Three years ago, Gov. Bruce Rauner slashed state funding for mental health services, autism programs, epilepsy assistance and children’s health care in a move that became known as the Good Friday Massacre.
It wasn’t an isolated incident.
In 2016, 2017 and now with the proposed 2019 state budget, Gov. Rauner continued to eliminate state support for mental health programs. His cuts denied mental health services to nearly 47,000 people in need and cost almost 1,000 mental health workers their jobs.
So, it was with a sense of, let’s call it irony, that I recently received a letter from Gov. Rauner expressing concern for access to mental health services in Illinois. He claims to want to explore and better understand the complex intersection of mental health and gun violence.
The governor’s letter is here. It’s quite a hoot, coming from a guy who has repeatedly attacked the Democratic Party’s leadership.
Gov. Rauner wants me to appoint people to a “group” that will be sensitive to the needs of the mental health community as part of an effort to study what he could do to address these concerns.
We already have such a group. It’s called the Illinois General Assembly. And last year it grew frustrated that the governor continues slashing mental health programs. We enacted a 2018 budget to support mental health over the governor’s objections and veto.
As lawmakers, we can only authorize spending, we can’t make the governor actually spend the money to support mental health. To date, the governor refuses to fund $26 million worth of mental health programs despite having the full authority to do so.
I don’t think we need more working groups, government commissions or task forces. What we need is leadership and action.
Not to mention that the governor has at his disposal a Department of Mental Health, a Department of Public Health, his own State Police, an Illinois Criminal Justice Information Authority, etc.
Before assembling another batch of bureaucrats to ponder possibilities, the governor should take action on what’s right in front of him.
First, he should release the mental health grants approved by a bipartisan group of lawmakers. Next, he should sign House Bill 1468 that’s been on his desk for weeks. It creates a 72-hour cooling off period after purchasing an assault weapon. That’s already the law for buying handguns. It received overwhelming support from all corners of the state. Then, he should join the efforts under way to enact a comprehensive set of laws addressing mental health and gun violence. These proposals have already been studied and assembled. With the governor’s help, we could quickly make them the law of the land.
For example, if a family member recognizes that another family member could be prone to violence and has access to guns, we ought to have a process through which they can go to a judge to have those guns temporarily removed. House Bill 772 does that.
There’s also overwhelming support for banning so-called bump stocks that serve no purpose other than to increase how fast a shooter can pump bullets into a target. And we should empower local communities to enact their own gun laws that meet their residents’ concerns. Those provisions are in House Bill 1467.
We should improve mental health screenings for those applying for gun-owner licenses. That is in House Bill 1664. And teenagers shouldn’t be buying assault weapons. House Bill 1465 closes that loophole.
All of these proposals are advancing in the General Assembly. We could get the job done a lot faster with Gov. Rauner’s help.
Similarly, the governor should reconsider his opposition to Senate Bill 1657, a state licensing system for weapons dealers. More than a year’s worth of work went into creating that bipartisan, comprehensive and practical system. With the governor’s support, we could quickly cut through the bickering, get it approved and up and running.
* Maybe the governor should also make sure the state cops are enforcing the law…
In general, a FOID card can be denied to or revoked from anyone who has been charged with a felony, convicted of domestic violence, is addicted to narcotics, has been a patient in a mental health facility within the past five years, is intellectually or developmentally disabled or is the subject of a court restraining order. FOID cards may also be revoked if the owner is deemed a clear and present danger to him or herself or others. […]
In Illinois, more than 2.1 million people have FOID cards, a number that has grown by almost 1 million since 2010, according to state police. Last year, about 11,000 people had their cards revoked, but only about 4,000 of them submitted the required reports stating what they did with their guns, state police said.
Illinois’s finances are so troubled that investors can make nearly as much money betting on the worst-rated U.S. state as they can on the American Dream mall project, perhaps the most despised structure in New Jersey.
An unfinished, multicolored hulk in the Meadowlands beside the Turnpike, former Governor Chris Christie called it “the ugliest damn building in New Jersey, and maybe America.” Yet bondholders are asking to get paid nearly as much to own Illinois’s debt as they are demanding in return for holding the long-delayed mall’s unrated revenue bonds — a consequence of the state’s perennial budget distress that’s left it teetering near junk grade.
The yield on Illinois general-obligation bonds that mature in 2028 averaged 4.5 percent in March, compared to an average of 4.99 percent on unrated bonds due in 2050 sold for the American Dream mall project, the shopping and entertainment center that’s years behind schedule, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
Despite the close yields, the state’s debt is still the better bet, according to AllianceBernstein LP, which oversees about $41 billion of municipal fixed income securities. No state has defaulted since the Great Depression, after all, while the shopping mall industry is being challenged by the growth of Internet retailing.
A finance company is suing the Illinois Department of Corrections in federal court because the department missed an annual payment last fall on four prisoner transport buses.
Wells Fargo Equipment Finance Inc. filed the lawsuit this week, saying Corrections has neither made the payment that was due on the buses last year nor turned the buses over to the company as it has demanded.
At the same time, a voucher authorizing the payment for the buses is sitting in Comptroller Susana Mendoza’s office waiting to be paid. Corrections submitted the payment voucher to Mendoza’s office in January, months after the payment was due. Mendoza’s office, which was unaware a lawsuit had been filed, said Corrections has not said the payment is a priority that should move the bill ahead of older bills waiting to be paid.
The lawsuit involves four prisoner transport buses part of a lease-purchase agreement by Corrections. The buses are manufactured by Motor Coach Industries. The company’s website shows the type of bus leased by Corrections is more than 40 feet long and weighs 23 tons. Depending on how the bus is equipped, it can cost from $530,000 to $561,000, the website states. […]
The lawsuit said Corrections defaulted as of Nov. 26, 2017, when it failed to make the $580,000 payment that was due. The lawsuit also said notice was sent to the state on Jan. 16 that Corrections was in default on the bus lease. It said either the lease payment and “associated late fees” be paid or the buses returned to the leasing company.
Planning for the state fair is in full swing, but Illinois has yet to pay all the costs for last year’s fair.
The state still owes the city of Springfield around $109,000 for the fire protection it provided to the fairgrounds in the fiscal year that ended last summer. The same amount for the current fiscal year is due by June.
Springfield budget director Bill McCarty says the fire department will continue to provide protection regardless, but late payments do present challenges. […]
Illinois also operates the state fair in Du Quoin. That town’s finance director, Andrew Croessman, says Illinois owes $20,000 for fire coverage there. The Department of Agriculture has sent a check to Du Quoin, according to a spokeswoman.
According to a first-of-its-kind survey released Tuesday by researchers at Temple University and the Wisconsin HOPE Lab, 36 percent of students on U.S. college campuses do not get enough to eat, and a similar number lack a secure place to live. The report, which is the first to include students from two-year, four-year, private and public universities, including GWU, found that nearly 1 in 10 community college students have gone a whole day without eating in the past month. That number was 6 percent among university students.
Researchers blame ballooning college costs, inadequate aid packages and growing enrollment among low-income students - as well as some colleges’ unwillingness to admit they have a hunger problem. College hunger is not a new issue, researchers caution. But it appears to be growing worse, and not merely because college is getting more expensive.
In the spirit of Western Illinois University’s core value of social responsibility, a group of volunteers have spent several months developing the WIU Food Pantry. The pantry will provide free, nonperishable food items to the WIU community beginning Thursday, March 29. […]
Food is available to all individuals with a valid WIU identification card, regardless of income. There is also currently a student-run food pantry on WIU’s Quad Cities campus in Building C.
The idea for the pantry was born after Mandi McRaven, who works in the University Union, approached Dietetics Assistant Professor Emily Shupe about the need for a food pantry on campus. Through McRaven’s position at the University, she mentors students and said she learned many, particularly those who live off campus, were having difficulty affording food.
“I started to realize there was a need on our Macomb campus,” said McRaven. “University Housing and Dining Services does an awesome job of providing resources for students on campus, but some of our students don’t live on campus and have meal plans. I learned through some research that many campuses are opening food banks, and I thought ‘Why not us?’”
A group of students studying diet and nutrition sent out a campus survey last year to gauge interest in a food bank. They found that nearly half of students who responded had reported going hungry in the past month.
The survey results inspired students in the School of Agriculture to hold a food drive. They collected more than 1,100 pounds of non-perishable food for the pantry project.
Gov. Bruce Rauner last week signed an executive order changing the name of the Illinois Executive Mansion to the Illinois Governor’s Mansion, effective July 1. […]
“In preparation for the reopening of the people’s house following a privately funded restoration, we thought it was only fitting to officially title it what everyone already calls it, The Governor’s Mansion,” said Rauner spokeswoman Rachel Bold.
The change brings Illinois in line with most other states who call their executive residence a “governor’s mansion.” Until now, Illinois was joined by only New York, North Carolina and Virginia in using “executive” in the title. […]
Lori Montana, who has been a mansion association member for 20 years, said she has always called it the “Governor’s Mansion” and that the bicentennial was a perfect time to make the change.
