The increasingly bitter national fight over the loyalty of delegates to this summer’s Republican National Convention is showing signs of spreading to Illinois, which will select 12 at-large delegates and 12 at-large alternate delegates that the Donald Trump campaign would like to consider theirs. […]
In position to make the final call is Gov. Bruce Rauner, who is expected to not only attend the convention but chair Illinois’ delegation as the effective head of he state Republican Party. Stuck in the middle is Sen. Mark Kirk, R-Ill., who normally would be expected to attend the convention, too, but, as an elected at-large delegate would be bound to vote for Trump on the first ballot.
In the March primary, Trump won 37 of the delegates selected at the congressional district level, compared to nine for Cruz and six for Ohio Gov. John Kasich. They technically are bound to Trump only for the first ballot, but were hand-picked by the Trump organization and generally are considered loyal.
Not necessarily so are the 12 at-large delegates and 12 at-large alternates who will be selected at the state party convention in Peoria on May 20-21. The delegates to the state convention, in turn, will be selected at potentially contentious county conventions over the next month. […]
State party Chairman Tim Schneider, who was installed in his job by Rauner, says he’s “hoping” to avoid the sort of nasty fights that have occurred in other states. Specifically, a committee headed by former state GOP Chairman Jack Dorgan will nominate a slate of candidates that likely includes some who will back Trump, as well as some who support Cruz or Kasich.
Hoo boy. What a sticky wicket.
* I have generally avoided national party conventions over the years (I went to one when it was in Chicago). But I do believe I’m gonna attend this one, although wearing a press badge might not be the safest thing to do. Then again, being a delegate might not be all that safe, either…
More than three months before any ballots have been cast at the Republican convention, Roger Stone, Donald Trump’s on-again, off-again consigliere, has delivered the campaign equivalent of a severed horse head to delegates who might consider denying Trump the nomination. Trump’s supporters will find you in your sleep, he merrily informed them this week. He did not mean it metaphorically.
“We will disclose the hotels and the room numbers of those delegates who are directly involved in the steal,” Stone said Monday, on Freedomain Radio. “If you’re from Pennsylvania, we’ll tell you who the culprits are. We urge you to visit their hotel and find them. You have a right to discuss this, if you voted in the Pennsylvania primary, for example, and your votes are being disallowed,” Stone said.
The Trump campaign later disavowed those statements.
Rank-and-file Illinois lawmakers frustrated by the 10-month state budget impasse are meeting on their own in bipartisan groups to discuss potential solutions.
Some of those legislators spoke Monday in Chicago during a forum on the budget hosted by The Illinois Campaign for Political Reform.
State Reps. William Davis, a Homewood Democrat, and Republican Robert Pritchard of Hinckley say they recently attended a lawmaker gathering in suburban Chicago to discuss tactics. They declined to discuss specific proposals, saying they’re in the initial phases. The goal is to present plans to legislative leaders in hopes of resolving the stalemate between Democratic legislative leaders and Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner, who haven’t met in months.
Things are starting to happen again and we might see results pretty quickly. You’ll recall that Gov. Rauner shut down a similar process last year because it didn’t produce enough results for him and, to a lesser extent, because he was angry that the process became public. But times are changing.
An Associated Press analysis of Environmental Protection Agency data found that nearly 1,400 water systems serving 3.6 million Americans exceeded the federal lead standard at least once between Jan. 1, 2013, and Sept. 30, 2015. The affected systems are large and small, public and private, and include 278 systems that are owned and operated by schools and day care centers in 41 states. […]
In Galesburg, a community of 31,000 about 200 miles southwest of Chicago, lead levels have exceeded the federal standard in 22 out of 30 testing periods since 1992. City officials say their ground water and water mains are lead-free, but the toxin enters the supply in service lines that deliver water from the streets to 4,700 homes. Lead-based plumbing fixtures that were common in homes built before 1980 also contribute.
The city discovered its most recent problem last fall, when 7 out of 40 samples came back at unacceptable levels. The city followed EPA guidelines by informing residents of the situation two months later. Its notice said that a chemical added to the water since 1993 has been effective in reducing the lead levels and resulted in “lead compliance since 2010,” a misleading statement since no testing was required in 2013 and 2014.
The notice added that recent testing showed the standard had been exceeded “by a narrow margin.” In reality, lead levels were 1.5 times the standard.
According to data from the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency, tap water in the Champaign County village [of Sydney] has exceeded the national “action level” for lead three times since 2010. […]
There is no safe level for lead exposure — especially for young children, who could suffer behavioral and learning disabilities from the neurotoxin.
Following the crisis in Flint, Michigan, Illinois regulators want to increase their speed when it comes to notifying water customers of systems that exceed the federal lead standard.
The Illinois Environmental Protection Agency and the Illinois Department of Public Health have decided on a 10-day deadline to let customers know about the lead violations.
That is significantly quicker than the federal standard that states homeowners must be notified within 30 days.
Good for them. That 30-day notice requirement is way too long.
* But, Illinois being Illinois, one hand at the IEPA wants action while the other hand at the IEPA is cutting off funding…
A university water-system operator training program is on the chopping block due to a lack of federal student loan money and state funding, even as headlines about the disastrous effects of negligent water system operators continue to appear daily.
The Environmental Resources Training Center at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville is one of the few of its kind in the nation. The year-long program certifies personnel in the operation, maintenance and management of drinking water and wastewater treatment systems for work in Illinois and Missouri. […]
With or without loans, the program may have to be scrapped altogether if the state’s budget impasse is not solved. Gov. Bruce Rauner has not released funds to the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency, which takes money from the U.S. EPA and gives it to the program for operating costs. The funds are mostly used for salaries.
Thus, the program will not receive the “hundreds of thousands of dollars” it is owed by the agency until the governor releases the funds, supposedly when the budget impasse comes to an end, said Marci Webb, program office manager. […]
“This program trains water operators who could help solve some of those problems you’ve seen up in Flint and Chatham,” he noted in reference to disastrous effects of lead-poisoned water in Flint, Michigan, and a new treatment plant in Chatham, Illinois, that has left residents questioning the village’s water quality.
The Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation (IDFPR) and the Illinois Department of Corrections (IDOC) are pleased to announce a new initiative that streamlines the professional licensing process for men and women who are being released from prison.
Starting immediately, offenders who’ve completed the required coursework for Barbering and Cosmetology will be able to apply for their professional license and meet with the licensing board via video conference up to six months before their release or parole date. This common sense policy change reverses the previous approach, which prohibited offenders from starting the application process until they were already released from the institution.
“By creating a pathway towards licensure while still in the institutional setting, we are able to provide near immediate opportunity for individuals exiting prison,” said Bryan A. Schneider, IDFPR Secretary. “We believe this regulatory revision provides real change for those leaving incarceration, while supplying our local economies with able bodied employees at the ready.”
“This is a step in the right direction as we work toward reducing the recidivism rate in Illinois,” said IDOC Acting Director John Baldwin. “When men and women know they’ll be rewarded for their hard work, they are more inclined to participate in programming that will improve their odds of success in the community. This new policy means offenders will be able to join the workforce as soon as they walk out of the correctional center doors.”
This effort is a direct response to the Illinois Criminal Justice and Sentencing Commission’s recommendation to “remove unnecessary barriers to those convicted of crimes from obtaining professional licenses.” It is a small but critical first step in reducing employment barriers for ex-offenders and driving down the prison population in the state of Illinois.
Interviews and b-roll of Cosmetology students at Logan Correctional Center are available on the IDOC Facebook page and on the CMS website at http://www.illinois.gov/cms/agency/media/video/.
With about 200 people dying of heroin overdoses each year in Chicago, the police are preparing to launch a radical new strategy to help addicts caught in narcotics investigations on the West Side.
As usual, officers will arrest people caught buying small amounts of heroin and take them to the police station. But officers will now give them the option of entering a drug-treatment program — and not being charged with a crime.
Users with violent criminal backgrounds and those who are “active gang members” will be excluded, police say.
“This is a one-time get-out-of-jail-free card,” said Ruth Coffman, executive director of the University of Chicago Health Lab, which will evaluate the program. […]
About $1 billion of heroin passes through Cook County alone every year, mostly on the West Side, Riccio said. One open-air market at Grenshaw and Independence had hundreds of people standing in line for heroin until police busted the operation last year, he said.
In the past five years, the legislature has slashed state funding for addiction prevention, cut addiction treatment by 40% and mental health treatment by nearly 25%.
Elgin Residential Rehab and Men’s Residence West are two inpatient treatment homes that will be closing within the next 30 days, leaving those battling addiction to try to find help elsewhere at a time such places are scarce.
Lutheran Social Services of Illinois announced it is closing both programs, among 30 other programs being phased out, because of the state’s inability to pass a budget. […]
A Roosevelt University study titled “Diminishing Capacity: The Heroin Crisis and Illinois Treatment in a National Perspective” found that as heroin use increases, the state is ranked third worst in the nation for providing publicly-funded addiction treatment.
As Mayor Rahm Emanuel faced growing criticism last fall over the city’s handling of police shootings, Chicago Police Department officials laid plans to have undercover officers spy on protest groups, records obtained by the Chicago Sun-Times show. […]
The undercover police operations last fall stemmed from plans announced by the Black Youth Project, the Workers Center and Southsiders Organized for Unity and Liberation — a coalition of churches and neighborhood groups known as SOUL — to protest the annual conference of the International Association of Chiefs of Police, held Oct. 24-27 at McCormick Place.
Funders for Justice — a nationwide network of philanthropic groups that includes the Ford Foundation, one of the country’s biggest and best-known charitable organizations — posted an announcement of the “counter-conference” on its website. The Funders group had been formed to support discussions of police practices post-Ferguson.
A police department spokesman described the probe as “routine” and within the law, adding that it was “documented to ensure transparency with the public.”
“These protective actions — which happen in limited circumstances — are conducted to protect public safety and people’s First Amendment rights,” police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi told the newspaper.
Wait. They’re conducting these operations to “protect” First Amendment rights?
And I’m sure this had nothing whatsoever to do with the fact that the protesters were going to picket a police chiefs meeting.
