* 3:03 pm - The House has just passed HB 4744 by a huge margin of 81-31.
The bill would require a vote by the General Assembly before state property worth more than $1 million is sold. The bill applies to the Thomson prison sale. The Obama administration, of course, has said it wants to use the prison for Guantanamo detainees - although that plan has apparently been sidetracked. The administration could also use the prison for “regular” inmates as well.
Needless to say, if the GA has to vote on the Thomson sale, the deal would probably be toast unless there’s no “danger” of terrorists coming to the prison.
Keep in mind, however, that this bill could always get buried in the Senate.
* Democrats remain more popular than Republicans in Illinois. Despite what we are seeing elsewhere, Democrats are still significantly more popular than Republicans in Illinois. Just 34 percent of Illinois voters have a favorable impression of the GOP, while 46 percent have unfavorable impressions. By comparison, views of Democrats are evenly split (41 – 42 percent favorable-unfavorable).
* President Obama remains very popular in Illinois. President Obama continues to have very solid standing in Illinois. The President’s 59 – 31 percent favorable/unfavorable rating is as high as in any state we’ve seen recently. Even among Independents, Obama has a positive, 51 – 35 percent favorable/unfavorable rating. Sixty-four percent of Illinoisans approve of the job Obama is doing as President.
“Every [Illinois] Democrat I know, every politically knowledgeable and interested Democrat is worried. The combination of factors is potentially pretty lethal,” said John Schmidt, a Chicago attorney who ran unsuccessfully in 1998 for the Democratic nomination for governor.
The $62.4 billion unfunded liability [of all the state’s pension systems] reflects the money the state needs, but doesn’t have currently, to cover all the earned pension credits if they were cashed in all at once. While that’s an unrealistic situation, it is a financial measure used to gauge the health of pension systems. It’s akin to having enough money in your savings account to cover your mortgage if the bank called the entire loan at once.
You can make a lot of trouble with numbers, and that unfunded liability stat is always one of the bigger trouble-makers.
…allowing McPier to audit the books of the two large companies that actually operate conventions for trade groups to make sure cost savings are passed on to their clients.
Until they can get a handle on those two companies, nothing major will change. Trouble is, nobody really thinks that the McPier honchos actually want a “real” audit for fear that the companies, which control a huge percentage of the national convention industry, will turn McCormick Place into a ghost town.
Voters may soon look to the State Board of Elections for information on candidates in primary races.
Rep. Barbara Flynn Currie, a Chicago Democrat, said that her bill, which would require the board of elections to create voter guides for the primary, is not a direct response to this month’s election and noted that she filed the legislation in January.
However, she did say the election, with its tight races and low voter turnout, underscored the need for voters to be more informed about the candidates. She said including primary candidates in the voter guides — which contain basic information submitted by each candidate — that the board of elections now provides for general elections would be a good start.
The bright side is that if the public finally sees for itself how woefully decrepit the board’s site is, maybe the resulting outrage will force the board to get its act together. I’m not holding my breath.
Legally - as I tried to point out in comments on an earlier post - the General Assembly is not covered under the Open Meetings Act.
Constitutionally, the SDem view is that Supreme court rulings dating back to the 19th Century essentially only force the GA to abide by what’s in the document itself. If, as is the case here, the Constitution insists that sessions and committees be open to the public, then only sessions and committee hearings are covered. Since the Senate adjourned after announcing a “joint caucus,” the meeting was not technically a session or a hearing. They did agree, however, that they probably ought to revisit the political aspects of these full-chamber secret meetings.
Donald Craven, a longtime attorney for the Illinois Press Association who also has represented the Chicago Tribune on open government issues, said the meeting should have been open no matter how big or small the topic.
“The topic is not important,” Craven said. “If the Senate can go into a joint caucus to talk about this topic, what’s the logical extreme?
“Can they also go into a joint caucus to debate the budget bill? Can they go into a joint caucus to debate the hundreds of other bills that go before the state Senate?” Craven asked.
* I had a pleasant little chat with Gov. Pat Quinn last night. We talked about several things, and then he stunned me by revealing that he was following the Brady/Dillard vote count on the blog yesterday.
Yes, you read that right. The governor is a Capitol Fax Blog reader. He’s not a commenter, however… or so he says.
* The Question: Lobby the governor on one state issue.
Please, keep this respectful. Whether you agree with him or not, he’s still the governor. Also, we’re busy today and we don’t have time to play nanny.
It’s the annual kickoff to the session. Lawmakers file thousands of bills covering all kinds of issues — from spending to sex offenses — that they want considered by the House and Senate.
