Good news, bad news and… What the heck?
Wednesday, Nov 4, 2015 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Good news for the city…
Kraft Heinz announced Wednesday that it will move Oscar Mayer and the company’s U.S. meats business from Madison, Wis., to Chicago — a move that will add 250 jobs to Chicago’s Aon Center.
* Bad news for Downstate manufacturing…
Kraft will eliminate an undisclosed number of jobs at its Champaign plant as it moves its cheese production operation to other facilities.
“We are planning to move cheese production from our Champaign, Illinois, facility to other factories within our network,” Michael Mullen, senior vice president of corporate and government affairs for Kraft Heinz, said in a statement. “The move will take approximately 24 months to complete and will make Champaign a center-of-excellence in dry and sauce production. As a result of this decision we do expect there to be job losses in Champaign.”
* And then there’s this…
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McCarter hit for campaign spending
Wednesday, Nov 4, 2015 - Posted by Rich Miller
* The FEC can get really cranky about stuff like this…
State Sen. Kyle McCarter spent more than $33,000 on a campaign consultant in the four months before he announced his bid for Congress against Republican U.S. Rep. John Shimkus.
While that kind of spending isn’t unusual in the lead-up to a run for political office, the Republican from Lebanon tapped his state campaign account for the consulting work — a move that experts say likely would be prohibited under federal campaign laws if the work went toward his race for Congress. […]
“It’s not related to Congress,” McCarter said of the spending. […]
A review of records filed with the Illinois State Board of Elections shows that between June 1 and Sept. 29, McCarter wrote three checks worth a total of $33,675 to Downers Grove-based Isaiah Consulting.
By contrast, McCarter previously used Isaiah for three campaign mailing jobs worth a total of $1,232.
It’s not a lot of money at all, but, again, the FEC can be evil meanies.
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* Natasha…
The Rauner administration is vehemently pushing against SB570, which lawmakers are to take up in overtime session next week. The bill would limit the power administration’s have over managing a state program in time of financial crisis. Advocacy groups have blasted Rauner for changing rules to the Child Care Assistance Program (CCAP) leading one group to erect billboards warning of Rauner’s “dangerous cuts.”
– In a memo obtained by POLITICO Illinois, the administration describes “high costs and unintended consequences” of the bill. “If enacted on January 1, 2016, the bill would add $220 million in program costs for the duration of Fiscal Year 2016 and have an annualized cost in excess of $800 million,” the memo says. READ THE MEMO: http://politi.co/1GLp6vr
* From the governor’s office…
Hi, Rich –
Hope you’re well.
I wanted to pass along the attached memo and the following statement to you. The statement is attributable to me.
“Unfortunately, rather than passing a budget, the Majority wants to politicize this issue. But with a huge price tag for taxpayers and a number of unintended consequences outlined in the memo, the bill presents a real problem for centrist Democrats, especially those who portray themselves as fiscal conservatives. The bill doesn’t just roll back a single emergency rule — it mandates nearly a billion dollars of annual spending regardless of available resources and threatens the viability of the program over the long run. Additionally, even if they pass this - there’s still no money to pay for CCAP so it won’t fix the underlying issue. Bad for taxpayers, bad for child care. It is a plainly political bill that would create as many problems as it pretends to solve.”
Thanks,
ck
Again, the DHS memo is here.
* However, back in August, DHS said it couldn’t determine the bill’s fiscal impact…
Fiscal Note (Dept. of Human Services)
Though the fiscal impact is indeterminable at this time, the amendment would provide the Department with little or no flexibility to manage the Child Care Program and live within established appropriations.
* Groups including Mrs. Rauner’s Ounce of Prevention sent their own letter today. The full response letter to legislators is here. Excerpt…
- 80,000 Illinois families are able to enter and remain in the work force
- 69,000 skilled early childhood education workers are employed in early learning facilities
- 46,450 employers in Illinois rely on CCAP to ensure their employees have a safe place to leave their children and are able to come to work every day
- CCAP generated $2.6 billion in revenue in 2014. For every 100 jobs created in child care, 56 are created in other industries. For every $100 spent on child care, $213 is spent in the economy
* However, nowhere in that letter was anything addressing the new DHS cost claims. So, I circled back to our pal Emily Miller at Voices for Illinois Children. Her response…
Hi Rich,
By now you have received a memo from a group of organizations encouraging lawmakers and the governor to support SB570, a bill that reverses dangerous cuts to child care implemented unilaterally by the Rauner Administration on July 1, 2015.
Notably absent from that memo is direct repudiation of numbers the administration put forward in its own memo issued this morning. That was intentional. The administration’s memo does not include information regarding how they arrived at their numbers - it simply states numbers as though they are factual.
For example, advocates cannot dissect claims of program costs when we are unsure what baseline is being used—are we comparing program costs from before the Governor’s devastating cuts, or after the cuts, when the administration turned away 15,000 children in the first month of the changes?
And what is the baseline for the annualized costs? The pre-cut levels? The post-cut levels? These are questions advocates do not know the answers to, and since we are unwilling to make numbers up, we are unable to refute the Governor’s claims as a result.
What we do know is that while the legislation would require restoring funding for the operation of the child care program, the cost of NOT funding the program is far greater than $220 million, or even $800 million (numbers used in the administration’s memo) due to the devastating impact that the Rauner Administration’s actions are having on working families. That is why advocates have for years called on Illinois lawmakers to identify revenue to sustain the program at the level necessary to meet the identified need.
