After enduring 15 years of shrinking convention attendance and persistent budget difficulties, the government agency that owns Chicago’s sprawling McCormick Place convention center is trying to outgrow its problems through a $650 million expansion. […]
The $250 million figure comes from a McPier-funded study that assumes DePaul fans will fill almost all of the arena’s 10,000 seats for games — nearly tripling the team’s recent average attendance. The Blue Demons, who now play in suburban Rosemont, haven’t had a winning record since 2007. […]
If the arena does not at least break even, that will add to the financial pressures on the new hotel, seen as the project’s cash cow. McPier already plans to divert some of the Marriott’s revenues to pay off a $250 million construction loan. Competition for guests will also be tough, as hotel construction in Chicago is expected to accelerate in the next two years, records show. […]
If the project’s benefits don’t materialize and McPier runs more budget deficits, taxpayers will ultimately pay the price. Since 2008, Illinois has spent about $50 million in sales tax dollars helping McPier cover its debt payments.
In interviews, more than a dozen experts raised doubts about whether the project would have the economic impact McPier officials predict, questioning in particular the wisdom of building the arena. Stadiums are not successful catalysts for economic growth, they said, and nothing about the planned McPier arena suggests otherwise.
Although there isn’t a full budget for Illinois, money for capital projects will be put to work to help ensure a military intelligence operation moves to the Land of Lincoln, according to members of Congress and Gov. Bruce Rauner.
Gov. Rauner said Friday that despite the state budget impasse, the state’s Democrats and Republicans agreed on capital funds for various projects throughout the state.
One project the governor said is a priority is building infrastructure in hopes the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, or NGA, western headquarters moves to metro-east St. Louis.
“There is no budget impasse of any sort that will impact the investment and the infrastructure needed to make this facility work,” Rauner said.
NGA Director Robert Cardillo met with representatives from both Illinois and Missouri on Friday. The NGA is expected to make a preliminary decision on where to build the $1.6 billion project on April 1st. Proposals for St. Clair County and north St. Louis City quickly emerged as front runners, and officials are now entering into the home stretch of making their case to the agency, which employs about 3,100 people in St. Louis.
Illinois’ $115 million in incentives includes about $54 million already being spent on nearby road upgrades and infrastructure, Rauner said. If selected, St. Clair County intends to donate the 182 acres outlined in the proposed site near Scott Air Force Base.
During the press conference, Illinois representatives made their case for moving the NGA’s western headquarters to St. Clair County. Rauner proposed creating a hiring pipeline to the agency from the University of Illinois’ computer science and engineering programs. Senator Mark Kirk said the NGA should be closer to the military in the case of an emergency.
“If the enemy tries to take out NGA—with a 4,000 pound IED, they wouldn’t be able to do that. I want to make sure the NGA is always in the position to deliver key, real time imagery to the war fighter,” Kirk said.
The Friends of Ken Dunkin campaign fund has received $800,000 this year from the Illinois Opportunity Project, run in part by former Republican gubernatorial candidate Dan Proft. Proft’s Liberty Principles Political Action Committee has received $1.8 million from Rauner’s Turnaround Illinois PAC.
* An interesting take on President Obama’s endorsement of Rep. Ken Dunkin’s Democratic primary opponent Juliana Stratton…
Mayor Rahm Emanuel, Obama’s former chief of staff, said the president isn’t endorsing a candidate as much as he is endorsing an end to the state budget stalemate.
“Where we now are literally holding back poor kids who are accomplishing great things in education and not funding it correctly, so the fact that we now have kids leaving college because of their state government doesn’t have the right budget priorities, that’s what the endorsement is,” Emanuel said.
Your interpretation of this nearly unprecedented endorsement?
A DNC source told me that part of the reason behind Obama’s making the spots for Stratton was “to set the record straight that the President has not endorsed Dunkin, he is endorsing the challenger.”
