* The story about Montgomery County Republican Party Chairman Jim Allen’s racist, sexist, etc. e-mail about Erika Harold has gone national. From a press release…
RNC Chairman Reince Priebus released the following statement in response to comments made by Jim Allen, Chairman of the Montgomery County, Illinois, Republican Party:
“The astonishingly offensive views expressed by Chairman Allen have absolutely no place among the leaders of our party at any level. His behavior is inexcusable and must not be tolerated. He should apologize to Erika Harold and resign immediately.”
Illinois Review has learned that Montgomery County GOP chairman Jim Allen has resigned his position following a controversial email he sent regarding GOP candidate Erika Harold.
*** UPDATE 2 *** Resignation confirmed. From IL GOP Chairman Jack Dorgan…
Today, I accepted the resignation of Jim Allen as Montgomery County Chairman. These types of offensive and inappropriate remarks have no place in our Republican Party.
“I was encouraged by the fact that [House Speaker Michael Madigan and Senate President John Cullerton] agreed to have a conference committee,” said Quinn, who met with legislative leaders Wednesday morning.
“I don’t think there’s any doubt that the members of the Legislature understand that this is not going away. If on the 9th of July they haven’t done their job, they’re really letting the people of Illinois down.”
It’s a tall order, considering members of the 10-member, bipartisan committee will be starting fresh on a compromise never reached during the Legislature’s regular session that ended with Madigan’s savings-focused plan being trounced in the Senate and his refusal to call Cullerton’s rival, union-backed plan.
Let’s see… the end of January’s lame duck session was a hard deadline. The end of spring session was probably also a hard deadline for Quinn. Maybe even before spring break. It’s just too nice of a day today to bother looking up the links.
Legislative leaders named the members to the committee. For the most part, the appointees reflect the views of those who appointed them. House Speaker Michael Madigan named Chicago Rep. Arthur Turner, Riverside Rep. Michael Zalewski and Northbrook Democrat Elaine Nekritz, who has been a key player in pension talks thus far. “I think it has the potential to be different because we’re just in a different position than we’ve been in throughout this long journey, this arduous journey,” Nekritz said. “We’re a lot further down the road than we have been in the past, and I think that there is a … desire to come together to get a compromise. I can say that from the House’s perspective, and I believe that to be true of the Senate, as well.” House Minority Leader Tom Cross tapped Naperville Rep. Darlene Senger and Quincy Rep. Jil Tracy.
Senate Minority Leader Christine Radogno chose Palatine Sen. Matt Murphy and Bloomington Sen. Bill Brady. Senate President John Cullerton appointed Evanston Sen. Daniel Biss, Chicago Sen. Kwame Raoul and Aurora Sen. Linda Holmes. Biss, who sponsored Senate Bill 1, is the only choice that stands out as not sharing similar views on the issue as the leader who appointed him.
However, Biss acknowledged today that compromise is needed, calling SB 1 “dead” and “gone.” “I think everything has to be on the table. I think we need to walk into this with the openness and flexibility that comes with not having bright red lines and not having nonstarters,” Biss said. [Emphasis added.]
Hopefully, the train is finally starting to move faster than one mile a year.
Cullerton, who had been at loggerheads with Madigan over competing pension proposals, gave a backhanded compliment to the speaker — a longtime friend and colleague — for agreeing to form the conference committee after initially dismissing it out of hand on Friday.
“Now we have a conference committee that the speaker’s agreed to do rather than just insist that we keep on voting on his bill, and that’s a very positive step,” Cullerton said, adding that the process opens the door to “new ideas.”
In an exclusive interview in his expansive Springfield office, House Speaker Michael Madigan also seemed to indicate that this might be the time for compromise.
“We both resolve that there must be a bill. That is a significant first step. Having done that, now we move to where the compromises will occur, what kind of concessions can be taken from each side,” said Madigan.
* I asked Jay Levine at CBS2 to post the full interview with Madigan. He did. Many thanks. Have a look…
“The initial reaction [in the legislature] when Quinn suggested it was kind of eye-roll, ‘are-you-kidding’ sort of thing,” said Kent Redfield, an emeritus political science professor at the University of Illinois Springfield. “But then, I think the reason it got done was that people looked at it and said, ‘If we do this, then it looks like we’re doing something. And we can present it as we came to town and we did something.’ It’s very symbolic. I think that it is basically a way to buy time and to play to the external audiences, which are editorial boards, average citizens and the bond [rating] houses.” Illinois’ credit rating was downgraded twice in the first week of June after lawmakers failed to pass pension changes in the regular session.
Cullerton says he thinks the committee is a step in the right direction, but will it be the final push needed to pass a comprehensive pension fix?
CULLERTON: “No, not the fact that we have a conference committee. That was the governor’s request and just another way of getting to a vote for a bill.”
* It also takes about two weeks to do an actuarial analysis. So, if they want to vote on a bill and know what they’ll be getting, they’ll need to wrap things up in less than a week. Doubtful, to say the least…
Rep. Elaine Nekritz of Northbrook, a conference committee member and the leading House Democrat on pension matters, cautioned that if any agreement is reached, it could take weeks to run the numbers on potential savings to the state.
“Part of reaching a compromise is knowing what (a proposal) does,” Nekritz said. “I would hesitate to go to (Madigan) and say, ‘This is the deal but I don’t really know what it saves, I have a guess.’ And I don’t want to go to the people of the state of Illinois and say that. So, it’ll take some time.”
* And here’s where we finally get to the question. From WBEZ…
The pension crisis in Illinois is dire. Politicians routinely use strong language when they talk about it. Consider the following:
“We all look like idiots.” - Rep. Daniel Biss, D-Skokie.
“Finances in the state of Illinois are a train wreck.” - Dick Ingram of the Teachers Retirement System
“It’s a catastrophic failure of leadership.” - Senate Minority Leader Christine Radogno, R-Lemont […]
All this talk has us wondering: Are there any adjectives left we can use to describe how bad this pension situation is that we aren’t already desensitized to? Any fear-inspiring idioms or cliches left out?
That’s where you come in. Fill out the Mad Lib-inspired form below to tell us how you’re feeling about the Illinois pension crisis. We’ll do a dramatic reading of some of your responses on-air.
