* Fairmount Park has been an innovator for years. It packs ‘em in when other tracks struggle to attract even smallish crowds. Even so, this is a pretty bold statement about what the new gaming expansion law means for the facility…
The hope is to have at least a temporary casino open next year, which park officials say is great for existing employees.
“Vendors, waiters, bartenders,” said Jon Sloan, a spokesperson for Fairmount Park. “We have plenty people who worked here who were working seasonally because we only had thoroughbred horse racing seasonally, now we’re going to be a year round attraction.”
Sloan said the changes at the track could add at least a thousand jobs.
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* From September 3rd…
The injury means Pritzker will be working out of the James R. Thompson Center in Chicago and his Chicago home instead of his usual, grueling statewide travel plans.
The governor’s office said Pritzker had been attending 10 to 12 events a week, which they deemed “pretty aggressive.”
That was indeed an aggressive schedule. And now he’s stuck in the office all day. I’ve been wondering what he’s been doing with all that extra time on his hands.
* Gov. Pritzker was on the WJBC Scott Miller Show today and was asked about his broken leg and how things are different now. He said he’s using a crutch to get around (two crutches are too awkward, he said) and then said this…
My staff, I’m sure, thinks that I’m driving them crazy because I’m looking at every detail of what they’re doing because I’ve got a little more time in the office than I normally do.
* From Deputy Chief of Staff for Communications Emily Bittner…
I can confirm that we love spending time with the boss and we are fortunate to have much much more time and scrutiny from him.
Does that look like a hostage statement to you? /s
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Looking on the bright side
Wednesday, Sep 11, 2019 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Quad City Times…
[Rock Island] Mayor Mike Thoms asked if marijuana will be allowed to be consumed at indoor smoking lounges such as Hickey Brothers, 130 18th St. […]
[Rock Island Planning and Redevelopment Administrator Miles Brainard] said the simple solution is for the city to prohibit consumption in any business that does not sell cannabis or have a cannabis license.
“I don’t necessarily like that idea,” [Ald. Dylan Parker, Ward 5] said. “I think an establishment like Hickey Brothers where you can currently smoke cigarettes, if they’re not selling cannabis, why not be able to consume it?”
Somewhere, sometime leaders of a town or city are going to realize that they can bring in a whole lot of tourists by fully embracing the new state law.
* Speaking of which…
Despite some members voicing concerns it might slow the process, the Bloomington City Council on Monday approved a request to establish a task force in preparation for next year’s legalization of recreational marijuana use.
Council member Jenn Carrillo proposed creating the cannabis review and implementation committee, and planned to serve as its chair. At Monday’s meeting, the council approved her request by a 6-3 vote after amending the resolution to remove Carrillo’s automatic appointment as chair and limiting the panel’s term to 90 days. […]
Carrillo has said she believes the city should embrace the cannabis industry to boost tourism.
It’s not for every town, but it could work. Heck, it’s worth a shot somewhere.
* Mt. Vernon is not exactly a liberal town…
Mt Vernon Mayor John Lewis said his city is on board. “You have two choices, opt-in or opt-out. We opted in,” he said. “You’re not stopping anything. I cannot see where opting out does anything.” […]
Lewis calls himself a pragmatist. “[Marijuana] is already here…it’s where society is going, I don’t know if it’s a good or bad thing, I just need to play on the playing field I’ve got,” he said. […]
Lewis believes the dispensary will bring jobs, “We will take any kind of jobs they will bring to an investment in our city. I don’t care if they are low paying, medium paying or high paying jobs, we want them all.”
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Question of the day
Wednesday, Sep 11, 2019 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg…
“I think popular election is a very bad way to select judges,” Ginsburg told an audience gathered on the U. of C. campus, who applauded the comment. “And judges campaigning for office, saying ‘if you elect me I’m going to be tough on crime’ — it’s a spectacle. I don’t know any other country in the world where judges are elected. One can understand the origins, the people’s distrust of the British judges, but we’re long past that time. The direction is toward appointment rather than election.”
* The Question: Should judges be appointed in Illinois and by whom? Make sure to explain your answer.
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* I was wondering where she was going to land. From a press release…
Kirkland & Ellis LLP is pleased to announce that former Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan has joined the Firm’s Chicago and Washington, D.C., offices as a litigation partner.
“Lisa brings a wealth of experience on many of the crucial issues our clients face daily,” said Jeffrey C. Hammes, Chairman of Kirkland’s Global Management Executive Committee. “She has been a leader in the legal community, both locally and nationally, and her top-level advocacy and stellar legal skills will be an asset to our Firm and our clients. We are excited that she is joining Kirkland.”
Ms. Madigan draws on more than 25 years of experience at the highest levels of complex civil litigation and government service. She served as Illinois Attorney General for 16 years, the longest serving Attorney General in Illinois and the longest serving female Attorney General in the country. In this position, she led an office of 750 people responsible for developing legal strategies to represent the state and its citizens. She oversaw three main offices and six regional offices and collected over $14 billion for the state. […]
Ms. Madigan will draw on her experience to handle high-level litigation, government and internal investigations, and crisis management work for Kirkland’s clients. She has particular experience in such areas as consumer protection, data and privacy issues, health care, the environment, and sexual assault and harassment.
