* Comptroller Susana Mendoza spoke to the Paul Simon Public Policy Institute today…
[Mendoza] said her office is able to pay vendors and others within the 30-day timeframe required by law.
“The last time that we were this current on paying our bills was just before Sept. 11, 2001,” Mendoza added.
However, the Democrat from Chicago said she doesn’t believe Illinois will improve its financial standing without restructuring the state’s tax system with a graduated income tax, a plan defeated by voters in 2020.
“There is a structural deficit, which means that in any given year, I’m just trying to meet the core obligations of the state – things like K-12 spending, Medicaid, all of our health care payments, public safety, human resources – all of those basic things – even with all of that, we don’t have enough revenue coming in on a year-to-year basis to cover just the most basic expenses.”
I’ve written several times that Illinois has never really recovered from the 9/11 economic shock. It’s the starting point of our state’s long fiscal decline. It’d sure be nice if that was about to change. I suppose we’ll see.
Friday, Jun 4, 2021 - Posted by Advertising Department
[The following is a paid advertisement.]
More than two-thirds of Americans surveyed in July 2020 by the Harris Poll on behalf of Johnson & Johnson Medical Devices Companies say they or someone in their household delayed or canceled healthcare services due to COVID-19. Delayed care is even more prevalent among communities of color. In fact, Black and Hispanic adults, people with disabilities, and those with two or more underlying conditions are putting off medical care at higher rates than others. That’s why Johnson & Johnson Medical Devices Companies introduced My Health Can’t Wait Illinois, a public information effort and resource hub designed to help Illinois residents get the information they need to prioritize their health and seek needed care. Learn more at MyHealthCantWait.com/Illinois.
Tony “Chubby” Brown announced Friday morning he is retiring as Macon County Sheriff effective Monday, June 28.
This announcement comes a week after a judge ruled Jim Root won the 2018 Macon County Sheriff race by 16 votes. Tony Brown was originally the winner by one vote when he was sworn in as sheriff in 2018.
A full recount was done and the judge when through ballots.
The day after the announcement from the judge, Brown initially told WAND News he planned to appeal the ruling. But during a news conference Friday morning, Brown said he decided against appealing due to division that the court case has caused within the community and the sheriff’s office.
“I have stated previously that Macon County and the Macon County Sheriff’s Office is larger than one individual,” Brown said. “And I believe now is the time that our community must heal.”
Brown said he will do whatever it takes to help Root transition into the role of sheriff.
“We need to put this to an end,” he said. “We need to love one another a little bit more and stop the division.”
Illinois Republicans may have been shut out on the key issues this spring, but they did find a unifying theme as the party tries to make its case against Democratic Gov. J.B. Pritzker, who’s up for reelection next year.
“How can we trust him?” asked Senate Republican leader Dan McConchie of Hawthorn Woods at one of the many news conferences the out-of-power GOP held to deliver a litany of grievances about Pritzker and Democratic lawmakers.
Republicans offered a pair of examples from the recently concluded session in support of that “trust” concept: Pritzker agreed to Republican-backed business tax changes two years ago, then unsuccessfully tried to take them away to balance his new budget. And candidate Pritzker vowed to veto a new map of legislative districts if both parties didn’t have input, but is now poised to sign Democrat-drawn boundaries into law.
GOP leaders also cited two of Pritzker’s biggest stumbles since becoming governor: 36 COVID-19 deaths at the LaSalle Veterans Home on his watch, which factors into the top issue of how the governor handled the pandemic, and the sound rejection by voters last November of his push for a graduated-rate income tax for the state.
Questioning the trustworthiness of a politician is a tried-and-true opposition tactic aimed at seizing upon the public’s cynical views of government and elected officials. Whether Illinois Republicans can capitalize on that message against Pritzker is a question of its own, however.
* The Question: Can the trust issue be effectively used against Pritzker? Make sure to explain your answer, please. Thanks.
Following weeks of steady decreases in new positive COVID-19 cases and with over 67% of residents age 18 and older receiving their first vaccine dose, Governor JB Pritzker is releasing guidelines for Phase 5 of the Restore Illinois plan, which will go into effect on June 11th and marks a full reopening of all businesses and activities. This guidance will mean businesses, large-scale events, conventions, amusement parks, and seated-spectator venues, among others, will be able to operate at full capacity for the first time since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. The State is also lifting the outdoor mask requirement in schools in accordance with the Centers for Disease Control (CDC).
This guidance comes as Illinois has recently reached a test positivity rate of less than 2 percent, more than half of the population has been fully vaccinated, and key hospitalization metrics have been declining since early May.
“After a tremendously challenging year, Illinois has now reached a defining moment in our efforts to defeat COVID-19,” said Governor JB Pritzker. “Thanks to the hard work of residents across the state, Illinois will soon resume life as we knew it before – returning to events, gatherings, and a fully reopened economy, with some of the safety guidelines we’ve adopted still in place. As we fully reopen, this administration remains laser focused on ensuring a strong recovery for our small businesses and communities. Our FY22 budget invests $1.5 billion in small business relief, tourism, job-creating capital projects and more and we look forward to getting these dollars to communities across our state as quickly as possible.”
Upon entering Phase 5, fully vaccinated people can resume activities without wearing a mask except where required by federal, state, local, tribal, or territorial laws, rules and regulations, including local business and workplace guidance. The State will continue to recommend masking for unvaccinated persons, and require it for all people while traveling on public transportation, in congregate settings, in health care settings, as well as in schools, day cares, and educational institutions pursuant to the Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) and CDC guidance. Businesses and local municipalities can put in place additional mitigations as they deem appropriate.
Under Phase 5, all sectors of the economy can resume at regular capacity. Phase 5 also marks the return of traditional conventions, festivals, and large events without capacity restrictions. Large gatherings of all sizes can resume across all industry settings, and Phase 5 removes requirements that businesses institute mandatory social distancing in seated venues as well as daily health screenings of employees and visitors. Businesses and venues should continue to allow for social distancing to the extent possible, especially indoors. Businesses and venues may also continue to put in place additional public health mitigations as they deem appropriate, including requiring face coverings.
“This pandemic has robbed us of many of our freedoms such as going to ball games and concerts, celebrating graduations, weddings, and birthdays, going to dinner with friends, and even sharing a hug with loved ones we don’t live with,” said IDPH Director Dr. Ngozi Ezike. “The vaccine is giving us our freedoms back and allowing us to move to Phase 5. Let’s keep the vaccination momentum going so we can put this pandemic in the rearview mirror and not look back.”
While the entry to Phase 5 signals an end to business and activity specific guidance requiring social distancing, health screening and other required operational shifts, Illinois will continue to recommend face coverings for unvaccinated persons, as well as all individuals while (1) on planes, buses, trains, and other forms of public transportation and in transportation hubs, such as airports and train and bus stations; (2) in congregate facilities such as correctional facilities, veterans’ homes, and long-term care facilities, group homes, and residential facilities; and (3) in healthcare settings.
In addition, the guidance for schools is updated to align with the CDC guidelines, including lifting the requirement for individuals to mask outdoors in most situations.
The State’s advancement to Phase 5 builds on last month’s announcement of the return of conventions and leisure travel to the state. Just last week McCormick Place announced its plans to re-open, bringing 122 events, 1,000 workers and an expected 1.9 million convention goers to their halls. Additionally, the State has recently launched a new tourism campaign to welcome out of state visitors back into communities, helping support a return to leisure activity as well as the important economic activity stimulated by Illinois’ iconic attractions, hotels and tourism businesses.
“The State’s move to Phase 5 next week marks a significant milestone in our efforts to bring businesses and workers back safely and will play a key role in getting the economy back on track,” said DCEO Acting Director Sylvia Garcia. “Under Governor Pritzker’s leadership, we are making steady progress in stabilizing our businesses and communities hit hardest during the course of the pandemic. New investments in the Governor’s budget will ensure that the state continues to play a vital role in aiding in the emergency response, while laying the groundwork for a sustained economic recovery.”
Earlier this week the Governor announced another $1.5 billion in funds to be made available through the FY 22 budget to support business grants, tourism recovery, workforce recovery, affordable housing, violence prevention, capital projects, and other investments throughout Illinois communities. This builds on the State’s record $580 million investment last year to deliver thousands of business grants through the Business Interruption Grants program, which provided emergency relief dollars to business grants and childcare providers in over 98 counties statewide.
The Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) today reported 626 new confirmed and probable cases of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Illinois, including 15 additional deaths. In addition, more than 67% of Illinois adults have received at least one COVID-19 vaccine dose and nearly 51% of Illinois adults are fully vaccinated, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
- Champaign County: 1 male 80s
- Christian County: 1 female 60s
- Cook County: 1 female 70s, 1 male 80s, 1 male 90s
- DuPage County: 1 female 70s
- Henry County; 1 male 60s
- Kane County: 1 male 50s
- LaSalle County: 1 male 60s
- McHenry County: 1 male 70s
- Vermilion County: 1 male 90s
- Whiteside County: 1 female 70s
- Will County: 1 female 80s
- Winnebago County: 1 female 70s, 1 male 70s
Currently, IDPH is reporting a total of 1,384,365 cases, including 22,880 deaths, in 102 counties in Illinois. The age of cases ranges from younger than one to older than 100 years. Within the past 24 hours, laboratories have reported 65,300 specimens for a total of 24,796,789. As of last night, 901 individuals in Illinois were reported to be in the hospital with COVID-19. Of those, 247 patients were in the ICU and 140 patients with COVID-19 were on ventilators.
The preliminary seven-day statewide positivity for cases as a percent of total test from May 28-June 3, 2021 is 1.3%. The preliminary seven-day statewide test positivity from May 28-June 3, 2021 is 1.6%.
A total of 11,427,833 vaccines have been administered in Illinois as of last midnight. The seven-day rolling average of vaccines administered daily is 36,025 doses. Yesterday, 53,156 doses were reported administered in Illinois.
*All data are provisional and will change. In order to rapidly report COVID-19 information to the public, data are being reported in-time. Information is constantly being entered into an electronic system and the number of cases and deaths can change as additional information is gathered. For health questions about COVID-19, call the hotline at 1-800-889-3931 or email dph.sick@illinois.gov.
After reviewing the General Assembly’s proposed maps to ensure they align with the landmark Voting Rights Act, Governor JB Pritzker signed three new maps that reflect Illinois’ diversity. The maps outline new districts for the General Assembly, Illinois Supreme Court and Cook County Board of Review and preserve minority representation in Illinois’ government in accordance with the federal Voting Rights Act.
“Illinois’ strength is in our diversity, and these maps help to ensure that communities that have been left out and left behind have fair representation in our government,” said Governor JB Pritzker. “These district boundaries align with both the federal and state Voting Rights Acts, which help to ensure our diverse communities have electoral power and fair representation.”
A landmark achievement of the civil rights movement, the Voting Rights Act prohibits practices and procedures that discriminate on the basis of race, color or membership in a protected language minority group. Building on and strengthening that consequential law, the Illinois Voting Rights Act of 2011 ensures redistricting plans are crafted in a way that preserves clusters of minority voters if they are of size or cohesion to exert collective electoral power. The maps signed into law today meet those requirements to adequately preserve minority representation and reflect the diversity of our state.
