Open thread and another LSSI reminder
Thursday, Dec 13, 2018 - Posted by Rich Miller
* I have a bunch of errands to run and I am badly in need of a haircut before my “Christmas with Rich Miller” City Club gig on Monday.
Speaking of which (you didn’t think I was gonna let you off the hook, did you?) the charity auction benefiting Lutheran Social Services of Illinois is still happening. You can bid on tickets to my annual City Club speech through Friday night, so click here. If you’ve already purchased tickets or you can’t make it and still want to contribute, you can also click here and then click that green “Donate” button in the upper right hand corner.
Anyway, be kind to each other and keep it Illinois-centric. Thanks.
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* Dr. Stacy Pratt McDermott wrote a book about Mary Todd Lincoln and is a Lincoln scholar. Today is the 200th anniversary of Mrs. Lincoln’s birth and McDermott has a post up on her blog defending the former First Lady…
First, we should take off our stove-pipe hats to Mary Lincoln’s intellect and her extraordinary education, which consisted of ten years of formal schooling when most Americans, like Abraham Lincoln himself, had very few educational opportunities. Let’s acknowledge the fact that Mary’s education, combined with her unique family circumstances in the peculiar context of Lexington, Kentucky, emboldened her nature. Let’s remember that her father and her sophisticated French female teacher gave Mary confidence and encouraged her to raise her own voice. It is true, indeed, that raising her voice often landed Mary “in trouble,” but doesn’t that tell us more about the gendered nature of nineteenth-century America than it does about Mary Lincoln? And do you really think Abraham Lincoln knew nothing of Mary’s confident voice when he married her in 1842? Do you really think the brilliant Mr. Lincoln knew nothing of Mary’s strong will and opinionated nature before he put the ring, engraved with “Love Is Eternal,” on her finger?
Let’s acknowledge the intellectual connection Mary shared with her husband. Let’s give Lincoln some credit for wanting a wife who was pretty and smart. Throughout their marriage, the couple shared a passion for partisan politics, a deep appreciation for literature, and love of music and the theater. Remember, too, Mary gave Abraham Lincoln four of his greatest joys: his sons. The Lincolns shared a love of their four boys and were, together, indulgent and thoroughly modern parents, who believed in the idea of childhood. The Lincoln marriage was not perfect, because both Mr. and Mrs. Lincoln struggled with their own very different emotional difficulties. Mary was high-strung and prone to wild mood swings; while Abraham was emotionally distant and depressive. But throughout their marriage, they were companions and shared common interests and beliefs. In the dark days of Civil War, Mary carved out periods of family time, which not only gave her boys some semblance of normalcy but were a refuge for her overburdened husband, as well. Lincoln needed Mary to force a little leisure upon him, and the brief periods of escape at Soldier’s Home or the theater brought some solace to his suffering soul.
Let’s acknowledge Mary Lincoln’s own suffering and give her some credit for living through it. During most of her adult life, she suffered migraine headaches and a difficult delivery of her fourth son left her with an injury that plagued her. She also definitely suffered some degree of mental illness, which no doubt would have been much alleviated had she lived in a time of modern medicine instead of a time when so-called doctors dismissed women’s health issues as hysteria. Yet despite her ill physical and emotional health, Mary got up out of bed almost every day of her life, and she put on pretty dresses, and she raised her boys (often all by herself), and she found joy in books, at White House receptions, while shopping and visiting the theater, and through her husband’s politics.
Mary Lincoln also suffered terrible emotional blows. She buried her four-year-old toddler Eddy in Springfield in 1850, and she buried Willie, her beloved 11-year-old boy, in Washington in 1862. She lost family members to the Confederacy and had a public, front-row seat for the horrors of the war, witnessing the physical and emotional damage on soldiers she visited in Washington. In 1865, Mary Lincoln was sitting next to her husband when an assassin put a bullet in his head; people removed her from her husband’s deathbed, where he died without her, because she was wailing at the loss of him; and people criticized her for lingering too long afterwards in grief in the White House. In 1871 just as she was finding her way through life as the widow of a martyred president, she buried her third son Tad, a blossoming eighteen-year-old man in whom she found joy and so much comfort.
I buried a child myself, and let me tell you, if I had to bury a second one there would be no breath left in my body. Losing three children and witnessing her husband’s violent murder, along with the post-traumatic stress of it all, was not the end of her suffering, either. Mary Lincoln then had to endure fears of financial disaster as a widow in nineteenth-century America, fears exacerbated by her emotional instability, emotional instability that was not her fault! She also faced public ridicule for visiting spiritualists, which was in fashion at the time and brought her some comfort. She had to listen to snipes for visiting health spas, even as mainstream physicians failed to offer her relief. She was also unfairly judged for shopping with her own money and for selling her own dresses; and then her last surviving son Robert had her incarcerated in a mental asylum, an injustice that cut her off from her grandchildren.
Go read the whole thing.
* This is one of my favorite prints…
RIP
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* Jim Thompson commissioned a book on his way out the door after 14 years as governor…
“The Governor, at the beginning of each annual session of the General Assembly and at the close of his term of office, shall report to the General Assembly on the condition of the State and recommend such measures as he deems desirable,” the Illinois Constitution says.
Rauner vows to do just that.
“Governors haven’t done it for, I don’t know how long, a long time,” Rauner said. “But we’re going to be issuing a report of our term; initiatives, activities, services, accomplishments, incompletes.”
I cannot wait.
* This, however, is a good idea…
Rauner said he plans to clear any clemency request backlog
He inherited a huge backlog from Blagojevich and Quinn.
* Also a good idea...
“I will not be issuing many executive orders that could undermine the efforts of the new administration,” Rauner said. “I will not be rushing to make appointments to fill positions with cronies as was done with prior administrations. That’s just not proper policy.”
Quinn issued several EOs on his way out.
* Meanwhile, the very capable Jennifer Hammer has left her job as director of the Department of Insurance. There was some confusion at the end, however. From an internal staff memo…
Dear Staff,
Yesterday, Director Hammer announced her departure and nomination of CJ Metcalf to replace her as Acting Director. However, in coordination with the governor’s office, it has been decided that I will fill the acting director role. I look forward to partnering with CJ and the rest of the staff to continue to implement DOI’s mission and vision. My goal is to create a seamless transition to the next administration. Thank you for your continued hard work and dedication.
Very respectfully,
Karin Zosel
Chief Operating Officer
Illinois Department of Insurance
The governor appointed Zosel as acting director yesterday.
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Question of the day: Golden Horseshoe Awards
Thursday, Dec 13, 2018 - Posted by Rich Miller
* The 2018 Golden Horseshoe Award for Best Democratic Illinois State Representative is a tie. Rep. Kelly Cassidy…
She has been able to find a way to take on leadership within her caucus and still get things done in a real way, even when members of her caucus weren’t willing to stand with her. She’s smart, passionate, and a bulldog when she wants to get something done. She represents her district well, with an amazing ability to blend leftwing policy priorities with pragmatism, and bringing people on board from all over the political spectrum. She’s everything that we should want in every one of our legislators.
And here’s Wordslinger’s nomination of House Majority Leader Barbara Flynn Currie…
On her way out the door, Rep. Currie gets the nod on the Dem side. If I’m to highlight one facet of her career, it would be her tireless persistence in finally ending Illinois’ hopelessly corrupt and unjust death penalty system.
Honorable mention goes to Rep. Christian Mitchell, who is leaving soon to be JB Pritzker’s deputy governor.
