* Sen. John Mulroe (D-Chicago) has been talking about this for a while now…
.@SenMulroe's twitter handle will soon be out of date. #Illinois Supreme Court announces that, per the recommendation of Justice Mary Jane Theis, it's appointing Mulroe, a Democrat, to be a Cook County Circuit Court Judge (10th subcircuit). Appointment runs June 21 - Dec '20.
Governor J.B. Pritzker plans to offer pay raises, more time off work, enhanced family leave and a cash stipend to offset “financial hardship” state workers endured under the administration of his Republican predecessor, according to a copy of the Pritzker administration’s contract offer.
The one-time stipend of $2,500 will “be paid upon ratification of the agreement.” Union members will qualify for a quarter of the stipend so long as they worked one calendar day in any of the prior four years.
The new contract assures newer members they will continue to receive “step increases,” or automatic pay raises.
All members will see a pay raise of 1.5% on January 1, 2020, another pay raise of 2.1% on July 1, 2020, on July 1, 2021, a pay raise of 3.95%, and on July 1, 2022, a pay raise of 3.95%.
By 2022, the average state employee would see his or her annual salary jump from $59,679 up to $66,827 for an average net increase of more than $7,000.
Each worker’s increased contribution to the state’s health insurance program would cost roughly $624 to $864 extra each year.
I also just obtained the full document handed out to AFSCME members this week. Click here.
When State Rep. Nathan Reitz (D-Steeleville) was sworn into the Illinois House last month, negotiations for an omnibus gaming expansion bill were well on their way in Springfield — a bill that would ultimately include six new licenses for areas in the state that have long clamored for their own casinos.
Helping make the pipedream for a casino in Southern Illinois a reality this spring session was Dan Reitz, a former legislator, current lobbyist and the state representative’s father.
The younger Reitz voted for the bill. […]
The elder Reitz told The Daily Line that he’d been lobbying for Walker’s Bluff LLC in its efforts to attract a casino for “probably six or seven years.” Dan Reitz said he didn’t see a conflict of interest in his son voting for SB 690 as the House wrapped up its business on June 1.
“I don’t see a conflict,” Dan Reitz said. “Obviously he voted for the bill as a whole. I don’t think there’s a conflict just because I happened to lobby for [Walker’s Bluff]. He voted for the totality of the bill, not because of Walker’s Bluff.”
Dan Reitz said he told his son to “talk to staff” to make sure there was no ethical conundrum in voting for the gaming expansion bill given his father’s lobbying interest.
Rep. Reitz said he did just that.
The new legislator cannot control what his father does for a living, and those two aren’t the only ones with potential conflicts under the dome and the gaming bill passed overwhelmingly. Still…
* The Question: What, if anything, should be done about this situation? Make sure to explain your answer.
* Then-Rep. Steve Andersson was one of the Republican leaders of the 2017 split with Bruce Rauner which resulted in the first state budget in two years and partial restoration of the 2011 tax hike. Another leader, former Rep. David Harris, is the director of the Illinois Department of Revenue…
@GovPritzker has asked me to serve the people of the State of Illinois as a Human Rights Commissioner. This appointment will give me a great opportunity to continue to serve the public, I am very honored to take on this role and challenge. Thank you Governor Pritzker! pic.twitter.com/tcuckcCU2s
— Steven A. Andersson (@Illinois_Steve) June 13, 2019
Members receive $119,000 per year, plus expenses. [Updated thanks to a commenter. I thought they got a pay raise, along with tighter restrictions on who could be a commissioner, but I couldn’t find it.]
…Adding… Andersson opted out of the legislative pension plan, so this will have no impact on GARS because he’s not in it.
Andersson has been a licensed attorney for more almost three decades. He is a partner at the law firms of Mickey, Wilson, Weiler, Renzi and Andersson, P.C. and the Elder Law Center, P.C. He is admitted to practice law at all Illinois courts, the United States Supreme Court, the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, and United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois. Andersson was also the state representative for Illinois’ 65th legislative district from 2015 to 2019 where he served as Republican floor leader in 2018. During the 99th General Assembly, Andersson was a leader of the Republican coalition that joined with the Democratic caucus to end the longest state budget impasse in U.S. history. He has also been a strident defender of the rights of all people, including being the chief co-sponsor for the ERA, a two-time sponsor of the Equal Pay Act and chief co-sponsor of the LGBTQ curriculum bill. Prior to joining the Illinois House of Representatives, Andersson served his community as a trustee and treasurer on the Geneva Library District Board for approximately 5 years, including serving 2 years as treasurer. Andersson is a past president of the Kane County Bar Association. He is also a member of the Kane County Bar Foundation; Illinois Bar Association; American Bar Association; National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys; and served on the governing board of the Aurora Family Counseling Service and Big Brothers Big Sisters.
…Adding… CBA presidents don’t give up their day jobs…
An Illinois Deputy Governor and longtime Chicago attorney and education advocate will take the reins of leadership at the Chicago Bar Association as the CBA welcomes and installs its most diverse group of officers at the association’s 146th Annual Meeting June 18.
Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker will offer remarks at the meeting to welcome Jesse Ruiz, who will be installed as the 146th President of the Chicago Bar Association. Outgoing President Steven M. Elrod will pass the gavel of leadership to Ruiz.
