* Steve Schnorf’s “celebration of life” will be Thursday, March 30th. Steve asked me to emcee, and we’ll have a few folks speak at 2 pm in Statehouse Room 212. It’s likely that others will be asked to offer up their own stories as well. A reception with food and beverages will follow across the hall in Secretary of State Jesse White’s office. Many thanks to the Senate and to Secretary White for agreeing to help. There will be an after-party (or two), so ask me about it.
The 4th District Appellate Court, today granted AFSCME Council 31’s request to put on hold the state labor board’s impasse decision in contract negotiations between Governor Bruce Rauner and the largest union of public service workers in state government. As a result, Governor Rauner cannot impose his terms, which include a 100% increase in employee costs for health care that would cost the average state worker $10,000, and an end to basic safeguards against irresponsible privatization schemes.
The court predicated its ruling on a finding that the union has demonstrated a “reasonable likelihood” of prevailing in its appeal.
“Today’s decision is in the best interest of all the people of Illinois, both public service workers and the millions of citizens who rely on their important work,” AFSCME Council 31 Executive Director Roberta Lynch said. “We strongly urge Governor Rauner to join us in the spirit of compromise and return to bargaining in good faith to reach an agreement that is truly fair to all.”
Rauner’s administration broke off talks between the parties in January 2016 and has since refused to meet with the union.
“We are currently analyzing this decision, but we are very disappointed with the court’s ruling which continues the stay that prevents our Administration from implementing common-sense changes in the AFSCME contract. These proposals include overtime eligibility after 40 hours instead of 37.5, the use of volunteers for state services, and a merit pay system. Every day of delay costs taxpayers over $2 million. Our contract framework is fair to the State’s taxpayers and employees alike and reflects proposals accepted by 20 other unions.”
“Why this Democrat is voting for Rauner?” was the headline of my commentary that the Tribune published on March 19, 2014. Borrowing a quote from President John F. Kennedy that said “sometimes party loyalty asks too much,” I explained that as a Democrat I supported Republican gubernatorial candidate Bruce Rauner because Illinois was in grave financial peril and that we needed to change our financial direction.
After Rauner was elected, the Tribune published another piece I wrote where I urged Gov.-elect Rauner to fire his campaign staff, stop campaigning and start governing with advisers “who are problem solvers, who are not partisans, and who know how to compromise.”
Sadly, our state’s financial situation has continued to deteriorate. Problems have not been solved, bitter and excessive partisanship is accepted political strategy in Springfield, and “compromise” is a dirty word. I do not believe it’s all Gov. Rauner’s fault. It is the fault of both the Democratic and Republican parties. At least Democratic Senate President John Cullerton and Senate Republican leader Christine Radogno are trying to find compromise while House Speaker Michael Madigan insists it is his way or the highway. And while I continue to like and respect Gov. Rauner and his wife, Diana, I believe we need a change if we are to reach compromise and progress.
That is why I will enthusiastically vote for and support Chris Kennedy for governor of Illinois in 2018. As a friend of his mother and father for more than 60 years, I’ve known Chris since his birth. His dad, the late Robert Kennedy, and I were on the 1956 campaign staff of Illinois Gov. Adlai E. Stevenson when he ran for president. Because Bob Kennedy and I were about the same age, we were often roommates on campaign trips. And because we both had children of similar ages, we often talked about our families and our values. As the years passed, Chris grew up, married Sheila Berner, and moved to Chicago to manage the Merchandise Mart.
* Brief gubernatorial candidate and not exactly successful White House chief of staff Bill Daley demands solutions to the city’s crime problem…
Commentary: Enough! Chicago cannot keep tolerating gun violence.
* And former mayoral and presidential candidate Willie Wilson is spending about $8K for a month of cable TV ads on the city’s South Side…
Of all the items above, however, Wilson’s effort is probably the most important and genuine.
For his part, Rauner said the pair had agreed to talk more with [Chance the Rapper] over the weekend on a school funding solution that the two could present to the legislature when it reconvenes Tuesday.
* Twitters…
Chicago Public Schools and I did not lose today. Please don't let that become the narrative. Monday morning I'll have a plan.
— Lil Chano From 79th (@chancetherapper) March 3, 2017
* The Question: After they solve the city’s school funding problem by Monday, what’s the next issue they should tackle?
…Adding…. Maybe he could negotiate a truce between Rauner and the comptroller?…
* Liberal Rapper whose father worked for Obama has unproductive meeting with Republican governor who never provides a straight answer to questions on just about anything. Surprise!…
The West Chatham native left Rauner’s Thompson Center office Friday feeling “flustered” after a 30-minute conversation with the governor that centered on funding from Chicago Public Schools.
