* When I decided to do the Illinois vs. Missouri softball game tomorrow, I figured I might as well take Friday off, too. And then I thought, hey, maybe I should go somewhere cool and take off a few more days. And so the decision was made. After close of business today, I’ll be gone until at least next Thursday morning, but maybe not until the following Monday, depending how crazy it gets in my absence.
Hannah Meisel and Barton Lorimor will be handling blog duties while I’m away. Be nice to them, please.
* Rep. McSweeney is the chief sponsor, but his co-sponsors are Reps. Mary Flowers, Grant Wehrli and Jonathan Carroll. That’s not a combination you will see very often, if ever…
State Representative David McSweeney (R-Barrington Hills) today filed legislation to protect students from predatory educators and ensure accusations against educators are managed properly with the best interests of students in mind. House Bill 5914 makes numerous changes in state law to address the flaws and gaps in legislation and policy that led to Chicago Public School’s gross mishandling of sexual abuse and assault cases that occurred at schools within the district.
“The mistakes made by the schools in Chicago are reprehensible; nothing like this should ever be allowed to happen again,” Rep. McSweeney said. “These cases were handled atrociously by CPS and they were allowed to get away with it because of shortcomings in state law. The Chicago Tribune’s investigation unveiled that while this is a significant issue in Chicago, this is also a statewide problem.”
A Chicago Tribune investigation identified 72 school employees as alleged perpetrators in the last decade in schools all across Chicago. They found that CPS conducted shoddy background checks, which led to the hiring of educators with red flags in their records, several of whom went on to commit abuses at CPS schools. Among those that left CPS after being investigated, several were rehired elsewhere.
HB 5914 mandates that the Illinois State Board of Education must be aware of, and monitor, the process with regard to each individual background check conducted by school districts. It also amends the Freedom of Information Act to allow school districts to disclose the disciplinary records of school district personnel relating to sexual abuse. It further allows a school district to divulge internal investigative findings and discipline to another school district. Any arresting agency is required to share its reports pertaining to the arrest of a licensed educator with the superintendent of any school district that employs the educator.
In addition, the Tribune’s investigation found significant failures in the way individual schools and the overall district handled cases of sexual abuse. CPS admitted that they do not have a standard protocol for investigating reports of sexual misconduct. HB 5914 will require school boards to report all credible cases of sexual assault or abuse by a licensed educator to the State Board of Education, to establish a hearing procedure for student victims, and to ensure that a licensed educator under investigation by the State Superintendent of Education is reassigned to non-classroom duty.
Modeled off a Florida law, the bill would also make it a criminal offense for an authority figure to engage in sexual conduct or sexual relations with a student, regardless of age.
“This isn’t just on CPS, these failures exist in state government as well and need to be fixed as soon as possible,” Rep. McSweeney continued. “This comprehensive legislation is a solid start and a good base that we can amend as further policy recommendations are given or more legislative gaps come to light.”
The bill was drafted by Rep. McSweeney and State Senator Tom Cullerton (D-Villa Park). State Representative Mary Flowers (D-Chicago) is the chief co-sponsor in the Illinois House.
* Other bills…
* Industry-supported bill would impose “absurd” regulations on peer-to-peer car rentals: In addition to the content of the bill, [Michelle Fang, general counsel for Turo] took issue with the way the legislation was written and voted upon in Springfield, calling it “really dirty cronyism politics.” … State Rep. Grant Wehrli, R-Naperville, who was chief co-sponsor of the bill in the Illinois House, said there was nothing unusual about the way the legislation came together.
* Democrats fling stinky stuff after patronage, deficits are cut: The state legislature passed Senate Bill 2368 on May 30. It requires the mayor of Democrat-stronghold Granite City to be on the board, tipping the balance of power back to Democrats. It requires the executive director to live in the district. Stephen Adler is an engineer and was a Republican on the Madison County Board before he was appointed executive director of the sanitary district. He lives in Godfrey, outside the district boundaries. Adler’s the one who got rid of the extra 24 employees and immediately stopped the deficits. He’s the one who found money to fix one broken pump and replace the other. He’s the one building reserves to fix the crumbling sewers in Washington Park and create drainage for major commercial development along the Interstate 255 corridor.
* New drone law would let police monitor large public events: Drone usage would be limited to public safety purposes, such as evaluating crowd size or movement, assessing safety vulnerabilities or weaknesses, determining appropriate staffing or identifying possible criminal activity, according to the bill.
Following last week’s signing of House Bill 138, female senators are calling on the four caucus leaders to fully support and commit to seeking additional ethics reforms. They sent a letter to the legislative leaders underscoring that HB 138 was only the beginning of what needs to be done to ensure there is a truly independent, transparent process for individuals to come forward with complaints of inappropriate behavior.
“The passing of House Bill 138 represents another vital step in ensuring we have a process that is effective and free from partisan influence to investigate the serious nature of sexual harassment in the Capitol,” said Sen. Bush (D-Grayslake), sponsor of House Bill 138. “We do know, however, that we won’t change a culture that accepts sexual harassment and discrimination overnight. Together, rank-and-file members and caucus leaders can continue pushing ahead to eradicate sexual harassment in Springfield.”
In total, 14 senators signed onto the letter saying they are hopeful HB 138 will give more people the confidence to come forward. However, they made it very clear that more work is needed to ensure that powerful individuals, or anyone working in the Capitol building, can no longer get away with abuse and threats.
“It took a great deal of advocacy and determination to push this much-needed measure through the General Assembly this session, and in doing so, we made an important first step in beginning to address allegations of sexual harassment in the context of the Legislative Ethics Commission,” said Sen. Tracy, chief co-sponsor of HB 138. “This legislation also addresses some shortcomings we found in the procedures and make-up of the Commission itself. This is the beginning. In the coming hearings of the Senate Sexual Discrimination and Harassment Awareness and Prevention Task Force, we plan to delve deeper to improve the processes and managing of sexual harassment complaints at the state level.”
The lawmakers note that there are several changes they would like to see moving forward. Their recommended changes include:
• Adding legislative staff to those employees covered by the Human Rights Act;
• Ensuring a closer examination of the makeup and structure of the commission.
“I remain committed to working with my colleagues to ensure that those who have been sexually harassed, retaliated against or abused have greater confidence in the investigative process,” said Sen. McConnaughay, member of the Legislative Ethics Commission. “The culture must end, and those who take part in this behavior must be held accountable. Together, we women are standing strong, and we request the full support of our caucus leaders in our efforts.”
“We are calling on the four caucus leaders to be leaders of change,” said Sen. Steans (D-Chicago). “For too long, these issues have been ignored. All people should feel comfortable working in the Capitol.”
I’m a little surprised they didn’t address Jessica Basham’s changes in the House, particularly the one about hiring a human resources director and an equal employment opportunity/affirmative action officer. All four leaders ought to get together on that one.
* Background is here. This e-mail was sent out by the St. Louis Cardinals organization to the announcers (myself included) for the Illinois vs. Missouri general assembly softball game tomorrow at Busch Stadium…
Gentlemen - I’m looking forward to seeing you on Thursday! I trust you will have fun while providing colorful, but clean, coverage of our leaders taking part in America’s pastime.
Remember you will be in baseball heaven…the house that Musial, Red and other great men who have the birds on the bat in the heart built. Know that our standards for civility and sportsmanship are high….perhaps even higher than some of the most hallowed halls of our esteemed democracy.
As you prepare for your game coverage, think of a simpler time when hashtags were pound signs or playing fields for tic tac toe…and the strike zone kept hitters honest.
Kinda loving themselves a bit.
Just in case, I think I’ll stop at the bank to pick up some bail money.
* By the way, you can score tickets for tomorrow afternoon’s game by clicking here. They’re just twenty bucks including free concessions at the bar. Game hashtags will be #MajorLegBaseball and #STLChamberChamps. I do not yet know if there will be a video feed.