* Meanwhile…
As part of an ongoing effort to streamline government and avoid wasteful spending, Governor Bruce Rauner today issued an executive order abolishing 19 boards and commissions that have been inactive for five years or more.
The move eliminates some entities that were created for a special but temporary purpose which has been fulfilled. Others are being abolished because they are redundant with other units of state government.
Over the years, either by statute or executive order, the state of Illinois has created more than 600 authorities, boards, commissions, councils, task forces, and other similar entities. The action taken by the Governor today is the first step in a plan to eliminate more than 100 such entities in the months ahead.
The order does not invalidate any action undertaken or ratified by the eliminated boards and commissions. In addition, though unlikely, any unexpected balances of appropriations, funds, grants, donations or other moneys available to the units will be transferred to the Department of Central Management Services (CMS) or an appropriate Department and expended for similar purposes.
* The “buzz” on this was mainly generated by Democratic candidates seeking to obfuscate their past Madigan ties. The #MeToo controversies intensified it, but two things Madigan does better than most are count heads and manipulate that count in his favor…
All indications are that, when leaders of the Illinois Democratic Party meet soon, they’ll once again elect Madigan to be their state chairman, a position he holds in addition to serving as speaker of the state House.
A meeting date has not yet been set, but Madigan spokesman Steve Brown confirms one will be held shortly after results from the March 21 primary are certified, and that Madigan indeed will be a candidate for a new term. “He thinks he’s created good leadership for the party,” said Brown. “Why leave?”
There have been more rumors than usual this year about an oust-Madigan movement, buzz that seemed to gain currency when two of the three major Democratic candidates for governor, Daniel Biss and Chris Kennedy, called on Madigan to relinquish his chairmanship.
But both lost in the primary to J.B. Pritzker, who’s carefully declined to criticize Madigan or call for a leadership change. And the two names that were being mentioned as possible replacements—U.S. Rep. Robin Kelly and state Comptroller Susana Mendoza—are not interested, say sources close to them.
No way would Mendoza directly challenge Madigan (also, as rightly noted in comments, she’s not even a member of the state central committee) and Kelly just got elected to a central committee seat and isn’t well known outside her district.
Gov. Bruce Rauner’s campaign team has blanketed the airwaves with ads since announcing his re-election bid in October. But on the government operations side, Rauner’s team is looking to reach Illinois residents in a different way: through their email inbox.
Rauner’s office on Friday announced the launch of a new email newsletter billed as a way for state residents to stay up to date on Illinois news, issues and events.
We’re building a better Illinois for our businesses and families,” the signup pitch writes. “Stay up to date on our progress.”
Rauner spokeswoman Rachel Bold said the newsletter “is part of our plan to more actively engage with constituents through digital media.”
* The Question: Your suggested topics for Gov. Rauner’s new government newsletter?
Pritzker continuing his #RaunerFailedMe series at the Harold Washington Library with three teachers who say cuts have severely damaged their schools. pic.twitter.com/2tQBrNrhCh
* Earlier today from Will Allison at Gov. Rauner’s campaign…
Hi, everyone.
Today, JB Pritzker is holding a press conference in a weak attempt to criticize Governor Rauner’s strong record on education. Please see the quote below from me as a spokesman for the Governor’s campaign:
“Governor Rauner was proud to sign historic education reform into law that increased K-12 funding by $1.2 billion, achieved parity for charter schools, and created the state’s first ever tuition tax credit scholarship program to give low-income families educational choice.” -William Allison, Rauner campaign communications director
Additionally, JB Pritzker has proposed new spending plans but without any specifics. And he has repeatedly called for a new graduated income tax, again without any details on rates or thresholds.
When is JB Pritzker going to be honest with Illinoisans about how much he wants to raise their taxes?
I agree that Pritzker has to stop being so vague about his tax rates. The graduated tax is the absolute centerpoint of his entire campaign. So far, though, we don’t know anything about what it would look like.
*** UPDATE *** Rauner campaign…
During a press conference today, JB Pritzker was asked four (4!) times about specific rates or income brackets for his fabled progressive income tax. As he has done over and over again, Pritzker failed to provide any specifics on his “detailed plans.”
An Illinois man has brought a class action lawsuit against Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner’s campaign committee, alleging the committee violated federal telephone consumer protection law by making “pernicious” and unsolicited robocalls to state residents’ cellular phones, urging them to vote for Rauner.
Peter Garvey filed suit March 23 in Cook County Circuit Court against Citizens for Rauner Inc., alleging the organization breached the federal Telephone Consumer Protection Act. […]
The TCPA law prohibits unsolicited, automated and prerecorded phone calls. However, Garvey alleges that is exactly what Rauner’s campaign has been doing since last year, in a “misguided effort to solicit support” for Rauner’s candidacy. Garvey said he received such calls on his wireless phone. […]
Garvey said he believes there are “hundreds or likely thousands” of people who were recipients of such calls, and Rauner’s committee should pay each person a minimum of $1,500 per call.
I haven’t received any robocalls on my mobile phone. Did you get any?
A video featuring anchors at numerous Sinclair-owned stations reading promo copy has gone viral. In the copy, which apparently went to all 192 Sinclair stations, the anchors say they and their stations are concerned about “the troubling trend of irresponsible, one-sided news stories plaguing our country.” The INBA is also troubled by this trend.
Of course, many believe Sinclair is a major offender when it comes to one-sided news stories. Criticism of their must-runs and conservative commentary has been swirling for months.
Sinclair has now responded to the outcry. SVP Scott Livingston sent a message to newsrooms Monday, firing back at the criticisms. We share Sinclair’s expressed concern about demonstrably fake stories such as “Pope Endorses Trump,” and “Pizzagate.”
The Illinois News Broadcasters Association has long stood for the best parts of journalism. For fair, unbiased reporting. For using multiple sources. For emphasizing localism. Our Code of Ethics says we will “check the accuracy of the facts and report them objectively and impartially” and also that we will “vigorously defend guarantees in the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.”
We have many current and former INBA members at Sinclair stations. They are not bad journalists. They are not bad people. But what they are being made to do is not good. Journalists should not be required to broadcast information with a specific agenda. Our democracy relies on an informed citizenry. If we are not given the freedoms to inform our citizenry with unbiased information, we have failed to do our jobs.
Amid growing criticism of cable news coverage, local TV news remains one of the most trusted sources, and local news is where INBA members are working every day, every night, and every weekend. But the trust is getting thinner, and what Sinclair is doing is threatening to destroy what’s left of it.
Local teevee news gets worse every year, particularly outside Chicago. There are the occasional bright spots, but too much of it is absolute dreck and always has been. Maybe this Sinclair controversy will wake people up, but I kinda doubt it. Too many stations are owned by highly leveraged corporations that are in the money-making business, not the news business.
* Sinclair deal to sell WGN to chairman’s business partner gives broadcaster control: Sinclair Broadcast Group is selling WGN-TV to a Maryland auto dealer but would remain in control of the station in what critics say is a bid to skirt ownership limits and win federal regulatory approval for its proposed $3.9 billion acquisition of Tribune Media.
Mayoral candidate Garry McCarthy said he favors locating a casino at O’Hare International Airport in order to help fix Chicago’s financial problems.
McCarthy, who was fired by Mayor Rahm Emanuel as police superintendent in late 2015, said during an interview that aired this weekend on WBBM-AM’s “At Issue” program that an airport casino would be a big money-earner for the city while cutting down on many of the societal problems that can accompany legalized gambling. […]
Paul Vallas, meanwhile, took a step toward a mayoral run Monday by filing paperwork with the State Board of Elections to set up a campaign fund. Attorney Burt Odelson previewed the move last week, saying Vallas’ campaign was “full-speed ahead.
* McCarthy’s campaign has even granted an “exclusive” interview of the candidate’s spouse…
Chicago attorney Kristin Barnette says she never went looking for politics. But even after she married Garry McCarthy in 2014 — then superintendent of the Chicago Police Department and now a candidate for mayor — she wasn’t quite keen on the idea of her husband seeking elected office.
“I think for a while I tried to ignore it,” Barnette told NBC 5, “but then when it was clear that things were building up and there was a path to success, it was time to make sure that I supported Garry in this.”
One week after his first-ever campaign for political office ended in defeat, Ra Joy — the man gubernatorial candidate Chris Kennedy chose as his running mate — is now weighing a run for Chicago mayor. […]
Sources said community activist Amara Enyia, who ran for mayor in 2015 and has been a policy advisor to Joy, is also considering throwing her hat in the ring once again. Enyia did not immediately respond to request for comment.
Former Chicago Public Schools principal Troy LaRaviere, who endorsed Kennedy in the Democratic primary, already announced his campaign for mayor, while another Kennedy supporter, attorney Lori Lightfoot has been quietly speaking with her advisors about a potential run. Lightfoot, who serves as the Chicago Police Board president and has led reform efforts within CPD, would not definitively say on WTTW earlier this week if she might enter the contest.