“And also we’ve heard some rumblings that Dunkin is trying to say that the ad isn’t real – it is. Also, the key issue is gun violence prevention. Stratton is in the right place and POTUS said previously he would help candidates who were in the right place on guns. She also has the support of many community leaders and the labor community, which helps,” the DNC source said.
But the decision to intervene came directly from the White House, multiple sources tell me, and just about everyone in politics thinks Madigan had something to do with it. […]
But Madigan has done Obama a few favors through the years, moving up the 2008 presidential primary to help then-candidate Obama and more recently passing legislation to clear the way for Obama’s library to be built in a Chicago public park. […]
The DNC approached the Stratton campaign shortly thereafter and said Obama “might want to be helpful,” says one source who knows. Scripts were prepared and, late last week, the White House sent word to proceed.
You ally yourself with a Republican governor, then interrupt the preznit’s address, then run a radio ad saying the preznit endorses you and your effort at “bringing people together” when he doesn’t, you’re gonna upset the preznit.
Chicago Teachers Union President Karen Lewis said Monday that students, teachers and parents have become hostages in the ongoing state budget battle — but she also made it clear whom she blames.
“We are all being held hostage by a governor who doesn’t want to work for us,” Lewis told the crowd at the Logan Square’s Parent Mentor celebration and workshop Monday morning at Apostolic Church of God, 6339 S. Kenwood Ave.
“The budget is being held hostage by a … sociopath” Lewis added, pausing to choose the word.
President Lewis has a Bachelor’s Degree in sociology and music, not psychology. She ought to keep her amateur diagnoses to herself.
By the way, “sociopath” is a banned word on this blog, for this very reason. Don’t use it.
Many of the state’s economic analysts say a structural budget deficit emerged and then grew under former governor Bobby Jindal, who, during his eight years in office, reduced the state’s revenue by offering tax breaks to the middle class and wealthy. He also created new subsidies aimed at luring and keeping businesses. Those policies, state data show, didn’t deliver the desired economic growth. This year, Louisiana has doled out $210 million more to corporations in the form of credits and subsidies than it has collected from them in taxes. […]
Initially, Jindal had been able to cut taxes because Louisiana was buoyed by billions in federal money, an influx to help with the recovery from Hurricane Katrina, which struck in 2005. But as that money ran dry, Jindal said he would veto any bills that would push taxes back to where they had been. Instead, to plug budget gaps, Jindal relied not just on cuts but also on controversial, one-off fundraising methods. The state sold off assets, including parking lots and farmland. It cleaned out money from hundreds of trust funds — among them, one intended to build reefs for marine wildlife. It pieced together money from legal settlements. […]
Then, as Jindal was on the campaign trail last year, fossil-fuel-rich Louisiana was hit with one more obstacle: The price of oil and natural gas fell off a cliff, causing a retrenchment in an industry that provided the state with jobs and royalties. […]
The math is daunting: For the fiscal year that ends June 30, Louisiana is facing a $940 million deficit, roughly one-eighth of what the state typically doles out from its general fund in a year. For 2016-2017, which begins July 1, the gap is $2 billion. […]
On Jindal’s watch, nearly every agency in Louisiana shed employees, and state lawmakers say some teetered because of the losses. The Department of Children and Family Services shrank to 3,400 employees, from 5,000 in 2008, and social workers began carrying caseloads larger than national standards. The state also cut funding for youth services and mental health treatment. […]
In Louisiana’s capital, on a university campus just seven miles north of the government offices, is perhaps the most acute evidence of the funding cutbacks — and the mounting concern about what will happen next. At Southern University and A&M College, a historically black institution along the Mississippi River, mold spreads across building walls, and rats scurry through dormitories. Eighteen buildings have roof leaks; in two, raw sewage occasionally belches onto the floor. An entire section of the library is off limits because of a perpetually broken fire alarm.
Keep in mind that this was done by design. They didn’t expect a crash in energy revenue, but everything else was done on purpose. And now… chaos.
