The Rauner Administration released the following statement regarding the Auditor General’s release of the Statewide Single Audit report. The state’s lack of a centralized financial system has caused years of repeated audit findings, which can be resolved by fully implementing ERP or Enterprise Resource Planning. The following is attributable to Rauner spokeswoman Eleni Demertzis:
“The audit finding in the report perfectly illustrates why Illinois needs to modernize our antiquated technology systems. We continue to be baffled by Comptroller Mendoza’s decision to halt payments on technology upgrades that will bring more financial transparency and accountability to the State of Illinois. Making these upgrades will allow the Governor’s Office and every executive branch agency the ability to quickly prepare and complete accurate financial records that the people of the state deserve.”
* The Illinois Republican Party got itself involved in some Schaumburg Township trustee races and is using a familiar storyline…
I’ve heard of sins of the father, but not sins of the son.
* Dan Murray is the father of my former intern Mike Murray. Mike helped run former Sen. Dan Kotowski’s campaign in 2012 and was Rep. Fred Crespo’s campaign manager in 2016. Crespo won with 63 percent, so it’s not like this was some hugely targeted race. I barely remembered Mike was working there because I don’t think I ever actually reported on that no-contest race.
But, hey, “Madigan” is one of our state’s favorite pejoratives these days.
Also, Zuhair Nubani is an attorney. Never met the guy, don’t know him. But some background on that particular ILGOP claim is here and here.
…Adding… From Zuhair Nubani…
In my 25 years as a practicing attorney I have represented many clients across a wide spectrum of races, religions and creeds. Unlike my opponents I believe everyone in the United States has a fundamental right to legal counsel regardless of their race, religion or political belief. Bigotry and fear mongering has no place in our society
SPOTTED: Mendoza’s “LOADED” Taxpayer Funded SUV
Mendoza Used Taxpayer Dollars to Buy $32,000 SUV With Heated Leather Seats, Navigation, Power Trunk
Last month, Comptroller Susana Mendoza drew heat for using taxpayer dollars just weeks into office to buy herself a $32,000 luxury featured SUV, sending her staff with a check to pay for the car in full.
Listing records reveal that Madigan’s comptroller spent taxpayer dollars to get herself a “LOADED” SUV with heated leather seats, navigation, and a power liftgate - luxury features paid for by you, the taxpayer.
New footage shows just how fancy Mendoza’s taxpayer purchase is.
Way to creepily stalk me. On the taxpayer's $$?? Next time have the courtesy to say hi & not run away in your getaway car. #stalker#twillhttps://t.co/1YKjVxZGna
@susanamendoza10 No taxpayer $ was used to expose your luxury purchase. Time to apologize for spending $32k on an SUV and cutting politicians an $8M check.
The Illinois Senate is telling Gov. Bruce Rauner it doesn’t want prison nurse jobs filled by private contractors.
Plainview Republican Sen. Sam McCann’s measure won approval Wednesday 40-15. It would prohibit the Department of Corrections from eliminating jobs of any state employees who provide prison health care services.
Republican Rauner’s administration announced last week it intended to dismiss 124 union nurses and privatize their positions this summer.
The Senate voted 40-15 on Senate Bill 19, whose chief sponsor is Sen. Sam McCann, R-Plainview. […]
“We have to really think about what’s best for our districts, what’s best for the state, what’s best for these facilities, what’s best for the safety within the facilities,” he said, citing a 400-page study by the federal government that showed serious understaffing by Wexford. There have also been multiple lawsuits filed by inmates alleging inadequate care by Wexford.
“Wexford’s busy counting their money in Pennsylvania. I’m trying to keep Illinoisans working,” McCann said.
Sen. Kyle McCarter, R-Lebanon, said that Wexford has offered to hire at least some of the laid-off nurses. […]
A similar bill passed the General Assembly last year, but was vetoed by Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner. The bill died when the House failed to override the veto.
Governor Bruce Rauner says his plan would save 8 million dollars per year. Private companies, in his view, can do the same work for cheaper. However, Democrats say that’s because private companies don’t pay their workers well. Four Republican senators, including Sam McCann from Plainview, agreed.
“Why can’t we be for working people?” he said. “Why would we let these nurses go, then hire them back the next day…for less.”
The Rauner administration says Illinois has been outsourcing other prison health services for 25 years.
