* Tribune…
Mayoral candidate Willie Wilson apparently did not violate election law by handing out more than $200,000 in cash and checks Sunday to people at an event he attended with Gov. Bruce Rauner at a South Side church, according to the state elections board. […]
Illinois State Board of Elections spokesman Matt Dietrich said the fact that the money came from Wilson’s foundation seems to allow him to avoid running afoul of campaign finance laws.
“As far as we can see, it looks like he didn’t use campaign funds for this,” Dietrich said. “And there doesn’t appear to have been any quid pro quo, like, ‘Here’s some money, vote for me.’ So from our perspective, it doesn’t look like there was anything illegal about this.”
* Politico…
“It looks kind of skeevy,” said Ken Menzel, general counsel at the Illinois State Board of Elections, who noted he did not have enough information to make a call one way or another on the matter. “If that were the threshold for Illinois politics, the chambers would be empty.”
…Adding… From Dietrich…
Rich: I think Ken Menzel and I are answering different questions in the quotes you have. The answer I gave to John Byrne yesterday morning came after I talked to Ken about it. Ken’s comment to Natasha came out of a larger conversation and concerned the general optics of the event.
When the calls started flooding in, I sent out this statement:
All we know about this is what has been in media reports. If the money came from his foundation and not his campaign committee, and the other details as have been reported are correct, then it likely would not violate the Campaign Finance Act. However, the State Board of Elections does not want to engage in extensive speculation about a situation which could generate a formal complaint for which the State Board of Elections would be the hearing body.
At this point, no such complaint has been filed.
Matt Dietrich
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* From today’s press gaggle about the Willie Wilson event…
REPORTER: “Did you know cash would be handed out yesterday?”
RAUNER: “I did not know that. I learned it after the fact and I do not support that.”
* Tina Sfondeles and Mitch Dudek for the Sun-Times…
Willie Wilson’s campaign spokesman Scott Winslow on Monday said “we did nothing wrong.”
“It’s very normal and what’s being picked up is the mudslinging of the mayoral race of Chicago,” Winslow said, adding Rauner attended the same event with Wilson last year, when cash was also handed out.
Uh-oh.
*** UPDATE *** Video clip from the last such event, on January 15, 2018: “I’m honored, I’m honored to be here with Dr. Wilson to support those of you who need help paying your property taxes. I’m happy to chip in and I’ll chip in in the future”…
YouTube wasn’t processing the video for some reason, so I had to post it on the Twitter machine.
…Adding… YouTube link is finally working. Click here.
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* Press release…
Today, Jim Dodge, the Republican nominee for State Treasurer, and Darlene Senger, the Republican nominee for State Comptroller, issued a joint statement calling on the legislature to pass legislation consolidating the two offices:
“Illinois is facing a budget shortfall and a politician surplus. We urge the legislature to save taxpayer dollars by consolidating the offices of Treasurer and Comptroller.”
Dodge and Senger pointed out that most states have one Chief Financial Officer and that by dividing the duties between two constitutional officers the state is wasting money. It is estimated that consolidating the two offices could save taxpayers between $12 and $14 million.
Both candidates urged their Democratic opponents to join them in pledging to fight for consolidation.
“Mike Frerichs and Susana Mendoza should be a part of the Illinois budget solution, not part of the problem,” said Dodge.
“We shouldn’t feel comfortable asking Illinois taxpayers to tighten their belts and handover more of their hard-earned money, when political leaders in Springfield aren’t willing to do the same thing,” added Senger.
In 2012, the Illinois state Senate voted to place the question of consolidation on the ballot in the 2014 election. Democratic Speaker of the House Mike Madigan, however, blocked the provision from passing the House.
“The only consolidation Mike Madigan is interested in is the kind that consolidates his power, he is wholly uninterested in saving taxpayer dollars,” said Senger.
“Mike Frerichs and Susana Mendoza should have the political courage to stand up to Mike Madigan and to stand up for Illinois taxpayers,” concluded Dodge.
* Greg Hinz followed up…
“I voted to put (the merger) on the ballot,” Frerichs told me in a phone call. “Unlike Republicans, I’ve supported this idea whether Republicans or Democrats have held these jobs. When Leslie Munger was comptroller (she was unseated by Mendoza in the 2014 election), silence. . . .Why didn’t Republicans say something then?”
Frerichs also challenged whether the $12 million to $14 million in potential savings are real or “something in a press release.” In fact, his entire annual operating budget is only $7.6 million, Frerichs said. […]
“The framers of the state constitution were familiar with the potential for corruption in having one officer in charge of receiving money, investing it and paying it out. That’s because Orville Hodge embezzled $6 million in state funds in the ’50s. That’s $57 million in today’s money—far more than the phony projected savings number,” said a [Mendoza] spokesman, referring to the infamous former auditor of public accounts, which later became the comptroller’s office. “Not only could this still happen—it did happen as recently as 2012. Rita Crundwell was the combined comptroller and treasurer of Dixon, Ill. She was convicted of embezzling $53.7 million from the town’s taxpayers.”