It’s a question I’m asked a lot these days. The inquirers always wonder how Gov. Bruce Rauner, House Speaker Michael Madigan and their more full-throated enablers on both sides can live with themselves as they watch big chunks of the state government’s responsibilities crumble before their very eyes during the months-long governmental impasse.
As far as I can tell, they’re sleeping pretty well. And both sides appear to be using almost the exact same coping strategies.
Rauner and his crew say they’re horribly upset that Illinois doesn’t yet have a budget, but it’s all being stopped by one man, Madigan. Until Madigan and the legislators he controls decide to compromise, there’s nothing Rauner can do, they say. Simple. Move along.
Speaker Madigan and his crew have been saying for months that Rauner is operating in the extreme by demanding non-budgetary items that go against core Democratic principles. Until Rauner changes course, they say, there’s nothing Madigan can do. Simple. Move along.
Both men also see the key to a solution in the rank and file membership of the other party. Rauner repeatedly insists, without offering evidence, that several rank-and-file legislative Democrats are ready to stand against Madigan. The governor seems to truly believe that he’s not far away from breaking this thing wide open, despite the shunning of Rep. Ken Dunkin by his fellow House Democrats for openly siding with Rauner and the fortune being spent in a primary to tar and feather Dunkin, who dared stand up to Madigan and the unions.
Madigan, for his part, believes that a big key to solving this crisis is to continue putting pressure on House Republicans — forcing them to take the worst votes possible, like standing against college MAP grants for impoverished students. He did it again last week by forcing an override motion on a vetoed MAP grant appropriations bill. Madigan rightly notes that the Republicans have cracked before and forced Rauner to relent on funding for child care, local governments, etc. All he has to do is wait them out, even though there’s that little problem of Sen. Sam McCann being shunned by his fellow Senate Republicans and the fortune being spent in the primary to tar and feather McCann, who dared to stand with the unions and against the governor.
Rauner and Madigan are also portraying each other as almost the embodiment of evil in their respective proxy campaigns. The imagery is ugly on both sides.
Both men are also employing anti-Chicago rhetoric, with Rauner demanding a state takeover of the city’s schools and swearing off a bailout. For their part, Madigan and his suburban and Democratic members claim Rauner’s proposed school takeover idea is actually a state bailout, and they strongly oppose sending money to the big, bad city at the expense of their own districts.
In the meantime, Chicago’s school system was forced last month to borrow hundreds of millions of dollars at usurious interest rates just to keep its doors open during the impasse. Chicago State University accelerated its spring semester in order to limp through the academic year and has sent layoff notices to every one of its 900 employees.
Western Illinois University just announced layoffs and cuts. Eastern Illinois University’s bond rating was just downgraded to junk status. Northern and Northeastern Illinois Universities were both downgraded to one notch above junk.
Rape crisis centers are closing, homeless teens can’t get help and drug treatment programs are going out of business.
And yet, there’s no end in sight. Senate President John Cullerton has tried to play mediator, but that’s going nowhere as long as Madigan is dealing with his own Democratic primary opponent who’s funded mainly by Rauner’s supporters, and as long as Rauner is fully engaged in GOP primaries around the state.
Primary day is March 15. Both sides are seemingly trying to demonstrate to the other that their actions can have real electoral consequences. So, on March 16th we may know whether or not a truce can be called long enough to fix at least some of these problems.
But Madigan doesn’t easily forget attacks like these, nor does he cotton to outsiders meddling in his and his members’ primaries. And the governor seems committed to win at all costs.
Plus, I’ve learned over the years to always bet on nothing when it comes to getting something done in Illinois. It’s the historically smart play and you’re only wrong once.
Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner will endorse U.S. Rep. John Shimkus for reelection at a series of events on Monday.