* I touched up one of their Mad Libs for our purposes…
Without a compromise, I’m __(emotion)___ that Illinois will be worse off than a __(noun)__ in a __(location)__. If lawmakers don’t agree on a plan by July 8th, then I will __(verb)__.
* The Question: Fill in the blanks? And please, please, please keep it super-clean. Thanks!
* Will County Auditor Duffy Blackburn is kicking off his campaign for comptroller. The Democrat eventually hopes to challenge incumbent Judy Baar Topinka…
Blackburn, who is in his second term as Will County Auditor, plans to jump in with the help of U.S. Rep. Bill Foster, who is to serve as a co-chair on his campaign.
Blackburn, 35, of Joliet plans to officially announce on Thursday.
“I’m running for State Comptroller because I saw the need for a professional accounting watchdog to lead the state’s accounting office instead of a career politician,” Blackburn said in a statement released to the Sun-Times. “Illinois needs an accountant to manage its checkbook, clean up operations, and advocate fresh ideas for solving our state’s continuous financial problems—not pass the blame on to others. I look forward to traveling the state to discuss with voters how we can solve our financial crisis and move Illinois forward.”
For her part, Topinka is definitely in for another run.
* Blackburn’s campaign was eager last night to let y’all have the first look at his announcement video. I forgot about it earlier this morning. Oops. But here it is…
Illinois’ one-dollar-per-pack cigarette tax increase that took effect a year ago this month is expected to fall $130 million short of initial estimates, meaning it won’t raise quite as much as projected for school capital projects because of the way the funding formula is set up.
The increase, which hiked the state’s 98-cents-per-pack tax to $1.98 last June, is expected to bring in about $212 million in additional revenue for the current fiscal year, which ends June 30.
That’s well short of the $350 million in additional revenue originally projected, according to a monthly report released at the end of May by the Commission on Government Forecasting and Accountability.
A decline in sales that typically follows a significant tax increase is partially why the revenue is falling short, the report states.
Significant stockpiling of cigarettes with older tax stamps is another reason for the shortfall.
OfficeMax Inc. is asking the state of Illinois for tax breaks to keep the company’s headquarters in-state after the office supply chain’s merger with Office Depot Inc. is complete.
OfficeMax CEO Ravi Saligram and state Sen. Tom Cullerton made their pitch yesterday during a hearing on the state’s pension crisis. Cullerton is a Democrat from west suburban Villa Park sponsoring legislation to provide incentives if the company keeps at least 2,000 full-time jobs at its headquarters and other non-retail locations.
Naperville-based OfficeMax and Boca Raton, Fla.-based Office Depot in February announced plans to merge. The companies are trying to decide where to locate their combined headquarters.
Gov. Pat Quinn’s administration on July 1 will start paying the wage rate that was promised to thousands of unionized government workers in 2011 and 2012, although Illinois lawmakers didn’t approve extra funding for back wages owed, officials said Wednesday.
Employees in six state agencies will get raises of at least 7.25 percent going forward, starting with the new fiscal year, according to an email sent to the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees’ 35,000 members and obtained by The Associated Press.
That includes a 2 percent raise owed in the current contract and the 5.25 percent increase offered in 2011 and 2012 that Quinn reneged on. There will also be some back-money paid, but for the most part, only that which a court ordered set aside in 2012 or leftover funds from this budget year that Quinn officials have promised to put toward the overdue wages.
Not all employees will get what they’re owed for the past two years because lawmakers didn’t act on a supplemental appropriation to cover the $140 million to $160 million price tag, AFSCME director Henry Bayer said in the email.
Bruce Rauner reacts on Facebook…
* In other news…
The state agency charged with investigating child abuse claims continues to flounder when it comes to meeting deadlines for initiating and completing investigations, a new audit notes.
In a report released Wednesday, Illinois Auditor General Bill Holland said the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services saw a significant jump in the number of abuse cases that weren’t determined to be unfounded or credible within a required 60-day timeframe.
The audit found that 884 of nearly 65,000 allegations missed the deadline, compared to 115 of 63,000 the previous year. It was the biggest backlog since 2006, when more than 1,000 cases missed the deadline.
Bookkeeping is sloppy at the Illinois Department of Transportation, where contracts have been hastily awarded for “emergencies” such as trash collection and overtime claims have gone unchecked, according to a state audit released Wednesday.
Other problems in fiscal years 2011 and 2012 included shoddy inventory records and duplicated payments to vendors, according to the Illinois auditor general’s report, which said some problems have festered since 1994.
IDOT officials said they agreed with the findings and promised to improve. The department is led by Transportation Secretary Ann Schneider, who took over in late 2011. She was preceded by Gary Hannig.
In March, Gov. Pat Quinn issued an executive order to eliminate or consolidate 75 government panels after the Better Government Association highlighted the waste and perks that accompany many taxpayer-supported boards and commissions.
The aim: trim the bureaucracy and save money.
But on the final day of the just-completed Illinois General Assembly session, the state Senate quietly blocked Quinn’s order, claiming he didn’t have the authority to eliminate 37 — or nearly half — of those panels.
Quinn’s press secretary said the governor was “surprised” by the Senate’s action, which she called “disappointing.”
A spokesman for Senate President John Cullerton, D-Chicago, said his boss is committed to streamlining the numbed of boards and commissions, but it needs to be done through legislation. In other words, it’s the legislature’s call, not the governor’s.
So one night the princess went to sleep, as she had on all the other nights, atop those 28 mattresses and 28 feather beds.
Yet so sensitive was she that she felt something bothering her. She just couldn’t sleep. She tossed and turned. She could feel a bothersome itch right in the middle of her back.
The servants ran to help and removed the 28 mattresses and the 28 feather beds, but found nothing.
“Wait!” said Princess Lisa. “What’s this?”
There, at the bottom of the pile, on the ground, was a tiny, dry, little pea.
She had felt it through all the mattresses and all the feather beds representing the years of her father’s reign. She placed it in her flawless palm, and like magic, it opened. Inside was a mysterious note with many numbers. The servants ran to inform Mike of Madiganistan.
