* Capitol News Illinois…
The number of African-American students enrolled at public colleges and universities in Illinois has fallen nearly 26 percent in recent years, while enrollment among other minority groups increased. […]
The latest annual [Illinois Board of Higher Education] report examined the five-year period from 2013 to 2017. During that period, enrollment among African-American students in Illinois fell 25.9 percent, to 54,370 students.
Over that same period, enrollment among Hispanic students grew 6 percent, to 95,167. Asian student enrollment grew 1.9 percent, to 28,745, and enrollment among all other underrepresented groups, including Native Americans, Pacific Islanders and disabled individuals, grew 5.1 percent, to 12,439.
The decline in African-American enrollment was especially sharp in the state’s community colleges, which saw drops of just more than 30 percent. The drop-off was less extensive among undergraduates at public universities, where African-American enrollment fell 14 percent.
22 Comments  
|
Question of the day
Wednesday, Mar 6, 2019 - Posted by Rich Miller
* It’s just a bill, of course, but kind of interesting…
State workers would be required to live within the state of Illinois under a new proposal by State Senator Laura Fine (D-Glenview).
“State workers’ salaries are paid by Illinois taxpayers,” Fine said. “It just makes sense that if you’re going to be paid by income, sales, and property taxes that Illinois residents pay, then you should be subject to those same taxes.”
Senate Bill 1639 establishes a requirement that to work for any state agency within Illinois, a person must live in the state. The measure would not affect employees who work for a contractor that has a contract with the state, and allows for a three-month grace period.
The bill passed the Senate Committee on State Government and now moves to the full Senate for consideration.
The bill is here.
* The Question: Your position on this legislation? Take the poll and then explain your answer in comments, please…
polls
125 Comments
|
The last gasp of opposition
Wednesday, Mar 6, 2019 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Oh, Marty…
A suburban lawmaker is receiving bipartisan support to put the brakes on fellow Democrats’ and Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s push to legalize recreational marijuana in Illinois.
“The people of Illinois are going to be safer when it’s legalized,” the new Democratic governor told the Daily Herald’s editorial board Monday.
Democrat Marty Moylan of Des Plaines disagrees, and so do 34 lawmakers in both parties co-sponsoring his House Resolution 157 to slow the process.
Moylan and legalization opponents including the Illinois Association of Chiefs of Police will participate in a rally against the proposed law Wednesday at the Capitol in Springfield.
“The more information you have about this bill, the more people are against it,” Moylan said, adding that he is worried about a spike in impaired driving. […]
Asked about preventing “driving while stoned” crashes, Pritzker said those are “happening now. If nothing changes, it’s still happening now.” He noted that researchers are developing products similar to a Breathylzer that police can use to test for marijuana.
Wake me when he gets to 59 total co-sponsors. Without that, this is yet another publicity stunt from a publicity stunt master.
* Speaking of publicity stunts, there he is today…
* Meanwhile, a columnist who apparently can’t pick up a phone and doesn’t come to Springfield says he somehow has a “sense” for why the legalization bill hasn’t yet been introduced…
My sense is three problems are gumming up the works and that lawmakers are no longer as confident of passage since the confetti was swept up after Pritzker’s victory party.
The first obstacle is the federal government. Donald Trump is a teetotaler and seems in no rush to undo federal restrictions on interstate transport or on banking laws that permit the deposit of cannabis proceeds.
Complicating matters is a new attorney general; more than three months passed between Jeff Sessions’ departure and William Barr’s confirmation, which undoubtedly left Illinois lawmakers waiting to see what position the Department of Justice would take on state’s rights.
The second is the number of states that have already enacted legalized cannabis. Heading into 2019, it seemed as if Illinois would simply climb aboard the pot train and join in the swelling number of states to put it on the books. It appears now lawmakers in Springfield have looked closely at states that have enacted and discovered myriad complications such as whether legalization supersedes no-smoking rules such as hotels. Legalization may have been popular, but it’s been anything but seamless.
Last but not least has been pushback from law enforcement. Police and sheriff’s associations were rightly concerned about how to reconcile legalized cannabis with keeping the roads safe from impaired motorists. The lack of comprehensive legislation suggests lawmakers are, to their credit, taking such concerns seriously.
Where to even begin with this gigantic “traffic jam of uninformed drivel” (as one co-sponsor called the column today)?
The president has always been an issue and former AG Sessions wasn’t exactly pro-legalization, either. Lawmakers have been working on this for almost two years, and there is more support in the GA than in past years. Four years ago, Moylan’s resolution would’ve had maybe 70 co-sponsors and Speaker Madigan’s staff would’ve been helping Marty collect even more. These days, Madigan supports legalization. And law enforcement has been pushing back forever.
One reason they haven’t introduced language yet is they’re still negotiating the bill and working out details. Also, there’s the issue of the lack of involvement by the governor. The sponsors are unwilling to move forward until they get some things worked out with the 2nd Floor. Pritzker says he’s all for it, but it’s time he puts his effort where his mouth is.
35 Comments
|
* Decatur Herald & Review…
Illinois lawmakers want answers about how 2-year-old Ta’Naja Barnes slipped through the state care system designed to protect her and was instead allowed to die of starvation and neglect in a Decatur home.
A House of Representatives Adoption and Child Welfare Committee hearing on Tuesday shined a spotlight on the nine-month active involvement of the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services in Ta’Naja’s case. Lawmakers heard how a Decatur organization, Baby TALK, had called a hotline to report concerns about Ta’Naja and her 1-year-old brother on Nov. 6, after the case had been closed, but the allegations did not fit criteria to pursue further investigation. […]
Ta’Naja’s cold body was found Feb. 11 wrapped in a urine-soaked blanket in a Decatur home police officers described as filthy and rodent-infested. Her mother, Twanka L. Davis, 21, and the live-in boyfriend of Davis, 25-year-old Anthony Myers, have both been charged with first degree murder alleging they caused the child’s death through a combination of starvation and neglect. […]
Ta’Naja’s biological father, Dartavius Barnes, told reporters last week that he had tried to obtain custody of his daughter and even thought of kidnapping her to remove her from what he knew to be poor conditions.
Six months of DCFS aftercare services, designed to be provided when a child is returned home, began in March when Ta’Naja was placed with Barnes instead of in August when she was returned to her mother. Ta’Naja’s younger half-brother was placed with Myers and Davis in March; he had been allowed to sleep in a heated room with his parents, while Ta’Naja was left alone in a bare, freezing room. The boy has since been taken into state custody.
Rep. Delia Ramirez pointed out that the six months would have ended on Feb. 8, three days before Ta’Naja’s death, if they had started when she was returned to Davis and Myers.
* WICS TV…
We now know that during the time that Ta’Naja was involved with the Department of Children and Family Services from December 2017 to October of 2018, she had three different case workers [from social service provider] Webster-Cantrell Hall.
* OK, this is just insane…
State Rep. Sue Scherer, D-Decatur, who is not a member of the committee but called the hearing, asked if caseworkers are notified that a child has been in and out of DCFS if the agency gets a call about a family.
Dyer-Webster said there is not.
“The history of the family’s involvement with DCFS is already on the computer,” she said. “The worker has to go and put that identifying information (in) to find it.”
DCFS needs an internal alert system.
* From a letter the governor sent to committee members the day before the hearing…
DCFS has taken several initial steps to address some of the IG’s findings; among the steps DCFS has taken are: reducing caseloads, implementing new technology, collaborating with the Department of Human Services to provide critical services that support children and families, and moving higher-risk cases back to DCFS from private agencies.
DCFS promised to shift higher-risk cases to in-house employees way back in 2017.
45 Comments
|
Feds agree to drop charges against Schock
Wednesday, Mar 6, 2019 - Posted by Rich Miller
* This prosecution had serious problems…
In a surprise move for a high-profile public corruption case, federal prosecutors in Chicago have agreed to drop all charges against former U.S. Rep. Aaron Schock if he pays back money he owes to the Internal Revenue Service and his campaign fund.
The stunning deal, known as a deferred prosecution agreement, was announced Wednesday during what was supposed to be a routine status hearing for Schock before U.S. District Judge Matthew Kennelly.
According to the agreement, Schock, 37, must pay $42,000 to the IRS and $68,000 to his congressional campaign fund. If he does so — and stays out of any new trouble — prosecutors would drop all felony counts against Schock, leaving him with a clean record.
Schock, once considered a rising star in the Republican Party, resigned in 2015 amid the federal investigation into his use of his campaign funds and House allowance to pay personal expenses ranging from an extravagant remodeling of his Washington office inspired by the British television series “Downton Abbey” to flying on a private plane to attend a Chicago Bears game.
I’ll likely have more in a bit.
…Adding… To refresh your memory…
Schock’s lawyers say in a motion filed in U.S. District Court that prosecutors and investigators repeatedly asked potential [grand jury] witnesses “irrelevant and highly invasive questions” about Schock’s personal relationships and sexuality, including whether he is gay.
Prosecutors denied allegations Schock’s attorneys made in March that investigators crossed legal lines by recruiting a confidential informant from Schock’s staff.
That informant brought documents to the feds without a warrant.
Also…
The federal judge overseeing the criminal case against former Rep. Aaron Schock leveled an unusual public complaint Tuesday that he was misled by a prosecutor on the case.
Judge Colin Bruce, of the U.S. District Court for the Central District of Illinois, also ordered the prosecution to conduct a review of all its court filings in the matter for potential inaccuracies.
This is when the tide really turned…
The increasingly odd corruption case filed against former U.S. Rep. Aaron Schock took another bizarre turn Thursday when local prosecutors were removed from the case by their superiors in Washington, D.C.
