* While residential property taxes are relatively low in Chicago, the city nickels and dimes you to death with fees and fines, partly designed to keep those property taxes relatively low…
Mayor Lori Lightfoot on Tuesday made no apologies for her methodical approach to an intractable problem: Chicago’s “addiction” to balancing its budget on the backs of those who can least afford it.
Lightfoot campaigned on a promise to bring equity to an overly punitive ticketing, towing and booting policy that has unfairly targeted minorities and forced thousands into bankruptcy.
She promised to raise the boot threshold, stop booting for non-moving violations and eliminate a hefty chunk of red light cameras at 149 intersections if those cameras were placed there to raise revenue — not increase safety.
She even promised to abolish city stickers that are the source of so many compliance tickets and replace them with higher fees on ride-hailing vehicles.
Compared to those lofty promises, the solutions Lightfoot is delivering seem somewhat timid. She’s ending driver’s license suspensions for non-moving violations, reducing exorbitant city sticker penalties, creating a six-month, universal payment plan and empowering booted scofflaws to request a 24-hour extension to pay their fines in full or get on a payment plan.
* Ending the practice of suspending driver’s licenses for non-moving violations.
* Reinstating the 15-day grace period to renew a city vehicle sticker before issuing a ticket.
* No longer doubling the $200 fine for not renewing a city vehicle sticker; the city currently doubles fines after 83 days.
* Halting the practice of issuing multiple tickets on the same day or consecutive days for vehicle sticker violations.
* Creating a six-month ticket payment plan open to every driver with unpaid fines, and granting more time to motorists facing financial hardship.
* Allowing drivers whose cars have been booted for unpaid fines a 24-hour extension to either pay their fines in full or enter into a payment plan before their car is towed to the pound.
* The Question: What’s the most annoying local fine or fee you’ve had to pay? Explain.
Home sales prices across the state and in the greater Peoria and Bloomington areas plunged in June. That’s according to Illinois Realtors.
The trade group says the Peoria metropolitan area recorded 504 sales in June, 14 percent less than a year ago. The median sales price jumped nearly five-percent from May to $133,450. The Peoria Metropolitan Statistical Area includes Peoria, Woodford, Tazewell and Marshall counties.
The Bloomington metropolitan statistical area’s June sales dropped 21.2 percent to 268. The month-over-month median sales price pushed 3.4 percent higher to $164,250. […]
Only a third of Illinois counties recorded June sales gains. The Moline-Rock Island and Springfield areas posted the strongest numbers. The Decatur and Bloomington regions were among the worst performers.
With a double-digit plunge in home sales in June, the Chicago area’s housing market reached its 12 consecutive month of declines.
In Chicago, 2,766 homes sold in June, 13.3 percent below June 2018, according to data released by Illinois Realtors, the statewide trade group.
In the nine-county metropolitan area, 12,002 homes sold, down 11.6 percent from a year earlier.
The local declines were far steeper than the national dip. Nationwide, home sales fell 2.2 percent in June from a year ago, according to data released separately by the National Association of Realtors.
Speaking of the national dip, NAR’s chief economist, Lawrence Yun, said in comments released with the national data that “Either a strong pent-up demand will show in the upcoming months, or there is a lack of confidence that is keeping buyers from this major expenditure.” He said it’s “too soon to know how much of a pullback” is related to the reduction of homeowners’ property tax deductions in last year’s tax reform package.
“The market choppiness that we have seen throughout the year continued in June, with home sales once again lagging previous-year numbers and sellers struggling to provide the number of homes consumers want,” said Ed Neaves, president-elect of Illinois REALTORS® and managing broker of Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Snyder Real Estate in Bloomington. “The good news for consumers is that median prices are not appreciating nearly as fast as they have in years past, so for the truly dedicated house-hunter there is opportunity.”
The time it took to sell a home in June averaged 45 days, the same as a year ago. Available inventory totaled 58,376 homes for sale, a 4.1 percent decline from 60,898 homes in June 2018. […]
“Housing affordability is being discussed once again as a contributor to sales declines that are once again lower than those recorded last year for the same month,” said Geoffrey J.D. Hewings, director of the Regional Economics Applications Laboratory at the University of Illinois. “Price increases in Chicago and Illinois last month were barely positive and the increase in apartment rentals and declines in consumer sentiment indices suggest that many potential home buyers are sitting on the sidelines, no doubt influenced by concerns about trade conflicts and the future growth of the economy.” […]
“We can’t escape the topic of tax increases right now, and prospective buyers are paying attention,” said Tommy Choi, president of the Chicago Association of REALTORS® and broker at Keller Williams Chicago – Lincoln Park. “High assessments in the north, and tax increases expected in 2021, has made some leery. Still, the summer proves to be an active time for the Chicago housing market. For buyers, rates remain low and market time and inventory has increased, meaning there is more choice and more time to make key decisions. For sellers, prices remain relatively steady, and pricing appropriately is key.”
Statewide home sales (including single-family homes and condominiums) in May totaled 17,034 homes sold, down 1.3 percent from 17,256 in May 2018. […]
“The housing market is showing clear signs of strengthening as we enter the summer months,” said Ed Neaves, president-elect of Illinois REALTORS® and managing broker of Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Snyder Real Estate in Bloomington. “The data suggest healthy buyer demand remains a fixture this year, while at the same time home sellers are still poised to make a modest profit.”
Both of Illinois’ Democratic senators on Wednesday joined the list of lawmakers calling on U.S. Sen. Al Franken to quit.
In a tweet Wednesday, U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin, the No. 2 Democrat in the chamber, said, “Senator Franken’s behavior was wrong. He has admitted to what he did. He should resign from the Senate.”
* I asked Sen. Durbin’s office for comment yesterday and again today and didn’t hear back until they sent me this link to a Washington Post story…
“I certainly would have said that we should turn to due process,” Durbin told The Washington Post. “He deserved his day before the Ethics Committee, and his accuser the same. I think that would’ve been a more thoughtful outcome.”
When asked whether he would not have called for Franken to resign that day, Durbin responded: “With the assurance that there would’ve been a timely hearing and due process, I would’ve held back.” […]
Now, Durbin said Senate Democrats rushed to judgment on Franken, saying senators were “pressed to make a quick decision and unfortunately did it at the expense of due process.”
He also acknowledged that a controversy involving then-Alabama GOP Senate candidate Roy Moore, who faced multiple allegations of sexual misconduct with teenage girls in the 1970s, was one factor in the Democrats’ swift decision to push out Franken.
“You’ve got to put it in that context,” Durbin said. “I mean, it was a political context of Roy Moore. The accusations were very, very serious against him, much more so than the serious allegations against Al. But I think that was definitely part of the context.”
Franken asked to meet with [Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer], who suggested talking at his apartment in downtown D.C., in order to avoid the press. “It was like a scene out of a movie,” Franken recalled. Schumer sat on the edge of his bed while Franken and his wife, who had come to lend moral support, pleaded for more time. According to Franken, Schumer told him to quit by 5 p.m.; otherwise, he would instruct the entire Democratic caucus to demand Franken’s resignation. Schumer’s spokesperson denied that Schumer had threatened to organize the rest of the caucus against Franken. But he confirmed that Schumer told Franken that he needed to announce his resignation by five o’clock. Schumer also said that if Franken stayed he could be censured and stripped of committee assignments.
“I couldn’t believe it,” Franken told me. “I asked him for due process and he said no.”
By the end of the day, thirty-six Democratic senators had publicly demanded Franken’s resignation, including Schumer, who had known Franken since they had overlapped at Harvard.
Illinois House Republican Leader Jim Durkin (R-Western Springs), state Rep. Deanne Mazzochi (R-Elmhurst), and state Sen. John Curran (R-Downers Grove) today filed an amicus brief in the Circuit Court of the Eighteenth Judicial Circuit in response to the proposed consent order that will allow for the re-opening of the Sterigenics facility in Willowbrook.