The spokesman also pointed to Mendoza’s fight with Gov. Bruce Rauner over refinancing state debts, exchanging bonds that cost interest of 3.5 percent compared to IOUs that carried a 12 percent rate.
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Question of the day
Monday, Jul 23, 2018 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Rep. Steve Reick (R-Woodstock) writing on his campaign website…
[Rep. Jeanne Ives] has said that she ran to hold Governor Rauner responsible for the policy decisions he’s made since 2015. Mission accomplished. But she’s also said that she won’t endorse the Governor for re-election. Her unwillingness to do so now will only make inevitable the very things she ran against in the primary. That’s not the type of legacy anyone should want to leave.
Every day that we move closer to the election, it’s becoming ever more obvious that this race is far from over, but in order to avoid the total meltdown of Illinois, we need to grow or at least maintain our numbers in the House and we need to retain the Governorship.
Jeanne, don’t leave your colleagues in the House facing that which you have within your power to help to avoid. Don’t leave the people of Illinois with a state government that will be hell-bent on leading us faster in our race to the bottom. If it’s your intention to carry on the fight beyond this election, do so by leaving something standing that’s worth fighting for.
You need to join the battle, and you can only do that by stepping onto the battlefield as it now exists. If you don’t, you run the risk of being remembered by the label that was pinned upon you during the campaign:
Madigan’s Favorite Republican.
Ouch.
* The Question: Should Rep. Jeanne Ives endorse Gov. Rauner for a second term? Take the poll and then explain your answer in comments, please.
online polls
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* The governor held a press conference today to sign legislation that received unanimous support in both chambers. So, the press conference afterward was mainly about yesterday’s Willie Wilson event. Click here for background if you need it…
* The event was not on the governor’s public (state) schedule, but he did have someone from his campaign staff with him, so that’s a little bit problematic…
*** UPDATE 1 *** From Sen. Sam McCann…
Today, Illinois Senator and Conservative Party gubernatorial candidate Sam McCann issued the following statement in response to reporting and photographs of Willie Wilson and Bruce Rauner handing out $300,000 at an event in a South Side church:
Governor Rauner has reached a new low. For a gubernatorial candidate and a mayoral candidate to be photographed distributing cash to thousands of attendees in the heat of an election season is beyond bad judgment – it disqualifies Rauner from being Governor.
As $300,000 in so-called ‘property tax relief’ was distributed in cash, Bruce Rauner touted himself as the candidate who would fight for lower property taxes. This was a political event, and Bruce Rauner and Willie Wilson handed out stacks of cash.
This is not the kind of change Illinois needs. This is the kind of old-school Democratic Machine politics that got us where we are today. Republican and Conservative voters should reject Bruce Rauner and his attempt to buy another election.
Um, there are no photographs that I know of showing Gov. Rauner handing out cash.
* Today’s gaggle transcript…
REPORTER: [INAUDIBLE QUESTION]
RAUNER: “No, I certainly did not and I don’t know that anybody else did.
REPORTER: “Was anybody from campaigns there?”
RAUNER: “Uh, anybody from my campaign staff? I think well one person, yeah. I think we did.”
REPORTER: “Is it true that 100,000 of that money came from you?”
RAUNER: “Well so, we should understand what happens. So, two things first. I worship at different church around the State of Illinois almost every Sunday, I try to every Sunday. And I have attended Reverend Thurston’s church, New Covenant, in the past where I attended yesterday. I was there primarily to worship, as I have done, and the Reverend asked me to speak which I occasionally do. So that’s why I was there. In terms of my money and my donations, Dr. Willie Wilson is a friend of mine and I’ve known him for five or six years. He’s a successful businessman, a successful entrepreneur, and philanthropist. He and I worked together on the issue of property taxes. Property taxes are out of control in the State of Illinois, they are much too high and some of the worst property taxes in America are in the African-American community south of Chicago and west of Chicago. There are property taxes for black families in the south suburbs – 12% of home value. Dr. Wilson came to me last year and he said, ‘Bruce could you help me? I’m putting in several hundred thousand would you join me in putting $100,000 of a donation so we can help families that are struggling and can’t pay their property taxes, to pay their property taxes.’ I said I would, I gave him $100,000 last year, and I believe he helped families with parts of my money, mostly his money. And in the last month or two I gave him another $100,000 at his request to help people pay their property taxes.”
REPORTER: “Did you know cash would be handed out yesterday?”
RAUNER: “I did not know that. I learned it after the fact and I do not support that.”
REPORTER: “Are you worried that it might be a violation of the criminal statute of the election code [INAUDIBLE]?
RAUNER: “I think the idea of handing out cash if you’re a candidate for office is outrageous. It should not happen.”
REPORTER: “Were you offended yesterday?”
