* As if the Bears aren’t lousy enough…
NFLPA executive director DeMaurice Smith is prepared to tell potential free agents not to sign with the Bears should a new Illinois bill that targets athletes be passed.
This bill would remove workers’ compensation for athletes in the state of Illinois beginning at the age of 35. For a professional athlete, this would be considered injury care in retirement. […]
“This bill being sponsored by (senate Republican minority leader Christine Radogno) is being designed to target professional athletes and take away their right to health care that every worker in the state of Illinois is entitled to,” Smith told the Spiegel & Parkins Show.
“The Bears’ owners are behind it as well, to beat the expense of the players who actually do all the work. … They’re pushing the bill. Our understanding is they’re the people who have lined up the lobbyists to promote the bill.”
Background is here.
Maybe Bears players could have a Springfield lobby day. That would be pretty cool.
*** UPDATE *** All of Chicago’s professional sports teams (excluding soccer) are now in favor of the bill. Click here to see the letter.
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Munger hired as deputy governor
Friday, Feb 3, 2017 - Posted by Rich Miller
* AP…
Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner has hired former state Comptroller Leslie Munger to serve as a deputy governor.
In a statement released first to The Associated Press on Friday, Rauner says Munger will focus on long-term budgeting and work with human services organizations hit hard by the state budget impasse. […]
Munger will serve in addition to current Deputy Governor Trey Childress and will earn $135,000 annually.
Thoughts?
…Adding… Press Release…
Governor Bruce Rauner on Friday announced that former Illinois Comptroller Leslie Geissler Munger has been named Deputy Governor, bringing a unique mix of business, human services and government experience to assist in addressing financial challenges facing the state and its nonprofit organizations.
“Leslie’s vast business, human services and government experiences make her uniquely qualified to serve in this important role,” Governor Rauner said. “We are thrilled that she has agreed to return to public service and bring people together to find long-term solutions for our state and its residents.”
Prior to serving as Comptroller, Munger was a brand management executive with Unilever HPC/Helene Curtis where she led the $800 million U.S. Hair Care business and prior to that she did brand marketing for Procter & Gamble. She previously led recruiting at McKinsey and Company, Inc.
Munger is also a 20-year volunteer and former board member with a nonprofit serving intellectually and developmentally disabled adults. She knows from experience about the challenges facing human services organizations and prioritized their state payments during her time as Comptroller.
As Deputy Governor, Munger will add her voice to the state’s budget discussions and work with nonprofit leaders to address their challenges and increase their financial security.
“I love Illinois, I was born and raised here, educated here, and my husband and I chose to raise our family here,” Munger said. “I am excited to use my skills and experience to help get our state back on track, and I am grateful for the opportunity to work to bring financial strength to state government and ensure that Illinois lives up to the promises it has made to our human service organizations.”
Munger earned her bachelor’s degree from the University of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana, and her M.B.A. from the Kellogg Graduate School of Business at Northwestern University.
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* Another e-mail from JT went out yesterday afternoon…
Dear Colleagues,
I’ve continued to receive many questions from employees regarding the State’s Last, Best, and Final offer. In particular, these questions have asked about the State’s subcontracting proposal.
Let me begin by saying that the State has no plans to engage in mass privatization of state employee jobs. Any statements you have heard to the contrary are not correct.
Second, unlike the last AFSCME collective bargaining agreement, the State has offered protections against subcontracting that borrow from AFSCME’s contracts with other public employers. These protections give state workers a more meaningful role in subcontracting discussions, potentially leading to better outcomes for employees. Under the last contract, state employees did not have this ability.
You can read the specifics of the State’s subcontracting proposal on page 186 of our last, best, and final offer, which is posted on the TeamIllinois website.
Please refer to the State Employee FAQs page for information on subcontracting and other labor issues, as well as to submit questions.
Sincerely,
JT
John Terranova
Deputy Director
CMS Office of Labor Relations
* I asked AFSCME’s Anders Lindall for a response to one particular passage…
You asked for a response to “JT’s latest email to state employees [which says]: ‘unlike the last AFSCME collective bargaining agreement, the State has offered protections against subcontracting that borrow from AFSCME’s contracts with other public employers. These protections give state workers a more meaningful role in subcontracting discussions, potentially leading to better outcomes for employees. Under the last contract, state employees did not have this ability.’”
