* Yesterday, the AP ran this quote from Gov. Pat Quinn about the ComEd bill, which had been held in the Senate via a parliamentary maneuver for almost two months…
“I think we’re going to veto the [ComEd] bill as soon as it arrives,” Quinn said.
Now that the bill is officially on his desk, Quinn was asked when he would veto it…
“Yeah, I have to officially do that. We’ll find the right moment to do that.”
First, though, he went through one of his trademark long, rambling responses…
“Well, that just arrived yesterday. That’s a bill to raise utility rates on people who are Ameren customers and ComEd customers. I’m not sure anybody in Illinois is for higher utility rates, whether you’re in agriculture, or business or you’re a consumer in your household. I don’t think we should be raising utility rates. I started the Citizens Utility Board about 30 years ago and we’re going to fight hard to make sure customers and consumers and businesses get first [unintelligible].”
There’s lots more, but I have other things to do today. If you don’t, listen to the full audio…
* And here’s Gov. Quinn responding not long ago to a question about expanding gaming to the State Fairgrounds…
“Harness racing has been at the fair for a long time but when you put in slot machines, that’s a wholly different situation. I was never excited about that. We’ve got Lady Antebellum coming on Sunday. Can’t go wrong with that. I think that’s enough. Who needs slot machines when you have MC Hammer?”
…as September draws near, there’s growing suspicion the curtain is about to close on either manager Ozzie Guillen or general manager Ken Williams — or maybe both.
A major-league source told the Sun-Times that the fragile relationship between Guillen and Williams is now beyond repair.
Not that the Guillen-Williams saga is anything new.
What is new? Chairman Jerry Reinsdorf and the Sox are feeling pain in the pocketbook during this frustrating season. Whether it’s because of the drama doesn’t matter anymore. Lost money is lost money.
A year ago, Reinsdorf was willing to play peacemaker, put a Band-Aid on the wound and let it heal over time. It seemed like it did when Williams announced at SoxFest that Guillen’s 2012 club option was picked up. Hugs and kisses for everyone.
That was almost seven months ago, but it feels more like seven years.
There have been at least two known heated blowups between Guillen and Williams, according to sources. But even more significant is the recent talk in baseball circles that the White Sox have been getting a feel for managerial candidates. Sources said that also included renewing talks with the Florida Marlins about compensation for Guillen with the team set to open its new stadium next season.
* The Question: Should Guillen be fired, or Williams, or both? Or neither? Take the poll and then explain your answer in comments, please. Thanks.
* Here in Illinois, the Republicans are bitterly complaining about the Democrats’ new state and congressional district maps. Elsewhere, though, the GOP is crowing about its wins…
Republicans romped last November, gaining 63 House seats to secure the majority, winning 11 governorships, including Ohio and Pennsylvania, and seizing control of the most state legislative seats they’ve held since 1928. The GOP is capitalizing on its across-the-board control in 26 states — governorship plus legislature — in the census-based drawing of a new political map that will be a decisive factor in the 2012 elections and beyond.
“Republican freshmen are finding the ground harden beneath them as their current swing districts become less competitive for Democrats,” said Rep. Pete Sessions, R-Texas, chairman of the National Republican Campaign Committee. “Even seemingly small changes in district political leanings can mean big returns at the ballot box.”
Nearly half of the states have finished redrawing House lines based on population changes, although lawsuits and Justice Department reviews loom. The immediate post-election claims that the GOP could add 15 to 30 seats in the U.S. House through redistricting have proved unfounded, in large part because Republicans captured so many seats last November. Instead, the GOP has used the redistricting process to shore up its most vulnerable lawmakers, people such as Ellmers and Farenthold.
“Redistricting starts with Republicans at a peak,” said Tim Storey, an elections analyst with the nonpartisan National Conference of State Legislatures. “They hold a solid majority of seats in the House. It’s hard to gain much more.”
* Illinois has no school voucher program. Indiana does, however, and it’s starting to take off…
Weeks after Indiana began the nation’s broadest school voucher program, thousands of students have transferred from public to private schools, causing a spike in enrollment at some Catholic institutions that were only recently on the brink of closing for lack of pupils.
It’s a scenario public school advocates have long feared: Students fleeing local districts in large numbers, taking with them vital tax dollars that often end up at parochial schools. Opponents say the practice violates the separation of church and state.
In at least one district, public school principals have been pleading with parents not to move their children.
* A new report from Moody’s could presage what might happen here in Illinois if Chicago and several areas near our borders are given riverboat casino licenses…
Massachusetts leaders have ended more than a year of negotiating over proposed gambling legislation by agreeing to open three casinos and a slots parlor in the Commonwealth. Even before the plan is voted on by rank-and-file lawmakers, however, it is causing anxiety for adjoining states.
