* 3:27 pm - Chicago City Clerk Miguel del Valle finally released his mayoral campaign finance report, which was due last night at midnight. His total cash raised? $59,440.
Yes, you read that right.
Cash on hand as of December 31st: $2,115.33.
Oy.
Money isn’t everything in politics, but it is a very important means of gauging a candidate’s support. Del Valle formed his committee on October 1st. That gave him three full months to raise money.
Miguel del Valle was always one of my favorite state Senators. He’s a decent, kind man who fought the good fight and won. But that was then and this is now, and I just hate to see him go out this way.
On Sunday the Green Bay Packers take on the Chicago Bears for the NFC Championship.
The rivalry is so intense that one Green Bay, Wisc., radio station - WOGB-FM -(103.1) has pulled the band Chicago from its playlist.
“Every single song,” says the oldies station’s program director, Dan Markus. He tells Lifeline Live, “They named themselves after the city whose team is blocking our way to the Super Bowl.”
It’s kinda difficult to retaliate in kind since no Chicago radio stations regularly play German marching band music. But I’m with Otter on this one…
Now we could do it with conventional weapons, but that could take years and cost millions of lives. No, I think we have to go all out. I think that this situation absolutely requires a really futile and stupid gesture be done on somebody’s part!
Suggestions?
…Adding… The best so far…
In a well-intentioned gesture, Governor Quinn retaliated by calling on all Chicago radio stations to ban Green Day from their playlists.
Fur will fly tomorrow at Tiffany’s Sports Lounge when fans gather to watch the Green Bay Packers and Chicago Bears face off in the NFC Championship. The fuss won’t just be about which team goes to the Super Bowl.
The St. Paul Packer’s bar is hosting an impromptu bear roast — a 180-pound black bear cooked in a pig-roaster over hickory and charcoal. Tiffany’s co-owner Blake Montpetit said he had to scramble to find a whole unprocessed bear.
Roasting a meat-packer probably wouldn’t be as tasty, unfortunately.
*** UPDATE 2 *** Duct-taping a Packers fan to a Stop sign might be a bit much, but it looks like they had a good time…
The sidewalks on both sides of Walnut Street beside the Brown County courthouse were a sea of green and gold and blaze orange Friday afternoon.
The fans braved below-zero wind chills to cheer on their team ahead of Sunday’s NFC Championship game against the Bears.
Mayor Jim Schmitt announced his wager with Chicago’s mayor for wine and cheese.
In a skit, a Chicago Bears fan was arrested in front of the crowd by a Brown County sheriff’s deputy and brought in front of a judge who ordered him to change his ways.
Well, that’s different. Usually, Bears fans are arrested for speeding in Wisconsin because they’re so anxious to get outta that dump.
*** UPDATE 4 *** Now, that’s what I call a Bears fan…
Brad Buell called giving his tickets to the Bears-Packers game to wounded veterans a “no brainer.”
A season ticket holder for the last 10 years, the Libertyville man said veterans have sacrificed more than enough. So he can sit out on the biggest game in Chicago history: Bears-Packers in the NFC Championship.
“These veterans are doing something that I think 99 percent of people out there won’t do,” Buell said. “They run into harm’s way when everyone else is running away.”
* We had a lot of fun with Gov. Pat Quinn’s rambling ways during the campaign. He’s the jam band governor, this guy. He ought to tour with The String Cheese Incident. Sheila Simon could play banjo. Maybe she could do even better than the $500 she made last year picking and grinning.
Anyway, in our latest edition chronicling the governor’s meandering ways, Gov. Quinn extols the virtues (and the long Illinois history) of the “miracle” soybean. From there, he segues into the University of Illinois and then to China, back to the U of I, then back to China.
He even has mic problems at one point, but keeps right on going. Have a listen…
* Meanwhile, you should also take a look at Rahm Emanuel defending himself for not appearing at community forums with the other mayoral candidates. It’s no big deal, he says, because, among other things, he’s been to 30 grocery stores…
* Gov. Pat Quinn picked the Bears to win 27-17 this Sunday. President Obama said the Bears would defeat the Packers 20-17.
* The Question: What will be the final score in Sunday’s big game?
* Bonus Question: What’s the best trash talk you’ve heard about the Cheesehead team or its home state this week? Make sure to keep it clean, people. But have fun and, of course, Go Bears!
Braun polled at 6 percent last month but made major inroads among African-American voters. Emanuel was at 32 percent in the previous poll, but he, too, gained black voters. Chico was at 9 percent in the December survey and has picked up white and Latino support since then. […]
Braun, meanwhile, is viewed unfavorably by 30 percent of the city’s electorate — the highest negative score for any mayoral candidate. But Braun also is viewed favorably by 39 percent and continues to enjoy strong support in the black community, where 55 percent viewed her favorably and only 11 percent unfavorably. Emanuel’s scores are similar in that community. […]
As the only major female candidate in the race, Braun also may be counting on the support of women. But Emanuel was doubling up Braun among female voters, 47 percent to 23 percent. And 61 percent of women viewed Emanuel favorably, compared with 37 percent for Braun.
Chico, who is Daley’s former chief of staff, scored a 10 percent gain among white voters since the last Tribune poll.
* As we saw yesterday, Emanuel raised $10.6 million last year, plus another $1.1 million transferred from his congressional account for a total of $11.7 million. There were some big names on his contributor list…
Emanuel received $2.6 million in $100,000 chunks, the bulk of which - $1.2 million - came from Chicago private equity investment houses including Citadel Investment Group, Aragon Global Management, Grovesnor Capital Management, and others.
