* I think I’m gonna play hookie on Monday and call in well. Talk with you soon.
Back in the day, the Bruce’s Tavernacle Choir would gather at the popular Springfield venue on 11th and South Grand to joyfully and loudly sing this song together almost every Sunday night. Too many (Brian, Raoul, Grant, Hose, Jason - to name just a few) of our choir members are now gone, but their memory lives on. I think Ringo and Robbie would’ve approved…
A U.S. Army veteran who was fighting to stay in the country after being deported to Mexico has officially become an American citizen.
Miguel Perez Jr., a 39-year-old veteran of the war in Afghanistan, was sworn in at a naturalization ceremony Friday in Chicago. Perez had recently returned to Chicago on a two-week permit to attend a citizenship hearing. […]
Perez was deported to Mexico roughly 18 months ago, after his original petition for citizenship was denied due to a 2010 drug conviction.
He served over 7 1/2 years in prison. His green card status was revoked and he went from state prison into the custody of immigration officials.
In August, Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker pardoned Perez, allowing him to appeal his case, and return home to his parents and two children.
Pritzker took a big chance on pardoning Perez. The war vet had been battling PTSD when he was busted for handing a large amount of cocaine to an undercover cop. But the governor has said he believes in second chances and thought Perez should have an opportunity to prove himself. So far, so good.
Billionaire Gov. J.B. Pritzker — the richest sitting politician in America — is shelling out another $850,000 from his own pockets to renovate the Illinois Governor’s Mansion in Springfield.
That cranks up the tally of personal funds he has used to cover government expenses — including doubling some salaries and paying for other renovations — to at least $3.45 million, according to a Sun-Times analysis.
* But this post isn’t really about the Pritzker money. It’s about a bot publication called Moose Gazette which lifted Tina’s story in its entirety, but appeared to run it through a translation program…
Billionaire Gov. J.B. Pritzker — the richest sitting politician in The usa — is shelling out an additional $850,000 from his very own pockets to renovate the Illinois Governor’s Mansion in Springfield.
That cranks up the tally of individual funds he has applied to cover federal government expenditures — which includes doubling some salaries and shelling out for other renovations — to at the very least $3.45 million, in accordance to a Solar-Periods investigation.
“Solar-Periods” is apparently bot speak for “Sun-Times.” Also, check out this photo caption…
Democrat J.B. Pritzker hugs his spouse M.K. Pritzker and celebrates at an election night rally at the Marriott Marquis Chicago after beating incumbent Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner in the Illinois gubernatorial election, Tuesday night time, Nov. six, 2018. |
Ashlee Rezin Garcia/Sunshine-Situations
That bot needs to settle on its translations. Sunshine-Situations?
Gov. J.B. Pritzker acknowledges the group soon after being sworn in as the state’s 43rd governor in January. File Image.
Abundant Saal/The Point out Journal-Register by way of AP
Um, that would be Rich Saal at the State Journal-Register.
* And…
It appears as "the reporter" who lifted your story, "Laura Neilson," has a twin, an actual reporter, who works for the Telegraph in London. So they not only steal stories from reporters, they steal their photos as well. pic.twitter.com/hYe4ir4VYP
* I called the number on the Moose Gazette’s contact page and spoke to a very nice lady who said I was the third or fourth person to call about this. She insisted that she has no idea what the Moose Gazette is or why they’re using her phone number, which she said she’s had for 47 years and doesn’t want to change. I gave her the website address and wished her luck. The address listed on the page didn’t turn up anything, either. I suppose I could go to Boise and knock on some doors, but I kinda have better things to do with my time.
According to the Idaho Secretary of State’s website, MG LLC is a Foreign Limited Liability Company that cancelled its registration in 2004. I did find the name of a registered agent at the time the company cancelled its registration, looked up his number and left a voicemail.
OK, I think I’ve wasted far too much time on this today.
* The New York Times has a long, but very insightful story about how Chicago taxi drivers were fleeced by New Yorkers…
Over the next decade, New York taxi industry leaders — fleet owners, brokers and financiers — steadily seized control of Chicago’s medallion market and squeezed it for huge profits. Using tactics honed in New York, they made millions of dollars, but they ultimately helped to leave the industry in tatters and the lives of immigrant drivers on the edge of ruin.
New Yorkers used a similar playbook in several cities across the United States: They inflated medallion prices, provided high-risk loans to buyers and collected interest and fees before the bubbles burst and the markets collapsed. Medallion prices rose sevenfold in some places, soaring to $700,000 in Boston, $550,000 in Philadelphia, $400,000 in Miami and $250,000 in San Francisco.
But the most ambitious expansion targeted Chicago, home of the nation’s second-largest cab industry, a New York Times investigation found. New Yorkers eventually bought almost half the city’s medallions, records show.
There’s lots more, so go read the whole thing. There’s a Daley family nexus via a Patrick Daley meeting in Moscow, Gery Chico’s involvement, a big investment by Michael Cohen, and a city government far more interested in revenue than regulation…
Under Mr. Daley, the former mayor, the officials who regulated the Chicago taxi industry were focused on raising revenue through medallion sales, according to four former city employees. Officials sent memos praising the price increases, some of those employees said.
* Serious money was made and lost before Uber came along and tanked the market…
Records show that before the market collapsed in late 2013 and 2014, Mr. Levine’s companies sold most of the Chicago medallions they had bought a few years earlier. The companies paid $30 million to buy 543 medallions between 2006 and 2008. They sold 529 medallions between 2012 and 2014, for a total of $185 million. … Mr. Levine said he did not see a conflict in his lending company providing loans to drivers, which in turn helped him sell off medallions. […]
Only about 4,300 of the city’s 7,000 cabs are currently in operation, according to the city, and the ones on the road are generating at least 20 percent less than before there was ride-hailing, according to an analysis of city data by The Times.
A venture capitalist who bankrolled City Hall deals that secretly benefited Patrick Daley while his father Richard M. Daley was mayor has agreed to a court settlement that will see him repay less than 10% of the $290,596 he owes the U.S. Small Business Administration. […]
Under a settlement approved by a federal judge in Chicago, McInerney agreed to repay $36,000 over the next three years, to cooperate in an ongoing investigation of Cardinal Growth and to give a sworn deposition if asked.
The SBA had accused McInerney of failing to put up all of the money he promised as a condition of Cardinal Growth obtaining more than $51 million in loans from the federal agency. […]
Patrick Daley got more than $1.2 million from Cardinal Growth between 2002 and 2009, the Chicago Sun-Times previously has reported. He got $708,999 after Cardinal Growth sold Concourse Communications, a company that got a contract from the Daley administration to install wireless Internet service at O’Hare Airport and Midway Airport.
Officials of a private facility in Harvey that houses and educates severely disabled children will soon be forced to choose between laying off staff or discontinuing education to 11 students if they can’t find a district willing to enroll them, according to a lawsuit filed last week.
The Children’s Habilitation Center, which provides education and other services to students with intellectual disabilities, orthopedic impairments, traumatic brain injuries and other severe mental and physical limitations, claimed several Illinois school districts have refused to enroll their students, in violation of state and federal law.
“This case is about how several Illinois School Districts have put their desire to save money over their legal obligation to provide a free and appropriate public education to 11 severely disabled and medically fragile children who live and go to school at (Children’s Habilitation Center),” the suit said. “Despite every party acknowledging that the children are entitled to a free and appropriate education under the law and that some Illinois school district must enroll them, each School District is passing the buck, and the children remain without a home district and without the legally required public funding for their schooling.”
The suit, filed Thursday in Cook County Circuit Court, requested that the superintendent of the Illinois State Board of Education make a district determination for the 11 students and demands a $622,527 judgment against West Harvey-Dixmoor School District 147, which previously had enrolled the majority of the students.
Nobody wants to claim these children. No school district wants to foot the bill for the education they are entitled to by law. And nobody at the Illinois State Board of Education seems willing to step in and straighten out the mess.
The students reside at Children’s Habilitation Center, a private facility in Harvey that houses, cares for and educates children with medically complex developmental disabilities. Most of the infants and children require feeding tubes and are on around-the-clock ventilators. Many of the roughly 60 residents of the center were born into families already dealing with physical or intellectual disabilities of their own, drug abuse or incarceration.
So they often have parents who can’t be found, parents who are sometimes reachable, but unwilling to engage, or parents who have simply moved out of state, leaving their children in the center’s care.
Earlier this year, that lack of parental connection led West Harvey-Dixmoor School District 147 to unenroll eight children, claiming that since there was no proof of parents living in the district, the district shouldn’t have to pay to educate the kids. That district also refused to enroll two younger children from the center who had just reached school age. […]
I spoke with Pamela Markle, the chief executive officer of Children’s Habilitation Center. She figures that without payment from District 147 — per the lawsuit, it already owes the center more than $600,000 dating back to February — she’ll soon have to lay off educators and cut back on classes.
Press Secretary Jordan Abudayyeh emailed this statement late Thursday: “The administration is monitoring the situation to ensure the children are being educated and cared for, and we will work with families, educational institutions and other stakeholders to deliver the services they deserve.”