Workshop titles include “Pathways to Violent Extremism: Understanding the Radicalization Process and How Best to Prevent Violence in Your Community” and “Use of Force By and Against the Police: Perspectives from the Local, State, and National Level.” […]
There will be a series of talks organized by the Chicago Police Department (CPD) on various themes, including something called “police legitimacy.” Among the CPD workshops is “The Chicago NATO Model: Bringing Order to Disorder While Ensuring First Amendment Rights
The recent reports about the level and breadth of police monitoring of peaceful protest groups is unsettling and requires a response. Thousands of Chicago residents have joined protests in recent months demanding a more accountable, more transparent policing system in the City, and these protests have been conducted largely in a peaceful, considerate fashion. Rather than being dangerous, it has been inspiring to see so many young people take a leadership role in helping to plan and shape these activities.
The exercise of one’s protected First Amendment rights should not be a catalyst for a police investigation, whether overt or the covert insertion of undercover officers inside an organization. Such spying on peaceful protesters chills speech. The ACLU strongly opposes police officers attending meetings and collecting information on people organizing to exercise their First Amendment rights.
Given Chicago’s bleak history of using undercover officers to investigate and infiltrate peaceful groups simply for opposing policies emanating from City Hall, there must be strong, written guidelines for guarding against abuses in the use of police to investigate these sorts of activities. Washington D.C., for example, has a protective ordinance requiring “reasonable suspicion of a crime” before beginning the kind of investigations described here. Chicago used this standard for decades, but since the dissolution of a long-standing federal consent decree in June 2009, the standard of “a legitimate law enforcement purpose” has guided the CPD’s decisions for whether to spy on political movements. That standard is too low and nebulous, and inevitably leads to the kind of troubling spying reported here.
The ACLU of Illinois urges the Chicago City Council to hold hearings into these investigations as a precursor to considering written, formal guidelines, adopted by the Council that can help assure every person in Chicago that exercising free speech is not a predicate for a criminal investigation.
Instead of spying on churches and other groups, how about using those limited resources to spy on some dangerous criminals? I mean, the city’s so very safe, right?
North Side activists rallied Sunday around legislation they hope will end Illinois’ nearly yearlong budget stalemate and secured commitments from lawmakers at a full-house community convention in Lake View.
ONE Northside is pursuing legislation in Springfield its members say would close $2.5 billion annually in corporate tax loopholes. The bill was filed in January by Rep. Will Davis, D-East Hazel Crest. […]
A small group of Democratic state lawmakers agreed to co-sponsor the legislation. Senate President John Cullerton vowed to move it through the Senate.
One person’s loophole is another person’s must-have business incentive. Eliminating them is harder than just about anything.
* This could turn out to be more important, however…
Cullerton also committed to seeking a statewide vote on a fair tax, and to working to pass a fully funded two-year budget that closed the corporate loopholes by May 31.
Yep. The fair (graduated) tax is being revived. It’s reportedly been tweaked a bit, but we’ll get more details soon and then we’ll talk about it when we do.
Also, a two-year budget? Hmm.
* The Question: Would you support the crafting of two-year state budgets? Take the poll and then explain your answer in comments, please.
As noted several times before, as long as anti-union proposals are being demanded in exchange for a tax hike, the Democrats aren’t gonna budge, no matter who the Speaker is.
And even if Rauner isn’t publicly willing to compromise, I see no huge harm in meeting with the man.
Also, more competition in legislative districts will probably lead to more people refusing to tackle tough problems. Not that anybody is doing it now, but I’m just sayin…
* Along those lines, a lobbyist for local governments and a lobbyist for social workers showed a bit more willingness to accept reality in a Twitter exchange over the weekend…
The Comptroller's Office reports that Illinois' most recent tally of unpaid bills neared $6.8 billion.
“Since his recovery from a stroke in 2012, Senator Kirk has raised over $8 million from over 20,000 donors. During the most recent primary election, Kirk won all 102 Illinois counties and even received more votes than Duckworth in 89 counties - a strength that is also reflected in recent polling that outlines the race as a statistical tie. There is no doubt Senator Kirk will have the resources needed to continue highlighting Duckworth’s reckless national security positions, including her call for allowing in 200,000 unsafely-vetted Syrian refugees. At the same time, Rep. Duckworth will be forced to spend considerable resources dealing with her pending legal troubles where she is accused of retaliating against VA whistleblowers who alerted investigators to mistreatment of veterans under Duckworth’s care.”
[ *** End Of Update *** ]
* Press release…
Powered by a significant increase in grassroots, small-dollar donations, Tammy Duckworth’s U.S. Senate campaign raised $2.1 million in the first quarter of 2016, and has over $4 million on hand. Duckworth scored a decisive primary win on March 15th, and more than doubled its fundraising pace over the last half of the quarter, taking in over $1.4 million in that time. The campaign received more than 37,000 individual contributions in the first quarter, and has now received nearly 93,000 individual contributions overall. The average contribution this quarter was just $50, while the median was $20.
“This was our campaign’s strongest quarter yet, with both a decisive primary win and significant growth in our base of grassroots contributors,” Tammy for Illinois campaign manager Kaitlin Fahey said. “Tammy’s strong showing on March 15th and subsequent outreach throughout Illinois has demonstrated real enthusiasm and ability to grow. Our campaign is moving into the general election with momentum and expanding resources, and we couldn’t be more optimistic and enthusiastic. Compare that to Mark Kirk, who last week had to resort to releasing an internal poll showing him losing and under the 40 percent threshold, and who has pledged that he ‘certainly would’ support Republican frontrunner Donald Trump, despite Trump’s increasingly outrageous campaign and deep-seated unpopularity among Illinoisans. Kirk’s record of serving the interests of corporations and Wall Street banks at the expense of Illinois families may finally be catching up to him.”
Some key highlights from the report, which will be filed with the Senate Office of Public Records and Federal Elections Commission this week:
The campaign received 37,366 individual contributions from a total of 28,104 individuals in the first quarter. Since declaring in March of 2015, the Duckworth for Senate campaign has received 92,839 individual contributions;
Of those 1Q contributions, 96.1 percent were for $100 or less, a 1.5% increase over the previous quarter;
The average individual contribution was $50.81, and the median individual contribution was $20, both the lowest such figures for this cycle, demonstrating rapid growth in low-dollar contributors.
The Illinois Senate race is consistently ranked as the top race in the country, and Senator Kirk is routinely listed as the most vulnerable Senate incumbent. The Duckworth campaign raised $1 million more than Kirk over the last two quarters of 2015, essentially erasing Kirk’s longstanding cash-on-hand advantage. Duckworth raised $661,000 during the pre-primary period from January 1st—February 24th, compared to $458,000 for Kirk. Kirk has not publicly released his full first quarter fundraising numbers.
Last week, Duckworth was endorsed by President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden.
As noted in the release, Sen. Kirk has not yet released his latest fundraising totals. Kirk raised $1 million in the fourth quarter, and ended last year with $3.8 million on hand. Duckworth, by contrast raised $1.6 million in that quarter and had $3.65 million on hand. So, her cash position didn’t increase by much.
But this is a long race and there will be tons of outside money spent here, so a few hundred grand difference between the two right now won’t matter much come November.
* Related…
* ADDED: Sun-Times editorial: False facts and fearful talk about Guantanamo give U.S. black eye: But Kirk has it wrong. Federal law already prohibits sending Gitmo detainees to Iran, Sudan or any other country on a list of nations designated as state sponsors of terrorism.
* Laura Washington: Debates will help settle Kirk-Duckworth race
Austin High School on Chicago’s struggling West Side is a proud school with a bad reputation and too few students. It likely has just one more shot at survival.
Austin has hollowed out in recent years, as have dozens of similar schools across Chicago’s poor and mostly Latino and black neighborhoods. With 391 students, including just 57 freshmen across three academies in a building meant for nearly 1,700, Austin is one of 35 Chicago public high schools that are well under half full. Ten schools aren’t even a quarter full.
These schools face a set of woes that make a turnaround all but impossible. A citywide school-choice system leaves these mostly open-enrollment schools with some of Chicago’s most challenging and low-achieving students. Deeply strained budgets fueled by declining enrollment hurt staffing levels, teacher retention, and programming. Mix in a stubborn reputation for violence at many schools—unwarranted in the case of Austin and some others—and these schools are in a death spiral.
In a high-school universe defined by choice, these schools and students are the clear losers. Chicago’s neediest students are clustered at the bottom of the pecking order of the district, in the most under-resourced and embattled schools.
Chicago has a poor track record of delivering for its weakest students but this latest chapter, arguably an inevitable and predictable consequence of school choice, may be a new low. Students who need the healthiest and most stable schools are segregated in the most unstable institutions, often with the most troubled classmates. Victims of a set of powerful and destructive forces that have undermined their schools and neighborhoods, these students and their schools face an increasingly bleak and uncertain future.
Meanwhile, the city since 2000 has opened dozens of schools to offer more choice and retain the middle class. Most are public charter schools that admit by lottery but a bevy of test-based schools and programs also launched. Chicago now has 101,000 students in 140 high schools, excluding alternative schools. In 2000, CPS had 93,000 students in 86 high schools. That’s a 63 percent increase in schools against an 8 percent increase in students. For neighborhoods like Austin that have lost population, this seats-students mismatch is particularly devastating.
Neighborhood schools weren’t working in many neighborhoods at the bottom of the economic ladder. So, Chicago embraced public school choice. But that isn’t working either for kids on the lowest economic rungs. Charters can kick kids out for low performance, behavioral problems, etc. and they do that a lot.
I happen to think charters can be a great thing. But, man, the costs sure are high to run all those new schools. And innovators like Kansas City are also having some very real problems.
All I do know for sure is that slogans on both sides don’t help matters much. So, try to avoid them in comments. Thanks.
* I was reducing some clutter in my office over the weekend and found a bunch of stuff that I forgot I had or hadn’t looked at in years. Here’s a campaign beanie from Bill Stratton’s campaign…
I think my dad bought me that one.
* I went to college with this guy. He was a PAR student back then and wrote a story in the college paper about me after my election as student president…
* I bought a painting online by Henry Hill of “Goodfellas” infamy, didn’t like it, put it away and couldn’t ever find it again. It was still in its original envelope buried in a box…
* A few mementos from a 1999 trip to Cuba…
* And here’s a piece of campaign lit that I completely forgot about…
I think somebody else inked his teeth. But he actually thought this was a good idea for some reason.
(T)he Illinois House still hasn’t had an appropriations hearing on next year’s budgets for Illinois’ public colleges and universities, those annual exercises where higher ed officials get called before House members with oftentimes ask parochial and unpredictable questions.