“This is nothing,” said the terrible Mike. “All it says is that the peasants owe $100 billion in unfunded state pension liabilities. Don’t worry, they’ll pay and they’ll like it. Go to sleep, honey.”
So the servants reassembled the bed, the 28 mattresses and the 28 feather beds, and soon Princess Lisa was fast asleep.
And the next morning, after a night of uneasy dreams, she felt as if she’d been transformed.
All was right with the world. The sun was shining, the birds were singing, the peasants were shrieking their piteous cries of woe. The princess climbed down for breakfast with her father.
And just before a servant brought her a silver bowl of Lucky Charms, she asked Mike of Madiganistan a question:
Darin LaHood, State Senator (R-Peoria) and Dan Rutherford for Illinois Treasurer campaign staffer, may be looking to fill the seat of his former boss.
Appointed to serve the 37th District in the Illinois Senate in February of 2011, he was elected to a four year term in the senate on November 6, 2012. He may have his sights set on running for State Treasurer.
Two other perspective GOP nominees, Bob Schillerstrom, former DuPage Chairman and Bob Grogan, DuPage County Auditor.
* Bruce Rauner was in Springfield yesterday spreading the word about his gubernatorial candidacy. But he stuck closely to his script and wouldn’t offer up any real details. For instance, here’s Rauner on limiting the power of public employee unions…
Asked by a reporter if he was saying government unions should be eliminated in Illinois, Rauner said, “We need to modify their power.” Asked how, he said, “I won’t go into it today. We’ve got a detailed plan.”
“We should put vouchers into our worst school districts so parents can get out of those broken systems and go elsewhere for their kids’ education,” he said. He didn’t say, when asked, if such vouchers would be allowed to pay for education at parochial schools.
“We’ll get to that plan later,” he said.
He also apparently didn’t say if Chicago kids would be offered vouchers to attend school in Winnetka.
Rauner said he thinks for a Republican to win for governor, a candidate would need 25 percent of the vote in Cook County, and he said he has a “very specific plan” to get support there.
“I built businesses in Cook County,” he said. “I’m known in the African-American community in Cook County and the Latino community in Cook County because my wife and I have funded many, many of their charter schools in their communities, and … we’ve been doing that for 25 years. … They know it’s not about politics. They know it’s because I care passionately about quality education for everybody.”
Asked if term limits would require a constitutional amendment, he said, “or a referendum; we’ve got a plan.”
* He said something odd to a Springfield TV reporter yesterday. Rauner said the problem with the pension reform conference committee is that the public employee unions are “not at the table.” But why bring the unions to the table if you want to break them? Usually, you only bring somebody to the table if you want to negotiate. So, I don’t get it. Watch…
* Meanwhile, Rauner said something in Rockford that kinda/sorta reminded me of the parody movie “The Campaign”…
“Rockford is a core, one of the most important communities in Illinois. How Rockford goes is how the state goes.”
* Montgomery County Republican Party Chairman Jim Allen fired off a racist, misogynistic, xenophobic and disgustingly hateful e-mail to conservative blogger and GOP activist Doug Ibendahl this week. Allen supports Congressman Rodney Davis against Erika Harold in the Republican primary. Harold, who is black, lost out to Davis last year when county party chairmen picked retired Congressman Tim Johnson’s ballot replacement. Ibendahl backs Harold and he posted Chairman Allen’s e-mail on his blog. I’ve edited one word by blocking out a letter…
From: Jim Allen
Sent: 06/18/13 10:59 PM
To: dibendahl@mail.com
Subject: 13th Congressional District reply
Rodney Davis will win and the love child of the D.N.C. will be back in Sh*tcago by May of 2014 working for some law firm that needs to meet their quota for minority hires.
The truth is Nancy Pelosi and the DEMOCRAT party want this seat. So they called RINO Timmy Johnson to be their pack mule and get little queen to run.
Ann Callis gets a free ride through a primary and Rodney Davis has a battle.
The little queen touts her abstinence and she won the crown because she got bullied in school,,,boohoo..kids are cruel, life sucks and you move on..Now, miss queen is being used like a street walker and her pimps are the DEMOCRAT PARTY and RINO REPUBLICANS…These pimps want something they can’t get,,, the seat held by a conservative REPUBLICAN Rodney Davis and Nancy Pelosi can’t stand it..
Little Queenie and Nancy Pelosi have so much in common but the one thing that stands out the most.. both are FORMER QUEENS, their crowns are tarnished and time has run out on the both of them..
And the Republican Party wonders why they have problems with women and minorities?
Sheesh.
They have far too many yahoos like this clown in power.
* Davis pulled Chairman Allen’s name off a list of supporters on his campaign website. And Allen apologized. From the Champaign News-Gazette…
“The words in the commentary I wrote were completely wrong,” said Jim Allen, the Republican Party chairman in Montgomery County. “I apologize to Erika Harold, her staff and her supporters.”
With that, Allen hung up.
OK, not a bad apology, but have the stones to at least answer a question before hanging up on the reporter.
“Mr. Allen’s comments are misguided and wrong and certainly do not reflect the views of Congressman Davis or his campaign. Our hope is that supporters for all of the candidates conduct themselves in a positive manner and focus on the issues facing our country as the campaign moves forward,” said Andrew Flach, a spokesman for the Republican congressman.
* Congressman Davis said on a conference call with reporters this morning that Allen should resign his party position.
Davis said Allen made “inane and asinine comments,” but said he hasn’t yet talked to him about the e-mail.
* Have you any confidence that the General Assembly can solve the state’s pension problem by July? Take the poll and then explain your answer in comments, please.
* More Bill Daley poll results have been leaked. This time, the numbers are about Speaker Madigan hisself…
The majority of those polled (600 2014 potential general election voters) have a negative view of the Speaker — 54 percent rate his job performance as either not so good (23 percent) or poor (31 percent) […]
Michael Madigan is viewed favorably by only 25 percent of voters and unfavorably by 46 percent, according to the survey.