A new report by Moody’s Investors Service confirms what many state officials in Connecticut and Rhode Island feared: The opening of four gambling venues in Massachusetts will drive business away from their own casinos. That, in turn, could hurt tax collections in both states.
* In Illinois, our Democratic governor has focused mainly on tax hikes and some minor union concessions. He’s had to implement cuts only because of the Democratic General Assembly. Connecticut’s Democratic Gov. Dannel P. Malloy has taken a far more balanced approach…
$2.8 billion in increased taxes. Malloy’s changes added three brackets to the state income tax and raised the top rate from 6.5 percent to 6.7 percent, while adding an Earned Income Tax Credit for those with lower incomes. The sales tax also rose from 6 percent to 6.35 percent, with many sales-tax exemptions eliminated.
$1.8 billion in budget cuts. These cuts involve items that are required to be paid for by law or contract and are expected to grow based on caseload increases. The cuts would hit, among other things, Medicaid dental and vision benefits, as well as cost-sharing increases for seniors receiving home care.
$1.5 billion in labor-union concessions. Most unions agreed to a two-year wage freeze, plus changes to health-care and pension benefits, in exchange for protection from layoffs for four years.
In a step avoided by governors and legislators for the past two decades, Gov. Dannel P. Malloy announced Tuesday that he will lay off state troopers to cut costs and help balance the state budget.
The decision to lay off the 56 rookie troopers marks the first trooper layoffs since the state’s fiscal crisis in 1991 under Gov. Lowell P. Weicker Jr. The state has suffered through recessions, budget deficits, Wall Street losses and economic ups and downs during the 20 years since then, but troopers had always been treated as a specialized class in the state workforce and not subject to reductions.
* Tight state budgets are also a topic of discussion in the wake of Hurricane Irene…
The recession hit states’ budgets hard, leaving them fewer funds to respond to emergencies and in fiscal 2010, the latest year data is available, the median budget for crisis response fell to $3.3 million from $3.41 million the year before, according to the National Emergency Management Association.
North Carolina, for example, pulled money from its disaster relief funds and other reserves to patch a budget this fiscal year. To save money last year, New York consolidated its homeland security, emergency management, fire control and infrastructure offices. And New Jersey has implemented spending cuts of 10 percent and cut aid to local governments.
Frustrated, Tiawanda Moore quietly flipped on the recorder on her BlackBerry as she believed that two Chicago police internal affairs investigators were trying to talk her into dropping her sexual harassment complaint against a patrol officer.
But Moore was the one who ended up in trouble — criminally charged with violating an obscure state eavesdropping law that makes audio recording of police officers without their consent a felony offense. […]
The case against Moore as well as pending charges against a Chicago artist have drawn the attention of civil libertarians who argue that the state’s eavesdropping law is unconstitutional.
Illinois is one of only a handful of states that make it illegal to record audio of public conversations without the permission of everyone involved. Laws in Massachusetts and Oregon are similarly strict but not as broad, according to the American Civil Liberties Union.
Because the alleged victims in this case were the two police officers, Moore had faced a maximum prison sentence of 15 years for the alleged felony.
* That Massachusetts law may be about to end. From a federal appellate court decision this week in Boston…
In summary, though not unqualified, a citizen’s right to film government officials, including law enforcement officers, in the discharge of their duties in a public space is a basic, vital, and well-established liberty safeguarded by the First Amendment.
* An Illinois roundup…
* ADDED: Judge gives preliminary nod to disabilities deal: Illinois could save $2,320 per person annually by providing low-income disabled people with services in their own homes instead of in nursing homes.
* Townships begin measuring value of road commissioners: Cook County township officials can soon start deciding if they want to do away with their road districts and highway commissioners, now that Gov. Pat Quinn has signed legislation to let them.
* New Illinois Law Mandates Insurance Coverage for Quitting Smoking
* After losing a case when the judge declared that it had no “property rights” to a state contract, Catholic Charities plans an appeal that will focus on religious rights to continue to refuse to handle adoptions and foster-care placements involving couples joined under the civil unions law…
Peter Breen said the group will ask for a stay of Sangamon County Circuit Judge John Schmidt’s Aug. 18 ruling that sided with the state, which severed work with Catholic Charities after the agency refused to recognize Illinois’ civil union law. Breen said the charity also will ask the judge to reconsider, then take the matter to a state appellate court if Schmidt declines. […]
Illinois authorities had said they were canceling the contracts because Catholic Charities’ practice of referring unmarried couples to other agencies was discriminatory, a violation of the state’s civil union law. Catholic Charities argued that it was exempt under a provision in the civil unions law that protects religious practices.
