* Treasurer Dan Rutherford said the General Assembly should go ahead and pass pension reform, pushing people into 401(k)-style plans by using much higher pension contribution rates, and then let the courts decide whether it’s constitutional or not…
“It should be litigated. For years and years, we’ve been, `Oh, it’s unconstitutional.’ Litigate it,” Rutherford said at a news conference. “Because until we do it, nobody is going to really know.”
A major union said the idea wouldn’t raise the same “constitutional red flags” as simply reducing benefits. Some government employees, such as university officials, already have that pension choice, said a spokesman for the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees.
But spokesman Anders Lindall said AFSCME opposes Rutherford’s proposal. He said it wouldn’t fix the state’s pension problems — particularly state government’s failure to contribute its full share of retirement costs over the years. […]
Lindall said several other states have given employees a choice but have seen “very low” participation in 401(k)-style plans.
* Editorial: Present? Yes. Jobs? Nah: Nice to see in the official record that Senate President John Cullerton was “present” as the state continues to chase away jobs. Congrats to his fellow Chicago Democrat, Sen. Kwame Raoul, for being “present” when reform that might have helped jump-start Illinois’ sluggish economy went down.
* Bill spurred by Bianchi legal costs: A bill under consideration in Springfield would help protect county governments like McHenry County where legal bills related to the special investigation of State’s Attorney Louis Bianchi total more than $300,000. House Bill 2558, which passed through the House last week, would allow the courts to hire other public prosecutors to keep costs manageable when a sitting public official is investigated and goes to trial. It also would require that the scope of a probe be well defined and that county boards be provided itemized cost estimates and bills.
* Rep. Sara Feigenholtz opposes state plan to restrict HIV/AIDS drugs access
* Illinois announces reduced access to HIV Medication Assistance, Effective July 1
This is the first time Illinois’ Democrats have controlled the entire state government during a redistricting year. That means they can draw the map any way they want, and there’s nothing the Republicans can do but whine about “extreme partisanship.” I’m sure they’d welcome proposals to reduce the number of Republicans to pre-Abraham Lincoln levels.
* And the Chicago Tribune recently editorialized about the remap process…
The bad news is that Democrats control both houses of the legislature and the governor’s mansion, which means they can and will pass a map all by themselves. They aren’t going to listen to Republicans. We’ll know soon enough if they’re listening to the public.
* The Question: Is Illinois’ remap process unfair because Republicans are excluded? Take the poll and then explain your answer in comments, please.
* A new poll conducted by the Midwest Initiative at Monmouth College of 500 registered voters in eight Midwestern states found that when people are asked to identify which states they thought of when they heard the word “Midwest,” Illinois comes out on top…
Since there were 500 respondents, those 255 mentions of Illinois is a majority.
There is a weak correlation between state of residence and the states named, for the eight states from which respondents were drawn were listed by one hundred or more respondents as Midwestern.
If there is a pattern here, it is one of an absence of consensus and, at one level, a bit of confusion about the Midwest. The inclusion of Ohio and Michigan suggests that the Midwest still carries some identification with the historic “Old Northwest” of the Northwest Territories (Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio, and Wisconsin), though Iowa, so often thought of as the quintessential Midwestern state, finished second in the number of times named despite having only 5% of the total respondents.
* Another question asked what values respondents thought of when they heard the word “Midwest”…
* “All things considered, on a scale of 1-10 (with 1 being not satisfied at all and 10 being extremely satisfied), how satisfied are you to live in the Midwest?”…
About 75 percent rate their satisfaction at 6-10. Not bad at all.
* A bright outlook for the future…
* But Midwesterners really don’t like the way things are heading right now…
* And globalization and trade are not always viewed as positive things…
* Methodology…
Live calls to 500 registered voters in eight Midwestern states: Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Ohio and Wisconsin. The random sample poll was conducted from March 23-24 and has a margin of error of +/- 4.4% at a 95% confidence level.
