* They’ve already laid off 56 employees this year…
An Illinois child social service agency is laying off 16 staffers that work with at-risk youth and expectant mothers because of the nearly yearlong budget stalemate between Democratic lawmakers and Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner.
Children’s Home and Aid spokesman Jassen Strokosch says the state owes the agency about $1.8 million for services since July 1, the beginning of the current fiscal year. The layoffs happened Wednesday and Thursday and will impact services in East St. Louis and central Illinois.
The staffers worked to provide alternatives to incarceration to teenagers and helped find housing for homeless youth. They also provided counseling to expectant mothers during in-home visits.
Homeless youth, pregnant women, teens in trouble. In East St. Louis, no less.
* The Senate will return to Springfield for the first time this month. They’ll convene the 29th at noon.
No official word out of the House yet, but next Wednesday is the last Wednesday of the fiscal year and Speaker Madigan pledged to hold sessions every Wednesday, so it’s expected that he’ll bring his chamber back.
*** UPDATE 1 *** House members say they’ve just received notice to return Wednesday by 11 o’clock in the morning.
The budget working group says they’re very close to the end of their work.
There’s one more meeting scheduled Thursday and lawmakers are hoping it’s the last.
Working group members say they’re almost ready to hand over their work on a stopgap budget to the leaders.
They say the plan would get the state through the end of the year, but there are just a few more issues the four tops and Governor will have to hammer out.
And…
Senate will be back in session on Wed. "The Senate Pres. remains hopefully optimistic that a bipartisan agreement is close at hand" #twill
Should electric utilities be allowed to “add a demand charge to household electric bills, which would require people to pay a new fee if they use too many electric appliances at the same time in any half hour period of the month.”
Total Opposed: 81%
Total in Favor: 15%
Illinois still has no budget, the state’s finances and services are in shambles, the social safety net is being decimated but Exelon STILL wants the Legislature to pass a huge rate increase to bail out nukes and pad Exelon’s profits.
BEST Coalition is a 501C4 nonprofit group of dozens of business, consumer and government groups, as well as large and small businesses. Visitwww.noexelonbailout.com.
* This has been going on for years, and it’s unconscionable…
Illinois’ history is crumbling away.
Mansions, museums, and monuments that showcase Illinois’ past, and honor famous luminaries, ranging from President Abraham Lincoln to famed architect Frank Lloyd Wright, have been battered by years of fiscal decline and subsequent state-imposed austerity measures, according to a BGA Rescuing Illinois investigation.
The 56 sites operated by the Illinois Historic Preservation Agency (IHPA) require nearly $146 million of dollars in deferred maintenance through 2020. Many of the buildings’ plumbing, electrical, heating and cooling systems have outlived their useful lives, according to interviews with IHPA officials and documents obtained by the BGA under the Freedom of Information Act.
In recent years, staffing has been reduced two-thirds to 48 full-time employees, according to data from the IHPA division running the 56 historic sites, and most of the venues are now closed on Mondays and Tuesdays, according to their web sites. […]
The agency has an annual maintenance budget of $75,000, which covers only the most routine repairs.
Governor Bruce Rauner visited with employees at the Illinois Department of Human Services (IDHS) offices in Chicago today and discussed transformations the department is making to streamline the way it assists customers. These transformations help reduce poverty levels and transition individuals and families out of our social service systems.
Odd word choice there.
But do you know what might help those “customers” even more? Signing the stopgap human services bill that’s been sitting on his desk for weeks. That way, groups and businesses who work with those “customers” can finally get paid.
Unionized home care workers tried to confront Gov. Bruce Rauner on Thursday, outside a state agency they claim he is hurting.
Dozens of demonstrators booed as the governor made an unpublicized visit to the Department of Human Services office in the West Loop. The protesters were members of Service Employees International Union Healthcare Illinois, which represents 52,000 workers who have gone without a contract since last July. […]
The union said Rauner’s budget plan would cut $200 million from the state’s community care program, which helps seniors and the disabled get services at home, so they don’t have to go into nursing homes.
It’s obviously not a joking matter to the folks who were injured or suffered property damage, so I’ll just apologize right now in case Scott’s tweet upsets anybody.
But dark humor is all we’ve got left in this state.
[Headline was changed after a couple of funny comments were posted.]
Approaching the November elections, Republican Paul Schimpf aims to bring “common-sense” legislating, conservative values and integrity to the state Senate in District 58, which covers Monroe, St. Clair, Randolph, Perry, Jackson, Union and Jefferson counties. […]
Former Lt. Gov. Sheila Simon (2011-2015) is the current Democrat opponent in the Senate race, but Schimpf is confident that he is the right candidate to address the issues Illinois and his district are facing. […]
What makes Schimpf the best candidate for the district?
