* Gov. Pat Quinn went all Popeye on the General Assembly yesterday over tax hikes…
“Sometimes politicians of both parties want to wait ’til after the election. I’m not one of those. I wanted to do it before the election. But now it is after the election … you gotta eat your spinach. You gotta eat your spinach to grow-up big and strong.”
Gov. Pat Quinn has a reputation as a spendthrift, so he’s promising a “frugal” but not “chintzy” inauguration next month.
Quinn says the celebrations will be meaningful, yet “thrifty,” when he and the other state constitutional officers are sworn in to office Jan. 10 in Springfield.
The full Q&A is below. At the end, reporters asked if he would be dancing at the ball, and also asked if he could dance. Listen…
Isn’t it time to dump the entire idea of inaugural festivities at all levels of government? Take your oath, go out to dinner with friends, then get the heck to work. Ask those “private donors” to fund a few inaugural commemorative reading tutors or buy a few thousand inaugural commemorative library books.
As lawmakers talk about big plans to expand gambling, the man charged with regulating the industry in Illinois called the proposal “overloaded” Wednesday. […]
Jaffe criticized the legislation as having “everything for everyone” because it calls for casinos in Park City, Ford Heights, Chicago, Rockford and Danville, along with 1,200 slot machines at Arlington Park.
Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle made it clear Thursday that she and Assessor Joseph Berrios remain political allies, even if she’s not keen about him putting relatives on the public payroll.
“Joseph Berrios is my friend,” Preckwinkle said. “He is the chairman of the (Cook County) Democratic party, and I’m a Democratic committeeman.”
Preckwinkle was reacting to the news that Berrios hired his sister and son within days of being sworn in Monday. The family members had long worked at the county property tax appeals board, where Berrios was a commissioner.
“I never hired any family members,” Preckwinkle said at a news conference to introduce top aides. “And I think it’s inappropriate.”
* Now, to the city, where Carol Moseley Braun just announced that she’s heading to New York for a fundraiser. There’s a bit of a problem, however…
Last month, Moseley Braun criticized mayoral candidate Rahm Emanuel for “hanging out with bankers and billionaires” at a Hollywood fundraiser.
“Moseley Braun is going where necessary to raise money in order to compete in the race for mayor,” said spokeswoman Renee Ferguson. “As a senator, she built a national constituency and there are many who would like to continue to support her policies of fighting for working people.”
“I’ll generally be here [in Champaign County]. I will go to Washington quite often, but I’m going to be working out of Champaign-Urbana and making some trips to D.C.,” he said. “I think early on there will be more of them than later. I will definitely spend the vast majority of my time here.
“I think this will work out pretty well because one of the big changes the Republicans are making is to reduce the number of days Congress is in Washington, D.C.”
Shelden, who makes about $87,000 a year as county clerk, will get what he called “a substantial raise.”
“Chiefs of staff out there make in the 150s and 160s,” he said. “I don’t know what I’m going to make, but it’s going to be a substantial raise.”
A chief of staff who doesn’t live in DC?
Shelden, by the way, is replacing Jerry Clarke, who is moving over to freshman Congressman Randy Hultgren’s staff. Jerry ran Bill Brady’s campaign. Our old friend and former Illini Pundit blogger extraordinaire Gordy Hulten is in the running to replace Clerk Shelden. Good luck, Gordy.
* Fewer people gambling in Illinois; numbers challenge expansion plans
* Jackson urges action on south suburban airport: “I fear if this is held up until after the Chicago (mayoral) election, it’ll be put off,” Jackson said. “Our state is almost insolvent. It’s a unique opportunity to spread economic growth. Let’s take this project to its logical conclusion.”
* City could save on pension reform - New Police, firefighters could retire at 55 instead of 50
The second anniversary of Rod Blagojevich’s arrest was this week. It passed mostly unnoticed. Maybe nobody felt like celebrating. I sure didn’t.
One of the few commemorations I saw was in Chicago Magazine, which ran an article titled “Why is Illinois so Corrupt?”
There was the usual list of suspects, mainly focused on Chicago. For instance, there was Mayor Richard J. Daley’s institutionalizing the city’s corrupt systems while business and whites looked the other way in a grand, unspoken bargain for lucrative construction projects, jobs and keeping the blacks at bay.
There are as many theories as there are solutions. But what we do know for sure is that this entire state has long had a serious problem with corruption. It’s not just one party, and it’s certainly not just one region.
“If you’re out on a farm, there isn’t all that much to be corrupt about,” former Illinois Republican Party Chairman Gary MacDougal told Chicago Magazine.
Back in the mid 1970s, my father was a deputy sheriff in Iroquois County. Most Chicagoans probably don’t even know where that is, but it’s a huge, rural farm county with almost no people. Its northern border is only about 70 miles south of the city on I-57.
It may be geographically close to Chicago, but it’s a whole other world. Iroquois is and always has been one of the most Republican counties in the state. It was one of the few that went for that wacky Marylander Alan Keyes over Barack Obama in the 2004 U.S. Senate race, for instance.
Anyway, my dad says the sheriff back then had a company that leased the deputies’ police cars to the county. The sheriff had a company that sold police uniforms to his own officers. Every week, as dad tells the story, the sheriff would stop by the jail to pick up a big package of meat that the county ostensibly bought for the inmates.
So much for MacDougal’s theory.
OK, so it’s a given. But what do we do? Two years ago, I argued that the citizenry should try to remake the entire government right down to the local level by voting for a state constitutional convention. Change the structure, then maybe things might get better. The proposal lost by a huge margin.