Breen said Monday that Catholic Charities will seek a stay to give it time to appeal, believing “the financial impact on the charities of not receiving (such a reprieve) would be catastrophic.” Breen added that the not-for-profit agency’s “main thrust (on appeal) would be that you do not need to hold property in order to exercise religious rights.”
Catholic Charities hopes Schmidt reconsiders his ruling, “particularly on the issue of religious freedom,” Breen said.
* Springfield’s Bishop Thomas John Paprocki pretty well summed up the position of the church…
The message from the state of Illinois is simple: Organizations that only place children in accord with their religious beliefs are barred from state contracts – Catholics need not apply.
* A columnist at Catholic Online was far more blunt…
[I]f the state of Illinois wanted, it could easily pursue its secularist agenda without forcing Catholic Charities to violate its beliefs or shut down it services.
But the state clearly refuses to do this: the pattern of lies, manipulation, and abuse by the state, reveals an extreme level of intolerance and malevolence toward the Catholic Church and an utter disregard for the children. We need to pray for the welfare of children and religious freedom in our country.
* The Belleville News-Democrat wants the focus put back on the kids…
However, just because the state can legally cancel its contract with Catholic Charities doesn’t mean it should.
Catholic Charities has a decades-long track record of providing high-quality services for the children of Illinois at a reasonable price for taxpayers. These agencies combined handle about 20 percent of adoptions and foster care placements in Illinois; more than 600 children are served by Catholic Charities based in Belleville.
Why won’t the Department of Children and Family Services allow a religious exemption? Some other states with same-sex laws including New York do. Gov. Pat Quinn just signed into a law a bill that could allow Amish people to not have their photograph on state IDs, but Illinois can’t accommodate a Catholic group on the issue of civil unions?
Everyone in state government keeps talking about acting in the best interest of the children. Well, it’s in children’s best interest to keep this proven social services network in place.
The battle between the Catholic Church and state of Illinois over foster care and adoption services has real-life ramifications for more than 250 East Central Illinois children.
Currently, about 135 children in Champaign County are in foster care homes managed by Catholic Charities, according to state figures. In Vermilion County, the agency oversees 125 foster cases. […]
Lutheran Social Services of Illinois, the other major provider in this region, has a caseload of 131 in Champaign County and 48 in Vermilion. The remaining cases are handled by DCFS caseworkers directly or other agencies where families may have moved to another county. […]
DCFS will send a team from its licensing division to review the status of every child’s case. At the same time, it will review the capacity and performance of other agencies that may be interested, he said.
“If we get asked, yes we’re interested,” said John Schnier, executive director of Lutheran’s Children’s Community Services. “At this point, nobody’s heard anything from DCFS.”
* I don’t think the question here is whether the penalty was too stiff. A verbal reprimand to an employee with no record of trouble seems appropriate. What is in question, though, is whether the case warranted being placed on the Executive Ethics Commission’s website. The Commission doesn’t have to publish any case unless an employee discipline results in a suspension…
An investigator for Democratic Gov. Pat Quinn’s human rights agency got a slap on the wrist for forwarding an e-mail before last November’s election that contended the Republican Party had been hijacked by “dangerous, radical hate mongers called the ‘Tea Party.’ ”
The e-mail, sent on a state computer, claimed talk show host Glenn Beck and former GOP vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin led the tea party effort to “take down President Obama and the government.”
Forbes, 56, of Chicago, said in an interview that the case against him was “petty as hell.” He called the reprimand “bogus,” saying he sent the e-mail accidentally to some of his co-workers. He said his sister had sent it to him.
“I didn’t endorse it at all,” Forbes said. “It was just something I inadvertently sent. Had I thought a little more about it and were able to perceive the ramifications that I would have experienced, I would have just eliminated that e-mail altogether.”
That would have been the better course for Forbes. But I still wonder why the Executive Ethics Commission decided to publicly humiliate the guy. Your thoughts?
Polls have been showing a drop in [the tea party’s] approval, and a new AP/GfK poll shows that its unfavorable rating has seen a sharp rise. 46 percent of those surveyed said they have a negative view of the Tea Party movement, versus 28 who say they view it favorably.
The last time the AP conducted a national poll on Americans’ favorability of Tea Partiers was in their pre-governing period: throughout 2010 the conservative movement was viewed slightly unfavorably but the splits were close. In June of 2010 it even earned a positive rating, with 33 percent of over 1,000 adults surveyed finding the movement favorable against 30 percent. In the last AP rating, taken Nov. 3-8, 2010, directly after the 2010 election, the split stood at a slim negative rating of 32 percent favorable against 36 unfavorable.
The jump of ten points in the negative number is all in the “very unfavorable” category. In November of 2010 there were 22 percent who viewed the Tea Party that way, which has risen to 32 percent. The “somewhat unfavorable” number remains unchanged in the last nine months, steady at 14 percent.
