Cochran mansplains Mendoza
Monday, Apr 3, 2017 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Dude, let it go already…
A talk radio host who was called out by Illinois Comptroller Susana Mendoza for an on-air comment about duct-taping her mouth said Monday that he was “offended” by the way she addressed the issue.
Mendoza on Friday held a news conference and blasted WGN radio host Steve Cochran for “rape culture” language after he joked on air with Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner last week about using duct tape to “put it over her mouth.” Mendoza called on Cochran and Rauner to apologize, “for the millions of women who’ve been victims of violence or sexual abuse.” […]
On his Monday show, Cochran reiterated the apology. He also questioned Mendoza’s motives, saying her choice to address the issue by news conference was “a reach for publicity.”
“If the event was called blowing something out of proportion for potential political gain, it would have made sense. But not in this case,” Cochran said. “I’m quite sure the comptroller knows how this works. If you’re upset, we talk about it … if you call me, I’ll talk to you and we’ll talk it out. Nobody from the comptroller’s office called me, I’m not that hard to find, and I didn’t find out she was going to do this until … the event happened Friday afternoon and became a news story.”
You get paid to make a stupid joke about duct-taping a female officeholder’s mouth shut on a 50,000 watt clear-channel radio station and yet you’re the victim because she somehow owes you a phone call?
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When superstars collide with reality
Monday, Apr 3, 2017 - Posted by Rich Miller
* The Tribune profiles the governor’s current and former superstars…
When Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner took office, he boasted of a “superstar” team he’d hired to help remake state government.
The team consisted of a consultant with experience helping governors craft spending plans in Florida and California, a former budget office chief from Georgia and the ex-governor of Hawaii. Rauner said they were “the perfect trio” to “help turn our state around.” […]
It’s common for politicians to tout an incoming administration as better, brighter and more competent than that of the vanquished predecessor. In Rauner’s case, his pledge to “assemble a superstar ‘A’ team to turn the government around” also was symbolic of a central premise of his candidacy: that a successful businessman could bring fiscal order to state government by recruiting special talent and applying private-sector practices. […]
When Rauner first talked up his superstars, the new governor was fresh off a campaign in which he’d promised to “shake up Springfield” and use his business skills to streamline the state government bureaucracy. These days though, the governor says he’s focusing on what he can “control.”
That shift has resulted in less emphasis the past year on the notion that superstars can whip the state into shape. Instead, the governor has pivoted his message to attack Democrats who’ve long controlled the legislature and have blocked many of his initiatives.
* And this passage is getting some play in the Twitterverse…
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It’s just a bill
Monday, Apr 3, 2017 - Posted by Rich Miller
* AP…
The Illinois Senate’s leader is promoting legislation he says will protect immigrants from Trump administration actions.
Several immigrant and anti-crime groups and labor unions joined Democratic Senate President John Cullerton of Chicago on Monday to unveil legislation he calls the TRUST act. It would bar law enforcement agencies in Illinois from helping in immigration actions unless federal authorities present a warrant from a judge.
It also would bar federal agents from state-funded schools or health institutions unless they have a court-issued warrant.
* From the Illinois Policy Institute’s news service…
Telecom giant AT&T is asking for Illinois’ permission to scrap requirements that the company maintain land-based phone lines.
According to the National Center for Health Statistics, only four percent of Illinoisans still rely solely on landlines. AT&T has to get permission from a number of state legislatures before they can formally ask the Federal Communications Council to be allowed to scuttle the thousands of miles of land-based phone lines, with Illinois being one of those states. The bill is currently awaiting a Senate floor vote.
* Tribune…
A proposal to give the Chicago Teachers Union expanded authority to go on strike advanced out of an Illinois House committee Wednesday over opposition from Chicago Public Schools and its allies.
The legislation would dramatically transform the rules of contract negotiations between the union and the district when a deal reached just before a strike deadline in October expires in 2019. […]
The amended bill, sponsored by Democratic Rep. Silvana Tabares of Chicago, would do away with a provision that prevents the CTU from striking over issues including class sizes, outsourcing, staffing, layoffs and the length of the school day.
Under current law, contract talks can cover those subjects, but CPS has broad authority to implement its own policies on those matters without fear of a teacher walkout.
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* Simple, indeed, but is it a good one? Not so sure…
Cullerton said he agrees with Rauner that there should be some sort of redistricting reform, saying “let it be two bipartisan folks that the Supreme Court chooses. Have those two people decide what the maps would be.”
And if they can’t decide? What then? Pistols at 40 paces?
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Unclear on the concept
Monday, Apr 3, 2017 - Posted by Rich Miller
* The concept being “empathy”…
Cathy McClanahan, executive director of the Women’s Center, which offers programs to victims of domestic violence and sexual assault and serves about 1,200 people annually, said the center has not received a payment from the state since December.
“We have about three months’ worth of payroll left in order to keep the building open and keep it going,” she said.
[State Sen. Paul] Schimpf responded by saying there are many examples of suffering the budget has caused. He and [state Sen. Dale] Fowler thanked McClanahan for bringing the matter to their attention and said they would seek a resolution to the problem.
“There are companies right now that are wanting to come to the state of Illinois,” Fowler said. “… but they’re not coming to the state of Illinois because we don’t have these several reforms, especially in our workers’ compensation.”
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A snapshot of Chicago’s violence problem
Monday, Apr 3, 2017 - Posted by Rich Miller
* From DNAInfo Chicago…
Destiny Edmond said she’s moving out of the [South Shore] neighborhood to Hyde Park or the South Loop when her lease ends at the end of the month because of the violence.
She said at 4 a.m. Thursday, a man tried to force his way into her roommate’s car as he was pulling into their garage near 78th Street and Yates Avenue claiming people were trying to shoot him.
Edmond said she was woken up shortly after that by the alarm going off in the garage and found the man, who she said was 19-20 years old, hiding in the car in the garage.
“When I told him to get out of the car, he just stared at me,” Edmond said. “I put him in a chokehold because he wouldn’t leave.”
She said the man again said he was hiding from people trying to shoot him and when she kicked him out he threatened to come back and shoot her.
“Thankfully, the lease is up next month,” Edmond said.
She said she knew there was violence in South Shore, but didn’t know it was as bad as it is. She said she’s now worried about this man retaliating against her and is moving as soon as she is able.
That is one gutsy person.
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Complaint filed against Rep. Arroyo
Monday, Apr 3, 2017 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Mihalopoulos…
Juan Calderon, chief operating officer for the Puerto Rican Cultural Center, filed a complaint against Assistant Illinois House Majority Leader Luis Arroyo with the state’s legislative inspector general on Thursday.
Calderon alleges that Arroyo threatened to cut funding for his and other community groups who opposed Arroyo’s resolution in favor of Puerto Rican statehood. Calderon says he wants Puerto Rico to remain a U.S. commonwealth. […]
“I received a threatening call from the representative,” Calderon wrote in the complaint. “Mr. Arroyo said in no uncertain terms that he noted all of us who spoke against his resolution and promised that there would be retribution. In other words, community-based organizations with links to those who disagreed with him in public will not receive state-funded grants.” […]
“As he is planning to purchase a retirement home on the Island, he hopes to curry favor, or in his precise words, ‘win brownie points’ with the [pro-statehood] administration, which he expects will help him secure a better deal on a better home to enjoy during his retirement.”
Whoa.
However, Rep. Arroyo called the allegations a “total fabrication” and said he’s currently building a retirement house in Florida, not Puerto Rico.