No serious policymaker can honestly say investing in quality child care for working parents doesn’t save the state money in the short-and long-term. That’s why the coalition joined together to assess the real value of the CCAP program in Illinois. And that’s why we unanimously support the passage of SB570.
Thanks.
Emily Miller
Director, Policy and Advocacy
Voices for Illinois Children
* Related…
* Survey: Rauner’s Child Care Cuts Hitting Families, Providers Hard: Nearly 2,500 families from 100 child care centers in Illinois have lost access to state subsidized daycare because of the Rauner administration’s cuts to the program, according to a new survey of child care providers in the state.
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Oh, please
Wednesday, Nov 4, 2015 - Posted by Rich Miller
* The DePaulia…
It wasn’t business as usual Monday morning as hundreds showed up to march through Chicago’s Financial District for this week’s #MoralMonday protest, where demonstrators gathered to fight Gov. Bruce Rauner’s proposed budget. […]
“People are taking to the streets and shutting down the Board of Trade today because we can’t cut any more services,” Buck said. “We are in crisis and that is why we are here today.”
Dude, you didn’t shut down the Board of Trade. You blocked a doorway for a few minutes.
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Today’s quotable
Wednesday, Nov 4, 2015 - Posted by Rich Miller
* From the commenter known as “Rod Sez I’m Pork”…
Hi Rich,
I am no longer a nonprofit executive director and I took a hiatus from Capitol Fax for my own sanity. I started reading it whenever I need an emetic.
I contacted our luminaries on behalf of my daughter who is a CPS sophomore. I politely urged them to put politics aside and provide the needed financial support for CPS. I know it probably isn’t going to happen, but I have a kid in AP US History, so I have to feign some sort of belief in our political system. I was amused by Governor Rauner’s “reply.”
Dear David,
I appreciate you taking the time to reach out to my office about public education funding in Illinois. My staff is reviewing your message. Please know I value your opinion and thank you for sharing it with me. Hearing from people in Illinois gives me a better idea of what is impacting local communities across the state. Knowing those opinions helps me make decisions for you in Springfield.
Please feel free to contact me in the future. My office phone numbers are (217) 782-0244 and (312) 814-2121.
Sincerely,
Governor Bruce Rauner
I truly appreciate the Governor making decisions for me. It allows me more time to perfect my guppy fish at feeding time impression.
Anyhow, I thought you would appreciate the sentiment.
Happy birthday Oscar, whenever it is.
Emphasis added.
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* HR 839…
Short Description: DEFEND PORK & BACON
Synopsis As Introduced
Calls upon the leaders of the State of Illinois to recognize and continue to defend the importance of bacon and other pork products, along with the pork producers, to the economy, job growth, and the consumer preference of the people of Illinois.
* Erickson…
Against the backdrop of a recent report linking processed meat to cancer, six Republicans introduced a resolution last week showing their support of bacon and other pork products.
Asked Tuesday if the proposal stems from the World Health Organization report warning about the health effects of eating certain meat products, state Rep. Steve Andersson of Geneva said, “You betcha. It was in direct response to that.”
Members of the newly rendered bacon lobby include Andersson, Avery Bourne of Raymond, Grant Wehrli of Naperville, Mark Batinick of Plainfield, Reggie Phillips of Charleston and Keith Wheeler of Oswego.
All are freshmen members of the House.
* My BBQ guru is Craig “Meathead” Goldwyn. Meathead is keenly interested in the science of cooking, so, as I always do with anything meat-related, I checked his site on the topic…
The report is problematic and extensive mainstream and social media coverage has been sensational, unquestioning, and often flat out wrong.
Let’s start with the fact that of the 22 scientists from 10 countries on the panel, 15 voted for the conclusions that were published and 7 disagreed or abstained. Usually these panels seek consensus and one prominent food safety scientist I discussed the results with was surprised at how far they were from consensus. Why the significant dissent and why publish such far reaching conclusions designed to change lifestyles and damage livlihoods with a vote of only 68%? And why publish only a summary? Where is the full report? […]
Many media reports equated the meats with cigarettes because they are both Group 1. As an NPR listener and donor I was shocked to read this headline on their website “Bacon, sausage and other processed meats are now ranked alongside cigarettes and asbestos as known carcinogens.” After several days they changed it. […]
So why didn’t they say so in the document so uneducated reporters would know better than to equate cigarettes with bacon? And why not explain the risk? I want to know what the odds are that I’ll get cancer if I eat two slices of bacon with my eggs every morning. The WHO panel says that eating 50 grams of processed meat (less than 2 slices of cooked American style bacon) per day increases your odds of colorectal cancer 18%. And they leave it at that. What the heck does that mean?
The Center For Disease Control (CDC) says that over a lifetime your risk of colorectal cancer, the focus of the WHO research, is under 5%. Two slices of bacon will up the odds to less than 6% not 23% (5% + 18%) as some math challenged reporters have told us.
Heck, according to CDC data, the incidence of colorectal cancer is significantly higher in Pennsylvania than in Maryland. Should we conclude Maryland is bad for your health and evacuate everyone? […]
The panel based its conclusion by studying existing studies, a practice called meta-analysis. Many media reports claimed they looked at 800 studies, but that’s not exactly true. They started with 800 and eliminated all but 15 red meat studies and 18 processed meat studies.
Conclusion? Noted legislative bacon fan and liberal Democrat Rep. Greg Harris ought to join the bacon caucus and co-sponsor this resolution.