The most recent CNN/ORC poll had tea party favorability at 31 percent, with 51 percent viewing it unfavorably. USA Today/Gallup’s poll found that a plurality of 42 percent would be less likely to vote for a congressional candidate with tea party support.
* By the way, remember when I wrote yesterday about what some call the “Cold Civil War” that strengthened during the fight over the debt ceiling? Well, back in March, Republican Illinois Congressman Adam Kinzinger compared the coming battle to an actual shooting war…
Just wait, said Rep. Adam Kinzinger, for the fireworks over next year’s budget, as well as a must-pass bill to allow the government to borrow more money to meet its commitments. Republicans hope to use that measure to force further spending cuts on the president.
“What I tell folks is: This is like Fort Sumter in the Civil War,” the Illinois Republican said Wednesday. “This is the first fight. The big battle is still ahead of us.”
Did he really compare his compatriots to the Confederacy? Perhaps he should check to see which state he represents before making more comments like that.
Oy.
* Other stuff…
* Job Fair Draws Demonstrators - Congresswoman Judy Biggert hosted a jobs event in Romeoville Monday.
* Schock draws a crowd to Elmwood town hall meeting
Tuesday, Aug 30, 2011 - Posted by Advertising Department
[The following is a paid advertisement.]
System Investments Mean Better Reliability for Customers; Performance Standards Provide Accountability
If enacted into law, the Illinois Electric Energy Infrastructure Modernization Act (SB 1652), which passed the Illinois House and Senate in May, would put in place more stringent performance standards for Illinois electric utilities.
Utilities would be held accountable for their performance on a range of issues that matter most to customers. And if the utilities don’t meet these standards, it gets taken out of their bottom line.
Among the performance standards in SB 1652, utilities must…
• Improve outage duration by 15 percent over a 10-year period
• Improve outage frequency by 20 percent
• Improve estimated bills by 90 percent
Utilities could stand to lose tens of millions of dollars each year if they fail to deliver benefits from investment in grid modernization. There is no symmetrical upside – utilities are penalized for failure to perform but they don’t receive bonuses for achieving goals.
For more information on the other benefits of grid modernization, visit www.smartenergyil.com.
* As I already told you, Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s own poll shows his job approval at 79 percent. His operation released more poll numbers late yesterday…
[B]y a 48%-to-41% margin, Chicagoans now believe the city is headed in the right direction — a lousy economy notwithstanding. That’s up from a 31%-55% split in a similar survey taken in September.
On key issues, about seven in 10 Chicagoans approve of Mr. Emanuel’s handling of budget matters, crime, schools and the economy.
A total of 82% find him to be a “strong leader” compared to “just” 70% who say he’s honest.
You gotta wonder how many Chicagoans feel the same about Illinois’ direction and Gov. Pat Quinn.
Voters have tremendous confidence in Emanuel’s ability to handle the most pressing issues facing Chicago, especially tackling the budget crisis. By a 73-23 margin, they approve of his job performance on this key issue.
The Mayor also receives high marks on fighting crime, improving education, and strengthening the economy. The support for Emanuel’s performance on these issues cuts across racial and neighborhood lines.
Table 2: Mayor Emanuel’s Approval Rating on Key Issues
Approve - Disapprove
Addressing the budget crisis 73 - 23
Fighting crime and keeping your neighborhood safe 72 - 24
Improving education in the city 69 - 24
Strengthening Chicago’s economy 70 - 25
Voters have a well-formed impression of the Mayor and give him very high marks on key personal attributes, including leadership, conviction, management, and honesty.
Table 3: Mayor Emanuel’s Personal Attributes
Total Describes Well
Is a strong leader 82
Fights for what’s right for Chicago 76
Is an effective manager 79
Honest 70
[ *** End Of Update *** ]
* He’s certainly doing many of the right things. For instance, Gov. Quinn hasn’t yet really addressed the state’s huge number of paid boards and commissions. From an Emanuel press release…
Mayor Rahm Emanuel [yesterday] announced a 50% reduction of compensation received by members of City boards and commissions, saving taxpayers over $314,000 a year.
“Those chosen to represent the interests of the people of Chicago lend their time and expertise to serve the public,” said Mayor Emanuel. “My administration is committed to using taxpayer funds wisely and responsibly to deliver the highest-quality services in the most efficient way possible.”
In July, the Mayor set the goal of cutting City board and commission compensation in half and tasked his Chief of Staff with conducting an extensive review of these stipends. Today, the Mayor also implemented a new compensation policy, which goes into effect immediately, tying stipend payments to meeting attendance.
The boards impacted by this reduction in compensation are the Building Board of Appeals; the Human Resources Board; the Chicago Police Board; the Zoning Board of Appeals and the License Appeal Commission. Prior to this review, the Mayor eliminated the stipends paid to members of the City’s Cable Commission and Board of Local Improvements.