The unusual write-in battle for a seat on an obscure water treatment board has become even more strange and convoluted — after Gov. Bruce Rauner quietly made an appointment that could force the whole low-profile election into court.
Just days after last week’s primary, Rauner appointed Republican David Walsh to fill the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District seat that became vacant after the death of Commissioner Tim Bradford.
That comes after Republicans opted not to field any candidates for the seat in the write-in election sanctioned by Cook County officials as part of last week’s primary.
Republicans and Democrats now disagree on whether Walsh will serve beyond the November election, which is expected to feature a Democrat and possibly a Green Party candidate vying for the seat.
Walsh took his oath of office last Friday — three days after the primary — to replace Bradford, who died Dec. 1.
Cook County decided to fill the vacancy with an election. Rauner waited until after the primary to appoint Walsh to fill the vacancy for the remaining two years. And now the whole thing goes to court. What a mess.
Why did Rauner wait so long? Well, the governor was involved in a primary of his own, and that sort of appointment might not have been seen in the best light.
Commissioner David J. Walsh was appointed September 28, 2015 and reappointed December 12, 2016 by Governor Bruce Rauner to fill a vacancy as a Commissioner at the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago
As Gov. Bruce Rauner heads to an event at a casino in East Peoria Wednesday, the Illinois Gaming Board’s top administrator, Mark Ostrowski, was fired.
Why he was let go is not clear. Sources tell NBC 5 he was forced to resign. […]
That’s not the only shakeup — also out Tuesday is the executive director of the Illinois Liquor Control Commission Donovan Borvan. He was forced to resign and walked out of the office. Last week, the Liquor Control Commission’s chief lawyer Sean O’Leary was also let go and walked to the door.
“We appreciate everything that both Donovan Borvan and Sean O’Leary have done in serving the Commission for the past few years,” Connie Beard, the director of revenue and the Liquor Control Commission Board chair tells NBC 5. “It is unfortunate that both personnel actions occurred so closely together, but we wish them all the best in their future endeavors.”
* Ostrowski has been at the gaming board forever, so I’m not sure what the dealio is there, but Don Tracy was appointed by Rauner to chair the gaming board after Tracy went all-out for Rauner in 2014. Tracy is also working closely with Rauner on this stalled Springfield project which includes a fight with organized labor…
As a $15 million renovation of the Illinois governor’s mansion nears completion, a fight over a piece of land across the street has taken Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner’s long battle with organized labor to his front lawn.
At issue is nearly 2.5 acres owned by the city of Springfield that lies just north of the mansion’s gated grounds. The block has sat vacant for more than a year after the city demolished a YWCA building there. Since then, a nonprofit group backed by Rauner was picked to turn the lot into a park, featuring mounded hills, a sidewalk cafe and pools of water that could feature light shows in the summer and ice skating in the winter.
“They are renovating the mansion and this would provide a Washington Mall-type vista in front of it,” said Don Tracy, an attorney long involved in Republican politics who Rauner recruited to lead the effort. “We hope it would be a destination park to sort of help rejuvenate downtown Springfield, which needs lots more people.” […]
Labor groups want a project labor agreement, which would ensure workers hired to build the park would come from local unions and be paid a “prevailing wage” — the salary level set for public works projects by the Illinois Department of Labor. It’s based on average pay in a county and designed to prevent nonunion employers from placing low bids by paying employees below union rates. […]
“We didn’t ask for a fight with labor, it’ll mainly be a union contract,” Tracy said. “But the project labor agreement basically is less competitive and cedes a lot of control to the union. It’s not about using union labor, it’s about union control.”
I’m old enough to remember the days when newspaper editorial boards demanded that the gaming board chairman act independently of the governor.
After cutting the city’s budget and raising taxes, [Springfield Ald. Ralph Hanauer] said he could not justify having the city fork over revenue for the park’s utilities. He said Tracy estimated the bill could be $20,000 a month.
“In these financial conditions, we can’t afford to buy a dump truck,” Hanauer said.
The budget director has already predicted a $4 million deficit, he said. One term of the lease would be that the land would continue to be property tax-free.
* Miles Kampf-Lassin at In These Times writes about Sen. Daniel Biss’ problems with labor…
But it wasn’t just the sheer number of ads that aided the Pritzker campaign; it was also their content. As Biss’ support began to climb in February and he overtook Kennedy for second place, the Pritzker campaign’s mailers and TV ads began focusing squarely on Biss and his record of writing and championing legislation that would have slashed the pensions of state workers.
The attacks could easily be seen as cynical, since, in 2011, Pritzker himself donated $20,000 to a PAC that supported candidates willing to cut pensions and attack unions. Yet the attacks did focus on a legitimate flaw in Biss’ record, which appeared to undercut his progressive bona fides. In 2013, Biss was the co-author of S.B. 35, a bill that would have cut pension benefits for 467,000 Illinois workers, including retirees. The bill passed the legislature and was only prevented from going into effect because the Illinois Supreme Court ruled it unconstitutional for the state to take away money promised to workers. At the time, the bill was referred to by its opponents in the labor movement as “pension theft.” […]
Biss’ record on pensions may have been part of the reason the Illinois AFL-CIO and building trades were comfortable coming out early for Pritzker, and why many other unions dragged their feet on endorsements. And it allowed Pritzker to attack Biss from his left on the issue of workers’ rights. […]
In Illinois, labor endorsements and support are invaluable to candidates hoping to win the backing of rank-and-file union members. Union membership in the state sits at 15 percent, compared to just 10.7 percent nationally, and 827,000 Illinois workers are represented by unions. A disproportionate percentage of these workers are African American, a demographic where Biss’ support lagged throughout the primary.
Something not mentioned is that Sen. Biss has the lowest lifetime Illinois AFL-CIO rating of any sitting Senate Democrat. Not a good thing when running for governor. I mean, when was the last time somebody won the Democratic nomination for governor here without significant labor support? Biss had that national nurses union group, but it doesn’t have much presence in this state and the Illinois Nurses Association endorsed Pritzker.
* Meanwhile, I’m hearing Ramirez is in line for a sweet private sector gig…
Chicago Federation of Labor President Jorge Ramirez, the city’s most powerful labor leader, said Monday he will step down when his term expires in June and support secretary-treasurer Robert Reiter as his replacement.
Last year, Ramirez led a labor-dominated investment group that purchased the Chicago Sun-Times.
He said Monday he has no specific job lined up and no plans to leave Chicago. He hopes to stay on as the newspaper’s board chairman “as long as they will have me.”
Ramirez said his reasons for calling it quits after 12 years at the helm of the CFL are “multiple and personal and not stuff I’ll get into at this point.”
Ramirez is the CFL’s first Latino president. Reiter comes from Operating Engineers Local 150. Secretary-treasurers usually move to the top spot when the president leaves. Knowing those guys like I do, I’m betting the rails are greased.
The Rauner administration delivered a preliminary cost estimate to members of a special task force on Friday revealing the prolonged effort to repair the aging Quincy Veterans Home could reach a price tag of $265 million. […]
The new report, officially titled the Illinois Veterans’ Homes Capital Needs Assessment, strongly recommends construction on a new residential home on the Quincy campus, complete with a new water distribution plumbing loop ($220M-$250M), a newly installed water plumbing loop to completely replace outdated pipes ($13.4M), development of an alternative water source ($4.6M-$5.5M), and the purchase and renovation of an off-site facility ($5M-$6M).
The estimated time frame to complete construction on a new facility is four to five years. […]
More than 350 veterans or their spouses still live at the facility. Most of them live in buildings that were constructed at least half a century ago. Two independent living structures on campus are 109 years old.
Needless to say, that’s an astonishing amount of money. We could buy each of those folks a $750,000 condo for that price.
It’s also well more than twice the cost of the still unfinished state veterans home in Chicago. As you may remember, Gov. Rauner slashed $4 million from that Chicago veterans facility in 2016, calling it “wasteful spending.” But now he wants to spend $265+ million on a new Quincy facility?
The Illinois’ Supreme Court recently decided it would not take up Rauner’s appeal of a lower court ruling that the state has to pay thousands of members of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Council 31 their automatic raises, called step increases. Rauner and lawmakers now have to figure out how to pay for those pay hikes that have been accumulating since summer 2015.
Rauner’s office won’t give any figures about how much the judgment will cost the state, but analyses of public payrolls estimate the cost to be $400 million over four years.
“About 40 percent of AFSCME employees are step eligible,” said Ted Dabrowski, president of financial watchdog Wirepoints. “When you include the cost of a higher salary and add the Social Security cost and other costs over four years, you’re talking about a $400 million increase in the cost of AFSCME employees over that time period.”
So, a purported average annual cost of $100 million could lead to a tax hike?
