The day before congresswoman Tammy Duckworth is scheduled to deliver a major speech on the main stage at the Democratic National Convention, two women who filed a workplace retaliation suit against her have announced they’re refusing to accept a settlement offer that seemed a done deal just weeks ago.
Now, a trial set to begin Aug. 15 in downstate Jonesboro could serve as an obstacle at an inopportune time for Duckworth as she enters the home stretch of her campaign to unseat Republican U.S. Sen. Mark Kirk in a nationally-watched race.
Plaintiffs Denise Goins and Christine Butler told the Daily Herald Wednesday that they were insulted by the Duckworth campaign’s June 24 response to the settlement, with deputy campaign manager Matt McGrath releasing a statement describing the suit as “a frivolous workplace case” that dragged on for more than eight years.
“Within an hour of leaving the courthouse, her campaign decided to swing us through the mud again,” Butler said. “So we emailed our attorney to let him know we want to proceed to trial.”
The women say they received no pressure from the Kirk campaign to reject the settlement offer.
“We are both nonpolitical people. When we initiated the very first formal complaint, we had no idea she had political aspirations,” Butler said. “We would have been happy to be done with it years ago.”
The Duckworth campaign shoulda just kept their mouths closed. They were handed a gift. Oh, well.
On Monday, July 25, Moody’s Managing Director Naomi Richman delivered a speech to the City Club of Chicago concerning that city’s credit rating, which is Ba1 with a negative outlook. We have taken her remarks and presented it here as an FAQ document. The questions and answers are divided into four sections:
Why is Chicago rated so low? Of virtually all the 8,500 local governments across the country that we rate, Chicago has by far the highest unfunded pensions, and its debt load is also very high. The sum of Chicago’s debt and pensions is 9.4 times the city’s operating revenue, versus 2.4 times for the average US city.
What would it take to upgrade Chicago to investment grade? The city’s unfunded pension liability would need to begin to stabilize and decline. The actions the city has taken to date have only enabled their pension problem to get worse at a slower pace.
Why isn’t Chicago rated even lower? Chicago has a very different credit profile than governments that have defaulted on their debt. Chicago’s economy is healthy and growing, unlike other cities that have defaulted where the economies went through a long, steep decline, and where finances were in much worse shape than Chicago’s.
What are we watching? Three key credit questions are on the horizon: how will the city propose to reform the municipal pension plan and how will that affect the pension trajectory; how will pension plan investment earnings compare to the plans’ assumed returns; and how will Chicago Public Schools (CPS - rated B2/negative) resolve its own financial problems.
* Related…
* Moody’s official: Chicago’s still got time to fix pension problem: Moody’s rates Chicago Ba1, one step below investment grade, and has a negative outlook. Right now, a downgrade is “much more likely” than an upgrade, Richman said. To get on track for an upgrade, the city needs to reverse “the trajectory of the pension problem,” Richman said. Last year, Mayor Rahm Emanuel pushed through a record property tax increase that will shore up public-safety pensions. Investors applauded the move and rallied the bonds. Still, it’s not enough, according to Moody’s. “It’s letting the problem get worse at a slower pace,” Richman said. It would cost Chicago about a $1 billion a year to make the pension smaller the following year, she said. Moody’s recognizes that Emanuel and the City Council inherited fiscal problems, and they are showing a willingness to take on those issues. Plus there are positive signs. Governments that defaulted on their debt like Detroit and Puerto Rico have real differences with Chicago, like the economy, Richman said. “While Chicago’s challenges are very real, very serious, and if pension problem is never addressed you could ultimately get to that brink, we’re not there quite now,” Richman said.
* AUDIO: City Club of Chicago: City of Chicago Finances: Are We on the Brink?
* Last Friday, Gov. Bruce Rauner signed a couple of bipartisan good-government bills into law aimed at cutting local government costs…
One new law was sparked by the reporting of Daily Herald columnist Jake Griffin and would limit spending on travel for local officials and prohibit using taxpayer money for entertainment costs.
“Illinois has the highest property taxes in the nation,” state Rep. David McSweeney, a Barrington Hills Republican, said of the plan he sponsored. “We need to make sure our tax dollars are being used wisely and we need to reduce property taxes.”
Another new law signed Friday would require counties to write a report for state lawmakers about what local governments they make appointments for. The idea is to try to identify unnecessary local agencies.
“Through our bipartisan work, we have made DuPage County a leader in government consolidation,” state Sen. Tom Cullerton, a Villa Park Democrat, said of his plan. “We know the government needs to evolve with the needs of the people.”
“Illinois has the highest property taxes in the nation,” state Rep. David McSweeney, a Barrington Hills Republican, said of the legislation he sponsored in the House and that Democrat Tom Cullerton of Villa Park sponsored in the Senate. “We need to make sure our tax dollars are being used wisely and we need to reduce property taxes.”
Oftentimes, investigations that reveal frivolous spending, malfeasance or out-and-out criminal ventures start out with the little things, such as restaurant receipts (meals and booze at the Waterleaf restaurant at College of DuPage), or a simple burglary (such as the one at the Watergate Hotel).
In the process, they provide a big help for the public to better manage its money.
Duckworth has clearly decided the reform vote is not in her target universe. She defended Blago while he was under investigation and now is sticking with Madigan and his 13% approval rating.
I’m assuming that part of the accompanying video clip might make it into a TV ad…
The organization that issues workers compensation advisory rates just released their recommendations for 2017. The NCCI says that Illinois employers should see a 12.9% cut in their WC rates next year - the 3rd largest cut in the nation - totaling more than all of our neighboring states combined.
