What will Rauner and the GOP members of the Senate propose that will hit the sweet spot of satisfying recalcitrant Republicans and bringing Democrats back to the table? Because try as some in the GOP might, they cannot solve the budget impasse, or any of the state’s severe problems, without Democratic support.
Republicans derailed the package last week. This is theirs to fix.
A recap: The fragile budget compromise in the Senate, which includes a dozen bills strung together and an income tax hike, collapsed when Republican senators backed away. They abandoned their leader, Sen. Christine Radogno, who had negotiated the compromise with Senate President John Cullerton.
Rauner, along with the right-leaning Illinois Policy Institute and its allies who want more pro-business, pro-growth reforms in the deal, began pressing to stall it. Senate Republicans who supported the compromise were threatened with potential primary opponents in 2018, a strong-arm tactic not unlike those employed by House Speaker Michael Madigan. Republicans routinely accuse Madigan of using his clout and war chest to leverage cooperation from incumbents. Cross him and there’s a price to pay.
It’s the circular dysfunction of a small-D democratic government in Illinois: The self-serving calculus of re-election always seems to eclipse attempts at problem-solving. This time, it was Republicans playing on clout, threats and leverage.
A bit harsh, which is even weirder considering the source.
* This doesn’t mean that the rapper didn’t get some help or some coaching. He can afford to pay for it and his father has been in Chicago politics for a very long time, including a stint with Mayor Emanuel.
But, again, if you scan through his Twitter page you’ll see that he did a bunch of homework before today’s press conference. Give the guy a little credit. Not everyone’s a tool.
*** UPDATE *** From his statement: “Gov. Rauner broke his promise to Chicago’s children a few months ago as the result of an admitted emotional reaction when he vetoed the $215 million, funding the Chicago schools were counting on to close out the school year.”
“Our kids should not be held hostage because of political positioning,” the rapper said. “If the governor does not act, CPS will be forced to end school 13 days early, which means over 380,000 kids will not have adult supervised activities in June, and could possibly be put in harm’s way,” he said.
“While I’m frustrated and disappointed in the governor’s inaction, that will not stop me from continuing to do all I can to support Chicago’s most valuable resource, it’s children.” He then announced the million dollar donation and asked others to do the same.
“I’m going to throw one more in,” he said after thanking several people. “Gov. Rauner, do your job.”
The bulk of property taxes payable last year — $16.9 billion, or 59 percent — went to local public school districts across the state, the chief revenue source for preK-12 education in Illinois, according to the state revenue department. Property taxes accounted for roughly 63 percent of schools’ operating resources, according to the state education board. Excluding retirement contributions, the state’s share was only about 26 percent of the total, well below the 44 percent national average. Federal funds completed the picture. […]
Phillips notes that the foundation level — the per-pupil dollars the state guarantees to each school district under a complex general state aid formula — has been stuck at $6,119 since Fiscal Year 2010, even as costs rise. Moreover, formula funding had been prorated since the 2012 budget year, so that districts received between 87 percent and 95 percent of the funds to which they were entitled. To his credit, Rauner ended proration in the current budget, in part by shifting money from special education programs to cover fully formula claims. He’s also proposed a $30 million increase for FY 2018 to fund fully general state aid. In addition, his plan would boost transportation funding by $145 million, hike early childhood spending by $50 million, provide an additional $38 million for bilingual education, and increase outlays for various other programs by some $12 million.
While the additional dollars would be welcome, the state’s stricken finances have forced schools to wait months for cash promised them in the current budget, as grant money for special education, transportation, and other programs languish in the massive bill backlog, pegged at $12-plus billion plus this week by the comptroller’s office. For example, districts have yet to receive any grant money for FY17, now eight months old. […]
Had a freeze been effect last year, [Monticello Community Unit School District 25] would have lost about $175,000 in revenue from its $16 million budget, equivalent to the cost of four teachers, Zimmerman said. The savings would have amounted to about $31 to the owner of a $150,000 home in Monticello. […]
While a property tax freeze poses the greatest threat to local schools’ revenues, Rauner’s recommended FY 18 budget includes several other proposals likely to increase their costs. As part of his cost-saving suggestions, the governor would provide no funding for after school programs, advance placement classes, arts/foreign language instruction, and other programs, according to legislative analysts. Would parents expect their local schools to keep some of those offerings, even with no state dollars to help defray costs? […]
An even bigger burden is embodied in the governor’s ambitious proposal to cut state contributions to pension systems for public school teachers outside Chicago and other public workers. Under his plan, local school districts and public universities— not the state — would pay the full retirement costs for new teachers and other workers, a cost-shift that would save the state an estimated $500 million, with schools and universities picking up the tab.
Amends the Liquor Control Act of 1934. Provides that the provisions of the Act prohibiting the possession and consumption of alcoholic liquor by a person under 21 years of age and dispensing of alcoholic liquor to a person under 21 years of age do not apply if the person under 21 years of age (1) is on premises where a restaurant is operated and the sale of alcoholic liquor is not the principal business carried out on those premises and (2) is under the direct supervision and approval of his or her parents or parent or those persons standing in loco parentis of the person under 21 years of age.
This is primarily for restaurants. The drinkers must be at least 18 and the restaurants can refuse to serve them.
The law would be similar to one in Wisconsin, which allows those under 21 to drink with a parent or legal age guardian present.
Republican State Representative Barbara Wheeler is the chief sponsor and Democrat Kelly Burk is the co-sponsor. Republican Joe Cichowski of Rockford says he is not opposed to the idea.
