At a school in Rockford Wednesday morning, Rauner fielded questions from an audience of school children. One question concerned Illinois’ crime problem.
“For young people not to be drawn into the gang life, it’s very important that we help every young person see that they can have a great education, and have every school in every community have the proper support, so teachers can really be properly helped to help every student,” Rauner said. “And we need every young person to see a good future for themselves so being drawn into a gang is not very appealing.”
While the governor complimented the children on their tough questions, suggesting they have a future in journalism, the real reporters were given an opportunity to question the governor and declined.
Rauner would not have gone unchallenged in Chicago or Springfield. [Emphasis added.]
I don’t think I’ve ever seen that happen or heard of it happening anywhere. No questions?
* The attorney general’s office just called to say they have a hearing set in St. Clair County on their motion to vacate the order to pay state employee salaries without an appropriation.
The hearing will be held February 16th at 1:30 in the afternoon.
* By the way, if you watch the Tribune interview video, Gov. Rauner shook his head “yes” when asked if state employees should be paid without an appropriation and without a court order to do so.
Those are some very dangerous waters.
Rauner wasn’t asked, however, whether social service providers should be paid without an appropriation even though they have signed state contracts in hand.
*** UPDATE *** The governor’s office has now responded to the competing legislative proposals by House Democrats and House Republicans to pay state workers…
“It is only right that state employees are paid for the work they do, which is why we were so disappointed by the Attorney General’s motion. We are reviewing the proposals but appreciate that lawmakers on both sides of the aisle are working on solutions.”
* From a CBS 2 story on the Illinois Policy Institute’s budget proposal…
State Rep. Jeanne Ives (R-Wheaton) said she thinks the public will press for approval of the IPI budget plan.
“That four-person family where the dad’s working his tail off, and maybe has a second job, and they know that they’re funding the Medicare for an able-bodied single adult who doesn’t want to get a job; I’ll tell you what, they’re all in on this plan, sir. All in,” she said.
Um, Medicare is federal. Medicaid is state. But way to go on the class division stuff.
Also, if that four-person family has a kid in college, I’m not so sure they’ll be loving a billion dollar cut to higher education. But, hey, maybe they’ll just send their kid to an out of state college.
Democrats are moving urgently to harness the wave of grass-roots protests that have greeted President Trump in his first weeks in office to reclaim the House majority in next year’s midterm elections.
As of this week, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee is hiring full-time operatives to do political organizing work in 20 key Republican-held districts — an unusually early investment in House races that do not even have declared candidates yet.
Rep. Ben Ray Luján (D-N.M.), the committee’s chairman, called the move “unprecedented” for Democrats, who need to pick up two dozen GOP-held seats to win the majority. […]
The 20 targets include many of the districts where Democrats hoped to unseat Republicans last year — including suburban districts in California, Minnesota, Pennsylvania and Colorado. But they are also going into districts represented by veteran GOP lawmakers — such as Reps. John Abney Culberson (Tex.), Peter J. Roskam (Ill.), Edward R. Royce (Calif.) and Pete Sessions (Tex.) — who did not face a strong 2016 challenge but where Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton ended up beating Trump.
I dunno about Roskam. Do you think he’ll be vulnerable?
A group of 16 constituents that arranged to meet with staff members at the West Chicago district office of U.S. Rep. Peter Roskam (R-Wheaton) Wednesday about their concerns with a repeal of the Affordable Care Act were abruptly told they would have to reschedule after staff realized a member of the press was present.
Sandra Alexander said she scheduled the meeting weeks ago and was stunned that they were turned away. “We are going to be respectful and see if they will change their minds,” Alexander said. […]
“He just ran off,” Alexander said. “They never told me that the media could not be here, and the reporter was willing to leave so that we could have our meeting,” she said.
* The DCCC might also want to look at Rodney Davis’ district, which is the home to something like ten universities and colleges, including UIUC and ISU. And speaking of ISU…
Josh Knight of Normal said he brought his 8-year-old son to a Not In Our Town Bloomington-Normal rally Wednesday night in Bloomington to show him how to be an American.
“I wanted to show him that we treat all people equally and that we instill in him the values of American culture that we believe in and that is freedom for all people and to be an open and welcoming person,” said Knight. […]
They were among about 1,200 people who filled the Bloomington Center for the Performing Arts auditorium to capacity in a show of support for their immigrant neighbors and to protest President Donald Trump’s executive order on immigration, making the rally one of the largest in recent memory in the Twin Cities.
1,200 people turned out for a pro-immigration rally in Bloomington? Something’s up.
The problem with that idea, however, is the district is so spread out. Bloomington and Urbana aren’t far away geographically, but they are worlds apart in many other ways. The campuses appear to dominate the district on paper, but people on those campuses almost never work together. Also, I think about 40 percent of the district is in the St. Louis media market. It’s all over the place.
*** UPDATE *** Many thanks to a commenter who pointed us to this DCCC memo, which reveals that Congressman Davis is on the DCCC’s target list, along with Congressman Randy Hultgren (which may be a bit of a stretch). From the memo…
History Isn’t On Their Side:
* Since 1900, there are only three examples of the president’s party gaining seats in the first midterm: 2002 (George W. Bush), 1934 (Franklin D. Roosevelt) and 1902 (Teddy Roosevelt).
* In modern history- since 1982- the president’s party has lost an average 28 seats in the first midterm election, even accounting for Republican gains in 2002 under President Bush.
President Trump’s Historic Unpopularity:
* In all midterms over last 23 years, the sitting president has needed a net-positive job approval in the double-digits in order to stave off losses.
* According to a new Quinnipiac University Poll conducted over Donald Trump’s first five days as President, only 36% of voters approve of his job performance.
* Trump has reached majority disapproval (Gallup Poll) in a record-shattering 8 days.
Deeply Unpopular Agenda:
* On policy, House Republicans are taking the wrong lessons from 2016: kowtowing to Trump’s most divisive policies like his border wall, while opposing him on popular plans to preserve Medicare or action on trade.
* The Republican plan to repeal the Affordable Care Act is deeply unpopular, and will continue to create political backlash across the country.
* Republican attacks on Medicare, Social Security and Planned Parenthood, and efforts to gut ethics and transparency safeguards will have repercussions at the ballot box.
The governing body of the Chicago Teachers Union called for the “immediate resignation” of schools chief Forrest Claypool on Wednesday, a symbolic gesture that also denounced budget cuts and layoffs implemented by the city amid ongoing budget turmoil.
Mayor Rahm Emanuel, who appointed Claypool to lead Chicago Public Schools in 2015, responded by saying he had “complete confidence” in the former mayoral chief of staff and Chicago Transit Authority chief.
Chicago Public Schools CEO Forrest Claypool should resign immediately “for his efforts to dismantle and sabotage” Chicago’s public schools, the leaders of the Chicago Teachers Union said.
The resolution, adopted Wednesday evening by the union’s House of Delegates, came in advance of the first of four unpaid days for teachers ordered by Claypool to save $35 million to help fill a $215 million hole in the school district’s budget caused by the state budget impasse. […]
The resolution adopted by the union’s House of Delegates, accuses Claypool and the Chicago Board of Education — all appointed by Mayor Rahm Emanuel — of “frivolously lining the pockets of wealthy investors” while students suffer the effects of deep cuts to school budgets.
OK, but how is Claypool allegedly lining those pockets and why?
WHEREAS, the efficiency measures proposed by Chicago Public Schools and imposed by the Chicago Board of Education have led to mass privatization, costly contracts, program cuts, mass layoffs, and an increased inefficiency of our public school services all while frivolously lining the pockets of wealthy investors
RESOLVED that the Chicago Teachers Union calls for the immediate resignation of CEO Forrest Claypool and a member vote of no confidence for his efforts to dismantle and sabotage the Chicago Public Schools; and be it further
So, basically what the CTU is talking about here are the CPS privatization programs. Coincidentally, part of the Senate’s grand bargain would expand those very same Chicago Public Schools privatization standards to the rest of the state.
The CTU probably should’ve been more specific, citing dollar amounts or specific privatization failures. This is, after all, a hot topic. But it’s not just some empty personality fight over who should resign.
One of Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s campaign contributors is in line to get more business from the city’s school system.
The Chicago Board of Education will vote Wednesday on three new contracts — worth around $500 million over three years — that will further privatize the management of school building engineers. One of the two companies listed on the board report is SodexoMAGIC, a company that NBA-star-turned-businessman Earvin “Magic” Johnson has a stake in.
Johnson donated $250,000 to Emanuel’s 2015 reelection bid through an organization he established called Inner City Youth Empowerment, LLC. If approved by the board, the new contract would expand a pair of contracts awarded in 2014 worth $340 million.
When SodexoMAGIC and Aramark began overseeing the cleaning and management of school facilities, principals complained about dirty classrooms and a lack of communication.
Students at a West Side Chicago public high school were surprised to find something extra in their breakfast Wednesday morning - mold.
CPS is now investigating what went wrong after a box of expired breakfast snacks was served at the West Town Academy.
“I opened the package and once I opened it I noticed the corner had mold on it,” said student Janiah Dean. […]
CPS has launched an investigation and Aramark, it’s vendor that supplies food to the school, says: “Unfortunately, at West Town Academy today a student received (food) that did not meet our high quality standards. Out of an abundance of caution, we immediately removed the product line and are working to determine how this happened. The incident appears to be isolated and did not pose a health risk to students.”
“Illinois government encourages local governments to spend more, sending billions of dollars to thousands of local governments each year,” Dabrowski said. “All this does is allow governments to spend it on things that their constituencies would never approve of. We end that charade.”
Really? Local governments are spending that revenue sharing money on stuff their own constituents wouldn’t approve of?
In addition to funding everyday core services to Illinois citizens, LGDF distributions play a role in keeping the local tax burden low.
“This idea is ridiculous,” Mayor Frank Saverino, Village of Carol Stream said.
“Municipalities like Carol Stream rely on the Local Government Distributive Fund to repair potholes, plow our roads in the winter and provide area residents with basic services. We wouldn’t be able to serve the people of Carol Stream without this essential fund.”
* The Pew Charitable Trusts took its annual look at the fiscal conditions of all 50 states. Illinois is a mess, of course.
Since the the Great Recession began at the end of the fourth quarter of 2007, Illinois ranks 49th in personal income growth - a mere 0.9 percent. Sheesh.
Illinois did a bit better in that same time period, 38th, in percentage change of employment rates - a 1.5 percent reduction.
Illinois is third highest, after Alaska and Hawaii, for debt and unfunded retirement costs as a share of state personal income - 31.7 percent.
Illinois has bled more students than it’s brought in for a while, but the trend has accelerated in the past couple of years as the state’s budget woes have exacted a toll on the University of Illinois and other public schools. In 2014—the most recent year for which data are available—Illinois saw a net emigration of 12,700 students, a 70 percent increase over a decade.
The big repercussion is that talented students may never return. “It’s a serious brain drain,” says William Morrison, a college counselor at Highland Park High School. It’s common for students to stay put after graduation: Almost half of the Urbana alumni who are alive still reside in Illinois.
At the root of all this are cuts in state funding that have forced Illinois schools to raise base tuition and fees. At Urbana, in-state rates rose 59 percent over the past 10 years, to a minimum of $15,700 and a maximum of $20,700 (not including room and board), depending on the major. At the same time, financial aid through the state’s Monetary Award Program, which provides need-based grants to residents, doesn’t go as far as it used to. It’s not even clear from term to term whether funds will be available: In a survey released in December by the Illinois Student Assistance Commission, 47 percent of Illinois schools said they couldn’t guarantee that students would continue to receive in the spring semester awards they got in the fall. […]
Illinois had the highest net migration of college freshmen to other states’ public schools in 2014 (the latest year for which figures are available). While 3,300 students came to Illinois from elsewhere, almost 16,000 fled. California lost about as many students but saw a bigger influx—9,500.
The governor’s school funding reform commission completed its work on deadline today, but fair and adequate education funding remains out of reach for too many children across Illinois, Senator Andy Manar said.
“If we can get a bill in front of lawmakers this spring, then that will be the true measure of success for the governor’s commission,” said Manar, a longtime advocate for school funding reform and the Senate’s point person on the issue. “But forgive me if I’m not ready to unfurl the mission accomplished banner just yet.”
