The crumbling of House Speaker Michael Madigan’s inner circle amid one ethics scandal after another is the most serious threat to the longest-serving state House Speaker’s power, according to a longtime observer.
Madigan’s longtime chief of staff was fired [last] week. A leading ally in the House was demoted. Another is retiring. And there are calls for independent investigations into the speaker’s office from within his own caucus. […]
University of Illinois at Springfield politics professor emeritus Kent Redfield has been following Illinois politics since 1975. […]
“This is a much more serious threat to the Speaker’s power and his longevity than anytime in my memory,” Redfield said.
* The Question: On a scale of one to five, with five being the most threatening, how would you rate this #MeToo threat to Madigan’s power and longevity? Take the poll and then explain your answer in comments, please.
Today, Lt. Gov. Evelyn Sanguinetti joined Scott Slocum on WJOL to discuss the success of passing a budget, increased K-12 education funding, and the Pritzker-Blagojevich TV ads the campaign is running.
For me, the biggest plus in the budget was in education. As you know I’m an inner city kid and I failed the first grade and education was always big for me. Here with this budget, the governor added $350 million in new K-12 spending for fiscal year 2019. Now that’s a $1.4 billion increase in spending since 2015. And a huge reversal from the reductions that we’ve seen in years past. That’s a very positive takeaway. And again the fact that all parties were able to come together to reach this budget that is all very positive.
…Well as you know we just released one of those FBI wire tap tapes where JB Pritzker and Rod Blagojevich are joking around about a seat that President Barack Obama left open. Talking about Reverend Wright occupying that seat and they were laughing about it. You know to them, you know and to Rod Blagojevich he’s shown no remorse for his crime. And he says that he’s in jail for just practicing politics and that may be practicing politics to Blago and JB Pritzker. But to Bruce Rauner and I, practicing politics means showing up to work every day and serving the people of our state.
…You compare JB Pritzker to Bruce Rauner, they are hundreds of millions of miles apart. With JB Pritzker, you have a person that tears out his toilets in his neighboring mansion so that he won’t have to pay as much in property taxes. That’s problematic. With JB Pritzker you have a person that says that on day one he’d eliminate that scholarship program that Bruce Rauner has put in place to help those kids in underserved communities. That speaks to his core. You know and then you compare him to Bruce Rauner. He came in not collecting pay for the work he’s been doing. He believes in the greatness of our state because he wants our children to grow here and stay here and find jobs here. That’s what Bruce Rauner has been all about since day one. And you’ve seen it with the budget. He believes in growth. Not taxing our way out of our problems but rather growing our way out.
Emphasis added because I thought it was a particularly sharp line.
* An e-mail sent to House Democrats today by Jessica Basham, Speaker Madigan’s new chief of staff…
Subject: Announcement: New hirings and other coming changes re: personnel policies and practices
Dear Members:
I’ve begun a series of conversations with members of our caucus and with staff to discuss our efforts to change the culture in the Capitol, and the role we all play in this process. I have already spoken with many of you, and the rest of you can expect my call soon. I appreciate the feedback I’ve already received, and I look forward to continuing these conversations going forward to solicit and consider new ideas.
Based on these conversations, the Speaker and I are immediately beginning a search to hire a human resources director and an equal employment opportunity/affirmative action officer to (i) promote a fair, equitable, and unbiased work environment for the 200 employees of the Speaker’s office, (ii) advise supervisors, and (iii) oversee investigations related to discrimination and harassment.
In addition to these new positions, we are considering numerous additional steps to change the culture in the Capitol, including:
• Conducting performance reviews on all current directors and supervisors, which will include input from staff.
• Requiring all directors and supervisors, including the chief of staff, to participate in new management training programs this summer.
• Meeting with staff members within the Speaker’s office to solicit suggestions for changes to personnel policies and manuals. These policies and manuals will subsequently be updated, based on the feedback received.
• Creating a confidential process for employees to anonymously register complaints or make suggestions.
• Researching the availability of additional harassment prevention training which all staff would undergo on a continuing basis.
• Reviewing and revamping the organizational structure of the House Democratic Staff and Speaker’s office, in order to incorporate suggestions from staff and members and bring transparency to the roles and functions of staff.
I hope you will make your thoughts part of this conversation. I’m seeking your input on new steps we can take, better policies we can enact, and any other ways we can create a fairer, equitable environment for all. Please call or email me whenever you have thoughts you’d like to share.
As I’ve already told many of you, I’m looking for your suggestions and guidance as I acclimate to my new role. I believe our caucus is stronger because we are having this discussion, and I thank you in advance for sharing your ideas.
Sincerely,
Jessica
Conducting performance reviews on all current directors and supervisors will help her weed some folks out.
* The lack of a a human resources office was one of the chief complaints by Sherri Garrett…
I wish I would’ve had someone that I could have trusted and to whom I could’ve said, ‘Hey. This happened to me. Is this supposed to happen?’
If there had been a true professional human resources team, they could have said ‘No’ and perhaps we could have nipped it in the bud right then and there.
