“I probably just lost $50,000. That’s my first house.” So said Illinois farmer Aaron Wernz, speaking to a Wall Street Journal reporter after China announced it would put a hefty 25 percent tariff on U.S. soybeans, which Wernz grows. The tariffs will raise prices to Chinese buyers and cut their purchases, which could cost American soybean growers $1.7 billion. […]
Last month, the administration announced it would put new duties on all imported aluminum and steel, before deciding to exempt Canada, Mexico, the European Union and other countries. The chief target was China, which answered with tariffs on U.S. pork, fruit and nuts.
Then the Trump administration announced 25 percent duties on more than 1,300 Chinese products worth some $50 billion. Beijing countered with equal levies on $50 billion of 128 U.S. goods, notably soybeans, corn, cotton, chemicals and cars. There may be more tariffs to come.
If China slaps a heavy tariff on soybean imports, 43,000 Illinois soybean farmers will scream. But so, too, will Illinois taxpayers as our state’s miserable economy takes another big hit. If China slaps a tariff on pork, some 2,000 Illinois pork farmers will howl, and so will we all.
State tax revenues will drop, revenues and profits for related businesses will take a dive, and good luck, Illinois, in clawing back to economic and fiscal health. […]
Illinois is the United States’ leading producer of soybeans, and China is our best customer. The Chinese buy almost 25 percent of the state’s output, about $1.75 billion in soybeans.
Last year, Illinois produced nearly 612 million bushels of soybeans, according to the Illinois Soybean Association. And about 114,000 people in Illinois have jobs thanks to that huge demand for soybeans and byproducts, such as soybean meal and biodiesel, according to the association’s marketing committee chairman, Austin Rincker.
Overall, revenues for Illinois farmers are down considerably in the last five years, in part because grain supplies have outpaced demands, but soybeans have been the exception. They have been profitable, Rincker says, “because of the demand in China.”
President Donald Trump’s move to slap $50 billion in tariffs on Chinese imports threatens to complicate and sharply drive up the cost of a much-ballyhooed contract the Chicago Transit Authority has struck with a Chinese firm to produce as many as 836 train cars.
The up to $1.3 billion pact was awarded two years ago to CSR Sifang America, now known as CRRC Sifang America, which is scheduled to deliver two prototype cars next year before beginning full production. Mayor Rahm Emanuel lauded the deal because, under its terms, Sifang would open a plant at 135th and Torrence, the first rail plant of any kind in many decades in the Pullman neighborhood, which once was the center of the nation’s rail-vehicle industry.
The new problem is that Sifang will only assemble the cars at 135th and Torrence. Their components will be made elsewhere, including in China, and Trump’s proposed new tariffs would impose a 25 percent duty on rail cars, their parts and components imported from that country.
The CTA’s contract includes a “buy America” clause requiring that at least 69 percent of the components in the cars assembled by Sifang be produced in this country. But that still leaves hundreds of millions of dollars’ worth in other components that could come from China and therefore be subject to a 25 percent tariff.
Proft calls concerns about the publications’ funding and transparency hypocritical.
“[W]hen Gateway or you do a story about the AFL-CIO Sun-Times or the Amazon Post raising the same questions and self-reverential ‘concerns’ and getting anywhere near the transparency provided by the enterprises with which I’m associated, then I’ll take inquiries such as yours more seriously,” Proft wrote, referring to The Washington Post owner and Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos and the union owners of the Sun-Times. “Until then, I will properly see them as the thinly-veiled political attacks they are by those who don’t care to see conservative perspectives and news stories they would never cover make their way into public discussion.” […]
Brian Timpone, who runs the LGIS hyperlocal publications, is critical of nostalgia for local journalism’s fatter days. “Everyone,” he tells CJR, “reminisces about the glory days of the statehouse.” Two decades ago, Timpone worked as a TV reporter and covered the capitol for WCIA-TV. He was also the co-founder of Journatic, which CJR previously called a “local news outsourcing company” and which was submerged in scandal following revelations of fake bylines and plagiarism. (Journatic changed its name to LocalLabs in 2014.)
Timpone blames traditional reporters for helping to push the state toward its fiscal crisis today. “It’s really criminal what happened to Illinois and it all happened at a time when there were a lot more reporters—and nobody said a damn thing,” Timpone says. “All they did was they reported the news of the day like stenographers, and they’re doing the same thing today as they did then.”
Republican State Sen. Jason Barickman of Bloomington told WJBC’s Scott Laughlin he expects more gamesmanship from the Democratic leaders to prevent anything that might help Gov. Bruce Rauner win reelection in November.
“(Illinois House Speaker Mike) Madigan is a seasoned pro at controlling that legislative process to ensure that,” Barickman snarked. “I don’t think Madigan will want to give a full-year budget because it will be perceived as a win for Rauner.”
* The Question: What do you think will happen with the budget this spring?
She’s here! Diana and I are excited to announce the arrival of our first grandchild. Hearts full and blessed beyond words to welcome this perfect gift into the family. pic.twitter.com/3j5faJ9jl3
* Every four years, Republican Party conventions of precinct committeemen are held in every Illinois county for the purpose of electing state central committee members in each of the state’s congressional districts. The filing deadline was March 26th. Dave Diersen posted a list of contested races. I’ve added incumbent (i) designations…
Congressional District 1
• Shawn Murphy, Evergreen Park (i)
• David Smith, Frankfort
Congressional District 2
• Judy Diekelman, Thornton (i)
• George Pearson, Monee
Congressional District 5
• Jack Dorgan, Rosemont (i)
• Chris Cleveland, Chicago
Congressional District 6
• Brian Colgan, Naperville (i)
• Seth Lewis, Bartlett
• Bob Grogan, Downers Grove
Congressional District 7
• Carol Smith Donovan, Chicago (i)
• Adrian Wright, Chicago
• Mark Hosty, River Forest
Congressional District 8
• Ryan Higgins, Schaumburg (i)
• Paul Hinds, Villa Park
Congressional District 9
• Char Foss-Eggman, Park Ridge
• Sallie Nyhan Davis, Glenview
Congressional District 13
• Fred Floreth, Springfield (i)
• Dustin Peterson, Clinton
Congressional District 15
• Bob Winchester, Rosiclare (i)
• Chapin Rose, Mahomet
Congressional District 16
• John McGlasson, Pontiac (i)
• Tom Demmer, Dixon
Congressional District 17
• Jan Weber, Geneseo (i)
• Patrick Harlan, Galesburg
That’s a lot of challenges.
