* I figure there will be several of these, so I opened up a new thread. Our first is from attorney general candidate and former vice president of the Chicago Board of Education Jesse Ruiz…
It is unfortunate that it had to come to this, but I believe that Forrest Claypool, the Chief Executive Officer of the Chicago Public Schools, has chosen to do the right thing in resigning his position.
It is time for Chicago to follow the lead of major cities around the country and move to an elected Board of Education. I believe an elected school board will increase transparency and accountability in the leadership of our public school system.
* Chris Kennedy campaign…
Today’s resignation by Forrest Claypool is just another example of how our broken political system is failing our children. Our city and our state have been operating without a moral framework for far too long. The inspector general’s report shows irresponsible and self-serving leadership by Forrest Claypool at the expense of the more than 350,000 students who attend Chicago Public Schools.
Mayor Rahm Emanuel appointed Barbara Byrd-Bennett, a school chief who is in prison, and Forrest Claypool, another school chief who attempted to skirt ethics laws. Emanuel’s track record proves where his loyalties lie: to his peers who benefit from a discriminatory public education system that works to rob our students of opportunity.
We need an elected school board to bring accountability, transparency and trust to the city’s public schools.
* From the Illinois Policy Institute’s news service…
Gov. Bruce Rauner won’t say if he’ll commit to debating his primary opponent before the March 20 Republican Primary.
At a stop in Jacksonville Friday morning, Rauner was asked if he’d commit to debating state Rep. Jeanne Ives, who has filed to run against Rauner in the March 20 Republican primary.
Asked three times in a row if he’d debate Ives, Rauner only laughed and said “what I’m committed to is winning the general election and beating the Chicago machine.”
Ives reacted later Friday.
“It makes sense when he says that he’s not in charge,” Ives said.
Earlier this week, Rauner told reporters he’s not in charge, saying Speaker Michael Madigan’s influence is controlling the state. Rauner said Illinoisans need to have Republicans take back the state House and remove Madigan as speaker.
“[Rauner] also doesn’t understand the issues so no wonder he doesn’t want to debate it because it would be pretty obvious that he hasn’t been in charge for three years,” Ives said. “It’ll be very obvious that I’ve been leading the charge for good government in Springfield even as a state rep.”
Reporter: Gov. Rauner, will you commit to debating your Republican primary opponent?
Gov. Rauner: Um, well, what I’m, um, very excited about is, uh, this election process, we’re gonna get the truth out about what’s going on in Illinois. Illinois has been dominated by Speaker Madigan and his Chicago machine for 35 years. They have spent us into oblivion, they’ve pushed jobs out of this state, they’ve given us the highest property taxes in America, and they’ve given us massive cronyism and patronage. And we need to change the system so that Speaker Madigan and the Chicago is not in charge. I’ve been battling against that machine for three years, we’ve beat ‘em on some critical things, they’ve beat us on some critical things. They blocked term limits so far, but we’ve gotta prevail. They’ve blocked us getting property tax relief on our families, but we’re gonna prevail. Um, and we’re, we’re just never gonna give up or give in. We’ve gotta take on the machine, we’ve gotta have a democracy restored so the government’s working for the people. And we’re gonna win. We’re gonna win this election and we’re gonna beat the machine.
Reporter: Are you gonna agree to a debate with Rep. Ives?
Gov. Rauner: What I’m gonna do is win this general election and beat the Chicago machine.
Reporter: But will you commit to a debate with Rep. Ives? [Rauner and others laugh]
Gov. Rauner: What I’ve committed to is winning the general election and beating the Chicago machine.
* John Cullerton: Governor Rauner not in charge? Tell me something I don’t know: From day one, this governor has left budgeting responsibilities to the legislature and the courts, even though it’s one of the specific constitutional duties that comes with being the state’s top executive. The state’s backlog of past-due bills grew to a record $16 billion because he didn’t manage his administration’s spending. Keep in mind, the three-year Illinois budget impasse ended because lawmakers in both parties grew tired of waiting for the governor to do his job and took it upon ourselves to solve the problems he wouldn’t.
A Republican lawmaker challenged GOP Gov. Bruce Rauner Thursday to prove his claim that the Democratic House speaker improperly influenced an autonomous agency’s decision to cancel a state consulting contract.
Rep. David McSweeney said Rauner made a “really serious charge” when he alleged his political nemesis, Speaker Michael Madigan, pressured the state’s independent monitor to end the $12.5 million contract dealing with Medicaid services.
“I’ve seen no proof. I’d like to see proof, or the governor needs to apologize,” the Barrington Hills Republican said. […]
The chief procurement officer, Ellen Daley, who is appointed by the independent Executive Ethics Commission, found no evidence of that. She nullified the pact on Tuesday, finding it should have been offered to the lowest and best bidder.
Asked if he thought the procurement officer who’d voided the contract was controlled by the speaker, Rauner said he thought Madigan had “heavy influence.”
* Well, guess what? In March of 2015, Gov. Rauner’s chief legal counsel Jason Barclay sent a letter to the Executive Ethics Commission’s executive director Chad Fornoff recommending that Ellen Daley be hired as Chief Procurement Officer, along with two others for top procurement jobs…
Chad, as we discussed, we would like to offer our own recommendations of individuals for the three open CPO spots… We can give these individuals high marks and recommendations, and would like for the newly constituted board on July 1 to have an opportunity to consider them since they will be the ones working with them going forward.
The letter (with some privacy redactions) is here.
* Rep. McSweeney’s react…
Governor Rauner made very serious charges against Ellen Daley on Wednesday when he said that Speaker Madigan has “heavy influence” over Daley in a feeble attempt to take the focus off his Administration’s no bid $12.5 contract with McKinsey that was rightly voided. Now it turns out that Daley was recommended by the Rauner Administration. Governor Rauner needs to immediately apologize to Ellen Daley, members of the General Assembly and most importantly the people of this state for not telling the truth.
* We didn’t get very many responses to yesterday’s question and that may have been because people were at the Third House holiday party. On a side note, congratulations to new Third House Speaker Erin O’Brien!
Anyway, let’s try this again. If you already submitted your nomination yesterday, you don’t need to repost it today…
* Best House Secretary/Admin. Assistant
* Best Senate Secretary/Admin. Assistant
Remember to explain your nominations and please try to nominate in both categories. Thanks.
Charles Thomas: What did the mayor know and when did he know it? When did you brief him on the LaQuan McDonald shooting and what that videotape said?
Garry McCarthy: The shooting I believe happened on a Monday night, so it would’ve been at my Wednesday briefing that we did the shooting review. And after that, I spoke to the mayor and I told him all about it.
Maze Jackson: Did he know about it?
Garry McCarthy: I told him about the shooting and the video a few days afterwards.
Maze Jackson: Did he see the tape?
Garry McCarthy: Now, that, I can’t answer.
Charles Thomas: How did you tell him about the video? Did you tell him that the video did not jive with what the officers on the street said about it?
Garry McCarthy: Well, Charles, you’ve got to realize, I didn’t know that. We didn’t know that at the time because the investigation was underway. I got a high-level briefing from Dave McMartin, who’s the chief who conducted the preliminary investigation. And what I told the mayor was, the officer is going to have a problem explaining what’s going on here. And [Officer Jason Van Dyke] was stripped of his authority.
Authorities said the city’s Independent Police Review Authority opened an investigation into the shooting within hours, and Van Dyke was stripped of his police powers nine days after the shooting.
