Monday, Apr 23, 2012 - Posted by Advertising Department
[The following is a paid advertisement.]
ComEd and municipal leaders from across ComEd’s service territory recently announced a new collaboration to coordinate response and improve customer service during significant outage-related events by establishing Joint Operations Centers (JOC) in communities throughout the utility’s service territory.
ComEd will set up, with approximately 400 municipal partners, region-specific JOCs in communities affected by service issues – within hours of a significant disruption. Representatives from ComEd and regional municipalities, working based on a pre-established list of public health, life, and safety facilities, will work together 24 hours a day until service is restored. Regular trainings and simulations will ensure that ComEd and its municipal partners have an effective and efficient working relationship.
In addition, ComEd has planned several technology improvements to allow for quicker response times and improved customer service:
• A smart phone “app” to report service interruptions and pay bills online, available in the coming months;
• A responsive text-messaging system to report outages and receive service updates; and
• A revamp of the annual report summaries provided to municipalities.
ComEd has entered into this unprecedented initiative to serve our customers better. We are looking forward to working with our municipal partners to reach unrivaled levels of customer service.
Former Sangamon County Republican Chairman Tony Libri said the party got a good price, $15,000, to bring conservative activist and “Cat Scratch Fever” rocker Ted Nugent to Springfield.
The county GOP paid two installments of $7,505 each to the cleverly named Projectile Marketing
Even so, the county Republicans did pretty well with their fundraising last quarter. Not so much for the Sangamon County Dems…
The party’s main fundraising committee began the year with $3,163 in the bank, took in $75 over the following three months, and, after some expenditures, had only $880 in the bank on March 31.
“It’s so quiet,” sighed Pippin in the movie version of J.R.R. Tolkien’s “The Fellowship of the Ring.”
“It’s the deep breath before the plunge,” counseled Gandalf.
“I don’t want to be in a battle,” Pippin said, “but waiting on the edge of one I can’t escape is even worse.”
That exchange pretty well sums up the current climate in the General Assembly. It’s very quiet. Too quiet.
Everybody knows that big, tough decisions are looming and inevitable, and they’re all tiptoeing around Springfield — peering over their shoulders and whispering about the coming fight that deep down they are starting to realize they cannot escape. The bloodiest of all battles is just around the corner, and they know it.
The most natural human reaction to a crisis is to either run away or try to deny reality. Maybe, some think, the General Assembly could just solve part of the gigantic and ever-growing $2.7 billion hole that the Medicaid program has blown in the state budget.
Or it could kick the can down the road on pension reform until after the election, when dozens of lame-duck legislators can be used to pad the roll calls.
But Gov. Pat Quinn said at least one credit agency has threatened Illinois with what’s known as a “double downgrade” of its bond rating if both the Medicaid and pension crises aren’t resolved this spring.
A double downgrade would lower the state’s credit rating by two notches instead of one and likely would result in a public relations disaster. But it also would put the state dangerously close to junk bond status, if not right in it.
The last time Illinois faced a double downgrade was just before the income tax hike was approved. The state was given the same threat a few days before the General Assembly rammed through major pension reform for new public employees in the spring 2010 spring legislative session.
So, Quinn’s position is that the big stuff needs to be done this spring — or this summer, in case the job isn’t completed by the end of May. No ifs, ands or buts about it, his people say.
“We come to it at last, the great battle of our time,” Gandalf said.
It won’t be much longer before our great Statehouse battle is in full swing. The first major volley beyond the trash-talking in Quinn’s budget address was launched last week when the governor detailed his tough but reasonable plan to patch a $2.7 billion Medicaid budget hole. On Friday, Quinn revealed his pension reform plan.
The legislative session is scheduled to adjourn at the end of May. Between now and then, there will be much complaining and whining, with threats issued from all sides from those about to lose what they have.
But the threat with the biggest teeth will probably turn out to be that double downgrade. The state has so much bond debt and such a strong desire to do more capital spending that it cannot ignore those warnings. The New York bond houses always win in the end, and this year may be no exception.
I’ve been telling friends for weeks that this is the most important legislative session of my lifetime. This spring is when Illinois government leaders decide whether they want to continue living in a dream world of spending as much money as they wish without ever worrying about how to pay for it or whether they finally decide to face the grim reality of their own making.
“My dear Frodo, Hobbits really are amazing creatures,” Gandalf said. “You can learn all there is to know about their ways in a month, and yet after a hundred years they can still surprise you.”
The long-term (and short-term) fiscal health of Illinois hinges on what our legislative Hobbits do in the next six weeks. They must take that big plunge toward responsibility and surprise all of us.
And the governor needs to stick to his guns and demand they complete their task, no matter how long they have to stay in session.
Emanuel said video poker “is not right for the city,” and cited protecting kids by not having gambling on potentially most blocks in the city.
“I am absolutely, 100 percent against it in every part of the fiber in my body,” Emanuel said. “And it will not happen on my watch.”
And I’m absolutely, 100 percent sure his stance has absolutely, 100 percent nothing to do with possible competition to his beloved Chicago-owned casino.
Absolutely, 100 percent sure.
* Meanwhile the Gaming Board has started the process of revoking a video poker machine supplier’s license because he was splitting winnings with a central Illinois American Legion Post. Chairman Aaron Jaffe was his usual drama queen self…
Jaffe said the state’s video poker business long has been “in the clutches of organized crime,” and said local law enforcement has “turned a blind eye to this crime for decades.”
“The proponents of the Video Gaming Act argued that strong regulation was going to make sure all the bad apples were gone,” Jaffe said. “That clearly, clearly is not the case.” […]
Gaming Board attorney Emily Mattison said she was unaware of any criminal charges against Sprague but said he refused to answer questions or cooperate with the board’s investigation, which alone is grounds to revoke a license.
Is it me, or does it look like Chairman Jaffe would rather the state keep the status quo ante and allow mobsters to infiltrate the industry rather than just do his freaking job?
* Comptroller Judy Baar Topinka looks at the state’s bill payment backlog in her latest quarterly report…
$4.322 billion in the General Revenue Fund ($121 million in backlogged pension payments), $974 million in the Education Assistance Fund ($193 million for pensions), and $281 million in the Common School Fund (all for pensions).
That’s almost $600 million in backlogged pension payments. And the Education Assistance Fund backlog is particularly troubling…
While the backlog is estimated to decrease from the current $974 million level in the fourth quarter, the backlog at the end of the year will be large enough to cause significant cash flow problems for the fund next year. Revenues into the fund in the first six months of FY 2012 totaled a little over $750 million. If the lapse period is extended beyond the traditional end of August date, nearly 6 months of FY 2013 EAF revenues would need to be used for FY 2012 liabilities. This would set up major delays for any new FY 2013 appropriations from the fund. [Emphasis added.]
Oof.
