He’s still insisting that negotiations with the Senate are the key to getting this thing wrapped up. The Senate doesn’t appear to be all that interested, however.
* Among other things, today’s letter from Gov. Rauner’s chief of staff Richard Goldberg to House Majority Leader Barbara Flynn Currie was just debated on the House floor…
May 24, 2017
Majority Leader Barbara Flynn Currie
300 Capitol Building
Springfield, IL 62706
Dear Leader Currie:
As you know, last week I privately offered to meet with you one-on-one in response to your public request for a meeting. At that time, you refused to meet with me in an initial one-on-one meeting.
I write today to renew my offer. If you are sincere about your willingness to support changes to our broken system – like real and lasting property tax relief – you should have no reason to refuse to meet.
In recent weeks, Governor Rauner and key Illinois business leaders invited Speaker Madigan to come to a meeting to discuss these issues. Unfortunately, the Speaker refused to meet. Now you claim publicly that you want to meet to discuss the budget and reforms, but privately refuse to meet with me one-on-one.
We have a few days left in the regular session. If you are sincere about reaching a balanced budget agreement, I look forward to meeting with you.
Very respectfully,
Richard A. Goldberg
Chief of Staff
Office of the Governor
* Madigan’s spokesman Steve Brown told me this afternoon that instead of meeting with Rauner and the Civic Committee of the Commercial Club, Madigan just decided to meet one-on-one with the governor last month. “There was really no purpose involving them,” Brown said of the Civic Committee. “We had their report,” which was recently released to the public.
During today’s floor debate, it was revealed that Leader Currie told Goldberg that while she wouldn’t meet with him alone, she offered instead to bring along the other negotiators appointed by Speaker Madigan earlier this month. Goldberg flatly refused her offer.
“I don’t know what they’re afraid of,” Brown said of the governor’s staff. “Why don’t they want to have a meeting?”
I was told earlier today that Goldberg wanted to gauge how sincere this effort was by first meeting one-on-one with Currie. And, indeed, bringing a bunch of people to a meeting is a classic way of slowing down a process - a tactic Madigan has used many times in the past.
But here we are, with a week to go before the scheduled adjournment, and they can’t even agree on a simple thing like a sit-down.
Last night, Democrats in Springfield abandoned compromise and rammed through a massive tax hike on a party-line vote. Their plan includes no real reform to grow jobs and no property tax relief for homeowners.
Today, the Illinois Republican Party is highlighting their disastrous decision with statewide and targeted robocalls.
Statewide robocalls highlight the Democrat’s tax-hike plan, and how Democratic candidates for Governor are falling in line behind the Madigan Tax Hike agenda.
Last night, Illinois Democrats took the first step in enacting a major tax hike without reforms.
It’s part of a scheme pushed by House Speaker Mike Madigan and Democrat candidates for governor like Chris Kennedy and J.B. Pritzker.
They’ve said Illinois’ top priority should be raising taxes by billions without reforms.
And yesterday, Democrat state senators voted to increase the income tax by 32% on every Illinoisan.
They passed a new sales tax on everyday services like Netflix, dry cleaning and television.
And chose to let property taxes continue to skyrocket.
The Democrats’ Tax Hike agenda is wrong for Illinois.
Instead, it’s time to pass real reforms to create jobs and a real property tax freeze to give homeowners relief.
Paid for by the Illinois Republican Party.
* Back to the press release…
Additional robocalls will target Democratic House members in competitive districts. Democratic House members can stand up to Mike Madigan and kill this disastrous tax hike.
The following House districts will receive the call.
HD 15 – John D’Amico
HD 17 – Laura Fine
HD 18 – Robyn Gabel
HD 43 – Anna Moeller
HD 44 – Fred Crespo
HD46 – Deb Conroy
HD 55 – Marty Moylan
HD 56 – Michelle Mussman
HD 57 – Elaine Nekritz
HD 59 – Carol Sente
HD 62 – Sam Yingling
HD 72 – Mike Halpin
HD 84 – Stephanie Kifowit
HD 98 – Natalie Manley
HD 96 – Sue Scherer
HD 111 – Dan Besier
HD 112 – Katie Stuart
HD 116 – Jerry Costello
HD 118 – Brandon Phelps
It’s simultaneously a reconciliation, tangling up the layers of policies that have emerged over the past couple years, and an ultimatum, tying it off—whether it works as politics inside the statehouse or outside it.
“We passed Bruce Rauner’s budget today and the income tax that he asked for,” Cullerton said. “How’s that for an answer? Is that a good answer?”
While Illinois’ historic 22-month budget impasse has again dominated the legislative session in Springfield, state lawmakers have also grappled with how to respond to Chicago’s gun violence.
One high-profile bill aimed at stemming the violence would impose longer prison sentences for repeat gun offenders. Under the proposal, people caught with an illegal gun a second time would face a maximum 14-year sentence. Judges could issue shorter punishments if they explain their reasons. Currently, the maximum sentence is seven years.
The bill has already passed the Senate, and needs approval in the House and from Gov. Bruce Rauner, who said he’ll sign it in its current form. The idea is nothing new in Springfield, but this time the opposition is coming from Chicago Democrats, not downstate Republicans or the National Rifle Association.
[Yesterday] the Illinois Senate voted 34-24-1 in favor of passing SB 1719. The legislation places a privilege tax on Hedge Fund and Private Equity Managers like Bruce Rauner and Ken Griffin who exploit a federal tax loophole to get a lower tax rate than that paid by many working Americans.
Amisha Patel, Executive Director of Grassroots Collaborative, explained, “This is great news for Illinois residents that have been languishing under an extended budget impasse. Illinois needs new revenue. SB 1719 generates significant revenue – raising it from those who have profited for years off of a rigged tax system, instead of asking for more sacrifices from our most vulnerable residents.”
“This is an important step in creating the kind of state we want to live in,” stated Senator Daniel Biss (D-Evanston), lead sponsor of SB 1719. “We have a small group of very wealthy individuals using an archaic loophole to avoid paying their share, at the expense of other taxpayers and vital social services. Illinois now has an opportunity to right this wrong, to move towards greater fairness, and raise $1.7 billion in new annual revenue that our state desperately needs.”
Despite his loudly voiced objections, Sen. Dale Righter (R-Mattoon) must now count on colleagues in the House to stop a bill that will set up a “Small Donor” matching program for candidates running for some offices in Illinois.
Senate Bill 1424, reintroduced to the Senate by Sen. Daniel Biss (D-Evanston), would allow candidates for governor, attorney general, comptroller, treasurer, secretary of state, state senator and state representative to opt into the program.
Only donations of $500 or less would be allowed under the program, with contributions of $25 to $150 being matched at a 6 to 1 ratio.
Biss has argued that the program levels the playing field by giving small donors more power in elections, but Righter called it another money grab that will hurt taxpayers already financially strapped.
“Despite the amendment that has been filed, the message back home and the question that you all will be answering if you vote for this would be, ‘Wait a minute, senator, you voted to spend my hard-earned tax dollars, including the tax increase, on the campaigns that we’ve been seeing for the last few years?’” Righter said.
I am attaching some artwork that I had a friend of mine in Carbondale, Brad Moore, illustrate for me. It’s a “Budget Man” on the side of a milk carton, like the old missing person photos. My plan is to put this on a T Shirt and sell them online and take the profits (about $10 per shirt) and give that money to some social service providers in Illinois that are being starved by the lack of a budget. I was thinking starting small and just publicizing it here in Southern Illinois and giving the money to the Women’s Center in Carbondale. […]
Will Stephens
WXAN General Manager
Mayor of Murphysboro
* This would go on the front of the t-shirt…
But Will is wondering if he should put a message on the back, perhaps to motivate people to act. I suggested we consult the CapitolFax.com hive mind. So…
* The Question: What slogan or message should be on the back of this t-shirt?
Under the Senate plan, which passed Tuesday on a partisan vote of 32-26, the [income] tax rate would nearly return to what it was: Illinois residents are looking at paying a rate of 4.95 percent on their income taxes. Corporations would see their taxes rise, too, with the rate edging from 5.25 percent to 7 percent.
Both hikes would be retroactive, going back to January.
Because the income tax hike is retroactive to Jan. 1, 2017, personal income taxpayers will pay an effective tax rate of 5.81 percent on their earnings for the remainder of the year.
The reason it’s backdated is because the grand bargain was originally designed in January to fix the hole in Fiscal Year 2017, the current fiscal year. So the plan all along has been to make it retroactive to January 1st.
That would’ve been no problem if the grand bargain had passed in January or February, but Gov. Rauner demanded the Senate fix the Fiscal Year 2018 hole as well and then punted the problem to the chamber during his February budget address. And when Rauner derailed the package on March 1st it took almost two more months to patch something together, and by then it was a partisan plan.
So, more delays will mean an even higher effective tax rate for the rest of this calendar year unless they simply write off FY 17 like they already have with FY 16.
* Apparently, this situation calls for a futile gesture on somebody’s part. In this case, a front-page editorial…
A year ago we declared “Enough.” The day after, the governor and lawmakers passed a six-month stopgap spending plan that did not provide lasting stability. That’s not good enough.
It’s time to demand that Governor Rauner and our lawmakers do what is right. It’s time for the budget to come first. To not do so will cement their legacy with one word that encapsulates the sorry condition of our state.
Every sign of progress has been marred by partisan politics. A budget was approved Tuesday by the Senate — with no Republican support. Even if the House concurs, Rauner likely will veto a measure only supported by Democrats. A bipartisan compromise is needed for Illinois to persevere.
A bipartisan compromise is required, but sometimes you gotta force the issue. So instead of saying the Senate’s bills should be put on Rauner’s desk and he should sign them, or at the very least the Senate’s proposal should be used as a template for a final deal, they punted.
That Gov. Bruce Rauner and the Illinois House and Senate would allow Illinois to stumble through yet a third year without a budget, as bills and debt pile up and businesses and residents leave, is beyond irresponsible.
And spare us the lecture about the need for structural reform first. If Illinois keeps going like this, there won’t be much to structure or reform.
Meanwhile, Rauner and the Legislature — most specifically House Speaker Mike Madigan — have shown zero political courage. At least Senate President John Cullerton has stuck his neck out, pushing a spending plan through the Senate on Tuesday, without a single Republican vote, that includes tax increases and spending cuts.
Rauner is running political ads, the goofy ones with the duct tape, laying the groundwork for his re-election next year. But he is not governing. As we said in a previous editorial, the first and most basic job of a CEO — and a governor is a CEO — is to produce a budget. The buck stops there.
And Madigan? Mike is being Mike, as inscrutable as ever. Nobody’s can be sure if he has any interest in passing a state budget at this point, or if he’s biding time until he can run Rauner out of Springfield.
And yet no endorsement of the Senate’s plan.
The budget can’t be balanced without actual legislation. The Senate Democrats are the only people in the Statehouse who have passed just such a package of bills. If you really want to drive the argument, then endorse a specific proposal. Maybe even back the plan devised by the Civic Committee of the Commercial Club of Chicago. Or the Illinois Policy Institute’s plan. Or Sen. McCarter’s plan. Something. Anything. Just pick a freaking lane, already.
Encouraging people to angrily vent over the phone without any direction is irresponsible and plays right into the hands of both Rauner and Madigan.
The Illinois General Assembly is back to work after the Senate approved a major spending package.
Eyes are back on to the Senate on Wednesday to see how negotiations will shape up between majority Democrats and Republicans over issues important to Gov. Bruce Rauner.
The Senate approved a $5.4 billion tax increase for a $37.3 billion spending plan Tuesday. Republicans said Democrats were walking away from attempts to trade a tax increase for a local property tax freeze and Rauner-demanded reductions in the cost of the workers’ compensation system.
* A Senate Republican operative was super cheerful this morning about the spotlight finally being off that chamber after months of turmoil, and then I shared the above link. The response…
Who told them that?
I don’t think anybody did. The Senate President’s spokesman said he’s not aware of any scheduled negotiations on property taxes or workers’ comp. Cullerton is open to such negotiations, however.
The governor may want these talks to stay in the Senate, but those days are over unless he comes up with a new path.
“All of these cries for more time, please allow me to say you have more time in the other chamber,” said Sen. Toi Hutchinson.
*** UPDATE *** I explained some possible House scenarios to subscribers this morning and told them about Springfield’s special visitor. Here’s Greg Hinz…
About two hours after Illinois Senate Democrats sucked it up and approved a big tax-hike bill late yesterday, two other figures were seen dining at a Springfield restaurant: Michael Sacks, a confidant and emissary for Mayor Rahm Emanuel, and House Speaker Michael Madigan.
Consider it a sign that the inevitable finally has arrived. […]
That leaves Madigan in position to box in Rauner. But what will he actually do?
Sacks, who was good enough to email me, isn’t saying — if he knows. About all he’ll disclose is: “I came down with a group to talk about education funding. With the prospect of a new formula and significant revenue, it is really important to get things right. It was great to be able to catch up with (Senate) President (John) Cullerton and Speaker Madigan and other leadership.” […]
Madigan spokesman Steve Brown says the speaker and governor are not now scheduled to talk. But he does allow that a Madigan budget and revenue package likely will emerge in committee “over the weekend.” It looks like that will be the first solid indication of the shape of the world.
A federal judge could decide today whether insurers collectively owed more than $2 billion by the state of Illinois can move to the front of the long line of vendors waiting to get paid.
If they win, Illinois Comptroller Susana Mendoza, who pays the state’s bills, says she could lose the little room she has to decide who gets paid first. Currently, she says, she prioritizes payments for agencies that care for the most vulnerable populations: children, elderly and people with disabilities, among others. […]
The bill backlog for vendors has reached $14.4 billion, Mendoza said. Of that, private insurers that are contracted to manage the care of about two-thirds of Illinois’ 3.1 million Medicaid recipients are owed more than $2 billion. The budget crisis has created a ripple effect: When insurers don’t get paid, they don’t pay doctors and hospitals. Patients, particularly those on the state health insurance plan, lose out if their providers turn them away or make them pay upfront for care. […]
Consent decrees and court orders dictate how about 90 percent of bills are paid. But Mendoza has the discretion to prioritize who gets the remaining 10 percent, a small pool of money she wants to protect.
