more than 25,000 state employees, including the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) Council 31. Among employees still waiting for a settlement are nurses, state troopers and thousands of home health care and child care providers legally defined as state employees for purposes of collective bargaining.
“This is picking a fight at a time when both sides should be working to reach an agreement,” Holmes said. “AFSCME has shown a willingness to negotiate in good faith, and Governor Rauner should do the same.”
*** UPDATE 1 *** Our first leader’s response in either party is from Jim Durkin…
“It is disappointing that after eleven months and 24 bargaining sessions there is no agreement on a new labor contract with AFSCME. Based upon the latest offer from AFSCME, it does not appear that they are sincere about negotiating with the administration and are not willing to make concessions regardless of the state’s ability to pay. I am stunned that AFSCME is still clinging to their 37.5 hour work week when 17 labor unions representing state employees agreed to a 40 hour week with the administration. Governor Rauner is correct in seeking a decision from the Illinois Labor Relations Board to determine whether there is an impasse. Governor Rauner has negotiated in good faith with AFSCME but at some point this must be brought to a conclusion for both taxpayers and state employees.”
“Governor Rauner has clearly demonstrated he can successfully negotiate labor contracts by compromising with unions. He has reached agreement with 17 labor unions which have been ratified by more than 80 percent of union members. He has also shown that he is a true advocate for taxpayers at the negotiation table — something AFSCME may not be accustomed to – but it’s the undisputed reality of our financial crisis.”
*** UPDATE 3 *** Press release…
State Representative Ed Sullivan (R-Mundelein) has expressed his unhappiness at the news Gov. Bruce Rauner has been forced to ask the Labor Relations Board to weigh-in on contract negotiations between his administration and the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME). Good faith negotiations agreed to in September appear to have stalled, causing the Governor to ask for the Labor Relations Board to rule on the matter of an impasse.
“It’s very unfortunate that the Governor has had to call on the Labor Relations Board to make a determination about an impasse with AFSCME,” said Sullivan. “Despite many claims to the contrary, Gov. Rauner has worked tirelessly to negotiate in good faith through 24 bargaining sessions and has already come to agreement with 17 other unions representing state employees. AFSCME doesn’t seem to understand that Illinois taxpayers are unable to handle the $3 billion in additional costs they are demanding.”
*** UPDATE 4 *** Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle…
“It is my view that leaders of government and its employees should work together for the public good. In our state, this often means reaching a mutually agreeable resolution in contract negotiations with collective bargaining units of government employees.
“Declaring an impasse as a way to pressure public service workers is, in my view, short-sighted and does nothing to engender trust between parties.
“In Cook County, we negotiated and have reached agreements with almost 100 separate collective bargaining units. I would urge the Governor to rethink his position, return to the negotiating table and respect the collective bargaining process.”
* Matt Dietrich at Reboot writes about the governor’s promise of “long-term gain” in exchange for short-term pain as it relates to MAP Grants…
The prospect of “long-term gain” is meaningless to a college student who’ll miss the coming semester because he/she had a promised state grant snatched away. The very concept of long-term gain is a cruel hoax if the end result is a state with universities irreparably damaged by an extended state funding drought and thousands of young people who have given up hope on attending college.
The same applies if this is allowed to happen in the interest of protecting the standard of living of the middle class. Many MAP recipients need college aid because they aspire to get into the middle class.
Rauner on Jan. 27 will deliver his second State of the State Address. If the MAP situation stays as it is today, an awful lot of young adults in Illinois will be a week or so into what would have been their spring semester as Rauner speaks in Springfield.
For them and the thousands of other Illinoisans affected directly and immediately by the Illinois budget crisis, this is no abstract exercise in political theory.
* Mayor Emanuel held his annual Martin Luther King interfaith breakfast today. Things got weird…
Prior to Emanuel’s breakfast, three African-American pastors leading a boycott of the event from religious leaders attempted to hold a news conference at the main entrance of the Hyatt Regency McCormick Place. Their bid to speak to the assembled cameras, however, was delayed by several minutes as a half-dozen angry protesters shouted obscenities at the ministers and claimed they had long been part of the city’s problems.
* Meanwhile…
Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle has decided not to show up at Mayor Rahm Emanuel's MLK interfaith breakfast.
* Yes, Democratic state’s attorney candidate Donna More actually said this to the county’s Democratic Central Committee yesterday…
“I’m not here today seeking your political endorsement,” More said in her remarks at party headquarters. “Politics has already done enough to damage our criminal justice system.”
Indignant snorts and half-stifled chuckles — but no audible applause — greeted More after she’d finished speaking.
Well, at least she got her name in the papers. But this is loser talk…
“I think it [not getting the endorsement] does help me, because I have been out there since the beginning of my campaign saying that we need an independent prosecutor, and Miss Foxx claims to be independent, but Toni Preckwinkle’s been doing her bidding since the beginning,” More said after the endorsement.
According to the party, Foxx got 85 percent of the vote.
A year after Gov. Bruce Rauner directed his administration to help local governments start putting their employee salary data on a state website, the information still hasn’t been posted.
A law directing the state to post the local information online was approved in 2012. A year ago Friday, Rauner issued an executive order aimed at getting things moving.
“It was never implemented. This is state law today,” Rauner said then. He blamed former Gov. Pat Quinn for not directing the state agency in charge of the website to get it done.
“No more,” Rauner said at the time. “We are going to get this done.”
Jason Gonzales is a 41-year-old consultant on a mission to beat House Speaker Michael Madigan, who was elected to the Illinois House before Gonzales was born.
Gonzales filed paperwork to run as a candidate in the March 15 Democratic primary in the 22nd District. Yes, Madigan’s district. He’s trying to beat Madigan in Madigan’s backyard.
He’s a consultant on a mission!
I’m betting that slogan ain’t gonna be on any bumper stickers.
And a friend just sent this screen cap of her browser as she attempted to access Gonzales’ campaign website at work…
* As we’ve already discussed, Senate President John Cullerton’s chief of staff Dave Gross and press secretary Rikeesha Phelon are leaving for the private sector.
* Our esteemed commenter “RNUG” (which stands for Retired Non Union Guy) takes a look at the governor’s latest move on AFSCME…
Reading the documents carefully is an interesting exercise.
Reading the list of concessions, I get a bit confused. While maintaining the status quo may not be a good thing, a lot of what they maintain are concessions are nothing more than agreeing to the status quo. I’ll admit there are a couple of items I would not have conceded. There are some others, from both sides, that just seem plain silly to me. And to the public who will read most of it as gobbly-gook, I’m sure all of it will seem crazy.
I did find the switching between 3rd person and 1st person a bit disorienting in some of the FAQs. That removes the appearance of objectivity that we expect in such answers.
Maintaining the $1000 bonus and 2% increase are the same thing is disingenuous. The amounts are different and will have different financial consequences. I understand they are trying to convey that, with both pensionable, there is a similar Fiscal impact on future salaries and budgets, but they phrased it poorly.
While trying to talk all around it, the State is, in fact, doubling the health insurance cost for the current coverage levels. They also mislead somewhat on the health insurance; if we stick with ACA terms, it would probably be more accurate to call it a gold plan instead of platinum.
From what I can see here, I’m guessing the health insurance is the major sticking point. If I was AFSCME, I would agree to the wage freeze in exchange for status quo or a slight percentage increase in the health insurance. IMO, minimizing the health insurance increases has more impact on the employees than gaining raises.
…Adding… Our “Rookie of the Year” commenter “Honeybear” offers some thoughts…
I just want to ask if posters could be respectful as we go into this labor unrest. This is going to be a horrifying time for a lot of families of public servants, mine included. Most of the folks I work with here live paycheck to paycheck, not because of financial irresponsibility but because life is more expensive. No one I work with drives a luxury car, has a large home, etc. The folks I work with are just solidly middle class working folks. The lucky ones have a spouse that works in the private sector. The ones that are really going to hurt are the younger single workers who are just starting out. God bless them, every one has said they won’t cross the picket. I ask that posters be respectful during this time. It’s horrific to face financial ruin. Please remember that you’re talking about fellow Illinoisans. I had sincerely hoped we wouldn’t be here.
AFSCME and the public-service workers we represent have worked hard to reach a fair agreement with the Rauner Administration, and we’re prepared to continue to do so. We reject the claim that the bargaining process is at an impasse.
It’s regrettable and damaging to the public interest that the governor has chosen a confrontational path. Just as Gov. Rauner is holding the state budget hostage, his “my way or no way” demands of state employees are the obstacle to a fair agreement. Rauner’s demands would force workers and their families pay double to keep their health care—making the Illinois state health plan the nation’s worst for any state workforce—while getting zero wage increase for four years. Instead of fairly compensating all workers, he wants to base bonuses on unknown criteria open to political favoritism. And the governor wants to wipe out protections against irresponsible privatization of public services. These are just some of more than 200 extreme demands the administration has made during this process.
Although we have serious disagreements with the governor’s positions, we reject the administration’s charge that we have not been “seriously negotiating.” The members of AFSCME’s rank-and-file elected bargaining committee have consistently responded to the administration’s demands with fair counterproposals. We’re committed to continuing to do so, and we don’t want disruption of the public services we provide. That’s why last summer we supported the option of both sides going before an independent arbitrator if our differences couldn’t be resolved by bargaining.
Unfortunately, the administration’s ongoing campaign of false claims about these negotiations makes compromise that much harder to achieve. Among their many misleading statements, the administration has never offered AFSCME the same terms as other unions. Some unions received vastly better terms on health insurance than those offered to AFSCME. Many others did not agree to a four-year pay freeze. We know of none who agreed to change hours of work or reduce overtime or holiday pay for employees who go above and beyond to serve. In any event, no union can be forced to accept the terms of other unions that have different circumstances and concerns.
