Reader comments closed for the weekend
Friday, Oct 3, 2014 - Posted by Rich Miller
* I heard on the radio last night that Jerry Lee Lewis has a new album coming out and a tour is planned. Wow. The sole survivor. He’s in Nashville this weekend. Anybody up for a road trip?
Here’s “The Killer” doing “Deep Elem Blues.” If this don’t get you going, ain’t nothing will…
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* From the Democratic Governors Association…
With new revelations about his direct links to public corruption, Republican Bruce Rauner gave himself another $1.5 million, bringing his total to more than $14 million.
Below is the statement of Democratic Governors Association Illinois spokesperson Rikeesha Phelon in response:
“If it’s Friday, it must mean that Republican Bruce Rauner is pumping more money into his increasingly-desperate campaign.
“It seems that every time there’s bad news for his campaign-this time his direct ties to a colossal bribery scandal-he opens up his wallet to himself.
“No amount of money can buy Bruce Rauner an unblemished record when it comes to his direct ties to public corruption, deadly negligence and outright fraud.”
There’s been a distinct change of tone out of Gov. Quinn’s campaign and allied organizations this week. No longer content to call him a billionaire, now he’s directly tied to “public corruption, deadly negligence and outright fraud.”
Brace yourselves, campers. It’s gonna get worse.
*** UPDATE *** The RGA kicked in another $1.1 million. You gotta wonder what other Republican gubernatorial candidates around the country are thinking about the RGA dumping so many millions into the campaign of a gazillionaire, but whatevs.
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Behind the uproar
Friday, Oct 3, 2014 - Posted by Rich Miller
* A couple of e-mails from the Illinois Collaboration on Youth’s CEO to her provider members do seem to undermine Gov. Pat Quinn’s claim that no youth services providers were cut when $5 million was spent on summer youth/jobs programs in the Chicago area. When reading this, it’s helpful to know that “CCBYS” means “Comprehensive Community Based Youth Services”…
From: Andrea Durbin
Date: Thursday, July 31, 2014 at 1:52 PM
Subject: Urgent — Your Immediate Action Needed — CCBYS funding at risk!!!
Dear CCBYS Provider,
I am so furious.
I have learned that there is an effort to take the CCBYS funding increase that you all fought so hard for — to restore our budget cuts dating back to 2009 — and transfer those funds to the Illinois Criminal Justice Information Authority.
I need you to call your legislators immediately — today — and express your objections! These funds were intended to be used to 1. Invest in the CCBYS infrastructure which has been subjected to 48% budget cuts since 2009 and 2. Increase community-based efforts to divert youth from the juvenile justice system all across the state!
This is why you have not heard from DHS about the FY15 contract amounts.
The Illinois Administrative Code requires that at least 80% of the funding go to CCBYS providers: http://www.ilga.gov/commission/jcar/admincode/089/089003340000140R.html
Please call today and let me know what you heard back. We are not letting this drop.
* And the plot thickened when the Illinois Collaboration on Youth (ICOY) sent out this August 1st e-mail entitled “FY15 CCBYS & Teen REACH Funding Increases Diverted”…
ICOY has learned that, due to a misunderstanding between the Office of the Comptroller and the Illinois Criminal Justice Information Authority about the use of FY14 dollars to pay for the Community Violence Prevention Program (**more details below), the Governor’s Office is attempting to divert the FY15 funding increase from CCBYS to ICJIA, to cover these CVPP expenses. According to Jerry Stermer, Director of the Governor’s Office of Management and Budget, this is a “temporary” strategy for which the Governor’s Office will seek a supplemental to restore the diverted funding. We have shared this information with Representative Greg Harris, Chair of the House Human Services Appropriations Committee, and he has pledged to discuss this with Stermer.
We have very serious concerns about this approach, and are meeting with Stermer and Secretary Saddler next week to continue the dialogue. Our points remain:
- The General Assembly appropriated this money to CCBYS. It is intended as a reinvestment in the 24/7 infrastructure that has been devastated by nearly 50% budget cuts since 2009.
- The Illinois Administrative Code requires that at least 80% of the funding be directed to the CCBYS providers.
- CCBYS is a highly accountable program that involves a rigorous competitive RFP process, a logic model, program outcome measures, participation in e-Cornerstone, and other strategies that ensure that we are good stewards of taxpayer dollars. We have excellent outcomes and are key providers in the efforts to keep youth out of the child welfare and juvenile justice systems. Indeed — today’s Chicago Tribune has a front-page story about the need for more efforts to address truancy — just the kind of work that CCBYS is designed to do.