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Question of the day
Monday, Apr 3, 2017 - Posted by Rich Miller
* From a letter to the editor in the Champaign News-Gazette…
I have several questions for prospective Champaign council District 2 voters before the upcoming municipal election.
Do citizens prefer the current nonpartisan city council of Champaign, or do they want to follow Urbana and the Champaign County Board into the divisive morass of “real urban politics”?
Do they want a rational and experienced council person with a solid and proven track record in thoughtful and positive municipal oversight, or will they choose the progressive special interests of a social justice warrior with zero experience in municipal governance and with union ties which possibly reach all the way to Chicago’s Michael Madigan?
That Madigan guy is everywhere, apparently.
* Jake Griffin in the Daily Herald…
Suburban voters are seeing plenty of local races on their ballots this week, but they don’t always see much choice.
Barely 30 percent of the hundreds of races being decided Tuesday are contested, according to a Daily Herald analysis. That’s down from about 45 percent of races that were contested in local elections eight years ago.
“The voters I’ve talked with are excited about having a choice,” said Ron Sebonia, who is running for Elmhurst City Council against incumbent Jim Kennedy. Sebonia’s candidacy forced the only contested municipal race in Elmhurst this year, where voters have only one option for mayor, clerk, treasurer and six of the seven council seats. The number of contested races in Elmhurst has dropped steadily since 2009, when six of seven council seats, mayor and clerk were contested.
The lack of contested state legislative races is constantly blamed on gerrymandering, but citywide races aren’t gerrymandered. So, the Daily Herald editorializes today in favor of local government consolidation. The paper doesn’t suggest which towns that Elmhurst should be consolidated with, however.
* The Question: Is anything interesting happening in your local races?
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* Reuters…
Illinois owes a group of women whose police officer and firefighter husbands died in the line of duty more than $351,000 apiece for their losses, but the state’s chronic inability to pass a budget has left all of them unpaid like thousands of state vendors.
The widows’ plight in a state with a $12.7 billion unpaid bill backlog represents yet another frustrating byproduct of lllinois’ 22-month budget stalemate, a span of fiscal ineptitude unmatched by any other U.S. state.
Illinois has limped along without a full operating budget during that time because the state’s Democratic-led legislature and Republican Governor Bruce Rauner have clashed over a list of nonbudgetary demands he has insisted be part of any budget deal. All told, seven Illinois women have been waiting as long as a year for their shares of more than $2.7 million in awards and interest owed under the state’s Line of Duty Compensation Act, which mandates one-time payments and burial reimbursements to the families of fallen first responders.
The Senate passed a stand-alone appropriation for this program last year, but it went nowhere in the House. Instead, the House put the line item into its budget which went nowhere in the Senate.
* And the governor is saying the widows will have to wait until there’s a deal on the governor’s reforms and a balanced budget plan…
Rauner spokeswoman Eleni Demertzis told Reuters the governor believes the state should “uphold any promised payments made to the families” of fallen first responders. But she emphasized the payments should be part of a broader budget deal.
That is something the governor has failed to broker since taking office in January 2015. He has butted heads with Democrats over his insistence that his enactment of a budget be conditional on approval of state workers’ compensation changes, term limits for legislative leaders and a property-tax freeze, among other things.
“Unfortunately, they cannot be paid until the General Assembly passes a balanced budget,” Demertzis said of the widows in a statement. “Governor Rauner continues to advocate for a solution that balances the budget and ensures payment of those types of benefits.”
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* Crain’s editorial…
Gov. Bruce Rauner recently gave Mayor Rahm Emanuel good reason to be ticked off with him. Actually, he gave everyone who has even a passing interest in Chicago’s fiscal well-being good reason to be ticked off with him. Rauner’s offense: He vetoed legislation that would have enabled the city to pump critically needed money into two municipal pension funds nearing insolvency. Without this infusion, the funds will fall further into arrears, meaning the bill will be that much bigger when it’s paid off.
Rauner said he blocked the legislation because it would have fixed only two Chicago pension funds and not underfunded public-employee pension funds throughout Illinois. In other words, the Republican governor killed what was a sane step toward civic responsibility at the municipal level solely to give himself leverage with the Democratic leaders of the General Assembly in their long-running fight over the state’s budget.
* And then there’s the I-55 privatized tollway plan and the Thompson Center sale that are stuck in the House. Greg Hinz…
The Senate is poised to act [on the toll lane]. Building trade unions and planning groups are on board, too. But Madigan’s House, after a year of considering, is not ready. Though Team Madigan denies that it’s just trying to deny Rauner an accomplishment for his upcoming re-election race, it’s clear that the speaker wants to retain House signoff on the deal when Blankenhorn comes back with a final negotiated contract a year or so from now. Team Rauner replies that potential private partners won’t put up with that much uncertainty. […]
Rauner went too far the other day when he accused Madigan of bad faith on [the Thompson Center] deal. Insiders in state and city government confirm that there are some unresolved issues holding up a vote to authorize the sale. Among them: Would the measure lock the city into having to accept whatever private deal Rauner cuts? Would the new owner guarantee keeping big Chicago Transit Authority el stops in and under the building? And is Rauner shooting too high in pitching what could be a 115-story tower on the site, a potential overreach that could leave a big hole in the center of the Loop (like a giant version of the once-upon-a-time Spire near Lake Shore Drive)?
Again, reasonable people could work this out. But the speaker wants a final deal on this project to come back before him. And people who would know make it clear that Emanuel is not going to lean on anyone to vote for Rauner’s plan until he gets the $215 million for teacher pensions he says Rauner unfairly is keeping from him.
That last line is by far the most important.
* So, to sum up, Rauner vetoed the city pension plan to squeeze something out of the Democrats, and the mayor isn’t going to help push anything of Rauner’s forward until he gets what he wants out of the governor.
Stalemate.
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Moving the goalposts
Monday, Apr 3, 2017 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Back in February, several Senate Democrats either tweeted out or otherwise posted a “fact check” of Gov. Rauner’s budget address. Click here to see one of them.
The governor made this claim…
Rauner Claim #4: “We know the challenges facing human services … that is why our proposal increases support for Child Care and other programs that assist children, senior citizens, and our other most vulnerable residents.”
The SDem retort…
FACT: Governor Rauner has called every year for eliminating funding for afterschool programs for at-risk youth, homeless prevention services and programs that help autistic children.
* Politifact Illinois decided to fact check the fact checkers…
In an email newsletter, state Sen. Jacqueline Collins accused Gov. Bruce Rauner of calling for the elimination of “funding for afterschool programs for at-risk youth, homeless prevention services and programs that help autistic children,” each year he’s been in office.
A Democratic staffer pointed to five instances where Rauner proposed cuts or freezes to these three programs. We verified these instances by looking at Rauner’s current and former budget proposals, a vetoed bill and news stories.
Rauner has proposed budgets that would eliminate funding in the areas Collins cites. But his 2015 veto of a bill that contained autism funding was in the context of rejecting 19 budget bills on the grounds that the entire package was unbalanced. His veto message did not specifically mention eliminating autism funding. Rather, he said he was vetoing several bills because he wanted structural reforms as part of a balanced budget which majority Democrats did not send him.
Collins’ statement is accurate, but needs clarification and additional information.
We rate Collins’ claim Mostly True.
Um, huh?