The administration claims to want innovation, yet it has rejected our union’s proposals to work together to improve inmate rehabilitation programs in state prisons, rejected our proposals to ensure nondiscrimination in the hiring of women and minorities, and rejected our proposals for labor-management collaboration to improve public services.
Governor Rauner is wrong to walk away and try to end negotiations. Public-service workers who keep us safe, protect kids, respond to emergencies and care for the most vulnerable want to keep serving their communities, and they want to do their part to reach a fair agreement, but we can’t do it alone.
*** UPDATE 1 *** From the IFT…
100,000 IFT workers stand with AFSCME
WESTMONT, IL – In response to Governor Rauner’s move to declare impasse in negotiations with workers represented by AFSCME, Illinois Federation of Teachers (IFT) President Dan Montgomery issued the following statement:
“Governor Rauner’s actions today prove once again that his priority is forced conflict, not progress. The 100,000 workers of the Illinois Federation of Teachers, some of whom are also state employees, are proud to stand with AFSCME as we face a deceptive and irresponsible Governor willing to use middle-class families, the most vulnerable, and our students as a wager in his fanatical game. Make no mistake: this isn’t in service of financial savings for the state. This is an ideological obsession unfit for a state leader forcing chaos to enact a reckless and unpopular agenda. Our members go to work each day trying to help others, trying to resolve conflict, trying to educate our children. Governor Rauner could learn a thing or two from them.”
In addition to teachers, school staff, and higher education faculty at community colleges and universities throughout Illinois, the IFT includes thousands of public employees under dozens of agencies and statewide officeholders.
*** UPDATE 1 *** From Cinda Klickna, President of the Illinois Education Association…
“The 130,000 members of the Illinois Education Association support the members of AFSCME as they try to negotiate a fair contract with a governor who seeks confrontation instead of compromise.
Rather than negotiate a fair contract, Governor Rauner seems focused on picking fights with the hard-working men and women who provide services to the people of Illinois.
It is shameful that, as he enters his second year as the state’s top constitutional officer, Gov. Rauner remains either unwilling or unable to govern. The people who elected him deserve much better service than they have received from Gov. Rauner.
We urge Gov. Rauner to return to the bargaining table and negotiate a fair contract with the public service workers who keep us safe, protect kids, respond to emergencies and care for Illinois’ most vulnerable. It is what he was elected to do.”
After AFSCME Rejections, Administration Appeals to Labor Board
Labor Board to Determine if Parties at Impasse
SPRINGFIELD – Last week, AFSCME refused to seriously negotiate for the 24th bargaining session in a row on any of the core contract proposals presented by the Rauner Administration.
At the bargaining table, AFSCME made clear that they are unwilling to negotiate any contract similar to the ones agreed to by 17 other labor unions, which in many instances, were ratified by more than 80 percent of union members.
In the press, AFSCME described small changes to their proposal as “a big new offer.” The “big new offer” would end up costing the State billions over the next four years.
In response to AFSCME’s refusal to seriously negotiate, and in accordance with the tolling agreement, the Rauner Administration is now asking the Labor Board to determine whether or not the parties are at an impasse.
“While we have reached innovative and fair contracts with most unions and seen those contracts approved overwhelmingly by union members, AFSCME leadership unfortunately refuses to budge or offer reasonable proposals. We want to reach an agreement with AFSCME members, but their leaders have proven unwilling,” Governor Bruce Rauner said. “Instead of acting reasonable like the state’s other union leaders, AFSCME bosses have said no to merit bonuses, they’ve said no to programs to help minority employees, and they’ve said a 40-hour work week is too long. At a time of unprecedented fiscal crisis, AFSCME is pushing insurance and wage demands that would cost taxpayers more than $3 billion. As a result, we are asking the Labor Board to determine the next steps in the negotiating process.”
AFSCME vehemently rejected the Administration’s proposal to implement merit pay programs similar to ones welcomed by the 5 Teamsters and 12 other Trade Union bargaining units.
AFSCME vehemently rejected the Administration’s proposal that would maintain a 37.5-hour work week, but have overtime rate wages kick in only after completing a 40-hour work week. AFSCME rejected this offer despite the fact it is more generous than the 40-hour work week the Teamsters and Trade Unions ratified. Instead, AFSCME wants to only work 37.5 hours per week and immediately get paid overtime wages for any minute worked over 37.5 hours. They are also demanding double pay for regular holidays and even 2.5x pay for some “super holidays.”
AFSCME vehemently rejected the Administration’s proposal to make it easier to promote minority employees. Other unions welcomed efforts to promote minority employees.
AFSCME vehemently rejected a health insurance proposal that closely mirrors insurance proposals agreed to by the Trade Unions. Instead, AFSCME is demanding insurance that is considered platinum-plus under the Affordable Care Act. They are also demanding taxpayers subsidize over 80% of the cost of these platinum level plans, which is asking to pay silver-level premiums for a platinum-plus plan. Additionally, while the Teamsters agreed to maintain their current wages for the next four years, AFSCME is demanding wage increases that would cost taxpayers nearly $1 billion over the next four years. These demands come after many union members have already seen their salaries double since 2004. Illinois employees are now the third-highest paid in the nation – behind California and New Jersey - and the highest after adjusting for the higher cost of living in those states. Altogether, AFSCME’s wage and insurance demands would cost taxpayers over $3 billion.
Under the signed tolling agreement, the Labor Board must now determine whether the Administration and AFSCME are at impasse. During this time, the parties must adhere to all statutory obligations regarding good faith negotiations while the Labor Board is deciding the case. Quoting from the tolling agreement, this specifically means there can be no “strike, work stoppage, work slowdown, or lockout” until the Labor Board has determined that the parties are at an impasse. The Governor will comply with these and all other obligations regarding good faith negotiations.
We would love to continue negotiating if it meant we could reach a deal with AFSCME. AFSCME’s actions at the bargaining table and their comments over the last week are strong evidence why further negotiation is no longer worthwhile. While the Governor has indicated he now shares the views of his bargaining team that the parties are at an impasse, today’s action simply asks the Labor Board to resolve this dispute.
More from the FAQ…
The tolling agreement that the Governor and AFSCME signed and renewed several times prohibits either side from declaring impasse unilaterally. Today’s action does two things. First, it asks the Labor Board to determine that AFSCME has committed an unfair labor practice by bargaining in bad faith. Second, under the tolling agreement, the parties can ask the Labor Board to decide if they are at impasse, but only the Labor Board can make a final determination. All that the Governor did this morning is to ask the Labor Board to determine if AFSCME has been bargaining in bad faith and whether the parties are at an impasse. Since the parties disagree about whether they are at an impasse, the only tribunal that can answer this question is the Labor Board. […]
During the debate over SB 1229, the Governor committed to continue to negotiate in good faith, and he has kept that commitment. At the Governor’s initiative, the parties extended indefinitely the tolling agreement that was initially set to expire September 30, 2015. That agreement requires both parties to negotiate in good faith. AFSCME has not been bargaining in good faith. […]
The Board will now determine whether the Governor’s filing properly before it and, if so, whether an evidentiary hearing should be scheduled. If a hearing is scheduled, the Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) assigned to this matter will conduct the hearing and, after its conclusion, receive the parties’ written submissions. After the ALJ has ruled on these issues, either party can appeal to the Board. The Board will then issue the final decision. […]
Under the terms of the tolling agreement, it is the Labor Board’s right to decide if the parties are at impasse, whether the State has presented its best and final offer, and when it can be implemented. The Governor will accept the Board’s direction on these questions. It is critical to mention that the last offer made by the State to AFSCME is virtually identical to the agreements signed by 17 other unions. These agreements were ratified in many cases by over 80% of state employees in those unions. This is not a radical or extreme contract as AFSCME has portrayed, but one that is fair, reasonable, and overwhelming accepted by large portions of state government already. It is also reasonable when compared to our neighbors: under the State’s proposal, state workers would continue to make over $20,000 more per year, on average, than their peers in Indiana and Missouri.
* Progress Illinois interviewed former Gov. Pat Quinn this week…
Asked whether he has any plans to run in the next Illinois gubernatorial election, Quinn said he’s currently interested in grassroots organizing.
“I’m not too interested in candidacy campaigns and [all] that. I’m interested in petitions and referendums. That’s what I got started on when I started in Illinois politics 40 years ago. We did the petition drive that set up the Citizens Utility Board. So I’d like to do a referendum in Illinois this year, at least in the Chicago area. That gives people a chance to open up the government to more citizen participation.”
“There’s a lot of work to be done. This is the year to get it done,” he added. “We can’t let someone who stands in the way of progress, Bruce Rauner, stop the people of Illinois from getting progressive, fair government. And I want to say to the 130,000 students who are looking for their scholarship that they were promised, but it’s being denied by the governor, that we’re not gonna take that sitting down. We’ve gotta organize.”
So, he’s interested in running a petition drive, not in running for governor, then in the next breath blasts Rauner and brings up MAP Grants - always one of his pet programs.
* Until a year ago, Tyrell, 62, was the COO of Rahm Emanuel’s public school system…
Governor Bruce Rauner today announced today the Central Management Services Director Tom Tyrrell will be transitioning out of state government.
Governor Rauner has designated Mike Hoffman as the Acting Director of CMS. Hoffman is the current Chief Operating Officer of the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity (DCEO).
On Broad Street, a steady stream of people are swinging into a coffee shop serving lattes and elaborate scones. They can sip their drinks while hitting up the record store and eyeing instruments at a shop where Wilco buys gear. Or they can walk up the street for a haircut from a celebrity stylist, turn onto Main Street to grab a beer at one of the three craft breweries in town, then tuck into a chickenless chicken salad sandwich at the local vegan-friendly cafe.