“Leadership abilities versus political lineage,” he said.
Schimpf explained that Simon comes from a tradition of politicians who do very little to serve the state; instead, they are more likely to serve themselves. He also argued that he can be a leader for everyone, not just for one party.
By far, the best thing Sheila Simon has going for her is her revered father’s name. She’s a proud liberal Democrat in a district which leans Republican (half of it is represented by a socially conservative, pro-life, pro-gun Democrat with a famous last name) and she hasn’t won an election on her own since her days as a Carbondale alderman.
So, that was just a goofy mistake - or perhaps an ill-conceived homage to the Karl Rove strategy of attacking an opponent’s strength.
A spokesman for Schimpf said the comments in question had nothing to do with the late former U.S. Sen. Paul Simon, and were instead a criticism of her connections to former Democratic Gov. Pat Quinn, under whom she served as lieutenant governor.
“We’re not going to disparage the memory of the late U.S. Sen. Simon,” said Schimpf spokesman Ron Deedrick. “He obviously was a statesman who served the nation and the state honorably.” […]
Simon said she sees no other way to interpret Shimpf’s comment about her lineage other than to consider it an insult to her parents. She noted that the most common definition of the term “lineage” describes the lineal descent from one’s ancestors, i.e. family.
Deedrick said he refuses to engage in a battle of semantics over use of the phrase “political lineage,” and called it “absurd” for Simon to continue to insist the comment was an intended as an insult to the late Paul Simon. Deedrick did not dispute that the accuracy of the quotes, but also said the campaign had no control over the ultimate outcome of the article.
…Adding… Wordslinger in comments…
Of course. Who didn’t make the Pat Quinn connection with “political lineage?”
LOL, that’s some lousy spin.
If you want to knock Simon for Pat Quinn, you say “Pat Quinn.”
If you want to knock Simon for leaning on the old man, you say “political lineage.”
Believe it or not, using your phone isn’t the most dangerous activity to do while driving. Chatting with your passengers is.
It sounds weird, but according to federal data, more than half of distracted driving accidents were caused by conversations with passengers. Sometimes, it seems, we all just get way too lost in dialogue.
The next most likely distraction is your phone: texting, dialing numbers, Googling things, looking at your directions, changing a song, taking a selfie. All that only accounts for 12 percent of distracted driving accidents.
Focusing on other in-car objects — putting on chapstick, swatting a fly, wiping a smudge off your window — make up 11 percent of those accidents.
Actions of passengers other than talking — like stupid in-car dance moves or kids fighting in the back seat — cause another 7 percent, and everything else (eating, adjusting the radio, moving your seat, anything else) cause the remaining 23 percent.
* The federal study is here. The feds are not as definitive about it as the above story claims, however…
About 57 percent of these drivers were conversing with a passenger in the pre-crash phase. However, it may not reflect the cause of the distraction. In fact, it is difficult to determine how much conversation can contribute to driver inattention.
It goes without saying that the government outlawing conversation between a driver and a passenger would be a wee bit unpopular. Not sure what to do about that, even if the stats are true, except via a public information campaign.
Illinois cities, hospitals, public schools and nonprofit agencies should sue Gov. Bruce Rauner and state lawmakers if they can’t adopt a balanced budget by July 1, said [Rockford] Mayor Larry Morrissey.
Suing Illinois’ executive and legislative branches for failing to pass and sign a balanced budget may seem like a crazy idea. But crazy is the new normal in Illinois, where lawmakers’ inability, or perhaps unwillingness, to adopt a budget for nearly a year is claiming new victims with each passing week. […]
“If there isn’t a budget passed by end of June, I don’t want to see the state go through the same dynamics of last year when everybody and their brother was bringing lawsuits forward to force the state to pay for this or pay for that,” Morrissey said. “My preference would be one lawsuit that’s brought by everybody that asks a judge to hold lawmakers and the governor accountable for their constitutional duty to pass a balanced budget.
“The state constitution says the legislative branch needs to adopt a balanced budget,” he said. “They need to do their job. I think there’s a great constitutional case that could be brought to settle this matter.”
Does the Constitution really require the legislative branch to pass a budget every year?
(a) The Governor shall prepare and submit to the General Assembly, at a time prescribed by law, a State budget for the ensuing fiscal year. The budget shall set forth the estimated balance of funds available for appropriation at the beginning of the fiscal year, the estimated receipts, and a plan for expenditures and obligations during the fiscal year of every department, authority, public corporation and quasi-public corporation of the State, every State college and university, and every other public agency created by the State, but not of units of local government or school districts. The budget shall also set forth the indebtedness and contingent liabilities of the State and such other information as may be required by law. Proposed expenditures shall not exceed funds estimated to be available for the fiscal year as shown in the budget.