Ruiz will be joined by the new slate of CBA Officers including First Vice President Maryam Ahmad, Chief of the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Juvenile Justice Bureau; Second Vice President E. Lynn Grayson, of Nijman Franzetti LLP; Secretary Ray J. Koenig III, Managing Partner of Clark Hill, and Treasurer Timothy S. Tomasik of Tomasik Kotin Kasserman LLC.
The CBA’s 2019-2020 Officers represent the most diverse group to lead the association in its long history, including Ruiz, a Hispanic male, Ahmad, an African American female, and Koenig, a gay man.
* Researchers sprout hemp plants, plan new class for cannabis science initiative: More than 500 industrial hemp plants aimed at producing CBD oil and destined for the fields of a local start-up company are rising from containers under the watchful eye of Karla Gage, assistant professor of plant, soil and agricultural systems at SIU. Gage, along with Aldwin Anterola, associate professor of plant biology, are working under a Department of Agriculture research permit to look into the science of growing, harvesting and finding industrial and medicinal uses for the plant.
* From state Reps. Blaine Wilhour (R-Effingham), Brad Halbrook (R-Shelbyville), David McSweeney (R-Barrington Hills), Darren Bailey (R-Xenia), Chris Miller (R-Oakland), Allen Skillicorn (R-Crystal Lake), Dan Caulkins (R-Decatur) and John Cabello (R-Machesney Park)…
Transportation is a vital part of the Illinois economy.
When it comes to Interstate highways, Illinois has the third most Interstates in the nation. New York has 31 Interstates, while California and Texas both have 25. Illinois comes in third with 24 Interstates. There is no question that Illinois, with its location in the center of the country, is a transportation hub in the Midwest.
Funding our roads and infrastructure is important not just to the Illinois economy, but in the national economy as well. Funding transportation needs, though, should be handled responsibly. Unfortunately, Illinois’ track record on responsible spending is abysmal.
Does anyone really trust Springfield politicians to put real priorities over political priorities? We certainly do not.
The Capital plan the House and the Senate approved at the end of the legislative session has very little specifics on where the money is going, while simultaneously doubling the gas tax on poor and middle-class families and raising the license plate renewal by $50 on Illinois drivers. Illinois Taxpayers deserve to know how their money is being spent, and legislators who voted for these tax hikes without specifically knowing how the money would be allocated have done a disservice to these taxpayers.
It is especially discouraging to see many Republican leaders not only vote for these tax increases, but then promote false narratives that are constantly perpetuated by the tax and spend Democrats in order to excuse their votes.
To hear some Republican leaders talk about how we have to raise taxes because Illinois taxpayers don’t currently pay enough to cover our spending programs is shocking. These are Democrat talking points and they are embarrassing. We hear them say, “we haven’t raised the gas tax since 1990.” What they fail to mention is that Illinois taxpayers are already burdened with a gas tax that is top 10 in the nation.
We are willing to work alongside the Republican leaders as we tackle tough issues in the future, but these kinds of policies were exactly what our voters sent us to Springfield to oppose. Illinois taxpayers deserve political leadership that is willing to find solutions that deal with the real underlying issues. Watching as our party blindly accepts that raising taxes is the only way forward is an injustice to the taxpayers and constituents that sent us here, and we won’t be any part of it.
As fiscally responsible Republicans, we should be talking about why the state needs such a higher percentage of our money to deal with infrastructure. Why does it cost so much more per mile to build roads and bridges in Illinois compared to many other states?
Like so often is the case, in Illinois we suffer under heavy mandates and an adversarial regulatory environment that drives costs upward. We have onerous prevailing wage rates and our taxpayers potentially pay up to five times what taxpayers in neighboring Indiana pay for workers’ compensation.
We should be talking about how Illinois taxpayers are getting robbed by Springfield politicians on behalf of the powerful special interests. Why should more taxpayer dollars be spent to prop up special interests? We should be demanding that Springfield prove they can be trusted to deal with the big cost drivers in government. That is the only way to ensure that we are maximizing taxpayer investments. Middle Class taxpayers are being forced to pay more because Springfield politicians will not deal with the tough issues.
The Republican Party is supposed to be the party of fiscal responsibility. If infrastructure is indeed the priority everyone says that it is – then why are we not budgeting for it every year instead of coming around every decade with a massive spending proposal that is funded by borrowing and tax increases?
The truth is we can’t budget for this every year because the state is saddled with debt from unpaid bills, excessive mandates, job-killing regulations, crushing pension and Medicaid burdens, and record setting numbers of government taxing bodies. Once we deal with these issues, then we will be able to properly get our funding priorities in line.
Instead, we hear career politicians opining about how courageous they are to take more of our hard-earned money to pay for their mismanagement and out of control spending. We are told that raising taxes is, “a tough but necessary vote.”
Raising taxes in Illinois is not courageous. It is just business as usual in Illinois.
Select Republicans may have curried temporary favor with the Springfield Special Interests with this vote, but it has come at the high cost of losing credibility with the middle-class taxpayers.
Speaker Madigan, Governor Pritzker and the special interests can chalk up a big win by getting some Republican leaders to recite their talking points and vote for another tax increase without specific and measurable reforms.
Once again, Democrats feast like Kings while “Republicans” are happy begging for the crumbs and the persecuted Illinois taxpayers take yet another uppercut to the gut.
We probably shouldn’t get all too worked up about this. It’s one of the oldest plays in the book. Scream about the taxes to appease the folks back home, then gleefully spend the money… to appease the folks back home.
