* The live coverage post attracts a huge number of Statehouse eyeballs on session days. I often put press releases and news items into that post which won’t fit anywhere else on the blog. But I get interesting press releases and read news items every day that aren’t a good fit for discussion here. So, I’m wondering what you think.
* The Question: Should we have a live coverage post every day? Take the poll and then explain your answer in comments, please.
In an email dated December 13, 2017 to Governor Bruce Rauner’s top staffers, Republican candidate for comptroller Darlene Senger wrote, “We can maybe tie this back to Duckworth.” […]
Mendoza also called out the Rauner administration over the lack of any response to the email.
“There wasn’t a single member of the governor’s leadership team who responded back saying something along the lines of ‘that is so highly inappropriate, like stop right there,’ Mendoza said.
The Rauner administration said there was no need to respond because Senger’s statement was a single, random suggestion.
They may not have responded because this stuff is FOIA-able, so getting into an online back-and-forth isn’t ever advisable. Also, Senger had her detractors on staff. They may not have wanted to engage.
* Notice, though, that there are no quotation marks in the excerpt’s last sentence. I tried to get the Rauner administration to tell me exactly what was said, but couldn’t. They referred me back to yesterday’s statement, which didn’t mention the reason nobody responded to Senger.
The reporter told me that the line about “no need to respond” was from a background conversation.
* The Pritzker campaign sent me this earlier today, but I didn’t want to run it until after I’d tracked everyone down…
So the Rauner administration suggested blaming the tragic deaths of 13 Veterans and spouses on one of our state’s greatest heroes, but it’s ok because they only did it once?
Thumbs down: To former Deputy Governor Darlene Singer for putting politics first as the severity of repeated Legionnaires disease outbreak at the Illinois Veterans Home in Quincy became a public issue.
On Dec. 12, WBEZ 91.5 Chicago published the first story in an investigation that raised serious questions about how the administration of Gov. Bruce Rauner responded to the outbreak and notified those affected and the public about what became a public health epidemic. The next day, Senger suggested tying the outbreak to U.S. Sen. Tammy Duckworth, who ran the agency that oversees the Quincy home from 2006-2009. The first outbreak at the Quincy home was in 2015.
We know in politics there is always a desire to blame somebody when something has gone wrong. And if more could have been done to prevent the three consecutive years of outbreaks from happening, someone should be held accountable.
But to make placing blame the priority — instead of fixing the problem and helping the residents at Quincy — is unconscionable. Veterans who fought for our country don’t need to be politicized. The residents of that facility need a healthy, safe place to life.
* And one more from the Pritzker campaign…
Bruce Rauner lied again. The word ‘immediate’ can have many definitions — ‘occurring or accomplished without delay; instant’ or ‘following or preceding without a lapse of time’ — but none describe Rauner’s response to the Legionnaires’ crisis.
RAUNER’S LIE:
Yesterday, the Rauner campaign claimed “Governor Rauner took immediate action to address the problems at Quincy.”
THE TRUTH:
Rauner proposed his Quincy plan three years after the first deadly outbreak and almost six months after widespread media and legislative investigations began.
A disease expert told WBEZ: “I think it’s really inexcusable…It takes you six days from seeing an epidemic to tell people that you’re seeing an epidemic? That’s six days that you’ve allowed that disease to spread in a manner that probably wouldn’t have happened if you would have known earlier because people would have been taking action. People would have been asking questions. If you know there is an epidemic, you need to tell people immediately.”
“There’s nothing ‘immediate’ about waiting six days to notify the public about a Legionnaires’ outbreak that took 12 lives in 2015 and another in 2017,” said Pritzker campaign spokesman Jason Rubin. “This was and continues to be an unconscionable failure.”
A federal judge set a hearing for the case of @McCann_Sam vs @Bill_Brady for next Friday. Today, McCann files a sworn affidavit that says without "taxpayer funded resources," he can "no longer effectively perform my duties as the Senator serving the 50th district." pic.twitter.com/JfVyasV88e
The judge had earlier refused McCann’s request that the Senate Republicans be ordered to immediately restore his access to resources.
* Good point…
McCann's conundrum here is that if/when a judge denies his request to be restored access to bill analysis and communications staff, he will be on record saying he's not able to do his job effectively, opening the door for Senate GOP to demand his resignation. https://t.co/yeJ4BtiWms
* If he loses this case, he has indeed admitted on the record that he can’t do his job. That might open the possibility of caucusing with the Democrats…
Interesting twist: two ranking @ILSenDems say they would welcome McCann into their caucus with open arms. No indication from McCann if he would try to go that route, or if Sen President Cullerton would allow it. https://t.co/2goj7XROXv
Well, that wasn’t the first time he’s done that. WCIA’s former Statehouse guy Matt Porter interviewed him in March of 2016…
PORTER: The thing… that got a little bit of notoriety is that there were some campaign finance issues, there was a board [of elections] meeting on Monday, and there’s going to be a public hearing about the mileage reimbursements being unclear. There was a significant amount, $38,000, and also some expenditures that could’ve been more detailed, about $46,000 there. Do you have any regrets about how your campaign finance worked out the past year and that that became a weak point for you?
McCANN: You know, I think really what’s terrible is that you’ve brought me here to the Statehouse to interview me today and you’ve decided to go into this yellow journalism.
He then claimed he was owed “far more” than he’s taken in reimbursement, and then he threw out the “yellow journalism” epithet again.
Porter kept his cool throughout.
Sam may not be so lucky the next time he pulls that stunt.
* The [again] updated retirement, lost a primary, etc. list…
*CORRECTED x2*
Here's the updated list of IL General Assembly departures after the March primary
(Added Sen. Trotter, added Sen. Elgie Sims Jr. who resigned his State Rep. seat but was appointed to the State Senate)#twillpic.twitter.com/OjPuaZwya3
— Illinois Working Together (@IllinoisWorking) May 4, 2018
* So, that’s 13 House Democrats, or 19 percent of the total caucus; 14 House Republicans, or 27 percent of the total; 5 Senate Democrats, which is 13.5 percent of the total and 5 Senate Republicans, which is 23 percent of their total. Grand total so far: 37. Whew.
And we’ll likely be adding Rep. Silvana Tabares (D-Chicago) if and when she is appointed to the Chicago city council in the coming weeks. That’ll push the grand total percentage to 21.5.
*** UPDATE *** Retired Sen. Donne Trotter isn’t on that list, so I adjusted the numbers, including the headline.
Former Rep. Elgie Sims took Trotter’s place, but I don’t know what to do about him, so I left that count alone.
Also, there are some good points in these text messages, which I’ve cleaned up a bit…
The thing is - 13 house Ds are leaving/left, but 3 have already been replaced, 1 is running for Senate + 1 for lt guv, so only 8 are actually lame ducks. Only 1 House R is running for Senate, so the other 13 are lame ducks…going to take a lot more wrangling on R side.
Easy to imagine more than a few of those R’s dumping Rauner on a budget vote, etc…probably explains why Rauner has basically zero demands on the budget this time.
McAuliffe, Durkin, Sommer, [Dan] Brady and Hammond will be the only people left [in the House next January] who took office before 2011.
lol only 5 House Republicans will have served under more than Quinn and Rauner [by the end of this term, assuming no one else loses]. Kinda nuts!
Only 15 will have served under more than JUST RAUNER…compared to 22 who have ONLY served under Rauner. That’s nuts.
So basically a pretty large majority of the non-lame duck House Republican caucus has never dealt with a governor who isn’t Bruce Rauner.
* Crain’s Chicago Business posted my column early this week, so here you go…
We’ve been hearing a lot of debate lately about the merits and demerits of a graduated, or “progressive,” state income tax.
Illinois’ constitution mandates a “non-graduated rate.” Everybody from the poorest to the wealthiest currently sends 4.95 percent of their taxable personal income to the state.
The Center for Tax & Budget Accountability recently unveiled a graduated income tax proposal that it claims would reduce taxes for 98 percent of Illinoisans. Under its plan, income over $300,000 per year would be taxed at an 8 percent rate. The highest rate, 9.85 percent, would apply to annual income above $1 million.
The center’s plan would raise an estimated $2 billion in its first full year. By contrast, last year’s income tax hike—to 4.95 percent from 3.75 percent—was projected to raise about $5 billion. But that’s only if you include revenue from the increase in the corporate income tax rate, which jumped to 7 percent from 5.25 percent. The plan assumes the corporate rate will remain the same, but that’s not what happened the last two times personal rates were hiked.
Illinois’ constitution has a limit on how high corporate tax rates can go. Corporate rates “shall not exceed the rate imposed on individuals by more than a ratio of 8 to 5.”
The constitution doesn’t require an 8-5 ratio, the language simply serves as a cap on corporate taxation. But if the state changed to a graduated tax and then based corporate income taxes on the top personal rate, it would result in a whopping 15.76 percent corporate rate—more than double today’s.
So, clearly, some more debate is in order here, particularly what to do about our 8-5 ratio, since large companies often avoid state income taxes while small businesses pay full freight.
And addressing this issue is even more important when you consider what I’m about to tell you.
The Commission on Government Forecasting & Accountability, which crunches numbers for the General Assembly, did a study in March for Rep. Rob Martwick (D-Chicago). Martwick wanted to know how much additional revenue the state would need through 2045 to pay for expensive things like pensions and the new school funding law and asked that they calculate all other spending growth by using the consumer price index.
* I covered this part of the governor’s radio interview at length for subscribers today, so I’ll just let you comment on this RGA release…
Republican Governors are committed to lower taxes on hardworking families, and that dynamic is demonstrating itself in both the Iowa and Illinois gubernatorial races.
In Iowa, GOP Governor Kim Reynolds has announced the largest tax cut in state history. In Illinois, GOP Governor Bruce Rauner has fought against Democrat House Speaker Mike Madigan’s tax and spend agenda for over three years and is committed to stopping Democrat gubernatorial nominee J.B. Pritzker - who is pledging to hike taxes even further if elected.
During an interview yesterday with AM Quad Cities, Governor Rauner praised Governor Reynolds’ tax cut plan as “exactly the right thing to do” and discussed how every state bordering Illinois is cutting taxes, while J.B. Pritzker is making a devastating tax increase for Illinois the centerpiece of his campaign. Listen here.
Reynolds and Rauner know that hardworking families in Iowa and Illinois deserve more money in their pockets, and both Governors are working hard, with some friendly border competition, to get the job done.
Listen to Governor Rauner’s interview with AM Quad Cities here.
Transcript:
HOST: Governor, we talk a lot here on the show AM Quad Cities about the movement from Illinois to Iowa and how that’s getting better and better or worse and worse depending on what side of the river you’re on. And now your friend Gov. Kim Reynolds and the Republicans in Des Moines are passing some income tax cuts, that’s got you concerned?
RAUNER: Oh man we sure do. All of us in states need to compete — and we should compete with each other — we do compete. We compete for businesses, we compete for working families, we compete to grow. Competition is a great thing. Illinois has been losing the competition for years even though we’ve got wonderful people, great location, very very wonderful transportation and education. But we have brutally high taxes and brutal regulation and so our businesses and jobs have been leaving, and working families have been leaving our state. And what’s amazing is the states around us have cut their taxes. Wisconsin’s cut taxes, Indiana’s cut taxes. They’re running budget surpluses. And now Iowa is cutting taxes, which is exactly the right thing to do to grow jobs, grow family income. And to make it more reasonable for economic growth in the state.