During the summer, Gov. Bruce Rauner appointed a 25-member commission tasked with studying Illinois worst-in-the-nation school funding formula, which creates winners and losers among students and school districts across Illinois because of its overreliance on local property taxes to fund schools.
The commission met 18 times between August and today. Its final recommendations include moving Illinois to a new funding formula, a hold-harmless clause to prevent districts from losing state funds, more local control and greater transparency about spending, mandate relief for school districts, additional money for English learners and low-income students and more.
The bipartisan commission also recommended an increase of at least $3.5 billion for school funding.
“The commission should be commended for its work the past six months. I am pleased that we have a new level of awareness of the state’s school funding crisis because of this bipartisan, bicameral discussion,” Manar said.
“But in terms of a product, that work yielded another report on Illinois’ already well-documented school funding reform problems. We have a loose framework – a guide – for moving forward. What we do not have today is a piece of legislation to debate in the General Assembly. That has to be the next step.”
Manar commended Beth Purvis, Rauner’s secretary of education, for her leadership role with the commission and said he looks forward to the governor’s staff translating the recommendations into a bill that will be introduced in the Legislature this spring.
“The commission’s work was substantial, but what happens now is up to Gov. Rauner,” Manar said. “The goal has always been and should continue to be permanent reform that guarantees fair funding for all Illinois schools.”
* You should really click here and watch all of Gov. Rauner’s interview at the Chicago Tribune editorial board. It’s very interesting.
With that in mind, the governor again said yesterday that he has zero involvement with the Illinois GOP’s attacks on Speaker Madigan. This passage is from the Tribune’s coverage, with emphasis added by me…
Asked whether the attacks on Madigan could undercut efforts to reach a compromise to end the stalemate, Rauner said, “I don’t think it matters one way or the other.”
“This is the life we’ve chosen. We all live in a world — I take incoming every day. … I couldn’t care less. Say what you want,” he said.
“That’s one of the best advices Rich Daley ever gave me: He said, ‘Don’t read any press about you and don’t watch any of the ads’ and I never have, I never have. And you know what? Life is good. Just spell my name right. I don’t really care. And anybody on the other side thinks, ‘Oh, I’m a politician but you can’t say anything mean about me otherwise I won’t negotiate?’ Oh come on. Grow up. I mean, we’re not in third grade,” he said.
* From another part of that Tribune interview when the governor was asked about his veto of the Chicago teacher pension subsidy and its impact on CPS employment as transcribed by me with emphasis added…
“Well, this is one of the ways I’ve been disappointed in you guys, but this is the media. Chicago has been responsible for its own teacher pension for a hundred years, OK? Allright, so let’s not think this is some, you know, a hundred years. And Chicago has received $250 million extra since at least the mid 90s, I’d have to go back and get you the exact year. $250 million in our school funding formula. A block grant that no other district gets. It’s above and beyond any of the standard stuff because they cover their own teachers pension. They have not been at a financial disadvantage. They claim that this is wrong, they’re abused, they’re treated different, and they are different because they fund teacher pensions and they get extra money because of that. There’s been a deal, there’s been an understanding. […]
“So, the headline is: ‘Bruce Rauner caused furlough days in CPS.’ No. No.”
In 2015, Rauner offered a budget that contained a $2.2 billion hole because of proposed pension savings that the governor eventually acknowledged might not pass constitutional muster. Last year, he offered lawmakers the choice of working with him to cut the budget or letting him do it himself. He did not spell out how he would close a hole of at least $3.5 billion.
Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner said Wednesday that he will offer state lawmakers this month a budget proposal in the same format that the Democratic-led General Assembly rejected last year — either work with him on crafting a balanced spending plan or give him more power to make cuts on his own. […]
Rauner’s decision last year to present a spending plan that included the option of letting lawmakers give him the power to make massive cuts was never really considered by Democrats in the General Assembly. They said Rauner needed to specify where he intended to cut spending.
“Either the General Assembly authorizes me to make cuts, not my first choice but I’ll do that, or let’s work together to do a balanced budget with cuts and, what I prefer is, a balance of cuts, some revenues and major structural change. The real important thing is the structural change,” Rauner said [to the Tribune yesterday]. […]
“I think a deal is more likely to happen if it’s organic, coming from the rank-and-file members of the General Assembly, and the important thing is to get a good compromise. I’ve been very clear. I mean, the good news and bad news is nobody’s wondering what I think is the right thing to do,” he said.
That last line was probably intended as a joke, but it is close to being true. And if it is true, that’s a pretty sad commentary on the governor’s tenure.
Sneed hears powerful Illinois Senate President John Cullerton (D-6th) has told some of his closest Senate colleagues he is so frustrated with the budget logjam, he is thinking about not running for re-election when his term is up in two years, according to two sources.
“Cullerton is stressed and frustrated by all the nonsense going on in Springfield and the ability to get things done,” said a source who spoke to Cullerton.
“He indicated he is not going to pull the plug now, but he did say he was considering not running for re-election,” said a state senator who asked to remain anonymous. […]
“The budget logjam is frustrating — personally, professionally and politically. That’s no secret,” [Cullerton] said. “As for my future? I’ll decide that at the appropriate time. But that time isn’t now. Right now the only priority is getting a budget for the state of Illinois.” […]
“If I want to run for re-election as a state senator, I’ll need to make that decision by the end of the year. Right now, we’ve got problems to solve. I’ll deal with the other stuff later,” Cullerton said.
Dating back to the recession that began in 2008, statistics reveal that the Chicago area is up by 110,000 jobs while the rest of the state has lost 42,000 jobs.
Over the past year, state job data show, Illinois has added 30,800 jobs, a total reached by adding the 33,500 jobs Chicago gained and subtracting the 2,700 jobs lost in the rest of the state.
Gov. Bruce Rauner on Wednesday called Trump’s executive order on immigration and curbing refugee resettlement “overly broad and a little bit hurried.” […]
“Emotion is guiding too much of the conversation,” he said. “The system is not working and we shouldn’t try to deal with it on a piecemeal basis.”
Sometimes in politics, emotions get involved. Gov. Bruce Rauner on Wednesday brought up emotions when discussing his December veto of legislation that would have provided $215 million for Chicago Public Schools.
“You know, I’m a human being, I get a little emotional sometimes,” Rauner said at an appearance before the Chicago Tribune Editorial Board.
Rauner was explaining his abrupt veto of a plan that had been part of a larger deal he struck over the summer with the Democrats who control the General Assembly — House Speaker Michael Madigan and Senate President John Cullerton.
* By the way, Senate President Cullerton’s spokesman John Patterson explained his boss’ side of the veto story a while back…
Cullerton’s aide suggested it was understood that pension reform was to be deferred because of the election. On June 30, a motion filed to reconsider the bill was passed to extend the 30-day deadline to send SB 2822 to Rauner because the Illinois General Assembly would not be able to discuss pension reform until after the November election, according to Patterson.
According to a transcript of Senate Minority Leader Christine Radogno at the Senate on June 30 provided by Patterson, the senator of the 41st District said the agreement was to pass the legislation and return to the issue of pension reform at another time when the General Assembly was in session.
According to Patterson, on the same day Rauner vetoed the bill, reporters asked Cullerton whether there was an agreement after a meeting between the two, and he said no, in reference to pension reform.
Patterson said the interview was live streamed on the internet and speculated that it was seen by Rauner or an aide of his, who interpreted it to refer to the entirety of the agreement. Patterson thinks this led to the bill’s veto by Rauner and that there needs to be stronger communication between legislative leaders and the governor.
Yeah. About those gubernatorial emotions. Maybe control them?
HIV Providers in Illinois have been feeling the drastic, statewide effects of the budget impasse for some time now.
• From July - December 2015, grantee HIV testing from the Quality of Life Fund decreased 62%, resulting in a 68% decrease in the number of positives found;
• Direct grant testing decreased 59%, with a 66% reduction in positives found;
• Regional Grant testing decreased 35% with a 70% reduction in positives found, all compared to the same period in 2014;
• In March 2016, the Families and Children’s AIDS Network stopped providing prevention services in Regions 2, 7, and 8;
• Central Illinois Friends of PWA stopped implementing Effective Behavioral HIV Prevention Interventions;
• Sisters and Brothers laid off both its Deputy Director and its Interventions Manager, impacting service delivery in several regions, and cut their Region 5 services to just one day per week;
• Fifth Street Renaissance in Springfield laid off four full-time and 3 part-time positions and reduced services;
• Jefferson County laid off two staff, reduced service hours, and have indicated they may need to close their HIV prevention program;
• Bethany Place’s (Belleville) Prevention Coordinator and entire prevention staff resigned due to non- payment;
• Macoupin County laid off their main prevention staff;
• Outreach and testing that is geared and targeted towards populations with the highest rate of new HIV infections have been significantly reduced, due largely to agencies not having the resources to conduct thoughtful, strategic targeting. As a result, suburban Cook County has seen a significant reduction in the amount of newly identified HIV-positive individuals;
Even with passage of the 2016 stopgap spending plan, which is detailed below, some HIV service providers will only receive 65% of their funding.
• HIV tests in suburban Cook County have fallen by 35% since the start of the budget impasse;
• The Jackson County Health Department has ceased providing HIV testing to recently released inmates in downstate Illinois;
• PrEP 4 Illinois, a program that was intended to cover costs of PrEP for those who required financial assistance, was appropriated $1 million in the FY 15 budget; however, that program was ultimately zeroed out by the incoming Rauner administration. Canceling the PrEP4Illinois program deprived Illinoisans of financial assistance to access this game-changing HIV prevention medication;
• The AIDS Drug Assistance Program (ADAP) has been forced to rely solely on federal funds to operate;
• In June 2016, Center on Halsted, Illinois’ largest provider of state-funded HIV testing, had received no state payment for HIV testing. The organization was uncertain if they would be able to continue to provide services without a budget in place […]
Here in Illinois, funding for the HIV Lump Sum, which includes the AIDS Drug Assistance Program (ADAP) and HIV prevention, treatment and education services, has been funded at roughly the same level since FY 2011, with the amount wavering between $25 and $29 million. Since Governor Rauner came into office, he has proposed merely $20 million for FY 16 and $18 million for FY 17. Every new HIV case prevented saves the state nearly $400,000 per person in lifetime medical costs , so this drastic cut to preventive and treatment services has the potential to make the situation worse.
We are at a unique time in the HIV epidemic following the advent of biomedical interventions like PrEP, which can prevent new infections. But effective means of HIV prevention requires a commitment from the state, and Illinois has not included funding for PrEP4Illinois program in proposed budgets since Governor Rauner used his executive authority to remove $1 million in PrEP assistance from the FY 15 budget.
*** UPDATE 1 *** From Catherine Kelly in the governor’s office…
“Fitch’s action further demonstrates the importance of reaching bipartisan agreement on a truly balanced budget and changes that will grow our economy and bring new jobs to our state.”
*** UPDATE 2 *** From John Patterson, spokesman for Illinois Senate President John Cullerton…
While unfortunate, this was expected.
The looming threat was among the many reasons why the Senate is working on a comprehensive budget and reform plan. The goal is to end the nearly two-year impasse and restore financial stability.
If there’s a silver lining, it would be that hopefully this adds to the growing urgency to pass the Senate’s plan and get a comprehensive budget for the state.
*** UPDATE 3 *** Treasurer Michael Frerichs…
“Our credit rating suffers because the leaders in the General Assembly and the Governor will not negotiate an honest budget,” Frerichs said. “This singular focus on non-budgetary items is silently ripping money out of the pockets of everyone who lives in this state.”
“Borrowing costs money. Borrowing without a budget costs even more money. We know a budget will bring down our borrowing costs and yet we still have a leadership team that chooses not to negotiate. We can do better.”
“Bruce Rauner’s failed governorship continues to hurt Illinois jobs and cost Illinois families,” said DGA Communications Director Jared Leopold. “Over and over again, Governor Rauner has sacrificed Illinois’s economy to protect his special interest friends. Today, Illinois families and business are paying
* And from Illinois Working Together Campaign Director Jake Lewis…
“To borrow a phrase from Fitch Ratings, Bruce Rauner has been an ‘unprecedented failure’ as the governor of Illinois. Today’s downgrade, the sixth under Gov. Rauner, is yet another indicator of the damage the governor has inflicted on Illinois and its people during his time in office. According to Fitch, the budget impasse has ‘fundamentally weakened’ the state. It will take years for Illinois to recover from Rauner.
