Gov. Bruce Rauner didn’t spend much time in Urbana on Monday, but he did spend some money at Black Dog Smoke & Ale House before attending a fundraising event in Champaign. […]
At least two of the Black Dog customers said they were there because they had heard he was coming and wanted to deliver a message.
Julia Schmidt of Champaign said she wanted the governor “to hang in there” during his budget dispute with Democrats in the Legislature.
“I wanted to come down here and thank you for doing the good job you’re doing,” she said.
“That actually means a lot,” Rauner said. “I don’t hear that all the time.”
* The murder of 9 year old Tyshawn Lee in Chicago has garnered a lot of media coverage today. It has also prompted a press conference by Voices for Illinois Children and other groups…
This morning, the day after nine year old Tyshawn Lee was murdered in the Gresham neighborhood in Chicago, Voices for Illinois Children was joined by the YMCA of Metropolitan Chicago and a community representative from the Local School Council of Scott Joplin Elementary in Chicago, IL, Tyshawn Lee’s school.
Voices for Illinois Children issued the following statement:
This morning we join Chicago in mourning the unnecessary, violent and traumatic death of nine year old Tyshawn Lee.
As advocates, Voices for Illinois Children and the YMCA of Metropolitan Chicago fight alongside policymakers to invest in programs that our children and families need to succeed.
In communities, afterschool programs are symbols of hope, and the support youth receive can be life-changing. Afterschool programs like Teen REACH keep youth safe and get them on track for high school graduation, college and career success.
But since July 1, no state dollars have been spent on Teen Reach afterschool programs, including two programs in the neighborhood where Tyshawn lived. That means that many communities have been without afterschool programs that keep their children safe between the hours of three and six–the afterschool hours considered ‘prime time for juvenile crime’ by law enforcement.
The safety of children and families is not a partisan issue. Ultimately, it’s important to remember and understand that all of us, regardless of political persuasion, care deeply for the children and families of Illinois.
But now is the time to prove that we care. We have to put aside things we don’t agree on and move forward on what we do agree on—we all want families and communities in Illinois have the tools they need to succeed. It’s time for lawmakers and the Governor to work together to pass a budget with new revenue to invest in programs like afterschool in order to move Illinois forward.
They’re not blaming the child’s death on the lack of after school programs, but it is a powerful reminder that those programs help get kids out of harm’s way when classes end.
Illinois is now in its fifth month without a budget.
State Sen. Bill Brady (R-Bloomington) told WJBC’s Scott Laughlin, he doesn’t see the Gov. Bruce Rauner backing down any time soon.
“The Democrats are literally scared for their lives when it comes to the next election cycle,” Brady said. “The ability Governor Rauner has to personal finance campaigns and to raise money from other interested parties has got them very much in dismay.”
Tuesday, Nov 3, 2015 - Posted by Advertising Department
[The following is a paid advertisement.]
Exactly what is the ‘Credit Union Difference’? Just ask Mae Powley, Manager of Pontiac-Dwight Prison Employees Credit Union.
“We really enjoy getting to know our members personally. We consider them part of our extended family. Members are friends, not just account numbers.”
From those who consider their credit union as a trusted place to help meet daily budgetary needs to those who are on the other side of the counter helping fellow members build strong financial futures, credit unions are all about “People Helping People”. So when Mae talks about the credit union as an extended family, she lives it. That’s because she is a member herself along with 1,100 other current and retired Illinois Department of Corrections employees and their family members – and has served alongside them as manager for the past 42 years.
Credit unions are able to better serve their communities because of their not-for-profit cooperative structure and leadership of a volunteer board elected by and from the local membership. Illinois credit unions: putting the “people” behind their fundamental philosophy.
* From the Illinois Policy Institute’s news service…
Illinois’ Governor wouldn’t say how many prospects there are to possibly buy a manufacturing plant in Bloomington-Normal but said one thing that’s keeping potential buyers away is Illinois poor business climate. During a stop with the McLean County Chamber of Commerce Governor Bruce Rauner said his administration is looking for a buyer to take over the plant being vacated by Mitsubishi. However, Rauner said finding one to seal the deal is difficult because of the cost of doing business in Illinois and somethings have to change.
“Our property taxes are too high. Our corporate income taxes are not competitive, but workers comp, tort system and just the regulatory burden and the red tape is punishing for businesses and especially for manufacturing firms.”
Our corporate income tax rate was slashed back in January, but he’s not wrong about the other stuff.
“I’ve been working my tail off trying to get a buyer for the Mitsubishi plant,” said Rauner. “We’ve got people interested, but they look at (the state’s) regulations and taxes and they think, ‘Oh, I don’t know …’”
After his talk, Rauner declined to give a specific number of potentially interested buyers or specific reasons causing their hesitation to proceed.
“I don’t know if it would be right for me to say why people are hesitant … so far we haven’t had success,” Rauner told reporters, noting there are fewer jobs today in the state than 16 years ago.
“We are bleeding our manufacturing base in Illinois at a fast pace,” he said. “It’s our regulations and our taxes. Our property taxes are too high. Our corporate income taxes are not competitive. Workers’ comp, our tort system and the regulatory burden and red tape are punishing for businesses, especially for manufacturing firms. That’s what we’ve got to change.”
Look, I know people in general don’t like corporate incentives. I, on the other hand, wouldn’t rule anything out, particularly for this plant. The governor has suspended the EDGE credit going forward. He might want to rethink that.
You go to war with the army you have, not the one you want to have or believe you ought to have. He has some weapons in his arsenal and he ought to use them, because we’re not a so-called “right to work” state so favored by international manufacturers these days, and we’re not gonna be.
The only public health clinic in Illinois’ poorest county is in a former synagogue off a largely abandoned main street, a bright spot with multicolored windows where seniors can get flu shots and moms get help feeding their kids. But today the lights are off and the doors locked. A sign on the door apologizes for the inconvenience: Because of the impasse over the state budget, we are only open on Wednesdays.
A few blocks away half the sheriff’s department has just gotten pink slips. Counselors at the only place to get mental health care in miles are working for free as the waiting list for help grows. And about 20 miles up the road from Cairo, Illinois’ southernmost tip, the man in charge of keeping highways clear this winter can’t afford to buy road salt, but figures he wouldn’t be able to pay drivers to spread it anyway.
For many people in Illinois, the five-month disagreement over a state budget has been barely a blip on the radar, a sideshow of political wills between a new Republican governor and a heavily Democratic legislature.
But for residents in the low-income counties tucked between the Mississippi and Ohio rivers - a mix of farmland and forest where Southern accents are more common than stop signs - it’s a far different story. Here people and private industry are scarce and getting scarcer, and residents rely on government for everything from health care to jobs and feel the impact severely when the public sector falters.
