Is that really necessary?
Tuesday, Dec 9, 2014 - Posted by Rich Miller
* The Second City Cop blog passed along this completely made-up story from a Chicago police officer…
I was out there tonight on Lake Shore drive while the white Protestors. And a few Black Protestors were filming us and yelling. I seen a White Girl with her camera phone filming us. She was holding the camera in the air. Then some black guy grabbed the girls phone and took off into the crowd. The girl then approached the cop next to me and stated that this black guy just grabbed her cell phone. The cop next to me raised his arms up and stated ‘Don’t call the police’. I started laughing and she turned to me and asked why I was laughing.I stated you don’t like or want the police around so you go chase that black guy. She stated that’s your job to protect me and my Property. I stated you are protesting me from doing my job. She walked away crying
I get the irony and the humor. Just desserts, indeed. Too bad it’s not true.
* I also get the explanation from the blog’s proprietor, who apparently fell for the gag…
Point #1 - One copper isn’t going to chase this guy into an obviously hostile crowd.
Point #2 - The cops had orders to try to keep the protestors on the sidewalk. The priority wasn’t to apprehend phone snatchers. In a volatile situation like that, property crimes take a backseat to the overall picture. Sorry, that’s just the way it is.
Point #3 - As we said here a few days ago, f— the police until you need the police. Do you understand now ma’am?
Heh.
* But what I don’t “get” are all the blatant racial references in the concocted story. Who writes like that? Who publishes stuff like that? Wait, I think I know the answer.
And the comments on the post are definitely NSFW. If that blog doesn’t have the most hideously vile comment section in all of Illinois, I don’t know what the “winner” might be. Whew.
It’s one thing to be defensive in the face of serious public criticism, it’s quite another to be disgustingly offensive.
* I also don’t get why a Chicago cop would find it appropriate and non-provocative to allegedly blast “Sweet Home Alabama” over his patrol car’s loudspeaker while escorting a “Black Lives Matter” demonstration on the city’s West Side…
Sheesh.
* Look, I like cops. I always respect people who can and will do something that I can’t or won’t do, and that particular occupation most certainly clicks both boxes. They have in many, many ways a no-win job.
But sticking up for (or even encouraging) the minority of racists, misanthropes and rule-breakers doesn’t ever endear me to anyone. You wanna know why some citizens are so angry at you? Look in the mirror.
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* From a We Are One Illinois press release…
In response to a motion by the state seeking to short-circuit the Illinois Supreme Court’s normal procedure and replace it with an unfairly rushed schedule in the appeal of a ruling that struck down Senate Bill 1—pension-cutting legislation affecting active and retired teachers, state employees and university employees—the We Are One Illinois union coalition and the other plaintiff groups have requested that the Court follow its established rules to ensure a fair process with ample time for all parties.
Attorney General Lisa Madigan has requested a significantly truncated schedule for her appeal of a Sangamon County Circuit Court ruling that overturned SB 1.
Saying that a rushed process is unnecessary and could be unfair, the union coalition and other plaintiffs have asked the Supreme Court to adhere to its normal schedule for hearing appeals, allowing all parties adequate time to respond.
While the state claims to want a decision before the end of May for budget-making purposes, our filing points out that the state’s own appeal seeks only to return the case to the circuit court, where a decision would certainly not come before the supposed May deadline. In short, the state’s argument is based on trying to create “a false sense of urgency.”
Further, our reply notes, “The defendants made no effort to consult with the plaintiffs on any agreed briefing schedule prior to filing their motion. The reason is obvious. The defendants seek to impose a manifestly unfair briefing schedule on the plaintiffs” by severely reducing our time available to prepare required responses.
The motion is here.
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Today’s number: $560 million
Tuesday, Dec 9, 2014 - Posted by Rich Miller
* From a November 1st Crain’s editorial…
You know you’ve got a good thing going when profitability is only a bailout away. That’s the kind of mojo that’s working at Exelon Corp., which is signaling it will seek legislation next year to provide hundreds of millions of additional dollars to its fleet of Illinois nuclear plants, which the Chicago power company contends are struggling financially.
Exelon says three of its six plants in Illinois are in the red and will stay that way without policy changes in Springfield. Presumably the other three are profitable, but Exelon won’t go into details. None of this would be much of an issue if Exelon weren’t on the cusp of seeking a blanket fix for what could be a very specific problem. The company says it plans to pursue a “market solution” in Springfield that benefits all of its nukes in Illinois, even those in the black. […]
Crain’s Senior Reporter Steve Daniels walks readers through the numbers we do know in the Oct. 27 issue. He confirms Exelon’s nuclear business indeed has taken a hit. Pretax profits at the Midwest operation plunged by almost three-quarters to an estimated $4.90 per megawatt-hour in 2013 from $17.38 in 2011. Midwest revenue fell 28 percent in the same period, undercut by cheap natural gas and unusually low “capacity” fees paid by all energy consumers to power plants to ensure electricity is available when demand soars.
Those declines are tough. Even so, Exelon’s Midwest fleet as a whole still is profitable by Crain’s estimates. And the pain will be alleviated in the coming year. A big increase in capacity prices paid to power plants—costs that caused the summer spike in most Chicago-area consumers’ electricity rates—will boost Exelon’s Illinois revenue by $388 million from June 1 to May 31, according to one estimate. Meanwhile, there’s good news on the corporate earnings front: Exelon’s third-quarter profit rose 35 percent to $993 million, powered by gains in its utility and generation units.
* Well, Steve Daniels ran another story the other day about how that original $388 million estimate was only the beginning…
PJM Interconnection, the Valley Forge, Pa.-based regional power-grid operator for all or parts of 13 states including northern Illinois, on Dec. 3 approved changes to the way electricity generators are compensated for their promise to deliver during peak-demand periods. The changes, which are subject to approval by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, will benefit Chicago-based Exelon more than any other power company in the 13-state region, analysts say.
When they take effect in 2018, those alterations will funnel more than $560 million in additional revenue that year to five of Exelon’s six Illinois nuclear stations, according to an analysis by former Illinois Power Agency Director Mark Pruitt. (One, the downstate Clinton plant, isn’t in the PJM region and wouldn’t benefit from the special payments.) Spread across all six of Exelon’s plants, that revenue would add roughly 22 percent to the net revenue they collected as a group in 2013.
Compared with what Commonwealth Edison customers pay today, the changes would hike the price of electricity 19 percent. Customers’ total rates would increase by 11 percent, although that number is expected to rise with increases in the separate cost of delivering the juice. […]
The increases PJM is trying to engineer would benefit Exelon more than any other power company operating in PJM’s footprint, according to Hugh Wynne, an analyst at Sanford C. Bernstein. Based on the $272-per-megawatt-day capacity price that PJM is forecasting (118 percent higher than today’s), Exelon stands to enjoy an earnings boost of 55 cents per share, 21 percent higher than analysts’ consensus 2016 earnings estimate, Wynne said in a Nov. 21 report.
* Meanwhile…
When he takes office as governor Jan. 12, one of the first hot potatoes Bruce Rauner may have tossed to him is the recently passed bill to extend the smart grid law that allows for annual electricity rate hikes via a formula.
Senate President John Cullerton is holding onto the bill for now and may not deliver it to the governor’s office until smart grid foe Pat Quinn leaves office. In so doing, Cullerton clearly hopes that Rauner will look more favorably on the legislation, which would extend the formula rates Commonwealth Edison and Ameren Illinois are charging for two years. The law then would sunset in 2019 rather than 2017, as it currently does. […]
If Cullerton waits and sends the bill to Rauner, Rauner won’t have to act on it immediately despite the fact that a new General Assembly will convene on Jan. 14. He would have the full 60 days governors normally have to sign, veto and make amendatory changes to bills that cross their desks.
That’s good for him politically because otherwise he might feel pressured to sign into law electricity rate hikes statewide as one of his first official acts as governor.
Actually, all he can really do is sign it or veto it. An amendatory veto couldn’t be sustained in the next General Assembly. He’d kill it by doing that. Then again, it would be a way of sending a message to the GA about what he would accept. We’ll see.
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Question of the day - Golden Horseshoe Awards
Tuesday, Dec 9, 2014 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Senate Republican Leader Christine Radogno’s operation was the only one which picked up any seats last month. Knocking off a third generation political scion like Mike Jacobs wasn’t easy and was a complete team effort, from the very top of Radogno’s staff right on down. So, I’m breaking with tradition and giving the 2014 Golden Horseshoe Award for Best Senate Republican Campaign Staffer to three incredible people: Nick McNeely, Jim Reis and Rachel Bold…
Reis helped [Republican candidate Neil Anderson] fundraise relentlessly and local money funded the exceptional ground game that McNeely and Bold pulled together. SGOP should put a team like those three on every race - it really paid off.
I completely agree. I really like the way the SGOPs ran their operation this year. More like this, please.
* The crowd favorite for the 2014 Golden Horseshoe Award for Best Senate Democratic Campaign Staffer was obvious, the inestimable Mitch Schaben…
While many people began working on campaigns in June or July this year, Mitch started working on Manar’s campaign the day after he finished stomping Mark Minor in Forby’s district in 2012. The Senate GOP’s might as well write off whatever race he is on in 2016, because he won’t be outworked. I would call him a machine, but I think he would outwork most machines. Manar is a great candidate, but you need more than a great candidate to run up an 11 point lead in a bad year in a Republican leaning district.
