Our old buddy Barton Lorimor will be doing a little part-time blogging on Monday. I’ll be in Chicago speaking to the City Club at noon and have decided to take the day off.
If you’re coming to the speech, please don’t forget to bring a toy for kids aged 3-5. We give them to Lutheran Social Services of Illinois for its vital early childhood programs. You can also donate gift cards from places where toys are sold.
* And the latest from VanillaMan, based on the song “Merry Christmas, Darling.” Click here if you aren’t familiar with the tune…
AFSCME stewards have all met
The lawsuits are going through
But I still have one wish to make…
A special one for you!
Oh, State Worker - Darling
I work for Rauner, that’s true
But I am really, your bestest friend
I’m not messing around with you!
Right To Work is so joyful
Governor Rauner’s for you!
But AFSCME pay’s - no holiday
They demand too much from you!
We want you to have Tier 3!
I’d wish you could see
It’s better to have Merit Pay!
Don’t pay your union dues
It’s the right thing to do
Together we’ll find a union-less way!
We wish you were more ambitious
And less suspicious too
I’ve just one wish I’d like to propose
Call me John, not Tokyo Rose
This email’s from me
So dump your union fee
And believe what I say
We’re really not very malicious
We want the best for you!
We’ve just one thing more to confide
Disagree with us, but you can’t hide!
Your email’s not unclassified!
Merry Christmas!
Oh State Workers - DAHLING!
* AFSCME Council 31 is handing out a new flier to state workers to counter some of the statements made by the Rauner administration. This part was the most interesting to me. Click here for the full flier…
The end of overtime pay? What’s Rauner really up to with his plan to change overtime policy? His administration has informed employees that it plans to impose a new regimen in which the calculation of overtime will only count hours actually worked. What the specifics of the administration’s final offer make clear is that holidays, vacation days, and sick days will not count in that calculation: “Only actual hour worked above 40 will be at the overtime rate.”
In other words, if you’re out sick one day, you can be mandated to work 16 hours the next day, but you wont get paid overtime for those additional eight hours!
Worse, because Rauner’s “final offer” allows management to ignore overtime rotation procedures by picking who will be mandated to work overtime, you can be sure that employees in 24-hour facilities who have to use a sick day will be targeted to work overtime when they return. Managers will be making mandatory overtime assignments based on which employees took a sick or vacation day in a given week. [Emphasis in original]
I asked the governor’s office for a response at about 1:30. I’ll post it if they send one.
* Related…
* Berg: AFSCME’s egomania is betraying its members: The length and cost of negotiations thus far is already insulting to Illinoisans. And AFSCME has acted like a spoiled child at the bargaining table.
*** UPDATE *** From Catherine Kelly…
Hi, Rich:
AFSCME’s talk of mandatory overtime is a distraction and a blatantly misleading tactic to divert attention from the fact they currently do not have to work 40 hours a week to earn overtime. AFSCME should stop these games and stall tactics and work with us on implementing the contract.
* The 2016 Golden Horseshoe Award for Best Illinois State Representative - Republican goes to Rep. Ed Sullivan…
These are not normal times, and so I think the award should go to someone who exhibits the traits most likely to lead us out of this mess.
Sullivan is unquestionably conservative. But rather than clinging to orthodoxy like a barnacle, he uses it as an anchor to reach across the aisle, if only for friendship. And unlike the all-or-nothing approach of too many ideologues, Sullivan understands that there is victory in incremental approaches. This year he actually passed a modest improvement to workers comp law almost unnoticed.
Honorable mention goes to Reps. Dave McSweeney and Tom Demmer. Both received strong nominations.
* The 2016 Golden Horseshoe Award for Best Illinois State Representative - Democrat goes to Rep. Kelly Cassidy…
Kelly Cassidy for never saying or doing anything that appears not to be in the best interests of her district or the state. And for being a good human being to all.
Honorable mention to Rep. Litesa Wallace, “for her principled stance on social justice issues, especially for persons with disabilities,” and to Rep. Rob Martwick, who appears to have a very strong and vocal following.
* On to today’s nominations…
* Best Illinois State Senator - Republican
* Best Illinois State Senator - Democrat
As always, make sure to explain your votes or they won’t count. And nominate in both categories, please. Thanks!
* This is from Rep. Al Riley (D-Olympia Fields), an assistant majority leader…
Rich,
I read the post the other day about the Tuesday meeting at the Thompson Center and I wanted to add my perspective to it. First of all, it seems like much is being made about the tenor and tone of the meeting. Frankly speaking, in my opinion, the tone of the meeting was not that much different than one would observe in a typical committee hearing. I would not characterize this meeting as “contentious” or one of “stonewalling” or any other related term, at least when I was there. This is even when doctrinal points were being made on both sides. So, my characterization of the overall meeting was more collegial then I would have expected.
