The “temporary” closing of United States Steel’s Granite City Works, announced Wednesday, sent a wave of worry through 2,000 soon-to-be-laid-off steelworkers and a city that depends on its mill. […]
The move comes as tumbling oil prices hit the country’s second-largest steelmaker hard. Much of Granite City’s steel is used to make pipe for the oil industry at U.S. Steel’s Lone Star Tubular plant in Texas, and demand for drilling pipe is falling fast.
U.S. Steel, and the United Steelworkers union, also blamed imported steel, which they claim is being “dumped” unfairly on the American market. The steelmaker has been hit by a surge in Chinese imports. [Emphasis added.]
Average crude oil spot price for March, 2015: $52.83/bbl
* July 6, 2018 Tribune story entitled “The Illinois town where Trump’s tariffs have provided jobs, and a sigh of relief” claims tariffs alone have reopened the steel mill…
But the first blast furnace now has been restarted and U.S. Steel is filling 800 jobs at the mill, a result of the steep tariffs that President Donald Trump announced on imported steel and aluminum earlier this year. The Trump administration has in recent months imposed tariffs on goods from Canada, Mexico and China and on Friday imposed tariffs on $34 billion worth of Chinese imports. That country responded by levying tariffs of its own on American-made goods.
Tariffs may very well have played a role. Yet there was not a single mention in the entire Tribune story of the Granite City plant’s direct and crucial connection to the rebounding Texas oil industry.
* American Manufacturing Business Owner: ‘Thank You Mr. President’ for ‘Enough is Enough’ Attitude on Trade: Zach Mottl, the owner of American manufacturing company Atlas Tool Works in Lyons, Illinois, is thanking President Trump for his recent tariffs on imported steel and aluminum. In an interview with Fox Business, Mottl praised Trump’s tariffs on foreign countries and their imported steel and aluminum, saying the economic nationalist approach to trade should have been implemented years ago to help American businesses and workers.
* Red-state governor sticks with Trump on China trade war but warns US farmers can’t take much more pain: Despite the “devastating” effects of the China trade war on soybean farmers, Ron Moore — a lifelong farmer from Roseville, Illinois, who has 850 acres of soybeans — told CNBC on Friday that he’s not angry with the president. Moore, also chairman of the American Soybean Association, said farmers “admire” Trump for trying get China to be a “better and more fair trading partner.” “We just think there are alternative choices” to achieve that goal, Moore added in last week’s “Squawk Alley” interview. “The WTO resolution process is an alternative that needs to be explored before we keep these tariffs on.”
* Congressman wants to see results from Trump’s tough trade negotiations: U.S. Rep. Rodney Davis, R-Taylorville, said Friday in Springfield, Illinois, that while he has concerns about the impact tariffs have on Illinois farmers, he has been told by his constituents to have patience. “If they feel that this is the best way to negotiate, let’s see what those results are,” Davis said. “And if you talk with many of the farmers that I represent they will tell you they are worried, but they still support this president.”
* Rep. Davis wary of tariffs: U.S. Rep. Rodney Davis, R-Taylorville, said Friday that tariffs being imposed on American products are “devastating to our agricultural sector,” and he hopes the administration of President Donald Trump focuses on countries that are “bad actors,” rather than allies. But in general, Davis said, “I do believe the president is actually working hard to move this country in the right direction.”
* Farmers the First Casualties in Trump’s Trade War: “The corn market’s a very fickle thing. It doesn’t take much to tip it over when it gets to a certain time of year,” Illinois farmer James McCune told THE WEEKLY STANDARD. “We have no idea what’s going on, and the market’s cratering like mad.” McCune, who describes himself as an ex-Republican—“now I’m just a Trump supporter”—thinks Trump’s policies have helped to revitalize the economy of small-town America. But he’s also seen the impact falling prices have had on his own 5,500 acre farm: He estimates he’s lost $660,000 in revenue due to falling grain prices, enough to wipe out his grain profits entirely. And he sees himself as one of the lucky ones.
* China’s Taste for Soybeans Is a Weak Spot in Trade War With Trump: Still, soy-producing states like Iowa and Illinois might not feel the tariffs’ impact right away. China buys so much soy from the United States — $14 billion last year — that it can hardly switch to new suppliers overnight. Foreign-grown soybeans are a key source both of low-cost protein for feeding livestock and of cooking oil for Chinese kitchens.