* Related…
* Menard prison nurse hopes to keep job after layoff notice: For 11 years, Tara Chadderton has worked a graveyard shift at Menard Correctional Center. This past week, she received a layoff notice from the state. This prison nurse refuses to go quietly into the night. Employment in a maximum security prison is not for everyone, but Chadderton said she has found it to be a good fit for her. It takes a certain amount of mental toughness, as there are occasions when she and the other nurses are harassed by the inmates while they make the rounds delivering medication. They have been spit on, and had excrement thrown at them. She said some nights are worse than others.
* Layoffs looming as nurses worry about prison care: She said it is important nurses stand their ground sometimes to get their patients the care that is needed. “These people are somebody’s brother, somebody’s loved one. They’re people, too,” she said. “It’s not my job to judge. We’re hired to take care of them.”
An audit of Chicago State University by the state’s auditor general released on Wednesday found that the embattled university improperly reported more than $51 million in federal awards.
According to the report by the state’s Auditor General Frank Mautino, the university did not properly prepare expenditure reports, as federal law requires, for federal awards amounting to $51,731,277 for two loan programs from the Department of Education.
Two awards from the Department of Health and Human Services related to a program for providing education and training to eligible individuals for health-care related professions were also improperly classified, the report said.
The university is required to identify in its accounts all federal awards received and expended, and the federal programs under which they are received, the report said.
The university responded that it agreed with the recommendation but said that it had properly reported the loan amounts within the “footnotes” of their report.
* The Decatur Herald & Review interviewed some local legislators after the Paul Simon Public Policy Institute released a poll showing 66 percent of Illinoisans support legalizing marijuana…
State Rep. Bill Mitchell, R-Forsyth, described himself as “old-fashioned” with his opposition to legalization, feeling it acts as a gateway drug to harder, illegal substances.
“I think it raises more problems than it could possibly answer,” he said. “With legalization, I don’t agree with it at all.”
However, Mitchell did say he would be open to some decriminalization in relation to marijuana.
State Sen. Dale Righter, R-Mattoon, expressed similar sentiments about marijuana being a gateway drug, saying that legalization would increase the rate of homelessness and poverty as well as put a financial strain on social services who help people with addiction.
“You’re going to have ill effects with legalization, especially if Illinois is the only Midwestern state to do this,” Righter said.
State Sen. Andy Manar, D-Bunker Hill, said in an unrelated conference call Monday morning that he has not yet taken a stance on the matter, focusing most of his attention on school funding and a “grand bargain” budget bill. He did say he hopes the proposed plan starts a dialogue among lawmakers about legalization and that more information comes out in the coming months during hearings.
Hey, if we do become the only Midwestern state to legalize weed, the tourism potential would be pretty darned strong.
And why would legalized marijuana increase homelessness? There are plenty of homeless alcoholics, so should we ban their hugely addictive substance? Also, plenty of highly productive folks use marijuana. That argument is a total red herring. And a gateway drug? Dude, the 1980s called, it want its propaganda back. Also, you might as well ban beer, because it’s often a “gateway drug” to whiskey.
I mean, heck, even the curmudgeons at the Champaign News-Gazette grudgingly admitted this week that times have changed…
But it seems obvious that more and more people expect less bad to result from law enforcement’s expansive and hugely expensive efforts to reduce consumption of a product in wide demand.
…Adding… As mentioned in comments, there are some very real gateway drugs that lead to the abuse of some truly dangerous substances, so maybe focus on those?…
The so-called “Heroin Highway” from Chicago to Kane County is thriving, Kane County Sheriff’s Department officials said in Aurora.
“We are getting killed by heroin,” Kane County Sheriff’s Sgt. Aaron Feiza said at a forum in Aurora, calling the current situation a crisis.
Dealers from primarily Chicago’s West Side are bringing heroin into the Aurora area with a higher potency than before, which is causing more overdose deaths throughout the county, he said. […]
Thefts, burglaries and other crimes are up in Kane County and 99 percent of the time the crimes are associated with addiction, [Kane County Sheriff’s Sgt. Aaron Feiza] said.
He estimates 95 percent of heroin addicts he’s dealt with started using prescription drugs first. Prescription drugs often are more expensive - one pill can cost between $70 and $80, he said. Heroin becomes a cheaper alternative, Feiza said. A bag of heroin costs $10 or $15 for the same kind of high, he said.
Private insurance claims related to opioid abuse and dependence diagnoses increased 329 percent in Illinois between 2007 and 2014, according to data from Fair Health, a New York-based nonprofit that seeks to increase transparency in health care costs.
In Chicago alone, such claims increased 382 percent over the seven-year period.
Robin Gelburd, president of Fair Health—which analyzed more than 23 billion claims from more than 150 million privately insured Americans—says that while Chicago’s claims increased at a greater rate than the state’s, the city’s proportion of opioid claims remains smaller than that of the rest of Illinois, based on population.