Soft interview of @SenatorDurbin in lefty online site and he laments our @Trib_ed_board coverage of #IllinoisExodus. If you've left IL due to high taxes or lack of opportunity, you're just "grouchy" and good riddance, according to him. Yep. Everyone shhhh about that census data.
As someone with his own distinct political views, but who represents a diverse state, U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin has no tolerance for those who would carve it up for political gain.
“There are two things that just anger me so much,” Durbin said in a recent interview at his downtown Chicago office. “The first is someone who is an elected official in this state who uses their position to divide us rather than unite us.
“And the second,” he added, “is I’m sick and tired of our newspapers — and you can think of the one I’m talking about — as well as politicians who talk about what a miserable state this is and how terrible the city is and why somebody might’ve moved away. Shame on them. This is the No. 1 destination for graduates of Big Ten universities in the United States of America. And the Big Ten sweeps right across not just the Midwest, but the Northeast as well. They’re headed to Chicago. If this was some godforsaken city, why are they coming?
“They’re coming because this is a great city with great opportunities,” Durbin said. “And we do have problems that we need to solve. But for people who are down on the city and down on the state and want to find somebody who left in a grouchy mood, well, they’ll always have a story to tell, but from where I’m standing that isn’t what the city represents or the state represents.”
In some ways, he granted, it’s only natural. Chicago is a behemoth that lords over the state, and some areas of Illinois are vastly different and glad to be that way. “It’s been there throughout the history of this state, and it’s not uncommon,” Durbin said. “You have parts of California that want to split off into a separate state. You have a fight between New York City and the rest of the state. It’s kind of a natural tension that may have been created for any number of reasons,” from significant economic and cultural differences to divided allegiances over sports teams.
“But shame on the politicians who try to exploit it,” Durbin said. “That to me is over the line. Our job is to try to find commonality and unity and opportunities for us to work together.
I highlighted the text so I could say that I agree with Durbin on that particular point and to show how badly his words were twisted. If you approach a column or a story or an editorial with a bias, you can always find someone to confirm your bias. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, by the way. We all have biases, but some folks can’t get over them even when there’s significant evidence that their “facts” may be wrong.
On the other hand, people are grumpy (and worse) for completely valid reasons in this here state and I do not blame them one bit. “America is already great,” wasn’t exactly a smart line in parts of the 2016 Rust Belt and “Illinois is great because of Chicago’s Big 10 graduates” is gonna fall on a whole lot of deaf ears now.
But, whatever, Durbin was just being a booster for his home state while taking a little bank-shot at an editorial board which resides in the clouds and exists to teach the rest of us dummies about how the world works.
Attorneys for Alaina Hampton will appear in federal court on her behalf regarding a suit filed against the Democratic Party of Illinois, Friends of Michael J. Madigan, the 13th Ward Democratic Organization and Democratic Majority, the political action committees associated with Madigan’s organization. Hampton brings the suit after filing a discrimination complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission in February 2018. Ms. Hampton will not be present for this court appearance. Attorneys for Hampton will be available for comment.
* Kevin Quinn, the brother of Ald. Marty Quinn who was accused of sexual harassment by Alaina Hampton which ultimately led to Hampton’s lawsuit and EEOC complaint, has circulated a document to reporters entitled “The Truth.” It’s his side of the story, but leads with this…
Acknowledgement of Responsibility & Perspective
It was never my intent to make Ms. Alaina Hampton feel uncomfortable. I take responsibility for sending the text messages she has publicly released between us and apologize for my attempts to get to know her outside of necessary interactions. In February 2017 when my supervisor approached me about my text messages with Alaina Hampton, I was reprimanded and all communications with her immediately stopped. Then during an investigation that was prompted from a letter Alaina sent to Speaker Madigan in November 2017 about the text communications, I was further reprimanded by Counsel Heather Wier Vaught in December 2017. On both occasions when I was reprimanded, I was informed that Alaina Hampton did not want me fired. I believe my February 2018 departure from working on Speaker Madigan’s political and state staff was in large a result of a pleading to a January 2018 misdemeanor disorderly conduct charge, which was directly related to my bitter divorce involving a custody battle of two children.
He also claims the media has “strong unconscious personal biases against Speaker Madigan,” and says he’s only trying to counter the “misinformation that has been reported.”
* There’s some hearsay and other unverified claims within his narrative, but here is an excerpt…
• I was never Alaina Hampton’s supervisor and never had any control over her assignments.
See Appendix A that contains several text communications between Alaina Hampton and I that clearly show that Alderman Marty Quinn was her supervisor
• The 2018 campaign manager for the 5th district state representative (“RD5”) race was already determined prior to Alaina Hampton approaching Heather Wier Vaught. Alaina Hampton’s allegations that she was retaliated against because she did not obtain a job working on the RD5 race for the 2018 election cycle fails to recognize that the position of campaign manager was filled prior to her conversation.
• Alaina Hampton has quit political campaign roles and government jobs on multiple occasions. Additionally, Alaina has exaggerated the roles she served in for the political committees of Speaker Madigan.
See Appendix B for a timeline of relevant events to the Hampton Investigation. The timeline includes occasions when Aliana Hampton quit various positions as well as how her roles changed over time.
• Alaina Hampton fails to recognize a fundamental principle in politics; she was not welcomed back into any of the Speaker’s political organizations after she took a salaried position on the Marie Newman for Congress campaign against 13 Ward Democratic Organization ally, Congressman Dan Lipinski.
• In February 2016, Alaina Hampton told Alderman Marty Quinn that she did not want to communicate with me any further and immediately my communication with her stopped. There has been no contact with her since.
• Alderman Quinn’s handling of Alaina Hampton’s complaint was swift and is in alignment with the degree of confidentially she sought, the seriousness of the offense and the outcome desired by the complaintant.
• There was never any sort of cover up with respect to the investigation. Alaina Hampton had no knowledge of the misdemeanor disorderly conduct pleading that was associated with my nasty divorce and was part of the broader examination of my employment record conducted by Counsel Heather Wier Vaught.
*** UPDATE 1 *** From Hampton’s attorney Shelly Kulwin…
“We have just received this document. We intend to review it with our client. We can say that it reads like a legal brief written by attorneys to make the litigation defendants’ case. We anticipate that the full ‘truth’ will come out once, in addition to Ms. Hampton’s texts, we are able to review the defendants’ internal communications on this issue as well other relevant discovery we obtain during the case.”
Everyone’s got a right to an opinion, but this doesn’t look like a plot by Madigan’s attorneys plot to me. It’s just too reckless. They usually don’t do reckless. Kevin really messed them up here.
However, Hampton’s attorney disclosed that there are discussions of a settlement.
“There is a lot at stake here. There is perhaps a lot more at stake than meets the eye in normal litigation,” said Shelly Kulwin, Hampton’s attorney. “But I’m all for resolving this case and I think my client is, as well. The goal here is not to go on a crusade for the next two years in litigation. The goal here is to get her specific injury addressed and re-dressed.”
Now, re-read Kulwin’s statement from the first update. If they blame Madigan’s lawyers for Quinn’s statement, any deal could easily be in jeopardy - if there really is a possibility of that happening. I’m not sure there have been actual settlement talks.
By the way, Kevin Quinn also e-mailed a fuzzy, low-resolution headshot that WBEZ used in its story. Amateur hour.
*** UPDATE 3 *** Rep. Kelly Cassidy…
Gimme a break. This is the oldest trick in the book. Just another offensive tactic from the old playbook that aims to discredit and undermine women who come forward. Women considering speaking out should not let Mr. Quinn’s despicable behavior deter them.