“Sterigenics has lost the right to operate in our community,” said Durkin. “This brief lays out the steps taken by the General Assembly, through The Matt Haller Act, to ensure corporate polluters like Sterigenics can’t harm any more of our state’s residents.”
“The Matt Haller Act’s language was specifically crafted to allow Illinois EPA to keep Sterigenics shut down based on its prior Seal Order findings, and the Illinois Attorney General’s assumption Sterigenics can meet the narrow limited exceptions given the added new compliance standards is premature and unfounded,” said Mazzochi. “At this time neither Sterigenics nor the Illinois EPA have shown Sterigenics can or will meet The Matt Haller Act standards, and until they do, they should remain shut down.”
The brief provides the court with additional background regarding the language in, and the intent of, The Matt Haller Act to show that the legislature appropriately addressed the issue of ethylene oxide in Illinois and that any attempts to circumvent the law are misguided and a misinterpretation of the law.
The amicus brief is here. I’ve asked the governor’s and the attorney general’s people for comment.
In light of recent developments regarding the potential re-opening of the Sterigenics facility in Willowbrook, Illinois, U.S. Senators Dick Durbin (D-IL) and Tammy Duckworth (D-IL), and U.S. Representatives Sean Casten (D-IL-06), Dan Lipinski (D-IL-03), Bill Foster (D-IL-11), and Brad Schneider (D-IL-10) today urged the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to set new, strict national standards for facilities emitting ethylene oxide (EtO) as soon as possible. The members also requested that a timeline of events, along with a status of progress, be shared publicly to reassure neighboring communities that the EPA is working to mitigate the cancer risk associated with prolonged EtO exposure. They also pushed EPA to conduct ambient air monitoring in Lake County where two EtO emitting facilities operate.
“The EPA is taking too long to move forward with an action to protect communities surrounding ethylene oxide facilities,” the members wrote in a letter to EPA Administrator Wheeler. “Even after elevated levels of EtO emissions have been found around the facilities in Willowbrook and Lake County, the EPA has been slow to respond to this public health crisis.”
*** UPDATE 2 *** Governor’s office…
The Legislators’ amicus brief reflects a fundamental misstatement of the new state law which they drafted and sponsored. The consent order not only explicitly requires the company to comply with the new law but actually includes provisions that are more stringent than the law by imposing additional conditions on Sterigenics to protect the community. Without the consent order, Sterigenics would fight to reopen even before the strongest ethylene oxide sterilization regulations in the nation take effect.
From the consent order…
This Consent Order in no way affects the responsibilities of Defendant to comply with any other federal, state or local laws or regulations, including but not limited to the Act and the Board regulations.
And, I’m told, the judge in the case and the attorney for Willowbrook and Burr Ridge acknowledged in court last week that the statute allows Sterigenics to operate if they comply with the state’s new law.
…Adding… The transcript of that proceeding is here.
*** UPDATE 3 *** AG Raoul…
When my office partnered with DuPage County State’s Attorney Bob Berlin to file a lawsuit against Sterigenics, we called on the state’s lawmaking body – the General Assembly – to pass legislation to ban or greatly restrict the use of ethylene oxide in Illinois.
The Illinois EPA issued a seal order that our office has vigorously defended, ensuring the order remained in place to prevent operations while the General Assembly enacted stricter standards for ethylene oxide facilities in Illinois. The Legislature passed, and Gov. Pritzker signed, stringent regulations requiring facilities that generate ethylene oxide emissions to reduce emissions from each exhaust point by 99.9 percent. Under the law, facilities – including Sterigenics – that comply with the new law can operate in the state of Illinois.
The law passed just this spring by Leader Durkin, Sen. Curran and Rep. Mazzochi does include the strongest regulations of ethylene oxide emissions in the nation. However, it does not ban the use of ethylene oxide in Illinois.
Nothing in the proposed consent order filed last week allows Sterigenics to reopen unless and until Sterigenics can demonstrate compliance with the law, as recently passed by the Legislature.
The Trump administration on Tuesday proposed tightening automatic eligibility requirements for the food stamp program, a change that could affect about 3.1 million people.
The Agriculture Department said the rule would close “a loophole” that enables people receiving only minimal benefits from the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program to be eligible automatically for food stamps.
“For too long, this loophole has been used to effectively bypass important eligibility guidelines. Too often, states have misused this flexibility without restraint,” Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue said in a statement. […]
Under the proposal, to qualify for automatic eligibility, people would have to get at least $50 a month in benefits from TANF for a minimum of six months.
* I asked the governor’s office for a response. Here’s Jordan Abudayyeh…
The governor believes SNAP is an important tool that families across Illinois need to build better lives. The Trump administration is attempting to change rules around SNAP so less people will have access to the assistance they need and that’s just wrong. In Illinois, we believe in lifting up our neighbors so everyone has the opportunity to thrive. The Pritzker administration will tell the federal government that this rule change will hurt families across our state and urge them to reconsider the change.
In Jackson County, nearly 12,000 people benefit from a federal anti-hunger program that helps families buy groceries.
Lauren Stoelzle is among them.
Without the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits, Stoelzle said she’s not sure how she would be able to juggle completing her master’s thesis, raising two little girls as a single parent, part-time work as a bartender, job searching and helping her father, who has been diagnosed with colon cancer, make it to and from appointments at the Marion VA. […]
Almost 40% of Alexander County’s residents, and 30% of Pulaski County residents, receive SNAP benefits, commonly known as food stamps. In Jackson, Williamson, Union and Gallatin counties, about one in five people receive them. And in Saline, Franklin and Hardin, its about one in four, according to U.S. Census data analyzed by the Daily Yonder, a publication of the Center for Rural Strategies, a nonprofit with offices in Tennessee and Kentucky that is focused on rural issues.
A Muslim civil rights organization called on Democratic Gov. J.B. Pritzker to sign an executive order cracking down on hate speech by elected officials after a faux movie poster labeling four Democratic congresswomen “The Jihad Squad” was posted on the Facebook page of a statewide Republican organization.
“It’s not about one meme that brings us here today,” Ahmed Rehab, executive director of the Chicago chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations said Monday at a news conferences at CAIR-Chicago’s Loop headquarters. “It’s about a culture that exists within the Republican Party, unfortunately, and really that exists in the political fabric in America today. And it is problematic and poisonous.” […]
CAIR-Chicago has not yet reached out to the Pritzker administration about its idea for an executive order, said Maaria Mozaffar, the organization’s legislative attorney. […]
The governor’s office declined to comment on CAIR’s request. It’s unclear whether it would be within Pritzker’s authority to issue an executive order addressing hate speech by elected officials.
Huh? There’s nothing “unclear” about it. The governor has no such power to issue an order about anything outside of his direct control. Read the Illinois Constitution, for crying out loud.
The governor can order agencies and state employees under his command to do certain things (like cancel a concert). But he most certainly can’t officially order a political party, or a candidate, or a legislator or another constitutional officer (like, for instance, the auditor general) to do anything. And the Illinois State Board of Elections is also beyond his direct reach. By the way, he also can’t shut down a manufacturing plant by fiat (no, not even Sterigenics). He has to follow the laws on the books.
And I doubt anyone who thought about it for more than a few seconds would ever want an executive - any executive - to have such massive authority.
* Racism has poisoned and divided our country for centuries. And instead of trying to work our way through it, far too many people today appear to prefer rejoicing in it. That’s just disgusting behavior, particularly when some of our supposed leaders either encourage it or turn a blind eye (which is just another form of encouragement).
But handing dictatorial powers to a governor would be disastrous.
