* I haven’t yet told my wife yet about the possibility of a mid-December special session and I’m not looking forward to it, either. Still, I am gonna try to enjoy my weekend as best as I can. I hope yours is fun.
* Sen. Dan Kotowski requested some more Bob Dylan for our Friday afternoon music post. Kotowski left the song choice up to me…
…I ain’t gonna work for Maggie’s brother no more.
No, I ain’t gonna work for Maggie’s brother no more.
Well, he hands you a nickel,
And he hands you a dime,
He asks you with a grin
If you’re havin’ a good time,
Then he fines you every time you slam the door.
I ain’t gonna work for Maggie’s brother no more.
* 10:00 am - The House is in the process of adjourning. The Senate is coming in at 10 o’clock, so it seems obvious that the House is trying to get out of town before the Senate takes up the property tax assessment cap. Leaving would put more pressure on the Senate to override the governor’s amendatory veto instead of passing an alternative proposal. If the Senate passed that other bill, the House wouldn’t be around to take it up.
Trouble is, the House Republicans are now throwing a fit on the floor about the adjournment and the lack of accomplishments. Listen to the House here and listen to the Senate here.
* 10:02 am - House members were just told that they will have a week’s notice before the chamber reconvenes. No firm date was given.
* 10:05 am - I think I was insulted by a member on the House floor a few minutes ago. LOL. Rep. Mulligan, if you can show me that your HGOP colleagues will vote for the mass transit bailout bill later this month without passing a capital bill, I’ll certainly retract my comments from earlier this morning. If not, well… bite me.
* 10:06 am - The House has adjourned, and the Senate is not in yet.
* 11:03 am - The Senate has just placed the property tax assessment cap override motion on its calendar.
* 11:19 am - Sen. Terry Link is now bringing the assessment cap override motion up for a vote. Link said he wasn’t happy about it.
*** 11:35 am *** The Tribune has posted an interview with Speaker Madigan from this morning…
“The House has done its business. The House came here for a veto session. We considered all of the governor’s actions on bills and we completed house consideration of the governor’s action on bills. That was the purpose of this session. The purpose of this session was a veto session. We finished that. We have taken action on the 7 percent bill, on the real estate taxes. We are prepared to take action on the RTA as soon as we are advised by Mr. Cross and Gov. Blagojevich that they are prepared to put votes on the Hamos bill. Concerning capital, I met with Mr. Cross this week and shared with him my ideas on gaming. I am a reluctant participant on gaming legislation, but I am there and I am talking to Cross. And by the way, the unrest that you heard came from the Republican side, where they are grappling with why they are not supporting the RTA bill. That’s the problem. There are people in the Republican caucus who want to vote for the RTA bill. And then there are other people in the Republican caucus saying, well it should be linked to capital. Which means gaming. I don’t agree with that. I don’t agree that the ability of people to get to work in northeastern Illinois should be linked to gaming casinos. I’m not on that program. I think the Hamos bill ought to pass as is. And would have passed absent Tom Cross and Rod Blagojevich. They both took votes off the bill. They ought to put votes on the bill, pass the bill, put those mass transit carriers in northeastern Illinois in a stable financial position so they can provide service, say, in (Des Plaines Republican Rep.) Rosemary Mulligan’s district. That’s where I’m at.”
“The (budget implementation) bill is part of a budget agreement where there’s been an abrogation of the budget agreement by Sen. Jones. Everyone wants to lose sight of that. There was a budget agreement. Sen. Jones unilaterally abrogated the agreement. The (budget implementation) bill is part of the agreement that was abrogated. So there really is no agreement.”
Translation: No budget overrides, no BIMP.
* On when they’ll come back into session…
“As soon as we’re advised by Rep. Cross and Gov. Blagojevich that they prepared to support the Hamos bill, we’ll be here. And we’ll give 7 days notice to those who want it.”
* 11:38 am - Sen. Link, closing remarks on the assessment cap override motion: “This is not the best bill we could pass out of this chamber. We could do a lot better, and we have passed a lot better bill out of here. But it’s not the 12th hour, it’s past the 12th hour and the people need relief.”
…More… “There’s other issues out there that are important to my area, to other areas of this state, but we’re not addressing them… We could [help all of Illinois] by putting all these issues to rest… We can put all these issues to rest if we put as much concern and as much pressure as we did on this issue.”