Only a taxidermy parlor with a moose on its roof makes it plain that this isn’t Wicker Park but a small northwest Indiana town, population 16,500, just south of Gary, 35 miles from the Loop.
Griffith, with its suddenly cool six-block downtown, has a story that starts with the familiar Rust Belt tropes—a rail town hit hard by the rise of trucking in the ’70s, then hit again as area steel mills declined. Without jobs to keep young families in town, Griffith shuttered one of its four elementary schools—the one anchoring its downtown—in 2011. But then the story changed.
A $2 million shot in the arm and a $600,000 facade program triggered a reinvention straight out of a city planner’s dreams. Today, Griffith’s downtown is filled with young entrepreneurs building the kind of independent businesses that attract 20- and 30-somethings. In 2007, the vacancy rate downtown stood at 60 percent. Now it hovers around 7 percent.
Good on both Griffith and Indiana.
We don’t have to exactly copy this example, and it obviously can’t work everywhere because there are only so many hipsters to go around and only so many forgotten places that close to the Loop.
But we need more innovative thinking like this in Illinois. Everywhere in Illinois, including in the governor’s office. Enough with the anti-union stuff. Move the state forward.
* Gov. Bruce Rauner’s work on criminal justice reform has been highly commendable and even historic. He attended his criminal justice commission’s meeting yesterday…
Commissioners are still working to reach Rauner’s goal of reducing Illinois’ inmate population by 12,000 men and women over the next decade. They have delivered their first set of recommendations, and Rauner told commissioners he was excited about the report, calling it “excellent.”
“What I can guarantee you: I will work tirelessly to make sure this isn’t just something that just gathers dust,” he said. “I’m going to implement this.”
Rauner is the first sitting Illinois governor to have visited state prisons in years. He said they’re harsh, hostile places — but they don’t have to be that way. […]
Rauner said “everyone makes mistakes” and “everyone deserves a second chance.”
The group suggests more training for officers at every level, especially when dealing with race.
The Governor applauds that suggestion.
“I don’t think there’s any question that there’s bias in the system. I mean, the system is built by human beings and human beings have biases. We all do and some of them are more harmful than others and we’ve got to be honest about it and it’s really hard to be honest about it. This is a tough set of issues, but to serve the people of Illinois well we have to talk about it and not be afraid to talk about it,” said Gov. Rauner.
* But I wish he’d put as much thought into other vitally important issues as he obviously has on this one...
“I think everyone’s big concern is, as we do this, some of these things are going to require resources, and resources means money, and I think that’s just a point of anxiety,” said Brendan Kelley, St. Clair County state’s attorney.” […]
“There’s no question that sometimes to save money in the long run requires spending more money in the short run, and in Illinois, we haven’t been doing that for years,” Rauner said. “We’ve always taken the short-run decision, what cuts costs now and not what saves significant resources over a longer term. We’ve got to change that mindset.”
The governor added that the goal is to move the corrections system away from simply housing offenders and keeping them away from the public, and to focus on effective rehabilitation, such as substance abuse training, mental health treatment and counseling to ensure those offenders don’t make the same mistakes again.
“If we can implement (the commission’s) recommendations, I firmly believe that we can have the people of Illinois safer,” Rauner said. “I believe we can save taxpayer money, and most importantly, I believe we can help those who made mistakes lead productive lives and come back as productive, full citizens who are enhancing the quality of life for everyone in all of our communities around Illinois.”
* A Lutheran Social Services of Illinois internal memo…
January 14, 2016
Dear LSSI Staff Member,
Recently we asked you to contact your state legislators and Gov. Rauner to urge them to pass a state budget. Thank you for your continued advocacy on LSSI’s behalf.
This January, Illinois entered its 7th month without a state budget. No one anticipated a budget impasse of this length. LSSI is in the challenging position of responding to the deadlock’s impact on our ability to continue providing services to those in need. At this time, the state owes us more than $6 million for services delivered.
Over the past months, LSSI has been using a bank line of credit and available resources from our Cornerstone Foundation. As we worked with the state regarding nonpayment for services provided, LSSI leadership began exploring options to restructure our programs and contain costs. As we finalize plans for a restructured organization, we will keep you informed in the coming weeks of the changes this will bring. I can assure you we have taken these steps with careful deliberation and prayerful consideration.
We urge you to contact your legislators and the governor’s office to let them know how critical it is for them to pass a state budget.
During these challenging times, we are grateful for your continued prayers and support of our mission.
In Faith,
Mark A. Stutrud
President and CEO
It’s no secret that I’m a big fan of this group, which serves 97,000 people across the state. It cannot be allowed to whither on the vine.
Click here for information on LSSI’s good works. Click here to donate your money or your time. Thanks.
* You get the feeling we’re heading for something big? The full letter from AFSCME to the governor’s office can be read by clicking here…
That’s a pretty darned big difference of opinion about what was said last Friday.
* By the way, the governor’s chief legal counsel Jason Barclay had this to say to Jim Dey earlier in the week…
As negotiations continue, AFSCME’s previous contract remains in place, meaning benefits they might lose under a new deal remain as well.
Barclay said that gives AFSCME a “perverse incentive to drag out the negotiations as long as possible.”
*** UPDATE *** Governor’s office…
Hi, Rich:
Passing along the following.
“This letter is filled with more falsehoods and misleading statements from AFSCME, the most glaring of which is that we have been expressing our frustration and concern to them for many months about their refusal to seriously bargain on the Governor’s core proposals. This is exactly why we asked last Friday whether future negotiating sessions would be worthwhile.”
Again, he blamed the budget impasse on Democratic House Speaker Mike Madigan, renewing his most inflammatory charge that Madigan, an attorney in private practice, is personally profiting from Illinois’ dysfunction.
“He doesn’t want to change anything because he loves the status quo because he’s making a lot of money from high real estate taxes in Chicago,” Rauner claimed.
When it was pointed out that Rauner seemed on the verge of calling Madigan corrupt, he responded, “The political class in Illinois has been running the government for their own benefit for decades.”
And the governor admonished Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel, with whom he shared an expensive bottle of wine a few years ago after the two millionaires worked together on a merger deal. Rauner said Emanuel is a lot more conservative than the mayor puts on in public.
“(I want the mayor to) say publicly what he’ll say privately. He’s not fighting for his city,” Rauner said. “Its outrageous that the Mayor’s trying to blame me and others for his failure.
“But you guys are supposed to be pals, friends. Are you not friends anymore?” we asked.
“Anybody who helps me improve the quality of life and future for Illinois residents is my friend. Anybody who blocks it is not my friend,” Rauner saud,
The mayor was asked Wednesday to respond to the “litany” of criticisms Gov. Bruce Rauner has leveled at him in recent days as the two continue their public tango over education spending in Chicago Public Schools and the governor’s call for the mayor to help him pass his agenda in Springfield.
Emanuel noted Rauner has been making the rounds in recent days to talk to reporters about his first year in the governor’s mansion, and suggested he was attacking others because he can’t follow the usual playbook of touting his own victories.
“First of all, this is the governor’s one-year anniversary in office as the governor,” he said. “There’s a great phrase by a former chief executive in public life, Harry S Truman: The buck stops here. And on the one-year anniversary, a lot of people note what they’ve gotten done. I think it’s a reflection on the governor that he is taking his one-year anniversary and talking about everyone else except for the one person that’s accountable — where the buck stops for the state of Illinois — and that’s him. And so my recommendation is rather than pointing fingers at everyone else and talking about their work, he should take the time to talk about his work and the accomplishments, or the lack thereof, that would reflect the one year of his tenure.”
* It’s been rumored for weeks that Trump was gonna do this (I wrote about it last month sometime), but then he blew it…
Donald Trump’s campaign tried to get his rival Republicans kicked off the ballot in Illinois – but the attempt failed when his state chair failed to bring duplicate copies of the required forms.
The Guardian has learned that on Wednesday, the last day for candidates to object to signatures submitted by rival campaigns to get on the ballot, chair Kent Gray showed up at the Illinois board of elections a few minutes before it closed. Illinois has some of the toughest ballot access laws in the country, and qualifying for the ballot requires gathering a different number of signatures in each of the state’s 18 congressional districts. Candidates often stumble trying to fulfill the state’s requirements; conservative challenger Rick Santorum faced major obstacles in 2012. […]
State politicians have long had a “gentleman’s agreement” that candidates would not attempt to contest each other’s signatures and throw each other off the ballot. But challenging petition signatures as a form of political chicanery in the Land of Lincoln has a long history. Barack Obama first won election to the state senate in 1996 by successfully challenging the signatures of his incumbent opponent and getting her removed from the ballot.
It had been widely reported that the campaign of Governor John Kasich of Ohio, a vocal Trump critic, had problems gathering signatures in Illinois, and representatives of Kasich, along with the campaigns of Florida senator Marco Rubio and neurosurgeon Ben Carson, were monitoring for any objections from rival camps. It seemed that they had dodged a bullet until Gray walked in attempting to object to a number of candidates on the grounds that some of their signatures were invalid, although exactly who he focused on is unclear.
But Illinois law requires that someone objecting to a candidate’s nominating papers bring both the original and two duplicates. Gray only brought the original. His arrival in the board of elections office with just minutes left set off a scramble among those campaigns who had representatives there to monitor proceedings. Several had brought objections of their own to file defensively, only if someone objected to their presence on the ballot.
Apparently, money can’t buy everything.
Even so, for all the big talk from the Kasich supporters here about how Trump probably wouldn’t even make it to the ballot, they narrowly missed a stinging embarrassment.