* More bad news…
The backlog of unpaid bills from the General Funds in the Comptroller’s office (IoC) stood at $5.57 billion at the end of this quarter – an increase of $1.304 billion from the end of the second quarter. […]
However, that adjusted backlog total accounts only for what has been submitted to the Comptroller for payment, and not what is being held by state agencies. For example, the Department of Healthcare and Family Services is holding an estimated $2 billion in Medicaid bills. When Medicaid and other unpaid state obligations are considered, illinois’ estimated bill backlog at the end of the quarter rises to more than $9 billion.
* There was good news, though. Sales tax collections are way up and income tax receipts are up. But federal receipts are down almost $2.1 billion, or 48.2 percent.
Phil Humber threw the first perfect game in the majors in almost two years, leading the Chicago White Sox to a 4-0 victory Saturday over the Mariners in Seattle.
It was baseball’s 21st perfect game and first since Philadelphia’s Roy Halladay threw one against the Florida Marlins on May 29, 2010. It was the third in White Sox’s history, joining Mark Buehrle against Tampa Bay on July 23, 2009, and Charles Robertson against Detroit on April 30, 1922.
With the White Sox lined up on the top step of the dugout, Humber fell behind 3-0 to Michael Saunders leading off the ninth. But he rebounded to strike him out. John Jaso then flied out before Brendan Ryan, another pinch-hitter, struck out to end the game.
Ryan took a checked swing and missed at a full-count pitch, but the ball got away from catcher A.J. Pierzynski. Ryan lingered outside the batter’s box for a minute, unsure of umpire Brian Runge’s call, and Pierzynski fired to first to complete the play.
Monday, Apr 23, 2012 - Posted by Advertising Department
[The following is a paid advertisement.]
Opponents of SB 678 and the Taylorville Energy Center have a math problem.
Since Illinois law limits any rate increase associated with the project to 2.015% over 30 years, or about $1.67/month for a “typical residential customer” according to the ICC, their math has to be pretty creative to scare the public.
After all, if they were honest and said, “it may cost you less than a ½ gallon of gas per month,” few people would be too concerned. Instead they’ve unleashed their robocall invasion around the state to scare seniors into believing electric bills will go up NINE times, which is only an 898% exaggeration.
And because an 898% exaggeration wasn’t enough, last month Exelon paid $40,000 for a bogus study claiming the Taylorville rate impact has spiked.
The Truth?
While projected natural gas and power price decreases have caused a modest rate impact increase, 40% lower interest rates (which will save the project nearly $900 million over 30 years) have more than offset any increased rate impact.
Remember the SJR warning:
“ComEd would do anything necessary to protect its bottom line and keep competition away, no matter how much hyperbole and alarmism was necessary.”
Springfield Journal-Register Editorial – September 13, 2011
So next time the Exelon-funded STOP coalition tries to scare you and your constituents about SB 678 and Tenaska, remember: there they go again.
· 3% increase in employee contributions
· Reduce COLA (cost of living adjustment) to lesser of 3% or ½ of CPI, simple interest
· Delay COLA to earlier of age 67 or 5 years after retirement
· Increase retirement age to 67 (to be phased in over several years)
· Establish 30-year closed ARC (actuarially required contribution) funding schedule
· Public sector pensions limited to public sector employment
To entice (or force, depending upon your standpoint) workers into that new system, employees who elect to stay in the current system would no longer be eligible for any government subsidies of their health insurance upon retirement. And none of their future pay raises would count toward their retirement income if they decide to stay in the current pension system.
By appearing to endorse these unfair and unconstitutional cuts, the governor has made the process of finding common ground much more difficult.
Forcing public servants to choose between two sharply diminished pension plans is no choice at all. It is a clearly illegal attempt to solve the problem caused by past governors and the legislature solely on the backs of teachers, caregivers and other public workers.
We’ll talk about more details as we go along, but I’m curious today what you think about the overall fairness of this plan to workers and to taxpayers.
* I’m told that former Miss America Erica Harold is interested in replacing Republican Congressman Tim Johnson on the ballot. From her Wikipedia page…
Erika N. Harold (born 1980) was Miss America 2003, having qualified for the pageant by being selected Miss Illinois 2002. Her official platform was “Preventing Youth Violence and Bullying: Protect Yourself, Respect Yourself.” This platform choice was said to have grown out of personal experience; she recounts having been the subject of racial and sexual harassment while growing up. However, in the first week of her reign, she also adopted a dual platform for Sexual Abstinence, causing some pageant observers to accuse her of harboring a hidden agenda. She held a press conference at the National Press Club in Washington during which she claimed the Miss America organization was bullying her.
Harold’s ethnic background is extremely varied. On her father’s side, she has Greek, German and Welsh ancestry, and on her mother’s side, Native-American, African-American and Russian descent.
Harold was born in Urbana, Illinois. She attended University High School and Urbana High School in Urbana, and later graduated from the University of Illinois as a Phi Beta Kappa honoree. In 2007, she graduated Harvard University’s Law School and as of June 2008 was employed as an associate attorney at Sidley Austin LLP in Chicago, Illinois, but is no longer at the firm.
Harold is politically conservative, and was the Youth Director for the Republican primary campaign of Illinois gubernatorial candidate Patrick O’Malley. She later served as a delegate to the 2004 Republican National Convention.
* The Sun-Times editorialized on behalf of the cigarette tax hike to help patch the state’s huge Medicaid funding hole…
First, a tax on cigarettes will deter smoking. The American Cancer Society estimates the tax increase would stop 72,700 children in Illinois from becoming smokers and encourage 53,400 adults to quit. That’s no small accomplishment, given how terrible smoking is for our health.
Second, smoking-related health-care costs drive up Medicaid spending, a fact Gov. Quinn emphasized when he met with the Sun-Times editorial board Friday. Smoking is estimated to cost the state $4.10 billion a year in health-care costs — and $1.5 billion of that tab is picked up by Medicaid.
“This is a very big public health measure,” Quinn said, “and anyone who is involved in public health is all for this.”
Third, trying to balance the state’s Medicaid budget with cuts alone means walking away from federal dollars. No other tax offers that huge federal match.
Fourth, Quinn already is proposing 58 stunningly deep Medicaid cuts. Further cuts would be devastating.
Fifth, the last three Republican governors of Illinois backed cigarette tax increases five times.
One significant quibble: Any tax hike or revenue increase or budget cut elsewhere could be used to leverage federal Medicaid dollars.
All of this is necessary, but doesn’t reach $2.7 billion. Enter the $1-a-pack cigarette tax, which would generate an estimated $337.5 million. Because Washington matches each state dollar spent on Medicaid, the state’s gain would double, to $675 million. We support this hike for two reasons: Medicaid, which provides care for smoking-induced illnesses, needs the money; the American Cancer Society estimates that tobacco cost Illinois $1.5 billion in Medicaid spending last year. And making cigarettes costlier means many people will quit or never start.
We hope Democrats, including those beholden to unions, will build on Quinn’s plan. Just as we hope Republicans will do the same — and drop their opposition to including a cigarette tax hike in any Medicaid rescue.