And what’s Illinois doing? Right now, Illinois Speaker Mike Madigan and his democrats in Springfield are proposing a massive tax hike and candidate Pritzker, Madigan’s choice for governor, Pritzker is running around the state saying, “let’s raise the income taxes on the people of Illinois.” Horrible, devastating idea, terrible idea. Our tax burden is already higher in Illinois overall than it is in Iowa. We’re already higher taxes than Iowa overall, and to think that Iowa is cutting their taxes to be more competitive while we’re going the other way. We’ve got to fight against this tax hike.
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This Monday is the deadline for lawmakers to put term limits on the ballot in November, and end this abuse once and for all. So call your state representative, call your state senator, and demand their support for term limits for all elected officials be put on the ballot. Let them know that there will be consequences in this fall’s election for lawmakers who don’t support giving the people the choice they deserve to change Illinois government.
Illinois can thrive once again, but only if lawmakers in Springfield commit to putting people over politics.
People can call their legislators all they want, but the final deadline to start this process is already over. As I’ve explained before, if the governor wanted to actually do something, he needed to call a special session earlier this week to have time for both chambers to pass the resolution. Passage requires three calendar days in each chamber.
* There is something he could do, however. The Senate already has a resolution on 3rd Reading to limit the terms of legislative leaders. The proposal was advanced during the grand bargain and then abandoned when Rauner killed said bargain. So, that leader term limits proposal could be passed in one day and the House could start its clock that same day. If a special session was called today or tomorrow, it could theoretically get on the ballot. I highly doubt it will “because Madigan,” but it’s still possible I suppose.
The governor’s campaign has called leader term limits a “cop out,” perhaps because JB Pritzker supports the idea, too. But that leader term limits proposal is sponsored by Senate Republican Leader Bill Brady. It’s co-sponsored by several Republicans and even some Democrats, like Daniel Biss and Andy Manar. Sen. Sam McCann is also a co-sponsor.
This is the same problem Rauner has created for himself since the beginning. He won’t settle for a first step on his Turnaround Agenda. He wants all or nothin’. So, he’s gonna get nothin’ like usual.
The legislative leaders could call their own special session, but that won’t happen. If the governor wants something done, he needs to do it himself.
* Meanwhile, from yesterday…
Today, Senator Kyle McCarter (R-Lebanon) signed on as the 36th Senate cosponsor of the Fair Maps Amendment (SJRCA26).
This means that if the Fair Maps Amendment was called for a vote on the Senator floor, the amendment would reach the minimum number of votes needed to pass. The Illinois State Constitution requires legislative constitutional amendments like SJRCA26 to pass with a three-fifths majority. In the Illinois Senate, this three-fifths number required for passage is 36 Senators voting yes.
“Reaching 36 cosponsors is an important milestone for the Fair Maps Amendment. It is a clear demonstration that an overwhelming majority of the Illinois Senate wants to end gerrymandering.” said Jeff Raines, Communication Director at CHANGE Illinois. “It’s time to call the Fair Maps Amendment for a vote.”
The Fair Maps Amendment is modeled after a 2016 proposal drafted by then-Rep. Jack Franks, which passed out of the House with 105 “yes” votes.
That’s great for the future, but it’s too late now. The proposal hasn’t even had a first reading yet.
Democrat Sean Casten, who is trying to unseat incumbent U.S. Rep. Peter Roskam, R-Ill., says his internal polling numbers show the two are in a statistical tie.
The survey (see the memo here) indicates 45 percent of those surveyed support Roskam, 44 percent for Casten, with 11 percent undecided. Democrats nationally believe the suburban 6th congressional district is among the most likely to flip to blue in November. […]
Still, Roskam is better funded than Casten, has warded off challenges in the past and voters chose Roskam in 2016 at the same time that Hillary Clinton prevailed in the same district. Roskam, one of the architects of the Republican tax law, meantime, is pounding away at Casten on taxes, trying to wrap him in Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan’s unpopularity as well as tying him to House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi in digital ads. “The taxpayers in the Sixth District deserve a representative who will reflect their priorities and values, not tax-and-spend policies that have driven our state deeper and deeper into debt over the last 30 years,” Roskam campaign spokeswoman Veronica Vera said in a statement.
* As mentioned in the piece, this a memo, not the full poll. It also has a smallish sample size (although not too horribly small, I suppose) and it’s a bit dated…
This memorandum outlines the key findings from a recent telephone survey among a cross-section of 401 likely general election voters in Illinois’s 6 th Congressional District conducted on behalf of Casten for Congress. The survey was conducted April 21-23, 2018, including both cell and landline interviews, and has an overall margin of error of ±4.9 percentage points.
▪ In our initial trial heat, Sean Casten is in a statistical tie with Peter Roskam, 44% for Casten to 45% for Roskam, with 11% of voters undecided. Among the all-important bloc of independent voters, Casten leads Roskam by 43% to 34%.
▪ Perhaps even more striking is Roskam’s strength of support…or lack thereof.
Incredibly, only 39% of Roskam voters say they strongly support him, which is actually
lower than Casten’s strength of support. For a five-term incumbent to have weaker support than a first-time candidate early in the cycle is a sure sign of Roskam’s deep
vulnerability.
▪ President Trump lost IL-06 by 7 points in 2016. And voters here certainly haven’t warmed to the president since the election. Trump’s feelings thermometer is currently negative by a 20-point margin (37% positive, 57% negative), and his job approval stands at 41% approve to 56% disapprove (46% strongly).
▪ The national Republican brand is certainly no help to Roskam either, as voters here are more negative (49%) than positive (25%) to Republicans in Congress by nearly 2 to 1.
▪ Perhaps the brightest flashing red light for Peter Roskam is that voters in the district want their member of Congress to be an independent check and balance on Donald Trump rather than to support Trump and help him pass his programs by a decisive 69% to 29% margin, including 76% to 20% among independents. The fact that Peter Roskam has been a virtual rubber stamp for Donald Trump, voting with Trump 94% of the time, puts Roskam FAR out of step with the voters of his district on this critical question, and Roskam’s voting record is a cold hard fact that will be impossible to run away from.
That last point is important because Democrats successfully used that very same message against the wildly unpopular President George W. Bush in 2006. And if 76 percent of independents like this message, then that’ll move some votes for sure. But, hey, things can change fast in politics.
* Here’s Roskam’s Madigan attack from late yesterday afternoon…
Now that House Speaker Mike Madigan has formally backed J.B. Prtizker’s plan to raise taxes for Illinois families, residents of the 6th District deserve to know if Sean Casten will join this latest tax hike scheme by Madigan and Pritzker.
Casten has been one of Madigan’s most consistent supporters for a progressive tax hike.
As recent NBC Chicago investigation revealed that Casten attacked his primary opponent Kelly Mazeski through a Super PAC secretly funded by Casten’s own father. The attacks called Mazeski a “fake” Democrat for her opposition to the Casten/Madigan tax hike.
“Sean Casten consistently stands with Mike Madigan in their shared commitment to raising taxes on Illinois families. The taxpayers in the Sixth District deserve a representative who will reflect their priorities and values, not tax-and-spend policies that have driven our state deeper and deeper into debt over the last 30 years,” said Roskam for Congress spokesman Veronica Vera.
* Sean Casten supported Mike Madigan and his party voted to override the Governor’s veto, burdening Illinois taxpayers with a 32 percent state income tax hike.
* Casten opposed the Governor’s recent budget because he said it didn’t do enough to raise taxes on Illinois residents.
* Earlier this year, Casten announced his intention to repeal the tax breaks Sixth District families and small businesses received through the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act and support a plan to instead, raise their taxes.
In an appearance on Quad Cities radio, Rauner downplayed any post-primary rifts among Republicans after his narrow victory over state Rep. Jeanne Ives of Wheaton last month.
Speaking on WOC AM-1420 in Davenport, Iowa, Rauner declared himself a unifier — not just among Republicans, but also with independents and Democrats.
“You know primaries are tough. They’re part of the process. I respect the process and now we’re all coming together in the state. We’re unifying all Republicans,” said Rauner, who faces a third-party challenge from Downstate Republican state Sen. Sam McCann and a potential battle over re-electing his hand-picked state GOP chairman. […]
“This is not an election that’s really about Republicans versus Democrats. This is about the people of Illinois against a corrupt political machine run by Madigan and Pritzker, and it’s the people against the political insiders,” he said.
While clashing on a call is as old as sports, O’Connor and others who work in youth sports say they’ve seen a recent deterioration of the treatment of officials, who are often teens or young adults themselves. Abuse by parents and coaches alike has led in part to a shortage of referees and umpires in youth and high school leagues across the country. The shortage spans all sports and competitive levels, local league representatives say, and has organizers scrambling to staff games.
“Everything a referee or umpire does is in judgment,” said O’Connor, 30, who owns Right Call Athletics, which staffs officials for various sports leagues throughout the Chicago area. “High school and college kids don’t want to stand there and take the abuse.” […]
Experts say the increasingly aggressive nature of parents represents a general shift in youth sports culture. Once centered around play and fun, sports leagues now are highly competitive and can cost parents thousands of dollars a season, monopolizing weekends spent traveling to games.
In his experience as a suburban youth sports commissioner and coach, John Lawson has seen some horrendous behavior.
Fans going after game officials. Police called to break up fights between players’ moms. “Just last year we had an instance where the high school players were threatening the umpire,” said Lawson.
In fact, Lawson says he often sees worse behavior at youth sporting events than in his other line of work, which is telling given that for 19 years he’s been a police officer in Roselle.
Hoping to thwart the growing nastiness at sporting events, Lawson, a sergeant with the Roselle police force, worked with local lawmakers last year to offer added legal protection for sports coaches and officials. The resulting law hit the books Jan. 1 and elevates any attack on an official or coach to an aggravated assault punishable by up to a year in jail and a $2,500 fine, the same penalties as those prescribed for assaulting a teacher or police officer.
After 43 years as a baseball umpire, Bill Olsen has enough patience now to just let the nasty taunts from fans, coaches and parents sail by like a pop fly into the summer sky.
But Olsen, 60, worries that a deteriorating respect for officials on the field is driving away younger umpires from the job and even hardened veterans who are sick of the trash talking. […]
In an effort to stem the ever-dwindling number of umpires, the IHSA has even begun recruiting high school students to study, pass a test and become certified officials. Struckhoff said the number of IHSA-registered baseball umpires is down this year to 2,200 from 2,314 a decade ago. But the departure of even one umpire leaves 50 to 60 games uncovered for the season, she said.
* I came up with this post idea because this week’s Tribune story reminded me of a 1999 Pate Philip kerfuffle. From a May 12, 1999 Tribune letter…
Illinois Senate President James “Pate” Philip would have us all taking swings at the refs who donate their time and talents so our kids can play ball (News, May . “They make more mistakes and everybody gets so mad at them, it isn’t even funny,” says Philip.
Who’s getting mad at them, senator? It’s not the kids on the field. Rather it’s the coaches and the parents on the sidelines. The kids usually congregate in embarrassed clusters when the adults start screaming at the refs, umpires or each other.
“I just say maybe they deserve a pop once in a while,” continues Philip. Sure, why shouldn’t that student, father or mother who’s refereeing or umpiring be popped? Think of the lessons our kids can learn about life and how to settle disputes.
With all of the soul-searching and legislative initiatives in the wake of the Columbine High School tragedy, wouldn’t passage of the state bill stiffening penalties for assaulting a sports official be a step toward ensuring our children’s safety and well-being?