The problems in that county are not new. But the impasse is making them worse, not better. Go read the whole thing.
* The Ottawa Times has been reporting lately about the “top down” process to replace retiring Democratic Rep. Frank Mautino. Turns out, however, as most of us who do or watch this process for a living know, it goes both ways…
State Republican officials say they’re asking state representative candidate Jacob Bramel to end his campaign to clear the way for a former candidate who announced months ago that he would not run in the 2016 election.
Bramel, though, vowed Monday to move forward.
He met with Republican Jerry Long, last year’s candidate for the 76th District House seat, and two GOP officials late Sunday afternoon near the pool tables at Shakers Lounge in Ottawa. They requested he abandon his campaign.
Reached by cellphone Monday, Long, a union truck driver and a small business owner, barely allowed a reporter to introduce himself before saying that he was declining to comment. In 2014, Mautino narrowly defeated Long by 336 votes.
Bramel said Long asked for the meeting at the bar, but Bramel didn’t know that two representatives of the House Republican Organization, Joe Woodward and Anthony Sarros, would be there as well.
You may disagree with it, but the chamber leaders have been picking candidates in targeted races for decades. It’s pretty universal.
* Republicans loyal to Gov. Bruce Rauner, including legislators and the Tribune editorial board, have been lambasting former Gov. Jim Edgar lately for causing today’s budget problems by devising a pension payment ramp that pushed the solution into the future. Edgar responded on Rick Pearson’s Sunday radio show…
Edgar noted the pension law marked the first time that the state was required to pay the employer’s share of public pension costs for state workers, judges, teachers outside Chicago and elected officials.
“People are rewriting history a little bit on this,” Edgar said of the criticism he has received.
“We just came out of recession. We couldn’t put a whole lot of money in that — that down the road the payments were going to have to increase,” Edgar said. He added, “Everybody knew that and were on warning you have to prepare for that. Unfortunately, what happened was things I couldn’t control after I left office.”
Edgar noted pension holidays by his successors, a downturn in the stock market after the terrorist attacks of 9/11, and the Great Recession all combined to put Illinois in a hole with a nation’s worst unfunded public employee pension liability of more than $100 billion.
“You had to stay disciplined,” said Edgar, who noted the legislation passed with bipartisan support in his re-election year and led to support from credit-rating agencies and newspaper editorial boards.
One of those editorial boards was the Tribune’s, by the way.
Gov. Rauner laughed off an attack from Chicago Teachers Union President Karen Lewis, who called him a “sociopath” during a Friday fundraiser attended by House Speaker Michael Madigan and Senate President John Cullerton.
Asked about the comments during a Monday stop in Bloomington, Rauner laughed before revealing his coping mechanism for the name-calling.
“Uh, yeah. I don’t know how I can say … I’ve just tried to work hard to help people my whole life, and that’s what I’m doing as governor,” Rauner said. “And that’s what I did for years trying to help teachers in Chicago and principals in Chicago, and you know, in politics rhetoric sometimes gets overheated and impolite and all I can do is ignore it.”
The lack of a state budget hasn’t stopped Illinois lawmakers from ordering up thousands of taxpayer-paid copies of coloring books, brochures and other print-based promotional perks in recent months.
According to the results of a public records request, members of the General Assembly have placed 542 orders for printed material since the fiscal year started July 1 without a budget on the books.
The list of the 141 lawmakers participating in the program crosses party lines and includes many of the same Republicans who have been calling for cuts to state programs to help balance the budget.
State Rep. Jeanne Ives, for example, ordered 500 activity books and 13,000 cards to distribute in her suburban Chicago district.
“This is just ridiculous. How dare you? You should be ashamed of yourself,” Ives told me in a phone conversation last week. “You are so misguided on what you’re focusing on. You’re incredible. Incredible.”
She says there are many other examples of waste in state government, including the current structure of the General Assembly, in which lawmakers who chair committees receive $10,000 annual stipends even if those committees rarely meet.
Nonetheless, I asked her if she thought it was hypocritical for her to charge taxpayers for promotional coloring books at a time when the state doesn’t have a budget.
“Not at all,” Ives said.
“Go back and rewrite your article, sir. Because you know where some of those coloring books ended up at? At my kids’ Catholic school. That’s right. I sent them to a Catholic school. The teachers were thrilled to have this book that portrayed Illinois and some facts about it in an interesting and engaging way. So why don’t you go and print that, too,” Ives said.
Actually, the revelation of how a legislator gave some taxpayer-funded materials to her kids’ private school was worth printing.
If legislative leaders and Gov. Bruce Rauner are going to meet in public on the budget stalemate, who should set the agenda? The answers you get depend on which party you’re asking.
The same civic advocacy groups who asked for a public meeting to be held want a “bipartisan agenda” to guide it. State Sen. Jennifer Bertino-Tarrant (D-Shorewood) agrees that one person shouldn’t determine what’s going to be discussed.
“There’s a lot of issues, a lot of budgetary items, and I really hope that they’re each given an opportunity to submit what they would like to talk about,” Bertino-Tarrant said.
State Rep. Ron Sandack (R-Downers Grove) disagrees, saying it’s the proper role of the governor for Rauner to set the agenda for a meeting with legislative leaders.
“That’s just the way it is, whether it’s Gov. Rauner, Gov. Quinn, Gov. Blagojevich, et al, that’s the person who should set the agenda, call the meeting, and get things going,” Sandack said. “If we’re going to squabble over an agenda, man, we really have lost our bearings.”
OK, first of all, Rauner didn’t actually “call the meeting.” The goo-goos called it. If we had waited for the governor to call the meeting, it wouldn’t have been called.
And what’s the big deal about a bipartisan agenda? Does literally everything have to be set by the governor? Perhaps that’s been part of the problem here all along?
“Somebody said, let’s have a big group, let’s get all four of the leaders and you in a room and turn the TV cameras on. Oh, great. Talk about posturing. Now everybody’s going to posture. What human being likes to negotiate in front of a camera and make a compromise on TV? People don’t do that. Whatever. I don’t think it’s going to matter much,” said Gov. Bruce Rauner (R) Illinois.
OK, I don’t totally disagree, but then why did you even agree to the meeting? And why did you say back then that you were “happy” to host the public meeting, and why did you call the development “excellent news”?…
Over the last few weeks, I’ve met with each of you individually to try to move beyond this impasse. I believe it’s time for all of us to meet as a group, and thanks to the invitation of a few advocacy groups, I understand everyone has availability on Wednesday, November 18 from 9:30 AM to Noon and is interested in a public meeting. This is excellent news.
