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Tuesday, Oct 14, 2014 - Posted by Rich Miller

* And here’s our ScribbleLive thingy. I added a few political accounts this time around…

Tuesday, Oct 14, 2014 - Posted by Rich Miller

…Adding… Let’s move this to a fresh thread at the top of the page. Click here.

* I’ll post a link or an embed before tonight’s gubernatorial debate begins at 6. CBS 2 hasn’t yet posted anything on its site.

From the station…

Crews are busy getting the DuSable Museum Auditorium ready for Tuesday’s debate, which will be televised on CBS 2 at 6 p.m. CBS 2’s Dorothy Tucker introduces us to the two groups behind the debate.

Andrea Zopp is the CEO of the Chicago Urban League which has been promoting jobs, businesses, education, and political empowerment in Chicago’s African-American community for nearly 100 years.

“Our vision is that a stronger African-American community is a better Chicago,” Zopp said.

Hosting political debates is not new to the Urban League. Among the many, the Democratic primary gubernatorial debate in 1984, the 2000 U.S. congressional debate and now the gubernatorial debate between incumbent Pat Quinn and Republican candidate Bruce Rauner.

12 Comments

*** UPDATED x2 *** “He was given to me”

Tuesday, Oct 14, 2014 - Posted by Rich Miller

* Less than a month after he left the Chicago City Council, former36th Ward Ald. John Rice landed a job at IDOT. He denied using any clout, but his job application wasn’t filed until the day he was hired in the exempt position. From a February 10, 2012 New York Times article…

Brooke Anderson, a spokeswoman for Mr. Quinn, said in an e-mail this week that the governor — who lives in the 36th Ward, on the Northwest Side — did not get involved in “personnel decisions at the agency level.”

A spokesman for the transportation department said the decision to hire Mr. Rice was made by Michael Stout, who stepped down at the end of December as director of the department’s traffic safety division.

Mr. Stout said this week, however, that he “never hired anybody” and did not know who had decided to bring Mr. Rice onto the state payroll.

“He was given to me,” Mr. Stout said.

* But who gave him to Stout? From the Bruce Rauner campaign…

NEWLY REVEALED EMAILS SHOW QUINN’S OFFICE INVOLVED IN RICE’S HIRING A MONTH BEFORE HE APPLIED

Last Week, Michael Shakman Released An Email Dated October 27, 2011 In Which IDOT Officials Tell Quinn Deputy Chief Of Staff Sean O’Shea That They “Need Candidate Info” For Rice. “Sean, Attached is the updated epar spreadsheet (Rutan-Exempt). As you will see, John Rice is on the second page under ‘Need Candidate Info.’” (Mike Woods Email To Sean O’Shea, 10/27/11)

Attached To The October 27 Email Was A List Of Pending Rutan-Exempt Hires At IDOT, With Rice’s Name Listed Under The “Need Candidate Info” Category. (Mike Woods Email To Sean O’Shea, 10/27/11)

Rice’s Name Is Also At The Top Of The October 28, 2011 “Lavin List” Of Political Hires. (Lavin List, 10/28/11)

Quinn himself now admits that former deputy chief of staff Sean O’Shea and former chief of staff Jack Lavin handled patronage requests to IDOT. But the e-mail definitively answers a question that neither the Quinn office nor IDOT would address three years ago. The direction came from the governor’s two top guys.

*** UPDATE 1 *** From the governor’s office…

Rich - as we said in 2012 – the Governor was not involved in this personnel decision at the agency level. Regarding the list – it was for Rutan-exempt hires that had to be approved by the chief of staff. As you will recall – under the previous admin all hires were approved by the chief of staff. Under Gov Quinn – that was changed to only Rutan exempt – as is appropriate.

