* 3:24 pm - If you want to know if Cook County Board President Todd Stroger will veto the sales tax rollback or allow it to take effect, tune into WVON today at 4 o’clock…
Stroger will disclose his decision at 4 p.m. in an interview on WVON-AM 1690, according to a new release from his office. WVON host Cliff Kelley will interview Stroger for about 30 minutes, the release said. Stroger will also release a statement on his decision at the time of the interview, his office said.
Retail sales declined much faster last year in Cook County communities near the county line than they did for the entire county, according to a study that seeks to measure the impact of last July’s politically charged increase in the county sales tax.
Preliminary findings were released Monday, ahead of word on whether Cook County Board President Todd Stroger will veto a measure to eliminate the one percentage point boost in January.
The survey by DePaul University’s Chaddick Institute for Metropolitan Development and Economic Research Associates Inc. found that Cook County communities near the county line last year experienced a 5.7% drop in retail sales, compared with a 4.1% drop for the county as whole.
Meanwhile, the decline was just 1.7% for communities outside of Cook County whose geographic center is within five miles of the county line.
Stroger says he’s going to veto to tax repeal, and instead call for a graduated roll-back. Must think he has enough votes
*** 4:17 pm *** Stroger just said on WVON that he has already transmitted his vetoes to the clerk’s office.
Stroger said the proposal to immediately roll back the tax hike was “not fiscally responsible,” and “not thought out at all,” and a “political effort” meant to “embarrass” him.
Stroger: “I don’t think the votes are there to override a veto.” He also said that Senate President Cullerton wants to roll back the Cook County sales tax hike from Springfield as well as increase the state income tax, which Stroger more than implied was hypocritical.
* 4:47 pm - Stroger’s press release is now online.
* The setup, which I don’t yet believe but appears somewhat plausible…
Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan is reconsidering the possibility of running for the Senate in 2010, according to several sources familiar with her thinking.
Madigan, widely considered the 800-pound gorilla in the state’s politics, had previously flatly ruled out a Senate bid in 2010 — insisting that all of her attention is on the governor’s race next year.
But, with Gov. Pat Quinn (D) riding high after having replaced disgraced former Gov. Rod Blagojevich and a new poll conducted by the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee showing her cruising to the Senate seat, Madigan is at least entertaining the possibility of running to join the world’s greatest deliberative body. Madigan would likely still start as the favorite in the governor’s race but even those close to her acknowledge that the path to the Senate is less cluttered. […]
Madigan is far from a sure thing to run for the Senate. There are at least two reasons why she won’t run: she covets the governor’s office and she is sitting on more than $4 million in a state campaign account that could not be transferred to a Senate bid. (Quinn has tried to neuter Madigan by proposing that no money could be carried over to the governor’s race in 2010 but it’s not clear that is going anywhere.)
* The Question: Should AG Madigan avoid a primary against a sitting governor and run for US Senate? Notice, I didn’t ask “will,” I asked “should.” Big difference, so keep that in mind. As always, explain your answer as completely as possible. Thanks.
* Ensuring that African-American voters come out in strength during the fall campaign is always a high priority for Democrats. Without all of this base, they have big trouble. But they’ve been voting in such high numbers for the past several cycles that appeasement may no longer be necessary. Still, few want to take that chance, which is why we’re seeing more stories like this…
“I think because of the sheer numbers, having a candidate that appeals to the African-American voting base is going to be very important to the Democratic Party,” said Larry Rogers, an attorney who serves on the Cook County Board of Review. Rogers said he has been approached by people who would like him to run for Cook County Board president, which he said he would consider only if Stroger opts not to run for re-election; and also by people who would like him to run for attorney general, should Lisa Madigan run for governor rather than seek re-election.
One of those encouraging Rogers is state Sen. James Meeks, himself considering a run for governor if Gov. Quinn and/or Lisa Madigan do not meet his challenge to run on a platform of adequately funding education in Illinois.
Meeks argues that Jesse White’s presence alone on the statewide ticket will not be enough to motivate the black electorate. Meeks made the same threat four years ago but backed down when then-Gov. Rod Blagojevich promised to increase education funding, a promise, Meeks notes, that never came to fruition.
State Rep. David Miller (D-Chicago) is considering a run for lieutenant governor, either on his own or — some say — as an unofficial running mate with Madigan if she declares.
Mayor Daley said Friday he would not be drawn into a political fight with embattled Cook County Board President Todd Stroger over which politician has raised taxes more.
