Tonight’s must-read
Thursday, Oct 8, 2015 - Posted by Rich Miller
* From “The Chicago End-Times - The slow humiliation of Chicago’s most vital newspaper” by Sam Stecklow…
The Sun-Times’ website has undergone four redesigns in the last two years (and one very talked-up political redesign), each less popular with the newsroom than the last. “[When the Sun-Times site] changed over from the newest of the redesigns to what it is now, to match the Network site, there was a lot of displeasure in the newsroom about that,” a former longtime Sun-Times staffer said. “I think a lot of employees were confused as to why so much time, and I assume money, to do three or four website redesigns, only to scrap the whole thing and go with this national Network, and then be told we don’t have any money. Well, you had enough money to do four website redesigns that you didn’t want, but you’re laying off employees. The money was just spent in a different place.”
When the Sun Times Network was launched, the Sun-Times newsroom was at once surprised and skeptical. A former Sun-Times employee told me that reporters and editors were asking amongst themselves whether Wrapports higher-ups (chairman Michael Ferro, CEO Tim Knight, and Aggrego CEO Tim Landon) had even thought this thing through properly. “This sort of rewriting existing content into a bloggy national format was sort of an oversaturated market to begin with,” they continued. “Once we sort of figured out what this was, a lot of people asked, ‘How did this cost fourteen million dollars?’ To hire interns and build essentially one website? It wasn’t 70-something websites, it was one website that was poorly done.”
* There are some naughty words, so be forewarned. On the resignation of Tim Knight earlier this week as the CEO of parent company Wrapports…
Former managing editor Craig Newman told me, “I hope that this is good news for the Sun-Times and an end to the failed mishmosh of an experiment that is the Wrapports/Aggrego/Sun Times Network. However, coming on the heels of recent staff departures and continued gutting of the core of the company, the Chicago Sun-Times, it seems more like a rat fleeing a sinking ship—a ship sinking in no small part because of the rat.”
Go read the whole thing. I particularly love the last, unprintable, line.
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Tribune to put tower up for sale
Thursday, Oct 8, 2015 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Press release…
Tribune Real Estate Holdings, LLC, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Tribune Media Company (NYSE: TRCO), today announced that it has hired Eastdil Secured to begin exploring strategic monetization alternatives for Tribune Tower and adjacent land. The historic 36-story building sits on three acres, with 305 feet of frontage on Chicago’s premiere street for shopping and entertainment, North Michigan Avenue.
“The global renown of this building, its unparalleled location and development potential make this an incredible opportunity and we are expecting a high level of interest from a broad range of private and institutional investors and developers,” said Murray McQueen, President of Tribune Real Estate Holdings.
McQueen continued, “This property offers 100 linear feet more frontage on Michigan Avenue than Rockefeller Center has on Fifth Avenue in New York City. We see this as the future site of an exciting retail destination, surrounded by world-class adaptive re-use of the Tower and additional mixed use development.”
Tribune Real Estate will explore all transaction options with a goal of maximizing proceeds to the company while creating a compelling mixed-use destination for the city.
* Tribune…
Built in 1925, Tribune Tower was designed by New York architects Raymond Hood and John Mead Howells, who won a contest held by Chicago Tribune co-publishers Robert R. McCormick and Joseph Patterson to create the newspaper’s headquarters.
Named a Chicago landmark in 1989, Tribune Tower itself would likely remain a centerpiece of any redevelopment. […]
Tribune Media spun off its publishing division — including the Chicago Tribune, Los Angeles Times and other daily newspapers — in August 2014 to focus on its higher-margin broadcasting business. It also retained a real estate portfolio that includes 77 assets, 8 million square feet and 1,200 acres of land. Tribune Real Estate is looking at redeveloping Times Mirror Square in Los Angeles as well as sites in Orlando and Fort Lauderdale in Florida, and Costa Mesa, Calif.
Company officials have been talking about this for years, going back to Sam Zell’s days at the helm.
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They say that like it’s a bad thing
Thursday, Oct 8, 2015 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Illinois Review…
No Illinois GOP members part of powerful conservative House Freedom Caucus
Members of the House GOP are said to be stunned after Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy unexpectedly withdrew his bid to succeed retiring House Speaker John Boehner.
McCarthy needed 218 votes among House members to move into the House Speakership - the third spot in the presidency succession line. The Majority Leader appeared confident that he had the 218 needed to be the next Speaker, but a small group of conservative members chose Wednesday night to throw their support behind Florida Congressman Daniel Webster.
Those votes moving to Webster endangered McCarthy’s win. The 30 to 40 members of the House Republicans are called the “House Freedom Caucus,” group described in the Wall Street Journal as “a small but smart and strategic group.”
And, according to a published list, not one Republican from Illinois is a part of the conservative Republican “House Freedom Caucus.” […]
“You have to be a rock solid limited government conservative to be invited. Nobody in the Illinois delegation is even remotely close to conservative enough to be invited in,” [former Illinois Congressman Joe Walsh] said. “Sad.”
* Congressman Kinzinger isn’t a fan…
U.S. Rep. Adam Kinzinger of Channahon recently has begun emphasizing his view that, as he put it in an appearance before Crain’s editorial board Oct. 2, the national GOP and some House Republicans “are alienating the very people we need to win.”
Kinzinger underlined a series of policy views that will rankle the hard right, including advocating a “path to legalization” for immigrants who are here illegally, opposing a government shutdown over funding for Planned Parenthood, renewing funding for the U.S. Export-Import Bank, and calling for “an adult conversation” about whether there should be a hike in the gasoline tax to pay for road and other transportation projects.