Citing U.S. Census data from last year, she says Chicago represents 21 percent of Illinois’ overall population but only 14 percent of opioid-related diagnoses.
* Will there be problems with legalization? Of course there will be. But this failed national war on pot is hurting far more lives than the actual use of the product.
Also, Sen. Manar, way to stick your neck out, bud.
I support the legalization of marijuana if the goals of the legislation are to take power away from gangs and reduce drug-related violence. The impact of the legislation should be to divert resources from arresting and prosecuting low-level, non-violent offenders to focus on those who seek to harm others. Our communities have been under siege for too long for this to be passed without support from community leaders and law enforcement officials. This isn’t just a criminal justice issue, it’s a public health issue, and we must commit the proper resources to address these issues responsibly.
Chicago Treasurer Kurt Summers is continuing his flirtation with a run for the Democratic nomination for governor in 2018, sending an email to supporters explaining why he’s weighing a bid and alerting them to an upcoming fundraiser.
In the Wednesday night email, titled “New Leadership in Illinois,” Summers says he’s been meeting with community leaders, union workers, business owners and others about a possible run and concluded that “Illinois needs someone who will fix our budget deficit, create jobs, improve education and fight for working people day-in and day-out.”
The next time Gov. BRUCE RAUNER could face a Democrat on the ballot is 19 months away — in November 2018.
But it’s just nine weeks until the scheduled May 31 end of the spring legislative session, when, in a normal year, it might be about the time a budget gets approved.
Of course the state hasn’t had a real budget in place since June 2015, so there is no normal.
Into that mix there is now added at least $1 million in ads featuring Republican Rauner — some with him saying, “The politicians that got us into this mess” want as a solution “higher taxes, more spending, no real reforms.” […]
JON THOMPSON, communications director for the Republican Governors Association, said the Rauner ad is paid for by State Solutions, a 501(c)4 affiliate of the RGA. He said the ad buy is seven figures and nearly statewide, including the Chicago and Springfield markets. The ads are also on digital platforms across the state.
The State of Illinois’ (Baa2 negative) credit rating is vulnerable to further downgrades as “grand bargain” talks to resolve an almost two-year budget impasses have broken down, and intensifying liquidity pressures have tripled the state’s chronic backlog of unpaid bills to a record $13 billion, Moody’s Investors Service says in a new report.
“Illinois is at a critical juncture and its leaders must choose between further credit deterioration and drift without compromise, or the potential for stabilization. With a budget consensus, Illinois could quickly secure its financial position,” said Ted Hampton, a Moody’s Vice President – Senior Credit Officer.
The report, “Illinois (State of): Record Bill Backlog Signals Critical Juncture for State’s Leaders,” notes Illinois is the lowest-rated state and is seven notches lower than the median Aa1 state rating. Illinois’ credit weakness incorporates very large unfunded pension liabilities, the two-year political standoff, and its long-running reliance on payment deferral to manage operating budget imbalances.
The state’s bill backlog reached a record $13 billion on March 20, according to the state comptroller, and if no agreement is reached it could approach $28 billion by the end of FY 2019. The lack of an agreement to raise revenue, which is at the center of the state’s fiscal impasse, means that Illinois taxes and other revenues are insufficient to cover its operations.
Failure to reach a consensus before the current legislative session adjourns on May 31 would signal political paralysis, leaving Illinois on a path toward unsustainable fiscal challenges that will heighten the risk of creditor-adverse actions. These could include borrowing from debt service funds, depleting available non-operating cash, or prioritizing core operating needs over debt service.
While the state’s growing liquidity pressures have not yet impacted its ability to pay bondholder debt, the state’s chronic underfunding and payment deferral is running into political and legal limits, notably at the state’s public universities, where Illinois has appropriated $1.5 billion less than it normally would have.
While Illinois’ current fiscal year operating deficit is $5.7 billion, the state could quickly begin stabilizing its finances once budget balancing measures have been reached. Liquidity would be promptly restored because Illinois’ financial pressures have been driven by gridlock, rather than economic conditions beyond the government’s control.
And while the “Grand Bargain” appears to be stalled in the legislature, Moody’s believes the revenue measures in the deal, combined with spending restraints that keep payment deferrals from recurring, could improve Illinois’ financial prospects.
* I have a ton of personal errands to run this afternoon, so blogging could be light. Talk amongst yourselves, but try to keep it Illinois-centric and be nice to each other. Thanks!
