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Monday, Mar 16, 2015 - Posted by Rich Miller

* Dude. Really? Buzzfeed…

Rep. Aaron Schock owns what appears to be a fairly accurate replica of “The Falcon” — the internal White House nickname for one of President Obama’s official podiums — and based on photos, uses it at times when speaking in his Peoria, Illinois, district.

USA Today reported last month that Schock spent $79,061 in federal money on furniture in 2009, and $5,123 of that went to Mulnix Industries, a firm that makes custom furniture for public speaking in a town 40 miles outside of Jefferson City, Missouri. Page 2563 of the 2010 Statement of Disbursements of the House of Representatives shows the outlay to Mulnix, but it doesn’t say exactly what the money purchased.

Schock’s office did not respond to USA Today about the expenditures. But multiple photos of Schock back home in his district — including this one taken March 6 by an AP photographer — show him standing behind The Presidential, a discontinued Mulnix model still listed in the company’s online catalog of “Standing Podiums.”

In an interview, Mulnix General Manager Phil Crane said it was “very likely” he sold a Presidential to Schock, though he said he’d have to laboriously go through old records to be sure. The model was pretty popular when Mulnix made it — the company sent four to the U.S. Consulate in Pretoria, South Africa — and Crane said it sold for “somewhere around” $5,000 a piece.

Even so, that’s pretty small potatoes.

* And this doesn’t appear to be against any Congressional rules…

After Rep. Aaron Schock R-Ill., dipped into a campaign fund to pay $73,896.96 for a Chevrolet Tahoe and put the SUV in his name, he later charged taxpayers for mileage, the Sun-Times has learned.

According to the latest House disbursement records, Schock was reimbursed $1,218 for what is listed in House records as “private mileage” between last Sept. 1 and Oct. 1. The money came from Schock’s taxpayer-funded House member allowance.

The car is registered to the Peoria lawmaker, according to Illinois Secretary of State vehicle records, obtained by the Sun-Times through a Freedom of Information Act request. […]

The House Ethics Manual does not appear to address the issue of charging taxpayers for mileage when a campaign-purchased vehicle registered in the name of the lawmaker is used for official House purposes.

As long as those expenses were legit, no likely problem.

But there would be a problem if he didn’t reimburse the campaign committee for personal use of the vehicle…

However, when a member drives a vehicle paid for from campaign funds for personal purposes, the House Ethics Manual notes that Federal Election Commission regulations call for reimbursement to be made within 30 days from personal funds.

…Adding… Sun-Times…

In the wake of stories raising questions about Rep. Aaron Schock, R-Ill., spending of taxpayer and campaign money, the Office of Congressional Ethics has begun to make inquiries, the Sun-Times has learned.

A spokesman for the OCE told the Sun-Times on Monday morning the organization will decline to comment on any Schock probe. The OCE can independently open investigations and does not need to be asked by a person or any entity to launch a probe.

A Schock spokesman so far has not responded to questions about the OCE. Under OCE rules, a subject of an investigation does get notified.

The OCE is an independent, non-partisan organization which reviews allegations of misconduct against House members. The OCE has no power to sanction a member and after its investigations refers matters to the House Committee on Ethics, which then continues with its own probe.

That could be the least of his potential worries.

46 Comments

*** UPDATED x1 *** Yet another DCFS outrage

Monday, Mar 16, 2015 - Posted by Rich Miller

* WBEZ…

For the first time ever, Cook County is sending a bill to the State of Illinois for the cost of holding state wards left waiting at the juvenile jail by the Department of Children and Family Services. […]

It comes after a recent WBEZ investigation found that the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS) routinely leaves hundreds of kids stuck behind bars for weeks, or even months, after a judge has said they can go home. Because they are wards of the state, the kids can’t leave the Cook County Juvenile Temporary Detention Center until the department finds them proper placement. […]

The invoice being sent to DCFS covers just two months—December and January—and it comes to $232,750.

The invoice is for 41 DCFS wards who spent a combined 665 days in jail after a judge told them they were free to go. […]

Along with the invoice is a letter from juvenile jail administrator Dunlap to DCFS Director George Sheldon. In it, Dunlap blasts the department for the “agency’s willful disregard to juveniles’ constitutional rights.”

How can this happen?

Ugh.

Let’s hope Gov. Rauner’s new director can fix this inherited mess. His predecessors should be ashamed of themselves.

* Speaking of incarceration and impacts on the state budget, this is from a Treatment Alternatives for Safe Communities press release sent a few weeks ago…

Governor Bruce Rauner’s $27 million cuts to drug treatment services undermine the very criminal justice reforms that he has been publicly championing.

Criminal justice reforms and cost savings simply cannot happen without drug treatment and coordinated case management upon which Illinois courts rely.

Last year alone, working with judges and community-based treatment providers, TASC diverted 2,080 people from prison and immediately saved Illinois $35 million. Under the governor’s proposed budget for next year, millions of those savings would be wiped out.

* I followed up and asked for more details, but my e-mail has been a bit screwy lately. I finally found the source of the problem yesterday, so a ton of unsent e-mails were finally released from purgatory. Turns out, a whole lot of Mac users are having the same problem.

