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*** UPDATED x2 *** Rauner blames union-friendly laws for loss of Toyota plant

Thursday, Sep 27, 2018 - Posted by Rich Miller

* There he goes again

Rauner, a Winnetka Republican, said company officials considered bringing a $1.6 billion joint venture between Toyota and Mazda that will employ 4,000 workers in Huntsville, Ala., to Central Illinois — but they didn’t want to deal with closed-shop rules that make employees at certain businesses join a union.

“We should be where the auto plants are coming. We’ve got the workforce and the people. You can’t get a new auto plant built in a closed-shop state,” he told the Pantagraph’s Editorial Board.

“I went to Japan to bring the Toyota-Mazda venture here to McLean County. … They said they love Illinois, they love Central Illinois, they love the workforce here.They were coming,” he continued.

“But the board members said, ‘This board of directors will not build a new plant in a closed-shop state. Can you make it so McLean County is not?’ I said, ‘I proposed it, but that’s not an option right now.’ So they said, ‘Well then, you know what, we’re going to another state,’” he said.

Alabama is a right-to-work state.

Um, “closed shops” were outlawed in this country in 1947.

* From October of 2017

Mark Denzler, vice president and chief operating officer of the Illinois Manufacturers’ Association, confirmed Wednesday that Illinois is no longer in the running.

“We are certainly very disappointed that Toyota is not coming to Illinois, but we also understand the challenges that plague Illinois,” he said. “We are not a business-friendly state.”

Stability and predictability are lacking, Denzler said. He pointed to the $15 billion backlog of bills the state built up during its budget crisis, unfunded pensions and a recent income tax increase as examples. Illinois has some redeeming qualities, he said, but not enough.

Hmm. “Stability and predictability are lacking.”

* Also, remember when Ford announced in late 2015 that it would be investing $1.1 billion into its Chicago-area factories? And the company made this announcement in April

Joe Hinrichs, president of global operations for Ford, said the automaker will retool the Chicago assembly plant after Taurus production winds down. There about about 4,000 workers at the Chicago assembly plant, and Ford expects demand for the new SUV lines to support the same size workforce going forward.

“We’re investing heavily in the plant, and we’re going to keep it full and everybody is going to keep their employment,” Hinrichs said Thursday.

*** UPDATE 1 *** I don’t think McLean County was on the list of sites that the state was backing for that Toyota plant. Rochelle and DeKalb were the two towns in the running.

*** UPDATE 2 *** From that article about Rochelle and DeKalb is this nugget

Amid battles between Rauner and Democratic leaders, the state’s largest jobs incentives program —Economic Development for a Growing Economy, or EDGE, tax credits — expired earlier this year with no new legislation passed to replace it.

“The biggest challenge Illinois will face is competitiveness of incentives,” [site selection expert Bradley Migdal of Cushman & Wakefield] said. “If Illinois is competing with states like Alabama or Mississippi, at the end of the day the key tool is going to be incentives.

“To do something now would require special legislation, because right now there is no legislation in place for providing EDGE incentives.”

  40 Comments      


*** LIVE COVERAGE ***

Thursday, Sep 27, 2018 - Posted by Rich Miller

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Pritzker unveils higher education plan, but not pricetag

Wednesday, Sep 26, 2018 - Posted by Rich Miller

* Press release…

Today, JB Pritzker and Juliana Stratton unveiled their higher education plan at Illinois State University in Normal.

Bruce Rauner’s budget crisis took a toll on public colleges and universities — 7,500 higher ed-related jobs were lost, tuition spiked by an average of 7 percent, and enrollment plunged by over 72,000 students. The failed governor also proposed steep cuts to higher education, and it’s clear that real leadership is necessary to chart a new path for Illinois students. Here are highlights from JB and Juliana’s plan:

Increasing College Affordability

    Increase funding for the Monetary Award Program (MAP) by 50 percent and raise the maximum MAP award each student can receive.
    Using best practices from other states, establish a new state-administered student loan refinancing program.
    Restore funding for community colleges and public universities to pre-Rauner levels.
    Create a task force to put Illinois on a path to free college education.