Wednesday, Mar 29, 2017 - Posted by Advertising Department
[The following is a paid advertisement.]
Last year, the City of Philadelphia passed a beverage tax similar to a tax plan introduced in the Illinois General Assembly this year. The negative effects of the tax have been devastating for employees and the economy. Layoffs, cuts in employee hours, depressed revenue and massive price increase have consumers and small businesses outraged.
Illinois lawmakers should reject new beverage taxes and protect hard-working men and women, small businesses and family budgets. Philadelphia sales are off by up to 50% as people have fled to the suburbs to do their shopping and escape the tax. That not only hurts restaurants and grocery stores, it dramatically increases prices for families.
If similar sales declines as those seen in Philadelphia occur here in Illinois, it could mean more than 19,000 lost Illinois jobs, $875 million in lost wages and nearly $1.6 billion in lost economic activity. Oppose the beverage tax – learn more at www.NoILBeverageTax.com.
* Earlier today, some Democratic legislators announced a new set of policies that they hope their party and voters will support. From their new website…
Priority Legislation: SJRCA 1 — Amends the Illinois Constitution to allow us to tax billionaires at a higher rate than janitors.
Principles
* Big corporations shouldn’t get huge tax breaks from the state that aren’t available to small businesses
* Stock market income shouldn’t be taxed at a vastly lower rate than income from working a job
* The highest earners should pay more than working people and the poor to stabilize our budget
* We should expand the Earned Income Tax Credit to support low-income working families
Emphasis added because I thought stock market income was taxed in Illinois like all income.
* So, I asked for clarification…
Yes, but it’s taxed at a vastly lower rate at the federal government, so we propose raising the rate in Illinois somewhat to bring it closer to parity.
* The Question: Do you support raising the state’s personal income tax rate on investment income? Click here to take the poll and then explain your answer in comments, please.
Illinois requires less accountability be a gun dealer than a dog groomer, Senator Don Harmon said Tuesday while defending a commonsense proposal to license gun dealers at the state level in an effort to curb Chicago violence.
Harmon’s Senate Bill 1657 would allow Illinois to license gun dealers and encourage better business practices while holding corrupt dealers accountable as authorities try to get a handle on the violence epidemic that continues to plague Chicago neighborhoods. Gun dealers also must be licensed by federal authorities.
The proposal passed out of the Senate’s Judiciary Committee Tuesday in a 7-5 vote after a great deal of debate about whose responsibility it is to monitor gun dealers and find solutions to gun violence.
“Gun violence in Chicago is a huge problem. For people to sit around in the Capitol and say, ‘Let someone else take care of it and enforce the laws on the books,’ is incredibly frustrating,” said Harmon, an Oak Park Democrat. “Twenty-six other states license gun dealers. This is not breaking new ground. It’s a modest proposal. It’s harder to be a dog groomer or a hair stylist in Illinois.”
Senate Bill 1657 would establish two types of licenses: dealer and dealership. A dealer would be any person engaged in the business of selling, leasing or otherwise transferring firearms; a dealership would be a person, firm, corporation or other legal entity that does the same.
Applicants for each license would have to meet a series of requirements before receiving a state license. Violating the terms of the license can resulting in penalties.
The legislation also would establish a gun dealer licensing board to recommend policies, procedures and rules under the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation, which would license gun dealers.
“I want to be clear: There is no evidence that the gun violence problem is being caused by law-abiding gun owners. We need to focus on the real problem, which is illegal guns getting into the wrong hands,” Harmon said. “Somewhere between a gun manufacturer and a crime scene is a person who is pretending to be a law-abiding gun owner but is not. That is the problem this legislation seeks to address.
“Senate Bill 1657 does nothing more than impose industry standards for best practices that should be observed by every gun dealer already but unfortunately aren’t.”
A recent study showed that 40 percent of guns used in crimes between 2009 and 2014 came from Illinois and that nearly 17 percent – or roughly 3,000 – of all guns used in crimes in Chicago were sold by just three of the Illinois’ more than 2,400 gun dealers. All three are near Chicago.
Two state senators are co-sponsoring legislation they say would stop Gov. Bruce Rauner’s administration from outsourcing additional medical and mental health service jobs from state prisons.
This past week, 124 nurses employed at 10 state prisons learned that they were being laid off and their jobs privatized. In Southern Illinois, that includes 13 nurses employed at Menard Correctional Center, and 13 at Vienna Correctional Center.
They were notified by Illinois Department of Corrections that their jobs will end on June 15.