Myself and another Democratic colleague were there for the Local Government Consolidation meeting. It was scheduled to start at 4:30 p.m. I got to the conference room at 4:00 p.m. The earlier scheduled Unfunded Mandates meeting was still going on. That meeting went on until approximately 5:15 p.m.; way over its scheduled ending time. Though many things may have been discussed prior to my arrival at 4:00 p.m, it seemed as though issues of collective bargaining and a few mandates issues were being talked about. During the meeting, one of the attendees from the Democratic side commented on untoward “tweets” being made about our meetings, e.g, lack of cooperation by the Dems, etc. I think a reasonable person might have some pause and concern about statements like that being made about our meeting while it was still going on. At that point there was some pointed statements made, but even then, I would not characterize anything that was said as necessarily being contentious. We moved on and had some good discussion.
At or around 5:15, it was said that because of the time and distance that some people had to come, we would suspend the meeting and reconvene at another date to talk about local government consolidation. I stated that we were all there and to not have a discussion about the other agenda topic was not particularly fair. We had a document of about 30 different bullet points of bills and measures dealing with both mandates and government consolidation provided to us before the meeting. Government consolidation subsumed about 12 or 13 of the roughly 30 bullet points. My request was that we give Consolidation at least the 45 minutes originally allocated to it and discuss those 12 or so measures, than we could always reconvene and expand on what we discussed. Everyone agreed, and that’s what we did.
We went over each of the 12 points and we had some very good conversations about them. At no time, did the conversation get testy. We had some differences of opinion, but frankly that may have been on 4 out of the 12 measures discussed. Most of the differences we did have were technical in nature; fairly easy to resolve in true negotiations. At about 6:00 p.m., there was discussion about next steps and possibly calling another meeting. There was some banter about people having to go home to babies or go to holiday events. I shook hands with everyone and we left.
The two GOP members of the committee I know very well. We don’t share the same ideology on many things of course, but there are some that we do. I worked on bills and issues with them. Representative Batinick and I have had lively discussions about things in the past but at the same time, we have worked on major pieces of legislation, been in committee hearings and also forums outside of the Capitol.
I would characterize my relationship with Representative Batinick and the other Republican member who was at the meeting as being personally cordial. So again, I think that all of these negotiations in public and PSYOPS shots across the bow do not lend themselves to what should be the goal of these hearings.
Everyone who was there knows exactly what happened. There were about 15 people on the teleconference down in Springfield. And there were 7 people at the room at the Thompson Center. All of us have our reputations and track records on how we operate and how we categorize things. And, unlike in Rashomon whereby a number of individual people saw an incident from their particular point of view, 22 or 23 people were in that meeting, and saw and heard everything that happened.
Lets move on, keep our eye on the prize and do what we’re supposed to do - create a fiscally responsible budget for the people of the State, focused on equity and not so much on ideology.
* The day after Bernie Schoenburg published an interview of the potential gubernatorial candidate, the Illinois Republican Party has added him to its BossMadigan.com hit list. Not unexpected…
“Andy Manar, Natalie Manley and Anna Moeller have taken over a million dollars from Mike Madigan, and in exchange they have backed his tax-hiking, reform-free Chicago agenda. Manar was one of the chief architects of Madigan’s 67% income tax hike, whipping the votes needed to crush Illinois taxpayers. Likewise, Manley and Moeller have supported Madigan at every turn, repeatedly voting him as Speaker and rubber-stamping his unbalanced budgets. It’s time for Manar, Manley and Moeller to finally show some independence from Madigan.” – Illinois Republican Party Spokesman Steven Yaffe
Andy Manar
Andy Manar has always aspired to be a career politician like Mike Madigan. Since Manar was 21 years old, he’s held public office, worked government jobs, and received political paychecks from Chicago politicians, often all at the same time. Andy Manar has done pretty well for himself – he’s personally made hundreds of thousands of dollars off Illinois taxpayers.
Andy Manar has held several top positions working for Chicago politicians. For years, Manar served as the Senate Democrats’ Director of Policy and Budget, pushing unbalanced budgets, pension holidays, and higher debt. Later, Manar also served as Senate President John Cullerton’s Chief-of-Staff. During his time with Cullerton, Manar was one of the chief architects of Mike Madigan’s 67% income tax hike in 2011, whipping votes and pressuring lawmakers to crush taxpayers.
Andy Manar was already doing Mike Madigan’s bidding even before he entered the General Assembly. After the 2010 census, Manar was the mastermind behind the redistricting of legislative maps, increasing Mike Madigan’s stranglehold over state government.
Just this month, Andy Manar betrayed the students in his district by voting to bail out Chicago Public Schools with $215 million in taxpayer money. Before the election, Manar voted against the bailout, but now he’s sold out to Mike Madigan. Andy Manar proved that he cares more about Madigan’s Chicago agenda than the families in his own district.
