* WGN TV…
The embattled Sterigenics plant in suburban Willowbrook will stay closed until at least Sept. 6.
That’s the ruling from a judge Thursday on a controversial tentative deal that had been reached between the state of Illinois and Sterigenics for it to reopen its doors. […]
Now, the judge ordered four towns affected by the plant—Willowbrook, Darien, Hinsdale and Burr Ridge—to have a voice.
“We are looking at all possibilities,” Willowbrook mayor Frank Trilla said. “We would like to introduce a 100% ban on ethylene oxide.” […]
The judge also stated Thursday that the public has the right to intervene in the matter, so several nearby towns will file a brief by August 30.
If they want to ban ethylene oxide, then they’re going to need to introduce a new bill in the General Assembly. That’s not up to the judge.
* Response…
Attorney General Kwame Raoul and DuPage County State’s Attorney Robert Berlin today release the following statement regarding the proposed consent order with Sterigenics U.S., LLC (Sterigenics).
“We have never opposed the villages’ motions to intervene because we recognize the need for the impacted communities to be heard, and we welcome their input in this process. Throughout this litigation, we have regularly communicated with the leadership of the affected communities, and we are committed to using all legal authority to protect the residents of Willowbrook and the surrounding communities.
“Our authority is defined by the laws passed by the General Assembly, which we are obligated to enforce. Although the new law does not authorize the permanent closure of Sterigenics if it can comply with the stringent requirements imposed by the General Assembly, the proposed consent order ensures that Sterigenics can operate only if it complies with those requirements. If the General Assembly passes additional legislation regarding ethylene oxide, our offices would be duty bound and prepared to enforce that legislation.”
* Meanwhile in Georgia…
* Cancer-causing chemical in 2 Georgia communities leads to more cases of cancer, experts say
* Residents, Officials In Metro Atlanta Voice Concern About Ethylene Oxide Pollution
* Residents, officials outraged over toxic emissions from Cobb plant
…Adding… Rep. Deanne Mazzochi…
DuPage County Circuit Judge Fullerton recognized the “well written and informative” Amicus Brief submitted by State Representative Mazzochi, Leader Jim Durkin, and State Senator John Curran, contesting the Illinois Attorney General’s Consent Order that counsel for Sterigenics touted as its pathway to reopening. Mazzochi argued that the Consent Order agreement involving the Illinois Attorney General, the Governor and Sterigenics fails to comply with both the spirit and letter of the Matt Haller Act regulating the use of ethylene oxide statewide. Judge Fullerton issued a favorable ruling for parties challenging this Consent Order today, staying its entry and allowing various municipalities to jump into the fray.
“I commend Judge Fullerton for putting the brakes on the Consent Order today. Sterigenics has not shown that it can or will ever be able to comply with the law. The Illinois Attorney General needs to do his job and not let the company circumvent the will of the communities it has crushed with its behavior. I am pleased that the Court will not let the Attorney General force through an agreement sprung on the affected communities at the last minute, including the public servants who represent those communities.”
As Mazzochi explained, “these communities feel betrayed. The Attorney General gave our communities an ultimatum that essentially tells them, ‘This is the deal you’re going to live with’ as ordained by the Governor, the AG, and Sterigenics. That is simply unacceptable.”
She added, “Federal legislators, state legislators, local leaders and the community rightfully objected to the Consent Order, and they’re outraged. Our community has heard a lot of excuses about it, including one from the Governor who opined that we three legislators who represent the surrounding area don’t understand the law we worked tirelessly to write and pass. On September 6, our communities can finally have their day in court, which they should have had all along before the Attorney General decided it to strip that power away from them for a paltry $300,000 penalty and an admonition to sin no more.”
“We believe our brief helped Judge Fullerton target precisely where the proposed Consent Order is too weak. As it stands, this Consent Order is not only wrong on the politics, but more importantly wrong on the law. Sterigenics broke the covenant with the community where they do business. When it comes to the physical, emotional and mental wellbeing of our residents, this company has turned into a community wrecking crew.” Mazzochi noted that even the Illinois Attorney General seemed to have started to walk back some statements about the Consent Order and the Matt Haller Act.
“This Consent Order was premature; and deserved to be rejected. Let us do what the Matt Haller Act said to do: get everyone in a court of law, hear the merits of the case, and then hopefully, finally, our community can gain some peace of mind.
Mazzochi, who is an attorney, stated, “I will continue to fight for what is right for the community, under the dome in Springfield, in a courthouse in DuPage, or wherever else this case takes us.”
Judge Fullerton will allow the surrounding municipalities to intervene in the lawsuit, participate in the consent order, and advise if it complies with the Matt Haller Act. The next hearing is scheduled for September 6.