“As residents and college students flee Illinois in record numbers, it is time for the governor to do something he has failed to do in his first two years in office: listen. The governor must drop his extreme political agenda for good and work to pass a responsible, fully-funded budget.”
Fitch Ratings has downgraded the following ratings of the state of Illinois:
–Issuer Default Rating (IDR) to ‘BBB’ from ‘BBB+;
–$25.9 billion in outstanding general obligation (GO) bonds to ‘BBB’ from ‘BBB+’;
–$431 million Illinois Sports Facilities Authority sports facilities bonds (state tax supported) to ‘BBB-’from ‘BBB’;
–$2.6 billion Metropolitan Pier and Exposition Authority McCormick Place expansion project bonds to ‘BBB-’ from ‘BBB’;
–$267.8 million city of Chicago motor fuel tax revenue bonds to ‘BBB-’ from ‘BBB’.
The Rating Watch Negative is maintained.
Fitch warned it would downgrade the ratings if the state didn’t have a budget by the end of January.
The downgrade of Illinois’s IDR and related ratings reflects the unprecedented failure of the state to enact a full budget for two consecutive years and the financial implications of spending far in excess of available revenues, which has resulted in increased accumulated liabilities and reduced financial flexibility. Even if the current attempts at a resolution to the extended impasse prove successful, Fitch believes that the failure to act to date has fundamentally weakened the state’s financial profile.
The Negative Watch reflects Fitch’s expectation that the state’s implementation of a solution, whether temporary or permanent, will be a challenge in the current political environment and that in the interim the state will continue to delay and defer payments in lieu of balancing the budget. While Fitch acknowledges that there is a plan being developed in the state Senate that contains elements that could ultimately resolve the impasse, its passage is uncertain and the timing of implementing solutions is unknown. Fitch expects to resolve the Rating Watch within the next six months based on an assessment of the state’s fiscal trajectory as it starts fiscal 2018. If the state continues on the current path, a further downgrade would be warranted.
Illinois has failed to capitalize on the economic growth of recent years to bolster its financial position. Rather, the decision to allow temporary tax increases to expire and the subsequent failure to develop a budget that aligns revenues with expenditures have resulted in a marked deterioration in the state’s finances during this time of recovery. Once again, the state has displayed an unwillingness to utilize its extensive control over revenues and spending to address numerous fiscal challenges.
* Fitch projects revenue performance will “continue to track slow economic growth,” and claims it is “unlikely that reductions in state spending alone would be sufficient to achieve budgetary balance given the magnitude of the current budget gap.”
Illinois’ operating performance, both during the great recession and in this subsequent period of economic growth, has been very weak. The failure to address a long-standing structural budget gap with permanent and comprehensive solutions, whether revenue or expenditure, has left the state with an gaping hole in its operating budget and increasing budgetary liabilities.
The state Senate has put forth a series of bills that have the potential to lead to a compromise that will resolve the impasse. The Senate bills include raising the state income tax and other revenue measures, debt issuance to reduce accumulated budgetary liabilities, pension reforms, aid to Chicago public schools, and non-budgetary reforms sought by the governor, including a freeze on property taxes, workers compensation reform, and some form of term limits. These proposals, if they proceed through the full legislature and are signed by the governor, have the potential to meet the requirements to stabilize the Illinois IDR and related ratings. However, their passage is uncertain as is the timing of the implementation of any solutions.
RATING SENSITIVITIES
BUDGET SOLUTIONS: Failure to enact a balanced budget for fiscal 2018 would result in a further downgrade. Successful implementation of measures to enact a structurally balanced budget and reduce accumulated budget liabilities would stabilize the credit.
LIQUIDITY: The rating is sensitive to a material reduction in the state’s ability to manage within available revenues through discretionary payment deferrals. Furthermore, failure of the state to make its statutorily required debt service transfers as scheduled, 12 months in advance on a rolling basis, would result in an immediate downgrade of the rating to below investment grade because it would suggest that the state’s liquidity pressures are presenting a risk to bondholder interests that has not been evidenced to date.
Governor Bruce Rauner’s Illinois School Funding Reform Commission today approved a framework that allows members of the General Assembly to create a new school funding formula.
“Illinois is another step closer to fixing our broken school funding system,” Governor Rauner said. “I applaud the Commission members for putting politics aside to advance a bipartisan framework that can serve as an immediate roadmap for legislation. The framework ensures all public school children in Illinois receive equitable funding, no matter where they live. We look forward to working with members of the General Assembly to quickly resolve the outstanding issues identified in the report with the hope of enacting a bipartisan school funding reform package as soon as possible.”
The 25 commission members, comprised of five members from each party in each chamber and five members appointed by the Governor, met for over 75 hours in the last six months to reform the school funding formula. The framework will better focus resources on the needs of the students and districts. Through this framework, new funding will first go to schools who are farthest away from their adequacy targets, serving the most vulnerable students. This measure will address inequity within districts, not just among districts, and also ensure all public school children, including those who attend charter schools, receive equitable treatment.
“This has been a robust, bipartisan and bicameral process,” said Illinois Secretary of Education Dr. Beth Purvis. “I am incredibly thankful that these really dedicated members of the General Assembly and the Governor’s appointees were able to come and have substantive conversations in which children were at the center of the decision-making.”
Three mechanisms have been discussed that could be used to increase funding to districts with high concentrations of poverty. First, elements could provide increased funding for low-income students and students living in concentrated poverty. Second, using enrollment instead of average daily attendance may increase funding to schools with large low-income student populations or populations of students in concentrated poverty. Third, the distribution formula could direct additional funds to districts based on poverty concentration. In addition, funding alone is unlikely to be sufficient to close the gap; new service delivery approaches will also be needed. ISBE is working to build a model in which the separate and cumulative effect of these factors can be assessed so as to best ensure that this point of consensus is reflected accurately in the data.
So, no consensus apparently on how to distribute funds, which was kind of the point.
Elements will be written into statute; however, it is important to the members of the Commission that there be flexibility in their implementation so that districts can implement strategies that will lead to the best academic and socio-emotional outcomes for their students. Within three years of the initial implementation, ISBE should suggest changes, if warranted.
At the time of writing this report, the amount of additional state money needed for all districts in Illinois to be at or above their adequacy target is estimated to be a minimum of $3.5 billion over the next decade. It should be noted that this figure makes several assumptions and will fluctuate over time as adequacy targets and local capacity change. In fact, for the state to take an increasingly larger share of responsibility for education funding (e.g., 51%), this figure is projected to rise by at least $2.5 billion. However, how the rate at which we achieve that goal has not been decided. Furthermore, this figure does not account for additional capital needs of the districts.
Commissioners agree that consolidation in certain areas of the state is important but that the solution to this problem should not be reached through funding formula reform.
There was also no consensus on mandate relief and private school tax credits.
* We talked briefly about this guy on Monday. Here’s WMAQ TV’s take…
As the Democratic field for the 2018 gubernatorial election continues to take shape, a little-known candidate from Chicago’s northern suburbs has already thrown his hat in the ring.
Alex Paterakis, a 29-year-old Skokie native, said he decided to run for governor in October as a response to the nation’s increasingly polarized political landscape.
“I was getting sick of how politics were being done, how things were being run, partisan politics being everyone against everyone else with no one actually listening to other people’s opinions,” Paterakis told Ward Room Tuesday.
The political newcomer is campaigning on a progressive platform that includes a minimum wage hike, marijuana legalization, and an agenda to oppose President Donald Trump. Paterakis, who owns a pair of small online retail businesses, hopes his campaign will appeal to middle class Illinoisans.
“I think people are really reflecting the message, which a lot of Democrats have forgotten, which is the middle class,” Paterakis said. “They lost the middle class to Donald Trump.”
PS: I have a ton of errands to run today, so I’m not sure when I’ll be back. It’ll likely be a very light early afternoon around here, so make the most of what you’ve got.
At a meeting Wednesday with members of the African American community, President Donald Trump again talked about Chicago violence saying if city officials don’t take steps,”we’re going to solve the problem for them.”
“Because we’re going to have to do something… What’s happening in Chicago should not be happening in this country,” Trump said.
Trump said violence in the city was ‘totally out of control.” […]
[Darrell Scott, an Ohio pastor who campaigned for Trump] said he was talking to members of “top gangs” in Chicago – he did not identify who – who wanted a “sit down” to discuss how to “get that body count down” in return for “social programs.”
“It’s a great idea,” Trump said about a possible meeting involving gang leaders and social programs.
* With all the talk of the Senate’s grand plan and the attorney general’s legal motion on employee pay, we may be forgetting that the governor’s budget address is just two weeks from today. So, this excerpt from a Tribune story today is worth posting…
In 2015, Rauner offered a budget that contained a $2.2 billion hole because of proposed pension savings that the governor eventually acknowledged might not pass constitutional muster. Last year, he offered lawmakers the choice of working with him to cut the budget or letting him do it himself. He did not spell out how he would close a hole of at least $3.5 billion.
* I, for one, believe that we should take the Illinois Policy Institute’s budget plan seriously. For too long, way too many Illinoisans have believed that the undefined “they” could simply cut governmental waste to balance the state’s budget. So, the “Institute,” in some ways, is doing us all a service by showing what will really happen if the budget is balanced without a tax hike, like tossing 600,000 people off Medicaid, or whacking university funding by a billion dollars and forcing school districts to pay a billion dollars a year in higher pension costs, etc.
A [property tax] freeze, coupled with stripping municipalities of the 9-cents per dollar they’ve received since Illinois first implemented an income tax, would further strip localities of another key funding source. The IPI says it’s taking away a “subsidy,” but head of the Illinois Municipal League Brad Cole says that’s a misnomer.
“For many small communities, it’s the only source of income they have, so it provides for the health, safety and welfare of their residents,” Cole said. “It’s not as simple as saying ‘let’s cut the LGDF (Local Government Distributive Fund).’ I mean, that would abandon the entire state, whether it’s Cairo or Chicago.”
Additionally, the IPI wants to make it harder for units of local government to look to raise taxes in the future, by requiring referenda pass with a two-thirds majority before any hikes. […]
That would be a “heavy burden” and is “overly restrictive,” Cole said.
“What if a water treatment facility doesn’t get expanded, then the community can’t grow, or keep up to date with EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) regulation,” he said, as a hypothetical.
Cole needs to up his game, but at least it’s a start. Local reporters ought to call their mayors, school board chairs and university/college presidents to hear what they have to say, as well. And, you know, maybe talk to some people who got into Medicaid because of Obamacare and who would be facing a life without affordable or any health insurance.
People have seen what the impasse has done. But they have to understand that solving this problem is no easy or painless matter.
research suggests that these cuts would also have a devastating effect on the state’s economy. Partly, that’s because they would directly lead to thousands of lost jobs, as schools and colleges laid off teachers, janitors, counselors, and other employees. (To get a sense of the magnitude, $200 million in cuts led to 1,400 layoffs in the Chicago Public Schools in 2015; Chicago State University laid off 300 employees to save $24 million in 2016. Scaled up to the full statewide cuts, that would total nearly 20,000 lost jobs as a direct results of cuts in the education sector alone).
But education, in particular, drives Illinois’ economy in ways beyond the people that schools directly employ. In fact, economists have estimated that for each dollar invested in an institute of higher education, $2.286 is generated in the state economy, as students, professors, and other employees patronize local businesses, support families, and contribute to a vital local economy. That means that IPI’s proposed $950 million cut to higher education could result in over $2.17 billion in losses to the state economy.
More broadly, CTBA’s recent report on higher education funding highlighted research showing that over the last generation, investing in residents’ educational attainment has been crucial to robust state economies.
Additionally, copious independent studies have found that the Medicaid expansion under Obamacare has been a net positive for state economies. A study in Kentucky found that Medicaid expansion in that state generated 40,000 jobs; another study found that Medicaid expansion created 31,000 jobs in Colorado. Blending these estimates and adjusting for Illinois’ population, that suggests that IPI’s proposal on Medicaid alone could eliminate more than 95,000 jobs.
