* Lots of controversial vetoes today, including a bill to expand the child care assistance program, a pay raise for folks who care for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities, a proposal to give social service providers notice of a contract termination (including when the state agency doesn’t have an appropriation to pay the contracts), and a bill backed by the Illinois Nurses Association on contracting out prison health care services. Click here to see them all.
* I’ll post react as it comes in. Let’s start with this one, mainly because it has a catchy headline…
Rauner vetoes expansion of program that helps working mothers on Women’s Equality Day
SPRINGFIELD- A proposal led by Assistant Majority Leader Kimberly A. Lightford that would have made child care more accessible to working parents and parents seeking a higher education was vetoed by Governor Bruce Rauner today.
“I’m disappointed that the governor chose to turn his back on parents working to give their children a better life,” Lightford said. “This legislation was meant to empower hardworking people and help them reach self-sufficiency.”
Senate Bill 730 increased the income eligibility threshold for the Child Care Assistance Program to 200 percent of the Federal Poverty Level in 2016 and 250 percent by 2017. The change would have allowed thousands of families to qualify for the program.
Furthermore, the initiative would have expanded the program’s priority populations to include homeless children, children engaged in the child welfare system and families who need child care assistance to participate in education and training activities.
“We’re trying to give parents a leg up, many of whom are women,” Lightford said. “We should be investing in people who are already on the road to success who need a little help, because that’s how we begin to elevate our state together.”
The CCAP program provides financial assistance for working parents and students who need day care. Last year, many of those parents were left without child care after the governor made devastating cuts to the program.
* And here’s one from SEIU Healthcare…
Following is the statement of SEIU Healthcare Illinois Vice President Brynn Seibert in response to the breaking news that Bruce Rauner has vetoed Senate Bill 730:
“Bruce Rauner has done so much to endanger quality child care in Illinois and today is no different. Our hope was that he would take a chance to fix what he has broken. But his veto today of Senate Bill 730 shows that he is determined to create a dimmer and dimmer future for the children of Illinois and kill jobs in the process.”
“When Rauner unilaterally enacted his cuts to child care last summer, several experts, including his top administrator for the program, predicted the results would be “devastating.” And they were right. The program to help working families enter the workforce with quality child care had 55,000 fewer children participating than a year before, according to recent figures.
“Senate Bill 730 was an attempt to fix what Rauner broke and would have added an estimated 52,000 children to the program at a time when parents increasingly can’t afford child care and caregivers are being paid poverty wages. The vetoed legislation also would have provided a path out of homelessness or the child welfare system for many children.
“In recent days, we’ve seen Bruce Rauner pour his millions into the campaign coffers of candidates who vow to stand up for his special interest agenda that does nothing to fix our ongoing budget crisis, much less find solutions for the child care crisis facing Illinois. If only he found time to consider the future of Illinois children, instead of focusing on the future of a political agenda that has done us such harm.”
…Adding… Ray Graham Association…
Governor Rauner today vetoed House Bill 5931, legislation to address a workforce retention crisis among direct-support personnel (DSPs) who work with people with developmental disabilities. The community-based agencies that employ DSPs and the family members of the individuals with disabilities who they serve say Rauner’s veto will only deepen the crisis that has already put the state of Illinois in violation of a federal consent decree, forced DSPs to work for poverty wages and jeopardized quality of care for vulnerable children and adults.
“Illinois ranks 45th of the 50 states in spending for community services for people with developmental disabilities,” said Kim Zoeller, CEO of Ray Graham Association of DuPage County. “This workforce crisis is so great that Illinois is now in violation of the federal Ligas consent decree that ensures access to appropriate services. We are extremely disappointed by Governor Rauner’s veto.”
State government contracts with community agencies to provide day and residential services and supports for 27,000 people with developmental disabilities. But the community agencies are unable to attract and retain DSPs because for eight years the state has not increased their reimbursement rate, resulting in an average wage of just $9.35 an hour—below the federal poverty line for a family of four—for the 34,000 DSPs statewide.
Agencies across Illinois are currently unable to fill 1 in 4 staff positions.
“Our service system is crumbling,” Trinity Services CEO Art Dykstra said. “We are getting to the point where we will have to ask families to consider taking their loved ones home on weekends because we can’t adequately staff the houses.”
HB 5931 was intended to remedy this crisis by raising wages.
“My son is completely dependent on DSPs for his daily care,” said George Hardwidge, one of many family members who advocated for the wage bill. “When I watch what they do for my son and others with disabilities, it’s clear what they are paid simply isn’t enough.”
Even longtime DSPs are being pushed out of the field. Erica Hall has done the work for 14 years and said she has to work overtime just to make ends meet.
“We’re dedicated. We want individuals with disabilities to have stability,” Hall said. “But working 70 hours a week means you’re stressed out and not getting much sleep. How do you take care of another person when you’re not taking care of yourself?”
The coalition of agencies, family members and DSPs collected and delivered to Governor Rauner thousands of postcards urging him to sign the bill. The coalition will now mobilize those supporters to urge legislators to override Rauner’s veto.
“After almost a decade of no increase for staff, it is time to recognize the DSP’s commitment and value to helping those who need the help,” said Carl M. La Mell, President of Clearbrook in Arlington Heights.
Mayor Emanuel flubbed a chance to take batting practice on the topic that has been the subject of so much South Side hand-wringing and North Side schadenfreude this week: the rebranding of Sox Park thanks to a corporate naming rights deal with mortgage lender Guaranteed Rate.
Perhaps thinking of his relationship with Sox owner Jerry Reinsdorf, Emanuel initially was circumspect when asked by WBEZ reporter Lauren Chooljian what he thought about calling the stadium Guaranteed Rate Field.
“I’m going to focus on my day job, that’s all,” he said. “Look, that’s a decision for them to make. What’s important is, obviously, the team does well and continue to make the city proud. I will — let me say this on behalf of the Reinsdorf family, both with the Bulls and also with the Sox, they’re incredibly generous in giving back to the community.”
Um, maybe he just didn’t want to make some of his constituents more miserable than they already were. Sheesh, man.
Sox fans love to criticize our own team. I’ve vented here myself. But if Cub fans join the fray, we get a bit ticked off. Go back to your publicly drunken little blue teddy bear fantasy world.
* So, let’s look on the bright side with Steve Daniels…
The collective reaction of the town seemed to be: Really? This is the best the White Sox could do?
But, in between snickers, consider this. If the teams we root for and invest our time and dollars in are going to sell the naming rights to their sports stadiums to businesses, isn’t it at least a little refreshing that a local success story will adorn one of them?
Since its launch in 1999, Guaranteed Rate has grown into the 16th largest mortgage lender nationally, according to industry trade publication Inside Mortgage Finance. It’s the eighth largest if you leave out companies that make loans originated by outside brokers and mortgage banks. (Guaranteed Rate’s people originate all of the company’s loans.)
It managed to survive the worst housing bust in decades when dozens of firms like it failed.
Guaranteed Rate employs about 1,200 locally, more than 700 in its Ravenswood headquarters, and 3,200 across the country. It has 168 offices across the country. The company is originating about $2 billion in loans each month, growing at about 20 percent a year, according to founder and CEO Victor Ciardelli III.
He expects the company to make $21 billion to $22 billion in mortgages this year. It made $18 billion last year.
Ciardelli is an unusual character. He doesn’t come off as a slick corporate guy. He grew up in west suburban Oak Brook and bounced around for awhile before figuring out what he wanted to do. He’s driven and has ambitions beyond most mortgage banks. Hence, the White Sox deal. Hence, the unusual TV ad budget.
This came to mind when the senator currently holding her seat, Mark Kirk, said Barack Obama was “acting like a drug dealer in chief” and Kirk’s opponent, Tammy Duckworth, called the remark “unhinged,” which Kirk denounced as an attack on all stroke survivors everywhere.
“For people that have strokes, they can make tremendous comebacks,” Kirk said.
Some can. Others can be gravely impaired. Which group Kirk belongs to is open to debate. He claims he is recovered enough to do his job though, it seems, not so much that he can be criticized without immediately ducking for cover behind his disability.
You can’t have your cake and eat it too. You can’t both insist that you are a fully capable, functioning adult ready to perform your governmental duties then collapse weeping and pointing at your boo-boo when someone says something mean about you. […]
The question whether his stroke incapacitated him further is one the electorate is allowed to ask. I sat next to him at the Dante Awards a year ago May, and while I didn’t give him a physical, he seemed pushed to the limits of his endurance by the demands of eating lunch. This, I hasten to say, is not an indictment of all people who have had strokes everywhere, but an observation specific to Kirk on a certain day.
While I agree with much of what Steinberg wrote, Kirk has trouble eating because he can only use one arm. So, that hit was not cool.
Democratic U.S. Senate challenger Tammy Duckworth has fired back at Republican Sen. Mark Kirk, suggesting her opponent was hiding behind his stroke and calling that “shameful.”
The comment, made while campaigning in Decatur on Thursday, came a day after Kirk accused Duckworth of mocking stroke victims when she characterized him as “unhinged” in a Tuesday speech.
The story so far: Duckworth was referring to Kirk’s likening of President Barack Obama to the nation’s “drug dealer in chief” for a $400 million payment in January’s Iran prisoner release deal. Kirk suffered a major stroke in 2012, and Duckworth assigned a term to him defined as “mentally deranged.” Kirk then said Duckworth was “so desperate to run for office that she would denigrate any stroke victim in America and make fun of them, and that’s awful.”
On Thursday, Duckworth was asked about Kirk’s statement. “Nothing could be further from the truth. In fact, his irrational comments pre-date his stroke,” said Duckworth, referring to a string of Kirk exaggerations that came to light before the November 2010 U.S. Senate election. […]
“The fact of the matter is, he’s not been able to accomplish much of anything from before he had his stroke. And for him to use his stroke as something to hide behind is really shameful because there’s a lot of people — you know, neither one of us are victims. We have both recovered from disability. And to hide behind that, your ineffectiveness as a senator, behind that, is pretty shameful,” she said.
Governor Bruce Rauner and Anne Melissa Dowling, Acting Director of the Illinois Dept. of Insurance, today announced two actions taken by the administration to help Illinoisans find lost life insurance money through the launch of the free Life Policy Locator Service and signing House Bill 4633 into law.
“I applaud Director Dowling and her staff for their efforts to make it easier for Illinoisans to access life insurance policy information, ensuring they can more quickly receive the benefits they are owed,” said Governor Rauner. “Updating our antiquated technology to increase employee efficiency and provide better customer service to the taxpayers that interact with state government has been one of my top priorities since coming into office, and our administration will continue to pursue efforts like the Life Policy Locator Service to bring state government into the 21st Century.”
The Life Policy Locator Service through the Dept. of Insurance (DOI) helps executors, legal representatives, or members of the deceased person’s immediate family find a life insurance policy or annuity contract left by a deceased loved one and serves to bridge the gap between insurance companies and Illinois citizens who think they may be listed as a beneficiary.
“Many times finding life insurance policies can be difficult and time consuming after a loved one’s death,” said Dowling. “But with this new free service, consumers can request help from the Illinois Department of Insurance to simplify the process of locating lost life insurance policies. This search service eliminates the confusion of trying to locate missing life insurance policies or annuity contracts and helps get those benefits to the intended beneficiary.”
After the necessary information is submitted, DOI will contact all state-licensed life insurance companies asking them to search their records for any life insurance policies or annuity contracts insuring the decedent. If a policy is found, that insurance company will contact the beneficiary to complete the claim.
In addition, today Governor Rauner signed House Bill 4633 into law. The legislation creates the Unclaimed Life Insurance Benefits Act and requires insurers to run an initial, and then semi-annual, check against the Death Master File to determine if an insured has passed away. Insurers will be allowed to access the Life Policy Locator to help streamline the process and comply with the new law.
