A former member of Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker’s cabinet appears to have taken a more aggressive role than previously known in safeguarding the state job of a campaign volunteer tied to the “rape in Champaign” email scandal, newly obtained records show. […]
On Aug. 1, 2012, one day after McClain’s email, Randy Wells, former deputy chief of staff and legislative affairs director for the state Department of Human Services, notified former Quinn aide Gary Hannig and another DHS official about an unspecified “human resource issue with Senator Sullivan.”
Wells said pending action by the agency would result in “an extremely negative reaction” from Sullivan. Ashby, an employee of DHS, was not singled out by name in the Wells email, but it appears to relate directly to Ashby’s disciplinary case, a source familiar with the document told WBEZ.
“Senator Sullivan has already told me he is going to Gary and the Governor about this issue if we take action,” Wells wrote in the document. […]
In a brief, text exchange Friday, Sullivan acknowledged the newly released Wells email likely alluded to Ashby’s disciplinary action but did not confirm he had been prepared to respond with an “extremely negative reaction” if the Quinn administration took action against Ashby.
“It sounds like McClain hyperbole to me,” Sullivan wrote in a text message.
* I was able to reach Randy Wells by phone. Here’s part of what he told me…
What I’ve read in the email, without seeing it, reflects the standard operating procedure that I always used at DHS. If a member of the General Assembly contacted me and I knew that they were frustrated and getting irritated with a situation, I immediately would shove that up the food chain to the governor’s legislative staff. And the reason being, is because I didn’t want the governor’s office blindsided by a member of the General Assembly saying ‘Hey, I made Randy aware of something and he didn’t bother to tell you about it?’
Seems reasonable. But, Wells said he has no memory of this particular situation with Ashby over seven years ago and doesn’t think he did know back then.
Sullivan seemed to tell WBEZ that perhaps McClain got to Wells and told him Sullivan was really angry. Wells said he “can’t recall who contacted me about it,” adding, “I don’t remember McClain contacting me about this one, but I don’t know.”
Former state Rep. Luis Arroyo appears to be preparing to plead guilty in his federal corruption case, a new court record indicates.
Federal prosecutors filed a charging document Friday known as an information against Arroyo that repeated allegations first made against him in October. The filing is significant because an information typically means a defendant plans to plead guilty.
If Arroyo does enter such a plea, it would be the first conviction secured against an elected official as a result of the feds’ multiple public corruption investigations that became known with the November 2018 raid of Ald. Edward M. Burke’s office.
…Adding… Meisner concurs…
///BREAKING/// Federal prosecutors just filed a criminal information in ex-state Rep. Luis Arroyo’s bribery case — a clear sign he’s planning to plead guilty. This is a big development in a case involving the shady world of “sweepstakes” gaming and a state senator wearing a wire.
* Dan Proft has shut down his two campaign committees, Liberty Principles PAC and Proft for Governor. He hasn’t raised money lately, so this wasn’t unexpected.
Liberty Principles PAC raised over $25 million since 2012. Much of that money came from the super-wealthy Richard Uihlein, but Uihlein stopped contributing a while ago. Proft ran for governor in 2010, losing the GOP primary, but he kept his PAC open and ended up raising almost $1.3 million.
Proft didn’t win a large number of contests, but he did help create what we now know as the Eastern Bloc. And the millions he spent on GOP primary races unnerved lots of Republican incumbents in this state, particularly in the House. It’s one reason so many House Republicans who voted to override Gov. Bruce Rauner’s veto of the tax hike chose not to stand for reelection the following year.
I reached out to Proft to ask if he plans to open any new campaign accounts. I’ll let you know what he says, but last month he signed on to do a nightly show for the Salem Radio Network, which serves 2,000 radio stations across the country. He replaced Joe Walsh, who is running for president… sorta.
* Proft went out with a twist. Liberty Principles PAC filed what turned out to be its final quarterly report this week showing it with a balance of $0. It reported an in-kind $1,007 contribution for “legal expenses” from the Illinois Opportunity Project and an odd expenditure of $38,847.89 for “Corrective Accounting/Journal Entry.”
Proft’s personal campaign committee also filed its final quarterly report this week showing a $0 balance, a $412.50 payment for legal fees and $3,353.11 listed under “Other Receipts” for “Corrective/Journal Entry.”
