Anthem Names Felicia Norwood Executive Vice President and President, Government Business Division
INDIANAPOLIS–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Jun. 4, 2018– Anthem, Inc. (NYSE:ANTM) announced today Felicia Norwood has been named Executive Vice President and President, Government Business Division, effective June 18, 2018. In this role, Ms. Norwood will be responsible for the company’s Medicaid, Medicare and Federal Government Solutions businesses. Ms. Norwood will also serve as member of the company’s Executive Leadership Team and report directly to Gail K. Boudreaux, President and Chief Executive Officer, Anthem.
“Felicia is a proven leader with extensive experience in both the healthcare industry and government,” said Boudreaux. “She shares Anthem’s vision of creating a better healthcare experience for our consumers and all Americans. Her deep understanding of our business and the unique needs of our consumers will be of tremendous benefit as we work to continue to lead our industry by developing strategic partnerships and innovative integrated clinical care solutions across our Government business that will improve quality of care and drive better health outcomes.”
Ms. Norwood has more than 25 years of healthcare operations, policy and strategy experience. Most recently, she served as the director of Illinois’ Department of Healthcare and Family Services, leading a $22 billion agency with responsibility for serving the state’s 3.2 million Medicaid beneficiaries and 500,000 families receiving child support services. Prior to her current role, Felicia spent nearly 20 years at Aetna, where she served in a number of leadership roles including President, Mid-America Region; CEO, President and Chief Operating Officer of Aetna’s population health management subsidiary ActiveHealth Management Inc.; Head of Aetna Medicaid; National Head of Aetna’s Small Group and Individual Market Segments; and President, Aetna Government Health Plans, LLC.
…Adding… Press release…
Gov. Bruce Rauner announced today that Illinois Department of Healthcare and Family Services Director Felicia Norwood has accepted a position in the private sector.
“Director Norwood has been steadfast in her efforts to ensure the state’s most vulnerable citizens have access to quality healthcare. She led Illinois’ Medicaid reboot that will deliver better services at a better price.
Her leadership was critical to restructuring our managed care network into a more effective and efficient delivery model while integrating mental health into the delivery of services.
Her dedication and commitment led to one of the most significant developments in the history of our health programs, securing a $2 billion federal 1115 waiver — “Better Care Illinois” — a multi-agency effort to create a nation-leading approach to behavioral health.
She also led the department through a series of incredibly complex IT modernizations.
We are tremendously grateful for Director Norwood’s talent and service to the people of Illinois. We truly wish her all the success in her new endeavor.”
The search for a replacement is currently underway. Director Norwood remains on with the Administration until June 15.
I’m currently working on getting the ad from the Rauner campaign. But if past is prologue, I assume he’ll be playing up the budget agreement like he did with his tax cut plan after he delivered his budget address. I don’t know that for a fact, however. Stay tuned.
…Adding…. The Pritzker campaign is tight-lipped, but if history is any guide they’ll go up right after Rauner does. And then…
…Adding… More info…
.@GovRauner has placed new ad flights totaling at least $1 million from 6/5-6/17, according to Advertising Analytics. So far: $586k placed across Chicago, Champaign, Davenport, Paducah, and Rockford. Cable: $329k Satellite: $82,460 statewide.#twill
I would personally like to thank Speaker Madigan, and President Cullerton, Leader Brady, Leader Durkin, members of the General Assembly gathered here today and also throughout the state of Illinois. This was a great team effort. A great bipartisan effort.
* From the Rauner campaign this afternoon…
Without Gov. Rauner and Republicans at the negotiating table, Mike Madigan and Democrats would have raised taxes once again. […]
Join us to defeat JB Pritzker in November and prevent him from pushing tax hikes and out of control spending on Illinois.
* The Question: How would you rate the Rauner campaign’s framing of the budget deal? Don’t forget to explain your answer. Thanks.
Sen. Dick Durbin said Tuesday that incarcerated former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich’s 14-year prison sentence was excessive.
“I think 14 years was an outrageously long sentence. I’ll be honest with you,” Durbin told WGN Radio. “I think it should’ve been a shorter sentence.”
* So, today’s comment should probably come as no surprise…
Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) said on Monday that he would support reducing the sentence of former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich (D), according to the Chicago Sun-Times.
“I think that the sentence imposed on Rod Blagojevich was definitely way too long. Fourteen years, it didn’t make sense,” Durbin said at a Chicago press conference.
“And so I’m not commenting on whether he was culpable of guilt. That was decided by the courts, but I thought the sentence was outrageous, and if there’s a way to reduce the sentence for him and his family, I would support it,” Durbin added.
Durbin’s comments come after President Trump said last week that he is considering reducing Blagojevich’s sentence.
Trump told reporters Thursday on Air Force One that he thought the former governor’s prison sentence was overly harsh for what he described as “a foolish statement.” The president made the comments about Blagojevich while discussing his plans to pardon conservative pundit Dinesh D’Souza.