…Adding… Sterigenics…
We are confident that the Consent Order will be approved in due course. Our Willowbrook operations have consistently complied with and outperformed the State’s requirements and we are committed to abiding by the new requirements established by the State. Sterigenics will continue to take the necessary steps to resume operations at Willowbrook and remains committed to acting in the interest of the community, our employees, our customers and the patients and hospitals we serve every day.
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“I’m sorry that I said it out loud”
Wednesday, Jul 24, 2019 - Posted by Rich Miller
* WGN TV…
Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot was caught on an open microphone belittling the number two man in the local Fraternal Order of Police during Wednesday’s city council meeting.
As a clerk called on FOP Lodge 7 First Vice President Patrick Murray to speak during a public comment section of the meeting, Lightfoot is heard saying “Oh, back again. This is this FOP clown.”
The comment was recorded and archived during a live stream of the meeting on the Chicago mayor’s official Facebook page. Murray was commenting on the FOP’s anger over a recent police board decision recommending the firing of officers accused of making misleading statements in the aftermath of the Laquan McDonald shooting.
* Chicago FOP’s response…
Mayor Lightfoot’s contemptuous remark is a misguided and dangerous thing to say to a 30-year veteran police officer and FOP representative, particularly at a time when the city is facing such chronic violent crime. It is also telling that the Mayor would not even apologize. The red noses, however, belong on the members of the Chicago Police Board, her former agency, for their despicable decision to fire three police officers and a sergeant last week for no good reason whatsoever.
No good reason? Right.
* Tribune…
At her post-meeting news conference, reporters asked Lightfoot about the comment and she said, “It was not appropriate for me to say that out loud.”
Asked if she’d apologize, Lightfoot said, “I think I just did. I think I said I shouldn’t have said that out loud.”
She was asked a third time about an apology and replied, “I’m sorry that I said it out loud.”
* I confess to chuckling while reading those stories, but then she went off on someone else…
Murray wasn’t the only one who got a mouthful from the mayor during Wednesday’s public comment section.
So did a speaker who showed up on behalf of 75 murdered South Side women whose deaths, the man claimed, have never been investigated by the Chicago Police Department.
“I need your undivided attention, Mayor Lightfoot. I need your undivided attention,” the man said.
The mayor was livid.
“Sir, proceed with your statement. You don’t stand there as a man and tell me what to do when I was actually getting my notebook to take some notes,” Lightfoot said.
“If you want to talk, talk. You’re wasting your [three minutes of] time. But, don’t ever, EVER tell me what to do when I’m standing here conducting the business of the people. Do you understand that, sir?”
Click here to see how he responded. He gave as good as he got.
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Question of the day
Wednesday, Jul 24, 2019 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Tribune…
The City Council on Wednesday unanimously approved a bill requiring large Chicago employers to give workers at least two weeks’ advance notice of their schedules and compensate them for last-minute changes.
In development for more than two years, the “fair workweek” ordinance reflects a compromise between representatives from labor and business, who have been working with the city on what kinds of employers and employees would be covered by the scheduling rules.
The final version of the workweek legislation limits protections to just those workers earning less than $26 an hour.
The ordinance, which covers eight industries ranging from restaurants to manufacturing, is the first in the country to include health care employers in predictable scheduling legislation. The potential impact on hospitals and other health care facilities, which have said they need flexibility to make abrupt changes in staffing levels as the need arises, was among the bigger industry concerns.
But during a hearing on the final bill Tuesday before the workforce development committee, David Gross, senior vice president of government relations at the Illinois Health and Hospital Association, said the group was withdrawing its opposition thanks to efforts to find middle ground. In addition to the wage threshold, which exempts most clinical staff like nurses and technicians, the final legislation includes exceptions for health care employers in the event of an unexpected increase in demand due to severe weather, violence, large public events or other events beyond their control.
* From the mayor’s press release…
This ordinance requires employers to schedule employees 10 days in advance, rising to 14 days in 2022, and directs employers to ban scheduling practices which prevent workers from attending to their families, health, education and other obligations.
By requiring predictive scheduling, employees covered by this ordinance will now receive:
• Predictability of pay: Employees are entitled to compensation for changes an employer makes to a work schedule after the deadline.
• The right to decline when schedules change: Employees may decline additional hours not previously scheduled.
• Choice of additional work hours when available: First offer of additional shifts of work will be reserved for qualified existing employees.
• The right to rest and request a flexible working arrangement: Employees are not required to work hours scheduled for less than 10 hours after the end of the previous day’s shift and are paid a higher differential for those shifts.
[…] To qualify for the requirements of the Chicago Fair Workweek Ordinance, a business must have over 100 employees globally, 50 of which must be covered employees, with the threshold for non-profits and restaurants raised to 250. Additionally, restaurants must have at least 30 locations globally, meaning that most small restaurants are exempt. Small businesses are largely exempt from these regulations, and to account for the unique needs and populations served, Chicago’s safety net hospitals will be given a six-month extension to meet the requirements of the ordinance.