*** The assessment cap override on HB 664 passed 55-1. ***
*** 11:58 am *** The Senate Democrats backed off their desire yesterday to amend SEIU’s bill to raise wages and provide health insurance to home care workers after lots of pressure from the union. The bill just passed the Senate 56-1 and now goes to the governor’s desk. Sen. Hendon said the governor supports the bill. Background here.
*** 12:22 pm *** Retiring Congressman Ray LaHood has ridiculed the Democrat who wants to take his seat, former NBA and Bradley University basketball coach Dick Versace…
Versace, who is seeking LaHood’s central Illinois congressional seat, kicked off his campaign with a press conference on Monday in Springfield, Ill.
“He’s out of his gourd,” LaHood said […]
Versace has vowed to embark on a “listening tour,” touring the district’s 20 counties in a 28-foot motor home called the “Common Sense Express.”
That plan gave LaHood even more ammunition as he wondered aloud to reporters why Versace would not answer questions. He suggested that the Common Sense Express would get only “five miles to the gallon.” […]
“Versace in Congress?” LaHood intoned. “That’s like me coaching Bradley [University] basketball.”
Um, didn’t LaHood want to be Bradley’s president just a few weeks ago?
* 12:36 pm - It sounds like the Senate may be preparing to do some more budget override motions. Senate GOP Leader Frank Watson has two new override motions in the hopper.
*** 12:46 pm *** The lawsuit filed by Supreme Court Chief Justice Bob Thomas has been settled for $3 million, but the fighting ain’t over.
*** 2:06 pm *** The Senate has adjourned the veto session. The chamber passed voted on but did not pass a bill to restore some of the governor’s budget vetoes. [Post corrected. Thanks to commenters. I wasn’t paying attention because I’m working on something else at the moment.]
*** 4:12 pm *** Gov. Blagojevich press release on the override of his amendatory veto of the assessment cap bill…
“There is good news and bad news. The good news is that the legislature extended the property tax cap that Cook County homeowners have enjoyed since 2004.
“The bad news, and what they won’t tell you, is at a time when the city of Chicago is considering the largest property tax increase in history, the legislators voted to begin phasing out property tax relief in the second year and completely take it away in the third year. That’s going backward, not forward. Homeowners deserve real meaningful property tax caps that will last for more than just one year.
“I am going to continue to work with Senate President Emil Jones and Cook County Assessor Jim Houlihan to increase property tax relief for homeowners and make it permanent. Unfortunately, the Illinois House, led by Speaker Madigan, passed a plan that would take that relief away from homeowners by protecting the big downtown commercial real estate developers.
“Considering how long it took to provide just one more year of property tax relief, Assessor Houlihan and I think it’s critical that the legislature address the long-term need for property tax relief now, before taxpayers face even higher bills. I am asking the General Assembly, on their own schedule, to reconvene before the end of the year to restore the property tax caps they just voted to take away. If they fail to do that, then it is my intention to call them into special session sometime by mid December to get it done.”
Mid December? Well, so much for my Christmas travel plans.
…Adding… Notice how he refers to the assessment bill as a “property tax cap.” Does he even know what he’s talking about here? I kinda doubt it.
Last spring, a whole bunch of Chicago aldermen were utterly indignant that labor unions would dare to finance their political opponents.
How undemocratic, the aldermen screamed, that they could no longer easily dispatch their historically token opponents with Machine money and Machine precinct workers. It just wasn’t right.
Much of their ire was directed at the Service Employees International Union, which recruited and trained candidates and dumped millions of dollars and deployed hundreds of volunteers into several city wards. As we all know by now, many of those targeted aldermen are now ex-aldermen.
That election was watched closely by the powers that be in Springfield. So when the union came to town last week to lobby for an expensive piece of legislation, they were welcomed with open arms.
Next year’s primary is just around the corner, in early February. Several Chicago Democrats in both the House and Senate either have primary opponents already or are worried that opponents will emerge before next month’s petition filing deadline. The union plans to make its legislative endorsements shortly after that deadline, so there isn’t much time left to boost an incumbent’s voting record.
The union wants millions in new state spending to increase wages by a buck an hour and provide some heath insurance coverage for 19,000 home-care workers who are state contract employees.
Late last month, the union sent thousands of pieces of direct mail into several House and Senate districts demanding that their bill be passed, and then followed up with another mailer this month. They combined all that with some deft Statehouse lobbying work and passed their appropriations bill through the House last week without a single dissenting vote.
