* Press release…
Illinois Democratic County Chairs gathered in Springfield on Saturday to not only celebrate the 2018 Blue Wave gains, but also select a new President after Rock Island County Democratic Chair Doug announced his resignation on Wednesday.
“For nearly four years, the IDCCA has trusted me with leading the effort to grow our association’s relevance and impact within the Democratic party, said House. “I’m proud of the work we’ve done together. However, I’ve determined that the level of success we experienced on Election Day gives the IDCCA the opportunity to reinforce what works and recalibrate the focus on party building in new ways.”
In a letter distributed to association members, House explained his passion to build Democratic party strength remains strong, but he has sacrificed his family obligations throughout the process. “This time away from regular work and family, to which I owe a great deal of repayment for their patience and support, cannot be made up - nor can I extend it,” House said.
Mid-day on Saturday, November 10, Democratic County Chairs gathered to select House’s replacement. At the urging of the outgoing President, the association chose McHenry County Democratic Chair Kristina Zahorik. Zahorik becomes the first female to lead the longstanding Democratic Party group.
“It is an honor to be entrusted with the task of leading continued growth at the IDCCA,” said Zahorik. “I’m determined to make sure we continue to be an important part of the anatomy of the Democratic Party in Illinois. In places where we’ve grown muscle, such as suburban areas, we’ll need constant exercise. In regions where we still have electoral aches and pains, we’ll look for new and innovative therapies. I’m prepared to do this with an eye toward party unity and partnership.”
In addition to serving as the Democratic Party of McHenry County Chair, Zahorik is also an elected party official, serving as State Central Committeewoman for Illinois’ 14th Congressional District, where Democrat Lauren Underwood was successfully propelled to Congress, eroding the longstanding Republican stronghold. As a former policy advisor with U.S. Senator Paul Simon, Zahorik has strong familiarity with every region of Illinois.
In the coming weeks, Zahorik plans on highlighting projects that the IDCCA aims to undertake in an effort to maintain and grow Democratic Party strength.
Keep an eye on House in the coming months as the Pritzker transition moves forward.
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Sen. Nybo concedes to Glowiak
Saturday, Nov 10, 2018 - Posted by Rich Miller
* If you look at the results on the right hand side of this page, you’ll see that GOP Rep. Helene Miller Walsh is now down by two votes, GOP Rep. Tom Morrison’s lead has been cut again and GOP Sen. Mike Connelly has lost his lead over Laura Ellman.
This is from Sen. Chris Nybo (R-Elmhurst)…
Ballots are still being counted, but it is clear to me that Suzy Glowiak will be our next Senator, and I will return to private life. There’s a temptation to discuss many things I did to help our State, but I will save that for later. Today is about congratulating Ms. Glowiak. I’m happy to report we had a great conversation this morning, and will meet in person soon. I am confident Suzy has the ability to do a great job. Like me, she has served on a village board, which is a great arena to learn valuable public service skills. Like me, Suzy is also an accomplished professional, and her experience in the private sector will benefit her and our district greatly. And finally, like me, Suzy has a wonderfully supportive family, but sadly without one member who would have taken great pride in this opportunity for her. So while all ballots will need to counted and certified before things are final, I ask the residents of the 24th District to join me in congratulating Senator-Elect Suzy Glowiak and offering any help she may need as she begins this next chapter of her life. Congrats, Suzy!
So, that’s a two-seat pickup for the Senate Democrats so far, with one leaning their direction.
* Meanwhile, this is from Manfred Mecoy at the Pritzker campaign…
* This year was the first time Peoria County went blue in a gubernatorial election since 1968, Champaign County since 1936, DuPage County since 1932, and Kane County, since 1912!
* This was the lowest vote share for any incumbent Illinois governor in the last century
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* Daily Herald…
Moving the needle on a progressive tax will be Pritzker’s first test of wills with Democrat Speaker Michael Madigan and the Republican caucus.
“There can be no new taxes in this state,” said Republican state Rep. Jeanne Ives, an influential conservative from Wheaton who nearly defeated Rauner in the primary.
“I think Mike Madigan will still run the state,” predicted Ives, adding the speaker “is savvy and knows the state can’t withstand another tax increase.”
Thoughts?
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5 tips to understand your natural gas plan
Friday, Nov 9, 2018 - Posted by Advertising Department
[The following is a paid advertisement.]
Just like your cell phone or cable contracts, it’s important to understand the terms of the agreement and be an informed shopper. Here a few helpful tips:
1. Set a calendar reminder to shop around 2 months before your contract ends.
2. Review terms and conditions, including termination and late fees.
3. Your utility will send you a letter detailing your rights to cancel a switch without penalty.
4. Check supplier websites for the most current offerings.
5. See comparison information between supplier plans, on the Illinois Commerce Commission website at www.icc.illinois.gov/ags/products.