The biggest reason Rod Blagojevich was re-elected four years ago was because a real effort wasn’t made to defeat him in the Democratic primary. The people who run the Democratic Party didn’t go after Blagojevich because the last time they primaried out a sitting Democratic governor, the Republicans took control of the office for the next 26 years. But that decision was a huge mistake. The Republicans were too weak in 2006 to make any sort of inroads. Illinois’ independent voters are as scared of the GOP as Iroquois County voters are of the Democrats.
What we witnessed this year with Toni Preckwinkle’s Democratic primary defeat of Todd Stroger was a rarity in Illinois. Cook County will have a far better, cleaner government because of her victory. We ought to learn from that.
We need far more primaries in this state. Legislative, ward and county board districts are drawn throughout Illinois to elect one party over the other, so running in the general election is pretty much useless, except for a few swing districts here and there.
New district boundaries will be drawn next year. So people who want things to change should start thinking soon about running for office against members of their own party. It won’t solve all our problems, but some new, honest blood certainly wouldn’t hurt.
* Meanwhile, the Zephyr, Galesburg’s alt weekly, has just published its final edition. Publisher Norm Winick is ill, so the decision was made to pull the plug on the paper. I’ve known Norm for a long time. He’s one of the good guys. Some of you may know his son, Ben, who is Gov. Pat Quinn’s House liaison. Norm’s wife Christine is a gem of a human being.
An editor at the paper asked me to help send off the Zephyr this week, and here is my contribution…
I understand why the Zephyr has to go, but I sure don’t have to like it. Five of my friends have died in the last year. Now this. The Zephyr may just be a newspaper to some, but it’s always been a friend of mine.
I’ve grown to love this paper since Norm Winick began publishing my weekly column almost 12 years ago. Its quirky eccentricities delighted me, its sharp graphics made it a pleasure to read, its 1995-era website amused me. But its reporting and its philosophy of being “the world’s first public access newspaper” kept me coming back week after week. You just never knew what you’d see.
The Zephyr is not only a local treasure, it’s a state treasure and Norm oughtta be canonized for keeping it going and keeping it relevant through the many lean years.
For instance, I read the first real, in-depth story on Congressman-elect Bobby Schilling right here on these pages. Mike Kroll wrote a fascinating profile of a long-shot candidate who firmly believed he would win the race. Just about everybody else thought the guy was a goofball dreamer, but the Zephyr gave Schilling respectful, evenhanded treatment when everybody in the political world was doing their best to ignore the guy.
Norm’s story this fall about how Gov. Pat Quinn’s payroll was smaller than his last four predecessors’ was a calm tonic in a political environment overly outraged that Quinn had given some of his staffers pay raises.
There’s also a personal angle for me. Befitting his “public access” bent, Norm gave me wide latitude as a writer. Back in 1999 I wrote a long piece about a trip to Cuba. The story contained some racy language, which is not something you usually see on these pages. Norm inserted a little warning at the beginning, but didn’t touch a single word of my copy. He’s a writer’s editor - a rarity in the publishing world. I’ll always love him for that.
I’ve had the privilege of appearing in these pages through three governors, beginning with George Ryan. We’ve gone through a lot together. Two convicted governors and a populist who can’t seem to get his arms around the job. I’ll miss sharing my thoughts with you week after bloody week.
People always love to complain about their local media outlets, but I’m betting that Galesburgians will miss this paper until they, too, go the way of the Zephyr. You’ll never again see anything else like this beautiful little publication. Norm and Mike and everyone else here made it what it is: A one of a kind beauty in a fast-food, prepackaged world.
I sense a great disturbance in The Force, like when the Death Star destroyed Alderaan. You’re not the only ones losing something valuable. The entire state is as well, whether mere mortals realize it or not.
A pair of bills jammed through the Illinois House in the veto session last week amount to an enormous tax increase for utility customers across the state. The legislation would require millions of Illinois residents and businesses to purchase gas and electricity at above-market prices from two “green energy” plants to be constructed with state backing.
Naturally, legislators tout the measures as “jobs bills.” The plants would create a couple thousand construction jobs and a few hundred permanent positions.
The rest of us would get to pay higher utility bills for decades. Illinois businesses figure the Taylorville plant would cost them hundreds of millions a year in higher electricity costs.
This is taxation. It’s government propping up businesses that can’t compete in the open market by requiring the people of Illinois to underwrite their extra costs.
And it’s an example of Illinois politics at its worst.
Backroom deals and backdoor tax hikes—they go together.
*** UPDATE *** Rockford is getting passenger rail service for the first time since 1981…
The Illinois Department of Transportation today announced the selection of the proposed southern route for Amtrak’s new Chicago-Rockford-Dubuque service from Chicago’s Union Station to downtown Rockford. The $60 million service will create 650 construction jobs, with trains running by early 2014.
[ *** End Of Update *** ]
* Illinois will get some of the high speed rail cash rejected by Wisconsin and Ohio, but not a huge amount…
In a move announced Thursday by U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood, Illinois will get a $42 million share of the $1.2 billion that had earlier been earmarked for Wisconsin and Ohio.
It remained unclear Thursday exactly how the new money would be used in the Land of Lincoln, which already has received $1.2 billion in federal funds to upgrade the Chicago-St. Louis line to allow for 110 mile per hour passenger trains.
The route, which roughly parallels Interstate 55, includes stops in Lincoln, Bloomington-Normal and Pontiac.
“Illinois will be able to use this funding to break ground on projects that were included in the state’s application for high-speed rail along the Chicago to St. Louis corridor, but not funded earlier this year,” said U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois. “Improvements to this route will decrease travel times even further and create jobs that our state badly needs.”