The news came in the form of a motion filed by Springfield-based federal prosecutors who asked for a delay in a status hearing scheduled for 10:30 a.m. Friday at the U.S. Courthouse in Urbana. Assistant U.S. Attorney Patrick Hansen sought the delay because “the Department of Justice (in Washington, D.C.) is in the process of reassigning the prosecution of this matter to a different prosecution team outside the Central District of Illinois.”
The dismissal of the Central District prosecution team comes just a couple weeks after the judge presiding over the case — U.S. Judge Colin Bruce — was removed by Chief Judge James Shadid for engaging in impermissible ex parte email communications with a paralegal with whom he worked while he was an assistant U.S. Attorney.
…Adding… Schock speaks…
67 Comments
|
Madigan denies inaction, but did he do enough?
Wednesday, Mar 6, 2019 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Sun-Times…
A whistleblower whose #MeToo allegations prompted Illinois House Speaker Mike Madigan to fire a longtime political operative has put another big spotlight on a former Madigan staffer, detailing in a federal document an allegation that the ex-staffer sexually harassed two women — “but nothing was done in response.”
The allegation against Travis Shea, detailed in Alaina Hampton’s federal lawsuit against the Democratic Party of Illinois and Madigan, claims Shea, who is now a lobbyist, “sexually harassed and/or assaulted” two women. […]
In the federal document, Hampton’s lawyers were responding to a question about their claim that defendants “have ignored and/or disregarded other reports of sexual harassment of female employees and volunteers working for the [Defendants].” […]
In response, Hampton’s lawyers said “she [Hampton] came to learn that other females employed by the Speaker had been sexually harassed and/or assaulted by a male co-worker, Travis Shea,” the document alleges. “Both females reported Travis Shea’s sexual harassment and/or assault directly to attorney Heather Weir Vaught but nothing was done in response. In fact, Mr. Shea remained on the Speaker’s staff for an additional two years thereafter. Plaintiff’s investigation continues.”
Shea is now a lobbyist at Michael Best Strategies. According to his profile, Shea focuses on the state budget, state bonding, capital budgeting, economic development and gaming. He previously served as an analyst for the speaker, but also worked for the Democratic Party of Illinois on campaigns across the state.
The lobbying registration report for Michael Best Strategies shows that Shea is no longer lobbying for the firm as of today. Shea’s bio has also been scrubbed from the firm’s website.
Hampton’s court filing is here.
* Speaker Madigan’s office denied Hampton’s allegation that nothing was done…
In February 2018, the Office of the Speaker released a summary of past complaints of discrimination and harassment. That document included descriptions of two allegations involving Travis Shea. Both women were consulted prior to the release and requested confidentiality. To date, neither has given permission to disclose any personal or identifying information.
In 2015 and 2016, Heather Wier Vaught was contacted with allegations of workplace intimidation against Mr. Shea, once in a personal setting, another in her official capacity as the House Democratic Ethics Officer. Each woman alleged Mr. Shea had intimidated them and threatened to “make or break” their careers.
Former Chief of Staff, Tim Mapes, and Mr. Shea’s supervisor, Jessica Basham, were immediately notified of Mr. Shea’s alleged behavior. Mr. Mapes met with Mr. Shea, and he was told the alleged behavior must immediately cease. He was reprimanded and advised such alleged behavior would not be tolerated. Additionally, Ms. Basham met with Mr. Shea and made it clear he was not in a supervisory role and told he would not be given additional responsibilities.
To further determine whether other staff experienced issues with Mr. Shea, or if there were additional concerns that needed to be addressed, Ms. Basham held meetings with each member of the unit and inquired if there were issues they would like to bring to her attention. No other issues were identified at that time.
Speaker Madigan was not made aware of the allegations. Had the allegations been brought to the Speaker at the time, he would have terminated any employment relationship with Mr. Shea, as he has done on other occasions upon learning of such incidents.
* More from WBEZ’s Tony Arnold, who broke the story…
In September 2017, Hampton claims she had talks with the Chicago Teachers Union about working on a campaign for state representative, according to court documents. In October 2017, she was under the impression CTU was ready to offer her a position, but just a week later Hampton was asked by a CTU lobbyist “if she was ‘on the outs’ with Ald. Marty Quinn as someone had informed [CTU Political Director] Stacy Davis Gates that such was the case.”
Hampton didn’t hear back from CTU after that conversation, the filing states.
“We’re frankly baffled we’d even be mentioned here,” said CTU spokeswoman Chris Geovanis. “We take orders for any hiring decisions from no one. We are quite capable of making our own hiring decisions.” Geovanis claimed Hampton had already done work for an opposing campaign in that race. […]
Hampton also said she pitched campaign work from her consulting firm to three other aldermanic campaigns: Ald. Scott Waguespack, 32nd Ward, and John Arena, 45th Ward, and 46th Ward challenger Erika Wozniak, according to last week’s filing.
Joanna Klonsky, a spokeswoman for Waguespack, Arena, and Wozniak told WBEZ in a statement: “As set forth in documents attached to a recent court filing, and as, in fact, is the case, Alaina Hampton’s non-employment by the campaigns of Ald. Waguespack, Ald. Arena and Ms. Wozniak Francis was unrelated to the events described in her lawsuit against Michael Madigan and others.”
…Adding… It turns out that Klonsky was actually speaking on Hampton’s behalf in the above quote. I’ve asked for a more clear statement.
…Adding… From Ms. Klonsky…
None of Ms. Hampton’s interaction with any of these three campaigns were affected or influenced in any way by the allegations in her suit or the defendants in that case.
…Adding… Again from Klonsky…
Ms. Hampton’s reference to Mr. Shea, as the court filing clearly reflects, was in response to the Madigan defendants’ specific request for such information of which she was aware.
55 Comments
|
* Ignore the hype and read the actual numbers…
A new poll — paid for by a pro-business group opposing a graduated income tax — finds President Donald Trump has a higher favorability ranking in Illinois than both Democratic Gov. J.B. Pritzker and Illinois House Speaker Mike Madigan.
The We Ask America poll was commissioned by the not-for-profit dark money group Ideas Illinois, which is led by former Illinois Manufacturers’ Association head Greg Baise. The group is working hard to publicly oppose Pritzker’s plan to push for a graduated income tax, which the governor wants on the 2020 ballot. […]
The poll of 800 voters was conducted between Feb. 24 and 27, using a mix of automated calls to landlines and live cell phone calls. It has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.46 percentage points. We Ask America did not release the crosstabs — including the gender or ages of those who were polled.
The poll asked about the job performance of Pritzker, who has only been in office since Jan. 14. It found that 37 percent said they approved of the governor’s job performance, while 36 percent disapproved. Among Republicans, 69 percent disapproved, while only 16 percent approved. Among Democrats, however, 57 percent approved of his performance, while only 13 percent disapproved. Of independent voters, 29 percent approved of Pritzker’s job performance.
Voters were also asked about Trump, and 41 percent said they approved of Trump’s performance, while 56 percent disapproved. The president’s approval is at 86 percent among Republicans, while his disapproval was at 89 percent among Democrats. Among independents, 42 percent approved, while 51 percent disapproved of his performance. The net job approval — the approval minus disapproval — for the president is at minus 15 percent. The latest Morning Consult poll had Illinois at -23 net approval for a poll conducted in January.
Where to begin?
Yes, 41 percent approved of Trump’s job performance compared to 37 percent for Pritzker. But that’s not how you judge who’s more popular. Trump’s disapproval rating of 56 percent was higher than his approval rating. Pritzker’s disapproval rating (36) was below his approval rating (37), giving him a +1 net approval. And +1 is far better than -15 every day of the week. And since 56 is much higher than 36, you could just as easily say that Trump is far more unpopular than Pritzker.
Also, while only 3 percent appeared to not have an opinion of the president’s job performance, 27 percent had no opinion of the governor’s performance. That makes sense because he’d barely been in office a month when the poll was taken.
* To be clear, 37-36 approve/disapprove numbers are not anything to write home about, particularly a few months after winning by 16 points. A We Ask America poll taken in January of 2015 showed that newly inaugurated Gov. Bruce Rauner’s approve/disapprove numbers were 52/23. A month later, another pollster had Rauner’s approve/disapprove rating at 43/28.
So, if this new poll is right (and it’s only one poll, snapshot in time, yadda, yadda) Pritzker is definitely not starting off with the people at his back.
* From the pollster…
While nearly half of Illinois voters (45%) are not sure of their opinion of Pritzker’s recent budget proposal, those that do have an opinion are not in favor. Less than one-quarter of voters (22%) support it, while one-third of voters (33%) oppose his budget proposal. Only 17% of Independents and 6% of Republicans support his budget, while 31% and 63% oppose the budget, respectively. Among Democrats, 37% support and 13% oppose it.
In other words, it’s a big “Meh” from voters. I can’t disagree with them.
* Also…
House Speaker Mike Madigan remains very unpopular. Just 18% of Illinois voters have a favorable opinion of Madigan, while 41% have an unfavorable opinion. Even among Democrats, Madigan is under water with just 26% having a favorable opinion, while 30% have an unfavorable opinion. Independents have a highly unfavorable opinion of Madigan, with just 13% expressing a favorable opinion but 44% an unfavorable one. Among Republicans, he sits at 13% Favorable/54% Unfavorable (41% Very Unfavorable).
Favorability and job performance are different measures, but -23 is obviously bad. The best thing Madigan has going for him is that 41 percent don’t have any opinion about him. He’ll take that all day.