* They didn’t actually fact check the original claim by Sen. Collins. As mentioned above, they got a Senate Democratic staffer to send them a list of things Rauner supposedly did and then they fact checked that staff-supplied list. And they apparently only had a minor problem with one of those staffer claims.
But this is how they portrayed their analysis…
Collins’ claim: In April 2015, Rauner announced his plan to freeze funding for autism and homeless prevention.
Our findings: On April 3, 2015, Rauner did call for a $26 million suspension in social services and public health grants. The Chicago Tribune reported, “The Republican’s office released a list of targeted programs…that included funding to pay for…smoking cessation, teen programs, autism, and HIV and AIDS programs, among other things.”
That wasn’t “Collins’ claim,” that was a staffer’s claim. Instead of doing their own homework, they relied on a member of Senate staff to justify the original claim. OK, fine, it’s much easier that way. But if you’re gonna fact check what Collins said, then stick to what she said, not somebody else.
And what Collins and other Senate Democrats said is that Rauner “has called every year for eliminating funding for afterschool programs for at-risk youth, homeless prevention services and programs that help autistic children.” So, if the governor did that at least once in 2015, 2016 and 2017 - and he did, according to Politifact - then why the heck is Sen. Collins’ statement rated only “mostly” true?
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* Maybe Pat Quinn and Leslie Munger could offer up joint testimony about how this grand scheme worked out when they tried it…
Politicians in the North should be denied their salaries if they fail to reach a power-sharing agreement, a former UK minister has said.
Former Northern Ireland secretary Owen Paterson said withholding pay from MLAs might “crystallise minds” in the Northern Ireland Assembly against lengthy negotiations.
Northern Ireland Secretary James Brokenshire pledged yesterday to keep “all options under consideration” in his efforts to form a new executive.
During an urgent statement on Northern Ireland in the UK House of Common, Mr Paterson asked Mr Brokenshire: “Would you agree with me that there is one measure that would put pressure on the parties to come back to the talks and might crystallise minds, and that would be to make it clear that should the elected members not form the executive after a lengthy period of negotiation then their salaries and expenses will not be paid from the public purse?”
And, just in case somebody over there finds this post via Google, former Gov. Quinn vetoed legislative salaries in order to get a pension reform deal. There was no pension reform deal until after a judge ordered the salaries reinstated. And former Comptroller Munger delayed paying legislative salaries last year in order to punish legislators for not reaching a budget deal. There has been no budget deal since then and a judge recently ruled that the salaries had to be paid in a timely manner.
It doesn’t work. Don’t do it.
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The human cost of willful inaction
Monday, Apr 3, 2017 - Posted by Rich Miller
* The Responsible Budget Coalition totals up the carnage caused by the impasse…
• More than 1 million Illinoisans have lost access to critical services. (United Way)
• 22,000 seniors outside of Chicago have lost access to services such as home delivered meals, transportation and help accessing resources. (Age Options)
• Nearly 47,000 fewer children receive affordable childcare that allowed parents to work and go to school. (SEIU Healthcare)
• Higher education funding has been slashed by $2.3 billion over the past two years — 59% — threatening permanent damage to many colleges amid layoffs, decreased enrollment, academic program cuts, and tuition hikes. (Center for Tax and Budget Accountability)
• K-12 schools are struggling due to cuts to transportation, special education, and school lunches. (The State-Journal Register)
• $0 dollars of state funding has been provided for domestic violence services for the entire state since June 2016, putting thousands of
lives at risk. (Chicago Metropolitan Battered Women’s Network)
• Illinois is not funding tuition grants for 130,000 low-income college students, forcing many to drop out. (Young Invincibles)
• 80,000 people in Illinois have lost access to needed mental health services. (National Alliance on Mental Illness, Chicago)
• As rates of opioid addiction steadily rise, over 24,000 fewer Illinoisans were admitted to addiction treatment services. (Illinois Association for Behavioral Health)
• Nearly 30% fewer pregnant women and families with young children have received proven, cost-effective parent coaching and home visiting services. (The Ounce of Prevention Fund)
• 34% fewer women received life-saving breast and cervical cancer screenings. (Metropolitan Chicago Breast Cancer Taskforce)
• 90% of homeless service providers have been forced to cut clients, services, or staff. (Housing Action Illinois)
• 2,311 fewer formerly homeless Illinoisans received needed supportive housing services putting them at risk of losing their homes and entering higher cost systems. (Housing Action Illinois)
• Illinois’ 29 rape crisis centers were forced to lay off staff and cut hours resulting in waitlists for survivors seeking help. (Illinois Coalition Against Sexual Assault)
• Public transportation used by workers, seniors and those with disabilities has had days and routes cut in Central and Southern Illinois counties. (The State-Journal Register)
• Adult literacy grants were cut by 50%, significantly limiting access to this critical step toward self-sufficiency for the 2.1 million Illinoisans with low literacy skills. (Chicago Citywide Literacy Coalition)
• Cuts to HIV/AIDS testing, housing and prevention services are risking lives and increasing stigma. (AIDS Foundation of Chicago)
• Over 100,000 immigrants have lost access to services like citizenship assistance and language access. (Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights)
• Employment and training programs have been cut, denying job seekers of these cost-effective services. (Chicago Jobs Council)
• Illinois’ agricultural infrastructure has been damaged by cuts to crop research and development, livestock laboratories, soil and water conservation districts, county fairs and more. (Illinois Farm Bureau, Illinois Farmer Today)
• 21 home healthcare agencies serving low-income seniors and people with disabilities have closed, reduced service areas or capped intake, raising the likelihood of institutionalization. (SEIU Healthcare)
• Services that divert youth from incarceration have been shut down in 24 counties across Illinois. (Illinois Collaboration on Youth)
• As community violence rises, over 15,000 youth have lost access to safe spaces after school. (Illinois Collaboration on Youth)
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* He’s basically dodged this issue for a while now…
On the topic of unions, Cullerton, seen as an ally of Chicago mayor Rahm Emanuel, worried that creating an elected Chicago Public School Board would lead to one-sided negotiations with unions that would commandeer the electoral process and place friendly members in office.
“It might end up being electing union members to the school board and those unions represent the teachers. The question would be, would there be any kind of oversight,” he said.
I get what he’s saying, but the last time I checked every other school board in the state was elected.
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Rauner again dismisses bond rating agencies
Monday, Apr 3, 2017 - Posted by Rich Miller
* ABC 7…
The state has been without a budget for almost two years. The credit ratings agency Moody’s warned Illinois there will be long term damage of Illinois doesn’t have a budget soon. Rauner says he is not worried about Moody’s warning.
“Rating agencies work for bond houses. They love tax hikes, they love pension deferrals, bonds not pensions,” Rauner said.
Actually, they don’t like pension payment deferrals.
This isn’t new, of course. The governor has said similar things about the ratings agencies since the impasse began. But this is what he said during the campaign…
llinois’ credit rating just got downgraded again, the 12th time since Pat Quinn became governor. Unacceptable.
* The Tribune blames Democrats in the General Assembly…
Journalists covering state government should take training courses in adolescent conflict resolution. That’s the caliber of discourse between elected officials.
Do you know who doesn’t care about the daily political score? Bond rating agencies that monitor Illinois’ dysfunction with increasing alarm. “Illinois is at a critical juncture and its leaders must choose between further credit deterioration and drift without compromise, or the potential for stabilization,” Ted Hampton, a Moody’s Investors Service executive, now warns. “With a budget consensus, Illinois could quickly secure its financial position.” […]
So forgive us for viewing the Democrats’ new agenda with skepticism. We’ll know they’re serious if they work with Rauner to find common ground on a budget and on proposals he will sign into law, not to simply pass piles of bills they know he’ll veto.