* Several Democrats held a press conference today about the now-infamous Darlene Senger e-mail, in which she wrote “We can maybe tie this back to Duckworth” in reference to the 13 deaths at the Quincy veterans’ home. Here’s Tina Sfondeles…
Democrat J.B. Pritzker and Illinois Comptroller Susana Mendoza on Thursday demanded that Gov. Bruce Rauner and his policy chief issue an apology to Sen. Tammy Duckworth for an email which sought to blame the decorated war hero and former veterans’ affairs manager for a deadly Legionnaires’ outbreak in downstate Quincy. […]
Mendoza implored Senger to apologize to the families of those affected by the Legionnaires’ outbreak and to Duckworth. She also blamed the administration for trying to hide the outbreak.
And she denied politicizing the issue; that, she said, is Senger’s doing.
“Darlene Senger is the person who chose to try to pin the deaths of 13 war heroes on an actual wounded war hero. It’s not me,” Mendoza said. “…Darlene Senger disqualified herself as a person that could be trusted by this state the minute she decided to put the governor and his reputation ahead the personal safety of those veterans and the grieving families that were impacted by the deaths.”
Also, it should perhaps be noted that they held their event at the plumbers’ union hall. Get it? Plumbing?
* The Senger campaign is not budging an inch…
The simple, bipartisan fact is that for years, including the past Blagojevich and Quinn administrations, our veterans homes suffered from chronic underfunding that impacted the care our veterans received along with the critical maintenance and modernization of the state’s veterans facilities.
There is no doubt that the lack of proper funding for veterans over the last decade has exacerbated the problems we currently face. If we choose to ignore the past, systemic failures to fund our veteran’s programs, then we are destined to continue to face these challenges in the future and that was the point of my comment–we need to understand how and when these problems started in order to find long-term solutions.
* They also point to state Veterans Affairs Director Duckworth’s 2007 statement…
Our Quincy home is the oldest home we have. It was actually built to support our veterans of the Civil War. It needs work. We’re constantly spending money to update it.
Veterans are waiting a year or more, sometimes dying, for rooms in Illinois nursing homes created specifically for those who have served with honor in the country’s armed forces.
Yet for years, rooms in some of the state’s four veterans homes have remained vacant because Illinois simply failed to hire enough nurses to make them available.
“I’m funded (by the Legislature) at 89 percent of census,” said L. Tammy Duckworth, director of the Illinois Department of Veterans Affairs. […]
My interpretation: Either the governor or the Legislature didn’t want to come up with the money.
* Rauner campaign…
Governor Rauner took immediate action to address the problems at Quincy. He has worked every day to implement all recommendations and has presented a plan to build a new home. It’s shameful that JB Pritzker is playing politics instead of focusing on how to provide the very best care for our veterans.
* Pritzker campaign…
“While Bruce Rauner staged press stunts and paid lip-service to Veterans and their families, his administration was hiding emails that contained a secret plan to shift blame away from their failed governor,” said JB Pritzker. “After years of Rauner’s fatal mismanagement, his administration tried to pin the blame on U.S. Senator Tammy Duckworth, a combat Veteran and advocate for Veterans’ rights who embodies the spirit and courage of this country. Governor Rauner, Senator Duckworth is owed an apology. She deserves to be honored for her service and sacrifice.”
“What kind of a person does that?” Comptroller Mendoza asked of Senger, who is now the Republican nominee for State Comptroller. “As we recover from the manufactured budget crisis that Governor Rauner created, my office continues to have to make tough choices when prioritizing state payments. That means Illinois needs a comptroller with a strong moral compass — not one just seeking to deflect blame away from the governor. Sen. Tammy Duckworth sacrificed her body on the battlefield fighting for our country. She deserves respect from Darlene Senger, not false blame. Senger owes her an apology. A BIG ONE.”
“I am personally upset by the situation at the Quincy Veterans’ Home. All veterans — especially those at the Quincy facility — deserve our gratitude and a commitment to helping them when they need it the most,” said Secretary of State Jesse White, a veteran of the U.S. Army, Army Reserves and Illinois National Guard. “It’s insulting that as the Governor’s deputy chief of staff, Darlene Senger would attempt to point blame and try to politicize a life-and-death issue facing our veterans. There is no room in state government for individuals who callously point fingers and attempt to skirt their own responsibilities.”
Illinois lawmakers have sent Gov. Bruce Rauner legislation requiring him and his successors to use governor’s office funds to pay people who work for them.
The Senate vote 46-7 Thursday to eliminate what’s called “off-shoring” of salaries . For decades, governors of both parties have made their payrolls look leaner by paying some employees who work for them out of other agencies’ budgets.
The legislation was produced by Democratic state Comptroller Susana Mendoza.
Bruce Rauner can make a lasting, positive mark on Illinois government by outlawing the practice of concealing governor’s office salaries within state agency budgets, a practice known as “offshoring,” State Senator Andy Manar said today.
The Illinois Senate today approved the Truth in Hiring Act with bipartisan support. The accountability and transparency measure, sponsored by Manar in the Senate, will be sent to the governor’s desk.
“Offshoring didn’t start under this governor’s watch, but certainly he can be the governor who puts a stop to it,” Manar said.
The Truth in Hiring Act simply says that every employee who works in the governor’s office will be paid from the governor’s payroll. Their salaries will be counted in the governor’s budget and will not be pulled from agencies that are supposed to protect children and the elderly or put state troopers out patrolling highways.
Nearly 60 percent of employees working for Rauner’s office currently are paid by state agencies with funds intended for priorities such as economic development, public safety and child protection.
Offshoring has been utilized by Illinois governors, Democratic and Republican, for years to make it appear their office budgets are smaller than they actually are. Examples include paying an education advisor to the governor $250,000 from the Department of Human Services budget or a deputy chief of staff to the governor $140,000 from the Illinois State Police budget.
The measure was an initiative of Illinois Comptroller Susana Mendoza. It was approved with no opposition in the House.
“Signing the Truth in Hiring Act shouldn’t require much soul-searching by Gov. Rauner when it lands on his desk,” Manar said. “I urge him to enact it and join lawmakers of both parties and the comptroller in claiming a victory for Illinois taxpayers.”
Everybody’s done it. Mendoza and Manar both voted for budgets that funded it. Signing this bill into law won’t change a whole lot, but the time has finally come to end it.
* I’ve been following this bill and bills like it with subscribers for weeks. I’ve discovered that the topic is one of the better ways of explaining this year’s session, with one more observation to come tomorrow…
Legislation designed to close a revolving door through which carjacking suspects often return to the street within 24 hours of their arrests passed the Illinois Senate on Wednesday.
The bill, approved by a vote of 56-0, must pass the House before the governor can decide whether to sign it. Mayor Rahm Emanuel is pushing for the bill.
In February, the Sun-Times reported that dozens of juveniles were charged in Chicago with pointing guns at motorists and stealing their cars, but few were detained longer than a day.
Some went on to commit other crimes — including carjackings — after they were released on electronic monitoring, records show. […]
The bill would put the burden on juvenile advocates to prove their clients should be freed until their cases are resolved. If the judge decides to detain a juvenile on allegations of carjacking, the suspect would have to undergo a psychological evaluation.
* Other bills…
* Editorial: A stand against public-paid golden parachutes: A report by the Better Government Association tallied 11 examples since 2009 of six-figure severance packages. Together, they cost taxpayers more than $5.2 million. Two bills before the Illinois General Assembly would curtail such practices. Senate Bill 3604, introduced by state Sen. Tom Cullerton of Villa Park, would cap severance payouts to equal 20 weeks of pay. It would eliminate severance pay for public employees fired for misconduct. It passed the Senate on Wednesday and moves to the House.
* Illinois Senate votes to teach LGBT history in school: The Senate voted 34-18 Wednesday on the plan by Chicago Democratic Sen. Heather Steans. It would require schools to teach a history unit on the role in society and contributions of gays, lesbians and other LGBT individuals.
* Op-Ed: Why Huck Finn could stop smart consolidation effort: The legislation, filed by state Sen. Sue Rezin, R-Morris, would allow two or more local school boards to agree to share the costs of a single superintendent, or allow voters in multiple school districts to force superintendent consolidation, according to a recent story from Illinois News Network’s Benjamin Yount. To force a shared superintendent, 51 percent of voters in each school district would have to agree to do so at the ballot box.
* Illinois Senate approves plan that would allow police to monitor large crowds with drones: Another measure that cleared the Senate would prevent the state from suspending someone’s professional license for falling behind on student loan payments. Supporters including Attorney General Lisa Madigan say it doesn’t make sense to limit someone’s ability to earn a living while also asking them to pay off debt. Current law allows for someone’s professional license to be suspended or revoked for falling behind on loan payments for dozens of professions, including teachers, engineers, veterans and therapists.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is warning about a rise in insect-borne diseases — and Illinois is right up there, ranking sixth among states with the most mosquito-related illnesses.
Between 2004 and 2016 nationwide, diseases from mosquito, tick and flea bites tripled to more than 640,000 cases, according to the study released Tuesday.
Illinois saw the number of mosquito- and tick-borne diseases jump from 226 in 2004 to 772 in 2016, according to CDC data. Data for flea-borne illness couldn’t be located for those individual years. […]
The most common type of tick-borne illnesses was Lyme disease, the report said. In the time period examined by the CDC, 352 cases of Lyme disease were reported.
* Despite the headline (explained here) this is definitely not a joking matter. Here’s my old pal Kristen Strawbridge…
Hi friends. You probably haven’t heard from me in too long, and that is not intentional. Many apologies for being out of touch. I have been struggling for years with rapidly declining health, and I chose to suffer in silence, but I’m not doing that anymore. I desperately want to live again, and I need help and support to do that.
I’ve been sick for over six years and have seen so many doctors. It’s a very long story, so to put it simply, my body and my brain are broken. I’m fighting Late-Stage Lyme Disease, Endometriosis, and Severe Fibromyalgia. These three monsters cause pain storms that are indescribable. I’ve been totally disabled for three years, and I have had a constant fever for that time too. It’s an ongoing battle with debilitating fatigue, wipespread severe pain, brain fog, neurological issues, muscle twitching and spasming, extreme weakness, migraines, dizziness, vision problems, and disturbances in heart rhythm. I could go on, but you get the idea. I’m basically bedridden and forced to live a life on the sidelines. If you know me at all, you know that’s heartbreaking for me.
* Kristen sent me an e-mail asking for help sending people to her GoFundMe page. Here’s the end of it…
Thank you for considering this. I still read the blog several times a day, and I really miss being there sometimes. It’s a lonely disease. I hope you are well.
Doug Finke: So you filed a suit against the Senate Leadership.
Sen. Sam McCann: Senate Republican Leadership.
Finke: Correct. Uh, why? You were trying to talk to them, were you not?
McCann: This is a classic case of taxation without representation and tyranny. The tyrannical Rauner has instructed his cronies who are in charge of the Senate Republican Leadership to do this, and what they’re essentially doing and what we’re trying to see restored is the ability to represent my constituents adequately. So way the taxpayer dollars flows — this isn’t about campaign dollars, this is about taxpayer dollars — when the taxpayer dollars come through the doors for legislative purposes, it gets divided four ways. The money that had always traveled to my office traveled through the conduit of the Republican caucus. So all we want is to receive the services that every elected Senator receives. I’m not worried about going back into the caucus room with the caucus. I’m not worried about them accepting me. What I am concerned about are my constituents who are being denied due process and the ability to be served adequately.
Mark Maxwell: To follow up on that, isn’t that just a little bit exaggerated? You still have the right to vote. You still have the right to debate on the floor. You still have LRB (Legislative Reference Bureau), LRU (Legislative Research Unit). How is your power as a legislator in any way void from what it was two weeks ago?
McCann: I think the way you phrased that question shows me you are not an honest arbiter in this process. Obviously, you’re with, uh, you’re with other folks in this process.
Oh, come on. Is Sam really implying that Maxwell is a Raunerite?