Also on Thursday, ISBE spokeswoman Jackie Matthews emailed me this statement: “ISBE’s most critical priority is to ensure that children are being educated and cared for. We have ensured that the children at CHC have been and are receiving education and services with no interruption. We are urgently attending to the matter of responsibility for the payment of services and are working toward a swift resolution.”
The Anti-Harassment, Equality and Access panel set up by the Democratic Party earlier this year released its final recommendations last week. […]
The panel’s report included “paraphrased comments” from participants of the listening sessions like this: “Expecting campaigns or parties to handle harassment internally during a campaign may be unrealistic because everyone, including the victims of harassment, is trying to win the election. This desire to win may be a deterrent to reporting because victims may worry it would hurt the campaign.”
I think that’s why House Republican Leader Jim Durkin’s recent decision to abandon Rep. Jerry Long’s (R-Streator) re-election campaign was so important and so underappreciated by the media and other political observers.
Durkin has said that his best hope in a year like this is to focus lots of resources on picking up and/or holding on to Downstate seats. Long’s Downstate seat was once in Democratic hands, but pro-Trump, anti-Madigan sentiment helped propel him into the General Assembly two years ago.
Yet when a campaign worker reported allegations of harassment, Durkin ordered an outside investigation and then publicly walked away from the candidate. There was no attempt to sweep it under the rug until after the election, which is pretty much what you’d expect in other times.
What Durkin clearly demonstrated by abandoning Long’s campaign is that some things have to be more important than winning. That’s an all-too-rare concept in politics.
It was also prudent in the long term. Covering up the Long situation could’ve seriously endangered his leadership position if the truth emerged.
However you look at it, this was absolutely the right move by Durkin and it took guts, particularly since some House members on his far-right flank are still not condemning Long and the state’s leading newspaper editorial boards have remained silent.
* The Tribune endorsement in that district last October…
76th District: We had high hopes for Rep. Jerry Lee Long, R-Streator, when he took this seat in 2016. A pro-union Republican, his win helped erode Speaker Michael Madigan’s supermajority in the House. But GOP officials withdrew their support after a colleague accused Long of inappropriate behavior. He has admitted he touched the neck of an associate who was complaining of a headache. A third-party investigator hired by the GOP prepared a report damaging enough that prominent Republicans called for him to resign. We don’t know enough to make a determination. But Long stayed in the race and insists the party abandoned him over a minor misunderstanding. His opponent, Democrat Lance Yednock of Ottawa, is an engineer with International Union of Operating Engineers Local 150. We fear he would be yet another voice in Springfield promoting anti-business policies and pitting rank-and-file taxpayers against union interests. No endorsement.
“We don’t know enough to make a determination.” The House Republican Leader walked away from a candidate in an all-important swing district and yet the Trib took a pass.
The only silver lining to be extracted from yet another report outlining sexual harassment in Springfield is the potential for further reform. When lawmakers return to the Capitol this month for the fall veto session — their first gathering following two investigations into House Speaker Michael Madigan’s operations — will things be different?
The latest report on sexual harassment, released Wednesday from the office of Legislative Inspector General Carol Pope, largely mirrors the findings of an August report from an outside attorney who examined the speaker’s government and political offices. Both reports concluded that top Madigan lieutenants perpetuated a work environment of harassment and bullying. Madigan, by his own admission, didn’t do enough to stop it. Women got fed up.
Let’s emphasize that point: Women involved in state government came forward as whistleblowers. At great personal and professional risk, they joined the #MeToo movement that swept across the nation. They outed powerful people. If change comes to Springfield with a zero tolerance policy on harassment, and a culture shift from the often-sleazy culture of inappropriate behavior, the credit will belong to them. […]
On the Republican side of the aisle, two lawmakers — Nick Sauer and Jerry Lee Long — faced ouster following accusations of harassmentlike conduct involving women.
Among other topics, federal agents questioned Summit Mayor Sergio Rodriguez about whether another political figure tried to pressure village officials into giving a local bar a license to operate later into the night. Rodriquez hasn’t returned numerous calls from a reporter. The bar operator said he’d consult with his attorney and call back a reporter but didn’t.
I have no way of knowing whether this is related or not, but if you look at the heavily redacted federal warrant served on Sen. Martin Sandoval’s Statehouse office, you’ll see these two mentions…
A source with knowledge of the probe told the Chicago Tribune that one focus of the investigation is Safespeed LLC, a clout-heavy red light camera company that does millions of dollars in business in Chicago’s suburbs, including Summit. One of the company’s paid consultants, Patrick Doherty, also is chief of staff in Tobolski’s County Board office. Doherty has not responded to requests for comment.
But is this about SafeSpeed itself or is it about the activities of one of the company’s investors, or is it maybe both? No idea yet…
Doherty told the Sun-Times he was interviewed by FBI and IRS agents at his home last week but he insisted it was not about SafeSpeed. Rather, he said agents asked about another company — run by SafeSpeed investor Omar Maani — that’s been involved in low-income housing projects in Cicero and Summit.
I’m told Tobolski was very involved with that Maani project in Summit.
* This thing is going in a large number of directions. WBEZ…
The search warrant also indicates that the FBI was looking for “items related to any official action taken in exchange for a benefit,” the records show.
And agents sought “items related to Latino Night at the Max, Chicago Cubs spring training trips, benefits provided by Law Firm 1 and/or Law Firm 1 Attorney A, Esq., and/or air conditioning and/or heating at [redacted] residence,” according to the documents provided by McCook officials. The Max is a sports complex in McCook.
Agents left with records related to a “Pub Max project,” a 2017 roof repair, Department of Labor safety violations, invoices, emails, hard drives, a Max monthly meeting reports folder and other documents. […]
Tobolski has also been subject of criticism for putting many family members on the village payroll, including good-paying jobs at the Max.
Even as calls to ban vaping have intensified after at least 18 people have died and over 1,000 more have been sickened, Illinois’ new pot czar says the state should take a more measured approach to the outbreak but should not prohibit certain products.
State Sen. Toi Hutchinson, who was tapped for the role last week by Gov. J. B. Pritzker, warned against an all-out ban of the pot-laden vaping products believed to be at the center of the nationwide public health scare she acknowledges is a “crisis.”
If you scroll down in that Sun-Times piece, you’ll see the ban is already in place…
On Friday, the Centers for Disease Control issued a report singling out black market THC vaping products tied to illnesses in Illinois and Wisconsin.
Hutchinson, an Olympia Fields Democrat, claimed “illicit entrants into this market are creating havoc.”
The problem is not THC, as the Sun-Times appears to want you to believe. The problem is with harmful additives that criminals put into currently illegal vaping juice. The best way to deal with this problem is to legalize and regulate. And that’s already in the pipeline.
WeWork leases more than 1 million square feet in Chicago. It is the largest office tenant in the city, a statistic that does not include companies or government agencies that own their space rather than renting. WeWork is also the largest tenant in other markets, including Manhattan, London and Washington, D.C.
The brand appeals to small businesses, start-ups and freelancers who can’t afford permanent office space. And a growing part of its customer base includes larger corporations looking for cost-efficient ways to enter new markets.
But critics say WeWork has given little indication of how it can eventually become profitable.
To put this into some perspective, downtown business district tenants leased nearly 13 million square feet of office space last year. So, WeWork represents a significant chunk of the total.
But perhaps what made WeWork different is the apparent problems with the company’s business model. It was on the hook for $47 billion in future lease payments to building owners while having committed revenue of only $4 billion. Last year’s loss jumped to $1.9 billion on revenue of $1.8 billion — for every dollar it made, it was spending two. For the first half of this year, losses climbed to $904 million even as revenue doubled to $1.54 billion.
Whew.
By the end of last month, WeWork’s parent company “We” had withdrawn its initial public offering.
Jamie Dimon’s bank, along with UBS and Credit Suisse, helped [co-founder Adam Neumann] with a $500 million personal line of credit that allowed him to buy buildings that he then leased back to WeWork.
Neumann took out more than $700 million before the IPO was filed.
WeWork was forced to pull its IPO—despite bankers at Goldman pitching valuations as high as $90 billion—after investors began studying its high debt levels, massive losses and that it burned through mountains of cash, issues that were glossed over by the company’s marketing pitches and Neumann’s savvy promotion.
A truly insane $90 billion market cap estimate and just weeks later the company is scrambling everywhere to find cash to avoid burning through the rest of its borrowed and invested money by the end of the first quarter. Sheesh.
* But let’s get back to what matters on this blog: Illinois…
What happens to the New York and Chicago commercial-real-estate markets where WeWork was the biggest and the second-biggest tenants?
Good question. Its departure would definitely be disruptive, but could its formerly leased space be absorbed? We could be about to find out…
In a potential bankruptcy, WeWork’s $47 billion in lease obligations could be frozen, and commercial real estate in cities where WeWork is very active – like New York and London – could be paralyzed, deflating one of the strongest markets since the financial crisis.
“All of these things help a company like ours,” [Nick Clark, founder of Dallas-based coworking firm Common Desk] said. “There was never a coworking bubble, but we’re about to see a big WeWork bubble pop.”