“They’re definitely going to have to pay a higher yield,” said Dan Solender, head of municipals at Lord Abbett & Co. in Jersey City, New Jersey, which manages $17 billion of the debt, including Illinois bonds. “They’re going to be penalized compared to other bonds of similar ratings.” […]
Illinois is going to have to price the deal “pretty attractively” in order to get a good reception from investors, said Dan Heckman, a senior fixed-income strategist in Kansas City at U.S. Bank Wealth Management, which oversees $130 billion.
* The sale was today. Did the bond vigilantes win the day? Nope…
Hi, Rich –
Wanted to pass along this info on today’s bond sale.
The winning bidder of today’s $480 million General Obligation bond sale was Bank of America Merrill Lynch at a rate of 3.99%. This is a better rate than the last four tax-exempt GO bond sales. The previous rate of the last GO competitive bond sale in April 2014 was 4.08%.
The state received nine bids in today’s competitive bid. The bonds were issued to continue Illinois’ road construction programs, which are essential to maintain public infrastructure, improve public safety and create construction jobs.
The 161-basis-point spread over MMD’s scale is down from Illinois’ 170-basis-point spread in the secondary muni market heading into the bond sale. But the spread is wider than the 111 basis point spread for 25-year bonds in Illinois’ last sale in 2014.
So, the spread is definitely wider, but we saw plenty of bids and a rate that isn’t crazy high, considering.
Rauner and his team speak their language, so that probably helped. Not to mention that bond payments are made first. We’ll have to go a very long time without a budget before those payments are endangered.
* From Emily Miller at Voices for Illinois Children…
Hi Rich.
I noticed that you posted about the Governor’s projection that his policy agenda would bring an increase in revenue of about $510 million to the state. Given that we are billions in the hole as the result of the loss of revenue from tax cuts and the ever growing backlog of bills, I wonder why his policy agenda gets so much air time when it’s clear that the revenue generated doesn’t come close to what this state needs to even keep the lights on.
That aside, what’s really clear right now, and perhaps what everyone needs to be reminded of, is who is not “winning” right now under anyone’s definition. Here is a small sampling of the ongoing impact of the budget impasse:
* The central office of The Autism Project, which is the largest network of autism service programs, closed on September 30th, leaving virtually no services for children on the autism spectrum who are non-verbal in Illinois.
* 5,458 people, including children, who receive emergency and transitional housing have had their services reduced or eliminated. An additional 2,729 clients will have their services reduced or eliminated if the budget impasse continues through the first quarter of 2016. It’s winter, so while there’s never an ideal time to lose housing and become homeless, winter is probably the worst.
* The Sudden Infant Death Program no longer provides free training for parents, health providers and law enforcement. They receive 4 or 5 requests for safe cribs weekly, but they haven’t had money for safe cribs since September. Meanwhile, the program director has reported that death reports of infants who died in unsafe sleeping environments continue to come in.
* Redeploy Illinois, a DHS program that saves the state millions by diverting youth from incarceration in the Department of Juvenile Justice, is shut down in 23 counties. 6 additional counties are considering closing their operations. Last year, 316 youth were successfully diverted from the DJJ system, so elimination of the program entirely would lead to a roughly 45.6% increase in the DJJ population.
* Even the bills to provide funding patches don’t actually relieve the problem. While domestic violence money got passed in SB2049 and payment for services to date were received, agencies are holding off on rehiring laid off staff because they are not certain about the sustainability of future funding.
We have to start acknowledging that every day that goes by without a budget makes getting to a fully-funded budget even harder. Bills continue to pile up and infrastructure continues to crumble. Voices for Illinois Children certainly hopes leaders can start talking solutions sooner than the Governor has suggested.
[Reforming the prevailing wage] lowers the costs paid by taxpayers for construction projects by implementing true competitive bidding. In many cases, prevailing wage increases labor costs by more than 20 percent. From 2002-2011 state and local governments overspent by $1.6 billion on education construction projects alone due to our prevailing wage laws. Altogether, local units of government could save $1.1 billion per year with prevailing wage reforms. That is money that could go directly into classrooms and our communities, but instead we spend it overpaying for projects.
Labor’s cost is usually somewhere around 20 percent, so that’s a fantasy unless we can eliminate workers entirely. Plus, I’ve already looked at this…
A June, 2014 study conducted by the Anderson Economic Group for the far-right Illinois Policy Institute, the Illinois Association of School Boards, the Illinois Chamber and the Illinois Black Chamber found that eliminating the prevailing wage would’ve saved local school districts $126.4 million in 2011 (that’s in 2013 dollars, by the way). […]
So, even if every single local school district throughout Illinois immediately stopped paying prevailing wage rates on construction projects (not gonna happen) and even if eliminating the prevailing wage does indeed save as much as the Anderson study projected (doubtful), school districts could’ve saved a grand total of 0.74 percent of their property tax budgets, which is not much more than a rounding error. Now figure, in reality, savings of at most half that amount and we’re looking at about a third of a percentage point. That’s not even a rounding error.
Not to mention that the total percentage saved from allowing local governments to opt-in to eliminate the prevailing wage in their actual operating budgets is quite a bit smaller because to get an accurate count you’d have to add in revenues from local sales taxes, state and federal money, etc. Charitably, are we talking maybe a quarter of a percentage point saved here? If that?
* Keep in mind that Chicago’s janitorial and cafeteria contracts have become a nightmare…
Every year state government adds mandates onto our school districts and local governments. Additionally, under Governor Blagojevich, the state severely restricted the ability of school districts to contract with outside vendors for things like busing, janitorial and cafeteria services.
Chicago Public Schools is already relieved of many of these mandates and restrictions, but we impose them on every other district, despite the fact that schools districts have requested relief from these requirements for years. Just last month, the Large Unit District Association (LUDA), which represents the 55 largest school districts in the state and educates more than half of the state’s school children, wrote to our administration to again request relief from these mandates. A copy of LUDA’s letter is enclosed. Let’s give our schools the help they are asking for – it doesn’t cost us anything and can save them more than $200 million.
• Personal Income Tax Savings by Ending Out- Migration: $140 million
• Revenue Growth by Making Illinois “Average” in Unemployment: $150 Million
• Revenue Growth if Average Gross State Product: $220 Million
All this pain inflicted to maybe produce an additional $510 million in revenues?
For crying out loud, that’s a 1.4 percent increase over Fiscal Year 2015.
Good grief.
…Adding… As a pal just pointed out, the additional projected revenue probably won’t even cover the interest on the state’s backlogged bills from this impasse.
…Adding More… From a Republican friend…
Plus you need to factor in the cost of their tax increase into their economic growth calculation. The point is that they can’t argue that these anti-labor changes will magically produce $510 million of economic growth/revenue and then discount the negative effect of a tax increase on economic growth.
CHANGE ILLINOIS RESEARCH EXPLAINS HOW PARTISAN VOTING MAPS LED TO DECLINE IN VOTER CHOICES IN LEGISLATIVE ELECTIONS
CHICAGO – Partisan redistricting of Illinois state legislative district maps has created continuing partisan bias in election outcomes while making it far less likely that voters will have a choice between candidates of both major parties in the general election, and voters in primary elections have even fewer choices, according to a new research report published by CHANGE Illinois.
“By any measure, the level of competition and competitiveness in legislative elections under the last four partisan maps is extremely low and getting worse,” according to Partisan Advantage and Competitiveness in Illinois Redistricting. “These findings call into question the effectiveness of legislative elections in providing a meaningful incentive for citizen engagement. They also undermine the conventional wisdom that the members of the Illinois General Assembly are elected by the consent of Illinois residents.”
CHANGE Illinois published the new research, which was conducted by political reform veteran Cynthia Canary and Kent Redfield, professor emeritus of Political Studies at the University of Illinois at Springfield. It examines questions about whether the partisan advantage gained through a new legislative map has lasting effects beyond the first post-redistricting election and whether the lack of contested and competitive elections under such partisan legislative maps extends to primary elections as well as general elections. The new report updates and expands the Canary-Redfield 2014 report, Backroom Battles & Partisan Gridlock: Redistricting in Illinois.
The report’s findings include:
* In 2012, Democratic candidates in the House won 52 percent of the total vote and 60 percent of the seats, and Democratic candidates in the Senate won 54 percent of the vote and 68 percent of the seats. In 2014 in a midterm election favoring Republicans, the partisan bias in the 2011 maps still delivered for Democratic candidates. While the margin in total votes cast for Democrats running in legislative elections shrank to a near-tie statewide, Democrats still won 71 House seats, a 60 percent majority. The Democrats also won 11 of the 19 Senate seats that were up in 2014 while receiving less than a majority of the total votes cast in those 19 districts.
* The percentage of General Assembly elections featuring at least two candidates has decreased significantly over time. In the first election under a new map in 1982 and 1992, a strong majority of the elections were contested. By 2012, 60 percent of House elections and 51 percent of Senate elections were uncontested. In 2014, 58 percent of House elections were uncontested. Due to staggered terms, there was an election in only one-third of the Senate districts, and 12 of the 19 (63 percent) were uncontested.
* The degree of competition in Illinois legislative elections is low and declining. When a winning candidate’s vote total is 55 percent or less, the district is considered “competitive.” On average over the past four decades, 88 percent of voters (104 of 118 House races, 52 of 59 Senate races) had no choice at all on the ballot or a choice between a sure winner and a sure loser.
* There has been a dramatic increase in the number of legislators elected without even a token opponent in both the primary and the general election.
* In 1982, 20 of the 177 legislators elected faced no opponent in either the primary or the general. In 2012, 69 legislators had no opponent in both the primary and the general election – essentially given a free pass.
* The number of “free pass” legislators elected increased in 2014 even though only one-third of the Senate was up for election. In 2014, 58 (49 percent) of those elected to the House did not have an opponent in the primary or the general election, as did 12 of 19 (63 percent) of those elected to the Senate.