* The Illinois Manufacturers Association disagrees…
“Nothing in the NCCI filing suggests that Illinois is actually closing the gap when it comes to the high cost of workers’ compensation relative to other states. It is abundantly clear that states like Illinois and West Virginia experiencing significant job loss in manufacturing, construction or mining jobs have also witnessed a reduction in indemnity and medical severity costs. However, the actual cost of workers’ compensation in Illinois remains among the highest in the nation.” - Greg Baise
· Largely as the result of the continued loss of good, high-paying jobs in manufacturing and enhanced workplace safety programs, the National Council on Compensation Insurance (NCCI) offered an advisory recommendation in Illinois with a reduction.
· It is important to recognize that the advisory 12.9 percent reduction in the overall voluntary rate is separate and distinct from insurance company premiums.
· In 2016, only four states including Illinois, Virginia, Kentucky, and West Virginia have received their NCCI recommendations at this time. Last year, NCCI reviewed 38 states and recommended advisory decreases in 27 states (71 percent). In Illinois, NCCI recommended no change in 2015. This year’s recommended decrease follows the national trend.
· The advisory recommendation does not include self-insured companies and excludes 40 percent of the competitive insurance market that have large deductible policies.
A top Sneed source says the site of President Barack Obama’s Presidential Library will be Jackson Park, rather than Washington Park, which was considered the favored site months ago.
Among the reasons for the selection of Jackson Park?
The site’s great beauty, including its closeness to the water. Also, putting the library there will help build up the museum campus nearby.
It also has a pretty good golf course. I ran into the avid golfer Obama on that course years ago, back when I was still trying to play that crazy game and he was running for US Senate.
Located near the Museum of Science and Industry, the lakefront and the eastern edge of the University of Chicago campus, the site allows for the creation of a museum campus in the heart of the park, accented by an existing lagoon, lush woods and greenery. The winding 543-acre park is an oasis on the South Side. The center would be a short hop to either Lake Shore Drive or to two Metra train stations, strong pulls for visitors.
Jackson Park’s western edge along Stony Island Avenue connects with Woodlawn, an impoverished African-American neighborhood but one that is beginning to gentrify. And the Hyde Park neighborhood, just north of Woodlawn and surrounding the university, already is booming. […]
The hurdles would have been higher in the neighborhood near Washington Park, where one-third of the land is vacant. Decades ago the area was central to Chicago’s Black Belt, a robust cluster of neighborhoods that drew African-Americans from the South during the Great Migration. During the past half-century the population has plummeted, and nearly half the remaining residents live in poverty in an area plagued by crime.
Washington Park had been the centerpiece of the city’s 2016 Olympic bid — the site for a massive temporary stadium and swimming venue — and many residents believed that endeavor would help turn around their impoverished neighborhood just west of the park. The bid failed in 2009, and now residents of this struggling area must live with a second major disappointment.
Illinois Democrats cast 98 votes for Hillary Clinton and 74 votes for Sanders, with Democratic Party chairman Michael Madigan leading the delegation’s floor announcement.
Illinois is one of only a few states to be seated on the convention floor rather than in the stands. The prime real estate is a nod to Clinton’s Illinois roots, having been born in Chicago and raised in the suburbs.
The votes for Clinton were cast by Betsy Ebeling, an old friend of Clinton’s dating to their school days in Park Ridge. “I know you’re watching, this one’s for you, Hill,” Ebeling said.
House Speaker Madigan handed the mic to Ebeling and the two appeared to be friendly toward each other as Sen. Dick Durbin looked on and smiled.
* But it wasn’t always so. Clinton’s State Department e-mails included several from Ebeling, including this one…
The reliably upbeat friend was dejected in writing to the then-secretary of state on the eve of the 2010 midterm elections, which proved disastrous for Democrats.
Ebeling described an Oct. 26, 2010, get-out-the-vote rally in Chicago headlined by former President Bill Clinton, who is referred to as “WJC” in the emails, for William Jefferson Clinton. Ebeling observed the Democratic campaign in Illinois “is ghostlike.”
The event, she writes, was attended by Sen. Dick Durbin, House Speaker Michael Madigan and state Senate President John Cullerton, among other elected officials.
Tuesday will be such a telling day. On paper there is a co-ordinated Democratic campaign in Illinois–however, it is ghostlike—sort of shimmering in the distance. When WJC was here the other day, they all turned out: Dubrin and “the other guy”, Speaker Madigan, President Cullerton, many electeds and all gathered to have their photos taken with him. What an assembly of power going nowhere—just finger pointing and hiding. Of course, they all smiled for WJC and said they were working hard for the party Is WJC the only one trying? Must be exhausting for him,„and you. Safe
* I missed most of the convention last night because I was having dinner with a friend and got home half way through Bill Clinton’s speech. But others tell me things were pretty quiet in the audience, without all the booing and heckling that happened Monday. The Daily Beast ran a story yesterday afternoon which probably gives us much of the reason…
[Dave Barnhart, a consultant to the Clinton campaign] also described the “ramped up whip operation” that Clinton campaign will run on the floor of the convention hall. In addition to asking the pro-Clinton delegates to physically be on the floor to support her during the roll call and televised prime time speeches, the campaign is also planning to add additional people around the California section to supplement the delegates already there.
“We’re providing more support in the form of extra bodies and supporters to cheer, bring energy, wave signs, and show positive support both within and around the California delegation section,” Barnhart wrote.
He also said that the campaign will more actively manage anyone who disrupts the proceedings.
“We’re going to be stricter tonight about unruly individuals—anyone who is physical with delegates, rips up their signs, or outright disrespectful with other delegates,” he warned. “Protest is certainly okay, but unruliness is not—and we’re instructing whips and convention staff to tow a stricter line tonight.”
Barnhart thanked the delegates in advance and added, “Your presence would be greatly appreciated and noted.”
That California delegation was a huge problem Monday. They never should’ve been so near the stage.
* It also helped that, after Bernie Sanders moved to nominate Clinton by acclamation, he walked out of the convention hall and several of his more committed (and loudest) supporters followed suit…
Bernie Sanders delegates say that he led the walkout that took place after he moved to nominate Hillary Clinton by acclamation.