Mike Madigan admires Andy Manar so much that Madigan has showered Manar with over $450,000 in campaign cash for all of the damage he’s done. It’s time for Andy Manar to stand up to Mike Madigan and start working for Illinois taxpayers.
* I always assumed my massive chain pharmacy’s computer system automatically checks to make sure none of my prescriptions interact negatively with each other. I was wrong…
In the largest and most comprehensive study of its kind, the Tribune tested 255 pharmacies to see how often stores would dispense dangerous drug pairs without warning patients. Fifty-two percent of the pharmacies sold the medications without mentioning the potential interaction, striking evidence of an industrywide failure that places millions of consumers at risk.
CVS, the nation’s largest pharmacy retailer by store count, had the highest failure rate of any chain in the Tribune tests, dispensing the medications with no warning 63 percent of the time. Walgreens, one of CVS’ main competitors, had the lowest failure rate at 30 percent — but that’s still missing nearly 1 in 3 interactions. […]
In Illinois, pharmacists who detect a serious interaction must contact the prescribing doctor to see if the order is correct or if an alternative therapy is available, according to the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation. Pharmacists are then supposed to alert the patient. […]
Mayuri Patel, a pharmacist at a Wal-Mart in west suburban Northlake, said she typically fills 200 prescriptions in a nine-hour shift, or one every 2.7 minutes.
At another Wal-Mart where she was trained, it was even busier, she said: “We were doing 600 a day with two pharmacists with 10-hour shifts.” That works out to one prescription every two minutes.
Chris Kennedy, who is moving toward a run for governor as a Democrat, made his first big hire. Kennedy has secured veteran political ad guru and strategist Eric Adelstein, a Kennedy aide told POLITICO Illinois. Adelstein is a top-tier get for Kennedy. As it so happens, Adelstein boasts this tidbit in his bio: “His grandfather, a civic leader in 1960’s West Virginia, campaigned with Bobby Kennedy and Hubert Humphrey.” Chris Kennedy is the son of the late Robert F. Kennedy. He is expected to make an announcement about a gubernatorial bid in early 2017.
Adelstein is a good get, for sure. But Kennedy isn’t the only guy doing some hiring.
* I’m told by one of his advisers that Chicago Ald. Ameya Pawar, a noted city progressive who is also seriously considering a gubernatorial bid, is hiring Sam Hobert. “He’s the equivalent of an exploratory campaign manager,” the adviser said. Right now, Pawar is in outreach mode.
Illinois Governor Bruce Rauner earned rare praise from Democratic lawmakers Thursday for his effort to reform the state’s criminal justice system.
Rauner - the super-wealthy, fiscally conservative North Shore Republican - is Illinois’ new criminal justice reform champion. Even Democrats called a truce in the bitter state budget war to give Rauner some credit.
During the noon hour, the governor signed the latest criminal justice reform bill. The measure ensures that released prison inmates have a state I.D. upon release from custody.
“It’s extraordinary that we haven’t had this law, this rule before. But better late than never,” Rauner said. […]
“I want to thank the Governor for his leadership on this,” said State Sen. Kwame Raoul, D-Chicago.
The new law was sparked by recommendations from Rauner’s Illinois State Commission on Criminal Justice and Sentencing Reform, which is attempting to reduce the state’s prison population by 25 percent by 2025. Rauner has signed 15 criminal justice bills since taking office.
“This bill helps those who made a mistake get re-established in their lives,” Rauner said. “By being productive citizens, they’re less vulnerable to going back and making a mistake and committing criminal behavior, and therefore, we’re keeping our communities safer.”
State Sen. Kwame Raoul, D-Chicago, a member of the commission, called the new law a “symbol of bipartisan work that is desperately needed in this state.
“I’m hopeful that our work on criminal justice reforms will seep out in other policy areas,” he added.
But the bill signing ceremony was held at A Safe Haven, a West Side homeless shelter that does business with the state and could lose access to taxpayer funding if the governor and lawmakers can’t agree to a spending plan to replace a stopgap measure that expires Jan. 1.
The organization’s president, Neli Vazquez Rowland, organized the ceremony, which included testimonials from two individuals who credit A Safe Haven’s services with helping them out of a cycle of incarceration.
Rauner and his wife are longtime supporters of A Safe Haven, the governor said. The couple’s personal donations date to the organization’s founding more than 20 years ago, when the Rauners provided the “angel dust” that helped get the group off the ground, Rowland has said.
But given the budget stalemate between Rauner and Democratic House Speaker Michael Madigan, taxpayers’ payments to the organization could be snarled in the political fight. Meetings between the two sides came to a halt earlier this month amid disagreement over how to proceed with negotiations. If no deal is reached by the end of the year, state funding for A Safe Haven and some other not-for-profit providers of state services could be held up as a result.
