Yell louder!
Tuesday, Sep 10, 2019 - Posted by Rich Miller
* From a certain columnist…
When the Democrats in 2003 irresponsibly borrowed $10 billion for pension and operational costs, the GOP should have protested — loudly. Taxpayers are on the hook for all that interest paid. And when Democrats skipped pension payments for two years after that, and borrowed repeatedly to paper over deficit spending, Republicans should have said, hell no. They didn’t. The unfunded liabilities have soared.
Greg Hinz looked beyond the urban legends about Blagojevich’s POB and came to a far different conclusion a few years ago…
The state’s timing was exquisite. Over the next four years, according to figures supplied by Mr. Filan that others verified, the average return on investments by the state’s pension funds was 16.6 percent, 10.6 percent, 11.6 percent and 18.6 percent, in that order. Those returns were well above the average 5.07 percent interest rate Illinois paid to borrow the $10 billion. The pension funds built up such a cushion that the POB money was even at the depths of the 2008 recession, and it has come back strong since.
Compared with where it would have been had it simply put in the usual annual payments, the state is $8.55 billion ahead, says Mr. Filan, now a senior consultant at Chicago-based financial restructuring firm Development Specialists Inc. And the retirement systems, though still underfunded, have 41.1 percent of the assets needed to pay promised benefits, better than the 35.9 percent they would have had without the POB.
* And Republicans didn’t complain loudly about the pension holiday? Treasurer Judy Baar Topinka yelled to the high heavens and so did a whole lot of Republican lawmakers…
“This is no more of a holiday than a cruise on the Titanic was,” said state Sen. Bill Brady, R-Bloomington.
* One more excerpt…
In 2011 when the majority party passed an income tax hike in the middle of the night, on the day before new lawmakers were seated — with a structured roll call of lame duck legislators who got goodies in exchange for their votes — the GOP should have been outraged. Not just “outraged” during staged news conferences, but in their guts.
Oh, come on. They pitched an absolute fit and kept it up for a long time. From 2012…
The top Republicans in the Illinois House and Senate are offering a one-year anniversary raspberry salute to the passage of a $7-billion state income tax hike, saying it hasn’t worked and ought to be immediately repealed. […]
Those themes were echoed by John Tillman, head of the Illinois Policy Institute, a libertarian research group. He released a poll saying 68% of state residents opposed the tax increase.
Her basic thesis appears to be that Republicans need to yell much louder and more convincingly and that’ll translate into… well, I’m not sure what. Jobs on the Tribune editorial board maybe?
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The NRCC’s oh-so-subtle press releases (cont.)
Tuesday, Sep 10, 2019 - Posted by Rich Miller
* NRCC at 1:51 this afternoon…
Say cheese!
Sean Casten proudly displayed his commitment to a socialist agenda yesterday, posing for a “Unity” photo-op with fellow socialists AOC and Ilhan Omar.
Unity indeed. Casten votes with AOC 94% of the time and enthusiastically supports Item #1 on the socialist agenda: impeachment.
Three cheers for open borders and banning red meat!
The photo was of all freshmen Democrats.
* NRCC at 1:50 this afternoon…
Say cheese!
Fake nurse Lauren Underwood proudly displayed her commitment to a socialist agenda yesterday, posing for a “Unity” photo-op with fellow socialists AOC and Ilhan Omar.
Unity indeed. Underwood votes with AOC 93% of the time and supports Item #1 on the socialist agenda: baseless impeachment of President Trump.
Three cheers for open borders and banning red meat!
I wonder if anyone actually writes stories based on these releases or if the rhetorical missiles just sit unopened in dozens of in-boxes.
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When campaign promises crash into reality
Tuesday, Sep 10, 2019 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Mayor Lori Lightfoot had almost no staff during the campaign’s first round and the media did little to no vetting of her ideas, so these sorts of promises were quite common…
[Lightfoot] campaigned on a promise to abolish the city sticker and replace the $128 million in annual revenue with dramatically higher fees on ride-hailing vehicles. She talked about imposing strict limits on the number of ride-hailing vehicles.
“There’s no rush hour anymore. It’s perpetual. … We have tens of thousands of new cars on the roads … because of ride-share. They’re … [driven by] people who don’t even live in Chicago,” Lightfoot told the Sun-Times in late February.
* But…
During a typical morning rush, there are “only 1,400 Ubers on the road” in Chicago, he said; that’s “around three percent of miles driven,” [Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi] said.