* The House Democrats posted two pics on Friday. We had some fun with one of them yesterday, but here’s the other…
* Related…
* McQueary: The feds’ surgical strike against Speaker Madigan’s allies: It’s tricky ground. Horse-trading in politics is legal — I’ll vote for your bill if you vote for mine — so long as it doesn’t depend on personal or financial gain. But elected officials can’t use the public’s business to benefit themselves, their friends or their families.
* The SJ-R has a story up about the new Firearm Dealer License Certification Act. I’m a gun owner, but I’ve never been to this particular shop because they have (or had) a “no reporters allowed” policy posted at their entrance…
Reached Thursday by phone, a representative from Birds ’N Brooks Army Navy Surplus in Springfield confirmed the store is “out of the gun business and it was due to the gun license law.”
* One reason for the new law was to require gun dealers to increase their security procedures. Birds ’N Brooks apparently had a problem with that issue back in the aughts…
Police arrested the prime suspect this morning in Monday’s fatal shooting of a statehouse security guard. […]
Law enforcement suspects the shooter may have attempted to steal a 12-gauge shotgun from Birds ‘N Brooks Army Navy Surplus on South 6th Street, one hour before the Statehouse killing.
The store owner identified Monday’s robber as the same man who stole a 12-gauge shotgun last week, Burton reported.
Lt. Doug Williamson of the Springfield Police Department confirmed that the shotgun found in Potts’ apartment was the one stolen from the surplus store.
Maybe the State Journal-Register could’ve searched its own archives before running today’s piece.
Bill Oglesby, a fourth-generation gunmaker and gun dealer in Springfield, had choice words last week for the Illinois State Police website that wouldn’t accept his application. Promised return phone calls haven’t materialized, he said.
“We tried to meet the deadline and (this happens),” Oglesby said. “What’s a guy supposed to do? We believe in obeying the law.
“There are no administrative rules.”
“Give us clear rules,” Dale said. “I’m a rule follower.”
That’s probably the most valid point. The ISP is definitely understaffed and overwhelmed and the compliance deadlines were very tight.
* Governing Magazine rates the rookie governors. Ours came out on top…
THRIVING
Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker (D)
Pritzker took over following the contentious single term of GOP Gov. Bruce Rauner, which featured ideological warfare and budgetary paralysis. The Democrat has been able to make the most of his party’s solid majorities in the legislature and successfully work with Republicans to strike bipartisan deals.
Pritzker’s legislative achievements fall in two areas: progress toward fiscal stability and a shift to the left on social issues.
On fiscal policy, bipartisan negotiations produced a budget that provides full funding for a new K-12 school formula, increases money for early childhood education, and modestly boosts spending for higher education and public safety. Pritzker enacted a transportation capital plan funded by increased gas taxes, as well as an education and public facilities capital plan that is funded by higher taxes on gambling and cigarettes. And the legislature placed on the 2020 ballot a Pritzker-backed measure to move the state income tax from flat to graduated.
In addition, Pritzker reached a four-year contract agreement with the public employee labor union, AFSCME, ending a standoff that had begun four years earlier under Rauner.
On other issues, the Democrat enacted a broadly liberal agenda that included a $15 minimum wage, an assurance that abortion will remain legal, heightened oversight of gun shops and legalization of recreational marijuana.
He had quite the session, no doubt. We’ll see if he can make his agencies function properly. That’s still to be determined.
The Illinois Department of Children and Family Services is facing new scrutiny.
The Cook County Public Guardian is accusing the agency of forcing children to sleep on the floor because of a shortage of beds. Charles Golbert says he knows of seven such children who have been forced to sleep on a cold floor, and after trying to go through the proper legal channels to get DCFS to open their records, he is taking his case to court.
It was a heartbreaking report as told by Golbert, who describes children as young as five being forced to sleep on an office room floor right after being removed from their homes.
He believes it is because of recent changes with DCFS, that they did a little restructuring of their space, reducing the number of shelter beds by 500 in the last five years.
“Just this year, DCFS converted one floor of its shelter for other purposes what formerly had been shelter beds,” Golbert said.
* About an hour later, legislators began receiving this inquiry from one of Proft’s papers…
Hello
This is Hoang again, assignment editor for LGIS. I’m reaching out regarding the controversial picture Kankakee County democrats posted this late last week:
1) Wha do you think about the image comparing MAGA to KKK?
2) What are your thoughts on the divisiveness of the current political landscape? Can we escape this toxic rhetoric?
3) Isn’t this an expression of free speech? how does it differ from other expression of speech?
Those are all the questions I have for you. If you would prefer to conduct a phone interview, we can set up a time for me or another reporter to call you.
The unique email address above - though it looks strange - directly relays your response to our editorial system. When you hit “reply” to this email, your message will be sent directly to me.
A day after a GOP group caught heat for a faux poster dubbing four Democratic congresswoman “The Jihad Squad,” the Kankakee County Democratic chairman conceded he posted a now-withdrawn image likening a support of President Donald Trump to membership in the Ku Klux Klan.
In a phone interview, Chairman John Willard defended the picture of someone wearing a Klan-style peaked hat—dyed red and with a spin on Trump’s patented slogan, but here reading “Make America hate again.” To the side of the image, the posts reads: “What’s the difference between a Klan hood and a MAGA hat? The Klan hood was made in America.” […]
A screenshot of the image was forwarded to me by a Republican operative. I phoned Willard to see if it was legit, and he said he had posted the image on July 19 but the post was taken down a day or two later by a member of his organization who works as a web administrator and “said it wasn’t in good taste.”
Willard said he posted the image because, “for me, it’s all about the hypocrisy of this president. He says he’s going to make America great, and then did what he did to these four congresswomen. . . .If he’s going to really make America great, don’t make your stuff overseas,” Willard added, referring to reports that some MAGA hats are produced in foreign countries.
In fact, official MAGA hats are made in a California factory by a mostly Latino workforce, though some knockoff hats reportedly come from China.
*Sigh*
People are so goofy. But, hey, at least they had enough sense to take it down before somebody demanded it.
The social media posts by the Democrats and Republicans represent the increasing political polarization over issues of race, immigration rights and ideology that have been fueled by Trump’s recent comments. The post by the Kankakee County Democratic organization, which appeared to have been posted after 5:30 p.m. on Monday based on the Twitter feed, followed a weekend Facebook controversy for the Illinois Republican County Chairmen’s Association.
* The governor stepped in…
The recent post by the Kanakee Democratic County Chairman is wrong and lacks the civility our politics should demand.
A representative from the Illinois Democratic County Chairs’ Association did not respond to a request for comment Monday night. […]
Willard said he posted the image but deleted it July 19 — the same day that the Republican County Chairmen’s Association of Illinois shared a bogus movie poster on its Facebook page that depicted four Democratic congresswomen of color as “The Jihad Squad.”
I haven’t looked, but I’m betting lots of county party Facebook pages are nightmares just waiting to be discovered. Do better.
“Internet memes that’ve been posted by both parties on different partisan websites highlight something that I think most people in this state understand. Both political parties are run by a bunch of knuckleheads,” said Dan Proft, talk show host of AM-560 The Answer.
Democratic state Sen. Toi Hutchinson of Olympia Fields who also is president of the National Conference of State Legislatures, said “no one should be clutching their pearls” as if they haven’t seen such memes played out on both sides across the nation.
“It should make us all take a hard look at the power of social media to incite division and hate in our country,” Hutchinson said. “We should insist on doing better because I for one am tired of this.”
In a statement, Kankakee County Republican Chairman Jeff Keast said the local Democratic Party has become “a radical, left-wing, fringe party.”
“Comparing President Trump and his supporters to a white supremacist hate group that systemically engaged in terror and murder is absurd,” Keast said. “Democrat officials in our county must call out and reject such extreme rhetoric. While I appreciate that the county Democrats have since deleted their Facebook post, I believe they must apologize for their actions. They have gone too far.” […]
[John Willard, chairman of the Kankakee County Democratic Party] said his organization would not apologize for the local post, saying the demand for one is part of a political strategy.
