Southern Illinois Senator Gary Forby is making a public stand with local gun owners and calling on President Obama to dial down the anti-gun rhetoric and recognize 2nd Amendment rights.
“Look around. The only gun problem we have in Southern Illinois is people trying to take away our rights. If there’s a problem in Chicago or Washington, D.C., fix it. But don’t take it out on the responsible gun owners of this region,” Forby said.
Police in southern Illinois say a 3-year-old boy is expected to recover after he was shot when someone fired rounds into a Granite City home.
Madison County Sheriff’s Department Capt. Mike Dixon says the boy was playing on the living room floor when the shooting happened early Sunday. Dixon says three to four shots were fired into the front of the home from the roadway. One of the rounds struck the boy in the shoulder. Police believe the rounds were fired from a vehicle and that the home was targeted.
President Barack Obama’s plan to expand background checks for gun sales at shows, on the internet and elsewhere is igniting the usual firestorm of gun-related rhetoric.
But his plan may be much ado about nothing, at least in Illinois. […]
“I don’t think it’s going to affect us at all,” said Richard Thrasher, manager of the Central Illinois Gun Collectors’ shows held four times a year at the Sangamon County Fairgrounds in New Berlin. “We have followed state and federal regulations right to the letter. We watch it very carefully.”
Thrasher said that some skirting of the registration requirement may occur in Illinois, but that most reports of such avoidance of the law come from Southern states.
In fact, Obama has hardly contradicted the will of Congress, let alone made it difficult for law-abiding people to obtain firearms. His proposed changes are far from historic, and their direct effect on crime seems speculative at best. The most politically contentious aspect of Obama’s executive actions is broadening the definition of a gun dealer. He targets sellers who operate from home, a weekend gun show, or via the Internet. Those sellers aren’t currently required to hold a federal firearm license or submit buyers’ names for background screening by the FBI.
But obliging occasional gun sellers to perform background checks wouldn’t have blocked sale of the weapons used in most recent mass shootings—including the December Islamic terrorist attack in San Bernardino or the December 2012 massacre at an elementary school in Connecticut. The killers in those cases used guns obtained legally through conventional outlets that did do background checks.
Moreover, social science research indicates that relatively few guns currently purchased from unlicensed sellers are sold directly to criminals. The Justice Department found in one survey that just 0.7 percent of state prison inmates in 1997 purchased weapons at a gun show. Forty percent of inmates said they obtained the gun used in their crime from a relative or friend—and those transfers wouldn’t be covered by the Obama proposals. Another 39 precent said they obtained a weapon from the black market, another transfer unaffected by the White House action.
Got that nagging feeling you’ve forgotten something?
Better go outside and check the date of your license plate sticker. You could be among the thousands of drivers oblivious — thanks to the state budget crisis — that their vehicle registration has expired.
play video
Illinois Secretary of State Jesse White suspended mailing out reminders in September, noting it could save $450,000 a month.
Without that memory jog, renewals plummeted 19 percent in November, when 413,709 Illinoisans applied compared to 512,760 in November 2014.
And as of Dec. 28, only 301,965 people had renewed their stickers in December 2015, as opposed to 475,314 for the entire month of December 2014, the agency reported. That’s a 36 percent drop.
So, it’s costing the state lots more in lapsed plate stickers than it would’ve cost to mail out the reminders. But, eventually, almost all of those car owners will renew their plates, and some will mail their checks after receiving tickets. So, heck, Illinois might even come out ahead if you factor in the fines and late fees.
January is Cervical Health Awareness Month. In a press release issued today by the Illinois Department of Public Health, IDPH Director Nirav D. Shah says, “We know that with routine screening, cervical cancer is highly preventable, and yet more than 4000 women were estimated to have lost their lives to cervical cancer in 2015.” http://www.dph.illinois.gov/news/january-cervical-health-awareness-month-0
Unfortunately for women in Illinois, the Governor’s failure to make passing a budget his first priority means the state has not invested any money into the Illinois Breast and Cervical Cancer Program, the entity which provides routine breast and cervical cancer screenings to women across Illinois regardless of income.
While $6 million in federal pass through funds have been released, zero state dollars have been spent, meaning an estimated 15,000 fewer women will have access to these potentially life-saving services.
In addition, in his budget, the Governor proposed cutting Illinois investment in breast and cervical cancer screenings from $13.5 million in GRF, the final appropriated level for FY15, to $4 million, which is about a 70% decrease in state funding.
Cutting cervical cancer detection is an example of the “short term pain” the governor’s willing to endure as he continues to hold the budget hostage to his policy agenda.
Emily Miller
Policy and Advocacy Director, Voices for Illinois Children
Co-Coordinator, Responsible Budget Coalition
Gov. Bruce Rauner told a group of firefighters and first responders here Sunday that the state will be doing “all we can to help the cleanup process” following last week’s flood.
Rauner visited the Villa Grove fire station to thank and shake hands with emergency personnel and volunteers and to look at photographs and maps of areas damaged by last week’s floods.
“My primary reason for coming here was to say thank you to our first responders,” Rauner told a crowd of about 50. “One of the great things about our state is that everybody comes together to help each other out in times of need.”
But if the flooding wasn’t bad enough, it’s what happened months before that upsets many officials and home and business owners, [Alexander County Board chairman Chalen Tatum] said.
It was July when Gov. Bruce Rauner’s administration directed county officials by email to halt its flood buyout program, Tatum said.
The reason? Because the state was without a budget, Tatum said, referring to the email notice.
But the funds, $4 million from the state and $8 million from the federal government, were already appropriated, were already in the bank and were already being used to buy flood prone property from their owners and allow them to relocate, Tatum said.
“That money has nothing to do with the state budget. People like that, we could have already bought their home out,” Tatum said, pointing to a home surrounded by floodwater off Illinois 3 in Olive Branch.
The program slated 169 homes and businesses. To date, 42 have been purchased, Tatum said. The buyouts started about a year ago but had picked up pace with eight or nine purchases a month by the summer.
Tatum estimated another 50 properties would have been purchased since July without the state cease order.
Ugh.
*** UPDATE *** The governor’s office called to point out that there was no appropriation authority after June 30th. The money was in the governor’s proposal, but not in the reapprop bill approved by the Democrats, which the governor signed.
* Yesterday, Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s office had this to say in response to the threats from Gov. Rauner to withhold state financial help from CPS if the mayor doesn’t help pass his Turnaround Agenda…
An Emanuel spokesman argued the governor was using Chicago schoolchildren as “pawns” and contended the mayor has been working to bring about a larger budget agreement. The mayor’s office did not provide details, however.
“We’re a little surprised given that at the governor’s own request our team has been actively involved in trying to untangle the logjam in Springfield,” mayoral spokesman Adam Collins said. “It’s unfortunate that yet again (CPS students) are being used as pawns in a political chess match.”
* The mayor continued that theme during a press conference today…
Mayor Rahm Emanuel to IL Gov. Bruce Rauner: "Get the job done. Get the budget done."