It also couldn’t have been easy to have been the former chief of staff’s campaign manager. Manar is super-smart, so his manager had to bring his “A Game” every, single day.
* OK, on to our next categories, with last year’s winners in parentheses…
* Best Illinois State Representative - Democrat (Rep. Greg Harris)
* Best Illinois State Senator - Democrat (Sen. Kwame Raoul)
I decided yesterday that, from now on, the realities of Statehouse partisanship dictate lumping these party categories together. I’m much more likely to get responses for both categories by doing it this way. Or, at least, that’s the theory. We’ll see how it works today.
Remember to explain your nominations or they won’t count and please do your utmost to nominate in both categories. Thanks!
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* Shia Kappos at Crain’s…
Diana Rauner’s Ounce of Prevention, which advocates for and funds early childhood education programs, received $14.2 million in state funding in the fiscal year that ended June 30, 28 percent of its $50.0 million budget.
Ethics experts say her dual role creates questions about whether the Rauner administration can impartially supervise existing grants or approve new funding for an organization run by the governor’s wife.
“It’s going to appear that it’s doing well because she’s pulling strings,” says Patricia Werhane, Wicklander chair of business ethics at DePaul University. “She should give up that position.”
Donations to Ounce potentially become a way for lobbyists and vendors to influence the Rauner administration, says Melanie Sloan, executive director for Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics, in Washington, D.C. “Ounce of Prevention will suddenly be deluged with contributions,” she says.
But the concerns aren’t a reason for Diana Rauner to step down from her unpaid position, according to Ounce spokeswoman Megan Meyer. “There are no ethical issues,” she says, adding that the organization is taking some steps to limit the appearance of a conflict. Meyer says other staff members will lobby legislators on funding issues, although their supervisors will report to Diana Rauner, who reports to the board.
Not all “ethics experts” agree, however. The story quotes Susan Garrett of the Illinois Campaign for Political Reform as saying it’s not a big deal as long as there is a firewall. And the Rauner transition team released a response…
The Rauner administration will ensure that the Ounce will receive no special treatment from state agencies and will, as it has for years, compete for grant funds and state contracts on the same fair and evenhanded basis as other valued social service organizations
* Personally, I side with Garrett on this one. Also, I think Diana Rauner has done a tremendous job over at Ounce of Prevention and believe she’d be a moderating influence on her husband if he follows advice from his goofy, hard-right “budget consultant.”
But, as the story points out, the Rauner campaign objected strongly when former Sun-Times reporter Dave McKinney set up an even stronger firewall with his wife, a Democratic political consultant. Those strong objections led to McKinney’s suspension and ultimate resignation.
So, reluctantly, I gotta say: What’s good the for the goose…
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Feds won’t call Whitaker to the stand
Tuesday, Dec 9, 2014 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Tribune…
Federal prosecutors in Springfield on Tuesday said they would not call Eric Whitaker, the former state public health chief and friend of President Barack Obama, to testify at a state grant scam trial.
The announcement came a day after prosecutors persuaded a judge to declare Whitaker a hostile witness based on more than two hours of questioning outside the presence of the jury.
On trial are Leon and Karen Dingle, who stand accused of benefiting personally from faith-based grants designed to help fight AIDS, pandemic flu and breast cancer.
* The Sun-Times has the back story…
On the witness stand for more than two hours, Whitaker voiced concerns that the Justice Department’s pursuit of state grant-fraud cases in the Central District of Illinois has been racially motivated.
Prosecutors have charged the Dingles and eight other people in six different cases, most of which involve no-bid grants and contracts that began being doled out when Whitaker headed the Illinois Department of Public Health for former Gov. Rod Blagojevich between 2003 and 2007.
Of those 10 people, only one of them — Karin Dingle — is white, while the rest are black.
“Almost everybody who’s been indicted or scrutinized has been African-American. That’s what I mentioned to you,” Whitaker, who also is black, told Assistant U.S. Attorney Timothy A. Bass. “What I don’t support is a selective investigation.” […]
“Personally, I’m upset about this process and how I’ve been made to look like I’m on trial,” Whitaker said. “My not answering a question was really about an affair. . . . I’ve been made to seem like I’m somehow corrupt. I’m angry about that.”
But Whitaker also said he didn’t see himself as a hostile witness.
“I’m angry — but not hostile,” he said. “I would testify truthfully . . . and let the chips fall where they may.”
* Background from the AP…
The government has charged Dingle and his wife, Karin, with fraud, money laundering and tax evasion for allegedly using more than $3 million in grant funds intended for AIDS awareness and other public health programs on luxury cars, a yacht club and vacations.
In addition to his ties to Golden, the government says Whitaker was an “approving official” of DPH grants during the time millions of dollars went to Dingle groups.
Dingle’s lawyers argue that Whitaker’s interactions with Dingle were rare, short-lived, produced insignificant benefits and are seven-year-old history.
“I know we had grants,” Dingle said Monday. “I don’t know that we managed grants day to day.”
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* From the Illinois Republican Party…
Yesterday, despite having very little experience in sports and over the strong objections of several board members, Governor Quinn’s campaign manager, Lou Bertuca, was given a six-figure job to run the Illinois Sports Facilities Authority.
Today, the Illinois Finance Authority is preparing to give Quinn crony, Chris Meister, an extension on his contract running the agency. Meister is also a close friend of Jack Lavin.
The Illinois Finance Authority is filled with Quinn pals. The Chairman, William Brandt, is a Quinn friend and donor who gave Paul Vallas a six-figure job so he could run for Lt. Governor.
“It is shameful that Governor Quinn would prefer his legacy be one of giving insider deals and jobs to cronies and friends rather than holding his head high and exiting government in a responsible fashion.” – ILGOP Chairman Tim Schneider
I was sent the IFA’s agenda yesterday and forwarded it to the Rauner transition to let them know I was working on this story.
* Chairman Brandt called me last night in response to my request for comment. He pointed to the state statute…
From nominations received from the Governor, the members of the Authority shall appoint an Executive Director who shall be a person knowledgeable in the areas of financial markets and instruments, to hold office for a one-year term. The Executive Director shall be the chief administrative and operational officer of the Authority and shall direct and supervise its administrative affairs and general management
Brandt said Director Meister’s term expires this month. The Authority can’t implement the bond sales the board approves without an executive director, Brandt said. They’re doing about $788 million in bond approvals at today’s meeting alone.
So, the ILGOP press release may be just a false alarm.
*** UPDATE *** Chairman Brandt just called to say that Meister agreed today at the board meeting that if and when the incoming governor or member of the governor’s administration requests Meister’s departure, he would do so immediately.
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* From the Arduin, Laffer & Moore Econometrics website…
Arduin, Laffer & Moore Econometrics advises federal, state, & municipal leaders, political candidates, and private sector clients, on economic, fiscal and state policies. We analyze the impacts of policy upon markets, identify trends and opportunities, and inform strategy that optimizes performance.
Our firm operates under the leadership of acclaimed economist Wayne Winegarden; former California, Florida, New York, and Michigan Budget Director Donna Arduin; and the visionary “Father of Supply-Side Economics,” Arthur Laffer.
* Laffer, of course, believes that tax cuts pay for the themselves, and advised Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback…
Everybody knew the tax cuts would cost money; the fiscal note for 2014 estimated that the cuts would cost $800 million in 2014. But the tax cut package was sold as a panacea for all that ails the Kansas economy. Gov. Sam Brownback (R) predicted that the tax cuts would spur economic development, investment, and a lot of job creation. Indeed, Arthur Laffer, who developed the Kansas tax cut plan, practically guaranteed success. But it didn’t work. The Kansas economy is stagnating, the deficit has grown, and the state’s bond ratings have been embarrassingly downgraded.
* Bruce Rauner was asked about Gov. Brownback’s philosophy at a gubernatorial debate this fall…
“I don’t agree with the tax policies that were put in place in Kansas,” Rauner declared in response to Dunn-Thomason’s question. In other words, tax cuts without regard for consequences is not in the cards.
* But Rauner’s transition team has hired Laffer’s partner…
In a sign that Gov.-elect Bruce Rauner wants to shrink state government and reduce taxes, the political newcomer has hired a controversial GOP consultant to help him craft his first budget.
Donna Arduin, who helped prepare budgets for Republican governors in New York, California, Florida and Michigan, was in Springfield last week meeting with officials from various state agencies to discuss state finances, the JG-TC Springfield bureau has learned.
* More…
While Rauner has been mostly silent on specific budget details, Arduin’s track record in other states includes proposals to reduce spending on human service programs. She also has supported privatizing prisons, which is barred under Illinois law. […]
She left as Schwarzenegger’s budget chief after 11 months with many of her initiatives to shrink government left undone.
“She has a complete tin ear with respect to the political ramifications of particular cuts, ” University of California-Berkeley political scientist Bruce Cain told the Los Angeles Times in a story published in 2004.
Discuss.