Emanuel also collected $100,000 checks from some Hollywood heavyweights like producer David Geffen, Fox Family Network CEO Haim Saban and William Morris Endeavor agent John Fogelman. Ari Emanuel, the candidate’s brother, is the CEO of William Morris, one of Hollywood’s largest talent agencies.
The Chicago Mercantile Exchange gave Emanuel $200,000, records released Thursday show. He also took in $100,000 apiece from wealthy Chicago businessmen James Crown and Fred Eychaner, plus another $100,000 from Hollywood mogul David Geffen, $75,000 from film director Steven Spielberg and $50,000 from Apple CEO Steve Jobs. […]
Emanuel spent nearly $3.5 million, including $2.2 million to AKPD Message and Media LLC, a publicity firm once run by David Axelrod, now an Obama senior adviser. That left Emanuel with more than $8.3 million to spend on the mayor’s race as of the start of this year.
Though he’s been criticized by his opponents for raising big bucks from outside Chicago, Emanuel’s campaign said 74 percent of his 2,494 contributors live in Cook County and more than half gave him $250 or less.
Demonstrating his expected money advantage over his competitors, mayoral candidate Rahm Emanuel is shelling out big bucks to run a campaign ad during Sunday’s Chicago Bears-Green Bay Packers NFC Championship game.
The cost of Emanuel’s ad is $5,000 a second, or $150,000 for the 30-second commercial, according to an industry source familiar with political TV advertising who was not authorized to speak publicly about ad buys. No other mayoral candidate has purchased time during the game so far.
* Carol Moseley Braun filed her campaign finance report at 9:25 this morning. The deadline was midnight. Her report is here. She raised just $446K and had just $164K on hand at the end of December.
Patricia Van Pelt-Watkins, a community activist, raised $500,367 as of Dec 31. More than half of that money, $296,754, came from Joseph Stanford, pastor of Ambassadors for Christ Ministries.
Watkins spent $138,868, leaving her with $361,499 to spend as of Jan. 1.
* At least Braun filed. As of 9:32 this morning, Miguel del Valle had not filed his required disclosure report.
Gery Chico raised $2.3 million through Dec. 31, according to reports filed today. He has since reported another $98,000 in contributions over $1,000 – for a total of $2.39 million raised. He had $2 million on hand to start the year.
Among Chico’s largest contributors were Bo Zhang, the chairman of American Electronic Products, who gave the candidate $30,000 and Patrick Ryan, the former chairman of Aon, who wrote Chico a $25,000 check.
Chico also received $25,000 from Symon Garber, the president and CEO of Chicago Carriage Cab Co. But the candidate gave the money back to Garber, who is facing millions of dollars in city fines for illegally putting salvaged cars on the street as cabs.
* Whatever happens in Sunday’s big football game, there’s no way a major international business conference like this would’ve been held in Green Bay, or Indianapolis for that matter…
Gov. Pat Quinn, U.S. Sen. Mark Kirk and other dignitaries’ participation in a signing ceremony Thursday of business deals between Illinois and Chinese companies signaled how China’s growing middle class is opening potentially explosive revenue-growth opportunities.
Midwestern agricultural giants Archer Daniels Midland of Decatur, Cargill, Bunge, soybean and renewable-energy company Louis Dreyfus and farmers represented by the Illinois Soybean Association and other advocacy groups will benefit from the deals, worth a total of $1.8 billion. The deals signed Thursday at the Chicago Hilton represented eight U.S. and 24 Chinese companies. One-fourth of the total, or $450 million, will go to purchase Illinois soy this year, according to state government statistics. Indeed, one of every four rows of soybeans planted in Illinois is exported to China each year, helping make Illinois the sixth-largest state exporter to China, according to Quinn and the Illinois Soybean Association.
The event was tied to China President Hu Jintao’s historic visit to the United States and Chicago but took place a few hours before his arrival.
From karaoke equipment makers to wind turbine manufacturers, Chicago area companies and business groups are looking for ways to capitalize on the burgeoning market in China and welcome the Chinese president’s visit here.
President Hu Jintao’s two-day stop here includes a trade and economic cooperation forum at the Hilton Chicago today at which some 350 Chinese executives and more than 500 U.S. executives will gather.
The economic downturn has been one with many twists and turns and no one is totally immune, even where things are going well.
Last fall, Japanese firm Nippon Sharyo held a ground breaking ceremony for its newest railcar manufacturing facility to be located just west of Rochelle. It was a highly-attended event, including Gov. Pat Quinn and other politicians, with extensive media coverage.
On Wednesday, Rochelle City Manager Ken Alberts confirmed that the Black Earth Development Resources, LLC., which is developing the property, is having difficulty securing financing for the project.
“I can confirm that there is an issue, and the issue relates to the financing of the infrastructure above and beyond what is being paid for by grants,” Alberts said.
The state grants still left the locals about $2 million short. They’ve been applying for other grants, but you’d think DCEO would step in with at least some paperwork assistance, since Gov. Quinn made such a big deal about this facility last year.
*** UPDATE *** Just this week, Gov. Quinn used the Rochelle manufacturer as an example of how Illinois one-upped Wisconsin by taking Nippon Sharyo away from the Cheesehead State. Check it out…
Sam Beelman has dealt with taxing issues as an Illinois-based business before, but the recent round of income tax hikes may force him to move more of his trucking business out of the state, he says.
“I think it’s ridiculous,” said Beelman, who owns and operates Beelman Truck Co. in Alorton. “We will try to move whatever business we can out of this state.”
* And a thank you note and a promise to do better to this businessperson might also be in order…
The leaders at Allsup Inc., a Belleville-based business that helps clients maximize their access to Social Security disability insurance and Medicare, are also dismayed with the increasingly cost of doing business in Illinois. However, company spokeswoman Mary Dale Walters said there are no plans to move.