An ex-lawmaker whose appointment to the state parole board ran into trouble amid Senate questions about a potential quid pro quo has landed a new state job.
Former Democratic Rep. Careen Gordon started Monday as an $84,000-a-year associate general counsel for the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation.
Gordon landed in the new post a month after resigning her spot on the Illinois Prisoner Review Board instead of facing a difficult Senate confirmation vote. Critics questioned whether Gov. Pat Quinn gave Gordon the nearly $86,000-a-year job as political payback for key vote in favor of a tax increase in January. […]
Sen. Matt Murphy, R-Palatine, said Quinn’s decision to hire Gordon again is a “slap in the face of everybody in the Senate who beat back this blatant pay-to-play.”
Quinn and Gordon have both denied any quid pro quo, and it’s highly doubtful anything was done in an illegal manner (the new US Supreme Court requires proof of a bribe, and that’s most certainly not the case here). But, a deal’s a deal, so Gordon was going to get a gig one way or another.
An opinion by the Illinois Attorney General calling for the release of results of medical testing on prison guards who filed successful workers’ compensation claims speaks of the public’s fundamental right to know how its money is spent.
Despite this broad language, this single decision announced Monday in response to a Belleville News-Democrat Freedom of Information request is limited. It cannot legally compel the state’s Central Management Services to release other basic records that relate to how taxpayer money is spent on workers’ compensation claims, said attorney general spokeswoman Natalie Bauer.
Bauer said that Central Management Services, or CMS, contends it can withhold virtually all financial and other records related to workers’ compensation based on a state law that allows “proprietary” information regarding the operation of an “insurance pool” to be off limits to the public.
Under this interpretation, no Illinois taxpayer can learn how tens of millions of dollars in taxes are spent by CMS, which manages claims for the Illinois Workers’ Compensation Commission, critics contend. For instance, the newspaper’s weeks-long effort to find out how much public money has been spent to treat workers’ compensation arbitrator Kathleen Hagan’s leg injury is still pending before the attorney general. CMS refused to provide this information.
* Oh, this is rich. The Illinois Republican Party apparently thinks that Rod Blagojevich is a trustworthy source. Why else would the state party use Blagojevich to blast away at its favorite target, Speaker Madigan? Sheesh…
As I’ve written time and time again, this goofy Blagojevich fantasy about appointing Lisa Madigan to the US Senate was an alibi, not a plan.
* Blagojevich claims Axelrod spoke to him about running for president: Asked about Blagojevich’s claim, Axelrod said he stood by comments he made April 8 before the City Club of Chicago. Axelrod, who ran Blagojevich’s 1996 campaign for Congress, told the audience he declined to help Blagojevich run for governor because he “did not see in him the qualities for executive leadership.”
A 35-year-old fugitive from Ohio was arrested after he allegedly abandoned a stolen vehicle and fled on foot into the woods near the University of Illinois Springfield on Tuesday afternoon.
The search for Alan J. Gordon prompted email alerts to UIS students and parents in the Ball-Chatham School District.
Gordon, who was taken into custody about an hour and a half after the search began, is accused of crashing the stolen car near a wooded area along the UIS soccer fields on the campus’ east side, according to Chief Deputy Jack Campbell of the Sangamon County Sheriff’s Office.
I didn’t even know it was going on.
Anyway, how did your neighborhood fare during yesterday’s storms?
* 4:38 pm - Gov. Pat Quinn has used his amendatory veto stamp on Senate Bill 1. The bill would boot from office within 30 days of becoming law hundreds of paid and unpaid appointees who have not been reconfirmed by the Senate for new terms.
From the governor’s veto statement…
My recommendations for change would honor the intent of the sponsors but would also give citizens ample time to apply for a vacant position and allow a reasonable amount of time for identifying and recruiting qualified candidates.
Therefore, pursuant to Article IV, Section 9(e) of the Illinois Constitution of 1970, I hereby return Senate Bill 1, entitled “AN ACT concerning government,” with the following specific recommendation for change:
On page 5, by adding immediately below line 22 the following:
“(e) The provisions of this Section pertaining to a salaried office apply on and after July 1, 2011. The provisions of this Section pertaining to an office other than a salaried office apply on and after October 1, 2011.”.