“This whole thing was initiated by Trump, when he told four minorities to go back where they came from,” Willard said. “We are not in line with what the president instigated. It’s nonsense. It’s unbecoming of the United States.”
*** UPDATE *** Kankakee County Republican Central Committee Chairman Jeff Keast…
John Willard is so extreme and out of touch with his own county, that even far Left Democrats like JB Pritzker are saying he lacks ‘civility’ and are calling him out. It’s far past time for local elected Democrats to follow Pritzker’s lead and speak out against Willard. It’s clear that John Willard must resign as Chairman of the Kankakee Democrats. Our county deserves party leaders who are respectul in their disagreement. Willard has proven he is incapable of that.
…Adding… Wise advice…
Our statement on the recent social media posts by the Illinois Republican County Chairmen's Association and the Kankakee County Democrats: pic.twitter.com/UvZer6g1zS
The Illinois Democratic County Chairs’ Association today announced the organization’s final three 2019 Party Builder Award honorees: U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, former Illinois Congressman Glenn Poshard, and Illinois House Deputy Leader Jehan Gordon-Booth.
“The IDCCA Party Builder Award is reserved for those who’ve influenced and activated grassroots Democrats in meaningful ways,” said IDCCA President Kristina Zahorik. “These honorees are reflective of the important work that is being done on the ground in every corner of our state.”
Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), who will be the special guest at the 2019 IDCCA Chairs’ Brunch on August 14th, will be the highest-serving elected official to ever receive the award. Pelosi has served in congress since 1987 and has served in the House Democratic leadership since 2003. She is the first woman to be elected as Speaker of the United States House of Representatives and has advanced historic middle-class priorities including the Affordable Care Act. Last week, Pelosi and House Democrats passed a plan to incrementally increase the federal minimum wage to $15 per hour.
While he’s known all over Illinois as a fierce fighter for organized labor and worker fairness, former Congressman Glenn Poshard is a legend throughout Southern Illinois. A lifelong Illinoisan, Poshard began his public service career immediately out of college – first as a teacher, then as an Illinois State Senator (1984-1988). In 1989, Poshard was elected to represent a wide swath of Southern Illinois in congress. Congressman Poshard built a record of boosting rural health care access and advanced initiatives addressing abuse, neglect and abandonment of children. The Poshard Foundation for Abused Children, led by Congressman Poshard and his wife Jo, have been recognized throughout the state for their efforts to improve the lives of abused and neglected children.
In 2006, Poshard took on the role as President of the Southern Illinois University system. Upon his 2014 retirement he returned to the campaign trail, traversing the state advocating for the importance of electing Democrats. In 2016 & 2018, Poshard was an instrumental part of the IDCCA Get Out The Vote efforts traveling to over 60 counties to rally Democrats.
Representative Jehan Gordon-Booth (D-Peoria) has a knack for making history. When she won her first election to the statehouse in 2008, Gordon-Booth was the first African American woman elected from central Illinois. In January, Gordon-Booth was appointed to leadership, becoming the youngest woman to become Deputy Majority Leader in Illinois state history.
Leader Gordon-Booth is known for tackling big issues in Springfield. She has made economic and social justice the cornerstone of her service. In 2018, she led the passage of the Neighborhood Safety Act, the most comprehensive criminal justice reform package in state history. In 2019, she was instrumental in passing several pieces of progressive legislation including the legalization of marijuana.
In total, there are six 2019 Party Builder honorees. In February, the IDCCA presented awards to Lucy Moog, Democratic Committeeperson for Chicago’s 43rd Ward; Ron Powell, longtime labor activist and former Local 881 UFCW President, and; posthumously honored, Public Relations trailblazer Desiree Tate, who was a longtime community organizer and public relations advisor for scores of elected Democrats, including Chicago mayors and President Barack Obama. Tate passed away unexpectedly in May 2018.
Pelosi, Poshard and Gordon-Booth will be honored at the 2019 IDCCA Chairs’ Brunch, held at the Crowne Plaza in Springfield. The brunch is expected to have the largest attendance in IDCCA history, surpassing the more than 3,000 who attended in 2018.
* As I’ve told you before, I grew up on a farm in rural Iroquois County. Every year, we’d take our animals to the county fair to show them and auction them off. The Iroquois County Fair has never really changed over the years. Going there is like stepping back in time, and I mean that in a good way. It’s wholesome, affordable and safe. Kids run around the grounds like they did back when I was young.
Marvin Perzee became a board member of the Iroquois County Fair in 1967 and was elected its chairman in 1972. He served in that role until January, when he stepped down for health reasons. You’d think after all those decades the fair would deteriorate or become an ego-driven fiefdom, but it didn’t. Mr. Perzee was one of the nicest people you’ll ever meet…
A fixture of the Iroquois County Fair for more than 50 years, Marvin Perzee passed away at Carle Foundation Hospital in Urbana Wednesday morning.
Ironically, this year’s edition of the fair opened the same day Perzee passed. […]
A moment of silent prayer was held prior to Wednesday’s Queen Pageant, fair Board President Paul Ahlden said.
“It’s a great loss for the fair and the community as well,” Ahlden said.
The mood at the fairgrounds located north of Crescent City was somber, he said.
“He and [his wife] Sharon spent more than 50 years at this place,” Ahlden said. “As we move forward, we will honor his legacy and hard work.”
Ahlden last talked to Perzee a week ago. He already was in the hospital.
“There was every indication he was going to be part of this year’s fair,” Ahlden said. “Sharon was driving him around, and he was still doing stuff.
“We’re really going to miss him.”
I will, too. Everyone will miss him in that part of the world.
Mr. Perzee also chaired the Illinois Association of Agricultural Fairs for 40 years, so he knew the movers and shakers in this state and was perhaps the strongest advocate for county fairs anywhere.
“Our loss is Iroquois County’s loss,” said current fair board president Paul Ahlden.
Ahlden stepped into the fair board president in January when Perzee stepped down due to health reasons, but Perzee was still around helping in a role he had since 1972.
He said everyone at the fair wants to see the fair continue to prosper as Perzee has spent a lot of time and attention to not just Iroquois County’s fair, but he’s also worked at the state level. […]
“We lost a lifelong friend of the Iroquois County Fair, and we want to move forward in a manner to honor his accomplishments,” Ahlden said. “He’s done a fantastic job, and we want to make the Iroquois County Fair an even better place.”
Marvin was a member of many professional organizations and received several awards and honors including: In 1963, American Farmer Degree – FFA; 1963-1969, U.S. Army Reserves; 1963-1992, Iroquois County Republican Precinct Committeeman and Chairman for 14 years; 1965 to present, leader of the Ashkum Chargers 4-H Club; 1965 to present, served on the board of directors of the Iroquois County Agricultural and 4-H Fairs Association and was elected president in 1973 and then assumed the role of vice president in 2019; 1968 to present, member of Elks Club, Moose Club, American Hampshire Sheep Association and Farm Bureau; 1971-1981, member of Iroquois County Extension Youth Council; 1971, vice chairman of the American National Red Cross Fund Campaign; 1973, Outstanding Young Farmer Award recipient – Illinois Jaycees; 1974, appeared in Awards Volume of Outstanding Young Men of America; 1979 to present, member of Legislative Committee for the Illinois Association of Agricultural Fairs and chairman for 40 years; 1979-present, vice president of Illinois Association of Agricultural Fairs Association – Northern District; 1979-1984, member of Department of Agriculture Advisory Board; 1980, recipient of the Iroquois County Extension Council Alumni award for distinguished service; 1982-1983, president of Illinois Association of Agricultural Fairs Association- Northern District; 1983-1984, member of Advisory Board for Division of Fairs and Horse Racing; 1984-1989, Director of Illinois Association of Agricultural Fairs; 1984, recipient of Department of Agriculture, Fairman of the Year Award; 1990-1998, appointed to the State Fair Advisory Board; 1990-1991, President of Illinois Association of Agricultural Fairs; 1992-1996, Director at Large of Illinois Association of Agricultural Fairs; 1999, Prairie Farmer – Master Farmer Award; 1999-2003, appointed to Attorney General Jim Ryan’s Advisory Board; 2005, Watseka Times Republic – Lifetime Achievement Award; 2006, Kankakee Daily Journal – Farm Family of the Year Award winner; 2007, inducted into the University of Illinois 4-H Hall of Fame; 2014, certificate of appreciation – OPTIONS Center for Independent Living; 2014 to present, State of Illinois Advisory Board Carnival Safety Board; and 2019, Recognition of Service to Fair Industry From Illinois House and Senate.