Anyway, TASC responded today…

Rich,

Thanks for reaching out. For the cost savings, we calculate the cost of TASC and treatment (both funded by DASA) vs. the cost of incarceration in IDOC. In FY14, 2,080 people were mandated to TASC as an alternative to prison — these were individuals with non-violent felony offenses that otherwise would result in a sentence to IDOC (usually about 12-18 months).

Cost of one year of prison for 2,080 people: 2,080 x 21,000 (IDOC average annual incarceration cost) = $43,680,000

Alternatively, average cost of TASC plus DASA-funded treatment: 2,080 x $4,200 (DASA average cost of treatment plus TASC internal average of client served) = $8,736,000

Difference to the state: $43,680,000 - $8,736,000 = $34,944,000

Our cost savings estimate is conservative. We used the IDOC average per capita cost from the IDOC FY13 annual report (p. 64), which is the most recent available.. If we calculate the cost of IDOC at $22,655, as per IDOC’s Financial Impact Statement, the cost savings of alternatives to incarceration are even greater.

*** UPDATE *** Steve Schnorf makes a very valid point in comments…

So each time the IDOC prisoner census increases by one, the GA convenes and approps an additional $21,000, and each time a prisoner is released or dies, the approp goes down by $21,000. Those sorts of analyses are worth about the cost of the paper they’re written on. Unfortunately, they are frequently used to justify this program or that.

When one future incarceree is diverted the savings are so infinitesimal as to be calculable. When several or many are diverted the savings are still quite small. Only when you reduce the census enough to close a unit (if we are fortunate enough that they all are of the same approximate classification, etc) would you begin to see savings of close to half of $21,000 per avoided inmate, and only when you have the right number and mix that you can close a whole prison if you can get rid of the prison) do you get up closer to $20,000.

These sorts of programs should be justified primarily on their intrinsic programmatic values, not on some cooked up savings numbers.

17 Comments

*** UPDATED x1 - Denied *** Rauner: Union membership here “eliminated” within four years

Monday, Mar 16, 2015 - Posted by Rich Miller

* Kurt Erickson writes about a meeting between some Downstate lawmakers and Gov. Bruce Rauner last week…

According to accounts from Democratic lawmakers who met privately with the Republican businessman, the governor suggested that if his policies are adopted by the Legislature, union membership will be eliminated in Illinois within the next four years. […]

During last week’s meeting with lawmakers, Rauner was told that he is wasting a lot of time and energy on an issue that likely isn’t going to go anywhere. Democrats, after all, still control the General Assembly. […]

“We ought to be talking more about the budget. Instead of traveling around, he ought to be meeting with people about the budget,” said state Sen. John Sullivan, D-Rushville.

State Sen. Andy Manar, D-Bunker Hill, also was in the meeting when Rauner predicted the eventual eradication of union membership in Illinois. He also said Rauner needs to focus on the state’s budget problems. […]

“Actions speak louder than words. His actions have indicated that he’s not pro-union,” Sullivan said. “I came away from the meeting believing that he believes in what he’s saying.”

*** UPDATE *** An administration source with knowledge of the meeting pushed back hard…

He never said that. It is 100% false.

I talked to a Senator who was at the meeting. “Did Rauner really say union membership would be eliminated in four years?” His response, via text…

SENATOR: Not exactly, he said it has gone from a high of 30 to 40% down to 6% currently and soon it will be zero. At least that’s how I recall the conversation going.

ME: Ok.

SENATOR: We came to talk about the budget, he spent 90% of the time talking to someone who has a 100% labor voting record about how bad labor is.

ME: So he was saying u were on the wrong side of history?

SENATOR: Lol. Yes. This is what’s amazing about this to me: there is nothing he’s going to say to me or do to me that is going to change my mind about collective bargaining and the rights of workers.

Somebody in that shop has to start realizing that’s the sentiment of a whole lot of legislators. D’s and R’s both.

[ *** End Of Update *** ]

* It’s little wonder why he he was booed at the South Side Irish Parade yesterday…

Union ties are strong in the Morgan Park and Beverly neighborhoods, where the parade ran down Western Avenue — and this year, it featured at least eight union floats and the Irish-American Labor Council, a committee of the AFL-CIO, as its grand marshal.

Rauner, who has made creation of union-weakening “right to work” zones in specific parts of the state a priority in his first few months in office, waved with a smile as people standing on the curb shouted, “No right to work!” and “You’re no good!”

At one point, Rauner picked up the pace to a jog — and yells of “Keep running!” followed.

Brendan Nolan, a member of the International Union of Operating Engineers Local 399, clapped as people nearby booed the governor.

Asked about the booing, Catherine Kelly, a spokeswoman for Rauner said in an emailed statement: “While the protectors of the failed status quo will always make noise, Bruce heard from more people this weekend expressing support for his empowerment agenda.”

…Adding… A friend who was at the parade (I didn’t make it this year) sent me an e-mail today with the subject line “Rauner booed”…

Was he ever - sometimes it was union guys following him around shouting “No right to work!” Other times it was just spontaneous booing — near constant the two times I passed him. It was painful watching him walk up to groups of people trying to get them to shake hands. People are polite so sometimes they would, but so many people just looked away and tried to avoid eye contact.

There was most definitely an organized response to Rauner, but that part of the world has a whole lot of union members in it. So, much of the booing was quite spontaneous, according to other friends who were there.

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