“Like every other business in the state of Illinois, we’re disappointed that this has occurred,” Walters said. “We really haven’t completed any analysis of what the impact will be in the end. We’re not going anywhere. Jim (Allsup) built the business here, and it continues to grow here. We will add (90) more jobs here, and we had our best year ever last year.”
“Today’s message is brought to you by the Illinois Labor Union Mafia: We would like to thank the Democratic Socialist Party of Illinois for doing just what we bought them to do, continue to pump us billions of dollars at taxpayer expense. We know that the union system is unsustainable without extorting money from the general public, so thank you for a job well done.”
Policy makers are working behind the scenes to come up with a way to let states declare bankruptcy and get out from under crushing debts, including the pensions they have promised to retired public workers.
Unlike cities, the states are barred from seeking protection in federal bankruptcy court. Any effort to change that status would have to clear high constitutional hurdles because the states are considered sovereign.
But proponents say some states are so burdened that the only feasible way out may be bankruptcy, giving Illinois, for example, the opportunity to do what General Motors did with the federal government’s aid.
Illinois’ pension problem is quite large. Scary large. But there was that tax hike last week which took care of most of the state’s structural deficit. Perhaps Texas or New Jersey, which are skipping pension payments yet again, would’ve been a better example. That would require an alteration in the media meme, so don’t bet on it.
The state’s stack of unpaid bills will soon double despite an income tax increase, according to state Comptroller Judy Baar Topinka.
The four year, temporary personal income tax hike of 67 percent was approved on the final day of the previous Legislature and recently signed by Gov. Pat Quinn. In part, the income tax hike is designed to help Illinois catch up on past-due bills and stop being delinquent on its payments.
“Our current backlog of bills stands at $6 billion, and the increased revenues will help address this backlog,” said Kelly Kraft, spokeswoman for the governor’s Office of Management and Budget.
Not quite, according to Topinka, who is in charge of Illinois’ checkbook.
“By the time we get through four years from now and all of this and what they’re able to spend, we will probably have a debt of $12 billion of unpaid bills that have yet to be dealt with,” the Riverside Republican said.
Then again, the borrowing bill which stalled last week (and would pay off the overdue debt) isn’t factored into her estimate. And Topinka’s $34 billion revenue estimate for the coming fiscal year is about $2.6 billion below what I’m told will be the governor’s new FY 2012 estimate, which should be released today.
* Related…
* ADDED: Study: States don’t need bankruptcy option
* ADDED: Impact of higher taxes unclear on real estate market
Steel-maker Evraz North America Inc. announced at noon that it’s moving its corporate headquarters from Portland to Chicago.
CEO Mike Rehwinkel said the move is a matter of logistics. It’s easier to meet with the company’s North American customers from a centrally-located base like Chicago.
The move means shifting the 50 employees at its headquarters to Chicago.
* The company may have 50 workers in Portland, but it pledged to create 70 new jobs in Chicago. From a press release…
DCEO will administer the state’s approximately $3 million business investment package, which consists of Economic Development for a Growing Economy (EDGE) tax credits based on job creation and Employer Training Investment Program (ETIP) job training funds to enhance the skills of the company’s workforce. In return, the company pledges to create at least 70 jobs. The state’s package leverages a private investment by the company of $9.7 million over a ten-year period.
* So, what about that job-killing tax hike? Not a factor…
The announcement comes shortly after Illinois hiked its corporate and individual income tax rates, a dramatic step that triggered a hue and cry that businesses will exit or avoid moving here. The founder of Champaign-based Jimmy John’s Gourmet Sandwiches, for instance, this week told the Champaign News-Gazette that he’s considering moving the corporate headquarters out of state.
But Mike Rehwinkel, Evraz NA president and CEO, said the tax increases, while hardly a welcome turn of events, did not influence the company’s relocation decision.
The key factor, he said, was getting easier, less expensive air travel out of O’Hare and Midway airports to customers with offices dotted around North America, from Dallas and Houston to Calgary and Montreal.
“As much as people say they don’t like those airports, we love them,” he said. “We can reach all our customers, all our mills and into Europe when we need to.”
Transportation and infrastructure. Those are the watchwords.
Mitsubishi Motors says its plant in Normal will remain open and begin producing a new model soon.
Dan Irvin, a spokesman for the Japanese auto manufacturer, said Thursday that the company will wait several weeks to release the details about the new model, when it will go into production and what that will mean for staffing at the plant.
The plant employs 1,100 people and is one of the largest employers in the Bloomington-Normal area.
The Chicago for Rahm Emanuel campaign today announced that $10.6 million has been raised during the mayoral campaign through January 19th. An additional $1.1 million in previously raised funds was transferred from the congressional campaign account, for a total of $11.7 million.
Demonstrating his expected money advantage over his competitors, mayoral candidate Rahm Emanuel is shelling out big bucks to run a campaign ad during Sunday’s Chicago Bears-Green Bay Packers NFC Championship game.
The cost of Emanuel’s ad is $5,000 a second, or $150,000 for the 30-second commercial, according to an industry source familiar with political TV advertising who was not authorized to speak publicly about ad buys. No other mayoral candidate has purchased time during the game so far.
Carol Moseley Braun‘s mayoral bid has not raised as much as she had hoped and will rely on door-to-door canvassing rather than an extended broadcast TV ad blitz, campaign spokeswoman Renee Ferguson said Thursday.
