* My youngest brother Devin’s birthday was this week. I won’t say how old he is because he’s probably still traumatized. They just keep coming, don’t they? It ain’t a joke once you turn 40. Not saying that’s Devin’s age. Just sayin…
* The 12th Congressional District debate last night got heated at times. But this was one of the sharper exchanges between Democrat Bill Enyart and Republican Jason Plummer. I know it’s late in the day, and it’s Friday, but it’s a must-watch…
* Roundup…
* Enyart and Plummer blast each other in 12th Congressional debate
The Teachers’ Retirement System Board of Trustees today approved revisions to a number of assumptions contained in its actuarial model, including a reduction in the System’s long-term assumed rate of return on its $36 billion investment portfolio from 8.5 percent to 8 percent.
The major effect of the new assumed rate of return will be to increase the System’s long-term unfunded liability ratio from the current 54.8 percent to 57.6 percent. The lower rate of return also will increase the state’s required annual contribution to TRS in fiscal year 2014 and after. This contribution covers the annual cost of pensions as they are earned as well as the unfunded liability that has accumulated over time. The state contribution in FY 2014 is expected to rise from $3.07 billion with an 8.5 percent rate of return to $3.37 billion with an 8 percent rate of return. […]
In August, the System’s actuaries, Buck Consultants of Chicago, recommended reducing the assumed rate of return from 8.5 percent and outlined three options for a revised number – 7.75 percent, 8 percent and 8.25 percent. The Trustees delayed a final decision until September in order to allow further analysis by TRS staff and to ensure that all TRS trustees had a say in the final decision. On September 14 Gov. Pat Quinn named two new trustees to the Board, bringing the number of members to 13 for the first time in more than a year. [Emphasis added.]
That $300 million is a big jump for such a small decrease.
A chart…
* React from the Republican leaders…
“The Teachers Retirement System’s board decision today to adjust its estimated rates of return will drive our pension unfunded liability up by billions of dollars and the state’s obligation to pay into the systems each year by hundreds of millions. This is yet another reason that comprehensive pension reform has to be addressed now. We are disappointed in the Governor and democrat leaders for taking a pass on pension reform until January. We believe that is irresponsible. The more time they delay–the harder it will be to put together a comprehensive plan that tackles our crisis in a meaningful way. Today’s board action underlines the fact that our pension systems’ realities keep getting worse, not better. Even though TRS lowered its average rate of return to 8 percent, some financial groups such as Moody’s believe the rate should have been lowered even further to match current market conditions, which would have an even more detrimental effect on our state’s finances.”
*** UPDATE *** Senate President John Cullerton’s office responds to the Republican statement…
The last thing we need right now is more press releases and posturing on pensions. Until the political rhetoric and blame is replaced with a commitment and compromise from both parties, pension costs will continue to crowd out essential state services. A constitutional template for reform has already been put in place by the Senate. So when Republicans are ready to return to Springfield to vote on plan that reforms the system and addresses fairness, we will not delay to schedule a vote.
* The Lunch Pail Republicans PAC is spending $54,000 on cable TV ads in two congressional districts. Here’s the one in the 10th CD for incumbent Bob Dold. Rate it…
The other cable ad is for Congresswoman Judy Biggert. That one isn’t online yet.
Lawyers argued before the Illinois Supreme Court for more than an hour Thursday over an abortion notification law that’s nearly two decades old but has never taken effect. The court’s job is merely to determine whether the legal battle will continue.
The law, adopted in 1995, requires doctors of girls 17 and younger to notify a parent 48 hours before an abortion. A girl may bypass her parents by going to a judge.
Opponents of the dormant decree want permission to duke it out in a trial, which an appellate court agreed to last year. The state appealed that decision to the high court, with the Illinois solicitor general saying there’s no need for a trial because of numerous other court rulings on the matter and because opponents haven’t shown they have a right to one.
Similar laws — some even requiring parental consent for an abortion — exist in 44 other states. But the Illinois version never took effect because of ongoing judicial decisions and court wrangling.
* The Question: Do you support parental notification with judicial bypass? Take the poll and then explain your answer in comments, please.