For Illinois to escape its downward spiral, its politicians of both parties will need to abandon some of their customary talking points (”No benefit reduction,” “No tax hike”).
We take it as a real measure of leadership that Gov. Quinn — accepting his “rendezvous with reality” — is pressing the case for major Medicaid and pension reforms. Friday afternoon, meeting with our editorial board, he said that legislative agreement to rescue Medicaid and pensions “will make Illinois a whole lot better state.”
While Southern Illinois voters remain adamantly opposed to raising major taxes to plug the state’s $15 billion budget deficit, they show some support for increasing the cigarette tax, according to the latest Southern Illinois Poll conducted by the Paul Simon Public Policy Institute at Southern Illinois University Carbondale.
The poll, taken Feb. 14-22, showed 60.3 percent of registered voters in the state’s southernmost 18 counties favor a $1 per pack increase in the cigarette tax. There were 36 percent opposed. The rest were undecided.
A poll released Thursday by the Illinois Coalition Against Tobacco found that voters statewide supported raising the cigarette tax by $1 – from 98 cents per pack to $1.98.
Of the 502 people who were surveyed, 74 percent supported the increase. That total included 71 percent of Republicans, 81 percent of Democrats and 68 percent of independents.
Even 42 percent of smokers said they support a cigarette tax increase, the survey found.
Supporters said the tax increase was the best way to fix the state’s $13 billion budget deficit. Other options, including higher income taxes, higher sales taxes and higher vehicle registration fees, were largely opposed.
Interestingly enough, the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids estimated back in 2010 that the buck a pack tax hike would bring in “nearly $300 million each year.” Gov. Quinn estimates that his buck a pack tax hike would bring in well over $300 million a year.
* But the two GOP legislative leaders are opposed…
“We stand with our members on the Medicaid working group against any tax increases to solve our Medicaid crisis,” noted Senate Minority Leader Christine Radogno and House Minority Leader Tom Cross. “We are encouraging the working group to continue working in a bipartisan way to come up with $2.7 billion in Medicaid reforms and cuts, not revenue enhancements.”
* Former Senate President Pate Philip, a conservative, anti-tax Republican, usually supported cigarette tax hikes, believing the impact was felt mainly by Democratic voters, which may be why some Democratic legislators are opposed.…
“I’ve always been again against cigarette taxes,” said state Sen. Gary Forby, D-Benton. “My district likes to smoke. When you do a tax on this, they go over in Kentucky, they go over in Indiana and they buy them cheaper. They just quit spending money in the state of Illinois.”
Illinois has a very long border with a whole lot of states, which is probably the most logical reason to oppose a cigarette tax hike.
* Roundup…
* Components of Medicaid savings plan still open to change
* Finke: Quinn threatens no break until Medicaid deal
* Our View: Illinois’ health care, pension quandary
The bottom line here is that Quinn has given lawmakers a template to do what he repeatedly has told them needs to be done. He’s given them plenty of time to debate this, to adjust, to add their own proposals before this legislative session’s scheduled conclusion May 31. All good.
The rendezvous with reality starts now. The Legislature is notorious for pushing off tough decisions to another day, another year, another decade. That can’t happen this time. “If we don’t make those changes, we won’t have a system at all,” Quinn said Thursday. He’s right.
So let’s get to it. Lawmakers, if you don’t like the governor’s solutions, let’s hear yours. Only one thing can’t change: The number is $2.7 billion.
“We commend Gov. Quinn for stepping forward in a timely fashion with a plan to save the Medicaid program — a plan that is reasonable, given the magnitude of the crisis,” says federation President Laurence Msall in an email. “We call on the General Assembly to adopt this plan or identify other comparable combinations of program cuts that are reasonable.”
* Quinn has said that anything short of that $2.7 billion goal will have to come out of other state programs. And since legislators have already cut Quinn’s proposed budget spending by $700 million, that means they’ll have to find more than $1.1 billion in cuts to Quinn’s introduced budget if they abandon the cigarette tax idea and don’t make up for the lost cash, for instance (the cig tax would raise about $336 million, which is doubled by the federal Medicaid match, so state spending would have to be cut by a like amount to make up for that approximately $700 million from the cig tax hike). No provider cuts means either $700 million in additional Medicaid service cuts or another $350 million in state budget cuts. The Republicans, however, are calling Quinn’s bluff…
But leading Republicans on the issue — Rep. Patti Bellock, R-Hinsdale, and Sen. Dale Righter, R-Mattoon — said they don’t believe Quinn will follow through on his threat of massive cuts.
* Polls consistently show that tax hikes on cigarettes are popular with a strong majority of Illinoisans. But the Republicans say they want Medicaid expenditure cuts instead…
The top Republicans in the Illinois Legislature say they won’t go along with Gov. Pat Quinn’s call for higher cigarette taxes to help the state’s struggling Medicaid program.
House Minority Leader Tom Cross and Senate Minority Leader Christine Radogno oppose “any tax increase to solve our Medicaid crisis.”
They noted that the Democratic governor said in his budget address that the state needs to reduce Medicaid expenditures and didn’t mention a tax increase. Cross and Radogno said they’ll hold Quinn to his word.
The Repubs don’t want cuts to providers, so they want the greatest pain to fall mainly on current recipients. That’s a political non-starter because there’s no way that Democratic lawmakers can agree to it. And the House Democrats clearly want a bipartisan proposal, so the cig tax hike might very well be dead if the Republican remain opposed…
House Speaker Michael Madigan, D-Chicago, will keep working with the governor, but finding a solution will require a “bipartisan coalition to get it all done,” said Steve Brown, the speaker’s spokesman.
Asked about the cigarette tax increase, Brown said, “I think anybody would say that you’re going to need a lot of other pieces of the puzzle to come together before you find a coalition to pass a revenue increase.”
* But Rep. Bellock is optimistic that a tax-free solution can be found…
Republicans on the working group said more cuts should be made.
Rep. Patricia Bellock, R-Hinsdale, said a number of cost-savings reforms passed by lawmakers last year still haven’t been implemented.
“We feel if we can get all of these reforms done and continue on a few major ones, we can get to $2.7 billion without increasing a tax on anybody,” Bellock said. “If we have a couple of more weeks to work on this, we think we can get to the $2.7 billion.”
* Courtesy of BlueRoomStream.com, here’s Gov. Pat Quinn’s full press conference on Medicaid…
* And here’s the Republican press conference on Medicaid…
Illinois already has the lowest reimbursement rate in the region. In many cases, they don’t even cover the actual cost to provide services.
The program reimburses doctors so poorly that many simply cannot afford to take more Medicaid patients. This leaves most Medicaid patients competing with each other for fewer and fewer doctors willing to see them. In Chicago, for example, children with throat cancer have only a one-in-three chance of seeing a specialist if they’re enrolled in Medicaid. For those with juvenile diabetes or epilepsy, the odds of seeing a specialist are one-in-two. And even when they can get an appointment, they have to wait months just to see the doctor. Cutting those rates even further doesn’t solve the problem. It just leaves the poorest and most vulnerable with even fewer options to receive quality care.
