“What we tried to do is incorporate the ideas of all the various leaders to create an opportunity for significant cost-savings in the pension systems throughout the state of Illinois,” Rauner said. […]
“President Cullerton recognizes that the governor is accepting of many of the principles he’s outlined but the specifics that the governor is advancing is faraway from policies that Cullerton could support,” said Cullerton spokeswoman Rikeesha Phelon. “To simply co-opt language that the Senate President has used and call that negotiation, really does change the definition of negotiation and compromise. You can’t simply co-opt language and pay lip service to someone’s leadership and call that a negotiation.”
Frank Shuftan, spokesman for Preckwinkle, said she has received a copy of the proposal and is analyzing it. But she, too, didn’t have “any direct input into formulation of this particular proposal,” Shuftan said.
Preckwinkle is standing by her bill, which is “designed to resolve the county’s actuarial shortfall and put the pension fund on a road to long-term sustainable solvency,” Shuftan said.
A new group has formed to push for policies in Springfield favorable to the medical marijuana industry with a well-connected former Illinois Department of Agriculture employee as its top lobbyist.
Bresha Brewer stopped being a state worker just ahead of new ethics rules imposed by Gov. Bruce Rauner that would have prevented her from immediately going into lobbying and becoming part of a “revolving door” of former state employees who leave to become lobbyists. Brewer is now executive director of the Medical Cannabis Alliance of Illinois, which launched this week. […]
The alliance represents 39 companies — the bulk of the businesses that hold state permits to grow and sell marijuana in a pilot program that expires after 2017. Extending the program’s end date, or preferably achieving its permanence, will be one of Brewer’s most urgent objectives.
As executive director, she brings fresh insider knowledge, nearly 15 years of state government experience and a long list of connections. Brewer has worked for several state agencies as a legislative liaison, most recently for the agriculture department, which regulates marijuana growers.
Who knew that Bresha was so “connected”?
Plus, conveniently not mentioned anywhere in the AP story is that the Inspector General’s office had to sign off on her new job. It’s not like she just walked out the door and walked over to the pot industry. Also not mentioned is the governor’s edict that all lobbyists must first ask Rauner’s policy office for permission to talk to anybody at a state agency.
I’ve known Bresha for years. She knows just about everybody, but “connected” is not a word I would use to describe her.
And ain’t it a good thing that the marijuana folks chose somebody who knows what the heck they’re doing in Springfield?
This could’ve been a much better story without all the slimy insinuations. And the reporter even missed the fact that the group’s spokesperson is the wife of a Republican state legislator. Oh, such opportunities lost!
…Adding… I forgot that Bresha was a Golden Horseshoe Award winner back in 2012…
It seems like Bresha has been a liaison for just about every agency. She’s easy to work with, has great connections and a good sense of humor.
* House Speaker Michael Madigan has often said that many parts of Gov. Bruce Rauner’s “Turnaround Agenda” go against the “core beliefs” of Democratic and many Republican legislators.
Rauner finally addressed this today. It’s something I’ve written about before, but it needed to be said…
“I don’t like taxes, period, I don’t like to ever raise taxes. I’m willing to do it as part of reform,” Rauner said. “I’m willing to do something that goes against my core beliefs, I can ask the folks on the other side of the aisle to vote for some things they’d rather not.”
That makes sense. But it doesn’t likely get us closer to a deal, mainly because of this line…
“Speaker Madigan needs to make a decision,” Rauner said. “(Are you) going to support reforms or support a tax hike? It’s one or the other.”
Yep. It has become one or the other. Madigan chose a tax hike. And therein lies the fundamental problem.
Many people have questions about what they can expect as the state begins the new fiscal year without a budget. We’ve put together this infographic explaining which state operations will continue with or without a state budget in place.
Their infographic…
* From Emily Miller at Voices for Illinois Children…
The IL Senate GOP created a fairly misleading infographic about the budget crisis and posted it to Facebook yesterday.
It downplays the very clear impact this crisis is already having, and is about to have, on middle class Illinois families.
Gov. Bruce Rauner on Wednesday announced his administration was making public a massive pension reform bill that encompasses issues involving the City of Chicago and Cook County as well as Downstate.
The reform proposal, he said, could save the City of Chicago billions of dollars every year.
Rauner said the more than 500-page pension reform bill includes changes to Chicago’s fire and police pension plans as well as to the Chicago Teachers pension. He said it also included suggestions from Senate President John Cullerton about cost of living increases as well as suggestions from Cook County President Toni Preckwinkle.
Rauner said he’s worked with Mayor Rahm Emanuel, Cullerton and Preckwinkle to come up with the legislative language. He said Preckwinkle told him that she wouldn’t need to raise taxes in Cook County if Springfield steps up on pension reform. […]
“The Senate President has spent time with the Governor discussing a constitutional model for comprehensive pension reform,” said Cullerton spokeswoman Rikeesha Phelon. “The governor’s recognition of the Cullerton model is encouraging, but we will have to review the details of the Governor’s new proposal.”
OK, wait. He plopped down a 500-page bill in front of reporters before discussing the details with the Senate President or his top staff?
That’s not how you win passage of legislation, it’s how you win the daily news cycle.
There are similarities between governing and campaigning, but there are also big differences.
The next general election is over a year away. Less worrying about the next campaign, please, and lots more governing instead.
Rauner’s proposal incorporates the benefit-cutting plan offered by Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle, which she says could help save the county enough money to avoid a sales tax hike.
Rauner’s newest plan would also nod toward suburban mayors, who have called for pension changes for years to help reduce retirement costs for police officers and firefighters. Under Rauner’s plan, they would have to choose between two options: Smaller yearly pension increases in retirement or basing their eventual pension payout on today’s salary rather than on future raises.
Teachers would be offered the same deal under Rauner’s plan. In the past, Illinois Senate President John Cullerton has argued it would be constitutional to change employees’ pension benefits if they were offered something in return.
Union leaders aren’t likely to agree with the latest proposal.
