Illinois Director of Mental Health’s Statement on Leader Cullerton’s Comments
SPRINGFIELD – Director Diana Knaebe of the Illinois Division of Mental Health today issued the following statement after Leader Cullerton’s press conference:
“The Illinois Division of Mental Health works every day to reduce the stigma attached to mental illness. For a political leader to perpetuate this stigma to score political points is completely inappropriate and we respectfully request that our leaders stop doing so.”
I get what she’s saying, but Cullerton didn’t say that the governor was mentally ill. He said he had concerns about the governor’s “mental state,” specifically citing Rauner’s anger. The governor himself once cited his own emotions as reason for vetoing a bill that’s directly related to this very topic.
…Adding… A different perspective in comments…
Cullerton was plainly trying to insult Rauner by deriding his “mental state.” That insult only works if having mental issues is something perceived as bad. That’s where Knabe is coming from, and that’s why Cullerton is in the wrong, full stop.
[As a commenter rightly noted, I didn’t understand what Madigan was saying, so the headline and a few other words have been changed. Oops.]
* It took him a while to get there (you should definitely watch the video), but Speaker Madigan said today that he didn’t believe an amendatory veto acceptance motion would ever get to the House…
Speaker Madigan won't commit to allow a vote on @GovRauner's school funding AV. Predicts it will die in Senate. Won't say how he knows that. pic.twitter.com/lRJAIxjDJb
“In all likelihood, the amendatory veto will never get to the House,” is his quote.
But asked later about the prospects for an override in his chamber, Madigan said “I think there’s a good possibility of an override in the House.” Madigan explained that as more members learn about what’s in the bill, they’re liking it a lot more.
[Rep. Steve Andersson] was the GOP’s floor leader in the House until he voted to override Rauner’s veto of the budget bill. He was asked to step down from his post after his vote.
But don’t expect Andersson to break with the governor over SB1. He’s a firm “no” vote as the bill stands now.
Andersson recently told Mark Brown that he was undecided.
As lawmakers battle over school funding in Springfield, Illinois’ First Lady is stepping into the ring.
On Tues., the Rauner campaign released a digital ad that shows First Lady Diana Rauner seated on a beige couch, praising her husband’s position.
But during a press conference in Peoria Wed., Diana Rauner gave a veiled response to whether or not she supports the plan approved by the Democrat-majority Legislature.
“I’m actually not going to speak about any particular bills, I just want to say that we, all of us, know how important it is that all children have access to high quality education throughout their lives,” Rauner said.
* From the governor’s second press conference of the day, held in the governor’s ceremonial office, speaking about pension reform…
I was going to appear with you in this room with President Cullerton to announce that he and I together were going to do his plan. He got a phone call from the Speaker on the way to that press conference and then he didn’t show up. The Speaker said, ‘You’re not gonna do an agreement with the governor for pension reform.’ And that died.
I’ve asked Cullerton’s press secretary for a rebuttal. Speaker Madigan would only say this is part of the “world of Bruce Rauner,” when he was asked about it today.
*** UPDATE *** John Patterson…
Do you know what bill or when this press conference was allegedly supposed to occur?
The Senate passed the consideration model. It is something the Senate President and the governor agree on. It’s in the House.
The Senate also passed and helped enact all the other pension system changes the governor wanted.
As to the Speaker call: No. That didn’t happen.
The Senate President doesn’t recall ever being invited to a Rauner pension news conference.
Today, JB Pritzker kicked off a series of live streamed policy discussions called “JB & Me Live.” The debut livestream focused on education funding, with JB urging Bruce Rauner to sign Senate Bill 1 – legislation the governor agrees 90% with. If Rauner doesn’t agree to sign the bill, Illinois schools may not be able to open on time. JB also discussed his own priorities for education and his over two decades of advocacy for early childhood education in Illinois and across the country.
“J.B. Pritzker’s support for SB1 in its current form is all about politics, not the children. He knows that a Chicago bailout hurts children across Illinois by redistributing their tax dollars towards a broken pension system without reform, but he doesn’t care. Pritzker is willing to hurt children in order to maintain his good favor with Mike Madigan’s Chicago machine.” – Illinois Republican Party Spokesman Steven Yaffe
In a Facebook live video today, billionaire J.B. Pritzker declared his unequivocal support for SB1 in its current form – a school funding bill that includes a massive taxpayer funded Chicago bailout.
Pritzker knows that funneling 64% of all new education funding towards Chicago is fundamentally unfair, but he’s unwilling to speak up for children across Illinois.
Pritzker knows holding SB1 in the Senate is a perversion of the democratic process. And he knows that Madigan wants the bailout – so he’s playing ball.
It’s just more evidence that Pritzker works for Mike Madigan and his Chicago Machine, not us.
* Pritzker campaign response…
“As JB outlined in his Facebook live event today, Bruce Rauner is willing to say just about anything to distract voters from that fact that when it comes down to it, he’s not looking out for Illinois children and families. And his partner, the Illinois GOP, trots out the same tired talking points to paper over their governor’s callous disregard for children and families.
“Bruce Rauner doesn’t seem to care about anything other than his personal political agenda. This is the man who vetoed the entire Illinois budget, including literally every single program that gives children and families the tools they need to build better lives.
“If Rauner had his way, Illinois wouldn’t have funding for public education, agriculture and vocational training, child care, higher education, MAP grants for low-income college students, roads, bridges, clean water, community care for seniors, mental health and substance abuse treatment, job training, adult literacy programs, HIV/AIDS prevention, state parks, breast and cervical cancer screenings, small business incubators, immigrant integration services, homeless youth services, heating assistance for seniors, or meals on wheels – to name a few.
“What sort of man tosses the best interests of children and families across this state aside in favor of a radical right-wing agenda, and then places blame on everyone but himself?” — Pritzker campaign spokeswoman Jordan Abudayyeh
A new report from the National Journal Hotline lists Bruce Rauner as the most vulnerable incumbent governor in America, and ranks Illinois as the third most likely gubernatorial seat to flip parties behind New Jersey and New Mexico whose governors are term-limited. Hotline’s listing comes just weeks after Rauner was tagged as the “most vulnerable incumbent” by Cook Political Report.
In what could break spending records for a state race, Republicans’ most vulnerable incumbent is seeking a second term after overseeing a two-year budget impasse in a state Hillary Clinton won handily. Rauner seeded his campaign with $50 million and has shifted right by hiring conservative think-tankers.”
As National Journal points out, Bruce Rauner faces the uphill challenge of running in a democratically leaning state, and with Trump’s approval rating sitting at 36%, a right-wing staff shakeup will not help his reelection chances. Besides, it was Bruce Rauner’s no-compromise governing that earned him low approval ratings, and doubling-down on that style of politics will only solidify voters’ already poor impression of him.