I threw that last one in because Ron usually seems pretty tied in to the unsaid, but “real” Rauner mindset.
*** UPDATE *** Response…
Hi, Rich –
Passing along this statement on CPS.
Please attribute the following to Mike Schrimpf:
“As expected, the Mayor is playing the tired political game of blaming others for his unwillingness to fix Chicago’s finances after more than four years in office because he has not taken on any major structural reforms.
While Governor Rauner has increased state support for education to record amounts and has allowed Chicago Public Schools to keep its $600 million special deal, City Hall continues to borrow money for everyday expenses and passed a schools budget that is half a billion dollars short.
Governor Rauner has repeatedly tried to help the families of Chicago by offering the City massive assistance but the Mayor refuses to stand with the Governor to help save Chicago.”
“I strongly disagree” with Rauner’s vow not help CPS avert a financial calamity unless City Hall starts pushing some of the governor’s Turnaround Agenda priorities, Emanuel said. “The children of Chicago are not a political game in Springfield to get a deal done.”
It is wrong to hold education “hostage” to a wider fight, Emanuel continued. Hundreds of thousands of school children “are not a pawn in (Rauner’s) political maneuvers. . . .Get the (budget) job done.”
With a hint of his old cocky smile, Emanuel disclosed that he’d even drafted a New Year’s resolution for Rauner: “That he have his first budget passed before he has to present his second.”
Emanuel shrugged off a question about disputes between Senate President John Cullerton and House Speaker Mike Madigan over whether to give Rauner something of what he wants in a pending CPS aid bill.
“People can have different takes” on legislation, he said. What counts is that Illinois is “near dead last” nationally in funding schools, and that Chicago suffers “a disparity” within Illinois because it has to pay for its own teacher pension costs.
More than 200 measures passed by each chamber of the General Assembly were signed by Governor Bruce Rauner in 2015, which is about level with previous years under Democrat Pat Quinn, but the number of Rauner vetoes are sharply higher from the year before under Quinn, partly because of budget bills Rauner vetoed saying they were not balanced.
In a compliance audit of the Senate, Auditor General William Holland says 33 bills were vetoed, or amenditorially vetoed, in 2015.
That’s more than three times the number of bills former Democrat Governor Pat Quinn vetoed in 2014 and 2013 combined.
The House had a similar record — 32 bills were vetoed by Rauner in 2015, nearly triple the total in both 2014 and 2013 under Quinn.
Just how far up in City Hall does the code of silence reach?
In the hours after Chicago police Officer Jason Van Dyke emptied his 9 mm handgun into 17-year-old Laquan McDonald, five other officers at the scene gave statements saying Van Dyke fired in self-defense. The Police Department’s official finding was the same.
After a police dash-cam video soundly contradicted that story, Mayor Rahm Emanuel acknowledged that an unspoken compact shields rogue police officers from accountability.
That culture extends beyond the rank-and-file, however, to a disciplinary system that can take years to run its course and almost never sustains a complaint against an officer.
And it has extended all the way to the city’s Law Department, according to a federal judge’s scathing ruling Monday.
U.S. District Judge Edmond Chang said a top city attorney “intentionally concealed” critical evidence in a 2015 civil trial in which a jury found two officers were justified in killing Darius Pinex during a January 2011 traffic stop.
Jordan Marsh, senior corporation counsel for the city, resigned after a judge threw out a previous ruling and ordered a new case in the wrongful lawsuit death brought by the family of Darius Pinex, killed by officers after a 2011 traffic stop in Englewood, according to the Tribune.
Judge Edmond E. Chang on Monday granted Pinex’s family a new trial, saying in a scathing ruling that Marsh intentionally hid evidence from the family’s legal team prior to the start of the trial.
According to the Sun-Times, Marsh failed to turn over a police radio transmission that proved officers who shot Pinex did not actually hear what they said they did over the radio, which the officers pointed to as their reason for pulling Pinex over in the first place.
“Because of the recording’s untimely disclosure, the first trial was unfair and Plaintiffs’ trial presentation was hurt beyond repair by the surprise,” Chang wrote.
Mosqueda had initially claimed he stopped the Oldsmobile Aurora that Pinex was driving based on an Englewood District police radio broadcast that warned the car might have been involved in a shooting in a different police district about three hours earlier.
Mosqueda said he jumped out of his police SUV with his gun drawn because of the warning.
But the recorded broadcast didn’t actually say anything about an Oldsmobile Aurora being wanted in a shooting or having a gun inside.
It only said cops in the South Chicago District had chased a ’98 Olds Aurora with temporary plates and the pursuit was terminated, according to Chang.
Marsh “buried” the Englewood audio recording and gave misleading statements at the trial — even saying the recording would have been “recycled a long time ago” — before he admitted its possible existence, the judge wrote.
Steve Greenberg, an attorney who represents Pinex’s family, said the ruling raises questions about the Law Department’s role in perpetuating a police culture in which officers believe they can act with impunity.
“There’s just a total disregard for the truth, and it runs to the highest levels,” Greenberg said. “There is a culture to cover up and win at all costs.”
In acknowledging Marsh’s departure, city officials said the conduct outlined by Chang was “inexcusable.”
Question: Why was Marsh allowed to remain on the payroll so long? It’s ridiculous.
* Related…
* PDF: Judge orders retrial in fatal police shooting
* Despite scrutiny, Chicago cops shot fewer people in 2015: The Chicago Tribune reports officers shot 22 people last year, eight of them fatally. That’s a 40 percent dip in the total number compared with 2014 when 37 people were shot and 16 killed. The number of people shot by Chicago police officers has gradually dropped since 2011 when officers shot 56 people, 24 fatally. In 2012, Chicago cops shot 45 people, killing 12. In 2013, officers shot 35 people, killing 14.
* Chicago Tonight takes a look at Jason Gonzales’ Democratic primary race against Speaker Madigan and two others…
There are two other declared candidates in the primary: Joe Barboza and Grasiela Rodriguez. Neither have campaign websites or committee information. Gonzales says they were planted by Speaker Madigan’s operation to dilute the Hispanic vote, which makes up the overwhelming majority of the district. […]
“Madigan thinks Hispanics in my district, which now comprises 70 percent of the district, are stupid,” Gonzales said. “He thinks they’ll punch Rodriguez or Barboza over Gonzales because he thinks we’re not smart enough to figure out they are plants from him to take votes from me. We’ve come up with a strategy to neutralize these two candidates, and they’re not going to do much harm.”
A spokesperson for Speaker Madigan denied any knowledge of so called campaign “plants” or “stalking horses.”
Brown also speculated that Gonzales could be running at the behest of Gov. Bruce Rauner. Gonzales denies this and there is no record of campaign contributions from Rauner’s political committee.
Barboza refused to appear on camera for “Chicago Tonight” but vehemently denied over the phone that he was being put up to this by anyone connected to Speaker Madigan. When asked why he was running, he responded: “I’ve been in this community for 16 years. I’m doing my own work now and have some time on my hands.”