* Now, some caveats. McCarthy is talking about running for mayor. So, the timing here could possibly be suspect. And as far as I can tell, this is the first time McCarthy has said anything like the story he told this morning. For instance, from a 2016 Tribune story…
In his first public remarks since the Laquan McDonald controversy cost him his job as Chicago police superintendent, Garry McCarthy distanced himself from any responsibility in the handling of the fatal police shooting, saying by law his only role was to strip the officer of his police powers.
During a panel discussion on policing earlier this week at Harvard University, McCarthy said he viewed the video of Officer Jason Van Dyke shooting the black teen 16 times on the day after the Oct. 20, 2014, incident.
“That was the end of my involvement until the Independent Police Review Authority recommended that I take the only disciplinary step that I could take by Illinois state law, which is to strip that officer of his police authority, which I did immediately,” he said Tuesday, according to a recording of his appearance. “After that, I was completely not involved in it.”
As numerous people including myself said yesterday, unless and until Nazis are given protected class status under the state’s public accommodation laws, then this is a ridiculously horrible take.
We reached out to editorial page editor John McCormick, asking about the tweet and whether the Tribune considered taking it down.
McCormick emailed us: “We often receive impassioned responses to editorials, op-eds and other content we share on social media. All of us promote our work to promote conversations. In the editorial, the line excerpted in the tweet acknowledges that it’s hard to understand the First Amendment issue of compelled speech if you don’t share the baker’s beliefs on homosexuality — so let’s try an example you can relate to, something you wouldn’t want to express. The most important word in this three-paragraph passage is the word ‘required.’”
Today, U.S. Senator Dick Durbin and U.S. Senator Tammy Duckworth endorsed JB Pritzker for governor at a campaign event in Chicago. The two endorsements come as support for JB Pritzker continues to grow throughout the state with endorsements from Secretary of State Jesse White, Comptroller Susana Mendoza, Treasurer Mike Frerichs, the Illinois AFL-CIO, and over 30 individual unions.
As the Senior Senator from Illinois, Dick Durbin has served in the U.S. Senate since 1997, and is currently the Democratic Whip. He is a tireless advocate for our state, fighting to strengthen the economy through infrastructure funding and standing up for immigrant families and Dreamers. Senator Tammy Duckworth was first elected to the U.S. Senate in 2016 after representing Illinois’ Eighth Congressional District for two terms. She is an Iraq War Veteran, a purple heart recipient, and one of the first Army women to fly combat missions in Operation Iraqi Freedom. She has been a relentless advocate for working families and Veterans during her time in public service.
“Senator Duckworth and Senator Durbin are fighting for our values every single day,” said JB Pritzker. “But they can’t do it alone. They need all of us. I’ve introduced bold plans to move our state forward and I will continue to do so throughout this campaign and as governor of this state. We’re going to have to unite and turn our energy and ideas into victories. With Senator Durbin and Senator Duckworth on our side, with over 30 individual unions and the 900,000 members of the statewide AFL-CIO, with elected leaders and issue advocates speaking out on behalf of this campaign, and with the support of hundreds of thousands of working families across this state, we are united and ready for the fight.”
“I’m proud to endorse JB Pritzker for governor because he will be a strong partner and an effective leader for our state,” said Senator Durbin. “I’ve spoken with all the Democratic candidates and heard their visions for our state, and JB has emerged as the clear choice for governor. JB has traveled across Illinois, hearing from people in Rockford and Cairo, Macomb and Danville, and everywhere in between. He has thoughtful and comprehensive policy plans on the issues that matter to Illinoisans. He has shown continued support for immigrants and the Dream Act, protecting health care for all, and creating new and good paying jobs in Illinois — all things that will make Illinois stronger.”
“I’m proud to endorse JB because I know he is ready to fight for working families in Springfield,” said Senator Duckworth. “With JB, I know I’ll have a partner in the governor’s office who will work to create good jobs, help give Veterans the support and opportunity they deserve, and make sure every child gets a quality education. JB understands that pitting Illinois communities against each other is no way to govern, and I’m confident he will work for every Illinoisan as governor. I know JB can bring Democrats together to beat Bruce Rauner and win up and down the ticket, across the state.”
I have no particular desire to see former Gov. Rod Blagojevich released early from his 14-year prison sentence. And despite claims about bias by U.S. District Judge James Zagel, as someone who testified in both of Blagojevich’s corruption trials I found Zagel to be consistently fair, objective and reasonable.
Nineteen Illinois politicians signed a letter asking the U.S. Supreme Court to review Blagojevich’s case — and while I don’t see Rod’s fate as an especially valuable use of the court’s time, I do agree that virtually everyone working at high levels of government and politics across the nation could use clearer guidance as to what is legal and what isn’t.
The petitioners argue that the court needs to “distinguish the lawful solicitation and donation of campaign contributions from criminal violations of federal extortion, bribery and fraud laws.”
They have a point. For as long as politicians are allowed to freely solicit money for their political campaigns, there is always going to be an intersection of campaign donations, taxpayer funds and government spending. Giving elected officials, their government staff, their campaign staff and donors abundantly clear rules and guidance can only help reduce corruption, change the social norms around pay-to-play politics (especially in Illinois, where it’s still seen as a cost of doing business), and give the taxpayers far more confidence that the system is corruption-free.
I see this frequently in my work as a venture capitalist. I founded a firm that works with and invests in startups in a variety of regulated industries. My company does business with virtually every state, every major city and the federal government, so I’ve seen how things work pretty much everywhere. Time after time, the entrenched interests our startups are disrupting try to use pay-to-play politics and campaign donations to stifle competition, limit innovation and preserve the status quo.
Pay-to-play politics is a potent threat to innovation, and the lack of clarity about what is allowed and what isn’t only makes things worse.
It’s been one day since the Chicago Tribune and ProPublica Illinois published their investigative story about our rigged property tax system that benefits the well-connected and political insiders at the expense of homeowners, communities of color and working families, and my opponents have yet to join in the call for Cook County Assessor Joe Berrios to resign.
This is a clear signal that a JB Pritzker administration will do nothing more than protect the political establishment while the rest of Illinois residents are left navigating a system that is working against them. Will JB help end the racket and adopt my proposed reforms, including banning elected officials from holding outside jobs as property tax appeals attorneys?
I just don’t see how the government can legally block tax appeals attorneys from holding elected office, but whatever.
* In case you missed it, this is Pritzker’s comment yesterday…
As I’ve stated, we need to reform our flawed and inequitable property tax system. But I’m not here to score political points by attacking other Democrats. That’s what my opponents are doing when we should be focused on defeating Bruce Rauner. The voters will ultimately decide if Mr. Berrios deserves another term.
* From a fundraising e-mail from Illinois Policy Institute CEO John Tillman…
I hope your week is going well. I wanted to reach out and thank you for your support this year. You know that reforming our state government is not for the faint of heart.
Entrenched politicians – like Illinois House Speaker Mike Madigan – have rigged state government to benefit themselves and their special interests.
Uprooting this decades-old system is not easy. But that’s exactly what we’re doing here at the Illinois Policy Institute.
Thanks to your support, here’s what we’ve been able to do this year:
You helped us convince entrenched, bureaucratic politicians to resign. When lawmakers debated a multibillion-dollar tax hike over Independence Day weekend, we connected with more than 40 percent of the state’s population. Tens of thousands of taxpayers called their lawmakers. And as a result, more than 30 state lawmakers have already either resigned their seats or will not be holding on to their seats in the next General Assembly. This is an exodus unlike anything Springfield insiders have ever seen. And most importantly, it’s a sign that power is shifting back to where it belongs: you.