“They want to let them have a small glass of wine or a taste of wine, and I don’t think it’s a concept that a lot of parents would have too much concern with.”
But a bar owner told our sister station in Rockford, WIFR, that he does not support the notion.
“I don’t believe that 18-year-olds are ready to consume alcohol even under the supervision of their parents. And how can you regulate?”
* The Question: What are your thoughts on this bill?
To state employees, please know we will use all of our legal options to make sure Comptroller Mendoza processes the payroll. pic.twitter.com/vVUbCf4MjA
Hi everybody. As you all know, Attorney General Madigan went into court last month, trying to force a government shutdown. At the same time, Speaker Madigan had a government shutdown bill ready in the legislature. And Comptroller Mendoza refused to fight for state employees. Fortunately for us, they all lost. A judge ruled state employees must continue getting paid and support for the Madigan Shutdown Bill collapsed in the House.
Actually, AG Madigan was simply attempting to clarify that state bills shouldn’t be paid without valid appropriations. Speaker Madigan proposed a bill to fund state worker salaries through the end of the fiscal year. And Comptroller Mendoza didn’t do as the governor ordered and hire her own lawyer in that AG Madigan fight.
* Back to the governor…
Sadly, it appears the fight isn’t over. Since the court ruling, Comptroller Mendoza has been looking for other ways to create a crisis and force a shutdown of state services.
She’s cut hardship payments to the Department of Aging by millions of dollars, putting services for the elderly in danger of collapse. She’s delayed payments to critical vendors at the Department of Health and Family Services and the Department of Corrections. And now she’s threatening not to process payroll for nearly 600 state employees.
This latest attempt to force a crisis is a clear violation of a court order to pay state employees. It’s part of a pattern we’ve seen. Trying to create a crisis that would force another incomplete, stopgap budget or a massive tax hike with no changes to our broken system.
The payroll for nearly 600 state employees was submitted to the comptroller last week. It’s a valid payroll, no different than the payrolls she’s processed since she became comptroller. And by court order she is legally obligated to process it once again. But she is continuing to resist.
To state employees, please know that we will use all of our legal options to make sure Comptroller Mendoza processes the payroll we’ve submitted on your behalf, on time and in full.
And to the social services providers and vendors she’s putting at risk, we will forcefully advocate on your behalf as well.
Thank you for your support to keep government operating as we work for changes to fix our broken system.
The background on the payroll dispute is here, in case you need to refresh your memory from last week. I’ve asked the comptroller’s office for comment on this aspect and the rest of the allegations.
*** UPDATE 1 *** Background…
Today the Rauner Administration filed a motion in St. Clair County, asking the court to direct Comptroller Mendoza to continue paying state employees in compliance with the court order that has done so since July 2015. That order provides that state employees must be paid for the work they perform and orders Mendoza to process lawful payment vouchers submitted for that purpose. The Rauner Administration submitted a lawful voucher late last week for 578 employees of the Illinois Central Management Services. The Comptroller to date has refused to process it. That is a clear violation of the court order. Our filing today shows the Administration’s commitment to ensuring that all state workers continue to receive regular, uninterrupted paychecks.
Instead of fulfilling his constitutional duty to propose a balanced budget, Governor Rauner is concocting ridiculous conspiracy theories and wasting more taxpayer dollars.
It gets harder to take him seriously when what he presents in his tweets and court filings has so little basis in reality.
CMS
Payroll records show that under Rauner’s handpicked “wingman” comptroller, the Dept. of Central Management Services consistently used the Garage Fund and the Maintenance fund to pay for 578 employees who work on maintenance and in state garages.
Now Governor Rauner suddenly wants to hoard those funds which he has tellingly renamed “government shutdown prevention funds” and instead raid the state’s General Revenue Fund, which would take critical funds away from nursing homes, hospice care and care for the disabled.
Instead of using the funds that are $93 million in the black, Gov. Rauner wants to raid the fund he put $12.5 billion in the hole by failing to propose a balanced budget for the last three years.
Rauner’s administration has more than enough money to pay employees from the department’s self-protected funds. The only reason to draw attention to this issue now is to manufacture a phony headline about state employees in “danger” of missing a paycheck. This is just one of many phony stories Rauner’s administration has shopped in recent weeks, like the Dept. of Aging hoax. Expect more: All just as phony.
No employees will miss any paychecks if the administration uses the money that the General Assembly authorized them to use and the Governor signed. The administration can continue using those funds for payroll as they always have. Or they can choose to create a phony crisis for P.R. value and continue playing politics with people’s lives.
Dept. of Aging
While the comptroller and her staff work tirelessly to triage the state’s obligations and do all they can to prevent closures and shutdowns, the governor is more interested in using state employees as political pawns to score political points.
In her first three months in office, The Comptroller made the elderly a greater priority than the previous administration by processing more than $110 million to providers in Department on Aging programs. The Governor is peddling the black-is-white falsehood that the Comptroller has “cut” payments to Aging while he proposes cutting the Community Care program and kicking 40,000 elderly people out of the program and forcing them into nursing homes. That’s the real Bruce Rauner - not the Twitter version.
All outside observers agree the main reason for the state’s financial crisis is the Governor’s failure for the third year in a row to propose a balanced budget for the General Assembly to consider.
Even Standard & Poor’s wrote, “Illinois’ fiscal crisis is, in our view, a man-made byproduct of policy ultimatums placed upon the state’s budget process.” In other words, Gov. Rauner owns this fiscal disaster.
