Most. Unwatchable. Video. Ever.
Thursday, Jul 21, 2016 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Another blast e-mail from John Terranova to state employees…
Dear colleagues,
I wanted to thank you for taking the time to contact me in response to my last email. Your responses confirmed what we knew all along. State employees are hungry for accurate information. Rest assured, you can always count on me and my colleagues in CMS Labor Relations to provide it.
To that end, please take a moment to watch ASK JT: Answers to State Employee Questions and Concerns. In this clip, joined by my longtime colleague and good friend, Colleen Alderman, I answer important questions we’ve been receiving from employees. We cover the following topics:
. health insurance,
. strike-related issues (lost wages and benefits, inability to use vacation and other benefit time during a strike, as well as other issues),
. impasse, and
. merit pay.
I’m sure you have many more questions and encourage you to continue asking them. Colleen and I will do our best to respond, in writing and in future installments of ASK JT. In the meantime, please bookmark team.illinois.gov, where you can find a complete copy of our last, best, and final offer in the AFSCME negotiations. We will continue updating this website with additional information that our employees not only demand but have the right to know.
Yours,
JT
John Terranova
Deputy Director
Office of Labor Relations
Department of Central Management Services
* The video is over 20 minutes long, so it isn’t actually a “clip.” But if you can somehow manage to make it through all the way, please let me know in comments what you thought because I only made it about two minutes. Click here.
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Rauner continues to dodge Trump questions
Thursday, Jul 21, 2016 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Gov. Rauner again dodged questions about the presidential campaign today during a bill-signing event. Asked, for instance, if he planned to watch tonight’s big speech by Donald Trump, the governor said…
“I’m focused on Illinois’ prosperity and, uh, getting our Illinois, uh, reforms done. Political reform, economic reform, education reform.”
* Reminded that he said he’d support the party’s presidential nominee, so now that Trump is the nominee, what form would that support take?…
“Again, I, I’ve said what I’m, all I’m gonna say on the, on the presidential campaign.”
* Raw audio…
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Unclear on the concepts
Thursday, Jul 21, 2016 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Sneed…
Whoops! U.S. Rep. John Shimkus needs a geography lesson: He told Illinois delegates at a Yacht Club luncheon in Cleveland on Tuesday, “It’s great to be here next to Lake Superior!”
It’s Lake Erie, bud.
* Tribune…
Tim Schneider, the Cook County commissioner Rauner tapped to be state GOP chairman, maintained talk of any divisions was illusory. “I’ve seen nothing but unity this whole week. I’ve seen nothing but unity,” Schneider said.
* $767? Really?…
With average cost per delegate at next week’s Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia running between $3,000 and $5,000, Democratic Sen. Mike Noland and his wife, Veronica, have set up a GoFundMe account to raise money for their trip.
The idea, Mike Noland tells me, came from Jose Alfonso Villalobos, who heads the Kane County for Bernie Sanders group. The Nolands hope to finance the trip “Bernie style” — a nod to the Vermont senator who amassed many small donations during his presidential primary bid.
While the GoFundMe page shows the Nolands raised about $767, Mike Noland says he’s also doing other fundraising to hit his $5,000 goal.
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Question of the day
Thursday, Jul 21, 2016 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Sun-Times…
Rep. Adam Kinzinger, R-Ill., slammed Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, on Thursday for not endorsing Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump during his convention prime time address on Wednesday night.
“If you are invited to speak at the convention, though, you have to endorse him,” said Kinzinger, who is so reluctant to embrace Trump as his party’s nominee that he has been sitting on the fence for months.
“This is Donald Trump’s convention,” Kinzinger said on CNN. “He won the primary fair and square.”
Kinzinger said he was “blown away” with Cruz’s speech, where he urged Republicans to “vote their conscience” rather than say straight up to cast their ballots for Trump.
“I think it was ludicrous of Ted Cruz to do it, and it’s obviously political posturing for whatever comes next,” Kinzinger said.
Trump himself tweeted that he read the speech beforehand and allowed it to proceed. As I recall, the deal he cut with Cruz a while back to speak at the convention didn’t include any promises that Cruz endorse the nominee. Back in March, Trump rescinded his pledge (agreed to with the other candidates) to back the eventual nominee. And after all that, the Trump campaign scheduled Cruz to speak Wednesday night in prime time ahead of a speech given by Trump’s son and his vice presidential nominee.
All that said…
* The Question: Do you agree with Congressman Kinzinger? Take the poll and then explain your answer in comments, please.
polls
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Report: Rauner “can’t stand Trump”
Thursday, Jul 21, 2016 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Hmmm…
Sneed is told Gov. Bruce Rauner, who detests Trump, may be a no-show here — but he is monitoring what’s going on.