“Throughout my life, I have been passionate about the law and driven to find solutions to complicated legal matters,” Ms. Madigan said. “I am thrilled to continue practicing law at Kirkland, a firm of great lawyers who are successful in helping clients both proactively and reactively. Important to my work will be pro bono service that aligns with my belief that everyone should have an advocate to fight for them.”
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Check the laws first, please
Wednesday, Sep 11, 2019 - Posted by Rich Miller
* We discussed this column yesterday, but let’s circle back…
And when Democrats skipped pension payments for two years after that, and borrowed repeatedly to paper over deficit spending, Republicans should have said, hell no. They didn’t. The unfunded liabilities have soared. […]
[Rep. David McSweeney’s] departure from the General Assembly means there will be one less person in Springfield riding herd on fiscal sanity.
Um, Rep. McSweeney was one of just a tiny handful of Republicans who voted to override a 2016 Gov. Bruce Rauner veto that allowed Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel to delay hundreds of millions of dollars in increased pension payments. He said at the time he voted to override the veto in order to spare Chicago a massive property tax hike. But he really just helped the mayor delay a big day of reckoning until after Rahm Emanuel was out of office.
State law at the time required Chicago to start paying all normal costs to the pension funds plus whatever would be sufficient to get the fund assets up to 90 percent of total actuarial liabilities by 2040. The new law, passed with McSweeney’s vote over Rauner’s veto, delayed the start of that steep ramp to tax levy year 2020 and delayed the end date to 2055.
Gov. Rauner’s response to the override…
“It’s unfortunate that the legislature voted again to allow the City of Chicago to borrow $843 million at an interest rate of 7.75% from their pensions, putting an additional $18.6 billion on the backs of taxpayers.”
The Tribune editorial board often bemoans the increased pension payments that new Mayor Lori Lightfoot is faced with. Well, that 2016 veto override contributed heavily to the hole she’s in now.
* Meanwhile, states with early presidential primaries usually hold two primaries: One for presidential candidates and then another for everyone else. South Carolina, for instance, is holding its presidential primary on February 29th, but then the rest of the candidates down the ticket in that state will have their own primary on June 9th, with a runoff on June 23rd.
Illinois has a unified primary where all candidates compete. That primary is set by statute…
(10 ILCS 5/2A-1.1) (from Ch. 46, par. 2A-1.1)
Sec. 2A-1.1. All Elections - Consolidated Schedule.
(a) In even-numbered years, the general election shall be held on the first Tuesday after the first Monday of November; and an election to be known as the general primary election shall be held on the third Tuesday in March;
Notice the word “shall.” Biennial primaries are mandatory.
* With all that in mind…
Republican leaders in South Carolina, Nevada, Arizona and Kansas are reportedly poised to scrap their primaries and caucuses, Politico is reporting. That has Trump’s long-shot opponents — including former Illinois congressman-turned-conservative radio show host Joe Walsh — crying foul.
While it’s not without precedent, canceling a presidential primary also isn’t typical, so The Spin checked in with the Illinois GOP to see where the local party stands.
State Republican Party Chair Illinois Tim Schneider said, “I don’t think there’s even a question,” about whether there will be a GOP primary in March. “No, we’re not going to do that,” he said of the four states opting out. “We’re just going to follow our typical process with the primary, including the important job of electing delegates.”
Schneider couldn’t cancel the primary even if he wanted to.
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Anne Burke moves up to chief justice
Wednesday, Sep 11, 2019 - Posted by Rich Miller
* They take turns being chief every few years, but this is obviously not a good look…
* Sun-Times…
A request for comment was not immediately returned.
Burke was retained for her first 10-year term in 2008 and again in 2018; she represents the first district, which covers Cook County.
Her husband’s legal troubles have mired her in some controversy as well. In February, days before the election, political consultant Jeffrey Orr, the son of former Cook County Clerk David Orr, filed a complaint with the state’s Judicial Inquiry Board about Justice Burke’s alleged role in a fundraiser for Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle.
In June, Justice Burke drew the ire of Latino and black aldermen for picking Cara Smith, who then worked for Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart, to replace a retiring black judge in a 7th subcircuit that includes much of the West Side.
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* Sun-Times…
Lawyer Daniel Epstein is the first out of the gate with a TV ad set to begin airing Wednesday in the hotly contested race for a seat on the Illinois Supreme Court, six months before the candidates face off in the March primary. […]
“I think part of it is that it’s just time to kind of get our name out there,” Epstein said. “We’re doing a good job of telling a compelling story and this is part of it and we want to have supplementary materials when we go around to talk to people — we want that to be how people recognize us.”