* Gov. Rauner did a press event about property taxes today. From a media advisory…
Today, Governor Rauner will hold an event to highlight the corrupt property tax system in Cook County and how Mike Madigan is blocking reform. Governor Rauner will be joined by a Des Plaines resident who will tell her story of how rising property taxes are hurting her community, while the governor will make clear that voting for Madigan’s handpicked candidate, JB Pritzker, will lead to more taxes and more corruption.
Gov. Rauner holding campaign press conference at Des Plaines home. Tells homeowner, “I’m sorry you’re going through all these property tax burdens.” pic.twitter.com/QmMTWeaM9A
Rauner: Pritzker, Madigan and Berrios part of a rigged and corrupt property tax scheme. Slams Pritzker for taking out toilets from second mansion, as resulting decrease in property taxes hikes them for homeowners in Cook Co. like Mary Anne https://t.co/z9BuDf2Qih
Today, on the eve of Independence Day, State Representative Barbara Wheeler (R-Crystal Lake) has filed legislation to allow Illinoisans to celebrate the occasion with the time honored tradition of fireworks without the risk of fine or arrest. Illinois is one of only four states that does not allow for the consumer purchase and use of fireworks and Wheeler’s legislation would give that independence back to residents.
“Illinois is already an outlier in so many ways, and this another silly example,” said Wheeler. “Illinoisans, like residents in 46 other states, can and should be trusted to responsibly use consumer fireworks and take care of themselves. Not only does it make sense to give a little independence back to the people for Independence Day, but it will also generate some business and tax revenue for the state that will help mitigate some of the exodus of people leaving the state.”
In 2017, the Illinois State Fire Marshal reported there were 204 fireworks-related injuries and one fatality between June 23 and July 20. That was down from 2016 totals of 240 from the same period the year before.
A representative with the Iowa State Fire Marshal’s office said Iowa doesn’t have a mechanism to collect injury data.
The Missouri state fire marshal’s office didn’t have information immediately available because there’s “no statute requiring reporting of fireworks injuries to the Division of Fire Safety.”
In Indiana, the state department of public health compiles the data and reported 238 firework-related injuries in 2017. The majority were male and more than a third were younger than 18.
[GOP Sen. Chapin Rose’s] staff calculated Illinois fireworks consumer provided somewhere between $10 to $15 million in sales tax revenue to neighboring states. […]
The risks of misusing fireworks are considerable. According to the Illinois State Fire Marshal, there are an average of 18,000 fires caused by the improper use of fireworks every year. The fire marshal’s office conducts an annual statewide survey of hospitals for data on the number of fireworks-related injuries.
* The Question: Should Illinois legalize the sale of fireworks in a similar manner as neighboring states? Take the poll and then explain your answer in comments, please.
A “gun sanctuary” trend spreading across Illinois counties in support of Second Amendment rights has raised questions about just who is allowed to decide what is or isn’t constitutional where guns are concerned.
At least 26 of Illinois’ 102 counties have passed “gun sanctuary” resolutions or similar measures. The term is a play on the phrase “sanctuary city,” which describes cities where political and law enforcement leaders limit their cooperation with federal immigration policies and vow to protect immigrant rights.
“Gun sanctuary” advocates say they, too, deserve protection — from lawmakers in the capital pushing for stricter laws on firearms. […]
* And then after the march began, we got stuff like this…
I’m disappointed in the Mayor. There was an agreement in place. I am calling on the Mayor to take swift and decisive action to put an end to this kind of chaos. I will work with him in good faith and urge him to do his job so that the people of Chicago feel safe.
— Mayor Rahm Emanuel (@ChicagosMayor) July 7, 2018
* But Rauner explained what he meant in a follow-up…
Great piece of community police work today by ISP and CPD. Despite the disruption and traffic chaos, they made sure marchers and drivers were safe. Thanks to officers from both forces.