As of 3 p.m. Thursday, Braun and the other major mayoral hopefuls had not yet filed the campaign-finance disclosure reports that they are required to turn in to state officials by the end of the day. But Ferguson said Braun’s campaign raised about $850,000 — about $600,000 in the reporting period that ended Dec. 31 and another $250,000 in the first three weeks of January. […]
Ferguson said the Braun campaign filmed a TV spot Wednesday but would need to raise more money to air the ad on broadcast TV, which is costly.
[ *** End Of Updates *** ]
* We’re waiting for an appellate ruling today on whether Rahm Emanuel meets the residency requirements to run for Chicago mayor. I put together this post to serve as an addendum, but I’m tired of waiting, so check back here for updates.
* Here is the audio of this week’s arguments before the appellate court…
An attorney for two voters objecting to Emanuel’s candidacy argued again that the Democrat doesn’t meet the one-year residency requirement because he rented out his Chicago home and moved his family to Washington to work for President Barack Obama for nearly two years.
“If the house had not been abandoned by the whole family … we wouldn’t be here today,” attorney Burt Odelson told the panel of judges, all three Democrats.
Odelson so far has had little luck trying to keep Emanuel off the Feb. 22 ballot. The Chicago Board of Election Commissioners and a Cook County judge have both ruled in favor of Emanuel, a former congressman, saying he didn’t abandon his Chicago residency when he went to work at the White House.
Judge Kevin Hoffman played devil’s advocate with lawyers on both sides.
Hoffman asked Emanuel’s challengers whether he should be allowed on the ballot because state election protects the residency status of anyone who temporarily leaves “on the business of the United States.”
Burt Odelson, the lawyer for the objectioners, said no, that exemption should only apply to members of the military.
“You can’t run with the hounds and hide with the fox,” Hoffman said.
Hoffman asked Emanuel’s lawyers to define the difference between “to live” and “to reside”, arguing that the two are synonymous.
“All this debate is completely academic,” said Kevin Forde, one of Emanuel’s lawyers. “There is absolutely no question that (Emanuel) was on temporary absence on business of the United States.”
They questioned the argument of Burt Odelson, lead attorney against Emanuel, that leasing out the house meant Emanuel abandoned his residency.
“What’s the strongest case you have supporting that?” Hoffman asked.
Odelson mentioned some cases from the 1930s and ’40s. Odelson argued that President Obama would have no problem running for mayor because he did not rent out his house and so could occasionally spend a night there.
What if Emanuel could not afford to maintain two homes, Justice Bertina Lampkin asked. Wouldn’t Odelson’s interpretation of the law put an undue burden on the non-wealthy?
Well, with $60,000 a year in rent from the house and his $172,000-a-year chief of staff position, as well as his savings, that was not an issue for Emanuel, Odelson responded without answering her question.
* Chicago/Cook roundup…
* Mayor Daley’s nephew tries to get in on video poker business
* Daley says he’d like to write, teach after leaving City Hall
* Chico wins police union endorsement for mayor: Chico insisted it was premature to say anything specific about costs and cuts, and that he would negotiate with an open mind. Union officials said they believe Emanuel has made up his mind about cutting their benefits and that he would not be a friendly negotiator.
* Illinois Policy Institute Exclusive: Dan Proft Interviews Alderman Brendan Reilly, Part 1
* Illinois Policy Institute Exclusive: Dan Proft Interviews Alderman Brendan Reilly, Part 2
* Ald.Dixon sues cops over 2009 drunk-driving arrest
* Preckwinkle, Dart stalled on Cook County budget cuts
[I deleted the old post in which I made a grievous error. Not enough coffee, I suppose, because I reported on it correctly last week, but not this week. Sheesh. I need another break. So, with apologies, let’s try this again.]
Senator Matt Murphy (R-Palatine) says the bill he plans to introduce to repeal the Democrats’ tax hike isn’t a hopeless Hail Mary cause to save the state from becoming the highest taxing government in the industrial world as many may believe. KMOX radio reports:
He says with 54 republicans in the Illinois House and 24 G.O.P. members in the state senate along with some Democrats who support the repeal there is actually a majority opposition to the tax hike in both chambers of the general assembly.
[Begin new content]
Sen. Murphy is right and this could be a constant refrain among Republicans for the next two years, just like it has been in DC with “Obamacare.” Plus, the Republicans will now have something to hold over those Democrats who voted “No” on the income tax hike. If they “truly” are opposed to the tax hike, then, the logic will go, they should join with the GOP to repeal it.
It’ll all be a parliamentary nightmare, I’m sure. But since many Republicans deep down (actually, not so deep because I talk to many of them on a regular basis) don’t want to go back to the bad old days of gigantic budget deficits, it’ll probably be just that: Parliamentary maneuvers. Unless, that is, they actually come up with another plan. Don’t bet on it. That’s not been the game for the past couple of years.
Again, sorry for that first post. I don’t know what got into me.
* Meanwhile, the Jacksonville Journal-Courier publishes the most bizarre online letters to the editor you’ve ever seen. For instance…
“OK, you’re saying the state is raising taxes for the welfare programs and we should be mad at those receiving it for they are the reason our taxes went up. Well, then, you would be a racist, because the majority of the money handed out and the assistance goes to Hispanics who are illegal in this country in the first place, but our state has given them millions of dollars each year. Check it out. Those who are legal citizens and of this state do not receive assistance before an illegal does, check that out also. The state created the debt and now wants to further loot and rape you, the legal citizen.”
And…
“Stop paying state income taxes, get real. Stop state spending, get real. As long as these people keep having kids without insurance and no visible means of support except for state aid, taxes will have to be increased regularly to pay the bills. As long as liberals expect criminals to be spoon-fed while in jails and prisons state, taxes will have to be increased regularly to pay the bills. The problem is not state spending but our ‘do as you please society.’”
