Ethics probe continues
Monday, May 5, 2014 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Sun-Times…
The House Committee on Ethics announced on Monday it will continue a review of whether Rep. Luis Gutierrez, D-Ill., violated House rules and federal law through a hiring agreement he made with his former chief of staff, Doug Scofield, while declining to take the more serious step of creating a special panel to investigate the allegations.
The committee chairman, Rep. Michael Conway, R-Texas, and ranking member, Rep. Linda Sanchez, D-Calif., said in a four-paragraph statement they will continue to “gather additional information necessary” for the review and did not set a timetable for their work to be completed.
At issue is the $590,000 Scofield received over 10 years from federal funds allocated to run Gutierrez’s congressional office.
The ethics probe is looking at whether Scofield functioned as a contractor — which is permissible — or if his long-term relationship with Gutierrez’s congressional office was really more like that of a consultant who performed more like an employee, which is not allowed. […]
“Today’s announcement by the Committee reveals that it will not convene a special ethics panel. As the Committee reviews this matter, Congressman Gutiérrez and his office will continue to cooperate fully. As the Committee points out, its review does not indicate that any violation has occurred or reflect any judgment on behalf of the Committee,” Gutierrez spokesman Doug Rivlin said in a statement.
“After its exhaustive review, the OCE made a single recommendation that the House Committee on Ethics assess whether the approved contract was permissible under ambiguous House rules.”
Go read the whole thing. The report is here. Scofield declined to cooperate.
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[The following is a paid advertisement.]
HB 4075 is a taxi-industry protection bill that not only pre-empts Chicago’s home-rule authority, but undermines common-sense regulations that prioritize safety and accountability.
Creating bureaucratic roadblocks and burdensome guidelines aimed at preserving the status quo only wipes out emerging competition, stifles innovation and eliminates consumer choice.
The truth is that new technology provides an opportunity to increase safety above and beyond what is required of taxis, which is why ride-sharing services have developed strict criteria and comprehensive insurance policies that are 3 times what is currently provided in Illinois taxis.
The people of Illinois – tens of thousands of whom use ridesharing – deserve affordable, convenient and safe transportation choices, especially those living or working in underserved areas ignored by taxis.
“…the status quo needs to change. Those six-digit medallions are out of reach of actual drivers…they work long shifts with no guaranteed income, and sometimes don’t break even…Consumers, meanwhile, have no choices.”
- Chicago Tribune Editorial, April 30
“…[state] negotiations should not result in a bill that serves as a roadblock for ride-sharing.”
- Chicago Sun-Times Editorial, March 27
Vote NO to the status quo and NO on HB 4075.
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Question of the day
Monday, May 5, 2014 - Posted by Rich Miller
* The White Sox play the Cubs tonight in Wrigley Field. Trash talking, anyone?
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Madigan’s constitutional irony
Monday, May 5, 2014 - Posted by Rich Miller
* From the Daily Herald editorial board…
Last week, a close ally of Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan filed suit to challenge citizens initiatives to impose term limits on state legislators and to change the way legislative districts are drawn every 10 years.
We’re big fans of the remap referendum. We’ve editorialized on its behalf for months as a solution to the politicized way districts are drawn. We are not as enamored with the term limit referendum. We see some pros but also many cons.
But the important thing isn’t whether we like either initiative. The important thing is that the public has made clear its interest in putting these questions on the ballot.
It’s important also that the politically motivated suit against it was predictable. For a long time, the cynics have said — no way will Madigan and the politicians let these referendums happen.
The challenge only confirms that cynicism — and in doing so, spreads it further.
As Eric Zorn and I have already pointed out on multiple occasions, there are some legit constitutional questions about both of these petition drives. Those questions, in my opinion, do deserve a full hearing.
* However, it is beyond richly ironic that while Speaker Madigan is relying on a highly precise and quite literal reading of the Illinois Constitution to defeat the two proposed citizen initiatives, he’s also arguing that the common sense, plain meaning of the Constitution should be ignored when it comes to pension reform.
Just sayin…
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*** UPDATE 2 *** Cleared…
Charges of plagiarism dogged Democrat Ann Callis’ campaign for Congress for about six hours Monday until a staffer running a campaign in Iowa cleared the former judge from Edwardsville.
Callis, vying to unseat Republican U.S. Rep. Rodney Davis of Taylorville in Illinois’ 13th Congressional District, was accused by Illinois Republican Party Chairman Jack Dorgan Monday morning of pilfering lines for her campaign website from Iowa Democrat Staci Appel.
By mid-afternoon, Appel campaign manager Ben Miller said it was his campaign that copied the material.
“The language identified on that page was intended to be a temporary placeholder and was inadvertently published,” Miller said in an email. “We removed the copy when it was brought to our attention.”
*** UPDATE 1*** From an e-mail…
Rich,
Just wanted to get you the correct information regarding your post on the Callis website. The Republican attacks are a lie—our site was up with full content weeks before the Appel campaign had anything but a splash page on their site.