REPORTER: “Well I learned after the fact, and I was pretty upset when I heard it was going on.”
REPORTER: “What are your concerns about the fact that some of this money is from you?”
RAUNER: “Well as far as I know no money of mine got handed out to anybody, we’re checking right now. If it did I’m going to demand my money back.”
REPORTER: “You said that $100,000 of the money gave out came from you.”
RAUNER: “You got to separate, what I’ve been told, you’ve got to separate out. It’s proper, and we checked the channels, doing a assistance for property tax payments for people who got checked and went through a process and got their name vetted and they got checks, that was a proper process. That’s what I was told my money went for, and I’m fine with that. I did it last year, I did it this year, and I’ll do it again next year. It has nothing to do with electioneering, it raises the profile of the issue of how unfair – African-American families in the south side paying 12% of home value in property taxes, it’s outrageous. Separate issue, I learned after the fact that Dr. Wilson was handing out cash. If that’s true, that’s wrong, it shouldn’t happen. None of my money should be used for that and I hope it wasn’t.”
REPORTER: “Where’d the money come from Governor? Was it from your foundation or – what was the source of the $100,000?”
RAUNER: “$100,000? I’ll have to check, I think it was just personal. I’ll find out, I don’t have the answer.”
REPORTER: “Did you see him handing out the cash and did it raise any concerns in your mind?”
RAUNER: “I did not anybody hand out any cash yesterday.”
REPORTER: “Did you have a conversation with Dr. Wilson about this?”
RAUNER: “I have not yet. Our team is doing their homework to find out exactly what happened and then when I know the facts I’m going to talk to the Doctor about it.”
REPORTER: “And the difference between the cash and the checks is what?”
RAUNER: “Vetting of the people who receive the money and the use of the money. I believe in helping people with their property taxes. I did it last year, and it should be vetted, the people checked, understand their property tax situation and their financial positions, and assisting those who might run the risk of losing their home. I’ve met people who were on the verge of having to be evicted because they couldn’t pay their property taxes. I met some at church yesterday. That’s fine for me as a philanthropist, I donate to many causes, that’s a worthy cause. Just handing out cash randomly to people, I’ve never done that and I think it’s not a good thing to do.”
REPORTER: “Why is it a bad thing to do?”
RAUNER: “It’s just not – if you’re a candidate for office, it’s one thing if you’re just a person and you just want to walk around and throw money I mean it’s a free country. If you’re a candidate for office, it’s not a proper thing to do.”
REPORTER: “Do you judge it violates election laws?”
RAUNER: “If it doesn’t I think it probably should.”
*** UPDATE 2 *** Press release…
Yesterday, Gov. Bruce Rauner joined Willie Wilson to hand out a reported $300,000 in cash to potential voters at New Covenant Missionary Baptist Church. With a campaign staffer on hand and after reportedly chipping in $100,000 of his own money, Rauner conducted one of the most highly unethical campaign stunts yet. In response, Democratic Party of Illinois Executive Director Christian Mitchell released the following statement:
“This is one of the most highly unethical campaign stunts Rauner has ever conducted, and it’s stunning that he would even dare show up in the black community after failing to pass a budget for four years and creating the highest unemployment rate for black people in the country,” said DPI Executive Director Christian Mitchell. “But to show up with a campaign staffer and hand out $100,000 in cash? It’s not only possible that it’s illegal, but the height of hypocrisy from someone who claims they want to ‘clean up the system.’”
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Because… Libraries!
Monday, Jul 23, 2018 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Northwest Herald…
Townships are not the only public bodies in the crosshairs of Republican leaders scrutinizing their tax bills and looking for taxes to slash.
“They never go after the libraries,” Algonquin Township Republican Party Chairman Glen Swanson said.
“Illinois has the highest-paid librarians in the country,” McHenry County Republican Party Chairwoman Diane Evertsen said.
Both Swanson and Evertsen shared their concerns about libraries last week with state Sen. Dan McConchie, a Hawthorn Woods Republican who stopped at the Crystal Lake Colonial Cafe to drink coffee with his constituents.
The 26th District leader said he had heard an out-of-town visitor once describe an area library as something like the “Taj Mahal.” McConchie pointed to the “very property-rich southern part” of Lake County, where “every year they take the max they can under the tax caps” and build “massive” facilities.
“Sure,” McConchie said, “they provide nice services to their folks, but I walk in there, and there’s people that are just sitting there on the clock doing absolutely nothing.”
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A matter of perspective, I suppose
Monday, Jul 23, 2018 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Um, what about local control?…
Illinois school districts continued to pad pensions for retiring educators amid a two-year budget impasse and despite concerns about the state’s growing pension debts, highlighting the persistence of a problem that lawmakers have struggled to contain.