A day after new data revealed the Illinois unemployment rate rose to 9.1% in August, public employees and retirees opposed to Governor Pat Quinn’s threat to lay off nearly 4,000 child protection workers, disability caregivers, correctional officers and other public servants will demonstrate outside two public events where the governor is scheduled to appear.
CHICAGO: 7:45 a.m. today (Friday, Sept. 21) at Wildfire, 159 N Erie St.
JOLIET: 10:00 a.m. near Joliet Union Station, Jefferson and Scott Sts.
Union members will form a “Pat Quinn Truth Squad” to picket and leaflet against the governor’s thousands of threatened job cuts, his false and exaggerated claims about public employee pensions, and his efforts to weaken workers’ right to collective bargaining.
Gov. Quinn’s scheduled Chicago appearance comes at a breakfast hosted by the Institute of Medicine of Chicago. He is slated to be in Joliet for the groundbreaking of a planned high-speed rail station.
In recent weeks similar “Pat Quinn Truth Squads” have dogged the governor’s events at a farm near Mount Vernon, confronted him after a bill-signing ceremony near the Quad Cities and booed him off the stage at the State Fair. Two weeks ago a mobile billboard truck shadowed Quinn at the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, NC, and last week a Truth Squad picketed a scheduled appearance in Springfield where the governor failed to appear.
* The union’s Facebook page has some photos of the protests…
* I agree that the Joe Walsh vs. Tammy Duckworth race is closer than pretty much anybody thought it would be. And the $810,000 just put into the race by a Super PAC for Walsh ain’t gonna be a bad thing for him.
But just to be clear, I’m told Walsh is trailing by five points in the We Ask America poll. The article below kinda makes it seem like he’s ahead.
The survey reportedly was taken in late August by the Tarrance Group, an Alexandria, Va.-based firm that usually works for Republicans. According to a source who has seen it, it shows Ms. Duckworth up just 47 percent to 45 percent.
Tarrance hasn’t called me back, and I’d sure like to have more details.
But the Tarrance survey is not inconsistent with a We Ask America survey — the group is closely affiliated with the Illinois Manufacturers’ Association — that showed a five-point Walsh margin, I’m told.
Team Duckworth isn’t releasing its numbers. A source there tells me that she’s up more than five points and that Mr. Walsh has yet to crack the 40 percent mark — a critical shortfall, if true. But that source also terms the race “competitive” and says it’s “not going to be a blowout.”
* Robert Bruno of the University of Illinois at Chicago described Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s battle with the teachers union quite well, I think…
“It appeared as if he was more interested in winning; that he was involved in a fight, and he wanted to beat the union. He wanted to beat them. He was looking for a victory, as opposed … to the ultimate goal was, what would it take to get a settlement, what would it take to get a deal with my partners.”
And he’s still at it. Aides are quietly pushing anti-teacher stories to reporters. He appeared in a million-dollar TV ad paid for by an anti-teachers union group. If that wasn’t a message to the CTU about his continued defiance, I don’t know what was.
It’s still a war to him. A campaign, if you will. Governing is more than warring and campaigning, however. And that’s a hard lesson that I don’t think he has yet learned, even with his much-vaunted White House experience.
He plays politics like the Hanson Brothers played hockey. That’s fine in a campaign. Not so good when running a big city.
…Adding… From a commenter…
The Hanson brothers were never arrogant. They seemed happy to meet with the public. They also were willing to listen to their coach when he (temporarily) thought the team should play old-time hockey and not brawl.
The Hanson brothers would be behaving much, much better than Rahm is.
* Oops!!! I guess I could blame IR for this mistake, but I should’ve checked the “Rush” FB page a little more closely. It’s a fan page. Says so right at the top.
Sheesh.
Sorry.
Headline changed and stuff stricken from the record.
Let’s help Rep. Bobby Schilling out. I need 25 of you to chip in $25 or more to help him fight these far-left special interest groups trying to run a strong conservative out of Congress. We need more people like Bobby in Washington who lead by example as they fight for us.
Do what you can! Bobby needs you!
Kinda set the bar low there. Twenty-five people giving $25 each is $625. He can’t do better than that?