August 16, 2013: Callis launches live site with issue statements: https://twitter.com/callis4illinois/status/368484491867594753
September 7, 2013: A web capture search found that on 9/7/2013 the Appel campaign only has a splash page—without any issue content. https://web.archive.org/web/20130907220609/http://appelforiowa.com/
Let me know if you have any other questions.
Best,
Marshall
–
Marshall Cohen
Campaign Manager, Ann Callis for Congress (IL-13)
Apparently, nobody can play this game.
Heh.
[ *** End Of Updates *** ]
* Yesterday, a state Republican Party official sent me a screen shot of Democratic congressional candidate Ann Callis’ campaign home page…
He noted that the domain named had expired on May 3rd. “Heck of a campaign so far!” he cracked.
Oops.
* The Republicans appear to have been doing some opposition research, because after the website went live again, the state GOP unleashed this attack…
BREAKING: Ann Callis Caught Plagiarizing On Her Campaign Website
“Cut-and-Paste Callis” lifts whole sections from Iowa Democrat’s “Issues” Page… and tries to pass them off as her own.
Plagiarism Scandal is the latest example of Callis’ refusal to tell the voters of the 13th District what she stands for.
SPRINGFIELD, IL – Ann Callis, running for Congress in Illinois’s 13th Congressional District, was caught today plagiarizing key phrases, issue positions, and entire sections of the “issues” page on her website.
In two sections of her “issues” page, Callis’ entire position on “Women’s Health” and “Alternative Energy” are nearly identical to the positions on the website of Staci Appel, a Democrat running for Congress in Iowa, with the name changed to “Ann Callis” instead.
“Ann Callis thinks she deserves to be your Congresswoman, but she has to steal someone else’s words to tell you why,” said Jack Dorgan, Chairman of the Illinois Republican Party. “Callis owes the people of the 13th District an explanation, not an excuse.”
On Callis’ web page (as of May 4, 2014):
A total of at least 186 words have been copied directly from Staci Appel’s page, in four different issue sections: “Pragmatic Leadership,” “Education,” “Alternative Energy,” and “Women’s Health.”
Ann Callis’ issues page went live on January 9, 2014, more than two full weeks after Staci Appel’s (12/24/13, per Web.Archive.Org).
* This looks more like the usual lazy, cut and paste DCCC amateur hour crud than actual plagiarism. But it’s a legit hit. Here’s just one example. “Women’s health”…
* Both candidates’ issues pages…
* Staci Appel
* Ann Callis
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* Bloomberg…
Hillary Clinton returned to her Illinois roots to accept her latest award, offering reflections on her childhood while making no mention of a future that could include a 2016 presidential bid.
Speaking yesterday in Chicago, the home of President Barack Obama, Clinton called Abraham Lincoln “the greatest president who ever served our country” as she accepted the Order of Lincoln. She made no mention of Obama — who derailed her in the fight for the 2008 Democratic presidential nomination and then named her secretary of state — or the presidency of her husband, Bill Clinton.
* But this choice nugget was buried deep in the story. Emphasis added…
Some of the other seven persons who received the award yesterday were Duke University basketball coach Mike Krzyzewski, former UAL Corp. Chairman Glenn Tilton, private equity investor John Canning and attorney Newton Minow, a former Federal Communications Commission chairman. [Emphasis added.]
* Hmm. Newton Minow. Does that name sound familiar? Maybe this recent Tribune op-ed by Minow will jog your memory…
President John F. Kennedy once said that “sometimes party loyalty asks too much.”
I believe Kennedy was right as we consider the election for Illinois governor this year. As a longtime member of the Democratic Party, I’m taking a leave of absence from the Democratic Party’s campaign for governor in November and will vote for Republican Bruce Rauner for governor.
I couldn’t find any video or photos of Quinn’s presentation to Minow of the state’s highest award, so we missed out on one heck of a caption contest today. Perhaps you can make something up for us in comments.
Have fun.
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Playing both sides
Monday, May 5, 2014 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Bruce Rauner has been making the rounds of association lobby day events the past two session weeks. I’ll have more on this for subscribers, but it was pretty obvious that, after months of attacking the Springfield culture, Rauner was doing everything he could to ingratiate himself with people who spend their lives working in that very culture.
Anyway, Bernie looked at some of what Rauner said in Springfield last week…
“I’m right in the middle of the process of meeting with every legislator here in Springfield,” Rauner said. “I want to get to know them all. I’ve spent time with the speaker and the president and the caucus leaders and their members. I’ve met with all the Republican members, and I’m in the process of meeting with all the Democratic members.” […]
“Maybe Mr. Rauner confused his Cullertons, because the Senate president hasn’t talked to him in three years,” and it was about school reform, said Rikeesha Phelon, spokeswoman for Cullerton. “There was no meeting. There was no conversation. There was no telephone call.” She said Rauner also has not met with state Sen. Tom Cullerton of Villa Park, a distant cousin of the president.
Steve Brown, spokesman for Madigan, said as far as he knows, the last time Madigan met with Rauner was more than two years ago, also on school reform.