Talgo Inc., the Spanish manufacturer of high-speed train cars, will abandon its plant in Milwaukee in 2012, according to Nora Friend, a spokeswoman for the company.
The decision was made after U.S. Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood announced Thursday that the federal government was rescinding the $810 million allocated to Wisconsin. Wisconsin Gov.-elect Scott Walker had strongly opposed the state’s high-speed rail plan.
“We can’t stay and manufacture in Milwaukee without the high-speed rail to Madison,” Friend said. “This is terrible news.”
Friend said the state’s decision to back away from the high-speed rail project sends a terrible message to businesses considering locating in the state.
Gov. Pat Quinn, you will recall, sent a letter to Talgo during the campaign urging it to move to Illinois if Wisconsin rejected the money. That’s looking more likely.
* Most of the money originally meant for Wisconsin and Ohio is going to California and Florida…
Most of this high-speed wealth was spread to California, which will receive up to $624 million for its trains. Transportation Nation reports that the bulk of this sum — $616 million — will be used to extend the first segment of the state’s bullet line, which will now stretch from Madera to Bakersfield, rather than ending in Corcoran. Florida will get up to $342.2 million of the pot; Washington (state), $161.5 million; Illinois, $42.3 million; and New York, rounding out the top five, $7.3 million. (A full list of the recipients, including $2 million to Wisconsin for its Hiawatha line, can be found here.)
* But there’s still a small chance that Illinois could get more money because Florida’s Republican governor-elect isn’t 100 percent sold on the idea, even though he’s happy for the cash…
Governor-elect Rick Scott is pleased with the federal government’s commitment of $342 million more to Florida’s planned high-speed rail line between Tampa and Orlando.
But the Republican indicated he’s still not committed to it in a statement released Thursday by his transition office in Fort Lauderdale. The latest allocation would give Florida nearly all of the $2.6 billion needed to build the route.
Scott, though, first wants to review its feasibility “in terms of return to Florida’s taxpayers” and find out the private sector’s interest in funding it.
* This new governor-elect in Wisconsin is a bit on the clueless side…
Even though he remains opposed to a high-speed rail corridor from Chicago through Milwaukee to the state capital in Madison, Wisconsin Governor-elect Scott Walker did not rule out the possibility of state financing for other new rail projects during a Milwaukee Press Club-sponsored luncheon held Dec. 7.
Walker envisions a continuing role for railroads as part of intermodal transportation budget priorities in his administration, he said.
“I don’t have a problem with rail in general. Funding for the Hiawatha between Chicago and Milwaukee, and the train to Minneapolis is fine,” he said. “Freight rail offers a great opportunity to build up our [shipments] of grain and iron ore.”
The dirty little secret of this high speed rail program is it’s a direct subsidy to freight carriers to update their tracks. If Walker wanted money to help freight carriers transport grain and iron ore, he should’ve taken the federal cash. And “the train to Minneapolis is fine”? Um, that was the stated purpose of the Wisconsin grant. Sheesh. At least Wisconsin will get a couple of mil to upgrade the Hiawatha…
Wisconsin now will receive up to $2 million to improve the existing Milwaukee-to-Chicago Hiawatha line. That amount won’t cover the more than $19 million needed to renovate the shed at Milwaukee’s downtown train station or the $52 million needed to build a maintenance facility for new trains. Those improvements would have been covered by the original $810 million awarded to the state.
t’s unclear whether Wisconsin will need to repay the approximately $9 million it’s already spent on the train project or the more than $5 million it would owe in contract cancellation fees.
“Nothing’s been returned yet,” Walker said when asked about the money. “We’ve had our folks working with federal rail administration folks to sort that out. We’ll be crunching the numbers.”
All this over $7 million a year in new state operating costs. Actually, it might be as low as $700,000 a year.
* AFSCME agreed to defer a pay increase in order to help save the state some cash in the coming fiscal year, but the union also got a retirement bump of sorts for some of its members. From the SJ-R…
Union members were scheduled to get a 4 percent pay hike on July 1, 2011. Instead they will receive 2 percent on July 1. The other 2 percentage points will be deferred until Feb. 1, 2012.
The union pledged during the campaign to find $100 million in savings in exchange for a highly controversial agreement not to lay anyone off or close any state facilities until the end of June, 2012. They announced $10 million in savings when the agreement was announced. That raise deferral (including Social Security savings) adds up to another $30 million. Another $20 million will be saved this way…
— Reducing mandated overtime in facilities that are open 24 hours a day, seven days a week by hiring more staff.
– Extending the voluntary furlough program. The program gives workers one paid day off for every two furlough days they take. The program will be expanded to include additional employees in the Departments of Corrections, Human Services and Veterans Affairs.
– Three contracts that have been out-sourced will be brought in-house for state employees to do.
– Other efficiencies, including reducing the use of paper, expanding salvage and recycling programs at state prisons, improving operations of the state’s Corrections Industries, making correctional facilities more energy-efficient and changing how parole agents travel.
* But, as mentioned in the lede, the union also preserved a pension bump for state workers who agree to retire at the end of calendar year 2011.
If state employees pledge to retire at the end of 2011, they get the full 4 percent raise next July 1st, instead of just 2 percent. The workers have to make their decision by May 1st.
* According to the agreement, the union is also discussing these ideas with the administration to arrive at the $100 million cost savings…
* Best state legislative secretary/admin assistant
* Best Illinois state Representative
* Best Illinois state Senator
Once again, keep in mind that I look at intensity lots more than numerical strength. Explain your votes.
I’ll announce yesterday’s winners later today. Still deciding.
…Adding… If you would like to nominate a legislative secretary/admin assistant in each chamber, feel free. I probably should’ve done that to begin with.
