Capitol Fax.com - Your Illinois News Radar

Thursday, Jan 19, 2017 - Posted by Rich Miller

President Barack Obama made his final grants of clemency on Thursday with less than a day left in office and imprisoned former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich was not on the list.

Blagojevich was handed a 14-year sentence on corruption charges, with one of the most sensational his attempt to “sell” the Illinois Senate seat then-Illinois Sen. Barack Obama was vacating after being elected president in November 2008.

The Justice Department earlier confirmed that Blagojevich, in year four of his imprisonment, filed a request to have his sentence commuted. He was arrested in December 2008, a few weeks after the presidential election.

Blagojevich’s bid for clemency from Obama was always extremely unlikely because of the nature of his offense. […]

Obama cut short the sentences of 330 federal inmates convicted of drug crimes on Thursday, with Obama focused on cutting the prison time of offenders with overly harsh sentences that would not be imposed under guidelines for judges in place today.

Some people insisted for years that Obama had some sort of special relationship with Blagojevich which would lead to a pardon. They were living in a fantasy land.

…Adding… Pool report forwarded by the White House press office…

A travel/photo lid has been called at 4:10 p.m. […]

And with that, Barack Obama’s final full day as president has come to an unofficial close.

-30-

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*** UPDATED x1 *** New Thompson Center plan pushed

Thursday, Jan 19, 2017 - Posted by Rich Miller

* I’ve lost track of the number of developers who’ve promised to erect the tallest building in Chicago over the years, including, if memory serves, Donald Trump.

Aside from that, selling the Thompson Center and developing the property makes some sense to me. Downtown is full of construction cranes, so the market is hot and property like this doesn’t come around very often…

The state legislature’s GOP leaders, Sen. Christine Radogno and Rep. Jim Durkin, are once again introducing legislation that would allow the state to sell the 16-story, 1.2 million-square-foot structure and move state workers to leased space in other buildings, Durkin said.

This time around, the state’s Department of Central Management Services is providing specific estimates of how much a sale of the Thompson Center would boost the state’s finances. A sale would generate potential net proceeds of $220 million and would prevent the state from addressing $326 million in deferred maintenance on the building, according to CMS. […]

One rendering shows a 115-story, 1,700-foot-tall tower that would be the city’s tallest, topping the 1,451-foot Willis Tower. The tower would include offices, retail, residential units, a hotel and an observation deck. A second plan would have buildings of 40, 60 and 70 stories with mixed uses. […]

The estimated cost to repair the Thompson Center is more than triple the $100 million in deferred maintenance that Rauner first cited in 2015. Commercial real estate experts also say the state would be hard-pressed to get even half of its estimated $220 million net proceeds in a sale, since a buyer would still face extensive demolition costs just to clear the site and start a new development.

Putting the property into private hands would also generate a bunch of property tax revenue for the city.

*** UPDATE *** From Ald. Brendan Reilly, whose 42nd Ward includes the Thompson Center…

I stand ready to meet with the Administration to discuss zoning limitations & redevelopment parameters for the property before they market it for auction. Potential buyers will want a general sense of what can and cannot be done on that site before they would bid on the property at auction.

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*** UPDATED x2 - Rauner admin responds to SEIU *** Rauner blasts basic child care service as “institutionalized brain damage”

Thursday, Jan 19, 2017 - Posted by Rich Miller

* Tribune…

At a later stop in Springfield, Rauner noted the importance of early childhood education and blasted the current state of child care.

“Too often in Illinois and around America, especially for lower-income communities, child care has no education component,” he said. “And in fact, good child care is regarded as ‘strap a child in a car seat and turn the TV on.’ That is institutionalized brain damage. To me, it should be criminal.”

Um, OK, so maybe now we know why he cut child care program funding?

And an upgrade like what he’s talking about will not be cheap. At all. We’ll need a bigger tax hike if he wants to actually do it.

*** UPDATE 1 *** Response from Faith Arnold, SEIU Healthcare Illinois executive board, vice chair, child care division…

“Bruce Rauner’s insensitive characterization of the state of child care in Illinois shows his gross disregard for providers and the children and working parents we serve. Our choice of profession reflects our commitment to children and families and is NOT a reflection of our education. And it certainly is not a reflection of our character. However, the governor’s insulting choice of words serves as a poor reflection on HIS.

