Gov. Scott Walker says the Wisconsin National Guard is prepared to respond wherever is necessary in the wake of his announcement that he wants to take away nearly all collective bargaining rights from state employees.
Walker said Friday that he hasn’t called the Guard into action, but he has briefed them and other state agencies in preparation of any problems that could result in a disruption of state services, like staffing at prisons.
Bonds from Illinois, the second lowest-rated U.S. state, are yielding less than issues from comparably rated Portugal as the state prepares to market the largest taxable municipal debt sale on record.
Next week Illinois is selling $3.7 billion of taxable debt to investors around the world after the end of the Build America Bonds program left the municipal market with pent-up demand for such securities. The offering will likely see increased interest from international and crossover buyers, said Richard Ciccarone, managing director of McDonnell Investment Management LLC in Oak Brook, which holds more than $7 billion of muni debt. […]
Its four-year bonds traded yesterday at a 4.40 percent yield. Comparable bonds from Portugal were yielding 6.15 percent, Bloomberg data show. The country, which has the euro- region’s fourth-largest budget deficit, has raised more than 4 billion euros ($5.5 billion) this year selling securities through auctions and private placements as the nation seeks to avoid resorting to international aid. […]
Illinois last month boosted income taxes 67 percent to help close its budget deficit, an act that has “resonated” with international investors, said John Sinsheimer, the state’s director of capital markets. The state has marketed the bonds in eight cities across Europe and Asia in the last two weeks, he said. […]
“They’re going to pay a penalty for their slow movement in addressing some of their basic weaknesses,” Ciccarone said. Still, “a lot of investors will be attracted since yields on investment-grade corporates are relatively low compared to what they can get on Illinois.”
According to Bloomberg, this is the largest taxable muni bond sale since 1990.
…Adding… Our resident budget expert Steve Schnorf points out in comments that the $10 billion pension bond under Blagojevich would be far larger than this one. Bloomberg may have made a goof.
* Meanwhile, Gov. Pat Quinn talked to the media today about the budget. Here’s the raw audio file from IIS…
“It’s going to be a lean year, we have to be very, very frugal,” Quinn said. […]
The governor would not say what areas will face cuts this time around, but said they will be done “in a fair way, a balanced way.”
When asked if state workers would face layoffs, Quinn said it “depends on the agency,” but noted the state has about 1,000 fewer employees now than when he took over two years ago. […]
“They’re talking about a governor that’s cut more out of the budget than any other governor in Illinois history, that’s what I’ve done,” Quinn said. “There’s always folks in the peanut gallery there that have unspecified reductions that they’re talking about. If they have ideas we’re happy to hear them, but you can’t hide in the corner.”
He also said he considered law enforcement and public safety a “core priority.”
* This week’s Capitol View features talk about the governor’s budget address next Wednesday as well as other stuff. Watch…
Online retail giant Amazon.com is closing a suburban Dallas distribution center and scrapping plans to expand Texas operations after a dispute with the state over millions of dollars in sales taxes, an executive informed employees Thursday in an e-mail obtained by The Associated Press.
Dave Clark, Amazon’s vice president of operations, writes in the e-mail that the center will close April 12 due to Texas’ “unfavorable regulatory climate.” Amazon spokeswoman Mary Osako would not say Thursday how many employees work at the Irving distribution center.
Texas contends Amazon is responsible for sales taxes not collected on online sales in the state. The comptroller’s office last year demanded $269 million in uncollected sales taxes from the company. The case is currently pending before the State Office of Administrative Hearings.
“We regret losing any business in Texas, but our position hasn’t changed: If you have a presence in the state of Texas you are required to pay sales tax, just like any other business that has a presence in Texas,” said Allen Spelce, a spokesman for Texas Comptroller Susan Combs.
A similar tax bill is sitting on Gov. Quinn’s desk.
* I also received a copy of this e-mail yesterday…
The e-mail seemed suspicious as soon as I read it.
“I’m writing with tears in my eyes,” it states.
The writer went on to say that he and his family were in England for a short vacation and were mugged at gunpoint. With money and credit cards stolen, they were at the U.S. embassy and needed help immediately to pay the hotel bill and catch a flight home. […]
On Wednesday, I telephoned [Dean Vallas] to ask him what was going on.
