Quinn has $3 million cash on hand
Monday, Oct 7, 2013 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Greg Hinz…
Even as his sole Democratic primary foe, Bill Daley, was preparing to withdraw from the race, Mr. Quinn kept up some very solid fundraising in the quarter that ended Sept. 30, pulling in “just over $812,000,” according to his campaign spokeswoman. And since neither Mr. Daley nor any other major contender is known to be circulating nominating petitions, it looks like Mr. Quinn will be able to stash every penny in the bank for the November 2014 challenge from the GOP nominee.
The bottom line: The Democratic incumbent, who was considered in deep political trouble just a few months ago, has $3 million on hand in his political account, according to his campaign. And unless something unusual occurs — like an unexpected challenge from another Democrat — that figure only should grow in months to come.
…Adding… For context, I searched the State Board of Elections website and found that Quinn raised just under $560,000 in the same quarter four years ago.
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Schilling is in, and other stuff
Monday, Oct 7, 2013 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Bobby Schilling is running again and he appears tea partier than ever, perhaps because he was repeatedly slammed for becoming “too DC” in the last election. His new campaign slogan: “Bring Bobby Back”…
The former Congressman said we were defeated by 7% due to redistricting. “We need to do a better job of getting people out to vote,” Schilling said. “I’m the pizza guy and a dad. It’s not fun being in Congress, but I only have to look into the eyes of my kids and look at all the liberals ruining our country and it’s pretty easy to step into the race again.”
“We have to engage this country. People have destroyed this state and I am not going to sit down and watch this happen!”
Schilling said people are escaping to Iowa. Paul Ryan called him to encourage him to run saying Obama has big issues including the national debt, but that or fixing the economy is not his priority. His number one priority is taking back the House in the next election.
Ryan told Schilling, “By the time he is through, you will not be ale to recognize this country.” Schilling said Americans have to get engaged and help get America back on track.
Considering how poorly the article was written, I’m not sure that Schilling’s priority is actually “taking back the House,” since the House remains in GOP hands.
* Off topic, but I’ve been saving this story for a few days and this seems like the right time to post it…
Lt. Governor Sheila Simon is out trying to make sure today’s students will have a better understand of mathematics with the new integrated math curriculum. Simon and the Illinois State Board of Education released the state’s first sixth- through twelfth-grade math curriculum in May and urged middle and high schools state wide to implement the new courses this fall.
Simon visited Pinck-neyville High School Thursday morning, which is one of the Illinois schools which have adopted the program.
Simon says the program is about the student’s future and helping have the tools to compete for college and beyond. […]
The program is outlined to include all facets of mathematics. The students would not take algebra one year and the geometry the next; instead the, the different mathematics are integrated.
Apparently, The Southern has no editors. They’re obviously cutting back at the paper because they’re using a “news service” that appears to be sponsored by the Illinois Policy Institute for numerous front page stories, including…
* Wealthy move money to avoid estate tax
* Obamacare program raises ID theft risk
* Legislative leaders often fly on state airplanes
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*** UPDATED x1 *** Question of the day
Monday, Oct 7, 2013 - Posted by Rich Miller
* The House Majority PAC has been running a version of this “crybaby” TV ad against other Republican incumbents, but it’s now targeting Rodney Davis…
* From the House Majority PAC…
House Majority PAC announced today that it would expand its television advertising campaign to include Rep. Rodney Davis due to Davis’s support for a government shutdown and the reckless games he’s playing with the economy.
House Majority PAC will begin airing today “No More Tantrums” today in Champaign.
The spot condemns Rodney Davis for throwing a temper tantrum after not getting his way, shutting down the government, and playing dangerous games with the economy. It ends with a call for Davis to end his wrongheaded approach.
* The Question: On a scale of 1-5, with 5 being most effective, how would you rate this TV ad? Take the poll and then explain your answer in comments, please.
web polls
*** UPDATE *** Sun-Times…
Davis spokesman Andrew Flach dismissed the ad as politics.
“While the Democrats resort to playing political games, the House will continue passing legislation to fund federal government operations and bring an end to the shutdown,” Flach said.
“Our hope is that the president and the Senate will stop trying to score political points and come to the table to negotiate a commonsense solution to our nation’s fiscal crisis.”
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Two regions, two messages
Monday, Oct 7, 2013 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Gov. Pat Quinn addressed the Illinois Environmental Council in Chicago late last month. From the IEC’s Facebook page…
The Governor spoke about new green water infrastructure efforts, recreation liability, and all the green work that the state is doing under his leadership.
* A tweet from an attendee…
* But the speech angered Will Reynolds, who pointed out that Quinn talks up green advances in the Chicago area, but just the opposite in southern Illinois….
Environmentalists celebrated when Quinn vetoed a bill to provide rate increases for a coal-to-gas plant Leucadia Corp proposed in a heavily polluted area of southeastern Chicago.
But for southern Illinois, Quinn signed a bill to subsidize a similar coal-to-gas plant proposed near Mt. Vernon. When signing the bill Quinn claimed, “This important project will help revive the coal industry in southern Illinois.” The project eventually failed after plunging natural gas prices made it difficult for the company to find investors. […]
At an event in Springfield, not long after becoming Governor, Quinn encouragingly called climate change the great challenge of our time.