The bill would also give Illinois’ local governments a route to Chapter 9 municipal bankruptcy following an evaluation by a third party or the declaration of a fiscal emergency.
Says mayoral spokeswoman Kelley Quinn in a statement: “While we are encouraged that the governor has incorporated elements of both the city and Chicago Public Schools agenda, some of these items have already been adopted by the General Assembly, including pensions for both police and fire.”
Translation: Kindly don’t hold our police/fire pension bill hostage to this other stuff governor. Kindly sign the bill now on your desk.
Chicago taxpayers would still be on the hook for $619 million in payments to the two funds next year — more than double the current payment. But that’s still $219 million less than the city would have been forced to pay and an $843 million break over the next five years.
Rauner’s offer also includes the elusive, city-owned Chicago casino with all of the revenues devoted exclusively to shoring up police and fire pensions. That could minimize the need for a massive, post-election property tax increase in Chicago.
One week after Emanuel used a toxic mix of borrowing and budget cuts to make a $634 million payment to the Chicago Teachers Pension Fund, Rauner is offering a partial solution to the $9.5 billion teacher pension crisis.
He’s offering to pick up the “normal cost” of teacher pensions and help CPS with the hefty price tag for “defraying health insurance contributions,” but only for fiscal years 2016 and 2017.
The deal is contingent on Chicago teachers accepting the equivalent of a 7 percent pay cut by absorbing the “pension pick-up” that CPS agreed to make years ago in lieu of a pay raise. Teachers currently contribute just 2 percent to their own pensions.
* After promising yet again that state employees would be paid during the shutdown, the governor was asked today why he didn’t just use his line item veto powers on the appropriations bills and spare employee salaries in the first place. Here’s his reply…
That budget was $4 billion in the hole. And, and, to, to go through … we need major changes in that budget, um, and to go through line item veto doesn’t make sense.
He then said it would be “very easy right now” to pass a continuing appropriation for state employee pay.
In the first full quarter since announcing her campaign for U.S. Senate, Democrat Tammy Duckworth raised over $1.2 million. This amount exceeds Senator Mark Kirk’s first full quarter of 2016; in April, Kirk announced he had raised just over $1 million in the first quarter. Duckworth announced her campaign for Senate at the end of March, and thus far has raised more than $1.7 million this cycle. The campaign has $2.2 million on hand.
“Tammy’s vision for a stronger Illinois that looks after its citizens and honors the service and sacrifice of everyday heroes — be they Veterans, working moms, or middle-class families looking to get ahead — is clearly resonating,” Tammy for Illinois campaign manager Kaitlin Fahey said. “It’s especially gratifying to see how many grassroots contributions and repeating small-dollar contributions we’ve received. This is a campaign that will be powered by the everyday Illinoisans Tammy aims to serve.”
Some key highlights from the report, which will be filed with the Senate Office of Public Records and Federal Elections Commission within a week:
The campaign received over 12,700 individual contributions
Of those contributions, 94.7 percent were $100 or less, and the median individual contribution was $25
More than 90 percent of the campaign’s $2.2 million cash-on-hand balance can be spent at any time, at the campaign’s discretion. In other words, the campaign has more than $2 million at its disposal to spend toward a primary or general election.
The Illinois Senate race is consistently ranked as the top race in the country, and Senator Kirk is routinely listed as the most vulnerable Senate incumbent. Nevertheless, Kirk’s $1 million raised during the first quarter ranked last among the five most vulnerable Republican incumbents: Sens. Portman (OH), $2.3 million; Toomey (PA), $2 million; Johnson (WI), $1.3 million; and Ayotte (NH), $1.2 million.
*** UPDATE *** From the Kirk campaign…
Kirk raised $1.35 million this quarter with $3.2 million cash-on-hand. This is Senator Kirk’s single largest fundraising quarter since being elected to the Senate.
Duckworth is finishing last right now among Senate Democrat candidates
Russ Feingold (WI) raised $2 million.
Fellow Rep. Chris Van Hollen (MD) raised $1.5 million
Fellow Rep. Patrick Murphy (FL) raised $1.4 million
* Our great pals at BlueRoomStream have us covered on the video angle. Click here to watch it live. The governor’s press conference is scheduled to begin this afternoon at 12:30.
— Kristen McQueary (@StatehouseChick) July 5, 2015
Greece’s government debt as a percentage of GDP: 175.1 percent
Puerto Rico’s government debt as a percentage of GDP: 150 percent
* OK, now take the absolute worst case bookkeeping scenario on Illinois’ debts…
(T)he unfunded pension liability, which totaled $275 billion on a guaranteed basis, plus a further $33 billion in bonded indebtedness and $34 billion in unfunded other postemployment benefits (OPEB)
That “guaranteed basis” will have to be paid in full only if there are very low capital gains on pension fund investments. Some ultra-conservatives have been leading the way on this particular pension debt measure and there is a very hot debate over whether their forecasts are accurate.
But, even though I disagree with that estimate, add it all up anyway and you wind up with a worst case scenario of $342 billion in total debt.
So, worst case scenario, Illinois’ debt is 46 percent of GDP.
That’s really bad. But not Grecian bad.
But it’s exactly why we need some economic growth, folks. Disagree with how he wants to get us there if you will, but the governor’s absolutely right that we have to try to grow out of this problem.
And we sure as heck won’t get there with extremist austerity measures. We’ve all seen what that did to Greece.
Illinois law requires each municipality to pass annual prevailing wage ordinances setting out the union pay rate for the area, as established by the department of labor, which will be the base rate for work contracted out for many projects.
At Monday’s village council meeting trustees in Port Byron(Quad Cities) said no and voted down their prevailing wage ordinance.
“If we don’t pass it, what then?” trustee Brian Bitler asked.
Mayor Kevin Klute said he wasn’t sure. […]
An audience member said the village may soon see protesters, which Mr. Bitler said would amount to “union bullying.”