As the state’s budget stalemate entered a second year in the summer of 2017, some school administrators raised concerns about being able to to keep the doors open for the upcoming school year. Some talked about laying off teachers, cutting after-school activities or draining swimming pools. Others worried about depleting reserve funds. But through it all, the state’s locally controlled public schools paid millions of dollars in penalties each year directly to the state’s largest pension fund as a consequence of giving out raises and sick time in excess of the threshold set by a 2005 state law designed to discourage what is commonly known as pension spiking, an Illinois News Network investigation found.
“It’s inexcusable that school districts were spiking pensions at the end of their careers to the point where they’ve got to pay penalties,” said state Rep. Peter Breen, a Lombard Republican. “This data is Exhibit A for what’s wrong with Illinois’ pension systems.”
The whole point behind the state law wasn’t necessarily to stop end of career pay spikes, it was to make the local school districts pay for the costs of those spikes. If they decide at the local level that they want to entice some older workers to retire to make way for newer workers, shouldn’t that be up to them? If the GA wanted to fully stop these spikes, they could’ve outlawed the entire practice.
Look, this is undoubtedly beneficial information for local taxpayers to have, which they can use the next time their own school board members come up for election. But it’s not like they’re paying a criminal fine. They’re just being told to pay their own way.
* The Illinois News Network has published several stories about this topic like it’s some sort of gigantic scandal. Here’s another one…
Some McHenry County school districts continue to give employees big raises just before retirement more than a decade after a state law aimed to limit the practice was passed.
The county’s school districts have had to pay $619,833.92 directly to the Teachers’ Retirement System of the state of Illinois since 2014 for giving out raises and sick time allowances, according to TRS data obtained through the state’s open records laws.
Again, the law wasn’t necessarily aimed at limiting the practice, it was about making the locals shoulder the costs instead of making every taxpayer in Illinois do it.
* Another one…
Over the past five years, schools in the Metro East have paid hundreds of thousands of dollars in penalties for giving teachers in the twilight of their careers pension-boosting raises.
According to documents obtained via a Freedom of Information Act request, the Teachers Retirement Fund, Illinois’ public teacher retirement pool, has received $527,845.00 from school districts in East St. Louis, Alton, East Alton, Belleville, and Edwardsville for excessive pay increases and sick leave days.
* This one, however, concerns the state…
In just four years, the Illinois State Board of Education itself cost taxpayers an additional $592,619.69 in penalties because of end-of-career pension spiking for retiring staff. […]
Dora Welker, a division administrator with ISBE, made $95,000 in 2013. She made $132,500 in 2017. That’s a 39 percent salary increase. But her 2013 salary wasn’t what was used in the final calculation. Documents show Welker’s salary of $103,744 in 2014, nearly $9,000 more (a nine percent increase) than the year before, her 2015 and 2016 salary (which was virtually unchanged) and her 2017 salary of $132,490 (a 27 percent increase from the 2014 salary) was used in the calculation.
ISBE averaged out the salary from the final four years of Welker’s salary to be $108,175, or $3,124 more than what the average salary would have been if at the 6 percent annual cap. The difference, $3,124, is then multiplied with an actuarial factor of 16.6. The employer, ISBE, owed $52,147.91 for Welker’s 27 percent spike in four years.
Documents show Susan Morrison, a deputy superintendent and chief education officer at ISBE, had a salary of $158,881 in 2011. It increased to $216,940 by 2015. That’s an increase over the four years of 36.5 percent. That’s also $4,769 more than the 20 percent over four years, 6 percent a year, allowed without a penalty to the pension fund. Multiplying the difference by an actuarial factor of 14.7, and ISBE had to pay nearly $71,000 extra into the pension fund.
A spokesperson for ISBE said the reason for the larger than 6 percent salary increase at the end of an employee’s career is “generally the result of the distribution of compensable days, but can also include salary increases.”
ISBE should definitely be more careful about this.
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The future of Pritzker and Madigan
Monday, Jul 23, 2018 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Greg Hinz…
[Rep. Christian Mitchell] represents Hyde Park and nearby portions of the South Side. Considered by some to be at least a mild political reformer, he’s African-American, less than half Madigan’s age (76), got the job [as DPI’s acting executive director] with behind-the-scenes help from Pritzker and actually showed up on a picket line to protest a local appearance by Vice President Mike Pence the other day. I doubt Madigan has orated before a picket line in the past half-century. On the other hand, Madigan was forced to dump predecessor Executive Director Tim Mapes amid a sexual harassment scandal and designated another lieutenant, Mike Kasper, to stay around as the party’s treasurer in case Mitchell gets any wild ideas. So control is, at best, split.
Ergo, the question: Will the speaker-for-life finally let loose? And, if he doesn’t, will Pritzker give him a shove if he gets himself elected?
One theory out there is that Madigan would have no choice but to go, and fairly soon, because his caucus has decided he’s a liability. “They don’t want to live with another four years under him,” says one top Democratic insider—particularly since Pritzker personally is filling the war chests of darn near every Democratic candidate in the state, presumably buying their loyalty in the process. Pritzker needs Madigan long enough to learn the ropes and get through his first budget, and then let nature run its course, says that source.
