Bottom line: Several counts were tossed, but the judges decreed that Blagojevich’s sentence was more than fair and still justifiable even with fewer counts against him.
Blagojevich now asks us to hold that the evidence is insufficient to convict him on any count. The argument is frivolous. The evidence, much of it from Blagojevich’s own mouth, is overwhelming. To the extent there are factual disputes, the jury was entitled to credit the prosecution’s evidence and to find that Blagojevich acted with the knowledge required for conviction.
But a problem in the way the instructions told the jury to consider the evidence requires us to vacate the convictions on counts that concern Blagojevich’s proposal to appoint Valerie Jarrett to the Senate in exchange for an appointment to the Cabinet. A jury could have found that Blagojevich asked the President-‐elect for a private-sector job, or for funds that he could control, but the instructions permitted the jury to convict even if it found that his only request of Sen. Obama was for a position in the Cabinet. The instructions treated all proposals alike. We conclude, however, that they are legally different: a proposal to trade one public act for another, a form of logrolling, is fundamentally unlike the swap of an official act for a private payment.
Because the instructions do not enable us to be sure that the jury found that Blagojevich offered to trade the appointment for a private salary after leaving the Governorship, these convictions cannot stand. […]
A proposal to appoint a particular person to one office (say, the Cabinet) in exchange for someone else’s promise to appoint a different person to a different office (say, the Senate), is a common exercise in logrolling. We asked the prosecutor at oral argument if, before this case, logrolling had been the basis of a criminal conviction in the history of the United States. Counsel was unaware of any earlier conviction for an exchange of political favors. Our own research did not turn one up. […]
The indictment also charged Blagojevich with wire fraud, in violation of 18 U.S.C. §1343. That the negotiations used the phone system is indisputable, but where’s the fraud? Blagojevich did not try to deceive Sen. Obama. The prosecutor contended that Blagojevich deprived the public of its intangible right to his honest services, which 18 U.S.C. §1346 defines as a form of fraud. To call this an honest-‐‑services fraud supposes an extreme version of truth in politics, in which a politician commits a felony unless the ostensible reason for an official act also is the real one. So if a Governor appoints someone to a public commission and proclaims the appointee “the best person for the job,” while the real reason is that some state legislator had asked for a friend’s appointment as a favor, then the Governor has committed wire fraud because the Governor does not actually believe that the appointee is the best person for the job. That’s not a plausible understanding of §1346, even if (as is unlikely) it would be valid under the First Amendment as a criminal penalty for misleading political speech. And no matter what one makes of the subject, the holding of Skilling v. United States, 561 U.S. 358 (2010), prevents resort to §1346 to penalize political horse-trading. Skilling holds that only bribery and kickbacks violate §1346. So unless political logrolling is a form of bribery, which it is not, §1346 drops out. […]
What we have said so far requires the reversal of the convictions on Counts 5, 6, 21, 22, and 23, though the prosecutor is free to try again without reliance on Blagojevich’s quest for a position in the Cabinet. (The evidence that Blagojevich sought money in exchange for appointing Valerie Jarrett to the Senate is sufficient to convict, so there is no double-jeopardy obstacle to retrial. See Burks v. United States, 437 U.S. 1 (1978).) Because many other convictions remain and the district judge imposed concurrent sentences, the prosecutor may think retrial unnecessary—but the judge may have considered the sought-after Cabinet appointment in determining the length of the sentence, so we remand for re-sentencing across the board. (The concluding part of this opinion discusses some other sentencing issues.) […]
The district judge concluded that the Sentencing Guidelines recommend a range of 360 months to life imprisonment for Blagojevich’s offenses, and the actual sentence is 168 months. Instead of expressing relief, Blagojevich maintains that the sentence is too high because the range was too high. […]
Any error in the Guidelines calculation went in Blagojevich’s favor. After calculating the 360-to-life range, the judge concluded that it is too high and began making reductions, producing a range of 151 to 188 months. […]
The prosecutor has not filed a cross-appeal in quest of a higher sentence but is entitled to defend the actual sentence of 168 months (and to ask for its re-imposition on remand) without needing to file an appeal. Removing the convictions on the Cabinet counts does not affect the range calculated under the Guidelines. It is not possible to call 168 months unlawfully high for Blagojevich’s crimes, but the district judge should consider on remand whether it is the most appropriate sentence. […]
If the prosecutor elects to drop these charges, then the district court should proceed directly to resentencing. Because we have affirmed the convictions on most counts and concluded that the advisory sentencing range lies above 168 months, Blagojevich is not entitled to be released pending these further proceedings. [Emphasis added.]
“Chicago Med,” a medical drama and follow-up to “Chicago Fire” and “Chicago P.D.” that already film at Cinespace Chicago Film Studios complex on the West Side, had been in some potential jeopardy. Gov. Bruce Rauner in early June announced the state would defer action on any film tax credits for new projects that were not already under way. A strict interpretation of that standard would have been quite harmful to the city’s burgeoning TV and film industry.
But instead of letting the Chicago scene fade to black, Team Rauner, in the Illinois tradition, found a loophole.
After what I’m told were some rather high-level phone calls, “Chicago Med” got the tax credit green light.
“It’s considered an episodic follow on ‘P.D.’ and ‘Fire,’ ” says a knowledgeable source. “This is considered a follow-on.”
Advocates want Gov. Bruce Rauner to restore a $60 monthly allowance for adults with developmental disabilities, but his administration insists there’s no way to stop an automatic reduction to the allowance, especially given Illinois’ finances. […]
In the first increase in two decades, lawmakers temporarily raised the allowance last year to $60, up from $50 for people in group homes and from $30 for residents of intermediate care facilities. Now, it’s returning to the lower levels in place before the law, which granted the increase for fiscal year 2015 only. […]
Advocates cite administrative rules written by the state’s Medicaid agency that increased the allowance. Those rules took effect March 11 and included no expiration date. The Rauner administration’s interpretation of the rules is wrong, said Illinois Association of Rehabilitation Facilities CEO Janet Stover.
“As we pushed and provided information to them about the intent of the original legislation, we were told that it ultimately was a budgetary decision and they would not rescind the policy,” Stover said.
* Gov. Bruce Rauner was asked this week about why he gave all Republican legislators a total of $400,000 before the “right to work” floor vote…
“It had no tie to any particular vote.