He says he currently works in custom flooring, and he seemed flustered when asked what he wanted to accomplish in Springfield, eventually telling “Chicago Tonight” that he supports unions.
“Chicago Tonight” was unsuccessful in reaching Rodriguez after knocking on her door.
Um, why am I running? Um… Hmm. Unions!
OK.
* Also, Gonzales doesn’t necessarily have to receive money directly from Rauner to be a Rauner-friendly candidate. Some of the governor’s pals have already contributed.
* The Tribune has a story about the high public cost of low wages…
According to the NPA study, 60 percent of the cost of public assistance in Illinois goes to families headed by someone who works. In addition, nearly 1 million people in Cook County live in poverty and either collect public assistance or qualify for it, the report shows. County taxpayers end up covering the cost of nearly $150 million in health care for the working poor. They pay millions more for child care and other expenses, Murray said. […]
For more than a decade, Ken Jacobs, chair of the Labor Center at the University of California at Berkeley, has been examining the number of fast-food workers dependent on food stamps, free day care programs and other subsidies. His report, released earlier this year, estimated that state and federal governments spend more than $150 billion a year on four anti-poverty programs mainly used by working people.
When workers don’t earn enough to support themselves or their families, the effects spill over to other parts of their lives, Jacobs said. Low-wage workers tend to suffer from more short-term and long-term health problems and rely on subsidized health care. Their children perform poorly in school, which sometimes steers them to a life of low-wage work.
* From an Illinois State Board of Elections e-mail sent to Cook County Circuit Clerk candidate Shirley Coleman…
On January 4, 2016, the Illinois State Board of Elections received a Notification of Self-Funding from Jacob Meister, a candidate for Clerk of the Circuit Clerk, Cook County. This filing is available for viewing on the Board’s website, at www.elections.il.gov. As a result, as a candidate for the office of Clerk of the Circuit Clerk, Cook County, you are now permitted to accept contributions in excess of any contribution limits imposed by 10 ILCS 5/9-8.5(b)
The exemption from contribution limits only affects candidates for the office of Clerk of the Circuit Clerk, Cook County, and lasts through the end of the current election cycle for this office, March 15, 2016; except that if Jacob Meister is nominated at the primary election, the exemption from contribution limits will remain in effect through the subsequent election cycle for the office, ending on December 31, 2016.
Raja Krishnamoorthi announced today he raised more than $450,000 during the final fundraising quarter of 2015, with more than $1.25 million in cash-on-hand as the March 15 primary approaches. The fundraising announcement follows recent endorsements of Raja for Congress by House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi and a string of labor unions including the International Association of Ironworkers, Air Line Pilots Association, the Illinois State Council of Machinists, and others.
“I am thrilled and humbled that this fundraising support will enable me to deliver our progressive message to voters across the 8th Congressional District of Illinois,” Raja said. “When they go to the polls on March 15th, Democratic primary voters will know that they can count on me to protect their Social Security and Medicare benefits, fight for equal pay for equal work, press for an increase in the minimum wage and guaranteed access to paid maternity and sick leave, and push for access to affordable college education.”
Raja’s fundraising success is complemented by his support from more than 100 Democratic leaders and activists throughout Illinois and the Chicago suburbs as well as an active and growing volunteer organization.
In recent weeks, Raja has won the backing of many labor organizations, including the International Association of Ironworkers, Illinois State Council of Machinists, the International Union of Elevator Constructors Local 2, the Air Line Pilots Association, the Office and Professional Employees’ Union Local 45 and Illinois Letter Carriers’ President Ken Christy. Raja is also endorsed by Rep. Jan Schakowsky of the 9th District of Illinois and David Axelrod, former senior advisor to President Obama.
“Raja is the best choice to succeed Tammy Duckworth in Congress,” Schakowsky said. “I look forward to Raja joining me in the fight to make equal pay for equal work the law of the land.”
Rauner was more clearly aiming at the mayor’s jugular with his comments on the city’s problems and the prospects of getting help from the state.
“Let’s be clear, Chicago Public Schools are in dramatic trouble, as is the city, but the schools are worse,” he said.
“The mayor will attempt to blame Springfield and say Springfield owes it to us to send us lots of cash. That is fundamentally wrong, fundamentally not true,” Rauner said, arguing CPS already receives more than its fair share of state education dollars.
CPS has a different take on that, which we will explore on another day, but for now what’s important is to understand that the governor doesn’t plan to give unless he gets.
“We’ll work together cooperatively if the city is helping us reform the state,” Rauner said. “If the city is opposing reform for the state, which so far they are, or staying silent and letting the Speaker block reform, no, I’m sorry. We’re doing things to help the city of Chicago, as much as I would like to.”
He always throws in a line about how much he would like to help the city, just so we don’t get the idea he doesn’t like us.
Why can Rauner accomplish in 2016 all that he could not in 2015, starting with a state budget?
“Frankly, there is a lot of impetus, a lot of pressure,” Rauner said.
And he’s only too happy to add to the pressure.
The governor pretty much covered all the bases there.
But the question becomes what happens when the Chicago doo-doo really, truly hits the fan? Will Rauner stand firm? Or will he do what he’s done in the past (FY15 budget, autism cuts, local government money, federal funds, etc., etc., etc.) and work out a deal unrelated to the Turnaround Agenda?
* Progress Illinois has a good report this week on the pain caused by the governmental impasse…
For example, a Meals on Wheels program serving over 700 seniors in DuPage County will be reduced from five to two days a week beginning January 11 due to the lack of a state budget. The DuPage Senior Citizens Council, which delivers the meals to seniors, also plans to cut 55 percent of its staff and close its community dining program next Monday because of the state budget situation.
As many as 1,500 total seniors participate in the Meals on Wheels and community dining programs on a daily basis, said Marylin Krolak, executive director of the DuPage Senior Citizens Council.
“I don’t know what they’re going to do. It just breaks my heart,” she said of the seniors who will be impacted by the program cuts. “We will make sure that we will work with our volunteers to visit them Monday through Friday to make sure they’re OK, but they need food.”
Whacks to the Sudden Infant Death Syndrome program, MAP grants and immigrant services are also detailed. Go read the whole thing.
But, hey, they’re all gonna continue to suffer until we cut the standard of living of union members… or something.
…Adding… From comments…
It’s actually worse than that, this is the prerequisite he’s demanding prior to raising their taxes. It’s the worst middle and lower class double whammy you could imagine.
Yesterday, Illinois Governor Bruce Rauner told reporters he was “disappointed” in how Emanuel has handled the aftermath of the Laquan McDonald shooting, and said he would sign a bill to legalize mayoral recall in Chicago if it reaches his desk.
Crain’s Chicago Business stated, “As conservative talk show host and ex-gubernatorial candidate Dan Proft put it on his show today, “Rahm has been nothing but antagonistic to Rauner and his agenda. They may be in the same wine club, but I suggest that if that bill lands on Rauner’s desk, he signs it.”
