* From a letter to the Illinois State Board of Elections from Cook County Commissioner Richard Boykin’s campaign treasurer…
I am writing to make the State Board of Elections aware of an issue with the Friends of Richard Boykin campaign required A-1 reports. On Monday, September 18th I, the campaign treasurer, became aware that A-1’s I had filed (using NGP software) in August and early September were not showing up on the State Board of Elections website. After speaking with Tom (no last name was provided) he encouraged me to file the missing August and September A-1’s. I did so on that day. I immediately began to investigate how this happened and have discovered that the problem was much larger than ever imagined.
* So, what happened? It seems to be a problem using NGP, which is used by Democrats…
Attached to this correspondence is each A-1 I filed with NPG that were never properly transmitted to the Board of Elections. Included on each A-1 is the signature date as well as the date and time stamp which was provided in my history log of all completed filing on NPG. You will see that each A-1 was indeed reported within the required time frame
What I believe has transpired and resulted in the confusion is the following. NPG has a 3 step process for filing quarterly reports and A-is. The first step is to create the form/report. Step 2 is to review the form and approve it for filing. This step requires the user to input a password. Step 3 allows the user to check a box that reads “mark as filed”. Once the report is “marked as filed” it then is added to the “history” log under a compliance tab. I completed all of these steps; however, NPG explains that “sometimes” if the user hits the “mark as filed” too quickly after completing step 2 the transmission to the board is interrupted. However the NPG software still allows the user to check the “mark as filed” box and allows the file to become part of the “history” log.
I spent an hour on the phone with Monique, our auditor from the State Board of Elections, today. She was fantastic! I explained to her concern with the fines as it appears the campaign has made several violations; however, I assure you that at the time of completing these A-1’s I 100% believed I had followed the proper procedure and that the reports were filed.
The campaign has re-filed four A-1’s containing nine contributions.
I called NGP and left a voicemail with its communications person. I also DM’d him on Twitter a while ago. No response yet.
* Political tech wiz Scott Kennedy tweeted about this today…
I didn’t know this until I started calling around to people about their own problems using that software (”It’s always been a pain in the a** for our people,” said one), but our old pal Dan Johnson has started a competing business to NGP called Campaign Filer. According to the website, you can file Illinois campaign finance reports for free. But he only takes Democratic clients.
*** UPDATE 1 *** From Lou Levine general manager of Fundraising & Compliance…
“This was a simple case of user error. We’ve been happy to work with the client to resolve any issues they have.”
*** UPDATE 2 *** Another letter to the Illinois State Board of Elections from the campaign treasurer, who I spoke with earlier and who was kind of aghast at being pulled into this controversy and not meaning to suggest that it was all the company’s fault…
September 21, 2017
State Board of Elections 2329 S. MacArthur Blvd Springfield, IL 62704
Re: Clarification
To Whom It May Concern:
On September 20, 2017, I submitted a letter of correspondence regarding errors in filing A l s. As a follow up to that letter, especially in light of the fact that is public information, I would like to clarify that my sole purpose in mentioning the specific name of the software we are using, NGP, was to explain what process I used to file the reports and how I fully believed they were filed in accordance with all rules. I intended my letter to show our commitment to following all election and contribution rules. Further, as of today, I used the system without error to file another A-1.
If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me.
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* Michael Hastings is a Democratic state Senator from Tinley Park. I’ve altered the image to take out his address, but a buddy sent this to me today and it’s already going around…
“I have a lot of petitions out,” Hastings said today, confirming that he’s also passing petitions for attorney general.
“I don’t intend to run against Jesse White, I’ll tell you that right now,” he said, adding that he’s only circulating petitions because he’s heard the same rumors we talked about yesterday, that secretary of state petitions are being circulated for Ald. Walter Burnett, who is Secretary White’s guy, and that White would drop out late in the game and Burnett would be ready to go. Secretary White’s office flatly denied those rumors.
* So, I got ahold of Ald. Burnett. “I’m not passing petitions,” he said.
“Mr. White is not playing no games. He’s running. I’m not,” Burnett said. “Mr. White is running and I’m supporting him and if somebody is trying to do that they’re trying to manipulate something.”
“I haven’t seen the petition,” he continued. “I don’t even know if there really are petitions. The ‘alleged petitions,’ I have nothing to do with them.”
* Anyway, back to Sen. Hastings. He’s an attorney and complained today that “We don’t have any suburban representation,” on the statewide slate. He sounded very interested in running for AG.
…Adding… There’s some speculation that because White isn’t on the party slate’s petitions that this somehow means he isn’t actually running. Lisa Madigan also opted out of the slate petitions (when all incumbent candidates appear on the same petition), and people are putting two and two together and coming up with five. But the White people claim they always do their own petitions. Also, White hired Rocco Claps as his new political director a couple weeks ago or so. Everyone probably needs to take a breath here. And while I can understand Hastings not wanting to take any chances, I don’t think the secretary is amused, from what I’ve been hearing.
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* Tribune…
House Republican leader Jim Durkin on Tuesday said Illinois should pursue Amazon’s second headquarters, but he doesn’t “think we need to give away the store like Wisconsin just did” for Foxconn.
Durkin was asked about Illinois’ efforts to land the giant company during an appearance before the City Club of Chicago. He said he plans to meet with Gov. Bruce Rauner in the coming days and that “we need to be competitive” in pursuing the company. […]
“We’ll do whatever we can,” Durkin said. “I do know that the competition is very heavy, and any time you start talking about incentives it brings out some of the worst in people down in Springfield.”