Our office and Attorney General Lisa Madigan’s office will present to the court today the history of CMS payments coming from the Garage and Maintenance funds and Gov. Rauner’s attempt to rewrite history.
Gov. Bruce Rauner’s administration is recommending two solutions to address the Chicago Public Schools’ teacher-pension mess — allowing Mayor Emanuel to use TIF funds to fill a $215 million hole, or adding the funding to the Illinois Senate’s pension bill and taking it out of the “grand bargain” budget package.
The options are outlined in a memo obtained by the Chicago Sun-Times. This memo is from Rauner’s policy head Michael Mahoney to Rauner’s chief of staff Richard Goldberg.
It comes days after Chance the Rapper brought national attention to the school district’s money woes after a meeting with the governor on Friday.
The TIF, short for tax-increment financing, option would allow Emanuel to transfer $215 million for a one-time authorization from Chicago TIF funds to CPS. It would require that the Illinois General Assembly pass legislation to allow that funding.
As you know, Chicago Public Schools continues to request an additional $215 million from the state to help the city fund the normal cost of teacher pensions and retiree healthcare expenses this year. This request is in addition to the $102 million increase the city received in General State Aid, Hold Harmless, and Equity Payments for the current school year and on top of the $250 million in additional funds CPS receives through its special block grant as compensation for the state not picking up its normal pension cost for teachers.
At present, there are two paths toward a legislative agreement that could fulfill the city’s request.
1) Authorize Chicago to Transfer TIF Funds: In 2016 the City of Chicago received $461 million in Tax Increment Financing dollars. Under current law, TIF funds can only be used to promote investment and economic development. However, given the extraordinary mismanagement of both the city and CPS budgets, legislation could be enacted to authorize a one-time mayoral transfer of $215 million from Chicago TIF funds to CPS. We are in the process of drafting this legislation in case the General Assembly, the Governor and other advocates want to move on this idea quickly.
In order to address the long-term financial future of Chicago Public Schools, we also recommend that Chicago revise their policy on TIF districts and collect taxes for education. This solution is in place across the state and represents a compromise that both attracts business investment and supports public schools.
2) Add the CPS Request to SB16 and Pass the Pension Package Separate from the Grand Bargain: Senate President Cullerton recently unveiled his plan to enact statewide pension reform. SB16, now pending in the Senate, applies President Cullerton’s consideration model to state pension systems and the Chicago teachers’ pension system; enacts a new Tier 3 hybrid pension plan for the state and local governments; and makes other critical changes to reduce state pension payments in the future. While this bill is currently tied to the “Grand Bargain” in the Senate, this bill could be broken off from the “Grand Bargain” and amended to add the city’s request to pick up the normal cost of teacher pensions and retiree healthcare expenses in this fiscal year. Such a comprehensive pension reform agreement would satisfy the deal we made last summer and could be signed into law without delay.
*** UPDATE 2 *** CPS’ Emily Bittner responds…
“Yet again, Governor Rauner is perpetuating a racially discriminatory state funding system and his so-called plan actually demands that Chicago students do more to get the same funding that every other student in the State of Illinois is entitled to receive – a gross disparity that has no place in 2017. Chicago residents stepped up and are paying $342 million more in taxes this year alone to support schools, and it’s past time for the state of Illinois to end the racial discrimination that is creating a separate and unequal funding system.”
*** UPDATE 3 *** John Cullerton press secretary John Patterson
“We’ve split this out twice and Governor Rauner vetoed it both times, saying it had to be tied to be part of a comprehensive solution.
“Now we tie it to a comprehensive plan and he kills the deal and says it should stand alone.
“I think you can see why the Senate decided to try to negotiate its own solution and not negotiate with the governor.”
* Related…
* Rolling Stone: Chance the Rapper to Illinois Governor: ‘Do Your Job’
* Vibe: Chance The Rapper Continues Mission To Improve Chicago Schools After Disappointing Meeting With Illinois Governor
* AP: Chance the Rapper, Illinois governor discuss school funding
* The DePaulia: Taking a chance to save CPS: In 1970, rock n’ roll legend Elvis Presley was frustrated with a counter culture, influenced by acts like the Beatles and the use of illicit drugs, he believed to at the center anti-Americanism.
By design, the state is to supply one-third of funding for each of 48 community colleges in Illinois. In fiscal 2016, JWCC received a fraction of that fraction.
How bad was it?
In fiscal 2012, the college received close to $3.1 million from the state. In fiscal 2016, the figure had fallen to just under $344,000. […]
Over the last four fiscal years, JWCC has reduced its budget by $1.4 million. Most of that figure has come in the last two years when the college put a freeze on open positions, furloughed some employees at different times, eliminated a couple of programs, reduced travel costs, delayed equipment purchases and deferred maintenance projects.
* Related…
* Delay sends Richland project costs up by $485,000: The money was finally appropriated in the state’s 2010 budget… A ceremonial groundbreaking was held in October 2014 with then Gov. Pat Quinn… The structure that is to become the college’s Student Success Center has been sitting unfinished for nearly 17 months. But that has changed in recent weeks, as general contractors from Highland-based Korte & Luitjohan have restarted work on the long-delayed project.
According to a recent poll, Gov. Bruce Rauner is a whole lot less popular than a one cent per ounce state sales tax on sugary drinks.
The poll of 800 registered voters taken February 15-20 for the American Heart Association found that Rauner is backed by just 32 percent against an unnamed Democrat, who would receive 47 percent. But a new penny per ounce tax on sugary drinks is actually supported by a majority of those polled, 56 percent, compared to 41 percent who oppose it.