McCann: If you don’t believe $30 million dollars comes into this building every year to be divided amongst 118 reps and 59 senators… That goes for constituent services out in the district. It goes for bill analysis. It goes for coordination of committees, coordination of the bills, where they are, where they’re dispositioned. None of that has happened. When my visitors come here, when constituents from my district come here, they send their kids here on an 8th grade field trip, they expect to get a picture back home. When Bill Brady says he’s not going to allow photographers to take a photo? You think that’s fair? You don’t think that’s not being… You think that’s not a diminishment? You don’t think that’s taxpayers… that’s taxation without representation?
He’s still focused on the photographer? Seriously?
McCann: The dollars flow through one of four conduits. They either need to or continue the flow of taxpayer dollars for taxpayer services through that conduit or develop a fifth conduit. One or the other.
Maxwell: Maybe I’m missing something. Can you describe… You keep referring to this pool of money. Can you describe where it comes from and what it’s allocated for…
McCann: It’s taxpayer dollars.
Maxwell: Well, I get that, but…
McCann: I don’t think you do. I don’t think you’re listening to me. I’ve told you multiple times it’s taxpayer dollars. You pay your taxes. It comes into the state Treasury…
Maxwell: What does it get you in return? If you’re still in the Senate caucus, what things would you have that you don’t have right now.
McCann: I’ve already went over that with you.
Maxwell: So you still have access to LRB, LRU, right? These are still things… You can go down and draft legislation. Right? What am I missing?
McCann: Mark, You wonder why I…
Maxwell: I’m not a lawmaker. I don’t know how it works. You’ve got to tell me.
McCann: You’re a joke.
Yeah, Sam’s really got that gubernatorial temperament thing down pat. Sheesh.
Finke: And are the Senate Republicans pressuring you into leaving early, do you think?
McCann: I have no idea.
Maxwell: Tim Butler called for you to resign last week.
McCann: And I would call for him to resign because he doesn’t listen to his district. He doesn’t care. He was appointed by Rauner as a Raunerite. He does nothing more than follow Rauner’s directives and orders and there are a lot of people in his district who feel that they’re not being represented well. And of course, he’s never really faced the electorate in a challenge so I guess we don’t know.
Maxwell: Just to make this point, I’m repeating what I heard from other people today who told me that you still have all of this access. So I’m just asking. I truly don’t know…
McCann: And again, I don’t know how many times do I need to repeat it for you. So we have in district services that we offer. At this point, we don’t even know…
Maxwell: You still have district staff, right?
McCann: I do, but we don’t know if she will be paid or not.
Maxwell: Really?
McCann: That should have to be determined.
Maxwell: Who would decide that?
McCann: Evidently, Bill Brady. That’s why we had to bring the lawsuit.
Maxwell: Has there been a threat that she would not be paid?
McCann: When other services are cut off, we don’t know. We don’t know where that line is at. That’s what we’re trying to determine.
He filed the lawsuit over his district office allotment? That’s not what the lawsuit says. (Also, his allotment is guaranteed by statute.)
* But, really, get a thicker skin, Sam. And if you think Maxwell can be tough, try sitting down with Mary Ann Ahern, or Carol Marin, or Mike Flannery, or Rick Pearson, or Amanda Vinicky, or a whole lot of others. This doesn’t get any easier, bub. Welcome to the jungle.
[Headline was changed after friendly advice from a grammar cop.]
(C)hanging our system from a flat tax to a graduated income tax requires a constitutional amendment. It’s too late to get the question before voters on the November ballot, which means the earliest that could happen is 2020.
This push for a new tax system comes from progressives, who harness much of the party energy and are pressuring Madigan to impose a structure they say shifts the tax burden onto the wealthiest and away from the poor and middle class. It’s a longtime favorite of organized labor, too.
Recall that nearly every Democrat who ran for governor supported the progressive income tax. How can Madigan, fresh from the primaries, close out the legislative session without addressing it? Republicans say the proposed change is riddled with flaws, including the risk of giving politicians too much leeway over tax hikes.
So by appearing to take action, Madigan is keeping GOP assaults at bay while throwing a bone to his party base, including labor. Whether that’s a sustainable way to fend off constant assaults to his dual roles of power remains to be seen.
The House held a committee hearing on Madigan’s proposal yesterday in Chicago.
Because Pritzker made clear his support for a graduated income tax during this year’s Democratic primary, and Rauner, who opposes the change, has shown he plans to make his opposition a central element of his re-election campaign. […]
One way or the other, it sure looks as if Democrats decided they’d be better off playing offense on this issue than defense.
Pritzker supports it, so why shy away now? Might as well embrace it. Will it work? Well, that’s why we have elections. Let’s get this settled one way or the other.
Illinois Republicans blast Democratic income tax resolution as election-year politics
Lawmakers on Wednesday sparred over a proposal to change the state’s tax structure, with Democrats expressing support for taxing higher earners more than low-income taxpayers while Republicans decried the idea as an attempt at “class warfare” to score political points ahead of the November election.
So, for all their bluster, the Republicans know they have at least some vulnerablity on this, too.
* If he does raise $5 million, he won’t be the lowest spender. But where will his money come from? It’s not like the cash-rich CTU is gonna be a big contributor. They were furious when Gov. Pat Quinn put Vallas on the 2014 ticket. And the downtown money is pretty much all with Mayor Emanuel. Out of state? Maybe. Could this be Chris Kennedy Part 2? I dunno. But after working with Kennedy, Bill Daley has popped his head up again to criticize the mayor. Wait and see, I suppose…
After declining to say earlier this week how much money he hopes to raise for his mayoral campaign, Paul Vallas gave reporters a goal during his campaign kickoff Wednesday.
“Our goal is to raise a minimum $3 million and we hope to raise $5 million,” he said. “When we release our financial reports in June, I think you’ll see a healthy balance.”
So far, Vallas doesn’t have much of a balance. In fact, he hasn’t reported any contributions of at least $1,000 since he filed the paperwork creating his campaign fund on April 2. […]
“I don’t think it’s essential. I’m not convinced I need it,” [Vallas told the Tribune earlier this week about campaign money]. “Suffice to say, I will be the candidate who spends the least on TV ads.”
Instead, Vallas said he will rely on “human infrastructure,” saying he has numerous campaign volunteers at the ready, will visit all of the city’s neighborhoods and hopes Chicagoans echo his efforts on social media.
Emanuel has already raised $5.7 million this cycle.
JB Pritzker’s Graduated Income Tax Hike Would Crush Small Businesses
During Small Business Week, we recognize how important they are to Illinois. There are 1.2 million small businesses in Illinois, and they make up 98.2% of all businesses in the state. They employ more than 2.4 million Illinoisans representing 46.4% of the workforce.
Most small businesses are subject to individual income taxes, and they would be hit hard by JB Pritzker’s graduated income tax hike. Pritzker talks about taxing the wealthy, but the reality is that his tax hike will devastate the vast majority of small businesses and their employees.
“JB Pritzker is so out-of-touch that he’s pushing a tax hike on small businesses while dodging his own taxes by hiding money offshore and ripping toilets out of his mansion. You can’t trust Pritzker when it comes to taxes; he’s a tax cheat pushing tax hikes.” - Alex Browning, Rauner campaign spokesman
* Pritzker campaign…
Lie of the Week: Rauner Administration Repeatedly Lied About Cost of Quincy Veterans’ Home Fixes
Chicago, IL – Today, the Pritzker campaign continues their weekly series holding Bruce Rauner accountable for his frequent lies. With over 70% of Rauner’s 18 fact checks rated “half true” or worse, the truth is clear: Bruce Rauner is a liar.
The Quincy Veterans’ Home crisis killed 13 and infected dozens, but despite the threat to our state’s heroes Bruce Rauner and his administration repeatedly lied about potential fixes. In 2016, a hidden Rauner administration report estimated the cost of fixing the plumbing at $8 million, only for the administration to later claim that the cost could be anywhere from $30 million to $500 million. Rauner’s administration repeatedly misled lawmakers and the public in a desperate attempt to avoid taking responsibility for the ongoing crisis in Quincy.
“Bruce Rauner released a plan for the Quincy Veterans’ Home after three years of lies and mismanagement,” said Pritzker campaign spokeswoman Jordan Abudayyeh. “Our heroes and their loved ones have no reason to believe this failed governor who refuses to take responsibility for his constant crises.”
Speaker Madigan: House Democrats are fighting to provide for a #FairTaxNow to build an economy that works for the middle class, not millionaires and billionaires like Bruce Rauner and Donald Trump.
IPI so confident they’ve turned madigan into a ghoul they’ll post video of madigan promoting a progressive tax/attacking rauner knowing it’ll turn people off to the idea
Have you ever wondered what Governor Rauner does to relax and have fun?
Well here’s your chance to find out with our very first Brewskis with Bruce video!
Bruce loves catching up (and grabbing some beers) with folks around the state, listening to their concerns and just enjoying good conversation — whether about the issues facing Illinois or his love of ice skating. We’re excited to feature the first of these stops in a new series, Brewskis with Bruce!
Check out the video here
Enjoy!
Anthony Sarros
Political Director
P.S. Keep an eye out for YOUR CHANCE to participate in Brewskis with Bruce.
When taxes are hiked, people take a hike and taxable income (AGI) goes with them. IL lost record amounts after 2011 tax increase. In 2015, IRS says $4.75B walked. Cost $800M in state/local tax revenue. History says, graduated income tax = BACKFIRE! #NoNewTaxespic.twitter.com/pc3lfjYlYB
With 3.1 million registered voters, barely 600,000 voted in the county judicial races, so 19% of the voters picked their judges. Democratic committeemen in the Hispanic 6th subcircuit fared poorly, but the Irish committeemen in the 8th subcircuit did well.
For whatever reason, Russ’ column reminded me of a story that Speaker Madigan told me years ago. I asked him about Ronald Reagan winning the 13th Ward, and Madigan said he ordered his captains to not talk about presidential races at the doors. Voters, he said, like to think that they’re making up their own minds on presidents.
Besides, he said, those captains had judges to elect. And back then, the total votes cast for the top of the ticket and for the judge(s) at the bottom of the ticket were usually very close in his ward, unlike other wards.
* Countywide circuit court judicial races are more easily compared between wards, so I picked one at random: The Brewer vacancy.
Here is the percentage change from the total votes cast for governor to that Brewer race in a handful of wards with reputations for turning out the vote…
Click here and here to start your own goofy research project that you wish you hadn’t thought of because it took too long to put together and probably won’t get any comments anyway, but that you absolutely had to finish because reasons and you were just doing something to keep yourself busy until the Comcast person arrived to fix your Internet connection.
* Landmarks Illinois has again placed the Thompson Center on its endangered list. This time, it is proposing an alternative…
In conjunction with its annual list of endangered buildings, Landmarks Illinois has released a series of renderings that reimagines Helmut Jahn’s James R. Thompson Center with enhanced public space, while playing up its potential for adaptive re-use with an addition of a super tower.
o Two-story entrance bays at the plaza would be removed to create open connections between the outside and the voluminous atrium to become a truly public space.
o The ground floor and upper office floors would be enclosed to separate private office and retail spaces from the public, open-air atrium.
o The lower-level food hall could be enclosed or fitted with retractable glass partitions.
o Retail space would be expanded and café dining areas and seasonal food markets could be accommodated in the plaza and open atrium.
o Additional seating, landscaping and public art would be encouraged in the open atrium.
o The current elevator tower to upper office floors would be enclosed and secured with a new office lobby, while the hotel and residential lobbies would be located within the new tower.
o The southwest corner is the best location for a new tower with minimal impact to the building’s significant atrium space.
o A new tower, with a footprint of approximately 13,000 square feet, is developed on the southwest corner with hotel uses on the lower floors and residential on the upper floors.
o Thompson Center’s second level would connect to the tower’s second floor hotel lobby. Hotel meeting facilities would be incorporated into levels 3 and 4 of the Thompson Center.
o The remainder of the existing Thompson Center floors would be utilized as office and tech space.