Chance said he discussed the $215 million that had been earmarked for CPS in a budget deal that collapsed earlier this year.
“He asked me where I thought the $215 million was supposed to come from,” the rapper said, frowning, as a scrum of reporters crowded around him at the elevators.
Asked as he stepped onto an elevator what his message was, Chance said, “Take our kids off the table.”
“I’m here cause I just want people to do their jobs,” the musician told reporters after the meeting. “And I did speak with the governor. I asked him about funding CPS with that $215 million that was discussed in May of last year and was vetoed in December over, you know, political arguments and (stuff).”
* From a friend at the Thompson Center…
The most media I’ve seen on the 16th floor, they are stacked past the elevators.
This was the most over-hyped Chicago media event of the year.
* Be careful with this video. It’s got some words which are not safe for work, but if you can deal with that, have a look…
CTR: I want you all to do your jobs. Like, seriously, all your publications that you guys work for… If you guys could give a comprehensive history on how we ended up here
Reporter: What did the governor say, may I ask you?
CTR: He gave me a lot of vague answers. So we’ll see what happens. He has my personal number. He told me that in 48 hours that, you know. Springfield is in session next week, so we’ll see.
“We had a discussion about education and education funding,” Rauner said. “Good exchange of views on what the options are, what the possibilities are.”
Rauner said Chance the Rapper was “very focused on getting quickly more money for CPS right now, and I share his passion.” The governor said he had offered to work over the weekend with the music artist to find a solution to the funding problem. He said the two agreed to remain in communication.
“I think we agreed that we’re going to talk further in the coming days, and we talked about working together,” Rauner said.
* The governor also told reporters he asked the rapper to work with him…
I said it’s an incredible opportunity to change our system. If we stood together, Chance, I have some power. I have power in some ways, you have great power in other ways. If we stood together, worked together to figure this out, then we could get big things done.
…Adding… As a commenter notes, that sounds a lot like Darth Vader’s infamous offer to Luke Skywalker.
For his part, Rauner said the pair had agreed to talk more with Chance over the weekend on a school funding solution that the two could present to the legislature when it reconvenes Tuesday.
*** UPDATE 2 *** Doomed! Doomed, I tells ya. Doomed!…
If Gov. Rauner is going to let foul mouthed Rapper help make state education decisions, we are all doomed.
One in four Illinois residents are confident in their state government, the lowest among the 50 states by a significant margin. Rhode Island (33%) and Connecticut (39%) join Illinois as states with less than 40% government confidence. North Dakota residents are the most trusting; 81% say they are confident in their state government.
One in four? Who are these one in four? I’d like to meet just one of them. Seriously. I’d love to talk to a single person who is confident in Illinois’ state government.
There is a strong positive relationship between residents’ ratings of their state’s economy and their confidence in state government. In addition to Illinois, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New Jersey and Kansas all rank among the states in which residents are the least positive about their state’s economy. North Dakota, Utah, Minnesota and Nebraska are four states in which residents rate their state’s economy positively and express high confidence in their state government.
Illinois and Rhode Island tie for the lowest rating of current state economic conditions, at -15. Illinois residents are most negative about the direction of their state’s economy, with Connecticut and West Virginia close behind.
* Hat tip to the Illinois Policy Institute’s news service, by the way…
Almost 75 percent of people who live in Illinois say they have zero confidence in state government, according to a new poll.
Gallup asked 500 Illinoisans if they have confidence in their state’s “government in general.” An overwhelming 74 percent said no.
State Rep Tom Bennett says the only people who may be surprised by that are lawmakers in Springfield who want to keep trudging down the same road.
“We’re spending millions of dollars more than we bring in every day. It’s almost like it’s not real in some ways,” Bennett said of the lack of awareness at the Illinois Capitol. “It’s going to come to a head one day.”
Paychecks for nearly 600 state employees are caught up in a dispute between Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner and Democratic Comptroller Susana Mendoza over which state account to use to pay them.
None of the workers has missed a paycheck yet, but Mendoza’s office told Rauner’s office that it needed to resubmit paperwork to pay the workers “to avoid any disruption in payroll.”
Mendoza’s office says the workers should be paid out of two revolving funds that are used to cover expenses for state vehicle maintenance and building leases. The Rauner administration, though, wants the employees paid out of the state’s general fund.
In a letter to Mendoza’s office Thursday, Ryan Green, general counsel for the Department of Central Management Services, said payroll vouchers were submitted to Mendoza to pay the workers out of the state’s general fund, which is used for most expenses but no longer has enough money in it to cover all of the state’s bills.
However, Green said there also isn’t enough money in the Facilities Management Revolving Fund and the State Garage Revolving Fund to cover all of the expenses they are supposed to pay.
