*** UPDATE 1 *** The actual question, which you can hear at about the 5:30 mark below, was about several different topics, not just the homeless shelter, and was actually a follow-up to a question about whether Rauner had a fall-back plan in case the GA didn’t pass a real budget…
*** UPDATE 2 *** From the Chicago Coalition for the Homeless…
Hey, Rich.
Just a note on the Northside homeless shelter. As we understand it, it wasn’t necessarily the lack of state money that forced Northside to announce they needed to close the program. It was more driven by the city having too low of a per bed rate for providers. The city has level funded the shelters since 2012. The city gets the money that comes from the Emergency and Transitional Housing line item in the state budget. The city then contracts with Chicago providers. Chicago has been covering the state’s portion of the funding since the budget crisis set in. Back in the summer, the city had told Northside that if the state budget mess didn’t get fixed that they would not be issuing contracts for 2017.
None of this is to say the state budget doesn’t play a huge factor. There is a $100k budget deficit for the program, but that is a structural deficit and it doesn’t necessarily correlate to the state’s portion. So, while theoretically, they could raise $100k to fill the whole, they don’t have confidence they can do that in a sustainable fashion that won’t undermine the rest of the work they do.
Some advocates (not us) have oversimplified the message to it being a $100k hole created by Rauner. There is truth in there, but, like everything, it is more complicated. All that being said, showing up to feed the homeless at the same building this program is slated to shut down was terrible planning on Rauner (and the Food Depository’s) part. And Rauner’s response was even worse. I’m not giving him a pass at all.
Just thought you might want some additional background. If you have questions, let me know.
Doug
Doug Schenkelberg
Executive Director
Chicago Coalition for the Homeless
*** UPDATE 3 *** A person representing a wealthy Chicagoan (Democrat) did reach out to the shelter and was told this…
We have been operating the program at a deficit for several years now. We approached the city for additional funding for over a year now but they were not able to provide the additional $100,000 needed each year to balance the program’s budget. We made the announcement about the closing late summer and at this point don’t even have a contract for next year. We’ve already removed most of our equipment and furniture and have about 14 residents remaining.
Unfortunately the shelter will be closing in the next week or so. I do appreciate you reaching out however and wish I had better news for you.
A group of advocates for homeless residents of Chicago’s Uptown neighborhood are blaming the state’s lingering budget impasse for the impending closure of a homeless shelter that’s set to shutter just before the holidays.
The group, which consists of homeless residents, community organizers and clergy, claimed the state’s inability to come up with $100,000 to fund the North Side Housing & Supportive Services shelter is directly tied to the ongoing budget stalemate in Springfield, faulting Gov. Bruce Rauner and House Speaker Michael Madigan. […]
Rauner responded to concerns about the state’s precarious economic situation and the shelter’s funding during a Monday press conference.
“Change is hard,” Rauner said. “We didn’t get into the mess we’re in in a few years, we got here over the last 35 years. So changing the structure takes a little time. I’m frustrated. I’m not the most patient person in the state, but I’m very persistent.”
“We have to do the right thing for the long term,” he added.
The number of Illinois school districts with a majority of students coming from low-income families has jumped from 13 percent to 43 percent over the past decade, a new report shows.
The finding was released by Advance Illinois, a business-backed education reform group, in its biennial report “Every Student Counts: The State We’re In 2016-2017.” […]
As poverty levels increase, the report says, low-income Illinois students remain academically behind their wealthier peers in K-12 schooling and are less likely to complete a postsecondary degree.
Twenty percent of low-income students are college-ready based on scores measured on the ACT college-entrance exam. That’s 39 percentage points lower than their wealthier peers, the report found.
In addition, low-income students are 26 percentage points behind wealthier peers in postsecondary enrollment and 9 percentage points behind in postsecondary completion, the report found.
* The 2016 Golden Horsehoe Award for Best Democratic State Senator goes to Sen. Donne Trotter. He didn’t get as many votes as others, but this nomination by Steve Schnorf won the day for him…
Anyone who knows me knows what I think on Sen Ds. There are some great people in that caucus, like Sens Raoul and Steans and Forby and Munoz. But my vote today tomorrow and always goes to Sen Donne Trotter. Very bright, very well educated, a gentleman, not a mean spirited bone in his body. He is a master of the processes of government and the Senate, but also of the subject matter of a huge range of programmatic areas. Whether you are a player, a powerhouse, or pawn you will receive a respectful hearing in his office. Donne is a problem solver not a show horse (except for his wardrobe of course). I have been involved in this stuff for 40 years now. Donne is one of the best ever.