* The Question: Should the state adopt a similar “fair workweek” law? Take the poll and then explain your answer in comments, please…
web polls
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Old habits die hard
Wednesday, Jul 24, 2019 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Tribune…
Chicago police have for years compiled profiles on every citizen who spoke at public meetings of the city’s police disciplinary panel, a process that included running criminal background checks and internet searches on activists, a police union official and even relatives of an innocent woman killed in a high-profile police shooting, the Chicago Tribune has learned.
Documents obtained by the Tribune under a public records request show the Police Department gathered the details on nearly 60 people in advance of their speaking at monthly meetings of the Chicago Police Board since at least January 2018. A police spokesman said the background checks go back further, to at least 2013.
The checks appear to be extensive, with police searching at least one internal department database to determine if speakers have arrest or prison records, warrants outstanding for their arrest, investigative alerts issued for them by the department and even if they’re registered sex offenders or missing persons. Police also searched comments that speakers had previously made on YouTube or on their Facebook and Twitter accounts, among other internet sites, the documents show.
Among those subjected to background checks were a woman who alleged she was sexually assaulted decades ago by a Chicago police officer, a community activist who gained prominence after the fatal shooting of Laquan McDonald by a police officer and a 77-year-old man known for his frequent, flamboyant rants on a variety of topics at public meetings across the city. […]
The American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois said the practice harks back to the Police Department’s shameful Red Squad history of spying on political and other groups engaged in activities protected by the First Amendment, a practice that ended with a landmark court settlement in 1982 but stretched back in one form or another to the 1920s.
ACLU spokesman Edwin Yohnka noted how for years before the settlement was dissolved in 2009, Chicago officials had argued in court that the surveillance tactics were a thing of the past.
“This suggests that that’s not true,” Yohnka said.
With all the problems in the city, they’re using police time to run background checks on citizens who testify at an open meeting in front of a public body. Not only is it authoritarian, it’s wasteful.
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* Northern Public Radio…
The law allowing recreational marijuana in Illinois takes effect next year, and those in enforcement are getting ready. This includes a special category of police. Sergeant Nick Cunningham leads the Canine Unit in the Winnebago County Sheriff’s Office. Guy Stephens spoke with Cunningham recently. Guy began by asking what effect the new law will have on his work.
NC: One of the major impacts for the Canine Unit is that all the patrol dogs that we currently have are trained to locate marijuana, cocaine, heroin, and methamphetamines. Once marijuana is legalized, as far as any searches that we would do — on the street, on vehicles — we will not be able to use those patrol dogs. So in order to compensate for that we’ve just purchased two brand new dogs, two labs, that are going to be starting training next week. And those dogs will be training for narcotics, but they will only be trained for cocaine, heroin and methamphetamine. Myself and every other trainer in the nation will tell you that we cannot retrain those dogs that we already have. If they’ve already been trained on marijuana, it’s not something that we can reliably take out of them.
GS: How many dogs are affected?
NC: It’s a major impact for the canine community. There’s approximately 420 narcotics dogs in Illinois right now. All of those dogs, up until just very recently, were trained on marijuana. So you’ve got 420 dogs that can’t be retrained.
OK, first of all, there are 420 drug dogs in Illinois? How ironic.
But, to the point, Rep. Kelly Cassidy, the legalization bill’s chief sponsor, pointed to the floor debate where members went out of their way to establish “significant legislative intent” that searches with existing dogs would remain admissible for probable cause.
Possessing large amounts of cannabis will still be illegal after January 1st. If somebody has ten pounds of weed in their car, for instance, they can still go to jail. So there is no reason to retire those canines and spend money on new ones.
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“A policy paper masquerading as a complaint”
Wednesday, Jul 24, 2019 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Yvette Shields at the Bond Buyer…
A lawsuit that seeks to void $14.3 billion of Illinois’ outstanding general obligation debt amounts to nothing more than a policy statement masked under a legal guise that lacks any merit, Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul’s office argues in the state’s first official legal response.
The complaint seeking taxpayer action status from the court claims the state violated its constitution when it sold $10 billion of GO pension obligation bonds in 2003 and again in 2017 with a $6 billion borrowing to pay down its unpaid bill backlog.
About $14.3 billion is still owed on the two issues, according to the complaint filed by the Illinois Policy Institute’s leader John Tillman, acting as a taxpayer, and the New York-based hedge fund Warlander Asset Management LP, a state bondholder. […]
Market analysts have voiced skepticism about the case’s legal merits, based on the approval granted by bond lawyers and the state attorney general and their read of state debt rules that give the state broad issuance powers as long as it names a general purpose for the bonds, method of repayment, and approval by a three-fifths legislative majority. […]
Those beliefs didn’t stop the market from driving state yield penalties up in trading and there’s an expectation now that the state may get stuck paying more to borrow during the course of the lawsuit if not resolved quickly.