I remember hearing Gov. George Ryan pitch a fit after he passed his Illinois FIRST plan about how then Rep. Jack Franks loudly spoke against the taxes to fund the $12 billion program but, he said, was the first guy in his office with his hand out for projects.
And the “We need to take care of all of our problems before we do infrastructure” argument is also as old as the hills. But if we waited to do that, our infrastructure would be in far worse shape than it is now. It’s been ten years since the last capital bill and every day we wait is another day the tab grows ever larger - exactly like the pension problem.
* But this letter is different than past blow-ups because the signatories are obviously targeting House GOP Leader Jim Durkin. They’re basically calling Durkin and the 19 other HGOPs who voted for the tax hikes sell-outs. We haven’t really seen that before.
I asked Rep. Wilhour whether they were calling for Durkin to step down. “Speaking for myself at the moment, the Leader Durkin issue is a 2020 deal,” he said.
Stay tuned.
…Adding… From the guy who spent hundreds of thousands of dollars to defeat Durkin in the 2018 GOP primary…
Are there any legislative Republicans in IL willing to take on the Bipartisan Combine (H/T @John_Kass)? Yes. There at least 8, but that's not going to be enough. https://t.co/wV0Mfxo7gi
*** UPDATE *** This almost seems like a direct response to the missive above…
On Friday, June 14 at 7:30 AM, State Representative Avery Bourne (R- Raymond) and other Illinois lawmakers will do a site visit to inspect infrastructure improvement work being done at the intersection of IL Route 4 and Divernon Road south of Auburn. The legislators will review the progress of the $4.68 million project and discuss the importance of Illinois’ renewed commitment to improving Illinois’ roads. The project site is part of a 6.3-mile section of road that is being improved on IL Route 4 from just south of IL 104 in Auburn to the Macoupin County line, and from the Sangamon County line to north of George Street in Virden.
State Senator Sue Rezin, a pro-life Republican from Morris, could soon decide if she plans to run to challenge House Democrat Lauren Underwood, a freshman incumbent, in the state’s 14th Congressional District.
Illinois Republican Party officials tried to recruit Rezin to run against 22-year veteran Senator Dick Durbin, the second ranking Democrat in the U.S. Senate, but Rezin said Wednesday she remains “fully committed to exploring a run for the 14th Congressional District.”
Other possible candidates showing interest in the seat include state senator Jim Oberwhttps://capitolfax.com/wp-admin/post.php?action=edit&post=42412eis and state representative Allen Skillicorn. Rezin said she is not surprised the primary race is “very crowded because it’s a seat we shouldn’t have lost.”
Rezin painted Underwood as out of step with a district that has been represented by a Republican for 76 of the last 80 years.
“She’s with the AOC group in Washington, D.C.,” Rezin said, referring to Underwood’s fellow freshman member of Congress and progressive firebrand Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a democratic socialist from New York. “They have a very progressive agenda that doesn’t match with the Midwest or the 14th District,” she said.
Finding a “real” Republican opponent for Sen. Durbin won’t be easy in this climate.
Freshman Rep. Anne Stava-Murray (D-Naperville), recently removed references to a potential Democratic US Senate primary against Durbin from her campaign Facebook page. Her ActBlue page only references the Illinois House. I’ve asked her about this a few times, but have yet to receive a response. I’ll let you know if she does get back to me.
Will County GOP Board Member Mike Fricilone announced a congressional bid Tuesday, a move that could prevent a repeat of 2018, when an admitted Holocaust denier, anti-Semite and white supremacist was the Republican 3rd District nominee.
Fricilone, 64, who lives in Homer Glen, is in his third term on the board, where he is the minority leader.
While four Democrats are running in the March 2020 Illinois primary in the Democratic-tilting district now represented by Rep. Dan Lipinski, D-Ill., Fricilone is the first Republican to launch a bid. […]
Fricilone, a furniture salesman at Midwest Office Interiors in Woodridge, said he was not recruited to run by GOP officials. “It was my idea.” […]
“He’s got a pretty big fight on his hands,” Fricilone said. “And I see Dan starting to move toward that liberal side of the Democratic Party in some of the messages I’m hearing out of him for fear of losing to the Democratic Socialist Progressive person,” who he did not name.
* ADDED: As she governs, Lightfoot kicks her political operation into high gear: In a series of little-noticed actions, the mayor has hired a continuing political team that will have a downtown office, begun exploring financial ways to pursue her agenda and raised well over $1 million since her election, with more fundraising yet to come.
Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker on June 6 signed a 2020 state budget that will cost $40.6 billion in general revenues, as much as $1.3 billion more than the state will bring in for the fiscal year that starts July 1.
The Illinois House and Senate passed the budget, Senate Bill 262, on bipartisan votes of 83-35 and 40-19. Despite public claims from both Republicans and Democrats, the 1,581-page spending plan is out of balance by between $574 million and $1.3 billion, depending on the optimism used in the revenue estimate.
Their “optimistic” baseline revenue forecast for Fiscal Year 2020 of $38.956 billion is only $120 million above the projected revenues for Fiscal Year 2019, after factoring in the new revenue enhancements. Seems to be a stretch.
The official revenue projection is $40.187 billion, which is $1.342 billion above the current fiscal year’s income. That FY20 projection includes $850 million in natural revenue growth, which is not specifically included in the Institute’s chart. [Actually, it is included.]
And their spending estimate of $40.6 billion is about $500 million higher than the official projection.
