* The House is debating Speaker Madigan’s surtax on income over a million dollars, with all the money set aside for schools. However…
Good question.
* But also some good points…
*** UPDATE *** Press release…
House Speaker Michael Madigan released a statement following Wednesday’s vote in the Illinois House of Representatives on a constitutional amendment to increase state funding for elementary schools and high schools through a surcharge on millionaires:
“For the second time in less than a year, Republican legislators have rejected the wishes of their constituents and opposed a measure requiring the top 1 percent to pay more to help boost education funding in Illinois.
“This proposal is not a partisan issue. An advisory question on this matter was put to voters in the 2014 general election and it received over 60 percent support statewide. The people of Illinois spoke – they believe a surcharge on millionaires is a good way to get our schools the help they need. We should listen to the wishes of our constituents, not big business or the 1 percent who would put profits ahead of our children’s education. Unfortunately today, Republicans again failed to listen to their constituents.
“This constitutional amendment would give Illinois residents the ability to decide whether the state constitution should be amended to increase the income tax on multi-millionaires to provide additional dollars for schools across the state. All revenue from this proposal – an estimated $1 billion annually – would be distributed to school districts on a per-pupil basis.”
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Yeah, this’ll help
Wednesday, Apr 20, 2016 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Oy…
The rhetoric from folks like Lewis and some on the other side is so intense that I should probably repeat my worry that this craziness could gin up a nutball enough to take matters into his own hands and then something really bad could happen.
Not good at all.
…Adding… From Catherine Kelly at the governor’s office…
This kind of rhetoric has no place in American public discourse and sets a terrible example for our kids.
Agreed.
* Meanwhile…
The Chicago Teachers Union will put on a major public relations blitz today, with a rally in Springfield and a speech by President Karen Lewis in Chicago.
It all comes amid the lack of a new contract. The school district’s chief says the system is on the brink of insolvency. Lewis says the union could soon go on strike, after it rejected an arbitrator’s findings.
Both sides point to Springfield as the path to a solution. To that end, union members and allies are scheduled to descend on the Capitol today to lobby lawmakers and rally in the building’s rotunda after boarding buses at 6 a.m. and heading south.
* Protesters have blocked the street near the governor’s mansion. Here’s a photo taken by a friend shortly after one o’clock…
…Adding… Sun-Times…
Chicago Teachers Union President Karen Lewis dubbed Gov. Bruce Rauner a “new ISIS recruit” because “the things he’s doing look like acts of terror on poor and working class people” in her remakrs before the City Club Wednesday afternoon. […]
“If a man tells you he loves America yet hates labor, he is a liar. . . Bruce Rauner is a liar,” she said.
* ABC 7…
“If Governor Rauner says he loves Illinois, yet he hates labor, he is a liar! There is no Illinois without labor, and to fleece the one is to rob the other,” Lewis said. “I’ve been reading in the news lately about all of these ISIS recruits popping up all over the place. Has Homeland Security checked this man out yet? Because the things he’s doing looks like acts of terror on poor and working class people.”
…Adding More… From a pal…
Vandalism of the Capitol is an excellent way to persuade people to your point of view.
The pic he took in the 2nd floor men’s room…
I suppose it’s nice that at least one protester knew what he was in town for (lots typically don’t). But what a jerk thing to do. Now, one of our custodians is gonna have to try and clean up that mess.
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Green shoots breaking through
Wednesday, Apr 20, 2016 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Brief recap of yesterday’s mess…
There are once again competing proposals to get money to public universities that have been deprived of state funding during the nearly yearlong budget standoff at the Capitol.
The House Executive Committee signed off on a plan Tuesday from state Rep. Rita Mayfield, D-Waukegan, that would send a full year’s worth of funding to the universities hardest hit by the lack of a budget: Chicago State, Eastern Illinois, Western Illinois and Northeastern Illinois universities. Mayfield said she plans to amend the bill to add $10 million for Southern Illinois University, 5 percent of its annual state funding. […]
State Rep. Mike Fortner, R-West Chicago, is proposing a plan that cover one-third of annual funding to all nine public university systems and one semester’s worth of grants to low-income students through the Monetary Award Program, which isn’t included in Mayfield’s plan.
Fortner’s plan would cost $558.3 million, with the revenue coming from the state’s education assistance fund. The fund, which gets dedicated revenue from the state income tax, gambling and other sources, is expected to have $600 million available by June 30, the end of the fiscal year.
* But…
The “stopgap” proposal from state Rep. Mike Fortner, a West Chicago Republican, follows a handful of other plans that have been debated in Springfield but all failed as Democratic leaders and Gov. Bruce Rauner continue their nearly yearlong war over the state budget.
But a spokesman for House Speaker Michael Madigan called the idea a “distant third-place” among proposals to pay for higher education in Illinois, putting its future in question.
Ugh.
* I’m told, however, that Downstate House Democrats and many Senate Dems refused to support Rep. Mayfield’s bill. The new proposal will reportedly look more like Rep. Fortner’s idea.
Unless, of course, it falls apart yet again.
Stay tuned.
…Adding… A House Democrat involved with the process says they’re “Working through the numbers and working across the aisle.”
Keep your fingers crossed that somebody doesn’t try to blow this thing up.