* The 2018 Golden Horseshoe Award for Best Republican Illinois State Representative goes to Rep. Dave McSweeney…
(H)e has been able to effectively pass legislation across the aisle when most of the Caucus has been ineffective. He dealt with sexual harassment payoffs and township government, even when his party objected to it. he continuously called out the Governor for his mistakes even if it meant he could have had retribution against him. While he won’t make friends in talks about taxes he continuously gets Democrats to sign on and help pass his bills.
Runner up is CD Davidsmeyer…
C.D. is another example of, when you got it, you do not need to carry any airs. He is quiet, observant, effective, and salt of the earth.
Congrats to everyone. You earned it.
* OK, let’s move along to today’s categories…
* Best Illinois State Senator - Republican
* Best Illinois State Senator - Democrat
Please explain your nominations or your votes won’t count. Also, do your best to nominate in both categories. But, as always, I will understand if you only deal with one party or the other and don’t have enough info to nominate both.
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Pritzker roundup
Thursday, Dec 13, 2018 - Posted by Rich Miller
* As subscribers have known for weeks, floor votes to fund a capital bill have been put off until after lame duck session…
Democratic Gov.-elect J.B. Pritzker on Wednesday didn’t dismiss the possibility of a gas tax hike to help pay for rebuilding the state’s infrastructure, but he also cautioned that a major construction program won’t come quickly when his administration begins Jan. 14.
Pritzker also said a capital program and money to pay for it isn’t something the lame-duck legislature should pursue when it returns to Springfield on Jan. 7.
“I think it’s unnecessary to do it before I take office. We’re going to work hard on it all together to make it happen and I want to make sure that we’re focused on it immediately upon taking office,” Pritzker said at an unrelated event in Chicago’s Bronzeville neighborhood.
Still, Pritzker said it “might take a little time” to put together a comprehensive statewide bill to build and replace roads, bridges, water systems and mass transit, along with “the various sources that might fund it.”
* Meanwhile, the answer is “No”…
Emanuel is trying to stay relevant on his way out. Pritzker is coming in and will have to deal with a new mayor.
* And if there was still any doubt…
Illinois governors don’t have a role in that [constitutional amendment] process, but Pritzker made it clear that he wouldn’t expend any political capital on a constitutional amendment.
“My commitment is to pay the pensions that are owed to people,” Pritzker said. “I just don’t see the likelihood of anybody getting a constitutional amendment passed to change that provision in our constitution. And it’s not something that I’m out promoting.”
Fuhgeddaboudit.
* Same goes for the mayor’s casino idea…
Emanuel said he’d push for the Chicago casino before his term ends in May, but negotiations on the long-shot bid will be in the hands of lawmakers in Springfield. The prospect of a Chicago casino has been floated numerous times in the past, only to be sunk by competing demands in other betting industries.
A spokeswoman for J.B. Pritzker said the governor-elect has supported the expansion of gaming to help pay for a capital bill, but the actual details haven’t been directly discussed.
* Meanwhile, WSIL TV talked to a business owner about Pritzker’s vow to eventually raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour with some sort of tax relief to small businesses…
17th Street Barbecue in Murphysboro is one of those small businesses that could feel the impact of hiking up wages.
Amy Mills is co-owner of the restaurant. She says Pritzker’s plan would devastate her business.
“Our menu prices would have to rise so high that I don’t think our locals would be able to eat out very often,” Mills said. “To me, raising the minimum wage really is penalizing the mom and pops.”
During his stop in Springfield on Monday, Pritzker reminded everyone the increase would happen over several years.
“I feel like in this area would be so difficult to even raise the hourly wage in increments because we still will be raising prices to keep up,” Mills said.
* The La Salle News Tribune talked to some workers…
Deenna Moss placed a customer’s purchases into plastic bags.
“You can’t live on $8.25 an hour,” Moss said.
Moss is compensated with Illinois’ minimum wage for her work as a cashier at Dollar General in La Salle.
Moss, a proponent of raising the minimum wage, said she has to live with her 31-year-old daughter to make ends meet. […]
Melissa Carter, who makes $9 an hour, said she needs three roommates just to survive. She has two kids at home. Carter works as the manager at Little Caesars Pizza in Peru.
“It’s frustrating,” she said about the pay. Carter has college credits, but said she wasn’t able to afford to finish the degree.
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* Press release…
The Illinois Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS) today was hit with a federal class action lawsuit for locking youth in psychiatric hospitals “long past the time that their treatment required them to be confined… Upon being medically cleared for discharge, instead of going to an appropriate facility, the Defendants forced the children to remain in locked psychiatric wards, causing immense harm.”
While locked up, the children received no formal education, were largely kept indoors, and had little if any opportunity to interact with family members and friends. The prolonged confinement is detrimental to kids’ mental health, making them feel like they have been abandoned while subjecting them to dangerous and frightening conditions.
“The first rule of health care is ‘do no harm,’ yet the State of Illinois and its child welfare agency have made a mockery of that precept,” said Charles Golbert, acting Cook County Public Guardian and leader of the class action suit. “The harm to these youth that DCFS is committing by locking them up long after they’ve completed their courses of treatment is incalculable. It’s an abject moral and human rights failure.”
Today’s suit charges not only that state officials have known of the problem for decades, but have actively worsened it by repeatedly cutting budgets for appropriate treatment facilities and foster homes. Tragically, this practice not only violates vulnerable children’s rights, it also costs Illinois millions of dollars – every month DCFS is wasting over $125,000 to lock children in psychiatric wards where they are not supposed to be.
Since the 1980s, Golbert and every one of his predecessors at the Cook County Public Guardian’s office have complained to DCFS and in federal court about children being locked in psychiatric wards long after they should have been discharged. Although the federal court entered a consent decree 27 years ago requiring DCFS to not hospitalize children longer than medically necessary, DCFS’s unconstitutional practice remains and has actually become much more prevalent.
* ProPublica Illinois…
DCFS would not comment on the lawsuit but said finding placements for children is challenging. Some residential treatment centers and foster homes won’t accept children in psychiatric hospitals with serious mental or behavioral health conditions, said Neil Skene, special assistant to Walker.
The agency is working to build additional services and reduce the need for hospitalization, Skene said, but the problem is part of a larger issue related to rebuilding the state’s mental health system.
“The availability of community resources and facilities to handle complex behavioral and physical health needs of children and teenagers is a serious need in Illinois,” Skene said. “This is a decades-long problem in Illinois that has now fallen to the current leadership of DCFS. We are at the deep end of a challenge within the healthcare system.”
The number of children being held beyond what is considered medically necessary has increased in recent years. In 2017, 301 psychiatric hospital admissions of children in DCFS care went beyond medical necessity, a sharp rise from 88 in 2014, according to DCFS figures.
* Tribune…
Also Thursday, an Uptown psychiatric hospital that is struggling to survive amid complaints that young patients face unsafe conditions will ask a federal judge to intervene in its battle with the federal government over funding.
Chicago Lakeshore Hospital will ask U.S. District Judge Sharon Johnson Coleman to grant it a temporary restraining order to stop Saturday’s cutoff date for the facility to continue billing Medicare and Medicaid for new patients.
With the vast majority of patients receiving federal benefits, hospital officials argued in Wednesday’s court filing that they would be forced to close and the area’s access to critical mental health services will be diminished.