Asked about the budget implications for the organization, Rauner would not respond to the question. His staff had instructed reporters only to ask “on topic” questions.
* Rep. La Shawn Ford (D-Chicago) told reporters yesterday that he’d “most likely” be for term-limiting Speaker Madigan if that could lead to a compromise with Gov. Rauner on getting a budget…
Yesterday, Democrat Rep. La Shawn Ford indicated his support for term limits as means of compromising with Gov. Rauner to end the budget impasse.
Rep. Ford told CBS Chicago, “What do you think about term limits for someone like Mike Madigan? I mean, that’s a term limit. I would most likely be for that if we could figure out a way to make some compromises with the Governor to help the people that I represent.”
“It’s encouraging to see Democrats break away from Mike Madigan’s irrational opposition to any form of term limits and his unwillingness to compromise. Democrats and Republicans alike should work together to pass bipartisan reforms that the people of Illinois are demanding.” – Illinois Republican Party Spokesman Steven Yaffe
When cornered, politically vulnerable House Democrats always tell reporters and constituents that they had a binary choice between voting for fellow Democrat Mike Madigan and voting for the Republican, so they went with the Democrat.
But if Drury runs, HDems could conceivably have a choice between voting for the Democrat Madigan and voting for a Democrat who’s also a “former federal prosecutor,” as Drury loves to refer to himself.
* People out there in Voter Land simply don’t know Drury like many Statehouse types do. All they’ll know is that some “reformer” Democrat stuck his neck out and the mushrooms still voted for Madigan, who is the most unpopular politician in this state by far.
That’s a precarious position for Downstate and suburban targets. And, don’t kid yourself, plenty of Chicago Democrats also hear about Madigan at the doors and at events.
Drury could make life seriously complicated for his caucus.
…Adding… Some of you may be missing the point here. I doubt at this point that Drury can actually get elected. He’s Scott Drury, after all, and just about every HDem member has already pledged a vote for Madigan.
This post is about the potential political consequences of voting with Madigan and against Drury.
* I heard this was a possibility a couple of weeks ago, so I checked in with Rep. Nekritz, who asked if the Republicans were smoking medical marijuana. She wasn’t interested.
The Drury thing is fascinating only in the fact that the man actually thinks he could find eight Democrats to vote for him for Speaker…
There are 51 Republicans in the incoming House, and if all of them decided to throw their weight behind a Democrat who wasn’t Madigan, they’d have to find only nine Democrats to defect from Madigan to unseat him. Sources in the Illinois General Assembly tell Chicago Tonight that this indeed is the governor’s plan, and they have floated State Rep. Elaine Nekritz (D-Des Plaines) as a potential challenger.
Nekritz told Chicago Tonight, however, that she was not interested in the position. […]
Another Democratic lawmaker who has voted against the speaker on several issues says he is keeping all options open, including whether or not to throw his own name into the mix.
“I want to understand all the rules of how the nomination works, who can be nominated and how they can be nominated,” said State Rep. Scott Drury (D-Highwood). “When I have a thorough understanding of who can put their name forward and who can get by the challenges of voting for them, I’ll come to a decision.
“I’m convinced I’m the only person really studying this issue closely, and come Jan. 11, I’ll be prepared to do the right thing for the state of Illinois and my constituents.”
I swear to you this is not fake news. Well, it’s from a reputable source, anyway.
I am writing to update you on the effect of the budget impasse on providers of services through contracts with the Department on Aging. Part of our money is being paid out by court order when we make hardship requests for payment. But none of the FY 2017 money to reimburse us for services we’ve already provided, under contract, that isn’t court ordered is even being sent to the Comptroller, despite the stopgap budget. I’ve heard from several providers, today alone, that they cannot make ends meet. Two have told me TODAY alone, that their boards are threatening closure because they have exhausted their reserve funds and can’t see how to make payroll in January. I hear from agencies every day now, asking for help to make payroll. If you could see fit to shine a light on this very real problem, I’d appreciate it.
I’m forwarding a video from the Responsible Budget Coalition about the impasse’s effect on the Senior Services Plus Meals on Wheels program in Alton.
Cindy Cunningham
President, Illinois Adult Day Services Association
* Earlier today, GOP Rep. Mark Batinick gave his side of the story about Tuesday’s often tense working group meeting to discuss local government mandates and consolidations. A few minutes ago, Rep. Chris Welch (D-Hillside) sent me this…
Hi Rich,
I attended Tuesday’s meeting at the request of Speaker Madigan and I’m happy to share my perspective. Unlike my colleagues on the other side of the aisle, I think it’s incumbent on any legislator to gather the proper information and data prior to passing important legislation. I and my other Democratic colleagues refuse to be a rubber stamp for the Executive Branch while important questions remain unanswered. The message I heard loud and clear was that in order for the State to get a budget, the General Assembly better cave to the Governor’s demands.