* Now, compare that to what Rauner told reporters when he turned in his term limit petitions…
“We have career politicians who are fundamentally corrupt and engaging in patronage cronyism and failing the people of our state, and we’ve got to dramatically change that culture,” Rauner said at the event.
* Bernie asked Steve Brown for a comment…
“He was calling everybody corrupt, career politicians,” at one event, Brown said, “and now he’s trying to pretend like … he’s having meetings and he’s not making them the boogeyman.”
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Today’s numbers
Monday, May 5, 2014 - Posted by Rich Miller
* All emphasis added. Doug Finke…
Sen. Bill Brady R-Bloomington, has introduced a bill adding the Obama library to the list of charities to which Illinois income tax filers can make contributions. It would join the other options for charitable contributions like breast cancer research, diabetes research, military family relief, child abuse prevention and others.
Construction of the library wouldn’t hinge entirely on the tax check-off. That’s good. Last year, the top charity on the tax form brought in about $153,000. At that pace, it would only take about 653 years to raise $100 million for the library.
* Kurt Erickson…
The election board’s work on the proposed amendments began Wednesday when the Committee for Legislative Reform and Term Limits showed up at the offices with a 36-foot-long box filled with 67,976 pieces of paper holding more than 590,000 signatures. […]
On Thursday, the Yes For Independent Maps coalition dropped off a 27-foot box filled with about 37,000 pieces of paper holding more than 532,000 signatures. […]
Borgsmiller said if each piece of paper turned in by the groups were laid end to end, the paper trail would stretch 33 miles. […]
In the scanning room, a team of technicians and temporary workers huddle around eight high-tech scanners. Once the paper is digitized, a review of the signatures begins.
Rather than view each signature to ensure they are from registered voters, staffers will do a random test of 5 percent of the signatures.
* And maybe an algebra expert can figure out the University of Illinois’ layoff ratio of faculty-to-staff from these numbers in Crain’s…
After shedding roughly 12 percent of its faculty at its flagship campus since the 2007-08 school year […]
Today the institution employs 17,236 permanent workers in Champaign-Urbana, 5 percent below its 18,150 headcount in 2008-09 […]
[Chancellor Phyllis Wise] announced plans last year to add 500 faculty members by 2020, raising the number of professors to 2,350.
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Caption contest!
Monday, May 5, 2014 - Posted by Rich Miller
* From Rep. Ed Sullivan…
Saw this while running the Palos Heights Half Marathon. This is Dem Country.
* The photo…
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Quinn tries to respond
Monday, May 5, 2014 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Gov. Pat Quinn appeared on several Chicago TV stations on Friday to defend himself after it was revealed that the feds are looking into his horribly botched 2010 anti-violence initiative. Here are some of the links…
* ABC 7: Quinn defends handling of anti-violence program amid probe
* NBC 5: Quinn Responds to Probe of Troubled Anti-Violence Program
* CBS 2: Quinn Takes Blame For Botched Anti-Violence Program — But Credit For Shutting It Down
* I’ve already dissected Quinn’s comments for subscribers today, so I won’t go into too many details again here. Suffice it to say that I wasn’t impressed or convinced.
And this is from the CBS 2 story…
“It was a program that was designed to protect the public safety and violence-plagued neighborhoods and to provide jobs for young people, mentoring,” the governor says.
Spending records CBS 2 obtained tell a different story. In Maywood, where murders dropped from a high of 10 in 2008 to two in 2009, Quinn’s program gave the Village of Maywood millions. In 2010, the Democratic machine in Maywood cranked out more votes for Quinn in 2010 than for Rod Blagojevich both times he won the governor’s race.
Quinn OK’d millions to Healthcare Consortium of Illinois, based in Dolton, to dole out funds to worthy groups. A document CBS 2 obtained shows politicians ruled the advisory board.
It included three state representatives, two state senators and Frank Zuccarelli, the powerful supervisor of Thornton Township.
Oy.
* And the Tribune takes a look at recent history of busts and convictions over state grants…
Last month, Quinshaunta Golden, a onetime top aide to former state public health chief Dr. Eric Whitaker, pleaded guilty in a $400,000 state grant kickback scam. Prosecutors have agreed to request that Golden, niece of Democratic U.S. Rep. Danny Davis of Chicago, be sentenced to no more than 10 years in prison. Whitaker, a close friend of President Barack Obama’s, has said he is fully cooperating with the government and not involved “in any way” with the alleged crimes in the case.
Before that, the daughter of the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, Obama’s controversial former minister, was convicted of laundering thousands of dollars from a $1.25 million state grant for a Chicago-based job training program. Jeri Wright has said she will appeal. Her attorney argued Wright was a victim of a web spun by longtime friend Regina Evans, the former Country Club Hills police chief who was sentenced to five years on Thursday after pleading guilty to corruption in the case. Evans had secured a state job training grant but allegedly diverted the money.