“You know, I’m the head of the Republican Party. Madigan has been sendin’ campaign cash to members of the Democratic Party and the General Assembly for 35 years, OK?
“I just became governor six months ago. And I am supportin’ members of my caucus, members of my party. It has no tie to any particular vote. It’s I’m supportin’ them this year, I’ll support them every six months for as long as I’m governor. That’s my job and I’ll always do that.”
As the state budget impasse wears on, Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner today said he thinks Democratic House Speaker Michael Madigan wants the ongoing pressure of a partial government shutdown to eventually spark some action.
The governor pointed to the spring, when the state ran out of money to pay for a program that helps low-income families pay for day care before doing something.
“The reality is the speaker wanted pressure to build,” Rauner said today. “He wanted child care services to be cut and impacted and pressure folks to feel that before he would take action, as sort of a cover for taking action.
“I think that’s wrong,” Rauner said. “I think the speaker wants pressure, wants impact now before he’ll do the right thing.”
I’m not saying the governor is wrong about Madigan. He’s most likely right.
I’m just saying that Rauner’s hands ain’t exactly clean, either.
He refused to use his reduction and line-item veto powers on the budget that the Democrats sent him. Why? Likely because he would then own the cuts, and he wants the blame to fall solely on the Democrats. Also, probably because he eventually wants a tax hike and doesn’t really want huge cuts. Also, to use the veto as leverage.
* Let’s mosey down memory lane. From an August, 2014 CNN story about a video that had surfaced of a speech by gubernatorial candidate Bruce Rauner…
“I apologize but we may have to go through a little rough times and we have to do what Ronald Reagan did with the air traffic controllers,” Rauner said referencing Reagan’s decision in 1981 to fire 11,000 striking air traffic controllers.
“We sort of have to do a do-over and shut things down for a little while, that’s what we’re going to do,” Rauner said. […]
In response to the outcry, Rauner’s campaign said their candidate “has put forth a detailed plan for reviving Illinois, and shutting down state government is not among those plans.”
“But if the choice is between that and four more years of failed leadership, higher taxes, and high unemployment from Quinn and Madigan, a whole lot of Illinoisans might think less government is a pretty good idea,” spokesman Mike Schrimpf told CNN.
Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner kicked off a campaign-style statewide tour Monday by indicating he’ll try to “leverage” the state’s money woes into securing a series of pro-business changes from a General Assembly controlled by Democrats likely to fiercely oppose them.
The first stop was at Tribune Tower, where the governor sought to frame up the last seven scheduled weeks of the spring session during an appearance before the Chicago Tribune Editorial Board. The governor and legislative leaders will try to craft a new budget before the May 31 adjournment deadline against the backdrop of a projected deficit of $6 billion and Rauner calling for major cuts.
“Crisis creates opportunity. Crisis creates leverage to change … and we’ve got to use that leverage of the crisis to force structural change,” said Rauner, borrowing from a political philosophy famously coined by his friend Rahm Emanuel that “you never want a serious crisis to go to waste.”
* Gov. Rauner told WJBC Radio yesterday that he wants voters to call their Democratic legislators and ask them to tell Speaker Madigan to support his agenda. And the governor thinks it’s starting to work…
“[Speaker Madigan] pays attention to what his members say. Now, he’s got a lot of control over them, he controls the spigot of campaign cash to the members, that’s the reason they live in fear of him and he controls them.
“But you know what? If people around the state, the people of Illinois, call their state Representative, call their members of the General Assembly and say, ‘Look, we don’t like taxes, but Rauner’s willing to compromise. We don’t want an unbalanced budget and we do need reforms, term limits, redistricting reforms property tax reforms and pro-growth job creation reforms. We need those. Please, tell the Speaker to support it.’
“They’ll do it. They’ll go to the Speaker and do it. I’ve already heard that some are starting to do it and more of your listeners need to call in.”
The governor said much the same thing about how his ideas have “bipartisan support” during his press conference today.
* What all legislators most want from their leader is, mainly, protection from people like, well, Gov. Rauner…
Hundreds of guys depended on Paulie and he got a piece of everything they made. And it was tribute, just like in the old country, except they were doing it here in America.
And all they got from Paulie was protection from other guys looking to rip them off. And that’s what it’s all about. That’s what the FBI could never understand.
That what Paulie and the organization does is offer protection for people who can’t go to the cops. That’s it. That’s all it is. They’re like the police department for wiseguys.
A leader’s main political role is to protect his or her members from the other side’s attacks. This is done partially by carrying out attacks against the other side (offense is the best defense).
Regardless of whatever else you think of him, Madigan has done this so well for so many years (even under a Republican district map) that he has earned their loyalty.
* Do they fear Madigan? Yes, of course. But, mainly, they fear that he’ll withdraw his so far all but impenetrable cloak of protection.
He does lose some incumbents here and there. But nobody can say with a straight face that he didn’t give it his very best shot.
So, as long as they’re convinced that he’ll do everything he possibly can for them, and - just as importantly - as long as the governor’s economic “reform” demands continue to strike at the heart of the Democratic Party’s very existence, I doubt that there is or will be significant pressure from below.
* But that, too, is part of the problem here. Madigan’s steadfast refusal to engage much at all on Rauner’s “non-budget issues” is simply wrong-headed.
Let’s return to my Crain’s Chicago Business column for a moment…
(T)he Democrats need to realize that when state income taxes were relatively low, businesses could grudgingly overlook Illinois’ faults, such as over-regulation and “generosity” to favored groups.
That tolerance ended with the 2011 tax hike, which mostly expired in January.
If the Democrats want to restore some of that tax hike, they have to offset it with some real reforms.
Madigan and the Democrats need to wake up to this reality. The days when Democrats can over-regulate and over-reward their friends are, um, over. The tax hike, which was absolutely needed, broke the dam.
To return to my favorite genre, it’s like that NSFW scene in “Donnie Brasco” when the wiseguys are reduced to breaking open parking meters.
We need some growth in this state, man, and the Democratic Party right now isn’t proposing nearly enough (if any) ideas to help create that climate.
During past showdowns between Illinois governors and legislative leaders, the problem usually wasn’t a short supply of solutions, but a lack of political will to reach an agreement. Where there’s a will, there’s a way.