* Voters in primary elections have even fewer choices for participation, engagement, and communication than voters in general elections. In the 2014 primary election, 89 percent of House and 95 percent of the Senate legislative primaries were uncontested.
* The level of primary activity in districts dominated by one party is very low and has decreased significantly under the last two partisan maps. Under the 2001 and 2011 maps, the average number of same-party competitive primaries in districts dominated by one party was 11 percent in the House and 4 percent in the Senate. This clearly indicates that voters in districts dominated by one political party in the general election were rarely presented with meaningful choices in the primaries.
“Illinois’ partisan redistricting process undermines our democracy and discourages civic participation,” said Ra Joy, Executive Director of CHANGE Illinois. “We need to put people before partisanship and have fair maps drawn by an impartial commission listening to voters and acting in the open. That’s why CHANGE Illinois supports the Independent Map Amendment
Discuss.
*** UPDATE *** Decent points…
I hate bad studies. Redistricting thing published today just looked at IL and didn't compare other states w/ partisan/nonpartisan processes.
* I saw yet another TV ad last night for “Start-Up New York” on my local station. So, I surfed over to the website…
What is START-UP NY?
START-UP NY offers new and expanding businesses the opportunity to operate tax-free for 10 years on or near eligible university or college campuses in New York State.
Partnering with these schools gives businesses direct access to advanced research laboratories, development resources and experts in key industries.
Who is START-UP NY for?
To participate in START-UP NY, your company must meet the following requirements:
* Be a new business in New York State, or an existing New York business relocating to or expanding within the state
* Partner with a New York State college or university
* Create new jobs and contribute to the economic development of the local community
157 business have already joined START-UP NY and committed to create 4,278 new jobs and invest over $225 million across New York [over five years]. That’s a great start.
We don’t have to copy it. We don’t have to spend as much as NY on advertising. And, like with NY, it will take time to accomplish whatever we set out to do.
* All I’m saying here is that perhaps we can look at doing other things besides lowering the pay, benefits and job protections of working people to get something moving in Illinois.
They are drafting policies to refocus economic development strategies that leverage viable business clusters already blooming in a particular area. In the five-county region covered by the Southern Illinois Workforce Development Board – Jackson, Williamson, Perry, Jefferson and Franklin – those clusters have been determined as, in this order, health care, transportation, distribution and logistics and manufacturing.
They also are attempting to close skill gaps identified in the regional workforce by beefing up access to technical education programs for high school students, and offering access to technology training for older adults.
They are reshaping programs that train people new to the workforce, or who are being retrained for a second career after a layoff or other life event, and they are crafting new programs for incumbent workers to keep their skills updated as companies adapt to new technologies or ways of doing business.
With regards to adult education, bridge programs are being implemented to transition someone from a high school equivalency degree to a post-secondary education to a job. There’s a greater emphasis being placed on vocational rehabilitation to help people overcome barriers to achieving employment, as well as targeted programs to help youth enter the job market, particularly those who drop out of school and lack employable skills.
“I am the head of the Republican Party, so I’ll be involved in advocating for candidates,” said Rauner, who insisted his primary focus will remain on government, a stance he accused the speaker of not sharing.
“(Madigan) has always been focused on the next election. It’s not policy, it’s the next election. But he’s taken it to another level right now,” Rauner said. “And I don’t know all the reasons why. I don’t know. But he’s very focused on positioning and posturing.”
For the answer, scan through IllinoisGO’s (for the primary) and the governor’s (for the general) multi-million dollar contribution disclosure reports. There’s also the little matter of the possibility that the Speaker could be slammed with millions of dollars in spending by or on behalf of his pro-business Democratic primary opponent.
* Self-serving grandstanding, but also no surprise, considering she knew she wasn’t going to be slated and, like State’s Attorney Anita Alvarez, will attempt to somehow use the party slating against Foxx in a partisan primary (all the while being accused of supporting Bruce Rauner - not an easy feat)…
Police officers are making drastically fewer investigative stops and confiscating fewer guns as murders and shootings have increased so far this year, DNAinfo Chicago has learned.
So far this year, the number of so-called investigative stop reports — formerly known as “contact cards” — has decreased by about 80 percent compared to the same time period last year, police sources told DNAinfo.com.
There also been a 37-percent decline in gun arrests and a 35-percent decrease in gun confiscations compared to last year, according to police data.
Meanwhile, there have been 72 more shootings (a 218 percent increase) and 10 more murders (a 125 percent spike) than the same time period in 2015, according to police data. […]
“I’ll leave that up to by the common sense of the citizens as to why things are not as productive … investigative stop wise,” Fraternal Order of Police president Dean Angelo said.
“I’ve been out to roll calls and so have our board of directors … and what we’re hearing is that officers think that the FOP is the only group of people who have their back. … I’ve never seen things like this in my 35 years. … I’ve never seen morale this bad in my career.”
They’re playing right into Rauner’s hands.
If the cops aren’t doing their jobs, and the union is making cynical excuses for them, well, then perhaps the state has to go after the union.
The superintendent acknowledged there has been a recent decrease in gun seizures, but said he doesn’t believe the increased scrutiny on the department has affected morale.
“We have to be concerned, always, about morale; but right now I’m not overly concerned, no,” he said.
Escalante said there has been some confusion over new procedures, and that might be slowing things down for officers.
Officer Enrique Delgado-Hernandez – in front of the boss – said heightened scrutiny, new training in the use of force, and extra paperwork amid the fallout from the McDonald scandal have not led to a slowdown of policing.
* I told subscribers about this earlier in the week. Here’s Bernie…
DAVE GROSS of Jacksonville, chief of staff to Senate President JOHN CULLERTON, D-Chicago, is leaving that post to go into political consulting and lobbying.
“It’s going to be interesting,” Gross told me. “It’s going to be challenging, and I’m excited about it. The president’s been great about this, and I’m looking forward to trying my hand at it.” […]
Also leaving the Senate Democratic staff is RIKEESHA PHELON, 38, who has been press secretary to Cullerton since 2009. She is forming her own company, Phelon Public Strategies.
Phelon, who will not be a lobbyist, said she can help her clients with a mix of knowledge of “what’s going on under the dome,” combined with “Chicago media reach.”
Those are two top-notch people. Phelon is a particular favorite on the blog, winning a Golden Horseshoe Award last month.
Cullerton, in turn, took to the microphone to note the departure of his spokeswoman Rikeesha Phelon, who is leaving state government to start a consulting firm.
“She’s the one who says the things I need to say, but says them better than I do,” said Cullerton, who is known for his sarcastic sense of humor that can sometimes get him in trouble.
Chicago was a finalist to score General Electric’s corporate headquarters — and 800 jobs — but the state’s pension crisis and the condition of Chicago’s public schools helped remove it from the running, sources close to the selection process told the Tribune on Wednesday.
On Wednesday, GE announced it would move its headquarters from its longtime home in Fairfield, Conn., to Boston.
Mayor Rahm Emanuel “did a good job” and “worked hard at presenting the case for Chicago” and Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner “did a fantastic job,” one source said.
Many factors went into the decision, including a strong presence and thousands of employees GE already has in Connecticut, Massachusetts and New York, the source said.
The decision by GE to move its headquarters — and deliver about 800 jobs — from suburban Connecticut to the Seaport District follows a feverish campaign by Massachusetts officials, who beat out New York, Providence, and several other cities.
City and state officials are offering what could be one of the richest incentive deals in the state’s history — together valued at as much as $145 million — to lure the company here.
A generous offer like that from Illinois and Chicago would’ve been sharply attacked in this current political climate, to say the least.
So, perhaps if this state’s leaders weren’t fighting so much, some of those pension and school issues could’ve been addressed and perhaps GE would’ve been more amenable to moving here. Notice, the GE sources didn’t mention the prevailing wage and “right to work.” A stable political climate may have also made a big economic development package possible.
* Even so, there’s also the regional issue mentioned above. GE already has lots of employees fairly near Boston, and when GE Healthcare announced its headquarters move to Chicago this week, the company’s existing regional presence ranked high…
GE Healthcare announced Monday it will move its global headquarters from the United Kingdom to Chicago.
The company said the move would be effective early this year and is designed to move the top leadership for its health care business “closer to operations in Chicago and Milwaukee, while remaining near an international transportation hub.”
GE Healthcare, which employs about 6,000 people in Wisconsin and 51,000 worldwide, had total revenue of $18.3 billion in 2014.
* Look, I don’t doubt that pensions and schools were in the mix. But I also don’t doubt that a less dysfunctional political system could’ve made those issues far less important. Could we have still scored the GE headquarters? I don’t know. Regionalism concerns were definitely working heavily against us.
Whatever the case, this ought to be a wakeup call. The state needs to get moving again.
Emanuel and Rauner personally met with GE brass, both here and on the East Coast. The state offered $50 million in Edge tax credits. While there were doubts at the beginning that GE would really consider moving its HQ to the Windy City despite having numerous business lines in this area, “they were totally blown away” after a meeting here in September, one insider says.
But during that meeting, Rauner said some things about soon ending the state’s budget wars. Accounts differ, but some say he effectively promised action within a few months.
He obviously hasn’t delivered. Shortly thereafter, the McDonald shooting flap erupted, and Emanuel “lost all of his clout in Springfield, at least for now,” says one insider with firsthand knowledge of the situation.
Did that make a difference in GE’s decision?
Chicago was in it until late fall, says one source familiar with the search process. “It was the entire budget picture between Chicago and the state,” the source says. “CPS was a big concern of theirs.”
“It absolutely was not the city’s situation,” counters another. “The business atmosphere of the city was a huge plus.”