I asked Dan Proft if he was behind any of these candidates in an attempt to take over the party. Chris Cleveland was a big Jeanne Ives supporter, for example, as was David Smith, Patrick Harlan and others on that list.
Proft’s texted response…
Think you’ve got it reversed. It reads to me as if Rauner and his big government apparatchiks are working to continue their purge of conservatives from the party per their backing candidates against McGlasson, Floreth and Winchester. Message to Ives and her supporters: leave the party.
I checked in with the ILGOP, former statewide candidate Bob Grogan and the Ives campaign, but haven’t yet heard back.
With his own re-election most definitely in jeopardy—national handicapper Larry Sabato dubs him “the most endangered” GOP incumbent governor in the country—who does Gov. Bruce Rauner have coming here next week to star at a big-bucks dinner to raise money for his campaign and the Illinois Republican Party?
Answer: Another GOP incumbent whose state Senate has turned on him, just saw another key ally go down in a special election, was labeled “a threat to democracy” by his capital’s leading newspaper, and who has taken to tweeting about a looming “blue wave” that’s going to wash away his accomlisments. That would be Wisconsin’s Gov. Scott Walker, who’s the big draw at the April 12 Chicago Hilton event for which tickets are going for as much as $50,000, but whose own re-election bid in cheesehead-land is no sure bet.
Walker always has been one of the role models Rauner mentions when asked who’s got the right stuff in politics, and indeed Walker—who unlike Rauner has a Legislature controlled by his own party—has been pretty much able to de-fang organized labor and bring down the state’s unemployment rate, though Wisconsin’s record of attracting new residents isn’t much better than Illinois’.
Democratic candidate for Illinois Governor, J.B. Pritzker, is promoting his plan for a progressive or graduated income tax, but is declining to provide specifics.
When questioned Wednesday by WJBC’s Sam Wood, Pritzker was vague about taxes during the two years he says it will take to amend the state constitution, which is required to enact a progressive tax that forces the wealthy to pay more.
Pritzker pledges to reduce the tax burden on the middle class.
“Lowering the tax burden is the goal by lowering the tax rate that they might pay on income taxes, and also, very importantly, lowering local property taxes, which are so regressive,” Pritzker said.
* Aside from his refusal to lay out his tax rates or say which income levels will pay higher rates, the other problem with Pritzker’s argument about making the wealthy pay more state taxes is this…
The returns also showed that in 2014, [JB Pritzker and his spouse] paid no state income taxes after taking nearly $150,000 in tax credits for research and development, as well as for property taxes and educational expenses.
Even 10 percent of nothing is still nothing for someone with a smart CPA.
…Adding… From the interview…
If we create jobs, we’re gonna add revenue to the coffers of the state of Illinois because we’re gonna bring new jobs online so people will pay taxes. Businesses will grow, they’ll pay taxes. That’s a great way to do, to bring revenue into the state without raising taxes at all. And that would be my goal, of course. You know, nobody wants to raise taxes.
Um, OK. He’s said time and time again that he’ll pay for his proposals by raising taxes.
Southern Illinois University trustees will consider a plan to gradually shift state funding from the Carbondale campus to the Edwardsville campus to reflect enrollment shifts.
Historically the Carbondale campus has had about 64 percent of state funding and about 36 percent went to Edwardsville. That split mirrored enrollment, The (Carbondale) Southern Illinoisan reported.
However enrollment at the Carbondale campus has been declining and more students are enrolling at Edwardsville. Enrollment distribution between the two schools is now about equal with Carbondale at about 14,500 students and Edwardsville with about 13,800 students.
Trustees are to vote at the April 12 meeting on whether to “begin a phased adjustment of the state appropriation allocation in a more equitable fashion.”
The first phase of the proposal, a “good-faith effort” to begin the process, would reallocate an additional $5.1 million of the state appropriation to the Edwardsville campus for FY ’19.
The proposal doesn’t lay out a definite end goal for reallocation, but it calls for System President Randy Dunn to hire an external consultant to develop a recommended formula for addressing the funding gap — and it anticipates that the recommendation might fall somewhere between $17.7 million and $23.3 million in funds transferred to SIUE.
During the state budget impasse last year, SIUC borrowed $35 million from SIUE after exhausting $83 million in reserves.
On March 1, the SIUE Faculty Senate adopted a resolution calling on the Board of Trustees to “create a new, fair and dynamic formula” to “reallocate the SIU system budget in a just and equitable manner.”
* I skimmed through the report yesterday (click here). What really jumped out at me was that SIUC’s fall 1999 enrollment was 22,596 and its fall 2017 enrollment was just 14,184. That’s a 37 percent decrease. Whoa.
Meanwhile, fall 1999 enrollment at SIUE was 11,877, compared to 13,796 last fall.
To say that SIUC’s future is bleak would be an understatement. Its legislators better get on this soon or they could wind up with a ghost town.
Two weeks after voters went to the polls, one of two Democrats vying to take on Republican Cook County Board Commissioner Timothy Schneider in November has declared victory in the primary, after counting of the last provisional ballots showed he was 12 votes ahead.
Barring any last-minute hitches before the county election results are certified Tuesday, Kevin Morrison, of Elk Grove Village, will advance to face Schneider, chairman of the state GOP and an ally of Gov. Bruce Rauner, in the fall.