Yet, earlier this year, Quinn bragged about setting a record for coal exports that made Illinois the fifth highest coal producing state. The release from Quinn’s office highlights efforts by his administration to build more coal export infrastructure and promote coal in foreign markets including, “supporting trade missions to the markets which represent the best prospects for Illinois coal, and potentially encouraging foreign investment in Illinois coal properties.” That will often mean nations with weak or non-existent pollution standards.
The Governor signed several bills to boost coal mining, including one to allow a surface mining operation in a state park, and another to ease the permitting process for strip mines. No, that’s not a joke. He actually leased 160 acres of a state park in southern Illinois for a strip mine. […]
A recent report on green job growth included a graphic showing that all clean energy jobs created so far this year were in the northern half of the state. That didn’t happen by accident. Illinois’ economic development agency, DCEO, does good work promoting clean energy jobs in some areas. But, their agenda in southern Illinois is dominated by the Office of Coal Development (OCD).
* Here’s that graphic mentioned above…
* None of this is new. Illinois politicians have talked up coal in southern Illinois and the environment in the Chicago media market for as long as I can remember. Quinn may have elevated it to an art form, however.
Discuss.
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More on ADM
Monday, Oct 7, 2013 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Phil Rosenthal has the best reality check column on ADM that I’ve yet seen…
Yep. A company with a $24 billion market cap is haggling over a $24 million, 20-year incentive from a state that’s teetering on the edge of insolvency. Then again, that’s how she got rich, dearie.
“ADM has been minding its pennies and nickels and dimes over the years in order to make sure we remain competitive, because in the commodity business, it is extremely, extremely competitive,” Ray Young, the former General Motors exec who has been ADM’s chief financial officer since 2011, told state legislators at a hearing in Chicago last week. “We’re talking about pennies and nickels per bushel in terms of being able to make money or lose money. So from our perspective we need to be competitive in every aspect of our business.
We’re talking about a company that had 2012 net income of $1.2 billion on sales/revenue of $88.92 billion. That’s a super-thin 1.3 percent. Then again, the net profit is a thousand times higher than one year of the proposed state tax break.
* More…
“It is essentially blackmailing the state,” Currie said. “It essentially is saying if you don’t jump to, if you don’t go do this for us, we might think about going somewhere else.”
Actually, that threat comes from the EDGE requirements themselves, which force companies seeking that particular tax credit to actively consider locating the new jobs in another state. It is the equivalent of a sign around your neck telling passersby you will only give them money if they put a gun to your head. It does tend to encourage such behavior.
Yep. But it can also be a decent tool to help companies expand. Ford is a prime example of that.
* More…
The numbers tossed around concerning Archer Daniels Midland’s relocation of its headquarters to Chicago have Decatur keeping 4,400 of the 4,500 ADM jobs it now has, with 100 moving to Chicago or wherever the new headquarters ends up and another 100 new jobs to staff the proposed accompanying tech center.
But ADM had 4,800 workers based in Decatur at the end of 2011, before the head count was reduced through a combination of retirements and layoffs. Across the state of Illinois, the number of ADM workers went from 6,400 then to a little more than 6,000 today.
The trend is most definitely not our friend.
* A bit of history from the Decatur paper…
It does seem unsettling, at first glance, that any company wants incentives to move jobs from one community in the state to another. However, Illinois would be the loser if ADM were to relocate its world headquarters to another state.
And the politicians complaining about ADM’s request really have no one but themselves to blame. The state gave massive tax incentives to Boeing to lure their world headquarters to Chicago, a move that created, at most, 500 jobs. The state also gave incentives to Tate & Lyle to keep executive jobs in the state. Those jobs were moved from Decatur to Hoffman Estates. The state also has awarded incentives to other major corporations to stay. ADM is merely following the trail others have paved.
Past incentives don’t excuse this one, but why single out ADM when other companies have been at the state trough much longer?
* On the other hand…
• In the fiscal year ended June 30, 2012, ADM gave a total compensation package to CEO Patricia Woertz worth $9.4 million — nearly eight times the size of the annual tax break it is seeking.
• In February, ADM’s board voted to increase the company’s dividend payout to shareholders by 8.6 percent to 19 cents per share. On an annual basis, that would equal about $500 million.
• ADM’s bottom line has remained in the black even though over the last decade it paid more than $500 million in fines and legal settlements in a price fixing scandal that sent three top executives to prison. One of them was a key government whistle-blower in the case whose bizarre exploits were chronicled in a best-selling book, “The Informant,” and a hit Hollywood movie by the same name starring Matt Damon.
* Even so, some Republican gubernatorial candidates have offered support. Bill Brady…
“We have to face reality. We can’t be populist in this. The reality is because the governor has raised taxes so high, there are other alternatives (for ADM to relocate) out there,” Brady said in an interview on WGN-AM 720.