Once again, I’ve seen little willingness this summer by either side to engage in truly fruitful negotiations to end the Statehouse stalemate.
Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner continues to say he won’t talk about the budget until Democrats in the Illinois General Assembly kill off some things near and dear to their hearts: no-fault workers’ compensation, union collective bargaining, prevailing wage, etc.
Part of the problem this year is that neither side appears to see a way out of this mess. Both sides have entrenched themselves so deeply that they are not considering new ideas. Here are three suggestions to get them going.
On Friday we learned of another Madigan shenanigan. The Tribune’s Ray Long reported that, even as other grants from Springfield have been frozen, a $35 million grant will help build a new school in Madigan’s Chicago district. The online headline: “Money flows to Madigan district while state dollars tight.”
The biggest slice of the $35 million grant — $13 million — will help fund a $48 million middle school under construction in Madigan’s district to relieve overcrowding as the Hispanic population grows in his Southwest Side power base. The school will feature computer labs, music rooms, gymnasium space and athletic fields with synthetic turf, according to plans with the Chicago Public Building Commission, the project’s overseer.
An elementary school in the neighboring district of Rep. Dan Burke will get $6.5 million for roofing, masonry and other work, and $5.5 million will go to two schools in House Majority Leader Barbara Flynn Currie’s South Side district. The remaining $10 million is slated for air conditioning — an expansion of which Mayor Rahm Emanuel is pushing — in 35 schools elsewhere in Chicago. […]
The new middle school in Madigan’s district will be for grades five through eight when it opens in 2017 at 6018 S. Karlov Ave., according to CPS. The new school will give relief to Peck and Pasteur elementary schools, long identified as two of the district’s most severely overcrowded, where students sometimes learn in a cafeteria and meet with counselors in a projection room, the school district said.
At Edwards Elementary in Burke’s district, money will go toward a new roof and masonry stabilization to go with a new annex to ease crowding. The school district said the school has held 1,452 students in a space designed for 900 — 161 percent of capacity.
In Currie’s district, Kenwood Academy High School has grown significantly. The changes would shift an academic center for seventh- and eighth-graders to the nearby, previously closed Canter Middle School and open more seats at Kenwood for freshmen through seniors.
The Senate campaign of Rep. Tammy Duckworth, D-Ill., on Monday is launching its first attack on Sen. Mark Kirk, R-Ill., taking aim in a video at a series of verbal gaffes that has landed Kirk in hot water.
The video, intended to move on social media, marks a new phase in the Duckworth campaign, with the timing coming after Kirk in a WRKO interview last week called President Barack Obama ”Barack Hussein Obama.” Kirk also said in that interview Obama “wants to get nukes to Iran,” which is not true.
Kirk made the comment after the announcement last week of a deal to curb the ability of Iran to make a nuclear weapon, an agreement that Kirk has been highly critical of while it was being negotiated. Use of Obama’s middle name in this context is seen by some as a coded way to suggest Obama is a Muslim.
The video is titled “Mark Kirk’s Outrageous Statements” and also includes clips of Kirk calling a single Senate colleague a “bro with no ho,” and his comment about people being scared to drive through a black neighborhood.
For well over two centuries, U.S. senators have gleefully pressured, berated, interrupted and otherwise verbally abused witnesses who appear before them. Perhaps that’s all that Sen. Mark Kirk, R-Ill., was up to in an extraordinary grilling of Consumer Financial Protection Bureau chief Richard Cordray at a Senate Banking Committee hearing last week.
But after a series of jaw-dropping comments by Kirk in recent weeks, some may see something else in the hearing, during which Kirk suggested that Cordray’s agency is at least complicit in spying on members of Congress and U.S. Supreme Court justices.
* This Chicago Tribune editorial uses the word “reforms” four separate times…
“Speaker Madigan and the legislators he controls will leave town without a responsible, balanced budget and without any reforms while taking a pay raise for themselves,” began the communique from Rauner’s office. […]
Madigan, frantic to thwart Rauner’s reforms, instead retreats to shopworn theatrics about the dangers of the delay in passing a budget. […]
We do, though, hear from Illinoisans who don’t want to pay higher taxes until legislators accept reforms that Rauner and the voters who elected him demand. […]
Illinois is mired in slow growth in large part because other states boast reforms that Madigan stubbornly rejects.
* Why? Well, I dunno, but perhaps it’s because all but eliminating collective bargaining rights for teachers, killing off the prevailing wage and thereby drastically driving down the take-home pay of thousands of highly trained construction workers, and making it more difficult for the injured to qualify for workers’ compensation and sue corporations probably aren’t the most popular things wafting about the land.
I could be wrong.
But it’s odd that the editorial board spent all its time, energy and effort attacking a hugely unpopular politician instead of defending their own guy’s radical ideas. One is super-easy, the other ain’t.
* Yes, there’s undoubtedly an array of partisan and tinkling contest politics at play in this here shutdown showdown.
But there’s a reason why basically all Democratic (and quite a few Republican) legislators have balked at cutting a deal with the governor: Gov. Rauner’s “reforms,” in current form, are simply anathema to them.
* As I’ve said time and time again, this has been an historic year in Illinois for criminal justice reform. This is a smallish bill because it merely puts state law in compliance with a US Supreme Court case, but it’s a step…
llinois Gov. Bruce Rauner has signed legislation to end mandatory sentences of life without parole for juveniles. […]
The legislature approved the bill in response to a 2012 U. S. Supreme Court ruling that sentencing people under 18 to mandatory life without parole is unconstitutional.
The law doesn’t prevent minors from being sentenced to life in prison for serious crimes. But it allows judges to take into account certain factors when issuing a sentence. They include the juvenile’s age and maturity, any past abuse and the potential for the minor to be rehabilitated.
(T)he governor’s criminal justice reform commission quietly issued its first report earlier this month. It states that the commission is exploring a number of proposals that would have been unthinkable even a short time ago. Among them: reducing penalties for the possession of less than an ounce of hard drugs, including cocaine and heroin; increasing the number of offenses punishable with probation instead of prison; and offering tax breaks to businesses that employ ex-offenders.
House Speaker Michael Madigan told reporters earlier this month that he’d had a “frank discussion” with Gov. Bruce Rauner, “and I gave him good, solid advice.”
Word is, that advice had two parts.
First, the governor needs to find a way to get himself out of this long overtime session and state budget mess.