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“Courtesy titles” out at Crain’s
Monday, Dec 8, 2014 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Robert Feder writes about the new Crain’s Chicago Business website…
The folks at Crain’s Chicago Business unveiled a beautifully redesigned website this week — and now they want everyone to see it.
So they’re holding an “open house” on the site, dropping their usually strict paywall and inviting non-subscribers to sample everything online for one week (including the just-released “40 under 40” list for 2014). The free peek runs through December 12 at chicagobusiness.com.
He adds…
One other change longtime readers may notice: Crain’s no longer includes those quaint courtesy titles on second reference to subjects in its stories. So it’s no more “Mr. Smith” or “Ms. Jones.” Now it’s just plain “Smith” and “Jones.”
* Zorn rejoices…
The New York Times still clings to this custom, though not in sports stories, even in referencing non-sports figures.
I chafed at the courtesy titles when I first started writing for Crain’s, but one of the most common reactions to my moving over to the magazine were the comments about how my column was now “classier,” although nobody could put their finger on why. I think that had to do more with the courtesy titles than anything else.
So, now, believe it or not, I kinda miss ‘em.
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Rauner talks taxes… kinda
Monday, Dec 8, 2014 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Bruce Rauner denied today that his post-election warnings about the sorry fiscal state of Illinois’ budget are designed to lay the groundwork for a tax hike…
“I’m not saying that at all. I think it’s important for voters to understand exactly what’s going on,” Rauner said. “Our politicians have been making short-term borrowing to fill budget gaps. We are going to have honest budgets going forward.”
* But when asked if the 3.75 percent tax rate as of January 1st might be increased, Rauner didn’t say “No”…
“As I’ve said, we want to roll the income tax hike all the way back down to where it was in 2010. We’ll work that over time and right now the law is 3.75 and that’s what we’re going to manage with.”
When asked if that meant he was committed to 3.75 tax, Rauner hedged, saying “nothing will be off the table.”
“Well, 3.75 is the law. But I will also say this: everything will be assessed as an opportunity to getting our economy growing again. Everything will be assessed as a way to get back into a healthy, fiscal position. Nothing will be off the table,” Rauner said. “But 3.75 is the law. I’m going to implement the law, we have to plan for that. And the critical thing is over time we get the income tax burden reasonable and the real challenge and the real answer for revenue in the future is to become a growth state again. We got into this mess by only thinking short term. Let’s talk about short term but let’s also talk about long-term competitiveness.”
* But as Steve Schnorf said the other day about a Voices for Illinois Children budgetary study which predicted cuts of up to 33 percent if the tax hike partially expires on schedule…
This analysis, while almost certainly mathematically correct given whom it was done by, simply ignores the fact that the GA isn’t going to pass a budget that contains 25-33% cuts in all those programs. So, on to plans B,C, etc.
Exactly.
* More from Rauner…
“We don’t have the time to mess around, we are in deep, deep trouble financially,” Rauner told a meeting of the Illinois Farm Bureau at a downtown Chicago hotel. “The next 24 months are going to be rough. And I apologize. I ain’t going to be Mr. Popularity for a little while. That’s OK. Four years from now I think though, everybody will appreciate what we did.”
Also…
He did offer at least one hint Monday on how he’d govern, saying it’s possible some government agencies may be consolidated while numerous boards and commissions could be abolished. That’s a common move when a new Illinois governor takes over.
Consolidation rarely saves much, if any, money.
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Another view
Monday, Dec 8, 2014 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Joe Cahill wonders if the Illinois Supreme Court might just surprise everyone…
Professor Mark Rosen of IIT Chicago-Kent College of Law says “there’s ample leeway” for the court to uphold the pension law if it accepts the principle that even constitutional rights can be limited when necessary to serve an overarching state interest. I suppose the justices could dismiss the argument as airily as Belz did, but a deeper analysis could lead to a different outcome.
Plenty of courts have ruled over the years that important state interests can justify limiting constitutional rights. In fact, the Illinois Supreme Court acknowledged the principle in a 1985 case involving a change in the computation of judicial pensions that left some judges with lower benefits. The constitution “does not immunize contractual obligations from every conceivable kind of impairment or from the effect of a reasonable exercise by the states of their police power,” the court said in Felt v. Board of Trustees. The court invalidated the law because the state failed to show it was necessary to advance an important state interest.
A similar line of analysis in the pension case would lead justices to consider whether the reforms serve an important state interest. In the Felt case, the court said, “The state has an undeniable interest and responsibility in ensuring the adequate funding of state pension systems.”
The pension reforms are intended to advance the same state interest. But are they “reasonable”?
Professor Ann Lousin of John Marshall Law School says it depends on what other options legislators might have used that would have less impact on the constitutionally protected benefits. Lousin thinks this is where the state’s argument breaks down, noting legislators could raise money to pay full pension benefits by hiking taxes and/or cutting spending (however politically distasteful that may be to lawmakers).
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Rauner again vows support for capital bill
Monday, Dec 8, 2014 - Posted by Rich Miller
* As I’ve written before, a big capital bill could help Gov. Rauner smooth out a whole lot of Statehouse problems. Rauner reiterated his support for an infrastructure bill while at the White House the other day…
He said he also met Thursday with Illinois Republican Ray LaHood, transportation chief during Obama’s first term, and on Friday with current Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx and several other key administration officials.
“We have got to find ways to invest in our infrastructure, upgrade our infrastructure and expand it so it’s world class,” Rauner told reporters. “Illinois is the crossroads of America. We’re the heart of the transportation network for the United States. We need to invest in our infrastructure in Illinois.”
He said he and Pritzker talked about ways to improve economic opportunity and achieve more rapid growth. Illinois, he said, was “suffering with low job-creation rates and a difficult economic climate.”
* From my post-election Crain’s column…
Members of the General Assembly, for the most part, love capital bills. Projects help their districts and help boost their own images back home when they cut those ribbons.
The Republican governor-elect will need to heal some of the wounds he inflicted during a very bitter, brutish campaign. He also will need to ease the partisan panic of Democrats, who hold supermajorities in both chambers and have controlled just about every major state institution for the past 12 years. Aside from jobs and contracts, there’s almost no better way to do that than by giving out gifts in the form of fixed roads and bridges, new public buildings, etc.
Mr. Rauner also will face a tricky problem with GOP legislators, who have been shut out of power for so long that they’ve grown accustomed to opposing every budget and bashing almost every major piece of legislation the Democrats propose.
By my count, a grand total of 13 Republican legislators who previously have served under a GOP governor will be members of next year’s Legislature. The 54 other GOP members have no idea what it’s like to vote for unpopular stuff to help their party’s governor cut a deal with the other side.
The legislative tradition is that members of the governor’s party sponsor all budget bills. So, not only will many have to vote yes on a state budget for the first time ever, but some will have to actually sponsor the monsters and accept full responsibility.
Mr. Rauner has implied that after the income tax rate automatically rolls back to 3.75 percent in January, he may want to temporarily jack that rate up closer to the current 5 percent before stepping it back down. If so, that will require Republican sponsors and lots of Republican votes.
Pleas for partisan unity and arm-twisting go only so far with legislators. You must offer them some carrots to go with the big stick. Those capital projects can be parceled out judiciously to grease the squeaky wheels.
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* I’m told the governor now has the votes to make this happen…
Gov. Pat Quinn’s former campaign manager has decided to pursue overtures to become executive director of the Illinois Sports Facilities Authority, setting the stage for a lame-duck maneuver that could rankle Mayor Rahm Emanuel and tie the hands of Gov.-elect Bruce Rauner.
Aides to the governor had insisted Friday that Lou Bertuca was not interested in replacing Kelly Kraft as head of the state agency that built U.S. Cellular Field and rebuilt Soldier Field.
They confirmed a report by Chicago Sun-Times columnist Michael Sneed that Bertuca had been approached about the job by the governor’s appointees to the board. But, the sources insisted that Bertuca was not interested.
Over the weekend, Bertuca apparently had a change of heart and decided to interview for the job. Unless one of Quinn’s four appointees to the seven-member board jumps ship, Bertuca is likely to have the votes to win the coveted job.
* Gov.-elect Bruce Rauner was not pleased…
Asked if there was anything he could do to reverse the move once he was in office, Rauner said: “I hope so.”
I don’t think there’s much he can do.
*** UPDATE 1 *** It’s now a done deal…
Gov. Pat Quinn’s former campaign manager was hired as executive director of the Illinois Sports Facilities Authority on Monday.
In a 4-3 vote during a meeting at U.S. Cellular Field, the board gave a two-year contract to Lou Bertuca.
*** UPDATE 2 *** It didn’t go well…
The decision drew outrage from the three ISFA board members appointed by Mayor Rahm Emanuel. They blasted board Chairman Emil Jones for hiring Bertuca without a search process.
“We think the taxpayers of the state of Illinois are due a transparent process in how we select the executive director,” board member Jim Reynolds, Loop Capital CEO, said at the meeting. “That’s not what happened today.” […]
Jones argued that the board’s statute does not require a national search for a candidate, but Mesirow Financial Holdings Chairman Richard Price and longtime bank executive Norm Bobins joined Reynolds in staunch opposition to the way the hiring was done.
