Following tonight’s Democratic Forum on NBC 5 Chicago, Citizens for Rauner Communications Director Will Allison released the following statement:
“JB Pritzker’s response to the very first question of tonight’s debate gave voters the answer they need: Pritzker can’t give a clear explanation as to why he was seemingly the only person in Illinois who didn’t know that now-imprisoned Governor Rod Blagojevich was under investigation in 2008.”
- Citizens for Rauner Communications Director Will Allison
Governor Rauner said it best last week: “It shows how pathetic our system is, how broken. Anyone who would use an excuse and say, ‘I did something immoral, unethical, disgusting, and self-dealing, but I didn’t go to jail, so it’s ok.’ Are you kidding me? Are you kidding me?”
At tonight’s Illinois Democratic candidate forum, JB Pritzker made some erroneous statements.
Pritzker claimed to support Barack Obama in 2012.
“I supported Barack Obama in 2012, 2008, and was chosen by him in 2014 to run his early childhood summit.”
But here are the facts:
JB Pritzker went on the trading floor and said that he was considering Republican candidates. Bloomberg News clip, 3/9/12
After Pritzker touted his union support as evidence that he was the best candidate to take on pension reform, Biss said:
“JB was funding the right wing organization that was trying to push for much much more changes to pensions - it was trying to do away with pensions all together and replace them with 401Ks, something I never supported.”
* The Pritzker campaign was sending out “reality check” e-mails throughout the debate…
REALITY CHECK: Kennedy Supported Rahm Emanuel, Until He Didn’t
On the campaign trail, Chris Kennedy has all but declared war on Rahm Emanuel, but he has a closer relationship with the mayor than he’d like to admit. In 2014, Kennedy praised Emanuel’s leadership and donated $5,000 to his re-election campaign. Kennedy even sought Emanuel’s endorsement prior to his run for governor. And while his primary criticism of Emanuel is his “strategic gentrification plan” to push African Americans residents out of Chicago, Kennedy himself skirted requirements to include affordable housing units at Wolf Point.
REALITY CHECK:
Chris Kennedy donated $5,000 to Rahm Emanuel’s re-election campaign in 2014 and praised Emanuel’s leadership in a speech in front of Wolf Point, even comparing him to Joe Kennedy.
Despite claiming Emanuel has a “strategic gentrification plan” that pushes African Americans out of Chicago, Kennedy hired zoning lawyers to avoid affordable housing unit requirements at his luxury Wolf Point development.
Chris Kennedy even asked Emanuel for his endorsement in the governor’s race.
* And…
REALITY CHECK: JB Pritzker Has a Plan to Reform Our Criminal Justice System
JB Pritzker has a four-point plan to reform our criminal justice system and give all Illinoisans a chance to reach their full potential. JB’s plan focuses on legalizing marijuana and modernizing sentencing practices, reducing recidivism rates, reforming the juvenile justice system, and treating gun violence like a public health epidemic. With these reforms, JB will help build a criminal justice system that delivers justice to victims, rehabilitates individuals, and builds safer communities after decades of systemic disinvestment.
REALITY CHECK:
JB’s plan will legalize marijuana in a safe way and modernize sentencing laws to reverse the foundational causes of mass incarceration that disproportionately impact communities of color.
To reduce the recidivism rate, JB will prioritize rehabilitation and re-entry services for incarcerated people and create economic opportunities in all of our communities.
JB will promote rehabilitative alternatives to prosecution and incarceration in our juvenile justice system with a focus on restorative justice.
JB will address gun violence as a public health epidemic and hold police more accountable to the communities they serve.
* And…
REALITY CHECK: Biss Voted for Mike Madigan and Ran Madigan’s SuperPAC
Despite trying to put daylight between himself and Mike Madigan now, Daniel Biss is closer to the House Speaker than he’d like to admit. Biss accepted Madigan’s help to get elected to office in 2010 and then voted for Madigan for Speaker the following year. Biss accepted hundreds of thousands of dollars from the Speaker’s state party. In 2016, he even ran Madigan’s Super PAC. While Biss uses anti-Madigan campaign rhetoric on the campaign trail, his years of loyalty to the Speaker tell a much different story.
REALITY CHECK:
In 2010, Daniel Biss accepted Madigan’s help to get elected, receiving $14,374.35 in in-kind contributions from Friends of Michael J. Madigan.
In 2011, Biss voted for Mike Madigan to be Speaker of the Illinois House of Representatives.
Over the years, Biss has accepted nearly $250,000 from the Democratic Party chaired by Madigan.
In 2016, Biss also ran Mike Madigan’s Super PAC, Leading Illinois for Tomorrow (LIFT), filling its coffers with millions from Madigan and top allies.
Biss did run that Super PAC and Pritzker was one of its top donors.
* And…
REALITY CHECK: Kennedy Is Against Legalizing Marijuana
Unlike what he said tonight, Chris Kennedy is against the legalization of marijuana despite the fact that it could bring in $350 to $700 million annually in much needed revenue. Kennedy said it’s “dangerous” to legalize recreational marijuana, calling it a “public health hazard.” However, studies show legal marijuana can actually help combat opioid addiction, and is less harmful than tobacco or alcohol. If Kennedy’s preference for decriminalizing marijuana instead of legalizing was all that was implemented, it could mean fines and jail time that would disproportionately impact communities of color.