“I’ll tell you another one … there’s another one that I’m thinking about. Rod Blagojevich,” Trump said, according to a pool report. “Eighteen (sic) years in jail for being stupid and saying things that every other politician, you know that many other politicians say.”
“And if you look at what he said, he said something to the effect like, ‘What do I get?’ … Stupid thing to say. But he’s sort of saying … he’s gonna make a U.S. senator, which is a very big deal,” Trump said. “If you read his statement, it was a foolish statement. There was a lot of bravado. … Plenty of other politicians have said a lot worse. He shouldn’t have been put in jail.”
Trump also referred to Blagojevich’s stint on his reality show, “The Celebrity Apprentice,” but downplayed any relationship between them, saying, “I don’t know him other than that he was on (the show) for a short period of time.”
As we’ve discussed many times before, Blagojevich didn’t just try to trade the US Senate appointment. He also held up state money for children’s healthcare until he got a large campaign contribution from a hospital executive.
It’s not the first time Durbin offered his support for a commutation of a former Illinois governor’s prison sentence. In 2008 he urged then President George W. Bush to commute the sentence of George Ryan, who was serving a six and half year sentence on corruption charges. Bush never acted on the request. […]
Blagojevich, 61, is not due out of prison until May 2024. Though an appellate court tossed five of his convictions in 2015, federal prosecutors say he remains convicted “of the same three charged shakedowns” for which he was first sentenced in 2011.
Those include his attempt to sell then-President-elect Barack Obama’s U.S. Senate seat, to shake down the CEO of Children’s Memorial Hospital for $25,000 in campaign contributions, and to hold up a bill to benefit the racetrack industry for $100,000 in campaign contributions.
A jury also convicted Blagojevich of lying to the FBI.
Monday, Jun 4, 2018 - Posted by Advertising Department
[The following is a paid advertisement.]
On May 30th, NuMark Credit Union employees volunteered at the Northern Illinois Food Bank. They packed 4,100 pounds of sweet potatoes which will help provide 3,416 meals to families in need within their community. NuMark Credit Union has been serving the southwest suburbs of Chicago for over 60 years. The credit union regularly sponsors events and helps raise donations for the Northern Illinois Food Bank. To date, NuMark has helped fund $94,536 worth of food for the underserved in the areas surrounding Chicago’s south suburbs. To find out how you can become part of the credit union movement, visit www.asmarterchoice.org.
* Higher education will receive a two percent increase with next fiscal year’s budget. It’s not enough to make up for the beating the schools took during the impasse, but it’s the start of stability…
Overall, funding for public universities still lags about 8.2 percent behind what schools received in 2014-15, the last time the state approved a budget on schedule. University presidents unsuccessfully pushed the higher education board earlier this year to lobby Springfield to restore 2015-era funding. […]
But given recent instability, officials said predictable and consistent funding is more critical at this stage.
“I think there has been an awareness that the two years of the budget impasse were really very difficult for higher education to get through,” Southern Illinois President Randy Dunn said. “This increase in funding speaks to a growing understanding that public education in the state of Illinois is an investment as much as it is a cost, and something that is going to be integral in terms of job creation and economic development.”
University of Illinois leaders said in a statement Thursday: “The state’s second straight, full-year budget reflects a much-needed return of stability and reinvestment in higher education after a two-year impasse that cut sharply into funding and hampered our ability to plan our future.”
Illinois sent more than $1.2 billion to the state’s 12 public universities in 2015, the last spending plan before the impasse. In the budgetless years, two stopgap bills in 2016 provided just $996 million in state support for public colleges over two years. [Emphasis added.]
* As with everything else, the problems were already bad before Gov. Rauner took office and his administration then made it much worse…
The state’s 12 public universities and 48 community colleges have been tightening their belts since before the drastic cuts. State funding, which typically makes up one-third of a school’s budget, had already decreased 41% from 2002 to 2015.
* Just about everyone who has surfed YouTube or Facebook has seen this ad countless times since it debuted in early December…
You knew I was running for governor to get Illinois back on track, but you didn't know the best advice I've ever received or my favorite TV show – until now. Check it out! pic.twitter.com/37Q9wkYPeW
Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner on Monday signed into law a $38.5 billion spending plan for state government, approving a full budget on time for the first time since he took office in 2015.
Flanked by Republican and Democratic lawmakers, Rauner touted the legislation as the product of “a great team effort, a great bipartisan effort.” […]
Rauner also noted that lawmakers had found $1.5 billion in spending cuts as well.
“It’s not easy to make cuts, but the reductions in spending were made and I’d like to thank everyone for the discipline to achieve that,” Rauner said.
* From the governor’s press release…
· Blocked New Spending. Rauner and the Republican leaders staved off $1 billion in spending increases by aggressively managing agency budgets and tabling $500 million in spending increase proposals. That’s a billion and a half dollars in much-needed spending restraint.
Managing agency budgets is the governor’s top job. Good for him. But rejecting $500 million in spending increase requests is not a cut.