Keeping Illinois Students in State

    Expand eligibility for the new AIM-HIGH merit-based financial aid program so that 90 percent of Illinois households can benefit.
    Create a common application process for all public universities in Illinois.
    Ensure that community college credits transfer to public universities here in Illinois.
    Increase promotion of Illinois’ public universities and community colleges to Illinois high school students.

Expanding Economic Opportunity and Promoting Innovation

    Expand career and technical education and apprenticeship programs.
    Create a new college completion program that bolsters student support services and expands bridge programs.
    Launch new statewide competitions among students that reward and encourage entrepreneurship and innovation.
    Provide small state-funded matching grants to university-based start-ups.
    Support non-traditional students pursuing a degree or work certification.

More here.

* I’m told they’re not planning to implement all these programs in the first year, so while I don’t know how much I should include in my revenue-need “guesstimate” (which is currently at $9 billion), I’ll just guesstimate it at $150 million. That puts him at $9.15 billion, without a pension plan.

I’m also told that Pritzker wants to use marijuana and sports betting money to pay for it, but that’s probably not gonna be enough and he’s already promised that money for other stuff.

The campaign wouldn’t release a price list, but increasing MAP funding by 50 percent will cost $200 million. Increasing the size of MAP awards is unknown.

Restoring funding to pre-Rauner levels would cost $100 million.

Expanding eligibility of AIM-HIGH so that 90 percent of households qualify could be costly. Currently, the $25 million pilot program is reserved for those who do not have a family income higher than six times the national poverty rate.

…Adding… Pritzker told the Daily Herald editorial board today that he’d like to use sports betting money to pay for infrastructure. He’s said the same about marijuana revenues.

  38 Comments      


Panel: Parties must recruit more women, hire “Director of Diversity,” expand on the “Rooney Rule”

Wednesday, Sep 26, 2018 - Posted by Rich Miller

* From the Illinois Anti-Harassment, Equality and Access panel’s report

The key to improving the culture for women in politics is to engage more women in politics and advance them to leadership positions. Even though Illinois’ percentage of female legislators at 35.6% ranks comparatively well among other states, women, particularly women of color, are still underrepresented throughout the ranks of Illinois politics, including on legislative staffs, on the local level, and in party leadership. For example, of the female legislators in Illinois in 2017, only 23% were Black women, or 8.5% of Illinois’ total number of state legislators.

The initial step toward growing the number of women involved in all of Illinois politics is committing to a concrete goal so that we can develop policies to achieve the goal, measure our progress, and hold ourselves and our parties accountable. We recommend that political leaders across Illinois come together and adopt a collective goal of increasing the number of female state legislators as well as all state, county, and municipal officeholders in Illinois to at least 50%, and towards similar goals for other diverse candidates.

To achieve this goal, we need buy-in from all the state political parties, and we need to build the pipeline of qualified female candidates by effectively recruiting them, training them, and supporting them when they run, as described with more specificity below.

On the staff level, women accounted for only 22% of staff-level research and policy positions in the General Assembly.7 On the local level, only 21% of the mayors in 2017 of U.S. cities with populations of 30,000 and above were women and only 14 of those 286 female mayors were in Illinois.8 It is well-documented that the culture and outcomes for women are improved when more women are in leadership positions. It is crucial that our male allies be equally invested in the overall mission of improving culture for women and play an active role in recruiting, developing, and supporting women to run for election.

* “Director of Diversity”

We know women are qualified to fill elected positions and that they want the opportunity to run, but in practice, women are less likely to run for political office than their male counterparts. The reasons for this are complex and ingrained in society and women themselves. Regardless of the source of the problem, many women need to be expressly recruited and encouraged to run in order to actually enter the race. The state parties need to respond to that reality and organize targeted recruitment efforts to overcome the real and perceived obstacles that prevent women from running. Specifically, the state parties should dedicate top-level staff to working on recruitment of women and other diverse candidates, including people of color, members of the LGBTQ community, and people with disabilities.

