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*** UPDATED x1 *** House schedules session for Governor’s Day

Wednesday, Aug 9, 2017 - Posted by Rich Miller

* The House Speaker’s office just issued a bulletin which includes this…

Wednesday, August 16

9 am Approp. Elementary and Sec. Education Committee Rm. 114

11 am House will convene floor session

Wednesday, August 16th would be Governor’s Day at the Illinois State Fair.

The Senate did the same thing in 2015.

Those guys really know how to kill a party. And it’ll be even worse for the governor if they run his AV on a separate bill and it goes down in flames.

*** UPDATE *** I’m flashing back to the House floor vote on Rod Blagojevich’s Gross Receipts Tax. That one went down 107 to 0 with 7 voting “Present”…

But Illinois House Republican Leader Jim Durkin called the scheduling “no coincidence.”

“They just didn’t pick this date out of thin air. They know it’s Republican Day. I think the whole point is to create some type of controversy for the day. And this is old school. It comes out of the old playbook. We’ll deal with it,” Durkin said. […]

Brown said the House will be addressing a potential override of Rauner’s amendatory veto of the school funding bill, as well as a House amendment which replicates Rauner’s veto. That amendment was discussed during a lengthy House hearing on Wednesday morning in Chicago.

“We’ll look at the school funding situation. We’re probably going to look at both, the override and the amendment. A lot of it is up to the sponsors of Senate bill 1. So we’ll look at the amendment, see how things develop. There have been talks along the way. I think those are continuing.”

GRT background is here.

38 Comments

*** UPDATED x1 *** Best Team in America™

Wednesday, Aug 9, 2017 - Posted by Rich Miller

* From the Twitters…

Last year we sent an additional $700 million to our schools. Let's continue to help our schools succeed. #twill https://t.co/Jhoct9JxXB

— Bruce Rauner (@BruceRauner) August 9, 2017

* Check out all the grammatical errors in the governor’s school funding “petition”…

As children across Illinois prepare to return to school in the fall, lawmakers are putting politics before students by holding up the school funding reform bill.

There’s no good reason to hold up school funding. There is a simple and fair amendment that the current bill needs, that is that funding is put towards students in the classrooms not towards paying off Chicago’s pension debt.

Let’s put the politics aside and do the right thing to ensure equitable education funding regardless of zip-code. Support education to set our student up for success.

I usually let people off the hook for typos. But, as the governor might say, this is outrageous.

[Hat tip: IWT]

*** UPDATE *** They fixed the barely literate petition, but they still have some work to do…

My public school teachers taught me the word "waive." ☑️ pic.twitter.com/H3PyFtB083

— dusty rhodes ???????????? (@dustyrhodes919) August 9, 2017

51 Comments

*** UPDATED x1 - Bost responds *** Warning: You will never unsee this Mike Bost video

Tuesday, Aug 8, 2017 - Posted by Rich Miller

* From Shannon Russell of Indivisible 12th…

Hi Rich,

This weekend we held our town hall, which went all right for a bunch of amateurs (long video here).

What was Mike Bost doing? Watch for yourself: [Link removed at the request of a family member of a participant.]

I spent the last two days creating a video putting these two “events” side by side, hopefully to humorous effect. I will be officially sharing tomorrow morning, but I thought you might be interested in breaking this bizarre video.

Here’s ours: [Link removed at the request of a family member of a participant.]

Enjoy!

* Well, since they went to all the trouble…

[Video removed at the request of a family member of a participant.]

Whew.

*** UPDATE *** From Congressman Bost…

On Saturday, August 5th, Indivisible activists hosted a town hall meeting at 2pm. From 10am-3:15pm that same day, Congressman Bost participated in a long-planned visit to Scott Air Force Base where he reviewed operations of the 932nd Airlift Wing. Later that weekend and on his own personal time, Congressman Bost recorded a lighthearted video at the request of family friends who were working to raise money for charity. While doing so in no way interfered with his congressional duties, we’re aware that some folks will never let facts get in the way of a good story.

34 Comments

*** UPDATED x3 - Manar slams - Pritzker pounces - ISBE responds *** ISBE: Dept. of Revenue found “significant error” in its own SB1 AV numbers

Tuesday, Aug 8, 2017 - Posted by Rich Miller

* Illinois State Board of Education press release…

“State Board of Education staff transmitted a model of the Governor’s Amendatory Veto to SB 1 on Monday afternoon. At 9:27 a.m. today, August 8, 2017, State Board of Education staff received an email from Department of Revenue staff reporting a significant error in the TIF EAV data that the Department of Revenue submitted to the State Board of Education for modeling.

“Once State Board of Education staff receive a revised data set from the Department of Revenue, agency staff will update the model and re-transmit to the Governor’s Office. As with past funding reform models, it will be at the discretion of the sponsor, in this case the Governor, when and how to distribute the file.”

…Adding… Here’s something to ponder. Sen. Andy Manar is the actual “sponsor” of SB1, so shouldn’t he be the one who gets the ISBE funding reform model? I’ve asked the ISBE that question. I’ve also filed a FOIA request for all e-mail correspondence between the Department of Revenue and ISBE that occurred yesterday and today.