* The Question: What do you think of this idea? Make sure to explain.
Sen Sandoval's SB2562 regarding law enforcement use of drones for safety at large-scale events would attempt to prevent situations like the Las Vegas shooting massacre. pic.twitter.com/SQVhUDPihk
The American Civil Liberties Union on Tuesday accused Mayor Rahm Emanuel of being the heavy hand behind legislation that would allow police officers to use drones to monitor the growing number of protests on the streets of Chicago.
The groundbreaking bill would allow drones to be used to hover over crowds, for the purpose of taking still photos and making audio and video recordings of demonstrations. Even more troubling to the ACLU, the drones could be equipped with facial recognition technology. […]
“Given Chicago’s history of surveillance against protesters and social justice advocates – including by the notorious Red Squad — the Chicago police should not be able to use this new, powerful tool to monitor protesters near silently and from above,” Karen Sheley, director of the ACLU Police Practices Project, was quoted as saying in a news release.
“The legislation also ignores sweeping surveillance tools currently available to the police – including an integrated public camera system that covers much of the city.”
Sheley noted that the House and Senate versions of the controversial bill “effectively guts” legislation passed three years ago requiring a judicial warrant for the use of drones by police in Illinois.
* New Pension Intercept Law Puts Distressed Illinois Cities In The Crosshairs For Added Oversight: [Jim Spiotto, bankruptcy expert at Chapman Strategic Advisors] and the Civic Federation of Chicago have helped write a bill called the Local Government Protection Authority. Among other things, the bill would establish an oversight board, set up a clear procedure for dealing with a stressed city, and allow Chapter 9. The bill is currently languishing in the House Rules Committee.
* Dean Neubrander believes solution to nursing shortage lies in academic progression and partnership: In Springfield today, nurses were shut out of the discussion regarding baccalaureate nursing education. It was a sad day under the dome. “There is no question that we are facing a nursing shortage both here in Illinois and nationally. And, there has been much discussion about how to best act to combat that shortage. It is my firm belief that the path forward lies not in legislation that gives the community college the opportunity to offer the BSN, but via strategic partnerships between community colleges and four-year institutions that provide the best possible education to the next generation of nurses. We also need to find solutions that address the shortage of clinical site placements and qualified faculty,” Neubrander explains.
* Lawmakers eye changes to cut cost of Illinois construction projects: The Illinois Department of Transportation is backing changes to the procurement process aimed at saving taxpayers money on construction projects. Most construction projects in Illinois are split into two phases – design and construction – with one company getting a contract to design and another company getting a contract to build. Design-build is a procurement process that combines the engineering and design of a project with the construction, instead of having separate bids for each part.
He just announced he’s running as a third party candidate for governor and now state Sen. Sam McCann has filed a lawsuit, with the help of Local 150, against the Illinois Republican Party, Senate Minority Leader Bill Brady and others. The lawsuit charges that he was inappropriately booted from the Republican Senate caucus after he announced his candidacy as a third party candidate for governor. Brady and others have said hey, if McCann is running as a third party candidate then he doesn’t belong in the GOP caucus. And they cut off his resources.
Each house shall determine the rules of its proceedings, judge the elections, returns and qualifications of its members and choose its officers. No member shall be expelled by either house, except by a vote of two-thirds of the members elected to that house.
Senator John Cullerton of the 6th Senate District of Illinois was first elected as Senate President by a majority of the members of the Senate and began serving in that capacity in 2009. Senator Bill Brady of the 44th Senate District of Illinois was elected Minority Leader to replace his predecessor in 2017. Plaintiff McCann never affirmatively voted for Senate President Cullerton during his time in the Senate.
A Senator, therefore, by the very nature of the Senate Rules, is either a member of the majority caucus, or, if not, a member of the minority caucus. Plaintiff McCann, for purposes of the Senate Rules, is a member of the minority caucus.
Maybe. There’s nothing stopping an independent from refusing to caucus with either party. Former Sen. James Meeks was first elected as an indy, but he chose to caucus with the Dems. He didn’t have to. But that was, again, his choice. McCann alleges he wasn’t offered a choice. He was just given the boot.
* The suit then mentions the continuing appropriation passed in 2014 which guaranteed funding for the operation of the General Assembly, which the suit claims “underscores the vital role the availability of significant taxpayer-funded resources plays in an elected representatives effective representation of his or his constituents.”
It notes that, by statute, the Senate President and the Minority Leader evenly split a pot of money for their caucus operations. They each received $5,295,074 in the new budget for operations. McCann, like all Senators, receives $73,000 to spend on district stuff.
* The suit also points out that McCann was elected as a Republican twice, details his fight with Gov. Rauner over the AFSCME bill and his resulting Rauner-funded primary fight, and then offers this explanation…
Due to what Plaintiff McCann saw as a continuous attack on traditional conservative values by Rauner’s Republican Party—including the availability of state-funded abortions, the ability for transgender residents to alter their birth certificates, attacks on working people, and turning Illinois into a “sanctuary state” for illegal immigrants—and facing the prospect of a third consecutive Republican primary opponent, on December 4, 2016, Plaintiff McCann announced that he would not seek the Republican nomination for the 50th Senate District. Rather, Plaintiff McCann decided to explore running for Governor of Illinois.
* Then, on the same day he announced as a third party candidate for governor, McCann alleges this…
On April 19, 2018, Defendant Brady, in his capacity as Minority Leader of the Senate’s minority caucus and leader of the Illinois State Senate Republican Caucus, without conducting a hearing or other proceeding, expelled Plaintiff McCann from the Illinois State Senate’ minority caucus and the Illinois Senate Republican Caucus.
On April 19, 2018, Defendant Brady, in his capacity as Minority Leader of the Senate’s minority caucus and leader of the Illinois State Senate Republican Caucus, without conducting a hearing or other proceeding, denied Plaintiff McCann access to material, taxpayer- funded legislative operational resources required for him to fulfill his duties to his constituents as the duly elected Senator of the 50th Senate District.
Brady also announced that he had accepted Sen. McCann’s proffered resignation from the Senate GOP caucus, a claim that McCann flatly denied at the time and still does today.
Interestingly enough, Sen. McCann claims to have “genuine concerns regarding what little taxpayer funds remain accessible to him; specifically, funds designated for use at district offices for payment of rent, utilities, and the like.”
Plaintiff McCann’s participation in the minority caucus, and access to the taxpayer- funded legislative resources—which are available to every other member of the Senate—are vital to his ability to represent effectively the constituents of the 50th Senate District.
The First Amendment protects against State prohibition of political speech and, conversely, State punishment or penalty for the exercise of free speech rights, especially where the State’s action infringes upon the political speech of a duly elected legislator in his capacity as such.
Therefore, Defendants Brady, et al., in their official capacities, unconstitutionally infringed upon Plaintiff McCann’s right to freedom of speech under the First Amendment to the United States Constitution.
* Count Two basically restates all that with an allegation that the defendants violated his 1st Amendment right to freely associate…
Defendants Brady, et al., in their official capacities, unconstitutionally infringed upon Plaintiff McCann’s freedom of association under the First Amendment and punished him for the exercise of his associational rights when it expelled him from the Illinois State Senate’s minority caucus and the Illinois Senate Republican Caucus, and denied him access to material and taxpayer-funded resources required for him to fulfill his duties as the duly elected Senator of the 50th Senate District
* Count Three alleges violations of due process rights under the 14th Amendment…
No elected representative of the people may be barred from participation in a forum to which he or she was elected for misconduct, no matter how egregious, without a hearing.
Defendant Brady, et al., in their official capacities, unconstitutionally expelled Plaintiff McCann without a prior hearing in violation of the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.
* Count Four alleges a 14th Amendment “equal protections clause” violation…
By depriving Plaintiff McCann of the opportunity to participate in the minority caucus and the Illinois State Senate Republican Caucus where such participation is necessary for Plaintiff McCann to effectively fulfill his duties to represent the voters of the 50th Senate District, Defendants Brady, et al. created two classes of voters: one class consisting those citizens whose duly elected representatives could effectively and fully participate in the legislative process, and another whose Senator is only allowed to participate to a severely limited degree.
By denying Plaintiff McCann the vital taxpayer-funded resources necessary for Plaintiff McCann to effectively fulfill his duties to represent the voters of the 50th Senate District, Defendants Brady, et al., created two classes of voters: one class consisting those citizens whose duly elected representatives could effectively and fully participate in the legislative process, and another whose Senator is only allowed to participate to a severely limited degree. Defendants Brady, et al., in their official capacities, unconstitutionally deprived Plaintiff McCann’s constituents of Equal Protection of the law in violation of the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.
* And we’re back to the 1st Amendment for Count Five…
The First Amendment protects against State prohibition of political speech and association and, conversely, State punishment or penalty for the exercise of free speech or associational rights, especially where the State’s action infringes upon the political speech or association of a duly elected legislator in his capacity as such.
Defendants, while acting under color of state law, violated Plaintiff McCann’s clearly established right against retaliation in violation of the First Amendment because Defendants’ decision to deprive minority caucus resources and/or deprive access to minority caucus and republican caucus participation was motivated at least in part by Plaintiff’s constitutionally protected speech and associational rights.
* Also of note, if you check the list of attorneys at the bottom, you’ll see they’re all with Local 150 of the Operating Engineers Union. And it’s a very long list. They have a ton of attorneys over there.
House Speaker Michael Madigan’s office said all Democrats remain hopeful a balanced budget agreement can be reached by the end of the month.
Senate President John Cullerton’s office said with everyone participating, that goal should be attainable.
A spokeswoman for the governor said late Monday that bugeteers are meeting, but said progress hasn’t been “as fast as we would like.”
“[T]hey’re even stalling on establishing the revenue estimates,” Rauner spokeswoman Rachel Bold said in an email. “How can they put together their budget if they won’t agree to what revenues are available? We hope Democrats aren’t delaying to set the stage for yet another tax increase. In February, the Governor presented what the people of Illinois need – a full year, balanced budget that paves the way for a surplus that would allow us to begin to pay down the bill backlog.”
Aside from the fact that the governor didn’t propose a truly balanced budget, if you scroll all the way down, you’ll see that Madigan spokesman Steve Brown posted a comment via Facebook.
I talked with Brown and he said the governor’s spokesperson “may want to check with the budget director.” According to Brown, the governor’s budget director currently “wants to focus on a supplemental appropriation” to address “over-spending” during the impasse and not the revenue estimate for next fiscal year.
State Sen. Dale Righter, R-Mattoon, said if Democrats don’t go with Rauner’s proposals like the pension cost shift “then our expectation is, and it should be everyone’s expectation, that they’re going to come back with an offset that keeps the budget in balance.”
That’s just one reason why the budget isn’t actually balanced. That cost shift is something like $700 million.
* Background is here and here. From Meghan Powers at the Illinois Department of Human Services…
Hi Rich-
We met with Representative [Greg] Harris just two weeks ago to discuss IES, the integrated eligibility system that launched in 2013. Phase 2 of IES rolled out last October. We’ve been working to communicate with not only legislators, but also our staff and community agencies about the new system. We’ve recently sent a letter to legislators (attached) sharing system performance updates and a message has also gone out to IDHS staff. Initially, we were not invited to participate in Monday’s hearing, and were not able to appear with the one business day’s notice that we received.