* The US House passed a budget today that includes money to buy the vacant Thomson prison. Trouble is, the cash is a drop in the bucket…
Earlier this year, the Obama administration asked for $170 million to purchase the vacant [Thomson] prison. But the request was reduced to $95 million, Traci Billingsley, a spokesperson for the Federal Bureau of Prisons said in an e-mail today.
“It still has to be considered in the Senate, and we remain hopeful that we will get the necessary funding,” she said.
The prison will be auctioned by the state later this month, but the government cannot legally accept anything less than its appraised value of $219.9 million. The bill now goes to the Senate, which may change the budget level. We’ll see.
And AFSCME restated its call to halt the sale altogether. From a press release…
The union that represents frontline employees in the Illinois Department of Corrections is calling on Governor Quinn to halt the scheduled auction of the Thomson Correctional Center.
“It would be a mistake to sell off Thomson when the Illinois prison system is so severely overcrowded,” said Henry Bayer, executive director of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) Council 31.
As of the end of November, there were 48,510 inmates in IDOC facilities—putting the prison system at 148% of rated capacity.
“That kind of overcrowding greatly increases inmate tensions and the potential for violence,” Bayer said. “The beds at Thomson are urgently needed to reduce the dangerous overcrowding in other IDOC facilities.”
“The prison population has increased by 3,000 inmates in just the past few months,” Bayer noted. “It doesn’t make sense to sell off Thomson at a time when the system is experiencing that kind of growth.”
COMPTROLLER DAN HYNES ENDORSES RAHM EMANUEL FOR MAYOR
Says Rahm has the strength to see reform through
“The challenges facing the city of Chicago are great, and Rahm Emanuel is the candidate with the strength, experience and determination to meet them,” said Hynes. “Throughout his career, Rahm has fought tirelessly on behalf of average Chicagoans and Americans, whether it was taking on the NRA to prevent criminals from obtaining guns or taking on the federal bureaucracy to make it easier for college students to apply for financial aid. His plans to make our streets safe, our schools strong, and our city finances stable are what Chicago needs at this critical time.”
Rahm is honored by the Comptroller’s endorsement. “Comptroller Hynes has been a constant check on mismanagement in Illinois government, as the architect of the ban on pay-to-play and an advocate for government transparency and fiscal responsibility. I am honored to have his support as I work to bring greater accountability to city government and end business as usual in Chicago.”
Hynes will join Rahm for campaign events on the South and Southwest sides on Saturday.
Thoughts?
…Adding… Gery Chico said he doesn’t want a new casino downtown…
He pointed to northwest Indiana’s casinos as proof that Chicagoans will travel if they want to gamble.
“People find their way there. This does not have to be right downtown,” Chico said. “This could be in an area where we could get the greatest economic impact to help our residents with jobs and tax revenues and other fee income for the city.”
But where? Surely not in a neighborhood. I asked the Chico campaign for a more complete explanation, but they need to get back to me.
…Adding… The Chico campaign claims that he’s not actually ruling anything out, but that it just doesn’t have to be in downtown, regardless of what the story says. He’s simply looking for the best place to create the most jobs and the most economic development.
So it’s reassuring that in the early phase of Chicago’s mayoral election the candidates have spent more time talking about the city’s future than attacking each other.
A Chicago marketing company has launched an effort to try to get neighbors not to put chairs in street parking spaces when they shovel them out after snow storms.
Blocking out shoveled street parking spaces, or “dibs,” is a Chicago tradition. On Wednesday, the marketing firm Proximity Chicago launched a community effort called Chair Free Chicago. The company calls it a movement of citizens who think public spaces should remain public.They call putting out the chairs a polarizing tradition.
* But you won’t get an answer from Rahm Emanuel at a debate because he’s only going to one. The Sun-Times isn’t pleased about that…
He owes it to the people of Chicago, who deserve every opportunity to question and study the candidates up close and as a group during this abbreviated election season. And if Emanuel fails to show up, the voters — and, for that matter, newspaper editorial boards — are right to hold it against him.
I hope they do, and I hope they make it clear during their endorsement session with him.
We don’t care where he sends his kids to school. […]
We know this is a sore point for many Chicagoans who question how serious a mayor can be about improving the public schools if he or she won’t even send his or her own kids there.
But we also know there’s not a parent in town who wouldn’t send their own son or daughter to the best school they could afford and could get the kid into, public or private. No apologies.
Chico has said that Emanuel absolutely must send his kids to public school. That makes Chico more out of touch with the parents of Chicago than Emanuel.
* Related…
* Gay leader backs Chico: Rick Garcia, who is gay and Catholic, fought to legalize civil unions in Illinois and helped shepherd the bill through the General Assembly last week. He is executive director of Equality Illinois. “As mayor, Gery Chico will be a mayor for all people,” said Garcia. “He is the right man at the right time to lead this city.”
* Lawyer Targets Emanuel’s Family Plans: Burton Odelson, the election lawyer who alleges that Emanuel does not meet residency requirements to run in the Feb. 22 election, is hoping to question Emanuel’s wife Amy Rule and also wants to subpoena Langdon Neal, the chairman of the city’s Board of Election Commissioners.
* Wal-Mart finds site for first North Side store: Wal-Mart Stores Inc. has found a site for its first small-box store in Chicago, with a deal to lease about 30,000 square feet in a three-level retail center in the Lakeview neighborhood, according to real estate sources.
* Mayor Daley is not pleased at all with the pension reform bill and is cranking up the rhetoric against Gov. Pat Quinn…
Much of the Chicago City Council sent a letter to Gov. Pat Quinn [yesterday] urging him not to sign a pension reform bill passed by the General Assembly as Mayor Richard Daley again lambasted the plan.