The Supreme Court seat is a county-wide race, but Epstein’s ad will only air in the northern and western suburbs and North Side and West Side wards, for two weeks, two to three times a day. Epstein, who is from Evanston, is looking to solidify his base in those parts of the county and they’ve been the areas where he’s laid the most groundwork and where he expects to spend a lot of time, he said.
In other words, he’s gonna run as the white candidate. He’ll have company, however. And a couple-tree times a day for two weeks won’t get him much exposure, particularly if he doesn’t stay up.
* Anyway, click here to watch the ad and then explain your rating in comments.
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* Tribune with the scoop…
Less than a year into office, Cook County Clerk Karen Yarbrough faces potential federal court oversight of hiring amid a watchdog’s accusations that she’s “running an illegal patronage employment system.”
Veteran anti-patronage attorney Michael Shakman said in a new legal filing that Yarbrough has put the politically connected into jobs that are supposed to be free from such influence, asked her employees for campaign contributions on their private cellphones and transferred certain supervisors to far-flung offices in hopes they’ll quit.
Yarbrough, who was under federal court oversight in her previous job as recorder of deeds, called Shakman’s latest allegations “outrageous” and “preposterous.” […]
Shakman is asking U.S. Magistrate Judge Sidney Schenkier to appoint the first-ever federal monitor in the clerk’s office to investigate and recommend reforms as well as examine hiring and personnel practices under Yarbrough. At a Wednesday hearing, Schenkier ordered Yarbrough to file a formal response in 30 days and asked the two sides to discuss potential information available about the disputed matters for further review.
Go read the details before commenting, please.
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Rivian lands key investor
Wednesday, Sep 11, 2019 - Posted by Rich Miller
* I admit I was very skeptical about this company and even Gov. Rauner tried to distance himself from it, but things seem to really be happening with Rivian. Tribune…
Rivian, which is opening a factory in downstate Normal, is getting a $350 million investment from Cox Automotive, the latest equity partner to take a stake in the electric truck startup.
In addition to the investment, announced Tuesday, the companies will explore opportunities to team up in areas such as logistics and digital retailing as Rivian gets closer to launching its electric pickup truck and SUV late next year. […]
The investment is the third major vote of confidence this year in the startup. In April, Rivian announced a $500 million investment from Ford, following a $700 million investment round led by Amazon in February.
Founded in 2009, Rivian’s mission is to become the Tesla of trucks, drawing investors and consumer interest long before the first vehicles roll off the line at a former Mitsubishi plant in Normal currently undergoing renovations.
* CNET…
Who or what is Cox Automotive? It’s the parent company of some brands you probably know like Autotrader and Kelley Blue Book, and some that you might not like Manheim. Despite not necessarily being a household name, Cox has surprisingly deep pockets and has decided to draw on them for a $350 million investment in the burgeoning EV (electric vehicle) startup.
What is Cox getting for its money? Kind of a lot, it turns out. Specifically, it’s getting a seat on Rivian’s board, and Rivian stated that it will work with Cox to “explore opportunities for partnerships in digital retailing, service operations and logistics.”
That may sound boring, and you may already have fallen asleep reading it, but for Cox it’s a big deal, since a large chunk of its business involves working with car dealers to get them and their listings in front of the eyes of consumers. If it can get even closer to the source of things, even better.
“We are building a Rivian ownership experience that matches the care and consideration that go into our vehicles,” said RJ Scaringe, founder and CEO of Rivian, in a statement. “As part of this, we are excited to work with Cox Automotive in delivering a consistent customer experience across our various touchpoints. Cox Automotive’s global footprint, service and logistics capabilities, and retail technology platform make them a great partner for us.”
* TechCrunch…
Cox Automotive has a number of specialties, such as logistics, fleet management and service and digital retailing, which is the back-end retail support that a company selling and servicing vehicles will need. For instance, Cox Automotive launched in January a fleet services brand called Pivet that handles the task management, including everything from in-fleeting, de-fleeting, cleaning, detailing, fueling and charging, to maintenance, storage, parking and logistics.
While Rivian has never explicitly announced plans to have a subscription service to its vehicles, this type of service would come in handy if the automaker pursued that as a business model.
Cox Automotive has also been building out parts of its business to take advantage of the rise in electrified vehicles, including battery diagnostics and second-life battery applications.
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What could possibly go wrong?
Wednesday, Sep 11, 2019 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Hannah Meisel…
With less than two months until 17,100 youth in Illinois’ foster care system are supposed to be switched from their current fee-for-service Medicaid healthcare programs and into a Medicaid Managed Care Organization, critics said Tuesday the agency and the organization are nowhere near ready for that transition and plan to ask for a delay.
A marathon four-hour House hearing held in Chicago focused on issues with the state’s Department of Children and Family Services, which has been under fire for months.
In addition to 17,100 children and teens in state custody, 18,800 young adults younger than age 26 who were in state custody are also supposed to begin their healthcare coverage with IlliniCare, a part of HealthChoice Illinois, the state’s Medicaid Managed Care Program. The state’s Medicaid program has gradually been transitioning to largely managed care, which promises better healthcare outcomes — as well as savings through efficiencies — through caseworkers managing cases for Medicaid patients.