Normally those hearings are headed by the chair of the Appropriations-Higher Education Committee.
That would be Rep. Ken Dunkin, the Chicago Democrat who is viewed by some of his Democratic colleagues as a Judas for siding with Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner on a couple of high-profile issues. In fact, Dunkin was defeated in last month’s Democratic primary, despite big bucks from Rauner allies.
There’s a higher education budget hearing in the House this week but it’ll be before Rep. Kelly Burke’s Higher Education Committee.
I asked Steve Brown, a spokesman for House Speaker Michael Madigan, why the higher ed budgets weren’t going to Dunkin’s appropriations committee.
“We prefer to think of it as going to Kelly Burke’s committee,” he said with a smile.
Well, at least Dunkin is still getting his chairmanship stipend, even if he isn’t doing anything.
This is SOP for Madigan, by the way. He’s done this very same thing to at least two other members in the past (Al Ronan and Jay Hoffman) when he believed they were plotting against him.
“The last time the general state aid formula for school funding was changed was in ’03 when we had complete Democrat control of our General Assembly and governorship,” Rauner said [last week]. “There was complete Democrat control of our government for 12 years, and there was no change. Now all of a sudden, there’s this perception of crisis. This issue was created by Democrats.”
Not exactly. And you have to be careful not to draw the wrong conclusions from what Rauner is saying.
He’s correct that the last time the formula was changed was in 2003 when Democrats had complete control. Manar said he’s not sure what Rauner is talking about, but here’s his guess: “In 2003, there was a bill that was passed that dealt with how you count children who live in poverty. That’s not a formula change,” Manar said. “That bill in 2003 got 55 votes in the Senate.”
Or, as Manar put it, it wasn’t a bill that “Democrats crammed down Republicans’ throats.”
In fact, the essential part of the funding formula was put in place in 1997 when Republicans controlled the Senate and there was a Republican governor. Both made sure Republican interests were taken care of, so even wealthy school districts in GOP areas got their piece of the school-funding pie.
That’s all true.
But, as Finke clearly points out, Rauner is correct when he says the Democrats had control for a dozen years and did basically nothing and are now all of a sudden demanding reforms.
The problem is that more than two decades of consensus about how to fix the situation - a state income tax hike swapped for a local property tax cut - was tossed out the window by the Democrats when the state’s fiscal position became so imperiled that it needed every dime of a tax hike for itself. And then along came Speaker Madigan’s idea to make local school districts pick up their pension costs. Those two things completely upended the entire process and it took Sen. Andy Manar’s new ideas to finally get something going again.
Governor Bruce Rauner has hit a brick wall attempting to convince House Speaker Michael Madigan to come to the negotiating table to talk about ending the long governmental impasse and then working out a budget deal. So after holding numerous public appearances to demand a sit-down, Rauner shifted gears last week when the two Republican legislative leaders trotted out a new spending plan to provide $1.3 billion to fund human services and other programs.
The proposal would partly be funded with some pension reforms that Republicans claim will save $780 million. The reforms include some accounting changes and pushing off pension costs to local schools and to higher-education institutions for salaries above $180,000 a year. But there are relatively few employees making more than $180K a year, and the $780 million is about a third of the state’s annual “normal costs” for pensions, so it seems somewhat difficult to believe that these savings are actually as high as billed.
And even if the money is real, the $1.3-billion GOP proposal is significantly smaller than either appropriations bill passed by the legislature’s Democratic majorities. The Senate Democrats’ spending plan was pegged at about $3.8 billion, with half of that ($1.9 billion) going to social services.
Still, the bill could very well generate some interest among rank-and-file Democrats worried about the implosion of the state’s social safety net as a possible next step in the negotiating process. For instance, the legislation appropriates more than $10 million for the Adult Redeploy program, which diverts nonviolent offenders from prison terms. That money would come from the General Revenue Fund, but the legislation also uses money from special state funds to pay for programs popular with Democrats that aren’t currently being funded by the state, like homeless-youth services.
By far, however, the most intriguing aspect of the Republican bill is what’s not in it – at least not yet. None of Rauner’s usual anti-union “poison pills” is attached. The governor has demanded the passage of several reforms as a condition for talking about the budget, but none of those is overtly attached to this new Republican proposal.
The GOP legislation also gives the governor some spending-transfer authority within the budget, but it appears to be much more limited than earlier demands for near dictatorial control over moving around just about every state dollar as he saw fit.
And while the GOP appropriations bill might not actually be fully funded by its pension component, it certainly has more funding behind it than either Democratic plan out there right now. And still more funding could be found by using part of the Democrats’ proposal, which includes forgiving about $450 million in loans from special state funds (an idea that the governor had previously said he could probably live with).
The idea, it appears, is to present a far more “reasonable” GOP face than in the recent past – and put Madigan on defense both for hiding behind his incessant political games and for refusing to come to the bargaining table, thus allowing the state to crash and burn while waiting for the governor to cave.
An official close to Mayor Rahm Emanuel said last week that his boss and Rauner have regularly spoken with each other despite all the harsh public sniping between the two men. The governor, he said, claims that he wants to make a deal.
But Madigan just doesn’t believe that private talks with the governor will work because they obviously haven’t borne fruit since this crisis began in late May of last year, when the Democrats rammed through a hugely unbalanced budget that was then almost completely vetoed by Rauner.
I totally get the lack of trust the Democrats have in this governor. He has broken confidences, has broken his word, and has attempted to break their, um, stones by hurling insults for months. I also fully appreciate the tension that has built up on both sides during the past 14 months or so.
But it’s not like anybody’s doing anything else while we all wait around for Armageddon.
Private negotiations are obviously preferable to public negotiations, but private negotiations are off the table right now because Madigan says so. (And he has his reasons, some better than others.) So public negotiations are better than no negotiations at all, and we’ll have to take what we can get.
Hopefully, we’ll see a counter-offer from the Democrats soon.
*** UPDATE *** No surprise here. The governor’s budget office has recommended that the governor sign the GOP bill if passed. Click to read the memo.
Friday, Apr 8, 2016 - Posted by Advertising Department
[The following is a paid advertisement.]
Credit unions exist as member owned cooperative financial institutions. Cooperatives are most often formed to support producers such as farmers, purchasers such as independent business owners, and consumers in the case of electric coops and credit unions. Their primary purpose is to meet members’ needs through affordable goods and services of high quality. Cooperatives such as credit unions may look like other businesses in their operations and, like other businesses, can range in size. However, the cooperative structure is distinctively different regardless of size.
As not-for-profit financial cooperatives, credit unions serve individuals with a common goal or interest. They are owned and democratically controlled by the people who use their services. Their board of directors consists of unpaid volunteers, elected by and from the membership. Members are owners who pool funds to help other members. After expenses and reserve requirements are met, net revenue is returned to members via lower loan and higher savings rates, and lower costs and fees for services. In exceptional years, bonus dividends may be deposited into member accounts as well. It is the structure of credit unions - not their size or range of services - that is the reason for their tax exempt status, and the reason why almost three million Illinois residents are now among 100 million Americans who count on their local credit union every day to reach their financial goals.
Friday, Apr 8, 2016 - Posted by Advertising Department
[The following is a paid advertisement.]
Nearly 1,900 people responded to the recent Citizen’s Utility Board survey about Exelon’s push to bailout its nuclear plants. Here is how CUB put it:
“Exelon says keeping its nuclear plants open will fight climate change—and they need economic help. Opponents say Exelon just wants bigger profits.
Should Illinois give unprofitable nuclear plants more money if it helps fight climate change?
No:1,583 (about 84 percent)
Yes:298 (about 16 percent)”
—————————————————
Illinois still has no budget, the state’s finances and services are in shambles, the social safety net is being decimated but Exelon STILL wants the Legislature to pass a huge BAILOUT.
BEST Coalition is a 501C4 nonprofit group of dozens of business, consumer and government groups, as well as large and small businesses. Visitwww.noexelonbailout.com.
Cash-strapped Illinois needs to provide in-home nursing care to more than 1,200 children with disabilities and severe medical conditions, a federal judge ordered Wednesday, responding to a lawsuit alleging the state has failed to fulfill its Medicaid obligations. […]
The plaintiffs’ lawyers said the state plans to appeal the decision and ask that the order be stayed until the lawsuit is resolved. […]
Jane Perkins, another plaintiffs’ attorney, said some of the children are currently being treated in hospital intensive care units instead of having a nurse at their home. She said that’s problematic because children who are “medically fragile” are prone to contracting hospital-borne diseases.
Wait… They’re keeping some of those kids in ICUs instead of in home nursing care? Yeah, that’s cost effective.
Sheesh. Good luck with your appeal!
Not.
* Meanwhile, remember when the Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy president wrote that his school owes millions to its vendors, but that he was still confident in the future?…
Is IMSA still viable for the remainder of this year and into next year and into future years? My answer is “yes.” Why do I say this? I believe that IMSA is too important to too many people. We’re too important to Illinois and the world to “fail.” While we’re not “too big to fail,” we’re “too important to too many people to fail.”
Officials in Aurora and elsewhere are raising concerns about how the ongoing state budget war might affect the Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy in Aurora, a high school that draws students from across Illinois.
“How are we going to keep getting good teachers to come here and teach?” state Sen. Linda Holmes, an Aurora Democrat, said. […]
Illinois Board of Higher Education Executive Director James Applegate this week praised officials at IMSA for keeping the doors open and making things work, but he made the comments as part of a push to get lawmakers and Gov. Bruce Rauner to finish up their long-delayed work.
“They are in extremely dire straits right now,” Applegate said.
* Related…
* Tribune editorial: Is Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner anti-union? Or pro-taxpayer?
Those who travel through the busy intersection of Lincoln Avenue, Fullerton Avenue and Halsted Street might have noticed the giant sign hanging over the McDonald’s that reads “Chicago Republican Party, Chris Cleveland, Chairman.”
The city recently issued the owner of the building at 2420 N. Lincoln Ave. a violation for putting up the sign without a permit, threatening to fine the group if it doesn’t follow city protocol, according to the complaint. The chairman of the Chicago Republican Party called the request “unconstitutional.” […]
“I refuse to ask permission for any government entity before engaging in political speech. It’s unconstitutional and offensive,” Cleveland said in an interview.
There’s an error in that second paragraph. The city is going after the building owner, not the Chicago GOP.