Earlier this week, Daley joined his brother, County Board Finance Committee Chairman John Daley, in supporting the repeal of Stroger’s one percentage point increase in the Cook County sales tax very detrimental” for retailers and consumers
Stroger responded by reminding reporters of all the taxes Daley has raised.
A bitter black/white split is the worst case scenario for the Democratic Party. They could wind up saddled with candidates who hurt them in the fall instead of helping them.
* Also, this parking meter disaster has taken lots of the shine off of Daley’s administration, which could easily impact next year’s contests. Disaffection is clearly mounting…
In this new era of skyrocketing meter rates, at least one man found a way to park his car for hours in a traffic-clogged neighborhood without having to spend a pocketful of quarters.
Should it surprise longtime observers of Chicago politics that this guy works for a City Council member?
Zodak Yonan, an aide to Ald. Thomas Tunney, infuriated neighbors in Lakeview by parking at an expired meter thanks to a “44th Ward Official Business” placard he displayed on the dashboard.
What is it about stepping into an elevator that makes us start to hyperventilate? Some say it’s acrophobia (fear of heights); others blame claustrophobia (fear of enclosed spaces). We don’t know the scientific term for fear that the elevator hasn’t been inspected for eight years, but after reading Tribune reporter Azam Ahmed’s work last week, we think we’ll just take the stairs.
Ahmed reported that nearly 70 percent of Chicago’s 20,000 elevators didn’t get their “annual” inspection last year, as required by law. The records don’t reflect follow-up inspections on those that failed. Some elevators haven’t been inspected since 2001, according to city records.
The city that works doesn’t.
* But, you can’t beat somebody with nobody, and the Democrats are obviously counting on more Republican division…
[Potential Republican gubernatorial candidate Dan Proft] considers House Bill 750 and the idea of shifting school funding away from property taxes “Idiotic. Stupid. It’s just another fraud.”
And so he will throw a little dynamite into an otherwise orderly GOP primary election, if you know what I mean.
He considers the field of GOP contenders incapable of translating true Republican principles into public policy.
“Voters are more cynical than ever before. You can’t trot out there and say, ‘I’m for education, jobs and lower taxes.’ That doesn’t cut it,” Proft said.
* U.S. Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. speaks at Lincoln College graduation: Moments later, the Illinois Democrat’s microphone failed, and to illustrate his point, he continued his speech without missing a beat.
* Schakowsky funder draws Valerie Jarrett, Tina Tchen, Sen. Amy Klobuchar
* Rep. Biggert will face rematch with Dem foe: Businessman Scott Harper is set for a rematch with Rep. Judy Biggert (R-Ill.), after filing a statement of candidacy with the Federal Election Commission.
* Shimkus, Costello weigh in on cap-and-trade issue: While Shimkus rejects the conclusions of a long list of eminent climate scientists — including the Nobel Prize-winning U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change — Costello said he thinks “the science is there to back it up. The question is how do we address this.”
* I wrote this weekly syndicated newspaper column to illuminate the drumbeat of propaganda about how Illinois is almost completely alone in how it regulates campaign contributions. It’s not. You can see all the state regulations by clicking here. And now, the column…
Editorial writers, crusading columnists and reformers say it all the time: Illinois is one of only a small handful of states that does not regulate campaign contributions.
That’s technically true, but you might be surprised at how little some other states actually regulate those contributions.
Gov. Pat Quinn’s independent reform commission has recommended that Illinois adopt the same basic contribution limits for individuals and political action committees as the federal government. But if contribution limits are supposed to get the influence of money out of politics, they’ve failed miserably in Washington, D.C., where money has become an obsession, and that obsession rules all.
According to a March analysis by the National Conference of State Legislatures, some states have few campaign contribution restrictions at all. Still others have much more stringent caps than proposed by the governor’s reform commission.
Neighboring Iowa, for instance, has no limit on individual contributions to candidates and doesn’t cap state party contributions, political action committee contributions or labor union contributions to candidates. However, Iowa does prohibit direct contributions by corporations. Here is a rundown of some other states:
• Texas, Pennsylvania and North Dakota prohibit direct corporate and union contributions to candidates, but have zero limits on any other contributions.
• Indiana restricts contributions by corporations and unions to $5,000 per year for statewide candidates and $2,000 per year for all other candidates. Individual, political action committee and state party contributions are not limited. Mississippi and Alabama have similar restrictions.
• Ohio limits individual and PAC contributions to a somewhat odd $11,395.56 per candidate, per election, while capping state party contributions to $642,709.58 for statewide candidates, $128,200.05 for state Senate candidates and $63,815.14 for state House candidates. Corporate and labor union contributions are prohibited.