DCFS stopped admitting children in its care to Chicago Lakeshore several weeks ago amid an increased number of calls to the state’s child abuse hotline this year. The final DCFS teen was transferred out of the hospital Nov. 30.
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* Not shocking, really. But if this trend does hold up, a whole lot of political pundits are gonna be eating crow…
It seems like everybody reported that the standard for turning in signatures is three times the amount needed. That was news to me because the standard I’ve always been told is twice the number of signatures needed. Mendoza turned in twice the minimum.
So, we’ll see. I think Mendoza will survive, but like everyone else who’s been commenting on this, I haven’t examined her sheets myself.
* Meanwhile…
The A-1 report is here. Lots of lawyers, plus $10K from Leslie Liautaud, an author who is married to Jimmy John Liautaud.
And as we discussed yesterday, Daley is no longer facing a challenge to his petitions.
…Adding… Speaking of Daley’s petitions, there’s nothing suspicious about this at all /s…
* Remember this from yesterday?…
* Kristi Dunn Kucera has served as spokesperson for Chicago mayoral candidate Amara Enyia. She sent this e-mail to reporters today…
As of December 12, 2018, I no longer represent Mayoral Candidate Amara Enyia as Communications Director. In light of several unknown and troubling factors that I was not privy to during the campaign, I am unable to effectively continue in this role. I wish her the best in her endeavor.
Mary Ann Ahern…
The specifics of the factors Kucera references weren’t immediately known. Kucera was still listed Wednesday as the media contact on Enyia’s website.
Sources within the Enyia campaign said this shakeup comes as the campaign heads to the next level. With more financing and more momentum comes the hiring of more experienced political staff.
They could probably use a spokesperson with more campaign experience, but the Enyia campaign hasn’t reported receiving any contributions since the end of October.
* Related…
* Cook County Board Repeals Tax Break for Popular Parking Apps
* McCarthy points lots of fingers on crime wave—but not at himself: In a wide-ranging and occasionally rambling speech in which he seemed to blame just about everyone else but himself for the city’s woes, McCarthy, who was fired by Mayor Rahm Emanuel after the Laquan McDonald shooting, depicted himself as a truth teller in a city that, to paraphrase the old saying, don’t want nobody nobody sent.
* Mayoral contenders have more to say on anti-crime plans: I also heard from a supporter of Lori Lightfoot plugging her plan to put police rookies on the day shift rather than dangerous overnight hours so they get a better opportunity to know the neighborhood they’re patrolling. … I also heard from a supporter of Lori Lightfoot plugging her plan to put police rookies on the day shift rather than dangerous overnight hours so they get a better opportunity to know the neighborhood they’re patrolling.
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* John Greenfield at StreetsBlog Chicago has a post up about the Pritzker transition’s Restoring Illinois Infrastructure Committee….
However, conspicuously absent from the committee are any dedicated pedestrian and bike advocacy organizations. ([Metropolitan Planning Council] does frequently voice support for better walking and biking conditions, but it has a broader mission of “shaping a more equitable, sustainable and prosperous greater Chicago region.”)
According to a source, the Active Transportation Alliance — the region’s leading walking, biking, and transit advocacy organization – directly asked Pritzker’s organization to be included in the committee, and was recommended by others to the governor-elect. Two Active Trans reps served on Chicago mayor Rahm Emanuel’s transition team in 2011. Moreover, current Active Trans director Ron Burke served as associate director of the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency from 2003-2008, so he has plenty of state government experience. […]
However, a couple of possibilities come to mind. Organized labor was a key source of support for Pritzker’s campaign, and there are plenty of entities that benefit from road-building projects represented on the committee. After current governor Bruce Rauner proposed widening multiple Chicagoland expressways to create more capacity for driving, Active Trans called for a moratorium on expressway expansion. That likely irritated some figures in the road-building lobby.
Active Trans has also been pushing for $50 million a year in state transportation funds to be earmarked for walking and biking projects, with a focus on improving conditions in lower-income communities. 27 Chicago CEOs sent a letter to Rauner and Pritzker asking them to commit to making the state Bike Walk Fund a reality, and multiple Chicago community organizations have voiced support for the idea.
While $50 million would only represent about 2 percent of the Illinois transportation budget, very little state money is currently used for walking and biking infrastructure. So it’s likely some labor, construction, and highway engineering folks would be loathe to see any funds diverted from road building.
* I reached out to the Pritzker transition team…
The Restoring Illinois’ Infrastructure committee represents a wide range of interests and is considering every mode of transportation, including biker and pedestrian concerns. There are a number of critical voices and stakeholders on this subject matter and while all could not be included on this committee, we are soliciting feedback from the public and other organizations on the transition website. As JB transitions into office, he will continue bringing stakeholders to the table to shape his policy agenda and improve the lives of Illinoisans.
* And there’s this…
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Color me skeptical
Thursday, Dec 13, 2018 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Tribune…
Mayor Rahm Emanuel on Wednesday floated a port district site on the Far Southeast Side as the possible location for a Chicago casino, if state lawmakers finally grant the city the long-sought gambling palace.
In a meeting with the Chicago Tribune Editorial Board, Emanuel noted his “love-hate” relationship with the idea of a casino but said if the city finally builds one it should be away from the Loop and McCormick Place. Instead, he said it should bring economic development to an area of the city that needs it, before floating an Illinois International Port District site near Pullman as “an example.”
The land, just off the 111th Street exit on the Bishop Ford Freeway, currently is home to the Harborside International golf course with some harbor operations and terminals nearby on Lake Calumet. The port district that owns the land is a joint city-state entity.
“If you go down to the port authority where the golf course is, there’s enough land there for both a hotel and a casino,” Emanuel said. “That would be a big boon economically to the Southeast Side of the city.”
That area really does need some investments, but when have casinos ever helped a neighborhood to thrive? They suck people inside and do everything they can to keep them there until the customers have no money. Hey, I’m not anti-gambling. It’s a free country. But let’s not kid ourselves here.
Remember when East St. Louis lost its city hall in a lawsuit? The Casino Queen was supposed to help revitalize the town. It did pump money into the local government and has provided some jobs, but the casino didn’t do much for economic development otherwise. Alton is no different. Same with Atlantic City.
So, color me skeptical.
If a goodly chunk of the revenues from the casino is dedicated to local reinvestment, then maybe. Perhaps they can use some cash to build a high-end golf/gambling resort or something. Aurora’s Paramount Theater is one example of a casino helping an area.
But Emanuel wants casino revenues directed to the city’s pension funds. I don’t think that simply plopping down a casino will do much for the region. We’ll see.
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Pritzker heading to White House today
Thursday, Dec 13, 2018 - Posted by Rich Miller
* During the campaign, JB Pritzker unveiled his “plan to resist Trump”…
Donald Trump’s legislative agenda threatens to wreak havoc on the lives of Illinois families. Trump is actively working to dismantle health care in the United States, potentially stripping millions of families of their coverage and targeting those who need it most. He is waging war on science in his refusal to acknowledge climate change and his rejection of the policies that will preserve our future. Trump’s attacks on public education, immigrant families, and people of color are tearing communities apart, and undermining the principles that make this country strong. Every day, Trump is exploiting divisions and peddling hate.
Illinois will be deeply impacted by this administration’s devastating agenda, and Governor Bruce Rauner is asleep at the wheel. Rauner is silent in the face of Trump’s attacks and refuses to put in place policies that will protect Illinois families. Worse, Rauner is actively working to force a special interest agenda on Illinois that will amplify Donald Trump’s destruction. After a 736-day budget crisis, with a state economy in turmoil, and with public school funding at risk, Illinois simply can’t afford Trump’s agenda or more of Rauner’s failed leadership.