This is more Rauner/Terranova misinformation.
Here’s the truth: If the state wants to privatize, the union contract now requires subcontracting to meet a standard of “greater efficiency [or] economy”. Rauner wants to do away with that or any standard. Instead, under his “final offer”, the administration could, “at [its] discretion”, allow employees to bid against private contractors—but even then, the administration could reject any bid without justification or appeal.
The existing “efficiency or economy” standard helps to protect the public from outsourcing deals that waste tax dollars or let private entities cut corners to maximize profits. An example: When the state hired a corporation called Maximus to scrub the Medicaid rolls, AFSCME found that privatization would cost $18 million a year more than doing the work with state employees. In addition, Maximus was wrongly stripping Medicaid recipients of their medical coverage (likely because it employed untrained call center workers it hired on Craigslist). We showed that the “efficiency or economy” standard was not met and Maximus was dropped, potentially saving millions of dollars for taxpayers.
In general we believe that public oversight, accountability and transparency are important whenever privatization deals are considered. We think Rauner’s push to delete the “efficiency or economy” language could permit privatization without any safeguards. But we have said time and again that we’re willing to consider the administration’s proposals on this and any other issue, and to modify the proposals we’ve made previously, in an effort to find common ground. The only way to do that, though, is through negotiations, and as you know, the Rauner administration has refused to even meet with our bargaining committee for more than a year.
…Adding… And about the claim that the Rauner proposal borrows from AFSCME’s contracts with other public employers, here’s Anders…
I don’t know where they got their language from. I do know that AFSCME has thousands of contracts with employers all across the country; some have stronger subcontracting provisions than the current state of Illinois contract does, some weaker. We think the current standards are good for Illinois, but the governor can suggest changes by coming back to the bargaining table — which he refuses to do.
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Question of the day
Friday, Feb 3, 2017 - Posted by Rich Miller
* He tells this story often during school visits…
Before diving into politics, Gov. Bruce Rauner made his bones as a private equity investor. But the Republican said Thursday he earlier had been interested in bones of a different type.
During a visit to a Rockford elementary school, Rauner told students that his third-grade dream was to become an archaeologist.
“Boy did I ever want to dig up dinosaur bones,” he said. “I thought that was going to be so great.”
The governor touted the importance of hard work in school and told students they would be interested in different things as they grew up — just like he was. Besides archaeology, Rauner said he considered being a police officer, doctor and scientist before eventually settling on economics in college.
Rauner wanted to work with dinosaurs as a kid. Instead, he got Madigan.
Anyway…
* The Question: What did you want to be when you were a kid?
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Ammons might be open to Davis challenge
Friday, Feb 3, 2017 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Tom Kacich…
Rep. Rodney Davis, barely into his third term in Congress, is back in a familiar position: targeted in the 2018 election by the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.
He also has had constituents conduct a sit-in at his Champaign office, a former foe talking about running again and a sister, who lives in Springfield, encouraging voters to contact their congressman to voice support for former President Barack Obama’s Affordable Care Act.
Davis is an outspoken opponent of Obamacare who said last month that Republicans would “repair this broken law and … replace it with something better.” […]
Davis had protesters camped out in his Champaign office Monday who were unhappy about his stance on health care policy.
Tom also reported that David Gill is considering a sixth attempt at a congressional bid.
* Today, Kacich received a long e-mail from Rep. Carol Ammons (D-Urbana) saying she’s “open” to a possible bid. From the end of her e-mail…
Ammons wrote that, “I think it speaks volumes that after, as you pointed out in your column, less than 90 days since his re-election, Congressman Davis has already been identified as a target in the 2018 election.