“Political analysts agree – Governor Bruce Rauner’s reelection effort is in big trouble and it should come as no surprise,” said DGA Illinois Communications Director Sam Salustro. “Bruce Rauner has earned the title “Most Vulnerable Incumbent” by consistently putting his political considerations ahead of Illinois families’ concerns. Rauner forced the state through a two-year budget crisis that did real damage – jobs lost and people fleeing the state, social services programs cut, and schools on the brink. When legislators sent him a budget to end the impasse, Rauner vetoed it. Illinois is worse-off under Bruce Rauner’s failed leadership, a fact that has not escaped voters’ attention.”
Governor Bruce Rauner’s plan to influence the national healthcare debate is to wait and see what happens next.
Vice President Mike Pence cast the deciding vote in the Senate on Tuesday, bringing Republicans one step closer to repealing President Obama’s signature health law, the Affordable Care Act. In a narrow 51-50 vote, the Senate filed a motion to proceed into the next phase of debate.
Governor Rauner’s office responded to the vote in an email to WCIA, which said, “The governor is eager to see how Congress resolves the debate over the Affordable Care Act. As you know, the situation in Washington has been changing on a near daily basis and he is holding judgment until there is a final product and plan on the table. That’s when he’ll be able to assess what this really means for Illinoisans.”
The statement provided by new Communications Director Laurel Patrick paints Rauner as a referee instead of a player. While no governor has a vote in Congress, several popular Republican governors in deep blue states have taken a more vocal stance against repealing Obamacare. Governors John Kasich of Ohio, Charlie Baker of Massachusetts and Maryland’s Larry Hogan are a few Republicans who have signed letters to Congress urging a more moderate solution.
I’m afraid he’s acting out of anger. You know he has had a bad month. I mean, we’ve overridden him I think four times in a row, half his staff was either fired or quit. And I just wanted to have a meeting with him so we could talk rationally about what’s in the bill.
* When asked later why he hadn’t yet sent SB 1 to the governor’s desk, Cullerton told reporters this…
It’s because of the mental state of the governor. It’s been the fact, as I said, he’s really had a bad month.
Whew, man. I haven’t heard talk like that since the Blagojevich days.
…Adding… As a couple of commenters have rightly pointed out, Cullerton has been holding SB 1 for almost two months, so he did have an opportunity to release the bill during a “good” month for the governor.
* We’ve discussed this topic before, but here’s a new story from Illinois Public Radio…
A website that popped up this month asks a question as its URL: arethereanywomenrunningforilgovernor.com. It then very simply answers it with a bright red “NO.” A group of professional women in the state are behind the effort to draw attention to the issue.
Kady McFadden is the deputy director of the Illinois Sierra Club. She’s one of the people behind the site. She says the idea came up over dinner with several other women who also hold powerful positions. “It sort of felt like the elephant in the room that we needed to address - and the first thing we wanted to talk about before we could dive into the race itself. As colleagues - as female colleagues that work in politics, that care about issues in our state, it was one of the first things on our minds,” says McFadden.
For the past 10 years, I have worked with candidates across the state of Illinois running for local and statewide office. Over and over again, I have seen donors who are reluctant to give money and campaign resources to female candidates. Research has shown us that, when women decide to run, they are elected and re-elected at the same rate as their male counterparts. However, with the epic spending no longer limited to the “sexy” top-tier offices such as president, Senate or gubernatorial races, down-ballot races cost more than ever.
The Chicago Sun-Times recently reported that the governor’s race here in Illinois is averaging about $120,000 spent per day. There are still 18 months until the election—a race for a single office that, according to Politico, is on track to become the most expensive statewide contest in U.S. history, possibly topping a record $300 million.
So what does this all mean? It means that consultants, candidates and donors need to adapt and evolve. Fast. Gender aside, the traditional donor pool cannot keep up with this level of campaign spending and raise enough money to win. The bar of fundraising expectations has been raised to a level that renders potentially viable candidates—not just women, but especially women—irrelevant if they don’t have the resources to run.
That’s where we step in. Not only do we need to build a pipeline of talent at the local level—we need to give them checks. Change starts at home, and we need more women to run for local school boards, public libraries and boards of commissioners. We need to donate to them, too.
While bipartisan campaign finance reform is a pipe dream, donating to women candidates can be a reality. There are currently dozens of women running for office in Illinois right now, each one an opportunity to invest in the future of our state.
And until we start making that investment, we surely will have the same male candidates over and over again.
Illinois House Speaker Michael J. Madigan deliberately advances policies that promote high property taxes out of a “stunning conflict of interest” that has made him wealthy, Gov. Bruce Rauner charged Monday.
In a harsh broadside that likely previews a re-election campaign strategy to target the house speaker, Rauner said, “Madigan for his own reasons is a fan of high property taxes.” […]
Asked to clarify, the governor did not offer specifics but pointed to the legal work on property tax appeals conducted by Madigan & Getzendanner, the Chicago law firm Madigan co-founded in 1972.
* Bernie Schoenburg pointed out to the governor today that he had vetoed an income tax increase that would’ve personally cost him “millions of dollars.” Wasn’t that also a conflict of interest? The governor’s response…
Bernie, when a person who sets tax policy and has controlled it for 35 years, also controls a property tax appeal law firm that fundamentally makes money from the property tax policy in a way that systematically disadvantages the families of Illinois. That is wrong. Our system is broken. It’s fundamentally unfair.
Bernie tried to follow up to get him to answer the actual question, but Rauner moved on and the other reporters let him.
* A look at the influence of labor unions in the governor’s race by ICPR…
Democratic candidate JB Pritzker is currently leading the field of gubernatorial candidates as measured by union endorsements. The self-funded Democrat has secured endorsements ranging from small local councils to large, statewide unions, including the 900,000-member Illinois AFL-CIO. All told, Pritzker has received 17 endorsements from unions collectively representing over 1.1 million members.
As endorsements have come out over the last few months, some argued that unions backed Pritzker early because of his personal wealth and promise to self-fund his campaign, which would allow unions to spend more money supporting labor-friendly candidates in General Assembly races across the state.
Kent Redfield, Professor Emeritus at the University of Illinois - Springfield, agrees with this assessment, ascribing many of these early endorsements to financial priorities. Redfield said that instead of focusing on policy differences between candidates, “union money is going to be much more concerned about whether they have to spend on the governor’s race, and on keeping a Democratic majority” in the General Assembly. Redfield noted that unions spent over $30 million on Governor Pat Quinn’s campaign in 2014, and would prefer to spend that money on down-ballot races in 2018.
Notably, some large labor groups have refrained from endorsing a candidate this early into the race. Such organizations include AFSCME Council 31, SEIU, and the Illinois Federation of Teachers. […]
[Wayne Steger, Professor of Political Science at DePaul University] believes that state employee and teacher’s unions, like SEIU, IFT, and AFSCME, “are withholding their endorsement because they are trying to get stronger commitments from JB [Pritzker].” Steger points out, “it’s a risk, because if they wait and Pritzker takes a big lead in the polls, they are coming late to the game.” However, if the polls are looking close for Pritzker, key endorsements before the Primary could give Pritzker the edge he needs to win, elevating the clout of the unions.