Two Chicago women were sentenced to prison last October after pleading guilty to diverting grant money intended to encourage more minorities in Chicago to become nurses. One of them, Margaret Davis, said then-state Sen. Rickey Hendon helped secure the grant money. The flamboyant West Side politician abruptly resigned in February 2011, months after revelations that a federal grand jury issued subpoenas for records on dozens of state grants, some of which he sponsored. Hendon has not been charged.
The task force’s efforts claimed the political career of former state Rep. Connie Howard, who pleaded guilty last year to diverting as much as $28,000 from a scholarship fund she created to benefit needy students.
Democratic state Rep. Derrick Smith, already expelled once from the Illinois House, is scheduled to face trial this month in Chicago after federal investigators alleged he pocketed $7,000 from a day care operator who wanted him to write an official letter supporting a bid for a $50,000 state grant in 2012. The operator was working undercover for the FBI. Smith, who lost his March primary election, has denied any wrongdoing.
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Today’s quotable
Monday, May 5, 2014 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Mark Brown on the net out-migration from Illinois…
Darren Lubotsky, an associate professor of economics at the University of Illinois and another handy guy with census data, cautions against using the population statistics to support a particular political narrative.
“Illinois has been a net exporter of people for a long time. These are long-term trends. This isn’t caused by the latest state budget crisis or anything like that,” Lubotsky said. “This isn’t something that just happened in the last 10 years.”
And no matter how many Illinois residents are talking about moving, relatively few actually will, he said. That’s just the pattern throughout the U.S. in recent years.
I can’t discount the connection between government policies, jobs and migration. But I don’t accept that the best solution is to create an Illinois economy where employers reign supreme, the rich get richer and workers suck it up like in the Good Old Days.
If that’s where we’re headed, I’m going to need to start looking for a beach. [Emphasis added.]
Your thoughts?
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The strong power of partisanship in Illinois
Monday, May 5, 2014 - Posted by Rich Miller
* My weekly syndicated newspaper column…
I commissioned a We Ask America poll on April 21st of the races for governor, comptroller and treasurer. But I forgot to put the candidates’ party labels in the poll’s questions. The results came out very weird.
Bruce Rauner led Gov. Pat Quinn by 11 points in that poll, 49-38. Comptroller Judy Baar Topinka trounced Lt. Governor Sheila Simon by an astounding 27-point, 56-29 margin. And Rep. Tom Cross led Sen. Mike Frerichs in the state treasurer’s race by 13 points, 33-20.
The Topinka crosstabs were bizarre. The Republican was leading among Democrats 55-30, ahead in Chicago 57-23 and among African-Americans 55-22. No way.
Garbage in, garbage out, as they say, so I dumped the poll and ran a new one on April 27th. This time we identified the candidates’ party affiliations.
The results were strikingly different.
In the second, April 27th poll, which specifically told respondents which candidate was a Democrat and which was a Republican, The Republican Rauner and the Democrat Quinn were tied 44-44 - an eleven-point swing. Topinka still led big, but by a much more believable 51-38 - a 14-point swing. And Republican Cross’s lead over the Democrat Frerichs dropped to 41-37 - a nine-point swing.
Both polls had almost identical partisan breakdowns of respondents and both had similar margins of error, ±3.21 percent in the first poll and ±3.14 percent in the second.
The crosstabs show just how dramatically the results changed when voters were given candidate party labels.
The first poll, which didn’t give voters the candidates’ party labels, Rauner led 62-27 among Downstaters. But the second poll, which did include the partisan info, Rauner’s Downstate lead dropped to 52-33. Among whites, Rauner led 57-33 in the first poll, but 51-38 in the second, when they knew which party the candidates belonged to.
The partisanship impact was even more clear with traditionally Democratic-leaning constituencies. Rauner’s recent TV ads have featured his Democratic wife, and the first poll found that Rauner actually led Quinn among women 44-41 when women weren’t told which party he or Quinn represented. But when women did have that partisan information, they flipped big to Quinn in the second poll, 48-38.
When African-Americans weren’t told that Rauner was a Republican, he trailed Quinn 55-22. But when black voters were given both candidates’ party labels, Quinn led Rauner 70-19. That’s still not horrible for Rauner, but far more believable.
Rauner ran some Spanish-language TV ads after the primary was over, and the first poll, which didn’t tell Latino voters that he was a Republican, showed him winning that crucial demographic by 3 points, 37-34. But the second poll, which identified Rauner as a Republican, had Quinn winning Latinos 52-36.
Let’s look at the Topinka numbers, which were what initially made me realize that I’d made a wording mistake. Topinka has been around for decades and voters clearly like her. She’s also a liberal-leaning Republican, which makes her much more electable in Illinois.
But Topinka’s 55-30 lead over Simon among Democrats in the first poll was more than reversed to a 24-67 deficit when Democrats were told that Topinka was a Republican. Her initial 57-23 lead in Chicago and 55-22 margin among African-Americans were also reversed in the second poll, when she trailed Simon 35-54 in the city and 29-58 among African-Americans. And her 55-28 lead among women dropped to 48-40 when voters knew that Simon was a Democrat and Topinka was a Republican.