Essentially what happened is that the employees of We who didn’t get a chance to sell, SoftBank, and some other institutional investors have lost $47 billion. Had this consensual hallucination gone on for 60 more days, retail investors would have experienced that loss. So this is a good thing! This is the [regulated public] markets working. Whereas Uber, the consensual hallucination continues. They have to maintain the illusion of growth. They have to maintain the growth story. Without the growth story, they’re worth 20 percent of what they’re worth now. I think that chops off 50 to 80 percent in the next 25 months. WeWork can start from zero. If they act crisply enough, it can still be a nice, cute office-sharing company. Uber has to maintain the hallucination. Uber has to keep chasing that eight ball.
* And with that bit about Uber needing to maintain the appearance of growth in mind…
* Uber launches staffing business in Chicago: Uber Works will be led by Andrey Liscovich. He declined to specify how many employees the unit will have but said, “We plan to grow rapidly.”
The Governor’s Mansion will be closing for tours until Nov. 23 for renovations. It will reopen in time for the holidays, with an open house for the community on Dec. 7. Throughout the holiday season, the home will feature a 30-foot Christmas tree in the front yard for all of Springfield to enjoy.
Quote from the First Lady
“The people of Springfield have been so welcoming to our family, and we hope that they enjoy the Governor’s mansion this holiday season. The Governor’s mansion has a unique place in our history, and we want to make sure that the holidays reflect the special role of this historic home.”
Background
Renovations include repairing tile on the first floor that had a defective finish, renovating guest bedrooms and bathrooms, and updating existing plumbing.
All work will be done by union workers.
The Governor and First Lady will be paying for the renovations personally.
The Halloween celebration on Oct. 26 for the children of Springfield will continue with treats and the Great Pumpkin display.
I assume the governor will still be hosting after-hours meetings with legislators during the upcoming veto session, but “where” is the question. Recommendations?
* Buried deep down in Tuesday’s Sun-Times story about the Sandoval-related investigation was this revelation from Cook County Commissioner Jeff Tobolski’s chief of staff Patrick Doherty…
Doherty said he doesn’t know whether Tobolski is a target of investigators, or even how Tobolski is holding up ever since agents descended on McCook’s village hall.
That’s because Doherty said he hasn’t seen him or heard from him in about a week.
Tobolski is the mayor of McCook, which, as noted in the piece, was raided by the feds last week.
*** UPDATE *** Speaking of McCook…
Some highlights: agents took Mayor Jeff Tobolski's current and former computer hard drive, server files, documents. They sought info related to "Latino night" at McCook's domed stadium, Chicago Cubs spring training trips, benefits provided by an attorney/firm, and more…
* The Tribune reports today that the unfunded liability for Chicago’s pension funds has risen by almost $7 billion since the city raised taxes by over $800 million to pay down the debt. The reason basically boils down to changed investment and payout assumptions, kicking the can and bad investing…
There are three main reasons the gap widened by nearly $7 billion. By far the biggest is that the people who run the four retirement funds changed their economic assumptions. They reduced the amount they expect to earn by investing the money already on hand, and they increased how long they expect retirees will live and collect benefits.
Second, Emanuel’s plan put off the largest increases in pension contributions to get the system back on track until after he left office. […]
And third, pension fund investments didn’t meet their expected rate of return in recent years. … The funds lost between 5.5% and 6.6% of the total investments [last year], according to their year-end accountings.
The changed assumptions part is, as noted, the largest share and was necessary to better align the systems with reality.
Kicking the can is, unfortunately, this state’s most popular sport. It’s like paying the minimum monthly balance on your credit card while continuing to spend more money. But that’s still better than what Mayor Daley did, which was pay pretty much nothing.
And if you want another reason why the other municipalities don’t want to include Chicago in a statewide merger of the hundreds of local first responder pension funds, just look at those investment returns.
* Speaking of those local Downstate and suburban first responder funds, Mark Maxwell went to their annual training conference at a posh Wisconsin venue…
Illinois has 656 local police and fire pension funds. Each fund has a manager, trustees & board members. 3,000+ of them came to this swanky Wisconsin resort all week to get state-mandated annual investment training.
The man who drove his SUV through the Woodfield Mall in Schaumburg last month had been released from a mental health facility the previous day, still suffering from hallucinations, hearing voices and having suicidal thoughts, relatives say.
Javier Garcia, 22, was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia and bipolar disorder three years ago and has been in and out of mental health facilities since then, his sister Noemi Garcia told the Sun-Times Wednesday.
“Just in the last two months my brother has been to three different inpatient centers,” she said.
“After a week they would release him, with Javier still coming home to us telling us that he didn’t feel safe, that he still kept hearing voices, that he still had suicidal thoughts and it’s just like an every day battle,” she said. […]
Interruptions to Medicaid coverage also were a hurdle to getting help, she said.
State regulators need to tighten rules to fend off “faux” competitors if Chicago’s professional sports teams are expected to fork over a whopping $10 million apiece for licenses to open sportsbooks at or near their stadiums.
That’s what a lawyer for the White Sox, Cubs, Bears, Bulls and Blackhawks told the Illinois Gaming Board in a letter last week, as the agency sets the framework for newly legalized sports betting across the state.
Among other things, the teams want rules to keep casino-tied sports wagering operations and Illinois Lottery parlay betting kiosks out of their territory once the industry finally launches. […]
Illinois’ new gambling expansion law authorizes sports wagering licenses not only for casinos, racetracks and off-track betting parlors, but also for up to seven sports facilities with a capacity of 17,000 or more — opening the door to betting windows inside or within a five-block radius of Guaranteed Rate Field, Wrigley Field, Soldier Field and the United Center.
The teams are essentially demanding a monopoly for five blocks in every direction around their stadiums. They even want a ban on sports book advertising and marketing in their zones by anyone but themselves.
A dozen spicy wings and a 12-team parlay? The sports betting experience is coming to a Buffalo Wild Wings near you via one of America’s largest bookmakers.
MGM Resorts International and its sports betting venture Roar Digital announced a multiyear deal with national sports bar Buffalo Wild Wings on Thursday. It’s another visible shift in the American sports betting culture.
In the coming months, odds and point spreads will begin appearing on screens at select Buffalo Wild Wings. On Thursday, the two companies will launch Picks and Props, a free-to-play, mobile-only football game that mimics sports betting with point spreads and prop bets and rewards winners with prizes, including trips to Las Vegas and Atlantic City.
Ald. Anthony Beale (9th) is in the doghouse with Mayor Lori Lightfoot for publicly opposing the mayor’s choice of Ald. Scott Waguespack (32nd) as Finance Committee chairman.
But Beale is not about to keep quiet while Chicago continues to “hemorrhage” revenue to Indiana casinos.
On Wednesday, Beale sent a letter to the mayor outlining a game plan he believes would expedite a Chicago casino.
It calls for the city to issue a “request-for-proposals” to identify a “responsible” casino operator. The mayor and the chosen operator then would go to Springfield to seek the specific fix needed for the Chicago casino’s tax structure. The structure outlined in the current law is so onerous, a city casino can’t be financed, according to a Gaming Board consultant. […]
Beale claims to have a “shovel-ready” casino site at 103rd and Woodlawn that has attracted interest from two casino operators he refused to name; that site was not among the five Lightfoot asked the Gaming Board to study.
WBEZ filed a lawsuit Wednesday against the Illinois Senate, alleging that details from the recent federal anti-corruption raids of a top legislator’s offices are being hidden from public view in violation of the state’s open-records law.
The suit was filed in Sangamon County Circuit Court by lawyer Matt Topic and comes a day after Democratic Senate President John Cullerton’s office gave reporters heavily blacked-out documents from the FBI investigation of powerful state Sen. Martin Sandoval, a high-ranking Cullerton ally. […]
But in this case, Cullerton’s office instead decided to delete dozens of names of individuals and companies who were mentioned in the search warrant from the copies given to WBEZ and other news organizations. […]
The newly filed lawsuit alleges that the state Senate’s deletions were made “in willful violation of the Illinois Freedom of Information Act” and seeks unredacted documents.
* This is what Cullerton’s spokesman said the other day when asked…
Decisions were guided by an Attorney General’s opinion, case law and discussions with the investigative authorities.
So, in other words, they’re blaming part of it on the feds.
Illinois Governor Pat Quinn says he is willing to talk about adding a casino in Chicago, but he stated on Friday that he is opposed to a larger expansion of gambling. […]
When asked what he thinks about the prospect of Danville getting a casino, Quinn said Danville Mayor Scott Eisenhauer should not “hold his breath.” Quinn said he doesn’t want the state to be the “Las Vegas of the Midwest.” […]
Skokie Democrat Lou Lang said he plans to introduce a gaming expansion measure next week in the Illinois House of Representatives that includes Danville.
Lang was the chief sponsor of the gaming bill for years, and he made sure Danville was always in the mix. Lang recused himself from the bill’s sponsorship in 2013 because a law firm he had joined represented a suburban town seeking a casino. He said he did no work for that town, however.
* Lang is now a partner in the new casino operating group chosen by Danville…
Even though the group is new, together they have more than 100 years of gaming experience.