• According to the NCSL report, a total of 13 states have no caps on individual contributions. Even more have no limits on state party contributions, although some states, like Kentucky, require that candidates other than gubernatorial candidates accept no more than half of their money from the state parties. Kansas is one of a small number of states that severely restricts state party contributions during primaries but imposes no limit on general election spending.
• California’s contribution limits are much higher than the proposed federal-style limits in Illinois, perhaps reflecting its large numbers of big media markets and the fact that limits are indexed to inflation. California caps individual, union and corporate contributions at $25,900 for gubernatorial candidates, $6,500 for other statewide candidates and $3,900 for legislative candidates. PAC contributions are roughly double those limits. But last month, the California’s Fair Political Practices Commission reported that candidates still have managed to raise almost $1.1 billion since the caps took effect in January of 2001. That total did not include independent expenditures, which would be a lot more money.
• Florida, another large state with multiple TV markets, has a $500 across-the-board limit on campaign contributions from all sources. But recent local reporting has shown how easy it is for special interests to get around those caps via “electioneering communications organizations.” One example was an alleged scheme by Anheuser Busch to bankroll favored candidates via a police union fund.
• The state of New York uses a mathematical formula to limit individual, PAC and union gubernatorial campaign contributions. The formula is based on the number of party members. New York also has a $100,000 limit on family member contributions to legislative candidates. State party contributions to candidates are prohibited in primaries and unlimited in general elections. Corporations are limited to $5,000 per year in aggregate.
• Michigan prohibits all corporate and union campaign contributions and has very low caps for all other contributions. Statewide candidate contributions are limited to $3,400 for individuals and many PACs per election cycle. Senate candidate contributions are capped at $1,000 and House contributions are limited to just $500. “Independent” campaign committees have much higher caps.
As you can plainly see, the range of limits is far broader than we ever are told. This issue is not as black and white as it’s usually portrayed. I actually favor contribution caps, but they should either be extremely low with lots of safeguards (unlike Florida) to really stamp out the money, or high enough that every check doesn’t become an obsession. Illinois Senate Republican Leader Christine Radogno has proposed a $10,000 cap on individuals and PACs. That seems reasonable to me.
Another option I’d consider is public funding, which appears to be working in Connecticut…
In 2004, former Gov. John Rowland admitted he traded political favors for more than $100,000 in private flights to Las Vegas, Vermont vacations and repairs to his cottage from state businesses. He spent 10 months in prison. The year before, Connecticut Treasurer Paul Silvester was sentenced to four years in prison for taking bribes and kickbacks.
The state tried to change its colors by revamping the way elections are run. Lawmakers now can avoid soliciting donations from influential lobbyists, unions and businesses by using government funds to run their campaign.
Roughly three out of four of candidates for legislative office opted for the public funds, reducing the amount money they collected from powerful special interests that managed to dictate public policy. […]
One example that reformers offered is the new Connecticut lawmakers’ decision to approve a measure the previous General Assembly had rejected because of its ties to a powerful bottle industry. The move, which took back $20 million in unclaimed bottle deposits, only happened because legislators no longer relied on money from special interests, ethics watchdogs say.
* And I still believe the “fumigation” proposal will be changed, but maybe not in the House…
Capitol Fax, the insider Statehouse newsletter, reported Friday that the fumigation may only apply to “double exempt” employees, hires who are not even protected by the state personnel code.
But Madigan’s spokesman, Steve Brown, said no amendments are expected. That’s too bad because such an amendment would make the bill more palatable. If you went to work for Blagojevich as a double exempt employee after 2006, you had to know your career might not last long. That being said, Quinn ought to have the “testicular virility,” as Blagojevich once put it, to take care of business himself.
If they don’t change this bill, it’ll be irresponsible and way too disruptive to government. The governor’s office is expecting a change, however, so be patient.
[Space-time continuum altered, bumped up for visibility and comments opened.]
* I told subscribers about a “Scared Straight” doomsday scenario Friday morning…
Illinois Governor Pat Quinn is threatening a “doomsday” budget if lawmakers don’t pass an income tax hike. The governor says the new revenue is needed to fill the state’s $11.6-billion deficit.
QUINN: We are going to let people know what the consequences are if we don’t do this plan. A doomsday budget is very, very dangerous for our state. It will harm our state. It will harm people, very vulnerable people in our state. And I don’t want to ever have a doomsday budget.
Democrats in the House have asked the governor’s budget office to draft an alternative budget that would provide a snapshot of how the state spending plan would look if there is no new revenue stream flowing into state coffers.
