llinois state Treasurer Alexi Giannoulias plans to make a $1 billion deposit in the state’s banks, giving them needed cash for borrowers in a bid to dismantle a credit jam and brace the state during the financial crisis.
Giannoulias told The Associated Press he will make the money available to interest-bearing bank accounts by shifting it from lower-yielding investments in one of the first sweeping moves by a state government to face down a menacingly volatile economy. […]
“The foundation of healthy local economy is a strong local lender,” Giannoulias said. “We want them to know that the state’s banker has confidence in our local lenders. As soon as we give them the resources and the capital to continue lending, we can keep businesses open and we can keep jobs here in Illinois.” […]
The billion-dollar bank deposit will move state money away from more conservative investments whose returns are dropping as skittish investors flock to them, Giannoulias said. But the bank deposits will be protected by collateral, he said.
Maybe those banks will loan a bit of money to the state vendors who aren’t being paid in a timely manner and are teetering on the brink.
* Things are getting really bad out there, of course, and Chicago’s budget woes are huge. Buried beneath the bright, shiny ball of yet another Chicago Police Department reorganization is this important, but overlooked nugget…
Meanwhile, Daley hopes to save $10 million by slowing down police hiring next year. He proposes hiring only 200 officers. Mark Donahue, the president of the Fraternal Order of Police, warns that attrition could cause the department to be 850 officers under its sworn strength of more than 13,500 officers by the end of 2009.
The cops expect to the ranks will naturally attrit 450 officers by the end of this year, which will leave the city way short even if those new badges hit the streets.
The current first deputy superintendent — who has traditionally run the department from day to day — would become the assistant superintendent of operations.
Mayor Richard Daley warned Wednesday it will take longer to repair potholes and replace burned-out streetlights as he unveiled a 2009 budget plan that would slash the city’s workforce and increase a long list of taxes and fines.
The mayor said his proposal would close a $469 million shortfall and be the first step in a four-year plan to grapple with hard times.
“We think next year will be worse,” Daley told the Tribune’s editorial board after presenting his plan to the City Council.
Even factoring in modest increases in now-plummeting tax revenues, city officials project budget shortfalls of about $200 million a year in 2010, 2011 and 2012. Wages and benefits will grow by about $150 million a year, largely due to the 10-year deal that Daley reached last year with labor unions representing many city workers.
…But with crime skyrocketing and the economy tanking (which is almost always followed by increased crime rates), is this the right time to be cutting back on the police force?
* 10:45 am - An appellate court has upheld a lower court ruling requiring fliers be given to voters which includes new language for the constitutional convention referendum. The brief ruling can be seen at this link.
A Chicago Bar Association lawyer ripped into the statewide ballot asking voters if they favor a constitutional convention as “a joke” Wednesday, saying a judge has already found its language is misleading and false.
No matter how flawed the ballot is, though, there is insufficient time to fix the situation beyond what a judge already has ordered because Election Day is less than three weeks away, an attorney for election officials told an appellate panel. […]
The Illinois Supreme Court said Tuesday that an appellate court should decide how to fix the ballot. The Chicago Bar Association, Lt. Gov. Pat Quinn and others asked the high court to directly reverse Howse’s remedy for the faulty ballot because so little time remains before the Nov. 4 election.
“It is a joke,” attorney Steven F. Pflaum told appeals Justices Denise O’Malley, Robert Cahill and Joseph Gordon on Wednesday. “This ballot is flagrantly misleading.”
Pflaum and other critics of the ballot want a completely new and separate ballot. Howse said that was impractical and instead ordered officials to give voters a notice in the polling places warning about false and misleading words.
* Meanwhile,Eric Zorn spoke to the guy responsible for that chain e-mail on the constitutional convention that we heard from yesterday…
Other public employees who worry a constitutional convention would result in a loss of their pensions are forwarding an e-mail from Palatine attorney C. John McCauley: A “yes” vote will put pensions in “SEVERE JEOPARDY,” McCauley writes. “If our present constitution is terminated, all will be lost.”
Well, two things.