Quinn also vetoed lawmakers’ paychecks pending a plan to deal with the unfunded pension liability. A Cook County judge ruled the governor’s action unconstitutional, a decision Quinn has asked the Illinois Supreme Court to review.
“You don’t tie ADM to another issue that the governor’s failed on,” Brady said of the pension issue. “We need a governor who will move away from the populist point of view and do the right thing in each instance.”
Actually, the tax rate doesn’t really have much of any impact on ADM here. As I’ve pointed out time and time again, ADM pays little to no state income tax.
* Kirk Dillard…
“The workers compensation costs for ADM or Caterpillar or Illinois companies is 3, 4, 5 times higher than it is in surrounding states,” Dillard said. […]
“The governor has been the governor for five years. He’s had a legislature that’s completely controlled by his political party. Pension reform should have been done a long time ago,” Dillard said.
“The governor is pretty good at playing the hostage game these days,” Dillard said, referring to his failed attempt to withhold lawmakers pay until they passed a pension bill.
* Dillard’s running mate Jil Tracy is also on board…
When asked about the possibility of Archer Daniels Midland Co. receiving tax credits to move its global headquarters from Decatur to Chicago, Tracy said if ADM qualifies for the tax breaks then there’s no reason to oppose it.
“I think it’s important to listen and see if help is needed,” she said. “We have to be engaged, especially if other states are offering tax breaks.”
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* State Rep. Naomi Jakobsson (D-Urbana) explains her ideas for a progressive income tax…
While the [Illinois Policy Institute] has been saying that a progressive income tax “would increase the tax rate on 85 percent of Illinois taxpayers,” Jakobsson said her plan would mean lower income tax bills for 83 percent of Illinoisans.
“The ‘tipping point’ at which the rate would go over the present 5 percent would be at $106,000 per year,” Jakobsson said in the news release. “At the high end the rate would rise to 7.2 percent for a family earning $500,000 per year and continue to 8.5 percent for a family earning $2 million per year.”
Her tax schedule also would yield about 15 percent more revenue for the state, which Jakobsson has said could go to education and social services that have been cut in recent years.
Those rates wouldn’t be in the actual constitutional amendment, however. Legislators would be free to raise and lower the amounts.
* And I still believe that there’s very little chance that sponsors can get three-fifths in both legislative chambers to put this on the ballot. The Republicans in both chambers are adamantly against it.
And then there’s HR 241, sponsored by Rep. David McSweeney. The proposal states the belief that the Constitution shouldn’t be amended to permit a graduated income tax.
Rep. McSweeney’s resolution has 47 co-sponsors, meaning the other side will have to get everybody to vote for the proposal who hasn’t already signed on to the McSweeney measure. And while Senate President John Cullerton likes the idea, House Speaker Michael Madigan has been cool to it.
I’m just not seeing it yet.
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Durkin goes neutral in governor’s race
Monday, Oct 7, 2013 - Posted by Rich Miller
* House Republican Leader Jim Durkin told Bernie that he’s switching to neutral in the governor’s race…
He said he’s been for state Sen. Kirk Dillard, R-Hinsdale, for governor in the past, but got the message as he took on his new leadership role that different members of his caucus support all four Republican nominees for governor, so “I’m going to keep my nose out of that.” […]
“This is going to be a very interesting cycle,” Durkin said. “And we’re going to rely upon hard work, aggressive fundraising, good candidates, and each party’s going to need a little luck, also. So, anyone can win.
“Governor Quinn showed he could win four years ago,” Durkin said. “Never underestimate the incumbent. But we’ve got four fine men who are running in the primary, and whoever is successful… we’re planning to partner up with and get them across the finish line.”
* Durkin told the Kankakee Daily Journal pretty much the same thing…
Kirk Dillard has been a friend and a great leader for years, but I told him that the House leader has to be neutral. I’m not going to stick my nose in the governor’s race. I do have a good vibe about Republican chances.
My hope is that we’re unified behind any nominee — Kirk Dillard, Dan Rutherford, Bill Brady or Bruce Rauner.
My job is to be a voice for this caucus (of Republicans). We want to emerge without scars and without bad feelings.
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Shutdown politics
Monday, Oct 7, 2013 - Posted by Rich Miller
* An October 2-3 survey of 685 IL-13 voters by Public Policy Polling shows that freshman Republican Congressman Rodney Davis could be hurt by the government shutdown…
Q1 Do you approve or disapprove of the job Representative Rodney Davis is doing in Congress?
Approve …………………………………………………. 32%
Disapprove……………………………………………… 41%
Not sure …………………………………………………. 26%
Q2 If the election for Congress were held today, would you vote to re-elect Republican Rodney Davis, or would you vote for his Democratic opponent?
Rodney Davis …………………………………………. 43%
Democratic opponent……………………………….. 44%
Not sure …………………………………………………. 13%
Q3 Do you have a favorable or unfavorable opinion of the Tea Party?
Favorable……………………………………………….. 38%
Unfavorable ……………………………………………. 49%
Not sure …………………………………………………. 13%
Q4 Do you support or oppose Congress shutting down major activities of the federal government as a way to stop the health care law from being put into place?