Union officials said Wednesday that the floor votes would be weighted heavily when it comes time to make endorsements next month. Most legislators are well aware that this one vote could make or break them in the union’s eyes, and that could lead to all sorts of problems come February.
The union has a long, close relationship with Gov. Blagojevich, and the House Democrats have been openly fighting with Blagojevich all year, so the House Dems are keeping a wary eye on the Service Employees Union these days. The Democrats have to figure that if the union’s demands aren’t met, then that big pile of union cash might wind up behind their primary opponents, some of whom are backed by Senate President Emil Jones’ inner circle. Jones and House Speaker Michael Madigan have been on the outs all year as well, partly because Jones has allied himself with the governor. An unhappy union could mean some very expensive primary races ahead.
So, state representatives with primaries, such as Art Turner, Elga Jeffries, Esther Golar, Monique Davis, Mary Flowers and Deborah Graham, would naturally want a chance to boost their records ahead of the union’s endorsement session. Jeffries and Golar both lost almost all their aldermanic allies during that union-backed purge last spring, so they’re probably extra paranoid.
Over in the Senate, people such as Iris Martinez, Rickey Hendon and Willie Delgado are all fending off primary opponents, so a Service Employees endorsement could mean a significant difference if their races are close.
The Senate Democratic leaders, however, started to play some games with the bill early Thursday afternoon, which could possibly delay its ultimate passage for weeks or kill it altogether. If they go through with their plan, they could be playing with fire. Just ask those former aldermen.
*** UPDATE *** The Senate Dems backed off the games and overwhelmingly passed a “clean” version of SEIU’s bill. It now goes to the governor, who is expected to sign it into law.
Gov. Rod Blagojevich is threatening to lay off 1,800 of the state’s roughly 2,000 Illinois State Police troopers in January unless lawmakers approve key budget legislation soon.
“We simply can’t pay some of our bills,” Blagojevich spokesman Justin DeJong said Thursday.
The administration, which has been battling with lawmakers over the state budget for 10 months, didn’t deny that the move could have a devastating effect on the state’s crime fighting force. […]
Although lawmakers have approved a budget, separate legislation that gives the administration the authority to funnel it to specific programs has been held up as a bargaining chip over other issues, including a massive expansion of gambling that would pay for a $13 billion statewide construction spending program.
As the article notes, this is simply a “pressure” tactic on House Speaker Michael Madigan, the governor’s nemesis. But the threat is so ludicrous and would be so disastrous that nobody believes the governor is crazy enough to do it - although he has done some seriously crazy things in the past.
Wanted to make sure you knew the full story on the ISP situation in Lee News - because we aren’t threatening anyone, just laying out the facts - despite how headline reads.
The Illinois State Police depend upon BIMP legislation to pay a significant number of their front line officers (out of the Road Fund, which has taken place since 1984), and there has not been legislative action, despite this being the last day of veto session. Without this legislation, we simply can’t pay some of our bills - including salaries for state troopers. Layoffs are the last thing we’d want to happen and that’s why it’s imperative that legislators take action to pass these bills. New funding for schools and providers for those with developmental disabilities is also in jeopardy and the Illinois House needs to pass the BIMP bills so they can receive the money they are entitled to in the budget passed by the General Assembly and signed by the Governor.
ISP currently has funding for officers until January 1. If the BIMP is not passed by December 1 - only 6 weeks from now - ISP will need to issue layoff notices to approximately 1,800 of their officers. While funding levels were established in the budget passed by the General Assembly and signed by the Governor - we need the secondary legislation known as a Budget Implementation Act (BIMP) to make sure funds are transferred and available to make payments.
* During his first term, Gov. Blagojevich admitted that he had never been to a state park. From what I hear, that’s still true today. It shows…
A panel of state lawmakers Wednesday blamed problems at the Illinois Department of Natural Resources on Gov. Rod Blagojevich.
Responding to a laundry list of financial and management missteps revealed in an audit issued in April, the lawmakers said the Chicago Democrat isn’t committed to the state’s parks and outdoor activities. […]
State Rep. Frank Mautino, D-Spring Valley, who chairs the Legislative Audit Commission, which was reviewing the audit, said Blagojevich-imposed job cuts have “gutted” the agency, leaving it unable to function properly.
“You need more people,” Mautino told agency officials. “You just don’t have enough of them.”
Since Blagojevich took office, the agency has lost more than 400 employees. Although it has permission to hire 1,720 workers, it currently has just 1,668, according to DNR Deputy Director Leslie Sgro.