*** UPDATE *** From Rep. Steve Andersson…
Rich,
After your comments on the blog today about the Bacon caucus, Rep. Greg Harris called me in the spirit of bipartisanship and asked to be added to the Resolution. Done and done!
Steve
Hooray!
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Somebody needs to call a plumber
Wednesday, Nov 4, 2015 - Posted by Rich Miller
* This story in the Sun-Times about how Kim Foxx hasn’t yet disclosed an in-kind contribution of a poll done on her behalf by Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle months before Foxx opened up a campaign account is a bit on the technical violation side.
But this is most interesting…
Foxx was aware of the January poll when it was conducted but “did not authorize” it, Klonsky said.
Emails obtained by the Sun-Times show Foxx was involved in drafting the poll questions.
Um, wow. Is somebody on the inside leaking campaign e-mails?
This’ll get interesting.
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Rahm in the middle
Wednesday, Nov 4, 2015 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Sun-Times…
The governor has been trying like crazy to drive a wedge between the mayor and Madigan and hopes the CPS crisis will turn up the heat on Emanuel to make the break and side with the governor in favor of his pro-business reforms. In fact, Rauner has predicted that the state budget stalemate will end in January, when a simple majority is needed for passage and Chicago will be desperate for money to avert the need for thousands of teacher layoffs.
But Emanuel’s lavish praise for Madigan at Tuesday’s groundbreaking underscored the speaker’s point: Rauner’s divide-and-conquer strategy is a bust.
“He has not and I don’t think he will” drive a wedge between himself and Emanuel, Madigan said.
“The mayor and I share too many common interests. We’re both Chicagoans. We’re both dedicated to the interests of the city of Chicago, to the Chicago school system. And we’re very dedicated to the principles of the Democratic Party.”
There are those who believe [language at that link, so be advised] that the mayor and the governor are besties who have completely staged their fight.
No doubt there’s significant stage-managing here, as subscribers know.
But Rahm’s in this precarious position because Madigan ain’t making anything up. This fight is all too real to MJM, and he apparently believes that Emanuel is with him.
* Anyway, I just remembered that Oscar’s third birthday is November 18th, the same day that the leaders are meeting together for the first time since late May. If they won’t fix things for Illinois’ sake, or Chicago’s sake or their own sake, maybe they could do it for the puppy?…
…Adding… I misremembered. Oscar’s birthday is the 22nd, not the 18th. I’m a bad dad. And this impasse ain’t never gonna end.
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The “ultimate betrayal”
Wednesday, Nov 4, 2015 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Ugh…
Lake County officials who eulogized Fox Lake Police Lt. Charles Joseph Gliniewicz as a hero in the days after he died from a fatal gunshot wound, said Wednesday evidence now shows he staged his death as an apparent homicide to cover years of financial exploitation of the police Explorers post he oversaw.
George Filenko, commander of the Lake County Major Crimes Task Force, called Gliniewicz’s actions the “ultimate betrayal” that included intentionally leaving a staged trail of police equipment at the crime scene in an attempt to mislead police to believe his death was a homicide.
Filenko made the comments during an exclusive Daily Herald interview before a news conference to announce the investigation’s findings that Gliniewicz took a large sum of money from Fox Lake Explorer Post 300. Thousands of dollars was used by Gliniewicz for personal purchases, including travel expenses, mortgage payments, gym memberships, adult websites, facilitating personal loans and unaccounted cash withdrawals, Filenko said.
“There are no winners here,” Filenko said. “Gliniewicz committed the ultimate betrayal to the citizens he served and the entire law enforcement community. The facts of his actions prove he behaved for years in a manner completely contrary to the image he portrayed.
Filenko said Gliniewicz was using the Explorer fund “as his personal bank account.” He added that $250,000 flowed through the account over seven years, and investigators estimated Gliniewicz took about “five figures.”
* More…
Police also say that the investigation into what happened was not over. The investigation “strongly indicates criminal activity on the part of at least two other individuals,” Filenko said, but he added that officials would not comment further on that.
The only hero of this story might be the county coroner, who tried to do his job while the police screamed about how he was hurting their investigation by releasing information.
This case just smelled funny from the beginning.
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Tone it down, please
Wednesday, Nov 4, 2015 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Natasha…
[House Speaker Michael Madigan’s press secretary Steve Brown] was asked about former Hawaii Gov. Linda Lingle, who now serves in the governor’s administration as chief operating officer. Rauner has named Lingle among his “superstars” who would help fix the state’s financial mess. Lingle’s hire caught headlines both because of the high-profile nature of having a former governor on board — and her salary. At some $200,000 a year, Lingle is earning more as a Rauner aide than she was as governor of Hawaii.
– Brown suggested — and we’ve heard whispers of this in the past — that Lingle’s hiring had something to do with ties to a close Rauner adviser and strategist Nick Ayers and “dark money” that flowed from groups tied to him and attacked Lingle opponents. Background on that here: http://bit.ly/1RSlisr. Ayers is a Georgia-based political operative and past head of the Republican Governors Association.
– Ayers’ Target Enterprises, which handles campaign ads, was one of the biggest payees during Rauner’s record-breaking, $65 million campaign for governor.
– An audience member asked Brown what evidence he’s seen of her work in the Legislature: Brown said so far she organized a parade for the state fair.
– The Governor’s office slices into “pitiful” Brown: “It’s perplexing why high ranking House Democrats continue to unjustifiably attack top females in the Rauner administration,” spokesman Lance Trover said in a statement to POLITICO Illinois. “It is especially pitiful coming from someone who doubles as a lobbyist while serving as the Speaker’s spokesman. No wonder he’s pathetically protecting the old boys club.”
