* Gov. Rauner was asked today if he had a contingency plan in place in case he doesn’t get a full budget or a stopgap budget…
We’ll get, we’ll get things done.
“How can you say that?” a reporter asked…
Because I think in the end a majority of members of the General Assembly will do the right thing. Everything that we’re advocating has strong bipartisan support… We haven’t yet, but change is hard… I’m frustrated. I’m not the most patient person in the state, but I’m very persistent.
And then he went on to talk yet again about how raising taxes won’t solve anything and how growth is a must. And then he claimed, yet again, that several Democrats privately support his ideas without naming anybody. And then he changed the subject.
However, subscribers know a little about his fallback plan - and it’s all bad for Chicago and for certain Democratic legislators with state facilities.
Join me for my next Facebook Live tomorrow.Please submit your questions about the budget now or ask them live tomorrow at noon. #Raunerlivepic.twitter.com/NwA1UIRx7V
* The 2016 Golden Horseshoe Award for Best State Senate Staffer - Non Political, Republican goes to Jo Johnson…
She does it all and knows how to get along with people on both sides of the aisle.
Yep.
* The 2016 Golden Horseshoe Award for Best State House Staffer - Non Political, Republican goes to James Sherwood…
Lots of staffers are smart. James is that but also a genuinely good guy whose head isn’t so big it will explode. He proves that you can be a good staffer without sacrificing a pleasant personality
Congrats!
* Now, on to today’s categories…
* Best campaign staffer - House Republicans
* Best campaign staffer - Senate Republicans
Make sure to explain your vote or it won’t count and do your very best to nominate in both categories, please. Thanks.
* The latest from VanillaMan. Click here if you’re unfamiliar with the tune…
Angels we have heard on high
Pleading, begging o’re our plains
But Raunerites in reply
Berates them over budget strains
NO-Ooooooh-Oooooh-NO Deal
Democrats only live to STEAL
NO-Ooooooh-Oooooh-NO Deal
Without Turnaround there’s NO DEAL
Legislators feeling glum
With no pay, there is no plum
The Speaker whom ’er he be
Would never give in to Brucie
NO-Ooooooh-Oooooh-NO Deal
We’d rather listen to Brucie’s SQUEAL
NO-Ooooooh-Oooooh-NO Deal
“Right To Work” is Right To STEAL
Come to Chicago and see
Lootings, shootings across the town
Duck and dive on bended knee
Mayor Emanuel, who wears the crown
NO-Ooooooh-Oooooh-NO Deal
I’d rather have no sex APPEAL
NO-Ooooooh-Oooooh-NO Deal
Chicago’s Rauner’s Achilles’ heel
What can poor Illinois do now?
Whose government ignores angels pleas?
Illinois citizens come, let’s vow
We won’t succumb to government squeeze!
NO-Ooooooh-Oooooh-NO GOOD!
We’re tired of all your FALSEHOOD!
GO-Oooooh-Oooooh-LET’S GO!
Time for ANGELS to RUN THIS SHOW!
Raoul and the legislative black caucus have said they don’t want to increase mandatory minimums, which have drawn criticism for putting nonviolent drug offenders behind bars for decades - something even Obama is trying to undo in his final days through commutations and other actions.
Instead, Raoul says, he’ll propose directing judges to use the higher end of the sentencing scale when someone has a prior gun-related conviction. Judges would keep their discretion in sentencing, but Raoul’s bill may require them to explain their rationale.
As is, someone with a previous felony weapons conviction faces 3 to 14 years; Raoul’s measure might have judges consider more than 10 years. Currently, someone with a 3-year sentence can be freed after serving half their term with good behavior.
“The question is … whether (repeat offenders) are incapacitated long enough to create a breather for some neighborhoods that are just ravaged by gun violence, and long enough to create a deterrence,” Raoul said.
But such an effort could turn into a “war on guns” that would resemble the war on drugs of the 1970s and 1980s, according to Cook County Public Defender Amy Campanelli, whose staff represents many of the accused. It didn’t lead to a drop in drug usage, but to the “demonization” of mostly young African-American and Latino men, she said.
I’m not sure what the exact answer is here, but comparing this to the war on drugs is a bit on the specious side. That war was touted as a way to prevent people from putting what were believed to be harmful products into their own bodies, or selling those products to others. Guns used in the act of a felony would seem to be an entirely different matter.
One of Richard Nixon’s top advisers and a key figure in the Watergate scandal said the war on drugs was created as a political tool to fight blacks and hippies, according to a 22-year-old interview recently published in Harper’s Magazine.
“The Nixon campaign in 1968, and the Nixon White House after that, had two enemies: the antiwar left and black people,” former Nixon domestic policy chief John Ehrlichman told Harper’s writer Dan Baum for the April cover story published Tuesday.
“You understand what I’m saying? We knew we couldn’t make it illegal to be either against the war or black, but by getting the public to associate the hippies with marijuana and blacks with heroin. And then criminalizing both heavily, we could disrupt those communities,” Ehrlichman said. “We could arrest their leaders. raid their homes, break up their meetings, and vilify them night after night on the evening news. Did we know we were lying about the drugs? Of course we did.”