A victims’ rights activist who was the first to publicly name a state legislator for alleged abuse of power has now filed a complaint against a slew of other state lawmakers who are also lawyers, claiming misconduct, malfeasance and other violations of professional standards.
Denise Rotheimer said Monday she filed a complaint with Illinois’ Attorney Registration and Disciplinary Commission against several high-ranking lawmakers, including state Senate President John Cullerton, D-Chicago, and House Speaker Michael Madigan, D-Chicago. Rotheimer also filed complaints against lawmakers who are attorneys on the Legislative Ethics Commission and against the special legislative inspector general. The ARDC was established by the Illinois Supreme Court to “promote and protect the integrity of the legal profession.” The Illinois Supreme Court has the authority to disbar attorneys.
The complaints stem from the nearly three year vacancy for the legislative inspector general position. The inspector general is responsible for investigating allegations of lawmaker wrongdoing. While the post was vacant, complaints forwarded to the office sat untouched.
“Hopefully the ARDC having respect for the profession will see that those who have licenses to practice in the state are held to the laws and whether or not they become lawmakers are not immune to breaking those laws,” Rotheimer said.
A check of the ARDC’s website at 10:22 this morning shows no complaints filed. But it hasn’t been updated since Friday.
…Adding… Rotheimer sent me the receipt she received after filing her request for an investigation. Click here.
Today, the Rauner campaign is launching a new digital ad titled “Who Knew?”
When pressed about why he was caught on FBI wiretaps with disgraced ex-Governor Rod Blagojevich just six days before Blagojevich was arrested, JB Pritzker responded “nobody knew the FBI was investigating the man … who knew, you know, that he was actually doing things that were against the interests of the people.”
Everyone knew. The campaign’s new digital ad highlights years of headlines that make it clear the FBI had Blagojevich in their sights.
An Air Force veteran and former resident of the Quincy veterans home who was a guest of Gov. Rauner at his State of the State speech has died.
Ivan Jackson was one of two residents Rauner invited to his Jan. 31 speech at the Capitol. Jackson and the governor met when Rauner spent a week at the state-run veterans home to meet with staff, learn about operations and spend time with residents.
Soon after the speech, Jackson was diagnosed with Legionnaires’ disease, one of three new cases at the Quincy home.
“U.S. Air Force veteran Ivan Jackson was a man of rare quality,” Rauner tweeted Monday. “Husband, father, grandfather, great-grandfather, his service will be remembered, his memory cherished … forever. Rest in honor, my friend.”
Rauner’s administration said it had no evidence Jackson’s death was caused by Legionnaires’, and the coroner in St. Louis County, Missouri, where he died, wasn’t immediately available. But Jackson’s daughter said Legionnaires’ likely was a contributing factor along with other serious underlying illnesses.
“I can’t tell you that it was a reason he passed, but I can tell you it didn’t help in his ongoing health issues,” Allyson Springer told WBEZ Monday afternoon. […]
Springer said her father was hospitalized with pneumonia on February 9, less than two weeks after Rauner feted Jackson at his State of the State address. Rauner met the veteran during a weeklong stay at the facility in January, a visit designed to show the home was safe.
After being admitted to the hospital, Springer said her father had a heart attack. A few days later, the family learned he had tested positive for Legionnaires’. After his heart attack, Springer said Jackson suffered a stroke.
Prior to his illness, she said he had chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and was outfitted with both a pacemaker and defibrillator.
…Adding… Pritzker campaign with a related angle…
Weeks before the budget crisis began, Bruce Rauner announced the cuts his impending crisis would force on state programs, including halting construction of the Chicago Veterans’ Home.
The 195-bed facility was originally slated to open in mid-2016, but now it’s been delayed by over three years. Rauner also suspended capital projects, delayed payments to state vendors, and suspended funding for addiction and bullying prevention, firefighter training, immigrant integration services, and welcoming centers.
“Critical programs that help Illinoisans build better lives became casualties of Bruce Rauner’s failed leadership months into him being sworn in,” said Pritzker campaign spokeswoman Jordan Abudayyeh. “This failed governor halted construction on a Veterans’ home in Chicago — and then fatally mismanaged one in Quincy — in a desperate and cruel attempt to force his political agenda on our state.”
She’s taken down one of Mike Madigan’s longtime political operatives, questioned the powerful House speaker’s actions in a federal lawsuit that also alleged retaliation, and for months criticized the Southwest Side Democrat’s handling of sexual harassment claims.
And now political consultant Alaina Hampton is interested in taking a look at her “dream job:” the suddenly vacant post of executive director for the Democratic Party of Illinois, which Madigan controls.
In a dizzying and swift fall — and the closest the #MeToo movement has inched to Madigan — Tim Mapes last week announced his resignation as executive director of the party, chief-of-staff to Madigan and clerk of the Illinois House just hours after Sherri Garrett, a longtime speaker’s office employee, went public with what she called “harassment” and “bullying” allegations. […]
“Running DPI [the Democratic Party of Illinois] has been a dream of mine throughout my entire career,” Hampton told the Sun-Times.