Rauner also suggested that the bill would not apply to Emanuel in this term, only to future mayors. But that little nuance didn’t get in the way of the bigger message.
Proft’s statements today included:
Where has leadership in the [Illinois General Assembly] been on this? This is an opportunity for Republicans to say to minority families “We stand with you. We want what you want. Where are your party kingpins on this?”
Because Rauner made the statement he made there are fewer dark corners for [House Minority Leader] Jim Durkin and [Senate Minority Leader] Christine Radogno to hide in.
[RE: the question of whether or not the bill would apply only to future mayors, not Rahm Emanuel]: That is not an interpretation of the bill, it’s a look at case history. Nothing in the bill specifies it. It could be a matter that would be litigated if passed and signed–like the pension law and so many other legislative measures.
We argue it should apply to Rahm this term upon signature into law. If Rahm wants to litigate it, let’s do so. The worst case scenario is an appropriate recall mechanism in place for Chicago mayor and aldermen a la the mechanism in place for the Governor and state legislators on a go-forward basis.
The worst possible outcome is a good outcome and the best possible outcome is a better one.
* Kathy Routliffe writes about perhaps the weirdest case of alleged political forgery I’ve ever seen…
Wilmette police are investigating an incident in which a candidate in the 9th District Congressional primary is alleging someone forged her signature on a petition objecting to one of her Republican primary opponents.
Joan Lasonde, of the 600 block of Central Avenue in Wilmette, will face Susanne Atanus and David Earl Williams III in the GOP primary for the U.S. House seat currently held by Democratic Rep. Jan Schakowsky.
Lasonde recently filed a report with police alleging the forgery shortly after getting a letter from the Illinois State Board of Elections, telling her that her objection to Atanus’ candidacy had been rejected because she failed to file it correctly.
“I opened it up and I started reading it and I thought, ‘Oh my gosh, I didn’t object to Susanne Atanus. What are they talking about?’” Lasonde said Dec. 21.
She said the signature on the returned objector’s petition was not hers, but “it looked like someone tried to make it look like mine.”
Why the heck would anyone do that? And in such an inconsequential race?
Daily fantasy sports sites like DraftKings and FanDuel will be able to operate in Illinois while the courts decide on DraftKings’ lawsuit challenging Attorney General Lisa Madigan’s finding that the companies’ games are illegal gambling operations.
The attorney general’s office and lawyers for DraftKings, one of the two largest websites in the burgeoning business of daily fantasy sports tournaments, have agreed to not take other legal action over the websites while the DraftKings lawsuit works its way through the courts. A trial is set for June.
“We are pleased that we have reached agreement with the Illinois attorney general’s office today on an expedited court schedule for determining the legality of the daily fantasy sports contests that DraftKings is offering in Illinois,” lawyer Randy Mastro said in a statement issued Tuesday. “We remain committed to providing DFS to the hundreds of thousands of loyal Illinois fans who love the game, and we look forward to our day in court, where we are confident we will prevail.”
* We changed some code on the site yesterday and it may have messed up something else because the subscriber password isn’t working today. I have my folks working on it. Sorry about that.
*** UPDATE *** It’s finally fixed. Sorry about that. Weird stuff, these websites.
* From the AP story about Gov. Rauner’s consolidation task force recommendations…
A task force appointed by Gov. Bruce Rauner recommended more than two dozen ways to shrink Illinois government and cut costs to taxpayers, though many ideas already have faced stiff opposition and the Republican acknowledged getting legislative approval won’t be “just a walk in the park.”
Several of the 27 recommendations announced Monday mirror anti-union measures that Rauner has unsuccessfully pushed since taking office last year, including allowing local governments to opt out of collective bargaining with public-worker unions. Others, such as consolidating school districts, have failed under previous governors. […]
-Allow Illinois voters to consolidate or dissolve local governments through referendum. […]
-Eliminate a 126-square-mile cap on the size of a township, to allow townships to merge.
Everybody says that consolidation will save money. And that could very well be true, although the same services will have to be provided. Reboot took a look at a recent aborted attempt at township consolidation in McHenry County…
At one public meeting in the fall, County Board members discussed the potential impact on taxpayers in the consolidating township with a lower tax levy.
Levies of two townships would assumedly be added together and then divided between their total assessed value, with the lower tax township possibly seeing a tax increase. On that one issue, County Board Chairman Joe Gottemoller of Crystal Lake argued, “We are standing here today looking at something that positively will raise taxes for half our residents.”
I saw the same sort of thing happen years ago when there was an attempt at merging my rural electric co-op into another, debt-ridden co-op.
Not to say there aren’t good ideas in the task force report. There are. I’m just saying we need to look past the feel-good nature of this topic.
Allow school districts to use third-party contractors, rather than union employees, for services such as transportation and building maintenance.
Privatization is pushed by those who say it’s cheaper. And it can be. But it has to be done well, and that just hasn’t been the case in Chicago, where school janitorial services were privatized…
On Saturday, a handful of parents of pre-kindergarten students packed yellow rubber gloves and spray bottles of vinegar and baking soda solution and headed to Suder Montessori Elementary Magnet School, 2022 W. Washington Blvd., on the Near West Side, where they spent the morning cleaning their children’s washrooms.
The parents felt they didn’t have a choice: Upon entering the bathrooms, they found pools of day-old urine on the floor, feces smeared on the walls and clogged, stinking toilet bowls. In the past few weeks, the school had an E. coli outbreak, and more than half of the kindergarten students missed school because of various illnesses, including a stomach bug, diarrhea or vomiting, said Michelle Burgess, head of the school’s parent-teacher association.
“These are preschoolers. They go to the bathroom and miss. The boys play in the urinals. And sometimes can’t get to the toilet fast enough. It’s understandable,” said Angela Morales, the parent of two children who attend the school. “But they need to clean. We can’t have our kids be in this filth.”
Parents claim the unsanitary bathroom conditions, overflowing garbage cans and soiled napping cots are the result of inadequate custodial care following the Chicago Board of Education’s decision last spring to award multimillion-dollar custodial management contracts to two firms, Aramark and SodexoMAGIC.
That outsourcing deal has been a disaster since Jump Street.
[I fixed some broken links. Sorry about that. It’s been one of those days. The password isn’t working either. Sheesh.]
* As we’ve already discussed, Gov. Rauner spoke with reporters today. I thought he handled himself well about the holiday “controversy” over his not answering questions about his whereabouts. As I said before, though, this is becoming a pattern. He needs to realize it.
He also said that he wouldn’t demand that all of his proposals from his local government consolidation be included in one bill. That’s encouraging.
The Equality Illinois Political Action Committee (EQIL PAC) will host a reception with former Illinois Governor Pat Quinn on January 14 to support the EQIL PAC’s mission of electing pro-LGBT equality candidates to state and local offices.
“Gov. Quinn is a great friend of the LGBT community and, among many other achievements, was instrumental in passing and implementing marriage equality,” said Nicole Bashor, Chair of the EQIL PAC.