62 Comments
|
* Press release…
With the strong support of Governor JB Pritzker, the Illinois State Police (ISP) is taking wide ranging steps to improve operations, firearms services processes, and information sharing to aid law enforcement officials statewide with enforcement of Firearm Owner’s Identification (FOID) card revocation laws. These first steps are part of ISP’s continued commitment to improving the enforcement of existing gun laws in Illinois.
“While the weaknesses of our nation’s background check system remain daunting, we must take whatever steps we can, large and small, to strengthen the fabric of these systems because any improvement could be the one that makes the difference,” said Brendan F. Kelly, Acting Director of the Illinois State Police. “While we simply cannot do it alone, we must increase sharing of information, the quality and value of information shared, and most importantly enforcement. Mailed letters are not enough.”
ISP Information Sharing
Access to firearms data within the Department and outside the Department by law enforcement agencies and state’s attorneys cannot be limited and siloed at the expense of public safety. FOID revocation and Firearm Transfer Inquiry Program (FTIP) data must be readily accessible to all Illinois law enforcement agencies. To that end:
· The ISP Firearms Services Bureau is providing the entire current list of individuals with revoked FOID cards to every District and Zone Commander within the ISP.
· Every ISP Patrol and Zone Commander has been instructed by the Director to deliver to each sheriff, police chief, and state’s attorney in their respective zone a current electronic list of all individuals with revoked FOID cards within each jurisdiction and confirm receipt of the list.
· The Firearm Services Bureau has been directed to share FOID card revocation data and FTIP data with the Statewide Terrorism and Intelligence Center (STIC) for appropriate dissemination to state and local law enforcement.
· The Firearm Services Bureau has been directed to require its IT vendor to modify the secure law enforcement web portal to include a FOID revocation list accessible 24/7 to all Illinois law enforcement with a mechanism to log each agency’s date of access.
· The Department is working with our federal partners to ascertain the scope of criminal cases that may have a federal identification number associated with a fingerprint record, but no correlating state identification number for Illinois.
· The Department is working with state entities like the Illinois Criminal Justice Information Authority (ICJIA) to determine if funding to law enforcement agencies and courts can be tied to substantial compliance with criminal record submission requirements.
Quality and Value of Information Provided by ISP
Firearms Services Bureau eligibility determinations for FOID, Firearm Concealed Carry Licenses (FCCL), and FTIP must be standardized, thorough, and inspected. Furthermore, thousands of general notices that simply indicate an individual has a revoked FOID card are not useful data in a law enforcement environment with unending demands and limited manpower. Potential threats can only be assessed and prioritized if law enforcement has useful context and detail. To that end:
· The Firearms Services Bureau has been directed to require all firearms eligibility analysts to follow a standardized FOID/CCL protocol and a comprehensive checklist when conducting and completing FOID/CCL application reviews.
· The Firearms Services Bureau has been directed to increase quality assurance measures for FOID, FCCL, and FTIP transactions to include random reanalysis of approvals, scrutinizing those samples, reporting results to the Director monthly, and taking immediate corrective action as needed.
· The Firearms Services Bureau has enhanced the FOID revocation list shared with all law enforcement to indicate if the revoked FOID has been returned and/or if a Firearm Disposition Report has been submitted to ISP. This information is critical for law enforcement to determine whether a revoked FOID card holder has complied with Illinois law.
· The Firearm Services Bureau has enhanced the FOID revocation list shared with all law enforcement by adding descriptors that include the reason for revocation, such as a felony charge, a clear and present danger determination, an order of protection, mental health prohibitor, or other regulatory reasons for revocation. This will enable law enforcement to properly vet and triage the law enforcement response for a revoked FOID card.
· The Firearms Services Bureau has enhanced the FOID revocation list shared with all law enforcement to include FTIP history which indicates firearm purchase history as well as the number of firearm purchases utilizing FTIP.
Increasing Enforcement
Enforcement must be increased through greater training and awareness among law enforcement stakeholders of FOID laws and penalties, use of FOID data in routine law enforcement, and implementation of specialized gun violence task forces. To that end:
· The Director is working with sheriffs, police chiefs, and state’s attorneys to increase awareness of FOID provisions and penalties.
· The ISP Academy has been directed to review current training of new cadets as well recurring training requirements regarding FOID laws and update as needed.
· The Director’s designee on the Illinois Law Enforcement Training and Standards Board(ILETSB) will encourage ILETSB to review local police training requirements on FOID laws.
· ISP officers in Patrol within each District have been directed to always query FOID revocation status when conducting patrol enforcement activity.
· ISP officers in Investigations within each Zone have been directed to always query FOID revocation status when conducting an investigation.
· The ISP Communication Services Bureau has been directed to require all telecommunicators to query FOID revocation status when officers are conducting enforcement or investigation activity.
· The Firearms Services Bureau has been directed to provide each ISP Investigative Zone with a list of revoked individuals who may have provided false information on a FOID or CCL application to determine if an investigation and request for charges of Forgery may be warranted on a case-by-case basis.
· Each Zone Commander has been directed to review the most current revocation list with local state’s attorneys to determine if investigation and citation for violation of various FOID laws is warranted on a case-by-case basis.
· The Division of Operations has been directed to immediately triage the FOID revocation list by Zone, develop a plan of action for the highest risk individuals, work with sheriffs and local police to plan enforcement actions as appropriate, work with state’s attorneys to seek search warrants as appropriate, and conduct ISP-only enforcement operations as appropriate.
· The Division of Operations has been directed to plan for more specialized enforcement over the long term. In late January 2019, the Office of the Governor requested from ISP the funding, manpower, and new cadet requirements necessary to establish a potential gun violence task force that would include FOID related enforcement to be submitted as part of the budget for FY 2020. That proposal was submitted February 8 and included in the Governor’s budget proposal.
· As part of these efforts, Gun Liaison Officers will be designated in every Investigative Zone to collaborate with local law enforcement agencies, coordinate FOID revocation details with an emphasis on getting guns out of the hands of the most dangerous individuals, and ensuring information regarding FOID card revocations is shared with local law enforcement agencies on an ongoing basis.
This is an aggressive, exhaustive effort within existing ISP manpower and statutory parameters. The ISP Office of Governmental Affairs and Public Information Office have been directed to provide any and all available information to the public and policy makers as further action is considered by the legislature.
This is all long overdue. Many kudos to Director Kelly for taking this on.
Your own thoughts about individual aspects?
69 Comments
|
|
Comments Off
|
* WEEK TV…
The layoffs at Western Illinois University has captured the attention of Gov. J.B. Pritzker. […]
He’s well aware that WIU announced last week some 132 faculty and staff positions will be eliminated. Administrators cited reduced state funding and declining enrollment. School statistics show WIU lost more than 4,000 students over the past ten years.
“I proposed an increase in funding for our universities across the board in the state. And Western Illinois is just one of those universities that would get an increase under the budget that I put forward,” said Pritzker.
Um, WIU announced the layoffs well after the governor unveiled his budget plan. The money the governor wants to spend is obviously not enough to forestall those layoffs. The school saw what was coming and pulled the plug.
Later, Pritzker said the state needs a graduated income tax to restore the state’s universities to greatness “and even better.”
* Meanwhile…
[WIU] faculty members also have launched a petition to be delivered to Gov. J.B. Pritzker, urging him to appoint new board members and to provide emergency funding to help stave off the pending layoffs and program cuts.
Three of the seven governor-appointed seats on the board are vacant while the terms of three sitting members expired in January.
The MoveOn petition had more than 4,800 signatures as of Tuesday.
73 Comments
|
A worrisome job trend
Tuesday, Mar 5, 2019 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Hannah Meisel…
Illinois has lost the greatest number of jobs in some of the industries with the highest earnings over the last 10 years, while gaining jobs in the lowest-paying job sectors during the same period, according to the Commission on Government Forecasting and Accountability’s latest monthly report. While recent improvement in employment and wage growth in Illinois is “encouraging,” those long-term trends are “still concerning,” according to the report.
The industry with the highest weekly earnings — construction — is also the industry that lost the most jobs in Illinois during the last decade, according to the report. Workers in the construction industry earn an average of $1,424 per week, according to data from the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics, but jobs in the construction industry have decreased by 12.4 percent in Illinois since 2008. Similarly, jobs in the broad category of information, which earn an average of $1,335 per week, have decreased by 18.2 percent in Illinois since 2008.
During that same decade, industries like education and health services have been seen the biggest improvement in number of jobs — up 16.2 percent since 2008 — but that industry is among the lowest-paid in Illinois, earning an average of $814 per week. Jobs in the leisure and hospitality subsector have also seen a boom, but those are the lowest-paying jobs in Illinois, with an average weekly pay of $405, according to Bureau of Labor statistics. COGFA also points out that Illinois’ largest subsection, jobs classified as trade, transportation and utilities which employed over 1.2 million Illinoisans in 2018 and made up 20 percent of jobs in Illinois, “also has one of the lowest average weekly earnings totals in the state” — with average weekly earnings of $857.
However, recent trends are encouraging, like a 2.7 percent increase in construction — the state’s highest-paying industry, according to the report. Similarly, jobs under the umbrella of financial activities — another high-paying sector — increased by 2.1 percent during the last year after being essentially flat since 2008. “Time will tell if this recent growth in these higher paying jobs is the beginning of a long-term positive trend or just a temporary blip in an overall disappointing decade of employment activity in Illinois,” according to the report.
The full COGFA report is here.
27 Comments
|
Question of the day
Tuesday, Mar 5, 2019 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Finke…
More state income tax money and consolidation of downstate police and firefighter pensions top the agenda this year for the state’s mayors.