Brown was out of line. She doesn’t do legislative work, so he wouldn’t really know what her duties are.
Even so, this administration’s staff has singled out several Democrats for attack many times in the past. Just because Lingle is a woman doesn’t make her exempt. This is 2015, not 1955.
Then again, the Democrats have complained about those administration attacks on them, so turnabout should be avoided.
What I’m trying to say here is that everybody ought to just take a chill pill or something and try to show at least a modicum of respect for the other side.
…Adding… Text from a friend…
I was there. Brown made it very clear that she doesn’t work in the legislature, “So I wouldn’t be in the same meetings she is in and know what she does.” That part of the quote didn’t make it.
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Seems about a hundred years ago
Wednesday, Nov 4, 2015 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Back in January, the AP asked the state’s business leaders what they’d like to see out of the incoming Rauner administration…
Company leaders are typically among the fiercest proponents of tax cuts. But while many say they’d like to see changes such as the elimination of the state’s franchise tax, they also say the state has few options to generate much-needed money. “You can’t continually cut state government,” [Dennis Larson, executive vice president of the Central Illinois Builders] said. […]
But whatever happens, it needs to happen soon, Illinois Manufacturers’ Association President Gregory Baise said.
“Manufacturers want certainty. They want a tax structure that they know is going to be in place and they can plan,” Baise said. “We may not like the answers the governor is going to come up with. We understand that.” […]
First, “bring our revenues in line with expenditures,” Illinois Chamber of Commerce President Todd Maisch said. “But No. 2, show really every citizen of Illinois that the political process can work.”
Credit to Baise for staying on message since then. Maisch has since dropped his demand that the governor fix the budget first and show us how to make the process work and has instead gone all-in on the impasse.
But by these standards, Illinois is not #winning.
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Can’t anybody play this game?
Wednesday, Nov 4, 2015 - Posted by Rich Miller
* State construction money isn’t being distributed and there’s still lots of untapped bonding authority out there…
Illinois, once a top issuer of municipal bonds, has been absent from the debt market for a year and a half despite having more than $4.8 billion of untapped bond authorization left from a $31 billion, partially bond-funded “Illinois Jobs Now!” program the state enacted in 2009.
Money on hand from state bond sales shrank to $552 million at the end of fiscal 2015 from $2.68 billion at the end of fiscal 2014, according to Moody’s. […]
Metra, the Chicago area’s commuter train operator, said about $400 million of projects, including improvements to 16 stations, two rail yards and a major bridge replacement program, are on hold due to the lack of state bond money.
Our state could use those jobs. And those are easily measurable jobs, not some ideological pie in the sky hoped-for return on anti-union “reforms.”
* Also, this…
A package of fees and taxes meant to pay off the “Jobs Now” bonds has fallen short of its revenue target. This is largely due to underperformance of a video gambling tax as some communities, most notably Chicago, blocked the gaming machines.
The package is expected to generate $830 million this fiscal year, short of legislative projections from 2009 that it would raise $943 million to nearly $1.2 billion annually, according to the Chicago-based Civic Federation.
Chicago wants a casino, so it hasn’t approved video gaming. In the process, it has passed up millions of dollars in revenue, which it can’t afford to leave on the table.
Man, this state is messed up.
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Today’s number: $7,300
Wednesday, Nov 4, 2015 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Monique…
The dome of the Illinois State Capitol won’t be adorned with the usual festive string lights this holiday season, a victim not of the Grinch but the ongoing budget impasse between Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner and Democratic legislative leaders.
Secretary of State Jesse White, whose office maintains the historic building, announced Tuesday that the dome will go dark this year because while a “nice tradition” the Christmas lights are “nonessential” as he tries to save money as the state enters its fifth month without a full budget.
The office has yet to make a decision about decorations inside the Capitol, where a giant Christmas tree and menorah are usually displayed in the rotunda.
White spokesman Dave Druker estimated the lights cost roughly $7,300 to put up each year — a pittance relative to the nearly $3 million the office says it owes Springfield’s municipal utility company.
* Finke…
Each year since the 1960s, workers from the secretary of state’s office have hung 260-foot strands of lights from the Capitol dome to the building’s roof. It normally takes a crew of 12 from 2 1/2 to three hours to install the lights. The strands use 25-watt bulbs that were commonly used for Christmas lights in the 1950s and ’60s. Two years ago, White’s office said more modern, LED bulbs might be used at some point, but there was no timetable for it.
White’s office has said it is an ongoing battle to deal with the effects of the state not having a budget in place. The office already announced it would not mail notices to people when it’s time to renew their license plate stickers, a move that will save $450,000 a month in postage costs. The savings will allow the office to stretch out money remaining in its postage account “for a few months longer” and enable the office to continue mailing the renewal stickers themselves along with titles and license plates.
The office also has been dealing with vendors who no longer want to do business with the state because they are not being paid for the work they do. The office even warned that power could be turned off at the Capitol because the state cannot pay its utility bills. However, Springfield’s City Water, Light and Power said a power shut-off is not imminent.
Thoughts?
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Question of the day
Tuesday, Nov 3, 2015 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Tom Kacich…
Gov. Bruce Rauner didn’t spend much time in Urbana on Monday, but he did spend some money at Black Dog Smoke & Ale House before attending a fundraising event in Champaign. […]
At least two of the Black Dog customers said they were there because they had heard he was coming and wanted to deliver a message.