“He also recognizes that advancing equal rights and ensuring lived equality in Illinois requires identifying, supporting, and electing pro-equality people to public office,” Bashor said.
The reception with Gov. Quinn will take place at Hubbard Inn, 100 W. Hubbard Street, Chicago, on the evening of Thursday, January 14. Details and tickets are available at www.EQILPAC.eventbrite.com.
Gov. Quinn is a steadfast advocate for the equal rights of LGBT Illinoisans. He not only advocated for and signed the marriage equality law in 2013, but he also approved strong anti-bullying protections and the civil unions law and led an administration that was welcoming and affirming for LGBT Illinoisans.
Through candidate questionnaires, endorsements, campaign contributions, and field support, the EQIL PAC works to secure and defend the equal rights of LGBT people in Illinois. The EQIL PAC is the only political action committee in Illinois that is dedicated to electing individuals to public office who will fight for the equal rights of LGBT Illinoisans.
The EQIL PAC is engaging in the 2016 primary and general elections in Illinois. This effort involves evaluating candidates based on their support of policies and proposals that advance LGBT equality. More information about the EQIL PAC is available at www.EQILPAC.org.
It’ll be interesting to see which candidates actually show up for this shindig.
We may be enjoying an unusually mild winter, but you can still blame Illinois’ harsh climate for again sending older residents permanently scurrying for warmer parts of the country.
Two recent surveys — one published by the U.S. Census Bureau and another by movers United Van Lines — both put Illinois among the top three states losing residents to the rest of the U.S. in 2015.
A continuing trend for retiring baby boomers to move South and West is partly to blame for the numbers.
Only New York saw more residents leave for other states, according to the Census Bureau, while only New York and New Jersey had a higher proportion of movers ditching their states than Illinois, according to United Van Lines.
I have a feeling that some folks are gonna disagree with the weather aspect, but it does make some sense. I know plenty of Illinois retirees who’ve sought to live in better weather.
Weeks after resigning from his role as a consultant for the College of DuPage, Chris Robling has re-emerged in another political dispute — aiding the son of late Illinois comptroller Judy Baar Topinka in a lawsuit against her former chief of staff over unused campaign funds.
Robling lives a few blocks from Topinka’s former Riverside home and says he has a local connection to Joseph Baar Topinka, now of Texas, and the attorney who represents him. Robling says he’s doing the work largely pro bono and that he has accepted about $750 for work over the last year.
The suit, filed Tuesday in Cook County circuit court, claims Nancy Kimme converted $89,000 from Topinka’s nearly $1 million campaign fund for personal use after Topinka’s death. Kimme says the money went to pay campaign staff and memorial expenses, and that the allegations are a smoke screen for Topinka’s son to claim a portion of the fund. State election law says money received before 1998 – roughly $341,000 — may be returned to Topinka’s estate.
Kimme is represented by Mike Kasper, the Illinois Democratic Party’s top election attorney and a former Madigan aide. “Nobody’s better at election law in Illinois,” Kimme says.
The lawsuit alleges that the $68,807 check was made out to “Cash” and endorsed by Kimme on Aug. 7. A hard-to-read copy of a handwritten check was filed with the lawsuit.
Kimme later provided The State Journal-Register with an image of a printed cashiers check for the same amount on the same day, and “Citizens for Judy Baar Topinka” was listed twice – as the remitter and the recipient.
Kimme calls the allegation that she got the $63,807 and used it personally “an outright lie” and “pathetic.”
“I think it speaks to the quality of this lawsuit and this attorney,” she said.
The attorney in question is former Cook County Commissioner Tony Peraica.
* That aside, the big question for me is whether Joe even has legal standing to file this suit. He’s the executor of the Topinka estate, but is that really Topinka’s personal property - even though JBT had the option of cashing part of it out, and even though she didn’t apparently have any plans to use campaign cash for personal expenses?…
Kimme said it has appeared to her that Joseph Topinka wanted to personally have the more than $300,000, adding she wouldn’t comment on if that is proper, “other than to say she (Judy Baar Topinka) never planned to take it.”
The courts will have to figure it out, I suppose.
* Nancy probably should’ve dumped that campaign cash a while ago, but she says she didn’t for a good reason…
She said Tuesday that after receiving correspondence about the fund from Peraica several months ago, she consulted with another lawyer “who recommended that we not shut it down and we just hold tight through the process.”
That’s sound advice.
Here’s some more sound advice: Watch yourselves in comments. We’ve apparently got a litigious person on our hands here.
As of Jan. 1, a new state law, the Authorized Electronic Monitoring in Long-Term Care Facilities Act allows video or audio recording devices to be placed in Illinois nursing home rooms to monitor treatment. […]
It’s a new option worth spotlighting and, under the law, all nursing home residents and their guardians must be informed about it within 48 hours of admission to an Illinois nursing home or skilled care rehab facility.
The move seems prudent given that Illinois racked up an average score of F in the 2014 Nursing Home Report Card handed out by Families for Better Care, a nursing home watchdog group. Illinois is expected to draw another F in the next report card, due out soon, watchdog officials say.
Brian Lee, executive director of Families for Better Care, contends any “senior cam” will merely record the “abuse and neglect” that’s been going on in Illinois for years and “beg the question — what’s next?”
The real culprit, Lee says, is the state’s staffing ratio. Illinois’ worst 2014 report card scores came in its “abysmal” number of direct care staffing hours per resident, Lee said.
If Illinois “senior cams” memorialize the need to improve that nursing home staffing ratio – and galvanize even more legislative action to address it — that would be yet another step forward.
So, in other words, we’re going to have to wait for a gruesome video to emerge before anybody will do anything about staffing problems.
In the wake of another police shooting, Mayor Rahm Emanuel called for an immediate review of how the Chicago Police Department trains officers to respond to calls involving people in crisis or with mental health problems.
But advocates for what’s known as crisis intervention team training say Chicago’s program has been “starved” of resources, with only about 15 percent of officers completing the 40-hour course. Advocates say they tried to get meetings with Emanuel early in his first term to stress the importance of the training and ask the city to invest more in it, but were ignored. Illinois’ budget crisis also created a lapse, not just in Chicago but elsewhere. There’s been no money for new training classes since last summer, but now some funds are available and Chicago Police plan to train 910 more officers in 2016, starting next month. […]
In Miami-Dade, Florida, by contrast 75 percent of police have been trained. They now take the mentally ill to treatment, which is a big reason James said that Miami-Dade’s jail population fell from 7,800 to 5,600.
By contrast, Cook County Jail remains the State of Illinois’ largest mental health care facility.
This is not expensive training, but it’s invaluable.
Mayor Emanuel jetted home from his ten-day vacation in Cuba on Tuesday to announce that police have to do a better job of responding to “mental health crises.” […]
But you know, I think the mayor ought to be a little reluctant to ever mention the words “mental” and “health” in the same sentence, given his rather shameful policies on this issue.