“Someone hacked into my computer and was running a scam using my e-mail address,” he said. “Because I’m working for Gery Chico, I had a list of political contacts in my computer, and that’s how they got your e-mail address.”
“Frankly, I thought the idea of some little English guy robbing me, at 6-foot-7 inches, 230 pounds, sort of funny,” Vallas said with a chuckle.
I wasn’t the first person to call him about the e-mail. At least two of his friends, he said, actually responded to it and asked what they could do to help.
* The Question: What is your “favorite” spam e-mail? Please, do your utmost to keep it clean. Thanks.
Friday, Feb 11, 2011 - Posted by Advertising Department
[The following is a paid advertisement.]
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Illinois cannot fall behind. We must create policies that break down the barriers keeping Illinois from modernizing its grid for the benfit of Illinois residents and businesses.
The INFRASTRUCTURE MODERNIZATION ACT would unlock billions in economic development, create thousands of jobs and position Illinois in the top-tier of state-based Smart Grid development. The legislation would update a century old regulatory process to both protect consumers and assure that Illinois utilities are investing, innovating and preparing our grid to compete in the new digitized world of commerce.
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* We’ve already talked about how the great budget cutter Chris Christie of New Jersey claims to have done yeoman’s work, but is somehow still facing a $10.5 billion budget deficit in the coming fiscal year, which is only $200 million less than this year’s deficit.
Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels has a national reputation for being a budget hawk. Moderate Republicans have pinned their hopes on him for 2012. But what has he really cut? Check out this chart from Purdue University.
Daniels took office in January of 2005. Back then, Indiana was spending $11.75 billion. This year, state spending will be $14.45 billion. That’s a 23 percent increase.
* Now, nobody can say that this state has been well-managed. You’d be laughed out of the room if you tried. But last night Gov. Pat Quinn’s office released some documents showing where real spending cuts have been made. $2.4 billion in Fiscal Year 2010 and $1.2 billion in FY11.
I strongly urge you to take a look at those documents. Those are real cuts in discretionary spending. That’s not to say total overall spending decreased by that much. Pay raises, pensions, health care, etc. all contributed to what’s known in the biz as “budgetary pressures.” Other spending has been moved off-budget. But stuff has been cut. Make no mistake about it.
What happens is the media latches onto a meme and just can’t let go. Illinois is the irresponsible state. New Jersey and Indiana are led by real deficit hawks. There is some truth to both statements, but it’s not reality.
Sen. Ron Sandack, a Downers Grove Republican, said it’s not enough for Republicans to say no; they have to offer alternatives. He said there would be two or three proposals in the coming weeks offering hard, but real, alternatives.
It’s heartening to see the minority party offering to step up to the plate. Let’s see what they’ve got, debate it and then have a vote. That’s the way government should run.
* Related…
* Quinn releases budget cut documents ahead of speech
* Bond plan allowing Illinois to borrow $8.75 billion divides legislators
* Lawmakers to target state spending, gun control in fresh session
* State treasurer pushes more venture capital investment
‘Some people just don’t know when their time is up,” I muttered to myself yesterday while watching Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak address his nation.
The media had reported beforehand that Mubarak would abandon his power. His speech said otherwise.
Heck, I thought to myself, even Mayor Daley knew when to quit.
It wasn’t all that long ago when lots of people “in the know” thought Daley would be mayor until he was hauled out of his 5th Floor office feet first. But his magic was no longer working. His parking meter deal destroyed his credibility as a manager. His Olympics bid failure wiped out his reputation as a superior player. He was done, and he knew it. Time to vamoose while the vamoosing was good.
Mubarak’s regime has always justified the civil liberties crackdowns and ever-escalating power grabs by telling the citizenry that they had two choices: Mubarak or those crazy fanatics in the Muslim Brotherhood.
Daley’s apologists played pretty much the same game: It’s either Daley or the city ends up like Detroit. It worked for both men for a very long time.
I don’t want to equate these two people. As much power as he’s had, Daley could never rival Mubarak for complete control. But while the boundaries are far different, the game is basically the same: Position yourself as the “Indispensable Man.”
