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* Tina Sfondeles on November 8 of last year…
The CTU, which has always supported a fully elected [Chicago school board], prefers [Rep. Ann Williams’ hybrid, half-elected half-appointed House plan], in part because it would give the union more time to choose candidates and raise campaign funds. The union would only have to find 10 candidates, as opposed to 20, under the House Democrats’ plan. And the union’s political action committee will have to play catch-up after contributing a hefty $2.46 million to Johnson’s mayoral campaign.
In other words, as I wrote in a subsequent newspaper column, why spend precious dollars on 10 extra elections if the mayor you elected will appoint your people for free?
* But Greg Hinz reported this week on another aspect to this fight. As you know, Senate President Don Harmon moved a fully elected school board bill during veto session which he said (accurately) was done at the behest of the CTU. There’s more to it, however…
Amid that standoff, a fight for a state Senate seat now held by appointed Harmon ally Natalie Toro has turned red-hot. Toro was named by Democratic ward committeemen to replace Cristina Pacione-Zayas, who resigned to take a top job with the Johnson administration, where she has, among other things, overseen the city’s migrant response. Now that her Senate seat term is ending, progressives badly want the position back. They’re backing CTU organizer Graciela Guzman in the March primary. There also are two other candidates in the race, physician Dr. David Nayak and former radio account executive Geary Jonker.
CTU has made the race a top priority, with progressive groups stepping up precinct work and big checks from teachers unions beginning to arrive in Guzman’s warchest. Harmon in turn dropped $500,000 into Toro’s campaign earlier this week — and according to Guzman is responsible for an internet push poll that asserts, “Guzman’s political organization is attempting to stall Natalie Toro’s plan to fully elect the school board now and wants to keep the school board out of the hands of voters.”
Harmon, in a phone interview, said he’s not familiar with the internet item but that campaigns “often test out different messages.”
Harmon termed “baloney” charges from CTU insiders that he is using the Toro seat as leverage, offering to finally approve the hybrid school board bill if the union will drop its opposition to Toro, who also is a CTU member but has a poor relationship with union leaders. “We’re committed to a fully elected school board,” Harmon said. The only reason he supported a hybrid bill a few years ago was that it was the most that CTU could get out of the Legislature given the opposition to a totally elected board by then-Mayor Lori Lightfoot, Harmon said.
Heh.
Toro’s Senate Democratic advertising campaign has positioned her as a progressive CTU member. So, Sen. Toro votes for a fully elected school board, which has been politically popular (and likely still polls well if they’re using this tactic), then blasts her primary opponent for conspiring to obstruct the beloved reform.
It’s almost like the Senate Democrats used the entire chamber last fall to weaponize an issue on behalf of a single appointed member facing a tough primary challenge.
Maybe more than almost.
…Adding… From Senate President Harmon’s spokesperson John Patterson…
“’Baloney’ was the one-word take on this theory, and “baloney” is about as profane as Don Harmon gets. The legislation we passed is our attempt to best ensure the most diverse representation of all voters of the City of Chicago. That’s the only motivation.”
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* This was distributed by the city during a briefing about new arrivals today…
Kinda makes you wonder if the city intends to just dump folks into the street.
Meanwhile, Texas keeps sending people here.
…Adding… So, they told legislators they’re pausing new shelters and downsizing them, and then told the news media this, according to the Tribune…
Mayor Brandon Johnson is delaying enforcing his 60-day migrant shelter limit policy for the first group of asylum-seekers who were due to be required to leave this month, his administration announced Friday as heavy snowfall and low wind chills pummeled the city.
Brandie Knazze, commissioner of the Department of Family and Support Services, said the first migrants set to be kicked out of the city shelters next Tuesday — about 50 of them, who have been in the system since 2022 — will no longer need to leave by then. Those due to leave between then and Jan. 21 will also be allowed to stay “until at least Jan. 22nd,” she said.