Pritzker would emerge as his own man, in his own incremental way, argues another ranking Dem. “He won’t try to gouge out Madigan’s eyes like Blagojevich did. But he’ll be more effectively assertive than (Pat) Quinn,” another ex-Democratic governor whose idea of working with Madigan was “pounding on the table.” So look for some patronage jobs and other ducats to change hands, particularly if Pritzker starts pushing his promised graduated income tax plan. But little by little, Pritzker would assert power. […]
One of those who ran against Pritzker in the primary, state Sen. Daniel Biss, predicts a bumpy ride ahead, amending his prediction during the primary campaign that Madigan would call the shots if Pritzker won. “I expect there will be tension between the speaker and the governor, just like there has been with every governor,” he says. “Madigan will be resistant to enact progressive priorities.” Like the progressive income tax or, say, a statewide $15 minimum wage.
Thoughts?
* Related…
* Rep. Gordon-Booth talks Madigan, criminal justice reform: Rep. Gordon-Booth, a member of Democratic leadership in the House, says because of her role she may have been insulated from some of the harassment her colleagues and others have been exposed to. However, she believes Speaker Michael Madigan has acted quickly to address issues that have come before him.
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* Gov. Rauner’s situation summed up in two tweets…
* Breitbart…
Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner (R) signed legislation empowering police to confiscate firearms from citizens and extending the wait period for gun purchases to 72 hours.
The new waiting period means a single woman being pursued by a stalker now has to hide and/or live behind locked doors for three days while she waits to get a gun for self-defense.
NBC 26 reports that the confiscatory law is called the Firearms Restraining Order Act. By signing it, Rauner made Illinois the 13th state to empower police to confiscate guns and he joined a growing list of Republican governors who signed such laws into place following the February 14, 2018, Parkland high school shooting.
* “War on Guns” author John Lott in Town Hall…
Illinois Republican Governor Bruce Rauner signed two new gun control bills into law at the end of last week.
Everyone wants to do something to stop mass public shootings. Unfortunately, these laws will not make Americans safer and surely won’t prevent mass public shootings such as the one in Parkland.
* Southern Illinoisan…
State Rep. Terri Bryant, R-Murphysboro, said the bill to takes guns away from those with mental health issues unfairly limits due process and could make criminals out of law-abiding citizens.
“Quite simply, the bill goes too far and allows for actual confiscation of legally-owned weapons,” she said.
She said the 72-hour waiting period law is another example of Chicago Democrats playing to a radical anti-gun base.
“This bill creates yet another layer of bureaucracy to place at the altar of Chicago Democratic-base politics,” Bryant said. “This legislation really strikes at some beloved traditions in Southern Illinois and will harm gun dealers and gun and knife trade shows. Unfortunately, every day that the Legislature is in session in Illinois, pro-Second Amendment legislators like myself must be vigilant and work to protect our constitutionally guaranteed rights.”
* And then there’s the other side: The gun dealer licensing bill he’s pledged to veto…
Kathleen Sances, president and CEO of the Gun Violence Prevention PAC of Illinois, disagrees. She says Chicago police recover 7,000 illegal guns a year — and 4,000 from in-state dealers.
“He should want to be saving our children,” says Sances. “And he looks like he’s choosing to secure the profits of the gun industry rather than keep our communities safe. “
Just before announcing his veto plans for the licensing bill, Rauner signed two other gun-related measures. One allows confiscation of guns from people if a court deems them dangerous to themselves or others; another imposes a 72-hour waiting period for all gun purchases in Illinois.
Sances says while she is pleased that Rauner approved the other two gun-safety bills, she is perplexed over his decision not to want to track illegal gun sales.
“I mean, I think these are easy bills for him to sign,” says Sances. “I don’t understand, though, why he wouldn’t sign a bill that would have helped stopped the shootings in our city. I mean, our children are dying. There are shootings every two hours here — and that’s because there’s too many illegal guns.”
* More…
“We know that illegal guns are flooding our neighborhoods and contributing to the daily violence so many in our state face, particularly minority communities,” argued the bill’s sponsor, state Sen. Don Harmon, D-Oak Park. “I hope he will reconsider his threat to veto this legislation and prove that he cares about everyone in Illinois.”
* And…
“Illinois needs stronger, smarter state gun laws to keep guns off our streets and out of the wrong hands,” Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel said in a statement Monday afternoon. “It is the height of hypocrisy when the same governor who signed a bill to regulate catfish sales will not stand up and take common sense steps to regulate gun sales.”
* Normally, when candidates look for a middle ground on hot-button issues, they wind up getting blasted by both sides for their apostasy. Judy Baar Topinka is a notable historical example. She considered herself pro-choice, so she was constantly attacked on her right flank. But Personal PAC decreed that she wasn’t pro-choice enough, so she was whacked for being a right-winger on the topic.