From the OEIG report:

Footnote 135 - Investigators also obtained documents from the Office of the Governor. Included were multiple versions of a document maintained by IDOT Titled ―Rutan-Exempt ePARs for IDOT…Lavin List…‖ (Lavin List). The Lavin List is a list of all IDOT Rutan-Exempt ePARs IDOT maintained reflecting Rutan-exempt candidates for hire that were pending approval by former Chief of Staff Jack Lavin or a Deputy Chief of Staff.

*** UPDATE 2 *** Rauner campaign…

The governor’s office continues to evade the key question: who directed IDOT to hire Ald. Rice? His name appears on a “Lavin List” one month before he even submitted an application and IDOT had emailed the governor’s office that they needed more information about him. Clearly this was not an IDOT-initiated hire.

43 Comments

William Kelly busts the cap (updated and reposted)

Tuesday, Oct 14, 2014 - Posted by Rich Miller

[I took this story down earlier this morning so I could check on some questions raised in comments, but I’m reposting it now with some additional information which confirms its authenticity.]

* While the biggest mayoral story by far yesterday was Karen Lewis taking herself out of the race (which we’ll discuss later), a completely unnoticed press release from a little-known gadfly had almost as much of an impact. From William Kelly…

Today, I am donating $100,000 to my mayoral campaign against Mayor Rahm Emanuel. I am taking this step because we have a historic opportunity to reclaim the City of Chicago from the clutches of Mayor Rahm Emanuel - the most unpopular mayor in Chicago’s storied history.

I will not stand idly by while Rahm continues his march to destroy our city from within.

But I need YOUR HELP. Will you match my donation with your most generous contribution of $25, $50, $100, $250 or whatever amount you can afford now and help me raise $100,000 to defeat Rahm?

* Kelly did, indeed, contribute $100,000 to his own campaign…

In addition to that contribution, Kelly kicked in $7,441.48 back in July. So, that new contribution means he has busted the contributions cap. From the Illinois State Board of Elections…

A candidate or public official is considered “self-funding” if, during the 12 months prior to an election, the candidate or public official or their immediate family contributes, loans, or makes independent expenditures in support of or opposition to the candidate, in aggregate, totaling more than $250,000 (for statewide offices) or $100,000 (for all other elective offices) to the candidate or public official’s political committee or to other political committees that transfer funds to the candidate’s committee.

Unreal. Kelly just opened the Rahm floodgates.

* A friend reacts…

Every donor in Chicago hates William Kelly right now

True.

Maybe the mayor will be magnanimous and stay within the caps regardless. I mean, with Lewis out, it’s not like he’ll need to rai… Oh, who am I kidding?

55 Comments

More adventures in misgovernance

Tuesday, Oct 14, 2014 - Posted by Rich Miller

* A completely wasted opportunity…

Illinois legislators created the Urban Weatherization Initiative in 2009, promising that as much as $425 million in taxpayer money would go to train an army of workers in predominantly African-American neighborhoods to identify and fix energy-efficiency problems in homes. […]

But records and interviews show:

◆ More than 1,900 people have been trained for jobs as laborers and inspectors for the program. But only a fraction of them have been put to work or found jobs utilizing their skills outside the program. Exactly how many isn’t clear. State officials say they don’t have a figure. People involved with the program say it’s only a small percentage of those trained.

◆ Officials say that’s because no work on homes was done until last spring — three years later than planned. As a result, only 183 homes have gotten energy upgrades.

◆ More than $13 million of the $16 million-plus spent so far has gone for administrative costs and training.

◆ Worker training didn’t begin until 2011, though Quinn signed the legislation into law in July 2009.

Oy.

Go read the whole thing.

…Adding… The Sun-Times didn’t break it out, but admin costs were $1.5 million, according to DCEO. The rest of that $13 million was spent on training.

26 Comments

Quinn pushes “new” Rauner audio on minimum wage

Tuesday, Oct 14, 2014 - Posted by Rich Miller

* From the Quinn campaign…

As Bruce Rauner continues to conceal his long-held opposition to raising the minimum wage, new audio released today shows him vowing that he “always” has, and “always will” oppose raising the minimum wage “in and of itself.”