You helped us lead the fight against forced unionization: In just a few months, the U.S. Supreme Court will hear oral arguments for Janus v. AFSCME. Our litigation partner, the Liberty Justice Center, is representing plaintiff Mark Janus. The historic case has the opportunity to provide right to work for every government worker in the nation, freeing millions of people from being forced to pay money to unions.
You helped repeal the Cook County soda tax: This fall, the Cook County Board of Commissioners voted to repeal its penny-per-ounce sweetened beverage tax. Leading up to the vote, our team generated massive support in favor of the repeal. And our policy experts educated the public about the wasteful spending in Cook County government that was being fueled by this regressive tax.
This was a historic victory for millions of Cook County residents. Tax repeals are a rare species in Illinois. And most importantly, this victory proved that even the most powerful machine politicians – including Mike Madigan – are not above the wrath of the voting public, especially when people are given the tools necessary to make their voices heard.
None of this would have been possible without the support of principled Illinoisans like you.
As you think about your year-end giving, will you consider supporting the Illinois Policy Institute? We rely on the support of donors like you to help teach Illinoisans about the policies that affect their everyday lives. When your fellow citizens see the truth, they can’t help but join this movement to take back our state from crony politicians like Mike Madigan.
Bruce Rauner paints Mike Madigan as a villain. How do you see him?
We have two options. There’s the Rauner option, which is a constant personal war with Madigan. And there’s the Pritzker option, which is, “Hey, I’m Madigan’s guy.” Those are both the wrong path for Illinois. I’ve been independent of Madigan, and I’m proud of that. He has been there too long and he’s too powerful. But I also don’t pretend that the problem is a person; the problem is a system.
In October, you were polling at 6 percent. Have you considered dropping out?
I’m not well known across the state. But we’ve been successful raising money. Spending it to get in front of voters—that hasn’t happened yet. In the meantime, the other candidates haven’t taken off. And that creates a striking opportunity for a progressive middle-class candidate.
So you wouldn’t say that J.B. Pritzker has taken off?
I think it’s actually quite shocking. He’s just written his fifth $7 million check [to his campaign], so he’s $35 million deep, and in that poll he’s still stuck in the 30s.
* Thursday, August 24th Rauner administration press release…
General Counsel Dennis Murashko will leave the Administration at the end of August to pursue opportunities in the private sector. As part of the legal team’s succession planning, Kenton Skarin will assume the role of Acting General Counsel to the Governor.
That press release was issued not long after Gov. Rauner told reporters there would be no more major departures.
But Murashko’s departure didn’t happen at the end of August, which would’ve been a week later. It happened the very next day.
Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner’s top attorney – whose end of August departure was announced Thursday – was escorted out of the governor’s office at the Thompson Center in downtown Chicago on Friday [August 25th], according to published reports, nearly a week ahead of his planned exit.
What happened? It’s been the object of much speculation.
But Murashko also authored a memo to the governor raising the question of whether the administration was properly keeping politics out of the office, sources with knowledge of that memo say.
That didn’t turn out to be totally true.
* I obtained a copy of the memo this morning. Click here to read it. It’s addressed to Gov. Rauner and his then-chief of staff Kristina Rasmussen as a response to their request for info on “best practices for interactions between employees of the Office of the Governor (including the Governor) (collectively, ‘Governor’s Office employees’) and members of the Governor’s 2018 reelection campaign.”
I’m told that the governor did not react well to these proposed restrictions, some of which were pretty strict.
I support Representative Ives call for an EOIG investigation of the overall Murashko situation. The EOIG needs to also immediately respond to the press report about an existing or closed potential investigation of Murashko alleging that he “abused the powers of his office.”
*** UPDATE 3 *** From the governor’s office…
You appear to have an internal document prepared for internal use — one of dozens of legal memos prepared to provide advice to the office on various topics.
As to Mr. Murashko, he resigned from our office. (see attached.)
“Bruce Rauner fired a senior advisor, spent months trying to hide the Murashko memo, and he refuses to answer any questions on the subject,” said Pritzker campaign spokeswoman Jordan Abudayyeh. “As questions about potential ethics violations mount, it is time for Bruce Rauner to come clean to voters about why Dennis Murashko was fired.”
* I’ve been working on a couple of interesting stories this morning and am completely distracted. Keep it Illinois-centric and be nice to each other, please. Thanks.
Today, Crisis Creatin’ Rauner is wrapping up RAUNER TOP FIVE, a five-day series highlighting the lasting damage, misplaced priorities, and embarrassing stumbles that led Bruce Rauner to be crowned: ‘The Worst Republican Governor in America.’
Social service agencies were hit the hardest throughout Bruce Rauner’s manufactured budget crisis. Without state funds, services were cut, hours were reduced, staff were fired, and some agencies were forced to close altogether. While a budget was finally passed by the legislature over the #WorstGov’s vetoes, social service agencies are still reeling and trying to rebuild to their pre-crisis capacity.
“Bruce Rauner decimated social services in Illinois, all so the failed governor could gain leverage to force his special interest agenda on our state,” said Pritzker campaign spokeswoman Jordan Abudayyeh. “It will take years to restore services that help Illinoisans build better lives after the damage done by ‘The Worst Republican Governor in America.’”
* ILGOP…
“J.B. Pritzker is willing to throw the middle class and those in low-income neighborhoods under the bus just so he doesn’t make Joe Berrios and Mike Madigan angry. His statement yesterday is a sad response to a scathing report indicting the corruption at the highest levels in Cook County. The next time J.B. Pritzker says he’s working to help the middle class, no one should believe him.” - Illinois Republican Party Spokesman Aaron DeGroot
In response to yesterday’s troubling report from the Chicago Tribune and ProPublica Illinois about Joe Berrios’ and Mike Madigan’s property tax racket, J.B. Pritzker clearly stated where he stands. Instead of standing up to a corrupt Chicago machine that has been caught shifting taxes from the wealthy to the poor in a scheme that’s been called out for its “institutional racism,” Pritzker stood with them. Pritzker is willing to let Mike Madigan make millions off the backs of the poor, so long as Madigan continues to support Pritzker’s campaign behind the scenes.
For Pritzker, campaign endorsements and backroom deals with Madigan and his allies are more important than doing what’s right.
* Running way behind this morning, so chew on this one for awhile…
It is ok kids to lie to authorities. Go ahead do it multiple times. Even try to get other people to lie for you. However after you are caught admit it. We will support you. #CPS#ClaypoolLessonPlanpic.twitter.com/zoQlZJik58
Claypool: Lies in an ethics investigation. Berrios: Rigs tax system to favor the wealthy and lawyers Preckwinkle: Relies on regressive soda tax to solve budget crisis. Emanuel: Fails to address police misconduct. How are those Democrat policies working out Chicago voters?#twill
Embattled Chicago Public Schools CEO Forrest Claypool plans to resign Friday, sources familiar with his decision said.
Sources said CPS Chief Education Officer Janice Jackson, who has long been seen as the heir apparent to the district’s top office, is expected to be named as interim CEO.
State Representative Jeanne Ives, who is challenging Governor Bruce Rauner in the Republican gubernatorial primary, made her campaign strategy more clear Thursday. She intends to target the governor on key issues where Rauner has angered conservatives in his own party.
On Thursday morning, she called for the repeal of the Illinois Trust Act, which protects people here illegally from being detained by law enforcement simply because of their immigration status.