In essence, the AV gives him more time to get his act together and appoint or re-appoint people to these positions.
The list of salaried holdovers is here. Unsalaried holdovers are here. A little bit of background is here.
* As you can probably guess, Senate President John Cullerton was very big on this bill. You don’t give it the “1″ spot unless you want to highlight it. More and more, governors have simply ignored term lengths to bypass the Senate’s advice and consent role, and Cullerton wanted that stopped.
We’re awaiting an official react from Cullerton. Stay tuned.
* 5:11 pm - From Cullerton’s press office…
“At this point we’re going to study the governor’s action to see if it complies with the Constitution.”
* Republicans dissed Gov. Pat Quinn’s budget proposals at a McLean County Republican Party lunch event this week…
“Gov. Quinn’s budget is a catastrophe,” said state Sen. Bill Brady of Bloomington, Quinn’s opponent in the 2010 election. “Under his plan we will be $20 billion in debt in four years.”
State Rep. Keith Sommers of Morton called on Quinn to work with everyone in the General Assembly on creating a good budget for the state.
State Rep. Dan Brady of Bloomington said a GOP proposal would cut $3.5 billion from the state’s budget by making “surgical cuts” to programs in education, Medicaid and general services.
“We can’t take a large chunk but let’s at least start by looking at how we can spread out the cuts,” Dan Brady said. “The first thing we have to do is stop digging the hole and making it bigger.”
There’s no denying that the governor’s budget proposal was a huge miscalculation and even a disaster. I’ll give Sen. Brady that.. Quinn proposed increasing state spending and borrowing billions of dollars. Not a great plan, and it’s been thoroughly rejected by both legislative chambers.
What we haven’t seen, however, are actual Republican bills that would cut Quinn’s budget. They speak of a plan, but a plan isn’t real until it’s in bill format. So far, nothing. I’m really getting tired of repeating myself, but until I see a bill, there’s no plan.
* Rahm Emanuel’s choice of Jean-Claude Brizard to run the Chicago schools has been mostly met with high praise. He stands up to the unions, according to the Tribune, and his appointment means sweeping change, according to the Sun-Times.
The Rochester City School District’s press release announcing Superintendent Jean-Claude Brizard’s contract renewal cited possibly misleading numbers about graduation data.
“Under Mr. Brizard’s leadership, the Rochester City school District is seeing improvements in student performance and more students graduating high school in four years. A total of 1,334 students who entered high school in 2005 graduated in four years, an increase of 16 percent over the 1,153 students who graduated in four years after entering in 2004.”
But according to the state, Rochester’s four-year graduation rate actually fell during Brizard’s tenure to 42 percent in 2008-09, down from 48 percent in 2007-08.
The 2010 graduation rate did rise again to 51 percent last school year. So, he showed some recent progress. Brizard has only helmed Rochester’s schools for three years, so it’s difficult to know whether that was a temporary spike or a permanent upward trend.
New York State education officials released a new set of graduation statistics on Monday that show fewer than half of students in the state are leaving high school prepared for college and well-paying careers. […]
In Buffalo, Rochester, Syracuse and Yonkers, less than 17 percent of students met the proposed standards, including just 5 percent in Rochester.
Rochester City School District Superintendent Jean-Claude Brizard has the most expensive cabinet in district history.
Brizard has said the district needs to reduce administrative costs. Through the Freedom of Information Law, 13WHAM News learned he is doing the opposite when it comes to his top-level staff.
The Superintendent Employee Group, traditionally referred to as the cabinet, is covered by its own employment contract. They receive severance pay and other benefits that other district employees do not receive. This non-union group has 36 administrators and 14 secretaries who earn a combined $5.05 million.
That’s an increase of 13 staff members and $1.5 million in payroll expenses in the two years Brizard has been superintendent.