Finally, Governor Rauner and Director Dowling called on the General Assembly and the Treasurer to stop contingency arrangements with private finder companies. The Treasurer’s Office has paid these companies millions of dollars over the past several years, funds which would otherwise be put towards the pension systems, to locate unclaimed life insurance policies. With the launch of the free Life Policy Locator Service and the enactment of HB 4633, these arrangements should no longer be necessary. The savings will result in millions of dollars for the pension funds.
Illinoisans can learn more about the Lost Life Policy Locator Service, by visiting the DOI website at www.insurance.illinois.gov.
HB4633 is effective January 1, 2017.
Seems like a gratuitous shot at the treasurer, but at least he signed it.
Illinois’s next big bond deal sounds like a municipal-market oxymoron: the worst-rated state in the nation is offering more than half a billion dollars of AAA debt.
The $573 million of securities the state plans to sell Thursday are secured by a stream of sales-tax revenue that’s diverted to investors, earning the deal the highest ranking from S&P Global Ratings. That’s seven steps above the state’s general-obligation debt, which is backed only by the government’s guaranty to pay what it owes.
“We expect the state of Illinois’s sales-tax bonds to fare better than the state of Illinois’s GO bonds, primarily due to the substantial support from the designated sales tax,” said Richard Ciccarone, the Chicago-based president of Merritt Research Services LLC, which analyzes municipal finances. “However, they will suffer. It will extract a higher borrowing penalty than would normally be expected for such a high-rated bond issue because of the chronic financial pressures.”
The sale went better than expected, but the cost was still higher than other states with AAA ratings.
Illinois sold nearly $549 million of revenue bonds in competitive bidding on Thursday, dodging a steep market penalty the financially struggling state has paid for its general obligation bonds.
The Build Illinois bonds, backed by the state’s sale tax revenue, have high-quality credit ratings of AAA from Standard & Poor’s and AA-plus from Fitch Ratings versus Illinois’ low-investment-grade GO ratings, which are the weakest among the 50 states.
Illinois has a huge $111 billion unfunded pension liability and a chronic budget deficit. It was the only state without a complete fiscal 2016 budget due to a political impasse.
Bank of America Merrill Lynch won the biggest chunk of the bond issue - nearly $187 million of tax-exempt refunding bonds.
The pricing resulted in a spread over Municipal Market Data’s benchmark triple-A yield scale for 10-year bonds of 48 basis points, about 20 basis points narrower than the state’s last tax-exempt Build Illinois bond sale in June 2013.
The spread was also almost 3.5 times narrower than Illinois’ 166 basis-point spread over the scale for 10-year GO bonds.
…Adding… From the governor’s office…
Hi there –
Wanted to send you this statement for bond sale post.
STATEMENT: We were pleased with strong interest from the public finance community that enabled the State to borrow at historically low interest rates – and by cutting interest rates in half on some of our outstanding Build Illinois bonds, we will provide taxpayers $56 million in savings without extending debt service payments.
* One of Chicago’s biggest problems is its over-regulation of small businesses, particularly very small one or two-person start-ups. So pardon me if I don’t get too excited by this…
Nearly four years after Chicago aldermen crafted a new law regulating food trucks, an investigation by the Chicago Sun-Times and ABC7 Chicago’s I-Team has found the rules are frequently broken with violators seldom facing any consequences because enforcement by Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s administration is so lax.
Under the ordinance Emanuel proposed and the Chicago City Council approved in 2012, the city designated 37 “mobile food vehicle stands” across the city. The stands are supposed to be about 40 feet long — enough space for about two trucks. No other trucks are allowed to park in the same block outside of a stand. And the food trucks aren’t allowed to operate at the same location for more than two hours at a time.
Is anybody getting sick from the food? Are customers complaining about the quality? Are any brick and mortar restaurants going out of business because of the competition? Are there any serious problems as a result of this other than a little parking situation?
No idea, because it’s not in the story. It’s just a needlessly complicated city ordinance that isn’t being fully obeyed.
The good folks at Airbnb are out with a study on how fast their business is expanding in the Midwest, and it inadvertently may have provided some ammunition for City Council critics of how the house-sharing service is changing the city.
The study, conducted July 1, 2015, to this June 30, found that, not unexpectedly, business is booming, with the number of nights someone used Airbnb to get a room up 91 percent over last year in Chicago and even more in smaller markets such as Indianapolis, Columbus, Ohio, Kansas City and Milwaukee.
What struck me, though, is the median number of nights hosted in that year by service providers: 38 nights, well over a month in which someone other than the owner was staying in the house or apartment that was being rented. The typical host here earned $4,300 from Airbnb in that year—a figure that could be far higher in some cases. […]
But downtown Ald. Brendan Reilly has a much different take.
“These are professional operators,” Reilly emailed me after reviewing a copy of the report. “So much for Airbnb’s laughably false ‘it’s all about the occasional nightly rental in my second bedroom to help pay rent’ narrative. . . .Looks like ’sharing’ remains incredibly lucrative for Airbnb in Chicago despite the new ‘industry-killing’ law on the books.”
Look, if the Airbnb folks are causing real problems in their neighborhoods (and some are), then address that and do something about it. If somebody wants to rent out their own home a few nights a month, why get everybody’s shorts in such a tight knot?
*** UPDATE *** Some good news on Rep. Mike Zalewski’s Facebook page…
On November 18 of last year, Noelle and Derrick came to see me in my district office. They run craft distilleries here. Our state happens to be gaining national notoriety for this particular industry. Illinois does this well.
We had a good conversation and it turned out Illinois law was preventing Noelle and Derrick from growing their small business. We drafted a bill, filed it, got input from stakeholders. Some stuff stayed in, some came out and ultimately it passed General Assembly. It’s my expectation that Governor Bruce Rauner will sign it later today and it’ll become law. And I thank him for that.
There’ll be no massive needle-moving as a result of #SB2797. Its effect won’t show up on graphs and charts and in commercials. But it’s real and It’ll help small businesses thrive. And we can all drink to that.
Declines in state support for public universities have helped reshape the geography of public college admissions, leading many students to attend universities far from home, where they pay higher, out-of-state tuition. An analysis of migration patterns among college freshmen shows the states students leave each year and where they go.
* Keep in mind that this is 2014 data, so it predates the impasse. The situation is likely much worse now. According to the NYT, 2,117 students came to Illinois for public college in 2014 and 16,461 left Illinois for other states. The main exit ramps that year…
* Yesterday’s Chicago Tribune editorial board debate between the four candidates for Illinois comptroller was quite spirited.
But check out this claim by Chicago City Clerk Susana Mendoza about appointed incumbent Leslie Munger…
“Her campaign chairman is the actual mayor who passed Right to Work legislation, the only piece of Right to Work legislation in the entire state of Illinois to pass, and it happens to be in her own home town. One of the central issues of Gov. Rauner’s Turnaround Agenda. She’s not fought against the Turnaround Agenda. She’s championed the Turnaround Agenda.”
Munger claimed the allegation was “false” and said her campaign manager did no such thing.
Um, this wasn’t about the manager, it was about the chairman. And Mendoza was right about that and repeated it several times.
* In an attempt to show her independence, Mendoza claimed that she “helped chair” the House’s Blagojevich impeachment committee. While she helped sponsor the resolution, she merely served as an “alternate member” of the actual committee.
Munger said she also heard from the governor over her decision to delay paychecks for lawmakers, saying Rauner argued nobody should get paid during the budget impasse.
Wait. I thought Gov. Rauner was solidly in favor of paying state workers during the impasse. Somebody isn’t telling the truth.
* Another attempt by Munger to demonstrate her independence…
At the top of the list was Munger’s refusal to follow the governor’s orders to withhold so-called “fair share” fees from unions, as he instructed in an executive order shortly after taking office in 2015. Those are the fees government workers must pay to unions to cover the cost of collective bargaining even if an employee chooses not to join a union. After consulting with Democratic Attorney General Lisa Madigan, the speaker’s daughter, Munger said withholding the fees would violate federal law.
“I believe she has not stood up to Gov. Rauner,” said Mendoza, a former state lawmaker who’s in her second term as city clerk. “The one time she mentioned was about two weeks into her job, and I feel like it was a big surprise even to the governor.”
If it was such a big surprise to the governor, then wouldn’t that support Munger’s claim?
* And they’re both sticking with their parties on the impasse…
“We cannot get to a balanced budget without a growing economy,” Munger said of Rauner’s so-called turnaround agenda. “I think you have to do it.”
Asked if Democrats should bend in their opposition, Mendoza said they would not give in to Rauner’s proposals that would “sacrifice the hardworking men and women in this state.”
* I just don’t understand why the Independent Maps folks made the Illinois Auditor General part of the redistricting process when the Illinois Constitution clearly states that constitutional amendments via citizens’ initiative shall be limited to stuff contained in the legislative article. The Auditor General isn’t in the legislative article.
Judge Mary Mikva, while sympathetic to the Independent Maps’ 2014 effort, clearly warned them back then that their attempt to include remap participants who were outside the scope of Article IV was a very big problem. Yet, they did it again this time by making the auditor general an integral part of their plan. So, is it any wonder why a majority of the Supreme Court teed off on that single aspect?
The reformers spent millions of dollars and expended untold hours of human resources at the local level gathering signatures, and yet they couldn’t read those simple tea leaves provided by Mikva? The remap reformers should’ve known better than to tempt the fates. An abundance of caution should’ve been in order.
If some angry Republicans are right, the majority would’ve found another, more unexpected way to declare this thing unconstitutional. That’s entirely possible. But, for crying out loud, the reformers were given a decent road map in 2014 and they didn’t follow it.
* So, next time (if there is a next time, and I’m betting there will be because this is a great campaign issue for the Republicans - so much so that there are some Democrats who believe the remap reform language was designed to fail), how about following the letter of the Constitution? Did nobody learn anything from the pension reform debacle? When the justices are so inclined, they stick to strict constructionism.
*** UPDATE 1 *** As subscribers were warned earlier this week, the governor has appointed three new TRS board members. Martin Noven, Laura Pearl and Anne Marie Splitstone were all appointed this morning. So, the governor can more easily block this move today.
*** UPDATE 3 *** This chart is in today’s TRS package. I’m told by the governor’s office and a Democratic legislative source that it means the additional cost to the state in the coming fiscal year would be $421 million. Wow…
*** UPDATE 4 *** Chicago resident Martin Noven is not at the TRS meeting. I’m told he will withdraw his nomination this afternoon.
*** UPDATE 5 *** The motion was approved. Here comes the big hit, folks, although I would expect a possible legal challenge because of the Open Meetings Act stuff.
The board that oversees the Teachers Retirement System is scheduled to vote on whether to lower the expected rate of return on investments, a move Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner’s office has warned could blow a massive hole into the state’s already shaky finances.
The board will convene in Springfield on Friday morning to consider the change. When the board last altered the assumption from 8 percent to 7.5 percent in 2014, the state ended up on the hook for an additional $200 million in pension payments.
It’s an added cost state government can ill afford after going more than a year without a full budget. The Rauner administration suggests it could lead to deeper cuts and the need for even higher taxes down the road.
The TRS board meeting begins at 10 o’clock this morning. Our friends at BlueRoomStream.com will be streaming it live, so click here if you’re interested.
* The governor was asked about the pending TRS vote yesterday. He said he didn’t want a decision to be “rushed” and acted upon “behind closed doors” by a “partial” board. But TRS usually acts in August on these recommendations, the meetings are not private and Rauner has allowed the board’s three vacancies to go unfilled to date.
There had been word earlier this week that the governor would finally fill the three TRS board vacancies before the meeting, but it didn’t play out (at least, not yet). Plans change in this business.
