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*** UPDATED x1 - ILGOP slams Quinn *** On this point, I agree with Pat Quinn

Monday, Aug 29, 2016 - Posted by Rich Miller

* From a press release…

In the aftermath of Thursday’s Illinois Supreme Court ruling against the Independent Map redistricting plan, former Governor Pat Quinn will offer a plan Tuesday which would be “fair and constitutional”.

“Voters deserve the chance to be heard on remap reform. Half a million voters signed petitions urging the question be put on the ballot but the language was fatally flawed,” Quinn said. “It’s back to the drawing board.”

Twice since 2014, courts have rejected proposals to reform Illinois’ partisan and archaic reapportionment process due to poorly-worded amendments.

“Unlike Independent Map’s plan, our language is simple, clean, and pristine,” Quinn said. As the only person in Illinois history to successfully amend the Constitution by referendum, Quinn will propose a redistricting referendum amendment which he is confident will pass constitutional muster.

In 1980, Quinn’s Cutback Amendment to cut the size of the Illinois Legislature by a third was approved by the Supreme Court, the only time such a reform has been accomplished using the power of referendum in Illinois history.

“Having won before the Supreme Court on the interpretation of Article IV, Section 3, I know the Justices’ legal concerns,” Quinn said.

Quinn plans to reach out to the Independent Map organizers to offer a new and improved version. The voters would be able to vote in a 2018 referendum on a redistricting reform amendment. If adopted by the voters, the plan would be in effect for the 2021 redistricting.

WHEN: Tuesday, August 30, 2016, 10:30 a.m.

WHERE: James R. Thompson Center
15th Floor - Blue Room

* Part of the reason for the two-time failure of the Independent Maps plan was its overly complicated, Rube Goldberg processes for achieving its end result. It was just too easy to nitpick those plans to death.

If Quinn is truly pushing language that is “simple, clean, and pristine,” it might have a better shot. By simply dictating the desired outcome, rather than laying out the actual process in excruciating detail, it would avoid numerous Supreme Court pitfalls.

I get why the remap reformers tried it the other way. They simply don’t trust the General Assembly to come up with their desired outcome. But their way has failed twice in a row. It’s time for a different approach.

* On the other hand, Quinn signed the last remap into law, so he’s not exactly trustworthy on this particular stage. Still, it’ll be interesting to see what he comes up with.

*** UPDATE *** From the Illinois Republican Party…

“Pat Quinn is the very reason Illinois doesn’t already have fair maps. In 2011, Quinn signed into law the gerrymandered district lines we have today. Instead of standing up for reform when he was in charge of the state, Quinn worked with Mike Madigan to rig the political system in their favor. We don’t need Pat Quinn to fix Pat Quinn’s map.” – Illinois Republican Party Spokesman Steven Yaffe

In 2011, Governor Pat Quinn signed into law today’s gerrymandered district maps.

Instead of standing up to Mike Madigan and demanding redistricting reform when he had the chance, Quinn offered no resistance and worked with Madigan to rig the system.

In fact, members of Quinn’s own party blamed him in 2010 for killing a redistricting reform proposal that was likely to pass in the legislature.

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*** UPDATED x1 *** Isikoff hacking scoop criticized

Monday, Aug 29, 2016 - Posted by Rich Miller

* The Michael Isikoff elections board hacking story is getting a lot of traction out there. But cyber security specialist John Bambenek has read the FBI “Flash” memorandum that Isikoff wrote about (and which admonishes against release to the media and general public) and says Isikoff got it wrong…

The Isikoff article takes great liberties with both the details of the FBI Flash Bulletin and the facts of the matter to claim dangerous “foreign adversaries” are attacking boards of elections.

I have seen some of those IPs attack one of my own servers and it’s unlikely sophisiticated foreign adversaries are really that interested in data from my unsuccessful 2012 State Senate run.

The use of a foreign IP has no relationship to the nationality of the attacker. I personally have infrastructure in many countries, that doesn’t make me Chinese, Russian, Brazilian, American, German and French all at the same time.

A cursory exam of the data shows the IP addresses involved are commodity web scanners that constantly scan the entire internet for basic web vulnerabilities.

While it is important to highlight the risks of these threats and practice basic web application security, we ought not to stretch the truth and engage in fear mongering where none is warranted. We have the defenses required for these types of attacks, they need only be implemented.

Bambenek also told me, “Nation states don’t SQL inject through Tor.” I’ve added explanatory hyperlinks to help you parse what he’s saying.

*** UPDATE *** The FBI alert is here.

* From the Tribune…

[Ken Menzel, general counsel for the elections board] said there is a “reasonable suspicion” that the cyberattack was foreign.

“We know foreign servers were used, but it’s not conclusive that foreign actors were involved,” Menzel said. He said the FBI has “their reasons for suspecting foreign involvement, other than just some foreign servers were used.”

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Falling into his own trap

Monday, Aug 29, 2016 - Posted by Rich Miller

* Remember this Chicago police and fire pension bill that the General Assembly passed in the spring?…

Over the short term, the bill would have reduced how much taxpayers contribute to the retirement funds by hundreds of millions of dollars a year. But that delay would come at a cost of billions of dollars over the long haul. By paying less upfront, the city would see its pension debt continue to grow.

* The governor vetoed that bill and was then overridden. Gov. Rauner was not amused…

“Clearly, those who supported this measure haven’t recognized what happens when governments fail to promptly fund pension obligations,” [Gov. Bruce Rauner] said. “Instead of kicking the can down the road, local and state governments should instead focus on reforms that will grow our economy, create jobs and enable us live up to the promises we’ve made to police and firefighters.”

In vetoing the bill Friday afternoon, Rauner called the measure “irresponsible” and warned “the cost to Chicago taxpayers” in the long run is “truly staggering.”

The bill allowed the city to avoid a $300 million tax hike.

* Finke…

And then we have last week. Gov. BRUCE RAUNER’s administration let it be known it didn’t want the Teachers’ Retirement System board to vote to lower the estimated rate of return it would get on its investments. Although that recommendation comes from actuaries not under anyone’s political control, the administration said the process needed more scrutiny and input before the decision was made.

It also made note that lowering investment returns would cost the state money that could not then go to education and other programs.

Fair enough, but the other point to remember is this. Overestimating investment returns would save the state money in the short term, but that doesn’t mean the bill goes away. It just shoves it off into the future. It’s sort of a variation on the old practice of simply shorting the money outright.

For Rauner, it would make budget life a little easier next year, not to mention possibly helping to hold down the size of the tax hike everyone seems to acknowledge is coming. As for making the pension systems any healthier, probably not so much.

Subscribers know more about the motivations here, but the governor clearly fell into his own rhetorical trap on this one.

…Adding… I’m not sure who thought of it first, but it really doesn’t matter. Greg Hinz made the same comparison to the Chicago pension veto.

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