- The likelihood of a supplemental for CCBYS or any other program is slim in this current political and fiscal environment.
In addition, we have learned that the FY15 funding increase of $5 million for Teen REACH has also been diverted, to summer jobs. We also asked Stermer about this and he is looking into the details; Harris is also alerted to this issue and is following up as well.
PLEASE CONTINUE YOUR ADVOCACY. Let us know what you are hearing from your legislators.
**According to Stermer and to a Board Member at ICJIA with whom ICOY spoke, for the past couple of fiscal years, the Office of the Comptroller has permitted ICJIA to use money from the previous fiscal year to fund summer programs that span two fiscal years. Apparently, 2 weeks ago, the Comptroller has rescinded that practice without warning and is declining to pay for these services for July and August with FY14 dollars, thus forcing a fiscal crisis at ICJIA. In your advocacy efforts, you may want to reach out to the Comptroller as well. You can also reach her office at 217-782-XXXX
* So, two things: 1) Groups didn’t get a planned increase and may not ever get that money, despite the GA’s appropriation; and 2) This didn’t appear to be an evil plan to divert money for political purposes, but was instead robbing Peter to pay Paul for programs already in existence which needed to be covered. Then again, what you have here are some providers (including Downstate providers) not getting an increase so that cash could be diverted to Chicago.
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Question of the day
Friday, Oct 3, 2014 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Eric Zorn discusses an e-mail from a reader who got Bruce Rauner’s name wrong…
“Regardless of what we do or don’t know about Vince Rauner, the fact that he’s not Pat Quinn — or Michael Madigan or John Cullerton, for that matter — does indeed count for quite a bit, at least in my opinion. If the definition of insanity is to continue to do the same thing repeatedly and expect a different result, I can’t understand why anyone would vote to continue on with any Democrat in the state of Illinois.”
* And after some discussion of Bruce Rauner’s very real problems, Zorn writes this…
Bruce Rauner, the big-talking, politically inexperienced rich guy who thinks government can be run like a business, is an easy target for Quinn.
But “Vince Rauner,” the ill-defined vessel for the hopes of frustrated, impatient Illinois residents, is a much more difficult foe.
After nearly 12 years of Democratic control of both the General Assembly and the governor’s office, lagging jobs numbers, rising taxes, falling bond ratings and a growing pension debt have close to two-thirds of respondents to several recent polls saying the state is on the wrong track.
Those are potential Vince voters — citizens who are simply ready to try something new, no matter how hard Quinn pleads for patience or how many statistics he produces that show positive trends.
That is spot on. It’s the tabula rasa effect, when the challenger becomes a blank slate that voters fill in with whatever they really want.
* The whole idea behind Gov. Quinn’s attacks is to write “BAD MAN” over and over and over as many times as possible on that blank slate in order to prompt this reaction…
Which leads us to…
* The Question: In your opinion, who will win the governor’s race? Take the poll and then explain your answer in comments, please.
survey hosting
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Get over yourselves
Friday, Oct 3, 2014 - Posted by Rich Miller
* When conservative Republicans refer to moderate Republicans as “RINOs,” it shows how small-minded they really are. Politics is a game of addition, not subtraction. Only people who don’t mind losing want to keep their party “pure.”
Why do the House Democrats perform so well in the suburbs and in many Downstate areas? One reason is they recruit former Republicans to run. Just to cite one example, the woman who beat the allegedly “unbeatable” state Rep. Skip Saviano was a former Republican. The list is long, and it’s not just the House. DuPage County’s only Democratic Senator is a former Republican.
The Democrats in this state welcome former Republicans with open arms. The ultra-conservative Republican “activists” too often want to throw moderates out of their party and keep former Democrats away at all costs.
* So instead of celebrating this young man’s hard work for the House Republican Organization, we get this headline…
Illinois House Republican campaigns run by former Clinton campaign staffer
OMG!!! Call the purity police! Also, if you look at the hyperlink’s text, you’ll see the original headline: “HRO Head Joe Woodward’s Democrat Connections Raise Eyebrows.” At least they toned it down.
* But Woodward still has to endure some guilt by association crud…
HRO’s day-to-day political operations are run by Joe Woodhouse (photo right), who has a resume that includes work for Hillary Clinton, and a left-wing environmental group. […]
The email address Woodward used is linked to his job as Director of Operations for his father, Michael J. Woodward’s, law firm in Berwyn Illinois.