Two months of the General Assembly’s spring session remain. If lawmakers can’t deliver solutions, they invite voters to ask: Why do we keep electing legislators who perpetuate disaster?
The Senate did try to do that, but were foiled by the big guy.
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Maybe they’re both right?
Monday, Apr 3, 2017 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Pearson…
Illinois House Republican leader Jim Durkin said veteran Democratic House Speaker Michael Madigan’s actions have shown Madigan is more interested in denying GOP Gov. Bruce Rauner a win than in helping govern the state.
Durkin, speaking on WGN-AM 720 on Sunday, said Madigan’s reluctance to move forward with comprehensive changes to public employee pensions, a private-public partnership on express toll lanes on the Stevenson Expressway and the sale of the James R. Thompson Center in downtown Chicago back up his view.
“I’m getting to a point where I believe the speaker is more interested in ensuring that this governor does not get a legislative success. That is starting to percolate more and more,” Durkin said.
“But I will say this, his (Democratic) members are not accepting of this. His members need to rise up and say, ‘Put it aside, the elections will come and go.’ But I do believe the gubernatorial race and blocking the governor from getting any kind of legislative success seems to be more apparent.”
* ABC 7…
Is he governing or campaigning? As Governor Bruce Rauner toured Illinois Science and Technology Park in Skokie Friday pushing his agenda to grow Illinois’ economy, new TV commercials appeared [last] week featuring a plaid shirt Rauner blaming Democrats for the budget mess.
The governor says they are not campaign commercials. Instead, he says the ads are a way to communicate to the people of Illinois about the need for a balanced budget.
Illinois State Senate President John Cullerton doesn’t buy it. The Democratic leader calls the commercials counterproductive.
“This is not governing. Cutting commercials and blasting people who are in the legislature who you want to vote for tough bills it’s campaigning not governing and it’s not helpful,” Cullerton said.
Cullerton says is it’s not helping negotiate a budget deal he and Republican Senate Leader Christine Radogno are trying to work out.
* And…
“It doesn’t help the members of my caucus who I am asking to take these tough votes while he’s doing ads slamming them,” [Cullerton] said.
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OK, but where’s the plan and the budget?
Monday, Apr 3, 2017 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Gov. Rauner yet again pointed to the great economies created around Stanford in the Bay Area and Harvard and MIT in the Boston area as something Illinois should emulate…
Rauner cited founders and executives of Oracle Corp., PayPal Holdings Inc. and Yahoo Inc. who graduated from or attended the U of I but whose companies are located elsewhere.
“We have an ecosystem, but we have not been strategic about them working together and about location of that capability,” Rauner said. “We’ve got to figure out how to keep the geniuses in Illinois.”
OK, I agree. Universities should be economic engines for their regions and for the entire state.
* And then he said this…
Rauner envisions a state-university system that doesn’t duplicate programs as much as is the case currently.
“I want to see them succeed, but we’ve got to be thoughtful about which degrees they offer,” Rauner said. “I believe in specialization and being great at certain things and not trying to be OK at a bunch of stuff.
“Do we need every school to offer the exact same stuff, but they’re two hours from each other? Should we think more strategically about the offerings?”
I don’t necessarily disagree, but pretty much the only concrete actions to come out of this administration have been to either propose huge cuts to higher education or squeeze them slowly to death by not passing a budget.
The only way a vision like this can be implemented is after the state government moves past its constant crises. And that just doesn’t look like it’s going to happen any time soon.
* Related…
* Education Secretary Defends Gov. Rauner’s Higher Education Budget Proposal: In a two-hour grilling that one Republican called “an inquisition,” representatives pressed Purvis to justify slashing higher education by almost 60 percent over the past two years. Her answers repeatedly referred to the ongoing “budget crisis,” pension costs, and students leaving Illinois to go to school in other states. She was also asked what the administration had done to help schools. “Actually, the responsibility of running those universities and those programs falls directly on those boards. So in appointing high-quality candidates to those boards, I think the governor has done a very important job, as has my team, in putting people on those.” Rauner has proposed funding higher education at up to 90 percent of the 2015 level. That’s the last time Illinois had a full budget. A recent report from bond rating agency Moody’s says state universities have been shorted $2.2 billion dollars since the budget fight began.
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Does Rauner really want a deal?
Monday, Apr 3, 2017 - Posted by Rich Miller
* My weekly syndicated newspaper column…
As the Senate’s two leaders tried again to find the votes to pass their “grand bargain” last week to end the state’s two-year governmental gridlock, Gov. Rauner began spending over a million dollars on two new TV ads that portray him as an every-man “duct tape” hero in the fight for Illinois’ future.
“Illinois is broke and broken,” Rauner says to the camera while standing in a well-kept garage and wearing a plaid flannel shirt. “And the politicians that got us into this mess, their solution is this,” Rauner says as he holds up a roll of duct tape. “Higher taxes,” he says as he yanks out a piece of duct tape, “More spending,” he says with another jerk on the roll, “No real reforms,” he says as he takes one more strong pull.
“After decades of ignoring problems, it’s time someone fixes ‘em,” the governor says. A list of bullet points appears on the screen in front of a line of tools neatly arranged against the garage wall as Rauner says: “Our balanced budget plan freezes property taxes, caps spending, creates jobs and puts term limits on politicians.”
Rauner is then shown sitting on a chair in the garage. “Our plan brings real reforms to Illinois,” he says as he grabs the roll of duct tape. “Their duct tape solutions won’t work anymore. We will fix Illinois together.”
The second, shorter ad, begins with Rauner peeling off duct tape from a piece of glass over the camera. “Springfield politicians don’t want you to see what they’re up to,” the governor begins, wearing the same flannel shirt in the same garage. “‘Cuz their duct tape solutions just cover up Illinois’ problems. They don’t fix ‘em,” he says with a smile on his face. “Fix Illinois,” an announcer says.
The governor’s people firmly believe that they have staked out a comfortably poll-tested platform. “What we oppose, the public opposes,” a Rauner official said last week. “What we support, the public supports.”
The public hates tax hikes and Rauner is gearing up for the 2018 campaign with a message that he saved the state from ruinous Democratic tax increases without his demanded job-creating reforms, which include the above-mentioned balanced budget, property tax and state government spending freezes, term limits and other awesome stuff.
Trouble is, he’s never once proposed a balanced budget and can’t get anything else passed. Rauner is heading into a reelection campaign without much of anything to show for his time in office. Hence, the duct tape ads.
Team Rauner is also still opposed to whatever comes out of the Senate’s negotiations because the proposals don’t meet its demands.
Talks have reportedly faltered over a “five and five” proposal to raise the income tax for five years and cap property taxes for the same amount of time. The Senate Democrats are also still refusing to specify major budget cuts (which the governor has refused to do as well), and a dispute has developed over the latest education funding reform bill.
Should the Senate’s plan go down in flames yet again, the Democrats will undoubtedly say that Rauner never actually wanted a deal to begin with. They’ll claim in unison that the Turnaround Agenda was, in reality, a mere ploy to achieve Rauner’s “real” result, which is the slow but very deliberate destruction of “weak” universities and social service programs and the crushing of unions and “the middle class.” And they might possibly even get some backup from a clearly furious Senate Republican leader, who lashed out at the governor and his chief of staff earlier this month for declaring through an unnamed source in a newspaper article that the grand bargain was dead.