The exercise is designed to show skeptical lawmakers that a failure to raise taxes could result in a budget that cuts state spending by about a 25 percent. […]
Republicans are calling the so-called “doomsday” budget scenario little more than a stunt by Democrats because most lawmakers already understand the state’s budget situation is bleak.
And Gov. Quinn may be getting just a tad ahead of himself…
Gov. Pat Quinn celebrated his 100th day in office on Friday by declaring he’s got the backing of the General Assembly’s top two Democrats for his proposal to raise state income taxes to help erase the state’s record budget deficit.
But aides to Senate President John Cullerton and House Speaker Michael Madigan, both Chicago Democrats, cautioned that supporting the concept of higher taxes doesn’t necessarily mean they endorse Quinn’s plan to hike the income tax rate by 50 percent, accompanied by an increase in the personal exemption.
Asked by reporters if he was on the same page as Madigan when it came to the tax-hike proposal, Quinn said, “Oh yes, and the president of the Senate.”
*** UPDATE *** The Civic Federation has released a report this morning bashing the governor’s budget and his capital plan. You can read the full report by clicking here. The brief summary…
The Civic Federation does not support the proposed operating budget because it raises taxes without fixing the state’s structural deficit. If significant pension and employee healthcare reforms are implemented, the Federation could support a smaller income tax increase targeted at reducing the state’s existing obligations in the areas of Medicaid and pensions. The Civic Federation opposes the $26 billion proposed Illinois Jobs Now! capital plan because it is not tied to a comprehensive planning process and is unaffordable now and in the future. The analysis commends Governor Quinn for proposing bold changes to the state’s pension systems.
The Civic Federation also denounced Quinn’s personal exemptions on his income tax increase, which would set the rate at 4.5 percent from 3 percent.
Msall said a 1 percent income tax increase and a 1.6 corporate income tax increase would generate about $3.6 billion, a little more than Quinn’s proposal.
“The state is in a financial crisis that will not be solved by a partial pension holiday or a gimmick or modest changes in state spending,” Msall said. “You have to dramatically and painfully reduce spending.”
In fact, the report said that if an income tax is approved — albeit less than the 50 percent increase sought by Quinn — it should be used reduce the state’s backlog of overdue bills and cut its pension debt.
“The state’s unfunded pension obligations are major contributors to Illinois’ growing budget deficit,” said federation president Laurence Msall in a written statement. “Shorting the state’s pension contribution while raising taxes to address the state’s structural deficit crisis is illogical and counterproductive.”
* Chicago home sales fall 37% from 2008, prices 26.8%
Home sales in Chicago plunged 37 percent in the first quarter from a year earlier, and prices fell 26.8 percent, the Illinois Association of Realtors said Friday.
There were 2,909 existing single-family homes and condominiums sold in the first quarter of this year, down from 4,617, and the median price was $216,000, down from $295,000, the group said.
In the Chicago metropolitan area, sales dropped 26.4 percent to 10,306 homes from 14,012, and the median price fell 22.8 percent to $187,500 from $243,000.
The nation’s rough roads are leading to higher driving costs for motorists — $400, on average, and $750 for drivers in urban areas, according to a report released Friday.
A third of major U.S. interstates and major highways and 46 percent of Chicago’s streets are in poor or mediocre condition, said the report by the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials and the road advocacy group TRIP.
Normally, about 35 miles of city arterials are resurfaced each year. But only a few miles were done last year and in 2007, according to the Chicago Department of Transportation.
That’s because state funding dried up after 2006, with the one major exception being about $6 million that the Illinois Department of Transportation provided last year to resurface a scarred section of North Lake Shore Drive, from Irving Park Road to Foster Avenue. The fix cured the pothole contagion for now, but the work will have to suffice until many more millions of dollars are identified for a complete reconstruction of the lakeshore roadway, which was built in the 1950s, officials said.
The more immediate good news for drivers weary of potholes is that the city began seeking bids Friday for several dozen projects that will use $86 million in federal economic stimulus funding.
When the $300 million expansion opens this week, visitors will find the museum easier to navigate and see 20th century masterpieces in a whole new light — from the sun
As the owner of Midwestern Firearms Company in East Peoria, John Meek aims each business day to sell as much ammunition as he can to responsible owners of handguns.
Lately there’s been one big hitch in his business model.
He has no ammunition to sell.
“I’ve been out for about two weeks,” Meek said. “I get spare cases in now and then, but people are keeping an eye on what’s coming in, and those don’t last long.”