To start. there is Lou Lang, a former state representative from Skokie. He served for 32 years and was a major advocate for gaming expansion.
Another partner is Scott Syplot, a Chicago gaming attorney who works mostly with Indian tribes.
And Bill Bembenek, who came from San Diego as the former CEO of the Pala Casino Spa & Resort.
“This is about not only revenue, but this is about the future of Danville,” Lang said.
Discuss.
*** UPDATE *** Despite the stories referring to him as a partner in the casino project, I just reached out to Lang and he told me that he’s just an adviser. So, I changed the headline.
The Museum of Science and Industry will rename itself after Chicago philanthropist Ken Griffin, who is making the largest donation in the institution’s history, the museum announced Thursday.
The sprawling science, tech and business museum on the city’s South Side will become the Kenneth C. Griffin Museum of Science and Industry after the museum’s board voted to accept Griffin’s $125 million donation and the name change Thursday morning.
It’s a major change in the Chicago cultural landscape, prompted by one of the largest cash donations ever to a local cultural institution. Ken Griffin, founder of the hedge fund Citadel, has been one of the most prominent and active donors to cultural and educational organizations through his Kenneth C. Griffin Charitable Fund, with giving that now totals over $1 billion. […]
The museum says the gift pushes its current capital campaign past the $300 million mark in funds raised. The money will mostly go into the museum’s endowment, which will more than double as a result, MSI board chair Chris Crane said. In coming years, the museum intends to work on creating new exhibitions, renovating museum galleries and modernizing its building, which has 14 acres of indoor space and is the last holdover from the 1893 World’s Fair.
Illinois Senate President John Cullerton announced on Wednesday that Illinois State Senator Ira Silverstein has resigned from the Senate Democratic Leadership team after being accused of sexual harassment.
Legislative activist Denise Rotheimer testified Tuesday in front of a senate panel that Ira Silverstein made inappropriate comments to her while the two worked together on legislation. […]
The dramatic revelation came out Tuesday at a hearing in front of the House Personnel and Pensions Committee.
State Sen. Tom Cullerton was replaced as chairman of the Senate Labor Committee, a move that comes four days after he was indicted on federal charges of embezzling money from a labor union.
According to a spokesman for the senate president’s office, the shakeup among committee chairs involves three Senate committees. Sen. Omar Aquino, D-Chicago, was named to replace Cullerton on the Labor Committee; Cullerton was named as the new chair of the Veterans Affairs Committee; and Sen. Cristina Castro, D-Elgin, former chair of Veterans Affairs, has been named fill Aquino’s former post as chair of the Government Accountability and Pensions Committee.
Pritzker reacted quickly to the news of Sandoval’s raid — to get ahead of worries that the investigation would taint the governor’s massive capital plan, which Sandoval helped put together.
“We must assure the public that this work [the capital plan] is on the up and up,” Pritzker told reporters. “Corruption and self-dealing will not be tolerated.”
Cullerton was just as quick to resist any attempt to be pushed to take action.
“This remains an active investigation, and the Senate President wants to make informed decisions,” Cullerton spokesman John Patterson said.
Something often lost in the shuffle about Sen. Sandoval is he is also the Majority Caucus Whip. Not only has Senate President Cullerton refused to move him off the Transportation Committee, but Sandoval still has his leadership gig. The post is unpaid, but that’s beside the point.
* Kiplinger rates Illinois as the least tax-friendly state, mainly because of our property taxes…
Least Tax-Friendly
Illinois’ economic woes are one reason why the Prairie State tops our list of the least tax-friendly states in the country. The state ranks #50 in the latest ranking of states’ fiscal health by the Mercatus Center at George Mason University, and residents are paying the price with higher taxes.
The state’s 4.95% flat income tax rate actually isn’t that high when compared to other states, but other taxes are a doozy. For example, property taxes in Illinois are the second-highest in the nation. On a $400,000 home in the state, the average annual property tax bill would be an eye-popping $9,634.
Sales taxes are high, too. In some municipalities, combined state and local sales taxes exceed 10%. Most states exempt food and drugs from their sales tax, but that’s not the case in Illinois.
Connecticut, New York and Wisconsin followed Illinois.
Wyoming was the most tax-friendly on the Kiplinger list, followed by Nevada and Tennessee. Wyoming and Nevada do not have an income tax, while Tennessee’s income tax applies only to interest and dividends, according to MarketWatch.
California did not make the top 10 least tax-friendly states. Although California has one of the highest state income tax rates, it has a progressive income tax with varying rates.
*** UPDATE *** Press release…
Today, Think Big Illinois Executive Director Quentin Fulks released the following statement in response to a new Kiplinger report that ranked Illinois as the least-tax friendly state in the country:
“Illinois’ current tax system is fundamentally unfair, letting millionaires and billionaires avoid paying their share while working families are forced to shoulder the burden. That’s why Think Big Illinois is committed to bringing tax fairness to our state and ensuring our tax system works for everyone, not just the wealthy few.
“During his first legislative session, Governor Pritzker signed a bipartisan balanced budget bringing $8.9 billion in funding to our education system, including nearly half a billion dollars in new funding. This additional funding, along with the revenue generated from the fair tax, will help the state meet its obligation to fund our schools, a critical step toward alleviating the property tax burden on our residents and bringing tax fairness to our state.
“Those who our current tax system benefits are so desperate to avoid paying their share that they’d rather go back to the Rauner years of gutting critical social services, watching our roads and bridges crumble, and forcing local communities to raise property taxes because they refuse to properly fund our schools.
“Illinois’ hardworking families deserve better than that. Think Big Illinois is committed to fighting with Governor Pritzker to ensure our children are getting the quality education they deserve, to lessen the tax burden on our middle and lower-income families, and to bring tax fairness to our state.”
* As noted earlier in two different posts, the governor held his first press conference in well over a month today.
Before even taking questions, Pritzker called on Sen. Martin Sandoval to either resign from or be removed from the chairmanship of the Senate Transportation committee. “Corruption and self-dealing will not be tolerated,” he said. “Sometimes I have to say some difficult things to the leaders,” he said later in response to a question about whether he’d talked to Senate President John Cullerton about Sandoval.
* I told subscribers this morning that the governor’s office told me IDOT has received no federal subpoenas. Pritzker said this afternoon that neither the governor’s office nor IDOT had been served with subpoenas or search warrants. He also said this…
I know there’s reference [in the Sandoval search warrant] to some IDOT employees, but, as of now anyway, there’s no allegation, there’s no interviews that we’re aware of, that have been requested.
He also said he didn’t know who the unnamed IDOT officials were.
We were at odds with Sen. Sandoval in a number of very important ways. He, in fact, put forward a different capital bill than the one that was ultimately put through. And his was rejected, and amendments he put forward were rejected. So, I feel confident that the procedures that were gone through were good ones. But as I say, as we go through and those projects are reviewed we’re going to make sure and identify any challenges that may exist so that we’re doing the right thing and the entire thing’s on the up-and-up.
Sandoval introduced a “horizontal” capital bill weeks before the governor’s office was prepared to issue its own. As subscribers may recall, it caused some tension.
Pritzker later mentioned something I told subscribes about on Monday. Pritzker said there was opposition from IDOT over Sandoval’s pressure to use recycled asphalt shingles, a business dominated here by Mike Vondra.
* The first question out of the gate was about our Question of the Day, the $250,000 appropriated to the Village of McCook “for costs associated with upgrades to the municipal building.” Pritzker’s response…
All of the allocations that are made have to go through a rigorous process before they are paid out, before those projects are initiated. That is one that is in place. It of course means that we should make sure that it is transparent, that it’s done completely on the up-and-up and I am making sure that we’re reviewing all the policies and procedures so that any projects that get approved are approved with the utmost confidence that these are done in the best interest of taxpayers and nothing of the sort of corruption or self-dealing that has been alleged.
* He was also asked about his fractured leg, which has kept him from most public appearances…
For the last couple days anyway it’s felt pretty good.
He told reporters that they’ll be seeing him more now.
Let there be light! This is the first time in my 2+ years living in Springfield that I’ve seen the Capitol lit at night. A beautiful building during the day looks even better at night! #twillpic.twitter.com/Oo7ZpVkHA7
In perhaps the most visible sign the state has emerged from the darkness of a more than two-year-long budget impasse, the lights illuminating the Illinois State Capitol dome were switched on Tuesday night for the first time since 2015.
Illinois Secretary of State spokesman Henry Haupt confirmed the return of the lights, which were shut off due to the impasse as the state fell as much as $12 million behind on its City Light, Water and Power tab.
The dome lights have been upgraded to LED, which significantly reduces electrical costs. The Secretary of State’s office, which maintains the Capitol Complex, estimates that the cost comes out to about $4.33 per day, or just under $1,600 per year.
After being away from reporters for weeks due to broken leg, IL Gov Pritzker begins first presser back by calling for Sen Martin Sandoval (who’s offices have been raided) to step down as Senate Transportation Committee chairman, or for Senate Pres Cullerton to remove him
…Adding… The governor apparently told Cullerton this himself and not just blindside him with a media announcement…
Gov. Pritzker took questions today for the first time since Aug. 27. Pritzker said he has told Illinois Senate President John Cullerton that State Sen. Martin Sandoval should step down as chair of the Senate Transportation Committee, or be removed, amid a federal investigation.