Tom Cross is better known that Michael Frerichs because of his years as a legislative leader who lives in the Chicago media market and because he had a contested GOP primary race. Frerichs’ 26-19 lead among Democrats rose to a 68-11 lead when Democrats were given candidate party affiliation labels a week later.
The difference between the two polls is far more interesting to me than the actual results. It’s early. Results will change over time.
But if it wasn’t before, it’s now crystal clear that a large number of likely voters cast their ballots based on partisanship. And as a result the Republican Party faces a gigantic hurdle in Illinois. That’s probably not news to most of us, but at least now it’s somewhat quantifiable.
Discuss.
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An attempt at real unity
Monday, May 5, 2014 - Posted by Rich Miller
* My Crain’s Chicago Business column…
The Democratic Party in Illinois is dominated by powerful, entrenched politicians with huge egos who don’t really care much about each other.
It’s not that they necessarily go out of their way to hurt one another, mind you. It’s that they don’t do more than is absolutely necessary to help each other. Yet a recent summit is a sign the Democrats want to change.
Despite their long tenures, Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan and U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin don’t work together very well. Mr. Durbin was elected to the Senate in 1996 after serving in the U.S. House for 14 years.
Over the years Mr. Durbin has unofficially assumed several of the duties normally held by the state party chairman, a post held since 1998 by Mr. Madigan.
Although Mr. Madigan has focused on his House candidates to the exclusion of everyone and everything else, he doesn’t often care for the way Mr. Durbin has usurped his role.
Gov. Pat Quinn, who is up for re-election, is a longtime political outsider. He lacks the clout of Messrs. Durbin and Madigan and operates mostly in his own domain, although he often has helped lower-tiered candidates.
The same go-it-alone approach applies to organized labor. The trade unions never have loved the public employees unions, and government workers are still furious at Mr. Quinn, Mr. Madigan and Illinois Senate President John Cullerton over the pension overhaul law passed in December.
The American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees hasn’t given any money to Mr. Madigan’s campaign committees in years.
But something happened this year that has changed everything.
Click here to read the rest of the story.
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Stay requested on pension law
Friday, May 2, 2014 - Posted by Rich Miller
* The State University Annuitants Association has filed a motion requesting that the relevant portions of the pension reform law be stayed. WUIS has more…
These workers can escape some of the pension reductions if they quit before July. But once someone retires, there’s no going back.
The filing argues that “misinformation and confusion” surrounding the pension law is widespread.
And with State University Retirement System overwhelmed with members seeking counseling, people are having to make these decisions without “the benefit of full information.” It says many workers may be compelled to retire on the mere chance the law would be upheld.
Though the motion is specific to members of the State University Retirement System, a stay would likely be effective for all affected public employees.
I’ve requested a copy of the motion. Check this post for updates in a bit.
…Adding… Click here to read the motion.
…Adding more… With a hat tip to a reader, this was in the DeKalb Daily Chronicle…
As many news organizations have reported in the past week or so, the new, controversial pension “reform” law includes a mistake that affects some public university employees and is causing what some are calling “a mass exodus.”
That’s not an exaggeration. Just at NIU, it’s been reported that as many as 800 employees, or 20 percent, are suddenly heading for the exits. Without even concentrating, I personally can think of about 10 people leaving. Sure, some faculty members might come back to teach on an ad hoc basis, but many won’t and very few staff will return.
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Question of the day
Friday, May 2, 2014 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Sean Sullivan writing in the Washington Post’s “The Fix”…
The road to reelection for Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn (D) was always going to be difficult. But it looks even harder at the end of a troubling week for the Democrat when a federal probe of an anti-violence initiative he started has received widespread attention in the state.
At minimum, the episode is an unwelcome distraction; at most, it could become a big blow to the good-government image Quinn has carefully crafted, close watchers say. […]
A large part of Quinn’s path to victory will depend upon how negative a light Democrats can cast Rauner in during the run-up to November. But the more the focus is on Quinn, the more difficult his path becomes.
Keep in mind that Rod Blagojevich was reelected a few days after his top fundraiser Tony Rezko was indicted and that Quinn was elected in 2010 with an approval rating in the 30s. Also keep in mind that Bruce Rauner has a whole lot more money to spend than any GOP nominee in many a year.
* The Question: On a scale of one to five, with one being the least and five being the most, rate the impact of this anti-violence initiative scandal on Quinn’s reelection chances. Take the poll and then explain your answer in comments, please.
customer survey
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Beyond the rhetoric
Friday, May 2, 2014 - Posted by Rich Miller
* From an op-ed by Kent Redfield on the proposed constitutional amendment to reform redistricting…
This redistricting amendment is straightforward: Create an independent commission of Illinois citizens who would draw state maps in a transparent way, using nonpartisan, criteria. Those criteria would include keeping together communities of common interests — economic, social, racial, linguistic or cultural.