Ives has now joined a list of lawmakers as co-sponsor of a bill that was filed in August, two days after Rauner signed the bill into law.
Ives held a news conference Thursday. She was joined by Brian McCann, whose brother, Dennis, was struck and killed by an illegal immigrant who was allegedly driving drunk. After posting bond, the suspect fled.
Again, the basic premise of the Trust Act is to make sure ICE gets judicial warrants before receiving cooperation from local and state law enforcement.
* But a valid point here…
Rauner said he would meet with victims families before signing sanctuary state. Another lie. Another betrayal. He never did.
I am ready to take charge in Springfield for the people and restore the rule of law.
The city of Chicago on Tuesday settled a civil rights case involving an ICE detainee who was arrested during a raid on his home after he was wrongfully identified as a gang member.
Wilmer Catalan-Ramirez, 31, was seriously injured in a March 27 arrest after six U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents entered his Back of the Yards home without a warrant, according to court documents.
Catalan-Ramirez, who lawyers say was never a gang member, was placed in the Chicago Police Department’s “over-inclusive” gang database, which effectively stripped him of any privacy protections under Chicago’s sanctuary city ordinance.
His attorneys filed a lawsuit in May alleging that ICE agents relied on false records to identify Catalan-Ramirez as a gang member when they unlawfully raided his home in March. Prior to being detained by ICE, Catalan-Ramirez had no criminal record in Cook County, records show.
Under terms of the settlement, the city has agreed to modify its records to make clear that Catalan-Ramierz is not a gang member.
The Chicago Public Schools’ inspector general is urging the Chicago Board of Education to fire schools chief Forrest Claypool, a longtime friend of Mayor Rahm Emanuel, for lying during an ethics investigation, sources told the Chicago Sun-Times on Wednesday.
Inspector General Nicholas Schuler recommended Claypool’s firing in a lengthy, still-secret memo he gave to Board of Ed members late Tuesday, the sources said.
In the memo, Schuler reported his findings from a 16-month ethics investigation of CPS’ top attorney that he found Claypool tried to block, according to the sources.
“Forrest made a mistake,” Emanuel said in a written statement Wednesday night. “There’s no question about that, and I take that very seriously. But he was also big enough to stand up, admit his mistake and publicly apologize for it. That says a lot about who Forrest is, and that’s the Forrest I know.
“These are serious allegations, and I know the board is reviewing them with the scrutiny they merit — but Forrest himself has already acknowledged the lapse in judgment and apologized for it. And I think we should all take a deep breath before making snap judgments about a man with a sterling reputation and a sterling record of public service.”
* Press release…
After a 16-month CPS Inspector General’s investigation and news reports of disturbing ethics infractions, Attorney General candidate Jesse Ruiz is calling on Forrest Claypool, the Chief Executive Officer of the Chicago Public Schools, to resign immediately.
“I am calling on Forrest to do the right thing and resign from his post as CEO of Chicago’s Public Schools,” said Ruiz, who served for more than four years as Vice President of the Chicago Board of Education and also served as Interim CEO of Chicago Public Schools. “Repeatedly misleading the Inspector General is unacceptable, especially at a time when trust in our government is at an all-time low. The people of Chicago expect our leaders to always set an example of integrity and not violate the public trust. Forrest has failed this test.
“From day one, I blew the whistle on the conflicts of interest that led to this investigation,” Ruiz added. “At every point, Mr. Claypool has stonewalled the Inspector General’s investigation, and his actions must have consequences. He should resign immediately.”
The CPS investigation has centered on whether Claypool acted improperly in urging the Board of Education to retain a law firm, even though the CPS general counsel’s ongoing financial relationship with the firm violated the school system’s conflict of interest policy.
When CPS ethics officers attempted to intervene, Claypool overruled them. Since then, the CPS Inspector General has repeatedly criticized Claypool for setting up roadblocks to interfere with the ongoing ethics investigation and for making repeated misstatements in interviews with investigators. Claypool has since apologized for those misstatements.
*** UPDATE *** From Forrest Claypool…
“I made a mistake. I can’t put my mind back in that high pressure place–when we were negotiating with the CTU and fighting to keep schools funded and open in the final days of the legislative session. But I look at the facts today and see that I misread the situation, and made mistakes in judgment, and I apologize for this.
“I pursued the goal of keeping schools open with the same single-mindedness with which I pursued every public position I’ve held over nearly 30 years. Like anyone else, I’m embarrassed by my mistakes, but remain proud of how we’ve moved this system forward despite seemingly insurmountable financial hurdles.
“However, let’s be clear about what this situation is and what it isn’t.
“This is not a case of anyone profiting off of CPS; no one in this story gained a dollar. This is not a case of anyone taking anything from children; this is a case of fighting to get more resources for children. In fact, the only ones who profited from this pursuit of justice were our students, who have another $450 million of funding from the state due to the efforts our team.
“To put this in perspective: This situation is about how I zealously tried to get Chicago students their fair share of state education dollars, after years and years racial discrimination, and getting those kids the best possible legal representation.
“While I continue to have a strong disagreement with Mr. Schuler’s interpretation of the Board policy – which I believe was written to prevent profiteering off the schools – I have already acknowledged that in my desire to ensure the best possible legal representation, and keep public attention focused squarely and solely on the civil rights injustice against CPS kids, that I mishandled some matters.
“I have fully acknowledged my mistakes in judgment and apologized. I apologize again today. But I do not regret the passion for justice that led to that mistake. I will always fight hard to ensure that CPS children, regardless of race or income, receive the educations they deserve.
“With apologies for errors I made along the way, I stand proud of the work I’ve done at CPS and throughout my career in service to the City of Chicago, to give its residents better parks, better trains and buses, and, most importantly, the best schools.”
The Trump administration on Wednesday asked the Supreme Court to overrule a 40-year-old precedent that allows compelling public employees to pay some fees to unions that represent them, an important tool for the U.S. labor movement.
It was another dramatic reversal in a high-profile case before the high court, and at least the third time since President Trump’s inauguration that the Justice Department has renounced its past positions, some held for decades.
It puts the administration squarely on the side of conservative legal activists, who have complained for years that the requirement violates the free-speech rights of those who don’t want to join the union or pay fees to it.
The Supreme Court precedent the administration wants to overturn says that unions may charge all employees for the cost of collective bargaining, but not for the union’s political activities. About 20 states allow that practice.
After the Trump administration announced their support of an anti-union Supreme Court case spearheaded by Bruce Rauner, Janus v. AFSCME, JB Pritzker released the following statement:
“Donald Trump endorsed Bruce Rauner’s lawsuit to obliterate unions and hurt working families across our state and country,” said JB Pritzker. “After failed attempts to force his special interest agenda on Illinois, Rauner is partnering with Trump to roll back worker’s rights on a national scale. This case could threaten the mere existence of public sector unions, and there is too much at stake for working families to have their governor and president working against them. As governor, I will always stand with the labor movement and fight these attempts to hurt working families.”
Nothing from the other Democratic candidates as of yet for any statewide office, including AG. Kinda surprising, but Pritzker has the staff to stay on top of this stuff
An inevitable candidate. Accusations of a rigged primary. Early commitments from organized labor.
The Illinois Democratic primary for governor sounds a lot like Hillary Clinton’s 2016 presidential primary campaign — which didn’t end up well for the party.