The district boundaries also account for population changes in the state, particularly in the regions that saw the most population loss as recorded by U.S. Census’ American Community Survey. In addition, the General Assembly held more than 50 public hearings statewide.
Detailed summaries of each individual House and Senate district, including communities of interest, geographic descriptions, and demographic data were adopted by both the Illinois House of Representatives and the Illinois Senate and are contained in House Resolution 359 and Senate Resolution 326 respectively.
The General Assembly Redistricting Act of 2021 (HB 2777), the Judicial Districts Act of 2021 (SB 642) and the Cook County Board of Review Redistricting Act of 2021 (SB 2661) take effect immediately.
Pretty certain this post will be updated.
…Adding… Speaker Welch…
“Today was a win for the people of this great state. With Governor Pritzker’s signature, people of Illinois can be confident in a legislative map that is reflective of the diversity that we see in every corner of our state. Not only does this map adhere to state and federal laws, but it is a product of more than 50 public hearings where citizens came to tell us what their communities look like to them. We also have new Illinois Supreme Court boundaries for the first time in more than half a century that accounts for population change and demographic shifts, as well as a new map for the Cook County Board of Review ensuring more equal representation for taxpayers in those districts. I am so proud of Leader Lisa Hernandez, D-Cicero, and the rest of the Redistricting Committee, who worked tirelessly to make sure that Illinois remains a model for the nation for minority representation.”
* Sen. Jason Barickman (R-Bloomington)…
“When JB Pritzker was a candidate for Governor, he made a lot of promises. He told us he was different, that he was a reformer, and that he would veto any map drawn by lawmakers. Today he broke his promise to voters and joins the all-too-long list of Illinois politicians who promise one thing and then do another.”
“The people of Illinois deserve a fair, transparent process that allows them to choose their representatives in Government. Pritzker turned his back on them and chose instead to use his signature to further enshrine the broken status quo of politicians picking their voters.”
I’m told by a source close to him that Pritzker advanced his timetable because the maps had become entangled in another hot issue: the terms of an energy deal that will satisfy green groups while keeping open Exelon nuclear plants without socking taxpayers with the costs of excessive subsidies.
Somebody tried to play games, so he signed the map bill to get that off the table.
* SGOP Leader McConchie…
“Today, Gov. Pritzker affirmed to all Illinois families why they can’t trust him to run the state,” said Illinois Senate Republican Leader Dan McConchie (R-Hawthorn Woods).
“By signing this map, created using flawed data and drawn by political insiders, the governor broke the promise he made to the people of Illinois. He also proved that he cares more about keeping power for his political friends than fair elections where the people of Illinois can pick their elected officials, instead of politicians picking their voters. He proved today that he’s just another old-school, tax-raising politician who cannot be trusted.”
* Rep. Ryan Spain…
“As a member of the House Redistricting Committee, we repeatedly heard from government reform advocates to use US census data and that they would require two weeks to provide adequate public review of the new map to see if it meets Voting Rights Act compliance. This is why Governor Pritzker broke his promise after only one week; before Democrats’ lies could be exposed as the deception Democrats intended to perpetrate all along. Through bad data, fake transparency and false urgency, Pritzker, Welch, and other Democrats pulled the wool over voter eyes. They assume they can get away with it because this is Illinois. The next election must be a referendum on whether voters will openly permit their own politicians to lie to them.”
* ILGOP Chair Don Tracy…
Governor Pritzker lied to the people of Illinois when he pledged to veto a politician-drawn map. Governor Pritzker promised to take politicians out of the mapmaking process and hand it over to an independent commission that would be required to follow the Voting Rights Act and protect minority representation. Instead, he let politicians pick their own voters, split up numerous communities of interest, and use faulty data all in an effort to rig the system for those already in power. Pritzker didn’t keep his word and cannot be trusted.
• Half (49%) of Americans who lost their job during the pandemic report they are not active at all or not very active in searching for new employment. Less than a third (32%) report that they are strongly active in their job search.
• Six in 10 respondents (61%) say they are in no hurry to return to work. Three in 10 (30%) say they do not expect to return to work this year, with more than half of those (13% of the total) saying they never plan to return to work.
• One in eight (13%) who became unemployed during the pandemic and remain unemployed have turned down at least one job offer in the past year.
• One in six (16%) not actively seeking work say the amount of money they are receiving from unemployment benefits and government programs makes it “not worth looking” for jobs. Even more—28 percent of all respondents—agree that “there are a lot of people who are not looking for work because they can do almost or just as well collecting unemployment benefits.”
• Other common factors contributing to unemployed Americans not looking for work include childcare and other family care needs (24%), a lack of available jobs due in sectors that are still suffering (28%), and COVID-19 concerns (26%).
• One in four survey respondents (23%) say they lack the skills or experience necessary for most of the jobs available right now.
I’d ignore the 28 percent who are speculating about why others aren’t returning to work and focus on what they actually said about themselves. It’s pretty clear that this Chamber poll shows the vast majority of unemployed people aren’t staying home because they can make more money by doing so. There are far more important factors involved.
And if you look at the Chamber’s own analysis, you’ll see that 55 percent of people 45+ are not actively seeking a new job, with 42 percent saying they aren’t at all actively looking - by far the highest number in that category.
Yet, some people insist on punishing families with children and younger workers by cutting off their UI benefits.
* Methodology…
The poll of 506 Americans who lost jobs during the pandemic and have not returned to full-time employment was taken May 17-20. The poll has an overall survey margin of error +/-4.4 at the 95% confidence level, with stable and projectable bases across age, prior total compensation, ethnicity, incidence of children at home, industry sector and educational attainment.
Disagreements between the House and Senate prevented legislation reforming the state’s Firearm Owner Identification card renewal system from moving forward.
The House barely passed a version that would have mandated applicants and those renewing to provide fingerprints. The Senate passed a version that made fingerprinting optional. Though some were trying to whip votes in the House for the Senate proposal, it did not come to fruition.
Another flop was gaming legislation, which would have allowed in-person betting on Illinois college teams and permitted a sportsbook at Wintrust Arena in Chicago.
It easily passed the House but was not taken up in the Senate due to lack of coordination between the point persons for gaming in each chamber.
House Bill 3401 would allow certified professional midwives to obtain official state licensing. […] The bill passed with bipartisan support in the House, by a vote of 105-2, but was never taken up for a vote by the full Senate. […]
House Bill 3447 would reclassify small amounts of drug possession, including heroin and cocaine, from a low-level felony to a misdemeanor. […] HB 3447 passed narrowly out of the House, by a 61-49 vote, with just one vote more than needed. The Senate did not take up the bill for a full vote.
There’s much more to both of those stories, so click the links.
Paul Schimpf, Republican candidate for Governor, retired Marine announced an Illinois Parents’ Bill of Rights in a press conference by Zoom today. He made the following comment during this press conference:
“Over the past several years, Illinois parents have seen governments infringe upon their ability to raise their children in the manner of their choosing. Too often, the Illinois House and the Illinois Senate act as if they are 118 and 59 member school boards, making curriculum decisions for school districts and passing unfunded mandates. The time has come to reset and readjust the relationship between the parents of Illinois and their government. That is why I am unveiling this Illinois Parents Bill of Rights this morning.”
Parents, not the government, have the authority and responsibility to raise their children to the best of their ability in accordance with their values. The following rights shall be given to Illinois parents who are raising minor children.
1. Parents, acting through locally elected school boards, have the right to control public schools in their respective districts. Local school boards will make curriculum, safety, and closure decisions. Children have the right to a public education free from political indoctrination of any kind.
2. The ability of parents to educate their children through homeschooling or enrollment in private schools shall not be infringed by the state of Illinois. No official representing the state of Illinois shall have the authority to order the closure of private schools.
3. Parents with daughters shall have the right to see their daughters flourish by having a fair chance to compete in sporting activities where they are not at a biological disadvantage due to their sex.
4. The parent, not the state, has primary responsibility and authority for the physical and mental wellness of their children. Parents will have knowledge and control over of any medical procedures and medicine that a child may be provided. Furthermore, schools will not provide non-emergency medical treatment or medical referrals to a child without the consent of a parent or a court order.
5. A parent shall be present during (or consulted prior to) the custodial questioning of their child by law enforcement personnel.
6. Parents have the right to review video footage (including footage from body cameras) and social media content of their child that is in the possession of law enforcement personnel or school administrators.
7. Parents, not the state, will control the transition from childhood to adulthood of their children. Parents have the right to “opt out” of subjects taught in public and private schools in which they choose not to have their children participate.
8. Parents have the right to have the taxes for schools go to either the public school or the private school of their choice.
Lotta hot buttons in there. But it’s not too difficult to poke holes in some of them. Forbidding the state to close any private school for any reason? What could possibly go wrong there? And we’re gonna divert local and state tax dollars to the Latin School?
* Maybe it’s me, but I tend to assume somebody is running for reelection unless I start seeing real evidence to the contrary. In this case, Gov. Pritzker has plunked down a decent chunk of cash, which seems to be evidence that he’s running again.
Also, do you know how furious super-competitive reporters like Mary Ann Ahern would be if the governor chose to give an exclusive scoop on his reelection bid to a rival TV station more than a year before the primary? Ha! I pity the fool.
Governor JB Pritzker hinted Thursday that he may not run for a second term, breaking the news even as Illinois is poised to come out of the pandemic and make his job a bit easier starting next week.
So, the question is: Is the governor serious, or just being coy about his plans?
If Pritzker decides not to run again, it would send shockwaves across the political landscape in Illinois and open the floodgates for candidates on both sides of the aisle.
In a one-on-one interview Thursday, he left open the possibility that maybe he only wants to serve one term.
“You know, again, I haven’t talked to my family completely about this and I need to spend time with them had to have that conversation. So I’ll get back to you shortly. I promise,” Pritzker said.
Pritzker seemed to kick start his re-election bid with a whopping $35 million personal donation to his campaign coffers on March 12. The donation came right around the first anniversary of when he had to shut the state down due to the pandemic.
One political insider said First Lady MK Pritzker is not very happy with the lifestyle created by the demands of her husband’s job.
I ran into the First Lady last week at a Springfield restaurant. She told me how she’d taken the staff rollerskating at a local rink and said she wanted to host a legislative rollerskating night during next spring’s session. Does that sound like someone who isn’t “happy with the lifestyle”? Pre-pandemic, she regularly attended plays put on by women prisoners at Logan Correctional Center and actively supports the prison’s culinary program. She’s about to host a big reception for the new executive director of the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum, a Black woman.
Yes, her teen daughter has been maliciously and falsely targeted by a right-wing media outlet for just being a kid. And, yes, her husband received multiple and regular death threats during the pandemic. What mother and spouse wouldn’t hate that? But from all I can tell, MK is a trouper. She’s also from a political family.
Here’s Gov. Pritzker’s comms director, who almost never tweets…
If the First Lady had any concerns about her husband running again, let’s remember the death threats and vitriol leveled at their family. https://t.co/Ww5OP5UjqV
Saying she doesn’t like the “lifestyle” based on an unnamed “insider” is a gross, sexist trope that needs to end. Let’s stop treating political wives like they’re vapid and vacuous nags. Shame on anyone who falls for such tired tricks.