Only a few hundred will make it all the way through the process to become law. And this year, that number could be down for a couple of reasons.
Lawmakers aim to deal with only “emergency issues” and the budget in even-numbered years. These also are election years, during which politicians have more incentive to avoid controversy. And in this election year, there’s plenty to do on the major budget problems alone.
* Bills often are introduced just for a press pop, or for a nagging constituent or an insistent lobbyist. Often, the sponsor has either no intention nor any real hope of ever moving that bill to the governor’s desk. Sometimes, the bills are introduced just to send a message. Like this one, for instance…
Words like “coercive” and “ridiculous” were used at the Kane County Government Center Tuesday to describe a pair of state bills designed to deny funds for communities that enacted local bans on video gambling.
In a unanimous vote, the County Board’s Legislative Committee moved to oppose two virtually identical measures in the Illinois House and Senate which exclude communities that have the bans from obtaining funding from the state’s $31 billion capital bill. The measures also would require those entities to pay back the revenue lost to the state that the video gambling licenses would have generated.
The county board members are right to be upset, but it’s far more likely that the bills were introduced as a not-so-gentle warning to locals than measures which could actually become law this year.
* Some bills, however, become law without people even really knowing about it, and that can cause serious aggravation. For instance…
School districts and police officials are using e-mails, letters and warnings to publicize a new state law that has taken many parents by surprise because it prohibits the use of a hand-held cell phone while driving in a school zone.
Since the law took effect Jan. 1, officials have scrambled to inform parents who dial away while performing the daily rite of dropping off or picking up their children amid a thicket of cars, buses and darting pedestrians. Many find the law confusing, and even some police officials complain that it will be difficult to enforce.
“Personally, I think the police have better things to do than sit in the parking lot of schools and watch for people talking on the phone,” said Sue Anderson, a parent at Rose Elementary School in South Barrington. “Am I guilty of it? Yes.”
Anderson has not been ticketed but knows that police have cited others for violating a law that largely has fallen under the radar. The law, which does not apply to hands-free devices, also bans the use of hand-held phones in construction zones.
* Some bills ought to become law, but may not make it past the partisan screen. GOP Rep. Ron Stephens has sponsored one such bill…
Amends the Whistleblower Act. Provides that a State agency may not retaliate against an employee of that agency who discloses information about the policies or operations of that State agency in a court, an administrative hearing, or before a legislative commission or committee, or in any other proceeding, where the employee has, at the time of the disclosure, reasonable cause to believe that the information is true. Provides that a State agency may not retaliate against an employee of that agency who discloses information about the policies or operations of that State agency to a government or law enforcement agency or to the media where the employee has reasonable cause to believe, at the time of disclosure, that the disclosed information is true.
The governor’s gag order on Department of Corrections employees after word leaked out about his botched prisoner release program is probably the target here. The DHFS inspector general’s often bizarre pursuit of Tamara Hoffman, including a finding that she broke the rules by talking to me about Rod Blagojevich’s corruption, would fall under this proposal as well.
A move to end the use of red-light cameras in Illinois has been pushed to another day after lawmakers on Tuesday banished two separate proposals to a subcommittee.
State Sen. Dan Duffy, R-Barrington, proposed legislation to eliminate all red-light cameras from Chicago and suburban communities. Members of a Senate Committee sent his legislation, along with a proposal sponsored by State Sen. Rickey Hendon, D-Chicago, to a subcommittee for more study.
These bills got a lot of publicity lately, but they may never again see the light of day - at least, not in their present forms. Hendon was also upset that the minority party member Duffy had “bill jacked” his idea, which is one reason Duffy’s bill got stuff in subcommittee.
* The Senate really doesn’t have a good reason to keep this session closed to the public…
The Illinois Senate plans to meet behind closed doors this morning to hear a presentation by experts about state budgets and the national economy, a move that open government advocates called baffling.
The unusual secret gathering is being billed as a “joint caucus” of the majority Democrats and the minority Republicans, two groups that represent the entire 59 members of the Illinois Senate. The caucuses routinely meet separately to plot partisan strategy, and the public is not invited. But a joint meeting is very rare.
The spokeswoman for Senate President John Cullerton, D-Chicago, said the event will be closed because the presentation to be given by the Denver-based National Conference of State Legislatures will not fall under the state Constitution’s requirements to be open.
It won’t violate the Constitution? Really? From the Constitution…
Sessions of each house of the General Assembly and meetings of committees, joint committees and legislative commissions shall be open to the public. Sessions and committee meetings of a house may be closed to the public if two-thirds of the members elected to that house determine that the public interest so requires
And if you read the Senate’s rules, the term “caucus” is solely used to define political party membership. They don’t really have a leg to stand on here.