Gov. J.B. Pritzker signed into law Wednesday the Reproductive Health Act, which supporters said will guarantee abortion rights in Illinois should the U.S. Supreme Court overturn Roe v. Wade.
Surrounded by dozens of lawmakers and abortion rights advocates, Pritzker signed the controversial legislation that he said will ensure that Illinois is “going to be there for women if they have to be refugees from other states.” […]
Pritzker said the law simply codifies what was already case law in the state through a series of court decisions over the years.
However, pro-life groups that oppose the law said it goes far beyond that and have labeled the law “the nation’s most extreme abortion expansion.” The Susan B. Anthony List said the bill “is so radical (lawmakers) even went out of their way to repeal the state’s ban on barbaric partial-birth abortions. Americans of every political persuasion are appalled by these attempts to expand abortion on demand through the moment of birth and even infanticide …”
Illinois’ partial birth abortion ban was put on hold by a US Supreme Court justice in 1999. The full US Supreme Court, however, upheld the federal partial birth abortion law in 2007. So, it’s still banned in Illinois regardless of the RHA.
The signing ceremony took place in the Grand Army of the Republic Hall at the Chicago Cultural Center, with walls bearing lists of Civil War battles. Pritzker and lead sponsor state Rep. Kelly Cassidy of Chicago both emphasized how this too was a pivotal battle on women’s rights.
Citing how Illinois just this week celebrated its centennial in ratifying the 19th Amendment granting women the right to vote, Pritzker said, “Today, Illinois is making history again.
“When I became governor,” he added, “I promised Illinois would become a national leader in protecting reproductive rights. And with the signing of the Reproductive Health Act, I’m keeping that promise.” […]
Pritzker pointed to Georgia, Alabama, Ohio, Louisiana, Missouri, Mississippi, and Indiana, all of which have recently passed “near-complete bans on access to abortion,” he said, adding, “Abortion bans don’t ban abortion. They just endanger women — and none more than rural women, poor women, young women, and women of color. It’s wrong, and here in Illinois we reject it.”
Under the legislation, gone is a provision for spousal consent or waiting periods. And soon, the next target will be to end parental notifications to parents of minor children, all but assuring an increase in abortions.
Spousal notification was ruled unconstitutional back in 1992.
Parental notification’s future is still somewhat up in the air…
State Rep. Chris Welch (D-Hillside), who sponsored the House version of the repeal bill, HB 2467, also told The Daily Line that focusing on the RHA this year was about the time crunch lawmakers faced.
“As you know we ran into problems; [the two bills] got buried in committee,” Welch said. “As we were running out of time, we wanted to focus on the RHA because of everything that was going around across the country.”
But Welch said he’ll continue to push for the repeal of the parental notice law, possibly as soon as the Fall Veto Session, which begins during the last week of October.
This comes less than three weeks after Missouri Governor Mike Parson signed a law banning abortions after eight weeks of pregnancy and the state health department is looking at taking away a license to perform abortions from Planned Parenthood of St. Louis, citing medical deficiencies at the clinic.
New pro-life bills are being introduced, sponsored, and co-sponsored at the federal level by members of Congress, including US Senator Josh Hawley of Missouri.
“I support trying to protect life,” Hawley said. “I’ve always been 100 percent pro-life. That’s why in the Senate I’ve tried to do my part to introduce legislation already that would protect life, like the Infant Born Alive Act, which actually says that every baby born in the country should get the same medical care, even if that baby was the target…of an abortion.”
“There is a war against women, a war against bodily autonomy, and our opponents are using hateful, untrue and outright misogynistic rhetoric, which escalates daily and endangers women everywhere,” Cassidy said. “At our very doorstep, in 11 days, the people of Missouri will find out if they will lose the only clinic in their state and today, with the signing of this bill, we are building a firewall around Illinois to protect access to reproductive health care for everyone.”
Cassidy and Bush had another message — “elections matter.”
“When you elect women that are here to make a difference, that’s what they do and that’s what they did and I want to be clear. The freshmen women of the House, they really did move this bill,” Bush said. “Without their help, without their commitment, without their saying ‘Not on our watch;’ We ran when a president ran and told us it was OK to grab our body parts, and we’re saying ‘no more.’” […]
The Thomas More Society, Breen added, will mount a legal challenge to the new law.
He said he was most concerned about the removal of licensing requirements for abortion clinics, but pointed out the law also requires insurance companies that cover pregnancy-related benefits to cover abortion procedures and includes language specifying fetuses have no legal rights in the state.
Alabama’s governor is a woman. Just sayin…
Employers, like Catholic hospitals, can opt out of paying for abortion insurance coverage for employees under the state’s Health Care Right of Conscience Act.
An abortion rights package signed by Democratic Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker is causing political ripples nationally as anti-abortion Republicans showcase it in dozens of congressional districts that are expected to determine control of the U.S. House next year. […]
The national Republican party is describing the Illinois legislation as the handiwork of the “socialist Democrat death cult,” focusing particularly on the bill’s repeal of a dormant statutory ban on a late-term abortion procedure critics call “partial birth abortions.” […]
In Illinois, the U.S. House GOP’s political arm has targeted freshman U.S. Rep. Lauren Underwood, D-Ill., who last fall upset long-serving former GOP Rep. Randy Hultgren in her far west and northwest suburban congressional district. Also on the party’s hit list is U.S. Rep. Cheri Bustos, D-Ill., who is Emmer’s political counterpart as head of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. […]
In graphic terms, Emmer specifically singled out Bustos and her silence on the Illinois legislation.