Here’s the quote exactly:

“I have said consistently, consistently, and I always have and I always will that I am against raising the minimum wage in and of itself. If that’s the only change we make, I am adamantly against it. That’s been true and that will be true.”

The quote was made in the context of the Republican primary, when Rauner was establishing his right-wing bonafides by saying that he was “adamantly, adamantly against” raising the Illinois minimum wage, and even went so far to propose lowering the Illinois minimum wage. Proof also emerged that Rauner advocated eliminating the minimum wage earlier this year.

The new audio shows Rauner’s fiercely-held opposition to raising the minimum wage will continue in perpetuity. No evidence exists to suggest that Rauner has ever sincerely supported raising the minimum wage.

* OK, the full, raw audio, from this past January on Roe Conn’s now-defunct WLS AM show is here…

Click to listen

* During that exchange, at about the 7:20-mark, Conn asks Rauner why he didn’t “couple the notion” of increasing the minimum wage with his proposed business reforms the previous year when he said he was “adamantly, adamantly against raising the minimum wage.” Rauner’s full response…

“Ok, that’s a fair question. The answer is, you know what, every time we’re talking about an issue, it has ramifications broadly. And there’s a lot of scenarios that, that we can talk about as, as well. I’m not even including… Let’s, let’s not try… The other business reforms that we really need in Illinois. And where’s the, where’s the tradeoff in, in there? Politics is about tradeoffs.

“I have said consistently, consistently, and I always have and I always will, I am against raising the minimum wage in and of itself. If that’s the only change we make, I am adamantly against it. That’s been true and that will be true.

“In a context, in a broader context, of, of other changes, I support it. That’s not inconsistent at all. And maybe I should, I could, I could take 20 minutes every time I give a speech, but you know what, not, not, not every topic in every speech that we touch on every possible scenario. That’s just not how it works.”

In context, he’s saying what he has been saying for months. But he said what he said.

…Adding… The Rauner campaign points to this comment at the 1:23 mark…

“I am not in favor of reducing the minimum wage in Illinois. That is not what I am trying to say. I mischaracterized it’s my fault my mistake. I believe we should either move the Illinois wage to the national minimum wage and raise the national minimum wage in that context. And or, or if that can’t be done if that national minimum wage is not going to raise I think it will be and I support that. But if it’s not raised at the national level I do support and I can support increasing Illinois minimum wage. But only only in the context of a comprehensive pro business reform package including workers comp reform tax reform and tort reform. If we do that pro business reform in that context I would support and do support raising Illinois minimum wage.”

* And since he flipped-flopped-flipped on the minimum wage, why is he still sticking by his adamant support for “right to work”?…

Rauner told The Associated Press in a recent interview that the [”right to work”] zones would be a way to give local entities autonomy and help jumpstart economically-depressed areas. Rauner said an example of his plan could let municipalities or counties decide on whether to make paying union fees voluntary for unionized workers. And it would allow struggling areas, such as Chicago neighborhoods or downtown Decatur, the ability to lower corporate income tax rates to lure new businesses, something that appears to take a program that Illinois already offers a step further.

“Create opportunities where our state is really suffering the most. Create opportunities of more flexibility where they can innovate and really create environments that are very attractive to business,” the wealthy businessman told AP in the recent interview. “What I’d love to do is travel, on my nickel, recruiting companies to come to those zones and … create some true economic growth in some of the most impoverished neighborhoods.”

The zones would “allow local communities to decide whether workers must join a union in order to get a job,” according to Rauner’s website. He told AP such zones would give counties and cities control.

But unions and Quinn blasted the idea - which has already been contentious between unions and Republican governors elsewhere - as hurting workers and unions.

Bad move. Really bad move. 50,000 workers joined the union rolls last year in Illinois. Subscribers know more, but I just don’t get the addition on this one.

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