Kennedy basically said he’s not dropping out because he expects to win. That his polling shows when people are “fully informed,” they choose Kennedy far above his opponents.
Kennedy rejected a widespread feeling in political circles that he has run a poor campaign and now may be stuck in third place. “I’m up against a machine that has had a stranglehold on our state government and economy,” he said, asserting that his campaign’s internal polls show him beating Pritzker when voters are fully informed of the views of both.
Hampered by lackluster fundraising and spending much of what he has been able to raise, governor hopeful Chris Kennedy on Thursday offered a hopeful take on how he’ll be able to get his campaign message out.
“The Democratic primary voter shouldn’t be treated like somebody that we need to teach. They’re quite capable of learning on their own,” Kennedy said at a news conference outside the Loop headquarters of the Chicago Public Schools called to discuss education funding.
“They have multiple news sources. They read multiple newspapers. They watch television. They go to community events. They talk to their friends. They consult blogs and websites,” the Kenilworth developer said. “That group, when they’re ready to inform themselves about the election, will be fully informed and on our side.”
Asked when voters would be fully informed, Kennedy said only that “people decide over different periods” leading up to the March 20 primary election.
* An e-mail forwarded to me which was sent this afternoon by Sen. Chris Nybo to his Senate Republican colleagues…
From: Chris Nybo
Date: Thu, Feb 8, 2018 at 3:18 PM
Subject: John Tillman Non-Profits
To [Senate Republican Email Distribution List]
Hello Everyone,
I am very troubled by the reports about John Tillman’s non-profits that are starting to emerge. I am going to schedule a call with staff to discuss whether we can draft a Joint House Senate Resolution asking for investigations by the FBI, the IRS, or the Attorney General’s Office (as appropriate). Please let me know if you have an interest, and I will include you in the group. Also, this is somewhat sensitive, so I would ask for the courtesy of respecting the confidentiality of caucus communications.
Thanks, Chris
Background is here and here. I’ve asked Mr. Tillman for comment and will post it as soon as I see it.
Man, the knives are really out today.
*** UPDATE 1 *** From John Tillman…
My personal comments:
Sen. Nybo is obviously doing the governor’s bidding. This response and the governor’s response are entirely political theater. Gov. Rauner is well aware of our entire coalition. He was briefed twice on what we’ve built including once at the mansion. He was so impressed with what we’ve built, he hired some of our top staffers. And speaking of the governor’s staff and the repeated turnover, that is an indictment of his ability to lead.
Regarding the Sun Times story, the transactions described were reviewed by our legal and financial counsel, and withstand both legal and ethical scrutiny. It is important to note that the journalists describing them became aware of them specifically because of our scrupulous adherence to both the letter and spirit of the law: they are all publicly disclosed on our required financial forms.
The real intent and purpose of this story — from a union-owned newspaper — is to attack and smear one of the most powerful and compelling threats to the status quo in Illinois. It raises serious questions about the motivation for publishing such a purposely misleading story.
John
*** UPDATE 2 *** Sen. Nybo…
Mr. Tillman’s response reeks of “thou doth protest too much.” I haven’t spoken with the Governor in nine months. This is about good government. And if John, Dan Proft, and their crew are so confident in the lawfulness of their operations, then I expect them to be big supporters of any legislative request to have the FBI, IRS or any other law enforcement agency examine everything. They should, after all, have nothing to worry about, right?
*** UPDATE 3 *** The Circular Firing Squad is locked and loaded…
You know anyone can file a complaint with the Illinois Election Board against Senator Nybo's campaign committee. I'm sure the good senator has nothing to hide so he would welcome the thousands of dollars in legal fees he'd pay to defend himself.
Pritzker can apologize over and over again for the racial remarks he made a decade ago, which were captured on a FBI wiretap of former Gov. Blagojevich’s phone, but — he’s busted.
He got caught saying the very things that a lot of black people suspect white people say when there are no black people in the room.
Pritzker, the billionaire in the Democratic primary for governor, positioned himself as a candidate who genuinely cares about the black condition.
He was strategic is picking a black running mate, Juliana Stratton, and quickly lined up a slew of black elected officials to support him.
But Pritzker’s remarks about three African-American politicians during a private conversation show he didn’t have much respect for black politicians, let alone the black community.
Wednesday afternoon, activist Jedidiah Brown went to a South Side Pritzker campaign office allegedly to get answers about Pritzker’s comments. He did it while on Facebook Live, and after a loud confrontation, was asked to leave the office, which he eventually did. Just another sign that this controversy isn’t over.