Daley has been publicly attacking the bill at every opportunity over the past week, saying it would lead to the biggest property tax increase in Chicago history.
Daley said he doesn’t know whether Quinn will listen to Chicago officials’ pleas not to sign the legislation, but he said he and Quinn have different views on raising taxes.
“(Quinn) wants to tax people. What can I do?” Daley said.
“This is the highest real estate tax increase in the history of Chicago, and that’s only for fire and police,” Daley said. “If you put the other unions in there, it’s about $1.2 billion in one year. … This will really hit the people. How are you gonna sell your home even if you’re retired? Who would want to buy your home? Buyer beware.”
* Daley even briefly held out the possibility of a pension fund bankruptcy…
“I’m one who believes that pension funds can go bankrupt and then you reorganize, and that’s the hardest thing to say,” Daley said during a panel with other mayors at the Global Metro Summit.
Talking to reporters afterward, Daley said he simply wanted to paint a worst-case scenario if public employees don’t agree to contribute more to help pay for their pensions.
“And in that sense, (bankruptcy is) the end result of something that would take place, but we should not get to that position,” the mayor said.
Asked about using the term “bankruptcy,” Daley said: “Yeah, well, yeah, just in the sense that it comes to financial crisis, you don’t want to get to that. What we’re saying there are solutions prior to that.”
The problem with the reform bill, according to Daley, is the steep increase in mandated municipal contributions to pension funds, beginning in 2015. The bill further mandates that those contributions be paid for via the property tax.
Actually, the bill itself does not mandate that the contributions be paid for via the property tax.
I just got off the phone with Sen. Terry Link, one of the chief sponsors, who says that some staff experts are saying that existing law may actually mandate this be paid for by property taxes. If so, Link says he and the Senate President would be willing to include language in the trailer bill to change this requirement. The trailer bill will also move that 2015 start date to probably 2020.
Maybe now things can quiet down a bit, but don’t hold your breath.
* I don’t spend much time at the Capitol when the General Assembly isn’t in session, but when they returned to town after the election I noticed lots of paint peeling off the walls inside the 3rd Floor dome. Apparently, it’s going to cost the state big bucks to fix…
Fixing peeling paint inside the Capitol dome is going to cost the state more than $137,000. […]
The peeling paint was discovered last summer on part of the interior dome above the Capitol’s third floor. The paint, which is peeling in about a half-dozen spots, is easily visible to the naked eye.
Although the area where the paint is peeling appears to be constructed of stone blocks, it is actually plaster painted to look like stone. […]
Paint on that part of the dome has been subject to peeling before, the last time in 2005. State officials believe high heat and humidity in that part of the building caused the paint to peel. The entire dome acts as a sort of natural chimney in the building.
They’re using a different paint now, so maybe this won’t happen again. I sure hope not. It looks very bad, and the cost is just huge.
* The prison underwear shortage isn’t necessarily the state budget’s fault, but it’s pretty darned weird and it’s causing problems and forcing the state to pay more money…
State prison officials have averted a potential crisis behind bars: A shortage of undies for inmates.
As part of a supply problem rooted in a global surge in cotton prices, the company hired to supply the material for boxer shorts worn by prisoners refused to deliver because it couldn’t make money on its contract.
Facing the prospect of having inmates with no skivvies, state officials this week hired another company to supply the cloth. The new contract is worth $183,800, which is an estimated $50,000 more than what the state had originally planned to spend, according to documents.
An official at the Florida-based company that pulled out of its contract says Illinois isn’t alone.
Robin Resnick, vice president of sales for J, Weinstein & Sons, said the firm has told other states where it does business that the rapid rise in cotton prices means they won’t deliver at prices agreed to in previous years.
* Best Statehouse lobbyist - Contract (the “hired guns” in the building)
* Best Statehouse lobbyist - In-house (Business/corporate, labor, major association, etc.)
* Best Statehouse lobbyist - Do-gooder
* Best Statehouse “insider”
I broke the lobsters up into categories at your request. As always, remember that I look at intensity of the responses a whole lot more than I look at actual vote tallies. So, explain your votes or your favorites may not win.
Also, please do your best to nominate people in all four categories. Thanks.
* Yesterday’s commenters were so adamantly and numerically in favor of Shaw Decremer for best legislative campaign staffer that it was a pretty easy decision on my part. Decremer works for House Democratic staff…
Best legislative campaign staffer has to be Shaw Decremer - pulling Mike Smith from the brink in ‘06, McAsey in ‘08 blew out Hassert, and Mussman against the wave in ‘10. Everyone else is a pretender to the throne. Best=wins. Show me anyone else with that track record in seriously competitive races.
More…
He often tells DPI and those “above him” to take a hike when he feels they are moving in the wrong direction. He is, without a doubt, the best campaign manager in Illinois.
Decremer also had a lot to do with the House Dems’ other suburban wins. He’s the hands-down winner. Honorable mention goes to Heather Weir Vaught, who worked with Decremer on the Michelle Mussman campaign.
* Best staffer for the constitutional and congressional campaigns goes to Eric Elk, who ran the Kirk for Senate effort. Eric was one of my personal choices, but others chimed in as well…
He steered the Kirk campaign to victory in spite of some serious crises within the campaign. Yes, Alexi was less than perfect, but Elk won a top tier US Senate race in a blue state with a favorite son president. Elk managed the money well, managed the candidate as well as anyone could, assembled a devoted staff and laughed the whole time.
Mary Morrissey, who ran Lisa Madigan’s campaign, gets the honorable mention. Mary won a gimme race, but commenters love her and admire her abilities.