Says a third insider, “Any shot that Chicago did have disappeared when Rauner couldn’t deliver on his promise.”
Union members and leaders from up and down the state met on Wednesday to vote on Illinois AFL-CIO endorsements for the 2016 Primary Election.
Nearly 150 delegates representing regional organizations, fire fighters, teachers, construction workers and medical professionals, among many other workers gathered to make candidate recommendations to the state federation leadership.
“One year to the day after Bruce Rauner was sworn in as Governor, we began the work of defeating Rauner’s allies in the General Assembly. Labor is united and ready to mobilize,” said Illinois AFL-CIO President Michael T. Carrigan. “We endorsed against a Democrat that stood with Rauner and his anti-worker agenda and we supported one of the only Republicans to stand up to the Governor. It’s not about political parties, it’s about who is willing to invest in middle class working families. The delegates understood the clear choices in front of them.”
In December, the Illinois AFL-CIO endorsed Juliana Stratton in the 5th State House District against incumbent Democrat Ken Dunkin, who has sided with Rauner on multiple issues and prevented veto overrides by not voting on key measures. On Wednesday, the state federation endorsed Sen. Sam McCann in the 50th District Senate GOP Primary. After publicly sparring with Rauner on labor issues, McCann now faces Republican opposition from a Rauner-backed opponent.
“We expect Rauner to continue poisoning progress with his obsession on passing his so-called Turnaround Agenda,” Carrigan added. “He will give money to candidates. We will knock on doors and talk to our co-workers and neighbors. Rauner has a fat checkbook to buy TV ads, but workers and their unions have thousands of volunteers that will visit neighbors and call friends and co-workers to discuss why his plans only benefit those in the boardroom, not families around the kitchen table.”
The Illinois AFL-CIO, which represents unions with 1.5 million registered voters, endorsed statewide candidates Tammy Duckworth for U.S. Senate and Susana Mendoza for Comptroller in September.
The non-partisan coalition for Illinois legislative maps to be drawn by an independent commission applauded President Obama’s support of redistricting reform across the nation, and urged the President to support the reform efforts in his home state.
“The President’s words in the State of the Union Address – ‘We have to end the practice of drawing our congressional districts so that politicians can pick their voters, and not the other way around.’ – hold true for redistricting of the Illinois General Assembly where he once served,” said Dennis FitzSimons, Chair of Independent Maps.
“The Independent Map Amendment will end the practice that now allows politicians to pick their voters, and not the other way around,” FitzSimons said. “We are heartened by President Obama’s commitment to travel the country to advocate redistricting reform, and we urge him to bring that campaign to Illinois where reform is so badly needed.”
“Voters in Illinois are demanding change in the way the Illinois General Assembly is elected,” said Dave Mellet, Campaign Manager of Independent Maps. “Our coalition is diverse and includes many who have supported his past campaigns, as well as some opponents. We don’t agree on all policy issues, but we stand together for reform of the system, for elections to be fair, for votes to count and for voices to be heard.”
But that means if we want a better politics — and I’m addressing the American people now — if we want a better politics, it’s not enough just to change a congressman or change a senator or even change a President. We have to change the system to reflect our better selves. I think we’ve got to end the practice of drawing our congressional districts so that politicians can pick their voters, and not the other way around. (Applause.) Let a bipartisan group do it. (Applause.)
He was talking about congressional reapportionment, but I don’t blame them for using it to their own advantage.
From: Richard Goldberg, Deputy Chief of Staff for Legislative Affairs
To: Members of the General Assembly
Date: January 13, 2016
Re: Illinois Public Universities Need Reform Badly
Over the last 14 years, Illinois public universities raised tuition rates by more than 200%, generating $1.5 billion in new revenue for their Income Funds. Unfortunately, the General Assembly has no control over each university’s Income Fund, no control over the spending that occurs within these funds, nor does it have the information needed to determine how fiscally responsible Illinois universities are with Income Fund revenue.
We encourage members of both sides of the aisle to ask Illinois public universities what reforms they are willing to adopt to cut waste, root out cronyism, improve outcomes and achieve savings of taxpayers money (e.g. cutting waste, procurement reform, pension reform, workers’ compensation reform).
• Administrative Staff: According to the Senate Democratic Caucus’ “Investigative Report” on Executive Compensation at Illinois Higher Education Institutions: From 2004 to 2010, administrative staff at Illinois’ public universities increased 31.1%, while part-time and full- time students increased a mere 2.3%. In FY11, the average student-to-administrator ratio for the nine universities was approximately 45 students for every one administrator. More than 1,500 university employees make more than the statutory salary set for the Governor.
• Executive Compensation: According to the same report, university executive compensation includes a base salary, pension and health insurance, and in many cases, it includes some or all of the following: car and driver services, memberships to multiple country clubs and social organizations, performance bonuses, annuities, and retirement enhancements.
• Golden Parachutes: Even when university leaders are forced to resign for misconduct, they are often treated to lavish golden parachutes. Illinois State gave fired President Timothy Flanagan $480,418 in severance after just 7 months on the job. The University of Illinois attempted to pay fired Chancellor Phyllis Wise $400,000 in severance until public outcry led to a reversal.
• Private Jets: According to The Southern, over the past two years, Southern Illinois University administrators spent more than $180,000 on in-house chartered airplane flights. Just last year, SIU spent $1,745.60 to fly legislators to a hearing opposing the Governor’s proposed budget savings.
• Board Meetings: Between 2008 and 2014, spending on university Board meetings increased by nearly 70%. In 2014, the University of Illinois’ Board met 8 times for a total cost of $166,100.
• Tuition and Fee Waivers: Despite increases in tuition costs, public universities increased the amount of money spent on discretionary tuition and fee waivers. In FY14, for example, Graduate tuition and fee waivers for all public universities totaled $341.1 million – close to the amount of savings proposed in the Governor’s FY16 budget.
• Employee Pensions and Health Care: In FY15, taxpayers paid $1.5 billion to support the State University Retirement System (SURS) on behalf of higher education employees. In the past decade, the annual payment the state makes to SURS has increased by $1.3 billion or 466.8%. Meanwhile, the state picks up the tab for 85% of the public universities and community colleges’ contributions to Group Health Insurance (GHI). In FY14, that cost totaled $685 million; in FY15, that cost is expected to rise to $700 million or more.
• Using State Funds To Lobby The State: Six Illinois public universities employ a combined eight lobbying firms to lobby state government. In the past, Eastern Illinois University paid Senator Dick Durbin’s wife $627,000 over a period of 13 years to lobby on the University’s behalf.
As you can see, there is a need for a healthy and high-minded debate on how the university system spends the money the state provides and, more importantly, how it spends the money Illinois families are paying in tuition.
As you know, appropriating hundreds of millions of dollars in General Revenue Funds for MAP or general higher education without finding offsets – whether in the form of spending reductions or cost-saving reforms – could trigger a cash flow crisis in Illinois.
Our office stands ready to work with any member of the General Assembly who wants to find a sensible and responsible way to fund MAP and higher education without triggering a cash flow crisis by tying such funding to spending reductions in other areas of GRF or one of many cost-saving reforms.
We discussed that Senate Democratic investigative report, which was a doozy.
The SIU airplane stuff is mostly (but not all) about getting flight time for aviation students. And, of course, the Prince of Snarkness couldn’t help himself from taking a shot at Durbin for his recent comments about the governor.
* The rest of this is pretty much on-point, however, and it’s good to see they’re willing to work on finding a way to fund MAP Grants.
A few Senate Democrats held a press conference today to discuss the importance of those grants, so maybe people can start moving forward.
* Public Opinion Strategies polled likely GOP voters in Congressman John Shimkus’ district. Shimkus is up against state Sen. Kyle McCarter. If the poll is accurate, McCarter has a very long way to go to even be competitive. From the pollster…
Key Findings
1. Kyle McCarter has wasted three months of the campaign. Neither his name ID nor his
favorables have moved.
Back in October, McCarter had 36% name ID, with a 15% favorable/3% unfavorable image with GOP primary voters. Now, in January, he has 34% name ID, with a 13% fav/4% unfav – which is a statistically insignificant movement.
2. Meanwhile, the work that Congressman John Shimkus and his team have done has paid off.
In October, the Congressman had a solid 56% favorable/13% unfavorable image. Now, it has improved to an even better 63% fav/9% unfav image. (His name ID is 90% or better in both polls).
3. This is a district that likes its Republican leaders – Governor Bruce Rauner has a strong image here.
Bruce Rauner has 97% name ID, with a strong 67% favorable/14% unfavorable image. The Governor’s support for Shimkus is a political plus for both.
4. Shimkus remains well ahead on the ballot test.
In October, Shimkus led McCarter 63%-15% on the ballot. There has not been any statistically significant movement since then, as the Shimkus lead is currently 65%-13%. That’s three months lost for McCarter.
Shimkus leads 64%-26% in the 22% of the district that is also the 54th Senate District – which McCarter currently represents. If McCarter is not competitive in his own geographic base, it is going to be difficult for him to make gains in the 78% of the district that is new to him.
Shimkus leads 59%-29% among the 34% of voters who have heard of both candidates, so this is not simply a matter of McCarter raising his name ID to make big gains.
Shimkus leads 69%-12% among Trump voters and 64%-16% among Cruz voters. Those two candidates earn a combined 54% of the presidential vote. So even the voters for the two strongest outsider candidates in the presidential primary are strongly supportive of the Congressman.
The Bottom Line
John Shimkus is well-positioned to win renomination in the 15th Congressional District primary. He is well-liked by all parts of the Republican electorate. Meanwhile, Kyle McCarter has squandered three months of opportunity to make gains. The election will tighten as undecided voters typically opt for a challenger, but Shimkus is well above 50% on the ballot and even leads in McCarter’s geographic base.