* Emanuel announced a series of TIF district reforms yesterday as well…
Mayor Rahm Emanuel made it clear Monday that the city will continue to rely on special taxing districts as an economic development tool, even as he tries to wash away the stain of public criticism that marred them in recent years.
The mayor plans to establish specific benchmarks that tax increment finance districts, known as TIFs, must meet to continue receiving the same level of property tax dollars — or any at all.
The standards will be crafted to help meet the goals of a 5- to 10-year citywide economic development plan, Emanuel said. Now the hard work begins: The city has to draw up both the economic plan and the benchmarks for goals like job creation, private investment, property value increases, worker training and new affordable housing.
Mayor Rahm Emanuel faced a boisterous and sometimes angry crowd Monday night during the first of two “Town Hall” meetings to discuss ways to plug the city’s $635 million 2012 budget shortfall.
* The anger, as it turns out, came from a few people whose ox had been gored…
Mental health advocates questioned the new mayor about his decision to privatize seven primary health clinics. And traffic aides who were laid off last month greeted Emanuel with boos, with one man in the audience even calling the mayor a “liar.”
It wasn’t just “mental health advocates” who were upset about the privatization…
“I wonder where you got the idea it would be a good idea to privatize health services,” said Maria Randazzo, a laid off traffic control aide.
“Can you stop printing the mayor and elected officials’ names on doors, buildings, etc.?” read City Colleges Chancellor Cheryl Hyman, who acted as the moderator of the event.
The mayor replied ‘yeah’ to that suggestion, but sounded skeptical it would make a dent in the city’s financial problems.
Gov. Quinn criticized Emanuel for this practice last week.
* The strength of public criticism, however, is likely to ramp up..
Mayor Rahm Emanuel says he’s not giving up on getting a longer school day this school year even though the teachers union has said no to a two percent cost of living raise to do it.
Emanuel is not taking ‘thanks but no thanks’ for an answer from the teachers union. He’s vowing to keep trying because he thinks the public is behind him. [..]
Meaning, his school board will impose a longer school day and year if the teachers don’t come around.
Legislation commonly referred to as the “ComEd bill” that would help roll out a sophisticated smart grid program but alter the way electricity rates are decided is on its way to Gov. Pat Quinn’s desk.
The controversial legislation, backed by Chicago-based Commonwealth Edison Co., has been staunchly opposed by consumer advocates and others who call it is a “Trojan horse” meant to pad the utility’s bottom line by removing regulatory obstacles in place for 100 years.
Quinn has repeatedly vowed to veto the legislation, and a maneuver by Senate President John Cullerton (D-Chicago) stalled the bill’s delivery to Quinn. Friday, Cullerton withdrew the motion in place since June, so the General Assembly has 30 days to send the bill to Quinn, who would then have 60 days to sign or veto it.
ComEd and its lobbyists have been using the time to meet one-on-one with legislators to try to win enough votes to override a veto.
The utility has been pushing hard for veto override votes. AARP is a staunch opponent. From a press release…
As Senate Bill 1652 has finally been released by the Illinois Senate, AARP urges Governor Pat Quinn, on behalf of our 1.7 million Illinois members, to come through on his promises and veto this awful legislation that would allow utility companies like ComEd and Ameren to hit the wallets of millions of consumers with higher rates while guaranteeing their own profits.
SB1652 narrowly passed both chambers in Springfield during the Spring session as ComEd and Ameren heavily lobbied legislators to approve a bill that would allow them to impose nearly automatic electric rate hikes, while securing company profits and diminishing needed regulatory oversight.
Yet SB1652 did not garner a veto proof majority, and Governor Quinn has promised to veto the bill joining with Attorney General Lisa Madigan, AARP, the Citizens Utility Board and many other consumer advocates and watchdogs in their stern opposition to the legislation.
SB1652 is bad news for consumers as it writes utility company profits into state law guaranteeing ComEd and Ameren a return on equity of over 10% or even higher. Additionally, SB1652 creates a formula rate and shortens the rate review process effectively tying the hands of the Illinois Commerce Commission. Through this bill, ComEd and Ameren are taking the voice of the consumer out of the ratemaking process and paving the way for even higher profit margins.
Now that the bill is finally on its way to the Governor’s desk, we urge him to step up to the plate again for millions of consumers as he had done so often in the past, and use his veto powers to kill this legislation as he has promised numerous times.”
Illinois residents who repeatedly make open-records requests to their towns, school districts and counties could face new restrictions that would keep them from getting information quickly under legislation Gov. Pat Quinn signed Friday.