City officials aren’t the only ones fed up with the Chicago Republican Party’s giant sign.
The sign, which was installed by the group at 2420 N. Lincoln Ave. last fall without a permit, is covering a big window in Tom Alcock’s psychology office — and he’s not happy about it.
“This has been really hard on me,” Alcock said. “I’ve lost sleep and pounds trying to protect my business.” […]
Alcock said not only does the sign violate city law, but it also violates Alcock’s lease.
Um, yeah, I’d be upset too if some guy violated my lease by covering up my office window with a giant sign…
Cover up your own window, freedom fighter dude.
…Adding… I thought I remembered those signs. Thanks to a commenter for this link.
Voices’ Fiscal Policy Center has taken a look at the spending proposals contained in HB2990 HA2 [the House Democrats’ approp bill] and SB3418 [the GOP proposal] to determine whether either are viable options to immediately relieve the built up pressure on the social service and higher education systems.
Each plan is flawed because neither raises any revenue, and both rely on additional GRF spending when we’re already running large GRF deficits.
The appropriations made in HB2990 HA2 come from both special funds, which have current available cash balances, and GRF. While GRF appropriations mean providers can get in line to get paid, the delay on those payments will be substantial because of the large and growing backlog.
SB3418 appropriations come with an additional barrier in that they are payable only upon the passage of a pension reform bill. As in HB2990 HA2, additional GRF appropriations without revenue mean we increase the deficit and add to the backlog.
So where do we go from here? The introduction of both these bills indicates that house and senate members on both sides of the aisle understand there is a crisis. Both bills also include funding from special funds, so it’s clear everyone understands there is money currently sitting in special funds.
In FY15 it was politically palatable for lawmakers and Governor Rauner to sweep and borrow from special funds to support critical services. If it was deemed reasonable to use those funds in FY15 to keep systems from crashing, perhaps there could be agreement that it would be wise to look at special fund balances to prevent total destruction of the social service and higher education infrastructure.
Of course, the daily destruction from this budget crisis started a few months back and will continue until there is a plan including sustainable revenue to fund FY16, FY17 and beyond. On an emergency basis, though, lawmakers should look at using balances as special funds to keep systems alive while they debate bigger tax and policy reform issues.
* She then texted me this…
It’s important to add that sweeps can be done in a responsible way. Obviously the consequences of sweeps have to be examined before the sweeps are made. But they can be useful to keep entire systems from dying.
The lack of state funds due to the continued budget impasse could keep schools that are heavily dependent upon dollars from Springfield from opening on time, creating a dilemma for parents.
Rauner and Democrats led in the House by Speaker Michael Madigan and in the Senate by President John Cullerton may be rolling the political dice in betting who the public will blame on Election Day if that happens.
Such a pressure point was avoided last year when Rauner vetoed all but the Democratic-drawn elementary and secondary education budget for the state.
Seeing what Rauner did with the school budget last year, Democrats may try to use any school budget appropriation this year to try to gain some kind of leverage against the Republican governor’s agenda.
Providing Illinois social services with critical funding, and utilizing proposals currently available to fund higher education, were part of a proposal introduced today by Senate Republican Leader Christine Radogno (R-Lemont) and House Republican Leader Jim Durkin (R-Western Springs), both of whom called on Democrat leaders to stop playing games and begin working in a bipartisan manner to achieve results for residents of Illinois.
“Today, we are introducing legislation that will fund our most critical social services,” said Leader Radogno (R-Lemont). “The social safety net in Illinois is at a breaking point and we need to stop playing games and bring everyone together to demonstrate to Illinois taxpayers that we can put partisanship aside and do what is right for the most vulnerable in our state.”
The proposal introduced by Leaders Radogno and Durkin would fund Illinois’ most critical social services. The proposal, contains $433 million of General Revenue Funds (GRF) and $858 million of Other State Funds, which totals nearly $1.3 billion.
Senate Bill 3418 would support:
• Seniors in the Community Care Program;
• Veterans;
• Those with mental health issues and developmental disabilities;
• Homeless youth, homeless vets and homelessness prevention in general;
• Programs like Adult Redeploy that that are critical to our criminal justice reform efforts;
• Addiction treatment, sexual assault services and prevention; and
• The Special Olympics
The Republican Leaders also reaffirmed their support for funding higher education, and noted there are a range of options available to secure funding, such as using procurement reform savings, using excess special funds, and giving the Governor authority to move money around. Unfortunately, notes Leader Durkin, there’s been zero consideration on these ideas from the Speaker. In fact, as Chicago State University prepares to close their doors, Democrat leaders won’t even come to a meeting to discuss bipartisan proposals to fix the problem.
“House Republicans are very concerned about funding for higher education, and we’ve tried to jumpstart that conversation by introducing new ideas on how to generate taxpayer savings to show taxpayers that we’re pursuing a way to pay for things,” said Leader Durkin. “There are a range of options out there we should be exploring, and we owe it to the people, and students, of Illinois to have an open and bipartisan dialogue. The time to act is now.”
Both Radogno and Durkin believe that comprehensive pension reform can generate enormous taxpayer savings. Governor Rauner has put forward a number of immediate changes to the pension systems that would generate hundreds of millions of dollars in savings for Fiscal Year 2017 – changes that are not subject to court challenge – savings that can be banked immediately. These are items like dealing with salary spiking and capping pension subsidies for salaries over $180,000 – and stabilizing the actuarial projections.
However, Illinois needs more than that.
“We need structural change for the long-term, and as the Governor has said, we’re just waiting for President Cullerton to submit his consideration plan,” said Radogno. “Together, some of the immediate changes from the Governor’s budget and the long-term changes from the Senate President can pay for this bill and – more importantly – fund a robust social safety net for years to come.”
Both Republican Leaders echoed the Governor’s call for a full leaders’ meeting, and are encouraging the Democrat Leaders in both the House and Senate to attend.
Rauner has criticized spending bills passed by Democrats because they do not come attached with cash to cover the costs. Radogno said the Republican plan will be covered by enacting pension changes sought by the administration that will provide the money to cover the human-services spending.
Rauner has proposed requiring public schools and universities to cover the pension costs for salaries they pay above $180,000 a year, the salary authorized for the governor in Illinois. Rauner also wants to implement a plan that would phase in changes to state contributions caused, for example, when the pension systems cut the rate of return they expect to receive on their investments.
Overall, the administration thinks the changes will save $780 million a year. […]
“I think we would continue to note that the idea of spending pension savings before the bill has passed, let alone gone through any court review, probably isn’t wise,” [Senate President John Cullerton’s spokesman John Patterson] said.
OK, but the approp bill passed by the Senate Democrats wasn’t exactly fully funded either. Far from it, in fact.
*** UPDATE *** Important correction issued by the magazine…
Rich, thanks for including our magazine piece on the blog today.
Wanted to let you know that we’ve issued a correction on that particular quote from Victoria Watkins in our April issue of Chicago Lawyer. After checking the original transcripts, she told our reporter “I protect the city in Springfield.” Somewhere on the editing desk, it got changed to “from Springfield.” That one-word difference offers a vastly different connotation than what Ms. Watkins told us, and I’d like to apologize for the error. We’ve updated the web version of the story and left a note of the change.
Best,
Marc Karlinsky
Editor, Chicago Daily Law Bulletin and Chicago Lawyer
[ *** End Of Update *** ]
* Victoria Watkins, deputy director of the city of Chicago’s Office of Legislative Counsel and Government Affairs, asked by Chicago Lawyer Magazine about a typical day…
When people ask what it is I do, the first thing I always tell them is that I protect the city [in] Springfield. I take that job very seriously. Some people might say too seriously… I wish that’s something more people knew — we have to protect the city far more than we can get for the city. There are so many bills that (city) departments hate and are more concerned with not becoming law than there are with getting their other requests granted.
I am the funding and complaint hotline. By September, I started getting routine calls from different city departments asking, “Victoria, when will we get this money and these appropriations because we need to get started on these contracts?”
We started getting cease-and-desist letters on our projects last year, and we’ve been able to get some things done piecemeal. Unfortunately, there are still some things hanging out there, and many of them are human services-related. The heavy financial and infrastructure things are done for the most part but many intangible, important things that are not. We just keep pushing every day.
A $20.3 million payment backlog for cleaning up leaky underground petroleum tanks in Illinois could cost the state federal approval of the program.
Payment delays have left some individual contractors with millions of dollars in unpaid bills for cleanups at 709 storage tank sites statewide, according to figures from the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency.
The Illinois Comptroller’s Office has no authority to pay contractor claims submitted by the state EPA as a result of a state budget impasse that’s now into its 10th month.
As a result, the U.S. EPA is threatening to cancel its approval of the Illinois program, which would force site owners to purchase private insurance or find other ways to pay for future cleanups while the budget impasse drags on. […]
In a March 21 letter to Illinois EPA Director Lisa Bonnett that was obtained by The State Journal-Register, the U.S. EPA also expresses concern that an estimated $20 million from an “underground storage tank” fund was used for non-cleanup purposes in 2015. The Illinois program, funded through a 1.1 cents-per-gallon tax on fuel, has paid out more than $800 million since it was create in 1989, according to state EPA figures.
Notice how there’s a $20.3 million payment backlog and how the state used $20 million from the fund last year for “non-cleanup purposes”?
Well, the state swept $20 million from the LUST fund and deposited the money into the General Revenue Fund as part of the Fiscal Year 2015 budget fix last May. The funds which were swept supposedly all had excess cash in them.
Oops.
…Adding… I’m told by the governor’s office that the fund’s “balance [currently] exceeds $53 million while current claims waiting for appropriation authority total under $20 million.”
OK, fine, but the EPA is still upset about that sweep.
* From a March 31st Illinois Department of Employment Security press release…
“Illinois’ overall job growth rate remains among the slowest in the country and metro area unemployment rates continue to rise, even with an increase in jobs in February,” said IDES Director Jeff Mays. “Structural reforms will provide the resources we need to more effectively build a stronger workforce and help communities towards achieving economic stability.”
* Yeah, well tell that to this East St. Louis provider which plans to lay off 117 workers…
The Lessie Bates Davis Neighborhood House will lay off 117 workers on April 30 due to the state budget impasse.