Then he twisted the knife a little: “I don’t call them the Freedom Caucus,” he said, referring to a group of about four dozen very conservative House members who finally got their wish last week when Speaker John Boehner announced his resignation. “They’re the ’so-called Freedom Caucus’.”
Yes, this is a national politics post, but you know how I feel about national political “debates,” so keep a civil tongue in your head and in your typing fingers. Thanks, even though I don’t quite know why your tongue would be in your fingers. That’s gross. Take your tongue outta your fingers - unless it’s civil.
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[The following is a paid advertisement.]
The final results are in and as many analysts have noted, “Exelon was the big winner in this year’s [PJM grid capacity} auction.” Here are the highlights:
- $1.7 BILLION RATE INCREASE FOR EXELON – Exelon engineered the new rules to increase their profits. Their $1.7 BILLION reward will be paid for by struggling Illinois ratepayers.
- Byron and Quad Cities Both Cleared the Auction and are Obligated to Run Well into the Future
Exelon’s Low Carbon Portfolio Standard would have raised $1.6 billion over 5 ½ years for Exelon. The Capacity markets, under Exelon-pushed rules, earned Exelon $1.7 billion over only three years.
Illinois doesn’t have a balanced budget, service providers are being decimated and real people across Illinois are hurting. It’s time for Exelon to take their HUGE $1.7 BILLION WINDFALL and stop asking legislators to keep padding their profits.
Enough is enough!
Just Say “NO” to the Exelon Bailout
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Point taken. However…
Thursday, Oct 8, 2015 - Posted by Rich Miller
* From a press release…
Governor Rauner yesterday delivered remarks explaining how reforming collective bargaining is a bi-partisan idea and would save taxpayers billions. In fact, many Democrats, including the House Speaker and House Majority Leader as well as the Senate President and Senate Majority Leader, have voted in recent years to limit and remove collective bargaining requirements in an effort to save taxpayers money.
“Twice in the last four years, Illinois Democrats voted to reform collective bargaining, but now they are hiding behind it to try to force spending higher and raise taxes on the people of Illinois,” Rauner spokesman Lance Trover said. “The notion that collective bargaining is sacrosanct to the Democratic Party is nothing more than political gamesmanship to protect the status quo and hurt taxpayers.”
SB 1 (Pension Reform of 2013)
Senate Democrats voting aye:
Biss, Cunningham, Harmon, Hunter, Jones, Landek, Martinez, McGuire, Morrison, Mulroe, Munoz, Raoul, Sandoval, Silverstein, Stadelman, Steans, Van Pelt, Mr. President
http://www.ilga.gov/legislation/votehistory/98/senate/09800SB0001_12032013_005000R.pdf
House Democrats voting aye:
Acevedo, Andrade, Arroyo, Bradley, Burke, D., Burke, K., Cassidy, Chapa LaVia, Conroy, Crespo, Currie, D’Amico, Davis, M., Drury, Dunkin, Evans, Feigenholtz, Fine, Flowers, Gabel, Harris, G., Hernandez, Hurley, Jones, Kifowit, Lang, Manley, McAsey, Mitchell, Moylan, Mussman, Nekritz, Sente, Soto, Tabares, Thapedi, Turner, Verschoore, Walsh, Welch, Williams, Willis, Yingling, Zalewski, Mr. Speaker
http://www.ilga.gov/legislation/votehistory/98/house/09800SB0001_12032013_006000R.pdf
SB 7 (Labor Reform of 2011)
Senate Democrats voting aye:
Biss (House), Clayborne, Collins, Cunningham (House), Delgado, Forby, Haine, Harmon, Holmes, Hunter, Hutchinson, Jones, Koehler, Landek, Lightford, Martinez, Mulroe, Munoz, Noland, Raoul, Sandoval, Steans, Sullivan, Trotter, Mr. President
http://www.ilga.gov/legislation/votehistory/97/senate/09700SB0007_04152011_059000T.pdf
House Democrats voting aye:
Acevedo, Arroyo, Beiser, Bradley, Burke, D., Burke, K., Chapa LaVia, Crespo, Currie, D’Amico, Davis, W., DeLuca, Dunkin, Feigenholtz, Flowers, Ford, Franks, Gabel, Gordon, Harris, G., Hernandez, Jackson, Jones, Lang, Lilly, Mautino, Mayfield, McAsey, Mussman, Nekritz, Phelps, Rita, Sente, Soto, Thapedi, Turner, Verschoore, Williams, Zalewski, Mr. Speaker
http://www.ilga.gov/legislation/votehistory/97/house/09700SB0007_05122011_002000T.pdf
That’s all well and good. However, the governor has proposed some awfully radical legislation…
Prohibited subjects of bargaining.
(a) A public employer and a labor organization may not bargain over, and no collective bargaining agreement entered into, renewed, or extended on or after the effective date of
this amendatory Act of the 99th General Assembly may include,
provisions related to the following prohibited subjects of collective bargaining:
(1) Employee pensions, including the impact or
implementation of changes to employee pensions, including
the Employee Consideration Pension Transition Program as
set forth in Section 30 of the Personnel Code.
(2) Wages, including any form of compensation including salaries, overtime compensation, vacations,
holidays, and any fringe benefits, including the impact or
implementation of changes to the same; except nothing in
this Section 7.6 will prohibit the employer from electing
to bargain collectively over employer-provided health insurance.
(3) Hours of work, including work schedules, shift
schedules, overtime hours, compensatory time, and lunch periods, including the impact or implementation of changes
to the same.
(4) Matters of employee tenure, including the impact of
employee tenure or time in service on the employer’s
exercise of authority including, but not limited to, any
consideration the employer must give to the tenure of
employees adversely affected by the employer’s exercise of management’s right to conduct a layoff.