Julia Schmidt of Champaign said she wanted the governor “to hang in there” during his budget dispute with Democrats in the Legislature.
“I wanted to come down here and thank you for doing the good job you’re doing,” she said.
“That actually means a lot,” Rauner said. “I don’t hear that all the time.”
Wait, I thought that was a common thing…
“Everywhere I go in the state I’ve got people coming up to me by the hundreds [saying], ‘Stay strong, governor. Don’t back down, governor.’”
Either way, “Hang in there” seems to have supplanted “Don’t back down” as the new pro-Rauner slogan. Click here if you don’t believe me.
* The Question: What do you think the next pro-Rauner slogan will be?
Snark is heavily encouraged of course. Try to have fun with it. We could all use a little humor today.
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“Now is the time to prove that we care”
Tuesday, Nov 3, 2015 - Posted by Rich Miller
* The murder of 9 year old Tyshawn Lee in Chicago has garnered a lot of media coverage today. It has also prompted a press conference by Voices for Illinois Children and other groups…
This morning, the day after nine year old Tyshawn Lee was murdered in the Gresham neighborhood in Chicago, Voices for Illinois Children was joined by the YMCA of Metropolitan Chicago and a community representative from the Local School Council of Scott Joplin Elementary in Chicago, IL, Tyshawn Lee’s school.
Voices for Illinois Children issued the following statement:
This morning we join Chicago in mourning the unnecessary, violent and traumatic death of nine year old Tyshawn Lee.
As advocates, Voices for Illinois Children and the YMCA of Metropolitan Chicago fight alongside policymakers to invest in programs that our children and families need to succeed.
In communities, afterschool programs are symbols of hope, and the support youth receive can be life-changing. Afterschool programs like Teen REACH keep youth safe and get them on track for high school graduation, college and career success.
But since July 1, no state dollars have been spent on Teen Reach afterschool programs, including two programs in the neighborhood where Tyshawn lived. That means that many communities have been without afterschool programs that keep their children safe between the hours of three and six–the afterschool hours considered ‘prime time for juvenile crime’ by law enforcement.
The safety of children and families is not a partisan issue. Ultimately, it’s important to remember and understand that all of us, regardless of political persuasion, care deeply for the children and families of Illinois.
But now is the time to prove that we care. We have to put aside things we don’t agree on and move forward on what we do agree on—we all want families and communities in Illinois have the tools they need to succeed. It’s time for lawmakers and the Governor to work together to pass a budget with new revenue to invest in programs like afterschool in order to move Illinois forward.
They’re not blaming the child’s death on the lack of after school programs, but it is a powerful reminder that those programs help get kids out of harm’s way when classes end.
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#Winning
Tuesday, Nov 3, 2015 - Posted by Rich Miller
* WJBC…
Illinois is now in its fifth month without a budget.
State Sen. Bill Brady (R-Bloomington) told WJBC’s Scott Laughlin, he doesn’t see the Gov. Bruce Rauner backing down any time soon.
“The Democrats are literally scared for their lives when it comes to the next election cycle,” Brady said. “The ability Governor Rauner has to personal finance campaigns and to raise money from other interested parties has got them very much in dismay.”
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Dedication to People – The Credit Union Difference
Tuesday, Nov 3, 2015 - Posted by Advertising Department
[The following is a paid advertisement.]
Exactly what is the ‘Credit Union Difference’? Just ask Mae Powley, Manager of Pontiac-Dwight Prison Employees Credit Union.
“We really enjoy getting to know our members personally. We consider them part of our extended family. Members are friends, not just account numbers.”
From those who consider their credit union as a trusted place to help meet daily budgetary needs to those who are on the other side of the counter helping fellow members build strong financial futures, credit unions are all about “People Helping People”. So when Mae talks about the credit union as an extended family, she lives it. That’s because she is a member herself along with 1,100 other current and retired Illinois Department of Corrections employees and their family members – and has served alongside them as manager for the past 42 years.
Credit unions are able to better serve their communities because of their not-for-profit cooperative structure and leadership of a volunteer board elected by and from the local membership. Illinois credit unions: putting the “people” behind their fundamental philosophy.
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Get ‘er done
Tuesday, Nov 3, 2015 - Posted by Rich Miller
* From the Illinois Policy Institute’s news service…
Illinois’ Governor wouldn’t say how many prospects there are to possibly buy a manufacturing plant in Bloomington-Normal but said one thing that’s keeping potential buyers away is Illinois poor business climate. During a stop with the McLean County Chamber of Commerce Governor Bruce Rauner said his administration is looking for a buyer to take over the plant being vacated by Mitsubishi. However, Rauner said finding one to seal the deal is difficult because of the cost of doing business in Illinois and somethings have to change.
“Our property taxes are too high. Our corporate income taxes are not competitive, but workers comp, tort system and just the regulatory burden and the red tape is punishing for businesses and especially for manufacturing firms.”
Our corporate income tax rate was slashed back in January, but he’s not wrong about the other stuff.
* More…
“I’ve been working my tail off trying to get a buyer for the Mitsubishi plant,” said Rauner. “We’ve got people interested, but they look at (the state’s) regulations and taxes and they think, ‘Oh, I don’t know …’”
After his talk, Rauner declined to give a specific number of potentially interested buyers or specific reasons causing their hesitation to proceed.
“I don’t know if it would be right for me to say why people are hesitant … so far we haven’t had success,” Rauner told reporters, noting there are fewer jobs today in the state than 16 years ago.