“Setting aside the legal issues, I can’t imagine what the NCSL is going to say that’s so top secret that the general public will not be allowed to hear it,” Morrison said.
Exactly.
Heck, I even obtained the PowerPoint presentation that the NCSL person will use at today’s meeting…
The scariest graph is probably in Part 1. Click the pic for a better look…
I think that may be too optimistic. Our own state’s deficit is projected at $13 billion in Fiscal Year 2011, which would be about a quarter of the NCSL’s projected all-states deficit of $55.5 billion - although only 30 states provided data for the year in question, as compared to 35 for the current FY.
* Is Chicago throwing away $40 million?: Chicago is turning its back on $40 million in guaranteed revenue over the next 10 years — and 25,000 free trash/recycling bins — by ignoring an Aurora company’s offer to install “Free Green Cans” bearing advertising across the city.
“I talked to the Senate President of Texas, a Republican, and he told me about this idea of having joint caucuses. I said we have individual caucuses. He said we have a really bipartisan Senate. We have people who really get along. I said we’re trying to improve that. We didn’t have a very good atmosphere in Springfield. So, that’s why we started last year with a dinner, a social gathering with all the Senators, this year the staff, that you guys wanted to come to. It was meant to be like a Christmas party for the office.
“The idea for having a caucus like this, this is a joint caucus, just like a caucus that we have, that we call on the floor. But this is meant to be one where just the senators are there to get information, but where they can also feel like they can ask questions and have a free exchange of ideas without having to be worried about what the press might report.”
“Now you’ve got five people in there running for higher office. Two governors, a county board president, a congressman – they want to have their thoughts and comments about this material without them having to worry about what’s going to be reported or looked at in their campaign. OK? So none of this stuff that’s going to be reported is secret, as a matter of fact I want you all to see it.”
“I know you guys are trying to show that we’re all bad down here and we’re secret and we’re trying to do things in a bad way, I just find it ironic that, yeah, you’re right we’ve never done it before. I’m proud of it, because we’re trying to bring people together socially and in a working atmosphere. We’re not trying to keep the media out of our business. You can ask anybody you want to afterward what they think, what the materials were. We’re going to have a press conference.”
On Tuesday, CBS 2’s informal survey found Dillard reducing Brady’s lead to about 250 votes. Brady’s own McLean County won’t tally its final absentees until later Wednesday so he’ll likely gain some. But there just aren’t many people downstate.
Take two Brady strongholds, for example. In Peoria, Brady added just three votes to his margin and, next door in Tazewell County, just two votes.
Dillard’s total is closer to what commenters came up with yesterday…
Dillard did downplay talk of a costly and legally difficult recount if he remains on the short end of the final vote tally. He said Tuesday his losing margin would have to be “something less” than the roughly 220 he believed he had Tuesday to consider a recount.
Late unofficial vote counts from election authorities in the more-populous six-county Chicago region showed Dillard cutting into Brady’s lead by nearly 200 votes [from the original 420 AP total]. Still, final tallying continues in downstate counties where, despite fewer votes being cast, Brady has held an advantage over Dillard.
* Dillard repeated yesterday that he likely won’t call for a recount unless the margin is within 100 votes. As the Trib rightly points out, this could become a long, involved process if Dillard goes through with any recount…
But a challenge based on provisional votes could become a messy one, and Dillard said he’s unsure he would press for more of them to be counted. Dillard’s low threshold for considering a recount reflects the advances in electronic vote-tabulation technology. Local election officials have until Feb. 23 to re-test their results and send them to the state.
“The local election authorities need to canvass and have time to double-check their math,” Dillard said. “And I’d like to see a preliminary tabulation by the actual election authority, the State Board of Elections…especially when you’re talking about 200 votes out of about three-quarters of a million cast. Mistakes do happen.”
“We’re talking about a five-ten-thousandths of 1 percent difference in a statewide race with three quarters of a million votes cast. I want to make sure every vote is counted,” Dillard said.
* Sen. Brady talked with my intern Barton Lorimor yesterday about the counting process and where it stands. Have a look…
* And Brady got his first gentle (considering its notoriously over the top ways) scolding from the Tribune editorial board over his proposed constitutional amendment to forbid gay marriage and civil unions…
Brady’s idea is faulty on several grounds, starting with the merits. Civil unions are a reasonable compromise between those who think gays should have access to marriage and those who think the state should not redefine an ancient institution that has strong religious connotations. But even if you don’t favor same-sex marriage, there is no reason to change the constitution if public opinion should come to view it more favorably than today.