But, you know, campaign season is right around the corner and I’m sure the Democratic Party would like to know definitively what his plans are sooner rather than later.
Again, the primary is almost 13 months away. And, like the party could do anything about it anyway.
In his interview on Chicago Tonight, Pritzker also defended his actions following a government watchdog’s report that found a lack of preparation and of communication at the LaSalle Veteran Home contributed to a COVID-19 outbreak.
The inspector general’s audit found that the team at LaSalle requested asymptomatic employees show up for shifts even after they’d tested positive for COVID-19, lax masking by staff, and lacked a formal response plan even in October ‘20 when risks of transmission were well known.
At least 36 residents died in the final three months of last year.
“Let me start by reminding you that we’ve been in a global pandemic that has had no mercy, particularly on those who are elderly, those who are in nursing homes,” Pritzker said.
The governor said residents of the nearby community who weren’t wearing masks led to a high local rate of COVID-19 infections, which were brought into the LaSalle home.
This is really challenging. People in the community where that veterans’ home resides aren’t wearing masks and when they’ve got a very high rate of infection, case positivity, test positivity in that area. People who live there and work at the home, unfortunately, were bringing that into the home.
He’s not wrong about the problems in that community, of course. There was a lot of Downstate resistance to mitigations as the state experienced its devastating second wave, and that attitude infected, hospitalized and killed a whole lot of people. Period. But, that doesn’t even begin to excuse the fact that the state had no adequate protocols in place and local and state management was horrid. That would be on the governor.
* Meanwhile, the governor made this claim about Rep. Butler to more than one reporter yesterday, but Hannah Meisel went back to check the actual record…
The governor also pointed to comments from State Rep. Tim Butler (R-Springfield) earlier this spring at a press conference with U.S. Rep. Rodney Davis, who said a fair map would elect more Republicans.
“Does that sound fair to you?” Pritzker asked Thursday. “Does that sound like Republicans are really fighting for fair maps? That’s not what they’re fighting for…What they want to draw is a partisan map in their favor. So at this point I don’t believe anything that they say about this.”
The governor was referring to an April 12th appearance at the Capitol where Butler said he’d heard testimony from communities both in Chicago and rural areas of Illinois. He also drew upon his experience representing a slice of Springfield in the House.
“If you stop dividing up these communities for political reasons, you are going to see more competitive elections and probably you’re going to see more Republicans in the legislature,” Butler said. “I don’t know what the right number is but I guarantee if the lines are more fair, you’re going to see more Republicans in the legislature.”
Butler was being disingenuous about his definition of community. Towns that aren’t landlocked gerrymander their own boundaries quite often when they annex turf.
But Butler isn’t out of line to speculate that, without Democrats putting their fingers on the scale, a fair map could wind up with some districts being more winnable for Republicans. And while I agree that the Republicans would stick it to the Democrats if they were given the right to draw the maps, I don’t think there’s any evidence of that intent within Butler’s remarks.
Gov. J.B. Pritzker in March sunk $35 million into his campaign fund – not a huge expense given his personal fortune but assumed as a sign that he’s gearing up to campaign for a second term.
But the Chicago Democrat Thursday said he hasn’t decided whether he’s running.
Even so, Pritzker said the Republicans who’ve already lined up to run against him aren’t fit for the office.
“Many of them have fought against the [COVID-19] mitigations, have sued on the side of Donald Trump and all of his lies. These are folks who really shouldn’t run the state of Illinois because they don’t seem to care about the working families of Illinois — they haven’t over the last year as a result of their failure to push mitigations forward, to stand up for those mitigations. A couple of ‘em not wearing masks and telling other people not to,” Pritzker said. “I just think that they’re not qualified to be governor as a result of how they reacted to the pandemic.”
Republicans who have thus far declared their candidacy for governor are State Sen. Darren Bailey of Xenia; suburban business owner Gary Rabine, the founder of exterior facilities management company Rabine Group; and former state Sen. and ex-Marine Paul Schimpf of Waterloo.
Bailey and Rabine held mask-less indoor campaign events during the height of the pandemic, and Bailey sued the governor in a failed attempt to void Pritzker’s executive orders mandating COVID mitigations.
Other names are floated by political prognosticators as potential contenders include Congressmen Rodney Davis and Adam Kinzinger.
Republicans in the General Assembly have repeatedly called on Pritzker to veto the maps Democrats passed last week. The GOP considers the proposed boundaries unfair, and object to the maps being drawn by Democratic lawmakers, rather than an independent commission.
During his 2018 campaign, Pritzker had vowed to reject any new maps drawn by politicians.
On Thursday, Pritzker told the Sun-Times what’s most important to him is “fairness.”
“That starts with the Voting Rights Act of Illinois, the Voting Rights Act in the United States, the Supreme Court decisions that have been made around making sure that we have majority minority districts, and then looking at the overall diversity of the state to see whether there are plurality districts that minorities might be representing in the future,” Pritzker said.
“So, we’ll look at the population trends, things like that, so that we continue to have representation, with a diverse set of people in our legislature — and then of course in the Supreme Court and the [Cook County] Board of Review. And ultimately, I guess later, the same thing will be true of a congressional map when it gets submitted.”
It’s more than what the governor said on the matter at his post legislative session news conference earlier this week when asked about the maps.
But it still doesn’t answer the question of whether Pritzker will OK the Democrats’ version of fairness or heed Republicans calls for him to reject it.
Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker said Thursday that he feels good about the direction in which the state is heading, on many levels.
He sat down Thursday with CBS 2 Political Investigator Dana Kozlov, and they covered as much ground as they could in 15 minutes.
One of the first topics Kozlov brought up was the state’s – and specifically an Illinois House resolution demanding that Pritzker reopen unemployment offices.
Pritzker: “You’ll see IDES reopening over the next month or two.”
Kozlov: “Month or two, but noting more firm than that?”
Pritzker: “No. They’re still working out the security concerns at all of our offices.”
Well, let me start by saying that I want people to be able to get the service that they need from our Department of Employment Security, and so we’re going to open as soon as we possibly can. As you know we’ve had a significant challenge with security, for people who work in those offices. They’ve been there, but the threats that have been leveled are continuing. We’ve had ISP pursuing the people who are threatening. But I will also say that many of our government offices have been closed over the course of the pandemic. We’ve been gradually reopening all of those. So you’ll see IBS reopening over the next month or two.
I’ll have more later this morning because some stories haven’t been posted as I write this. I’ll also get to these goofy “Pritzker won’t say if he’ll run again” clickbait stories later today. For now, I’ll just caution you to not buy into the silliness.
ITEP’s newest edition of Who Pays? helps to reveal that many states traditionally considered to be “low-tax states” are actually high-tax for their poorest residents. The “low tax” label is typically assigned to states that either lack a personal income tax or that collect a comparatively low amount of tax revenue overall. But a focus on these measures can cause lawmakers to overlook the fact that state tax systems impact different taxpayers in very different ways, and that low-income taxpayers in particular often do not experience these states as being even remotely “low tax.”
Had a great discussion with my Transportation Advisory Coalition this morning at @RCCDecaturIL. Wanted to get their input as we consider surface transportation legislation and a potential broader infrastructure bill in Congress. I'm hoping we can do these on a bipartisan basis. pic.twitter.com/rUnL5bPCoI
* From comments on a post about the elected Chicago school board bill yesterday…
It’s fascinating to me that folks (like editorial writers) who regularly complain about the speaker and senate president having too much power over their chambers now want them to exercise that power to stop something a super-majority of their members are in favor of.
The Illinois House must still approve the bill, and Gov. J.B. Pritzker would have to sign it before it becomes law. It could be a moment for the new House speaker, Emanuel “Chris” Welch, to step up and say no, he won’t call the bill for now, even though it’s an issue he supports.
It could be a moment for Pritzker to say no, he won’t sign it as is, even though it’s an issue he supports.
Mayor Lori Lightfoot doesn’t want it; it would be bad for taxpayers and students; and the reasons it flew through the Senate were heavily political — jabs at Lightfoot from Martwick, with whom she has battled, and Senate President Don Harmon, with whom she has a strained relationship. Throw kids under the bus to assert your own power? You bet, they said.
Welch and Pritzker should put a brick on it. Don’t call the House back to Springfield.
A third former state legislator has filed a lawsuit to argue he is entitled to pay raises from years past — even though he voted against them while he was in office.
Mike Fortner, a former Republican state representative and NIU physics professor from West Chicago, had a reputation for paying close attention to the state’s many fiscal headaches.
Fortner filed the new lawsuit on Tuesday seeking backpay for himself and all current or former state lawmakers. His lawyers argue Fortner’s previous votes to block his own pay raises were unconstitutional because it changed his salary during the middle of his term.
“Fortner is entitled to receive his full COLA salary adjustments for the period from July 2009 to January 2019 — spanning all of fiscal years 2010 through 2018 and the first six months of fiscal year 2019,” the suit argues.
Fortner’s attorneys later filed a motion for class action certification on Wednesday, which would extend to all current and former members of the General Assembly — even those who don’t publicly put their names on the lawsuit.
* Comptroller Mendoza…
I am disheartened to hear that former State Representative Mike Fortner, R-West Chicago, has filed an ill-advised class(less) action lawsuit seeking to retroactively take from taxpayers money for raises he voted not to take through legislation he co-sponsored. This reckless lawsuit exposes taxpayers to millions of dollars in additional liability.
I respectfully suggest that this Professor of Particle Physics has sued the wrong person – he should sue himself. HE is the one who voted to deny himself a pay raise – not the Comptroller’s office.
It’s not rocket science, Professor. You should know better.
I have been fighting a similar shameless lawsuit brought by former State Senators Michael Noland, D-Elgin, and James Clayborne, D-Belleville, for four years and will continue fighting in hopes the state Supreme Court sees that legislators who voted to decline their raises should not be entitled to claim them years later.
If the court orders the state to take up to $10 million or more of taxpayers’ money to pay all former legislators raises they voted not to take, I will send legislators the forms state employees can already use to distribute a portion of their salaries to charity. As a former legislator who voted against these pay raises, I will lead by example, donating any back pay I get to charity and will encourage others to do the same.
it’s not rocket science, but it is constitutional law. Legislators’ compensation cannot be altered during their terms of office. The comptroller is running for reelection, and this is a great issue for her, but it doesn’t change the facts.
* Meanwhile…
Fun fact: Mike Fortner is already making money on state payroll. House Republicans have paid him $53k+ since December of 2019 out of their redistricting fund. State records show they sent payments to "M.F." through a consultant named Rebecca C. Hall.
Dan Hampton and his Chicago 6 bandmates are stepping on stage Saturday to help former Bears teammate Steve “Mongo” McMichael’s battle with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. https://t.co/LEo7IDc8Xa
Thursday, Jun 3, 2021 - Posted by Advertising Department
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* Gov. Pritzker is doing interviews today. Mine is later this afternoon. Here’s Greg Hinz…
“More needs to be done,” Pritzker said about tighter [ethics] rules enacted by lawmakers that have already come under attack by some as being too weak.