“It’s frustrating to see the only folks who are being funded are due to court orders, but we really don’t want to do our business that way,” said ISU President Larry Dietz. “It’s very difficult to run any of the universities for essentially a third of the year not knowing what your budget is going to be. We often hear, ‘Why don’t you run the university like a business?’ Well, I don’t know any business that doesn’t know what its revenue stream will be.”
President Dietz has obviously never met a business owner facing some unexpectedly tough (or good) times.
Consumer tastes change, economic climates change, people make mistakes, and sometimes stuff just comes down out of the blue.
For months now, Gov. Bruce Rauner has said he won’t negotiate a state budget unless his “Turnaround Agenda” demands are met.
In the meantime, he has slashed funding for the child care assistance program, homeless services have been decimated, mental health services are going without cash, universities are struggling and even the Meals on Wheels service for the elderly is cutting back deliveries.
But one of the most important things missing from the debate over that “Turnaround Agenda” is how much money the governor’s proposals will truly save state and local governments. Is it really worth all this pain?
There is simply no hard, reliable, trustworthy data out there because numbers from both sides of the debate on union-related subjects like the prevailing wage are so steeped in ideology.
Among other things, the governor is demanding that local governments, including school districts, be allowed to opt out of paying the prevailing wage on construction and other projects. The amount is set by county and all publicly financed projects must pay those wages. Unions say killing off the prevailing wage won’t save much if any money because productivity will drop when inexperienced, low-wage employees are used to replace trained construction and trades workers.
But, just for the sake of argument, let’s take the proponents at their word on this particular topic.
A June, 2014 study conducted by the Anderson Economic Group for the far-right Illinois Policy Institute, the Illinois Association of School Boards, the Illinois Chamber and the Illinois Black Chamber found that eliminating the prevailing wage would’ve saved local school districts $126.4 million in 2011 (that’s in 2013 dollars, by the way).
According to the state’s Commission on Governmental Forecasting and Accountability, local school districts extended (billed) $16.4 billion in property taxes in 2011. Adjust that 2011 amount to 2013 dollars to even it out with the Anderson study and we get $16.98 billion.
So, even if every single local school district throughout Illinois immediately stopped paying prevailing wage rates on construction projects (not gonna happen) and even if eliminating the prevailing wage does indeed save as much as the Anderson study projected (doubtful), school districts could’ve saved a grand total of 0.74 percent of their property tax budgets, which is not much more than a rounding error. Now figure, in reality, savings of at most half that amount and we’re looking at about a third of a percentage point. That’s not even a rounding error.
Not to mention that the total percentage saved from allowing local governments to opt-in to eliminate the prevailing wage in their actual operating budgets is quite a bit smaller because to get an accurate count you’d have to add in revenues from local sales taxes, state and federal money, etc. Charitably, are we talking maybe a quarter of a percentage point saved here? If that?
Whenever you make a huge investment of time and effort, you should always calculate what’s known as the Return on Investment, or ROI. As far as the prevailing wage goes, this doesn’t look to my eyes like a good enough ROI to continue refusing to negotiate on the budget.
I mean, really, you’re gonna shut down critical state services for months on end for a few million bucks—on a bill that the pro-union majority Democratic General Assembly will never support anyway?
Either change the proposal (perhaps to apply it to only smaller projects) or move along. The benefit is nowhere near worth the current pain.
And, by the way, I am not by any means saying that the governor has to be the only one who needs to start talking about a budget deal.
Legislative Democrats have completely eluded the topic of higher revenues all year. Yes, they say in general that they want a “mixture” of budget cuts and tax hikes. That’s nice and all, but if they truly support the programs they say they hold so dear, like child care assistance and need-based college grants, then they’re gonna have to pay for them.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, voting to fund these programs without voting for any revenue to pay for them is like the college student who can’t get it in his head that having checks in his checkbook doesn’t translate into having money in his bank account.
Somehow, some way, we need to get our leaders to start facing reality.
It took Illinois Senate President John Cullerton 20 years to learn a very valuable lesson: When your attacks are making the other side stronger, stop the attacks.
It’s a lesson Gov. Bruce Rauner should heed now.
Cullerton was the original sponsor of a mandatory child car-seat law. A few years later, he passed a mandatory seat belt law.
In 1986, the Illinois Supreme Court ruled that his seat belt law was constitutional, and the court appeared to overturn a 1969 opinion striking down the state’s mandatory motorcycle helmet law. So Cullerton announced he would introduce a helmet bill as soon as he could. A motorcycle helmet law seemed to be just over the horizon.
Fast-forward almost 30 years and the North Side Democrat is one of the most powerful politicians in the Illinois General Assembly—but the state still doesn’t have a helmet law.
It wasn’t for lack of trying. The accomplished legislator introduced his helmet bill year after year.
“The more Cullerton kept poking the bear, the bigger we got,” lobbyist Todd Vandermyde recalls. Vandermyde was a bulldozer operator in the early 1990s when he started working with A Brotherhood Aimed Toward Education, a loosely organized group that opposed the helmet bill. ABATE leaders ironed out their regional differences and used Cullerton’s bill to recruit members who didn’t want the government telling them they had to wear helmets.
Membership peaked at 20,000 motorcycle riders in the early 2000s. Rauner should know this story. He’s a motorcycle enthusiast who attends ABATE meetings all the time.
Meanwhile, Cullerton’s helmet bill was becoming more unpopular with his fellow legislators every year. Local ABATE chapters were springing up all over the place, and its hardcore members were becoming very politically active.
“They used my bill to build up their membership,” Cullerton says. It got to the point where he couldn’t even pass a bicycle helmet bill.
So about a decade ago, Cullerton finally realized that his efforts were counterproductive and he stopped introducing helmet bills.
Vandermyde went on to work the statehouse halls for his union. A social conservative, Vandermyde, like many trade union members, never cared all that much for public employee unions. He no longer works for the union, and he has endured cuts to his own pension benefits to save the union fund. It sticks in his craw that the courts have ruled that government employee pensions can’t be touched.
But he says he has watched in amazement this year as Rauner “galvanized and coalesced the labor movement” like never before with constant attacks. Rauner started with a months-long push for a so-called right to work law and then refused to negotiate the state budget until local governments are allowed to strip unions of their collective bargaining rights and remove prevailing wage protections for construction workers.
*** UPDATE 1 *** I posted the BlueRoomStream tweets below and then went back to my personal stuff that I had to finish up today. I eventually watched the video after somebody mentioned in comments that he didn’t hear the governor use the word “victim.” Tony is on the road, so I’ve asked him to give me a time stamp when he gets home because I listened to the remarks and didn’t hear “victim” either.