* And she’s now coming to terms with reality…
Mayor Lori Lightfoot today said she plans to roll out “modest recommendations” in the “short term” when it comes to Chicago’s traffic congestion, but alluded to a package of reforms that leans on a “comprehensive study of what is happening with congestion here in Chicago.”
“What are the drivers of it? I don’t think we have enough data yet to be able to make a comprehensive plan,” Lightfoot said at an event with Uber officials Monday, describing press accounts about the tax as “way ahead of where we are.”
* Meanwhile, these folks are free to suggest all sorts of things because they’re not actually in charge of much of anything, but it gets them media coverage…
A coalition of progressive groups and a handful of aldermen are getting specific about increases to a bevy of taxes to fill Chicago’s budget hole, including restoring and increasing Chicago’s corporate head tax to $16 per month for large companies, instituting a 3.5 percent tax on office leases, a hike in the hotel tax from 4.5 percent to 7.5 percent, a vacancy tax on commercial properties vacant for more than 18 months and a local income tax on those earning above $100,000 a year. […]
Aside from progressive revenue proposals, the group is calling for a freeze in the Chicago Police Department’s budget, a moratorium on the city privatizing services, and a halt to TIF subsidies for developments aimed at wealthy neighborhoods. It wants $2 billion in additional city spending for affordable housing, reopening the city’s closed mental health clinics, an expansion of early childhood education, and a year-round youth jobs program. […]
The group conceded they had only 10 members signed on to push those proposals and were still in talks to get the entire 18-member Progressive Caucus on board.
Yeah, they can’t even convince the full Progressive Caucus to support them. That’ll go far.
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Read this if you haven’t already
Tuesday, Sep 10, 2019 - Posted by Rich Miller
* I’m coming a little late to this story…
The Rev. Leon Finney Jr. spent the last half-century building a real estate empire on Chicago’s South Side while amassing political power and hobnobbing with politicians like Barack Obama, Rahm Emanuel, Richard M. Daley and Toni Preckwinkle.
Now in his twilight years, Finney’s fiefdom teeters on the brink of collapse.
Once revered for his community work, Finney, 81, stands accused of fraud, self-dealing and mismanagement after his nonprofit, the Woodlawn Community Development Corporation, filed for bankruptcy in October and the curtains were pulled back on its finances.
Finney has been ousted at the organization he helped create. And, in a rare step, a federal judge appointed a trustee in April to take control of Woodlawn, a move the nonprofit fought. Piece by piece, its real estate holdings are being sold off.
After the bankruptcy came more financial blows. Woodlawn’s main source of revenue — lucrative contracts to manage more than 4,300 apartments for the Chicago Housing Authority, bringing in about $170,000 a month in management fees — was canceled in June after the CHA accused Woodlawn of mismanagement resulting in nearly $400,000 in damages.
Go read the rest. Classic Chicago.
* Related…
* Parishioners stand with Rev. Leon Finney amid fraud allegations: ‘His heart’s in the right place’ - Days after a judge’s stinging rebuke of the longtime Chicago powerbroker was reported by the Sun-Times, Finney forcibly removed a reporter from Sunday service at his church
* Lori Lightfoot orders review of Rev. Leon Finney Jr.’s ‘significant portfolio’ of CHA buildings: The mayor called the South Side minister ‘an iconic person’ who has ‘done good work over the course of his life’ and said his downfall is ‘clearly disappointing.’
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Some valid questions for Secretary White
Tuesday, Sep 10, 2019 - Posted by Rich Miller
* We’ve already talked about this…
A Rockford woman is suing the Illinois secretary of state in an attempt to change a state rule requiring those who wear a religious head covering in their driver’s license photo to also certify that they do not normally remove that head covering in public.
Maryjane Bicksler, 68, filed the lawsuit this week in Chicago federal court with the help of the Chicago chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations.
The suit states that Bicksler, who is Muslim and wears a hijab, went to her local driver’s services facility in Rockford to renew her driver’s license in July. She was asked to sign a form saying that if the secretary of state’s office, which is in charge of driver’s services, received evidence that she does not wear her hijab in public, her driver’s license would be canceled.
* Zorn asks some good questions. Too bad he didn’t get any answers…
You can have a full beard for your license photo and shave it off the moment you get home, and your license is still valid.
You can wear a wig for your license photo. You can change to a dramatically different wig, dye your hair or shave yourself bald the moment you get home, and your license is still valid.
You can wear prescription glasses for your photo, then switch to contacts the moment you get home, and your license is still valid.
As long as the photo shows the applicant’s eyes, nose and mouth without shadow or obstruction, what’s the difference?