#Marchforourrights rally members say they are not out here in response to Father Pflegers Anti-violence protest. They also say law abiding citizens should not be punished for the crime happening in the city. pic.twitter.com/eVEcXWb5km
— Olivia Estrada ABC 7 (@olivialestrada) July 7, 2018
* Some coverage…
* A guide to yesterday’s Chicago protests on the Dan Ryan – for people who are new to all this (and trolls): This is just politics! It’s just a publicity stunt. Yes. You’ve captured the exact reason why protests happen: to publicize issues and put pressure on political decision makers. But I’ll agree with you on one point: The posturing by the mayor and the governor yesterday was not particularly insightful or helpful. Especially when you consider the mayor and the governor have both tried to crush unions and teachers, two groups that provide economic and educational health to the affected communities.
* Pfleger, Emanuel, Rauner and Cupich: The inside story of the Dan Ryan shutdown: Sneed has learned Mayor Rahm Emanuel, who cut his teeth watching his mother as a young civil rights activist, decided to use his voice to facilitate the Rev. Michael Pfleger’s anti-violence march Saturday morning down the Dan Ryan Expy. “I made a few phone calls,” Emanuel said in an exclusive interview with Sneed. That included one to Gov. Bruce Rauner, who got on board with a game plan that initially aggravated Pfleger but then didn’t play out as envisioned — enabling the South Side priest to accomplish his goal of shutting down all inbound lanes of the expressway.
* Pfleger, protesters shut down Dan Ryan Expy: There’s a historical significance to marching along the Dan Ryan Expressway — a roadway some believe was built in the early 1960s to separate white communities and poor, black ones. To the west of the new interstate were Comiskey Park, home of the White Sox, and neighborhoods such as Bridgeport, home to then-Mayor Richard J. Daley and his clan. To the east rose the Robert Taylor Homes, a high-rise public housing complex that became notorious for its violence.
* Anti-violence protesters shut down Dan Ryan: ‘Today was the attention-getter, but now comes the action’: After the protest, Tracey Brumfield held up a poster at Marquette and State with pictures of her 26-year-old son, KeShawn Slaughter, who was shot and killed in April 2017 in the far South Side’s West Pullman neighborhood. The poster also had a message written on it: “Enough Is Enough. Stop Violence.” “These guns need to be off these streets,” Brumfield said. “I feel like some of the parents, y’all need to check these kids’ rooms. Check under these beds. You know what I’m saying? Guns be right in your house. You don’t even know.”
* Anti-violence protesters shut down part of Chicago freeway: Illinois State Police, which had warned earlier in the week that any pedestrian entering the expressway would face arrest, said early Saturday that an agreement had been reached for protesters to march on a portion of the roadway. Officers and vehicles lined up, forming a barrier to keep protesters in two northbound lanes, allowing some traffic to pass in other northbound lanes. But Pfleger and protesters insisted there was no agreement and that they would shut down the entire northbound roadway, with Pfleger noting the city closes major roads for parades and other occasions. The crowd began creeping into other lanes — a situation Pfleger said had the potential to become dangerous. Illinois State Police, which has jurisdiction over expressways, announced around 11:30 a.m. that they were shutting down all northbound lanes of the expressway. Protesters then began walking northbound along the route.
* Anti-violence protesters shut down inbound Dan Ryan: ‘The people won today’: Aldermanic candidate Anthony Driver and another demonstrator threatened to force the closure of the two open lanes by breaking police barriers. They were warned they might be killed by a speeding car if they did so. “They are killing us already!” Driver said. “There shouldn’t even be a negotiation. They knew we have been planning this march for over three weeks. These lanes should have already been shut down.” For more than half an hour, Pfleger and other marchers helped pass out water between talks with police, before state police agreed to shut down all inbound lanes for the march about 11:30 a.m. Afterward, Pfleger credited CPD Supt. Eddie Johnson with helping force the issue, saying Johnson “stood up to the state police to let them know it was now a matter of safety.”
* Father Pfleger says Governor Rauner tried to create chaos: Another mother, Sonia Davis, whose son, Tyrone White, 41, was, killed in Chatham said, “His case is still unsolved. I call the police. They never call me back. It’s like my son doesn’t exist. I am grateful to Father Pfleger for doing things like this so people can see that we are parents out here suffering. We need help with our kids cases.”