* Back to the governor’s release…
Education Funding. The budget fully funds the new evidence-based formula the administration introduced in 2015 and signed into law last summer. There’s $350 million in new K-12 dollars, which is up $1.4 billion since 2015, and $50 million for Early Childhood Education, which is up $200 million since 2015. AIM HIGH scholarships get $50 million to encourage Illinois high grads to attend Illinois universities. The MAP grant program is funded for four years. Colleges get $25 million of new money and the tuition tax credit program stays intact.
Guaranteeing MAP grants for four years, instead of just one, is perhaps the greatest single accomplishment of this budget. Bar none.
* Back to the release…
Pension Reform. The legislature addressed pension costs by making some modest reforms that will reduce long-term liabilities and save $445 million this year.
They’re spending long-term savings in just one year, which is not a good idea.
* Again, to the release…
· Adoption Tax Credit. Rauner said he was “particularly proud” of the work on his measure to create tax credits to encourage more adoptions by Illinois parents. Parents who can provide stable, loving homes for needy children can qualify for tax credits up to $5000 per child.
· Illinois Innovation Network. The budget gives the University of Illinois System $500 million to fund the Governor’s signature economic development program. The initial step is to get the Discovery Partners Institute up and running. DPI envisions a research and business public-private partnership that involves the entire Illinois university system and business innovators. U of I System estimates that the effort could spark $4 billion in annual invested capital for Illinois and create hundreds of thousands of jobs.
Quincy Veterans’ Home. There is $53 million in FY19 budget to get underway with the administration’s plan to construct a new veteran’s home in Quincy.
The Discovery Partners Institute could easily wind up being Rauner’s greatest positive legacy if he only serves one term.
* From Senate President John Cullerton’s press release last week…
A more than $1 billion budget hole wiped out through savings, reforms and utilizing other available revenues.
The state is authorized to tap into up to $800 million sitting available in various state accounts. This allows the state to utilize that money now to fund programs and services and pay it back over the next two years.
So, that’ll create a $400+ million hole in each of the next two fiscal years.
Illinois state workers represented by the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees, or AFSCME, currently do not have a contract with the state. The last contract expired on June 30, 2015. Gov. Bruce Rauner and AFSCME have not been able to agree on a number of costly requests the union is making.
Despite being without a contract, courts have ordered the Rauner administration to pay the raises union workers would have received under the last contract. According to Wirepoints, this could cost as much as $400 million.
The state did not account for these costs in its recent spending plan. That means the state has as much as a $400 million liability, that it should be fully aware it needs to pay, not accounted for in the budget.
…Adding… Anders Lindall at AFSCME Council 31 disputes some of the Illinois Policy Institute’s story…
In the first sentence, it’s wrong that there’s no contract. The previous contract remains in effect.
In the third sentence, it’s wrong that the parties “have not been able to agree on a number of costly requests the union is making”. We proposed zero wage increase and higher employee health costs. Rauner walked away and refused to negotiate. A case is now in the courts.
In the fourth sentence, again, there is a contract. And it’s not that Rauner was ordered to pay raises under the previous contract. It’s that he was ordered to continue the progression of recent hires through the pay plan (which exists in statute, not the contract).
Ninety percent of guns used in criminal acts can be traced to just 5 percent of gun dealers. These so-called, “Bad Apple” dealers enable criminals to circumvent gun laws created to keep firearms out of dangerous hands, putting communities at risk for violence. […]
When a gun buyer gets somebody else to fill out his or her paperwork, that’s called a “straw purchase.” This can put guns in the hands of people who are legally prohibited from owning them. Police say penalties for violating Illinois’ “lost and stolen” law, which helps address straw purchases, are too weak.
Last year, Chicago police took 8,952 illegal guns off the street, and this year so far the police have recovered more than 3,400 guns. We would like to believe it has made a difference. Chicago this year has suffered 52 fewer murders and 229 fewer shootings when compared to the same time last year. […]
A bill approved by the Legislature on Tuesday — with bipartisan support — and now headed to Gov. Bruce Rauner’s desk holds the promise of being a small but important part of the solution. The bill goes after the scourge of “bad apple” gun dealers by requiring state certification of gun shops.
* But, you say, the feds already regulate gun dealers. Well, kinda…
As they inspect the nation’s gun stores, federal investigators regularly find violations of the law, ranging from minor record-keeping errors to illegal sales of firearms. In the most serious cases, like a sale of a gun to a prohibited buyer, inspectors often recommend that gun dealers lose their licenses.
But that rarely happens. Senior officials at the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives regularly overrule their own inspectors, allowing gun dealers who fail inspections to keep their licenses even after they were previously warned to follow the rules, according to interviews with more than half a dozen current and former law enforcement officials and a review of more than 100 inspection reports.
One store was cited for failing to conduct background checks before selling a gun. Another store owner told investigators he actively tried to circumvent gun laws. One threatened an A.T.F. officer, and another sold a gun to a customer who identified as a felon. All were previously cited by the A.T.F. In each instance, supervisors downgraded recommendations that the stores’ licenses be revoked and instead let them stay open.