We’re analyzing the data to determine what’s owed to employees whose progression through the pay plan Governor Rauner has illegally denied. Looked at in totality, step increases have only a small net cost to the state, because the progression of the newest, usually lowest-paid employees through the pay steps is largely funded by what the state saves annually through attrition as older, typically higher-paid employees leave the workforce.
Question: What is the association between US state implementation of medical cannabis laws and opioid prescribing under Medicare Part D?
Findings: This longitudinal analysis of Medicare Part D found that prescriptions filled for all opioids decreased by 2.11 million daily doses per year from an average of 23.08 million daily doses per year when a state instituted any medical cannabis law. Prescriptions for all opioids decreased by 3.742 million daily doses per year when medical cannabis dispensaries opened. […]
Conclusions and Relevance: Medical cannabis laws are associated with significant reductions in opioid prescribing in the Medicare Part D population. This finding was particularly strong in states that permit dispensaries, and for reductions in hydrocodone and morphine prescriptions.
As Illinois officials search for new ways to combat an opioid epidemic that continues to claim a growing number of lives, state Sen. Don Harmon, D-Oak Park, is pushing new legislation that would expand the state’s medical cannabis program to give people who have been prescribed opioids a different option for treating their pain. […]
Harmon’s bill, called the “Alternatives to Opioids Act,” would expand Illinois’ medical cannabis pilot program to give people who have been prescribed opioids the opportunity to obtain a medical cannabis card that would remain valid for 12 months.
Last month, the measure passed the Senate Executive Committee 16-1, and “the odds of it passing out of the [full] Senate are excellent,” said Harmon, who is confident the bill can also get through the Illinois House.
Harmon hopes the bill can “limit the problem” of opioid abuse in the state. However, he admits the Legislature hasn’t been proactive enough in reacting to the rising tide of the “calamitous” opioid problem.
The main bank serving Illinois medical marijuana companies is pulling out of the industry, leaving operators with few options other than dealing in cash.
Bank of Springfield sent a letter to its cannabis clients late last month informing them that their accounts will be closed May 21. The decision is tied to the reversal of an Obama-era policy that discouraged prosecution of those operating under state marijuana laws.
The move is a setback for the industry, which remains a pilot program more than two years after medical cannabis became legal in Illinois. Strict regulations and other obstacles have added challenges to running cannabis companies and kept patient numbers too low for some operators to recoup their investments.
Taking away the bank accounts medical marijuana companies use to pay their employees, vendors and the government is another hurdle. It also eliminates some of the legitimacy and traceability of transactions that banking added to the industry, which had $8.5 million in retail sales statewide in February, according to the Illinois Department of Public Health. […]
There are other financial institutions around the state that work with the cannabis industry, but not many. Companies that relied solely on Bank of Springfield or are unable to find another bank might have to start operating exclusively in cash.
In January, JB Pritzker participated in the Chicago Sun-Times Democratic Gubernatorial Forum where his property tax scandals were a hot topic. Pritzker tried to cover up his own corruption by saying he “discovered the flaws” in the system. But how did he find those flaws? By having the toilets ripped out of his mansion and then using his insider connections to save $230,000 on his property tax bill.
JB Pritzker talks a big game when it comes to taxes. But he’s revealed himself as someone who has benefitted from corruption at the expense of hardworking families.
State Sen. Kwame Raoul, the Democratic nominee for Illinois attorney general, joined his party’s “chorus of opposition” Thursday to the Trump Administration’s plans to include a question about citizenship in the 2020 census.
Raoul said the move is illegal and would undermine efforts to get an accurate census count because the citizenship question will discourage some immigrants from participating.
By jumping on the issue early, Raoul is seeking in part to draw policy differences between himself and Republican nominee Erika Harold, but also to connect her more closely to Trump. Harold’s campaign declined to respond to questions Thursday about her position on the census dispute.
In a state where Donald Trump is regarded as largely unpopular, any opportunity for Illinois Democrats to legitimately make him the issue in the 2018 mid-term election is seen as a plus, and the president continues to oblige.
Republican attorney general nominee Erika Harold said Monday she opposes including a citizenship question on the 2020 census, splitting with both the Trump administration and Gov. Bruce Rauner.
In a delayed response to her Democratic opponent, state Sen. Kwame Raoul, who staked out a similar position last week, Harold argued it is too late to add the citizenship question because it was not tested in advance through the Census Bureau’s planning process.
“The Census Bureau therefore cannot meet the Constitutional burden of ensuring an accurate count of everyone in the United States — which is the census’s fundamental Constitutional purpose,” Harold said.
“While politicians on both sides of the aisle are attempting to convert this census debate into a political debate about immigration policy, the real legal issue is Congress’s Constitutional obligation to obtain an accurate count of everyone in the United States—regardless of citizenship status,” she added.
In a follow-up phone interview, Harold said that had the bureau gone out and tested the impact of the question, as it does with other queries, rather than unveiling it at the last moment, she might hold a different view. But that is not the case, she said.
“I think there are legitimate questions about an undercount to the overall population” created by such a question, Harold told me. “At this point, I wouldn’t have (added) a question.”
She said, “Upholding constitutional principals is one of the most important rules” for an attorney general.
State senators on Tuesday are scheduled to talk about whether Illinois should allow sports gambling if the federal law banning it is ever lifted.
The proposal comes from Democratic state Sen. Napoleon Harris, a former NFL linebacker from Harvey. It would allow Illinois casinos to take wagers on amateur, professional and college sports and manage an internet platform for taking bets, provided the online service is limited to state residents. […]
Tom Swoik, a lobbyist with the Illinois Casino Gaming Association, said the organization supports allowing sports betting to make up for business lost to video gambling in bars and restaurants. But he said the tax rates in the existing state proposal are too high.
“If the taxes and these fees that are paid to operate sports books are so high, then the payouts can’t be as high as sometimes what’s being paid out in illegal betting,” Swoik said. “People are still going to continue to do the illegal betting because they can get a higher payout.”
So… we as a state are gonna help the state’s handful of casinos? How about allowing local taverns and restaurants to install sports betting kiosks?
* I asked Rep. Jeanne Ives’ campaign spokesperson today if her candidate and Gov. Rauner have spoken since the primary election. “They have not,” she replied.
The DGA has been persistently trolling Rauner about this while I was on break. From March 26th…
6 Days of Silence: Rauner and Ives Won’t Talk… But Maybe They Text?
It’s been six days since Governor Bruce Rauner was thoroughly embarrassed by state Representative Jeanne Ives, who earned 48% of the Republican primary vote. Despite Rauner’s obvious need to patch things up with his primary opponent, the two have not spoken since the election. In fact, Ives spent most of last week trashing the wounded governor even more.
Rauner said he has not spoken with Ives, but maybe he tried to reach her via text. It probably went something like this:
“Bruce Rauner’s lies and betrayals divided the Republican Party so badly that his primary opponent refuses to speak with him,” said DGA Illinois Communications Director Sam Salustro. “Rauner’s failed leadership turned away Democrats and Independents, and now 48% of Republican voters. With no accomplishments and no supporters, Rauner truly is the most vulnerable incumbent in the nation.”
* March 27th…
Day 7: Rauner’s Latest Failure - Reuniting His Party
GOP Members Keeping Their Distance from Rauner, Local Activists Talking Third Party
One week ago, over 48% of Republican primary voters rejected Governor Bruce Rauner and voted to replace him on the ballot. Rauner’s embarrassing “win” showed just how extraordinarily weak and vulnerable the incumbent governor is, and how far he has to go to reunite the Republican Party.
One week later, Rauner’s reunion tour is not going well. State Representative Jeanne Ives still will neither endorse nor speak with the Governor, and many Ives’ supporters are not falling in line:
State Rep. Allen Skillicorn: “State Rep. Allen Skillicorn said he wouldn’t support Rauner. ‘Absolutely not,’ he said. ‘His campaign was dishonest and dishonorable.’”
State Rep. Steve Reick: “He should be humbled – he should’ve lost. Honor? Calling Jeanne Ives ‘Madigan’s favorite Republican’ may have swayed enough people to put him over the top, but the smell it leaves behind is the smell of mendacity, and it will carry through to November.”
State Rep. David McSweeney: “The question at this point is whether Bruce Rauner wants conservative support. That really is a question. Obviously, he did a number of things, including the tax hike, the SB31 – the immigration bill, sanctuary state bill. And also, the taxpayer funding for abortion, HB40, that angered conservatives. And it’s really unclear at this point if he wants conservative support. He’s going to have to ask for conservative support. He’s going to have to acknowledge some mistakes and just focus on going forward.”
Saline County precinct committeeman Sandra Smith: “For Smith, this fall will almost be a moment of protest. ‘I choose to stand up for those conservative values,’ she said, adding that she may have to find alternatives for her vote … ‘I don’t see reconciliation in any form or fashion (for the party) because this is the breaking point … I personally don’t know that I will vote for Rauner,’ Smith said.”