“We followed Bernie’s lead and we followed him out. I was so enveloped in hope, and there doesn’t appear to be much of that and I am heartbroken as I am sure the Senator is. I have been working for him for over a year. I am tired. I am out of hope right now,” one Wisconsin delegate told RT.com. of Sanders walking out of the convention hall after he nominated Clinton was widely seen in the arena and on television.
* And then there were the three early speeches about 9/11. “It’s hard to boo people talking about the biggest terrorist attack on U.S. soil,” said one Democratic operative today.
* This aggressive Wisconsin recruitment has been going on for several years now, but the Illinois budget crisis certainly doesn’t help matters…
Three state universities in southeastern Wisconsin are aggressively turning their attention south to pull more students — and tuition revenue — from the Land of Lincoln.
Whitewater, Parkside and Milwaukee campuses in the University of Wisconsin System for years have drawn students from northern Illinois because of their close proximity to the border.
Working in their favor is the fact tuition for Illinois students to attend a UW campus is remarkably close to, or even less, than what they would pay at their own state schools. Illinois also is in the midst of a state budget crisis with lawmakers failing to approve an annual budget beyond a stopgap that only partially funds higher education.
It’s a perfect storm for recruiting Illinois students to Wisconsin, as Wisconsin campuses look to offset their own state budget cuts and enrollment stagnation. Illinois in recent years has seen a dramatic rise in students leaving the state for college elsewhere.
Students from Illinois pay less tuition at [the University of Wisconsin in Milwaukee] than they pay to attend many of their own public universities, Maldonado said. Tuition and fees last year at Illinois State University was about $14,500, and $15,630 to $20,624 at University of Illinois, depending on the campus. At UWM it was about $13,500.
That’s just crazy.
The governor and the GA need to address this situation pronto.
“I was very pleased and overjoyed to be there,” Madigan said [of Hillary Clinton’s formal nomination].
Madigan described Clinton’s nomination as a “wonderful occasion” because the Democratic Party of America has nominated the first African-American president and now, the first female presidential nominee.
“The democrats are coming together,” he said. “They are coming together against the extremism of Trump and Governor Rauner.”
Madigan discussed the need for a democratic governor in Illinois.
“Democrats are like most Illinoisans, they are not happy with the extremism of Bruce Rauner.”
Standing atop a hay wagon on the property, Rauner asked an assembled crowd of citizens and local public officials to demand members of the Legislature vote during their fall veto session on putting a constitutional amendment on the ballot to impose term limits on state officials.
The Rauner plan would limit statewide officeholders to eight years in a position — two terms — and no more than 10 years in the General Assembly, either five House terms or three Senate terms. […]
“Be a regular person. … Serve for a few years, do what’s right for the people and then go back to the real world,” Rauner said.
His tour on Tuesday took him to four regions of the state — near Rockford, Springfield and the Quad Cities, and between Peoria and Bloomington — though the districts he stopped in were primarily represented by Republicans, who have been friendlier to his plans. All are represented by a Republican in the state Senate, and three out of the four stops were in districts with a Republican in the state House.
The issue polls extremely well, and he’s been firmly on-message everywhere he’s spoken so far. Also, he doesn’t need to actually be in a targeted district to make his point about the ruling party, as long as he’s in the same media market as one.
State Rep. Dan Brady, R-Bloomington, differs with Gov. Bruce Rauner when it comes to term limits. […]
Brady told WJBC’s Scott Laughlin voters should be able to remove lawmakers if they want, but for the legislative leadership positions, such as the one House Speaker Mike Madigan has held for three decades, that’s another story.
“Those types of changes should be looked at when it comes to something where you have the speaker as long as he has (been in office),” Brady said. “If you want real reform, I think you ought to be talking about within the caucuses.”
Rauner said in a visit to El Paso on Tuesday wants the General Assembly to pass term limits and redistricting reform since citizen-led efforts have failed in the courts. Brady suggests with Madigan in power, that will never happen.
Chris Mooney, director of the Institute of Government and Public Affairs at the University of Illinois, said [the failure of more than a dozen legislative term limit proposals in Illinois since 2015] shouldn’t come as a surprise. […]
Two state legislatures that did approve term limits — Louisiana and Utah — did so only because more restrictive measures were coming down the pike through voter initiatives, he said.
Mooney said research has shown that many claims from proponents and opponents of term limits aren’t supported by the facts. For examples, they don’t seem to increase electoral competition as proponents argue, he said, nor do they appear to concentrate more power in the hands of lobbyists as opponents claim.
The most significant impact of term limits is that they’ve resulted in an “increase in power of the executive branch at the expense of the legislative branch,” Mooney said.
“It’s excellent politics,” he said. “It’s questionable for governance.”
Auditor General Frank Mautino did not file amended campaign disclosure reports with the state Board of Elections, setting the stage for a public hearing into his use of campaign money while serving in the Illinois House.
Board of Elections executive director Steve Sandvoss said Mautino did not file the amended reports by Monday’s deadline.
“If they did not produce documents by the time they were required to, the matter would be set for a public hearing,” Sandvoss said. “It’s hard to say at this point when the actual hearing would take place.”
Sandvoss said he hoped something could be scheduled within a month or two, but the actual timing depended on a number of variables. They include selecting a hearing officer, trying to accommodate the participants’ varying schedules and whether any preliminary motions are filed that have to be disposed of first.