“Whether the law says you do a national search or not, I think just going with the government’s assistant isn’t much of a search,” Bobins said during the meeting.
Oof.
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* The 2014 Golden Horseshoe Award for Best Campaign Staffer - Illinois House Democrats goes to Eric Lane…
He may not have the title of campaign manager but he oversaw 5 staffers who did.
Regionals never get the accolades they deserve. Eric had to juggle five races including Scherer and Sente in an environment that proved to be very hostile to incumbents. He not only kept his cool but kept his candidates and staffs focused.
Eric is the man behind the scenes pulling the strings…for not one but five campaigns this season. If that doesn’t deserve this award I don’t know what does.
And the fact that nobody really knows him means he does his job and does it really well - much like an offensive lineman in football. You only know their name when they do something wrong.
I think the fact that Eric has been a regional in both primary and general elections since 2010 and is mostly anonymous speaks volumes to his skills.
There were a lot of very strong nominations in that category, but Eric’s stood out above the rest.
* The 2014 Golden Horseshoe Award for Best Campaign Staffer - Illinois House Republicans goes to Chris Guy…
[Chris] oversaw Dwight kay and Terri Bryant. Nearly everyone was counting Dwight Kay out a year ago, but he won going away, as did Bryant.
Guy was Joe Woodward’s right-hand man in the Downstate region. Downstate was the only real bright spot for the HGOP’s, so that was the tipping point for me.
* OK, let’s move along to today’s categories, with last year’s winners in parentheses…
* Best campaign staffer - Senate Democrats (Dovile Soblinskas)
* Best campaign staffer - Senate Republicans (Pat Barry)
As always, please explain your nominations or they won’t count, and please make sure to nominate in both categories. Thanks.
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* From the AP…
[The American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois] objected to an expansion of the kinds of investigations in which police may eavesdrop without a warrant — at least initially. The bill allows police — with only permission from the state’s attorney — to surreptitiously record conversations for 24 hours when investigating such serious crimes as murder, the most heinous sexual assaults, kidnapping, human trafficking and others.
That, ACLU of Illinois spokesman Ed Yohnka said, is “the kind of unchecked police authority that we’ve always resisted in this country.” When citizens allow such intrusion, it’s typically been only after approval by an impartial judge.
Previous law allowed emergency eavesdropping in a hostage situation or undercover drug buy. The new exemptions don’t comprise a “danger situation” said Steve Clark, legislative liaison for the Cook County public defender’s office, who fears additional crimes will be added.
Nekritz acknowledged the eligible-crime expansion was a trade-off for eavesdropping protections, but prosecutors regard it similarly — they’d prefer so-called “one-party” overhear consent, like in federal law and 38 states.
“The best evidence of the crime itself … is that recording,” said Matt Jones, associate director of the State’s Attorneys Appellate Prosecutor. “The defendants may have to defend what their actual words are, but they don’t have to defend against what a cop writes in his report.”
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Two towns fell through the cracks
Monday, Dec 8, 2014 - Posted by Rich Miller
* According to the BGA, there have been 660 Chapter 9 filings nationwide since 1937. Chapter 9 is a form of bankruptcy for local governments. Illinois doesn’t allow local governments to file Chapter 9 unless they successfully navigate a lengthy and complicated procedure (and even then, no towns over 25,000 are allowed into that procedure), but two small towns somehow got away with it…
The village of Brooklyn, a town of 750 people across the Mississippi River from St. Louis, filed in 2003, in part to help restructure payments related to lawsuits alleging police misconduct and financial mismanagement.
In the wake of an embezzlement scheme, the town, in a cost-cutting move, dropped its insurance coverage, leaving it unable to afford mounting legal costs, according to court filings.
In 2005, the nearby village of Alorton, population 1,960, filed for bankruptcy around the time a police shooting victim obtained a $978,000 judgment against one of the town’s officers. The victim was one of Alorton’s largest creditors, court filings show.
“I’ll be honest, I just got away with it,” says Belleville attorney Stephen Clark, who filed Chapter 9 petitions on behalf of both towns. “Everybody either didn’t know [about the authorization requirement] or they knew and felt it was better to approve the plan.”
The village of Washington Park, another Clark client, wasn’t as fortunate.
A federal judge dismissed the town’s bankruptcy petition in 2010 because state officials didn’t authorize the move. Washington Park also filed in 2004 but later withdrew, Clark says.
A 2014 analysis by the law firm of Heyl Royster concluded that the bankruptcy proceedings “apparently survived because no one objected to the filing of the petition or raised this issue.”
Chapter 9 access has become a major issue for the Illinois Municipal League of late.
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A look ahead
Monday, Dec 8, 2014 - Posted by Rich Miller
* From last week…
Attorney General Lisa Madigan’s office has asked the Illinois Supreme Court for an expedited hearing of her appeal of a lower court’s declaration the state’s pension overhaul is unconstitutional.
Madigan announced the motion Thursday. It says issues raised are of “widespread public importance'’ to state government and seeks a ruling in advance of lawmakers’ May 31 budget approval deadline.
Madigan’s office had already filed the appeal concerning the 2013 law designed to reduce roughly $100 billion in unfunded liability.
Court spokesman Joe Tybor says the court must first decide whether to expedite the motion before setting a schedule on the appeal.
Madigan’s motion is here.
* Kurt Erickson looks at what happens if Madigan’s motion fails to persuade the Supremes…
Madigan suggested the court schedule oral arguments for as early as Jan. 22, or no later than mid-March.
Attorneys for the retirees have until Tuesday to file their objections.
Without the expedited schedule, the deadline for filing the first significant set of records in the case wouldn’t occur until the final week of January.
After that, the typical court schedule calls for both sides to trade paperwork for nearly three months. Once that is completed, the high court would schedule oral arguments.
Under that scenario, the court could hear the case as early as May. If they miss the May docket, the next time the judges are scheduled to hear oral arguments is September.
Following the argument phase, the court could take months to issue a ruling.
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Plenty of blame to go around
Monday, Dec 8, 2014 - Posted by Rich Miller
* My weekly syndicated newspaper column…
Pretty much every Statehouse finger of blame was pointing North toward Chicago for the minimum wage hike bill’s failure during the legislative veto session which ended last week.
Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel does indeed have a lot of explaining to do. His decision to move up a vote to pass a $13 an hour minimum wage for his city completely undercut Springfield’s efforts to pass a statewide minimum wage capped everywhere at $11 an hour.
Months ago, Emanuel scheduled a vote on raising Chicago’s minimum wage for the week after the General Assembly’s annual fall veto session. After the election, though, retailers, restaurant owners and other business groups agreed to an eventual $11 an hour statewide minimum wage, but only if Chicago and other home rule municipalities were not allowed to raise their own local wages above that amount. Proponents say they were within two votes of House passage before the second and final week of veto session when Emanuel quietly filed paperwork calling for a special hearing on his own minimum wage proposal before the second week kicked off in Springfield.
There was just no way that House Speaker Michael Madigan would publicly rebuke his city’s mayor by reversing that ordinance via state law. It’s just not in his nature to go up against a mayor like that. Besides, Madigan lost of ton of votes from Chicago legislators who could not or would not risk supporting legislation which “cut” their constituents’ pay.
Even so, Speaker Madigan himself shares in the blame here. Yes, he’s not all-powerful, but he probably could’ve passed a minimum wage bill during the spring session. Instead, he didn’t want to rile up business groups before an election and believed he could use the issue to fire up his party’s base and the unions in the November election.
As Champaign News-Gazette columnist Jim Dey wrote not long ago, former Senate President Phil Rock’s autobiography contains a story which explains Madigan to a “T.”
Rock wrote in his book “Nobody Calls Just to Say Hello.” that he wanted to pass a bill guaranteeing women unpaid maternity leave. Rock told Madigan and another House Democrat that he’d like to get the issue off the table by passing it. The Senate President believed Madigan was stalling.
“We jousted back and forth, and one of the House members said to me, ‘You know, I’m getting a little tired of you trying to do what’s right all the time. We’ve got a great political issue here,’” Rock wrote.
That’s Mike Madigan: Use an issue for political advantage rather than pass it into law. And he’ll likely use the minimum wage issue again next year, perhaps by passing a bill that he knows will be vetoed by a Gov. Rauner. He can also use the issue to keep organized labor focused on that topic and away from other stuff that Madigan might oppose (like an electronic trading transaction tax, for instance). Business groups will also be frozen in place in opposition to a minimum wage threat.
But the blame doesn’t end there, of course. As I told you months ago, Gov. Pat Quinn and US Sen. Dick Durbin didn’t want Chicago to pass a $13 an hour minimum wage ordinance before the election, believing it would undermine their attempt to gin up the city’s vote for the statewide $10 an hour minimum wage referendum. Politically, this made some sense at the time. Why would any Chicagoan bother to vote for a $10 an hour minimum wage when it had already been raised to $13?
In reality, though, the minimum wage referendum didn’t work as planned. And instead of a statewide attempt to partially catch up with Chicago’s minimum wage during veto session, the whole effort fizzled.
The governor announced plans to make the minimum wage hike his final legacy, but he didn’t bother to make sure his ducks were in a row before saying so. And that is Pat Quinn in a nutshell. He’s good at press conferences, not so spectacular at governing.