* Meanwhile, Rep. Litesa Wallace (D-Rockford) told me she’s interested in Mapes’ party job as well. And a MoveOn petition has 466 signatures backing Sen. Daniel Biss’ former running mate’s hopes…
In the wake of the resignation of Tim Mapes as Executive Director of the Democratic Party of Illinois, we need a replacement who not only has strong executive skills, but who has “experienced firsthand the pervasive culture of unchecked sexual harassment that disempowers and silences women, especially women of color.”
We need someone who has lived and worked for years knowing that the “Consequences for sexual harassment are few and far between in Springfield. But the political consequences for speaking out are almost guaranteed.”* Having someone who has experienced both the harassment and the retribution for speaking out would be ideal.
We need someone who can unite the disparate wings of the party. Someone who inspires. Someone who reflects our commitment to a strong statewide party and a better future for all.
We know that person is Representative Litesa Wallace. We urge you to select Rep. Wallace to be the next Executive Director of the Democratic Party of Illinois.
Governor Bruce Rauner today, on Agricultural Day at the Illinois State Fair, applauded the launch of a new not-for-profit, Illinois Fairgrounds Foundation, to emphasize capital improvements at the Springfield and Du Quoin fairgrounds.
The first donations are coming in to the Illinois State Fairgrounds Foundation and one board member expects big things on the horizon to help alleviate the taxpayer burden on paying for upkeep at the aging fairgrounds. […]
After the first of the year, the foundation did get its first donation of $10,000, and more is on the way, [John Slayton] added.
Although more than $185 million is needed for full repairs at the fairgrounds, the fair foundation has a more modest goal of raising $2 to 3 million a year.
“We’ve got to hook up with some of these corporate sponsors who want to adopt buildings,” [Illinois Department of Agriculture Director Raymond Poe] said. “Someone told me that Iowa saw $120-something million run through their foundation. That’d be our goal.”
The money isn’t coming in quite like John Slayton envisioned it would for the repairs at the Illinois State Fairgrounds in Springfield.
“I really envisioned people calling me, but it has not happened,” said Slayton, chairman of the Illinois Fairgrounds Foundation. […]
Donations are coming into the fairgrounds foundation. Slayton said the foundation received a $40,000 donation to replace the roof of one of the M-series barns. […]
“We are extremely close to an agreement with an ag association in Illinois on naming rights for the Coliseum. They are ready to go, but they want to make sure of the timeline for the repairs to the Coliseum,” he said. Slayton said that agreement could mean up to $2 million over 10 years.
Repairing buildings at the state fairgrounds, replacing some plumbing in the Capitol and making long-awaited improvements to the Lincoln-Herndon law office are among the public works projects that will be financed under the budget signed into law Monday. […]
The budget also contains $30 million to make badly needed repairs to buildings at the fairgrounds.
Perhaps the highest profile of them is the Coliseum which was shut down last year out of safety concerns. It has been closed ever since. The most recent estimate to repair the building is about $7.7 million, said Department of Agriculture spokeswoman Rebecca Clark.
Clark said the department is reviewing the most recent engineering report on the building and that a final design is due to be submitted to the state by Aug. 8.
The final design will be submitted right before the fair begins. It could be two years before the Coliseum is repaired.
The fairgrounds foundation might’ve been a good idea, but it hasn’t worked out. At all. What we needed was an agreed budget and the fairgrounds got everything Gov. Rauner asked for in his February proposal. So, I guess now we’ll see if that promised sponsor comes through.
FORMER FEDERAL PROSECUTOR LAHOOD LEADS LETTER TO PRESIDENT TRUMP OPPOSING BLAGOJEVICH PARDON/COMMUTATION
Letter Signed by Every House Republican from Illinois
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, Congressman Darin LaHood sent a letter to President Trump arguing against a pardon and/or a commutation for former Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich. Rep. LaHood, a former Assistant United States Attorney with the US Department of Justice, led the letter with the support of every Illinois Republican member of Congress, laying out the many public corruption crimes and the illegal activity committed by the governor during his administration and the need to stand strong against pay-to-play politics in Illinois and across the country. Congressman LaHood and every Illinois Republican in Congress believe that pardoning such a clearly corrupt politician would set a dangerous precedent and send the wrong message regarding elected officials who violate the public trust.
The letter states:
While we understand that, as president, you have the privilege and right under our Constitution to grant pardons and clemency as you determine fit, we ask that you consider very carefully the precedent this may set and the impact it will have on acts of public corruption in the future. As you well know, the integrity of our democracy and the core of American values depend on our elected officials being honest in upholding the trust given to them by the American people. Granting clemency to Rod Blagojevich would go against this trust.
The full letter is here. It makes some very good points, including the fact that President Trump’s own Solicitor General asked the US Supreme Court not to take up Blagojevich’s last appeal, calling it “unwarranted.”
Will Springfield’s #MeToo Reckoning Change Illinois’ Political Culture?