*** UPDATE 2 *** BlueRoomStream has retracted the “victim” tweet and apologized.
Sorry about that, kids. Those guys are usually rock solid. These things happen, I suppose. Talk to you tomorrow.
[ *** End Of Updates *** ]
* Wow. Just… Wow…
Gov. Rauner: speaking to crowd in Bloomington… "I'm the victim".
* I caught a cold this week and therefore a ton of weekday errands have piled up high, so I’m gonna have to knock them out on Monday. If I finish early there could be some afternoon blogging. We’ll see.
A social service agency known to many on [the EIU] campus is facing hardships because of the current budget impasse in the Illinois government. The Sexual Assault Counseling and Information Service relies heavily on state funding and without knowing the budget, the agency is sorting out their next steps.
This is the first time the agency has been faced with a threat of future closing.
Erin Walters, the executive director of SACIS, said the non-profit rape crisis center offers free and confidential services to those impacted by sexual violence. She said SACIS runs off of federal funds supporting their services, including grants. Walters said the agency has used up all their reserved funds to carry them along and that the state is supposed to reimburse them for their expenses.
Right now, the state has not given SACIS their reimbursement payments so SACIS has been running their reserved funds and taken out a loan to keep their services going. Without the federal dollars the agency would be close. […]
Walters said she does not see SACIS having any additional resources to support the services beyond December. She is working with the board of directors to determine if there are steps to take so they can make small changes to avoid closure.
I saw your post about Ashley, and I thought I would share one thing we are coordinating that can be of help to nonprofits struggling to provide services to those in need in the face of no budget and no payments. You may have heard of Giving Tuesday – the Tuesday after Thanksgiving (this year, December 1). The 92nd Street Y in New York started it a few years ago. It has spread across the country as a way to give back during the holiday season. Donors Forum has organized a campaign called #ILGIVE - http://www.ilgive.com/ - as a vehicle for Illinois nonprofits to the use the day to raise funds and connect with donors.
This campaign does not raise money for Donors Forum. It raises money for the nonprofits that sign-up to be part of it.
Our goal is to raise $6 million dollars on one day for Illinois nonprofits. Right now, about 250 nonprofits are signed up, many of which are ones that rely on state funding to serve Illinois families and communities - Erie Family Health Center, Easter Seals Metropolitan Chicago, Children’s Home + Aid, YMCA of Danville, Transitions Mental Health Services in Rock Island, to name a few.
Will this campaign close the budget gap most nonprofits are facing because of the state budget crisis? Of course not. It is, however, one tangible thing we can do to help in a time where a lot of us are feeling pretty ineffective at making a difference.
I would love to see the Capitol Fax community get involved.
· The nonprofits that read Capitol Fax can sign-up.
· Elected officials can spread the word to the nonprofits in their communities about this opportunity, and then promote the day to constituents, encouraging them to donate to a cause they care about on that day.
· Everybody can spread the word and give what they can on December 1.
It is not the end all, be all, but it can make a big difference to nonprofits and those they serve. Thanks for hearing me out. If you decide to share, feel free to list me as a contact for folks that have more questions and want to get involved. Let me know if you have any questions.
-Doug
Doug Schenkelberg
Vice President, Strategy & Policy
Donors Forum
In the latest lob of back-and-forth insults between Gov. Rauner and Mayor Emanuel, the governor stopped by a Lakeview grocery store to buy dead fish he vowed to send to the mayor.
It’s a jab at the old story of Emanuel sending a dead fish to pollster he was unhappy with in 1988. And that was a play off the scene in “The Godfather,” when the Corleone family was sent a dead fish as a message that their enforcer, Luca Brasi, was dead and “now sleeps with the fishes.”
On Friday, Rauner said he hoped two plastic-wrapped tuna steaks would send the same message, especially with regard to this week’s landmark property tax hike.
“This mayor has put in the biggest tax hike in Chicago’s history with no structural reform,” Rauner said. “I understand why he’s sensitive right now — he’s got a lot of angry constituents, and they’re angry for good reason.”
“Having supported workers’ comp before, in 2011 when we passed the last major reform of workers’ comp, there’s a place I’ll work with you. And I want to see a municipal part of that because, as one of the largest employers in the state, we have a vested interest in reform to workers’ comp.”
Gov. Bruce Rauner on Friday tried to inject some levity into his back-and-forth with Mayor Rahm Emanuel, telling told reporters he planned to send a piece of “dead fish” to City Hall.
Just hours after Emanuel suggested that the rookie Republican governor “stop name-calling and just do your job,” Rauner held a news conference at a North Side meat market, where he bought some double-cut pork chops, a beef tenderloin, and a piece of tuna steak.
The tuna, Rauner said, was “a gift for a special person.”
“I bought some fish, to send some dead fish to the mayor,” Rauner said. “I think he will deeply appreciate that, as only he can.”
* Things can always be worse. There’s Pennsylvania, for instance…
Though Illinois’ ongoing budget impasse is a credit negative for local governments, things are far worse in a state with similar problems. Moody’s investors services says Pennsylvania is experiencing similar issues during their ongoing budget impasse as Illinois but with a greater impact on local governments and schools.
A report from the investors service says school districts in Illinois are receiving most state aid but in Pennsylvania similar fund distributions are not being made which negatively affects local governments’ budgets. The report also says that community colleges and 4-year public universities are adversely affected in both states. In Illinois Governor Bruce Rauner signed the appropriations measure for K-12 school funding, but no appropriation for higher education has been passed and approved. Moody’s downgraded six public universities in Illinois Tuesday.
* Moody’s…
State aid for Pennsylvania school districts constitutes 10%-83% of operating revenues, and many schools already face financial pressure from charter schools and rising pension costs. Although Pennsylvania schools received their property taxes in September, districts more dependent on state aid are now relying on cash reserves and short-term borrowing to keep the doors open and pay fixed obligations. As of September, 17 school districts and two intermediate units instructing 169,000 students in the state have borrowed more than $346 million and face a combined $11.2 million in interest fees on these loans. Philadelphia School District (Ba3/negative) alone comprises $275 million of the borrowing, according to the state auditor general.
* The Question: Illinois is to Pennsylvania as ____ is to ____ ?
I am very sorry to hear of the circumstances facing Ms. Goodwin and her family. Thank you for sharing her story and helping illuminate the critical need for immediate passage of a state budget with adequate funding for supportive housing.