* Rep. Elaine Nekritz’s spokesman sent this explanation to reporters today about how conference committees are formed. I thought you might like to see it as well…
The Senate calls for a vote on a motion to non-concur on the House version of Senate Bill 1. If that is approved, the bill heads back to the House, which then votes on a motion to refuse to recede from its version. If that is approved, then the conference committee is created at either chamber’s request. If for some reason either of those votes fails, then the bill remains in limbo in the chamber in which it’s currently sitting.
I figure the House will try to do a voice vote on the refuse to recede motion today. We’ll see.
The conference committee shall consist of 5 members from each chamber of the General Assembly. The number of majority caucus members from each chamber shall be one more than the number of minority caucus members from each chamber.
(c) Each conference committee shall be comprised of 5 members of the House, 3 appointed by the Speaker and 2 appointed by the Minority Leader. No conference committee report may be filed with the Clerk until a majority of the House conferees has been appointed. […]
No conference committee report shall be received by the Clerk or acted upon by the House unless it has been signed by at least 6 conferees.
If the conference committee determines that it is unable to reach agreement, the committee shall so report to each chamber of the General Assembly and request appointment of a second conference committee. If there is agreement, the committee shall so report to each chamber. […]
No conference committee report shall be adopted by the House except on a record vote of a majority of those elected,
Joint House-Senate conference committees, such as the one Quinn wants convened to end the stalemate between House Speaker Mike Madigan and Senate President John Cullerton, were once the norm in Springfield. […]
Usually, conferees met in secret, if they met at all. It was common for lobbyists to not only draft the conference committee’s report but then also circulate the report among its members to collect the required signatures for approval.
In this manner, a bill to increase the state speed limit could land on legislators’ desks for a vote at the 11th hour—magically transformed via conference committee report into an earmark-laden road-building program.
While that sort of change would never escape everyone’s attention, it was common for more obscure changes to emerge unnoticed in this same manner and “quietly” become law — sometimes by mistake, more often intentionally. You’ll notice that we reporters always talk about something “quietly” becoming law when we failed to catch it at the time.
The death knell for conference committees, I’m told, may have come when, in the midst of the Legislature abolishing “study commissions” that served as little more than patronage havens, a particularly crafty legislator slipped through a conference report creating three new study commissions.
As hard as it may be for some to believe, Madigan’s move to eliminate conference committees some 15-20 years ago was generally regarded as a significant procedural reform.
Of course, as with many such reforms, this one suited Madigan’s purpose of maintaining tighter control over all legislation moving through the House.
Madigan and his leaders and staff hold meetings on every bill, every amendment, every motion. He keeps control that way. There were just too many conference committee reports to read, so they’re gone.
* The Bill Daley campaign released results of a statewide poll of likely general election voters late last night. Notice, however, that the campaign didn’t release any Daley numbers. The polling memo…
Lisa Madigan is personally popular (54% favorable / 26% unfavorable), and she leads Dan Rutherford among general-election voters in a head-to-head race for Governor (Madigan 50% / Rutherford 34%), whom we used as a placeholder candidate. Rutherford is currently only known to one-third (37%) of voters. Her lead also holds up after we give voters positive information about both candidates (Madigan 49% / Rutherford 38%).
However, Madigan faces a tough battle if she runs for Governor and her father remains Speaker of the House. In a vote between Lisa Madigan and Rutherford where her father does not resign his office, Lisa is in a dead heat with Rutherford (Madigan 41% / Rutherford 41%).
Voters shift away from Madigan after they hear of a conflict of interest with Speaker.
After voters hear the following about Mike and Lisa Madigan serving as Governor and Speaker, an easy message for Republicans to execute, the race moves to a tie (41% Madigan / 41% Rutherford). This includes a 27-point shift among Independents, who move from supporting Madigan by 4 points (Madigan 37% / Rutherford 33%) to opposing her by 23 points (Madigan 26% / Rutherford 49%).
“There has been some talk about Attorney General Lisa Madigan running for Governor. As you may know, her father, Mike Madigan, is Speaker of the Illinois House of Representatives. If she is elected Governor, some say that creates a major conflict of interest to have family members running both branches of state government. If Mike Madigan decided not to retire or resign as Speaker of the Illinois House of Representatives and the candidates for Governor were Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan, a Democrat, and Illinois State Treasurer Dan Rutherford, a Republican, for whom would you vote?”
Voters are heavily concerned about how this relationship will affect state government. It’s a “serious concern” to 53% of voters that “If Lisa Madigan is elected Governor, the Madigans will control two branches of state government. This will put too much power in one family’s hands and break the system of checks and balances that is supposed to keep power in government separated.” A further 17% of voters think this is “somewhat of a concern”, making 70% total say it is a concern.
Nearly a majority will not consider voting for Lisa Madigan if her father is Speaker. A near majority of voters (49%) have already cut themselves off from voting for her as Attorney General if her father continues as Speaker. This shows shows the deep skepticism voters have of having the same family control two branches of government:
Which of the following statements comes closest to your own view, even if none is exactly right?
Lisa Madigan has been a good attorney general, and I am open to voting for her for Governor despite her father’s position….38%
I like Lisa Madigan, but I would have a hard time voting for her if her father continues as Speaker….23%
At this time, I plan to vote against Lisa Madigan regardless of her father’s position….26%
[VOL] Don’t know/refused….12%
* The poll, by the way, was taken in April…
Anzalone Liszt Grove Research conducted N=600 live landline and cellphone interviews with likely 2014 general election voters in Illinois between April 10-15, 2012. Respondents were selected at random, with interviews apportioned geographically based on expected voter turnout. Expected margin of sampling error is ±4.0% with a 95% confidence level and higher for subgroups.
The wording in the question is undoubtedly loaded. However, it is likely to pale in comparison to how opponents would portray Lisa Madigan in TV ads during a primary or general election.
“Biased language? I don’t think that it’s anything in the extreme. We’re not making the argument that mimics paid communication,” Anzalone said. “It clearly affects the vote when you help people connect the dots.”
In Springfield on Tuesday, the Speaker chuckled sarcastically when asked about a possible conflict with he and his daughter holding those offices.
“Oh, really?” he said.
He was asked if he saw it as a conflict of interest — having a Gov. Madigan and a Speaker Madigan.
“You know what, I’m not going to address those questions today,” Michael Madigan said. “But you should take the conflict of interest questions to your editors. Talk to them about conflict of interest.”