And, of course, Gov.-elect Bruce Rauner’s demand that the General Assembly not pass a minimum wage bill in the veto session can also be blamed for the measure’s failure this week. He’ll have to wear that jacket unless and until he can come up with a plan to actually put something in place.
This was, in the end, a failure of policy, of politics and of governance all around. Low-wage workers deserved better.
Madigan’s spokesman said this morning that there is “no actual recollection on the Madigan side of the ball about the Rock story.” He also suggested that the Republicans and the business community deserve more blame for “stonewalling.”
Your thoughts?
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* Some libertarians are making the case that the problem behind the Eric Garner cause célèbre is “too many laws.” Here’s Stephen Carter in the Tribune…
On the opening day of law school at Yale, I always counsel my first-year students never to support a law they are not willing to kill to enforce. Usually they greet this advice with something between skepticism and puzzlement, until I remind them that the police go armed to enforce the will of the state, and if you resist, they might kill you.
I wish this caution were only theoretical. It isn’t. Whatever your view on the refusal of a New York City grand jury to indict the police officer whose chokehold apparently led to the death of Eric Garner, it’s useful to remember the crime that Garner is alleged to have committed: He was selling individual cigarettes, or loosies, in violation of New York law.
The obvious racial dynamics of the case — the police officer, Daniel Pantaleo, is white; Garner was black — have sparked understandable outrage. But, at least among libertarians, so has the law that was being enforced. Wrote Nick Gillespie in the Daily Beast, “Clearly something has gone horribly wrong when a man lies dead after being confronted for selling cigarettes to willing buyers.” Republican Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky, appearing on MSNBC, also blamed the statute: “Some politician put a tax of $5.85 on a pack of cigarettes, so they’ve driven cigarettes underground by making them so expensive.”
The problem is actually broader. It’s not just cigarette tax laws that can lead to the death of those the police seek to arrest. It’s every law. Libertarians argue that we have far too many laws, and the Garner case offers evidence that they’re right. I often tell my students that there will never be a perfect technology of law enforcement, and therefore it is unavoidable that there will be situations where police err on the side of too much violence rather than too little. Better training won’t lead to perfection. But fewer laws would mean fewer opportunities for official violence to get out of hand.
I don’t necessarily disagree. We do have way too many laws that unnecessarily imprison people in this country. They couldn’t have just written the guy a ticket?
* But while we may have too many petty crimes actively policed at the bottom of society, there are too few laws governing the top. Matt Taibbi…
That was economic regulation turned lethal, a situation made all the more ridiculous by the fact that we no longer prosecute the countless serious economic crimes committed in this same city. A ferry ride away from Staten Island, on Wall Street, the pure unmolested freedom to fleece whoever you want is considered the sacred birthright of every rake with a briefcase.
If Lloyd Blankfein or Jamie Dimon had come up with the concept of selling loosies, they’d go to their graves defending it as free economic expression that “creates liquidity” and should never be regulated.
Taking it one step further, if Eric Garner had been selling naked credit default swaps instead of cigarettes – if in other words he’d set up a bookmaking operation in which passersby could bet on whether people made their home mortgage payments or companies paid off their bonds – the police by virtue of a federal law called the Commodity Futures Modernization Act would have been barred from even approaching him. […]
But the policy looks worse when a white yuppie like me can live in the same city as Garner for 15 years and never even be asked the time by someone in uniform. And at the very highest levels of society, where corruption has demonstrably been soaring in recent years, the police have almost been legislated out of existence.
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GA sends Quinn hot potato
Friday, Dec 5, 2014 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Crain’s…
The Illinois Senate [yesterday] overwhelmingly passed a two-year extension of the smart grid law that permits Commonwealth Edison and Ameren Illinois to hike electricity delivery rates annually via a formula.
The 40-4 vote sends the bill, which authorizes formula rates through 2019, to Gov. Pat Quinn. Though the utility-backed legislation passed by veto-proof majorities, it may die anyway.
If Quinn, who vetoed the original smart-grid bill in 2011 and has vetoed changes to benefit the utilities since then, rejects this two-year extension, it may not get an override vote before the next General Assembly convenes in January. That would start the legislative process all over again.
* There is one minor twist, however…
Before leaving, the Senate voted overwhelmingly to approve a bill that extends by two years the state’s smart grid law. The law allows Commonwealth Edison and Ameren Illinois to raise delivery rates for electricity each year under a formula for making upgrades to their infrastructure.
The smart grid law was set to expire at the end of 2017. The bill extends that to 2019. […]
Immediately after the bill was approved, Cullerton filed a motion to reconsider the vote, a maneuver that for now prevents the bill from being sent to Gov. Pat Quinn. Quinn has previously vetoed bills allowing utilities to raise rates.
* More…
Quinn’s office said the outgoing governor would “carefully study” the proposal. He vetoed the original smart grid law, but that move was overridden by the Legislature.
If Quinn nixes the latest plan, it likely will die because House Speaker Michael Madigan, D-Chicago, sent members of the House home Wednesday and doesn’t plan to call them back to town before the new General Assembly begins its work. […]
“The sponsor chose to keep the bill in the Senate until he has a chance to speak with Gov. Quinn about his intentions,” said Cullerton spokeswoman Rikeesha Phelon.
Among the groups opposing the legislation is the Citizens Utility Board, which said the 2011 law should be allowed to work as planned without the changes sought by Ameren.
So, it’s all up to Quinn now.
…Adding… From comments…
You are missing the strategy. Cullerton looks to be holding the bill until Jan 13th one day into the new gov’s term and one day before the 98th dies.
He’s bypassing Quinn.
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* The 2014 Golden Horseshoe Award for Best State Senate Staffer - Non Political goes to Giovanni Randazzo…
Not many people arrive as early or stay as late as Gio. Simply put, he works his tail off. Manages two of the most time consuming and challenging committees, is always willing to work on a member’s project (usually because nobody else wants to) and has the institutional knowledge to help in almost any situation.
Love the guy.
The clear runner-up was Mike Hoffman.
* The contest for the 2014 Golden Horseshoe Award for Best State House Staffer - Non Political wasn’t even close…
Mark Jarmer is a staple to the HDEM Staff. He is a veteran. Yes he is an actual veteran, but also a veteran staffer. He has to deal with some difficult subject matters that are always controversial, but he handles each issue with integrity and professionalism. He offers guidance to new staff, just trying to navigate the insanity that is our job. He is a clear leader and one of the most trusted employees of the Speaker.
He is also just a great guy to work with. Always in a good mood, always there to offer advice or a kind word. There are not enough good things to say about Mark.
* OK, let’s move on to today’s categories, with last year’s winners in parentheses…
* Best campaign staffer - Illinois House Democrats: (Kristen Bauer)
* Best campaign staffer - Illinois House Republicans: (Nick Bellini)
Please nominate people for both categories if you can, and also make sure to fully explain your votes. Thanks.
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Today’s number: “Under half”
Friday, Dec 5, 2014 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Will Bunnett at Campaigns & Elections…
According to the Off the Grid National Survey 2014, under half of voters now say live TV is their primary way to watch video content—and other than sports, nearly 30 percent did not watch live TV over the past week. The National Republican Senatorial Committee, whose candidates made big gains this year, recommended spending 20 percent of total campaign budgets online.
* But as far as fundraising goes, social media ads alone don’t do the trick…
For years it was the zombie prediction that wouldn’t die: fundraising will shift to social media. Did you hear any of that buzz this cycle? Asking for money on social media is like going up to your friends and shouting, “Who wants to help move my couch upstairs this weekend?” Asking over email is like looking your friends in the eye one by one. […]
Most political advertising online relies on so-called “last click attribution” to measure effectiveness: somebody saw the ad and clicked to the website, so did they take an action or not? But commercial marketers long ago moved beyond simple last-click models. This cycle we learned that political marketers must, too. My employer, Trilogy Interactive, partnered with Facebook on a study that showed supporters who receive fundraising emails and ads simultaneously contributed 67 percent more via email.
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Unclear on the concept
Friday, Dec 5, 2014 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Bruce Rauner earlier this week…
“Our problems have not been created by the tax hike expiring,” he said. “That’s not what is creating our problems. What’s creating our problems is years and years of financial mismanagement.”
* So far, as we’ve already discussed, Rauner has said he’s found $1.4 billion in the budget which is “fundamentally dishonest” spending. It’s essentially money being moved around to keep things afloat, while creating problems down the road.
And as we’ve also discussed before, Voices for Illinois Children estimates revenue lost from the partial income tax rollback in January will blow a $2.3 billion hole in this year’s budget and $5.4 billion in next fiscal year’s budget.
And, as we’ve also discussed before, just about every dollar of the 2011 income tax hike has gone to pension payments, which had been skipped or skimped in years previous.
In other words, despite what Rauner is saying, the expiration of the tax hike is gonna cause severe problems. Fix all the mismanagement you want, but it ain’t gonna total $7-8 billion a year for pension payments.
…Adding… That’s not to say there weren’t “years and years of mismanagement,” but good management now won’t make that hole suddenly disappear.