* As I told subscribers yesterday, there is some potential controversy with the TRS board’s agenda. They changed the document yesterday morning after I wrote that they didn’t have the assumed rate of return listed as an action item. A memo from Georgia Man, Chief Compliance Officer and Deputy General Counsel for the governor was sent out late yesterday afternoon…
As you know, the Teachers’ Retirement System (TRS) scheduled a board meeting to be held on Friday, August 26, 2016. The publicly posted agenda included items for informational purposes and items for which action will be taken, the latter of which were noted with asterisks. That agenda included “Review Assumed Rate of Return” as an item under the Executive Director’s Report, but did not indicate that any action would be taken on that item. Then, on Thursday, August 25, 2016, after media inquiries, the agenda was modified to indicate that action will be taken on the “Review Assumed Rate of Return” item.
As an initial matter, the second agenda posted on Thursday, August 26, 2016 must be disregarded. The Open Meetings Act requires an agenda to be publicly posted at least 48 hours before the meeting. 5 ILCS 120/2.02. The Attorney General has advised that a public body, including TRS, may not change its publicly posted agenda within 48 hours of the meeting. Illinois Open Meetings Act, Frequently Asked Questions for Public Bodies, Ill. Att’y Gen., at p. 5 (Jan. 8, 2013) (hereinafter, “OMA FAQs”) (“A public body cannot change the agenda less than 48 hours before the meeting.”). Therefore, the second agenda posted on Thursday, August 25, 2016 is not compliant with the Open Meetings Act. (It could also be argued that because the initial agenda was removed, the TRS board meeting is no longer in compliance with the Open Meetings Act at all.)
Further, the Open Meetings Act prohibits the TRS board from taking action on the “Review Assumed Rate of Return” item at its meeting on August 26, 2016. The Act permits a public body to “consider” an item not set forth on the agenda (5 ILCS 120/2.02), but Illinois courts and the Attorney General have held that a public body may not take final action on such an item at that meeting. See, e.g., Rice v. Board of Trustees of Adams County, 326 Ill. App. 3d 1120 (4th Dist. 2002) (holding that “consideration of” an item of new business not included on the agenda for the meeting is limited to deliberation and discussion and does not include taking action on such item) and OMA FAQs at p. 4 (advising that the Act “does not permit the taking of a vote on such a matter at that meeting”).
As the court in Rice held, the purpose of the Act is to ensure that the people are informed as to the conduct of public business. The initial TRS agenda specifically indicated that action would not be taken on the “Review Assumed Rate of Return” item. Changing the agenda within the 48-hour period prior to the meeting is an admission to that effect. Taking action on an item not marked for action on the publicly posted agenda would violate both the letter and spirit of the Open Meetings Act.
* I asked Dave Urbanek at TRS for a response to the issue…
The Open Meetings Act is silent on whether “action items” must be specifically identified in an agenda. It is sufficient that items subject to action are identified on the agenda. We add the asterisks to our agendas as a courtesy. We decided today to add that asterisk.
See OMA section 120/2.02 (c)
Dave
* But I also talked yesterday with Mary Patricia Burns, an attorney who represents some state and local pension funds. Sen. Don Harmon is also a partner with her firm.
Burns told me that she believes the board is in “technical violation” of the Open Meetings Act. She pointed out the obvious: The board changed the agenda, so it must have figured it made a mistake. But that change happened within the 48-hour posting period, which is highly problematic.
A public body cannot change the agenda less than 48 hours before the meeting.
Can the public body take action on items not on the agenda of regular meetings?
No. While the public body can discuss items that are not on the agenda of a regular meeting, the public body cannot take action or make any decision with regard to items or topics not on the agenda of a regular meeting.
Seems pretty clear to me.
“It’s not something I would’ve done,” Burns said. “I would’ve tried hard to avoid this problem.”
In recent months, we’ve seen laws targeted at depriving the voting rights of minorities across the country overturned one by one. Today’s ruling by the Supreme Court joins those decisions as another victory for democracy. If this effort was upheld, minority voters across the state would have had their voices and rights weakened by a misguided and dangerous effort that would have resulted in a loss of representation.
For example, the proposal would result in a loss of minority influence by its requirement that district maps follow municipal boundaries. Through this and other similar changes made under the guise of reform, the backers of this initiative were attempting to minimize the number of districts in which minorities would have a voice. Any attempt to weaken the rights of minority voters is an attack on democracy itself, making today’s ruling a victory for a fair and truly accountable electoral process.
* Gov. Bruce Rauner…
“What drives people away from Illinois is the sense that our political system is broken and our government is unaccountable to the people. The Illinois system only works for the political insiders who benefit at the expense of the poor, the vulnerable and the middle class.
“Today’s court decision to deny Illinoisans the right to vote on a redistricting referendum does nothing to stem the outflow or change people’s views of how the system is rigged and corrupt.
“When the General Assembly reconvenes this fall, they should put political reform - term limits and independent redistricting - at the top of the legislative agenda so that incumbents aren’t locked into power and democracy is restored through competitive general elections.
“Legislative districts should represent people based upon the community where they live. Politicians should not pick their voters by drawing spaghetti-like district lines with the sole intent of keeping one party in power regardless of how the people vote.
“Fair maps create fair districts. The system is broken and controlled by career politicians. People leave when they cannot hold their politicians accountable.
“This is not a partisan idea; this is the people’s idea. Independent redistricting has strong support from both Republicans and Democrats, including President Obama, as well as non-partisan, good government groups. More than 500,000 citizens signed the petition to allow the entire state a chance to be heard on this issue of fairness. It is an affront to our democracy that the courts struck down yet another citizen-led referendum drive to fix the system that only benefits the people in power.”
* Dennis FitzSimons, Chair of Independent Maps…
The Illinois Supreme Court’s ruling is extremely disappointing to all of us – to our bi-partisan coalition, to the more than 563,000 Illinois voters who signed petitions to put this important amendment on the ballot and to the many, many more Illinoisans eager for an opportunity to make the Illinois General Assembly more responsive to all of Illinois.
The Supreme Court rules give us the opportunity to seek rehearing and our legal team is weighing that option.
Delegates to the 1969-70 Constitutional Convention created a redistricting process they believed would encourage bipartisan mapmaking. It hasn’t worked. The result has been partisan maps, fewer competitive elections and voter dissatisfaction.
Mapmaking by legislators – the very people whose reelections depend on partisan maps – has led to a decline in competitive elections and voter dissatisfaction. The only way to end partisan mapmaking is to turn the duty over to an impartial commission as has been done in California and Arizona. Unfortunately, the only way to make that change in Illinois is by a constitutional amendment brought to the ballot by citizens.
It’s very clear the drafters of the 1970 Illinois Constitution understood that dynamic, and that’s why they gave voters the power to propose amendments to change the legislative article and specifically the provisions relating to redistricting.
Drafters of the Illinois Constitution would not recognize the interpretation made by the Supreme Court majority. According to the majority, voters cannot propose sensible changes to the legislative article that would make a meaningful difference in the way legislative district boundaries are drawn.
In short, the system is broken, and the way this Court interprets the Constitution seems likely to prevent its repair.
* Illinois Republican Party…
The only thing standing in the way of political reform is Mike Madigan. Madigan and his allies sued to stop citizen-led ballot initiatives for Independent Maps and term limits, and the Speaker has used his power to stop both from passing or being voted on in Springfield. Madigan has worked tirelessly against reforms that would threaten his ability to rig Illinois’ political system in his favor. Legislators from both parties must reject Madigan’s obstructionism and demand reform. – Illinois Republican Party Spokesman Steven Yaffe
* The Illinois Supreme Court has blocked the remap reform amendment from appearing on the ballot. The 4-3 opinion, written by Democratic Justice Thomas Kilbride and decided on partisan lines, completely centers around the last four words of article XIV, section 3 of the Illinois Constitution…
Amendments shall be limited to structural and procedural subjects contained in Article IV.
Article IV deals with legislative duties, powers, etc.
(T)he framers of our constitution intended this court alone “to determine whether constitutional requirements for a proposed amendment were satisfied.” Coalition I , 65 Ill. 2d at 462. That role does not require us to read between the lines of every proposal in an attempt to discern the propriety of the proponent’s underlying intentions; our role is solely to determine whether the proposal comports with the strict limitations set out in article XIV, section 3. […]
As presently constituted, article IV does not mention the “subject” of the Auditor General’s office or its duties, even in passing. Moreover, the additional duties the ballot initiative imposes on the Auditor General creates changes that neither “‘attack [n]or *** concern the actual structure or makeup of the legislature itself.’ ” Coalition I , 65 Ill. 2d at 470 (quoting 4 Proceedings 2911 (statements of Delegate Perona)). Therefore, the duties of the Auditor General have never been and are not now a “subject contained in Article IV” as currently constituted. Thus, that provision is not a proper “subject” of the legislative article, in violation of the limitation in article XIV, section 3.
Finally, Independent Maps makes the policy argument that upholding the circuit court’s finding that the plaintiffs were entitled to judgment on the pleadings will “make it largely impossible to make meaningful reforms in the redistricting process.” We respectfully disagree. The Auditor General is not the only potential nonlegislative actor capable of filling the duties outlined in its proposal. Certainly Illinois has other offices or individuals that are unencumbered by the limitations expressed in Article XIV. Indeed, the scheme proffered in the instant proposal is not the only model of redistricting reform that could be imagined. The constitutional right of the citizens of this state to alter the legislative article by ballot initiative is not tied to any particular plan, and we trust that the constitutional confines of article XIV, section 3, are sufficiently broad to encompass more than one potential redistricting scheme.
The amendment proposed by Independent Maps would supply the requisite authority for the Auditor General’s participation in the process. That the additional authorization would appear in a different constitutional provision than the one in which the Auditor General’s basic duties are defined poses no constitutional problem. Nothing in the 1970 Constitution requires that all of a constitutional officer’s responsibilities be set out in a si ngle article, and such is certainly not the case with respect to the redistricting-related duties of this court and the Attorney General under the current redistricting mechanism.
Moreover, the additional duties the Auditor General would assume under the amendment would not alter any of the responsibilities the Auditor General already possesses under article VIII. To the extent the Auditor General’s duties would change, the change would pertain solely and exclusively to the redistricting process, which, as set forth earlier, is a structural and procedural subject of article IV and therefore subject to amendment under article XIV, section 3 (Ill. Const. 1970, art. XIV, § 3). The change would have no effect at all beyond that limited sphere.
When the delegates to the 1970 Constitution drafted article XIV, section 3, as they did, they were mindful that attempts could be made to circumvent their intention and use the initiative process as a substitute for legislative action by the General Assembly or to make substantive changes to the constitution unrelated to legislative article. See Coalition I , 65 Ill. 2d at 468; CBA I , 137 Ill. 2d at 401-04. That is why they made clear that any amendment proposed under article XIV, section 3, “would be required to be limited to subjects contained in the Legislative Article, namely matters of structure and procedure and not matters of substantive policy.” 6 Proceedings 1400. In no sense would inclusion of the Auditor General in the redistricting process run afoul of these concerns. It is not an attempt to bypass the General Assembly’s authority to enact legislation, nor is it a subterfuge to alter other substantive provisions of the constitution. As I have just noted, the change pertains solely and exclusively to the redistricting mechanism of article IV, section 3, which the amendment proposed by Independent Maps’ initiative would replace. Taking into account the limited subject matter to which the initiative power may be applied under article XIV, section 3, while construing article XIV, section 3’s provisions “so as to effectuate [its] basic purpose ***, to provide a workable initiative scheme unfettered by restraints which unnecessarily inhibit the rights which article XIV confers” ( Coalition II , 83 Ill. 2d at 247), I would hold that plaintiffs ’ challenge to that aspect of the proposed initiative in count I of their complaint must therefore be rejected.
* Expect this dissent to get plenty of media play…
But the three Republican justices on the court each wrote separate dissenting opinions, including a stinging rejection of the majority view by Justice Robert Thomas.
Thomas said the majority’s action should “include a bright orange warning sticker for readers to paste over” the citizen-initiative section of the constitution that reads “Out of Service.”