* Most people figure that Gov. Pat Quinn will probably try to rewrite the concealed carry bill and make it a utopian gun control measure, with some weak “may carry” language tossed in for good measure. An assault weapons ban, a ban on high capacity gun magazines and more are expected to be tossed into the mix.
But, hey, maybe not. Maybe he’ll surprise literally everybody and sign the bill. Or maybe he’ll just issue a straight-up veto with a long message pandering to his base. Whatever the case, the pressure for action is starting to increase…
House Speaker Michael Madigan - the attorney general’s father and a fellow Chicago Democrat - urged Quinn to sign the bill, which was a hard-fought compromise between the House and Senate.
“If you look at the vote in the House and the Senate it’s pretty clear that the governor’s veto could be overridden,” Madigan said after an unrelated committee hearing Tuesday.
But the Southwest Side powerhouse, whose daughter, Attorney General Lisa Madigan may challenge Quinn for governor in next year’s Democratic primary, also said he expected Quinn to take action “designed to advance his campaign for re-election.”
A tad hurtful, but true.
Cook County is Quinn’s base. And Cook County Democratic primary voters do NOT like guns. It’s as simple as that.
* But, it’s really not that simple. For instance, this is a statement issued yesterday by state Sen. Mattie Hunter, a Chicago Democrat…
“I am disappointed with the current situation surrounding the concealed carry legislation we passed. My approval of the firearms regulations package was and continues to be with reservation as I believe the legislature’s approved plan leaves much to be desired. It fails to address public safety concerns and the epidemic of violence occurring on the streets of Chicago daily.
“However, I have supported this concealed carry effort because I realize the importance of making sure we have a statute in place to protect our citizens. If the governor does not take action soon, we are in danger of not providing much needed security for our communities.”
The message here is fairly clear: If you’re gonna do something, do it soon and for crying out loud don’t undercut the people who stuck their necks out and voted for the darned bill in the first place.
* The proliferation of state’s attorneys issuing their own hastily crafted ad hoc concealed carry rules is really starting to concern legislators. Several Downstate Senators issued statements on the need for urgency yesterday…
Senator Gary Forby (D-Benton) “I know the governor has concerns with this bill, but we worked really hard to come up a proposal that we think everybody can live. He may not be happy with it, but it is a compromise. There are things you like and things you don’t like.”
Senator Mike Jacobs (D-Moline) “The governor needs to take action on this bipartisan concealed carry measure. We need a concealed-carry law that applies to all gun-owners equally, regardless of where you live.”
Senator Andy Manar (D-Bunker Hill) “I don’t think anyone will be surprised if the governor vetoes the bill. I would just urge him to act quickly so that the General Assembly has enough time to respond before the extended deadline.”
Senator Dave Koehler (D-Peoria) “We had to do something about concealed carry. This compromise is much better than the ‘constitutional carry’ alternative.”
Senator Pat McGuire (D- Joliet) “The concealed-carry bill passed by a large majority of Democrats and Republicans on May 31 was the result of much compromise between House and Senate members and various interest groups. If the Governor has suggestions for yet improving the bill, I hope he would seek to make those changes through follow-up legislation. We should not risk missing court-ordered deadlines and allowing a dangerous and confusing hodge-podge of concealed-carry rules across our state.”
This is Quinn’s re-election campaign kick-off. It will not be a simple veto. It will be a full blown media event and re-write to do right, probably at the home of a Chicago gun shot victim, with lots of gun control advocates, ministers, cops and moms with kids. Expect the full monty of gun control porn, fear, fear, and more fear with a dash of victim stories and photos of departed loved ones. It’s going to be over the top.
Quinn will a/v it to include every conceivable item from ICHV and the Brady Center wish list. He’ll say this is what Governors can do, this is why you need strong leaders, the buck stops with him, he’s the only one who can protect us, yada, yada, yada.
It’s his big moment in the sun and it doesn’t matter that the veto will be promptly over-ridden. It’s too good for Quinn to pass up and it highlights his only strength. The over-ride just reinforces the message Quinn is going to deliver and makes him seem more relevant.
Tension seemed to grow between Cullerton and Madigan when it became clear in the last days of session that pension reform was not going to pass both chambers. Madigan attributed the failure to a “lack of leadership” in the Senate.
But [yesterday] he said that reports of that statement had misrepresented his intent. “I meant that I was very disappointed and that this was a major issue that should have been addressed in a better fashion by everybody in the legislature, which is why we’re here today talking about it.” He called the conference committee “a new start.”
He added: “Let’s get good appointments to the conference committee. Let’s expect that they’ll do good work, and they’ll go in good faith and they’ll give us a good compromise.”
* Meanwhile, I think Rep. Sara Feigenholtz, who worked for Cullerton’s office before her election to the House, summed up the disagreement over pension reform better than anyone I’ve ever seen in a mainstream media report…
“You’ve got two people whose leadership styles and caucuses are very different. Mike Madigan is a much more conservative and cautious person whose more fiscally conservative. The speaker’s goal was to hit a number that would solve the pension problem long-term. The senate bill was designed to pass constitutional muster. Those are two completely different goals.”
There are some inherent institutional forces that have so far acted as roadblocks to a pension overhaul. That includes the Senate caucus’ long-held unwillingness to be seen as Madigan’s rubber stamp, whether the question is pension reform or the budget. Cullerton then is put in the position of losing his grip on power in his own chamber and of losing the backing of unions whom he vowed he would work with. […]
“The Senate doesn’t always appreciate how the House has just passed important pieces of legislation, sent it over to the Senate and chosen to adjourn, leaving the Senate with a take-it-or-leave-it proposition,” said a Democratic operative, who asked to remain anonymous.
That “long-held unwillingness” goes all the way back to at least Phil Rock. This tension ain’t new by any means.
Regardless, Fran Spielman and Natasha Korecki did a far better job of looking at this Springfield problem than anyone else in the Chicago media has done for quite a long time. They didn’t lazily rely on goofy conspiracy theories to pad their piece and went beyond the usual Springfield quotation class to bring in some fresh insight. Go read the whole thing, especially if you’re a Chicago political reporter.