* This story kinda puts Gov. Rauner in a bit of a bind. If he dumps the investment, he can’t claim that his investments are outside of his control. If he doesn’t dump the investment, he gets criticized for profiting off of a colossal federal mess…
Gov. Bruce Rauner this year reported turning a profit from a health care group that services U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention centers, including facilities that hold immigrant families with children.
In his most recent statement of economic interests, the multi-millionaire Republican governor disclosed earnings from a private equity fund that owns Correct Care Solutions, a for-profit health care provider that has millions of dollars in government contracts with jails and prisons across the country, including immigrant detention centers.
The governor says he relinquished investment decisions to a third party and has no direct ties to Correct Care Solutions, a group whose work extends to places like Karnes County Residential Center in Texas, one of just four immigrant family detention centers in the country contracted for profit. […]
“He should not be in any way profiting off of this,” said Donald Cohen, executive director of In the Public Interest, a national watchdog group that monitors privatization and advocates for responsible government contracting. “It’s morally reprehensible.”
“Does JB really want to go down this road?,” asked one Rauner operative today. Pritzker, of course, has even more investments than Rauner does.
Correct Care Solutions - the Rauner-linked health care company that services ICE facilities - also has contracts with the IL Dept. of Juvenile Justice worth $20M+
— Illinois Working Together (@IllinoisWorking) July 9, 2018
In his "blind-trust commitments", Rauner promised he would donate "any proceeds from investment interests that I may hold that have any contract with the State of Illinois"
Has he donated his profits from Correct Care? Are there other investments like this? pic.twitter.com/eXwdU2Hqju
— Illinois Working Together (@IllinoisWorking) July 9, 2018
Back in the old, old days, Chicago Mayor Richard J. Daley would pack passenger trains full of loyalists and send them all to the Illinois State Fair’s Democrat Day rally, where they were treated to rousing speeches by party leaders and candidates. Gov. Rod Blagojevich kept that tradition alive on a somewhat smaller scale by chartering buses filled with supporters.
For decades, both parties’ state fair rallies have been considered the unofficial kick-off to Illinois’ campaign season. In odd-numbered years between elections, candidates have often used the rallies to showcase their campaigns ahead of the following spring primary season.
Many of those potential candidates make big speeches and bus their supporters to Springfield to show their strength and then never even file to run for election, realizing that they don’t have what it takes. Illinois is a bigger state than most people realize. And its regional and hyper-local politics can be maddening to novices with big egos.
Most other off-year speakers are weeded out by the party primaries. By the time of the August event ahead of the even-year general election, the number of candidates who show up to speak is whittled down to a handful.
Aside from the potential candidates, the state fair treats the political class (campaign contributors, labor leaders, legislative staff, etc.) to a big get-together before the November elections (or the legislative fall veto session, as the case may be), so lots of candidates up and down the ballot use the opportunity to raise money.
And the rallies always provide political reporters with something to write about in what would otherwise be a slow news month when most normal people are on vacation or have otherwise completely tuned out politics of all kinds.
But the annual event really started to lose its appeal for the Democratic powers that be in 2012, when AFSCME packed the Democrat Day rally with thousands of green-shirted protesters who angrily and loudly shouted down every Democratic speaker, including Gov. Pat Quinn and House Speaker Michael Madigan. AFSCME and other public employee unions were furious at Quinn and the Democratic leadership for pushing pension reforms that would reduce their retirement income and benefits.
The following year, after a massive pension reform bill had passed and was signed into law and Gov. Quinn picked up a Democratic primary opponent, Quinn canceled the rally’s speeches. The Democrats still had free food and beer at the traditional Director’s Lawn venue, but live music blared from the loudspeakers instead of politicians’ voices. Republicans, for their part, required that attendees obtain tickets in advance before being allowed access to their event, mainly out of concern that the Democrats could try to disrupt their shindig the way AFSCME did to them.
By then, though, the focus had already started to shift away from the Democrats’ rally to a morning brunch at a local hotel hosted by county party chairs. The speeches given at that event were largely repeated verbatim at the afternoon fairgrounds rally, so lots of party regulars eventually got bored and didn’t even bother attending the afternoon rally. Why sit in the hot sun and oppressive humidity (or pouring rain, as the case may be) to listen to the exact same speeches you just heard a few hours earlier?
