* But he doesn’t propose an alternative. From the Kennedy campaign…
This morning, the Kennedy campaign released the following video message from Chris Kennedy, addressing voters about our broken property tax system. He is inviting voters to share their stories about how relying on property taxes to fund education has affected local schools.
Many of us received a property tax bill recently, and if you opened it, and you read it, you’re probably angry.
If you’re not angry you’re at least confused.
The whole system is designed to keep you that way. In fact, the document that you’ve received makes it very difficult to figure out what the county is assessing your home at. They use a number that’s a “discounted number.” They show you a 10 percent number, they don’t show you the full number and so you think you’re getting a deal and don’t complain.
That’s the way they’ve designed the system, to keep people in the dark. The rich and connected, they hire lawyers and lobbyists to go in and have private meetings in the assessor’s office to change the value of those properties even before the number is ever published.
And because they pay less, we pay more. But worse than that, is because they pay less, our kids get less.
I know how this system works and I’m going to fix it.
In Illinois, we fund our local schools with property taxes. The reason we keep funding our schools this way, though everybody in the legislature knows that this is not the right thing to do, the reason we do it, is because it’s a corruptible system. It’s a way for the insiders to effect the valuation of all the properties in our state.
Because of this racket, the schools are constantly underfunded. That’s why a lot of the schools don’t have a library. They don’t have recess on a playground. They don’t have a computer lab.
We need to move away from the property tax system and have our state pay its fair share of everybody’s local schools.
We’re going to need a mandate for such change and that’s where you come in.
I’d like to hear your story, how your school is impacted.
Let’s shine a little daylight on it. Let’s tell our stories and then let’s confront the government and make a change.
Keep in mind, however, that Kennedy got a $10,000 reduction in the assessed valuation of his own home.
* Related…
* Kennedy-led company used Madigan’s firm for property tax refunds: Madigan & Getzendanner won more than $133,000 in property tax refunds for at least one property owned by Merchandise Mart Properties, Inc., or MMPI, according to two checks the Cook County Treasurer’s Office sent out in 2009. Kennedy served as the president of MMPI from 2000 to 2011. Both checks indicate property tax refunds paid to the order of “Merchandise Mart Prop c/o Madigan Getzendanner.” The first refund of $60,884.17 was for tax year 2003. The second refund of $72,460.08 was for tax year 2005. The checks were sent to the office of Madigan & Getzendanner at 30 N. LaSalle St.
With an expected deficit nearing $6 billion at the June 30 end of the fiscal year and the pile of past-due bills ending the week at $14.4 billion, few people believe the state can dig its way out without new revenue. The plans call for a 32 percent increase in the personal income tax rate, from 3.75 percent to 4.95 percent, for seven years. Senate Democrats say that would produce $5 billion more each year when the accompanying corporate tax hike is included.
An expanded sales tax would produce about $150 million. For the first time, the 6.25 percent sales tax would be applied to repair and maintenance; landscaping; laundry and dry cleaning; storage units; cable, satellite and streaming services; pest control; private detectives, alarm and security services; and personal care.
The recession significantly changed the way the state handles its budgeting, said Jak Tichenor, interim director at the Paul Simon Public Policy Institute at Southern Illinois University at Carbondale.
Before then, a majority of spending was related to federal mandates such as Medicaid, making for a fairly predictable budget process. State lawmakers negotiated over discretionary spending such as K-12 and higher education funding, but Tichenor said they would enter those negotiations knowing state revenue was stable.
“But if you go back to 2008 to the great recession, and state revenues just went off a cliff,” he said. “You had appropriation committee chairs at the Capitol looking at balance sheets and saying, ‘Well I’m trying to fund a $32 billion budget, and I only have $24 (billion) to $25 billion in income.’
“And that’s where you started to see the real allocation of pain and scarcity instead of budget making as we traditionally did it.”
And when it comes to economic development, it’s hard to overstate the importance of a strong higher education system as a must-have asset for attracting and retaining business. Yet, Illinois’ budget impasse has slashed our higher education system, from community colleges — often on the front lines of workforce development training — to the state’s premier universities, which ought to be catalysts for research and technological development.
Rauner has voiced good ideas in the past about the potential for universities to coordinate on focused tech R&D efforts — but the state has to step up and provide support for that to happen.
Which brings us back, again, to the budget.
It can’t be stated strongly enough: Business owners need to know what they’ll pay in taxes. They need to know how the state plans to invest in infrastructure and other programs. They need to have confidence that state government is able to fulfill its most basic duties.
Many steps are needed to nurture Illinois’ economic development strategies. But passing a budget needs to be the first one.
As Austin Berg of the Illinois Policy Institute points out, state lawmakers have cheered a day off and made time to discuss their basketball and softball teams. Weeks have passed since any of the public hearings or committee working sessions were held that would signal true progress toward any budget, much less a balanced budget, much much less a balanced budget without a massive tax hike.
“My sense is this is probably a last-minute attempt to create a distraction and derail the senators who seem to be making progress and coming close to an agreement,” Rauner said.
Lawmakers are gone May 31. With them goes the fantasy of a budget and starting to fix anything in Illinois.
We have the nation’s highest tax burden at 15 percent of our income. Even with that, we are $14.5 billion behind in our immediate bills and $130 billion in the hole for state pensions. Social services are crumbling, universities are losing students and faculty and 148,000 millennials moved out of Illinois just as they are entering their prime working and taxpaying years.
Springfield doesn’t care to see the current damage, much less the bleak future in which fewer aging workers pay even more than 15 percent. They just see 2018. They just see their campaign calculations.
If something does get out of the Senate, Rauner finally would have a chance to box out Madigan. But the wily House speaker rarely gets boxed out, and though Emanuel could apply pressure to go along with a Senate deal, there are lots of other scenarios that could play out.
That means it’s decision time, folks. Sometime in the next few days, either the big budget deal will come together or it will finally and completely collapse. At which point the question will be whether to pass another underfunded stopgap budget like last year, inviting Wall Street’s wrath, or just say no and block schools from opening in August and September, as Rauner has said he’ll do without his property tax freeze.
Will anyone in Springfield meet the challenge and avoid catastrophe or calamity or whatever else you’d call this collective failure to govern? One can hope. But it’s very, very late.
In a story in today’s paper, Kent Redfield, a professor emeritus of political science at the University of Illinois at Springfield, said, “If we have no movement until after the 2018 elections, I think it would be a certainty some universities would not open that fall. I think Eastern, Western, Northeastern, and Chicago State are all the top of the list. The Carbondale situation is pretty tenuous as well.”
Is that alarming enough for the folks in Springfield? We hope so.
That’s no way to get the state on better grounds. In order for Illinois to get back to what it once was, the people who live here have to stay here.
And it would all start with funding SIUC and the rest of our public universities. And, don’t forget freezing the state’s sky-high property taxes, but that’s a story for another day.
Earlier this month, State Sen. Paul Schimpf said he’s been given “assurances” that lawmakers will vote by the end of May to get funding to universities on way or another. “Obviously, we would prefer a full budget, but if we have to do this incrementally then certainly a lifeline would be appreciated,” he said then.