That video is here. Brown tried to attend today’s Pritzker meeting with black ministers on the West Side while doing a Facebook Live event. There’s some profanity in both of these vids, but click here to watch if you want.
* Gov. Rauner was asked about Pritzker’s caught on tape comments today…
It’s incredibly disrespectful and demeaning and manipulative and it shows how broken our political system is, with this machine that he’s been part of.
“Crass” is a problematic adjective. It comes from the Latin crassus, which translates to “thick” or “dense” in both the literal and figurative senses. But in contemporary usage, crass has come to mean without refinement or subtlety, as in the crass commercialism of Christmas or the crass rhetoric of President Donald Trump.
Jones, now retired, was old-school — a powerful political insider and canny deal-maker strongly identified with Chicago, where he’d once worked as a sewer inspector. He likely would have had a tougher time winning re-election to the U.S. Senate than White, who’d consistently demonstrated his popularity at the polls statewide.
But “crass”? And just a “little more crass” than White, who was, by implication, therefore, also somewhat crass? Would Pritzker have used that word to describe top Caucasian politicians?
And would he have described the most plausible Caucasian candidate as the “least offensive” option, as he did Jesse White, instead of, say, the “most acceptable” option?
A mild-mannered Ald. Roderick Sawyer (6th), whose father was Chicago’s second black mayor — Eugene Sawyer — has some advice for the bombastic former Senate President Emil Jones, who blasted black pols Tuesday supporting Dem gubernatorial hopeful J.B. Pritzker as being “meek” and “safe” blacks.
“[His father, former Mayor Eugene Sawyer] taught me to make friends; enemies come on their own.
“Being disagreeable doesn’t always bring everything to the table and get the most benefit for your community.
“And I disagree with Emil’s use of the word ‘safe’ black. It’s important to be an electable black.”
What in heaven’s name was Pritzker doing palling around with Blagojevich? No, the governor hadn’t yet been indicted. But there was intense chatter at the time about what the feds were up to. Pritzker was clearly interested in snagging some sort of government job, and he ignored the flashing yellow lights in pursuing it with Blagojevich.
One might say much the same about Pritzker’s refusal to distance himself from Illinois House Speaker Mike Madigan in the same way that Kennedy and Biss have. He’s clearly calculated that being kinda nice to Mike will net him more than ticking the speaker off will.
That tendency—cozying up—is something Pritzker has yet to fully explain. And it bothers me a lot more than his actual comments, though I admit I’m not in a perfect position to lecture black people about how they should feel about such disparaging remarks.
The gubernatorial campaign still has a little time to go. We’ll see what Pritzker does next to make this right—though apologies can only go so far to fix the real, underlying problem, which is how willing he may or may not be to speak truth to those who wield power.
“J.B.’s running around town, calling people, apologizing, and people are saying he needs to show the community some love,” a prominent African-American politician told me Wednesday.
“But love isn’t enough. J.B’s got to show us some glove,” the politico said.
“Glove?” I asked. “G-l-o-v-e, glove?”
“Yeah, glove,” he laughed. “That’s love with a ‘g’ on it. You understand?”
Yes, I do.
And you spell “glove” this way: $$$$.
* Pritzker also dropped by the Chicago Defender for an interview. Not much there, but click here.
* Related…
* WVON: JB Pritzker Joins Maze and Charles to discuss his comments on FBI Tapes
* WVON: Cliff Kelley Discusses JB Pritzker with Emil Jones
* Running mate defends Pritzker over wiretapped remarks: Stratton, in Springfield for legislative session, said what Pritzker “did yesterday is what I would expect any of us who have perhaps made a misstep or done something we’re not necessarily proud of. We admit what it was, we apologize for it.” “But we also point to the things that countered what happened nine years ago and show all the things that (Pritzker’s) done throughout his career and all the things we’ve done on the campaign trail and all the things we expect to do for the people of Illinois once we defeat this failed governor we have now,” Stratton said.
Gov. Rauner: Well, I can tell you I would absolutely not give them another nickel, I can say that. I’ve been a longtime funder of efforts to bring free market principles to Illinois and to America. They used to be an advocate there. But I’m very troubled, very troubled by what I’ve learned. And I certainly would not give them any more money.
Reporter: Can you elaborate on what you’re troubled by?
Gov. Rauner: Based on what I’ve seen, I have not studied the whole article that’s come out, but based on what I’ve been told and what little I’ve learned about it, it sounds like there’s been improper structure there and improper, um, uh, benefits.
Reporter: Do you think the attorney general’s office should take a look at Tillman?