In communities across Illinois, affordable supportive housing is all that stands between 12,000 men, women and children and a return to homelessness or other settings far more expensive for taxpayers. These individuals are formerly homeless and/or have special needs such as a mental illness, intellectual and developmental disability, or chronic, debilitating physical illnesses like multiple sclerosis or HIV/AIDS. Because of issues with post-traumatic stress disorder and substance abuse, veterans often are among the population served.
The absence of a state budget and resulting lack of funds for supportive housing threatens to drive these vulnerable people to the streets, jails, state institutions or nursing homes – alternatives to which they go when they cannot access these services. Taxpayers would then bear the cost of their emergency room visits, incarceration and other far more expensive crisis response measures.
The scenario could get even worse. If state policy makers don’t resolve the budget soon, local supportive housing providers could lose federal funding as well. Implosion of the state’s human services infrastructure – and the toll for Illinois communities – would be far-reaching and lasting.
For each dollar the state allocates for certain homeless supportive housing services, the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development provides three. But Illinois providers must demonstrate by Nov. 20 that $7.6 million in state funds will be available in order to leverage the annual federal funds. If they can’t do that, they risk forfeiting $23 million – an entire fiscal year of federal funds.
Without state funds dedicated by the Nov. 20 deadline, there is no assurance the federal matching dollars will materialize over the next year. If the agencies managing supportive housing services lose that support, closures and wholesale service reductions will be unavoidable.
After food and clothing, shelter is the most elemental need; without the stability and safety it affords, individuals cannot overcome the challenges they face. Positive outcomes of supportive housing include housing stability and retention, improved quality of life and health outcomes, reduced homelessness and emergency room use, greater participation in behavioral health treatment, and lower healthcare costs.
We respectfully urge policy makers to immediately focus on approving a state budget with adequate funds for supportive housing. Failure to do so will prompt catastrophic consequences statewide, and it will significantly increase costs for taxpayers for years to come.
If I may be helpful in answering any questions you have about Illinois supportive housing, please do not hesitate to contact me directly. Thank for you for your time.
Sincerely,
Mike Bach
Executive Director
Supportive Housing Providers Association
The leading state Republican and the spokesman for the leading state Democrat differ on what they’ve compromised on. Governor Bruce Rauner says he’s narrowed down items on his agenda, including taking so-called “right-to-work” off the table. But the Governor insists on other reforms before agreeing to tax increases to shore up the state budget. Rauner said he won’t discuss publicly what his so-called red line is but told the Southern Illinoisan newspaper editorial board earlier this month that local control of prevailing wage and collective bargaining tied to a property tax freeze is important. Rauner also put emphasis on workers compensation reform.
“Workers comp is broken in Illinois. It’s one of the major drivers of businesses leaving the state. It’s a major cost driver inside government.”
Rauner says he’s getting pushback on his requested reforms because of special interests. Steve Brown, spokesperson for Speaker Michael Madigan, said Democrats have compromised on a variety of issues like freezing lawmaker pay and privatizing the Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity, among others.
“So, I think more than halfway is an understatement in terms of what the legislature has done with the Rauner agenda.”
Brown also say the General Assembly passed quote “significant” changes to workers compensation but Republicans criticized the workers comp measure passed earlier this year as not addressing what defines an injury eligible for payouts.
* I assume we’ll soon be seeing a Chicago Tribune editorial addressing this growing trend…
The state needs to get its fiscal act together because college students, domestic violence victims and low-income working families are among those hurt by the state not having a budget, participants at a rally held at Northern Illinois University said Thursday. […]
“Politicians are forcing domestic violence victims back to their abusers,” read the sign that Lynnea Erickson held at the rally. She is an abuse intervention services coordinator at DeKalb County-based Safe Passage, a nonprofit agency that assists victims of domestic violence.
Although the rally didn’t take a political side, Erickson said the governor, ultimately, is responsible for the the state’s budget impasse. She blames the state not having a budget for social agencies losing funding, cutting services and, in come cases, closing.
“The governor is holding social services hostage to negotiate the deal he wants for business,” she said.
*** UPDATE *** The fuming, thunderous Tribune editorial came faster than even I figured it would. Click here.
Friday, Oct 30, 2015 - Posted by Advertising Department
[The following is a paid advertisement.]
EXELON CEO CHRIS CRANE – “A PHENOMENAL YEAR FOR US”
Today, Exelon announced third quarter 2015 profits of $629 MILLION. Yes, you read that right. Exelon has made more than $2.0 BILLION in the first nine months of this year. And yet despite their good fortune, Exelon still demands a corporate bailout even as our state budget crisis goes from bad to horrendous. They have promised to return to the ILGA with a full court bailout push in 2016!
IN THE THIRD QUARTER, EXELON MADE NEARLY SEVEN MILLION DOLLARS A DAY or $284,873 AN HOUR
On this morning’s earnings call, Exelon CEO Chris Crane described 2015 and said, “This is a phenomenal year for us.”
OTHER EXELON NEWS: ALL ILLINOIS PLANTS TO REMAIN OPEN
Yesterday, Exelon announced that Clinton would remain open through at least 2017.
Exelon previously announced that because Quad Cities and Byron cleared the PJM auctions, Quad will remain open through at least 2017 and Byron will remain open through at least 2018.
The armored car company hired by the state demanded to be paid, or it would stop moving money for Illinois.
Tens of thousands of dollars flow through 29 different state driver’s license facilities in the Chicago area every day. For now, though, state workers will carry that cash to the bank. […]
FOX 32 News has learned the Secretary of State tried to persuade other armored car companies to step into the breach, but they all refused.
“Very few people want to do business with the state right now,” said a spokesman for Secretary Jesse White.
It’s now fallen to Secretary of State Police to get all that cash to the bank, which is an assignment they’re not trained for, using vehicles far less secure than an armored car.
Oh my goodness, THANK YOU, everyone! I can breathe a sigh of relief on the debts, so troubling , getting behind, wondering when an employer is going to call. It is not for the faint of heart when you have to sell your car to pay rent, but you learn to persevere.
We will get through this, but we never had a chance without your help… Thank you again I was actually jumping up and down on the bed with the kids a minute ago - so great to feel that way!
[ *** End Of Update *** ]
* I caught a glimpse of Ashley Goodwin’s Twitter feed not long ago. She had tweeted something critical about the governor, so it popped up on one of my routine searches…
No jobs, no hope, Illinois is a joke, preparing for homelessness….
* Goodwin appears to be an intelligent woman who is struggling to understand how she got to where she is and how to get out. She and her family are literally on the verge of homelessness, but she and her husband can’t find work or government help. Her feed is definitely worth a scroll…
Ever since their Danville, Illinois, apartment building burned down three years ago, Anthony and Ashley Goodwin have been hustling to survive.