Today, on day 691 without an Illinois budget, the JB Pritzker for Governor campaign launched “Crisis Creatin’ Rauner.” This multimedia campaign will highlight the budget crisis of Bruce Rauner’s own making and the families, schools, and social service agencies that continue to pay the price.
The campaign kicks off with the launch of CrisisCreatinRauner.com, a website with a count up clock that tracks the 691 days and counting without a state budget. The website also highlights the new twitter feed, @RaunersCrisis, which will track and report on Bruce Rauner’s daily devastation on Illinois.
In 2015, Bruce Rauner made it clear that creating a crisis in our state was his goal. As some may recall:
“Crisis creates opportunity. Crisis creates leverage to change … and we’ve got to use that leverage of the crisis to force structural change.”
- Bruce Rauner, 4/6/15
In his own words, Bruce Rauner describes what has been clear all along: Illinois’ budget crisis—a record 691 days long—is no accident. Rauner wanted a crisis and so a crisis he made. In the past few weeks alone, Rauner put his staggering recklessness on full display as he:
Hiked Illinois’ unpaid bills $1 billion overnight, bringing total state debt to a record $14.3 billion.
Accepted $20 million from Trump supporter Ken Griffin, who is bent on destroying public schools as our education system continues to suffer.
Lost the support of business leaders and bondholders who are fed up with Rauner’s economic devastation.
Remained silent as Donald Trump tried to strip healthcare from over a million Illinoisans.
Spread fake news to a politically linked outlet to prevent compromise on school funding reform.
“It’s been 691 days without a state budget and one thing is clear: this is a crisis of Bruce Rauner’s own creatin’ and Illinois families continue to pay the price,” said Pritzker campaign communications director Galia Slayen. “Rauner didn’t mince words when he presented his plan to create a crisis and force his agenda on Illinois – so neither will we. Bruce Rauner is a failed governor who is wreaking havoc on Illinois, decimating the economy, holding schools hostage, and leaving the most vulnerable communities behind. Stay tuned in the coming days and weeks as ‘Crisis Creatin’ Rauner’ holds BruceRauner accountable.”
Not a whole lot there yet. I mean, it’s basically just the above press release, which you kinda have to hunt for.
* Meanwhile, from Sam Hobert on the Pawar campaign…
Hey Rich -
Busy weekend for Pawar on the trail. Wanted to send a quick recap your way.
Covered 900+ miles in 36 hours on the road this weekend. Chicago to Springfield to Cairo to Carbondale to E. St. Louis and back to Chicago (Anybody have a plane we can borrow?). As you know, these visits are part of Pawar’s One Illinois tour, announced last week, to speak to the common inequalities communities face around the state, address the intersection of race/class/ and automation, and work to unite people around a new deal that invests in people and public institutions once again. Quick highlights below. Video recaps online here.
Cairo - Ald. Pawar met with Mayor Coleman to discuss the need for port authority funding, the shrinking revenue base that’s threatening to halt city services this fall, and the crises at the public housing authority.
Carbondale - Visits to Southern Illinois University to talk about how the budget crises is destroying the university, the region’s dominant economic engine, Shawnee National Forest - to highlight one of Illinois’s many state treasures, and a well-attended meet & greet. Highly recommend the bison burger at Carbondale’s Fat Patties when you’re down there next.
East St. Louis - Ald. Pawar’s second trip to East St. Louis (First in April). Local teachers hosted an outdoor meet & greet in a downtown park that was well attended. Pawar spoke about the need for state government to reinvest in communities like E. St. Louis to reverse decades of disinvestment and the budget crises, close loopholes that allow chemical corporations to skirt E. St. Louis taxes, combat institutional racism and reform Illinois’s criminal justice system.
In the coming months, Pawar will be taking the One Illinois tour to Sauk Village, Harvard, Kankakee, Charleston, Jacksonville, Macomb, and Galesburg to continue to address the economic inequities that exist as a result of decades of disinvestment.
* Fritz Kaegi writes in Crain’s about how Illinois could learn from California, particularly since Gov. Rauner often invokes Silicon Valley as a model for jump-starting this state…
• Healthy universities are crucial. Stanford University Dean Fred Terman is acknowledged as the father of Silicon Valley. He brought in research funds, gathered leading academic talent, and encouraged professors to engage in business. In Illinois, the last two years of unreliable state university funding have driven out professors and applicants. High school counselors advise Illinoisans look elsewhere, driving record application levels in neighboring states. Smaller state universities face a negative spiral of lower applications, higher tuition, and credit downgrades.
• Noncompete clauses in employment contracts hurt talent acquisition and retention. In California, firms cannot limit employees’ freedom to work at competitors, giving it a leg up on the states that enforce noncompetition agreements. In Illinois, workers can be forced to the sidelines for years before they can compete with their former employers, reducing mobility and entrepreneurship. Facebook’s Mark Zuckerburg would have never been able to immediately hire Sheryl Sandberg and her team from Google in 2008 if they were based in Illinois. Illinois should extend the path-breaking Illinois Freedom to Work Act sponsored by Senators Patricia Van Pelt and Jacqueline Collins, which banned noncompetes for low-wage workers, to all Illinoisans.
• Business needs to embrace the new. In California, defying large corporations is part of the entrepreneurial ethic. We need more of that here. Too many are wary of stepping on the toes of grandees, whose deference has not been earned. All but two of the top 50 publicly traded Illinois companies, as measured by market capitalization, were founded more than 25 years ago (well done, salvage part vendor LKQ and trailer park operator Equity LifeStyle!). Only 13 of the 100 members of the Civic Committee of the Commercial Club are founders of their respective companies, and 11 of these are financial companies. Meanwhile, Google, Facebook, Netflix, Salesforce and Tesla—all less than 20 years old—are now worth more than all Illinois public companies combined. Instead of getting policy ideas from executives who climbed the corporate ladder at companies created by others long ago, maybe we should listen to different people?
California has plenty of problems and we have many homegrown strengths. But we can learn from the example of its governor, Brown, who never badmouthed his own state even when fiscal times were tough and led his state to fiscal stability and entrepreneurial growth.
* Not only does Gov. Rauner often badmouth his own state, he at times seems to be cheerleading the exit from Illinois…
IL property taxes are the highest in the nation and hurt our hard working families. We need to provide them real property tax relief. pic.twitter.com/CtddBabWxt
Not mentioned, of course, is that Indiana also has local income taxes.
…Adding… From comments…
Not mentioned, of course, is that Bruce Rauner supports taxing those home repairs.
Not mentioned, of course, is that Bruce Rauner’s cuts to higher education mean it will cost you more to attend college in Illinois.
Not mentioned, of course, is that you might use the $2,500 to pay off debt, but the state’s debt is more than $130 billion and climbing faster under Bruce Rauner.
Businessman Chris Kennedy became the first big name Democrat to announce his candidacy for governor in February — but he has yet to report some traditional campaign expenditures, including payments for well-known consultants, rented office space, campaign T-shirts and stickers and travel expenses.