Visitation will be from 2 p.m. Thursday, July 25, until the 5 p.m. funeral service at the Iroquois County Fairgrounds 4-H Building, north of Crescent City. Visitation will also resume after the funeral service. The Rev. Don Gillespie will officiate. Burial will be on Friday, July 26, in Danforth Reformed Cemetery.
* Kass: Illinois after Boss Mike Madigan? Like Yugoslavia after Tito: I called Dan Proft, conservative activist and morning talk show host on WIND-AM 560. I wanted to know how the Republican Party might react to the idea of a wounded Madigan. “What Republican Party?” Proft asked. “I’m not familiar with this ‘Republican Party’ of which you speak. Oh, you mean the party of GOP leaders who want to have the Madigan/big government gravy train stop at their houses? That’s not a party that can take advantage of anything.” Proft is angry, and rightly so, at the GOP sellouts who’ve accommodated Madigan’s power for years so they might stuff themselves on crumbs. He sees Republican leadership as corrupt, and unable to take advantage of Madigan’s difficulties.
What a difference two years makes for Betsy Dirksen Londrigan, the likely Democratic opponent next year to Rep. Rodney Davis in Illinois’ 13th Congressional District, which includes Champaign-Urbana.
Two years ago at this time, Londrigan had recently announced her candidacy, barely had any campaign money and was one of six candidates (eventually five) who had either jumped into the Democratic primary election or was considering it.
This time she’s the only announced challenger to Davis, she already has more than $450,000 on hand, she has lined up support from a number of Democratic members of Congress including Speaker Nancy Pelosi, and she’s got the name identification from a 2018 campaign in which she came within about 2,000 votes or less than a percentage point of upending a man who has been a member of Congress since 2013.
In the fundraising quarter that ended June 30, Springfield native Londrigan reported raising an impressive $504,627 — far more than the $382,350 brought in by Davis. The Taylorville Republican still has more cash on hand than Londrigan — $532,913 versus $453,326 — but the trend favors her.
Rep. Rodney Davis (R-Ill.) is facing a rematch with Democrat Betsy Dirksen Londrigan, whom he beat last year by about 2,000 votes. Londrigan raised $521,887 for the quarter vs. Davis’s $422,070, though Davis has more cash on hand.
“You’ve got to hand it to the Dems and give them some credit for being able to go out and get donors from throughout the nation to support candidates, but . . . when you have cities like New York and San Francisco and Los Angeles supporting candidates in central Illinois, their values may not be the values of the constituents that I serve,” Davis said.
Why do politicians like Congressman Rodney Davis vote against lowering the cost of prescription drugs? Why does he vote to raise health care prices? Why does he vote against protecting people with pre-existing conditions? Why does he vote — time after time — against ensuring that people in the 13th district can get affordable access to quality health care?
I think the question should be: If he isn’t voting for us, who is he voting for?
Follow the money. During his time in Washington, Congressman Davis has taken more than $600,000 from pharmaceutical and insurance companies. Even worse, over 75% of the money in Congressman Davis’ campaign coffers comes from special interest donors and PACs, instead of the people he has pledged to serve.
Betsy Dirksen Londrigan pledged to not take any money from corporate political action committees, or PACs, in her second run for Illinois’ 13th Congressional District.
In an email Wednesday, incumbent Rep. Rodney Davis’ campaign said that’s not true, since Londrigan accepts money from the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, which does take money from PACs. […]
“The part that I’m responsible for is what I’m going to do, and I’m not accepting a dime of corporate PAC money,” she said. “Because I refuse to be beholden to these corporations and special interests.” […]
“Davis is honest with voters about his support from job creators. Corporations cannot directly donate to congressional candidates. Their PACs are made up of donations from hardworking employees,” the Davis campaign email stated. “He’s proud to be supported by companies like ADM, State Farm, and many others who have deep ties to our communities and create jobs.”
While the DCCC takes corporate PAC money, much of the group’s spending is through independent expenditures — not coordinated with candidates even as it backs those candidates. Republicans and Democrats both are helped these days by independent expenditures of various groups.
“Londrigan also personally profits off of corporations with her husband being a lobbyist at McGuireWoods for multiple corporations, including Horizon Pharmaceuticals,” Phelps said. “It’s disingenuous and voters see through it.”
Londrigan reiterated that she thinks Davis is “bought and paid for with corporate PAC and special interest money.”
Phelps said that because Londrigan gets help from the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, which takes corporate political action committee money, she is “participating in a corporate PAC money laundering scheme.”
“Meanwhile, Davis is honest with voters about his support from job creators,” Phelps said.
Londrigan told reporters that while “Democratic leadership wants to elect Democrats to Congress” and helps via the DCCC, she is “not accepting a dime of corporate PAC money” directly through the campaign committee she controls.
[Illinois Comptroller Susana Mendoza] said [on a podcast] Indiana has a higher gas tax than Illinois does, even after a recent hike.
By every government measure we checked, and by acknowledgement from Mendoza’s office itself, the claim is wrong.
Illinois residents pay 8 cents more in state excise taxes for each gallon of gasoline than residents of Indiana, according to revenue officials in both states. We rate Mendoza’s claim False.
* She owned it and said she wouldn’t do it again…
I take pride in getting it right. This time I got it wrong. I trusted faulty info. Next time I won't just double check - I'll triple quadruple check. Sorry for the confusion. Good fact check.
— Susana A. Mendoza (@susanamendoza10) July 22, 2019
Even so, if you’re driving any significant length of time to save 8 cents a gallon, you’re doing it wrong.
Both of Illinois’ Democratic senators on Wednesday joined the list of lawmakers calling on U.S. Sen. Al Franken to quit.
In a tweet Wednesday, U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin, the No. 2 Democrat in the chamber, said, “Senator Franken’s behavior was wrong. He has admitted to what he did. He should resign from the Senate.”
U.S. Sen. Tammy Duckworth, in a statement Wednesday afternoon, said she was “deeply disappointed” by the Minnesota senator’s behavior.
“I am deeply disappointed by Sen. Franken’s behavior. He must step aside,” she said. “To all those across America who have come forward to share their stories over the past few months: thank you. Your courage and strength in driving this long-overdue national conversation is awe-inspiring.”
It is extremely rare for a senator to resign under pressure. No senator has been expelled since the Civil War, and in modern times only three have resigned under the threat of expulsion: Harrison Williams, in 1982, Bob Packwood, in 1995, and John Ensign, in 2011. Williams resigned after he was convicted of bribery and conspiracy; Packwood faced numerous sexual-assault accusations; Ensign was accused of making illegal payoffs to hide an affair. […]
A remarkable number of Franken’s Senate colleagues have regrets about their own roles in his fall. Seven current and former U.S. senators who demanded Franken’s resignation in 2017 told me that they’d been wrong to do so. Such admissions are unusual in an institution whose members rarely concede mistakes. Patrick Leahy, the veteran Democrat from Vermont, said that his decision to seek Franken’s resignation without first getting all the facts was “one of the biggest mistakes I’ve made” in forty-five years in the Senate. Heidi Heitkamp, the former senator from North Dakota, told me, “If there’s one decision I’ve made that I would take back, it’s the decision to call for his resignation. It was made in the heat of the moment, without concern for exactly what this was.” Tammy Duckworth, the junior Democratic senator from Illinois, told me that the Senate Ethics Committee “should have been allowed to move forward.” She said it was important to acknowledge the trauma that Franken’s accusers had gone through, but added, “We needed more facts. That due process didn’t happen is not good for our democracy.” A
I’ve asked Sen. Durbin’s office if he also has any regrets.