“If she’s running the campaigns for Democrat House members across the country, what’s her message? Is she embracing this far left, extremist position that basically you can suck the brains out of a child that is viable right up until the time of natural birth and even after natural birth under certain circumstances, you can take the life of that child or you can choose not to support the life of that child?” he asked. “I think you do have to ask those questions because it is important to voters, and voters can make a choice.”
Meanwhile, the Thomas More Society, a Roman Catholic legal group, says it’ll be challenging the new law in court.
“We have now gone way beyond Roe v. Wade in terms of post-viability abortions,” said attorney and former Republican legislator Peter Breen. “It’ll now be A-B-C: abortion, bankruptcy and corruption in the state of Illinois.”
There have been 53 abortion restrictions enacted in the United States this year, according to the Guttmacher Institute, a research organization in support of abortion rights.
In Tennessee, Gov. Bill Lee in May signed a bill that would ban abortions in the state should the U.S. Constitution be changed or if Roe v. Wade is overturned. Louisiana, Mississippi, North Dakota and South Dakota have passed similar laws. […]
In Kentucky, lawmakers passed a “heartbeat” bill in March — banning abortions between six and eight weeks — but a temporary restraining order was issued by a federal judge.
* While I feel a bit better than I have in the past several days (upper respiratory infection moved into my lungs), I decided not to push it any more today.
This thingamabob kinda went haywire yesterday, but it seems to be working now. Follow along with ScribbleLive…
* I’ve tried watching Channel 20 news over the past few years and I could never make it through an entire broadcast. To me, it’s unwatchable. I didn’t even know who Joe Crain was until the recent uproar…
WICS-TV’s general manager said Monday the Springfield television station will change the phrase it uses to label early severe weather alerts.
Gone is “Code Red,” words that drew the ire of some viewers and prompted station meteorologist Joe Crain to use a morning on-air weather report last week to criticize the phrase, saying it is a “corporate initiative” that “doesn’t recognize that not all storms are equal.” Crain hasn’t been on the air since his comments, and his biography has been removed from the Channel 20 website.
In Code Red’s place now is the phrase “Weather Warn,” WICS general manager Rick Lipps said in a video posted to the station’s website.
“We firmly believe in the need to provide an early warning alert and will continue to provide this potentially lifesaving information, but we have come to understand that the words ‘Code Red’ may no longer be fitting,” Lipps said. “As such, we are changing the name of our early warning alert to ‘Weather Warn.’ In addition, we will continue to work to more precisely define the specific geographic areas of greatest concern.”
* The Question: Do you regularly watch local TV news? Take the poll and then explain your answer in comments, please.
A new poll commissioned by Ideas Illinois, a dark money group formed to fight a ballot question that would change Illinois’ flat income tax to a graduated tax, shows support for the idea is slipping, especially in a key central Illinois media market. […]
Ideas Illinois’ new poll, conducted by We Ask America on May 29 and May 30, found that support for a graduated income tax has fallen to 51 percent among likely voters — 8 percent below the minimum 60 percent threshold of voters needed to approve the measure. A similar poll in February had found a higher level of support — 59 percent — prior to a blitz of television advertising from both sides this spring as Pritzker rolled out his specific proposals surrounding a graduated tax.
The poll also found that opposition to a constitutional change to a graduated tax has risen slightly in the same time period
As more voters have heard from both sides — which featured Pritzker in ads from both Ideas Illinois and the pro-graduated tax group set up by a former Pritzker campaign staffer — Republicans registered the biggest drop in support for the concept of a graduated income tax. While 32 percent of self-identified Republicans supported a graduated tax in February, 21 percent of Republicans support the idea now, according to the poll.
The poll revealed support for the Pritzker tax plan has fallen “despite nearly $5 million in spending by (pro-amendment) Think Big Illinois.”
Why the decline in support?
We Ask America attributed the decline to Ideas Illinois’ attacks on what Pritzker calls a “fair tax.”
“Voters see right through it. While voters right now are seeing the Pritzker messaging, they also don’t like it,” the memo states.
Sampling from the Champaign/Springfield areas, where pro- and anti-tax television advertising has been heavy, found 46 percent “agreed that the constitutional amendment is ‘just a blank check for Springfield politicians to spend more and will hurt Illinois’ economy and force businesses to leave the state.’” The poll indicated 32 percent of respondents disagreed with that statement.
The harder the critics hit that idea, We Ask America concluded, the more opposition there will be to the proposed amendment.
Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker said opponents of the proposed graduated income tax plan are intentionally misleading voters who will ultimately decide its fate in November 2020.
“I think opponents of the fair tax certainly are trying to muddy the waters trying to come up with words to make it seem like something it’s not,” Pritzker said Thursday morning in a meeting with the Daily Herald editorial board. “The most recent silliness was a ‘blank check jobs tax,’ which I’m not sure I understand. It really is a crazy notion that they’re putting forward and an untrue notion.”
That phrase was used by former Illinois Manufacturers’ Association President Greg Baise, whose Ideas Illinois opposes the graduated tax and says it will push jobs out of state.
A near majority (46%) agree that the constitutional amendment is “just a blank check for Springfield politicians to spend more and will hurt Illinois’ economy and force businesses to leave the state,” with 32% disagreeing. While 74% of Republicans agree with that assertion, just 25% of Democrats do, but among Independents, 46% agree versus 33% who disagree.