“Today, just as a critical election board deadline is about to expire, four members of our court have delivered, as a fait accompli, nothing less than the nullification of a critical component of the Illinois Constitution of 1970,” Thomas wrote.
“The majority has irrevocably severed a vital lifeline created by the drafters for the express purpose of enabling later generations of Illinoisans to use their sovereign authority as a check against self-interest by the legislature,” he wrote.
His dissent began: “The Illinois constitution is meant to prevent tyranny, not to enshrine it.” And concludes: “Today a muzzle has been placed on the people of this State, and their voices supplanted with judicial fiat. The whimper you hear is democracy stifled. I join that muted chorus of dissent.”
Lynn Lucchese-Soto thought she was being scammed when she got a phone call at work earlier this year, supposedly from the Illinois State Treasurer’s office, saying that two children she was raising were the beneficiaries of a life insurance policy.
Skeptical, the Chicago lawyer hung up, found the agency’s number, dialed it, and learned it was true: The children’s mother, who was killed in a 2007 car crash, had a life insurance policy for more than $100,000.
The coverage came to light through a life-insurance audit by Illinois Treasurer Michael Frerichs, who held a hearing Wednesday on how unpaid life insurance benefits can help families — if they know that the policies exist. The proposed Unclaimed Life Insurance Benefits Act, whose provisions include forcing companies to be more diligent about determining whether a policyholder has died, is awaiting action by Gov. Bruce Rauner. […]
Since 2011, auditors working on behalf of the Illinois treasurer’s office have identified more than $550 million in death benefits that were owed to grieving Illinois families but hadn’t been paid, Frerichs said.
The bill would require insurance companies to use the Social Security Administration’s “death master file,” which contains the records of deaths reported to the federal agency, to determine if a policyholder has died and to notify beneficiaries on how to make a claim.
In a July 28 letter to Rauner, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s Institute for Legal Reform wrote: “Approval of this legislation will likely increase the problem of overreaching audits that are frequently conducted on behalf of states by private audit firms hired under contingency fee arrangements. The explosion of irrational unclaimed property enforcement audits is often driven by profit-motivated private audit firms, and these audits have become a national concern for American businesses.” […]
Also penning a letter was the National Alliance of Life Companies, which represents small and midsize life insurers. It wrote, “By disallowing private contingency fee audits, the state of Illinois would pass a more business-friendly and budget-conscious solution.”
A spokesman for Frerichs called the industry’s 11th-hour objections disingenuous, saying the bill would dramatically reduce the need for audits. “Insurance companies would start doing themselves what we have auditors do now,” he said.
He called the bill a matter of simply righting a wrong that’s existed for years. “We’re talking about dollars that (but for the bill) would stay with the insurance company,” he said.
Rockford-area residents treated daily in the triage program at the Rosecrance Mulberry Center suffer from such things as depression, psychotic episodes, extreme paranoia and debilitating anxiety.
Some self-medicate by abusing drugs and alcohol and some are a threat to themselves or someone else.
These are the people who could find themselves without help if the center’s triage program ends next month.
On Tuesday, Rosecrance President and CEO Philip Eaton announced the triage program will be shut down in 30 days if the state continues to renege on what he called a “good-faith promise” to fund community mental health services after closing the Singer Mental Health Center in 2012.
Rosecrance requested $750,000, half of the $1.5 million that was zeroed out in the state’s fiscal year 2017 stopgap budget.
Some Ray Graham Association workers in DuPage County are leaving their posts for higher-paying jobs in fast food or big box stores as the clock is ticking on GOP Gov. Bruce Rauner to sign or veto a bill raising pay for caregivers for those with disabilities. Workers statewide average $9.35 an hour.
President and CEO Kim Zoeller recalls an email she got the other day highlighting the placement of a disabled resident in a part-time job. “I’m so excited for this, but check out this wage,” the email read. It was higher than the email’s sender — the employment specialist.
Zoeller says 50 of Ray Graham’s 300 or so caregiver positions are open and the agency is experiencing higher turnover than ever. With those gaps, she says, the agency no longer is able to devote time to take residents into the community for such things as going to church or grocery shopping. Ray Graham serves 2,000 disabled children and adults in the suburbs and operates 23 group residential homes.
Illinois last increased reimbursement for such nonprofits in 2008. Efforts to increase reimbursements have fallen short with some arguing the state, faced with a multibillion-dollar bill backlog, must take care of existing obligations before taking on new ones.
…Adding… This is the e-mail received by the attorneys…
OPINION: Plaintiffs’ Motion for Preliminary Relief (d/e [4]) is GRANTED. Defendants are ENJOINED from enforcing the Illinois Election Code’s signature requirement against David M. Gill, independent candidate for U.S. Representative in the 13th Congressional District in light of the fact that he has obtained 8,593 valid signatures and shown a modicum of support. Consequently, because it appears Gill otherwise qualifies to be on the ballot, this ruling requires that Gill remain on the ballot. (SEE WRITTEN OPINION) Entered by Judge Sue E. Myerscough on 8/25/2016. (GL, ilcd)
In a hearing Wednesday, Gill was seeking a preliminary injunction that would prevent the State Board of Elections from removing his name from the ballot despite an earlier State Board of Elections staff review that found Gill had 8,593 signatures considered valid. The number he needed, under state law, was 10,754, and he had turned in more than 11,300.
But Gill claims the law is unconstitutional because so many signatures are required. While Republican and Democratic candidates have to go through a primary to get on the November ballot, they also need to collect fewer than 740 petition signatures each. Gill’s case is based on the idea that the threshold for independents and third-party candidates is so high that it creates an unfair burden.
Gill has noted that independent candidates for U.S. Senate in Illinois have to gather five times the 5,000 signatures required of major-party candidates for that statewide office, but as an independent House candidate, he is required to gather nearly 15 times what a Democrat or Republican needs.
“The point of me running as an independent is because people have been poorly served by both major parties for the last 30 or 40 years, and now we’re seeing both major parties try to keep me from being on the ballot, and I think it’s entirely unconstitutional the way in which they’re doing so,” Gill said after the hearing.
* I’m pretty sure this CJ Baricevic TV ad, which is airing in Paducah, is the first Democratic congressional spot to make Gov. Rauner an issue. The governor is apparently not polling well down ‘yonder. Rate it…
* Script…
I worked at Granite City Steel with a crew of steamfitters to pay for school at SIU. It was hard work—a good job—and it taught me a lot. That’s why I fought against Governor Rauner’s devastating budget. But Washington’s forgotten how hard you work. Congress gives Wall Street billionaires tax cuts and trade deals that ship our jobs overseas and we get higher tax bills and pink slips. I’m CJ Baricevic and I approve this message because I’ll fight for working families—not Washington special interests.
* This is the Rauner budget thing they’re referring to…
The St. Clair County ruling stated workers could receive their entire paychecks without a state budget in place. Circuit Judge Robert LeChien issued that ruling. Attorney C.J. Baricevic argued on behalf of union workers.
…Adding… From a Rauner guy…
Baricevic ad makes no sense considering our attorneys were in court with him in support of paying the workers.
The reason the Democrats have a Blue Wall is because they dominate in large population states like California and New York. They are making inroads in others like Ohio, Florida, Arizona, Georgia and even Texas. Part of that is these states are home to large urban areas. The Republican Party has simply written off our urban centers. For this, it is necessary to adopt to what I refer to as the “Rauner template.”
Bruce Rauner, when running for Illinois Governor, did not avoid Chicago. In fact, he went into the city with greater zeal than his Democratic opponent because Democrats take the urban vote for granted. Democrats win the urban vote because the Republicans have abandoned it. But there is one truth: the relationship between the Democratic Party and urban voters is loveless.
Rauner’s outreach to minority communities in Chicago did not win him the black or the Hispanic vote in that city. But, it did accomplish three things: (1) it decreased Democratic turnout, (2) it opened the door to minorities to at least consider an alternative to Democrats in the future, and (3) it helped Rauner perform better in the whiter, more affluent areas of the city. He performed admirably in Chicago not because minorities voted for him in droves, but because urban white voters did.
He got about three percentage points more than Bill Brady received four years earlier, and Quinn got about 13,000 fewer votes than in 2010.
* What that very public outreach did accomplish, aside from what’s listed above, is send a strong signal to suburban moderates (particularly women) that he was not bigoted. As I’ve pointed out for decades, indy suburban women have the balance of power in statewide races here, so that was hugely important, along with his wife’s TV ads about him being pro-choice and not having a “social agenda.”
The national GOP will have to learn this lesson if they want to win back the White House because moderate suburban women have a lot of sway in several swing states, too.
The rhetoric continued to escalate in the U.S. Senate race Wednesday, as Republican Sen. Mark Kirk accused Democratic challenger Tammy Duckworth of mocking stroke victims when she characterized him as “unhinged” for likening President Barack Obama to the nation’s “drug dealer in chief” over the January Iran prisoner release deal. […]
On Tuesday, the Democrat appeared at the City Club of Chicago for a speech in which she characterized Kirk as “unhinged” for his comments on the Obama administration sending $400 million to Iran as U.S. hostages were being released as part of the multination agreement aimed at reducing the Middle Eastern country’s ability to build a nuclear weapon. Kirk likened Obama to the nation’s “drug dealer in chief” last week in an appearance before a Springfield newspaper editorial board.
Duckworth assigned to Kirk a term defined as “mentally deranged.” But Duckworth backed off when asked by reporters if voters should take into consideration any possible aftereffects of her opponent’s stroke. […]
“She is so desperate to run for office she would denigrate any stroke victim in America and make fun of them and that’s awful. You shouldn’t do that. For people who have strokes, they can make tremendous comebacks mentally and physically,” said Kirk, who also rejected Duckworth’s call for an apology to Obama.
This is at least the second time that the paper reported that Duckworth “backed off” her original comment. But that would only be the case if Duckworth had actually tried to connect Kirk’s stroke to the “unhinged” remark.
* Here’s what she said during her speech…
Senator Kirk has joined the rogue’s gallery of the President’s fiercest — and most unhinged — critics, and for that he should be ashamed. What he said is beneath the dignity of the office he now holds, and Senator Kirk should apologize immediately to the President, as well as to the people of Illinois.
Duckworth on Tuesday called Kirk “unhinged” for his comments and urged him to apologize.
“If you look at all of the things he’s said, I think he lacks the ability to control what he’s saying, and you can look at the numerous gaffes that he’s had over the years,” Duckworth said after a City Club of Chicago event.
The Democrat sidestepped reporters’ questions about whether she was suggesting Kirk was suffering after effects from his stroke.
Bill Cameron [WLS 890 AM radio]: You said [Senator Kirk] was unhinged. Is it that bad?
Cong. Duckworth: Well, if you look at all the things he has said, I think that [Senator Kirk] lacks the ability to control what he is saying. And, you can look at the numerous gaffes that he has had over the years.
Derrick Blakely [NBC-5 News]: Is that inability due to his stroke?
Mike Flannery [Fox 32 News] : Unhinged?
Cong. Duckworth: I do think [Senator Kirk] is unhinged. To call the Commander in Chief—basically comparing [the President] to a drug dealer. I think that is a significant thing for a United States Senator to say. I mean this is the same man who called one of his colleagues ‘a bro with no ho,’ it’s not befitting of a United States Senator.
* She was then asked: “Tammy, if that lack of ability is a result of the after-effects of the stroke, should voters take that into consideration?” Her response…
I think that is, uh, the furthest thing that people should look at. People should look at the fact that he’s been ineffective as a Senator.
It seems to me that the reporters really wanted her to talk about Kirk’s stroke and she wasn’t taking the bait. Maybe I’m wrong, though. Watch the video yourself and let us know what you think…
* What she most definitely side-stepped, however, was a question about her support for President Bush’s big tax cuts. She has blasted Kirk for voting for the tax cuts, but she backed those same cuts in her 2006 congressional campaign. Her excuse was that she never actually voted for the cuts.