If the insurers win their federal case, the comptroller could lose control to the court of where that money flows. A victory for the insurers could be a “breaking point” for Illinois, she said.
* More…
W/o a budget, IL will owe more than 1/2 its operating budget to the bill backlog or $16 billion by the end of the fiscal year, 6/30. #twill
— Illinois Comptroller (@ILComptroller) May 24, 2017
90% of payments made by our office are court ordered, 10% made w/ discretion. A federal hearing may change that.https://t.co/lBB3UXppiE
— Illinois Comptroller (@ILComptroller) May 24, 2017
A question I’ve had for a while now is what happens when the state just doesn’t have the cash to satisfy all these court orders? Does a federal or state judge take charge? And which judge? The state is dealing with several federal consent decrees and a state court which has ordered employees are to be paid without an appropriation.
*** UPDATE 1 *** The judge didn’t issue a ruling today. Both sides were told to return to court next Tuesday.
*** UPDATE 2 *** From the courtroom…
Arguments for moving Medicaid to front of the line: system is crumbling & doctors will stop seeing Medicaid patients if they aren't paid
Two years ago, Judge Joan Lefkow ordered the state must pay Medicaid providers even though it is operating without a budget. The state is now virtually out of money — its backlog of bills has grown beyond $14.2 billion — and Medicaid service providers said the state isn’t paying them fast enough.
During a Wednesday court hearing, Lefkow suggested that Medicaid payments be paid faster — but she stopped short of issuing a ruling. “I don’t know what I’m going to do here,” said Lefkow, who called for another court hearing next week, where she is expected to make a decision.
“It doesn’t seem right that Medicaid payments are being de-prioritized, shall we say,” Lefkow said. “Ultimately this comes down to a political issue.” […]
As the hearing concluded, Lefkow addressed the attorneys who have been representing the state government during the budget impasse.
After giving a typically fiery speech on Tuesday to those gathered at a City Club of Chicago luncheon in which she denounced Gov. Bruce Rauner and his No. 1 supporter, billionaire Ken Griffin, for contributing $70 million between them to re-elect Rauner, CTU president Karen Lewis was asked by Chicago Inc. what she thought of Pritzker’s largely self-funded campaign. […]
“Can one oligarch replace another oligarch?” Lewis responded, rhetorically. “What’s going to be different?”
Lewis said she’d met with all of the Democratic primary contenders, including Pritzker, adding that she’d shared her concerns with Pritzker about his estimated $3.4 billion wealth.
“He said, ‘But I’m a progressive,’” Lewis said. “I thought it was hilarious!”
“You don’t think that’s funny, that an oligarch thinks he’s progressive and says, ‘You know, I’m different’?!”
* Last night and then earlier this morning, I asked most of the Democratic gubernatorial campaigns for their response to the Senate’s passage of a budget that includes new revenues.
Here’s Galia Slayen at the JB Pritzker campaign…
“It’s been 693 days without a state budget. Our state’s finances are in shambles and working families across Illinois are paying the price. Rauner’s pet projects and stalling tactics aren’t going to get our state the relief it so desperately needs. It’s past time for Bruce Rauner to stop playing politics and figure out how to govern.”
Not exactly an answer to my question. The Pritzker campaign is also running “interactive digital banners highlighting the 693-day budget crisis that Bruce Rauner created”…
* Sen. Daniel Biss voted for the bills, and his state office sent this out after the vote…
“It’s time to stop the dangerous, unproductive, two-year staring contest in Springfield.
“A budget is a statement of priorities, and while this one is far from perfect, it reflects some core priorities – health care for the poor, P-12 schools, higher education, an increase in the tax credit for low-income workers and vital services for those who need our help. It offers some short-term stability by making different choices and calling on everyone to share the burden of cleaning up Gov. Bruce Rauner’s failures.
“But long-term solutions to our fiscal problems will require bigger reform to create a fair tax system. We must repeal our constitution’s unjust and unusual flat tax provision; we must finally require millionaires and billionaires to pay their fair share; and we must eliminate the current carried interest tax loophole that allows the super wealthy to evade state taxes.
“That’s why I am pleased that today we made progress toward establishing each of these policies and building the fair economy that is our only hope for long-term economic health.
“These are the kinds of honest solutions that taxpayers want lawmakers to find the courage to pursue. Until we do that, we will continue to fight budget battles like these – battles that result in winners and lowers – over and over again.”
* I’ll let you know if I hear from the other campaigns. Ameya Pawar’s Twitter feed was silent on the topic, as was Bob Daiber’s and Chris Kennedy’s except for this response today to Gov. Rauner’s demand for a property tax freeze…
Our property tax system is broken. Public schools lose out. We don't need a freeze. We need to fix it. - CGKhttps://t.co/xfj0J7UGom
How about telling us what the “fix” would be? Say what you want about Rauner, but at least he has an idea.
Such an odd campaign.
…Adding… By the way, the Kennedy tweet links to a story that’s partially about JB Pritzker’s new online ad.
*** UPDATE 1 *** Ameya Pawar…
I applaud my friend Sen. Biss for his efforts on the carried interest bill and the public servants in the Illinois Senate for putting the most vulnerable, our public schools, our social service agencies, and the future of Illinois ahead of politics.
We now have confirmation - something we knew all along - that Governor Rauner and the Senate Republicans he controls never wanted a budget. Social services are collapsing and people are dying because of Governor Rauner’s failed leadership and the Senate Republicans are now complicit. They should be ashamed of themselves.
*** UPDATE 2 *** Kennedy campaign…
It’s a sad day when, after almost two years of stalemate and stubbornness from a failed governor, we appear no closer to resolving a budget crisis that’s holding the entire state hostage. Chris Kennedy believes taxes and cuts alone are not enough to solve our problems. Illinois needs fundamental change from top to bottom to restore the promise of this state, including an overhaul of the corruptible property tax system that we rely on to fund our public schools.
* From the Illinois Policy Institute’s radio network…
State Rep. Jeanne Ives, R-Wheaton, said she prefiled to be a sponsor of the tax increase bill “because I think there’s a bigger conversation that needs to happen before there’s a tax increase.”
Ives said she’s not on board with any tax increase.
“There’s a lot of tax increases in here we shouldn’t even have a conversation about until we talk about cutting spending and doing more for the business community rather than making them the highest tax in the United States,” Ives said.
However, she says her attempts to control it in the House could be taken away from her through procedural moves.
She would love nothing more than a fight over sponsorship of SB 9, and that’s why I really doubt the House Democrats will do anything. Why make her into a national cable TV and talk radio martyr in her courageous and lonely battle against the entrenched Speaker Madigan? So, she’d better milk this for all it’s worth right now because at the end of the session she will almost undoubtedly still be the chief House sponsor of a huge tax increase.
Now the bill moves to the House and into the safe hands of the staunch GOP anti-taxer state Rep. Jeanne Ives.
Screeeeech! Say what? Yup. Ives, a Republican, stealthily filed paperwork early in the session ensuring that the revenue bill to come out of what was then the so-called grand bargain would end up in her lap. So the Dems’ SB9 is slated to come to the same House member who told POLITICO last night she believes the state needs a “tax revolt.”
If the House Dems do decide to run a tax hike bill, they can shell out a Senate bill and amend it with their language. Or, they could use a House bill.
Remember, the Senate removed all the “if and only if” language from the grand bargain package that inextricably tied all those bills together. When Rep. Ives pre-filed for sponsorship back in February, that language was still in the grand bargain bills so her motion would’ve been a more important move. As it stands now, she’s merely sitting on a bill that can be easily copied.
No doubt this has great comedic value, and I’m all for that in times like these. But Ives’ move means nothing.
“I want to be a part of the conversation when it comes to taxes and how any tax increase would impact hardworking Illinois families and job creators. Senate Bill 9 would give Illinois the highest taxes on employers of any state in the nation and make it more difficult for middle-income families to make ends meet. There is a bigger conversation that needs to be had before the state considers a tax increase; specifically on real property tax relief, responsible spending cuts and pro-business reforms to help create jobs in Illinois. I believe the best way for me to have a voice in that discussion is to control the bill in the House of Representatives as its sponsor.”
This sounds reasonable until you realize that no matter what sort of “bigger conversation” is had on property taxes, budget cuts and pro-business measures, Rep. Ives won’t be voting for a tax hike anyway.
Wednesday, May 24, 2017 - Posted by Advertising Department
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What happened to the art of compromise? I know its not perfect but I feel that you, Madigan and Cullerton should work out a budget where the people win. I feel that you, Madigan and Cullerton let your ego’s get in the way of progress. Remember you, Madigan and Cullerton were elected by the people. Serve the people period.
The governor only read the first sentence, then gave a long, rambling response that appeared to indicate Democrats needed to compromise with him, not the other way around.
It got me to thinking that I’d rather hear more of what Hadnott had to say than to listen to another day of everyone blaming each other in Springfield, so I tracked him down. […]
Some of you are saying “Amen,” [about Rauner’s response] and some are wondering how anybody could compromise with a fellow with that kind of tin ear. […]
[Hadnott’s] premise is simple: “I feel like three reasonable people should be able to sit down and work this out. It wouldn’t be perfect. But it would be better.”
“You can’t just have it all your way,” Hadnott said.
“In a compromise, I get A, B and C, and you get D, E and F. They keep saying win-lose. I’m a big believer in win-win.
I think that’s how a lot of people see it, and while those of us who follow these matters closely might get bogged down on the details, Hadnott is expressing the essence of the common man’s frustration over living in a state now on Day 694 without a budget.”
Hadnott also said that while he believes the governor is interested in finding a middle ground, he ought to stop talking so much about the past: “No one wants to hear about the past mistakes. The issue is where do we go from here?”
* SJ-R: Senate Dems approve $5.4B tax increase; budget fight continues: Opting to stop waiting for Republican support, Illinois Senate Democrats Tuesday moved ahead with a tax-hike-and-spending plan aimed at finally trying to end a stalemate that has left the state without a permanent budget for nearly two years.
* WJBC: Local Republicans decry income tax hike: Central Illinois Republicans were unanimous in slamming a proposed $5.4 billion tax increase which the Illinois Senate pushed through Tuesday with no GOP support.
* Public Radio: Illinois Democrats Pass Budget Proposal in Senate: The Illinois Senate passed a budget package Tuesday after a similar plan failed last week. The difference was several new “yes” votes from liberal Democrats. No Republicans supported either plan.
* Bond Buyer: Illinois Senate Democrats go it alone on budget: Forging ahead on their own, Illinois Senate Democrats sent on to the House a $37.3 billion fiscal 2018 budget that relies on more than $5 billion of new tax revenue to help stabilize the state’s rocky finances.
* In a rather unusual and pretty darned humorous twist, anti-tax state Rep. Jeannie Ives (R-Wheaton) has filed the requisite paperwork to be the House sponsor of Senate Bill 9.
SB 9 is the bill the Senate Democrats passed today which raises income taxes and expands the sales tax to services.
Rep. Ives told me she believes the bill “needs work.”
From a Senate Democratic operative…
So Jeanne Ives is the sponsor of a tax hike? Maybe we did coordinate this with Madigan.
Heh.
…Adding… From the Illinois Policy Institute’s news service…
“I prefiled for the bill so I could control it in the House,” Ives told Illinois News Network. “I think that there’s a bigger conversation that needs to be had before we do a tax increase. … I thought the best way to have a voice in that discussion would be to control the bill in the House.”
Ives acknowledged that there are procedural ways for Democrats to take the bill away from her, but she hopes that doesn’t happen.
“There are a lot of tax increases in here that we shouldn’t even be having a conversation about until we’ve talked about cutting spending and doing more for the business community rather than making them the highest taxes in the United States,” she said.
…Adding… SB 6, which is the omnibus appropriations bill, has passed with 33 votes and no debate.
*** UPDATE 1 *** ILGOP…
“Senate Democrats’ decision to ram through multiple tax hikes outside a comprehensive jobs and reform package confirms that the entire Democratic Party’s position is to raise taxes while protecting the status quo. First Mike Madigan made clear real reform is not an option, then Democratic candidates for governor began campaigning on raising taxes without reform, and now the Senate Democrats are falling in line. The Democrats moved forward an agenda today that raises income taxes, expands the sales tax and ensures property taxes keep rising.” – Illinois Republican Party Spokesman Steven Yaffe
In 2015, Mike Madigan stated his desire to raise the income tax to 5 percent without reform.
In 2016, Democrats refused to even send Gov. Rauner a balanced budget or pass reforms that voters from both sides support.
And in 2017, Democratic candidates for Governor latched onto the Madigan position – tax hikes without reform.
The News-Gazette notes, J.B. Pritzker “supports a substantial increase in the state income taxes… Pritzker recently told a group of party members that the state income tax should be increased to at least 5 percent, perhaps higher.”
Pritzker now says he opposes a property tax freeze.
Chris Kennedy called reforms to fix Illinois “Bullsh#t” and “stood with Speaker Madigan” against a balanced budget with spending caps and reform.
Daniel Biss, who ran Mike Madigan’s Super PAC, even said he’s open to the idea of taxing retirement income.
And Ameya Pawar believes that “most people will tell you they’re willing to pay more taxes.”
Democratic candidates for Governor support tax hikes without reform. Now, the Senate is following suit.
*** UPDATE 2 *** Press release…
Speaker Michael J. Madigan issued the following statement Tuesday regarding budget bills passed by the Senate:
“The appropriations measures passed by the Senate will be thoughtfully considered by the House Democratic Budget Working Group headed by Representative Greg Harris. Since the beginning of the session, a working group made up of Representatives Harris, Carol Ammons, Kelly Burke, Kelly Cassidy, Fred Crespo, Will Davis, Robyn Gabel, Will Guzzardi, Lisa Hernandez, Elaine Nekritz, Elgie Sims and Michael Zalewski has worked diligently on state budget issues, including passage of a Lifeline Budget. They will thoroughly review the Senate’s proposal and consider it as part of our efforts to pass a full-year balanced budget that will end the budget impasse.”
