Question of the day
Wednesday, Oct 9, 2019 - Posted by Rich Miller
* WCIA…
Have you ever considered leaving Illinois? If you have, a new study says you are not alone. A survey out of the University of Illinois Springfield found while more people feel the state is moving in the right direction this year compared to years past, most still feel Illinois is going down the wrong road.
The UIS Research Center study found that 61 percent of people surveyed have considered moving out Illinois in the past year but researchers said it’s just a thought for many.
“When we look at the data, we actually ask folks about action related to the leaving the state and when you actually look at those actions,
Like applying for jobs out of state, applying for housing, it’s actually really low like in the single digits,” said Alan Simmons, Director of Survey Research at UIS.
* Bernie…
On the topic of out-migration, 61 percent of respondents said they have considered moving out of Illinois in the past year. But of those 61 percent, only 16 percent looked for jobs in a new state and just 5 percent applied for such jobs; and 26 percent looked at out-of state housing but just 2 percent applied for such housing.
Reasons of those considering out-of-state moves included lower state taxes, 27 percent; state government and policies, 17 percent; better weather, 15 percent; lower crime, 13 percent; job opportunities, 12 percent; better schools, 6 percent; and family or personal reasons, 8 percent.
In 2018, 53 percent of respondents to a survey that year said they considered moving out of state in the previous 12 months. Simmons said that while the 61 percent in this year’s survey is higher, actions leading to actual moves out of state are “pretty low.′
“I think a wider study would need to be done to talk to folks that have left and maybe even folks that have moved into the state as well to … really unpack the kind of migration that has been going on,” Simmons said.
* The Question: Have you ever seriously discussed leaving Illinois? Explain either way. Thanks.
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* Center Square…
Gov. J.B. Pritzker said he doesn’t expect to see a broad state energy plan come together during the General Assembly’s brief fall legislative session.
As lawmakers prepare to return to the state capital later this month for the fall session, a number of policy issues could be discussed – from gun control measures to e-cigarette regulations. […]
But the governor said doesn’t expect a broad energy plan to surface during the fall session.
“It certainly is something that’s being considered as part of a broader energy package,” Pritzker said. “I don’t know that we’ll be able to get to it during a veto session.”
Lawmakers are scheduled to come back for three days beginning Oct. 28 and then three days beginning Nov. 12.
As we’ve discussed before, a leadership determination was made in the spring to move all energy bills forward at once. But with ComEd facing some attention from the feds, nobody wants to touch their proposals.
* But some public support appears to be building for this proposal…
Pritzker has pushed a whole host of progressive legislation this year, and now the clean energy people want him to step up on this one.
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* Governors are required by state statute to issue five-year economic plans. Pat Quinn published the latest five-year plan. It’s now Pritkzer’s turn…
Governor JB Pritzker and the Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity released a 5-year plan to create an economy in Illinois that works for everyone. To expand prosperity throughout the state, the plan is focused on fostering job creation, improving wages, building greater equity, and attracting and supporting businesses.
“Since I took office in January, we’ve already begun making strides toward growing our state’s economy after years of neglect and intransigence. For the first time in nearly two decades, we’ve seen simultaneous strong job growth in every region of the state,” said Governor JB Pritzker. “Underlying my vision is the fundamental principle of equity. No matter their zip code, every Illinoisan deserves economic opportunity. Where in the past sustainable and inclusive economic development has been elusive, instead I am committed to reinvigorating the most important foundational element of Illinois’ economy: our diverse and talented workforce.”
The initiatives outlined in the report lay the foundation for long-term growth by focusing on key growth industries with a broad reach like technology, manufacturing, life sciences and healthcare, and transportation and logistics.
There’s a lot to this thing. The executive summary is here. The full plan is here.
* Greg Hinz got an advance look…
The most striking thing in the report is its call for emphasizing help for seven industry clusters: agriculture/agriculture tech, energy, information technology, life sciences/health care, manufacturing, transportation/logistics and small business.
Though some economists say trying to cherry-pick certain industries for help is a losing strategy compared to, say, across-the-board tax cuts, others counter that identifying and then nurturing and growing certain industry clusters has proved to pay big dividends. Pritzker clearly agrees with the latter sentiment, and pointed to New York, which a decade ago had little presence in the life sciences industry but has since targeted that field with major success.
“It’s not that we’re picking winners and losers,” said Erin Guthrie, who heads Pritzker’s Department of Commerce & Economic Opportunity and who sat in on the interview. “It’s that we’re picking six areas where we feel we should put in extra work because they’re fast-growing” and the state already has a significant presence in them.