Starting in 1999, Woodward’s father began donating to the Democratic Citizens of Berwyn and the Berwyn Regular Democratic Organization. Prior to that, he donated to Republicans such as Jim Ryan and former Governor George Ryan.
Horrors!!! Could he be some sort of Democratic plant? A Communist “Manchurian Staffer” who is about to take a purposeful dive for the Evil Democrat Machine in order to clear a path for THAT WOMAN???
Please.
He did a little low-pay grunt work for Hillary seven years ago to get some experience. He worked for his dad, who happens to be a Democrat and who is currently very ill. Yet, for some reason, conservatives have to treat anybody formerly connected in any way with the Democratic Party as if they were ISIL members.
* At least they did include this information…
Woodward explained to Illinois Review that he’s worked for HRO in the 2010, 2012 and 2014 campaign cycles. Illinois State Board of Elections’ records show Woodward has been paid $4,000 a month by HRO in the 2014 campaign. He’s also been paid by State Rep. Jim Durkin, the Northfield Township GOP, and Elizabeth Coulson’s PACs in the past few years.
“I also worked as a Communications Analyst in the [former House Republican Leader] Tom Cross’ administration from Jan 2011-Sept 2013,” Woodward told IR.
Woodward told IR that while working for Tom Cross’ administration, he “wrote policy communications for GOP State Reps David McSweeney, Chris Nybo, David Harris, Dennis Reboletti, Tom Morrison, Sandy Cole and Sid Mathias during that time.”
If somebody dropped a dime on Joe they ought to be ashamed of themselves. Seriously, what the heck? The guy is working literally non-stop for his candidates and his party for lousy wages and he’s gotta deal with this silly grilling on top of everything else?
Unreal.
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“Ballot security” plan takes shape
Friday, Oct 3, 2014 - Posted by Rich Miller
* AP…
With their sights on unseating a Democratic governor and winning back several congressional seats, Republicans have allocated $1 million in Cook County alone — from fundraising and the Republican Governors Association — to examine voter rolls and recruit 5,000 GOP election judges to watch over polling places in Democrat-heavy Chicago.
In two counties east of St. Louis, the party is examining obituaries to ensure the deceased are removed from the rolls and tracking down death certificates. They’re looking for addresses where utility service has been cut off to determine if registered voters have moved. And they’re checking to see whether people are voting from addresses for vacant lots or commercial properties. Similar efforts are planned for Cook County.
State election officials say they also have noticed an uptick of GOP inquiries about voter registrations in at least two other counties in central Illinois.
Republicans say they’re guarding against voter fraud and responding to Democratic maneuvering to boost their side’s turnout, including adopting same-day registration and putting several non-binding questions on the ballot to appeal to liberal and working-class voters, such as whether Illinois should tax millionaires. The GOP fears outdated voter rolls and a last-minute Democratic push to the polling stations will allow ineligible votes. […]
Rauner told The Associated Press he has been told about the initiative but that the state party, not his campaign, is overseeing it and raising funds. State Sen. Jim Oberweis, a Republican dairy magnate challenging Democratic U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin, said his campaign was working on it with Rauner’s campaign. Oberweis told AP that Republicans believed they could find up to 60,000 ineligible voters in Chicago. But a campaign spokesman later said that information was “essentially third hand” and “possibly incorrect,” and referred all questions to a state party spokesman.
Chicago has already purged 50,000 “inactive” voters from the rolls, about what it does every year, according to the article.
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* So, earier today, I received this press release…
Billionaire Bruce Rauner has operated and overseen plenty of companies that have engaged in bribery, outright fraud, deadly neglect and other schemes to game the system and pad their pockets.
So how about a board game devoted to Rauner’s troubling business empire-and his own drive for money and power-at the expense of others? As the all-new “Rauneropoly” teaches us, “If he wins - you lose.”
Mr. Money Bags, in a new Wed ad, introduced Rauneropoly Friday
* The Web ad…
* Script…
Mr. Money Bags: “Welcome to Rauneropoly, the game that billionaire Bruce Rauner is playing to become governor. With one roll of the dice, you can see for yourself how to make a fortune on the misfortune of everyday people.