Honorable mention to Sen. Gary Forby, a truly good guy.
* The 2016 Golden Horsehoe Award for Best Republican State Senator goes to Sen. Karen McConnaughay…
A truly thoughtful legislator, who has been able to straddle the line of Rauner loyalty and independent thinking. She is another one who really wants to accomplish wins for her district and the State, and is engaging in real conversations to try and help us get out of this mess.
Honorable mention to Sen. Sam McCann, the crowd favorite.
* We’re going to skip a couple of categories this year and do three of them today because we’re simply running out of time…
* Best Statewide Officeholder
* Best Illinois Congresscritter
* Best State Agency Director
Please do your very best to nominate in all three categories. And, of course, make sure to explain your nominations or they won’t count.
* The EDGE tax credit program, which is often described as Illinois’ most effective tool to attract and retain large companies, expires at the end of this month. Greg Hinz looks at the finger-pointing…
Rauner’s office declined to comment officially but suggested on background that, rather than deal with Madigan and his demands, a legislative-led effort like Althoff’s new bill would get further. […]
“Their feigning concern about sitting down and negotiating is pretty remarkable for an administration that’s supposed to be filled with pro-business people,” [Madigan spokesman Steve Brown] said in an interview. […]
“The Edge program has been the executive branch’s leading job creation program for years,” [Senate President John Cullerton’s] office said in a statement. “Gov. Rauner didn’t ask for it to continue during the past session or seek legislation to do so. Illinois’ economy relies on our ability to keep and add good-paying jobs . . . (and) the Senate president is committed to working with the governor” on that.
[GOP Sen. Pam Althoff], whose legislation is not yet available on the General Assembly’s website, said it would include reforms, including Rauner’s policy of limiting Edge credits to net new and not retained jobs.
She declined to speculate on why nothing happened this year but conceded, “The focus has been on the lack of a budget for a long time. I just think (Edge) is one of the things that fell through the cracks.”
Althoff is probably right. The impasse war may have distracted the leaders from renewing this tax program. And now everybody wants to blame the other side.
Fiscal conservatism is the economic philosophy of prudence in government spending and debt. Fiscal conservatives advocate the avoidance of deficit spending, the reduction of overall government spending and national debt, and ensuring balanced budgets. In other words, fiscal conservatives are against the government expanding beyond its means through debt.
* Sen. Dave Koehler (D-Peoria) was interviewed by a local TV reporter about the budget…
“There’s gonna be a difference this year, though. Last year, when we separated out the K-12 budget, we passed a whole-year budget on that. It took all the pressure off of the rest of the budget talks.
“If you don’t open schools on time, everybody is upset. If you shut down social services or cause some pain to universities, somehow that doesn’t affect everybody. It’s still serious, but the immediate effect isn’t seen throughout the state.
“I’m a believer this year that if we’re really serious about getting the budget done, we don’t separate out and fund K-12 for a whole year and then have a mess with the rest of the budget. I say: ‘Shut the schools down until we get a budget.’”
Koehler said the reason the Exelon bailout bill passed was because of a believable threat to shut down two nuclear power plants.
Senate President John Cullerton made a similar threat a year ago and it never materialized. Doing such a thing in an election year was just way too dangerous.
Your thoughts?
*** UPDATE 1 *** From Cullerton’s press secretary…
“The Senate President remains focused on a full, fair and balanced budget for all of Illinois, one that rightfully prioritizes education. It’s a focus that he believes the other legislative leaders and governor all share and is why he remains optimistic that a deal can be reached.”
Doesn’t look like Cullerton agrees with Koehler.
*** UPDATE 1 *** From an e-mail to Illinois School Funding Reform Commission members…
Colleagues,
On behalf of Governor Rauner, I would like to wish you all a happy and peaceful holiday season. In these final days of the calendar year, I hope that you will reflect on and appreciate the importance of your work.
On Wednesday, the Illinois School Funding Reform Commission will hold its 11th meeting. Over the last several months, the 25 commission members, along with countless advocates and staff have worked to understand the necessary requirements for an improved PK-12 funding formula. These bi-partisan, bi-cameral meetings have featured spirited, yet professional, discussions to determine how to both increase funding to our most at-risk students and set an adequacy target that recognizes the unique strengths and needs of each community.