The workers are involved in a variety of programs administered by the social services agency, including the Homeless Youth Services Program, the Community Youth Services Program, the Comprehensive Community-based Youth Services Program and the Illinois Healthy Families Program. […]
Kreeb said as of February, the state owes Lessie Bates more than $500,000 for the non-Medicaid clients. He said each month, the Neighborhood House is incurring more than $100,000 in expenses that the state is not reimbursing.
“The agency already has had to borrow more than $500,000 and would have to borrow more than $1million by June 30 to keep the In-Home Services Program operating,” Kreeb said.
Obama stepped off AF1 at 1:14 pm into snow flakes and a brisk wind
They were greeted by mayor Rahm Emanuel w hugs -all of the pols in suit jackets no coats
Malia went straight for the car
The pols stopped to talk for a bit before getting into the motorcade
At 1:19 p.m., we’re heading in motorcade to university
The Dold for Congress campaign today released impressive early fundraising numbers for Q1 2016, as Bob Dold heads into the General Election.
Strong support from Illinois donors contributed to Dold’s incredible $730,000 raised for the first quarter, which also puts Dold’s Cash on Hand at nearly $2 million.
“From backing massive Medicare cuts to breaking his promise to oppose the disastrous agreement that gives Iran a green light to fund terrorism and build nuclear weapons, the 2016 version of Brad Schneider is proving to be even more desperate and dishonest than the Brad Schneider that voters fired in 2014. That’s why 10th District voters are demonstrating unprecedented support for Bob Dold and his record of effective, independent leadership that serves the entire 10th District—rather than the party bosses and D.C. special interests that own Brad Schneider,” said Dold for Congress spokeswoman Danielle Hagen.
* Press release…
Following the March 15th primary election, Democrat Brad Schneider enters the race against Republican Bob Dold in a very strong position. Schneider will build for November from a solid foundation. After an 8-point win in the primary, Schneider has more than half a million dollars already on hand for the general, a massive volunteer and donor network, a robust field program, and an established record with voters as a principled, proven leader for the Tenth District.
As in 2012 when Schneider beat Dold by more than 3,000 votes, 2016 turnout will greatly exceed midterm numbers with presidential and U.S. Senate races at the top of the ticket. Historically in presidential years, nearly 100,000 more voters turn out in IL-10. The electorate trends younger and more diverse than in midterms, which favors Democrats. This was evident in this year’s primary as 94,758 ballots were cast in the Democratic congressional primary, nearly as many as the 95,992 TOTAL votes Dold received in the 2014 General Election.
Even though Schneider won in 2012, 2016 shapes up to be an even stronger year for him in at least three ways:
* The Governor of Illinois, Republican Bruce Rauner, is unpopular.
* In 2012, Schneider won a difficult primary and emerged with just $226,000 on hand and a donor base of 1,000 individuals. In 2016, Schneider starts the General Election with a donor base of more than 14,500 and more than $525,000 in the bank.
* Schneider is now well known throughout the district, a fact only bolstered by the Democratic primary.
In Q1 of this year, Brad raised more than $818,000, a number that will almost certainly again rank him among the top congressional fundraisers in the nation. The average donation of just $48 and a median donation of $10 both reflect the depth and breadth of the grassroots campaign we have built. This strong showing, along with a base of low dollar donors who will continue to contribute in the months ahead, will serve as the basis for successful fundraising through November, providing the necessary resources to effectively communicate with voters.
It is already shaping up to be a difficult year for Republicans, and national news outlets continue to report on Republican Bob Dold’s tough path forward. The difficult national climate for Republicans is further exacerbated by the top of the ticket in Illinois. During 2014, Dold himself proclaimed far and wide that the top of the ticket had the ability to drag down a candidate in the Tenth District. This will surely hit home for him this year with the increasing unpopularity of Republican Governor Bruce Rauner, and tepid support for incumbent Senator Mark Kirk.
Our race continues to be highlighted as one of the nation’s most competitive. In a race this close, every one of our advantages will make the difference. We look forward to building on our strong foundation in the weeks and months to come to secure victory in November.
As part of his Turnaround Agenda, Rauner has proposed venue reform that would put an end to a practice employed by attorneys who file suit in perceived “friendly” courts on behalf of clients with injuries that have no connection to the jurisdiction. […]
John Pastuovic, president of the Illinois Civil Justice League (ICJL), pointed to a study conducted by the ICJL that shows how significantly Madison County is targeted with personal injury claims.
Its report, titled “Litigation Imbalance III,” shows lawsuit filings in Madison County average 8.255 per thousand persons, which is double the rate of Cook County; triple the rate of St. Clair County; and six and a half times the rate of the other 99 counties in Illinois combined.
The reason for Madison County’s high per capita lawsuit filings is due to the court’s asbestos docket - the busiest asbestos court in the country. Madison County handles more than one-third of all asbestos-related cases filed in the entire United States each year, and last year, less than one half of 1 percent of the asbestos lawsuits in Madison County were filed on behalf of Madison County residents.
At 1,678 filed asbestos cases in 2013, Madison County likely handles one-third to one-half of all asbestos-related cases filed in the United States each year, and 168 times more per capita than Cook County. There is great secrecy surrounding the wealth exchanging hands through this docket, but with an estimated outcome of $2 million per case, the Madison County asbestos “rocket docket” could be worth more than $1.74 billion annually – larger than the GDP of Belize – and could produce nearly $600 million annually in contingency fees for plaintiffs’ attorneys.
Madison hosts what is basically a unified national docket, overseen by judges who are experienced at dealing with these sorts of asbestos poisoning cases. Presumably, since it’s a national docket with a tiny number of local cases, most of those filings aren’t even against Illinois businesses. In other words, the targeted businesses are mainly located in other states.
So, while there are genuine concerns that the Madison system gives us a bad reputation among the national business community, its actual impact on Illinois would be somewhat difficult to quantify.
* On the other hand, pumping $600 million worth of local plaintiffs’ attorney fees (with that money overwhelmingly coming from outside the region), plus the salaries of defense lawyers and their staffs and office rents, various court fees and other ancillary things like hotels, restaurants, etc. (for out of state lawyers and/or their expert witnesses) into the area’s economy every year can most certainly be quantified. And that’s a very big number, campers. I was stunned when I saw that report. It’s likely one of the Metro East’s largest economic engines, if not the largest.
That’s probably not something to be proud of, and I even feel a little uneasy about mentioning this, but it’s most definitely something to ponder when talking about yanking the rug out from under the system.
For the first time in at least two decades, the Chicago Teachers Union won’t have an election — because no one has filed to challenge popular CTU President Karen Lewis.
With no opposition against Lewis or any other candidates from the ruling Caucus Of Rank-and-file Educators (CORE) for the upcoming May elections, the slate was effectively granted another three-year term and the election has been cancelled.
Observers say the lack of organized opposition demonstrates members’ support for Lewis and her left-of-center caucus, which has taken on a broader “social justice” agenda and garnered support from activists outside the education sphere for last week’s “Day of Action.” The lack of opponents also legitimizes Lewis and CORE’s leadership at a time of contentious contract negotiations with the Board of Education, which encouraged teachers to break ranks for the Day of Action, a one-day strike. […]
When CORE won its first election in 2010, there were four other caucuses running, including incumbent President Marilyn Stewart’s United Progressive Caucus (UPC) and former President Deborah Lynch’s Proactive Chicago Teachers (PACT).
In 2013, just one slate ran against CORE. The Coalition to Save Our Union — which included members of UPC and PACT — pledged to focus more on member services and rebuild the union’s bridges with district management. Lewis won re-reelection by a near four-to-one margin.
Since then, organized opposition to CORE within the union has largely fizzled out. In part that’s because many members who were previously involved in CTU politics with other caucuses have retired or otherwise left CPS.
Six-year-old Madison Pruitt, who has cancer, wanted to become a cop.
So on Wednesday afternoon, interim Chicago Police Supt. Eddie Johnson walked two blocks from the Gresham District police station to Madison’s home in the Auburn Gresham neighborhood to make her dream come true.
Marching behind Johnson were about 75 cops, including two on horseback.
“I heard your lifelong dream was to be a Chicago Police officer,” Johnson told the little girl, who was bundled up and sitting in a wheelchair as the two met on the front porch of her home where she is receiving hospice care. […]
Each officer made their way up to the front porch to see Madison, including one of the mounted patrolman — still on his horse. Another officer had his police canine — a black lab — by his side.
Madison’s grandmother, Pamlor Nelson, smiled and cried as she looked on.
Thursday, Apr 7, 2016 - Posted by Advertising Department
[The following is a paid advertisement.]
Credit unions exist to help people, not to make a profit. It is this motto of ‘People Helping People’ that sets credit unions apart. Credit unions exist as member owned, not-for- profit financial institutions that have a strong sense of community. Historically, credit unions have championed the cause of supporting underserved communities. In its 36 years of service, the Illinois Credit Union Foundation has awarded more than $3.5 million in scholarships, community service grants, assistance to peer assistance programs, emergency and natural disaster efforts, and community involvement projects. If you are not yet a credit union member, go to ASmarterChoice.org to discover of all the advantages that membership holds.
Help to strengthen our communities from the inside out by becoming a credit union member today!
Thursday, Apr 7, 2016 - Posted by Advertising Department
[The following is a paid advertisement.]
Nearly 1,900 people responded to the recent Citizen’s Utility Board survey about Exelon’s push to bailout its nuclear plants. Here is how CUB put it:
“Exelon says keeping its nuclear plants open will fight climate change—and they need economic help. Opponents say Exelon just wants bigger profits.
Should Illinois give unprofitable nuclear plants more money if it helps fight climate change?
No:1,583 (about 84 percent)
Yes:298 (about 16 percent)”
—————————————————
Illinois still has no budget, the state’s finances and services are in shambles, the social safety net is being decimated but Exelon STILL wants the Legislature to pass a huge BAILOUT.
BEST Coalition is a 501C4 nonprofit group of dozens of business, consumer and government groups, as well as large and small businesses. Visitwww.noexelonbailout.com.
Thursday, Apr 7, 2016 - Posted by Advertising Department
[The following is a paid advertisement.]
As Police Chief in Clinton, I know firsthand of the significant impact the Clinton Power Station has on my community. It employs nearly 700 of our friends and neighbors and funds local government services including schools, fire and emergency response through the $12.6 million it pays in taxes every year.
Outdated energy policies are forcing nuclear energy plants nationwide to close down and Clinton could be next. These closures devastate local communities. Jobs are lost. Services are cut. In 2014, a Vermont town eliminated its entire police department after its local plant closed down.
