* 10:58 am - Chicago TV stations 2, 5 and 7 have all sent crews to Springfield. The Chicago TV people think something is about to happen. They’re gonna be sorely disappointed [or maybe not - see the next post]. Still, they did manage to get interviews with the governor yesterday, so the trip hasn’t been a total loss. Perhaps that’s why there was no leaders meeting yesterday. The guv may have been just too busy with the TV guys.
* 11:37 am - The Senate just waived posting requirements so that the cigarette tax hike bill (HB 556, SA 1) could be heard in the Senate Revenue Committee at 12:45.
Also, Senate Public Health Committee will meet at 1:15 today to take up the governor’s retooled health insurance bill.
The Senate Dems will hold a caucus later today on the health insurance bill, followed by session. If they have the votes, we could see some action today. I’ll bet that will be a pretty rough caucus meeting.
* 11:50 am -LOL. No wonder the governor’s campaign spokesman didn’t return a message I left about this item…
Only days after Antoin “Tony” Rezko was indicted on federal corruption charges last fall, Gov. Rod Blagojevich’s campaign moved quickly to try to limit the fallout and gave to charity political donations directly linked to one of the governor’s former top advisers and fundraisers.
But one charity eventually turned down the tainted money and sent the Blagojevich campaign a check back in March for $44,846.03, according to state-mandated campaign disclosure reports the governor recently filed.
Officials for the Texas-based Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation, now known as Susan G. Komen for the Cure, said they returned the money because they do not accept political funds. […]
Despite the Komen foundation’s explanation, state campaign disclosure records for the past seven years show the foundation and its Illinois affiliates previously accepted $2,110 in politician’s cash, ranging from an ad in a program book to fundraising tickets to outright donations.
* 11:56 am - The IL GOP has a new blog. What do you think?
* 12:25 pm - The governor has already said (to me, at least) that he will back a cigarette tax increase. The Tribune just got his spokesman on record as well…
“Yes. We support it,” said Rebecca Rausch, Blagojevich’s spokeswoman. “We’d like to see the money raised from the cigarette tax go to something like education or perhaps even health care.”
* 12:31 pm - The indispensible Billy Dennis, aka Peoria Pundit, is having serious computer problems and could use some help. If you have a few extra bucks, drop it in his tip jar. Thanks.
* 1:26 pm - There will be no leaders meeting today. They haven’t had one of those in awhile.
* 1:39 pm - Not exactly a huge surprise…
Cook County Commissioner Roberto Maldonado Announces his Candidacy for Congress
“During my twelve years as a Cook County Commissioner of the 8th District (which includes nearly half of the 4th Congressional District), I have championed legislation that brought homeowners tax relief, won workers a living wage, and passed numerous initiatives, including a mail order prescription drug program, that have opened the public health system for uninsured and underinsured families and seniors. I have successfully secured passage of several measures supporting immigration reform, and, recently, I claimed victory in declaring Cook County a “Fair and Equal County for Immigrants.”
*** 2:06 pm *** The Senate Revenue Committee just approved the cigarette tax hike6-3 on a straight party line vote. One Republican (Sen. Murphy) was absent.
The governor’s revamped health insurance plan is up next in the Public Health Committee, which is meeting in the same room.
* 2:35 pm - The Illinois Republicans have posted the video from last night’s “Chicago Tonight” episode featuring House Republican Leader Tom Cross and Senate GOP Leader Frank Watson…
* 3:00 pm - Paul had this scoop the other day and I didn’t have room for it. Sorry, buddy…
With the formal announcement last week by Chicago attorney Jim Capparelli that he was throwing his hat into the ring, it appears Cong. Dan Lipinski (D-3rd) will have two opponents in the Democratic primary race set for Feb. 5, 2008.
About 250 people turned out to hear Capparelli make his official declaration of candidacy at a party held last Thursday evening at the Argo-Summit American Legion Post, 6050 S. Harlem Ave.