I appreciate greatly the willingness of every commission member to engage in thoughtful – and sometimes tedious – analysis of each issue. Given the unprecedented investment of the FY2017 PK-12 budget that was enacted by the General Assembly and signed by the Governor, these efforts afford cautious optimism for the future. I thank all of you who have attended meetings, given written feedback, or spoken with members of the commission.
In light of the commission’s work, comments made recently by Senator Dave Koehler (D-Peoria) that Illinois should “shut the schools down until we get a budget” are irresponsible so we are not commenting on his intent. This is not, nor will it ever be, the position of Governor Rauner who has made it clear that funding PK-12 education is the number one priority of his administration. The Governor will continue to push me and the rest of his team to find a pathway to funding that will meet the needs of all Illinois residents. Right now, that includes working to ensure that backlogged FY2016 Q4 payments are released by Comptroller Mendoza’s office.
Again, thank you for work and dedication on behalf of Illinois children.
The violence in Chicago has continued unabated for much of 2016, with murders and shootings both far ahead of last year even with days left in December. Chicago is one of multiple major American cities seeing an increase in killings since last year, deaths that are coming during a historically safe era but that have still sparked concerns in communities seeing more bloodshed.
Yet even though several cities have seen homicides go up, the situation in Chicago stands out, both through sheer numbers and the impact it is having on murder rates nationwide.
Consider this statistic: The murder rate for the country’s 30 biggest cities is expected to go up by 14 percent this year, according to the Brennan Center for Justice, a New York-based law and policy institute. But the killings in Chicago account for an astounding 43.7 percent of this overall increase in murders, meaning that Chicago alone is responsible for nearly half of this spike. […]
In Chicago so far this year, there were 738 murders through Sunday night, according to a police spokesman. The city seems poised to potentially top 750 murders for the year, a staggering total and one that means Chicago will finish 2016 with more killings than it has seen in nearly two decades.
The horror show could very well be what’s causing so much out-migration from the city’s far South Side, which Greg Hinz pegged at almost a 50,000 net loss between 2010 and 2015. That means the far South Side has essentially lost another ward’s worth of people after losing almost 100,000 between 2000 and 2010.
* The most important part of my annual speech to the City Club of Chicago isn’t the speech, it’s the effort attendees make on behalf of Lutheran Social Services of Illinois’ vital early childhood programs. We ask that audience members bring toys to the event, and this year people brought 106 toys, along with $235 in gift cards and $601 in cash.
That cash haul seems a bit lower than in the past, but the good folks at LSSI also told me today that online contributions are still coming in, so click here if you weren’t able to attend, or if you forgot to bring a toy with you yesterday. We need to drive those numbers up!
Utah’s population crossed the 3.0 million mark as it became the nation’s fastest-growing state over the last year. Its population increased 2.0 percent to 3.1 million from July 1, 2015, to July 1, 2016, according to U.S. Census Bureau national and state population estimates released today.
“States in the South and West continued to lead in population growth,” said Ben Bolender, Chief of the Population Estimates Branch. “In 2016, 37.9 percent of the nation’s population lived in the South and 23.7 percent lived in the West.” […]
Following Utah, Nevada (2.0 percent), Idaho (1.8 percent), Florida (1.8 percent) and Washington (1.8 percent) saw the largest percentage increases in population. […]
Eight states lost population between July 1, 2015, and July 1, 2016, including Pennsylvania, New York and Wyoming, all three of which had grown the previous year. Illinois lost more people than any other state (-37,508).
…Adding… More…
Census: Illinois lost 114,000 net to other states; total population shrank by 37,508 #twill#muniland
* Back on December 8th, Comptroller Susana Mendoza told WMAQ’s Mary Ann Ahern that lots of stuff was missing from her various state offices. “Even the TV’s and most of the computers can’t be found,” she said, claiming they were having trouble finding car keys for state vehicles as well.
I checked in with her spokesman who walked back what his boss said. The car keys were located and other stuff seemed to be accounted for. “Most” of the state computers were definitely not gone.
I was told by people close to former Comptroller Leslie Munger at the time that the televisions were private property owned by former comptroller staffers. The same went for some pieces of furniture, like sofas.