* US Senators Dick Durbin and Mark Kirk say they will stay out of their respective parties’ gubernatorial primary battles. That’s probably a good idea, considering how nasty those primaries may get (a bit more on that topic later this morning). Sun-Times…
Durbin, to seek re-election in 2014, said on the Bill Press show during a Tuesday interview he was staying out of [the] contest, which is shaping up as a “spirited primary which I will observe with great interest.”
State Sen. Kirk Dillard (R-Hinsdale), who’s not officially in the race yet but will be this summer, says Rauner isn’t really a Republican.
“Bruce Rauner, while running in a Republican primary, has donated hundreds of thousands of dollars to (former Chicago) Mayor (Richard M.) Daley, Democrat members of Congress including Jan Schakowsky and Bill Foster, and hundreds of thousands of dollars to Democrat governors nationwide,” he said.
State Treasurer Dan Rutherford, also running for governor, criticized Rauner for making his campaign announcement via a video on his website, Rutherford making the point that he meets the public and the press face-to-face.
He added that criticism over campaign contributions to top Democrats must be viewed with a grain of salt. He gave money to four Democrats, two of whom are particularly notable.
“I’ve worked with Rahm Emanuel and Rich Daley because they control the public schools in Chicago and they are powerful allies who you need to work with if you hope to transform the schools,” Rauner said. “It’s the same technique the teachers’ union uses on both parties to block reform. I’m using it back on them.”
Numerous other contributions have been made in his household, but he claimed those come from his wife. He called her a staunch Democrat.
Saying Rauner is contributing to candidates when it’s actually his wife is gonna backfire badly if this keeps up. Just sayin’.
Rauner was criticized by fellow candidate Dan Rutherford as the state treasurer faced the media and citizens in a 13-city tour for his own announcement. Rauner decided to announce his campaign via video in order to reach more supporters.
“We’re trying to maximize my exposure as much as possible,” he said. “Launching a video that could be spread throughout the state digitally was hugely powerful. When we launched our two-minute video, we thought we would get 2-3,000 views that first day. We got 40,000.”
[Rauner] said the accusations by State Sen. Kirk Dillard (R-Hinsdale) over his connection to fraudster Stuart Levine is non-existent.
“He’s bringing up some guy named Levine who I’ve never had any interaction with and didn’t even know he was there,” Rauner said. “Somehow my old investment firm is involved in corruption and has something to do with him? It’s pure bologna.”
The connection is indirect: a company that was owned by Rauner’s firm once hired Levine as a consultant, so Rauner did not “employ” Levine.
* The anti-frackers are furious at Gov. Pat Quinn for signing the fracking regulatory and taxation bill yesterday. From a press release…
“It is obvious from his signing this bill that the Governor did not do his due diligence on this issue,” said Dr. Lora Chamberlain, spokesperson for the coalition, adding, “Any responsible person after looking at the evidence for serious harm caused by fracking across the nation would have wanted to investigate further to make sure that the regulations, written primarily by the industry, in SB1715, were sufficient to protect Illinois. But Gov. Quinn is acting like a desperate man and his actions will prove to be penny wise and dollar ridiculous. We will see how this plays out here in IL, but it is our prediction that the state will end up paying dearly to clean up the environmental mess from fracking and the resultant health problems. Polluting our precious fresh water permanently for oil will also turn out to be very unwise.”
OK, first of all the regulations were not “written primarily by the industry.” The negotiations were, in reality, based on the environmentalists’ legislative template. The fracking industry cooperated because Speaker Madigan threatened them with a moratorium.
Secondly, the Sierra Club, National Resources Defense Counsel and the Illinois Environmental Council all backed the bill. Those groups are made up of “responsible persons.”
* More..
With the signing of this bill the Shawnee National Forrest located south of Carbondale will be fracked and tourism in the area will be negatively impacted, many local business might be devastated. Penni Livingston of the Southern Illinoisans Against Fracturing Our Environment stated, “With a stroke of a pen, the Governor may have harmed irreparably the tourism industry in the Shawnee National Forest today.”
The Shawnee is located in parts of Pope, Jackson, Union, Hardin, Alexander, Saline, Gallatin, Johnson, and Massac counties. Current unemployment rate for each county…
Except for Jackson, which has SIU, and Massac, which has a casino, employment in that region ain’t exactly strong. They’re just not making it on tourism alone.
* More…
The coalition is asking the Governor to follow this dangerous technology very closely, and create the investigative task force that is included in SB1715 as soon as possible, so that they can start an independent examination of the many negative effects of fracking. The coalition is asking that the Governor include public hearings in this task force in order to provide a transparent avenue by which the citizens of the state can be heard. Dr. Lora Chamberlain said, “The last thing the Oil and Natural Gas companies want is public participation, but it is quite clear to this coalition that it is the public who is paying attention to the devastation from fracking around the country, and not our legislators or our Governor.”
The demand for public hearings isn’t unreasonable at all. But hearings shouldn’t be turned into circuses. This is serious business, not a way for people to creatively vent.
* Related…
* Fracking Standards Now Law In Illinois: The director of the Illinois Environmental Council, Jen Walling, says she wishes the state would ban the practice. But she says given that fracking’s already happening in Illinois, her group and other major environmental organizations agreed to the new law. Walling says it sets tough, comprehensive standards drillers must follow. “We don’t allow open pits storage of waste water afterward. This has been a huge problem in other states. Our law requires that all waste water be kept in closed loop tanks. That’s a really big deal.”
* Colleges plan training for gas drilling jobs: Both colleges plan to provide a safety program and other training needed by the industry. Southeastern Illinois College has submitted a custom training certificate program to the state for approval. Rend Lake College plans to establish an associate degree program in oil and natural gas.
* The Shale Boom Has Given America Tons Of Political Leverage In The Middle East: Many have been skeptical of the true extent of the shale revolution’s impact on the U.S. economy, beyond localized effects like lowering mid-continent crude prices and reducing costs for industrial petroleum product manufacturing. But in a new note, Standard and Poor RatingsDirect’s Peter Rigby says it’s actually given the U.S. a tremendous amount of political leverage.