“I can’t just let that pass,” Mr. Wells said in response. “People do have the right to make a living wage.”
* A union protest of sorts did happen. From Illinois Review…
Some union thugs over the long Independence Day weekend decided to pass out flyers in downtown Port Byron,IL that threatened and sought to intimidate local businesses all because the Port Byron city council voted against a prevailing wage resolution last month. […]
Quad Cities area union members said in the flyer that they wanted, “Alltradespeople, our friends and business partners to not patronize Port Byron businesses.” Because the council voted against a prevailing wage resolution. Prevailing wage forces governmental units to pay the prevailing, i.e union wage, for construction, road and other projects thus needlessly driving up the cost of projects.
The union flyer also says that it is “disgraceful” that Port Byron’s elected officials, “Do not recognize the economic value that construction trades and their families bring to your community.”
“I find it despicable for them to go into town and threaten to take money out of the pockets of our local businesses so they can further an agenda,” Klute told News 8.
“Maybe you have a conversation with us first before we start handing pamphlets in downtown Port Byron threatening to take the livelihood from our businesses,” Klute added.
OK, but maybe the other side of the coin is you should talk to your union residents before you refuse to approve your local prevailing wage rate.
*** UPDATE *** The pressure apparently worked. With a grateful hat tip to a commenter…
Village board members Monday passed the state-mandated prevailing wage agreement, but added a statement of protest seeking local control of labor costs.
* My jaw dropped when I read this quote from Sheriff Tom Dart the other day in Crain’s…
Since late May, Dart says his office has been sending as many as 150 uniformed personnel a day into high-crime city neighborhoods, concentrating on the 11th and 15th districts on the West Side and the 7th District on the South Side. A fair amount of the routine stuff is involved, but the bigger idea is to create “a heightened police presence,” Dart says.
The office made a similar effort the past two years, Dart says, for instance seizing 112 guns, making 522 arrests and doing 862 home-monitoring checks last year. Last summer’s effort ran six weeks and involved no more than 100 officers at a time. But, the sheriff told me, “This sort of concerted operation is different. It’s the kind of thing we do in Harvey,” a south suburb known for high crime and little ability to do anything about it. Street patrols “absolutely” are part of what his folks are doing, Dart says.
Did the sheriff first vet his idea with Mayor Rahm Emanuel or CPD Superintendent Garry McCarthy?
“We probably haven’t spoken for four years,” Dart answered, referring to Emanuel, who he seriously considered running against for mayor in 2011. And he and McCarthy don’t talk much either. So, “We run the numbers and then call the (CPD district) commander in the area, and my commander meets with him. . . . The whole intention is suppressing crime.”
Cook County’s top law enforcement official and Chicago’s powerful mayor, though they both likely wake up every morning and ask themselves what can be done to curb gun violence, haven’t talked about it in years. […]
Chicago needs the help. Just Tuesday afternoon, a man was shot and critically wounded in South Shore, near where after another person was shot and killed Tuesday morning and near where one teen was shot and killed and another teen was seriously wounded Monday. Over the Fourth of July weekend, shootings left 10 dead and 53 injured.
But if our elected leaders are serious about ending the bloodshed, it might help if they worked together, closely and for real.
Gun runners don’t stop at municipal and county boundaries. Neither should county sheriffs and mayors.
This is just a ridiculously stupid situation. The city should be doing everything it can to work with Dart. Stop with the turf wars and the political grudges, already.
“This entire situation has been caused by the failure of the Governor and the Legislature to enact a budget,” [Attorney General Lisa Madigan] said in a written statement that emphasized she “absolutely” wants state employees to be paid.
She’s absolutely correct about that, although it’s hard to believably play the role of the neutral third party when your father is the leader of the party Rauner says is responsible for Springfield’s dysfunction.
It is somewhat curious Madigan took a different position in 2007 when a full house of Democratic officials was responsible for that year’s budget standoff, with the attorney general agreeing to allow then-comptroller Dan Hynes to keep paying state employees.
Madigan’s lawyers argued the difference is that all parties were very close to a budget agreement that year, while there’s no deal in sight this time. Hmmm, usually close doesn’t count.
Republican Rep. Raymond Poe, whose district covers Springfield, the seat of state government, says he’s wary of the Cook County judge’s decision. Poe goes back to 2007, when Illinois had a Democratic governor and Illinois was without a budget. A court then allowed all state employees to be paid.
“Seems like we got a different governor, so seems like we don’t want to do that for him,” Poe says. “I hate to say it, but almost sounds like politics, doesn’t it?”
* She did, indeed, take a different position in 2007. But the judge told her that his order did not set a precedent and warned her never to come back again.
So, in 2009 when unions filed a lawsuit to force payment of their wages during yet another protracted budget battle, AG Madigan opposed them with pretty much the very same arguments she’s using now.
And then in 2012, when AFSCME sued because the General Assembly didn’t appropriate enough money to fund payroll, AG Madigan again used the same arguments that she’s using now.
There will always be grand conspiracy notions when it comes to the Madigan family business. But, in this case, the simplest explanation seems to be the most fitting. After having been rebuked by that county judge in 2007, she’s been pretty consistent.
…Adding… Here’s an edited version of something I posted in comments that may help explain this more fully…
In 2007, Speaker Madigan was in an overtime battle to the death with Rod Blagojevich. AG Madigan sided with the governor on a one-time, one-off deal because the state didn’t have its act together on the Fair Labor Standards Act requirements. It would’ve taken months to get that paperwork done, and with a budget agreement in sight, a one-off dealio seemed appropriate.
In 2009, CMS and the comptroller still didn’t have their acts together on FLSA and she said that’s your problem now and opposed paying state workers.
In 2015, CMS and the comptroller still don’t have their act together on FLSA and are making the very same arguments about how it’ll just take too long.
* If you click here and scroll down to the last page, you’ll see a long list of consent decrees covered yesterday under Cook County Judge Dianne Larsen’s ruling that bars the state from paying employees, but allows it to pay other bills.