“We are bleeding our manufacturing base in Illinois at a fast pace,” he said. “It’s our regulations and our taxes. Our property taxes are too high. Our corporate income taxes are not competitive. Workers’ comp, our tort system and the regulatory burden and red tape are punishing for businesses, especially for manufacturing firms. That’s what we’ve got to change.”
Look, I know people in general don’t like corporate incentives. I, on the other hand, wouldn’t rule anything out, particularly for this plant. The governor has suspended the EDGE credit going forward. He might want to rethink that.
You go to war with the army you have, not the one you want to have or believe you ought to have. He has some weapons in his arsenal and he ought to use them, because we’re not a so-called “right to work” state so favored by international manufacturers these days, and we’re not gonna be.
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A county on the brink
Tuesday, Nov 3, 2015 - Posted by Rich Miller
* AP…
The only public health clinic in Illinois’ poorest county is in a former synagogue off a largely abandoned main street, a bright spot with multicolored windows where seniors can get flu shots and moms get help feeding their kids. But today the lights are off and the doors locked. A sign on the door apologizes for the inconvenience: Because of the impasse over the state budget, we are only open on Wednesdays.
A few blocks away half the sheriff’s department has just gotten pink slips. Counselors at the only place to get mental health care in miles are working for free as the waiting list for help grows. And about 20 miles up the road from Cairo, Illinois’ southernmost tip, the man in charge of keeping highways clear this winter can’t afford to buy road salt, but figures he wouldn’t be able to pay drivers to spread it anyway.
For many people in Illinois, the five-month disagreement over a state budget has been barely a blip on the radar, a sideshow of political wills between a new Republican governor and a heavily Democratic legislature.
But for residents in the low-income counties tucked between the Mississippi and Ohio rivers - a mix of farmland and forest where Southern accents are more common than stop signs - it’s a far different story. Here people and private industry are scarce and getting scarcer, and residents rely on government for everything from health care to jobs and feel the impact severely when the public sector falters.
The problems in that county are not new. But the impasse is making them worse, not better. Go read the whole thing.
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Both sides are “top down”
Tuesday, Nov 3, 2015 - Posted by Rich Miller
* The Ottawa Times has been reporting lately about the “top down” process to replace retiring Democratic Rep. Frank Mautino. Turns out, however, as most of us who do or watch this process for a living know, it goes both ways…
State Republican officials say they’re asking state representative candidate Jacob Bramel to end his campaign to clear the way for a former candidate who announced months ago that he would not run in the 2016 election.
Bramel, though, vowed Monday to move forward.
He met with Republican Jerry Long, last year’s candidate for the 76th District House seat, and two GOP officials late Sunday afternoon near the pool tables at Shakers Lounge in Ottawa. They requested he abandon his campaign.
Reached by cellphone Monday, Long, a union truck driver and a small business owner, barely allowed a reporter to introduce himself before saying that he was declining to comment. In 2014, Mautino narrowly defeated Long by 336 votes.
Bramel said Long asked for the meeting at the bar, but Bramel didn’t know that two representatives of the House Republican Organization, Joe Woodward and Anthony Sarros, would be there as well.
You may disagree with it, but the chamber leaders have been picking candidates in targeted races for decades. It’s pretty universal.
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Edgar responds to critics
Tuesday, Nov 3, 2015 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Republicans loyal to Gov. Bruce Rauner, including legislators and the Tribune editorial board, have been lambasting former Gov. Jim Edgar lately for causing today’s budget problems by devising a pension payment ramp that pushed the solution into the future. Edgar responded on Rick Pearson’s Sunday radio show…
Edgar noted the pension law marked the first time that the state was required to pay the employer’s share of public pension costs for state workers, judges, teachers outside Chicago and elected officials.
“People are rewriting history a little bit on this,” Edgar said of the criticism he has received.
“We just came out of recession. We couldn’t put a whole lot of money in that — that down the road the payments were going to have to increase,” Edgar said. He added, “Everybody knew that and were on warning you have to prepare for that. Unfortunately, what happened was things I couldn’t control after I left office.”
Edgar noted pension holidays by his successors, a downturn in the stock market after the terrorist attacks of 9/11, and the Great Recession all combined to put Illinois in a hole with a nation’s worst unfunded public employee pension liability of more than $100 billion.
“You had to stay disciplined,” said Edgar, who noted the legislation passed with bipartisan support in his re-election year and led to support from credit-rating agencies and newspaper editorial boards.
One of those editorial boards was the Tribune’s, by the way.
The full interview is here.
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Tone it down, please
Tuesday, Nov 3, 2015 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Tribune…
Gov. Rauner laughed off an attack from Chicago Teachers Union President Karen Lewis, who called him a “sociopath” during a Friday fundraiser attended by House Speaker Michael Madigan and Senate President John Cullerton.
Asked about the comments during a Monday stop in Bloomington, Rauner laughed before revealing his coping mechanism for the name-calling.
“Uh, yeah. I don’t know how I can say … I’ve just tried to work hard to help people my whole life, and that’s what I’m doing as governor,” Rauner said. “And that’s what I did for years trying to help teachers in Chicago and principals in Chicago, and you know, in politics rhetoric sometimes gets overheated and impolite and all I can do is ignore it.”
Lewis is so tiresome.