Support ………………………………………………….. 34%
Oppose ………………………………………………….. 59%
Not sure …………………………………………………. 7%
Q5 Do you support or oppose Congress holding back on increasing the nation’s borrowing limit, which could result in a default, as a way to stop the health care law from being put into place?
Support ………………………………………………….. 35%
Oppose ………………………………………………….. 52%
Not sure …………………………………………………. 13%
Q6 Would you be less likely or more likely to support Congressman Davis if you knew he voted to support shutting down major activities of the federal government as a way to stop the health care law from being put into place, or does it not make a difference?
Less likely ………………………………………………. 48%
More likely………………………………………………. 33%
No difference ………………………………………….. 15%
Not sure …………………………………………………. 4%
Q7 Now that you know Congressman Davis supported the government shutdown, I’ll ask you one more time: If the election for Congress were held today, would you vote for re-elect Republican Rodney Davis, or would you vote for his Democratic opponent?
Rodney Davis …………………………………………. 42%
Democratic opponent……………………………….. 47%
Not sure …………………………………………………. 11%
Crosstabs are here.
Obviously, the election is still far away, and this generic Democratic matchup doesn’t take into consideration any weaknesses his general election opponent would have, but it does show some real signs of weakness. It also indicates that a GOP candidate further to his right would likely have a tough time next fall.
* Meanwhile, from the AP…
A southwestern Illinois congressman who is seeking re-election says he had no choice but to be the only U.S. House member to vote against a resolution allowing military chaplains to still perform their duties during the federal government’s shutdown.
Belleville Democrat Bill Enyart was the lone “no” vote of 401 that were cast in the House on the weekend resolution relating to military chaplains who’ve been furloughed since the shutdown began. […]
Enyart calls Saturday’s action “phony” and says it “didn’t do anything.”
* From WSIL TV…
The legislation passed almost unanimously in a vote of 400 to one, leaving Congressman Bill Enyart the odd man out.
“Shocked and upset,” says Illinois Representative Mike Bost.
A candidate for Enyart’s congressional seat, Bost says he’s disappointed by Enyart’s decision, especially since the U.S. House Speaker even asked him to reconsider.
“He was one, the only one, the only one in the United States,” says Bost. “Either that’s not understanding the job or being totally out of touch with your constituents.” […]
“It is phony,” [Enyart] says. “It is designed to do nothing but make these people feel good and to give them a political point that they’re doing something. They didn’t do anything.”
A retired two-star general, Enyart insists he’s more concerned about putting the government back to work.
“You can pray anywhere,” he says. “You can’t just dump your kid anywhere; you can’t just not go to the commissaries to buy groceries to feed your family.”
* In related news…
Most of the roughly 3,500 civilian employees who were furloughed last week at a southwestern Illinois air base as part of the federal government shutdown are headed back to work.
Scott Air Force Base spokeswoman Karen Petitt says the affected workers were notified Sunday that they should be back on the job Monday.
That came after Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel ordered 350,000 furloughed military personnel back on the job.
Take a deep breath before you comment, folks. Thanks.
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The hostage schtick
Monday, Oct 7, 2013 - Posted by Rich Miller
* My weekly syndicated newspaper column…
Gov. Pat Quinn refused to say for several days whether he’d support a $1.2 million a year tax break for Archer Daniels Midland to move 100 jobs out of Decatur and open up a world headquarters and new tech center in Chicago. But last week he made it clear that without pension reform, the ADM proposal would be a nonstarter and he would veto it.
“He won’t even consider the ADM bill much less get on board when pension reform has not been done,” said a Quinn spokesperson told me.
“The best way to help jobs in Illinois is to do pension reform,” Quinn himself told the Associated Press. “To distract legislators in any way from this issue of a lifetime is just plain wrong.”
Quinn didn’t say, probably because he wasn’t asked, whether he thought a vote on gay marriage during the upcoming fall veto session would also “distract legislators.” But a spokesperson later explained that pension reform was vital to the state’s economic interests, and gay marriage, while important, was not driving the state’s fiscal crisis.
And so the governor has seized yet another political hostage in his quest to ease Illinois’ enormous budget problems by reducing pension benefits for public employees and retirees.
Gaming expansion, including a new Chicago casino that Mayor Rahm Emanuel is practically slobbering over, was put on hold last spring because the governor threatened to veto it until pension reform was approved.
Then came his veto of state legislative salaries, which was recently struck down as unconstitutional by a Cook County judge. Quinn said he vetoed the salaries out of the state budget to prod legislators into passing a pension reform bill. It didn’t work. If coming up with a pension reform plan was that easy, it would’ve been accomplished long ago. Quinn is currently attempting to appeal the judge’s ruling directly to the Illinois Supreme Court.
And now comes ADM, one of the oldest companies in Illinois and one of the largest companies in the nation.
Quinn suggested to reporters last week that the company ought to help lobby for pension reform if it wanted its tax break.
Politically speaking, these are all no-brainers. Polls have shown that Illinoisans aren’t in love with the idea of more casinos. So, holding up gaming expansion has few political risks.