In this morning’s Politico Huddle, something the corrupt website describes as “a play-by-play of the day’s congressional news,” this morning’s email blast headlined the following [emphasis added]:
Senate Democrats surging, Kaine leads Allen, Coburn: Dems’ vets bill same old ‘crap,’ Issa won’t stop probing ‘Furious,’ Schilling walks out of town hall, GOP: Reid’s Mitt-bashing broke rules, trivia
…Looks pretty bad, doesn’t it — a sitting Congressman turning tail and running from his own constituents?
Yep, pretty weak.
Oh, except…
Politico’s source published incomplete video. And had Politico been the least bit curious and skeptical of its left-wing source, it would’ve seen that Rep. Schilling did not “walk out” of the town hall meeting.
In fact, what the Republican Congressman did do was actually pretty shrewd. He made it look as though he was going to leave, which got the obnoxious protesters to leave, and then after they left, Schilling coolly and calmly returned to the front of the room and picked up right where he left off.
The picture of poise and composure.
* The video of Schilling coming back into the room, which I’ve already posted…
Al Ramos of East Moline, Illinois was surprised to be on the receiving end of the wrath of the female phone pollster who called his home this week.
“She asked if I was going to vote for Bobby Schilling or Cheri Bustos,” Mr. Ramos recounted. He says he told her he was leaning toward Bustos, but was still a bit on the fence.
Then, he said, she asked if the election were held today, would he vote for Mitt Romney or Barack Obama. Ramos says he told the pollster he isn’t a Romney fan because “he’s for the rich,” but he is not entirely happy with the president, either.
“I told her I’ll go with the lesser of two evils, I would go with Obama, and she said, ‘What, so you want to live in a communist nation? You want to live in a communist state, because that’s what’s going to happen,’” he said.
Ramos said he was shocked that a survey taker would turn on him.
* You knew this had to happen. The legislative scholarship program was killed by the General Assembly, but members were allowed to give out a final round of scholarships this summer. Some were questionable. Tribune…
Among those giving multiyear waivers was state Rep. Scott Penny, D-Fairmont City. When Penny, a police chief in that small town outside St. Louis, was appointed by local Democratic leaders late last year to replace a departing lawmaker, he vowed not to run for an additional term and to focus only on serving his constituents.
“It’s a wonderful job, but I don’t know if it’s for me,” he told his local newspaper, the Belleville News-Democrat. “The thought of me being up here (in Springfield) long-term, I don’t think is realistic or practical.”
But it didn’t take Penny long to dive into the well-worn Springfield practice of doling out legislative scholarships.
With the perk about to expire just months into his new job, Penny gave out two four-year scholarships to a pair of students. State records show that the parents of both students have ties to the St. Clair County Democratic Party.
One scholarship went to Danielle Fiudo of Fairmont City, where Penny has been police chief since the late 1980s until taking an unpaid leave to serve in the General Assembly. Fiudo’s father, Michael, is a village trustee in Fairmont City.
The other scholarship went to Taylor Lundy of Belleville. Records show she is the daughter of Michael Lundy, a Democratic precinct committeeman in Belleville Township and former Belleville city treasurer. He is now executive director of the Southwestern Illinois Development Authority.
Another Lundy daughter also received a four-year ride to Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville, from powerful Sen. James Clayborne, D-Belleville, starting in 2008.
* The Tribune also reported on scholarships given out over the past ten years…
In the past decade, at least 75 legislators awarded scholarships to children of people who contributed to the lawmakers’ re-election committees or other political funds they controlled, according to the Tribune review. At least three students whose fathers were later charged with public corruption had their tuitions waived by Democratic lawmakers, records show.
During that same time period, lawmakers also awarded at least 317 scholarships to the relatives of state workers, whose positions range from toll collector to assistant attorney general, according to a comparison of scholarship recipients with the state payroll. Family members of at least eight judges — none of whom makes less than $140,000 annually — also received tuition waivers, according to the paper’s review.
That program had to go. It did some good over the decades, but it was just rife with abuse. Good riddance.
When it comes to raising money, the 10th congressional district race notches among the top 10 highest in the nation.
Opensecrets.org ranked the 10th congressional district contest as the 10th highest in the nation with candidates raising more than $5.5 million.
Incumbent Bob Dold, a Republican has raised $2.8 million and spent $844,000, according to the site.
His challenger, Brad Schneider, a Democrat, raised $1.6 million.