…Adding… Pritzker tries to appeal to Abbott’s humanity…
January 12, 2024
Governor Abbott,
The ongoing international migration crisis that our nation faces demands a strong, compassionate, and humane response. We agree that our nation needs immigration reform, but instead of advocating for that, you have chosen to sow chaos in an attempt to score political points. You are now sending asylum seekers from Texas to the Upper Midwest in the middle of winter — many without coats, without shoes to protect them from the snow — to a city whose shelters are already overfilled with migrants you sent here. Chicago’s temperatures this weekend are forecast to drop below zero. Your callousness, sending buses and planes full of migrants in this weather, is now life-threatening to every one of the arrivals. Hundreds of children’s and families’ health and survival are at risk due to your actions.
We refuse to play your political game of exploiting the most vulnerable for the sake of culture wars and talking points. You seem to have no interest in working on bipartisan solutions to the border crisis because that would put an end to your cruel political game, but I am writing to you today hoping to appeal to your humanity. Over the coming days, Illinois will experience a dangerous winter storm and subzero temperatures. I strongly urge you to stop sending people to Illinois in these conditions. You are dropping off asylum seekers without alerting us to their arrivals, at improper locations at all hours of the night. As we grapple with the existing challenges of your ongoing manufactured crisis, the next few days are a threat to the families and children you are sending here. I am pleading with you to at least pause these transports in order to save lives.
There is much more that needs to be done by the federal government to provide aid to asylum seekers and to secure the border. I understand that the border crisis is untenable for border states. Illinois, and all other states, especially Texas, ought to lobby Congress immediately to vote for bipartisan immigration reform.
While action is pending at the federal level, I plead with you for mercy for the thousands of people who are powerless to speak for themselves. Please, while winter is threatening vulnerable people’s lives, suspend your transports and do not send more people to our state. We are asking you to help prevent additional deaths. We should be able to come together in a bipartisan fashion to urge Congress to act. But right now, we are talking about human beings and their survival. I hope we can at least agree on saving lives right now.
Sincerely,
Governor JB Pritzker
State of Illinois
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Live coverage
Friday, Jan 12, 2024 - Posted by Rich Miller
* You can click here or here to follow breaking news the way we’ve done since Twitter stopped ScribbleLive from working…
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* Dave McKinney…
Prior to the 2023 tax year, the standard [Illinois income tax] exemption increased 10 times under an automatic escalator tied to inflation put into effect in 2012 by former Democratic Gov. Pat Quinn, who served as the state’s chief executive between 2009 and 2015. The change roughly a decade ago had overwhelming bipartisan support in the legislature.
But the standard exemption will remain flat this tax-filing season at $2,425 for those who declare adjusted gross income of $250,000 or less individually or $500,000 or less for married couples.
State revenue officials say more than 11 million Illinoisans claim the standard exemption on their taxes each year. Because of the inflation-indexing mechanism, the exemption has risen from $2,000 to $2,425 since 2011.
Had lawmakers and the governor not put a pause on that inflationary adjustment, the standard exemption would have stood at $2,625 for tax year 2023. That $200 increase would have marked the largest jump in the exemption since the inflationary index was enacted. That’s because the nation’s consumer price index increased 8% in 2022 – the largest inflationary move since 1981.
By WBEZ’s calculations, the state income tax obligation for a married couple with two minor children and adjusted gross income of $150,000 would be $39 higher than it would have been this tax year had the standard exemption tracked the rate of inflation in 2023.
$39 for a household earning roughly double the median household income ain’t exactly a whole lot of money. Our standard exemption is basically a joke. It’s so small mainly because of the state constitution’s mandate that the income tax must be imposed at a “non-graduated rate.”
* But here’s the problem: The change saved the state budget $114 million this fiscal year, but as the article notes, the costs will rise next year…
The current law states that the inflationary index will be reimposed for tax year 2024. But it promises to come with a significant price tag – approximately $200 million, according to an estimate by the legislature’s non-partisan budget arm, the Commission on Government Forecasting & Accountability.