Anthony dug through the rubble for three days, searching for his wallet. But after working in tech repair and starting a resale business on eBay to stay afloat, the Goodwins have again found themselves in dire straits.
They don’t have enough money for rent. The gas has been turned off at their home. And Anthony walks three miles to the nearest Wal-Mart to buy groceries. Anthony, Ashley, their three-year-old daughter, Ana, and two-year-old son, Alex, face homelessness by mid-November.
They both want work, but there isn’t much to be found nearby.
“I can’t get a job at any of the 15 employers that hire unskilled labor in our community,” Anthony said. “The jobs aren’t there.”
The Goodwins are far from the exception in Illinois. They are not alone. […]
“If we could move out of Illinois, we would,” Ashley said. But her family can’t afford to leave.
The Goodwins have never taken government rental assistance, but their recent struggles have them calling state agencies every day looking for answers. There’s just one problem: Because Illinois doesn’t have a state budget in place, operations have ground to a halt at many social-service departments.
“The homelessness-prevention hotline is disconnected,” Ashley said. “That defeats the whole point of a hotline. It is really frustrating. For the first time in our lives, we are reaching out to the state for help, but there’s no one on the other end of the line.”
The broader context is the lack of jobs. Danville is not a great place to find work, and the family appears to have moved to Watseka, which, take it from me, isn’t much better.
Please share where you can - Trying to get help in Illinois is pointless, as most agencies do not answer, or are temporarily closed, there is nothing but a run-around and no answers from DHS or any other government agency.
I own my own mobile home in a small mobile home park, have lived here for two years, then had a recent change in income so we have gotten behing the last 2 and a half months, now, facing an eviction notice I recently received, I have come to realize just how the Illinois budget impasse has effected our lives.
I have a 2 and 3 year old and yesterday, according to United Way, since most agencies rely on the funds that have been frozen due to the impasse, I have run out of options so I need to prepare to lose my home that I own for a lousy $680 in back lot rent, because apparently, Illinois does not have $680. Not to mention our power is going to be shut off due to the impasse and LIHEAP (energy assistance) funds being frozen. All together, we have a $540 gas bill, they already shut us off, and our electric is $180, which will be shut off any day as well.
This has been an eye-opening nightmare, I have been calling every agency in the State, those that do answer, have no clue what to do as the funding is not available or try to pass me on to someone else who is even less help, but most don’t even answer, including the ever-worthless DHS “help line” at 800-843-6154, the number they give if you need help.. I have been calling every day for a week now, never get a person, no answer, and you cant even leave a message.
I am at a loss - something has to be done with this situation in Illinois. Someone has to look into what has gone wrong here. I have never gotten rental assistance in my life , yet am treated like I have no options, what is it all for?
The Sunday Spin: On this week’s show, airing from 7 a.m. to 9 a.m. on WGN (AM-720) and wgnradio.com, Tribune political reporter Rick Pearson’s guests are… former Republican Gov. Jim Edgar, who marks the 25th anniversary of his first election as governor on Nov. 1.
You don’t have to wake up that early on Sunday to listen because they’ll eventually post it on their website. Should be interesting.
* Yes, let’s stop playing games and work on common sense, bipartisan reforms. Please!…
The governor put the brakes on capital development projects around the state. In fact, he made his remarks just steps away from the stalled Stevens Building project on the NIU campus.
“I’m sorry that DeKalb is suffering from no budget. They shouldn’t have to suffer,” said Rauner. “It’s wrong what’s going on. And what we’ve said to the Legislature is, ‘Stop playing games. Let’s vote on common sense, bipartisan reforms, let’s get a truly balanced budget so we can grow our economy and help great communities like DeKalb.’ “
Now, if he’d just follow his own advice we might actually get somewhere.
“It’s your city government, your county. You should decide how bidding gets done, how outsourcing, how contract gets done – also, how collective bargaining gets done. It’s your community, its your town … you should decide,” Rauner said.
Among the county’s economic highlights mentioned at the event is the enterprise zone designation it received from the state this summer.
The municipalities of DeKalb, Genoa, Sandwich, Sycamore, Cortland and Waterman look forward to bringing jobs and economic investment to the area by using special tax incentives the enterprise zone allows.
But the required certification of the zone is on hold because the Rauner administration said the state is losing too many jobs and the cost of doing business in Illinois is too high.
So, lemme get this straight. A local enterprise zone, which could be used to help the area’s business climate, is on hold because… the economy is bad…?
Friday, Oct 30, 2015 - Posted by Advertising Department
[The following is a paid advertisement.]
Yesterday, Exelon announced that it will defer any decisions about the future operations of its Clinton nuclear plant for one year. This is encouraging news for Illinois. According to a report by the State of Illinois, the Clinton plant supports nearly 1,900 jobs and contributes $481 million to the state’s economy. Overall, Illinois’ nuclear energy facilities produce 90 percent of the state’s carbon-free energy, support 28,000 jobs, and inject nearly $9 billion into the Illinois economy every year.
Over the past year, Exelon has worked to educate policymakers on the economic challenges facing several of its nuclear plants and the potential that they could be prematurely closed. The General Assembly and Governor have been focused on the budget and have not had a full opportunity to consider this issue. The challenges have not gone away, but Exelon decided to continue operating Clinton at a loss for an additional year to allow policymakers more time to consider potential solutions.
The Midcontinent Independent System Operator (MISO) recently began examining capacity market reforms. Such reforms could alleviate some of the economic pressures facing the Clinton plant. While MISO’s recognizing the need for market reforms is encouraging, if reforms are not timely implemented and economic conditions for the Clinton nuclear plant do not improve, Exelon will be forced to take steps to reduce its losses, which may include shutting the plant.
Policy reforms, such as the Low Carbon Portfolio Standard and a state implementation plan for the Clean Power Plan, that properly recognize and value the significant amount of carbon-free electricity derived from the nuclear fleet are still needed to level the playing field for all forms of clean energy and best position the State of Illinois to meet EPA’s new carbon reduction rules.
Gov. Bruce Rauner’s office called Emanuel “just another tax-and-spend politician,” Thursday afternoon and at an event later last night in DeKalb, Rauner lit into the mayor for blaming Chicago’s financial woes on the General Assembly. “That’s not created by Springfield,” Rauner said. “That is a failure on the mayor’s part and a failure to take on reforms.”
– “It’s clear that less than 24 hours after passing the largest property tax hike in city history, the mayor is already laying the ground work for another tax hike because he is refusing to engage in passing structural reforms that will save Chicago taxpayer hundreds of millions of dollars,” Rauner spokesman Mike Schrimpf said in a statement. “The mayor needs to get serious about whether he is going to be a reformer or just another tax-and-spend politician who wants to blame someone else for their failures.”