Rauner will continue to counter with a campaign based on running against the Springfield “status quo,” and in particular the overwhelmingly unpopular House Speaker Michael Madigan. But after over two years in office, a kabillionaire who conspicuously drops his “g’s” and dons the costumes of the working class in expensive TV ads to claim he’s on the common man’s side may be finally be wearing thin. The governor’s 58 percent job disapproval rating in the latest Paul Simon Public Policy Institute poll didn’t appear out of nowhere, after all.
Instead of constantly worrying about his own political future by producing yet another round of expensive TV ads far away from election day, the governor ought to find another way to improve his state’s future. He has a Republican Senate leader who is firmly committed to getting us out of this horrific ditch. Instead of undercutting her at every turn, he ought to be helping her across the finish line. Doing otherwise will only prove the Democrats’ point that he doesn’t really want a deal.
Discuss.
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* Media advisory…
WOMEN’S ADVOCATES JOIN COMPTROLLER MENDOZA TO ADDRES RAPE CULTURE LANGUAGE
WHO: Illinois State Comptroller Susana A. Mendoza
Rev. Marvin Hunter of Grace Memorial Baptist Church
Dr. Phalese Binion, Executive Director of Westside Baptist Ministers
Kathy Ragnar, Executive Director of Sarah’s Circle
Vickie Smith, Executive Director of ICADV
Rev. Stanley Watkins of New Covenant Baptist Church
WHAT: Women’s advocates will hold a news conference on the last day of Women’s History Month about rape culture language.
WHERE: James R. Thompson Center
15th Floor
WHEN: Friday, March 31, 2017
3:00pm – 4:00pm
ICADV is the Illinois Coalition Against Domestic Violence. Sarah’s Circle provides services to homeless women.
* Here’s the full video of the presser from Comptroller Mendoza’s Facebook page…
* So, what is this about? Well, you’ll recall that a recent Quad City Times editorial referred to Mendoza as a “slave” to Speaker Madigan.
Mendoza demanded an apology from the editorial board today.
* As we discussed yesterday, Mendoza called out the Illinois Republican Party for its Statehouse tracker video of her getting into her state-paid SUV by tweeting “Way to creepily stalk me.” CBS 2 Chicago picked up the story.
Today, Mendoza asked, “What’s next? My house? My family?” Good questions.
* But then we get to the “news” portion of the news conference. Gov. Rauner appeared on the Steve Cochran WGN Radio program earlier this week. After discussing Rauner’s new “duct tape” TV ads and then Rauner’s ongoing spat with Mendoza, Cochran said this…
Maybe you could take, I was gonna suggest maybe you can take some of that duct tape you’re working with and put it over her mouth. But that probably wouldn’t be appropriate.
Ugh. What sort of person says something like that during a supposedly professional radio broadcast?
So, Mendoza rightly demanded an apology from Cochran today for “casually” suggesting that Rauner duct tape her mouth closed.
But Mendoza also claimed that Rauner “laughed right along with” Cochran. From her press release…
I am calling on WGN, on radio host Steve Cochran, and on Governor Rauner to issue an apology. Not for me, but for the millions of women who’ve been victims of violence or sexual abuse, who could turn the radio on, and hear a radio personality suggest to the Governor that duct tape be used to silence a woman and rather than have the Governor denounce that type of language, instead laugh right along with him. Rape culture language is not a laughing matter and it’s never OK.
She repeated the claim that Rauner laughed later in the press conference.
* I knew this was coming, so I isolated the audio. The first time I listened, I thought I heard Rauner laughing. But then I listened again a few more times and heard Rauner coughing and letting out a quick groan. He didn’t seem to enjoy the humor…
Raw audio is here.
*** UPDATE 1 *** Tribune…
Asked for comment, Rauner’s office referred questions to the Illinois Republican Party, which the governor largely funds. GOP spokeswoman Kirsten Kukowski issued a statement in which she said the governor “doesn’t chuckle” at the radio host’s remark.
“Here we go again. Another absurd rant from Susana Mendoza. Instead of encouraging Speaker Madigan and fellow Democrats to come to the table and pass a budget with real reforms, Mendoza is spending her taxpayer funded time coming up with wild, defamatory accusations about the governor,” the statement read in part. “It’s a ploy to distract from the fact that she has no productive solutions to Illinois’ crisis.”
Todd Manley, vice president of content and programming for WGN-AM, said Cochran planned to apologize for the comments.
“It was an unfortunate choice of words, there is no way around it. He should have never said it, and it’s as simple as that,” Manley said. “I know Steve regrets it.”
Manley is right. But since when has the ILGOP been about “productive solutions” to anything here? Asking for a friend.
*** UPDATE 2 *** From Steve Cochran…
I made a comment earlier this week while Governor Bruce Rauner was a guest on my show that has been misrepresented by Comptroller Susana Mendoza today.
The comment the Comptroller is apparently referring to was meant to be about my opinion that there is far too much grandstanding and not enough action by those in power to fix our state budget disaster.
I chose the words poorly and Ms. Mendoza was offended by it. I apologize.
Furthermore the words were mine and mine alone.
I must add the following. I grew up in a house where I witnessed violence by my father against my mother. Nothing is more offensive to me.
I have worked with agencies to raise funds and awareness to this cause. I have contributed my time and money to this fight. I have used my platform as a public person to speak out on this scourge for more than 30 years.
As a husband, father, and grandfather to two amazing women and 1 incredible little girl, I’m proud of the work I’ve done and continue to do on this cause.
My hope is that the leaders in state Government will work just as hard to finally finish a budget that will in part help fund the cause of stopping violence against women and helping the victims who are still in jeopardy.
Neither the Comptroller nor her office made any attempt to contact me prior to her public statement today. She is welcome on the show to continue this discussion in person and I hope she will join me.
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Another hostage goes down
Friday, Mar 31, 2017 - Posted by Rich Miller
* CJE SeniorLife was founded decades ago by the Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Chicago. The impasse has forced it to close down its personal care program…
This has been a very challenging year for CJE SeniorLife and other health and human service providers due to the financial situation in the State of Illinois. Consequently, after extensive deliberation by the Executive Committee of CJE’s Board of Directors along with Senior Leadership, CJE has made the difficult decision to close its Personal Care Program as of April 28, 2017. As a result, CJE will terminate the Managed Community Care Program (MCCP) contract and its Title III B chore housekeeping contract. Earlier this year, CJE closed its Community Care Program (CCP) that provided in-home personal care services through the Illinois Department on Aging (IDOA) in order to contain its losses.
Since July 2016, however, CJE has been reimbursed less than 40% of what is owed for providing vital home and community-based services that are funded through state contracts… and the State budget situation is not anticipated to be resolved in the near future. All of CJE’s valiant efforts over the past nine months to reach out to the Illinois Department on Aging, State legislators and the Comptroller’s office to get reimbursed for services have been unsuccessful. As a non-profit organization, CJE simply does not have the resources to provide these services indefinitely without jeopardizing the viability of the entire organization which annually serves more than 23,000 seniors with a wide-range of health and human services.
By closing the access to these vital in-home services, CJE will no longer provide in-home services or care management to approximately 265 low-income and at-risk older adults living in the community. These vulnerable and frail older adults will need to be transferred to new providers in a service network that is shrinking daily as more providers cancel State contracts due to lack of payment. This action also impacts approximately 86 of CJE’s full-time and part-time in-home employees who will lose their jobs.