They also include respecting existing city and geographic boundaries and complying with state and federal voting rights laws. And the criteria prohibit the commission from favoring one political party over another or using district boundaries to reward or punish any incumbent legislator.
The number of signatures collected showing support for putting the proposal on the ballot make it unlikely a challenge to their validity will be successful. My reading of the proposal is in agreement with many experts who believe the Illinois Supreme Court will turn back any legal challenge to the proposal.
Yet political leaders in control of the legislature are laying the groundwork to challenge this measure.
Why use precious resources against long odds? The risk does offer a reward. If efforts to block the proposal from being on the November ballot are successful, it will relieve those in power from having to defend the failed status quo.
During the debate over the constitutional convention several years ago, I argued forcefully and repeatedly for a convention based mostly on this one issue of redistricting reform. Politicians shouldn’t be allowed to choose their own voters.
* But there’s a real constitutional issue here. This is what the Illinois Constitution says about citizen amendment initiatives…
Amendments shall be limited to structural and procedural subjects contained in Article IV
Article IV is the General Assembly’s article.
* But this is from the proposed amendment’s language on the composition of the Redistricting Commission…
For ten years after service as a Commissioner or Special Commissioner, a person is ineligible to serve as a Senator, Representative, officer of the Executive Branch, Judge, or Associate Judge of the State or an officer or employee of the State whose appointment is subject to confirmation by the Senate.
By prohibiting people from running for judge or statewide office for ten years, the proposal goes well beyond anything in Article IV.
And that’s a real problem, no matter what the merits of the issue of redistricting reform itself may be. I can understand the reform reasoning for putting that campaign ban in there, but I don’t yet see the constitutional support for it.
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Wheeler on the rebates
Friday, May 2, 2014 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Charlie Wheeler has the best criticism I’ve yet seen on the proposal by House Speaker Michael Madigan and Gov. Pat Quinn to mail out $500 “property tax rebate” checks before the November election…
Quinn touted the idea as “the most significant property tax relief in state history,” at best a dubious claim for a couple of reasons. Chief among them is the fact that the annual $500 check would not be linked at all to actual property tax payments, nor would the giveaway benefit everyone. Indeed, homeowners whose tax bills exceed $10,000 actually would lose money under the governor’s plan, because they’d no longer have the current income tax credit equal to 5 percent of property taxes paid. Renters would get nothing, even though they also pay property taxes as part of their monthly payments.
The governor likened his plan to former Gov. Jim Edgar’s 1997 effort to raise income tax rates to provide more money for local schools and to cut local property taxes, also a stretch if not downright mendacious. The key difference: A major feature of the Edgar tax swap proposal called for a dollar-for-dollar reduction in local school levies for some $900 million in additional state aid, which analysts at the time estimated would amount to almost a 30 percent cut in school operating taxes. Quinn’s plan ignores local property tax levies altogether.
In addition to property tax relief, the Edgar proposal also would have increased state aid to poorer school districts by some $600 million; the only way the governor’s $500 checks would help struggling schools would be if the folks who got them splurged at PTA fundraisers.
Still, maintaining income tax rates at current levels, as Quinn wants, is critical to the financial well-being of the state’s schools, which would lose more than $600 million in general funds otherwise, according to budget documents. With the rates in place, the budget recommends a $291 million general funds increase.
Using the $700 million in net new cost for those rebate checks could boost that school spending increase to a billion dollars.
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Beware the radicals
Friday, May 2, 2014 - Posted by Rich Miller
* From an anti-fracking op-ed by William Rau…
Last year, I emailed Illinois legislators showing how the definition of high-volume horizontal fracturing in the Illinois Hydraulic Fracturing Act created a loophole exempting oil producers from the law. Legislators dismissed the warning and passed the Frack Act last May. Now, Denver-based Strata-X is preparing to frack a horizontal well next month with a permit filed under the old Illinois Oil & Gas Act.
The consequences? First, permit fees drop from $13,500 per well to $15 per well when Strata-X drills its 100-plus planned wells. Second, production taxes, which are 11 percent in North Dakota, drop from about 3 percent to one-tenth of 1 percent in Illinois with all revenue going to an oil promotion board. Counties can forget about receiving state funds for highway repairs.
Third, blanket bond moneys for plugging defunct wells and cleaning up well sites drop from $500,000 — already inadequate for preventing bond forfeiture — to $25,000. For 100 wells, that’s $250 per well, about 1/100th of actual plugging and cleanup costs.
Guess who will be stuck with the cleanup costs?
Finally, public notice requirements, baseline water testing, insurance provisions, modest environmental protections and setbacks, earthquake mitigation, bans on open pit storage of frack waste water, etc., are all gone.
* There’s also another claimed loophole. SJ-R…
Environmental groups dismissed draft rules released in November as riddled with loopholes favoring the oil and gas industry.
Opponents of the practice of using high-pressure water and chemicals to free oil and gas from rock formations also are pushing for a fracking moratorium in the spring legislative session.