And…
“Get rid of this stupid tax hike that stupid Quinn and his other crooks are imposing on us poor people of Illinois. What is wrong with this dumb idiot?”
I don’t think you’ll ever seen an editorial in that paper asking for an elevated national public discourse.
Some analysts say the true shortfall could be much higher than $15 billion - closer to $27 billion - to account for enrollment growth in public schools and on Medicaid rolls, cost increases and other variables. That figure amounts to almost a third of discretionary state spending in the current budget.
So, this is only half of what may have to be done.
Texas lawmakers got their first glimpse of what the next state budget might look like late Tuesday, including a staggering $5 billion cut to public schools, as Gov. Rick Perry and his supporters were dancing at an inaugural celebration. […]
The budget draft, which is expected to be filed as legislation in the House later this week, would cut funding entirely to four community colleges and would generally eliminate financial aid for incoming freshmen and new students. The Texas Grants scholarship program would drop by more than 70,000 students over the next two years.
The proposal also would reduce reimbursement rates by 10 percent for physicians, hospitals and nursing homes that participate in Medicaid - a decrease that could eventually dry up participation in the program for poor and disabled Texans. […]
A $4 billion reduction to the Foundation School Program - the pot of money distributed to schools based on daily attendance - means the program would be short almost $10 billion below the amount required to fund the school finance formulas under state law. That would make school finance reform legislation almost inevitable. […]
While almost every other state agency would see a reduction in employees, the average number of full-time employees in Perry’s office over the next two fiscal years would go to 132, up from an average of 120 in the 2010-2011 budget.
The proposed budget does not cover $9.8 billion owed to the school districts under the current school finance formulas. […]
Democratic House members said the budget proposal pretends that the 170,000 new students expected in Texas classrooms just won’t materialize. Nor was money included to pay for new textbooks or supplemental science materials that are needed to prepare high schools for the upcoming end-of-course exams. […]
Spending on Texas Grants, the state’s main financial aid program, would be cut 41 percent, according to an analysis by the office of Rep. Mike Villarreal, D-San Antonio . The number of students receiving Texas Grants — 156,225 in the current biennium — would decline by half to 78,080 in 2012-13. […]
Medicaid reimbursement rates for doctors, nursing homes and other health care providers — already set so low that more than half of Texas doctors are refusing new Medicaid patients — face a 10 percent cut .
In Aldine ISD, voters rejected an attempt to raise the tax rate in August. Superintendent Wanda Bamberg said a decision to try again would be up to the school board.
The district, bracing for $30 million to $60 million in cuts, is preparing to increase class sizes, reduce busing services, continue a hiring freeze and reduce staffing even more if needed, Bamberg said.
“If the funding scenarios we’re hearing now become reality,” she said, “reductions of that size could certainly cripple this school district.”
The state’s contribution to the state employee retirement fund would be reduced from 6.95 percent to 6 percent, less than what is needed to maintain the fund, according the Legislative Budget Board. The base budget proposes a similar cut in contributions to the Teacher Retirement Fund.
* Except for the governor’s staff budget, almost everything is taking a hit…
Parks and Wildlife Commission would fall from $717 million to $479 million.
Oh, and at a time when there’s a full-court press on to demonize public-sector unions as the source of all our woes, Texas is nearly demon-free: less than 20 percent of public-sector workers there are covered by union contracts, compared with almost 75 percent in New York.
* Also, these cuts are just a first draft. Expect changes…
But the chief budget writer in the House stressed that the recommendations are only a starting point and will likely undergo extensive changes as lawmakers craft a final spending bill during the 140-day legislative session, which started last week.
“I don’t want the folks back home to think this is a done deal,” said Rep. Jim Pitts, R-Waxahachie, chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, as he briefed House members about the 980-page document. “It is not.”
* Related…
* Child-protection budget cuts fought: In announcing its legislative priorities, the group decried the proposed cuts, which would slash $467 million from the Child Protective Services portion of the Department of Family and Protective Services, about 18 percent. The proposed cuts also call for a staff reduction of 14 percent, mostly from the ranks of caseworkers and supervisors, said Madeline McClure, executive director of TexProtects, also known as the Texas Association for the Protection of Children.
* Texas budget fix may mean fewer teachers, bigger classes
* Texas House budget zeroes out state funding for crisis pregnancy resource centers
* With Medicaid cuts, everyone could pay more for health care
* Houston-area prison to shut under budget proposal
* Proposed state budget cuts would hit North Texas hard
* Amazon sues Texas, demands tax documents - Online retailer wants information on audit that led to $269 million bill
* Gov. Pat Quinn was chased down by reporters in Urbana today and eventually agreed to do a media availability. Our new friend Michael Kiser from WDWS Radio provided us with some raw audio. Listen…
* Quinn was asked about the decision by Jimmy John’s founder to leave Illinois because of the income tax hike. He said he hoped that wouldn’t happen and then went on and on about why the tax hike was necessary and temporary. He also talked about the new companies coming to Illinois and said, “We’re the capital of the Midwest, let’s not sell ourselves short… I’m not ever gonna bum rap our state. We have the best of the best and we always will.”
…Adding… Treasurer Dan Rutherford was on WLS AM just now talking about Jimmy John’s [The company’s founder contributed $100,000 to Rutherford’s campaign in the last election cycle]. Rutherford said he talked to the founder just before the show, and predicted that the “dramatic” tax hike would effect other companies. Rutherford said the owner was also upset about the state’s minimum wage increase.
The acting Director of the Illinois State Police is out of a job.
Jonathon Monken was appointed to the post by Governor Pat Quinn in March 2009 but never received Senate confirmation.