* The CTBA also looked at the “Institute’s” pension plan and discovered this…
While IPI’s plan costs less in the first few years — in part thanks to artificially lowered state payments from delaying the full implementation of changes to actuarial assumptions — within a decade or so, it actually becomes a net drag on the state budget, and continues to add billions of dollars in additional payments through the 2040s.
U.S. Senators Dick Durbin (D-IL) and Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) today urged Illinois Governor Bruce Rauner to stand on the side of Illinoisans and oppose repeal of our health care system. Repealing health care without a replacement would have immediate and harmful impacts on hardworking Illinois families – including those with employer based insurance – such as reducing insurance coverage, increasing out-of-pocket costs, reducing the quality of health care coverage, burdening providers, killing jobs and harming Illinois’ economy. They also called for his concrete recommendations on how to improve the health care system for Illinoisans state-wide.
“Independent analyses paint a very grim picture of the health care environment that Illinois would face if Republican ‘repeal without replace’ efforts are successful. For instance, the Illinois Health and Hospital Association (IHA) has expressed concerns that ‘people will not be able to get the care they need; local economies will suffer; and jobs will be lost.’ In our state alone, the IHA estimates that Congressional Republican plans to repeal the ACA without replacing it would result in ‘potential losses of $11.6 billion to $13.1 billion in annual economic activity, which translates to a potential job loss of 84,000 to 95,000 jobs,’” wrote the senators in a letter to Gov. Rauner. “We strongly urge you to reconsider your position towards these destructive Republican plans, and to stand firmly with Illinoisans against efforts to repeal the ACA without an adequate replacement plan in place to protect the coverage gains, affordability, benefits, and consumer protections that Illinoisans currently enjoy. Further, we would welcome your thoughts on how best to improve the ACA for Illinoisans state-wide.”
Durbin on Monday told the Sun-Times that governors across the country should be standing up against a repeal.
“Governors like [John] Kasich of Ohio are stepping up and saying eliminating Medicaid coverage is a disaster because that is compensation for providers that will go away. What we do know from the Illinois Hospital Association is that many downstate hospitals will be threatened if they lose this Medicaid infusion,” Durbin said. “We also know that when these hospitals in downstate communities start facing closure or they’re going to restrict construction and lay off people with the best paying jobs in town. So it is a devastating impact.”
In a statement regarding the senators’ letter, the Rauner administration on Tuesday noted Durbin was a lead proponent of Obamacare, which they said “resulted in skyrocketing health care costs on millions of Americans.”
“As Senators Durbin and Duckworth well know, our administration has urged Congress to take a thoughtful approach to any new health care changes,” spokeswoman Catherine Kelly said. “As always, the governor will continue to advocate for the best interests of the people of Illinois.”
The senators’ letter also criticized a Rauner administration response to House Republicans earlier this month, saying it failed to provide information about the potential fallout or benefit from appealing the act.
A political organization aligned with House GOP leaders unveiled a $1.3 million ad campaign on Tuesday that targets Democrats representing districts won by President Trump to urge support for repealing and replacing ObamaCare.
American Action Network’s campaign includes local ads in a total of 24 districts, as well as national TV ads on CNN and MSNBC. The ads focus on eight Democrats in Trump-country districts and 16 Republicans mostly representing swing seats.
The group’s advertising campaign in support of repealing the healthcare law will total $5.2 million for the month of January.
Yeah, it will most definitely mess with the governor’s messaging if it happens. How can Team Rauner say King Madigan is trying to shut down the government via his daughter’s legal motion in St. Clair County if the House puts this one on the big board?
Not to mention that the Illinois Policy Institute has already proposed doing the exact same thing.
On the other hand, how do lots of House members vote for this bill if it doesn’t include money for social service programs, higher education, etc.? And what does the Senate do? They’ve got their own proposal, after all.
So, possibly more positioning, but probably little actual progress - which is pretty much par for the course in the Illinois House.
Democratic members of House leadership received an email from Speaker Mike Madigan’s office Wednesday morning telling them to expect a bill that would appropriate funds for tens of thousands of employees. It could be voted on next week. […]
With such a bill, however, comes an interesting set of questions for lawmakers with various priorities, including those who would question paying state workers before paying social service providers or funding MAP grants for needy students. That likely means additional items are added to the bill. The proposed legislation would not negate the court battle, which could prove to take months, but would act as a stopgap, giving the Illinois Comptroller authority to pay certain bills on time.
*** UPDATE 2 *** The House Republicans are out with their own proposal…
- State Representative Avery Bourne (R-Raymond) filed House Bill 1787 today that would make state workers’ salary payments a continuing appropriation, guaranteeing payment during a budget impasse. This measure would keep workers paid and prevent a government shutdown.
This has become a particularly urgent issue due to Attorney General Lisa Madigan filing a motion in court to end payment to state employees beginning February 28th, 2017. In response, there has been talk of a similar bill that would provide for a short term appropriation for state worker salaries. However, a stop gap appropriation would be a temporary fix and would leave state worker pay vulnerable to future attacks. This proposal is a long-term solution to the problem of state worker pay being held hostage in a larger political fight.
“This legislation will prevent state worker pay from being used as a political pawn. Families across Illinois rely on the vital services provided by our state agencies. Before I arrived in the General Assembly, legislators chose to make their pay a continuing appropriation which guaranteed their pay with or without a budget. However, those legislators did not afford those protections to state employees. This legislation will keep state worker pay out of the political games that are too often played in Springfield.”
If enacted, this legislation would be effective immediately. Bourne previously co-sponsored similar legislation in the 99th General Assembly that was not allowed a committee hearing. Representative Bourne and her colleagues are calling on the House of Representatives to take up this issue as soon as they return to the Capitol next week.
* Greg Hinz on the Illinois Policy Institute’s budget proposal…
So, what’s in the institute’s secret sauce?
Just a few minor things: slashing the state’s Medicaid rolls by 600,000 people, allowing local governments to declare bankruptcy and impose rather than bargain pay and benefits, keeping $1.75 billion a year in revenue that the state now shares with municipalities for its own needs, and enacting workers’ compensation changes that Springfield Democrats have vigorously resisted.
Among other things.
Piece of cake, right?
Policy Institute chief John Tillman urged reporters not to be “cynical” about the plan, not at a time when the state is losing jobs and residents.
“Politicians have not earned the right to ask Illinoisans for more money,” Tillman said, accompanied by state Reps. Jeanne Ives, R-Wheaton, and Allen Skillicorn, R-Crystal Lake. “Our plan, unlike every other budget plan being discussed, ensures that taxpayers are respected and treated fairly rather than being treated like an ATM.”
The other things include a half billion dollar cut to higher education, which is supposed to “eliminate administrative bloat,” but that could mean the General Assembly would have to take over their spending line by line to enforce something like that.
Higher ed would also be saddled with $450 million in additional pension costs and school districts would be whacked with almost a billion dollars in higher pension costs.
Next on the proposal is a revised state pension plan. The Illinois Policy Institute says the state could save $1.65 billion next year by offering some self-managed 401K accounts instead.
The plan would also streamline Medicaid spending and reform higher education.
Also, they have a big university right down the road from that station and yet they refer to a billion dollars in cuts and added costs a year as “reform.” Maybe check a dictionary.
“Raising taxes will not fix Illinois. We must reform the way Illinois does business,” Illinois Policy Institute CEO John Tillman said. “We must reform the way it actually spends the taxpayers’ money. We must slow the growth of spending to a rate below the growth in revenues. It is that simple. Spending must rise more slowly than revenues. That is the only solution.”
Agreed, but a lot of this plan isn’t about slowing state government growth, it’s about taking state money away from local governments, schools and universities and plowing it back into state coffers.
Meanwhile, the Illinois Policy Institute, a free-market think tank, released its own budget proposal on Tuesday — a plan that would impose no new taxes. It would alleviate the budget crisis by encouraging state workers to transition to cheaper pension plans; ease collective bargaining restrictions placed on local governments while reducing the revenue they get from the state; cut Medicaid rolls by limiting eligibility to only the most disadvantaged; and provide local property tax relief with a five-year freeze.
Some of the institute’s ideas have seen bipartisan support at the Capitol. But with a Republican governor and a Democrat-controlled legislature, policy differences create a frustrating divide between what is needed and what is doable.
The “Institute” couldn’t have written that editorial better themselves. The Trib makes a radical proposal look so… mild.
But, hey, look on the bright side. Two years in and they’re finally conceding that “doable” is a real life concept. Back in 2015, you may recall, the ivory tower sneered at folks like Jim Edgar who had the audacity to suggest that the governor ought to try cutting a doable deal. The Mother Ship also referred to those who wanted to work out a compromise as the “Surrender Illinois Caucus.”
* Anyway, it would be interesting to see this proposal put into bill form. Let’s hear from the mayors, the university presidents, the school superintendents and the nursing home residents who rely on Medicaid, among others. And then let’s hear the sponsors and proponents defend it during committee hearings and floor debate. That’s what democracy looks like, not a press conference with a couple of legislators and a snazzy packet.
Much of Caterpillar’s relocation rationale revolves around better international transportation options in Chicago. That’s a bit of a red herring. It can take as long to drive from, say, Naperville to O’Hare International Airport as it can to fly there from Peoria. And Caterpillar can and has use private aircraft to fly from Peoria to anywhere on earth.
Perhaps Caterpillar’s seventh floor is leaving Peoria for a more simple, personal reason, at least in part: [Cat CEO Jim Umpleby] and other executives want to live somewhere else.
Granted, we are speculating. But after talks with plenty of well-connected people the past few days, we believe this theory deserves at least some consideration.
Umpleby is a Caterpillar veteran, with more than 30 years of service. But it appears little of that time has been spent at a Peoria base.
The Chicago-area native worked for Caterpillar all over the country and world, including Malaysia, San Diego and Singapore. How you gonna keep them down on the farm after they’ve seen Kuala Lumpur?
Such personal-preference moves might not be unprecedented. In 2015, ConAgra Foods announced it was moving its world headquarters from Omaha, Neb., to Chicago. The new ConAgra CEO was residing in the Chicago suburbs.
Some commenters here made many of those same points yesterday.
Speaker Michael J. Madigan, D-Chicago, is directing the House Revenue committee to take up a Democratic Caucus proposal to reinstate a key tax credit for employers who create jobs in Illinois.
In a letter to state Rep. Michael Zalewski, chairman of the House Revenue and Finance Committee, Madigan requested the panel begin work to reinstate the Economic Development for a Growing Economy (EDGE) Tax Credit, a key component of the Democratic Caucus’ economic growth agenda.
“House Democrats know that Illinois must take serious steps to improve the business climate and create job opportunities, and we continue working on a reform agenda that promotes job growth without disadvantaging the people who work in those jobs every day,” Madigan said. “Businesses deserve the certainty of knowing that the state will stand with them as they work to create new jobs here in Illinois. By investing in businesses that invest in Illinois, the EDGE Tax Credit is essential to improving our business climate.”
The EDGE Tax Credit provides an incentive for employers who create a significant number of jobs in Illinois. The renewal of the tax credit was recently cited by the Illinois Chamber of Commerce as a key reform Illinois could undertake to help revitalize the economy.
“The House Democratic Caucus believes that it is possible to provide good jobs for working families while also passing policies that help businesses grow,” Madigan said. “These ideas are not mutually exclusive; in fact they’re both critical to the future of our state.”
The governor and the GA let the program expire at the end of last year and then reinstated it for a few months earlier this month. If this was the plan all along, they could’ve just made it permanent earlier.
Amends the State Designations Act. Repeals the following State designations: State bird; State insect; official language; State mineral; State tree and flower; State animal; State fish; State prairie grass; State vegetable; State fruit; State fossil; State artifact; State folk dance; State theatre; State soil; State snackfood; State amphibian; State reptile; State tartan; and State pie.
* The Question: Your thoughts on this proposed legislation?
As AFSCME leadership conducts its campaign for strike authorization, we will continue to provide accurate information and clarify any confusion that employees bring to our attention.
On that note, we learned yesterday of what appears to be a troublesome attempt to discourage voting by those who are inclined to vote against a strike. We learned that some union representatives were telling employees that not participating in the strike vote would be the equivalent of a “no” vote. However, a week ago AFSCME’s spokesperson said, “a vote of more than 50 percent of those voting would grant the bargaining committee the authorization to call a strike if necessary.”