“The game is simple: use taxpayer money to buy companies, load them up with debt, lay off workers and then get the cash and run before they go bankrupt. It’s educational too: learn how to make millions without paying Social Security and Medicare taxes and how to stash cash in the Cayman Islands to avoid paying more taxes. Rauneropoly is cutthroat.
“You’ll have to outsource jobs across the Pacific, squeeze millions of dollars out of nursing homes and cook the books. Even if the people running your company have to go to jail. But you can have fun with your 9 houses and your 11 - yes 11 - golf courses. And don’t worry about free parking - you’ve already got a $100,000 parking space. All of this is just a game to Bruce Rauner - but if he wins, you lose.”
* But Rauner pivoted hard soon afterward…
“And I’ve heard, I’ve heard just this morning about this Rauneropoly game. I think it’s pretty humorous actually.
“You know what, I wasn’t born on Free Parking and I’ve worked hard my whole life. I’ve done well and I’ve given back millions of dollars in the community.
“And Pat Quinn has been rolling the dice with taxpayers’ money.
“And after years of Quinn corruption, the US District Attorney looks like he is about to hand Pat Quinn the worst Monopoly card there is: ‘Go to jail, go directly to jail.’”
Ouch.
* Watch…
*** UPDATE *** From the Quinn campaign…
“Bruce Rauner knows a thing or two about going to jail, since that’s how he has to visit his hand-picked executives and business partners who committed crimes in his name, for his profit and under his nose.
“Whether it’s Stu Levine, who received secret payments in exchange for pension business, or executives we learned about just this week who bribed the mayor of Detroit, or the ongoing trial of deadly nursing homes that he controlled, Bruce Rauner is directly linked to corruption, fraud, waste and abuse.
“Bruce Rauner’s bizarre and offensive comments today are a guilty move meant to distract from his own direct ties to corruption.”
[ *** End Of Update *** ]
* And on a related front…
Democratic nominee for Lt. Governor Paul Vallas on Friday unveiled Republican billionaire Bruce Rauner’s “crime tree,” a visual representation of the complex web of neglect, fraud, bribery and criminal corruption that Bruce Rauner and his GTCRauner buyout house have woven.
The release comes the same week that GTCRauner’s oversight of one of the biggest public corruption prosecutions in American history was revealed in the case of the Houston-based sludge company Synagro, which was found to have bribed former Detroit mayor Kwame Kilpatrick.
Media reports have shown a pattern of mismanagement, criminal probes and lack of accountability in businesses owned and controlled by Rauner. This includes the deadly nursing home chain that is facing federal trial in Florida this week.
Bruce Rauner has become a broken record, falsely claiming time and again that he knows nothing about businesses he has controlled for decades.
For example, Rauner and his firm ran Detroit-based Lason before the company “imploded,” providing his wealthy pals with substantial profits as employees lost their jobs and investors lost $285 million. (GTCRauner took $32 million and took off as the firm collapsed.) ConvergEx, meanwhile, profited off of money meant to be used for charities and charged illegal fees, leading to indictments for fraud earlier this year.
“Not only is Bruce Rauner associated with one of the biggest accounting frauds in American history, we have come to find his business oversaw one of the biggest public corruption schemes in American history,” Vallas said. “With scandals of that magnitude happening under his watch, Mr. Rauner took the profits and never looked back. That is not the kind of leadership we need in the Governor’s Office.”
* Click on the “Crime Tree” for a larger image…
You gotta figure this is gonna show up in a TV ad.
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* On its face, this looks pretty ominous…
A trio of downstate Republican senators raised questions Thursday about whether money to help troubled downstate youth was improperly funneled to Chicago-area organizations.
In a Statehouse news conference, the GOP lawmakers leveled a fresh set of charges against Democratic Gov. Pat Quinn, who has been on the hot seat in recent months after an audit released this year blasted a 2010 anti-violence program, leading to multiple federal probes.
At issue is $5 million the Quinn administration transferred this summer out of a program for at-risk youth. Republicans say some of the money was then paid to organizations caught up in the 2010 probe of the Neighborhood Recovery Initiative. […]
Republicans allege Quinn has created a slush fund to help him in his race against Republican businessman Bruce Rauner.
“We’ve seen this pattern before: the governor pumps millions of dollars into a Chicago-centric program in the weeks leading up to the November election. Enough is enough,” said state Sen. Dale Righter, R-Mattoon.
* More from Ormsby…
Barickman charged that the $5 million transferred from the Comprehensive Community-Based Youth Services program, which provides community-based individualized services to at-risk youth and their families, resulted in “budget cuts” at Downstate social service agencies.