There’s a whole lot of stuff on there, from the Child Care Assistance Program to a program for adults with developmental disabilities, to the Department on Aging’s Community Care Program.
Greg Hinz wanted to know just how big this was, and whether the one-month “essentials” budget was really needed…
[Speaker Madigan’s spokesman Steve Brown] acknowledged that there is some overlap between the essentials budget and programs that already are protected under the consent decrees Judge Larsen mentioned. But how many?
According to Judith Gethner, executive director of Illinois Partners, a trade group for social-services providers, perhaps only a third or so of her members are covered and will get paid on time. Some clearly are not covered, she said, such as after-school programs. The state “still needs” either a full or a short-term budget, she said.
Gethner also told me that another cut announced by Rauner—an increase in eligibility standards for some senior and disabled programs—will require federal approval. But paperwork seeking permission hasn’t even been filed yet.
That particular cut was announced during one of the governor’s two rounds of $400 million budget slashes - which Rauner never actually put into line item vetoes.
* Attorney General Lisa Madigan’s motion to dismiss the lawsuit filed by AFSCME and several other unions in St. Clair County is worth a look. The unions claim their collective bargaining agreements require that employees be paid.
First, she argues that there are lots of precedents for moving this case to the Court of Claims, where she says it rightfully belongs…
Pursuant to § 2-619(a)(1) (735 ILCS 5/2-619(a)(1) (2012)), plaintiffs’ complaint should be dismissed because their claim founded upon their contracts with the State is barred by sovereign immunity and therefore this Court lacks jurisdiction over that claim.
You can read her memorandum of law, which contains all the details and precedents, by clicking here.
* There is, Madigan says, another reason for kicking this case out the door: There’s another case being heard in Cook County…
Pursuant to § 2-619(a)(3) (735 ILCS 5/2-619(a)(3) (2012)), plaintiffs’ complaint should be dismissed because there is a prior-filed action pending in the Circuit Court of Cook County, case no. 15 CH 10243, which raises the issue of whether the Comptroller may authorize payment of state employees in the absence of a budget. The public labor unions intervened in that lawsuit before they filed the instant action.
Pursuant to § 2-615 (735 ILCS 5/2-615 (2012)), plaintiffs’ complaint should be dismissed for failure to state a claim because an impairment of contracts claim under the Illinois Constitution requires a legislative enactment, but here plaintiffs complain only of the legislature’s failure to pass a budget. Additionally, an impairment of contracts claim may not be used as a substitute for a breach of contract action, but a breach of contract is all plaintiffs assert.
(T)he court has “rejected the notion that a breach of contract alone is enough to constitute a constitutional impairment of a contractual obligation.” Council 31, AFSCME v. Quinn, 680 F.3d 875, 885 (7th Cir. 2012).
In Quinn, the court rejected the argument that the legislature unconstitutionally impairs the obligations of a contract when it fails to appropriate funds sufficient to the State to meet its contractual obligations to its employees. Id. at 885-86. Because plaintiffs cannot turn their ordinary breach-of- contract claim into a constitutional claim, their complaint should be dismissed pursuant to § 2-615.
Attribute the following statement to Tim Schneider, Chairman of the Illinois Republican Party:
“I would like to congratulate State Senator Darin LaHood (R-Dunlap) on his primary election victory.
Voters of the 18th Congressional District have chosen a consistent, conservative leader for Central Illinois and Western Illinois. Darin LaHood will fight to pass term limits, rein in the national debt, repeal & replace Obamacare, and ensure transparency in government.
The Illinois Republican Party will work hard over the next two months to ensure that Darin LaHood is Illinois’ next Congressman.”
National Republican Congressional Committee Chairman Greg Walden issued the following statement on Darin LaHood’s victory tonight in the Illinois 18th Congressional District’s special primary election.
“Congratulations to Darin LaHood on his well-earned victory this evening. Just as he did in the state of Illinois, Darin will stand up for Illinois families and fight to create jobs, balance the budget and strengthen our economy. I’m confident that Darin will continue to run a strong campaign in the general election so he can serve the families of Illinois’ 18th District in Congress.”
State Sen. Darin LaHood easily won his party’s nomination in the 18th Congressional District special Republican primary election, according to early, partial results.
As of 8:55 p.m. Tuesday, the Peorian was leading in limited returns, with 22,672 votes, or 69 percent of the vote. Next in line was political writer Mike Flynn, a Quincy native, with 9,424 or 29 percent of the vote.
* From the same guy who vetoed their salaries in the first place…
From: Governor Bruce Rauner
Date: July 7, 2015 at 4:59:47 PM CDT
To: xxxxx.SendAll@illinois.gov
Subject: A Message from Governor Bruce Rauner
Reply-To: no Reply@All
Good afternoon:
I want to update you on our latest efforts to do all we can to ensure you are paid in full and in a timely fashion for the work you do on behalf of the people of Illinois.
This morning a Cook County judge issued a ruling barring the Comptroller from paying all state employees full wages. Instead, the judge ruled that only some employees can be paid the federal minimum wage. Due to the state’s antiquated payroll systems, the Comptroller said she is unable to differentiate state employees in order to pay some the minimum wage. As a result, under this court’s ruling, no state employees would be paid.
Our administration is doing everything in our power to make sure that doesn’t happen.
We’ve just filed an expedited appeal in the First District Appellate Court seeking to overturn today’s order.
Additionally, our Administration is currently drafting legislation that will make state employee pay a continuing appropriation for the fiscal year, guaranteeing you get paid. Legislators are already guaranteed their pay this month under continuing appropriations - you should be too. The legislation will be introduced by Leader Durkin and Leader Radogno as soon as it is ready.
Additionally, a separate legal effort filed in St. Clair County is ongoing, and we expect movement on that case later in the week.
I know these are very challenging times. On behalf of all the people of Illinois, thank you for your continued service. Our administration will continue to update you as this issue progresses.