“There is clearly a dangerous leadership vacuum in Washington and a troubling absence of compassionate public and community service. I, along with many of my fellow constituents in the 13th, are very frustrated and concerned by Davis’ unquestioning support of Trump and his executive orders. The 13th Congressional District is a diverse and varied demographic; Davis is disregarding the concerns and voices of at least half of his constituents. His decision to ignore the questions of voters by repeating unsubstantiated and false talking points lends to the extreme and partisan gridlock that we are experiencing in our state and nation.”
Underestimate her at your own peril. But Trump beat Clinton 50-44 in that district. He only lost three partial counties: Champaign, McLean and Sangamon. University communities and African-American voters were the main reason.
* However, like I said before, something is definitely happening in parts of that district…
The Local Laborers Union 362 hall in Bloomington Thursday night was at capacity as residents gathered to learn how to push progressive values “in a time that’s antagonistic to them.”
That’s according to organizer Bob Broad. The event was called “INDIVISIBLE: Fighting the Trump-Rauner Agenda.” Broad explained it’s part of the national Indivisible movement.
From a reader…
Unbelievable turnout in Bloomington last night for the third BloNo area Indivisible training. People were sitting on the floor in multiple rows, people were standing along every wall. People came from Pontiac and rural McLean Co.
Her photo…
That’s two big rallies in just a couple of days in that town.
* Also, somebody is doing a good job trolling Davis online and at public events with a “Flat Rodney” cardboard cutout. From the Washington Post…
Opponents of Rep. Rodney Davis (R-Ill.) are trolling him over his town halls — or lack thereof
* But Rodney is taking it in stride…
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Today’s quotable
Friday, Feb 3, 2017 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Rep. Chad Hays (R-Catlin) to Tom Kasich…
Hays was even skeptical of Attorney General Lisa Madigan’s move last Thursday to ask a St. Clair County court to lift an order that pays tens of thousands of state workers despite the lack of an approved budget. Lisa Madigan said she did it in order to force a long-sought budget deal.
“The speaker’s daughter (Lisa Madigan) could have done this any time in the last two years,” Hays said. “This is about how daddy wants to be in charge.”
But maybe Lisa Madigan is like most of the rest of us and is tired of watching Springfield stall while it should be working. Maybe she wants to push legislators, including her father, and the governor to get going on a budget deal before the clock runs out on a court injunction on Feb. 28.
Or maybe I’m wrong and Chad Hays is right.
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* From the Northeastern Illinois University President…
TO: University Community
FROM: Richard J. Helldobler, Interim President
DATE: February 3, 2017
RE: Preparations for a salary-savings program
Today I write to you with strong feelings of discouragement and frustration. It had been my hope that our state leaders would have found a way forward to providing us with either additional stop gap funding or a resolution to the budget impasse. Regrettably, that is not the case, and there does not seem a solution in the near future.
It has been 19 months since we have operated without a state spending plan, and as a result, Northeastern Illinois University is experiencing the worst budgetary climate it has ever experienced in its history. In spite of all this, we remain strong in our resolve to serve and provide our students with a quality education.
As I have communicated in the past, the University will complete the spring semester and hold the May Commencement ceremony. However, without stop gap funding or an adequate appropriation, we must find ways to stay afloat beyond that. A salary-savings plan, or furlough program, we have determined, is the most fair and least intrusive way for Northeastern to survive financially through the summer months until fall tuition dollars become available.
So, we have begun preparations to negotiate and roll out a salary-savings plan, or furlough program, starting in the spring semester. Those who took part in the program last spring know that a furlough plan was negotiated and is a mandatory unpaid leave of absence. Last time, we required one furlough day each week. For this spring, we have not yet determined what those requirements will be. To prepare for any negotiated plan, we have reached out to each of the five collective bargaining units that represent Northeastern employees, letting the leaders know that we would like to begin to negotiate the details and discuss how to implement such a program. I anticipate that these negotiations could last about four to five weeks, which would be roughly the amount of time before we would have to begin any agreed-upon plan to garner enough salary savings to remain solvent through the summer.
In addition to the unions, we have had discussions with other leaders at the University in the spirit of shared governance to alert them to our next moves given the budget outlook. These discussions included representatives from the Civil Service and Administrative and Professional Councils, Student Government Association, University Budget and Planning Council, University Advisory Council and the Faculty Senate.