My parents raised me with a commitment to social justice. I’ve spent my life fighting for Illinois families and bringing people together to solve big problems for this state. Those values are under attack and I am ready to fight every day to make sure Illinois is a firewall against Donald Trump’s destructive agenda and hateful rhetoric. We will protect and expand health care for all of our families, invest in education, defend our environment, stand with our immigrant families, and fight for civil rights. I’m running for governor because the values that I care about are under siege by Donald Trump and Bruce Rauner and I am ready to stand with passionate Illinoisans and resist.
After Bruce Rauner’s failed leadership, there is so much work to do and this my plan to resist Trump as Illinois’ next governor.
* Today…
JB Pritzker will attend a meeting Thursday with other governors-elect at the White House Thursday. The White House says both Vice President Mike Pence and President Donald Trump will meet with the new governors elected this past November.
During the past two years, Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner kept his distance from President Trump, rarely attending White House events.
* Sun-Times…
“JB was invited to the White House and will be taking this opportunity to advocate for Illinois. As JB said on the campaign trail, he will work with Democrats and Republicans to bring more federal dollars back to the state and fight for policies that benefit working families,” Pritzker transition press secretary Jordan Abudayyeh told the Sun-Times. Pritzker, who will be inaugurated Jan. 14 in Springfield, tied Republican Bruce Rauner to Trump, not particularly popular in Illinois. Pritzker used Chicago’s Trump Tower as a backdrop for Rauner-Trump trashing, in commercials and in a speech.
Quentin Fulks, who was the deputy campaign manager, will be accompanying Pritzker on the day trip.
This is Pritzker’s first visit to Washington since his election in November. On the weekend of Nov. 17, Pritzker traveled to Colorado Springs for the National Governors Association new governor conference.
* Tribune…
Despite the attacks, it’s not unusual for newly elected leaders to meet. Soon after Trump was elected president, Mayor Rahm Emanuel met with him at the president’s namesake Manhattan tower. Since then, the mayor’s administration has sued Trump’s multiple times over immigration and other issues.
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* From Sen. Paul Schimpf’s (R-Waterloo) Facebook page…
I’ve had a lot of questions about the satanic sculpture at the Capitol. Here’s a letter I delivered to the Secretary of State’s office today asking for the display to be removed:
Dear Secretary White,
I am writing to express my disappointment in your approval of a Satanic statue in the Illinois Capitol Rotunda.
As an attorney who evaluated the legality of religious displays in the United States Marine Corps, I appreciate the complexities associated with balancing the First Amendment with the Establishment Clause of the United States Constitution. In this situation, I believe you received poor legal advice recommending approval of the Satanic display.
The Satanic display should not have been approved. It does not celebrate or recognize the observance of a religious holiday. Instead, the display seeks to provoke and antagonize members of the Christian and Jewish faiths. As such, you would have been well within your discretion to deny that display request.
I respectfully request that you reconsider your decision and order the removal of the Satanic statue.
Sincerely,
Paul Schimpf
Senator, 58th Legislative District
* From a sign near the display…
The State of Illinois is required by the First Amendment of the United States Constitution to allow temporary, public displays in the state capitol so long as these displays are not paid for by taxpayer dollars. Because the first floor of the Capitol Rotunda is a public place, state officials cannot legally censor the content of speech or displays. The United States Supreme Court has held that public officials may legally impose reasonable time, place and manner restrictions regarding displays and speeches, but no regulation can be based on the content of the speech.
* From earlier this month…
Dave Druker, spokesman for the secretary of state, said the Chicago-based Satanic group had the right, just like religious organizations, to put up its display in the rotunda.
“Under the Constitution, the First Amendment, people have a right to express their feelings, their thoughts,” Druker said. “This recognizes that.”
* Patch followed up on Sen. Schimpf’s letter…
[Lux Armiger, chairperson of the Satanic Temple’s Chicago chapter] says celebrating holidays is not at all a requirement for displays in the rotunda. “No such specification exists,” Armiger told Patch. “These displays are permitted by the Constitution, not because they are recognizing a holiday, but because the space is a public forum.”
This is “something someone with a law degree like Sen. Schimpf should understand. If he does not, Southern Illinois University School of Law should consider rescinding his degree,” Armiger added.
Permitting one group, and not another, to use the forum would be “government-imposed viewpoint discrimination,” he said.
Lucien Greaves, co-founder and national spokesperson for the Satanic Temple, had a simple response to Schimpf’s letter: “No. In fact you aren’t within your rights to deny a religious organization access to a forum for religious expression based simply on your assumptions regarding their intentions.”
* Meanwhile…
State Rep. Terri Bryant has introduced a resolution in the Illinois House condemning the decision by the Illinois Secretary of State to allow The Satanic Temple-Chicago to place a statue in the Statehouse rotunda along with displays that celebrate Christmas and Hanukkah.
Bryant, a Republican from Murphysboro, said in a news release that hundreds of constituents have called her office to complain about the statue, which is called “Knowledge is the Greatest Gift” and depicts the forearm of a young woman holding an apple.
Bryant said in the release her resolution would send a message that the House “as a body, reject and condemn the decision to allow this disgusting display at our Capitol.”
* From her resolution…
WHEREAS, The Satanic display is nothing more than a publicity stunt meant to cause outrage and division
So, I dunno, maybe ignore it instead of expressing outrage?
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* Tribune editorial…
Empower Illinois is a tuition tax credit program the legislature approved in 2017 as part of a state education funding overhaul. The program encourages donations to private schools by offering donors a 75-cents-on-the-dollar tax credit on their Illinois income taxes. Critics of the program have excoriated it as a diversion of tax money from public schools (not true) and an exclusive tax write-off for rich people (also not true). […]
Gov.-elect J.B. Pritzker does not support the tax credit program. On the campaign trail he said he would “immediately” move to repeal it. He believes the tax credits hurt public education by diverting dollars that could be earmarked for those schools. Yet he exerts school choice, and that’s fine: His own children attend one of the nation’s premiere private schools, Francis W. Parker in Lincoln Park, not their neighborhood CPS school.
We urge the incoming governor and members of the General Assembly to think less about public-private rivalries and more about students who have different needs and should have different choices. Illinois lags most states in offering options outside the public school system. Affluent families have school choice. It’s the low-income families trapped by their ZIP codes in marginal public districts who do not. And they don’t have years to wait for their public schools to improve.
* Finke…
Pritzker said the tax breaks for private school scholarships essentially diverts tax resources from public schools.
“Money that could go to public education is being diverted,” he said. “It’s better to put those dollars in public schools.”
Although Pritzker wants to end the program, he said it should be done in a way that doesn’t disrupt families already taking advantage of it.
* Meanwhile, on to the inauguration. WJOL…
Illinois’ incoming governor is going to pick up the tab for his inauguration. Governor-elect J.B. Pritzker yesterday said that he will pay for the full cost of his swearing in, and the two days of celebrations leading up to it. Pritzker will take the oath of office on January 14th.