The key here is to persuade Republicans that this is a Democratic trick and to pull away enough indies to deprive the governor of a win.
* However, a big Democratic turnout in a presidential year could allow the proponents to take advantage of this highlighted constitutional provision…
A proposed amendment shall become effective as the amendment provides if approved by either three-fifths of those voting on the question or a majority of those voting in the election.
* Since 2010, the dropoff rate (those who took ballots compared to those who voted on the proposed constitutional amendment) has ranged from 8.1 to 17.15 percent. Here’s Scott Kennedy’s chart on the percentage needed to pass compared to the dropoff rate…
…Adding… Think Big Illinois Executive Director Quentin Fulks…
After trying and failing to prevent voters from having a say at the ballot box on the fair tax, opponents are now even more desperate to defend the current unfair tax system. This is nothing more than political posturing – Illinoisans want a tax system that works for everyone, not just the wealthy few. As voters continue to learn the truth about the fair tax, Think Big Illinois is confident they’ll vote for it next November.
Also, Idea Illinois’ memo about reaching 60 percent is here.
Pickleball courts, dog parks and grants for an arts program led by House Speaker Michael Madigan’s wife are on a lengthy list of lawmakers’ pet projects paid for by a massive gambling expansion and tax hikes on smoking and parking.
The pork barrel bonanza comes courtesy of Democratic Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s $45 billion construction program that lawmakers approved as the spring legislative session spilled into overtime last weekend. It’s a signature away from becoming law. […]
Standing to benefit is pickleball, a fledgling sport that’s part tennis, part badminton and part pingpong. Democratic Sen. Terry Link of Vernon Hills tucked in $100,000 for the Buffalo Grove Park District for pickleball courts and other renovations.
The Park District plans to seal coat eight new courts at Mike Rylko Community Park because the paddle sport has “really taken off,” said Ryan Risinger, the district’s executive director. The new courts would replace rarely used sand volleyball courts, he said.
There’s also $20,000 for pickleball courts at Gwendolyn Brooks Park in Chicago’s North Kenwood neighborhood. Freshman Democratic Sen. Robert Peters said the court provides “first touches” for people in his district, saying he made choices based on local experts and community leaders who saw the need to upgrade broken and rusted equipment.
“I hope people understand why kids feel like they can’t even be in their own neighborhoods right now — if the park isn’t even safe in its structure,” Peters said. “Growing up on the South Side, the park was where I would go when I couldn’t go home. It’s its own shelter in a time of need.”
The $120,000 total listed above is 0.00027% (two-point-seven ten-thousandths of one percent) of the new infrastructure bill. And even that microcosmic percentage is way too high because the Buffalo Grove Park District appropriation isn’t solely for pickleball…
The sum of $100,000, or so much thereof as may be necessary, is appropriated from the Build Illinois Bond Fund to the Buffalo Grove Park District for costs associated with the arts center renovations, pool repairs, ADA compliant ball field construction, playground renovation, and a pickleball court.
Build Illinois is from the George Ryan Jim Thompson era, by the way.
* State capital bills routinely help fund local park projects. But, hey, cherry-picking an odd-sounding newish “sport” can be a useful tool to persuade the masses that the rest of their tax dollars are being misspent. Hey, they could very well be right, but a little context might be in order. Here’s the Tribune editorial board to close…
Illinois taxpayers deserve more accountability from their elected leaders. This bill should have been downsized significantly. It wasn’t.
* Revenues are up, but net spending increases appear to be held to a minimum at first glance…
Healthcare expenditures appear to decrease because of the tax on managed care companies…
In the enacted budget, about $500 million of the total taxes paid by managed care organizations (MCOs) will be used in place of General Funds revenues
The state also paid off its Pat Quinn-era pension bond earlier this fiscal year, freeing up more than $600 million in base spending.
Those reductions allowed net General Funds expenditures to rise by just $766 million, or 1.9 percent, even though spending actually rose much higher than that.
The state’s pension funding laws, set up nearly 25 years ago by the General Assembly and then-Gov. Jim Edgar, require the state to pay $9 billion* to Illinois’ five state-run pensions in 2020. “We are paying the full payment that is required under the ramp that was put in place in 1995, the statutory required payment,” Pritzker said when he signed the budget.
But what Pritzker ignores is the amount the state’s own actuaries say is required to properly fund Illinois’ pensions in 2020, an amount that exceeds $13 billion. That’s a total shortfall of $4 billion.
That’s true, but that’s the Edgar ramp. We’ll eventually get to the top. Until then, it won’t be pretty or cheap and folks will scream bloody murder.
Despite these steps, [Comptroller Susana Mendoza] said it’s important to “remain grounded” and focused on paying down Illinois’ outsized bill backlog, which sits between $6 billion and $7 billion.
“We have $6.6 billion worth of bills that have not been paid yet, which means that we still owe that money; those are real liabilities that have been incurred,” she said. “But this is by far, by far, the closest thing that we’ve seen to a balanced budget in probably over a decade.”
That number sits at $6.4 billion today. The state gets to a 30-day payment cycle at somewhere around $3 billion. There’s $1.2 billion in bonding authorization in the budget to pay off some of that debt in order to reduce borrowing costs. Illinois didn’t get into this mess overnight and it won’t get out of it overnight either.