Kennedy, the son of the late Robert F. Kennedy, announced his candidacy via a video sent to supporters and he reiterated in an email this week that he’s running his campaign for voters, not for “political insiders.” That was in response to reports that the Democratic establishment is instead rounding up early support for J.B. Pritzker instead.
But while Kennedy announced his run on Feb. 8, he didn’t make expenditures until March 28 — nearly seven weeks later, according to his quarterly report filed with the state Board of Elections on April 17. The filing reports expenditures, contributions and debts and obligations through March 31.
Political insiders have criticized Kennedy for his long history of flirting with running for various offices without ever actually taking the plunge. But his campaign staff dismissed any speculation that his light spending reports signal a lack of commitment to the campaign, insisting, “Chris is in this race to stay.”
Kennedy campaign officials say a complete list of expenditures will be detailed on the next quarterly report, which isn’t due until July 15.
“The campaign paid the bills when they were due and any further questions you have will be answered on the next quarterly report,” Kennedy spokesman Mark Bergman said.
A rival Democratic campaign was pushing this narrative a few weeks ago. Kennedy’s not reporting expenditures, so that must mean he’s either shady or he’s not serious about running.
But, as I said above, the story is missing two words: “Mike” and “Kasper.”
Kasper is the attorney for Kennedy’s campaign fund. He is kinda infamous for taking full advantage of a state law (that he probably wrote) which doesn’t require reporting campaign contributions until after they’re deposited and expenditures until after they are invoiced/paid, and then timing those deposits and expenditures to the benefit of the campaign committee. Remember the minor uproar last year when the group opposing the remap reform constitutional amendment didn’t report contributions even though some labor unions reported making them? That was Kasper’s doing.
Gambling expansion was approved in the Senate last week. It was sponsored by Democratic Sen. Terry Link of Waukegan, although a couple of Republicans support it.
A provision in the bill cuts taxes on casinos. Sen. Dale Righter, R-Mattoon, said the reduction will cost the state $280 million. Not so, replied Link, who said the cut will give casinos an incentive to expand their operations, which will actually generate more casino taxes.
So ponder for a moment: A Republican is expressing opposition to a tax cut, and a Democrat is touting a tax cut as a way to actually generate more taxes.
“I love the supply-side rhetoric,” Righter said.
Sigh.
* Meanwhile, a late push for a Springfield casino is being made. From the proponent…
A 1,200 position casino near the Old State Capitol will generate major economic benefits
· Drawing tourists visiting the Lincoln Museum and historic sites to spend at local businesses
· Estimated $150 million to $175 million in adjusted gross revenue, with a significant local share
· Those local dollars can invest in:
* New buildings and existing building renovations for city school District 186
* Much-needed renovations at the Illinois State Fairgrounds
* Supporting the Prairie Capital Convention Center, affordable housing and more attractive entryways to the city
* Downtown infrastructure needs
The guy who came up with the idea, Chris Stone, appeared on Rick Pearson’s WGN Radio program yesterday. Click here to listen.
Stone came up with the idea too late to get it into the gaming expansion bill that passed the Senate (again) last week.
At a time when Illinois is sitting on $14.3 billion in unpaid bills, it’s dismaying to learn that the state rented a warehouse for $2.4 million that it could have bought outright for $750,000.
Yes, $2.4 million is a drop in the bucket when it comes to state spending, but such wastefulness begs the question of how well — or, rather, how poorly — the rest of our tax money is being spent. And it’s a miserable sales pitch for an income tax hike that both Democrats and Republics know is coming sooner or later.
Two suburban Chicago legislators — state Sen. Tom Cullerton, D-Villa Park, and state Rep. David McSweeney, R-Barrington Hills — have called for an Illinois Legislative Audit Commission investigation into the warehouse’s five-year lease.
This being Illinois, home to sweetheart deals, the leasing arrangement involves a secretive newly formed corporation with links to a onetime political powerhouse, William Cellini. According to WCIA-TV in Downstate Champaign, three business people in the single-bid lease had ties to Cellini, who was the onetime “king of clout” and friend of many governors before he was convicted in 2011 of trying to shake down a movie producer for Rod Blagojevich campaign cash. Those with ties to Cellini include the leasing agent, one of the three warehouse owners and the chairman of the Procurement Policy Board, which signed off on the deal. […]
Mike Hoffman, director of the Illinois Department of Central Management Services told the Springfield Journal-Register the lease was in accordance with the state’s standard approval process.
Which just means the state’s standard approval process is a joke.
Democratic state Controller Susana Mendoza has stopped payments for the building’s lease, at best a temporary move if this deal passes legal muster. Further, some Democrats seeking to score political points are trying to wrap the deal around Gov. Bruce Rauner’s neck. It’s hard to imagine he played any role in making the deal.
But Rauner’s office can play a key role in reviewing the matter and mandating a change of approach. If this is the way state bureaucrats think business should be done, they need to be set straight.
McSweeney’s point about digitization also deserves scrutiny. How much paper is the state storing and at what cost? Is there an opportunity here to reduce the cost of doing business?
The big issue, of course, is how the deal went down. Is this the case of a group of sharp businessmen legally taking advantage of disinterested bureaucrats foolishly doing business the way it’s always been done. Or were other influences in play?
* Chicago Tribune editorial board and Illinois Policy Institute…
* As Mark Brown notes, there is little doubt that the cost of the CCP program is becoming unwieldy…
Driving the debate is that enrollment of seniors in the state’s Community Care Program jumped from 40,965 enrollees in 2005 to 83,787 in 2015.
When coupled with projections the population of Illinois residents age 60 or older will more than double by 2030, there’s even some agreement the cost of the current program is unsustainable.
If Rauner had a better track record on social service issues, instead of using the poor and sick as pawns in his political battles, it might be easier to give him some leeway to try it his way.
As it is, there’s not much reason to trust him.
Organizations that provide homemaker services are some of the same groups struggling to stay in business during the budget impasse because the state owes them millions of dollars.
And not coincidentally, most of the home care workers who would be directly affected by the cutbacks are members of SEIU Healthcare, one of the unions Rauner especially despises for its Democratic political activism.
According to [Jerry Kruse, dean of SIU’s School of Medicine], the percentage of his school’s grads who choose to complete residencies in Illinois has plummeted to 21 percent this year—the lowest in school history. The share has decreased 9 percentage points each year since 2014. For decades before that, the percentage of SIU’s roughly 70 annual med school graduates who stayed always hovered between 40 and 45 percent.
Meanwhile, across the four campuses of U of I’s College of Medicine, which include its flagship on Chicago’s West Side, just 28 percent of this year’s graduates are staying in Illinois for their residencies. That’s down from nearly 37 percent last year.
Dimitri Azar, the school’s dean, isn’t ready to say that it’s more than a blip. U of I’s trend line hasn’t gone straight down, as SIU’s has. The percentage of U of I grads who remained in Illinois for their training was 33 in 2015, 41 in 2014 and nearly 34 in 2013. Furthermore, Azar says, students choose their destinations primarily based on the quality of the program, not the quality of the state’s finances.