…Adding… Rauner…
Let me be clear, to get my signature, any agreement must include real property tax relief. #Twillhttps://t.co/7SwClhRYAE
My Caucus and I cannot support the Senate Democrats’ budget and revenue package in its current form.
I truly wish we would have been able to come together on a comprehensive solution to the state’s challenges. My biggest concern has always been for the state and its people. I want to avoid further downgrades and fiscal meltdown. I want to help put Illinois on a path to stability.
We need a balanced budget. We need property tax relief. We need significant reforms to reach our goals.
If this package moves to the House, I hope they can approach it in a bipartisan manner and make further progress in all those areas.”
Since most eyes are on the Senate while waiting for a budget solution, not much is being heard from the House. One reason could be because not much is happening.
The House has spent little more than five hours in session during all of May. Monday, the day’s session began around 3:30 and the House adjourned about 4 pm, to head off to committees. It’s the unfortunate time card Representatives are clocking in this month.
The House took a week off this month and attacking that break is completely fair game because it’s almost unheard of and was really a foolish idea considering the times we’re in. That break didn’t make it into the story, however.
* Also, that WCIA piece was not an original story. The Illinois Policy Institute published this last Friday…
Illinois state lawmakers are taking paychecks despite not passing a budget for nearly 700 days. One might assume they’d be working around the clock to earn them.
But Illinois House Speaker Mike Madigan has called the House into session for less than six hours in the entire month of May.
But House appropriations committees – where lawmakers should be forging a new budget – have seen relatively little action in 2017.
The Appropriations General Services Committee has held two meetings in the last 20 days.
And with all the talk Illinoisans have heard from lawmakers about how the state funds public education, the Appropriations Elementary and Secondary Education Committee has met only twice in nearly 50 days.
Beyond that, those approp committees tend to take testimony from agencies and various stakeholders, then craft proposals behind the scenes and then vote on them in public. The House Democrats are working on a budget. They invited the Republicans, but were rebuffed.
* There are plenty of reasons to criticize the House - so many that I couldn’t count them all. And while they could’ve voted on Senate bills as they trickled out of committee, that would’ve given them less time to deal with those bills in committee. So, six of one, half dozen of the other.
All that being said, this session does appear designed to keep House members scurrying around so they don’t have much time to cause trouble. Speaker Madigan freed just about every bill from Rules Committee earlier this spring, which flooded committees and kept his people pinned down in hearings and negotiations. And then came the May break, which caused more intense committee activity to deal with Senate bills.
But, hey, “Less than 6 hours!” is an easy thing to understand by a public that’s already disgusted with Springfield - even though it doesn’t really mean anything.
Boy, it must be nice to get paid a lot of money by the taxpayers of Illinois, and goof around on the job. Leave it to your elected representatives.
Last time I checked, the state of Illinois did not have a budget and social service agencies and state vendors are waiting to paid. So, what was one of Rockford’s representatives to the Illinois House of Representatives doing? Working? Nope! She helping to planning a softball game on taxpayer time.
Yes, in the Illinois House, last week, representatives were caught on video wasting precious time to discuss the upcoming House vs. Senate softball game and basketball game.
Um, the offending video was from last year, not last week. Oops. That video was indeed from last week.
* Oddly enough, I made the same case to subscribers this morning. From Fitch…
FITCH: MAY 31 NOT THE DEADLINE FOR ILLINOIS’ BUDGET
Fitch Ratings-New York-23 May 2017: As the state of Illinois approaches the end of an unprecedented second fiscal year without having enacted a full-year general revenue fund budget, attention turns to the budget process for fiscal 2018, which begins on July 1, 2017, says Fitch Ratings.
Much is being made of the rapidly approaching May 31st end of the regular legislative session, after which state law requires super-majority approval of any tax increases. Prior to that date, a tax increase, which all parties seem to acknowledge must be a part of comprehensive budget agreement, can move forward with a simple majority vote.
Fitch does not view Illinois’ voting requirements as the main obstacle to passing a budget. Illinois’ budget crisis and related deterioration in credit quality is the result of a political impasse between the Governor and the legislature. All parties - legislative and executive, Republican and Democratic, House and Senate - have reported on-going negotiations throughout the fiscal impasse. At times these negotiations have seemed to be approaching a positive conclusion, incorporating a “grand bargain” of tax increases and spending controls designed to both close the annual budget gap and to address the rapidly accumulating accounts payable backlog. It seems clear that a budget will not be enacted until a compromise is reached. As a result, Fitch does not view the super-majority voting requirement that will arise after May 31st as the greater hurdle to enacting a balanced budget by the start of the fiscal year.
Fitch downgraded Illinois’ rating to ‘BBB’ on Feb. 1, 2017 and maintained the rating on Rating Watch Negative. At that time, we indicated that the Rating Watch would be resolved within six months based on an assessment of the state’s fiscal trajectory as it starts fiscal 2018 and that failure to enact a balanced budget for fiscal 2018 would result in a further downgrade. The timing of that review is unchanged.
Your thoughts?
* Meanwhile…
As Senate Democrats prepare to vote on a bill to permanently increase income taxes, Governor Bruce Rauner today announced in a video on his Facebook page that he will not sign off on any budget agreement that increases taxes without real property tax relief.
“The biggest issue that now stands in the way of us reaching an agreement is resistance to freezing your property taxes, and giving you the ability to control whether your property taxes go up or down in the future,” Governor Rauner said. “We will always stand on the side of taxpayers and homeowners and make sure we get an agreement that is fair to you.”
Property taxes have emerged as the biggest issue in negotiating a balanced budget.
Property taxes in Illinois are the highest in the country, and the Governor has long advocated for a freeze to provide homeowners relief. He believes if state lawmakers are going to ask for more in income taxes, then homeowners deserve relief from rising property taxes. In January, the House of Representatives passed a property tax freeze that granted local voters the ability to control increasing or decreasing their property taxes.
Red-light cameras brought in nearly $67 million last year for 86 Chicago suburbs and the companies that operate the devices, an investigation by the Chicago Sun-Times and ABC7 Chicago’s I-Team has found.
Fines collected from drivers accused of running red lights in the suburbs now far surpass the amount of money reaped by the city of Chicago’s extensive and unpopular network, the Sun-Times and ABC7 found.
Between the start of 2014 and the end of last year, cameras in the suburbs brought in a total of nearly $170 million, according to records obtained from suburban governments throughout the area.
And the Sun-Times/ABC7 analysis of those documents shows suburban red-light revenues are rising sharply every year, as more and more local governments install cameras at intersections. The total collected from cameras in the suburbs increased almost 50 percent between 2014 and 2016.
About 95 percent of suburbanites getting tickets are accused of making illegal right turns against a red light, Wallace estimates. Bertuca, the Berwyn attorney, agrees that about 95 percent of the cases he sees in traffic court involve drivers turning right. […]
Although a federal study in 2010 found that right turns were factors in just 1.2 percent of crashes, red-light camera operators and municipal officials say the cameras are about safety first, not money.
What happened to the art of compromise? I know its not perfect but I feel that you, Madigan and Cullerton should work out a budget where the people win. I feel that you, Madigan and Cullerton let your ego’s get in the way of progress. Remember you, Madigan and Cullerton were elected by the people. Serve the people period.
Next question, this is from Edward Headnott – or Hadnott – from Chicago, and Edward asks: What happened to the art of compromise? [Laughs]
Edward, great question. What happened to the art of compromise? So let’s talk about that.
You know, in order to compromise you need two sides who are willing to compromise, who want to come to a middle ground, and the tragedy in Illinois — we’ve had people who’ve controlled our system, and who’ve controlled our General Assembly, and who’ve controlled our Democratic Party, they’ve been in power for 35 years.
And, they created the system and they have no interest in changing it, not even a little bit, because that would admit that they have failed, that would admit that they needed to change, and they don’t want to acknowledge that. That’s our fundamental challenge, but we’ve just got to stay persistent. We’ve got to find common ground, and compromise so we can move forward.
Let me give you some examples about this. So, I’ve said — term limits, hugely popular among Democrats and Republicans. Good policy. It’ll change the culture inside state government very quickly, and we’ll have people in government who are there for the right reasons. So far, the members in the House, in the majority, the House Democrats, have said: No term limits, won’t talk about it, take it off the table. So, that’s, they’re not willing to compromise at all. And over in the Senate, they’ve said: well we’ll talk about term limits, maybe we’ll consider them for legislative leaders, but for nobody else. And I said: How about as a compromise on term limits, how about if we have you and the General Assembly won’t put term limits on yourselves, out of your own self interest — I don’t agree with you, I think that’s wrong — but how about put term limits on me, all governors, lieutenant governors, attorneys general, comptroller, treasurer, secretary of state, and also legislative leaders? How about that as a compromise — don’t put it on yourselves as legislators, but put it on everybody else? That’s a compromise. So far they’ve said no.
Similarly on property taxes. I’ve said: Give the people of Illinois the ability to control their own property taxes, let’s freeze them were they’re at, and let the people through a voter referendum and voter control decide if property taxes go up or down or stay flat. It’s a reasonable thing. So far, the House Democrats under Speaker Madigan have said no, won’t talk about it, take it off the table, refuse. And over in the Senate, they’ve said well, we’ll consider it, maybe we’d do a two year property tax freeze, but no real local control. A two year property tax freeze? That’s nothing. Your property taxes will go through the roof in the third year. That’s a phony reform. That’s just a headline. That’s not real change.
So there’s not real compromise going on. There’s not real change to the system. We’ve got to get compromise, we need to find common ground, meet in the middle and we can come up with solutions so we’ll have balanced budgets and get good things done for the people of Illinois. Especially property tax relief, and especially growing more jobs across the state. We’ve just got to stay persistent. I hope the members of the General Assembly, especially in the Senate, where they’re at least a little more open to compromise, I hope they’ll keep working, and we’ll get to a good place for everybody with a truly balanced budget.
A proposal to begin a limited system of public financing of races for state office has quietly picked up some momentum in Springfield. It still faces some big potential roadblocks, but I wouldn’t sell its prospects short at a time when voters perhaps are getting tired of watching millionaires and billionaires snatch top slots. […]
Now, normally I’d say the idea is a nonstarter over in the House, where Speaker Mike Madigan likes to keep his members close by supplying much of their campaign money.
But these are odd times, and as lawmakers race toward a scheduled May 30 adjournment, the speaker—interestingly—has assigned the bill not to some burial-ground study panel but to the House Executive Committee.
“If it’s in exec, it’s not being held,” says Madigan spokesman Steve Brown. Pressed further, Brown says only, “I’ve not heard much discussion about it.”
Its sponsor, state Rep. Kelly Cassidy, D-Chicago, says she’s hopeful.
“I can see reasons why the speaker would lean either way,” Cassidy told me. “The opportunity to contrast small donors with (Madigan nemesis) Gov. (Bruce) Rauner is a good one.”
* Press release…
State Representative Will Guzzardi, the legislative leader of the Tuition Free Illinois campaign, joined fellow representatives Lou Lang (D-Skokie) and Christian Mitchell (D-Chicago) to announce plans for a new College Affordability Grant for Illinois students on Tuesday.
The grant will target students and families who can’t afford to pay for college out of pocket and who don’t receive enough federal or state aid to cover the costs of tuition. It will make tuition and fees completely free for most community college students and around half of university students. The remainder will see considerable cost reductions.
“No student should be denied a chance at a higher education because they can’t afford it,” said Rep. Guzzardi. “This new program is a vital first step to reducing the crushing burden of student debt on low- and middle-income families.”
The College Affordability Grant is part of a broader package aimed at revitalizing public higher education in Illinois. The legislation also creates a pilot program to help alumni with existing college debt. It will refinance high-interest private student loans, purchasing the debt and lending it back to students at 0% interest.
Additionally, the program will create a fund for the recruitment and retention of top faculty, and will double the amount of work-study funding currently available.
On the other end of the political spectrum, there are three bills in the Illinois Legislature that would tweak existing laws to help bolster the rights of LGBTQ folks. They are entirely sensible bills backed by the LGBTQ advocacy group Equality Illinois that we hope will make it to the governor’s desk. He should sign them without hesitation.
A look at the bills:
Vital Records Act amendment: Proposed by Rep. Greg Harris of Chicago, it would allow transgender people to change their birth certificates to reflect their gender identity without going through sexual reassignment surgery. It would be enough if a health-care professional signed a declaration affirming the person has gone through “clinically appropriate” treatment, or a doctor identifies an intersex condition. […]
Elimination of the gay panic defense: This bill, sponsored by Sen. Dan Biss of Chicago, would explicitly prohibit defendants charged with first- or second-degree murder from using a “gay panic” or “trans panic” defense. These cases do not come along often but shock the senses when they do. Defendants will blame the victims, alleging that a flirtation by a gay or transgender person or the discovery of a person’s sexual orientation drove them to react violently. […]
Gubernatorial Boards and Commissions Act amendment: This bill, sponsored by Sen. Scott Bennett, a Democrat from Champaign, also has drawn support from Republicans. It would add a box that could be checked if LGBTQ people want to self-identify as such when applying to serve on boards and commissions under the governor. Providing the information would be voluntary.
Rich, turnout for my stair caucus has been a bit light, would you mind posting this on the blog? I will share the link wide and far…
Every Wednesday in May the Stair Caucus will be meeting at 7:30AM!
As we all know May in Springfield can be stressful and we will be spending a lot time here. Let’s climb some stairs together every week to vent some steam and sweat! It doesn’t matter if you are in good shape or just a shape. Beginners are welcome, honestly I get winded after just a few flights myself.
For this Wednesday May 24 at 7:30AM, we will meet at the ground floor stair case at the South end of the Stratton Building. As a bipartisan caucus, every week we will switch sides.
Legislators that sweat together, work together…
Representative Allen Skillicorn
Years ago, a buddy of mine told me he’d lost 25 pounds by simply taking the stairs at the Statehouse and the Stratton. He insisted he made no diet adjustments and did no other exercise.
* I asked Skillicorn if he had some pics…
The best I have is the pic after I lost 28lbs earlier this session. So far I’ve lost about 35lbs since December.
* The “after” pic…
* Skillicorn last December…
* The Question: What’s the most effective thing you’ve done to lose weight?