His decision unleashed sharp criticism from government watchdog groups that accused Quinn of eroding the Illinois Freedom of Information Act and retreating from earlier statements in support of open government.
For the first time, local governments could characterize anyone who files more than seven FOIA requests in a week or more than 15 in a month as a “recurrent requester,” giving the public bodies unlimited time to provide documents. Media, academics and researchers are exempt from the new standard.
Current law gives those governments five business days to answer a records request, with the option of an additional five-day extension.
“It is disappointing that Gov. Quinn, who once cultivated an image of himself as an advocate of open government, has approved a bill that takes Illinois’ FOIA law backward,” said Whitney Woodward, a policy associate with the Illinois Campaign for Political Reform, which opposed the bill.
Gov. Pat Quinn is calling for a two-minute timeout before a motorcycle driver or bicyclist can proceed through a stoplight that appears stuck on red.
The Democratic governor used his veto power on Friday to rewrite legislation that would have allowed a motorcyclist idling at a seemingly interminable red light to proceed after a “reasonable period of time.”
Quinn maintains that a specific time period is needed or riders would come up with different standards of what’s reasonable. As written, the measure is “too subjective and will result in confusion amongst law enforcement, the judiciary and motorcycle operations,” the governor explained.
A two-minute wait won’t confuse law enforcement? Who’s gonna run the timer?
In 2007, the state spent $13.2 million to buy the former Franklin Life Insurance building in Springfield to serve as a new headquarters for the Illinois State Police, as well as a workplace for employees of other state agencies.
Four years later, State Police still are the only tenants. That’s led some officials to question whether space in the massive building is being used properly and whether the state is wasting money by continuing to lease offices when it could move people into a state-owned building.
“It is being totally underutilized,” said Ed Bedore, a member of the state’s Procurement Policy Board, which oversees state leasing. “It will cost some money to do some rehabbing, absolutely. But that will certainly be made up in a matter of months when you consolidate some other leases.”
“There’s some available space there,” agreed David Vaught, Gov. Pat Quinn’s budget director and chairman of the procurement panel. “If we have that available space and we have an appropriate agency that does not impair the security needs of the State Police, it’s an opportunity to save some money.”
Local mental health officials are hoping that new legislation signed by Gov. Pat Quinn will be a true victory for the community – though some have their doubts.
Quinn signed House Bill 1530 at the Alexian Brothers Center for Mental Health in Hoffman Estates last week. The bill prevents insurers from including additional barriers within a policy – such as financial requirements, treatment limitations, lifetime limits or annual limits – to treatments for mental, emotional, nervous and substance abuse disorders if no such stipulations exist for other health conditions, according a release from the governor’s office.
Sandy Lewis, executive director of the McHenry County Mental Health Board, said this is an important step for mental health care.
“For too long, individuals and families have not had the opportunity to get the help that they needed when they’re insured by group health insurance because mental health and substance abuse weren’t covered the same way.”
If Governor Pat Quinn ever wonders why the public, the press and the legislature find his approach to governing to be incoherent and frustrating, and at times cynical, he needs only to consider his recent whiplash-inducing turn on behavioral health care policy.
Last week Quinn held a bill-signing ceremony at the Alexian Brothers Center for Mental Health in Arlington Heights, and he issued a press release that stressed the importance to “improve behavioral health care throughout Illinois.” […]
[However] The governor proposed a Fiscal Year 2012 budget, which began on July 1, 2011, that sought to cut $33 million from mental health care, depriving care to approximately 20,000 individuals, principally the working poor. He also sought to cut all state funding, $63 million, for substance prevention and treatment, a move that would have eliminated care to 55,000 people out of the 69,000 currently served.
Additionally, Quinn had sought in March to drastically cut funding for mental health and substance abuse treatment in the last quarter of the 2011, throwing behavior healthcare providers into chaos. They turned away new patients and cut services to others.
By now, most people know Quinn has a tendency to ramble in his public comments. Well, the ramblin’ man was in full voice at a bill signing last week.
Quinn started the ceremony by making some unprepared remarks that lasted about five minutes. During that time, Quinn said he once lived in a mobile home in Madison County, that state and local governments work together, Illinois believes in transportation, the state has the fewest traffic fatalities since 1921, it’s a tough economy, we’re Americans, his favorite words are “made in America,” 9/11, the state fair, Gold Star families, he’s been to Iraq and Afghanistan, the Old State Capitol, Abraham Lincoln and proclaiming America as the first democracy on planet Earth.
Quinn then signed the bill. It allows overweight trucks to drive short distances on some state roads.
*** UPDATE *** It gets better. With thanks to a commenter, here’s the video in all its rambled, messy glory…
Pay special attention to the beginning of the video when Gov. Quinn announces that his “very good friend” Rep. Dan Beiser couldn’t be at the event. Beiser is standing less than two feet from Quinn at the time.