Kruse, however, ties the exodus directly to the budget fight between Gov. Bruce Rauner and Democrats who control the General Assembly. “Nothing has changed much over this period except the budget impasse and the atmosphere it’s created,” Kruse says. “Young doctors read about it in the papers every day and suddenly there’s a fair amount of uncertainty about the future.” Illinois has not had a permanent budget since January 2015.
Regardless, private medical schools in the area—which don’t rely on state funding—aren’t seeing the same declines. At Loyola University’s Stritch School of Medicine, the share of 2017 grads staying in Illinois is 39 percent; it was 40 percent last year and 39 percent in 2015. And at Northwestern’s Feinberg School of Medicine, the percentage of new grads who will complete residencies in Illinois reached a five-year high of 44 percent this year.
Democratic governor candidate J.B. Pritzker is making a $1 million deposit in a black-owned bank in Chicago, taking a page from Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner’s playbook.
The issue led to back-and-forth attacks from the two campaigns centered on failures of financial institutions Rauner and the Pritzker family have been involved with in their careers.
Pritzker’s planned deposit, like Rauner’s three years ago in a South Side credit union, carries the goal of generating support from black voters.
Pritzker’s campaign tried to draw a distinction between the two men’s actions: the Democrat’s money pledge was only announced on a Chicago radio show, while Rauner’s visit to the credit union was a major campaign event.
The two sides then exchanged barbs much like they’ve been doing on this blog for weeks.
* The Pritzker campaign’s initial release…
Bruce Rauner told Illinois communities that he would fight for them, but then he got elected and left Illinoisans behind. Rauner has stood with his special interest friends to decimate our state’s economy as our most vulnerable communities pay the price. Unlike Bruce Rauner, Illinois communities can count on JB to stand with them as governor because that’s what he’s done his entire career. JB will ensure Illinoisans have a seat at the table as he works to grow jobs, support small businesses, expand access to capital, and bring investment directly into black and brown communities.
* The Rauner campaign’s response…
It’s a drop in the bucket compared to the millions Pritzker made peddling subprime mortgages loans to minority communities, while costing the taxpayers $300 million and ordinary depositors their savings.
In December 2001, the Pritzker family and its business partner agreed to pay $460 million to the U.S. over the bank’s failure and a decade later got a discount on remaining payments of the 15-year settlement by agreeing with regulators to pay off the balance early, Bloomberg News reported in May 2013.
* The Pritzker campaign shot back…
Bruce Rauner is desperate to distract from the fact that throughout his business career and his time as governor, working families have paid the price for his failures. At HomeBanc, Bruce Rauner profited off of predatory loans, preying on the dreams of working families. He then drove the company into the ground, firing approximately 1,100 people, but making sure his CEO got a nearly $5 million golden parachute. Rauner’s distraction tactics won’t change the fact that he has yet to pass a constitutionally required budget for our state.
The new ad focuses on HomeBanc Mortgage Corp., which filed for bankruptcy in 2007. A narrator contends the bankruptcy came after Rauner “took millions out of” the firm, noted HomeBanc’s CEO got a $5 million “bonus” and 1,100 employees who lost their jobs “got a $20 gift card.”
The equity firm Rauner formerly chaired, GTCR, partnered in 2000 to create HomeBanc Mortgage. While GTCR once held a majority stake in the firm, it reduced its holdings after a public stock offering, selling the last of its shares in September 2006, Security and Exchange Commission records show.
GTCR’s actions came just months before the sudden financial unraveling of the mortgage company in 2007 led first to the January firing of CEO Patrick Flood, followed by an August bankruptcy filing. But GTCR had no board members on the mortgage firm involved in its management since 2005, prior to Flood’s firing and severance, and the bankruptcy filing. Records show Rauner was not a board member of HomeBanc in the lead up to its public offering in 2004.
Democrats have been privately grumbling for a while now that Gov. Bruce Rauner isn’t truly interested in good faith negotiations on a balanced budget with economic reforms to end the two and a half year Statehouse stalemate.
But Senate President John Cullerton spent days and days negotiating the details of a four-year property tax freeze with Rauner, only to have his spokesman tell me last week that he hadn’t acceded to Rauner’s demand for a four-year freeze.
Look, in this business, you only negotiate on a bill you flatly oppose if you’re trying to run out the clock. Otherwise, you just kill it. And because of this, people in the governor’s office are saying they don’t think that Cullerton really wants a deal.
Rauner moved off his demand for a five-year freeze to a four-year freeze. The two men then discussed side issues, like the timeline and the process for locally opting out of the freeze or for making it permanent.
The governor wanted a statewide vote, Cullerton wanted local votes. Cullerton appeared to prevail. But Rauner would only agree to limited exemptions from the freeze, bond payments being one of them. Cullerton wanted more exemptions, pension payments being one of those.
Then last week, Cullerton attempted to move legislation with identical language to Senate Republican Leader Christine Radogno’s original property tax freeze bill she introduced way back in January. It failed because it required a three-fifths vote to freeze taxes on local home rule governments.
Cullerton said afterward that he may strip out the home rule provision and run it again — which would, of course, mean that the city of Chicago would be exempt.
Without a property tax freeze amenable to the governor, I just don’t know how this impasse gets resolved.
Illinois has some of the highest property taxes in the country. So, if the negotiations fall apart, the Senate Democrats’ refusal to pass a “real” freeze will be a political gift for Gov. Rauner.
The issue also comes neatly wrapped in the governor’s favorite bow: House Speaker Michael Madigan.
The House speaker is, of course, a property tax appeals lawyer. Rauner said the other day for the umpteenth time that Madigan’s legal work was a clear case of conflict of interest and is evidence of how corrupt the state is. Senate President Cullerton has also done some property tax appeals work, so Rauner can easily lump Cullerton in with Madigan on the conflict of interest/corruption stuff.
And Rauner urged the Senate Democrats last week to resist Madigan, who he claimed had sent his special interests to the chamber in an attempt to kill the grand bargain.
And then there was last week’s biggest political new. Billionaire Democratic gubernatorial candidate JB Pritzker was thrashed in the media for obtaining huge property tax assessment rebates and reductions for an empty and “uninhabitable” mansion next door to his own Chicago palace.
The mansion apparently became even more legally uninhabitable after Pritzker had the house’s toilets uninstalled. That was clearly the work of a too clever by half property tax attorney, who Pritzker may want to think about throwing under the nearest bus if this publicity gets any worse.
And, despite firm denials, it’s pretty clear that Madigan is backing Pritzker, which makes this all the better for Rauner.
Even a child could frame this issue for Rauner. You take a universally and intensely unpopular property tax system, combine it with the state’s most wildly unpopular politician (Madigan) and use all that to blame the Senate Democrats for killing the grand bargain and, in the process, throw lots more mud on their “frontrunner” candidate.
It’s the worst possible hill the Democrats could choose to die on. Yes, the Senate president has legitimate policy concerns about the property tax freeze. But this is a political no-brainer.
The best idea I heard last week was to take this issue away from Rauner and Cullerton and allow senators on both sides of the aisle to negotiate it. Doing that very thing seemed to help move the revenue/budget talks and workers’ compensation reform forward, even though they’re not wrapped up as I write this.