“In the 2018 election for governor,” the Democratic pollster Anzalone Liszt Grove Research asked, “are you more likely to vote for the Democratic candidate or Republican Bruce Rauner?” 42 percent said they were more likely to vote for the unnamed Democratic candidate and another 5 percent said they leaned that direction, for a total of 47.
And now you know why the governor deposited $50 million in his campaign fund late last year.
Rauner’s dismal rating shouldn’t be too much of a surprise. He’s gone two years without many accomplishments and without passing, or even proposing a “real” budget. The 15-point Democratic margin is about the same margin that Hillary Clinton won Illinois by just a few months ago. The electorate may well be different by the time 2018 rolls around. Also, an actual named candidate could do worse against Rauner. You can’t beat somebody with nobody.
The governor and his people have been saying for weeks that a tax on sugary drinks was only unpopular under the Statehouse dome with lobbyists and legislators. The two Senate leaders have said there is no way they can round up enough votes to include the tax hike in their grand bargain package, however. The Heart Association has been running a huge national ad campaign against sugar itself, and the issue appears to have caught fire.
The penny per ounce tax is backed by 62 percent of Democrats, 50 percent of Republicans and 51 percent of independents, according to the pollster. It’s supported by 60 percent of Chicagoans, even though Cook County just instituted its own penny per ounce tax. 53 percent of suburban residents and 51 percent of Downstaters support the tax. 54 percent of whites, 54 percent of African-Americans and 71 percent of Latinos back the plan, according to the poll. And after being read both positive and negative statements about the penny per ounce sugary drinks tax, support actually rose to 67 percent versus 32 percent in opposition. The poll’s margin of error is +/-3.5 percent.
The poll also revealed that the public may be as divided about the budget as many rank and file lawmakers. When asked whether they preferred to continue along the same budgetary path without raising taxes, 38 percent agreed, while just 44 percent said they supported “Fixing the state’s budget with tax increases as part of that fix.” 18 percent either didn’t know or refused to answer.
Just 4 percent said that raising taxes without spending cuts is the right way to go, while 35 percent said they prefer cutting spending with no tax hikes and 58 percent said they favored a mix of both spending cuts and tax hikes.
But not a single tax hike except the sugary drinks tax is supported, and a look at those poll results gives you a good idea why crafting and then passing a solution to this state’s horribly vexing dilemma is so darned difficult.
For example, a plan to raise the state income tax from its current level of 3.75 percent to 4.99 percent is opposed by 66 percent, with 49 percent strongly opposed. Just 31 percent support that income tax hike, which is the backbone of the Senate’s grand bargain proposal. A mere 12 percent strongly support the idea.
Lowering the overall sales tax rate by a half a point and expanding that tax to food and medicine is opposed by 64 percent, while only 31 percent support it. Gov. Rauner voiced opposition to this idea during his budget address, and now you can see why. 43 percent were strongly opposed.
Asked if they supported expanding the sales tax “to include taxing services like home repairs and landscaping,” a plan long favored by the governor, 60 percent were opposed while 37 percent supported it. 40 percent said they were strongly opposed.
The most unpopular idea tested, by far, was cutting Medicaid spending by “hundreds of millions of dollars, including coverage for low income seniors and children.” A whopping 78 percent were opposed to that idea, including 65 percent who were strongly opposed. Only 19 percent were in favor.
You can’t blame this one on House Speaker Michael Madigan, although it wouldn’t be surprising if someone tried.
The recurring theme from Gov. Bruce Rauner and most Republicans for months has been that Madigan is the one blocking a resolution on the budget stalemate. Specifically, it was Madigan and the lawmakers he controls, according to the theme.
No doubt, Madigan is a very powerful politician. But even Madigan doesn’t control the Republicans. The Republicans, it appears, are controlled by Rauner, and the governor isn’t ready to accept the Senate’s “grand bargain” that’s been negotiated and tweaked for a couple of months now. Consequently, it was the Senate Republicans last week who effectively pulled the plug on the plan, at least for now.
Senate Democrats immediately charged that some of their Republican colleagues said Rauner threatened them if they voted in favor of the plan. Several Republicans denied that claim. But then, threats don’t have to be blatant to be delivered. Do you think there’s any Senate Republican who doesn’t recall that Rauner bankrolled a primary challenger to Sen. Sam McCann, R-Plainview, last year after McCann voted in favor a labor bill against Rauner’s wishes? So if Rauner says he thinks the bargain isn’t ready yet, enough said.
But the governor called the notion that he was responsible for scuttling the compromise by threatening GOP lawmakers “ridiculous” and “goofy.”
“We’ve been trying to get a grand bargain and a compromise to grow jobs, get a balanced budget and properly fund our schools for months and months, and nobody wants to get a grand bargain more than me,” Rauner told reporters on Friday.
“And I’m willing to compromise. I’ve said there’s nothing that has to be in the deal. There’s no one thing or no two things that have to be in the deal, and I’m encouraging as I always have, both Democrats and Republicans to come together to compromise and get a deal and I’m encouraging it every day.”
On behalf of Illinois’ taxpayers, we implore Cullerton and Radogno to not give up. No one else has been willing to work on the difficult task of compromise. While most politicians under the dome view compromise as defeat, Cullerton and Radogno embraced it as a path toward fiscal stability and hope for the state.