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* Reporter John Gregory abruptly left the Illinois Radio Network shortly after the network was purchased by the Illinois Policy Institute. John has stayed mostly mum about his departure until now…
In such tendentious new company, could the Illinois Radio Network’s modest operation possibly remain uncompromised? Soon after IPI took it over, the radio network’s reporters in Chicago and Springfield both were doing something else. Dave Dahl in Springfield quit to work full-time for a local radio station, WTAX, where he’d already been moonlighting. John Gregory in Chicago says: “Disagreeing with the network’s coverage of certain topics was the reason given when I was fired.” Gregory is now freelancing.
Ugh.
* But, hey, they have been replaced…
The new man in Chicago, Julio Rausseo, has kept such lively company in the past that the radio network might be the most mainstream forum he’s ever turned up in. Here he is in 2012 on the Corbett Report discussing the “police state takedown” of the upcoming NATO summit in Chicago. (If you’re not familiar with the Corbett Report, judge it by one of its high water marks: a breathless, five-minute argument for 9/11 as a massive conspiracy and coverup.) And here’s Rausseo talking about a favorite bête noir, the Transportation Security Agency—four years ago with Alex Jones, the radio and TV host and self-described “icon of the burgeoning liberty movement,” and last December on The Rundown Live, an alt-news website whose founder lists as his concerns “9/11 Truth and government corruption,” “promoting anarchist philosophy,” and “cop watching.” […]
IRN’s new man in Springfield, Greg Bishop, joined the Illinois Policy Institute in 2014 to run the Illinois News Network’s radio operation. He’d been a reporter and radio host on WMAY-AM 970 in Springfield, where according to a 2014 profile in Springfield’s State-Journal Register, he didn’t try to play it down the middle. “Back in 2012,” wrote reporter Bernard Schoenburg, “Bishop made no secret of his support for Ron Paul for president. He got himself named as a delegate to the state Republican convention that year, even as he was reporting on Springfield city government and other news and doing a talk show. One of the issues he pushed at that convention, he told me later, was a right-to-work resolution saying public sector employees shouldn’t be forced to pay union dues.”
“Taxation is slavery,” Bishop said in 2013. “If you don’t pay, they’re coming after you with guns.” He was “sick of my taxes being used to fund
incompetence.”
Go read the rest.
So far, most of the network’s “straight” news has been OK. Not particularly great, sometimes with obvious holes and slants, but OK. IRN, however, is now a shell of its former self.
*** UPDATE 1 *** React from John Tillman at the Illinois Policy Institute…
I find it ironic on a story regarding journalistic integrity and advocacy that neither Miner or you properly notes that this is only his “claim” and there is no evidence to support it beyond his word as a terminated employee. There is obviously another side to the story but employers are almost always prevented by labor law from commenting.
For my part anyway, I wrote that Gregory “says” he was fired for the above reason. Not sure why I’m lumped in there.
*** UPDATE 2 *** More from Tillman…
John Gregory was terminated by me with a witness present. I state categorically that the reason Gregory gives for his terminations is not true. While I wish I could provide more details other than refuting his false claim, we cannot comment further on such personnel matters.
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*** UPDATE *** ABC 7…
In a statement, a CTU spokeswoman called the request a “publicity stunt.”
“We have hundreds of members in Springfield right now fighting for revenue,” the statement said. “CTU does not have binding interest arbitration because we choose to negotiate and write our own contracts—plus police and fire, as he referenced, cannot strike. We can’t say we’re interested in this until we know the rules of arbitration and under what terms.”
OK, then get them the rules and terms.
[ *** End Of Update *** ]
* From Chicago Public Schools…
April 20, 2016
Karen Lewis
Chicago Teachers Union
222 Merchandise Mart Plaza, Suite 400 Chicago, Illinois 60654
Re: Proposal for Final and Binding Arbitration In Lieu of Strike
Dear Karen,
We are disappointed that the CTU decided to reject the Fact Finder’s recommendation. We are also aware of your public comments that the “clock is ticking” toward a strike. In our view a strike whether in May or in August or in September would be devastating to our students and parents. Further, we are at a loss as to how a strike would solve or even advance a solution to the considerable challenges that CPS faces. The best course is for CPS and CTU to join together in Springfield for long term sustainable funding for our schools. A strike is counterproductive and would only fuel the anti-CPS forces in Springfield.
To avoid disruption to our schools and to advance our partnership in Springfield, we are asking that CTU agree to final and binding interest arbitration in lieu of a strike. As you know, final and binding interest arbitration is permitted pursuant to section 12 (a-10) (d) of the Illinois Educational Labor Relations Act. Interest Arbitration has been used in Chicago for our Police and Fire contracts for decades. I believe that teachers are just as important as our policemen and firemen. The extraordinary circumstances that CPS currently faces demands that we use every means available to avoid disruption to our schools and our families.
We very much hope that you will give this offer your serious consideration. We would be most appreciative if we could have your response by April 27, 2016.
Thank you.
Sincerely,
Forrest Claypool
Chief Executive Officer
If they resolve this equitably with binding arbitration, it would go a long way to show that AFSCME’s very similar legislative proposal was right all along.
…Adding… So the other side, I suppose, is CTU’s desire to protect its right to strike, something that AFSCME was willing to give up. If the union rejects this arbitration offer, it’ll be signaling that the right to strike gives it more leverage and is more valuable than entering arbitration. But rejection will also show that opponents of the AFSCME bill may not be right when they claim that arbitration generally favors unions.
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