Democrats figure Schneider, a third-term commissioner from Bartlett, could be vulnerable. Hillary Clinton won 57 percent of the vote in his northwest suburban district in 2016, compared with 37 percent for President Donald Trump.
“The status quo isn’t working for our families,” Morrison said in his statement declaring victory in the primary.
Morrison won endorsements from Elk Grove Township Democratic Committeeman Ted Mason, Wheeling Township Democratic Committeeman Mark Walker and U.S. Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-9th).
State Central committeeman Mike Cudzik also backed him.
* Morrison was up against an opponent who produced kinda weird campaign videos like this one…
Don’t laugh, Ravi Raju almost won, even though the Trib says he “only raised $3,000 and ran something of a stealth candidacy.”
Raju had the backing of Palatine Township Democratic Committeeman Matt Flamm, who state campaign disclosures show was his campaign fundraising committee chairman.
If the Democrats want to beat Schneider, they’re gonna have to first figure out what went so horribly wrong with Morrison.
…Adding… It turns out that Raju has taken GOP primary ballots the last two cycles…
And yet he still almost won. Morrison was obviously over-confident. A mailer or two highlighting this voting record would’ve sufficed. Oops.
* Since this is a Morning Consult poll, you need to keep in mind that the firm’s methodology is unusual and opaque…
Morning Consult conducted surveys with 987,166 registered U.S. voters from Jan. 20, 2017 to March 31, 2018 to determine the approval ratings for President Donald Trump in each of the 50 states and Washington, D.C., for each month. […]
The results use a statistical technique called multilevel regression and poststratification (MRP) to estimate state-level public opinion from the national survey data. MRP has been widely used in industry and in academia, and MRP estimates of state- and congressional district-level public opinion have generally been shown to outperform national polling, especially when there are few respondents in smaller geographic areas.
* Anyway, the poll found that the president’s Illinois approval rating is 36 percent. His disapproval rating is 60 percent. The claimed MoE is 1 percent.
Illinois disapproves of Trump more than most states. Only Hawaii, Massachusetts, Vermont and California give him worse ratings, according to this poll.
Shot-Chaser: Pritzker Says People Aren’t Leaving Illinois Because of Decades of Tax Hikes
The Chicago Tribune recently published an editorial featuring hardworking Illinois families that have left the state due to high taxes. But this is a reality that seems completely lost on JB Pritzker.
SHOT
“James Heard wrote a letter to Gov. Bruce Rauner when they moved, explaining why they had to go. Their property taxes had risen from about $1,600 when they bought their five-bedroom Homer Glen home in 1996 to nearly $10,000 by the time they left. They sold their house for $325,000 and made a little money. But the value of the home did not keep pace with the property taxes owed.
‘I was paying more than my fair share,’ he said. ‘I don’t see any way out (for Illinois). People making $100,000 or more are just going to leave. They’re all looking at northwest Indiana to get away from the taxes.’
Heard voted for Rauner in 2014 and thought the new governor might be able to change the tax-and-spend culture of Springfield. But the Democrats blocked Rauner’s agenda. Heard places the blame ’square on the shoulder of (House Speaker) Michael Madigan and the powerful interests of Chicago. The state just appears to be getting more and more liberal. They’re going to be running out of people to take things from.’”
CHASER
Pritzker shows just how out of touch he is with Illinois families, says “people aren’t leaving Illinois because they’re overtaxed.”
* I subscribe to the Rauner campaign’s YouTube page, so I was notified when that video popped up on Monday. I sent the link to the Pritzker campaign for comment, and they said there was more context.
Charles: How do you… I mean Governor Rauner says that he wants to incentivize businesses to stay in Illinois, keep their jobs here and keep Illinoisans from leaving the state. What are you going to do to specifically incentivize businesses statewide to get them to stay here?
JB: People are not leaving because they’re getting overtaxed. People are leaving this state because there’s complete uncertainty about the future of our state. So the biggest challenge is, Bruce Rauner can say everything he wants, but he’s created this complete uncertainty. Who wants to invest in a business or a factory…
Charles: But there was uncertainty before he came into office…
JB: No, I’m telling you right now he’s driven it off a cliff. What business wants to invest $40 million to build a factory in the state of Illinois when they don’t know if we’re gonna have a budget or be able to pay for education?
Maze: Speaking of that factory though. Illinois has the highest black unemployment in the country.
While Bruce Rauner redacts and refuses to release emails that shed light on why it took “so long” to “take action” on the 2015 Legionnaires’ outbreak, a new report uncovers some of what Rauner was hiding.
One missing email chain was about correspondence from a son who “condemned the state for withholding information about Legionnaires’ at the home as his father lay dying.” But those emails were not among the 442 printed emails delivered to lawmakers jumbled and out of order. “It looks like they literally just threw them up in the air,” Senator Tom Cullerton told WBEZ.
“This is a blatant cover up and our Veterans and their families deserve the truth,” said Pritzker campaign spokeswoman Jordan Abudayyeh. “From redacting vital information to jumbling public records, Bruce Rauner is more concerned with his public image than the wellbeing of Illinois Veterans. While legislators investigate his fatal mismanagement, this failed governor is trying to throw them off instead of coming up with concrete solutions to end the Legionnaires’ crisis.”
A WBEZ analysis of nearly 450 pages of emails found that government lawyers blacked out portions of more than half the documents recently turned over to a legislative panel investigating the state’s inability to contain the waterborne illness. Repeated outbreaks at the home since 2015 have contributed to the deaths of 13 residents and sickened dozens more.
The way the government lawyers wielded their figurative black markers to redact hundreds of Legionnaires’-related emails has some lawmakers fuming and government transparency advocates crying foul.
WBEZ had previously obtained some Legionnaires’-related emails from the public health department in Adams County, where the Quincy home is located. The Rauner administration later handed over some of those same emails to the legislative committee investigating the outbreaks — with significantly more redactions.
By cross-checking the two groups of documents, it’s possible to see some of what Rauner’s office didn’t want lawmakers to see.