Patti Howard, president of the Williamson County Republican Women of Southern Illinois: “‘It’s going to be harder to bring everyone back together’ … Howard said Republicans this fall will be faced with a series of questions. ‘Am I going to go with the party even if I don’t agree with the man, or am I going to sit out and not vote or am I going to go with a third party?’ she said.”
“After Bruce Rauner lied to and betrayed Republicans, it’s no surprise that they are unwilling to embrace him again,” said DGA Illinois Communications Director Sam Salustro. “Republicans made clear that Rauner failed them, and his refusal to reach out to Jeanne Ives and her supporters is just making a bad situation worse.”
* March 29th…
Day 9 - #TBT: Four Years Ago, Rauner Had Unity Luncheon the Day After Primary Election
Today, Rauner Still Has Not Spoken with Ives, Even Though She Received 48% of the Primary Vote
It’s now been 9 days since Governor Bruce Rauner was nearly rejected by Republican primary voters, but he still has not spoken with his primary opponent, state Representative Jeanne Ives. Republican State Representative David McSweeney lamented yesterday that “Democrats have already had a unity breakfast” and he did not know “where things stand on the Governor reaching out to conservatives and asking for support.”
Four years ago, it was a different story. The Illinois Republican Party held a unity luncheon the day after Rauner’s 2014 primary win where he focused on an “economic agenda and soft-pedaling social issues such as abortion.” Today, Rauner is still trying to unite the party by downplaying social issues, except this time Republicans aren’t buying it.
“It’s been nine days since the election, and Bruce Rauner has still not held a unity rally or reached out to the 48% of Republicans that voted to oust him,” said DGA Illinois Communications Director Sam Salustro. “Rauner’s campaign is in real trouble – with rock-bottom approval ratings and a fractured party behind him, his decision to ignore Jeanne Ives and her supporters is perplexing. Is Rauner just worried no one will come if he throws a party?”
* March 30th…
Day 10: If Sox and Cubs Fans Can Get Along, Why Can’t Rauner And Ives?
Today marks the 10th day since the Republican primary election, and in that time, Governor Bruce Rauner and state Representative Jeanne Ives still have not spoken. Ives’ running-mate even agreed there was “no love lost” between the two camps, and Rauner has failed to reach out to Ives or the 48% of Republicans that voted against him.
Maybe they should take a lesson from Sox and Cubs fans, who are united in celebrating their Opening Day victories. While both sides play up their storied rivalry, many Sox fans openly cheered on the Cubs during the 2016 World Series, including Chance, Common, and President Obama. Some Cubs fans even crossed partisan lines to cheer on the Sox during their historic 2005 World Series win (though not exactly with the same enthusiasm).
“If Sox and Cubs fans can get along sometimes, why can’t Bruce Rauner and Jeanne Ives?” said DGA Illinois Communications Director Sam Salustro. “It’s clear that Rauner’s failures and lies turned off Ives fans, but if he ever wants Republicans to cheer him on again, he’ll stop ignoring the 48% of primary voters who opposed him.”
Frankly, they’re acting more like Cubs and Cardinals fans than anything else.
I would hotly dispute the notion that Sox and Cub fans are united, however.
* Today…
Day 13: Rauner and Ives Feud Moves into Second Month
It’s no April Fool’s joke – Governor Bruce Rauner’s and state Representative Jeanne Ives’ GOP feud is moving into its second month. Thirteen days ago, Ives nearly knocked off the incumbent Rauner by running a primary campaign on his dishonesty and management failures.
Now, the calendar turns to April and Rauner has still not spoken with Ives or earned the trust of her supporters. Last week, Ives demanded Rauner run ads apologizing for his dishonesty before she would endorse him. And Ives’ supporters do not sound like they are happy with Rauner’s minimal efforts of reconciliation.
“The longer Bruce Rauner lets his feud with Jeanne Ives fester, the harder it will be to bring his divided party back together,” said DGA Illinois Communications Director Sam Salustro. “With his rock-bottom approval ratings, Rauner’s already damaging his failing re-election campaign by allowing this battle to enter its second month.”
The Illinois Department of Public Health is reporting a large concentration of severe bleeding caused by synthetic cannabinoid products in Central Illinois.
Of 32 cases reported statewide, 10 cases were in Tazewell County, six in Peoria County and one in McLean County. The rest of the cases stem from the Chicago area.
IDPH updated its numbers today. There are now 56 cases statewide with two deaths. Of those, 26 cases were in the Peoria area, with 14 in Peoria County and 12 in Tazewell County, which is right next door. By comparison, there were 17 cases in all of Chicago.
All cases have required hospitalization for symptoms such as coughing up blood, blood in the urine, severe bloody nose, and/or bleeding gums. Nine of these cases have tested positive for brodifacoum, a lethal anticoagulant often used as a rodenticide, or rat poison.
“We continue to see the number of cases rise,” said IDPH Director Nirav D. Shah, M.D., J.D. “IDPH is continuing to work with local health departments and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, along with other partners, to try to identify common products. Without more information, IDPH does not know how much contaminated product is circulating or where. We strongly urge everyone not to use synthetic cannabinoids.”
Synthetic cannabinoids are human-made, mind-altering chemicals that are sprayed on to dried plant material. They can be smoked or sold as liquids to be vaporized in e-cigarettes and other devices. These chemicals are called cannabinoids because they are similar to chemicals found in the marijuana plant. The health effects from using synthetic cannabinoids can be unpredictable, harmful, and deadly.
IDPH continues to investigate to try to identify any common products and determine where they were obtained. Synthetic cannabinoids are found across Illinois and the U.S. in convenience stores, gas stations, drug paraphernalia shops, novelty stores, and online.
State funding cuts are threatening services for people living with autism, as families who receive help through a program called the Autism Project say they will be devastated by its elimination.
The Autism Project says Gov. Bruce Rauner confirmed the decision to cut funding for the remainder of the 2015 fiscal year Thursday - on World Autism Day.
• Collins’ claim: Governor Rauner’s FY17 budget proposal called for the same types of freezes and cuts from his FY16 budget proposal.
• Our finding: Rauner’s budget did call for these freezes and cuts. The Project for Autism, DHS’ Homelessness Prevention program and After School Matter wouldn’t have received funding. […]
• Collins’ claim: Rauner, again, introduced a budget [for Fiscal Year 2018] without funding the above-mentioned programs [including The Project for Autism].
• Our finding: Rauner’s proposed FY18 budget shows this claim is correct.
Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner’s administration has outlined more than $200 million in cuts officials say are necessary to help balance the budget lawmakers put in place over his veto, including reductions in areas he’s historically supported such as manufacturing, tourism and agriculture. […]
Among the cuts is $89 million that was set aside to pay for dozens of social service programs, such as homelessness prevention, addiction treatment and autism therapy
* Today…
Autism is estimated to affect 1 in every 68 births in the U.S. So let’s Light It Up Blue today, World Autism Awareness Day, to build greater understanding and acceptance for those with autism. #LightItUpBlue Learn more at https://t.co/RHOiogX1gShttps://t.co/nvd8pp3pwi
In his first year in office, Bruce Rauner cut autism funding on World Autism Day and has continued decimating critical services every year since. In 2015, Rauner suspended a $1 million grant for autism programs, and he froze or completely eliminated autism funding in each of his budget proposals. JB Pritzker released the following statement on World Autism Day:
“Today and every day, let’s celebrate the unique talents of those with autism and work together to create a more understanding and accepting society,” said JB Pritzker. “While the world comes together to recognize the accomplishments of people with autism, Bruce Rauner cut autism funding on World Autism Day and continues to undermine critical programs that help Illinoisans build better lives. Bruce Rauner is a failed governor devoid of a moral compass, and when I’m governor, I will stand with our families and ensure autism programs are funded so all Illinoisans can succeed.”
…Adding… Comptroller Mendoza…
Illinois Comptroller Susana A. Mendoza visited the Willowglen Academy Monday to mark World Autism Day and to see the amazing work the non-profit does with children and adults with autism and other intellectual and developmental disabilities. Comptroller Mendoza cheered a music and dance performance by the academy’s students and listened to the administrators’ concerns about state funding.
Monday marks three years since Governor Bruce Rauner cut funding for state autism programs on World Autism Day. The Governor has routinely proposed cuts in funding for autism and other state programs every year up to and including the budget he proposed in February for Fiscal Year 2019.
“The dedicated efforts of staff like those here at Willowglen to help Illinois residents with special needs lead fulfilling lives and receive dignified care deserve our enthusiastic support and should not be the first line of attack to solve state budget problems,” Comptroller Mendoza said. “My office will continue to prioritize state payments to the most vulnerable in Illinois.”
About 70 percent of eligible Chicago voters skipped the March primary — but what if those who stayed away could have voted via an app on their smartphones?
That’s the bold vision of the future being pushed by former Illinois Deputy Gov. Bradley Tusk. He’s backing blockchain technology getting a trial run among members of the military eligible to vote in West Virginia’s May election; they’ll be able to cast their vote using Apple or Android devices.