Sorry to repeat myself, but no way are they gonna vote for that, governor. No way are even all that many Republicans gonna vote for it, either.
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* A good friend stopped by the house today, so I missed this one. From the US Attorney’s office. Not exactly a huge surprise. The full indictment is here…
A federal indictment returned today charges BARBARA BYRD-BENNETT with using her position atop the Chicago Public Schools to award lucrative no-bid contracts to her former employer in exchange for bribes and kickbacks.
The 23-count indictment alleges that Byrd-Bennett steered no-bid contracts worth more than $23 million to THE SUPES ACADEMY LLC, and SYNESI ASSOCIATES LLC, in exchange for an expectation of hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes and kickbacks. The companies agreed to conceal the kickback money by funneling it into accounts set up in the names of two of Byrd-Bennett’s relatives, according to the indictment. A later agreement called for the funds to be paid to Byrd-Bennett in the form of a “signing bonus” after her employment with CPS ended and the companies re-hired her as a consultant, according to the indictment.
The companies, which specialize in training principals and school administrators, provided Byrd-Bennett with numerous other benefits, including meals, an airplane ticket, and seats at basketball and baseball games, the indictment states. Byrd-Bennett also expected to receive reimbursement from the companies for costs associated with a holiday party she hosted for CPS personnel, according to the charges.
The Wilmette-based SUPES and the Evanston-based Synesi are also charged in the indictment, along with their respective former owners, GARY SOLOMON and THOMAS VRANAS. Byrd-Bennett had worked as a consultant for SUPES and Synesi before moving to CPS in May 2012. She was appointed chief executive officer at CPS on Oct. 12, 2012.
The indictment charges Byrd-Bennett, 66, of Solon, Ohio, with 15 counts of mail fraud and five counts of wire fraud. Solomon, 47, of Wilmette, is charged with 15 counts of mail fraud, five counts of wire fraud, two counts of bribery of a government official, and one count of conspiracy to defraud the United States. Vranas, 34, of Glenview, is charged with 15 counts of mail fraud, four counts of wire fraud, two counts of bribery of a government official, and one count of conspiracy to defraud the United States. SUPES and Synesi are charged as corporate defendants with 15 counts of mail fraud and five counts of wire fraud apiece.
The indictment seeks forfeiture from defendants Solomon, Vranas, SUPES and Synesi of all money and property traceable to the violations, estimated at approximately $2 million.
An arraignment date in U.S. District Court in Chicago has not yet been set.
“Graft and corruption in our city’s public school system tears at the fabric of a vital resource for the children of Chicago,” said Zachary T. Fardon, United States Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois. “School officials and city vendors who abuse the public trust will be held accountable.”
Mr. Fardon announced the indictment along with John A. Brown, Acting Special Agent-in-Charge of the Chicago Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation; and Nicholas J. Schuler, Inspector General for the Chicago Public Schools.
“The American people expect honest services from their government leaders, particularly those responsible for leading our teachers and caring for our children,” said Special Agent Brown. “The FBI, in conjunction with our local, state and federal law enforcement partners, remains steadfast in its pursuit of those willing to trade the education of our children for their own prosperity.”
“The public education system is harmed when a high-level insider chooses to line their pockets with public funds,” CPS Inspector General Schuler said. “My office is committed to rooting out corruption at any level through joint investigations such as this one.”
The contracts referenced in the indictment were awarded by the Chicago Board of Education, which governs CPS, as part of a CBOE training program called the Chicago Executive Leadership Academy (CELA). One such contract – worth $2.09 million for leadership training of school administrators – was awarded to SUPES within two weeks of Byrd-Bennett’s appointment as CEO, and then extended with an additional $225,000 allocation in 2013. A larger no-bid contract – worth $20.5 million – was awarded to SUPES on June 26, 2013.
The indictment alleges that Byrd-Bennett used her position as CEO to lobby CBOE officials on behalf of SUPES and Synesi, and to actively seek funds from the CPS budget to expand the CELA program for the companies’ benefit. Byrd-Bennett directed CPS employees to obtain the necessary approvals to eliminate competitive bidding from the procurement process, and to ensure that the contracts were awarded to SUPES, according to the indictment.
All the while, Byrd-Bennett falsely represented to CBOE officials that she received no financial compensation from the companies, the indictment contends. In reality, Byrd-Bennett maintained an interest in SUPES and Synesi through a secret consulting agreement, which promised to pay her a percentage of the gross proceeds from the contracts she helped to procure, according to the indictment.
The indictment cites an email between Solomon and Vranas on or about Dec. 6, 2012, which contained a prior email discussion between Byrd-Bennett, Solomon and Vranas. In that email, Solomon informed Byrd-Bennett, in part: “It is our assumption that the distribution will serve as a signing bonus upon your return to SUPES/Synesi. If you only join for the day, you will be the highest paid person on the planet for that day.”
In the late summer or early fall of 2013, according to the indictment, Solomon informed Byrd-Bennett that the CBOE Inspector General wanted to review Solomon’s and Vranas’s emails. Solomon said Vranas planned to use a computer program to delete the emails, and he told Byrd-Bennett to delete her emails as well, the indictment states.
Each count of mail and wire fraud is punishable by a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison, mandatory restitution, and a maximum fine of $250,000 or twice the gross gain or gross loss resulting from the offense, whichever is greater. Each count of bribery of a government official carries a maximum sentence of ten years in prison and a maximum fine of $250,000 or twice the gross gain or gross loss resulting from the offense, whichever is greater. The charge of conspiracy to defraud the United States is punishable by a maximum sentence of five years in prison and a maximum fine of $250,000 or twice the gross gain or gross loss resulting from the offense, whichever is greater.