Based on that statement, what the reps were saying yesterday is wrong. We hope the union confirms that by not voting, you have no say in the strike authorization decision.
The decision to vote is yours and yours alone, and we will respect your choice either way. Our obligation is to make sure you have accurate information. To that end, please continue to reach out with questions and concerns and refer to the Labor Relations link on team.illinois.gov.
Sincerely,
JT
John Terranova
Deputy Director
CMS Office of Labor Relations
Emphasis added because that’s a pretty serious allegation.
* From Anders Lindall at AFSCME Council 31…
The truth is plain and simple: We want every AFSCME member to vote, and they’re doing so by the thousands right now.
If the Rauner administration would seek compromise instead of spreading misinformation, we’d be at the bargaining table.
The government needs to move quickly, [Missouri Attorney General Josh Hawley] told a large gathering of wealthy conservative and libertarian donors gathered in California, to send power back to the states and deregulate the economy. The problem is how slowly Washington, D.C. moves, and how the administration is tied up in bureaucracy. But if states, which know which regulations affect them hardest, sue, that would give the feds the power to simply settle and withdraw the reg.
“If a state would bring a suit against a regulation, it gives the federal government the opportunity to withdraw that regulation.”
This, he told donors and reporters, “will give the government the ability to move quickly on deregulation.” […]
“I like President [George W.] Bush but… look, they screwed it up,” Rauner told attendees, echoing a common center-right gripe that Bush did not do enough to decentralize government. “Send power back to the states.”
OK, but what are you gonna do with that power, governor? I mean, dude, you can’t even pass a budget with your reforms.
* As I told you yesterday, the Pantagraph’s parent company just shut down its Statehouse bureau. I’m assuming we’ll see lots more oopsies like these in the coming weeks and months, if they even bother covering the Statehouse at all.
Buried among the facts and figures in the Justice Department’s recent book-length report on the failings of the Chicago Police Department was a telling statistic: The rate of suicide among CPD officers is 60 percent higher than other departments across the U.S.
Among the ranks of the nearly 10,000 patrol officers of the CPD, an average of three officers will take their own lives each year, according to life insurance claims information from the Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 7, the union representing the bulk of the department’s sworn officers.
In the past decade, 13 officers have been killed in the line of duty. Nearly twice as many officers died by their own hand during the same span.
Ron Rufo was a peer support counselor for most of his 21 years as a patrolman in the 9th District, volunteering to talk to his fellow officers at any scene where an officer was killed or injured. Rufo, who retired a little more than a year ago, estimates the number of his former peers who kill themselves each year could be double the FOP figure.
“There is a problem, and nobody’s doing anything about it,” Rufo said. “Supervisors don’t talk about it. The rank-and-file don’t talk about it. And it’s like the administration does not want to admit it’s a problem.”
* From a Republican pal regarding the fight over Attorney General Lisa Madigan’s legal motion to stop paying employees without a formal appropriation…
I’m not sure I buy the theory that this is going to take away Rauner’s leverage… I think he’d rather not shut it down, but if it has to be done, he’ll let it happen and blame Speaker Madigan for it.
After House Democrats ignored the will of the people by electing Mike Madigan to a 17th term as Speaker, it’s clear the only way we will stop the Madigan Machine is by ousting the politicians that give Madigan his power.
This means taking the case directly to the voters.
That’s why today, the Illinois Republican Party is launching the first phase of its “Drop the Mike” campaign, highlighting how Madigan and his prospective Gubernatorial candidates are working for the Chicago machine and against the people.
» Revenue-sharing agreements that fuel excessive local spending, such as the Local Government Distributive Fund – for counties and cities with populations above 5,000 – and the Downstate Transit Fund. (Savings: $1.75 billion)
» State pension subsidies that allow districts and universities to dole out higher pay, end-of-career salary hikes and pensionable perks. Going forward, local school districts and universities should be responsible for paying the annual (normal) cost of pensions. (Savings: higher education: $450 million; K-12: $970 million)
» Special carve-outs in the state’s education funding formula that grant subsidies to a select few school districts affected by local property tax caps and special economic zones. (Savings: $250 million)
So, whack the LDF, transfer pension costs to schools and universities and cut Chicago’s school funding.
Reform costly state mandates imposed on local governments such as prevailing wage requirements and collective bargaining rules. Ease the process for government consolidation and other cost-saving measures. (Local government savings: $2 billion-$3 billion)
Right. Yeah.
* It also wants a 10 percent reduction in the number of state employees and implementation of Gov. Rauner’s contract terms, for a claimed savings of $500 million for each point.
The group wants to cut higher education spending by $500 million a year. It would cut Medicaid spending by $415 million.
» Phases in the costs of any pension funds’ actuarial changes over a five-year period. This will reduce the required $800 million increase in state contributions by nearly $650 million in 2018.
» Creates a new contribution schedule with a 2018 payment that is $1 billion less than baseline contributions. That will protect overburdened Illinoisans from
tax hikes and allow the state to prioritize funding for social services.
As her first act on the Senate Government Reform Committee, Senator Heather Steans (D-Chicago) introduced legislation to close the revolving door between state government employees, officials and lobbying firms.
“It is high time that we strengthen ethics laws in Illinois and tighten regulations on the revolving door,” Steans said. “The General Assembly last passed revolving door reforms nearly 10 years ago. While those acts were undoubtedly progress, elected officials and state employees should not be able to immediately translate relationships built on state time into lobbying connections upon leaving public service.”
Senate Bill 615 requires employees and officials to wait one year after leaving a position with the state before accepting a position or compensation for lobbying state government. The legislation also bans state employees and officials from negotiating employment terms or compensation from lobbying entities while employed or serving as an appointee of the state.
“SB 615 restricts legislators and state employees from lobbying for at least one year after their departure from state government, bringing Illinois in line with a majority of other states who restrict this kind of activity,” said Sarah Brune, executive director of Illinois Campaign for Political Reform. “This legislation is an important step in closing the revolving door of state government in Illinois and encouraging openness and transparency in the political process.”
(1) the Governor, Lieutenant Governor, Secretary of State, Attorney General, State Treasurer, and State Comptroller;
(2) Chiefs of Staff for officials described in item (1);
(3) Cabinet members of any elected constitutional officer, including Directors, Assistant Directors and Chief Legal Counsel or General Counsel;
(4) Members of the General Assembly; and
(5) Members of any board, commission, authority, or task force of the State authorized or created by State law or by executive order of the Governor.
Legislators in particular should not be allowed to negotiate employment terms with lobbying entities while in office. It defies common sense.
…Adding… It probably should be noted that the governor’s executive order from 2015 did some of this as well. But Rauner didn’t bar his people from working for lobbying entities for a year, like this proposal does. He just barred them from actively lobbying the governor’s part of the executive branch.
Caterpillar Inc. has scrapped plans to build a new office complex in Downtown Peoria and will move its global headquarters to the Chicago area by the end of the year.
The upper echelon of executives, including newly installed CEO Jim Umpleby, will begin relocating later this year, with up to 100 employees total moving by year’s end. About 300 employees will work in the new office at an as-yet undecided location once the transition is complete. […]
The [company’s restructuring] contributed to $2.3 billion in savings in 2016, but sales and revenue for last year still were more than 40 percent below peak levels of 2012. Umpleby said that decline is a fundamental reason the company’s Board of Directors opted to move global headquarters to an area where the global marketplace is in easier reach. […]
“I understand it is a big deal, and it is not a decision that we made lightly. As we step back and looked at what is most important, what’s most important for us is to get Caterpillar growing again and for us to make the company successful,” Umpleby said. “And I clearly recognize it will be disappointing, it will be tough. This is not easy. I clearly recognize that. But again I think it’s the right thing for Caterpillar to do in the long term.”
* The same thing happened with ADM not too long ago. Execs want to live in or next to a big city, with big city amenities and access to transportation hubs. From the Peoria paper’s interview with the CEO…
We have decided to locate a small, lean headquarters team, a team of senior executives, in the Chicago area to have better access to flights. About two-thirds of our business over the last five years has come from outside the United States. We see a lot of growth coming in the international markets, and we believe that speed and agility for our senior leadership team to be able to travel around the globe is very important. I do want to emphasize that the vast majority of our employees in Peoria will not be relocated. And again, both of these decisions, although they seem related, are independent decisions. They’re very much focused on allowing Caterpillar to grow and prosper again. […]
I suspect we’ll start with 100 employees, probably less by the end of the year. And when this new office is up and running, it will probably be around approximately 300 employees. One thing I want to make clear is we’re not moving the top 300 people to Chicago. That’s not happening. Many officers will continue to be in Peoria. We’re talking about the executive office, maybe a couple of the vice presidents. It will be a small group, and then, as with any lean headquarters, there will be support staff around, including a few key finance functions, human resources and members from the legal department. […]
There will be more vice presidents in the Peoria area than there will be in our new location. We have over 12,000 employees in the Peoria area, and we’ll still consider Peoria our hometown. This is where we grew up, this is where our employees are. We’ll be here a lot, so you’ll see us knocking around town. It won’t be a situation where we’re gone. We’re not looking for a building the size of AB (the current Downtown Peoria headquarters) to fill up. We’re not going to build a building. We’re going to lease space in an existing building.
Caterpillar already has a footprint in the Chicago area. There are operations in LaGrange, Joliet and Aurora, though the company is considering ending manufacturing in Aurora.
The company also houses its digital and analytics team in the Merchandise Mart. But the new headquarters will not be at any of those locations, and the employees at the Merchandise Mart will not be moved to the new headquarters, wherever it is situated.
Caterpillar has 12,000 employees in Peoria, Potts said, “and that’s not going to change.” The central Illinois city “is still our hometown.”
* When we think of local government consolidation, we often think of schools or townships. But Illinois also has 1,299 incorporated cities, towns and villages…
Former police chief Craig Kennedy said Monday he wasn’t surprised and has no hard feelings about being laid off by the village of Jerome.
As part of cost reductions necessitated by a budget shortfall, Village President Mike Lopez said the police chief was let go Friday. Kennedy was paid $55,000 per year.
“I attend 99 percent of the village board meetings and watched the downturn in sales tax revenue and figured I would be the first to go,” said Kennedy, 57, who spent the past 15 years with the Jerome Police Department, including three as chief. […]
Earlier this month, The State Journal-Register reported that police officers in nearby Leland Grove had been covering shifts in Jerome due to what village officials described as a temporary manpower shortage.
The 2015 Census estimate puts Jerome’s population at 1,651.
Lopez said that village coffers have been hurt by late payments from the state on monies owed. For example, the village in December received checks from the state to pay for officers who participated last spring in seatbelt emphasis patrols, he said. […]
Sales tax revenue in Jerome is also down, Lopez said. While the opening of Hy-Vee on MacArthur Boulevard might have been good news for the City of Springfield, it has reduced spending at Shop ’n Save, one of the largest businesses in the village. On the other hand, gambling revenue has soared to as much as $7,000 a month, he said, but that money will likely tail off due to the number of video gaming machines that have been installed throughout the area. […]
The village this month ceased paying a portion of health care premiums for dependents of village employees, which will save nearly $23,000, Lopez said, and Jerome residents can expect other cutbacks.
* Finke on AFSCME’s strike authorization vote, which began yesterday…
But as [AFSCME Council 31 spokesman Anders Lindall] said, only members who are eligible to strike are eligible to vote. AFSCME represents about 38,000 state workers in Illinois. Of those, roughly 30,000 can strike. The others work security jobs at the Department of Corrections and Department of Juvenile Justice and are forbidden from striking. […]
Actual voting will take place at 700 work sites around the state, Lindall said. The idea is to make it as easy as possible to vote for as many members as possible.
“We’re trying to give people multiple opportunities (to vote),” he said. “We are putting a tremendous effort into the access to vote and also for the integrity of the vote. We are following federal labor board processes for security votes similar to a union-authorization election.”
Although votes can be cast at hundreds of locations, they will be counted at a central location, Lindall said. None of the votes will be counted until after the election is concluded. Voting is scheduled through Feb. 19, although union officials have said it could be extended a bit if necessary to accommodate all voters.
Sen. Dick Durbin on Monday called Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan’s motion to halt state employee pay without a budget a “bold move” that will force Gov. Bruce Rauner’s hand.