* The Illinois Hospital Association’s reaction to Gov. Pat Quinn’s Medicaid proposal yesterday is worth reading in full…
The Illinois Hospital Association (IHA) and the hospital community are deeply concerned about the Governor’s Medicaid proposal calling for a major rate cut to hospitals of about $350 million or approximately 8 percent. This proposed rate cut is in addition to about $150 million in other proposed reductions directly targeted at hospitals.
While we commend the Governor for taking some positive steps – including incorporating several of IHA’s savings alternatives – the proposal is still too drastic and too rash to impose on the state’s already fragile health care system. Simply engaging in a math exercise to fill a budget gap is the wrong approach that will hurt patients.
A reduction of this magnitude will jeopardize patients’ access to quality health care, cause irreparable harm to the Medicaid program and the health care system, and undermine hospitals in their critical roles as health care providers and major job creators. About one-third of Illinois hospitals are now losing money, and Illinois currently ranks 44th in the U.S. in per beneficiary Medicaid spending. Under the Governor’s proposed rate cut, many hospitals will be forced to reduce or eliminate key services or lay off staff – or both – and some hospitals may close.
The hospital community recognizes that the state’s budget challenges are significant. We want to partner with the Governor and the General Assembly on workable solutions that will help address those challenges. To that end, IHA and the hospital community have offered a series of alternatives to generate substantial cost savings and new revenues for the Medicaid program, totaling as much as $1.4 billion. (See IHA’s alternatives at: http://tinyurl.com/6t8doaw)
We urge the General Assembly to consider several alternatives that are either excluded from or undervalued in the Governor’s proposal in order to avoid blunt rate cuts, including:
· Maximizing revenues – both federal and other revenues – including enhancing the Hospital Assessment Program;
· Improving verification of eligibility for new and current beneficiaries; and
· Increasing provider based care coordination by enhancing the current Primary Care Case Management Program (which has saved the Medicaid program than $400 million since 2007).
IHA and the hospital community are firmly committed to working with the General Assembly on meaningful solutions – in a multi-year approach – to address the state’s budget challenges while transforming the Medicaid program to be sustainable and cost effective for the people of Illinois.
* Statement from Health Care Council of Illinois Executive Director Pat Comstock…
Our initial review of the governor’s proposal suggests there is a $237 million cut for nursing homes, an enormous amount. Such a cut would be devastating for resident care at nursing homes throughout the state. If that dollar amount proves to be accurate, it would decimate the money we generated by taxing ourselves to pay for recent safety reforms.
Illinois Comptroller Judy Baar Topinka suffered a minor fracture of her left hip after a speech this week, but she’s already had minor surgery and was “up and about,” a spokesman said Thursday.
Topinka, 68, had just finished a speech to the Illinois Public Health Association’s annual meeting at a downtown Springfield hotel Wednesday. When she was getting into an elevator, she fell and landed on her left hip, said Brad Hahn, her spokesman.
She went to Memorial Medical Center and had minor surgery that involved putting a couple of pins in her hip Wednesday night, Hahn said.
She could be out of the hospital by today. But she also has a big knot on her head from her fall.
* I cannot believe I missed this poll from the Paul Simon Public Policy Institute last month. 48.8 percent of southern Illinoisans said Cook County should be separated from Illinois, while 39 percent were opposed…
There has been a proposal to have Cook County separated from the rest of Illinois and to form its own state. Would you strongly favor, favor, oppose, or strongly oppose this proposal?
And what do you think about government spending in your area of the state? In terms of its share of state spending, do you think your part of the state gets more than its fair share, about the right amount, or less than its fair share of state spending?
More than its fair share 3.3%
About the right amount 13.3%
Less than its fair share 79.3%
Donʼt know 4.3%
Charles Leonard, a visiting professor at the Institute who supervised the poll, said, “This notion that downstate Illinois somehow does not belong with Cook County is consistent with the results of our 2010 Southern Illinois poll, in which large numbers of respondents also expressed antipathy toward Chicago.”
The poll also showed voters in the Southern Illinois region do not believe they are getting their fair share of state government spending. Almost eight in 10 (79 percent) said Southern Illinois gets “less than its fair share,” while only 3 percent said the region gets “more than our fair share.” About one in eight (13 percent) said the area gets “about the right amount.”
John Jackson, a visiting professor at the Institute and one of the authors of the poll, said: “Given that many political leaders and others constantly complain about Chicago, and about how badly Southern Illinois is treated by the state, and that significant portions of the media in Southern Illinois routinely echo that complaint, the belief in a downtrodden Southern Illinois has become a part of the conventional wisdom in this region.
“The belief is so embedded in the political culture that it undoubtedly is a root cause of the dominant attitude toward Cook County reflected in this question,” Jackson continued.
Which of these statements comes closer to your own views – even if neither is exactly right?
Most rich people today are wealthy mainly because of their own hard work, ambition, or education. 31.3%
Most rich people today are wealthy mainly because they know the right people or were born into a wealthy family. 51.5%
Neither 1.5%
Both equally 12.8%
Donʼt know 3.0%
Do you feel that the distribution of money and wealth in this country today is fair, or do you feel that the money and wealth in this country should be more evenly distributed among a larger percentage of the people?
Fair now 30.5%
Should be more even 59.0%
Donʼt know 10.5%
Do you think the federal government should or should not pursue policies that try to reduce the gap between wealthy and less well-off Americans?
Should pursue 51.0%
Should not pursue 38.3%
Donʼt know 10.8%
* There’s also been a statistically significant shift on gay marriage/civil unions since the Institute’s last poll in 2010…
The poll of 400 registered voters covered the 18 southernmost counties in Illinois: Alexander, Franklin, Gallatin, Hamilton, Hardin, Jackson, Jefferson, Johnson, Massac, Perry, Pope, Pulaski, Randolph, Saline, Union, Washington, White, and Williamson. Live phone interviews were conducted February 23-28. The sample of 400 has a margin of error of 4.9 percent at the 95 percent confidence level. This means that if we conducted the survey 100 times, in 95 of those instances, the result would be within plus or minus 4.9 percentage points from the results obtained here. We also included a special sample of cell phone users to ensure greater accuracy.
The poll was conducted by Issues & Answers of Virginia Beach, VA. It reports no Illinois political figures as clients. The poll was paid for with non-tax dollars from the Institute’s endowment fund.