But in this case, Gov. Rauner has at least one defender…
Under the new law, however, family members or law enforcement can go before a judge to seek a restraining order that directly addresses the respondent’s firearm ownership.
Illinois State Rifle Association Executive Director Richard A. Pearson released a statement celebrating the bill’s success.
“We applaud the governor for taking action to save lives,” Pearson wrote. “Studies in both Indiana and Connecticut indicate that similar laws to [House Bill] 2354 reduce gun-related suicide deaths by 7 percent to 13 percent.”
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* Kinda puts Gov. Rauner in a bind. From the Belleville News-Democrat…
President Donald Trump announced Sunday he plans to visit Granite City on Thursday, where a U.S. Steel Corp. mill reopened in March.
While Trump has not specified the reason for his visit, about 800 employees have been called back to work for the U.S. Steel Corp since Trump announced he would be placing tariffs on foreign steel in March.
The tariffs were aimed mainly at China, which had been accused of dumping steel into the U.S. market at lower costs.
In a press release in March, U.S. Steel Corp said the change was due to an anticipated demand for steel in the United States due to Trump’s announcement in March that the federal government would impose a 25 percent tariff on steel imports.
Trump mentioned U.S. Steel at the White House’s Roosevelt Room during a ceremony surrounding the tariffs, according to St. Louis Post-Dispatch. The newspaper reported that Trump said the reopening of the Granite City plant is a “big one” and thought it was the start of many closed plants reopening across the country.
As we’ve already discussed, the plant supplies the Texas oil industry with pipe, and that state’s oil industry is rebounding because of high prices.
* There’s also this…
Simmons, president of the Steelworkers Local, said they have been advocating for the reopening of the plant for years. While Simmons said Trump’s announcement poised them in a position to reopen, market trends indicated the mill could have reopened long before Trump’s announcement.
“Conditions and market trends have been inching up enough for us to start up without the trade case,” he said.
“We should have started up a few times. They had some missed opportunities on making some good profits. They were wanting such securities (the tariffs),” he said.
Six weeks before the facility’s closure was announced, Simmons said they completed a trial for high-strength steel and were the only facility in North America capable of creating it due to their advanced equipment. This high-quality grade of steel was of interest to automakers like Nissan, which wanted the steel for its 2018 Nissan Altima model.
…Adding… Just in from the Pritzker campaign…
his Thursday, Donald Trump will be in Granite City, Illinois, but will Bruce Rauner join him?
Rauner has spent the last month cozying up to Trump — praising his policies and calling his Vice President one of the “greatest leaders in American history.” But as the Chicago Tribune reports, “embracing the president can create political hurdles, especially after the governor has tried to avoid addressing the president’s almost daily controversies throughout much of his first term.” So, will Rauner appear with Trump in Illinois on Thursday?
“From his silent partner to a vocal supporter, Bruce Rauner has been Donald Trump’s staunch ally while his hatred and devastating policies wreck Illinois,” said Pritzker campaign spokesman Jason Rubin. “Will Rauner fully embrace or run scared of Trump when he comes to Illinois?”
*** UPDATE 1 *** Not unexpected, but decent snark from McCann…
*** UPDATE 2 *** The governor’s full explanation…
* Related…
* Rauner embrace of Trump means more questions about president
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* Shia Kapos…
This one is a doozy, even by Chicago standards: Millionaire Chicago mayoral candidate Willie Wilson handed out $300,000 in cash to attendees at a South Side church Sunday. And it gets better: According to Wilson, $100,000 of it came from Gov. Bruce Rauner.
In a video aired on WGN on Sunday, Wilson is seen holding a wad of bills and handing out a few to each person in line after a church event attended by the governor. Wilson said he put in $200,000 of the money, while Rauner pitched in for the other $100,000.
A source familiar with the foundation said Rauner did pay $100,000, but it was to Wilson’s nonprofit and he was “not aware” that cash would be distributed at Sunday’s event. […]
In an interview with POLITICO, Wilson insisted philanthropy — not politics — was behind the gesture and that Rauner has donated before to give money to those in need through the foundation.
“We help people that need property taxes paid and food to eat and electric bills paid and senior citizens help. We’ve probably done this six times over the past two or three years,” said Wilson, referring to his foundation. The Chicago businessman has a rags to riches story. He’s the son of a Louisiana sharecropper who worked as a janitor before becoming an early owner of McDonald’s franchises. He’s since expanded his business interests and runs a multimillion-dollar plastic glove distribution business.
* Sun-Times’ Jon Seidel…
Republican state Rep. David McSweeney asked on Twitter, “How can Willie Wilson, a candidate for Mayor of Chicago, literally hand out CASH at a public event? This is so wrong!”
But when asked about allegations of vote buying, Wilson said, “There’s no truth to that at all.”
Meanwhile, Rauner is locked in his own difficult battle for re-election.