REALITY CHECK:
Chris Kennedy called legalizing marijuana “dangerous” and a “public health hazard.”
While Chris Kennedy supports decriminalization, this alone could still mean fines or jail times that disproportionately impact communities of color.
A variety of studies have found that marijuana can be legalized safely, including a University of British Columbia study that found, “using marijuana could help some alcoholics and people addicted to opioids kick their habits.”
* And…
REALITY CHECK: JB Pritzker Has a Plan to Expand Healthcare for Illinois Families
JB is committed to defending the progress we’ve made under the Affordable Care Act and building on that progress to ensure all Illinoisans have quality care. JB was the first candidate in this race to put forward a comprehensive plan to expand healthcare for Illinois’ working families. In early August, JB introduced his plan, IllinoisCares, which would allow every Illinois resident to have access to quality, affordable healthcare through a public option. If implemented, Illinois would be the first state in the nation to expand healthcare in this way, at little to no cost to the taxpayer.
REALITY CHECK:
JB’s plan for healthcare, IllinoisCares, would be a first-in-the-nation program allowing Illinois residents to buy into the state’s Medicaid program.
The Medicaid buy-in option would expand quality, affordable healthcare for Illinois’ working families across the state.
JB has also been a fierce advocate for President Obama’s Affordable Care Act, running a statewide ad campaign to encourage Illinoisans to sign up after Donald Trump slashed the advertising budget and shortened the enrollment period.
* And…
REALITY CHECK: Biss Led Efforts to Cut Benefits for Working Families
In 2013, Daniel Biss helped write legislation to slash pensions for hundreds of thousands of workers, earning him the lowest lifetime AFL-CIO rating of any Democrat in the Senate. Were it not for the Supreme Court stepping in and ruling Biss’ bill unconstitutional, the bill would have had a devastating effect on Illinois workers.
REALITY CHECK:
Daniel Biss helped write legislation to cut pensions for more than 467,000 downstate teachers, university workers, and state employees.
Biss also voted for $1.6 billion in cuts to Medicaid and to strip some employees of collective bargaining rights.
Biss’ attacks on working families in the General Assembly earned him a 62% lifetime rating from the AFL-CIO through 2015, the worst of any Democrat in the State Senate.
* And…
JB Pritzker Makes Choice Clear in First Democratic Debate
Chicago, IL – At the first televised debate among Democratic candidates for governor, JB Pritzker demonstrated why he is the only candidate ready to take on Bruce Rauner. JB clearly laid out his vision for Illinois and spoke about his plans to expand healthcare, pass a progressive income tax, and invest in communities that have suffered from decades of disinvestment.
“Tonight, JB Pritzker showed Illinois why he’s the only candidate capable of beating Bruce Rauner,” said Pritzker campaign manager Anne Caprara. “With focus and force, JB made a clear case for his candidacy and proved why this failed governor is already running scared. JB took charge, laying out his vision for Illinois and his real policy plans to get this state back on track. Illinoisans watching across the state saw JB for the strong leader he is – ready to bring people together and move Illinois forward.”
* We’ll talk lots more about this topic tomorrow, but here’s the last Pritzker e-mail I received tonight…
Chris Kennedy Compliments Rauner, But Can’t Say a Single Nice Thing About a Democrat
Chicago, IL – While Chris Kennedy has been “applauding” Bruce Rauner for the past few days, he couldn’t muster a single nice thing to say about a Democrat running for governor at the NBC 5 / Telemundo debate tonight.
On Friday, Kennedy said, “I think Bruce Rauner is trying to do what he thinks is best for the state of Illinois,” and praised Rauner’s “willingness to speak truth to power.” But when asked to name something positive about JB, Kennedy paused for six seconds before resorting to his desperate Rauner playbook of attacking JB.
“While Chris Kennedy has heaped praise on Bruce Rauner for speaking ‘truth to power,’ in a stunning display of ungraciousness, he refused to name a single positive thing about JB,” said Pritzker communications director Galia Slayen. “JB praised the Kennedy family for their work on the Special Olympics, but Chris would rather praise the Worst Republican Governor in America than a Democrat running for governor.”
* The first live televised Democratic gubernatorial candidates’ forum starts at six o’clock tonight. It will be moderated by NBC 5 Political Editor Carol Marin and Mary Ann Ahern and and Karla Leal will take questions from the audience. Click here or watch it below if it works (and I’m not sure it will)…
On May 31, 2017, House Resolution Number 100 was adopted and directed the Office of the Auditor General to conduct an audit of Medicaid Managed Care Organizations (MCOs), which included a comparison of State expenditures between MCOs and the Medicaid fee-for-service program for fiscal year 2016.
The audit found:
Auditors determined that the Department of Healthcare and Family Services (HFS) did not maintain the complete and accurate information needed to adequately monitor $7.11 billion in payments made to and by the 12 MCOs during FY16.
Specifically, HFS could not provide auditors with the following information:
* all paid claims to Medicaid providers by the MCOs in FY16;
* Medicaid provider claims denied by MCOs in FY16;
* the administrative costs incurred by MCOs in FY16;
* the coordinated care costs incurred by MCOs in FY16; and
* Medical Loss Ratio (MLR) calculations since calendar year 2012.