It’s my guy or chaos.
Almost all truly successful politicians create this aura. Franklin Roosevelt did it so well he was elected to four terms.
Some, maybe even most, were actually indispensable at least part of their time in power. Even Mubarak served his purpose. But if you stick around long enough, the mistakes tend to catch up with you.
And that brings me to Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan. He’s been one of the most powerful Illinois politicians for decades.
His members re-elect him time and time again because they believe he is their best and only hope for keeping the Republicans at bay. He also had a reputation in many circles for fiscal stewardship.
Madigan’s still quite adept at beating Republicans. He held onto the House during last year’s massive GOP tidal wave despite repeated attacks on him by the media and his Republican nemeses.
But after years of letting too many problems slide, combined with an international economic collapse, Madigan found himself forced to deal with a state budget mess of epic proportions.
While Daley surrendered in similar circumstances, Madigan has seemed to regain his footing. He muscled through an income tax hike which included some very real state spending caps and will force significant budget reforms.
Madigan is talking seriously about reducing pension benefits for current state employees. He’s pushing for some much-needed workers’ compensation changes. He backed some major education reforms. And he scolded his members this week for sponsoring bills which spend money the state simply doesn’t have.
Not to mention that the South Side Irish Catholic helped pass a civil unions bill and another measure to abolish the death penalty.
A whole lot of people disagree with much of what he’s accomplished. But my mantra for the last six years has been: “Always bet on nothing getting done at the Statehouse.”
I based that on Madigan’s refusal to really do much of anything. That’s obviously no longer true.
For now, at least, it looks like he’ll probably avoid Daley’s fate and go out on his own terms, whenever that may be.
* Other stuff…
* A very West Loop inauguration: I later joked that the Speaker often appears so intense that he might actually have the power to steal peoples’ souls.
(T)he poll showed Braun’s support among black voters cut nearly in half since last month — from 39 percent to 20 percent. […]
At the same time, twice as many voters — 44 percent to 22 percent — now view Braun unfavorably than favorably. Three weeks ago, 39 percent liked Braun, compared with 30 percent who disliked her. Among African-Americans, her unfavorability tally jumped to 30 percent from 11 percent. […]
While Emanuel’s favorability rating of 59 percent remained unchanged from a month ago, his unfavorability rose slightly to 16 percent from 13 percent following Chico’s commercials about Emanuel’s tax plan, which Chico has dubbed the “Rahm Tax.” […]
When asked which candidate would pay most attention to neighborhoods they live in, 37 percent said Emanuel, 19 percent said Chico, 11 percent said Braun and 10 percent said del Valle, who has pushed a similar pro-neighborhoods message.
Chico better go hard, hard negative if he wants to make it into a runoff.
…Adding… Related…
* Braun, Chico blister Rahm at debate: Chico said he was “scared for my children” as they traveled back and fourth to pubic schools, but, he said, “Growing up in our city in the Back of the Yards and living with the threat of violence even in my own neighborhood stays with you. There are people like Mr. Emanuel, who grew up in the wealthy North Shore and probably never experienced that.”
* Anything Wrong With This Picture? “Correct me if I am wrong, but I did not think that city employees could use city owned property, i.e. a Streets & San truck, in campaign literature?
* Earlier today, I told you that David Hoffman had endorsed Rahm Emanuel. Now comes this e-mail from Forrest Claypool…
Thank you for standing with me this past election in my independent bid for Cook County Assessor. I was humbled to have received such generous support from so many people tired of the status quo.
I want to tell you today about a promising campaign for mayor of Chicago. I’ve known Rahm Emanuel for more than 30 years. We’ve worked together, along with David Axelrod, on campaigns here in Illinois, including Paul Simon and Barack Obama, and I’ve seen first hand his sound judgment, integrity, and commitment to addressing the major challenges of the day. I admire his tenacity and his ability to deliver results to his constituents.