Fully understanding your natural gas plan will allow you to take advantage of the variety of plans available in Illinois. Retail suppliers, such as Direct Energy, carefully evaluates and creates plans to meet consumer’s ever-changing needs.
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A look ahead at what Pritzker wants to do
Friday, Nov 9, 2018 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Greg Hinz…
The Chicago Democrat said he’s also “looking seriously” at an idea from the Center for Tax & Budget Accountability to issue a large pension obligation bond issue and use it to pay down billions of dollars of pension debt more quickly than the state now is scheduled to do, hopefully saving money in the long run by paring interest costs.
Pritzker said many details will be resolved by his transition financial team, which includes former Illinois Comptroller Dan Hynes, Civic Federation President Laurence Msall, former Senate GOP Leader Christine Radogno and CTBA chief Ralph Martire.
Other early priorities will include raising the minimum wage to $15 an hour after a transition period, “lowering the cost of health care”—Pritzker has proposed allowing anyone to buy into the [Medicaid] system—and expanded aid for college students. Pritzker said the minimum-wage hike would include a feature designed to “relieve the burden on small business.”
Also on the list for “early in our administration”: a big capital program for roads, bridges, transit and related work. The new governor is under some pressure to raise gasoline taxes to pay for such work, but did not indicate where he would end up.
Pritzker floated the CTBA’s idea during the campaign, then backed away from it and is now floating it again. The CTBA’s plan proposes borrowing $11.2 billion over eight years. I guesstimated the average annual cost of that plan at $1.7 billion, but that can be altered to ease the first-year cost.
Raising the minimum wage over time will also drive up state government costs to pay for caregivers, university student workers, etc. It’ll be interesting to see how he intends to shield small businesses.
And, of course, a capital plan pretty much requires a new revenue source. Pritzker has talked about using marijuana tax money to pay for that, but he told Greg that, with the “artificial progressive income tax” off the table, pot money would likely be used to help balance the overall state budget. I figure a gas tax hike is probably the better bet for funding a capital plan, but one never knows.
…Adding… Our resident pension expert RNUG explains the CTBA proposal in comments…
Think a number of you are misunderstanding the plan. Here’s a homeowner example to put it in perspective.
Right now, we have an adjustable mortgage with steadily increasing payments and some balloon payments at the end. Because it started as a teaser rate, we aren’t even paying the full principal and interest payment; heck, we aren’t even covering the full interest payment.
What is being proposed is switching to a standard flat mortgage payment schedule. That will stop the debt from growing, which means the needed payments will stop increasing every year. But, and it is a BIG but, we need to start paying a lot more right now. So, to minimize the impact of the higher immediate payments, what is being proposed is to borrow the difference between the current payments and the new payments. This makes it possible to shift to the flat mortgage payment without a huge tax increase. You will still need a bit of money to switch, but that will be repaying the bonds over 20 (or whatever) years.
In the long run, it will save the State money. In the short term, it frees up NO existing money; all it does is stop future pension payments from taking cash away from other programs.
It’s not a bad thing, but all it really is is the first step on a 20 year journey.
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Our two states
Friday, Nov 9, 2018 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Ben Yount…
Professor John Jackson with the Paul Simon Public Policy Institute at Southern Illinois University said on Tuesday that change flipped the state’s political balance.
Jackson said that southern Illinois cemented itself as a Republican stronghold, while the Chicago suburbs became the new power base for Democrats.
“DuPage County was the real heart of the Republican Party,” Jackson said. “The suburbs now are where elections are won and lost statewide, and they’ve been increasing trending toward the blue. I would rate them as purple.” […]
“I think there was a red wave in southern Illinois,” Jackson said. “It swept away almost all standing Democrats. With the exemption of [state Rep.] Jerry Costello Jr., everything south of I-64 is going to be represented by Republicans.”
* Daily Herald…
Seven new members were elected Tuesday to the Kane County Board, putting new representatives in place for more than one-third of the county.
Democrats also gained a 12-12 split on the board, but recent history indicates the even number won’t foretell a blue wave for county policy in the near future.
The new Democrats on the board are Anita Lewis, Matt Hanson, Chris Kious and Mo Iqbal.
Lewis was courted to run for the seat by county board Chairman Chris Lauzen, who is a Republican. Iqbal ran an unsuccessful campaign for Elgin City Council in 2015, but he defeated incumbent Republican Kurt Kojzarek by nearly 700 votes. […]
“By my projections, all I needed was the amount of votes I had,” Kojzarek said. “I got my people out. It’s just there were 2,000 extra people that didn’t vote or didn’t register that changes from four years ago. The changing demographics swept me in.”