In agriculture, which clearly already is a pillar of the state’s economy, the plan proposes to help better integrate tech solutions to problems including “eroded soils, more pests and pathogens, degraded quality of stored grain, and lower crop yields” from global warming. Pritzker wants to spend $420 million to expand broadband—mostly downstate—enlarge foreign trade zones to facilitate access by food processors and exporters, and increase joint-research efforts at academic and related facilities, such as the proposed Discovery Partners Institute in the South Loop here.
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Maybe take it with just a touch of salt
Wednesday, Oct 9, 2019 - Posted by Rich Miller
* News-Gazette editorial…
Illinois may not be flying high in its standing with the public, but Gov. JB. Pritzker is.
A new poll — dubbed the Illinois Issues Survey — conducted by the University of Illinois-Springfield Survey Research Office shows that nearly six out of 10 state residents have a positive view of how Pritzker is conducting himself as governor.
OK, first of all, this is an online poll, so I wouldn’t jump to any hard conclusions just yet.
Secondly, I’ve heard some GOP grumbling about how the partisan universe in the Illinois Issues Survey is way more favorable to Gov. Pritzker than other polls: 53 percent Democratic vs. 30 percent Republican. That’s a +23D universe. By contrast, Gallup’s polling last year had Illinois at +16D. The Simon Poll’s most recent survey this spring had Illinois at +12D. That spring poll had Pritzker’s job approval at 40 and his disapproval at 38.
Even so, if you apply Gallup’s partisan makeup to the Illinois Issues Survey, you still get a 58 percent job approval rating for Pritzker. It’s a 57 percent approval rating if you apply the Simon Poll partisan universe.
According to the Illinois Issues Survey, Pritzker experienced a 14-point increase in his approval rating among Democrats vs. the Simon Poll, which is to be expected after the session he had. But he also saw an 18-point increase among independents (31 to 49) and more than a doubling of his approval rating among Republicans, which skyrocketed from 15 to 32. I dunno.
Again, this is an online poll and I’m not yet sold on that methodology.
* Illinois Public Radio…
A broad majority of Illinois voters support major changes to the state income tax, favoring a system where the wealthy pay more. That’s according to new survey data from NPR Illinois and the University of Illinois Springfield.
The survey says 67 percent of registered Illinois voters support a graduated income tax. That’s where people who earn more money pay a higher tax rate, and people who earn less pay a lower rate.
Democratic Gov. J.B. Pritzker made the proposal a centerpiece of both his campaign and his freshman legislative session. Given that, it’s not surprising the plan enjoys widest support among Democrats and independents who lean Democratic (79%). Next are non-leaning independents (59%), and finally Republicans and independents who lean Republican (49%).
Since the polling universe skews so high for Democrats, this is not a surprising result. Also, while the result is in line with several Simon Poll results over the years, support is now ten points higher than the 2018 Illinois Issues Survey.
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Justice Burke has some explaining to do
Wednesday, Oct 9, 2019 - Posted by Rich Miller
* WBEZ dug up 10 Illinois Supreme Court cases where Justice Anne Burke participated in the decision even though her husband Ed Burke’s law firm represented one of the parties in property tax matters. There’s zero evidence that Burke tipped the scale on behalf of her husband’s clients, but the pledge she took when she was first sworn in looks inoperative to my eyes…
On the day she first was sworn in as a justice in 2006, Burke pledged to be mindful of potential conflicts of interest that might involve her politics or her husband.
“I’m constantly on the lookout for any possible — what appears to be, which I might not even think is an appearance of — impropriety or conflict. I go the opposite way,” she said. […]
In the case involving Jason Sloan, a court spokesman said Justice Burke was unaware that her husband had any financial relationship to ComEd.
“I can confirm on the record that Justice Burke did not know who was or was not a client of Klafter & Burke in 2011 and still does not know who may or may not be a client of Klafter & Burke to this day,” court spokesman Christopher Bonjean said in a statement.
Court rules dictate that judges shall “make a reasonable effort to keep informed about the personal economic interests of the judge’s spouse.”
You cannot be both “constantly on the lookout” for even the appearance of conflict and then never make a reasonable effort to ask your attorney spouse about possible conflicts.
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World’s Greatest Newspaper
Wednesday, Oct 9, 2019 - Posted by Rich Miller
* I somehow missed the bottom of this editorial until a buddy recently forwarded it to me…
Editor’s note: A previous version indicated that Andrew Johnson was elected president. In 1865, Johnson, next in line as vice president, assumed the presidency after President Abraham Lincoln was assassinated. The Tribune regrets the error.
Editorials reflect the opinion of the Editorial Board, as determined by the members of the board, the editorial page editor and the publisher.
What?