(b) The General Assembly by law shall make appropriations for all expenditures of public funds by the State. Appropriations for a fiscal year shall not exceed funds estimated by the General Assembly to be available during that year.
It does say the GA shall make appropriations, but, I dunno. Apparently, the framers couldn’t imagine a controversy like this ever coming up. I mean, who in their right mind wouldn’t pass a budget every year?
SECTION 1. STATE REVENUE POWER
The General Assembly has the exclusive power to raise revenue by law except as limited or otherwise provided in this Constitution. The power of taxation shall not be surrendered, suspended, or contracted away.
I don’t see how a state judge could put in place a balanced budget with higher taxes.
For over a year, the government of Illinois has failed to pass a budget. However, there is a solution, and it does not lie in Springfield.
Its called the Second Enforcement Act of 1871 and it gives the federal government the right and responsibility to dismantle any state or local government that is failing to protect the constitutional rights of its citizens.
This law states “That in all cases where insurrection, domestic violence, unlawful combinations, or conspiracies in any State shall so obstruct or hinder the execution of the laws thereof, and of the United States, as to deprive any portion or class of the people of such State of any of the rights, privileges, or immunities, or protection, named in the constitution … it shall be lawful for the President, and it shall be his duty to take such measures… as he may deem necessary for the suppressions of such insurrection, domestic violence, or combinations. …”
* But, according to Wikipedia, that federal law has been amended and replaced with this language…
Every person who under color of any statute, ordinance, regulation, custom, or usage, of any State or Territory or the District of Columbia, subjects, or causes to be subjected, any citizen of the United States or other person within the jurisdiction thereof to the deprivation of any rights, privileges, or immunities secured by the Constitution and laws, shall be liable to the party injured in an action at law, Suit in equity, or other proper proceeding for redress, except that in any action brought against a judicial officer for an act or omission taken in such officer’s judicial capacity, injunctive relief shall not be granted unless a declaratory decree was violated or declaratory relief was unavailable.
State-level gun legislation in response to the Orlando attacks has emerged in Illinois, led by a Chicago Democrat and more than one suburban Republican.
The new proposal in Springfield would let the Illinois State Police notify the FBI if someone on a terrorist watch list applies to get a Firearm Owners Identification card needed in the state to own a gun. It would add people involved in terrorist threats to the list of those who can have such a card denied or revoked. […]
The lead Republican on the plan is state Rep. Ed Sullivan, a Mundelein Republican and key negotiator of the Illinois law that allows people to carry concealed weapons in public. The Illinois State Rifle Association’s leader says he’s OK with the plan if it doesn’t change.
“It helps, but it’s not overly intrusive into gun owners’ rights,” ISRA Executive Director Richard Pearson said.
Statement from House Republican Leader Jim Durkin (R-Western Springs) in response to the introduction of bi-partisan legislation to keep those on the terror watch list from possessing firearms
“I applaud the efforts of both Representative Ed Sullivan (R- Mundelein) and Representative Greg Harris (D-Chicago) for their work in presenting this commonsense and responsible legislation,” said House Republican Leader Jim Durkin (R-Western Springs).
“While the federal government plays a larger role in this complicated issue, I believe we have a responsibility to do our part,” Durkin added. “I am proud to lend my support to House Bill 6588.”
Numbers provided to the Sun-Times show the state owes more than $32.3 million to providers for all 43 of the state’s prisons, centers and work camp centers for water and sewer services, gas and electricity. […]
That backlog doesn’t include food vendors, some of which are mom and pop vendors struggling to produce food for the prisons. Those vendors haven’t been paid in months. […]
Illinois House Republican Leader Jim Durkin has been sounding the alarm about the prison backlog for months. He said he’s concerned vendors will drop their services.
“Those that are supplying food at some point, if they’re not going to get paid, and they continue to supply the state a product but aren’t getting paid for it, it is a concern. It is a legitimate concern,” Durkin said, adding no stopgap budget by July could cause some dangerous conditions in the state’s prisons.