* Press release…
The Lincoln Land Chapter of ABATE of Illinois has several concerns with HB2747, the Safe Autonomous Vehicles Act being considered in the Illinois House of Representatives today.
The bill as proposed does not have any requirements for independent testing of the systems used by autonomous vehicles to detect and avoid other vehicles. It also does not address different vehicle sizes, such as motorcycles, and testing of the systems to detect those as well.
Recently, there have been several incidents with Uber’s fleet of autonomous Volvos operating in the Bay area and in Arizona. Uber was caught operating without proper permits in San Francisco after footage of their autonomous vehicle running a red light was posted online. An eyewitness account states that the vehicle was in auto driving mode and took off across the intersection after initially stopping at the red. It is believed fog was a factor in the incident. Uber vehicles have also been spotted weaving across bicycle lanes, endangering those riders. In Arizona, an Uber autonomous vehicle was unable to avoid collision with a wayward driver. Even though the other vehicle was at fault, Uber grounded their fleet. This raises questions about the autonomous vehicle’s ability to account for abnormal traffic situations.
A 2013 NHTSA study shows that 51% of fatal motorcycle crashes involved collisions with motor vehicles, and 74% of collisions are front end collisions. Too often motor vehicles pull into the path or turn in front of motorcyclists often with fatal consequences. This is the cause of the “Look twice, save a life” campaign for motorcycle awareness throughout Illinois.
Uber’s current fleet meets the requirements of HB2747 as written. Given the documented incidents that have already occured with these vehicles, and the safety risk posed by faulty detection systems to motorcycles, ABATE insists that these vehicles be able to detect motorcycles from all directions, in traffic situations, and at various speeds before being allowed on Illinois roadways. We further insist on requiring independent testing to verify that these systems are able to meet these requirements. Additionally, ABATE would like to see the operator and owner of the vehicle liable for any traffic incidents that occur while the vehicle is in autonomous mode.
As pork producers exploit weak laws to build and expand large hog confinements across rural Illinois, neighboring farmers have complained their rights are being trampled while waste spills poison local streams and sickening gases ruin families’ lives and property values.
But after years of frustration and legislative inaction, lawmakers on Tuesday announced four new bills that would tighten Illinois’ lax environmental protections and give local citizens more input in the permitting process, as well as standing to challenge the massive facilities in court.
The bills, proposed in response to the Tribune’s August investigation, “The Price of Pork,” would represent the first significant reforms to Illinois’ 1996 Livestock Management Facilities Act, which has been criticized for failing to keep pace with the dramatic growth of swine confinements. Holding thousands of pigs and sometimes producing millions of gallons of manure annually, the operations now account for more than 90 percent of Illinois’ $1.5 billion in annual hog sales.
* According to this SJ-R story, coal industry employment in Illinois last year was 3,600. Natural gas is a big price competitor, of course, and the coal industry has greatly enhanced its productivity, so employment will never recover its losses since 1990, when the industry employed 10,000 people here…
Even if coal sales improve, mining techniques require ever fewer miners for increased production. The 3,600 miners required to produce 43.3 million tons of Illinois coal in 2016 was approximately the same number required to produce 33.4 million tons in 2010, according to coal association figures.
Meanwhile, according to the article, Illinois had 3,700 jobs in the solar industry alone last year, up 7 percent from the year before. And then there’s all those wind power jobs.
President Donald Trump campaigned on putting coal miners back to work, and on Tuesday, he gave the impression he was delivering. But he wasn’t.
Trump rolled back Obama administration regulations considered detrimental to the industry. But the president’s actions will bring minimal benefit to the coal-producing regions that helped him win the White House, according to the government’s own projections.
At best, according to government data, coal production will increase by about 5 million tons a year by 2040 out of 800 million tons overall under Trump’s order.
Not all coal-producing regions will see an increase. Western and Appalachian coal are still forecast to decline. Only Illinois Basin coal will increase over time.
That’s a mere 0.6 percent production gain over 23 years - at best - although Illinois will apparently do slightly better.
* As another article points out, it’ll now be easier to open mines, but the industry still faces serious market challenges.
According to the US Census Bureau, there are 9.02 million eligible voters in the state of Illinois. As of the November 2016 election, 8.14 million of those are active, registered voters with the state.
According to the Illinois State Board of Elections, a registered voter is reported as “active” by the voter’s local election jurisdiction if they have registered or voted within the past 2-4 Presidential Election cycles, or if they confirmed their registration address within a short time after that period. This means that 90% of eligible voters in Illinois are registered and active in the state. […]
The largest group of new registrations (30%) came from 18-24 year-olds. These new registrations make up 2.8% of all active, registered voters in Illinois. Additionally, 53% of new registrations were made by women, roughly matching the 52% of eligible voters in Illinois who are female.