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* CTU…
* Mayor Lightfoot last night…
“Today marked the 49th time that CTU and CPS negotiators met at the bargaining table, and the 142nd day that CTU has still not provided us with a comprehensive counter-proposal. Instead of providing a response to our comprehensive proposal, CTU presented its demands to set the City’s affordable housing policy through their collective bargaining agreement, demanding that the City enact CTU’s preferred affordable housing policy as part of their contract.
“My administration is committed to addressing Chicago’s affordable housing challenges. That’s why I appointed the City’s first housing commissioner in a decade, and announced a new and transparent plan for distributing Low Income Housing Tax Credits, with more progress to come. The CTU shares much of our vision on affordable housing, and I invite them to engage in the policymaking process with housing providers, advocacy organizations and other stakeholders who must be a part of this important discussion.
“Affordable housing is a critical issue that affects residents across Chicago, and everyone’s voices need to be heard during this process. As such, the CTU collective bargaining agreement is not the appropriate place for the City to legislate its affordable housing policy.
“We are a week away from our deadline to resolve this contract and avoid a strike. We need CTU to come to the table with written proposals on the core issues we need to address in order to resolve the contract. Once this contract is resolved, our Department of Housing will continue to work closely with stakeholders—including unions like the CTU—to ensure everyone in all of our communities has access to a safe, affordable, accessible place to live.”
* Sun-Times…
CTU spokeswoman Chris Geovanis said late Tuesday that housing costs need to be addressed to help students and lower-paid support staff who she said don’t make enough to live in the city, even though they are required to.
It’s “sad that [the mayor] continues to distort our proposals and try to force a wage agreement that would still leave the children of teaching assistants and school clerks eligible for free and reduced lunch under federal poverty guidelines,” Geovanis said.
The two sides will bargain every day this week except Wednesday in observance of a Jewish holiday. Negotiators will also meet Saturday.
Still, there doesn’t appear to be a resolution in sight with just more than a week left before the union’s Oct. 17 strike deadline.
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This is one huge dragnet
Wednesday, Oct 9, 2019 - Posted by Rich Miller
* My weekly syndicated newspaper column…
The Illinois Senate recently released a heavily redacted copy of the federal search warrant served during the raid of Sen. Martin Sandoval’s Statehouse office last month. And the Village of McCook also released a heavily redacted search warrant from the federal raid of its town hall.
It’s impossible to tell from the redactions exactly how many individuals and entities are under investigation, but it’s a lot. McCook’s warrant has almost six full lines of text blacked out after the phrase “Items related to.” Sandoval’s warrant contains 67 redactions, but it’s unclear if all those are for separate individuals and entities or just multiple words in the same names.
Even so, by counting things like “Associate A,” or “Lobbyist B,” or “Official A’s company,” I totaled up more than 70 people and entities clearly listed in the two warrants.
And we’ve only seen parts of two of the numerous search warrants served. So there’s more. We know the Village of Lyons also was hit, as was a sand and gravel operation owned by a businessman named Mike Vondra.
Vondra is known in some circles as “The Wizard,” a nickname that is both complimentary and disparaging at the same time. It comes from his uncanny business sense and his ability to work the system to benefit his many companies, which naturally makes some of his competitors furious.
Vondra’s main business is asphalt, perhaps one of the most politically drenched industries in this state. Asphalt companies vie for contracts with this state’s innumerable local governments, as well as with the state. Many of those companies are by necessity politically active. Vondra is said to excel at this.
Vondra has been an honorary chairman of Sandoval’s huge annual golf outing fundraisers over the years and has contributed thousands of dollars to Sandoval’s campaign fund. As chairman of the Senate Transportation Committee, Sandoval took the lead in his chamber on the state’s massive new infrastructure law.
Vondra’s Statehouse lobbying team is led by Victor Reyes, whose Roosevelt Group firm started working for Vondra in 2006. Reyes is super-close to Sandoval and has worked to elect Sandoval and his allies for nearly two decades. Nothing has emerged to connect Reyes or his firm to the current federal investigation.
At least seven municipalities are being looked at during this probe. We know that because the FBI was looking for evidence in Sandoval’s office regarding “Municipality 7 Attorney, Municipality 7 President,” etc.
The feds were looking for any items related to five unnamed officials with the Illinois Department of Transportation in Sandoval’s office. According to Gov. J.B. Pritzker, the agency has received no federal subpoenas or search warrants and neither has his office.
The G was also looking for information in Sandoval’s office about two unnamed lobbyists, an unnamed “Foundation,” an unnamed construction company, an unnamed highway company, an unnamed “lounge” and an unnamed “Club.”
The Sun-Times has reported that federal investigators asked Summit’s mayor “whether another political figure tried to pressure village officials into giving a local bar a license to operate later into the night,” but it’s not clear if either the lounge or club in the Sandoval warrant are connected to Summit.
Multiple media outlets have reported that the feds are asking questions about SafeSpeed, a politically connected red-light camera company.