The Illinois Municipal League said Monday it also is making a priority approval of a capital plan that would provide more money for transportation, water, sewer and other improvements in cities. […]
The mayors also want the state to provide more state income tax money to cities and towns. Local governments were getting 10 percent of state income tax collections. However, local governments did not get a share of the income tax increase, meaning local governments now only receive about 5.75 percent of individual income tax collections and about 6.5 percent of corporate collections.
The IML said the General Assembly continues to impose mandates on local governments whose costs could be offset if the state returned to giving cities 10 percent of income tax collections. That, in turn, would take pressure off local property taxes to cover those costs.
* Illinois News Network…
Illinois currently sends just over 6 percent of personal and corporate income taxes to local municipalities, totaling around $1.3 billion in personal and corporate income tax annually.
IML-backed legislation would gradually increase that figure to 10 percent by 2023. […]
Increasing the amount of money directed to municipalities means less money for the state to spend. The state’s financial picture is bleak. Lawmakers face a $3.2 billion deficit in the next budget and more than $8 billion in backlogged bills. The state’s pension systems have more than $134 billion in unfunded liabilities. Pritzker’s proposed budget counts on revenue from recreational marijuana and sports gambling, among other taxes and fees, to plug the gap. Lawmakers have yet to legalize recreational marijuana or sports gambling.
* The Question: Should municipalities be returned to receiving 10 percent of all state income tax collections over four years? Take the poll and then explain your answer in comments, please…
surveys
32 Comments
|
Under the bus they go
Tuesday, Mar 5, 2019 - Posted by Rich Miller
* We talked about this cannabis legalization press release the other day…
“For generations, government policy of mass incarceration increased racial disparities by locking up thousands of individuals for marijuana use or possession,” said State Senator Toi Hutchinson (D-Chicago Heights), the legislation’s chief co-sponsor in the Senate. “Now, as we are discussing legalization, it is of the utmost importance that we learn from these mistakes and acknowledge the lingering effects these policies continue to have in neighborhoods across this state. No conversation about legalization can happen absent that conversation.” […]
“We’re not just trying to add diversity because it looks good. It’s not just diversity for diversity’s sake. It’s for equity’s sake; equity includes economics, it includes criminal justice,” said State Rep. Jehan Gordon-Booth, who is the chief co-sponsor of the legislation in the House. “We’re talking about specific communities that need to be made whole. When this is all normal and nice and people are making money, we will not have succeeded if black people and other people of color are shut out.” […]
“It is important that we work together to establish an adult use cannabis market that works for everyone,” said State Rep. Kelly Cassidy, the legislation’s House sponsor. “We’re contemplating additional license categories such as craft cultivation, transportation and processing to ensure that everyone is at the table. These will create space for more innovation and entrepreneurship in the industry, but more importantly, provide opportunity for more diversity in an industry with a pressing need for it.”
Again, those are the legislative architects of the legalization bill. And it’s abundantly clear from their comments here and elsewhere that diversity and addressing past wrongs is very high on their priority list and always has been.
* Gov. Pritzker was asked about the legislators’ efforts to date when he was at the Daily Herald editorial board…
They’ve done a pretty good job of putting at least the basics together for a bill.
There are pieces of it that I think need to be enhanced and we’re certainly talking to them about those pieces.
For example, I’m very focused on making sure that communities of color, which have been most burdened by the war on drugs, have the ability to get licenses.
The sponsors have asked the governor for a point person on this topic and didn’t get one. They asked for a briefing on Pritzker’s licensing fee plan and didn’t get one. But they did get called out publicly by the governor for not adequately addressing something they… were already diligently working on.
41 Comments
|
The last state to pass a progressive income tax
Tuesday, Mar 5, 2019 - Posted by Advertising Department
[The following is a paid advertisement.]
Just one state in the past 30 years has adopted a progressive income tax: Connecticut. The result? Middle-class tax hikes, lost jobs and increased poverty – not to mention chronic outmigration and a financial situation just as dire as Illinois’.
There are harrowing similarities between the Connecticut experiment and Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s push for a progressive income tax in Illinois.
Connecticut lawmakers in the 1990s sold the progressive income tax as a way to provide middle-class tax relief and reduce property taxes. But neither occurred. Instead, the typical Connecticut household has seen its income tax rates increase more than 13 percent since 1999. At the same time, property tax burdens have risen by more than 35 percent.
Pritzker’s argument for the progressive income tax relies on the same myths – that it will allow for middle-class tax relief and lower property taxes, and shore up the state’s finances.
But if Illinois ditches its constitutionally protected flat income tax, Illinoisans will face the same fate as Connecticut – higher taxes for everyone, fewer jobs and an even more sluggish economy.
Comments Off
|
Long wish lists, but few funding ideas
Tuesday, Mar 5, 2019 - Posted by Rich Miller
* BND…
The metro-east’s and southern Illinois’ wish lists for a capital bill include road improvements and building construction, but a way to pay for the projects remains elusive.
Members of the state Senate Subcommittee on Capital met Monday at Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville for the first of five regional hearings on local construction needs around the state. The remaining four hearings are scheduled around the state this spring. […]
When state Sen. Martin Sandoval D-Chicago, asked representatives from Southern Illinois University if they would be willing to pay a higher gas tax, or tax on candy or license plate renewals, taxing freight or pollution, few, if any people raised their hands.
Senators said they would need to have support from people asking for funding on ways to help pay for the construction projects.
“We’re going to have to make the case for revenue to 12 million taxpayers in the state of Illinois, and it would be helpful if we had organizations making requests for capital, also publicly support the revenue needs in order to make that happen,” said state Sen. Ram Villivalam, D-Chicago.
* Southern Illinoisan…
Officials from the Southern Illinois University system presented a long list of projects, starting with an $83 million plan to refurbish the aging mass communications and media arts building and a $98 million science building on the Carbondale campus. The university is also hoping for a new education building for its medical school campus in Springfield.
In addition to those projects, however, John Dunn, interim chancellor of the SIU Carbondale campus said the school has a backlog of about $700 million worth of “deferred maintenance” projects.
“Visually, we need cranes on our campus,” he said. “Cranes on the campus send a powerful message to the public at-large that we’re alive and well, we’re working forward and we’re creating jobs.”
* Edwardsville Intelligencer…
Sandoval occasionally had a number of sharp questions for those testifying, ranging from how they would guarantee inclusion of women, minorities and veterans in various infrastructure projects, to pointed questions about how it should be paid for.
He repeatedly asked those testifying that question, often asking specifically if they would support a gas tax, mileage tax or other tax increases.
Responses ranged from some saying that it was the legislator’s job to figure that out, to a few others who said they would support some specific measures. They often couched those answers by saying elected officials would have to do a better job of explaining exactly how the money would be spent.
33 Comments
|
The Credit Union Difference
Tuesday, Mar 5, 2019 - Posted by Advertising Department
[The following is a paid advertisement.]
Comments Off
|
* Gov. Pritzker sat down with the Daily Herald editorial board yesterday. I’m still going through the whole thing, but he said this when asked why people were moving out of state…
I think there are several reasons. One is that we have been significantly underfunding education in the state and one of the reasons that business and jobs get created in the state is because it has great talent and it invests in that talent. That’s certainly why people come here on a day like this when it’s below zero. Why would a business choose Illinois? It’s because we’ve got great people, we have terrific talent. And it’s because we have great universities, and because we are producing great talent that we can work in those businesses.
But not if you don’t invest in it. So, we lose people in part because we aren’t continuing to invest in the talent that we need. We lose people because we have a property tax system that overburdens people. And we lose people because when you don’t fund universities, and when you threaten not to fund MAP grants, tens of thousands, it turns out it’s more than 72 thousand, young people choose not to go to school in Illinois and when they leave about 70 percent of them don’t come back. So those are all things that contribute to why people leave.
He was kind of all over the place there, but your thoughts on what he said?
…Adding… Related…
* Wooing Illinois to Indiana? It’s not just businesses doing it - A Chicago real estate agent is sprinkling Illinois suburbs with postcards pitching affluent homeowners on the property tax benefits of jumping the border. The only hitch: She hasn’t found any takers yet: In the three weeks since sending the first postcard, Pender said, she hasn’t received any calls from Cook County residents asking to look at her Indiana listings.
107 Comments
|
Fact-checking the fact-checkers
Tuesday, Mar 5, 2019 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Click here for background if you need it. From Julie Sampson at Citizen Action Illinois…
Illinois needs to replace its current income-tax system, which has long allowed rich people and big corporations to get away with not paying their share. We should amend the constitution to permit a fair tax that requires wealthy people with higher incomes to pay more, while allowing working people with lower incomes to pay less.
A recent “fact check” by the Better Government Association overly complicates Gov. JB Pritzker’s position on this important issue. The governor is taking the lead to pass a fair tax because he understands that for our state to thrive, we need to fund our schools and universities, rebuild our infrastructure and pay our bills—and that wealthy people like himself can and should pay a little more to make that possible.
The BGA suggests there are alternatives to a fair tax amendment that would also raise needed revenue while cutting taxes for low- and middle-income taxpayers. That in itself is only half true: The devil is in the details.
One BGA alternative is expanding the state sales tax to services. Yes, a tax on brokers, lawyers and chartered jets would fall mostly on the rich, but applying sales tax to haircuts and dry-cleaning, not so much. Plus this approach wouldn’t raise significant revenue if, as the BGA suggests, the rate was lowered at the same time.
The BGA also looks at taxing retirement income, something the governor opposes. If such a proposal were limited only to rich retirees, it would likely run afoul of the very constitutional provision the fair tax seeks to amend.