“This is not everything I would have liked to see,” said Pritzker of the package, which includes a 6-month ban on retired lawmakers lobbying their former colleagues, more disclosure of the personal assets of election candidates and a partial ban on state lawmakers lobbying local governments for pay.
“I will say progress was made,” Pritzker said. But “they know, we know, everybody knows that more progress needs to be done.”
Pritzker said he won’t be issuing his own proposals but instead will work through lawmakers. “Why would I (submit my own package) when I have allies in the General Assembly?”
I’m not sure who those allies are and why they didn’t propose any legislation on this topic. But one power he does have is to issue an amendatory veto with his own ideas. Not saying that would go anywhere or that it would be politically wise, I’m just saying that a gratuitous slam on the General Assembly is just meaningless rhetoric.
Illinois lawmakers on June 1 passed a $42.3 billion budget that leaders said was balanced and contained no tax hikes. They said those things, but that doesn’t make them true.
A closer examination shows at least a $482 million hole, which makes the 21st year in a row the state has failed to balance its budget. The budget also contains a $655 million tax hike. And it contains a nearly $1,200 raise for each lawmaker. […]
The fiscal forecasting arm of the General Assembly most recently estimated revenues for fiscal year 2022 would be $41.188 billion, while Pritzker’s office projected $41.055 billion. Combined with the $655 million in new revenue from tax increases, that would leave a deficit of between $482 million and $615 million.
It turns out, the budget negotiators used the greater of the two estimates from earlier this month in individual categories. COGFA had the larger personal income tax estimate, for instance, but GOMB had the larger corporate income tax estimate, etc. The negotiators then “fine-tuned estimates for other smaller sources based on up-to-date information (+55M) and federal sources based on final spending and cash flow assumptions (+$110M),” according to the governor’s office.
* ILGOP fundraising email. No surprise, they’re mad…
Rich,
Last year, for the first time in our state’s history, a state Supreme Court justice was defeated due to their ties to the Madigan machine. We did it with your help.
Now, Springfield Democrats want to continue their political power grab with an entirely NEW Supreme Court map — the first since the 1960s. Without a new gerrymandered judicial map, Democrats have no chance at preventing Illinois Republicans from taking 4-3 control of the Illinois Supreme Court in 2022.
4-3 conservative control of the Illinois Supreme Court means the following reforms have a chance:
• Term Limits
• Pension Reform
• Fair Maps (no more gerrymandering)
• Restrict Governor’s Ability to Issue Indefinite Emergency Orders
Add your name to our petition to support taking the Illinois Supreme Court today >>>
The only reason Democrats are concerned about the state Supreme Court now is because they won’t have a majority on the bench to rubber stamp radical leftist policies for them.
Springfield Democrats aren’t concerned about the people of Illinois.
Springfield Democrats are concerned about their own selfish interests.
Sign the Petition Today
Standing up against these outrageous attacks on our democracy is a MUST-DO, Rich. And we can’t stand up without you. Sign the petition NOW >>>
Thank you,
Illinois Republican Party
CONTRIBUTE
Um, the big pension reform decision was unanimous and authored by a Republican.
* The Question: What are you mad about these days?
We also stand with the governor on de-carbonization targets that need to be in a final deal.
Those targets mean the closure of coal-fired plants in 2035, including two municipally owned plants (CWLP and Prairie State Energy Campus) - the reason the Senate President refused to sign off on the Exelon deal on May 31. Harmon has clearly backed off that position, however.
* Media advisory…
A bipartisan coalition of labor, lawmakers and municipal officials is united in opposition to a plan under consideration in the General Assembly to prematurely close not-for-profit coal-fired power plants before the end of their useful life, warning such a move would raise utility bills on consumers, eliminate jobs, place new financial burdens on communities forced to find replacement sources of power and threaten reliability.
WHO: Sen. Doris Turner, D-Springfield
Rep. Tim Butler, R-Springfield
Rep. Charles Meier, R-Okawville
Doug Brown, Chief Utility Engineer, City Water Light & Power
Aaron Gurnsey, Business Manager and Financial Secretary at Plumbers and Steamfitters Local 137
Totsie Bailey, Executive Secretary-Treasurer of the Southwestern Illinois Building Trades Council
Mayor Jim Langfelder, City of Springfield
WHAT: The coalition is asking not-for-profit plants operated by City Water, Light & Power in Springfield and the Prairie State Energy Campus in Marissa to be exempted from premature closures proposed in energy legislation being debated by the General Assembly. This will allow for a more responsible transition to a cleaner energy future that gives communities time to put in place new power sources, train and develop workers, keep utility costs stable and protect grid reliability.
WHEN: Friday, June 4
10 a.m.
WHERE: Steamfitters & Plumbers Local 137
2880 E Cook St
Springfield, IL 62704
Illinois House Speaker Emanuel “Chris” Welch said Thursday he believes in “more democracy — not less” and the state Senate delivered just that by passing a bill to create a 21-member elected school board in Chicago.
One day after Mayor Lori Lightfoot denounced the bill as having “nothing to do with democracy,” Welch argued just the opposite. He called the Senate bill “a pretty good compromise” and said the House is likely to pass it without the makeover the mayor has demanded.
If anything, Welch said he would have preferred a speedier timetable than waiting until November 2024 to seat half the new board members and November 2026 to elect the other half.
“The bill does not set the timeline that leader [Delia] Ramirez from my team advocated for. But there are key protections during the transition period. That includes a moratorium on school closures. City Council confirmation of temporarily appointed members,” Welch said.
“I like the bill because it’s a move towards a fully-elected school board. I believe in more democracy — not less. I’m a product of an elected school board and believe that elections work. … When… all sides are not happy, you’ve got a pretty good compromise on the table.”
Welch, you may recall, was a co-sponsor of Leader Ramirez’s original bill. The mayor is dreaming if she thinks she can stop this thing in the House.
Two of Exelon’s Illinois nuclear plants were successful bidders in the auction held last month by the power-grid operator for the region, ensuring they will operate through at least mid-2023.
The LaSalle and Braidwood nukes bid low enough to receive $69 per megawatt-day in “capacity” payments from households and businesses throughout Commonwealth Edison’s service territory, Exelon disclosed today in a Securities & Exchange Commission filing. The price takes effect for the year beginning June 1, 2022.
PJM Interconnection, the multistate grid operator whose region includes northern Illinois, conducts an auction each year of power generators and other providers to ensure there’s enough juice available during the highest-demand periods of the year—usually heat waves or sharp cold snaps. Households and businesses pay the charge each month as a form of insurance to ensure those power plants deliver when needed, and they’re embedded in energy prices charged by ComEd and alternative power suppliers.
Unsuccessful were the Quad Cities, Byron and Dresden nukes. Quad Cities already is subsidized by Illinois ratepayers and is in no danger of early closure. But Exelon plans to shutter Byron and Dresden this coming fall without additional state support.
The market, which pays generators to be on standby in case extra power is needed, has long been a source of controversy. While it makes the grid more reliable, the system drives up costs for consumers. In the area around Chicago, for instance, these charges total more than $1.7 billion per year, accounting for 20% of customer bills, according to the Illinois Clean Jobs Coalition.
• Exelon’s bidding behaviors into PJM’s capacity market have changed in recent auctions. This includes higher capacity offer prices than were seen historically. Some units were bid into PJM’s capacity market at prices which were ultimately above the capacity market clearing price. Other prices came in just above or below the market clearing price, which results in the plants receiving capacity revenues for only a portion of their capacity offers.
• Exelon’s bidding behavior is causally related to its confidence that its units would ultimately be profitable. Exelon has elected as a strategy to submit lower bids for profitable units.
The lower [auction] prices could be especially painful for Exelon’s nuclear plants in Illinois, putting pressure on lawmakers to grant them bailouts.
Bloomberg Intelligence Analyst Kit Konolige said in a research note that Exelon could face a $900 million pretax hit. On Thursday, Exelon issued a statement saying it planned to close two more of its reactors in Illinois unless the state offers subsidies. […]
Nuclear plants did manage to win more contracts in the auction, clearing an additional 4,500 megawatts from the prior auction in 2018. Wind and solar power added about 1,300 megawatts, and natural gas added 3,400 megawatts. Coal slipped by about 8,200 megawatts.
So, it’s probably safe to say that it may turn out to be a good thing that Exelon got locked into a deal on May 31.
Republicans say you can thank GOP state Sen. Jason Barickman for steering the Democrats’ $42.3 billion state budget to the governor’s desk.
That unusual legislative twist came about after a 3 a.m. battle on the Senate floor that had Barickman, the Senate GOP’s floor leader, debating a surprise, out-of-the-blue amendment to a Democratic redistricting bill that shifted the circuit courts in St. Clair County and Lake County — the latter of which Minority Leader Dan McConchie represents.
Sources said Republicans hadn’t received any notice about the late-night amendment and were angry they couldn’t get answers from Democrats.
Later in the morning, GOP members were looking at the amendment online when they noticed a separate action: Harmon’s brick on the just-approved budget.
Putting a hold on the budget would have allowed Harmon to gain leverage on Pritzker in negotiating the controversial energy bill — not, as we mentioned yesterday, leverage with the House.
Republican senators realized they could force Harmon to release the budget by challenging his motion to hold it. That would have prompted an immediate vote. Harmon’s caucus would have to choose to either override his hold or send it back to the floor for another vote. Talk about a wild scenario given both Harmon and Pritzker support the budget — and Barickman doesn’t.
Before that occurred, Harmon approached Republicans.
Barickman repeated to Playbook what he told the Senate president: “I was just trying to free the budget from the political game by which it was being held hostage.”
Harmon then pulled the brick, and most members were none the wiser.
And it goes on.
* John Patterson…
“There was never any question that the budget was headed to the governor’s desk. We’re happy to have Senator Barickman’s belated support and will try to make sure the record reflects his intent.”
* This whole thing is weird. The Senate Democrats originally claimed that Harmon put a parliamentary hold on the budget to keep anyone else from doing it. But the Senate Democrats changed their own rules so that nobody but the sponsor and chief co-sponsors can make a motion to reconsider a vote after a bill passes. So, either they forgot what their own rules were in the middle of the night or something else was going on.
Either way, the rules also allow anyone in the last three days of a spring session to file a motion to force an immediate vote on a motion to reconsider. That’s what Barickman told Harmon he was going to do.
The Senate Dems played more than their share of games this spring. Maybe just play it straight from now on and save everybody the effort?
Social equity applicants for state licenses to sell cannabis gathered at a West Side restaurant Wednesday to urge Gov. J.B. Pritzker to quickly sign a recently passed bill authorizing a trio of new lotteries to divvy up pot shop permits.
The group of about two dozen hopeful marijuana merchants was joined by the sponsor of House Bill 1443, State Rep. LaShawn Ford (D-Chicago), and former state Sen. Toi Hutchinson, the governor’s top cannabis advisor.
The bill passed the Illinois House and Senate last week in bipartisan votes, and the governor said he was grateful to its sponsors and looked forward to signing it into law.
When Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton’s mom, Velma Wiggins, began to forget things, Stratton didn’t know the signs of Alzheimer’s, so as her mom’s chief caregiver, had no gauge for the changes soon afoot.