Western Springs resident Mark Pera, a Cook County assistant state’s attorney, had already declared his candidacy in the district, which takes in many of Chicago’s southwest suburbs, including Burbank, Bridgeview and Oak Lawn, in addition to several neighborhoods on Chicago’s Southwest Side.
Republicans on the committee opposed the bill. They were skeptical about the revenue estimates, especially since studies show higher cigarette taxes prompt people to quit smoking.
Bill Fleischli of the Illinois Association of Convenience Stores said higher cigarette taxes in Illinois will cause more people to stock up in neighboring states.
*** 3:42 pm *** The Senate Public Health Committee is still taking testimony on the governor’s revamped health insurance proposal, but some Senators had to leave so they took a roll call. It passed, along party lines, 7-4.
* 3:48 pm There’s a bit of a tussle at the committee hearing now because the vote was taken before opponents had a chance to testify. Not that it would’ve mattered.
Yesterday, I asked what you thought was the most corrupt organization or entity in the state.
Today, I’d like to know what you think is the least corrupt (or even most honest, if you’d go that far) entity in Illinois. Like yesterday, it doesn’t have to be a political or governmental entity.
“I don’t think we’re anywhere closer than we were a week or two or three or four months ago. We’re in suspended animation. We’re going nowhere fast,” said House Minority Leader Tom Cross, R-Oswego.
‘’I think the problems that exist with the budget still exist,'’ said state Rep. Gary Hannig, a Litchfield Democrat who serves as point man on budget issues for House Speaker Michael Madigan.
Illinois Comptroller Dan Hynes says the state could keep operating for at least another week after the state’s spending authority expires on August 1.
But, Hynes insists he needs a budget outline by August 8 in order to send out the first round of school aid payments. After that, the comptroller said he needs money to pay state workers by August 9.
“We are in suspended animation,” said House Minority Leader Tom Cross, R-Oswego. “The only way we’re going to get something done is to find ourselves in a crisis situation. There’s no pressure to get anything done.”
Legislators are human beings, and humans don’t usually take big actions unless some sort of deadline is hanging over their heads.
“We’re going to break a record in terms of having the longest overtime session here in Illinois and I take pride in that because I’m not interested in settling for any old budget that doesn’t do anything for people,” Blagojevich said Tuesday. “Whether we finish tomorrow, next week or next month or however long, at the end of the day it’s what we do for people that matters.””
The governor had scorn for general assembly Democrats who have speculated that Blagojevich might eventually go along with the income tax increase being pushed by House Speaker Michael Madigan.
“I’ll veto anything that they pass along those lines, and if they were to somehow override a veto, I’d keep them in special session to undo that,” Blagojevich said.
No Democrats are saying that the governor would go along with an income tax hike. I don’t know where that question came from. And the governor has no power to compel members to attend a special session. All it takes is two people in each chamber to convene the specials and adjourn them sine die.
* I thought I had a scoop this morning about the cigarette tax proposal, but the Tribune also got the story…
- The state’s cigarette tax would increase by 75 cents under a measure Senate Democrats are pushing as Gov. Rod Blagojevich and the General Assembly struggle to find a way out of the overtime standoff that enters a record 55th day on Wednesday.
The proposed cigarette-tax hike represented the latest move in an elusive search for new revenue that could grease a budget deal, but it would not be enough on its own to satisfy some demands for spending.
A 75-cent-a-pack increase on cigarettes would place Illinois among the highest in the nation for state tobacco taxes. The move comes on the heels of the success of the anti-smoking advocates who this week saw their longtime push to have a smoking ban in Illinois signed into law.
Sen. John Cullerton (D-Chicago), sponsor of the measure going before the Senate Revenue Committee on Wednesday, said the tax would produce about $304 million a year but provide benefits far beyond dollars.
The Senate Democrats as a caucus are not “pushing” the tax hike yet, as subscribers know. But we could see a vote on this bill in today’s Senate Revenue Committee.