For those of you who are Administrative and Professional or non-negotiated employees, I invite you to join me and the vice presidents at an open discussion on Tuesday, Feb. 7, from 3:05 to 4:05 p.m. in the Auditorium of the Main Campus. We can talk about our preparations and what a salary-savings program might entail for you. As always, if we are not able to talk to you in person, we invite you to submit your input or questions to the University Feedback Form. Additionally, this meeting will be available via livestream at the following link while the event is taking place: http://connectcast.tv/neiustream.
We are doing everything we can both in Springfield and here in Chicago to advocate for higher education funding and manage our finances judiciously. If you are so inclined, on Wednesday, Feb. 8, the University will provide bus transportation to and from Springfield from the Main Campus so that any interested student, staff or faculty member can participate in the Statehouse Rally to Save Higher Education. Please refer to the Jan. 31 Targeted Announcement about this event. I will be on the bus and hope to share the ride with many of you.
The only thing that will keep us from a salary-savings plan, or furlough program, is receiving adequate funding from the state. At the moment, that prospect looks grim. However, should we receive appropriate funding prior to the implementation of the plan, or after beginning the plan, we will hit the pause button, assess our financial situation, meet with appropriate leadership and discuss options.
These are very difficult financial times for Northeastern, but we will do what needs to be done to continue to provide for our students an exceptional learning environment. It is my hope that you will remain engaged in the process moving forward, whether through your union, various councils or faculty or student governance bodies. We need you at the table for these important discussions.
I want to express my sincere gratitude to you and each and every student and member of our faculty and staff for your continued commitment to Northeastern.
Thank you.
*** UPDATE *** From the University Professionals of Illinois, which is a branch of the IFT…
Dear UPI Members:
We will be sitting down at the table with the administration with regard to cost-saving measures.
We have, however, already communicated our perspective to the president and provost: furloughs are a very bad idea because they hurt the entire university; furloughs harm our students individually and retention generally; UPI agreed to furloughs last year with the proviso that we would not do so again.
As with any negotiations, our position will develop in consultation with our membership and we will be calling on all of you.
Please remember that we have the support of organizations throughout the state and in Chicago. Most importantly, we will work with our partners in the student body and with other unions and councils across the university to help craft the best political response to Illinois’s failure to represent and foster the livelihoods of the state’s people.
In solidarity and in support of the arts and sciences and professional schools at our university,
The NEIU/UPI 4100 Executive Board
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6 downgrades in 2 years
Friday, Feb 3, 2017 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Interesting point…
* The full ratings history from COGFA…
By my count, that’s 12 downgrades during Pat Quinn’s six years in office and two upward recalibrations. At the current rate, and if nothing changes, Gov. Rauner will surpass Quinn’s downgrade numbers by the end of his first four-year term.
* With that in mind, this is what candidate Rauner said about Quinn’s downgrades in 2013…
llinois’ credit rating just got downgraded again, the 12th time since Pat Quinn became governor. Unacceptable.
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Radogno too?
Friday, Feb 3, 2017 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Sneed…
Rumors abound State Sen. Christine Radogno, a Republican, who is working together with Senate President John Cullerton (D-Chicago) to break the budget logjam by securing votes for the so-called “grand bargain,” is planning to pull the plug in June and/or may be heading for a state appointment by Gov. Bruce Rauner.
Or is she so disgusted and frustrated with the fractious negotiations, she is planning not to run for re-election in 2018?
• Radogno’s comment: “Opponents of the plan are getting desperate!”
Stay tuned.
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Even more lousy news
Friday, Feb 3, 2017 - Posted by Rich Miller
* More from COGFA’s latest report with emphasis added by me…
Although Illinois’ job and wage figures have increased over the last several years, the growth may best be classified as disappointing, especially when compared to the job figures of other states across the nation. From a national perspective, Illinois has been slower than most in its recovery from the Great Recession. […]
Contributing to this slow recovery is the fact that many of the jobs that have been added in Illinois have been comparatively lower paying jobs. To understand this a little better, a closer look at the different subsectors of jobs in Illinois is necessary.