Gov. Rauner: I’ll leave that to the attorney general, but I’m troubled by what I’ve seen.
I’ve asked the attorney general’s office for comment and will post it when I get it.
*** UPDATE *** From the attorney general’s office…
We’re reviewing the information and will determine if we need to take a next step.
[ *** End Of Update *** ]
* Tillman’s response…
Assuming that’s because Diana won’t allow him to donate to us. Regardless, we wouldn’t accept his donation. Our members believe in balanced budgets, responsible gov't and reducing taxes on Illinois’ middle class – all of which @GovRauner has failed to achieve since taking office
The two had a good thing going and didn’t even know it, but then they just had to ruin it by firing Goldberg, et al and moving those Policy Institute employees into the governor’s office, which, in my opinion, led directly to Rauner’s signature on HB40, which totally blew everything up.
Question: “[inaudible] Is there a message there, though, that budget stalemates going two years without a budget is not a good idea?”
Rauner: “It’s a terrible idea.”
Question: “So you’re promising there will not be another stalemate like that?”
Rauner: “Haha, you know what? Speaker Madigan has already indicated, he’s already told members of his caucus that he would love to see another budget stalemate this year. The speaker thrives on that sort of disagreement. That sort of disruption. This is his goal. He views that as politically advantageous for him. That’s a fact. He would love to see that stalemate. I don’t want to see a stalemate. I want more economic growth and truly balanced budgets.”
Question: “Well are you willing to make the kinds of concessions that would be needed to avoid a stalemate. You say you want to repeal this tax, he doesn’t want to repeal this tax.”
Rauner: “So, I was overridden last summer in a massive tax increase with no reforms and a still out of balance budget. Still, even after a massive tax hike, there is still deficit spending, our unpaid bills are still climbing. As they have for years and years and years. This system is broken, Mike Madigan has rigged it to be this way. He’s been in power for 35 years. And he’s run the system for his political benefit rather than what’s good for the people of Illinois. And this is what we need to unite together to change. I believe a new speaker, someone who’s there for the right reasons, not to get rich from high property taxes, which is what Mike Madigan does. Someone who’s there for the right reasons, we can work on a bipartisan basis to get balanced budgets. I know there are Democrats in the General Assembly who’ve I’ve met with who’ve said, “Governor, you’re right. We’d like to work with you but we’re scared….”
Question: “Alright, but if you don’t get a new speaker, are you willing to make the kinds of concessions on repealing the tax, whatever, to avoid another one of these budget stalemates?”
Rauner: “I will negotiate in good faith, make compromise, find common ground in every way that I possibly can. And I’ve done that so far.” [Emphasis added.]
Um, he’s “done that so far”? That might be news to former Senate GOP Leader Christine Radogno and the House Republicans who voted to override his budget and tax vetoes, but whatever. Then again, he did say “in every way that I possibly can,” so maybe that’s his out.
* Anyway, I sent a quick text message to 15 House Democrats asking them if they’d heard Madigan say he’d love to see another budget stalemate this year. I’ve heard back from 13 so far and they all said a version of “No.”
Here’s a few of the texted replies I’ve received so far. I talked to one on the phone because she was driving. Some texts, as you will see, are ever so slightly edited…
F— no. What a liar… You guys have to call him out on that s—.
Nope! We haven’t even discussed the budget yet. We have had two caucus meetings and they have focused on the hospital assessment and sb444. He’s making s— up again
He’s lying
No. Nothing like it
Absolutely not.
Uh no!! And all the members are wanting a budget as far as I know. What a weirdo.
No - we just talked about the Hospital Assessment in Caucus. I’ll check around. The consensus we have is he wouldn’t do that in an election year. [And then several minutes later] Called a few folks I trust and it’s a negative on that statement that I could find. I’ve never heard the speaker say that. Honestly, a budget impasse makes the rank and file look bad as well
He has not said that to me or in caucus. That would not be well received and I do not believe he would say that.
…Adding… Steve Brown says Madigan hasn’t said what the governor claimed. Also, too…
I'll say it on the record. @GovRauner is lying. In no way or form did Speaker Madigan say or hint to House Democrats that he wants a budget stalemate repeated. Rauner should apologize to the Speaker. He's unfit to occupy the Governor's office. https://t.co/6wPqLMPaVf@capitolfax
* The Belleville News-Democrat asked area legislators and candidates about legalizing recreational marijuana. Here’s GOP state Senate candidate Jason Plummer…
“The idea that recreational marijuana is an innocuous substance with no ill effects on personal or public health is false. When I talk to local law enforcement about the possibility of legalizing cannabis, they point out that where they find marijuana, more dangerous substances are very often present. Research backs up their experience that this drug is a gateway for young people who are now increasingly vulnerable to falling victim to opioid addiction.”