Brady ought to focus on the precarious position Illinois is in. The answers lie in the realm of fiscal policy, ethics and economic growth. It’s not the prospect of same-sex marriage that is chasing away employers. The option of civil unions has not burdened future taxpayers with draconian financial burdens. […]
The gay marriage/civil union proposal, though, is a big favor to Gov. Pat Quinn. Citizens are divided on that issue — but very few are clamoring for a constitutional fix. Brady, if he is the GOP nominee, will need to convince Democrats and independents that they should give the Republicans another chance in the governor’s office. A campaign that focuses on the state’s financial chaos and the Legislature’s unwillingness to push genuine ethics reform could provide that chance. But Brady suggests he has other things on his mind.
A major increase in the price to register as a state lobbyist has been halted by a federal judge who deemed the $1,000 annual fee too high.
U.S. District Judge Joan Gottschall issued a preliminary injunction late Friday that puts on hold the 2009 law that nearly tripled registration fees for most lobbyists.
More than 3,900 lobbyists and lobbying groups have been registered in recent years, but none was required to register or pay fees this year while the state awaited action in the lawsuit.
The American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois, which brought the case, argued that the state law violates the constitutional right to freedom of speech because it requires an unreasonable fee to lobby before the Illinois General Assembly.
This law would cost a small not-for-profit whose executive director doubles as a part-time lobbyist $2,000 a year - half for the exec director’s fee and the other for the association’s fee. Ridiculous.
* Dear Aaron Schock and John Shimkus,
I don’t think anybody is asking you to give back project money that you voted against…
Two congressmen representing the Springfield area Friday defended earmarks they requested for local projects, even though they voted against the measure that paid for them.
Republican U.S. Reps. Aaron Schock and John Shimkus were at Lincoln Land Community College to tout a $350,000 grant for a green technologies education program. Both voted against the budget bill that funded the project after pushing for its inclusion as an earmark.
Some are just asking you to be honest about how y’all rail against spending while you’re in DC while using that spending to glorify yourselves back home.
* Dear Illinois Responsible Budget Coalition,
Your group’s abbreviation - ILResponsibleBudget - is a bit, um, off. And your Internet promo video? Ummm…
* Dear IllinoisIsBroke.com,
The form e-mail that you want citizens to send to their legislators is intellectually dishonest and, frankly, an insult…
If you would like my support (and the support of my considerable circle of family, friends and acquaintances) this election year, then take a public stand for fiscal responsibility. Publicly promise to balance the state budget by cutting expenses until they are in line with revenues. Reform our unaffordable pension and retiree health care programs. Please assure me you will be part of the solution and not a continuation of the problem.
How about giving people the real scoop on what cutting expenses by $13 billion a year - close to 40 percent of state spending - would do to the budget?
* Dear SouthtownStar editorial board,
The problem with the current redistricting process isn’t that strongly Democratic areas have lots of Democratic legislators and strongly Republican areas are represented by Republicans…
While population shifts during the past 15 years created a more stable Democratic base in the south suburbs, Democratic control of the remapping process in 2001 formally extinguished any chance of bipartisan south suburban representation.
We’re not picking on the Democrats. Republicans control other parts of the state, and residents there are not well-served, either. The point is, competition infuses accountability into government.
A non-partisan map would still undoubtedly produce lots of all-Republican and all-Democratic districts. That’s just how people cluster themselves. I seriously doubt, for instance, that you could get more than the one Republican House district they have today in Chicago. Heck, you might not even get that if the districts aren’t allowed to cross-over into the suburbs - as the redistricting plan you’re supporting would require.
The way you get some minority party representation in those areas is to go back to the pre-Cutback Amendment days.
* Your turn…
…Adding… Dear Chicago Tribune editorial board,
Calling (again) for the downsizing of the capital bill is crazy on a number of fronts, including the shape of the job market these days. Then there’s this…
Engineers are recommending Illinois invest at least $27 billion into fixing its deteriorating infrastructure — about double the state’s $13 billion budget deficit.
The American Society of Civil Engineers performed a study on Illinois’ infrastructure and gave the state a D+ overall.
The study looked at Illinois’ aviation services, bridges, dams, drinking water, water ways, rail services, roads, transit and wastewater infrastructure. Each category was rated and the average grade was found. […]
Drinking water received a D+, and the engineers group recommended a $13.5 billion investment in the next two decades is to get the state’s drinking water up to par. As for wastewater, the group recommended $13.4 billion go into new infrastructure over the next 20 years in Illinois. […]
“Much more is needed than what that capital bill is funding,” King said. “Our capital bill in Illinois is going to hit some of our infrastructure, but a substantially larger investment ultimately is going to be necessary.”
