Reader comments closed for the weekend
Friday, May 12, 2017 - Posted by Rich Miller
* My aunt passed away last week. Janet Bollheimer was my mom’s older sister. Her wake is tonight, so that’s why I’m shutting the blog down a little earlier than usual.
Phyllis Hostmeyer posted this on Aunt Janet’s tribute page. Everyone called her Jan, but I always called her Janet for some reason…
I owe so so much to Jan. I had to drop out of college when I was 19 and dreamed of returning one day. I didn’t see any way possible for that to happen. I met Jan at a KC extension class at Central and within minutes she had me pegged. Soon she had everything lined up for me to return to college. She registered me full time at KC, introduced me to the financial aid people, lined up day care for my daughters, and I was on my way to an Associate’s Degree. But Jan did’t stop there. She then introduced me to Dr. Woods at McKendree who found me a full scholarship to finish my Bachelor’s Degree. I became a teacher and sometimes I still work as an adjunct for KC. I am a published author and have had opportunities to travel around the world providing professional development for teachers. None of this would have happened had it not been for Jan’s support, guidance, and positive attitude. She believed in me and encouraged me when no one else did. I can think of few people in this world that I admire more than I admired Jan. She has been a huge blessing to our community. My prayers are with the many loved ones she leaves behind.
She was always so active, so energetic, so positive, so fun. Even when she was sick, she powered through. Everyone looked up to her, but she never looked down on anybody. If you click here you’ll see a House resolution passed when she finally retired after 43 years as an educator and an advocate.
I don’t really feel like posting a song today.
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Dem candidates urged to play nice
Friday, May 12, 2017 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Rick Pearson…
With early friction emerging in the 2018 Democratic race for governor, the Illinois Democratic County Chairmen’s Association is urging the candidates to turn their wrath toward Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner instead of on one another.
The phone call this week raising concerns about the contest’s tone among the campaigns and the group’s leader came as billionaire entrepreneur and investor J.B. Pritzker has launched TV ads and begun amassing endorsements, prompting rivals for the nomination to criticize him. […]
Pritzker campaign manager Anne Caprara said it was “important for all Democratic candidates to focus their time and energy on getting (Rauner) out of office” and ensure he is not re-elected. Biss’ campaign said the election isn’t just about the governor’s office, but also is “a battle for the soul of the Democratic Party.” Kennedy’s campaign suggested their candidate is the only one ready to “bring radical change to Springfield,” while Pawar’s camp said its effort was focused on the alderman’s “vision” for Illinois.
* Pearson also took a look at an earlier report that the AFL-CIO could endorse Pritzker. He traced it back to the trade unions which endorsed Pritzker earlier this month…
Now those trade unions are pushing for the Illinois AFL-CIO, the umbrella organization of organized labor in the state, to make an early endorsement of Pritzker, union sources said.
The sources, who were not authorized to discuss union business publicly, said that while the trade unions want to move quickly, public sector and service unions want to move more slowly and deliberately. But trade unions carry more clout. A meeting has been set for next month to discuss the way forward.
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Caption contest!
Friday, May 12, 2017 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Gov. Rauner with his arm around our buddy Dave Dahl…
The pic was taken last fall. Dave just found it.
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Durkin warns members about… me
Friday, May 12, 2017 - Posted by Rich Miller
* From a memo sent this afternoon to House Republicans…
Dear Members,
It is with great displeasure that I read today’s Capitol Fax with an article which, by all measures, memorializes yesterday’s “confidential” caucus discussions with the governor’s staff.
This has been an ongoing concern for many years and it is a violation that undermines the sanctity of our caucus meetings, particularly those with high-level members of the administration.
My question to the individual or individuals responsible for this is simple, why would you subvert the caucus, particularly at this time in session?
With few precious weeks before the end of session, we will need to meet more regularly and, most likely, with key members of the administration. How can we expect them to be candid with us ever again? Should I expect this message to show up on the “Blog” this afternoon?
Jim Durkin
House Republican Leader
People occasionally ask why they should subscribe to Capitol Fax. That memo is a pretty good reason.