Our firm represents Liberty Principles PAC, Committee ID Number 24614, in connection with the above-referenced matters. Please be advised as follows:
The Committee’s Quarterly D-2 report filed electronically on January 13, 2020 for the quarter ending December 31, 2019 is the committee’s final report. This report contains a corrective accounting journal expenditure entry in the amount of $38,847.89 to account for the difference in available balance that would have otherwise shown on the committee’s D-2 Quarterly report and actual $0.00 cash balance in Committee’s bank accounts at end of quarter. The Committee is unable to account for the difference in the reported available balance and the actual cash balance even after an exhaustive internal audit through the end of 2018 that resulted in the committee’s filing of Amended D-2 Quarterly Reports from 2016Q1 to 2018Q3.
Please accept this 2019Q4 D-2 Quarterly Report as the committee’s final report. Do not hesitate to contact me should you have any questions, concerns, or require any further action relating to these issues.
Our firm represents Proft for Governor, Committee ID Number 22072, in connection with the above-referenced matters. Please be advised as follows:
The Committee’s Quarterly D-2 report filed electronically on January 13, 2020 for the quarter ending December 31, 2019 is the committee’s final report, This report contains a corrective accounting/journal receipt in the amount of $3,353.11 to account for the difference in negative balance that would have otherwise shown on the committee’s D-2 Quarterly report and actual $0.00 cash balance in Committe&s bank accounts at end of quarter. The Committee is unable to account for the difference in the reported available balance and the actual cash balance even after a review of its available banking records. The $3,353.11 reported as a ‘4Corrective/Journal Entry” other receipt on December 31, 2019 is not an actual contribution nor receipt of anything else of value.
Please accept this 2019Q4 D-2 Quarterly Report as the committee’s final report. Do not hesitate to contact inc should you have any questions, concerns, or require any flrther action relating to these issues.
…Adding… The irony of the missing money is pretty rich when you consider this history…
The Feb. 7-13 edition of the weekly McHenry Times devoted much of its ink to Mautino, a Spring Valley Democrat who became the state’s auditor general Jan. 1. Its lead story was titled, “Scandal brewing over Illinois auditor general’s dubious campaign expenditures.”
The Liberty Principles PAC hired a company, Chicago-based Newsinator LLC, to produce the products. The PAC paid Newsinator $85,000 in February, according to a report filed with the state Board of Elections.
Andrew McKenna, chairman of the Illinois Republican Party from 2005 to 2009, is listed as the agent for Newsinator, according to the secretary of state’s business database.
[Federal agents’ seized a whopping $60,000 in cash from [Oakbrook Terrace Mayor Tony Ragucci’s] west suburban home late last year, the [federal] document shows, though it does not indicate whether he’s being eyed as part of the same political corruption investigation that’s been rocking local governments.
Ragucci couldn’t be reached for comment on Thursday, but in November he was asked by the Chicago Sun-Times whether he or his community has drawn scrutiny from federal agents because of the town’s use of the company SafeSpeed to operate red-light cameras.
SafeSpeed is a focus of the ongoing federal investigation, with agents looking into whether company representatives landed deals through payoffs. The company was the subject of a 2017 Chicago Tribune story about the controversial push to install SafeSpeed cameras in the town, and the questionable efforts of then-state Sen. Martin Sandoval to go to bat for the firm.
“That was all done legit,” Ragucci told the Sun-Times of the SafeSpeed contract. “We did everything legit and clean here.”
Oakbrook Terrace Mayor Tony Ragucci recently paid $30,000 from his campaign fund to a lawyer representing him amid an ongoing federal corruption probe, according to campaign finance records and sources. […]
On Tuesday evening, Ragucci was a no-show at the monthly City Council meeting that he typically presides over. A clerk told a Tribune reporter that the mayor had been at City Hall earlier in the day but was not feeling well. […]
There are indications, however, that Ragucci is not planning on running again. Earlier this month, he filed an amendment changing his campaign committee’s status from a candidate-supporting fund to an “independent expenditure committee,” according to state election records.
The amended committee now states its purpose as simply to “Promote Good Government,” according to the filing.
* Former Sen. Martin Sandoval (D-Chicago), whose Statehouse office was raided by the feds last year, this week reported receiving a large campaign contribution refund from the Senate Democratic Victory Fund, which is chaired by retiring Senate President John Cullerton…
I asked SDVF’s political director if this was part of some deal to convince Sandoval to resign. I was told “No.” The check was written on January 13th.