Yesterday, on July 26, 2016, We Ask America Polls™ conducted a statewide hybrid poll (part automated/part live interview) measuring Democratic voters’ views on which potential candidates for Illinois governor would most likely receive their vote. The respondents were asked one primary question plus a short series of demographic-related questions. The primary question was this:
“There are a number of Democratic candidates rumored to be interested in running for Illinois governor in two years. We’d like to know which—if any—of the following possible candidates you would most likely vote for if they do run for Illinois governor. “
Cheri Bustos………4.88%
Dick Durbin……….48.87%
Robin Kelly………..3.63%
Chris Kennedy……4.50%
Pat Quinn…………..9.91%
Kwame Raoul……..1.46%
Heather Steans……0.63%
Someone else…….7.21%
Undecided…………18.90%
I’m told that Lisa Madigan wasn’t included because she said a couple years back she wouldn’t run for governor unless her father stepped aside as House Speaker.
…Adding… More from the pollster…
Findings
1. As expected, those with the best name recognition stood out, with a U.S. Senator dwarfing the field: Sen. Dick Durbin scored nearly 50 percent–significant especially with at least one other recent statewide office holder on the list.
2. Former Illinois Governor Pat Quinn’s numbers paled compared to Durbin, and were within the margin of error of the generic “someone else” option: Quinn certainly enjoyed the benefit of better name recognition than most of the others, but simply couldn’t muster enough support to climb into a double-digit range of results. His extremely weak numbers downstate (5.29%) kept him below that threshold.
3. Should Durbin decide against a run for governor, the field must be considered wide open. Former Gov. Quinn’s numbers cannot be considered a deterrent to any potential candidate. Congresswoman Cheri Bustos (IL-17) is a close family friend of Sen. Durbin’s and won a hotly contested race against Republican incumbent Bobby Schilling four years ago. Congresswoman Robin Kelly (IL-2) is a former state representative who also served as chief of staff for the State Treasurer. Chris Kennedy is a business executive who was the former Chair of the University of Illinois Board…as well as the Illinois anchor for the Kennedy clan; State Senator Kwame Raoul (D-Chicago) filled Barack Obama’s state senate seat when Obama left the Statehouse for the U.S. Senate and has been an active leader in Springfield; and State Senator Heather Steans (D-Chicago) is a Princeton and Harvard-educated reformer who has championed a number of causes including nursing home and environmental reforms.
Notes & Comments
A poll this early in the process cannot be viewed as a predictor of any kind for the fall of 2018. While the list of candidates mentioned in this poll was merited by direct mention of possible candidacy in published reports, some will not run and others not listed undoubtedly will test the waters. Some candidates that many feel may possibly run were left off if they had expressed a strong enough denial. For example, Attorney General Lisa Madigan has repeatedly stated that she will not run as long as her father remains Speaker of the Illinois House–and was therefore not offered as an option.
Note that a short job related description was read about each potential candidate during the polling process. For example: “Congresswoman Cheri Bustos” - “State Senator Kwame Raoul.”
We Ask America Polls paid for this poll and was not asked to conduct it by any candidate, individual or political committee. The poll was purposely conducted during the Democratic National Convention in an effort to discuss the issue with Illinois Democrats during a time where they may be paying more attention to political issues.
Methodology
This poll was conducted July 26, 2016 using both automated (recorded) and live operator-initiated calls. In all, 1,128 registered voters completed all questions on the poll. About 30% (338) of the responses came from cell phones. The voters dialed were randomly selected from a proprietary registered-voter database to assure the greatest chance of providing an accurate cross-section of opinion from the statewide sample. Weighting formulas were applied to correct any over- and under-sampling. Each respondent was asked to verify that he/she was a Democrat who planned to vote in the next Democratic Primary Election.
Our sampling methodology ensures that We Ask America poll results are “projectable,” meaning that if every resident in a given geography were dialed, the results would not differ from the reported poll results by more than the stated margin of error at a 95% confidence level (the industry standard), if the same survey was repeated. For this case, results with a margin of error of ±3.0 % at the 95% confidence level means that if the same survey were conducted 100 times, 95 times out of 100 the results would not vary in either direction by more than 3.0% in either direction.
[US Sen. Dick Durbin] has some priorities and they go in this sequence. He wants to first win re-election as whip.
About a week after the November election, senators vote for their leaders, including whip. Last March, Reid announced he would not seek another term. Reid anointed Sen. Chuck Schumer D-NY as his heir. Things got a bit messy for a bit when Durbin had to scramble to make sure he locked in the support from his fellow senators to retain his No. 2 spot.
Looks like Durbin is in good shape in his whip race. But it’s never a good idea to run for more than one office at a time. [Emphasis added.]
In other words, we’ll know more about this topic sometime after that whip election is complete. It’s a big decision with huge consequences, so it won’t be taken lightly.
Keep in mind, however, that Durbin will be almost 74 come election day, 2018. He hasn’t had a tough race since his first US Senate bid 20 years ago. And he’s never seen anything like the unlimited-funding Rauner attacks.
And even if he wins, he still has to deal with cleaning up the post-Rauner mess (which could be gargantuan if Madigan never cuts a budget deal). And he’ll have to find a way to get along with Speaker Madigan - who is not generally a “helpful” guy when it comes to running government and has not exactly been Durbin’s greatest fan, no matter what he says about Durbin these days.
Senate Minority Whip Dick Durbin declined Wednesday to rule out a run for Illinois governor in 2018, saying whether his colleagues will reelect him as the Democrat’s No. 2 will factor into his decision. […]
Speculation in Illinois political circles has mounted over the past several weeks about Durbin, who is not up for reelection in the Senate until 2020, and as Democrats look for a challenger against Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner next cycle. If the influential Democrat left the Senate, it would reorder Illinois politics and create an opening in the party leadership hierarchy in the chamber.
Durbin acknowledged that whether he stays as the Senate’s No. 2 Democrat after November could weigh on his decision.
“Of course,” Durbin said when asked if the outcome of leadership elections would impact his choice. “I want to continue to serve as whip of the caucus. I think I have support within the caucus. But I am not even campaigning for whip at this point…. I have to focus on this election.”