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It’s just a bill
Friday, May 12, 2017 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Bruce Rushton at the Illinois Times…
The state House of Representatives last week passed a bill designed to expedite the transfer of mentally ill inmates from county jails to state mental health facilities.
But a bill that would restrict the use of isolation cells in local jails appears dead. The measure remained in committee as an April 28 deadline passed for the House to take action on bills sponsored by House members. Under the proposal, inmates could not be placed in isolation for more than 10 consecutive days or for more than 10 days over a 180-day period.
The bill restricting the use of isolation cells also would have affected state prisons. But county sheriffs lobbied hard against the measure, arguing that there is little else they can do with mentally ill inmates, including many who are supposed to be in mental health facilities but instead languish in jail.
“If all things were perfect, it might be a good bill,” said Greg Sullivan, executive director of the Illinois Sheriffs Association. “When you have inmates with mental health problems who you cannot put in general population for their safety and other inmates’ safety, what do you do with them? You have to do something. … Quite frankly, the sheriffs contacted their state representatives and said, ‘This is a bad bill, and here’s why.’”
Randolph County Sheriff Shannon Wolff, who runs a 44-bed jail that sometimes has just one officer overseeing inmates, said that isolation cells and restraint chairs are an unfortunate necessity of running a small jail in a rural area.
* Marlen Garcia at the Sun-Times…
Here’s a run-down on bills related to immigrants that could reach the governor’s desk and one that won’t thanks to Rauner. Rep. Elizabeth “Lisa” Hernandez of Cicero, who represents Latino and immigrant communities, is chief sponsor or co-sponsor of each bill […]
♦ School code amendment: Rauner killed this one early, while it was in committee. It would have eliminated confusion between a federal mandate on bilingual education and an Illinois law requiring all school instruction be given in English, she said. Hernandez says she sponsored the bill only because the Illinois State Board of Education asked her to. ISBE is run by Rauner’s people, so she assumed the governor and Republicans would back it. But the bill got no votes from Republicans while it was in committee. Hernandez said she wouldn’t proceed without Republican support. “If I do,” she said, “it’s going to die.”
An ISBE spokeswoman says that small section of the law is obsolete. It should come off the books. But the governor’s office questioned “why this bill was not included in the usual clean-up package from the State Board of Education,” his spokeswoman, Eleni Demertzis, said by email.
The bill’s synopsis says it repeals a section “requiring instruction in all public elementary and secondary schools to be in the English language.” I have to wonder if that’s too loaded for the Illinois GOP.
* Doug Finke SJ-R…
Another attempt is being made to move the date of school board elections in hopes it improves voter turnout.
The Senate Executive Committee Thursday unanimously endorsed a bill to move school board elections from the spring to general elections held in the fall.
Sponsoring Sen. Tom Cullerton, D-Villa Park, said the turnout in DuPage County for the April election was about 15 percent.
“When we talk about property taxes, the number one thing on your property tax bill is your schools, and we are having no voter participation,” he said.
Cullerton also said moving the school board elections could get more people involved in running for the seats. He said there is a problem in some areas finding enough candidates. One reason for that is that filing for school board occurs right after a major general election, he said.
The Senate passed that bill before, but it didn’t go anywhere in the House.
* Bob Reed at the Tribune…
A lively tussle is shaping up between a top Illinois official and the state’s mighty insurance industry, and the Illinois General Assembly will pick the winner.
At the center of the dispute is legislation, supported by Illinois Treasurer Michael Frerichs, that compels life insurance companies to review their records going back to 1996 and confirm that death benefits have been paid to policyholders’ beneficiaries.
Paying death benefits? Isn’t that what life insurance companies are supposed to do?
If the answer were always a resounding “yes,” there wouldn’t be any need for Frerichs’ bill.
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Question of the day
Friday, May 12, 2017 - Posted by Rich Miller
* SJ-R editorial…
Thumbs Down: To the Illinois House lawmakers who cheered Wednesday upon learning the planned session scheduled for Friday would be canceled.
“I have an announcement. Perk up, perk up your ears, listen close. Friday’s session has been canceled,” House Majority Leader Barbara Flynn Currie, D-Chicago, announced Wednesday. She was met with immediate cheers and applause from some of the people in the chamber.