IVAN MORENO, 34, who has been supervisory correspondent with The Associated Press at the Statehouse for about a year, will become the AP’s supervisory correspondent in Milwaukee. […]
SETH PERLMAN, 61, has been an AP photographer in Springfield for more than 33 years, and was laid off Friday. Perlman said there is severance pay involved and he’s happy with his situation. He also turned in his equipment to the company and has no plans to freelance. He certainly has been around to help showcase a lot of history. He’s a Miami native, got a journalism degree at the University of Colorado, and worked places including the Denver Post before coming to Springfield. […]
And one of WCIA-TV’s Statehouse reporters, KELSEY GIBBS, 28, is leaving in January to become a general assignment reporter for KFOR-TV in Oklahoma City. She’s a Springfield High grad who got her master’s in public affairs reporting from the University of Illinois Springfield. Gibbs said it will be her first time living outside Illinois, so she expects to have “a little homesickness” with her family still here. But she said she’s excited about the “jump to a bigger market.” […]
Other Statehouse reporters who recently announced departures are AMANDA VINICKY, going from Illinois Public Radio to WTTW-TV in Chicago; MIKE RIOPELL, who had been in Springfield for the Daily Herald, based in Arlington Heights, and took a job in Chicago with the Tribune; and WCIA-TV’s ED CROSS, who is becoming spokesman for the state Department of Natural Resources.
* The Illinois Abortion Law of 1975, passed in the wake of the landmark Roe v. Wade decision, with emphasis added…
It is the intention of the General Assembly of the State of Illinois to reasonably regulate abortion in conformance with the decisions of the United States Supreme Court of January 22, 1973. Without in any way restricting the right of privacy of a woman or the right of a woman to an abortion under those decisions, the General Assembly of the State of Illinois do solemnly declare and find in reaffirmation of the longstanding policy of this State, that the unborn child is a human being from the time of conception and is, therefore, a legal person for purposes of the unborn child’s right to life and is entitled to the right to life from conception under the laws and Constitution of this State.
Further, the General Assembly finds and declares that longstanding policy of this State to protect the right to life of the unborn child from conception by prohibiting abortion unless necessary to preserve the life of the mother is impermissible only because of the decisions of the United States Supreme Court and that, therefore, if those decisions of the United States Supreme Court are ever reversed or modified or the United States Constitution is amended to allow protection of the unborn then the former policy of this State to prohibit abortions unless necessary for the preservation of the mother’s life shall be reinstated.
I bring this up because a Republican president who campaigned on repealing Roe v. Wade has a Republican US Senate.
* But the Tribune looked into this matter back in 1991…
Anti-abortion groups would likely go to court to get the 1975 law reinstated [if Roe v. Wade is overturned], but whether they would succeed remains a question. […]
“Abortions will not be illegal because there is no statute in Illinois that makes abortions generally criminal,” [Attorney Paul Linton, counsel for the anti-abortion Americans United for Life] said.
The Illinois Legislative Research Unit of the General Assembly also shares that view. It would take a new law to outlaw abortion here, the research unit concluded in a 1989 study. […]
[Colleen Connell, director of the reproductive rights project of the American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois] of the ACLU maintained that both the preamble and the law are unenforceable.
“The law has a unconstitutional vagueness,” she said. “It doesn’t specifically tell physicians which acts are prohibited and which are not. There’s a long-standing and unquestioned doctrine of criminal law in Illinois that says the law must be very specific.
“What the preamble says is the General Assembly didn’t like abortion, but the preamble has no legal, binding aspect.”
Category two includes a variety of midrange Democrats. Each has a following but would have to scramble to widen their base.
For instance, state Sen. Daniel Biss, D-Evanston, reminds me of the late Dawn Clark Netsch with his focus on fiscal probity and thoughtful backing of progressive causes. He raised $10 million for an anti-Rauner TV blitz this fall but insists it’s not about money. “I really don’t like the theory of ‘we’ll pit our billionaire against their billionaire,’ ” he says.
Two downstate officials are known to be considering a run, too, U.S. Rep. Cheri Bustos of western Illinois and state Sen. Andy Manar of Bunker Hill. Both have been successful in regions that the Democratic Party statewide has all but abandoned in recent decades.
But Bustos recently accepted a job in House Democratic leadership that will be difficult to walk away from, even if she has Durbin’s rumored backing. That could make Manar, the former chief of staff to Illinois Senate President John Cullerton, the man to watch in a crowded field, especially if he’s able to consolidate labor behind him.
Sen. Manar is up for reelection in two years, so he’d have to give up his seat to run. I’m not saying he wouldn’t do that, I’m just saying that hard fact will definitely play a role in his decision-making.
Mike McClain, a Quincy attorney who has been described as “the most trusted and respected lobbyist in Springfield,” has announced his retirement.
McClain, 69, said he told his wife, Cinda Awerkamp McClain, two years ago that he would retire at the end of 2015 as an anniversary present for her.
“Then we had the Exelon bill come up, and my friend Mike Madigan was facing some tough times, and so (the retirement) kind of got put on hold” for another year, McClain said, referring to a bill to extend subsidies to the utility to keep two nuclear power plants in the state operating.
He kept his retirement plan secret until it was revealed Friday by Rich Miller in the Illinois political newsletter and blog Capitol Fax. The announcement caught many by surprise.
“He was extremely successful and really, really will be missed,” said state Sen. John Sullivan, D-Rushville.
Former state Rep. Art Tenhouse, R-Liberty, said McClain worked behind the scenes and could “cross over the partisan divide” on almost every issue that came up in the Legislature.
“Most people don’t realize what an advocate he’s been for Western Illinois and how many things he’s gotten accomplished for this region,” Tenhouse said. […]
Wrote Miller on Friday:
“McClain has been a vitally important sounding board and strategist for the Speaker. He’s never been afraid to clash head-on with other members of Madigan’s inner circle when he’s believed they’ve given his guy the wrong advice. McClain also participated in Madigan’s conference calls every Sunday during campaign seasons, including this past one.
“The extent of his influence with Madigan probably can’t be overstated and will likely never be known. Neither man is the type to write tell-all autobiographies. Madigan doesn’t always take McClain’s advice, of course, but, like pretty much everyone who comes into contact with McClain, he most definitely always listens to him and respects him and, perhaps most importantly, trusts him.