Illinois had the nation’s highest black unemployment rate in 2016, according to annual unemployment data released by the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics, or BLS. Only 51 percent of black adults reported having some form of work in Illinois, highlighting an economic crisis that far too few political leaders are talking about. The BLS data support the conclusions in recent quarterly reports from the Economic Policy Institute, which have pointed to Illinois as having the nation’s highest black unemployment.
Illinois’ weak job creation has a significant effect on the black community, especially due to manufacturing job losses in the Chicago area and a lack of construction job opportunities. Illinois’ black unemployment rate was 12.7 percent in 2016, compared with 6.7 percent for Latinos and 5 percent for whites.
Illinois’ 12.7 percent black jobless rate is the highest in the U.S., tied with Nevada. However, Illinois’ black population is seven times as large as Nevada’s, meaning Illinois’ crisis is playing out on a much larger scale. Illinois’ neighboring states achieved much lower black jobless rates than Illinois in 2016. (BLS does not calculate a black unemployment rate for Iowa, however, because the state’s black population does not constitute a sample large enough to be included in the BLS survey.)
The weighted average black jobless rate for all other states is 8.1 percent, and the weighted average among Illinois’ border states is 8.9 percent.
Perhaps equally telling is Illinois’ black employment rate – the percentage of black adults who are engaged in some form of work. Illinois’ black employment rate is only 51.2 percent, meaning that just over half of Illinois’ adult black residents have some form of work. Michigan is the only state with a lower black employment rate than Illinois.
The weighted average black employment rate for other states is 56.8 percent, and the weighted average among Illinois’ border states is 59.2 percent.
Black men in Illinois had a 14.2 percent unemployment rate, the second-worst in the nation after Nevada’s 15.5 percent rate. Black women in Illinois had an 11.3 percent unemployment rate, also the second-worst in the nation, better only than Pennsylvania’s 12.6 percent rate.
Black employment in Illinois fell by 18,000 people from 2015 to 2016, and the number of black workers in Illinois’ labor force shrank by 16,000. Despite the shrinking workforce, the black unemployment rate increased to 12.7 percent from 12.2 percent year over year.
The number of black people working in Illinois has been in decline since the turn of the century. There were 77,000 fewer blacks working in Illinois in 2016 compared with 2000, a shocking 10 percent decline in total employment. By comparison, Illinois’ combined white and Latino employment is actually up by 272,000 since 2000, according to the BLS’ annual average data.
Similarly, the recovery in black employment over the Great Recession era lags that of the rest of the state. Black employment is still down 5.1 percent compared with its pre-recession high.
* Related…
* Paper: State of Illinois’ middle class shrinking: A new report from a University of Illinois expert in urban development and local economies found that the share of middle-income households in the state of Illinois has fallen steadily from nearly 60 percent in 1970 to below 50 percent in the current, post-Great Recession period.
CrisisCreatinRauner.com is a new website from the creators of Pritzker’s Democratic team for governor, featuring a “count-up” clock tracking the length of Illinois’ historic budget impasse.
While the website’s opening day on Monday was pretty spartan, Pritzker’s camp said there will be new information posted every day as part of a “multimedia campaign” to “highlight the budget crisis of Bruce Rauner’s own making and the families, schools, and social service agencies that continue to pay the price.”
For example, the Pritzker campaign said it will use the site to promote what it calls a link between President Donald Trump’s proposed federal budget and the state’s failure to enact a comprehensive full-year budget under Rauner. They say Illinois has been a “testing ground” for “Trump-Rauner” budget policies.
“When Donald Trump proposes gutting funding for the programs that provide opportunity for working families, allow low-income students to go to college, and support survivors of domestic violence, Illinoisans know how this plays out. Bruce Rauner did it all first,” Pritzker spokeswoman Jordan Abudayyeh said.
— IL Working Together (@IllinoisWorking) May 23, 2017
.@GovRauner sends out a fundraising pitch, talks up the “importance of giving back” — a link to the donate page for his campaign pic.twitter.com/n5HDxpYIOW
— IL Working Together (@IllinoisWorking) May 22, 2017
Illinois’ bill backlog is growing so fast we had to update our chart.
“In fiscal year ’16 we had a 70% cut in appropriation. And for fiscal year ’17, the year that we are in, we had a 50% cut in appropriation,” said [Elaine Maimon, president of Governor’s State University]. “There is no fat at all,” she said. “And in fact we are beyond muscle and bone. What we are being asked to do is cut off vital organs.”
“It’s pretty dire,” admitted Tom Cross, who heads the Illinois Board of Higher Education and said administrators have reached a watershed.
“They’ve made changes, they’ve made cuts,” said Cross a former Illinois House Minority Leader. “We are at that point now where they have run out of options.”
According to sources with knowledge of these discussions, Rauner’s chief political strategist Mike Zolnierowicz is actively recruiting and meeting with candidates who may show potential to upstage some of the governor’s political rivals in a statewide election. […]
Former Comptroller Leslie Munger is rumored to be angling for a chance to regain her seat in 2018, but party leaders have privately expressed concerns about her electability after losing a rough election last fall. Although he did not respond to requests for comment, Zolnierowicz continues to explore other options for the high stakes Comptroller race.
After losing to Mendoza last November, Munger was awarded a pay raise to a salary of $138,000 as one of two deputy governors in the Rauner administration. When asked about her plans to run [in 2018], she replied, “No comment.”
Republicans openly admit they are gearing up for a broader campaign to overtake a majority in the House, which would effectively demote reigning Speaker Michael Madigan. The party would need to pick up 9 seats to unseat Madigan. It only managed to gain 4 seats during the 2016 election, narrowly escaping the Democratic supermajority. Representative Tim Butler (R-Springfield) acknowledges unseating Madigan is a long shot, but he contends Democrats have several vulnerable candidates in districts where he believes the GOP can compete.
Defeating Madigan’s daughter may prove to be the tougher task. Zolnierowicz, who left his post as Rauner’s chief of staff to become the party’s top strategist last summer, is said to have come down to a short list of candidates to oppose Madigan, yet concerns about name recognition and credentials prolong the decision.
Any suggestions?
* Related…
* Tribune Editorial: Lisa Madigan, Illinois’ incomplete attorney general: But she is compromised. She is incomplete. She cannot maximize the role of attorney general, as others have across the country, because she, her family, her supporters and her brand are interwoven with the fabric of clout that envelops this state. There is no way, or no willingness on her part, to pluck apart the fibers.
Kennedy’s statement that “because they pay less, we pay more” is arguably correct since a decline in property assessments on one property shifts the tax burden onto other property owners.
But Kennedy’s statement “because they pay less, our kids get less” isn’t true because schools have a fixed levy of money they request from property taxes. A decline in a property assessment doesn’t mean a decline in money that a school district will collect.
Asked about the misstatement, the Kennedy campaign offered a statement that did not address the question.
That campaign continually puzzles me.
*** UPDATE *** From the Kennedy campaign…
Sharing with you this comment that didn’t make it in morning spin, so for the record, we did address his question.
Chris Kennedy has been talking about how the property tax system is broken since before he was a candidate. It’s a prime example of Illinois’s regressive tax structure. The wealthy can catch breaks, which places a bigger tax burden on low-income and middle-class citizens. He knows this system doesn’t work for the vast majority of citizens and he’s the candidate who’s going to change it.
According to the Education Trust, Illinois school districts with the highest percentage of poor students received nearly 20 percent less funding than their more affluent peers. Meanwhile, poor and middle-class workers are paying more than their fair share. In fact, a WalletHub study reported that Illinois’s tax system receives more money from low-income and middle-class households than almost any other state in the country. We take more money from low-income and middle-class pockets and spend less on educating students from those same homes.
[ *** End Of Update *** ]
* And since Kennedy is complaining about property tax assessment appeals (including in a fundraising e-mail this morning), taking a look at his own appeals is fair game. But this one appears to be legit. Here’s Greg Hinz…
At issue is what the tax value should be on the 48-story apartment tower built on Wolf Point, the first of three large structures that are planned.
The tower opened for business early in 2016, and its value for tax purposes was initially set at $13.736 million by Cook County Assessor Joe Berrios—enough to pull in almost $3 million a year for local taxing bodies, primarily Chicago Public Schools. Kennedy and associates appealed, using the law firm of former Cook County Assessor Tom Tully, and the final value ended up being set at $5.109 million, a cut of almost 63 percent.
In an interview, Berrios’ top aide, Deputy Assessor for Valuation & Appeals Tom Jaconetty, not only defends the cut but suggests, in so many words, that the Kennedy group would have been fools not to seek it.
When a new building like this comes online, the assessor assumes that it is 100 percent occupied and producing a full revenue stream, Berrios said. In fact, that’s rarely the case, Jaconetty said, but it’s up to the owners to appeal. […]
In the case of the Wolf Point building, it had only 6 percent of its units rented and producing income in January when it opened, according to data collected by Appraisal Research Counselors, a Chicago consulting company. The figure jumped to 62.1 percent by July and kept climbing later in the year.
For tax year 2016, the county ended up settling on an average 33.8 percent occupancy figure. That change, combined with one internal math error, explains the 62 percent cut, Jaconetty said.
* I’ve hesitated to use this poll for two reasons. First, it’s from an advertiser. Second, it’s an online poll. So, I’ll leave it up to you if it’s worthy of discussion…
1. Generally speaking, do you feel that things in Illinois are headed in the right direction?
• Yes 17%
• No 69%
• Unsure 14%
2. Of the following issues, which do you think are the most important to the state of Illinois?
• Budget 69%
• Health Care 21%
• Recreational Marijuana 5%
• Internet Privacy 3%
• Other 3%
May 12-15, 2017. Total sample of 613 likely Illinois voters, aged 18 years old and older. Margin of error is +/- 4% 5-minute online survey hosted on Morar Consulting’s proprietary online research platform.
Tuesday, May 23, 2017 - Posted by Advertising Department
[The following is a paid advertisement.]
A new statewide poll shows that 76% of Illinois voters oppose increased data collection on consumers and business. SB1502 and HB 3449 would require Illinois businesses to create massive troves of personal data for any transaction or interaction online. This would expose Illinois consumers to heightened risk of identity theft, and come at massive cost to small businesses.
The survey of 613 likely voters show that of those who had an opinion:
• 90% do not support a new law that would require websites to link their name with their browsing history, and retain that history for a longer period of time.
• 77% do not support a law that would prevent them from using anonymous accounts for email and apps.
• 77% would not support an increase of data privacy regulations if these new polices were created by a special interest group that would profit directly from lawsuits.
“The ‘Right to Know’ bill sounds good in theory – but once Illinois voters know what’s actually in it, they are clearly against the provisions,” said Todd Maisch, President and CEO, Illinois Chamber of Commerce. “Forcing businesses into collecting more data for longer about their customers and exposing residents’ private browsing is a step backward for our state.”
The Choice is Clear – Vote NO on SB1502 and HB3449.
As the Illinois legislature struggles to craft a budget by its May 31 adjournment deadline, the Schuyler County Mental Health Center is adding itself to the list of behavioral health centers across the state that is in danger of closing within the next 10 days.
“We have been waiting for multiple payments from the State of Illinois for multiple months and have been unable to consistently meet payroll,” said Executive Director Trent Chockley. “And we’re not only waiting for payment for mental health and substance abuse treatment services, but we also have unpaid bills from the Illinois Department on Aging.”
The agency provides services to nearly 60 people, over the age of 60, every month and the state owes Schuyler a total of $64,000 for just the services provided under the Illinois Department on Aging’s Community Care Program.
“The State of Illinois continues to add deserving clients to their list that we need to serve, but has no willingness to pay the bills,” said Chockley. “We are dangerously close to shutting our doors for good without payment by June 1.”
A top behavioral health advocate group warned lawmakers and Governor Bruce Rauner that the collapse of the Schuyler County Center will be their responsibility if they fail to agree to a fiscal year 2018 budget by the end of May.
“Governor Rauner and lawmakers will bear the responsibility of Schuyler shutting down if they fail to agree, once again, to a budget by May 31,” said Illinois Association for Behavioral Health C.E.O. Sara Howe. “Their failure to enact a budget after more than two years mocks their repeated talking points about the purported priority of behavioral health in Illinois.”
* All 67 House Democrats signed this letter last week…
Dear Governor Rauner:
We believe there is no more important issue facing our state than the passage of a full, responsible budget. As you have continually held items unrelated to the budget as preconditions to your cooperation in resolving this impasse, members of the House Democratic leadership team have requested to work with you to find common ground on your agenda. We ask that you begin work with them immediately.
The people of Illinois need a resolution to this budget crisis. On behalf of the people we are together committed to serve, we urge you to accept this good faith offer of cooperation, so we can again resume working to end this destructive impasse.
* As I write this, the two Senate approp committees are debating the spending and cutting aspects of this legislation…
Senate Democrats on Tuesday plan to push ahead with a new budget proposal that includes an income tax hike and an expansion of the state sales tax, saying they are no longer willing to wait for a broader deal with Republicans. […]
“We recognize the future of this state is at stake, and we are increasingly willing to govern notwithstanding the political costs of doing so,” said Sen. Don Harmon, D-Oak Park. “I think we have reached the point where citizens of Illinois are more willing to tolerate a revenue increase than they are continued inaction in the face of a crisis.” […]
Democrats spent the weekend tweaking the spending plan, and unveiled an updated proposal late Monday. It calls for spending $37.3 billion after raising about $5 billion through the tax hikes; a floor vote is expected Tuesday, said Sen. Heather Steans, a Chicago Democrat and key budget negotiator. […]
The blueprint relies on the passage of companion legislation that would raise the personal income tax rate from 3.75 percent to 4.95 percent, which is just below the 5 percent rate in place before Rauner took office. The corporate income tax rate would be hiked from 5.25 percent to 7 percent.
Meanwhile, the state’s share of the 6.25 percent sales tax would be extended to various services not currently covered, such as dry cleaning. The proposal also calls for ending three corporate tax breaks, including requiring companies that drill on the outer continental shelf and do business in Illinois to pay income taxes.
S&P Global Ratings downgraded the district’s rating from A- to BBB+ “due to a fiscal imbalance that has resulted in a substantial drop in available cash reserves,” according to an analysis presented at Monday’s Finance Committee meeting.