I am, of course, referring to his unilateral decision back in 2011 to close six of the city’s 12 mental health clinics, most of which served high-crime, low-income black and Hispanic communities that need such help the most.
Closings the mayor conveniently managed not to mention at today’s press conference, where he tried to enumerate all the people to blame for the recent spate of police shootings without, of course, mentioning himself.
I might mention that the clinic closings were part of his first budget package, which the City Council unanimously passed out of fear that the mayor would avenge a no vote by unfavorably redrawing their wards in the upcoming redistricting.
Families that lie to get their children into Chicago’s elite selective-enrollment schools seldom face serious consequences, leaving parents to assume there is “little to be lost by committing fraud to get into these highly competitive schools,” the district’s inspector general says in an annual report released Monday.
Inspector General Nicholas Schuler’s office found numerous instances of suburban families using fake addresses to get their children into the city’s best high schools. And families in the city were found to have provided false addresses to give their kids a leg up in an admissions process that takes into consideration a student’s socioeconomic background.
While admissions fraud is nothing new in Chicago Public Schools, Schuler said not enough is being done to stop it. He recommended students with false admission records be kicked out of school and their families be required to reimburse CPS for tuition. Because of a lack of clear policies, students guilty of admissions fraud were able to quickly re-enroll at the same school or transfer to another attractive CPS school, the report says. District officials sometimes allow students with fraudulent admissions to stay in schools and graduate.
There should obviously be greater penalties for this fraud, but this also points to the dire need for more high quality public schools. Why are there so few selective enrollment schools in this state? I get that “selective enrollment” means limited numbers, but there is obviously a huge demand than the educational institutions in the city and suburbs are not meeting.
“It is widely known that the selective-enrollment application process is highly stressful for students and families, and that it causes no small amount of tears, anxiety and lost sleep,” states the report. “Indeed, some families decided to remain in Chicago, rather than move to the suburbs because of the chance their children might be accepted at a selective-enrollment high school. Those upstanding and hard-working families who follow the rules bear the brunt of the damage caused by enrollment fraud.”
The report highlights two types of residency fraud: families who live in the suburbs but claim to live in the city; and families who live in the city but claim to live in a poorer neighborhood to boost their chances of getting into a top school. As part of the selection process, CPS considers the socio-economic level of the neighborhood where a student lives.
In one case, a student was admitted to Whitney Young Magnet High School based on an application form that said she lived in Bronzeville, when she in fact lived in North Center. When the inspector general’s office told CPS, the girl was kicked out of Whitney Young at the end of her freshman year. The student attended another school, before re-enrolling a semester later at Whitney Young, according to the report.
The Flash Index fell to 105.5 in December from its 106.1 level in November. This is not only the lowest reading all year, but the lowest reading since March 2013. The Illinois economy is still growing, as the reading is above 100, the dividing line between growth and decline. However, this reading suggests that the state’s economy slowed considerably in the last part of 2015.
The Flash Index began 2015 strong in the high 106, low 107 range, and then hovered steadily around 106.5 all summer. In the fall and winter, the index dipped, indicating a slow down. “This suggests that the long, slow recovery from the 2007-2009 recession continues to be disappointing,” said J. Fred Giertz, who compiles the index for the Institute of Government and Public Affairs.
Another possible factor contributing the slow down: the political showdown over the budget. “While the decline of the index this month cannot be definitively attributed to the state’s ongoing budget stalemate, it is likely that it is beginning to have an impact,” Giertz said.
State unemployment ticked upward by 0.3 percentage points to 5.7 percent, falling further behind the national 5.0 percent rate. Nevertheless, the Illinois unemployment rate is still below the 6.2 percent rate of a year ago. National GDP grew at a modest 2.0 percent rate during the third quarter.
After adjustments for the new individual and corporate tax rates, corporate and sales tax receipts were down moderately while individual income tax revenues were up in real terms from the same month last year. The slight decline in real sales tax revenues suggests modest holiday sales.
The Flash Index is a weighted average of Illinois growth rates in corporate earnings, consumer spending and personal income. Tax receipts from corporate income, personal income and retail sales are adjusted for inflation before growth rates are calculated. The growth rate for each component is then calculated for the 12-month period using data through December 31, 2015.
* Bernie reported over the break that the Illinois Policy Institute’s news arm is buying the Illinois Radio Network…
“We are thrilled to have Illinois Radio Network becoming a part of INN,” said John Tillman, CEO of the Illinois Policy Institute, in a news release. “Both organizations have a history of promoting transparency and accountability in government. And we look forward to continuing that fine tradition.” […]
Mike Lawrence, a longtime Statehouse reporter who became former GOP Gov. Jim Edgar’s press secretary and is retired from being director of the Paul Simon Public Policy Institute at Southern Illinois University, called the sale an “unfortunate development.”
“The Illinois Policy Institute … is a group that has a very definite ideological agenda, and I would be surprised if it did anything else other than to advance that agenda through its newly acquired operation,” Lawrence said. […]
“We’ve done our due diligence,” [Charlie Ferguson, vice president and general manager of Capitol Radio Group] said in an interview, “and we are very confident that INN will maintain and operate the Illinois Radio Network as a separate news organization. … It’s my belief that the reporters for the Illinois Radio Network will continue to deliver an unbiased news product. I think to presume otherwise is just somebody wanting to bend it their way.”
But, as Bernie later reported, IRN was once owned by former Democratic US Senate candidate Alex Seith. And it seemed to function OK back then.
You may also recall that the Chicago Federation of Labor once owned WCFL Radio.
Radio is a really conservative beast these days anyway. I don’t think it’s time to declare the end of the world.
* But this is what I’ll be watching at least for a while…
INN’s website says it operates independently of the policy institute in editorial decisions, but both House and Senate staffs have denied INN reporters floor press box credentials because of INN’s tie to the policy group. For instance, Gov. BRUCE RAUNER’s family foundation gave at least $625,000 to the institute since 2009.
The Policy Institute took the House and Senate to court over the denial of press credentials to the INN, but failed to prevail in its lawsuit.
Rikeesha Phelon, spokeswoman for Senate President John Cullerton, D-Chicago, said earlier this week that Illinois Radio Network applications for press credentials would be re-evaluated, “given their new affiliation with the Illinois Policy Institute.”
A published report says campaign funds controlled by House Speaker Michael Madigan collected over $7 million in 2015. Including nearly $3 million in December alone.
The Chicago Tribune reports it’s roughly $2.3 million more than Madigan took in during the same pre-election time frame two years ago.
Experts say the increase comes in response to Gov. Bruce Rauner’s fundraising, who had nearly $20 million in his campaign fund at October’s start.
A Tribune review showed more than 53 percent of the speaker’s yearly total has come from organized labor and 15 percent has come from law firms and lawyers.
Kent Redfield, a negotiator on the campaign reform legislation, said the ability of political leaders to control multiple funds was a “weakness” in the law. Redfield said Democrats argued that campaign donation limits were to offset the appearance of corruption, but political parties should be exempt because they couldn’t be corrupted.