Chicago, Illinois, June 11, 2018– State Representatives Jeanne Ives (R-Wheaton), formerly the conservative reform Republican challenger for Governor, will join Ammie Kessem, a new candidate for State Representative in House District 19, and State Representatives Tom Morrison (R-Palatine), Margo McDermed (R-Frankfort), and Allen Skillicorn (R-East Dundee), whistleblower Denise Rotheimer, and a coalition of conservative reform candidates and legislators in a joint press conference to lay out a vision for culture change in the wake of mounting accusations of sexual harassment and abuse.
When: Monday, June 11, 1:00 p.m.
Where: Mezzanine-Level Conference Room, 70 W Madison, Chicago, IL
* Among today’s speakers were Ammie Kessem, who is running against Rep. Rob Martwick (D-Chicago) with backing from Dan Proft. I expect him to spend big money in that race, even though it’s a Democratic district.
Everyone else who spoke before the video stream conked out were also Proft candidates. Marilyn Smolenski (vs. Rep. Marty Moylan), Tonia Khouri (backed by Proft in the GOP primary) and Darren Bailey (backed by Proft against GOP Rep. David Reis). Jillian Rose Bernas was scheduled to speak, but the video died. Bernas is up against Rep. Michelle Mussman (D-Schaumburg) after defeating Char Kegarise in the GOP primary with help from Proft.
* Kessem compared Madigan’s machine to the “Mafia.” The general tone was summed up in this tweet…
GOP lawmakers & candidates says if Democrats won’t also call on Madigan to resign then “the Democratic Party is not interested in reform.” #Harassment
Among the GOP candidates on November’s ballot calling for Madigan’s resignation was Darren Bailey, GOP candidate in downstate 109th House district.
“What will it take for politicians to finally stand up to Mike Madigan? What we are witnessing is the abuse of power by one man. There is a culture of corruption in Illinois and as long as Mike Madigan is in power, we will not see the end of abuse of power in Springfield,” Bailey said.
“The first step is for Democrats to demand that Mike Madigan resign as Speaker of the House and as head of the Democrat Party in Illinois. If members of his own caucus refuse to do this, then this is a sure-tale sign that the Democrat Party is certainly not interested in reform in Illinois. I and my colleagues here today are very serious about the integrity of Illinois.” […]
“You thought I was a strong person, look at these candidates committed to a culture of change, and I’m sure they’re going to get it done,” Ives, who is not on the General ballot after losing the GOP gubernatorial primary bid by 3 points, said before taking questions from reporters.
Senator Durbin says he asked Speaker Madigan to “take a different approach” in selecting a new executive director of the Democratic Party of IL. Says he suggested putting together a panel of females to lead the search pic.twitter.com/4zYaBGgJ0g
DURBIN ON MADIGAN: we're going to find out what happens from this time forward. I asked him to make a significant move to show that he gets it. So I'm going to stand by to see how this progresses.
The Pritzker campaign isn’t commenting on Madigan’s move, but all indications are that there was some communication between the speaker and the nominee before Stratton was named chair. What that says about the eventual selection of an executive director remains to be seen, but Pritzker is going to have some explaining to do if the person is seen as a Madigan flunky.
It’s been rumored for years that Mike Madigan’s daily routine includes a “single, sliced apple” for lunch.
If Madigan has eaten a single apple everyday since he was first elected speaker on January 12, 1983, he would have consumed 12,935 apples as of today, enough for approximately 1,423 apple pies.
That’s a lot of apples!
With harassment allegations roiling Madigan’s organization, an apple a day may keep the Inspector General away, but it won’t end the culture of harassment and retaliation he has created.
DCCC LAUNCHES DIGITAL ADS IN IL-13, AFTER REPUBLICAN ATTACK ON PEOPLE WITH PRE-EXISTING CONDITIONS
DCCC Five-Figure Digital Ad Buy Reminds Voters that Republicans Will “Never Stop” Attacking Access to Affordable Healthcare
IL-13 has 290,800 Non-Elderly Individuals with Pre-existing Conditions
Immediately following Republicans’ unprecedented decision to declare protections for individuals with pre-existing conditions unconstitutional, Chairman Ben Ray Luján announced a digital advertising blitz to warn voters in IL-13 that access to affordable healthcare is at risk as long as Republicans like Rep. Rodney Davis control Congress. The ads are part of a five-figure media buy and will run on Facebook starting this week.
With its legal filing on Thursday evening, The Administration said that key parts of the Affordable Care Act should be invalidated and that the Department of Justice would no longer defend two central consumer protection provisions in the ACA against a Republican-led lawsuit. Put simply, this seriously threatens ACA’s protections for people with pre-existing conditions like asthma, cancer and diabetes.
“House Republicans will stop at nothing to rip away affordable healthcare coverage from their constituents, and we are all at risk as long as they control the House,” said DCCC Chairman Ben Ray Luján. “After their failure to fully repeal our healthcare, Republicans persisted by gutting key parts of the Affordable Care Act in their tax bill, and are now using that opening to end protections for people with pre-existing conditions like cancer, diabetes and asthma.
Luján continued, “While Democrats work to increase access to affordable health insurance for hardworking Americans, Republicans will never stop attacking affordable care, increasing premiums, and targeting our friends, family and neighbors who need healthcare most.”