The state parties can address the lack of support for women candidates by being cognizant of the bias women face and acting intentionally to counter it. To do so, the parties must assign a manager-level staff person to act as a Director of Diversity, who is responsible for working with the party chair and leadership throughout the ranks of the party with the goal of recruiting and developing diverse candidates, with a focus on female candidates, for General Assembly spots as well as local level elected positions. These recruitment efforts should not stop at the candidate level. The Director of Diversity should also work on recruiting diverse candidates, particularly women, for top-level staff, campaign management, and board and commission positions.

* An expanded “Rooney Rule”

We want to increase the number of diverse people – particularly women – at every level of politics. Therefore, any political leader or staff member with the power to fill vacancies – from a position on the board of the public library or a city council vacancy to statewide commission positions to appointed positions within the state parties and everything in between – should require that the person be selected from a slate of diverse candidates. This rule should also apply to any hiring decisions for paid staff positions on campaigns and elected official’s staffs. Although similar to the “Rooney Rule” adopted by the NFL requiring a single diverse candidate to be considered for all head coaching jobs, our recommendation goes beyond that to require several diverse candidates to be considered for all hiring or appointment opportunities. This is a concrete measure for overcoming the age-old excuse of a lack of qualified female or diverse applicants. Beyond requiring a diverse pool of candidates, political leaders should also require that those handling the interview process and hiring/appointment decision are also diverse.

* Advisory Board

Each political party should establish an Advisory Board to implement the policies described above and hold the party accountable to the participation, funding, and culture goals it aspires to.
The Advisory Board should collect, retain, and monitor demographic data regarding recruitment, hiring, and promotion of employees within the party. Based on that data, the Advisory Board can assess the party’s progress towards its goals, hold the party accountable, and adjust its policies based on the actual outcomes in terms of the number of diverse candidates running for office, winning office, and holding leadership positions within political offices and campaigns.

There’s more in the report, so click here to read it all.

…Adding… House Speaker and DPI Chairman Michael Madigan…

“Addressing harassment, increasing access and ensuring equality of all forms are issues of great importance to the Democratic Party of Illinois, and the time and commitment that Comptroller Mendoza, Senator Bush and Representative Ammons showed in assembling these recommendations underscores the priority we put on getting this right. I’m truly grateful for all who shared their time, their personal experiences, and their commitment for change with the Anti-Harassment, Equality, and Access Panel.

“A great number of the Panel’s recommendations are now in place within the Democratic Party of Illinois, including adopting a new zero tolerance policy for harassment of any kind, requiring mandatory training for staff and candidates receiving financial assistance, and hiring outside counsel to conduct independent investigations of any allegations. Additional steps to curb unacceptable behavior and make our party a welcoming place for all will continue to be considered and implemented going forward.

“There is more work to be done to create legislative bodies that truly represent the diversity of our state. This has been a priority for me as a Democrat and as the leader of the House Democratic Caucus. Today, women account for more than 50 percent of our House Democratic Caucus and nearly half are women of color. But unfortunately this is a distinction no other large legislative caucus in the country can claim. In fact, no other legislative caucus in Illinois – outside the House Democratic caucus – is even 40 percent female.

“Diversity, equality and representation don’t happen by accident. It requires commitment, effort and time to make sure our governmental bodies – and our political parties – reflect the rich diversity of Illinois, and the different experiences, viewpoints and perspectives from those diverse voices. There remains work to be done, and I look forward to continuing to work with my fellow Democrats to make our party a welcoming place for all.”

  10 Comments      


*** UPDATED x1 *** Panel recommends not using non-disclosure agreements and mandatory arbitration

Wednesday, Sep 26, 2018 - Posted by Rich Miller

* From the Illinois Anti-Harassment, Equality and Access panel’s report

State parties should not use themselves and should prohibit campaigns from using, non-disclosure agreements or mandatory arbitration clauses in any employment agreements. A key way to improve the workplace culture in politics and campaigns is to attack the culture of silence that keeps sexual harassment and other misconduct shrouded in secrecy, so state parties should not use non-disclosure agreements or mandatory arbitration clauses in employment agreements and should prohibit campaigns from using them as well

The recommendations came from a National Women’s Law Center report entitled “10 Ways Your Company Can Help Prevent Harassment in the Workplace.”