The General Assembly’s job approval rating is below Quinn’s, and that’s saying something because Quinn is one of the least liked governors in America. Vetoing legislators’ paychecks could rank right up there with the most popular thing Quinn has ever done, whether its constitutional or not.
And Republicans and Democrats alike have long had a strong distaste for “corporate welfare.” It just rubs people the wrong way to provide tax breaks to gigantic, profitable corporations while Illinois government has trouble paying its own bills.
The ADM tax break proposal hasn’t proved to be all that popular so far in the General Assembly, either. A company officer admitted to a House committee last week that it often pays less than $1.2 million a year in corporate income taxes, even though it made $1.2 billion in profits last year and $2 billion the year before. That was a startling admission, and didn’t please the committee’s liberal Democrats.
The subject was broached when some conservatives on the committee said they’d rather lower the corporate income tax rate than give out a special deal for one company. But lowering the tax rate - even eliminating it entirely - wouldn’t do the company any good. It wants that tax break.
However, ADM has hired some influential Statehouse lobbyists close to House Speaker Michael Madigan, Chicago Mayor Emanuel appears fully on board, and word is that an omnibus corporate tax break bill is being prepared. Despite the public resistance by legislators, the national embarrassment of losing ADM’s world headquarters to another state is probably enough to assume that this will eventually get done.
The political hostage phenomenon should be familiar if you watched the shutdown of the federal government over Republican opposition to Obamacare. The difference with Quinn is that the federal shutdown proved to be wildly unpopular with the American public, while the “hostages” Quinn is taking are prized mainly by people within the Illinois Statehouse, not by the public at large.
But, even if you don’t care, I’m here to tell you that this schtick of Quinn’s is really getting old. It’s juvenile when they do it in Washington, DC, and it’s juvenile when our own governor does it.
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Reader comments closed for the weekend
Friday, Oct 4, 2013 - Posted by Rich Miller
* First, a little late-breaking news from CMS regarding the Dependent Eligibility Verification Audit…
IMPORTANT UPDATE: Due to the Federal government shutdown, the deadline for submitting documentation for the State of Illinois Retiree group has been extended to December 6, 2013. There is no need for anyone in this group to request an extension prior to October 25, 2013.
* I love this site’s videos…
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It ain’t all doom and gloom
Friday, Oct 4, 2013 - Posted by Rich Miller
* I need to update my calendar…
* Let’s jump into the spirit of things. From Rep. Tom Demmer’s Facebook page…
The latest innovation from Swenson helps reduce road salt use by controlling the direction of the spreader. Proud to have Swenson and its 120 employees in the 90th District.
Photo…
Cool.
One of his commenters chimed in…
My co. builds the crates to ship these.
Manufacturers create tons of new jobs this way.
* Check this out…
In trying to claw its way back to prosperity, Rockford only recently stumbled upon a hidden hometown gem — a quietly thriving aerospace and aviation industry.
The implication, officials say, is profound: Aviation might just be the key to Rockford’s decades-stalled economic turnaround.
“Who would have thunk?” said Mark Podemski, vice president for development at the Rockford Area Economic Development Council.
Local officials are fond of saying that no airplane being made today flies without a component made in or around Rockford.
Electric power systems for the Boeing 787 Dreamliner? Made by UTC Aerospace in Rockford. Fuel system components on aircraft engines? Made by Woodward Inc. near Rockford. Airplane toilet systems in the newest Boeing 737s? That’s B/E Aerospace in Rockford. Software that allows pilots to access flight documents on an iPad? That’s Comply 365 Solutions near Rockford. Gears on NASA’s Mars Curiosity rover? Made by Forest City Gear Co. near Rockford.
The Rockford region is home to nearly 100 businesses related to aerospace and aviation. Extending the region to Chicago and southern Wisconsin raises the number to more than 200 such businesses.
* Manufacturers rely heavily on trucking companies. Well, we got it covered…
One of the fastest-growing success stories of the last seven years is Chicago-based Coyote Logistics. Founded in 2006 by Jeff Silver, a former executive at Chicago freight brokerage company American Backhaulers, Coyote went from startup to the middle market in record time. In 2012, Crain’s estimated the company’s five-year growth rate to be an outlandish 41,438 percent. Coyote currently sits at No. 26 on Forbes’ list of America’s most promising companies, with annual revenue of nearly $800 million.
That kind of growth would be impressive enough if Coyote were functioning in a young industry with few rivals. That it entered an already established market with plenty of mature competitors makes its success extraordinary.
One of the keys to Coyote’s rise has been its success in fighting “deadheads.”
That doesn’t mean the same thing to people in the trucking business as it does to the rest of us. For truckers, deadhead is slang for an empty backhaul: a truck that heads back to its point of departure without carrying a return cargo load. To a shipping company, a deadhead represents all the cost of a normal haul with none of the income.
* Tech? How about this?…
Google has announced that it is launching a Tech Hub Network in North America, starting with seven locations, one of which is the 1871 co-working center in Chicago.
Excellent.