The American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network, American Diabetes Association, American Heart Association, American Lung Association and the National Multiple Sclerosis Society released a joint statement strongly opposing the attack on people with pre-existing conditions.
The Committee’s ads build on other significant television, radio and digital investments over the last year and a half that have set the stage for the healthcare debate between Democrats and Republicans during the 2018 midterm elections. The latest national DCCC polling from May 2018 – conducted by GQR - confirms that Democrats have maintained a significant advantage with registered voters when it comes to which party they trust on the issue of healthcare. Congressional Democrats lead Congressional Republicans by 15 points (57-42%) and lead Trump by 16 points (57-41%).
They put out essentially the same release on Rep. Peter Roskam’s district, which they claim has “322,200 Non-Elderly Individuals with Pre-existing Conditions.”
They’ll…never…stop. Paul Ryan and Washington’s Establishment Republicans.
Catering to drug companies and special interests. Coming after your health care.
Increasing your out-of-pocket costs. A devastating Age Tax if you’re fifty or older. Ending guaranteed coverage for preexisting conditions.
Paul Ryan and the Washington Republicans. They’ll never change their ways. So the rest of us have to change our Congress.
* Meanwhile, from the Republicans…
Congressional Leadership Fund (@CLFSuperPAC), the super PAC endorsed by House Republican leadership, today announced the second of several rounds of television advertising reservations for fall 2018. Thanks to CLF’s record-breaking early fundraising, the super PAC is able to lock in larger TV reservations at lower rates ahead of the midterm elections. CLF’s latest announcement of an additional $15 million in broadcast and cable television advertising includes three new congressional districts in the fall ad reservation: CA-39 (Young Kim), NJ-07 (Leonard Lance), and NY-19 (John Faso), along with additional reservations in FL-26 (Carlos Curbelo), IL-12 (Mike Bost), KY-06 (Andy Barr), ME-02 (Bruce Poliquin), MN-03 (Erik Paulsen) PA-01 (Brian Fitzpatrick), and WA-08 (Dino Rossi).
With CLF’s first broadcast and cable reservation announced in April, CLF’s fall television advertising reservation now totals $50 million in addition to an unprecedented $10 million digital investment.
They claim their total spending to date “with additional buys” on behalf of US Rep. Mike Bost is $2.7 million.
“Illinois’ pension buyout plan is credit positive, but reliance on savings poses modest budget risk.” The new Illinois budget allows for an approximately $440 million (or 5.2%) cut in pension contributions in the fiscal year starting July 1, largely by offering benefit buyouts to pension participants. The state’s buyout offer is credit positive because it will generate significant pension liability savings to the extent that employees accept the offer. Illinois’ $201 billion adjusted net pension liability (ANPL) in fiscal 2016 was the highest among all states relative to both revenue and gross domestic product in our most recent survey, and rising contribution requirements challenge the state’s budget. Options to reduce the liabilities through benefit reforms are limited by a constitutional public pension benefit protections clause.
The state’s new legislation aims to navigate around the constitutional constraint by using voluntary buyouts. First, the state will offer certain employees about to retire lump-sum payouts for forgoing guaranteed 3% compounding cost-of-living adjustments on their pensions. Second, the state will offer the vested pension participants who have left their pension-eligible jobs, but have yet to retire, a lump-sum buyout equal to 60% of their lifetime pension benefits on a present-value basis. To preserve pension plan assets, the state would finance the buyouts by issuing as much as $1 billion of bonds. The state also plans to shift certain pension costs to school districts and universities to the extent those entities grant salary increases above a specified level.
Actuaries for the State Employees’ Retirement System of Illinois (SERS), one of the largest of the five plans to which the state contributes, project that the plan will pay out roughly $1.6 billion in benefits to currently inactive, but vested, employees through 2046. The state’s projected saving in the coming fiscal year amounts to $443 million for all five of its major pension plans, but actual savings could fall short of the target if fewer participants than the state expects take the buyouts. The state’s forecast is based on assumed acceptance rates of 25% for retiring members and 22% for the vested but inactive participants. As a result, the state faces a risk that the plan will either increase its underfunding of pension contributions or add to a backlog of unpaid bills.
So, Moody’s doesn’t care that they’re taking out the savings for General Funds spending up front rather than leaving it in the pension systems? This seems kinda odd.
* I posed that question to Moody’s and got this response from Tom Aaron, one of the co-authors of today’s report…
We tend to view pension buyouts as positive because they produce net savings for sponsoring governments. Liability reductions in present value terms, to the extent buyouts are taken up, exceed the cost to the government making the offer.
* Meanwhile, Moody’s also took a look at the education funding reform plan in its second fiscal year…
“Illinois Schools’ second year of significantly higher state aid is credit positive.” The Illinois budget also provides a $350 million boost in school funding. The budget is credit positive for Illinois’ K-12 school districts because it increases funding consistent with last year’s change to the state aid formula. Public Act 100-0465 (PA 100-0465), passed last year, changed Illinois’ funding formula and set targets for significant increases in state funding. The legislation utilizes research-based elements to establish a unique “district adequacy target” for every school district based on student needs. School districts are categorized into four tiers. Tier 1 districts are most below adequacy and benefit most from any boost in state funding.