* California Assembly Rejects Fracking Ban: The California assembly vote followed closely on the heels of a comprehensive federal study of water quality near more than 100 natural gas fracking sites in Arkansas. As Environment & Climate News recently reported, the U.S. Geological Survey study found the extensive fracking in Arkansas has not compromised water quality near any of the fracking sites. Lisa Jackson, who led the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency during the first four years of the Obama administration, has repeatedly testified to Congress that EPA has never found a single instance of fracking polluting groundwater.
* 10:15 am - The US Supreme Court has granted Attorney General Lisa Madigan’s motion for a second extension to file a writ of certiorari on the concealed carry case. The Court extended the deadline until July 22nd, according to the attorney general’s office.
This means that AG Madigan won’t have to decide whether to appeal until after the appellate court’s July 9th deadline for enacting a public carry law. That deadline was also extended at AG Madigan’s request.
* Subscribers were told much more about this earlier today, but here’s a quick e-mail from Rep. Elaine Nekritz’s spokesperson…
I’m told the House committee this afternoon will not be acting on the new version of SB 2404 this afternoon. Testimony will be presented on the bill in a subject matter hearing.
Also, I’m told the plan for tomorrow is for the Senate to non-concur on the House-approved amendment to Senate Bill 1 that make up the House pension plan. The House would then refuse to recede, sending the issue to a conference committee.
The “new version of SB 2404″ is Speaker Madigan’s amendment which guts Senate President Cullerton’s union-negotiated bill. No vote means MJM has backed off a bit. A good sign.
And Madigan opposed formation of a conference committee last week. That position has changed. Again, subscribers know more.
*** UPDATE *** Subscribers were told about this as well…
Quinn's office: Gov, Madigan, Cullerton have agreed to set up a pension conference cmte Wednesday, then gov calls back lawmakers in July.
* The Senate Executive Committee meets at 3 o’clock this afternoon. The House Personnel and Pensions Committee meets at 4:30. Blackberry users click here…
* Do you ever get the feeling that the Chicago Tribune editorial board has been taken over by drama queens? Check out today’s editorial on pension reform, which includes a shout-out to their new bestest buddy, Democratic gubernatorial candidate Bill Daley…
Former White House chief of staff Bill Daley, who’s exploring a run for governor, took a stab at Illinois’ pension stalemate Monday. He had some good ideas for how Gov. Pat Quinn could force the issue — starting with a promise to veto any faux pension reform that doesn’t get the job done. […]
Daley endorsed Michael Madigan’s pension bill, which this page also strongly supports. We wish only that Daley had taken advantage of his news conference to do a dramatic reading of the names of the dozens of members of the House and Senate who have obstructed the Madigan bill. It’s a long list, we know. We wish Daley had read it twice, with feeling.
Oh, yeah, that would’ve made for great TV. A “dramatic reading” of a long list of names. Also, kicking off your campaign by making enemies with a hostile name-check would serve no useful purpose, especially since the pension issue is still evolving (subscribe for more info).
Daley had some pointed advice for another potential Democratic rival for governor, Attorney General Lisa Madigan. Daley said Madigan should weigh in with a legal opinion on the constitutionality of the rival pension bills, including the bill sponsored by her father, House Speaker Michael Madigan. Enough with standing on the sidelines while the state implodes.
* I asked for a response yesterday from the attorney general’s office to Daley’s demand that she issue a formal opinion on the constitutional prospects of the various pension proposals. Here’s what I got…
The Attorney General is already aggressively defending the state in multiple cases that will significantly impact what the legislature can do to solve this crisis, and for over a year, she has been providing the legislature with legal advice and analysis on the constitutional issues.
As everyone is aware, the constitutional questions involved will ultimately be resolved by a court opinion, not the Attorney General’s opinion. As a result, the Attorney General is doing her job to keep the state’s legal options open while building the strongest legal arguments to ensure that the legislature’s final plan survives an inevitable court challenge.
I asked for clarification in a follow-up call. The AG has apparently been helping legislative legal staff to formulate constitutional justifications for their respective bills. Does that mean she believes that the bills are constitutional? They wouldn’t say.
[AG Madigan spokesperson Natalie Bauer] noted that under a policy in place for more than 50 years, “the office doesn’t issue opinions on matters that will end up in court.”
I don’t think issuing a legal opinion would be all that difficult. And since she’s been helping to construct justifications for the plans, it might not take all that long, either.
* But there is a new game in town. I gave this development short shrift on the blog yesterday, but that was a mistake.
Senate President John Cullerton now supports a pension reform idea that isn’t solely based on his demand that pension system members be given a choice before their benefits can be cut. The proposal, which is backed by the state’s university presidents, only currently applies to SURS, but it looks like a model for the other systems…
The plan would reduce the unfunded liability in the State Universities Retirement System by 28 percent, from $20.2 billion, and could be a model for a comprehensive solution. It would mean a paid-up SURS system by 2044 and, during that time, reduce state contributions by 47 percent, from $76 billion to $40 billion.
Although Cullerton supports the idea, Phelon said it’s uncertain whether he’ll sponsor the legislation. A version was introduced May 31 by Democratic Sen. Michael Hastings of Orland Hills.
• Change the annual Cost Of Living Adjustment (COLA) for future retirees from a guaranteed compounded rate of 3 percent annually to a yield that is linked to the actual inflation rate – which would deliver higher yields in periods of high inflation, lower yields in periods of low inflation. “The COLA is the biggest driving force in the state’s inability to solve the pension problem,” Poshard said.
• Shift the state’s 11 percent share of SURS pension contribution to the state’s public universities and colleges over 12 years. If used as a model for all the state’s public pension plans, the cost shift to local governments would be softened by guarantees of stable funding that would minimize or eliminate property tax hikes. “If you guarantee them at least level funding, not cutting their funding every year, why do you need a property tax increase?” Poshard said.
• Require employees to contribute an additional .05 percent towards pension cost each year over four years, increasing the annual contribution from 8 percent to 10 percent.
• Obligate the state by written contract to make full pension contributions annually or the pension system of any of its members would be able to take legal action to compel the state to make the specified payment.