* From Lance Trover on the Senate-passed one-month budget…
The unbalanced one-month budget does not provide full-pay for all state employees, and the governor has been clear that an out-of-balance one month budget is the same as an out-of-balance 12-month budget.
Last year the General Assembly passed a law to guarantee their salaries are paid with or without a state budget.
As a matter of fairness, the governor would support a similar continuing appropriations for this fiscal year for all state employees.
All of a sudden he’s Mother Jones.
*** UPDATE 1 *** I asked Speaker Madigan’s spokesman Steve Brown for a comment.
“The real solution is have a budget… and not non-budget issues,” he said.
“The continuing appropriation was designed to protect different groups from political shenanigans, as we’ve seen with previous governors and we’ve sort of seen suggested with this governor,” Brown added, a clear reference to Pat Quinn vetoing legislator salaries and Gov. Rauner vetoing legislative pay raises.
“But aren’t state workers being subjected to ‘political shenanigans’?” I asked.
“That could come to a halt quickly if you just pass a budget,” Brown said. “The better way to do it is have a full budget approved for Fiscal Year 16.”
Brown also suggested that Gov. Rauner could’ve avoided this problem by not vetoing state worker salaries from the budget to begin with.
That’s a fair point.
*** UPDATE 2 *** From Senate President John Cullerton’s spokesperson Rikeesha Phelon…
The policy is worth reviewing. That said the administration is asking the public to dismiss the fact that they chose a shutdown. The words are nice but the actions tell a different story.
*** UPDATE 3 *** From Leader Durkin’s office…
Dear Speaker Madigan,
Tomorrow will be our sixth week since our scheduled adjournment without an enacted budget. During that time little progress has been made, and we are no closer to a solution than we were on May 31st. An enacted budget requires fairness to the taxpayers and our job creators.
Twelve years of reckless spending by the Democrat majority has produced nothing more than record deficits and one of the highest rates of unemployment in the country. Illinois currently has the 13th highest unemployment rate, while nationally ranking 29th in job creation and 42nd in wage growth.
I continue to believe, as do a great a majority of Illinoisans, that we cannot tax our way out of Illinois’ fiscal mess. Our budget solutions cannot be devoid of reform. To grow our economy and balance the budget, we must enact job-creating reforms that yield higher revenues while also reducing government spending.
This week, the Democrat majority will likely attempt to pass a short term budget that, according to the Illinois Office of Management and Budget, would put the state on a course to spend $4 Billion more than it can afford. Accordingly, I respectfully request that you hold an accompanying roll call vote on legislation that would raise taxes for Fiscal Year 2016 by $4 Billion to satisfy your caucus’ spending desires.
While our caucus will oppose both measures, if no such vote on a tax increase occurs or if such legislation fails to pass, we will all have a clear indication that rank-and-file members of your caucus agree with Governor Rauner that reform is necessary before revenue is even considered.
* I went to the Saturday and Sunday Grateful Dead shows. Awesome music, incredible times. I teared up more than I’m willing to admit, and I smiled the rest of the time.
Big, big thanks to the Chicago Police Department for hanging back and being cool…
Chicago police had not been notified of any arrests in connection with the weekend concerts, a police representative said Monday morning.
Imagine that. 200,000 attendees over three days and not a single arrest, even though a constantly noticeable, um, greenish odor was in the air throughout.
Just legalize it already.
* The concerts brought in fans from all over the country. Several Deadheads I spoke with had never been to the city before, and, without exception, they all said they loved it (I did have to inform some of them, however, that the cops might not always be so cool about smoking weed on Michigan Ave. once the shows were finally over) .
That band did Chicago an amazing favor by choosing to end their run at Soldier Field. I hope the city can build on the weekend’s good will.
* I attended the Sunday show with IMA poobah Greg Baise and his son. Believe it or not, Greg went to his first Dead show in 1971 at the Fox Theater. He’s been talking about the “Fare Thee Well” shows since the moment they were announced and, man, did he ever have a good time (and, for the record, I did witness him politely refuse something which might have emitted a greenish odor).
Baise wore a t-shirt he bought at an “alternative” type of store in Asheville, NC. He was awfully proud of it. And then we spotted a guy a few rows down wearing the exact same shirt. I asked the man to pose for a pic…
“Mike Flynn is the kind of courageous conservative we need in Washington,” Cruz said in a statement Monday. “When Andrew Breitbart launched BigGovernment.com to expose ACORN and fight back against the institutional left and the political class, he chose Mike Flynn as his lieutenant. For 6 years, Flynn helped expose the media’s lies and led many fights against the Obama Administration and Washington’s entrenched political establishment.”
“I’m happy to endorse his campaign for Congress. With Flynn, Central Illinois will have a strong voice to uphold the constitution, defend the 2nd Amendment and stand up to the media and political elite,” Cruz said.
Cruz, who has been noted as a maverick among Republican establishment ranks, lines up with national conservative political pundit John Fund, Erick Erickson and Dana Loesch. He’s also been backed by Congressman Louie Gohmert of Texas.
The primary election is today, so Cruz is a little late to the party.
* You gotta wonder if the Rauner folks will appeal. Stay tuned…
A Cook County judge has ruled Illinois may not continue to pay state workers in full during an ongoing budget impasse.
Judge Diane Joan Larsen ruled Tuesday that Illinois Comptroller Leslie Munger may pay only some workers who are covered under a federal law. Those workers would receive federal minimum wage plus overtime.
But attorneys for Munger say it would take the state as long as a year to determine which employees would be paid under federal law and how much.
They say that effectively means no workers will be paid until Gov. Bruce Rauner and Democrats who control the Legislature approve a budget.
Defendant [Comptroller Munger] is enjoined, in the absence of enacted appropriations legislation, from processing vouchers for payment of state employee payroll except vouchers that comply only with the minimum federal minimum wage and overtime requirements of the federal Fair Labor Standards Act.
The agreed order, which lists everything that can be paid, is here.