*** UPDATE 4 *** Expected…
A spokesman for House Speaker Michael Madigan said no one in Madigan’s political or governmental office was involved in preparing Quinn’s memo. https://t.co/DKh6WVoPfd
In a June 12 hearing in Springfield on the matter of step increases that Governor Rauner has illegally withheld from state employees since 2015, the state panel of the Illinois Labor Relations Board rejected the Rauner administration’s delay tactics, found that employees must be made whole, and sent the matter to a board compliance officer to determine a remedy.
The case—which began as a ULP charge filed by AFSCME against the Rauner Administration—returned to the Labor Board on remand from the Appellate Court, which ruled that Rauner violated the law in denying employees their step progression through the pay plan. The court directed the labor board to fashion a remedy.
The Rauner administration had asked the board to send the matter to an administrative law judge for another hearing. AFSCME made a strong and convincing argument that another ALJ hearing would be duplicative and would only delay making state workers whole for the steps they are owed.
The labor board sided with the union, rejecting Rauner’s delay tactic. At its next scheduled meeting in July, the board will formally refer the matter to a compliance officer, at which time AFSCME will immediately petition for a make-whole remedy. The compliance officer will then have 75 days to respond to the union’s petition.
As early as this fall, Gov. Bruce Rauner and Illinois’ lawmakers could see a $412 million hole added to a budget that many say was unbalanced to begin with.
The Illinois Labor Relations Board Tuesday evening denied Rauner’s request to send a ruling on $412 million in step increases that an Illinois court says is owed to 14,000 members of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Council 31 to an administrative law judge for another hearing.
Rauner froze automatic compounding pay hikes when he took office in 2015, saying lawmakers never appropriated the money. After AFSCME challenged Rauner’s freeze, Illinois courts said those step increases were owed.
Rauner’s office estimates it will cost $412 million for just the four years of higher pay if the state is forced to pay all of the past years’ frozen step increases in the fiscal 2019 budget.
* Meanwhile, Brian Mackey is tweeting about a court hearing on whether AFSCME and the Rauner administration are actually at impasse. You can follow along with our live coverage post.
* Their polling methodology is much too opaque for my tastes and the extended time period of their polls (this one is January through May) means many of their numbers are way old, but Morning Consult just published its most recent state-by-state poll and it has President Donald Trump’s job approval rating in Illinois at 37 percent, while his disapproval is 59 percent. They’re claiming a 1 percent margin of error. Click here.
Those job approval ratings do track closely with a recent poll I’ve seen on his favorable/unfavorable ratings. Subscribers know more.
* The New York Times ran a good piece the other day about the shooting spree during a practice of the Republican congressional baseball team last year. An excerpt…
For Representative Rodney Davis of Illinois, who was batting when the shooting started, the sounds live with him in ways he sometimes cannot understand. There is an image frozen in his mind: of a woman walking her dogs, caught in the middle of the gunfire, her eyes fixed on him in an expression he interprets as a plea for help.
At some point after the shooting, he woke up in the middle of the night, sweating profusely.
“I thought to myself, is that the way sleep’s going to be all the time?” Mr. Davis said.
Alternate worst-case scenarios still run through his head.
“What if the shooter stood on the first-base side? What if he hadn’t hit the fence with the first shot? Those are thoughts that go through my mind all the time,” he said, adding: “I don’t think they’ll ever leave me. I don’t think they’ll ever leave any of us.”
To unleash our full potential, Illinois needs to end corruption in state government.
For decades, career politicians and political insiders have abused their positions of power to line their own pockets and rig the political system in their favor. The result has been a state government that works for career politicians and their cronies to the detriment of the people.
In my first term, our team delivered meaningful, measurable reforms that have ended some of the corrupt state government practices holding Illinois back. We strengthened ethical requirements on all executive branch employees to change the culture within state government.
By requiring enhanced annual economic interest disclosures, we promoted transparency and accountability for employees of the executive branch. We closed the revolving door between public service and lobbying by banning anyone from lobbying the administration for one year after leaving the executive branch and stopped lobbyists and government contractors from unethically influencing state regulators by closing loopholes in bans on gifts and lobbyist-funded travel.
Disturbingly, those who control the General Assembly have made no effort to stop elected officials from engaging in harmful conflicts of interest. House Speaker Mike Madigan himself makes millions enriching himself by running a property tax appeals firm in Chicago while simultaneously hiking taxes on hardworking Illinois families and businesses while in Springfield. And allegations of sexual harassment and intimidation call into question how his organization conducts business.
Taxes, corruption, Madigan, Pritzker, Blagojevich right through November. Get used to it.
When asked about Speaker Mike Madigan and the Springfield sexual harassment scandal, Mayor Emanuel went-off on a reporter Tuesday afternoon at City Hall.
The question was whether the mayor’s concerned women voters won’t vote for Democrats because of the way Speaker Madigan has handled the #MeToo scandal in state politics. Rahm interrupted the reporter mid question.
“Guys! The news industry, the entertainment industry’s been affected! Politics been affected,” said Emanuel, “Every areas been affected because people are approaching questions they haven’t dealt with before and should have a long time ago. And if what you do in the discussion of it is say it’s about that person, then you’re putting up a wall and a blind and not dealing with it!”
“Can I say, I a hundred percent reject the question, and I think that’s really a bad way to look at it,” Emanuel said when asked whether women voters in Illinois might be less inclined to vote for Democrats because of the harsh light cast on Madigan’s organizations.
“You’re not going to find a solution to a problem if you try to personalize it around one person,” the mayor continued.
He then compared the brewing situation in Springfield to the sexual harassment scandals that have engulfed media personalities, making an apparent reference to the revelations about CBS News anchor Charlie Rose that cost him his job with the network.
“And all due respect, I’m taking a question from a CBS reporter, you had a national reporter that had problems,” Emanuel said. “Do I say I don’t want CBS because you had a national problem? I think it’s really, and all due respect, really an antiquated, out of date way of thinking about it.”
“If individuals want to make a decision about how they’re gonna vote because of one person, they’ll make that. But if you try to solve the problems — not the politics, but actually deal with the whole issue of sexual politics in the office, in the workplace or in any other situation, it is not to think about it as one person any more than you think about it as one industry.” […]
“The news industry has been affected. The entertainment industry has been affected. Politics has been affected. Every area has been affected because people are now … dealing with questions they haven’t dealt [with] before and should have — a long time ago. If what you do … is say that it’s about that person, then you’re putting up a wall … and not dealing with it,” the mayor said.
“To say … what are the political implications for women voters in the future — if they make that decision, okay. They have a right to. … But the real honest way to deal with the problem is not to think about the politics but to think about the solution and know that a lot of things that used to be a given no longer work. We’re in the middle of a major change — appropriately, long overdue — in every sector.”
The crumbling of House Speaker Michael Madigan’s inner circle amid one ethics scandal after another is the most serious threat to the longest-serving state House Speaker’s power, according to a longtime observer.
Madigan’s longtime chief of staff was fired [last] week. A leading ally in the House was demoted. Another is retiring. And there are calls for independent investigations into the speaker’s office from within his own caucus. […]
University of Illinois at Springfield politics professor emeritus Kent Redfield has been following Illinois politics since 1975. […]
“This is a much more serious threat to the Speaker’s power and his longevity than anytime in my memory,” Redfield said.
* The Question: On a scale of one to five, with five being the most threatening, how would you rate this #MeToo threat to Madigan’s power and longevity? Take the poll and then explain your answer in comments, please.
Today, Lt. Gov. Evelyn Sanguinetti joined Scott Slocum on WJOL to discuss the success of passing a budget, increased K-12 education funding, and the Pritzker-Blagojevich TV ads the campaign is running.