The fiscal 2018 and 2019 budgets increase formula-based funding by $350 million each year. Of the fiscal 2019 increase, $50 million is allocated to a new property tax relief program. The fiscal 2019 budget also provided another $50 million for early childhood education. Even with the two-year boost in funding, many districts will remain far below adequacy targets. State estimates indicate that it would require billions of dollars in new state funding to bring districts below adequacy to the target. Given Illinois’ financial challenges, it remains highly uncertain whether it can sustain annual funding increases. Illinois also has a history of delaying categorical grant payments to districts, and formula state aid was delayed last year as the legislature rewrote the formula.
Adding $350 million in K-12 spending every single year will be tough, particularly if the national economy hits the skids.
With the signing of a new state budget, Illinois families, students and businesses can be proud of the work we have done to help move our state forward.
I want to commend Gov. Bruce Rauner for his leadership on this important issue. At the outset, he called for a budget that was responsible, balanced, contained no tax increases and ensured our commitment to education funding remained our No. 1 priority. I also want to thank my House and Senate colleagues on both side of the aisle for their hard work to make this vision a reality.
The budget we approved holds the line on taxes while cutting more than $1 billion in spending from the auto-pilot expenditures that would have resulted from no changes to current law. In fact, thanks to Republicans, we were able to reduce or eliminate more than a dozen Democrat bills that would have increased state spending by more than $500 million each year.
The billion dollars comes from “if we were operating without a budget but under consent decrees and court orders,” a Leader Brady spokesperson explained. Budget impasses are very expensive, in other words.
* I also asked his spokesperson for a list of those Democratic bills Brady mentioned and this is what he sent me…
· HB 5135/ SB 3115: TANF Monthly Amount Increase- $20. 6 million in FY19 to $73.5 FY21. – reduced $14.5 million
· HB 5609/ SB3511 – CCP homemaker annual hourly wage increase each year until FY2021 - FY19 to FY22 is $819,221,430
· HB 5622 - increase DSP wages to $15 an hour. $300 million
· SB 2547 - Reimbursement Rates for DCFS contracts. $111 million (estimate from Illinois Collaboration on Youth)
· HB 5158 – Appropriations Bill for DCFS Contracts and Foster Parents. $155 million
· SB 2262 : MCO DME Fee Schedule
· SB 3508 - DD Rate Increase for Front Line Personnel (there are a few variations of this, but this is the only one that is active) - $300 million annually.
A measure targeting repeat gun offenders — which Chicago’s top cop has promoted as a way to see a 50 percent drop in gun violence within a year — met approval in the Illinois House but is being held via a procedural filing amid a south suburban lawmaker’s request for further negotiation. […]
State Rep. Sonya Harper, an Englewood neighborhood native, called [Chicago police Supt. Eddie Johnson’s] claim that the bill will reduce violence by 50 percent within a year “the biggest lie I’ve ever heard in Springfield.”
The bill eventually passed and was signed into law, with the governor saying: “It shows what we can do when we put our minds to it and decide together to solve problems and take a step forward.”
The aim of the law was simple: Repeat gun offenders in Illinois would face tougher sentences.
But a Chicago Sun-Times review of sentences in Cook County since that new law took effect in January has found that no one is actually being hit with those stiffer sentences.
There hasn’t been a single case in Cook County in which a judge has meted out those extended sentences that Mayor Rahm Emanuel and police Supt. Eddie Johnson pushed for and that they and sponsor Sen. Kwame Raoul, D-Chicago, said would happen under the law.
* More than 600 bills will land on Rauner’s desk as he seeks re-election: Some give the Republican governor chances to hold feel-good news conferences across the state as he seeks re-election against Democrat J.B. Pritzker. Others could put Rauner in a tough political spot as he keeps working to try to unify his party after a narrow primary win that opened up a divide between the governor and conservatives.
* POT TOPICS: IL lawmakers pass bill to allow opioid patients to use medical pot: States with legal medical cannabis programs — including Illinois, which has a medical cannabis “pilot program” — had more than 2 million fewer daily doses of opioids prescribed each year under Medicare Part D than in states that hadn’t enacted similar laws, according to a pair of studies published in April in the journal JAMA Internal Medicine. The studies also found that prescriptions for all opioids dipped by 3.7 million daily doses per year when medical cannabis dispensaries opened.
Days before the boom dropped on a sexual abuse scandal in Chicago Public Schools, Mayor Rahm Emanuel was unveiling a $175 million plan to provide universal preschool for the city’s 4-year-olds.
His homegrown schools CEO Janice Jackson was touting CPS’ progress in commercials bankrolled by a nonprofit with close ties to the mayor.
But now, Emanuel’s plan to seek a third term using education as a major cornerstone has been blown out of the water by a scandal that hits home like none before it.
