* MFT = Motor Fuel Tax…

If anyone questions the need for infrastructure spending or why it’s important to maintain a scaled MFT, this wasn’t just a pothole. It was a hole that when straight down to the rebar and caused several flat tires in arguably one of the most congested areas in the region. https://t.co/lMPW73tBZ7

— Michael J. Zalewski (@mjzalewski) March 15, 2023

* You kinda have to wade through Russ Stewart’s stuff, but often there’s a good nugget…

Cynthia Santos, the now former $127,000-a year member of the Illinois Pollution Control Board and defeated 38TH WARD aldermanic candidate (she got 10.7 percent), is not hapless. She did NOT put herself in a situation beyond her control, which makes her somewhat clueless.

After 20 years as a $70,000-a year Metropolitan Water Reclamation District (MWRD) commissioner, Santos was appointed to a 6-year term at the PCB by former Governor Bruce Rauner in January of 2017. The PCB hears appeals from environmental decisions by state agencies. Like a judge, a PCB member is supposed to be non-political and abide by state ethics rules which bar overt political activity. No “appearance of impropriety” is allowed. The PCB meets twice monthly and each member is assigned an attorney who does all the legal appeal research work.

In the summer of 2022 governor J.B. Pritzker re-nominated Santos for another 6-year term, subject to IL Senate confirmation. That did not occur during the autumn session. Also in the late summer of 2022 Santos and her husband Rich Bradley, an ex-state rep and current staffer for MWRD commissioner Marcelino Garcia, began circulating nominating petitions for each to run for 38th Ward alderman, a job held by Nicholas Sposato. The incumbent had dawdled until late August before deciding to run in 2023. Ed Bannon, a member of Rob Martwick’s 38th Ward Dems, also got into the race.

Santos did not take a leave-of-absence or resign her PCB job. She, not Bradley, filed in December, as did Sposato, Bannon, Franco Reyes and Bruce Randazzo. She did not file a D-1 statement with the state Board of Elections (IBOE) to create a campaign committee to report receipts and expenditures. “I’m paying my own expenses,” she later told me. That was not true, however a group called “Citizens in Action for Better Government” (CABG) paid for her flyers, which was an in-kind contribution and reportable by Santos and CABG. Neither has. […]

And she kept collecting her PCB paycheck. “I don’t campaign on work time,” she later told me.

Meanwhile, her PCB re-nomination stalled. Firefighters Local 2 is rumored to have intervened. (Sposato is a retired firefighter.) On March 6 Pritzker withdrew her PCB re-nomination. Santos was then on holdover, so she was out-the-door. […]

Credit Santos with a two-fer: She LOST for a 140K job and then LOST her 127K job all within the span of several days.

“She has nobody to blame but herself,” said Sposato

I told subscribers about this a while ago.

* Tony Peraica lost another case, this time at the 7th US appellate court…

Anthony Peraica represented Jelena Dordevic in her Chapter 7 bankruptcy proceeding. Alongside filing the bank-ruptcy petition, Peraica submitted a form disclosing his fee compensation (known in bankruptcy parlance as a Rule 2016 disclosure) in which he reported that Dordevic had paid him a total of $5,000 for his services. But Peraica’s disclosure was incomplete. As the Trustee learned during discovery, Dordevic had actually paid Peraica $21,500.

The U.S. Trustee contacted Peraica to inform him that he needed to file an updated Rule 2016 fee disclosure with the bankruptcy court. Rather than heed this advice, Peraica instead sent the Trustee an informal accounting document listing $21,500 in fees. Recognizing this would not suffice, the Trustee responded: “The Rule 2016 disclosures actually need to be filed with the Court” by submitting “an official form.” But Peraica again ignored his obligation and continued to do so even after receiving a third reminder from the Trustee a few weeks later.

In time the Trustee sought the bankruptcy court’s intervention. The Trustee filed a motion under 11 U.S.C. § 329 to examine the fees. After Peraica failed to respond, the Trustee supplemented its motion with a request that all fees be forfeited. The bankruptcy court granted the motion. Beyond Peraica’s brazen disregard of the Trustee’s advice, the bankruptcy court found Peraica’s proffered explanation for not updating his fee disclosure lacking, if not downright false. Peraica claimed that he lacked bankruptcy experience and thus was not familiar with his Rule 2016 disclosure requirements. But a search of the federal judiciary’s docket management system showed that Peraica had been involved in more than 350 bankruptcy cases in the Northern District of Illinois alone. The bankruptcy court ordered Peraica to disgorge all past fees as a penalty for his blatant lack of compliance with his obligations under Section 329 of the Bankruptcy Code. […]

The bankruptcy court found Peraica’s behavior inexcusable. We do too. […]

So the bigger picture takeaway should be clear: counsel for debtors in bankruptcy proceedings should recognize that failures to disclose will not be taken lightly.