“It’s frustrating to inform our local providers that their budgets are being cut so that Governor Quinn can increase funding to some of the same deficient providers who were identified in the NRI audit, including one group that owes the state hundreds of thousands of dollars,” Barickman said.
* More from the Sun-Times…
Last spring, state lawmakers appropriated $16.5 million to the Department of Human Services to fund a state-wide program for at-risk youth called Comprehensive Community Based Youth Services.
Barickman said that at some point after July 1, Quinn’s administration moved nearly $4.5 million to the state Criminal Justice Information Authority, which in turn allotted nearly $2 million of that total to five different NRI providers, including Chicago Area Project.
Chicago Area Project was responsible for nearly $2 million in programming in West Garfield Park under NRI and hired the husband of Cook County Circuit Clerk Dorothy Brown at a six-figure salary to oversee that programming. State taxpayers covered the $146,401 Cook received in salary and fringe benefits over two years for his NRI-related work.
* Bruce Rauner jumped into the fray this morning…
Bruce Rauner today called on Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn to submit to an independent investigation of lawmaker allegations that his administration improperly funneled taxpayer money to a slush fund that is now paying groups linked to the Neighborhood Recovery Imitative, which is currently the subject of two federal criminal investigations.
“This isn’t a partisan issue; this is about about transparency and accountability,” Rauner said. “I urge the governor to submit to an independent investigation by a respected auditor like Bill Holland so the people of Illinois can find out the truth without politics getting in the way.”
* But the Chicago Area Project strongly objected to the GOP claims…
“CAP receives funding from the Illinois Criminal Justice Information Authority for its ongoing youth violence prevention programming and has received funding from DHS for its youth services programming for the past 15 years. CAP has not received any new funding from DHS this year,” group spokesman Jennifer Hutchison said.
The group’s Criminal Justice Information Authority funding was for the non-profit’s summer youth violence prevention programming, and the contract ended August 30, Hutchison said.
* And so did the Quinn administration…
“This is false and ridiculous. As these legislators know, the defunct NRI program was shut down in 2012.”
* On background, the administration claimed that the $5 million was transferred to the Illinois Criminal Justice Information Authority in July to pay existing bills for this past summer’s community violence prevention program, which ended in August.
They also claimed that none of these Chicago-area non-profit organizations received any new or additional funding. The transfer was necessary, they said, because the comptroller’s office made technical changes about which appropriations could cover which programs. The grants also underwent a “rigorous” review process, they claimed.
They also claimed that the programs cited by the Republican legislators received the same level of funding they received the previous year. No local providers’ budgets were cut, they insisted.
And they provided an intergovernmental agreement that lays out the transfer of funds, which you can read yourself by clicking here.
* Back to Ormsby…
Reporters at the press conference pushed back on the GOP charges of “election year politics” by questioning their press conference as “election year politics”.
Barickman said that only Quinn was practicing “election year politics”.
* You can watch the full presser via our great pals at BlueRoomStream.com by clicking here.
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An interesting little development
Friday, Oct 3, 2014 - Posted by Rich Miller
* From a Downstate subscriber…
I got a robocall from a company called 20/20 Insight last night. It was a push poll focusing on [Libertarian] Chad Grimm and Bruce Rauner.
It asked whether I’d be more likely to vote for Grimm if I knew he was: 1) the only candidate who is pro-life, 2) the only candidate who is for repealing the income tax, 3) the only candidate who is pro-gun and 4) wants to end the war on drugs.
20/20 Insight appears to serve mainly corporate types.
Anybody else receive this call? And, please, record it if you get one of these.
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“Harrison”
Friday, Oct 3, 2014 - Posted by Rich Miller
* We’ve seen a handful of very strong positive TV ads this cycle and we can probably add this next one to the list. From a press release…..
U.S. Rep. Rodney Davis’ (R-Ill.) campaign today released its fifth television ad for the 2014 general election.
The ad, titled “Harrison”, features Harrison Beler, a U.S. Army veteran from Springfield. In the ad, Harrison talks about the struggles our veterans are facing here at home and the work Rep. Davis is doing in Congress to help them, including legislation, the Hire More Heroes Act, he introduced to incentivize small businesses to hire more veterans.