The state has been operating without a permanent budget for more than 22 months. Universities are laying off employees and students are seeking to complete their higher education studies in other states. Social service agencies are turning clients away, if not outright shutting their doors, because of late payments of state funding. The state’s bond ratings creep ever-closer to junk status, which will mean higher interest payments for the borrowing we know is coming.
And that’s just a few items on the long list of problems facing Illinois.
House members are paid to do what it best for Illinoisans — and they don’t have to wait in line to get paid, like the people they aren’t helping. They should be working every day they’re scheduled to — we’d argue the weekends too — until a budget is approved. Cheering because they don’t have to come in and work toward productive solutions that would benefit the people of Illinois is disgraceful.
* The Question: Your thoughts on this?
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Fun with numbers
Friday, May 12, 2017 - Posted by Rich Miller
* OK…
[They deleted it, but I saved a copy just in case.]
Might wanna make sure the education meme-maker uses spell-check from now on. Just sayin…
* But…
Appropriate all you want, but if there’s no money in the checkbook because we don’t have a real budget the bills can’t be paid.
* Meanwhile, here’s Finke…
And back to the Thompson Center for a moment. It sure seems like the numbers for that thing are all over the map.
In 2015, the Rauner administration said the building needed about $100 million worth of deferred maintenance. At last week’s news conference, that number was at $326 million. Seems that place is really going somewhere in a handbasket.
Also, in his budget plan, Rauner estimated the state would net about $220 million from the sale. Last week, that was up to $240 million, a nice increase for a couple of months.
Maybe if the state holds onto it until the end of the year, there’d be no reason for a tax hike.
Nice catch by Doug.
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* WCIA TV…
While Congress is determining the fate of the Affordable Care Act, Governor Bruce Rauner’s administration is quietly preparing a massive overhaul to the state’s Medicaid system.
Up to 3.2 million Medicaid patients in Illinois, including 1.4 million children, could be affected under a new plan set to take place on January 1, 2018. Industry experts expect many of the state’s poorest patients would have to change doctors, while others could be forced to change prescriptions.
Rob Karr of the Illinois Retail Merchants Association says, “I think [Medicaid patients] will see some changes perhaps in who they can go to. Perhaps there will be changes on the margins in terms of what drugs they can use.”
Some in Springfield are preaching caution… Comptroller Susana Mendoza, a Democrat, pointed to the fluidity on Capitol Hill as a prime reason to press pause on this plan. “I think it is important to wait just so that we have a little bit better as to what those estimates for the Medicaid population are going to be,” she told WCIA.
Mendoza testified Wednesday before the House Human Service Committee, urging lawmakers to intervene and block the Rauner administration from making structural changes to consolidate Managed Care Organizations.
* They’re running out of time, however. Crain’s…
With bids due Monday for private insurers who want a piece of a key Illinois Medicaid program, one of the biggest health plans is in talks with potential buyers.
For Chicago-based Family Health Network, known as FHN, the effort to sell off its assets or enrollees to another health plan is a last-ditch effort to keep from suddenly shuttering. After all, there will be losers: Gov. Bruce Rauner’s administration is revamping its Medicaid managed care program. Twelve insurers, including FHN, have to rebid to participate, but in an effort to squeeze out more savings, the state plans to award just up to seven contracts.
The reboot has whipped the health care industry into a frenzy. In April, the FHN board chairman said he feared the state was locking the insurer out of a new contract. Like vendors across the state, the insurer is owed money by the State of Illinois: Among a backlog of state bills that tops $12 billion, FHN’s overdue tab comes to about $260 million.
As for FHN’s discussion with potential buyers about selling off parts, if not all, of its business, “Essentially at some point that’s what they’re being forced to do,” Illinois Sen. Omar Aquino says. Aquino’s legislative district includes two of the five hospitals or health systems that co-own the insurer. “They would rather prefer to stay in business.”
Aquino is among five Democratic sponsors of a resolution that seeks to suspend the bidding process and highlights the plight of FHN in particular. A spokeswoman for the health plan declined to comment.