If convicted, the Court must impose a reasonable sentence under federal sentencing statutes and the advisory United States Sentencing Guidelines. The public is reminded that an indictment contains only charges and is not evidence of guilt. The defendants are presumed innocent and are entitled to a fair trial at which the government has the burden of proving guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.
The government is represented by Assistant United States Attorneys Megan Cunniff Church and Lindsay Jenkins.
*** UPDATE *** From the twitters…
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Yikes, man
Thursday, Oct 8, 2015 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Whew…
Sen. Raoul is not generally known for such outbursts. The vitriol is really spreading fast.
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The Credit Union Difference
Thursday, Oct 8, 2015 - Posted by Advertising Department
[The following is a paid advertisement.]
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Question of the day
Thursday, Oct 8, 2015 - Posted by Rich Miller
* From David Yepsen..
Rich:
See this piece in the Journal yesterday? It compares the two states. We could just swap governors for a month and both states could fix their problems.
Both men are well-to-do, spent a lot of their own money on their campaigns and are Dartmouth grads. A swap would give Illinois an all-Democratic statehouse and Pennsylvania an all-Republican one. The two states could then become petri dishes for which party makes for a better state.
I know. Been a long three months. I’ll take two aspirin and lie down.
See ya.
Yepsen
The WSJ story is here.
* The Question: What are your wackiest ideas for resolving the impasse?
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* DHS Secretary James Dimas spoke to IARF today. Besides the headline quote (oy), check out the numbers on the rise in child poverty. Ugh…
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Unclear on the concept
Thursday, Oct 8, 2015 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Gov. Rauner yesterday…
“State financial aide for college students will not get paid. I’m furious about that. Many social service providers will have to close their doors. It’s outrageous, by putting assistance to the most vulnerable at risk. We should not let that happen. Universities and community colleges will not receive state funding, causing some to wonder whether they will be open for the second semester. Outrageous. Should not happen,” he said. “Unpaid bills will continue to pile up, delaying payments to local governments, pension funds, hospitals, nursing homes, other providers. Pushing down our credit rating and raising interests costs on you, the taxpayers of the state. Should not happen. Not having a budget this late in the year is simply inexcusable and unacceptable.”
Furious, outrageous (x2), inexcusable and unacceptable.
Gee, he sounds like he’s a total outsider with zero role in this drama.
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Rhetoric vs. reality
Thursday, Oct 8, 2015 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Pearson…
Gov. Bruce Rauner restated his demand Wednesday that weakening the collective bargaining rights of public workers must be part of a deal to end the political stalemate that has kept Illinois without a budget since July 1. […]
In his speech, Rauner contended that a change in collective bargaining inside government “is not a radical idea and it is not a partisan idea.” The governor said Democrats across the country have made union-weakening rules, including in Illinois by allowing the outsourcing of Chicago Public Schools janitors and the elimination of CPS union teachers’ ability to negotiate over longer school hours.
“It’s not about Republicans versus Democrats. It’s about good government. It’s about making sure tax dollars go to education, economic growth, tourism marketing and services for the most vulnerable — not to expensive government bureaucracy,” Rauner said.
“It’s time we in Illinois get serious about collective bargaining reform and unfunded mandate relief in government. It’s a critical bipartisan issue where we can find common ground. Getting rid of unfunded mandates and giving decision-making authority on bargaining, bidding and contracting back to local communities,” he said.
* Burnett…
Rauner also argues he’s already compromised by dropping some items he was pushing earlier this year, such as letting local communities create so-called “right-to-work zones,” where union membership would be voluntary. And he notes that Democrats in Illinois and elsewhere have previously backed changes to collective bargaining, even though labor unions are among their most staunch supporters.
He’s right that they have passed bills that unions opposed.
* But this is from Gov. Bruce Rauner’s own pension reform bill…
Prohibited subjects of bargaining.
(a) A public employer and a labor organization may not bargain over, and no collective bargaining agreement entered into, renewed, or extended on or after the effective date of
this amendatory Act of the 99th General Assembly may include,
provisions related to the following prohibited subjects of collective bargaining:
(1) Employee pensions, including the impact or
implementation of changes to employee pensions, including
the Employee Consideration Pension Transition Program as
set forth in Section 30 of the Personnel Code.
(2) Wages, including any form of compensation including salaries, overtime compensation, vacations,
holidays, and any fringe benefits, including the impact or
implementation of changes to the same; except nothing in
this Section 7.6 will prohibit the employer from electing
to bargain collectively over employer-provided health insurance.
(3) Hours of work, including work schedules, shift
schedules, overtime hours, compensatory time, and lunch periods, including the impact or implementation of changes
to the same.
(4) Matters of employee tenure, including the impact of
employee tenure or time in service on the employer’s
exercise of authority including, but not limited to, any
consideration the employer must give to the tenure of
employees adversely affected by the employer’s exercise of management’s right to conduct a layoff.
The governor said yesterday that his proposals were not “radical.” That’s radical. Period. It’s time he disavowed that proposal and got down to some do-able changes.
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Supremes snub Illinois Policy Institute appeal
Thursday, Oct 8, 2015 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Bernie reports that the US Supreme Court has refused to heal an appeal filed by the Illinois Policy Institute over the refusal of legislative leaders to grant the institute’s reporters access to the chambers’ press boxes…
“We are disappointed that the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear our case,” [executive editor of the Illinois News Network Scott Reeder] said. “The only question considered by any judge in this matter was whether a legislative leader’s decision on denying press credentials can be challenged in court. Unfortunately, an appellate court ruled legislative leaders are immune from such lawsuits. The court’s ruling leaves news organizations of all stripes vulnerable to retaliation and discrimination by elected officials. This may well have a chilling effect on coverage of American statehouses.”