But legislators on a committee assigned to suggest fixes to the severely underfunded retirement program said they were told Quinn wants workers to put more of their paychecks toward their nest eggs, though they wouldn’t provide specifics. The plan also will call for an adjustment to cost-of-living increases for retirees. […]
Quinn, whose plan will also include a 30-year schedule for catching up on the funding backlog, according to the legislators, will forge forward even though the committee advised the governor’s office they had not reached agreement on a complete package of reforms. They intend to keep working. […]
Sen. Bill Brady, a Republican committee member from Bloomington, said the plan will include the “best mix” of ideas, including an adjusted COLA that “we can afford” but which “maintains the value of the pensions.”
But Republicans say more could be done to stop fraud in the Medicaid program.
“And you don’t have other people in the system that drive away in a Cadillac and a Lexus and have people in the program that shouldn’t be in the program,” said Rep Patti Bellock, (R) Westmont.
Illinois ranked third while Wisconsin placed 42nd in the most recent Bloomberg Economic Evaluation of States index, which includes personal income, tax revenue and employment.
Illinois gained 32,000 jobs in the 12 months ending in February, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics found. Wisconsin, where [Gov. Scott Walker] promised to create 250,000 jobs with the help of business-tax breaks, lost 16,900. […]
Illinois ranked behind only North Dakota and Michigan in the Bloomberg economic index, which also measures home prices, mortgage delinquency rates and the equity performance of companies headquartered in each state. The index ranked Wisconsin 42nd among the states when comparing the fourth quarter of 2011 with the same period of 2010.
First, we invited Walker for a very simple reason — he has turned his state around. While we fully agree not all of his policies would work in Illinois, we agree with his general philosophy — which is that jobs and prosperity are created by the private sector and government should get out of the way. Our members wanted to hear his side of the story. Goodness knows they’ve heard plenty from his critics, whose public tantrums and bullying tactics have attracted international media coverage.
It’s also worth noting that Walker has acknowledged that perhaps he moved too aggressively in the beginning and that he should have taken more time to build broader support for his reforms. However, it is important to note that swift action meant an even swifter economic recovery for his state.
* And Gov. Pat Quinn reacted via press release to news that Illinois’ unemployment fell to 8.8 percent while 9,100 jobs were created in March…
“Our commitment to putting Illinois residents back to work is paying off. For the seventh straight month, unemployment numbers in Illinois have continued to fall. Last month, unemployment fell to 8.8 percent – the lowest it has been since February 2009. Today’s number is a testament to our solid efforts to create good jobs in Illinois.
“During March alone, we created 9,100 jobs. Since Illinois began its recovery in January 2010, we have added more than 142,100 private sector jobs. And the good news is that these jobs are being created in growing fields that pay a good wage: education, health services, professional sectors and manufacturing. In fact, today an international healthcare company announced plans to expand in Illinois.
“Baxter International, Inc. is the latest company to choose to expand operations in Illinois. Baxter will create more than 200 new, high-tech jobs as it expands a manufacturing facility in Round Lake. Baxter Chief Scientific and Innovation Officer Norbert Riedel is a member of my Innovation Council, which is one of the many tools we have implemented to help meet the needs of growing companies.”
Friday, Apr 20, 2012 - Posted by Advertising Department
[The following is a paid advertisement.]
Opponents of SB 678 and the Taylorville Energy Center have a math problem.
Since Illinois law limits any rate increase associated with the project to 2.015% over 30 years, or about $1.67/month for a “typical residential customer” according to the ICC, their math has to be pretty creative to scare the public.
After all, if they were honest and said, “it may cost you less than a ½ gallon of gas per month,” few people would be too concerned. Instead they’ve unleashed their robocall invasion around the state to scare seniors into believing electric bills will go up NINE times, which is only an 898% exaggeration.
And because an 898% exaggeration wasn’t enough, last month Exelon paid $40,000 for a bogus study claiming the Taylorville rate impact has spiked.
The Truth?
While projected natural gas and power price decreases have caused a modest rate impact increase, 40% lower interest rates (which will save the project nearly $900 million over 30 years) have more than offset any increased rate impact.
Remember the SJR warning:
“ComEd would do anything necessary to protect its bottom line and keep competition away, no matter how much hyperbole and alarmism was necessary.”
Springfield Journal-Register Editorial – September 13, 2011
So next time the Exelon-funded STOP coalition tries to scare you and your constituents about SB 678 and Tenaska, remember: there they go again.
* Gov. Pat Quinn will unveil his Medicaid plan today at 3 o’clock in Springfield. The live stream will be here. You can follow Tweets from the presser on today’s live session coverage post.
Quinn is likely to propose steep cuts in provider reimbursement rates and a buck a pack cigarette tax hike. The Tribune looks at some other cuts...
One program on the list for possible elimination is Illinois Cares Rx, which provides discount drug coverage for 180,000 low-income seniors and people with disabilities across Illinois.
Also under consideration is limiting eligibility for adults enrolled in the Family Care health insurance program, which charges small co-pays and monthly premiums for services ranging from doctor visits to dental care and prescription drugs. If guidelines are changed, more than 26,000 people would no longer qualify for coverage. […]
Other ideas include eliminating a number of so-called “optional” services the state provides that are not required by the federal government, including getting rid of group psychotherapy for some patients and no longer funding chiropractic visits for adults. Podiatric care would be restricted to patients diagnosed with diabetes, and new limits would be placed on how often a patient could receive things like new dentures and eyeglasses or have a wheelchair repaired.
Additional cost-saving proposals include beefing up efforts by the state to ensure people who no longer qualify for Medicaid aren’t receiving benefits, and more standardized measures of care that emphasize prevention. Other ideas include reviewing medicines a patient receives to make sure they are all needed and adding or increasing co-pays for certain services.
* Meanwhile, on the other big issue of the day, pension reform, the AP talked to a member of the commission tasked with coming up with a plan…
State Sen. Michael Noland, an Elgin Democrat, says committee members have discussed adjusting cost-of-living increases. Suggestions include temporarily suspending annual pension increases to help the state catch up on the $80 billion funding gap in its five pension systems or scaling COLA increases to an employee’s length of service.
Other ideas include raising the retirement age, demanding greater employee contributions and requiring the state to pay annual pension obligations before anything else.
Noland said they have not specifically addressed asking local school districts to pick up employer contributions for their teachers that the state now pays, an idea Quinn has discussed in the past.
“The work has largely been done. The practical considerations are well understood here,” Noland said. “Now it becomes more of a political discussion.”
* And while Speaker Madigan, Gov. Quinn, Senate President Cullerton and Mayor Emanuel have all talked about how unfair it is that the state picks up the employer portion of the pension contribution for Downstate and suburban schools, but not for Chicago’s, the Chicago Teachers Pension Fund would like more state cash…
Public pensions throughout Illinois are hurting, and that includes the Chicago Teachers Pension Fund (CTPF).
It’s underfunded by millions of dollars. Senate Bill 3628 would have the state of Illinois pump $270 million into the fund next year. After that, the state’s contributions would be pegged at 10 percent of what the state gives to the Teachers Retirement Fund, which is for teachers outside of Chicago.