– Responding to … — On Wednesday, Emanuel told reporters: “It’s a very strange economic strategy to try and hurt your economic engine, that’s how you’re gonna grow the economy…Name me a governor in the other 49 states that is attacking the economic engine of their state. Is the gov of Washington state going after Seattle? Is the Gov of Oregon going after Portland?”
– It’s your own fault, Rauner says: “Unfortunately, in hearing the mayor’s comments in Chicago, it sounds like he’s trying to lay the blame for the failure of Chicago on other people, on Springfield,” Rauner said in DeKalb, according to audio obtained by POLITICO. “Chicago has been fundamentally mismanaged for years and the mayor is forcing a massive property tax hike — the biggest tax hike in Chicago history … and it doesn’t even fix the problem … even with that… there are going to be more tax hikes coming because Mayor Emanuel has not done fundamental structural reform for the long term.”
– Basically Rahm, you’re a ‘failure’: “He’s already admitted after this big tax hike he doesn’t have enough money to properly fund the pensions. He’s admitted he doesn’t have enough money to fund for the school year,” Rauner said. “That’s not created by Springfield. That is a failure on the mayor’s part and a failure to take on reforms.”
Please note that the governor said those things in DeKalb. I wonder if he’s ever said anything like that to the mayor himself.
*** UPDATE 1 *** From the twitters…
Rahm to Rauner: "Stop name calling and just do your job"
“My view is we (passed a budget) without rancor, but actually doing exactly what we need to do,” Emanuel said Friday. “I think what Springfield needs to do is not call names to anybody, you’re 120 days and counting behind schedule, 6,000-plus kids have been thrown out of daycare. The job to get done is to actually go back to the negotiating table and get a budget. Calling people names doesn’t get you a budget.”
“My view is, and I would just say this to the governor and the governor’s office: you’re 120 days behind budget, $6 billion and counting in not paying bills. Stop name-calling and just do your job.”
* The following e-mail appears to be in response to comments on this post from yesterday. Ms. Meyer makes some good points here, and they’re made with respect (it’s not often that a large and influential group responds to blog comments, after all), so keep that in mind when you comment, please…
Hey Rich,
I see we’re a hot topic of conversation on your comments [yesterday]. It seems a lot of your commenters are wondering what we’ve been up to and questioning how effective we’ve been during this budget crisis.
I thought I’d chime in to help with those wonders and questions.
· The Ounce has been publicly opposed to changes the governor has announced in child care and in other areas of the budget beginning with his budget address and as recently as Tuesday on your blog.
· We have participated in and helped organize action days, attended hearings, issued numerous calls to actions and have worked closely with all of our program and advocacy partners
· We have also kept in constant communication with the media to highlight the impact these cuts and restrictions are having on children and families throughout our state
· And, we have countless meetings with all levels of the government advocating for our cause – and yes, this includes Diana Rauner and all members of our Illinois policy team
· In addition to our advocacy work, we’re also service providers and as such our organization and the programs we support are affected
We continue to fight for child care and other early learning programs with both the governor and the legislature. Our message has been consistent and clear - the governor should repeal the child care changes and both the governor and legislature need to put aside their differences and resolve the 2016 budget impasse, including revenue to fund priorities like child care, home visiting and preschool.
The Ounce has been doing this good work for over 30 years. Our priority is to the children and families we serve. We’re working hard to make a difference for them. Do we feel our message is getting through in Springfield right now? I don’t think any of us in the early childhood field feel we’ve made a breakthrough…but we’re not giving up.
Megan Meyer
Manager, Marketing Communications & Media
Ounce of Prevention Fund
* I caught a cold this week. I’m miserable and I got nothing for you. I mean nothing. So, I’m declaring an open thread and going to bed as soon as my Crain’s column is approved.
The real question is whether the status quo in Illinois is acceptable. To a large majority of our members—the people whom Illinoisans expect to create jobs and prosperity—the answer is an emphatic “No!”
The chamber recognizes that the current budget stalemate is causing real pain across our state. I’ve spoken with many businesses that are waiting on the state to pay them millions of dollars for goods and services already provided. Local governments are awaiting vital infrastructure funding; university students wonder if tuition grants are coming.
Four months is a long time to go without a budget. But it pales in comparison to a 12-year wait for state government to return to fiscal sanity, basic competency and a partnership with business that allows both to prosper. Those things are more than important. They are vital. They are also hard and worth the wait.
* Rep. Don Moffitt (R-Gilson) has been endorsed by unions pretty much every election cycle. He recently announced his retirement, but don’t expect a break with Gov. Bruce Rauner any time soon if this quote is any indication of where he stands…
Rep. Don Moffitt, R-Galesburg, who was at the bakery, said that he didn’t think the impasse would end before January and that what’s happening now shouldn’t be a surprise.
“He was elected by the people with pretty strong support. He ran on an agenda of shaking Springfield up,” said Moffitt, who plans to retire at the end of his term. “We shouldn’t be surprised at anything that’s happened so far. Gov. Rauner is keeping his commitment, he’s keeping his promise. And he is shaking things up.”
* Keep in mind when reading this that payroll is about 25 percent or so of construction costs. But some of the smaller projects that these tiny towns do (Fairfield’s population is 5,421) have higher payroll costs.
From the Illinois Policy Institute’s news service…
The mayor of a southern Illinois community says taxpayers could save upwards to 30 percent on construction projects if his village was able to put out projects to be competitively bid. Fairfield Mayor Chuck Griswold says he’s done a lot of things to double reserves for the village, but more could be done like saving on publicly funded construction projects by circumventing the state mandated prevailing wage laws. Leading Democrats in the General Assembly, like Speaker Michael Madigan, say they are unwilling to allow giving the option of opting out of prevailing wage to local communities like Fairfield. Griswold says Madigan is out of touch.
“He doesn’t understand. We’re not even on his radar, candidly, down here in southern Illinois and I think the only time we got on the radar was when we wanted fracking rules put in place.”
However, Griswold doesn’t think certain collective bargaining issues are onerous for his village at the moment. Governor Bruce Rauner has been pushing for a property tax freeze coupled with giving local communities the option to opt out of prevailing wage and collective bargaining issues, something leading Democrats contend will lower the standard of living for working class families.
Meanwhile Griswold says the state owes Fairfield upwards to $30,000 in unpaid bills for several different facilities being used by state departments. Griswold says he supports what the Governor is doing and will keep accepting IOUs in the meantime.