Of about 11,000 inspections of licensed firearm dealers in the year starting in October 2016, more than half were cited for violations. Less than 1 percent of all inspections resulted in the loss of a license.
* Before Gov. Rauner signed the budget this morning…
Three Years Later, Rauner Sidelined to Get the Job Done
Chicago, IL – As Bruce Rauner sits down to sign the first budget of his governorship, let’s take a look back at the crisis-drive agenda, stubborn demands, and failed leadership that brought us to this point:
2015: A CRISIS-DRIVEN AGENDA
Rauner makes his motives abundantly clear with the now infamous, “Crisis creates opportunity. Crisis creates leverage to change … and we’ve got to use that leverage of the crisis to force structural change.” He proceeds to veto a budget passed by the General Assembly while presenting no realistic alternative.
2016: CHANGING DEMANDS, DELAYED NEGOTIATIONS
After waiting six months into the budget crisis to meet with Democrats in 2015, Rauner waits four months into 2016 to sit down with legislative leaders. The failed governor brings to the table an ever-growing and ever-changing list of demands with columnists saying, “Rauner has made one politically unrealistic demand after another” and “Gov. Bruce Rauner is holding up critical state budget negotiations over his desire for term limits? Unbelievably, yes.”
2017: THE BIPARTISAN OVERRIDE
Bruce Rauner drives the state into a 736-day budget crisis, decimating the state economy, forcing social services to cut programs or close their doors, and jeopardizing public education across the state. After Rauner derails one budget and vetoes another, bipartisan legislators come together to override the failed governor’s veto and finally bringing Rauner’s crisis to an end.
2018: RAUNER SIDELINED
Having learned their lesson, leaders in the General Assembly sidelined Bruce Rauner from the budget process, ignoring the unbalanced budget he presented. The Chicago Tribune writes, “Rauner’s top priorities sidelined in final budget talks of his first term.” With the General Assembly getting the job done as Bruce Rauner faces re-election this year, the failed governor will sign a budget for his first time in office.
“Bruce Rauner finally agreeing to sign his name on a budget crafted by the General Assembly, three years into his time in office, won’t change the massive amounts of damage this failed governor has done to this state,” said Pritzker campaign communications director Galia Slayen. “It shouldn’t take legislative leaders sidelining the governor and the threat of re-election to get a budget done. It’s abundantly clear Illinois can’t afford another four years of Bruce Rauner.”
After Three Years of Rauner Budget Chaos, What Changed?
Illinois Working Together Campaign Director Jake Lewis released the following statement in response to Gov. Bruce Rauner’s approval of the state budget:
“For three years, Gov. Bruce Rauner has refused to sign a state budget unless it included his own personal agenda. The governor spent much of that time holding the budget hostage while the students, seniors, and economy of the Illinois suffered catastrophic damage.
“Now it seems like the governor has had a radical change of heart, signing the Fiscal Year 2019 budget that includes none of his personal agenda and none of his own major budget proposals. So the question must be asked: what changed? And why did the students, seniors, and economy have to suffer for years before Rauner’s sudden shift?
“Bruce Rauner put the people of Illinois through crisis after crisis in pursuit of his own personal agenda. Today we find out that all of that chaos, all of the devastation was for nothing. So, governor, what changed? The people of Illinois deserve answers.”
* DGA…
What Was the Point of Rauner’s Three Year Budget Crisis?
The Democratic Governors Association releases the following statement through spokesperson Sam Salustro regarding news that Governor Bruce Rauner signed the first budget of his term after forcing the state to endure three years of crises:
“Bruce Rauner’s budget signature is three years too late. Thanks to Rauner’s failed leadership, Illinois’ debt soared, credit rating dropped, and services were slashed while jobs and people continued to leave the state. Rauner failed the people of Illinois and the state is worse off because of it.
“Rauner’s decision to wait for an election year before finally signing a budget is just one more insult to the people of this state. Bruce Rauner forced Illinois to endure three years of budget crises and voters want to know, what was the point?”
* Pritzker campaign…
A Moment Three and a Half Years in the Making
Chicago, IL – It’s a moment three and a half years in the making: Bruce Rauner finally learned how to pick up a pen and sign his name.
Three downstate lawmakers want the US Congress to take up an initiative to make Chicago the 51st state. After all, the state and city have been fighting for 200 years.
In a resolution introduced May 25, GOP State Reps. Reginald Phillips - Brad Halbrook and Joe Sosnowski voiced their dismay with the city’s politics, its weight to the state’s finances and its disagreement with the rest of the state on major social issues.
The dissension between the state’s most populated city and the rest of the state has been an issue for 200 years, the resolution says, with previous attempts to sever the state and city’s ties.
He’s not a household name like Mike Madigan or Bruce Rauner, but House Republican leader Jim Durkin played an outsize role in delivering the first on-time budget in four years.
Durkin claims to this day that he was able to convince, cajole and drag other legislative leaders and the governor 90 percent of the way to a budget agreement last year until it all blew up in July. Ten of his GOP members broke ranks and voted to override Rauner’s vetoes of the state’s first full-year budget since before Rauner took office and an income tax hike to pay for it.