“He’s also been a valued private conduit to members of Team Rauner, who may not love Madigan, but can always talk to McClain.”
On Friday, McClain said “a Springfield old-timer” told him early in his career as a lobbyist that with his connections, McClain could make a lot of money and retire in five years, or make a more modest living compared with other people and keep lobbying for a long time, while keeping his reputation intact.
The FBI notified the Illinois Republican Party in June that some of its email accounts may have been hacked, but party officials were not told that it was part of a wide-ranging federal investigation of Russian activity in the nation’s political system, the state GOP’s executive director said Sunday.
Nick Klitzing said the state GOP on its own found 18 of its emails on the website DCLeaks.com. The New York Times reported the website was an outlet that U.S. intelligence officials and private cybersecurity companies believe was created by a unit controlled by the GRU, Russia’s military intelligence agency.
Klitzing said FBI agents raised questions about emails involving the state GOP accounts during their visit. The four email accounts involved were inactive or rarely used, and the hacked emails dated to 2015, long before the 2016 contests for president and Illinois offices, Klitzing said.
A review of the emails provided by the state GOP shows the messages were largely rudimentary in nature, ranging from requests for training and local party event invitations to reports and discussion that U.S. Rep. Peter Roskam of Wheaton should be considered a “dark horse” candidate to replace House Speaker John Boehner, a contest ultimately won by U.S. Rep. Paul Ryan of Wisconsin.
The disclosure of the hacked email accounts comes amid reports by the Times and Washington Post that assessments by American intelligence agencies, including the CIA, concluded that Russia acted to influence the 2016 presidential election in favor of Republican President-elect Donald Trump and to hurt Democrat Hillary Clinton’s chances.
* Two years ago Saturday I got a call in the middle of the night telling me that Comptroller Judy Baar Topinka had died. Everyone who knew her was shocked. She just seemed so indestructible.
Her untimely death undoubtedly changed the course of Illinois history. While she was a good Republican, she would’ve undoubtedly stood up to newly elected Gov. Bruce Rauner’s constant demands for “right to work” and other anti-union legislation, providing a balance to that party which simply doesn’t exist these days. I also believe she would’ve sharply criticized the Democrats for obstructionism, bringing some sensible balance to that fight as well.
I’ve said this before and I’ll say it until I no longer have breath in my body: Never before in the history of any state has the death of a comptroller had such tragic consequences.
Top folks in the governor’s office said they didn’t quite understand last week why the Senate Democrats and House Speaker Michael Madigan’s spokesman were so upset with them about canceling last Thursday’s leaders meeting to discuss ending the long Statehouse impasse and finishing up an incomplete budget.
Gov. Bruce Rauner’s chief of staff reached out to Rep. Greg Harris (D-Chicago) last Wednesday to see whether he’d finished up a budget framework. Harris, who Madigan refers to as his “chief budget negotiator,” had reportedly made it clear earlier in the process that he wanted to get input from House Democratic membership before moving forward with any budget proposal. He hadn’t yet been able to do that, which led to the decision by the governor’s office to cancel last Thursday’s meeting.
Trouble is, the press release announcing that cancellation was sent at almost exactly the same time as top Democratic staff were informed of the news. And that led to internal confusion and more than a little anger.
-
“I’m seriously floored by this,” said one clearly ticked off top Dem involved with the negotiations. “Every time we start to make progress they pull the plug.”
Public comments by Madigan’s spokesman (who is not involved with negotiations) were a bit harsh: “Somehow they had it in their heads that we’re going to take over some executive action [by proposing a full budget]. I don’t think that’s going to happen,” Steve Brown told the Chicago Sun-Times.
But the real reason the Democrats haven’t presented a plan after almost two years of demanding that Rauner propose one is that if they do lay out an actual spending plan, they’d have to essentially reveal the size of the tax hike they’d prefer, which is why Rauner hasn’t done it, either.
It wouldn’t be difficult for the governor to take the Democrats’ spending proposals, subtract out expected state revenues and then label what wasn’t yet funded as “the Democrats’ tax hike plan.” Or, more likely, “the Mike Madigan tax hike plan,” since the Republicans truly relish whacking the unpopular House Speaker.
That may not happen, but the complete lack of trust among Statehouse leaders exacerbated by the governor’s year-round campaign style pretty much makes that expectation a reality.
After all, I already get more than a dozen e-mails almost every day from the Illinois Republican Party slamming individual House and Senate Democrats for being Madigan’s minions. A “tax hike proposal” from Madigan could exponentially increase those attacks.
Not to mention that the governor’s state party sent a video “tracker” to the Statehouse this month to harass a few politically vulnerable House Democrats. The party posted video of one somewhat embarrassing encounter on YouTube. This stuff is, at the least, inanely juvenile and, at most, darkly autocratic. The governor’s party shouldn’t be paying people to follow opposing party legislators around Springfield with a camera. Period. And it could easily escalate out of control if the other side starts responding in kind.
In the past, the leaders and the governor would all figuratively hold hands and jump off the tax hike cliff together. But, in the past, nobody was blasting out campaign press releases just days after the campaign ended and hounding legislators with video trackers. So, nobody trusts anyone enough to do that now.
And that’s why Senate President John Cullerton went on WTTW’s “Chicago Tonight” program last week and said, “It’s not a matter of who’s going first,” but then firmly and repeatedly demanded that Rauner had to be the one to go first.
Even so, they actually appear to be making some slow progress behind the scenes.
Despite public comments by Republican leaders that reconstituting the rank and file legislative working groups was a waste of time, a small group planned to meet last Friday with the governor’s people to engage on a workers’ compensation reform plan. Cullerton said earlier in the week that he was confident a deal could be struck, particularly if it focused on weeding out fraud and abuse. Speaker Madigan said after last Tuesday’s meeting that he was willing to negotiate on that topic.