But, since Mendoza’s spokesman walked back what his boss said, I decided not to make a big deal out of it, figuring it was just a rookie mistake.
Illinois’ new comptroller says she was left on Day One with offices with little furniture, locked desks and missing documents.
“It did kind of feel like the place was looted,” Susana Mendoza told WLS-AM’s Bill Cameron in a “Connected to Chicago” interview to be aired on Christmas Day. Mendoza said she couldn’t make a “definitive statement” on whether “pilfering” was involved.
Mendoza claims furniture had been removed from her offices, and there were remote controls with no matching televisions, keys that didn’t match vehicles, keys that didn’t match with desks, and missing documents “that people were working on over the last two years.”
“The current staff doesn’t seem to know where these documents are,” Mendoza said. “Maybe they filed them and hid them somewhere as a practical joke. I’m not sure. But it’s really kind of not funny because this is work that belonged to the state of Illinois.
“There are state statutes requiring proper disposal or destroying of state documents, and we’re going to try to track everything down, but it is frustrating because times are so bad as it is,” she said. “We really shouldn’t be wasting precious man-hours trying to track down information that should have been made readily available to us even prior to taking my office.”
First she says it feels like the place was “looted,” then she says she can’t say anything definitively.
That’s essentially the definition of an unfounded, emotional accusation.
And as far as the transition confusion goes, maybe if Mendoza hadn’t announced that she was not taking office until January before checking in with the attorney general, and then headed to Rome for an event/vacation, and then changed her mind and decided almost at the last minute to be sworn in on December 5th after she finally reached out to the AG, some of this mess could’ve been avoided.
But, again, it was a rookie mistake around Thanksgiving so I let it go.
“We’ll just say she’s not an honest individual,” Munger told Ward Room.
“Everything that’s owned by the state is inventoried and tagged with a state number and we did an audit before the transition of offices and after the transition of offices, it’s one of the normal things that’s done,” Munger said. “And there’s not one item that is missing from what should be there that was owned by the state that was left for her.”
“If she really thought that something like that was missing, she should be going to the police, not to the press,” Munger said. “But she’s throwing out these wild allegations, she’s not giving any specifics because she doesn’t have any. She’s just trying to make it look like she just inherited this huge mess.”
As far as missing documents, Munger claimed pertinent financial records are stored in centralized state computers.
“I didn’t have files of anything,” Munger said.
Munger is absolutely right about how Mendoza should be filing a police report before running her mouth like this. Indeed, if she believes a crime was committed involving state property under her control, she’s obligated to report it.
From all I can gather, a property inventory was taken before Munger left office. CMS was even asked to do an independent inventory. Everything was tagged.
So, bring out the list and highlight whatever’s missing and then she has a real story. If Mendoza can’t do that, she should stop calling former staff members crooks. Enough with the wild accusations.
I mean, she is already starting to remind me of Rod Blagojevich. And not in a good way, either. Rod loved to “punch down,” which is exactly what Mendoza is doing here.
As for allegations there were mismatched keys for state cars and desks, Munger said keys were changed in the Capitol for safety reasons when she first took office in 2014. And she said she handed in all keys to an office manager on her last day in office.
Mendoza has complained that she wasn’t able to meet with staff before taking office — another claim Munger rebuts. Mendoza first planned to take office on Jan. 3, but shortly after, she decided to take office on Dec. 5, which was allowed per special election rules.
As for missing documents, “no files, no financial files, nothing that would impact her ability to get in and do the job of comptroller were touched,” Munger said.
Munger also threatened to sue Mendoza during her chat with the Sun-Times.
Mendoza also complained that Munger didn’t leave her a transition letter. Munger seemed eager to confirm that.
“I didn’t leave her any notes,” Munger added. “She informed me through [another broadcast interview] that she knew everything she needed to know about the office.”
“This will be the most expensive race of our lifetime,” a Republican friend assured me last week about the apparently already begun 2018 gubernatorial campaign.
If Democratic billionaire J.B. Pritzker pulls the trigger and decides to run, we can expect that significant campaign spending could begin as early as next month — on both sides. And if last week is any indication, this is gonna be one nasty contest.
The Illinois Republican Party began running robocalls on Dec. 13 to elected Democrats, along with their party’s contributors and activists. The calls sought to tie Pritzker to imprisoned former Gov. Rod Blagojevich by using an FBI tape of Blagojevich spit-balling with an aide about getting Pritzker to endow a non-profit organization that the governor could run after leaving office.