When the smoke cleared, Durkin had a problem. Some of his conservative members blamed him for not being tough enough on the members who bolted. And the insurgents were furious about all the pressure that Rauner had put on them about their votes. Mutiny was in the air.
Durkin had to pull his caucus back together quickly because a vote on a massive education funding reform bill would happen a month after the budget blowup.
Pointing out the holes in Maryann Loncar’s allegations against Rep. Lou Lang, D-Skokie, is like shooting fish in a barrel. But it doesn’t necessarily mean that absolutely everything she said was untrue.
Loncar, a longtime medical marijuana activist, made her allegations last week during a much-anticipated press conference on the final day of the General Assembly’s spring session.
Let’s start with her alleged $170 million “bribery” scheme by a medical marijuana company, which Loncar claimed she helped expose. She claimed her “meddling” caused Lang to retaliate against her. This is not a new allegation. Loncar e-mailed me in 2015 to allege a $168 million “pay to play” scheme involving the company. The “bribe” turned out to be an alleged offer of a state payment by a company named Medponics for all medical marijuana licenses during a stakeholder meeting.
Loncar said she had an eyewitness at the 2012 meeting, who has worked with her on medical marijuana issues for years. But he told me the Medponics proposal was immediately shouted down by everyone in the room, including Lang. A former lobbyist for the company flatly denied that any such offer was ever made.
In 2014, Loncar and her business partners told the Tribune that their Plainfield company wanted to open three for-profit grow centers and five dispensaries. They claimed credit for convincing then-House Republican Leader Tom Cross to support medical marijuana. Cross’ district included Plainfield. But the medical marijuana bill written by Lang and others in 2013 barred for-profit companies like Loncar’s from the industry.
She also told me in 2015 she was “being bullied” by Lang and a female medical marijuana activist. Lang did indeed tell several people last year that he wouldn’t support the bill to legalize hemp if Loncar was involved. But Loncar also claimed that Lang killed the hemp bill last year because of her involvement. Lobbyists involved with the hemp bill flatly denied that to me, and said the same to the Chicago Sun-Times and the Chicago Tribune.
Loncar claimed that Lang had contacted her ex-husband and allegedly said he could “help you bury her if you want.” She said that conversation led her to fear for her life. But her ex told the Tribune that Lang never reached out to him.
Denise Rotheimer, a Loncar surrogate who accused Sen. Ira Silverstein, D-Chicago, of sexual harassment last year, told the Sun-Times last Tuesday that Loncar was not going to allege sexual harassment against a legislator.
But then Loncar appeared on conservative activist Dan Proft’s Chicago radio show the Thursday morning before her press conference. Proft asked her whether the still-unnamed legislator had said if she wouldn’t “play ball, and play ball means of a sexual nature, then you’re not going to get what you want.”
“In every nature,” Loncar replied. “It all starts in Springfield of a sexual nature if you’re female. All of it.”
However, when her statement to Proft was read back to her later that day by my associate Hannah Meisel, Loncar admitted Lang had made no such demand.
So, what do we make of Loncar’s other claims, including that Lang inappropriately touched her once and made some suggestive comments?
I think we should leave that for the inspector general to decide, not us.
Lang’s resignation of his deputy majority leader post as well as from two important committees after “consulting” with Madigan clearly means he has been punished. Whether he’s been punished enough will, again, be up to the inspector general.
Buy Illinois bonds in May and sell when the budget crisis goes away.
It’s almost as catchy as the stock market adage, and that simple advice is turning a nice profit recently. While many other fixed-income assets sputtered along, Illinois debt returned 1.56 percent in the last month, according to Bloomberg Barclays index data. On an annualized basis, that’s a 20 percent profit.
That monthly return is better than other U.S. states 1 and ranks ahead of just about any major bond market out there. For reference, here’s how some broad indexes fared last month.
* Global High-Yield: -1.51%
* Global Aggregate: -0.76%
* EM USD Aggregate: -0.73%
* U.S. Aggregate: 0.71%
* U.S. Treasury: 0.90%
And all investors had to do to lock in that return was bet that Illinois lawmakers would pass an acceptable budget. That’s what they did on Thursday, sending it to Republican Governor Bruce Rauner for his signature. […]
Investors clearly liked the news, with the yield on 10-year Illinois bonds tumbling on Thursday by the most in 10 months to 4.1 percent. The debt rallied for 10 consecutive days after the yield peaked in mid-May at 4.6 percent. At the time, that rate was higher than the one on 10-year securities from Greece, which, as everyone agrees, is junk.
That committee is controlled by House Speaker Michael Madigan.
*** UPDATE 1 *** Comments are now open. Here’s the Sun-Times…
Pritzker and Rauner spent $132 million on their hard-fought primaries. Rauner spent more than $63 million and Pritzker spent $68 million between December 2016 and the end of March, records have shown.