…Adding More… From YDD…
Every time he says this, another Democrat steps off the roll call for phasing the tax increase back in and back out again.
And two Republicans.
According to him, all he has to do is manage the state’s current budget better.
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Guilty, guilty, hostile
Friday, Dec 5, 2014 - Posted by Rich Miller
* The Sun-Times writes about the guilty plea by Curtis Thompson, former chief of staff to Ald. Howard Brookins…
However, according to Thompson’s plea deal, Thompson met with the informant and another unnamed individual Oct. 7, 2013, at Brookins’ ward office. That’s when the informant showed Thompson a note that read, “$7,500 to Ald for L.O.S.” Thompson took it to mean the informant was offering to pay $7,500 for a letter support from the alderman, according to the plea. Thompson said he understood and said he’d bring the proposal to his boss.
The document then describes an Oct. 29, 2013 meeting between Thompson, Brookins, the informant and another unnamed individual in Brookins’ ward office. There, the informant handed the alderman a sheet of paper that read “$12K to you for letter of support,” according to the plea deal. The piece of paper was then passed to Thompson.
At a Nov. 19, 2013 meeting attended by Thompson, Brookins and two others, the informant said he was trying to become a 7-Eleven franchisee, and Brookins expressed his support, according to the document.
When the informant asked Brookins who he should go to “to hold up my end” — and if the alderman was “good with the same arrangement” they’d spoken about before — Thompson understood the informant was making reference to the bribe, according to the plea deal.
Over the next few weeks, Thompson prepared two letters of support for the informant on Brookins’ letterhead, signing Brookins’ name. Before doing so, he sought Brookins’ approval, the plea deal said. Thompson knew the informant later picked them up and planned to use them to obtain a liquor license for his proposed store.
Finally, on Dec. 19, 2013, prosecutors said the informant handed Thompson a Christmas card in a red envelope at Brookins’ holiday party. It was filled with 75 $100 bills.
Yikes.
* In other guilty news….
A former Illinois state representative is expected change his plea to guilty in a child pornography case.
A defense filing this week said Elgin Democrat Keith Farnham intends to plead guilty in federal court in Chicago on Friday as part of a plea deal.
The 66-year-old pleaded not guilty earlier this year to possessing, receiving and transporting child pornography.
Prosecutors say Farnham possessed videos depicting child pornography on a computer. A complaint provided graphic details about images allegedly sought and traded by Farnham online. Some children were allegedly under 10.
Good riddance.
…Adding… From the US Attorney’s office…
In pleading guilty, Farnham admitted that on Nov. 25, 2013, he sent an email from a computer in his Elgin office with the following message: “do you trade. This is what I lik.” Farnham attached two files to the email that he knew contained child pornography. In addition, he possessed images and videos depicting child pornography on computers and electronic storage devices in his residence, car and offices.
On March 13 of this year, agents with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) executed federal search warrants at Farnham’s state office and residence in Elgin and seized computers and electronic storage devices. On that day, Farnham possessed no fewer than 2,765 images of real minors engaged in sexually explicit acts, including sexual intercourse, with prepubescent children. Some of the images involved sadistic or masochistic conduct and depictions of violence, according to Farnham’s guilty plea.
According to the court documents, HSI agents were investigating information received from the HSI Cyber Crimes Center that an email address, later linked to Farnham, was being used to trade child pornography on the Internet.
A sick monster.
* Meanwhile…
Federal prosecutors plan to summon Dr. Eric E. Whitaker, one of President Barack Obama’s closest friends, into U.S. District Court in Springfield next week to question him outside the presence of jurors before a judge decides whether Whitaker can be called as a hostile witness in the fraud trial of a Chicago businessman.
The 49-year-old Chicago physician is set to be questioned by prosecutors at 2 p.m. Monday before U.S. District Judge Richard Mills. The judge ruled this week that prosecutors made a good case to treat Whitaker as a hostile prosecution witness but said he would hold off ruling on their request until first hearing how Whitaker answers questions outside the presence of the jury.
After questioning Whitaker and getting Mills’ ruling, prosecutors will decide whether to call him to testify in the trial of Leon Dingle Jr. and his wife, Karin Dingle, who are accused of stealing more than $3 million in state grants obtained from the Illinois Department of Public Health, which Whitaker headed from 2003 to 2007.
“The final determination as to whether [Whitaker] would be called as a witness in the case has not been determined,” Sharon Paul, a spokeswoman for the U.S. attorney’s office in Springfield, said Thursday.
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Protecting his people
Friday, Dec 5, 2014 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Gov. Quinn is trying to take care of a couple of folks at the Illinois Sports Facilities Authority on his way out the door…
Sneed has learned that Sports Facilities chief Kelly Kraft, who was Quinn’s controversial choice to lead the authority, is now out of a job after a contract expired last week. A movement may be afoot to hastily replace her on Monday, before Gov.-elect Bruce Rauner takes office next month.
But Sneed also hears Quinn could have a problem with such an appointment if his four handpicked facilities board team members decide not to approve the move before Rauner’s first day.
“Businessmen like doing business — and Rauner is now the state’s top businessman,” a Sneed source said. “Quinn would need all their votes to approve such a move.”
And a top Facilities Authority source claims that Lou Bertuca, Quinn’s former campaign manager, former deputy chief of staff and fellow Fenwick High School grad, is being floated as a possible appointee.
Quinn wants Bertuca to get a two-year contract. As of the other day, Quinn didn’t have the four votes needed to pull that one off. We’ll see.
* And this is from my colleague David Ormsby…
There may be a gubernatorial transition taking place, but the process of the state buying things - big and small - continues to trundle forward.
On November 17, Central Management Services issued a whopper of a RFP looking for a single Prescription Benefit Manager that will be responsible for the administration of the prescription drug benefit available under all state-sponsored self-insured health plans, including the State Employees Group Insurance Program, the Local Government Health Program, the Teachers’ Retirement Insurance Program, and the College Insurance Program.
The current contract expires June 30, 2015.
CMS wants all bids in by January 5 - one week before Bruce Rauner is sworn in.
Subscribe by clicking here.
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C’mon, man
Friday, Dec 5, 2014 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Gov.-elect Bruce Rauner was in Washington, DC yesterday meeting with the congressional delegation and stopped to talk to the media…
“To be clear, Illinois is in dire condition,” Rauner said. “Our financial condition is far worse than has ever been discussed publicly before.” [Emphasis added.]
* Um, no. I’ve already pointed to the column I wrote in June that found even more budgetary gimmicks and pressures than Rauner has talked about so far. The Senate Democrats also released this informative PowerPoint presentation in July…
Also in July, the CTBA released a detailed budget analysis that you can read by clicking here. And the Civic Federation released a report in October discussing the same stuff.
* Zorn…
Rauner, on the last day of May, ripped the spending plan as “phony” and “the same type of broken, dishonest budget that career politicians in Illinois have been passing for years.”
And adds…
The “If only I’d known how bad it really was!” pose from newly elected pols trying to lower the expectations of those who actually believed their commercials is always galling. But it’s especially galling here, given that Rauner spent much of the last year refusing to answer with any specificity questions about how he plans to address Illinois’ deep financial problems.
Rauner spent decades buying up companies. He has loads of experience doing “due diligence.” As some commenters have noted here, did he not do any due diligence or is this all just an act?
I’m betting on the latter.
It would be nice if the rest of the news media would start pointing out this stuff.
…Adding… Mike Flannery did a good job of rebutting Rauner’s claims this week…
“The voters have been misled intentionally by the politicians,” Rauner said.
Those politicians include Democrats, Republicans and Mr. Rauner himself. Among his campaign promises: billions of dollars in tax cuts, as well as increased spending on education, not to mention the re-opening of a Downstate facility closed to save money. He seemed to ignore six months of watchdog warnings about the current state budget.
“You would think the whole General Assembly was on medical marijuana when they were passing this thing. It’s grotesquely out of balance. It doesn’t have nearly the revenue that they claim. And they emptied their whole dirty bag of tricks to make it look balanced,” [said Mike Flannery] in early June.
In early October, the budget watchdog Civic Federation issued a detailed report on Illinois’ budget crisis. Their conclusion is one no politician wants to hear.
“There is no easy way, there is no politically attractive way to get through this. It’s gonna require sacrifice from all parties. The taxpayers are gonna end up having to pay more money. They’re gonna get less service. The employees are gonna have to take less benefits,” President of the Civic Federation Laurence Msall said.
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Question of the day - Golden Horseshoe Awards
Thursday, Dec 4, 2014 - Posted by Rich Miller
* The Beth Hamilton Golden Horseshoe Award for Best House Secretary/Admin. Assistant goes to Beth Chapman…
She’s got a very liberal Chicago legislator (Cassidy) and a downstater (Phelps) and can switch gears on a dime when taking calls. She’s able to serve two almost completely different constituencies with the unique touch needed for both.
She’s also one of the sweetest people you’ll ever meet, and has the best candy on her desk!
Kristin Milligan, whom I dearly love, received quite a few votes, but she won last year and we should spread this around.