* In FY16, HFS made multiple monthly capitation payments to MCOs for the same months for the same individuals totaling $590,237.
The audit recommends HFS should:
1) monitor the actual administrative costs incurred by its MCOs to ensure that the administrative costs do not exceed what is allowed by contract;
2) calculate the Medical Loss Ratios for the previous four calendar years (2013 through 2016), and determine whether the State should be reimbursed by MCOs due to overpayment;
3) require all MCOs to submit all Medicaid provider payment data for all services (including DASA, LTC, and waiver services), and perform on-site reviews of the MCOs’ financial data systems and test the completeness and accuracy of the data reported to HFS that is used to monitor the payments made to Medicaid providers;
4) provide clear guidance to the MCOs for reporting denied claims, and ensure that MCOs provide the denied claims to HFS as required by contract;
5) ensure multiple monthly capitation payments are not being made for the same Medicaid recipients, immediately identify and remove all duplicative recipients from its eligibility data, and recoup any overpayment of duplicate capitation payments; and
6) ensure that it effectively monitors the newly awarded MCO contracts to ensure compliance with all contractual provisions.
I just read the Auditor General’s performance audit of the FY 16 MCO contracts. The most damning part of the report is the conclusion that ‘HFS did not maintain the complete and accurate information needed to adequately monitor $7.11 billion in payments made to and by the 12 MCOS during Fiscal Year 16.’
This is another example of the hypocrisy of Governor Rauner. He runs around the state claiming to be a fiscal conservative, but his real record as Governor reflects extreme financial mismanagement.
Gov. Rauner: I am not. So, to be clear, my assets, all my investments are in a trust that I don’t control. I did that when I became governor. I can’t comment on any business disputes. That gets settled in its own process.
Reporter: Is that the reason why it’s sealed because it’s through a blind trust?
Gov. Rauner: I can’t even tell you, I mean, I don’t really have much to do with that.
Reporter: Is there attorneys who are doing that?
Gov. Rauner: I assume. I don’t know.
Rauner aide: Alright, thanks everyone.
He didn’t know anything about it and didn’t have much to do with it, eh?
Rauner invested $5 million as a limited partner in Kirkpatrick Capital to acquire a minority share in United Shore Financial Services, LLC (”United Shore”), a privately held mortgage lender.
Rauner received an exceptional return on that investment which was made possible by a settlement of two distinct disputes with United Shore—a personal bonus claim brought by Kirkpatrick against United Shore and derivative claim brought by Kirkpatrick Capital against United Shore. This parties’ dispute concerns the allocation of those settlement proceeds. Rauner’s share of the settlement proceeds turned his $5 million investment into more than $20 million.
This $15 million gain, however, apparently is not enough for Rauner. Rauner now seeks to cut-off Kirkpatrick, in a confidential arbitration closed to public scrutiny, from his fair share of the settlement proceeds by seeking to ensure his own, self-serving interpretation of the United Shore settlement agreement (even though he is not a party to it). Rauner seeks to use Kirkpatrick Capital’s partnership agreement as a shield in the proceeding, alleging that his claims arise under Kirkpatrick Capital’s partnership agreement (which has an arbitration clause). Rauner’s claims, however, do not arise from the partnership agreement, but instead from the settlement agreement (which requires litigation in this Court) and therefore must be heard in this Court. […]
Kirkpatrick specifically kept Rauner informed throughout the litigation regarding his objectives in terms of a return on Rauner’s investment and the allocation of the settlement proceeds. At an in-person meeting in Springfield, Illinois, on May 11, 2015, on the back porch of the Governor’s mansion, Kirkpatrick laid out his expectations regarding the return to Kirkpatrick Capital from a settlement and the allocation of the settlement. These expectations were updated and communicated at a second in-person meeting between Rauner and Kirkpatrick at the Chicago Club on the evening of September 15, 2015. At neither meeting did Rauner object to the proposed allocation of the settlement proceeds, nor the return on his investment he would receive. […]
Rauner’s total proceeds from the United Shore investment were approximately $20 million, with $15 million of that being profit.
In the summer of 2017, after receiving all payments due to him, Rauner filed a demand for arbitration before the American Arbitration Association that the settlement agreement precludes Kirkpatrick Capital’s allocation of the United Shore settlement proceeds and claiming that Kirkpatrick and the Kirkpatrick Capital breached and interfered with the LPA.
Tellingly, Kirkpatrick Capital’s other two investors, Ganzi and Chaifetz—who are seasoned and sophisticated equity investors did not dispute or take issue with Kirkpatrick Capital’s allocation of the settlement proceeds.
Also, Politifact took a look at the “blind trust” angle. Click here. The topic will likely be revisited now that an allegation has been made that Rauner took an active role in his investments while he was governor.
*** UPDATE 1 *** Biss campaign…
“This is why we need to be careful when a billionaire uses the word “trust” colloquially. From Rauner’s investment scams to JB Pritzker and Chris Kennedy’s tax scams, it’s getting hard to tell these guys apart.” - Tom Elliott
*** UPDATE 2 *** Pritzker campaign…
Today, a judge unsealed Kip Kirkpatrick’s lawsuit against Bruce Rauner, shedding light on a business dispute Rauner had previously claimed to have no involvement in and no knowledge of.