First, all will not be lost. Article I, Section X, of the U.S. Constitution—which trumps Illinois’ governing document—forbids states from passing laws “impairing the obligation of contracts.”
Existing government pension plans are contracts. So if a new constitution eliminated the pension guarantees, that elimination would not be retroactive.
Even McCauley conceded Wednesday when we spoke that taking away government pension benefits that public employees already have earned would require “overturning decades of rulings of the U.S. Supreme Court.”
Second, “Protect government pensions, vote no!” is a lousy slogan for convention opponents.
* We talked a little about this Associated Press story yesterday…
Aaron Schock, the Republican state representative making a strong bid for the 18th District seat in the U.S. House, once notarized documents with false dates while helping his parents set up tax shelters, his own father testified in federal court.
* Schock is taking a three-pronged approach to his counter-spin.
[Aaron Schock] declared that he witnessed the documents being signed on Jan. 1, 2000, but they weren’t actually signed until more than a year later. […]
Richard Schock said they put money and property into a variety of corporations and a charitable trust beginning Jan. 1, 2000, as directed by two of the defendants in the federal trial, Kenton Tylman and Debra Hills. But despite repeated requests, Tylman and Hills did not provide some of the documents for them to sign until spring of the next year.
He testified that the couple signed the documents with the earlier date because that’s when the tax shelters were formally established.
A trial transcript shows Richard Schock was asked, “And your son, Aaron, would not have signed this on January 1 of 2000; isn’t that correct?”
“That’s correct,” he replied.
That doesn’t sound like a “clerical mistake” to me.
Schock says the story was fed to the Associated Press by the National Democratic Party and is nothing more than a smear campaign three weeks before the election.
Local reporters never called the national party or the Associated Press to verify the claim, however.
Schock says the documentation was an accident that happened when he was nineteen, and with almost three weeks till Election Day, his contenders are trying to smear his image.
“I think it’s an act of desperation to go to this document over eight years ago and try and say, well somehow now, Aaron Schock is not qualified.” Schock said.
Amazingly, this angle has remained completely unchallenged in the local press.
Schock’s family did not benefit from backdating the documents
They didn’t benefit because they were defrauded. However, they were obviously trying to profit from what turned out to be phony tax shelters, and admitedly involved their son in the process.
* A road to compensation opens in wrongful conviction cases
Former Illinois inmates exonerated of wrongdoing now have another recourse after enduring long delays for clemency decisions by the governor.
Lawyers at Northwestern University’s Center on Wrongful Convictions plan to take advantage Wednesday of a new law that allows the exonerated to circumvent the governor and file for certificates of innocence directly from circuit courts.
It’s over budget and behind schedule, but a natural-gas pipeline that will stretch from the Rocky Mountains to eastern Ohio is well under way in Illinois.
Construction is about halfway finished in Illinois, where three firms that are partnering to build the 1,679-mile Rockies Express Pipeline — one of the longest in the nation — expect to spend $1 billion on the state’s portion, pipeline officials said during a Wednesday tour of the construction. By April, the pipeline should be delivering gas here, they said.
Tribune Co. is considering retaining a larger ownership stake in the Chicago Cubs, said sources involved in the deal, as the company explores options to sell the team amid the nation’s worst financial conditions in decades.
With banks reluctant to make loans, Tribune Co. faces increasing risk of prospective buyers dropping out of the auction or being unable to close a deal in the next few months no matter how creditworthy they are. In addition, the higher costs of borrowing could trim the size of the bids.
To address some of the concerns, company officials have tossed out the idea of keeping more than 5 percent of the franchise, said three sources close to the bidding process. In this way, the buyer would have to come up with less cash but still gain controlling interest in the team. When lending markets open up, the buyer would have the option to buy Tribune Co.’s ownership interest.
“Things are very fluid right now,” said a source close to one bidder, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the sales process is ongoing. “Tribune is looking for ways to get the deal done.”
The $1.1 billion figure represents what the hospitals system is seeking from the Cook County Board and President Todd H. Stroger. When pension and other costs currently being carried on the county’s books, rather than the hospitals books, are subtracted, the budget is roughly $1 billion.