This year’s race for governor could end up breaking the national record set by California’s 2010 race in which Democrat Jerry Brown and Silicon Valley executive Meg Whitman spent a combined $280 million.
Pritzker’s $25 million contribution was dated the last day of May, bringing his total for the month to $30 million. More than $2 million was sent to various Democratic campaign groups aimed at helping lower-ballot candidates, similar to the way that Rauner has used his personal wealth to rebuild Republican campaigns. Pritzker’s campaign also moved $1 million to House Speaker Michael Madigan’s Democratic Majority campaign fund last week.
While sizable, Pritzker’s $25 million was not a record for a single donation. Rauner put $50 million into his campaign account in December of 2016 — an amount campaign aides said represented a down payment for this year’s general election.
WHY NOW? We got answers that ranged from Pritzker wanting to show he’s “all in,” to his demonstrating he isn’t taking anything for granted, to a far more simple explanation that he’s readying for a probable, post-legislative session, TV ad assault from Rauner. Each time Pritzker has been hit in ads in the past, he’s been up immediately with a response.
*** UPDATE 2 *** ILGOP…
The Illinois Republican Party issued the following statement after J.B. Pritzker gave a $1 million contribution to Democratic Majority, a political committee chaired by House Speaker Mike Madigan:
“Before the primary, J.B. Pritzker secretly funneled money to Mike Madigan through Super PACs and corporations. Now, Pritzker is bankrolling Madigan’s political organization so they can work hand-in-hand to raise taxes, increase spending and drown our state in debt. Hardworking Illinois taxpayers can’t afford the Pritzker-Madigan ticket.” - Illinois Republican Party Spokesman Aaron DeGroot
With President Trump primed to go after vulnerable Democratic senators in red states, it’s clear the country’s future hinges on the credibility of what political scientists call the Rich Miller Theorem.
Actually, I may be the only person who calls it that. But I’m hoping the name catches on, if only because I could use the royalties.
Exciting day! Just cut the ribbon on the new Northwest Macomb Bypass. It brings much needed traffic relief, connects western Illinois to our national transportation system, opens a path to fresh economic opportunities. pic.twitter.com/dq7snOXP9E
* I didn’t know about the national corridor connection. It seemed pretty cool at first glance. From last October…
Construction on the six-mile, $36.1 million bypass began in June 2015… The bypass will open as a two-lane highway linking Ill. 336 west of Macomb to U.S. 67 on the north… Funds for the first two lanes of the bypass were approved in the Jobs Now capital bill that the Legislature approved in 2009. IDOT officials have pledged to complete the other two lanes on the bypass when construction dollars become available. […]
The bypass will be part of the 537-mile Chicago-Kansas City Expressway that has been marketed as a national corridor. The CKC, first proposed 60 years ago, has a common route designation number. Signs bearing the Route 110 and CKC logo are in place from downtown Chicago to downtown Kansas City, Mo. Route 110 avoids three of the most congested and overcrowded highway segments in the Midwest: Interstate 55 from Chicago to Joliet, I-80 from Joliet to the Kansas border, and I-70 from St. Louis to Kansas City.
* I couldn’t get Google Maps to use the national corridor’s route, so I went to the expressway’s Wikipedia page and entered in all the highway changes up to Quincy, which is on our western border. The search result (click here) shows it would take 5 hours and 54 minutes to drive it at 2:29 pm today.
However, allow Google Maps to choose a Chicago to Quincy route and its fastest choice (click here) would take 5 hours and 2 minutes if you started at 2:29 pm.
That’s a 52-minute difference. The new Macomb bypass will save drivers between 4 and 9 minutes. But it’ll still be much faster to use Google Map’s preferred route.
Man, I killed way too much time on this post. I coulda just driven to Kansas City instead.
Gosh, do you suppose the RNC & ILGOP are excited about the prospect of an ex-con Democrat former governor running around the state on a “rewrite history & professional victim” tour? I think so. The GOP will certainly need the waters muddied to have a chance for election success this next go-around.
If Rod praises Pritzker… ouch. If Rod tells some negative stories about Pritzker because Pritzker has said he ought to serve out the rest of his term… ouch.
I can see this going either way if RRB gets out, or both ways at once at times. Dude is just so unpredictable and both campaigns are pretty wily. But, I’m not gonna let you cop out like I just did.
* The Question: Option one or option two? Take the poll and then explain your answer in comments, please.
A bill that would give Illinois taxpayers a way to work around the new $10,000-a-year federal cap on state and local tax deductions has been put on hold, caught in a dispute between Senate and House sponsors about how to deal with Internal Revenue Service concerns about the measure. […]
In a phone interview, Carroll said he was not backing off his original plan but did “not want to set up taxpayers for a bad situation” if the IRS ruled against such plan. Carroll said he’d discussed his new plan with Morrison and she “totally understands what we’re trying to do.”