It wasn’t until she sent her mom to visit her aunt in Florida that someone put language to it.
“She lived with my family about 13 years, and we didn’t know she was developing dementia. We didn’t know what the signs were, what to look for. We lost her in 2016 to Alzheimer’s, and it wasn’t until three years prior to her death that she was diagnosed,” said Stratton, whose experience triggered a mission to help others caring for Alzheimer’s patients.
That mission culminated with pioneering legislation to improve the diagnosis of Alzheimer’s, passed in the final days of the legislative session, now on Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s desk.
Allegations that Republican state Rep. Chris Miller helped incite the Jan. 6 insurrection were “unfounded,” the Legislature’s watchdog found after conducting an investigation.
Whether comments the downstate cattle farmer made in Washington, D.C., that day represented conduct unbecoming a legislator was “a closer question,” Legislative Inspector General Carol Pope conceded.
But while she found Miller’s remarks at a rally “intemperate,” “distasteful and not excusable,” Pope said she could not label them “conduct unbecoming” a legislator – given the tenor of remarks being made by other legislators across the nation at the time.
“While my office recognizes the importance of free speech, it also recognizes there are limits to the types of speech that benefit from protection,” Pope wrote in an email to Miller. “My hope is that you will not exceed those limits in the future.” […]
Calling Pope’s opinion on the U.S. Capitol insurrection “a complete exoneration,” Illinois Republicans are now calling on Democrats to remove from the record a resolution condemning Miller, dubbing it “false and slanderous.”
The Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) today reported 674 new confirmed and probable cases of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Illinois, including 24 additional deaths. In addition, more than 67% of Illinois adults have received at least one COVID-19 vaccine dose and nearly 51% of Illinois adults are fully vaccinated, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
- Adams County: 1 male 80s
- Cook County: 1 male 30s, 1 female 50s, 2 males 50s, 1 male 60s, 1 male 70s, 1 female 90s
- DeWitt County: 1 male 60s
- Douglas County: 1 male 80s
- DuPage County: 1 female 90s
- Franklin County: 1 female 90s
- Jersey County: 1 female 70s
- Kane County: 1 male 30s
- Kendall County: 1 female 70s
- Lee County: 1 male 60s
- Livingston County: 1 male 70s
- McLean County: 1 female 90s
- Peoria County: 1 female 30s
- Rock Island County: 1 female 80s
- Tazewell County; 1 male 70s
- Vermilion County: 1 male 70s
- Will County: 1 male 80s
- Winnebago County: 1 female 70s
Currently, IDPH is reporting a total of 1,383,739 cases, including 22,865 deaths, in 102 counties in Illinois. The age of cases ranges from younger than one to older than 100 years. Within the past 24 hours, laboratories have reported 55,432 specimens for a total of 24,731,489. As of last night, 997 individuals in Illinois were reported to be in the hospital with COVID-19. Of those, 273 patients were in the ICU and 154 patients with COVID-19 were on ventilators.
The preliminary seven-day statewide positivity for cases as a percent of total test from May 27-June 2, 2021 is 1.5%. The preliminary seven-day statewide test positivity from May 27-June 2, 2021 is 1.7%.
A total of 11,374,677 vaccines have been administered in Illinois as of last midnight. The seven-day rolling average of vaccines administered daily is 37,328 doses. Yesterday, 36,372 doses were reported administered in Illinois.
* Meanwhile…
FULL STORY: Chicago will lift all restrictions designed to stop the spread of COVID-19 on June 11, as data show the pandemic is receding because of widely available vaccines, officials say @wttwhttps://t.co/8KXi4Ry7PQ
SB826 - I hear Rep. Butler's words - "We don't need this because Sangamon Co. administers Township funds very efficiently". Slave masters- “It’s ok slaves are 3/5 of a person; our plantations are running very efficiently.” Plantation mentality doesn't work for any of us in 2021!
The U.S. Department of Labor estimates 23,111 new unemployment claims were filed during the week of May 24 in Illinois, according to the DOL’s weekly claims report released Thursday. […]
Illinois’ estimated claims are among 385,000 total claims filed across the country last week, the fewest claims so far during the pandemic.
There were 19,218 new unemployment claims were filed during the week of May 17 in Illinois.
There were 17,530 new unemployment claims were filed during the week of May 10 in Illinois.
There were 18,355 new unemployment claims filed during the week of May 3 in Illinois.
There were 15,134 new unemployment claims were filed during the week of April 26 in Illinois.
Legislators of both parties exploited a loophole in state law that allowed them to resign on the first day of the month and collect the whole month’s pay or get sworn in at month’s end but claim a whole month’s pay, according to Illinois State Comptroller Susana A. Mendoza.
That ends with this legislation. The new rules take effect Jan. 1, 2022.
The legislation takes effect in January, but that specific provision doesn’t kick in until the 103rd General Assembly. Why? Because, as countless court cases have confirmed over the years, it’s unconstitutional to raise, lower or otherwise alter legislators’ compensation during their terms in office.
* That history is missing from this story and likely in others that are yet to be written…
The new budget that Gov. JB Pritzker said he will sign into law gives a lot of money to a lot of groups and projects.
One group? The very people who wrote it: the elected lawmakers.
“Politicians are making enough money as it is,” resident Gary Nation said. […]
Last year, in the height of the pandemic, the budget did not appropriate the money for the raises, so the legislators’ wages remained the same.
But, this year, they decided to appropriate that money.
What they did this year was a far more honest way of doing things. If legislators don’t want pay raises, they either shouldn’t take them or pass a bill to permanently repeal the annual cost of living raises going forward.
* By the way, the main 2016 plaintiff in one of the many lawsuits over this particular topic was none other than House Speaker Chris Welch…
Half-a-dozen state representatives have sued the Illinois comptroller for holding up their paychecks during the state budget mess.
The Democratic lawmakers filed a lawsuit in Cook County Circuit Court on Friday demanding that Republican Comptroller Leslie Munger and Gov. Bruce Rauner “end unwarranted political pressure.”
In April, Munger began putting paychecks for the governor and lawmakers in line and pays them like other vendors’ overdue bills get paid.
The lawsuit was filed by Democratic representatives Emanuel “Chris” Welch of Hillside, Kate Cloonen of Kankakee, Lisa Hernandez of Cicero along with Chicagoans Mary Flowers, Sonya Harper and Silvan Tabares
Illinois Democrats took a victory lap when the General Assembly’s regular spring session came to a close this week, holding press conferences touting the session as one of the most productive in memory: a $42 billion state budget without major cuts or an income tax increase; a bevy of progressive bills heading to Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s desk; newly drawn legislative district boundaries, completed despite the complication of late-arriving census data.
But for the minority party, each victory smacks of partisanship and defeat.
Less than five months after freshly sworn-in Illinois House Speaker Emanuel “Chris” Welch promised a “new day” in state government, Democrats in his caucus say he’s delivered “on every responsibility.”
But Republicans say Welch is still following the “playbook of 65th and Pulaski,” written and perfected by Welch’s tainted Southwest Side predecessor.
Illinois Republicans on Wednesday urged Gov. J.B. Pritzker to “uphold his promise” and veto a Democrat-proposed state legislative redistricting map.
“What we saw in Springfield these last two weeks was an absolute mockery of fair and transparent redistricting processes,” U.S. Rep. Rodney Davis, R-Taylorville, said Wednesday afternoon during a press conference in uptown Normal.
The finger pointing over the latest Illinois state budget and beyond is, if anything, intensifying now that the budget itself has passed and heading for the Governor’s desk.
A little more than 12 hours after Illinois lawmakers approved his latest budget, Governor Pritzker met with reporters to sing its praises.
“Ours is a budget that addresses the historical structural deficit, and makes responsible choices; paying off debt early, nearly eliminating our backlog of bills, and making critical investments,” Pritzker said.
House Republican Leader Jim Durkin argues the budget penalizes businesses. And as for ethics reform, he said lawmakers falls short when they should have been stepping up.
If signed, the bill would move the 2022 primary from the third Tuesday in March to June 28, 2022. Lawmakers said that the change was necessary because of delays in census data that will be used to draw new maps. That new data will not be released until August, according to officials.
State Republicans blasted the move, saying that it was designed behind “closed doors” to aid Democrats in drawing a more favorable legislative map.
“They did it behind closed doors. This is how power and control are maintained in Springfield,” Illinois House Republican Leader Rep. Jim Durkin said.
* Thanks to the mayor, maybe now the press corps can shift its focus…
The day after the Illinois Senate passed a compromise bill that would phase in a fully elected, 21-member Chicago Board of Education, Mayor Lori Lightfoot emphasized that it’s not yet a done deal and drew attention to parts of the plan that she doesn’t agree with.
“There were obviously a lot of different agendas at work that led to the bill that passed,” Lightfoot said at an unrelated news conference Wednesday afternoon, describing the legislation as one step in a longer process on which there’s still work to do. […]
Lightfoot pledged to “keep our fight where it should be, which is making sure that our children are heard, that their educational futures are secure and that parents have seat at table.”
“Why that is so hard for people to understand, why that sense of urgency around those core values is something that some folks in Springfield don’t get, I don’t know. But there has to be accountability for ignoring the people,” Lightfoot said. “It’s interesting that this is supposed to be about democracy but what happened in Springfield had nothing to do with democracy. But democracy, mark my word, will prevail.”
If test scores fall in Chicago’s public schools, blame Illinois Senate President Don Harmon.
If enrollment declines further in the city’s schools, blame state Sen. Bob Martwick.
If property taxes go up to pay for the schools, blame those in the state Senate who voted Tuesday to create an absurdly unwieldy 21-member elected Chicago school board. And blame, as well, anybody in the House who votes later this summer for this slapped-together mockery of supposedly grassroots democracy.
In the future, they will own the performance of Chicago’s schools, which we fear will not go well. It will be on them.
It was just a tweet, then it was just a bill, then it was a floor amendment, then it was just a beer, and now it's a Public Act. 🙌🍻 https://t.co/LuP8gu3vat
Illinois bars and restaurants will have more options and more time to utilize the state’s “cocktails-to-go” program under a new law sponsored by State Senator Sara Feigenholtz (D-Chicago).
“Many business owners in the hospitality industry were worried about recovering from COVID-19-related losses to their business,” Feigenholtz said. “We passed cocktails-to-go last year as a response to the pandemic, and it was a lifeline to restaurants. Expanding this further to give struggling bars and restaurants more options for cash management is crucial.”
Senate Bill 104 is an expansion of a similar measure Feigenholtz sponsored last May permitting bars and restaurants to include cocktails as part of their delivery services. The new law adds single servings of wine to the list of allowed deliveries, and permits the inclusion of products that were sealed by the manufacturer to be delivered as well. In addition, the law extends the sunset on cocktails-to-go until Jan. 3, 2024. It was originally scheduled to sunset this month.
“Restaurants are the cornerstones of our neighborhoods,” Feigenholtz said. “We should do all that we can to help them as we emerge from a global pandemic that put the economy into turmoil.”
The measure also includes provision allowing bars and restaurants to offer one free drink with proof of vaccination. This voluntary promotion is set to expire on July 11, 2021.