Second, if the governor thinks he can get himself out of this mess by somehow breaking the speaker’s will, he’s mistaken.
But the governor isn’t giving up. In fact, he has doubled down.
Rauner has made it clear that there will be no budget talks until the Democrats give in on his “Turnaround Agenda,” including his anti-union demands.
And several days after receiving Madigan’s “advice,” the governor started sending some very negative direct-mail pieces into some Democratic-controlled legislative districts.
The Rauner folks say almost 20 legislative districts were targeted last week. Both House and Senate districts were targeted. “More to come,” a Rauner guy told me.
The mailer I obtained from one of my former interns features an ominous photo of Speaker Madigan above and behind a picture of a smiling Rep. Michelle Mussman, D-Schaumburg, who won her race by 3 percentage points last year, despite optimism by Republicans that they had her on the run.
“Chicago political boss Mike Madigan wants your Rep. Michelle Mussman to kill the reforms you voted for,” claims the mailer, which displays her district office number and asks recipients to “Call Michelle Mussman now and tell her to side with taxpayers, not with Mike Madigan’s Chicago political machine.”
“Michelle Mussman should work for you, not Mike Madigan,” claims the other side of the mailer. “Tell Madigan & Mussman: No property tax hikes!” the mailer exhorts.
“Illinoisans already pay the second highest property taxes in the country, but Mike Madigan wants to use his powerful political machine and State Rep. Michelle Mussman to help him block Governor Rauner’s tax freeze reforms which benefit Illinois’ working families,” the somewhat wordy mailer claims, without, of course, noting that Rauner also wants to essentially eliminate collective bargaining rights for many heads of “working families” in that reform (see below).
“Tell Madigan & Mussman you demand term limits!” the mailer continues. “Political puppetmaster Mike Madigan has blocked reform for 44 years, protecting the status quo that put him in power. Illinois needs Michelle Mussman to stand up to Madigan to break the cycle of corruption and restore the integrity to the legislature by supporting term limits.”
“Call Michelle Mussman Right Now” the mailer commands, displaying her phone number in large letters at the bottom of the page.
The idea here is probably twofold.
First, put so much heat on Madigan’s members that they beg him to cut a deal with Rauner.
I don’t see that happening as long as the governor sticks by his anti-union demands. Madigan isn’t going to abandon the literal backbone of the Democratic Party because a few members are skittish.
The second part is likely to soften these members up for next year’s campaign, when they’ll be attacked again with the same sort of message.
That may work, but pretty much all political science studies have shown that when ad campaigns end, they tend to lose almost all of their punch. If Rauner is going to mail straight through Election Day next year, that’s a different story. But I doubt that will happen.
And there’s a real downside to this as well.
Once you attack legislators like this, they tend to “go political” right away. And since no other avenue is likely other than standing and fighting, these mailers could just entrench legislators ever deeper.
But, if nothing else, the mailers are a stark reminder that Rauner has a huge financial advantage over the Democrats.
Madigan’s three campaign committees reported raising a grand total of $618,000 in the second quarter, according to filings with the State Board of Elections. Madigan’s committees had $1.99 million sitting in the bank at the end of June 30, according to the filings.
Democratic Senate President John Cullerton’s two committees raised $592,000 and had just shy of $1.3 million on hand at the end of the quarter.
That wouldn’t be bad at all for the second quarter of an off year, but Rauner’s main campaign fund was sitting on $19.7 million at the end of the quarter. Rauner’s Turnaround Illinois PAC had an additional $2.7 million. The governor also has a “dark money” fund, but we don’t know how much is in it.
* A commenter posted this last week and I believe it’s something we should all keep in mind during the coming days, weeks, months and years…
We, the People of the State of Illinois - grateful to Almighty God for the civil, political and religious liberty which He has permitted us to enjoy and seeking His blessing upon our endeavors - in order to provide for the health, safety and welfare of the people; maintain a representative and orderly government; eliminate poverty and inequality; assure legal, social and economic justice; provide opportunity for the fullest development of the individual; insure domestic tranquility; provide for the common defense; and secure the blessings of freedom and liberty to ourselves and our posterity - do ordain and establish this Constitution for the State of Illinois.
* Barring major news developments I’m taking Monday off again. I’ve come to the conclusion that three-day weekends are the only way I can get a “real” summer. This almost campaign-like pace is messing with my soul.
* Today is Natalie Bauer Luce’s last day as Attorney General Lisa Madigan’s communications director. Nat’s heading to the private sector. I hope she’s prepared her replacement because I’ve pestered her at all hours, weekends, whatever for years. She’s never once complained. I wish her nothing but the best.
Natalie has had quite an exciting few weeks as her public service career has wound down, but she told me the other day it has helped keep her mind off the fact that she’s leaving people she loves working with.
I let Nat choose today’s play-out tune. She picked one she described as “an old family song that we use to kick off the start of every good party.” She also thought it was appropriate, considering the wild nature of the past several weeks. Turn it up for Van the Man…
* This takes away another major budgetary pressure point…
Working to protect hospitals at the greatest financial risk during the state budget impasse, the Department of Healthcare and Family Services today is announcing a financial action plan. Through a package of advance payments and agreements, HFS is providing funding assistance to the most vulnerable hospitals.
Using Fiscal Year 2015 lapse period funding authority, the department recently agreed to provide $32 million in advances on expected claims to eight “safety net” hospitals. These institutions are receiving an amount equivalent to what they are expected to bill over a two-month period. They will be required to repay the advances in the future.
“Unfortunately, healthcare providers, patients, and others who depend on state services are the ones who are caught in the middle of the current budget impasse,” said John Hoffman, director of communications for HFS. “The department is doing what it can, but it is up to the General Assembly to pass a balanced budget so hospitals can keep their doors open for our most vulnerable citizens.”
The following hospitals are receiving advances. These are among those most dependent on Medicaid resources for their operations.
St Anthony Hospital-Chicago
Mount Sinai Hospital
Norwegian American Hospital
La Rabida Children’s Hospital
Loretto Hospital
Jackson Park Hospital and Medical Center
South Shore Hospital
St Bernard Hospital
In addition, HFS has agreed to suspend a repayment plan with Roseland Community Hospital in Chicago. Roseland owes the state $3.4 million in assessments, a tax that hospitals are required to pay, and had agreed to make monthly repayments. That requirement is now being delayed pending a budget agreement for FY16.