Why wasn’t the money donated to charity or something? I was told the decision was made by Senate President Cullerton, who has not yet responded.
The SDVF ended the fourth quarter with $840K in the bank and a whopping $625K in debt. That $60K refund could’ve also been used to pay off some of that debt before he left office.
I’ll let you know if Cullerton responds.
…Adding… According to a State Board of Elections website search, Sandoval has contributed $84,200 to SDVF since 2011. So, this refund represented 71 percent of the money Sandoval gave.
Governor JB Pritzker today signed the License to Work Act, which eliminates driver’s license suspensions for most non-moving violations and allows tens of thousands of Illinoisans whose licenses were canceled, suspended or revoked to have their driving privileges reinstated.
“With this bipartisan legislation, Illinois now recognizes the fact that suspending licenses for having too many unpaid tickets, fines, and fees doesn’t necessarily make a person pay the bill — but it does mean that people don’t have a way to pay,” said Governor JB Pritzker, who also has called for reform for the past several years. “We, as a state, have a vested interest in making sure all our residents who need their licenses to apply to a job or an apprenticeship program, or who already use their licenses to drive to work, to the grocery store, or to the doctor, don’t lose those opportunities because of a practice that reinforces cycles of instability.”
More than 50,000 Illinois licenses are suspended each year because drivers cannot afford to pay tickets, fines, and fees. Suspended licenses hinder an individuals’ ability to maintain employment and pay off fines and fees, keeping people trapped in a cycle of debt and unemployment.
“For years, Illinois has held driver’s licenses hostage when people couldn’t pay excessive parking and vehicle tickets. That drives people into poverty and keeps them out of work. Using license suspension for debt collection is cruel, counterproductive, and frankly embarrassing,” said Sen. Omar Aquino (D-Chicago). “I am proud to stand with my colleagues, community leaders, and partners and say; this practice ends today. No more will Illinois take driver’s licenses away and turn lives upside down because of parking and vehicle compliance ticket debts. This is an important victory in the fight to end policing for profit and stop funding government through tickets, fines, and fees - especially on the people least able to afford them.”
“The License to Work Act was truly a labor of love. This piece of legislation has taken over two years to introduce and pass and I am honored to have championed it. This new law doesn’t just restore drivers licenses to tens of thousands of Illinois residents, it restores dignity, equity, and quality of life. It eliminates driver’s license suspension as a penalty for most non-driving violations,” said Rep. Carol Ammons (D-Champaign). “I am grateful that Gov. JB Pritzker understands that when we take basic life necessities away from people, we perpetuate a downward spiral of financial despair. This legislation was designed to ensure that over 50,000 licenses are restored, jobs are restored, economic growth is restored, community is restored. Today, that downward spiral of financial despair ends, and we starting building up.”
“For far too long, thousands of residents in Chicago and around the state every year have had the experience of having their driver’s license taken away — in turn putting them at risk of losing their car, their job, or worse, and often inflicting the most harm on our Black and Brown communities,” said Chicago Mayor Lori E. Lightfoot. “Today we applaud Governor Pritzker and the General Assembly for taking a giant step forward for Illinois and its communities by signing SB 1786 into law today to prevent driver’s license suspensions for minor offenses. We know that suspending driver’s licenses has a severely detrimental impact, with one study showing that 42% of those who had their licenses suspended lost their jobs. The City of Chicago was proud to take the step of halting driver’s license suspensions for non-driving violations last year, and we’re elated that not only will driver’s licenses now be reinstated, these new policies will also be true throughout the state.”
“Over 50,000 Illinoisans have suspended licenses because they simply can’t afford to pay tickets or fines,” said House Republican Leader Jim Durkin (R- Burr Ridge). “This bill stops a practice that doesn’t fit the times and is the right thing to do.”
Gov. Pritzker just announced he has asked the University of Illinois’ board to expand free tuition for low income families: “More than half of the households in this state will qualify for free tuition.” #twill
Pritzker: “I believe that they will be able to implement it by the end of this month…people who are applying for the new school year, in the fall, will be able to access that 10% increase.”
For the first time in six years, tuition will be going up for in-state students attending University of Illinois schools.
Trustees on Thursday unanimously approved a proposal that will raise base tuition for Illinoisans by 1.8% at the campuses at Urbana-Champaign and Chicago, and by 1% in Springfield.