In some cases, lawmakers received documents so heavily redacted that they were virtually useless. Furthermore, lawmakers simply did not receive some emails written by administration officials that WBEZ knows to exist.
Taken individually (except for the Tom Cullerton thing), I’m not sure the article makes a good case that the administration’s black-outs were particularly egregious. The overall impression, however, is certainly not good.
Members of the village board in the northern Chicago suburb of Deerfield have voted unanimously to ban certain semi-automatic firearms.
The amendment to the village’s gun ordinance restricts firearms that village leaders define as assault weapons along with high-capacity magazines. That includes the AR-15, which has been used in mass shootings.
Violations carry a fine of between $250 and $1,000 per day, according to Matthew Rose, the village attorney. He said the fine is levied each day until there is compliance.
Street said the new law is modeled after one approved by Highland Park in 2013. That ban survived a legal challenge by one of the city’s residents and the Illinois State Rifle Association. The 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals held that legislation constitutional and the U.S. Supreme Court let the decision stand when it declined to take up the appeal.
Unlike Highland Park, Deerfield opted not to enact a total ban on assault weapons during a 10-day window that Illinois lawmakers’ gave home-rule municipalities in 2013 before the state’s new Firearm Concealed Carry Act eliminated their ability to do so.
However, Deerfield trustees did enact an ordinance defining assault weapons and requiring the safe storage and safe transportation of those weapons within the village. That measure, which was enacted during the permitted time frame, preserved Deerfield’s right to amend the ordinance in the future, Street previously said.
“This is not only held constitutional by the Seventh Circuit but similar laws have been ruled constitutional in California, the District of Columbia and Maryland,” Rose said last month.
* NRA…
The National Rifle Association Institute for Legislative Action (NRA-ILA) today announced support for a lawsuit brought by Guns Save Life challenging the Village of Deerfield, Illinois’ gun confiscation ordinance. The lawsuit challenges Deerfield’s recent attempt to criminalize so-called “assault weapons” and “high capacity magazines” within village limits.
“Every law-abiding villager of Deerfield has the right to protect themselves, their homes, and their loved ones with the firearm that best suits their needs,” said Chris W. Cox, executive director of NRA-ILA. “The National Rifle Association is pleased to assist Guns Save Life in defense of this freedom.”
By amending an existing 2013 ordinance, the Village Board of Trustees has now empowered local authorities to confiscate and destroy all so-called “assault weapons” and “high capacity magazines” possessed within village limits. The amendment also imposes a daily fine ranging between $250 and $1,000.
“We are going to fight this ordinance, which clearly violates our member’s constitutional rights, and with the help of the NRA I believe we can secure a victory for law-abiding gun owners in and around Deerfield,” said John Boch, president of Guns Save Life.
…Adding… Bob Morgan, the Democrat hoping to replace Rep. Scott Drury, sent this out in response…
The people of Deerfield and Highland Park have spoken loud and clear that weapons of war have no place in our communities. I commend the members of the Village Board of Trustees for standing up for their neighbors and fully support them in their fight against the extremists of the National Rifle Association. You can stand on the side of common sense and the safety for our families, or you can stand with the NRA. I know what side I’m on.
Amends the Illinois Human Rights Act. Provides that “employer” includes any person employing one (instead of 15) or more employees within Illinois during 20 or more calendar weeks within the calendar year of or preceding the alleged violation.
* Press release…
State Rep. Will Guzzardi (D-Chicago) is pushing to pass new legislation that will amend the Illinois Human Rights Act, expanding its protections to more people across the state of Illinois.
“If you work somewhere with less than 15 employees, under current Illinois law, you are not protected from discrimination in the workplace,” Rep. Guzzardi said. “Discrimination should not be legal in any workplace in Illinois, regardless of how many people work there.”
The legislation would change the definition of “employer” from “any person employing one (instead of 15) or more employees” for 20 weeks within the previous calendar year.
According to the U.S. Small Business Administration about 16 percent of firms across the state employ 1-19 workers, or about 220,000 businesses.
“This bill won’t affect the majority of small business owners, because most small business owners are not practicing discrimination,” said Rep. Guzzardi. “Besides updating these protections, we need to be proactive as legislators when it comes to educating people about their rights. You have 180 days to file a complaint with the Illinois Department of Human Rights after facing discrimination, harassment or retaliation in the workplace, and your employer has to respond within 60 day after that.”
Some federal laws prohibiting employment discrimination follow a similar “15 or more” employer definition. Chicago and Cook County are exempted from the bill because they follow their own Humans Rights statutes.
Chicago Public Schools CEO Barbara Byrd-Bennett admitted Monday that turning over management of school janitors to two private companies hasn’t been going very well. […]
In February, the Chicago Board of Education awarded two contracts, worth a total of $340 million, to two private companies, Aramark and SodexoMAGIC. These two contracts combined make it one of the largest privatization moves of any school district across the country. Under the agreements, SodexoMAGIC would oversee 33 schools, while Aramark would oversee the remaining 500-some district-run schools.
Close to 480 custodians who work in Chicago Public Schools will be laid off by the end of the month, a district spokesman said Sunday, by a private company given authority to manage school upkeep through a multimillion-dollar contract signed in March.
For the last several months, teachers in Chicago have been doing two jobs for the price of one: instructing kids, and occasionally taking a moment to mop, scrub, or vacuum their dirty classrooms.
The extra duties are the result of a $340 million privatization boondoggle from Mayor Rahm Emanuel. Among other things, it’s resulted in the Chicago Public Schools firing hundreds of janitors.
Chicago principals, teachers and other Chicago Public Schools employees are slamming the school district’s plan to hand over more work to Aramark, the contractor whose maintenance services have sparked outrage for years.
Aramark was supposed to save CPS $18 million this year. But the district understated the square footage that would need cleaning in its request for proposals, spokesman Bill McCaffrey said, at a cost of $7 million over the projected $64 million CPS expected to spend this year… Budget documents show that CPS expected to spend $64 million in the first year of the contract, but has already been billed for more than $85 million over 11 months.