Prior to the meeting, I was told the group would discuss mandates, but the actual topic was destruction of collective bargaining rights. The Governor’s office did not provide us with legislative language prior to or during the meeting. Democratic members and staff asked many questions in an attempt to nail down specifics on each proposal discussed. There were some tense moments, usually when a Democratic legislator or staff had the audacity to ask for specific information, or an explanation about the negative impacts of the Governor’s proposals on middle-class families.
When the meeting ended, there was a willingness to continue discussions, despite the fact that the Governor’s Office was leaking blatantly false information about Democrats’ position to the media during what we thought were private discussions. We asked the Governor’s Office to provide language and additional information, and indicated we were ready to meet again. However, I was informed a few minutes ago that the Governor’s Office refuses to engage in further negotiations at this time.
Chris Welch
Man, if they’re still trying to push through significant collective bargaining limits at this stage of the game, we can probably forget about a deal.
*** UPDATE *** I’m told by the Rauner folks that they disagree with everything in Welch’s e-mail.
Democrats, they say, have been asked to provide some counter-offers, which they say the Democrats have refused to provide. So, until the Dems do provide those counter-offers, there’s apparently no sense in having further meetings.
However, Sen. Andy Manar told me that he agrees with everything Rep. Welch wrote. “I was fully expecting to have another meeting to continue where we left off,” he continued. “To prepare, I asked our staff to put together information to be ready for the next time we met.”
* The 2016 Golden Horseshoe Award for Best Nonpartisan Legislative/Agency Staffer goes to Andrea Creek…
LRB certainly doesn’t get enough credit, but is an easy scapegoat for problems with a bill, and I think Andrea Creek is probably the most looked-over asset to the Capital. She spots issues with legislation that the sponsor would never foresee and cleans up problems in the revisory bill that none of us ever understand, all while being patient and helpful.
* The 2016 Golden Horseshoe Award for Best Government Spokesperson goes to John Patterson…
Patterson does a great job framing Cullerton and Cullerton’s positions as the reasonable, responsible ones.
He is low key, and not flashy, but Dave is universally respected by the press and media corps and is always available to answer questions, dig up statistics, and fill in facts on the tightest of media deadlines.
* On to today’s categories…
* Best Illinois State Representative - Republican
* Best Illinois State Representative - Democrat
As always, make sure to explain your vote or it won’t count. Also, please do your very best to nominate in both categories. Thanks!
“The change in tone is due to the uninterrupted campaign rhetoric that we listened to for over two years,” Brown said. “That fills everybody with the expectation that if there were some kind of a budget agreement … once a vote was taken, there would be a never-ending series of attack ads. Robocalls, dark money, (and) character assassination sponsored by Governor (Bruce) Rauner.”
* There is ample justification for this viewpoint. After all, the governor, who is by far the largest single contributor to the Illinois Republican Party, regularly denies all knowledge of his party’s activities…
“That’s its own process. I have nothing to do with it. I don’t spend my time thinking about it or focusing on it.”
There’s also the Aaron Schock dark money precedent. All of a sudden in early 2013, the potential gubernatorial candidate started getting whacked by dark money attacks. The same sort of thing happened again in 2014 against all of Rauner’s opponents.
So, the Madigan types figure dark money will most definitely be used against Democrats after a budget agreement, whether through Dan Proft or some other group, and that Rauner will flatly deny any and all involvement, just like he’s doing now with the BossMadigan.com website.
…Adding… Wordslinger makes some great points in comments…
Yes, that will happen, but so what? You still have to do your jobs.
And please — getting whacked in campaign media for making tough votes? Madigan’s crew engineers tough votes all the time so they can whack GOP candidates with them later.
The Dems should consider making the great leap forward to the 1990s when it comes to message delivery and maybe they wouldn’t worry about Rauner so much. It’s not like his crew is dazzling with the message.
Right now, Dems are getting clobbered because they’re not in the ballgame.
…Adding More… From Juvenal in comments…
Have Democrats used rollcalls to put Republicans in tough positions? Sure.
But not ever that I can recall when it came to something that required bipartisan support to pass that Democrats actually wanted.
When you want something to pass, and it requires a structured, bipartisan rollcall, there is always another piece to the deal: both sides have to agree that the bill isn’t going to be the basis of attack ads.
In other words: every Democrat who voted for George Ryan’s license fee hike could rest assured that neither Ryan, Daniels, or Pate would come after them.
That trust is utterly lacking.