* Google explains…
Over the past few years, tech hubs have sprung up in cities across the globe, making it possible to start a high-growth company from almost anywhere, not just London or Silicon Valley. Tech hubs help make that happen—providing desks for entrepreneurs who are chasing their dreams, mentorship and educational opportunities for talented developers, and a vibrant community for innovative startups.
* Tech growth is kicking tail…
BuiltinChicago.org, an online site for digital entrepreneurs, posted its new list of the top 100 digital firms (by head count) in Chicago, and said the number of people employed by digital technology-related companies in the city grew by 21 percent in 2013.
That means, according to Built In Chicago, that more than 40,000 people are working in the digital sector in 2013, compared to 33,000 in 2012. Built In Chicago also calculated that more than 1,500 digital technology companies have offices in the city.
* Wow…
The CEC, the non-profit organization committed to supporting, promoting and growing the startup community in Chicago, today announced that Cleversafe was awarded the prestigious 2013 Merrick Momentum Award […]
Cleversafe, the Momentum Award winner, has created a breakthrough technology that solves petabyte and beyond big data storage problems. Their solution drives up to 90 percent of the storage cost out of the business while enabling secure and reliable global access and collaboration. The world’s largest data repositories rely on Cleversafe.
* But not all business is high tech. Let’s turn to southern Illinois…
On September 9th IMA VP & COO Mark Denzler and State Senator Andy Manar (D) Bunker Hill visited GSI’s headquarters in Assumption Il. GSI is the world’s largest manufacturer of galvanized storage bins. They manufacture grain storage and animal feeding systems that are primarily used in the livestock and agriculture industries. GSI employees over 1,400 people in Illinois and sells their products around the world.
* And this private project will create lots of jobs and help the state’s robust wind power industry distribute its product…
State energy regulators have approved a major new Ameren power transmission line that could affect as many as 8,400 landowners, depending on the final route taken across central Illinois.
Members of the Illinois Commerce Commission voted 3-1 Tuesday to approve all but a 30-mile section of the $1 billion Illinois Rivers Project. The 345,000-volt line — transmission lines typically range from 138,000- to 345,000-volt capacity, according to industry data — would run from Quincy to the Indiana border near Terre Haute. Nine substations would be built or expanded, including at Pawnee.
…Adding… One more. From a press release…
GROW-IL (Growing Resources and Opportunity for the Workforce in Illinois) is pleased the Illinois Department of Natural Resources (DNR) has begun the process of registering - and ultimately granting permits - to companies wishing to conduct hydraulic fracturing in Illinois. Under the Hydraulic Fracturing Regulatory Act, the law requires a permit applicant to register with DNR at least 30 days prior to submitting a permit application. Once the registration is accepted, companies will then be able to apply for individual fracturing permits which should occur early next year. Earlier this year, the legislature passed and Governor Quinn signed into law common-sense hydraulic fracturing legislation (SB 1715) regulating the practice in Illinois.
“We are very pleased the Department of Natural Resources is opening up the registration process,” said Mark Denzler, co-chair of GROW-IL and Vice President and COO of the Illinois Manufacturers’ Association. “Our coalition is excited progress is being to realize the tremendous economic benefit of hydraulic fracturing here in Illinois. This law will create thousands of jobs, millions of dollars in revenue while keeping our environment safe.”
“We need to create jobs for working men and women and we’re one step closer in doing that today,” said Michael T. Carrigan, co-chair of GROW-IL and president of the Illinois AFL-CIO. “We’re encouraged with the progress being made by DNR that will result in good paying jobs for working families in Illinois.”
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Freedom to Marry: The Time is Now
Friday, Oct 4, 2013 - Posted by Advertising Department
[The following is a paid advertisement.]
Across Illinois, thousands of loving, committed couples and their families are being denied the freedom to marry. Every day that passes without the freedom to marry, those couples and their families are being harmed. They can be denied the opportunity to take time off of work to care for their ailing spouse; they face losing their home when their spouse dies.
More and more Illinoisans believe that same-sex couples should be able to marry, share a lifetime commitment, and care for their families through the stability of marriage.
Marriage means a lifelong commitment – a lifelong promise. It means shared responsibilities. It means taking care of the one you love. Polls clearly show that the majority of Illinois voters believe same-sex couples should have the freedom to enter into such a commitment. That majority gets bigger every day.
It is time for the Illinois House of Representatives to get on the right side of history and pass SB10. It’s time to stop excluding same-sex couples from marriage. Illinois families can’t wait. The time is now.
For more information, visit IllinoisUnites.org
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Two new PACs of note
Friday, Oct 4, 2013 - Posted by Rich Miller
* From the Windy City Times…
A former marine sergeant who was kicked out of the military for being gay has formed his own political action committee to rally support for the passage of SB10. His group will concentrate mainly on building support in communities of color.
Marquell Smith said that being in the Marines had taught him the importance of sacrifice, and he hoped that his new PAC, Inclusive Community Project ( ICP ), would impart that relevance to members of the public who want to see same-sex marriage brought to Illinois.
