* From the Illinois Policy Institute’s news service…
The Illinois State Board of Elections could determine Monday what sanctions it will impose on Auditor General Frank Mautino’s campaign fund from his time as a state lawmaker.
A year ago, the board ordered Mautino’s campaign to clarify tens of thousands of dollars in spending at Spring Valley bank and a service station in his district. Mautino has taken no action on that order and has exercised his Fifth Amendment rights against self-incrimination.
Last month, it was formally determined at a hearing that Mautino was in violation of the board’s order. The hearing officer has since recommended the elections board fine the Mautino camp for failure to amend campaign reports.
* Mautino’s campaign fund is closed and he can’t re-open it without violating state law, which prohibits the auditor general from doing any campaign stuff…
For starters, any fines approved by the election board wouldn’t be paid by Mautino personally, but by his campaign committee. Further, Mautino’s campaign committee won’t pay any fines because it was closed Dec. 31, 2015, and no longer exists.
Auditor General Frank Mautino needs to be fired by the same people who hired him, Rep. Jeanne Ives (R-Wheaton) told the House on Thursday.
“Make no mistake about this: Our auditor general should be removed from by this body,” Ives said. “This body put him into the office and only can this body, with the Senate, take him out of office, and it is our duty to do so at this point.”
Ives demanded the passage of House Joint Resolution, which calls for Mautino’s ouster following controversies regarding discrepancies in his campaign spending. […]
“Specifically, [Mautino] willfully violated the board’s May 18, 2016, order vis-à-vis failing to amend disclosure reports filed in 2014 and 2015 to one, reflect an accurate breakdown between gas and repair made to his account; two, identify the actual recipients of itemized expenditures; and three, identify the specific purpose for the expenditures,” Ives said.
* And this is from the Illinois Policy Institute’s radio network…
State Sen. Laura Murphy, D-Des Plaines, who upon taking office called for Mautino to resign, has since changed her tune.
“The only evidence that the state board of elections found was failure to file an amendment timely, that is not an egregious violation,” Murphy said. […]
Murphy said if federal investigators had something, they’d act.
“If it is a significant crime and if they have evidence, [the feds] move right away, she said. “If there is nothing, then the process seems to be slowed down.
…Adding… Actually, if you click here, you’ll see that Sen. Murphy didn’t call on Mautino to resign, she said he should take a leave of absence during the probe.
…Adding More… Greg Bishop sent me the audio and Sen. Murphy did, indeed, say to him that she had wanted Mautino to “step down.”
I’m proud to announce that the Illinois Policy Institute received two Lisagor Awards from the Chicago Headline Club last night.
Senior Writer Austin Berg earned well deserved recognition for his groundbreaking storytelling work, winning for Best Individual Blog Post (independent) and Best Individual Blog (affiliated).
This was a banner year for our team, which received 14 nominations for the prestigious awards – a new record for the Illinois Policy Institute.
The Chicago Headline Club nominates talented writers, filmmakers and illustrators for its coveted Lisagor Awards each year, and the nominees represent the best of the best in Chicago journalism. With these nominations, our team is among the likes of the Chicago Tribune, Bloomberg News, NBC 5, WGN, NPR and more.
We have worked hard for years to position ourselves as one of the best sources for news and media throughout Illinois. The continued growth of our audience and recognition among the best in legacy media are steps toward achieving that goal.
The best part? We’re just getting started. As our team grows, we’re tackling new projects and reaching new audiences each day. To see our latest work, check out “Forgotten Illinois,” a short documentary capturing the real life struggles facing small-town Illinoisans across the state.
According to the Headline Club, “The awards recognize the best of Chicago journalism and are named for Peter Lisagor, the Chicago Daily News’ Washington bureau chief from 1959 to 1976.”
Discuss.
…Adding… It wasn’t without some dissent, apparently…
Creditting a dark money organization with journalism awards is very troubling toward the role of what journalism means at this time.
Today, the JB Pritzker for Governor campaign released its second TV ad, “Incubate.”
“Incubate” highlights JB’s visionary work to grow Illinois into one of the top technology hubs in the world. Five years ago, JB brought tech leaders and entrepreneurs together to found 1871, a non-profit technology incubator. In the years since, Chicago transformed from a city falling behind in the tech economy, to a leading center for technology growth and innovation. Along the way, 1871 supported hundreds of startups and helped create over six thousand good paying jobs in Illinois.
“When Illinois was falling behind in the tech economy, I decided to think big, bring people together, and get results for our state,” said JB Pritzker. “I’m proud of our work building 1871, and helping turn Illinois into one of the top technology hubs in the world, a center for creativity, innovation, and entrepreneurship. But there is more work to be done. Under Governor Rauner’s failed leadership, Illinois is losing jobs and wasting opportunities. We need a Governor with big ideas, who knows how to bring people together and get things done.”
Encouraging start-ups is the prominent feature of the new ad, which contains testimonials from people largely affiliated with 1871. The candidate does not speak in the ad.
Instead, it features Suzanne Muchin, founder of Mind + Media Matter Studio, a multiplatform marketing firm and 1871 board member; Matt Moog, CEO of PowerReviews, a customer review technology firm who chaired 1871; Shradha Agarwal, president of Outcome Health, a consumer focused wellness website; Amanda Lannert, CEO of Jellyvision and a member of 1871’s advisory board and Neal Sales-Griffin, CEO of CodeNow, a computer code mentoring firm and one of Encouraging 1871’s first tenants.