Over the last eight years (comparing average employment pre-recession totals of 2008 with 2016), the biggest improvement in the number of jobs in Illinois has been in “Education and Health Services” (up 14.0%). However, as shown below, this subsector is one of the lowest paying subsectors in terms of weekly earnings, with an average weekly earnings value of $809. Illinois’ largest employer of jobs is the “Trade, Transportation, and Utilities” subsector, employing over 1.2 million people. But, this subsector also has one of the lowest average weekly earnings totals in the State (2016 average weekly earnings value of $807).
Equally troublesome is the fact that those subsectors with the highest weekly earnings were the subsectors that have lost the most jobs over the last eight years. For example, the subsector with the highest weekly earnings is “Construction”, paying, on average, $1,334 per week. However, construction jobs are down 16.8% over the last eight years in Illinois. The next highest paying subsectors are “Financial Activities” ($1,330 per week) and “Information” ($1,130 per week), but employment in these categories are down 5.5% and 14.7%, respectively, since 2008. […]
The highest paying subsector is the “Construction” subsector. Although this category of jobs only grew slightly in 2016 (+2,000 jobs or 0.9%), employment in this subsector has grown 7.8% over the past five years (Dec. 2016 vs Dec. 2011). But, while this rate of growth for a high-paying sector may, at first, appear encouraging, Illinois’ gain in construction jobs, compared to other states, has been disappointing (ranked 38th). Even more disappointing is comparing the number of construction jobs in Illinois today compared to 15 years ago. Construction jobs are down 25.5% in Illinois over this time period, ranking Illinois 50th in this rate of change. […]
Another area of employment that continues to struggle in Illinois is manufacturing. Comparing December figures, employment in manufacturing fell 1.9% between 2015 and 2016. This rate of change ranked Illinois 39th in the nation. This rate of decline in manufacturing jobs in Illinois is similar to its five-year rate of change of -1.8%. This ranks Illinois 40th in the nation for percentage change in manufacturing jobs for this time period. This is especially of concern when Illinois’ biggest competitors have seen their comparable job totals in this subsector improve at a notably higher rate than Illinois during this time frame (Indiana ranked 10th with a growth rate of +10.3%; Michigan ranked 3rd with growth rate of +14.8%; Ohio ranked 16th with growth rate of +6.4%).
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COGFA releases grim revenue report
Friday, Feb 3, 2017 - Posted by Rich Miller
* More from the January COGFA report, with emphasis added by me…
Overall base revenues fell $167 million in January. As in prior months, continued weaker income taxes along with poor federal sources more than offset gains experienced by the other revenue sources, adding further concern to observations made in last month’s briefing. January did have one more receipting day than the same prior year period.
The poor year for gross corporate income taxes continued with monthly receipts falling $60 million, or $52 million net of refunds. Gross personal income tax receipts dropped by $57 million, or $70 million net of refunds and diversions to the Fund for Advancement of Education and Commitment to Human Services Fund. Other sources dropped $18 million in January, while public utility tax receipts fell $12 million for the month. Interest income dipped a modest $1 million.
While overall revenues declined, a number of sources managed to post gains. Sales taxes grew $49 million, which represents two consecutive months of good growth. Corporate franchise taxes unexpectedly surged, jumping $29 million. Insurance taxes rose $17 million, cigarette taxes by $5 million– making up for an earlier shortage, inheritance taxes grew by $4 million and vehicle use tax by $1 million.
Overall transfers fell $20 million in January. Lottery transfers dropped by $13 million, while other miscellaneous transfers dipped $7 million. Federal sources experienced another weaker month, this time falling $99 million below last year, reflecting reimbursable spending levels from the general funds.
Year To Date
Through January, base receipts are off $1.031 billion, or 5.9%. The past months performance did little in the way of alleviating concerns over FY 2017 revenues spelled out in last month’s briefing, particularly the disturbing observations made regarding the “Big Three”. While sales tax now has managed to post back to back months of decent performance, those gains were more than erased with continued drops in both personal and corporate income taxes.