…Mr. Dillard said the date that counts is Feb. 23. That’s the date by which the county clerks have to report all of their numbers — absentee and otherwise — to the State Board of Elections.
“I’m going to wait” until then, he said, “wait until they send the real numbers to Springfield on the 23rd and make sure all of them have been double-checked. […]
While putting off any possible concession, Mr. Dillard did seem to confirm political talk that he won’t seek a recount unless the official tally cuts his margin to about 100 or less.
Asked specifically about 100, Mr. Dillard replied, “That might be a good number to go off of.”
*** UPDATE 1 *** Some diligent commenters are live-blogging local election board results as they come in. Help them out if you can.
On a day that saw county election officials throughout the state putting the final touches on vote tallies from the Feb. 2 election, it appeared as though state Sen. Kirk Dillard made some inroads into Brady’s 420 vote lead.
Unofficial tallies in Cook and DuPage counties showed Dillard gaining more than 120 votes from absentee and provisional ballots.
While that number could be significant since Dillard ran stronger than Brady in the Chicago area, Brady told reporters in Springfield he could offset that gain with additional votes being tallied in downstate counties.
* Out of everyone who lost primary races earlier this month, which candidates do you think have the brightest futures? Which have the dimmest? Please answer both, and explain.
* The Democratic Party of Illinois filed paperwork this morning with the State Board of Elections withdrawing Scott Lee Cohen from the lt. governor’s race. Cohen gave his withdrawal letter to the party on Friday.
But every African-American member of the state central committee sent out a press release yesterday announcing that they’re unhappy with party chairman Michael Madigan’s latest moves. From the release…
Today several members of the Illinois Democratic State Central Committee sent a scathing letter to Democratic Party Chairman Michael Madigan to express their concern about his interest in abolishing the constitutional office of Lieutenant Governor. Calling the proposal “premature,” party officials also questioned the chairman’s political motives saying that such a decision would “profoundly alter the state’s electoral and succession processes.”
Authors of the missive include Congressman Bobby L. Rush (D-1CD), State Representative Constance “Connie” Howard (D-1CD), Congressman Jesse L Jackson (D-2CD), Jr., Alderman Carrie Austin (D-2CD), Congressman Danny K Davis (D-7CD), State Representative Karen A. Yarbrough (D-7CD) and Committeeman James K. Polk (D-18CD). The unique coalition is a powerful voting bloc within the Democratic Party base, with each committee member representing nearly every African-American vote in the State of Illinois.
Their bloc of votes could be the deciding factor in who fills the open seat for Lieutenant Governor in a vote that is expected in March.
From the letter…
As Speaker, you of course can offer a Constitutional Amendment that would profoundly alter the State’s electoral and succession processes. However, advancing legislation that impacts the Democratic Party without a discussion or an endorsement from the Democratic Party leadership is premature. There should be no divergent interests between you in your role as party chairman and us in our role as party committeemen and committeewomen. Therefore, prior to your public announcement about your support of the elimination of a constitutional office, the Democratic State Central Committee should have been consulted.
The members also say they want a more open process…
The Party Chairman and Democratic State Central Committee must set forth uniform, comprehensive and transparent criteria for this selection. We believe that, among the criteria, our party leadership should be publically advancing a vetting process that considers a candidate’sexperience; public record; electoral viability; ability to strengthen the Party’s overall ticket; and the candidate’s overall electability. A candidate’s ability to raise resources as well as geographic, racial and gender balance should also be considered as the Central Committee fills this vacancy.
Madigan responded via his spokesman…
The chairman will take the vetting suggestions under review. He disagrees with the notion that a member of the General Assembly should check with a political committee before introducting legislation
While Jackson said he didn’t favor one person, his description of the ideal candidate seemed to match a certain Chicago alderman. His wife, Ald. Sandi Jackson (7th), considered running for lieutenant governor last year.
“The ticket needs some excitement,” Jackson said. “It needs someone to capture the imagination of the electorate by selecting someone who knows how to run a campaign, who knows how to respond quickly to prisoner release ads and to Harold Washington ads and to the state’s deficit woes. That candidate has to bring resources nationally, and it’s hard to imagine the existing candidates, who couldn’t beat a pawnbroker in the primary process, are capable of beating a lumberjack in the general election.”