* But I wanted to give a couple of those public employee unions a chance to respond. Here’s Anders Lindall from AFSCME Council 31…
AFSCME endorsements are the culmination of a grassroots process in which union members throughout the state examine the records, priorities and viability of the candidates in any given race. With respect to the 2018 primaries, that process is now in its early stages and will conclude at a statewide conference in January. If ICPR or the professor had contacted us before publishing this piece, we would’ve been happy to share that our actions to date reflect our process, not our judgment about any candidate.
* And here’s Aviva Bowen from the Illinois Federation of Teachers…
We’re not withholding anything. Our members drive the endorsement process, and they have only just started learning about the candidates and their visions for the future of Illinois. All we know for certain right now is that Bruce Rauner is committed to crisis, and we will do everything we can to stop him from hurting working people any further.
* Gov. Rauner spoke to reporters today about SB 1…
Let me be crystal clear. The Senators have been clear with our team that they are under specific orders from Speaker Madigan to hold the bill… You guys are all smart. You’ve been around Illinois politics for a while. You know how this goes. Speaker Madigan has directed the Senators to hold the bill.
President Cullerton called me about an hour ago. I called him back. His specific request was, he said ‘Governor, you know, um, I’d like to meet with ‘ya on Monday in Chicago to talk about school funding.’
Really? Are you kidding me? Monday? In Chicago? When we’ve called a special session, when it’s the duty of the legislature to pass a funding bill and get it done so our schools can open on time? You’ve got to be kidding me.
The governor then claimed: “Our children are being held hostage by these politicians.” And he repeatedly refused yet again to provide any details of his own plan.
I’ve asked the Senate President’s office for a response. I’ll post it if and/or when I get it.
*** UPDATE *** Hmm…
#BREAKING Senate President Cullerton says he told the governor he would send him the bill Monday if he won't meet with him.
Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s administration signed off on an elaborate financial shell game that obscured payment of $55 million for renovations at Navy Pier with tax dollars reserved to fight urban blight, records show.
The bookkeeping jiujitsu appears to violate the spirit, if not the letter, of the controversial tax-increment financing program, which critics say has been widely abused and not used for its intended purpose of spurring development in or near economically disadvantaged neighborhoods.
A joint investigation by the Better Government Association and Crain’s Chicago Business finds that the administration began filtering the money in 2014 through a hotel project at McCormick Place, capitalizing on its Near South Side location as a rationale for tapping funds reserved for struggling communities.
Emails and internal documents obtained through the Freedom of Information Act show that officials at the city as well as the governing body of the lakefront convention complex knew the planned 1,205-room Marriott didn’t need the financing. But they also knew that Navy Pier, 3 miles away and a vast distance from any urban blight, did.
* It’s a long and involved story, but Ben Joravsky breaks it down…
In the case of South Loop TIF deals, the mayor swore up and down he was spending $55 million in TIF dollars on the arena/hotel project at 22nd and Michigan. But thanks to Crain’s and the BGA, we now know the money was diverted to pay for Navy Pier renovations. So it’s a diversion of a diversion. Impressive! I’m not sure Mayor Daley the Younger even tried that—and he pioneered this scam. […]
Surprisingly, state and city officials were up front about the apparent switcheroo—at least in the e-mails they wrote to each other. James Reilly, the former CEO of MPEA—its board is appointed in equal parts by the mayor and the governor—acknowledged the unorthodox transaction in a July 12, 2013, e-mail, one of many Chase and Ecker secured via Freedom of Information Act request: “There is a somewhat complicated series of cash flow issues that we need to get a handle on between the City, MPEA and [Navy Pier] with regard to the Tiff [sic] funds that will come from the City to MPEA to reimburse MPEA for the purchase of the land for the [hotel and basketball arena] which in turn will enable MPEA to grant $55M to [Navy Pier] for its reconstruction project.” […]
Wait, there’s more. In October 2014, Richard Oldshue, MPEA’s chief financial officer, sent the following message in an e-mail to Mark Jarmer, an aide to Illinois house speaker Michael Madigan: “None of this TIF money comes to MPEA as incentive or otherwise. The City is aggregating balances from various existing [TIF] districts as they become available to transfer funds to MPEA which we transfer in full to [Navy Pier]. We don’t keep any.” […]
Dowell says she’ll insist the City Council hold hearings on the deal. That would be helpful—as the council never actually held a hearing on whether to spend the $55 million in the first place. In July 2013, two weeks after Reilly wrote the aforementioned e-mail, Emanuel hammered the deal through on a voice vote—most aldermen didn’t know about it until after the vote was taken. We now know why the mayor wanted to keep it a secret.
* David Reifman, a commissioner of the Chicago Department of Planning & Development, and Lori Healey, chief executive officer of the Metropolitan Pier & Exposition Authority, respond…
By failing to understand the typical approach to how the city expends TIF funds, the authors of this article have created unnecessary confusion and overshadowed the significant public benefits that the Elevate Chicago initiative has achieved. We are writing to set the record straight.
In short, no TIF funds were diverted to Navy Pier.
First and foremost, it’s important to understand the city contributed $55 million toward the $498 million overall hotel project cost as a reimbursement to the Metropolitan Pier & Exposition Authority, not as an upfront payment. This approach protected the public’s interest by only allowing the expenditure of TIF funds after eligible expenses were complete. MPEA advanced the funds for these reimbursable costs through its own sources. Only after MPEA made these upfront payments did the city reimburse it, and the city’s payments were applied only to certified TIF eligible costs related to the hotel and for no other purpose.
It is also important to remember that all of the projects mentioned in the article were announced together in May 2013 as Elevate Chicago, a unified and targeted $1.1 billion investment in Chicago’s tourism and convention infrastructure. Elevate Chicago included Wintrust Arena, the Marriott Marquis Chicago, a privately funded smaller hotel, streetscape work and the first phase of Navy Pier renovations. This was widely reported in 2013.
In sum, MPEA advanced all of the funds for the hotel project, some of which were later reimbursed by the city. Only once MPEA received reimbursement from the city did it have sufficient funds to support other Elevate Chicago projects, including a capital investment in the improvement of Navy Pier, which it owns.
Today, the Illinois Republican Party released robocalls statewide highlighting Mike Madigan’s hostage-taking.
Mike Madigan and his political allies are trying to hold schoolchildren hostage in order to force through a $500 million Chicago bailout without reform.
This comes after Madigan held state government hostage for years in order to force through his 32% permanent income tax hike.
Now, the Chicago Machine is refusing to release education funding for all Illinois schools unless they get their taxpayer funded bailout.