* More…
Some of the Pritzkers’ closest pals and confidantes are on the committee, including, Lee “Rosy” Rosenberg, chief of staff at the Pritzker Group and an adviser to Pritzker on the campaign; businessman Michael Sacks and Cari Sacks; businesswoman Linda Johnson Rice; Marko Iglendza, CEO and Founder of Terminal Getaway Spa, and Neal Zucker, CEO and co-founder of Corporate Cleaning window cleaners; and businesswoman Desiree Rogers, who oversaw 330 White House functions while she was social secretary in the Obama administration. […]
The rest of the committee consists of members from a broad and diverse swath—nonprofits, business, upstate, downstate. They include: Obama Foundation President Martin Nesbitt; real-estate developer Elzie Higginbottom and his wife, Deborah; high-end boutique owners Ikram and Josh Goldman; lobbyist Loretta Durbin (wife of U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin); educator Barbara Bowman (she’s Valerie Jarrett’s mom); activist Emma Lozano; media exec Eve Rodriguez Montoya; community leader Felicia Davis; nonprofit leader Sol Flores; Illinois Business Immigration Coalition’s Rebecca Shi; LIUNA labor President Nicole Hayes; and businessman Skip Braziel and Erica Annise Braziel.
Politicos on the committee: former Gov. Jim Edgar and his wife, Brenda; Illinois Democratic County Chairs’ President Kristina Zahorik; Chicago Housing Authority Board Chair John Hooker; Highway Commissioner Calvin Jordan and his wife, Lori; former Congressman Glenn Poshard and his wife, Jo; St. Clair County Auditor Patty Sprague and attorney Bob Sprague; former state Rep. Lauren Beth Gash and Studio Gang Principal Gregg Garmisa; North Aurora Village Trustee Mark Guethle and his wife, Louise; and Wanda Rednour, wife of the late John Rednour, a former Du Quoin mayor.
* Let’s move now to cannabis legalization…
Pritzker says he’s already been working out the details with legislators.
“There’s an opportunity for us to be the first state in the Midwest to make it available, and so I think the legislature should get at it,” Pritzker says.
Michigan legalized recreational marijuana last month by referendum. But the state legislature there is looking at rewriting what the voters approved — lowering the tax rate, changing where that money is spent, and banning home-grown plants.
“The good news about being eighth or ninth to get this done is we can look at what works and put it in place in Illinois,” Pritzker says.
* Pritzker isn’t governor yet, but he attended his first jobs announcement today…
JPMorgan Chase announced Wednesday that it was committing $10 million to Chicago’s South Side and its West Side as part of its five-year, $500 million AdvancingCities initiative.
CEO Jamie Dimon made the announcement in Chicago and was joined by the Chicago Community Loan Fund’s president, Calvin Holmes, and Governor-elect J.B. Pritzker. JPMorgan’s investment will be through long-term commercial real estate loans with low interest rates, distributed by the CCLF. The goal is to promote development in underserved neighborhoods where access to grocery stores and other retailers is significantly lower than it is elsewhere in the city.
* More…
The Chicago Community Loan Fund is receiving its largest capital investment to date: a $10 million low-cost, long-term loan from JPMorgan Chase.
The loan is designed to boost the Chicago nonprofit lender’s work financing small-business and commercial development on Chicago’s South and West sides — particularly projects that might struggle to get financing at traditional financial institutions, Chase said Wednesday.
CCLF expects to begin using the loan to fund projects in the first quarter of 2019, Chief Operating Officer Bob Tucker said. There are about 16 commercial real estate projects in the organization’s pipeline that could benefit, including entertainment, healthy food and retail businesses and tech hubs in neighborhoods like Bronzeville, Englewood, Pullman, Woodlawn, West Humboldt Park and Austin, Tucker said.
* And finally…
Gov. Bruce Rauner is urging the incoming administration to continue his work in rooting out waste, fraud and abuse in the state’s Medicaid system, and to clarify rules for state workers who belong to the same union as the employees they supervise.
Rauner said both issues cost taxpayers “hundreds of millions of dollars every year.”
The governor’s office said its Health Care Fraud Elimination Task Force saved $218 million while the Department of Healthcare and Family Services Inspector General saved or recouped $190 million in fiscal 2018.
“The effort resulted in 39 fraud convictions including $27.8 million in recoveries through criminal prosecutions, civil actions, and/or administrative referrals,” according to a statement from Rauner’s office. “The task force has saved the state more than $665 million since its inception in 2016.”
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Krupa roundup
Wednesday, Dec 12, 2018 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Kass…
To get on the [13th Ward aldermanic] ballot, [David] Krupa was required to file 473 valid signatures of ward residents. He filed 1,703 signatures to the Chicago Board of Election Commissioners.
Amazingly, an organized crew — of Quakers or unicorns — walked door to door in the 13th Ward and turned in 2,796 affidavits from residents asking that their signatures for Krupa be revoked.
Do the math. That organized crew got far more affidavits of revocation of signature than were needed. Affidavits are legal documents, and notarized.
It appears many residents of Boss Madigan’s ward have left themselves open to felony perjury charges. Madigan’s ward is chock-full of workers on one government payroll or another. Felony perjury convictions would cause them to lose their government jobs.
OK, first of all, the affidavits were filed before Krupa turned in his own petitions. For lots of reasons, campaigns almost never file all the signatures they collect. It’s therefore possible that people who signed the affidavits could’ve signed Krupa’s petition, but their sheets weren’t submitted. It’s also possible that people made mistakes and thought they’d signed Krupa’s petition when they’d actually signed another one.
There’s also an allegation that 13th Ward Ald. Marty Quinn’s campaign workers misled people at the doors. Derrick Blakley talked to some who’d signed the affidavits. Here’s his conclusion…
Many voters said they were falsely told the revocation petitions aimed at Krupa were simply signature verifications.
Derrick never got anyone to say that on camera, but it wouldn’t surprise me if that was the case.
* Now, on to the claim that some of the affidavit signers committed felony perjury. I asked the spokesperson for the Chicago Board of Elections Commission if this was indeed a felony. He said the board was not making that claim, Krupa’s attorney is making that claim. I also asked the board for one of the affidavits that people signed. I’ve redacted some info…
* From the state election code…
The petitions, when filed, shall not be withdrawn or added to, and no signatures shall be revoked except by revocation filed in writing with the State Board of Elections, election authority or local election official with whom the petition is required to be filed, and before the filing of such petition.
* Also from the election code…
Sec. 29-10. Perjury. (a) Any person who makes a false statement, material to the issue or point in question, which he does not believe to be true, in any affidavit, certificate or sworn oral declaration required by any provision of this Code shall be guilty of a Class 3 felony.
(b) Any person who is convicted of violating this Section shall be ineligible for public employment for a period of 5 years immediately following the completion of his sentence.
So, this all hinges on intent. If anyone signed the affidavits knowing they were making a false statement, then it’s perjury. As far as I can tell, nobody has yet made that claim. And it’ll be really tough to do that in court. But if Blakley’s report is accurate, then suborning perjury might be a possible angle.
Maybe the 13th Ward should just drop this whole thing.
* Meanwhile, the Chicago Reader retweeted this, so it wound up in my timeline…
* The linked story was one of those “reporter goes on safari to Trumpland” pieces from 2016. But, despite the area’s portrayal in the story, Hillary Clinton wound up winning the 13th Ward with 70 percent of the vote to Trump’s 26 percent…
The 13th, 14th, and 23rd Wards, gerrymandered into skinny puzzle pieces through the neighborhoods of Clearing and Garfield Ridge, are where a lot of the working-class white people Trump was banking on reside.