“He’s been calling,” an Illinois delegate who asked not to be identified said. “He can’t stand Trump. He doesn’t like the way he does business.”
Thoughts?
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Unemployment rate down, but IDES still gloomy
Thursday, Jul 21, 2016 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Press release…
The Illinois Department of Employment Security (IDES) announced today that the unemployment rate in June decreased 0.2 percentage points to 6.2 percent and nonfarm payrolls decreased by -2,200 jobs, based on preliminary data released by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) and IDES. The decrease in Illinois’ unemployment rate is largely due to a decline in the labor force. Job growth is still below the national average, with Illinois -51,500 jobs short of its peak employment level reached in September 2000.
“In June, Illinois experienced yet another exodus and over-the-year job growth is still at half the national rate,” Director Jeff Mays said. “As we do our part in expanding services that help jobseekers find work more quickly, structural reforms are necessary to get the state’s economy back on track.”
“We’ve lost more than 9,000 manufacturing jobs over the last year, and replacing those middle class jobs has been an uphill battle due to the high costs facing Illinois businesses,” Illinois Department of Commerce Acting Director Sean McCarthy said. “Manufacturing has been a critical part of our state’s economy, providing stable, good paying jobs for Illinois families. We need action on structural reforms to Illinois’ dysfunctional worker’s compensation, regulation, and tax systems to make our state competitive and bring solid middle class jobs back to Illinois.”
In June, the three industry sectors with the largest gains in employment were: Professional and Business Services (+3,000); Financial Activities (+1,700); and Other Services (+1,500). The two industry sectors with the largest declines in employment were: Educational and Health Services (-7,300) and Trade, Transportation and Utilities (-1,000).
Over the year, nonfarm payroll employment increased by +41,300 jobs with the largest gains in Leisure and Hospitality (+19,100); and Professional and Business Services (+16,700). Industry sectors with the largest over-the-year declines in June include: Manufacturing (-9,100) and Information Services (-2,700). The 0.7 percent over-the-year gain in Illinois is less than the 1.7 percent gain posted by the nation in June.
The state’s unemployment rate is higher than the national unemployment rate reported for June 2016, which increased to 4.9 percent. The Illinois unemployment rate stood 0.4 percentage points above the unemployment rate a year ago when it was 5.8 percent.
The number of unemployed workers decreased -4.1 percent from the prior month to 409,300, up +8.5 percent over the same month for the prior year. The labor force grew by +1.9 percent in June over the prior year, but decreased 0.5 percent over-the-month. The unemployment rate identifies those individuals who are out of work and are seeking employment. An individual who exhausts or is ineligible for benefits is still reflected in the unemployment rate if they actively seek work.
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* From the McLean County Clerk’s Facebook page…
The State Board of Elections (SBE) fell victim to a cyberattack that was detected on July 12, 2016. Specifically, the target was the [Illinois Vital Records System] database. Once discovered, State Board of Elections closed the point of entry. On July 13th, once the severity of the attack was realized, as a precautionary measure, the entire IVRS system was shut down, including online voter registration.
SBE’s Information Technology and Voting and Registration Systems staff immediately began researching the extent of the infiltration. Thus far, we have determined the following:
· The pathway into IVRS was NOT through our firewalls but through a vulnerability on our public web page that an applicant may use to check the status of their online voter registration application.
· The method used was SQL injection. The offenders were able to inject SQL database queries into the IVRS database in order to access information. This was a highly sophisticated attack most likely from a foreign (international) entity.
· We have found no evidence that they added, changed, or deleted any information in the IVRS database. Their efforts to obtain voter signature images and voter history were unsuccessful.
· They were able to retrieve a number of voter records. We are in the process of determining the exact number of voter records and specific names of all individuals affected. (Because of the complex methods used to access the data, this may take 10-15 days.)
· In an effort to prevent an attack such as this from happening in the future, we have made a number of security enhancements to the IVRS and POVA systems.
· Once the system is brought back online, all IVRS user passwords will need to be changed at the first login (or by your vendor for system specific accounts). The new password must be a minimum of eight characters in length, one of which must be a non-alphanumeric character ($, *, # etc.).
Pursuant to the Personal Information Protection Act (815 ILCS530/), the Illinois General Assembly and the Office of the Attorney General have been notified of the incursion. Furthermore, once we have determined the number of voter records and the individuals whose information was collected, we are prepared to take the proper steps required to notify those persons.
A separate notification will be sent indicating when you and your staff may access IVRS. Thank you for your patience regarding this matter.