That means tuition for Illinois freshmen in fall 2020 will be $12,254 at Urbana-Champaign, $10,776 at Chicago and $9,502.50 at Springfield. […]
The tuition hikes do not affect currently enrolled students — only the next incoming class. Illinois’ Truth in Tuition law guarantees that the price students pay in their first year of college essentially is locked in for four years.
…Adding… I asked the governor’s office if this included any state revenue to fund it and was told this…
The current bipartisan balanced budget included increased funding for higher education and the Governor remains committed to investing in education in future budgets.
Meanwhile, [Senate Republican Leader Bill Brady] said he also plans to spend the next 10 months making the case against the graduated or progressive income tax proposal that will be on the ballot in November. […]
Brady said he’s worried that abandoning Illinois’ flat income tax will prompt more high-end earners and middle-income families to leave the state.
Democratic Gov. JB Pritzker supports the graduated income tax and made it a central part of his 2018 campaign against then-Gov. Bruce Rauner, winning with 55% of the vote. […]
“I believe the voters will reject—when they’re informed about the risks of this alteration—I believe voters will reject it. The question is, can we overcome the Pritzker money when it comes to messaging the truth about this alteration?” Brady said.
That is indeed a major question.
* Opponents are gonna need to start raising money sometime soon, and I assume they will. I mean, there are plenty of rich people in Illinois who don’t want to pay higher taxes. But, since Brady mentioned it, this is from the Vote No On The Blank Check Amendment committee’s fourth quarter D-2 report…
Funds available at the beginning of the reporting period: $0.00
Total Receipts: $0.00
Subtotal: $0.00
Total Expenditures: $0.00
Funds available at the close of the reporting period: $0.00
* We discussed yesterday how Speaker Madigan’s campaign committee spent over $445,000 on legal fees during the fourth quarter. Here’s Paris Schutz at WTTW…
Madigan isn’t the only public official providing paychecks to Chicago-area attorneys. Campaign disclosures show that McCook Mayor and Democratic Cook County Commissioner Jeffrey Tobolski paid $200,000 in legal fees in the last quarter; $100,000 went to the law firm of Blaine & Vanzant, and another $100,000 to Walsh, Fewkes & Sterba. Federal agents raided Tobolski’s home and the village headquarters of McCook on Sept. 26. Tobolski, who has not been charged with any wrongdoing, has not commented about the federal probe. His campaign fund is not nearly as robust as Madigan’s: he raised $5,750 in the last quarter and has about $225,744 available.
On the same day Tobolski was targeted, federal agents sacked the home and offices of former state Sen. Martin Sandoval. Sandoval reported paying $90,000 in legal fees in the last quarter and stepped down from the General Assembly amid the federal probe.
Chicago Ald. Ed Burke, 14th Ward, paid nearly $400,000 in legal fees from his campaign account in the last quarter, according to state campaign disclosures. The payments went to high-profile attorneys at two white-collar defense firms – Jenner & Block and Loeb & Loeb, who are defending Burke in a 14-count federal indictment. Burke has nearly $12 million in campaign cash across multiple funds he controls.
Chicago Ald. Carrie Austin, 34th Ward, spent $40,000 in legal fees in the last quarter – paid to the law firm of Clark Hill. Austin reported raised only $700 in the last quarter and has around $30,000 available, according to state filings. Federal agents raided Austin’s ward office last June. Austin has not been charged with any wrongdoing.
Former Rep. Luis Arroyo (D-Chicago) reported reimbursing his spouse Maribel $10,000 on November 11th for legal fees that she paid “with personal funds.” Arroyo was arrested by the feds in late October and his indictment has been postponed until February 20th. He had close to $228K in his campaign account at the end of the year.
Cullerton reported receiving almost $10,000 last quarter from contributors including AFSCME Council 31, ComEd, Comcast and (are you ready?) the Illinois Policy PAC. That’s the campaign arm of the Illinois Policy Institute. It contributed $2,000.
…Adding… I just did something I’ve criticized others for doing and I’m upset at myself. I jumped to a conclusion by looking at contribution dates. As I’ve said many times before, the receive date is when the check is deposited. AFSCME tells me their contribution was actually made in June. Ugh! Sorry! I will listen to myself more often!
The state’s child welfare agency is delaying the rollout of a new Medicaid plan for thousands of youth in its care by at least another two months amid ongoing concerns from advocates about whether it will hinder health care access for foster children.