“Gov. Rauner attended a Sunday service at the New Covenant Missionary Baptist Church as a guest of Rev. Stephen Thurston,” Will Allison, a spokesman for Rauner’s campaign, said. “The governor has attended Sunday services at different churches across Illinois since he first ran for office, and other elected officials and community leaders are often present.”
* Media advisory sent early yesterday morning by the Willie Wilson Foundation…
For more than 20 years, Humanitarian Dr. Willie Wilson has given away his heart…and his money, to those less fortunate and those who simply need a helping hand. This year, the man who puts his all into everything he does is showing no signs of slowing down. In fact, Wilson is stepping things up – bigger and better!
On Sunday, July 22nd at 10:00am, Wilson will give away $300,000 to assist struggling homeowners who are being threatened with losing their homes because of staggering property tax bills. Wilson will present the relief to homeowners at New Covenant Baptist Church, 754 East 77th Street, Chicago IL 60619 where Rev. Stephen J. Thurston is the pastor.
After nearly five years, Wilson increased his giving this year by a whopping $100,000! This increase was necessary due to the ridiculous property tax hikes that are strangling these hardworking homeowners. Wilson has vowed not to stand by idle and allow folks to get choked out under the weight of the outrageous tax hikes. He has also committed to working on getting the state tax bill rolled back from an 8-month term to a 12-month term to further help the residents. […]
More than 2,000 people are expected to attend this annual charitable giveaway. Wilson will also be assisting hundreds of senior citizens to purchase much-needed food and medication. Individuals who are a part of the Second Chance programs will also receive a “hand up” from the popular businessman. Individuals from Pacific Gardens and Sister House mission and recovery shelters will participate as well, and will receive crucial aid to help them on their way.
* WGN’s Tahman Bradley…
Wilson’s campaign spokesman insists today’s appearance was not campaign related. But Chicago politicos on both sides of the aisle raised concerns about the event. […]
Winslow insists the campaign is not violating any campaign finance laws since it was not involved with today’s handout. But the event certainly had a political feel.
During the event, Rauner also addressed the church in brief remarks. The governor shared with worshippers that he received an award from the National Black Chamber of Commerce at in event in Washington, D.C. this past Friday, and talked about his work reforming Illinois’ criminal justice system and boosting education funding for schools. […]
“You pay the highest property taxes in America here in Chicago and the South Side and the south suburbs, “ said Rauner. “This is wrong. The system is broken and I’m trying to fix it.”
* WGN video…
I’ve already told subscribers my opinion about yesterday’s cash dash, so I’ll leave it at that.
*** UPDATE 1 *** Despite Wilson’s denial that this was a campaign event, his campaign’s Facebook page broadcasted it live yesterday…
Willie Wilson help those in Need regardless of race, creed, or color!
Posted by Willie Wilson on Sunday, July 22, 2018
*** UPDATE 2 *** JB Pritzker’s campaign manager…
*** UPDATE 3 *** Tribune…
Illinois State Board of Elections spokesman Matt Dietrich said the fact that the money came from Wilson’s foundation seems to allow him to avoid running afoul of campaign finance laws.
“As far as we can see, it looks like he didn’t use campaign funds for this,” Dietrich said. “And there doesn’t appear to have been any quid pro quo, like, ‘Here’s some money, vote for me.’ So from our perspective, it doesn’t look like there was anything illegal about this.”
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* My weekly syndicated newspaper column…
A couple of years ago, a little more than 1,400 voters took Democratic primary ballots in sparsely populated Warren County, which is about an hour west of Peoria. Almost twice that many took Republican ballots.
The Warren County Democratic Central Committee is not exactly a campaign powerhouse. The organization officially opened its PAC with $923.72 in June of 2016. By June 30 of this year, the county party reported having $917.72 in the bank. I couldn’t find any records showing how that $6 was spent.
But last week, the county organization received a $5,000 check from the Rock Island County Democratic Party. Warren is one of 14 counties that received a total of more than $200,000 from the Rock Island Dems last week.
Warren’s check tied with Effingham County’s for being the smallest. The Kankakee County Democrats received about $28,000. Kane County’s Dems received about $20,000. Williamson County got about $14,000. The Metro East’s Madison County Democrats have so far received the largest check in this initial round: $45,495. The Carroll County Democrats have raised an average of about $3,000 a year for the past 18 years, but they received $7,523.50 last week.
As I’ve told you before, the Rock Island Democratic Party Chairman is Doug House, who also runs the Illinois Democratic County Chairs’ Association. Because state campaign finance laws allow unlimited contributions between county-level party organizations, the J.B. Pritzker campaign gave House’s Rock Island Democrats $1 million earlier this year as the first installment on its “Blue Wave Illinois 2018” program.