He said other states might overpromise incentives on which they can’t deliver. And in the end, he said, it’s lawmakers who have to approve any incentives.
The governor was asked about Durkin’s comments today and he chuckled and said he didn’t know what “giving away the store” means exactly. But he also said that he would work on a package that provides “every possible resource we can” to present the company with a “very attractive, very competitive option.”
*** UPDATE *** Ameya Pawar…
“It’s one thing to attract corporations like Amazon to Illinois because of our transportation infrastructure, our access to fresh water, because we have great colleges and universities, and because of the wealth of art and culture our state has to offer. But it’s another thing entirely to give away billions of dollars in tax incentives while places like Cairo and East St. Louis are fighting to keep their communities from closing.
“When was the last time you saw Governor Rauner lead a delegation to Cairo to assess the potential for economic development there? It’s embarrassing that we are willing to sit by while Cairo is on the verge of closure, when all they’re asking for is investments to save their community.
“If state and local leaders have the political will to offer Amazon special incentives to open a second headquarters here, where is the political will to bring investments to the many communities across our state who are struggling to survive? I propose that we match every incentive dollar we offer to Amazon with a new dollar dedicated to infrastructure and economic development, to public education, or to affordable housing in underserved communities.
If we have the money to give away billions of dollars in tax revenue to Amazon, then why don’t we have the money to invest in communities to save them from closing? And finally, we ask small businesses to pay their fair share in taxes even as they risk closure from the impacts of online retailers like Amazon, who are leading in job automation. Yet when small businesses ask for help, we tell them we live in a capitalist society.
“We cannot allow politicians to continue to put the profits of major corporations over the well-being of working class families and small businesses in our state, who have been forgotten and ignored for too long. It’s time we take our state back from the wealthy and corporate interests who care more about their own self-interest than improving the lives of people struggling to get ahead. It’s time we invest in communities that need it most to keep our communities from closing.”
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* As I’ve tried to point out over the past several weeks, Illinois’ economy has been sliding downward for months. With all the other stuff going on, I neglected to post this press release the other day…
The Illinois Department of Employment Security (IDES) announced today that the unemployment rate increased +0.2 percentage points to 5.0 percent in August and nonfarm payrolls decreased by -3,700 jobs over-the-month, based on preliminary data provided by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) and released by IDES. July job growth was revised down to show an increase of +600 jobs rather than the preliminary estimate of +2,100 jobs.
August’s monthly payroll drop kept over-the-year job growth well below the national average. While Illinois job growth has had its ups and downs since the beginning of the year, the 3-month trend shows average monthly gains of 1,100 jobs per month from June to August, while the six-month trend shows a -100 per month average job loss from March to August.
“The Illinois economy is stuck in neutral with hardly any growth over the past several months,” said IDES Director Jeff Mays. “As a result, this has caused the state to experience a rising unemployment rate over the past three months.”
“Illinois is working tirelessly to highlight our strongest assets – our strategic location and dedicated workforce – to bring more opportunity, competition and good paying jobs to our state,” said Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity Director Sean McCarthy. “We need to couple that with lasting reforms and incentives to attract businesses and quality jobs in Illinois.”
In August, the three industry sectors with the largest gains in employment were: Trade, Transportation and Utilities (+6,600); Education and Health Services (+3,400); and Construction (+2,000). The largest payroll declines were in the following sectors: Leisure and Hospitality (-9,900); Professional and Business Services (-3,300); and Manufacturing (-3,000).
Over-the-year, nonfarm payroll employment increased by +23,600 jobs with the largest gains in these industry sectors in August: Professional and Business Services (+15,300); Financial Activities (+9,100); and Education and Health Services (+9,000). Industry sectors with the largest over-the-year declines include: Trade, Transportation and Utilities (-5,800); Government (-3,100); and Construction (-3,000). The +0.4 percent over-the-year gain in Illinois is about one-fourth as strong as the +1.4 percent gain posted by the nation in August.
The state’s unemployment rate is +0.6 percentage points higher than the national unemployment rate reported for August 2017, which increased to 4.4 percent. The Illinois unemployment rate is down -0.8 percentage points from a year ago when it was 5.8 percent. At 5.0 percent, the Illinois jobless rate stands -0.7 percentage points lower than January 2017.
The number of unemployed workers increased +4.8 percent from the prior month to 323,100, down -14.2 percent over the same month for the prior year. This was the third consecutive over-the-month gain in the number of unemployed persons. The labor force decreased -0.4 percent over-the-month and declined by -1.4 percent in August over the prior year. The unemployment rate identifies those individuals who are out of work and are seeking employment. An individual who exhausts or is ineligible for benefits is still reflected in the unemployment rate if they actively seek work.
* Despite the fact that construction is one of the bright spots, a capital bill would still help…
IS THERE A CAPITAL BILL IN THE WORKS? Rauner: “I can say, I certainly hope so. I’ve advocated for a capital bill … since day one in office … I’ve encouraged conversations to occur. I believe conversations are occurring.”
What sources tell us: The legislative leaders’ discussion involved talk of a possible $3 billion to $5 billion capital bill that would involve a public-private partnership. We’re still unclear on the funding as parties are denying a gas tax would become part of it. And sources were jittery about whether this thing would even get off the ground.
Subscribers know more.
*** UPDATE *** This is really weird. Either Natasha and I and others are being told something wrong, or, well, I dunno, but I still believe there’s a plan and there’s been no denial yet of that…
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