The top prosecutors in Lake and McHenry Counties face November election challengers who are upset with the status quo for very different reasons.
In Lake County, Democrat Michael Jacobs is making his second straight run at Republican State’s Atty. Michael Waller, claiming the 18-year incumbent hasn’t done enough to protect the public from sexual predators.
In McHenry County, Thomas Cynor, also a Democrat, claims Republican State’s Atty. Louis Bianchi has done too much when it comes to personnel issues.
Immediately after the debate, CBS News interviewed a nationally representative sample of 638 debate watchers assembled by Knowledge Networks who were “uncommitted voters” - either undecided about who to vote for or who could still change their minds. Fifty-three percent said Obama won the debate, 22 percent said McCain won and another 25 percent thought it was a tie.
McCain won in two categories. Eighty percent of debate watchers polled said McCain spent more time attacking his opponent, with seven percent saying Obama was more on the attack. Fifty-four percent said McCain seemed more like a typical politician during the debate, with 35 percent saying Obama acted more like a typical politician.
* 2:47 pm - I just got these fresh numbers from the first round of bids to operate the long-dormant 10th casino license. Backgrounders are linked on each project…
None of these are as high as many had hoped, but Rosemont at the top has to make some people squirm. The state, including Attorney General Lisa Madigan, spent years fighting a license for the town. This is a new bidder, however.
There will be another round of bidding after the field is winnowed down to three.
A Cook County judge today issued a fresh order banning state officials from making payments under Gov. Rod Blagojevich’s expanded health care program.
And Judge James Epstein added that the time has come for officials to explain how they intend to comply. […]
The legislature repeated turned down efforts to expand state health insurance for the needy. Despite that, the Blagojevich administration enlarged the state’s FamilyCare program anyway, leading to a court challenge. […]
On Wednesday, Epstein renewed his order and refused to stay it pending possible appeal to the Illinois Supreme Court, saying a blueprint for compliance was now his top priority. [emphasis added]
* 2:53 pm - Moved here from a different post. Report by the AP…
The Illinois Supreme Court says a review of how to fix inaccuracies on the November ballot should be decided by an appellate court.
The Chicago Bar Association, Lt. Gov. Pat Quinn and others asked the high court to directly reverse the remedy for the faulty ballot because so little time remains before the Nov. 4 election. But the court turned down that plan. […]
The bar association and Quinn want ballots themselves fixed. An appellate court hearing is scheduled later in the day.
* Buried down deep in this otherwise non-news story is this prediction from state Rep. Julie Hamos (D-Evanston)…
She predicted that Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan will run for governor, and as part of the run, her stepfather, Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan, will step down.
I don’t think Rep. Hamos knows the final decision. I asked Madigan about that once several months ago. I mentioned to him that lots of people believed he should step aside if his daughter ran for governor. His response was unprintable, but definitely on the negative side.
Also, MJM isn’t Lisa’s stepfather. She’s adopted. He’s her father.
The Illinois House of Representatives has canceled half of an upcoming veto session.
Word of the change came Tuesday in a memo from House Speaker Michael Madigan that didn’t give an explanation.
Madigan’s spokesman, Steve Brown, says lawmakers already addressed business that would’ve been handled in the November session. He says they’ve returned repeatedly to Springfield since the spring session ended in May.
House members will still return from Nov. 19-21. The Nov. 12-14 session was dropped.
Cindy Davidsmeyer, spokeswoman for Senate President Emil Jones, says the Senate also could alter its schedule, but that hasn’t been decided.
“We are disappointed by this announcement because there are real issues out there that are still unresolved, including autism,” said spokesman Brian Williamsen.
Blagojevich supports a plan that would require insurers to provide coverage for autism treatment.