Senate President John Cullerton's office on Pritzker's request to kick Sandoval off the Transportation Committee: “This remains an active investigation, and the Senate President wants to make informed decisions.” https://t.co/dddqxhTmki
A long-awaited legislative inspector general’s report requested by former political consultant turned #MeToo whistleblower Alaina Hampton concludes Kevin Quinn — a former top political aide to Illinois House Speaker Mike Madigan — violated sexual harassment provisions now in place.
But the harassment in question happened before those provisions were added to state law as part of a revamped ethics act. That revamp was part of a cleanup effort after a swath of #MeToo allegations last year. […]
But since Quinn no longer is a state employee, he can’t even be disciplined for that violation. Current Legislative Inspector General Carol Pope — who adopted Porter’s findings — recommended that a memo from the speaker be placed in his official personnel file; the memo would state that he violated that provision and that “he never be rehired as a State employee or contractor.”
A separate legislative inspector general’s report about former Madigan chief of staff Tim Mapes was also released on Wednesday. Pope, too, found that Mapes “violated the Ethics Act by engaging in conduct of a sexual nature with the purpose and effect of creating an intimidating, hostile, and offensive working environment.” Pope wrote that Mapes also refused to cooperate with the investigation. He, too, will get a memo in his file and can never be rehired as a state employee.
Pope said her predecessor referred the matter to the Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul to consider criminal charges against Quinn, but Raoul declined to prosecute Quinn over the Hampton allegations.
[Pope] cited Mapes for “conduct of a sexual nature with the purpose and effect of creating an intimidating, hostile and offensive working environment.” […]
In response, Mapes’ attorney called the allegations “baseless and untrue.” […]
The accounts from Garrett, whom Pope “found … to be entirely credible,” were corroborated by three other employees in the speaker’s office, including two witnesses who “worked closely with Mapes and generally had good relationships with him,” according to the report.
The letter from Mapes’ attorney is quite something. No apology, defiant to the end.
The former Legislative Inspector General reviewed my actions and determined Ms. Hampton’s allegations against me were unfounded. She advised me that my office took the investigation seriously and made a reasoned decision as to how to impose consequences for Kevin Quinn’s misconduct.
I have strengthened and improved protections for victims of harassment in both my office and across my political organizations. These changes include instituting mandatory training on sexual harassment, intimidation, and other important workplace protections, and creating strong reporting mechanisms to report workplace complaints. I am committed to ensuring that anyone who reports a complaint is protected, they are treated fairly and that everyone has a safe and welcoming work environment.
* And this is from Ald. Marty Quinn…
The Legislative Inspector General’s report reiterates the statement I made in February 2018 and confirms my handling of this situation. When Ms. Hampton notified me of inappropriate text messages from my brother, I took immediate action. I also did exactly what she asked me to do. I understood Ms. Hampton wanted the text messages to stop and I made sure she was never contacted by my brother again. I have never wavered from creating a safe and productive workplace and I never will.
* Obviously, President Trump is not beloved in the city (just the opposite), so attempting to motivate census participation by framing it as an act of defiance could turn out to be a pretty smart move by the mayor…
Mayor Lori Lightfoot wants to convince Chicagoans to take part in the upcoming U.S. census by casting it as an act of defiance against President Donald Trump’s administration.
The city will launch a campaign to try to get participation up to 75% of the population from an estimated 66% 10 years ago, Lightfoot said Tuesday. The push comes in spite of what the mayor said is Trump’s attempts to suppress the number of residents who fill out the forms in Democratic-leaning parts of the country with large immigrant populations like Chicago.
“I think we can make a very compelling case as to why this is, in some ways, the ultimate form of protest, which is to be counted and not let somebody treat you as invisible and drive you into the shadows,” Lightfoot said at a news conference to announce her administration will earmark $2.7 million to help increase census turnout in 2020. “So I think we have a very compelling message in opposition, frankly, to what the prevailing conservative, anti-immigrant message is, to get people motivated to get counted.”
Trump wanted to include a question on 2020 census forms asking people their citizenship status. While the U.S. Supreme Court rejected that idea, Lightfoot acknowledged there is still widespread concern among undocumented immigrants that federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents will try to use census information to deport them.
Lightfoot said she would ask the City Council to set aside $2.7 million in the 2020 budget for outreach efforts to be led by well-established community organizations familiar with Chicago’s hard-to-count residents — immigrants, refugees, renters, those who are homeless; people with disabilities; those who don’t speak English, young children; seniors citizens; and college students. […]
“We’re looking at $1,400 per year per person that we stand to lose if we don’t get people counted,” Lightfoot said. “You add that up across tens of thousands over a decade, that’s real money that’s not coming to Chicago.”
The city’s effort will get an assist from Chicago-based advertising firm FCB, which will build and launch a citywide campaign free of charge.
The campaign will paint the Census as a “true tool of empowerment,” said Michael Fassnacht, president and CEO of FCB Chicago.
The University of Illinois plans a $100 million center to develop smart technologies in partnership with a division of Foxconn and the long-planned Discovery Partners Institute.
The Center for Networked Intelligent Components & Environments will be based on the Urbana-Champaign campus as part of the Grainger College of Engineering. […]
Foxconn Interconnect Technology will fund the $50 million over 10 years. The unit is separate from Foxconn Technology Group, the electronics-assembly business that is building a factory near Kenosha, Wis., and is funding $100 million in engineering research at the University of Wisconsin at Madison.
Foxconn’s presence at the University already includes a space in the University’s Research Park, as well as Lu’s recent $21.5 million investment toward a five-story addition to the University’s mechanical engineering building.
Researchers from Foxconn Interconnect and the University will be working together at the new center to focus on research for a wide range of projects, including the interaction between humans and robots, new measurement techniques for nanoscale components, methods for capturing manufacturing data and new data-processing techniques in sensors.
He’s a survivor, a long-lived Republican and conservative activist in an overwhelmingly Democratic city who not only kept his party job but got noticed over the past decade. And now he’s hanging it up.
That’s Chris Cleveland, the GOP committeeman of the Lincoln Park 43rd Ward, who announced in recent days that the search is on for his successor because “the time has come for me to get back to the private sector,” specifically running the software company he owns.
Cleveland, who also chairs the Chicago Republican Party, actually managed to find some success in a city that, despite its reputation, still is home to hundreds of thousands of GOP voters.
As he noted in an email to supporters and in a follow-up interview, he sued both Illinois House Speaker Mike Madigan and the Chicago Board of Elections (winning both), challenged the nominating petitions of dozens of Democrats, opened two offices in the ward and actually fielded a semblance of an organization with precinct workers and election judges. He even had some fun, filing a civil rights complaint after a Chicago alderman tried to block opening of a Chick-fil-A outlet in his ward.
Residents in Lyons left a City Hall meeting frustrated Tuesday evening. The meeting came just days after the town’s City Hall was raided by federal agents.
The village’s monthly public meeting started at 7 p.m. and was over by 7:06 p.m. Those residents who wanted to say a few words were not allowed to speak.
The FBI raided the town halls of Lyons, McCook and Summit, and just days before that, raided the Cicero and Springfield offices of Sen. Martin Sandoval. […]
As a WGN reporter interviewed Earl Johnson, a Lyons resident who is an outspoken critic of Mayor Christopher Getty, a man who residents said is an ally of Getty walked by and spilled soda as the on-camera interview was conducted. He then set off his car alarm.
* Some on-scene tweets from the BGA…
Lyons Mayor Chris Getty, other officials hid in this room after tonight's board meeting. Last week, the FBI raided Lyons Village Hall, Getty's insurance business/campaign HQ, and the parent company of the donor that gave his campaign $100k. Read our story: https://t.co/DPeWDWwkgUpic.twitter.com/nT2xheZSRQ
Final note: a member of the Lyons zoning board, who rents his barbershop/apartment from the village and collects signatures for the mayor's party, walked by a @WGNRadioNews interview and poured a soft drink on the sidewalk. Then he set off his car alarm to disrupt the set
A new analysis from credit rating agency S&P predicts cities in areas like Southern Illinois must get ready for “credit challenges” as money moves out of coal.
As investors, both in public and private sectors, make an effort to invest in things like renewable energy, S&P said coal-reliant areas could experience added budget pressures due to a loss of not only tax revenue should a mine or coal-fired plant close, but the also the local tax base after workers leave the area for other opportunities.
“In S&P Global Ratings’ opinion, reliance on coal-related revenue and economic activity, absent diversification, may result in long-term credit deterioration for some U.S. government entities,” the report said.
Specifically to Illinois, the authors pointed out that coal accounts for less than 1 percent of the state’s GDP and the state doesn’t collect a severance tax on coal. This, the authors said, would ensure that the decline of the coal industry in Illinois would have a minimal effect on the state’s overall economy.
Southern Illinois, however, would be one of the more intensely-affected regions.
“In localized areas where there is a power plant closure, where there is a mine closure, that can have a more negative economic impact in that area,” credit analyst Timothy Little said.