Another small working group was also scheduled to talk about local government consolidation and state mandate relief. Madigan said he was willing to engage on that topic as well. Madigan also said last week he was willing to talk about pension reform, which is another major Rauner demand and for which Cullerton already has a proposal.
They just need to find a way to trust each other enough to make it all happen. Don’t bet on it yet.
* I never got around to our Golden Horseshoe Awards today. It’s Friday and I was distracted and tired from a long week are my excuses and I’m gonna stick to ‘em. We’ll get back to the awards on Monday.
Homicides citywide are up about 56 percent compared to last year and shootings are up about 49 percent, but just five of Chicago’s 22 police districts are driving the bulk of Chicago’s rise. All are on the South or West Sides.
In the 11th [police district], shootings are up by 78 percent compared to a year ago, and homicides are up 89 percent. So far in 2016, 91 people have been killed in this district, where only about 74,000 people live. That is more homicides than in all of last year in entire cities, such as Seattle (population 684,000), Omaha (444,000) and Buffalo (258,000).
* Gov. Bruce Rauner probably enjoyed the most receptive audiences of his time in office when he visited the Quad Cities area and Clinton to sign the Exelon bill. The Rauner folks have made a video of the events. Have a look…
It was wonderful to join the communities in the Quad Cities and Clinton this week to celebrate the signing of the Future Energy Jobs Bill. pic.twitter.com/GMQcGoIqLk
* I dunno. You gotta be pretty desperate for news to ask Rahm Emanuel, the mayor of a city in financial peril and dealing with a huge spike in violence and racial discord, if he plans to run for president in 2020. Just sayin…
Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel had a fiery response when asked Thursday night whether he would consider running for president in 2020.
The former White House chief of staff to President Obama and senior adviser to President Bill Clinton flipped off consultant Neil Hare — twice — after being posed the question at BLT Steak, prompting laughter from others at the bar.
Emanuel, famed for his coarse language and caustic retorts, was hanging out at the restaurant located blocks from the White House during a swing through Washington this week.
But the mayor isn’t shy when it comes to how he feels about being asked about potential presidential ambitions.
“She’s a reporter,” someone at BLT said after the Chicago mayor gave Hare the bird, referring to your ITK writer.
“I don’t give a f— who she is,” Emanuel shot back.
The predawn rousting of Gov. Rod Blagojevich from his Ravenswood Manor home Tuesday marked a stunning climax to a tale of alleged public corruption unmatched in Illinois’ storied history of elected scoundrels and thrust the state into an unprecedented political crisis.
Illinoisans awoke to news that their governor had been arrested, handcuffed and hauled before a federal magistrate on sweeping charges he conspired to sell his office many times over–including putting a price on the U.S. Senate seat vacated by President-elect Barack Obama.
U.S. Atty. Patrick Fitzgerald said the governor’s actions forced his office to intervene. “Gov. Blagojevich has been arrested in the middle of what we can only describe as a political corruption crime spree,” he said. Fitzgerald said Blagojevich’s “conduct would make [Abraham] Lincoln roll over in his grave.”
The well-coiffed governor, sporting a turtleneck beneath a blue Nike track suit and running shoes, was released on his own recognizance and walked out not only free, but still empowered to make an appointment to the Senate seat federal prosecutors say he tried to corrupt.
“They’re doing well. He’s sad, surprised and innocent,” Blagojevich attorney Sheldon Sorosky told reporters outside Blagojevich’s home Tuesday night.
Throughout the day, the halls of state government in Springfield and Chicago were humming with calls for his resignation or impeachment–and lawmakers planned an emergency session to schedule a special election and to strip the governor of his sole authority to fill the Senate post.
My website as well as those run by the Tribune and the Sun-Times all crashed that morning because of the traffic spike. Such crazy times.
Newly published federal campaign finance reports reveal that both Chris Kennedy and J.B. Pritzker teamed with Mike Madigan and Lisa Madigan to help fund the failed Leading Illinois For Tomorrow (LIFT) PAC that spent nearly $10 million attacking Bruce Rauner in the lead up to the November elections.
“It’s clear that both Chris Kennedy and J.B. Pritzker will do whatever Mike Madigan wants. Pritzker and Kennedy combined to give to a failed Madigan front group $950,000 and thousands more to Madigan’s House candidates,” said Illinois Republican Party spokesman Steven Yaffe. “The only thing less surprising than wannabe governor candidates doing the Speaker’s bidding is Lisa Madigan pouring in $150,000 to help him. Lisa Madigan proved that she’ll do anything she can to help Mike Madigan protect the special interests and failed status quo. Springfield needs a shake up more than ever.”
Despite the Madigan-backed LIFT PAC spending close to $10 million this fall, Illinois Republicans still netted six seats in the Illinois legislature.
“The Madigan family and Chicago Democrat elite can spend all the money they want, but it won’t change the fact that Illinoisans want major reforms in Springfield,” Yaffe said. “Voters now know all the potential Democrat candidates for governor stand with Mike Madigan.”
…Adding… Just noticed something at the link. Chris Kennedy gave $50,000 to the LIFT PAC while JB Pritzker gave $900,000. That’s the whole “money” argument for the primary in a nutshell.
Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner praised President-elect Donald Trump’s choice for education secretary Thursday, saying the Michigan billionaire and school voucher proponent is “a very talented and very passionate education advocate.”
Betsy DeVos, whose husband is an heir to the Amway fortune, was named late last month as Trump’s choice to head the federal Department of Education.
DeVos is a longtime advocate for voucher programs that allow parents to use taxpayer funds to pay for private or parochial schools. She’s also a former chair of the Michigan Republican Party.