Finally, the BGA raises the prospect of a significant rate increase in the current flat tax, accompanied by increased exemptions and credits to reduce the impact on lower-income taxpayers. That’s just a complicated, backdoor way to achieve the basic goals of adequate revenue, fairly raised. Better to pursue those goals in the most clear and straightforward way possible: By asking voters to change the constitution and permit a fair tax.
That’s not only the best public policy, but good, transparent government, too: It allows voters to democratically decide for themselves whether the state will move to a fair tax system. That may be why more than 7 of 10 Illinoisans backed the fair tax amendment in a Paul Simon Institute poll last year.
* On the other end of the spectrum, here’s Kristen McQueary in the Tribune…
It was the Stamp Act of 1765 that seeded the colonists’ revolution against British government overreach when taxation transitioned from a tool to regulate commerce into a mechanism to raise revenue. Attitudes toward taxation are distinct in the U.S. and particularly in the Midwest. Taxpayers deserve respect.
Conservatives accept and participate in taxation. We understand that taxes are fundamental to paying for education, public safety, infrastructure and services for the most vulnerable.
What we rebel against is the inefficient expenditure of the bounty, the refusal to enforce spending discipline, the corruption woven throughout state and local government that feeds the beast.
There’s no way to argue with a straight face that the Illinois politicians in power now have thoughtfully approached the sacred nature of taxation. Instead, they’ll impose a graduated tax rate without allowing commensurate relief on the constitution’s pension clause. And they’ll present their graduated tax rate schedule as proof of their moral compass.
But the question is: Where was that moral compass all along?
58 Comments
|
C’mon, Greg
Tuesday, Mar 5, 2019 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Illinois News Network…
As Gov. J.B. Pritzker prepares for talks with legislative leaders about possible tax rates and income levels for a progressive income tax in Illinois, a pro-business group is calling for those discussions to be done in public. […]
Greg Baise, the leader of Ideas Illinois, a group formed to oppose a graduated income tax system in the state, said any such negotiations should be done in the open, especially around tax time.
“As they prepare for April 15 this year, people are sort of paying attention to [income taxes] right now,” Baise said. “So we’re suggesting let’s have openness and transparency. Politicians love to talk about that until they want to start talking about your money.” […]
A spokesman for House Speaker Michael Madigan, D-Chicago, said he’s “not aware of any plans” for a leaders’ meeting to discuss the rates of a progressive tax.
“The Senate President looks forward to a comprehensive, bipartisan discussion this session. For years people have been saying Illinois should be more like our neighboring states that have more modern and fairer tax systems,” Senate President John Cullerton’s spokesman John Patterson said in an email.
Baise ably ran the Illinois Manufacturers Association for over a quarter of a century. He started life as a political golden boy who became Gov. Jim Thompson’s patronage chief and transportation secretary. That Greg Baise would’ve laughed off any suggestion that leaders meetings be held in public.
Also, as he well knows, if you’re completely opposed to a proposal from the get-go, you don’t get an invite to the table. Why negotiate with a solid “No”?
56 Comments
|
|
Comments Off
|
CFL takes a pass on mayor’s race
Monday, Mar 4, 2019 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Fran Spielman…
The Chicago Federation of Labor decided Monday to remain neutral in the historic April 2 mayoral runoff in a move likely to be seen as a boon to Lori Lightfoot and a major blow to Toni Preckwinkle. […]
On Monday, the CFL met with and questioned both candidates and discovered little difference between their positions on labor issues. […]
Sources said IBEW Local 134 and Operating Engineers Local 399 are leaning toward endorsing Preckwinkle.
Laborers Unions that provided heavy support to Susana Mendoza in Round One are leaning toward Lightfoot. So is Local 9 of the Electricians Union.
Operating Engineers Local 150 — another union with a Sun-Times Media ownership stake — will either endorse Lightfoot or remain neutral, sources said. That union has ties to a dark-money PAC that spent $1.2 million to blanket the television airwaves with ads blasting Bill Daley as “Bruce Rauner’s mayor” and as a “Wall Street banker who got rich off working people.”
You’d think some of these unions would be open to backing Preckwinkle because she’ll still be county board chairman if she loses the mayor’s race. But her campaign was pretty heavy-handed with Mendoza, and that angered some of the comptroller’s institutional supporters. SEIU may have over-played its hand with other unions (and the CFL) as well.
There’s usually plenty of time to heal wounds inflicted during the primaries for countywide and statewide offices (unless you’re Bruce Rauner, but he’s the outlier with a lot of things). Chicago’s runoff day is just four weeks from tomorrow. It’s simply way too soon to forgive and forget and Lightfoot apparently isn’t a threatening presence to most unions.
* I think Preckwinkle’s biggest problem is that people who voted for everyone else in the first round did so at least partly because they couldn’t bring themselves to vote for the purported “front-runner” - and that would be 84 percent of those who voted. Few really know who Lori Lightfoot is, which as a commenter pointed out earlier today is most definitely a big help at this point in the campaign. It’s hers to lose right now because she’s 1) not Toni Preckwinkle; and 2) a blank slate.
Preckwinkle has to firmly and quickly take Lightfoot down, gin up the aldermen with the warning that Lightfoot will take away their outside income and their ward prerogatives, hand out as much patronage as she can lay her hands on, get the church ladies on her side and otherwise rehabilitate her own image (although the latest poll found that, despite it all, she still has a 53-37 fav/unfav rating). All in four short weeks.
Whew.
Not to mention that yet another self-inflicted wound could prove politically fatal. She’d also better hope that nothing happens with the federal case against Ald. Ed Burke in the next few weeks.
* On the other hand, Lightfoot didn’t even have a campaign manager until now…
Lightfoot’s team has hired Manuel Perez, the campaign manager for U.S. Rep. Jesus “Chuy” Garcia, as campaign manager. […]
Perez also ran Garcia’s 2015 campaign against Mayor Rahm Emanuel and more recently ran Tanya Patino’s campaign for the 14th Ward seat won by disgraced Ald. Ed Burke.
Preckwinkle didn’t endorse Chuy when he ran for mayor, so this might be a little payback without having to get directly involved.
I’m curious whether other candidates who ran real campaigns held anything back from their Preckwinkle oppo books that they could now share with Lightfoot. Stay tuned.
* This should give you an idea of the direction Preckwinkle is going…
Meanwhile, Preckwinkle has hired three veteran African-American campaigners to her team. They reflect “the diversity and values” of the campaign, according to a release. Jessey Neves becomes campaign manager. She’s a longtime aide to Preckwinkle, who first served as director of communications and policy for her 2010 campaign for Cook County Board president. The Preckwinkle campaign has also hired Jason Lee as deputy campaign manager. Lee has served as political director of United Working Families and before that with the Chicago Teachers Union and AFSCME’s International Union. And Ty Cratic has been named director of operation. He currently is chairman of the Cook County Young Democrats and sits on the executive board of the Cook County Democratic Party.
Cratic’s LinkedIn page says he’s been Preckwinkle’s Director Of Operations since November.
* Meanwhile…
Lightfoot reported nearly $360,000 in campaign contributions between Wednesday and Saturday, with $100,000 alone coming from Chicago philanthropist Leslie Bluhm, $50,000 from Phillip Peters, of Chicago, and $10,000 from Northwest Side Ald. Scott Waguespack, 32nd, according to state election data. During that same stretch, Preckwinkle reported $6,500. Heading into the Feb. 28 election, Preckwinkle had reported raising about $4.6 million — second only to Bill Daley who raised $8.3 million. Of the 14 candidates, Lightfoot was in the middle of the pack. She reported raising $1.5 million.
The latest spending report from Comcast shows Preckwinkle just bought $42K in ads compared to Lightfoot’s $1,287.
* Related…
* In race for mayor, Lori Lightfoot and Toni Preckwinkle court the 2/3 of Chicago that didn’t vote for them
* Laura Washington: Two black women running for mayor? For some black men, that’s a nightmare
31 Comments
|
Question of the day
Monday, Mar 4, 2019 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Republican Sen. Chapin Rose’s SB2124…
Adds pneumatic guns, spring guns, paint ball guns, and B-B guns that have specified features and that are brought to school, any school-sponsored activity or event, or any activity or event that bears a reasonable relationship to school to the list of objects for which a student shall be expelled for a period of not less than one year. Provides that expulsion for these types of guns may be modified by the superintendent and the superintendent’s determination may be modified by the school board on a case-by-case basis.
Check the bill text for the “specified features”…
Any pneumatic gun, spring gun, paint ball gun, or B-B gun that expels a single globular projectile not exceeding 0.18 of an inch in diameter, has a maximum muzzle velocity of less than 700 feet per second, or expels breakable paint balls containing washable marking colors.
* The Question: Your thoughts on this bill?
41 Comments
|
Illinois Policy ramps up spending
Monday, Mar 4, 2019 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Hmm…
And that doesn’t include what they’re spending on my website, or on other platforms like YouTube, Google, etc.
Click here to see the ads they’ve been running on Facebook. Unsurprisingly, the main focus is the progressive income tax.
28 Comments
|
* Press release…
Building on a strong team of diverse experts in their fields, Governor JB Pritzker announced the following personnel appointments:
Paula Basta will serve as Director of the Illinois Department of Aging (IDOA). Basta has dedicated her career to improving the lives of senior citizens and promoting women’s and LGBT rights. She currently serves at the director of senior services and health initiatives at the Chicago Housing Authority and teaches at the Loyola University School of Social Work. Basta came to the CHA after over 18 years at the Chicago Department of Family and Support Services, where she served as regional director of the Northeast (Levy) Senior Center from 2004 to 2018 and as the director of information and assistance from 2000 to 2004. Prior, Basta spent over four years as the executive director of H.O.M.E., Housing Opportunities & Maintenance for the Elderly, and nine as a social worker and the director of religious education at St. Clement Roman Catholic Church. She received her Master of Divinity from the McCormick Theological Seminary and her Bachelor of Science in social work from the University of Dayton. Basta was inducted to the Chicago LGBT Hall of Fame in 2009.
