Capitol Fax.com - Your Illinois News Radar

Thursday, Aug 15, 2013 - Posted by Rich Miller

* If you had to choose between the current crop of Republican gubernatorial candidates, whom would it be? Whom would it definitely not be? Explain.

112 Comments

Ask and ye shall receive

Thursday, Aug 15, 2013 - Posted by Rich Miller

* I gave AT&T a really hard time here the other day for lousy (actually, almost nonexistent) mobile phone service at the State Fairgrounds.

I went to the Toby Keith show last night. The place was packed and Toby rocked it. A thoroughly enjoyable evening.

I could see that lots of people had their phones out, taking pics and videos and likely posting on social networks, so I decided to send a couple of test texts. They went through fine. I even accessed my e-mail and the Internet. Everything worked like it was supposed to.

So, apparently, AT&T fixed its serious problems and I’d like to express my appreciation by saying “Thanks for doing the job you should’ve been doing all along.”

Too harsh? Maybe. I guess I should be happy.

15 Comments

Progress or no?

Thursday, Aug 15, 2013 - Posted by Rich Miller

* On the one hand…

Members of a legislative pension reform committee won’t put a timetable on when they’ll complete their work, although they continue to say they’re making progress.

Committee members — who spoke privately among themselves Wednesday — said there are still details that must be resolved before a reform plan can be presented to the General Assembly.

“We’re quite close,” said Rep. Elaine Nekritz, D-Northbrook. “I think it’s a matter of getting a few more details hashed out. How long that takes, when that announcement comes, I can’t predict right now.”

* On the other hand…

Sen. Bill Brady, R-Bloomington, said he was disappointed by developments Wednesday.

“Today, I don’t think we made much progress,” Brady said. “The biggest obstacle is probably differing opinion on what amount of savings needs to be. At the end of the day, I think it’s coming down to how much savings is necessary to both protect what people have earned and be affordable to future General Assemblies.”

What I believe this shows is a serious attempt at partisan and ideological balance, which had been sorely lacking up until the conference committee began to meet. Speaker Madigan wanted to get as much savings as possible, Senate President Cullerton wanted to find a compromise with the unions. Now, the idea is to negotiate the amount of savings that one side can accept while still keeping in mind the damage that will be done to actual human beings.

The biggest problem, of course, is still constitutionality. I don’t think they’ll get past this issue until the courts weigh in. For now it appears to have been set aside.

67 Comments

I guess it depends what “always” means

Thursday, Aug 15, 2013 - Posted by Rich Miller

* From the Twitters…

Bruce Rauner didn't say if he'd sign helmet law; only 'I always wear a helmet' pic.twitter.com/UsJgoyBxTz

— Bernie Schoenburg (@bschoenburg) August 15, 2013

Umm…

33 Comments

*** LIVE COVERAGE *** Illinois State Fair Republican Day

Thursday, Aug 15, 2013 - Posted by Rich Miller

* BlueRoomStream.com will have live video of the State Fair Republican Day rally. The event begins at noon. Click here to watch it.

* Some events have already started, however, so here’s the ScribbleLive feed…

4 Comments

Quinn has special day with special friends

Thursday, Aug 15, 2013 - Posted by Rich Miller

* Some out of town reporters seemed surprised that Gov. Pat Quinn received such an enthusiastic ovation at yesterday’s annual Democratic County Chairmen’s Association brunch. After all, every poll shows he’s unpopular with voters, even Democratic voters, and he’s not known to be the insiders’ favorite guy.

But Bill Daley made a not so subtle attempt at an answer yesterday…

“It’s Springfield,” he said. “I think there may be a lot of people who obviously have known or worked for Pat, or work for Pat now, over the years and they’re appreciative of those jobs.”

Lots and lots of those county chairmen either have state jobs or contracts for themselves and/or their family members or close friends. Of course they’re with their meal ticket.

* But that didn’t stop Daley and Sen. Kwame Raoul from taking jabs at Quinn…

Daley attempted to seize on the dysfunction and contended Democrats will lose the governor’s office in 2014 unless he is the nominee. “I believe — and I believe strongly — that there’s got to be change,” Daley said of more than five years of Quinn at the helm.

Quinn brushed aside Daley’s comments and vowed to defeat all challengers.

“There’s nobody in Illinois who can run a grass-roots campaign like I can,” said Quinn, who narrowly won the primary and general elections in 2010 despite low approval ratings. “I’m not afraid of big money, big-time lobby groups. I think I can win the day with the kind of campaign people in Illinois will admire.”

And…

Raoul, a Hyde Park/Kenwood Democrat, didn’t have a formal speaking role at the county chairmen’s brunch but presided over a gaggle of reporters later to verify his interest in the race but stress he hasn’t made up his mind about it.

Raoul said he personally likes Quinn but poked at Quinn’s leadership skills.