* Speaker Madigan said last weekend on WBBM Radio’s “At Issue” program that he could support a cigarette tax hike to fund healthcare expansions, so the idea is definitely alive and well.
* More from the Trib story…
House Majority Leader Barbara Flynn Currie (D-Chicago) said a cigarette tax increase would find a receptive audience in the House because some lawmakers already are talking about raising cigarette or liquor taxes as a source for more money.
That liquor tax idea has been floating around for several days. When the Legislture is looking for more money in an overtime session, nobody is safe from higher taxation.
* The reaction to the electric rate deal is pretty interesting. The deal provides substantial relief this year to people, but only as a percentage of their bills. Some see the lowball dollar figures bandied about by Republicans and others and believe they’re getting the shaft…
“I think there’s some concerns about it,” House GOP Leader Tom Cross of Oswego said Tuesday. “In some areas, we’re talking about (relief worth) $7 a month. I think people are expecting these great big relief packages, and I don’t think they’re going to happen.”
“It sounds like a lot of money,” he added. “But when you break it down, it’s not that much money.”
* All the hype in the media about the rate hikes helped fuel expectations of big dollar rebates. But, in reality, ComEd’s increases weren’t all that spectacular…
But typical ComEd customers saw their power bills increase roughly $15 a month, company officials said. The latest deal would provide $7 monthly credits and customers would get a lump-sum credit of nearly $50 on their September bills to cover January through July.
* It all depends how you look at it. A 50 percent or more reduction in the increase sounds like a lot of cash, and it’s complicated for the mathematically challenged who think this means a 50 percent reduction in their actual rates. This goes to show that people don’t really know how much they’re paying every month…
The result, Ameren Illinois President Scott Cisel said Tuesday, will be electric bills this year that for most customers are higher than last year’s by 10 percent to 30 percent — but are below the 40 percent or 50 percent hike or more that was common in recent months.
* The push for a rate freeze, particularly Downstate, probably raised expectations way too high. And since coverage always follows conflict, the greatest nay-sayers are the ones who will get the most press…
State Rep. Bill Black (R-Danville) mocked the relief package, which was crafted by Democrats.
“This isn’t any rate reduction. This isn’t any solid money in their pocket,” Black said.
* And here’s something else that the press isn’t covering. Since the new bill does away with the disastrous and stupid reverse power auction crafted by the goofs at the ICC, consumers will be spared from yet another huge rate hike next year, when the second reverse auction was scheduled to take place.
* All that being said, there are still legit concerns about this proposal, the biggest being that eventually the rates start going back up again and the relief lasts just four years. After that, everybody will be paying what they were paying up until now, unless this Illinois Power Authority can negotiate better rates. I think it might be able to do that, considering how skewed the reverse auction turned out to be. For proof of how bad the auction was, consider that the utilities and Exelon are giving back a billion dollars to the consumers. They had to be pretty flush with cash to afford something like that. Everybody on that Commerce Commisson who voted for the auction should resign in disgrace.
— The average Ameren customer, who has seen an annual increase of $250 total on electric bills in 2007, will get refunds this year totaling $130.
— A typical Ameren electric-heat customer, who has seen an annual increase of $750 on electric bills in 2007, will get refunds this year totaling $400.
— About three-fourths of the dollar amount of those refunds will come in lump sums by September, to retroactively offset the increases on 2007 monthly bills so far. Ameren will cut checks to customers who are caught up on their bills, and will credit the accounts of those who are 60 days or more late on their bills.
— Remaining rebates for this year — as well as in 2008 and 2009 — will be applied as credits on monthly bills. The future credits will be smaller, with a net result of bills rising by less than 10 percent each year, as the full rate hikes are phased back in.
— The agreement also will set up a new state power agency to oversee the process of how wholesale electricity is bought and priced, a central issue of the controversy this year.