* The Golden Horseshoe Award for Best Senate Secretary/Admin. Assistant goes to Lisa Katava…
Having business at the Capitol fairly often you get to meet a lot of people, elected officials, Leg. Asst’s, and State employees in various agencies. Of all that I have met, Senator Mulroe’s L.A. Lisa Katava has to be the best. She speaks to everyone, pays attention to what you are saying, and goes out of her way to accommodate everyone. If I haven’t said it before, ”Thank you Lisa.”
* Let’s move along to our next categories, with last year’s winners in parentheses…
* Best State Senate Staffer - Non Political (Eric Madiar)
* Best State House Staffer - Non Political (Heather Weir Vaught)
Please explain your nominations and do your best to nominate people in both chambers. Thanks!
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* As you already know, the Illinois Supreme Court declared the state’s eavesdropping law to be unconstitutional. There have been several attempts to draft a new law, and the latest has cleared both chambers. Some bullet points from the bill’s sponsor…
_An eavesdropper is someone who uses an eavesdropping device to secretly record a private conversation without the consent of all parties involved in the conversation. A conversation is considered private if at least one of those involved had a reasonable expectation the conversation is private.
_An eavesdropper is anyone who uses a device to secretly record electronic communications without the consent of everyone involved.
_An eavesdropper is someone who discloses the content of a private conversation or private electronic communication without permission.
_The penalty for eavesdropping on a law enforcement officer, state’s attorney or judge is reduced from a Class 1 felony to a Class 3 felony.
_Law enforcement can use an eavesdropping device to record conversations around certain forcible felonies with the approval – written or verbal – of the local state’s attorney. State’s attorneys must submit reports annually explaining how often this exemption was used.
* The “discloses the content of a private conversation or private electronic communication without permission” stuff troubles me. A lot. Here is the language…
Uses or discloses any information which he or she knows or reasonably should know was obtained from a private conversation or private electronic communication in violation of this Article, unless he or she does so with the consent of all of the parties.
* Private conversation defined…
For the purposes of this Article, “private conversation” means any oral communication between 2 or more persons, whether in person or transmitted between the parties by wire or other means, when regardless of whether one or more of the parties intended the their communication to be of a private nature under circumstances reasonably justifying that expectation.
* The reasonable expectation definition should mean that somebody could record a police officer in a public space (which is what the state Supreme Court case was about) without first obtaining permission…
A reasonable expectation shall include any expectation recognized by law, including, but not limited to, an expectation derived from a privilege, immunity, or right established by common law, Supreme Court rule, or the Illinois or United States Constitution.
But…
The eavesdropping of an oral conversation or an electronic communication of any law enforcement officer, State’s Attorney, Assistant State’s Attorney, the Attorney General, Assistant Attorney General, or a judge, while in the performance of his or her official duties, if not authorized by this Article or proper court order, is a Class 3 felony, and for a second or subsequent offenses, is a Class 2 felony.
So, unless we get another top court case, I figure people will still be arrested if they do something like record police officers who are in their homes.
* Now, let’s move on to the definition of private electronic conversations…
…any transfer of signs, signals, writing, images, sounds, data, or intelligence of any nature transmitted in whole or part by a wire, radio, pager, computer, electromagnetic, photo electronic or photo optical system, when the sending or receiving party intends the electronic communication to be private under circumstances reasonably justifying that expectation.
So, forwarding a private e-mail would be a crime? More importantly, if a journalist receives a forwarded private e-mail (which happens more than you might think), could the journalist be charged with a crime if it results in “disclosure”? Sure looks that way.
Not cool at all. I’m told this was inserted at the insistence of the Senate Democrats, but it was done in such a way that if (when) a court strikes it down the action wouldn’t kill off the rest of the law.
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Savings program goes to governor
Thursday, Dec 4, 2014 - Posted by Rich Miller
* From AARP…
On a vote of 30-25-02 in the Senate and 67-45 in the House, the Illinois Secure Choice Savings Program (SB2758) was approved by the Illinois General Assembly today. The bill will give millions of private sector workers in Illinois the opportunity to save their own money for retirement by expanding access to employment-based retirement savings accounts.
SB2758, sponsored by Illinois Senator Daniel Biss and Representative Barbara Flynn Currie, will automatically enroll workers without access to an employment-based retirement plan into the Secure Choice program. While workers can opt-out of the program, those who do participate will be able to build savings in an Individual Retirement Account (IRA) through a payroll deduction. All accounts will be professionally managed; the large number of accounts expected to be under management will ensure that fees are low and investment performance is competitive. […]
More than 2.5 million workers do not have access to a retirement savings account through their employer, according to a report from the Woodstock Institute. The report found lack of access is most serious for low-wage workers, of whom 60 percent lack access, but even for workers making $40,000 or more, 49 percent do not have access to an employment-based retirement savings plan. In every Senate district in Illinois, over half of private-sector workers do not have access to this type of plan.
* Greg Hinz…
No American state now has anything quite like the program, which would apply to employees of firms with at least 25 workers who do not have access to an employer-provided retirement account. That may explain some of the opposition, especially from the insurance industry and Springfield Republicans, who say the measure was rushed through and should have been left for Gov.-elect Bruce Rauner to consider.
But Biss said a similar measure was endorsed both by President Barack Obama and GOP nominee Sen. John McCain in the 2008 election, and he expects great things from it. […]
Biss disputes charges that the plan will place a big new burden on business. Companies merely have to offer new hires a form to decline enrollment and then integrate withholding into their regular payroll software, he said. […]
Fees will be limited to a maximum of 75 basis points, or 0.75 percent, of the value of an individual’s savings account. The bill takes effect June 1, with a two-year setup period, so no savings accounts will be established until June 2017.
Some insurance folks who market “whole life” plans as retirement options were opposed.
* The SJ-R editorialized in favor…
Clearly, it’s easier to save money when it’s an automatic, hands-off process. Few people have the fiscal discipline to set aside a money from every pay check to deposit later for something fun, like a vacation or a car, let alone the long-term goal of retirement.
It’s an especially difficult prospect for those who barely make ends meet in the first place, a problem frequently exacerbated by unemployment or underemployment in this still-recovering economy.
What happens to all of these savings-challenged Americans when they no longer can work and have no money saved to pay for their health care, housing and food? They will be thrust into the nation’s social safety net, which taxpayers support whether they want to or not.
* From a Sen. Michael Frerichs press release…
“I applaud Senator Biss and Leader Currie for championing financial security, and we all thank the businesses, nonprofits and religious groups that helped make Illinois the first in the nation to take this innovative step,” said Treasurer-elect Mike Frerichs. “I’m honored to have helped millions of middle class Illinoisans save their own money for their retirement, and I look forward to implementing Secure Choice as the next state treasurer.”
We’ll see how implementation goes, but this is a really good idea.
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* From Rahm Emanuel campaign manager Mike Ruemmler…
“Today, an objection was filed to the petitions of Mr. Willie Wilson and Mr. Frederick Collins, both candidates for Mayor, by Julian Nicks and Pam McKinney, both of Chicago. Mayor Emanuel’s re-election campaign supports these challenges and believes that they will be successful.
“A full and thorough review of all of Mr. Wilson’s 43,000 signatures has revealed an astonishing pattern of deception. After careful review, the campaign found that more than 35,000 signatures included fake and duplicate signatures, false addresses of petitioners, and a particularly sloppy overall petition submission, rife with name and address strikeouts.
“Of particular concern is the fact that there were similar patterns in the petitions of Gabe Beukinga, a candidate for 27th Ward Alderman, whose petitions are also being challenged on similar grounds. The common denominator between Mr. Beukinga and Mr. Wilson is Ricky Hendon. Not only is Ricky Hendon involved with the petition gathering effort for both candidates, but he is Mr. Wilson’s political director.”
“Mr. Collins’ signatures fly in the face of any acceptable standard. His pages feature the same handwriting, page after page, for pages on end.”
Attachments include:
* So, who is Willie Wilson and why is Mayor Emanuel concerned? Charles Thomas profiled the businessman not long ago…
Wilson, who owns a $60 million a year medical supply business, says his voting address is a penthouse apartment overlooking Lake Michigan. It’s a long way from rural Louisiana, where he says he picked cotton and dropped out after seventh grade. […]
“We give away personally about $800,000 to $1 million a year to churches every year,” Wilson said.
And the leaders of those churches say they’ll help the candidate. […]
Wilson, who supported Republican Bruce Rauner in the governor’s race, says Rahm Emanuel failed the city’s children when Emanuel closed schools.
Wilson’s net worth is estimated by some to be as high as $65 million.
* From an October Chicago Magazine story…
Willie Wilson, owner of a medical supply company and a gospel music production company —his weekly Sunday morning gospel show, Singsation! nationally syndicated, airs on WGN-TV—spends many Sunday mornings with Rauner, accompanying him as he makes the rounds of black churches “up and down the state.” The two drive in one car, Wilson says, and their drivers in another. Wilson says he’s been “pretty much a Democrat all my life”; he donated heavily to Quinn’s 2010 race. Quinn is a “personal friend” who “wasn’t happy” when Wilson, a Louisianan sharecropper’s son, the third of 11 children, told him he had switched sides.
The Rauner campaign is understandably steering clear of Wilson’s candidacy these days.