* AG Raoul’s filing is brutal…
Nearly two decades after the State issued General Obligation bonds backed by the full faith and credit of the State and applied their proceeds to the Illinois retirement systems, Petitioner seeks leave to institute an action requesting the Court declare the State a profiteering purveyor of worthless bonds and order it to default on billions of future bond payments after cashing the proceeds from selling the bonds. Petitioner similarly seeks to invalidate billions of already applied bonds issued in 2017 to pay an extraordinary backlog of unpaid vouchers, which were then accruing interest at rates greater than the subsequently issued bonds. Petitioner did not bring his suit to enjoin the issuance of the allegedly unlawful bonds before they were issued. Instead, Petitioner seeks to call back ships put to sea years ago, many of which are nearing their decommission date, to maximum detrimental effect. Petitioner does so without naming any holder of the bonds for a proper adjudication of their rights, instead advancing the interests of one noncitizen investor in different bonds against other bondholders, and attempting to elevate certain appropriations over others.
This extraordinary request for relief rests entirely on a single, erroneous premise that the General Assembly may incur State debt only for “projects in the nature of capital improvements,” subject to only narrow exceptions. Fused with this incorrect statement of law is a policy paper masquerading as a complaint, positing that Illinois has not been wise in its fiscal decisions. The wisdom of that fiscal philosophy is a matter for the People of Illinois to determine. The Court has no role to play in that debate.
Because there is no cause of action stated in the proposed complaint and no judicial work for the Court to do in relation to the remaining allegations, and because equity firmly stands against granting the extraordinary relief requested therein, the Petition should be denied as an unjustified interference in the application of public funds.
* As we’ve discussed before, the plaintiffs rely on a provision in the Illinois Constitution which does not actually exist. From the AG’s filing…
As explained above, Petitioner’s theory of bond invalidity turns entirely on his unfounded assertion, contained in paragraph 27 of his proposed complaint, that the term “specific purposes” in the State Debt Clause means “projects in the nature of capital improvements.” But Petitioner does not cite any authority for this conclusion, and he does not even draw the Court’s attention to the single, controlling case interpreting “specific purposes” in the context of article IX, section 9
* Ah, but there’s more…
In this case, Petitioner seeks to unscramble eggs that were cracked, cooked, and eaten sixteen and two years ago, with no explanation as to why he did not bring suit before breakfast hit the pan. Had Petitioner timely sought and obtained an injunction against issuance of the bonds, the State could have made different arrangements to fund its obligations, and bondholders 12 of 22 19-CH-235 would not now be needlessly placed in peril. Petitioner’s inexplicable delay in bringing this challenge maximizes the potential fallout, creating an “unjustified interference[]” in the application of public funds that warrants denying the Petition.
Raoul’s office also claims the statute of limitations has passed and that the hedge fund has no legal standing.
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Pot, meet kettle
Wednesday, Jul 24, 2019 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Sounds reasonable…
[US Rep. Rodney Davis] said everyone should stop posting online and start going door-to-door to champion Republican principles instead of hammering it out on a keyboard.
“Let’s actually make sure to do what we can to bring civility into the political debate but it seems there are many that want to bring incivility, especially on social media, and that’s what’s frustrating to folks like us,” Davis said.
* Rodney Davis’ most recent fundraising email…
Betsy Londrigan would have you believe she’s a real downstate Illinoisan who represents real downstate values and real downstaters. She’d also have you believe that the majority of her campaign money doesn’t come from out of state.
Unfortunately, none of those things are true. Betsy Londrigan is Chicago’s puppet, propped up by out-of-state financiers and JB Pritzker’s cronies. Chicago money is being parachuted into our district to make sure us downstaters stay subservient to Chicago.
Rodney’s not standing for it. Chicago came for us once; they failed. Let’s make sure they fail again.
Chip in $250 to help win for downstate>>>
Chip in $150 to help win for downstate>>>
Chip in $100 to help win for downstate>>>
Chip in $50 to help win for downstate>>>
Chip in $25 to help win for downstate>>>
Chip in ANY AMOUNT to help win for downstate>>>
Downstate isn’t Chicago, and we like it that way. Let’s make sure Leftwing Betsy Londrigan gets the message.
This is what passes for standard campaigning nowadays. It is what it is. But the “Aw, shucks, can’t we all be civil?” act is getting old.