* Macon County also had a huge voter turnout on Tuesday, but things didn’t go well for the Democrats…
Tuesday’s election was the largest midterm turnout Steve Bean has seen since the 1998 election when Glenn Poshard ran for governor.
“We had 39,453″ this year, said Bean, outgoing Macon County Clerk, who will retire and hand over the reins to Josh Tanner, the winner of the race to fill the job. “We had 39,541 in 1998.”
Bean is a Democrat, so that office flipped to the Republicans. Tanner won 54-46.
* Herald & Review…
Macon County sheriff’s Lt. Tony Brown on Wednesday said he’s moving forward with asking for a recount of Tuesday’s election. Brown, a Democrat, finished 99 votes behind sheriff’s Lt. Jim Root, the GOP candidate.
Brown said he hopes that a recount, along with provisional and outstanding absentee ballots the county clerk’s office is still tallying, ultimately leads to him being declared the winner of the election.
Not looking great for him.
* The Democrats also lost control of the county board…
The Macon County Board saw Republicans take a slight edge in the contested races on Tuesday night.
In District 1, Democratic incumbent Laura Zimmerman held onto her seat with 40 percent of the vote, and Republican challenger Linda Little captured 33 percent of the vote to unseat Democratic incumbent Kevin Meachum.
Republican challenger Jim Gresham unseated Democrat Jerry Potts in District 3 with 53 percent of the vote.
* Related…
* ADDED: After years of Democratic control, is the 12th District firmly in Republican hands?
* ADDED: Rauner wins only 1 Galesburg precinct
* Patrick Windhorst Gets Ready to Join Illinois House: Republican Patrick Windhorst defeated democrat Natalie Phelps-Finnie in the mid-term election winning 58-percent of the vote.
* Lance Yednock won in Ottawa, La Salle, Peru; Jerry Long won in Streator in 76th District tally
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The hollowing-out of state government
Friday, Nov 9, 2018 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Les Winkler at the Southern Illinoisan says the Illinois Department of Natural Resources needs Governor-elect JB Pritzker’s attention…
Finally, the primary reason the IDNR is still afloat is the amazingly dedicated staff you are inheriting. Site superintendents are burning wood in their offices and maintenance buildings to save on fuel costs. They’ve become savants at saving dimes and nickels.
Granted, the ongoing financial issues complicate running the state, but at some point Illinois is going to have to re-staff the DNR.
When boiled down to its simplest level, man’s role on this planet isn’t that complicated.
Wildlife and fisheries biologists are covering five or six counties. They cannot be effective when they are spread that thin. Conservation police officers each cover several counties. When you consider they are working in some of the most remote places in the state, it’s easy to see their job is nearly impossible.
And, the site superintendents …
Some of these dedicated public servants are administering 10 to 12 sites. That’s beyond ridiculous — it’s irresponsible. Some state parks in our region don’t have a single full-time employee.
IDNR has been steadily hollowed out since Gov. Rod Blagojevich took office. It’s the most extreme example of what’s been happening just about everywhere else in state government.
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Question of the day
Friday, Nov 9, 2018 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Public Radio…
Pritzker also told The 21st he hopes to sit down with Rauner — a man his campaign relentlessly attacked as a failure.
“Well of course I want to hear about where he thinks the hills are that we may need to climb,” Pritzker said. “Of course we may disagree on policy, but I think he probably wants the best for Illinois, and I do too certainly, and so I think we’ll have a lot to talk about.”
* The Question: What do you think will happen at that meeting?
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Legal pot is on the way
Friday, Nov 9, 2018 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Fox Chicago…
Governor-elect JB Pritzker said Wednesday he wants to legalize recreational marijuana in Illinois almost immediately after being sworn in next year.
“That’s something we can work on nearly right away,” Pritzker told FOX 32’s Mike Flannery.
He also said he will look at vacating arrest records for those who have been convicted of crimes involving marijuana.
photo
“I definitely want to look at all those arrest records. If we’re going to legalize recreational marijuana, then we shouldn’t have all the, what I think are, challenges in our criminal justice system, you know, still existing, people sitting in prison for things that are currently legal,” Pritzker said.
* Tribune…
Sponsors plan to introduce a new legalization bill in January, and hope to get it passed before the session ends in May. The proposed measure would allow the commercial sale and regulation of marijuana, similar to alcohol, for adults 21 and over. There would probably be a six-month waiting period for officials to draw up rules before issuing licenses for growing and selling it. Sponsors say existing medical marijuana companies would likely get the first crack at sales.
Until the legislature convenes, sponsors say they’ll continue to meet with stakeholders, including Pritzker, to revise final details on a wide range of issues; among the most important is the rate at which the drug will be taxed.