Ron Guerrier will serve as Chief Information Officer of the Illinois Department of Innovation and Technology (DoIT). Guerrier has more than 20 years of experience managing IT in the private sector and has served as chief information officer for multi-billion dollar companies since 2012. He last served as the CIO of Express Scripts, the nation’s largest pharmacy benefit manager, and also served the same role at Farmers Insurance Group from 2015 to 2018. Prior, Guerrier spent 17 years at Toyota North America, rising from an IT manager to division director to chief technology officer to vice president and chief information officer. He received his Master of Science in management from North Park University, his Bachelor of Science in finance from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and executive education certificates in information technology from the University of Chicago, University of California Berkeley, Boston University and Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Robert Muriel will serve as Director of the Illinois Department of Insurance (IDOI). Muriel is a civil and commercial lawyer with more than 20 years of experience representing small businesses and professionals in trials, appeals and arbitrations in state and federal courts. His core practice is civil and commercial litigation, including insurance coverage and bad faith claims, financial fraud claims, legal malpractice cases and consumer class action cases, including actions brought under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act. Muriel was formerly President of the Hispanic Lawyers Association of Illinois and President of the Alumni Board of Governors for Loyola University Chicago School of Law. He also has served on numerous civic boards, including serving on the Board of Directors for the AIDS Legal Council of Chicago, Almost Home Kids and the Executive Committee for the Alliance of Bar Associations for Judicial Screening. He received his Juris Doctor from the Loyola University School of Law and bachelor’s degrees in accounting and finance from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
22 Comments
|
Tax odds and ends
Monday, Mar 4, 2019 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Finke…
One issue the Republicans mostly sidestepped at the news conference was polling data that shows there is support among both Democrats and Republicans for a graduated tax.
Twice the Paul Simon Public Policy Institute polled people on the graduated income tax. To a certain extent, the results were pretty much what you’d expect. Self-described liberals and Democrats thought the idea was great. The margin was a little closer among people who called themselves moderates or independents, although support among those folks was still pretty overwhelming.
The really interesting result was among people who said they consider themselves to be conservatives or Republicans. Among conservatives, 49 percent were in favor of a graduated tax and 47 percent against. Among Republicans, the margin was 51 percent in favor and 44 percent against.
Now any individual poll can come up with oddball results, but the Paul Simon people found very similar results in polls conducted in consecutive years. Bottom line is that Republican voters may not be as opposed to the idea of a graduated tax as Republican lawmakers.
That’s true about rank-and-file Republican support for a graduated income tax in Illinois.
But the issue has been on the back burner forever, so it hasn’t yet been truly polarized by the two parties. If the measure does get on the ballot and big money is spent against it and Republicans come out publicly opposing it and it’s obviously backed by Democrats, that partisan split could very well change. It happens a lot.
* Sweeny…
Pritzker noted that other states around Illinois have graduated income taxes, mentioning Wisconsin and Iowa. In both of those states, however, low- and middle-income people pay a higher percentage of their income in state income taxes than Illinoisans do.
In Wisconsin, a married couple filing jointly and making $14,980 a year pays 5.84 percent in state income taxes; if they make $29,960 or more they pay 6.27 percent; the rate is 7.65 percent for couples making $336,200 and up.
In Iowa, a married couple making $14,382 a year pays 6.12 percent; if they make $31,960 they pay 6.8 percent; at $47,940 the rate kicks up to 7.92 percent, and if that couple earns $71,910 or more they pay 8.98 percent to the Hawkeye State.
For the kabillionth time, you have to look at effective tax rates, meaning the rate after deductions, exemptions, etc. A married Wisconsin couple who made $14,980 a year and filed jointly with two deductions would pay zero state income taxes. They’d face an effective tax rate of just 1.56 percent and pay $468 if they made $29,960.
The same is true of Iowa. Click here to play with that state’s effective rates.
The first thing Pritzker’s new Think Big group had better do is educate political writers about how to calculate effective state tax rates.
* And, finally…
A five-cent tax on single-use plastic bags could add up for the average family, based on current use rates.
Environmental groups have estimated 100 billion plastic bags are brought home by U.S. consumers a year — nearly one bag per person a day — or nearly 1,500 a year for a family of four.
The statewide five-cent bag tax proposed by Gov. J.B. Pritzker in his first budget address would bring in about $20 million a year, and it’s far from a done deal. But should it come to pass, it could add up to an additional $75 in annual taxes for a household bringing home 1,500 plastic bags a year.
Or, plastic bag use could fall, as it has in Chicago…
Before the tax went into effect Feb. 1, shoppers took home an average of 2.3 disposable bags every time they shopped at a big grocery store. After the tax went into effect, shoppers took home one fewer bag, according to the study.
And in the UK…
England was the last country in the U.K. to introduce a charge for single-use plastic bags. Wales was the first to do so, in 2011, followed by Northern Ireland in 2013 and Scotland in 2014. All saw plastic bag use decrease by 70-80% year-on-year.
And Israel…
On Jan. 1, 2017, Israel began requiring its supermarket chains to charge 3 cents for plastic bags. Since then, plastic bag use has dropped 80 percent, according to the country’s Environmental Protection Ministry.
While that means Illinois families may not actually wind up paying $75 a year in bag taxes, it also means the state may not raise $20 million from the tax, but that’s a rounding error on a rounding error. It’s essentially using a minuscule budget line to change behavior.
53 Comments
|
Happy Pulaski Day!
Monday, Mar 4, 2019 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Herald & Review…
Brigadier Gen. Casimir Pulaski was a Polish military officer who fought beside American colonists against the British during the Revolutionary War.
Born in Warsaw, Poland, on March 6, 1745, he was a cavalry officer and rebelled against the Polish King Stanislaw II, which forced him to exile in France. He met Benjamin Franklin, who recruited him to the colonies and the fight for independence. He offered his services as a private solider to Gen. George Washington. […]
Pulaski never made it to the land that would become Illinois prior to his 1779 death, but many Polish people did. Chicago was once home to the largest population of Poles outside of Warsaw, and Pulaski was a proud hero.
Mount Pulaski in Logan County, founded in 1836, is named in his honor.
* WBEZ…
As early as the 1930s, Polish Americans in Chicago lobbied for public recognition of Casimir Pulaski. Their first major victory was a declaration, in 1933, that the former “Crawford Road” in Chicago would now be “Pulaski Road.” […]
In the 1970s, the Polish American Congress in Chicago took up the cause of a statewide Casimir Pulaski holiday. In 1977, they succeeded in getting a law passed designating the first Monday in March “Casimir Pulaski Day.” This was only a commemorative day, meaning Illinois schools, public offices and banks stayed open. […]
The lobbying efforts simmered for years, and gathered momentum again in 1985 when State Senator Leroy Lemke introduced a bill in the Illinois Senate to make Casimir Pulaski Day a full public holiday. It would give public schools and some government offices a day off, at the governor’s discretion. […]
Dominic Pacyga says the timing suggests the bill got traction due to the recent passage, in 1983, of a national holiday honoring Martin Luther King, Jr., the slain civil rights activist. Lawmakers knew Martin Luther King Day would go into effect the next year, in 1986. Pacyga says the “white ethnic” community, including Poles, Jews, Italians, Greeks, Irish, wanted something similar. “There was a feeling the white ethnic community should also have a day, and in Illinois, it made sense to make it Pulaski Day, because the Polish community is so large in Chicago.”
Also, Jim Thompson was up for reelection in 1986, and this was seen back then as an effort to capture the white etnik “Reagan Democrats” vote. The Democrats may have passed the bill, but, as we say around here, governors own.
The holiday was made optional for schools in the 1990s and even CPS stays open now.
26 Comments
|
Don’t bogart that supply, my friends
Monday, Mar 4, 2019 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Tribune…
Medical marijuana growers, once banned from making political contributions, are now spending money to influence the expected legalization of recreational cannabis in Illinois in an effort to keep that market to themselves — at least temporarily.
Leading members of the industry have formed a political action committee, hired a former state senator as a lobbyist and begun contributing to political office holders.
The aim is to limit cultivation licenses being issued to competitors if recreational pot is legalized. Critics say that would create a market that benefits a small number of growers at the expense of retail marijuana stores and the public. And it runs counter to two new studies that find that demand will race past the current capacity.
* Press release…
Lawmakers sponsoring legislation to legalize adult-use cannabis in Illinois released a study today showing that demand is likely to far exceed what the state’s existing licensed growers can supply.
The study, commissioned by State Senator Heather Steans (D-Chicago) and State Rep. Kelly Cassidy, found that demand could rise as high as 550,000 pounds of cannabis per year, highlighting the need for Illinois to expand its existing medical cannabis market to both meet demand and to diversify, allowing for the participation of more minority business owners.
“For generations, government policy of mass incarceration increased racial disparities by locking up thousands of individuals for marijuana use or possession,” said State Senator Toi Hutchinson (D-Chicago Heights), the legislation’s chief co-sponsor in the Senate. “Now, as we are discussing legalization, it is of the utmost importance that we learn from these mistakes and acknowledge the lingering effects these policies continue to have in neighborhoods across this state. No conversation about legalization can happen absent that conversation.”