Kyle Thomas
Illinois State Board of Elections
Director-Voting and Registration Systems
* Dan Petrela…
The registration database is a frequent target of cyberattacks, [Ken Menzel, the Illinois State Board of Elections’ general counsel] said, but “this is the first time that we’re aware of that anybody’s gotten into anything — not for lack of trying .”
Menzel said the board is confident that no voter information in the database was altered and will follow the proper notification procedures if any personal information was compromised.
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Get in front of it, already
Thursday, Jul 21, 2016 - Posted by Rich Miller
* This passage from a Trib editorial on yesterday’s failure by the remap reform amendment is just plain intellectually dishonest…
It ought to go without saying that this appeal deserves the prompt attention of the state’s highest court. But two years ago, the justices showed a shocking disregard for the hundreds of thousands of voters who signed petitions in support of a different amendment.
Illinois isn’t California. We can debate forever the legal arguments on this particular case, but just because hundreds of thousands of people sign a petition it doesn’t change the fact that our state Constitution drastically restricts any and all proposals for change. And in 1988 and 2008, Illinois voters soundly rejected calling a constitutional convention. I wrote numerous columns leading up to that 2008 vote supporting a convention, mainly to get remap reform on the table, but the question lost 3.1 million to 1.5 million.
3.1 million voters trumps 564,000 petition signatures in my book, as much as I strongly disagreed with their overwhelming decision.
* That having been said, there is a most definite political downside to Democrats with this ruling, as today’s Chicago Sun-Times editorial clearly shows…
But the power to reshuffle that stacked deck lies, perhaps more than ever now, in the hands of the very people uninterested in any change — the state’s Democratic legislative leaders. The court ruled that the remap plan, which would have assigned new duties to the state auditor general and Supreme Court, went beyond constitutionally allowed “structural” and “procedural” changes to the Legislature.
Today’s court ruling was a defeat for democracy and a victory for House Speaker Mike Madigan and Company, who have consistently put their own political interests above the power of your vote.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: The Democrats need to get out in front of this issue with a real proposal of their own. If they don’t defeat Rauner in the next election and don’t maintain their super-majorities in both chambers in the next two cycles, then he’ll veto their remap bill and they’ll only have a 50-50 chance of drawing the next map.
And then all heck will break loose. I seriously doubt the GOP will make the same sort of mistakes that they made when they drew the map in 1991.
* Related…
* Mark Brown: Dems’ stance on redistricting reform will catch up to them
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* This new data sophistication that the state party chairman spoke about this morning is just part of what’s going on. The House and Senate Republicans now have much larger operations, with a much bigger infrastructure than they’ve ever had before…
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IL Trump delegates defend the negativity
Thursday, Jul 21, 2016 - Posted by Rich Miller
* While some Illinois Kasich delegates (most notably the “Never Trump” former state party chairman Pat Brady) are quoted high up in this article, the Trump delegates fervently contend that the Republican National Convention’s relentless negativity against Hillary Clinton won’t hurt the party in the end…
Trump delegates say they have no problem with the Clinton-bashing and do not fear blowback from women voters, a problem area for Trump.
James Devors, a Trump delegate from Aroma Park, 60 miles south of Chicago, agreed that he’d “like to hear more positive stuff about Mr. Trump.”
But the negative statements, Devors said, “are going toward those Republicans who are lukewarm to Mr. Trump. It’s, ‘You might not like Mr. Trump, but this is your alternative,’ is the audience they’re going for.”
State Rep. John Cabello of Machesney Park, 95 miles northwest of Chicago, an at-large delegate and Trump supporter, said reprisals from women voters shouldn’t be a problem because “Trump has a problem only with women who would never support him in the first place.”
Linda Lucchese, a Trump delegate from Park Ridge, Clinton’s hometown in Chicago’s northwest suburbs, disagreed: “It won’t hurt with any woman who’s got half a brain,” she said.
It did look a bit Third Worldish to be loudly chanting “Lock her up!” about an American political opponent, but I think that if the nominee has a very good night tonight, much of that might be forgotten.
But not all of it.
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Maybe not?
Thursday, Jul 21, 2016 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Richard Porter is the Republican National Committeeman…
* But…
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Caption contest!
Thursday, Jul 21, 2016 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Brady is a “Never Trump” guy, so this is little surprise…
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* From Anzalone Liszt Grove via AFSCME…
To: Interested Parties
From: ALG Research
Re: IL Statewide poll findings
Illinois voters like labor unions. Conversely, they do not like Bruce Rauner or think he is doing a good job as Governor. They side with labor unions in fights with Bruce Rauner generally, and they side with AFSCME specifically in their current dispute with the Governor.
Key Findings
• Labor unions and workers are popular in Illinois. Voters are favorable towards “public employee unions” (51% favorable / 29% unfavorable) and “state government workers” (57% favorable / 28% unfavorable).