A South Side elementary school did not pass a health inspection Thursday after more than 30 rodent droppings were found in the school, including in a sink where kindergarteners wash their hands. […]
The union recently surveyed members across the city and found that 43 percent of responding schools, or 171 schools, reported rodent issues. Others reported cockroaches and filthy classrooms.
The discovery of rats and rodent droppings throughout the building at Mollison Elementary School in Bronzeville and two failed health inspections there last fall prompted Chicago Public Schools officials to declare they were ordering an all-hands-on-deck series of inspections citywide.
That “blitz” was supposed to inspect 220 schools to start, CPS said. But despite initially finding that problems such as rodent droppings, pest infestations, filthy food-preparation equipment, and bathrooms that were dirty, smelly and lacked hot water, CPS quietly halted the inspections before completing them all, records obtained by the Chicago Sun-Times show — shortly after the newspaper requested information on the early results.
CPS provided blitz reports from 125 facilities that show only 34 of those schools passed inspection by inspectors from the district’s facilities department and Aramark, the private company that manages the custodians and oversees food service. And not all of the schools that were re-inspected passed the second time around, according to hundreds of documents and photos taken at nine schools that were provided under the state’s public records act.
Chicago Teachers Union members didn’t know until this week that CPS “rigorously inspected fewer than 20 percent of our students’ schools for cleanliness issues,” vice president Jesse Sharkey said in a statement. “The district also has no plan or strategy in place to address filth and vermin infestations in remaining schools, despite the fact that more than 70 percent of the schools it inspected failed initial inspections. That is inhumane and unacceptable.”
Sharkey also blamed the mayor for privatizing the schools as CPS “at the highest administrative levels, has clearly failed to hold its contractors accountable, instead renewing and expanding these contracts for hundreds of millions of dollars in the last two years alone. This is more than a failure of the contractors, who’ve short-staffed schools and foisted impossible working conditions on janitors and related staff.”
You’d think a multibillion-dollar global company like Aramark, with 270,000 employees in 19 countries and a self-proclaimed “dedication to excellence backed by decades of experience,” could keep schools from becoming rat-infested dumps. […]
You’d also think that CPS would have immediately ramped up its “blitz” of 220 schools once inspectors found dirt, smells and rodents in all but 34 of the first 125 schools. Credible complaints about squalid conditions began trickling in not long after the first $340 million contract — $260 million for Aramark, $80 million for SodexoMAGIC — was approved. You’d think the district would want to know exactly, right away, how widespread and severe the problems are. […]
Professional cleaning standards seemingly don’t apply to Chicago’s public schools, especially those with black and brown students, where most of the worst problems were found. […]
Would either company dare to do such a slipshod job at schools in Wilmette, not to mention in the corporate world? If they did, they would no doubt find their latest $427 million contract, plus an additional $108 million extension, in jeopardy. Both the contract and extension were approved in January, but we’re still in the dark about the exact terms. CPS has yet to provide copies of either document, though officials are now promising to do so. Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan has already recommended that they be made public.
Of the 17 schools with more than $20,000 in fines, 12 serve populations where at least four of five children are African-American or Hispanic and low-income.
Rauner also repeatedly had pressed for relief from what he called costly state mandated rules and regulations on local school districts, including the ability to allow greater privatization that would cut into union jobs, such as janitorial services. But that was downsized to give local schools the ability to reduce physical education instruction and use private instructors for drivers’ education.
Environmental groups are pushing to give more people a chance to take their disputes with big polluting companies to court.
The state grants or denies permits to companies if they follow the law. In the past, courts ruled only the company applying for a permit or the state agency itself could challenge the ruling.
Now, business groups are pushing back to prevent legal hurdles. The Illinois Manufacturers’ Association said this change would create too much red tape.
“This expands it far beyond people in Illinois or neighbors of projects. This allows anyone in the world to file a lawsuit which is gonna add time and cost and probably result in fewer projects and fewer jobs in the state of Illinois,” said Illinois Manufacturers’ Association Vice President and COO Mark Denzler.
Previous legal challenges involved the construction of a sand mine near Starved Rock State Park and a large cow farm. Neighbors in both cases complained of the potential for increased environmental challenges from large trucks, dust issues, or contamination to ground water or soil.
[House Bill 4900, the Generic Drug Pricing Fairness Act] will empower the Attorney General’s Office to investigate egregious price increases on generic and off-patent prescription drugs. If the only reason for the price spike was a desire to cash in on sick patients, the manufacturer will be held accountable. They’ll have to provide rebates to consumers and sell the drug at the pre-gouging price.
Ike Brannon of the libertarian Cato Institute editorialized against the bill in these pages recently. Most generics are actually cheaper than on-patent drugs, he argued, so why regulate them?
That’s like arguing that we shouldn’t have arson laws because most people don’t burn down buildings.
It’s true that on the whole, generic and off-patent drugs are cheaper than their patented counterparts. It’s also true that some manufacturers are unquestionably exploiting consumers to get rich. A federal report that looked at 1,400 generic drugs over five years found 300 instances of “extraordinary” price increases of over 100 percent in a year.
Most companies are doing the right thing. Some aren’t. We’re going after the bad actors.
* Press release…
Today, CHANGE Illinois and the members of the Illinois Redistricting Collaborative, sent a 15-question gerrymandering survey to all the candidates running for the Illinois General Assembly.
Asian-Americans Advancing Justice – Chicago, Better Government Association, Business and Professional People for the Public Interest, Citizen Advocacy Center, Common Cause Illinois, Illinois Campaign for Political Reform, Illinois Chamber of Commerce, Illinois Farm Bureau, League of Women Voters Illinois, Small Business Advocacy Council, Union League Club of Chicago, and the Unite America – Chicago chapter have joined CHANGE Illinois in this effort to elicit the candidates’ views on gerrymandering.