“We understand that this action plan is no guarantee for any institution, but we are doing everything within our authority to help areas with the most need,” said Hoffman. “Hospitals and other service providers need budgetary certainty so that they can continue to serve our at-risk communities.”
* This is gonna have to work its way up gradually, apparently…
So, here’s where we are now. There’s an appeal in southern Illinois of the St. Clair County ruling. And the 1st District sent its case back to Cook County. Both of those cases will likely continue percolating.
* Gov. Rauner has just appointed Rev. Corey Brooks to the Illinois Tollway board…
* Brooks, you will recall, endorsed Rauner’s gubernatorial bid last year…
A South Side pastor who stuck his neck out by campaigning for Republicans Bruce Rauner and Jim Oberweis on Wednesday reflected on his decision, and the division it created in the African-American community.
“I took a beating, but it was all worth it,” Rev. Corey Brooks said a day after Rauner defeated Gov. Pat Quinn, but Oberweis lost to U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin.
WBBM Newsradio’s Mike Krauser reports Brooks, pastor of New Beginnings Church in Woodlawn, said he felt at times like he was the one running for office.
“I’ve discovered that … when you go against the status quo, and you go against what people have been doing for years, everybody is not going to be pleased with it,” he said.
* From the governor’s office…
Governor Bruce Rauner has appointed Pastor Corey Brooks to the Illinois Tollway Board. He has a strong track record of working with private and public entities to affect positive change in his community.
Currently, Brooks is the Senior Pastor at New Beginnings Church in Chicago. He founded the church in 2000. He leads a congregation of more than 2,000 members, including a staff of nearly 70, which has a budget of more than $1 million annually. His leadership has led to the church becoming a resource center for the community.
Previously, Brooks founded Project Hood, where he worked as a community activist. He took steps to combat gun violence in the City of Chicago and provided support to families impacted by the violence.
Brooks is a graduate of Ball State University. He earned a law degree from the University of Florida, as well as graduate degrees from the Dallas Theological Seminary and the Grace Theological Seminary. He lives in Chicago.
When Illinois’ Auditor General William Holland announced last month that he’d decided to step down at the end of the year, everyone knew immediately what this state needs in his successor — someone exactly like Holland.
Or, perhaps, someone exactly like Holland’s predecessor, the late Robert Cronson.
As the state’s top financial watchdogs over the past 30 years, these two presided over audits of the executive branch in ways that make citizens proud of their government — they were honest, candid and, above all, nonpartisan. To be effective, the state’s financial watchdog has to be as tough on the Republicans as he is on the Democrats — no fears of or favors for anybody.
That’s why state Rep. Frank Mautino’s announcement that he wishes to succeed Holland raises serious concerns.
First of all, nobody, and I do mean nobody, would’ve claimed that Bill Holland was “above all, nonpartisan” when he was elected Auditor General.
He was the Senate President’s chief of staff. Phil Rock was a genuinely nice man. He needed a hit man. Holland perfectly fit that bill. I love the guy - now - but he was a partisan gunslinger in the day. Didn’t love him so much then. Whew.
And let’s just say Mr. Cronson had some, um, attendance issues that were ignored by his media pals. Also, he was needlessly and unconstructively confrontational at times, particularly with the Supreme Court. Holland worked that situation out soon after he was elected.
* Look if you think that Rep. Mautino isn’t qualified or doesn’t have the temperament or is too close to Speaker Madigan to be Auditor General, I’d disagree with you but feel free to make your case.
Just don’t construct a laughably wild fantasy to justify your position.
The bottom line is, unless and until the Illinois Supreme Court acts (or unless the trial judge follows all the rules and comes up with the same TRO), state workers are gonna get paid.
…Adding… Comptroller Munger…
“Today’s ruling removes any conflict between Court decisions and allows my office to continue paying all state employees for their work. My priority has consistently been to comply with federal mandates and do everything in my power under the law to pay workers for services they are already providing the state. Time will tell what, if any, additional Court action occurs but I remain confident that paying state employees for their work is the legal, fiscally responsible and right thing to do.”
*** UPDATE *** From the attorney general’s office…
The Appellate Court’s order means that there will be additional proceedings before a final decision will be made. Further, and more importantly, it means that the State will continue to operate without a budget and with a high degree of uncertainty, which could be quickly remedied if Governor and the Legislature would fulfill their duty to enact a budget.
Illinois now has an official state vegetable: corn.
Gov. Bruce Rauner signed it into law today without fanfare.
However, he’s scheduled to attend an annual sweet corn festival this evening in Chatham, a suburb of Springfield. Local elementary school students had promoted making sweet corn the state vegetable as a class project.
* Not everyone was amused…
Ugh. Families are struggling to make ends meet, but don't worry, we now have a state vegetable! #twill#comeon@ashmo217@WCIA3Drew
A class of fourth-graders in central Illinois was learning about state symbols when students stumbled upon a puzzling question: Why does Illinois have a state fruit but no state vegetable?
The students at Chatham Elementary School, south of Springfield, could not abide the oversight.
“Vegetables are just as important as fruit,” was how one of the students, Halena Stuart, put it.
So, the 9-year-olds turned to technology. They had a video chat with eighth-graders at Taylorville Junior High who taught them how a bill becomes a law. Then they used online surveys to poll students about which vegetable ought to be accorded the honor.
And lo and behold, they got a state senator, Plainview Republican Sam McCann, to introduce a bill this month to designate sweet corn Illinois’ vegetable of choice. (The state fruit is the Goldrush apple).
Also in attendance, Governor Bruce Rauner and his wife Diana. The governor helping to make this year’s festival even more special by signing a bill today making sweet corn Illinois’ official state vegetable.
The first couple also took part in shucking corn. The Chatham Sweet Corn Festival runs Friday through Saturday.
Athletes at a southern Illinois high school will keep the nickname Freeburg Midgets, despite the objections of a group representing people with dwarfism who find the name offensive.
About 500 people gathered at the Freeburg Community High School late Thursday to urge the school board not to dump the name that was coined nearly 100 years ago by a reporter after he watched the school’s short basketball team beat much larger opponents. […]
Megan Sabourin, a St. Louis woman with dwarfism who grew up near Freeburg, told people at the meeting how offensive the name is to her.