He added: “Marijuana stunts neurological development, damages the lungs, just as cigarettes do, and impairs drivers. Special interests see the potential for huge profits, and advocates for legalization of recreational marijuana see a short-term tax windfall as sufficient to justify allowing the spread of drugs throughout our communities, but I view this as a cynical position that carries a long-term cost to families, communities, employers, law enforcement and addicts themselves. I strongly oppose legalization for recreational purposes.”
Rep. Jerry Costello (D-Smithton) also called marijuana a “gateway drug,” as did his Republican opponent and two of Plummer’s Republican primary opponents.
“I do not support it under any circumstances. It has nothing to do other than generate revenue in the state of Illinois with no contemplation of end result, which is addiction, and treatment for addiction and maybe the escalating addiction of marijuana to other drugs, which enhance the feeling or the effect of cannabis.”
Maybe they’re using the “gateway” argument because these candidates live so close to the Gateway Arch. I dunno.
* Anyway, I’ve always thought that for a small number of people, pot can be a gateway drug partly because they grow accustomed to breaking laws so they may start breaking other laws. Or they start hanging out with dealers and bad things start to happen in their own lives. Legalization would mean folks might hang out at the Walgreen’s.
However, the majority of people who use marijuana do not go on to use other, “harder” substances. Also, cross-sensitization is not unique to marijuana. Alcohol and nicotine also prime the brain for a heightened response to other drugs52 and are, like marijuana, also typically used before a person progresses to other, more harmful substances.
It is important to note that other factors besides biological mechanisms, such as a person’s social environment, are also critical in a person’s risk for drug use. An alternative to the gateway-drug hypothesis is that people who are more vulnerable to drug-taking are simply more likely to start with readily available substances such as marijuana, tobacco, or alcohol, and their subsequent social interactions with others who use drugs increases their chances of trying other drugs. Further research is needed to explore this question.
And marijuana can help alleviate the opioid crisis, which is a big dealio down in the Metro East.
* But the grand prize goes to Rep. Charlie Meier’s GOP primary opponent Don Moore, who said: “I’m also not a proponent of looking for easy ways to raise tax dollars.”
St. Clair County State’s Attorney Brendan Kelly, the leading Democrat, outraised incumbent Rep. Mike Bost, R-Murphysboro, in the fourth quarter with more than $315,000, mostly from individuals. Bost raised just over $248,000 in that time, the majority of it from PACs.
The cash-on-hand contest is also competitive. Bost went into 2018 with $686,012 available to him, compared to Kelly’s $520,523.
* Money and other considerations have prompted the Cook Political Report to change the Bost district from “lean Republican” to “toss up”…
IL-12: Mike Bost (R) — Southwest border: East St. Louis, Carbondale
Toss Up. This southern Illinois district gave President Trump a 15 point margin and Bost has been consistently underestimated. But the district also voted for Democratic Sen. Tammy Duckworth by nine points. More importantly, Democrats may have landed their most prized recruit of the 2018 cycle in St. Clair County prosecutor Brendan Kelly, who outraised Bost this past cycle.
Kelly, a Notre Dame graduate and Navy veteran who served on ships in the Middle East, is the type of moderate Democrat that has done well here in the past. He plays up his work in the county attorney’s office combating the opioid epidemic. Republicans hint there’s plenty to go after in his prosecutorial record, but they’ll have a hard time painting Kelly as a liberal. This is a top-tier Democratic opportunity.
Long way to go, so we’ll see. As the rater mentions, Bost is consistently underestimated. And while Trump and Duckworth did both win that district, Republican Leslie Munger also won it by 5 points.
* You may recall that back on December 6th we discussed JB Pritzker’s decision not to debate his rivals during a March 5 debate hosted by WCIA TV in Champaign. He got some heat for the decision at the time, but, for whatever reason, no other media outlet reported on the dispute.
The debate, scheduled to be hosted by Springfield-area television station WCIA, is in danger of being cancelled after Pritzker’s campaign confirmed this week that the candidate will not participate in the event.
* Sen. Daniel Biss, who, unlike Pritzker, is not airing any TV ads on Downstate stations, has launched an online petition to save the debate. Press release…
Nexstar, the corporate owners of WCIA Channel 3 in Springfield and its media partners, are considering cancelling the only televised downstate debate before the March 20 primary election because JB Pritzker is declining to participate. This debate, scheduled for March 5, would be hosted by WCIA Channel 3 and would be televised in every media market in the state.