“If Miss America made some not-so-wholesome decisions and she was moved out of the way, No. 2 would be the person,” Howard said in explaining her support so far for Turner. “When the No. 1 person can’t do it, No. 2 moves up. (Turner) is very qualified. He’s well respected by all members of the caucus and by members on the other side of the aisle.”
So, black members of the central committee appear divided for now on who should replace Cohen, but they’re united in their criticism of Madigan.
Though she said it would be highly unlikely, SIUC law professor Sheila Simon said she would “say yes quickly” if the State Central Committee of the Democratic Party asked her to run for Illinois lieutenant governor.
Poshard said he has not contacted Gov. Pat Quinn or any of Quinn’s representatives in relation to the position, and he has absolutely no interest in doing so.
“I have a job here, I have a new contract (as university president) and that’s what I’m going to do for the rest of my career,” Poshard said.
An Olivet Nazarene University professor has thrown his hat into the crowded field of Democratic candidates for lieutenant governor following Scott Lee Cohen’s abrupt resignation last week.
And, 40-year-old Jesse Lee Maggitt, a Plainfield resident and professor of military science at Olivet for the past year, hopes it will catapult him into politics.
* Related…
* Lawmakers trying to sort our future of lieutenant governor’s office
* Two proposals would make next lite gov the last one
* Shortly before the primary, a top Democratic campaign strategist admitted that Sen. Rickey Hendon’s lt. governor campaign may have struck a populist nerve. One of Hendon’s campaign pledges was to end red-light cameras. He came up with the proposal mainly because one of his opponents, Rep. Art Turner, had voted to expand the cameras in Illinois. The Democratic strategist thought that, in the right hands, this could be a great campaign issue.
One suburban lawmaker hopes to eradicate most red-light cameras in the state, which he said wrongfully target hundreds of Illinois drivers who made legal right-hand turns, and his proposal to that effect gets a first airing in the legislature today. […]
If his proposal becomes law, red-light cameras could still be stationed in construction zones and railroad crossings, but nowhere else.
Duffy’s proposal, which is scheduled for debate in a Senate committee today, comes on the heels of legislation proposed by state Sen. John Millner, a Carol Stream Republican, that would rewrite the current red-light camera law.
Millner’s proposal, which is backed by suburban police chiefs, would mandate that red-light cameras be painted yellow and signs be installed to remind drivers they must stop on red.
Duffy characterized Millner’s push to reform the red-light camera law as “worthless.”
Valentine’s Day captured passion of another kind — the ire of Chicago motorists who joined a nationwide protest Sunday against red-light cameras.
Nearly two dozen protesters armed with posters took over the southeast corner of Addison Street and Western Avenue. They called for drivers to honk their horns to protest communities they say are using the cameras, which snap photos of drivers running red lights, to generate revenue rather than reducing crashes.
“They’re stealing our money,” car passenger Adrian Cruz shouted out his window.
Scott Tucker, who organized the protest and is the Republican candidate for the 11th District state House seat, said he’s supporting pending legislation to rid automated ticketing machines in Illinois.
We greatly appreciate lawmakers’ recognition of the problems associated with red-light camera enforcement. But they should be fashioning legislation that addresses the clearly identified problems:
Locating cameras based on volume of traffic, rather than safety data; concentrating tickets on minor right-turn infractions; assessing high $100 civil fines that don’t get reported on a driver’s safety record.
Letting the private camera companies maintain records, rather than local governments, whose actions are subject to public scrutiny; and failure to focus attention on unsafe straight-through violations of red lights.
Repainting signals and writing new signs may have some value in helping motorists better understand the laws they are supposed to follow, but until these more significant issues are addressed, red-light cameras will remain an unfair, inconsistent, ineffective and inappropriate means of enforcing red-light laws.
Senate Bill 2477 would limit the red-light camera impact by blocking minor infractions.
That measure, pushed by Sen. Rickey Hendon, D-Chicago, would give drivers a break by saying cameras cannot issue violations when drivers come to a stop one foot or less past the stopping point.
* Statehouse roundup…
* Senate prepares for confirmation vote on Illinois State Police director: State Sen. Dave Luechtefeld, R-Okawville, said feedback from troopers has shifted, but he can’t yet promise a vote for him. “At first, it was negative,” Luechtefeld said. “And of late, it’s been positive.”
* Teen ’sexting’ ban not ready to hit send: Lawmakers want more input before making decision on bill governing racy text messages
* Proposals seek ’sensitive balance’ in teen sexting: As proposed, sending a “sext” could bring a $1,500 fine and six months in jail. Asking someone to send you a “sext” could bring a $2,500 fine and a year in jail.
Making Medicaid more efficient is, without a doubt, a part of the answer to the state’s budget crisis.