* And finally, much is being made of Exelon’s role in funding the reductions in the rate increases…
Chicago-based utility giant Exelon will pay the overwhelming share of a more than $1 billion rebate plan designed to ensure every household’s power bill goes down this year.
Exelon is the parent company of ComEd but also generates electricity that’s used elsewhere. Under the terms of the deal, Exelon will pony up $747 million and ComEd will contribute $53 million. Downstate energy companies cover the rest.
Exelon Corporation’s second quarter 2007 consolidated earnings prepared in accordance with GAAP were $702 million, or $1.03 per diluted share, compared with earnings of $644 million, or $0.95 per diluted share, in the second quarter of 2006.
There’s absolutely no mystery why our greatest complaints are in the arena of government-delivered services and the fewest in market-delivered services. In the market, there are the ruthless forces of profit, loss and bankruptcy that make producers accountable to us. In the arena of government-delivered services, there’s no such accountability. For example, government schools can go for decades delivering low-quality services, and what’s the result? The people who manage it earn higher pay. It’s nearly impossible to fire the incompetents. And taxpayers, who support the service, are given higher tax bills.
Diverting troubled teens away from correctional facilities and into programs that address their underlying problems is a compassionate idea — and also a smart one. The average annual cost to house a juvenile offender in an Illinois correctional facility in fiscal year 2005 was $70,827. Even worse, almost half of the teens discharged from a juvenile prison in 2002 returned within three years.
Chet Gardner, who is leading the online initiative, said Tuesday that he expects U. of I. will need to invest about $13 million into the project before it becomes profitable in 2010.
The virtual campus has had a rocky start, with board action delayed for months and faculty opposition to the initial concept of it operating as a for-profit business. It will instead operate as any other academic unit.
* 3:58 pm - Yikes. It looks like Assessor Houlihan’s good buddy at PTAB is trying to stir the pot…
Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan has been asked to rule on whether House Speaker Michael Madigan, her father, has a legal conflict of interest in dealing with a key property-tax cap bill that’s now pending before the General Assembly.
In an official — and politically explosive — letter, the Illinois Property Tax Appeals Board requested that Ms. Madigan issue a formal opinion on whether her father’s second job as a property-tax appeals lawyer disqualifies him from taking a leadership role in a huge ongoing debate over whether to extend or cut an existing 7% annual limit on tax hikes on residential property in Cook County.
Ms. Madigan so far has not responded to the July 3 letter, which comes as the Illinois Senate is preparing to vote on a proposal by Mr. Madigan to effectively phase out the 7% cap for hundreds for thousands of Cook County residents.
A spokesman for Mr. Madigan said his legal clients actually oppose the proposed bill.
* 4:02 pm - No leaders meeting today. I just hope those Chicago-area ministers who were promised an invite by the guv’s chief of staff didn’t bother sticking around.
What, in your opinion, is the most corrupt institution in Illinois? It doesn’t have to be a political or governmental entity, either. Explain, but try to leave personal names out of it, please. Thanks.
* Last week, the Illinois Press Association sent out an urgent alert to its newspaper publisher members warning them that the governor was pushing a $42 million “newsprint tax” as one of his ideas for closing corporate loopholes. Newsprint is not currently taxed, and neither is ink or advertising. The IPA also included Sen. Bill Brady’s press release about the loophole ideas.
“The Governor seems to be addicted to the idea of these stealth tax increases on Illinois citizens – first a multi-billion dollar gross receipts tax that was soundly rejected by Republicans and Democrats, and now nearly another billion dollars in corporate tax increases that will harm every area of Illinois,” Brady wrote.
Yesterday, the Pantagraph penned a scathing editorial about the loophole ideas…
Illinois’ business climate already has a bad reputation. Gov. Rod Blagojevich isn’t helping matters with his hit list of “loopholes” he wants to close.
Don’t be fooled by any claims that he is going after “big business.” The impact of the governor’s proposal — if approved in its entirety — would go far beyond what most would consider “big business.”