According to Mark D. Weiner, CJE’s President and CEO: “This was an extremely heart wrenching decision for our Board and senior leadership team. CJE was founded 45 years ago with the mission to provide services and programs that would facilitate the independence of older adults in our community. Home and community-based services have been the cornerstone of our agency’s work and we know for a fact that it is more cost-effective for people to age-in-place than move to a nursing home. But our State’s fiscal crisis is causing us to cut a vital program and while we are committed to protecting our mission, we also have to be financially prudent.”
Emphasis added.
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Question of the day
Friday, Mar 31, 2017 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Press release…
Governor Rauner today toured the Illinois Science and Technology Park and discussed changes to increase job growth and the importance of innovation and technology in Illinois economy.
“The Illinois Science and Technology Park is on the forefront of innovation to help grow Illinois. This facility allows for smaller companies to grow and flourish,” said Governor Rauner. “In order to move Illinois forward, we have to continue to invest in small businesses that our transforming our economy. We need to make structural changes to get our state back on track.”
As part of the tour, Governor Rauner met with employees and discussed the administration’s plan to create good-paying jobs and strengthen our schools. The administration has delivered unprecedented funding for grade schools and put more emphasis on apprenticeships to create a well-trained workforce. Currently, the administration is working to cut the red tape in state agencies and making it easier for people to do their jobs in a safe and efficient way.
The Illinois Science and Technology Park is a corporate research campus with multi-user wet-lab research and office space for life science and technology companies. Approximately 1,400 jobs are based in the park with 25 different companies including LanzaTech, Northshore University Health System and start-ups from Northwestern University.
Attached pictures may be used for publication.
* One of the attached photos…
* The Question: Caption?
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Manar won’t run for governor
Friday, Mar 31, 2017 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Not a surprise…
Today, State Senator Andy Manar (D-Bunker Hill) announced that he will continue serving Central Illinois families as State Senator for the 48th District. Manar, who publicly explored the possibility of running for Governor, has recently been focused on overhauling the state’s school funding system and reaching a resolution to the budget impasse.
Senator Manar issues the following statement:
“Our state and our nation today face generational challenges. Illinois continues to operate without a budget, our economy continues to lag behind our neighboring states and the nation as a whole, and our schools continue to shortchange children in nearly all but the most well-off suburban Chicago districts.
“Our governor, two years into his term, has failed to grow into the leadership role we so desperately need, instead choosing to use his ample wealth and the position in which the people entrusted him to put partisan politics in their most foolish, destructive forms ahead of substantive negotiation and competent reforms.
“The legislature, to be sure, is not blameless. But absent even a hint of leadership from the governor, there is little direction, and even less progress.
“For the last several months, many have asked if I planned to challenge Governor Rauner.
“I will not be a candidate for governor in 2018.
“As a husband, a father of three young children, and as the State Senator of the 48th District, a long, expensive campaign for governor would be unfair, both to my family, and to the people who have elected me to help create jobs, get our state’s finances under control, and create a fair school funding formula, an issue for which I have a great deal of passion.
“I will continue to be a strong voice for the citizens of Central Illinois. The families I represent, and working families throughout the state bear no responsibility in the dysfunction of Springfield. And yet they bear nearly all of the burdens of a government that refuses to get its act together. It’s unjust. And it’s not who we are as Illinoisans or as Americans.
“I won’t stop fighting for you. And despite the seemingly impossible situation we find ourselves in, I truly believe in our people and I believe we can strengthen all of our schools, create broad economic opportunities, and restore the lost pride in this great state.
Discuss.
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7 shot dead and barely a peep is heard
Friday, Mar 31, 2017 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Can you imagine if seven people had been shot dead in an eight-block radius by foreign terrorists? There would be a massive response from every level of government with huge media headlines and frantic updates. Everybody from the president and the FBI Director on down to US Senators, to congressmen, to the US Attorney, to the governor, to the mayor, to legislators, to the aldermen would’ve taken their turns in front of the microphones.
Instead, except for the mayor’s response, it’s just another day on the South Side of Chicago…
When the shooting stopped, two young men lay dead inside the South Shore restaurant Thursday afternoon, another was dead outside and a fourth was found dead around the corner, slumped against a tree.
Paramedics draped a sheet over the man outside the Nadia Fish and Chicken restaurant at 75th Street and Coles Avenue as his mother grieved. […]
Officers ran toward a commotion farther south and found the fourth victim behind an apartment building on Coles, slumped against a tree. It was the woman’s other son. […]
The shooting may have been part of an internal gang conflict involving the Black P Stones gang, in retaliation for the killing of a 37-year-old man in the 7900 block of South Phillips Avenue about 11:15 p.m. Wednesday, police sources said.
* But, wait, that’s not all. Three more people were murdered in that same neighborhood, including a pregnant woman…
Seven people, including a pregnant woman, were killed in three separate shootings that happened within 12 hours of each other on Thursday in South Shore.
The attacks took place in an eight-block radius in the neighborhood, but Chicago Police have not said if they were related. No arrests had been made as of Friday morning.
* Related…
* Mark Brown: Untold harm from buying guns legally in Indy to sell here: “There are a lot of people in Indiana selling guns for profit,” Jackson said. “Not everybody’s getting caught.”
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Where’s Roger?
Friday, Mar 31, 2017 - Posted by Rich Miller
* New York Times reporter Julie Bosman…
It was supposed to be an easy glide to yet another term for the longtime mayor of this suburb of Chicago. But then Mayor Roger Claar helped throw a fund-raiser for Donald J. Trump and things got complicated. Here is the story of one village election on Tuesday that has become as much about Mr. Trump as the candidates on the ballot.
• The Race: Mayor Claar, 71, an old-school pol, is running for his ninth term, but Jackie Traynere, 54, a labor organizer, is mounting an ambitious challenge.
• Ms. Traynere was so mad about the fund-raising event last fall that she decided to run against Mr. Claar. The Democratic apparatus in Illinois — senators, members of Congress, you name it — is lining up behind her.
• Mayor Claar hasn’t answered our requests for an interview, so we’re hoping to catch up with him today.
Click here or here to follow Julie on her Bolingbrook tour today.
* Traynere has sent over a dozen mailers during the campaign. She’s raised over $130K, I’m told, mostly in small contributions.
Several of her mailers are about Claar’s support for Trump in a town which went overwhelmingly for Hillary Clinton (click here for one example). Those mailers are designed, I’m told, to catch the interest of voters so that they can move on to other issues, particularly the town’s huge debt (click here for one example).
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The peril of deliberate budgetary inaction
Friday, Mar 31, 2017 - Posted by Rich Miller
* CBS 2 interviewed University of Illinois at Springfield political science professor emeritus Kent Redfield about the impasse…
Redfield said a lot of knowledgeable people in Springfield believe Gov. Bruce Rauner and Democratic lawmakers won’t settle on a state budget before the next election in 2018.
“It’s very, very difficult to be both in campaign mode; and then be trying to put together the kind of negotiation, compromise, sharing of the pain, and extending the kind of trust that makes these bargains,” he said.
The state’s current backlog of $14 billion in unpaid bills could balloon to $28 billion by the time the next governor and Illinois General Assembly are sworn in in January 2019.
“A new governor in 2019, whoever that is, could be in the middle of a fiscal year that has no budget, but would be looking at $28 billion of unpaid bills,” he said.