The General Assembly approved the measure with bipartisan support, and it was signed into law by Gov. JB Pritzker on Wednesday.
* From the House sponsor and originator of the “shot and a beer” idea…
The WGN-TV/Emerson College Chicago poll was conducted May 31-June 1, 2021. The sample consisted of Chicago registered voters, n=1000, with a Credibility Interval (CI) similar to a poll’s margin of error (MOE) of +/- 3 percentage points. The data sets were weighted by gender, age, education, region, and race based on the voting-age population in Chicago (Census Reporter). It is important to remember that subsets based on gender, age, ethnicity, and region carry with them higher margins of error, as the sample size is reduced. Data was collected using an Interactive Voice Response (IVR) system of landlines, a cell phone sample of SMS-to-web and an online panel.
* Heidi Dalenberg, Director of the Institutional Reform Project, ACLU of Illinois…
“A cursory examination of the capacity of DCFS reveals that the agency does not have adequate resources to fulfill their core mission - assuring the safety and permanency for youth in their care. Consider the reality: DCFS does not have enough workers to investigate allegations of abuse and neglect, does not have enough caseworkers to help children return to their families or find a permanent home with other loving adults, does not have enough community-based services to help children with significant mental or behavioral health problems, and does not have enough doctors or enough residential facilities to safely care for those same youth.
None of these problems are addressed in the budget adopted for the new fiscal year. Instead, the budget appears to believe that DCFS is about to enjoy a series of miracles, starting with a reversal of the years-long trend of adding thousands more children to the total youth in DCFS care. We would love to live in the world where miracles are possible. The children in DCFS care live in the real world. Every day, DCFS underserves children to such a gross degree that its mistreatment exceeds the ‘offenses’ that DCFS labeled as abuse or neglect when taking the children from their families.
DCFS cannot fulfill its obligation to the children in its care with the budget it requested. We can only hope that if the miracles DCFS is counting on do not materialize, the Department comes to the Legislature for supplemental funding.”
* I asked for some specifics…
Trend of system growth:
According to DCFS’ prepared numbers, the system has been growing as follows, measured at the end of the FY:
FY 2018 closed with 17,463 youth in care
FY 2019 closed with 18,568
FY 2020 closed with 21,099
FY 2021 ESTIMATE is that we will be at 23,238
FY 2022 PROJECTION is 23,544 – essentially flat growth, with no significant change in DCFS practices in place.
Inadequate care of youth in DCFS custody – most extreme example is youth with significant mental / behavioral health needs who are not getting the treatment they need. We have approximately 10 youth per month, since the YouthCare MCO rollout, who have had what we consider “unaddressed” mental health crises. What that looks like is that a call is made for a provider to come out and do an emergency assessment of a youth whose behavior is out of control. The youth either needs stabilization services – and does not get them – or needs a psych hospitalization – and does not get it. The result is that the youth is taken to a hospital emergency room and may sit there for 2 days, 3 days, 5 days, or even longer. The youth eventually gets sent home from the emergency room without receiving appropriate treatment, and has been re-traumatized by this latest experience.
Inadequate placement capacity - Illinois has made little, if any, progress in building community-based supports for youth so that they can be “placed” in family settings rather than in residential facilities. But at the same time, the residential facilities are bleeding staff – they are unable to recruit and retain. By the end of the year we expect that more than 70 congregate care beds will have closed, in large part because providers cannot responsibly keep them open due to staff shortages. Two agencies are shutting down their foster care programs. Provider capacity for Intact family services is shrinking as well in some areas of the state. I believe ICOY has issued a statement about the newly passed budget that contains these figures and has more detail.
What does that look like for children? When a youth is entering care or disrupting from an existing placement, and has significant behavioral or mental health issues, Illinois has nowhere for the child to go. The Department is resorting to use of “unoccupied” bed space at residential facilities – where there is no program in place for the child, no education, no counseling, and no services during the child’s stay – and has one-on-one supervision of the child that is provided by the child’s caseworker. This can go on for weeks.
Inadequate staff of workers to investigate abuse and neglect allegations.
The most recent report we have received regarding the personnel available to conduct investigations shows that the Department is more than 100 workers short of its estimated headcount need. The pattern of vacancies is not consistent across the state – some areas are sufficiently staffed, but other offices are facing critical shortages that push the workers’ caseloads far above BH limits. The worst of the offices are understaffed by 40% or more. DCFS is putting in place emergency measures to support the hardest hit offices, but the shortage of workers continues to be a serious and dangerous problem.
*** UPDATE 1 *** Governor’s office…
Since taking office, Governor Pritzker has increased DCFS’ budget by $340 million. Most of the year over year budget increases funded increased staffing, caseload growth, rate adjustments and IT improvements for the agency’s case management system. DCFS is also making tremendous strides in hiring staff after prior administrations oversaw the hollowing out of the agency.
*** UPDATE 2 *** Andrea Durbin at the Illinois Collaboration on Youth…
Hi Rich,
Thanks for sharing the information from the ACLU. It is true that current staffing shortages within the child welfare system have created potentially dangerous conditions for the children and youth in the system. One aspect of the child welfare system that is frequently misunderstood is that it is not DCFS alone. Illinois has given full case management responsibility for approximately 85% of children in care to community-based organizations, as well as the case management responsibility for most of the families served through intact family services. While DCFS itself has been making strides in addressing the workforce challenges in the public sector, the workforce shortages plaguing community-based organizations have been persistent and dramatic, placing children at risk.
For example, providers are reporting foster care caseload ratios at 21 or 22:1, which is significantly higher than the 15:1 maximum imposed by the Federal consent decree in BH v Smith. These ratios persist even when supervisors and other eligible staff, including program leadership, are forced to carry direct service cases to ensure the safety of children in their care.
Residential treatment programs report staffing at between 63%-68% of capacity, resulting in program closures and long waiting lists at a time when children are living in hospital emergency rooms for days at a time and stuck in psychiatric hospitals for months beyond medical necessity due to a lack of adequate care options for them.
Over the past five years the number of children and families in care has steadily grown. At a time when we should be expanding capacity within the child welfare system, instead we are seeing system contraction. A recent survey of child welfare providers revealed that:
57% of respondents had voluntarily put their agencies on intake hold during the past 18 months
More than 70 congregate care beds have been closed or are closing by the end of this year, on top of the more than 500 beds that were closed during the past 5 years
At least two agencies are shutting down their foster care programs – one in the Chicago/Cook County region and another in six counties in Central Illinois. Some intact family services are also being closed in those same counties.
This workforce crisis is built into the contracts that community-based providers get from DCFS. For example, community-based contracts are structured around paying an intact family caseworker $32,000/year, or just slightly above the $15/hr minimum wage. That same position advertised on the state’s CMS website starts above $55,000/year. Providers are forced to offer wages comparable to fast food and retail jobs for positions that require bachelor’s degrees in human services and special trainings and certifications. In this tight labor market, it is no surprise that they struggle to recruit qualified staff for these essential jobs.
This is not a problem that has happened overnight and it is not going to be fixed overnight. We were heartened to see the letter from Acting Director Smith today assuring providers that there will be a 3% rate increase in FY22 to community-based contracts as well as the establishment of a rate methodology workgroup to address long-term sustainability of these essential services. We look forward to working in partnership with Acting Director Smith and the Governor’s office to address these urgent concerns. The children and youth in our care are counting on us.
Let me add, I get being passionate but the obsessive use of the hammer is ridiculous. The ERSB bill was negotiated on for months (let alone the years of work on this) and it’s not perfect — especially for some of us who wanted it quicker.
* The governor announced this week that the state is still on track to fully reopen on June 11. I think I will discontinue this daily posting on that date, while still keeping an eye on things, of course. Your thoughts?…
The Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) today reported 478 new confirmed and probable cases of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Illinois, including 9 additional deaths. In addition, more than 67% of Illinois adults have received at least one COVID-19 vaccine dose and nearly 51% of Illinois adults are fully vaccinated, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Cook County: 1 female 50s, 1 female 60s, 1 male 60s, 1 female 70s, 1 female 90s
Kane County: 1 male 80s
McLean County: 1 male 40s
Rock Island County: 1 female 70s
Will County: 1 female 80s
Currently, IDPH is reporting a total of 1,383,065 cases, including 22,842 deaths, in 102 counties in Illinois. The age of cases ranges from younger than one to older than 100 years. Within the past 24 hours, laboratories have reported 35,697 specimens for a total of 24,676,057. As of last night, 1,013 individuals in Illinois were reported to be in the hospital with COVID-19. Of those, 278 patients were in the ICU and 150 patients with COVID-19 were on ventilators.
The preliminary seven-day statewide positivity for cases as a percent of total test from May 26-June 1, 2021 is 1.5%. The preliminary seven-day statewide test positivity from May 26-June 1, 2021 is 1.8%.
A total of 11,338,305 vaccines have been administered in Illinois as of last midnight. The seven-day rolling average of vaccines administered daily is 41,234 doses. Yesterday, 29,322 doses were reported administered in Illinois.
*All data are provisional and will change. In order to rapidly report COVID-19 information to the public, data are being reported in-time. Information is constantly being entered into an electronic system and the number of cases and deaths can change as additional information is gathered. Information for previously reported deaths has changed, therefore, today’s numbers have been adjusted. For health questions about COVID-19, call the hotline at 1-800-889-3931 or email dph.sick@illinois.gov.
* Chief Economist at Grant Thornton and adviser to the Federal Reserve…
Vaccine misinformation and the long lags it takes for a vaccine to be effective are additional hurdles to getting workers back to work in a world where more contagious variants are prevalent. These populations also suffered worst in consequences of COVID.
* Gov. Pritzker was asked today about the topic of getting people back to work…
I think there are a variety of things. Look, the pandemic is still with us. For those who’ve been vaccinated, the impact, the effect is much less than it was. For many people who have not been vaccinated yet, they need to get vaccinated, and we want to make sure that everybody gets back to work.
But it’s reasonable for people to feel somewhat concerned, as they have for the last 15 months, that getting back to work might be a difficult endeavor for them with the pandemic still upon us. We want people to get vaccinated so that they’ll get back to work. But I just want to point out, that’s one reason that people haven’t gotten back to work, still a concern, a fear, perhaps, that they might get COVID, or that others who enter a location might have COVID. So that’s one thing.
A second is that there are many, many women who, particularly women, who chose not to go back into the workforce yet, in fact, they stepped out of the workforce to take care of their children, or an elderly parent or someone else. And they’re still doing that. And it’s difficult for them, as childcare is still ramping back up, to find the childcare that they need, so that they can go out and get a job. So that’s another portion of people.
And then, I think that there may be people who are on unemployment right now, and who aren’t able to find a job that pays enough for them to pay their bills. Now, there’s, again, those three things are working together, perhaps, to keep some people from seeking out jobs.
But I would say that a lot of people are getting back to work a lot of people. And the fact that there’s so much sort of help wanted out there that help wanted signs are everywhere, is a great sign for the future of the economy of our state. And I’m looking forward, frankly, to people getting back to work as they have been over the number of months since January since people started getting vaccinated.