“State funding to the pension fund would be extremely important,” Kevin Huber, director of the Chicago Teachers Pension Fund, said before the Pensions and Investments Committee of the Illinois State Senate. “We need help from the state.”
Huber told the committee that from 1988 to 2009, the state contributed $65 million annually to the CTPF. But in 2010, that contribution dropped to $10 million a year.
“When it drops like that, then it becomes problematic,” Huber said. “I believe the CPS (Chicago Public Schools) needs help from the pension fund matter from the state.”
Hmm. The paranoid section of my brain wonders whether this months-long debate was really designed to force a deal to spend more state money on Chicago teacher pensions.
* Roundup…
* Teachers pension fund paid a whopping $1.3 billion in fees . . . for what?
* IL House unanimously OKs Madigan’s pension amendment
* House unanimously OKs referendum on tougher votes for pension boosts
* House unanimously OKs referendum on tougher votes for pension boosts
* Madigan: Pension boosts should require more votes
* Our View: Group’s cuts in Illinois Medicaid fall short by about half
* Bills to eliminate legislative scholarships hit Senate snag: In response to complaints by Senate Minority Leader Christine Radogno, R-Lemont, Sen. Don Harmon, D-Oak Park, who chairs the executive committee, predicted that a bill would emerge from the subcommittee, which has three members.
* Power plant backers say Illinois facility still viable: The looming closure of older, coal-fired power plants and a change in interest rates shows that a new power generator planned for central Illinois is still financially viable, backers of an experimental facility in Christian County said Wednesday. In a conference call with reporters, supporters of the $3.5 billion Taylorville Energy Center said the plant would fill some of the lost electrical generating capacity without causing a significant rate hike on consumers. Plus, the coal-to-gas plant being planned by Omaha, Neb.-based Tenaska could bring thousands of jobs to an economically depressed region of Illinois, said Paul Gaynor, chief of the public interest division of the Illinois Attorney General’s Office.
Thursday, Apr 19, 2012 - Posted by Advertising Department
[The following is a paid advertisement.]
It’s no surprise that out-of-state energy company Tenaska would be coy about the huge new costs they are asking legislators to foist upon their own constituents to pay for the proposed Taylorville Energy Center coal plant.
Yesterday, Tenaska issued a press release citing a new report confirming that their plan for the Taylorville Energy Center would cost families and businesses in Illinois hundreds of millions of dollars a year in increased electricity prices. Yet, in promoting this report, Tenaska called attention to interestrate gimmick “savings” that amount to a tiny fraction of the overall costs and could disappear as quickly as they appeared.
Another study, based on an analysis of Tenaska’s own data, found that this project would cost Illinois consumers $400 million a year in increased electricity costs, or $12 billion over the 30-year life of the project.
Tenaska is trying to convince Illinois consumers that they’re getting a real deal by “saving” pennies on the dollar for a $12 billion purchase. But Illinois consumers know a boondoggle when they see one.
Contact your legislator today and encourage them to vote “NO” on SB 678 or any legislation that would send your money Up In Smoke to pay for the Taylorville Energy Center.
And be sure to check out STOP Coalition’s new Facebook page for more on the broad coalition that has joined together to oppose this legislation.
Joe and Laura Walsh have resolved their child support dispute and have agreed to dismiss all pending matters.
They have issued the following statement: “We both regret this public misunderstanding and the effect it has had on our children. Like many families, we have had our share of issues and made our share of mistakes over the years. Having resolved these issues together and cleared up these mistakes in private, we now agree that Joe is not and was not a “deadbeat dad” and does not owe child support. We both have been loving and devoted parents to our children, ages 24, 21, and 17, and are happy to avoid a public legal fight hurtful to our entire family and look forward to caring for our children in private.”
Discuss.
*** UPDATE *** Walsh is more pugnacious in this campaign e-mail…
I am glad this is over. I don’t regret not fighting back publicly all these months. Fighting the charges privately and legally was the right thing to do for my kids and it was the fair thing to do to the mother of my kids.
I may have taken some slings and arrows over this issue this past year, but I have no regrets over not waging a public fight. Though there were plenty of days I wanted to scream my side of the story to the TV or newspapers, I always knew my name would be cleared. Both my former wife and I have been loving, involved parents for our three wonderful adult and almost adult children, we shared residential custody equally over the years, and we both did our best to send all of them to Catholic grade school and high school.
With these charges and this issue now behind me, I will focus on continuing to represent the good folks of Illinois’ 8th District and running hard to find solutions for the issues voters care about — finding a job, the price of gas at the pump, keeping their home, and doing something about this unconscionable debt we’re placing on the backs of our kids and our grandkids.
Thank you all for your thoughts, prayers, and support during this tough period. It hasn’t been easy. I know I made myself a target by being so outspoken once I got to Washington. I won’t change who I am. It is gratifying to finally be able to say again to everyone that their Congressman is not a deadbeat dad.
* 13th District Democratic congressional nominee David Gill has a new poll which shows him leading two possible Republican opponents. According to the poll, Gill leads Jerry Clarke 40-33 and Rodney Davis 41-31. You can read the pollster’s analysis by clicking here.
Gill is below 50 in both trial heats so there’s there’s a long way to go here. Gill also benefits from a name recognition boost because of his three previous runs against incumbent Republican Tim Johnson, who dropped out of the race after the primary. According to his pollster, Gill is getting “over 50% of the vote” in the territory he’s run in before.
President Obama won the 13th District by 11 points four years ago, but he’s only ahead of Mitt Romney by 4 points in Gill’s poll. Still, that’s pretty good news for Gill and the Democrats. The poll’s generic trial heat had the district as +3 Democratic, 38-35, which is another important point.
Gill is being widely dismissed as a candidate who can’t win. He’s probably hoping that this poll changes some minds.
400 likely voters were polled by Victoria Research & Consulting April 11-14.
Darlene Ruscitti made DuPage County GOP history on Wednesday night by becoming its first female leader.
Nearly 300 Republican precinct committeemen broke out in applause after electing Ruscitti to the role of DuPage GOP chairman during their biennial county convention in Wheaton. Ruscitti was nominated by the only person expected to challenge her for the position — Naperville Township GOP chairman Rachel Ossyra.
“It’s an honor to be your new chairman,” Ruscitti told the crowd of party faithful. “I’m really humbled by this all, and I’m really proud to be a Republican.” […]
She replaced state Rep. Randy Ramey, who last month announced that he wasn’t going to try to keep the party chairman post because of a possible government appointment.
That’s a long way from the days of Pate Philip.
Ruscitti, the DuPage County Superintendent of Education, has quickly moved up the party ranks ever since she dropped out of a congressional primary to make way for incumbent Joe Walsh.
Habeeb, a partner in Benefit Planning Consultants Inc. in Champaign, arrived in the United States in 1973 at the age of 17 to attend Olivet Nazarene University in Kankakee.