Rauner has already made numerous favorable remarks about Shimkus, a Republican from Collinsville, but tomorrow the representative will officially have the governor’s support, said Steve Tomaszewski with Volunteers for Shimkus.
The pair will make the announcement at six different small events across District 15, which Shimkus currently represents.
“The Congressman plans to speak to the governor’s efforts in Springfield (on reforms and the economy),” Tomaszewski said.
I was reading a newspaper story the other day about the usual politically connected folks lining up for contracts at Midway International Airport, and I remembered something I saw several weeks ago.
A state legislative candidate’s website is touting his ambitious plans to make the area around Midway more vibrant like the area around O’Hare International Airport. Midway’s “huge market of potential customers,” the candidate says, has the potential to “create many good-paying jobs for people living in our community.”
I used to live not far from Midway, and I couldn’t agree more. While some hotels have been built since I lived there, the development is pathetically small in comparison to what is near O’Hare.
O’Hare handles infinitely more fliers every day than Midway ever will, but that doesn’t mean Midway can’t be much better-utilized as a development anchor.
The candidate proposes beautifying 63rd Street as well as other streets in the area. He wants an entertainment center like Rosemont’s fabulous MB Financial Park. He wants to redevelop the derelict Ford City Mall, turning it into a top-quality outlet mall with shuttle bus service to Midway. Rosemont’s outlet mall is often packed to the gills with shoppers.
The House hopeful is dreaming big. He wants to build “an advanced manufacturing cluster and job training center” in the area and an overpass to “prevent freight trains from delaying traffic for long durations of time.”
There’s probably only one politician in Chicago with the power to pull off such massive projects. That pol, House Speaker Michael Madigan, also happens to represent Midway Airport.
But those aren’t Madigan’s ideas. Instead, they were developed by
Club for Growth Action, a political arm of the Club for Growth, released the following statement about a new ad buy that is starting today in Illinois:
“The momentum is shifting away from Donald Trump,” said Club for Growth Action president David McIntosh. “Overwhelming wins by Senator Ted Cruz in Kansas and Maine, and a delegate tie in Louisiana showed that Republican voters don’t want a big-government liberal like Donald Trump at the top of the GOP ticket. They know that Trump would cost Republicans the White House, the Senate majority, and, ultimately, the Supreme Court. It will be no surprise to see the numbers tighten in tomorrow’s primaries and caucus. As voters come to know Trump’s record, they will turn to true pro-growth conservatives.
“Primary voters need to know that Trump has spent years arguing for far-left positions on taxes, health care, bailouts, and the abuse of eminent domain. And now he sounds like the worst kind of politician, warning voters that he will change positions when he feels like it. The shell game that is the Trump candidacy needs to be stopped.”
Club for Growth Action is spending about $2 million for ads that are airing on statewide broadcast and cable TV in Illinois, along with digital ads. The two ads were both aired previously and successfully in Iowa. The first ad also played a significant role in Trump’s loss in Oklahoma.
* Script for “Politician”…
Which presidential candidate supports higher taxes, national health care, and the Wall Street bailout?
It’s Donald Trump.
“In many cases, I probably identify more as a Democrat.”
Trump wants us to think he’s mister tell-it-like-it-is.
But he has a record. And it’s very liberal.
He’s really just playing us for chumps.
Trump: just another politician.
“In many cases, I probably identify more as a Democrat.”
Club for Growth Action is responsible for the content of this advertising.
Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump will come March 11 to Chicago for a rally at the University of Illinois-Chicago Pavilion, just days before the March 15 Illinois primary election.
University officials confirmed the Trump campaign had rented the arena for an event that will begin at 6 p.m. […]
Trump’s Chicago rally will take place while the Illinois Republican Party holds a fundraising dinner honoring Gov. Bruce Rauner featuring a rival for the GOP presidential nomination, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz.
Although all presidential contenders were invited to the state GOP event at the Palmer House Hilton, only Cruz has confirmed he’ll be there for the fundraiser, which begins with a 5:30 p.m. reception and follows with dinner at 6:30 p.m.