The State Garage Revolving Fund also is the source of critical fuel-related payments that keep state vehicles on the road, as well as fund the maintenance of Department of Human Services’ vehicles that transport our most vulnerable citizens for medical treatment. By forcing CMS to drain the Revolving Funds, your office is putting those critical health and safety functions of the State at risk. And make no mistake, shifting payroll to these funds ensures they will be depleted long before the fiscal year is over. We have determined that, ifpayroll is included, the cash projected to be in Revolving Funds through the end of this fiscal year is not sufficient to cover all of the above critical services. Because these funds get the bulk of their revenues from GRF payments required to be made by the agencies that CMS serves, in the current budget impasse, those agencies do not have sufficient GRF or other available appropriations to make complete and timely payments into these CMS Revolving Funds. […]
As you know, CMS is authorized under the State Finance Act (30 ILCS 105) to pay employees under all available funds, including GRF. And CMS’s payroll plans line up with a longstanding practice of prior Comptrollers in recognizing each agency’s discretion with respect to the source offunds used to make payroll. In other words, after drawing the Revolving Funds down to zero, you will be forced to switch back to GRF to comply with Judge LeChien’s court order. Why, then, do we need to deplete other critical funds in the process?
Good point. The other side is that the GRF bank account is essentially overdrawn right now to the tune of $12 billion. Paying those workers from GRF will only make the backlog worse.
Our Office is in receipt of Central Management Services’ payroll voucher submission to the Office of Comptroller for which there is no authorization beyond the $771,747 remaining from existing amounts available from General Revenue Funds.
As a result of the Governor’s failure to present a balanced budget for the General Assembly’s action, the Office of the Comptroller is left to triage the state’s obligations to ensure provision of critical services for the state’s residents, particularly the most vulnerable. All efforts must be made to utilize existing resources from other available state funds, especially when there are enacted appropriations specifically for such purposes. Your agency’s original request for an additional $24 million, or 73%, increase over previous levels is simply not appropriate given the dire circumstances the state is facing.
Maybe a truce is in order here? “Prior comptrollers” often had decent working relationships with the governor’s office. Team Rauner has not been kind to Mendoza since their own candidate lost the election and that unkindness has been returned in, um, kind.
The fact remains that your agency has yet to expend from lawfully enacted appropriations of $32 million despite the fact that the current balances of these funds exceed $93 million. These are the same funds that you utilized in previous years for payroll without expressing concerns about disruption.
We’re already nine months into the fiscal year and CMS hasn’t yet tapped into those funds? Looks like they could be squirreling money away in case the grand bargain fails. And it also looks like Mendoza isn’t going to let them do this and might end up causing some sort of crisis as a result.
In regard to potential disruption of critical services, if you feel that you have over extended your obligations as to put critical health and safety functions of the State at risk, we encourage you to seek the proper appropriation authority from the General Assembly and the Governor immediately.
A budget deal would, indeed, solve this problem pretty quick.
Furthermore, when the General Assembly passed and the Governor signed Public Act 99-0524 in June 2016, the legislative intent on the treatment of payroll during the budget impasse was clear. The amounts appropriated in various funds, including the Revolving Funds at issue in your direction to CMS, are not intended to be used for payroll.
Putting it all together, it is our position that the Comptroller has the legal authority to continue processing payroll vouchers for this group of approximately 400 CMS employees using GRF. There is no legal reason to shift to the Revolving Funds. Nor is there any sensible policy rationale for forcing CMS to exhaust critical funds and put the health and safety ofour citizens at risk. We will continue to draw our payroll vouchers against GRF and will expect your office to comply with the St. Clair County court order by processing them as you and your predecessor have done up to this point.
She doesn’t need a “legal reason.” She pays the bills. You gotta do it her way if you want those bills paid unless you want to take her to court.
Again, call a truce and work it out. Wouldn’t that be better than engaging in this back and forth every time there’s a disagreement?
“This decision will begin to deplete these government shutdown prevention funds, which could compromise IDPH services,” said IDPH Director Nirav D. Shah, M.D., J.D. “Communicable disease investigations and nursing home inspections would be impacted if the state were unable to pay rent because of this directive.”
“The Department of Human Services provides critical services to families in need,” DHS Secretary Jim Dimas said. “This could impair our ability to provide children and families with access to food assistance, child care and health care needs.” […]
“Comptroller Mendoza recently paid state legislators, and herself, the same way CMS is requesting to pay these 578 employees,” Acting Director Hoffman said. “There is no reason CMS should be forced to drain our government shutdown prevention funds to make payroll when she has money available to pay these employees.”
Um, she hasn’t yet paid herself. Legislators have been paid once in six months.
* The response…
Governor Rauner’s administration is trying to concoct a phony crisis to create a headline to deflect once again from his failure to fulfill his constitutional duty to propose a balanced budget.