U.S. coal production is in decline, with half of those operating in 2008 having been since shuttered, but Illinois’ coal production has bucked that trend, according to S&P.
“Over the past decade (2007-2018), production increased 52% compared to declines or flat production in the nine other major coal-producing states and a 34% decline in coal production nationally,” the report said, attributing that increase to strong export demand and relative ease of extraction compared to other areas.
The report’s ominous warning is due, in part, to a larger movement of ethical investing referred to as environmental, social, and governance, or ESG, initiatives that focus on sustainability factors among other issues.
“The ESG components to our ratings are just as important as some of the financial metrics that are key,” S&P analyst Kurt Forsgren said.
D-Vegas has been a long-running nickname used by some residents for Danville, it being the opposite of a bright lights big city.
Now after a 30-year wait for a casino, Danville is living up to that nickname and could be called that by a lot more people. The casino renderings of Haven Gaming LLC’s casino resort and entertainment center is reminiscent of a Las Vegas-style property.
The Danville City Council voted 12-0, with Ward 4 Alderman Mike O’Kane absent and a vacant Ward 1 seat at the start of the meeting Tuesday night to accept the casino steering-committee’s recommendation of Haven Gaming as the casino operating partner. Haven Gaming is a team of about seven people with more than a century of gaming experience combined with casinos, for example in Joliet, Michigan City, Ind., and in California.
The proposed casino will have 1,250 slot machines, 40 gaming tables and also sports betting lounges and bars, a 2,500 seat entertainment venue, conference/banquet center, 300-seat buffet, a boutique hotel and rooftop spa/salon, pool and lazy river, celebrity-style restaurants and other amenities. There also will be waterfall and other outside features.
“This has been a long time coming,” a tearful Danville Mayor Rickey Williams Jr. said before the City Council unanimously passed a measure approving a proposal from a politically connected casino development group that includes a powerful ex-state lawmaker who resigned in controversy earlier this year.
Nearly 25 years after the General Motors foundry shut down in nearby Tilton, the once-prospering city of Danville — where Abraham Lincoln practiced law before his political ascent, and where actors Dick Van Dyke and Gene Hackman grew up — has seen its number of residents shrink to about 30,000, according to U.S. Census estimates. That’s a population decline of about 30% from its heyday in 1970.
And now, more than 30% of Danville residents live below the federal poverty line, more than double the statewide poverty rate of about 12%, Census figures show.
But state and city leaders are betting a casino can help turn that tide, despite the fact casino attendance and revenue figures have been steadily declining for years as video gambling machines have proliferated at at thousands of bars, restaurants, lounges and rest stops since they launched in Illinois in 2012.
The sum of $250,000, or so much thereof as may be necessary, is appropriated from the Build Illinois Bond Fund to the Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity for a grant to the Village of McCook for costs associated with upgrades to the municipal building.
McCook, of course, was one of the towns visited by the feds last week two days after Sen. Sandoval’s offices and house were raided.
* The Question: Your top ideas for how McCook should spend its municipal building upgrade money?
*** UPDATE *** The governor was actually asked today about this appropriation. Pritzker said all projects will be reviewed, “so that any projects that are approved are approved with the utmost confidence that these are done in the best interest of taxpayers and nothing of the sort of corruption or self-dealing that has been alleged.”
Federal agents who blitzed several southwest suburban towns last week were asking questions about a politically connected red-light camera company, the Chicago Sun-Times has learned. […]
As part of the wide-ranging investigation, the feds executed search warrants at the village halls of McCook and Lyons last week as well as the insurance agency office of Lyons Mayor Chris Getty. The feds also interviewed the mayors of Summit and Crestwood, which has not been previously reported.
SafeSpeed’s CEO is Nikki Zollar, a former high-ranking state government official. One of the company’s paid consultants is Patrick Doherty, who is the chief of staff to Cook County Commissioner Jeff Tobolski. Tobolski doubles as the mayor of McCook. […]
The feds interviewed Summit Mayor Sergio Rodriguez about SafeSpeed last week, sources said. Summit has an arrangement with the company to operate two red-light cameras at a single intersection in town. Rodriguez did not return phone messages seeking comment.
* If you look at the federal warrant served on Sen. Martin Sandoval’s Statehouse office last week, you’ll see they were looking for: “Evidence and instrumentalities concerning violation of Title 18, United States Code.”
Here’s the list of the sections the feds listed in the warrant with a brief explanation of each one from the US Department of Justice and other sources. Click the individual section links for more info…
* 371 - The operative language is the so-called “defraud clause,” that prohibits conspiracies to defraud the United States. This clause creates a separate offense from the “offense clause” in Section 371. Both offenses require the traditional elements of Section 371 conspiracy, including an illegal agreement, criminal intent, and proof of an overt act.
* 666 - Section 666(b) requires that the organization, government or agency must have received, in any one year period, “benefits in excess of $10,000 under a Federal program involving a grant, contract, subsidy, loan, guarantee, insurance, or other form of Federal assistance.”
* 1346 - Definition of “scheme or artifice to defraud”
* 1349 - “Any person who attempts or conspires to commit any offense under this chapter shall be subject to the same penalties as those prescribed for the offense, the commission of which was the object of the attempt or conspiracy.”
* 1951 - Interference with commerce by threats or violence
A search warrant executed on State Sen. Martin Sandoval’s Capitol office last week shows federal authorities were looking into “items related to any official action taken in exchange for a benefit.”
Items included those related to five unnamed Illinois Department of Transportation employees, a highway company, several unnamed lobbyists, “any business owned and controlled by Martin Sandoval,” several municipalities and a political organization, among other entities. Names were redacted by state officials after the Sun-Times filed a Freedom of Information Act request last week to the office of the Illinois Senate Democrats.
Officials obtained several items from Sandoval’s office, including several iPhones, a laptop computer and an Apple computer, as well as a “Friends of Martin Sandoval” spreadsheet from December 2017, filed labeled “IDOT,” USB drives and shredded paper. They also seized a statement of economic and documents referencing the town of Cicero. Sandoval has had a lucrative contract for years with the town to provide translation services for the town newsletter.
* This is one gigantic probe…
There appear to be 20 specific people referenced in the Sandoval warrant, all unnamed or redacted: 6 IDOT officials, 2 lobbyists, 1 town president, 1 town attorney, 1 construction company official, 2 highway company officials, 3 people labeled “associates, and 4 “officials”
* I transcribed the search warrant because it’s pretty interesting…
1. Items related to [redacted] [redacted] [redacted] [redacted] [redacted] [redacted] Official A, [redacted] Official B, any business or partner related to any of those individuals, [redacted] Inc., [redacted] Official A’s company, [redacted] any employee, officer or representative of [redacted] [redacted] a [redacted] lounge, and/or any issue or supported by any of those businesses or individuals, including but not limited to [redacted] [redacted] .
2. Items related to [redacted] Lobbyist A, and or Lobbyist B.
3. Items related to [redacted] Inc., [redacted] Inc., any business owned or controlled by Martin Sandoval, any client of such business, any person or entity that has made payment to or agreed to make payment to any such business, any official action related to such businesses, Municipality 7 Attorney, Municipality 7 President, Municipality 7 President’s Political Organization, Municipality 7 Attorney’s law firm, and/or Political Action Committee 1.
4. Items related to [redacted] [redacted] [redacted] [redacted] [redacted] and/or Concrete Company A.
5. Items related to [redacted], [redacted], any employee officer, partner, representative, or business related to either of those individuals, [redacted] [redacted] Inc. [redacted], any employee officer, partner or representative of those businesses, [redacted] and/or any issue or supported by any of those businesses or individuals, including but not limited to [redacted].
6. Items related to [redacted], any employee officer, partner, representative, or business related to [redacted] [redacted] [redacted] LLC [redacted] Corporation, any employee, officer or representative of any of those businesses, and/or any issue or supported by any of those businesses or individuals.
7. Items related to Construction Company A Official 1, Highway Company A Official 1, Highway Company A Official 2, any employee, officer, partner, representative, or business related to either of those individuals, Construction Company A, Highway Company A, any employee, officer or representative of any of those businesses, and/or any issue or supported by any of those businesses or individuals.
8. Items related to [redacted], [redacted], [redacted] [redacted] [redacted] [redacted], [redacted] Associate A, [redacted] Associate B, [redacted] Associate C, any employee officer, partner or representative of those businesses related to any of those individuals, [redacted] Corporation, [redacted][redacted] LLC, [redacted] Corporation, [redacted] [redacted] [redacted] Inc., [redacted] Club, the [redacted] [redacted] Foundation, [redacted] Corporation, [redacted] Companies, [redacted] Ltd., [redacted][redacted] Associate A’s Company, any employee, officer or representative of any of those businesses, and/or any issue or supported by any of those businesses or individuals, including but not limited to [redacted].
9. Items related to [redacted] [redacted] any employee, officer or representative of any of those businesses, [redacted] Official A, [redacted] Official B, [redacted] Official C, [redacted] Official D, and/or any issue or supported by any of those businesses or individuals, including but not limited to [redacted].