It’s regrettable that Representative Harris has chosen to misrepresent issues with the system, which is only causing confusion and fear among our customers. We’ve worked with other members of the General Assembly on both sides of the aisle to try to dispel these rumors and help them understand the federal program requirements customers must follow to remain eligible for assistance.
I’m unsure what “40,000 Medicaid recipients” is referring to in Ms. Hodge’s story, but if she is referring to eligibility redeterminations, these have always taken place. The very point of redeterminations is to understand if customers are still eligible for the program, resulting in the continuation of some customers’ benefits and the discontinuation of others. IES has automated the process of receiving customer information and determining eligibility. Prior to IES, this was a manual process. We knew there would be some issues with a system of this size and complexity, but we’ve fixed them as they surfaced and system performance is improving.
As always, we encourage reporters and legislators to reach out to us if they have questions about the validity of their claims. We will continue to update legislators, staff and stakeholders with information about IES and system performance.
At times caseworkers experience errors or are timed out of the system. This creates a longer process for caseworkers when updating or processing a case; however, we’ve been working hard to improve this.
I am very happy to report that some of our efforts to improve IES performance have been paying off and last week we saw significantly better system performance. We saw a 63% improvement in number of timeouts or errors that caseworkers experience when processing cases and this included a 2 hour period when the Federal Data Services Hub became unavailable causing a disruption in IES. If you remove the data when the Federal Data Services Hub was unavailable, we saw an 80% improvement. Now, the average time it takes for a caseworker to determine eligibility in the system is down 49% from last month.
I’ll check to see if Rep. Harris (D-Chicago) has a response.
We have heard hours of testimony from families, seniors, healthcare providers and people with disabilities all telling heartbreaking tales of problems they have endured because of these new systems. We have heard dedicated workers across the state describe the system failures that prevent them from helping those in need. I believe the families and the workers.
* Let’s take a look at the Quincy veterans’ home task force report. Sun-Times…
The task force issued four recommendations, stating that “anything less than complete reconstruction will fall short.” The report recommends building a new nursing facility that could house up to 300 residents. The estimated cost is between $190 and $230 million.
The task force also recommends constructing a new, underground “water loop” that feeds existing buildings and new construction.
“New piping would remove the current system, which is suspected to contain significant amounts of mature biofilm — biofilm which may be harboring biological organisms” the report says. The report says all plumbing and piping must also be replaced, with the new plumbing loop estimated at $2.2 million and the new piping estimated at $13.4 million.
The other recommendations include developing an alternate water source and making improvements to the existing water treatment facility and purchasing and renovating an off-site facility to temporarily house residents during construction and demolition of the original campus. The report notes “the asking price of the building is $795,000 and construction costs for this project are under review and tentatively estimated at $5M-6M.”
The estimated cost of complete reconstruction is between $202 million and $245 million, the report notes. It must be approved by the Illinois General Assembly.
That’s a lot of money, but some federal dollars could soon be available, with the state required to put up a 35 percent match. Still, according to the Quincy Herald-Whig, the total federal approp for state-run veterans’ home construction is expected to be $500 million, so Illinois would likely be eligible for only a fraction of that. And Illinois is trying to finish constructing another veterans’ home in Chicago.
The governor explained to reporters yesterday that an alternative water source is necessary because the home currently takes surface water from the Mississippi River, where the bacteria often grows. The governor seemed pretty knowledgeable yesterday about details of both the problems and potential solutions. He appears to be taking the time to really get his head around this.
* What else does the governor want the GA to do? From the report itself…
• Extend the sunset date for the Design Build Act - SB 3128 seeks an extension to the sunset date of the Design Build Act (30 ILCS 537/5) which permits CDB to use the design-build delivery method on public projects. Design-build can allow for an expedited construction schedule.
• Access to federal reimbursement funding for capital projects, subject to appropriation - Legislation has been filed that contains trailer language to Public Act 98-0245 (SB 667, SB 3127, SB 3144). This Public Act contained contradictory language respective to where federal reimbursement funds for capital facilities projects should be deposited. As a result, the reimbursement funding cannot be released or used for any purpose, and it is collecting in the Capital Development Board Contributory Trust Fund. Currently, over $12 million is in the fund, with an additional $4 million expected in the near future. The purpose of this legislation is to allow the Capital Development Board the ability to use the federal reimbursements for capital projects, as appropriated by the General Assembly.
• Procurement Code-increase thresholds for financial disclosures - Section 50-35 of the Procurement Code (30 ILCS 500/50-35) requires financial disclosures from all vendors and subcontractors with a contract over $50,000 prior to work beginning on a project. Waiting for compliance from vendors and subcontractors can slow the project start time. Increasing the threshold for financial disclosure requirements from $50,000 to $250,000 can help expedite the projects referenced in this report.
• Licensing and Control of Off Campus Buildings - For continuity of care for the residents, a modification to the Veterans Affairs Act stating that for the purposes of licensing, supervision, appropriations, home funds, and member benefit funds, the Illinois Veterans Homes includes the main campus and all other residential structures operated by the Department that are located in the city limits of the Illinois Veterans Home.
I’m thinking they may not get what they want on the Procurement Code stuff, but we’ll see.
*** UPDATE *** Press release…
U.S. Senators Dick Durbin (D-IL) and Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) today released the following statement regarding the release of Governor Bruce Rauner’s plan of action for ensuring the safety of residents, family, and staff at the Illinois Veterans’ Home (IVH) Quincy:
“The need for a detailed plan of action is critical and long overdue given the multiple outbreaks of Legionnaires’ disease at IVH Quincy that have sickened more than 65 residents and killed 13 over the past three years. The ideas in this plan are not new or revolutionary – in fact, all of the recommendations have been suggested for years and have been ignored by this Administration for far too long. It is unclear why it took so long for the Administration to come to this conclusion, but now that it has, we urge Governor Rauner to finally provide leadership on this crisis and implement these changes before another resident or staff member falls ill or dies.
“As members of Illinois’ congressional delegation, we will continue to advocate for State Veterans Homes like IVH Quincy and push for federal funding, just as we did in the Fiscal Year 2018 spending bill, as well as technical assistance on their behalf. But now it is up to the Rauner Administration to do its part and carry out this plan of action immediately so that every veteran and staff member whose life is entrusted to the state of Illinois is in a safe facility.”
Gov. Bruce Rauner on Tuesday appeared to brush aside concerns from independent pharmacies whose owners say reduced reimbursements from the state’s expanded Medicaid managed-care program threaten to put them out of business.
“The reality is what we’re trying to do is drive more competition, and sometimes businesses can be competitive in costs, and some businesses can’t,” the Republican governor said at a Springfield event honoring Illinois small businesses.
Rauner was asked to respond to complaints about the managed-care reboot, HealthChoice Illinois, that have been made by owners of independent pharmacies, small-chain pharmacies and also small businesses selling outpatient medical equipment and supplies.
Those businesses say managed-care companies and companies operating as pharmacy benefit managers as part of the managed-care reboot are forcing pharmacies and durable-medical equipment providers to accept drastically lower rates for serving Medicaid patients since the reboot took effect earlier this year. […]
Rauner said that despite concerns expressed by small businesses adversely affected by HealthChoice Illinois, “My concern is to make sure we have high-quality health care provided to our residents who need it and deserve it, and that we drive real value for taxpayers.”
There is some dispute, however, over whether those reforms are actually driving costs down.
*** UPDATE *** Pritzker campaign…
Independent pharmacies and small businesses selling medical equipment are struggling to keep their doors open after reimbursement rates were slashed under Bruce Rauner’s Medicaid managed care overhaul, but Rauner couldn’t care less.
While attending an event to celebrate National Small Business Week, Rauner dismissed the small businesses’ concerns, stating “sometimes businesses can be competitive in costs, and some businesses can’t. It’s unfair to our taxpayers to subsidize businesses that are high-cost.” The Illinois Pharmacists Association responded to the SJ-R, “I think he basically wrote us off. He obviously doesn’t understand the mechanisms of how health care works in his administration.”
“Bruce Rauner dismissed pleas from small businesses struggling to keep their doors open during a National Small Business Week celebration,” said Pritzker campaign spokesman Jason Rubin. “This is staggering incompetence from a failed governor who is completely unaware of the damage he’s done across the state.”
* Meanwhile, on another Medicaid topic, here’s the Pritzker campaign…
After families and caseworkers testified about the systemic failures of Bruce Rauner’s new Medicaid enrollment system, the failed governor downplayed the situation at a press conference yesterday.
“Many folks aren’t used to doing the process the right way, so it’s causing a little bit of consternation,” Rauner said yesterday when asked if he was satisfied with his overhaul. The new system delayed applications and cut access to healthcare while over 175,000 Illinoisans were kicked off Medicaid in four months.
“Bruce Rauner and his agencies wipe their hands of responsibility while failing to provide the basic healthcare services that every Illinoisan deserves,” said Pritzker campaign spokeswoman Jordan Abudayyeh. “This is gross mismanagement from a failed governor unleashing needless pain on families across this state.”
REPORTER: Are you happy with the new way managed care is working? There was a hearing in Chicago yesterday. Apparently, your directors DHS and HFS didn’t show up. But people are saying they’re waiting in line for hours, eight hours sometimes. Disabled kids, their parents can’t get stuff because the new computer system put in under a new $300 million contract isn’t working right. Is it working right with Deloitte? Have mistakes been made, and what can you do get out of that bureaucratic, apparently, a mess?
RAUNER: So, we are implementing a new IT system that was first started in I believe 2013 is when the new systems got put into place. And that process is ongoing. New IT systems are complicated. It’s certainly not perfect, and I’m never satisfied. I always wanna do better and faster. The reality is we haven’t followed proper procedure in Illinois for years in terms of getting eligibility determined for folks receiving government benefits. Now there’s actually a rigorous process that actually needs to be done right, and many folks aren’t used to doing the process the right way, so it’s causing a little bit of consternation.
The governor went on to complain about how the budget that was passed over his veto “gutted” his IT program, which he says will save money in the long run.
The deteriorating condition of Illinois’ transportation systems, state owned facilities, education buildings, and veterans’ homes have resulted in residents across the state experiencing pothole filled roads, overcrowded schools, and poorly maintained university buildings and state facilities. The annual cost of needed repairs and investment currently stands at $21 billion per year, according to a new study released today by the Illinois Economic Policy Institute (ILEPI).
ILEPI’s board is filled with contractors, trade unions and their allies, so keep that in mind here. I’m not saying they’re wrong, I’m just saying they’ve got their own motivations here.
▪ Historically, transportation, education, and public service agencies throughout Illinois could depend on a capital bill approximately every 10 years.
▪ A capital bill has not been passed since the 2008 bill known as “Illinois Jobs Now!”
▪ The federal infrastructure plan depends largely on state and local governments and private organizations for funding, thus Illinois lawmakers should be motivated to supply their own capital funding.
State buildings and facilities have significant maintenance and repair needs.
▪ Total deferred maintenance needs are over $7.3 billion for fiscal year 2019.
▪ Deferred maintenance needs have grown by $550 million per year.
▪ The Departments of Corrections and Health and Human Services alone account for over 50% of deferred maintenance needs, at over $2 billion and $1.9 billion, respectively.
Education facilities are also facing massive maintenance and repair needs.
▪ Higher education facilities, including public universities and community colleges, have additional deferred maintenance needs totaling more than $5.5 billion for fiscal year 2019.
▪ The two-year capital needs for P-12 education facilities in fiscal year 2017 were $7.5 billion, averaging approximately $18.5 million per district.