Opponents of billionaire J.B. Pritzker, the front-runner for the Democratic nomination in Illinois, are now using the Clinton example in an effort to level the field, warning that the party risks blowing a prime opportunity to knock off a vulnerable Republican governor by repeating the same mistakes it made in 2016.
Evoking Sen. Bernie Sanders, Pritzker’s top competitors — Chris Kennedy, the son of the late Robert F. Kennedy, and state Sen. Daniel Biss, a Harvard-educated mathematician — say they’ve been elbowed out at every turn by party insiders. They say the Democratic establishment in one of the nation’s biggest blue states has greased the skids for an untested candidate, simply because he has bottomless pockets.
Illinois Democrats are so mesmerized by Pritzker’s unlimited cash pile, and so presumptuous that he will win because of it, Biss says, that few are asking the most basic question: can one wealthy businessman, Pritzker, defeat another wealthy businessman, Gov. Bruce Rauner, in a general election?
C’mon, Daniel. Few are asking? Every professional political type has asked that question about Pritzker. That’s their number one question: Can this guy Pritzker beat Rauner? Getting that man out of office is what they care about.
They didn’t just mindlessly follow the money. Hey, the money’s good, for sure. Pritzker’s cash allows everyone to concentrate on “important” stuff like Madigan’s House races. But all that is for naught if Rauner wins.
* While I do not doubt that Madigan is discouraging people from contributing to Kennedy, Chris’ family has so far given their own flesh and blood less than Biss’ family has given him. Despite his vast powers, and he has many, Madigan cannot control the entire Kennedy clan. They need to step up here.
Also, one of Kennedy’s top advisors is Treasurer Michael Frerichs’ chief deputy. Frerichs recently endorsed Pritzker. Frerichs is no Madigan pawn.
* And this whole idea of comparing Pritzker-2018 to Clinton-2016 is a bit much. Clinton started the primary with enormous advantages (including party support), but she also began with lots of serious baggage that everybody knew about. Pritzker started out as a virtual unknown outside Chicago.
Besides, Clinton went on to win the national popular vote and Illinois has no electoral college. She also won Illinois by 17 points.
It’s just not a great comparison. More like grasping at straws. Plus, if you wanna bring Hillary Clinton into the topic, you also need to bring in Bernie Sanders. If Pritzker is Hillary, who is Bernie? Despite their claims to the mantle, neither Biss nor Kennedy has managed to fire up vast numbers of party members to lead a Bernie-esque insurgency. Maybe that will happen before March. But it certainly is not in evidence today. Bernie raised a ton of money from every-day people to effectively counter Hillary’s big bucks from special interests, unions and the wealthy. These two guys, not so much.
* What I’d really like to see is polling, or research or other info showing Kennedy or Biss doing significantly better against Rauner next year than Pritzker, or Pritzker doing so much worse that he could actually lose the race. The last numbers I heard months ago (Dem and GOP polling) had Pritzker beating Rauner something like 52-38. But, whatever, it’s way early. That can change. Tell me how.
Until then, it’s all just a bunch of posturing, whiny words.
Chris Kennedy, Democratic candidate for Governor, called on Joe Berrios to step down from his position as Cook County Assessor following another Chicago Tribune investigative piece on how the Cook County property tax assessment system is rigged against Cook County taxpayers. Kennedy released the following statement:
“The property tax racket run by Joe Berrios and political insiders needs to end and it needs to end today. Berrios has used the property tax system that is defunding our public schools, defunding our social safety net, and defunding efforts to end gun violence as means to keep the political machine in power and enrich the entitled, politically connected few at everyone else’s expense. We will never change the status quo and restore opportunity to our state as long as political insiders like Joe Berrios remain in office.
We can no longer rely on the traditional democratic process because Berrios uses his position as the Cook County Democratic Party Chairman to intimidate anyone who opposes this property tax racket. And, we cannot trust the state party to step in and fix a broken property tax system, as the state Democratic Party Chairman is a property tax appeals lawyer whose personal finances are dependent on the status quo.
All of this means the voters get sidelined and the machine and the status quo system back a wealthy self-funding candidate who will continue to support the racket with impunity. We need radical change and we need it today. Because, if we don’t move away from property taxes and reform the broken system, we won’t embrace a progressive tax. If we don’t embrace a progressive income tax, we will never fund schools properly or restore community safety or rid our cities and towns of the scourge of violence. If we don’t fund schools properly, we will never educate our kids to be economically self-sufficient.
Keeping leaders like Joe Berrios in office puts the very future of our state and our country at risk. We need integrity in our institutions and we need accountability from our elected politicians. We have people in in the city, the county and in Springfield doing their jobs who’ve suffered no consequence for failing to live up to their responsibilities. That ends now.
Joe Berrios should step down and if he won’t, the voters should remove him from office this March.”
*** UPDATE 1 *** From the Joe Berrios campaign…
We strongly advise Chris Kennedy to focus on his failing campaign instead of throwing temper tantrums while claiming as “unfair” the system he has directly benefited from.
In 2016 and 2017, Kennedy appealed the assessed value of his property at Wolf Point. He has also appealed on his residence. In fact, going back decades and starting with the Merchandise Mart, the Kennedy family has used the appeal system to receive many reductions in assessed value.
If Kennedy truly feels the system is “unfair,” I call on him to return to taxpayers the millions of dollars in tax savings resulting from those reductions.
We find it hypocritical that Kennedy remains silent about James Houlihan, the previous assessor whose mismanagement of the office and violations of Cook County policies resulted in a major lawsuit against the County which has dragged on for years. Houlihan is now a key advisor to candidate Kennedy.
Assessor Berrios has focused on improving the assessment system he inherited by making it fair and equitable for every Cook County resident. He is providing all information, data and other cooperation requested in the County’s review of the property assessment system being conducted by the Civic Consulting Alliance.
*** UPDATE 2 *** Biss campaign…
“Chris Kennedy is biting the hand that fed him in asking Joe Berrios to resign, and he misses the point entirely,” said Biss campaign manager Abby Witt. “The problem is larger than any single person in one elected office. It’s that the wealthy and well-connected have benefitted from a rigged system they created decades ago to avoid paying their fair share in property taxes. And now our schools and social services, and the people who rely on them are struggling.
“Instead of spouting empty threats, there are two real solutions this problem. The first is to pass legislation, like the HOME Act, which Daniel Biss introduced this summer that fixes Illinois’ broken property tax valuation, assessment, and appeals system. The second is to let voters pick someone else on election day.