The Wall Street Journal is reporting that long-term investment returns for public pension plans are poised to drop to the lowest rate of return since measuring began 16 years ago —something that could cause additional heartburn in Illinois, which has the largest unfunded state worker pension program in the nation.
The Journal reported the 20-year annualized return on investment of public pensions are expected to be 7.47 percent — a far cry from the 12.3 percent annualized return in 2001, when Wilshire Trust Universe Comparison Service began tracking pension returns.
Illinois has an $111 billion unfunded pension liability as of June 2015, based on the latest state reports available. But the lower investment returns have been factored in slightly.
The largest pension fund, the Teachers Retirement System, acted two years ago to reduce its expected investment rate of return from 8 percent to 7.5 percent. The State Employees Retirement System and the State University Retirement System acted to reduce the rate of investment returns for its funds from 7.75 percent to 7.25 percent.
* Related…
* Illinois diverts federal funds from teachers to pensions: Unlike their counterparts in other states, Illinois school districts pay a steep premium to the Teachers’ Retirement System, or TRS, if they use Title I federal money to hire teachers. Districts are assessed 36.06 percent of salaries paid with federal Title I funds, and that is set to increase to 38.54 percent for the 2016-2017 school year. By comparison, the rate for a district not using Title I money is and will remain 0.58 percent. So a district using Title I money to hire a teacher at $50,000 a year would fork over $19,270 to TRS, but the tab for a district paying a teacher the same salary out of state and local funds would be $290. To paraphrase U.S. Rep. Robert Dold, taxpayers from across the nation are pouring vast sums into Illinois’ teacher pension-debt quagmire. And the biggest losers? The very ones the Title I money is intended to aid – low-income students.
Republican state Rep. Ronald L. Sandack, a top of ally of Gov. Bruce Rauner, went to police in his hometown earlier this month to report an “Internet scam” — but a report about the incident reveals little about what led Sandack to abruptly resign his seat in the Illinois House over the weekend.
Sandack issued a statement to the Capitol Fax political blog on Sunday saying that “cyber security issues” forced him to re-evaluate his “continued public service” and that he was resigning immediately. But the three-page police report released Tuesday afternoon by the Downers Grove Police Department offers no details about what might have happened to Sandack, as virtually the entire narrative is blacked out.
Disclosing the information “would obstruct an ongoing criminal investigation,” the police said in their response to a Chicago Sun-Times Freedom of Information Act request, also noting that supplemental case reports “have not been completed as of the date of this response.”
Sandack, 52, a former Downers Grove mayor, met with an officer on July 14, 2016, a Tuesday evening, “in reference to a walk-in report of an Internet scam.” The narrative in the police report notes that the incident began on July 7, but the rest of that page and the next are almost completely redacted.
Asked about Sandack’s resignation, Rauner told reporters he didn’t have much to add.
“I really can’t comment much on Mr. Sandack’s situation. I heard about it yesterday morning, the same time most of you did. I am not sure what all is going on there, so I can’t comment,” Rauner said.
Asked if it was difficult to lose a top ally, Rauner repeated that he could not comment, adding that he has not talked to Sandack.
To be clear here, Sandack was Rauner’s top floor leader and one of his most persistent defenders in the House chamber and in social media.
The claim that some online mischief maker using tired and predictable tricks drove one of the state’s most prominent lawmakers back into private life sounds more like pretext than explanation.
But explanations are things that Citizen Sandack no longer owes us.
That’s true, but others still might owe us something.
Asked Wednesday morning at a Democratic National Convention breakfast whether Democrats had any role in the cyber attacks that Sandack had cited in resigning, the Southwest Side Democrat replied “No. . . . I’ll let Sandack speak to what his problem is. I don’t know anything about it.”
Sandack had been facing a challenge from Democrat Greg Hose in the November election — a race that might now be more winnable for Democrats with the much better-known Sandack off the ballot.
“Again, I’d leave it up to Sandack to explain his problems,” Madigan said.
Gov. Bruce Rauner is scheduled to visit the Illinois Veterans Home in Quincy a day after state officials reported two residents have new cases of Legionnaires’ disease.
Last year, Legionnaires’ disease sickened 53 people and led to 12 deaths at the home. The cases the Illinois Department of Veterans Affairs disclosed Tuesday come less than a month after a nearly $5 million water treatment plant and delivery system was unveiled at the facility. The bacteria that cause the disease can be inhaled in water vapor.
Rauner’s schedule says the governor was to visit the western Illinois facility Wednesday morning and receive an update on water treatment there.
Less than a month after unveiling a nearly $5 million state-of-the-art water treatment plant and delivery system at the Illinois Veterans Home, the Illinois Department of Veterans Affairs on Tuesday announced two Veterans Home residents had been diagnosed with Legionnaires’ disease.
Dave MacDonna, a spokesman for the Department of Veterans Affairs, said there have been no deaths. He would not disclose the condition of the two residents who had contracted the disease, citing health privacy laws. […]
MacDonna said water at the home will continue to be treated the same it has since the new treatment plant came online. It will continue to test for and flush any harmful bacteria from the system, something that MacDonna said happens twice per day. Hot water temperatures will be at 150 degrees.
From what I was told by the administration last night, national and state experts are dumbfounded about this recurring outbreak. There was clear evidence of the bacteria in last year’s testing. Not so this year.
* From the twitters…
.@GovRauner on Legionnaires' at Vets Home: We have taken all steps CDC has recommended.
* To refresh your memory, this is what Chris Kennedy did after his speech to the convention delegate breakfast yesterday…
Kennedy then walked toward a waiting elevator, but a crush of Chicago reporters followed him in, not satisfied with the nonanswer.
“This is sort of ridiculous, please,” Kennedy pleaded.
“What’s ridiculous is you don’t answer questions,” WFLD-Ch. 32 reporter Mike Flannery shot back. “You’ve run four or five campaigns in the gossip column. Are you running for governor or not?”