“What has occurred is not necessarily the fault of the district,” said Bob Lewis, senior vice president and managing director of PMA Securities, Inc., which is working with the district on the bond sale.
Last year’s deficit was primarily caused by an unexpected drop in the personal property replacement tax, and “this year’s deficit is going to be primarily caused by delayed categorical payments. None of that is your fault, and ratings analysts recognize that, but they still have to evaluate your credit for investors,” Lewis said.
The district also faces “the Illinois premium” because of the state’s continued financial issues.
“It means your borrowing costs are higher because of what the state does. If the state continues to get downgraded, the Illinois premium will continue to widen,” Lewis said. “We anticipate an additional .1 to .15 percent to the borrowing rate because of that.”
Wait. I thought the state had increased funding for K-12.
Oh, yeah. There’s not enough money to keep those promises. Silly me.
* But he doesn’t propose an alternative. From the Kennedy campaign…
This morning, the Kennedy campaign released the following video message from Chris Kennedy, addressing voters about our broken property tax system. He is inviting voters to share their stories about how relying on property taxes to fund education has affected local schools.
Many of us received a property tax bill recently, and if you opened it, and you read it, you’re probably angry.
If you’re not angry you’re at least confused.
The whole system is designed to keep you that way. In fact, the document that you’ve received makes it very difficult to figure out what the county is assessing your home at. They use a number that’s a “discounted number.” They show you a 10 percent number, they don’t show you the full number and so you think you’re getting a deal and don’t complain.
That’s the way they’ve designed the system, to keep people in the dark. The rich and connected, they hire lawyers and lobbyists to go in and have private meetings in the assessor’s office to change the value of those properties even before the number is ever published.
And because they pay less, we pay more. But worse than that, is because they pay less, our kids get less.
I know how this system works and I’m going to fix it.
In Illinois, we fund our local schools with property taxes. The reason we keep funding our schools this way, though everybody in the legislature knows that this is not the right thing to do, the reason we do it, is because it’s a corruptible system. It’s a way for the insiders to effect the valuation of all the properties in our state.
Because of this racket, the schools are constantly underfunded. That’s why a lot of the schools don’t have a library. They don’t have recess on a playground. They don’t have a computer lab.
We need to move away from the property tax system and have our state pay its fair share of everybody’s local schools.
We’re going to need a mandate for such change and that’s where you come in.
I’d like to hear your story, how your school is impacted.
Let’s shine a little daylight on it. Let’s tell our stories and then let’s confront the government and make a change.
Keep in mind, however, that Kennedy got a $10,000 reduction in the assessed valuation of his own home.
* Related…
* Kennedy-led company used Madigan’s firm for property tax refunds: Madigan & Getzendanner won more than $133,000 in property tax refunds for at least one property owned by Merchandise Mart Properties, Inc., or MMPI, according to two checks the Cook County Treasurer’s Office sent out in 2009. Kennedy served as the president of MMPI from 2000 to 2011. Both checks indicate property tax refunds paid to the order of “Merchandise Mart Prop c/o Madigan Getzendanner.” The first refund of $60,884.17 was for tax year 2003. The second refund of $72,460.08 was for tax year 2005. The checks were sent to the office of Madigan & Getzendanner at 30 N. LaSalle St.
With an expected deficit nearing $6 billion at the June 30 end of the fiscal year and the pile of past-due bills ending the week at $14.4 billion, few people believe the state can dig its way out without new revenue. The plans call for a 32 percent increase in the personal income tax rate, from 3.75 percent to 4.95 percent, for seven years. Senate Democrats say that would produce $5 billion more each year when the accompanying corporate tax hike is included.
An expanded sales tax would produce about $150 million. For the first time, the 6.25 percent sales tax would be applied to repair and maintenance; landscaping; laundry and dry cleaning; storage units; cable, satellite and streaming services; pest control; private detectives, alarm and security services; and personal care.
The recession significantly changed the way the state handles its budgeting, said Jak Tichenor, interim director at the Paul Simon Public Policy Institute at Southern Illinois University at Carbondale.
Before then, a majority of spending was related to federal mandates such as Medicaid, making for a fairly predictable budget process. State lawmakers negotiated over discretionary spending such as K-12 and higher education funding, but Tichenor said they would enter those negotiations knowing state revenue was stable.
“But if you go back to 2008 to the great recession, and state revenues just went off a cliff,” he said. “You had appropriation committee chairs at the Capitol looking at balance sheets and saying, ‘Well I’m trying to fund a $32 billion budget, and I only have $24 (billion) to $25 billion in income.’
“And that’s where you started to see the real allocation of pain and scarcity instead of budget making as we traditionally did it.”
And when it comes to economic development, it’s hard to overstate the importance of a strong higher education system as a must-have asset for attracting and retaining business. Yet, Illinois’ budget impasse has slashed our higher education system, from community colleges — often on the front lines of workforce development training — to the state’s premier universities, which ought to be catalysts for research and technological development.
Rauner has voiced good ideas in the past about the potential for universities to coordinate on focused tech R&D efforts — but the state has to step up and provide support for that to happen.
Which brings us back, again, to the budget.
It can’t be stated strongly enough: Business owners need to know what they’ll pay in taxes. They need to know how the state plans to invest in infrastructure and other programs. They need to have confidence that state government is able to fulfill its most basic duties.
Many steps are needed to nurture Illinois’ economic development strategies. But passing a budget needs to be the first one.
As Austin Berg of the Illinois Policy Institute points out, state lawmakers have cheered a day off and made time to discuss their basketball and softball teams. Weeks have passed since any of the public hearings or committee working sessions were held that would signal true progress toward any budget, much less a balanced budget, much much less a balanced budget without a massive tax hike.
“My sense is this is probably a last-minute attempt to create a distraction and derail the senators who seem to be making progress and coming close to an agreement,” Rauner said.
Lawmakers are gone May 31. With them goes the fantasy of a budget and starting to fix anything in Illinois.
We have the nation’s highest tax burden at 15 percent of our income. Even with that, we are $14.5 billion behind in our immediate bills and $130 billion in the hole for state pensions. Social services are crumbling, universities are losing students and faculty and 148,000 millennials moved out of Illinois just as they are entering their prime working and taxpaying years.
Springfield doesn’t care to see the current damage, much less the bleak future in which fewer aging workers pay even more than 15 percent. They just see 2018. They just see their campaign calculations.
If something does get out of the Senate, Rauner finally would have a chance to box out Madigan. But the wily House speaker rarely gets boxed out, and though Emanuel could apply pressure to go along with a Senate deal, there are lots of other scenarios that could play out.
That means it’s decision time, folks. Sometime in the next few days, either the big budget deal will come together or it will finally and completely collapse. At which point the question will be whether to pass another underfunded stopgap budget like last year, inviting Wall Street’s wrath, or just say no and block schools from opening in August and September, as Rauner has said he’ll do without his property tax freeze.
Will anyone in Springfield meet the challenge and avoid catastrophe or calamity or whatever else you’d call this collective failure to govern? One can hope. But it’s very, very late.
In a story in today’s paper, Kent Redfield, a professor emeritus of political science at the University of Illinois at Springfield, said, “If we have no movement until after the 2018 elections, I think it would be a certainty some universities would not open that fall. I think Eastern, Western, Northeastern, and Chicago State are all the top of the list. The Carbondale situation is pretty tenuous as well.”
Is that alarming enough for the folks in Springfield? We hope so.
That’s no way to get the state on better grounds. In order for Illinois to get back to what it once was, the people who live here have to stay here.
And it would all start with funding SIUC and the rest of our public universities. And, don’t forget freezing the state’s sky-high property taxes, but that’s a story for another day.
Earlier this month, State Sen. Paul Schimpf said he’s been given “assurances” that lawmakers will vote by the end of May to get funding to universities on way or another. “Obviously, we would prefer a full budget, but if we have to do this incrementally then certainly a lifeline would be appreciated,” he said then.
Today, on day 691 without an Illinois budget, the JB Pritzker for Governor campaign launched “Crisis Creatin’ Rauner.” This multimedia campaign will highlight the budget crisis of Bruce Rauner’s own making and the families, schools, and social service agencies that continue to pay the price.
The campaign kicks off with the launch of CrisisCreatinRauner.com, a website with a count up clock that tracks the 691 days and counting without a state budget. The website also highlights the new twitter feed, @RaunersCrisis, which will track and report on Bruce Rauner’s daily devastation on Illinois.
In 2015, Bruce Rauner made it clear that creating a crisis in our state was his goal. As some may recall:
“Crisis creates opportunity. Crisis creates leverage to change … and we’ve got to use that leverage of the crisis to force structural change.”
- Bruce Rauner, 4/6/15
In his own words, Bruce Rauner describes what has been clear all along: Illinois’ budget crisis—a record 691 days long—is no accident. Rauner wanted a crisis and so a crisis he made. In the past few weeks alone, Rauner put his staggering recklessness on full display as he:
Hiked Illinois’ unpaid bills $1 billion overnight, bringing total state debt to a record $14.3 billion.
Accepted $20 million from Trump supporter Ken Griffin, who is bent on destroying public schools as our education system continues to suffer.
Lost the support of business leaders and bondholders who are fed up with Rauner’s economic devastation.
Remained silent as Donald Trump tried to strip healthcare from over a million Illinoisans.
Spread fake news to a politically linked outlet to prevent compromise on school funding reform.
“It’s been 691 days without a state budget and one thing is clear: this is a crisis of Bruce Rauner’s own creatin’ and Illinois families continue to pay the price,” said Pritzker campaign communications director Galia Slayen. “Rauner didn’t mince words when he presented his plan to create a crisis and force his agenda on Illinois – so neither will we. Bruce Rauner is a failed governor who is wreaking havoc on Illinois, decimating the economy, holding schools hostage, and leaving the most vulnerable communities behind. Stay tuned in the coming days and weeks as ‘Crisis Creatin’ Rauner’ holds BruceRauner accountable.”
Not a whole lot there yet. I mean, it’s basically just the above press release, which you kinda have to hunt for.
* Meanwhile, from Sam Hobert on the Pawar campaign…
Hey Rich -
Busy weekend for Pawar on the trail. Wanted to send a quick recap your way.
Covered 900+ miles in 36 hours on the road this weekend. Chicago to Springfield to Cairo to Carbondale to E. St. Louis and back to Chicago (Anybody have a plane we can borrow?). As you know, these visits are part of Pawar’s One Illinois tour, announced last week, to speak to the common inequalities communities face around the state, address the intersection of race/class/ and automation, and work to unite people around a new deal that invests in people and public institutions once again. Quick highlights below. Video recaps online here.
Cairo - Ald. Pawar met with Mayor Coleman to discuss the need for port authority funding, the shrinking revenue base that’s threatening to halt city services this fall, and the crises at the public housing authority.
Carbondale - Visits to Southern Illinois University to talk about how the budget crises is destroying the university, the region’s dominant economic engine, Shawnee National Forest - to highlight one of Illinois’s many state treasures, and a well-attended meet & greet. Highly recommend the bison burger at Carbondale’s Fat Patties when you’re down there next.
East St. Louis - Ald. Pawar’s second trip to East St. Louis (First in April). Local teachers hosted an outdoor meet & greet in a downtown park that was well attended. Pawar spoke about the need for state government to reinvest in communities like E. St. Louis to reverse decades of disinvestment and the budget crises, close loopholes that allow chemical corporations to skirt E. St. Louis taxes, combat institutional racism and reform Illinois’s criminal justice system.
In the coming months, Pawar will be taking the One Illinois tour to Sauk Village, Harvard, Kankakee, Charleston, Jacksonville, Macomb, and Galesburg to continue to address the economic inequities that exist as a result of decades of disinvestment.
* Fritz Kaegi writes in Crain’s about how Illinois could learn from California, particularly since Gov. Rauner often invokes Silicon Valley as a model for jump-starting this state…
• Healthy universities are crucial. Stanford University Dean Fred Terman is acknowledged as the father of Silicon Valley. He brought in research funds, gathered leading academic talent, and encouraged professors to engage in business. In Illinois, the last two years of unreliable state university funding have driven out professors and applicants. High school counselors advise Illinoisans look elsewhere, driving record application levels in neighboring states. Smaller state universities face a negative spiral of lower applications, higher tuition, and credit downgrades.
• Noncompete clauses in employment contracts hurt talent acquisition and retention. In California, firms cannot limit employees’ freedom to work at competitors, giving it a leg up on the states that enforce noncompetition agreements. In Illinois, workers can be forced to the sidelines for years before they can compete with their former employers, reducing mobility and entrepreneurship. Facebook’s Mark Zuckerburg would have never been able to immediately hire Sheryl Sandberg and her team from Google in 2008 if they were based in Illinois. Illinois should extend the path-breaking Illinois Freedom to Work Act sponsored by Senators Patricia Van Pelt and Jacqueline Collins, which banned noncompetes for low-wage workers, to all Illinoisans.
• Business needs to embrace the new. In California, defying large corporations is part of the entrepreneurial ethic. We need more of that here. Too many are wary of stepping on the toes of grandees, whose deference has not been earned. All but two of the top 50 publicly traded Illinois companies, as measured by market capitalization, were founded more than 25 years ago (well done, salvage part vendor LKQ and trailer park operator Equity LifeStyle!). Only 13 of the 100 members of the Civic Committee of the Commercial Club are founders of their respective companies, and 11 of these are financial companies. Meanwhile, Google, Facebook, Netflix, Salesforce and Tesla—all less than 20 years old—are now worth more than all Illinois public companies combined. Instead of getting policy ideas from executives who climbed the corporate ladder at companies created by others long ago, maybe we should listen to different people?
California has plenty of problems and we have many homegrown strengths. But we can learn from the example of its governor, Brown, who never badmouthed his own state even when fiscal times were tough and led his state to fiscal stability and entrepreneurial growth.
* Not only does Gov. Rauner often badmouth his own state, he at times seems to be cheerleading the exit from Illinois…
IL property taxes are the highest in the nation and hurt our hard working families. We need to provide them real property tax relief. pic.twitter.com/CtddBabWxt
Not mentioned, of course, is that Indiana also has local income taxes.