“Illinois voters deserve to know where their candidates for the Illinois General Assembly stand on gerrymandering,” stated Jeff Raines, Communications Director of CHANGE Illinois. “We all deserve to know if our future legislators will toe the party line and support gerrymandering for another decade or if they will demonstrate some independence by supporting fair maps?”
Among the questions, the survey asks candidates, should they win in November, if they would support the Fair Maps Amendment (HJRCA43/SJRCA26) in office.
The legislative survey response deadline is Wednesday, April 18th. Each legislative candidate’s survey response will be shared with the press and the public and posted online on CHANGE Illinois’ website: www.changeil.org/2018survey.
There are 29 open seats for the Illinois General Assembly in 2018, compared to just 15 open seats in 2016.
* Related…
* Editorial: Lawmakers shouldn’t compromise on keeping salary history private: A competing bill has thrown a wrench in the legislative machine, but it’s a flawed compromise. The alternative bill, SB3100, includes a provision that the ban on asking for a salary history does not apply if “a prospective employee has voluntarily disclosed the information.” There’s no way to stop applicants from volunteering information if they think it will help them to snag a better job. But surprisingly, that might make matters worse. A study published in the Harvard Business Review in 2017 found that women who were asked about their salary history but refused to give the information were offered less than women who did disclose it. Men, on the other hand, got more money when they didn’t provide a salary history. Women, it seems, get punished for standing up for themselves.
* VIDEO: Gun safety advocates seek to override Rauner’s veto of gun dealer license measure
* William Kelly blew the caps before the 2015 mayor’s race and it helped Rahm Emanuel raise huge bucks. Fran Spielman…
He has invited fellow mayoral challengers Garry McCarthy and Paul Vallas to his downtown penthouse to talk about going easy on each other, attacking Rahm Emanuel and uniting behind whomever forces the mayor into a runoff.
Yet millionaire businessman Willie Wilson on Wednesday did Emanuel a gigantic favor by making a $100,000 contribution to his own campaign — a donation that lifts the caps on campaign contributions for all candidates in Chicago’s crowded 2019 race for mayor.
“I wanted to make sure that everybody had kind of an even playing field. Open it up and have other people be able to get more money as well. … Then, they can be more competitive,” Wilson said.
“I’m doing everything I can do to turn up the heat because he is the worst mayor this city has ever seen. There’s no compassion there.” […]
[The fundraising caps limit contributions] to $5,600 from individuals, $11,100 from corporations, labor organizations and associations and $55,400 from candidate political committees and political action committees.
Our research was unable to find the origin and the creator of National Hug A Newsperson Day.
* Onward…
Today is Hug A Newsperson Day. Please celebrate responsibly. Hardworking independent journalists are one of last defenders of our democracy against creeping totalitarianism in today's crazy world. #TWILL
However please ask a newspaper person before you run up and just hug them. @rap30 gets weird when you come from behind and start bear hugging him. https://t.co/lcrOfQTdaU
When Diana and Bruce Rauner ’78 offered their collection of The Godfather author Mario Puzo’s papers to Dartmouth Library, the answer was an emphatic yes.
The papers, which will be housed at Rauner Special Collections Library (named by a gift from the Rauners that created a permanent home for Dartmouth’s special collections), include draft manuscripts, correspondence, and other records from Puzo’s long career as a novelist and screenwriter—even the 1965 Olympia typewriter on which he likely wrote The Godfather. […]
“We are thrilled to place the Puzo collection at Dartmouth, where it will be available to the worldwide scholarly community and integrated into the curriculum to create immediate and lasting benefits for students,” says Diana Rauner.
“We love the fact that Puzo’s papers document the creation of Dartmouth’s most famous fictional alumnus, Michael Corleone, and that they will live for centuries to come with the papers of so many prominent, and real, alumni!” says Bruce Rauner, who is the governor of Illinois.
The release doesn’t explain how the Rauners obtained the collection, but Puzo’s papers were auctioned off in 2016. They had an estimated auction value at the time “of at least $400,000,” according to the Wall St. Journal. The New York Daily News reported they were sold for $625,000 to an anonymous bidder.
Chicago residents could have the right to vote in a school board election. But under Illinois’ state constitution, Chicago residents do not necessarily have the right to a school board election, a state appeals court has ruled.
On March 29, a three-justice panel of the Illinois First District Appellate Court upheld a Cook County judge’s decision to toss out a lawsuit brought by former Ill. Gov. Pat Quinn and a group of Chicago residents, challenging state law granting the mayor of Chicago unchecked authority to appoint the members of the Chicago Board of Education, which they said violates their rights under the Illinois constitution. […]
To date, neither the city nor the state has formally answered the lawsuits in court, as both a federal district judge and Cook County Judge Michael T. Mullen dismissed the actions. The plaintiffs then appealed both results. To date, the U.S. Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals has not yet ruled on the appeal of the federal case. […]
Justices noted the Illinois constitution does not require any elections for any school board or other school district “officers,” saying merely the “selection” of such school officers is subject to the provision of the Illinois General Assembly. In this case, the justices said, the General Assembly appears to have opted to give the mayor of Chicago the sole vote on who should serve on the Board of Education.
Quinn was on the right side here (at least, as far as my opinion goes), but the ruling seems logical.
“I didn’t realize it was this hard to give away money, that’s what we are trying to do, and every time we turn around there is some new obstacle or objection,” said [Don Tracy], who also works as Rauner’s Illinois Gaming Board chairman. “But that’s Springfield, and that’s Illinois.”
[Springfield] spent more than $2 million to buy the land from the state and tear down an empty building. It’ll also be on the hook for millions in related infrastructure costs, and work has already begun on the site to build underground water retention tanks to alleviate flooding.
Local taxpayers are gonna pay through the nose for this boondoggle. Water and electric costs alone are projected to be $20,000 a month. And the governor gets an unquestioned veto on any buildings that might go up, which is really odd.