For me, the biggest plus in the budget was in education. As you know I’m an inner city kid and I failed the first grade and education was always big for me. Here with this budget, the governor added $350 million in new K-12 spending for fiscal year 2019. Now that’s a $1.4 billion increase in spending since 2015. And a huge reversal from the reductions that we’ve seen in years past. That’s a very positive takeaway. And again the fact that all parties were able to come together to reach this budget that is all very positive.
…Well as you know we just released one of those FBI wire tap tapes where JB Pritzker and Rod Blagojevich are joking around about a seat that President Barack Obama left open. Talking about Reverend Wright occupying that seat and they were laughing about it. You know to them, you know and to Rod Blagojevich he’s shown no remorse for his crime. And he says that he’s in jail for just practicing politics and that may be practicing politics to Blago and JB Pritzker. But to Bruce Rauner and I, practicing politics means showing up to work every day and serving the people of our state.
…You compare JB Pritzker to Bruce Rauner, they are hundreds of millions of miles apart. With JB Pritzker, you have a person that tears out his toilets in his neighboring mansion so that he won’t have to pay as much in property taxes. That’s problematic. With JB Pritzker you have a person that says that on day one he’d eliminate that scholarship program that Bruce Rauner has put in place to help those kids in underserved communities. That speaks to his core. You know and then you compare him to Bruce Rauner. He came in not collecting pay for the work he’s been doing. He believes in the greatness of our state because he wants our children to grow here and stay here and find jobs here. That’s what Bruce Rauner has been all about since day one. And you’ve seen it with the budget. He believes in growth. Not taxing our way out of our problems but rather growing our way out.
Emphasis added because I thought it was a particularly sharp line.
* An e-mail sent to House Democrats today by Jessica Basham, Speaker Madigan’s new chief of staff…
Subject: Announcement: New hirings and other coming changes re: personnel policies and practices
Dear Members:
I’ve begun a series of conversations with members of our caucus and with staff to discuss our efforts to change the culture in the Capitol, and the role we all play in this process. I have already spoken with many of you, and the rest of you can expect my call soon. I appreciate the feedback I’ve already received, and I look forward to continuing these conversations going forward to solicit and consider new ideas.
Based on these conversations, the Speaker and I are immediately beginning a search to hire a human resources director and an equal employment opportunity/affirmative action officer to (i) promote a fair, equitable, and unbiased work environment for the 200 employees of the Speaker’s office, (ii) advise supervisors, and (iii) oversee investigations related to discrimination and harassment.
In addition to these new positions, we are considering numerous additional steps to change the culture in the Capitol, including:
• Conducting performance reviews on all current directors and supervisors, which will include input from staff.
• Requiring all directors and supervisors, including the chief of staff, to participate in new management training programs this summer.
• Meeting with staff members within the Speaker’s office to solicit suggestions for changes to personnel policies and manuals. These policies and manuals will subsequently be updated, based on the feedback received.
• Creating a confidential process for employees to anonymously register complaints or make suggestions.
• Researching the availability of additional harassment prevention training which all staff would undergo on a continuing basis.
• Reviewing and revamping the organizational structure of the House Democratic Staff and Speaker’s office, in order to incorporate suggestions from staff and members and bring transparency to the roles and functions of staff.
I hope you will make your thoughts part of this conversation. I’m seeking your input on new steps we can take, better policies we can enact, and any other ways we can create a fairer, equitable environment for all. Please call or email me whenever you have thoughts you’d like to share.
As I’ve already told many of you, I’m looking for your suggestions and guidance as I acclimate to my new role. I believe our caucus is stronger because we are having this discussion, and I thank you in advance for sharing your ideas.
Sincerely,
Jessica
Conducting performance reviews on all current directors and supervisors will help her weed some folks out.
* The lack of a a human resources office was one of the chief complaints by Sherri Garrett…
I wish I would’ve had someone that I could have trusted and to whom I could’ve said, ‘Hey. This happened to me. Is this supposed to happen?’
If there had been a true professional human resources team, they could have said ‘No’ and perhaps we could have nipped it in the bud right then and there.
A victims’ rights activist who was the first to publicly name a state legislator for alleged abuse of power has now filed a complaint against a slew of other state lawmakers who are also lawyers, claiming misconduct, malfeasance and other violations of professional standards.
Denise Rotheimer said Monday she filed a complaint with Illinois’ Attorney Registration and Disciplinary Commission against several high-ranking lawmakers, including state Senate President John Cullerton, D-Chicago, and House Speaker Michael Madigan, D-Chicago. Rotheimer also filed complaints against lawmakers who are attorneys on the Legislative Ethics Commission and against the special legislative inspector general. The ARDC was established by the Illinois Supreme Court to “promote and protect the integrity of the legal profession.” The Illinois Supreme Court has the authority to disbar attorneys.
The complaints stem from the nearly three year vacancy for the legislative inspector general position. The inspector general is responsible for investigating allegations of lawmaker wrongdoing. While the post was vacant, complaints forwarded to the office sat untouched.
“Hopefully the ARDC having respect for the profession will see that those who have licenses to practice in the state are held to the laws and whether or not they become lawmakers are not immune to breaking those laws,” Rotheimer said.
A check of the ARDC’s website at 10:22 this morning shows no complaints filed. But it hasn’t been updated since Friday.
…Adding… Rotheimer sent me the receipt she received after filing her request for an investigation. Click here.
Today, the Rauner campaign is launching a new digital ad titled “Who Knew?”
When pressed about why he was caught on FBI wiretaps with disgraced ex-Governor Rod Blagojevich just six days before Blagojevich was arrested, JB Pritzker responded “nobody knew the FBI was investigating the man … who knew, you know, that he was actually doing things that were against the interests of the people.”
Everyone knew. The campaign’s new digital ad highlights years of headlines that make it clear the FBI had Blagojevich in their sights.
An Air Force veteran and former resident of the Quincy veterans home who was a guest of Gov. Rauner at his State of the State speech has died.
Ivan Jackson was one of two residents Rauner invited to his Jan. 31 speech at the Capitol. Jackson and the governor met when Rauner spent a week at the state-run veterans home to meet with staff, learn about operations and spend time with residents.
Soon after the speech, Jackson was diagnosed with Legionnaires’ disease, one of three new cases at the Quincy home.
“U.S. Air Force veteran Ivan Jackson was a man of rare quality,” Rauner tweeted Monday. “Husband, father, grandfather, great-grandfather, his service will be remembered, his memory cherished … forever. Rest in honor, my friend.”
Rauner’s administration said it had no evidence Jackson’s death was caused by Legionnaires’, and the coroner in St. Louis County, Missouri, where he died, wasn’t immediately available. But Jackson’s daughter said Legionnaires’ likely was a contributing factor along with other serious underlying illnesses.
“I can’t tell you that it was a reason he passed, but I can tell you it didn’t help in his ongoing health issues,” Allyson Springer told WBEZ Monday afternoon. […]
Springer said her father was hospitalized with pneumonia on February 9, less than two weeks after Rauner feted Jackson at his State of the State address. Rauner met the veteran during a weeklong stay at the facility in January, a visit designed to show the home was safe.
After being admitted to the hospital, Springer said her father had a heart attack. A few days later, the family learned he had tested positive for Legionnaires’. After his heart attack, Springer said Jackson suffered a stroke.
Prior to his illness, she said he had chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and was outfitted with both a pacemaker and defibrillator.
…Adding… Pritzker campaign with a related angle…
Weeks before the budget crisis began, Bruce Rauner announced the cuts his impending crisis would force on state programs, including halting construction of the Chicago Veterans’ Home.
The 195-bed facility was originally slated to open in mid-2016, but now it’s been delayed by over three years. Rauner also suspended capital projects, delayed payments to state vendors, and suspended funding for addiction and bullying prevention, firefighter training, immigrant integration services, and welcoming centers.