* Meanwhile, if you want to see how Chicago makes it so hard to run a small business, just read this story about a controversial hot dog stand which promotes the fact that it’s staffed by ex-cons. I don’t really care about this particular business. Seems like a bizarre advertising gimmick if you ask me. But, whatever, the case, check this out…
So far, [Ald. Robert Fioretti] hasn’t let Andrews have a permit for a sign to hang outside. A sign frame swings empty over the hot dog stand. […]
A spokesman for Fioretti says he is still waiting for three city departments to weigh in regarding the sign.
Think about that for a second. Not only does the alderman have to approve your sign, but so do three city departments (if, I assume, the alderman wants to slow-walk something).
* After House Speaker Michael Madigan said this week that he wanted to start looking at legislation to reduce pension benefits, Senate President John Cullerton told reporters that he opposed the idea…
Illinois Senate President John Cullerton on Wednesday tossed cold water on the idea of reducing future pension benefits for current state workers, but House Speaker Michael Madigan appeared to forge ahead anyway.
“We’ve asked our staff to do research on it,” Cullerton, D-Chicago, said in an interview. “I’m pretty clear that it would be unconstitutional.”
However, Cullerton left open the possibility of the Senate considering a bill that comes over from the House.
“We’re not going to initiate a bill in the Senate,” he said. “I’d vote against the bill in the Senate. If the House passes a bill and the speaker wants it to be called … we’ll certainly talk.”
Perhaps a more difficult question is whether it is fair. From a state employee’s standpoint, absolutely not. The employees have held up their end of the deal all along. The underfunding has come from the state skipping payments into the system.
From a private sector standpoint, however, it’s hard to argue fairness. Employees in the private sector have seen defined-benefit pensions end and employer matches of their 401(k) contributions discontinued. They’ve suffered under an economy that was nearly killed — through no fault of their own — by careless Wall Street daredevils who, by and large, have gone unpunished.
After failing to confirm top gubernatorial appointees in the previous legislative session, lawmakers are now looking to tighten Senate rules to prevent a string of government employees from working without proper authorization.
A Senate panel on Wednesday approved Senate Bill 1, which bars future holdover appointees and acting appointees from serving without confirmation after 30 days. Temporary appointees will be allowed to serve until the next meeting of the Senate.
Holdover appointees are those who have finished their term, but continue to serve until someone new has been nominated.
The bill passed the Senate this morning on a unanimous roll call.
Advance Illinois executive director Robin Steans said progress is being made in some areas.
“There’s been a high level of agreement that it is time for performance to play a role (in staffing),” Steans said. “The devil is very much in the details. Are they going to do that in a way that’s really serious and meaningful, or is it more of a fig leaf? That’s what the negotiations are about now.”
Lightford said talks are focusing on how to bring performance evaluations into staffing matters rather than rely solely on seniority.
“I think we should look at it this way: Seniority should count, but to what degree? What part does performance count?” she said.
Couple that with issues about who should conduct performance evaluations — a school principal or a panel of the teacher’s peers.
“There’s a lot of moving parts to it,” Lightford said. “We’re trying to set up a system where personnel evaluations are impactful, they matter. Just because you’ve been a teacher for 10, 15, 20 years doesn’t mean you are OK if your performance in a lot of other areas is not up to par.”
* Senate President Cullerton talked with reporters about several of the above issues yesterday. Listen…
* Ronald Reagan’s 100th birthday was last weekend. Illinois doesn’t do a whole lot to promote his Illinois ties. We have a tollway named after him. And there are some sites in Tampico and Dixon, plus a Ronald Reagan Trail.
* The Question: Should Illinois do more to promote Reagan’s Illinois roots? And if so, what? If not, why?
…Adding… The Senate began debating a resolution commemorating Reagan today at 10:11 am. Watch or listen here.
* David Hoffman had almost a cult following among reformers during his primary race against Alexi Giannoulias. So, I’m assuming the heads of many of those same reform-minded types are exploding right about now…
David Hoffman, who often infuriated retiring Mayor Richard M. Daley as City Hall’s inspector general, said Thursday that he endorsed Rahm Emanuel to succeed Daley. […]
“He has the potential to be quite independent of the political power structure, perhaps more so than some of the other candidates,” Hoffman told the Chicago News Cooperative on Thursday. “He is very smart. I think he has great potential.”
She is the black candidate, but she is not the best candidate.