“The big issue with us is the fact that we are pretty convinced the industry is already dry fracking,” said Annette McMichael, spokeswoman for Southern Illinoisans Against Fracturing Our Environment.
McMichael said dry fracking relies on nitrogen and propane to circumvent limits on the volume of water and chemicals permitted.
* I asked Mark Denzler of the IMA to respond…
Thank you for the opportunity to comment on Mr. Rau’s continued forays against energy development in Illinois. Mr. Rau and IPA are publicly on record as opposing any form of hydraulic fracturing in Illinois so his latest op ed is simply more of the same on this topic.
For the record, there are no loopholes in the Illinois law. The General Assembly, working in concert with industry, environmental community and the Attorney General’s office, crafted a strong law regulating the new generation technology known as high volume hydraulic fracturing. It’s interesting to note that a few days ago, the Bakken Shale in North Dakota and Montana reached a milestone of producing its 1 billionth barrel of oil while we continue to wait for the Department of Natural Resources to promulgate final rules.
The definition of a high volume hydraulic fracturing operation is 300,000 gallons of fluid (not simply water) or 80,000 gallons per stage. The total gallonage standard was a last second request by the environmental community during negotiations and inclusion of a conversion factor is being discussed as part of the rulemaking process. Generally speaking, HVHF operations use millions of gallons of water so in reality Illinois set a very low threshold in order to ensure that the new regulations captured a wide range of operations. these operations must comply with the new law. Illinois policymakers clearly wanted to delineate the difference between conventional wells and new HVHF wells and they took the time to do their homework to craft a law that recognizes the differences.
Secondly, Illinois set a very stringent standard by defining a horizontal well as one that deviates more than 100 feet from surface to bottom hole location. Nearly every well has deviation and Illinois’ definition is very strong.
The legislature was diligent in making sure the law was tailored to address precisely the types of unconventional operations that have been the subject of media and policy discussion in other states.
So, actually, there is sort of a loophole for “dry fracking” in the legislation, but the conversion factor between nitrogen or propane and water is currently under discussion.
Also, I’m told it’s very likely that Strata-X’s project can’t circumvent the current law. We’ll see, but the standards are pretty darned tough.
In other words, the sky most likely isn’t falling.
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Credit Unions – Paying it Forward in their Communities
Friday, May 2, 2014 - Posted by Advertising Department
[The following is a paid advertisement.]
Credit unions have a well-recognized reputation for providing exemplary service in meeting their members’ daily financial needs. A “People Helping People” philosophy also motivates credit unions to support countless community charitable activities on a continual basis. Financial Plus Credit Union is no exception, having raised and donated tens of thousands of dollars for many worthwhile causes throughout north central Illinois. This includes serving as the main sponsor and co-host of the local Easter Seals telethon, conducting food drives for local food pantries, collecting supplies during times of disaster such as last year’s flooding, and much more. Members are also seeing new donation canisters in the credit union’s lobbies this year that facilitate collections for a different local organization each quarter. Staff members has also come to the aid of the community via donating individual funds to help families facing significant medical crises, and purchasing holiday gifts on a private basis for foster children. Credit unions are able to wholly serve their communities because of their not-for-profit cooperative structure and leadership of a volunteer board elected by and from the local membership. Financial Plus has been family managed since its inception in 1951 and for the past 38 years under the leadership of Jack Teausant. Credit unions– locally owned, voluntarily led, and Paying it Forward in your community.
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Today’s numbers
Friday, May 2, 2014 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Jeff Ignatius looks at another reason why the progressive “Fair Tax” proponents might be better off waiting until next year, if, of course, the 5 percent income tax is made permanent…
• Compared to the pre-2011 flat-income-tax rate of 3 percent, the Fair Tax represents a tax break for only those whose net income is below roughly $13,150. (Over-simplistically, net income is total income minus the standard deduction of $2,100 per person in a household. So for a married couple with two dependent children, $13,150 in net income would be the same as $21,550 in total income.)
• Compared to the 3.75-percent income-tax rate that is scheduled to take effect on January 1, the Fair Tax plan represents a tax cut to taxpayers with net incomes up to roughly $21,740.
• Compared to the 5-percent income-tax rate that took effect in 2011 and is scheduled to expire at the end of this year, the Fair Tax plan represents a tax cut for those with net incomes up to roughly $202,630. This is the comparison that Fair Tax advocates are making with the promise of tax cuts for 94 percent of Illinoisans. (You can see how your income-tax picture looks in this scenario at FairTaxCut.com. Be sure to enter your total income before the $2,100-per-person standard deduction.)
Yet even if one compares the Fair Tax plan to the 5-percent rate, the tax cut is modest. At $180,000 of net income, a taxpayer’s bill under the Fair Tax plan would be $430 less than it is now – a tax cut of less than 5 percent.
As a percentage of taxes owed, the Fair Tax plan would benefit lower-income taxpayers most, but even then it would amount to only a few hundred dollars. (The tax cut doesn’t reach $300 until $50,000 of net income.) Still, for taxpayers with net incomes below roughly $62,000, it is a tax cut of more than 10 percent from what they’re currently paying.