And it doesn’t make a bipartisan agreement impossible, but it does make it that much more difficult, because now those Democrats have to be much more careful about what level of funding they can defend, not just for targets either. You have to assume that dark money is going to flood the streets of Chicago again against black caucus members accused of raising taxes for Boss Madigan.
Heck, Rauner just spent money pillorying Forby for voting to confirm his own labor board appointments.
Democratic legislators should put taxpayers ahead of their personal interests & drop lawsuit to prioritize their paychecks #nobudgetnopaypic.twitter.com/EbJMN3xACK
The Illinois Department of Employment Security (IDES) announced today that the unemployment rate in November remained at 5.6 percent and nonfarm payrolls increased by +1,700 jobs over the month, based on preliminary data released by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) and IDES. October job growth was revised up to show an increase of +3,400 jobs rather than the preliminary figure of +2,200 jobs. Despite the upward revision, job growth remains below the national average, with Illinois -29,600 jobs short of its peak employment level reached in September 2000.
“Through 11 months of 2016, the nation’s rate of growth continues to outpace our rate by 50 percent,” said IDES Director Jeff Mays. “The biggest sector gains have been in professional and business services with 37,200 jobs added, while the biggest losses have been in manufacturing, with 8,700 fewer jobs.”
“If Illinois had grown at the same rate as the nation since the beginning of the recovery in 2010, we would have an additional 222,700 jobs,” said Illinois Department of Commerce & Economic Opportunity Acting Director Sean McCarthy. “With a balanced budget and structural reforms, our economy will be better able to grow jobs and provide opportunities for Illinois families.”
In November, the three industry sectors with the largest gains in employment were: Education and Health Services (+3,500); Leisure and Hospitality (+3,100); and Other Services (+1,800). The four industry sectors with the largest declines in employment were: Trade, Transportation and Utilities (-2,800); Construction (-2,300); Manufacturing (-700) and Information (-700).
Over the year, nonfarm payroll employment increased by +43,000 jobs with the largest gains in two industry sectors: Professional and Business Services (+35,400); and Leisure and Hospitality (+17,700). Industry sectors with the largest over-the-year declines in November include: Manufacturing (-10,100), Financial Activities (-5,600) and Information (-5,200). The +0.7 percent over-the-year gain in Illinois is less than the +1.6 percent gain posted by the nation in November.
The state’s unemployment rate is higher than the national unemployment rate reported for November 2016, which declined to 4.6 percent. The Illinois unemployment rate is down -0.4 percentage points from a year ago when it was 6.0 percent.
The number of unemployed workers increased +0.5 percent from the prior month to 368,500, down -6.4 percent over the same month for the prior year. The labor force was little changed over-the-month and grew by +0.5 percent in November over the prior year. The unemployment rate identifies those individuals who are out of work and are seeking employment. An individual who exhausts or is ineligible for benefits is still reflected in the unemployment rate if they actively seek work.
Exelon officials announced Wednesday that they plan to hire more than 400 people to fast track multiple capital projects at the Quad Cities Generating Station near Cordova and its Clinton, Ill. nuclear power plant.
The announcement comes one week after Gov. Bruce Rauner signed the Future Energy Jobs Bill into law at Riverdale High School near Port Byron and similar ceremonies in Clinton, Ill.
“Opponents of the Future Energy Jobs Bill called it a bailout, but that’s a ridiculous argument,” said Rory Washburn, executive director of the Quad Cities area’s Tri City Building Trades Council. “This legislation is already creating good paying jobs for Illinois families and leveling the playing field so our safe and well run nuclear facilities can compete fairly with other subsidized sources of clean energy.”
Elk Grove Village’s mayor and board of trustees will rescind their support for Gov. Bruce Rauner’s “Turnaround Agenda” amid the threat of a lawsuit from a suburban-based labor union.
Neither village officials nor a representative of International Union of Operating Engineers 150 on Wednesday would discuss the basis for a potential lawsuit stemming from the board’s April 2015 vote backing the Republican governor’s plan. […]
The village board unanimously approved a settlement Tuesday with Local 150. Under the deal, the village promises to formally rescind support of the Rauner agenda in a public vote by Jan. 31, 2017, and the union agreed to forgo any legal challenges.
Both sides said the settlement is unrelated to an investigation into whether the mayor and five board trustees qualify to collect pensions. After the village board passed the resolution backing the governor’s agenda last year, Countryside-based Local 150 accused board members of working too few hours for membership in the Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund — prompting an investigation by the pension fund’s attorneys.
Tuesday, Mayor Craig Johnson said the village was facing possible litigation if it did not rescind the resolution. […]
Local 150 spokesman Ed Maher said the union brought actions in court against the McHenry County Board and the city of Rockford for violations of the Illinois Open Meetings Act related to those two governments’ passage of similar resolutions supporting Rauner’s “Turnaround Agenda.”