The 10th is actually ranked higher when you toss out the districts without major races. Speaker Boehner’s district is ranked first. Michelle Bachmann is second, Eric Cantor is 6th and Paul Ryan is 9th.
But that cash is nothing compared to what’s been raised in the Massachusetts Senate race: $53,011,580.
The Illinois Supreme Court heard arguments Tuesday in a lawsuit by two homeowners challenging the state’s school funding system.
Ron Newell of Cairo and Paul Carr of Chicago Heights say the current method discriminates against taxpayers based on where they live and violates the equal protection clause of the state constitution.
They say they pay higher property tax rates because they live in poorer school districts, while owners of similarly valued homes in wealthier districts pay a lower rate.
“The plaintiffs having to pay more taxes… to reach the same level of funding… that’s unequal treatment,” said attorney Alexander Polikoff, who is representing Newell and Carr.
The case comes 15 years after the court issued a ruling upholding the state’s educational funding system, saying it was a matter of local control. But that decision was based on the effect of a property tax-based funding scheme on school students, not property owners.
Under the scenario presented to the court, a Chicago Heights property is taxed at a rate 2.5 times higher than a similar property in Winnetka, a wealthier suburb north of Chicago.
* State Board of Ed. looking at changing the way state aid, grants are distributed: In the face of ongoing cuts in state funding for education, the Illinois State Board of Education is considering changes to the general state aid formula and poverty grant calculations. Several options were presented at the board’s meeting Wednesday in Bloomington. The board’s staff was directed to move forward with more detailed analysis of the impact of various options on school districts.
* College Illinois fund to take bath on car investment
* The embedded video below will go live tonight at 7 o’clock when 12th Congressional District candidates Bill Enyart (D-Belleville), Jason Plummber (R-Fairview Heights), and Paula Bradshaw (Green Party-Carbondale) square off for their second debate. Click here or here if there’s a problem with the video…
* Gov. Pat Quinn told reporters today that he wants another increase in the state’s minimum wage, already one of the higher minimums in the nation.
“I’ve always pushed that,” Quinn said when asked about whether he’d make raising the minimum wage a priority. The governor added that the state should tie minimum wage increases to the annual cost of living. “We’ll be talking about it,” he said.
* Quinn also dodged questions today about whether he’d introduce his own gaming expansion bill, but said he feels that the General Assembly would “address” the casino issue and maybe even resolve it by the 9th of January, which would be the end of the lame duck session. The governor reiterated his support for using new gaming money to fund education programs.
*** UPDATE *** I had to be out of the office part of the day, so I missed this one. The unemployment rate rose to 9.1 percent…
The Illinois Department of Employment Security said Thursday in its monthly report on statewide unemployment that the state saw sharp increases in the number of people employed in educational and health services jobs and in leisure and hospitality fields. In all, Illinois added a net 9,600 new jobs in August.
Construction firms and trade, transportation and utility employers shed a combined 2,500 jobs in August.
Department Director Jay Rowell says the summer rise in unemployment mirrored the summer of 2011. Last year, unemployment started dropping again in the fall.
* From Larry Joseph, director, Fiscal Policy Center at Voices for Illinois Children…
“The Census Bureau today released its American Community Survey data. As a multi-issue child policy and advocacy organization, Voices for Illinois Children is particularly concerned about the following data:
• The child poverty rate in Illinois jumped to 21.6% in 2011, up from 19.4% in 2010 and 15.4% in 2000. In 2011, nearly 660,000 Illinois children lived in poverty, up from 600,000 on 2010 and 500,000 in 2000.
• In 2011, only 3.7% of Illinois children lacked health insurance coverage, compared with 7.5% nationwide. Only four states had lower uninsured rates for children. Illinois has also substantially reduced racial-ethnic disparities in health insurance coverage.
An estimated 1.9 million people in the state were living below the federal poverty rate last year, almost 150,000 more than in 2010, according to the new American Community Survey. Chicago saw another 15,000 enter poverty last year, bringing the city’s total to 261,400, the ACS survey showed.
The trend of increasing financial woes, dating back to the recession that began in late 2007, also includes a shrinking paycheck for those who are employed as people who were laid off from white-collar jobs take lower-paying work where they can get it. Last year the median household income in Chicago was $43,628 — $4,000 less than in 2009 and part of a steady decline over the past three years, the census figures show.