…Adding… From comments…
Not mentioned, of course, is that Bruce Rauner supports taxing those home repairs.
Not mentioned, of course, is that Bruce Rauner’s cuts to higher education mean it will cost you more to attend college in Illinois.
Not mentioned, of course, is that you might use the $2,500 to pay off debt, but the state’s debt is more than $130 billion and climbing faster under Bruce Rauner.
Businessman Chris Kennedy became the first big name Democrat to announce his candidacy for governor in February — but he has yet to report some traditional campaign expenditures, including payments for well-known consultants, rented office space, campaign T-shirts and stickers and travel expenses.
Kennedy, the son of the late Robert F. Kennedy, announced his candidacy via a video sent to supporters and he reiterated in an email this week that he’s running his campaign for voters, not for “political insiders.” That was in response to reports that the Democratic establishment is instead rounding up early support for J.B. Pritzker instead.
But while Kennedy announced his run on Feb. 8, he didn’t make expenditures until March 28 — nearly seven weeks later, according to his quarterly report filed with the state Board of Elections on April 17. The filing reports expenditures, contributions and debts and obligations through March 31.
Political insiders have criticized Kennedy for his long history of flirting with running for various offices without ever actually taking the plunge. But his campaign staff dismissed any speculation that his light spending reports signal a lack of commitment to the campaign, insisting, “Chris is in this race to stay.”
Kennedy campaign officials say a complete list of expenditures will be detailed on the next quarterly report, which isn’t due until July 15.
“The campaign paid the bills when they were due and any further questions you have will be answered on the next quarterly report,” Kennedy spokesman Mark Bergman said.
A rival Democratic campaign was pushing this narrative a few weeks ago. Kennedy’s not reporting expenditures, so that must mean he’s either shady or he’s not serious about running.
But, as I said above, the story is missing two words: “Mike” and “Kasper.”
Kasper is the attorney for Kennedy’s campaign fund. He is kinda infamous for taking full advantage of a state law (that he probably wrote) which doesn’t require reporting campaign contributions until after they’re deposited and expenditures until after they are invoiced/paid, and then timing those deposits and expenditures to the benefit of the campaign committee. Remember the minor uproar last year when the group opposing the remap reform constitutional amendment didn’t report contributions even though some labor unions reported making them? That was Kasper’s doing.
Gambling expansion was approved in the Senate last week. It was sponsored by Democratic Sen. Terry Link of Waukegan, although a couple of Republicans support it.
A provision in the bill cuts taxes on casinos. Sen. Dale Righter, R-Mattoon, said the reduction will cost the state $280 million. Not so, replied Link, who said the cut will give casinos an incentive to expand their operations, which will actually generate more casino taxes.
So ponder for a moment: A Republican is expressing opposition to a tax cut, and a Democrat is touting a tax cut as a way to actually generate more taxes.
“I love the supply-side rhetoric,” Righter said.
Sigh.
* Meanwhile, a late push for a Springfield casino is being made. From the proponent…
A 1,200 position casino near the Old State Capitol will generate major economic benefits
· Drawing tourists visiting the Lincoln Museum and historic sites to spend at local businesses
· Estimated $150 million to $175 million in adjusted gross revenue, with a significant local share
· Those local dollars can invest in:
* New buildings and existing building renovations for city school District 186
* Much-needed renovations at the Illinois State Fairgrounds
* Supporting the Prairie Capital Convention Center, affordable housing and more attractive entryways to the city
* Downtown infrastructure needs
The guy who came up with the idea, Chris Stone, appeared on Rick Pearson’s WGN Radio program yesterday. Click here to listen.
Stone came up with the idea too late to get it into the gaming expansion bill that passed the Senate (again) last week.
At a time when Illinois is sitting on $14.3 billion in unpaid bills, it’s dismaying to learn that the state rented a warehouse for $2.4 million that it could have bought outright for $750,000.
Yes, $2.4 million is a drop in the bucket when it comes to state spending, but such wastefulness begs the question of how well — or, rather, how poorly — the rest of our tax money is being spent. And it’s a miserable sales pitch for an income tax hike that both Democrats and Republics know is coming sooner or later.
Two suburban Chicago legislators — state Sen. Tom Cullerton, D-Villa Park, and state Rep. David McSweeney, R-Barrington Hills — have called for an Illinois Legislative Audit Commission investigation into the warehouse’s five-year lease.
This being Illinois, home to sweetheart deals, the leasing arrangement involves a secretive newly formed corporation with links to a onetime political powerhouse, William Cellini. According to WCIA-TV in Downstate Champaign, three business people in the single-bid lease had ties to Cellini, who was the onetime “king of clout” and friend of many governors before he was convicted in 2011 of trying to shake down a movie producer for Rod Blagojevich campaign cash. Those with ties to Cellini include the leasing agent, one of the three warehouse owners and the chairman of the Procurement Policy Board, which signed off on the deal. […]
Mike Hoffman, director of the Illinois Department of Central Management Services told the Springfield Journal-Register the lease was in accordance with the state’s standard approval process.
Which just means the state’s standard approval process is a joke.
Democratic state Controller Susana Mendoza has stopped payments for the building’s lease, at best a temporary move if this deal passes legal muster. Further, some Democrats seeking to score political points are trying to wrap the deal around Gov. Bruce Rauner’s neck. It’s hard to imagine he played any role in making the deal.
But Rauner’s office can play a key role in reviewing the matter and mandating a change of approach. If this is the way state bureaucrats think business should be done, they need to be set straight.
McSweeney’s point about digitization also deserves scrutiny. How much paper is the state storing and at what cost? Is there an opportunity here to reduce the cost of doing business?
The big issue, of course, is how the deal went down. Is this the case of a group of sharp businessmen legally taking advantage of disinterested bureaucrats foolishly doing business the way it’s always been done. Or were other influences in play?
* Chicago Tribune editorial board and Illinois Policy Institute…
* As Mark Brown notes, there is little doubt that the cost of the CCP program is becoming unwieldy…
Driving the debate is that enrollment of seniors in the state’s Community Care Program jumped from 40,965 enrollees in 2005 to 83,787 in 2015.
When coupled with projections the population of Illinois residents age 60 or older will more than double by 2030, there’s even some agreement the cost of the current program is unsustainable.
If Rauner had a better track record on social service issues, instead of using the poor and sick as pawns in his political battles, it might be easier to give him some leeway to try it his way.
As it is, there’s not much reason to trust him.
Organizations that provide homemaker services are some of the same groups struggling to stay in business during the budget impasse because the state owes them millions of dollars.
And not coincidentally, most of the home care workers who would be directly affected by the cutbacks are members of SEIU Healthcare, one of the unions Rauner especially despises for its Democratic political activism.
According to [Jerry Kruse, dean of SIU’s School of Medicine], the percentage of his school’s grads who choose to complete residencies in Illinois has plummeted to 21 percent this year—the lowest in school history. The share has decreased 9 percentage points each year since 2014. For decades before that, the percentage of SIU’s roughly 70 annual med school graduates who stayed always hovered between 40 and 45 percent.
Meanwhile, across the four campuses of U of I’s College of Medicine, which include its flagship on Chicago’s West Side, just 28 percent of this year’s graduates are staying in Illinois for their residencies. That’s down from nearly 37 percent last year.
Dimitri Azar, the school’s dean, isn’t ready to say that it’s more than a blip. U of I’s trend line hasn’t gone straight down, as SIU’s has. The percentage of U of I grads who remained in Illinois for their training was 33 in 2015, 41 in 2014 and nearly 34 in 2013. Furthermore, Azar says, students choose their destinations primarily based on the quality of the program, not the quality of the state’s finances.
Kruse, however, ties the exodus directly to the budget fight between Gov. Bruce Rauner and Democrats who control the General Assembly. “Nothing has changed much over this period except the budget impasse and the atmosphere it’s created,” Kruse says. “Young doctors read about it in the papers every day and suddenly there’s a fair amount of uncertainty about the future.” Illinois has not had a permanent budget since January 2015.
Regardless, private medical schools in the area—which don’t rely on state funding—aren’t seeing the same declines. At Loyola University’s Stritch School of Medicine, the share of 2017 grads staying in Illinois is 39 percent; it was 40 percent last year and 39 percent in 2015. And at Northwestern’s Feinberg School of Medicine, the percentage of new grads who will complete residencies in Illinois reached a five-year high of 44 percent this year.
Democratic governor candidate J.B. Pritzker is making a $1 million deposit in a black-owned bank in Chicago, taking a page from Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner’s playbook.
The issue led to back-and-forth attacks from the two campaigns centered on failures of financial institutions Rauner and the Pritzker family have been involved with in their careers.
Pritzker’s planned deposit, like Rauner’s three years ago in a South Side credit union, carries the goal of generating support from black voters.
Pritzker’s campaign tried to draw a distinction between the two men’s actions: the Democrat’s money pledge was only announced on a Chicago radio show, while Rauner’s visit to the credit union was a major campaign event.
The two sides then exchanged barbs much like they’ve been doing on this blog for weeks.
* The Pritzker campaign’s initial release…
Bruce Rauner told Illinois communities that he would fight for them, but then he got elected and left Illinoisans behind. Rauner has stood with his special interest friends to decimate our state’s economy as our most vulnerable communities pay the price. Unlike Bruce Rauner, Illinois communities can count on JB to stand with them as governor because that’s what he’s done his entire career. JB will ensure Illinoisans have a seat at the table as he works to grow jobs, support small businesses, expand access to capital, and bring investment directly into black and brown communities.
* The Rauner campaign’s response…
It’s a drop in the bucket compared to the millions Pritzker made peddling subprime mortgages loans to minority communities, while costing the taxpayers $300 million and ordinary depositors their savings.
In December 2001, the Pritzker family and its business partner agreed to pay $460 million to the U.S. over the bank’s failure and a decade later got a discount on remaining payments of the 15-year settlement by agreeing with regulators to pay off the balance early, Bloomberg News reported in May 2013.
* The Pritzker campaign shot back…
Bruce Rauner is desperate to distract from the fact that throughout his business career and his time as governor, working families have paid the price for his failures. At HomeBanc, Bruce Rauner profited off of predatory loans, preying on the dreams of working families. He then drove the company into the ground, firing approximately 1,100 people, but making sure his CEO got a nearly $5 million golden parachute. Rauner’s distraction tactics won’t change the fact that he has yet to pass a constitutionally required budget for our state.
The new ad focuses on HomeBanc Mortgage Corp., which filed for bankruptcy in 2007. A narrator contends the bankruptcy came after Rauner “took millions out of” the firm, noted HomeBanc’s CEO got a $5 million “bonus” and 1,100 employees who lost their jobs “got a $20 gift card.”
The equity firm Rauner formerly chaired, GTCR, partnered in 2000 to create HomeBanc Mortgage. While GTCR once held a majority stake in the firm, it reduced its holdings after a public stock offering, selling the last of its shares in September 2006, Security and Exchange Commission records show.
GTCR’s actions came just months before the sudden financial unraveling of the mortgage company in 2007 led first to the January firing of CEO Patrick Flood, followed by an August bankruptcy filing. But GTCR had no board members on the mortgage firm involved in its management since 2005, prior to Flood’s firing and severance, and the bankruptcy filing. Records show Rauner was not a board member of HomeBanc in the lead up to its public offering in 2004.
Democrats have been privately grumbling for a while now that Gov. Bruce Rauner isn’t truly interested in good faith negotiations on a balanced budget with economic reforms to end the two and a half year Statehouse stalemate.
But Senate President John Cullerton spent days and days negotiating the details of a four-year property tax freeze with Rauner, only to have his spokesman tell me last week that he hadn’t acceded to Rauner’s demand for a four-year freeze.
Look, in this business, you only negotiate on a bill you flatly oppose if you’re trying to run out the clock. Otherwise, you just kill it. And because of this, people in the governor’s office are saying they don’t think that Cullerton really wants a deal.
Rauner moved off his demand for a five-year freeze to a four-year freeze. The two men then discussed side issues, like the timeline and the process for locally opting out of the freeze or for making it permanent.
The governor wanted a statewide vote, Cullerton wanted local votes. Cullerton appeared to prevail. But Rauner would only agree to limited exemptions from the freeze, bond payments being one of them. Cullerton wanted more exemptions, pension payments being one of those.
Then last week, Cullerton attempted to move legislation with identical language to Senate Republican Leader Christine Radogno’s original property tax freeze bill she introduced way back in January. It failed because it required a three-fifths vote to freeze taxes on local home rule governments.
Cullerton said afterward that he may strip out the home rule provision and run it again — which would, of course, mean that the city of Chicago would be exempt.
Without a property tax freeze amenable to the governor, I just don’t know how this impasse gets resolved.
Illinois has some of the highest property taxes in the country. So, if the negotiations fall apart, the Senate Democrats’ refusal to pass a “real” freeze will be a political gift for Gov. Rauner.
The issue also comes neatly wrapped in the governor’s favorite bow: House Speaker Michael Madigan.
The House speaker is, of course, a property tax appeals lawyer. Rauner said the other day for the umpteenth time that Madigan’s legal work was a clear case of conflict of interest and is evidence of how corrupt the state is. Senate President Cullerton has also done some property tax appeals work, so Rauner can easily lump Cullerton in with Madigan on the conflict of interest/corruption stuff.
And Rauner urged the Senate Democrats last week to resist Madigan, who he claimed had sent his special interests to the chamber in an attempt to kill the grand bargain.
And then there was last week’s biggest political new. Billionaire Democratic gubernatorial candidate JB Pritzker was thrashed in the media for obtaining huge property tax assessment rebates and reductions for an empty and “uninhabitable” mansion next door to his own Chicago palace.
The mansion apparently became even more legally uninhabitable after Pritzker had the house’s toilets uninstalled. That was clearly the work of a too clever by half property tax attorney, who Pritzker may want to think about throwing under the nearest bus if this publicity gets any worse.
And, despite firm denials, it’s pretty clear that Madigan is backing Pritzker, which makes this all the better for Rauner.