“I’m hurt at the fact that they don’t see it as something negative. I’m hurt by the fact that we were in this community and we heard derogatory, disrespectful terms at the microphone,” Sabourin said.
“We recognize that it’s not intended to have a negative impact,” Little People of America President Gary Arnold said. “But with all the history and baggage that comes with the word, it still does. It sends a signal to youth that the use of the word ‘midget’ to describe a small person is acceptable and humorous,” he said.
But the overwhelming majority of the crowd was jubilant at the news that the mascot Freeburg has held so dear for so long wouldn’t be going anywhere. Most supporters of the nickname told the board their intent wasn’t to hurt anyone by using “Midgets” as a mascot. The name, they said, was a source of immense pride.
“It’s tradition,” Mary McGraw, a resident who wore a t-shirt that read “Don’t Mess with the Midget.”
“We’re not here to make fun of small people,” McGraw said. “I would have never realized how important (the mascot) was to so many people until just now when you see all these people. When someone messes with something like tradition, you decide something’s worth fighting for instead of letting it go.”
Another supporter, a man who told the board he was a Freeburg High graduate, drew loud applause when he said it didn’t matter what the board decided. “Once a Midget, always a Midget,” he said.
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the Illinois Chamber of Commerce bought $377,000 in television time in the Chicago market for a television spot starting Thursday touting Sen. Mark Kirk, R-Ill. […]
Earlier this month, an environmental group, the Natural Resources Defense Council purchased $1 million in ads on Chicago broadcast and cable outlets attacking Kirk for a vote he made allowing states to opt out of federal rules dealing with power plants and the environment. […]
Main messages of the spot: “Kirk is an independent leader fighting for Illinois” who is “bi-partisan,” a veteran and a protector of the Great Lakes.
* Sen. Daniel Biss is sitting on $1.2 million in his campaign account. Biss, of course, is running for comptroller in next year’s special election…
Biss, who has served in the legislature since 2011, raised $366,466 from April through the end of June, adding to the $870,058 he already had in his campaign fund. The Evanston lawmaker has raised another $12,130 since July 1. […]
Also eyeing a run is Chicago City Clerk Susana Mendoza, who served six terms in the Illinois House before winning election to the city post in 2011. Mendoza reported $381,741 to begin July after raising $226,210 in the three-month period.
Appointed Republican Comptroller Leslie Munger raised about $111K in the second quarter, leaving her with $113K in the bank.
In federal contests, Raja Krishnamoorthi reported raising $621,041 and had $596,296 to start July in his bid to win the Democratic nomination in the open-seat north and northwest suburban 8th Congressional District, outpacing two challengers. […]
Campaign reports filed with the Federal Election Commission showed Cullerton raised $134,760 in the three-month period and had $101,501 in his campaign bank account. Noland’s FEC report showed he raised $64,515 and had $61,587 to start July.
* And some notes from the Democrats on two Downstate Republicans…
Mike Bost:
Summary
* Raised: $298,409
* COH: $566,965
Highlights
* $2,500 from Halliburton Company Pac
* $1,000 from NRA Political Victory Fund
* $5,000 from ExxonMobil PAC and $1,000 from Chevron Employees Pac
[House Speaker Michael Madigan] cautioned reporters not to assume that the state’s budget crisis will be solved by negotiations between Governor Bruce Rauner and the Democrats who have veto-proof majorities in the General Assembly. […]
Pressed by reporters about why negotiations haven’t been pursued more urgently, Madigan said, “I don’t necessarily presume that there will be some kind of a deal put together between the governor and the legislative leaders.”
This might mean that MJM is figuring they’ll never come to terms on the governor’s “Turnaround Agenda,” or it might mean something else, or it may mean nothing at all. Madigan could’ve just been filling space.
“I don’t necessarily agree with the first part of your remarks, that in the end this will be negotiated between the governor, and the leaders. I don’t necessarily agree with that,” Madigan said. He later added, “(T)here are conversations going on but I don’t think you should proceed under any presumptions that are based upon what happened in the past…. I don’t necessarily presume that there will be some kind of a deal put together between the governor and the legislative leaders.”
What did Madigan mean by those remarks? The only way a budget can be passed without Rauner’s support — and, presumably without any support from Republicans in the House and Senate — would be for Democrats to use their three-fifths majorities to pass a budget and then override Rauner’s inevitable veto.
* Maybe we should ask the Texas governor for advice on how to deal with this obvious military invasion…
STATEMENT FROM THE CITY OF CHICAGO OFFICE OF EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT AND COMMUNICATIONS REGARDING TRAINING IN CHICAGO JULY 20-25
The City of Chicago is providing continued support for a routine military training exercise in and around the Chicagoland area over the next week. This routine training is conducted by military personnel in cities across the country, designed to ensure the military’s ability to operate in urban environments overseas, as service members meet mandatory training certification requirements and prepare for upcoming deployments worldwide.
As part of this training, residents can expect to see increased aircraft activity, including helicopter flights. All training activities have been pre-coordinated with federal, state and city officials, and these locations have been carefully selected to minimize the impact on the daily routine of residents.
The training is not open to the public and the sites will be secured to ensure the safety of residents and the participants.
On an unrelated note, I’ve heard the phrase “Chicagoland area” all my life and have always thought it’s redundant. Wouldn’t “Chicagoland” suffice?
Governor Bruce Rauner signed Executive Order 15-16 today to remove a layer of government bureaucracy in hiring civil-service positions (Rutan-covered positions) and to protect the hiring process from unlawful political influence.
Executive Order 15-16 rescinds Executive Order 03-01, which required the Governor’s Office to review and approve the hiring and promotion decisions of Rutan-covered positions at state agencies. This system was inefficient, contributing to significant delays in hiring and promotion decisions. It also became a tool for political patronage, which led to an increase in patronage hiring in previous administrations.
Governor Rauner requested Illinois Central Management Services and the Governor’s Office of Management and Budget to review this system – known as EPAR – and they recommended it be discontinued. Agencies will be subject to budget and headcount limits, but will be allowed to fill Rutan-covered positions according to the applicable personnel rules and collective-bargaining agreements.
Executive Order 15-16 also requires all employment and personal services contracts going forward to allow the State to terminate the contract without penalty.
EPAR was a reform that had certainly been abused. But what he’s also doing here is eliminating any legal paper trails between his office and agencies that are hiring.