Additional investment is necessary to bring transportation systems into a state of good repair.
▪ IDOT requires an additional $11 billion through the year 2023 to bring all road miles into an acceptable condition and repair all backlog bridges.
▪ The Regional Transportation Authority’s current capital needs total $19.4 billion.
▪ Downstate transit systems require $2 billion in capital improvements to both urban and rural systems over the next 10 years.
Over $21 billion per year is necessary to address deferred building maintenance and bring the state’s transportation systems into a state of good repair.
▪ Building facilities needs account for over $16 billion per year, with state owned facilities accounting for 34% of total needs.
▪ Education needs stand at approximately $9 billion per year – 44% of total needs.
▪ Almost $5 billion per year is required just to address backlog on IDOT roads and bridges and statewide transit systems.
A state senator called House Speaker Mike Madigan on Tuesday with “serious concerns” about whether a panel he created to combat sexual harassment could remain independent with the addition of Democratic Cook County Clerk nominee Karen Yarbrough — who is also the vice chairman of the Democratic Party of Illinois.
And in less than an hour, Yarbrough stepped down. […]
“We had serious concerns that someone that’s vice chair of the party would be part of the panel,” [Sen. Melinda Bush, D-Grayslake] said. “I told [Madigan] why I was concerned. That I really thought she should be removed. We want to make sure there’s a firewall and that we are able to be independent.” […]
Yarbrough said she submitted a letter, writing that she would have loved to serve but did not want to be a distraction — comparing herself to state Comptroller Susana Mendoza, a Madigan ally.
“I already know that Susana was a distraction and if I’m going to be a distraction I would rather step down and help them from abroad,” Yarbrough told the Sun-Times, adding she helped to create sexual harassment policies for the Cook County Democratic Party.
I’ve seen the Pritzker campaign’s FOIA request and would suggest they amend it to include communications from the governor’s current chief legislative liaison Darlene Senger, the GOP comptroller candidate who sent an e-mail last night advising the administration to try to tie this Illinois Veterans’ Home scandal to US Sen. Tammy Duckworth.
* Well, WBEZ filed its own FOIA request after I posted that tidbit and four months later they finally received the documents…
Shortly after WBEZ published the original investigation on Dec. 12 of last year, one Democratic state lawmaker called for an audit examining the fatal Legionnaires’ outbreaks at the facility. The governor’s deputy chief of staff, Darlene Senger, floated a novel — if highly politicized — idea to shift blame for the deaths of the elderly Illinois Veterans Home residents.
“We can maybe tie this back to Duckworth,” Senger wrote in an email obtained through an open-records request. Democratic U.S. Sen. Tammy Duckworth, a disabled Iraq War veteran, ran the state agency that oversees the Quincy home under former Governors Pat Quinn and Rod Blagojevich.
Senger, of course, is now running for comptroller against incumbent Democrat Susana Mendoza. We can expect this to be a campaign issue.
Asked for comment on the email, Rauner spokeswoman Rachel Bold said “Our office has focused on the veterans at the Quincy Veterans Home and their health and safety. We are engaged in ongoing large-scale remediation efforts, while providing top quality skilled nursing care and planning for the future of the home and its residents.”
“There is no doubt that the lack of proper funding for veterans over the last decade has exacerbated the problems we currently face,” [Senger] said in a prepared statement. “If we choose to ignore the past, systemic failures to fund our veterans’ programs, then we are destined to continue to face these challenges in the future and that was the point of my comment — we need to understand how and when these problems started in order to find long-term solutions.” […]
“I’m shocked that anybody would be focused on political gain when you should be focused on veterans’ health. Bottom line,” Duckworth said in an interview. “This is the frustration that I have. Why are we wasting time on this kind of stuff instead of troubleshooting and what do we need to do to prevent another outbreak?”
The newly-published email attempting to blame combat Veteran and U.S. Senator Tammy Duckworth for the Quincy Veterans’ Home crisis makes one thing clear: Bruce Rauner is willing to blame anyone but himself for his failures.
While stumbling through crisis after crisis, Rauner has repeatedly tried to evade responsibility, pointing fingers at state workers, his own employees, and countless others for his constant failure. With his history of ducking accountability, one question has to be asked: “Who does Bruce Rauner think is to blame for the Legionnaires crisis?”
“Bruce Rauner has a pathological refusal to take responsibility for his failures,” said Pritzker campaign communications director Galia Slayen. “After his administration tried to blame a war hero for the deaths of 13 Veterans and spouses, Rauner needs to be held accountable for his latest crisis.”
…Adding… DGA…
Senger’s email is the latest evidence of the Rauner administration’s effort to pass the buck on Quincy instead of addressing the crisis that killed 13 veterans. Just a few weeks ago, Rauner’s administration released a 35-page memo that, in part, tried blaming previous administrations for the deadly outbreak. Rauner’s team was also caught trying to shape press coverage while residents were dying, attacking journalists’ integrity, accusing home workers of lying, and stonewalling legislative inquiries.
“Bruce Rauner has reached a new low in his desperate attempt to deflect blame – now his administration is falsely attacking a combat veteran for their own mismanagement,” said DGA Illinois Communications Director Sam Salustro. “Rauner needs to show leadership and take responsibility for his administration’s failures at Quincy.”
Do Illinoisans support the idea of higher earners paying more taxes? It seems to depend on how the question is asked.
A poll by the Paul Simon Public Policy Institute at Southern Illinois University showed nearly three-quarters of those asked support a tax that “would be lower for lower-income taxpayers and higher for upper income taxpayers.”
When asked if they would support a tax that “would result in single filers earning over $17,300 to pay more in taxes,” support drops to 14 percent. The Illinois Policy Institute asked that question in a poll in late March and early April.
Jim Long, director of legislative relations for the Chicago-based think tank, said nearly everyone would support a progressive tax without the reality of math.
“It’s like asking a kid if they want ice cream for dinner. Everybody’s going to go for that,” he said. “We put [our poll] through the grinder of economics.”
The institute’s poll used figures based on State Rep. Robert Martwick’s stalled progressive income tax bill. The institute said Illinoisans would see taxes increase from the current 4.95 percent – raised from 3.75 percent last summer – based on a progressive rate of 5.84 percent kicking in at $7,500 in annual earnings.
The Institute loves to pick on Martwick’s bill and only rarely talks about the stuff about lowering property taxes, etc. The bill is dead. He couldn’t even get a single co-sponsor before tabling it last week. It’s not gonna be law.
So Democrats' said families getting $1,000+ from federal tax reform was "crumbs" but that their proposal to credit maybe $300 on state income tax–that they just raised by more than that last July–is some kind of wonderful middle class relief?! https://t.co/B50uLXoT1V
But as the white working-class has declined in both population and prominence — a casualty of deindustrialization and education — regional accents are becoming less pronounced, and less widespread. The classic “Sh-caw-go” accent, wielded so effectively by the Daleys, is now only heard in a few white ethnic wards in the far Northwestern and Southwestern corners of the city. With the recent retirement of Polish-American alderman Michael Zalewski, only three members of the Chicago City Council speak with accents that would sound at home on SNL’s legendary send-up of Chicago patois, “Bill Swerski’s Superfans.” One of them is Daley’s grandson, Patrick Daley Thompson. Another is Nick Sposato, a former firefighter who greets audiences by saying, “I’d like to thank youse all for coming.”
In 1980, whites without college degrees made up 65 percent of the electorate; by 2012, that figure was down to 36 percent. As that class’s political influence has diminished, politicians have less motivation to identify with, and sound like, those voters, and more motivation to sound like the professionals who now dominate the economies in such cities as Chicago, Pittsburgh, and Cleveland, which have transformed themselves from industrial hearths to centers of finance, tech, and health, respectively.
Today’s politicians are also less likely to have emerged from working-class backgrounds. The politicians coming to power in today’s Midwest are well-traveled, well-educated late Baby Boomers and Gen Xers, such as Emanuel and Pittsburgh Mayor Bill Peduto, who both got their starts in national politics, rather than rising through the ranks of a local political machine.
There are some exceptions, of course, but they’re no longer the rule. Jim Thompson used to change his accent to suit his audience. And Gov. Rauner sometimes talks like he’s from… well, I’m not sure what that accent is supposed to be.
State Senator Jennifer Bertino-Tarrant (D-Shorewood) continues to push for proper funding of Illinois’ schools.
A new bill she sponsors will continue that effort by prohibiting the diversion of public funds to scholarship tax programs in any calendar year unless the state has appropriated the $300 million in added education funding required annually by the new school funding formula.
“The state has a constitutional responsibility to fund public education, and this will do so without hurting private schools,” Bertino-Tarrant said. “The state must meet the minimum funding formula before we hand out tax credits to wealthy donors and corporations.”
Bertino-Tarrant introduced the bill in response to a 5-year tax credit scholarship pilot program which allows individuals and companies that donate to private school scholarship organizations to receive tax credits up to 75 percent of the amount donated.
Senate Bill 2236 prohibits those tax credits in any year the minimum funding level is not met. Bertino-Tarrant stressed this bill does not eliminate the Invest in Kids Act, it simply holds legislators accountable and increases transparency in the use of taxpayer dollars for rebates to wealthy donors.
“As a mother, educator and a product of Catholic schools, I am a fierce advocate of giving our children the best possible educational opportunities, but we should not be working toward weakening the infrastructure of public schools across our communities,” Bertino-Tarrant said. “This scholarship program, as it stands, is not a tax credit for working families to send their children to private schools – it is designed to incentivize donors.”
Bertino-Tarrant said the General Assembly and the public were not given enough time to consider the merits of the program before a vote last year.
“After five years of negotiations, the Invest in Kids program was rammed into the legislation at the eleventh hour without proper vetting by legislators or the public,” Bertino-Tarrant said. “There is a lack of transparency within the program that doesn’t allow the taxpayers of Illinois to know who is receiving state dollars.”
Credits awarded are capped at $1 million per taxpayer and $75 million statewide, but there is no mechanism that allows the public to see who is receiving taxpayer funded tax credits.
“I will continue to introduce this measure until our schools are properly funded as agreed on in the bipartisan school funding reform,” Bertino-Tarrant said. “Otherwise children across our state will never see an end to the rampant disparities in school resources and funding we see today.” [Emphasis added.]
As we’ve discussed before, the scholarship program has received just $41 million of the $100 million in donations authorized by state law.
* Other bills…
* Illinois working to combat election judge shortage: The Herald-Whig reports that state lawmakers are considering a proposal that would let county clerks operate polling places with three election judges instead of five. State lawmakers previously gave county clerks the ability to get help from high school students.
* Police Shooting Reviews Mandated Under Bill That Passes Illinois Senate: State Sen. Kwame Raoul introduced the legislation on April 20 following a Better Government Association/WBEZ investigation that found that in 113 police shootings in suburban Cook County, not a single suburban officer was disciplined, re-trained or fired after pulling the trigger. What’s more, there were almost no procedural reviews of the shootings to determine whether officers followed policies, general orders and best practices.
* Lawmakers push for better training for cops in schools: SB 2925 passed the Illinois Senate last week without opposition. The measure would require youth-specific training for the first time for every jurisdiction that seeks to put officers in schools. While some Illinois cities and towns require their own training, Chicago officers placed in public schools haven’t had such training mandated since 2006. (CPS also employs security guards who are subject to school-specific training standards.) “Without youth-specific training, officers will resort to what they have been trained to do on the streets: make arrests,” Michelle Mbekeani-Wiley, an attorney with the Shriver Center, told City Bureau last year.
Remember last Christmas when the computers "glitched" and cutoff a bunch of SNAP cards?