But it’s time to be honest about how much we can actually expect to squeeze out of the program.
Republican gubernatorial front-runner Bill Brady and others have suggested that moving all or most of the state’s 2.4 million Medicaid recipients into HMO-style managed care networks could cut spending by $1 billion or more.
We find that hard to believe, considering that Illinois already spends less per Medicaid beneficiary than most states. Not to mention that the state’s existing managed care programs, while successful, haven’t generated nearly that much in savings.
* As part of the deal that gave Gov. Pat Quinn an extra three weeks to present his new budget, state revenue and spending particulars will be posted online soon, and the Peoria Journal Star wants people to get involved…
Nobody should be shy about responding to the invitation. In a state of 13 million people, there might even be some who are actually informed in the ways of finance, public and private alike. If anybody can truly find a way to hack $13 billion out of discretionary spending without crippling the state, more power to ‘em. Minority Republicans need to get in the game, too. Even if Democrats freeze them out of budget talks again, it will give them ammunition with voters to say, “See, we tried. This is our plan, with specifics.”
The Pantagraph rails against giving the governor extra time…
Delaying the budget message causes harm to everyone in the state. It contributes to the chaos and uncertainty that is plaguing this state, causing it to stagnate — or worse.
The sooner Quinn puts his budget on the table, the sooner the state can craft a plan to get our state out of the huge crater we are in.
But Finke has it right when he takes on Republicans who have blasted the idea…
Do you really think it would make any difference if Quinn submitted his budget ideas Wednesday rather than in three weeks? Anybody going to get more money? Are cities and schools are going to be better off if (maybe) they learn three weeks earlier how much money they will get? Not that it matters since there’s no money to pay them anyway. Those extra three weeks will make lawmakers actually seriously deal with the budget meltdown instead of again looking for the easy way out?
Frankly, the Republicans came off sounding like their colleagues at the federal level — the Democratic leader wants something so we’ve got to oppose it. Just because.
It’ll be interesting to see if the GOP lawmakers think they are scoring points with the public and keep up that approach all year long. It will be a long session.
* The state is about to refinance about $1.4 billion of its general obligation debt in order to save a few bucks…
The fifth-most-populous state expects to save about $29 million in 2010, $27 million in 2011 and $100 million over the life of the securities with its refinancing, said Kelly Kraft, a budget spokeswoman for Governor Pat Quinn.
* A few thousand people are planning to descend on Springfield this week to protest impending budget cuts. Those rallies almost never work because the Statehouse has become pretty much completely desensitized by repeated organized shows of force by one group or another. But, I suppose, they gotta do something.
* Related…
* How you could get a say in fixing state budget: The Web site - www.budget.illinois.gov - will post on Feb. 24 the tax revenues for the current budget year and how they’ve been spent so far. Also posted will be projected revenues for the next budget year, which begins July 1, and all the projected program costs, debt payments, pension liabilities and other spending pressures.
* Borrowing plan no solution: Desperate times produce desperate measures, and this request to borrow based on the unreliable promises from a near-bankrupt state has to be among the most desperate of all.
We should know later today more about the results of this month’s Republican primary election for governor. State Senators Bill Brady and Kirk Dillard are separated by just a few hundred votes.
Today’s the day all the county clerks offices around the state must finish counting absentee and provisional ballots. State Sen. Dillard says his campaign’s math shows him 300 to 400 votes behind State Sen. Brady but, Dillard notes, anything can happen with votes left to count.
Dillard says, “Clearly, I’d rather be in Senator Brady’s position than mine, but I want to make sure all 110 election authorities have double-checked everyone and that the stats statewide that people work off of are accurate”.
* Crain’s claimed last week that Sen. Brady compared the experience of 27 year-old GOP lt. governor nominee Jason Plummer to Thomas Jefferson’s alleged writing of the US Constitution at a tender age. Actually, Jefferson wasn’t even in the country when the Constitution was drafted and approved. But an audio recording of Brady speaking to reporters last week has Brady comparing Plummer’s experience to Jefferson’s drafting of the Declaration of Independence at the age of 33.
It’s still probably unwise to compare Plummer to a founding father, but at least when talking to reporters Brady knew the difference between the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution.
* And my syndicated newspaper column looks back at Brady’s legislative record and looks ahead at the election. This is an abridged version of the look subscribers got at Brady’s record last week…
One of the biggest doubts about state Sen. Bill Brady’s gubernatorial campaign - assuming he survives a potential recount of the Republican primary - is whether he can transform himself from a primary candidate into a serious general election candidate.