10. Items related to IDOT Official A, IDOT Official B, IDOT Official D, IDOT Official E, and/or IDOT Official F.
11. Items related to any official action taken in exchange for a benefit.
*** UPDATE *** Jordan Abudayyeh at the Governor’s office…
This administration expects public servants to be held to the highest ethical standards, and it is unconscionable to use elected office for monetary gain in any way. State agencies will fully cooperate with any investigation. Corruption and self-dealing will not be tolerated, and employees who have fallen short of these ethical standards will be disciplined, up to and including termination, and should be held accountable to the fullest extent of the law.
Kankakee Mayor Chasity Wells-Armstrong is passing up the opportunity to apply for the soon-to-be-vacant Senate seat held by Democrat Toi Hutchinson.
Meanwhile, state Rep. Anthony DeLuca says he is interested in the position.
By state law, Democratic Party leaders in Hutchinson’s 40th District get to choose her replacement. She announced last week she was resigning to take a state job.
…Adding… Great point by Hannah…
Would be v interesting if Anthony DeLuca (who brought a frying pan and egg to SPI in order to do the old "this is your brain on drugs"🍳trick during House debate over recreational marijuana https://t.co/LYpB9EEDM7) got @ToiHutchinson's seat after she negotiated the cannabis bill https://t.co/8ivhi0Jttn
Out of about 71 thousand votes Hutchinson received in 2016, Will County provided a not inconsequential 17 thousand of them.
* Man, there will be a lot of races in Will County next year, both in the primary and the general. Here’s Ted Slowik at the Daily Southtown…
Former state Sen. Larry Walsh Sr., 71, a Democrat from Elwood, announced in August that he would not seek a fifth term as Will County executive. Walsh, who first won the countywide office in 2004, said he plans to serve out his term. Walsh, who was diagnosed with prostate cancer in 2014, has said he plans to focus on his health. […]
On the Democratic side, Walsh supports Nick Palmer, of Joliet, his longtime chief of staff. Palmer faces a primary challenge from 49th District state Sen. Jennifer Bertino-Tarrant, of Shorewood.
Three Republicans and a Democrat are already vying to replace Margo McDermed, of Mokena, as state representative for the 37th District. McDermed, 69, who was first elected to the seat in 2014, announced in July she would not seek another term. The district covers parts of Frankfort, Homer Glen, Joliet, Lockport, Mokena, New Lenox, Orland Park and Tinley Park. […]
Also last week, Democrat Pat McGuire, of Joliet, announced he would not seek reelection as state senator representing the 43rd District. McGuire previously served as Will County treasurer and on the Joliet Township High School District Board of Education.
So, that’s Hutchinson, the elder Walsh, Bertino-Tarant, McDermed and McGuire. Sen. Sue Rezin is running for Congress, so if she wins that seat will open up (and while the congressional race will mainly be focused elsewhere, Will County will still be important). And Rep. Grant Wehrli (R-Naperville) could find himself in the general election fight of his life next year (about 15 thousand total votes were cast in the Will County portion last year). There were less than 2,000 votes in freshman Rep. Anne M. Stava-Murray’s district within Will County last year, but every vote will matter in that district next year.
…Adding… I forgot to mention that people are lining up to run against GOP Rep. Mark Batinick as well, including Plainfield Trustee and ironworker Harry Benton. There were about 35 thousand votes cast in the Will County part of the district last year. And, of course, Rep. John Connor is running for Sen. McGuire’s seat, which opens up that House district.
Illinois companies can no longer ask job applicants or their previous employers about their pay history under a law that took effect Sunday. Supporters say the measure will help close the pay gap between women and men.
Sarah Labadie, associate director of policy for Women Employed, a nonprofit advocating for equal pay for women in the workforce, said the main goal of the law is to restructure how companies pay their workers so that pay discrepancies aren’t perpetuated.
Rep. Anna Moeller, D-Elgin, who co-sponsored the legislation signed by Gov. J.B. Pritzker, said she hopes the new law will even the playing field.
“Women tend to make less than their male counterparts. If (a company is) basing it off past wages, it causes them to continue to get paid less. Employers will no longer be able to make wage offers by using previous wage history,” Moeller said.
Indiana Rail Road Co., the Association of American Railroads and the American Short Line and Regional Railroad Association have asked a federal judge to stop Illinois from enforcing a new law that requires a minimum of two crew members on trains.
In a lawsuit filed in Chicago federal court yesterday against the Illinois Commerce Commission, the railroad and associations argue that federal regulations preempt the crew-size law that Illinois Gov. J. B. Pritzker signed in August. The law is set to take effect Jan. 1, 2020.
Pritzker signed the law three months after the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) determined that “no regulation of train-crew staffing is necessary or appropriate” for railroads to operate safely, according to the lawsuit.
“In recent decades, technological breakthroughs have allowed railroads to gradually decrease average crew sizes —from about five in the 1960s to just two today — while compiling an ever-improving record of safety,” the court filing states. “Now, the nation’s railroads are poised to deliver even safer and more efficient service.”
Every October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month across the nation, but this year especially, we have reason to take notice of this cause here in our own community. Local breast cancer screening rates have fallen below the state and national average. DeKalb County’s breast cancer screening rate is 65%. The statewide average is 78%, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
My family, like so many others in our community, has been impacted by women battling breast cancer. As a husband and father of a college age daughter, women’s health issues are a kitchen table issue in my house, just as I’m sure it is in homes across the State of Illinois. To help make a difference, I sponsored a bill this spring to broaden the availability of mammogram screening, SB 162.
On August 26, Governor Pritzker came to DeKalb to sign my bill into law at Northwestern Medicine Kishwaukee Hospital, which just last week celebrated the opening of their new Breast Health Center. Our new law requires both private insurance and Medicaid to cover several preventative measures to help women detect breast cancer. Mammograms, ultrasounds and MRIs will now be covered when deemed medically necessary by a physician, advanced practice nurse or physician assistant, effective January 1, 2020.
According to the Illinois Department of Public Health, upwards of ten thousand women in Illinois are diagnosed with breast cancer each year. With the new law increasing access to preventative care, early detection and treatment can help save lives.
My bill, which is now Public Act 101-0580, passed both the House of Representatives and State Senate unanimously this spring, making it a bipartisan achievement we can all be proud of. I would like to thank the breast cancer survivors and advocates whose support was pivotal in getting this new law passed. Together we will continue to make major strides to prevent breast cancer and ensure that women have access to the screenings and life-saving care they need.
After California did so, Illinois lawmakers are now racing each other to get legislation to Gov. J.B. Pritzker to allow college athletes to be paid for their name, image, and likeness, something the NCAA has long prohibited. […]
In just five days, two bills have been filed in the Illinois House of Representatives that would do the same in Illinois.
Rep. Daniel Didech, from Buffalo Grove, proposed legislation Thursday that would prohibit the state from requiring staff to travel to states with laws effectively banning abortion or requiring investigations into the cause of a miscarriage. It would also bar the government from reimbursing an employee for travel to one of those states.
In the first six months of 2019, 12 states passed some form of a law restricting access to abortion. Those states surround Illinois to the east and southwest, and cut a swath south to the Gulf of Mexico. They include neighboring Indiana, Missouri and Kentucky.
“What these other states are doing is, to me, very dangerous. To a large extent, yes, abortion is a big part of it, but it’s not entirely about abortion,” Didech said. “As a member of the Legislature, I have the responsibility to protect our state employees.”
State government staffers travel for a number of reasons, including conferences, litigation and training as required by a grant or license. The bill includes exclusions to allow for some of those trips to continue in extenuating circumstances.
Patricia Powers went a few years without health insurance and was unable to afford regular doctor visits. So the Missouri resident, who lives near St. Louis, had no idea that cancerous tumors were silently growing in both of her breasts.
If Powers lived just across the Mississippi River in neighboring Illinois, she would have qualified for Medicaid, the federal-state health insurance program for low-income residents that 36 states and the District of Columbia decided to expand under the Affordable Care Act. But Missouri politicians chose not to expand it — a decision some groups are trying to reverse by getting signatures to put the option on the 2020 ballot.
Powers’ predicament reflects an odd twist in the way the health care law has played out: State borders have become arbitrary dividing lines between Medicaid’s haves and have-nots, with Americans in similar financial straits facing vastly different health care fortunes. This affects everything from whether diseases are caught early to whether people can stay well enough to work. […]
A recent University of Michigan study found Medicaid expansion substantially reduced mortality rates from 2014 to 2017. The researchers said Illinois averted 345 deaths annually while Missouri had 194 additional deaths each year. The same trends held for other side-by-side states such as Kentucky (did expand) and Tennessee (did not), New Mexico (did) and Texas (did not).
And it’s not just the averted deaths. It’s also the averted debilitating impacts of untreated or partially treated illnesses and injuries and the crushing debts which often lead to bankruptcies and the inability to work or be productive citizens…
In neighboring Illinois, getting Medicaid through the expansion helped Matt Bednarowicz avoid debilitating medical debt after a motorcycle crash.
The wreck crushed his left foot, requiring doctors to insert pins. Without Medicaid, he would have faced thousands of dollars in medical bills.