“I don’t have to address you. Please leave the elevator and let me go to my meeting. Please do that. Have some decency,” Kennedy responded. “What have you become? Please, please.”
A furious Kennedy then left the elevator and headed to a nearby stairwell. Chicago Sun-Times reporter Lynn Sweet then chased him into the stairwell doorway requesting to take a photograph of the businessman, who obliged with an awkwardly forced smile.
Flannery was right about Kennedy teasing us with selected leaks about possible runs that never materialized. You may not like his aggressiveness (reporting is sometimes like legislating, the sausage-making process ain’t always pretty), but somebody had to ask the guy that question.
Besides, Kennedy asked to speak. And it’s customary to talk to reporters after one of those speeches. If he didn’t know that, well, too bad. He should get better advance people.
Kennedy said he thought his message to the delegation spoke for itself and that he refuses to participate in media scrums that are the regular stuff of politics and public office.
“People turn into animals in that environment, and they are asking ridiculous questions, acting like bullies. … It’s a b——- way to conduct each other’s business,” he said.
Kennedy said he would rather do one-on-one interviews with every reporter than one hallway press conference.
“If you don’t like that, I mean, sorry,” he said.
That might be a reason not to run.
Even Speaker Madigan, of all people, speaks to these convention “media scrums.” If Madigan can do it, so can Chris Kennedy. Brown has good advice.
You don’t want to talk to the average folks through this TV lens. Apparently, talking to the Mike Madigans of the world is good enough at this point for Chris Kennedy.
* From the Illinois Policy Institute’s news service…
A public hearing is expected in the case involving Auditor General Frank Mautino’s campaign expenses after he failed to file amended reports Monday. The Illinois State Board of Elections is seeking amended reports to clarify hundreds of thousands of dollars in campaign expenses paid to a bank and service station in his legislative district over the course of a decade.
The deadline came and went Monday for Mautino to turn in amended campaign-expense reports as ordered by the elections board.
That means the elections board will work with all of the parties to find a date for a public hearing in which the complainant will have subpoena power.
Illinois Campaign for Political Reform Chairwoman Susan Garrett said Mautino should be granted due process, but needs to comply with the State Board of Elections’ requests.
“But there comes a point when he has to do that,” Garrett said. “He just can’t hide behind a federal investigation. We want him to be open and honest about what happened.”
I asked Mautino’s private spokesman for comment. His reply: “No comment from us now on this.”
Mayor Rahm Emanuel on Tuesday accepted Gov. Bruce Rauner’s apology for branding half of all Chicago Public Schools principals “managerially incompetent” and half its teachers “virtually illiterate,” but questioned whether teachers will forgive the insult.
“I’m gonna accept him at his word. More important is, will the teachers?” the mayor said. […]
If the governor is truly sorry for what he said, the mayor wants Rauner to prove it by putting the state’s money where his mouth is.
“The state finally leveled the pension inequity that existed where our taxpayers were taxed twice for pensions for teachers that don’t teach our children. I want to see that not only this year. I want to see it continue,” Emanuel.
“I accept that, sincerely, the governor apologizes. … I accept it because I want to move on and turn the page. [But] I want him to be a champion of the academic gains that the children of Chicago are making — not just against themselves, but against their national peers. … He should hold ’em up as an example of what you can do if you pull together principals, parents and teachers. … The governor of the state of Illinois should embrace the children of Chicago.”
Rauner countered that he has long worked to improve schools in Chicago, but said districts across the state need help too.
“You know, I have worked for 25 years to improve the quality of the public schools in Chicago. And I passionately, I ran for governor so we could have outstanding schools in every community, not just Chicago,” Rauner said Tuesday during a term limits event at a central Illinois farm.
“Every school district needs more money, every teacher needs more support.”
Illinois officials say they won’t detail expenditures the TV show “Chicago Fire” made to qualify for nearly $16 million in tax breaks last year.
The Chicago Sun-Times reports that the move is a departure from last year, when the state publicly released the names and amounts show producers spent on actors, extras, crew and businesses that worked on the series’ pilot episode.
State officials say show owner NBCUniversal Media argued that Illinois was disclosing proprietary information that would yield competitive harm. The state agreed that the information was exempt from release under the Illinois Freedom of Information Act.
That’s a departure from last year, when the state released the names and amounts the producers of “Chicago Fire” spent on actors, extras, crew and businesses that worked on the series’ pilot episode in 2012. Those records detailed expenditures including $215,161 to Cinespace Chicago Film Studios, $6,200 to the Chicago Fire Department for “fire equipment” and $272 to Nordstrom for two pairs of shoes for the character Kelly Severide, played by actor Taylor Kinney.
But NBCUniversal Media, which owns the show, has now convinced Rauner administration lawyers that releasing such information about episodes since then would violate “trade secrets,” according to a July 8 letter attorney Patrick M. Callahan sent to Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan explaining the state’s refusal to provide the information to the Chicago Sun-Times. […]
Madigan’s staff is reviewing the Sun-Times’ appeal of the Rauner administration’s decision.
Without seeing the records, it’s impossible for the public to know, for instance, whether politically connected people are benefiting from the series’ taxpayer-supported spending. Expenditures on the pilot episode of “Chicago Fire,” for example, included $57,810 paid to William T. Hogan III, son of the former Teamsters Local 714 boss, to work as a “driver captain/trans coord.”
U.S. Attorney Zachary T. Fardon and Other Law Enforcement Officials to Hold News Conference Today at 2:00 p.m.
U.S. Attorney Zachary T. Fardon, FBI Chicago Special Agent in Charge Michael J. Anderson, Chicago Police Superintendent Eddie T. Johnson and other law enforcement officials will hold a news conference to announce significant new indictments. The news conference will begin at 2:00 p.m. in the 9th Floor Press Room of the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Dirksen Federal Building, 219 S. Dearborn, Chicago IL 60604. Media credentials will be required to access the Press Room, which will be open beginning at 1:15 p.m.