Not so, said RIKEESHA PHELON, spokeswoman for Senate President JOHN CULLERTON, D-Chicago.
“We have made no judgment about independent news organizations,” Phelon said. “But court rulings now confirm that our decision to ban thinly veiled lobbying organizations from the Senate floor is appropriate.”
In the appellate ruling, the court stated that though the Illinois Policy Institute is no longer a lobbying group because it formed a new entity — Illinois Policy Action, which does have staffers listed as lobbyists — there was no real difference.
“The IPI is plainly an advocacy organization, and even though it did not register as a lobbyist in 2014, both the House and Senate determined it should have,” the appellate court decision said.
I’m a hardcore 1st Amendment guy and I use INN stuff here on occasion, but the Supremes were right. I don’t think courts should be meddling with which non-legislators can and can’t have access to a legislative floor.
Plus, if the Illinois Policy Institute had succeeded, any lobbying entity could then hire a “reporter” and set up a “news service” and demand media credentials. Not good.
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Aren’t we forgetting something?
Thursday, Oct 8, 2015 - Posted by Rich Miller
* From the dot points on Gov. Rauner’s south suburban speech yesterday that were sent by Team Rauner…
· As you know, we have entered an unprecedented fourth month without a balanced budget.
· Despite this, state agency directors in our administration have done a tremendous job in managing their departments without a budget.
· We have begun transforming state government, and we’re implementing reforms that will save taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars.
· Our efforts are making government less expensive, more effective and more efficient.
o Just last month we saved taxpayers $22 million by ending a bad deal with the Lottery and have now put a new, competitive Lottery contract out to bid.
o At the Department of Healthcare and Family Services, our Administration has taken cost-saving steps that will save taxpayers more than $70 million in the current fiscal year.
o At the Department of Central Management Services, we renegotiated contracts and reduced the state air fleet, netting an additional $15 million to the State through a combination of cost reduction and optimization efforts.
o The Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation has a license process that’s still done through paper records. By modernizing the system, we are reducing process time by 50% and can save millions of dollars as a result.
o The Department of Employment Security has taken new steps to save millions in unemployment insurance overpayments; we’ve automated the employer tax payment system, reducing process time from 6 weeks down to 1 week; and we’re putting in an automated, real-time Power of Attorney system that will take this process from 4 weeks to one day.
· Faster service, lower cost – that’s what we are striving for everywhere in our administration, to shake up the old, inefficient way of doing things and move Illinois towards becoming a 21st century government.
· But while we do everything in our power to improve government, many of the biggest opportunities to save money require action from the legislature.
Notice anything missing?
How about the cuts to the child care program? That’s saving a whole lot of money. Well, at least it’s saving money in the short term. Not so much when single moms have to quit their jobs or take part-time work.
* Mark Brown…
What happens now is that a young mother, needing financial assistance to put her child in day care while she goes to work or school, applies to a program.
Under Rauner’s rules, she gets turned down, most likely because she makes too much money, which now includes anyone earning minimum wage.
So she goes away.
The child doesn’t go away. The mom’s need for child care doesn’t go away. Her need to earn a living to support her child doesn’t go away.
But the mom moves along to make the tough decisions about what to do next: Child care or stay home? Go on welfare or switch the kid to the unlicensed day care down the street? Pay the child care or the rent?
* Progress Illinois…
Alejandra Corral, an Aurora resident and single mother of two, was among dozens of parents and providers who spoke at the hearing.
Corral was deemed ineligible for CCAP in mid-July because her monthly income of about $2,000 was too high. She would have qualified if her monthly income was $838 or less.
Corral, 23, currently pays $100 per month for child care, but that’s only because she works for an Aurora daycare that is giving her a temporary discount.
“If they weren’t doing this, I would have to pay over $2,100 for daycare. I don’t even make enough,” she stressed. “All of us here today are not asking for handouts, we’re asking for assistance. We want to be able to work. If this somehow doesn’t get fixed, I won’t be able to afford daycare for my kids, and I don’t want to be on any more public aid than” CCAP.
OK, maybe I can see why the governor didn’t mention it as an accomplishment, even though he has been pushing to slash this very program since his February budget address.
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True, but…
Thursday, Oct 8, 2015 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Gov. Bruce Rauner yesterday…
“Only the Legislature can authorize a budget, and they have failed to meet their constitutionally required obligation to pass a balanced budget.”
That’s true, of course.
* But there’s another passage in that document which is almost never discussed. From the Illinois Constitution…
The Governor shall prepare and submit to the General Assembly, at a time prescribed by law, a State budget for the ensuing fiscal year… Proposed expenditures shall not exceed funds estimated to be available for the fiscal year as shown in the budget.
Now, the difference here is that the Democrats’ budget was blatantly unbalanced and the governor’s budget used blatant gimmicks and smoke and mirrors to “balance” his budget.
But nobody’s hands are clean here.
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Things are tense all over
Thursday, Oct 8, 2015 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Yesterday’s Speaker Madigan press release, with emphasis added…
“As I have stated since January, the number one issue facing the state is the budget deficit. The governor, however, has refused to focus on solving our budget deficit, instead focusing on other issues. That decision has led to dangerous consequences by forcing the defunding of breast and cervical cancer screenings, child care assistance for struggling families, meals for homebound elderly residents and services for children with autism and other developmental disabilities.