Turnout of Newly Registered Voters
Of the 762,546 people who registered to vote between the Primary and General Election, 73% (559,019) actually turned out to vote in the election. Below is a breakdown of voter turnout:
75% of women who registered in this period voted in the election
71% of men who registered in this period voted in the election
The highest turnout among new registrants was among voters aged 55-64, with 79% voting
The lowest turnout among new registrants was among voters aged 18-24, with 66% voting
These numbers include the voters who registered at their polling places on Election Day. About 80,000 of the over 5.6 million voters in the General Election registered same-day. This equates to:
1.4% of all Illinois voters in the 2016 election
11% of all new registrations between the 2016 Primary and General Election
About 5.3 million total voters turned out for the 2012 election in Illinois, and 5.5 million voted in 2008.
Conclusion
Overall, new registrations account for 9% of the total active, registered voters in Illinois. This large increase in voter registration has led to the highest number of registered voters Illinois has ever seen.
Senate leaders this week are hoping to revive their sweeping budget proposal, which has stalled after the governor weighed in on the plan.
The latest talks center on a potential tax hike, with negotiators saying Rauner is pushing to make any income tax increase temporary. They say his office wants that hike to be limited to five years and paired with a five-year property tax freeze.
Some Democrats are worried about a temporary hike, saying it would create a funding “cliff” in the future (that’s what happened when the 2011 temporary income tax hike expired in 2015). They also are concerned about extending a property tax freeze for that long. They instead want a two-year freeze that would allow local voters to say if they want to extend it for three more years. […]
Senate lawmakers plan to meet behind closed doors Wednesday, when they are likely to decide whether to move ahead with another round of voting on the plan, which is being negotiated by Senate President John Cullerton and Republican leader Christine Radogno.
Senator Bill Brady, (R)-Bloomington, has introduced 7 budget bills he says will create the first balanced budget the state has seen in years.
The Bloomington Republican announced his package of bills Tuesday afternoon, which he says contain $5 billion in cuts. “Cuts are never easy, and I don’t anticipate the cuts outlined in this budget will be well received by everybody, but given the situation that our state is operating at a court ordered spending plan, with billions of dollars of deficit spending it’s time to fix Illinois fiscal crisis.” he said.
Senator Brady says his proposal provides for selling revenue bonds totaling $6 billion to reduce the state’s backlog of unpaid bills and save the state millions of dollars in interest costs.
“The state’s unpaid bills now total almost $13 billion, or $1,000 for every man, woman and child in the state. If we do nothing, our unpaid bills, what we owe to medical providers, social service agencies and other vendors, will grow to move than $20 billion over the next two years. That’s not the message Illinois out to be sending to the world, and it’s not the kind of system we should ask Illinoisans to accept.” he said.
Senator Brady says this budget package is not being proposed as a replacement for the Grand Bargain, rather a supplement to it. “I have always said that a balanced budget must be an integral part of the grand compromise that the Senate has worked on. While I appreciate the hard work and progress that has gone into some of these proposals, nobody has been talking about a budget. What I’m proposing is a balanced budget that takes into account the new revenues from that compromise but also includes more than $5 billion in general revenue fund spending cuts, adjustments and cost savings, including 5 percent across-the-board cuts for most of state government outside elementary and secondary education.”
“Now that I’ve read it, what I see is that there’s a significant departure from our agreement,” he says. “There’s a lengthy list of things that do not reflect our agreement. Some of those are things we discussed and I thought we had an agreement on, but the amendment doesn’t reflect that. Others are concepts that were never discussed that are being introduced now in this amendment.” […]
But after actually reading Manar’s plan, Barickman asked for lots of big changes. Manar points out that Senate Republicans have never filed a school funding reform bill, and suggests it’s time for them to do so. If they do, Manar says, “I guarantee I will have it heard in the Senate education committee.”
That bill is an integral part of the grand bargain. No SB1, no grand bargain.
…Adding… Barickman did sponsor an education funding reform bill and Manar was a co-sponsor. So it has been done before. Click here.
*** UPDATE 2 *** Yep. Subscribers know more…
About that effort to revive Senate grand bargain this week, told it ain't happening. GOP and Dem rank and file seem to be going own way.
A notice of intent to appeal was filed Tuesday in the Legislator Pay case. Attorney General Lisa Madigan’s office filed the notice on behalf of Comptroller Susana A. Mendoza with the First District Appellate Court in Chicago.