I put this question to White’s office Thursday, but a spokesman cited the pending litigation and declined to offer any comment on the topic.
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* From some outfit called Big 7 Travel…
Look, some states are sexier than others – at least, that’s what the results of our survey of the sexiest states in America is proving. We asked our 1.5 million social audience to get an insight into where you’ll find the America’s most beautiful people.
Survey respondents were given no further specifications of the term ‘sexy’, so interpretation of the word was up to them.
‘Sexy’, according to the fail-safe Merriam-Webster dictionary, is classified as “generally attractive or interesting”. While beauty may be only skin deep, it’s probably little consolation to the unlucky states that have been voted as the least sexy. Sorry, Nebraska.
* Illinois finished… first?…
1st. Illinois
And the top spots of the sexiest states in America? Illinois takes first place and easily topped our poll for 2019. Who could disagree with this? It’s no wonder that so many of the celebrities, sportspeople and singers that come from here are outrageously attractive.
OK. I guess we’ll take it.
(Hat tip: Hannah Meisel)
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* Press release…
Nearly 124,000 people attended the Du Quoin State Fair this year, up 23% from last year’s attendance of just over 100,000 people. The attendance is the highest in at least four years.
“The 2019 Du Quoin State Fair was a record hit, with double digit increases in attendance, grandstand ticket sales and revenue – but more importantly, the people of Southern Illinois had a great time enjoying everything the fair had to offer,” said Governor JB Pritzker. “My administration has invested in improving the Du Quoin fairgrounds, and I’m committed to making this historic fair successful for decades to come, so that this economic engine can continue to benefit not only Du Quoin, but all of Southern Illinois.”
“This year’s success at the Du Quoin State Fair is humbling as we work to bring the fair back to what I remember as a kid,” said Josh Gross, Du Quoin State Fair Manager. “The fair was an event that you circled on your calendar and something you would never miss. Our goal is to bring it back to a can’t miss event, and the jump in attendance we’ve seen shows we’re moving in the right direction.”
The increased attendance follows a key decision by fair officials this year to cut the $2 admission cost, making it free for all to attend. Other indicators also demonstrate the fair’s improvements this year. The grandstand saw a 26% increase in tickets sales and 37% increase in revenue this fair season, generating more than $97,000. The 2020 Du Quoin State Fair will run August 28- September 7.
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* From May…
When she found out that staff at the Danville Correctional Center had removed more than 200 books from a library inside the prison’s education wing, Rebecca Ginsburg said she felt a pit in her stomach.
“I felt sick,” she said. Ginsburg directs the Education Justice Project, a college in prison program that offers University of Illinois classes to men incarcerated at the Danville prison in east-central Illinois. In late January, prison staff removed dozens of titles from two rooms that serve as the program’s library.
Those titles include books like “Visiting Day,” a children’s book about visiting a parent in prison by author, Jacqueline Woodson. Also included among the removed books are two titles written by African-American scholar Henry Louis Gates Jr., a book by philosopher Cornel West, “Up From Slavery” by Booker T. Washington, and “Mapping Your Future: A Guide to Successful Reentry 2017-2018” written by the college in prison program’s reentry team.
A majority of the books removed from the program’s library are about race.
* Corrections has since revamped its policies…
IDOC Director Rob Jeffreys said the intention of the new policy is to prevent any arbitrary acts of censorship from playing out at state prisons. He said the change will take effect Oct. 1. Details of the new policy will be made public at that time. […]
[Director Jeffreys] said the new policy will require that censorship decisions made at the prison level be reviewed by staff at the prison system’s central office.
“That way we will have another set of eyes looking at anything that’s been denied,” Jeffreys said. He said the new policy will also include an appeals process.
“In addition, I’ve also asked for the National Institute of Corrections to come in and review our new policy to make sure our publication review process is meeting the national standard — and also looking at all our library programs to make sure we are providing the best type of quality programming for our offenders as well,” Jeffreys said.
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Full of sound and fury, signifying nothing
Tuesday, Sep 10, 2019 - Posted by Rich Miller
* The City Club hosted a pension discussion yesterday. The moderator and two of the three panelists are of the “Do something!” ilk who demand that legislators fix the pension mess, but don’t really have any ideas of their own beyond variations on the same failed strategies from the past. A new Tribune editorial today is a prime example of this. Lots of complaining about inaction, but no ideas.