“The debt would have been greater than I could comprehend overcoming,” says Bednarowicz, who is now 29.
His Medicaid kicked in “just in the nick of time” to cover the surgery, Bednarowicz says. It also allowed him to get psychiatric help for depression. More than a year later, he’s able to get around well — even jog — and works as a caregiver for an elderly man.
Having insurance helps people like Bednarowicz stay productive, says Riopedre.
Homebuilder Jerry James, president of Glenview-based Edward R. James Partners, doesn’t need to study statistics to grasp the sluggishness of the local housing market. He lives it. “This is the toughest I’ve seen it, and I’ve been in the business since 1985,” James says.
Catering to empty nesters, James sees the investment losses homeowners are experiencing when they downsize. Why is it happening? “Increasing taxes on property as a result of the pension situation is it in a nutshell. People’s homes aren’t appreciating, and tax bills are going up. It’s a bad combination that doesn’t feel good to anybody.”
Stagnant and depreciating home values throughout Illinois have become an offshoot of what we’ve been calling the “Illinois Exodus.” Last year’s estimated net reduction of residents hit 45,116, the worst of five straight years of population decline.
The full market value of real estate in Cook County was approximately $585.8 billion in tax assessment year 2017. Tax year 2017 is the most recent year for which data are available. The 2017 total value estimate represents an increase of $26.1 billion, or 4.7%, from the 2016 estimated full value. … The 2017 estimates represent the fifth year in a row in which real estate values in Cook County increased after six straight years of decline. […]
Readers should note that the trends identified in this report do not necessarily apply to individual properties. This is because: 1) they are estimates; and 2) they reflect medians, which by their nature do not represent the individual experience of every property.
The University of Illinois Flash Index registered an unexpected gain to 105.5 in September from its 105.1 level in August.
“Despite numerous reports of slowing U. S. and global economies, Illinois appears to be doing well,” said University of Illinois economist J. Fred Giertz, who compiles the monthly index for the Institute of Government and Public Affairs.
However, Giertz said a word of caution is in order. “A large one-month change in the index can be the result of unusual variations in tax receipts patterns rather than true economic impacts,” he said.
Two of the three components of the Flash Index, individual income and corporate tax receipts, were up around 10 percent from the same month last year after adjusting for inflation and rate changes. Sales tax receipts were down slightly.
The unemployment rate in Illinois fell slightly to 4.0 percent, the lowest in many decades. In addition, the Illinois rate was only three-tenths of a percentage point above the national rate.
The Flash Index is a weighted average of Illinois growth rates in corporate earnings, consumer spending and personal income as estimated from receipts for corporate income, personal income and retail sales taxes. These are adjusted for inflation before growth rates are calculated. The growth rate for each component is then calculated for the 12-month period using data through September 30, 2019. An index reading above 100 denotes growth.
In recent years, the volume of calls coming into DCFS’ hotline — 800-25-ABUSE — has risen precipitously, and hotline staffers have not been able to keep up with the increase in calls. A May audit from Auditor General Frank Mautino’s office found that timeliness for completing investigations declined significantly between 2015 and 2017, both the focus of the biennial audit and the timeframe in which the state went without an operating budget for two years. […]
In the wake of media attention and increased legislative scrutiny on the troubled agency throughout 2019, DCFS last month told lawmakers it plans to hire 20 more workers for the hotline as part of an overall plan to add dozens more people to DCFS’ payroll, including 71 more child protection investigators.
In order to hire the 20 additional hotline workers as fast as possible, a unit within AFSCME Council 31, the umbrella union that represents most state employees, has waived a provision in its contract that requires internal candidates — who are also covered by AFSCME’s contract — to get the first chance at those jobs.
The overarching AFSCME contract for state workers normally requires job vacancies to be first posted internally bidding for at least 10 working days to give internal candidates the first shot at openings.
AFSCME Council 31 spokesperson Anders Lindall said it’s not unusual for individual units within AFSCME Council 31, including the unit that covers DCFS workers in Springfield, where the hotline is located, to negotiate certain waivers in a supplemental agreement in order to achieve a goal — in this case, reducing call volumes for overwhelmed workers.
Illinois Senate Minority Leader Bill Brady knows his back is to the wall in the Senate.
There are 40 Democratic senators. Brady is one of only 19 Republican senators.
“But that doesn’t mean we can’t get things done,” Brady said Monday during a stop at Morton Industries.
“This state has liberal financial tendencies,” he said. “We (Republican lawmakers) can be the voice of fiscal responsibility. Government has to spend money, but it needs to be efficient, effective spending, and spending that people can afford.
“We can either be disruptive or find common ground with the Democrats. We’re looking to find common ground.”
Brady did talk about areas of sharp disagreement, including the minimum wage law. But when you’re that outnumbered you basically have two choices: 1) Scream your opposition and likely change nothing; or 2) Sit at the table and try to change bills a little more to your liking. The Republicans (particularly in the House) got more accomplished in the General Assembly this year than they did in four years partnering with a brick-throwing GOP governor.
Another pressure point is CTU’s demand to increase the number of social workers to a recommended one-per-220 students over three years. The cost would be an unfeasible $800 million, according to the city
* No…
The real number: 299394 / 250 = 1198 FY 20 budget 506 already so 692 needed. Or 69M over three years. CPS has announced 665 (but won’t put in contract) putting the CTU ask at 533 more social workers than CPS wants. Or 53M over 3 years. That’s not 800m - that’s not even close.
Martin Sandoval, C.P.A., will serve as a Business Administration Expert on the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum Board of Trustees. With over 25 years of experience in business, strategic planning and financial management, Sandoval is the founding partner of Compass Associates. He previously was a Director of Corporate Development of Sara Lee Corporation and did similar work for organizations such as the McDonald’s Corporation and Arthur Andersen.
Also, that hiring story is odd. RTA Chairman Kirk Dillard called Pace on the plaintiff’s behalf to recommend him for a job and Sen. Sandoval’s son got it instead. According to claims made in the story, no hard evidence has yet surfaced to directly establish that Sen. Sandoval actively helped his kid get the gig.
Citing ‘unpredictable legislative and regulatory landscape,’ Sterigenics won’t reopen
Sterigenics, the company that owns a shuttered medical sterilization facility that’s been in the crosshairs of lawmakers and activists for its history of releasing a cancer-causing chemical into the Willowbrook area, will not reopen that facility.
Citing what the company called an “unpredictable legislative and regulatory landscape in Illinois,” it announced Monday that it would exit its sterilization operations in Willowbrook.
* Last night’s Decatur City Council meeting was quite something. Aldermen voted to ban the sale of cannabis and even voted not to allow the construction of growing and processing centers…
“What I heard unequivocally from law enforcement was, ‘You will never get enough money to cover the problems this will bring,’” [Decatur Mayor Julie Moore Wolfe] said, speaking before the vote. “I went to health officials, ER doctors, those that work with overdose patients every day, and they said, ‘Don’t do this.’”
1) Lots of people in Decatur are already consuming cannabis. They’re just doing it illegally. The city has now sided with the black market. And every “study” that purports to show unusually large increases in police costs has been thoroughly debunked.
2) Maybe those ER doctors thought the mayor was asking about opioid overdoses, because nobody has ever died after ingesting too much weed.
The council even rejected an opportunity to see what their constituents really believe…
[Ald. Bill Faber] unsuccessfully attempted to amend the ordinance to attach a referendum, effectively asking the question of the public on the next election’s ballot. “My aim is to get the issue decided by the community,” he said.
You get the distinct feeling from reading the article that the city council doesn’t want to know what the public actually thinks.
A federal measure that would allow marijuana business access to banks could mean a boom in investment, but it could put a dent in Illinois’ budding cannabis revenue projections.
For years, the business of medical and recreational cannabis has been “cash-only” due to federal banking laws forbidding access to banks. The SAFE Act, passed the U.S. House of Representatives last Wednesday using a parliamentary procedure but with bipartisan support nonetheless. It would remove the federal prohibition on FDIC-insured banking institutions doing business with a company that sells medical or recreational cannabis.
The nonprofit Tax Foundation said the purveyors of pot are likely jumping for joy over the prospect, but states who charge an excise tax on the monetary value of the product could see tax revenues fall short.
“With the access to financial services, greater competition could occur because a lot more startups who can then get access to startup loans to finance can get into the market to make it more competitive and drive down prices,” said Ulrik Boesen, senior policy analyst.
Illinois will become the 12th state to legalize recreational cannabis in 2020.
This theoretical business boom, Boesen said, would increase the availability of choices for consumers, making competition for Illinois’ cannabis connoisseurs intensify.
That could result in lower sale prices, Boesen predicted, meaning less money for Illinois and the local governments.
“If prices go down and your tax system is tied to these prices, your revenue goes down,” Boesen said, adding that predicting revenue on a high-volatility market like cannabis is difficult.
More entrepreneurship, more innovation and more competition would all be good things, regardless of the possibly nominal impact on tax revenues.
…Adding… Not to mention that this state limits the number of license-holders, which the out of state dude probably didn’t comprehend. That article is so awful on so many levels.