The Pritzker camp responded to the robocalls with a statement criticizing Gov. Bruce Rauner for not passing a budget for two years and allowing “human services to be gutted.” The statement from Pritzker’s spokesperson also claimed the governor should have better things to do with his time than to “dredge up the crazy rantings of Rod Blagojevich.” That led to a quickie but rather large opposition research dump that sought to tie Pritzker even more closely to Blagojevich. There was no Pritzker response to that one.
Behind the scenes, Pritzker allies fumed at the absurdly early attack and warned that Rauner was “poking the bear” and would live to regret it. But Rauner’s people mocked Pritzker for being “thin skinned” and warned that last week’s oppo dump was “a very small appetizer.”
The aim here appears to be to either keep Pritzker out of the race or take him out in the Democratic primary before he can present a clear danger in the fall campaign with his estimated $3.4 billion net worth. Rauner has tons of his own money, of course, but he also relies on a couple of super-wealthy friends for additional tens of millions. Pritzker can conceivably fund a race all by himself, although he has recently been meeting with top labor leaders and other party honchos, as well.
So, we can probably expect more of this stuff from Rauner’s state party in the coming days as Pritzker makes his final decision on whether to run. Neither side has yet started a proper opposition research book on the potential Democratic candidate. Last week’s attacks were mainly based on basic Google and Lexis Nexis searches.
But if they’re going to try to snuff him out in the Democratic primary, Pritzker’s online comments about liberal Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders could eventually come into focus, I’m told. Sanders ended up doing pretty darned well in Illinois’ Democratic primary, so alienating a huge chunk of likely Democratic primary voters would be a smart play.
Pritzker, a loyal Hillary Clinton supporter, referred to the insurgent presidential candidate on Twitter by his initials “BS” and tweeted that Sanders was “outrageously McCarthyite.” Pritzker also retweeted an article about how Sanders “said lack of sex and resenting your mom could cause cancer,” pointed to favorable comments about Sanders by the National Rifle Association, referred to the losing Democratic candidate’s campaign manager as “delusional” and occasionally engaged Sanders’ supporters on the social media platform. And I didn’t even look at the guy’s Facebook account.
Illinois Democrats looking for Rauner challenger as Durbin stays in D.C.
Illinois Democrats looking for Rauner challenger as Durbin stays in D.C.
Some Democrats pointed out last week that the Republicans’ Blagojevich-based attacks failed miserably in the just-completed U.S. Senate race against Tammy Duckworth. But the Rauner folks say the issue kept Sen. Mark Kirk in the hunt during the summer, before he was overwhelmed with Duckworth cash in the fall. Indeed, Kirk was polling essentially even with Duckworth throughout the summer.
The Republicans also used the Blagojevich issue in several legislative races, including against state Rep. John Bradley (D-Marion), who once had a public fight with Blagojevich after the then-governor referred to him as a “wall flower” and a pawn of Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan. That well-covered spat didn’t matter to the GOP, of course.
“For anyone who has a real association with Blago — and I think our argument yesterday is that J.B.’s history was more than fleeting — it is a potent hit,” was how one Rauner guy put it the day after the robocalls were launched.
The question now becomes whether Pritzker is prepared to expose his children to this sort of nonstop mudslinging for almost two solid years. We will probably know more after the holidays. But don’t expect any lull in the negativity while we wait.
“Chris Kennedy comes from a legendary American family with a history of public service, but instead of following in their footsteps, Chris Kennedy chose to serve corrupt politicians like Mike Madigan.” – Illinois Republican Party Spokesman Steven Yaffe
Chris Kennedy has reportedly started hiring staff for a gubernatorial run. But before he did so, Kennedy made sure to ally himself with Mike Madigan.
This summer, Kennedy dodged questions about his secret meeting with Madigan.
After the meeting, Madigan endorsed Kennedy as “a very good candidate for Governor.”
Then, Kennedy gave Madigan’s political front group $50,000, helping Madigan run advertisements attacking Gov. Rauner’s plans to reform Illinois through term limits, a property tax freeze and economic growth.
Chris Kennedy has already shown his hand – he’s just another politician who kisses up to Mike Madigan.
Chris Kennedy may have the name, but he doesn’t act like it.