For some activists in the women’s movement, Franken’s resignation was a welcome milestone. Linda Hirshman, the author of the recent book “Reckoning: The Epic Battle Against Sexual Abuse and Harassment,” told me, “Franken clearly intended to touch these women, and in doing so he violated their right to bodily integrity.” She argues that the Democratic Party has belatedly made up for having excused Bill Clinton’s treatment of women, adding that it’s “finally starting to be the party that protects women from having their asses grabbed.”
Other feminists see the episode as a necessary corrective. [Rebecca Traister, a writer-at-large for New York], who thinks that the behavior described in the media qualifies as sexual harassment, told me, “One of the troubling things about this is that there aren’t easy answers. When you change rules, you end up penalizing people who were caught behaving according to the old rules. But if you don’t change the rules they will never change.”
The lawyer Debra Katz, who has represented Christine Blasey Ford and other sexual-harassment victims, remains troubled by Franken’s case. She contends, “The allegations levelled against Senator Franken did not warrant his forced expulsion from the Senate, particularly given the context in which most of the behavior occurred, which was in his capacity as a comedian.” She adds, “All offensive behavior should be addressed, but not all offensive behavior warrants the most severe sanction.” Katz sees Franken as a cautionary tale for the #MeToo movement. “To treat all allegations the same is not only inappropriate,” she warns. “It feeds into a backlash narrative that men are vulnerable to even frivolous allegations by women.”
…Adding… Possible 2022 GOP opponent…
.@SenDuckworth Al Franken admitted that he was "embarrassed and ashamed" about his inappropriate behavior. Let me repeat - he apologized for his outrageous behavior and there is a picture of him groping a sleeping woman. #twillhttps://t.co/iOeprAyre3https://t.co/qs2GKKfNJL
More importantly, a dozen states have taken measures to close the “strategic consulting” loophole that runs rampant at the federal level. Under federal revolving door restrictions, former officials are only required to avoid making “lobbying contacts” during the cooling-off period. Federal officials remain free to advise, design and run lobbying campaigns on behalf of paying clients or lobbying firms immediately after leaving public office as long as they do not personally contact government officials – a loophole that is heavily exploited by many officials and staff. Furthermore, these same former officials may often lobby officials at agencies of a branch of government in which they did not serve. Several states address these problems by banning “lobbying activity” as well as “lobbying contacts.”
Finally, most states that regulate the revolving door do so for both the legislative and executive branches of government as well as for senior staff in a decision-making capacity. Just as importantly, some states have closed the loophole at the federal level that allows former lawmakers to lobby the other branch of government immediately after leaving office. These states prohibit former officials from lobbying any agency of the executive branch or legislative body for a period of time after leaving office.
Overall, Iowa has the “best” revolving door policy, with a two-year cooling off period that applies to both legislative and executive officials and staff, and broadly prohibits both “lobbying activity” as well as “lobbying contacts” during the cooling off period. Maryland is a close runner-up, except that its revolving door restriction only applies to legislators and has a short one-year cooling off period. Nevertheless, in Maryland former legislators may not seek to influence the official actions of anyone in government for compensation for one year after leaving public office. […]
The “worst” states in terms of revolving door policies are easier to identify: Idaho, Illinois, Michigan, Nebraska, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Oklahoma and Wyoming have no restrictions whatsoever on lobbying and influence peddling by former public officials and staff.
Extending all cooling-off periods to a minimum of two years – at least a full congressional cycle – and preferably even longer, so as to allow the inside connections to sitting government officials and staff to fade.
Banning compensation for “lobbying activity,” such as of conducting research, preparation, planning and supervision of a lobbying campaign, as well as banning “lobbying contacts” during the cooling-off period.
Applying the ban on lobbying by former elected officials and very senior staff across the board to all agencies and both the legislative and executive branches of government during the cooling-off period.
* The New Yorker: How Illinois Became an Abortion-Rights Haven
* Vice: Blue States Are Finally Worried About Abortion — And They’re Doing Something About It
* Chicago Magazine: In a Changing Midwest, Illinois Doubles Down on Roe
* But Stephanie Goldberg throws some cold water on the hype at Crain’s…
Despite a new law enshrining reproductive health care as a “fundamental right” in Illinois, hospital industry trends are restricting the availability of contraception, sterilization and abortion.
Gov. J.B. Pritzker last month signed the Reproductive Health Act, eliminating virtually all state restrictions on these procedures. At the same time, consolidation is bringing more Illinois hospitals under the control of expanding Catholic organizations that don’t provide the full range of reproductive care.
With hospitals under pressure to gain market share, control health care costs and increase profitability, many financially strong Catholic chains have bulked up—acquiring both faith-based and secular facilities along the way. Catholic hospitals follow a set of rules that prohibit or sharply restrict contraception, fertility treatments, sterilization procedures and abortions.
As they impose those strictures on acquired hospitals, some women have to travel farther to find facilities that provide such services. That’s especially true for women covered by most Medicaid managed care insurance plans in Cook County, which rely heavily on Catholic hospitals. […]
Some 38 percent of Cook County hospitals with labor and delivery departments are Catholic, according to the report. Meanwhile, Catholic hospitals represented more than 38 percent of in-network hospitals for five of the seven available Medicaid managed care plans in 2018, limiting patients’ options for family planning services, Stulberg says.
Women of color in the county have even fewer options: 85 percent of black and Hispanic women were enrolled in one of the five plans with a heavily Catholic network, compared with 75 percent of white women, the study finds. Meridian Health Plan and NextLevel Health had the lowest percentages of in-network Catholic hospitals, with 37 and 36 percent, respectively.
The rising cost of insulin was not on Stacey Roman’s mind when her son Conner almost slipped into a diabetic coma last year, but now that she has learned the condition is treatable, the cost of treatment itself is her biggest concern.
“I understand you have a product and you need to make some sort of money out of it,” Roman said about the cost of insulin. “But it only costs a fraction of what they’re charging.”
The price of insulin between 2002 and 2013 about tripled for the 7.4 million Americans dependent on the hormone, according to the American Diabetes Association – a trend Roman said makes her worry for the financial future of her family.
“Daily, I’m hearing (from patients) that the cost of managing their diabetes is increasing and not affordable,” said Paige Beal, certified diabetes educator (CDE) and registered dietitian (RD) with Advocate BroMenn Medical Center in Normal.
“Last week, I saw a client who stopped taking his insulin because he couldn’t afford it after there was a change in his insurance plan,” Beal said. “The out-of-pocket cost was too great for him. He ended up in the emergency room because he wasn’t taking his insulin.”
He was treated and his fortunes improved because he now has different insurance and can afford to take his insulin again, Beal said. But not all patient stories take a positive turn.
Paula Enstrom, a CDE and RN with Sarah Bush Lincoln Health Center in Mattoon, had a type 1 diabetes patient last year who could no longer afford insulin medicine, stopped taking it and ended up in the emergency room where he received an emergency supply.
In order to secure market share in crowded treatment areas, drugmakers offer discounts to pharmacy benefit managers — middlemen who negotiate drug prices for health plans. Bigger rebates make the benefit managers happier, so firms have an incentive to boost prices. The result is an inflated list price for medicines such as Humalog that’s far higher than what’s actually paid in practice. The problem is, people who lack coverage, have high deductibles or pay co-insurance don’t benefit from those discounts. They’re exposed to the list price and face bruising costs at the pharmacy counter.