“I do know Betsy DeVos, I have great respect for her,” Rauner said Thursday when asked about Trump’s selection of DeVos. “I think she’s a very talented and very passionate education advocate. And I personally am a believer in school choice. And I look forward to working together.”
In Detroit, parents of school-age children have plenty of choices, thanks to the nation’s largest urban network of charter schools.
What remains in short supply is quality.
In Brightmoor, the only high school left is Detroit Community Schools, a charter boasting more than a decade of abysmal test scores and, until recently, a superintendent who earned $130,000 a year despite a dearth of educational experience or credentials.
On the west side, another charter school, Hope Academy, has been serving the community around Grand River and Livernois for 20 years. Its test scores have been among the lowest in the state throughout those two decades; in 2013 the school ranked in the first percentile, the absolute bottom for academic performance. Two years later, its charter was renewed.
Or if you live downtown, you could try Woodward Academy, a charter that has limped along near the bottom of school achievement since 1998, while its operator has been allowed to expand into other communities.
For students enrolled in schools of choice — that is, schools in nearby districts who have opened their doors to children who live outside district boundaries — it’s not much better. Kids who depend on Detroit’s problematic public transit are too far away from the state’s top-performing school districts — and most of those districts don’t participate in the schools of choice program, anyway.
This deeply dysfunctional educational landscape — where failure is rewarded with opportunities for expansion and “choice” means the opposite for tens of thousands of children — is no accident. It was created by an ideological lobby that has zealously championed free-market education reform for decades, with little regard for the outcome.
And at the center of that lobby is Betsy DeVos, the west Michigan advocate whose family has contributed millions of dollars to the cause of school choice and unregulated charter expansion throughout Michigan.
A Michigan automotive company hopes to take over the former Mitsubishi plant in Normal.
Rivian Automotive is in talks to buy the entire 2.4 million-square-foot plant and manufacture there, bringing 500 jobs by 2021 and 1,000 when at full production, the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity (DCEO) announced late Thursday afternoon.
The company expects to invest up to $175 million in the project by 2024.
Mitsubishi shut down production at the plant in November 2015 and laid off the last employees in May. The plant employed 1,200 before closing and about 3,000 at its peak. […]
An agreement between Rivian and Normal specifies that in order to receive [$1 million] incentives, the company must employ 35 workers by the end of 2018, 75 in 2019, 300 in 2020 and 500 in 2021. Those are “full-time employees with an average weekly salary equal to or greater than the average weekly salary in McLean County.”
The company started out in Florida then moved to Michigan when its incentive package ran out and Michigan stepped up with some cash. Its website has nothing on it.
Founded in 2009, Rivian is an automotive technology company developing an integrated portfolio of products and services to advance the shift to sustainable mobility. Backed by strong investors and driven by a team of passionate innovators, Rivian is creating solutions that redefine traditional automotive economics and remove the pain points of conventional ownership.
Yeah, I don’t know what that means, either. Supposedly, they’re trying to develop a low-priced but high performance sports car…
Rivian Automotive, founded in 2009, develops and manufactures efficient sports cars. The company was formerly known as Mainstream Motors Inc., and changed its name to Rivian Automotive in 2011.
* As we discussed earlier this week, Senate President Cullerton has told the governor it would be much easier to pass a pension reform bill if Rauner reached a contract agreement with AFSCME. Speaker Madigan also said this week he wants the AFSCME negotiations to be part of the working group talks. Cullerton explained his position to WTTW…
So why isn’t that pension reform happening? Cullerton says the governor’s contract dispute with state public employee union AFSCME has poisoned the well, and that it’s the governor who’s holding up pension reform.
“He’s offered them no pay raises for four years, and to cut their healthcare by a third. How, on top of that, can we say ‘We’re going to cut your pensions too?’ He has an ability to negotiate that contract and help us pass a pension reform bill. Democrats or Republicans won’t vote for pension reform. The conversation isn’t what’s going in the bill, it’s, how are you going to pass it? And he’s not offering any help.”
* Related…
* Curtis Black: Rauner’s war on unions brings Illinois to the brink
Gov. Bruce Rauner and legislative leaders were to meet again Thursday, but the meeting was called off. Rauner says it’s because leaders don’t have a budget plan. Democratic leaders say it’s the governor who doesn’t have a plan.
The reality is, a series of working groups, spearheaded by the governor’s budget director, concluded that taxes would have to go up from 3.75 to 4.85 percent, and that the sales tax would be broadened to include some services. In addition, there would be cuts and some reforms. But neither party wants to be the first to propose a tax hike.
I asked [Senate President John Cullerton], Why not go first? He responded that he believes it’s on the governor to do that.
“He has to tell us, ‘I have a plan where we’ll cut $8 billion out of the budget,’ or, ‘We’re going to cut some of it, but we’re going to need some revenue.’ It’s not a matter of who’s going first. We don’t have the votes in the Democratic Party to pass a tax increase and then override it if Rauner veto’s it. So that means, if there’s gonna be a tax increase, Governor Rauner is going to determine what that level’s going to be, or if it should be. Tell us that number and then we’ll go back and figure out how to spend the money you’re willing to sign.”
* Michael Sneed reports that Bill Daley says he’s backing Chris Kennedy for governor and not JB Pritzker. That doesn’t mean much, of course, except possibly Kennedy access to some of Daley’s wealthy friends, who he probably knows anyway. But read on…
“If anybody had the fire in the belly to run, it would be Pritzker,” said a top Dem source. “He could pull the trigger and self-fund and run.” […]
Sneed is told Pritzker and Kennedy also called Chicago Federation of Labor President Jorge Ramirez to seek support. “I explained the optics,” said Ramirez. “Kennedy has his own mystique. It’s amazing. And he is really serious. So is Pritzker. He’s determined.”