A law passed last year and signed by former Gov. Bruce Rauner was supposed to provide guidance for DCFS and whichever organization, known as a MCO, was selected as to the transition from fee-for-service to managed care.
The bill was pushed by the ACLU of Illinois, and passed the General Assembly unanimously in the Senate and overwhelmingly in the House last year. But since then, ACLU Illinois Director of Institutional Reform Heidi Dalenberg said DCFS hasn’t done enough to get ready for the transition, and that moving ahead anyway would spell danger, especially for the foster care population. Dalenberg told The Daily Line the transition is much more complicated than if an adult switched regular health insurers, which she noted is already stressful.
* Moving these kids into managed care was a Bruce Rauner idea, but it’s on Gov. Pritzker’s hands now. Governors own, as the saying goes. So, if they can’t make the November 1 deadline, then don’t do it…
“I want to acknowledge that we’ve had some growing pains with managed care in Illinois,” Theresa Eagleson, director of the Department of Healthcare and Family Services, the agency that administers Illinois’ Medicaid program, told lawmakers during a hearing Tuesday in Chicago.
Eagleson, along with Leslie Naamon, president and CEO of IlliniCare Health, the company selected to run the program for DCFS children, tried to assure lawmakers they are trying to work out those issues before the new program launches. […]
Meanwhile, Dr. Edward Pont, a pediatrician who practices in DuPage County, urged state officials to delay the scheduled Nov. 1 start date for the new program. He said he was concerned that a managed care system could severely restrict those children’s access to certain kinds of health care because not all providers will be in the insurance company’s network.
“The decision to mandate that all wards (of the state) go into a single MCO will limit access,” Pont said. “Many providers now taking care of these wards may not be aware of the transition.”
* NPR Illinois…
But people like State Rep. Mary Flowers (D, Chicago) say that plan is not soup yet.
“The road to hell was paved with good intentions, and I’m sure you have that,” she told a panel of healthcare officials at the hearing in Chicago. “But you are experimenting with my children’s lives, and I’m sick of it.“ […]
Rep. Jennifer Gong-Gershowitz said she’s worried kids who use IlliniCare exclusively may have fewer places they can go to receive care.
“If [a] provider is not a part of IlliniCare…then is it ultimately up to IllniCare to decide whether or not that child continues to receive those services?” she asked. “It seems to be little bit self-serving.”
* Kyle Hillman of the National Association of Social Workers on Twitter…
In the short term at least, the MCO shift is looking like a total disaster. They don’t have the network, there are going to be a lot of kids losing care, and they don’t even know where some of these former kids are.
Which leads to my next thought - rather than just tell the committee we aren’t there yet - they literally lied about knowing where former youth in care are. When pressed, they sort of back tracked - but truth is they don’t know.
The testimony was full of buzz words and feel good statements but in the end the whole system is built on the false idea that these kids have proactive advocates. That just isn’t true
In a perfect world, their case worker would have small caseloads, their GALs would be fully trained and available, their medical professionals would have time to advocate and even their foster parent would have the training. We don’t live in a perfect world.
So knowing that these kids won’t have the advocates they need - it made Sen. @RobertJPeters question that more telling. In it he asked bluntly if the MCO planned to make a profit off of foster kids. After a moment of silence they said yes.
The MCO makes money off of “efficiencies” which often looks more like denial of claims and referral of cheaper less effective treatments. It saves the state money by denying foster kids care. Yay us!
When you don’t have the providers in your network around specialized care or in some rural areas - the foster youth can’t get costly needed services = $
When they don’t know where the former foster youth is they can’t get healthcare = $$
When the MCO denies claims and the kids don’t have proper advocates to fight for the care they need = $$$
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* ProPublica Illinois…
Two former students at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and a professor at another college filed a lawsuit Tuesday against a former UIUC professor, claiming he assaulted, bullied and raped multiple students.
The lawsuit, filed in federal court in Urbana against Gary Gang Xu, seeks damages for distress from emotional, physical and sexual abuse.
The lawsuit claims Xu specifically targeted female Chinese students, who often depended on the university for their visa status. […]
Xu, who was a tenured professor in the Department of East Asian Languages and Cultures, resigned last year, two years after a university investigation found that he violated a no-contact directive involving a student and had an inappropriate relationship with that student.
He received a $10,000 “separation payment” with a confidentiality clause.