According to Eric Madiar, attorney for Senate President John Cullerton, the governor’s office did not turn in paperwork that would have allowed Monken’s directorship to roll over into the new general assembly.
Thirty-seven others are in the same position, including Gladyse Taylor, who is over the Department of Corrections.
“I think this is much ado about nothing, frankly… [The Senate seems] to think they have to be reappointed, temporarily reappointed.” He said he would likely make those temporary appointments. Quinn said he wished that the Senate had acted on those appointees earlier. He defended Acting Director Monken as a “good man,” a “real leader,” and an “all-American hero.” But he wouldn’t say whether Monken would be reappointed.
* It’s not on the tape, but Gov. Quinn also said he wants input from the public before he decides what to do about the death penalty repeal bill sitting on his desk…
Gov. Pat Quinn says he’d like to hear from the citizens of Illinois before he decides whether to sign legislation that would abolish the death penalty in the state.
Quinn said he’s already weighing input from prosecutors, clergy and others on the bill passed this month by the General Assembly. The governor wouldn’t say when he’ll make a decision. He says he’s going through a period of what he called “reflection and review.”
* I am all for toning down the national political rhetoric. Count me in. I’ve written about it quite often. But a line was crossed into PC surrealism yesterday.
Last night, Andy Shaw of the Better Government Association appeared on CNN to talk about the Chicago mayor’s race. Shaw said this about Rahm Emanuel’s opponents…
Rahm is in both of their crosshairs.
19 minutes later, CNN’s John King, who had been conducting the interview, issued this apology…
Before we go to break, I want to make a quick point. We were just having a discussion about the Chicago mayoral race. Just a moment ago, my friend Andy Shaw, who now works for a good government group out there, used the term ‘in the crosshairs,’ in talking about the candidates out there. We’re trying- we’re trying to get away from that language. Andy is a good friend. He’s covered politics for a long time, but we’re trying to get away from using that kind of language. We won’t always be perfect. So, hold us accountable when we don’t meet your standards.
Political and military terms have been interchangeable throughout history. I, for one, don’t use “crosshairs,” but I do use the word “target” on a regular basis. Would that get me called out on CNN? Not that I’d ever go on a cable news net. I can’t stand any of them, and yesterday’s nonsense just reinforces my beliefs.
So… [deep breath]… let us all do our best to respect each other (except when dealing with Packer fans) and treat each other with common decency. But, most of all, let’s not insult each other’s intelligence with the sort of goofiness that CNN exhibited yesterday. In other words, let’s start acting like adults for a change.
Former Chicago Ald. Edward Vrdolyak reported to federal prison in Terre Haute this morning, Bureau of Prisons officials confirmed.
Vrdolyak was sentenced in October to 10 months in prison for a mail fraud conviction tied to a $1.5 million kickback he pocketed in a crooked Gold Coast real-estate deal. […]
Under federal sentencing guidelines, Vrdolyak will have to serve the entire 10 months, officials said.
He surrendered to a minimum-security prison camp in Terre Haute, where former Illinois Gov. George Ryan is serving a 6 ½-year prison sentence for corruption.
* Carol Moseley Braun apparently believes that Martin Luther King’s birthday is so holy that nobody should desecrate it the day after…
“For [former President Bill Clinton] to come on the day following Dr. Martin Luther King’s birthday to insert himself in the middle of a mayoral race, when the majority of the population and mayoral candidates are African-American and Latino, is a betrayal of the people who were most loyal to him,” Braun, former Democratic senator from Illinois, said in a statement. “It’s a mistake.”
Dr. King was a great man and he should be revered every day. But that had to have been one of the more desperate cheap shots of the entire season.
* Braun reportedly shook up her campaign staff this week…
Mike Noonan, a former top aide to House Speaker Michael Madigan who served as Braun’s campaign manager, will keep his title but play a new role. He will oversee Braun’s ground game with a little over a month to go before the Feb. 22 election. Noonan will manage 150 canvassers who will go door-to-door to reach potential Braun supporters and another 150 who will works the phones, according to Renee Ferguson, Braun’s spokeswoman.
Ferguson said the re-organization is due to an influx of staffers who left the short-lived mayoral campaigns of state Sen. James Meeks and U.S. Rep. Danny Davis. Braun also will begin shooting her campaign ads, Ferguson said.
Despite the spin, from what I can gather Noonan will run the campaign and Louanner Peters will handle Braun. Peters was a top Blagojevich official who was no stranger to controversy, but Braun apparently listens to her. That is no small feat.
Mr. Clinton, who told his audience of a 20-year relationship with Mr. Emanuel, pulled out his own memoir, “My Life,” and read from a section in which he had described Mr. Emanuel’s departure from the White House, and return to Congress from a district in Chicago — “the city,” Mr. Clinton read, “he thought should be capital of the world.”
Which may be why he’s running for mayor. But Luis Gutierrez begs to differ…
CF: Why does Rahm Emanuel want to be mayor?
LG: Because he can’t be speaker of the House.
* Gutierrez is doing a robocall for Gery Chico. Listen…
This is Congressman Luis Gutierrez calling to ask you to support Gery Chico for Mayor of Chicago. Gery Chico will be a jobs Mayor who fights for working families. Gery has a record of putting people to work. As Mayor, he’ll be on your side – a leader from our neighborhoods with a jobs plan for our neighborhoods. His opponent, Rahm Emanuel, led the fight for NAFTA and against labor unions. Emanuel’s support for big business led to hundreds of thousands of lost jobs. Emanuel’s fight for NAFTA hurt workers and we can’t trust him to stand up for us as Mayor. For Mayor, the choice is clear. Rahm Emanuel let us down. Gery Chico will fight for us.