It’s been suggested Pritzker could do $450 million of his own money. “Kennedy couldn’t and wouldn’t do that, relying instead on his platinum donor list to fund his campaign,” the top Dem source said.
However, Sneed is told House Speaker Mike Madigan was disappointed in Kennedy’s ability to raise money for Dem campaigns in the last election gleaned from his donor lists.
“Look, Madigan has been sucking air from the trial lawyers and laborers to get his people elected — and getting tapped out,” said a second Dem source. “Susana Mendoza’s race for state comptroller was expensive. That’s why Madigan told Pritzker and Kennedy to rely primarily on self-funding if they are gonna run.”
Discuss.
* Related…
* Meet the Democrats’ proto-Trumps - Liberal mega-donors move to run for governor after watching their party lose ground in 2016
* We’re going to try something new this holiday season. Rather than post them in comments, our ever-valuable commenter VanillaMan will be sending me Christmas songs to post on the front page. If you’re unfamiliar with the tune this is built on (”We Need a Little Christmas”), click here…
Haul out those wish lists
Count up taxes before my spirit falls again
Fill up the pensions
I may be rushing things, but make requests again now
For we need a little budget
Right this very minute
Compromise among parties
Something for everyone in it!
Yes, we need a little budget
Right this very minute
The Speaker may be in a fury
But Governor, constitutionally, it’s your DUTY!
So climb down from ideology
Put on the brightest smiles that citizens have ever seen
Slice up appropriations
It’s time we stopped with - vetoing everything down!
For we’ve grown a little leaner
Grown a little colder
Grown a little sadder
Grown a little older
And we need a little budget
Sitting on our printers
We need a little budget now
Haul out that backlog!
Tell Mendoza we’re gonna live each living day
Fill up all the funds
Especially the one you from which you expect to get pay
But we need a little budget
Right this very minute
We know you can do it
Just hold your breath – get to it!
And we need a little budget
Right this very minute
It’s been two years, for crying-out-loud
Time to step up and be proud!
So climb down from deadlock
Stop listening to all those hacks on talk radio
Slice up the differences
It’s time you did the job you were sent to do now!
For we need a little budget
Right this very minute
If the Cubs can do it
You’re out of excuses – screw it!
And we need a little budget
Right this very minute
We need a little budget now
We need a little budget now
We need a little budget now!
* The governor tweeted out a message to legislative Democrats today…
Democratic legislators should put taxpayers & critical human services ahead of personal gain & drop the lawsuit prioritizing their paychecks pic.twitter.com/Lfugp8smTj
I’m calling on Democratic legislators to put taxpayers and critical human services ahead of their own personal gain by dropping the lawsuit to prioritize their paychecks. Paying politicians shouldn’t be put ahead of human services or school funding. It’s simply insulting to demand otherwise. This lawsuit is a stunning reminder of why we need term limits and real change in Springfield.
I’ve also called on Comptroller Mendoza to fight this in court. Hire an outside attorney and work every day against this lawsuit just like Comptroller Munger did.
Democrats should do the right thing and end this frivolous lawsuit. Democrats need to put human services and taxpayers ahead of themselves. They should be putting pressure on their leadership to work with Republicans on passing a balanced budget with reforms that create jobs, lower property taxes and improve our schools. If they won’t do a balanced budget, they shouldn’t be paid first. No budget, no pay.
A guy who makes $185 million a year probably wouldn’t miss six months’ pay. Just sayin…
* Two Illinois-centric takes: 1) Cook County has remained one of the nation’s most robust economic engines for decades; and 2) Illinois used to be the home to lots more engines than just Cook, but we’re definitely not alone as new business startups are increasingly confined to fewer high-density counties while far fewer new businesses are being established…
This graphic is kind of blowing my mind today. It's amazing, troubling, and I don't quite know what to do with this information. pic.twitter.com/JxaRsWvJTa
The Chicago Board of Education approved an amended $5.5 billion operating budget for Chicago Public Schools on Wednesday but acknowledged more drastic changes could come next month after the governor blasted a $215 million hole in its budget. […]
School board president Frank Clark said he remained “optimistic” but acknowledged for the first time that the cash-strapped CPS may have to make other plans.
“There’s approximately another month in the 99th General Assembly, and until that ends, I expect the state will fulfill its promise and keep its word, and provide the necessary funding for Chicago children,” Clark said. “If for whatever reason the unthinkable occurs, we are prepared to deal with another amended budget at our next regular board meeting in late January.”
The district wouldn’t discuss any possible cuts, saying they expect legislators to come through. CEO Forrest Claypool also renewed the possibility of filing a lawsuit he had prepared in June while waiting to see if legislators would approve hundreds of millions in state aid, including the pension money. The district isn’t in any kind of financial shape to be able to borrow the money.
* The Republican Party of Illinois is still trying to shake loose some answers from House Democrats. My in-box today…
“Yesterday, Chicago Public Schools passed a budget with a $215 million hole, signaling that they are still counting on the House to override Governor Rauner’s veto of the Chicago bailout. Robyn Gabel has refused to rule out voting for the bailout. Gabel owes it to the families in her district to guarantee that if an override is called, she will stand with them and vote no.” – Illinois Republican Party Spokesman Steven Yaffe
Yesterday, the Chicago Public Schools board passed a budget with a $215 million hole.
After Democratic leaders reneged on their promise to pass pension reform, an agreement that would have freed up resources for Chicago schools, House Democrats will soon face their first big test.
They can either stand for taxpayers who are demanding fiscal sanity from Springfield, or vote to recklessly bail out Chicago Public Schools.
I don’t think it’s unreasonable to ask the question, whether or not you agree with the way it’s being asked.