The lawsuit details Bruce Rauner’s maneuvers as governor to maximize returns on a $5 million investment he had made in Kirkpatrick Capital. Kirkpatrick claims to have met repeatedly with Rauner, including once at the governor’s mansion, regarding his business interests despite Rauner’s claim to the public that “all my investments are in a trust that I don’t control.”
“Bruce Rauner is allegedly conducting private business out of the governors’ mansion and then openly lying about it to the public,” said Pritzker communications director Galia Slayen. “It is no wonder this failed governor tried to keep this lawsuit sealed, but now that it’s public, it is time for Bruce Rauner to tell voters the truth.”
*** UPDATE 3 *** Kathleen Murphy at the Jeanne Ives campaign…
“Lying and screwing people out of their money is apparently a practice Bruce Rauner brought with him from his dealings in the private sector to his dealings as Governor.”
* As we discussed yesterday, Chris Kennedy erroneously claimed that the Cook County Assessor had valued the Hyatt Center at $160 million even though the building has a $385 million mortgage. The assessor’s office pointed out that Kennedy didn’t do his homework because the building is actually valued for tax purposes at $382 million, reduced on appeal by the Cook County Board of Review from the assessor’s initial $396 valuation.
Greg Hinz caught up with the gubernatorial candidate today…
Today, in a phone call, Kennedy admitted his error, agreeing with Berrios that he’d looked at only some and not all of the Property Index Numbers that cover the property and its assessment.
“I’m conceding that we are missing PIN numbers,” Kennedy told me in a phone call. “The error is on me,” and not the campaign worker—a former employee of the assessor’s office whom Kennedy declined to name—who researched the matter before yesterday’s news conference.
If Berrios ran a truly open and modern office, he wouldn’t rely on multiple PINs for the same property, some of them with different street addresses, Kennedy said.
“Why do we have five different PINs? Why can’t we collapse them into one. . . .That’s just one of the signs that (Berrios’) system lacks transparency.”
Berrios’ office denied that the system is complicated, particularly for someone such as Kennedy, who ran the Merchandise Mart for years and is developing high-end apartment towers at Wolf Point.
“He’s incompetent on this issue,” Shaer said. “His family has made billions of dollars on real estate.”
* Rumors circulated last April that the Franklin Center for Government and Public Integrity was shutting down. Not so, the Franklin Center claimed…
“The Franklin Center has not shut down; it continues to operate and we expect growth as we progress through 2017,” said Franklin Center spokeswoman Laurel Patrick, who previously worked for Walker. “In order to achieve this growth, it is undergoing a reorganization.”
She said that the center had appointed new leadership. John Tillman, the CEO of the Illinois Policy Institute, has been named the new chairman, and Chris Krug, the publisher and general manager of the Illinois News Network and Illinois Radio Network, has been named president, Patrick said.
Krug replaces Nicole Neily, who was in the job for only a year.
“Watchdog.org will continue, and we are committed to growing that brand,” Patrick said. “The new management team will be working with all current and former employees in the coming week to find the right path forward for each person and Franklin.”
Lots of familiar names in that piece. Laurel Patrick, you will recall, was brought in last July as Gov. Rauner’s director of communications during the first round of staff purges. She was purged by late August.
* And then this press release went out today…
Franklin Center for Government & Public Integrity announced today that it acquired the Illinois News Network (INN) from the Illinois Policy Institute, and will utilize INN as the template for an initiative at Watchdog.org to improve statehouse coverage nationwide.
INN – a non-profit, non-partisan news service that reports on state, regional and local issues and distributes its content from the digital hub ILNews.org – continues to attract new partners, and delivered content to 139 media outlets across Illinois in 2017.
ILNews.org published nearly 1,600 news stories in 2017, and legacy media companies republished more than 1,300 of them in their print and digital editions.
Chicago Tribune Media Group, Hearst Newspapers, Lee Enterprises, McClatchy, Paddock Publications and Shaw Media are among the legacy news companies whose newspapers and digital sites published INN’s reporting in 2017.
Franklin Center’s Watchdog.org project is a non-profit, non-partisan journalism initiative that seeks to improve the accuracy, balance and quality of statehouse news reporting across the United States.
“Acquiring INN is precisely the right next step for the future of Watchdog.org,” Franklin Center President Chris Krug said. “INN has become an essential read for Illinoisans. Our focus now moves to bringing that same journalistic energy, focus and timeliness in highly consumable news packages to readers across the country.”
Krug, named president of Franklin Center last April, has served as publisher and general manager at INN since 2016. INN was launched by IPI in 2013, and operated as an independent project prior to acquisition by Franklin Center.
Krug said that accuracy, consistency and speed have made ILNews.org a trusted statewide reporting service for media companies seeking balanced coverage in their daily reports.
“ILNews.org established itself over the past two years as a trusted source for high quality, state-focused journalism created specifically for an Illinois audience,” he said. “We weigh in on important issues every day at INN. It’s that core approach and daily execution that will benefit Watchdog.org in other states.