In the past month, WCIA has published two stories critical of Pritzker. WCIA’s reporting in one story showed how Pritzker had cashed out hundreds of millions of dollars in Hyatt stock, funneling the transactions through shell corporations. In the second story, WCIA revealed that Pritzker had used two of his other firms to max out contributions to Michael Madigan and the Illinois Democratic Party as he was preparing to run for governor.
“Pritzker, who has recently dropped in the polls and is batting off one negative news story after another is clearly worried about going up on stage in front of a statewide audience two weeks before primary election day,” said Biss communications director Tom Elliott.
“We’ve seen this before: a billionaire businessman who doesn’t want to answer tough questions and blames the media while avoiding them. If Pritzker is that worried about facing questions from members of the press or from members of his own party, he is clearly not ready to go up against Bruce Rauner in the general election.”
“Middle class and working families can’t afford four more years of Bruce Rauner, and they deserve to hear from the candidates seeking to replace him. Daniel Biss agreed to this debate when it was first proposed last year, and intends to participate.
The Biss campaign is inviting Illinois voters who share this commitment to help “Save our Downstate Debate” by signing a petition, which will be delivered to Nexstar and WCIA Channel 3.
* Chris Kennedy, who also isn’t airing any Downstate ads, has his own petitions…
Chris Kennedy’s campaign for governor launched an online petition today, urging organizers of the state’s only televised debate happening outside of Chicago to keep the debate as scheduled, despite JB Pritzker’s decision not to participate: https://kennedyforillinois.com/wcia-petition/
Chris Kennedy:
“By rejecting the only televised debate scheduled outside the Chicago market, JB Pritzker has sent a clear message to voters that they’re not worthy of hearing where he stands on the issues. This is a clear indicator of what a Pritzker administration would look like: a top-down approach to leadership and no transparency. It all sounds dangerously familiar. We all need to be vetted by the press and by the voters. JB shouldn’t be exempt from that, but if he chooses to hide behind his TV ads and sit out this debate, the debate should still happen. Voters should still have the opportunity to hear from the candidates who have the courage to face them.”
Robin Kelly: I’m Congresswoman Robin Kelly. We all know our property tax system is broken and our communities are paying the price. But this March, we can fix it. And Fritz Kaegi is leading the charge.
Fritz Kaegi: I’m Fritz Kaegi and I’m running for assessor because we all deserve fairness. And that’s worth fighting for.
David Orr: Fritz is a progressive Democrat. He’s a finance professional. He’s a numbers guy. And he’s the best candidate to clean up the mess in the Assessor’s office.
Robin Kelly: They say we can’t beat the machine, but We Can!
* Berrios challenger Kaegi calls assessor’s office ‘for sale’ as candidates hold dueling news conferences: Cook County Assessor Joe Berrios and primary challenger Fritz Kaegi engaged in political stagecraft on Wednesday via dueling news conferences scheduled for the same time and the same floor of the County Building. First, Berrios announced he was extending the deadline for senior citizen homeowners to seek a property tax exemption, saying, “I have always paid special attention to seniors.” Kaegi, meanwhile, waited in the hallway outside the assessor’s office for Berrios to finish. Then, Kaegi stood behind a sign declaring Berrios’ office was “for sale” and accused the incumbent of “auctioning lower property tax assessments in exchange for campaign cash.” Kaegi was referring to Berrios’ acceptance of campaign contributions from property tax appeals lawyers, whose work Kaegi said ends up giving owners of more expensive properties a break, increasing the property tax burden on owners of lower-priced properties. That “leads to a structurally racist outcome that most impacts black and brown communities all over this county,” Kaegi said.
* Berrios, Kaegi Clash Over Tax System During Melrose Park Forum: Kaegi, said he is the only candidate in the race who is a certified Illinois assessment officer (“which is required for every township assessor and county assessor in the state except Cook County”) and that he would commit to three immediate priorities once he gets in office. If elected, the Oak Park resident said, his first-year priorities in office would be to implement a valuation model “that is more accurate and less regressive,” reveal how taxpayers’ assessments are calculated, and refuse to tax donations from property tax appeals lawyers. “I can do all of this in the first year without any new laws,” Kaegi said.
* Pritzker’s latest 15-second TV ad on Daniel Biss…
* Script…
Dan Biss says he’s a proven progressive. But he’s taken money from big banks. And Biss voted with Republicans in Springfield and voted to let the state garnish wages when people fall behind on student loans.