* Tribune editorial board…
Political satire is nothing new. It aims to shock. But play the game, own the consequences. When a would-be satirist crosses the line from edgy commentary to offensive race-baiting, from tough criticism of political ideas to attacks based on personal identity, public outcry is deserved. Anyone who deliberately fans the flames of racism is reprehensible, period.
Agreed. But I wonder sometimes if they read their own newspaper.
* Finke…
Pritzker also noted a posting by the Kankakee County Democratic Party that contained a red Ku Klux Klan-style hood with “Make America Hate Again” printed on it. The posting also said “What’s the difference between a Klan hood and a MAGA hat? The Klan hood was made in America.”
“The Kankakee County Democratic Party posted something and removed it nearly immediately, or at least as (the chairman) said,” Pritzker said. “It was not actually up at the time anybody paid any attention to it. It was the Republicans who brought it back to life, I guess.”
As we discussed yesterday, that K3 thing was fomented by Dan Proft. But the local Democrats did what they did and it shouldn’t matter to the governor who “brought it back to life.”
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It’s just a bill
Wednesday, Jul 24, 2019 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Center Square…
State senators gathered Thursday in Chicago for a hearing to discuss Senate President John Cullerton’s Senate Bill 2259. It would put caps on how much assessments on apartment complexes could rise if the owner commits at least 20 percent of the building’s units to be reserved for families that make less than a set income depending on the area. The caps would gradually be reduced over the course of ten years.
New construction is typically assessed for a higher dollar value once it’s finished because it’s worth more than it was as an open lot. […]
State Sen. Dan McConchie, R-Hawthorne Woods, said he worried that the incentive would push the cost of government services onto other property owners.
“Whenever we create another tax credit, we end up shifting that tax burden to others,” he said. “We do it for veterans, we do it for senior citizens, we do it for other groups.”
Normally, I’m against narrowing a tax base. But doing so in a limited way to achieve a specific policy objective is an interesting idea.
* Hannah Meisel at the Daily Line…
Curt Bailey, the president of real estate development firm Related Midwest, praised the bill during testimony Thursday, telling the Senate’s Subcommittee on Special Issues that the program had worked in “many markets for many developers.” including his firm in New York, Boston, Los Angeles and San Francisco.
“So there’s evidence out there that this works,” Bailey said. “These are beautiful buildings, they’re tremendous places to live…In New York City, they have delivered 38,000 affordable units with this program mostly in the ‘90s through now. Talk about closing that gap of 120,000 units. this is a way to do it and do it fairly quickly.”
Bailey identified “hot” real estate markets like the West Loop and Fulton Market as ideal places for developers to build these so-called “80-20” projects, in which wealthier renters subsidize those not paying market value. For example, he said some renters may be paying $4,000 for their units next to renters who pay $400 for identical units.
But after Bailey mentioned those rapidly developing neighborhoods several times, Cullerton asked if the focus could be shifted to struggling neighborhoods, and if developers like Related Midwest would take advantage of a tax program like the one provided for under SB 2259 in poorer areas.
“What about the Lawndales and Englewoods?” Cullerton asked.
Bailey said it wasn’t out of the question, but said developers “need the 80 to support the 20,” referring to the 80 percent of renters in a development that would pay market price to subsidize the units set aside for affordable housing.
* This appears to be Bailey’s brainchild. He’s quoted in all the stories I’ve seen so far, including this one by Greg Hinz…
As now written, the bill would entitle any developer who builds or substantially rehabs a structure with at least six units to enter a program in which taxes on the new structure would be held at the pre-construction rate for two years. The break would drop an additional 20 percent every two years until hitting zero after 10 years.
In exchange, the developer would have to offer rents on at least 20 percent of the building’s units at rates affordable to tenants with a household income no more than 60 percent of the area median. That’s roughly $41,242 in metropolitan Chicago, according to U.S. Census data. […]
Cullerton said he got the idea from developers, including Related Midwest’s Curt Bailey, who ordinarily are more willing to pay for building off-site affordable units than creating them in high-rent towers. […]
“Look at it this way, it’s not a TIF,” [Cullerton] said, referring to tax-increment financing subsidies that sometimes are used to push affordable housing. “Eighty percent of the units in a building are subsidizing 20 percent.
But the numbers work only if you don’t have to pay the full property tax increase” immediately.
If this is about one guy funding one development, then I’m a hard pass. If there is a significant number of developers out there, then maybe.
But it’ll still slightly raise taxes for everyone else.
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Foster gets progressive primary opponent
Wednesday, Jul 24, 2019 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Another Dem primary…
[US Rep. Bill Foster] is getting a primary challenger from the left for the suburban 11th Congressional District Seat. Will County Board Rachel Ventura, a progressive from Joliet, jumped in the March primary against Foster, who lives in Naperville. As of June 30, Foster has $3,104,802.93 cash-on-hand in his political war chest.