Last Thursday, private prison stocks dropped like a rock when the Department of Justice announced that it would be phasing out its use of for-profit detention facilities. If you were an investor who had no ethical qualms about profiting from an industry that’s been accused of perpetrating a number of human rights abuses, it would have been a good time to buy. It turns out that reports of the industry’s imminent death have been greatly exaggerated.
Experts who track the business tell The Nation that as mass-incarceration reform has become a bipartisan issue, private prison companies large and small have seen the writing on the wall, and are aggressively moving into alternatives to imprisonment. In fact, they say, the very same companies that have traditionally lobbied hard for tough-on-crime policies that would assure their facilities a steady flow of warm bodies are now embracing the language of criminal-justice reform as they reach out into what they see as more lucrative markets.
“These companies know what they’re doing,” says Christopher Petrella, a lecturer at Bates College who studies the industry. “They’re agile, they follow market trends, and they know where the growth is.” According to Petrella, two of the biggest companies—GEO Group and Corrections Corporation of America (CCA)—“have really pivoted to diversify their services away from traditional incarceration. They’ve both invested heavily in the past five or six years in prisoner rehabilitation services, mental health centers, residential reentry programs and monitoring technologies for supervised release.” These are all areas that are expected to grow as efforts to reduce the prison population gain traction. Until eight or nine years ago, these companies could have relied on partisan gridlock to maintain the status quo, but as conservatives have come to embrace the issue, their future as jailers has started to look less bright.
“It’s really clear looking at mergers and acquisitions that this is where the big companies like CCA and GEO are headed,” says Caroline Isaacs, program director of the American Friends Service Committee’s Tucson office, and the author of several reports on the industry. “And then there are a whole host of other companies that are sort of popping up to fill in the field.”
To be clear here, I’m all for criminal justice reform. And there are certainly areas where not-for-profit groups should be participating. And that goes for profit-seeking companies as well, as long as they’re properly monitored. Problems with that private industry are legion, so they need to be watched closely.
* You have to dig through this Daily Egyptian story for the meat, but it’s interesting when you take a little time. Just keep in mind that John Pfeifer retired from his Southern Illinoisan job only last month…
Former publisher of the Southern Illinoisan John Pfeifer repeatedly asked SIU administrators to make changes to the Daily Egyptian’s format so he could be included in the public bidding process to print the student-run newspaper. The Southern Illinoisan eventually did get the contract, but only after the state purchasing officer apparently made a miscalculation based on incorrect dimensions. […]
In 2014, a “swat team” of newspaper professionals was organized by then-director of the School of Journalism William Freivogel to provide ideas on what steps should be taken to ensure the existence of the student media source. Through that team, a number of strategies were floated to right the sinking ship, including limiting the number of runs per week, introducing a new student media fee and outsourcing the print operation.
Pfeifer was one of those brought in as a consultant to discuss the future of the Daily Egyptian.
“One of the recommendations that came out of that group was to close the printing press and outsource the printing sooner rather than later,” Pfeifer said Wednesday, adding that much of his two-year tenure with the Southern was spent attempting to secure the contract. […]
In January 2015, Pfeifer sent an email to Dunn expressing disappointment his company was unable to submit a bid. He noted that looking at outsourcing the print in the near future was his suggestion and wondered why he was “shut out” of the process.
“Seven months later, finding out that printing is moving to Cape Girardeau by reading the DE’s Facebook page seems a rather poor way to treat a business neighbor, community partner and stakeholder in the Daily Egyptian’s future,” he wrote. “Assessing all SIU students an additional $9 in fees and then sending that money to Missouri is simply not right.”
Pfeifer said the outsourcing was a “sore spot” for him and he had questioned reasoning by the student newspaper’s former business manager to retain the tall tab format to reach advertisers.
* Related…
* Dan Proft: Who’s political now? An unvarnished look at the Southern Illinoisan editorial board
* Rep. Kelly Cassidy (D-Chicago) used Monday’s bill signing ceremony of a package of criminal justice reforms to issue a challenge to both political parties…
Rauner has long advocated for improving the criminal justice system, and he made an early pledge shortly after taking office that he would work to reduce the state’s prison population by 25 percent over 10 years. The first-term governor found willing allies in that cause, particularly among Chicago Democrats, and it has become one of the few areas where he can tout bipartisan efforts and accomplishments.
But it has also opened up an avenue for attack in districts where voters want a tough-on-crime approach. Take the contest in a House district in Downstate Marion that’s home to a federal penitentiary. An attack ad run by Democratic Rep. John Bradley warns voters that Republican candidate Dave Severin’s “biggest supporter wants to let 25 percent of the state’s prisoners loose into our communities.”
Cassidy chided her fellow Democrats for trying to use Rauner’s criminal justice efforts as a “political weapon.”
“Until we come to a place where a legislator or a governor doesn’t have to make a decision whether the hit that’s going to come from signing or voting on a bill is too great a risk to take…we won’t get to that just criminal justice system,” Cassidy said. “My party is running ads. I’m sure that the Republicans will be running ads this year. And I dare everybody to stop.”
All of the new laws passed with bipartisan support. That’s tricky business these days, when Democrats and Republicans can’t agree on whether the sun is out.
But there’s a lot of unfinished business on the criminal justice agenda. So hear, hear for Rep. Kelly Cassidy, D-Chicago, who urged her fellow lawmakers — Rep. Bradley, are you listening? — not to poison the bipartisan effort during their campaigns.
“My party is running ads,” she said. “I’m sure that the Republicans will be running ads this year. And I dare everybody to stop.”
We double-dare them.
Working together, Democrats and Republicans produced a batch of laws that will save taxpayers money, make communities safer and help offenders turn their lives around. There’s some momentum going now. Don’t blow it.
She’s absolutely correct. And she’s going to be completely ignored. Because it’s always campaign season in Illinois, and the people who run the parties have no concern greater than growing their own influence.
They’re right, of course. The hope is that this doesn’t spill over into the legislative arena.
Gov. Bruce Rauner (R-IL) is working to ensure his administration can keep suing inmates to recoup the cost of their stays in jail.
After the Chicago Tribune brought some abusive room-and-board lawsuits to light last fall, state lawmakers hashed out a tense compromise over legislation to shield inmates. But on Friday, Rauner sent the bill back to the legislature. […]
Rauner’s increasing interest in going after inmates in court in the past two years has sometimes seemed vengeful.
One inmate he sued had just won a $50,000 legal settlement from the agency over inadequate medical care claims. The state sued him for $175,000 “even though the department already had agreed in writing not to try to claw back the settlement money,” the Tribune wrote in November.
Think Progress bills itself as “a news site dedicated to providing our readers with rigorous reporting and analysis from a progressive perspective.”
But that “rigorous reporting” apparently doesn’t include checking to see if the Illinois attorney general is part of the governor’s administration. She’s elected on her own. And she, not Rauner, is the one who decides whether to file the lawsuits.
While it’s no secret Gonzales was backed by Republicans and supporters of Rauner — Madigan’s biggest political foe — is it true his campaign was funded with more than $1 million from them?
Indeed, Gonzales’ campaign received big donations from people who also gave to Rauner’s campaign fund, but the speaker implies that every donation came from individuals and groups aligned with the governor. In fact, a few of Gonzales’ top donors have also contributed to Democrats and one of his top five donors contributed to Gonzales and no one else.
Where do they get “every donation” came from Rauner opponents?
He said the campaign was funded with more than a million bucks from Rauner allies. Was it? They didn’t actually do that math.
Further, Madigan’s “more than $1 million” includes spending by the Illinois United for Change super PAC, despite the fact that super PAC money cannot be given directly to a candidate’s campaign nor can it be coordinated with a candidate’s campaign.
So, they exclude Blair Hull’s Super PAC money, even though it was most of the money spent (almost a million dollars) during that campaign? How do you wish all that cash away?
Thursday, Aug 25, 2016 - Posted by Advertising Department
[The following is a paid advertisement.]
The State Journal-Register Editorial Board endorsed Independent Map Amendment last week. Here’s what they had to say:
“Hopefully, the Supreme Court will side with the more than half million citizens who signed the petition asking simply that they be given the chance to vote on this idea.
“They’ve had enough.
“Let’s hope the Supreme Court will give them the chance in November to weigh in on how their government works for them, not for those already in office.”
“Maintaining the status quo allows Springfield’s power brokers to manipulate legislative boundaries, which are redrawn every 10 years. Letting politicians do that handiwork allows them to shape districts to influence the outcome of an election. Split up pockets of Republicans, for example. Draw districts to protect incumbents. The system is so rigged that, of this year’s legislative races, nearly two-thirds aren’t even contested.
“That brings us to the Illinois Supreme Court, the last hope for voters to finally get a chance to decide for themselves whether to amend their own constitution.”
Republican Comptroller Leslie Geissler Munger and Democratic challenger Susana Mendoza are scheduled to face off for the first time Thursday during an afternoon appearance before the Chicago Tribune Editorial Board.
The race for the normally low-profile office that oversees the state’s checkbook has morphed into a key proxy battle between Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner, who appointed Munger, and Democratic House Speaker Michael Madigan, a Mendoza mentor. […]
Also scheduled to appear are Green Party candidate Tim Curtin, of Hillside, and Libertarian candidate Claire Ball, of Addison.
* As subcribers already know, Republican House candidate Jerry Long is being blasted in a new Democratic Party of Illinois campaign mailer for renting to a sex offender…
Long rents out a house to a 32-year-old man who was convicted of aggravated criminal sexual abuse. According to the state’s sex offender database, the man is listed as a sexual predator who committed his crime against a 13-year-old when he was 24.
The house is next door to Long’s on Carr Street in South Streator. […]
In a telephone interview, Long said he was “dumbfounded” by the mailer. He said he and his wife conduct a “standard check” on all tenants but wouldn’t say how the sex offender in question fell through the cracks.
He noted the piece was funded by the state Democratic Party, which is chaired by Speaker Madigan.
“This is clearly Andy Skoog and Michael Madigan trying to distract from their disastrous record,” Long said. “I feel they are desperate.”
Fair Economy Illinois wants lawmakers to take up their “People and Planet First Budget” plan, which seeks to raise $23 billion in annual state revenue by enacting a graduated income tax, closing various corporate tax loopholes and passing a LaSalle Street tax on financial transactions.
Activists say the revenue could be invested in education, health care, infrastructure, human services, public pensions and green energy development
Jason Gonzales, who lost to Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan in the primary election, was at the protest.
In an interview with Progress Illinois, Gonzales blasted Madigan for “participating in the ability for companies like Exelon and others to dodge their tax responsibility.”
“I believe Exelon and others need to pay their fair share,” Gonzales said.
Asked whether he has any plans to run again, Gonzales said: “I haven’t really decided yet. Honestly, I’m still mulling my political future, but I’m not leaving politics.”
Exelon pays our fair share of taxes to the state, and suggestions to the contrary are simply false. Including ComEd, Exelon has more than 12,000 employees in Illinois and is the ninth largest company in the state. We rank among the state’s largest taxpayers, paying $456 million in state and local taxes in 2015. Exelon has made its headquarters in Chicago since its founding and is a major economic engine for the state, investing billions of dollars annually to ensure the Illinois economy is powered by clean, reliable energy. These investments, along with our significant contributions to nonprofit institutions across the state, support thousands of additional jobs in Illinois. Being a good corporate citizen is among our core values, and that includes paying our fair share of taxes to support schools, government agencies and other services that benefit our customers and communities.
Regarding ComEd specifically, today’s protestors misunderstand the impact of tax policies to utility customers. Thanks to the regulated process by which rates in Illinois are set each year, it is ComEd’s customers who benefit from tax decreases, not ComEd. ComEd’s tax decreases are reflected in customer bills.
* The two US Senate candidates are speaking to the Illinois Farm Bureau today. Tammy Duckworth has already spoken and an IFB official announced there’d be a brief break.