If, as the Republicans privately contend, Cullerton’s goal is to deprive Rauner of a clear “win” on a property tax freeze, then nothing will work. The one thing we do know is that taking the issue away from Rauner and Cullerton couldn’t possibly make things worse.
A bill that would make President Barack Obama’s birthday a commemorative holiday passed the House 87-0 on Friday, moving it to the governor’s desk.
The legislation, Senate Bill 55, would make Obama’s birthday, Aug. 4, a commemorative holiday. That’s different from a legal holiday, in which state government offices shut down and schools and businesses have the option of closing.
The bill’s House sponsor, Rep. Marcus C. Evans, Jr., D-Chicago, said the bill wouldn’t cost the state any money and would be a responsible way to celebrate the 44th president’s birthday.
“We want to get one that doesn’t attack our fiscal health considering we still need to work out a budget. This is just another good reason to celebrate, and it’s educational for our children to know what we had,” Evans said. “We may never get another Illinois president in my lifetime. Illinois has Barack Obama and he was passionate about what he believed in.”
* Press release…
Survivors of sexual abuse will no longer have to worry about deadlines to bring their attacker to justice under new legislation that waits for the governor’s signature.
Senate Bill 189, an initiative of Attorney General Lisa Madigan, would eliminate the statute of limitations for certain sex crimes committed against minors. According to many victim advocates, many victims do not come to terms with their assault until after the statute of limitations runs out.
State Senator Scott Bennett (D-Champaign), the legislation’s sponsor, drew on his past experience has an assistant state’s attorney in Champaign County when advocating for the new law.
“Survivors of these heinous crimes should be able to come forward when they are ready to seek justice without arbitrary deadlines preventing them,” Bennett said. “I urge the governor to sign this beacon of hope for survivors as soon as it arrives at his desk.”
Scott Cross, brother of former House Minority Leader Tom Cross, worked with Senator Bennett and Attorney General Madigan to pass the legislation. Cross was one of the many victims of disgraced U.S. House Speaker Dennis Hastert.
The legislation passed both chambers without opposition.
In December, this page called on [Auditor General Frank Mautino] to step down from his post until the federal probe is complete. Let the professional accountants in the auditor general’s office run it until his case is resolved.
That was five months ago. Because it appears Mautino has no intention of doing so, today we call on lawmakers to quit looking the other way. They have to file spending reports. They know how how the system is supposed to apply equally to everyone. They should pressure their leadership to put Mautino’s continuation as auditor general up for a vote. A proposal filed by Rep. Grant Wehrli, R-Naperville, to remove Mautino sits in House Speaker Michael Madigan’s Rules Committee.
Madigan can keep protecting his pal Mautino by not calling the resolution for a vote. Or he can quit playing God and allow the House to vote Mautino up or down. Make a case for him or send him packing.
Billionaire Democratic gubernatorial hopeful J.B. Pritzker is making a $1 million deposit in Chicago’s last remaining black-owned bank.
Illinois Service Federal Savings is the beneficiary. Pritzker alluded to the investment earlier this week in an interview on WVON radio without naming the bank, but his campaign confirmed the recipient. […]
“JB has made expanding access to capital for small business and entrepreneurs, and making investments in the communities hardest hit by Bruce Rauner’s failed leadership and manufactured budget crisis a top priority for him as governor,” a spokesman said in an email. […]
Pritzker’s move echoes a similar action by Rauner in 2014 as he challenged then-Gov. Pat Quinn. Rauner deposited $1 million in a South Side credit union as a way of demonstrating the Republican private-equity magnate cared about black communities and winning at least some black votes.
In both cases—Rauner’s and Pritzker’s—the institutions are small, and the sums of money very large.
The Illinois Senate has advanced a measure spearheaded by Senate Republican Leader Christine Radogno that would allow for permanent term limits of all four state legislative leaders.
“This constitutional amendment is a significant step forward in demonstrating to Illinois residents how serious we are about restoring their faith in government,” said Radogno (R-Lemont).
When the 100th General Assembly was sworn in this past January, the Senate adopted its new rules, which for the first time put in place term limits for Senate legislative leaders. As a result, Senate rules limit both the Senate President and Minority Leader to a maximum of five terms (10 years).
The measure advanced Friday, Senate Joint Resolution Constitutional Amendment 2 (SJRCA 2), would permanently create leadership term limits via constitutional amendment by limiting the terms to five General Assemblies (10 years) for the Illinois Speaker of the House, President of the Senate, House Minority Leader and Senate Minority Leader.
If approved by both the Illinois Senate and House with a three-fifths vote, SJRCA 2 would be on the Illinois ballot in November 2018.
The Illinois Supreme Court ruled Thursday the Illinois High School Association, which organizes sports tournaments between high schools, does not have to release internal records.
The Freedom of Information Act, or FOIA, is supposed to make sure anyone can get documents, memos — even emails — from a government body upon request.
But the state Supreme Court unanimously ruled the IHSA is NOT a government body. It wrote the IHSA’s sports events are not something public schools would otherwise be expected to do. […]
The Court wrote that FOIA requests can apply to functions of government — in other words, if governments outsources one of its responsibilities to a private entity, that is subject to FOIA.
“We were happy to see the Supreme Court adopted a much more liberal test for what constitutes a governmental function,” [Matt Topik, who represents the Better Government Association which brought the suit] said.
* Mayor Emanuel laid out his plan today to keep the school doors open. Tribune…
The CPS board will vote on Wednesday to take out a $389 million short-term loan backed by expected state aid payments that have been delayed by the long-running budget impasse, said Carole Brown, the city’s chief financial officer. […]
State block grant payments now are nine months behind schedule. City officials say the state now owes it $467 million, but Brown said the district is only allowed to borrow on 85 percent of that amount.
The new short-term borrowing, which will come at a hefty cost because of the school system’s junk bond rating, will allow the district to make a required June 30 contribution to the Chicago Teachers’ Pension Fund, Brown said.
The fund is owed $721 million. The borrowed money would cover the bulk of that payment, while money coming in later this summer from a first-time pension property tax levy of $250 million will cover the rest. […]
Even if Emanuel’s short-term plan is implemented and carries CPS through the summer, the district would still face a massive shortfall in 2018 absent some new source of revenue or infusion of cash from the state. The mayor is expected to unveil another plan to deal with next year’s finances, one that likely would include a tax hike, according to sources familiar with the mayor’s plans.
The grant money upon which the borrowing will be secured is part of $1.1 billion in state payments Illinois owes to more than 400 school systems. The state has been unable to distribute those grant payments because of the unrelenting budget stalemate.
The mayor’s office said CPS expects to receive its allotment of state grant funds in “coming months.” But Abdon Pallasch, a spokesman for Illinois Comptroller Susana Mendoza, said on Friday his office has no idea when the money will be disbursed.
The comptroller’s office just made last September’s quarterly grant payment in April. So, it’s going to be a while before CPS gets any more of that money.