The Rauner administration has $93 million dollars in two funds that they have always used to pay the employees of Central Management Services. Now they suddenly want to horde those funds and instead raid the state’s General Revenue Fund – taking money from patients in hospice and nursing homes; meals on wheels for the elderly; and support services for disabled children.
Instead of using the funds with a balance of $93 million; Gov. Rauner wants to raid the fund he put $12.5 billion in the hole by failing to propose a balanced budget for the last three years.
Rauner’s administration has more than enough money to pay employees from the department’s self-protected funds. The only reason to draw attention to this issue now is to manufacture a phony headline about state employees in “danger” of missing a paycheck. This is just one of many phony stories Rauner’s administration has shopped in recent weeks. Expect more: All just as phony.
No employees will miss any paychecks if the administration uses the money that the General Assembly authorized them to use and the Governor signed. These funds were used in an identical fashion under the previous Comptroller. The Facilities Management Revolving Fund and the State Garage Revolving Fund have no role in caring for seniors, the disabled or newborns as the administration cynically suggests. The administration can continue using those funds for payroll as they always have. Or they can choose to create a phony crisis for P.R. value and continue playing politics with people’s lives.
Caterpillar has said it is cooperating with subpoenas tied to a federal investigation of undistributed profits from subsidiaries outside the United States. That’s how the system usually works: Prosecutors issue subpoenas, and a company’s top lawyer ensures evidence is preserved, collected and handed over. The raid raises the possibility that the U.S. Attorney’s Office of Central Illinois was worried that might not happen.
“The fact the federal government has decided to obtain and execute search warrant indicates they are concerned evidence will not be preserved or turned over to them unless they seize it themselves,” said Renato Mariotti, a partner at Thompson Coburn and a former assistant U.S. Attorney. “It’s a big step to send agents into the headquarters of a big company to seize documents.” […]
Caterpillar was sued in 2009 by a former executive who alleged the company had shifted profits overseas to avoid $2 billion in taxes. The lawsuit was settled in 2012, but two years later the company’s tax strategy was investigated by a U.S. Senate subcommittee.
Obtaining a warrant means persuading a judge that probable causes exists to search a person or property, said Ken Yeadon, a partner at Hinshaw & Culbertson and a former U.S. Attorney. It does happen, like when prosecutors were building a case against Chicago-based BCI Aircraft Leasing for fraud. But generally, law enforcement only seizes evidence in cases where there’s something that, “if you don’t act right away, you’re not going to get. A time-is-of-the-essence situation.”
The full search warrant is most definitely worth a read. Click here.
* Federal agents raid Caterpillar offices as part of tax strategy investigation: The investigation appears to stem from revelations about the company’s tax strategy as outlined in a 2009 federal wrongful termination lawsuit brought by Daniel Schlicksup. The lawsuit alleged the company shifted profits overseas and to offshore shell companies to avoid paying more than $2 billion in U.S. taxes. Schlicksup settled the suit in 2012.
* Federal Officials Raid 3 Caterpillar Offices in Illinois: Caterpillar reported sales fell 18 percent in 2016 to $38.5 billion and since late 2015 it has shrunk its workforce by more than 16,000 employees and consolidated or closed 30 facilities. Caterpillar cut 12,300 jobs in 2016, including 7,700 in the United States.
Days after a man awaiting trial on murder charges was mistakenly released on parole, the Cook County Sheriff’s Office says it will no longer send convicted defendants who still have pending cases to be fingerprinted and photographed by the Illinois Department of Corrections and then immediately returned to the county jail.
The release last week of Garrett Glover, who as of Thursday evening was still the subject of an intense manhunt, sparked a war of words and finger-pointing between the two law enforcement agencies. On Tuesday, Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart sent IDOC Director John Baldwin a letter criticizing the agency for releasing Glover without checking his criminal history or calling his office.
“Either step would have immediately revealed the existence of the open murder case,” Dart wrote.
On Thursday, Baldwin responded, saying IDOC relies on the sheriff’s office to provide accurate information and that a search of Glover’s paperwork as well as a law-enforcement database showed no holds barring his release on parole.
“We are always willing to assist your office in whatever way we can; however, we cannot take responsibility for your office’s error,” Baldwin wrote.
* As subscribers know, they didn’t just “consider” this idea, the Senate President agreed to put it into the grand bargain package as a concession to the GOP…
Senate Democrats also considered rolling back portions of the proposed income tax increase after several years, though that idea was not incorporated in the latest tax legislation filed Thursday.