Tusk — who both served under and gave testimony that helped convict former Gov. Rod Blagojevich — told Inc. that “hopefully, eventually everybody will be able to vote this way.”
By boosting turnout, smartphone voting could change the dynamic of primaries so that candidates no longer have to play to the highly partisan voters who are most likely to trek to a traditional polling place.
A staff member from Tusk Montgomery Philanthropies, which is helping fund the technology, has met with officials from Cook County Clerk David Orr’s office — which handles suburban elections — to pitch a trial locally, he said. But Orr spokesman Nick Shields said Orr has “no plans” to try out the technology.
The Better Government Association’s Andy Shaw recently shared a wish-list to help give Illinois voters the elections they deserve, not the ones they have been forced to take. Many items on the list are worth considering, including:
— Setting up a system to create truly independent maps not partisan ones that are drawn to keep the party in power in power.
— Holding elections on weekends, instead of a Tuesday, and moving primaries to a warmer month to increase turnout.
— Requiring more donor transparency.
— Creating a public financing system that would match modest donor contributions with pubic dollars to increase their impact on elections.
State lawmakers are trying to make changes to voting before the 2019 election. They’ve introduced a bill to get rid of precincts and create voting centers. Right now, area voters have specific locations where they go to vote. It’s on the voter registration card. If a voting center bill became law, and if the county opted in, voters could pick one of about 20 centralized locations instead of going to assigned precincts.
Drew Penrose, law and policy director of the non-partisan group Fair Vote, said primaries where everyday voters participate in elections were meant to battle corrupt political parties selecting candidates and office holders without voter input.
Some states have closed primaries where voters register for a party before voting. Penrose said Illinoisans on primary day do things differently.
“It’s the only state that I’m aware of where you go, you declare a political party affiliation and then the person who is handing you a primary ballot has to announce in a voice loud enough for people to hear in the polling place which party affiliation you are affiliating yourself with,” Penrose said.
In the House, Rep. Ryan Spain, R-Peoria, has introduced a proposal to amend the Illinois Constitution. Spain would take redistricting away from self-interested lawmakers and give it to a bi-partisan commission of non-elected Dems, GOPers and Independents appointed by state Supreme Court justices.
In the other chamber, Sens. Julie Morrison, D-Deerfield, and Heather Steans, D-Chicago, have introduced the same proposal. (Both Spain and Morrison are former students of mine: Ryan at the U. of I. and Julie at Knox College.)
Democratic Speaker of the House Mike Madigan will fight these proposals tooth and nail. Above all else, Madigan craves political control. If a Democrat is elected governor in November, that party would control the redistricting process after the 2020 Census.
Fair Vote, a nonpartisan election reform group, advocates for a move to ranked-choice voting. Under the system, voters have the ability to rank as many candidates as they want in order of preference.
Geoffrey Cubbage, secretary of the Illinois Green Party, says an election reform like this already is a part of his party’s platform. He said ranked-choice could improve the system by eliminating the so-called “spoiler effect.”
“It gives everybody the ability to vote for their first choice,” Cubbage said, “even if that is a candidate from a party with less institutional support, with less overall membership, who, perhaps, has less of a shot of winning.”
If no candidate secures a majority of first-choice votes, the lowest performing one is eliminated and second-choice votes then are added to the tally. Drew Spencer Penrose, law and policy director at Fair Vote, said one benefit to the system is more civil campaigns.
Since record keeping began in 1994, the March 20 General Primary Election saw the most ballots — about 447,000 — cast in suburban Cook County in a gubernatorial primary election. A record number of registered voters — 1.5 million — and record-high numbers of early voters — more than 110,000 — cast nearly a quarter of ballots.
There are earlier records, of course, but they’re on paper. Even so, you get the idea.
* Hearings planned ahead of automatic voter registration: Public hearings will begin next month throughout Illinois regarding the state’s automatic voter registration system. Under the new system, people will be automatically registered to vote when they apply for or renew a driver’s license. Even though the new system will be more convenient, Adams County Clerk Chuck Venvertloh says it could hurt voter turnout.
Several suburban Republican senators are calling for legislative action on a bill that would put stricter consequences on those who are behind the bothersome robo-calls and scam calls, which seem to keep cell phones ringing non-stop.
Senate Bill 2573 was announced last week, aiming to address the growing problem of robo-calls throughout the state. Several suburban lawmakers came together to co-sponsor the legislation, noting that these types of fraudulent calls are an ongoing form of harassment for many throughout the state.
The legislation strengthens the Illinois Automated Dialers Act by making the act of “spoofing,” where callers disguise their real number by showing up as a different number from the recipient’s caller ID system, a separate violation. The bill also requires prior written consent before callers can use an auto-dialer to initiate a telemarketing call. Both of these changes would align Illinois law with federal law, and would also make the unlawful practices subject to enforcement by the Attorney General. […]
“Now, more than ever, callers are able to easily afford these mass phone calls, and the low cost of auto-dialers is allowing them to makes thousands of calls daily, putting so many people at risk of falling for their deceitful tactics,” said State Sen. Michael Connelly (R-Naperville). “This is good legislation that protects Illinois’ most vulnerable citizens.”
* Not mentioned in the glowing account is that the amendment actually deletes existing statutory language allowing consumers to sue…
(c) Enforcement by customer. Any customer injured by a violation of this Act may bring an action for the recovery of damages. Judgment may be entered for 3 times the amount at which the actual damages are assessed, plus costs and reasonable attorney fees.
(c-5) In addition to the damages authorized under subsection (c), a consumer may obtain statutory damages in the amount of $500 per violation.
* Other stuff…
* Illinois eye doctors at odds over who can perform procedures: Patients’ health would be put at risk if optometrists in Illinois are successful in their quest for state approval to remove benign nodules and lesions, drain cysts and take tissue samples on the eyes and eyelids, according to physicians who are fighting the proposal. “These procedures are clearly surgery and will clearly jeopardize patient safety if done by someone who hasn’t attended medical school and a residency,” said Dr. Chris Albanis, an ophthalmologist in the Chicago area and a past president of the Illinois Society of Eye Physicians & Surgeons. But Effingham optometrist Dr. Matthew Jones said statements by Albanis and other ophthalmologists are “a gross hyperbole of the truth.” Jones, a trustee of the Illinois Optometric Association, said ophthalmologists — medical doctors specializing in eye care — are overreacting.
* Reduced court fees could ease debt: One stops the state from suspending a driver’s license when someone stops paying a ticket. Another allows someone to have records sealed or expunged even if they still owe court fees. The third would reduce some costs overall. At least one traffic attorney says he’s happy to hear the state making the changes. All three bills are the result of a 2013 task force. It was created to find solutions for excessive court fees and fines.
* Illinois officials to address lack of sexual-assault nurses: The Illinois Attorney General’s Office is working with state lawmakers to draft legislation that would require hospitals to have a specially trained medical provider available to examine a sexual-assault victim. Of the more than 196,000 registered nurses in Illinois, only 32 are certified by the International Association of Forensic Nurses to work with adult sexual-assault patients, the Chicago Tribune reported. A dozen of the sexual-assault nurse examiners are certified to treat children. The draft legislation would require hospitals to have a trained medical professional available within 90 minutes of a patient’s arrival. Hospitals would be required to implement the change by 2023.
For a median-income family with two kids in Madison County, @robertmartwick's progressive tax would mean a $617 tax hike. The same family in St. Clair County would see a $554 tax hike. https://t.co/QT8MaOMgP9
Why the policy institute should never be taken serious. 1.) this bill was filed in Feb. 2017 - you know before the budget was passed. 2.) There is a tax swap in it lowering property taxes (among a ton of other things) which they don’t mention. https://t.co/3TOIu211h1
Any school district that reduces its operational property tax levy for the 2019-2020 school year in relation to the district’s operational property tax levy for the 2018-2019 school year is eligible to receive a distribution from the [Education Property Tax Relief Fund].
Notable that this a) doesn't include the fact that IL has a lower outmigration rate than most states (prob is low in-migration), b) focuses on higher inc hh in Chicago area when losses here v concentrated among low income ppl https://t.co/yHIdy363qy
As for what’s causing the population loss, [Chicago demographer Rob Paral] says it’s a “complex stew” of factors that includes race, income and immigration.
“One way to explain the population loss is largely due, in part, to African-Americans leaving. We’ve had a dramatic departure of blacks from Illinois to southern states,” he said, adding the trend has been going on for decades. In addition, he said the Latino population is growing more slowly, while whites are growing in the city but declining in the suburbs.
Last year Paral conducted a study that compared the number of whites living in Chicago and elsewhere in Illinois. Historically, whites who lived in the city had lower incomes than others across the state. But now that trend has reversed, according to Paral. “Whites in the city are wealthier than elsewhere in the state,” he said. They’re moving to the city for high-paying jobs that require educated and skilled applicants, he added.