This time, children have been directly victimized. And the adults in charge — including the mayor of Chicago — should have protected them. They didn’t.
Like the Burge police torture cases and rampant priest sex abuse in the Catholic Church, the latest CPS scandal also threatens to trigger multi-million dollar lawsuits for years to come against a district that is just now emerging from threats of bankruptcy following a $450 million cash infusion from the state. It could also lead frightened parents to yank their kids out of CPS, exacerbating the enrollment decline.
Until the end of May, anyone handicapping the 2019 Chicago mayoral election might have predicted that gun violence and police accountability would be the top issues. Then the Chicago Tribune began publishing the multipart “Betrayed” series, a bombshell expose about the many failures of Chicago Public Schools to protect students from predators.
Now it appears the race for mayor will turn in part on the CPS scandal. What went wrong in the administration of the schools to leave kids vulnerable to sexual abuse and violence? What must be done differently and better to keep them safe? Part of the discussion and debate, obviously, will involve where to place blame. […]
Now some more about the notion of blame: CPS is a stand-alone government, but it’s hardly independent. The mayor appoints the schools chief and the school board. That makes Rahm Emanuel answerable for this scandal. Reacting to “Betrayed,” the mayor apologized and said he and Jackson take responsibility.
Emanuel would like to shift the focus to fixing the problems, but there are a handful of Chicagoans who want to publicly pin this disaster on him — the ones running against him for mayor. Lori Lightfoot blamed Emanuel’s “incompetent leadership.” Paul Vallas focused on Emanuel’s “reactive and micromanaging style.” His opponents will continue to hammer the mayor and, we hope, offer their solutions. It’s on Emanuel to lead the city’s response to fixing CPS while responding to the criticisms.
* Related…
* Has CPS finally defused its pension time bomb?: But let’s say I’m wrong and all of these assumptions work out. Even if the projections on that chart are right, the fiscal condition of the CPS pension fund will remain weak for decades. In fact, according to the latest actuarial reports, the retirement kitty will hover at around the 50 percent funded level for several more years until beginning to turn up in 2023. It won’t hit the pre-recession level of 67 percent until 2046, and it’s not due to reach the optimal 90 percent level until 2059.
“The good thing is, it can be balanced with some management by my administration; we’ll do that, we’ll make it balanced,” he said.
Rauner claimed that if the General Assembly had passed his version of the budget in February, the state would be “running a $1.5 billion surplus.”
“We could use that to pay down bills, and improve our credit rating significantly,” he said. “We could be using it to invest in infrastructure, and we could do a tax cut every year.”
He just loves to talk about that $1.5 billion.
* So, how did Gov. Rauner’s original budget proposal fare against the one he signed into law? From the Civic Federation…
The General Funds budget is roughly balanced with $38.52 billion in revenues and $38.51 billion in spending, resulting in a projected surplus of $11 million. This is less than the Governor’s budget proposal, which had projected a surplus of about $350 million.
However, the enacted budget relies on fewer aggressive assumptions than the proposed budget did. The enacted budget fully funds State employee group health insurance, while the proposed budget relied on $470 million of prospective cost reductions. Nor does the enacted budget balance depend on shifting $619 million of net pension and health insurance expenses to schools, community colleges and universities, or reducing Medicaid reimbursements by $175 million, both of which had drawn significant opposition in the General Assembly.
However, the enacted budget does retain the assumption that the Thompson Center will sell for $300 million (netting the State $270 million in FY2019). Furthermore, like the proposed budget, the enacted budget does not account for the likelihood that Illinois will have to pay step increases to State employees who have not received them since the expiration of their contract in 2015. This cost could be in excess of $300 million.
Finally, the enacted budget introduces an aggressive assumption not included in the Governor’s proposal. The assumed $382 million in pension savings from the COLA buyout relies on a 25% participation rate by retiring employees and on successful implementation in FY2019.
Even if the budget achieves its stated balance at the end of FY2019, Illinois will still not have reduced the remaining backlog of bills during the fiscal year. The backlog, which peaked at $16.7 billion, was reduced by more than half during FY2018, largely thanks to the issuance of $6 billion in bonds. The interest cost of that borrowing is $1.9 billion over 12 years, but that is less than the steep interest penalties paid by the State on overdue bills.
However, the enacted budget does not anticipate any pay-down of bills in FY2019. Instead, the General Assembly passed a measure that could help alleviate the interest cost of outstanding bills. SB2858, if signed, would allow the State Treasurer to invest other State funds with the Comptroller, who would use the funds to pay off backlogged bills. The General Funds would pay a floating interest rate much lower than the 12% owed to vendors under the Prompt Payment Act or the 9% owed under the Timely Pay provisions of the Insurance Code. Proponents say the rates will likely exceed what the other State funds would have earned in more typical investments.
If you ask anyone at the Statehouse about House Speaker Michael Madigan’s former chief of staff Tim Mapes, they’ll all say he “made the trains run on time.”
Mapes made sure everything got done exactly the way he (and his boss) wanted. He mastered the complexities and dominated the workings of Illinois House operations as well as Speaker Madigan’s massive political network. He worked practically non-stop and he appeared completely loyal to Madigan.