Attached to the press release was this map, which CPS claims shows “school districts across Illinois that are facing funding challenges because of the state’s delayed payments”…
This spring marks five years since backers of the Route 53 extension allowed themselves to feel a sense of optimism following the release of a Blue Ribbon Advisory Council report which endorsed construction of a four-lane “modern parkway” with a 45-mph maximum speed and a “context sensitive” design. […]
But even without taking sides, it’s fair to say that momentum on the Route 53 project — to use a generic name for what would actually be a Route 53 extension from Long Grove to Grayslake and a Route 120 bypass around Grayslake — is not moving in the direction of seeing the roadway turning its first spade of dirt […]
It’s also fair to observe that, if there is a current void of information regarding any progress toward Route 53 becoming reality, opponents of Route 53 have been filling it with their messaging. Periodic protests and public statements against the whole idea were echoed Tuesday with the release of a report from the consumer-watchdog United States Public Interest Research Group (PIRG), which included Route 53/120 on its third somewhat-annual list of “Highway Boondoggles” around the country.
“Year after year, state and local governments propose billions of dollars’ worth of new and expanded highways that often do little to reduce congestion or address real transportation challenges, while diverting scarce funding from infrastructure repairs and 21st century transportation priorities,” the report states, swinging for the fences.
“These projects, some originally proposed decades ago, double down on the failed transportation strategies of the past while causing harm to local communities and absorbing scarce transportation dollars.”
* Press release…
The Illinois Road and Transportation Builders Association (IRTBA) today launched a major cable, radio, and digital ad campaign supporting the Illinois Route 53 expansion project.
The campaign features IRTBA’s first television advertisement of the year. “Works” highlights the significant benefits the Route 53 expansion project will bring to Lake County.
In addition to reducing congestion and traffic, saving the average commuter 20 hours per month, the Route 53 project will boost the Lake County economy by creating up to 30,000 new full-time jobs without harming the environment.
“The Route 53 project will enhance the quality of life for residents of Lake County by creating new full-time jobs and reducing traffic so residents have more time to spend with their families,” IRTBA President & CEO Michael Sturino said.
* Background for this letter is here. From the Senate Democrats…
May 19, 2017
Maggie Hickey
Executive Inspector General of Illinois
Office of Executive Inspector General, Division of Investigations
Inspector General Hickey:
It has been brought to our attention that records and information from Governor Bruce Rauner’s administration and the Illinois State Board of Education were provided to a political group funded by the governor’s campaign. This is disturbing. The citizens of Illinois deserve honesty and integrity at every level of government.
Please consider this a formal request that your office research and investigate this situation.
If you or your office need additional information or have questions, please contact us.
Sincerely,
State Senator Andy Manar (D-48)
State Senator Toi Hutchinson (D-40)
State Senator Donne Trotter (D-17)
Assistant Majority Leader
State Iris Y. Martinez (D-20)
Assistant Majority Leader
State Senator Michael E. Hastings (D-19)
State Senator Jennifer Bertino-Tarrant (D-49)
* The JB Pritzker campaign stepped in as well…
“It’s despicable that Bruce Rauner and Republicans would resort to leaking fake news in order to slow down progress for our state, and specifically for education,” said Pritzker campaign spokeswoman Galia Slayen. “Students in Illinois shouldn’t be held hostage while Rauner tries to slash important programs and prevent their teachers from making a decent living. Illinois families deserve a governor that works to solve problems, not create them.”
* OK, now, if you click here, you’ll see a pdf of the original story on Dan Proft’s Kankakee Times website.
The state funding cuts wouldn’t take effect immediately. Manar’s bill also includes a temporary “hold harmless” clause that would effectively delay them for two years.
As a Republican pointed out to me a few minutes ago, the ISBE analysis referred to is of SB 231, which was introduced last year. That analysis is available online. Click here and then scroll down to the SB 231 link to see it.
* I just talked to Proft and here are some quotes…
Everything Manar said at that press conference is false. We got no information from the governor’s office. None. Zero.
We got the numbers from Reboot Illinois. We did the story based on the last, best numbers we had.
The real story is that the Senate voted on that bill without any numbers… without knowing the implications of state funding schools… By their own admission, they don’t have the numbers.
*** UPDATE 1 *** At my request, Proft sent me the e-mail chain with Reboot. I redacted all e-mail addresses and phone numbers. Click here.
*** UPDATE 2 *** Press release…
The Rauner Administration released the following statement regarding the Senate Democrats’ false accusations. The following is attributable to spokesperson Eleni Demertzis:
“The Senate Democrats today jumped the shark. One cannot leak something that is on a public web site. Their false and outrageous accusations have been disproven, and they should apologize for manufacturing blatantly false accusations.”
*** UPDATE 3 *** Press release…
State Senator Andy Manar is urging Illinois school superintendents to be aware that misleading figures are being peddled about Senate Bill 1, the school funding plan that passed in the Illinois Senate this week.
Gov. Bruce Rauner’s office this afternoon acknowledged the figures are inaccurate and outdated but stopped short of denouncing them.
“This appears to be a textbook example of fake news. I am disturbed as to how and why this information was put out there and framed as official information from the Rauner administration, clearly with the intent of confusing and misleading people about Senate Bill 1,” said Manar, a Bunker Hill Democrat.
“Senate Democrats have asked the executive inspector general to look into that, but right now I want to make sure school superintendents are aware that outdated information is fraudulently being passed off as up-to-date news about Senate Bill 1.
“Furthermore, I hope Gov. Rauner and Education Secretary Beth Purvis will follow our lead and alert school officials about this misleading information to set the record straight. Anything less makes them complicit in a concerted effort to jeopardize Illinois’ shot at achieving meaningful school funding reform.”
There’s only two weeks left of the Illinois legislative session and there’s still no budget.
A center helping disabled resident says if a budget isn’t passed soon it will have to close its doors. […]
“We can`t foot the bill for the state of Illinois,” said [Northwestern Illinois Center for Independent Living] Executive Director Michele Miller.
The center helps people with disabilities live on their own, like Kay Bryant. […]
With no state budget for the last two years, NICIL has had to come up with ways to save money, from laying off staff to even temporarily closing.
“We`re burnt out all of us are covering three and four jobs just to be able to satisfy the customers,” said Miller.
If a budget isn’t passed soon, the center which serves five counties will need to lay off its remaining staff by July 1st. That would leave it’s 300 clients on their own.
Friday, May 19, 2017 - Posted by Advertising Department
[The following is a paid advertisement.]
HB2774/SB1502 & HB3449 all claim to protect online privacy, but instead they will create expensive and unnecessary new regulations, increase costs to businesses of all sizes and open up consumers to higher risk of identity theft and fraud.
This is why businesses and organizations across our state and the country are strongly opposed to this legislation, including:
• BLUE1647
• Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce
• CompTIA
• Illinois Black Chamber of Commerce
• Illinois Chamber of Commerce
• Illinois Hispanic Chamber of Commerce
• Illinois Restaurant Association
• Internet Association
• Illinois Technology Association
• National Federation of Independent Businesses
• NetChoice
• Southwestern Illinois Employers Association
• TechNet
These bills are wrong for Illinois consumers and businesses – VOTE NO ON HB 2774/SB 1502 & HB 3449
* Posted in order they were received. From the JB Pritzker campaign…
As the fiscal mess of Bruce Rauner’s own making continues to wreck the state’s economy, the Illinois business community and bondholders are turning their backs on him.