* Mother’s Day is this weekend, so I’m looking forward to seeing my mom. Also, my brother Doug is coming up from Texas and we’re going to the Sox/Rangers game. Should be a good one.
Authorities say winds that reached 100 mph and included possible tornadoes snapped trees and downed power lines in southern Illinois.
Carbondale Township Fire Capt. Mark Black says trees are down and siding from homes is strewn everywhere. He says his firefighters are cutting trees out of the roadway so they can get their trucks out.
My brother Devin lives near Carbondale and my mom just called to say his house is wrecked. He wasn’t home at the time, thank goodness. Neighbors have lost roofs and the roads are jammed.
* 3:33 pm - “My neighborhood is a disaster area,” Devin just said. “This is insane, man.” Part of his house, which is in Carterville, actually separated from the rest of his house. His house was surrounded by very tall trees and now they’re almost all gone.
Devin said he drove 45 miles home from a meeting and there were trees down and damage the entire way.
Rep. John Bradley was just on local radio and said he has already called the governor to seek assistance.
“Carbondale, Marion, everywhere, there’s no power,” Devin said.
* 3:38 pm - Two reported deaths in Missouri, but nothing yet in Illinois, thankfully…
A TV station in Carterville, Ill., has suffered damage to its roof and has gone off the air temporarily, KFVS reported on its Twitter feed.
Illinois State Police have reports of storm damage in seven counties. Police are reporting tornados in Jackson and Perry counties.
According to the National Weather Service, winds were blowing between 70 and 90 miles per hour in the area at midday Friday. And wind gusts near the southern Illinois community of Carbondale reached 100 miles per hour.
*** 3:51 pm *** Rep. John Bradley described the storm as a “hurricane.” His own house lost its roof and he’s out now with neighbors trying to clear the roads.
“We need state resources down here. It’s a disaster area,” Bradley told me. He said Gov. Quinn’s office is “on top of it, I think,” but he added, “We need help. There’s a lot of damage.”
Bradley also said he was sure the locals would accept any sort of assistance from central Illinois communities that can spare it.
* An official with Gov. Quinn’s office says they’re on top of things and are now working on an official disaster declaration. IEMA is coordinating with locals and the guv’s office has been in touch with Rep. Mike Bost as well as Bradley.
Carbondale Township Fire Capt. Mark Black said the “winds were just amazing. They were howling and the siding on the trailers was flying through the air and there was a pretty hard rain.”
Trees were down and siding from homes strewn about, he said. Firefighters had to clear trees off roads to get their trucks out. Black said he’s heard of some injuries but had no details. He said some people abandoned their cars and sought shelter in the fire station.
IEMA claims there have been no local requests yet for state resources, but they have dispatched people in the area to identify those needs. IEMA has pulled in people from various agencies, including IDOT, state police, CMS, etc. to the central emergency center.
* 4:35 pm - From Ameren…
Severe storms have left about 52,000 Southern Illinois Ameren Illinois Utilities customers without electrical service, while downed electrical wires and debris have created hazardous conditions. […]
The Ameren Illinois Utilities have activated their Emergency Operations Center, which is directing the service restoration work. AIU personnel are now assessing the damage to both high voltage lines and the electrical distribution system that brings power to homes and businesses. When this process is completed the Ameren Illinois Utilities will be able to determine estimated restoration times.
Health officials say a truck driver who had to be extricated from an overturned semitrailer was in serious condition at a [Carbondale-area] hospital.
Rosslynd Rice of Southern Illinois Healthcare says about six other patients with minor injuries were being treated at the Memorial Hospital of Carbondale.
* 4:53 pm - I’m about to shut things down for the weekend, so here’s an automated news feed…
* The Tribune takes a look today at one of the reform commission’s proposals: Giving state’s attorneys and the attorney general more tools to prosecute corruption. This opinion was telling…
Besides, some judges and prosecutors say, the state’s criminal code, with its laws for conspiracy, bribery, theft and official misconduct, already gives prosecutors ample tools. County prosecutors, they say, simply do not use them.
“There’s all this whining when there are statutes on the books right now that let them do their jobs,” said Cook County Circuit Judge Daniel Locallo, a former county prosecutor.
Some county prosecutors covet the ability to use wiretaps without informing targets. The commission also wants a new law that would make lying to a state or local investigator a crime, like it is with the feds. But the judge is right that they do have plenty of tools already.
* Another widely heard push-back on the bill…
“States attorneys are political. The assistants are beholden to a political officeholder,” said state Sen. William Haine (D-Alton), who was a state’s attorney Downstate for 14 years. “Giving them a hammer and a saw is one thing. But giving them a large crane and a backhoe is something else.”