After the 2015 meeting, Maher and other union officials were critical of the fact that, although an agenda item was posted on the village website 48 hours in advance of the April 28 meeting, the village did not post a copy of the full resolution supporting parts of the “Turnaround Agenda” on the website in advance of the meeting.
The Illinois Open Meetings Act requires only that items which would be voted on by village trustees or members of other public boards or commissioners as “action items” be listed 48 hours in advance on agendas. The open meetings law does not require the full language of a proposed ordinance or resolution be posted in advance.
* Rauner had a real opportunity at the start of his term to woo the more conservative construction trade unions and use that alliance to yank the public unions’ chains. Several of those trade unions had already pushed for public employee pension reform - at Speaker Madigan’s behest, no less. Rauner made big promises of a major capital bill during the campaign, but he’s barely talked about it since then. The trade unionists would’ve swooned over him had he done that.
Instead of focusing all of his immediate attention on getting things done, the rookie governor went off on a bizarre, Randian speaking tour for the first four months of his first spring session, telling everyone who would listen the magical benefits of “right to work” and eliminating the prevailing wage - completely impossible dreams with the makeup of the Illinois General Assembly.
Gov. Rauner basically launched an existential war right out of the gate, which united all unions as never before and arc-welded the Democratic Party to them. They firmly believe that if one goes down, so does the other. That ain’t the greatest atmosphere for compromise.
And now, even some of the governor’s most pathetically symbolic early “victories” are being rolled back at the local level while the state burns to the ground.
It was Rauner who canceled the last scheduled meeting last week with House Speaker Michael Madigan, D-Chicago, and the other legislative leaders because he said the Democrats weren’t prepared to offer a spending plan. The five haven’t met since, even though Rauner has repeatedly said he wants to meet every day until a budget agreement is reached.
“I was flabbergasted,” Rauner said of the Democrats’ response. “They said, ‘Well, we’re not ready. We need some time.’ What was clear is they are not taking this process seriously.”
“We have asked to meet every day,” Rauner added. “When they indicate they are ready to have a good-faith negotiation, and so far they have not, we’ll meet every day.”
That’s not how the Democratic leaders see it. Senate President John Cullerton’s spokesman said they believe progress is being made by working groups who are negotiating workers’ compensation changes, government consolidation and other issues the governor has said he wants addressed. Those groups have been meeting even though the leaders have not.
“That’s why the Senate president was surprised and disappointed when the governor canceled the follow-up meetings when it seemed like we were finally on the verge of a budget framework,” the Chicago Democrat’s spokesman, John Patterson, said. “President Cullerton hopes the governor will reconsider and come back to the table and resume working toward a fair and balanced budget.”
Those are two completely and diametrically opposing viewpoints. And it sounds a lot to my ears like the rhetoric over the stalled AFSCME negotiations, which the governor also declared to be at impasse.
* But Rep. Mark Batinick (R-Plainfield) attended Tuesday’s working group meeting to discuss local government mandate relief and consolidation and saw the Democrats’ negotiating posture up close and personal. He sent this to me yesterday evening…
I’m in commercial real estate. In commercial real estate you negotiate. All day long you negotiate. Sometimes you negotiate big issues. Sometimes small ones. But you are always looking for as many win-win situations as possible. At least I am.
After two decades of negotiating on a nearly daily basis I can tell you it is easy to spot whether a party is negotiating in good faith or not. You can tell when someone is trying to tank a deal or work hard to get one done.
I attended my first working group meeting on Tuesday. I saw all the telltale signs of a party not wanting get a deal completed. Frankly, I wish the meeting was in public and video recorded. Some of the pettiness displayed was breathtaking. We should be digging in, in good faith, to get a real deal done. The people of Illinois deserve no less. That wasn’t the case Tuesday.
If any Democrat who attended Tuesday’s meeting is willing to send me a statement, I’d be happy to publish it.
One of the problems for many lawmakers is that they view their jobs as full time.
They certainly get paid full-time salaries – $67,836. Many receive stipends of $10,327 for extra duties. The total: $78,163.
But the Legislature is in session only from January until May, with a 2-week veto session in November.
Full-time employment? Not hardly.
By stretching their legislative jobs to full time, such lawmakers don’t have any “real” jobs to fall back on. And now, their personal finances are feeling the pinch.
How many “real jobs” allow workers to take off January through May (and beyond) every year? Some lawyers can do it, but do we really need more of them in the GA? Could school teachers take that much time off? Factory workers? Please. I suppose they could all become Uber drivers like Rep. Andrade. Or they could get government jobs at the local level, which can often accommodate politicians, but do we want more of that?
We could probably restructure the General Assembly so that it doesn’t meet as often, but that would require a pretty darned heavy lift.