Durbin — who last year opted not to run for governor — told the Sun-Times the budget impasse, which he said has shredded a safety net and cut off care for the most disadvantaged, hasn’t been enough to create a force for compromise.
“I think what she’s saying is ‘Let’s face the reality.’ The [Illinois] Constitution says you can’t appropriate it. You can’t spend it unless it’s appropriated. And if she tests that, and it comes through, it’s going to force the hand of the governor as to whether or not that the things he’s insisting on are so important that it would create an even worse situation in our state,” Durbin said. […]
“It’s no surprise that Dick Durbin is spinning like a career politician,” state Republican Party spokesman Steven Yaffe said in an email. “Durbin knows ridiculous political attacks by Mike Madigan and the money men who fund his machine don’t work, but exposing the failure of Madigan’s decades of rule in Springfield does. Dick Durbin is unwilling and afraid to stand up to Mike Madigan. It’s why Durbin chose not to run.”
The Diminutive Daughter of the Diminutive Don of Illinois politics shook things up big time last week when she inserted herself into the 19-month-old state budget battle between Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner and her father, Democratic House Speaker Michael Madigan.
I heard this could be happening earlier today. The AG filed two motions the other day, one was to dissolve the preliminary injunction, but the other was a petition to intervene. The original defendant was Comptroller Munger, who retained her own counsel over the AG’s objections.
So, the governor’s position is that Comptroller Mendoza should retain her own lawyer, keep AG Madigan out of the case, and even if the judge decides to obey the Constitution and lifts the order that forces the comptroller to pay employees without an appropriation, Mendoza should just keep on paying them until Madigan convinces a judge to tell her to stop doing so. You gotta figure that they’ll then demand that Mendoza appeal it.
In other words, they want to delay doomsday as long as they possibly can while making AG Madigan pay the political price every step of the way. And if the comptroller doesn’t go along with the governor, they’ll make her pay the price, too.
I’ve asked the comptroller’s office and the AG’s office for a response.
*** UPDATE 1 *** From Abdon Pallasch at the comptroller’s office…
As the Comptroller said Thursday, the Governor could very easily end this court action by fulfilling his constitutional duty to propose a balanced budget, and then work with the General Assembly to get it passed into law.
*** UPDATE 2 *** Asked for a comment, AG Madigan’s spokesperson responded: “No thanks.”
Heh.
*** UPDATE 3 *** From the governor’s office…
Once again, Comptroller Mendoza was given an opportunity to stand with state employees and fight for their paychecks. Once again, she declined.
Like I said, they want her to pay an ongoing political price.
The Koch network plans to spend between $300 million to $400 million on policy and political campaigns during the 2018 election cycle.
Officials revealed the target budget at the start of a three-day donor summit at a resort here, indicating that they intend to continue expanding their reach at a time when Republicans control Congress and the White House. By comparison, the network spent about $250 million during the 2016 cycle on policy and political efforts.
The funds will be spread across a constellation of groups, including Americans for Prosperity and Freedom Partners Action Fund, along with Concerned Veterans for America, the Libre Initiative and Generation Opportunity, which now operate under the AFP banner.
Leaders from the groups said that they plan to focus on building up the capabilities of their grass-roots organization, which has boots on the ground in 36 states, and that the precise amount will depend on opportunities.
Whew, that’s a lot of dough. AFP in Illinois, perhaps the Illinois Policy Institute and who knows what other groups could make out like bandits with this push.
“While people in Illinois were being detained, Gov. Bruce Rauner was relaxing with fellow millionaires in Palm Springs,” said DGA Communications Director Jared Leopold. “The millions that Rauner is raising for the Koch brothers won’t do much to protect the people of Illinois from Donald Trump. Illinois voters deserve a governor who will stand up and fight for their values, not run off to Palm Springs in the middle of a crisis.”
* OK, first of all, not to defend the Koch brothers or anything, but they’re opposed to the travel ban…
The leaders of the conservative network aligned with billionaires Charles Koch and David Koch on Sunday said they opposed President Trump’s controversial ban on immigrants from predominantly Muslim countries.
“We believe it is possible to keep Americans safe without excluding people who wish to come here to contribute and pursue a better life for their families,” Brian Hooks, a co-chairman of the Kochs’ seminar network, said in a statement.
“The travel ban is the wrong approach and will likely be counterproductive,” Hooks added, saying it hinders a Koch goal of promoting a free and open society.
The statement marks the first public criticism of the Trump administration from the Kochs, who oversee one of the most influential outside operations in conservative politics with a staff, budget and voter-turnout operation that rivals the Republican Party.
* Secondly, most folks would presume that Rauner went out there to raise money from the Koch network, not to raise money for it. Not quite sure what to make of that yet. Any ideas?
Today marks the first day of AFSCME leadership’s campaign for strike authorization. The decision to vote in favor of a strike is a very serious choice and should not be done with incomplete (or worse, inaccurate) information. At CMS Labor Relations, we always strive to provide complete information to bargaining unit employees on all topics. You can visit team.illinois.gov to find answers to your many questions and to submit new ones. Our team stands ready to help in these challenging times.
We also prepared the attached one-page document that briefly summarizes why, in our view, a strike is not warranted. Although others may disagree, we believe a strike against the taxpayers is reckless.
We firmly believe that our last, best, and final proposal is one that is both reasonable and necessary given the State’s current fiscal condition. Twenty other unions have accepted substantially similar proposals. A lengthy strike will result in significant disruptions to striking workers’ pay, health insurance, and pension benefits, and risk disrupting the services to some of the taxpayers we have pledged to serve.
Of course, the decision to strike is yours and yours alone. We will respect whatever decision you make and hope the Union does likewise. We remain available to answer questions or provide information to ensure you are fully informed.
Sincerely,
JT
John Terranova
Deputy Director
CMS Office of Labor Relations
* From the attachment…
The State’s Proposal Is Reasonable and Necessary
· Employees continue to be among the best-paid in the nation: average total annual compensation, with benefits, is over $100,000
· Health insurance options allow employees to select what is best for them and their families
· Depending on the choice of health insurance plan, monthly premiums can be as low as zero (AFSCME falsely claims everyone’s premiums will double)
· Temporary pay freeze (not permanent, as AFSCME claims when it falsely says the State is permanently eliminating step increases)
· A merit incentive program that extends to all employees a plan similar to one successfully implemented for AFSCME-represented Lottery Sales Reps four years ago
· Additional safeguards against privatization, along the lines of what AFSCME has negotiated in its CBAs with employees in other States
· Retention of bumping rights during layoff
· Modest changes to overtime provisions without changing the work week you’ve always had
Potential Costs of a Strike Are Significant
· No pay during the strike
· No health insurance subsidy during the strike
· No credit towards pension benefits during the strike
· Average monthly cost to a striking employee is over $8,000
· No one knows how long a strike may be; whether employees strike or not, the State simply cannot afford AFSCME leadership’s demands of billions of dollars in additional pay and benefits during the four-year contract at issue
· Replacement workers can be hired to maintain services during a strike, and in some cases, those replacement workers may be permanent.
· In contrast, employees who cross the picket line continue to receive their pay and benefits and retain their same job protections—contrary to AFSCME’s claim, they do not become “at will”
A suburban lawmaker is pushing to make failing to yield to pedestrians in a crosswalk a felony if it results in death or injury. The move was inspired by the death of a Mount Prospect mother of five.
State Rep. David Harris, an Arlington Heights Republican, tells me he attended meetings after the June 9 death of 55-year-old Joni Beaudry, who was struck and killed as she rode her bike through a Central Road crosswalk near Melas Park.
“One of the things that troubled me so much is that over the years we’ve emphasized the right of the pedestrian in the crosswalk,” Harris said. “But that’s just one side of it. … We’ve got to tell drivers, if you don’t do it, there’s a penalty.”
Currently, there are no penalties on the books for striking a pedestrian in a crosswalk, though drivers are penalized for reckless driving. Hanna Burzynska, 56, of Elk Grove Village, pleaded guilty to three different traffic violations for hitting Beaudry. Burzynska lost her license for a period of time and had to pay $364 in fines and court costs.
Learn something new every day. I had no idea there weren’t any specific penalties for hitting people in a crosswalk.
For a time, Frerichs was among Democrats being talked about as a possible candidate for governor, though that talk has waned as he hasn’t aggressively promoted himself.
He said he knows it sounds like a cliche, but he is focusing on his office.
“I like my job,” the Champaign resident said. “I’m looking at keeping that job.” And he added that speculation about who’s running for 2018 offices “does nothing to advance the ball” and “stories right now should be exclusively on the fact that the state doesn’t have a budget in place.”
He said he was hopeful that after the November election there could be real movement toward a budget.
“But I think what we’ve seen is people immediately start putting millions of dollars in campaign funds, creating websites and attacking people they’re supposed to be negotiating with,” Frerichs said, without specifically naming Gov. BRUCE RAUNER, who put $50 million in his own campaign fund after the election, and the state GOP, which during the veto session launched BossMadigan.com, designed to criticize House Speaker MICHAEL MADIGAN, D-Chicago, and people associated with him.
“You can guess who I’m talking about,” Frerichs said. “And I just don’t think that moves our state forward.”
Unlike our new comptroller, who has been bashing the governor for months, the treasurer has been almost mute about the governor for the past two years, avoiding direct conflict.
“What we saw emerge [Tuesday] in the suburbs exceeded our expectations. This race is being decided by tens of thousands of Rauner-Frerichs voters: independents in suburbs from Winnetka to Orland Park, from Waukegan to Joliet in the collar counties, and from Rock Island to deep Southern Illinois.”
The state has a record stack of unpaid bills that’s expected to hit $15 billion by July if nothing is done, and it must fork over interest when it’s late paying them. Putting a hard dollar figure on those interest costs is difficult, however.
A bipartisan budget-forecasting group says the state owes at least $370 million alone in interest on bills for state employee health care during the 18-month stalemate. The Democratic comptroller’s office estimates the state will have to pay $700 million on interest based on what it’s spending in the current budget year, a number more than twice the state’s previous high water mark. The Republican governor’s budget office declined to provide any estimate, saying it “cannot speculate” on future costs. […]
Rauner’s office has declined to put a figure on what the state will owe in interest due to the impasse. And until early December, Rauner was able to make that stick because the comptroller, Leslie Geissler Munger, would not provide an estimate either. Rauner appointed Munger to the job, but she lost to Democrat Susana Mendoza in the November election.
Mendoza’s office puts the state’s interest costs from this year’s budget at $700 million, acknowledging the ultimate figure is a “moving target” depending on how much more the state spends in the coming months.
The estimate is based in part on last year’s spending, when state government operated without a full budget but continued to spend money based on court orders, laws and spending agreements. Illinois is in a similar position this year, as a temporary six-month budget expired with the new year, once again leaving universities, social service providers and prisons without funding.
Not that I’m all that confident about this particular comptroller’s projections, but the governor’s budget office does cost projections all the time, so it’s kinda weird that they won’t do projections on this topic.
The 2016 court ruling puts the attorney general in a position to force the state to stop paying workers, since lawmakers haven’t passed a bill funding state-worker salaries. If the attorney general gets her way, state workers will go without pay until the General Assembly passes an appropriations bill. This could put pressure on state lawmakers to pass another unsustainable state budget like the proposal gaining traction in the Senate, which would subject Illinoisans to massive tax hikes with no real reform, long the priority of Lisa Madigan’s father, House Speaker Mike Madigan.
But the push to force through the Senate’s budget plan is based on a false choice: Lawmakers don’t have to pass this proposal to ensure state workers get paid.
Instead, the General Assembly could pass a clean appropriations bill for state-worker pay, rather than a deal as part of an increasingly complex and unwieldy budget package now taking form in the Illinois Senate.
The governor, however, has said he would demand a permanent property tax freeze and term limits in exchange for his signature on another stopgap budget.
What’s inexcusably wrong is the timing. Madigan said with a new legislative session underway, it was the appropriate time to ask the court to reconsider. She’s asked the court to terminate the injunction on Feb. 28, giving a firm deadline and restoring urgency to get the almost 19-month-old budget impasse resolved.