“Critical programs that help Illinoisans build better lives became casualties of Bruce Rauner’s failed leadership months into him being sworn in,” said Pritzker campaign spokeswoman Jordan Abudayyeh. “This failed governor halted construction on a Veterans’ home in Chicago — and then fatally mismanaged one in Quincy — in a desperate and cruel attempt to force his political agenda on our state.”
She’s taken down one of Mike Madigan’s longtime political operatives, questioned the powerful House speaker’s actions in a federal lawsuit that also alleged retaliation, and for months criticized the Southwest Side Democrat’s handling of sexual harassment claims.
And now political consultant Alaina Hampton is interested in taking a look at her “dream job:” the suddenly vacant post of executive director for the Democratic Party of Illinois, which Madigan controls.
In a dizzying and swift fall — and the closest the #MeToo movement has inched to Madigan — Tim Mapes last week announced his resignation as executive director of the party, chief-of-staff to Madigan and clerk of the Illinois House just hours after Sherri Garrett, a longtime speaker’s office employee, went public with what she called “harassment” and “bullying” allegations. […]
“Running DPI [the Democratic Party of Illinois] has been a dream of mine throughout my entire career,” Hampton told the Sun-Times.
* Meanwhile, Rep. Litesa Wallace (D-Rockford) told me she’s interested in Mapes’ party job as well. And a MoveOn petition has 466 signatures backing Sen. Daniel Biss’ former running mate’s hopes…
In the wake of the resignation of Tim Mapes as Executive Director of the Democratic Party of Illinois, we need a replacement who not only has strong executive skills, but who has “experienced firsthand the pervasive culture of unchecked sexual harassment that disempowers and silences women, especially women of color.”
We need someone who has lived and worked for years knowing that the “Consequences for sexual harassment are few and far between in Springfield. But the political consequences for speaking out are almost guaranteed.”* Having someone who has experienced both the harassment and the retribution for speaking out would be ideal.
We need someone who can unite the disparate wings of the party. Someone who inspires. Someone who reflects our commitment to a strong statewide party and a better future for all.
We know that person is Representative Litesa Wallace. We urge you to select Rep. Wallace to be the next Executive Director of the Democratic Party of Illinois.
Governor Bruce Rauner today, on Agricultural Day at the Illinois State Fair, applauded the launch of a new not-for-profit, Illinois Fairgrounds Foundation, to emphasize capital improvements at the Springfield and Du Quoin fairgrounds.
The first donations are coming in to the Illinois State Fairgrounds Foundation and one board member expects big things on the horizon to help alleviate the taxpayer burden on paying for upkeep at the aging fairgrounds. […]
After the first of the year, the foundation did get its first donation of $10,000, and more is on the way, [John Slayton] added.
Although more than $185 million is needed for full repairs at the fairgrounds, the fair foundation has a more modest goal of raising $2 to 3 million a year.
“We’ve got to hook up with some of these corporate sponsors who want to adopt buildings,” [Illinois Department of Agriculture Director Raymond Poe] said. “Someone told me that Iowa saw $120-something million run through their foundation. That’d be our goal.”
The money isn’t coming in quite like John Slayton envisioned it would for the repairs at the Illinois State Fairgrounds in Springfield.
“I really envisioned people calling me, but it has not happened,” said Slayton, chairman of the Illinois Fairgrounds Foundation. […]
Donations are coming into the fairgrounds foundation. Slayton said the foundation received a $40,000 donation to replace the roof of one of the M-series barns. […]
“We are extremely close to an agreement with an ag association in Illinois on naming rights for the Coliseum. They are ready to go, but they want to make sure of the timeline for the repairs to the Coliseum,” he said. Slayton said that agreement could mean up to $2 million over 10 years.
Repairing buildings at the state fairgrounds, replacing some plumbing in the Capitol and making long-awaited improvements to the Lincoln-Herndon law office are among the public works projects that will be financed under the budget signed into law Monday. […]
The budget also contains $30 million to make badly needed repairs to buildings at the fairgrounds.
Perhaps the highest profile of them is the Coliseum which was shut down last year out of safety concerns. It has been closed ever since. The most recent estimate to repair the building is about $7.7 million, said Department of Agriculture spokeswoman Rebecca Clark.
Clark said the department is reviewing the most recent engineering report on the building and that a final design is due to be submitted to the state by Aug. 8.
The final design will be submitted right before the fair begins. It could be two years before the Coliseum is repaired.
The fairgrounds foundation might’ve been a good idea, but it hasn’t worked out. At all. What we needed was an agreed budget and the fairgrounds got everything Gov. Rauner asked for in his February proposal. So, I guess now we’ll see if that promised sponsor comes through.
FORMER FEDERAL PROSECUTOR LAHOOD LEADS LETTER TO PRESIDENT TRUMP OPPOSING BLAGOJEVICH PARDON/COMMUTATION
Letter Signed by Every House Republican from Illinois
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, Congressman Darin LaHood sent a letter to President Trump arguing against a pardon and/or a commutation for former Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich. Rep. LaHood, a former Assistant United States Attorney with the US Department of Justice, led the letter with the support of every Illinois Republican member of Congress, laying out the many public corruption crimes and the illegal activity committed by the governor during his administration and the need to stand strong against pay-to-play politics in Illinois and across the country. Congressman LaHood and every Illinois Republican in Congress believe that pardoning such a clearly corrupt politician would set a dangerous precedent and send the wrong message regarding elected officials who violate the public trust.
The letter states:
While we understand that, as president, you have the privilege and right under our Constitution to grant pardons and clemency as you determine fit, we ask that you consider very carefully the precedent this may set and the impact it will have on acts of public corruption in the future. As you well know, the integrity of our democracy and the core of American values depend on our elected officials being honest in upholding the trust given to them by the American people. Granting clemency to Rod Blagojevich would go against this trust.
The full letter is here. It makes some very good points, including the fact that President Trump’s own Solicitor General asked the US Supreme Court not to take up Blagojevich’s last appeal, calling it “unwarranted.”
Will Springfield’s #MeToo Reckoning Change Illinois’ Political Culture?
Chicago, Illinois, June 11, 2018– State Representatives Jeanne Ives (R-Wheaton), formerly the conservative reform Republican challenger for Governor, will join Ammie Kessem, a new candidate for State Representative in House District 19, and State Representatives Tom Morrison (R-Palatine), Margo McDermed (R-Frankfort), and Allen Skillicorn (R-East Dundee), whistleblower Denise Rotheimer, and a coalition of conservative reform candidates and legislators in a joint press conference to lay out a vision for culture change in the wake of mounting accusations of sexual harassment and abuse.
When: Monday, June 11, 1:00 p.m.
Where: Mezzanine-Level Conference Room, 70 W Madison, Chicago, IL
* Among today’s speakers were Ammie Kessem, who is running against Rep. Rob Martwick (D-Chicago) with backing from Dan Proft. I expect him to spend big money in that race, even though it’s a Democratic district.
Everyone else who spoke before the video stream conked out were also Proft candidates. Marilyn Smolenski (vs. Rep. Marty Moylan), Tonia Khouri (backed by Proft in the GOP primary) and Darren Bailey (backed by Proft against GOP Rep. David Reis). Jillian Rose Bernas was scheduled to speak, but the video died. Bernas is up against Rep. Michelle Mussman (D-Schaumburg) after defeating Char Kegarise in the GOP primary with help from Proft.
* Kessem compared Madigan’s machine to the “Mafia.” The general tone was summed up in this tweet…
GOP lawmakers & candidates says if Democrats won’t also call on Madigan to resign then “the Democratic Party is not interested in reform.” #Harassment
Among the GOP candidates on November’s ballot calling for Madigan’s resignation was Darren Bailey, GOP candidate in downstate 109th House district.
“What will it take for politicians to finally stand up to Mike Madigan? What we are witnessing is the abuse of power by one man. There is a culture of corruption in Illinois and as long as Mike Madigan is in power, we will not see the end of abuse of power in Springfield,” Bailey said.