* From the JB Pritzker campaign…
In response to Bruce Rauner’s attack on Medicaid, which could strip over 3 million Illinoisans, including over 1 million children, of their right to keep their doctors and prescriptions, JB Pritzker released the following statement:
“While Donald Trump and Republicans in Congress work to gut the Affordable Care Act, Bruce Rauner is working to upend Medicaid coverage for millions of low-income Illinoisans,” said JB Pritzker. “Over 3 million Illinoisans, including over one million children, could be forced to change doctors and even prescriptions if Rauner is able to shove through this overhaul. Illinois families have a right to quality and affordable health care and we need a Governor who will stand up to Donald Trump to protect that right. Instead, Bruce Rauner’s failed leadership has left us without a plan to combat Trumpcare and without a balanced budget as Illinois families continue to pay the price.”
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* Unlike most rich Cook County residents, JB Pritzker never appealed his local property tax bills on his house - until 2015. And then he got a huge discount…
J.B. Pritzker, billionaire would-be governor, bought the historic mansion next door to his even bigger home on Chicago’s Gold Coast, let it fall into disrepair — and then argued it was “uninhabitable” to win what so far have been nearly $230,000 in property-tax breaks, records show. […]
Arguing that the smaller mansion is “vacant and uninhabitable,” those lawyers convinced Berrios to slash its assessed value last year from $6.25 million to just under $1.1 million.
That’s allowed Pritzker to get the nearly $230,000 in property-tax breaks and refunds, a Chicago Sun-Times analysis found.
The drastically reduced assessment caused the mansion’s property taxes to plunge 83 percent, leaving Pritzker with a bill for $19,719 last year, the analysis found. That was instead of the $117,087 he otherwise would have had to pay in property taxes, which fund the Chicago Public Schools, the city and other local governments.
The assessor’s ruling also meant that Pritzker was due partial refunds on the taxes that he paid between 2012 and 2014. He got three refund checks last year totaling $132,747 — money that reduced the amount of property taxes that schools and other local governments expected to receive.
Separately, Berrios cut the assessment on the bigger mansion where the Pritzker family lives — from $14.1 million to about $12.1 million, resulting in a 16 percent lower property-tax bill last year — $221,287 rather than $264,221.
I always have a simple answer for people who ask questions like: Why would a guy with $3.4 billion care about saving a few hundred grand on his property taxes? My reply: It’s Amorica, man. Nothing’s ever enough here.
It looks like he bought the house next door to establish a buffer. He remodeled the outside so it looked nice, but apparently let the inside go to pot. (The appraiser was let inside that house, but not into Pritzker’s actual residence, which also got a reduction, over security concerns.) Then apparently he got tired of paying taxes on a house that wasn’t worth nearly as much as its appraised value.
* The full statement the Pritzker campaign gave the Sun-Times…
In 2015, JB was one of over 50,000 residents of Cook County to appeal his tax assessment and like 64% of appeals, the ruling was in JB’s favor. It’s unfortunate that in the context of a political campaign, there is now an attempt to use that routine appeal as part of a negative attack.
* More oppo from the campaign…
It’s worth noting that unlike his neighbors and many residents of Cook county (including Bruce Rauner), JB’s 2015 appeal is the only time he has appealed his taxes since he bought the property in 2006.
· Chris Kennedy has also appealed his property tax assessment for his Kenilworth home to the Board of Review and the Board ruled in his favor. (158 Melrose Avenue)
· In 2012, 2014, and 2015, Rauner appealed his assessment for his Randolph Street Penthouse. (340 E. Randolph Street, 61-PHE)
· In 2012, 2014, and 2015, Rauner appealed his assessment for his Randolph Street condo. (340 E. Randolph Street, #4103)
· In 2012, 2013, 2014, and 2015, Rauner also appealed his assessment for three parking spots (Space P1-28, Space P2-30, Space P2-36)
OK, but there are important distinctions. Kennedy only lowered his assessment by $10K. And Rauner’s people point out that his condo association appealed those assessments, not him. And those appeals were denied.
* The other difference is that one of Pritzker’s campaign themes is making rich people pay more taxes, as opposed to Rauner’s goal of lowering their taxes…
“We’ve got to start by taxing the millionaires and billionaires first. We’re not going to middle-class families until we get people to pay their fair share,” Pritzker told reporters after his announcement.