Her campaign has not gotten off the ground. There simply is no buzz. Black women have come together to provide voice and reason to her candidacy, but she has failed to promote a positive message, or present her solutions to the city’s problems
Oof.
* As well all know by now, Emanuel has taken a lot of heat for his service tax proposal. He’s attempting to turn the issue to his favor with a new mailer…
The campaign flyer features a Photoshopped image of rival Gery Chico in front of a limousine. The mailer takes Chico to task for criticizing Emanuel’s sales tax plan.
“Gery Chico wants you to pay more and let the rich to pay nothing,” the flyer being mailed out to Chicago voters says.
Chico hasn’t proposed hiking any taxes, but he does oppose Emanuel’s plan which would lower the overall sales tax rate by a quarter point by imposing a new service tax on “luxury” items for the “rich.” So, by Emanuel’s logic, Chico favors the wealthy and is against the hard-working middle class. Mailers can be so fun, can’t they?
* All six mayoral candidates debated for the first time yesterday. I didn’t watch it because I was otherwise occupied. Apparently, there wasn’t much substance because the focus of most of the stories was over the fantasy issue of slave reparations…
With less than two weeks to go before Election Day, the candidates for Chicago mayor veered Wednesday from debating city issues to talking about whether they support reparations for descendants of slaves.
They all supported the notion of reparations but had different ideas about what reparations were, gave no details about who would pay them or where the money might come from at the forum sponsored by the Chicago Defender, the city’s historic black newspaper.
They might as well have discussed whether unicorns existed. This, apparently, was not a major topic of debate…
The City of Chicago and related local governments like the Chicago Park District collectively under-funded their worker pension plans by $5.1 billion in the past decade, according to a new report by the Civic Federation.
As a result, the retirement plans now have as little as 36.5% of the assets needed to pay promised benefits, the taxpayer watchdog group says.
Oy.
* And the Tribune has a new poll out which shows Chicagoans thought the city’s response to last week’s blizzard was OK by them…
Nearly three-quarters of the Chicagoans surveyed — 73 percent — gave the city an overall passing grade for how it handled the storm.
In fact, when it came to the storm’s most conspicuous consequence — the hundreds of vehicles snowbound along Lake Shore Drive — respondents were more likely to blame the stranded drivers than the city.
Overall, Chicagoans said they were satisfied with how the city removed snow from their neighborhoods, with 59 percent saying it was cleared as well as could be expected, compared to 38 percent saying it wasn’t up to par. North Siders believed the city did a better job clearing their neighborhood streets than did South Siders.
African-American residents were the most critical of snow removal in their neighborhoods, with those in areas that had a majority of black residents saying snow removal was not as good as they expected.
* Mayoral debate gets heated when slave reparations come up
* New police superintendent, more cops on street at top of new Chicago mayor’s crime list - All 4 top contenders say they won’t renew Jody Weis’ contract
* New report details scope of public pension shortfalls - Deficit now equal to more than $11,000 per Chicago resident
* I have no doubt that eventually Indiana, Wisconsin, New Jersey or some other state will lure away a large Illinois business. Some states are putting on a full-court press, so I just can’t see how Illinois can convince all of those companies to stay put. But, I suppose we can savor the occasional victory while we can, if it is indeed a victory…
Under siege by New Jersey’s attempts to lure businesses from Illinois and bruised by the Chicago Bears’ loss to the Green Bay Packers, Gov. Pat Quinn went on the offensive and reeled in a maker of high-speed passenger trains that had set up shop in Wisconsin, U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said Wednesday.
“The governor (of Illinois) just was able to attract Talgo, which is a train manufacturing company from Wisconsin, to come to Illinois to manufacture train sets, which is quite a coup,” LaHood said in Washington.
Asked for details, federal and state officials hedged their answers while not quite retracting what LaHood said.
“There is no agreement, to our knowledge,'’ said a U.S. Department of Transportation spokesman, speaking on condition of anonymity. “To the best of our knowledge, they are still working on it.'’
* Wisconsin has a tiny wind power base, so even if we do take one of these away, it probably won’t be huge…
Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker’s revival of the state’s former “Escape to Wisconsin” slogan to invite businesses to escape rising taxes in Illinois has led to some blowback from south of the border.