*** UPDATE 3 *** Oppo dump hurled over the transom…
KENNEDY ACCEPTED $10,000 FROM FORMER ASSESSOR JAMES HOULIHAN, WHO KNOWINGLY SENT OUT INACCURATE PROPERTY VALUATIONS & UNDER-ASSESSED COMMERCIAL PROPERTIES ACCORDING TO A TRIBUNE REPORT
James Houlihan Donated $10,000 To Kennedy For Illinois. [Kennedy for Illinois Q3 D2, Illinois State Board Of Elections, filed 10/16/17]
James Houlihan, Who Donated $10,000 To Kennedy, Was Cook County Assessor From 1997 To 2010. “James Houlihan – Assessor From: 1997-2010.” [Cook County Assessor’s Office, 10/16/17]
As Cook County Assessor, James Houlihan Knowingly Sent Out Inaccurate Property Valuations. “As assessor, James Houlihan knowingly sent out inaccurate property valuations. The future consequences could be costly… For more than a decade, the Cook County assessor’s office hid a secret inside the massive computer programs used to calculate property tax assessments for single-family homes. It didn’t look like much — just a few snippets of code amid thousands of lines — but it created erroneous valuations for homes throughout the county, affecting the tax bills sent to more than 1 million residential property owners every year. What the code did was deceptively simple: It decreased every estimated home value in the county by about 40 percent, a troubling practice that ignored legal requirements set out in county ordinances. The artificially low values threw the property tax system so far out of whack that it may have violated provisions of the state constitution. But, shrouded by an opaque and convoluted assessment system, these widespread inaccuracies were invisible to the average homeowner. The Tribune already has revealed how the county’s assessment system under Joseph Berrios has been riddled with errors that punished the poor while providing breaks to the wealthy. Now the investigation shows that the assessor’s office knowingly produced inaccurate property assessments during the long tenure of his predecessor, James Houlihan, and even as far back as the 1980s. Houlihan removed the snippets of code in 2009, a year before he left office.” [Chicago Tribune, 6/10/17]
The Chicago Tribune Reported That Houlihan Knowingly Under assessed Commercial Properties While Assessor. “When Houlihan took charge of the assessor’s office in 1997, those with deep knowledge of the property tax system would have understood that the ongoing drastic undervaluation of residential homes left the county vulnerable to legal challenges. One way to fix that problem would have been to raise residential assessments to legal levels. But that would have increased many people’s taxes, and that is not what Houlihan chose to do. Instead, records show, the assessor’s office left the residential level where it was — at 10 percent — and began taking measures that reduced the levels for commercial and industrial properties. Over the next decade, the median commercial and industrial assessment levels in Cook County fell by more than a third. In 2007, the median level for commercial property was about 17 percent — less than half of what it was supposed to be, according to state studies. Internal studies unearthed in the O’Keefe lawsuits show the assessor’s office knew about the low valuations. One report, titled ‘The Effects of the Decline in Commercial Assessment,’ detailed a significant drop in commercial assessment levels between 2003 and 2004. [Chicago Tribune, 6/10/17]
PROPERTY TAX LAWYER TULLY HAS GIVEN TO CHRIS KENNEDY; THAT LAW FIRM HANDLED KENNEDY’S APPEALS & HEAD TOM TULLY IS A FORMER ASSESSOR
3/23/17: Mathew Tully, An Attorney At Tully & Associates, Donated $1,000 To Kennedy For Illinois. [Kennedy for Illinois Q2, Illinois State Board of Elections, filed 7/17/17]
Chris Kennedy Used Tully & Associates, A Firm That Has Donated At Least $60,000 To Property Tax Officials, To Appeal The Assessment On His Home And One Of The Buildings He Was Developing. “But even as Kennedy took to social media and forums to complain about a “rigged system,” he was actively pursuing a second property tax appeal of his own — asking for a 20 percent reduction for his personal home in the Chicago suburb of Kenilworth… It was penned by Kennedy’s attorneys, Tully & Associates, a firm has donated at least $60,000 to members of the board that considers such requests. The firm also represented Kennedy and business partners when they won a nearly 63 percent reduction in one of the buildings under development, according to Crain’s Chicago.” [Politico, 7/25/17]
Chris Kennedy Used The Law Firm Of Former Cook County Assessor Tom Tully. “Kennedy and associates appealed, using the law firm of former Cook County Assessor Tom Tully, and the final value ended up being set at $5.109 million, a cut of almost 63 percent.” [Crain’s Chicago Business, 5/23/17]
CHRIS KENNEDY WAS STILL APPEALING HIS PROPERTY TAXES UNTIL IT BECAME A POLITICAL ISSUE, THEN QUIETLY WITHDREW HIS REQUEST
Chris Kennedy Was Pursuing A Second Appeal Of His Property Assessment Until A Story On Opponent Pritzker’s Property Taxes Broke, After Which Kennedy Quietly Withdrew His Appeal. “But even as Kennedy took to social media and forums to complain about a ‘rigged system,’ he was actively pursuing a second property tax appeal of his own — asking for a 20 percent reduction for his personal home in the Chicago suburb of Kenilworth. Kennedy then quietly withdrew his appeal request, according to a letter obtained by POLITICO, seven days after a story surfaced that was critical of property tax reductions won by his chief primary opponent, billionaire J.B. Pritzker.” [Politico, 7/25/17]
As I’ve stated, we need to reform our flawed and inequitable property tax system. But I’m not here to score political points by attacking other Democrats. That’s what my opponents are doing when we should be focused on defeating Bruce Rauner. The voters will ultimately decide if Mr. Berrios deserves another term.
* The 2017 Golden Horseshoe Award for Best Political Tavern goes to DH Brown’s…
Where former statehouse legends, sitting legislators, and legislative staff from both parties swap war stories over too many beers and a few bowls of popcorn. For decades Brown’s has been a rite of passage for Springfield political types. This place oozes with character and maintains a genuine dive bar feel that can only be achieved through its decades of history.
Dem event in the back with a Rep event in the front…at the same time. And all walks of life mingling in between.
* The 2017 Golden Horseshoe Award for Best Political Restaurant goes to an establishment far outside the “sandbox,” Alexander’s Steakhouse…
Maybe it’s just me, but it seems to have become the place in the last two sessions. Good food, good, fast service
Honorable mention: Rep. Kelly Cassidy’s apartment.
* On to today’s categories…
* Best House Secretary/Admin. Assistant
* Best Senate Secretary/Admin. Assistant
Remember to keep in mind that this is about the intensity of the nominations, not the number of nominations, so make sure to fully explain your votes. And, please, nominate in both categories. Thanks.
Not to mention the entire premise triggers Godwin’s Law. So, the Tribune automatically loses the argument right away. And, man, take a look at their ratio. Whew. Gonna be a long, brutal day at the ivory tower.
* Also…
Respectfully, this analogy won’t end well for you. First it ignores that LGBT folks are a protected class and Nazi’s, for good reason, are not. Second, should an avowed segregationist have to serve me at a lunch counter? There are grounds to object to this, but boy, it ain’t this
A lawyer for House Minority Leader Jim Durkin (R-Western Springs) has threatened Local Government Information Services, which owns this publication, via two cease and desist letters after reporters asked questions about the legislator.
Professor Jane E. Kirtley, the Silha professor of media ethics and law at the School of Journalism and Mass Communication at the University of Minnesota, said such tactics are not uncommon and are aimed at suppressing unwanted media attention.
“I am very troubled when public officials – who know that they would have to prove ‘actual malice’ (knowledge of falsity or reckless disregard for the truth) to prevail – attempt to dissuade journalists from following legitimate news stories by threatening them with libel suits,” Kirtley said. “It’s a technique used to intimidate and as a form of damage control.”
While Kirtley said it is possible to defame a party by merely asking a question, the burden of proof is very high and in such cases cease and desist letters are almost always scare tactics meant to intimidate reporters into halting inquiries.
“It is virtually impossible in the U.S. to get an injunction against a libelous publication, it is not at all unusual for potential plaintiffs to ask their lawyers to send threatening letters to discourage journalists from pursuing a story,” Kirtley said.
DuPage County-based trial attorney Patrick Walsh sent the first of the two cease and desist letters after Prairie State Wire reached out to legislators regarding rumors that Durkin earlier this year pursued a capital bill as part of a fundraising strategy.
A freelance reporter for Prairie State Wire sent emails to several state legislators asking them a series of questions regarding Durkin’s leadership, including the following question:
“What do you make of the accusation that Durkin tried to trade political clout for campaign funding?”