And while Madigan and his allies work the legislative side, Madigan’s candidates for Governor – J.B. Pritzker, Chris Kennedy and Daniel Biss – support the bailout too.
The Illinois Republican Party is committed to exposing Madigan’s hostage-taking scheme.
That’s a school bell ringing, but your kids may not hear it this fall if Illinois House Speaker Mike Madigan gets his way.
Mike Madigan and his enablers in the state house are threatening to shut down schools unless they get a special $500 million bailout for Chicago public schools.
First, Madigan held the budget hostage to force through a 32% permanent income tax hike with no reforms.
Now, Madigan is holding our school children hostage to get a $500 million bailout for Chicago.
And Madigan’s candidates for Governor - J.B. Pritzker, Chris Kennedy and Daniel Biss - support the bailout too.
Now is the time to fight back and stop the Chicago politicians before it’s too late.
Call your state representative and state senator. Tell them your higher taxes shouldn’t pay for a Chicago bailout.
Labor union leader James Sweeney, who accused Gov. Bruce Rauner of trying to “destroy the labor movement” in Illinois and once parked an inflatable rat on the tollway lawn, won’t be reappointed to the tollway board.
Rauner chose not to keep Sweeney, president of International Union of Operating Engineers Local 150. His term expired in May.
A Local 150 spokesman confirmed an official told Sweeney last week that his term wouldn’t be renewed. […]
“They’re losing a lot of expertise … there’s no longer any directors with firsthand knowledge (of road construction) during one of the largest capital expansions in the tollway’s history,” Local 150 Communications Director Ed Maher said.
I mean, the guy did everything he could to deny Rauner a 2014 GOP primary win, funded a Libertarian Party candidate against Rauner in the general, helped engineer the early AFL-CIO endorsement of JB Pritzker and is now actively looking around for a Republican to run against Rauner in the 2018 primary.
At issue is the way the bill factors CPS’ finances into what would become the new statewide funding formula. Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel met with both Madigan and Senate President John Cullerton Monday as he continued his calls for Rauner to sign the legislation.
“My view is do what’s right,” Emanuel said Tuesday. “I know for a fact the old Bruce Rauner – before there was this coup in his office – supported, by saying he agrees with 90 percent of the funding in education, 90 percent of what’s in this bill,” he added.
It might be a B that was rotated around the center. If you look at the right half the top part is slightly smaller than the bottom, and if you look at the B in Biss it follows the same style. Kinda weak but best I have.
Yesterday, Bruce Rauner released a new ad featuring his wife Diana, highlighting the couple’s “passion for education.” But lately Rauner’s only passion is causing crises and distorting his own record. The reality is that Bruce Rauner continues to intentionally cut programs that help children and families build better lives.
Let’s take a look at Bruce Rauner’s real record on education:
Due to Rauner’s 736-day budget crisis, Illinois is over $1 billion behind in paying school districts money they were promised.
Hundreds of public university employees were laid off and dozens of programs were cut after Rauner failed to pass a budget for two years.
Rauner proposed a 20% cut to higher education and a 31.5% cut to universities in his 2015 budget proposal.
The ad claims Rauner “increased early childhood education to its highest level ever,” but in reality he proposed a $338.5 million cut to the Childcare Assistance Program in 2016 and decimated the program with his 2015 Emergency Rule, cutting off 90% of previously eligible families.
This month, Bruce Rauner vetoed the entire FY18 Illinois State Board of Education budget worth $11.9 billion, including:
$443.7 million for the Early Childhood Block grant.
$29 million in additional funding for bilingual education.
$387.6 million for disabled student transportation.
$135.2 million for disabled student tuition.
$262.9 million in transportation reimbursement.
$15 million for afterschool programs.
$1.4 million for the parent mentoring program.
$2.4 million in technology for success.
$846,000 for blind and dyslexic services.
$3.1 million for district consolidation costs and supplemental payments for school districts.
$100,000 for autism training and technical assistance.
$9 million in reimbursement for free breakfast and lunch programs.
$1.4 million for the visually impaired and educational materials coordinating unit.
$38 million for career and technical education.
$11.5 million for truant alternative and optional education program.
$6.3 million for alternative education and regional safe schools.
$5 million for agriculture education program.
$2.4 million for Afterschool Matters.
$500,000 for advanced placement classes.
$1 million for the lowest performing schools.
“Fresh off vetoing the entire education budget, this governor is ready to allow schools not to open next month. There is nothing ‘right’ about what Bruce Rauner is doing to Illinois schoolchildren,” said Pritzker campaign spokeswoman Jordan Abudayyeh. “No amount of messaging, distortion, and validation is going to change the fact that this governor is failing in his basic obligation to ensure Illinois children receive a quality education.”
The childcare program and early childhood education are separate beings, but wrapping that veto around him isn’t a bad play.
* Related…
* Mark Brown: Downstate knows more about its schools than first lady does
What: Gov. Rauner signs HB 643, freezing legislative per diems
Where: Governor’s Office – Illinois State Capitol
Date: Wednesday, July 26, 2017
Time: 11:30 a.m.
What: Gov. Rauner addresses media
Who: Senate Republican Leader Bill Brady, House Republican Leader Jim Durkin
Where: Governor’s Office – Illinois State Capitol
Date: Wednesday, July 26, 2017
Time: 15 minutes after adjournment of General Assembly
Amends the General Assembly Compensation Act. Establishes the fiscal year 2018 mileage reimbursement rate and allowance for lodging and meals. Amends the Compensation Review Act. Prohibits cost-of-living adjustments for or during the fiscal year beginning July 1, 2017 for State government legislative and executive elected officers and appointees in positions for which the Compensation Review Board previously recommended or determined compensation. Effective immediately.
So, by signing that bill today, he will prevent the cost of the special session from rising. Notice, however, that the two top legislative sponsors (both Democrats) aren’t on the schedule.
Lawmakers will continue to collect $111 in daily expense money because they were called into special session by Rauner to deal with school funding. However, without the bill signed by Rauner, that amount would have automatically increased to $142 a day.
“The special sessions the governor has demanded are expensive, costing taxpayers upwards of $48,000 each day,” said Sen. Melinda Bush, D-Grayslake, in a statement. “I am pleased that the governor signed my measure to prevent his special sessions from becoming even more expensive.”
Bush was the lead Senate sponsor of House Bill 643 to freeze the rates. Neither Bush nor the lead House sponsor, also a Democrat, were at the bill signing ceremony in Rauner’s office attended by numerous Republican lawmakers.
* From the Illinois Policy Institute’s news service…
Rauner’s Education Secretary Beth Purvis said the Democrats’ bill is an evidence-based plan, but it also provides hundreds of millions of dollars to Chicago Public Schools pensions above and beyond the funding formula.
Purvis said that in 1995, an agreement was made that, because the state didn’t pay for the cost of Chicago Public Schools pensions, it instead would send a block grant, which is about $250 million a year “that is over and above what they would otherwise get within the school funding formula.”