Dean Angelo, President of the Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 7, the union that represents all rank and file members of the Chicago Police Department, spoke with Mike Fourcher about reform in the wake of the Department of Justice probe, how aldermen have dropped the ball in at-risk communities, and the union’s collective bargaining agreement with the city, which expires this summer. Angelo, currently serving his first three-year term as union president, and campaigning for re-election claims Chicago police are unbiased about who they serve and “we go” to serve communities regardless of the circumstances. Ballots for the union campaign are due later this month and Angelo is up against his predecessor, Mike Shields and three other candidates.
The headline on the piece quotes Angelo as saying that Chicago police “care about black lives more than most black politicians.”
* Steve Schnorf’s “celebration of life” will be Thursday, March 30th. Steve asked me to emcee, and we’ll have a few folks speak at 2 pm in Statehouse Room 212. It’s likely that others will be asked to offer up their own stories as well. A reception with food and beverages will follow across the hall in Secretary of State Jesse White’s office. Many thanks to the Senate and to Secretary White for agreeing to help. There will be an after-party (or two), so ask me about it.
The 4th District Appellate Court, today granted AFSCME Council 31’s request to put on hold the state labor board’s impasse decision in contract negotiations between Governor Bruce Rauner and the largest union of public service workers in state government. As a result, Governor Rauner cannot impose his terms, which include a 100% increase in employee costs for health care that would cost the average state worker $10,000, and an end to basic safeguards against irresponsible privatization schemes.
The court predicated its ruling on a finding that the union has demonstrated a “reasonable likelihood” of prevailing in its appeal.
“Today’s decision is in the best interest of all the people of Illinois, both public service workers and the millions of citizens who rely on their important work,” AFSCME Council 31 Executive Director Roberta Lynch said. “We strongly urge Governor Rauner to join us in the spirit of compromise and return to bargaining in good faith to reach an agreement that is truly fair to all.”
Rauner’s administration broke off talks between the parties in January 2016 and has since refused to meet with the union.
“We are currently analyzing this decision, but we are very disappointed with the court’s ruling which continues the stay that prevents our Administration from implementing common-sense changes in the AFSCME contract. These proposals include overtime eligibility after 40 hours instead of 37.5, the use of volunteers for state services, and a merit pay system. Every day of delay costs taxpayers over $2 million. Our contract framework is fair to the State’s taxpayers and employees alike and reflects proposals accepted by 20 other unions.”
“Why this Democrat is voting for Rauner?” was the headline of my commentary that the Tribune published on March 19, 2014. Borrowing a quote from President John F. Kennedy that said “sometimes party loyalty asks too much,” I explained that as a Democrat I supported Republican gubernatorial candidate Bruce Rauner because Illinois was in grave financial peril and that we needed to change our financial direction.
After Rauner was elected, the Tribune published another piece I wrote where I urged Gov.-elect Rauner to fire his campaign staff, stop campaigning and start governing with advisers “who are problem solvers, who are not partisans, and who know how to compromise.”
Sadly, our state’s financial situation has continued to deteriorate. Problems have not been solved, bitter and excessive partisanship is accepted political strategy in Springfield, and “compromise” is a dirty word. I do not believe it’s all Gov. Rauner’s fault. It is the fault of both the Democratic and Republican parties. At least Democratic Senate President John Cullerton and Senate Republican leader Christine Radogno are trying to find compromise while House Speaker Michael Madigan insists it is his way or the highway. And while I continue to like and respect Gov. Rauner and his wife, Diana, I believe we need a change if we are to reach compromise and progress.
That is why I will enthusiastically vote for and support Chris Kennedy for governor of Illinois in 2018. As a friend of his mother and father for more than 60 years, I’ve known Chris since his birth. His dad, the late Robert Kennedy, and I were on the 1956 campaign staff of Illinois Gov. Adlai E. Stevenson when he ran for president. Because Bob Kennedy and I were about the same age, we were often roommates on campaign trips. And because we both had children of similar ages, we often talked about our families and our values. As the years passed, Chris grew up, married Sheila Berner, and moved to Chicago to manage the Merchandise Mart.
* Brief gubernatorial candidate and not exactly successful White House chief of staff Bill Daley demands solutions to the city’s crime problem…
Commentary: Enough! Chicago cannot keep tolerating gun violence.
* And former mayoral and presidential candidate Willie Wilson is spending about $8K for a month of cable TV ads on the city’s South Side…
Of all the items above, however, Wilson’s effort is probably the most important and genuine.
For his part, Rauner said the pair had agreed to talk more with [Chance the Rapper] over the weekend on a school funding solution that the two could present to the legislature when it reconvenes Tuesday.
* Twitters…
Chicago Public Schools and I did not lose today. Please don't let that become the narrative. Monday morning I'll have a plan.
— Lil Chano From 79th (@chancetherapper) March 3, 2017
* The Question: After they solve the city’s school funding problem by Monday, what’s the next issue they should tackle?
…Adding…. Maybe he could negotiate a truce between Rauner and the comptroller?…
* Liberal Rapper whose father worked for Obama has unproductive meeting with Republican governor who never provides a straight answer to questions on just about anything. Surprise!…
The West Chatham native left Rauner’s Thompson Center office Friday feeling “flustered” after a 30-minute conversation with the governor that centered on funding from Chicago Public Schools.
Chance said he discussed the $215 million that had been earmarked for CPS in a budget deal that collapsed earlier this year.
“He asked me where I thought the $215 million was supposed to come from,” the rapper said, frowning, as a scrum of reporters crowded around him at the elevators.
Asked as he stepped onto an elevator what his message was, Chance said, “Take our kids off the table.”