* From the lawsuit…
Sun entered into a sexual relationship with Xu, her professor, when she was 19 and he was 45. She was new to the country, isolated, and so young. She was the perfect target for him. Xu was a typical domestic abuser. He raised Sun up, only to throw her back down. He told her he loved her and then threatened to leave her. He violently raped her, then told her it was because he couldn’t help himself in the face of her beauty. He tried to pimp her out to Chinese artists for commercial gain. He forced her to arrange a threesome for him with another student while she was pregnant with his child. Hanging over the entire relationship was the huge power imbalance between them. She was his student. He could fail her, drop her from his course. She could lose her F1 student visa status and be forced to leave the country if she displeased him. He could beat her if she refused—he had before. Sun was so strung along by Xu that she would do whatever he asked, even having an abortion performed against her will. The despair she felt over the loss of her baby caused her to attempt suicide.
On several occasions, Sun attempted to stop the cycle of violence and reported Xu’s abuse to UIUC. As is typical of a victim of domestic violence, she dropped these reports shortly after making them to protect her safety — Xu beat her and threatened to hurt her and her family if she did not. UIUC took no meaningful action in response to these reports, allowing Xu continued unsupervised access to all the young students under his tutelage, including Sun. After the University gave him a letter telling him to have no contact with Sun, she was still allowed to enroll in and take his classes, with no measures in place to prevent this. He flaunted their relationship publicly, but the University did nothing. Even as he began to sexually violate yet another UIUC student, Xu’s relationship with Sun continued.
Finally, in the fall of 2015, an incident occurred that UIUC could no longer ignore. Xu’s volatile temper flared again, with Sun as his target. As Xu began to advance on Sun, she fled her apartment to escape him. She ran down public streets while Xu chased her in his car, attempting to hit her, until she arrived at the Champaign Public Library. There was a public scene, with many witnesses, and the police were called. Sun told the police about their abusive relationship—his physical assaults, his rapes. Her school advisor was present. This time, UIUC had to take notice. Sun, through a private attorney, filed a restraining order against Xu. Their two- year abusive relationship was, at last, over.
He didn’t resign for two more years.
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Yell louder!
Tuesday, Sep 10, 2019 - Posted by Rich Miller
* From a certain columnist…
When the Democrats in 2003 irresponsibly borrowed $10 billion for pension and operational costs, the GOP should have protested — loudly. Taxpayers are on the hook for all that interest paid. And when Democrats skipped pension payments for two years after that, and borrowed repeatedly to paper over deficit spending, Republicans should have said, hell no. They didn’t. The unfunded liabilities have soared.
Greg Hinz looked beyond the urban legends about Blagojevich’s POB and came to a far different conclusion a few years ago…
The state’s timing was exquisite. Over the next four years, according to figures supplied by Mr. Filan that others verified, the average return on investments by the state’s pension funds was 16.6 percent, 10.6 percent, 11.6 percent and 18.6 percent, in that order. Those returns were well above the average 5.07 percent interest rate Illinois paid to borrow the $10 billion. The pension funds built up such a cushion that the POB money was even at the depths of the 2008 recession, and it has come back strong since.
Compared with where it would have been had it simply put in the usual annual payments, the state is $8.55 billion ahead, says Mr. Filan, now a senior consultant at Chicago-based financial restructuring firm Development Specialists Inc. And the retirement systems, though still underfunded, have 41.1 percent of the assets needed to pay promised benefits, better than the 35.9 percent they would have had without the POB.
* And Republicans didn’t complain loudly about the pension holiday? Treasurer Judy Baar Topinka yelled to the high heavens and so did a whole lot of Republican lawmakers…
“This is no more of a holiday than a cruise on the Titanic was,” said state Sen. Bill Brady, R-Bloomington.
* One more excerpt…
In 2011 when the majority party passed an income tax hike in the middle of the night, on the day before new lawmakers were seated — with a structured roll call of lame duck legislators who got goodies in exchange for their votes — the GOP should have been outraged. Not just “outraged” during staged news conferences, but in their guts.
Oh, come on. They pitched an absolute fit and kept it up for a long time. From 2012…
The top Republicans in the Illinois House and Senate are offering a one-year anniversary raspberry salute to the passage of a $7-billion state income tax hike, saying it hasn’t worked and ought to be immediately repealed. […]
Those themes were echoed by John Tillman, head of the Illinois Policy Institute, a libertarian research group. He released a poll saying 68% of state residents opposed the tax increase.
Her basic thesis appears to be that Republicans need to yell much louder and more convincingly and that’ll translate into… well, I’m not sure what. Jobs on the Tribune editorial board maybe?
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The NRCC’s oh-so-subtle press releases (cont.)
Tuesday, Sep 10, 2019 - Posted by Rich Miller
* NRCC at 1:51 this afternoon…
Say cheese!
Sean Casten proudly displayed his commitment to a socialist agenda yesterday, posing for a “Unity” photo-op with fellow socialists AOC and Ilhan Omar.
Unity indeed. Casten votes with AOC 94% of the time and enthusiastically supports Item #1 on the socialist agenda: impeachment.
Three cheers for open borders and banning red meat!
The photo was of all freshmen Democrats.
* NRCC at 1:50 this afternoon…
Say cheese!
Fake nurse Lauren Underwood proudly displayed her commitment to a socialist agenda yesterday, posing for a “Unity” photo-op with fellow socialists AOC and Ilhan Omar.