$200 million is real money.
* Back to Dave’s story…
Emails obtained through an open-records request to Pritzker’s budget office show that a Senate Democratic staffer appeared to initially raise freezing the standard exemption as the revenue omnibus was being negotiated last May between the offices of the governor, Senate president and House speaker.
*** UPDATE *** This change was part of SB1963, which was an omnibus tax bill. From a subscriber…
An additional observation: the CPI-adjustment was actually scheduled to sunset on 12/31/2023. PA 103-0009 extended it until 2028, at the fixed amount of $2,425 for two years and then back to inflation adjusted for 2025-2028 when it will sunset.
And if it had actually sunset in 2023 as scheduled, the exemption would revert way back to just $1,000.
Interesting.
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* We talked about this looming two-week January funding gap more than a month ago. From the Sun-Times back then…
Citing further “delays” in the city’s procurement process, Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s administration on Friday said it would chip in an additional $2 million to feed asylum-seekers in Chicago through the end of the year.
Another $2 million will be matched by the Chicago Food Depository, which has already been providing meals to migrants since June, in partnership with 15 minority-owned restaurants in Chicago. […]
The request for further funding came this week, and the state agreed to help until the end of the year with an understanding the city will assume the cost in January. […]
Mary May, a spokeswoman from Chicago’s Office of Emergency Management and Communications, said in a statement the deadline for an RFP for the food contract closed on Friday and was delayed because the city received more than 200 questions from applicants. May said the new contract is slated to begin Jan. 15.
It’s unclear who will be funding the food between Jan. 1 and Jan. 15, when the city said its contract would begin. The city did not comment on that gap.
* Well, as we should’ve suspected, the city didn’t finish in time. So the governor’s office issued a press release last week which included this passage…
In December, the State and the Greater Chicago Food Depository announced a $4 million investment to provide meals to asylum seekers at City of Chicago shelter sites through the end of the calendar year. The funds were announced as the City worked through delays in its procurement process. Due to continued delays in this process, the State is further extending its shelter-food contract through January 15 at an additional cost of $2 million. On January 15, the City will assume responsibility for feeding asylum seekers in City shelters.
Notice the use of passive voice in the “continued delays in this process” phrase. The state is being awfully kind here.
* Meanwhile, the city appears to be having trouble moving the asylum-seekers from the “landing zone” into shelters. Sun-Times…
Hundreds of migrants are now spending their first nights in Chicago aboard buses at the city’s designated “landing zone” for new arrivals, where many say they’re getting little food or medical assistance. […]
The city’s “landing zone” became an effective temporary shelter for migrants in late December after the city largely stopped housing them at police stations. It’s quickly grown to house more than 500 people in buses, including over 100 children, according to the city, as the number of people arriving has outpaced the city’s ability to place them in shelters.
Gov. Pritzker was asked about this backlog today…
Well, again, we work every day with the City of Chicago as they identify locations that we can set up shelters. As I said one shelter is opening just today and we’re moving more than 200 people, families and others into it [in Little Village] … And I actually visited yesterday. It’s phenomenal what we’ve been able to do in a relatively short period of time and and to accommodate very young children. You know, early childhood education is very important to me, making sure these young children have a place that they can play even in a very difficult situation that’s been put into this site. It’s well managed and I think that you know, I feel good about the the opportunity there. And again, we’re continuing to try to identify, working with Cardinal in the Catholic Church, to make sure that if there are locations that we could take over and and put funding forward at the state level to do exactly that. Progress is being made.
* Pritzker was also asked about the prospects for a supplemental appropriations bill to formalize his budget maneuvering to pay for his November decision to spend another $160 million on the problem. The General Assembly returns next week for a few days, so does a supplemental need to be passed right away?…
It does not need to happen right away. But suffice to say I’ve brought this up to leaders, they haven’t wanted to bring it up yet. I do think it’s going to be important for you to deal with the costs here that are rising all the time, or at least the toll is rising, and we’re all working together to try to meet the demand.