Rep. Davis is a part of the No Labels Problem Solvers and has been named to the “Governing Caucus”, a coalition of 30 House Republicans willing to join a majority of House Democrats to pass major legislation, by the National Journal. Additionally, in the National Journal’s 2013 Vote Ratings, Davis was ranked the 220th most liberal and the 212th most conservative House member.
The ad begins today.
* The ad…
* Script…
Harrison: Veterans are the backbone of our country.
But I can see them, they are suffering.
Veterans don’t get the jobs, the medical care, the housing and the help they need.
Rodney Davis has seen this problem and he’s stepping up to the plate,
He’s coming out, helping the veterans.
He sponsored a bill to hire more heroes, put more veterans back to work.
The guys in Washington, they might not do nothing.
But our Congressman here does something.
VO: I’m Rodney Davis and I approve this message.
* Meanwhile, Charlie Cook has changed his rating on this race to “Likely Republican”…
IL-13: Rodney Davis - South central: Champaign, Decatur, Springfield
Likely Republican.
At the beginning of the cycle, Democrats couldn’t have been more excited when Madison County Judge Ann Callis jumped into the race. But Democratic Gov. Pat Quinn’s numbers are dreadful Downstate, and this race is slipping away too. A Public Opinion Strategies poll taken for Davis showed him up 55 percent to 36 percent, and Democrats’ House Majority PAC just cut its TV reservation here.
…Adding… From the Callis campaign…
The campaign of former Chief Judge and Congressional challenger Ann Callis criticized Congressman Rodney Davis for releasing a new TV ad today that doesn’t address his true record for veterans and military families, which includes damaging votes to shut down the government and pass the Ryan Budget. Instead, Congressman Davis’ primary claim in the ad for helping veterans is a bill that has not been signed into law.
“Judge Ann Callis has a proven record of helping veterans throughout her distinguished career in Madison County, earning national awards for her work to establish the first Veterans’ Court in Illinois. As the mother of an Army Ranger, this is something extremely personal and will be a priority for her in Washington. Congressman Davis likes to take credit for helping veterans, but he has actually voted to hurt veterans time and time again. His votes to start and continue the government shutdown put new veterans’ benefits claims at risk, slowed down existing claims for struggling veterans, curtailed veterans’ services, furloughed National Guard and civilian workers, and even threatened death benefits for the families of service members killed in action. Along with voting to cut nutrition benefits for military families, Congressman Davis’ actions clearly speak louder than words,” said Callis spokesman David Miyashiro.
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* An interesting development…
Over the course of the last month, at dates and times convenient to both Governor Quinn and Mr. Rauner, representatives of the Illinois retail community met individually with each major candidate for Governor. During those meetings, their general governing philosophies as well as many issues of importance to retailers and their customers were discussed.
As a result of those meetings, the Illinois Merchants Political Action Committee Team (IMPACT), the political arm of the Illinois Retail Merchants Association (IRMA), unanimously agreed not to endorse a candidate for Governor in this year’s election. In issuing this decision, IMPACT Treasurer Rob Karr noted that retailers were caught between a desire to see Illinois stabilized and revitalized and discerning which candidate could best accomplish that mission.
Governor Quinn was recognized for his leadership in beginning the process of reforming workers’ compensation, fundamentally addressing the state’s broken pension system, championing leveling the sales tax disparity between Illinois retailers and their Internet competitors, significantly lowering the state’s payment backlog to vendors, and preserving the agreed bill process for unemployment insurance. Conversely, concerns exist that the state will not continue to control spending and retailers disagree with proposals championed by the Governor that significantly add to the cost of doing business, such as increasing the minimum wage, which will make it harder to increase employment in the retail and service sector.
Bruce Rauner’s passion and dedication to Illinois are evident and his desire to limit the growth of government and return Illinois to economic prosperity cannot be questioned and are shared by retailers. At this time, it is unclear how Mr. Rauner would accomplish these goals. Additionally, concerns exist over Mr. Rauner’s lack of support for leveling the sales tax disparity between Illinois retailers and their Internet competitors, the viability of preserving payment backlogs while proposing additional spending, the viability of the agreed bill process for unemployment insurance, and support for minimum wage increases.
Given these uncertainties and concerns with both candidate’s proposals for moving the state forward in a sustainable manner, the IMPACT agreed with the recommendation of the IRMA Board of Directors and declined to endorse in the race for governor.
Thoughts?
*** UPDATE *** If this tweet is indicative at all of the coming media coverage, then this IRMA move could be spun as a “win” for Rauner…
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