About 13,000 foster children who were set to be enrolled in a Medicaid managed care plan Feb. 1 will now have until April 1 to get set up for the new system, the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services announced Thursday.
DCFS negotiated the new date with the American Civil Liberties Union, which had objected to the implementation next month. Later Thursday, DCFS and the ACLU presented the plan in front of a federal judge presiding over the matter, who lauded the agreement and scheduled another hearing in March to monitor the progress. […]
This is the second time since September that DCFS and the state Department of Healthcare and Family Services are changing the launch date. Despite efforts to shore up the new system since then, the agencies have faced tough questions about the number of participating doctors, communication with foster parents and the quality of health assessments.
Retired federal Magistrate Judge Geraldine Soat Brown, who was appointed special master in the B.H. case in 2018, will be checking in with DCFS, HFS and ACLU at least every two weeks, according to the parties’ agreement, and have deadlines for specific benchmarks for the transition. If Brown decides that the parties have not completed their work by March 15, HFS must announce another delay in implementation on March 16.
State officials said Thursday that IlliniCare has already hired more than 200 care coordinators and operations staff to manage the transition.
While the managed care transition will be delayed two more months for foster children, 18,800 former youth in care — including foster children who have been adopted or young adults under age 26 who aged out of the foster care system — will be transitioned into Medicaid managed care on Feb. 1 as scheduled.
ACLU Director of Institutional Reform Heidi Dalenberg told The Daily Line those young adults and the adoptees and their families had a choice between IlliniCare and other medicaid managed care organizations, whereas children currently in foster care do not.
Illinois Democratic senators plan to meet Sunday behind closed doors to select one of the most powerful players in state politics.
And it appears the field has dwindled to two heavyweights: Majority Leader Kimberly Lightford, D-Maywood, and Assistant Majority Leader Don Harmon, D-Oak Park.
Harmon would be the first suburban Democrat to hold the job this century.
Lightford would become the first woman ever.
“There hasn’t been a woman at all, no matter what nationality,” she said. I think it’s time to have a woman’s perspective.”
Other behind-the-scenes drama has a few Black Caucus members feeling pressured to vote for Lightford. Others worry Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s team is taking sides (The governor says not so). Leadership positions are being offered in exchange for votes. Deals are being brokered. One senator said “tensions are high and claws are out.”
The phrase used most often: “It’s fluid.”
Some senators have stayed on the fence because they don’t want to side with the losing candidate and face possible retribution. A secret ballot is their friend.
That sort of pressure is not unusual in a race like this. It happened the last time the Senate had a contested race for president.
The winning candidate will have no shortage of crises to deal with, from federal investigations of several state senators and lobbyists to serious ethical investigations into the conduct of members and their staffers.
The leadership role also requires a candidate who can fundraise for fellow senators, and in that area Harmon has a decided advantage, having outraised Lightford while also donating far more money to other political candidates.
“Don has more money in his coffers, but that’s because he’s been running for the idea of the presidency for a lot longer than I have,” she said.
“On the political side I think I’m in the best position to protect our caucus and to grow it,” Harmon said. “I’ve demonstrated my ability to help my colleagues with their election and raising the resources we need.”
I will open the blog on Sunday during the caucus meeting and subsequent floor vote (if any).
The reconstituted Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum board of trustees will try again to authenticate a stovepipe hat that could have belonged to the 16th president.
The board also has started the process to appoint a new executive director for the museum, chairman Ray LaHood announced during the board’s first meeting Wednesday.
A subcommittee comprised of three members from the ALPLM board and three from the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library Foundation will determine how to proceed with the hat.
“My research was prematurely halted in May 2019,” said State Historian Samuel Wheeler. “I want to resume and complete my initial research plan. I look forward to working with the subcommittee.”
U.S. Chief District Judge Rebecca Pallmeyer just gave prosecutors another month to indict Luis Arroyo. New deadline is Feb. 20. pic.twitter.com/jXzxyRMrpx
Just in: Citing an ongoing grand jury probe, federal prosecutors have been granted an extension to the deadline to indict former Illinois state Rep. Luis Arroyo in a bribery case that ended his career. The specific reasons for the request were filed under seal. New date: Feb. 20.
Normally we wouldn’t be talking about this process, but because someone decided to launch an oppo hit…
The administration is proud to ask the MPEA board to consider a highly qualified African American woman with years of experience in convention and hospitality management. Ms. Larita Reed-Clark is a Chicago native who was raised in West Garfield Park and attended Austin High School before graduating from Loyola and Northwestern’s Kellogg School of Management.