Not to mention that constantly threatening a teachers strike and actively opposing a legislative funding plan during the city’s worst fiscal times since maybe the Great Depression might also be construed as perhaps at least ever so slightly off-kilter by some psychological observers. Also, this Lewis quote about coming budget cuts…
“You’re going to ruin everybody’s vacation”
Lovely.
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“How dare you?”
Tuesday, Nov 3, 2015 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Remember this recent Kurt Erickson story?…
The lack of a state budget hasn’t stopped Illinois lawmakers from ordering up thousands of taxpayer-paid copies of coloring books, brochures and other print-based promotional perks in recent months.
According to the results of a public records request, members of the General Assembly have placed 542 orders for printed material since the fiscal year started July 1 without a budget on the books.
The list of the 141 lawmakers participating in the program crosses party lines and includes many of the same Republicans who have been calling for cuts to state programs to help balance the budget.
State Rep. Jeanne Ives, for example, ordered 500 activity books and 13,000 cards to distribute in her suburban Chicago district.
* Rep. Ives no likey…
“This is just ridiculous. How dare you? You should be ashamed of yourself,” Ives told me in a phone conversation last week. “You are so misguided on what you’re focusing on. You’re incredible. Incredible.”
She says there are many other examples of waste in state government, including the current structure of the General Assembly, in which lawmakers who chair committees receive $10,000 annual stipends even if those committees rarely meet.
Nonetheless, I asked her if she thought it was hypocritical for her to charge taxpayers for promotional coloring books at a time when the state doesn’t have a budget.
“Not at all,” Ives said.
“Go back and rewrite your article, sir. Because you know where some of those coloring books ended up at? At my kids’ Catholic school. That’s right. I sent them to a Catholic school. The teachers were thrilled to have this book that portrayed Illinois and some facts about it in an interesting and engaging way. So why don’t you go and print that, too,” Ives said.
Actually, the revelation of how a legislator gave some taxpayer-funded materials to her kids’ private school was worth printing.
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* Illinois Radio Network…
If legislative leaders and Gov. Bruce Rauner are going to meet in public on the budget stalemate, who should set the agenda? The answers you get depend on which party you’re asking.
The same civic advocacy groups who asked for a public meeting to be held want a “bipartisan agenda” to guide it. State Sen. Jennifer Bertino-Tarrant (D-Shorewood) agrees that one person shouldn’t determine what’s going to be discussed.
“There’s a lot of issues, a lot of budgetary items, and I really hope that they’re each given an opportunity to submit what they would like to talk about,” Bertino-Tarrant said.
State Rep. Ron Sandack (R-Downers Grove) disagrees, saying it’s the proper role of the governor for Rauner to set the agenda for a meeting with legislative leaders.
“That’s just the way it is, whether it’s Gov. Rauner, Gov. Quinn, Gov. Blagojevich, et al, that’s the person who should set the agenda, call the meeting, and get things going,” Sandack said. “If we’re going to squabble over an agenda, man, we really have lost our bearings.”
OK, first of all, Rauner didn’t actually “call the meeting.” The goo-goos called it. If we had waited for the governor to call the meeting, it wouldn’t have been called.
And what’s the big deal about a bipartisan agenda? Does literally everything have to be set by the governor? Perhaps that’s been part of the problem here all along?
* Fox Springfield…
“Somebody said, let’s have a big group, let’s get all four of the leaders and you in a room and turn the TV cameras on. Oh, great. Talk about posturing. Now everybody’s going to posture. What human being likes to negotiate in front of a camera and make a compromise on TV? People don’t do that. Whatever. I don’t think it’s going to matter much,” said Gov. Bruce Rauner (R) Illinois.
OK, I don’t totally disagree, but then why did you even agree to the meeting? And why did you say back then that you were “happy” to host the public meeting, and why did you call the development “excellent news”?…
Over the last few weeks, I’ve met with each of you individually to try to move beyond this impasse. I believe it’s time for all of us to meet as a group, and thanks to the invitation of a few advocacy groups, I understand everyone has availability on Wednesday, November 18 from 9:30 AM to Noon and is interested in a public meeting. This is excellent news.
* Pantagraph editorial…
The key to ending the budget stalemate, at this meeting or any other time, is for Rauner and Madigan, primarily, to focus on what is possible.
Truer words were never written.
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Unclear on the concept
Tuesday, Nov 3, 2015 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Tribune…
“It’s frustrating to see the only folks who are being funded are due to court orders, but we really don’t want to do our business that way,” said ISU President Larry Dietz. “It’s very difficult to run any of the universities for essentially a third of the year not knowing what your budget is going to be. We often hear, ‘Why don’t you run the university like a business?’ Well, I don’t know any business that doesn’t know what its revenue stream will be.”
President Dietz has obviously never met a business owner facing some unexpectedly tough (or good) times.
Consumer tastes change, economic climates change, people make mistakes, and sometimes stuff just comes down out of the blue.
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Looking at Rauner’s ROI
Tuesday, Nov 3, 2015 - Posted by Rich Miller
* My weekly syndicated newspaper column…
For months now, Gov. Bruce Rauner has said he won’t negotiate a state budget unless his “Turnaround Agenda” demands are met.
In the meantime, he has slashed funding for the child care assistance program, homeless services have been decimated, mental health services are going without cash, universities are struggling and even the Meals on Wheels service for the elderly is cutting back deliveries.
But one of the most important things missing from the debate over that “Turnaround Agenda” is how much money the governor’s proposals will truly save state and local governments. Is it really worth all this pain?