You’ll recall that the governor campaigned on the idea of raising the income tax a bit (he never really said by how much) and then rolling it all the way back to 3 percent by the end of his first term. Those 2014 hopes of his are now completely dashed, but this shows you how far Cullerton was prepared to go this week. After all, the temporary nature of the 2011 income tax hike is what put Illinois into this current disaster. Do we really want to go through that again in five years?
The Republicans counter that Gov. Quinn’s biggest mistake was that he didn’t reduce spending by enough to deal with the rollback from 5 to 3.75 percent on January 1, 2015. They’re absolutely right about that. The Democrats did cut some spending, but not nearly enough. They just figured they’d either win again or that the newbie Rauner would be a pushover.
Illinois would charge sales tax on storage lockers, private detectives, lawn care and body piercing under legislation introduced in the Senate on Thursday. […]
The measure would extend the state’s 6.25 percent sales tax to self-storage units, including storage in apartments tenants pay for and lockers rented at amusement parks and recreational facilities. Lawn and garden services including mowing, watering, tree- and shrub-care and patio installation would be subject to the tax.
Other services that would be subject to the tax are: laundry, dry-cleaning, pressing and linen services; private detective and alarm devices; cable television, audio and video streaming and satellite services; pest control; and “personal care services” such as cosmetics, tattoos, body piercing, tanning and massage. Hair removal would be taxed, but not haircuts.
The full proposal (Amendment 3 to SB 9) is here. The service taxes are listed starting on page 212.
* And Hillman makes a good point…
This is going to give consumers fits. It is worded so vaguely it could trap all kinds of internet services. Multimedia elements? #Twillpic.twitter.com/CYb1xRayyN
“The amount of time that I have at home is minimal, I need to make sure that it’s productive,” Bost said Friday. “You know the cleansing that the Orientals used to do where you’d put one person out in front and 900 people yell at them? That’s not what we need. We need to have meetings with people that are productive.”
In a statement Thursday, Bost said he “used a poor choice of words” in describing “coordinated disruptions” he says are taking place across the country.
Bost spokesman George O’Connor said Bost’s use of Orientals was a reference to sessions during China’s Cultural Revolution when individuals were publicly humiliated and subjected to verbal abuse by a crowd.
“While there was no malicious intent, I regret that my words may have distracted from an important point,” Bost said. “When the booing and shouting drowns out the conversation we’re trying to have with our constituents, it becomes that much harder to govern.”
OK, but, again, this is a politician who became nationally known for screaming at the Democrats on the Illinois House floor and then parlayed that epic rant into a congressional seat. And now he’s using the potential for shouting by his own constituents as an excuse to not hold town halls.
*** UPDATE *** From US Sen. Tammy Duckworth, who is an Asian-American…
“Congressman Bost’s remarks are offensive and hurtful to Asian Americans and Asians around the world. In addition to owing his constituents a sincere apology, he should put more thought into his words in the future. Racism has no place in American political discourse.”
A few dozen inmates who remain locked up in Cook County Jail because they’re too poor to post their relatively low bonds may be out soon under a new program State’s Attorney Kim Foxx announced for indigent, nonviolent offenders Wednesday.
After the Cook County Sheriff’s Office singled out 50 cases of those who were “languishing” in jail for several months because of their inability to post $1,000 or less, the State’s Attorney and Public Defender’s offices came together to identify those inmates who would be better served outside jail, Foxx said. […]
Foxx said most of those who qualify for the bond reform initiative are in for drug offenses, property crimes or retail theft. […]
While awaiting trial outside jail, those needing treatment for drugs or mental health would be required to get help as part of conditions of their release, the top prosecutor said.
It costs $163 a day to house an inmate, so taxpayers will be saving money through the initiative, Foxx said.
The county will save some money (food, meds, etc. - as long as those slots remain empty) but unless they plan to lay off jail employees, this won’t actually save $163 per day.
However, due to the tornadoes that tragically tore through Illinois, Rauner canceled his meeting with Chance. Rightfully and understandably so. Our thoughts and prayers go out to those families who were affected. But as of now it appears the Governor has no plans to reschedule his meeting with Chance, where Chance planned to discuss funding for education in Chicago — a very serious issue.
Not true, I’m told. The governor’s people reached out to Chance’s people about setting a new date.
* From Eleni Demertzis at the governor’s office…
The Governor is traveling the state to survey the damage of the deadly tornados that hit this week. He is meeting with families who lost their homes and thanking first responders for their service. He looks forward to hearing from Chance and we have reached out to his team to reschedule our meeting.
*** UPDATE *** And now all is well…
Update: The Governor and I are now scheduled to meet Friday morning, I'm more than appreciative of him taking time to discuss funding CPS https://t.co/gjCXe6Vs8Q
— Lil Chano From 79th (@chancetherapper) March 2, 2017
Federal officials executed a search warrant at three Caterpillar, Inc. facilities in the Tri-County Area — including the corporate headquarters — Thursday morning.