There are 102 state’s attorneys in this state and many of them are partisan animals. Is that enough to deny them these broader investigative powers? Well, that’s a big part of the debate.
* Here’s another good point, this time about the attorney general’s office…
Critics point out a potential pitfall in providing such investigative tools to an office that’s traditionally been a steppingstone for ambitious politicians. Madigan is the daughter of Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan, who’s also chairman of the state Democratic Party. The critics say she could investigate his political foes and ignore wrongdoing by his allies. But the attorney general has pledged to go after corruption no matter where she finds it.
Lisa Madigan is not her daddy’s handmaiden, but many Republicans don’t feel comfortable giving her these powers and it’s hard to blame them. The same goes for Democrats who probably wouldn’t be overjoyed if somebody like DuPage County State’s Attorney Joe Birkett got the AG’s job and had this sort of latitude.
[Former Illinois Attorney General Bill Scott] sued GM, Ford and Chrysler for conspiring to avoid installation of anti-pollution devices in cars. He sued the major airlines and power utilities for air pollution. He sued major industries like US Steel and Inland Steel for air and water pollution. He sued these utilities, industries, and the cities of Milwaukee, Wisc. and Hammond, Ind. for dumping toxic chemicals and raw sewerage into Lake Michigan, poisoning the largest body of fresh water contained within the United States. He sued GM for installing Chevy engines in their Oldsmobiles.
And then Attorney General Scott was imprisoned for a year and a day on tax fraud charges.
We have a habit in this state of electing corrupt people, including to the AG’s office, so giving those people the power to investigate their political rivals for corruption could be a dangerous idea.
* Semi-related…
* Do the expanding [national] pension scandals have a Chicago connection?
* Blago’s lawyers: Evidence will take 51 years to get through
“Blagojevich Democrats continue to show they cannot bring change to Illinois,” said Illinois Republican Party Chairman Andy McKenna. “These same Democrats who endorsed and enabled Rod Blagojevich for six years are still fighting to keep the Blagojevich era of higher taxes, no reform, and arrogant power plays alive in Illinois.”
* I’ve heard this through the grapevine as well, but I don’t know it it’s true or not…
Hmmm. Sneed hears White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel is privately telling folks Chris Kennedy — if he runs — may potentially be the strongest candidate for the U.S. Senate seat once occupied by Barack Obama.
• • The buckshot: State Treasurer Alexi Giannoulias, an Obama basketball buddy, has raised buckets of cash in his exploratory push to capture President Obama’s old Senate seat . . . and is a close friend of Rahm and White House senior adviser David Axelrod.
• • The backshot: Kennedy, who runs the Merchandise Mart and is the son of the late U.S. Sen. Bobby Kennedy, is weighing his options. But top Dems are predicting Kennedy is going to run.
And wags are quietly wagging their tongues about this too…
Poll ‘em: Sneed hears GOP U.S. Rep. Mark Kirk, who has been pondering a U.S. Senate run, may also be concerned about a Kennedy bid.
The upshot: Sneed is told Kirk has included Kennedy in his polls, but Kirk spokesman Eric Elk said that was not accurate.
• • The buckshot: Pundits have been all over the place recently predicting Kirk’s future. Kirk and his wife, Kimberly, are separated. Is a divorce in the near future? Does Kirk feel that may have an impact? Stay tuned.
I’m not at all convinced yet that the separation is a huge part of the equation right now, but this Kennedy thing has definitely caused Kirk to rethink the plan. Kirk spent a lot of time planning a race against Giannoulias, but Kennedy changes the game and Kirk is a careful man. He needs a bit more time to think things through, so people should take a breath.
By the way, it’s good to see Sneed getting her groove back on politics. “DId you see Sneed today?” used to be a regular question asked by people in this business. I found myself asking it again today. Made me smile.
* Sen. Roland Burris has a lame excuse for his campaign finance report’s, um, lameness…
Burris has been so out-of-the-loop on the campaign side of things that he actually expressed surprise at having to file his first fundraising report last month, as well as his personal financial disclosure.
“Those rules kind of came up on me in terms of having to file a quarterly report,” Burris said. “Nobody told me that.” […]
[Burris] raised just $845 in the first quarter of 2009 compared with another Democratic candidate who has raised more than $1 million.
Illinois Treasurer Alexi Giannoulias threatened [yesterday] to drop Wells Fargo as the treasurer’s office’s money custodian and to take the bank off its list of preferred vendors if Wells Fargo doesn’t back off its efforts to force Chicago suit maker Hartmarx into liquidation.