* If you’re a state or local government employee or retiree, and you have access to the Intertubes, then chances are you’ve received a variation of the following e-mail…
(I)f people vote yes to have a new Illinois Constitution then ALL PENSIONERS RECEIVING A PENSION FROM ANY GOVERNMENTAL UNIT IN ILLINOIS WILL BE IN SEVERE JEAPORDY OF HAVING THE CONSTITUTIONAL GUARANTEES OF RECEIVING THOSE PENSIONS PAID REMOVED AND THEIR PENSIONS WILL BE IN JEAPORDY.
Everyone receiving a pension and their spouses who reside in Illinois should VOTE NO regarding the proposed Constitutional Convention. EVERYONE, whether residing in Illinois or anywhere else, should advise their family and friends who live in Illinois to VOTE NO regarding the Constitutional Convention.
We have fought very hard over the years to secure our pensions. Government mismanagement is rampant in the State of Illinois. The State Pension Funds are among the lowest in the country. They cannot get their hands on our pensions under the present Constitution.
About a year ago, Lisa Vessi and I won a huge case, IOVINELLI vs. FRANKLIN PARK, which ruled that the municipality is required to fund the firefighters pension according to the funding statute (section 4-118). It means we can at long last enforce funding. In a federal case stemming from that case, the court ruled that insurance companies are NOT LIABLE for the attorney fees run up by municipalities is fighting pension funding. Since then towns such as Alton, Illinois and others have been settling their funding cases.
If our present Constitution is terminated all will be lost because the government will then be able to amend the funding statute and really underpay the pension funds. Hope this helps you understand the gravity of the situation.
* The original letter was sent by Palatine attorney C. John McCauley. It’s been forwarded countless times, and several people have sent it to me.
I was able to get ahold of McCauley yesterday.
* Did he really believe that current pension recipients would be in “severe jeopardy” of losing their guaranteed pension payments?
We danced around quite a bit over semantics, but McCauley maintained that if a constitutional convention is held, then the provision in the current constitution guaranteeing benefits will “absolutely” be eliminated. I asked why he was so certain of that end result. McCauley said the nation’s current economic woes all but assured that a con-con would strip or alter the consitutional provision.
Membership in any pension or retirement system of the State, any unit of local government or school district, or any agency or instrumentality thereof, shall be an enforceable contractual relationship, the benefits of which shall not be diminished or impaired.
* The teachers unions - which are probably the most heavily against a convention - aren’t even claiming that current retirees will lose their pension payment benefits if the above language is deleted or altered, so why, I asked McCauley again, would he use that “severe jeopardy” language?
McCauley said there would be no guarantee what happens if the case goes to court. A judge could uphold contractual obligations made under the current constitution, or not. McCauley claimed that no state had ever changed its constitution in the way he fears will happen here, so the courts could do just about anything.
* My own opinion is he’s engaging in over the top fear mongering.
But, as I wrote the other day, I don’t personally blame state employees and even retirees for being against a con-con. I can understand their fear. I just don’t agree with it.
While I do not totally dismiss [the opponents’] stated concerns, which range from the cost of a convention to the possibility of special-interest wackos hijacking the process, I would first submit to you my own interpretation of what could persuade so many individuals and groups from such diverse situations to come to the same conclusion.
Simply put, these are the powers that be. They’re comfortable with the way things are.
They’ve got their share of the power and the ability to exert their will on the process. Everything doesn’t always go their way, but they have a seat at the table, and with that comes a certain level of predictability about what influence they can have on public policy.
Their common worry is that if the wrong people — people from outside the normal channels — are allowed an opportunity to tinker with the state Constitution, it might upset that balance of power and put them at a disadvantage.
What you might want to consider, then, is whether you’re as satisfied with the status quo as them. I’m not.
* From a Martin Ozinga congressional campaign press release…
This morning, the Ozinga campaign was notified that the Vice President will not be able to attend today’s scheduled reception at Marty Ozinga’s home. The campaign is referring all media inquiries to the Vice President’s press office
* The campaign did take at least one call, however…
Seré did not know the specific reason for the cancellation, and was unsure whether the $500-per-person luncheon would go on without the vice president or be rescheduled.