• Allow new employees to participate in a hybrid pension plan comprising a defined benefit and an individual defined contribution portion that resembles the 401 (k) plans common to the private sector. Poshard said employees would be able to decide if they wanted to take on greater risk for the potential of greater reward.
I’m just not sure that trumpeting his stewardship of a “too big to fail” bank is gonna do him all that much good in a Democratic primary. Maybe I’m wrong. Feel free to correct me in comments.
*** UPDATE *** Oops. I meant to post this story as well. Sun-Times…
Bill Daley, who launched his race for Illinois governor last week, donated $100,000 to his warchest, while tapping long-time friends here, New York and Florida to help bankroll his Democratic primary bid, according to a report filed on Monday.
Daley contributed the $100,000 to his “William M. Daley Exploratory Committee” on June 11; a big enough sum to show that Daley is just not marking time waiting to see if Attorney General Lisa Madigan jumps in the contest.
* So, more than 30,000 votes in 2010 for Pat Quinn were fraudulent? That’s what Roger Keats says and Bill Brady appears to agree…
State Senator Bill Brady won the 2010 gubernatorial election, former State Senator Roger Keats emphatically alleged last week during a Chicago book tour, and Pat Quinn is governor today only because election fraud in Chicago and Illinois is prevalent and widespread.
“Bill Brady won the election. Even the media realized what had happened, but said nothing,” Keats said. “Brady knew it was hopeless to try to overturn the election, as those entities involved with deciding close elections were composed of majority Democratic members.”
State Senator Bill Brady (R-Bloomington), who is expected to declare soon another try at the governor’s seat in 2014, confirmed that Keats’ allegations aren'’t as far-fetched as they might sound.
“After a very close election in November 2010, there was a suspicion that voter fraud had taken place, but how would we prove the presence of fraud?” Brady said. […]
“Only 30,000 votes separated me from Pat Quinn. Lawyers were consulted, they advised me that it would cost millions of dollars to prove that fraud had occurred to result in my defeat,” he said.
OK, wait a minute here. This is just goofy on its face.
Republican Mark Kirk defeated Alexi Giannoulias by 59,220 votes in 2010. Those must’ve been some seriously sophisticated fraudsters if they were splitting their tickets like that.
Not to mention that Republican Dan Rutherford defeated Robin Kelly by over 161,000 votes.
Oh, and Republican Judy Baar Topinka won her race by 429,876 votes that same year.
“The funny thing is the vote fraud that saved Quinn was, I believe, really to protect Joe Berrios in his race against Forrest Claypoole [for Cook County assessor]. Quinn just benefitted from straight Democrat ballots,” Keats wrote in follow-up correspondence.
* Madison County’s state’s attorney was the first this month to say he wouldn’t prosecute anyone arrested for concealed carry, as long as they followed some rules. Several others have followed, including these…
Tazewell County State’s Attorney Stewart Umholtz issued a formal statement stating such about noon Friday, saying that a recent federal appellate court ruling declared the state’s blanket ban on concealed carry unconstitutional.
“A citizen who wishes to exercise their Second Amendment right to carry a firearm outside of the home for self-defense should not be placed in the situation where they fear prosecution if they exercise a constitutional right,” the prosecutor said in a news release.
By 3 p.m., Peoria County State’s Attorney Jerry Brady said he agreed with much of what his colleague across the river said.
“Since the court’s ruling, Peoria County has been following the court’s opinion and not charging persons with valid FOID cards entitled to possess a firearm,” he said. “Our office seeks to follow the court’s opinion and honor a person’s constitutional rights outlined by the recent decision.”
Woodford County State’s Attorney Gregory Minger said he fully supported the Second Amendment and Umholtz’s stance as it related to concealed carry. He qualified his statement by saying he needed to talk to law enforcement in his county to see how such a change would manifest itself.
Macon County officials are crafting regulations to allow concealed carry in the county, State’s Attorney Jay Scott said.
Scott said he and Sheriff Tom Schneider plan to meet later this week to discuss some of the “sensible rules and regulations” which will dictate how and when residents will be able to carry firearms in public. […]
Scott said he will follow the ruling already sent down from the courts and craft their own regulations since no law has taken effect.
“Prosecutors and law enforcement across the board have to come up with some sort of policy to let the people know what’s going on,” Scott said. “Without a concealed-carry law and with the current law (banning concealed carry) being ruled unconstitutional, there’s just a lot of issue to sort through.”
White County State’s Attorney Denton Aud says since a federal court ruled Illinois’ concealed carry ban is unconstitutional he should not prosecute those cases.
“It would be in direct conflict with my oath of office so I would be betraying the trust of those individuals that put me in office by prosecuting anyone for that,” said Aud.
Randolph County State’s Attorney Jeremy Walker told KFVS-TV that residents can carry concealed guns in public.
“Responsible, law-abiding citizens will finally be able to exercise their constitutional right to carry concealed weapons in Randolph County,” a statement from his office reads, according to the station
But in Rock Island County - this states attorney says he will be following the law - until the law changes.
“We are not legislators. That’s for them to write the laws. We enforce the laws that are written.”
The Illinois State Police, Illinois Association of Chiefs of Police, and the Illinois Sheriff’s Association issued a public safety advisory in response to numerous inquiries from citizens to the Illinois State Police Firearm Services Bureau empasizing that it will continue to enforce Illinois’ current unlawful use of a weapon statute in all jurisdictions.
Current Illinois law prohibits the carrying of an immediately accessible or loaded firearm on your person or in your vehicle regardless of whether it is concealed. Persons in violation are subject to arrest until the law changes.
A move by several municipal governments to consider banning assault weapons has come to Lake County, and gun owners are preparing for a struggle.
The first arena will be village board and City Council chambers across the region, as firearms owners plan to speak publicly in opposition of local bans. If that doesn’t work, the next venue likely will be the courtroom, according to Mike Weisman, second vice president for the Illinois State Rifle Association.
“There is litigation around the country on ordinances like this, and I wouldn’t be surprised to see more,” Weisman said.
A state law allowing gun owners to carry their handguns awaits Gov. Quinn’s signature, but it also starts the clock ticking for home-rule municipalities with regard to larger firearms, commonly referred to as “assault weapons.”