* Steve Huntley looks at the crop of GOP gubernatorial candidates and concludes his column thusly…
“I’m not sure the party knows what they are looking for,” says Doug Whitley, the president of the Illinois State Chamber of Commerce, who recently ended his bid for governor largely because of a money shortage. “It’s not a highly centralized structure. You’ve got the so-called money people, the county chairmen, the state central committeemen and [state chairman] Andy McKenna. But there is no statewide officer holder who is an obvious leader, there’s no obvious council of decision-makers.”
Whitley says his travels found voters frustrated with the lack of leadership in Springfield and a political class “who don’t care about jobs lost, about companies going to other states.” The question: Can the GOP get its act together?
* As I told subscribers today, Speaker Madigan’s “fumigation” bill will likely be changed. Rep. Gordon urges people not to believe that the legislation unveiled yesterday is the final word and Sen. Dahl has a valid point that I believe will also be addressed…
“It’s a good starting point to look at,” said state Rep. Careen Gordon, D-Morris. “I don’t think that this is going to be the final bill by any means. But I think it’s definitely something to start negotiations with.” […]
State Sen. Gary Dahl, R-Granville, expressed concern of the timeline outlined in the legislation — Madigan wants the process done in 60 days.
“We’ve tried to do things around here for years and can’t get it done,” Dahl said. “I just hope that if they’re going to put a time limit on it and it gets to crunch time that they’re taking a serious look at what they’re doing and not just chopping to get it over with.”
Double exempt folks are likely in line for fumigation. The rest - mostly professionals - may not be. And I doubt it’ll be a 60-day time frame.
I usually don’t divulge subscriber-only stuff, but the online debate is so heated on this matter that I thought I’d try to settle people down a bit.
* And for all you folks who immediately jumped to the conclusion that this was a shot at Quinn, you’re wrong…
“I think it’s a good idea,” Quinn said. “I think it’s one we need to use to reassess everything in state government, and if we see anything that is improper, we can act accordingly.”
The governor has said previously that he would like to keep some Blagojevich appointees, and he didn’t see the legislation as an attempt to hinder his power to appoint people to boards and commissions.
“I think it will pass, and I’m open-minded to that for sure,” Quinn said. “Because it gives us a thoroughgoing opportunity to look at all of those who are appointed and even those who have terms that don’t expire for several years.”
The governor loves this concept for a whole lot of reasons.
Madigan also justified the General Assembly getting involved with executive branch operations on the basis that it was the General Assembly that ousted Blagojevich and allowed Quinn to become governor.
“Quinn is governor only by the extraordinary action of the legislature,” Madigan said.
Yet Madigan’s move represents another indication of how leading lawmakers are driving the state’s agenda more than Quinn as the new governor approached his 100th day in the office Friday.
Rep. Ron Wait, R-Belvidere, said that if mass firings did occur, he questions what role Madigan would have in the selection of the new hires.
“Madigan would have his pulse on all these openings,” he said. “If they were replaced, hopefully they would hire competent people, and not just patronage people.”
Republican bills that would have overhauled only specific boards–where problem Blagojevich appointees were suspected–were shut down this week in the House. That would have been a better plan, according to [GOP state Rep. Mike Bost]. […]
“This is truly Madigan at what Madigan does,” Bost said. “He can now go out and tell people, ‘I was for radical reform. if you vote no you choose not to do that.’”
* My Sun-Times column takes a look at our state’s lousy predicament…
I’ve been talking about Illinois’ mess lately with an old-timer named Jerry Shea.
Shea has been around forever. He served five terms in the Illinois House, beginning in the early 1960s. He was a majority leader and Mayor Richard J. Daley’s floor leader. He has been on the RTA board of directors, was a member of the the U. of I. board of trustees, taught law classes at John Marshall and has a Statehouse lobbying client list that’s more than a mile long.
Shea knows everybody and remembers everything. But he’s not exactly the type of person who would hang around with “reformers” like Gov. Quinn.
As Shea remembers it, Gov. Richard Ogilvie helped pass the state’s first income tax by agreeing to allow legislators to roll all of their local government pension credits into the General Assembly’s retirement plan. Because lots of legislators worked for the City of Chicago and Cook County, or were former mayors of suburban and Downstate towns, that pension bill secured a whole lot of income tax votes.
Was it what we would now call a corrupt bargain? Sure. But it worked. The state desperately needed the revenues, and if a handful of hacks got a pension bump in the process, well, that’s just the way it had to be done.
Today, that deal would be an abomination, of course. The FBI might even start poking their noses around.