A candidate for the Illinois House says he was attacked by his opponent’s supporters.
Bob Zwolinski is running for Illinois’ 4th District, against incumbent Cynthia Soto.
He says Sunday night a man and a woman were stapling posters for Soto outside his campaign office Ashland and Chicago in East Ukrainian Village.
Zwolinski says he asked them to stop and that’s when the man punched him in the chest then the woman hit him in the head with a beer bottle and then shot a staple gun at him — leaving him with a staple in his forehead.
Chicago police say Zwolinski has filed a police report and the accused attackers are claiming they are the victims in this case.
* OK, brace yourself. From Zwolinski’s Twitter feed…
Zwolinski alleges in a statement that the posters supported his Democratic primary opponent, incumbent State Rep. Cynthia Soto, who took office in 2001 for the district, which includes parts of Bucktown, Humboldt Park, Logan Square and Ukrainian Village.
When he asked the pair to remove the posters, an argument ensued and the 26-year-old man hit Zwolinski in the chest. The woman, thought to be in her 20s, then struck him in the head with a bottle and shot a staple gun at his forehead, causing a laceration, police said. […]
But the man and woman are also alleging they were victims in the attack, police said. The man told investigators Zwolinski ripped the posters down, grabbed him by the shirt, threw him to the ground and punched him several times. […]
As of Monday morning, no one has been taken into custody in connection with the incident and no charges have been issued. A representative from Soto’s office could not be immediately reached for comment.
A law enforcement source also said that 911 callers described four people fighting, not one individual being attacked.
Speaking outside Zwolinksi’s office Monday, Frank Avila, an attorney representing the alleged attackers, called the episode a “false flag” and a “media stunt trying to draw attention to a flailing campaign.”
“[Zwolinski] saw people putting up signs along Ashland, and he started pushing them and grabbing them,” Avila said. “He initiated physical contact, and they defended themselves. …If he ended up getting the worst of it, that’s on him.”
Avila said his clients, two unpaid volunteers for Soto’s campaign, were stapling signs over a vacant property next to Zwolinski’s office — not on the office itself. On Monday, a large splatter of blood remained next to the vacant property, although some droplets showed near the office as well. […]
“Yes, there was a fight, yes, there was self defense,” Avila said. “[But] why did he call the media before he called 911? Why is he going out and confronting people? Why would they just fight him?”
Serious allegations of voter fraud surfaced Sunday within a high-stakes Illinois House campaign, catching the attention of Cook County prosecutors.
Secretary of State Jesse White and Ald. Pat Dowell (3rd) appeared at a South Side press conference to accuse Rep. Ken Dunkin of buying early votes in the battle to keep his 5th District seat in the state House of Representatives. Dunkin’s opponent, Juliana Stratton, also stood nearby as Dowell shared what she claimed is video evidence of Dunkin’s alleged scheme — purportedly shot by people who infiltrated the vote-buying operation and cast ballots in exchange for “crisp $50 bills.”
“This is a violation of all laws of human decency, and shame on Mr. Dunkin and his organization for doing this,” White said. […]
Campaign workers noticed a larger-than-normal early voter turnout Saturday at the Chicago Bee Branch library, Dowell said. So four unnamed volunteers decided to go undercover. Dowell claims voters were being vetted at Dunkin’s campaign headquarters in the 2900 block of South Wabash, told to vote for Dunkin, taken to the library and returned to Dunkin’s campaign office to collect $50 or $100.
The four people who went undercover cast ballots, collected money and have since spoken to Chicago Police, Dowell said.
* I was in Chicago over the weekend for a Saturday morning speech, so I was able to attend the Sunday presser. Here’s part of Ald. Dowell’s statement…
In another video, a woman wearing a red jacket standing outside the Dunkin office at 2907 S. Wabash Street is seen speaking with a man wearing a hidden camera.