“And the idea was, ‘Chicago Public Schools, we’re going to give you that money and pay down your pensions’,” Purvis said. “Now CPS didn’t use that $250 million to pay down their pensions. In 11 of 25 years, they only made partial payment or no pension [payments].”
Purvis said by ignoring that pension debt, the health of CPS pension funds deteriorated rapidly.
“Our argument is … it’s as if your parents gave you money to pay for your college tuition,” Purvis said. “You didn’t pay for your college tuition, instead you bought a car. That car got you to and from school so it’s important but now you’re going back to your parents and saying, ‘Hey, can I have some of my brother and sister’s college money to pay down my college debt?’ I just don’t think that’s fair.”
In reality, the CPS block grant has no formal relationship to pensions. All districts receive state reimbursement for seven “categoricals” above what they receive in General State Aid. Every district except Chicago has to submit vouchers to get reimbursed for these categoricals. But since 1995, Chicago has been reimbursed via a block grant, based, at least in part, on the reality that submitting claims for thousands of different students was burdensome. Over the years, as CPS enrollment has declined, the block grant resulted in the district receiving $250 million more than it would if it had to submit vouchers for reimbursement.
Rauner’s education czar Beth Purvis has said those extra funds have been audited, and aren’t being misspent. “There’s no implication that CPS is misusing those funds in any way, shape or form,” she told me in May. “We believe that they’re using them for the educational costs of educating those children.”
* So far, it’s just two. We’ll see if anyone else joins…
IL LEGISLATORS BOYCOTT “SPECIAL SESSION” TO HELP SCHOOLS GET READY FOR STUDENTS
Cassidy and Williams hold service day at CPS elementary school, reject Rauner session as political stunt
What: Members of IL General Assembly perform service day, painting classrooms at CPS elementary school
When: July 26, 2017; 10:00 a.m.
Where: Gale Community Academy, 1631 W. Jonquil Terrace, Chicago IL, 60626
Who: State Rep. Kelly Cassidy (D-14th) State Rep. Ann Williams (D-11th) CPS Parents
*** UPDATE *** From Rep. Ann Williams…
Hi Rich: As you may know, it’s budget week at CPS. I have no less than a dozen Local School Council meetings on my schedule - this is where neighborhood schools consider and approve their budgets. Like I do every year, my staff and I will attend as many as possible. The idea of going down to Springfield to play political games while my principals, teachers and CPS families struggle to make their budgets work was untenable for me. I decided to join Kelly in opting to spend the week doing something more productive. I’ll be continuing to attend my LSC meetings this week and join Kelly for daily service projects.
Asked if she would return for Monday’s special session, Rep. Williams replied…
If there is legislation pending or the governor is willing to discuss how his threatened veto will impact neighborhood schools, I’ll be there!
* Also…
If you remember, this is the school that had all of the lead paint issues. This is much appreciated! #Twillhttps://t.co/gMJ9BqnysC
Illinois House Speaker Michael J. Madigan deliberately advances policies that promote high property taxes out of a “stunning conflict of interest” that has made him wealthy, Gov. Bruce Rauner charged Monday.
In a harsh broadside that likely previews a re-election campaign strategy to target the house speaker, Rauner said, “Madigan for his own reasons is a fan of high property taxes.” […]
Asked to clarify, the governor did not offer specifics but pointed to the legal work on property tax appeals conducted by Madigan & Getzendanner, the Chicago law firm Madigan co-founded in 1972.
“He’s got that personal wealth-creating business,” Rauner said.
* Yesterday, when a reporter and the governor were sparring a bit over SB 1, the reporter mentioned that the Senate President claims he isn’t sending Gov. Rauner the bill because he’d threatened to veto it. The governor’s response…
How many bills have they sent to my desk that I was gonna veto? That doesn’t stop ‘em. That doesn’t stop ‘em.
Well, one bill that springs to mind immediately is HB 40.
The divisive legislation, which passed [the Senate on May 10th] in a 33 to 22 vote, aims to protect abortion rights in Illinois should the U.S. Supreme Court strike down or change Roe v. Wade, the 1973 decision that made abortion legal in the U.S. It also prevents insurers from denying coverage of abortion services to women on Medicaid and state workers on the Illinois health insurance plan.
As Rauner prepares to seek re-election, the passage of this bill puts the governor, a Republican, in a tough spot between pro-choice suburban women and pro-life downstate voters.
Sen. Don Harmon filed a motion to reconsider shortly after the floor vote and it hasn’t moved since.
* With the governor under fire for hiring a bunch of staffers from the economic and social right wings, Rauner also had this to say yesterday…
And to be crystal clear, I am a strong advocate for women’s reproductive rights.
But, as you’ll recall, Rauner has said he’s against HB 40, even though he told Personal PAC in 2014 that he favored everything in it…
Gov. Bruce Rauner is casting his promise to veto legislation that’s become known as the “abortion bill” as a matter of timing rather than philosophy.
“I have always been and will always be a strong supporter and protector of women’s reproductive rights,” Rauner said Friday. “We in Illinois have good existing law.”
Rauner said however that “expending taxpayer funds is a very divisive issue. A very controversial issue” and right now “we need to focus” on jobs, property taxes, term limits and school funding.
Needless to say, signing that bill would go a very long way toward dispelling claims that he’s lurching even further rightward in the wake of his budget veto overrides. And vetoing it now would likely help burnish arguments that he is, indeed, moving right.
* The Question: Should Sen. Harmon send Gov. Rauner HB 40 now or wait? Click here to take the poll and then explain your answer in comments, please.
The Illinois Legislature passed a school funding bill — separate from the rest of the state budget — but did not send the legislation to the governor for his approval.
That’s because the governor has threatened to amend the school funding bill by eliminating money for the Chicago Public Schools, which he claims is a CPS pension bailout. That could be anywhere from $100 million to $250 million, or about 2 to 3 percent of the total state spending on schools.
That’s right. This major battle in Springfield is about next to nothing, which is quite something. […]
In addition, the governor’s own school finance reform commission estimated the schools need $3.5 billion to $6 billion more from the state, which isn’t going to happen. […]
But the governor has now chosen to pit Chicago against the rest of the state, using school funding to gain political advantage. Of course, the governor says he loves the children.
So much dung gets tossed around in Springfield when it comes to education that Illinois schoolchildren should be required to wear hazmat suits.
While there’s a lot of attention on the number of people killed in Chicago, a lesser known statistic also tells the story of pain and insecurity gripping the streets.
That number is 29%. That’s the percentage of murders solved by Chicago police last year. In other words, 71% of killers got away with murder. […]
Chicago’s murder clearance rate lags behind other major cities. Police in New York City, for example, report solving 80% of their murder cases last year. The most recent data available from the FBI shows the national average was 61%.