“I’ve stated all year that I will work with the governor cooperatively and professionally, but we will not devastate Illinois’ middle class and struggling families by furthering an agenda aimed at driving down their wages and their standard of living.
“I have repeatedly urged the governor to focus on the budget deficit through a balanced approach of reductions in state spending and new revenue. The budget passed by the House included reductions in state spending, and we passed a bill that included $400 million in savings through the Medicaid program. However, a wide range of human service providers, education advocates, and even business groups like the Civic Federation have stated that Illinois cannot cut its way to prosperity.
“The governor can end the damage he has done to women who rely on life-saving breast and cervical cancer screenings, children with autism and other developmental disabilities, elderly residents, struggling families and other vulnerable populations in need of crucial state support by turning his focus away from issues that would result in lower wages and a lower standard of living for middle-class families and instead work with the Legislature to pass and implement a state budget with a balanced approach that protects the middle class.”
* Also from yesterday, with emphasis added…
A top Illinois Republican on Wednesday accused Democrats who control the state’s two legislative chambers of using the state’s most vulnerable citizens as “human shields” and “props” to mask the politicians’ financial failures.
“They are using these poor souls as human shields, to deflect the blame from their historical gross mismanagement of state finances,” Illinois House Republican leader Jim Durkin told POLITICO. “These hearings are nothing more than putting them up, bringing one group up after another that rely on state funding, to say what happens to them when they don’t have a state budget.” […]
The Republican governor earlier Wednesday gave a speech in suburban Chicago calling on Democrats to end the budget stalemate by using their supermajorities. Afterward, Rauner quickly exited without facing the media and Durkin instead addressed reporters’ questions.
“Sounds like Durkin was a human shield when Rauner went running out the door like a scared second grader,” Steve Brown, spokesman to Illinois House Speaker Mike Madigan, told POLITICO.
I understand that things are tense and that the stakes are truly high, but, sheesh, man.
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Unclear on the concept
Thursday, Oct 8, 2015 - Posted by Rich Miller
* New York Times…
Impatience with politics-as-usual has also led liberals to enter Democratic Senate primaries and mount more aggressive and well-financed challenges than in years past to candidates backed by the national party establishment.
In Florida, Representative Alan Grayson, a self-styled “progressive champion,” is portraying Representative Patrick Murphy, the Democratic Party’s preferred candidate for the seat being vacated by Senator Marco Rubio, as a “lightweight, empty-suit errand boy for Wall Street.” A former president of the Chicago Urban League, Andrea Zopp, is running in Illinois against the party-backed Representative Tammy Duckworth. And former Representative Joe Sestak is running as a liberal anti-establishment candidate in Pennsylvania.
Bill Daley’s candidate is lumped in with Grayson and Sestak?
That’s gotta be a first.
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Rep. Leitch won’t run again
Thursday, Oct 8, 2015 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Peoria already lost its Republican Senator, now it’s about to lose its GOP House member…
After nearly 30 years serving in Springfield, state Rep. David Leitch will retire at the end of his current term in 2017, he announced Thursday morning.
The Peoria Republican is the longest-serving GOP member of the state House, where he has served since 1989.
“It’s been the honor of my life to represent central Illinois for nearly three decades,” Leitch said in a prepared release. “I cannot thank the people of the 73rd District enough for the privilege of serving in the General Assembly.”
Among his accomplishments in office, he counts passing the first law requiring insurance coverage for mammograms, securing funding for the expansion of the Illinois Central College campus in East Peoria and arranging the acquisition of the ICC North campus in Peoria after the closure of Zeller Mental Health Center.
He worked to secure a $10 million loan to prevent the closure of Keystone Steel & Wire in Bartonville. After being repaid in full, the money was put into a fund for Peoria County to use for ongoing economic development.
The man is a class act, through and through. He also displayed great courage and supreme dignity during his life-threatening battle with cancer. He’s soft-spoken and effective and he’s going to be missed.
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Meh
Wednesday, Oct 7, 2015 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Eric Zorn admits that an extended special session probably won’t work, agrees that special sessions haven’t worked in the past to break logjams, but he wants one anyway…
A special session would “just cost more money,” said Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner, dismissing the idea when talking to reporters in Effingham on Friday. “Let’s not have a special session. Let’s just negotiate in good faith.”
Nice idea, but how’s it been working out?
The legislative leaders and the governor haven’t sat down together since May 29, according to the office of Senate President John Cullerton. And since more than 90 percent of state spending is proceeding without a budget agreement, public pressure has not yet forced serious negotiations, capitulations or compromises.
Granted that special sessions are expensive — $50,000 a day for expenses is the estimate offered by Republican leaders — and don’t have a great track record when it comes to budget negotiations (former Gov. Rod Blagojevich merely underscored his political impotence with numerous feckless demands for special sessions).
But, as noted, they’re a bargain compared with the $16.4 million a day this posturing and inaction is costing us. And they just might work. […]
If a special session wouldn’t break the logjam it would at least dramatize and lend urgency to a story that, by dint of its depressing sameness day in and day out, has fallen out of the headlines.
This is just one more “lock ‘em all in a room” demands that we tend to see during times like these.
Not to mention that coverage of an extended special session would also likely fall out of the headlines.
* For example…
Illinois Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner has said he has five big things he wants for the state of Illinois. On Aug. 25, the Illinois House of Representatives, which is lead by Democrats, brought one of the items up for a vote.
“This will provide tax relief to the people of Illinois,” explained Rep. John Bradley (D-Marion), who called the bill.