“This was the first time we got limits (on campaign donations in Illinois), and so there was a sense in which this (law) was viewed as the first step. Then it turned out to be the last step. But clearly, that was all we could get,” said Redfield, a campaign finance expert and professor emeritus of political studies at the University of Illinois at Springfield.
Still, even with the fundraising blitz, Madigan trails Rauner. The governor had more than $19.6 million in his campaign fund at the start of October. Turnaround Illinois, which supports Rauner’s agenda, had another $2.6 million available. Additionally, a group aimed at pushing Rauner’s issues among Democrats, Illinois Growth and Opportunity, had nearly $9 million.
* The Question: Should Illinois eliminate its campaign contribution caps? Take the poll and then explain your answer in comments, please.
Consider that with fiscal 2016 pretty much on autopilot and lacking both adequate cuts and revenue enhancements, Illinois is spending roughly $33 million a day more than it takes in, according to the Civic Federation. Every penny of it is an IOU, piled on top of billions and billions of already-crushing debt.
* Here’s the official explanation about the poison pills from a press release…
“Part of reforming and turning around Illinois includes empowering local communities. This report shows the efficiencies and inefficiencies within local governments and provides concepts on how to give the people of Illinois more control over their future and their tax dollars,” Governor Rauner said. “I thank the Lt. Governor and the Local Government Consolidation and Unfunded Mandates Task Force for their hard work and dedication to the people of Illinois.”
* And he repeated that there will be no help for Chicago until the mayor flips on the unions…
Today the Noland for Congress campaign announced that the Associated Fire Fighters of Illinois (AFFI) has endorsed their campaign for Congress. The AFFI represents over 15,000 professional firefighters throughout Illinois.
“Mike Noland has always stood up for firefighters, and we know he will be a great advocate in Congress,” said AFFI President Pat Devaney. “I’ve worked with Senator Noland in the State Senate, he understands the issues and difficult realities faced by first responders on a daily basis. We look forward to him fighting for us in Washington.”
“When I think for a minute about what firefighters do, I am amazed at their courage and their tenacity. To save the lives, the homes, and property of other people, they put themselves in harm’s way. They go into burning buildings at the exact time the rest of us retreat. They are heroes living quietly and, often, without acknowledgement in our communities and in our neighborhoods and I am proud to call them friends and supporters of our campaign,” said Noland. Their endorsement means a lot to me and I will go to Congress and fight every day with everything I’ve got to make sure we honor their work.”
The AFFI is the latest member of organized labor to endorse Noland’s campaign. They join the APWU Local 3140’s executive board, Bricklayers Administrative District Council of Illinois, Sheet Metal Workers State Council, SMART Transportation Division (formerly United Transportation Union), Fox Valley Building Trades, Elgin Trades Council, IFT Local 1211 (Northwest Suburban Teachers Union), Operating Engineers Local 399, Painters District Council 14 & 30, and Teamsters Joint Council 25. Noland’s campaign has also announced that over 75 elected officials have endorsed his campaign including Senate President John J. Cullerton and former Senate President Emil Jones Jr.
Noland is leading in the polls. A recent poll conducted by one of Noland’s opponents showed him with a seven-point lead over his nearest opponent. After voters are provided more information about the candidates, Noland’s lead expands even more.
Noland is a 30-year plus resident of Elgin, a veteran of the US Navy and was elected to the Illinois Senate in 2006. While serving in the Senate he has been one of its most progressive members and has been a strong advocate for working families throughout his time in the Illinois General Assembly.
Because of their work schedules, firefighters can walk more precincts than others. And they’re probably lots more popular with the public than other union members.
* Noland is being out-raised by the guy whom most assumed would be the frontrunner, but Noland’s labor backing is by far the most solid…
The International Association of Ironworkers and its Local 63 union in the Chicago area endorsed Raja Krishnamoorthi today in his bid for Congress in the 8th District of Illinois that includes the northwest suburbs of Chicago.
The backing from the Ironworkers follows endorsements of Raja from other unions and their leaders such as the Illinois State Council of Machinists, the International Union of Elevator Constructors Local 2, the Air Line Pilots Association, the Office and Professional Employees’ Union Local 45 and Illinois Letter Carriers’ President Ken Christy.
Yeah, that’ll help get a budget, even if he did add that the bill likely wouldn’t apply to Emanuel (which the sponsor disputes, by the way)
Whatever the case, the governor has taken the focus off of his “secret” European vacation for now. So he has that going for him.
* Meanwhile, the inestimable James Warren takes a look at some recent national media stories about the mayor…
For sure, Emanuel’s heavy-handed ways and ego leave him with precious few public defenders. There’s also a collective blame to be shared in Chicago that’s missed by hyperbolic, cartoonish analyses that fit a facile national media caricature.
* Until this morning, disgraced former Congresman Aaron Schock has not tweeted since May 1st, when he criticized the media. He did it again a few minutes ago…
More press not doing hmwrk:office painted before election,LaHood hired 2 Schock staff.Sorry facts don't=story #truthhttps://t.co/Cf9OaR9L3n
The ruby red paint is gone, as is the red sofa and ottoman, the vase filled with pheasant feathers and other showy adornments.
Aaron Schock’s old congressional office, roundly criticized earlier this year for its “Downton Abbey”-style decor, is now painted in a buttery shade of beige. That suits its new occupant, Darin LaHood, just fine.
The 47-year-old Republican took Schock’s House seat after a special election in September and replaced Schock’s frippery with college pennants, a football helmet and a ball cap touting a nuclear sub, the USS Illinois — the kind of stuff people stash in basements.
A former prosecutor and state senator, LaHood has signaled in both style and substance that he is taking a different course than did Schock, a highflying congressman whose questionable use of tax dollars and campaign cash has made him the target of a federal grand jury probe.
Illinois Governor Bruce Rauner has arrived in southern Illinois to assess flood damage for himself. […]
Rauner says Illinois can do little but offer encouragement to businesses and residents most affected by the floods. The state has minimal funds to help with damage, due to state deficits and the budget impasse, Rauner said.
“Right now we don’t believe that the lack of a budget is affecting services and support for people affected by the flood,” Governor Rauner said. “We’re going to do everything we can to make sure the communities get the support they need.”
Rauner said he is working with the Department of Commerce to free up available funding, but added the majority of the help will hopefully come from federal relief.
* Buried in the middle of yet another story on the lack of Illinois pension reform progress was this nugget…
Standard & Poor’s removed Illinois’s A- rating from negative watch on Wednesday, a designation that usually signals a downgrade is imminent. In doing so, the New York-based company kept Illinois one step higher than Moody’s and Fitch Ratings. Fitch dropped Illinois in October to BBB+, the third lowest investment grade, and Moody’s cut its rank to the equivalent Baa1 later that month.
“What’s the root cause of why we’re in the problem we’re in?” [Richard Ciccarone, Chicago-based chief executive officer of Merritt Research Services] said. “It’s down to the pensions.”