* Opinion was somewhat divided on best campaign spokesperson, but I’m giving it to Aaron Chambers because he helped win a campaign that many thought was a dead duck…
Justice Kilbride got the Tribune endorsement and Crain’s wrote an editorial calling Justpac’s attacks a stain on the business community. That those two publications went for Kilbride is nothing less than amazing. It’s not a coincidence Chambers was the spokesperson.
Honorable mention goes to Patty Schuh. Bill Brady didn’t win, but commenters rightly pointed out that Patty was instrumental at honing his message.
* And even though he’s won it before, Steve Brown was the almost universal choice of commenters yesterday…
He’s ubiquitous and has the institutional knowledge and discipline to stay perfectly on message. Beyond that, though, he’s exceptionally quotable and while that’s one of the more desirable traits in a spokesman, it’s one that more and more spokesfolk are lacking.
Adam Smith’s comment suggests that we may have to just give him a permanent award…
Steve Brown will win this award for best gov’t spokesperson until further notice.
Ashley Cross at Gov. Quinn’s office wins honorable mention for this single nomination…
The woman declared war on Wisconsin - you can’t beat that with a stick.
Criticized repeatedly for stacking the public payroll with family members, Joe Berrios has hired his son and sister to work for him as he takes the reins of the Cook County assessor’s office.
Berrios, who was sworn in as assessor Monday after winning a rough-and-tumble election, hired son Joseph “Joey’’ Berrios as a $48,000-a-year residential analyst and sister Carmen Cruz as director of taxpayer services at a salary of $86,000. Their salaries will remain unchanged from when they both worked for Berrios when he served on the Cook County Board of Review, which hears property tax appeals.
“They’ve got experience, and I’m hiring people with experience,’’ Berrios told the Chicago Sun-Times Wednesday.
Berrios said he wants competent people he can trust working in his administration.
“I trust them,’’ he said. “It is what it is.’’
It’s true that Berrios was “criticized repeatedly” for nepotism. But he won anyway, so he apparently figures he has a mandate. His daughter already works at the assessor’s office, by the way, so that’s three family members on the payroll.
* On to more serious matters. About half of all human services agencies have been forced to lay off staff because of late state payments, according to a new survey…
According to the study conducted by Illinois Collaboration on Youth and others, more than half of agencies responding, 53%, have reduced hours or levels of service and 41% reported increasing waiting lists.
Just about half, 49%, laid off staff — an average of 13% of workers, the study found.
This as the state faces a cumulative budget hole approaching $14 billion.
“Illinois residents who need help have been on the chopping block at budget time for many years. Now we see the results: fewer children in child care; fewer after-school programs for teens; less help for people to get and keep jobs, and less assistance for those with mental illness . . . and the elderly,” said Judith Gethner, director of another sponsor, Illinois Partners for Human Service [Emphasis added]
* And Voices for Illinois Children has more bad news…
More than 2,600 children have lost preschool opportunities this fall as dozens of programs have closed under the pressure of long-delayed payments from the state, according to the Illinois State Board of Education.
The state government remains one of the greatest drags on the state’s economy.
Wednesday, Dec 8, 2010 - Posted by Capitol Fax Blog Advertising Department
[The following is a paid advertisement.]
On November 28, the State Journal Register editorialized in support of Tenaska’s Taylorville Energy Center, Illinois should take clean-coal lead. Below are key excerpts:
“As the Tenaska foes’ hyperbole has escalated in recent months, however, so has our skepticism of the critics and the STOP Coalition’s underlying purpose. At the heart of the opposition is Exelon Corp., the Chicago-based power-generating and distribution conglomerate. As old coal plants shut down and power gets more scarce, Exelon — operator of nuclear plants — stands to benefit.”
“Passage of the bill by the General Assembly would allow construction on the plant to begin. Its failure, we believe, would strike a fatal blow not just for the Taylorville plant, but for any potential future development of clean-coal technology in this state. If Tenaska’s effort fails, we can’t imagine any clean-coal company attempting to do business in Illinois.”
“As lawmakers debate this bill, we urge them to keep that in mind.”
“They also must remember that every figure quoted by opponents of Tenaska is a worst-of-the-worst-case scenario…It also assumes power won’t get more expensive as new environmental laws force old coal plants to shut down…”
The Taylorville Project last week agreed to absorb two-thirds of the cost of capital cost overruns and two-thirds of the cost of carbon sequestration cost overruns — meaning these costs, if incurred, can’t be passed along to customers.
“We hope lawmakers see through the hyperbolic spin against this project and vote to bring jobs to central Illinois and put Illinois among the leaders in clean-coal technology.”
In a radio ad airing on Chicago hip-hop station WGCI, Annette Nance-Holt, mother of slain Chicago Public Schools student Blair Holt, endorses Emanuel.
In May of 2007, a 16-year-old gang member opened fire on a CTA bus. Blair, also 16, dove in front of a classmate to shield her from the gunfire and was killed.
Annette Nance-Holt, a Chicago Fire Department captain, and the boy’s father Ronald Holt, a Chicago police officer, have been committed to stopping gun violence in Chicago’s communities since their son was slain.
“Soon, Chicago will choose a new mayor,” Nance-Holt says in the ad. “I want someone with a strong record of fighting crime and gun violence. As President Clinton’s point man on crime, Rahm Emanuel put 100,000 more police officers on the streets, including hundreds more here in Chicago.”
The ad also uses a quote from Barack Obama. Rate it…
* Emanuel is sticking closely to the script, letting his paid media do the talking and staying away from events that could get him off-message. He’s becoming the Bill Brady of Chicago…
Something’s missing from Chicago’s mayoral candidate forums: Rahm Emanuel.