With these closing observations, we AFFIRM.

Oof.

* Isabel’s roundup…

* Indiana Capital Chronicle | Indiana abortions drop significantly, despite pause on statewide ban: As the availability of abortion wavered, doctors made other plans. Illinois became a hotspot, as the “sanctuary” state saw demand surge as all of its neighbors pursued bans. Pushed out of their home states, many physicians opted to license in Illinois and other states.

* NPR Illinois | Pritzker touts funding during visit to Lincoln Land Community College: Pritzker’s plan, which is likely to receive legislative approval, would add money for programs and building needs. The governor said system funding for day-to-day operations at community colleges has increased by over $25 million since the start of his administration, and the proposed budget will add nearly $20 million in additional dollars.

* AP | In nursing homes, impoverished live final days on pennies: Medicaid is jointly administered between individual states and the federal government and, faced with federal inaction, states have taken it upon themselves to raise allowances. Even so, most remain low. A majority of states – 28 – have allowances of $50 or less, according to a state-by-state survey by the American Council on Aging. Just five states grant residents $100 or more each month, including Alaska, which stands alone in offering $200 monthly, the maximum under federal law. Four states – Alabama, Illinois, North Carolina and South Carolina – remain at the $30 minimum.

* Crain’s | Surging demand for affordable senior housing sparks redevelopment of old hospitals and schools: Seniors’ need for affordable housing is urgent. Nationwide, more than 10 million households headed by someone 65 or older spend more than a third of their income on housing, according to an August article by Jennifer Molinsky, director of the Housing an Aging Society Program at Harvard University’s Joint Center for Housing Studies.

* Tribune | ‘The defendants gave, and the defendants got’: Prosecutors raise Madigan immediately as they lay out case at ‘ComEd Four’ trial: U.S. District Judge Harry Leinenweber conducted selection and a panel six women and six men, plus six alternates, were picked by about 10 a.m. “So do you want to go down and deliver the good news to the winners?” Leinenweber quipped to his clerk after the selection process was complete.

* Sun-Times | Chicago a front-runner for 2024 Democratic convention; Whoopi Goldberg boosting New York’s bid in video: “Come to New York, where we will put on a seamless and spectacular convention,” Goldberg says in the video, which surfaced on Monday. It runs 7 minutes and 11 seconds. President Joe Biden, expected to run for a second term in 2024, will make the decision on the convention city. It’s not clear who exactly the long video is supposed to influence.

* SJ-R | Without debate, $58 million plan to redevelop downtown Wyndham moves to next stage: Under the proposal, Tower Capital Group out of San Antonio, Texas, would keep 250 hotel rooms while converting 200 rooms into apartments. The hotel would operate under the Delta by Marriott flag.

* Daily Herald | Des Plaines council candidates tout communication skills, experience: Residents in four wards will choose representatives for the next four years in the April 4 election. The eight candidates — two in each ward — discussed their electability and other issues in online interviews with the Daily Herald.

* Sun-Times | Former mayoral challenger Ja’Mal Green endorses Vallas in runoff; Kwame Raoul first statewide official to back Johnson: Green, a 27-year-old community activist, secured a series of promises he believes will improve the lives of African Americans. Raoul praised Johnson as “the right candidate to move Chicago forward.”

* WCIA | ‘An abomination and a disgrace;’ Humane Society calls for end to killing contests in IL: “Wildlife killing contests are an abomination and a disgrace,” said Marc Ayers, Illinois state director for the Humane Society of the United States. “Destroying coyotes for sadistic fun, games and cash does not reflect our state’s values. Illinois is among the 10 worst states when it comes to wildlife killing contests, with at least 28 competitions targeting coyotes, foxes, raccoons and crows taking place in the state in 2022. Responsible hunters denounce this horrific blood sport and 73% of Illinois voters support a ban on killing contests. The Illinois Department of Natural Resources must take a stand and make our state the first in the Midwest to ban this cruel, unnecessary treatment of coyotes who provide vital balance to our ecosystem.”

* Northwestern Now | Gov. JB Pritzker named Commencement speaker: He also will receive an Honorary Doctor of Laws. The University will announce additional honorary degree recipients later this month. Northwestern’s 165th commencement ceremony will begin at 9 a.m. Monday, June 12, at Ryan Field on the Evanston campus.