Likewise, we see the idea of using the space solely as a park as an epic waste of a rare opportunity to develop an entire city block and squander the city’s chances to rejuvenate downtown. A mixed-use development that includes commercial, retail and residential units — and could still include some green space for programming and events — will help create the hip urban environment other capital cities enjoy but Springfield has yet to replicate. […]
We’re not alone in our concern over this project: Downtown Springfield Inc. also is asking for a tax-generating development for the land. If we should trust anyone’s opinion on this, it should be the downtown business owners who know better than anyone what that area needs to thrive. As DSI Executive Director Lisa Clemmons Stott succinctly noted last week: Downtown needs more hustle and bustle, not an oasis.
I dunno if Springfield could ever be hip, but it’s worth a try. And Stott is absolutely right about downtown needing some hustle and bustle.
Instead of sticking with the park proposal, which has failed to generate any visible show of public support, Langfelder should re-examine the current state of affairs. Much has changed since the request for proposal was sent out a year ago for this project — namely, Illinois has a state budget. The two-year budget impasse handcuffed higher education institutions from making any type of plans beyond just survival. That’s not the case now. And since the progress on the block has been minimal (necessary sewer work has begun on the land), why not revisit the idea of bringing higher ed to downtown? There’s even a specific idea — Southern Illinois University has expressed interest in locating a branch of its law school in Springfield. […]
Why not partner with a private developer to create the classroom space SIU is looking for? Including housing (not dorms) that would appeal to law or graduate students who need easy access to the Capitol. Throw in a coffee shop, grocery or convenience store, and a few restaurants so residents don’t have to go far to get essentials. The restaurants would also appeal to others who already work or live downtown, and perhaps tourists as they depart visits from the renovated Executive Mansion. The public plaza area also would attract tourists and residents alike.
That would check every box the city said it wanted for this area.
I always try to stay out of Springfield politics. I live here. I don’t need the aggravation.
But now we’ve got some prominent state actors strong-arming the locals into approving an idea that the public and local community leaders clearly don’t want. And then Chairman Tracy insults everyone by saying he’s trying to do us all a big favor.
Springfield needs to generate more revenues, not spend more. If Tracy and Rauner want their park so much, they should buy the land, reimburse the city for sunken costs and take it over themselves permanently. Otherwise, they need to back the heck off.
China has taken aim at America’s rural heartland as the top buyer of U.S. soybeans said it would restrict imports.
China’s Ministry of Commerce on Wednesday said it plans to impose 25 percent duties on the commodity in addition to other U.S. agricultural produce including wheat, corn, cotton, sorghum, tobacco and beef. They’re among 106 products ranging from aircraft to chemicals targeted by Beijing in retaliation for proposed American duties on its high-tech goods. […]
China is the world’s biggest importer of soybeans and America’s largest buyer in trade worth $14 billion last year. That figure had been set to grow after purchases climbed to a record as large-scale livestock farming expands amid a shortage of protein-rich feed grains.
Soybeans led a tumble in agricultural prices, with the futures for May delivery dropping as much as 5.3 percent to $9.835 a bushel, the most since July 2016 for the most-active contract. The daily volume traded on the Chicago Board of Trade was more than seven times the 100-day average. Corn and cotton also declined.
According to the Tribune, one out of every three soybeans grown in America is exported to China.
* From Sen. Dick Durbin…
“Illinois’ farmers now join DACA recipients as the latest victims of President Trump’s temper. Illinois is our nation’s largest producer of soybeans, and a top producer of pork, and will feel China’s retaliation to threats of a trade war more than most. America cannot move forward in a blizzard of tweets and wild threats from this President.”
I’ve asked the governor’s office for a response. I’ll let you know if I hear back.
*** UPDATE *** Rachel Bold in the governor’s office…
This escalation of new tariffs by the Chinese will hurt both Illinois farmers and the burgeoning Chinese middle class, which is fed by our family farms. Unfair Chinese trade practices, including intellectual property theft, state subsidies, and government-supported espionage, are harmful and unfair to America. A stable trade relationship with China is critical to our economic growth, but this behavior is improper and hurts American businesses.
The Governor is committed to free and open trade, and we know our Illinois farmers, manufacturers and businesses can outcompete anybody. We’re the best growers and builders in the world. Trade is a Federal policy issue with specific oversight by the United States Senate. We have to be hopeful the White House and U.S. Senators can collaborate on constructive trade policy that supports Illinois exporters while also addressing unfair trade practices by the Chinese.
During the past five years, students and faculty at Illinois universities launched more than twice the number of startups, 942, than they did during the previous five years. It’s the largest volume of startup activity since we began tracking it in 2013.
Nearly three-quarters of those companies remain active, and of them, 81.3 percent, or 566, remain in Illinois, the highest level since we began collecting this data.
Capital raised by these startups also reached a new record in 2017: $877.5 million in the past five years. That is triple the total from 2010-14. […]
An estimated four in every 10 startups coming out of Illinois universities in the last five years have had a foreign-born founder or co-founder.
* What jumped out at me about this breathless Tribune editorial is the lack of actual numbers…
Chicago taxpayers, prepare for another kick in the teeth. In fact, it might be a good time to grow fond of the toothless grin. Another recent court decision will put taxpayers on the hook for additional city pension debts. Yes, even more than before.
A circuit court judge in March struck down a 2014 state law that eased pressure on the pension fund of Chicago Park District retirees. The law had increased Park District employees’ own contributions to the fund, increased their retirement-eligible age, reduced their annual cost-of-living increases and reduced duty disability benefits. But those changes will be rolled back, due to the ruling.
That means the Park District — you, taxpayers — will have to come up with reimbursements for workers’ higher contributions, plus interest.
[Circuit Court Judge Neil Cohen ordered] that the park district property-tax levy return to its prior, lower level. The pension fund will keep the $25 million in one-time payments that were made by the district, as well as about $20 million in higher property taxes that already had been levied.