The idea is to finally try to build the party up at the local level after years of neglect by the top. The Democratic Party of Illinois, run by House Speaker Michael Madigan, has reported raising more than $80 million since 1999, but it has spent precious few dollars to help local parties. Basically, the only time DPI has bothered to work with local party organizations in the past is when they could be helpful with the handful of competitive state legislative races scattered here and there — particularly Speaker Madigan’s House races. And even then, the object wasn’t really to make local parties viable, but to extract whatever human and other resources they had in order to assist Madigan’s campaigns.
Chairman House has, along with the Pritzker campaign, established a grant program. County party organizations can qualify for money by, for instance, opening an office. The local committees are also being strongly encouraged to hire a part-time or full-time administrator, depending on their size.
Some counties will reportedly receive money to send direct mail and run ads on local radio stations and on cable TV. They’re supposed to establish a social media presence, recruit specific numbers of volunteers for phone-banking and door-to-door canvasses, among other things. They’re also supposed to put together a get-out-the-vote program for the final month. This is all new stuff for many local parties.
Several county parties, particularly Downstate, have few actual precinct committeepersons. In Chicago and suburban Cook, precinct captains are appointed by local township and ward committeemen. They don’t have to live in the precincts assigned to them. Everywhere else, committeepersons are elected in their precincts — and it’s not easy convincing people to run for that office, particularly in overwhelmingly Republican areas. However, those county chairs can fill vacancies, and the appointed committeepersons don’t have to live in the precincts they represent, so a big push is on to get counties to a minimum level of 75 percent coverage.
Some local party officials have also been told that the million-dollar contribution from Pritzker is just the first round. More party-building money is coming.
By contrast, as of last week Gov. Bruce Rauner’s campaign had given a total of about $33,000 divided between nine county and township Republican organizations since the March primary. The Illinois Republican Party chipped in another $25,000 during the same time period for a handful of county organizations.
J.B. Pritzker’s campaign has contributed $5.7 million to various Democratic groups and candidates since the primary, including big bucks to several suburban and Chicago political organizations. Pritzker’s campaign gave the St. Clair County Democrats $200,000 during the primary and it paid off big. Pritzker won St. Clair with 76 percent of the vote.
It’s not like the Democrats are expecting to win all that many Downstate counties this year. In the short-term anyway, I think the plan is simply to try to lose those counties by fewer votes than they have in the past, which will still help the overall effort.
Thoughts?
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[Comments opened and Friday post bumped up to Monday for visibility.]
* From not too long ago…
My name is Mark Janus, and I am the plaintiff in the Supreme Court case Janus v. AFSCME. I am a child support specialist for state government in Illinois. Quite simply, my job is to help people. When parents aren’t together anymore, I work to ensure that children receive all the financial support available to them.
I love my job. Serving others is part of who I am. But in order to do this type of work, I am forced to check my First Amendment rights at the door. That’s why I’ve asked the U.S. Supreme Court to step in.
Emphasis added.
* Press release…
Mark Janus joins Illinois Policy Institute as senior fellow
Janus to serve as spokesman, workers’ rights advocate after the historic Supreme Court victory in Janus v. AFSCME, helping workers across the country understand their restored First Amendment rights
CHICAGO (July 20, 2018) — Mark Janus will be joining the Illinois Policy Institute and the Liberty Justice Center as a senior fellow effective Aug. 1.
STATEMENT FROM MARK JANUS
“I’ve respected the work of the Illinois Policy Institute and the Liberty Justice Center since first connecting with them in 2015. As I’ve worked with them more closely over the years, I’ve come to admire both the staff and the mission of the organizations. With their professionalism and ability to speak out on issues that affect not only Illinois but also the entire country, I’m looking forward to adding my voice to this fine team.
“Every day, their staff is working to turn around the state of Illinois and I am grateful for the opportunity to spend the remainder of my career doing something I believe in. I look forward to helping make a difference for workers in the state and across the U.S.”
STATEMENT FROM ILLINOIS POLICY INSTITUTE CEO JOHN TILLMAN
“We are thrilled that Mark has decided to bring his invaluable insight to our team after a long, hard fight at the Supreme Court. During the years that this case took to reach its conclusion, I have had the privilege of watching Mark express his core values on free speech and worker freedom over and over again. He is articulate, courageous and committed to the cause of empowering workers. He will be touring the country to make sure workers understand their rights and to share with workers and other people interested in his Supreme Court case what the Janus win means.”
…Adding… Sun-Times…
“Once again it’s clear that this court case was never about Mark Janus, but about billionaires like Bruce Rauner and big-money corporate funders launching a political attack on the freedom of working people to speak up together through a strong union,” AFSCME Council 31 spokesman Anders Lindall said. “While IPI tries to dupe workers into quitting their union, AFSCME members will continue doing what they’ve always done: providing important public services and building their union to speak up for themselves, their families and communities.”
*** UPDATE *** Asked Monday by a reporter if he helped Janus get his new position, Gov. Rauner replied “I did not.” Asked if he had anything to do with Janus getting his new job, Rauner said “I did not.”
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