Immigration has also dropped off in recent years. From the ‘80s to the early 2000s, “Illinois had really high immigration numbers, (which) covered up some of the other problems we’re talking about,” Paral said. In 2007, immigration, especially from Mexico, began declining nationally and in Illinois.
Illinois Governor Bruce Rauner stopped by the Illinois Veterans’ Home Wednesday morning, a day after the Illinois Department of Veterans’ Affairs announced two veterans had been diagnosed with Legionnaire’s disease.
The governor was there for a tour of the recently-completed water facility. The state completed the extensive $5 million renovation of the water system this year after 12 people died and 54 were sickened last summer as a result of the disease. Dozens of others were sickened. But health officials never found a source for the outbreak.
State officials have confirmed a third new case of Legionnaires’ disease at a western Illinois veterans’ home since an outbreak there last year killed 12 people and sickened 54.
State officials are looking into more than a dozen cases of respiratory illness at a LaSalle Veterans’ Home.
Eleven residents tested positive with pneumonia over the past several months. One of the residents also tested positive for Legionnaires’ disease. A spokesperson for the Department of Veterans’ Affairs says the 97-year-old resident had multiple underlying issues and has since died.
A week and a half later, the IDPH chief of staff took a leave of absence to work campaigns.
While the Department of Public Health faced the baffling return of Legionnaires’ disease at a state-run veterans home in 2016, a top administrator left to work on Republican campaigns for the Illinois House, records reviewed by The Associated Press show.
Erik Rayman, the chief of staff to Public Health Director Dr. Nirav Shah, took a leave of absence in October and November 2016, just two months after the return of the deadly disease at the Quincy veterans home that claimed 12 lives the previous summer and another last fall. Four new cases were reported last month. […]
State Sen. Tom Cullerton, a Villa Park Democrat and chairman of the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee, criticized the move.
“Why is the chief of staff doing campaign work?” Cullerton asked.
“I understand that people come out of different offices and take leaves of absences, but it’s never a chief of staff,” he said. “With everything going on in Public Health, the chief of staff is the most important person in that department.”
Gov. Bruce Rauner is unconcerned that his Public Health Department’s chief of staff took a 2016 leave of absence for political campaigning while the Quincy veterans home battled Legionnaires’ disease.
The Republican told reporters in East Peoria Wednesday that the home recorded no Legionnaires’ cases during Erik Rayman’s absence. The Associated Press reported Tuesday that Rayman took unpaid leave in October and November 2016 to work on Republican House campaigns.
Rauner said that at the time, “There hadn’t been any cases in quite a while.”
* Meanwhile, from the Pritzker campaign…
A day after Bruce Rauner declared “we in Illinois must strive every day to make it Veterans Day,” his Department of Public Health announced late on Friday that two dozen residents and staff at the Quincy Veterans’ Home had fallen ill with what they suspect is norovirus.
The announcement came in the form of a Friday news dump press release, a step above the administration’s “mind-boggling” and “inexcusable” six-day delay in announcing the Legionnaires’ outbreak in 2015. Under Bruce Rauner’s failed leadership, the Quincy Veterans’ Home continues to be plagued with health issues — from recurring fatal outbreaks of Legionnaires’ disease to the potential norovirus reported last week.
“With Bruce Rauner still failing to get the Legionnaires’ crisis under control, new health issues are now coming to light at the Quincy Veterans’ Home,” said Pritzker campaign spokesman Jason Rubin. “The lives of our nation’s heroes continue to be jeopardized by staggering incompetence at the highest levels of Bruce Rauner’s administration.”
*** UPDATE *** IDPH…
Erik Rayman was on a leave of absence from October 3 - November 30, 2016. During this time, IDPH continued to operate with a director, assistant director, and chief of staff. The previous IDPH assistant director, Michelle Gentry-Wiseman, served as the acting the Chief of Staff. Ms. Gentry-Wiseman was with IDPH from 1990-2003 in various roles, including serving as the first Chief of Staff at IDPH. Ms. Gentry-Wiseman returned to IDPH in March 2015 as the assistant director and served until she retired from public service in June 2016. She was well versed and involved with IDPH’s response to the Legionnaires’ disease outbreak in Quincy. For a week prior to his leave of absence, Mr. Rayman overlapped with Ms. Gentry-Wiseman to ensure a continuity of operations.
Please remember that IDPH’s role is a technical advisor, working with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Adams County Health Department to advise the Illinois Department of Veterans’ Affairs and the Illinois Veterans’ Home at Quincy on infection control procedures and water remediation efforts the facility should be taking. .
Melaney Arnold
Illinois Department of Public Health
Public Information Officer
* Related…
* Vietnam War veterans honored in Springfield: “How many governors do you know have actually gone to live at a veterans’ home,” [Veterans Affairs’ director Erica Jeffries] said, referring to Rauner’s one-week stay earlier this year at the veterans home in Quincy, which has seen several cases of Legionnaires’ disease. “Why did he go there? Because he wanted to be able to get to know those men and women who served our country. He wanted to get to know our staff who care for those veterans every single day. He does that in his walk as governor, and as a private citizen, every day.”
* Federal budget bill could benefit Illinois Veterans Home: U.S. Sen. Tammy Duckworth said the omnibus budget bill passed by Congress last week includes more than $500 million for “construction at state-run veteran health facilities” such as the Illinois Veterans Home in Quincy.
* This one has it all. A Proft paper quotes Proft’s pollster in order to give a pro-Proft GOP legislator a platform to advise Gov. Rauner to move to his right… in Illinois… before the general election…
A post-primary poll shows that re-election prospects for Gov. Bruce Rauner look bleak. An Odgen & Fry survey shows him down 22 points compared with Democratic nominee J.B. Pritzker, and in an almost certain death knell for a politician, Rauner’s unfavorables are nearly double his favorables.
Rep. Allen Skillicorn (R-East Dundee) and other Republican legislators say that for Rauner to have any chance in November he needs to start listening to his base, which includes the conservative and traditional Republicans he angered when he signed a taxpayer-funded abortion bill and a bill that made Illinois a “sanctuary state.”
“One of the things he can do to show he’s listening right off the bat is promise to veto every gun-control bill that comes his way,” Skillicorn told the McHenry Times.
Skillicorn said that Rauner also needs to rethink his budget proposal.
“He talks about rolling back the income tax increases but his budget has every cent of new tax money already accounted for,” he said.
Veto all gun control bills and slash spending. Yup. That’ll work here.
* But let’s turn the weird up a notch, shall we? The JB Pritzker campaign actually linked to that very same Proft poll within a recent press release…
* Also, according to the Pritzker campaign, Gov. Rauner may actually be taking Skillicorn’s advice. Press release…
Despite pleas from immigrant rights groups, Bruce Rauner supports Donald Trump’s latest attack on immigrant communities in Illinois and across the country.
The Trump Administration announced it would ask respondents of the 2020 census whether they were U.S. citizens, which experts warn would severely reduce the response rate in immigrant communities and undercount the national population.
“Donald Trump is launching a direct attack on immigrant communities in Illinois with the full support of his local partner Bruce Rauner,” said JB Pritzker. “By using the U.S. Census as a political weapon, this bigoted president wants to keep immigrant families in the shadows. As Trump and Rauner seek to divide and attack, I will make Illinois a welcoming state and protect every resident as governor.”
* Nice headline for the governor from WICS TV: “Governor Rauner: I support doing a large capital bill.” But there’s a catch…
He said negotiations are currently ongoing between his office and the General Assembly.
“Infrastructure investment is critically important,” Rauner said. “I support doing a large capital bill. I believe if we would truly balance our budget and bring more government efficiency and pension reform, we will have the money to pay interest on bonded debt. And bonding is an appropriate way to pay for infrastructure.”
When asked if he would support a motor fuel tax to cover some of the costs, Rauner said he doesn’t support raising any taxes for Illinoisans to pay for infrastructure improvement projects.
Maybe I’m missing something there, but I thought the money from his pension reform plan was already spent on a $1 billion tax cut that’ll probably never happen? Either way, he’ll probably blame Speaker Madigan for killing a tax cut and making it impossible to do a “large” capital bill without a huge tax hike.
Without repairs and improvements, roads will get worse, TRIP Executive Director Will Wilkins said.
“These conditions are only going to get worse, increasing the additional costs to motorists, if greater investment is not made available at the state and local levels of government,” Wilkins said in a statement. “Without adequate funding, Illinois’ transportation system will become increasingly deteriorated and congested, hampering economic growth, safety and quality of life.” […]
The governor provided few specifics about how to pay for infrastructure improvements, but said he was opposed to raising gas taxes.
“Here’s the bottom line, the people of Illinois are taxed out,” Rauner said. “We should not be discussing any new taxes at all until we change our system and really drive more value for taxpayers. Really we should be reducing the tax burden, not increasing it, and growing our economy to increase our revenues, not increasing our tax rates.”
So, he’s all-in for more spending and dead-set against taxes. Simple to understand.