* The 2016 Golden Horseshoe Award for Best State House Staffer - Non Political, Democrat goes to Justin Cox…
Hands down Justin Cox is deserving of this award. He is one of the hardest working staffers under the dome, and one of the go-to staffers for huge projects as evidenced by his tremendous work on the recent Exelon legislation. He is a top notch performer, a definitive leader, and a great person on top of it all. I don’t think you could find anyone who would say a bad word about Justin and his work.
Yep. Keep an eye on that guy.
* The 2016 Golden Horseshoe Award for Best State Senate Staffer - Non Political, Democrat goes to Mike Hoffman…
Mike has put in hundreds of hours on school funding reform, staffing several statewide commissions on the matter and both drafting and analyzing giant bills changing how the state spends a big chunk of money. He’s a solid, hard-working guy.
I couldn’t agree more.
* On to today’s categories…
* Best State House Staffer - Non Political, Republican
* Best State Senate Staffer - Non Political, Republican
Remember, if you don’t explain your vote, it won’t count. So give us your best pitches in both categories, please. Thanks!
During the third quarter of 2016, the African American unemployment rate was lowest in Vermont (6.2 percent) and highest in Illinois (14.2 percent). Illinois has had the highest unemployment rate for four consecutive quarters. Since the fourth quarter of 2015, the black unemployment rate in Illinois has risen 1.1 percentage points as unemployment has increased 0.7 percentage points statewide. Consistent with last quarter, seventeen states had African American unemployment rates below 10 percent in the third quarter of 2016—in 12 of these states, the rate was lower than the third quarter national average for African Americans (8.4 percent). […]
New York’s black-white unemployment rate gap was the smallest in the country. In that state, the black unemployment rate was 1.5 times the white rate during the previous quarter. This change was due to a decrease in the state’s black unemployment rate at the same time that whites increased their likelihood of unemployment. The largest gaps were in the District of Columbia, where the black unemployment rate was 8.0 times the white rate, and Illinois, where the black unemployment rate was 2.9 times the white rate.
Democrats dismayed by Donald Trump’s presidential victory are focusing their energy on unseating longtime Bolingbrook Mayor Roger Claar, an ardent Trump backer who hosted a fundraiser for him in September.
Three-term Will County board member Jackie Traynere was part of a group protesting at the fundraiser at the Bolingbrook Golf Club and said that got the ball rolling for her to file nominating petitions to run in the April 4 election. […]
Claar, who’s making plans to attend Trump’s inauguration Jan. 20, says his 30 years as mayor show he has the backing of the local electorate. He also points out that municipal elections are nonpartisan.
“There’s no such thing as a Republican pothole or Democratic pothole,” he says. “These are local issues, not national or international or even state (issues).”
Kerry reports that US Sen. Dick Durbin’s people along with Congresscritter Bill Foster’s office are involved in this. Durbin pushed hard years ago for a “red to blue” campaign in Will County and it worked.
Hillary Clinton scored just shy of 67 percent in Bolingbrook this year. Pat Quinn also won it both times, the second time by a healthy 53-44 margin.
And while Claar has been a successful mayor and Bolingbrook is a pretty darned nice town, he’s never really been so forceful and out front about a presidential candidate as he was this year. Roger is a guy who prides himself on getting along with everyone, but he went out of his way to back Trump, who is most definitely not a popular man in that town - pulling just 27 percent of the vote. That can leave Claar open to lots of criticism, particularly since his oppo file is on the thickish side. Also, he hasn’t had a real opponent in years, so he may be a bit rusty. But he does have a ton of cash in his campaign account. Turnout is usually very low in local Bolingbrook races, so we’ll see.
But Democrats, rather than criticizing [Gov. Bruce Rauner], ought to be putting together their own initiatives to spur job growth. Somehow, they still don’t get it.
Actually, Kadner’s column was about Donald Trump. I substituted the governor’s name on my own because, well, it’s even more true here. Criticism is important, of course, but the Democrats in this state have yet to pass any sort of economic development plan in the past two years - unless bailing out Exelon’s two nuclear plants qualifies.
* You gotta watch closely for the potential bait and switch in this story…
It’s been threatened to shut down and has laid off hundreds of workers.
So why is publicly-funded Chicago State University paying hundreds of thousands of dollars to well connected lobbyists?
That’s just one of several questions CBS 2 investigator Brad Edwards had for Chicago State University leaders. […]
CBS 2’s Brad Edwards showed him a list of expenditures. CBS 2 investigators found the school spent $1.9 million in less than three years on lawyers, lobbyists and PR pros.
But then the story only details about $250K over three years (for an average of about $84K per year) for lobbying and public relations work. They undoubtedly had other similar costs (I know of at least one), but is this mostly for legal work? From the way the story was presented, it kinda looks to me like the numbers could’ve been padded to make a point.
People don’t like to hear this, but a corporation or entity that’s in trouble needs lobbyists and/or PR help the most. And CSU has most definitely been in trouble. The school is literally fighting for its very life, so I can’t blame them for hiring some top lobsters and public relations types. My only suggestion would be to hire a connected Republican or two, considering that their main political problem right now is the governor’s obvious wrath. But that’s just me.
The six Democratic state lawmakers who filed a lawsuit last week demanding they be paid on time have a point: They are owed about six months’ worth of pay, and the Illinois constitution appears to be on their side in this matter.
It may be legally correct, but it’s still frustrating for taxpayers to see that legislators may get their checks in a more timely manner. […]
A judge will most likely agree with them - but the lawsuit is a tone-deaf move that implies no one in the Democratic Party thought about the optics such an action would create. It made them look selfish and callous about the suffering happening throughout Illinois.