Unity indeed. Underwood votes with AOC 93% of the time and supports Item #1 on the socialist agenda: baseless impeachment of President Trump.
Three cheers for open borders and banning red meat!
I wonder if anyone actually writes stories based on these releases or if the rhetorical missiles just sit unopened in dozens of in-boxes.
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When campaign promises crash into reality
Tuesday, Sep 10, 2019 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Mayor Lori Lightfoot had almost no staff during the campaign’s first round and the media did little to no vetting of her ideas, so these sorts of promises were quite common…
[Lightfoot] campaigned on a promise to abolish the city sticker and replace the $128 million in annual revenue with dramatically higher fees on ride-hailing vehicles. She talked about imposing strict limits on the number of ride-hailing vehicles.
“There’s no rush hour anymore. It’s perpetual. … We have tens of thousands of new cars on the roads … because of ride-share. They’re … [driven by] people who don’t even live in Chicago,” Lightfoot told the Sun-Times in late February.
* But…
During a typical morning rush, there are “only 1,400 Ubers on the road” in Chicago, he said; that’s “around three percent of miles driven,” [Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi] said.
* And she’s now coming to terms with reality…
Mayor Lori Lightfoot today said she plans to roll out “modest recommendations” in the “short term” when it comes to Chicago’s traffic congestion, but alluded to a package of reforms that leans on a “comprehensive study of what is happening with congestion here in Chicago.”
“What are the drivers of it? I don’t think we have enough data yet to be able to make a comprehensive plan,” Lightfoot said at an event with Uber officials Monday, describing press accounts about the tax as “way ahead of where we are.”
* Meanwhile, these folks are free to suggest all sorts of things because they’re not actually in charge of much of anything, but it gets them media coverage…
A coalition of progressive groups and a handful of aldermen are getting specific about increases to a bevy of taxes to fill Chicago’s budget hole, including restoring and increasing Chicago’s corporate head tax to $16 per month for large companies, instituting a 3.5 percent tax on office leases, a hike in the hotel tax from 4.5 percent to 7.5 percent, a vacancy tax on commercial properties vacant for more than 18 months and a local income tax on those earning above $100,000 a year. […]
Aside from progressive revenue proposals, the group is calling for a freeze in the Chicago Police Department’s budget, a moratorium on the city privatizing services, and a halt to TIF subsidies for developments aimed at wealthy neighborhoods. It wants $2 billion in additional city spending for affordable housing, reopening the city’s closed mental health clinics, an expansion of early childhood education, and a year-round youth jobs program. […]
The group conceded they had only 10 members signed on to push those proposals and were still in talks to get the entire 18-member Progressive Caucus on board.
Yeah, they can’t even convince the full Progressive Caucus to support them. That’ll go far.
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Read this if you haven’t already
Tuesday, Sep 10, 2019 - Posted by Rich Miller
* I’m coming a little late to this story…
The Rev. Leon Finney Jr. spent the last half-century building a real estate empire on Chicago’s South Side while amassing political power and hobnobbing with politicians like Barack Obama, Rahm Emanuel, Richard M. Daley and Toni Preckwinkle.
Now in his twilight years, Finney’s fiefdom teeters on the brink of collapse.
Once revered for his community work, Finney, 81, stands accused of fraud, self-dealing and mismanagement after his nonprofit, the Woodlawn Community Development Corporation, filed for bankruptcy in October and the curtains were pulled back on its finances.
Finney has been ousted at the organization he helped create. And, in a rare step, a federal judge appointed a trustee in April to take control of Woodlawn, a move the nonprofit fought. Piece by piece, its real estate holdings are being sold off.
After the bankruptcy came more financial blows. Woodlawn’s main source of revenue — lucrative contracts to manage more than 4,300 apartments for the Chicago Housing Authority, bringing in about $170,000 a month in management fees — was canceled in June after the CHA accused Woodlawn of mismanagement resulting in nearly $400,000 in damages.
Go read the rest. Classic Chicago.
* Related…
* Parishioners stand with Rev. Leon Finney amid fraud allegations: ‘His heart’s in the right place’ - Days after a judge’s stinging rebuke of the longtime Chicago powerbroker was reported by the Sun-Times, Finney forcibly removed a reporter from Sunday service at his church
* Lori Lightfoot orders review of Rev. Leon Finney Jr.’s ‘significant portfolio’ of CHA buildings: The mayor called the South Side minister ‘an iconic person’ who has ‘done good work over the course of his life’ and said his downfall is ‘clearly disappointing.’
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Some valid questions for Secretary White
Tuesday, Sep 10, 2019 - Posted by Rich Miller
* We’ve already talked about this…
A Rockford woman is suing the Illinois secretary of state in an attempt to change a state rule requiring those who wear a religious head covering in their driver’s license photo to also certify that they do not normally remove that head covering in public.