“Thirty-seventh and State, that library, that’s where everybody at,” she says, likely referring to the Chicago Bee Library, 3647 S. State St. “And when they get through right there, they get their sheets in [inaudible] they voted, they come back here, and everybody just gotta make sure they punch 121.”
The video man asks, “I gotta go down there and then come back here?”
She responds, “How you gonna get your money?”
Then another man in the background asks, “How much money?” and she responds, “Fifty dollars apiece.”
The video man asks one more time, “I gotta come back down here to get paid?”
And she says, “Yeah ’cause that’s the only way we gonna know you did it.”
* Watch the video, but be aware of some bad language…
“It is another example of them being in a desperate mode and not talking about the issues,” Dunkin said. […]
Dunkin said state House Speaker Mike Madigan is behind the effort to smear his campaign. Dunkin, who has received big campaign contributions from Republicans, has voted against Madigan on several issues, denying him a veto-proof majority that would break the partisan stalemate in Springfield.
“Mike Madigan will tell elected officials to do whatever he thinks he can to derail an independent voice for a man standing up in his district,” Dunkin said.
A debate planned for Monday night featuring the candidates running in the 50th district state Senate Republican primary has been canceled.
Challenger Bryce Benton’s campaign notified The State Journal-Register on Sunday afternoon that Benton would be unable to participate in the Monday night event, which was to take place at the SJ-R building.
Benton is out of state because of a family member’s serious illness, spokesman Aaron DeGroot said.
Benton is challenging incumbent state Sen. Sam McCann, R-Plainview.
* This doesn’t appear to be a ploy by Benton. Click here to see why. His dad just had a double lung transplant. He was discharged from the hospital over the weekend, but I’m told the recovery is not going well. The Benton campaign says the candidate will reschedule the debate.
Juliana Stratton, Democratic candidate for state representative in Illinois’ 5th District, announced Monday that President Barack Obama is endorsing her campaign to unseat state Rep. Ken Dunkin. The president has recorded a radio and television commercial in which he endorsed Stratton and asked Chicagoans to support her.
“I’m endorsing Juliana Stratton because she will stand up for our children, our seniors and our working families,” Obama said. “Juliana will fight to get guns off our streets. Throughout our neighborhoods, too many young people and families live in fear. These families can’t afford inaction. Juliana Stratton will bring a new voice to Springfield as State Representative. She is the strong and devoted leader our neighborhoods need.”
Stratton, a first-time candidate for office, is taking on 13-year incumbent Ken Dunkin, who has received nearly $1.5 million in campaign support from right-wing political committees and a group that was created to advance Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner’s agenda. Stratton has made a cornerstone of her campaign cracking down on the gun violence that has ripped through the city, vowing to push for tougher penalties for shooters who target children.
“Receiving President Obama’s endorsement is an incredible honor, and I will work hard every day for our families and neighborhoods to earn his continued trust and support,” Stratton said. “Our neighborhoods are proud of how President Obama has taken on dangerous right-wing agendas and has stood up for working families. As state representative, I will fight against reckless agendas that threaten our families.”
Stratton has criticized Dunkin’s record of failure, including siding with the National Rifle Association in voting for a law that made it easier for criminals to get guns and for helping Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner slash affordable child care for thousands of children.
*** UPDATE 2 *** Dunkin ally Maze Jackson just said on WVON radio that “the same person who gave us Rahm Emanuel” is now endorsing Dunkin’s opponent, and then asked rhetorically if that means Stratton is now backed by Rahm. Click here to listen. Jackson has also cut a radio ad for Dunkin, which is airing on his program. And Jackson endorsed Emanuel himself last year.
The Sun-Times has learned that the spots will run through the March 15 Illinois primary; there is about $300,000 behind the TV ad buy and about $100,000 for radio. The ads were produced by Adelstein and Associates, handling the media for the Stratton campaign.