The Democratic candidates need to start talking more about this other than just yelling at Gov. Rauner. Surely, they don’t want to inherit such a fiscal disaster. The tax hikes and cuts needed to extricate ourselves would be beyond punitive. And it’ll be even tougher to accomplish if Illinois bonds are downgraded to junk status by then.
* Meanwhile, the Northwest Municipal Conference sent a bulletin to its members today about Sen. Bill Brady’s new budget proposals…
Two of these bills are of particular concern to local governments. Senate Bill 2181 (Sen. Bill Brady) includes a 10% reduction in the LGDF beginning on July 1, 2017. Senate Bill 2178 (Sen. Bill Brady), creates the Budget Management and Control Act and grants the Governor extraordinary emergency powers to transfer funds and dictate cuts. The legislation does not make any specific cuts to state collected local government revenues; however, provides that the Governor could transfer up to $1 billion from “any funds held by the Treasurer” to the General Revenue Fund. Consequently, the bill could subject critical local revenues such as the LGDF, Sales Tax, Use Tax, the Personal Property Replacement Tax (PPRT) and others to reallocation.
The NWMC strongly believes that state should not look to solve its budget problems with local revenues. Such an action would merely shift the burden to local governments. If these revenues are lost, local leaders will be left with difficult choices: defer infrastructure investments; further reduce services upon which our residents and businesses rely; or, raise revenues (although multiple legislative proposals seek to eliminate this option, leaving severe cuts and service reductions as only ways to respond). These are completely unacceptable choices to impose on fiscally responsible communities.
Look, if people are gonna get haircuts, then everybody should take one.
The problem here, of course, is that Gov. Rauner wants to take state money away from local governments while simultaneously imposing a permanent, or at least 5-year property tax freeze. That’ll be difficult, to say the least, without radical reductions to employee rights, pay and benefits.
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* Tina Sfondeles…
Gov. Bruce Rauner plans to sign an executive order on Friday to consolidate the Human Rights Commission into the state’s Department of Human Rights — a move his administration says will help to expedite discrimination complaints.
Rauner’s administration says there are more than 1,000 cases pending at the Human Rights Commission, which adjudicates complaints of civil rights violations based on protected classes in employment, real estate transactions, financial credit, public accommodations and education.
The average time after filing a charge of discrimination is more than four years, the administration says. And the backlog is being blamed on “inefficient communication and sharing resources” between the two entities.
“I think this will be better for people who have been discriminated against, and also better for employers so their liabilities aren’t growing,” said Jay Shattuck, executive director of the Employment Law Council. The council represents Illinois businesses on employment law topics. […]
While the two are meant to act as checks and balances to one another, the administration says the consolidation will not compromise the commission’s independent review of the cases.
Jay is a very pro-business type.
* JB Pritzker weighed in…
Hmm. Maybe now that he’s weighing in on state policy, he can answer my question about legalizing pot.
* Anyway, the ILGOP quickly fired back with some oppo…
A political party claiming that money buys appointments. OK.
* Either way, Pritzker was appointed to the commission in 2003. According to the Illinois State Board of Elections’ website, Pritzker gave RRB $10K in 2002. The rest of his contributions came in 2005 and 2006. He left the commission in July of 2006.
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Rauner, Dems raise money ahead of deadline
Friday, Mar 31, 2017 - Posted by Rich Miller
* The end of the quarter is today, so that means a big push is on to raise campaign money before the contribution reporting period deadline. Here’s the Tribune…
Going into Friday, Pawar has reported $160,542 in contributions of $1,000 or more this year.
Another Democratic candidate, Chicago businessman Chris Kennedy, emailed supporters Thursday with a nod to the deadline.
“My campaign staff wanted me to send out one of those end-of-quarter emails to convince you of the urgency of the moment,” Kennedy said. “I told them, we should send out an email that treats people like adults, with respect, and recognizes that every American today understands the urgency of this moment.” […]
Rauner has raised $16,000 in large donations so far this year. But his re-election campaign fund started the year with $50.8 million — with $50 million coming from Rauner’s pocket in December.
Rauner was the guest of honor at a Thursday night fundraiser where tickets topped out at $40,000.
* Ald. Pawar poked a little fun at the governor’s fundraiser yesterday while simultaneously showing why so many Democrats are leery of the unknown, under-financed candidate…
* A group of labor union protesters showed up to picket Rauner’s fundraiser, but he apparently avoided them…
* From the Kurt Summers campaign last night…
We have an important fundraising deadline coming up tomorrow, and I need your help. Our message of fighting for those who need it most and putting people over politics is already gaining traction! The end of the quarter deadline will help us show that our efforts are funded by people like you, not by millionaires and corporations.
If you pitch in $15, $50, or $100 today, it will send a message to Governor Rauner and Trump’s Republican pals in Illinois that we are standing up against unbalanced budgets, attacks on working people, and their failed leadership.
* Chris Kennedy…
Illinoisans have lost faith in our political system. Instead of seeing government as a force for leveling the playing field and creating opportunity, they see the growing dominance of a small group of wealthy individuals who use government as a tool to grow their own personal wealth. They see a small group of wealthy friends seeking to protect what they have, even if they have to impoverish the rest of our citizens to do so.
The result is an agenda that destroys the American Dream by cutting off support for education, defunding programs that help the poor, decimating unions, opposing the minimum wage, and sabotaging our job-creating economic engines like community colleges and universities.
Already, our campaign has more contributors in 6 weeks than Rauner received during the entire first year of his first campaign for governor.
That’s because this campaign isn’t about me or Governor Rauner – it’s about you and the future we need to build for Illinois. This state has given me enormous opportunities. The kind of opportunities all citizens deserve.
Please contribute before today’s midnight reporting deadline to restore faith in our politics and rebuild our future.
I haven’t received anything from the Biss campaign in the past 24 hours or so. But maybe I’m not on that list.
…Adding… I’m not on the Biss list, so this was forwarded to me by a helpful reader…
Today’s the quarterly fundraising deadline — which may not be such a big deal if you’re a millionaire or billionaire who can fund your campaign with your own personal wealth, or with now-legally-unlimited contributions from all your wealthy friends.
On the other hand… if you’re a former math professor trying to build a movement of people to take back their state from money and the machine, today’s deadline turns out to be pretty important.
Daniel may not have millions of dollars in personal wealth, but he has you — this rapidly growing movement of people ready to build a new politics in Illinois. And today is our first real test.
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Edgar to Springfield: Do your job
Friday, Mar 31, 2017 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Haley BeMiller at the Tribune…
Democrats and Republicans briefly put aside their differences Thursday to honor a longtime Springfield insider known for working across the aisle, saying his pragmatic approach should serve as inspiration to break the unprecedented budget impasse.
Stephen Schnorf spent 22 years in state government and held a variety of positions during his tenure, including budget director under former Republican Govs. Jim Edgar and George Ryan. Schnorf died last month of pancreatic cancer.
His memorial was held in an ornate committee room, a rare honor that drew a crowd of family, friends and colleagues, including Edgar and Democratic House Speaker Michael Madigan. As speakers reflected on their fond memories of Schnorf, some pointed to his ability to rise above partisan politics to solve problems. […]
Sen. Donne Trotter, D-Chicago, echoed Edgar’s sentiments, calling Schnorf “the soldier for the state of Illinois.”
“He was a doer, a thinker and also a strategist of how to make this great state work for all of us,” he said. “Not red, not blue – make our state work for us.”