“The job of governor entails more than just using a pen to sign bills. It involves leadership, and rolling up your sleeves and engaging the Legislature, not just throwing arrows and rocks at the Legislature,” Raoul said.

“It’s a different style of leadership than I’m accustomed to,” he said.

* There was a major no-show yesterday…

[Effingham County Chair Audrey Griffith] was bothered that one politician never showed up — to either the morning meeting, or to the fair: the head of the Democratic Party of Illinois, House Speaker Michael Madigan, didn’t come at all.

“Be nice if he thought enough to be with us, supporting the party and egging people on to support what they believe in. Would have been really nice,” she said.

He’s suing the governor, he probably didn’t want to answer more questions about his daughter and the governor declared yesterday to be exclusively “Governor’s Day.” It’s no wonder he didn’t show. But still probably bad form.

* Quote of the day…

Democrats couldn’t deny the tensions in the room.

“It’s there,” said Rep. Elaine Nekritz, a top pensions negotiator. “But we can all come together and enjoy a nice breakfast.”

* And tomorrow could be a big day for the governor…

Democrats in Cook County, the largest county party organization in the state, will gather Friday to formally endorse a candidate for governor. County party officials said only Quinn was on the schedule to attend and ask the group for its endorsement, though Daley has reportedly been making phone calls to committee members over recent days.

“It would be very difficult to imagine the party endorsing someone who is not there,” said state Representative Lou Lang of Skokie, the group’s vice chair.

* Related…

* VIDEO: Illinois Senate President John Cullerton talks to reporters

* VIDEO: Pat Quinn speech 8-14-13

* VIDEO: Durbin on Illinois Democratic Party

11 Comments

A little perspective, please

Thursday, Aug 15, 2013 - Posted by Rich Miller

* I understand that a brother would be upset, but there’s a reason for this…

The brother of former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich says there’s a serious disparity in the sentence his brother received and the prison time lobbed against Jesse Jackson Jr. on Wednesday afternoon.

“It’s out of balance,” Robert Blagojevich said in a telephone conversation of the 30-month sentence given to the former congressman. “The sentence … compared to my brother’s, makes his disproportionately unbalanced and severe, and I’m hoping that the appellate process will finally render my brother some justice.”

The difference here is that Jackson pled guilty. He owned up to his mistakes. Rod Blagojevich continues to say he’s innocent. He does not accept responsibility.

Also, as a commenter pointed out yesterday, you don’t give a guy who pled guilty the maximum sentence because then defendants will be less likely to plead guilty in the future.

* So, was Jackson’s sentence too light? Maybe. But he used campaign money for personal expenses, which wasn’t even a crime not too long ago. Who was harmed? The contributors? Well, yeah, they did have the right to expect that their money would be used for campaign purposes, but it’s not like they’re truly “victims.” What about a candidate who announces she’s retiring on the same day as her fundraiser and doesn’t give the money back? That happened just a few days ago with an incumbent state Rep. Jim Edgar uses his campaign fund to make charitable contributions. George Ryan used his for legal defense.

I’m not making excuses for Jackson here. He violated clear federal laws on numerous occasions. I have no sympathy for him at all. The bizarre way he and his wife lived the high life off his campaign fund is thoroughly disgusting.

I’m just saying that, in my mind at least, what he did is not like robbing a liquor store. And since he pled guilty, he definitely should get a much lighter sentence than Rod Blagojevich.

37 Comments

Protected: SUBSCRIBERS ONLY - Crosstabs and a roundup

Thursday, Aug 15, 2013 - Posted by Rich Miller

Comments Off

Protected: SUBSCRIBERS ONLY - Today’s edition of Capitol Fax (use all CAPS in password)

Thursday, Aug 15, 2013 - Posted by Rich Miller

Comments Off

Question of the day

Wednesday, Aug 14, 2013 - Posted by Rich Miller

* Your favorite Illinois State Fair food is…? Specifics, please.

50 Comments

Reverse Robin Hood

Wednesday, Aug 14, 2013 - Posted by Rich Miller

* As the Tribune reported not long ago, some of Chicago’s greatest cultural institutions are struggling now because the wealthy people who run their boards of directors botched their finances…

The turn of the millennium was a heady time for many Chicago cultural institutions. Cheap loans, high investment returns and swelling endowments spawned a slew of new attractions along the lakefront and around downtown.

The Art Institute built its Modern Wing. The Adler Planetarium expanded. The Goodman Theatre constructed a new home in the recently re-energized theater district. New exhibits sprang up at the Field Museum and the Museum of Science and Industry. The Chicago History Museum underwent a gut rehab.

Cultural institutions were joining in the economic bonanza sweeping the country and, as with for-profit companies and individual homeowners, some would pay dearly for taking financial risks.