Sen. Steans tried to inject a bit of reason and sanity, but nobody seemed to care much…
State Sen. Heather Steans, D-Chicago, who joked about being the only lawmaker brave enough to sit on the panel and take the criticism, didn’t agree with the others that Springfield hasn’t tried to fix the issue. She said trying to change the state’s constitution would be a waste of effort because there are other constitutional protections, including the federal contracts clause, that would keep lawmakers from altering existing and retired worker pension arrangements.
“I’d much rather have our limited ability to focus on what we’re going to do here to be pragmatic, reasonable and something we actually hope to be able to achieve,” she said.
She also mentioned the federal Constitution’s “Takings Clause” as an impediment to cutting legally earned benefits.
* One Illinois…
Steans offered a series of actual proposals, beginning with raising additional money for pensions, including through Gov. Pritzker’s “fair tax,” a graduated income tax, scheduled to go before voters to amend the state constitution with next year’s general election.
But she warned that “there will be a well-funded campaign against it,” no doubt to be led by the IPI, and other potential solutions had pitfalls as well.
She mentioned a “consideration model,” meant to give public workers a choice between pensions based on raises on the job or on cost-of-living increases after retiring, but not both.
Other attempts to alter benefits for public pensions have been rejected by the Illinois Supreme Court, and it’s not clear it would allow those benefits to be negotiated in any case. Msall bemoaned how the Supreme Court had simply struck down previous attempts to change pension benefits, while offering “nothing” in the way of guidance on how to proceed without reductions.
Regardless, Steans said, “I do believe we should have labor at the table working with us on this.”
The Supreme Court’s role does not include advising the legislature how to specifically write bills to avoid violating the state’s Constitution. Its role is to say “this is unconstitutional,” or “this is not unconstitutional.” Even so, the justices have been pretty darned clear on multiple occasions about what the Consitution says: Pension benefits are a contractual promise that cannot be undone.
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* Illinois and Chicago can pass all the gun laws they want, but as long as our neighboring states have lax regulations and as long as Illinois criminals are looking to buy guns however they can, we’re gonna get some cross-border leakage…
Two men are facing federal charges for allegedly conspiring to straw purchase over a dozen handguns in Wisconsin and resell them in Chicago.
Kirk Valentine, of Wisconsin, allegedly bought 19 handguns from retail stores, pawn shops and gun shows and illegally gave them to Chicago resident Francisco Rocha, who resold them in the city, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office of the Northern Illinois District.
Both are charged with conspiracy to deal firearms without a license, prosecutors said. Rocha, who goes by “Mookie” and “Ese,” is also charged with unlawful dealing and importing firearms, according to the federal indictment.
Rocha, 28, allegedly recruited 23-year-old Valentine, who paid premium over-the-list prices for the handguns in the first six months of 2018 throughout Wisconsin, prosecutors said. Rocha allegedly told him which guns to buy.
I’m not saying that Illinois should loosen or strengthen its current gun laws. I’m just saying there are some limitations on what the state can do.
* Related…
* Lightfoot and Cruz Are Both Right: Chicago’s gun laws don’t stop mass shootings. In a country with 390 million firearms, no city’s could.
* After Twitter spat with Sen. Ted Cruz over gun violence, Mayor Lori Lightfoot invites the Texas Republican to visit Chicago’s South and West sides
* Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s clever offer to Sen. Ted Cruz: Come to Chicago to discuss gun control
* Ted Cruz and others should stop using Chicago as a punching bag
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* A Sun-Times op-ed by Terry Cosgrove at Personal PAC…
Under Illinois’ current flat tax rate system, funding has been inadequate to balance inequalities in our system. The proposed fair tax will improve equity in our taxation system and is projected to bring in $3.2 billion more in revenue.
Personal PAC will work to ensure that Illinois recommits to funding the social safety net for Illinois’ most vulnerable citizens. […]
Personal PAC calls on every pro-choice voter to join us in supporting the fair tax amendment. Under a fair tax system, the state of Illinois will have the resources to fund the broad range of programs and services needed to ensure that every child in Illinois is cared for, regardless of zip code.
The pro-choice, pro-mother, pro-child and pro-family vote is in favor of the fair tax amendment on the November 2020 general election ballot.
The governor has been a huge supporter of Cosgrove’s issues, so this may not be much of a surprise when you think about it.
* I asked Cosgrove if his cash-rich group would be spending money on behalf of the 2020 referendum. His reply…
We’ll review that after the March primary, but will certainly include our support in most of our communication—-social media, voters’ guide, etc. which reaches a large audience statewide. Standing up for access to reproductive health care for all women, without regard to zip code, source of health insurance, institution providing health care, age and health status, is the core of Personal PAC’s mission.
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