That argument could hold water - if there had been no substantive recent action on a budget. And while legislators have appeared blind to it, urgency has been a part of this impasse since day one. Just ask any of the vendors waiting for the 141,225 unpaid bills, worth a collective $10.7 billion, to be processed by the state. Or talk to one of the nearly 1 million people throughout Illinois who didn’t get help they needed during the fiscal year where there wasn’t a budget, according to United Way estimates.
Those vendors and clients had reason for hope recently because there were honest efforts at compromise in the Senate, where President John Cullerton, D-Chicago, and Minority Leader Christine Radogno, R-Lemont, have diligently worked together for the past month on a bipartisan budget package. Gov. Bruce Rauner gave his sincere thanks during his State of the State address Wednesday, and implored them to keep working on an agreement.
Lawmakers were finally putting people before politics. The tone of the conversation was slowly changing as politicians together sought solutions. The budget package lit a flame under lawmakers that was intensifying on its own as senators debated and amended the proposal in attempts to improve the plan. Madigan’s actions Thursday added unneeded fuel to that fire: A glance at the statements from the usual political players shows the tentative bridges that had started being built could now come tumbling down. […]
Madigan’s action was the antithesis of the collaboration the state had started to see. If this lone-wolf action slows the momentum that had started and reverts the Capitol to shouting over who is most to blame instead of reaching a budget compromise, Illinois residents will continue to be the ones who suffer.
If this were a board game, you would have quit long ago because there was no way to win at “Illinopoly.”
“At a meeting I attended just this morning, a comment was made that, ‘as soon as deals in Illinois are close to done, someone always tries to blow it up,’” said state Rep. Avery Bourne, a Republican from the Litchfield area.
The Illinois Senate seems on the verge of hammering out a budget deal with some of the reforms insisted on by a governor who refuses to continue monkey business as usual. Here comes Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan, daughter of the game master, who wakes up after 18 months to decide, “Hey. We shouldn’t be paying state workers without a budget. I’ll sue.”
If anything, I question why the attorney general didn’t push this issue sooner, which, by the way, is totally consistent with her legal defense of Rauner’s failure to pay social service providers.
At this point, it doesn’t matter. This is the right move.
I don’t want to see state workers go unpaid. I want the state to come up with a budget.
Amid the howls in reaction to the attorney general’s move were complaints the added pressure could disrupt ongoing talks by Illinois Senate leaders, who have provided the first glimmer of hope in a while that a resolution is possible.
Sorry, everyone needs to feel that pressure.
When Senate President John Cullerton and Republican Leader Christine Radogno visited our offices a week ago to tout their proposed deal, they both made it clear a budget needs to be approved now, not months from now. […]
In that light, I don’t see anything unreasonable about Madigan asking a judge to set a Feb. 28 date for wrapping up a budget before stopping state workers pay. The judge could also set a later date.
The important point is that we don’t let this continue indefinitely.
On Thursday, Attorney General Lisa Madigan set the wheels in motion for tens of thousands of state workers to stop being paid if a state budget is not approved by Feb. 28. Effectively, that would mean a government shutdown. Madigan did so, she explained, to create overwhelming pressure on the state Legislature and Gov. Bruce Rauner to finally cut a deal.
Here’s our problem with that: Working people once again are being treated like pawns in a game of power by politicians who will never have to worry about living paycheck to paycheck. If Madigan’s gambit does not work, they will pay the price. And we can’t be sure of her motives. Maybe she’s the most honest of brokers, just trying to force an end to the budget impasse. Or maybe she’s working an angle with the Speaker of the Illinois House, Michael J. Madigan, who happens to be her father.
Lisa Madigan will object to that charge. She has worked hard over the years to show she runs her office independent of her father, and there is no evidence she’s doing his bidding now. But there also is no escaping the bad optics. Given that the Speaker and attorney general are father and daughter, skeptics will always suspect a tag team. And Lisa Madigan’s latest legal maneuver is giving her father’s number-one foe, Rauner, fits. A government shutdown threatens much of Rauner’s leverage to force pro-business reforms as part of a budget package.
Nonetheless, Attorney General Madigan appears to be on firm legal ground — and that means the clock is ticking. If a budget agreement is not reached, state workers may not get paid beginning in March.
Now, Team Rauner is of the opinion that Madigan acted now because her father doesn’t like the grand budget deal the heads of the Senate, President John Cullerton and Republican Leader Christine Radogno, are trying to push through against tough odds. Speaker Madigan wants to do as little as possible until 2018, hoping to unseat Rauner in that year’s election, they suggest.
That may be true. On the other hand, some top Democrats believe Rauner is trying to sandbag the deal.
And some folks believe Lisa Madigan’s move could boost pressure on lawmakers to finally act. “It’s a gentle nudge to get something done,” says one well-connected business lobbyist.
I don’t know. What I do know is that, as a matter of good public policy, Lisa Madigan’s action is appropriate. Tardy, but appropriate.
If lawmakers continue to squabble and paychecks are halted, voters will be furious and take it out on somebody. Good. They should.
And maybe the fear of that finally will get us a budget.
Governor Rauner has always said we need to balance our tradition as a nation welcoming of immigrants and refugees with legitimate national security concerns to keep Americans safe from terrorism.
The governor has been supportive of tightening the vetting process for Syrian refugees because of ISIS attempts to infiltrate refugee flows — but he’s opposed to immigration bans that target any specific religion.
Serious concerns about the [presidential] executive order have been raised. We urge swift resolution of these concerns through the courts to ensure we are a nation that is both secure and welcoming of immigrants and refugees.
Best,
ck
* That was a pretty measured response, so in comparison this is way over the top, but he is who he is…
(A)s of Sunday evening, four of our six GOP members of Congress representing Illinois remained completely silent as to where they stood on Trump’s order. Republican U.S. Reps. Peter Roskam and Randy Hultgren did not respond to requests for comment from POLITICO, while others did not respond to requests from other media. […]
U.S. Rep. Adam Kinzinger, (R-Ill.), posted a response on Medium saying Trump’s executive order “has caused confusion among those asked to enforce it.”
“I urge the Administration to clarify the specifics on what should and should not be done to best protect our homeland, our people, and our communities,” Kinzinger wrote. “I support a comprehensive look at our vetting process, and I believe it’s something every new administration would be expected to do. However, reports of green card holders and those who assisted us in the war on terror being denied or delayed entry is deeply concerning. Such detention is unacceptable and must be remedied immediately.”
U.S. Rep. John Shimkus, (R-Ill.), embraced the temporary ban, saying it would allow “time to evaluate and improve the vetting process,” of refugees.
* AG Madigan…
Attorney General Lisa Madigan joined with 15 other attorneys general today to condemn the unconstitutional Executive Order on immigration.
Madigan and the attorneys general issued the following statement:
“As the chief legal officers for over 130 million Americans and foreign residents of our states, we condemn President Trump’s unconstitutional, unAmerican and unlawful Executive Order and will work together to ensure the federal government obeys the Constitution, respects our history as a nation of immigrants, and does not unlawfully target anyone because of their national origin or faith.
Religious liberty has been, and always will be, a bedrock principle of our country and no president can change that truth.
Yesterday, multiple federal courts ordered a stay of the Administration’s dangerous Executive Order. We applaud those decisions and will use all of the tools of our offices to fight this unconstitutional order and preserve our nation’s national security and core values.
We are confident that the Executive Order will ultimately be struck down by the courts. In the meantime, we are committed to working to ensure that as few people as possible suffer from the chaotic situation that it has created.”
Joining Madigan in issuing the statement were attorneys general from: California, Connecticut, the District of Columbia, Hawaii, Iowa, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Vermont, Virginia and Washington.
* U of I…
Dear students, faculty and staff,
The University of Illinois System is a leader in teaching, discovery and outreach in our state, the nation and the world. Our doors are open and welcoming to talented individuals from around the globe and we pledge to ensure that this openness continues into the future. It is at the heart of our commitment to global access and extraordinary impact and is reflected in our Nondiscrimination Statement.
We are greatly concerned about the negative consequences for members of our community and their families arising from President Trump’s recent Executive Order instituting changes in immigration policy.
We want to assure you that we are monitoring events closely and we are working with other universities, national organizations, legal counsel and government officials to support and protect all of our international faculty, visiting scholars and students.
Because of the entry restrictions cited in the new Executive Order, we strongly recommend that students and scholars who might be affected defer travel outside the U.S. until there is fuller assessment of the Executive Order and its implementation, including resolution of several newly mounted legal challenges.
We are working with colleagues at other universities and with national higher education advocacy organizations, such as the Association of Public & Land-Grant Universities, Association of American Universities and American Association of State Colleges and Universities to assess the effects of the immigration directives and to urge that the Executive Order be reconsidered as quickly as possible. We are also engaging with members of the Illinois congressional delegation to share specific concerns.
All three of our universities are communicating with affected members of our communities and are providing information and support. For specific resources, please contact:
University of Illinois at Chicago: Office of International Services, (312) 996-3121 (ois@uic.edu)
University of Illinois at Springfield: Office of International Programs, (217) 206-8319, (intprog@uis.edu)
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign: Supporting Our International Community, (217) 333-1303 ext. 1
We stress that our international community is a vital part of our excellence and reflects our steadfast commitment to diversity, inclusion, global engagement and impact in today’s society.
Sincerely,
Tim Killeen
President
* Mayor Emanuel…
“One hundred years ago, the people of Chicago opened their hearts and their homes to my grandfather when he immigrated to this great city, fleeing the pogroms of Eastern Europe in search of freedom and opportunity. In that spirit, in the coming days my family and I will host DREAMers attending Chicago Public Schools and Chicago City Colleges for a meal, a conversation, and a recognition and celebration of all that unites us, rather than what divides us. I am asking every interested resident of the City of Chicago to join us by hosting a similar meal in your own homes and at restaurants in your own neighborhoods, or by sharing welcoming words through a phone call or email. At a moment of unease and vulnerability for so many, let’s come together as a city and put action behind our words and the values we hold dear as a welcoming city. Lets show the world that the City of Big Shoulders is also a city of big hearts.”
* Comptroller…
In response to President Trump’s Muslim ban, Illinois Comptroller Susana Mendoza issued the following statement:
“President Trump’s attack on Muslims is an attack on every American and it strikes at the heart of our dearest American values of democracy.
We saw clear and troubling warning signs from Trump the candidate, but this goes beyond hyperbolic fear-mongering. To use the Presidential authority granted to him by the American people to isolate, marginalize and discriminate against any group of people based on their nationality or religion, those are the actions of a tyrant.
I denounce President Trump’s despicable and decidedly un-American campaign against immigrants and refugees and I call on my fellow Illinoisans to rise up in a vocal and peaceful opposition until his executive action is revoked.
As an elected official, as the daughter of immigrant parents and as a patriotic American, I will not tolerate bigotry or xenophobia in any form, and most certainly not when it is made legal and institutionalized through the abuse of our democratic republic.”
* Sen. Duckworth…
“I wish the President had realized that governing in a fair and just manner is harder than rallying crowds with catchphrases before human lives were affected, as they were by today’s needless and dehumanizing detentions at O’Hare and airports around the country. Stopping legal permanent residents and babies simply because of where they’re from is not the American way and it doesn’t make us safer. This Muslim ban must end.”
* Sen. Durbin…
“History will judge where America’s leaders stood today, said Durbin. “Faced with the humanitarian crisis of our time, the United States cannot turn its back on children fleeing persecution, genocide, and terror. During the Holocaust we failed to fulfill to our duty to humanity. We cannot allow mindless fear to lead us into another regretful chapter in our history.”
* JB Pritzker…
Among protesters at O'Hare last night, an attorney w @RefugeeAssist helping detainees. Proud to learn she is a fellow @NorthwesternLaw alum!
* ADDED: Koch network slams Trump immigrant ban: “We believe it is possible to keep Americans safe without excluding people who wish to come here to contribute and pursue a better life for their families,” Brian Hooks, a co-chairman of the Kochs’ seminar network, said in a statement. “The travel ban is the wrong approach and will likely be counterproductive,” Hooks added, saying it hinders a Koch goal of promoting a free and open society.
* Data: Refugees in Illinois: More than 40 percent from banned countries: More than 40 percent of the more than 30,000 refugees who have settled in various parts of Chicagoland since 2002 are from the seven countries specifically mentioned in Donald Trump’s latest executive order.