The inquiry was prompted due to previously unreported, anonymous rumors in the state Capitol that Durkin may have attempted to trade influence over a capital projects funding bill for campaign funds.
The second cease and desist letter was sent on Nov. 30 after a West Cook News freelance reporter asked Durkin’s communications staff to respond to allegations that Durkin had tried to set up a meeting between the owner of a proposed Cook County adult night club and the mayor of Broadview.
So, essentially what happened here is the two cease and desist letters allowed the paper to publish the rumors.
Chris @KennedyforIL joined @GovRauner in hammering @JBPritzker for his family trusts today on the @BennyJShow: "If there's a history of tax cheating, that's a disqualifier for public service."
We are celebrating one year of the Future Energy Jobs Act. As the Trump administration works to roll back environmental protections, Illinois is in a safer, stronger place thanks to the leadership of advocates who championed FEJA. We need to continue that leadership. #FEJAWeek
You're right. We must end this scourge. My bill requiring doctors to check the prescription monitoring program database before writing an opioid prescription is on your desk, ready for you to sign. https://t.co/eCXJW4XukI
The assessor’s office encourages property owners to file an appeal if they are dissatisfied with an assessment. In cases where officials did not change a property’s initial estimate from one reassessment to the next, the vast majority of the owners appealed, government records show.
Seventy-four percent of those owners won reductions from the assessor — only to see the values snap right back to the same number in the next reassessment.
“There is no rationale for having no change in these initial valuations,” said Richard Almy, former executive director of the International Association of Assessing Officers. “Especially if the assessor later agreed to a reduction; there’s no earthly reason for them to go back to the same value.”
The repetitive process feeds a property tax appeal industry that provides the bulk of Berrios’ campaign contributions. Inaccurate assessments also help drive business to political allies who are property tax attorneys, including Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan, the longest-serving state house speaker in U.S. history, and Alderman Edward Burke, the longtime chair of the Chicago City Council’s finance committee.
The office’s deputy assessor for communications, Tom Shaer, did not explain why thousands of first-pass values were identical over multiple reassessments under Berrios. The other findings from ProPublica Illinois and the Tribune are misleading, he said, and do not “do justice to the complexity” of Cook County’s assessment system.
“The study includes five years of the real estate crash,” Shaer wrote in an emailed response. “The crash played havoc with figures in certain industry measures used for this story, making them unreliable when evaluating the assessor’s work.”
A ProPublica Illinois-Chicago Tribune analysis of appeals data from the Cook County assessor’s office found that the firm of Madigan & Getzendanner dominates the market for commercial and industrial appeals in Cook County. Between 2011 and 2016, the firm filed appeals on properties that were initially assessed at nearly $8.6 billion. That is nearly $1 billion more than the second-place firm, Crane and Norcross.
A ProPublica Illinois-Chicago Tribune analysis of appeals data found that Berrios granted appeals for more than 34,000 commercial and industrial parcels in the 2012 Chicago reassessment and for about the same number again in 2015.
By contrast, former Assessor Houlihan approved only 17,596 appeals in 2009 — and that was the largest number since at least 2003.
Under Berrios, the analysis found, more than 70 percent of all commercial and industrial appeals filed with the assessor’s office resulted in reductions between 2011 and 2015, compared with 48 percent during the previous five-year period.
Every property tax assessment system requires an appeal process to ensure fairness and accuracy, and many jurisdictions across the country saw an uptick in appeals following the financial crisis, experts said. But the number of appeals in Cook County is extraordinarily high, far exceeding the total in New York, for example.
These appeals support an industry that provides more than half of Berrios’ campaign funds.
The most common test of accuracy is the coefficient of dispersion, or COD. It is, essentially, an error rate. For income-producing properties, the International Association of Assessing Officers sets the acceptable level of COD at 20. That means assessments are off by an average of 20 percent.
Under Berrios, the scores for commercial and industrial first-pass valuations have been as high as 133, ProPublica Illinois and the Tribune found. Though experts often allow complex jurisdictions like Cook County some leeway, they said those results are unacceptable.
The errors also have a bias. With lower-priced commercial and industrial properties, the assessor’s estimates tend to come in too high. At higher price points, assessments are often too low.
Known as regressivity, this pattern means the property tax system is unfair to people who own lower-value properties. Those taxpayers end up paying more, relative to the value of their property, than others do.
…Adding… ILGOP…
“The corruption from Joe Berrios and Mike Madigan is absolutely disgusting. For years, they have taken money from middle class families and small businesses to help line their own pockets, all the while propping up their political careers. If you want to know why Illinois has serious problems, look no further than Joe Berrios and Mike Madigan and their shameful practices of robbing hard-working Illinoisans to make themselves richer.” - Illinois Republican Party Spokesman Aaron DeGroot
…Adding… Press release…
Following is a statement from Fritz Kaegi, the progressive Democrat challenging incumbent Cook County Assessor Joe Berrios in the March 2018 primary election, in response to today’s Chicago Tribune/ProPublica investigative report on the corrupt practices of the current Assessor’s Office.
“The Chicago Tribune and ProPublica report again proves beyond a shadow of a doubt that Assessor Joe Berrios has systematically and intentionally used his office to benefit the rich, powerful and politically connected, and has forced the Cook County residents who can least afford it to pay for the web of corruption in the form of massively inflated property tax bills.
“His brazen violation of the public trust is a disgrace, and the residents of Cook County are rightfully outraged.”
“As Assessor, I’ll get valuations right the first time. I’ll implement valuation models that are more uniform and that reflect current market conditions. I’ll be transparent in how valuations are reached. I’ll make available data and valuation standards to third parties, and hire a qualified, diverse workforce free from nepotism and favoritism. I will not accept donations from property tax appeals lawyers as a candidate or as assessor, and I am committed to the immediate separation of political influence from the assessment process.”
…Adding… Another press release…
Earlier this week, J.B. Pritzker was challenged on reporting relatively little income despite his $3.4 billion net worth. Given the Pritzker family history of avoiding taxes in offshore trusts, Pritzker’s multiple responses were vague at best.
Today, two of Pritzker’s chief backers, Speaker Mike Madigan and Cook County Assessor Joe Berrios, are the subject of a Chicago Tribune story investigating the corrupt racket surrounding property tax assessments.
From the Tribune report:
“The repetitive process feeds a property tax appeal industry that provides the bulk of Berrios’ campaign contributions. Inaccurate assessments also help drive business to political allies who are property tax attorneys, including Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan.”
Pritzker has been intimately involved with this racket, securing a $230,000 tax break from Berrios on his Gold Coast mansion after having the toilets disconnected from a neighboring property so that it would be declared uninhabitable.
Between Pritzker’s history of gaming the tax system, his undisclosed offshore interests, and now today’s revelations surrounding Berrios and Madigan, how can Illinoisans trust another corrupt insider?
While the average percentage of female candidates for 2018 State House and Senate Primary Elections is just 36%, female representation differs drastically depending on chamber and political party.
For example, female participation in Primary Election races for the Illinois House of Representatives will reach a new high in 2018, at 41% of all candidates. This is the highest percentage of female candidates to run for these seats in the last three election cycles.
State Senate races, however, have seen mixed results in terms of female candidates in Primary Elections. For this election cycle, only 30% of the candidates for these seats are women. This represents a six point decrease from 2016.