Like most members of the state House and Senate, Brady has never once faced a real general election opponent.
Brady, of Bloomington, focused almost solely on his downstate base and barely campaigned at all in the suburbs during his Republican gubernatorial bid, so independent suburban women might as well be foreigners to him. Since Illinois is such a “Blue” state, he’ll have to convince thousands of Democratic-leaning voters to cross over for him.
After almost two decades of “speaking Republican,” Brady essentially needs to learn how to speak the language of a general election.
One thing he’ll need to do with that new language is explain his voting record. My interns Barton Lorimor and Dan Weber helped me scour Brady’s legislative record last week. Here are some of the results.
Many of the bills Brady introduced since 1993 show he can make a good case that he is a reformer. He has sponsored legislation to limit campaign contributions, for instance.
Brady sponsored a bill to prohibit state contractors from contributing to legislative campaigns. He put forward a bill to prohibit any reimbursement for out-of-state travel if a campaign fundraiser was involved in the trip. He also sponsored a bill to shine some light onto the always controversial legislative pork program.
Brady sponsored several bills that will probably appeal to independents. Brady was chief sponsor of a House bill in 2005, for instance, that created an Illinois Conservation Corps for young adults. Brady co-sponsored a bill (along with Barack Obama) for seniors to make sure they didn’t lose any benefits under the federal prescription drug program.
On the other hand, there are plenty of bills and votes lurking in Brady’s record that could hurt him this fall.
For instance, Brady sponsored legislation that allowed pharmacists to refuse to dispense emergency contraception based on their religious beliefs.
Sen. Brady is 100 percent pro-life, so he sponsored legislation to ban the use of state funds for stem cell research. Brady has sponsored legislation to repeal the state’s Firearm Owner’s Identification Card. And he has repeatedly introduced constitutional amendments to do away with the State Board of Education.
Sponsorship is only one aspect of a legislator’s history. Their voting records are often more important and usually contain far more landmines.
Brady voted against a bill requiring a state insurer to cover mammograms and pap tests, probably because the coverage list also included emergency contraception. He voted against the statewide smoking ban.
Sen. Brady voted against a bill creating a physician loan repayment program for doctors who agreed to practice in Illinois for at least three years. Brady has consistently voted against increasing the minimum wage. He voted against a bill to ban large-capacity magazines in certain guns.
A couple of years ago, state Sen. Linda Holmes (D-Aurora) was attacked by the Republicans for voting in favor of a few tax exemptions. An exemption on certain vehicles was deemed a “tax break for the rich so they can get deals on their limos.” Tax exemptions for racehorses and planes were portrayed in a similar manner. Like Holmes, Brady voted for all three bills.
The Pat Quinn campaign believes it can easily portray Brady as an out-of-touch, wealthy ultra-conservative this fall.
To overcome this, Brady needs to make this race essentially a rerun of the 1980 Carter-Reagan campaign. Carter, after all, was overjoyed when the Republican Party nominated that unelectable right-winger from California. But Reagan’s strong personality, the tanking economy, rising crime, Carter’s bumbling and a huge overreach by the Democratic congressional majority, along with the twin international embarrassments of the Iranian hostage crisis and the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, combined to override the ideological divide. Democrats voted for Reagan in droves.
If you substitute “Rod Blagojevich” and “Scott Lee Cohen” for the USA’s international humiliations of 1980, our Illinois situation looks eerily similar.
Late last week, Brady again proposed permanently outlawing gay marriages and civil unions. That sort of thing will be great for the Republican base, but it’s time Brady started learning to speak to everyone else.
For a little context, last year’s Paul Simon Institute poll tested a couple of hot-button social issues…
* The report noted the respondents answering spread themselves nearly equally among three alternatives regarding same-sex unions:
29.3 percent favored full marriage rights.
35.3 percent favored civil unions.
31.3 percent favored no legal recognition.
* In terms of the legality of abortion, most of the respondents took a middle position of three offered:
Legal under any circumstances, 28.3 percent.
Legal only under certain circumstances, 51 percent.
Plummer highlights his service as a Navy intelligence officer, but he received his commission just last September and has yet to undergo training.
He touts his creation and operation of a wireless Internet provider while still a college undergrad, yet public records show it was his father who owned the firm and Plummer was never listed as an officer.
He has referenced his experience working for former U.S. Sen. Peter Fitzgerald and a conservative think tank, but doesn’t always mention both jobs were internships.
Plummer also had a short stint as Madison County Republican chairman during which he oversaw the opening of a GOP office in a strip mall owned by one of his family’s businesses, which received more than $13,000 in rent.