Red-light cam companies are popular with a certain set. With enough influence over a town government you can get a cam or two (or more) installed and then receive a percentage of the fines. Some Statehouse lobbyists have supplemented their incomes by recommending cam locations to their municipal clients. The cam companies are also popular with politicians who need jobs for their campaign workers.
But the Sun-Times also reported that the feds asked Cook County Commissioner Jeff Tobolski’s chief of staff about SafeSpeed investor Omar Maani and some low-income housing projects Maani built in Cicero and Summit. The feds also asked the mayor of Summit about the housing projects, according to the Sun-Times. According to the Forest Park Review, Maani at one time worked for a man who now handles legal work for the Town of Cicero. Sandoval has a lucrative translation contract with Cicero. The Roosevelt Group also lobbies for Cicero and SafeSpeed.
Again, we don’t know yet who will be ensnared, but it’s one of the biggest dragnets we’ve ever seen in Illinois, and that’s saying something.
One more thing. The warrant served on McCook includes items relating to “CW1” and “CW2.” That federal “CW” reference usually translates to “Cooperating Witness.”
* Related…
* Chicago’s IRS Criminal Investigation division has its first female leader
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What’s the dealio on Cullerton and Sandoval?
Wednesday, Oct 9, 2019 - Posted by Rich Miller
* My Crain’s Chicago Business column…
On paper, at least, House Speaker Michael Madigan and Senate President John Cullerton appear pretty similar.
They’ve both served in the General Assembly since the 1970s, they’re Chicago Democrats from political families and are White Sox fans with season tickets. Cullerton is the godfather of Madigan’s only son.
But they don’t wield their power the same way.
Over the years, Madigan has been far more top-down than Cullerton. His nickname isn’t the “Velvet Hammer” for nothing. Madigan’s longtime chief of staff, Tim Mapes, was given more power than any of the speaker’s elected members. Madigan’s staff constantly tries to micromanage House Democrats. Cullerton’s staff is much more deferential.
Cullerton is more of a delegator. He gently defers to his members, even devolving some power to them this year with a committee rules restructuring.
The column eventually gets to what I think is behind Cullerton’s refusal to move Sen. Martin Sandoval out of his Transportation Committee chairmanship, so go read the rest before commenting, please.
* Related…
* Editorial: Pritzker’s right, remove transportation chair
* Editorial: Before spending on roads, bridges, Sandoval must go
* Senator under scrutiny by feds exerted muscle on tollway’s contract with campaign donor
* Silence on Sandoval? Illinois lawmaker’s reaction is priceless: BRADLEY: “Okay, let’s go outside. You don’t want to talk about a senator who has received search warrants?”
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* This rumor has been going around for about a week now. Here’s the Sun-Times on Monday…
The politically connected CEO of a red-light camera company under federal scrutiny insisted “we don’t pay people off,” amid new revelations that agents recently approached another village mayor and a company salesman as part of their investigation.
“There is no subpoena to SafeSpeed,” Nikki Zollar told the Chicago Sun-Times late last week in her first public remarks since federal agents fanned out across the southwest suburbs on Sept. 26, seizing records and interviewing people. […]
Zollar said she believes that a SafeSpeed “partner,” businessman and developer Omar Maani, appears to be cooperating with the government, as do other sources familiar with the probe. […]
Her company is “trying to find out what we need to do to distance ourselves from him.”
“Our partner has run amok in some way,” Zollar said.
* Sun-Times yesterday…
An upscale cigar shop and lounge in southwest suburban Countryside is proving to be an intriguing — and, until now, little-known — link to political players involved in an ongoing federal corruption investigation that saw agents swoop into Chicago and the southwest suburbs over the last two weeks, seizing records and interviewing public officials.
The business, Casa De Montecristo, offers choice cigars for sale, a living room-type space to unwind with a blazing fireplace where customers can puff away while watching sports on a large-screen TV and a separate “VIP room” in the basement, accessible by elevator, that offers dim-lighting, booths straight out of a Rat Pack-era nightclub, televisions and a bar for special events. Attractive women were often on hand working as servers. […]
It turns out a central figure in the corruption probe, Omar Maani of Burr Ridge, often entertained or otherwise socialized with political figures there, the Chicago Sun-Times has learned. […]
Maani was there so often, in fact, that many people — including his business partners in other endeavors — thought he owned the swanky establishment. These days some of them believe he was something else: A businessman who was secretly cooperating with federal authorities as they attempted to snare local politicians.
Thoughts?
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Um, make that Wednesday
Tuesday, Oct 8, 2019 - Posted by Rich Miller
* A friend I haven’t seen in ages is visiting for a couple days, so I’ll be back to the bloggy grindstone tomorrow.
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