Then again, the property taxes he was paying were “unfair,” according to the assessor’s office.
* From the ILGOP…
“It’s clear that when it comes to gaming the system for tax breaks for billionaires, J.B. Pritzker thinks big. Real big. Pritzker’s insider scheme to dodge taxes is shocking.” - Illinois Republican Party Spokesman Steven Yaffe
* You can bet that “insider scheme” phrase will continue to be used. As some Rauner types have reminded me this morning, they beat the living heck out of state House candidate Merry Marwig last year for filing a couple of property tax appeals, and she didn’t get nearly the reduction that Pritzker received…
Every second mailer emphasized two somewhat nebulous “Madigan connections.” One was that Marwig moved into the 41st Ward from Wicker Park in 2013 and got her property taxes lowered twice; Madigan’s law office handles such tax reductions.
And if, as expected, Berrios’ Cook County Democratic Party endorses Pritzker, you’ll definitely see the Republicans use that Pritzker-Berrios-Madigan connection over and over and over again.
…Adding… As pointed out in comments, Berrios’ spokesman told the Sun-Times that his boss didn’t know Pritzker got the assessment reductions. But, that likely won’t matter to the ILGOP.
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* Gov. Bruce Rauner should’ve maybe run for the United States Senate because he’s such an expert filibusterer. Check out how he ran out the clock at the end of his WBEZ interview today…
Q: Before I let you go, I have to ask you, do you think you bear any responsibility for the impasse?
A: We all need to work together, Republicans, Democrats, everybody to get a truly balanced budget. It is very difficult because the General Assembly has never passed balanced budgets for decades. Their solution is always just don’t pay pensions.
Q: [Interrupting] But do you think you bear any responsibility?
A: [Cross-talking] We all, we all have a job to do and that is to compromise and do what’s right for the people of Illinois for the long-term, so our children and our grandchildren have a better future in Illinois. It is immoral what has happened in our state government for the last 35 years, we, it is wrong for us to leave a hundred and ninety billion dollars in debt [play-out music starts] to our children and grandchildren, we are not gonna let that happen.
Q: Gov. Bruce Rauner, we will see you back here in June. In the meantime, thanks for stopping by.
A: Tony, great to be with you. Thank you.
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Unclear on the concept
Friday, May 12, 2017 - Posted by Rich Miller
* I’m betting the audience wasn’t booing “the system” yesterday…
Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner on Thursday was booed by Chicago State University students and their families during a commencement ceremony at the school, an outburst the governor called “negative feedback” while adding he’d “love to boo our system as well.”
The university has been among those hit hardest by the ongoing state budget fight between Rauner and Democrats. The two-year impasse has left Illinois’ public colleges and universities with diminished, infrequent state funding. About 400 Chicago State employees were laid off last year, which the school said was a consequence of the budget stalemate. […]
“When I was introduced and stood up to speak, there was clapping but there was also some negative feedback,” Rauner said. “And you know what, I share their frustration. This system is broken. I am totally with them. I’d love to boo our system as well. I’m not going to boo it, I’m going to change it. We’re going to make it right.”
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* Reuters…
May 11 Illinois faces costly consequences if it fails to pass a budget by the end of May and is hit with more credit rating downgrades, state lawmakers were warned this week.
John Miller, co-head of fixed income at Nuveen Asset Management, told a House committee on Thursday that reaching a balanced budget deal by May 31 is “absolutely critical” for the nation’s fifth-largest state.
He said the move could stabilize or improve Illinois’ triple-B credit ratings, which are two notches above junk and the lowest among U.S. states. Without a budget agreement, Illinois risks falling into junk, where the pool of investors willing or able to purchase its debt is much smaller, he added.
Miller said contagion from Illinois’ shaky credit standing has spread to other municipal bond issuers in the state, resulting in an extra $930 million in annual debt service paid statewide. […]
Records from S&P, Moody’s, and Fitch Ratings dating back about half a century or more show no states rated junk.
* Related…
* Illinois Issues: Fiscal Fantasy
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