…Adding… Press release…
A new State-supported shelter is beginning to serve asylum seekers in Chicago today. The location is the site of a former CVS in the Little Village neighborhood. The shelter will be part of the City of Chicago’s existing asylum seeker shelter system and will house approximately 220 people as they transition to independent living.
The shelter development is part of Governor JB Pritzker’s investment of an additional $160 million, via the Illinois Department of Human Services (IDHS), to address the ongoing humanitarian crisis presented by the arrival of over 34,000 asylum seekers from the U.S. southern border.
The State saw an uptick of new arrivals over the holidays and created a temporary shelter at a Chicago hotel. Those new arrivals are now transitioning to the shelter in Little Village.
With the cold weather and continued arrival of asylum seekers, the State is committed to partnering with the City of Chicago to take the necessary actions to keep people safe and help them on their path to self-sufficiency.
“This new location will offer dignity and respite to asylum seekers who have travelled thousands of miles to find safety,” said Governor JB Pritzker. “I’m grateful to IDHS and New Life Centers for getting this site operational and for the wrap-around services they will be providing to help migrants achieve independence.”
Available beds at the Little Village shelter will be prioritized for families and individuals with disabilities. The site will offer sleeping spaces as well as meals, hygiene facilities, and wrap-around services.
Along with IDHS and its partners, New Life Centers is supporting community-care services including conflict resolution, onsite communications, community engagement, and connection with local resources.
“A large part of meeting our new arrivals with dignity involves meeting them where they are at – and that involves a variety of supports. Traveling great distances and overcoming adversity to make it to the U.S. often involves trauma, which can be detrimental to mental and physical well-being,” said Matt DeMateo, Executive Director, New Life Centers of Chicagoland. “We are grateful to continue to partner with the State to address these emergent needs.”
* More stories from Isabel…
* The Record | Highland Park organizations unite for care-package program to support migrants. Here’s how to help: The City of Highland Park has teamed with the local rotary club, park district and nonprofit SaLT to build “Take Care” packages for migrants arriving to Chicagoland. The organizations are asking residents to drop off donations at any of a number of locations in Highland Park. From there, SaLT volunteers will package the items into care packages and distribute them to migrants who arrive in Chicago or to the migrant intake center in Chicago.
* CBS Chicago | Advocacy group’s mission to help Chicago migrants starts in storage unit across from Greyhound stop: One group isn’t waiting for a plan from the government. They’re helping on their own, and it starts in a storage unit across the street from the Greyhound bus stop in downtown Chicago. Among aisles and aisles of locked doors, something waits behind each of the steel gates inside; stacks of bottled water, bins of snacks, racks of clothing and shoes, and other donations for newly arrived migrants.
* Patch | Deerfield To Consider Migrant Bus Ordinance At Next Meeting: Mayor: In a Monday message to the community, Shapiro said the Deerfield Village Board will consider an ordinance at its Jan. 16 meeting that would potentially place regulations on any buses that leave people in Deerfield unannounced. The meeting, which has been moved to Tuesday due to Martin Luther King Jr. Day the previous day, will be held at 7:30 p.m. at Village Hall, 850 Waukegan Road.
* NCR | Church must remain steadfast in its advocacy for migrants, El Paso bishop says: Seitz, who chairs the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Committee on Migration, told OSV News that he is “certainly concerned right now about the negotiations that are going on and what is likely to result from them.” He said one of his concerns is that no legislators from the border region appear to be directly involved in the negotiations. “The church’s concern is always with the human person,” he said. “It’s always with the person who is vulnerable and in need.”
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Live coverage
Wednesday, Jan 10, 2024 - Posted by Rich Miller
* You can click here or here to follow breaking news the way we’ve done since Twitter stopped ScribbleLive from working…
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