* The Wilson campaign’s response to the petition challenge…
Wilson’s spokesman denied those accusations and said it’s all political chicanery.
“We know that our signatures are good,” said Gregory Livingston. “We’re not putting people out to do those kind of deceptive things.” […]
Livingston chalked up the accusations to “old school Chicago politics” and said Emanuel’s campaign is trying to scare black voters.
“They decided to go with the biggest kind of scare they could,” Livingston said. “It’s going to backfire on them.”
If they don’t succeed in knocking Wilson off, the challenge could very well backfire. I’m assuming the mayor’s campaign knows what it’s doing here and understands the risks involved. We’ll see.
*** UPDATE *** Rickey Hendon just called to say he has starting going through Emanuel’s objections. On the first page alone, Hendon claimed, he found about half of the objections to be spurious.
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Not a good week for the governor’s legacy
Thursday, Dec 4, 2014 - Posted by Rich Miller
* AP…
Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan says he plans to adjourn his chamber on Wednesday and not call lawmakers back before the new governor is seated.
The Chicago Democrat told the Associated Press on Wednesday that the House has “finished our work for this session.”
That would mean lawmakers will not address major legislation such as a minimum wage hike and the state’s financial problems before Republican Gov.-elect Bruce Rauner and a new General Assembly are sworn in in mid-January.
* Tribune…
In gaveling an end to the session Wednesday, House Speaker Michael Madigan ensured plenty of opportunities for the Democratic-led legislature to spar with Republican Gov.-elect Bruce Rauner next year.
Lawmakers did nothing to extend the 2011 income tax hike, which means Illinois residents will get a big tax cut come Jan. 1, when the personal rate rolls back from 5 percent to 3.75 percent, even as state finances will take a $4 billion a year hit.
A statewide minimum wage increase fell flat in the House. Senate Democrats passed their own version of a wage hike, and departing Democratic Gov. Pat Quinn said “it isn’t over” and indicated he would use his fading power to ask House lawmakers to reconvene and urge them to pass it. A Madigan aide said a special session would be futile.
* SJ-R…
Sen. Kimberly Lightford, D-Maywood, principal sponsor of the minimum wage bill, said she was told by Gov. Pat Quinn that a special session could be called to give the House a chance to vote on increasing the minimum wage.
“I know for sure that our governor is looking to call a special session for the House to return and take up the measure,” Lightford said following the Senate vote. “He straightforward said that he would not allow the House to not vote for a minimum wage increase before the end of the year. He said before Christmas.” […]
However, a spokesman for House Speaker Michael Madigan, D-Chicago, said there is no indication a special session will be called.
“It’s been said to us they (the Quinn administration) are not contemplating a special session,” spokesman Steve Brown said.
* Kurt Erickson…
An 11th-hour bid to establish a state-based health insurance exchange fell short Wednesday when the Illinois House adjourned for the remainder of the year without bringing up the matter for a vote.
Against the backdrop of a federal deadline to take action and the looming end of single-party control of state government, the sponsor of the measure said she couldn’t round up enough votes to get the measure to outgoing Democratic Gov. Pat Quinn’s desk.
* AP…
Illinois lawmakers have overturned the governor’s veto of legislation aimed at increasing the speed limit to 70 mph on the state’s toll highways.
The House voted 100-11 Wednesday to override Gov. Pat Quinn’s veto of the legislation sponsored by Republican state Sen. Jim Oberweis. A bill passed in 2013 increased the speed limit to 70 miles on interstates, but kept the limit lower in urban areas. Oberweis’ bill allows the state Tollway Authority to establish higher limits in urban areas.
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Trial lawyers win a big late victory
Thursday, Dec 4, 2014 - Posted by Rich Miller
* From a Senate Democratic press release…
Mesothelioma, a type of cancer linked to asbestos exposure, is often an aggressive and fast-moving disease. Attacking the membranes that protect the heart, lungs and other vital organs, it causes death within an average of eight to fourteen months following diagnosis.
But symptoms typically don’t manifest themselves for 20 years — or even as long as 50 years — following exposure to the fibers that make up asbestos, which was widely used in construction as late as 1970s and is still being removed from many homes and buildings.
That’s a problem for sufferers and their families, who are currently barred by Illinois law from seeking damages from negligent construction companies more than 10 years after they were exposed to asbestos.
State Senator Kwame Raoul recently sponsored legislation to change that by removing the time limit on lawsuits over mesothelioma and other asbestos-related diseases.
The House and Senate have both approved the measure, and if signed by the governor, it will become law, allowing victims of this deadly and preventable cancer to seek compensation for their medical expenses and their pain and suffering.
* There are other views, of course…
Described by one opponent as a “last-minute and desperate attempt” to change rules before Republican Gov.-elect Bruce Rauner is sworn-in, Senate Bill 2221 will move to the desk of outgoing Democratic Gov. Pat Quinn’s for signature. […]
Another critic, Travis Akin, executive director of Illinois Lawsuit Abuse Watch, said the bill will “open up a whole new way for personal injury lawyers to file asbestos lawsuits in Madison County.”
“Madison County already attracts about one quarter of the nation’s asbestos lawsuits. This will only attract more out-of-state lawsuits and make Illinois even more of magnet for out-of-state lawyers looking to hit the lawsuit lottery in Illinois,” he said. “This legislation will only lead to more lawsuits and what Illinois needs is jobs – not more ways to sue.”
Approximately 40 business opposed the bill during session on Monday.
Mark Denzler, vice president and chief operating officer of the Illinois Manufacturers’ Association, called the amendment introduced two days before Thanksgiving the “veto session surprise.” He and others said the legislation would be detrimental to business interests.
* More on the Madison County angle…
This Monday, on the first day of the month, 181 asbestos cases were scheduled for trial in Madison County Court. Can you guess how many of the plaintiffs were from Madison County?
You’re not going to win anything if you guess correctly – other than bragging rights – but it’s a challenge and you have to respond because we’re daring you to do so.
Come on, take a wild guess. Out of 181 suits scheduled for trial, how many plaintiffs are from Madison County? 150? 100? 50?
Believe it or not, out of 181 asbestos cases filed in Madison County Court, only one plaintiff is a Madison County resident.
She is represented by the Simmons Hanly Conroy firm in Alton.
Of the 180 plaintiffs who are not Madison County residents, at least 163 are represented by the Simmons firm.
* But things may be changing elsewhere…
Despite a string of multimillion-dollar jury verdicts in favor of plaintiffs, asbestos defendants may now have a friendlier forum in McLean County, Illinois. Recently, after a three-week trial, it took a McLean County jury just one-and-a-half hours of deliberation to reach a verdict for the defendants in a forum that was once placed on the “Judicial Hellholes Watch List” by the American Tort Reform Foundation. The decedent in McGowan v. Illinois Central Railroad (Case No. 08-L-12) was a former rail yard worker. The plaintiff in McGowan alleged the decedent was exposed to and came into contact with asbestos-containing products of Sprinkmann Sons Corporation of Illinois, an insulation contractor, while working at Illinois Central Railroad. In light of the testimony from the decedent’s brother that he could not specifically remember Sprinkmann or any other insulation contractor being at the Illinois Central Railroad yard, perhaps the verdict for the only two remaining defendants in the case should not be a surprise. After all, Judge Rebecca S. Foley had granted a defendant’s motion for a directed verdict at the end of the plaintiff’s presentation of evidence on the product liability claim, with only the plaintiff’s spoliation of evidence claim proceeding to the jury.
What may be more remarkable is that the verdict for the defendants was the third such verdict recently reached for Sprinkmann in asbestos cases in McLean County, according to HarrisMartin Publishing. Defense counsel in the McGowan case – Matushek, Nilles & Sinars LLC – also report three recent verdicts in favor of asbestos defendants in McLean County. The defense verdicts are significant in part because McLean County is not a high volume asbestos litigation forum and, therefore, the verdicts represent a good sample of cases in the county. To date, only eleven asbestos cases have even been filed in McLean County in 2014.
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* From Michael Sneed…
Sneed hears that powerful Illinois House Speaker Mike Madigan’s decision Wednesday not to call the state’s minimum wage bill during this week’s veto session — which Quinn wanted big-time — was intended to do Mayor Rahm Emanuel a favor.
◆ Translation: “Gov. Quinn wanted the state minimum wage hike passed before he leaves office — but Madigan, instead, tossed a sop to Rahm in order not to steal Rahm’s re-election thunder,” a top Sneed source said. […]
The latest version of the state’s minimum wage bill would have nullified Chicago’s home-rule authority to raise the minimum wage in the future. The City Council — under Rahm’s leadership — passed a bill this week raising the city’s minimum wage to $13 an hour by 2019. […]
Quinn may be a lame duck — but he is still quacking.
“Before the new governor arrives, I want a $10-an-hour minimum wage passed outside Chicago,” he told Sneed Wednesday. “I’ve been waiting for Mike [Madigan] to get this needle threaded. I just want a plain vanilla minimum wage passed. But it has just been hurry up and wait for the Senate to act.”
Two guesses who that “top Sneed source” is.
*** UPDATE *** The Quinn folks say that the governor and his staff were definitely not the source and that the governor doesn’t agree with the sentiment expressed.
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