Encouraged by boards that included some of Chicago’s most influential corporate leaders, many museums and arts organizations decided to leverage their gains by borrowing tens of millions of dollars to fund expansions, renovations and other big-ticket projects. […]

“The recession blew a lot of people’s projections and plans,” said Carroll Joynes, co-founder of the University of Chicago’s Cultural Policy Center. “But the plans would have been unrealistic in many cases and freighted with not very good risk assessment, even if the economy had kept humming.”

* The Field Museum was especially hard hit…

The museum’s financial problems stem from a decision over a decade ago to issue $90 million in bonds for construction projects that included a subterranean storage center for much of its collection. The museum’s board assumed it could raise enough money through a capital campaign to keep the museum on solid footing.

But when that didn’t happen, it had to begin dipping into its endowment. Finally, in December, the museum announced that it would cut $5 million from its budget — $3 million of that from the science program — and would try to raise its endowment by $100 million.

* So, partly in reaction to this, the General Assembly passed a bill that would allow museums and aquariums to reduce the number of required free admission days by half, from 52 down to 26.

The bill passed with strong majorities in both chambers, but Gov. Pat Quinn vetoed it yesterday…

“Many Illinois families can only visit these museums on the 52 days that they are currently open to residents free of charge,” the governor wrote in a letter to lawmakers that explains his veto.

“Limiting the number of days our aquariums and museums are available free of cost would disproportionately limit access to our lower-income families,” he said. “I cannot support any legislation that seeks to reduce exposure to the vast educational resources on display at our museums, particularly for those in our state that are most vulnerable.”

While the problems at the museums and other cultural institutions are certainly severe, cutting free days to make up for the financing mistakes of society’s elite is just plain wrong. It is the sort of template that has been used ever since the great crash. Rich people screw up, poor people gotta give up.

The veto is vintage Pat Quinn. And he makes some solid points.

The veto has a political advantage as well. Sen. Kwame Raoul, a potential Quinn primary challenger, was a co-sponsor of the legislation.

Heh.

48 Comments

Blackburn drops out, endorses Simon

Wednesday, Aug 14, 2013 - Posted by Rich Miller

* Democrat Duffy Blackburn used his speech today at the Democratic County Chairman’s event to announce that he is “suspending” his comptroller campaign. “I wholeheartedly endorse Sheila Simon,” he told the attendees.

29 Comments

*** 12 MONTHS FOR SANDI *** 30 MONTHS FOR JJJ *** LIVE *** Jackson sentencing hearing

Wednesday, Aug 14, 2013 - Posted by Rich Miller

* Natasha Korecki is live-Tweeting the Jesse Jackson, Jr. sentencing hearing. She’s doing a great job and this is a must-watch…

27 Comments

Caption contest!

Wednesday, Aug 14, 2013 - Posted by Rich Miller

* From a friend who is at this morning’s Democratic County Chairmen’s brunch. If you can’t read the t-shirts, they say “Kwame Raoul, Democrat for Illinois”…

Our previous caption contest winners should expect to gather at the Miller tent at about 2:30 today. Send me an e-mail for confirmation.

21 Comments

Zuke nuked

Wednesday, Aug 14, 2013 - Posted by Rich Miller

* An inspector general’s hiring investigation, downgraded university credit ratings, and a possible new challenger emerging. Not a great day for Gov. Pat Quinn.

Oh, and this…

The widening mess that has enveloped the Chicago area’s public transit operators claimed another victim today, with the resignation of embattled Chicago Transit Authority board member Frank Zuccarelli.

In a letter to Gov. Pat Quinn, Mr. Zuccarelli said he’d agreed to be appointed to the board “with a singular purpose in mind — to be a strong advocate for meeting the mass transit needs of the residents of the south suburbs.”

But Mr. Zuccarelli’s decision to continue to bepaid $128,000 a year as the Thornton Township supervisor and to accept the $25,000-a-year CTA post became an immediate lightning rod after Metra and the Regional Transportation Authority officials resigned amid ethical controversies.

State law generally bans such double-dipping, but Mr. Zuccarelli profited from a loophole that exempts township posts.

* More…

Zuccarelli resigned in time to avoid attending Wednesday’s monthly CTA meeting.

Reacting to the resignation, William Daley delivered a blunt, two-sentence reply that, in its brevity, appeared designed not to add to the perception that he was engaging in any “political grandstanding” with his earlier call for Zuccarelli’s departure.

“Frank Zuccarelli had little choice but to do the honorable thing by resigning today,” Daley said. “It’s unfortunate that Gov. Quinn put him in this position in the first place.”

* Quinn’s response…

“I felt he would have brought an important perspective to the CTA Board, which has all too often left this region behind when it came to important transportation access issues. I accept Frank’s decision and will soon announce his replacement.”