Even a child could frame this issue for Rauner. You take a universally and intensely unpopular property tax system, combine it with the state’s most wildly unpopular politician (Madigan) and use all that to blame the Senate Democrats for killing the grand bargain and, in the process, throw lots more mud on their “frontrunner” candidate.
It’s the worst possible hill the Democrats could choose to die on. Yes, the Senate president has legitimate policy concerns about the property tax freeze. But this is a political no-brainer.
The best idea I heard last week was to take this issue away from Rauner and Cullerton and allow senators on both sides of the aisle to negotiate it. Doing that very thing seemed to help move the revenue/budget talks and workers’ compensation reform forward, even though they’re not wrapped up as I write this.
If, as the Republicans privately contend, Cullerton’s goal is to deprive Rauner of a clear “win” on a property tax freeze, then nothing will work. The one thing we do know is that taking the issue away from Rauner and Cullerton couldn’t possibly make things worse.
A bill that would make President Barack Obama’s birthday a commemorative holiday passed the House 87-0 on Friday, moving it to the governor’s desk.
The legislation, Senate Bill 55, would make Obama’s birthday, Aug. 4, a commemorative holiday. That’s different from a legal holiday, in which state government offices shut down and schools and businesses have the option of closing.
The bill’s House sponsor, Rep. Marcus C. Evans, Jr., D-Chicago, said the bill wouldn’t cost the state any money and would be a responsible way to celebrate the 44th president’s birthday.
“We want to get one that doesn’t attack our fiscal health considering we still need to work out a budget. This is just another good reason to celebrate, and it’s educational for our children to know what we had,” Evans said. “We may never get another Illinois president in my lifetime. Illinois has Barack Obama and he was passionate about what he believed in.”
* Press release…
Survivors of sexual abuse will no longer have to worry about deadlines to bring their attacker to justice under new legislation that waits for the governor’s signature.
Senate Bill 189, an initiative of Attorney General Lisa Madigan, would eliminate the statute of limitations for certain sex crimes committed against minors. According to many victim advocates, many victims do not come to terms with their assault until after the statute of limitations runs out.
State Senator Scott Bennett (D-Champaign), the legislation’s sponsor, drew on his past experience has an assistant state’s attorney in Champaign County when advocating for the new law.
“Survivors of these heinous crimes should be able to come forward when they are ready to seek justice without arbitrary deadlines preventing them,” Bennett said. “I urge the governor to sign this beacon of hope for survivors as soon as it arrives at his desk.”
Scott Cross, brother of former House Minority Leader Tom Cross, worked with Senator Bennett and Attorney General Madigan to pass the legislation. Cross was one of the many victims of disgraced U.S. House Speaker Dennis Hastert.
The legislation passed both chambers without opposition.
In December, this page called on [Auditor General Frank Mautino] to step down from his post until the federal probe is complete. Let the professional accountants in the auditor general’s office run it until his case is resolved.
That was five months ago. Because it appears Mautino has no intention of doing so, today we call on lawmakers to quit looking the other way. They have to file spending reports. They know how how the system is supposed to apply equally to everyone. They should pressure their leadership to put Mautino’s continuation as auditor general up for a vote. A proposal filed by Rep. Grant Wehrli, R-Naperville, to remove Mautino sits in House Speaker Michael Madigan’s Rules Committee.
Madigan can keep protecting his pal Mautino by not calling the resolution for a vote. Or he can quit playing God and allow the House to vote Mautino up or down. Make a case for him or send him packing.
Billionaire Democratic gubernatorial hopeful J.B. Pritzker is making a $1 million deposit in Chicago’s last remaining black-owned bank.
Illinois Service Federal Savings is the beneficiary. Pritzker alluded to the investment earlier this week in an interview on WVON radio without naming the bank, but his campaign confirmed the recipient. […]
“JB has made expanding access to capital for small business and entrepreneurs, and making investments in the communities hardest hit by Bruce Rauner’s failed leadership and manufactured budget crisis a top priority for him as governor,” a spokesman said in an email. […]
Pritzker’s move echoes a similar action by Rauner in 2014 as he challenged then-Gov. Pat Quinn. Rauner deposited $1 million in a South Side credit union as a way of demonstrating the Republican private-equity magnate cared about black communities and winning at least some black votes.
In both cases—Rauner’s and Pritzker’s—the institutions are small, and the sums of money very large.
The Illinois Senate has advanced a measure spearheaded by Senate Republican Leader Christine Radogno that would allow for permanent term limits of all four state legislative leaders.
“This constitutional amendment is a significant step forward in demonstrating to Illinois residents how serious we are about restoring their faith in government,” said Radogno (R-Lemont).
When the 100th General Assembly was sworn in this past January, the Senate adopted its new rules, which for the first time put in place term limits for Senate legislative leaders. As a result, Senate rules limit both the Senate President and Minority Leader to a maximum of five terms (10 years).
The measure advanced Friday, Senate Joint Resolution Constitutional Amendment 2 (SJRCA 2), would permanently create leadership term limits via constitutional amendment by limiting the terms to five General Assemblies (10 years) for the Illinois Speaker of the House, President of the Senate, House Minority Leader and Senate Minority Leader.
If approved by both the Illinois Senate and House with a three-fifths vote, SJRCA 2 would be on the Illinois ballot in November 2018.
The Illinois Supreme Court ruled Thursday the Illinois High School Association, which organizes sports tournaments between high schools, does not have to release internal records.
The Freedom of Information Act, or FOIA, is supposed to make sure anyone can get documents, memos — even emails — from a government body upon request.
But the state Supreme Court unanimously ruled the IHSA is NOT a government body. It wrote the IHSA’s sports events are not something public schools would otherwise be expected to do. […]
The Court wrote that FOIA requests can apply to functions of government — in other words, if governments outsources one of its responsibilities to a private entity, that is subject to FOIA.
“We were happy to see the Supreme Court adopted a much more liberal test for what constitutes a governmental function,” [Matt Topik, who represents the Better Government Association which brought the suit] said.
* Mayor Emanuel laid out his plan today to keep the school doors open. Tribune…
The CPS board will vote on Wednesday to take out a $389 million short-term loan backed by expected state aid payments that have been delayed by the long-running budget impasse, said Carole Brown, the city’s chief financial officer. […]
State block grant payments now are nine months behind schedule. City officials say the state now owes it $467 million, but Brown said the district is only allowed to borrow on 85 percent of that amount.
The new short-term borrowing, which will come at a hefty cost because of the school system’s junk bond rating, will allow the district to make a required June 30 contribution to the Chicago Teachers’ Pension Fund, Brown said.
The fund is owed $721 million. The borrowed money would cover the bulk of that payment, while money coming in later this summer from a first-time pension property tax levy of $250 million will cover the rest. […]
Even if Emanuel’s short-term plan is implemented and carries CPS through the summer, the district would still face a massive shortfall in 2018 absent some new source of revenue or infusion of cash from the state. The mayor is expected to unveil another plan to deal with next year’s finances, one that likely would include a tax hike, according to sources familiar with the mayor’s plans.
The grant money upon which the borrowing will be secured is part of $1.1 billion in state payments Illinois owes to more than 400 school systems. The state has been unable to distribute those grant payments because of the unrelenting budget stalemate.
The mayor’s office said CPS expects to receive its allotment of state grant funds in “coming months.” But Abdon Pallasch, a spokesman for Illinois Comptroller Susana Mendoza, said on Friday his office has no idea when the money will be disbursed.
The comptroller’s office just made last September’s quarterly grant payment in April. So, it’s going to be a while before CPS gets any more of that money.
Attached to the press release was this map, which CPS claims shows “school districts across Illinois that are facing funding challenges because of the state’s delayed payments”…
This spring marks five years since backers of the Route 53 extension allowed themselves to feel a sense of optimism following the release of a Blue Ribbon Advisory Council report which endorsed construction of a four-lane “modern parkway” with a 45-mph maximum speed and a “context sensitive” design. […]
But even without taking sides, it’s fair to say that momentum on the Route 53 project — to use a generic name for what would actually be a Route 53 extension from Long Grove to Grayslake and a Route 120 bypass around Grayslake — is not moving in the direction of seeing the roadway turning its first spade of dirt […]
It’s also fair to observe that, if there is a current void of information regarding any progress toward Route 53 becoming reality, opponents of Route 53 have been filling it with their messaging. Periodic protests and public statements against the whole idea were echoed Tuesday with the release of a report from the consumer-watchdog United States Public Interest Research Group (PIRG), which included Route 53/120 on its third somewhat-annual list of “Highway Boondoggles” around the country.
“Year after year, state and local governments propose billions of dollars’ worth of new and expanded highways that often do little to reduce congestion or address real transportation challenges, while diverting scarce funding from infrastructure repairs and 21st century transportation priorities,” the report states, swinging for the fences.
“These projects, some originally proposed decades ago, double down on the failed transportation strategies of the past while causing harm to local communities and absorbing scarce transportation dollars.”
* Press release…
The Illinois Road and Transportation Builders Association (IRTBA) today launched a major cable, radio, and digital ad campaign supporting the Illinois Route 53 expansion project.
The campaign features IRTBA’s first television advertisement of the year. “Works” highlights the significant benefits the Route 53 expansion project will bring to Lake County.
In addition to reducing congestion and traffic, saving the average commuter 20 hours per month, the Route 53 project will boost the Lake County economy by creating up to 30,000 new full-time jobs without harming the environment.
“The Route 53 project will enhance the quality of life for residents of Lake County by creating new full-time jobs and reducing traffic so residents have more time to spend with their families,” IRTBA President & CEO Michael Sturino said.
* Background for this letter is here. From the Senate Democrats…
May 19, 2017
Maggie Hickey
Executive Inspector General of Illinois
Office of Executive Inspector General, Division of Investigations
Inspector General Hickey:
It has been brought to our attention that records and information from Governor Bruce Rauner’s administration and the Illinois State Board of Education were provided to a political group funded by the governor’s campaign. This is disturbing. The citizens of Illinois deserve honesty and integrity at every level of government.
Please consider this a formal request that your office research and investigate this situation.
If you or your office need additional information or have questions, please contact us.
Sincerely,
State Senator Andy Manar (D-48)
State Senator Toi Hutchinson (D-40)
State Senator Donne Trotter (D-17)
Assistant Majority Leader
State Iris Y. Martinez (D-20)
Assistant Majority Leader
State Senator Michael E. Hastings (D-19)
State Senator Jennifer Bertino-Tarrant (D-49)
* The JB Pritzker campaign stepped in as well…
“It’s despicable that Bruce Rauner and Republicans would resort to leaking fake news in order to slow down progress for our state, and specifically for education,” said Pritzker campaign spokeswoman Galia Slayen. “Students in Illinois shouldn’t be held hostage while Rauner tries to slash important programs and prevent their teachers from making a decent living. Illinois families deserve a governor that works to solve problems, not create them.”
* OK, now, if you click here, you’ll see a pdf of the original story on Dan Proft’s Kankakee Times website.
The state funding cuts wouldn’t take effect immediately. Manar’s bill also includes a temporary “hold harmless” clause that would effectively delay them for two years.
As a Republican pointed out to me a few minutes ago, the ISBE analysis referred to is of SB 231, which was introduced last year. That analysis is available online. Click here and then scroll down to the SB 231 link to see it.
* I just talked to Proft and here are some quotes…
Everything Manar said at that press conference is false. We got no information from the governor’s office. None. Zero.
We got the numbers from Reboot Illinois. We did the story based on the last, best numbers we had.
The real story is that the Senate voted on that bill without any numbers… without knowing the implications of state funding schools… By their own admission, they don’t have the numbers.
*** UPDATE 1 *** At my request, Proft sent me the e-mail chain with Reboot. I redacted all e-mail addresses and phone numbers. Click here.
*** UPDATE 2 *** Press release…
The Rauner Administration released the following statement regarding the Senate Democrats’ false accusations. The following is attributable to spokesperson Eleni Demertzis:
“The Senate Democrats today jumped the shark. One cannot leak something that is on a public web site. Their false and outrageous accusations have been disproven, and they should apologize for manufacturing blatantly false accusations.”
*** UPDATE 3 *** Press release…
State Senator Andy Manar is urging Illinois school superintendents to be aware that misleading figures are being peddled about Senate Bill 1, the school funding plan that passed in the Illinois Senate this week.
Gov. Bruce Rauner’s office this afternoon acknowledged the figures are inaccurate and outdated but stopped short of denouncing them.
“This appears to be a textbook example of fake news. I am disturbed as to how and why this information was put out there and framed as official information from the Rauner administration, clearly with the intent of confusing and misleading people about Senate Bill 1,” said Manar, a Bunker Hill Democrat.
“Senate Democrats have asked the executive inspector general to look into that, but right now I want to make sure school superintendents are aware that outdated information is fraudulently being passed off as up-to-date news about Senate Bill 1.
“Furthermore, I hope Gov. Rauner and Education Secretary Beth Purvis will follow our lead and alert school officials about this misleading information to set the record straight. Anything less makes them complicit in a concerted effort to jeopardize Illinois’ shot at achieving meaningful school funding reform.”
There’s only two weeks left of the Illinois legislative session and there’s still no budget.
A center helping disabled resident says if a budget isn’t passed soon it will have to close its doors. […]
“We can`t foot the bill for the state of Illinois,” said [Northwestern Illinois Center for Independent Living] Executive Director Michele Miller.
The center helps people with disabilities live on their own, like Kay Bryant. […]
With no state budget for the last two years, NICIL has had to come up with ways to save money, from laying off staff to even temporarily closing.
“We`re burnt out all of us are covering three and four jobs just to be able to satisfy the customers,” said Miller.
If a budget isn’t passed soon, the center which serves five counties will need to lay off its remaining staff by July 1st. That would leave it’s 300 clients on their own.
Friday, May 19, 2017 - Posted by Advertising Department
[The following is a paid advertisement.]
HB2774/SB1502 & HB3449 all claim to protect online privacy, but instead they will create expensive and unnecessary new regulations, increase costs to businesses of all sizes and open up consumers to higher risk of identity theft and fraud.