But Morrison said she is not fine and in fact is “disappointed that the House has chosen not to move forward” with a bill that was carefully negotiated with both Democratic and Republican senators. She said her preference would be to enact such a bill here, following the lead of states such as New Jersey and Connecticut, and see what happens with IRS and in court. […]
Meanwhile, the General Assembly adopted a bill pushed by Enterprise and other car rental firms that is somewhat like the battle between conventional hotel operators and Airbnb. Specifically, it requires companies that are paid to connect private car owners and renters via a phone app to follow the same regulations as traditional car rental companies. The measure drew furious last-minute lobbying on both sides, and ended up clearing the Senate by a less-than-veto-proof 34-7-7 margin.
Meanwhile, that revised carjacking bill that I told you about the other day passed the House yesterday with 78 votes and will be sent to the governor.
Legislation that would mandate a 72-hour “cooling” period following the purchase of any gun heads to Gov. Bruce Rauner’s desk after clearing the Illinois Senate Thursday evening.
The vote was 40-10. Sen. Andy Manar, D-Bunker Hill, voted for it, while Sens. Sam McCann, R-Plainview, and Bill Brady, R-Bloomington, voted “no.”
This will be the second attempt to enact this type of legislation in the past few months. The first, which called for a 72-hour waiting period following the purchase of an assault weapon, was bottled up by Rauner a few weeks ago.
Using his amendatory veto powers, Rauner essentially rewrote that bill, using it as a vehicle to propose a comprehensive package of public safety proposals.
For much of the spring, critics have called for a major overhaul of how ethics complaints are handled in the Capitol, saying lawmakers can’t be trusted to conduct honest and transparent investigations of themselves.
Legislators took some first steps toward that goal Thursday, overwhelmingly approving a bill that would give the inspector general the freedom to investigate complaints of sexual harassment without first having to get approval from the Legislative Ethics Commission, whose members are appointed by the four House and Senate leaders.
The bill, which cleared the Senate 54-0 and the House 110-0, was a last-minute victory for women lawmakers who had said earlier this week that they were resisting an attempt by the men who run the legislative caucuses to water down the measure.
The proposed new rules would create a four-person committee of former judges and prosecutors to search for a full-time inspector general to replace the temporary watchdog who was installed in the office last year. Under the current system, it’s up to legislative leaders to recommend an inspector general, who then must be approved by the ethics commission. Before Rotheimer’s complaint, the leaders couldn’t agree on an appointee, so the post was allowed to sit empty and complaints went unanswered as a result.
Such a prolonged vacancy would be prohibited under the new legislation, which would task the Illinois auditor general’s watchdog with taking up complaints if the legislative inspector general post is vacant for more than six months.
When students summoned the courage to disclose abuse, teachers and principals failed to alert child welfare investigators or police despite the state’s mandated reporter law.
Even in cases where school employees acted swiftly, they subjected young victims to repeated interrogations, inflicting more psychological pain and defying basic principles intended to preserve the integrity of an investigation.
Ineffective background checks exposed students to educators with criminal convictions and arrests for sex crimes against children. And CPS failed to disclose to other districts that past employees had resigned after investigators found credible evidence of abuse and harassment. […]
The exact number of cases in which school workers sexually assaulted students remains elusive, in part because CPS does so little to understand and tackle the problem. The district acknowledges that it does not track child abuse by its employees in a consistent or formal manner. […]
In other districts across the state and country, school employees have been imprisoned for failing to report abuse. But the Tribune found no evidence that Chicago school employees who kept quiet about allegations were charged criminally.
Go read the whole thing. The data is horrible, but the individual stories are at once disgusting and heartbreaking.
Illinois also does not require the state board to collect data about sexual abuse of students, even though school districts must by law report the rare instances in which a student sexually assaults a school employee.
That is appalling.
…Adding… From CPS…
CPS CEO Dr. Janice K. Jackson Statement:
“As CEO and a CPS parent, I will not be satisfied until I am confident that the district is doing everything possible to ensure that our hiring practices, background checks, training, and handling of sexual assault and misconduct allegations are the best policies and practices to protect our students. Period.
“As a first step, we have identified a series of significant actions – including bringing in an independent evaluator to conduct a top-to-bottom review of district processes and policies – that will be implemented going forward to help ensure the best possible supports are in place to protect students.
“Nothing is more important to Chicago Public Schools than student safety – particularly with the adults who are supposed to serve them, and we are taking significant actions to ensure our students have safest possible learning environments.”
BACKGROUND:
For a comprehensive list of actions the district is taking to further protect our students, please read Protecting Chicago’s Children: CPS Plan of Action in its entirety at bit.ly/cpsplanofaction.
There were chants and songs from the legislative galleries. A group of women supporters held a hunger fast for weeks, leading to some being hospitalized. The group that staged the sit-in previously chained itself to the gold railing outside the Senate chamber. The same group later splattered animal blood on the marble floor outside the 2nd floor governor’s office when the amendment failed.
“What they want is publicity and that’s what you give them,” then-state Sen. James “Pate” Philip of Elmhurst chided reporters at the time.
The chamber’s Republican leader and future Senate president went on: “Starving themselves, chaining themselves then disrupting the Senate — if anything they’re turning the senators off.”