* The deal struck in late 2013 gradually increased worker pension contributions. From the statute…
Beginning January 1, 2015, the deduction shall be 8% of salary [up from 7%]. Beginning January 1, 2017, the deduction shall be 9% of salary. Beginning January 1, 2019, the deduction shall be 10% of salary.
* The district’s latest budget claims that 32 percent of spending was on salaries and wages, which equals about $148 million. Let’s use that number (although it’s undoubtedly higher) for all years just so I don’t have to spend all day on the calculator.
One percent of annual payroll would be about $1.5 million, so 2015’s and 2016’s one-point deduction would total $3 million over two years. The grand total would rise to $6 million by the end of 2018, when another two points were deducted. Let’s say it’s another $1 million for the first few months of this year. That’s $7 million, plus the court-ordered 3 percent interest of about a quarter million. $7 million is 1.5 percent of the park district’s current budget. Plus, the district will have to come up with $3 million a year going forward to make up for the reduced contributions.
Illinois Democrat gubernatorial candidate and heir to the Hyatt Hotel fortune J.B. Pritzker has had the privilege of attending some of the most prestigious schools in the country, including the private Milton Academy in Massachusetts and Duke University. But Pritzker has two words for students in Illinois who are trying to escape struggling schools to get a quality education like he had: “Too bad.”
Last year, GOP Governor Bruce Rauner worked to pass Illinois’ first school choice program, which provides tax credits for private school scholarships to help students-in-need. It’s already raised millions for low-income students. But at a press conference yesterday, Pritzker promised to “get rid” of the program “immediately.”
WLS-AM reports, “As for the new tuition tax credits for private and parochial schools here’s what Pritzker wants to do, ‘We’re gonna get rid of ’em!.’” Watch here.
J.B. Pritzker’s plans to end scholarships for students-in-need proves that he is out-of-touch.
The Chicago Democrat said the Republican governor deserves no credit for the rest of the bill, since he’d vetoed it twice.
“Last year Bruce Rauner forced a school funding crisis on Illinois,” Pritzker said. “He vetoed critical school funding legislation, stuck a back-door school voucher program onto the bill. And then he vetoed yet another school funding bill. Rauner has taken every opportunity to jeopardize funding for our schools, destabilizing our education system and creating division in our state.” […]
“Well, if you veto it twice, I’m not sure how you get credit for it. The truth is that it was [State Sen.] Andy Manar’s bill. It was Andy Manar who fought for this for six years, and it was over the objection of Rauner and the Republicans who voted against it, that they actually got the thing passed,” Pritzker said. “I’m not sure once again how the governor can claim any credit for it. To me when you put commercials on like he did, claiming credit for something you veto, and that you held hostage for so many months, it seems to me that you don’t get to take credit.” […]
“He vetoed initial versions in order to negotiate a better final product — which he successfully accomplished by creating the tuition scholarship tax credit program to benefit low-income students,” [Rauner campaign] spokesman Will Allison said in an email.
As for the new tuition tax credits for private and parochial schools here’s what Pritzker wants to do, “We’re gonna get rid of ’em! I think diverting money away from public schools right now to private tuition tax credits seems like a really bad idea.”
His opponent, Republican Governor Bruce Rauner responded, “It’s shameful for Pritzker to say he would immediately end the scholarship program when so many low-income students will soon be benefitting from a better education. It’s clear Pritzker is out-of-touch with struggling families who can finally choose a brighter future for their children.”
CBS 2’s story prominently featured a staunch neo-Confederate, so I’m not linking to the piece.
Pritzker has said his goals as governor would be expanding early childhood education, increasing funding for grade and high schools, widening tax breaks for lower-income earners and reducing the property tax burden on local homeowners. Achieving them could require a significant increase in the state income tax rate of 4.95 percent on individuals.
Illinois widely is regarded as paying a relatively low share of the funding for public grade and high schools, about 25 percent based on Illinois State Board of Education figures for the 2016-2017 school year. Instead, nearly 70 percent of schools’ money comes from local property taxes. A Civic Federation study found that $18 billion in property taxes is dedicated to local schools statewide. […]
“It would take us about two years in total to get it all done and said, that we would have a progressive income tax,” Pritzker said at a Loop news conference.
“So in the meantime, you could have what I would describe as … an artificial progressive income tax in which we would raise the exemptions for those striving to get to the middle class, those in the middle class too, and raise the overall rate and raise the earned income tax credit at the same time — all of which would create a kind of artificial graduated income tax in the state,” he said.
Pritzker didn’t elaborate on how additional exemptions or deductions would work. He said he viewed an increase in the state’s flat-rate income tax as “only a temporary answer and that you really need the permanent answer of a constitutional amendment.”
1) It could take longer than two years for a graduated income tax to find three-fifths super-majorities in both chambers. A lot longer. Even if the House Dems increase their strength this November and reach the magic number of 71, Speaker Madigan has several members who either are anti-tax hike or (more likely) have been deliberately positioned as anti-tax.
2) The “artificial” progressive tax is an interesting idea. But Pritzker needs to flesh it out some more. He’s squeamish about identifying rates for his progressive tax idea, but what about at least giving us a cutting-off-point on income levels that would benefit from his “artificial” plan? Where would he draw those lines?
Today, the JB Pritzker campaign released a new video, “Responsible.” The video highlights Bruce Rauner’s fatal mismanagement at the Quincy Veterans’ home and features Jeanne Ives blasting Bruce Rauner for letting the crisis spiral out of control.
“Bruce Rauner waited six days to inform Quincy residents there was an epidemic in their home, thirteen Veterans and spouses died, year after year Legionnaires has returned sickening dozens, and yet Bruce Rauner continues to claim he did nothing wrong,” said Pritzker campaign spokeswoman Jordan Abudayyeh. “This is failure at the highest levels of state government, it is unconscionable fatal mismanagement, and Illinoisans of all political stripes are ready to hold Bruce Rauner accountable.”