The study, performed by the consulting firm Freedman & Koski, examined the current adult-use market in Illinois and concluded that the existing industry could only supply between 35-54 percent of its demand.
“We’re not just trying to add diversity because it looks good. It’s not just diversity for diversity’s sake. It’s for equity’s sake; equity includes economics, it includes criminal justice,” said State Rep. Jehan Gordon-Booth, who is the chief co-sponsor of the legislation in the House. “We’re talking about specific communities that need to be made whole. When this is all normal and nice and people are making money, we will not have succeeded if black people and other people of color are shut out.”
A clearer picture of demand also provides a better estimate of revenue; based on the study’s results, Illinois could expect approximately between $440,000 and $670,000 annually, not including the excise tax imposed on cannabis cultivators.
“While we should not expect cannabis sales to be a one-stop solution to Illinois’ financial woes, it is encouraging to see evidence that we are on the brink of establishing a thriving, robust industry to meet the demands of many Illinoisans who have until now been turning to the criminal market,” said Steans, the legislation’s Senate sponsor. “Prohibition does not work, and legalizing adult-use cannabis will bring those sales into the light and meet an obvious demand among the people of our state.”
The study cautions that initial regulatory costs will keep legal prices above illicit market prices, leading some consumers to continue making illegal purchases. Within the first few years, however, initial regulatory costs will decrease; economies of scale will push prices down; and the regulated market will capture or displace the criminal market, according to the report.
The study is here.
* Tribune…
The legislators’ report is the second one to conclude that Illinois will have a marijuana shortage if the drug becomes legal for general use. Illinois NORML says the state has the most expensive marijuana in the country and is already seeing shortages of some products for medical customers.
The study suggested licensing more cultivators and allowing existing dispensaries to begin growing marijuana, since they have already been vetted and authorized by the state to handle the drug. […]
Lobbyist Tim McAnarney of Healthy and Productive Illinois, which opposes recreational marijuana, said the report’s projections suggest a burgeoning black market when the drug is legalized. Homegrown pot, which would be allowed under some legislation, could become a ruinous mainstay, he said.
“I would anticipate that once the product is legalized, once it’s being grown in people’s homes, increased use is going to be devastating to the youth of Illinois,” he said. “The more available it is, the more it’s going to be used.”
Dude. C’mon.
NORML’s study, still in its draft form, is here. Headline explained here.
49 Comments
|
Another day, another fact check
Monday, Mar 4, 2019 - Posted by Rich Miller
* From Gov. Pritzker’s budget address…
Our second option is to raise revenue with our current regressive flat income tax system and impose more flat taxes which fall disproportionately on the working poor and the middle class. This option could require imposing sales taxes on services, implementing a retirement tax, or raising the income tax overall by around 20%. Or all of the above. For a family earning $100,000, that means paying almost a thousand dollars more in income taxes, and their property taxes will continue their upward march as they always have.
* The BGA rated these claims “Mostly False”…
But experts told us that extending the [sales] tax to cover an array of services, such as landscaping, hair styling and laundry, could not only bring in more revenue but help make the sales tax less regressive and benefit those with less disposable income by providing a cushion to lower rates overall.
“As income rises, the share of your expenditures that are spent on services generally rises,” said David Merriman, an economist who heads the Fiscal Futures Project at the University of Illinois. […]
Pritzker would be correct about harming the poor and middle class if Illinois simply did away with the retirement income break in its entirety. But that’s not how it’s done by most states.
In general, states that tax retirement income nonetheless shield some of it from taxation. That’s the case in Indiana and Michigan, which, like Illinois, have flat-rate income taxes. Both neighboring states exempt Social Security income, and Michigan also allows thousands of dollars in deductions on pension and annuity benefits. […]
In his budget speech, Pritzker held out his graduated tax push as the only way to inject more fairness into a tax system currently charging everyone at the same rate. But during last year’s primary campaign, Pritzker himself floated a revenue-raising plan to make the single-rate system more progressive that would require legislative approval but no constitutional change.
Lots of woulda, coulda, shoulda in there.
* This is what the governor’s office sent to the BGA…
• Governor Pritzker is advocating to change the tax system because the system of flat taxes in place today as currently structured is regressive. That hurts working people more than it hurts the wealthy. Illinois taxes are flat, so raising taxes within the current system would mean that the burden falls disproportionately on working people. Our goal is to finally put a comprehensive graduated income tax system in place.
• By its nature, today’s existing flat taxes are regressive because all taxpayers are paying the same rate, regardless of how much they earn.
• The middle class and those striving to get there in Illinois pay more of the percentage of their income in taxes than upper class Illinoisans. In fact, according to ITEP, Illinois ranks as the 8th least equitable system in the country: https://itep.org/whopays/
• Without a fair tax, low-income families pay a higher percentage of their income toward taxes. Overall, taking into account all taxes Illinois families pay, the lowest 20% of income-earners, or those making less than $21,800 a year, pay 14.4% of their income toward taxes. The top 1%, or those earning more than $537,800, pay only 7.4% of their income toward taxes.
• This becomes clear when you look at families’ entire tax burden.
• Property taxes: In Illinois, the lowest 20% of income-earners, or those making less than $21,800 a year, pay 6% of their income toward property taxes. The top 1%, or those earning more than $537,400 a year, pay only 2.1% of their income in property taxes.
o Additionally, Illinois has some of the highest property taxes in the nation and studies have found that homeowners in low income areas are often paying the highest rates:https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/watchdog/taxdivide/
• Sales and excise taxes: In Illinois, the lowest 20% of income earners, or those making less than $21,800 a year, pay 4.8% of their income toward sales and excuse taxes. The top 1%, or those earning more than $537,400, pay only .8% of their income in sales and excise taxes.
• Between a flat income tax and property taxes, the tax burden already disproportionately falls on low and middle incomeIllinoisans.
• By its nature, a sales tax on services is also regressive because all taxpayers are paying the same rate, regardless of how much they earn. Raising taxes on services instead of a fair income tax would disproportionately impact the middle class and lower income families. Like the governor said, he does not support taxes that disproportionately impact low and middle income residents.
o States that have expanded their sales tax base, like Wisconsin that you mentioned, already have a fair tax system so their tax burden is already more equitable than Illinois.
▪ Wisconsin ranks 34th least equitable on the ITEP study cited above, compared to Illinois at 8th least equitable. (A higher number means a state is more equitable.)
• In order to tax retirement income in a progressive way, Illinois would need to amend the constitution to allow for a fair income tax. The governor is not pursuing taxing retirement income, but he is pursuing a fair income tax.
• During the campaign, the governor did not propose raising the flat tax with exemptions. He pointed to a plan already introduced by Sen. Don Harmon that attempts to create a progressive structure in a temporary way.
o However, amending the constitution to allow for a fair income tax is a much more comprehensive and permanent approach that would not be subject to a court challenge, which could not only delay implementation but means that it may never be enacted. This is why the governor is focused on this effort and is working with the General Assembly for a vote this session.
o What the governor proposed in his budget was a realistic long term solution to transform state finances and it could take effect in 18 months.
• Additionally, a fair income tax helps combat rising income inequality. For the past several decades, virtually all income growth has been made at the top income levels. A flat tax fails to capture that growth because the same rate applies to high and low income earners. While some states have taxcodes designed to tap into the wealth held by the top 1 percent, Illinois’ unfair flat tax rate continues to rely on taxes from those who have the least wealth in the state. A Fair Income Tax with lower rates for lower incomes and higher rates for higher incomes is needed to bring about tax fairness in Illinois and long-term, structural reform that produces stable and sustainable revenues and finally gets our fiscal house in order.
• A fair income tax also eases local property tax burdens and allows Illinois to invest more state dollars in public education. Increasing the state contribution to local governments and school districts eases the burden of local property taxes. According to the most recent data available from the National Center for Education Statistics, Illinois contributed just 24.9 percent of the total cost of public education in the 2014-2015 school year. Nationally, the average state contribution to elementary and secondary education is 46.6 percent.
o Neighboring states with a fair income tax system contribute a greater share of the overall cost of public education than Illinois:
• Iowa contributes 53.5 percent of the total cost to funding public education,
• Kentucky contributes 54.9 percent of the total cost to funding public education,
• Missouri contributes 32.5 percent of the total cost to funding public education, and
• Wisconsin contributes 45.9 percent of the total cost to funding public education.
• Finally, Governor Pritzker will work with the legislature to advance a fair tax amendment this session. As the discussion on the amendment moves forward, the rate structure will be negotiated with the General Assembly before a vote takes place so the public has a full and transparent understanding of the way forward.
The inevitable court challenges of high exemptions for retirees and graduated exemptions for everyone else are the administration’s best points. Tax hikes like those could be tied up in court for years and years.
Your thoughts?
44 Comments
|
* Everyone saw headlines like these last week…
* Tuesday, February 26, 5:25 pm: Chicago On Pace For Record Low Turnout In Mayoral Election: Barring a late surge in voting, that puts Chicago on pace for a turnout of about 30 percent to 32 percent, the worst municipal election turnout since 2007, when the city set a record low of 33 percent turnout.
* Tuesday, February 26, 11:44pm: Chicago appears to set voting record for low turnout
* Wednesday, February 27, 11:05 am: Low voter turnout attributed to disillusionment with leaders, drop in interest from midterms: That anemic total ranks among the lowest turnout levels recorded in a city election since it was 33 percent in 2007, when Richard M. Daley won his sixth and final term.