Amends the Higher Education Student Assistance Act. Authorizes the Illinois Student Assistance Commission to deduct from the salary, wages, commissions, and bonuses of any employee in this State and, as otherwise permitted, any employee outside the State of Illinois by serving a notice of administrative wage garnishment on an employer for the recovery of a student loan debt owned or serviced by the Commission. Provides that levy must not be made until the Commission has caused a demand to be made on the employee such that the employee is provided an opportunity to contest the existence or amount of the student loan obligation. Effective immediately.
In a desperate attempt to change the subject away from his racially offensive discussions about African-American elected officials with disgraced former Governor Rod Blagojevich, JB Pritzker is once again attacking Daniel Biss. The new attack ad comes on the same day polling shows Biss is the stronger candidate to beat Governor Bruce Rauner in the general election.
“Pritzker’s panic continues,” said Abby Witt, campaign manager for the Biss campaign. “In JB’s latest sloppy attack ad, the billionaire venture capitalist claims to be better on reducing student debt and college costs than the middle-class father whose family recently finished paying off student loans and who passed the Student Loan Bill of Rights into law this year.
“It’s clear JB will say anything to deflect attention from the constant drumbeat of negative stories about him. JB can reinvent Daniel’s record all he wants, but voters know Daniel is a proven progressive who’ll fight for working families. The same can’t be said for JB Pritzker, whose record remains as elusive as his tax returns.”
OK, except notice the Biss folks didn’t address the substance of the ad.
As Illinois prepares for Governor Bruce Rauner to unveil a proposed budget next week, the worst-rated state is already awash in billions of dollars of red ink, according to Comptroller Susana Mendoza.
Lawmakers and Rauner will have to contend with deficit spending in the current fiscal year as they work to craft a spending plan for next year, according to Mendoza, a Democrat whose office is charged with paying the state’s bills. She outlined the shortfall in an interview at her office in Chicago:
* $2.3 billion of deficit spending in the form of unappropriated liabilities held at state agencies as of Dec. 31
* $8.4 billion of unpaid bills as of Feb. 7
* $1.03 billion of late-payment interest fees incurred as of Dec. 31, 2017 - Note: At least $143m has been paid
* $1.7 billion general fund deficit, according to the governor’s office of management and budget
Rauner on Feb. 14 is scheduled to present his spending plan for the fiscal year that begins July 1. The Republican, who is up for re-election this year, has pledged to roll back an income-tax hike enacted by the legislature in July over his veto. That revenue boost ended an unprecedented two-year budget impasse, which had threatened to send the state to junk-status. Lowering taxes even just a quarter point would shave an estimated $1 billion off the state’s projected revenue, according to the comptroller’s office.
* The Bloomberg story was published before the governor’s budget director testified yesterday with some updated numbers. Monique Garcia and Bill Lukitsch at the Tribune…
[Budget director Hans Zigmund] said the lawmakers’ budget plan was nearly $1.7 billion out of balance, but that number has been whittled down to $600 million through a combination of spending cuts, borrowing from specialized accounts and more revenue coming in than expected.
So, the budget passed over the governor’s veto is $600 million out of whack, which isn’t gigantic.
Then [Zigmund] detailed looming problems, including the state’s roughly $8.3 billion pile of unpaid bills. Of that, $1.1 billion is tied to what Zigmund called “unappropriated liabilities,” or money the administration spent without permission from lawmakers as it sought to keep the prison system and Medicaid program afloat during the impasse.
Zigmund said Rauner would propose a way to address the combined $9 billion shortfall next week.
Zigmund’s unappropriated liabilities number is less than half the comptroller’s, so I’m not sure what’s going on there.
The state did not have a budget in place for the 2017 fiscal year but kept spending money through a variety of court orders, consent decrees and automatic spending.
About 85 percent of the supplemental spending request is for expenses for Corrections and for Medicaid.
Sen. Heather Steans, D-Chicago, who chairs one of the Senate Appropriations committees asked how soon the money to operate Corrections will run out if a supplemental bill isn’t approved.
“Very quickly,” Zigmund replied. “Right now, we are having to very actively manage (the bills) that are going over to the comptroller, to do things like make sure the prisoners are fed, make sure the garbage is taken out, make sure the water and lights are running.”
“Unappropriated liabilities” also includes running up the state’s tab by signing contracts without authorizing appropriations.
* And none of this includes GOMB’s previously projected $2.15 billion deficit for FY 2019, which starts July 1.