WHO: Zachary T. Fardon, United States Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois
Michael J. Anderson, Special Agent in Charge of the Chicago Office of the FBI
Eddie T. Johnson, Superintendent of the Chicago Police Department
Several other law enforcement officials from the Chicago area and Indiana
WHAT: The officials will announce significant new indictments against numerous alleged gang members.
WHERE: U.S. Attorney’s Office
9th Floor Press Room
Dirksen Federal Building
219 S. Dearborn, Chicago IL 60604
WHEN: Tuesday, July 26, 2016, 2:00 p.m.
*** UPDATE *** Here you go…
Thirty Four Alleged Gang Members Charged with Participating in Racketeering Conspiracy Involving Guns, Assaults and Attempted Murders in Chicago and Suburbs
CHICAGO — Two federal indictments unsealed in Chicago today charged 34 members of the Latin Kings street gang with participating in a criminal organization that assaults and attempts to murder its rivals and violently protects its territories in the city and suburbs.
Authorities uncovered the alleged gang activity through dual investigations conducted under the umbrella of the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF). During the course of the multi-year probes, law enforcement agents confiscated more than 40 firearms, including two AR-15 assault rifles.
The indictments allege that members of the Latin Kings violently enforced discipline within its ranks and retaliated against rivals and former members to prevent cooperation with law enforcement. Its members and associates engaged in various acts of violence, including murder, attempted murder, assault with dangerous weapons, arson, and extortion, according to the indictments. The charges include the attempted murders of rival gang members and a Melrose Park Police officer.
Thirty four alleged Latin Kings are charged with racketeering conspiracy. A 35th alleged Latin King is charged in the indictment with selling a firearm without a license. The 36th and final defendant is an alleged Latin King charged in a criminal complaint with being a felon in possession of a firearm.
Several of the defendants were arrested this week and have begun making initial appearances in federal court in Chicago.
* Gov. Rauner has started posting again to his campaign Facebook and Twitter accounts. He hadn’t posted anything to those pages since January (Facebook) or February (Twitter) of 2015, which is shortly after he was sworn in.
* When you see “Bernie or bust” delegates loudly acting out, openly weeping and being interviewed on the teevee, remember this…
Pew Research has been polling on the 2016 campaign for months, allowing it to track attitudes among voters over time. Nearly half of the Democratic electorate, 44 percent, changed their preference over the course of the three surveys Pew conducted. About 3 in 10 supported Clinton, wire-to-wire; about 20 percent Sanders.
Pew asked those consistent Sanders supporters whom they support in the general election. Ninety percent said they back Hillary Clinton. […]
Last week, as the Republican convention was going on, Pew offered similar research about the Republicans. Of the 44 percent of the party that never supported Donald Trump, 79 percent were planning on backing him in the general election — lower than the percentage of Sanders supporters backing Clinton, but still nearly 8 in 10.
So why so much outrage in Philadelphia? Delegates to party conventions are not normal members of political parties. [Emphasis added.]
Arguably, his most fervent supporters in the country are at the convention. They’re the ones who did the hard work to get themselves on the ballot, or worked the caucuses the most. The Bernie or Bust folks have put their hearts and souls into this “revolution,” and they’ve been convinced all along that the establishment has thwarted their will at every turn (and, indeed, the hacked DNC e-mails show that was the case in many respects). They are the true believers. Most people just aren’t that way, which the Pew polling shows.
In a nutshell, the Republican elite created their own problems by catering to the fears and beliefs of often angry white people for decades - and the “stuff-stirrers” firmly took over that party this year. The Democratic elite took their “stuff-stirrers” for granted for decades and they very nearly paid a heavy price this year, and are still having problems at their convention this week.
…Adding… As a longtime subscriber just told me, many of the younger Sanders supporters were raised in an era of participation trophies. “They were never taught how to lose”…
* Attorney General Lisa Madigan has teased a possible gubernatorial candidacy so many times (and often appeared to be doing so simply to raise money for her own reelection) that there’s just no way I can honestly say that this is a remotely real possibility, particularly since she announced a couple of years ago that she wouldn’t run for governor as long as her father was the House Speaker. And that guy appears to be having the time of his life so far…
Lisa Madigan: "I see Donald Trump as nothing more than a con artist." #DNCPhilly
* Molly Parker has a very interesting read in the Southern Illinoisan about the future of SIU. Here is, to me, the best section, where President Randy Dunn talks about what has gone wrong…
Dunn said part of the issue administrators are having with wrapping their arms around the enrollment situation is sifting through the specific causes of the downward [enrollment] trend. A portion of the decline is — and may be for some time — related to budget woes stemming from Springfield. For instance, SIU and other Illinois institutions of higher learning have suffered over the uncertainty of state funds for Monetary Award Program grants awarded to students by the state based on financial need.
But before this, SIU’s Carbondale campus also has suffered from what Dunn opined were significant administrative missteps — in terms of both SIU past leaders’ desires to raise standards on the high end, with regards to its standing as a research institution, and drop them on the low end, by opening the doors to students who were ill prepared for the university setting, based on tests and other factors, as a means of bolstering enrollment to avoid difficult budget decisions. […]
“I would submit to you that about 15 years ago, we started on this path that said SIU is going to be a mini-University of Illinois or University of Michigan,” Dunn said. “That was a goal to put us in the top 75 of research institutions and things like that.” […]
“I’m convinced that we went too far on that end of the continuum and forgot about the fact we are still a public institution, the regional institution for a bunch of counties in Southern Illinois,” he said.
On the other end, as enrollment dropped, Dunn said it’s his understanding, from reviewing enrollment data and corresponding student profiles, that during that same time frame some poor decisions were made to enroll students who, by all traditional measurements, were not prepared, leading to a retention problem when those students ultimately dropped out a semester or year later.