When J.B. Pritzker took over as the governor of Illinois this year, Democratic lawmakers, who had spent four years at an impasse with his Republican predecessor, vowed that their party’s new grip on the State Capitol would bring immediate change.
The pace has been startling. In recent months, Illinois legislators have moved sharply to the left, deeming abortion a fundamental right for women no matter what the Supreme Court might decide, raising the minimum wage, taking steps to legalize recreational marijuana and introducing a graduated income tax.
Some 700 miles to the south, the Alabama State Capitol, dominated by Republicans, has raced in the opposite direction.
Alabama lawmakers voted during this term to ban most abortions. They eliminated marriage licenses, so that probate judges opposed to same-sex marriage would not have to sign marriage certificates. And they approved requiring sex offenders who commit crimes involving children to undergo chemical castration at their own expense.
This year’s [Alabama] legislative session started with the gasoline tax for roads clearly established as the top priority for leaders in the Republican-controlled Legislature and Gov. Kay Ivey. The legislation quickly passed with bipartisan support during a special session Ivey called to focus on the issue.
The tax on gasoline and diesel will increase by 6 cents a gallon after Aug. 31 and by 2 cents each of the next two years. The 10-cent increase is projected to raise more than $300 million a year for roads. The state gas tax was last raised in 1992. Advocates for the increase said the state could not build and maintain a road system to handle traffic volume and economic demands without more revenue.
Leaders from both parties joined the governor for a ceremony to sign the bill that Ivey called historic.
There are more questions than answers when it comes to where a Chicago casino will land — and a revamped Illinois Gaming Board will be wading into uncharted territory in taking up the biggest gambling expansion the state has ever seen.
Although the measure passed by the Illinois General Assembly hasn’t yet been signed by Gov. J.B. Pritzker, there are plans to make changes to the Illinois Gaming Board to make the board more “pro-gaming,” according to state Sen. Terry Link, D-Vernon Hills, who sponsored the gambling legislation and has worked to expand gaming in the state for years.
“You’re going to see changes rapidly,” Link said of the board tasked with regulating six new casinos, including a privately owned one in Chicago.
With one vacancy, the Gaming Board is likely to grow to five members. And Pritzker is expected to name a new [chairman] next month to replace Don Tracy, an appointee of former Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner.
You don’t want an “anti-gaming” Gaming Board, which was partly why video gaming legalization took so long to implement. But a “pro-gaming” Gaming Board could open a different can of worms.
* Mr. Kass somehow managed to pack more sputtering vitriol than usual into this one. One notable example…
All that spending comes with no structural reforms whatsoever in return. But that hasn’t stopped Gov. Big Boy and Boss Madigan and even a few quisling Republicans are bragging about the historic nature of their deal.
He goes on to identify those quislings as the Republican legislative leaders.
Vidkun Quisling was a Norwegian army officer who in 1933 founded Norway’s fascist party. In December 1939, he met with Adolf Hitler and urged him to occupy Norway. Following the German invasion of April 1940, Quisling served as a figurehead in the puppet government set up by the German occupation forces, and his linguistic fate was sealed.
Work cooperatively for the betterment of the state, get called a Hitler lover by an editorial board member at the state’s largest newspaper.
Keep that in mind the next time the paper complains about candidates refusing editorial board interviews.
…Adding… Here’s some of what those horrible traitors did this spring…
* In response to #MeToo, state lawmakers approved sweeping legislation to fight sexual harassment in Illinois: “Hopefully, it will change not only the behavior in Springfield, but across the state in the workplace,” said Rezin, a Morris Republican. “If I heard of someone being harassed, I would bring it to the attention of superiors. The complaint seemed to go no further. Now, at least, the individual can file a complaint in a confidential manner and an independent inspector general will investigate their claim. That’s so important.”
* Editorial: Speaking as one is how you get stuff done: Rockford’s wins went beyond the big four — casino, video gaming fees, airport and rail. There were other “really amazing things,” McNamara said. There was more money for Rockford University, Rock Valley College, RAMP and the Boys & Girls Clubs. Rockford Mass Transit District did well and there was $250,000 for the Rockford Art Museum. Not Rockford specific, but sure to help the city, there were increases in funding to fight sexual assault, fight domestic violence and improve early childhood education to name just three.
* SIUC Chancellor Dunn: State budget brings good news for SIU: The budget for the 2020 fiscal year includes a 5 percent increase in general operating funding for each institution plus increases in funding for MAP grants, the Illinois AIM High program and more. When added together, the increases total 8.2 percent, reflecting the largest percentage increase for higher education since 1990. The budget also includes increases for capital projects.
* Pritzker’s Nearly $45B Capital Plan Is Way Better for Transportation Than Expected: The bill also includes longterm, sustainable funding for public transportation, with transit receiving $4.7 billion over the first six years and $281 million for each year afterwards. That represents 23 percent of the total transportation spending, or about twice as much as was indicated in the initial proposal.
* From road repairs to transit expansions, $33 billion in capital bill will have ‘monumental’ impact: One big difference in the funding bill passed last weekend compared with previous capital bills is that it not only provides a one-time infusion of funding through bond sales but also sustainable funding for projects, repairs and new equipment over time. Transportation funding is being mostly paid for through a doubling of the state’s 19-cent-per gallon motor fuel tax, starting July 1. The gas tax, last raised in 1990, will be indexed to future inflation increases. One of the most significant road projects funded in the bill is the I-80 expansion, which will get $1 billion. According to Illinois Department of Transportation spokesman Guy Tridgell, the project will include replacing two of the state’s most dilapidated bridges, which cross the Des Plaines River in Joliet.