* Last week, Decatur Herald & Review Chris Coates sent an e-mail to employees…
As some of you may have heard, we’ve made the very difficult decision to close the Springfield bureau. This was not an easy choice. I hope we work something out to re-open our Statehouse operation at some point. But for now, we’ll be filling the gaps and localizing content whenever possible.
The H&R, the Bloomington Pantagraph, the Southern Illinoisan, the Mattoon/Charleston Journal Gazette & Times-Courier and the St. Louis Post-Dispatch are all under the Lee Enterprises umbrella. It wasn’t that long ago when most of those papers had their own Statehouse reporter, plus one for Lee itself.
Dan Petrella recently announced that he was leaving Lee. They’re not replacing him. None of the other papers in that company have a Statehouse reporter.
* I followed up with Coates and here’s what he sent me today…
We’ve decided to no longer have a full-time reporter at the Illinois Statehouse. We’ll continue covering these issues with reporters from our newsrooms. Illinois politics and Statehouse decisions are important to us, and we’re committed to reporting on these critical areas.
* Notice the use of the royal “we” in this constituent e-mail from Rep. Scott Drury…
Friends:
We are pleased to announce that Attorney General Lisa Madigan has embraced our long-held belief that the best way to end the budget impasse is from the pressure created by a true government shutdown. Specifically, in an effort to bring the impasse to an end, she is seeking a court order to stop further state payments to government workers
History
Since fall 2015, we have contended that the General Assembly and the Governor have prolonged the budget impasse by implementing a series of partial budgets and making sure government continues many of its day-to-day functions. In an email in November 2015, we stated: “Through a series of various maneuvers, Illinois leaders have helped prolong the budget impasse by relieving pressure points before they boil.”
The Rational Voice
Our belief that the best way to break the impasse is a true government shutdown has often required us to be the rational - but lone - voice against misguided partial budgets. Notably, those budgets: (a) only provided our universities with 30% of their funding - causing damage for years to come; and (b) picked winners and losers, with social service providers repeatedly being the biggest losers.
Madigan’s Actions
Consistent with our view since 2015, in a filing last week, AG Madigan stated that by halting employee pay, she is trying to raise the pressure to get a budget in place. We will keep you posted on the progress of her legal action.
Closing
Success for us is a long-term project. Getting buy-in for our pressure theory has taken over a year and, at times, subjected us to ridicule by Springfield insiders. But we are fueled by the knowledge that the only way to make progress in Illinois, is to continuously push against the status quo. So push we will.
As always, thank you for the privilege of allowing me to represent you.
The General Assembly by law shall make appropriations for all expenditures of public funds by the State. Appropriations for a fiscal year shall not exceed funds estimated by the General Assembly to be available during that year.
As long as the General Assembly is allowed to estimate available funds, then legislators can play with the numbers all they want and there’s really nothing anybody can do about it except change the Constitution.
The GA did give some power to the Auditor General to check to see if the numbers were valid and then to recommend actions, but that authority expired with most of the income tax hike.
Gov. Bruce Rauner is among three Republican governors attending an annual summit in California hosted by billionaire conservatives Charles and David Koch — a trip that’s drawn criticism from unions and some Democratic lawmakers over its timing.
The Koch brothers, the nation’s top conservative donors, have hosted gatherings of donors and politicians over the years, but usually in private. This year’s attendees include five Republican senators, three governors and two congressmen.
The governor’s office confirmed Rauner is attending the summit in Palm Springs, California, but said he’s there to discuss policy and the state’s achievements with criminal justice reform, not politics or fundraising. An administration aide added that Rauner is also meeting with people on the West Coast to recruit tech companies to come to Illinois.
But the Illinois Federation of Teachers, which is in a longstanding war with the governor amid the state’s budget impasse, on Sunday harshly criticized Rauner for what they called “huddling” with the Koch brothers as refugees are stranded and Illinois is in “crisis.”
“Actions speak louder than words. He’s not compassionate. He’s not willing to work together,” IFT President Dan Montgomery said in a statement. “In one of our darkest hours, he’s plotting with billionaires on how to make the rich richer.”
Class warfare, preached and evangelized by liberals, is frustratingly nefarious and frustratingly effective. From the presidential campaigns of Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton to the state and local levels in Illinois, caricaturing Republican candidates as out-of-touch elitists is akin to linking them to thuggery.
The disgust. The furor. The loathing.
That’s why it will be fascinating to watch the 2018 gubernatorial election to see how the Democrats, who seethed over Gov. Bruce Rauner’s wealth, will handle J.B. Pritzker as one of their candidates and a potential gubernatorial front-runner or nominee. What a pretzel they’ll be in trying to repeat the themes of 2014. This time, one of their own candidates could be labeled as a self-funded billionaire, philanthropist and entrepreneur.
Then, will the Democrats be forced to drop the nauseating references to “Billionaire Bruce?” Will they have to stifle their hysteria over self-funded campaigns? Will they cast aside Pritzker because of his wealth?
Because at this point, Pritzker’s pockets are the primary reason he’s being taken seriously in Democratic circles. He can self-fund, pitting his money against Rauner’s and relieving a pressure valve on Democratic donors who can instead put their money into other races, perhaps legislative. Pritzker is seen as perhaps the only chance to take out Rauner.
Valid points all. But the one she missed is that the “Billionaire Bruce” attack didn’t work in 2014, and the “Billionaire Trump” attack didn’t work in 2016. Maybe it’ll work in 2018, but there’s a decent chance that the Democrats will also nominate a billionaire here.
Perhaps Montgomery is sending a message to Pritzker, or perhaps he’s just reaching for the nearest stick to use. If it’s the former, then fine. It’s a free country. If it’s the latter, then think it through a bit before doing so again.
Also, we’ll take up the local angle on the travel ban in another post, so let’s stick to this topic in comments, please. Thanks.
“I only needed eight votes to tie up the speakership vote and send it to a runoff, and they weren’t there,” Drury said. “To give you an example of how hard it was to find votes, I reached out to my state senator [Julie Morrison]. … I said to her, ‘Will you send out a message saying that you support or encourage my run for speaker of the house?’ I got a text back: ‘I don’t feel comfortable getting involved.’” […]
“I told him it was not my role to get involved in House politics,” Morrison told me. “I try to stay on my side of the rotunda. I said I would give it some thought, and I texted back, and said, ‘No.’”
Yet wasn’t her silence a tacit endorsement of Boss Madigan rule?
“Absolutely not,” she said. “I’ve worked cooperatively with Scott. I’m not going to get involved with Madigan and House politics.”
Throwing his own Senator under the bus like that gives you a pretty good insight into how he operates. The dude apparently couldn’t convince a single House Democrat to stand with him, so he casts blame on Sen. Morrison.
* Meanwhile, some folks have tried to use the fact that Drury didn’t receive a clock from Speaker Madigan to raise some money online…
Now I know you are thinking, this seems a little out of proportion with everything going on in the State right now, and you would be right, but we must take a stand.
So please donate generously so that we can buy Rep. Drury a desk clock in hopes that he can stop releasing press releases and return to passing a budget.
No doubt the clocks handed out to Democratic legislators were priceless- and due to gift limits we likely can’t buy a priceless clock - so please know any money raised over the price of a dollar store clock will be donated to one of the nonprofits in Rep. Drury’ district that hasn’t been paid on time.
It would probably help if they actually named the not-for-profit group because they’ve only raised $30 so far.
Today the Illinois Democratic County Chairmen’s Association (IDCCA) announced the results of their online straw poll conducted from Monday January 23rd to midnight on Sunday January 29th. The poll asked respondents to select their preferred Democrat candidate to run for Governor and Lt. Governor in 2018. The result was comprised of its existing members and Democrats who joined the organization via online submission of name, email, and zip code. More than 5,352 ballots were cast online.
The straw poll results are as follows. These results were tabulated from 5,352 responses and examined for duplicates and interference by IDCCA team members. This poll is not a scientific representation of the Democratic Primary electorate.
State Senator Daniel Biss, 25%, 1339 votes
Alderman Ameya Pawar, 15%, 806 votes
Chris Kennedy, 12%, 617 votes
Congresswoman Cheri Bustos, 11%, 602 votes
J.B. Pritzker, 10%, 550 votes
State Senator Andy Manar, 7%, 356 votes
Congresswoman Robin Kelly, 4%, 238 votes
State Senator Kwame Raoul, 2%, 113 votes
City Treasurer Kurt Summers, 1%, 80 votes
* 13% (651 votes) of responses were for write in candidates.
Write in Candidates:
Attorney General Lisa Madigan, 87 votes
Governor Pat Quinn, 45 votes
US Senator Dick Durbin, 41 votes
Alex Paterakis, 39 votes
State Treasurer Mike Frerichs, 24 votes
Lt. Governor votes are currently being tallied and will be posted as soon as they are available.
Alex Paterakis is running a campaign of sorts on social media.
Question the timing all you want, but last week’s legal filing by Attorney General Lisa Madigan to stop paying state employee wages without an official appropriation is long overdue and is completely consistent with a 2016 Illinois Supreme Court ruling and with her (and the governor’s) opposition to a similar lawsuit brought by social service providers.
Back in 2015, after the General Assembly and the governor couldn’t come to terms on a budget deal, AFSCME and other unions went to court and asked a judge to force the state to pay state workers even though there was no official appropriation for the salaries. That ruling remains in place today.
But this passage in the Illinois Constitution pretty much says it all: “The General Assembly by law shall make appropriations for all expenditures of public funds by the State.”
So the Illinois Supreme Court ruled in March of 2016 on a different case that the portion of AFSCME’s contract with the state requiring payment of back wages could not be honored without a proper legislative appropriation. In other words, no appropriation, no payment, even with a contract.
It was a completely reasonable decision. The governor shouldn’t be able to sign contracts and then force state payment without an actual appropriation. The potential for abuse is mind blowing. Just imagine if Rod Blagojevich could’ve paid whomever he wanted, how much he wanted without any legislative permission.
Gov. Bruce Rauner’s position against a lawsuit brought by human service providers is also completely in line with that 2016 Supreme Court decision. The service providers say their signed state contracts mean they should be paid in full even though the General Assembly hasn’t approved the appropriations to do so. Never once has Gov. Rauner said those providers ought to be paid without a formal budget in place.
But there he was last week saying that Attorney General Madigan’s motion would “directly harm” state workers while urging her to drop her legal motion. He’s been fighting the state employee unions since Day One and has said he wants to help social service groups, yet he wants state workers paid without an appropriation but doesn’t want social service providers paid the same way?
C’mon, man. I was born at night, but not last night. What’s he really up to? Give me a minute and I’ll get to it.
House Republican Leader Jim Durkin’s reaction to AG Madigan’s move appeared to fly in the face of common sense: “This decision clearly undermines the legislature’s duty to negotiate a bipartisan solution.”
I was in Decatur to give a speech last week about the prospects for the Senate’s much-touted “grand bargain” when I found out about AG Madigan’s motion. My speech, as initially written, gave that bipartisan effort no better than a 50-50 chance to spur a final deal.
If the attorney general had filed her motion last year after the Supreme Court ruling, we wouldn’t be in this mess today, and Leader Durkin most certainly knows it. Nothing focuses the General Assembly’s bipartisan attention quite so much as a massive crisis.
So, why didn’t she file it last year? I’m told she wanted to give the General Assembly and the governor some time to work things out. They eventually agreed to a stop gap budget, so she laid low. But that stop gap budget expired at the end of December and the General Assembly left town last week without making significant progress.
There will naturally be widespread suspicions that AG Madigan acted on behalf of her father. The Illinois Republican Party explicitly made that very point when it claimed the attorney general “decided to put Speaker Madigan’s power politics ahead of hard-working families in an effort to shut down state government.”
That last sentence is the key here. The governor has done all he could to avoid a shutdown because a shutdown means all the emphasis would then be on quickly passing a real budget and the tax hikes which go along with it to reopen the government’s shuttered doors.
And that means the governor will lose much (or most, or possibly even all) of his beloved “leverage” to force through his various anti-union/pro-business economic reforms. And that leverage, whether he admits it or not, is the extreme pressure that’s been put on social service providers and the people they serve since this impasse began 18 long months ago.
The attorney general has asked the judge to allow the governor and the General Assembly to delay any order until February 28th to give them time to work out a deal.