Maryjane Bicksler, 68, filed the lawsuit this week in Chicago federal court with the help of the Chicago chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations.
The suit states that Bicksler, who is Muslim and wears a hijab, went to her local driver’s services facility in Rockford to renew her driver’s license in July. She was asked to sign a form saying that if the secretary of state’s office, which is in charge of driver’s services, received evidence that she does not wear her hijab in public, her driver’s license would be canceled.
* Zorn asks some good questions. Too bad he didn’t get any answers…
You can have a full beard for your license photo and shave it off the moment you get home, and your license is still valid.
You can wear a wig for your license photo. You can change to a dramatically different wig, dye your hair or shave yourself bald the moment you get home, and your license is still valid.
You can wear prescription glasses for your photo, then switch to contacts the moment you get home, and your license is still valid.
As long as the photo shows the applicant’s eyes, nose and mouth without shadow or obstruction, what’s the difference?
I put this question to White’s office Thursday, but a spokesman cited the pending litigation and declined to offer any comment on the topic.
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* From some outfit called Big 7 Travel…
Look, some states are sexier than others – at least, that’s what the results of our survey of the sexiest states in America is proving. We asked our 1.5 million social audience to get an insight into where you’ll find the America’s most beautiful people.
Survey respondents were given no further specifications of the term ‘sexy’, so interpretation of the word was up to them.
‘Sexy’, according to the fail-safe Merriam-Webster dictionary, is classified as “generally attractive or interesting”. While beauty may be only skin deep, it’s probably little consolation to the unlucky states that have been voted as the least sexy. Sorry, Nebraska.
* Illinois finished… first?…
1st. Illinois
And the top spots of the sexiest states in America? Illinois takes first place and easily topped our poll for 2019. Who could disagree with this? It’s no wonder that so many of the celebrities, sportspeople and singers that come from here are outrageously attractive.
OK. I guess we’ll take it.
(Hat tip: Hannah Meisel)
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* Press release…
Nearly 124,000 people attended the Du Quoin State Fair this year, up 23% from last year’s attendance of just over 100,000 people. The attendance is the highest in at least four years.
“The 2019 Du Quoin State Fair was a record hit, with double digit increases in attendance, grandstand ticket sales and revenue – but more importantly, the people of Southern Illinois had a great time enjoying everything the fair had to offer,” said Governor JB Pritzker. “My administration has invested in improving the Du Quoin fairgrounds, and I’m committed to making this historic fair successful for decades to come, so that this economic engine can continue to benefit not only Du Quoin, but all of Southern Illinois.”
“This year’s success at the Du Quoin State Fair is humbling as we work to bring the fair back to what I remember as a kid,” said Josh Gross, Du Quoin State Fair Manager. “The fair was an event that you circled on your calendar and something you would never miss. Our goal is to bring it back to a can’t miss event, and the jump in attendance we’ve seen shows we’re moving in the right direction.”
The increased attendance follows a key decision by fair officials this year to cut the $2 admission cost, making it free for all to attend. Other indicators also demonstrate the fair’s improvements this year. The grandstand saw a 26% increase in tickets sales and 37% increase in revenue this fair season, generating more than $97,000. The 2020 Du Quoin State Fair will run August 28- September 7.
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* From May…
When she found out that staff at the Danville Correctional Center had removed more than 200 books from a library inside the prison’s education wing, Rebecca Ginsburg said she felt a pit in her stomach.
“I felt sick,” she said. Ginsburg directs the Education Justice Project, a college in prison program that offers University of Illinois classes to men incarcerated at the Danville prison in east-central Illinois. In late January, prison staff removed dozens of titles from two rooms that serve as the program’s library.
Those titles include books like “Visiting Day,” a children’s book about visiting a parent in prison by author, Jacqueline Woodson. Also included among the removed books are two titles written by African-American scholar Henry Louis Gates Jr., a book by philosopher Cornel West, “Up From Slavery” by Booker T. Washington, and “Mapping Your Future: A Guide to Successful Reentry 2017-2018” written by the college in prison program’s reentry team.
A majority of the books removed from the program’s library are about race.
* Corrections has since revamped its policies…
IDOC Director Rob Jeffreys said the intention of the new policy is to prevent any arbitrary acts of censorship from playing out at state prisons. He said the change will take effect Oct. 1. Details of the new policy will be made public at that time. […]
[Director Jeffreys] said the new policy will require that censorship decisions made at the prison level be reviewed by staff at the prison system’s central office.
“That way we will have another set of eyes looking at anything that’s been denied,” Jeffreys said. He said the new policy will also include an appeals process.
“In addition, I’ve also asked for the National Institute of Corrections to come in and review our new policy to make sure our publication review process is meeting the national standard — and also looking at all our library programs to make sure we are providing the best type of quality programming for our offenders as well,” Jeffreys said.