Chicago police point to an entrenched “no snitching” policy brutally enforced by the city’s street gangs as one reason for the lower clearance rate. […]
But police statistics portray another factor that experts say contributes to low solve rate: The sheer number of murders may be overwhelming investigators.
In 2015 and 2016, [Chicago] detectives solved roughly the same number of homicides (227 and 225, respectively). But because the number of murders soared between those two years (488 murders in 2015 and 770 murders in 2016) the solve rate between the two years fell dramatically: From 47% down to 29%.
* A deliberate attempt at softening the image by Team Rauner…
Rauner Highlights Education Record in New Digital Series
Diana Rauner Talks Governor’s Record, Commitment to Education
As lawmakers return to Springfield to deal with Mike Madigan’s political games, the Rauner campaign today released new digital ads featuring Illinois First Lady Diana Rauner, highlighting Governor Bruce Rauner’s longtime to commitment to improving education.
As Governor, Bruce Rauner increased K-12 education funding by $700 million and brought state support for early childhood education to record levels.
Rauner has worked to do what no Governor has done in years – bring educators and lawmakers from both sides of the aisle together to finally fix Illinois’ broken school funding system.
Rauner is committed to being the education Governor. That’s why he favors bipartisan reform of the education funding formula that is fair to all schoolchildren and supports an evidence based funding model.
Bruce and I share a passion for education.
It’s motivated him his entire life.
It’s about ensuring that every child has the opportunity to be successful in life.
We know how lucky we are to have the opportunities to help other people.
And we treat it like a mission.
Bruce has increased education funding by $700 million dollars.
He increased early childhood education to its highest level ever.
It’s about doing what’s right, not what’s easy.
We’re doing this for our next generation.
Notice she’s careful to say education funding, not education spending. The state still owes K-12 a huge pile of money that it couldn’t pay out because of the impasse. At last check, it was about a billion dollars.
Chris Kennedy’s Campaign Releases First Digital Ad
This is the Kennedy campaign’s first advertisement. It will be distributed digitally through email, web and social media today. The ad highlights Chris’ statewide anti-violence plan, which he announced on Saturday.
Chris Kennedy, Democratic candidate for governor, spoke to a congregation on Chicago’s south side today to outline his anti-violence plan and share his own family’s personal experience dealing with the effects of gun violence.
“Violence which can touch our society anywhere will eventually touch our society everywhere, just as it did to my family, just as it has done for too many of the people in this room, just as it has done to tens of thousands of families across Illinois,” said Kennedy, son of the late Senator Robert F. Kennedy. Chris lost both his uncle, President Kennedy, and his father, Robert Kennedy, to gun violence.
The persistent gun violence that plagues Illinois shows no signs of slowing down. While Chicago is on its way to exceed 700 homicides for the second consecutive year in a row, there are other communities in Illinois that have more gun crimes per person.
“Never should the problem be solved from above with solutions pushed down,” Kennedy said. “I believe this is true with violence. I believe the ideas that are present in the community are more important than those that can be found in white papers and academic journals.”
Kennedy made a call to action to address the violence and outlined specific plans he would pursue as Governor, including:
Creating a gun tracing program to trace the ownership of all guns used in a crime and cooperate with other states that want to do the same thing to ensure compatible data collection and reporting techniques.
Licensing gun dealers in the state of Illinois, just like the state licenses restaurants, barbers and nail salons.
Closing the gun show loophole where any can purchase a gun without a background
Providing resources to the state police to speed up the process of getting a firearms owner identification card (FOID).
Passing an Order of Protection Act to keep guns out of the hands of the mentally ill and those involved in domestic violence.
Banning anyone on the terrorist watchlist from receiving a FOID card in Illinois.
Confronting the gun train issue where low levels of security are provided to trains loaded with guns, which is a public safety issue for the state of Illinois.
“These are all things we must do. But alone, they will not stem the violence unless we transform neighborhoods from places where people are merely trying to survive, to communities where they can thrive,” Kennedy said. “We need a progressive income tax - where if you make more money, you pay a little more in taxes, and we need to use those resources to fairly fund schools based on the unique needs of students and families within that community.”
“For communities disproportionately affected by violence, that means committing to counseling, and social, emotional and mental health access for children attending schools in communities affected by violence.”
“When we allow Governor Rauner and his broken government to jeopardize programs that help at-risk youth, we add to the problem of violence. When the mayor closes down nearly 50 schools, violence inevitably goes up,” Kennedy said. “And, when you rely on a rigged property tax system to fund schools and government, you lack the resources necessary to combat gun violence.”
* Usually, the governor gets softball questions from TV types. But Jim Niedelman of the Quad Cities came prepared for his interview. Let’s start with his follow-up to Gov. Rauner talking about what Chicago Public Schools should and shouldn’t get in education funding reform…
NIEDELMAN: So, if you allow [CPS] to have the… block grant would the pension then be included the way other pensions are funded across the state? Every other school district, the state picks up the pensions. Chicago’s separate from that. They want to be included in the rest of the state. You’re against that?
RAUNER: Well, so, here’s the issue, the bill needs to be on my desk so I can do the amendatory veto and you wouldn’t even have to ask the question, it would be clear how we’re gonna do it…
NIEDELMAN: Well, I’m asking the question now..
RAUNER: Yeah. Well, well, to, to talk about the detail when they haven’t even passed me the bill and I can’t fix it, we’re wasting our time…
It’s really worth a watch. Go to about the 6-minute mark to hear him dodge repeated questions about whether he was in favor of primarying Republicans who voted to override his budget vetoes. He also defends his own contributions to himself by saying he’s supported by “tens of thousands who’ve donated whatever they can afford.” All but a tiny handful of his dollars came either from him or a few buddies.
* And then he was asked about Brittany Carl, his new staffer who compared abortion to Nazi eugenics…
RAUNER: Yeah, yeah, yeah, I’ve heard about her, I, you know, people have their own views. Uh, there’s many people I don’t agree with, it’s fine. I focus on my four things, and, uh, we, we focus on the agenda of fixing our state so it’s working for the people.
NIEDELMAN: Do you want her to stay on within your administration?
RAUNER: So, we’re, we have a lot of folks in the administration, we’re building the best team in America to turn the government around.
NIEDELMAN: Do you want her to be, to stay with your administration?
RAUNER: Best team in America…
NIEDELMAN: I’ll take that as a non-answer, Mr. Governor, but I appreciate your time.
It’s fine?
Also, sheesh, this guy is getting worse than Chris Kennedy. Up your game, governor.
Illinois officials are investigating a longtime state investigator whose personal email has been the source of racist, sexist and anti-gay emails.