“I’m here cause I just want people to do their jobs,” the musician told reporters after the meeting. “And I did speak with the governor. I asked him about funding CPS with that $215 million that was discussed in May of last year and was vetoed in December over, you know, political arguments and (stuff).”
* From a friend at the Thompson Center…
The most media I’ve seen on the 16th floor, they are stacked past the elevators.
This was the most over-hyped Chicago media event of the year.
* Be careful with this video. It’s got some words which are not safe for work, but if you can deal with that, have a look…
CTR: I want you all to do your jobs. Like, seriously, all your publications that you guys work for… If you guys could give a comprehensive history on how we ended up here
Reporter: What did the governor say, may I ask you?
CTR: He gave me a lot of vague answers. So we’ll see what happens. He has my personal number. He told me that in 48 hours that, you know. Springfield is in session next week, so we’ll see.
“We had a discussion about education and education funding,” Rauner said. “Good exchange of views on what the options are, what the possibilities are.”
Rauner said Chance the Rapper was “very focused on getting quickly more money for CPS right now, and I share his passion.” The governor said he had offered to work over the weekend with the music artist to find a solution to the funding problem. He said the two agreed to remain in communication.
“I think we agreed that we’re going to talk further in the coming days, and we talked about working together,” Rauner said.
* The governor also told reporters he asked the rapper to work with him…
I said it’s an incredible opportunity to change our system. If we stood together, Chance, I have some power. I have power in some ways, you have great power in other ways. If we stood together, worked together to figure this out, then we could get big things done.
…Adding… As a commenter notes, that sounds a lot like Darth Vader’s infamous offer to Luke Skywalker.
For his part, Rauner said the pair had agreed to talk more with Chance over the weekend on a school funding solution that the two could present to the legislature when it reconvenes Tuesday.
*** UPDATE 2 *** Doomed! Doomed, I tells ya. Doomed!…
If Gov. Rauner is going to let foul mouthed Rapper help make state education decisions, we are all doomed.
One in four Illinois residents are confident in their state government, the lowest among the 50 states by a significant margin. Rhode Island (33%) and Connecticut (39%) join Illinois as states with less than 40% government confidence. North Dakota residents are the most trusting; 81% say they are confident in their state government.
One in four? Who are these one in four? I’d like to meet just one of them. Seriously. I’d love to talk to a single person who is confident in Illinois’ state government.
There is a strong positive relationship between residents’ ratings of their state’s economy and their confidence in state government. In addition to Illinois, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New Jersey and Kansas all rank among the states in which residents are the least positive about their state’s economy. North Dakota, Utah, Minnesota and Nebraska are four states in which residents rate their state’s economy positively and express high confidence in their state government.
Illinois and Rhode Island tie for the lowest rating of current state economic conditions, at -15. Illinois residents are most negative about the direction of their state’s economy, with Connecticut and West Virginia close behind.
* Hat tip to the Illinois Policy Institute’s news service, by the way…
Almost 75 percent of people who live in Illinois say they have zero confidence in state government, according to a new poll.
Gallup asked 500 Illinoisans if they have confidence in their state’s “government in general.” An overwhelming 74 percent said no.
State Rep Tom Bennett says the only people who may be surprised by that are lawmakers in Springfield who want to keep trudging down the same road.
“We’re spending millions of dollars more than we bring in every day. It’s almost like it’s not real in some ways,” Bennett said of the lack of awareness at the Illinois Capitol. “It’s going to come to a head one day.”
Paychecks for nearly 600 state employees are caught up in a dispute between Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner and Democratic Comptroller Susana Mendoza over which state account to use to pay them.
None of the workers has missed a paycheck yet, but Mendoza’s office told Rauner’s office that it needed to resubmit paperwork to pay the workers “to avoid any disruption in payroll.”
Mendoza’s office says the workers should be paid out of two revolving funds that are used to cover expenses for state vehicle maintenance and building leases. The Rauner administration, though, wants the employees paid out of the state’s general fund.
In a letter to Mendoza’s office Thursday, Ryan Green, general counsel for the Department of Central Management Services, said payroll vouchers were submitted to Mendoza to pay the workers out of the state’s general fund, which is used for most expenses but no longer has enough money in it to cover all of the state’s bills.
However, Green said there also isn’t enough money in the Facilities Management Revolving Fund and the State Garage Revolving Fund to cover all of the expenses they are supposed to pay.
The State Garage Revolving Fund also is the source of critical fuel-related payments that keep state vehicles on the road, as well as fund the maintenance of Department of Human Services’ vehicles that transport our most vulnerable citizens for medical treatment. By forcing CMS to drain the Revolving Funds, your office is putting those critical health and safety functions of the State at risk. And make no mistake, shifting payroll to these funds ensures they will be depleted long before the fiscal year is over. We have determined that, ifpayroll is included, the cash projected to be in Revolving Funds through the end of this fiscal year is not sufficient to cover all of the above critical services. Because these funds get the bulk of their revenues from GRF payments required to be made by the agencies that CMS serves, in the current budget impasse, those agencies do not have sufficient GRF or other available appropriations to make complete and timely payments into these CMS Revolving Funds. […]
As you know, CMS is authorized under the State Finance Act (30 ILCS 105) to pay employees under all available funds, including GRF. And CMS’s payroll plans line up with a longstanding practice of prior Comptrollers in recognizing each agency’s discretion with respect to the source offunds used to make payroll. In other words, after drawing the Revolving Funds down to zero, you will be forced to switch back to GRF to comply with Judge LeChien’s court order. Why, then, do we need to deplete other critical funds in the process?