Company officials confirmed the presence in a statement without specifying which agency was performing the search or what the search was in regard to. A spokeswoman declined by email to provide further details.
“Caterpillar is cooperating,” the brief statement said.
At least some of the agents entering the headquarters building wore jackets bearing an Internal Revenue Service logo, others appeared to be from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation. Others simply denoted that they were federal agents. A placard in the window of one of the federal vehicles noted it was used by police from the U.S. Department of Commerce Bureau of Industry and Security Office of Export Enforcement.
IRS, FDIC and the Security Office of Export Enforcement? This doesn’t look good.
* Video…
Fed agents outside of Caterpillar World HQ. IRS agents and others wearing bulletproof vests. @pjstarhttps://t.co/tnAEKG9y9T
The Ameya Pawar for Governor campaign announced today its launch of a new website and brand reflecting Pawar’s bold and progressive vision for Illinois. In the true spirit of a grassroots volunteer-driven campaign, the website, logo and branding were created by a team of digital professionals inspired by Pawar’s message. The website and logo - worth tens of thousands of dollars - was in-kinded to the campaign.
The Ameya Pawar for Governor design uses inspiration from the New Deal era to convey a sense of power, strength and progress. The logo features the candidate’s name in bold-faced navy blue type with a red-orange wing darting off to the left. The wing symbolizes the American eagle and a rising phoenix, and is influenced by the vintage aerospace-inspired design of the 1930s and ‘40s. The color palette of navy, red-orange, teal and white is simple, American and modern.
“It is amazing. A team of digital professionals who had never worked together but share a belief in Ameya’s message, created a brand and world-class website in less than 30 days,” said John Telford, Volunteer Digital Director. “Our team has grown to more than 60 people, across all digital disciplines — and there is room for more.”
“I am overwhelmed by the support of so many who have volunteered with my campaign,” Pawar said. “They have spent countless hours working during lunch breaks, nights, and weekends. Their dedication is inspiring. Together we are leading a grassroots movement to bring the vision of a ‘New Deal’ across Illinois.”
Ameya’s campaign platform, A New Deal for Illinois, is modeled in the spirit of President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s economic and social policies, which turned around the nation as it struggled to recover from the Great Depression. Like Roosevelt’s New Deal, Ameya’s platform aims to reinvigorate Illinois’ economy at a time when the state has a backlog of $12 billion in unpaid bills and is now more than 20 months without a budget.
If there gonna say the design was worth “tens of thousands of dollars,” then they need to report it as such. The campaign has already admitted to the Board of Elections that it filed some disclosures after the legal deadline “in violation of the Illinois Campaign Financing Act.”
Thank you for posting our announcement on Capitol Fax. We have already collected the in-kind contribution forms from the volunteers who designed our website and logo. We will be filing the A-1s later today and will be in compliance with the campaign finance disclosure requirements as outlined by the State Board of Elections.
Gov. Bruce Rauner surveyed the damage from Wednesday’s tornadoes in North Central Illinois.
At least one person was killed and 14 were injured in Tuesday evening’s severe storms.
76-year-old Wayne Tuntland was killed in Ottawa by a falling tree, local police confirm, and Saint Elizabeth Medical Center reports they received 14 patients as a result of the storm with injuries to the head, knee and arm areas.
Rauner talked with victims and emergency responders while looking over homes and businesses in Ottawa and Naplate.
Rauner promised to offer state assistance and urged insurance companies to move quickly to help victims.
Early Tuesday evening Gov. Rauner activated the State Emergency Operations Center in Springfield to ensure state personnel and equipment would be ready to be quickly deployed if needed.
“Fortunately there was a good warning system and people knew that the storms were developing and they were coming,” Rauner said.
Two people were killed in Illinois and more than a dozen others were injured. Another person also died in Missouri while the violent storm system tore across many areas of the upper Midwest. […]
“It could have been a lot worse,” Gov. Rauner said Wednesday. “We have to count our blessings.”
Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner planned to survey storm damage Thursday in White County, which was among the areas hit hard by Midwest storms that spawned tornadoes.
Rauner’s visit to Southern Illinois on Thursday follows a tour on Wednesday of storm damage in central Illinois including Ottawa, where an uprooted tree killed 76-year-old Wayne Tuntland. […]
Rauner was scheduled to attend a briefing with officials at 11 a.m. in Carmi, which is in southeast Illinois, then survey damage in Elkville, which is on U.S. 51 south of Du Quoin.
* The video got a bunch of positive comments like this one…
Thank you Governor Rauner for touring the towns that were affected by the severe storms. You’re the most compassionate governor and you actually care for downstate.