In response to Walker’s wind energy regulations proposed Jan. 11, the Illinois Wind Energy Association is inviting wind power developers to “Escape to Illinois.”
Walker’s proposed legislation would require wind turbines to be constructed with a 1,800-foot setback from neighboring property lines, a mandate IWEA’s executive director Kevin Borgia said “would effectively ban wind development from the Badger State,” in a press release.
Kmart is among seven companies that have warned the state this month that they are planning closings or mass layoffs. Kmarts in Franklin Park, Ill., and Washington, Ill., will close, the company said, putting 144 employees out of work.
The Illinois Department of Commerce and Opportunity requires employers to provide 60 days notice of plant closures or mass layoffs. The law applies to businesses with 75 or more full-time workers.
Gold Standard Baking, Inc. will close a commercial bakery at 250 N. Washtenaw Ave. in Chicago, cutting 73 jobs by the end of March. 67 workers are expected to be laid off by the end of February at Itasca-based C. D. Listening Bar Inc., which sells DVDs, CDs, books and video games online at DeepDiscount.com.
AGI North America, LLC, a paperboard box manufacturing company in Jacksonville, is closing at the end of March, putting 70 employees out of work. Gray Interplant Systems, Inc. – a warehousing and storage company in Peoria and Mossville – is planning mass layoffs for the first two weeks in April, affecting 167 workers. And Doumak, which manufactures chocolate confectionaries in Bensenville, is planning temporary layoffs affecting 60 workers while new equipment is installed at the facility in March.
Gov. Quinn is right to boast about the numbers of jobs created here in the past couple of years. But he rarely talks about the mind-boggling number of jobs lost here since the start of the recession.
* Related…
* Daley, airline chiefs fail to agree on O’Hare - High-level Washington meeting ends without a deal
* Daley to return to China: A mayoral spokesperson says Daley will meet with business leaders interested in making public and private investments in Chicago. He also hopes to help local companies interested in the fast growing Chinese marketplace. This would be Daley’s fifth trip to China in recent years.
* Casinos might appeal cash-sharing case to Supreme Court
* Press Release: Governor Quinn Announces Manufacturing Company to Expand in Illinois - State Incentive Package Allows Elmhurst-Based The Chamberlain Group to Create Up to 100 New Jobs
Over the years, the Jesse White Tumblers have trained 13,000 young athletes and, according to White, “Only 105 of them have gotten into trouble with the law.” Tumblers who go on to college get $2,500-to-$25,000 grants to help defray the cost of tuition.
Pretty darned amazing when you think about it. Actually, you don’t even need to think about it. It’s an astounding record.
The Illinois General Assembly was sworn in less than a month ago but, as of Tuesday morning, 150 bills have been introduced in the Senate and a whopping 1,151 bills have been introduced in the House.
Almost none of them have anything to do with the subject that on which state should be focusing — cutting costs.
*** UPDATE *** Well, here’s one. From a press release…
State Senator Dan Kotowski (D-Park Ridge) is sponsoring legislation that will cut the Senate Democratic Caucus spending by 5 percent.
The state spends about $473 million a year on health care for retired state employees, [Department of Healthcare and Family Services Director Julie Hamos] said. Very few of them pay any share of that cost, according to Hamos.
About 84,000 retirees enjoy the benefit, including all retired judges and legislators, plus all state workers who retired before Jan. 1, 1998, and those who retired after Jan. 1, 1998, with 20 or more years of service.
Only 6,900 of the 84,000 people in the system pay a premium, according to Julie Hamos, director of the Illinois Department of Healthcare and Family Services. Contributions from those retirees brought in $11.9 million for fiscal year 2010 — well short of the $473 million in costs Hamos said the state encountered that year.
However, there are factors contributing to the disparity between contributions and costs beyond the relatively small number of people paying into the system.
For example, the state currently makes up the approximately $550 per retiree difference for those retirees not eligible for Medicare. Also, dependents of retirees paid only $40 million of the $150 million it cost to insure them in FY10.
State Comptroller Judy Baar Topinka will be getting a taste of her own medicine, so to speak, on Monday.