“The first step is for Democrats to demand that Mike Madigan resign as Speaker of the House and as head of the Democrat Party in Illinois. If members of his own caucus refuse to do this, then this is a sure-tale sign that the Democrat Party is certainly not interested in reform in Illinois. I and my colleagues here today are very serious about the integrity of Illinois.” […]
“You thought I was a strong person, look at these candidates committed to a culture of change, and I’m sure they’re going to get it done,” Ives, who is not on the General ballot after losing the GOP gubernatorial primary bid by 3 points, said before taking questions from reporters.
Senator Durbin says he asked Speaker Madigan to “take a different approach” in selecting a new executive director of the Democratic Party of IL. Says he suggested putting together a panel of females to lead the search pic.twitter.com/4zYaBGgJ0g
DURBIN ON MADIGAN: we're going to find out what happens from this time forward. I asked him to make a significant move to show that he gets it. So I'm going to stand by to see how this progresses.
The Pritzker campaign isn’t commenting on Madigan’s move, but all indications are that there was some communication between the speaker and the nominee before Stratton was named chair. What that says about the eventual selection of an executive director remains to be seen, but Pritzker is going to have some explaining to do if the person is seen as a Madigan flunky.
It’s been rumored for years that Mike Madigan’s daily routine includes a “single, sliced apple” for lunch.
If Madigan has eaten a single apple everyday since he was first elected speaker on January 12, 1983, he would have consumed 12,935 apples as of today, enough for approximately 1,423 apple pies.
That’s a lot of apples!
With harassment allegations roiling Madigan’s organization, an apple a day may keep the Inspector General away, but it won’t end the culture of harassment and retaliation he has created.
DCCC LAUNCHES DIGITAL ADS IN IL-13, AFTER REPUBLICAN ATTACK ON PEOPLE WITH PRE-EXISTING CONDITIONS
DCCC Five-Figure Digital Ad Buy Reminds Voters that Republicans Will “Never Stop” Attacking Access to Affordable Healthcare
IL-13 has 290,800 Non-Elderly Individuals with Pre-existing Conditions
Immediately following Republicans’ unprecedented decision to declare protections for individuals with pre-existing conditions unconstitutional, Chairman Ben Ray Luján announced a digital advertising blitz to warn voters in IL-13 that access to affordable healthcare is at risk as long as Republicans like Rep. Rodney Davis control Congress. The ads are part of a five-figure media buy and will run on Facebook starting this week.
With its legal filing on Thursday evening, The Administration said that key parts of the Affordable Care Act should be invalidated and that the Department of Justice would no longer defend two central consumer protection provisions in the ACA against a Republican-led lawsuit. Put simply, this seriously threatens ACA’s protections for people with pre-existing conditions like asthma, cancer and diabetes.
“House Republicans will stop at nothing to rip away affordable healthcare coverage from their constituents, and we are all at risk as long as they control the House,” said DCCC Chairman Ben Ray Luján. “After their failure to fully repeal our healthcare, Republicans persisted by gutting key parts of the Affordable Care Act in their tax bill, and are now using that opening to end protections for people with pre-existing conditions like cancer, diabetes and asthma.
Luján continued, “While Democrats work to increase access to affordable health insurance for hardworking Americans, Republicans will never stop attacking affordable care, increasing premiums, and targeting our friends, family and neighbors who need healthcare most.”
The American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network, American Diabetes Association, American Heart Association, American Lung Association and the National Multiple Sclerosis Society released a joint statement strongly opposing the attack on people with pre-existing conditions.
The Committee’s ads build on other significant television, radio and digital investments over the last year and a half that have set the stage for the healthcare debate between Democrats and Republicans during the 2018 midterm elections. The latest national DCCC polling from May 2018 – conducted by GQR - confirms that Democrats have maintained a significant advantage with registered voters when it comes to which party they trust on the issue of healthcare. Congressional Democrats lead Congressional Republicans by 15 points (57-42%) and lead Trump by 16 points (57-41%).
They put out essentially the same release on Rep. Peter Roskam’s district, which they claim has “322,200 Non-Elderly Individuals with Pre-existing Conditions.”
They’ll…never…stop. Paul Ryan and Washington’s Establishment Republicans.
Catering to drug companies and special interests. Coming after your health care.
Increasing your out-of-pocket costs. A devastating Age Tax if you’re fifty or older. Ending guaranteed coverage for preexisting conditions.
Paul Ryan and the Washington Republicans. They’ll never change their ways. So the rest of us have to change our Congress.
* Meanwhile, from the Republicans…
Congressional Leadership Fund (@CLFSuperPAC), the super PAC endorsed by House Republican leadership, today announced the second of several rounds of television advertising reservations for fall 2018. Thanks to CLF’s record-breaking early fundraising, the super PAC is able to lock in larger TV reservations at lower rates ahead of the midterm elections. CLF’s latest announcement of an additional $15 million in broadcast and cable television advertising includes three new congressional districts in the fall ad reservation: CA-39 (Young Kim), NJ-07 (Leonard Lance), and NY-19 (John Faso), along with additional reservations in FL-26 (Carlos Curbelo), IL-12 (Mike Bost), KY-06 (Andy Barr), ME-02 (Bruce Poliquin), MN-03 (Erik Paulsen) PA-01 (Brian Fitzpatrick), and WA-08 (Dino Rossi).
With CLF’s first broadcast and cable reservation announced in April, CLF’s fall television advertising reservation now totals $50 million in addition to an unprecedented $10 million digital investment.
They claim their total spending to date “with additional buys” on behalf of US Rep. Mike Bost is $2.7 million.
“Illinois’ pension buyout plan is credit positive, but reliance on savings poses modest budget risk.” The new Illinois budget allows for an approximately $440 million (or 5.2%) cut in pension contributions in the fiscal year starting July 1, largely by offering benefit buyouts to pension participants. The state’s buyout offer is credit positive because it will generate significant pension liability savings to the extent that employees accept the offer. Illinois’ $201 billion adjusted net pension liability (ANPL) in fiscal 2016 was the highest among all states relative to both revenue and gross domestic product in our most recent survey, and rising contribution requirements challenge the state’s budget. Options to reduce the liabilities through benefit reforms are limited by a constitutional public pension benefit protections clause.
The state’s new legislation aims to navigate around the constitutional constraint by using voluntary buyouts. First, the state will offer certain employees about to retire lump-sum payouts for forgoing guaranteed 3% compounding cost-of-living adjustments on their pensions. Second, the state will offer the vested pension participants who have left their pension-eligible jobs, but have yet to retire, a lump-sum buyout equal to 60% of their lifetime pension benefits on a present-value basis. To preserve pension plan assets, the state would finance the buyouts by issuing as much as $1 billion of bonds. The state also plans to shift certain pension costs to school districts and universities to the extent those entities grant salary increases above a specified level.
Actuaries for the State Employees’ Retirement System of Illinois (SERS), one of the largest of the five plans to which the state contributes, project that the plan will pay out roughly $1.6 billion in benefits to currently inactive, but vested, employees through 2046. The state’s projected saving in the coming fiscal year amounts to $443 million for all five of its major pension plans, but actual savings could fall short of the target if fewer participants than the state expects take the buyouts. The state’s forecast is based on assumed acceptance rates of 25% for retiring members and 22% for the vested but inactive participants. As a result, the state faces a risk that the plan will either increase its underfunding of pension contributions or add to a backlog of unpaid bills.
So, Moody’s doesn’t care that they’re taking out the savings for General Funds spending up front rather than leaving it in the pension systems? This seems kinda odd.