The man truly knows how to use social media. That video was very well done. But maybe it’s just a little too well done, too tightly edited and too melodramatic with that somber music. He did good work yesterday. He’s doing good work today. Do we really need something like this?
The Chicago Teachers Union issued a statement on Monday that again accused Emanuel and CPS of playing politics instead of turning to solutions to help schools such as raising taxes.
“The mayor behaving as if he has zero solutions is incredibly irresponsible,” CTU President Karen Lewis said in the statement. “Rahm wants us to let him off the hook for under-funding our schools and instead wait for the Bad Bargain to pass the Senate or Rauner’s cold, cold heart to melt and provide fair funds.”
After the Senate Democrat and Republican leaders announced a suspension of work on the “Grand Bargain” budget deal, state Sen. Kyle McCarter, R-Lebanon, released this statement:
That’s the question many 12th District voters have been asking after Rep. Bost did not schedule an in-person town hall meeting during the time he was back in the district last week.
The general premise behind the campaign, which gained traction on Facebook, brought protesters to Bost’s Carbondale and Belleville offices, and inspired many Letters to the Editor, is that constituents want to have an honest conversation with Bost and the rest of the community. […]
A statement last week from Bost’s office said town halls “have been derailed across the country in an effort to disrupt the honest conversation that representatives need to have with their constituents. Rep. Bost wants to ensure that conversation continues unimpeded and is open to receiving feedback — both positive and negative — from the constituents he represents. That is why this week he met with health care professionals at two Southern Illinois hospitals in three locations, hosted an Agricultural Advisory Board meeting with local farmers, spoke with students at Murphysboro High School, and had 12 individual constituent meetings. Among the constituents he met with were protesters who demonstrated outside of his Belleville office. Additionally, Rep. Bost recently hosted a telephone town hall meeting, which reached over 85,000 Democrats, Republicans, and Independents in Southern Illinois. Constituents who would like to participate in the next telephone town hall are welcome to sign up at bost.house.gov.” […]
“The amount of time that I have at home is minimal, I need to make sure that it’s productive,” Bost said Friday. “You know the cleansing that the Orientals used to do where you’d put one person out in front and 900 people yell at them? That’s not what we need. We need to have meetings with people that are productive.”
…Adding… From comments…
For a man famous for shouting, he seems to fear the shouting of others.
Yep. A guy who used an epic scream at the opposing party to get himself elected to higher office now says nobody should yell at him.
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As J.B. Pritzker nears a decision on whether to run for governor, the Chicago businessman would have to deal with past family political contributions to a group that pushed to cut back on state worker pensions.
I don’t see any signs that the donations from Pritzker and his wife, M.K. Pritzker, would poison his bid to win backing from organized labor. But with a potentially huge field of Democrats vying to take on GOP incumbent Bruce Rauner, the gifts definitely are getting some attention.
The donations—$10,000 each—came in December 2011 and went to the We Mean Business PAC, a group formed by Civic Committee President Ty Fahner to pressure state lawmakers to enact pension changes over union opposition.
The group ended up doing just that, giving large donations to several candidates opposed by labor—though one $10,000 check ironically went to House Speaker Mike Madigan, who enacted pension changes that later were tossed out by the Illinois Supreme Court. […]
“This was about trying to raise awareness of a problem during a time of tremendous crisis facing our state,” says the spokeswoman. “Unfortunately, we’re still facing this crisis today because Gov. Rauner has turned this into an ideological issue when it instead deserves actual leadership. Illinois needs a governor who will work with everyone, especially labor, to stabilize our pension funds and protect workers’ retirement.”
One union leader I spoke with, who asked not to be named, said he doubted the donations would be a major factor when it makes an endorsement. Pritzker’s backing for a $15 minimum wage “is a much bigger deal for us,” that source said.
Ironically enough, Bruce and Diana Rauner also gave $10K each to that Fahner PAC about ten months after the Pritzker contributions.
Aside from Madigan, the PAC also contributed to Democratic Reps. Christian Mitchell (five times), Elaine Nekrtiz (thrice), Carol Sente and John Bradley (twice). Sen. Daniel Biss, a possible progressive candidate for governor, received two contributions.
So, I dunno. But it’s a fun little bit of oppo a year before the primary.
The top Democrat in the Illinois Senate abruptly canceled key votes Wednesday on a plan to end the state’s historic budget stalemate, accusing Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner of sabotaging a compromise that had been months in the making.
Senate President John Cullerton of Chicago ditched his earlier vow to call votes on key parts of the so-called “grand bargain,” including an income-tax increase and property tax-freeze.
After the Senate clocked out, Cullerton questioned the first-term governor’s sincerity in meeting legislative Democrats halfway to end the nation’s longest budget stalemate in nearly a century.