Yesterday, a group of the region’s largest employers came out in support of a budget that Rauner opposes. They cited “catastrophe” and “crisis” in their support of a plan that directly contradicts Rauner’s key priorities.
Bondholders are also responding to Rauner’s failed leadership and demanding higher yield for state debt, another Rauner expense that will fall on the backs of Illinois families. This comes after Moody’s warned months ago that our state is at a “do-or-die moment” due to Rauner’s historic budget impasse.
“It’s no surprise that the business community is turning their back on Bruce Rauner as he drives our state’s economy into the ground,” said Pritzker campaign spokeswoman Jordan Abudayyeh. “We’re reaching 700 days without a budget and the Illinois business community and hardworking families across the state have had enough. Illinois deserves a governor who will pass a budget and get our state back on track. The business community knows that Bruce Rauner is not that governor.”
* ILGOP…
In a stunning display of partisanship, Democratic Rep. Robert Martwick – a supporter of billionaire J.B. Pritzker – announced yesterday that he would kill his own bill, HB 2517, that would crack down on the kind of vacancy fraud the billionaire is engaging in to wrongly slash his property tax burden.
After House Minority Leader Jim Durkin signed on to the Vacancy Fraud Act, Capitol Fax reports that Martwick issued a statement saying he would not call the bill, calling the bipartisan backing he received “political gamesmanship”.
Only a Madigan-Pritzker politician would attack bipartisanship.
But it’s clear why Martwick was for cracking down on property tax fraud before he was against it – he’s in Pritzker’s corner and doesn’t want to make Mike Madigan’s new financial muscle mad.
After all, Martwick is hosting a meet and greet with Pritzker days from now.
Click here for a link to Martwick’s June 6th meet and greet announcement.
Who do you think had the better release?
*** UPDATE 1 *** The ILGOP responds to the Pritzker release…
After lying about his “uninhabitable” mansion property tax scam, J.B. Pritzker’s flailing campaign for Governor is trying to change the subject… by doubling down on his support for massive tax increases.
While Pritzker himself refuses to pay his fair share of taxes, he’s pushing for higher taxes on everyday Illinoisans.
First, Pritzker this week came out against a property tax freeze. On Tuesday, the Wednesday Journal of Oak Park reported that at a public forum, “Pritzker said that he opposed a property tax freeze”.
Then, Pritzker’s campaign issued a press release this morning praising a plan that includes taxing retirement income while excluding a property tax freeze.
That’s right, Pritzker’s campaign is praising a proposal that includes a plan to “Tax all federally taxable retirement income” (p. 14).
All of this comes after Pritzker began his campaign by announcing his support for a massive income tax hike behind closed doors to members of the Madigan machine.
Pritzker has now revealed he is for a retirement tax and against a property tax freeze.
*** UPDATE 2 *** From Galia Slayen, communications director for JB Pritzker…
We’re praising business leaders for wising up to Bruce Rauner’s failed leadership. Like Illinois families across this state, they’re not willing to see our most vulnerable communities held hostage to Rauner’s destructive agenda. It’s laughable that the ILGOP is desperately twisting the words of a press release while their governor stumbles towards 700 days without a budget.
*** UPDATE 3 *** We may be at this all day. From the ILGOP…
Given the chance to directly reject a tax on retirement income, the Pritzker campaign tried to change the subject instead.
Pritzker keeps defending a plan to tax retirement income while refusing to freeze property taxes for the middle class.
J.B. Pritzker is an out-of-touch billionaire unwilling to pay his fair share of property taxes, but will hike taxes on everyone else. Illinoisans are seeing right through his scam.
*** UPDATE 4 *** E-mail…
Rich,
My name is Dave Feller. I’m the President of the West Portage Park Neighbor’s Association (WPPNA) a local community group on the Northwest Side. I wanted to correct something that was posted on your blog today. On June 6th 2017, the WPPNA is hosting the FIRST of a series of Meet & Greets with all the candidates for Governor. Rep. Rob Martwick along with other area electeds are co-hosting the event in order to assist with outreach. This is NOT an endorsement session or a political event. As far as I know all the electeds listed on the flyer have not yet made an endorsement in the race.
Rich, our contact info is on the flyer. If the IL GOP would have bothered to reach out to us I would have answered any questions they had. But I guess it’s easier to try to score some cheap political points then it is to get at the truth.
Small wonder Rauner has drawn so much opposition with these type of people running his operation.
Kankakee County schools would be net losers of state funding under a bill that passed the Illinois State Senate Wednesday.
Collectively, the county’s 12 school districts would get $1.15 million per year less from the state’s school funding formula, a two percent decrease from their 2015 funding levels, according to an Illinois State Board of Education analysis obtained by the Kankakee Times.
Both Kankakee County State Senators– Sen. Toi Hutchinson (D-Olympia Fields) and Sen. Donne Trotter (D-Chicago)– voted “yes” on Senate Bill 1, which passed 35-18 with three Senators voting present.
Herscher District 2 (44% decrease), Grant Park District 6 (37% decrease), Manteno District 5 (19% decrease), Bourbonnais District 53 (19% decrease), St George District 258 (17% decrease) and Bradley-Bourbonnais District 307 (16% decrease) would all be losers if Senate Bill 1 is enacted into law.
Kankakee District 111 (+9 percent), St. Anne District 302 (+8 percent), Pembroke District 259 (+7 percent) and Momence District 1 (+4 percent) all stand to receive more state funding from the bill.
Senate Bill 1, sponsored by State Sen. Andy Manar (D-Bunker Hill), includes a $385 million bailout of Chicago Public Schools, which face bankruptcy due to years of deficit spending.
* As I told subscribers earlier today, the ISBE analysis and the resulting newspaper article were based on Amendment 4, which the chamber did not vote on this week. Sponsoring Sen. Andy Manar says the same analysis was distributed at a budget meeting yesterday. [The two analyses were different.] More from Politico…
Proft, the recipient of millions of dollars from Rauner as a political operative, oversees a chain of 20 publications. That had Manar fearing that bad district-specific information would spread across the state.
“No one in Kankakee County will lose a penny,” he said. “Everyone in Kankakee will get more,” under the bill as passed, he said. […]
“This looks a lot like the Rauner administration is leaking fake documents to a politically connected publication to manufacture problems that don’t exist so Republican members can cleanse their ‘no’ votes — and avoid being thrown under the bus by their governor,” Manar charged. […]
“This claim is false, and Manar is just trying to paper over the fact that he just ran a Chicago bailout yesterday,” said Rauner spokeswoman Catherine Kelly. “Rather than making false, wild accusations, they should stop the partisan politics and return to the negotiating table to achieve a bipartisan school funding formula that meets the needs of all students in the state.”