However, not all of those unpaid state bills are actually overdue. A few billion or so are likely within the normally acceptable bill-paying cycle. So, the hole, including next fiscal year’s projection, is maybe somewhere around $8 billion. Hooray!
* Keep all that in mind when the Illinois Policy Institute claims it has a balanced budget proposal. The institute says it has found $2.173 billion in alleged savings, some of which are impossible to accomplish with Democrats in charge and some are fiscally iffy to say the least.
Either way, the plan addresses only next fiscal year’s problem while seemingly ignoring the carry-over from this fiscal year.
A communications staffer ousted by Gov. Bruce Rauner is accusing the governor’s office of stonewalling on requests for public information, including emails to and from first lady Diana Rauner regarding an abortion bill the governor angered conservatives by signing.
A former member of Gov. Rauner’s communications team has asked to dismiss a lawsuit seeking emails from first lady Diana Rauner about a controversial abortion bill.
The suit was filed by Diana Rickert, who briefly served as Rauner’s chief of staff for communications last summer. It alleges the governor’s office did not follow open records laws by failing to release records she requested.
Court records show Rickert filed a motion to voluntarily dismiss the suit Wednesday. Attorneys for the Liberty Justice Center, which is where she now works and which is representing her in the case, did not respond to a request for comment.
Rauner spokeswoman Rachel Bold said the administration provided Rickert with documents and “there was nothing left to litigate.”
Billionaire JB Pritzker is the wealthiest candidate ever to run for Illinois governor and likely the most philanthropic, laying claim to at least $152 million in donations in recent years to children’s programs, universities, hospitals, a state Holocaust museum and much more.
Some of those donations have gone to causes tied to politicians and social activists now endorsing Pritzker’s campaign. Also In late 2016, he gave $250,000 to the non-profit bankrolling restoration of the governor’s mansion in Springfield, the same residence Pritzker soon after began campaigning to occupy.
Pritzker’s largesse is a major selling point of his bid for governor. But a Better Government Association examination shows that charity comes at little real cost to the candidate himself but considerable expense to federal and state treasuries.
Records show Pritzker has funded his charitable giving almost exclusively with inherited proceeds, much of it filtered through offshore tax havens and then deposited in a tax-exempt nonprofit he controls, the Pritzker Family Foundation.
The result is that Pritzker’s philanthropy, and any accolades that go with it, have been bankrolled with what is essentially found money. He did little to earn the proceeds and paid no taxes on the bulk of it before giving it away.
Pritzker’s record as a philanthropist is a central element in a campaign that asks Illinois voters to put him in charge of their tax money. In ads and speeches, he stresses how he has used his money to do good and make a difference.
But the complete story is more complex. Most people who make charitable donations do so out of earnings or savings on which they have already paid taxes. Pritzker, on the other hand, did no work for most of the money he has given away or pay taxes on it.
Go read the whole thing. Pritzker has basically admitted doing this for a while, saying he doesn’t pocket money from overseas family trusts and donates it to charity. But the BGA story is another, less, um, charitable, way of looking at it.
* Pritzker campaign response…
JB is very proud of his work with charitable causes across Illinois. Everything from expanding school breakfast programs to 235,000 low-income kids, to helping create a non-profit technology incubator that’s created over 7,000 jobs, to standing up for wrongly convicted men and women behind bars and building a museum that every year teaches 60,000 Illinois kids and teachers to stand up to hate.
The fact is the trusts referenced in today’s story were set up generations ago by relatives of JB, but it was JB who made the decision that all distributions made should be given entirely to charity. As a result, hundreds of millions of dollars have gone to support meaningful programs across Illinois.
The suggestion that JB’s commitment of countless of hours of time and millions of dollars in support to these organizations is not genuine, and even worse, questioning the sincerity of the motives of people supporting his campaign like Barbara Bowman and Holocaust survivors who personally worked with JB to build the museum is not only incorrect, it’s insulting.
Pritzker has played a major fundraising role for construction of the Illinois Holocaust Museum and Education Center museum in Skokie, and his foundation donated $9.9 million to the effort. Two Holocaust survivors, leaders of the drive to build the museum, appear in another Pritzker campaign ad titled “Standing Up to Hate.”
Slayen said the donations and endorsements reflect long standing relationships and shared interests, not political tit-for-tat.
“To be clear, the implication you’re making is both ridiculous and offensive,” Pritzker’s spokeswoman said. “And if you are seriously asking if Holocaust survivors, a champion for early childhood education, and a decades long public servant are trading their endorsements for charitable contributions then the answer is unequivocally no.”