* From the VP’s office…
STATEMENT FROM THE VICE PRESIDENT’S PRESS SECRETARY MEGAN MITCHELL
Vice President Cheney will no longer attend a campaign event for Marty Ozinga in Homer Glen, IL today.
During a visit with his doctors this morning, it was discovered that the Vice President is experiencing a recurrence of atrial fibrillation, an abnormal rhythm involving the upper chambers of the heart.
Later this afternoon, the Vice President will visit George Washington University Hospital for an outpatient procedure to restore his normal rhythm.
Do a Google news search on Ozinga’s name now, and hundreds of news stories pop up from news outlets across the country and around the world. Previously, an Ozinga search would pop up only a few local news stories.
Cheney is going in for an outpatient procedure this afternoon to fix an irregular heart beat. Since these outlets are reporting on Cheney’s health, it logically makes sense to report the Ozinga connection as well.
The potential good for Ozinga:his name is being circulated on an international level.
The potential bad: his name is now linked on an international level with Cheney, who is quite unpopular at the moment.
North Shore Democratic congressional candidate Dan Seals’ campaign on Tuesday defended using an Iraq War veteran with ties to the 9/11 conspiracy movement in a new TV ad attacking Republican U.S. Rep. Mark Kirk for supporting the war.
Seals spokeswoman Elisabeth Smith said she didn’t “really see what is so controversial” about using Caleb Davis in the ad. Davis, 25, is a Peoria native who spent five months in Iraq as an Army diver and got an honorable discharge in 2004.
Last June, the Peoria Journal Star reported that Davis wore a black T-shirt proclaiming “Investigate 9/ 11@911truth.org” while sitting at a table at a Peoria library where books, fliers and DVDs supporting conspiracy theories about the 9/11 attacks were on display. The organization argues the government’s version of the terrorist attacks is fraudulent and offers a “Top 40 Reasons to Doubt the Official Story” and an “Official Coverup Guide.”
Kirk, who was in the Pentagon when the airplane crashed into it Sept. 11, 2001, called on Seals to stop airing the ad.
* Meanwhile, the AP has a new story on GOP congresscritter hopeful Aaron Schock…
Aaron Schock, a Republican state lawmaker making a strong bid for an open U.S. House seat in central Illinois, once notarized documents with false dates while helping his parents set up tax shelters, his own father testified in federal court.
The backdating raises the possibility Schock committed official misconduct, a misdemeanor under state law.
The issue came up in the July trial of three people accused of selling sham trusts and financial packages. The Schocks were victims of the scheme and were accused of no wrongdoing.
There is no indication that Schock or his parents benefited financially from using the incorrect date, and Schock’s father testified that he used it because that was when he first set up the tax shelters. In an interview with The Associated Press, Schock did not dispute his father’s testimony.
Callahan says the document raises questions about her rival’s conduct and judgment. Schock says the controversy is all part of a political ploy to make his campaign look bad.
Area political pundits are torn as to what effect the information about state Rep. Aaron Schock notarizing documents with false dates could have on his current bid for Congress.
But they agree the timing - just three weeks before the three-way race for the open 18th Congressional District seat - is not good.
“It’s terrible timing for him, but it’s maybe not as bad as it could be because there’s time to put up an explanation,” said Brian Gaines, a professor at the University of Illinois Institute of Government and Public Affairs. “It sounds like it’s something he could certainly need to explain and could potentially throw him off track.”
I guarantee that if Schock were the underdog in this race, and there was undisputed court testimony saying Colleen Callahan fudged a date on documents, in apparent violation of state law, Schock’s campaign Steve Shearer would be whispering the ear of every reporter in the 18th District.
* Democrat Jill Morgenthaler has a clever new Internet ad slamming Republican incumbent Peter Roskam over his position on in vitro fertilization…
* Related…
* Council defers talk on charging for dignitary visits
* Marty Ozinga: “I still feel like I’m middle class”
* Mayor Daley’s brief government “shutdown” proposal is naturally getting a lot of media play…
Chicago Mayor Richard Daley wants to close government offices for a few days to help balance the city’s budget. He says the partial shutdown would help address a $469 million deficit.