Both amendments contain “hold harmless” language, so Manar is right that the reductions won’t happen.
Proft told me this morning that the piece would be corrected.
*** UPDATE 1 *** More on the government fake news angle…
A Dan Proft "news" story in Kankakee Times spelling out "winners/losers" in @AndyManar school funding bill appears to be pure fiction.
The worst part: SB 1 docs were doctored by Rauner administration, sourced to ISBE, & sent to "news"/donor outlet. Good faith negotiations? https://t.co/HJIqdXLQSk
Senator Andy Manar (D-Bunker Hill) and other Senate Democrats will react this morning to news regarding the release of fraudulent education funding numbers to a Rauner-backed political operation.
When: 11 a.m. Friday, May 19, 2017
Where: State Capitol press briefing room (blue room)
*** UPDATE 4 *** Sen. Manar just said he and his colleagues are sending a letter today to the Executive Inspector General calling for an investigation.
*** UPDATE 5 *** From the SDems…
Manar: It's a violation of the law to manipulate data, send to supporter website. Our plan does not cut any district's funding.
* For whatever reason, Crain’s Chicago Business published my column online early this week. So, we get to talk about it today instead of on Monday..
Back in 2011, private citizen Bruce Rauner was involved with legislation in Springfield to change how public school teachers were evaluated and to curtail the power of the state’s teachers unions. Rauner didn’t care for the outcome, but after months of tedious and often contentious negotiations, the bill passed with just one “no” vote in both chambers.
Rauner wanted to use the legislation, in part, to prevent the Chicago Teachers Union from striking the following year. One important thing to know about Rauner is that he hates the CTU above all else. But a small portion of a subsequent “cleanup” bill allowed the CTU to decide who could vote on a strike.
“This has to be killed,” Rauner wrote in a May 24, 2011, email to the Illinois House Republican leader’s political director. “Every repub has to vote against.”
Three days later, the Senate approved the bill 51-5 and then the House passed it 116-0. The House Republican leader, the target of Rauner’s insistent email, was a chief co-sponsor.
That may give you an inkling of what the General Assembly has been dealing with since Rauner was sworn in as Illinois’ 42nd governor two and a half years ago.
Rauner came into office with the same bluster he displayed in that email. It was his way or the highway. The only difference now is that when he wants something killed, it gets killed. Republicans almost never cross him. One tried, and Rauner spent millions to defeat him in a primary.
After another failed negotiation session to end the long governmental impasse with Rauner and House Speaker Michael Madigan last December, Senate Republican Leader Christine Radogno approached Senate President John Cullerton about devising their own plan, which was eventually called the “grand bargain.”
The e-mail mentioned above is here. Lots of naughty words at that link, so be careful if you’re at work.
* As subscribers know, it’s not all good news in the Senate, but talks continue despite threats by both sides to walk away. Finke…
Illinois Senate negotiators continued to work Thursday on a comprehensive spending and revenue plan, a day after the Senate failed to move along legislation aimed at ending the state’s nearly two-year budget stalemate.
Despite continued pronouncements that Republicans and Democrats in the Senate are close to an agreement on an overall plan, there were no votes on any of the remaining components of the “grand bargain.” That included workers’ compensation changes that Senate President John Cullerton, D-Chicago, said were close enough to agreement that they could get a vote Thursday.
“There is not yet an agreement (on workers’ comp),” said Cullerton spokesman John Patterson. “A workers’ comp reform proposal is going to require support from both sides of the aisle.”
Patterson also said budget teams were continuing to meet to come to agreement on a tax-and-spending plan that can be sent to the House. Both the Senate and House are controlled by the Democrats.
The Illinois Department of Employment Security (IDES) announced [yesterday] that the unemployment rate declined -0.2 percentage points to 4.7 percent in April and nonfarm payrolls decreased by -7,200 jobs over-the-month, based on preliminary data provided by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) and released by IDES. March job growth was revised up to show a decrease of -7,700 jobs rather than the preliminary estimate of -8,900 jobs. April’s monthly payroll drop kept over-the-year job growth well below the national average. Due to payroll declines for both March and April, Illinois remains -25,600 jobs short of reaching its prior peak employment reached in September 2000.
“Illinois did not participate in the nation’s job growth in April,” said IDES Director Jeff Mays. “Furthermore, the decline in the unemployment rate was largely due to a drop in the labor force, not more people working.”
“We continue to see sluggish growth in our economy due to the inability of the legislature to institute common-sense structural changes that would encourage investment in our state,” said Illinois Department of Commerce & Economic Opportunity Director Sean McCarthy. “If we create a business-friendly environment, we will see greater opportunities and more good paying jobs in every community.”
In April, the three industry sectors with the largest gains in employment were: Education and Health Services (+2,600); Manufacturing (+1,900); and Information Services (+1,300). The largest payroll declines were in the following sectors: Trade, Transportation and Utilities (-7,100); Construction (-4,500); and Leisure and Hospitality (-2,400).
Over-the-year, nonfarm payroll employment increased by +22,100 jobs with the largest gains in these industry sectors in April: Education and Health Services (+16,200); Professional and Business Services (+11,600); Financial Activities (+8,700). Industry sectors with the largest over-the-year declines include: Construction (-6,600); Trade, Transportation and Utilities (-6,500); and Manufacturing (-3,600). The +0.4 percent over-the-year gain in Illinois is about one-fourth as strong as the +1.6 percent gain posted by the nation in April.
The state’s unemployment rate is +0.3 percentage points higher than the national unemployment rate reported for April 2017, which decreased to 4.4 percent. The Illinois unemployment rate is down -1.3 percentage points from a year ago when it was 6.0 percent. At 4.7 percent, the Illinois jobless rate stands at its lowest level since March 2007, after having decreased for three consecutive months.
The number of unemployed workers decreased -4.7 percent from the prior month to 307,000, down -21.9 percent over the same month for the prior year. This brings the number of unemployed workers to its lowest level since February 2007.The labor force decreased -0.3 percent over-the-month and declined by -0.7 percent in April over the prior year. The unemployment rate identifies those individuals who are out of work and are seeking employment. An individual who exhausts or is ineligible for benefits is still reflected in the unemployment rate if they actively seek work.
…Adding… Press release…
Illinois continues to lose nearly ten manufacturing employees every day according to the latest dismal jobs report from the Illinois Department of Employment Security (IDES). This report comes on the heels of Butterball’s announcement of their plant closing in Montgomery, Illinois. Greg Baise, CEO and president of the Illinois Manufacturers’ Association, has released the following statement underscoring the importance of enacting a balanced budget with strong economic reforms, especially focused on workers’ compensation policy:
“This jobs report coupled with another business closing its doors in Illinois reinforces the need for action. Since 2009, Illinois has lost more than 1,600 manufacturing jobs while our neighbors have added tens of thousands of new jobs. With 11 days left of session, we hope this announcement injects a heightened sense of urgency to enact a balanced budget imposing fiscal restraint and strong economic reforms, centered on real workers’ compensation changes. Another 600 families are out of work on top of the 10 manufacturing jobs we are losing on a daily basis according to today’s IDES report.”