“Each state will require a customized approach, but will benefit from INN’s operational excellence and efficiency. We begin with an incredible core group of journalists in Illinois who will mentor and train our national editors, reporters and contributors.
“Statehouse news coverage is in need of attention and manpower across the country. Legacy media is hurting everywhere, and the resources allocated to covering state legislatures have dwindled substantially. Contextual coverage of statehouse news is the proverbial donut hole in local news coverage. The expertise we have demonstrated in Illinois will allow us to bring truth to light elsewhere, and bridge the gap for readers in states across the country,” Krug said.
Dan McCaleb, News Director at INN, was named News Director for Watchdog.org. McCaleb will focus on building each of the forthcoming Watchdog.org state news teams.
“Dan has uncommon drive,” Krug said. “He has a true passion for finding the truth. He is an excellent news leader and manager who understands and meets the expectations of readers in the digital age. The editors and reporters Dan recruits into the Watchdog.org project will raise the bar for statehouse reporting nationwide.”
During 2017, the CEO of Illinois Policy assumed the chairmanship of the Franklin Center, another 501(c)(3) not for profit organization, and the board of directors of that organization was reconstituted. Also during 2017, a for-profit subsidiary of the Franklin Center, named American Media Unlimited, was established. During 2017, the assets of the Illinois Radio Network, currently owned by the Institute, will be transferred to American Media Unlimited.
*** UPDATE *** If you click here, you’ll see American Media Unlimited’s latest state corporate filing. John Tillman is listed as the company’s secretary.
* While I’m feeling much better than I did a couple of weeks ago, I still have it and I’m still miserable…
Of the 30 U.S. children who have died from the flu so far this season, some 85 percent had not been vaccinated, said Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Dr. Brenda Fitzgerald, who urged Americans to get flu shots amid one of the most severe flu seasons in years.
“My message is, if you haven’t gotten a vaccine, please get a vaccine. Also, please get your children vaccinated,” said Fitzgerald, who is urging citizens “to take every advantage that you can to protect yourself.”
The dominant strain during this flu season is an especially nasty type called influenza A (H3N2) that in seasons past has been linked with severe disease and death, especially in the elderly and young. This year’s seasonal flu epidemic is especially severe.
In its latest report, the CDC said the virus is present in every state, with 32 states reporting severe flu activity.
Although the vaccine is only estimated to be about 30 percent effective against the H3N2 strain, it has been shown in studies to reduce severity and duration if people do become infected, said Dr. Dan Jernigan, director of the influenza division at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Fitzgerald conceded in a telephone interview that reports that the flu vaccine in Australia was only 10 percent effective may have caused people to think the vaccine would not be worth the trouble.
Thirty kids. Wow.
I really wish I had ignored those “10 percent effective” stories and gotten the vaccine.
Rauner said marijuana has changed dramatically over the years.
“It’s not what it used to be 20, 30, 40 years ago. It’s a very potent, very dangerous drug. I think we should watch, take our time, and not rush into changes that could impact the quality of life for many Illinoisans,” the governor said.
That attitude may explain why the governor and his Department of Public Health have been dragging their feet on medical marijuana.
Tell Gov. Rauner, drop the appeal & allow medication access.
Petition by Rep. Kelly Cassidy & Sen. Heather Steans
To be delivered to Governor Bruce Rauner
The Court has ordered the Rauner administration to add chronic pain to the list of conditions in the Illinois medical cannabis program. The administration has promised to appeal rather than allow people in pain access to medication safer than addictive opioids.
Petition Background
If the administration won’t show compassion and allow people access to safer pain relief, the General Assembly needs to. Is it a good use of state resources to appeal the court’s decision on including chronic pain in the medical cannabis program? Tell Governor Rauner to drop the appeal and allow pain patients access to the medical cannabis program.
* Press release…
Given a choice between showing compassion for those suffering from chronic pain or pursuing a costly legal battle, the Rauner administration should choose compassion, Senator Heather Steans said today.
Steans (D-Chicago) called on Gov. Bruce Rauner to expand access to Illinois’ medical marijuana program by adding intractable pain to the qualifying condition list rather than appeal a judge’s order that the condition be added.
Intractable pain is a severe form of chronic pain that is constant and incurable. It can be resistant to treatment, but some patients can benefit from using medical cannabis.
“Gov. Rauner needs to drop the appeal and allow patients with intractable pain to have access to medical cannabis,” Steans said. “Patients should have an alternative to opioids that doesn’t force them to turn to the black market for medicine.”
A patient with intractable pain recently sued the Illinois Department of Public Health over rejecting her petition to add intractable pain to the list of qualifying medical conditions for medical cannabis. A Cook County judge ordered the IDPH director to add it to the list last week.
“It’s time for the governor to show some compassion for Illinoisans who are suffering from severe, life-altering pain and allow them to access medical cannabis for relief,” Steans said.
Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle on Monday pointed to Northwestern University students in Evanston smoking weed with impunity as an example of the racial disparities in enforcement associated with the drug.
While addressing an Illinois House-Senate committee tasked with reviewing the implications of legalizing marijuana in Illinois — Preckwinkle is for it, by the way — she told a quick anecdote about her daughter, Jen, visiting a friend who attends Northwestern.