• 54% of survey respondents anticipate they will have to cease serving clients in six months if the impasse continues
• Almost two-thirds of survey respondents reported making program and/or operational cuts, up from 48% in January 2016
• Of those agencies, 91% have cut the number of clients they serve, leaving nearly 1 million clients in Illinois without critical support, most significantly in the areas of mental health, substance abuse services and childhood education
• More than 50% of safety net and mental health providers indicated they could not meet the needs of their clients for the past year due to the impasse
• 45% of respondents have been forced to lay off staff, up from 24% in January 2016
• 59% of respondents have utilized their cash reserves
• 33% of respondents have utilized lines of credit
• Respondents have taken on a combined $38 million in debt
• 36% of agencies anticipate they will have to close their doors in six months if the impasse continues
Those who saw the Democratic party mobile sign parked a mere 100 feet outside the office of state senate candidate Paul Schimpf (R-Waterloo) at the edge of the Rural King lot in Waterloo last week can attest that the race is indeed getting hot.
Chad Goldschmidt, the husband of Monroe County Coroner candidate Cassy Diehl Goldschmidt (D-Waterloo), owns the truck that has the mobile sign attached. The sign in Waterloo remained in the parking lot for a few days until Schimpf’s office contacted the property owner to confirm whether the truck could remain there.
Thursday, the landlord for Schimpf’s campaign office visited the site and concluded the truck was on her property, at which point she asked Chad to move the truck elsewhere. He complied, moving the sign to the vacant Michael’s on Market lot just up the street.
Since the sign is a mobile advertisement, there is no ordinance that would allow Waterloo city officials to request he move the truck from Michael’s or any other location in the city
* And then there’s this column entitled “Get a load of this phone call I got about Gov. Bruce Rauner the other night.” Rep. Marty Moylan, who has been a Tier One target forever, is doing robocalls ridiculing the governor for claiming his administration is “doing heroic things” during the budget impasse…
So, I shouldn’t have been too surprised to hear that call the last night. But I don’t even live in one of those two dozen or so targeted districts where millions will be spent by Rauner and his Republicans and Madigan, Cullerton and their Democrats waging war and trying to win seats.
And for what? The legislative districts were drawn by Democrats and already have produced supermajorities. Madigan could win a few more that might make it easier for him to override Rauner’s vetoes, or Rauner might win a few back, but not enough to shift the legislative tide toward his party.
So why is Moylan paying for calls to criticize the governor in June? He isn’t considered to be vulnerable. And maybe that’s just it. He isn’t considered vulnerable and he has money to spend. He did vote for Madigan’s budget that was $7 billion out of balance. The budget that even a majority of Senate Democrats couldn’t bring themselves to support. Moylan’s been a loyal Madigan member and a long-time union worker. Illinois Sunshine shows me he’s got more than $577,000 available and his top donors are Madigan and his Democratic Party of Illinois and a variety of unions.
So Madigan’s up to the same tricks as Rauner. He and the unions are roughing up Rauner even in areas that aren’t all that critical to them. Already. In June.
* Um, who says he won’t eventually be targeted? Everybody expects the playing field to expand beyond where Team Rauner is now.
And did anybody happen to notice this last night?…
I'll put this up again in the morning but Richard Uihlein just gave $1.5 million to Liberty Principles. https://t.co/W3dqAzQsQa
Plus, Americans for Prosperity has been whacking Moylan over the property tax issue and, perhaps more importantly, UNITE HERE has blasted him in a TV ad with stuff that could easily be used against him this fall.
* I get the frustration with starting campaigns in June. It’s just crazy. But it’s happening all over the place right now. So, we better get used to it.
Former Governor Pat Quinn: “The first job as a governor is to get a budget passed”
* If you listen to the audio below (15:40 mark, in case you don’t want to listen to it all), you’ll hear Quinn deny that any of his budgets were out of balance…
“That isn’t true at all. Our revenue equaled our expenditure. That’s called arithmetic.”
Umm, no.
Quinn’s final budget as governor was a complete, utter failure. The General Assembly passed a fantasy budget that didn’t make any allowances for the loss of revenues from the scheduled partial rollback of the income tax hike. So, the incoming governor had to patch that huge hole.
The Kirk For Senate campaign launched a new television ad, titled “Even More,” that highlights Senator Mark Kirk’s courageous and independent record in Congress. The ad, airing on Chicago broadcast and cable networks, details Kirk’s independent and bipartisan record, including his demand for a vote on Supreme Court Nominee Merrick Garland along with Kirk’s refusal to support Republican Presidential nominee Donald Trump.
“As the partisanship and gridlock in Washington intensifies, Senator Kirk remains an independent-minded, reform-driven solution seeker,” said Kevin Artl, Kirk For Senate campaign manager. “Senator Kirk continues to put partisanship aside to to find common sense solutions for the people of Illinois.”