Opposing the amendment at the state and national level was Illinois’ own, the late Phyllis Schlafly of Alton. The head of the conservative Eagle Forum joined with her red-dressed backers who carried small hand-held stop sign-shaped cards saying, “STOP ERA.”
The Illinois General Assembly passed the FY19 budget this week and Governor Rauner has called the plan a step in the right direction and has promised swift action. The bipartisan budget includes no new tax increases, funding for the Quincy Veterans Home, savings for local governments, and funding for early childhood, K-12 and higher education, as well as the Discovery Partners Institute.
Associated Press: Rauner Promises Swift Action on Budget
“We worked together to provide a budget to the people of Illinois that can be balanced with hard work and continued bipartisan effort to deliver on the promises it makes,” Rauner said in a statement in which he promised quick action to enact the plan for the year that begins July 1… The Senate voted 56-2 Wednesday night on the plan that increases elementary and secondary education by $350 million and fully funds the state’s pension obligations and $4 billion for state employee group health insurance.
Chicago Sun-Times: ‘Realistic’ budget heads to Gov. Rauner’s desk after bipartisan ‘love fest’
With the words “trust” and “bipartisanship” uttered repeatedly on the Illinois House floor, lawmakers on Thursday quickly approved a $38.5 billion budget that Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner says he’ll sign. … To address students fleeing Illinois, the budget also includes a new $25 million tuition grant which will provide additional tuition assistance.
Chicago Tribune: Illinois House passes state budget; Rauner says he’ll approve it
Illinois House passes state budget; Rauner says he’ll approve it. … The House agreed to the $38.5 billion proposal by a 97-18 vote, following a landslide 54-2 tally in the Senate on Wednesday night. Rauner said in a statement he plans to approve it. … Lawmakers also approved $2.2 billion in spending on an infrastructure program Rauner announced earlier in the week. They granted him $53 million to cover the first-year costs of constructing a new veterans home in Quincy to address a deadly outbreak of Legionnaires’ disease that dates to 2015 — the handling of which has been a matter of controversy for the governor. And they set aside $500 million for an innovation center in the South Loop that’s being led by the University of Illinois and has been heavily touted by Rauner.
Reuters: Illinois budget speeds through legislature, heads to governor
The Republican governor praised the bipartisan effort and compromise and said he will be taking action soon to enact the spending plan, which the Senate overwhelmingly passed on Wednesday. … The budget adds $350 million to a new K-12 school funding formula enacted last year, increases higher education spending by 2 percent, reduces cuts in state aid to local governments, and appropriates $1.3 billion to pay previously incurred expenses. It also includes a voluntary buyout of certain pension benefits expected to save the state about $423 million in fiscal 2019.
WGLT: Illinois House Sends $38 Billion Budget To Rauner
“The Fiscal Year 2019 budget is the result of bipartisan effort and compromise,” Rauner added. “We worked together to provide a budget to the people of Illinois that can be balanced, with hard work and continued bipartisan effort to deliver on the promises it makes. I’ll be taking action quickly to enact the Fiscal Year 2019 budget into law.” … The budget creates a $50 million scholarship fund to keep Illinois students from leaving the state for college. It also provides includes $400 million of K-12 funding for early childhood education, and it maintains the new funding formula passed last year.
Isn’t it amazing what can be done after a tax hike is passed and the governor isn’t demanding a bunch of his non-budget demands be satisfied before he’ll agree to a budget?
Also, he’s spending every dime of the tax increase he vetoed - plus maybe a billion dollars more, when you include the gimmicks like booking pension savings in advance and sweeping funds. It would be nice if he finally admitted that we did indeed need that tax hike, but it would also be nice if I could take the rest of June off. Neither is gonna happen.
What absolutely needs to happen, however, is Pritzker and/or the media must get him on record with a vow to never hold a budget hostage again for his non-budget demands.
It’s not often that Rod Blagojevich, sexual harassment allegations, and an extraordinary political detente converge on Illinois politics in a single day.
But Thursday was that day.
Lawmakers approved a state budget for the next year on the final day of their legislative session, President Donald Trump said he’s considering commuting the sentence of Illinois’ most recently imprisoned ex-governor, and a longtime Illinois House member resigned his position in the Democratic leadership after a medical marijuana advocate accused him of harassment.
And then the House stayed in session until nightfall passing tons of bills.
Today, the Pritzker campaign released a new digital ad “You’re Out!” highlighting how bush league Bruce Rauner compares his failed leadership to the World Series champion Chicago Cubs.
While Rauner claimed to find “similarities” between himself and the Cubs, the new video shows how he’s struck out as governor. Year after year, Rauner made a swing and a miss at introducing balanced budgets. He ran up the score on Illinois’ credit rating, setting records for the worst in the nation. And, on primary day, Rauner lost 48% of the Republican vote.
“While baseball season ends in October, it’s clear that after three years of constant crisis and failed leadership, Bruce Rauner will lose his governorship this November,” said Pritzker campaign communications director Galia Slayen.