Last year, Speaker Madigan canceled the state fair rally altogether. He never much cared for it anyway. One year, reporters literally surrounded his golf cart when he refused to answer questions and wouldn’t let him move. Plus, a huge number of Democratic candidates for statewide office that year would’ve made for an unwieldy and divisive event (particularly since some candidates were running on pointedly anti-Madigan platforms).
The annual Democrat Day is managed by the Democratic Party of Illinois unless the party holds the governor’s office. But it doesn’t look like DPI will be all that involved with the rally this August.
“I suspect whatever goes on at the fairgrounds will be done more by the statewide campaigns than anybody else,” Madigan’s spokesman, Steve Brown, said the other day.
Brown said the rally “largely duplicates what the county chairs do,” and it had become “less and less an opportunity to communicate with people.”
It does appear that the fairgrounds rally will be revived, although Democratic gubernatorial nominee J.B. Pritzker’s campaign is staying mum about what it will look like. They’re still “working on the details,” I was told not long ago, but are “excited for a great day.”
Frankly, the whole thing needs a reboot. Ditch the hokey straw bales and endless dreary speeches and give us something interesting.
* Illinois Election Data automatically texts me whenever a campaign committee files an A-1 of $100,000 or more. Here are the last four such texts I received…
All of those contributions were made by JB Pritzker’s gubernatorial campaign. It’s part of his “Blue Wave Illinois” initiative that I told you about in May.
Democratic Majority is controlled by Speaker Madigan. SDVF is Senate President John Cullerton’s committee. Democratic Heartland is a committee designed to benefit Downstate Dems and is overseen by Sen. Scott Bennett of Champaign.
The Rock Island County Democratic Party, run by Doug House, received a million bucks from Pritzker in May. House also chairs the Illinois Democratic County Chairs’ Association and the money is supposed to be used to build a grass roots operation outside of Cook County. So far, though, the RICO Dems haven’t reported any significant contributions to others.
Pritzker’s new ad focuses on the governor’s recent comments about downstate Illinois. Rauner can be heard in an interview talking about “how difficult” it is to keep businesses in southern Illinois. His comments have irked residents there, and Pritzker’s taking note.
Announcer: What does Bruce Rauner really think of Downstate Illinois? Listen to him talk about our area and our workers during a recent Chicago radio interview:
Rauner: “Champaign-Urbana is wonderful. But it’s very hard to keep a company of more than six people there. There’s no convenient transportation, not much of a workforce, and it’s very hard”
Mark Maxwell on-air: “As you might imagine, folks around here weren’t too thrilled with those remarks.”
Announcer: Bruce Rauner - Four years of failure is enough.
…Adding… Heh…
Not only did Dave Dahl offer free training in how to deliver a proper apology today, he also made @WCIA3Mark blush. I almost fell off the couch laughing. @bschoenburgpic.twitter.com/w4xp7qWU6T
Gov. Rauner’s re-election campaign is launching a new — yet old — line of attack against Pritzker.
After weeks of ads mocking Pritzker for a property tax reduction he received on a neighboring Gold Coast mansion he bought and had the toilets disconnected to declare the residence uninhabitable, the new Rauner ad uses the words of Pritzker’s defeated March Democratic primary challengers to criticize the billionaire and try to link him to Speaker Madigan.
Rauner has long sought to demonize Madigan and tie Democratic candidates up and down the ballot to the veteran House speaker, who also chairs the state Democratic Party. The ad ends declaring Pritzker as “Mike Madigan’s candidate.”
The Rauner folks ran a very similar digital ad right after the primary.
Daniel Biss: JB Pritzker is Mike Madigan’s candidate. Everyone knows it, it’s clear, and if the Democratic Party wants to nominate Mike Madigan’s candidate, they should nominate JB Pritzker.
Chris Kennedy: I think JB Pritkzer has emerged as the poster child for pay to play politics in this state.
Biss: It took JB Pritzker a week to get permission from Mike Madigan to even name him in talking about the sexual harassment cover up.
Kennedy: Pritzker is really there to protect the status quo.