The percentage of women running in Democratic Primary Elections in 2018 is more than twice the percentage of women running in Republican Primary Elections for General Assembly offices. Female Democratic Primary Election candidates make up 52% of State House races, and 41% of State Senate races. Only 25% of State House and 16% of State Senate candidates in Republican Primary Elections are women.
This gender gap between parties has been fairly consistent in Illinois. Since 2012, there was only one year in which a higher percentage of women ran in Republican Primary Elections for State House or State Senate than in Democratic Primary Elections.
This trend may help explain the overall decline in 2018 Primary Election Senate seats contested by women. The Senate seats up for election in 2018 are disproportionately Republican-held, resulting in a higher number of Republicans running for those seats, and leaving fewer women running for the Senate overall.
The only increase came from female participation in the races for the House of Representatives and the race for lieutenant governor—where three women are competing for the spot.
Sarah Brune, Executive Director for the Illinois Campaign for Political Reform, says women candidates often face more hurdles than their male counterparts. “There may be more people interested or activated to get involved in politics, but being a candidate for office is nothing easy or simple—it’s difficult,” she says, “and it requires a lot of time … money and resources.”
Brune says the rising costs of campaigns in Illinois might also prevent female candidates from running. “Our elections in Illinois are becoming more and more expensive, and in some ways that makes them more and more exclusionary,” she says.
Medical payments per workers’ compensation claim in Illinois grew 3.1 percent per year on average from 2012 through 2015, according to a recent study by the Workers Compensation Research Institute (WCRI).
In all, medical payments per workers’ compensation claim were higher in Illinois than the median for the states included in the study.
The study, CompScope™ Medical Benchmarks for Illinois, 18th Edition, examined medical payments, prices, and utilization in Illinois compared with 17 other states.
“Recent public policy discussions in Illinois have focused on reducing workers’ compensation costs and making the state more attractive to businesses,” said Ramona Tanabe, WCRI’s executive vice president and counsel. “Among the areas of interest are causation of the injury, medical fee schedules, insurance premiums, and permanent partial disability benefits.”
The following are among the study’s other findings:
* Physical medicine was a key driver of higher-than-typical medical utilization, accounting for more visits per claim and services per visit in Illinois than in other states studied.
* Payments per claim for surgery (professional services) and facility payments to ambulatory surgery centers were higher in Illinois than in other study states.
* Prices paid for professional (nonhospital) services were lower than typical for evaluation and management (office visits), but higher for other services. These results were related to fee schedules.
WCRI studied medical payments, prices, and utilization in 18 states, including Illinois, looking at claim experience through 2016 on injuries that occurred mainly from 2010 to 2015. WCRI’s CompScope™ Medical Benchmarks studies compare payments from state to state and across time.
More info is here. The other states looked at were: Arkansas, California, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Texas, Virginia, and Wisconsin.
An Illinois official has canceled a $12 million contract she says should have been offered to the highest bidder by Gov. Bruce Rauner’s administration.
Chief Procurement Officer Ellen Daley decreed Tuesday that the Illinois Department of Healthcare and Family Services should have bid the contract with McKinsey & Co.
Gov. Rauner on Wednesday blamed House Speaker Michael Madigan for the cancellation of a $12.5 million state contract with management consulting company McKinsey & Co. […]
Ironically, the cancellation was made possible by new guidelines for how the state buys and sells services that Rauner signed into law earlier this year. The new law was one of the few items on Rauner’s original “turnaround agenda” that lawmakers granted him, though he said Wednesday that it hadn’t gone far enough.
“Procurement in Illinois is broken, it has been broken and it is still broken,” Rauner said when asked to explain what went wrong with the McKinsey contract. “We did pass a modest procurement reform bill. Didn’t go nearly far enough. It probably fixed about a third or a quarter of the problem.”
Then he pivoted to Madigan, saying the speaker “has resisted because he controls a lot of the procurement people through his patronage operation. He likes the current procurement system. That’s how he gets some of his political power that we have to defeat.”
Asked if he thought the procurement officer who’d voided the contract was controlled by the speaker, Rauner said he thought Madigan had “heavy influence.”
Oh, please. The no-bid contract was supposed to be about “anticipation of litigation” for the Department of Healthcare and Family Services. But as you can see if you click here, the CPO pointed out that lots of the actual contract had nothing to do with “anticipation of litigation.”
You can’t just blame Madigan for literally everything under the sun. I mean, yeah, he deserves blame for a lot, but this? C’mon, man. Daley has been CPO since July of 2015. Before that, she did procurement work for CMS and CPS.
The Illinois state comptroller has halted payment on a second contract that Gov. Bruce Rauner’s administration signed last year because it’s similar to one a state regulator invalidated.
Comptroller Susana Mendoza notified the Department of Healthcare and Family Services Wednesday that she would not pay a $12.5 million contract with consultant McKinsey & Co. for Medicaid-program assistance. […]
Mendoza’s letter adds that there will be no further payments on $12.9 million contract with McKinsey signed last year because of its similarities to the one canceled. Mendoza spokesman Abdon Pallasch said the state has paid $6 million on that deal.
A Republican lawmaker is challenging Gov. Bruce Rauner over a claim that the Democratic House speaker influenced the cancellation of a $12.5 million no-bid contract the administration signed.
Barrington Hills GOP Rep. David McSweeney says Republican Rauner must provide proof or apologize.
Democratic primary front-runner J.B. Pritzker on Wednesday fired back at accusations from Gov. Bruce Rauner that the candidate has avoided paying taxes on his $3 billion fortune by sheltering funds in offshore accounts.
“It’s laughable that Bruce Rauner is complaining about my taxes,” Pritzker said after a Democratic gubernatorial candidates’ forum at the historic Second Presbyterian Church on the South Side. “I released way more information than Bruce Rauner has, and it’s important to recognize that unlike Bruce Rauner, who, yeah, he paid taxes, but you know how he made his money? By cutting jobs. By buying companies and firing people.”
“So if he wants to have this battle, let’s have at it: Where I’m a job creator, he’s a job destroyer,” Pritzker said.
“I think there’s a massive tax avoidance scheme and you can just see by what we do know,” Rauner said Wednesday. “We know that Pritzker, in order to save some real estate taxes in Chicago, ripped toilets out of a building so he could claim that it’s worthless,” he said, referring to a Chicago Sun-Times investigation that found Pritzker saved $230,000 in property tax breaks last year by leaving his Gold Coast mansion in disrepair.
“So with that kind of behavior, you can only imagine what he would do to hide taxes or avoid taxes on hundreds of millions or maybe billions of dollars,” Rauner said. […]
“Any trusts for my benefit that are offshore, I have received no distributions from, and those trusts are only providing charitable contributions,” Pritzker said Wednesday. “That’s all that they do.”
* Meanwhile…
Today, the JB for Governor campaign released a new video, “Not In Charge,” highlighting Bruce Rauner’s shallow attempts to evade responsibility and excuse away his failures as governor.
After causing a 736-day budget crisis, failing to protect Illinois children by mismanaging DCFS, and sneaking a $13 million no-bid consulting contract into a secret Medicaid deal, Bruce Rauner has decided he’s actually “not in charge” of the state he was elected to lead.
“From manufacturing a 736-day budget crisis to gross neglect of DCFS and shirking procurement law with a secret Medicaid deal, this administration is facing fires left and right and Bruce Rauner is fanning the flames,” said Pritzker campaign spokeswoman Jordan Abudayyeh. “Illinoisans deserve answers from their failed governor and Rauner claiming he’s ‘not in charge’ while wiping his hands of responsibility is not going to cut it.”