To date, gross corporate income taxes are off $444 million, or $390 million net of refunds. Gross personal income tax is down $245 million or $332 million if refunds and diversions to the education and human service funds are included. As mentioned, sales taxes may have done better in Dec/Jan but have still only grown $94 million or 2.0%. Overall transfers are down $81 million and only the one-time nature of a SERS repayment has allowed all other sources to post a $66 million combined increase.
With continued dramatic falloffs month after month in federal sources, receipts are behind last year’s dismal pace by $388 million. Absent an infusion of resources that could be committed to reimbursable spending, the outlook for a meaningful recovery for federal sources is grim.
The problem with federal reimbursements is pretty obvious. The state can’t put up enough of its own cash to leverage all available federal dollars, so we’re literally leaving money on the table.
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* From COGFA…
Over the past fiscal year, the lack of an enacted budget has resulted in the State Employee Group Insurance Program (SEGIP) building up a large backlog of unpaid claims.
As of the end of December, approximately $3.91 billion in SEGIP claims were being held by the state from various insurers, organizations, and companies. Of this total, the largest portion was approximately $1.99 billion of HMO/Medicare Advantage claims. The second largest portion, Open Access Plans, totaled $743 million. The third largest portion of the overall claims hold came from CIGNA, which had $605 million in claims currently held by the state.
Concurrently, the estimated time for claims to be held was 303-675 days for Managed Care/Medicare Advantage, 468- 524 days for Open Access Plans, and 398- 608 days for CIGNA… Without additional funding, claims will continue to build up and estimated claims hold times will increase due to no appropriation for Group Insurance.
* Comptroller Susana Mendoza addressed this backlog issue during an interview with Jordan Abudayyeh. Mendoza read a letter from an SIU professor who was denied a doctor’s appointment in St. Louis because the state isn’t paying its health insurance bills…
“They say they are no longer seeing people with state of Illinois insurance because it does not pay out. Some of my colleagues have faced similar issue[s] very recently. It’s highly problematic. Everyone here goes into St. Louis to treat more serious health issues. I’m incredibly angry. This is illegal and unethical. We are all paying for services not being given. As politicians play political games, now our health and lives are on the line. We think you should know,” the Comptroller read.
Mendoza says she has to make decisions everyday on who gets paid when, juggling the needs of people around the state.
“I still feel that anybody who can go to bed at night knowing that this is happening and is just going to hold off for whatever their pet projects are, is just somebody who is disconnected from reality. And it’s not a political thing, this is a reality and I’m a person who’s in a position to see the consequences [of] this inaction at play,” said Mendoza. “So, yes, I am upset. I’m justifiably upset. People should be worried if I’m not upset and I want to make things better. I would like the Governor to do his job and actually govern, to lead, to not put blame on everybody else, to not just if you disagree with him, oh then you know, you must be speaking on behalf of some other democratic leader. That’s nonsense. I speak for myself. So do so many other Illinois residents who are yelling and feel that they’re not being heard. I’m at least trying to listen to folks. And I want to be their voice at a time where we’re faced with our worst fiscal crisis. And you know, you haven’t heard the comptroller speaking on behalf of other people, until I got here. But I’m really sick and tired of hearing all of these people complaining because they’re hurting and they’re suffering, and [if] somebody is going to speak out it’s going to be me,” Mendoza said.
Governor Rauner’s spokesperson, Catherine Kelly, sent the following statement in response to Comptroller Mendoza.
“Comptroller Mendoza spent 10 years in the General Assembly voting for the very unbalanced budgets, pension holidays and borrowing that have led to our staggering financial challenges. Instead of playing politics as usual, it would be helpful if she joined in a constructive conversation about balancing our budget and growing our economy. In the meantime, we ask that she stand with the Governor in opposing the Attorney General’s efforts to stop state employees from being paid.”
I recently received a similar letter from an SIU professor, by the way.
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* Remember the Ohio pastor who told President Trump that he’d talked with “top gang thugs” in Chicago who said they’d commit to lowering Chicago’s “body count, [if] we come and do some social programs”? Yeah, well, not so much…
FOX 32: So, there are no gang leaders offering to reduce the body count in exchange for federal funds?