* Sen. Andy Manar has been especially critical of PBMs. From late May…
A bill moving through Springfield would cap co-payments for insulin at $100 per month, regardless of the supply someone needs.
State Sen. Andy Manar (D-Bunker Hill) is sponsoring Senate Bill 667. If passed, Illinois would become the second state to cap insulin payments.
Studies show the price of insulin tripled between 2002 and 2013.
“In the last 20 years or so we’ve seen the price of insulin rise to outlandish levels,” said Manar in a statement. “We have a responsibility as lawmakers to help get these prices under control and make this life-saving medication more available to those who need it.”
Manar’s legislation got stuck in the Senate during the spring session. Opponents included the Illinois Retail Merchants Association, insulin maker Novo Nordisk, the Illinois Manufacturers’ Association, BlueCross BlueShield of Illinois, Eli Lilly, the Illinois Biotechnology Innovation Organization, the Illinois Insurance Association, the Illinois Life Insurance Council and the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America.
* Related…
* Walmart’s $25 insulin can’t fix the diabetes drug price crisis: Doctors and diabetes advocates point out that while ReliOn may help patients in a pinch, especially those without health insurance, it’s also a formulation (known as “human” insulin) that came on the market in the 1980s, more than a decade before more refined insulins started to emerge. The newer insulins, known as analogs, appear to be more effective at preventing dangerous blood sugar swings in people with Type 1 diabetes or those at a higher risk for severe low blood sugar. … There’s one more problem: Because it’s available without a prescription, patients can get the drug without the supervision of a doctor, and they sometimes get into trouble as a result. So stories have surfaced about patients who required emergency care because of severe blood sugar highs and lows after self-dosing with Walmart insulin, or even dying as a result.
* The New York Times editorial board takes a look at what will happen to state and local tax burdens by income level if the governor’s graduated income tax is approved by voters…
Economic inequality in the United States has reached the highest levels since the 1920s, and there is mounting evidence that the unequal distribution of income and wealth is contributing to the nation’s economic and political problems. Reducing inequality ought to be a focus of public policy. Rewriting state tax laws to place the greater burden on those with greater means is an effective and sensible response.
Taxation in the United States remains progressive because the federal income tax remains the largest source of government revenue. But the distribution of the total burden has become much less progressive. In 1961, Americans with the highest incomes paid an average of 51.5 percent of that income in federal, state and local taxes. Half a century later, in 2011, Americans with the highest incomes paid just 33.2 percent of their income in taxes, according to a study by Thomas Piketty, Emmanuel Saez and Gabriel Zucman published last year. Over that same period, the bottom 90 percent of Americans, ranked by income, saw their tax burden increase from 22.3 percent of income to 26 percent of income. […]
The Illinois plan is a step in the right direction rather than a complete corrective. Under current law, households in the bottom quintile of the income distribution pay 14.4 percent of their income in taxes on average, while those in the top 1 percent pay 7.4 percent of their income in taxes — a difference of 7 percentage points. The proposed changes in the income tax would cut that gap to 4.3 percentage points, according to the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy.
Illinois is seeking to address longstanding fiscal problems, notably an underfunded pension system, so it is raising taxes on the rich without significantly reducing taxes for everyone else. Other states, however, could do better by raising taxes on the rich and using the money to reduce the taxation of low-income families.
It also dispenses with the notion that legions of high-income people will leave the state…
Indeed, the Stanford sociologist Cristobal Young has calculated that people with million-dollar incomes move across state lines less often than other Americans. They are more likely to be married, more likely to have children, more likely to be involved in civic and social groups — and, in many cases, their wealth stems from their communities. A successful Springfield dentist cannot relocate her patients to Missouri. A man who owns a chain of gas stations around Peoria is likely to remain in Peoria. A company that relies on Chicago’s highly educated work force may not be focused on finding the place with the lowest tax rates.
In fact, a quarter of all taxpayers statewide who would be hit by the higher rates — those earning more than $250,000 a year — reside in just 15 of the state’s more than 1,500 ZIP codes, covering places like Lincoln Park, Wilmette, Barrington and Elmhurst, according to a Tribune analysis of Illinois Department of Revenue income tax data from 2016, the most recent year available.
In Lincoln Park, for example, 14% of taxpayers — 4,757 filers, the most in any ZIP code — earned more than $250,000. That includes 1,010 who earned enough to qualify for the top rates under Pritzker’s plan, which would tax individuals earning more than $750,000 and couples earning more than $1 million at 7.99% of their total income. The current rate is 4.95% for all taxpayers.
In some tony suburbs, the concentration of high earners is even greater. In both north suburban Winnetka and west suburban Hinsdale, more than 29% of taxpayers — 2,740 of filers in Winnetka and 2,288 in Hinsdale — would be affected by the higher rates that kick in at $250,000.
Overall, roughly 85% of those who would see higher tax rates under Pritzker’s plan live in Cook County and the five collar counties, which are home to about 66% of the state’s population. That means a disproportionate amount of the new revenue generated by the tax hikes would come from the Chicago area.
Aside from partisanship, one of the reasons Downstate legislators opposed taxing the rich is because they have so few high-income people and they worry what will happen when that handful of rich folks has to pay more. Some could, indeed, move their factories to other states. Others, like farm implement dealers, would have to stay.
Everyone I served with and those I worked with knew I operated in good faith. It’s an approach by which I’ve turned honest disagreements with other legislators into reasonable compromises for the benefit of the families I represented.
This is precisely what’s lacking in Congress today. Demonization of disagreement is crippling our politics and dividing our country. It leaves people vulnerable to the most extreme ideas and false choices.
1) I’d really like to see the list of “reasonable compromises” she brokered at the Statehouse. It wouldn’t be very long if there was one.
2) She’s right about how the “demonization of disagreement” is hurting this country. But, I mean, she’s been a principal advocate of that sort of thing her entire career. A small sampling of her comments on gay marriage…
Essentially what they’re trying to do is not just redefine marriage, they’re trying to redefine society. They’re trying to weasel their way into acceptability so that they can then start to push their agenda down into the schools, because this gives them some sort of legitimacy. And we can’t allow that to happen. […]
To not have a mother and a father is really a disordered state for a child to grow up in and it really makes that child an object of desire rather than the result of a matrimony.
Jeanne Ives is taking on the false prophets in Washington and the false choices they present, starting with Rep. Sean Casten.
Ives is tired of Ruling Class politicians like Casten who tell you what he deserves–like the pay raise he voted himself - and what you don’t deserve the ability to keep your private health insurance.
Ives is tired of race-baiters like Casten who decry racism while complaining white people in his district.
Ives is tired of hateful demagogues like Casten who calls a man who wishes “all f–king Republicans were dead” someone he “embraces” and “will stand with.”
Sean Casten and his House Democrat Socialist colleagues like Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Ilhan Omar want to rewrite America’s history into something it never was in order to transform America into something it should never be.
Jeanne Ives is running to transmit our American values which are under assault by Casten & Company.
Jeanne Ives will stand for the rule of law and equal protection before it and the freedom to choose your professional pursuits and how you pursue them.
Sean Casten wants to make America bitter. Jeanne Ives will make America better.
Ives also announced that she has the full support and endorsement of Peter and Elizabeth Roskam. Peter Roskam served as U.S. Representative for Illinois’s sixth congressional district from 2007 to 2019.
* Related…
* Republican Jeanne Ives jumps in Congress race for Democratic Rep. Casten seat: The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee said in a statement that the Illinois 6 primary with Ives’ entry has turned “into a full-blown Civil War.” Casten’s campaign manager Chloe Hunt said in a statement, “Jeanne Ives and Evelyn Sanguinetti both embrace an extreme partisan ideology that would deny a woman’s right to choose and raise our health care costs, they both strongly support President Trump, and they both are wildly out of touch with the concerns of the 6th Congressional District.