The impact will be felt by costs being passed along to consumers.
The impact will be felt by small businesses for the work they do collecting taxes for the state.
The impact will be felt by businesses postponing or canceling purchases in Illinois.
The impact will be felt by jobs being eliminated or expansion being scaled back.
The impact would also be felt by newspapers, but that was never mentioned, of course. Instead, a whole host of other industries were discussed.
* Meanwhile, Sneed walks back her story from last week…
As per Sneed’s tip last week, will House Speaker Michael Madigan proceed today to pull off the legislative coup of the decade?
Budget analysts are poised to see whether Madigan has a deal to pass a budget acceptable to the House and Senate, and has mustered enough votes to pass a veto-proof package.
It ain’t gonna happen today. There may be some progress, but don’t expect a sudden coup.
“We’ve had the governor to our churches on several occasions, singing, what’s his favorite song, ‘Precious Lord, take my hand,’” Rev. Roosevelt Watkins of Bethlehem Star Church in Chicago said. “I think that if there’s no budget, absolutely, he’ll get a different reception. Not only him, but we’ll have Emil Jones, who we have a lot of lines with. All of them, they all will get a different reception.”
* 49 aldermen signed a letter criticizing House Speaker Michael Madigan’s property tax assessment cap legislation. And Mayor Daley, who until now has said he supported Madigan’s plan, was giving off conflicting signals yesterday afternoon.
Mayor Richard Daley has signed on to the House version because he wants to ensure “we can provide our residents with good relief as opposed to nothing,” spokeswoman Jodi Kawada said.
Deputy mayoral press secretary Jodi Kawada said Daley signed on to Madigan’s plan only after Houlihan’s version was overwhelmingly defeated.
But…
Now that the General Assembly is in overtime, a super-majority vote is an even longer-shot, [Kowada] said.
“The reality of this legislative session is that we are at risk of ending up with no relief for homeowners,” she said.
* 49 aldermen don’t sign something unless the mayor is quietly encouraging it. But despite the hot rhetoric…
Chicago homeowners could see their property tax bills rise by 40 percent over the next three years if the Illinois General Assembly follows House Speaker Michael Madigan’s lead and phases out a 7 percent cap on annual assessment increases, a dozen aldermen warned Monday.
“They’re really going to get clobbered in years two and three. . . . People are going to be forced out of our neighborhoods — and God knows where they’re going to end up,” said Ald. Eugene Schulter (47th).
…It’s likely to pass and be signed into law…
A key Senate sponsor said Monday that lawmakers would compromise in favor of a bill pushed by House Speaker Michael Madigan of Chicago, even as a group of Chicago aldermen complained it was not good enough. […]
Gov. Rod Blagojevich shares the aldermen’s concerns and hopes lawmakers will amend the bill, but it’s unlikely he would veto the House version if that’s what lands on his desk, spokeswoman Abby Ottenhoff said.
Sen. Terry Link (D-Waukegan), the chief sponsor of the Senate version, said he expects the Senate will approve the exemption provisions passed by the House. But he said the bill will include a requirement for a review next year to possibly increase the exemption for 2008 and 2009.
* And Assessor Houlihan, who’s been leading the fight against Madigan’s bill, took a whack at Madigan and his alderman yesterday, the only one who didn’t sign the letter…
Cook County Assessor Jim Houlihan called out Ald. Frank Olivo (13th) in a news release Monday. Houlihan said Olivo is only supporting the pending property tax relief bill because of his close ties to Illinois House Speaker Mike Madigan, who is pushing the bill.
“We’re just pointing out that 49 out of 50 aldermen sign it and the one alderman that doesn’t is Madigan’s,” said Houlihan spokesman Lucio Guerrero. “And (Madigan) has been consistently against long-term relief for homeowners.”
*** UPDATE - 2:28 pm *** Rep. Art Turner just announced that the House will vote on the electric rate bill on Thursday. The bill isn’t even drafted yet. Committee hearing tomorrow.