“Rauner knows better than anyone that HIS cuts to service have caused incredible damage to the Child Care Assistance Program, which at one point was among the most successful in the nation. No more. As a result of his arbitrary administrative maneuvering, and his failure to reach a fair contract with the state’s child care providers, he has engaged in a full-scale dismantling of the program which has cost jobs, slowed economic growth and harmed Illinois families.

“But more than that, his regrettable use of language to insult people like me shows someone entirely disconnected from the working families he claims to serve. It’s no wonder we enter a new year without a budget and with little hope for true leadership or compromise from Bruce Rauner, who is resorting to bully language once again.”

*** UPDATE 2 *** From the governor’s office…

Hi, Rich:

The governor and First Lady have spent more time working to improve the lives of young children than almost any couple in America. And as Governor, he has successfully increased early childhood funding by $100 million. His comments were not attacking the hardworking men and women who care for children so parents can go to work, go to school, and allow kids to flourish – but he is concerned about cases where children are placed in front of a TV with few toys and even fewer books.

The governor wants to ensure that every child arrives in kindergarten developmentally prepared. His Children’s Cabinet is working to address this very issue, bringing together state agencies to improve state credentialing and licensing programs. It is disappointing that instead of joining in those efforts, SEIU is choosing to mischaracterize the Governor’s words and intentions.

Best,
ck

95 Comments

*** UPDATED x1 *** GOMB says Senate budget plan is unbalanced

Wednesday, Jan 18, 2017 - Posted by Rich Miller

* Subscribers were told about this development early today. AP…

Gov. Bruce Rauner’s office estimates a Senate proposal to break a nearly two-year Illinois budget deadlock would still leave the treasury billions of dollars in the red.

The review obtained Wednesday by The Associated Press shows tax increases floated in the Senate plan would increase revenue by $1.7 billion. But it says it adds more than $4 billion in spending. […]

But the budget office estimates the compromise Senate Democrats and Republicans put forth last week would only reduce the expected deficit by $1 billion [down to $4.3 billion]

As I told subscribers, after two years without a real budget nobody really cares about this fiscal year’s deficit as long as next fiscal year is balanced.

* The trouble is, GOMB’s analysis claims that next year’s proposal is out of whack, too…

The governor’s budget team says that $4.3 billion deficit for the current financial year would fall to $2 billion in the next one as money begins to roll in from the taxes proposed in the Senate’s budget framework, according to a copy the Chicago Tribune obtained.

The projected FY 18 deficit is actually $2.3 billion.

* More…

The math breaks down like this: Because of a series of court orders and laws that’s kept most of government spending on autopilot, the budget office estimates the state will spend $35.1 billion in the financial year that ends July 1. The analysis projects the Senate plan would bring in an extra $1.7 billion during that period, which would leave the state with $35.4 billion to spend. But the Senate plan calls for spending an additional $4.4 billion this year — including nearly $2 billion on employee health care that’s gone unfunded during the long-running impasse — hence the $4.1 billion deficit, according to the analysis.

Again, policymakers don’t care a huge amount about this fiscal year because it’s already half over, so coming up with a complete, balanced solution by the end of this June would be too painful on both the revenue and spending sides. There is a big push, however, to get a balanced budget by the end of next fiscal year. That’s understandable and desirable.

* Subscribers have a copy of the complete GOMB analysis (plus an analysis of the Senate’s “reform” proposals), but here’s what it says about FY 18…

Annualizing the new revenue sources in the Senate Plan for FY18 brings in an additional $5.4 billion in revenue compared to previous GOMB revenue estimates. This would bring total available general funds resources to $38.8 billion.

The Senate Plan does not include appropriations for FY18. As such, spending estimates rely on spending estimates previously contained in the GOMB 5 Year Report issued in November of 2016, which placed FY18 expenditures at $40.6 billion. Several items in the Senate Plan require adjustments to this spending level, including $650 million in pension savings, $85 million in procurement savings, an increase of $221 million related to CPS pension parity, and $1.1 billion in debt service for the $7 billion on General Obligation Bonds included in the plan to pay down old bills. With these adjustments, FY18 spending would total $41.1 billion.

With $38.8 billion in available resources, the projected spending total of $41.1 billion would lead to an FY18 budget deficit of $2.3 billion.

The Senate Democrats disputed these numbers yesterday, but haven’t yet put that on paper.

*** UPDATE *** From the Senate President’s spokesman…

We’ll check it out and see if changes need to be made.

The goal all along has been to produce a balanced, sustainable budget. We filed the legislation to invite input and constructive criticism.

The proposals remain under construction. We’ll look into this and take steps as needed.

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