Mapes wasn’t always this powerful. After the 1998 election, several of Madigan’s top people left for the private sector. Mapes had been considered an equal to those folks, but when they left he made it clear that he was above their replacements. He eventually consolidated his power until it was absolutely unquestionable. The only person he reported to was Madigan, and it was tough to get to Madigan unless you went through Mapes.
The problem has always been with how Mapes made those trains run on time. He did not generally tackle his endless daily tasks by being a friendly, kind and understanding fellow. By all accounts, Mapes is a good family man and can be an excellent friend. But business was entirely another matter. He was Madigan’s trusted enforcer and he took the job seriously.
As with every human organization, people take their management cues from the top, and that’s repeated all the way down the food chain. If the top person is an arrogantly snarky, sometimes personally cruel, hard-nosed workaholic and persnickety authoritarian, then that’s what everyone else in the organization will shoot for — or else.
This approach worked spectacularly well for many years. The one thing Speaker Madigan prizes as much as loyalty is success and Mapes was fabulously successful at his job. The trains always ran on time.
But this outwardly successful culture became too toxic for our current era. As we’ve seen over the months, times changed, it didn’t. And, worse yet, the toxicity spread to behavior that had nothing whatsoever to do with efficiency and order.
Sherri Garrett is a $41,800 a year career employee of the House Clerk’s office. Mapes took over as House Clerk when the last one left, so he was her boss.
During a press conference last Wednesday, Garrett detailed numerous allegations of harassment and bullying over the years by Mapes.
Like many people, I’ve always shrugged off Mapes’ awkward attempts at biting humor. And, perhaps like many people, I didn’t imagine he was behaving that way with people like Ms. Garrett, who would be known in Statehouse parlance as a “civilian.” She’s just a regular person who does her job every day so she can go home to her family.
One of the most eye-opening aspects of Garrett’s allegations against Mapes was that he said some sexist and demeaning things either directly to her or in her presence months after the first #MeToo revelations rocked the Illinois Statehouse last October. To me, that was a clear indication that despite all of Speaker Madigan’s vows to “change the culture,” the man at the very top of Madigan’s management pyramid had no intention of doing so.
“Are you going to sex training today?”, Garrett heard him joke to her colleague, referring to sexual harassment training required of all employees and legislators after revelations of Statehouse harassment emerged. That “joke” was allegedly made on the House floor.
If there’s one thing many of us have learned in the past year (with varying levels of success), it’s to leave tasteless jokes to professional comedians. Those jokes, combined with Mapes’ other alleged actions, appeared to have created an unacceptable working environment for Ms. Garrett and, as she claimed at her press conference, several others.
Garrett is right out of central casting — a decent, middle aged woman who was tired of being humiliated by a person with unlimited and unquestioned authority. Her Chicago press conference was the first time she’d been to the city in more than a decade.
Madigan was likely furious that the same nice woman who regularly brought his gavel back to his office at the end of session days was subjected to this treatment by his right-hand man. And it was the height of disloyalty by Mapes to behave this way while Madigan had #MeToo problems exploding all around him. He had to go.
Remaking the culture is not a done deal just because Mapes was ordered to resign. These attitudes and behaviors have been thoroughly ingrained into Madigan’s entire system for 20 years, after all.
The most alarming thing to me is that she had gone to him with allegations of sexual harassment from members… As the chief of staff, it’s his responsibility to take care of any allegations that need to be addressed and do it swiftly and decisively. And she went to him with allegations supposedly about legislators who were sexually harassing members of staff and that was seen as no big deal. One of his comments to her was ‘Are you upset that he wasn’t paying attention to you?’
Like, oh my God, on what planet is that appropriate? On no planet. So these things, now that we’ve heard about it, they’re so outrageous there was no option other than firing Tim Mapes or demanding his resignation, which thankfully is what happened.
Mapes even made sexually insulting comments to her, Garrett said. Once he talked about her bra. In another incident, Garrett spoke to Mapes on behalf of another female being who was sexually harassed by a male state representative.
Mapes’ response, according to Garrett, was, “Are you reporting this situation because you are upset the representative isn’t paying attention to you?”
“He’s proven to be deft at campaigns,” said one former Madigan House and campaign staffer who asked not to be named to avoid retaliation. “But does he get swept up in a national sea beyond his ability to navigate? That’s got to be a concern — not only as head of the state party but the symbol of Springfield that Rauner’s running against.” […]
In recent years, few lawmakers outside his inner circle are involved with Madigan’s daily operations and major decisions, one former female Democratic House lawmaker said.
“I think (Madigan) has become more staff dependent over the years,” she said. “That has insulated him from these kinds of things. He was much more involved in the past.”
But the recent allegations have hit his inner circle hard. Mapes’ forced departure came only a week after Madigan’s deputy majority leader in the House, Rep. Lou Lang of Skokie, resigned his leadership post and positions on two oversight panels pending an investigation by the inspector general into allegations of harassment by a female lobbyist. Lang called the allegations “absurd.”