* From the Illinois Republican County Chairmen’s Association’s Facebook page..
How some people can be racists and claim to be victims at the same time never ceases to disgust me.
* We live in a diverse state. You can’t win statewide by being stubbornly monocultural. And suburbia, as a whole, no longer rewards those who sow racial division and discord. So the intra-party condemnations were swift…
I’ve reached out to several @ILGOP members for reaction. First one to respond was @SenBillBrady: “This type of post has no place in our political discourse. I am pleased it’s been taken down, and remain hopeful we can debate our political differences in a respectful manner.” https://t.co/QM9UEA17ku
New from House Minority Leader Jim Durkin: “The post was irresponsible, disrespectful, and wrong. The imagery and rhetoric that was used hurts our democracy and does nothing to move our state or our nation forward. Those responsible have no place in the Republican Party.”
New from Rep Tony @McCombieforIlli: “The post is horrendous and I totally reject this behavior! As soon I became aware of the post, I reached out to several people asking that it be removed. This post was not drafted by like minded people I align myself with…” (1/2) more
In his nomination speech at the ‘84 RNC he said, “In the party of Lincoln, there is no room for intolerance and not even a small corner for anti-Semitism or bigotry of any kind.” That year, President Reagan was re-elected in a landslide and won 49 of 50 states.
* I’m told Shaw was out of town the other day when the item was posted to Facebook. Four or five people in the group had administrative permission to post stuff on the page, but there was supposed to be a process in place and it wasn’t followed. That, anyway, is their story and they’re sticking to it in these times of strife…
Mark Shaw, the Lake County GOP chairman who heads the state county chairmen’s group, said the posting was “not authorized by me” and said he was “sorry if anyone who saw the image was offended by the contents.”
Shaw said the post had been deleted, and he called it an “unfortunate distraction” from the ideological issues involving the four progressive congresswoman.
On Facebook, Shaw called the posting “unauthorized.” Then he explained how the group has a “multistage, approval process for all social media posts on any of its social media properties.” That process, he said, is being “reevaluated.”
* But not everyone was on board with the condemnations and apologies…
Skillicorn’s response to @CljMitchell calling for Republicans to speak out: “I find it ironic that quite a few people in Democratic Party hurl the term racist at ideological opponents when they lose an argument. This devalues real racism and further tears our nation apart.”
New from @JeanneIves: “That organization has nothing to do with the Ives Campaign. Contact Mark Shaw who I believe is the Chairman of that organization for a response.”
I have, and he hasn’t responded. Ives helped install Shaw, and I’ve asked her again if it’s racist or bigoted.
Schneider hasn’t returned my phone and email messages. Nor has Shaw, who said in a Facebook post that the “Jihad squad” poster was unauthorized by him. But party sources I talk to seem to have a pretty good idea of what really happened here, and it’s worth noting that the same poster appears to have been retweeted by the Lake County GOP, where Shaw is the chairman.
Either way, instead of talking about how to win as a minority party in this state, or about how Democrats have messed up, Illinois Republicans today are having to explain why they’re not as bad as they look. Above and beyond the moral considerations, that’s not helpful politically.
Nope.
* Related…
* NBC Nightly News: Illinois GOP group deletes post depicting Democratic congresswomen as ‘The Jihad Squad’
* The ‘love it or leave it’ nonsense: Chicago Daily News columnist’s argument still rings true 50 years later: Nobody should be faced with the mean choice of accepting conditions as they are or abandoning the place he has grown up in. We not only have a right, we have a responsibility, to make our environment as just and as flourishing as our Founding Fathers declared it must be if it were to live up to its aspiration as “the standard of the world.”
* Voice of The Southern: There are some things more important than politics: Aside from the thinly veiled bigotry, the mean-spirited nature of the president’s remarks, the undeniable element of bullying are nearly impossible to overlook — unless you are a congressional Republican. The House of Representatives voted Tuesday to condemn the president’s remarks. The vast majority of Republicans, including local representatives Mike Bost and John Shimkus, chose to not condemn the president’s remarks. In today’s hyper-partisan atmosphere, that’s not surprising, but it is still disappointing.
“Sterigenics should be completely shut down until we determine it can operate safely,” gubernatorial candidate J.B. Pritzker tweeted last October.
A month after taking office, Gov. Pritzker made good on the first part of that campaign promise. The Illinois Environmental Protection Agency issued a “seal order” to close the company’s doors.
Sterigenics sterilizes medical instruments at its plant in suburban Willowbrook, using the cancer-causing gas ethylene oxide. About 19,000 people live within a mile of the plant. Four schools are also close by, as are shopping areas and office buildings. People claim, with no small amount of evidence, that the plant has caused an unusual number of cancer cases.
That part of the world is home to lots of upper-income folks. It is represented in Springfield by House Republican Leader Jim Durkin, who has repeatedly demanded the company either leave Willowbrook or be forced out.
That’s not exactly a Republican thing to do, but the company is seen as so toxic (literally and figuratively) that Durkin’s sentiment is most certainly overwhelmingly popular. Environmental testing after the plant was closed showed a significant drop in ethylene oxide presence in the local environment. People started to breathe easier (literally and figuratively).
Durkin eventually passed a bill that he believed would keep the plant closed by setting the regulatory bar extremely high to reopen the facility, although the governor’s office claims it warned Durkin that the bill offered no guarantees of permanent closure.
To the surprise of many, the company decided to spend the money to try and bring its plant into compliance with what has been touted as the absolute toughest ethylene oxide emission regulations anywhere.
Last week, Sterigenics, the Illinois attorney general, the DuPage County state’s attorney and the governor (in that order) announced an agreement had been reached in the various court cases over the plant’s closure, subject to judicial approval.
Durkin and other legislators were briefed on the deal earlier in the day and were shocked at the decision. They asked for a delay until at least after an August public meeting. The request was denied.
Sterigenics quickly issued a press release trumpeting the new agreement, which also stunned Durkin and the others. Some area mayors were being briefed on the agreement when somebody at the meeting announced that the company’s press release had been posted on CapitolFax.com. “Everyone on the state side lost color in their face,” claimed one participant.
It took the attorney general and state’s attorney more than two hours to issue their own press release announcing the agreement to settle the court cases. The governor’s office didn’t issue its own response until almost half an hour later. By then, all heck had broken loose.
Leader Durkin and other legislators issued statements denouncing the agreement. Sterigenics is seen by many locals as an untrustworthy bad actor. Doing deals with companies like that is never going to be an easy sell, and it’s even more difficult when a company jumps the public relations gun. People felt like chumps.
The back and forth escalated in the news media and on social media until the governor’s office eventually issued a press release which called on Leader Durkin to draft a new bill “that will fix the perceived shortcomings of the legislation that he sponsored.” Pritzker said he would call a special legislative session to allow for an immediate vote.
Durkin, in turn, claimed Pritzker was trying to “fast track” the plant’s reopening and demanded the governor write his own bill and call a special session.
So, are we really heading for a special legislative session this summer?
Right now, this looks like show business. Just some political posturing for member and constituent management purposes while both sides attempt to pick their way through the news cycles and social media furor.
I think the key here is DuPage County State’s Attorney Robert Berlin. The prosecutor took a strong public stance against Sterigenics when he and the attorney general filed suit last year. Berlin joined Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul in the consent order, saying it goes “above and beyond the most restrictive regulations in the country.” Berlin could be the local voice of reason, although he’s up for reelection next year, so we’ll see how far ahead of this he wants to get.
I don’t think anyone wants to interrupt their summer with a special session to deal with this mess, but people need to start talking with each other instead of past each other.