This is the land of trucks with White Sox vanity license plates, warehouses that go on for blocks, Polish bars, and Midway Airport. Little yellow brick bungalows fill the spaces between aging strip malls. You can still meet old men with Irish brogues, but Latino families have also made a home for themselves here, and the local grocery stores now carry Mexican products alongside every variety of canned vegetable and nonorganic meat.
Upon arrival Tuesday afternoon, I didn’t have to search long for ardent Trump supporters. Eighteen-year-old Dave Krupa and 53-year-old Edna Bice were standing in front of a polling place at a Centro Cristiano. Krupa waved a giant Trump flag, while Bice worked with a sign reading “Hillary for prison 2016″ and a flag with a patriotic collage of stars and stripes, a bald eagle head, and military insignia. Many a passing car and semitruck honked at them in appreciation. Some people honked and flipped the bird.
Krupa was happy to have the day off from school due to a parent-teacher conference. He describes himself as a “day-one Trump supporter” and hopes Trump’s law-and-order politics will shake up both the “inner city” (which he defined as “State and Madison”) and his own neighborhood.
“In the inner cities, if you’ve got your pants down to your ankles, and it looks like you’re a shady character, stop and frisk is the way to go,” he says, “because chances are if you have a gun you don’t have a license to carry that.”
Interesting philosophy. The accompanying photograph…
* Krupa now…
Looks like he’s cleaned himself up a bit.
* The only money Krupa has reported raising so far is $800 from himself. He’s also contributed about $3,300 in in-kinds to his own campaign, for a campaign office TV and for legal services that are not detailed. His attorney is Michael Dorf, who has been sparring with the Madigan machine for years.
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Rauner taking final swing at AFSCME
Wednesday, Dec 12, 2018 - Posted by Rich Miller
* I’m not sure if Rauner’s claim of “record levels” is accurate, but his claim is just one more example of how the governor’s term is not ending like he’d hoped….
* The governor was asked if he had expected any sort of unionization bump after the Janus decision…
The issue of unit clarification is in no way related to Janus, completely different issue. Completely different process, no relation. Unit clarification is a problem of financial incentives and conflicts of interest with folks who looking out for their best economic interest who are managers have joined a union, been pushed to join a union. Basically economically extorted to join a union, um, uh, illegally.
That’s, Janus has nothing to do with that, Janus is just giving people a choice, um, about whether to join a union or not.
This is about having managers who it’s illegal for them to be in a union, join the union for political purposes to get the union support for financial, for contributions for elections and other political support. Prior governors pushed this level of unionization of managers. And it cost taxpayers significant amount of money because of the conflicts between managers and with the union that they are supposed to be on the opposite side of the table from.
Apparently, the governor has a ton of unit clarification cases before the Illinois Labor Board to kick people out of bargaining units.
* I asked AFSCME Council 31 for a response to the governor’s comments…
A unit clarification petition is filed with the state labor board in order to determine whether newly created job titles are eligible for union representation, or whether such determinations made previously are correct (e.g., if a job title was excluded from collective bargaining, a union could later use the unit clarification process to present evidence that in practice the duties of that title should not exclude it from representation).
In recent months the Rauner administration has brought an unprecedented avalanche of unit clarification petitions in a transparent attempt to strip the rights of large numbers of state workers. The first salvo of these petitions, targeting members of unions such as the Nurses and others who represent smaller numbers of state employees, was brought on the very day of the Supreme Court’s decision in Rauner’s anti-union Janus case. The second salvo launched in July and August included no fewer than 136 separate unit clarification petitions targeting more than 1,000 positions represented by AFSCME.
Our union contract has specific language to enable labor and management to jointly address such questions as they relate to the employer’s legitimate operational needs. The Rauner administration failed to engage the union in this contractual process, suggesting that they are more interested in achieving a political goal of stripping workers’ rights and not at all interested in solving real problems together. AFSCME has filed a grievance over the administration’s failure to follow the contract in this respect.
Many of the Rauner petitions filed with the labor board included no factual justification for their attempt to remove employees from the union. AFSCME has filed responses to every one of the Rauner petitions, which have now been assigned to administrative law judges who will schedule hearings where AFSCME members will be prepared to present evidence that their job duties do not merit exclusion from the bargaining unit.
Make no mistake, Bruce Rauner’s attempts to manipulate the unit clarification process to strip more than 1,000 AFSCME members of their right to collective bargaining is just another ploy to silence working people and weaken unions like ours that stand up to his harmful and destructive schemes. For more than three years in office he never raised an issue with the job titles he’s now targeting; like the failed anti-worker governors of Michigan and Wisconsin who were likewise defeated by the voters, Rauner is simply trying do as much damage as possible to working people before he’s drummed out the door. We’re going to keep standing up for public service workers and their right to a strong union to represent them.
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* Kristi Dunn Kucera has served as spokesperson for Chicago mayoral candidate Amara Enyia. She sent this e-mail to reporters today…
As of December 12, 2018, I no longer represent Mayoral Candidate Amara Enyia as Communications Director. In light of several unknown and troubling factors that I was not privy to during the campaign, I am unable to effectively continue in this role. I wish her the best in her endeavor.
I’ve followed up by e-mail, phone and Twitter direct message. I’ve heard nothing back.
*** UPDATE *** Enyia campaign…
As we step into the next and final stage of this campaign, internal transitions and shifts are to be expected. We are excited for the opportunity to expand our growing team ahead of this critical next phase of work, and we remain grateful to all of our colleagues, past and present, for the exceptional work they’ve done thus far.
More details to follow.
* Meanwhile…
State Comptroller Susana Mendoza on Tuesday ripped fellow mayoral candidate Toni Preckwinkle, who chairs the Cook County Democratic Party, for challenging her campaign petitions and those of four African-American women in the race.
Mendoza’s campaign also said she has more than enough names to get on the Feb. 26 ballot and called Preckwinkle’s challenge of her petition signatures “shoddy.” The Mendoza campaign is planning to file a motion Wednesday seeking to dismiss the challenge filed by Preckwinkle, who also is the Cook County Board president.
“It’s ironic that in the year of the woman, in Trump’s America, the highest-ranking woman in Cook County government, who happens to be the boss of the party bosses, thinks it’s a good idea to challenge five women of color and no one else, by the way,” Mendoza said. […]
“After multiple reviews of Mendoza’s petitions, it is clear that she meets the requirements necessary to be on the February 2019 ballot and that fact further underscores that Preckwinkle’s sole motive in challenging her petitions was to deny voters their rights and stop Susana from making the ballot,” the Mendoza campaign said in a statement.
As we’ve already discussed, the Preckwinkle campaign will have to be successful on 85 percent of its challenges to kick Mendoza off the ballot. That’s likely only if Mendoza’s sheets were some of the worst ever.
* Interesting thread…
So, Amara Enyia has three bodyguards and her spokesperson just resigned because of “several unknown and troubling factors.” Hmm.
* Speaking of those two debates…
Last night’s mayoral debate at the Copernicus Center on the Northwest Side started calmly enough. Candidates made their opening statements, sticking to their bios. When it came to Gery Chico, he lit into Toni Preckwinkle, saying, ”Toni, that soda tax really hurt us. That sales tax you said you’d repeal hurt us.”
The discussion moved fast with 10 participating candidates covering TIFs, crime, workers’ comp and pension issues. The event was sponsored by the 38th Ward Dems.