A State of Illinois report found that if some of the plants in Illinois close, it could cost us $1.8 billion in lost economic activity and 8,000 jobs. Clinton cannot afford this and neither can Illinois.
I encourage our state legislators to adopt energy policy reform legislation the would help preserve our state’s nuclear plants. Taking action is necessary for our state’s economic health and would help prevent plants like Clinton Power Station from closing.
A Senate committee Wednesday unanimously approved a bill that would create a foundation for the Illinois State Fair.
Senate Bill 2903 would create the Illinois State Fairgrounds Foundation under the state Department of Agriculture to raise private funds that could be used at the state fairgrounds in Springfield and DuQuoin.
The foundation would be overseen by a 12-member board appointed by the four legislative leaders and Gov. Bruce Rauner.
Rauner has called for creation of the foundation in part to help pay for an estimated $180 million in deferred maintenance for buildings and other facilities at the two fairgrounds.
The governor just created, without any legislative action, a private economic development organization. The House Democrats have been arguing he should do the same thing here.
Then again, there is a statute on the books creating a trust fund for the mansion…
The Illinois Executive Mansion Trust Fund is created as a separate trust fund outside the State treasury whose funds are not subject to appropriation by the General Assembly, for the purposes of improving, restoring, maintaining, furnishing and operating the Illinois Executive Mansion and the Hayes Home, and for the furnishing of the official offices of the Governor located in the State Capitol in Springfield and the James R. Thompson Center in Chicago. The State Treasurer shall be custodian of the fund, ex officio, and shall invest moneys in the fund in the same manner and subject to the same restrictions as moneys in the State treasury and shall pay out the moneys in the fund as directed by the Governor for the purposes specified in this Section and for no other purpose.
Colleges in Illinois would not be allowed to ask prospective students about criminal convictions during the admissions process under a bill approved Tuesday by the House Higher Education Committee.
The legislation, HB 4446, is sponsored by Rep. Barbara Wheeler, R-Crystal Lake. It was approved on a 16-1 roll call.
“This bill is part of the overarching idea that education and meaningful employment helps reduce recidivism,” Wheeler said. “This provides an opportunity for students — adult students, young students — who may have had a criminal record. It gives them an opportunity to apply for school without feeling any roadblocks or having any roadblocks.”
Don Sevener is a lobbyist for Northern Illinois University. He said the school opposes the bill because it would prevent schools from taking steps to protect people already on campus.
Good points on both sides.
* Other stuff…
* Editorial: How to give poorer kids a fairer cut of state dollars for school: A strength of the bill introduced Wednesday, by Sen. Andy Manar, D-Bunker Hill, is that it attempts to minimize or eliminate the number of middle-tier school districts — not too rich, but not too poor — that would lose state revenue in a funding formula overhaul. Clearly, this provision is designed to draw support for the bill from both Republican and Democrats legislators who represent such districts, but it also feels fundamentally fair. Nobody wants to see districts that are doing just OK get walloped.
* Emanuel pension bill now in Rauner’s court: But Catherine Kelly, a spokeswoman for the governor, indicated he was not inclined to sign it without action on his so-called turnaround agenda — the pro-business, union-weakening proposals he describes as “structural reforms”… “I don’t have any idea why (Cullerton) would [send the bill to Rauner] now,” Nekritz said. “I think it’s very hard for us to override vetoes. We’ve proven in the House that it’s very hard unless the Republicans are on board.” If the bill isn’t signed, the city will have to pay off the $220 million loan and come up with nearly $1 billion more over the next four years in additional pension payments.
* Government consolidation efforts start to gain steam in Illinois: On Wednesday, the Senate Local Government Committee announced formation of a subcommittee that will begin hearings next week on various consolidation bills with an aim toward acting on consolidation proposals yet this spring. “There are a lot of bills looking at how to consolidate government,” said Sen. Emil Jones III, D-Chicago, chairman of the Local Government Committee. “That’s why we did the subcommittee, to look and see which ones are important and which ones we are going to push forward. If we can do anything to save money during this budget impasse, we should be working toward that.”
* Bill would mean no loss of professional license for student loan default: “Somebody who’s that far behind, they’ve got a lot of stresses on them anyway. There may be an illness or a death in the family, who knows? The last thing they need to be threatened with is losing their livelihood in the meantime. If we’re going to get them back on track with their debt we need to keep them working.” Republicans on the committee voted against the bill and questioned why it was needed… “As of last year when we were looking at this we had 21 people who we had issued letters to,” Gricevich said. “This is intended to be just for really rare cases.”
* Lawmaker introduces two new bills to address the Illinois heroin epidemic: The sponsor of the proposals, state Rep. Lou Lang, D-Skokie, says House Bill 5593 will help educate heroin addicts who receive government assistance about the available treatment options as well as naloxone, an antidote that quickly counteracts the effects of an opiate overdose… The second bill, HB5594, would amend the Drug Court Treatment Act by prohibiting drug court judges from denying medication-assisted treatments like methadone for defendants.
* Bill aims to improve response to sex assault cases: Bennett said the bill would “completely redo the way that we address sexual assault cases, from the investigation level to what hospitals do with the examination kits, to how long they have to hold onto them, to the way that police officers are trained, the way that 911 operators are trained. Now there will be mandatory training to address some of these concerns.”
* Gun-rights advocates lobby for improved concealed carry law: Rep. Tim Butler, R-Springfield, said that the lobbyists he spoke with didn’t push any specific change for the concealed carry law, which was passed three years ago and given limited tweaks last year, but advocated to keep fighting for gun rights. Illinois was the last state in the nation to pass a concealed carry law.
Community colleges will no longer be able to foot the bill for [MAP grant] scholarships the state promised to low-income students if lawmakers don’t reach a budget agreement before the start of the fall semester.
“Each semester as they have to make budget cuts, they are less and less able to do that,” said Karen Hunter Anderson, executive director of the Illinois Community College Board. “I would expect by next fall semester, there are almost no colleges that would be able to offer (to front the scholarships).”
The warning came as officials pleaded for lawmakers to strike a spending agreement with Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner. The state’s colleges and universities have gone without financial assistance from the state since July 1. Most agreed to pick up the costs of the scholarships hoping for repayment from the state, but it’s growing increasingly hard for schools to make ends meet.
Anderson told reporters yesterday that “one or two” community colleges have committed to continue picking up the costs this fall. She said half of the colleges originally covered the grants, but now that number is about 20 percent.
James Applegate, the executive director of the Illinois Board of Higher Education also told reporters yesterday “I can’t predict” what will happen in the fall with public four-year universities.
But there’s a local twist. “If Puerto Rico is allowed to declare bankruptcy,” the group’s new TV ad warns, “high-spending states like Illinois will also want to declare bankruptcy. Retirement accounts crushed. A bailout on the backs of savers and seniors.”
For months, federal authorities have hinted at the motive behind the hush-money payments former U.S. House Speaker Dennis Hastert has admitted to making: the sexual abuse of a teenage boy when Hastert was still a suburban high school teacher and wrestling coach.
But now, a Tribune investigation has uncovered new details of the case — at least four people have made what law enforcement sources say are credible allegations of sexual abuse against Hastert. […]
Hastert is alleged to have sexually abused the teens identified by the Tribune when he was a teacher and coach at Yorkville High School in the far southwest suburbs, decades before he became the longest-serving Republican speaker. Some of the alleged conduct, which prosecutors have not detailed, might come to light this week when prosecutors are expected to file sentencing memorandums. […]
In a small town where the Tastee Freez was a gathering place for local teens, Hastert taught many siblings of the alleged victims and knew most of their parents on a first-name basis. Each of the alleged victims identified by the Tribune had their struggles. Yet they all kept quiet about their hometown’s favorite son and the inappropriate sexual contact that they alleged he had with them when they were high school students and he was in a position of trust.
I felt physically ill reading that story. Just disgusting and disturbing.
Three weeks before Dennis Hastert faces sentencing on hush-money charges, his lawyers laid out their reasons for probation in a court filing Wednesday that says the former U.S. House speaker is “profoundly sorry” for the harm he caused others decades ago.
The carefully worded filing suggests Hastert’s attorneys will likely have to walk a fine line when he is sentenced April 27 by U.S. District Judge Thomas M. Durkin.
While Hastert feels remorse for those he has harmed, his lawyers said, they stopped short of acknowledging accusations he sexually abused students when he was a teacher and wrestling coach at Yorkville High School. In fact, they singled out his teaching and coaching background for praise, saying he chose that career path to “make a difference in the lives of young people.”
They also contended that Hastert had “reshaped his life” many years ago.
This week marks the first time in more than a month that both the House and the Senate will be in Springfield for legislative session. We have all been disappointed in the lack of action on the crises facing our state. Now is the opportunity to put partisan differences aside and work together on solutions for the people of Illinois.
In the short term, we must address the crisis facing higher education and social services. For the long term, we must enact a balanced budget alongside job-creating reforms that grow our economy and drive more value for taxpayers.
Numerous pieces of legislation have been introduced in both the Senate and the House that would fund universities, community colleges and the Monetary Award Program (MAP) to ensure no school shuts its doors and no student is financially harmed. I’ve proposed ways to fund MAP grants by enacting procurement reform. Social service providers cannot survive a months-long payment backlog which is why we’ve proposed funding vital services through savings generated by enacting pension reform.
These spending proposals aren’t empty promises — they are linked to key government reforms that generate taxpayer savings; and they would provide universities, community colleges, students and providers the assurances they need to plan for the months ahead.
Passing spending bills with no money to pay for them is simply exacerbating an ever-growing problem while giving students and communities false hope. We need to assure taxpayers that we are not continuing a broken system where we promise to spend money the state doesn’t have.
Let’s consider these bipartisan proposals so that Chicago State doesn’t close its doors. Let’s consider these bipartisan proposals so that Eastern Illinois, Western Illinois and Harper College don’t lay off employees — so that IIT students don’t get charged for their MAP grants and no social service provider cuts off services to our most vulnerable.
Let’s start negotiations immediately — whenever, wherever — 24 hours a day, 7 days a week — on a bipartisan, balanced budget with a mix of reforms, cost reductions and revenue.