If you missed it yesterday, the event can be seen by clicking here.
* Gov. Edgar recounted a long list of his administration’s achievements, attributing many of them to Schnorf. He also referenced a poll taken at the end of his tenure by the Center for Governmental Studies at Northern Illinois University which showed, he said, that “the public overwhelmingly thought that Illinois government was doing their job. The best numbers we ever received before or since. And, again, Steve deserves a lot of credit for that.”
I found a reference to that poll in Jim Nowlan’s book “Fixing Illinois: Politics and Policy in the Prairie State.” According to the book, the poll found that 51 percent of Illinoisans were satisfied with the state’s direction, compared to 10 percent who weren’t satisfied.
Imagine that. Half the people liked the direction of the state. Now, compare that to a poll taken earlier this month…
(W)ould you say that things in Illinois are going in the right direction, or have they pretty seriously gotten off on the wrong track?
12% RIGHT DIRECTION
82% WRONG TRACK
4% NO OPINION (DO NOT READ)
2% REFUSED (DO NOT READ)
Ugh.
* More from Edgar’s speech…
You win elections so you have power, so you can get things done, you can solve problems, you can help people.
Now, nobody was more partisan in an election up to election day than Steve. But the day after the election, he’d put the partisanship aside and was willing to reach out and was willing to work with the other side to find solutions to the problems.
You know, people today forget that state government used to work in Illinois. Back in the 1990s it worked pretty well. It wasn’t perfect, we had our partisan battles, we didn’t get everything right. But at the end of the day, we came together in a bipartisan manner, in a timely manner and solved the problems and the state moved on.
And a major reason for that was Steve. […]
Our unemployment rate in the last half of the 90s was below the national average. That’s something that has never happened before in Illinois history and it hasn’t happened since. […]
We left a billion and a half dollar surplus when we left in ‘99. As budget director, Steve had a lot to do with that.
…(I)n the early years we had to lay off thousands of people because the state was basically bankrupt. Steve had to administer that through CMS. But the whole time, through all those difficult situations, we had a very civil relationship with the state employees’ union. Again, I give Steve a lot of credit for that.
* And this is how he ended his speech…
Success will only occur when hundreds of people, both elected and appointed, both Republicans and Democrats, both executive branch and legislative branch do their job - working together, setting aside personal agendas and solving problems.
Nobody in Illinois state government, nobody did his job better than my friend Steve Schnorf.
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More bad news for higher education
Friday, Mar 31, 2017 - Posted by Rich Miller
* The Southern…
Southern Illinois University President Randy Dunn on Wednesday issued a difficult directive to the Carbondale campus to identify $30 million in potential cuts to address a structural deficit caused by a double whammy of declining enrollment and the “governmental abomination” playing out in Springfield.
The arduous undertaking has been underway for months, but Dunn, in a letter to the campus community, put a hard number to the immediate call for cuts: $30 million in cost reductions to be identified by July 1, on top of the $21 million in cuts the university previously identified.
Dunn also is planning to recommend that SIU Board of Trustees members declare a short-term financial emergency for the Carbondale campus. Dunn said that would signify that the Carbondale campus is operating in deficit mode — it will potentially dip into the red next month — and serve as a warning system to indicate that an even more serious situation could be on the horizon without corrective action. […]
“There’s no way you can cut $30 million dollars out of a human capital enterprise and not have it affect personnel,” Dunn said, in an interview. “There’s no way to do it otherwise.”
Colwell echoed that sentiment in his letter. The “challenging and painful” reductions “will almost certainly include layoffs,” according to Colwell.
That’s a 15.9 percent cut for Carbondale, by the way.
* WSIL TV…
Dunn blames three factors for the impact here:
- the state budget impasse
- declining enrollment
- the fact that the Carbondale campus has already tapped out about $80 million in reserves the school must now pay back.
…Dunn went on to say that if the university is in this mess six months from now, then its the fault of the state.
Their enrollment problems are at the heart of this situation. The impasse ain’t helping, however. There is zero certainty in higher ed right now. If I was a parent with a college-bound student, I think I’d be reluctant to recommend an Illinois school.
* Dunn also wants the Edwardsville campus to loan Carbondale some money…
In his email column, “The System Connection,” Dunn said he is proposing a short-term financial emergency for the university. Dunn said Carbondale will be asking for a loan of unrestricted funds from the Edwardsville campus.
“I fully understand there may be keen frustration — if not anger — at the fact that earlier cost-cutting efforts and strong enrollments at Edwardsville are being rewarded with that financial strength achieved now benefiting another campus … one which has shied away from making some difficult decisions over the past many years,” Dunn said in the column.
In Chancellor Randy Pembrook’s response to the announcement, he said he understands the potential frustration from the Edwardsville campus.
“At this point in time, we have an important role to play as part of the SIU System. Our campus’ financial strength will be critical to the system as we wait for a budget resolution from Springfield,” Pembrook said.
* And then there’s the medical school…
The $2.2 million in additional cuts that are being considered for Southern Illinois University School of Medicine related to the ongoing state budget crisis could lead to an undetermined number of layoffs, the medical school’s dean says.
“We’re really going to try to avoid anything massive,” dean and provost Dr. Jerry Kruse said Thursday. […]
Pay for SIU faculty doctors has been cut 5 percent, many positions vacated through attrition haven’t been filed, and several departments have been restructured to become more efficient, he said. […]
At least five to eight SIU surgeons have resigned over the past 20 months because of the budget uncertainty, he said.
The SJ-R also reports that a lot of new medical school graduates are choosing to leave Illinois for residencies in other states. Just 21 percent of graduating students signed up for Illinois residencies this year, compared to previous averages of between 38-45 percent.
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* From a February 17th press release…
Governor Bruce Rauner today announced that Department of Labor Director Hugo Chaviano will be transitioning out of state government.
Governor Rauner has designated Anna Hui as the Acting Director of the Department of Labor. Hui is the current Assistant Director of the Department of Labor. Hui’s experience at the state and U.S. Department of Labor make her an excellent choice to lead the department.
* Yesterday’s report by the St. Louis Post-Dispatch…
Gov. Eric Greitens has tapped Anna Hui, acting director of the Illinois Department of Labor, to head Missouri’s labor department.
Calling her a “fearless change agent” in an announcement Thursday, Greitens also said Hui’s appointment marks the first time in Missouri history that an Asian-American has served in a governor’s cabinet.
“We are honored to have her join us to shake up Jefferson City and bring some much needed reforms to the Missouri Department of Labor,” Greitens said in a statement. […]
Hui also served under two other Republican governors in Illinois – as special assistant to the governor for Asian-American affairs under Gov. Jim Edgar, and as a senior member of Gov. George Ryan’s Washington, D.C. policy team.
Organized labor was gearing up for a state Senate confirmation battle against Hui, which may have played into this.
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Rauner to make ALPLM a separate agency
Friday, Mar 31, 2017 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Finke…
Gov. Bruce Rauner is moving ahead with plans to make the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum a separate state agency.
Rauner will issue an executive order Friday making the ALPLM a standalone facility, an idea first floated three years ago by House Speaker Michael Madigan, D-Chicago.
Rauner’s order will also place the remaining functions of the Illinois Historic Preservation Agency under the Department of Natural Resources. […]
The administration says the new management structure should save $3.2 million annually, even though the ALPLM will need to add eight positions to cover support operations that it did not have to handle before.
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