She, her husband and their young family moved to Indiana when he accepted a job there. After he passed away in 1999, she raised their children there to keep them in their existing support network. Ms. Reed-Clark would move to Illinois if the board selects her for this role.
For the past 35 years, she has provided leadership and financial management at the Metropolitan Pier and Exposition Authority, rising from assistant controller to Chief Financial Officer.
* I went looking for that email after Greg Hinz published this…
The statement [from Bittner] did not discuss who launched the “oppo hit.” But the mayor and governor have been jostling for months over who to pick to succeed Healey, with McPier board Chairman Brett Hart also expected to leave soon. […]
Lightfoot wants DePaul University CFO Jeff Bethke, but Pritzker’s allies say he has little experience running or attracting the trade shows and conventions that constitute McCormick Place’s business. In turn, the mayor has frowned on some other names pushed by Pritzker, such as Chicago Public Schools COO Arnie Rivera.
Knowledgeable sources say a four- or five-member McPier board subcommittee is about to start interviewing candidates in hopes of reaching a decision. But a final selection will depend on the mayor and governor reaching some sort of agreement, since they split control over the agency.
Senators plan to return to Springfield on Sunday to pick the chamber’s next leader. Whoever is picked will only be allowed to serve in that capacity for a decade.
After the Senate adjourned on the final day of the fall legislative session, Senate President John Cullerton, D-Chicago, announced his retirement. Senators will pick his successor over the weekend.
* The Question: Which candidate do you support, Don Harmon or Kim Lightford? Take the poll and then explain your answer in comments, please…
* Dude always does well with this stuff. Greg Hinz…
Which leads to a story about how, thanks to a hidden earmark within an earmark, Madigan’s home ward, the 13th on the Southwest Side, is receiving a special $10 million appropriation for street resurfacing, new street lights and other improvements—a gift far larger than most and maybe all of the city’s other 49 wards are receiving.
The money was tucked into Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s huge new $45 billion capital program, the one that passed the Legislature last year with Madigan’s help. And though neither state officials nor especially Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s administration seem thrilled about it, both are going along with the move. […]
The $50 million originally was supposed to be only $40 million, according to an Oct. 10 letter from Acting Illinois Department of Transportation Secretary Omer Osman to then city Transportation Commissioner Tom Carney that an anonymous source passed on to me. But it somehow that total got bumped up to $10 million.
What to do with that $10 million windfall? The letter, which you can see for yourself below, makes it clear: “This correspondence confirms the understanding between IDOT and the city that this additional $10 million dollars of SOCC funds is designated for use in the 22nd Legislative District, located in southwest Chicago.”
* To commemorate the one-year anniversary of his inauguration, Gov. JB Pritkzer’s campaign committee is mailing out a booklet today.
Its not a traditional campaign mailer. It’s not “poll-tested” and it’s not being widely distributed. According to Pritkzer’s top campaign person Quentin Fulks, the booklet is being mailed to “key stakeholders” and party leaders to make them aware of the governor’s accomplishments.
Expanded healthcare to 120,000 more Illinoisans with bipartisan reforms to eliminate the Medicaid backlog
Capped the price of insulin to help reduce the cost of a life-saving medicine
Raised the age to buy tobacco and nicotine products to 21
Improved the quality of care for seniors through better funding for nursing homes and in-home care
Protected an individual’s right to make decisions about their own reproductive health
Strengthened critical access to hospitals in rural downstate communities
Put in place the Getting to Zero plan to end the HIV epidemic in a decade
Implemented a managed care organization assessment that will bring in $500 million of new federal funding to Medicaid
Fully funded the reconstruction of Quincy Veterans’ Home and restarted work on the long-delayed 200-bed Chicago
Most people, even politically involved people either didn’t know about some of that stuff or maybe forgot about it. So, it’ll probably be helpful.
Evanston’s local electoral board Wednesday ruled that a ballot measure backed by former Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn that would have given voters some legislative control through referendums will not appear on the March ballot.
The three-member board sustained two objections to the referendum measure, thereby removing it from the March 17 ballot. Objectors argued that the measure was not allowed under state law and the way it was written was difficult for voters to understand. The group Evanston Voter Initiative was asking voters to support a legislative method that would allow residents to create potentially binding legislation at the ballot box. […]
The board’s decision came after members pressed Quinn to identify another Illinois voter referendum that was binding without prior approval of a city council. He cited one example in Arlington Heights decades ago that gave voters permission to create binding referendums, but said residents have never chosen to use it.