* I posed that question to Moody’s and got this response from Tom Aaron, one of the co-authors of today’s report…
We tend to view pension buyouts as positive because they produce net savings for sponsoring governments. Liability reductions in present value terms, to the extent buyouts are taken up, exceed the cost to the government making the offer.
* Meanwhile, Moody’s also took a look at the education funding reform plan in its second fiscal year…
“Illinois Schools’ second year of significantly higher state aid is credit positive.” The Illinois budget also provides a $350 million boost in school funding. The budget is credit positive for Illinois’ K-12 school districts because it increases funding consistent with last year’s change to the state aid formula. Public Act 100-0465 (PA 100-0465), passed last year, changed Illinois’ funding formula and set targets for significant increases in state funding. The legislation utilizes research-based elements to establish a unique “district adequacy target” for every school district based on student needs. School districts are categorized into four tiers. Tier 1 districts are most below adequacy and benefit most from any boost in state funding.
The fiscal 2018 and 2019 budgets increase formula-based funding by $350 million each year. Of the fiscal 2019 increase, $50 million is allocated to a new property tax relief program. The fiscal 2019 budget also provided another $50 million for early childhood education. Even with the two-year boost in funding, many districts will remain far below adequacy targets. State estimates indicate that it would require billions of dollars in new state funding to bring districts below adequacy to the target. Given Illinois’ financial challenges, it remains highly uncertain whether it can sustain annual funding increases. Illinois also has a history of delaying categorical grant payments to districts, and formula state aid was delayed last year as the legislature rewrote the formula.
Adding $350 million in K-12 spending every single year will be tough, particularly if the national economy hits the skids.
With the signing of a new state budget, Illinois families, students and businesses can be proud of the work we have done to help move our state forward.
I want to commend Gov. Bruce Rauner for his leadership on this important issue. At the outset, he called for a budget that was responsible, balanced, contained no tax increases and ensured our commitment to education funding remained our No. 1 priority. I also want to thank my House and Senate colleagues on both side of the aisle for their hard work to make this vision a reality.
The budget we approved holds the line on taxes while cutting more than $1 billion in spending from the auto-pilot expenditures that would have resulted from no changes to current law. In fact, thanks to Republicans, we were able to reduce or eliminate more than a dozen Democrat bills that would have increased state spending by more than $500 million each year.
The billion dollars comes from “if we were operating without a budget but under consent decrees and court orders,” a Leader Brady spokesperson explained. Budget impasses are very expensive, in other words.
* I also asked his spokesperson for a list of those Democratic bills Brady mentioned and this is what he sent me…
· HB 5135/ SB 3115: TANF Monthly Amount Increase- $20. 6 million in FY19 to $73.5 FY21. – reduced $14.5 million
· HB 5609/ SB3511 – CCP homemaker annual hourly wage increase each year until FY2021 - FY19 to FY22 is $819,221,430
· HB 5622 - increase DSP wages to $15 an hour. $300 million
· SB 2547 - Reimbursement Rates for DCFS contracts. $111 million (estimate from Illinois Collaboration on Youth)
· HB 5158 – Appropriations Bill for DCFS Contracts and Foster Parents. $155 million
· SB 2262 : MCO DME Fee Schedule
· SB 3508 - DD Rate Increase for Front Line Personnel (there are a few variations of this, but this is the only one that is active) - $300 million annually.
A measure targeting repeat gun offenders — which Chicago’s top cop has promoted as a way to see a 50 percent drop in gun violence within a year — met approval in the Illinois House but is being held via a procedural filing amid a south suburban lawmaker’s request for further negotiation. […]
State Rep. Sonya Harper, an Englewood neighborhood native, called [Chicago police Supt. Eddie Johnson’s] claim that the bill will reduce violence by 50 percent within a year “the biggest lie I’ve ever heard in Springfield.”
The bill eventually passed and was signed into law, with the governor saying: “It shows what we can do when we put our minds to it and decide together to solve problems and take a step forward.”
The aim of the law was simple: Repeat gun offenders in Illinois would face tougher sentences.
But a Chicago Sun-Times review of sentences in Cook County since that new law took effect in January has found that no one is actually being hit with those stiffer sentences.
There hasn’t been a single case in Cook County in which a judge has meted out those extended sentences that Mayor Rahm Emanuel and police Supt. Eddie Johnson pushed for and that they and sponsor Sen. Kwame Raoul, D-Chicago, said would happen under the law.
* More than 600 bills will land on Rauner’s desk as he seeks re-election: Some give the Republican governor chances to hold feel-good news conferences across the state as he seeks re-election against Democrat J.B. Pritzker. Others could put Rauner in a tough political spot as he keeps working to try to unify his party after a narrow primary win that opened up a divide between the governor and conservatives.
* POT TOPICS: IL lawmakers pass bill to allow opioid patients to use medical pot: States with legal medical cannabis programs — including Illinois, which has a medical cannabis “pilot program” — had more than 2 million fewer daily doses of opioids prescribed each year under Medicare Part D than in states that hadn’t enacted similar laws, according to a pair of studies published in April in the journal JAMA Internal Medicine. The studies also found that prescriptions for all opioids dipped by 3.7 million daily doses per year when medical cannabis dispensaries opened.
Days before the boom dropped on a sexual abuse scandal in Chicago Public Schools, Mayor Rahm Emanuel was unveiling a $175 million plan to provide universal preschool for the city’s 4-year-olds.
His homegrown schools CEO Janice Jackson was touting CPS’ progress in commercials bankrolled by a nonprofit with close ties to the mayor.
But now, Emanuel’s plan to seek a third term using education as a major cornerstone has been blown out of the water by a scandal that hits home like none before it.
This time, children have been directly victimized. And the adults in charge — including the mayor of Chicago — should have protected them. They didn’t.
Like the Burge police torture cases and rampant priest sex abuse in the Catholic Church, the latest CPS scandal also threatens to trigger multi-million dollar lawsuits for years to come against a district that is just now emerging from threats of bankruptcy following a $450 million cash infusion from the state. It could also lead frightened parents to yank their kids out of CPS, exacerbating the enrollment decline.
Until the end of May, anyone handicapping the 2019 Chicago mayoral election might have predicted that gun violence and police accountability would be the top issues. Then the Chicago Tribune began publishing the multipart “Betrayed” series, a bombshell expose about the many failures of Chicago Public Schools to protect students from predators.
Now it appears the race for mayor will turn in part on the CPS scandal. What went wrong in the administration of the schools to leave kids vulnerable to sexual abuse and violence? What must be done differently and better to keep them safe? Part of the discussion and debate, obviously, will involve where to place blame. […]
Now some more about the notion of blame: CPS is a stand-alone government, but it’s hardly independent. The mayor appoints the schools chief and the school board. That makes Rahm Emanuel answerable for this scandal. Reacting to “Betrayed,” the mayor apologized and said he and Jackson take responsibility.
Emanuel would like to shift the focus to fixing the problems, but there are a handful of Chicagoans who want to publicly pin this disaster on him — the ones running against him for mayor. Lori Lightfoot blamed Emanuel’s “incompetent leadership.” Paul Vallas focused on Emanuel’s “reactive and micromanaging style.” His opponents will continue to hammer the mayor and, we hope, offer their solutions. It’s on Emanuel to lead the city’s response to fixing CPS while responding to the criticisms.
* Related…
* Has CPS finally defused its pension time bomb?: But let’s say I’m wrong and all of these assumptions work out. Even if the projections on that chart are right, the fiscal condition of the CPS pension fund will remain weak for decades. In fact, according to the latest actuarial reports, the retirement kitty will hover at around the 50 percent funded level for several more years until beginning to turn up in 2023. It won’t hit the pre-recession level of 67 percent until 2046, and it’s not due to reach the optimal 90 percent level until 2059.
“The good thing is, it can be balanced with some management by my administration; we’ll do that, we’ll make it balanced,” he said.