“My youngest, who is college aged, went to visit one of her friends up at Northwestern and she came back and she said, ‘Mom, you won’t believe it. The kids walk up and down the streets smoking dope, and nobody says anything.’
“I said: ‘Yes, Jen,’” Preckwinkle recalled in an exhausted voice.
“And then she said, ‘You know, if my friends and I did this in our neighborhood we’d be arrested.’”
“I said: ‘Yes, Jen.’”
The Preckwinkles live in the Kenwood neighborhood.
Citizens for Rauner Launches Petition for Release of All Pritzker-Blagojevich Tapes
Since JB Pritzker says he was “never accused of wrongdoing,” he should have no problem with the rest of the FBI wiretap tapes being released. We have a petition just for him, and we invite him to sign it himself. Even Patti Blagojevich, the former governor’s wife, has called for the full tapes to be released.
Today, Citizens for Rauner is starting a petition to release ALL the recordings of conversations between Pritzker and disgraced former governor Rod Blagojevich caught on FBI wiretap. This comes after the release of the full, unedited 11 minutes of conversations previously published by the Chicago Tribune.
As is widely known, the main evidence used to convict former governor Rod Blagojevich, and send him away to prison for 14 years was his private conversations with his aides, wife and brother. The conversations were secretly recorded by the government in late 2008, over eight separate phone lines, including the governor’s home phone and campaign office.
But only a tiny fraction of these tapes have ever been released despite the governor’s repeated demand that the government “release them all.”
There are literally hundreds of hours of Blagojevich tapes that the people of Illinois have never heard. When I first came onto the governor’s case in 2011, I put all of these recordings onto my ipod and spent weeks listening. I can assure you that these tapes tell a very different story about the governor than the story told by the federal prosecutors.
At trial, the government played for the jury cherry-picked excerpts of its tapes — the ones that fit its narrative that the governor tried to sell the senate seat for personal gain and betrayed the people of Illinois. In response, Blagojevich argued that the deal he tried to make for the senate seat was for the benefit of the people of Illinois, not for himself.
Blagojevich argued that he tried to negotiate a deal to appoint Lisa Madigan to the Senate in exchange for Speaker Mike Madigan’s cooperation in enacting the governor’s legislative priorities, including an infrastructure bill and healthcare reform.
Government lawyers, however, convinced Judge James Zagel to exclude the tapes in which Blagojevich discussed the Madigan deal. Then, in closing argument, the lead prosecutor deceptively told the jury to “go back and look at the calls and see how many times Lisa Madigan is actually mentioned … and you’re not going to find it.”
As the prosecutor well knew, the reason the jury couldn’t find these tapes is because the court had excluded them, at the government’s request. […]
Readers will note that this newly leaked tape illustrates exactly what Blagojevich tried to tell his jury – that the primary aim of his deal-making was to make a deal with Madigan to get a “capital bill” (to pay for new and repaired infrastructure) and “health care” reform through Madigan’s House. But the jury never heard this tape. Nor did it hear dozens of other similar taped conversations where Blagojevich worked towards a deal with Madigan.
I recently spoke with the former governor, and his response to this latest episode of selective leaking by the government of his private calls is both consistent and predictable: The government should “release them all.”
As I’ve said many times before, Blagojevich’s plan was pure fantasy. But this is a pretty clever little move by Rauner. He ain’t going down without first waging the fight of his life.
I’ve asked the Pritzker, Kennedy and Biss campaigns for comment.
*** UPDATE 1 *** Chris Kennedy campaign…
If there is nothing wrong or untoward in those FBI tapes, then this is something JB Pritzker should welcome too.
*** UPDATE 2 *** Daniel Biss campaign…
“It’s another day of team Kennedy-Rauner squaring off against team Pritzker-Blago. We can do so much better than this.” -Tom Elliott
Zing!
*** UPDATE 3 *** Pritzker campaign…
Bruce Rauner is continuing to play politics in the Democratic primary so he can distract from his disastrous record as governor. Instead of falling for Rauner’s ploy, Democrats should focus on calling out his failures. This includes refusing to release documents and emails related to how 13 Veterans and spouses lost their lives due to his fatal mismanagement in Quincy, attempting to keep lawsuits against him sealed, and rejecting standard FOIA requests of his administration.
Seeking to address longstanding fears of state jobs being poached from Springfield, a local lawmaker has proposed legislation that would require most new and vacant positions to be located in Sangamon County.
The bill’s sponsor, Rep. Sara Wojcicki Jimenez, R-Leland Grove, said the legislation, House Bill 4295, would make Springfield and the county the default location for employees of most state agencies and the governor’s office. It would require the director of Central Management Services to give a reason why a job needs to be based elsewhere.
“It’s my opinion that if those folks are providing a direct service or need to be in a different part of the state, they should be,” Jimenez said. “But for all jobs that don’t need to be in a specific geographic location, I believe and many of my constituents I think would agree that those jobs should be located in the capital city because we are the seat of state government.”
A 2016 study conducted by CMS found that nearly 400 state jobs, both filled and vacant, could be moved back to Springfield.
A total of 267 of the jobs were filled, and Jimenez had said she had no desire to uproot families by relocating them to Springfield. However, the survey said the other 119 jobs were vacant at that time.