“There’s a reason why it hasn’t been used,” commented [Ald. Ann Rainey].
At the request of at least 25 Evanston electors, the City Clerk shall promptly cause a proposal to be drafted into ordinance form, including an official summary of the proposed ordinance. The official summary of the proposed ordinance may be introduced by a petition filed with the City Clerk and signed by a number of electors equal to at least eight percent of the total votes cast in Evanston for candidates for Governor in the preceding gubernatorial election. The procedure for filing the petition and determining its validity and sufficiency shall be established by the City Clerk, who shall make the determination of validity and sufficiency within 21 days of a petition filing.
Upon the determination of a valid and sufficient petition, the City Clerk shall within one business day submit the ordinance proposed by the official petition summary on the agenda of the next City Council meeting for its consideration. The City Council shall take a record roll call vote on the proposed ordinance within 70 days of submission by the City Clerk. If the City Council does not pass the proposed ordinance within the 70 day period, the official summary of the proposed ordinance shall be submitted by the City Clerk to the electors for their approval by referendum at the next regularly scheduled election held in all precincts of the city and held at least 70 days after referendum submission by the City Clerk. If the official summary is approved by a majority of those voting on the question, the proposed ordinance shall have the force and effect of passage by the corporate authorities of the City of Evanston unless it is disapproved by a resolution of the City Council not more than 30 days after the election
Two years ago, the state of Illinois asked Southern Illinois University Carbondale to help it study the escalating statewide teacher shortage.
The university surveyed superintendents across the state and found some types of teachers were much scarcer than others — especially in special education. The survey also confirmed the disproportionate need in high poverty areas, from rural Southern Illinois to urban Chicago. […]
Last year, the state asked SIUC to provide a solution. The university got about $345,000 to recruit a cohort of 20 paraprofessionals (also known as teacher’s aides) from across Southern Illinois and convert them into full-fledged, certified special ed teachers.
A year later, 18 of the 20 remain in the rigorous program, taking classes at night, on the weekends, and over the summer to earn their bachelor’s degrees and teaching certifications, all while continuing to work full-time in their special education classrooms.
The state funding covers 100% of their tuition, fees and books, and some travel from as far as 1.5 hours away to participate.
I was going to have great fun with that flier until I noticed something.
* Zoom in…
That’s Rep. Sara Feigenholtz (D-Chicago) on the left. Feigenholtz was pushed out of House Democratic leadership last year. She was first elected in 1994, making her one of the most senior members in the House, but she’s abandoning all that seniority for a freshman role in the Senate.
And yet they put her in their recruitment poster.
…Adding… Rep. Chris Welch…
Hey Rich! I just saw your blog post. As you know, I’m constantly fighting for equality and diversity in the workforce, and I think we have to lead by example. A couple of weeks ago I asked House Dem Staff to create that flyer for me. I specifically wanted to use it to promote within various diverse groups of college graduates. In my time in the House, I think our staff has been diverse with people from all backgrounds culturally, ethnically, socio-economic status, etc. Our staff, just like the Democratic Party, looks like our Illinois. However, I’m always looking for ways to do even better because you should never rest. Thanks for sharing it on your widely read platform.
With federal investigators scrutinizing the activities of lobbyists at City Hall and the state Capitol, Gov. J.B. Pritzker wants the General Assembly to pass legislation banning public officials from working as lobbyists at other levels of government.
But to do that, lawmakers will have to decide what, exactly, counts as lobbying and who would be required to register as a lobbyist. The difficulty lawmakers face in answering those questions became apparent Wednesday at the second meeting of a state ethics commission created late last year in response to the issues raised during the ongoing federal investigation.
“Too often, a lawmaker’s retirement and resignation is immediately followed by that lawmaker’s registration as a lobbyist,” said Ryan Tolley, policy director for CHANGE Illinois.
Tolley was just one of the government reform advocates who came out Wednesday to address a newly formed state panel charged with trying to help clean up Illinois politics.
While they didn’t always agree on specific solutions, most of those who spoke agreed that the Joint Commission on Ethics and Lobbying Reform has its work cut out for it. […]
Tolley and others would like to see a “cooling-off” period” that regulates the time in which a former lawmaker can become a lobbyist.