“We tried to design this so that the candidates do not have an opportunity to to be seen together,” the official told the audience - with a straight face - after about 15 minutes.
Sheesh.
“So,” he continued, “Representative Duckworth is gone and Sen. Kirk will be here in about five minutes.” Attendees were then asked to take their seats.
* Earlier this week, there was some doubt that BlueRoomStream.com would even be allowed to video the event, let alone livestream it. The company was told they’d be able to cover the post-event Q&A’s, if any, but that was it. By late yesterday, they were given the go-head to livestream and you can watch by clicking here.
Both sides deny that they tried to suppress media coverage.
* Background for this post is here. From Council 31…
The Illinois Department of Corrections’ attempt to lay the blame on injured employees for the August 21 outbreak of inmate violence at Pontiac Correctional Center is shameful and baseless, according to the union that represents employees at the maximum-security correctional facility.
“The department’s assertion that the employees involved in the incident failed to ‘follow workplace safety procedures’ was made without a shred of evidence before any investigation had been undertaken,” said Eddie Caumiant, Regional Director of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) Council 31. “In fact, the employees’ actions that day were in compliance with departmental procedures.”
When AFSCME representatives met with management staff at the Pontiac facility on August 23 to review the details of the assault that occurred two days earlier, facility management did not provide any indication whatsoever that employees failed to follow IDOC procedures, Caumiant said.
“It seems all too clear that the IDOC statement laying blame on employees was nothing more than the department’s top brass trying to evade responsibility for the ongoing problems at Pontiac Correctional Center,” Caumiant said. “The IDOC director should immediately and personally apologize to each of the employees who were injured in the assault for besmirching their records.”
According to the union, three female employees (one lieutenant and two correctional officers) and three male workers (including one lieutenant) were assaulted by the prisoners.
* Gov. Rauner was asked today if he would campaign with Sen. Mark Kirk. His response…
Well, I’m really not focused heavily on any kind of electioneering right now.
I’m focused on making sure Illinois is strong and advocating for reforms for the state, term limits, fair maps, pension reform. Education funding reform, we’ve formed a task force and a commission, we’re trying to change that. And we also need property tax reform. Our property taxes are killing our homeowners and our businesses.
So, that’s where I’m spending all my time.
He then went on to say he’s a fan of Sen. Kirk. But, he said, “In terms of electioneering, I’m really not focused on that.”
This from the same guy who has dumped millions of dollars and his own staff into legislative contests, is airing a mega-bucks campaign-style ad pushing an online term limits petition designed to bump up his own poll numbers and dumped millions more into Dan Proft’s Liberty Principles PAC. If that’s doing nothing, then it would be fascinating to see what “completely involved” looked like.
*** UPDATE *** With a hat tip to a commenter, this is from June 11th…
Returning to the Capitol last week after making a dozen campaign-style stops across Illinois beginning the day after the Democratic-controlled legislature failed to approve a state budget on time, Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner offered an assessment: “We’re in election mode now.”
Mayor Rahm Emanuel has for years not so subtly laid the blame for many of Chicago’s problems at the doorstep of his predecessor, Richard M. Daley.
But five years out of office, Daley may be tiring of Rahm’s shtick.
Twice on Tuesday, Daley’s longtime spokeswoman Jackie Heard interjected to prevent the former mayor as he appeared to be on the verge of laying into Emanuel, whom he has always been careful not to criticize.
Which of the following do you think is most responsible for Chicago’s budget problems?
Past mayors and city councils for making promises we couldn’t afford 37%
Springfield and Bruce Rauner for the state’s budget mess that is hurting Chicago 21%
Washington, DC and Republicans in Congress for cutting programs and funds for large cities like Chicago 10%
Pensions and benefits for city workers that are far too high 12%
The current mayor and city council for not fixing the problem 12%
[VOL] Don’t know/Refused 8%
And considering that “past mayors and city councils” also created the pension mess, you’re looking at nearly half of the blame falling on Daley, et al, while just 12 percent blame Emanuel.
When it comes to managing budget priorities for Chicagoans, who do you trust more– Rahm Emanuel or Bruce Rauner?
Rahm Emanuel 51%
Bruce Rauner 23%
[VOL] Both 1%
[VOL] Neither 23%
[VOL] Don’t Know 3%
23 percent is slightly more support than Rauner received in the 2014 election, so he’s not doing as badly in Chicago compared to Emanuel as some might’ve thought, considering all the bad press. Then again, Emanuel ain’t so popular, either.
* The poll itself was ostensibly designed to test the theory propagated by the Chicago media that a “tax revolt” is brewing in the city. From the pollster…
• Voters do not blame the current Mayor and city council for the city’s budget problem. Only 12% of voters say the budget problems are the current government’s fault, compared to 37% who blame past mayors and city councils. Springfield and Bruce Rauner (21%) also earn a higher share of the blame.
• Taxes are not a top of mind issue. Voters are more concerned about education (35%) as well as crime and police issues (34%) than they are about taxes (15%). Even the tiny 14% of Chicago voters who identify as Republicans list taxes as their #3 issue.
• Voters are willing to pay higher taxes for more services. Voters would rather pay higher taxes for more services (29%) than lower taxes for fewer services (20%), though a plurality would prefer the current level of both (44%). A majority are also willing to pay more in taxes for the following specific services:
More police officers on foot and vehicle patrol 66% [willing] / 32% [unwilling]
More funding for school construction, teachers, and science and technology improvements 64% / 33%
Free universal Pre-K classes for all four year olds in Chicago 57% / 41%
More neighborhood services like rat abatement, tree trimming, and road paving 56% / 41%
• When forced to specific choices, voters prefer tax increases to cuts in services:
o Twice as many people prefer Chicago “raise taxes like property taxes and other fees” (53%) instead of “cutting services like schools and police officers” (25%) to pay the pensions Chicago promised to city workers.
The following findings are based on a poll of n=600 Chicagoans who voted in at least 1 of the last 3 Mayoral elections (2011 primary, 2015 primary, 2015 runoff) conducted from August 8-11, 2016 via landline and cellphone [46% of respondents]. The expected margin of sampling error at the 95% confidence level is +4.0% and higher for subgroups.
Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Tammy Duckworth labeled U.S. Sen. Mark Kirk “unhinged” over the Republican’s comparison of President Barack Obama to “drug dealer in chief” for a $400 million payment made to Iran as U.S. hostages were released.
While Kirk has been under fire for a series of verbal gaffes, it was Duckworth’s harsh choice of words that came under question Tuesday. The two-term congresswoman assigned to Kirk a term defined as “mentally deranged.” The first-term senator suffered a major stroke in 2012 and spent a year in rehabilitation.
Asked by reporters if voters should take into consideration any possible aftereffects of her opponent’s stroke, Duckworth backed off.
“That is the furthest thing that people should look at. People should look at the fact that he’s been ineffective as a senator,” she said after a speech to a largely supportive audience of about 300 at the City Club of Chicago.
Kirk’s campaign called Duckworth’s remarks “desperate.”
The criticism, Duckworth said, was not a reference to Kirk’s capabilities following a debilitating stroke. […]
“If you look at all of the things that he said, I think that he lacks the ability to control what he’s saying. If you look at the numerous gaffes he’s had over the years,” Duckworth said Tuesday after she addressed the City Club of Chicago. “I do think he is unhinged. To call the commander in chief, basically comparing him to a drug dealer? I think that is a significant thing for a state Senator to say. This is a man who called one of his colleagues ‘a bro with no ho.’ It’s not befitting of a United States Senator.”
Duckworth said she wasn’t telling voters they should judge Kirk based on the ill effects of a 2012 stroke, but consider him on his record.
“I think that is the furthest thing that people should look at. People should look at that he’s been ineffective as a senator,” she said. “I’m traveling the state. He’s not even traveling the state.”
I don’t think anyone needs to raise the issue of Kirk’s health or whether he lacks an “ability to control” what he says to question whether that’s what they want from their U.S. senator.
Judge the man by his performance, one important aspect of which is the outlandish stuff that he says.
* The Democratic Party of Illinois, however, focused on the racial angle, releasing statements from several elected officials, including these three legislators…
State Senator Toi Hutchinson: “Mark Kirk may be running away from his party to save his seat, but his characterization of Barack Obama as the ‘drug dealer’ demonstrates that he is embracing Trumps racial strategies to delegitimize an African American president. Here’s my message to Kirk: Stop using racial code words, because you know African Americans can hear you, right? And to us it sounds just like when Newt Gingrich called Obama the ‘Food Stamp President.’ You are coming through loud and clear.”
State Representative Christian Mitchell: “Senator Mark Kirk needs to apologize immediately for his inappropriate and racially-charged comments about President Obama, which offend not only African-Americans, but all Illinoisans. This is, sadly, not the first time Senator Kirk has delivered a racially motivated remark beneath the dignity of his office, including when he said people ‘drive faster through’ black neighborhoods. For those of us - of all races - who live in those neighborhoods, we need a Senator who fights for our community, rather than insulting it.”
State Representative Marcus C. Evans Jr: “Republican Mark Kirk should apologize immediately for his degrading and racially-charged remarks calling President Obama ‘the drug dealer in chief.’ It’s disgusting that a United States Senator would stoop this low but given Kirk’s history of making offensive comments about women and communities of color, I’m hardly surprised.”
Kirk stated that he does not feel a need to apologize for his statement towards President Obama and feels his recent actions are “distasteful”.
*** UPDATE *** The White House press secretary was asked about this today…
Chicago Tribune’s Katherine Skiba: Senator Mark Kirk of Illinois recently said that President Obama was acting like the drug dealer in chief with the respect of the payment of $400 million to Iran. Is the President aware of that statement and does the White House have a response?
WH Press Secretary Josh Earnest: “Well listen, this is not the first time that we’ve heard that kind of rhetoric from Senator Kirk, and I don’t think that kind of rhetoric is consistent with the views of most people in Illinois about the efforts of President Obama to advance our interests around the world and prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon.
“And so, I know there’s a temptation, particularly for those politicians that are on the ballot to say outrageous things to try to get attention, but that’s certainly no way to run a country and it’s certainly no way to confront issues that are as important as preventing Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon, securing the safe return of U.S. Americans that are detained unjustly overseas and settling a 35-year-old financial dispute with an adversary of the United States in a way that saves taxpayers potentially billions of dollars.”
Traffickers who take advantage of looser laws in neighboring states to illegally import guns to Illinois will face tougher penalties if caught under a measure Gov. Bruce Rauner signed into law Tuesday.
The new law, which passed both chambers of the General Assembly without opposition, makes it a felony for a person who has not been issued a state firearm owner’s identification card to bring guns into Illinois with the intent to sell or deliver them. Penalties will be stricter for those who’ve previously been convicted on gun trafficking-related charges.
On hand to celebrate Rauner’s approval of the bill were Republican legislative leaders and representatives from the Illinois State Police. Notably, no Democratic lawmakers or Chicago Police Department officials attended the signing ceremony — an indication of the touchy political situation between Rauner and Mayor Rahm Emanuel.
The mayor has been pushing for legislation that would toughen penalties for illegal use of a weapon — an idea he raises regularly when discussing Chicago’s persistent violent crime problem. But the idea has gone nowhere in the General Assembly, stalled in part by Illinois’ different geographic views on guns, and Rauner on Tuesday said the mayor hadn’t called him on it.
The mayor hasn’t called the governor about it? Hmm.
Emanuel didn’t attend the governor’s bill signing ceremony at the Illinois State Police crime lab in Chicago. Neither did Chicago Police officials. Afterwards, the mayor issued a statement that made it clear why he was a no-show. He called it a “step in the right direction” to go after “those who knowingly bring guns into Illinois illegally.”
But he said, “We must continue to build upon this new law” by partnering with Sen. Kwame Raoul (D-Chicago) and other legislators “to strengthen sentencing for the repeat gun offenders who are driving violence on our streets.”