Representatives were about to vote on Rauner’s plan to freeze property taxes, something that would transform a main source of revenue for every town, city and school district in the entire state. One might think the fact that a Democrat was sponsoring one of Rauner’s ideas amidst all the infighting was a huge deal—but no.
The discussion—or lack thereof—lasted all of two minutes. The package was voted down, in flames. And the media—Illinois Public Radio included—ignored it.
Because, this had happened before. Many, many times.
Rep. Bradley called the exact same proposal July 21…and, on June 9, June 23, July 1, July 9, July 15, Aug. 5, Aug. 12 and, as noted earlier, on Aug. 25.
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Hope is not a plan
Wednesday, Oct 7, 2015 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Democratic US Senate candidate Andrea Zopp delivered a stirring speech at the the Illinois State Fair about the declining middle class, the wage disparity between “the have and have-nots.” She also said that she has a “track record of getting results.”
Greg Hinz looks at some of Zopp’s stock transactions when she was general counsel and corporate secretary at Sears…
According to U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission disclosures, Zopp’s first move came on Nov. 23, 2004—just a week after the merger [between Sears and Kmart] was announced—when she executed options to buy and immediately sold 10,000 [Sears] shares, making a $170,000 profit. A few weeks later, on Jan. 31, 2005, she did a similar deal involving 47,000 shares, making roughly a $176,000 profit.
My friends in the investment business would say that’s just taking advantage of your chances. But the problem is that Sears in 2003, when Zopp arrived at the company, laid off 40,000 workers. And tens of thousands of more layoffs came later in the wake of the merger, which like many mergers is all about making companies lean and mean so they can thrive—and make investors money.
Zopp, whose campaign website contains no mention of her corporate record and whose official biography has just one sentence about it, says her job was to be a lawyer, not to run operations, and that the stock options she received were “part of my compensation.”
She also points out—correctly—that Kmart had been in bankruptcy not long before the deal, saying that the merger “saved tens of thousands of other jobs. . . .Sears was seriously challenged at the time. We were doing a lot of things to try to turn it around.” […]
“I hope” the stock transactions and layoffs don’t become a campaign issue in the Democratic primary, she says. “I worked in the corporate world for 10 years as a senior executive. I was compensated for that.”
Zopp makes a good point about the merger, but she’s dreaming if she thinks this sort of stuff won’t be used against her in a Democratic primary campaign. It might not stick during a general, but that’s an entirely different animal than a primary.
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Forewarned is forearmed
Wednesday, Oct 7, 2015 - Posted by Rich Miller
* From an e-mail exchange today…
SUBSCRIBER: Why do you keep deleting my McCarter comments? Was it the Crazy Caucus or the “win friends and influence people” comment?
ME: I’m trying hard to tone things down. They’re getting out of hand, so even a little vitriol could be met with deletions.
SUBSCRIBER: I hear ya, but c’mon – that was pithy!
SUBSCRIBER: Seriously though, you may want to do a post about it to put everyone on notice. The Dunkin stuff definitely sent many of us the other direction.
Yes, “the Dunkin stuff” did get everybody fired up. I let much of it go for a couple of reasons: 1) He deserved it; and 2) The worst stuff was posted after I stopped monitoring comments that afternoon.
Anyway, let’s all calm down a bit.
Thanks.
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McCarter announces
Wednesday, Oct 7, 2015 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Press release…
Kyle McCarter announces campaign for Congress Securing Freedom, Liberty and Opportunity for the Future
Lebanon, IL – Saying it’s time for new leadership to restore, renew and recapture the bright promise of America, State Senator Kyle McCarter of Lebanon announced Wednesday his intention to run for the U.S. House of Representatives, representing the 15th District of Illinois.
“This is a very conservative district that believes we should protect life; that believes in the Second Amendment, and believes in limited government and free market principles of economic opportunity for all,” said McCarter. “Ronald Reagan described the heart of American conservatism as, ‘The common sense and common decency of ordinary men and women, working out their own lives in their own way.’ That’s also the heart of the 15th District.”
McCarter, who has served in the Illinois Senate since 2009, said the promise of America has been undermined in recent years by policies and practices that fight against and undermine traditional values. He said it’s time to turn around Washington.
“What we have witnessed in recent years is not how our country was designed to work,” said McCarter. “The burdens of government have grown ̧ in spite of the opposition by a majority of Americans. The federal government has imposed thousands of new rules and regulations, and billions of dollars in new taxes. It has overstepped its bounds and has done so without our consent. Of all the places in Illinois, the place that should have the loudest, strongest voice in Washington is the 15th District, but I don’t see that happening. Respectively, 20 years is enough. It’s time that someone like myself step up and really defend the people of this district.”
McCarter likened the challenging of a long-time incumbent in the race to David versus Goliath, but he said a tough campaign is worth the struggle because the end result will be good for families and communities, and good for businesses and the economy.
“If the last 8 years have showed us anything, it’s showed us we need new blood in Washington,” said McCarter. “We need to ‘Turnaround Washington.’ We need people who think differently, who haven’t given up on the traditional American principles and qualities that made our nation great. We need leaders with energy who are not in Washington to make a career of the Capital, but who are working to improve the lives of citizens today, and to secure a bright, promising and hopeful future for generations to come.”
McCarter said Freedom and Liberty for today and tomorrow includes vigilance and perseverance.
“Unlike what has been happening in recent years, I refuse to compromise on Freedom and Liberty, said McCarter. “We need to return to the traditional American principles that are the bedrock foundation upon which our nation was built.”
McCarter said the nation’s founding documents give the people unique power and authority because the Freedom and Liberty the documents detail are recognized as coming from the “Creator.” McCarter said rights come from God; they are not given to us by the government, which means the people are in charge of their destiny, not a group of individuals in Washington D.C.