In the ad, Moog touts that “Illinois is now one of the fastest growing and largest technology hubs in the world” after Muchin laments that a decade ago the state was far behind on high technology jobs.
“This is what’s possible. When someone like J.B. puts forward a big idea and a big vision, that is exactly what our state needs right now,” Muchin says to close the ad.
* Unlike most rich Cook County residents, JB Pritzker never appealed his local property tax bills on his house - until 2015. And then he got a huge discount…
J.B. Pritzker, billionaire would-be governor, bought the historic mansion next door to his even bigger home on Chicago’s Gold Coast, let it fall into disrepair — and then argued it was “uninhabitable” to win what so far have been nearly $230,000 in property-tax breaks, records show. […]
Arguing that the smaller mansion is “vacant and uninhabitable,” those lawyers convinced Berrios to slash its assessed value last year from $6.25 million to just under $1.1 million.
That’s allowed Pritzker to get the nearly $230,000 in property-tax breaks and refunds, a Chicago Sun-Times analysis found.
The drastically reduced assessment caused the mansion’s property taxes to plunge 83 percent, leaving Pritzker with a bill for $19,719 last year, the analysis found. That was instead of the $117,087 he otherwise would have had to pay in property taxes, which fund the Chicago Public Schools, the city and other local governments.
The assessor’s ruling also meant that Pritzker was due partial refunds on the taxes that he paid between 2012 and 2014. He got three refund checks last year totaling $132,747 — money that reduced the amount of property taxes that schools and other local governments expected to receive.
Separately, Berrios cut the assessment on the bigger mansion where the Pritzker family lives — from $14.1 million to about $12.1 million, resulting in a 16 percent lower property-tax bill last year — $221,287 rather than $264,221.
I always have a simple answer for people who ask questions like: Why would a guy with $3.4 billion care about saving a few hundred grand on his property taxes? My reply: It’s Amorica, man. Nothing’s ever enough here.
It looks like he bought the house next door to establish a buffer. He remodeled the outside so it looked nice, but apparently let the inside go to pot. (The appraiser was let inside that house, but not into Pritzker’s actual residence, which also got a reduction, over security concerns.) Then apparently he got tired of paying taxes on a house that wasn’t worth nearly as much as its appraised value.
* The full statement the Pritzker campaign gave the Sun-Times…
In 2015, JB was one of over 50,000 residents of Cook County to appeal his tax assessment and like 64% of appeals, the ruling was in JB’s favor. It’s unfortunate that in the context of a political campaign, there is now an attempt to use that routine appeal as part of a negative attack.
* More oppo from the campaign…
It’s worth noting that unlike his neighbors and many residents of Cook county (including Bruce Rauner), JB’s 2015 appeal is the only time he has appealed his taxes since he bought the property in 2006.
· Chris Kennedy has also appealed his property tax assessment for his Kenilworth home to the Board of Review and the Board ruled in his favor. (158 Melrose Avenue)
· In 2012, 2014, and 2015, Rauner appealed his assessment for his Randolph Street Penthouse. (340 E. Randolph Street, 61-PHE)
· In 2012, 2014, and 2015, Rauner appealed his assessment for his Randolph Street condo. (340 E. Randolph Street, #4103)
· In 2012, 2013, 2014, and 2015, Rauner also appealed his assessment for three parking spots (Space P1-28, Space P2-30, Space P2-36)
OK, but there are important distinctions. Kennedy only lowered his assessment by $10K. And Rauner’s people point out that his condo association appealed those assessments, not him. And those appeals were denied.
* The other difference is that one of Pritzker’s campaign themes is making rich people pay more taxes, as opposed to Rauner’s goal of lowering their taxes…
“We’ve got to start by taxing the millionaires and billionaires first. We’re not going to middle-class families until we get people to pay their fair share,” Pritzker told reporters after his announcement.
Then again, the property taxes he was paying were “unfair,” according to the assessor’s office.
* From the ILGOP…
“It’s clear that when it comes to gaming the system for tax breaks for billionaires, J.B. Pritzker thinks big. Real big. Pritzker’s insider scheme to dodge taxes is shocking.” - Illinois Republican Party Spokesman Steven Yaffe
* You can bet that “insider scheme” phrase will continue to be used. As some Rauner types have reminded me this morning, they beat the living heck out of state House candidate Merry Marwig last year for filing a couple of property tax appeals, and she didn’t get nearly the reduction that Pritzker received…
Every second mailer emphasized two somewhat nebulous “Madigan connections.” One was that Marwig moved into the 41st Ward from Wicker Park in 2013 and got her property taxes lowered twice; Madigan’s law office handles such tax reductions.
And if, as expected, Berrios’ Cook County Democratic Party endorses Pritzker, you’ll definitely see the Republicans use that Pritzker-Berrios-Madigan connection over and over and over again.
…Adding… As pointed out in comments, Berrios’ spokesman told the Sun-Times that his boss didn’t know Pritzker got the assessment reductions. But, that likely won’t matter to the ILGOP.