That also amounted to a disservice to those students, Dunn said, because the university did not have the structures in place to provide that many academically struggling students the supports necessary for success. […]
“We can serve a certain number of those access students and we tend to know what that number is and the supports are pretty good. But we were flooding the system with unqualified students who were dropping out after a semester or a year — with some debt, typically. Some stayed in the community, some went off without any set of skills. … We’ve got to quit doing that.”
So, when the spending required to elevate SIU into a higher tiered university didn’t bear immediate fruit, the school started letting in unqualified students to, essentially, scam some easy money from them for a semester or two to pad the books. Not good. Really not good.
But, hey, at least they recognize the problem. That’s the first step toward recovery. And they’re far from alone on this loosened standards on the low end thing. The other directionals need to take immediate note.
Rep. Ron Sandack, a top ally of Gov. Bruce Rauner, said he made his decision to step down from the Illinois House after several fraudulent social media accounts were set up in his name in recent weeks. He also cited recent automated telephone calls accusing him of accosting a Democratic staff member.
“I wasn’t looking forward to an ugly general election as it were; this additional stuff added undue pressure,” said Sandack, who up for re-election in November. “It made my family uneasy and made me re-evaluate my priorities. Politics has gotten too ugly. I don’t need it, and my family doesn’t deserve it.”
Sandack would not say if he believed the social media shenanigans was politically motivated but said he filed a report with the Downers Grove Police Department. Downers Grove police did not immediately say whether they had any police reports involving Sandack, instead suggesting the Chicago Tribune file an open-records request. The Tribune did so, but police have five days to respond. […]
Last week, Sandack suddenly deleted his Facebook and Twitter accounts. Asked Monday if any compromising information was accessed before he deleted his social media accounts, Sandack said “no.”
The word coming out of the HGOP organization is that, from what they know (and it’s not much), the attacks didn’t appear politically motivated.
* Gov. Rauner was asked about Sandack’s resignation yesterday after his press conference, but he walked by without saying a word…
Gov. Rauner exits Loop news conference, walks past reporters asking about Rep. Ron Sandack's resignation. pic.twitter.com/iRb4jTOqxw
* The governor’s PR people are flat-out refusing to respond to all questions about Sandack. Part of the problem here is that Sandack left without consulting them and refused to reconsider, and they are really not happy. “What am I supposed to do, say it’s a sad day but we’re thankful for Capitol Fax telling us about it?” asked one top Rauner official yesterday.
It also doesn’t help that the rumor mill is still in hyper-drive on this one. If this thing completely blows up, they don’t want to be anywhere near it.
So, it’s no coincidence that Team Rauner is backing a replacement who threatened to run against Sandack last year and who is supported by Sandack’s top local foe, DuPage County Republican chairman Brian Krajewski, a former Downers Grove mayor who Sandack defeated in 2007. Krajewski is by far Sandack’s biggest local detractor.
The GOP floor leader in the House was rattled after finding several social media accounts set up in his name by unknown cyber-attackers.
Sandack was a prolific Twitter and Facebook user at the time, connecting with constituents during a regular flow of quips and chatter on social media.
In Downers Grove, where Sandack’s home office is, where he lives and where he was once the mayor, the fraudulent accounts prompted Sandack to take down his own pages and contact local police.
But for Democrats in Sandack’s district his resignation is a happy surprise. Sandack was up against Democratic Downers Grove Commissioner Greg Hose in the November Election.
“They are going to have to run a 12-month campaign in 3 months,” said Dupage County Democratic Party Chairman Bob Peickert. “We are optimistic that the democrat is going to benefit from this.”
The Republicans I’ve spoken with are confident that choosing Krajewski’s guy David Olsen will not increase the likelihood of a Democratic pickup, which, while not outside the realm of possibility, was kinda small to begin with.
I also wonder whether Speaker Madigan understands that anything nice he says about any of these potential candidates will be used as a battering ram against those same candidates in 2018. I mean, the dude has a 13 percent favorable rating.
*** UPDATE 1 *** Amanda has the elevator video. Kennedy did a lousy job and this did not go well at all. Wow. Just… wow…
Chris Kennedy, thought to be contemplating a view for governor, gave a speech to #IL delegation. Fled media after. pic.twitter.com/DoU6JMnJEk
Kennedy then walked toward a waiting elevator, but a crush of Chicago reporters followed him in, not satisfied with the nonanswer.
“This is sort of ridiculous, please,” Kennedy pleaded.
“What’s ridiculous is you don’t answer questions,” WFLD-Ch. 32 reporter Mike Flannery shot back. “You’ve run four or five campaigns in the gossip column. Are you running for governor or not?”
“I don’t have to address you. Please leave the elevator and let me go to my meeting. Please do that. Have some decency,” Kennedy responded. “What have you become? Please, please.”
“I really don’t think that someone, no matter what they do in life, should be, you know, the subject of bullying and I don’t think being a reporter is a license to bully,” Kennedy later said to a much smaller group of reporters in the lobby of the Illinois delegation’s hotel.
He said he’s considering a run for public office, but still has to introduce himself to Democrats.
Rod Blagojevich broke his silence from prison last year, vowing he “must fight on” and “what is at stake is nothing less than the rule of law.”
Late Monday night, federal prosecutors threw those words back in the former governor’s face as he nears a key turning point in the battle for his freedom. They wrote in a court filing that Blagojevich’s comments “demonstrate a complete lack of acceptance of responsibility.”
“In the absence of acceptance, it cannot be said that the defendant has been rehabilitated or that he is deserving of leniency,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Debra Riggs Bonamici wrote.
Prosecutors want U.S. District Judge James Zagel to reinstate Blagojevich’s original 14-year prison sentence at a hearing next month, scheduled after an appeals court tossed five of the former governor’s 18 criminal convictions last year and ordered his resentencing.