On at least three nights next week — Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday — just about all of the major candidates for mayor, except the former White House chief of staff, have agreed to sit side-by-side at community forums and take questions from voters or panelists.
But Emanuel is taking a pass, as he has done with other forums this week and last.
“I don’t think he’ll do any of them,” Emanuel spokesman Ben Labolt said of next week’s forums. “He’s been speaking to voters directly where they live and work every day of the week.”
* But reporters did manage to get some news out of him yesterday when Emanuel held a press conference about boosting teacher training…
Former White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel would not commit to sending his children to public schools if elected Chicago mayor. Fellow candidate James Meeks wasn’t faulting him for that, but opponent Gery Chico talked about “leading by example.”
Emanuel said Tuesday what school his children attend was a decision his family would make. His comments came after he proposed increasing teacher training academies. He said he wasn’t saying he wouldn’t send his three children to Chicago Public Schools.
State Sen. James T. Meeks, who has made equitable school financing a hallmark of his political career, did not send his children to public schools. He sent his children, who are now adults, to parochial high schools.
“I don’t want a school system the mayor of Chicago is ashamed to send his own kids to,” Meeks said, while adding that he wouldn’t fault Emanuel for not doing so. “We should have quality schools everyone wants to send their kids to.”
Meeks has also been a major advocate of school vouchers, which would allow parents to send their children to private schools.
Mayoral contender Gery Chico attended Chicago public schools, and his children graduated from Northside College Prep and Von Steuben high schools. Northside was built during Chico’s tenure as school board president, and some critics accused him of pushing for the high-performing school near his home for personal reasons.
* Every time John Kass writes about Rahm Emanuel’s residency he claims he thinks Emanuel should be allowed on the ballot. Then he always adds a falsehood about the law or about history in an attempt to prove that Emanuel probably isn’t a Chicago resident or can’t legally prove he is entitled to ballot access. Kass claimed Emanuel couldn’t have possibly voted absentee because he’d been purged from the voter rolls - except that Emanuel wasn’t purged and all he had to do was sign an affidavit that came with his absentee ballot to legally vote. He claimed that Paul Vallas was kept from running for governor in 2006 because he was ruled a non-resident - without informing his readers that Vallas registered to vote in Philadelphia and had sold his Chicago home.
Right now, the story involves the residency drama. All that jabbering and shrieking this week at the Chicago Board of Election Commissioners plays into Rahm’s hands. There’s more to come Monday.
This week, some in the hearing room wore “Indict Rahm” buttons and yelled and yelled and yelled.
“The days of running this board as a racketeering-influenced conspiracy organization are OVER!!!!” shouted one man. […]
And so it went, the caterwauling and finger-pointing and everybody demanding to be able to question witnesses. It exasperated Burt Odelson, the election lawyer who put together what is considered to be the most credible challenge to Emanuel’s residency. […]
Well, Burt, you might want to move on, but Queen Sister and her friends want their media face time. And the Daley-friendly (and therefore Rahm-friendly) city elections board has folded them all together.
Yeah. That Daley-friendly and Rahm-friendly city elections board is all to blame for consolidating those cases. There absolutely must be something going on. But this is the response I received today from the city’s board of elections…
The board [consolidated the complaints] to prevent witnesses from being called (and issuing subpoenas to those witnesses) for 30 separate appearances to testify on the same issues. Such consolidation is common.
We also consolidate record exams (aka “binder checks”) when the same candidate is facing multiple and related objections over signatures on his or her petition.
In the Emanuel cases, all of the objections center on residency. Many of the objections are quite literally fill-in-the-blank photocopies of each other.
Kass also forgot to mention the background of the hearing officer appointed by the board. From the Illinois Review…
A Cook County Republican, former president of United Republican Fund, former candidate for Cook County Board, and former Reagan Administration appointee, attorney Joseph Morris will act as presiding officer over challenges to Rahm Emanuel’s bid for Chicago mayor Monday at 11:00 am.
So, yet another conspiracy theory is undone by simple facts.
* Is it me, or did the State Journal-Register just publish an anti-Semitic letter to the editor which was ostensibly about how people don’t care when they offend Christians…
In the halls of schools and government institutions, no one will object to the profane use of Christ’s name (think Rahm Israel Emanuel).
Think: Israel.
Sheesh.
* Roundup…
* Mayor hopeful Chico gets backing of Ald. George Cardenas
* I have no idea why the media has completely ignored the governor’s offer of early retirement for the state police which I wrote about last Friday, but the Tribune editorial board picked up on it today…
To be eligible for Quinn’s offer, troopers need to be 50 years old with 25 years of service, or 55 years old with 20 years of service. They can use accumulated time-off credits to help satisfy their years-of-service requirements. And, on their last day of work in 2010, they’ll receive 6 percent cost-of-living raises that are scheduled for calendar 2011.
Age 50? Think about that. Some of these retirees may spend the entire second halves of their lives — the next 50 or more years — drawing pensions from Illinois taxpayers. And while we have you: Has anyone offered you a 6 percent cost-of-living increase? In this time of low inflation? We didn’t think so.
The governor’s office told us Tuesday that many of these senior troopers were expected to retire as soon as they received their cost-of-living raises next year. Makes sense: Sticking around for those raises would feather their pension calculations with the highest possible final salary. Under this deal, the retirees don’t have to work at all next year — and they get the juicier pension benefits pronto. In return, the state saves money by offloading these high salaries: If 70 percent of the eligible troopers accept Quinn’s offer, the state expects to save about $500,000 in payroll expense.