* More…
On Saturday, Will County Board member Rachel Ventura, D-Joliet, officially launched her campaign to challenge U.S. Rep. Bill Foster, D-Naperville, in the 2020 primary election.
Ventura emphasized a list of progressive policies on health care, the environment and immigration in an attempt to contrast herself with the incumbent.
“America does not need nor want transactional politics, nor pay-to-play politicians,” Ventura said. “We want our voices to be heard and represented.”
Ventura decried a “broken” political system and endorsed a $15 minimum wage indexed to inflation, the Green New Deal and comprehensive immigration reform with a pathway to citizenship for undocumented immigrants. She also specifically criticized Foster for not supporting a Medicare-for-All health care system, and even said it was one of the reasons she thought to launch a primary challenge against him.
* From June…
A group of about 15 people protested outside U.S. Rep. Bill Foster’s office to pressure him to support a single-payer health insurance proposal called “Medicare for All” on Friday.
Leaders of the local chapter of Our Revolution, a progressive organization created by supporters of Independent Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders’ 2016 presidential campaign, led the demonstration. […]
Other local officials such as Will County Board members Herbert Brooks Jr. and Rachel Ventura participated in the demonstration. Ventura shared her personal story of her fear in leaving her previous marriage with an abusive husband and losing health insurance in the process.
“If we do not have health care as a right, there are millions of people in relationships, abusive relationships, and they fear leaving,” Ventura said. “And they stay in a horrible situation because they’re too afraid. That is not a government that works for everyone.”
* Last week…
Although she’s readily admitted this will be an “uphill battle” opposing Foster, who has retained that seat since 2012 on a moderate voting record, Ventura is convinced “the time is right” for a more progressive candidate to help fix what she sees as “signs of a crumbling society.”
Ventura became even more convinced in June, she told me, when she said Foster “blew off” her and a group of protesters who’d gathered at his district office to discuss a single payer healthcare system, after telling the media he’d meet with them.
* Her top priorities if elected…
The Green New Deal has to be the first priority. We have to start addressing climate justice. When I say climate-justice I mean for it everybody, not just the wealthy few at the top, but everyone is being affected. We are all in this together. We need to make sure we are taking care of one another. The Green New Deal is about infrastructure, jobs, emissions, cleaning up pollutants, and then I would say Medicare for All is my second priority. They are both equally important and investing in people telling them they are valued. Healthcare is a human right. We have the money for it now. We are wasting so much money on having insurance companies and pharmaceutical companies profit off of the suffering of others, and enough is enough.
* More…
She said in the release she recognizes the national significance of the race as the divide spreads wider between the Progressive Democrats and the New Democrat Coalition, a conservative caucus that Foster belongs to.
“We are living through a tumultuous period of upheaval and crisis and I feel like our current representative is in a state of stasis,” Ventura said.
* Greg Hinz…
Foster responded with a big list of endorsements, including eight Democrats who serve on the Will County Board with Ventura, Will County Executive Larry Walsh and several state legislators.
Foster also put out a statement strongly defending his stances on some of the issues highlighted by Ventura. For instance, according to Foster, with the middle class “overtaxed,” the better solution to health insurance woes is to create competition and lower costs by strengthening Obamacare and creating a public-option health insurance plan.
On the environment, Foster said that despite opposition from the Trump White House, “I’ve been successful in securing additional funding every year for research into clean energy technologies that will ensure we have the methods we need to actually combat climate change at an acceptable cost to the global economy.”
Perhaps more important, Foster reported $3.1 million in his campaign war chest as of June 30, while Ventura has had to start from scratch. Foster also has hired the same campaign team he used to challenge then-GOP incumbent Denny Hastert in 2008, including strategists Pete Giangreco, Jef Pollock and Tom Bowen.
* Foster’s endorsements…
Will County Board Members Speaker Denise Winfrey (District  , Majority Leader Mark Ferry (District 13), Majority Whip Tyler Marcum (District 10), Reverend Herb Brooks (District , Mimi Cowan (District 11), Jacqueline Traynere (District 4), Margaret Tyson (District 3), and Joe Van Duyne (District 6), all endorsed Foster’s campaign.