• Voters have turned on Bruce Rauner. Last April, voters gave Rauner a net positive job rating (45% positive / 42% negative) and personal popularity rating (47% favorable / 36% unfavorable). That’s now flipped, and Rauner has a poor personal rating (38% favorable / 50% unfavorable) and job rating (35% positive / 60% unfavorable). That includes bad ratings with:
o Independents (32% positive / 64% negative job)
o The Collar counties (45% positive / 50% negative)
o Downstate (42% positive / 54% negative)
o People who voted in the November 2014 election (37% positive / 59% negative)
• In general, voters trust public employee unions more than Bruce Rauner in a dispute. They favor public employee unions by 24 points (54% unions / 30% Rauner) when it comes to conflicts between them and Rauner, an improvement for unions since last April (51% unions / 33% Rauner).
• In the current dispute between state employees and Bruce Rauner, voters agree with state employees. Voters overall side with state workers, as do voters in the Collar counties, Downstate, Independents, and midterm-election voters:
“When it comes to the current dispute between the state employees’ union and Bruce Rauner, which of the following do you agree with more?
o “State employees say they are willing to negotiate with Bruce Rauner, even offering to limit pay raises and pay more for their health care. But just like Rauner held the state budget hostage for a year, he refuses to negotiate with workers. Instead he’s trying to force our everyday heroes like caregivers and emergency responders to accept steep cuts to their standard of living. 56%
OR
o “Bruce Rauner says that we are in such a fiscal mess because past governors gave too much to government unions that funded their political campaigns. He says that the unions’ demands would cost taxpayers three billion dollars, and that the state can’t afford employee pay raises or generous health care benefits.” 34%
• On the following points of contention, voters also agree more with the state employees’ union than Rauner. Voters don’t just agree with ASFCME on the general issue, they also take the union’s side on the key specific points of disagreement between AFSCME and Rauner.
“Which of the following do you agree with more?”
o The union says Rauner is wildly exaggerating the cost of workers’ pay and benefits for his own political gain. 58%
OR
o Bruce Rauner says the union’s demands would cost taxpayers three billion dollars. 32%
o The union says public service workers are important. They keep us safe, protect kids, care for veterans, and more. 62%
OR
o Bruce Rauner says government unions are part of the corrupt bargain in Springfield causing our state’s mess. 28%
o The union says Bruce Rauner is trying to destroy unions, so he can get a blank check to outsource public services for private profit. 60%
OR
o Bruce Rauner says we need to cut Illinois state workers’ excessive pay and benefits. They are the highest-paid state workers in the nation at $60,000 a year. 30%
The findings are based off of an n=600 sample poll of November 2016 likely voters conducted on landlines and cellphones. Interviews were apportioned geographically based on past voter turnout. The expected margin of sampling error at the 95% confidence level is +4.0% and higher for subgroups.
Subscribers have toplines and more info. The poll was conducted July 6-10.
* From Team Rauner…
This fabricated poll is yet another attempt by AFSCME leaders to mislead and distract taxpayers from AFSCME’s true intention, which is a strike as early as September 1st.
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* Lynn Sweet…
The Illinois Republican Party on Wednesday revoked the convention credentials of a Donald Trump delegate from Chicago “for publicly-made racist comments and threats of violence” on a Facebook posting.
Illinois Republican Party Chairman Tim Schneider told the Sun-Times the party, “has zero tolerance for racism of any kind and threats of violence against anyone.” […]
The Republican National Convention welcome party was thrown Sunday at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum. [Fifth Congressional District delegate Lori Gayne] wrote, over a photo of law enforcement officials on the roof on the iconic building on the Lake Erie shore:
“Our brave snipers just waiting for some “N—- to try something. Love them.”
She used an abbreviation for the racial slur.
* From Gayne’s statement…
The statements do not reflect my character or feelings toward minorities.
Oh, please.
* From a May 19th Tribune story…
One of Gayne’s social media handles is “whitepride.”
“With all the racism going on today, I’m very proud to be white. Just like black people are proud to be black and now, as white people, whenever we say something critical we’re punished as if we’re racists. I’m tired of it. I’m very proud,” Gayne said.
“I’m so angry I don’t even feel like I live in America. You can call me a racist. Black Lives Matter? Those people are out of control,” she said.
The oldest line in the book is “I’m not a racist, but…” As a white man, I’ve heard it countless times.
* Tribune today…
State Rep. John Cabello, R-Machesney Park, co-chair of the Illinois delegation and a major Trump supporter, said he supported free speech but said Gayne had crossed the bounds to be a representative for Illinois Republicans.
“I don’t believe her voice is one we want in the party,” Cabello said.
Coulda thought about that before the convention even started.
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