* Wednesday, February 27, 6:22 pm: Too Many Candidates, Poor Youth Turnout Blamed for Low Vote Totals in Chicago
* Scott Kennedy, however, was urging caution…
* And he was right…
* And those mail-in ballots are having an impact…
As more mail-in ballots from Tuesday’s election are counted, Ald. Roderick Sawyer (6th) has seen his already tenuous lead shrink even more.
Records from the Chicago Board of Elections show that, as of Friday, Sawyer — son of former Mayor Eugene Sawyer and head of the council’s Black Caucus — was holding onto 50.02 percent of the vote in the 6th Ward aldermanic race.
The combined tally of his two opponents — Richard Wooten and Deborah Foster-Bonner — was just four votes fewer than Sawyer’s 5,020 votes. Foster-Bonner was in second place, with more than 31 percent of the vote.
11 Comments
|
Poll: Lightfoot leads Preckwinkle 58-30
Monday, Mar 4, 2019 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Press release…
Stand for Children IL PAC today released the results of the poll it commissioned for the Chicago mayoral run-off. The poll, conducted February 27-28, included 400 likely Chicago voters.
When asked who they would vote for if the election were held today, 58% of respondents chose Lori Lightfoot and 30% chose Toni Preckwinkle. 12% were undecided.
“Stand for Children has been going door to door to learn what Chicago voters believe the next mayor needs to do so that our schools best serve the children of this city, especially those who are traditionally overlooked and under-tapped because of their skin color, ZIP code, first language, or disability,” said Mimi Rodman, Stand IL PAC chairperson. “Both candidates have made education a priority of their campaigns. The question is which of them can truly deliver and put words into action.”
And if you didn’t know before, now you know why Preckwinkle is already up with negative TV ads. She has to drag Lightfoot down to her own level before she can build herself up.
* Be very careful with these crosstabs because the sample size is on the small side…
Fairbank, Maslin, Maullin, Metz & Associates (FM3) recently completed a survey of likely April 2019 voters in the City of Chicago, sponsored by Stand for Children. The survey shows Lori Lightfoot begins the race for Mayor with a commanding lead over Toni Preckwinkle. Both candidates are highly recognized and viewed favorably, but more than half of voters say they will back Lightfoot in April.
Some of the specific findings of the survey include the following:
• Both candidates are viewed favorably by a majority of voters. Sixty-four percent view Lightfoot favorably and 53 percent have a favorable opinion of Preckwinkle. However, Preckwinkle also has a greater number of detractors. While only ten percent of voters view Lightfoot unfavorably, more than one-third have an unfavorable opinion of Preckwinkle (37%).
• Voters favor Lightfoot over Preckwinkle by nearly a two-to-one margin. As shown in Figure 1, 58 percent of voters say they will support Lightfoot in the upcoming April election, while thirty percent back Toni Preckwinkle and 12 percent remain undecided.
Lightfoot leads among essentially every major subgroup of the Chicago electorate, including:
o 60% of women and 56% of men;
o 54% of voters under age 50, 68% of those aged 50-64, and 55% of those age 65 and over;
o 60% of college-educated voters and 55% of those without a four-year degree;
o 62% of liberals, 55% of moderates, and 54% of conservatives; and
o 62% of white voters, 59% of Latinos, and a 49% plurality of African-Americans. Lightfoot’s 49% to 40% lead among African-Americans is one of her narrowest of any demographic group.
Lightfoot also wins majority support from the backers of every major candidate that was defeated in the primary election – including a 54% to 38% margin of support among those who backed Bill Daley.
Survey Methodology: From February 27-28, 2019, FM3 completed 400 telephone interviews (on landlines and cellphones) with randomly-selected Chicago voters likely to participate in the April 2019 election. The survey’s margin of error is +/- 4.9% at the 95% confidence interval. Due to rounding, not all results will sum to 100%.
* By the way, I was out with some folks having dinner Saturday night and one of them, a Chicago resident, received a live polling call. The pollster tested negative messages on both candidates.
I took some quick notes. The pollster tested Preckwinkle’s tax increases, an allegation that she’d made the county’s healthcare system worse, took money from Ed Burke, was a Joe Berrios ally and is a party boss who took TIF developer money.
Lightfoot, the recipients were told, made money representing big corporations, was censured over a deportation and is a faux reformer. Lightfoot pretends to be an outsider, but took appointments from Daley and Emanuel.
I don’t know who was behind that particular poll, but I assume everybody and their sister is in the field these days.
67 Comments
|
You’re on your own, boys and girls
Monday, Mar 4, 2019 - Posted by Rich Miller
* My weekly syndicated newspaper column…
A lobbyist who works for a business-related organization asked me a question the other day that I’ve been hearing a lot lately: “Who’s going to be the stopper now?”
What he meant was, who in the legislative process can be counted on these days to help derail bills which are deemed hostile to business interests?
The reason for the question was pretty obvious. Before this year, the last time House Speaker Michael Madigan allowed a minimum wage increase through his chamber that he knew would be signed into law was 13 years ago. And that bill only increased the minimum wage by a mere 25 cents an hour each year for four years. This year’s legislation that he supported will raise the minimum wage by $2.75 an hour in just 12 months starting next Jan. 1 and then eventually go all the way up to $15 an hour.
Gov. J.B. Pritzker set the tone for the spring session by jamming that bill through both chambers and now business types are reeling and searching for a way to at least slow down the rest of this progressive train.
It may eventually happen on its own. Pritzker has a super-ambitious legislative agenda and legislators could simply grow weary. Anyone who’s been around this game a while has seen this play out time and time again.
But that most certainly isn’t the case now. Pritzker has the momentum and he knows it and appears intent on trying to use it to his full advantage.
The simple truth is, business groups lost the 2018 election. Badly. And elections have consequences.
Some folks had argued as far back as last summer that business leaders should step up and take a role in shaping the debate over a potential minimum wage increase.
The wage regionalization argument didn’t just come out of nowhere. It has its roots in a New York bill signed into law back in 2016 which put Upstate and the suburbs on a slower path to $15 an hour than New York City. And Illinois already has mandated regionalized pay scales within its prevailing wage laws. A case could be made that a system which works pretty well for workers in the trades should be good for all workers.
So, the argument went, force candidate Pritzker to address the regionalization concept whenever he traveled to Downstate campaign events. Inject the concept into the broader public debate early in the process, long before any final legislative plans were set in stone.
But that idea was ultimately rejected, either because the groups were dead-set against any minimum wage hike and were fully supporting Gov. Bruce Rauner’s re-election, or out of fear or inertia.
And then Pritzker won by 16 points and interpreted his victory as an overwhelming mandate for progressive change, rather than as others saw it: Yet another repudiation election inextricably connected to yet another national “wave.”
The most dejected Illinoisan on election night in 2016 wasn’t a Hillary Clinton supporter, it was Gov. Rauner. Up until then, he had privately bragged that the Democrats had better get used to having him around because Clinton was going to win and that surely meant a backlash in 2018 and he’d be re-elected.
Oops.
And here we are. Speaker Madigan has not shown any willingness to at least overtly resume his role as the guy who would help out business interests in a pinch. Senate President John Cullerton is a liberal who believes in these things. And once a progressive bill gets to the governor’s desk, he’s gonna sign that thing as sure as you’re born.
If they’re going to have any success at beating back some of these bills, the business lobbyists will have to fully engage in the committee process rather than count on a single person to have their backs.
The simple fact is that some Democratic committee chairs could be more amenable to arguments than their committee membership.
And the governor’s inexplicable lack of legislative staff could work to the opponents’ advantage. Pritzker doesn’t yet have enough people on staff to read all these bills, let alone work them.
Most of the big stuff that gets a lot of attention and is prominently pushed by Pritzker is probably going to fly. Maybe not everything, but most. The rest of the progressive agenda will come down to endless fights in the trenches.
The left has enthusiasm, a governor and a favorable national political climate at its back. The other side has process experience and the natural fear of unknown consequences.
* Related…
* Rent control gains momentum after Chicago voters again give it thumbs up
37 Comments
|
* My Crain’s Chicago Business column…
We all know House Speaker Michael Madigan is vastly unpopular in Illinois. His record-long tenure, the sorry state of Illinois’ finances and the fact that Republicans spent tens of millions of dollars to make sure voters connected him to all our troubles certainly contributed.
But according to a poll taken in December, pharmaceutical companies are even more unpopular than Madigan.
The poll of 635 likely voters taken by Blue Sun Campaigns found 57 percent of Illinoisans say they have an unfavorable opinion of Madigan, while 65 percent have an unfavorable opinion of pharmaceutical companies. The pharmaceutical companies are even more unpopular in Illinois than President Donald Trump, whose unfavorable rating here was 62 percent in December.
Imagine that.
This should be no surprise since we’ve all read stories about skyrocketing prescription drug prices. There have been high-profile exposés like the ones about Martin “Pharma Bro” Shkreli, who jacked up the price of a vital drug for some HIV/AIDS patients by 5,000 percent.
And who could miss the many stories about diabetics who have cut back or stopped taking insulin altogether because prices have more than doubled since 2012?
The poll found almost a third of Illinoisans (32 percent) said they or a family member had “struggled to afford prescription drugs” in the past year. And another 27 percent said they or a family member hadn’t filled a prescription in the past year because the price was too high.
So, it’s probably no surprise that
Click here to read the rest before commenting, please. Thanks.
* Related…
* Drug industry takes heat in legislative hearing over spiraling prices
18 Comments
|
|
Comments Off
|
|
Comments Off
|
|
Support CapitolFax.com
Visit our advertisers...
...............
...............
...............
...............
...............
...............
...............
|
   
|
Hosted by MCS
SUBSCRIBE to Capitol Fax
Advertise Here
Mobile Version
Contact Rich Miller
|