Tina Sfondeles, a general assignment reporter at the Sun-Times, will be promoted Thursday to full-time political reporter for the paper. Her new role essentially consolidates the duties formerly held by political writers Natasha Korecki, who left for politico.com, and Dave McKinney, who resigned in protest and works for the Midwest bureau of Thomson Reuters. Before joining the Sun-Times in 2007, Sfondeles was a news writer at CBS Radio all-news WBBM AM 780 and a production assistant for “The Steve Dahl Show.” She’s a graduate of Lemont High School and holds degrees from Loyola University and Columbia College.
Sfondeles has been making the trip to Springfield to cover the Statehouse, so this formal promotion is welcomed news. She’ll do well and this appears to show that the CS-T is finally getting back on its feet, which is also good news.
* This note from President Barack Obama to US Sen. Mark Kirk about Kirk’s recent meeting with Supreme Court nominee Merrick Garland was sent to me last night by the Kirk campaign…
Obama endorsed Duckworth this week, but Kirk got a decent little consolation prize.
* Both chambers have canceled tomorrow’s session. Friday is the White Sox home opener. Priorities? I dunno. Whatever the case, watch all of today’s action with ScribbleLive…
* One of Merle Haggard’s last major interviews, from early February in Rolling Stone…
As he recovers, Haggard, a news junkie, has been watching Donald Trump’s campaign with amusement and concern. “He’s not a politician. I don’t think he understands the way things work in Washington, that’s what worries me about him. I don’t think he realizes he can’t just tell somebody to do something and have it done, you know. I think he’s dealing from a strange deck.”
A reader pointed out that Haggard could’ve also been talking about somebody else closer to home - but I’ll leave that determination for others.
* Here’s the Grateful Dead covering one of Merle’s most famous songs…
As state standardized testing continues in its second week, about 20 parents picketed outside the North Side office of the Illinois Senate president, demanding that he unblock a bill that lets parents opt their children out of such tests.
“This is the bill that allows parents to have a voice in whether or not their kids take standardized tests,” said Vanessa Caleb Herman, a parent with children at Waters and Coonley elementary schools. “Against the odds it passed the House last year and now it’s ready to shrivel and die on the desk of the Senate president, which is ridiculous. Just put it in committee and put it out for discussion and see what the people want.” […]
Cullerton spokesman John Patterson said the bill remains “in the review process.” […]
What needs reviewing, Patterson continued, is the concern that federal funding could be jeopardized if 95 percent of eligible students statewide don’t participate in the test.
Both of these issues are opposed by Mayor Emanuel. Cullerton is one of the last and by far the strongest real allies he has. I don’t see him moving any time soon, despite this widespread impression of hizzoner…
"I don't believe Mayor Emanuel is either admired or feared now" — @fspielman going hard out of the gate at #talkcityclub
* I have to go get a haircut. My hair got way out of control on break and I cannot postpone this one more day. I’m as shaggy as I’ve been in a long time. So, blogging’s gonna be light this afternoon.
In the meantime, I received a belated birthday present today from a great friend…
* Oscar loved it! He was sniffing it and staring at it, but I didn’t get a picture of that, so here he is next to the painting…
In case you’re wondering, you can find the artist by clicking here.
Country legend Merle Haggard has died, Bakersfield, California TV station ABC 23 reports. He was 79 years old. Today was his birthday. Earlier this year he was hospitalized due to pneumonia.
Haggard was born in 1937 near Bakersfield, California. His father died when he was young. Throughout his youth, he spent time in juvenile detention centers, and throughout the 1950s, he spent a significant amount of time in jail. His first single, “Sing a Sad Song,” was released in 1963. By 1967, he was a huge country star with 37 songs charting in the Top 10 that year. His 1969 single “Okie From Muskogee” went No. 1 and stirred controversy for its anti-hippie sentiments.
Since the 1960s, Haggard has been a fixture in country music, recording and performing consistently over the years. Along with his band the Strangers, he’s considered one of the most instrumental artists in establishing the Bakersfield sound. His last album was 2015’s Django and Jimmie—a collaboration with his longtime friend Willie Nelson.
* I saw Merle perform at the Du Quoin State Fair a while back and even got to meet him for a brief moment before he took the stage. He didn’t put on any “golden oldies” show that night. He had new stuff, his voice was strong and his band played brilliantly. And despite his now infamous line in “Okie from Muskogee,” I think I may have detected a whiff of green smoke when his tour bus door opened. “Well,” a friend observed, “He’s not in Muskogee, so I guess it’s still true.”
* Dwight Yoakum once said “The only thing that vies with Haggard’s poetic genius is the gift he has as a singer who delivers those songs with one of the most pure and profoundly powerful voices in music.”
Born in a boxcar, saw Johnny Cash perform while doing hard time at San Quentin Prison (for sticking up a roadhouse), pardoned by President Reagan, always on the side of the working man, he slayed that modified Telecaster Thinline right up to the end.
Former statewide GOP candidate for comptroller William J. Kelly has issued the following statement addressing the rumor that he is entering 2018 race for Illinois Governor against Bruce Rauner:
“There’s a rumor going around that I’m already an announced candidate for governor against Bruce Rauner in 2018. It’s true that I was planning to hold a news conference to discuss the disaster Rauner has been on jobs, education, and this state’s dire fiscal situation. However, I have since been urged by some of my key supporters to postpone this press conference to a later date.”
The main reason the Illinois budget impasse has endured into its 10th month is an appellate court decision from last July that said all state employees could be paid even without a budget authorizing their paychecks.
At the time, Comptroller Leslie Munger said failure to continue paying the 63,000 employees would put the state out of compliance with federal labor law and would incur steep penalties. (The state could have stayed in compliance by paying the federal minimum wage only to employees deemed essential, but Munger’s office argued that state government’s data systems are so old and inefficient that payroll could not be broken down as required.)
Attorney Genera Lisa Madigan had argued that the state constitution states clearly that state government can’t spend without authorization from the General Assembly. A Cook County judge sided with Madigan, but a St. Clair County judge a few days later ruled that failure to pay the employees would violate the state’s protection of contracts.
Thus, the dreaded “government shutdown” in Illinois never really happened. With employees still on the job at drivers license facilities, state universities, state parks and other state government offices, the vast majority of government appeared to function just fine. With that source of public pressure removed, Gov. Bruce Rauner and House Speaker Michael Madigan could pursue their protracted standoff without large-scale repercussions. Only recently has unrest over lack of state funding at public universities begun to generate widespread concern over the budget deadlock.
But that could change in a hurry after a March 24 Illinois Supreme Court decision that appears to reject the reasoning of the St. Clair County courts.
In the lawsuit, AFSCME Council 31 sued the state for payment of contractually promised pay raises from 2011 that had never been delivered because the state said it didn’t have the money. This led to a series of court actions (detailed on pages 3-6 of the decision) that ended up before the Illinois Supreme Court.
But the Supreme Court sided with the state, saying essentially that without a budget appropriation from the General Assembly, the state was not required to pay. The court cited “a well-defined and dominant public policy under which multiyear collective bargaining agreements are subject to the appropriation power of the State, a power which may only be exercised by the General Assembly.”
In other words, the contractual protection cited in the St. Clair County case does not supersede the “dominant public policy” by which the General Assembly authorizes spending tax dollars.
Armed with this ruling from the state’s highest court, Lisa Madigan would appear to have a strong foundation to revive her lawsuit from last summer. That could lead to a halt to state employee paychecks, which would lead to immediate and intense public outcry as the “mainstream” portions of state government abruptly closed.
That would lead, almost certainly, to a swift resolution of the budget impasse that is now into its 10th month.
“Currently we’re reviewing the court’s decision,” said Madigan spokeswoman Annie Thompson.
They’re doing more than just reviewing it. Just sayin…
* My contention here is that if/when the courts accede to the Supreme Court’s clear opinion, workers will have to be sent home because they can’t legally be paid and the state still hasn’t bothered to figure out how to comply with the federal minimum wage requirements for some employees. Some will be exempt, like at DCFS, which is under a federal consent decree. I figure the federal courts would also step in to keep prisons open.
But everything else would have to close. And then… maybe… we’ll see an end to this mess.
Maybe. The governor has already said he will demand a continuing appropriation for state worker wages, which would be a crazy precedent, and could also open the door for a Democratic “poison pill” on the AFSCME “no strike” bill.
Either way, don’t expect immediate results because this is the court system we’re talking about. Various things have to happen first (subscribers know more). But this could be the end of the impasse as we know it or the worst calamity we’ve ever seen if nobody budges and the whole thing crashes down.
* The Med Society is having a good session, as usual…
Illinois lawmakers showed little support for a plan that would allow pharmacists to prescribe hormonal contraceptive patch and oral contraception to thousands of women although the proposal might be revived later.
Schaumberg Democratic Rep. Michelle Mussman wants to expand who can prescribe contraception beyond doctors to pharmacists saying the plan would give low-income women who can’t afford to go to a doctor greater access to contraception. Similar legislation has been approved in California and Oregon.
The House Health Care Licenses Committee overwhelmingly opposed Mussman’s plan on Tuesday after hearing testimony from a pharmacist, the Illinois Department of Public Health and the Illinois Medical Society. […]
There are about 130,000 unintended pregnancies a year statewide according to Nirav Shah, director of the state’s Public Health agency and supporter of Mussman’s plan. Shah said by allowing pharmacists to prescribe contraception, the state could decrease the number of unintended pregnancies by nearly 25 percent. He said lawmakers shouldn’t withhold access to contraception to force women to see a doctor. […]
However Jacksonville Republican Rep. C.D. Davidsmeyer said the plan could decrease the likelihood a woman would regularly see her physician if she could simply go to a pharmacist instead.
Um, yeah, CD, isn’t that the whole point?
* Other bills…
* Illinois legislators consider bills on policing social media: Lawmakers are considering a series of new bills aimed at giving police more power to investigate online crimes and also to tap into technology to hold people accountable for posting video of crimes. One measure would ban juveniles charged with a crime from having access to their social media accounts. In addition, those individuals would be required to turn over access to their accounts to police.
* Biss’ prisoner lawsuit legislation passes in the Senate: Senate Bill 2465, sponsored by Senator Daniel Biss (D-Evanston) would prohibit the Illinois Department of Corrections from suing current and former inmates to recoup the cost of their room and board while in prison. The legislation passed by a vote of 32-19 in the Senate. It now goes to the Illinois House for consideration.