Hilarious.
I just called Beiser and he said he was trying to think of what he was going to say when it was his turn and didn’t hear Quinn announce that he wasn’t there. He had a good laugh about it, however.
…Adding… A persistent commenter prompted me to give it a re-watch, and Quinn could very well be speaking of Sen. Bill Haine, who was, indeed, absent.
* On a scale of one to ten, with one being the worst and ten being the best, rate US Sen. Mark Kirk’s job performance. Take the poll and the explain your answer in comments, please.
Does a tollway hike in January mean thousands of I-PASS users flocking to alternate routes to avoid paying more at tolled ramps and plazas?
Illinois State Toll Highway Authority officials don’t think so.
But one I-PASS devotee who uses I-88 to get from Aurora to work in Naperville said “Diehl Road, here I come!” minutes after the tollway board of directors voted Thursday to increase rates to pay for a $12 billion roads program.
Another vowed to take Route 83 instead of I-355 on the daily commute between Lombard and Arlington Heights. It was a choice of spending 15 minutes more on the drive or paying roughly $300 more a year.
15 minutes extra commuting per day is 62.5 hours a year, with two weeks subtracted for a vacation. That unnamed person must not make much money if s/he can throw away that much time every year.
* Meanwhile, this number needs far more explanation…
A $12 billion capital plan that would create thousands of jobs seems like a panacea for the metropolitan region’s woeful unemployment rate of 10.5 percent.
But predicting job creation numbers isn’t an exact science, experts say regarding the Illinois State Toll Highway Authority’s building program.
Tollway directors Thursday adopted a construction agenda for the next 15 years they say will create 120,000 permanent jobs and 13,000 temporary construction jobs.
We’d point out that the big, $30 billion-ish statewide construction plan was estimated to create 40,000ish jobs. So would a $12 billion plan create three times as many?
We’re concerned that the tollway has come to fancy itself an economic engine. Creating jobs ought to be a collateral benefit, not part of the mission statement. The system is supported by user fees — tolls — a concept we support. But we don’t think it’s fair to tap users to pay for projects that aren’t yet needed, all in the name of creating jobs. We’ll say it again: The Illinois Tollway is a highway system, not a jobs program.
[State Rep. Darlene Senger (R-Naperville)] addressed a question on the Illinois Tollway raising tolls by saying she was conflicted on the issue. She said she understood the reluctance to raise tolls, but understood the need for improving the state’s toll system, particularly for extending the Elgin-O’Hare Expressway and linking the state’s system with I-65 in Indiana.
“I kind of like the user fee, instead of taxing everybody,” she said.
* My grandmother and her sisters think I’m some sort of bigshot because I have a column in the Chicago Sun-Times. What they don’t know (because I don’t tell them - hey, it’s my grandma) is that my weekly syndicated newspaper column has a whole lot more readers because it’s in so many newspapers throughout the state. Here’s my latest…
A few weeks ago, I ran into a fairly high-level Illinois Democrat at a party in Springfield. He said he’d taken my advice and was reading the New York Times’ “Disunion” Civil War blog. He also said he’d come to the conclusion that President Barack Obama should follow President Abraham Lincoln’s lead by suspending habeas corpus and then arresting all Tea Party-affiliated Republican congressmen.
I couldn’t believe what I was hearing, but he said he was dead serious.
I always thought this guy was a centrist, pragmatic sort. But he was obviously caught up in the national meltdown over the debt ceiling fight. He was furious beyond comprehension. Actually, considering that Congress’ job approval rating now is rapidly approaching zero, his bone-chilling anger is probably comprehensible to a lot of people.
So, I kinda get why some Democrats are all wigged out over Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan’s attendance at U.S. House Speaker John Boehner’s recent fundraiser. Madigan, who also is the chairman of the Democratic Party of Illinois, attended the fundraiser as a guest of Terry Duffy, who was hosting he event. Duffy also is chairman of CME, a very big company that has threatened to move part of its operations out of Illinois because of the state’s recent tax hike.
Anyway, a whole lot of Democrats I know are just furious about just about everything these days. They felt pushed around when George W. Bush was president and they wanted President Obama to push back when he was elected. Instead, Obama has cut deals with Republicans and allowed himself to be bullied, at least in many Democratic eyes.
Many of the Republicans I know are consumed with anger as well. I saw a poll last week which showed 96 percent of Republican primary voters in a southern Downstate region believe the state is on the wrong track. Considering that the poll had a margin of error of plus or minus four percent, that wrong track number could actually be 100 percent.
I guess I shouldn’t be too surprised, especially after all the calamities that this state and this country have been through the past few years.