Raoul and two other Chicago members of the black legislative caucus, Sens. Jacqueline Collins and Mattie Hunter, are sponsoring a new gun-possession bill — along with Sens. Julie Morrison (D-Deerfield), Don Harmon (D-Oak Park) and Sen. Antonio Munoz (D-Chicago), assistant majority leader.
The bill would target repeat gun offenders, creating sentencing guidelines that would suggest a stiffer prison term than the minimum sentence for crimes such as possession of a gun by a felon. If a judge chose to reject the guideline sentence and give a lesser prison term, the judge would have to say why in writing.
It’s a different approach than creating higher mandatory minimum sentences for gun offenses. Emanuel has pushed the concept for years, but it has repeatedly run into a wall in Springfield.
Creates the Location-based Video Game Protection Act. Provides that within 2 business days of receiving a request from the real property owner, manager, or custodian, the developer of a location-based video game shall remove from its location-based video game an ecologically sensitive site or location, historically significant site or location, site or location on private property, or site or location otherwise deemed as dangerous by the real property owner, manager, or custodian. Requires the developer of a location-based video game to provide an easily accessible procedure for removal of ecologically sensitive sites or locations, historically significant sites or locations, sites or locations on private property, or sites or locations otherwise deemed as dangerous by the real property owner, manager, or custodian from its location-based video game. Allows for civil enforcement of the Act by a real property owner, manager, or custodian, and a civil fine of up to $100 for each day a developer of a location-based video game is in violation of the Act. Defines terms.
* A press release explains…
Pokémon Go and other augmented reality games are rapidly increasing in popularity, but this new technology comes with a few glitches. At the Loyola Dunes Restoration Site in Rogers Park, Chicago, a PokéStop has been placed on a state and federally protected site, enticing players to leave the designated path and inadvertently trample sensitive habitat and bird nesting grounds. Despite many receiving many requests for the site to be removed - including one from the Chicago Park District - the game’s developer has yet to move the Pokéstop.
In response, State Representative Kelly Cassidy has proposed HB660, or “Pidgey’s Law”, which would fine developers each day they fail to remove a requested site from augmented reality games.
I was all set to make fun of this legislation, but Jen Walling of the Illinois Environmental Council and Jack Darin of the Illinois Chapter of the Sierra Club will also be in attendance, so this bill apparently isn’t about a cheap press pop. Also, if you read Rep. Cassidy’s Facebook post, you’ll see others are also upset about players trampling on the dunes.
*** UPDATE *** Rep. Cassidy just told me that “hundreds” of players congregate late at night in the dunes area. During the day, it’s less, but still significant as this pic shows…
* Subscribers know more about a planned vote later this week by the Teachers’ Retirement System to potentially lower its assumed investment return rate, which could blow yet another big hole in the state budget…
“If the (TRS) board were to approve a lower assumed rate of return taxpayers will be automatically and immediately on the hook for potentially hundreds of millions of dollars in higher taxes or reduced services,” Michael Mahoney, Rauner’s senior advisor for revenue and pensions, wrote to the governor’s chief of staff, Richard Goldberg.
When TRS lowered the investment return rate to 7.5 percent from 8 percent in 2014 the state’s pension payment increased by more than $200 million, according to the memo. […]
One of Rauner’s top Republican legislative allies, Senate Minority Leader Christine Radogno, urged the TRS board to delay a vote Friday to give the public time to weigh in on its possible actions.
“This issue is important enough at the very least to put the TRS board on notice we don’t want them taking any action that could cost taxpayers $200 to $300 million without appropriate scrutiny,” she said.
* Donald Trump told Fox News that Chicago’s crime problem was essentially a no-brainer…
On the show, Trump said the Chicago police force does not have “the right people in charge.” […]
“How? By being very much tougher than they are right now. They’re right now not tough. I could tell you this very long and quite boring story. But when I was in Chicago, I got to meet a couple of very top police. I said, ‘How do you stop this? How do you stop this? If you were put in charge — to a specific person — do you think you could stop it?’ He said, ‘Mr. Trump, I’d be able to stop it in one week.’ And I believed him 100 percent,” Trump said. […]
Trump responded: “All I know is this. I went to a top police officer in Chicago, who is not the police chief, and I could see by the way he was dealing with his people, he was a rough, tough guy. They respected him greatly. … He said, ‘Mr. Trump, within one week, we could stop much of this horror show that’s going on.’”
When pressed, Trump said the officer didn’t say exactly how. “No, and I didn’t ask him because I’m not the mayor of Chicago.”
* The Question: What other problems could Chicago solve in “one week” if they just got “very much tougher than they are right now”? Don’t forget to explain!
Rod Blagojevich’s lawyer has notified a federal court that the imprisoned former Illinois governor plans to appeal his 14-year sentence for corruption imposed at a resentencing earlier this month.
Leonard Goodman filed the brief notice with U.S. District Court in Chicago Tuesday informing sentencing Judge James Zagel that the 59-year-old Democrat will appeal to the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
An inmate punched a correctional lieutenant at an Illinois prison, sparking an assault that involved six prison employees and five inmates, the prison workers union said Monday.
The American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees said four correctional officers and two lieutenants were treated for scratches, bruises and possible concussions suffered in the incident Sunday at the Pontiac Correctional Center. They have all been released from the hospital.
“An inmate just began punching the lieutenant and knocked her to the ground,” said Joe Lewis, a correctional officer at the Pontiac facility in central Illinois and president of AFCSME Local 494. “Then other inmates joined in the assault, injuring the other employees who had come to her assistance.”
The Illinois Department of Corrections has put the facility on lockdown and is investigating. IDOC spokeswoman Nicole Wilson said Monday that the prison will remain on lockdown until the department finishes its investigation. At that time, the department will refer the case to the Livingston County prosecutor, she said.
* From the union…
A troubling culture of inmate violence at Pontiac Correctional Center in Pontiac, Ill. culminated in an assault by multiple inmates on prison staff yesterday afternoon. Four correctional officers and two lieutenants were transported to the local hospital emergency room where they were treated for abrasions, contusions and possible concussions. None suffered life-threatening injuries and all six have now been released from the hospital.
“An inmate just began punching the lieutenant and knocked her to the ground,” said Joe Lewis, a correctional officer at Pontiac CC and president of Local 494 of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), which represents employees at the prison. “Then other inmates joined in the assault, injuring the other employees who had come to her assistance.”
Immediately following the incident, Lewis insisted that steps be taken to lock down the correctional facility to ensure the safety of both staff and inmates.
“It’s essential that the facility remain on lockdown until a state tactical team can be brought in to conduct a thorough search of cells and inmates to eliminate any contraband or weapons,” Lewis said.
Pontiac CC is a maximum security correctional facility that houses many of the state’s most dangerous inmates. When the state’s only “super-maximum” facility, Tamms Correctional Center, was closed in 2013, many of its inmates were transferred to Pontiac.
“Since the Tamms’ inmates have been integrated into our general population and allowed unrestricted freedom of movement, there has been a growing level of harassment and violence against correctional employees,” Lewis said.
“Officers have repeatedly had urine and feces thrown on them, been kicked, punched or head-butted, and even stabbed with shanks,” he added. Several of the inmates involved in the most recent incident are believed to have been transferred to Pontiac CC from Tamms CC.
The local union at Pontiac CC had repeatedly called attention to the growing safety issues at the facility—to no avail. Policies and procedures, designed and implemented to keep staff safe in a difficult and dangerous environment, have been ignored or put aside for new practices that, with a very short history to draw from, have proven ineffective and dangerous.
“There have to be consequences for this kind of behavior,” said AFSCME Council 31 Regional Director Eddie Caumiant. “IDOC is allowing these kinds of assaults without any kind of penalty. We believe it is critical that this incident be referred to the local state’s attorney and that criminal charges are filed.”
“Safety must be paramount for all involved,” Caumiant said. “That has to become a priority of the Department of Corrections.”
More here. An informational picket is planned for Friday.
*** UPDATE *** IDOC appears to blame it on the guards…
Officer safety is our first priority. This was a terrible and dangerous incident and we want to thank those DOC employees that quickly responded and brought the situation under control. IDOC will forward the case to the Livingston County State’s Attorney for prosecution once our investigation is complete.
While DOC’s investigation is ongoing, the events that led to this incident do not appear to be the result of a lack of policy or a breakdown in existing policies but rather a failure to follow workplace safety procedures already in place. DOC‘s investigation will include why procedures weren’t followed and how future incidents can be prevented.
Asked Monday to weigh in on U.S. Sen. Mark Kirk’s recent characterization of President Barack Obama as the nation’s “drug dealer in chief,” Gov. Bruce Rauner literally threw up his hands.
“I heard something about that,” Rauner said. “I don’t want to comment on that.” […]
“I will say that the senator has been a strong advocate, I think a good advocate, for trying to prevent Iran from becoming a nuclear power,” Rauner said of Kirk, a Republican ally who helped him win election in 2014. “And I applaud him for that work. And also, I’ll make one other general statement and that is I am strongly, strongly opposed to ransom payments of any type for hostages.”
Pressed to address Kirk’s comment about President Obama more specifically, Rauner repeatedly raised his hands in air as he tried to shrug off the questions.
“I won’t comment on word selection,” he said at one point.
You should really watch the video for the full impact. [Fixed link.]
Tuesday, Aug 23, 2016 - Posted by Advertising Department
[The following is a paid advertisement.]
The State Journal-Register Editorial Board endorsed Independent Map Amendment last week. Here’s what they had to say:
“Hopefully, the Supreme Court will side with the more than half million citizens who signed the petition asking simply that they be given the chance to vote on this idea.
“They’ve had enough.
“Let’s hope the Supreme Court will give them the chance in November to weigh in on how their government works for them, not for those already in office.”
“Maintaining the status quo allows Springfield’s power brokers to manipulate legislative boundaries, which are redrawn every 10 years. Letting politicians do that handiwork allows them to shape districts to influence the outcome of an election. Split up pockets of Republicans, for example. Draw districts to protect incumbents. The system is so rigged that, of this year’s legislative races, nearly two-thirds aren’t even contested.
“That brings us to the Illinois Supreme Court, the last hope for voters to finally get a chance to decide for themselves whether to amend their own constitution.”
Donald Trump’s former campaign manager on Monday night defended the Republican presidential nominee’s pitch to black voters in a heated debate on CNN.
Corey Lewandowski explained on CNN’s “Anderson Cooper 360″ why he was all right with Trump delivering his pitch to black voters while speaking to predominantly white crowds in places like Wisconsin.
“As a campaign manager, wouldn’t you want your candidate saying some of these things directly to the people he’s supposedly addressing?” Anderson Cooper asked.
“You know what’s amazing to me, is no one remembers Donald Trump went to go have a rally in Chicago at the university,” responded Lewandoski.
“And do you remember what happened? It was so chaotic, and it was so out of control, Secret Service and the Chicago Police Department told him you could not get in and out of that facility safely, and that rally was canceled. And you showed the footage many times of the individuals who attended that rally. Donald Trump had that rally booked,” Lewandowski said.
“That is a black community. He went to the heart of Chicago to go and give a speech to the University of Chicago in a campus, which is predominantly African-American, to make that argument. And you know what happened? The campus was overrun, and it was not a safe environment,” he said.
* OK, first of all, the rally was at the University of Illinois at Chicago, not the U of C. From the university’s Wikipedia page…
Interim Supt John Escalante confirmed in a press conference that police became aware the event was being cancelled at 6:30pm, adding: “The Chicago Police Department had no role, we were not consulted or provided an opinion as to whether or not the event should be cancelled.
“In fact we did assure the Trump campaign that we had more than adequate resources outside the UIC pavilion and we guaranteed them we could provide save access and exit for Mr Trump.
Two top officials of the Better Government Association resigned this week in a shakeup at the Chicago-based nonprofit investigative news organization and civic watchdog group.