* A recent Rauner campaign press release…
In January, JB Pritzker told the Daily Herald that a Vehicle Miles Traveled tax is an idea worth exploring, advocating for a tax increase on the millions of Illinoisans who drive to work everyday or utilize a vehicle for their job.
A Vehicle Mileage Tax would place a monitor in registered vehicles in the state of Illinois and track mileage traveled. Fellow Democrats like State Sen. Daniel Biss oppose the measure as “a serious violation of privacy.”
Just another example of how JB Pritzker’s plan for Illinois is more of the same: higher taxes and more corruption.
A VMT may sound familiar. A proposal in the Senate back in 2016 would have given drivers the choice between installing a device to track their mileage or pay a 1.5-cent-per-mile tax on a base 30,000 miles traveled per year. That measure was quickly shot down.
At just over $0.30 per gallon, Illinois state gas tax is already higher than neighboring states like Missouri, Kentucky, and Indiana.
Charging gas taxes based on how many miles people drive instead of how much fuel they burn could pump up revenues to help fix Illinois’ roads and bridges, Democratic candidate for governor J.B. Pritzker told the Daily Herald editorial board.
Called a vehicle miles traveled or VMT tax, it’s an idea worth exploring, the billionaire Hyatt hotel heir said in a Thursday interview where he also pushed for a graduated income tax, but gave few specifics.
Voters don’t do nuance. Pritzker opened the door to that one.
Most reporters and pundits believed that state Rep. Jeanne Ives trounced Gov. Bruce Rauner in the Jan. 29 debate hosted by the Chicago Tribune editorial board. One columnist wrote that Ives “crushed” Rauner. And I wrote about Ives’ “almost complete thumping” of Rauner. We were all correct about the moment, but that debate probably saved Rauner’s behind.
At the time of the debate, Rauner’s own polling showed he was ahead of Ives by 50 percentage points. The governor then made the almost fatal mistake of ignoring his GOP primary opponent. But when she eventually started gaining on him, he let loose with a barrage of ads using video clips from that very debate everybody said he’d badly lost. Rauner’s campaign pulled selective bits from the debate to make the case with voters that Ives was in cahoots with Democratic House Speaker Michael Madigan. So, for example, when Ives said during the debate that she’d work “with” Madigan, one of Rauner’s ads claimed that Ives would work “for” Madigan.
It was all horribly dishonest on Rauner’s part. Ives is a staunch Madigan foe. But that’s politics. Rauner didn’t beat Ives by much, but he won, and as people used to say when I was a kid, close only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades.
Democratic gubernatorial candidate J.B. Pritzker was absolutely pummeled by his primary opponents and the pundits for not agreeing to a televised downstate debate. They all said he was insulting downstate voters by not agreeing to it. But come election day, Pritzker took 53 percent of the downstate vote. That win was bigger than in other regions in the state, even 8 points higher than his Chicago victory. He essentially ran up the score on his opponents outside the Chicago area.
* My weekly syndicated newspaper column was written the day before I went on vacation…
The oddest political couple in all of Illinois did pretty well in Tuesday’s Democratic primary.
Two years ago, progressive firebrand Cook County Commissioner Chuy Garcia helped lead Bernie Sanders’ Democratic campaign in the Chicagoland area and was eventually named a national Sanders media surrogate.
At the same time, Garcia also endorsed House Speaker Michael Madigan against a well-funded Democratic primary opponent.
“Now more than ever,” Garcia said in a statement back then, “local families need Michael Madigan in the State Capitol fighting for them.”
It was mainly a marriage of convenience. Madigan needed help with his ward’s Latino voters, and Garcia had some plans of his own that Madigan could help him with. Madigan also likely wanted to make sure that Garcia’s future plans didn’t include trying to knock him off his perch.
Garcia, along with his allies in the Bernie Sanders Our Revolution organization, ran the table in Cook County last week.
They helped trounce Cook County Assessor Joe Berrios by almost 12 points. They soundly defeated Rep. Dan Burke, the younger brother of one of the most powerful Democrats in Chicago (Ald. Ed Burke, who they are going after next). They cruised through a hotly contested four-way primary to replace retiring Rep. Cynthia Soto, D-Chicago, with Delia Ramirez by 27 points. They buried machine-linked Sen. Martin Sandoval’s (D-Chicago) daughter Angel by 15 points in the race to replace Garcia on the county board despite massive spending by. They won a judicial race. And, of course, Garcia walked away with his own congressional nomination by 45 points.
Speaker Madigan carried Mayor Rahm Emanuel to victory in the 13th Ward in Emanuel’s 2015 race against Garcia, but after Garcia endorsed Madigan in 2016, Madigan allied with Garcia on some of this year’s races, including the defeat of Sandoval.
There was admittedly nothing that Madigan could do to help Berrios outside of the 13th Ward (which Berrios won with 56 percent). Berrios had become so toxic that even several politicians who’d endorsed him wouldn’t put his name on their election-day palm cards for fear of alienating voters they needed for other races.
And Rep. Burke was beyond saving as well. Progressive Latinos are demanding their own representation. But because of Madigan’s relationship with Garcia, it’s a fairly safe bet that Aaron Ortiz, who beat Burke, won’t be a thorn in Madigan’s side when he takes office next year.
Without Madigan and the hundreds of precinct captains he controls, U.S. Rep. Dan Lipinski would be polishing up his thin resume this week. The conservative Democrat Lipinski narrowly defeated a progressive challenger.
And with Assessor Berrios defeated, that’s one less issue that Gov. Bruce Rauner will have against Madigan’s favored gubernatorial candidate JB Pritzker, who won last week by 18 points over two public Madigan haters, Chris Kennedy and Sen. Daniel Biss.
Madigan also won some House races against Democratic candidates who talked openly about opposing him.
Madigan’s 17th House District candidate Jennifer Gong Gershowitz won by almost 600 votes over Candance Chow, who had vowed to vote against Madigan for House Speaker. Madigan’s candidate Lamont Robinson won a four-way primary to replace Lt. Governor nominee Juliana Stratton by 14 points. Madigan’s bitter foe Ken Dunkin came in third in that primary, scoring just 18 percent.
Jill Bernal had pledged to vote against Madigan, but she lost to the pro-Madigan Lance Yednock by 15 points to take on freshman Rep. Jerry Long,R-Streator.
Madigan’s ally Rep. Lisa Hernandez (D-Cicero) fended off her primary opponent by 15 points. The House Speaker’s favored candidate to replace retiring Rep. Carol Sente, D-Vernon Hills, Daniel Didech, prevailed by 21 points. His candidate to take on Rep. Terri Bryant, R-Murphysboro, Marsha Griffin, sailed through by 26 points.
Rep. Mary Flowers, D-Chicago, triumphed by over 65 points. Rep. Thaddeus Jones, D-Calumet City, dominated with a 29-point victory. Madigan lieutenant Rep. Bob Rita, D-Blue Island, thrashed his opponent by a whopping 53 points despite countless negative news stories about his past.
The one candidate Madigan reportedly didn’t want to win in the crowded primary race to replace retiring House Majority Leader Barbara Flynn Currie, D-Chicago, was Flynn Rush, the son of US Rep. Bobby Rush. The younger Rush lost to Curtis Tarver by 9 points.
As far as I can tell, not a single anti-Madigan candidate won a House Democratic primary last week.
As I write this, nobody has yet compiled Democratic state central committee race results, so we don’t yet know how Madigan fared there. So, stay tuned on that, because Madigan is the state party chairman and several folks were running to topple him.
* And speaking of those central committee races, this is from March 27th…
Peter Janko, a former Bernie Sanders delegate who said he spent just $600 on his campaign, is the only progressive candidate to win a seat on the state central committee from a slate of 13 endorsed by Our Revolution Illinois, the grassroots political organization that grew out of Sanders’ run for president.
Unofficial primary election results suggest Madigan has held the state central committee spots he needs to keep his grip on control of the party — but he’s not leaving anything to chance.
Madigan called Janko Tuesday morning.
“I knocked on 100 doors myself and generally when you’re getting out to the McHenry area it’s almost universal that they want Mike Madigan out. I got elected by telling people that I will vote against him, and I plan to do that,” Janko told the Sun-Times on Tuesday. “I made it clear to Michael Madigan. So I’m supposed to have lunch with him next Tuesday because he wants to convince me to change my mind.”
The northwest suburban Marengo resident said he spoke with Madigan for about 30 minutes: “I told him I want to be a bridge between the Bernie side of the Democratic Party and the old establishment. I’m not here to turn anything upside down. I live in a very red district, 14th, and I’m not going into this as a protest candidate, but I want to rebuild the party.”
Meanwhile, ProPublica has a story about how a 13th Ward precinct polling place is in somebody’s basement and how a poll watcher left the basement in order to stand beyond the 100-foot legal perimeter so she could hand somebody a palm card and how all of this means that Madigan can stay in power forever. Or something.