* The Pritzker campaign would like you to see their full response…
And if you are seriously asking if Holocaust survivors, a champion for early childhood education, and a decades long public servant are trading their endorsements for charitable contributions then the answer is unequivocally no. It is incredibly insulting to the lives these people have led and the impact that they’ve had on their communities to even make such an accusation. We are honestly dumbfounded that an organization like the BGA, which again, has received significant contributions from JB’s Foundation, would attempt to connect nonexistent dots.
* I told subscribers about this poll earlier today, but had a brain freeze and wrote something which I then had to correct. Been one of those mornings…
Daniel Biss today released a new poll of a general election audience, showing that Biss withstands JB Pritzker’s hypocritical attacks and is polling stronger than any other candidate in the race against Bruce Rauner, despite Pritzker’s historic spending, so far at more than $20 million. In head-to-head matchups, Biss leads Rauner by 17 points (47% Biss / 30% Rauner / 23% not sure), while the race is narrower between the two billionaires (48% Pritzker / 35% Rauner / 17% not sure).
Meanwhile, billionaire politicians are remarkably unpopular in the state, with Pritzker nine points underwater at 33% favorable / 42% unfavorable, Donald Trump down 21 points (37% favorable / 58% unfavorable) and Bruce Rauner down a whopping 37 points, with 26% favorable / 63% unfavorable.
“This confirms what we’ve known all along: voters prefer a middle-class governor in Daniel Biss rather than having to choose between billionaires Pritzker and Rauner,” said Biss campaign manager Abby Witt. “Despite Pritzker outspending Daniel 20-to-1 on TV ads, Daniel continues to build momentum and is the strongest candidate to beat Bruce Rauner.”
The poll, conducted February 5 - 6, 2018, samples a general election audience and comes on the heels of a public poll and JB Pritzker’s own polling showing Biss surging into second place.
Through an often-dizzying series of transactions, Tillman and his associates have moved millions of dollars around five interconnected nonprofits they run, steering money to for-profit ventures in which they have a stake.
For example, in addition to his role as chief executive officer at the institute, Tillman is the board chairman and former president of Think Freely Media, another small-government nonprofit that once shared office space with the institute and received hundreds of thousands of dollars from it in grant money.
In 2015, Think Freely Media made a $49,400, no-interest loan to a for-profit data and marketing company called Crowdskout. That came a few months after the nonprofit loaned Crowdskout $60,000 plus interest. At the time, Tillman had “majority unit control” of the entity that owned Crowdskout, according to a financial audit of Think Freely Media. […]
“If this is basically seen as an indirect loan to the officer, that’s a flat-out violation of nonprofit law in Illinois,” [ Lloyd Hitoshi Mayer of the University of Notre Dame Law School] said. […]
“Obviously, these are all fully disclosed transactions, all at fair market value as they should be,” Tillman wrote. “And yes, people and companies are paid for providing services. When I have had a role with an organization, that relationship must be properly disclosed to the board and I recused myself regarding any decisions made.”
On four occasions from 2013 to 2015, Think Freely Media gave grants to nonprofits that then hired for-profit marketing firms controlled by Tillman, records show.
“We’ve had the good fortune of being able to assist others in getting off the ground along the way — all of which is publicly reported,” Tillman wrote.
Tillman pitched Crowdskout to many Republicans, and Rauner hired the firm in 2016, paying it $200,000 to do market research for his campaign, according to state records.
The poll — which has a 2.82 percent margin of error — surveyed 1,209 likely Democratic primary voters on Tuesday and Wednesday and has Pritzker ahead by just more than three percentage points. […]
Of African-American voters polled, 28.1 percent said they still supported Pritzker; 22.9 percent supported Kennedy and 20.3 percent said they’d vote for Biss. There were still 18.2 percent of American-American voters that were undecided, according to the poll.
The poll also asked specific supporters whether there’s still room to change their mind ahead of the primary. Of Pritzker supporters, 56.7 percent said they might switch their votes; nearly 41 percent of Kennedy and Biss supporters said they might also change their minds.
Voters were also asked who their second choice would be for governor. About 46 percent of Pritzker voters chose Kennedy; 21.5 percent chose Biss. Of Biss voters, 17.8 percent chose Pritzker and 66.1 percent chose Kennedy. Of Kennedy voters, 24.4 percent said their second choice was Pritzker, while 52.3 percent chose Biss.
*** UPDATE *** Man, I have had such a horrible morning. I was thinking of another firm when I posted this story. Click here and here for some unflattering background on the pollster.