“He’s got to grow up,” Cullerton said about Rauner. […]
“The governor injected himself into the process and doesn’t want this approved in this form,” Cullerton said before the Senate adjourned for the day without taking action on the plan. “Situation is not getting any better. We need to work together to solve this. I had hoped it would be today.”
Republicans dismissed the allegations as scapegoating for a plan that’s not ready for prime time. The public drama unfolded after a long day of behind-the-scenes negotiations, as Senate leaders had hoped for a vote on some of the more controversial portions of the multipart plan. That effort has struggled to get off the ground amid broad opposition from unions, the business community and conservative groups alike. […]
While Cullerton declined to detail how he believed Rauner derailed talks, his No. 2 accused the governor of threatening Republicans who planned to vote in favor of the legislation. Republicans already were the target of attacks from conservative groups aligned with Rauner.
“We’ve been told that (Rauner) has called them into his office one by one and threatened them if they voted on this grand bargain,” said Sen. Don Harmon, D-Oak Park. “This is really difficult here because my Republican colleagues who have been working in good faith have been undermined by a governor who does not want this deal to cross the finish line.”
A Rauner aide called the allegations “outrageous,” and said the governor and his staff frequently meet with lawmakers on a variety of issues.
HARMON: “I would ask the Republican members on the other end of that conversation how they felt, because whether the governor thinks he and his team threatened them or not, the reports that we’ve gotten from our Republican colleagues are that they were threatened.”
I tried to ask about this with Republican Sen. Chris Nybo, from Elmhurst. He’d voted for a couple of the grand bargain bills passed the day before. That made him just the sort of Republican that Democrats say the governor was targeting.
But as I stood in the doorway to his Capitol office, Nybo said he did not want to talk about the grand bargain.
MACKEY: “Answer uh — I mean Democrats are saying Republicans were called in and threatened by the governor today — is that …”
NYBO (off mic): “No comment.”
MACKEY: “OK, thank you.”
Whatever happened in those private conversations, something changed.
Top Senate Republicans dismissed the idea that Rauner called them off “aye” votes. Deputy Republican Leader Bill Brady of Bloomington reiterated one of Rauner’s main complaints in recent days that the GOP won’t accept a permanent income-tax increase if Democrats insist on limiting their cherished local property tax freeze to two years.
“More work is needed to achieve a good deal for taxpayers,” Rauner spokeswoman Catherine Kelly said. “We encourage senators to keep working.” […]
In remarks on the floor, Radogno didn’t dispute Cullerton’s assertion about Rauner’s involvement but urged continued work.
“I have no question in my mind that we’re going to bring this thing in for a landing,” Radogno said. “There’s enough good will in this building. I know the governor will be joining us in trying to get that done.”
DEMOCRATS — A breathless, angered state Sen. Heather Steans, a Democrat, urged Republicans to stand up to Rauner so the state could finally have a budget. (Remind you of anything?) “I think what’s happened is that the governor has been clearly interjecting himself in these negotiations and really today I believe we have real evidence that he undermined and killed this today,” Steans said at a news conference. “The governor keeps killing it every time we’re close.”
State Sen. Andy Manar: “I drove to Springfield with the absolute belief that there was a bipartisan agreement on school funding. The only thing that changed from the time I left … is the element of Bruce Rauner being injected into the conversation.”
REPUBLICANS — State Sen. Bill Brady: “The governor is the chief elected official in the state of Illinois. At the end of the day, he needs to be involved … there’s no question in our minds that the governor’s input is valuable.”
State Sen. Karen McConnaughay — “I talked to the governor, this morning, extensively,” she said. “I thought he was very engaged and very supportive. No threats at all.”
State Sen. Jason Barickman: “I was not threatened with anything or provided with any ultimatums or like that. I’ve had lots of discussions with the governor and his staff over the last two years, including over the last few weeks.” In a subsequent interview, Barickman said he believed a deal was still within reach.
“The governor has got to realize that this is as good as it’s going to get,” Cullerton said. “He’s got to grow up and get this solved. He’s the governor.” […]
Cullerton did not say what the next step will be.
“It’s not my move,” he said. “Assuming that’s what happened here, that the governor pulled the votes off, we should find out why the governor did that. Apparently, he wants to change the items that have been negotiated. That’s what he’s failed to do for two years.” […]
“As soon as we get word that there’s Republican support for this bipartisan plan, we’ll be ready to vote,” he said.
Everybody needs to take a deep breath here.
The Democrats need to finally understand that they can’t pass what they want to pass without the Republicans and the governor. And Gov. Rauner needs to realize that the Democrats are out of patience with the endless talks.
It can still be done, but, man, everybody has to calm down a bit first.