…Adding More… I’m told Rep. Will Davis has also requested the analysis from ISBE. Davis is the chief House sponsor of SB1.

*** UPDATE 1 *** From ISBE…

Governor Rauner is the author of the Amendatory Veto, which is what ISBE is modeling. How and when the model is distributed is at the discretion of the Governor. At this moment, there is not a final model to share.

*** UPDATE 2 *** Press release…

With funding for schools across the state hanging in the balance, the Rauner administration is one upping its record of incompetence. After waiting days for the Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE) to score Rauner’s amendatory veto, ISBE now says a Department of Revenue model used in scoring had a “significant error” and the process needs to start all over again.

“Bruce Rauner and his team of ‘superstars’ have made one thing abundantly clear: they don’t have the slightest clue what they’re doing,” said Pritzker campaign spokeswoman Jordan Abudayyeh. “First, Bruce Rauner didn’t know what was in his own plan, then he didn’t know how to pass it, and now his administration can’t even get their numbers straight. Focus, Bruce. Illinois schoolchildren are waiting.

*** UPDATE 3 *** Yep…

For 2 months, Rauner admin had every lever of govt to prep AV & supporting docs to show how it works. Today they still aren't prepared. #SB1 https://t.co/xtUkAa2qDL

— Andy Manar (@AndyManar) August 8, 2017

73 Comments

New Pritzker video spoofs Rauner’s SB1 oopsies

Tuesday, Aug 8, 2017 - Posted by Rich Miller

* Pritzker campaign…

Crisis Creatin’ Rauner released a new video today called ‘Get Educated,’ highlighting the fact that Bruce Rauner doesn’t know what’s in his own education funding plan, let alone how to pass it.

Over the past few weeks, Bruce Rauner and his team of “superstars” have stumbled over basic questions about his school funding plan. Rauner could not answer simple questions about where the numbers in his plan came from and did not know the basic legislative process needed to pass it. As Rauner would say: outrageous.

“Bruce Rauner and his team of ’superstars’ need to get educated on their own school funding plan and the basic legislative process needed to pass it,” said Pritzker campaign spokeswoman Jordan Abudayyeh. “It’s outrageous that funding for schoolchildren across the state is being held hostage to this incompetent administration and this failed governor’s radical agenda.”

* The updated video with typo corrected…

Thoughts?

…Adding… There’s a typo at the 10-second mark. Instead of “amendatory veto,” the scroll at the bottom calls it an “erica mandatory veto.” Outrageous!

35 Comments

HDems file Rauner school funding plan, will hold Wednesday hearing

Tuesday, Aug 8, 2017 - Posted by Rich Miller

* Yesterday, House Majority Leader Barbara Flynn Currie filed Amendment 3 to SB 1947. The amendment is a replica of Gov. Rauner’s SB1 amendatory veto.

Speaker Madigan’s spokesman said it was filed “so people can review all this.”

I’ve heard about a possible joint House/Senate education funding committee hearing this week, so will that amendment be part of any hearing? Brown replied with his standard “under review” comment, but said “that could change.”

…Adding… I should’ve checked the GA’s website. A House Appropriations-Elementary & Secondary Education Committee hearing is scheduled for tomorrow morning at 10:40 in Chicago to discuss “Governor Rauner’s Amendatory Veto of Education Funding Reform.”

So, it’s on.

…Adding More… The amendment has now been posted, so this isn’t just going to be a subject matter hearing.

* Related…

* As football season starts, future in question: Anderson said that if a school closes this year because of finances and the school can’t or won’t field a team, they will forfeit.

* Editorial: Enough with the games in Springfield

* GOP asks AG if Dem tactics render school funding bill unconstitutional: “The rules, policies and practices of the Senate were followed with regards to Senate Bill 1, as they have been with other proposals in the past,” Patterson said.

20 Comments

Senger hired as Rauner’s new chief legislative liaison

Tuesday, Aug 8, 2017 - Posted by Rich Miller

* Tribune…

Gov. Rauner on Monday announced that former state Rep. Darlene Senger of Naperville will serve as his deputy chief of staff for legislative affairs.

Senger was in the Illinois House from 2009 to 2015, leaving after an unsuccessful 2014 bid for Congress against Democratic U.S. Rep. Bill Foster.

After that defeat, she joined the Illinois Policy Institute, the conservative think tank that has provided many of the new hires in Rauner’s recent staff shake-up.

Most recently, Senger worked as chief financial officer of the Illinois Workers’ Compensation Commission.

A former legislator? Hmm. Maybe he is learning a bit.

* Interestingly enough, the governor’s press release made no mention of her work for the Illinois Policy Institute…

Senger joins the governor’s office after a year-and-a-half as CFO for the Illinois Workers’ Compensation Commission. Before that, she served as a state legislator from 2009-2015, representing the Naperville area. She also served on the Naperville City Council from 2002-2008.

But her bio is still on the Institute’s website. Click here.

…Adding… The governor was asked about the hire today…

Rauner asked about hiring former legislator and IPI staffer Darlene Senger: "We're striving to be the best team…always looking for talent"

— Tina Sfondeles (@TinaSfon) August 8, 2017

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