* As I told you yesterday, this is about a $250K buy, and it’s only running on Chicago TV, prompting one Democrat with the Duckworth campaign to crack wise earlier today…
Thinking we won’t respond to Kirk’s ad, we’ll just run the same ad in Downstate markets….
Long before his stroke, Mark Kirk was independent, ranked as one of the most bipartisan Senators.
After facing death, Kirk returned even more committed to serve Illinois.
Mark was the first Republican to support a vote on President Obama’s Supreme Court nominee.
He’s a leader on protecting a woman’s right to choose.
And Mark Kirk bucked his party to say Donald Trump is not fit to be commander in chief.
Mark Kirk, courageous and independent.
I’m Mark Kirk, and I approve this message.
…Adding… So, they did decide to respond…
In response to Republican Mark Kirk’s new campaign spot, released today and running only in Chicago according to reports, Duckworth deputy campaign manager Matt McGrath issued the following statement:
“Republican Senator Mark Kirk has lied for years about his military record, falsely claiming to have served in combat and claiming an award he never earned, and now he’s not being straight with Illinois voters by portraying himself as a liberal Democrat in Chicago while apparently hoping no one else across the state notices. You can always count on two things from Kirk: dishonesty and crude political calculation, and this ad has an abundance of both.” — Matt McGrath, campaign spokesman
But in a new twist on [a scheduled August workplace retaliation trial in Downstate Union County involving two workers at the Anna Veterans Home], the court docket shows that a pretrial settlement conference has been scheduled for Friday. Duckworth is being represented by the Illinois attorney general’s office.
Kirk campaign manager Kevin Artl jumped on the idea of a settlement, suggesting that Duckworth “does not want the truth to come out.”
“After weeks of dodging questions about whether or not she will testify at her own trial, Duckworth is now answering that question by engaging in behind-the-scenes settlement talks in order to avoid a trial and having to take the stand,” Artl said.
“What makes this situation even more egregious is that Illinois taxpayers will ultimately have to pay the bill for Duckworth’s improper actions,” he said.
…Adding… So, Duckworth’s campaign responded to the TV ad, but not about the trial?
[Bumped up for visibility since this story has mostly been ignored by the media except for a brief story this morning by the AP.]
* Press release…
A new survey conducted by United Way of Illinois (UWI), the statewide association of 52 local United Ways and the largest non-governmental funder of health and human services in the state, shows Illinois’ year-long budget impasse continues to starve the nonprofit sector and cause harm to vulnerable citizens across the state.
In the fourth United Way of Illinois survey, more than half of safety net and mental health providers responded that they have been unable to meet the needs of clients for the past year. Survey respondents also indicated that the disruption in services will have long-term effects on the people they serve as extended waiting lists, the elimination of programs and triaging of clients mean more people are moving into crisis situations. The mentally ill who are not getting psychiatric services go to emergency rooms or jails and some of the young people who aren’t in out-of-school time and job training programs become involved in the criminal justice system.
As of June 2016:
• 54% of survey respondents anticipate they will have to cease serving clients in six months if the impasse continues
• Almost two-thirds of survey respondents reported making program and/or operational cuts, up from 48% in January 2016
• Of those agencies, 91% have cut the number of clients they serve, leaving nearly 1 million clients in Illinois without critical support, most significantly in the areas of mental health, substance abuse services and childhood education
• More than 50% of safety net and mental health providers indicated they could not meet the needs of their clients for the past year due to the impasse
“We honestly wished we would have different news” said Kristi Long, United Way of Illinois Board Chair. “The survey results show accelerating damage since January—more program cuts, more clients left unserved, more debt. The mentally ill, disabled seniors and young children in need of educational opportunities—these people can’t wait for the next election.”
Organizations have been unable to come close to filling the gap left by the state through additional fundraising efforts and have been forced to take extreme measures in order to continue serving clients. Agencies reported cutting back or eliminating vital programs, draining cash reserves and credit lines, laying off staff and considering the possibility of shutting their doors entirely. In order to continue to serve clients:
• 45% of respondents have been forced to lay off staff, up from 24% in January 2016
• 59% of respondents have utilized their cash reserves
• 33% of respondents have utilized lines of credit
• Respondents have taken on a combined $38 million in debt
• 36% of agencies anticipate they will have to close their doors in six months if the impasse continues
This is the fourth survey conducted by United Way of Illinois on the state budget stalemate. The survey was conducted June 1-June 8, 2016, and responses were received from 429 human services agencies that receive state funding. Responses were received from every county in Illinois. Survey respondents represented a range of service categories including youth development, early childhood education, mental health, emergency housing, senior services and employment training and varied in budget size from less than $500,000 to more than $15 million.