A few zingers: Lori Lightfoot challenging Preckwinkle: “Join me in calling for taking away the $100 million ‘ATM’ that Ed Burke controls with the Workers Comp system.” Ja’Mal Green, whose petitions have been challenged by Willie Wilson, talked about Wilson, saying, “He’s not black first. He’s rich first.”
*** UPDATE *** Press release…
The mayoral campaign of attorney and neighborhood advocate Jerry Joyce on Wednesday withdrew its challenge to the ballot submission of William Daley, though the challenge process revealed a widespread pattern of forgery and fraud in the petitions gathered and submitted by Daley circulators.
Three individuals collected more than 11,000 signatures, all using the same notary. One of the three collected more than 5,000 signatures..
The Daley submission included thousands of examples of:
— incorrect addresses
— unregistered voters
— forged names
— duplicate signers
Said campaign spokesman Graeme Zielinski:
“The idea that a single individual collected 5,000 signatures and that three circulators collected more than 11,000 signatures, almost enough to qualify for the ballot, is unbelievable even by Chicago standards. Using paid-per-signature circulators with no idea about the campaign, candidate or election is a practice that screams for reform.
“In the end, we’re withdrawing our challenge. We can’t spend the next months scouring the earth for purported circulators who, in many cases, are gone with the wind or who don’t live at the addresses that were provided.”
*Click HERE to download a .zip folder containing images of examples from the Daley submission.
* Related…
* At odds with Obama: 6 Chicago mayoral candidates say presidential center should guarantee community benefits: On Tuesday night, Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle, Cook County Circuit Court Clerk Dorothy Brown, former federal prosecutor Lori Lightfoot, public policy consultant Amara Enyia, activist Ja’Mal Green and former Chicago police Superintendent Garry McCarthy all said Obama and the city should agree to protections for the nearby neighborhoods. It was a popular position in a room full of Chicagoans who have pushed for more equitable and affordable housing at an event hosted by the Chicago Housing Initiative.
* Progressive aldermen move to strip Burke of $100M-a-year worker’s comp program: Mayoral candidate Toni Preckwinkle is also on record as supporting the worker’s compensation shift—even though Burke held a recent fundraiser for her re-election campaign as county board president.
* Chicago aldermen raise white flag in $1.5 billion TIF fight: Add mayoral candidates Toni Preckwinkle and Paul Vallas to the list of those urging the city to slow down on the Lincoln Yards TIF. Said Preckwinkle in a statement: “Chicagoans deserve an open and transparent conversation on TIF reform before the approval of any new TIF moves forward. I stand with community groups and say delay the TIF.” And Vallas says that until the TIF program is completely reorganized, under a new mayor, no new TIF districts should be created at Lincoln Yards or anywhere else.
* Chicago mayoral candidates face off in 2 forums
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Question of the day: Golden Horseshoe Awards
Wednesday, Dec 12, 2018 - Posted by Rich Miller
* The 2018 Golden Horseshoe Award for Best Campaign Spokesperson goes to Galia Slayen at the Pritzker campaign…
There is no doubt who owns this category - Galia. Having worked with the media in both campaigns and government, I can honestly say navigating the Chicago press corps is quite possibly one of the hardest jobs for both. What reporters and many outsiders forget is that the press secretary is not there to be their “secretary” but rather to be the spokesperson and voiciferous defender of their boss. Galia did that and then some. She is a smart, tactical operative who is 100% loyal to her candidate…and when running for office in a state like Illinois that’s exactly what one needs in from the head of their comms shop.
Also…
She frequently made more sense than her bosses. While persistent, she let you fight back when she knew you had a point. There’s a crazy line between protecting a campaign and the truth, and I don’t think she ever crossed the line into lying, which is super important to media in this day and age. Looking forward to seeing where she lands.
* The 2018 Golden Horseshoe Award for Best Government Spokesperson is a tie between Patty Schuh and Eleni Demertzis. Here’s my nomination of Patty, who spent decades with the Senate Republicans and then moved over to the governor’s office…
Grace under fire, decades of experience, volunteered for an impossible job with an impossible boss, excellent human being. It’s gonna take some truly great nominations for another gvt spox to convince me that Patty shouldn’t get this award in what will likely be her final full year of eligibility.
* But then I read this nomination of House Republican spokesperson Eleni Demertzis and I decided a tie was in order…
She dealt with a ton of challenging issues this year, including Jerry Long, Sterigenics, etc and always kept a balanced approach that put her boss in the best possible light. And she was never shy to tell a reporter their story needed to be “updated”.
Yep. Congrats to all.
* OK, let’s move right along to today’s categories…
* Best Illinois State Representative - Republican
* Best Illinois State Representative - Democrat
Please make sure to explain your votes or they won’t count. Also, do your best to nominate in both categories if you can. Thanks.
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Where we’re heading and where we’ve been
Wednesday, Dec 12, 2018 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Daily Illini…
Brian Gaines, professor in LAS, said Pritzker’s plan implies substantial surges in spending, which may make it difficult for Pritzker to deliver on promises he made for higher education during his run for governor.
“The state, however, is in dreadful fiscal condition, effectively bankrupt,” Gaines said in an email.
* I asked Professor Gaines to define “effectively bankrupt.” His e-mailed explanation…
I had in mind something like: unable to pay creditors in a timely manner; Steadily incurring more obligations, so that overall debt and unfunded liabilities continue to grow, rather than shrink; and, having no plausible plan to reduce an extreme debt-to-income ratio.
It is, I grant, a somewhat careless or hyperbolic phrase given that states cannot declare bankruptcy right now (though that could change). Rules of thumb for unsustainable debt-income ratios for individuals and businesses don’t transfer easily to cities let alone states, and the accounting details behind estimating the state’s true fiscal imbalance are complicated. But I think we’re quite clearly mired in last (50th) place, in fiscal health, and setting a new record each year. The adverb is the clue that I was not making a legal claim, but an observation more like, “If Illinois were not a state, we’d have declared bankruptcy by now.” Four years ago, The Economist carried a piece about Illinois’s pension liabilities entitled “America’s Greece?” that concluded, “In 2015 Illinois will either sink further into a Greek-style morass of debt or start its long-delayed rehabilitation.”
* People usually point to the state’s horrific unfunded pension liabilities when they discuss state finances. For instance, here’s the Tribune editorial board…
First, the awful numbers: For several years we’ve cited the figure of $130 billion to represent Illinois’ estimated unfunded pension liability. Never mind that number, it was $133 billion as of June 2018 — and it’s getting worse — according to a new state report. The Commission on Government Forecasting and Accountability estimates the shortfall in commitments to future retirees will deepen to nearly $137 billion in the current July-to-June year, and to $139 billion in fiscal 2020.
Unfunded liabilities did, indeed, increase and will increase next fiscal year as well.
* COGFA explains…
At the end of FY 2017, the aggregate unfunded liability based on the actuarial value of assets was $128.860 billion. The unfunded liability based on the actuarial value of assets stood at $133.683 billion as of the end of FY 2018. It grew by $4.823 billion during FY 2018, an increase of 3.7% over FY 2017. The primary reason for the increase was, again, actuarially insufficient State contributions, which increased the unfunded liability by $3.187 billion, accounting for 66.1% of the total increase.