————————————————————————
* Phil Kadner takes a close look at the electric rate deal and likes most of what he sees. Here’s one example…
The attorney general insisted on the creation of a new government body, the Illinois Power Agency, which will negotiate the price of electricity in the future with generating companies.
This agency also will have the authority to create state-owned power plants in the future. The reverse auction, which occurred last year and created the huge spike in electric rates, is dead. Instead, the Illinois Power Agency would have the ability to solicit sealed bids for power and then negotiate for an even lower price than the lowest bid if it chooses, according to Lisa Madigan’s office.
“What this means is that ComEd would no longer be accepting bids from its parent company, Exelon, to purchase power, which I think is a very good idea,” Scully said.
Will the Illinois Power Agency have greater credibility than the Illinois Commerce Commission, which regulates the electric utility industry? The attorney general’s office claims that conflict-of-interest measures and other oversights built into the legislation will make it less likely that the power authority would be compromised. In addition, its scope will be limited to soliciting bids for electricity and operating power plants.
* The Daily Herald has some legislative reaction, pro and con…
For many lawmakers, however, this proposal was the first sign of progress in months for what has been a contentious issue.
“I’m extremely pleased that we were able to provide assistance and actually a long-term plan for purchasing electricity, hopefully at a lower, more reasonable rate. I think this is good news for every customer in Illinois,” said state Sen. Susan Garrett, a Lake Forest Democrat.
But many lawmakers remain wary of any power deal until its on their desks ready for a vote.
State Sen. John Millner, a Carol Stream Republican, questioned if ComEd wasn’t paying too much toward a pool of money that’s ultimately go to downstate Ameren customers.
Actually, that money is coming from Exelon, and Chicago-area legislators now have something they can hold over their Downstate colleagues (think mass transit).
* More from the Daily Herald…
However, if this deal holds, it could clear the way for resolution of numerous other issues, most notably the state budget, which remains stalled. A temporary budget approved last month to keep the state open expires at the end of this month. If there’s not another short-term budget, or a full year budget by then, it would threaten state support of local schools in addition to shuttering state offices and parks.
Downstate lawmakers previously held up other budget plans, saying they’d block any such spending until action was taken on electric rates. One of the leading downstate Democrats on the issue said Monday that he’d not relent until the House and Senate had approved a power bill relief plan.
Like other consumers interviewed by the Sun-Times, Chicago retiree Sheldon Landy was skeptical the deal provided enough relief.
The former railroad executive, who is 76, also said he was soured by Jones’ insistence that consumers should not be granted a rate freeze because of its ramifications on ComEd’s bottom line.
“His constituents probably can ill afford any kind of increase, and yet his main concern throughout all of this was ComEd going bankrupt. That was pure nonsense,” Landy said. “If Commonwealth Edison and their counterpart Downstate were willing to give up $1 billion, that’s just a start.”
* But there was a different mood in New York…
Shares of ComEd’s parent company, Exelon Corp., rose by almost 2 percent Monday, closing at $80.37.
* The bill hasn’t been filed yet, but when it does, it will probably be attached to this piece of legislation.
This spring, the legislature approved a bill to require interlock devices for all DUI offenders. The bill, which awaits Gov. Rod Blagojevich’s signature, would issue all convicted drunken drivers, including first-time offenders, restricted licenses to drive only vehicles equipped with the devices. If offenders refused to install interlock devices, their licenses would be suspended and all driving privileges would be revoked.
Strikes are illegal in New York City, Philadelphia, Boston and Miami. Just 15 states allow strikes, and when they do, they often require a cooling off, “fact-finding” process first. This requires an independent party to evaluate the issues and recommend a contract settlement. After that, teachers can strike.
This is what business leaders want for Illinois. The influential Civic Committee of the Commercial Club of Chicago, with the backing of Chicago school officials, floated the idea in May. Legislators are now mulling it over.