* Getting childcare ain’t easy for those same three reasons. Also, add in a demand shift…
A Bureau of Labor Statistics analysis shows that the child care workforce is down 15% from pre-pandemic to now, a significant challenge for the 16% of the overall workforce — or 26.8 million people — who depend on child care to work. Roughly 35% of child care workers were laid off in the early stages of the pandemic, says Rasheed Malik, senior policy analyst for Early Childhood Policy for the Center for American Progress (CAP), and only about half of those have returned in the last nine months.
There were hopes that more workers would come back as states prioritized child care workers for early vaccinations, but re-hiring has lagged. Malik believes that in an uncertain economy — with workers unsure they want to return to low-wage jobs and incentives offered in other industries — the staffing dilemma has become worse.
Part of the problem comes from a dramatic demand shift. Winnie, an online platform for finding child care, analyzed requests for care between February 2020 and 2021 among its network of 200,000 locations, and found a striking disparity between suburban and urban locations. Demand for open slots in child care centers had dropped in downtowns and big cities, meaning a big jump in available capacity, while many wealthy suburbs have seen demand for care skyrocket, shrinking capacity. Child care is a slow-moving, highly regulated industry — one can’t simply open up a new location overnight — so even small demand and population shifts disrupt a tenuous equilibrium.
“In suburban markets, families are searching, but new supply doesn’t exist, so it’s harder to get a spot,” says Sara Mauskopf, CEO of Winnie.
The shifts were consistent across the nation’s 10 largest metros; demand for care was down in urban centers and downtowns, and sharply up in more-distant suburban areas. (In the Bay Area, however, there was lower demand in urban and suburban locations across the board.) Take the Chicago metro area; in the city and Evanston, a neighboring suburb to the north with a large student population, the demand-to-supply ratio plunged 236% and 120%, respectively, while in areas further from the city, such as Naperville and Bolingbrook, it grew 57% and 52%.
* Related…
* Stimulus Checks Substantially Reduced Hardship, Study Shows: A new analysis of Census Bureau surveys argues that the two latest rounds of aid significantly improved Americans’ ability to buy food and pay household bills and reduced anxiety and depression, with the largest benefits going to the poorest households and those with children. The analysis offers the fullest look at hardship reduction under the stimulus aid.
* Despite vaccines, nursing homes struggle with outbreaks: COVID-19 vaccines have allowed nursing homes in the U.S. to make dramatic progress since the dark days of the pandemic, but senior care facilities are still experiencing scattered outbreaks that are largely blamed on unvaccinated staff members.
Democrats and Republicans have differing opinions on the $42 billion spending plan that was revealed just hours before passing.
Business groups had mixed reactions.
“REPUBLICANS MAD!” is a much-told story this session (like, multiple times a day), but Greg Bishop actually found a business group that didn’t completely dump all over the budget? What, pray tell, might that one be?
Illinois Chamber of Commerce President Todd Maisch also criticized the lack of money for the unemployment trust fund and decreased tax credits. But, on WMAY he did praise lawmakers’ decision to include paying down debt in the budget.
“And that is a good idea, we have to go ahead and reinforce that,” Maisch said. “Wherever you are on the political spectrum, paying down debt is a really important concept.”
Maisch also praised the hundreds of millions in federal funds outlined to support the state’s tourism and hospitality sector.
On May 31, the Senate and House approved a package of reforms that address some of Illinois’ most glaring ethical problems. State Senator John Curran (R-Downers Grove), a former Cook County Prosecutor, was the lead Senate Republican negotiator of the bill.
“With every new indictment or arrest of an elected official, the people of Illinois lose more faith in their government,” said Sen. Curran. “Through give-and-take bipartisan negotiations, today we took a large step forward in delivering real ethics reform. Through SB 539, we will hold elected officials to a higher ethical standard and we will empower our Legislative Inspector General (LIG) to independently investigate allegations of political corruption without first having to obtain permission to investigate from a panel of sitting lawmakers. This new level of autonomy is a crucial element of the reforms we passed today.”
SB 539 includes the following provisions:
· Allows the Legislative Inspector General to initiate a political corruption investigation without approval from the Legislative Ethics Commission;
· Reforms and strengthens the statement of economic interest disclosures by adding new disclosure requirements for legislators and their spouses, including disclosure of debts; and
· Prohibits legislators from leaving office and lobbying the General Assembly during the term they were sworn into for six months;
· Requires consultants to register and for lobbyists to disclose any contractual relationship with a consultant for the purpose of influencing the legislature;
· Prohibits fundraisers across Illinois on session days or the day before or after a session day;
“Through negotiations, Republican ideas were brought to the table, resulting in a more robust ethics package,” added Sen. Curran. “While there are still several components we would have liked to have seen in the final bill, the reforms we are sending to the Governor have teeth, and is a positive first step in restoring the public’s trust in state government.”
Sen. Curran said additional improvements in a future bill should include providing the LIG with subpoena powers, a provision that allows the Illinois Attorney General the ability to use a statewide grand jury to investigate, indict, and prosecute public corruption crimes, and an even stronger legislator-to-lobbyist revolving door.
“We must continue to build upon these bipartisan negotiations, in which we respected each other’s priorities, and continue to work to create a more ethical government that is free of corruption and which truly works for the people of Illinois,” Sen. Curran said. “While there is no denying there is a lot more we can do on ethics, I am pleased to know our spring session did not end without sending meaningful ethics reforms to the Governor.”
The two things I wanted most out of an ethics bill were the Monday fundraising ban and the consultant registration.
* On to the opposition. Reform for Illinois…
Yesterday, the General Assembly passed SB539, a long-awaited ethics omnibus bill. After endless scandals and indictments, we had hoped for comprehensive reform that would help restore Illinoisans’ confidence in their government. While SB539 takes some steps in the right direction, we are disappointed in the bill’s failure to make the hard choices necessary to uproot the culture of corruption that has harmed Illinoisans for years and earned our state government the lowest trust rating in the country.
Reform for Illinois has stood with its fellow good-government organizations—the Better Government Association, CHANGE Illinois, and Common Cause Illinois—and identified the ethics updates our state most sorely needs. The new bill makes some positive changes, including banning some legislator-lobbyists and requiring disclosure of lobbying consultants, which RFI proposed last year.
But SB539 falls short in key areas. For example, the bill:
—Bans former lawmakers from lobbying for just six months, a “bottom of the barrel” waiting period. A revolving door ban of just half a year will put Illinois behind 36 states that have a cooling-off period of at least one year, and well below the recommended prohibition of two years implemented in a dozen states. And there would be no waiting period at all for ex-legislators lobbying a new General Assembly–they could leave on the last day of session and be back on the first day of the next one to lobby their former colleagues.
—Fails to give the Legislative Inspector General’s office the tools it needs to exercise truly independent ethics oversight over lawmakers. SB539 takes a step in the right direction by enabling the Legislative Inspector General to launch investigations without the approval of the Legislative Ethics Commission.
But the Inspector General will still need to ask permission from the Commission–a body made up entirely of current and former legislators–to issue subpoenas or publish reports finding wrongdoing. This gives lawmakers ample opportunity to hamper or suppress investigations into their colleagues.
This bill will do nothing to solve the problem former Inspector General Julie Porter identified when she claimed legislators quashed her report finding “serious wrongdoing by a sitting legislator.”
SB539 also adds new and unnecessary limits on the Inspector General’s jurisdiction, and misses an opportunity to improve independence and transparency by requiring the appointment of members of the public to the Ethics Commission.
In short, we still don’t have truly independent oversight of the legislature–the fox is still guarding the henhouse.
—Aims to prohibit lobbying by elected officials but creates a loophole. As we learned from the Luis Arroyo case, sitting lawmakers shouldn’t be allowed to be lobbyists. Under the new law, members of the General Assembly will be prohibited from lobbying state or local governments, but only on behalf of entities registered to lobby the General Assembly. That opens the possibility that legislators may still be able to take some lobbying jobs that could conflict with their obligations to the public.
—Fails to provide essential information about legislators’ possible conflicts of interest. While the bill makes some improvements on the old economic disclosure forms (called “none sheets” for their lack of information), other states require lawmakers to disclose much more information about the value and sources of income that may cause conflicts with their legislative work. For example, an official who received a $100,000 consulting fee from ComEd could have a much more serious conflict than one who received $7,600, but their answers on the new forms would be the same. We can do better.
Lawmakers say this bill is just the beginning for ethics reform, and we hope to take them at their word. But how much longer will Illinoisans have to wait? After so many years of corruption and scandal, they deserve real change now.
* Change Illinois…
After years of ethical lapses resulting in lawmaker and political insider indictment-after-indictment, elected officials yet again fell short on delivering meaningful reforms to Illinoisans that would begin to restore their trust in government.
New House Speaker Chris Welch repeatedly promised a new day in Springfield and a meaningful ethics package and Gov. J.B. Pritzker also had called for reforms, but what was approved this session is a far cry from what’s needed and only serves to diminish voters’ hopes for stronger laws to guide officials’ actions.
After nearly two years of talk and work on ethics reforms, we’ve seen a do-nothing commission that did not even bother to publish a final report and an attempt to rush through ethics proposals in the middle of the night in a previous session. CHANGE Illinois, the Better Government Association, Common Cause Illinois and Reform Illinois have been unified in saying we need this serious package of reforms as a starting point:
Banning state lawmakers from lobbying local governments
Implementing a two-year revolving-door ban preventing former lawmakers from immediately lobbying colleagues
Strengthening the conflict of interest disclosure and recusal requirements
Fully empowering the Legislative Inspector General to operate independently
The ethics bill that will be sent to Pritzker falls short on all four issues. Only lawmakers lobbying local governments was addressed in a substantial way. Overall, this package is yet another example of the weak approaches we’ve seen in previous years that have done nothing to curb the continued cycle of corruption scandals that Illinois is infamous for across the nation. It reminds us of the campaign finance reform approved years ago after former Gov. Rod Blagojevich’s impeachment that was supposed to have been a “first step” toward more substantive improvements. Those subsequent steps never materialized and we cannot allow that to happen again with this effort.
The revolving-door ban on lawmakers becoming lobbyists included in the package falls severely short. The six-month ban is the lowest in the nation, putting Illinois at the bottom of the list.
The proposal does include needed improvements to annual financial disclosures officials must file. However, it lacks teeth without a recusal requirement. Any lawmaker still can have a conflict of interest and continue to vote in favor or against legislation that affects them personally without any repercussions.
The bare minimum also was done to give the Legislative Inspector General’s (LIG) office more independence to truly act as a watchdog. The proposal only allows for the LIG to start investigations without lawmaker approval for incidents that happened within the previous year. And it still requires the LIG to seek permission from the very elected officials it is supposed to investigate to collect necessary information for its probes. The LIG also still must seek lawmaker approval to publish reports when the office finds wrongdoing has occurred, yet another example of lawmakers trying to protect themselves.
Given the state we’re in, this is not nearly enough. This ethics bill must not be the last attempt to curb bad actors from further damaging the people’s trust in our government. As federal prosecutors continue to probe corruption in state government and new indictments come to light, Illinoisans must renew their call for stronger reforms. The people know we need stronger improvements that truly will signal lawmakers are serious about charting a new path forward, rather than relying on the same old playbook from the past that allows too many bad actors to tarnish the reputation of all of Illinois’ elected officeholders.