Even if she wins in November, the conservative lawmaker running against incumbent Gov. Bruce Rauner in the March Republican primary says the income tax hike that was enacted on his watch will have to remain in place for at least two more years. And Chicago and Cook County taxpayers should be prepared to dig deeper if her state budget plans pan out. […]
[Rep. Jeanne Ives] Ives said she’d start by working to repeal the income tax hike that was approved over Rauner’s veto. But “I wouldn’t do that immediately,” she said. “I suspect that, within two years, we could set that out as a goal.” […]
On her list for axing are hundreds of millions of dollars of year in new state funding that CPS got under terms of the fiscal 2018 state budget. Chicago, for purposes of the new aid formula, is considered a poor, Tier IV district, even though in reality the city economy is doing so well that Chicago actually is Tier 1, she said. […]
Ives would save another big chunk in the budget by eliminating the Obamacare expansion and making other cuts in Medicaid, even though the former has shifted hundreds of millions of dollars a year from Cook County taxpayers to the state and federal governments. “Chicago’s got a lot more state support than they should,” she said. And if that means local taxpayers will pay more to give relief to taxpayers outside of the city, “I don’t have to win (Chicago and Cook County) to be elected, she said. “This is a 50-percent-plus-one race.” […]
New workers need to be shifted from a defined-benefit pension to a 401(k)-style defined-contribution model, perhaps with a “generous” inducement, she said. Old pension debt, roughly $120 billion just in the state retirement system, can be “renegotiated” with employee unions that have rejected such actions so far, but may come to the table as they realize some of the pension funds are “one (economic) downturn away from failing.”
Taking away all of CPS’ new state money ($450 million) and canceling the Medicaid expansion (which is mostly funded by the federal government) won’t balance the state’s budget.
Also, the Illinois Supreme Court has ruled that pension benefits are individual contracts. Unions can’t negotiate any benefit reductions without all individuals signing off on them one by one.
Reporter: Governor, there’s a new debt transparency report that the comptroller’s office put out, and it shows that there’s going to be a $2.3 billion shortfall for this year. That seems about on par with some of the numbers that you’ve given. We’re about half way through the fiscal year, what are you gonna do about it?
Gov. Rauner: Propose a balanced budget, actually propose a process to begin to roll back the tax hike that was passed over my veto last summer. We need to…
Reporter: That’ll be in this year’s budget address?
Gov. Rauner: Correct. Unfortunately, in the budget that was passed over my veto last summer, not only was there a very large income tax increase, but there was spending that was even out of balance even after the tax increase. We have been fiscally irresponsible again. So, we’re gonna propose changes into our government operations to reduce wasteful spending so we can put more money into education. I’m gonna propose even more record funding for our schools around the state to support our teachers and our students. But change other things in the system. Pension changes and healthcare changes so that we can reduce the cost of government so we can put more money into our schools and our students.
Reporter: So, just to be clear, in this budget address you’re going to take care of a balanced budget for FY19, the $2.3 billion shortfall for FY18 and more money for education while also doing away with an income tax increase? All of those?
Gov. Rauner: We’re gonna step down, it’s gonna take a few years, we’re gonna step down the income tax increase and put more money in education and shrink the wasteful spending in government and close this deficit. This is, we’ve had a deficit now for years and even after a tax hike there’s still deficits. It’s financially irresponsible.
*** UPDATE *** Rep. Jeanne Ives…
“No one should believe Governor Rauner’s statement on stepping down the tax increase. First, everyone knows that the Governor was actually in favor of a tax increase. He openly stated as much when he took office. Secondly, the tax increase is permanent. So it would take legislative action to change the tax rate, which will be nearly impossible under the current Democrat leadership. Once again, Governor Rauner is making promises he can’t keep.
“The truth is Governor Rauner publicly removed himself from negotiations over the summer when the tax increase occurred. He didn’t make phone calls to Republican members or make any attempt to hold the caucus together on the most important vote of his tenure – the largest permanent tax increase in state history. Governor Rauner is right about one thing: he is not in charge.”
“Ending the tax increase by the end of his second term just as he promised to do at the end of his first? Fool me once…”
* Click here to see the latest A-1 from Liberty Principles PAC.
Richard Uihlein has now given Dan Proft’s group $5 million during this cycle. His grand total is $12 million.
* Meanwhile, Proft’s group ran an ad for this guy on Fox Springfield during one of Sunday’s NFL championship games…
Oakland Republican Chris Miller, seeking to replace Charleston Republican Reggie Phillips in the Illinois House, is picking up financial support and endorsements from quite an array of Republicans.
Miller is running against Charleston Republican Terry Davis in the 110th District, which includes all of Coles County plus all or parts of Edgar, Cumberland, Clark, Crawford and Lawrence counties.
Last week he announced the endorsement of former U.S. Rep. Tim Johnson of Urbana, who also gave Miller a $1,000 campaign contribution through his federal Middle Ground PAC.
Miller also got $2,000 from state Rep. Brad Halbrook, R-Shelbyville.
And he’s been the recipient of almost $5,550 in “independent expenditures” (for mail pieces and video) from Chicago conservative Dan Proft’s Liberty Principles PAC. […]
Miller said he’s staying neutral in the Rauner-Ives race.