“I wanted to be a doctor and go back. I didn’t intend to stay here,” he said. “And 16 months afterward a civil war started in Lebanon. I didn’t know where my parents were. I didn’t have a penny, and I was stuck here.
“I started working at Arby’s for a buck-65 an hour. I’m like the great American success story. I didn’t know any different. Failure was not an option. I had no choice. I cleaned bathrooms. I did dishes. And I was happy doing it because it was better than the alternative. They were fighting over there.”
He met his future wife, Joy, at Olivet, and continued to work for Arby’s. The couple moved to Champaign in 1985, he earned an MBA at Eastern Illinois University and they had two children, one of whom has graduated from the University of Illinois and the other is attending Illinois. Habeeb became a United States citizen around 1990, he said.
* And the Cook County Republicans elected Philippine-American Aaron Del Mar, who is the first ever minority to get that position. As usual with the Cook Republicans, there was also plenty of political intrigue…
Del Maar had the backing of Sig Vaznelis, the Cook County Republican chair who announced last month he wouldn’t seek another term due to the demands of his civil engineering business.
A political turf war between Republicans from the north end of Cook County and those from the south helped drive this race, as well as the earlier primary battle for Cook County Board of Review commissioner between Wheeling resident Dan Patlak and South suburban resident Sean Morrison, a race Patlak ultimately won.
While Cook County Commissioner Liz Gorman of Orland Park fiercely plugged Morrison, New Trier Township Committeeman Bill Cadigan and other North suburban Cook County GOP committeemen supported Patlak. Cadigan was removed from his post by Vaznelis, who is aligned with Gorman, and therefore stripped of his voting powers in the election for chair.
New Trier township, because of its heavy number of Republicans, is one of the most influential townships. Cadigan said Wednesday he believed Vaznelis saw him as a threat as a potential chair.
Illinois Review has run this photo of Del Mar with Hillary Clinton more than once…
The picture above was taken prior to 2003. When I was not politically involved at all and was just taking a picture with a US Senator, I was 25 at the time.
*** UPDATE *** Kane County also elected its first Republican chairperson, which resulted in some hurt feelings…
Members of the Kane GOP elected Barb Wojnicki of Campton Township as their new chairman Wednesday night — and the first woman to lead the county party.
Wojnicki’s victory also marks a personal breakthrough for her: In her 14 years on the Kane County Board, she’d often been overlooked for leadership roles despite her knowledge and experience. Now she’s the leader of the party that’s been in charge of the county for the last century.
“I just think people were looking for new energy, new spirit,” Wojnicki said. “I know no one can do this job alone. But I think the people of the party were just ready for something new.”
[Chairman Mike Kenyon], of South Elgin, withdrew his candidacy just before the voting for chairman began. In doing so, he publicly called for party unity.
But after the speech and the applause, Kenyon called the outcome the result of a political coup. Wojnicki ran on a slate of candidates that swept the voting Wednesday night.
Johnson announced on April 5, about two weeks after he won the 13th Congressional District primary election, that he would not run for a seventh term in Congress. Clarke said that day that he was interested in replacing Johnson and that he had already begun calling the county chairmen who will make the appointment.
“It’s not right. This is not right,” said state Sen. Kyle McCarter, R-Lebanon, who told a Republican luncheon gathering in Bloomington that he is interested in the congressional seat. “You know what’s really insulting about this? It didn’t just happen. There was talk of this happening a year ago, and it’s a real insult to the people. Like I said, their vote was taken away from them.
“I think we’re used to politics as usual. The politics as usual is that you manipulate the system to put certain people in positions of power. That’s not the way it ought to be. The people should decide who is going to be speaking for them. Remember, this power that (politicians) have, they don’t own it. It’s only borrowed from the people who elect them. We forget that. But when you have people in back rooms who decide they are going to put in place who they want so that they can control them and they can control what happens in this country, that’s wrong.”
McCarter said the county chairmen should slow down the process to appoint Johnson’s replacement.
“We need to see who would represent the people best, not what person was decided in a back room deal who was going to get the job,” said the one-term state senator, who lives in the Illinois suburbs of St. Louis. “This heir-to-the-throne idea in politics, I don’t care what party you’re in, it’s wrong. It’s an injustice and it doesn’t work because ultimately, when you get that person in there, they don’t serve us well.”
* Meanwhile, the Trib has some campaign finance numbers for the primary…
Duckworth, whose allies include President Barack Obama’s top campaign adviser, David Axelrod, and Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel, spent nearly $1.4 million last year and in 2012 to capture the nomination. Reporting nearly $97,000 in debts, Duckworth began April with $259,975 in her campaign fund, records showed, but she also has national fundraising reach.
Another $1.2 million was spent in the new north suburban 10th District, where the Democratic primary came down to Brad Schneider, of Deerfield, defeating activist Ilya Sheyman, of Waukegan.
As the Democrats battled, first-term Republican Rep. Robert Dold, of Kenilworth, raised nearly $400,000 in March and has a campaign war chest of more than $1.6 million. Schneider, who put $150,000 of his own money into his bid, began the month with $226,000 in his campaign bank account.
And $1 million was spent in the new South Side and southwest suburban 2nd District, where Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr., of Chicago, easily survived a primary battle against former one-term Rep. Debbie Halvorson, of Crete,. Almost $850,000 was spent in March, records showed. […]
The state’s lone Republican incumbent-versus-incumbent battle between Kinzinger, of Manteno, and Manzullo, of Leaf River, was the second-most expensive campaign battle based on spending this year at almost $1.9 million.
On Saturday, Walsh participated in Huntley’s third annual Tax Day rally, and told supporters there that, when it comes to the fall election, “If we don’t get this right, we may lose this thing we call America,” Patch reports.
“We don’t have an election to win. We don’t have a few elections to win. We have a country to save,” Walsh said Saturday before a crowd of some 60 Tea Party supporters.
The colorful congressman went on to tout the white RV — emblazoned with the words “It’s Time! You Ready?” and “Let’s Take Back America — You In?” — as the vehicle he will use to travel during his 8th Congressional District campaign against Democrat Tammy Duckworth. NBC Chicago notes that the vehicle, a 1984 Fleetwood Pace Arrow, was purchased for $7,500 in Madison, Wis. Walsh unveiled the RV in a YouTube video that went live Saturday.
On Sunday, Walsh turned up at the Tax Day rally in Rockford where “dozens” of Tea Party members gathered at Sinnissippi Park to see Walsh and U.S. Rep. Bobby Schilling, who is being challenged in the 17th District downstate by Democratic challenger Cheri Bustos, speak, WIFR reports.
* Speaker Madigan again voiced support yesterday for shifting employer pension payments away from the state and onto universities and suburban and Downstate schools…
“If you look at the current (state pension) payment, 78 percent of the payment goes to two systems where the members never worked for the state of Illinois,” Madigan said, referring to the Teachers Retirement System and State University Retirement System. “There’s got to be a sharing of the cost.”