“We’ll allow them to not pay their utilities, we’ll keep their utilities on. We won’t shut off the state garage. I think we have an IDNR office here and a Conservation office and we’re not going to shut off their utilities. We’re going to support Governor Rauner by hanging in there with him.”
Getting Past NO (ISBN 978-0-553-37131-4), first published in September 1991 is a reference book on collaborative negotiation in difficult situations. As a negotiating style, it is neither aggressively competitive nor accommodating and cooperative, but both aggressively cooperative. […]
“Build your opponent a golden bridge to retreat across”
Classic obstacles to an agreement: not their idea, unmet interests, fear of losing face, too much too fast
Involve the other side: ask for and build on their ideas, ask for a constructive criticism, offer them a choice
Satisfy unmet interests: don’t dismiss them as irrational, don’t overlook basic human needs, don’t assume a fixed pie
Help them save face, help write their victory speech
Go slow to go fast, don’t rush to the line
Ury claimed that a good negotiation is achieved by 2 negotiators meeting their needs- never one more skilled that overpowers the deal. Because if done so the deal itself is weakened as the loser might not recognize his involvement and his interests in the deal.
* Quite a lot of political reporters, columnists, editorial writers and other pundits in this state have described the current stalemate as a duel between two stubborn people. But there’s far more going on here than just what Gov. Rauner and Speaker Madigan are demanding.
I think many Illinois residents are enjoying the power struggle between the Republican governor and longtime Democratic power broker Madigan.
[Senate Republican Leader Christine Radogno] reinforced my experience during a telephone conversation Wednesday, telling me that she’s been knocking on doors during her re-election campaign, and people keep telling her “not to give in” and “hang in there.”
I’ve talked to several Democratic legislators who’ve said the same, exact thing as Radogno. Either they’re all hearing only what they want to hear, or their respective allies are completely on board for this war.
This is about much more than just two men. Madigan was absolutely right when he called this an “epic” battle.
…Adding… Most legislators are circulating nominating petitions these days, and MrJM explains what’s happening in comments…
For more than a decade, both parties collect signatures using lists that include only the loyalist members of their parties.
Democrats passing petitions are talking to people who voted in the last three (or more) Democratic primaries. Republicans are doing the inverse.
Many Illinois families are financially fragile. Unfortunately, the increase in auto title lending in our state is only exacerbating the problem. IABG, in partnership with Woodstock Institute, recently released “No Right Turn: Illinois’ Auto Title Loan Industry and its Impact on Consumers.” The report finds that increasing numbers of Illinois consumers are turning to title loans in an attempt to make ends meet, and ending up in a long-term cycle of debt due to triple-digit interest rates and long loan terms. Not only are we seeing an increase in the number of title loans, but we are also seeing an increase in length of the loan and the amount of fees. The report found that the average length of a title loan is now over 18 months with consumers spending a total of $25.5 million a month to title lenders.
Title loans in Illinois are exceptionally harmful because of their combined high interest rate and long loan terms. While traditional and installment payday loans have high APRs (up to 400 percent), those loans have maximum term lengths of 120 and 180 days, respectively, enabling borrowers to pay back loans in installments, but ensuring that borrowers are not paying high rates for excessive periods of time. Small consumer installment loans have longer terms (over 180 days), but are capped at 99 percent APR. Under current Illinois law, title loans have no APR cap and no maximum term, so borrowers can be trapped into paying high rates for years at a time. […]
As the default rate data show, over a quarter of all Illinois title loan borrowers were unable to make payments and defaulted. This means that one in every four title loan borrowers in Illinois lost the means for commuting to work, going to the doctor, or transporting kids.
The Illinois legislature strengthen the Consumer Installment Loan Act to require stronger ability-to-repay standards, maximum loan terms, and a rate cap of 36 percent APR.
The Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation (IDFPR) publicly release loan-level data from the state database to allow for a more detailed analysis and monitoring of small-dollar lending in Illinois.
Financial Institutions create and market affordable small-dollar loans with ability-to-repay standards as alternatives to high-cost, predatory products.
Thursday, Oct 29, 2015 - Posted by Advertising Department
[The following is a paid advertisement.]
Credit unions are committed to several cooperative principles, including “Concern for Community.” While focusing on member needs, cooperatives such as credit unions work for the sustainable development of their communities, including people of modest means.
As an example, 1st MidAmerica Credit Union in Bethalto provides crucial fundraising for a host of agencies and organizations in Metro East and surrounding areas. Over the past seven years in fact, the credit union has raised more than $128,000 for these vital, local sources of support for residents.
Specifically for the past three years, 1st MidAmerica has dedicated fundraising efforts to the Madison County Child Advocacy Center (CAC). This professional and child-friendly organization assists in the investigation of allegations of child abuse, provides access to services and treatment for victims and their families, and raises awareness within the community. As a result of sponsoring its annual charity golf outing this fall, 1st MidAmerica raised more than $30,000 to benefit CAC. This was a record high fundraising total for the tournament and an increase of more than $3,000 over the previous year’s event.
Honored to partner, pleased to support. Credit unions help grow safer and stronger communities. And that’s why they are A Smarter Choice.
Gov. Rauner said he doesn’t expect any resolution to the budget impasse until January and doesn’t expect any agreement will come out of a planned meeting with Democratic leaders in the legislature next month. He accused Democrats of attempting to increase pressure on him by allowing the budget impasse to continue.
“They want the pressure of no scholarships for kids, they want the pressure of no childcare as a way to push the process, that’s the only explanation I can give,” Gov. Rauner said.
* From Emily Miller at Voices for Illinois Children…
There is exactly one man ultimately responsible for the destruction of the child care system in Illinois, and that man is Governor Rauner.
When it comes to the lack of appropriation authority across other budget line items ranging from higher education to local governments, no one has clean hands.
But for the Governor to suggest that anyone else is responsible for the pain working families are feeling as the direct result of his decision to cut child care is absurd and dishonest.
His decision to eliminate safe, affordable childcare as an option for many low and middle-income working families predates the budget impasse. I hope the timeline of his opposition to this vital program is pointed out to him by a reporter sometime soon.
The same groups which called for a public meeting to settle the budget impasse are now calling for the negotiations to a have a “bipartisan agenda.”
Gov. Bruce Rauner responded to the initial meeting request by saying his office would “circulate the agenda” to it. Sarah Brune, deputy director of the Illinois Campaign for Political Reform, doesn’t think Rauner or the other leaders should be deciding on their own what issues will be on the table.
“A meeting where any of the stakeholders are the only one setting the agenda, that is not the kind of meeting that we’re looking to have,” Brune said. “We think that the most productive meeting is going to be one everyone who is attending has the chance to put input into that.”