Almost 25 years after her legislation eliminating lawmakers and others from jury duty exemptions was passed, Topinka has been called to serve on Monday, Feb. 14 at the Markham Courthouse in South suburban Cook County.
* I’ve been wondering lately how I could better integrate social media into this site. My business model strongly discourages any off-site stuff. But seeing these numbers prompts me to ask you for some ideas…
Touting the auto as the ultimate mobile device, Ford marketing chief Jim Farley outlined the automaker’s social media strategy to open the media preview of the 2011 Chicago Auto Show on Wednesday.
“With 500 million people on Facebook, we can reach more potential customers in a more personal way,” Farley said of the company’s continued move to new media. Its latest efforts are centered on the Focus, which arrives at dealerships next month, and the Chicago-built Explorer.
Three metro-east lawmakers sponsored a bill Wednesday in the Illinois House directing the auditor general to investigate hundreds of workers’ compensation claims by employees at the Menard Correctional Center, as well as claims filed by state arbitrators.
House [Resolution] 52 was introduced by state Reps. Tom Holbrook, D-Belleville; Dwight Kay, R-Glen Carbon; Dan Reitz, D-Steeleville, and others.
“We need an independent auditor to look at these things to restore confidence in the system,” Holbrook said.
The action came after the Belleville News-Democrat reported Tuesday that an arbitrator for the Illinois Workers’ Compensation Commission, Jennifer Teague, of Shiloh, attempted to keep secret a public hearing for former Illinois State Trooper Matt Mitchell, who filed a workers’ comp claim for injuries he received in a high-speed head-on collision that killed two Collinsville sisters in 2007.
The attorney for the family of Kelli and Jessica Uhl, says they are ‘outraged’ by allegations that the arbitrator in former State Trooper Matt Mitchell’s workers’ compensation case tried to hold his hearing “on the sly with no press.”
Tom Keefe says the report in the Belleville News Democrat, that arbitrator Jennifer Teague changed the date, time and place of the hearing without notification, is like salt in the family’s wounds, “This just seems like a nightmare and they just can’t wake up from it. They have been consistently betrayed by people who have sworn oaths to protect them.”
Combine this crazy case with the fact that so many arbitrators have filed their own workers’ comp claims, and you’ve got a situation where too many of these arbitrators appear to be in the tank with the plaintiffs bar.
* And here’s a Belleville News-Democrat story I missed. A single workers’ comp hearing site in the tiny southern Illinois town of Whittington had 312 WC cases involving state workers on its January docket. That’s one out of every four of the site’s 1,310 cases. The BN-D compared that to other hearing sites…
By comparison, the Springfield hearing office, located in an urban area where more than 17,400 state workers are employed, listed 207 cases for January that involve state workers, or about one in five of 967 cases. Most of these employees say they were injured mainly by slipping and falling, over exertion, backs sprains and leg injuries.
In Chicago where 15 state arbitrators are assigned to separate hearing rooms in a single office building, a total of 5,037 cases were docketed for January. These cases involved four arbitrators but only 81 cases involved state workers, or about 2 percent.
At two hearing sites in Joliet where 2,574 cases were scheduled for January, 85 involved state workers or about 3 percent. Joliet is located relatively close to two large, maximum security state prisons, the Stateville and Pontiac correctional centers, where more than 1,200 state workers are employed.
A computer printout obtained by the News-Democrat through the Illinois Workers’ Compensation Commission showed that since Jan. 1, 2008, the combined repetitive trauma injury settlements to workers at these prisons totaled just 18 settled claims, a fraction of the total at Menard. The data showed that repetitive trauma settlements were made to four Stateville prison workers and to 14 at Pontiac.
In the past three years, $30.6 million was awarded to about 725 state employees in settlements who filed workmen’s compensation claims for repetitive trauma injuries caused by typing or unlocking prison cells.
An additional $4.3 million was paid to all state claimants who missed work while recuperating from doctor-ordered time off or corrective surgery for carpal tunnel syndrome.
And about one in three of these taxpayer dollars went directly to guards and other employees at the Menard Correctional Center in Chester, according to a News-Democrat investigation.