Comptroller Mendoza believes there is a sound policy reason, given the absence of a balanced state budget, to prioritize payments to the state’s most vulnerable – hospice care; child care; meals on wheels for seniors – ahead of paychecks for elected officials.
They should appeal this case, if for no other reason than we ought to know once and for all if the executive branch has the constitutional authority to starve out legislators.
*** UPDATE 1 *** Press release…
Deputy Governor Leslie Munger released the following statement on Comptroller Susana Mendoza’s decision to appeal the judge’s ruling on lawmaker pay.
“We appreciate that Comptroller Mendoza will appeal the Court’s ruling, but frankly, it’s too little too late. Before the ink was dry on the judge’s order, she expedited payments for all eight months of lawmaker back pay costing taxpayers more than $8 million and causing more delays for human service organizations. She had the chance to ask the Court to keep politicians, including herself, from being prioritized for payment from the state but she declined. It’s clear that Comptroller Mendoza’s priorities are to help herself and her friends in the legislature at the expense of those most in need.”
Deputy Governor Munger will be available for interviews. Please contact Eleni Demertzis for availability.
And, yes, I put that response on the wrong post earlier. Weird day.
* Related…
* Mendoza, Munger and Rauner locked in endless campaign: It’s been nearly five months since Democrat Susana Mendoza defeated the governor’s hand-picked candidate Leslie Munger in the state comptroller’s race – but it’s almost as if the campaign never ended. Mendoza again lashed out Tuesday at Gov. Bruce Rauner, criticizing his “inability” to propose a budget, while dubbing him “the worst governor that’s ever served this state.” In response, Munger, whom Rauner appointed deputy governor with a $138,00 salary after her defeat, urged her former competitor to look in the “mirror,” instead of point fingers over who’s to blame for the “sorry condition of our state.”
A group of House and Senate Democrats on Wednesday are scheduled to unveil what they’re calling the “Illinois comeback agenda,” a five-point plan to try to counter Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner’s “turnaround agenda.”
Rauner has made parts of his economic plan prerequisites for a full budget deal, which hasn’t yet been struck during his first term. While the governor’s plan has continued to morph, key pillars include a property tax freeze, changes to the state’s workers’ compensation system and term limits on elected officials.
Details of the Democratic plan were still being worked out Tuesday. Details of the Democratic plan were still being worked out Tuesday but could include five legislative measures dealing with the budget, campaign finance, criminal justice, education funding and health, said Ryan Keith, an adviser helping to organize the announcement. The group also will unveil a new nonprofit called Reimagine Illinois to help push the proposals.
The effort comes as some rank-and-file Democrats grow increasingly frustrated by what they view as a lack of a strategy to fight back against Rauner. They want to present ideas to counter accusations that they are simply acting as obstructionists. [Emphasis added.]
Big presser today and yet they admit they hadn’t worked out the issues by the day before. Yep. They’re experts at that messaging stuff, those Dems.
*** UPDATE 1 *** From the ILGOP…
The Illinois Republican Party issued the following statement regarding the Chicago Tribune’s report this morning that Democrats will announce a new legislative agenda focused on campaign finance, criminal justice, education funding, health care and the budget.
“While it’s nice to see Democrats join the Governor on criminal justice reform and improving schools, it’s alarming that their agenda appears to include nothing to lower property taxes or increase jobs throughout the state. And any effort to fix the political system that doesn’t include term limits or redistricting reform isn’t a serious one. Illinoisans want a balanced budget with real spending caps, a true property tax freeze, and economic reforms to grow jobs. Democrats should add these key items to their agenda if they are serious about improving Illinois.” - Illinois Republican Party Spokesman Steven Yaffe
Quad-City Times: “Mendoza ditched campaign pledge”
She’s revealed herself to be “just another pawn of the Democratic machine”
From the Quad-City Times Editorial Board:
Like a good Illinois Democrat, state Comptroller Susana Mendoza rolled over.
Mendoza had two choices last week after a court ordered her to pay state lawmakers when no budget exists: Appeal or cave. She chose the latter.
Mendoza immediately started issuing lawmakers’ paychecks following a ruling in Cook County ordering the release of lawmakers’ paychecks. Mendoza didn’t come up with the idea to withhold paychecks for the very people responsible for Illinois’ two-year fiscal dumpster fire. Her GOP predecessor, Leslie Munger, died on that hill.
Mendoza’s lack of action so far suggests she’s just another slave to Madigan’s Chicago Democrats.
Appeal the decision, Ms. Mendoza. Anything less will verify our suspicions.
Whew.