There were two more factors that worsened the unfunded liability. One was an actuarial loss that resulted from unfavorable experience from demographic and other factors, largely due to TRS’ unfavorable retirement experience. This brought the combined unfunded liability up by $1.603 billion. The other factor was the cumulative effect of the change in assumptions, which increased the unfunded liability by $1.245 billion. It is worth noting that SURS was the only system that generated a loss by altering actuarial assumptions, although the other four systems also changed their actuarial assumptions in their 2018 actuarial valuations. This means TRS, SERS, JRS, and GARS realized gains by changing their actuarial assumptions, but these gains were eroded mainly by the impact of SURS’ reduced investment assumption rate from 7.25% to 6.75%. However, actuarial gains from three components helped lessen the effect of actuarial losses; lower-than-expected salary increases, higher-than-expected investment returns and an estimated gain from TRS due to the new pension buyout plans decreased the unfunded liability by $342 million, $489 million, and $381 million, respectively.
* Again, that unfunded liability is such a huge number that it simply boggles the mind. And, under the current “ramp” law, it’s gonna get bigger and therefore scarier over the coming years. From page 13 of the most recent COGFA pension report…
Click the pic if you’re having trouble seeing it.
From the current fiscal year through FY2028, when unfunded liabilities finally start trending downward, the state’s annual pension payments are projected to increase a total of $2.976 billion, or an average of about $300 million a year. That’s definitely not ideal, but it’s mostly manageable.
And the state is getting a break starting next fiscal year when its $1 billion annual payment on Gov. Quinn’s pension bond finally expires. That money could and should be put right back into the system, aside from the ramp.
However, there could be further changes in actuarial assumptions, which could drive these projected annual costs even higher. That’s happened often over the past several years.
In the 13 years starting in FY28, the back-loaded ramp will require total annual state pension payments to increase by $5.4 billion, or about $415 million a year. And, again, we don’t know what actuarial adjustments will be made. Annual payment increases continue to be pretty high every year through 2045, which is gonna have to be addressed.
* Speaking of the ramp, this COGFA chart from 2015 gives us a really good view of its back-loaded nature…
Whew.
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*** UPDATED x2 *** Emanuel/Emmanuel
Wednesday, Dec 12, 2018 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Remember this post about the French riots?…
[Under French President Emmanuel Macron] pensions themselves have ceased to be indexed to inflation (and thus to retirees’ ability to buy consumer goods) […]
The tax will increase the price of fuel by about 30 cents per gallon and will continue to rise over the next few years, the French government says
* And then yesterday, Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel (one “m”) proposed doing away with the 3 percent automatic annual increase for pensions and proposed raising gas taxes by 30 cents a gallon, among other things.
Here’s how the mayor justified doing away with the pension AAI…
What kind of progressive, sustainable system guarantees retirees 3 percent annual compounded pay increases when inflation has been at basically zero
And here’s his reasoning for raising the gas tax…
Illinois last raised the gas tax from 16 cents per gallon to 19 cents in 1990. Emanuel said raising the tax by 20 cents would be about the equivalent to inflation over the past 28 years. He said the group of mayors settled on a range of 20 cents to 30 cents to serve as a guideline for state lawmakers when they take up debate on the issue next year.
So, inflation “has been at basically zero” to justify reducing future pension payments, but he uses more than 100 percent inflation to justify a gas tax increase.
*** UPDATE 1 *** Illinois AFL-CIO President Michael Carrigan and Chicago Federation of Labor President Bob Reiter…
“Too many politicians, including Mayor Rahm Emanuel himself, have wasted years pushing extreme, immoral and illegal schemes to slash pension benefits instead of working together to craft fair, sustainable and constitutional funding solutions.
“In Chicago and throughout Illinois, teachers, fire fighters, nurses, caregivers and other public service workers earn a modest pension and pay toward it from every check. Their pension is their life savings, and since most public employees aren’t eligible for Social Security, it is their main source of income in retirement. Reducing that already modest benefit—now just about $35,000 a year on average—is both unfair and unconstitutional.
“Those pushing to repeal the Illinois Constitution’s pension clause ignore the real problem, which is not the cost of benefits but the decades-long habitual failure of politicians to pay the employer’s share.
“They also ignore the clear, strong rulings of the Illinois Supreme Court, which have reinforced both the plain language of the pension clause and the sanctity of the contracts clause, which protect these obligations. Their unanimous decisions have forcefully made clear that any attempt to slash the modest benefits promised to employees already in a pension system would violate both Illinois and federal law.
“Real solutions are achievable, and we remain committed to working together with anyone of good faith to identify and implement them.”
*** UPDATE 2 *** Press release…
Following is a statement from Ald. Scott Waguespack (32), Chair of the City Council Progressive Reform Caucus, in response to Mayor Emanuel’s proposed constitutional amendment on pensions:
“Our caucus opposes Mayor Emanuel’s proposed constitutional amendment to eliminate pension protections.
“These workers have held up their end of their agreement. They served our communities honorably throughout their careers with the assurance that their retirement would be secure. Now, Mayor Emanuel is proposing going back on that promise, and making even more vulnerable the retirement security of tens of thousands of workers who cannot rely on Social Security.
“Mayor Emanuel has missed many opportunities over the last eight years to fight for progressive revenue options to fund our pensions. We urge the next mayor to work with Springfield to achieve a progressive income tax that asks the very wealthy and big corporations to pay their fair share, and the legalization and taxation of recreational marijuana to help fund our pensions.”
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* Some people will believe anything, particularly on Facebook. From November 13th…
This was written by Carl Segvich, committeeman in Cook County. He friended me awhile back so I accepted. He is a…
Posted by Scott Finch on Tuesday, November 13, 2018
It got quite a bit of play on Facebook. I don’t spend much time on that site (partly because of silly stuff like the above post), but I did receive an e-mail the other day asking me if the Pritzker “proposal” was real.
* St. Louis TV station KSDK reached out to 11th Ward Republican Committeeman Carl Segvich to ask him about his post…
Pritzker’s transition team tells 5 On Your side it’s “not a real proposal” and there’s “absolutely no truth to that.”
We called the man whose name is on the post - a Chicago area Republican Committeeman Carl Segvich. Segvich confirms he shared the post, but insist he’s not the one who wrote it. And he concedes, he now knows it’s not true. There is no plan to tax people for leaving Illinois.
“It’s all fake. It’s all false,” said Segvich. “And, I believe I erroneously passed it along. No big deal really.”
5 On Your Side legal analyst, Jon Ammann from Saint Louis University Law School says this “departing tax” idea would also be unconstitutional. He says it goes against the 14th Amendment and the right to live and travel where we want.
He just “passed it along.” OK.
* Snopes even got into the act…
We reached out to Jordan Abudayyeh, Pritzker’s spokeswoman, who confirmed that the contents of post circulating on Facebook were “absolutely not true” and appeared to be nothing more than a hoax or an unflagged attempt at satire.
Prtizker, a billionaire and Hyatt hotel heir, won the Illinois gubernatorial race on 6 November 2018 by a wide margin over Republican incumbent Bruce Rauner. Pritzker and his Democratic colleagues supported replacing the state’s flat income tax with a progressive income tax, which would mean higher rates for wealthier Illinoisans with tax breaks for others. However, we found no evidence to suggest Pritzker had ever floated charging residents a special tax assessment for moving out of the state, and it’s unlikely any such plan could be legally implemented.
Segvich, by the way, has done campaign work for Bob Grogan, Adam Andrzejewski, Jim Oberweis and Tony Peraica. From his LinkedIn page…
It’s about The American CULTURE (Political) War. Voting for any democrat is a vote for deranged Public Policy.
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