Good point. The other side is that the GRF bank account is essentially overdrawn right now to the tune of $12 billion. Paying those workers from GRF will only make the backlog worse.
Our Office is in receipt of Central Management Services’ payroll voucher submission to the Office of Comptroller for which there is no authorization beyond the $771,747 remaining from existing amounts available from General Revenue Funds.
As a result of the Governor’s failure to present a balanced budget for the General Assembly’s action, the Office of the Comptroller is left to triage the state’s obligations to ensure provision of critical services for the state’s residents, particularly the most vulnerable. All efforts must be made to utilize existing resources from other available state funds, especially when there are enacted appropriations specifically for such purposes. Your agency’s original request for an additional $24 million, or 73%, increase over previous levels is simply not appropriate given the dire circumstances the state is facing.
Maybe a truce is in order here? “Prior comptrollers” often had decent working relationships with the governor’s office. Team Rauner has not been kind to Mendoza since their own candidate lost the election and that unkindness has been returned in, um, kind.
The fact remains that your agency has yet to expend from lawfully enacted appropriations of $32 million despite the fact that the current balances of these funds exceed $93 million. These are the same funds that you utilized in previous years for payroll without expressing concerns about disruption.
We’re already nine months into the fiscal year and CMS hasn’t yet tapped into those funds? Looks like they could be squirreling money away in case the grand bargain fails. And it also looks like Mendoza isn’t going to let them do this and might end up causing some sort of crisis as a result.
In regard to potential disruption of critical services, if you feel that you have over extended your obligations as to put critical health and safety functions of the State at risk, we encourage you to seek the proper appropriation authority from the General Assembly and the Governor immediately.
A budget deal would, indeed, solve this problem pretty quick.
Furthermore, when the General Assembly passed and the Governor signed Public Act 99-0524 in June 2016, the legislative intent on the treatment of payroll during the budget impasse was clear. The amounts appropriated in various funds, including the Revolving Funds at issue in your direction to CMS, are not intended to be used for payroll.
Putting it all together, it is our position that the Comptroller has the legal authority to continue processing payroll vouchers for this group of approximately 400 CMS employees using GRF. There is no legal reason to shift to the Revolving Funds. Nor is there any sensible policy rationale for forcing CMS to exhaust critical funds and put the health and safety ofour citizens at risk. We will continue to draw our payroll vouchers against GRF and will expect your office to comply with the St. Clair County court order by processing them as you and your predecessor have done up to this point.
She doesn’t need a “legal reason.” She pays the bills. You gotta do it her way if you want those bills paid unless you want to take her to court.
Again, call a truce and work it out. Wouldn’t that be better than engaging in this back and forth every time there’s a disagreement?
“This decision will begin to deplete these government shutdown prevention funds, which could compromise IDPH services,” said IDPH Director Nirav D. Shah, M.D., J.D. “Communicable disease investigations and nursing home inspections would be impacted if the state were unable to pay rent because of this directive.”
“The Department of Human Services provides critical services to families in need,” DHS Secretary Jim Dimas said. “This could impair our ability to provide children and families with access to food assistance, child care and health care needs.” […]
“Comptroller Mendoza recently paid state legislators, and herself, the same way CMS is requesting to pay these 578 employees,” Acting Director Hoffman said. “There is no reason CMS should be forced to drain our government shutdown prevention funds to make payroll when she has money available to pay these employees.”
Um, she hasn’t yet paid herself. Legislators have been paid once in six months.
* The response…
Governor Rauner’s administration is trying to concoct a phony crisis to create a headline to deflect once again from his failure to fulfill his constitutional duty to propose a balanced budget.
The Rauner administration has $93 million dollars in two funds that they have always used to pay the employees of Central Management Services. Now they suddenly want to horde those funds and instead raid the state’s General Revenue Fund – taking money from patients in hospice and nursing homes; meals on wheels for the elderly; and support services for disabled children.
Instead of using the funds with a balance of $93 million; Gov. Rauner wants to raid the fund he put $12.5 billion in the hole by failing to propose a balanced budget for the last three years.
Rauner’s administration has more than enough money to pay employees from the department’s self-protected funds. The only reason to draw attention to this issue now is to manufacture a phony headline about state employees in “danger” of missing a paycheck. This is just one of many phony stories Rauner’s administration has shopped in recent weeks. Expect more: All just as phony.
No employees will miss any paychecks if the administration uses the money that the General Assembly authorized them to use and the Governor signed. These funds were used in an identical fashion under the previous Comptroller. The Facilities Management Revolving Fund and the State Garage Revolving Fund have no role in caring for seniors, the disabled or newborns as the administration cynically suggests. The administration can continue using those funds for payroll as they always have. Or they can choose to create a phony crisis for P.R. value and continue playing politics with people’s lives.
Caterpillar has said it is cooperating with subpoenas tied to a federal investigation of undistributed profits from subsidiaries outside the United States. That’s how the system usually works: Prosecutors issue subpoenas, and a company’s top lawyer ensures evidence is preserved, collected and handed over. The raid raises the possibility that the U.S. Attorney’s Office of Central Illinois was worried that might not happen.
“The fact the federal government has decided to obtain and execute search warrant indicates they are concerned evidence will not be preserved or turned over to them unless they seize it themselves,” said Renato Mariotti, a partner at Thompson Coburn and a former assistant U.S. Attorney. “It’s a big step to send agents into the headquarters of a big company to seize documents.” […]
Caterpillar was sued in 2009 by a former executive who alleged the company had shifted profits overseas to avoid $2 billion in taxes. The lawsuit was settled in 2012, but two years later the company’s tax strategy was investigated by a U.S. Senate subcommittee.