At ICP’s inaugural gathering Oct. 3 at the Sheraton hotel & Towers, 301 N. Water St., Smith said that when he was let go from the service under Don’t Ask Don’t Tell, he was offered an honorable discharge only if he promised not to fight the charges. But he refused to keep quiet about them.
The PAC hasn’t yet reported raising any money. It does have a website, however.
* Meanwhile, Paul Caprio of Family PAC has formed a new political action committee called Illinois Families First. It’s only contribution so far is $25,000 from Richard Uihlein.
* A recent backgrounder from Crain’s…
Lake Forest businessman Richard Uihlein doesn’t want government getting its paws on his money. To stop it, he’s giving big chunks of it to conservative Republicans and their tea party allies instead.
In the last two and a half years, the low-profile CEO has outspent Chicago hedge-fund tycoon Kenneth Griffin to become Illinois’ largest GOP donor nationwide, according to Sunlight Foundation, a campaign finance watchdog group in Washington. He has contributed nearly $4 million to national tea party candidates and their super-PAC juggernaut, plus almost $1.8 million to the most conservative candidates and causes in Illinois.
“I’m a conservative Republican, and I’m trying to help people who believe as I do in limited government and free markets,” says Mr. Uihlein, 68. “I’m not one to hide from that.” […]
Mr. Uihlein scoffs at the idea that GOP contributors should support more moderate Republicans who have a greater chance to win, particularly in a Democratic-leaning state such as Illinois. That means “it’s terrible to be principled,” he says. “You’ve got to be principled.” He’s appalled that a conservative could “be labeled an obstructionist because you’ve got principles, for Christ’s sake.”
Like most of the other rich guys in the state, Uihlein is backing Bruce Rauner for governor.
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Question of the day
Friday, Oct 4, 2013 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Like all of you, I get a lot of junk e-mail. One from yesterday made me chuckle…
Caskets factory direct. 200 models HERE in the USA ready to ship
So, I opened it. There was a photo…
A price list was also included. But I’m not gonna reprint it because this is kinda creeping me out all of a sudden.
* The Question: If you could send a spam e-mail to all state legislators, what would it say?
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A vintage Posner take-down
Friday, Oct 4, 2013 - Posted by Rich Miller
* The 7th US Circuit Court of Appeals was not all that kind to the lawyers for Mary Shepherd yesterday. The attorneys are seeking an injunction against state unlawful use of a weapon and aggravated unlawful use of a weapon statutes so that FOID-card holders can begin carrying concealed, loaded firearms immediately while the state implements its regulations of the new state concealed carry law.
Listen to the whole thing. It’s a thorough smack-down by Judge Richard Posner…
* Some Posner quotes, whose main point was that the plaintiffs ought to file a separate lawsuit if they want to compel anything…
* There is nothing in our opinion about how long the state can take to implement whatever new law it adopts.
* The only thing that we did was set a deadline for a new law. We didn’t say anything about a period of implementation.
* There’s no basis for seeking an injunction because they haven’t disobeyed our decision. The basis of your seeking an injunction has to be that they’re not carrying out our decision. But they’re not violating anything in our opinion.
* You want to let people without training to start carrying guns in public. That’s extremely dangerous and there are loads of gun accidents, and the Constitution doesn’t require untrained people being allowed to carry guns in public.
* When the plaintiff’s attorney claimed “We agree that safety is important,” Posner responded…
“No you don’t, because you don’t understand anything about the importance of training for people allowed to carry guns.”
Ouch!
Keep in mind that this is the same Judge Posner who wrote the decision declaring unconstitutional Illinois’ complete ban on concealed carry.
* From a poster on the Illinois Carry bulletin board who was at the hearing…
Posner basically kept asking for a compelling reason of what immediate injunction should be made and why any current complaints should not be handled in a separate lawsuit. Brown v. Board of Education was brought up repeatedly by Posner, wherein a law was found unconstitutional, but implementation of the new law happened at a slower pace. The judges did not seem convinced that the State be required to “immediately come in compliance” with the constitution, and that future complaints should be handled as separate lawsuits, which is apparently similar to what happened in Brown v. Board of Ed.
His logic seems pretty reasonable IMHO, based on my very limited knowledge of how the law should work. They are asking us how they can implement injunctions without creating some pretty sweeping precedents.
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Oh. My. Goodness.
Friday, Oct 4, 2013 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Oy…
When GOP gubernatorial candidate Bill Brady talks about being confident in the numbers, he isn’t talking about his campaign kitty.
Brady insists that polling data has him well ahead in the crowded, four-way race for Illinois governor.
“Our polling data shows that our numbers are strong statewide,” Brady told the Sun-Times on Thursday. “The voters no longer think of me as a regional candidate because of this showing in the last general election.”
Brady said he will close out this period having raised about $75,000 and having more than $275,000 cash on hand. [Emphasis added.]
$75K?
What?
You gotta be freaking kidding me, man.
* I searched the State Board of Elections’ website for Brady’s contributions during the third quarter of 2009 - the same point in the cycle we were at four years ago.
Brady raised over $219,000 back then - about three times more than he raised this past quarter.