“Oh heavens no. That would be a landmine,” he said. “I have no desire to get involved in that mess. I have enough problems running my own campaign.”
Chicago-based conservative radio commentator Dan Proft, an influential operative in Illinois Republican politics, has spent thousands supporting one candidate in the three-way GOP race to fill the seat held by state Rep. Bill Mitchell, R-Forsyth.
From October to the end of 2017, Proft’s Liberty Principles political action committee spent $19,455 for Dan Caulkins, a former Decatur city councilman, according to documents filed with the Illinois State Board of Elections. The money has gone to television, online and direct-mail advertising.
Caulkins’ own campaign spent $14,181 in 2017 on other items such as printing, T-shirts, and radio ads. Meanwhile, state records also show his primary opponents, Piatt County Board Chairman Randy Keith and Cerro Gordo School Board President Todd Henricks, have spent a fraction of that. Keith raised $16,733 last year and reported spending $8,046. Henricks raised $13,345 and spent $2,619 in 2017.
The only Democrat in the race, Jen McMillin, raised $600 last year.
Preliminary test results show the “possible presence” of Legionella bacteria in the water system of the Illinois Capitol Complex, a memo disclosed Monday night.
Officials said they are not aware of any reports of Legionnaire’s disease, a type of pneumonia, among state employees or the public. And experts at the Illinois Department of Public Health are confident the complex is safe for state employees to go to work.
“Out of an abundance of caution and because of heightened awareness and continued misconceptions about Legionnaires’ disease, we want to make you aware of preliminary test results that indicate the possible presence of Legionella bacteria in the Capitol Complex hot water system,” said the memo sent to state employees who work in the complex from Deputy Gov. Trey Childress and Mike Wojcik, the secretary of state’s director of physical spaces.
The Secretary of State’s Office, which oversees the Capitol Complex, ordered the test after a pipe burst in the Illinois State Armory just north of the Statehouse.
“Given the fact that it was at the dead end of a pipe, we wanted to err on the side of caution and have it tested right away, which we did because of the potential for stagnated water,” Henry Haupt, a spokesman for the secretary of state, said Monday night.
Only a preliminary test has been conducted, which does not indicate whether the bacteria are alive. Only cells that are alive cause a health risk, said Ian Cull, owner of the indoor environmental consulting company Indoor Sciences.
“If water treatment is doing it’s (sic) job, you may have dead cells in the system,” Cull told Chicago Tonight via email.
The memo advises employees to avoid using showers or “removing aerators” but that “we have been advised by experts that the transmission of this bacteria in normal, day-to-day office operations is unlikely” given that Legionnaires’ disease is not spread from person to person or by drinking water, but rather by inhaling vapors from a contaminated water source.
Additional testing at the capitol complex is underway. According to the memo from Childress and Wojcik, it could take 14 days to determine whether the cells are living.
This is a good idea, even if it turns out to be a false alarm. But taking this step so early completely undermines the claims by the Department of Veterans Affairs and the Department of Public Health that early warnings like this could panic the public.
It also opens up the state to claims that it acts with an “abundance of caution” when it comes to the health of high-level Capitol Complex bureaucrats, but waits weeks to notify residents and their families of the presence of Legionnaires’ disease at the Illinois Veterans’ Home in Quincy.
* Democratic attorney general candidate Aaron Goldstein hasn’t raised much money on his own ($6500 last quarter), but he did loan himself $185,000 and now he wants to spend it…
Aaron Goldstein’s campaign for Illinois Attorney General has released a preview of its new television commercial, entitled “Standing Next to You.” It is part of an aggressive $100,000 ad campaign which will be seen on broadcast TV, cable TV and digital media throughout the entire state beginning today. The commercial will air on CNN, MSNBC, ABC, CBS and NBC as well as local media in markets in all of Illinois, such as Rock Island, Champaign, Carbondale, Chicago, Springfield and many more.
“We want people throughout the state who are frustrated with the status quo—politics dominated by big money, big corporations and political insiders, at the expense of everyday Illinoisans—to understand our bold progressive message,” said Goldstein. “Our campaign is about returning power to those who haven’t had a voice, and bringing fairness and justice to everyone, not just powerful special interests. I will be the People’s Defender. I will stand with the people of Illinois.”
The ad features Goldstein, who is a career public defender and civil rights attorney with the most trial experience in this race, representing clients who feel the legal and criminal justice system is rigged against them. The ad also shows Goldstein with his family: his wife Nicole, also a public defender, and their two lovely daughters.
Goldstein is running for Illinois Attorney General on a platform that includes reforming the criminal justice and police systems, including legalizing marijuana and ending the racist drug war, fighting big-money politics and public corruption, and defending Illinois against the extremist right-wing policies of the Trump administration. As Attorney General, one of his first actions will be to establish a Public Integrity Bureau within the Attorney General’s office, whose sole function will be to investigate governmental corruption and hold accountable those public officials who exploit and manipulate the system for the select few.
Sorry, but a $100,000 statewide media buy is in no way, shape or form “aggressive.” $100,000 in this state will not even have the impact of spitting into the wind.
He might’ve done himself more good by holding a press conference to give that $100K to charity