Obtaining a warrant means persuading a judge that probable causes exists to search a person or property, said Ken Yeadon, a partner at Hinshaw & Culbertson and a former U.S. Attorney. It does happen, like when prosecutors were building a case against Chicago-based BCI Aircraft Leasing for fraud. But generally, law enforcement only seizes evidence in cases where there’s something that, “if you don’t act right away, you’re not going to get. A time-is-of-the-essence situation.”
The full search warrant is most definitely worth a read. Click here.
* Federal agents raid Caterpillar offices as part of tax strategy investigation: The investigation appears to stem from revelations about the company’s tax strategy as outlined in a 2009 federal wrongful termination lawsuit brought by Daniel Schlicksup. The lawsuit alleged the company shifted profits overseas and to offshore shell companies to avoid paying more than $2 billion in U.S. taxes. Schlicksup settled the suit in 2012.
* Federal Officials Raid 3 Caterpillar Offices in Illinois: Caterpillar reported sales fell 18 percent in 2016 to $38.5 billion and since late 2015 it has shrunk its workforce by more than 16,000 employees and consolidated or closed 30 facilities. Caterpillar cut 12,300 jobs in 2016, including 7,700 in the United States.
Days after a man awaiting trial on murder charges was mistakenly released on parole, the Cook County Sheriff’s Office says it will no longer send convicted defendants who still have pending cases to be fingerprinted and photographed by the Illinois Department of Corrections and then immediately returned to the county jail.
The release last week of Garrett Glover, who as of Thursday evening was still the subject of an intense manhunt, sparked a war of words and finger-pointing between the two law enforcement agencies. On Tuesday, Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart sent IDOC Director John Baldwin a letter criticizing the agency for releasing Glover without checking his criminal history or calling his office.
“Either step would have immediately revealed the existence of the open murder case,” Dart wrote.
On Thursday, Baldwin responded, saying IDOC relies on the sheriff’s office to provide accurate information and that a search of Glover’s paperwork as well as a law-enforcement database showed no holds barring his release on parole.
“We are always willing to assist your office in whatever way we can; however, we cannot take responsibility for your office’s error,” Baldwin wrote.
* As subscribers know, they didn’t just “consider” this idea, the Senate President agreed to put it into the grand bargain package as a concession to the GOP…
Senate Democrats also considered rolling back portions of the proposed income tax increase after several years, though that idea was not incorporated in the latest tax legislation filed Thursday.
You’ll recall that the governor campaigned on the idea of raising the income tax a bit (he never really said by how much) and then rolling it all the way back to 3 percent by the end of his first term. Those 2014 hopes of his are now completely dashed, but this shows you how far Cullerton was prepared to go this week. After all, the temporary nature of the 2011 income tax hike is what put Illinois into this current disaster. Do we really want to go through that again in five years?
The Republicans counter that Gov. Quinn’s biggest mistake was that he didn’t reduce spending by enough to deal with the rollback from 5 to 3.75 percent on January 1, 2015. They’re absolutely right about that. The Democrats did cut some spending, but not nearly enough. They just figured they’d either win again or that the newbie Rauner would be a pushover.
Illinois would charge sales tax on storage lockers, private detectives, lawn care and body piercing under legislation introduced in the Senate on Thursday. […]
The measure would extend the state’s 6.25 percent sales tax to self-storage units, including storage in apartments tenants pay for and lockers rented at amusement parks and recreational facilities. Lawn and garden services including mowing, watering, tree- and shrub-care and patio installation would be subject to the tax.
Other services that would be subject to the tax are: laundry, dry-cleaning, pressing and linen services; private detective and alarm devices; cable television, audio and video streaming and satellite services; pest control; and “personal care services” such as cosmetics, tattoos, body piercing, tanning and massage. Hair removal would be taxed, but not haircuts.
The full proposal (Amendment 3 to SB 9) is here. The service taxes are listed starting on page 212.
* And Hillman makes a good point…
This is going to give consumers fits. It is worded so vaguely it could trap all kinds of internet services. Multimedia elements? #Twillpic.twitter.com/CYb1xRayyN
“The amount of time that I have at home is minimal, I need to make sure that it’s productive,” Bost said Friday. “You know the cleansing that the Orientals used to do where you’d put one person out in front and 900 people yell at them? That’s not what we need. We need to have meetings with people that are productive.”
In a statement Thursday, Bost said he “used a poor choice of words” in describing “coordinated disruptions” he says are taking place across the country.
Bost spokesman George O’Connor said Bost’s use of Orientals was a reference to sessions during China’s Cultural Revolution when individuals were publicly humiliated and subjected to verbal abuse by a crowd.
“While there was no malicious intent, I regret that my words may have distracted from an important point,” Bost said. “When the booing and shouting drowns out the conversation we’re trying to have with our constituents, it becomes that much harder to govern.”
OK, but, again, this is a politician who became nationally known for screaming at the Democrats on the Illinois House floor and then parlayed that epic rant into a congressional seat. And now he’s using the potential for shouting by his own constituents as an excuse to not hold town halls.
*** UPDATE *** From US Sen. Tammy Duckworth, who is an Asian-American…
“Congressman Bost’s remarks are offensive and hurtful to Asian Americans and Asians around the world. In addition to owing his constituents a sincere apology, he should put more thought into his words in the future. Racism has no place in American political discourse.”