State Rep. Kelly Cassidy and state Sen. Heather Steans, both Democrats from Chicago, would not specify what the rate will be, saying they will negotiate with Pritzker and others to craft legislation that will pass. But they cautioned against setting the tax rate too high, because that would hinder one of the main goals: to cut out the black market and related violent crime. […]
House Republican leader Jim Durkin said lawmakers should stop their rush toward legalization.
“I will never support legalization,” he said. “I don’t like how quickly we are moving. Illinois should not be part of this lab experiment. I see no societal value.”
* New study…
This report by the Illinois Economic Policy Institute (ILEPI) and the Project for Middle Class Renewal at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign finds that high taxpayer costs for law enforcement and cannabis-related incarceration would be reduced by legalizing recreational marijuana. In total, Illinois taxpayers would save $18.4 million annually in reduced incarceration costs, law enforcement spending, and legal fees from marijuana legalization. This revenue could be redirected to solve other crimes– such as homicides, robberies, and assaults.
The economy would also grow if Illinois were to legalize recreational marijuana. If marijuana were legalized, regulated, and taxed in Illinois, an estimated $1.6 billion would be sold in the state, in part due to regional tourism. At a 26.25 percent state excise tax on retail marijuana in addition to the 6.25 percent general sales tax, Illinois would:
• generate $525 million in new tax revenues, including $505 million for the state and $20 million for local governments– a move that credit rating agencies have called “credit positive;”
• create over 23,600 new jobs at more than 2,600 businesses in Illinois;
• boost the Illinois economy by $1 billion annually; and
• allow the state to make additional pension payments and vital public investments in infrastructure, K-12 public schools, college tuition assistance programs, and drug treatment and prevention programs
The benefits of legalization outweigh the social costs. While some legislators and constituents are concerned that legalizing recreational marijuana would increase consumption of other illicit drugs, increase motor vehicle crashes, and reduce workplace productivity, there is no evidence to support these claims. In fact, legalized cannabis has been found to reduce opioid use by as much as 33 percent, reduce traffic fatalities by as much as 11 percent, and have no effect on occupational accidents or rates of employee absenteeism. This is because marijuana consumption has not been found to increase after legalization.
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* Press release…
Today, Conservative Party gubernatorial candidate Sam McCann thanked nearly 190,000 voters across Illinois for their support and celebrated the Conservative Party qualifying as an “established political party” in over 80 Illinois counties by securing more than five percent of the vote.
As an established political party, Conservative Party candidates will require far fewer signatures than third party candidates, making it far easier for candidates to secure a position on the ballot in 2020. For Congressional races, the threshold for minor party candidates is five percent of the total votes cast in the last election for that race, while established party candidates need only half of one percent. In State Senate and House races, established party candidates need only 1,000 and 500 signatures, respectively. Minor party candidates require five percent of the electorate. However, because party status is conferred with respect to districts and political subdivisions and not geographic areas that exist independently of districts and political subdivisions, it will not be until precinct level data is available to determine which Congressional, House and Senate districts confer party status to the Conservative Party.
Additionally, McCann announced that he’d received more votes than any other third-party gubernatorial candidate in the nation. In Pike County, McCann received 38.8 of the vote.
McCann issued the following statement:
Bruce Rauner’s colossal failure as Governor sent voters running into tax-happy JB Pritzker’s waiting arms.
My campaign could not compete with the hundreds of millions of dollars that Pritzker and Rauner poured in, but I am proud of what we were able to accomplish across our great state. Conservative voters who want better options will have them in 2020, as our party has now been established across most of Illinois.
Pseudo conservatives like Jeanne Ives, and other so-called Conservative groups ran back into Rauner’s arms this fall in a sad display of “if you can’t beat him, join him.” I have no desire to fall in line with a party that doesn’t represent my values. I will help identify candidates to run across Illinois in 2020, and I will ensure that they find their way onto the ballot, where voters looking for a change will find them.
This election was only the start. My supporters can count on me to continue building the movement we started together. Everybody loves a comeback story, and candidates who protect conservative principles are coming back to Illinois.
* The State Board of Elections’ spokesman told me yesterday that the Conservative Party’s established political party designation will only apply to counties, not legislative and congressional districts, but a McCann guy pointed me to the decision in Vestrup v DuPage County Election Commission to back up McCann’s claim…
[Libertarian Party] Candidate sought review of county electoral board’s decision to exclude him from ballot as candidate for state representative. The Circuit Court, Du Page County, Edward R. Duncan, Jr., J., affirmed. Candidate appealed. The Appellate Court, O’Malley, J., held that: (1) candidate’s political party was not entitled to “established political party” status in newly created legislative district, and (2) candidate’s alleged reliance on State Board of Elections’ interpretation of election code would not estop challenge to candidate’s nomination. […]
Under the establishment provision of election code, the status of “established political party” is contingent on a political subdivision or district, not a political party, having voted as a unit in the last election.
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