There is simply no hard, reliable, trustworthy data out there because numbers from both sides of the debate on union-related subjects like the prevailing wage are so steeped in ideology.
Among other things, the governor is demanding that local governments, including school districts, be allowed to opt out of paying the prevailing wage on construction and other projects. The amount is set by county and all publicly financed projects must pay those wages. Unions say killing off the prevailing wage won’t save much if any money because productivity will drop when inexperienced, low-wage employees are used to replace trained construction and trades workers.
But, just for the sake of argument, let’s take the proponents at their word on this particular topic.
A June, 2014 study conducted by the Anderson Economic Group for the far-right Illinois Policy Institute, the Illinois Association of School Boards, the Illinois Chamber and the Illinois Black Chamber found that eliminating the prevailing wage would’ve saved local school districts $126.4 million in 2011 (that’s in 2013 dollars, by the way).
According to the state’s Commission on Governmental Forecasting and Accountability, local school districts extended (billed) $16.4 billion in property taxes in 2011. Adjust that 2011 amount to 2013 dollars to even it out with the Anderson study and we get $16.98 billion.
So, even if every single local school district throughout Illinois immediately stopped paying prevailing wage rates on construction projects (not gonna happen) and even if eliminating the prevailing wage does indeed save as much as the Anderson study projected (doubtful), school districts could’ve saved a grand total of 0.74 percent of their property tax budgets, which is not much more than a rounding error. Now figure, in reality, savings of at most half that amount and we’re looking at about a third of a percentage point. That’s not even a rounding error.
Not to mention that the total percentage saved from allowing local governments to opt-in to eliminate the prevailing wage in their actual operating budgets is quite a bit smaller because to get an accurate count you’d have to add in revenues from local sales taxes, state and federal money, etc. Charitably, are we talking maybe a quarter of a percentage point saved here? If that?
Whenever you make a huge investment of time and effort, you should always calculate what’s known as the Return on Investment, or ROI. As far as the prevailing wage goes, this doesn’t look to my eyes like a good enough ROI to continue refusing to negotiate on the budget.
I mean, really, you’re gonna shut down critical state services for months on end for a few million bucks—on a bill that the pro-union majority Democratic General Assembly will never support anyway?
Either change the proposal (perhaps to apply it to only smaller projects) or move along. The benefit is nowhere near worth the current pain.
And, by the way, I am not by any means saying that the governor has to be the only one who needs to start talking about a budget deal.
Legislative Democrats have completely eluded the topic of higher revenues all year. Yes, they say in general that they want a “mixture” of budget cuts and tax hikes. That’s nice and all, but if they truly support the programs they say they hold so dear, like child care assistance and need-based college grants, then they’re gonna have to pay for them.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, voting to fund these programs without voting for any revenue to pay for them is like the college student who can’t get it in his head that having checks in his checkbook doesn’t translate into having money in his bank account.
Somehow, some way, we need to get our leaders to start facing reality.
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Learning from the ABATE experience
Tuesday, Nov 3, 2015 - Posted by Rich Miller
* My Crain’s Chicago Business column…
It took Illinois Senate President John Cullerton 20 years to learn a very valuable lesson: When your attacks are making the other side stronger, stop the attacks.
It’s a lesson Gov. Bruce Rauner should heed now.
Cullerton was the original sponsor of a mandatory child car-seat law. A few years later, he passed a mandatory seat belt law.
In 1986, the Illinois Supreme Court ruled that his seat belt law was constitutional, and the court appeared to overturn a 1969 opinion striking down the state’s mandatory motorcycle helmet law. So Cullerton announced he would introduce a helmet bill as soon as he could. A motorcycle helmet law seemed to be just over the horizon.
Fast-forward almost 30 years and the North Side Democrat is one of the most powerful politicians in the Illinois General Assembly—but the state still doesn’t have a helmet law.
It wasn’t for lack of trying. The accomplished legislator introduced his helmet bill year after year.
“The more Cullerton kept poking the bear, the bigger we got,” lobbyist Todd Vandermyde recalls. Vandermyde was a bulldozer operator in the early 1990s when he started working with A Brotherhood Aimed Toward Education, a loosely organized group that opposed the helmet bill. ABATE leaders ironed out their regional differences and used Cullerton’s bill to recruit members who didn’t want the government telling them they had to wear helmets.
Membership peaked at 20,000 motorcycle riders in the early 2000s. Rauner should know this story. He’s a motorcycle enthusiast who attends ABATE meetings all the time.
Meanwhile, Cullerton’s helmet bill was becoming more unpopular with his fellow legislators every year. Local ABATE chapters were springing up all over the place, and its hardcore members were becoming very politically active.
“They used my bill to build up their membership,” Cullerton says. It got to the point where he couldn’t even pass a bicycle helmet bill.
So about a decade ago, Cullerton finally realized that his efforts were counterproductive and he stopped introducing helmet bills.
Vandermyde went on to work the statehouse halls for his union. A social conservative, Vandermyde, like many trade union members, never cared all that much for public employee unions. He no longer works for the union, and he has endured cuts to his own pension benefits to save the union fund. It sticks in his craw that the courts have ruled that government employee pensions can’t be touched.
But he says he has watched in amazement this year as Rauner “galvanized and coalesced the labor movement” like never before with constant attacks. Rauner started with a months-long push for a so-called right to work law and then refused to negotiate the state budget until local governments are allowed to strip unions of their collective bargaining rights and remove prevailing wage protections for construction workers.
In Vandermyde’s eyes, this is
Click here to read the rest before commenting please.
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