* Speaking of boring, Emanuel’s completely forgettable monotone voice in his TV ads was finally broken up a bit in his latest spot, where his voice wavers just a little…
* Chico will receive an endorsement today from the Chicago police union. Should be a big boost. He also blasted Emanuel yesterday…
Clinton appointed Emanuel to mortgage giant Freddie Mac’s board in 2000. Emanuel served when Freddie Mac misstated its earnings by $5 billion for 2000-2002. When the problem was uncovered in 2003, top executives were forced out.
Chico alleges Emanuel had a chance to blow the whistle but looked the other way. He called on Emanuel on Tuesday to answer more questions about what he knew.
An Emanuel spokesman says Chico’s claims aren’t credible.
*** UPDATE *** From a press release, Emanuel is dreaming…
Rahm’s plan would cut Chicago’s portion of the sales tax by 20 percent – from 1.25% to 1% – while working with state legislators to expand the tax base by closing the loopholes that allow luxury goods to go untaxed. These goods – like private club memberships, pet grooming, limo services, tanning parlors and interior design services – evade paying their fair share under the current system. Taken together with County action to return its sales tax rate to 2008 levels, these changes will reduce the sales tax in Chicago to 9% from the current 9.75% by 2013.
The General Assembly just raised the income tax. It ain’t gonna institute a brand new service tax now. It should’ve done that before, frankly. But doing it now would cause them even more trouble than they currently have. This is a phony plan.
* From a press release, Gov. Pat Quinn and that unmentionable Packer governor to the North have settled on their Sunday bet…
Under the agreement, the winning team’s Governor will host the losing team’s Governor as he volunteers at a food pantry in the winner’s state. While volunteering, the visiting Governor will wear a t-shirt of the winning team. In addition, the losing Governor must also fly the opposing team’s flag in his office on the day before the Super Bowl.
* The Question: What do you think Mayor Daley and whatever the yokel’s name is who runs Green Bay should bet on?
* NBC5’s blog covered a recall effort against Gov. Pat Quinn the other day…
It’s only the first week of his first elected term, but already Gov. Pat Quinn is the subject of at least one recall effort.
Motivating the online petition is the state’s new income tax hike, which raises the personal rate from three percent to five percent. Quinn signed the bill into law earlier Thursday.
Neil A. Wurzer, purportedly of Olympia Fields, Ill., according to his Change.org profile, says the governor “has failed to protect the fiscal integrity of the state” and is “governing against the will of the people.”
The recall legislation that Illinoisans passed in the November election offers the means for the removal of the governor. The question is how much longer must our legislators wait to see what Quinn does before they take action.
I say no longer.
If you paid attention to Quinn’s tenure since Rod Blagojevich’s impeachment, you’ve seen enough. You’ve seen Quinn turn prisoners free to roam the streets of Illinois and commit further crimes. You’ve seen him give his staff and other high-ranking Illinois officials raises – raises! – as the state’s deficit spiked. You saw him leverage payments to the state’s nonprofits against an income tax increase.
There is nothing left to see.
Yeah, we just inaugurated Quinn on Tuesday. But it’s not too early to get the recall petitions circulating.
* Actually, Chris, it is too early to circulate recall petitions. From the Illinois Constitution…
A petition shall have been signed by the petitioning electors not more than 150 days after an affidavit has been filed with the State Board of Elections providing notice of intent to circulate a petition to recall the governor. The affidavit may be filed no sooner than 6 months after the beginning of the Governor’s term of office.
In other words, they can’t even start collecting petition signatures for six months. And before they can file their affidavit announcing their intent to circulate petitions, they have to do this…
The affidavit shall have been signed by the proponent of the recall petition, at least 20 members of the House of Representatives, and at least 10 members of the Senate, with no more than half of the signatures of members of each chamber from the same established political party.
And when that little, no-brainer effort is achieved, they have to do this…
The recall of the Governor may be proposed by a petition signed by a number of electors equal in number to at least 15% of the total votes cast for Governor in the preceding gubernatorial election, with at least 100 signatures from each of at least 25 separate counties.
And they have to gather those signatures in 150 days.
Hopefully, the rest of the media won’t go ga-ga on this unless somebody actually puts together a real effort and can show they can get all those legislative signatures and can prove they have an operation in place to gather 560,000 valid petition signatures in five months, with 100 signatures from at least 25 separate counties.
* From the University of Illinois’ Institute of Government and Public Affairs, we have this graph showing state deficits with the tax hike (in blue) and without the tax hike (in red) through Fiscal Year 2022. Click the pic for a larger image…
That’s quite a huge deficit without that tax hike.
The reason there is still a deficit in the IGPA’s graph even with the tax hike is that the state has not yet passed the bonding bill to pay off its overdue bills. And the deficit spikes again when the tax hike is set to expire.
The IGPA is also concerned with the state’s new expenditure caps, noting that non General Funds accounts could be used to get around them.
* Meanwhile, Comptroller Judy Baar Topinka wants to change the way the state pays those overdue bills…
Topinka said she’ll ask lawmakers for the power to set up a process that would pay human service providers, hospitals and others at least part of what they’re owed in a regular, predictable way. That way they wouldn’t have to wait months, not knowing when a state check might come.
“I’d love to get them everything, but we don’t have that kind of money,” Topinka said.
Topinka says she can identify at least $1 billion in painless budget cuts – eliminating duplication, anachronisms and padding that no one would ever miss.
I asked for her list of that billion dollars in painless, nobody-will-miss-them cuts. Her office says they’re working on it.
* Jimmy John Liautaud, the founder of the Jimmy John’s sandwich store chain headquartered in Champaign, has rented a house in Florida and enrolled his students in school there because he’s furious about the state tax hike…
“All they do is stick it to us,” he said, adding that the Legislature and governor showed “a clear lack of understanding.”