The practice of legislators jockeying for bigtime lobbying gigs during session months needs to be stopped. If they won’t do a “cooling-off” period, then at least ban that. It’s stomach-turning.
The advocates also called for barring lawmakers from working as lobbyists at other levels of government.
While a sitting state representative, Arroyo was a registered lobbyist in Chicago. In the wake of his indictment, however, the City Council passed an ordinance prohibiting elected officials from other levels of government from lobbying the city and prohibiting city officials from lobbying other units of government.
House Majority Leader Gregory Harris, a Chicago Democrat, questioned how far that limit should extend, saying it could interfere with a lawmaker’s ability to talk to local governments on behalf of a constituent. But members of the panel said that shouldn’t be a problem and that a ban should extend only to working for pay on behalf of a private client.
Other recommendations from the panel included requiring lobbyists to disclose how much their clients pay them, something Democratic Gov. J.B. Pritzker has proposed but which lawmakers have not yet endorsed.
Aside from state government, only a handful of Illinois’ nearly 7,000 units of government have any kind of disclosure requirements for those seeking to influence decision-making by public officials. Both the city of Chicago and Cook County require lobbyists to register and have active online databases making that information public.
In DuPage County, lobbyists have been required to register for decades, but the county government’s online database shows only seven registered lobbyists, the last of whom registered in 2017.
Of the thousands of units of government in Illinois, House Majority Leader Greg Harris said not many have a uniform standard for reporting lobbyist activities.
“And it sounds like among all of them we might be able to count on two hands how many of those entities have any regime [to register and track lobbying activities],” he said.
Rather than putting this burden on locals and creating a giant hodgepodge, the state should have a uniform registration system for all levels of government.
But Marie Dillon with the Better Government Association said she wasn’t “especially worked up about the deficiencies in the Lobbyist Registration Act.” She said, “the challenge facing the state should not be framed as a lobbyist problem.”
“The lobbyists who are players in this scandal, by and large, are not rank and file lobbyists. They’re elected officials moonlighting as lobbyists, they’re do-nothing lobbyists hired by people who expect something from the General Assembly in return, but I don’t think the problem is lobbyists,” Dillon said. “I think the problem is the transactional relationships between special interests and the people who write our laws and set our government policies. That’s what’s poisoning the people’s trust in Illinois and I think that’s what our work here is about.”
Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan spent more than $445,000 in legal fees from his political war chest during the closing months of 2019, according to a filing with the state board of elections.
The spending is to cover the cost of a $275,000 settlement with a former campaign worker, ongoing civil cases and routine staff training, according to a Madigan spokeswoman. […]
The bulk of the rest of the money, including $139,209 to the Chicago office of Hinshaw & Culbertson and $6,500 to attorney Michael Kasper, cover costs tied to four civil cases, Boyce said. Those include the Hampton case, a case brought by Jason Gonzales, who challenged Madigan’s 2016 campaign tactics, and two cases arising from David Krupa’s 2019 challenge to Madigan’s hand-picked Ald. Marty Quinn (13th), Boyce said.
House GOP hopeful Jim Oberweis loaned his campaign $1 million, according to a Federal Election Commission report posted Wednesday, while former Army 1st Lt. Clint Lorance — pardoned by President Donald Trump for the murder of two civilians in Afghanistan — headlined a series of fundraisers this week for the state senator. […]
Others in the March 17 Illinois GOP primary are state Sen. Sue Rezin, from Morris; investor Ted Gradel, from Naperville; Catalina Lauf, from Woodstock, who worked for Uber and the Trump Commerce Department; Jerry Evans, from Warrenville, who owns a music school; James Marter, from Oswego, a former Kendall County Republican Party chairman; and Anthony Catella of St. Charles.
Oberweis has a history of pumping his fortune into his campaigns. FEC records show that Oberweis loaned his campaign $600,000 in the last quarter of 2019 on top of the $400,000 he put in earlier. […]
Oberweis is a wealthy investor and ice cream magnate whose stores in the Chicago area, now run by his son, bear the family name. He loaned or gave his campaign $1.6 million for a 2014 Senate bid and loaned or gave $3.8 million for two House contests in 2008.
The problem I have long had with people loaning money to their campaigns is that when they raise money from special interests to pay off the debt all the money is going right back into their own pockets. And contributors know it.