Rauner claimed that if the General Assembly had passed his version of the budget in February, the state would be “running a $1.5 billion surplus.”
“We could use that to pay down bills, and improve our credit rating significantly,” he said. “We could be using it to invest in infrastructure, and we could do a tax cut every year.”
He just loves to talk about that $1.5 billion.
* So, how did Gov. Rauner’s original budget proposal fare against the one he signed into law? From the Civic Federation…
The General Funds budget is roughly balanced with $38.52 billion in revenues and $38.51 billion in spending, resulting in a projected surplus of $11 million. This is less than the Governor’s budget proposal, which had projected a surplus of about $350 million.
However, the enacted budget relies on fewer aggressive assumptions than the proposed budget did. The enacted budget fully funds State employee group health insurance, while the proposed budget relied on $470 million of prospective cost reductions. Nor does the enacted budget balance depend on shifting $619 million of net pension and health insurance expenses to schools, community colleges and universities, or reducing Medicaid reimbursements by $175 million, both of which had drawn significant opposition in the General Assembly.
However, the enacted budget does retain the assumption that the Thompson Center will sell for $300 million (netting the State $270 million in FY2019). Furthermore, like the proposed budget, the enacted budget does not account for the likelihood that Illinois will have to pay step increases to State employees who have not received them since the expiration of their contract in 2015. This cost could be in excess of $300 million.
Finally, the enacted budget introduces an aggressive assumption not included in the Governor’s proposal. The assumed $382 million in pension savings from the COLA buyout relies on a 25% participation rate by retiring employees and on successful implementation in FY2019.
Even if the budget achieves its stated balance at the end of FY2019, Illinois will still not have reduced the remaining backlog of bills during the fiscal year. The backlog, which peaked at $16.7 billion, was reduced by more than half during FY2018, largely thanks to the issuance of $6 billion in bonds. The interest cost of that borrowing is $1.9 billion over 12 years, but that is less than the steep interest penalties paid by the State on overdue bills.
However, the enacted budget does not anticipate any pay-down of bills in FY2019. Instead, the General Assembly passed a measure that could help alleviate the interest cost of outstanding bills. SB2858, if signed, would allow the State Treasurer to invest other State funds with the Comptroller, who would use the funds to pay off backlogged bills. The General Funds would pay a floating interest rate much lower than the 12% owed to vendors under the Prompt Payment Act or the 9% owed under the Timely Pay provisions of the Insurance Code. Proponents say the rates will likely exceed what the other State funds would have earned in more typical investments.
If you ask anyone at the Statehouse about House Speaker Michael Madigan’s former chief of staff Tim Mapes, they’ll all say he “made the trains run on time.”
Mapes made sure everything got done exactly the way he (and his boss) wanted. He mastered the complexities and dominated the workings of Illinois House operations as well as Speaker Madigan’s massive political network. He worked practically non-stop and he appeared completely loyal to Madigan.
Mapes wasn’t always this powerful. After the 1998 election, several of Madigan’s top people left for the private sector. Mapes had been considered an equal to those folks, but when they left he made it clear that he was above their replacements. He eventually consolidated his power until it was absolutely unquestionable. The only person he reported to was Madigan, and it was tough to get to Madigan unless you went through Mapes.
The problem has always been with how Mapes made those trains run on time. He did not generally tackle his endless daily tasks by being a friendly, kind and understanding fellow. By all accounts, Mapes is a good family man and can be an excellent friend. But business was entirely another matter. He was Madigan’s trusted enforcer and he took the job seriously.
As with every human organization, people take their management cues from the top, and that’s repeated all the way down the food chain. If the top person is an arrogantly snarky, sometimes personally cruel, hard-nosed workaholic and persnickety authoritarian, then that’s what everyone else in the organization will shoot for — or else.
This approach worked spectacularly well for many years. The one thing Speaker Madigan prizes as much as loyalty is success and Mapes was fabulously successful at his job. The trains always ran on time.
But this outwardly successful culture became too toxic for our current era. As we’ve seen over the months, times changed, it didn’t. And, worse yet, the toxicity spread to behavior that had nothing whatsoever to do with efficiency and order.
Sherri Garrett is a $41,800 a year career employee of the House Clerk’s office. Mapes took over as House Clerk when the last one left, so he was her boss.
During a press conference last Wednesday, Garrett detailed numerous allegations of harassment and bullying over the years by Mapes.
Like many people, I’ve always shrugged off Mapes’ awkward attempts at biting humor. And, perhaps like many people, I didn’t imagine he was behaving that way with people like Ms. Garrett, who would be known in Statehouse parlance as a “civilian.” She’s just a regular person who does her job every day so she can go home to her family.
One of the most eye-opening aspects of Garrett’s allegations against Mapes was that he said some sexist and demeaning things either directly to her or in her presence months after the first #MeToo revelations rocked the Illinois Statehouse last October. To me, that was a clear indication that despite all of Speaker Madigan’s vows to “change the culture,” the man at the very top of Madigan’s management pyramid had no intention of doing so.
“Are you going to sex training today?”, Garrett heard him joke to her colleague, referring to sexual harassment training required of all employees and legislators after revelations of Statehouse harassment emerged. That “joke” was allegedly made on the House floor.
If there’s one thing many of us have learned in the past year (with varying levels of success), it’s to leave tasteless jokes to professional comedians. Those jokes, combined with Mapes’ other alleged actions, appeared to have created an unacceptable working environment for Ms. Garrett and, as she claimed at her press conference, several others.
Garrett is right out of central casting — a decent, middle aged woman who was tired of being humiliated by a person with unlimited and unquestioned authority. Her Chicago press conference was the first time she’d been to the city in more than a decade.
Madigan was likely furious that the same nice woman who regularly brought his gavel back to his office at the end of session days was subjected to this treatment by his right-hand man. And it was the height of disloyalty by Mapes to behave this way while Madigan had #MeToo problems exploding all around him. He had to go.
Remaking the culture is not a done deal just because Mapes was ordered to resign. These attitudes and behaviors have been thoroughly ingrained into Madigan’s entire system for 20 years, after all.
The most alarming thing to me is that she had gone to him with allegations of sexual harassment from members… As the chief of staff, it’s his responsibility to take care of any allegations that need to be addressed and do it swiftly and decisively. And she went to him with allegations supposedly about legislators who were sexually harassing members of staff and that was seen as no big deal. One of his comments to her was ‘Are you upset that he wasn’t paying attention to you?’
Like, oh my God, on what planet is that appropriate? On no planet. So these things, now that we’ve heard about it, they’re so outrageous there was no option other than firing Tim Mapes or demanding his resignation, which thankfully is what happened.
Mapes even made sexually insulting comments to her, Garrett said. Once he talked about her bra. In another incident, Garrett spoke to Mapes on behalf of another female being who was sexually harassed by a male state representative.
Mapes’ response, according to Garrett, was, “Are you reporting this situation because you are upset the representative isn’t paying attention to you?”
“He’s proven to be deft at campaigns,” said one former Madigan House and campaign staffer who asked not to be named to avoid retaliation. “But does he get swept up in a national sea beyond his ability to navigate? That’s got to be a concern — not only as head of the state party but the symbol of Springfield that Rauner’s running against.” […]
In recent years, few lawmakers outside his inner circle are involved with Madigan’s daily operations and major decisions, one former female Democratic House lawmaker said.
“I think (Madigan) has become more staff dependent over the years,” she said. “That has insulated him from these kinds of things. He was much more involved in the past.”
But the recent allegations have hit his inner circle hard. Mapes’ forced departure came only a week after Madigan’s deputy majority leader in the House, Rep. Lou Lang of Skokie, resigned his leadership post and positions on two oversight panels pending an investigation by the inspector general into allegations of harassment by a female lobbyist. Lang called the allegations “absurd.”