The congressional debt ceiling fight seemed to bring everything to a head and became so vicious that at one point some pundit or another claimed that America was engaged in a “Cold Civil War.” Partisans aren’t shooting guns at each other, but their hatred and venom is more intense and the divisions between them are far wider than at any time I can remember.
So, attending a function for the benefit of the Republican House Speaker who battled the Democratic President is considered almost an act of treason by angry Democrats.
Gov. Pat Quinn also was apparently swept up in the national mania. Quinn can be a very partisan Democrat when he wants to be and he always has been a staunch defender of Obama, no matter what.
Quinn let out a little bit of anger when he was asked about Madigan’s attendance at that fundraiser last week. The governor whacked Madigan for his “support” of Boehner, which Quinn said Boehner did not deserve.
Quinn also chided Madigan for not attending a recent Obama event in a small town in Illinois, saying the party chairman should support the Democratic president, even though this was a White House event, not an Obama campaign function.
Madigan’s spokesman angrily retorted that Madigan didn’t “support” Boehner because he didn’t buy a fundraiser ticket and added that his boss interpreted the 2010 election results as a desire by the public to force both parties to work together.
Madigan’s 2010 election analysis actually is shared by the president himself, yet hyperpartisans on both sides, including apparently Quinn, want no rapprochement of any sort.
For years, the Democrats in this state have made fun of the Republicans because the hardcore right wing and the “business class” set always were at each other’s throats. One side was accused of being “too pure” and the other was accused of “selling out to the Democrats.” The Republicans formed a permanent circular firing squad. As a result, they’ve been out of power for a very long time.
Quinn and some other Democrats apparently never learned that lesson.
* Mayor Emanuel’s reaction was far more light-hearted…
Madigan meeting with Boehner has everybody wondering what’s Madigan up to – but not Mayor Emanuel. He sees it just the opposite because of the congressional reapportionment map Madigan drew at the expense of Republicans.
“What’s Boehner doing meeting with Madigan given that the map was pretty good – the map that Mike Madigan and John Cullerton drew! So I ask the inverse question. What was John Boehner doing meeting with Mike Madigan,” Emanuel said.
Both Quinn and Emanuel downplayed the importance of their verbal sparring last week. But with Illinois in such bad financial shape, at stake is a Chicago casino that could be the biggest prize Quinn can deliver to Emanuel in the next four years, and some of their colleagues are praying the verbal sparring ends soon.
“This particular conflict threatens to get out of hand,” said State Rep. Lou Lang, a suburban Chicago Democrat who is a chief sponsor of the gambling measure.
Lang said he thinks cooler heads will prevail because otherwise the two men risk spoiling their ability to help negotiate a resolution to the gambling legislation, which proponents say could bring millions in revenues to a number of communities throughout the state if Quinn signs it.
Subscribers know a whole lot more, but cooler heads really need to prevail here. Illinois simply cannot afford another political war.
* That would be Mayor Rahm Emanuel wearing a pink bathing cap in the Chicago Triathlon…
Let’s keep it clean, people. I only brought up the pink cap to get the subject out of the way. Do not “go there,” OK? I’d like to be able to continue parking my car on the street when I visit my favorite big city. Don’t get yourself banned for life because I want to save myself from nasty retaliation. Seriously. Thanks much.
* I’m as frustrated as any other White Sox fan about Adam Dunn’s lack of performance, but I also really feel for the guy. I kinda fell in love with him during spring training, and it’s hard to be angry with somebody who is so self aware…
A frustrated Adam Dunn accepts the probably that he won’t have a chance to salvage his season in the final 4½ weeks.
“I’m a realist,” Dunn said Sunday before Dayan Viciedo hit a three-run home run in his first game with the Sox this season. “I’m not like an idiot. We’re right in the middle of things. What do you do? What do you say?”
With a .163 batting average, 156 strikeouts and an .037 batting average (3-for-81) against left-handed pitchers, manager Ozzie Guillen had little choice but to talk Sunday with Dunn about a possible reduced role. […]
“These are the guys who matter when it comes down to it,” Dunn said. “That’s the hardest part about the whole thing. If it was me, I could get over it. But it’s the guys in here. I don’t know how else to put it. It sucks.
Adam Dunn should not be allowed to play another game for the White Sox this season.
The designated hitter and backup first baseman cannot hit.
He has a chance to become only the second player in major league history to have his strikeout total exceed his batting average in a season.
Mark Reynolds, formerly of the Arizona Diamondbacks and now with the Baltimore Orioles, last season became the first hitter to accomplish that dubious mark.
Reynolds struck out 211 times and hit .198. Dunn, as of Thursday, had 153 strikeouts and a .165 batting average.
I don’t blame Dunn for this fiasco. I blame the White Sox organization.
Every time they send him out to play, they insult baseball fans across the country and damage the reputation of their entire team.