*** UPDATE 2 *** Press release…
AFSCME Council 31 executive director Roberta Lynch issued this statement in response to the July 7 decision of Cook County Circuit Court judge Diane Larsen that, in the absence of a state spending plan for Fiscal Year 2016, Illinois state employees should be paid in accordance with the federal Fair Labor Standards Act (only minimum wage and applicable overtime) or not paid at all:
“Public service workers in state government are on the job despite the lack of a state budget for the fiscal year that started July 1. Throughout Illinois they are keeping their communities safe, protecting kids, caring for veterans and people with disabilities, and providing countless other vital public services – and they should be paid for their work on time and in full. We are disappointed by the Cook County judge’s decision to the contrary, and we intend to appeal it.
“In addition, AFSCME and other unions representing state employees have filed a separate case on an impairment of contract claim in St. Clair County, and we hope to appear before a judge in that proceeding this week.”
As we’ve seen time and again, the higher you go in the judicial branch, the closer to the actual Constitution you get. I wouldn’t bet on the success of any appeal.
“The court’s decision is constrained by the Illinois constitution,” [Judge Larsen] said.
But Larsen said the constitution allows for a “narrow” exception, giving the state comptroller’s office the authority to temporarily cut checks, paying minimum wage and overtime — under the federal Federal Fair Labor Standards Act. […]
“Their position, unfortunately, will result in no one getting paid,” said David Gustman, an attorney representing the comptroller’s office. […]
“We’re not here to represent the desired choice, we’re here to represent the required choice,” said Brett Legner, a lawyer representing the attorney general’s office, adding: “We’re not here without sympathy, we’re not here because we want to be.”
*** UPDATE 4 *** Lance Trover…
“The governor believes state workers should be paid in full. He has asked CMS to explore all of its legal options, including seeking an expedited appeal of this order or other emergency relief to ensure that employees are paid and critical state services are not disrupted.”
*** UPDATE 5 *** Attorney General Lisa Madigan…
This entire situation has been caused by the failure of the Governor and the Legislature to enact a budget.
The Attorney General has been fighting to make sure that the State can legally provide critical government services to the people most in need of them.
The court’s order authorizes only payments that can be made legally without a budget, for example, services for children in the foster care system, low-income families who cannot afford to pay for groceries, and mentally and physically disabled individuals who need residential support. By doing this, the order ensures individuals who are dependent on these critical government services are not hurt by the Governor’s and Legislature’s failure to enact a budget.
I absolutely want State employees to be paid their full wages. But the Illinois Constitution and case law are clear: The State cannot pay employees without a budget. The judge’s order reaffirms this. It remains up to the Governor and the Legislature to enact a state budget to allow for necessary government operations and programs to continue.
*** UPDATE 6 *** Press release…
Following is the response of SEIU Healthcare Illinois Vice President James Muhammad to a Cook County judge’s ruling today that the State of Illinois cannot pay workers in full without an approved budget:
“A principle outcome of today’s ruling in Cook County is that it further puts at risk critical services for vulnerable seniors and people with disabilities throughout Illinois. The ruling highlights the need for Gov. Rauner to stop his political posturing, negotiate in good faith and come to the table with solutions to a budget crisis he looks to have courted.
“Vulnerable Illinoisans already are being harmed by Gov. Rauner’s days of crisis that have done nothing to solve our long-term problems but have done everything to avoid meeting the immediate needs of the most vulnerable.”
*** UPDATE 7 *** I mentioned this very thing last week as something the judge might say. She did. From the Tribune…
Larsen also scolded the state for failing to put in place a system for making the payroll changes after the 2007 ordeal. Larsen said years of inaction on that issue was “unfortunate,” but not a compelling legal reason to circumvent the state constitution.
*** UPDATE 8 *** Press release…
Comptroller Leslie Geissler Munger released the following statement Tuesday in response to a court ruling that state employees may not be paid during the budget impasse:
“I am disappointed and respectfully disagree with today’s ruling. We went to Court to ensure that my office can comply with federal law and compensate employees for services they are already providing to the state. Ultimately, that can best be accomplished by paying all workers as scheduled. I am most concerned about the impact this decision will have on our ability to pay those providing services to our most vulnerable residents, and I will continue to seek a remedy with their interests at the forefront of my mind.
“My office will soon file an appeal to today’s decision and will provide further information as it becomes available.”
The state of Illinois has been ordered to keep funding its child-protection services during an ongoing impasse over passing a state budget.
U.S. District Judge Jorge Alonso issued the order in response to a filing by the American Civil Liberties Union, which wanted the court to enforce a long-standing consent decree about child-protection funding and thereby force Illinois Comptroller Leslie Munger to keep money flowing.
Representatives for both the Department of Children and Family Services and the comptroller’s office agreed agency employees should be paid.
Speaking later, ACLU attorney Heidi Dalenberg said disagreement had focused on whether the comptroller could pay agency workers under a 2009 order during a similar budget impasse. She says the new order ensured the payments were legally sound.
“Redistricting reform is absolutely essential to good government because it’s the voters who should be choosing legislators, not Speaker (MICHAEL) MADIGAN and the politicians he controls,” said Rauner spokeswoman CATHERINE KELLY via email. “The current process gives too much control to career politicians who are more concerned with protecting the political class than hard working families.”
Chicago Democrat Madigan is not only speaker of the House but also chairman of the Democratic Party of Illinois.
The response to Kelly? “They’re tipping their hand because this looks like it’s being motivated as a way for millionaires to drop more robots into the legislature,” Madigan spokesman STEVE BROWN said.
The Democrats are whistling past their own potential political graveyards here.
As I’ve said before, if Gov. Rauner is reelected, the Republicans will likely have a 50-50 chance of drawing the new map. And if the Independent Maps amendment gets on the ballot, the Democrats would be stuck with a process which protects the “geographic integrity of units of local government.” That could easily be interpreted as not backfilling a DuPage County district with Democratic-friendly Cook County turf, etc.