This could get interesting. I think I’m going to ask the statewide campaigns and parties whether they use NDAs and why.

…Adding… From a panel spokesperson…

The report isn’t calling for campaigns to not sign NDAs at all, but just when it comes to settling sexual harassment issues.

Well, that’s different. I’ll adjust my question accordingly.

*** UPDATE *** HB5959 introduced today by Rep. Grant Wehrli

Provides that each candidate for Governor, Lieutenant Governor, Secretary of State, Comptroller, Treasurer, or Attorney General shall, at the time he or she files a statement of candidacy for that position, file a Statement of Nondisclosure Agreements. Provides that the Statement of Nondisclosure Agreements shall disclose whether or not the candidate is a party to, a signatory to, or a beneficiary of any nondisclosure agreement at the time of the filing.

  8 Comments      


*** LIVE COVERAGE ***

Wednesday, Sep 26, 2018 - Posted by Rich Miller

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Rauner talks about gaming and marijuana

Tuesday, Sep 25, 2018 - Posted by Rich Miller

* More from Gov. Rauner’s Crain’s Chicago Business interview

There are two sources… of revenue that are not a direct tax hike: gaming and recreational marijuana. Okay, lets talk about those two.

Gaming is the more straightforward one. I don’t gamble. I don’t like gambling. I wish it didn’t exist. It does. It’s here. We got gaming. A lot of people like it. We’re losing massive amounts of Illinois revenue to Indiana and Wisconsin and other states. That’s a mistake. If a community wants to have more gaming I support it and we should give them local control. And generate some significant new revenue. And I am supportive of that. That’s that category.

Legalizing marijuana I realize it is very popular, especially for voters under 40. Here’s the issue: it’s a massive human experiment. It’s a massive human experiment. And it has major negative consequences. And I have done my homework. My team is doing their homework. I’ve talked to the governors of the states that have legalized it, in particular Governor Hickenlooper in Colorado. And the recommendations have come back “go slow, watch and learn from what we are experiencing because it ain’t all a pretty picture.” A lot of negative consequences. […]

DUIs, absenteeism, THC in middle school kids, lack of productivity, expanded black markets. And the tax revenue not being nearly as high as they thought from it. And costs to their society and their health care system higher than they thought. So on balance. Net, net, net, you know? Not so clear. And now Colorado is a massive exporter to the black market of illegal drugs to other states. It has ramifications. To rush headlong into it and say “hey, we want tax revenue so let’s just let the…” I think it’s a mistake. And I do not support it today.

“Weed is the more straightforward one. I don’t smoke weed. I don’t like weed. I wish it didn’t exist. It does. It’s here. We got weed. A lot of people like it. We’re losing massive amounts of Illinois revenue to other states. That’s a mistake. If a community wants to have more weed I support it and we should give them local control. And generate some significant new revenue. And I am supportive of that.”

There. Fixed it for ‘ya.

…Adding… For a good debunking of what Rauner said about Colorado, click here. I’ve posted it before, but a commenter mentioned it below.

  58 Comments      


AFSCME’s latest contribution to Madigan appears to be its largest ever

Tuesday, Sep 25, 2018 - Posted by Rich Miller

* Hmm…



That is the largest single contribution AFSCME has ever made, according to a search of the State Board of Elections’ website.

I’m so old I remember when AFSCME, the IFT and the IEA were boycotting Madigan’s campaign fund, which forced him to turn to Bruce Rauner and Stand for Children Illinois for fundraising help.

And yet, here we are.

* Speaking of Rauner, here’s Pearson

Gov. Bruce Rauner’s fundraising has shown a precipitous drop in big-dollar donations this month and in the current quarter compared to four years ago.

In his 2014 initial bid for governor, Rauner reported raising $10.5 million in contributions of $1,000 or more, not counting the $4.5 million he also gave himself, from July 1 to Sept. 21. For the comparable time period this quarter, state campaign finance reports show the GOP governor raising about $1.9 million.