“If you feel you have been ignored by Washington; if you feel no one has been fighting for you or will give voice to your concerns and hopes for the future, then walk with me and run with me to win this race,” said McCarter.
Illinois’ 15th Congressional District is comprised of all or parts of 33 counties: Bond, Champaign, Clark, Clay, Clinton, Coles, Crawford, Cumberland, Douglas, Edgar, Edwards, Effingham, Fayette, Ford, Gallatin, Hamilton, Hardin, Jasper, Johnson, Lawrence, Madison, Marion, Massac, Moultrie, Pope, Richland, Saline, Shelby, Vermillion, Wabash, Washington, Wayne and White.
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Claypool’s alleged weakness: Ignorance
Wednesday, Oct 7, 2015 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Forrest Claypool received wide plaudits from editorial boards and pundits when he was appointed to run the Chicago Public Schools, but Chicago Teachers Union President Karen Lewis, who has recovered from cancer and is running for another term, points out Claypool’s greatest weakness to the Sun-Times…
Asked how Claypool is faring as CEO, Lewis said, “I think he’s a technocrat. And I think he’s making huge errors. I think he’s alienating a lot of people.” […]
Lewis said she has talked to Claypool and his chief education officer, Janice Jackson, but “much less” than she did with the former CEO, Barbara Byrd-Bennett, who was about Lewis’ age and had spent years in the classroom.
“I don’t have that much to talk to him about ’cause he doesn’t know anything about education,” she said.
I wish they’d followed up on his alleged errors and how he’s alienating people, but the point about not knowing anything about education is something that nobody really talked about when he got the top CPS job.
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The Credit Union Difference
Wednesday, Oct 7, 2015 - Posted by Advertising Department
[The following is a paid advertisement.]
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Geneseo threatens to cut off state utilities
Wednesday, Oct 7, 2015 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Because of the impasse, local governments aren’t getting their state motor fuel tax money, their video gaming cut, their salary, infrastructure and social service reimbursements, etc. So I’m actually a little surprised we haven’t seen more stories like this one…
Geneseo officials want to treat the state of Illinois similar to any other deadbeat customer and cut off water, sewer and electric service.
The city is waiting for $837.29 in water, sewer and electric payments for service to the state highway maintenance yard as well as $327.49 for street lights at the intersection of Interstate Route 80 and Illinois Route 82. “We have put them on notice by e-mail to Rep. (Donald) Moffitt. We let him know we’re considering treating them like everybody else,” said city administrator Lisa Kotter.
Her e-mail was sent Sept. 23. “We’re giving them an opportunity to respond,” said Ms. Kotter.
The kerfuffle over utility bills is but one minor aspect of the problems rolling over Henry County and the rest of the state as Gov. Bruce Rauner and legislators prove unable to pass a budget and appropriate money.
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Our rapidly fraying social infrastructure
Wednesday, Oct 7, 2015 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Finke…
Chante Morrison of Galesburg was a working single mother of two daughters when she applied for the state’s subsidized day care program in July.
Morrison, who said she earned about $10 an hour, then learned that the state had changed eligibility criteria for the program and that she earned too much money to qualify.
“I was denied child-care assistance I so desperately needed,” Morrison said at a hearing at the Capitol Tuesday morning. “Soon after that, I lost my job because I couldn’t find affordable day care.”
Morrison was one of more than two dozen people who testified Tuesday against changes in the state’s subsidized day care program imposed by Gov. Bruce Rauner’s administration. The changes, which require recipients to earn far less than before to qualify, will make the program inaccessible to 90 percent of those now eligible, opponents contend. For example, a single parent with one child used to qualify with up to $2,400 a month in income. Now the limit is about $660. Co-payments have also increased. […]
Sessy Nyman of Illinois Action for Children said the impact of the changes have become evident. Applications are down 50 percent from a year ago, and caseloads are down by 9 percent after a month. According to a survey conducted by the organization, 21 percent of parents had to turn down a job or quit a job because they could not get the subsidized day care.
* Erickson…
Since the rule went into effect, day care owners say they have had to turn away dozens of families seeking day care for their children.
Dawn Meyer, owner of 17 Rogy’s Learning Centers in central Illinois and the Chicago area, said she allowed 163 children who previously used the subsidy to stay enrolled even though her company is no longer receiving money for the subsidy from the state.
“We wanted to keep these families working,” Meyer said.
But, she said she is no longer accepting families who would have qualified under the old guidelines, and she has laid off 31 teachers because of the drop in the number of children being served,
Ugh.
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Rate Uber’s new radio ad
Wednesday, Oct 7, 2015 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Politico…
Uber is trying to make its case for expanding in Chicago through new radio ads that trumpet its availability in underserved parts of the city.
The ad, provided to POLITICO Illinois, doesn’t focus on Uber’s biggest battle right now – getting a City Council OK to pick up at city airports.
The ad instead urges residents living in rougher neighborhoods to lean on their aldermen to give the rideshare company broader reach in the city. The company says its Uber X takes an average of five minutes to reach the west and south sides. […]
The ad is already airing on stations like WGCI and WVON, which have greater percentages of minority listeners. […]
The Chicago ad says, “Think about this. When’s the last time you saw a taxi cab in your neighborhood? And have you ever had an empty cab pass you by? And how does that make you feel? People assume that there isn’t much we can do about it. But we can. We don’t have to put up with that any more. With your phone, you can download an app that puts you in charge … Next time you see your alderman, tell them you support Uber’s efforts to bring reliable rides everywhere in this city to everyone.”
* Rate it…
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