Perhaps the next time the governor is on a statewide bus tour he can stop off at one of our state parks and check it out.
* Meanwhile, if you want to be the health care governor, wouldn’t it make sense to clean up the environment a little better so that people could, you know, be a little healthier? Apparently not…
Thirty-five years after the federal Clean Water Act, “significant improvement” has been seen in water quality nationwide, but nearly 50 percent of Illinois waterways are unsafe for swimming and fishing, environmentalists said Thursday.
About half of industrial and municipal facilities in Illinois discharged more pollution into waterways in 2005 than permits allowed, according to Environment Illinois.
Will County ranked eighth in the nation for most facilities exceeding their limits, with 15 facilities in 1995. Industrial offenders in Will County included operations owned by Citgo Petroleum, BP Amoco, ExxonMobil and plastics manufacturer Stepan Co. […]
DuPage County and McHenry County ranked in the top 50 counties nationally for exceeding permits, the Environment Illinois analysis, “Troubled Waters,” said.
* Congressional candidate John Laesch was an embarrassment to many Democrats last year during his race against Republican Denny Hastert. Laesch had a problem with his often goofy antics and silly statements. He hasn’t shown any real improvement this year, either.
But while his fundraising has improved over his less than stellar showing last year, he’s in a heap of trouble, as Hiram accurately points out…
John Laesch’s race this time, however, is much different than last primary cycle’s race against Ruben Zamora, who in his end of year filing for 2005 had $4,535 in contributions (Ruben did not file an October 2005 quarterly report). While Laesch’s total numbers have improved by almost $52,000 compared to 2005, he is now in a four-way race with two competitors who have more money than him. One of those candidates is Bill Foster, who raised almost four times Laesch’s total contributions in just this quarter - before Bill doubled that number through a personal donation to his campaign.
Jotham Stein, the first Democrat to announce his candidacy in the 14th District race, has almost certainly also raised more money than John Laesch. By Jotham’s second quarter report he had raised a total of $44,040, although most of it, like John Laesch’s, was burned through in operating expenses and debt. The Stein campaign has not yet filed its third quarter report.
In a physically large congressional district with expensive media money will count a lot. The John Laesch campaign has to ramp up fundraising dramatically this quarter if they’re going to have a shot at winning the primary. We should know the status of Jotham Stein’s campaign finances soon.
* You can see Laesch’s quarterly fundraising report here. Below is a screen cap of the summary…
Foster, who has considerable personal wealth, will probably spend whatever it takes to win this primary, so Laesch is the decided underdog.
* Meanwhile, as you may recall, I took a bit of a whack at Marguerite Murer the other day for a silly resume inflation. She writes…
Great blog. Thanks for writing about my pondering the 11th District race yesterday. I grew up in the district and am proud of its rich history of strong values, strong families, and a commitment to helping each other. It was a great place to grow up and I would like to give back and serve the community that has positively shaped so many lives. It has been exciting to come home and see the growth and development throughout the area and I would like to be a part of the team of the forward thinking leaders.
The Senate moved unanimously to preserve the mission of the state Procurement Policy Board on a busy legislative day that also included a Senate vote to restore $8 million that the governor cut from the budget.
The 56-0 vote in support of the lease-monitoring agency came the same day the Chicago Sun-Times disclosed Blagojevich’s veto, as well as concerns from a key member of the panel about at least $1.1 million the administration has spent to lease 225 parking spaces near the James R. Thompson Center.
* University chief says Poshard can stay, but must correct ‘84 paper; more here and here and here
* Daley ‘insulted’ at being blasted by press about tax hikes
Southwest alone can stop the deal because, under federal law, it must be approved by airlines making up 65% of the combined weight of the planes that land at Midway. Southwest, Midway’s largest tenant, accounts for more than 65% of the landing weight all by itself.
If the silence is “truly neutral and there’s no religious coercion'’ during it, then the law probably could survive a court challenge, said Rob Boston, a spokesman for Americans United for Separation of Church and State.
Children even now are allowed to cross themselves or fold their hands in school, as long as their acts are voluntary and not disruptive, Boston said. But a second grader from a non-Christian family may be confused if he sees classmates crossing themselves, and his teacher may have a tough time explaining to him what his rights are during his new moment of silence, Boston said.
“Unfortunately lawmakers continue to meddle in this area, so we end up with laws like this that are either difficult to interpret or end up not having much practical effect, except to add another burden to the teachers’ day.”