Downstate school districts fear that shifting pension costs to them will force serious cutbacks in other areas, including education programs.
[Rep. Elaine Nekritz], Madigan’s representative on a working group trying to control pension costs, said that if overall pension costs can be reduced, the expense to school districts may be 1 percent to 1.5 percent of their payrolls. She said many districts should be able to absorb that cost.
Man, they’re going to have to make a whole lot of cuts to get costs down to such a low percentage of payroll.
Henry Bayer, executive director of AFSCME Council 31, says a review of pension votes over the years shows none of them were close.
“If this amendment had been in the (Illinois) Constitution, those benefits would have passed with those votes. Thankfully, it would not have prevented those benefits from taking effect.”
Local legislators and economic development officials agree enterprise zones are a valuable tool to attract and retain business.
The zones are in jeopardy of expiring unless the Illinois General Assembly acts.
State Sen. Darin LaHood, R-Dunlap, said something dire concerning enterprise zones just may come up. LaHood said he is supportive, but hears Illinois Speaker of the House Michael Madigan is not.
“In the Senate, I think, it will pass by a large majority,” LaHood said. “There could be a problem in the House. I’ve heard Madigan wants to let them all expire and then turn it into a lottery.”
I hadn’t heard that one, but interesting.
* And this is an SJ-R Tweet posted during Chamber of Commerce CEO Doug Whitley’s introduction of Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker yesterday…
Wow. Whitley just said Quinn has “socialist tendencies.”
Even our governor, who as most all of you know, has had very liberal tendencies, very socialist tendencies for years. Even some might say radical tendencies.
A month ago [Quinn] stood up and gave a budget message that was not too much different than what you and I and the Illinois chamber would like to hear our chief executive officer talk about.”
I asked Whitley about the “socialist tendencies” charge after Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker’s speech, but it got whacked from the story I filed. He claimed he was trying to compliment Quinn, however backhandedly it may have been.
“What I was saying is that I think Governor Quinn has grown in this job,” Whitley said. “I think he’s saying things today that I did not anticipate or would not have anticipated him to say five or 10 years ago. He’s talking about jobs. He’s going to plant openings. He’s trying to change the fiscal and budgetary issues of the state, which I don’t think he was particularly conscious of in his prior roles. It’s not the same Pat Quinn that was in the peanut gallery for years.”
Governor Pat Quinn plans to reveal recommendations for reforming Medicaid Wednesday, and it could contain some bitter medicine. A bi-partisan working group of lawmakers has been trying to find ways to cut $2.7 billion from the health care system for low-income individuals and families. Among the proposals under consideration are eliminating some benefits like chiropractor visits, and putting limits on things like glasses, dentures and even adult diapers.
Also being considered is dropping some people from coverage and cutting help for seniors in paying for prescriptions. Governor Quinn says something has to be done in this legislative session. He said, “Members of the legislature should be prepared to cancel their vacations in order to get this mission accomplished.”
As an alternative to some of those cuts, and to reducing reimbursement rates to doctors and hospitals, Quinn’s office has floated the idea of a new one-dollar-a-pack tax on cigarettes. The cigarette tax, though, is meeting resistance.
The governor threatened to call a summer session to deal with Medicaid during his budget address, and I don’t think he’s being too unreasonable, either (even though I’m really hoping to attend all three White Sox vs. Cardinals games in June). They can kick the pension can down the road until January, when the GA can use its huge pile of lame ducks to pad the roll calls. But a Medicaid fix really should be done this spring. Reducing the program’s costs and finding new funding for a total of $2.7 billion is gonna be horrific, but it’ll be a whole lot easier than doing it half way through the fiscal year.
State Rep. Patti Bellock, a Hinsdale Republican that’s part of the team of lawmakers trying to come up with Medicaid fixes, says it’s important to remember that Quinn’s proposals for fixes to both the Illinois Medicaid and pensions systems shouldn’t be considered final.
After all, she says, look at the budget Quinn proposed earlier this year. He puts out an outline. Then lawmakers do their own thing, tweaking - or overhauling - from there.
“I don’t think anything will be set in stone until May 31,” Bellock told us today.
That’s lawmakers’ budget deadline, and some skeptics wonder if even that’s too ambitious a date for such major changes in state policy.
A bipartisan group tasked with finding ways to cut $2.7 billion from Illinois’ Medicaid budget hasn’t accomplished its mission.
Gov. Pat Quinn’s deadline required the two Democrats and two Republicans to come up with a plan this week, but they’ve only agreed on about $1.4 billion in cuts.
The committee worked for months on ways to reform the health insurance program for nearly 3 million poor and disabled Illinoisans. But they disagreed on potential ideas including rate cuts to providers and a potential $1-a-pack cigarette tax increase.
“Let’s be serious. We just talked about Medicaid and we have a budget we have to pass, we have to deal with pension stabilization, those issues are far, far higher on the priority list,” Quinn said Thursday.
* As you already know, indicted state Rep. Derrick Smith (D-Chicago) was back on the job yesterday. Some colleagues gave him an initially warm welcome…
Smith — who was indicted last week by a federal grand jury on a bribery charge — spent part of Tuesday’s session in his seat, where a few colleagues approached with hands extended. Later, a smiling Smith worked the Democratic side of the aisle.
“I greeted him because he’s here to represent the people who elected him,” said Rep. La Shawn Ford (D-Chicago). “I just told him God bless him. He’s got some challenging days ahead of him.”
* Rep. Will Davis is on the House Special Investigating Committee which is looking at whether there is enough evidence to begin disciplinary proceedings against Rep. Smith. So these comments are somewhat unusual…
Democratic Representative Will Davis, also from Cook County, says it’s a good thing Smith is back to work. He spoke with Smith on his first day back to session.
DAVIS “We didn’t talk about anything in particular, certainly asked him how he was doing considering everything that’s been going on with him, said he was doing fine. As far as him coming back, certainly I see no challenges with him coming back, he’s still a member of the General Assembly. He still has duties and responsibilities to the constituents.”
Yes, he’s their colleague, but it really sends a horrible message to the public at large when a guy caught on tape allegedly accepting a $7,000 bribe is embraced.
* You gotta wonder what’s going to happen when Smith presents a bill. He picked up sponsorship of SB3555, which is backed by Secretary State Jesse White, Smith’s political godfather and former employer. The bill passed the Senate 55-0, but that’s still gonna be one odd debate. The measure has been assigned to the House Executive Committee, but hasn’t yet been posted for a hearing.
* And subscribers knew about this demand by Rep. Jack Franks last week…
“I am going to make it very clear that Representative Smith is innocent until proven guilty,” said Rep. Jack Franks, (D) McHenry.
But Rep. Franks wants limits placed on Smith’s legislative duties.
“I’ve asked the speaker to suspend Rep. Smith from any committee work pending the outcome either of the federal indictment and trial, or whether he pleads or not pleads,” said Franks.
Your thoughts on suspending Smith from his committee assignments?