“The low-paying sectors are growing,” while higher-paying industries continue to shed jobs, said Sheldon Danzinger, a University of Michigan economist who has written extensively about poverty trends. “Service, retail, food. They don’t pay very high wages. That’s a reason why a lot of working people are getting food stamps.”
The numbers bear out in Chicago, the ACS survey shows. The number of workers in 2011 who earned $25,000 to $35,000 grew by nearly 9,300 compared with 2010, according to survey estimates. Meanwhile, the number of people with annual salaries of $75,000 to $100,000 dropped by almost 4,000 during the same period.
A specter is haunting Illinois — the specter of government unions.
State taxpayers bear the burden of more than $200 billion in unfunded government retirement costs. Yet unions resist any and all changes, and shouted down Gov. Pat Quinn at the Illinois State Fair for merely entertaining the thought of reform.
With whatever means they have at their disposal, government employee unions have become a reliable obstacle to positive, necessary and long overdue changes that will give taxpayers relief from the burden of unaffordable employee benefits, improve failing schools and make core government services more efficient.
It is high time the grip government union bosses have over taxpayers and union members be exposed publicly, starting with how Illinois labor law has allowed Karen Lewis of the Chicago Teachers Union and other government union officials leverage over taxpayers:
• Union bosses have exclusive representation over workers.
• Workers are forced into membership whether they want it or not.
• Union bosses automatically confiscate money from worker paychecks to spend as they see fit.
• Once organized, unions and worker membership are close to permanent.
All of this has allowed government unions to cause or aggravate most of the fiscal and economic problems that Illinois faces, hurting our children, the poor and taxpayers alike.
* The Question: In your opinion, have government employee unions caused or aggravated most of the fiscal and economic problems that Illinois faces? Take the poll and then explain your answer in comments, please.
* Bruce Rauner, a possible Republican gubernatorial candidate, an adviser to Mayor Rahm Emanuel, a kabillionaire who’s invested tons of money into charter schools and a major foe of teachers unions was profiled by the Tribune this week about his thoughts on the recent teacher strike and busting up the union in the future…
“Wherever we come out on it, the good news long term, the taxpayers are frustrated in this city and they’re beginning to push back and very importantly, the parents are awakening to the issues in the city and I think we’re going to have a multiyear revolution,” he told an audience of business and political leaders at a seminar held jointly by the Dallas-based President George W. Bush Institute and the right-leaning Illinois Policy Institute.
“The critical issue is to separate the union from the teachers. They’re not the same thing,” Rauner said. “The union basically is a bunch of politicians elected to do certain things — get more pay, get more benefits, less work hours, more job security. That’s what they’re paid to do. They’re not about the students. They’re not about results. They’re not about the taxpayers.”
The CTU and its teachers will “always be aligned” over higher pay, he said. But teachers could be split off from the union’s leadership on the issues of evaluations and merit pay, he said.
“The good teachers know they’ll do fine. They’ve got the confidence. I’ve talked to them. I know,” Rauner told more than 200 people at the Art Institute of Chicago. “It’s the weak teachers. It’s the lousy, ineffective, lazy teachers that — unfortunately there are a number of those — they’re the ones that the union is protecting and that’s where there’s a conflict of interest between the good teachers and the union bosses.” […]
“You’ve got to break apart the union bosses away from the really talented teachers,” he said. “That’s doable. It’s not easy, but that’s doable and critical to improving the schools long-term.”
Since 90 percent of all teachers voted to strike, I’m not sure that he’s succeeded just yet.
* Earlier this week, I told you that the House and Senate Republican complaints about the pace of implementing a Medicaid reform were off base, as were their insinuations that the “delay” (which wasn’t really a delay) in implementation was somehow political. Gov. Pat Quinn jumped on the issue yesterday…
“Well that’s complete baloney and she knows it and the Republicans know it,” Quinn said, referring to Senate Minority Leader Christine Radogno (R-Lemont). “We are carrying out the Medicaid reforms with dispatch. We are going at full speed.”