Methodology
Public Opinion Strategies completed a survey of likely primary voters in the 15th Congressional District of Illinois. The survey was conducted January 7-10, 2016 among four hundred likely voters in the district, including 80 cell phone respondents. The survey has a margin of error of +4.9% in 95 out of 100 cases.
McCarter is getting thumped in his own Senate district? Whew.
Also, those are pretty rock solid numbers for the governor among Republicans, but that’s to be expected.
Pete Kendrick only buys a state lottery ticket if he gets the right change when buying gas.
But the record-breaking $1.5 billion Powerball prize convinced the Freeport resident to purchase a Powerball ticket today.
“Everyone’s buying one and talking about it,” he said, pushing some groceries and carrying his ticket while leaving the Cub Foods grocery store. “You’re crazy for getting one because the odds are worse than anything in the world.”
Yep, the odds are horrible. From Rep. Ron Sandack’s Facebook page…
The $1B plus Powerball prize is all the rage now. The odds of winning are 1 in 175M, roughly. So, I started looking at “equalizing” odds. 1) “Thus, if you drive to the store to buy your Powerball ticket, your chance of being killed (or killing someone else) is about 10 times greater than the chance that you will win the Powerball Jackpot.” 2) “Alternately, if you “played” Russian Roulette 100 times per day every day for 79 years with Powerball Jackpot odds, you would have better than a 99% chance of surviving.”
And even after reading that, I still bought ten tickets Monday night.
* The Question: Have you purchased a Powerball ticket? Take the poll and then explain your answer in comments, please.
Rep. Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.) outraised Illinois Sen. Mark Kirk (R) by almost $600,000 in the fourth quarter of 2015, as the two gear up for what could be one of the tightest elections of 2016.
Duckworth brought in $1.6 million in the quarter, which bumps up her cash on hand to $3.65 million.
Kirk raised $1 million in the quarter, ending 2015 with $3.8 million on hand. […]
Duckworth ended the third quarter with about $2.85 million in her bank account, compared to Kirk’s $3.63 million. She all but closed that gap to end the year, suggesting a more effective quarter of fundraising by the challenger. […]
Sen. Rob Portman (R-Ohio) and Sen. Kelly Ayotte (R-N.H.) both raised more than $2 million over the same span ahead of similarly difficult reelection bids.
Pretty impressive numbers for Duckworth, but she will likely have to spend a bunch of that haul on her primary race against Andrea Zopp and state Sen. Napoleon Harris.
Kirk, on the other hand, has only token GOP opposition. Even so, his 4th quarter numbers are not particularly heartening.
In what may be the unveiling of a new Democratic line of attack against Governor Bruce Rauner’s Turnaround Agenda as the 2016 elections loom, State Senator Dave Koehler (D-Peoria) in a radio interview 10-days ago attacked Rauner’s property tax freeze push for, “ironically,” igniting the “biggest tax increase anywhere.”
In a January 2 interview on Peoria’s WMBD-1470, Koehler told talk-show Paul Gordon, “I just want to point this out, a real irony. The governor wanting to freeze property taxes all across the state… His desire to do that and his trying to push that through the legislation has now caused the biggest tax increase anywhere that I’ve ever seen in property taxes,” Koehler said. “Every community, every school district, they’re now going to go out passing property taxes because they want to hedge against what [inaudible].”
House Speaker Michael Madigan’s spokesman, Steve Brown, who also appeared on the program, backed Koehler’s assertion.
“They don’t want to get caught short. And so the exact opposite has happened there,” Brown said. “And the fact that a prolonged debate over the budget has probably just brought more of that on. It is an interesting phenomenon.”
I don’t disagree. We’ve already discussed this topic.
In what Chicago officials say is just good bargaining but suburban leaders suspect is designed to send a bigger political message, a dispute has broken out over plans to finally bring western road access to O’Hare International Airport. […]
That asking price has tollway and other officials steaming—and suggesting that Mayor Rahm Emanuel is trying to send a message to Gov. Bruce Rauner, who controls the tollway and has balked at giving Emanuel help for Chicago Public Schools and other needs in Springfield as part of a wider budget war.
No one much wants to say anything in public. Sources close to both the mayor and the governor say the jostling is occurring at the staff level so far. But the battle is raging as both sides sit down today for a formal bargaining session.
Suburban leaders, especially in DuPage County, have long pushed for western access, which they believe would spark development of new hotels, convention centers and other projects like those that have risen in Rosemont, adjoining the only road entrance to O’Hare, from the east. […]
Talks regarding the land transfer had been amicable until recently, when the city dropped the $190 million “poison pill,” says a top official who asked not to be named. That “disturbing” action “raises questions” about whether O’Hare politics suddenly has been pulled into Springfield fighting over the state budget, that source added.
The city says it relied on an appraisal, but won’t release the appraisal.
* Les Winkeler reports on a deal between the Amateur Trapshooting Association and the Illinois Department of Natural Resources to keep The Grand American shooting tournament from leaving Sparta’s World Shooting and Recreational Complex this August…
Gov. Rauner threatened to close the WSRC, ostensibly as a stick to spur the General Assembly into action, if a budget agreement wasn’t reached by September. And, so one of the world’s largest and most modern shooting facilities has been sitting idle since September.
Compounding the lunacy, Illinois Department of Natural Resources employees are still reporting to work on a daily basis. The state just isn’t allowing anyone to use the facility – sending the state even deeper into debt.
About mid-October the ATA, the body that produces the Grand American, started getting nervous, as well it should. The event attracts thousands of shooters from around the globe. The ATA had to know if Illinois would come to its collective senses, allowing the Grand American to remain in Sparta. […]
The details of the agreement won’t be announced until tomorrow. But, apparently if the state is still without a budget by April 15, the ATA will be given permission to operate the complex through the summer.
* We’ve all seen the trash talking by Gov. Rauner about how he will refuse to help Chicago’s schools without first getting help from Mayor Rahm Emanuel on the Turnaround Agenda.
But the mayor isn’t planning to help his own schools financially, either…
Chicago CFO Carole Brown on conf call with press on CPS finance crisis: "The city has no plans to directly, financially assist CPS."
“It is so disappointing to read yet another declaration of Mayor Emanuel and the city of Chicago’s refusal to help the Chicago Public School system and the children it serves. How out of touch is the city to be asking for state help for CPS when the city continually refuses to address the crisis itself?”
Rauner says after a year and 67 bargaining sessions, he’s seen no progress with AFSCME.
“Our team just asked ‘em: So do you think we’re at impasse. I’m not sure, I think the union said they don’t believe we are,” Rauner said. “So our team is just trying to assess, where do we go from here? We’re spinning our wheels right now and making no progress.”
AFSMCE spokesman Anders Lindall has a different take on how things went down. He says AFSCME leaders were stunned by the impasse offer, because the union made a big new offer of its own, to accept Rauner’s wage terms for one year, and to pay more (though not as much as Rauner wants) for their health insurance.
“It is too reminiscent of the lack of a process that’s left us without a budget. It’s Rauner’s way or no way,” Lindall said.
* I asked the governor’s office for a response…
Rich, here are the “big” changes they claim to have made on Friday. They are not seeking a pay freeze at all. They changed their first year pay increase from a 1.5% general increase to a $1000 automatic stipend for all employees that would be pensionable – so that makes it a salary increase since once it is awarded it can never be reduced. Second, they changed their second year increase from 2.5% to 2.25%. They are still seeking automatic step increases all four years of the contract and they are still seeking additional increases of 3% in Year 3 and 3% in Year 4. So in the course of a full year of negotiations here are their changes:
1) Automatic four year step increases – NO CHANGE
2) Year 1: 2% increase – Automatic $1000 pensionable “stipend”
3) Year 2: 3% — 2.25%.
4) Year 3: 3% — NO CHANGE
5) Year 4: 3% — NO CHANGE
6) They have indicated they will NEVER agree to performance bonuses under any circumstance.
As for health insurance, they renewed their proposal they have made from the beginning to seek a more expensive health plan adding new health and dental benefits to their already expensive platinum plus plan. For 12 months, they have proposed no increases in premiums. Friday for the first time, they proposed to increase premiums on this new, MORE EXPENSIVE plan by between $5 to $11 a month (depending on your salary band it was proposed: $5, $6, $6, $7, $8, and $11 for each current band) in Year 2 only and then no further increases in Years 3 and 4.
There is nothing “big” about these plans and the fact that it has taken us 12 months to get here is why it is entirely reasonable to ask whether future negotiating sessions would be worthwhile. Keep in mind 17 other unions agreed to across the board pay freezes for 4 full years, new less expensive health plans, and performance pay in a matter of weeks of negotiations.
A budget impasse between the General Assembly and Illinois’ Republican governor, Bruce Rauner, could force the state’s only university that serves predominately Black students to either shutter its doors or cut staff and academic programming by mid-semester.
That’s when CSU reserve funds will run out. The university has been operating off reserves that now have dwindled down to $9 million—enough to operate the 7,000 student body university for two more months. It costs about $5 million a month to operate the university that began in 1867 as teacher training school. […]
Ms. Griffin, a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority, noted that all public institutions are facing funding shortages, but CSU is hit harder because of its student population. Most students attending CSU are parents, many of whom work while others are working on their master’s degrees, she said.
“It is affecting us the most because we have the most non-traditional Black students,” Ms. Griffin said. “The government knows who relies on what and how much they rely on. So by not funding us, I believe that they know it is going to be detrimental for us.”
“If no state action is taken before March 1 to give CSU the state funds it needs to operate, than we expect a massive disruption of operations to take place,” said Tom Wogan, CSU’s public relations director. “It’s hard to say exactly what that will entail as we are in uncharted waters. There has never been a 7 month delay in state funding before.”