The Better Government Association stands with Reform for Illinois, Common Cause Illinois and CHANGE Illinois in voicing deep disappointment with the feeble ethics bill passed May 31 by the General Assembly.
The bill, which cleared both houses and soon will be on its way to Gov. J.B. Pritzker, contains some incremental improvements that are long overdue. But this legislation has been 18 months in the making. It’s fair to ask: Is that all?
The work of the Joint Commission on Ethics and Lobbying Reform highlighted many deficiencies in the state’s ethics laws. This legislation barely scratches the surface.
This follows an unfortunate historic pattern: Elected officials promised to clean up Illinois government in response to the licenses-for-bribes scandal that sent Gov. George Ryan to prison, and again after the impeachment and conviction of Gov. Rod Blagojevich. Many of the reforms that didn’t happen then didn’t happen this time, either.
This moment calls for much more than our lawmakers have delivered.
The BGA and its allies have advocated for a package of reforms that collectively would ensure that public officials act in the public interest and not their own. The bill approved by the General Assembly comes up short in every category.
The Senate voted 42-17, and the House followed with a 79-36 vote, to approve a package of changes to a policing reform law set to begin in July. But reflecting tensions within the Democratic caucus, a parliamentary hold was placed on the bill, keeping it from being sent to the governor.
The new policing law was a major plank of the Illinois Legislative Black Caucus social justice platform. It included a ban on police chokeholds, a requirement that police wear body cameras by 2025 and expanded training on use of force and crisis intervention. It also allows for anonymous police misconduct complaints.
The proposed changes would allow an officer to view his own body camera video before writing a police report, require that a felony violation of body camera requirements be proven to be intentional and an attempt to obstruct justice, revise the definition of chokeholds and remove a ban on targeting someone’s back with a Taser. […]
But the changes caused some tension, particularly within the Black Caucus. State Rep. Curtis Tarver, D-Chicago, noted that law enforcement, which opposed much of the original law, didn’t oppose the new changes. “People don’t oppose things when we start clawing them back and watering them down,” said Tarver, who voted against the measure.
Members of former House Speaker Michael Madigan’s inner circle argued Tuesday that their indictment in the ComEd bribery scandal suffers from a series of “fatal” gaps — including the lack of a clear quid pro quo.
Lawyers for Madigan confidant Michael McClain, former ComEd CEO Anne Pramaggiore, onetime ComEd lobbyist John Hooker and ex-City Club President Jay Doherty made their argument in a lengthy court memo, hoping to convince U.S. District Judge Harry Leinenweber to toss certain counts in the indictment.
The four are accused of arranging for Madigan’s associates and allies to get jobs, contracts and money in order to influence him as lawmakers considered legislation that would affect ComEd. Their indictment in November prompted fiery statements from their defense attorneys, a sign that several legal challenges would be forthcoming.
Doherty filed a separate motion to dismiss last month.
The filing argued that the U.S. attorney’s office has improperly used the federal bribery statute to criminalize recommendations forwarded by Madigan to ComEd officials — what the defense lawyers called a routine practice that falls well within the bounds of legal political horse-trading.
“The government does not allege any connection between the jobs and any actions by (Madigan),” the filing stated. “Adopting the government’s view would put huge numbers of American citizens at risk of prosecution for their ordinary participation in the political process.”
“The indictment loosely strings together an assortment of events over a ten-year period of time—largely hiring decisions made by ComEd made at the recommendation of Public Official A—and alleges that, because such recommendations were made in the same decade that legislation affecting ComEd was passed, a crime must have been committed. But the indictment fails to allege any connection between these hiring decisions and any agreement or understanding with Public Official A that he would take (or refrain from) any action on ComEd’s behalf in exchange for the things of value Defendants allegedly provided,” attorneys wrote.
Further, the defense team argued that accepting federal prosecutors’ stance that an explicit quid pro quo is not necessary to uphold the bribery charges “would put huge numbers of American citizens at risk of prosecution for their ordinary participation in the political process.”
“These gaps are fatal to the indictment because giving things of value to public officials can be perfectly legal. The Supreme Court has unanimously held that it is not a crime to give something to a public official ‘to build a reservoir of goodwill that might ultimately affect one or more of a multitude of unspecified acts, now and in the future,’” defense attorneys wrote.
The attorneys argued that allowing the bribery charges to stand without an explicit quid pro quo “would provide the government essentially unlimited discretion to prosecute anyone who has provided a benefit to a public official, and convict them on evidence that the public official took some official act that the defendant favored, without ever proving that the official’s actions were taken in exchange for the benefit provided, or even that the defendant understood or expected that the benefit would influence the official’s actions.”
“Such unfettered discretion is an open invitation for arbitrary and discriminatory enforcement. It surely cannot be the case that public officials commit a crime each time they make a job recommendation, nor can it be a crime each time a company accepts such a recommendation,” defense attorneys added.
Click here to read the memo supporting the motion to dismiss.
The city of Chicago could begin holding elections for seats on the Board of Education as soon as 2024, with a fully elected school board in place by 2027, under legislation approved Tuesday evening by the Illinois Senate.
Chicago Public Schools is currently the lone district in Illinois with a school board appointed by the mayor. But under the new bill, the Chicago Board of Education would transition, first in 2024 to a hybrid board made of elected and appointed members, before fully transforming into an elected body by 2027.
The bill was approved by the state Senate with 36 yeas, 15 nays and two members abstaining. It will now go back to the Illinois House for another vote.
Under the legislation, Chicago would be divided into 10 separate electoral districts for the 2024 elections and into 20 districts for the 2026 elections. From January 2025 to January 2027, each district would be represented both by one elected member serving a four-year term and one appointed member serving a two-year term.
“A 20-member board ensures that every corner of the city has the ability to elect someone that they know, who has worked in their community, has been involved in (local school councils) and has been involved in PTAs and has been involved in community groups and neighborhood groups and their participation matters more than their money,” bill sponsor and state Sen. Rob Martwick, D-Chicago, said during a committee hearing Tuesday.
In the latest sign that Lightfoot’s standing in the state capitol is unusually weak for a Chicago mayor, her objections did nothing to prevent the measure passing by a vote of 36 to 15, with two senators voting “present.”
* This was not a surprise. The Senate President said he was passing a bill this spring to provide for an elected school board and that’s what happened. Yes, some provisions were added late, but that’s normal. Chicago was warned not to try to stall an issue that has been percolating for years, but that’s just what they tried to do yesterday…
Within two hours of the compromise amendment being made public, some high-profile policymakers raised questions about the new language and called on lawmakers to pause before proceeding. Chicago’s deputy mayor of education, Sybil Madison, warned that provisions on who could run for the seats did not bar union leadership. Others asked about campaign-spending limits and why they didn’t appear in the measure.
However, the Senate executive committee passed the bill as amended with nine members in favor of the bill, five opposed, and two who voted present.
Tuesday brought the most heated public debate so far on the issue, as supporters and critics of the bill were suddenly put on notice to testify.
“I, too, have to scramble to be ready to participate this afternoon,” said Miguel del Valle, the current president of the Chicago Board of Education. He said he’d campaigned publicly for an elected school board for a decade but couldn’t support a 21-person body. “We can’t have a school board that is twice as large as the largest elected school board in the country. Down the road, I could see dysfunction, stalemates, all kinds of issues.”
Tuesday’s “overtime” brought a surprise ending to a lengthy spring session that was supposed to end at midnight Monday.
The bill passed by the senate would put a moratorium on school closings until 2025, which is a concession to proponents who are disappointed they will have to wait years for a fully elected board.
Also, it creates a mayoral-appointed advisory committee to represent the interests of undocumented residents, who currently can’t run for the board. Lightfoot said one reason she opposed the elected school board bill is that non-citizens can’t run.
The change from an appointed board to an elected school board in Chicago is huge. The closest the city has come to anything like an elected board is a community nomination process for board members that once existed.
The mayor’s office was particularly interested in preventing Chicago Teachers Union leaders from running for school board seats.
The amendment as it stands already prevents any CPS employees from seeking a board seat. Most CTU officers are still employed by the district but are on leave for union work — making them ineligible for a seat under this proposal.
Sen. Michael Hastings, D-Tinley Park, the majority whip, called the mayor’s request “absurd” and “undemocratic.”
“Where else in the history of Illinois have we precluded someone from running for office outside of a felony?” he asked Madison. She said the mayor’s position is that a CTU leader, or anyone with an organization that has a contract with the district, would have a conflict of interest and couldn’t serve on the school board.
Some education activists who had pushed for a requirement that a certain percentage of the board include CPS parents walked away unhappy, as did members of the Latino Caucus who wanted noncitizens to have the ability to run for the board instead of the noncitizen advisory panel included in the bill. The provision was left out in an effort to secure votes from suburban and Downstate Democrats, sources familiar with the negotiations said.
The legislation also does not address the fact that City Hall subsidizes CPS with payments of some $500 million per year, much of it going toward pensions.
“The city of Chicago, which has the worst rated credit of any major city in the country, and the Chicago Public Schools, which has one of the lowest credit ratings, they’re vulnerable to further financial downgrade,” said Laurence Msall, president of the Civic Federation, a government budget watchdog group. “If the goal here is to treat CPS and the city of Chicago like all other cities in the state of Illinois and all other school districts, you’ll have to find a way to make up that approximately half a billion dollars the city gives to the district.”
Or the city could just continue doing it. As Martwick noted, the money will come from the same place: Chicago taxpayers.
* Coming a little late to this story, but we were kinda busy around here…
Two uncounted ballots propelled a three-year-long recount that was finalized on Friday.
Macon County Circuit Court Associate Judge Anna Benjamin declared Jim Root the winner of the Macon County Sheriff’s race from 2018, a spot currently held by Sheriff Tony Brown.
So, why did the ruling take two and a half years? It was a number of factors, including the pandemic. Root’s lawyer said this type of election contest is just like any other lawsuit in Illinois, it’s a judicial process. Plus, manually counting ballots is time-consuming.
The initial count put Sheriff Brown in his current position by one vote. Now, the count shows Jim Root is the winner by 16 votes.
The 2018 race for Macon County sheriff isn’t over yet.
Tony Brown said Saturday that he plans to appeal the order from Champaign County Circuit Court Judge Anna M. Benjamin that found that Jim Root won the race by 16 votes. The final tally was 19,579 votes for Root to 19,563 votes for Brown.
“Obviously I am disappointed as far as the judge’s ruling,” Brown said. “We plan on appealing.”
Brown, who was sworn into office in 2018, said he also will be requesting that he be able to remain as sheriff pending the outcome of the appeal process.
* Senate President Don Harmon was asked about this tweet yesterday…
A 14D-3R map would eliminate Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R)'s #IL16 (Dems figure he'd lose a primary to a pro-Trump R anyway) and severely threaten #IL13 Rep. Rodney Davis (R). Here's the hypothetical map shaded by partisan lean: pic.twitter.com/rc9sKZRQNY
I don’t know where those maps are coming from. I’ve gotten all sorts of panicked calls from people talking about some map or another. They’re not maps that we’ve produced.