…Adding… Newspaper editorial boards are committees of people who make their living writing. So, every word matters in editorials because those words are published with an explicit intent to persuade an audience. And I gotta say, the use of the word “slave” in this context is repellent.
This isn’t some random person calling into a radio station talk show, or a nasty person on Twitter. These words were written by professionals and presumably approved by the entire board.
Also, if she’s “just another slave,” who are the others? Does that include black legislators, too?
* We already know where Gov. Rauner stands on legalizing marijuana. He doesn’t like the idea. At all.
But I wanted to know where the Democratic candidates stood on the issue, so I reached out to the campaigns yesterday.
* Ameya Pawar has already made it clear (click here) that he supports full legalization. This is from Sen. Daniel Biss…
Thumbs up on the Cassidy-Steans bill. It’s the right criminal justice policy, it’s right from the point of view of fairness, and it’s right for the state’s bottom line.
By the way, this is a great issue to help candidates raise small-dollar grassroots contributions from legalization proponents, not only in Illinois, but across the country.
* From the Chris Kennedy campaign…
Chris supports decriminalizing marijuana in Illinois. He believes we should not be prosecuting and crowding our jails over simple possession of marijuana. He is reviewing studies done on the effects of legalization in other states before determining if legalization would be right for Illinois.
* Bob Daiber campaign…
Dr. Daiber is strongly in favor of medicinal marijuana in Illinois.
As this current time, he is still researching the legalization of marijuana recreationally and cannot weigh in on one side or the other.
He does say he is in favor of a ballot initiative to allow voters to legalize marijuana of their own free will, similar to what had occurred in Colorado and Washington.
When I pointed out that we don’t have binding initiatives in Illinois, I received this response…
Daiber feels that even though it would be non-binding, he would base his decision to pass legislation legalizing recreational marijuana based on the will of the people.
* I haven’t yet heard back from the Kurt Summers people, but I might’ve used the wrong e-mail address. I’ll let you know what he says.
Also, JB Pritzker hasn’t yet answered any policy questions ahead of his possible announcement and it was clear yesterday that the campaign didn’t want to establish a new precedent when I asked for his position.
Calling it “more of a nuisance than a disability,” Chris Kennedy on Tuesday acknowledged that he suffers from a hereditary disorder that causes tremors — a day after the Sun-Times reported that the gubernatorial candidate’s hands were shaking during a meet-and-greet with Cook County Democratic leaders.
“I wanted to set the record straight. The shaking is a condition I’ve lived with my whole life called familial [tremors.] It runs in the family. Doctors don’t know what causes it other than it is hereditary and does not cause impairment — more of a nuisance than a disability. In fact, many of my family members live with it. It doesn’t limit any of us in any way,” Kennedy wrote in a statement on Facebook.
“I don’t talk much about it, not because I’m ashamed of it, but because having dealt with it my whole life, it’s just not that big a deal to me. The fact is millions of people live their lives with far, far great challenges than an occasional handshake.
“The fact is improving the health of this state is a whole more important to me than talking about a minor condition. Once in a while, my hand will shake whether I like it or not. But regardless, most of the time, the kind of handshakes you’ll see from me will be on the campaign trail, earning the votes of the people of Illinois who believe in our quest to restore the promise of our state,” he wrote.
* As noted above, he has what’s known as “familial tremor,” which is a subset of “essential tremor.” Here’s the definition…
Essential tremor signs and symptoms:
Begin gradually, usually on one side of the body
Worsen with movement
Usually occur in the hands first, affecting one hand or both hands
Can include a “yes-yes” or “no-no” motion of the head
May be aggravated by emotional stress, fatigue, caffeine or temperature extremes […]
About half of essential tremor cases appear to result from a genetic mutation, although a specific gene hasn’t been identified. This form is referred to as familial tremor. It isn’t clear what causes essential tremor in people without a known genetic mutation. […]
Essential tremor isn’t life-threatening, but symptoms often worsen over time.
He has it in both hands.
It’s really not a big deal for an average person. The problem for Kennedy is that the shaking can sometimes become more prominent during times of stress, like, perhaps, during an important debate or TV appearance. Again, physically, it’s not a big thing, but people just don’t pay a lot of attention to state politics, so they can be very shallow when making their judgements about candidates.
This game, whether we care to admit it or not, is a lot about show business. It doesn’t affect his brain, but it could affect the perception of him.
…Adding… As a commenter notes below, one possible irony here is that Kennedy’s uncle, JFK, won a presidential debate and maybe even the whole campaign because Richard Nixon looked horrible on TV.