The state began reviewing Frank Capuzi, 62, with the Workers’ Compensation Commission after the newspaper’s probe of derogatory emails that were forwarded from his address to a water department boss and others, the Chicago Tribune reported. […]
The messages came to light in the ongoing investigation of Chicago Inspector General Joseph Ferguson’s emails to and from the Chicago Water Department. The findings of Ferguson’s messages have led to five high-level water department bosses being let go, including Commissioner Barrett Murphy; his deputy, William Bresnahan; and Paul Hansen, a district superintendent. Ferguson also has been blocked from working on city projects.
Um, huh? Ferguson is the investigator. Those aren’t his e-mails and he hasn’t been blocked from working on city projects.
…Adding… The above story was posted online last night at 7:22. A correction was issued at 12:42 pm today…
Correction: Chicago Inspector General Joseph Ferguson is investigating emails to and from the Chicago Water Department. Ferguson did not write any of the emails. A previous version of this article misreported Ferguson’s involvement in the case.
Rolf Sivertsen, the school superintendent in Canton in west central Illinois, is among a group of Downstate school officials who may be more important to the future of Chicago schoolchildren than Forrest Claypool.
Sivertsen and the others are ardent supporters of Senate Bill 1, the school funding legislation that Gov. Bruce Rauner has promised to veto as soon as it reaches his desk. Rauner calls it a “Chicago bailout.”
Contrary to the governor’s assertions that their communities are being shortchanged, these Downstate superintendents say the legislation is fair and are asking Rauner to sign it.
More important, if the governor goes ahead with his veto as expected, many told me they will ask their local legislators to override the governor’s veto if no compromise solution is found quickly.
* With that said, I still don’t think this meeting is being held out of desperation…
#developing. @GovRauner convening last-ditch meet of all GOP lawmakers Thursday to halt defections on SB1.
Sen. Sam McCann may vote with the Democrats to override the coming SB 1 veto (he just got a big campaign check from the IEA, after all), but the governor has mostly stuck to the plan laid out by his former chief of staff Richard Goldberg and so I doubt very many others will cross over. We’ll see.
Rauner took money from Chicago (how much is still in dispute because he won’t release his plan) and spread it around to suburban and Downstate districts (how he did that is also in question) and set this up as both a racial/geographical and a “I gotta vote my district” battle. So, no matter what your superintendents might say, Rauner has framed this simply: If you vote for SB 1 you vote against your district and for those corrupt Chicago incompetents.
Never underestimate the power of that argument in Illinois, particularly when the governor is so blatantly fanning the flames.
Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner said Monday that accusations that he cares less about predominantly minority students in Chicago Public Schools are “hurtful” and that he “cares deeply” about every child in Chicago.
Speaker Michael J. Madigan issued the following statement Tuesday:
“Throughout three years of the governor’s budget crisis, we saw very clearly that political theater is not a substitute for real leadership. By calling a special session while he refuses to negotiate and even says ‘there’s nothing to discuss,’ the governor is continuing to create a crisis that pits one child against another.
“The governor knows very well that the education funding reform bill in question is not in the House, and members of the House cannot take positive action on the governor’s call until it is in our chamber, especially as he refuses to even detail the changes he would like.
“Governor Rauner, however, can take action. Instead of simply paying lip service to how desperately Illinois’ schools, educators, students and property taxpayers need education funding reform, he can put aside his veto threats and sign a bill he is on record as supporting 90 percent of. Instead of playing political games with our children’s education, he can agree to sign a bill that fixes one the most inequitable funding formulas in the country. I urge the governor to stand with us in choosing reform over a status quo that is failing our students.”
He has a point about how the House can’t take action on a veto until the Senate does. It was basically the same sort of complaint the Senate President had during the last special session.
But the special session proclamation doesn’t specify a veto action. It merely says the purpose of the special session is to consider “appropriate legislation to ensure that all school districts in Illinois are equitably and adequately funded to provide a high quality education to all Illinois students.”
Check out this tracker footage of a confused Kennedy speaking to the 40th Ward Democrats in Chicago on Thursday. Kennedy is bumbling trying to talk about taxes, and stumbles his way into saying he wants taxes to go up. Not a good look for the self-proclaimed Democratic “reformer.”
* Kennedy does stumble at one point (bad brain freeze and switches from one tax idea to another), but his overall point is actually in synch with Gov. Bruce Rauner’s own 2014 campaign pledge: A tax on services, including on attorneys…
Man, that guy has real trouble on the stump. Painful.
Some background on Rauner’s service tax plan is here.
So said Gov. Bruce Rauner on Friday when asked why he has hired a bunch of ideologues from a far-right advocacy group, the Illinois Policy Institute, to run his office.
But Rauner’s reply was a misdirection. The question was not whether the IPI might tell him what to think. The question was whether the governor, by hiring reductivist worshipers of libertarian philosophy, was revealing his own true intellectual colors. The question was whether Rauner was about to double-down on an ideologically-driven approach to governing — as opposed to, you know, living in the real world — that already has done tremendous damage to Illinois.
On Monday we got the answer: You betcha. […]
Some people pursue a life of simple-minded purity, like those libertarian heroes in an Ayn Rand novel. Other people — the ones who get big things done — see the world as it is, complicated and messy. They are more pragmatic.
Gov. Bruce Rauner is 60 years old and ought to know better than to throw in with the ideologues. Yet that’s exactly what he’s done by firing much of his senior staff and replacing them with a bunch of right-wing cranks from the Illinois Policy Institute. Having been out-maneuvered on a new state budget by the Democrat-controlled legislature, Rauner is dropping any pretense of bipartisanship and doubling down on a simplistic anti-labor, anti-government politics. Some argue these were his true colors all along, but it’s a juvenile move nonetheless.
Granted, the Illinois Policy Institute is no John Birch Society. Can’t be because the Red menace faded with the fall of the Soviet Union and rise of state-capitalist China. Now the supposed enemy of freedom and prosperity is Big Labor and its unholy alliance with Big Government — an alliance led in these parts by a devil incarnate known as House Speaker Michael Madigan.
So we’re in for another season of name-calling and heroic posturing, beginning this summer with a showdown over who is supposed to foot the pension burden of the Chicago Public Schools. This is one of the more complex public policy issues in memory, involving city-state agreements reached years ago as to Chicago’s outsized share of special-purpose grants and the mayor’s appointive control of the CPS board — not to mention how those pension funds got so far in arrears.
The IPI employs about two dozen policy “analysts” as well as lawyers who fight oppressive regulations on small business. The IPI also has a stable of newspaper op-ed writers and a radio network to push its agenda.
I put “analyst” in quotes because, like many advocacy groups of both right and left, IPI’s approach is conclusion driven. To wit: Illinois could have enacted its recent budget without a tax increase. Then the so-called analysts go out in search of a narrative to buck up the conclusion. […]
Now that they are inside and running Illinois state government, I hope the IPI management team takes a problem-solving approach to its work.
But I am not optimistic. Ideology thrives on rigidity. It is not good at governance.