Quinn wants the state to keep a closer eye on Medicaid to ensure the program is used only by people who meet eligibility requirements. “We don’t want anyone on the rolls that isn’t qualified or eligible for the Medicaid program, but in order to carry this out you have to properly follow the contract rules, procurement rules of Illinois [and] make sure the people are well trained so they do their job right,” Quinn said.
The state has hired a company to conduct the reviews, but that company needs three months of preparation before it starts.
Republican leaders have said that Quinn is taking too long and they want eligibility reviews to start in two weeks, but Quinn says they are just pushing for a political showdown. “This is all politics. We’re about seven weeks away from the election. That’s what they’re doing, it’s all politics. They know full well that Pat Quinn, the governor of Illinois, is ferreting out fraud [and] waste anywhere he sees it in state government.”
Don’t you just love it when politicians refer to themselves in the third person? And why does he still think that he has to identify himself as the governor?
Anyway, he’s right about the GOP attack. But his response left me feeling like I wish I hadn’t sided with him.
* Chuck Sweeny: Candidates, mental health pros should talk: If Bruscato was talking about the “old” Singer, with its 200-bed capacity, I’d agree with him. But the state has reduced Singer to a shadow of its former self. It has only around 40 beds to serve 23 counties, leaving not much room for Winnebago. Now, many in the local mental health community say it makes sense to move on to a community-based model that features nonprofits getting money from the state and raising their own funds as well.
* DCFS workers protest planned layoffs: Letreurna Packer, a DCFS intact supervisor, said she oversaw the case of a mother struggling with substance abuse and mental illness who has 10 children, including a 1-month-old. The family was displaced because of a fire in their home, Packer said. Under the new rules, the mother is ineligible for the program. Packer said they need to be heard. “A baby shouldn’t have to die for the system to change its protocol to give services to intact families,” she said.
* Late yesterday afternoon I told you about a new TV ad featuring Mayor Rahm Emanuel and paid for by a school reform group. Since it was posted late, some of you may not have seen it. Have a look…
* Script…
Like all Chicagoans, I’m glad the strike is over.
These were difficult negotiations, but here’s what we achieved.
A full day for our kids, so they can meet their full potential.
Principals will have the freedom to hire the best teachers.
Parents retain the right to choose the best school for their kids.
And for the first time, student achievement will be part of a teacher’s evaluation.
Change is never easy, and this contract certainly wasn’t.
But more time in class and more accountability is the right deal for our kids.
* What I didn’t know at the time was how much money was behind the ad. CBS2 has that info…
A million dollar TV buy put the mayor’s spin all over the airwaves Wednesday. Emanuel discusses the teachers’ contract in the ad, which was funded not by the city or the mayor himself, but by Education Reform Now, a group which has battled teachers’ unions across the country.
Wow.
Has there ever been anything like this anywhere? I have never heard of such a thing. A million samolians is plunked down by an anti teachers union group so that a Democratic mayor can stress the positive outcome of a teacher strike.
Welcome to the 21st Century.
* Meanwhile, the Chicago Teachers Union is running a radio ad…
* And the head of the CTU, Karen Lewis, says Emanuel hasn’t reached out to her since the union ended the strike…
Has the mayor called?
“No.”
But “I’m not surprised he didn’t call,’’ said Lewis, who said previously the mayor threw the f-bomb at her during one of their early private meetings.
“I haven’t had a relationship with him so I don’t know why it would start today,’’ Lewis said. “People want to make this out to be a big fight. I don’t even think about him.’’
However, Lewis conceded, union literature about the deal specifically mentions that if the two sides don’t extend the contract to four years, it will conclude in the middle of a mayoral campaign.
Conan O’Brien’s staff took notice, featuring the signs on the late-night comedian’s website and even parodying them. National and international news media ran stories about the guy with the Nickelback sign and a “denial” by an Emanuel spokeswoman that the mayor does not really like the Canadian pop rockers. (There was no reply to a Wednesday email asking if Emanuel likes the other seven performers Konkoleski chose).
In fairness, Konkoleski said he likes all kinds of music — except country — and admitted he has songs on his iPod by some of the acts he accused the mayor of liking, including one each by Milli Vanilli and Michael Bolton.
“I don’t know if we’ll ever meet face to face,” Konkoleski said, adding that he voted for Emanuel last year, “but if we do, we can at least strike up a conversation about Milli Vanilli and go from there.”
