Capitol Fax.com - Your Illinois News Radar

Tuesday, Oct 1, 2013 - Posted by Rich Miller

* Do you believe Gov. Pat Quinn will be reelected? Take the poll and then explain your answer in comments, please.

Isn’t there enough misinformation without stuff like this?

Tuesday, Oct 1, 2013 - Posted by Rich Miller

* The AP needs a babysitter in its Chicago office. To wit…

Illinois’ marketplace is called Get Covered Illinois. It was experiencing some glitches Tuesday. People trying to enroll we’re having problems with the website, and some reported waits of 20 minutes or more on a hotline set up to assist consumers.

Quinn says glitches are part of any new endeavor.

Actually, those were problems with the national website, as reported by the Tribune and others today, not with the state site.

The error rate at that Chicago AP office is getting really high and I’ve been meaning to write about it, so now’s a good time to start. They did change the copy, although without admitting the original mistake…

But the federal website where people enroll was experiencing some glitches. Consumers couldn’t get beyond initial screens, and some reported waits of 20 minutes on a hotline set up to assist them.

Quinn says glitches are part of any new endeavor.

Sheesh.

* There was one problem with the Illinois site…

At least one of the questions — “Including everyone that you live with, how much money do you get each month from the sources you selected before taxes” — did not list an actual dollar amount under choices “less than” or “more than.”

I saw that as well today and it puzzled me, especially since that question had a lot to do with whether you were then directed to the state’s Medicaid site or the federal Obamacare site.

Anyone else having problems with either the state or federal sites today?

…Adding… The media hype about overloaded websites is a bit puzzling to me.

When people stand in line for hours to buy an iPhone that is out of stock by the time they get to the front of the line it’s evidence of Apple’s amazing popularity.

When it takes forever to download a new iPhone operating system, it’s because Apple is so darned popular.

These are first-day glitches. If the problem persists, then it’s an issue.

40 Comments

Rauner raises over a million dollars in third quarter

Tuesday, Oct 1, 2013 - Posted by Rich Miller

* From a press release…

Republican candidate for governor Bruce Rauner announced today that his campaign raised more than $1 million from over 1,300 donations in the third fundraising quarter.

“I am excited by the growing support for our efforts to shake up Springfield,” said Bruce Rauner. “Illinoisans understand that the career politicians have failed, and we need a fresh perspective to turn things around.”

No word on his current cash on hand.

* Meanwhile, Dan Rutherford’s tweet doesn’t say how much he actually raised in the quarter…

3rd Quarter campaign financial disclosure ends tonight. We reached goal of over $1.2 million cash on hand, all bills paid & no debt #twill

— Dan Rutherford (@RutherfordDan) October 1, 2013

Rutherford ended the last quarter with $1,020,373.25 cash on hand, so he’s up only a net of $200K.

* I’ll update this post with any other major fundraising press releases today.

36 Comments

Some ADM context

Tuesday, Oct 1, 2013 - Posted by Rich Miller

* The House Revenue Committee is meeting today to talk about various corporate tax breaks. Watch it live.

ADM’s fiscal officer was asked why the company didn’t just use existing tax law to underwrite its move to Chicago. ADM has dropped its request for a cut to its public utility taxes, but does want an EDGE credit. His response…

“There will be years when our income tax liability will be minimal.”

The EDGE credit allows corporations which are creating some jobs to essentially pocket the state income taxes they withhold from their employees’ paychecks. Why? Because so many corporations don’t pay much, if any, state income taxes here.

The company officer estimated that the EDGE credit it is seeking for its Chicago move (200 employees, including 100 new workers) is about $1.2 million a year. The company’s annual earnings, the officer said, average between $1-2 billion a year.

So, ADM, one of the the largest companies in the state, is paying less than $1.2 million in state income taxes in at least some years.

And that’s why the company’s guy dodged Rep. Dave McSweeney’s question about whether ADM would help him support lower tax rates in general. The simple fact is they don’t pay a lot of income taxes here. Lower overall rates just won’t matter.

30 Comments

Today’s numbers

Tuesday, Oct 1, 2013 - Posted by Rich Miller

* AP…

The issue of gun permits surfaced briefly in the Illinois governor’s race, when a candidate claimed that the Illinois State Police had a backlog of 75,000 gun-owner’s ID applications under Gov. Pat Quinn, forcing hunters to miss entire hunting seasons.

The real number isn’t that high — just 49,000, according to state police. But those numbers belie a bigger headache awaiting the state’s bureaucracy now that lawmakers have set in motion a process to facilitate the carrying of concealed weapons in public, as mandated by a federal court order.

Whereas a few years ago, 1.2 million Illinoisans held Firearm Owners Identification cards, the number has jumped to 1.6 million, state police spokeswoman Monique Bond said. Soon after the court decreed in December that Illinois couldn’t ban public carry anymore, demand for FOID cards jumped precipitously. In January alone, Bond reported, there were 61,000 FOID applications, nearly double the 31,000 in January 2012.

Once the state’s new concealed-carry law is fully in place, state police officials expect 400,000 applications in the first year for the $150 “carry” permits, a number on top of the 49,000 waiting for a $10 FOID which gives them permission to own a gun — permission that’s unique among states.

42 Comments

Irony of ironies

Tuesday, Oct 1, 2013 - Posted by Rich Miller

* Kurt Erickson…

At the same time Illinois lawmakers are expected to debate a plan to strip retirement benefits from teachers, prison guards and university employees, they also may take up a proposal to deliver tax breaks to one of the state’s biggest corporations.

Four days after Decatur-based Archer Daniels Midland Co. announced plans to move its headquarters and 100 top executives and support staff out of Central Illinois, legislation was filed that would give the company financial incentives to keep its corporate address within Illinois.

* It gets even “better” than that. As I mentioned briefly to subscribers this morning, David Ormsby’s Illinois Observer reported today that another tax break bill is now in the hopper to benefit insurance giant and Schaumburg-based Zurich North America (click here to subscribe to Ormsby’s publication).

Chief Executive Officer of Zurich North America and Regional Chairman is Michael Foley.

And wouldn’t you know it, Mr. Foley also sits on the board of directors of the Civic Committee, which as we all know has been pushing hard to reduce pension benefits for public employees and retirees.

The comments pretty much write themselves.

* Related…

* Manar: ADM package offering ‘tens of millions’ in state tax breaks ‘unprecedented’

* Fight brewing over tax breaks to keep ADM in state

66 Comments

Question of the day

Tuesday, Oct 1, 2013 - Posted by Rich Miller

* Your one-word response to the federal government shutdown?

Please keep your answers to one word only. Thanks.

163 Comments

Protected: SUBSCRIBERS ONLY - Supplement to today’s edition and a campaign roundup

Tuesday, Oct 1, 2013 - Posted by Rich Miller

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

Tuesday, Oct 1, 2013 - Posted by Rich Miller

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