“There’s been a lot of writing and talk about staffing. It’s the tempest and the teapot. There’s nothing changing. My positions have been clear. I am a strong advocate for the people of Illinois. I want to change our government so it actually works for people and put our children and our families first. Political insiders, the privileged inside government, the folks who make their money from political power, we need to battle against them.”
Rauner contended “sometimes you need fresh troops to engage in the battle.”
Carl was not among several communications staffers at the press conference on Monday, which was the governor’s first Chicago media availability since his staff shakeup. Since July 10, there have been at least 20 administration exits — both firings and resignations in protest. The transition hasn’t been easy. After being asked to come back into the Thompson Center’s Blue Room to make an introduction to reporters, the staffers learned they were locked in.
“I have a key!” a staffer said quickly before they made their exit.
Cullerton ADMITS Chicago Machine Holding School Funding Hostage
“We slowed down the process”
Senate President John Cullerton admitted yesterday for the first time that Democratic politicians in Springfield are intentionally holding SB1 from reaching Governor Rauner’s desk.
Cullerton told the Chicago Tribune that “We slowed down the process in the Senate in order to let everyone blow off some steam, politically speaking.”
This is a direct admission that the Chicago Machine is holding school funding hostage.
John Cullerton has no right to pervert the legislative process in this way. It’s an affront to democracy.
John Cullerton and Mike Madigan should stop helping try to get their friends in Chicago a $500 million bailout and allow SB1 to reach Governor Rauner’s desk for an amendatory veto.
Anything less is a slap in the face to the voters of Illinois and their confidence in our democratic system.
* Or perhaps Cullerton was just remembering history. From February…
Sometimes in politics, emotions get involved. Gov. Bruce Rauner on Wednesday brought up emotions when discussing his December veto of legislation that would have provided $215 million for Chicago Public Schools.
“You know, I’m a human being, I get a little emotional sometimes,” Rauner said at an appearance before the Chicago Tribune Editorial Board.
Rauner was explaining his abrupt veto of a plan that had been part of a larger deal he struck over the summer with the Democrats who control the General Assembly — House Speaker Michael Madigan and Senate President John Cullerton. […]
“There was a commitment in our leaders meetings last summer, when we did our stopgap spending plan … that when we did comprehensive pension reform for the state, Chicago’s teacher pension would be changed instead to be picked up by the state,” Rauner said. “That was part of the — that was a verbal agreement, crystal clear. And you know, I’m a human being, I get a little emotional sometimes. When that was publicly reneged on — you don’t do that, that’s not right.”
Since then, there’s been no pension reform agreement, but the Democrats want the CPS pension language to remain in SB 1 anyway and they know the topic makes the governor react in an emotional way.
So, Cullerton, whose chamber passed a pension reform bill that never made it out of the House, held the bill. Cullerton is taking heat from Rauner for being Madigan’s pawn, but it looks to me like he’s playing a two-track game: Prevent the governor from vetoing the bill while hoping Madigan will finally budge on pension reform and then everyone can “win.”
* They need a negotiated agreement, but that doesn’t seem likely in the near term for a few reasons:
1) The governor appears to want to avenge the overrides of his budget vetoes by locking up Republicans with big promises of more money for their schools at the expense of Chicago. An override on this particular bill looks all but impossible in the House. Madigan, fresh off Rauner’s budgetary defeat, probably doesn’t want to “lose” this round. So, everybody will stand their ground for a while. How long people are willing to hold out is the big question right now.
2) The governor flatly refuses to negotiate until the Senate sends him the bill. But even if Rauner did agree to leaders’ meetings, I’m not sure that Speaker Madigan would want to be in the same room with the governor’s new chief of staff, who has made a career out of bashing the man.
3) Speaker Madigan has shown absolutely zero interest in passing any bills that are opposed by organized labor, and public employee unions definitely do not love Cullerton’s pension reform plan. So, getting Madigan off the dime on pension reform doesn’t look likely in the near term. In a perfect world, Madigan would either tell the unions that the bill is probably unconstitutional anyway, so just suck it up and deal with it; or tell CPS to wait until the Democrats elect a governor and then they’ll get their pension money from the state, just like every other school district. But this isn’t a perfect world. Far from it.
Saying it was “one of the hardest decisions of my life,” State Representative Carol Ammons has decided not to run for Congress.
“With my deepest appreciation for your support and encouragement, I have decided not to run for the 13th Congressional District in 2018,” Ammons posted on her Facebook page on Monday night.
Ammons, D-Urbana, had been considering challenging incumbent Rodney Davis, R-Taylorville, for the past two months and held several “listening sessions” throughout the district during that time.
“Across the 13th Congressional District, from Champaign-Urbana to Edwardsville, I heard you say that the issues and policies impacting your lives on a day-to-day basis, the ones pushing you into survival mode, crushing your families and dampening your children’s dreams, are primarily state issues,” Ammons said. “What I heard at the listening sessions, loudest and clearest, is that right now I am needed most in state government, fighting for Champaign-Urbana and all of Illinois in 2018.”
Erik Jones, 37, an attorney from Edwardsville who has worked for the state attorney general and congressional committees, on Monday announced he is a Democratic primary candidate for the U.S. House from the 13th Congressional District.
“Illinois needs to send bulldogs, not backslappers, to Congress to confront our challenges,” Jones said in a statement. “We’ve grown too comfortable with low expectations of our leaders. It’s time we raise the bar, and that starts with who we send to Washington.”
Republican U.S. Rep. Rodney Davis of Taylorville now represents the 13th.
Jones becomes the third Democrat to announce for the race, joining physician and past congressional candidate David Gill of Bloomington and Betsy Dirksen Londrigan of Springfield, who has worked as a self-employed fundraiser for people including U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., and entities such as the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library Foundation.
A competitive race is almost certain to be an expensive affair, with Davis’ campaign committee reporting $801,532.39 on hand at the end of June, according to filings with the Federal Election Commission.
Jones said he was confident that he could raise the money necessary to “run a serious campaign” against Davis.
“I wouldn’t be in this race if I didn’t think I could put in a serious campaign,” he said.
Most recently, Jones said, he was in private practice with the Venable law firm, aiding domestic companies in their response to data breaches by foreign hackers who were targeted individuals’ consumer information.
Jones said he is in the process of leaving the firm and intends to devote “100 percent” of his time to the race in the congressional district that extends from Champaign-Urbana on the northeast to Edwardsville on the southwest, a distance of about 150 miles.
“I’ll be running full time, that’s the plan,” he said.
Another topic Rauner sidestepped today was whether the Illinois State Board of Education had run the numbers on his plan. State Sen. Bill Brady (R-Bloomington) stepped to the microphone to state that ISBE analyzes only legislation, not proposals.
Via email, ISBE spokesperson Jackie Mathews later offered this explanation for the confusion: “ISBE will produce an analysis for legislation before it is filed but will make the analysis public only at the request of the bill sponsor. An analysis is considered draft until the bill is filed.”