* Illinois doubles fuel tax rates, nixes despised truck fee: One more provision in the bill will end collection of the commercial distribution fee. The Illinois Trucking Association, Midwest Truckers Association, and the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association have long pushed to get the fee eliminated.
* Pritzker after Legislature adjourns: ‘Illinois is back’: Advocates for the nursing home industry say the added funding will help stem a tide of 20-plus skilled- and intermediate-care facility closures that occurred over the past five years due to crippling budget cuts and decades-old Medicaid reimbursement rates. “This money means survival,” said Pat Comstock, executive director of the nursing home advocacy group Health Care Council of Illinois. “Our members are thrilled, but they’re also relieved because these dollars are going to provide some much needed relief from the struggles to survive that members are experiencing.”
* Tom Kacich: Capital program full of benefits for area: The capital bill the Legislature approved means $100 million for construction of a math, statistics and data science center at the University of Illinois-Urbana; $195 million for other unspecified improvements at the UI; $118 million for a new science building at Eastern Illinois University; $2.2 million for renovation of a clock tower center and ornamental horticulture facility at Danville Area Community College; and $100 million for unspecified passenger rail improvements on the Chicago to Carbondale Amtrak route.
I was a government major at Georgetown, and I don’t think I learned one thing in class that helped me at all in the last 20 years. What I’ve said to so many students is, “If you really think this is what you want to do, you’ve got to work on a campaign, you need to work for an elected official. Because you’re not going to learn it in a classroom.”
If you talk to the Statehouse old-timers, they’ll tell you they haven’t seen such a productive spring legislative session since Gov. Jim Thompson’s days.
I think it’s probably safe to say that Gov. J.B. Pritzker cleared even that high historical bar this year, mainly because he had friendly Democratic super-majorities in both chambers. The Republican Thompson had to deal with a Democratic-controlled Legislature for almost all of his tenure.
Thompson, a master schmoozer and cajoler, didn’t try tackling nearly as many huge, generational changes all at once like Pritzker did in his first session. And even with Pritzker’s supermajorities, passing bills like almost doubling the minimum wage, changing the state Constitution to allow for a progressive income tax, rewriting almost all of the state’s abortion laws and legalizing recreational cannabis were seriously heavy-duty lifts.
On the afternoon of Friday, May 31, the last scheduled day of session, House Speaker Michael Madigan announced that the House could not possibly adjourn by the end of the day and would be in overtime session at least throughout the weekend. That meant all the tax and fee hikes and the gaming expansion to fund the massive $45 billion infrastructure bill would need three-fifths majorities, and everybody knew there was no way Madigan would take the political risk of putting 71 of his 74 members on those bills. Republicans, therefore, would be needed.
The rookie governor claims he didn’t panic, saying he “knew there was a path to dealing with all of it.”
”Going from a 60-vote requirement to a 71-vote requirement, having just gone through the ‘Fair Tax’ amendment, felt like a high bar, but I also knew that there was a path,” Pritzker said during a phone interview.
”Yeah, the odds have gone down of getting everything done, but there’s a path,” Pritzker said he felt at the time.
Asked at what moment he felt like everything would be OK, Pritzker pointed to House Republican Leader Jim Durkin’s demands later that Friday for pro-business legislation in exchange for his caucus’ support. Pritzker said he felt that “several” of Durkin’s proposals, which were developed by business groups “were relatively easy for us to come to an understanding about” because, the governor said, he agreed with them.
Pritzker inherited much of his money, but he has been involved in business most of his life. When Durkin broached the subject of repealing the state’s franchise tax, Pritzker said he quickly agreed. The franchise tax, which is essentially a tax levied for the privilege of doing business in Illinois, has been a bane to business groups forever. And Pritzker said he looked at it and decided “it didn’t need to be there, for small business especially.”
Gov. Thompson was endorsed by both the Illinois Chamber of Commerce and the Illinois AFL-CIO when he sought his fourth and final term. Pritzker’s steep minimum wage hike, the graduated income tax and the dozens of pro-labor bills he’ll be signing in the coming weeks makes a repeat of that feat impossible. But there is no doubt that business lobbyists were pleasantly surprised by the session’s final days.
Pritzker also revealed to me that he began studying “Big Jim” Thompson’s tenure before taking office.
”It was important to me after I won the election to figure out what are the models out there for governing that have been effective and fit with who I am,” Pritzker said.
”Certainly, lots of people pointed to Jim Thompson,” Pritzker said, unprompted, of the former Republican governor. “Thompson was somebody who could talk to anybody (and) they would talk to him. He would go to the floor and speak with legislators. He had people go to the mansion to negotiate, to discuss and sometimes have a drink with. There was just a lot of bipartisan, across the aisle dialogue. That kind of leadership fits with who I am and my own background and people that I’ve worked with over the years.”
Thompson was, indeed, a talented governor who got a lot done. Sometimes, though, the things he got done came back to bite his state in its collective rear. Thompson’s annual three percent compounded pension payment increase for public retirees has forced the state to spend tens of billions of dollars, while exempting retirement income from state taxation dried up untold billions more from an important and growing revenue source.
So, just a cautionary note to our new governor that just because you can pass a bill doesn’t always mean that you should.