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Full of sound and fury, signifying nothing
Tuesday, Sep 10, 2019 - Posted by Rich Miller
* The City Club hosted a pension discussion yesterday. The moderator and two of the three panelists are of the “Do something!” ilk who demand that legislators fix the pension mess, but don’t really have any ideas of their own beyond variations on the same failed strategies from the past. A new Tribune editorial today is a prime example of this. Lots of complaining about inaction, but no ideas.
Sen. Steans tried to inject a bit of reason and sanity, but nobody seemed to care much…
State Sen. Heather Steans, D-Chicago, who joked about being the only lawmaker brave enough to sit on the panel and take the criticism, didn’t agree with the others that Springfield hasn’t tried to fix the issue. She said trying to change the state’s constitution would be a waste of effort because there are other constitutional protections, including the federal contracts clause, that would keep lawmakers from altering existing and retired worker pension arrangements.
“I’d much rather have our limited ability to focus on what we’re going to do here to be pragmatic, reasonable and something we actually hope to be able to achieve,” she said.
She also mentioned the federal Constitution’s “Takings Clause” as an impediment to cutting legally earned benefits.
* One Illinois…
Steans offered a series of actual proposals, beginning with raising additional money for pensions, including through Gov. Pritzker’s “fair tax,” a graduated income tax, scheduled to go before voters to amend the state constitution with next year’s general election.
But she warned that “there will be a well-funded campaign against it,” no doubt to be led by the IPI, and other potential solutions had pitfalls as well.
She mentioned a “consideration model,” meant to give public workers a choice between pensions based on raises on the job or on cost-of-living increases after retiring, but not both.
Other attempts to alter benefits for public pensions have been rejected by the Illinois Supreme Court, and it’s not clear it would allow those benefits to be negotiated in any case. Msall bemoaned how the Supreme Court had simply struck down previous attempts to change pension benefits, while offering “nothing” in the way of guidance on how to proceed without reductions.
Regardless, Steans said, “I do believe we should have labor at the table working with us on this.”
The Supreme Court’s role does not include advising the legislature how to specifically write bills to avoid violating the state’s Constitution. Its role is to say “this is unconstitutional,” or “this is not unconstitutional.” Even so, the justices have been pretty darned clear on multiple occasions about what the Consitution says: Pension benefits are a contractual promise that cannot be undone.
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* Illinois and Chicago can pass all the gun laws they want, but as long as our neighboring states have lax regulations and as long as Illinois criminals are looking to buy guns however they can, we’re gonna get some cross-border leakage…
Two men are facing federal charges for allegedly conspiring to straw purchase over a dozen handguns in Wisconsin and resell them in Chicago.
Kirk Valentine, of Wisconsin, allegedly bought 19 handguns from retail stores, pawn shops and gun shows and illegally gave them to Chicago resident Francisco Rocha, who resold them in the city, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office of the Northern Illinois District.
Both are charged with conspiracy to deal firearms without a license, prosecutors said. Rocha, who goes by “Mookie” and “Ese,” is also charged with unlawful dealing and importing firearms, according to the federal indictment.
Rocha, 28, allegedly recruited 23-year-old Valentine, who paid premium over-the-list prices for the handguns in the first six months of 2018 throughout Wisconsin, prosecutors said. Rocha allegedly told him which guns to buy.
I’m not saying that Illinois should loosen or strengthen its current gun laws. I’m just saying there are some limitations on what the state can do.
* Related…
* Lightfoot and Cruz Are Both Right: Chicago’s gun laws don’t stop mass shootings. In a country with 390 million firearms, no city’s could.
* After Twitter spat with Sen. Ted Cruz over gun violence, Mayor Lori Lightfoot invites the Texas Republican to visit Chicago’s South and West sides
* Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s clever offer to Sen. Ted Cruz: Come to Chicago to discuss gun control
* Ted Cruz and others should stop using Chicago as a punching bag
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* A Sun-Times op-ed by Terry Cosgrove at Personal PAC…
Under Illinois’ current flat tax rate system, funding has been inadequate to balance inequalities in our system. The proposed fair tax will improve equity in our taxation system and is projected to bring in $3.2 billion more in revenue.
Personal PAC will work to ensure that Illinois recommits to funding the social safety net for Illinois’ most vulnerable citizens. […]
Personal PAC calls on every pro-choice voter to join us in supporting the fair tax amendment. Under a fair tax system, the state of Illinois will have the resources to fund the broad range of programs and services needed to ensure that every child in Illinois is cared for, regardless of zip code.
The pro-choice, pro-mother, pro-child and pro-family vote is in favor of the fair tax amendment on the November 2020 general election ballot.
The governor has been a huge supporter of Cosgrove’s issues, so this may not be much of a surprise when you think about it.
* I asked Cosgrove if his cash-rich group would be spending money on behalf of the 2020 referendum. His reply…
We’ll review that after the March primary, but will certainly include our support in most of our communication—-social media, voters’ guide, etc. which reaches a large audience statewide. Standing up for access to reproductive health care for all women, without regard to zip code, source of health insurance, institution providing health care, age and health status, is the core of Personal PAC’s mission.
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