If that were the end of it, Quinn’s offer might make sense. But the governor’s office couldn’t provide one crucial number: What will the troopers’ early arrival cost the state pension system? Taxpayers are on the hook for that, too, just as they are for the budget. We’ll bet the governor lunch at any place of his choosing that he’s shifting way more than $500,000 in burdens from his budget to the failing, flailing pension system.
They’d probably lose that bet. Since most were retiring anyway, the additional cost of the retirees for the next six months won’t total anywhere near $500,000. Still, it’s a cost shift. And one can only wonder if the governor has any more of these plans up his sleeve.
…Adding… Or not. From a reader…
If 80 troopers retire (the state expects 70 to 90) and each collects a mere $1,000 per month for six months, that’s $480,000. And these folks will collect far more than $1,000 a month. Their total pension payments for the first half of 2011 will
substantially exceed $500,000.
…On second thought… Unless their pension payments exceed their salaries (highly unlikely), then that reader analysis is off.
* In other budget news, things may be easing somewhat, but they’re still bad…
Even after cutting a combined $84 billion at the start of this fiscal year, 15 states face persistent deficits that must be closed over the next six months. Meanwhile, 35 states project deficits in the next fiscal year, which begins in July 2011.
Arizona sold the capitol building? Wow…
Arizona is another perennial budget disaster. Lawmakers have gone to extremes to try to close that state’s persistent budget deficit, selling the state Capitol building and cutting state payments for organ transplants. The latter move is likely to be reversed; some patients died once the transplants were halted.
And, of course, there’s Illinois…
The state in the worst shape is Illinois, which faces a deficit this year of a staggering 47% of its entire budget, about $13 billion. A sense of despair has settled over the state capital of Springfield, where various desperate measures, including a major expansion of gambling, have been kicked around.
The task has been daunting: Lawmakers expect to have closed multi-year budget gaps exceeding $530 billion by the time the effects of the recession dissipate. And despite recent revenue improvements, more gaps loom as states confront the phase out of federal stimulus funds, expiring tax increases and growing spending pressures.
Three weeks ago, one of the state’s largest social services provider almost ran out of money. It was saved by a multi-million dollar government infusion, but this was no bailout; Illinois was merely paying off part of what it owes Lutheran Social Services of Illinois.
“We were facing not being able to make payroll for almost 2,000 people,” said the Rev. Denver Bitner, the group’s president. “It’s an up and down kind of affair, and it’s resulted in our needing to borrow substantially from credit lines and reserves, and cuts in programs.”
The group, which runs dozens of programs serving vulnerable Illinoisans — children, the elderly, those recovering from addiction — has been left with IOUs from the state ranging from $5 million to $13 million over the past two years. The debt hangs over the head of Bitner, as vendors that supply LSSI’s foster homes, recovery centers and old age assistance programs demand payment.
Just a week before Thanksgiving, LSSI exhausted $9 million from its reserves and standing credit line. It was only able to pull back from the brink after the state borrowed money to begin paying down its unpaid bills.
The good news is that the comptroller’s office say the state will pay off last fiscal year’s late bills in the coming days. The bad news is there’s $5 billion in unpaid bills from the current fiscal year.
Illinois Governor Pat Quinn is still showing no signs of support towards a bill to expand gambling. The bill approved by the Senate last week could add 5 new casinos, including one in Chicago. But Quinn said he doesn’t think the bill will get through the House of Representatives.
“I wouldn’t hold your breath,” he said. “It’s pretty top heavy. Illinois’ not going to be the Midwest venue for gambling second only to Las Vegas.”
* Related…
* Higher Ed Commission recommends performance-based funding: One controversial, yet key reform is a funding shift based on performance instead of enrollment. Performance-based funding creates incentives for institutions to boost performance because the more success they exhibit in meeting state goals, the more funding they receive, the commission states. “The fact is we have state colleges that have been historically performing at very poor levels in terms of graduation and retention rates,” said state Rep. Fred Crespo, a Hoffman Estates Democrat serving as the commission’s House speaker appointee. “That to me is not acceptable when you consider every college is being funded by state dollars.”
* Ill. casino plan could amp up gambling competition: Existing Illinois casinos, which have seen their business fall off by nearly one-third over the past couple of years, are fighting the idea vigorously. “This monumental expansion is like saying, ‘Homes have lost 32 percent of their value and the number of people buying homes is at an historic low, so let’s build more homes until we have three times the number we need,’” Tom Swoik, executive director of the Illinois Casino Gaming Association, said at a recent legislative hearing.
* Emanuel: Gambling not a “panacea” for budget woes
* As always, keep in mind that I look far more at intensity than at the quantity of votes, so make sure to explain your reasoning or your favorite could lose…
* Best campaign staffer - state legislative
* Best campaign staffer - constitutional office or congressional
* Best campaign spokesperson
* Best government spokesperson
* Yesterday’s winner for best political bar goes to The Globe. It was the clear favorite…
Hands down, the globe. Best bartenders, who actually do get to know your name (and drink) if you go in there enough. They have a piano, so it’s not uncommon to walk in and hear Danny Burke on the piano with some poor woman he conned into singing along with him. Lots of legislators hang out there, so I’ve been able to get work done at 11:00 at night.
* Best political restaurant was won hands-down by Saputo’s. It helps that the man who runs the place is also running for mayor of Springfield…
Politicos of all stripes and the owner/operator will soon be the next Mayor of Springfield. Where else will be you be able to get served by the Mayor?
* Best Springfield hotel is the Statehouse Inn…
Best, most modern rooms, so close to the Capitol you never have to move your car, free computers, the bar is convenient, best free breakfast, tons of legislators stay here. No equivocations here.