An environmental group on Tuesday plans to start airing more than $1 million in TV ads attacking U.S. Sen. Mark Kirk for a recent vote to block an Obama administration effort to curb global warming.
The Natural Resources Defense Council’s ad campaign, which it said will run through July 17 on Chicago broadcast and cable stations, comes as the first-term Republican senator already faces a difficult re-election effort next year.
The 30-second spot contends that a vote Kirk cast last month on an Environmental Protection Agency bill allowed power plants to “keep polluting our air.”
“Polluters are breathing a lot easier, but nearly 300,000 Illinois children aren’t,” the narrator says in the spot, which depicts pollution streaming from smokestacks, a field of withered corn and an infant breathing through a nebulizer mask.
Kirk, a member of the panel, had a provision in the Interior spending measure he was championing — a ban on sewage dumping into the Great Lakes by 2035. Kirk has worked on protecting Lake Michigan since he was a member of the House.
The sewage ban is one of his signature issues.
Nonetheless, Kirk was a key vote against an amendment by Sen. Tom Udall, D-N.M., which would have taken out of the EPA bill the provision letting states opt out of the Environmental Protection Agency’s Clean Power Plan. Udall would have prevailed if Kirk sided with him. […]
Kevin Artl, Kirk’s campaign manager said, “Sen. Kirk’s most recent clean water legislation creates a strict new ban on sewage dumping in the Great Lakes, including a $100,000 per day fine on polluters that would fund the construction of new treatment plants. The simple truth is that Sen. Kirk is responsible for the most aggressive measure ever taken to protect the Great Lakes.”
Kirk could not have been expected to vote against his own “landmark Great Lakes protection language,” Artl said.
The Sierra Club launched a week-long advertising campaign Monday to slam Sen. Mark Kirk (R-Ill.) for voting to scrap the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) climate rule for power plants.
The environmental group started its “aggressive” campaign with a full-page ad in the Daily Herald, circulated in Chicago’s suburbs.
It accuses Kirk of voting three times “to put big polluter profits before the health of Illinois families,” and urges readers to tell Kirk to “stop attacking clean air” and “support the Clean Power Plan.”
Kirk For Senate campaign manager Kevin Artl has released the following statement in response to the ads by the Natural Resources Defense Council attacking Senator Mark Kirk’s environmental policy record:
“Senator Kirk has shown bold, independent action in Congress to reduce carbon emissions, protect against air pollution and enact aggressive measures to protect our great lakes from polluters and oil spills. The recent partisan attack ads by DC special interest groups, the same groups that once praised Senator Kirk’s work on behalf of protecting the environment, are not only false but sickening, beyond the pale of reasonable discussion and should be taken down.”
Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner is proving to be quite adept at skirting responsibility for the current Statehouse impasse and impending government shutdown.
He has relentlessly painted himself as the good guy, even to the point of blatantly abandoning his previous stances.
For instance, Rauner has righteously slammed the Democrats’ “unconstitutional” unbalanced budget, even though his own proposed budget was also billions of dollars out of balance.
Rauner trashed that Democratic budget even after he signed the part which funded schools, thereby ensuring that he avoided blame if schools didn’t open on time.
Rauner warned in April that the state had no money to bail out Chicago, then offered $200 million a year in “found money” for the Chicago Public Schools to keep it from going belly up.
The same man who often refers to the state employee union AFSCME as “AFSCAMMY” and who told the Chicago Tribune editorial board that the crisis of a state fiscal meltdown “creates opportunity” to get his non-budget issues passed, last week pledged to work arm in arm with the unions to make sure those poor state workers got their paychecks, even though the lack of a budget means there is no legal appropriation to do so.
He’s a clever dude, that one. He’ll say just about anything to shift the focus off of him and on to the Democrats.
Rauner said last week via an e-mail to state employees that he hadn’t heard any response to his newly proposed compromises on his non-budget demands which he wants resolved before he’ll even talk about the budget. But Senate President John Cullerton had been working with the governor on workers’ comp, property taxes and other issues, and many of Rauner’s “new” compromises weren’t new at all.
The Democrats have responded by pushing a proposal that they hope will help give them an edge on the governor. The Senate Democrats last week used their large veto-proof majority to pass a bill to fund a few “essential” state operations for one month, at a cost of $2.26 billion.
The legislation includes funding for things like sex offender GPS tracking, community care programs for the elderly, the Illinois Emergency Management Agency’s monitoring of nuclear sites and its natural disaster response, along with operational funding for veterans’ homes, the Illinois State Police, the Illinois School for the Deaf, the Illinois School for the Visually Impaired, the Illinois National Guard and DCFS group homes, foster homes and protective services,
That’s not an easy bill to vote against. The TV ads write themselves. But zero Republicans voted for it.
The House Democrats, who have a smaller majority than their Senate counterparts, couldn’t pass the bill on their own because they didn’t have all of their members in the chamber last week, but they still got Republicans on record as opposing it.
House Speaker Michael Madigan told reporters that he’d heard at least two House Republicans were willing to vote to keep the government from totally shutting down. But the House GOP leadership said the governor had placed a very large “brick” on the bill, and the Republicans complied with his wishes, as they pretty much always have since Rauner’s inauguration.
That constant compliance is starting to have a price.
Gov. Rauner met with the House Republican Caucus last week to thank them for sticking with him throughout the spring session and to ask them for more support during the overtime session.
Rauner thanked them for voting “Present” at his request on controversial bills which could get them in hot water with constituents. He was politely reminded, however, that they actually voted “No” on quite a few bills, including the education funding bill which the governor wound up signing into law.
Nobody enjoys getting the rug pulled out from under them, so the HGOPs have a right to be a little ticked off.
Some believe the Democrats hope to drive so many wedges between legislative Republicans and the governor that eventually the legislators will rise up and demand a resolution.
A revolt from below is highly unlikely, however. Rauner is Illinois’ first Republican governor in a dozen years, so Republican lawmakers truly want to help him succeed. Plus, the governor is sitting on an unlimited supply of campaign money and they want that cash for next year’s elections - and they don’t want any of it used against them.