Daley says most city offices would close for 3 days around the holidays this year and next.
Emergency services would not be effected. Daley says he’s doing his best to balance the budget during tough times.
The six-day shutdown will save $20 million, according to the Daley administration. The mayor hopes to save another $42 million by eliminating vacancies and putting in other cost-saving efforts.
Daley said he would refrain from filling 1,350 vacancies on the 38,000-strong city payroll, accounting for $29 million of that total.
There will still be layoffs, although the mayor declined to say how many. Daley previously has estimated that the city would let go more than 1,000 workers.
Labor unions that represent the vast majority of the city’s work force recently rejected a proposal from the Daley administration that their members take five unpaid days off work each year for the next four years.
Lou Phillips, business manager of Laborers Union Local 1001, branded the partial shutdown a “backdoor furlough” that would cost his members 12 days of pay — not six — through 2009.
“In our contract, our members have to work the day before and the day after a holiday to get paid for it. So in effect, he’s taking away two days pay [for each day of shutdown] unless he agrees to pay the members for the holiday without working the day after,” he said.
“It’s a backdoor furlough. You’re shutting down city business. I don’t know if he can do that legally. The members are losing money. It’s not their fault. They have a job to do. At General Motors, they have no cars to make because nobody’s buying them. Everybody’s still throwing garbage out.”
With no garbage pick-ups on the day after Thanksgiving, Phillips also warned that Chicago alleys would stink to high heavens.
It might not seem like it after last year’s record $83.4 million increase, but fear of political backlash has prompted Daley to keep Chicago’s property tax levy unrealistically low. He should have raised taxes a little bit every year to keep pace with rising costs.
Union contracts
After his 2007 re-election campaign got the cold shoulder from all but one labor union, Daley cozied up to organized labor in a way that guaranteed labor peace through the 2016 Olympics. The 10-year contract with members of the building trades locked in the prevailing wage paid to their counterparts in private industry
The cost of corruption
It’s not easy to calculate the cost of the Hired Truck, city hiring, minority contracting, Building and Zoning bribery, police corruption and garbage collection slacker scandals. But rest assured Chicagoans pay a heavy price.
Inspector General David Hoffman has pegged the annual cost of refuse collection waste alone at $20 million.
Cook County judges on Tuesday began using a new court document for foreclosure evictions that specifically names tenants living at the foreclosed property and states how long they are allowed to remain in units — the length of their lease or 120 days, which ever is shorter — before deputies haul out their belongings.
The new language in court eviction orders aims to quell Dart’s concern that renters might not get proper notice their landlord had lost the property in foreclosure.
But Dart isn’t backing off his no-eviction pledge just yet.
Under the plan, the Toll Authority will introduce “Green Lanes” into the busiest segments of the tollways. The idea is to reduce congestion and create “free-flow” lanes that would reduce braking and acceleration, thereby cutting emissions.
A collection of politically connected firms handpicked by Cook County President Todd Stroger’s administration is set to reap the profits from fees associated with the sale of $364 million in bonds up for board consideration today
Mesirow Financial, whose chairman, James Tyree, is chairman of the City Colleges of Chicago, was selected as the lead financial adviser on the sale of $260 million in self-insurance bonds.
Those bonds will be managed by a group of companies with strong local political ties, including:
• • J.P. Morgan Chase, whose Midwest chairman is William Daley Sr., Mayor Daley’s brother.
• • George K. Baumn, which employs Tony Fratto, brother of Stroger’s chief of staff, Joseph Fratto. […]
Burke, Burns and Pinelli, which employs state Sen. Don Harmon (D-Oak Park), was selected as the underwriter’s counsel for the sale of $104.1 million in pension fund bonds.
Mayor Daley’s nephew Robert Vanecko said Tuesday that he and his business partners no longer plan to invest city pension funds in a proposed Chicago Housing Authority development along the south lakefront
In the coming year, one government agency will lead the charge in what could be an ambitious effort to clean up the waterways of the Chicago area, beginning with smarter ways to divert clean rainwater from our sewage system.