Local elected leaders are also standing will Bill Foster, including State Senator Laura Ellman (IL-21), State Senator Linda Holmes (IL-42), State Representative Barbara Hernandez (IL-83), State Representative Natalie Manley (IL-98), State Representative Larry Walsh Jr. (IL-86), Illinois 11th Congressional District Democratic State Central Committeewoman Julia Beckman, Illinois 11th Congressional District Democratic State Central Committeeman Duffy Blackburn, Will County Executive Larry Walsh Sr., Bolingbrook Village Trustee Bob Jaskiewicz, and Fox Valley Park District Commissioner Mavis Bates. […]
(L)ocal Democratic Party leaders are also standing with Foster. Jeff Boetto (Chairman, Troy Township Democrats), Kevin Clancy (Chairman, Plainfield Township Democratic Organization), Greg Elsbree (Chairman, Aurora Township Democrats), Ken Griffin (Chairman, Lockport Township Democrats), Nora Gruenberg (Chairwoman, New Lenox Township Democrats), Nick Palmer (Chairman, Wheatland Township Democrats), Kim Savage (Chairwoman, Downers Grove Township Democrats), and Bill Thoman (Chairman, Will County Democratic Central Committee)
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BGA looks at O’Hare
Wednesday, Jul 24, 2019 - Posted by Rich Miller
* BGA press release…
As Chicago embarks on an $8.5 billion expansion project at O’Hare, the Better Government Association looked at the airport’s history of failed predictions, broken promises and costly disappointments.
We reviewed decades of financial records, contracts and planning documents that revealed billions of dollars in spending to expand O’Hare, reduce delays and improve the passenger experience. Yet O’Hare continues to lag. And along the way, the BGA found a history of machine politics, bid-rigging, fraud and even an assassination.
Don’t miss this first-of-its-kind, multimedia, three-part investigation published in partnership with Chicago Magazine.
* From the article…
In the last 15 years alone, City Hall has saddled the airport with more than $18 billion in debt and pledged nearly $7 billion more — enough to build two nuclear aircraft carriers — in an attempt to make flying through O’Hare a little more bearable. […]
No other major airport has borrowed so much, and accomplished so little, records show. A BGA analysis of debt at the five busiest airports in the nation — including those in Atlanta, Los Angeles, Dallas, and Denver — put O’Hare at the highest debt and the lowest in on-time performance. […]
Tens of billions of dollars later, O’Hare still languishes near the bottom of the federal Bureau of Transportation Statistics’ airport rankings for flight delays.
So why is O’Hare lagging behind? The Great Recession didn’t help, nor did expensive security upgrades following September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. It’s also faced a near-constant stream of litigation over everything from having to displace graveyards to insider deals. […]
To date, expansions at O’Hare have put more than a dozen people in prison, including the late Ald. Thomas Keane, 31st, and runway paving contractor George B. Krug Sr., whose children’s business decades later remains a major O’Hare contractor.
Numerous probes have unveiled sweetheart deals that benefited the businesses of elected officials and cronies, illegal payments to secure contracts, and the gaming of programs meant to increase the hiring of businesses owned by minorities and women.
* My “favorite” passage…
Under Emanuel’s O’Hare 21 plan, which is packed with new gates, concourses, and amenities, the terminal will move to a new structure at the site of Terminal 2, which is set to be demolished. The idea is to have a mixed-use terminal where domestic and international travelers can transfer between flights. The estimated cost: $2.2 billion.
To execute the expansion, the city recently selected a design team helmed by renowned Chicago architect Jeanne Gang. Along the way, a key member of Gang’s team was represented by lobbyist Gery Chico, a longtime City Hall powerbroker, two-time mayoral candidate and political ally of indicted Ald. Ed Burke, 14th. Chico’s law firm, Chico & Nunes, also did legal work on a recent bond deal to fund airport projects. He did not return telephone messages.
The selection, under a process in which even the identities of Emanuel’s hand-picked selection committee remain cloaked in secrecy, was announced days after Lightfoot took office.
* Related…
* What was promised vs. what O’Hare got
* History of connections, corruption at O’Hare
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* Sun-Times…
Responding to President Donald Trump border policies he dubbed “wrong for America” and “wrong for Illinois,” Gov. J.B. Pritzker on Tuesday moved to strengthen Illinois’ immigration laws — signing bills designed to protect the children of undocumented residents.
The new laws would create a pathway for citizenship for undocumented children who have experienced trauma and extend legal guardianship for children whose parents have been detained.
They are the latest in a series of immigration bills the Democratic governor has signed, prompting Pritzker to vow “the state of Illinois stands as a firewall against Donald Trump’s attacks on our immigrant communities.”
Pritzker signed the measures the same day that protesters lined the Marriott Marquis Chicago in Chicago as the hotel hosted a U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) conference.
It was also Day One of a new Trump Administration policy that will fast-track deportation regulations to include the removal of undocumented immigrants who can’t prove they have been in the country for two years or more.
* ABC 7…
“In our state, parents will decide who will take care of their children if they are detained or deported, not ICE, customs or border patrol,” said State Rep. Jennifer Gong-Gershowitz D-Glenview.
The Gad Hill Center in Chicago’s Pilsen neighborhood provides services for immigrant families.
Months ago, it began collecting information from parents about their chosen guardian for their children in case families were separated.