But here we are once again faced with a horrific budget problem and the need for a tax increase and — unlike during Ogilvie’s time — major budget cuts to boot. So, what’s our reform governor to do?
Gov. Quinn rightly recognizes that Illinois is facing two bone-crushing crises at the same time. The first is fiscal — the government is flat broke. The second is ethical — our last two governors got pinched by the feds.
Illinois has something in the neighborhood of $12 billion in red ink to deal with. There’s no way to tax ourselves out of this mess, and there’s no way to fully cut our way out of it, either. The solution has to be a combination of both, plus some borrowing, either from the pension funds or through the bond houses. That three-pronged approach of taxes, cuts and borrowing is exactly how California got out of its deep financial hole this year. But it wasn’t easy.
The governor has appointed a reform commission, which has now proposed all sorts of ideas — some good, some goofy and some in need of tweaking. The “sexiest” stuff revolves around campaign finance reform. The commission wants to cap contributions at the current federal level of $2,400 for individuals and $5,000 for political action committees so we can be as clean as Washington, D.C., is.
Hooray.
The commission also wants to limit the terms of, and cap the fund-raising by, the all-powerful state legislative leaders, who run the Statehouse and raise the money to fund most of their members’ campaigns.
Pressure is building to a fever pitch in the media to pass the commission’s recommendations and clean up government. The governor has said he is in full agreement.
But how do you persuade legislators to raise taxes and cut precious spending programs, and then force them to commit yet another political suicide by capping their campaign contributions and hobbling their legislative leaders so they can’t easily defend themselves against outraged taxpayer/ voters — and get it all done in a way that shuns old-style horse-trading and is completely ethical, moral and aboveboard?
“You can’t do it,” Shea told me Thursday. “There is no way to do it.”
The session ends on May 31. We’re about to see if Shea is right.
* Related…
* Deep deficit demands permanent tax courage : No one wants a tax increase, but Illinois needs it.
Surveyors from the Illinois Department of Transportation have asked sheriff’s deputies to stand watch as they inspect the properties of homeowners hostile to the airport plan. Meanwhile, officials in rural Will Township and a local roads commissioner have drafted stern letters to lawmakers in Springfield, calling the proposal a disastrous waste of taxpayer money that would forever change Peotone’s rural character.
On a recent Friday, more than a dozen airport opponents staged a rally at Governors State University where Gov. Pat Quinn was scheduled to appear. A confrontation was avoided when the governor failed to show, but the residents didn’t leave without making their stance known.
“It’s nothing short of a total betrayal by Gov. Quinn, who is supposed to be the people’s advocate,” said Peotone area resident George Ochsenfeld, president of STAND (Shut This Airport Nightmare Down).
Commissioner Earlene Collins missed Tuesday’s surprise vote. At a committee meeting today on a different topic, she made a point to bring it up.
COLLINS: If we talking about saving money, getting rid - and especially now. Everybody want to lay off everybody. I don’t know how you going to violate these union contracts you already signed on to next year when you find out you don’t have any revenue coming in.
After her speech, when asked what she thought of the sales tax repeal, Collins laughed and walked away. Collins has been a key Stroger ally on the board.
“There’s no corroboration — no reliability or verification of any of these complaints. Yet, we’re chasing ‘em and making pie charts and graphs and all kinds of gibberish to prove their productivity,” Allen said.
“These are asphalt guys. They’re not scientists. They’re not clerks. When they get done on a street, they’ve got to count how many potholes they fixed. They should just fix ‘em. I’m not saying shut down 311. “
“When you talk about a glimmer of hope, I don’t know what that meant,” Daley said. “I don’t know where you see it. Maybe you see it in Washington, D.C., but I don’t think you’re seeing it across the country.”
Mayor Daley said today he cannot agree to a no-layoff guarantee — even if organized labor joins 3,600 non-union employees in taking two weeks off without pay by Dec. 31 and comp time instead of cash for overtime.
Last month, Daley threatened to lay off 1,600 city employees — none sworn police officers and firefighters — unless organized labor agrees to another round of givebacks to erase a $300 million shortfall.
Chicago is taking another step toward Mayor Richard Daley’s goal of opening 100 new schools by 2010. The district is calling on community groups, teachers, and school operators to submit proposals for its next round of schools.
The state will pump nearly a million dollars into developing two parks in suburban Loves Park.
City and Rockford Park District officials announced two grants of $400,000 each, obtained through the Illinois Department of Natural Resources Open Space Lands Acquisition and Development Program, at a news conference this morning.