* Meanwhile, Bruce Rauner has raised about $3 million since announcing his run and will report about $600K cash on hand…
He’s spent around $2.4 million on TV ads, digital infrastructure, radio ads — as well as tens of thousands of dollars on consulting.
That’s a heckuva burn rate. The question now is if and/or when Rauner will run out of wealthy friends to contribute money and then be forced to bust the contribution cap. Has anyone seen any Rauner TV ads lately?
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Voucher update
Friday, Oct 4, 2013 - Posted by Rich Miller
* From the comptroller’s office…
Our oldest regular vouchers are from 23 August 2013, 24 working days in arrears.
Our oldest medical vouchers are from 6 August 2013, 37 working days in arrears.
It’s important to note that those dates only reflect when the vouchers arrived here - and do not account for the time they were held at the agencies before being submitted to the Comptroller’s Office.
There are also bills still being held at agencies right now that may date back further.
We definitely need some more transparency out of the Quinn administration. Perhaps a law to force him to disclose exactly how he’s “managing” vouchers, or something.
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Through the looking glass?
Friday, Oct 4, 2013 - Posted by Rich Miller
* I haven’t done any polling yet, but this may be smart local politics for a Sangamon County-area candidate…
Republican Illinois House candidate Mike Bell said Thursday he would consider keeping the Illinois income tax at its current level if the extra revenue is used to meet long-term obligations of public pension systems.
“I would look at extending or keeping the tax … that we have now if it would be used for the unfunded liability,” Bell said as he prepared to make his formal announcement entering the 96th House District race. “I would look at it.” […]
“I believe the bond we have with retirees should be kept, and I would not want any reduction for those. … That’s a sacred bond between pensioners, retirees and the government. They trusted the government to have that pension when they retired. Now they’re retired.
“Now future hires … that’s a different story.”
* House GOP Leader Jim Durkin was at the event…
Durkin said of Bell: “He’s a great Republican, great family man, and he also shares my vision for job creation in Illinois.”
* To which David Ormsby responded…
Huh?
Extending the Illinois income tax increase has, uh, rarely been part of the GOP job creation vision.
But, hey, things change.
Bell, vice president of the Edinburg School Board and, more important, an AFSCME member, is looking to challenge Freshman Democrat Sue Scherer of Decatur who is sponsoring legislation to repeal the income tax increase.
Illinois politics have just stepped through the looking glass, Alice.
Yep, and it’s a good thing. People don’t always have to follow a rigid party line. Bell obviously isn’t. Scherer is essentially following staff orders in order to not offend Republicans in her district, which makes her look out of touch with her base. This could be a heck of a race.
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In which I once again agree with the Tribune
Friday, Oct 4, 2013 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Look, I am fully aware that supporting any sort of corporate tax break is definitely not a popular thing to do. But it’s hard to argue with this logic when it comes to ADM’s request…
ADM’s bid is getting a generally cool response from other political leaders … in part because it is not blackmailing the state. They’re reasonably confident ADM won’t move even if they don’t grant its request. […]
If ADM were based in, say, Seattle, and were dangling the prospect of moving its international headquarters to Illinois, you wouldn’t be hearing talk about blackmail. You’d be hearing: What do you want and how fast can you get here?
All true.
* More…
We don’t like the special incentive game that pits states and cities in competition. One estimate a couple of years ago put the nationwide cost of such incentives at $50 billion a year in lost tax revenue. States that win secure work for their citizens, but create tax inequities between employers. States that lose face painful job and tax revenue losses when employers depart.
Illinois should get out of the game … when Texas, Ohio, and the other states that want to poach its jobs get out of the game. […]
Many other factors go into location and expansion decisions for employers big and small. Illinois lawmakers have to get their heads around the fact that they have created an unwelcoming environment for employers.
It’s distasteful and even somewhat unethical. But what will the naysayers scream if ADM decides to move its new world headquarters elsewhere?
* The company has already dropped its request for a break on its headquarters’ utility taxes. The first one to move in any negotiation is almost always willing to move again. Negotiate for a better deal, including a sweetener for Decatur, then get it done.
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Quinn: No pension reform, no ADM tax break
Friday, Oct 4, 2013 - Posted by Rich Miller
* AP…
Gov. Pat Quinn said he will veto any legislation with special tax incentives to get Archer Daniels Midland Co. to keep its global headquarters in Illinois until legislators approve a fix for the state’s nearly $100 billion pension crisis.
In an interview with The Associated Press on Thursday, the Chicago Democrat said he won’t consider tax breaks for any corporation until a pension deal is on his desk. He also said ADM’s efforts would be better focused on lobbying lawmakers to address the nation’s worst-funded public-employee retirement system when they meet in Springfield later this month.
“The best way to help jobs in Illinois is to do pension reform,” Quinn said. “To distract legislators in any way from this issue of a lifetime is just plain wrong.”
* From the IFT’s Facebook page…
So, Governor Quinn said he won’t give a multi-million dollar tax break to this one corporation until we take away one-third of the life savings of hundreds of thousands of teachers, emergency responders, and public workers?! Talk about a lose-lose situation. (Quinn does not support SB2404.)
The teachers have a point.
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