“No! I mean, c’mon now! (laughs) No!” Pastor Darrell Scott said. […]
Pastor Darrell Scott also told FOX 32 a lack of sleep caused him to tell President Trump that Chicago gangs had offered to “lower the body count.” He said he actually spoke to one former gang member, and not to any gang leaders.
* Scott also tweeted this…
So, it’s plural again?
* Mary Mitchell thinks the whole story is goofy…
Frankly, it sounds like a bunch of bull to me and to other activists who have worked with street folks for years. […]
“There are no major gang leaders in the city of Chicago,” noted Hal Baskin, a grass-roots activist in Englewood who was once a gang-banger.
“My reality — and I have been at this for 45 years — talking about bringing the body count down in exchange for social programs, you and I know that is a ridiculous idea,” he said. […]
Tio Hardiman, president of Violence Interrupters, said he doesn’t blame the pastor for wanting to help, but agreed there isn’t any real gang structure in Chicago.
“Chicago is too divided politically, religiously and on the streets and that’s why we can’t stop the violence,” he said.
Either way, let this be a lesson. Whenever somebody says they have a simple solution to a horribly complex problem, that person is lying or incredibly misinformed.
* Back to Mike Flannery’s story…
FOX 32 asked one of Chicago’s smartest anti-violence crusaders what he would tell the president if he were invited to the White House.
“I’d tell him that we can’t just look in one area. When you look at public safety, it’s linked to public health. It’s linked to education. It’s linked to a whole number of things. It’s linked to jobs,” said Christopher Mallette, Executive Director of Chicago Violence Reduction Strategy.
* And you know things are bad when we get stories like this one…
A man was killed and his coworker wounded in a Logan Square neighborhood shooting early Friday on the Northwest Side, according to Chicago Police.
About 2:30 a.m., they were driving in the 3700 block of West Fullerton when a black four-door vehicle pulled alongside them and someone inside it opened fire, police said. […]
It was the city’s first fatal shooting since Tuesday night, a span of nearly 55 hours that marked Chicago’s longest stretch without a gun homicide so far this year.
Emphasis added because ugh.
*** UPDATE *** DNAInfo…
In response to questions on social media, Scott said the people he spoke with include the Rev. Corey Brooks of New Beginnings Church, Kublai Toure, a longtime activist and former Chicago firefighter, and Torrence Cooks.
Brooks is a Republican and backed Gov. Rauner’s campaign. He’s hardly a “top gang thug.” Kublai Toure has worked with gangs in the past, helping set up meetings between gang leaders and aldermanic candidates in 2011. And I’m not sure who Cooks is, but there might be a semi-possible lead.
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* Phil Kadner has been writing about high local property taxes and low state education funding for decades. He had some hope that the governor’s education funding reform commission would finally do something more than present yet another blue ribbon report that winds up collecting dust on some warehouse shelf. But then the commission released its report and Kadner is not a happy camper…
So the governor appointed members to the commission, the Democratic leaders of the Senate and House appointed members to the commission, and the Republican leaders of the Senate and House appointed members of the commission. The Illinois education secretary chaired the commission.
And more than 30 hearings and meetings were held where people spent a lot of time talking and discussing the need to do something.
They agreed, to their everlasting credit, that something indeed ought to be done, thereby joining the long list of state legislators and governors who have agreed something ought to be done since the 1990s.
What these people failed to do, however, was agree on language for a law that would actually increase school funding, reduce property taxes and provide an adequate level of education for all children in this state.
The recommendation to wait 10 years to adequately fund the schools is outrageous. Generations of students have gone through Illinois schools lacking the financial support they deserved according to the state constitution.
Go read the rest.
* I thought Michelle Flaherty’s comment yesterday was spot-on as well…
Imagine if the governor had appointed a Future of Nuclear Power commission and after 6 months of hearings and work the commission issued a report concluding that, indeed, there are nuclear plants in Clinton and the Quad-Cities that face uncertain futures if we don’t do something about it.
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