$300M IT system still kicking thousands of Illinoisans off Medicaid and SNAP, caseworkers overloaded, claims delayed up to 7 monshttps://t.co/lQPBkZE0GY
More than 40,000 Medicaid recipients were wrongly barred from crucial support services last October after an update to the Department of Human Services’ electronic enrollment system triggered widespread IT failures. Seven months later, the problems persist. Some vendors still haven’t been paid for emergency services to Medicaid patients. Health and Family Service employees are still buried under mountains of paper applications. And the number of those kicked off Medicaid has grown to more than 150,000.
Caseworkers with the department, benefits recipients and human services advocates gathered in Chicago Monday to offer testimony to the House Appropriations Human Services Committee. They said the IT problems and resulting paperwork pile-up have become pervasive since the second-phase roll-out of Gov. Bruce Rauner’s technology consolidation plan, the Integrated Eligibility System upgrade.
Witnesses told lawmakers while Deloitte’s $300 million system was supposed to ease the labor load on DHS’ sharply slashed workforce numbers by automating certain data entry processes, it has instead more than doubled their work. Similar Deloitte creations have faced multi-million dollar state government lawsuits across the nation. […]
[Lori Gladsden, a human services caseworker out of Tazewell County] pointed to case after case of protracted, manual data entry that bogged down workers. In one glaring instance, she described a last-minute announcement just two days before the IES roll-out, notifying DHS workers that 11,000 old cases would not be transferred into the new system as promised. […]
“When you hear about hundreds of millions of dollars in savings, that’s because you’ve knocked people off the rolls and it will take them seven months to get back on. For those seven months those people do not get their healthcare,” [Rep. Greg Harris, D-Chicago] said. “Do you attribute this to incompetence or do you attribute this a plan? I don’t know, but we intend to continue to look into this and find out.”
It was heartbreaking to listen to one mom on how DHS screw-ups were forcing her to choose between trying to get care for her Developmentally Disabled, nonverbal daughter who suffers from seizure disorders, or her son who is about to run out of meds for his severe mental illness.
* All emphasis added. From a Rauner campaign press release…
The Recent History of Term Limit Bills Dying in the House
Monday, May 7th is the deadline to add a referendum to the ballot this November that would give Illinoisans a vote on term limits. It’s an issue that has the support of 80% of voters according to a poll from the Paul Simon Public Policy Institute.
Unfortunately, those voices have been ignored in the Illinois House of Representatives. Check out all the times in recent history that term limit bills have been effectively killed in the House so that those in charge can maintain their grip on power:
* HJRCA 0031 in the 97th General Assembly: imposed term limits on Representatives and Senators in the General Assembly. Referred to Rules Committee 1/18/12. Tabled 5/5/12
* HB 6281 in the 98th General Assembly: established term limits on leadership positions in the General Assembly. Referred to Rules Committee 11/6/2014. No further action.
* HB4386 in the 99th General Assembly: established term limits on leadership positions in the General Assembly. Referred to Rules Committee 1/14/2016. No further action.
* HJRCA 0041 in the 99th General Assembly: imposed term limits on Representatives and Senators in the General Assembly as well as Executive Branch offices. Referred to Rules Committee 5/6/2016. No further action.
* HB0428 in the 100th General Assembly: established term limits on leadership positions in the General Assembly. Referred to Rules Committee 1/17/2017. No further action.
* HB0491 in the 100th General Assembly: established term limits on leadership positions in the General Assembly. Referred to Rules Committee 1/20/2017. No further action.
* Rauner campaign e-mail entitled “Enough is enough!”…
Rich,
We need term limits in Illinois to keep elected officials accountable to the people. Public service should be a calling, not a means for politicians to line their own pockets.
There’s one week left until the May 7th deadline to put a referendum on the ballot and enact term limits in Illinois. Let’s make it happen.
Add your name to the petition to support my plan to put term limits on the ballot!
Forward this email to your family and friends to spread the message. Enough is enough! Illinois needs real reform and that starts with term limits.
I appreciate your support.
* From the GA’s website…
Since the Senate has not advanced a proposal (which takes three days) and the House has nothing teed up and ready to go (which takes another three days) and the House isn’t even returning to town until the day after the May 7th deadline, the governor’s only recourse would be to call a special session right this very minute.
*** UPDATE 1 *** Speaker Madigan’s spokesman told me the governor did not ask the four legislative leaders at their last meeting to advance the proposal. The question was prompted by a commenter…
Am I to believe Governor Rauner told all four legislative leaders at that meeting that a vote on term limits was his “must-have” for the session, and then they ignored him?
I’ve asked the other leader spokespersons for comment as well.
*** UPDATE 2 *** Leader Durkin’s spokesperson says she doesn’t believe the topic was brought up at the leaders meeting, but added the governor and Durkin talk about it a lot and noted that Durkin is sponsoring a term limits proposal.
*** UPDATE 3 *** From the governor’s office…
He asks for term limits every day
*** UPDATE 4 *** Leader Brady’s office…
Not to my knowledge. The Governor has stated publicly his support for term limits. Senate Republicans have also introduced legislation on this issue. SJRCA 20 and SJRCA 2 (which is on third reading)
Ah, so there is a CA ready to roll in the Senate. He’d still need a special session to get it done, though.
Analysis of pre-primary campaign finance reports for 45 candidates in 15 state house races in 14 state legislative districts shows that 86 percent of money raised came from donors giving $1,000 or more, while only 5 percent came from donors giving less than $150. The selection of races was chosen for its geographic diversity, includes both Republican & Democratic primary contests, as well as races with and without incumbents. More details and analysis available here.
Candidates who ultimately won in these 15 races received 92 percent of their campaign funds from big donors giving $1,000 or more, and only 2 percent from donors giving $150 or less.
While the candidate with the most money does not always win, primary results show that 12 of the 15 contested races across the 14 districts were won by the candidate with the most resources.
“After Citizens United, there is little we can do to limit candidates funding their campaigns by relying on a small number of mega-donors, and as a result we see the impact of big money at all levels, including state legislative districts,” said Illinois PIRG Education Fund Advocate Hannah Kim. “However, through a small donor matching program, we can ensure voters have real choices on the ballot. Small donor matching programs can help candidates with broad support but without access to or support from big donors to remain competitive with candidates funded by big-money.”
Even without self-funding candidates as wealthy as Governor Rauner or J.B. Pritzker, these state legislative district races mimic the pattern of big-money fundraising apparent in the broader, statewide races for Attorney General and Governor. While there is some variation among candidates, across the board the bulk of campaign funds raised have come from a small, wealthy pool of donors who have resources to give at levels the average citizen cannot afford.
This “money primary” is why good government groups have coalesced around small donor matching programs, which allow candidates to run competitive campaigns even if they do not have access to, or choose to forgo, big money. There are successful, proven models to empower small donors so that their voices play a more central role in our democracy. For example, in New York City’s 2013 city council campaigns, small donors were responsible for 61 percent of participating candidates’ contributions when funds from a matching program are included. Similar program have been recently approved at the county level in Maryland and in Washington DC.
A few takeaways from their race-by-race analysis. 4th House District Democratic primary winner Delia Ramirez received 14 percent of her money from contributions of $150 or less. Curtis Tarver, who won the 25th House District Democratic primary, received 20 percent of his cash from those small contributions. But they were obvious exceptions.
* The big problem with this report is it doesn’t include the millions of dollars spent this cycle on independent expenditures, so some of these races look really lopsided when they actually weren’t. And that leads me to this…
With the news about today’s subject matter hearing for HB 5531—the bill introduced by Representative Kelly Cassidy in the Illinois House of Representatives to create a statewide Small Donor Match program—Illinois PIRG Education Fund decided to expand its previous analysis on campaign contributions to more State House races.
The bill provides state matching funds of up to $150,000 if candidates raise six times that amount in increments between $25 and $150. Sounds good, but despite doing pretty well Curtis Tarver only raised $29K in contributions of $150 and under. He’d only qualify for $4,800 in matching funds. As noted in comments, he’d qualify for the full $150K. But that’s peanuts in this era of million-dollar independent expenditures.
If somebody is out there spending hundreds of thousands of dollars against you, you’re gonna need a lot more money than that. And raising contributions in small amounts is costly and takes a lot of time and effort.
Hey, if they want to do it, then I’m fine. But candidates should be able to opt out if an outside group comes at them hard.
Calls to protect Illinoisans from a progressive income tax are now coming from both sides of the aisle in Springfield.
State Rep. Jerry Costello, D-Smithton, signed on as chief co-sponsor to House Resolution 891 on April 27. The resolution was filed in March by state Rep. David McSweeney, R-Barrington Hills, and states that Illinois should not scrap its constitutionally protected flat income tax. […]
Knowing their families and the state’s economy can’t shoulder any more tax hikes, nearly 25,000 Illinoisans have signed a petition telling lawmakers to stand in opposition to a progressive tax income tax via illinoispolicy.org.
State lawmakers would be wise to follow Costello’s lead and heed those calls to action.
State Sen. Sam McCann, R-Plainview, who last week announced he’s running a third-party campaign for governor, said Thursday that he is being denied regular services provided by Senate staff, and he may file a lawsuit to fight that denial on his constituents’ behalf.
“It’s totally unconstitutional,” McCann said. “I think the taxpayers need to know that … currently, in the 50th District, you are enduring taxation without representation.”
McCann said that services he’s talking about range from use of staff photographers to communications, to help in writing bills and coordinating their movement through committees.
“I had a group of Girl Scouts here this morning,” McCann said, but a staff photographer would not take a picture.
McCann’s dismay is certainly understandable. Then again, so is the dismay of members of the GOP Senate caucus who perceive his gubernatorial candidacy as a thinly veiled effort to support the Democrats.
In politics, people don’t get mad, they get even. McCann is running for governor to get even with Rauner for past slights. Now his fellow Republicans are getting even with McCann for going over to the other side.
If someone had explained all that to McCann’s visiting Girl Scouts, the youngsters would have come away with a much better understanding of how government in Illinois really works.
The former campaign worker in House Speaker Michael Madigan’s political organization who accused another former Madigan worker of sexual harassment, and the organization of retaliating against her, is asking the state’s top legislative watchdog to investigate.
Alaina Hampton filed a formal complaint Monday with Illinois Legislative Inspector General Julie Porter, claiming that former Madigan lieutenant Kevin Quinn, who she is accusing of sexual harassment, was working for the state during the period that some of the alleged harassment was taking place.
State records show that Quinn, who served mostly as a political campaign operative for Madigan, was on the state payroll from early November 2016 through the end of July 2017. Hampton says Quinn, who was her supervisor, sent her persistent text messages asking her out on dates and commenting on her body. She says she repeatedly rebuffed his overtures, asking that they keep their relationship strictly professional. The text messages were sent between August and December of 2016.
Hampton has filed a federal lawsuit against the Madigan-controlled Democratic Party of Illinois and the 13th Ward political organization, accusing them of retaliating against her for coming forward with sexual harassment complaints. She also says the party conducted a sham investigation into her complaints and only fired Quinn when they knew she was going to go public about her experience.
* The Tribune profiles mayoral candidate Paul Vallas…
Vallas’ challenges are also clear: It’s been 16 years since his run for governor and CPS tenure. He tends not to deliver a concise, easy-to-understand message. And he acknowledges he will spend little, if any, money on TV commercials, leaving plenty of room for Emanuel and his allies to define him with attack ads.
He doesn’t plan to spend money on TV ads?
Does he think a few nice mentions by some political columnists will do the trick against Rahm’s millions?
. “They make more mistakes and everybody gets so mad at them, it isn’t even funny,” says Philip.