“I could absorb this and adapt, but it doesn’t feel good in my soul to make it happen,” Liautaud said.[…]
Liautaud said he has been contacted by “multiple pro-business states” that made him feel “wanted and important.”
“I enjoy being courted and the process,” he said.
The company employs 100 people at its Champaign headquarters. The board of directors will decide later whether to move the company. Liautaud told the News-Gazette that he plans to commute from Florida to Champaign during the interim.
The tax hike was apparently the last straw. He was picketed by local unions for using non-union labor to build a shop not long ago. He wasn’t happy about that…
He said he’s sick of being “pummeled.”
“I’m not sophisticated enough, smart enough or politically correct enough to absorb it all,” he said.
* And while other states are scrambling to create maximum fear and loathing among Illinois business owners, our state’s economic outreach program took it on the chin when its top guy got popped for a DUI…
The director of the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity was arrested for allegedly driving under the influence in his personal vehicle last week.
Warren C. Ribley, 53, of Pajim Lane was taken to the Sangamon County Jail following a traffic stop at MacArthur Boulevard and Wabash Avenue.
Great. Just great. This state can’t buy a break. Just when we need him most, Ribley gets himself in trouble.
* Meanwhile, Gov. Scott Walker is using Illinois’ tax hike and a proposed Minnesota tax hike to gin up the locals and keep the story alive…
Governor Scott Walker traveled around the state today to unveil additions to the signs that welcome people as they cross the state borders. Laura Podgornik reports from Superior.
Construction workers placed red “Open for Business” plaques onto the four “Welcome to Wisconsin” signs in Beloit, Dickeyville, Hudson, and Superior. Walker says he hopes the signs will attract businesses to move into Wisconsin and help bolster the state economy.
“The biggest issue is jobs I hear that all the time when I’m up here in Douglas County and really in the Northwest in Ashland, in Bayfield, in Burnett and surrounding counties. It’s about jobs. It’s about getting the economy going again. So what we’re talking about not only with the sign but is making it more attractive for job creators to continue to grow and invest here and for that matter, for those from other states to find it attractive to bring their jobs here.”
Walker says he is unveiling the signs in light of tax hikes in Illinois but he hopes to attract businesses from all bordering states including businesses based in Duluth.
Chicago business leaders still smarting over Illinois lawmakers’ decision to raise personal and corporate income taxes were greeted Tuesday by Indianapolis Mayor Greg Ballard’s smiling mug in their morning newspaper. A full-page ad purchased by a city economic development group in the Chicago Tribune — and two other downstate newspapers — extolled our fair city’s friendlier business climate.
Soon, business execs might see billboards hyping the Hoosier state’s lower tax rates while they sit in Chicago traffic.
But as state and city economic development leaders compete with surrounding states to capitalize on Illinois’ tax mess, there is one line that Indiana Secretary of Commerce Mitch Roob says he won’t cross as the state contemplates its own ad campaign.
Slapping ads on the side of Chicago city buses — well, that would just be unseemly.
I’m not sure I’d sell them a blog ad, either. Although, if the price is right…
St. Louis-based Bill O’Grady, chief investment strategist for Confluence Investment Management, said this increase is different than 2008, when gas topped $4 a gallon. At that point, part of the problem was because of the way some areas of the country required “almost custom tailoring” in the formulation of their gas. Now it’s the need for oil to fuel China and India.
“Unlike the last time we had a spike, this one is almost entirely crude oil driven,” O’Grady said.
If just-released International Energy Agency forecasts that global use will require 89 million barrels of oil a day prove true, that will stretch the existing capacity.
“It’s going to drive the price of oil higher,” he said. “We’ve got a problem developing. And really, it’s a global one.”
* Another fur coat missing from Inaugural Ball turns up
The owner of a $7,000 mink coat that disappeared from the coat check area during the Jan. 10 ball told the Springfield Police Department over the weekend that an anonymous person contacted her and arranged to ship the coat back to her. It was unclear how the person with the coat tracked down the owner, who lives in Springfield.
Another coat, a $2,000 cashmere one with a faux fur hood, was reported missing or stolen from the coat check but was found at the end of the night when workers searched the area. Best Expo, the contractor that handled the coat check operation at the Prairie Capital Convention Center that night, told police it would make arrangements to ship the garment to the owner in Quincy.
A third coat — a $5,000 mink coat — remains missing.
As part of a massive deal that has been in the works for nearly two years, state officials announced Tuesday that they’ve inked a final pact with Northstar Lottery Group to run the lottery.
Northstar, which is comprised of three companies that already do business with the state, has said it could generate about $1.5 billion more over the next five years than what the lottery projects it would normally generate.
* Private managers to take over Illinois Lottery in July, state says
The two losing bidders, Intralot and Camelot Illinois, protested the award. The Department of Revenue countered that the bidding was handled properly and that the protests should be rejected. Protest Officer George Logan rejected both the Intralot and Camelot protests Friday.
Logan said Camelot failed to prove “fraud, lack of authority, unfair dealing, favoritism or other arbitrary conduct on the part of the purchasing entity.” Without that proof, he said, the protest cannot be upheld.
Logan also said Camelot missed deadlines for filing some of its protests.
After serving less than a year on a federal corruption conviction, ex-Niles Mayor Nicholas Blase has been released from the prison camp in Duluth.
Blase, 82, was transferred from the Minnesota tundra to a halfway house on Chicago’s West Side just before Christmas, prison officials and a family member confirmed.
* Environmentalists salute Daley, challenge next mayor to do more - Coalition of environmental groups says there is much for the next mayor to accomplish