The Rev. Jesse Jackson, a key ally of Senate candidate Andrea Zopp, stepped up pressure on the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee on Wednesday for endorsing her rival, Rep. Tammy Duckworth, D-Ill. […]
Jackson wrote, “to the chagrin of many loyal Democrats, we have read in the press that Representative Tammy Duckworth has been endorsed by your committee without a phone call or the proper vetting conversation.”
“Ms. Zopp is in the community she represents. She deserves respectful treatment,” Jackson said.
Last week, Justin Barasky said before endorsing Duckworth they met with others considering an Illinois Senate bid, including Reps. Cheri Bustos, Bill Foster and Robin Kelly, who is African-American. Baraksy said the DSCC “kept the lines of communication open but Andrea Zopp did neither.”
“The DSCC is proud to have endorsed Tammy Duckworth and stand with her throughout the campaign because she is the best candidate to beat a senator like Mark Kirk, whose racist and sexist comments have repeatedly put him in hot water.”
* From Matt McGrath, who says he is a “Senior Communications Adviser to DPI [Democratic Party of Illinois], working on the U.S. Senate race”…
By now you’ve probably seen this: Senator Kirk is making headlines across the country for saying something outrageous and offensive - only this time it was on Boston’s largest radio station, not into a hot microphone.
Please note this is the second time Kirk felt compelled to invoke Hitler and make an ahistorical reference to appeasement. Back in April, he said “Neville Chamberlain got a lot more out of Hitler than Wendy Sherman got out of Iran,” while discussing the agreement’s framework. Those remarks were widely panned at the time.
He upped the ante this morning, however, when he said (and then reiterated) this: “The only reason that the president supported Corker legislation is because it allows him to get what he wants on Iran which is to get nukes to Iran.”
If that’s not accusing the President of treason, it’s awfully close.
In the same interview, Kirk refers several times to the President, whose Senate seat Kirk now holds, as Barack Hussein Obama… for some reason.
These are outrageous remarks, and they have no place in civil discourse. How does this square with Senator Kirk’s self-styled image as a “moderate” who “reflects Illinois values”?
There are so many banned commenting words in that e-mail of his that I hesitated to post it.
Let’s all try to be a bit more reasonable than both of those gentlemen, please. Thanks.
Mark Kirk made deeply inflammatory comments about the proposed Iran nuclear agreement yesterday, saying that what the President wants is “to get nukes to Iran.”
He also called the deal “the greatest appeasement since Chamberlain gave Czechoslovakia to Hitler,” and repeatedly referred to the President as Barack Hussein Obama — an obvious attempt to make misleading insinuations about the President’s religion and loyalties.
Add your name: tell Mark Kirk that his incendiary language and partisan fear-mongering is unacceptable.
This isn’t the first time Kirk has invoked Hitler or made a careless reference to appeasement when discussing the Iran negotiations. He was also one of the 47 Republican Senators who undercut the President’s authority earlier this year by sending a partisan letter directly to Iranian leaders during the negotiations.
This kind of language is inappropriate coming from a U.S. Senator, and Kirk’s comments, which border on accusing the President of treason, are disgraceful.
Kirk made these comments before he’d even read the agreement. Tammy believes that Congress should carefully review this deal, without rushing to judgment or resorting to reckless partisanship.
Sign our petition condemning Kirk’s remarks:
http://action.tammyduckworth.com/iran-comments
Thank you for adding your voice,
Kaitlin Fahey
Campaign Manager, Tammy for Illinois
[Gov. Bruce Rauner’s pension reform] proposal would give state employees incentives to move into a cheaper pension system known as Tier 2. Democrats said the move is hypocritical in light of a decision to give Rauner’s newly hired pick for state schools chief a special perk to boost his pension.
“This supplemental perk is a clear admission that Tier II is grossly inadequate as it stands. Thousands of Illinois educators receive this very same, insufficient retirement plan, but rather than make them whole as he is doing for his own executives, Rauner is proposing a plan that cuts them more deeply,” said Illinois Federation of Teachers President Dan Montgomery. “This is illegal, hypocritical, and a stunning display of the Governor’s real priorities.”
* The Tribune editorial board concurs in part and dissents in part…
Employees enrolled in Tier II earn pensions based on a less lucrative formula than those in Tier I. Higher salaries mean higher pensions, but the Tier II formula includes a strict ceiling on the earnings used to calculate retirement benefits.
[State schools superintendent Tony Smith’s] base salary for this year is $225,000. But his contributions to the Teachers Retirement System, or TRS, will be based on a capped salary of just under $112,000.
Smith’s contract requires taxpayers to make both the “member” and “employer” contributions to his pension, a rant for another day. Because of the salary cap, the “member” share is about half what it would have been under Tier I. So the taxpayers will write him a check for the difference.
Because Tier II, a baby step in a desperately needed pension system overhaul, is too onerous for the governor’s guy? We don’t think so.
Moving new employees into a sustainable pension plan was a sound policy decision by the state. Rauner has no business creating exceptions for his chosen aides.
Anybody who calls Tier II a “baby step” - when employees are essentially subsidizing everybody else - isn’t quite clear on the concept.
Even so, give ‘em props for finally speaking up about something.
Former U.S. Rep. Aaron Schock’s legal woes have been lucrative for a handful of law firms that have collected more than $1 million from his campaign fund over the past three months, according to a campaign disclosure report released Wednesday by the Federal Election Commission.
In addition, the report shows that Schock owes almost $750,000 to the law firm Jones Day. […]
In recent months, Schock returned $57,800 worth of political contributions, the report shows. Reimbursements were made to contributors including prominent Chicago-area businessmen Ron Gidwitz, Sam Zell and restaurateur Richard Melman.
As of the end of June, $2.1 million remained in Schock’s campaign fund.
He paid $500,000 to McGuire Woods, a Richmond, Virginia, based law firm. McGuire Woods partner George Terwilliger, a former top official at the Justice Department, is representing Schock.
Schock owes $746,985 to the firm Jones Day, according to the Federal Election Commission report, which was made public Wednesday. […]
He paid $333,628 to Berliner Corcoran and Rowe, a firm with offices in D.C. and San Francisco, and $91,000 to Lane and Waterman. Jeffrey Lang, a former U.S. attorney in central Illinois who works at Lane and Waterman, is on Schock’s legal team.