Look, when the SJ-R, or the News-Gazette or some other entity can devise a plan that puts pressure on Democratic legislators and the wealthy governor equally to come to an agreement, then maybe I could go along with it. But this ain’t it.
A federal judge in Illinois has refused to move Aaron Schock’s corruption case from Springfield to Peoria at the former congressman’s request.
The 35-year-old Schock is accused of using government and campaign money to subsidize a lavish lifestyle, as well as pocketing thousands of constituents’ dollars. The (Peoria) Journal Star reported Wednesday that U.S. District Judge Sue Myerscough said in her opinion that keeping the case in Springfield doesn’t hurt Schock, but that it could delay other cases she is hearing.
Schock requested the move last month, arguing that the Peoria court was more convenient and appropriate. Prosecutors didn’t want the case moved.
Illinois’ approval of zero emission standards (ZES) is credit positive for Exelon Generation Company, LLC (ExGen, Baa2 stable), as the subsidies are critical for the survival of two of its nuclear facilities, Quad City and Clinton, according to Moody’s. ZES is a 10-year subsidy to be paid by utility customers in their monthly bills, and Moody’s expects that relative to shutting down its plants, ExGen’s pre-tax cash flow will improve by about $160 million per year.
Many nuclear plants operating in deregulated power markets generate minimal or negative cash flow, and many are located in rural areas and serve as primary sources of employment and tax base. Closing these plants risk harm to local economies as well as states’ desire to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
At the same time, Illinois’ ZES program is credit negative for Dynegy Inc (B2 stable) and NRG Energy, Inc. (Ba3 stable) because they own plants that burn coal or natural gas in the same market but are now at a competitive disadvantage without the subsidy.
Moody’s declaration of “credit positive” or “credit negative” does not connote a rating or outlook change. It is indicative of the impact of a distinct event or development as one of many credit factors affecting the issuer.
The Illinois Commerce Commission has approved a 5 percent increase in the annual delivery rate for ComEd, expected to generate $127.5 million in additional revenue for the utility in 2017.
Most ComEd residential customers will see their bills go up by about $2 per month beginning in January, the company said Wednesday.
So, two bucks a month equals $127.5 million. The Exelon bill is supposed to raise twice that, but rate hikes for residential users are supposedly capped at 25 cents per month.
In 2017, customers will see dips in their bills based on savings from the change in energy efficiency program spending, according to an analysis conducted by the Illinois Commerce Commission. After five years, the analysis shows, rates would go up by 8 cents per customer per month, based on that reduced spending level.
But a separate analysis by the Citizens Utility Board factors in the impact of energy efficiency. By 2022, when the commission’s report shows a small bump, customers will already see bill savings due to energy efficiency efforts, which should equate to a savings of about $2 per customer a month, according to CUB.
The Illinois Commerce Commission study was used in negotiations with Rauner’s administration. And the governor and his staff helped ensure a rate cap increase of 25 cents a month for residential customers of ComEd and Ameren for 13 years. It also limits increases on commercial customers to a 1.3 percent increase over last year’s rates.
ComEd will present annual numbers each year to the Illinois Commerce Commission, which may cause the costs to fluctuate, but the rate impact will be capped at 25 cents, per the agreement.
Businessman Chris Kennedy, Chicago’s link to the JFK dynasty who is eyeing a bid for governor, telling folks “I’m in” at the Irish Fellowship Club of Chicago Christmas Luncheon on Friday.
How does Sneed know?
I was there.
* Meanwhile, Bernie talked to Cheri Bustos about her recent DC promotion and Gov. Rauner…
“I have seen four (Illinois) governors go to prison in my lifetime, and yet, I have never seen a governor worse legislatively than Governor Rauner,” Bustos told me in a telephone interview. “He has been hurtful to so many people. And the fact that he cannot put his ego aside long enough to be able to sit down and be willing to compromise for the good of our state is very troubling. […]
Rauner has sparred with majority Democrats in the state legislature since he took office in 2015, and the state continues to operate without a full budget. Rauner has blamed House Speaker MICHAEL MADIGAN, D-Chicago, who also chairs the Democratic Party of Illinois, for blocking a deal as Rauner has insisted on what he calls reforms that Madigan has called non-budget issues that should be dealt with separately.
Is Madigan at fault?
“We’ve always had a budget up until Governor Rauner was in office,” Bustos said.
The GOP put out a video on Nov. 30 showing state Rep. SAM YINGLING, D-Grayslake, as he walked near the Statehouse. The tracker following Yingling asked if he would vote for Madigan for another term as speaker. The GOP obviously delighted in the response of Yingling, who didn’t stop or turn around, and said, “I don’t know. You should talk to him.” They put it on YouTube and issued a news release.
I’m not positive who the tracker was, but I do know that a Republican staffer, AARON DeGROOT, was at the Capitol that day, as he had a camera pointed at Madigan when the speaker addressed reporters following a meeting in Rauner’s office. I asked DeGroot if he was the tracker.
His response: “Rank-and-file Democrats have allowed boss Madigan to rule Illinois with an iron fist for decades, and I’m part of a team dedicated to holding those who refuse to stand up to Mike Madigan accountable.” […]
“Bruce Rauner has created such a toxic environment in Springfield that I question his ability to get anything done,” Yingling told me Wednesday. “He is spending all of his time continuing to campaign as opposed to governing.” […]
“You do not invest tens of millions of dollars into an otherwise-defunct organization and then take a hands-off approach,” Yingling said [of Gov. Rauner’s flat denial that he’s involved with the ILGOP actions].
Yingling badly muffed his tracker encounter, but he isn’t wrong here. It’s highly difficult to believe Rauner would turn over tens of millions of dollars and not be involved with any operations whatsoever. And if Rauner is somehow telling the truth, he needs to get up to speed with what’s being done with his money and in his name. Pronto.