The lower-income tax cuts are offset by tax hikes for higher incomes. A taxpayer with $1 million in net income will see a tax hike of $15,150 (more than 30 percent) compared to the current 5-percent-flat-tax rate, and $27,650 (almost 74 percent) compared to the scheduled 3.75-percent rate. At $300,000 of net income, the tax hike is $1,850 (more than 12 percent) compared to the 5-percent flat rate, and $5,600 (almost 50 percent) compared to 3.75 percent.
Thoughts?
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Grant probe is “not over”
Friday, May 2, 2014 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Tribune…
The former police chief of County Club Hills was sentenced Thursday to five years in prison for diverting $917,000 from a state job-training grant to help remodel her home, travel to Las Vegas and distribute cash to her family and friends.
Regina Evans, 51, tearfully begged U.S. District Judge Sue Myerscough to not “take my life away,” before the sentence was handed down. Federal prosecutors had sought a prison sentence of more than 10 years.
After the hearing, Assistant U.S. Attorney Timothy Bass said the investigation that led to Evans conviction and has also taken down former state Rep. Connie Howard, Jeri Wright, the daughter of the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, and a top state public health official, is ongoing.
“It’s not over,” Bass said.
* More on that last line from the Sun-Times…
Without naming names, [Evans’ lawyer, Lawrence Beaumont] lashed out at the prosecution during the hearing, accusing the government of having a “misguided vendetta” against her. He said she “made telephone calls” and wore a wire on behalf of the government in pursuit of other targets, but she didn’t deliver any prized political pelts sought by prosecutors.
“In my humble opinion, part of the prosecution in this case had some kind of vendetta against her because she refused to cooperate or didn’t cooperate the way they felt she should against some political people in Chicago. They seem to want to take that out on her, which in my opinion is inappropriate,” Beaumont said.
During testimony in her two-day sentencing hearing, U.S. Postal Inspector Basil Demczak indicated the government criminal investigation into grant fraud at the Department of Commerce and Opportunity remains ongoing.
Asked later to clarify those remarks, Bass said, “I can only speak for what’s in the record. Again, what’s in the record is what Inspector Demczak testified to, and that is this case arose from an investigation of DCEO’s employment opportunity grant program that was targeted at helping underrepresented persons, underprivileged minority persons in the Chicago-area community.
“The investigation involved not just looking at Ms. Evans as one grantee but the entire program and whether or not other persons, other grantees, or other public officials had engaged in any wrongdoing. Inspector Demczak testified that investigation is ongoing,” Bass said, declining to name any targets.
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A much better response
Friday, May 2, 2014 - Posted by Rich Miller
* One of the problems with some Republican opposition to House Speaker Michael Madigan’s bill to appropriate $100 million to help fund the construction of an Obama presidential library was that the GOPs set a rhetorical trap for themselves. For instance…
“We’re not opposed to the library, but we have lots of other needs,” [Republican Rep. Ed Sullivan] said, citing, for example, Emanuel’s push to outfit more city schools with air-conditioning.
“Do you want to pay for air conditioning in schools or a library? Do you want to pay for cops on the streets to stop the killing or do you want to pay for a library?” Sullivan said.
Statements like that made it appear that they could support big, new spending for Chicago.
* Sen. Bill Brady’s idea to allow Illinois taxpayers to contribute via income tax checkoff is much better…
“We absolutely want future presidential libraries to be built in Illinois. The Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library has proven to be a major tourist destination, bringing people from around the country and world to visit Springfield,” Brady said. “However, simply put, Illinois doesn’t have $100 million to spend on a presidential library. State funds are already spread too thin to pay off our debt, make upgrades to our roads and provide essential services.”
If approved, the tax check-off would appear on tax returns in 2015 with any proceeds going toward the construction of the library. If less than $100,000 is collected, the check-off would be eliminated.
* Even Madigan’s mouthpiece couldn’t say a whole lot in response…
Madigan spokesman Steve Brown said contributions to tax check-offs have been “spotty.” But he said the speaker welcomed the additional fundraising option.
“We thank Senator Brady for his endorsement,” Brown said.
Discuss.
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An Illinois tradition
Friday, May 2, 2014 - Posted by Rich Miller
* From the Twitters…
* Bill Cameron at WLS has more…
The feds in Springfield are now on the case investigating Governor Pat Quinn’s very controversial anti-violence program that the GOP calls a slush fund to buy black votes before the 2010 election.
This is the fourth Illinois governor in a row to be investigated by the feds. Before Quinn, governors Rod Blagojevich and George Ryan did time, or still is doing time, for selling their offices. Even Jim Edgar was probed in the MSI scandal, but survived the search.
Jim Thompson was not investigated, but he was the feds, having been the U.S. attorney who sent another governor to prison, Otto Keener, in a race track stock scandal. Governor Dan Walker did time, not for corruption, but for bank fraud after he was out of office.
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