Illinois is like a patient in the emergency room, said Paul Mansour at Conning, which oversees $11 billion of munis, including Illinois securities. The budget stalemate is the crisis at hand, and the unfunded pension liabilities is the chronic disease that’s only getting worse. The budget standoff is hurting future negotiations on pension changes, he said.
“It’s not an atmosphere of conciliation and compromise,” said Mansour. “It’s an atmosphere of conflicts.”
* There are two basic ways (with many variations within them) of controlling health care costs: 1) Cut the money paid to medical providers; or 2) increase costs/reduce services/access for patients. The health care aspects of Illinois’ 2011 workers’ compensation reforms focused a lot on providers, which is why the House Republicans (historically staunch allies of the Illinois Medical Society) were so opposed to it while the Senate Republicans (not staunch Med Society allies) were for it. The Illinois Policy Institute takes a look at how that’s working…
30% reduction in fee schedules
In most states, the fees that a medical provider can charge through workers’ compensation are capped by a state-mandated fee schedule. A study by the nonprofit Workers’ Compensation Research Institute, or WCRI, found that prior to the reforms, the fees awarded in Illinois were among the highest in the nation. The 2011 reforms reduced those fees by 30 percent, although actual prices fell by only 24 percent, in part because some providers had already negotiated fees below those set by the state. Savings were also partially offset by doctors billing for more complex office visits, although the effect appears to be small.
While changes to the fee schedule did reduce costs, in many instances Illinois’ costs exceeded those in other states by significantly more than 30 percent, and as such remain higher post-reform. This is not true of all fees: Prior to reform, visiting a doctor’s office cost 14 percent more in Illinois than the average of a representative sample of states. Since the reforms came into effect, those costs are now lower than in surrounding states with an as-yet undetermined effect on quality of care. For other procedures, however, Illinois prior to its 2011 reform was substantially more expensive than other states. According to WCRI, the price paid for major surgeries in Illinois in 2010 exceeded the price in Minnesota by 200 percent and in Michigan by 340 percent.
While it is likely that there would be some variation in costs across states, the magnitude of the difference implies further potential for cost savings. WCRI found that costs for many treatments under workers’ compensation were 200 to 300 percent higher than the cost of the same procedure under Medicare in Illinois, adding weight to the case for further potential cost savings.
Within the workers’ compensation system, doctors are permitted to resell drugs directly to patients – commonly at mark-ups of 60 to 300 percent – and pass the cost on to employers. To limit this practice, the General Assembly imposed price controls that linked the maximum fee to the average wholesale price. Despite this measure, doctors have been able to circumvent the rules by prescribing existing drugs in slightly modified doses. Patients get the same drug, but doctors can call it a new drug and assign a new average wholesale price with the same mark-ups as before.
* Some in the media have made a big deal out of the unknown location of Gov. Rauner during the holiday. From the AP on December 24th…
Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner left the country for the holidays, but his staff won’t say where he went or even why they don’t want to disclose his whereabouts. […]
David Melton, executive director of the Illinois Campaign for Political Reform, called it “a little odd” for a chief executive who’s away for an extended period.
“I don’t think he’s reconciled himself to the fact he’s a public figure at this point, with all the downsides that may come with that,” Melton said.
There may be valid reasons for not releasing information, whether it’s security concerns or family members’ privacy, Melton said.
It’s also possible Rauner and his staff are concerned about the optics of the governor — who owns multiple homes, though all are in the U.S. — vacationing in a foreign country when Illinois is in the midst of a budget crisis that has hit the state’s poorest residents particularly hard.
Nothing like a little subjective editorializing from the AP. They even used the “optics” word like pros and everything.
* But we now have some more info about why his office was so tight-lipped. First, his general location…
(T)he governor was in fact in Europe with his family on vacation over winter break. He paid for the trip himself and flew commercially… [and] returned early from a planned two-week vacation to respond to deadly flooding in southern Illinois.
The governor says the reason for the secrecy is that two of his kids are currently living overseas.
“And we wanted to spend some of the Christmas holiday time with them. When they return, and they’ll be back soon, we’ll discuss where they are,” Rauner said. “Our children are private — they are not public officials — and their safety and their privacy is important to my wife and me. So while they’re there, we’re not discussing where they are; when they come back, I’ll talk about it.”
Maybe the governor’s office should’ve talked privately with reporters last month before this story kinda blew up on them.
*** UPDATE 1 *** I’m told the Rauner press shop did speak to at least three reporters off the record about what was really going on. If true, then some reporters were apparently dishonest about what they wrote.
*** UPDATE 2 *** Not sure what this means, but if the prize winner was told about the reasons for keeping the secret then the prize winner lied in her story…
Yes. @capitolfax zings AP Pulitzer winner for using the word "optics," while thumping his own chest for copy & paste https://t.co/rYGR0cQnnr
This from a person who sends a copied and pasted e-mail to me every morning. Again, not sure what this is supposed to mean, except that she was beating the drum loudly almost every day about the governor’s whereabouts, and I really didn’t care all that much. We don’t have to always agree.
*** UPDATE 3 *** The last time I checked, the Sahara was not in Europe…
.@GovRauner discloses he and kids rode camels in #Sahara over holiday break. "You would be amazed with what we ate."
* But, look, he’s not the president. He’s not our daddy. He’s not even our big brother. I don’t think this is a huge deal, but he certainly has made a troubling habit of secrecy since pledging transparency during the campaign…
The Illinois attorney general has ruled that Gov. Bruce Rauner’s office has withheld too much information on his daily appointment calendars from taxpayers.
The state’s public access counselor issued an opinion in response to an appeal under the Freedom of Information Act by The Associated Press. Public access attorney Joshua Jones says the AP correctly argues that Rauner’s staff improperly used exemptions under the Illinois Freedom of Information Act to keep his whereabouts and activities secret.
Rauner spokeswoman Catherine Kelly did not comment because the issue is in court. The Illinois Times filed a lawsuit over the Rauner calendar in September.
Jones dismissed the Rauner administration argument that the calendars are not even public records.
* According to the governor’s office, there are “sufficient dedicated revenues to cover the payments” on this borrowing…
Gov. Bruce Rauner’s administration plans to borrow $480 million this month to pay for construction projects.
The state plans to conduct the general obligation bond sale on Jan. 14, Rauner spokeswoman Catherine Kelly said Sunday. The money would be used for road and transit projects and to pay related costs, she said.
“Road construction and transit improvements are key factors in growing the Illinois economy, which is why Illinois is planning a bond sale in January,” Kelly said in a statement.
She noted that despite the impasse that’s left Illinois without a complete budget since July 1, the three major credit rating agencies have not lowered the state’s general bond rating. First-term Republican Rauner wants pro-business, union-weakening legislation opposed by Democrats, who are allied with trial lawyers and organized labor.
No word yet on where the money will be spent, which ought to be pretty interesting.