Griffin’s point is well-taken. This isn’t a traditional university, but it is too often compared to traditional schools by outlets like the Tribune.
* Also, Rep. André Thapedi has introduced legislation to send the school some money…
Appropriates $25,000,000 from the General Revenue Fund to the Board of Higher Education for the purpose of making grants to those public community college districts and public universities that have a minority student enrollment of at least 75% of the total student enrollment.
So far, though, he only has one co-sponsor, Rep. Thaddeus Jones.
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Bruce Rauner has been Illinois’ governor for one year now, and I would defy you to name one thing off the top of your head that he has accomplished during that time.
There actually are a few things, I would hasten to add, but I’ll bet most of you couldn’t name them because Rauner has made his hallmark what he hasn’t been able to accomplish — which is most everything he named as a priority. […]
As his chief accomplishment, Rauner is citing record state funding for schools. True, except that the Democratic Legislature sent him the education funding bill over his objections after he required Republican lawmakers to vote against it.
There’s also the little problem that there has been no appropriation approved for Illinois’ higher education, which has meant the state’s public colleges and universities are withering on the vine although their leaders are too chicken to speak up.
And then there’s the small matter of Chicago Public Schools, on the verge of financial collapse in 2016 without state involvement in solving its pension funding problems. That’s not Rauner’s fault, but his efforts to use the crisis as the key to his bargaining strategy hardly make him the best friend of schoolchildren.
The governor still has time, three long years at least, to pull off the Rauner Miracle, and I’m not counting him out.
If he’s going to ask for a second term, though, he might want to have a better list of accomplishments on hand by this time next year, which could start with a more realistic set of goals.
Several Republicans are still steamed at Rauner for pushing them to vote against that education appropriations bill and then signing it into law.
And some university types did bemoan their plight on Chicago Tonight last night.
* Rauner, by the way, reiterated his position against helping the city’s public schools again this week…
“I don’t know whether [the CTU will] strike. . . . I’ve proposed reforms on local control that could help fix and bring those problems to resolution without a strike. … I’ve proposed all kinds of assistance for Chicago Public Schools. So far the mayor has rejected our assistance. It’s amazing to me: the mayor has just basically publicly said ‘Hurry up and put a massive tax hike on the people of Illinois and send me some of the cash as a bailout.’ It’s stunningly unrealistic and irresponsible. It’s ludicrous.”
“I’m not going to discuss the terrible tragedies with the shootings in Chicago. I will talk about Chicago Public Schools, and the financial condition of Chicago. Chicago has basically the lowest credit ratings of any big city, other than Detroit; massive debt, deficits,” the governor said. […]
“Brutally high taxes, and a massive property tax [hike] coming now, without any real reforms connected to it; and without reforms, the massive property tax hike that’s hitting Chicagoans, and Chicago homeowners and businesses is only the first step of many large tax hikes that are coming in the future years, because so far Mayor Emanuel has refused to do any true real structural reform,” he said.
Illinois child welfare officials forfeited tens of millions of federal dollars in recent years by failing to process basic paperwork, state authorities told the Tribune this week.
After a monthslong bureaucratic effort fixed the lapses, $21.5 million in new federal dollars flowed to the Department of Children & Family Services for the current fiscal year, and $16.5 million is expected in the fiscal year that starts in July, acting Director George Sheldon said.
“My estimate is that just in the last two years we probably have lost out on about $40 million,” Sheldon said. “With the fiscal crisis that Illinois is in, I think it’s inexcusable.”
The problem came down to paperwork and is largely a consequence of having eight DCFS leaders in five years, Sheldon said. […]
The long fight to claim federal dollars for 18- to 21-year-olds has had unexpected benefits, Sheldon said. Last year, Gov. Bruce Rauner’s office proposed eliminating extended foster care services for those older wards as part of sweeping budget cuts, but Sheldon said the additional money has made him optimistic that those services won’t be halted.
Good work.
* Meanwhile, from a press release…
The Illinois Department of Children & Family Services is joining forces with the Cook County Sheriff’s Office in a landmark mission to locate and save runaway state wards, who are particularly vulnerable to crime and trafficking.
As part of a two-year pilot project, the Sheriff’s Office and DCFS will combine resources to broaden the impact of an existing specialized Sheriff’s unit dedicated to recovering missing or runaway wards. Since its formation in October 2012, this Sheriff’s unit has made more than 520 juvenile rescues.
Pending County Board approval, the cross-agency unit will be comprised of seven sworn Sheriff’s officers with specialized training in juvenile justice as well as three DCFS child welfare specialists. The collaborative team, commanded by the Sheriff’s office, will be officially rebranded as the Child Rescue Unit (CRU). DCFS will fund four of the Sheriff’ Office positions within the Child Rescue Unit at a cost of about $400,000 a year.
“There’s more of a mindset of ‘boy, we’ve gotta do something different.’ That’s one of the, I guess, small side benefits is people are willing to be more creative and aggressive and rethinking how government works.”
Meanwhile the state is spending more than it’s bringing in because of court orders and consent decrees, something Rauner wants to reverse.
“Other governors have ignored that and that’s cost more spending and bad policy. I want to work out a plan where every court order gets dealt with and goes away, consent decrees go away, so the government is actually being run proactively to benefit the taxpayers and the citizens who are receiving services”
OK, that’s a laudable goal. The state had to enter into those consent decrees because it was violating laws, so it’s easier said than done. Even so, it’s a laudable goal.
* But what Rauner hasn’t mentioned so far is that his administration entered into yet another consent decree just last month…
“The place is a cacophonous madhouse,” said Alan S. Mills, executive director of the Uptown People’s Law Center, who has visited the facility [Built in 1925 and known as the “roundhouse,” the circular jail at Stateville Correctional Center near Joliet].
Mills and others, including the Illinois Department of Corrections, hope that a settlement reached last month in a class-action lawsuit will provide relief from this place to some of the prison system’s most vulnerable — its more than 11,000 mentally ill inmates.
The settlement in a case filed in 2007 brings some widespread changes to the state’s mental health care system for inmates, which experts said desperately lags behind national standards. The settlement will lead to Illinois’ first psychiatric hospital for prisoners and will allow the hiring of more than 300 mental health professionals.
In a change germane to those living at the roundhouse, the settlement will replace a policy that often puts the mentally ill in segregation, meaning they are left in their cells for nearly 24 hours a day and often constantly monitored to prevent suicide attempts. While this may prevent suicide, Mills said it often causes the mentally ill to “decompensate.”
Yesterday, in a series of interviews marking his first year in office, Illinois Governor Bruce Rauner said that a “big part” of his administration’s plan going forward would be to seek release from court oversight in various federal consent decrees to which the State of Illinois has agreed.
The American Civil Liberties Union currently represents clients in five ( 5 ) such consent decrees, addressing care for children under the care of the Department of Children and Family Services, youth detained by the Illinois Department of Juvenile Justice as well as people with intellectual, physical and psychiatric disabilities who have been needlessly warehoused in large institutions and want to live in community-based settings.
Because of this experience and involvement, the American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois issued the following statement about the Governor’s comments. The following can be attributed to Edwin C. Yohnka, Director of Communications and Public Policy at the ACLU of Illinois:
Governor Rauner should know that adherence to terms of a consent decrees is not a political option to be debated in the media. These agreements exist because the State violated the law — often over decades — in ways that impose significant harms to our clients and others in Illinois. If he possesses a magic wand to fix the challenges faced by children in the child welfare system, youth being incarcerated or people with disabilities after years of neglect by the State, we hope the Governor uses the magic soon. The reality is that the way to make getting out of consent decrees a “big part” of his agenda is to bring the State’s dysfunctional systems in compliance with the law by improving the way the State provides services and supports to people who depend on its help.
We look forward to engaging in that work, rather than debating ideological rhetoric.
*** UPDATE *** From the governor’s office…
The DOC matter was not a consent decree, but simply a settlement agreement. We worked hard to demonstrate to the court that a consent decree was not necessary and the Court agreed. This, in fact, proves the opposite point. This is the first victory of the Governor’s in his efforts to reduce the # of consent decrees the state is tangled in.
Also, the Governor’s point, of course, was not that we are going to get out of the consent decrees by not complying, but rather come up with compliance plans to comply with the decree so we can ask the Court to allow us to exit. We actually agree with the ACLU.
Gov. Bruce Rauner says passage of his pro-business Turnaround Agenda would help curb violence in Chicago. […]
“There is tragic violence in Chicago,” Rauner said Tuesday during a private interview with Illinois Public Radio. “I’m not going to comment about the mayor’s failures today about these shooting incidents. My personal view is the violence stems primarily from lack of opportunity — the lack of a future that these young people see for themselves, and then they turn to gangs and then they turn to violence.
“And that means schools, that means jobs and that means supporting families,” he added. “We have a tragic loss of two-parent families in so many communities. That’s the core problem.”
No question that economic development would help. But claiming his Turnaround Agenda is the answer is a bit much.
“Sometimes I’m too blunt, too direct, I’d say. I call it like I see it and sometimes that can alienate somebody or a group. Sometimes I’m impatient. Sometimes I’ve just got to be more patient. I’m not that way by nature. I am persistent and that ain’t gonna change but sometimes I’m impatient. I’ve got to learn a little bit more patience.”
Meanwhile the governor says he’s going to stay the course to bring economic and political reforms.
“Every year we’ll introduce reforms. Every year we will never give up on anything we’ve recommended. We may have to delay. Delay is not giving up. Delay is just tactics. We’ve got to keep our eye on the fact that we’re not gonna win every battle. We have to win the long-term struggle to improve the state.”