The Bopp Law Firm, a Republican firm run by attorney Jim Bopp, did $25,000 in work for Schock. Berke Farah, a D.C.-based political firm, made nearly $3,500 from the former lawmaker.
Schock paid $25,000 in legal fees to JJ Jackson Consulting and $20,000 to Schertler and Onorato, a D.C.-based litigation firm. Schock also shelled out $50,000 to Blank Rome.
Illinois lawmakers adopted a stop-gap budget plan Wednesday and readied to send it to a likely dismissive Gov. Bruce Rauner, one piece of a flurry of state Capitol activity that did little to move the state toward a yearlong spending agreement.
Despite the first-year Republican governor’s well-known opposition, the Senate put up a partisan vote on a $2.3 billion, one-month budget to keep state government functioning; approved 39-0 with 15 voting “present.” Democrats, who have used provisional fiscal plans several times in the past decade, want to keep essential and emergency services available during the budget standoff, but Rauner wants a permanent agreement.
But the day’s bursts of activity provided more heat than light. […]
“We would strongly recommend to the governor that he put politics aside, ignore the advice of his campaign advisers, and sign the bill,” House Speaker Michael Madigan told reporters
There’s no doubt that the governor is using campaign tactics to govern. But he has some legitimate gripes about the way this state is run and the sorry state of our economy.
It would help if the Democrats finally realized that they haven’t exactly created a Heaven on Earth in Illinois.
* Regarding AG Lisa Madigan’s legal moves to block state worker pay without any authorizing state appropriations…
Madigan contends that she is doing the right thing (vindicating the Illinois Constitution) for the right reason (because it’s her statutory duty). If that’s true, her action would be almost without precedent in the history of Illinois politics.
Not mentioned is that her actions are “almost without precedent” because AG Madigan made pretty much the exact same legal moves in 2009 as she is this year. So, yeah, “almost.”
Consider the 2012 lawsuit filed against Cook County and the state by gay-marriage advocates who challenged the constitutionality of an Illinois law that permitted homosexual civil unions but limited marriage to a man and a woman. (The lawsuit became moot after the General Assembly approved same-sex marriage).
Both Madigan and Cook County State’s Attorney Anita Alvarez ignored their statutory duties to defend state law. Both said the Illinois law limiting marriage to a man and a woman was legally indefensible on constitutional grounds.
The American Civil Liberties Union and New York-based Lambda Legal originally filed separate lawsuits against Cook County Clerk David Orr, a supporter of gay marriage whose office is responsible for issuing marriage licenses in the county, which includes the city of Chicago.
The action was taken on behalf of the 25 couples, some of them from outside Cook County, but all of whom had applied for marriage licenses there and been denied. […]
Alvarez said it’s her job to represent Orr – and they both agreed with the plaintiffs.
* Back in the day, outgoing Senate President Phil Rock got his chief of staff elected to the vacant Auditor General post. This time around, Speaker Madigan wants that plum for one of his guys…
A top lieutenant of House Speaker Michael Madigan has launched a bid to become the state’s next auditor general.
State Rep. Frank Mautino, D-Spring Valley, resigned his post on the Legislative Audit Commission last week as a precursor to applying for the $152,000 per year post.
Mautino, who serves as deputy majority leader under the powerful house speaker, has begun spreading the word among some lawmakers that he wants the job after serving on the commission for 18 years, including 12 years as co-chairman. […]
“I think he’d be a very good auditor general. He’s served for years on the audit commission. And through that service on the audit commission he’s acquitted himself with what the office does,” Madigan said.
He’ll need a three-fifths super majority in both chambers. Considering that Mautino barely won last year and the governor wants to target his district next year, the Republicans will probably be more than happy to comply.
“We’ve had a lot of political leaders in this state who have been fighting to advance the political class rather than the middle class in Illinois. We’re going to change it right now, big time, here this summer.”
Thursday, Jul 16, 2015 - Posted by Advertising Department
[The following is a paid advertisement.]
Credit unions remain true to one principle – people before profits – and represent a highly valued resource for more than 3 million Illinois consumers during times that post economic and financial challenges. This includes circumstances that arise beyond their control, such as interruptions in paychecks for state workers due to the current budget impasse.
In response to this situation, credit unions from all across Illinois have been proactively working behind the scenes to provide their members and consumers with peace of mind. This includes partnering with Illinois State Treasurer Michael W. Frerichs who last week announced his office’s collaboration with Illinois’ credit unions to provide more than $50 million in available funding for interest-free loans to state workers during this challenging time. Credit unions from all across the state have stepped up to help their members, consumers and state workers alike with loan assistance programs and other crucial options, such as waiving skip payment fees and allowing early withdrawal of savings without penalty. And that list is growing every day.
To find out which credit unions are specifically reaching out to Illinois families, please go to www.icul.com and contact a credit union near you. During these uncertain times, Illinois credit unions will be there for its members.
The State Government Leadership Foundation announced a digital advertisement purchase to run throughout the state for the rest of this week, directing users to www.stopdiggingmadigan.com, an online petition to urge the speaker not to continue pushing for a state budget which spends $3 to $4 billion more than it takes in.
“The over 12 million people of Illinois are owed answers by Speaker Madigan on why he insists on deepening 30 years of reckless spending with his current budget proposal,” said SGLF Executive Director Matt Walter in a news release. “Such an enormous debt impacts every member of the Prairie State, and it’s time to tell the speaker that enough is enough.”
Steve Brown, Madigan’s spokesperson, responded the claims are misguided and attack the speaker for issues he himself did not create on his own.
“People try to use Mike Madigan’s longevity in office as a negative weapon,” Brown said. “They forget that he’s never signed a bill, he’s never appointed an agency director and never made a pension investment.”
Since Mike Madigan became House Speaker in 1983, Illinois total debt levels have risen to more than$321 billion, leaving it with the 5th highest debt levels in the country. That means every citizen of Illinois, all 12.88 million of them, owes $24,959 to pay off the debt that Madigan caused.
With his current budget proposal, he wants to add another $4 billion to that debt.
Don’t let Michael Madigan dump his mess on you and your children.
“What happens next is we all go home, listen to our constituents and wait for the other side to blink,” said Republican state Sen. Jason Barickman of Bloomington.