* However, there’s no doubt that their pay rate makes them a big target when things don’t go well. And things haven’t gone well in Illinois for quite a long time.
“The question of salaries has haunted American legislatures since the 1640s,” said Peverill Squire, a professor of political science at the University of Missouri and an expert on state legislatures. “It has been a chronic issue where lawmakers generally ask for more pay and the public is almost always resistant.” […]
Lawmaker salaries vary wildly across the country, from California, where legislators make nearly $100,000 a year, to New Hampshire, where they are compensated with $100 annually and no per diem. Overall, though, they tend to skew low. In 2014, according to research by Squire and Gary Moncrief, a political science professor at Boise State University, the median base pay was $20,833.
Low pay also puts limits on who can realistically serve in a legislature. In states like New Mexico that have short legislative sessions, lawmakers must leave their day jobs for one or two months every year and travel to the state capital — in addition to dealing with year-round demands from constituents. Many lawmakers must be independently wealthy or have flexible jobs that allow them to juggle politics and everyday work. Part-time legislators are also more likely than full-time legislators to be retirees, Moncrief said. It’s no surprise, then, that state lawmakers tend to be older than their constituents.
As Illinois enters a new period of heightened budget uncertainty, colleges and universities must again decide whether to front grant money to low-income students who are supposed to be receiving state aid.
A new survey from the Illinois Student Assistance Commission, which administers the grants through the Monetary Award Program, suggests some schools that covered the grants in the fall aren’t making guarantees for the spring.
Of the 96 colleges and universities that responded to the survey, 53 percent said they would guarantee the funding for the spring semester, down from 60 percent in the fall. Because the commission didn’t receive responses from 36 schools whose students are eligible to receive MAP grants, it cautioned against drawing overarching conclusions from the responses. […]
When lawmakers and Gov. Bruce Rauner approved a stopgap spending plan that’s funding higher education and most other state operations through Dec. 31, they included money to finish paying off last year’s MAP grants. No money was included for the current year, however, leaving public and private universities and community colleges to decide whether to credit students’ accounts for the grants as many had the previous year.
While nearly all public universities covered the grants this fall, only two-thirds are committed to covering them in the spring, according to the survey.
[Manar] said first-term Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner “has divided our state into pieces,” and has “used that division every day against Democrats.”
“I think Democrats have to become better at delivering a message that resonates with voters because we have the right policies,” Manar added. […]
“Personal wealth is a factor,” Manar said. “That’s something I don’t bring to the table. Never have; probably never will. But I think there’s other factors that have to be considered when coming up with a nominee.”
“If we’re going to straight up nominate someone who simply has money with no message and no way to deliver a message and no way to resonate with working-class voters, then we’re probably not going to fare as well as … we otherwise would,” he said.
I’ve known Andy for quite a long while. He’s about as sharp as they come.
* One problem, though, will be his school funding reform push. It’s a good idea and he’s visited just about every nook and cranny of Illinois touting it, building friendships and alliances as he goes.
But the wealthier suburbs won’t like it unless there’s lots more state money put into the mix to shield them from state funding cuts. And lots more state money means, of course, a tax hike.
* VanillaMan’s latest, based on “Must be Santa,” a tune I’ve loved since I was a kid. Click here if you need a refresher…
Who’s got a solution to business flight?
Rauner’s got a solution to business flight!
Who spends millions each election night?
Rauner spends millions each election night!
Business flight, Buys election night,
Must be Rauner, must be Rauner,
Must be Governor, Governor Bruce.
Who wants to give us Right To Work?
Rauner wants to give us Right To Work!
Who drives unions completely bezerk?
Rauner drives unions completely bezerk!
Right To Work, completely bezerk,
Buys election night, business flight
Must be Rauner, must be Rauner,
Must be Governor, Governor Bruce.
Who’s wants to save us 1.4?
Rauner wants to save us 1.4!
Who doing that by waging war?
Rauner’s doing that by waging war!
1.4, waging war,
Right To Work, completely bezerk,
Buys election night, business flight
Must be Rauner, must be Rauner,
Must be Governor, Governor Bruce.
Who says he wants to limit terms?
Rauner says he wants to limit terms!
Who says Madigan’s got cooties and germs?
Rauner says Madigan’s got cooties and germs!
Limit terms, cooties and germs,
1.4, wages war,
Right To Work, completely bezerk,
Buys election night, business flight
Must be Rauner, must be Rauner,
Must be Governor, Governor Bruce.
Ryan, Blago, Quinn and Rauner!
Governing Illinois is sure a downer!
Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Hooray!
Two in the Slammer, and two got away!
One fine day, will come our way,
Just not now, don’t have a cow,
Rauner’s in charge, our debts enlarge,
We’re in a hole, that’s his goal
Must be Rauner, must be Rauner,
Must be Governor BRUCE!