Robert Reed stepped down as director of programming, and Robert Herguth stepped down as director of investigations. Both veteran Chicago journalists joined the BGA in 2010 and oversaw numerous award-winning investigations into corruption, fraud and waste.
Their resignations were prompted by changes in the organization’s structure and revisions in its investigative strategy under Andy Shaw, president and CEO of the BGA.
“Reed and Herguth are outstanding journalists who contributed so much to the BGA’s watchdog work over the past six years,” Shaw said in a statement. “I wish them the best in their future endeavors.”
Investigators, reporters and other staff members of Chicago’s Better Government Association voted unanimously last week to seek representation by the Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists. The unionizing move could be seen as a challenge to Andy Shaw, who has headed the nonprofit investigative news organization and civic watchdog group since 2009. It comes just weeks after the resignations of Robert Reed as director of programming and Robert Herguth as director of investigations. Their departures reportedly were prompted by changes in the organization’s structure and revisions in its investigative strategy
Curiously, a leader of the union campaign is Brett Chase, acting director of investigations, who, if he were appointed permanently to that post, would be management. Chase told me Shaw has done a “fabulous job of fund-raising,” while Reed and Herguth “did a fabulous job of investigating.” But with those two gone, and with Shaw indicating he’d like to play a bigger role in the BGA’s investigative work, “I think there’s a conflict,” said Chase. It’s a church-state issue, he explained: ideally, the people who raise the money—that is, Shaw and the board members who open their wallets to him—shouldn’t be speaking to, much less influencing, the people who choose and run the BGA’s investigations.
“Andy did say he thought donors should be heard,” said Chase. “And now he wants to have more say in the operation, and we want to say we believe in the mission, not the personalities.” Shaw’s energy and expansive personality led the BGA back from the brink of death when he took over in 2009 after a career in TV news. But Reed and Herguth led the mission. [Emphasis added.]
Reed and Herguth haven’t commented, likely because of a non-disclosure agreement.
Andy has done a great job of fundraising and generating publicity. I’m the one, after all, who came up with the idea of hiring him.
And as somebody who runs a one-person shop, I know first hand that it’s a constant battle to make sure that advertising and subscriptions don’t influence content. Subscriptions are actually pretty easy. I have subscribers on pretty much every conceivable side of every issue, so I just write what I want and that’s that. Advertisers, however, sometimes think they deserve special treatment, so I try to disavow them of that notion right up front and write what I want. But just this week somebody sent me a pitch e-mail about a story along with a declaration that her group intended to buy a blog ad. I informed her that I don’t do business that way. I don’t think she was trying to be venal, and her group isn’t some massive entity that controls lots of Statehouse votes or anything, but it did make me uncomfortable.
Today, the Thomas More Society filed a federal lawsuit against the City of Chicago over its abortion clinic “bubble zone” ordinance. The law makes it illegal to approach within 8 feet of someone who is walking towards an abortion clinic once they are within 50 feet of the entrance, unless that person consents. This confusing law is being challenged by the Pro-Life Action League and sidewalk counselors who reach out to women who may feel they have no option other than to end their baby’s life. The complaint charges the City, Mayor Rahm Emmanuel, police Superintendent Eddie Johnson and transportation Commissioner Rebekah Scheinfeld with unconstitutionally curtailing the rights of pro-life advocates. A press conference detailing the lawsuit is scheduled at noon (Central) on Tuesday, August 23, 2016, outside of a northside Chicago Planned Parenthood at LaSalle and Division. Speakers include: Thomas More Society Special Counsel Stephen Crampton, Pro-Life Action League Vice-President Ann Scheidler, and sidewalk counselor Veronica Price.
This civil rights action asserts the unconstitutionality of the ‘bubble zone’ law under the First and Fourteenth Amendments both on its face, and as applied by the Chicago Police through selective enforcement owing to a misunderstanding of the law and also prejudice against pro-life counselors, which has caused false arrests and harassment of pro-life counselors and advocates.
“The precious right of free speech — so central to our democracy — is being denied to these individuals on the basis of their pro-life beliefs,” explained Thomas Olp, Senior Counsel at the Thomas More Society. “Pro-life advocates are being singled out and their Constitutional protections are being trampled by Chicago’s ‘bubble zone’ ordinance – a law created solely to discriminate against people who wish to offer abortion-bound women information about alternatives to abortion. No other business or industry is sheltered in this way. Through this law, the mayor and his administration are partnering with abortion vendors to violate the rights of those who wish to reach out to women seeking abortions.”
The court filing document case offers numerous Constitutional violations and other illegal abuses including:
Pro-life advocates being told by a policeman, upon challenging his application of the “bubble zone,” that if he was forced to go get the ordinance from the station he would come back and arrest them.
Police determining and communicating to sidewalk counselors that they were not allowed within 150 feet of an abortion provider’s entrance.
Law enforcement personnel insisting that pro-life advocates could only hand literature to someone who asked for it and deciding that the ordinance prohibited any kind of verbal expression by sidewalk counselors.
Police imposing absolute and illegal buffer zones, telling sidewalk counselors that they were prohibited from approaching within 50 feet of the clinic entrance or with 8 feet of persons heading toward the clinic - even outside of the 50 feet “bubble zone.”
Officers stating that the ordinance banned sidewalk counselors from even standing within 8 feet of anyone approaching the abortion facility door.
The complaint also details several wrongful arrests of pro-life sidewalk counselors under the “bubble zone” ordinance and cites rampant abuse of citizen rights without provocation.
Scheidler rallied the pro-life community, saying, “I feel confident we will prevail in court. Only two years ago, the Supreme Court unanimously struck down a ‘buffer zone’ law in Massachusetts. Now it’s time for Chicago’s unconstitutional ‘bubble zone’ to burst.”
*** UPDATE *** From Planned Parenthood of Illinois…
Planned Parenthood of Illinois (PPIL) knows, first hand, the need for bubble zones. These protections help ensure that those giving and seeking health care can safely enter and leave medical facilities, keep entrances open, prevent traffic problems, maintain distance between individuals, minimize physical contact and reduce harassment and intimidation.
“Chicagoans should be able to access health care services without fearing intimidation and harassment,” said Linda Diamond Shapiro, PPIL Interim CEO. “The Chicago Bubble Zone Ordinance enables patients in this city to do just that.”
Chicago’s Health Care Bubble Zone Ordinance ensures that patients and staff have unimpeded access to and from health care facilities. The Bubble Zone Ordinance is part of the City Code regarding disorderly conduct that also provides protections for schools and places of worship. The ordinance protects the free speech rights of protesters while ensuring that patients can exercise their own rights to healthcare.
“As sponsor of this ordinance, I felt it was important to protect a patient’s right to health care while making sure that the rights of others were not infringed,” said former Alderman Vi Daley. “The eight foot bubble allows protestors to be heard while ensuring that a patient can enter a health center without obstructions.”
The first provision of the ordinance is similar in scope to a Colorado law that has been upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court. The second part reflects language in the Federal Access to Clinic Entrances Act (FACE), a law that was passed in 1994 and has also been upheld by each of the eight federal appeals courts.
Recently, protestors have started wearing the same color vests as PPIL escorts (volunteers who provide safe passage for patients) with “Parenthood Volunteer” and an icon that looks similar to Planned Parenthood’s logo. This tactic scares and confuses patients as they try to access the health center.
“A bubble zone of eight feet enables staff and patients to go in and out of health centers without being swarmed by protestors,” Shapiro stated. “This small distance can make an enormous difference in keeping entrances accessible and reducing aggressive confrontations.”
The Chicago ordinance allows protestors to continue to express their right to free speech as long as they do not approach within 8 feet of other people who have not given their consent to be approached within the 50 foot buffer zone.
Last year, a woman was shot and killed on 75th and Stewart in Englewood. Most people have that moment when enough is enough. This was Tamar Manasseh’s.
Manasseh lives in Bronzeville, but she grew up in Englewood. Right after the murder, she decided to organize Mothers Against Senseless Killings, or M.A.S.K.
It’s a mom patrol that camps out on the block of 75th and Stewart every summer afternoon into evening as a form of violence resistance. The moms wear hot pink shirts and black hats. R&B and hip hop music blast from speakers. […]
This is Manasseh’s second summer on the block. She said coming out here daily restores her faith in a city that seems besieged by violence.
“This is the most uplifting thing going on in the city right now because you see all this negative stuff over and over again every day,” Manasseh said. “And I see it and I say I left 75th and Stewart and none of that was happening. I was in Englewood and none of that was happening. It really restores your hope in humanity.”
According to police statistics, this summer the block hasn’t seen one shooting, although crime still happens in the area. Manasseh said she has no plans to stop coming out.
But this story doesn’t have a happy ending. Her group has been ordered to move. Go read the rest.
* Gov. Bruce Rauner was asked yesterday what the state was doing about Chicago’s wave of violent crime…
Gov. Rauner: Well, the one thing we have done with our state police is to up the intensity, the manpower– what we call a surge here for a number of months– where we’ve got more state police working our highways. Unfortunately, gang violence is spilling over onto our expressways in Chicago and under the direct jurisdiction of our state police, we are very engaged.
Gov. Rauner (Cont.): We have had a number of involvements in incidents and we are also using the state police with surveillance, undercover drug work and other forms of sophisticated, police support that our state police are providing to the Chicago police and, in fact, other police in districts around the State of Illinois.
Gov. Rauner (Cont.): I’ll also say– I am not ready to really go into detail publicly– but our administration is in conversations with a number of other leaders in public safety in other communities in other states. What have other communities done to reduce their violent crime? Their gang violence?
Gov. Rauner (Cont.): Other communities have taken action—there are different solutions that have been tried. Some have success. Some have had failure. I am a big believer in learning from others, not trying to re-invent the wheel– and listening and learning all the time. That process is well under way and I hope I will be talking with you and many leaders around the State about that in the future.
* The governor was also asked about legislative talks regarding increasing penalties for gun violations…
I don’t want to speculate about any potential future legislation. I think all of our efforts should be thoughtful and strategic. We should assess that together as a state government and policy makers. What makes the most sense to keep people safe, to reduce the crime in our system and help prevent crime in the future by effectively treating- rehabilitating and treating- these offenders and potential offenders who are on the verge of violence or could go down a worse track than they are on. Try to get them off that track and get them on a more productive track.
He repeatedly refused to say too much about the talks on that bill, which is a good thing.
Say what you want about this governor, and we often do, but he is pretty darned good on criminal justice reforms.
* Related…
* Mitchell: A single mom and ex-con, she’s made a difference: “I knew if I was able to sit down with these different politicians and actually talk face-to-face, I knew they would fight on the side of what was right,” Creason told me. “I had a lot of faith that these individuals would understand this was a counterproductive law.” Gov. Bruce Rauner plans to go to Decatur next week to sign the bill.
* Maybe she was afraid the teachers would force her to take another pop quiz…
After a math flub at the Illinois State Fair last week, Illinois Comptroller Leslie Munger skipped a scheduled endorsement session with the political arm of the Illinois Education Association, taking her out of the running for the powerful plug.
Munger, who is in a competitive race for reelection in November against City Clerk Susana Mendoza, canceled at the last minute, said Jim Reed, Illinois Education Association’s director of Governmental Affairs.
Munger also didn’t follow through on submitting a questionnaire, which the campaign initially promised. It’s a needed first step in qualifying for IEA political backing. […]
[Reed] said he offered another date and even a phone interview but she could not attend.
Munger wasn’t getting that endorsement. No way, no how. The comptroller’s race is a proxy war between the pro-union Madigan Democrats and the anti-union Rauner Republicans. So, skipping the meeting isn’t really a big deal, although Bruce Rauner did have the stones to attend an IEA endorsement session with Pat Quinn in 2014.
* Sometimes, when I’m tossing and turning late at night, this song pops into my brain and starts playing an endless loop. It’s a song I grew up with from my dad’s 45 collection. Good tune, great groove, but it occasionally torments me…