“We have in our records the name, driver’s license and every identification necessary in order to make sure that the children have somebody safe to go to in case families are separated by deportation,” said the center’s CEO, Maricela Garcia.
* Public Radio…
“We have an obligation to protect children regardless of their immigration status,” said state Sen. Cristina Castro, a Democrat from Elgin.
State Rep. Jennifer Gong-Gershowitz, a Glenview Democrat, said it’s a response to the Trump Administration’s immigration policies.
“This is about giving families peace of mind. And while it may not stop the deportation and detention of every parent, it’s certainly a better option for children than a mylar blanket on a concrete floor,” she said. […]
Earlier this year, Pritzker signed off on laws banning private immigrant detention facilities in Illinois, and prohibiting state and local police from assisting federal immigration agents in removing undocumented people.
* Center Square…
“As long as Washington [D.C.] is dominated by a philosophy that threatens Illinois families, we can and we will give parents the dignity of knowing their children are in trusted hands,” Pritzker said.
HB 836 ensures a parent in the country illegally can entrust a guardian to make medical decisions and enroll a child in school, among other activities, the governor’s office said. The measure would also give the courts discretion to grant guardianship of a minor whose parent can’t be reached due to an administrative separation.
State Rep. Darren Bailey, R-Xenia, said Illinois can’t even manage its current caseload at the Department of Children and Family Services.
“We can’t even get our foster care situation under control and we’re going to sit here and pretend that we’re going to take care of these children until these things get straightened out with their parents,” Bailey said.
DCFS isn’t even mentioned in the new law. Neither is foster care.
…Adding… From comments…
Rep Bailey has it backwards. If the parents cannot name a guardian, the case defaults to DCFS.
* SJ-R…
Pritzker also denied that Trump is helping his re-election chances by fomenting racial divisions.
“It’s not working for his re-election,” Pritzker said. “I have called him out as a xenophobe, as a racist. I believe that he is. He’s going to continue to do this. This. This is the world that we live in. We’re fighting hard to hold back the efforts of his government of his White House to foment this kind of racism around the nation.”
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* Tribune…
Federal investigators are looking into $10,000 in payments from current and former ComEd lobbyists to an ousted political operative for House Speaker Michael Madigan, sources have told the Chicago Tribune.
Records obtained by the Tribune reveal that the checks went to Kevin Quinn, a former top Madigan lieutenant and brother of 13th Ward Ald. Marty Quinn, after he was dismissed from the speaker’s political operation in early 2018 amid a sexual harassment scandal.
The checks came from accounts linked to five current or former lobbyists for utility giant ComEd, including Madigan’s close confidant Michael McClain, records showed. McClain’s home in downstate Quincy was raided by the FBI two months ago.
The FBI is looking at the checks as part of an ongoing investigation, a source with knowledge of the probe told the Tribune.
Other than McClain, the story claims the current and former lobbyists are former Rep. John Bradley, Cornerstone Government Affairs (Will Cousineau), Tom Cullen and Michael Alvarez. An unidentified businessman who has “worked with Madigan’s property tax appeals law firm” gave a grand and the name “McClain” appears in the memo area.
…Adding… Either Kevin Quinn’s ex got the number wrong or there’s more out there…
…Adding… Steve Daniels in Crain’s…
It remains unclear precisely what the feds are probing with regard to Madigan himself. But a picture is emerging of his political operation turning to ComEd to secretly aid a long-trusted lieutenant whose personal conduct made it politically impossible to continue employing him.
ComEd and its parent company, Exelon, are perhaps the most politically potent business interests in Illinois. Both donate substantial sums to political campaigns and have employed many former lawmakers and others close to Madigan as lobbyists and consultants.
In recent years, Madigan has provided immense help to Exelon, first by shepherding through ComEd’s $2.6 billion smart-grid law in 2011 over the veto of Democratic Gov. Pat Quinn. That act has led to substantial rate hikes to finance ComEd’s grid modernization program and a regulatory rate-setting system that enables the utility to change rates annually via a formula with limited regulatory oversight.
In 2016 Madigan helped usher through a ratepayer-funded bailout for two nuclear plants Exelon had threatened to close. That was one of the only measures Madigan and Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner agreed on during Rauner’s single term. The bailout provides Exelon with more than $200 million in additional revenue each year and costs the average Illinoisan an extra $2 or so per month on their electric bill.
*** UPDATE *** Alaina Hampton…
It is deeply troublesome that various powerful lobbyists, per the Tribune article, provided financial aid to Speaker Madigan’s former political operative, Kevin Quinn, after he was let go in the wake of my disclosure of his sexual harassment of me. In contrast, I was shunned and lost out on career opportunities for speaking out. This is further evidence of a culture of sexism and corruption that has silenced victims and protected men. And it starts at the top.
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