Also this year, Rauner raised six-figure donations each week last month, including in two weeks in which he raised more than $400,000. But by September, the big-dollar checks had fallen to five-figures a week — $39,000 for the first week of September, $44,848 in the second week and $55,789 in the third. In contrast to Rauner’s $139,637 September total, Democratic challenger J.B. Pritzker has raised $542,991 — aimed at the Democrats’ “Blue Wave” operation to assist down-ballot contests.

* Rauner’s weekly fundraising totals since the quarter began July 1st…

7/6: $25k
7/13: $72K
7/20: $59K
7/27: $113K
8/3: $412K
8/10: $414K
8/17: $236K
8/24: $287K
8/31: $166K
9/7: $39K
9/14: $45K
9/21: $56K

* By the way, the latest JB Pritzker A-1 was heavy with California contributors, including Phil Hellmuth, a champion poker player and author. Pritzker has a brother out there and the dude’s house has its own Wikipedia page. These Pritzkers don’t mess around when it comes to their homes.

…Adding… Bloomberg politics/data/campaign finance reporter…



  60 Comments      


*** UPDATED x1 *** Paid Rauner consultant appears in new Rauner TV ad

Tuesday, Sep 25, 2018 - Posted by Rich Miller

* Tribune

Suburban women have been a critical factor in deciding special elections this year and, amid their dissatisfaction with President Donald Trump, Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner is reaching out in a new ad.

The ad features Anne Wedner, a former backer of President Barack Obama, who is founder of Kent Road Strategies, who has worked on Democratic and Republican campaigns with a focus on the North Shore.

Billing herself as a lifelong Democrat, Wedner touts her childhood support for the Equal Rights Amendment and her dissatisfaction with national politics — a distancing effort from Trump aimed at helping Rauner in the suburbs while he seeks Trump supporter backing Downstate. […]

“We have to fix our financial problems and Bruce Rauner is the only candidate with the courage to do it,” she adds.

OK, a simple search of the State Board of Elections found that the Rauner campaign has paid Wedner’s company $50,000 since October of last year for “Strategy consulting.”

* Here’s the ad

* Script…

I’m Anne Wedner, and I’m a lifelong Democrat. In 1972, I went door-to-door with my mom to support the Equal Rights Amendment. Today, I’m not happy about Washington, but I’m also heartbroken about Illinois. We have to fix our financial problems, and Bruce Rauner is the only candidate with the courage to do it. Yes, Rauner is a Republican and I’m a Democrat, but this isn’t about party politics. This is about saving our state.

…Adding… Sen. Sam McCann’s campaign…

Are we surprised that a North Shore liberal on his payroll is who he has “supporting” him in ads? As a failed limosene liberal governor, Rauner has shown money is the only thing that can buy him love. - link to Willie Wilson article.

*** UPDATE *** Bernie

Gov. Bruce Rauner’s campaign has a new commercial featuring a woman who says she is a “lifelong Democrat,” but Cook County records show she voted in GOP primaries in 2000, 2012, 2014 and 2018.

Oops.

  50 Comments      


*** LIVE COVERAGE ***

Tuesday, Sep 25, 2018 - Posted by Rich Miller

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« NEWER POSTS PREVIOUS POSTS »
* Isabel’s afternoon roundup
* Pritzker says amount of threats received in past few days has been an 'enormous multiple' of those that were received in the days before
* Rep. Smith won't run for reelection
* Pritzker on political violence, impeachment, Nazis, National Guard, ICE shooting, Gov. Jim Edgar
* No end in sight
* RETAIL: The Largest Employer In Illinois
* Isabel’s morning briefing
* Good morning!
* SUBSCRIBERS ONLY - Supplement to today’s edition and a campaign update
* SUBSCRIBERS ONLY - Today's edition of Capitol Fax (use all CAPS in password)
* Selected press releases (Live updates)
* Live coverage
* Jim Edgar (Updated and comments opened)
* Porter McNeil (Updated and comments opened)
* Yesterday's stories

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