Even so, it wouldn’t hurt if the more reasonable Republican lawmakers finally find the courage to suggest a way out of this mess.
For months, Gov. Bruce Rauner and his team have tried to play the Democratic state legislative leaders off each other. But Team Rauner now seems to be turning its attention elsewhere.
The House has met five times, and the Senate four. By party, Democrats recorded 38 absences and Republicans 37. […]
Two lawmakers missed more than two sessions. State Representative Monique Davis (D-Chicago) missed all five sessions in June. Representatives in her office declined to go into specific details regarding her absence.
State Senator Chris Nybo (R-Westmont) missed the first three sessions. Representatives from Nybo’s capitol office said the senator “had been busy catching up with work from his Chicago office.”
Some lawmakers cited travel plans, district events, and planned vacations as reasons for absences.
Rep. Davis has been ill. Sen. Nybo will likely take a bit of ribbing for that Chicago remark.
It also seems a little odd that even though Republicans make up just 38 percent of the General Assembly, they racked up almost half of all absences. Then again, they’re in the minority and they aren’t really voting for many bills when they are in town.
Tuesday, Jul 7, 2015 - Posted by Advertising Department
[The following is a paid advertisement.]
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So why is there a clearly growing recognition for credit unions among consumers? It’s because they know credit unions place their interests above all else. As not-for-profit, democratically led and cooperatively owned financial institutions, credit unions return their earnings to members in the forms of lower rates on loans and higher returns on savings. Nationally, consumers benefit to the tune of $6.6 billion annually because credit unions are tax-exempt. Here in Illinois, credit unions annually provide nearly $205 million in direct financial benefits to almost three million members.
It’s the structure of credit unions — cooperatives owned by their members — that allows them to maintain their focus on returning financial benefits to members. By doing so, credit unions have earned the satisfaction and trust of consumers, 100 million times over.
Southern Illinois Congressman Mike Bost says the U.S. Supreme Court’s recent ruling that same-sex marriage is a constitutional right puts clergy in a tough spot.
The Murphysboro republican says he doesn’t believe the high court’s justices should be deciding issues like this because many churches believe same-sex marriage is not right before God and should not be allowed.
“But, my fear is that ministers that come from a faith that do not believe it’s right, can be forced to perform marriage ceremonies, and thus violate what they believe is their oath before God.”
Oy.
* Perhaps he’s just trying to distract the folks back home from this…
Congress is moving away from its longtime use of taxpayer-financed mail to constituents, but not Rep. Mike Bost.
The freshman Republican from Murphysboro, Ill., spent almost $113,000 on what is called “franked” mail in the first three months in office, amounting to more than 244,000 pieces. That is nearly twice the amount spent by the next biggest frank-mail user.
He sent more individual pieces of mail in that time than the roughly 210,000 people who voted when Bost defeated Democrat Rep. Bill Enyart in last November’s election. […]
Because of the rise of electronic communications, franked mail is falling in usage, and it is under increased scrutiny. A Congressional Research Service report released in May said that the volume of mass mailings sent by members of Congress to constituents fell from 103 million in 2008 to 40.3 million last year. The cost to taxpayers in that window fell from $25.2 million to $15.8 million.
Mundelein Mayor Steve Lentz on Monday defended widely criticized comments he made about the legalization of gay marriage and other societal issues during an Independence Day speech. […]
Near the midpoint of his remarks Saturday morning at the village’s Fort Hill Heritage Center, Lentz said he wanted to “address the elephant in the room” and started talking about the Supreme Court’s recent ruling on marriage equality.
He called it one event in an ongoing “moral crisis” in the U.S.
Lentz went on to discuss people having children without being married, saying “the out-of-wedlock birthrate is just crazy high compared to our history.” Such parents are part of a “crisis against the family” in the U.S., Lentz said.
He then defended Prohibition, saying, “It’s just what the doctor ordered.”
Lentz then referenced an anthropologist who he said had, in the 1930s, studied different cultures. Lentz said the man, J.D. Unwin, found a link between conservative sexual practices and a society’s success.
“The cultures that had a strict code of marital monogamy, heterosexual marital monogamy, those cultures had the most vibrancy and affected those around them the most,” Lentz claimed in the speech. “When the wheels came off and the standards began to decline in that area, within two to three generations, that culture would end.” […]
In his remarks, Lentz also said the government can address social problems through the Constitution and used as example the 18th Amendment, which banned alcohol in the 1920s and early 1930s.
Lentz said alcohol caused issues such as spousal abuse and led to other societal ills. Prohibition worked, he said.
I wonder if Mayor Lentz actually looked around the world for countries that ban alcohol and severely punish homosexuals and women who have sex out of wedlock. He’d find them, for sure. I’m not so sure he’d want to live in them, or believe that they are infinitely superior to our own country.
Also, Mundelein is in Rep. Ed Sullivan’s district, one of the few Republicans who voted for gay marriage. Sullivan went on to thump a conservative challenger. The mayor may not quite understand his home turf.
State general fund spending on the three main agencies that handle the safety net has hovered around $5 billion for much of the past decade, which critics say is not enough to keep up with inflation.
Currently, Illinois has 22,000 people waiting for help and ranks 47th in funding those services, which can range from housing to medication management and transportation assistance, according to the State of the States, a project of the University of Colorado that tracks public spending for programs to address intellectual and developmental disabilities.
Illinois also ranks third nationwide for number of people living in state institutions, despite the fact that community care is more cost-effective: $53,000 per person annually vs. $248,000 per year for institutionalization, according to the Department of Human Services.
Carl LaMell, CEO of Clearbrook, said state support for programs like his Arlington Heights facility, which houses about 340 residents with disabilities, has been steadily chipped away.
“Every year, we’re pawns in this game,” said LaMell, noting that this will be the 10th consecutive year without a rate or cost of living increase.