…Adding… Commenter 47th Ward probably has this exactly right…

Zuccarelli is no dummy and easily saw the writing on the wall. He isn’t going to fault Quinn for this case of horrible timing. If anything, he’ll be aiming for a bigger plum if Quinn gets re-elected, so there is still plenty of motivation to go all out.

Yep.

* This story has given me a sense of déjà vu. Remember when Rod Blagojevich tried to appoint Sheila Simon to the Illinois Gaming Board back in 2005? Simon said she was surprised at the offer, but also said she wanted the job.

The problem was, Simon sat on the Carbondale city council at the time and state law prohibited a local official from being on the board. So, Blagojevich tried to change the law, but that failed.

In the end, Blagojevich ended up appointing Simon to the Illinois Arts Council.

Simon is no Zuccarelli for many reasons. But this isn’t the first time that a governor has tried to get around a law with an appointment.

15 Comments

Zorn encourages Raoul to run

Wednesday, Aug 14, 2013 - Posted by Rich Miller

* Eric Zorn agrees with me that state Sen. Kwame Raoul has a legitimate path to victory if he seeks the Democratic gubernatorial nomination…

Raoul’s profile, record of accomplishment and available seed money make him a plausible foe for two candidates who aren’t generating much enthusiasm among Democratic base voters.

Labor, which is sorely disenchanted with Quinn and Daley, would likely form a core of support for Raoul, as would African-American voters and the same of bloc of white liberals who backed Obama — perhaps enough, all told, that he would win a three-way primary.

Working against him, if he chooses to run, will be his lack of experience as an executive — by day, he’s a partner at a LaSalle Street law firm — and as a big-time candidate — he’s never contended on the statewide stage.

His role in attempting to resolve the pension crisis could also backfire on his ambitions. The Tribune has editorialized against Raoul’s “exasperating … slow walk” of the process so far this summer, and if too little gets done in the end, he’ll end up lumped in with Quinn and the legislative leaders labeled as part of the problem, not part of the solution.

Raoul has been demurely declining to reveal his plans and saying that his sole focus right now is coming up with a pension reform bill. It’s exactly what he should be saying under the circumstances, and offers no clue as to what he might do after Labor Day, when the political season begins in earnest.

It’s his time, though. And the Caucus of Meh! is growing impatient.

Raoul’s State Fair event last night was packed. He’s not there yet, but he is seriously considering this thing.

26 Comments

The sky is very dark, but it’s not falling

Wednesday, Aug 14, 2013 - Posted by Rich Miller

* Joe Cahill at Crain’s warns his readers that Illinois and Chicago are about to become Detroit. He concludes…

One of these days, Illinois or Chicago will float a bond offering and find no takers. That’s when we become Detroit.

This is a common fantasy among a large group of folks. We’ve seen it expressed before just about every major state bond offering. The Associated Press fell for it the last time and was completely embarrassed (or should’ve been) after the sale turned out fine. Even Ty Fahner subscribes to this notion, saying in his March address to the Union League Club: “Nobody wants our paper.”

Yet, time after time, Illinois bond sales are way oversubscribed.

* The truth is, Illinois has incredibly strong laws dictating that bond payments are made first - before pension payments, before school payments, before anything. Bond buyers know this.

They also know that they’ll get a better return on their Illinois bond investments, partially because of the hysterical nonsense spewed by people like Fahner.

And if they’re paying attention they also know that the state has no invoices sitting in the hopper that are over 30 days old. They also know that our economy, which has big problems, is still far more diverse and vital than Detroit’s ever was. Yeah, it was a major boom town 50 years ago, but its over-reliance on automobile production doomed it.

* Look, we’ve got problems here. Big, huge, gut-wrenching problems. But comparing Illinois to Detroit is no more valid than the dire and widespread predictions a couple of years ago that we were the next Greece.

* Even so…

Moody’s Investors Service downgraded debt ratings on seven public Illinois universities, and warns more decreases could take place in the future.

The bond rating agency took the actions Friday, about two months after it warned it was reviewing all public universities in Illinois because of the state’s precarious financial situation. The state of Illinois’ debt was downgraded in early June.

In Friday’s downgrades, only Northern Illinois University maintained its debt rating.

The downgrades affect a combined $2.24 billion in debt, but most of that belongs to the University of Illinois.

47 Comments

Report: IG probing IDOT hiring

Wednesday, Aug 14, 2013 - Posted by Rich Miller

* From a Better Government Association report…

* The state’s executive inspector general is investigating hiring irregularities, and has interviewed a number of former state government employees.

* Since 2003, IDOT officials routinely manipulated job descriptions as a means to get around court-ordered hiring rules.

* In many cases, once political hires were made, they did not fulfill the responsibilities in their job descriptions.

* The number of political hires at IDOT jumped by 63 percent in the last decade, while the number of highway road maintainers plummeted by nearly 800 posts.