* Elmhurst mother honors daughter with support of Sen. Nybo’s epinephrine bill: Senate Bill 2878 would allow state police and other law enforcement agencies to conduct training programs for officers on how to recognize and respond to anaphylaxis, including administration of an epinephrine auto-injector. The State Police or a local governmental agency could authorize officers to carry and administer epinephrine auto-injectors once they have completed the required training.
* Senate committee OKs increase to 21 for buying cigarettes: In addition to possession charges being removed from the bill, the charge for an underage purchaser using a fake ID to buy tobacco products would be reduced from a class A misdemeanor to class B, carrying a maximum penalty of 180 days in jail and a $1,500 fine.
I am the executive director of the Wells Center, a substance abuse treatment facility in Jacksonville. Due to decreasing state funds and the budget impasse, I was forced to close our detoxification program which annually treats over 350 individuals from Morgan, Scott, Greene, Calhoun and Jersey counties.
Governor Rauner continues to insist that substance abuse treatment facilities like the Wells Center be denied state funding unless his non-budget agenda gets passed as well. The Governor incorrectly asserts the pain caused by the lack of a budget is short-term. In reality, our social service infrastructure is facing total destruction.
A young man denied treatment and who is sent to jail suffers a long-term cost, as do taxpayers. A young woman denied treatment and who dies from a heroin overdose pays a permanent price. The pain caused to her family and friends lasts a lifetime.
Last year when Ryan M. came to our facility in withdrawal from heroin, we were able to admit him to our detoxification program. When he completed this, he went straight into our in-patient program. After 19 days of in-patient treatment, Ryan was able to go back home and continue treatment on an out-patient basis. Because of his severe addiction to heroin, Ryan was involved in out-patient for six months, initially coming in three times a week, but towards the end of his treatment coming in only once every two weeks. Ryan completed treatment successfully and today is working, paying taxes, and is drug free. The total cost of his treatment was $7,200. According to the Office of Drug Control National Policy, every dollar spent on substance abuse saves $4 in health care costs and $7 in criminal justice costs. That means that Ryan’s treatment at the Wells Center saved taxpayers almost $80,000. The personal costs of not being treated to Ryan and his family are immeasurable.
* From RNUG’s comment today on what the Democrats should do with the budget this year…
The way you get around that is pass a complete budget, put the school funding in a separate bill, and send all the bills EXCEPT the [K-12] school funding one to Rauner. Once he signs all the other budget bills or let’s them become law without his signature, THEN you send the school funding bill to him.
That is the one major point of leverage the GA has. Çullerton just demonstrated how it works with his now lifted hold on the Chicago Police Pension fund bill; think that was SB777.
* But his idea inspired a strong warning from Anon221…
The one thing, though, that Rauner will seize on if the K-12 funding is held up until he addresses the rest of the budget (in your scenario), is that now he has the power to point at the Dems for the reason why the schools can’t open in the fall because now THEY aren’t submitting a plan. I have a feeling he’d love that scenario, and would just sit back and grin all the way to November.
* The Question: RNUG or Anon221? Take the poll and then explain your answer in comments, please.
The recently released internal poll memo from GS Strategy Group (GSSG) on behalf of Mark Kirk for Illinois finds that Tammy Duckworth leads Mark Kirk 42.7% to 39.6%. There are several items of note when analyzing these data.
1. An incumbent U.S. Senator is not only below 40% but is trailing his challenger in his own poll. No matter what else we attempt to understand from these data, it is clear that Kirk is extremely vulnerable and he knows it.
Two other publicly released polls found similar results, although these are quite dated. An Ogden and Fry poll in June 2015 found Duckworth leading Kirk 44%-27%. A PPP poll the following month saw Duckworth ahead of Kirk 42%-36%. Even if we take all of these polls at face value, Duckworth is still besting Kirk.
2. The GSSG poll indicates that Duckworth gets just 71% of Democrats while Kirk gets 72% of Republicans and that Duckworth leads by a small margin among Independents. If we allocate the undecideds along partisan lines, then Duckworth’s lead will increase because there are more Democrats in Illinois than Republicans.
3. If we assume that both the overall vote as well as the share that both candidates get among the partisan groups is correct, the party composition of the electorate must be 18.8% Democrat, 66.8% Independent and 14.4% Republican (no need to bore you with the math). That is far out of line with previous presidential years. In the last three presidential years, exit polls show the party split in Illinois to be:
Even when Kirk narrowly won in 2010, the exit polls showed party at 44% Democrat, 24% Independent and 31% Republican. The only conceivable way to concoct a partisan structure like in the GSSG poll is to only consider the strong partisans of either party to be affiliated with that party. That does not adhere to any standard polling reporting procedure.
4. The Chicago Sun Times reported that the GSSG poll showed Kirk leading among Hispanic voters 44% to 39% and trailing among Black voters, 12% to 70%. Both would represent enormous and unlikely increases from his 2010 results. Exit polls from 2010 (a race that Kirk won) show him losing Hispanic voters 27%-63% and losing Black voters 3%-94%.
It is difficult to believe that Mark Kirk has increased his support among these constituencies by such a large margin and still trails overall. The only way that works mathematically is if the race is extremely close among White voters, a constituency Kirk dominated in 2010, 64%-31%. If Duckworth is even remotely competitive among White voters, then Kirk is far more vulnerable than it seems.
5. Other key measures of Kirk’s political strength are glaringly absent. There is no mention of his job approval or favorable rating. Perhaps that is because after more than a decade as a member of the U.S. House of Representatives and another five years as a U.S. Senator, Mark Kirk has failed to create a statewide profile for himself – he is invisible to many voters.
Kirk has been noticeably absent from Illinois recently. He failed to campaign during his primary and refused to debate a completely unfunded opponent who then earned a full 29% against him.
6. Other measures of the political environment are also absent. What is the presidential match up? That is one way to measure the potential validity of these results and it is not present. Perhaps these data are absent because Kirk and his team know that they will be dragged down by the presence of any Republican nominee, especially Donald Trump—a candidate that Kirk says “if he was the nominee, I certainly would” support him.
7. Polls results should never have decimal places. A decimal implies a level of precision that a sample of 600 likely voters with a stated margin of error of ±4% cannot achieve.
The GSSG poll memo is a clear sign that Kirk is in trouble, and that his only hope is to scare voters. His internal numbers show him to be weak. Moreover, Team Kirk seems unaware of details of his weakness with Independents and White voters.
The remainder of the memo is dedicated to laying out a serious of one-sided so-called issue positons from both candidates that he wins decisively. These are not an attempt to understand public opinion, but rather an attempt to signal to third party operators that they should raise the specter of an imminent terror threat from cloaked Syrian refugees. Once venerated Republican Mark Kirk is relying on fear tactics and a rescue from the Koch Brothers’ millions to win in November—an even more sure sign that we are well positioned to defeat him in November.
One day after the race was called a statistical tie, the Duckworth team was forced to roll out an endorsement from the President–three weeks after the primary election and after he has endorsed multiple other Democrat Senate candidates and even an Illinois State House candidate. As the polling demonstrated and then was further verified by the Duckworth campaign’s hyperbolic reaction, Duckworth’s record at the Department of Veterans Affairs–both in DC and Illinois– is a critical liability as it demonstrates a record of failure and mismanagement that hurt veterans, cost taxpayers and continues to be litigated to this day.
*** UPDATE 2 *** Duckworth campaign…
“I want to make sure I have this straight: the campaign of an incumbent Senator that just had to resort to putting out its own internal poll - one that showed it losing, no less - is calling another campaign desperate? We’re proud to have the support of President Obama and Vice President Biden. Having popular national leaders who aren’t retrograde embarrassments in your corner must be an alien concept to Republicans like Mark Kirk, but that hasn’t stopped him from pledging that he ‘certainly would’ support Donald Trump, and we wish him the best of luck with that.’ - Matt McGrath, campaign spokesman
* Believe it or not, I’ve been taking yoga classes for the past four or five months. I love it and can’t say enough good things about it. So, obviously I have a bias in favor of this bill…
The Illinois Board of Higher Education has discretion in determining what types of programs and courses it considers to be occupational or vocational in nature. For example, IBHE regulates training for nurse aids, dental assistants, accountants and HVAC technicians, all of which clearly are vocations.
However, teaching yoga typically is a personal pursuit, not a profession or a career path, Harmon said, noting that the state does not regulate certain ballet, karate or pilates instruction.
Yet several yoga teacher training schools in Illinois recently were notified by IBHE that they are subject to state regulation for training programs and that they must obtain IBHE approval to operate in the state. […]
“Over-regulation of yoga training disproportionately would impact small, women-owned businesses and advantage large chain fitness clubs,” Harmon said. “That’s not good for business in Illinois.”
So, Sen. Harmon has introduced SB2743, which would keep the IBHE’s regulatory paws off yoga classes. As Harmon is quoted as saying in the story “Yoga has been practiced successfully for thousands of years without government regulation. I see no reason to intrude now.”
* All the chatter about the Senate Democrats holding up a school funding bill until the funding formula is reformed is starting to cause some serious anxiety at the local levels…
Altamont Unit 10 Schools Superintendent Jeff Fritchtnitch says local school districts are tired of “enabling” a dysfunctional state government, and adds that a lack of state funding could make it necessary to keep his schools closed this fall.
Fritchtnitch, during a conversation at Friday’s Chamber Employee Appreciation Luncheon and by phone Tuesday, indicated that he and many other superintendents have had to eat into their reserves to make up for the shortfall in state dollars. A lack of state aid if a new spending plan isn’t enacted for the start of the new state fiscal year July 1 could help districts like Altamont to remain closed. He asked, “Why would we begin school and hold classes for a month or two and then be forced to close if state funding isn’t forthcoming?”
The problem isn’t new; in recent years, the State has set foundation levels for funding for school districts, but have then pro-rated what they actually allocate for things like transportation. It has left local school officials guessing, wishing and hoping for what funding they will receive and then trying to prepare their own budgets accordingly, and using their own reserves to cover the shortfall from the State.
This past year saw a lack of agreement on a state budget, which was supposed to take effect last July 1. Some are now operating under the assumption that there won’t be a budget for the current fiscal year.
The one thing that was agreed on for the current fiscal year was Grades K-12 funding. Now, the rancor in Springfield has grown to the point that a K-12 funding package for the coming year isn’t a certainty. The lack of funding now seen at colleges and universities could be seen in K-12 schools without state funding for the coming fiscal year. That has Fritchtnitch and other superintendents wondering about whether to open schools this fall.