This is why businesses and organizations across our state and the country are strongly opposed to this legislation, including:
• BLUE1647
• Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce
• CompTIA
• Illinois Black Chamber of Commerce
• Illinois Chamber of Commerce
• Illinois Hispanic Chamber of Commerce
• Illinois Restaurant Association
• Internet Association
• Illinois Technology Association
• National Federation of Independent Businesses
• NetChoice
• Southwestern Illinois Employers Association
• TechNet
These bills are wrong for Illinois consumers and businesses – VOTE NO ON HB 2774/SB 1502 & HB 3449
* Posted in order they were received. From the JB Pritzker campaign…
As the fiscal mess of Bruce Rauner’s own making continues to wreck the state’s economy, the Illinois business community and bondholders are turning their backs on him.
Yesterday, a group of the region’s largest employers came out in support of a budget that Rauner opposes. They cited “catastrophe” and “crisis” in their support of a plan that directly contradicts Rauner’s key priorities.
Bondholders are also responding to Rauner’s failed leadership and demanding higher yield for state debt, another Rauner expense that will fall on the backs of Illinois families. This comes after Moody’s warned months ago that our state is at a “do-or-die moment” due to Rauner’s historic budget impasse.
“It’s no surprise that the business community is turning their back on Bruce Rauner as he drives our state’s economy into the ground,” said Pritzker campaign spokeswoman Jordan Abudayyeh. “We’re reaching 700 days without a budget and the Illinois business community and hardworking families across the state have had enough. Illinois deserves a governor who will pass a budget and get our state back on track. The business community knows that Bruce Rauner is not that governor.”
* ILGOP…
In a stunning display of partisanship, Democratic Rep. Robert Martwick – a supporter of billionaire J.B. Pritzker – announced yesterday that he would kill his own bill, HB 2517, that would crack down on the kind of vacancy fraud the billionaire is engaging in to wrongly slash his property tax burden.
After House Minority Leader Jim Durkin signed on to the Vacancy Fraud Act, Capitol Fax reports that Martwick issued a statement saying he would not call the bill, calling the bipartisan backing he received “political gamesmanship”.
Only a Madigan-Pritzker politician would attack bipartisanship.
But it’s clear why Martwick was for cracking down on property tax fraud before he was against it – he’s in Pritzker’s corner and doesn’t want to make Mike Madigan’s new financial muscle mad.
After all, Martwick is hosting a meet and greet with Pritzker days from now.
Click here for a link to Martwick’s June 6th meet and greet announcement.
Who do you think had the better release?
*** UPDATE 1 *** The ILGOP responds to the Pritzker release…
After lying about his “uninhabitable” mansion property tax scam, J.B. Pritzker’s flailing campaign for Governor is trying to change the subject… by doubling down on his support for massive tax increases.
While Pritzker himself refuses to pay his fair share of taxes, he’s pushing for higher taxes on everyday Illinoisans.
First, Pritzker this week came out against a property tax freeze. On Tuesday, the Wednesday Journal of Oak Park reported that at a public forum, “Pritzker said that he opposed a property tax freeze”.
Then, Pritzker’s campaign issued a press release this morning praising a plan that includes taxing retirement income while excluding a property tax freeze.
That’s right, Pritzker’s campaign is praising a proposal that includes a plan to “Tax all federally taxable retirement income” (p. 14).
All of this comes after Pritzker began his campaign by announcing his support for a massive income tax hike behind closed doors to members of the Madigan machine.
Pritzker has now revealed he is for a retirement tax and against a property tax freeze.
*** UPDATE 2 *** From Galia Slayen, communications director for JB Pritzker…
We’re praising business leaders for wising up to Bruce Rauner’s failed leadership. Like Illinois families across this state, they’re not willing to see our most vulnerable communities held hostage to Rauner’s destructive agenda. It’s laughable that the ILGOP is desperately twisting the words of a press release while their governor stumbles towards 700 days without a budget.
*** UPDATE 3 *** We may be at this all day. From the ILGOP…
Given the chance to directly reject a tax on retirement income, the Pritzker campaign tried to change the subject instead.
Pritzker keeps defending a plan to tax retirement income while refusing to freeze property taxes for the middle class.
J.B. Pritzker is an out-of-touch billionaire unwilling to pay his fair share of property taxes, but will hike taxes on everyone else. Illinoisans are seeing right through his scam.
*** UPDATE 4 *** E-mail…
Rich,
My name is Dave Feller. I’m the President of the West Portage Park Neighbor’s Association (WPPNA) a local community group on the Northwest Side. I wanted to correct something that was posted on your blog today. On June 6th 2017, the WPPNA is hosting the FIRST of a series of Meet & Greets with all the candidates for Governor. Rep. Rob Martwick along with other area electeds are co-hosting the event in order to assist with outreach. This is NOT an endorsement session or a political event. As far as I know all the electeds listed on the flyer have not yet made an endorsement in the race.
Rich, our contact info is on the flyer. If the IL GOP would have bothered to reach out to us I would have answered any questions they had. But I guess it’s easier to try to score some cheap political points then it is to get at the truth.
Small wonder Rauner has drawn so much opposition with these type of people running his operation.
Kankakee County schools would be net losers of state funding under a bill that passed the Illinois State Senate Wednesday.
Collectively, the county’s 12 school districts would get $1.15 million per year less from the state’s school funding formula, a two percent decrease from their 2015 funding levels, according to an Illinois State Board of Education analysis obtained by the Kankakee Times.
Both Kankakee County State Senators– Sen. Toi Hutchinson (D-Olympia Fields) and Sen. Donne Trotter (D-Chicago)– voted “yes” on Senate Bill 1, which passed 35-18 with three Senators voting present.
Herscher District 2 (44% decrease), Grant Park District 6 (37% decrease), Manteno District 5 (19% decrease), Bourbonnais District 53 (19% decrease), St George District 258 (17% decrease) and Bradley-Bourbonnais District 307 (16% decrease) would all be losers if Senate Bill 1 is enacted into law.
Kankakee District 111 (+9 percent), St. Anne District 302 (+8 percent), Pembroke District 259 (+7 percent) and Momence District 1 (+4 percent) all stand to receive more state funding from the bill.
Senate Bill 1, sponsored by State Sen. Andy Manar (D-Bunker Hill), includes a $385 million bailout of Chicago Public Schools, which face bankruptcy due to years of deficit spending.
* As I told subscribers earlier today, the ISBE analysis and the resulting newspaper article were based on Amendment 4, which the chamber did not vote on this week. Sponsoring Sen. Andy Manar says the same analysis was distributed at a budget meeting yesterday. [The two analyses were different.] More from Politico…
Proft, the recipient of millions of dollars from Rauner as a political operative, oversees a chain of 20 publications. That had Manar fearing that bad district-specific information would spread across the state.
“No one in Kankakee County will lose a penny,” he said. “Everyone in Kankakee will get more,” under the bill as passed, he said. […]
“This looks a lot like the Rauner administration is leaking fake documents to a politically connected publication to manufacture problems that don’t exist so Republican members can cleanse their ‘no’ votes — and avoid being thrown under the bus by their governor,” Manar charged. […]
“This claim is false, and Manar is just trying to paper over the fact that he just ran a Chicago bailout yesterday,” said Rauner spokeswoman Catherine Kelly. “Rather than making false, wild accusations, they should stop the partisan politics and return to the negotiating table to achieve a bipartisan school funding formula that meets the needs of all students in the state.”
Both amendments contain “hold harmless” language, so Manar is right that the reductions won’t happen.
Proft told me this morning that the piece would be corrected.
*** UPDATE 1 *** More on the government fake news angle…
A Dan Proft "news" story in Kankakee Times spelling out "winners/losers" in @AndyManar school funding bill appears to be pure fiction.
The worst part: SB 1 docs were doctored by Rauner administration, sourced to ISBE, & sent to "news"/donor outlet. Good faith negotiations? https://t.co/HJIqdXLQSk
Senator Andy Manar (D-Bunker Hill) and other Senate Democrats will react this morning to news regarding the release of fraudulent education funding numbers to a Rauner-backed political operation.
When: 11 a.m. Friday, May 19, 2017
Where: State Capitol press briefing room (blue room)
*** UPDATE 4 *** Sen. Manar just said he and his colleagues are sending a letter today to the Executive Inspector General calling for an investigation.
*** UPDATE 5 *** From the SDems…
Manar: It's a violation of the law to manipulate data, send to supporter website. Our plan does not cut any district's funding.
* For whatever reason, Crain’s Chicago Business published my column online early this week. So, we get to talk about it today instead of on Monday..
Back in 2011, private citizen Bruce Rauner was involved with legislation in Springfield to change how public school teachers were evaluated and to curtail the power of the state’s teachers unions. Rauner didn’t care for the outcome, but after months of tedious and often contentious negotiations, the bill passed with just one “no” vote in both chambers.
Rauner wanted to use the legislation, in part, to prevent the Chicago Teachers Union from striking the following year. One important thing to know about Rauner is that he hates the CTU above all else. But a small portion of a subsequent “cleanup” bill allowed the CTU to decide who could vote on a strike.
“This has to be killed,” Rauner wrote in a May 24, 2011, email to the Illinois House Republican leader’s political director. “Every repub has to vote against.”
Three days later, the Senate approved the bill 51-5 and then the House passed it 116-0. The House Republican leader, the target of Rauner’s insistent email, was a chief co-sponsor.
That may give you an inkling of what the General Assembly has been dealing with since Rauner was sworn in as Illinois’ 42nd governor two and a half years ago.
Rauner came into office with the same bluster he displayed in that email. It was his way or the highway. The only difference now is that when he wants something killed, it gets killed. Republicans almost never cross him. One tried, and Rauner spent millions to defeat him in a primary.
After another failed negotiation session to end the long governmental impasse with Rauner and House Speaker Michael Madigan last December, Senate Republican Leader Christine Radogno approached Senate President John Cullerton about devising their own plan, which was eventually called the “grand bargain.”
The e-mail mentioned above is here. Lots of naughty words at that link, so be careful if you’re at work.
* As subscribers know, it’s not all good news in the Senate, but talks continue despite threats by both sides to walk away. Finke…
Illinois Senate negotiators continued to work Thursday on a comprehensive spending and revenue plan, a day after the Senate failed to move along legislation aimed at ending the state’s nearly two-year budget stalemate.
Despite continued pronouncements that Republicans and Democrats in the Senate are close to an agreement on an overall plan, there were no votes on any of the remaining components of the “grand bargain.” That included workers’ compensation changes that Senate President John Cullerton, D-Chicago, said were close enough to agreement that they could get a vote Thursday.
“There is not yet an agreement (on workers’ comp),” said Cullerton spokesman John Patterson. “A workers’ comp reform proposal is going to require support from both sides of the aisle.”
Patterson also said budget teams were continuing to meet to come to agreement on a tax-and-spending plan that can be sent to the House. Both the Senate and House are controlled by the Democrats.
The Illinois Department of Employment Security (IDES) announced [yesterday] that the unemployment rate declined -0.2 percentage points to 4.7 percent in April and nonfarm payrolls decreased by -7,200 jobs over-the-month, based on preliminary data provided by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) and released by IDES. March job growth was revised up to show a decrease of -7,700 jobs rather than the preliminary estimate of -8,900 jobs. April’s monthly payroll drop kept over-the-year job growth well below the national average. Due to payroll declines for both March and April, Illinois remains -25,600 jobs short of reaching its prior peak employment reached in September 2000.
“Illinois did not participate in the nation’s job growth in April,” said IDES Director Jeff Mays. “Furthermore, the decline in the unemployment rate was largely due to a drop in the labor force, not more people working.”
“We continue to see sluggish growth in our economy due to the inability of the legislature to institute common-sense structural changes that would encourage investment in our state,” said Illinois Department of Commerce & Economic Opportunity Director Sean McCarthy. “If we create a business-friendly environment, we will see greater opportunities and more good paying jobs in every community.”
In April, the three industry sectors with the largest gains in employment were: Education and Health Services (+2,600); Manufacturing (+1,900); and Information Services (+1,300). The largest payroll declines were in the following sectors: Trade, Transportation and Utilities (-7,100); Construction (-4,500); and Leisure and Hospitality (-2,400).
Over-the-year, nonfarm payroll employment increased by +22,100 jobs with the largest gains in these industry sectors in April: Education and Health Services (+16,200); Professional and Business Services (+11,600); Financial Activities (+8,700). Industry sectors with the largest over-the-year declines include: Construction (-6,600); Trade, Transportation and Utilities (-6,500); and Manufacturing (-3,600). The +0.4 percent over-the-year gain in Illinois is about one-fourth as strong as the +1.6 percent gain posted by the nation in April.
The state’s unemployment rate is +0.3 percentage points higher than the national unemployment rate reported for April 2017, which decreased to 4.4 percent. The Illinois unemployment rate is down -1.3 percentage points from a year ago when it was 6.0 percent. At 4.7 percent, the Illinois jobless rate stands at its lowest level since March 2007, after having decreased for three consecutive months.
The number of unemployed workers decreased -4.7 percent from the prior month to 307,000, down -21.9 percent over the same month for the prior year. This brings the number of unemployed workers to its lowest level since February 2007.The labor force decreased -0.3 percent over-the-month and declined by -0.7 percent in April over the prior year. The unemployment rate identifies those individuals who are out of work and are seeking employment. An individual who exhausts or is ineligible for benefits is still reflected in the unemployment rate if they actively seek work.
…Adding… Press release…
Illinois continues to lose nearly ten manufacturing employees every day according to the latest dismal jobs report from the Illinois Department of Employment Security (IDES). This report comes on the heels of Butterball’s announcement of their plant closing in Montgomery, Illinois. Greg Baise, CEO and president of the Illinois Manufacturers’ Association, has released the following statement underscoring the importance of enacting a balanced budget with strong economic reforms, especially focused on workers’ compensation policy:
“This jobs report coupled with another business closing its doors in Illinois reinforces the need for action. Since 2009, Illinois has lost more than 1,600 manufacturing jobs while our neighbors have added tens of thousands of new jobs. With 11 days left of session, we hope this announcement injects a heightened sense of urgency to enact a balanced budget imposing fiscal restraint and strong economic reforms, centered on real workers’ compensation changes. Another 600 families are out of work on top of the 10 manufacturing jobs we are losing on a daily basis according to today’s IDES report.”
