The La Salle County Board overwhelmingly expressed its opposition to “right to work” laws by passing a resolution with a 23 to 2 vote.
Before the meeting, a crowd gathered outside of the Ottawa Knights of Columbus in support of the resolution. The meeting started about 15 minutes late as supporters of the resolution were filing through security after holding signs outside the meeting. […]
The lone “no” votes were from board members David Zielke and Charles Borschenius.
Before the resolution passed, Zielke argued it was a waste of taxpayer money to rent the Ottawa Knights of Columbus Hall to hold public supporters of a resolution that will ultimately have no impact on state legislators or Gov. Bruce Rauner.
* The Illinois AFL-CIO claims 250 people were in attendance. A pic…
Few updates… Stark County passed the resolution. In addition, both Woodstock, IL and Oak Brook Village, IL rejected Illinois Prevailing Wage rates. Oak Brook Village also passed a resolution in favor of repealing prevailing wage.
Take care,
ck
Interesting that they’re now turning to prevailing wage rates.
And it was, indeed, nice to finally meet “ck” in person yesterday.
Everything Rauner has proposed has an anti-union poison pill buried in it somewhere. Once the poison pill is removed, he no longer cares about his proposal; the proposal was just there to leverage public acceptance of the poison pill.
* The Question: Mostly agree or mostly disagree? Take the poll and then explain your answer in comments, please.
Three more Republican lawmakers from East Central Illinois have cashed checks from Citizens for Rauner Inc., the political action committee of Gov. Bruce Rauner, which at last count had more than $20 million on hand.
Reps. Adam Brown of Champaign and Tom Bennett of Gibson City, plus Sen. Dale Righter of Mattoon, each reported $8,000 contributions from Rauner. Brown, Bennett and Sens. Bill Brady and Righter have reported taking the campaign contribution from the governor, who last month said he had given $400,000 to Republican lawmakers.
If any other Republicans are going to cash in the Rauner campaign donations, they haven’t done it yet.
By my count, 27 out of 67 House and Senate Republicans have cashed the governor’s checks, or about 40 percent.
House Republican Leader Jim Durkin has not yet reported cashing his check, but Senate GOP Leader Christine Radogno did a while ago.
Comptroller Leslie Geissler Munger on Wednesday announced that the Illinois General Assembly’s failure to reach a budget agreement with Governor Rauner by July 1 will reap severe consequences for residents and organizations throughout the state.
“I am here as the state’s Chief Fiscal Officer to urge the General Assembly to avoid causing this unnecessary hardship and work with the Governor to pass a balanced budget,” Munger said at a Chicago news conference. “I am here to remind all involved that this isn’t a game to be won or lost - their rhetoric, posturing and decisions have grave implications on people and communities across the state.”
Regardless of budget negotiations, the Comptroller will be able to continue making payments authorized under the current fiscal year, FY15, budget - including the state’s existing $5 billion backlog.
However, when the FY15 bills are paid, she will not have appropriation authority to make new payments that fall under the new fiscal year, FY16, which begins July 1. Ramifications include:
New Medicaid provider payments will stop
Nonprofits and small employers will be unable to receive expedited payments
State employees will start missing paychecks July 15
General State Aid payments to schools will not be delivered as scheduled on August 10
New payments to state vendors will stop
Munger noted that continuing appropriations and other legal provisions will allow her to meet some FY16 obligations, including the following payments: debt, pension, retiree benefits, Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, Assistance for the Aged, Blind and Disabled, and most local government payments.
On the budget impasse, the Comptroller urged the General Assembly to reach an agreement with the Governor that includes reforms to make Illinois more competitive and grow its tax base. She noted that the budget passed by legislators last month has a $4 billion shortfall, which is “what put us in this mess in the first place.”
“I come from the private sector, and I have been extremely disappointed by the inactivity and needless theater in Springfield,” Munger said. “So far, lawmakers have failed to do their jobs. And their failure prevents me from doing mine. It’s time for all parties to find common ground before the situation grows dire.”
* Comptroller Munger was asked in the presser what would happen if the unions took her to court to force her to issue paychecks. This happened during a Rod Blagojevich shutdown. Comptroller Dan Hynes worked with the unions and, if I remember correctly, Blagojevich did not contest the motion. Employees were paid.
Munger said she’d deal with that if it happens. A Munger aide told me no decision has yet been made about what she would do either way.
* He may yet beat these federal charges, or get them reduced. But Denny Hastert had better get used to feeling what this portrait shows because he’s now a pariah everywhere he goes and, barring a miraculously effective alibi, will forever remain so…
A seething mass of news people swarmed the former speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives on his way in and out of the Dirksen Federal Building like piranha drawn to a crippled calf.
Gawkers and protesters vied on the sidewalk for a mere peek at his hunched frame as he made his first court appearance since being charged in a federal indictment.
Inside the courthouse, Hastert found no respite either. Although the news media was kept at a more respectful distance, the eyes of an entire courtroom seemed to sear into his flesh as he squirmed self-consciously under the attention.
Hunched and tight-lipped, he was ushered into the elevator, ignoring shouted questions. There will be a lot of that in the months ahead, if the plan is to go to trial. But Hastert already looks like he’s doing time.
* Considering the attacks yesterday, Speaker Madigan did his level best to remain calm and answer the governor’s accusations point by point during a press conference yesterday. It’s a must-watch, via our good friends at BlueRoomStream.com…
House Speaker Michael Madigan, the Chicago Democrat whom Rauner again Tuesday labeled an insider profiting through private legal work from government, reiterated his response to the Rauner agenda: “The solution to that lies in moderation.”
“Both Democrats and Republicans in the Legislature view these issues as reducing the wage levels of workers in the state and reducing the standard of living for people in the state,” Madigan said.
In response to the governor, Madigan said his law firm works on correcting errors in property-value assessments and that he enforces strict ethical conduct.
Madigan added that his law practice has to do with contesting errors in assessments. He encouraged Rauner to maintain a level of professionalism and repeatedly said he vowed to do the same.
“I imposed strict requirements on my law firm and myself to ensure ethical conduct. I go to great lengths to make certain there is a clear division between my practice and my actions as a public official. Any potential client seeking a state benefit is rejected. If a client requests an intercession with a state agency I refuse. . . . Those policies have been in place for 20, 25, 30 years and I have religiously followed those policies,” Madigan told reporters. “I’ve been through these things before. I know that name-calling and leveling of accusations doesn’t do any good for the legislative process.”
And while some Democrats supported the idea of a property tax freeze, they don’t support eliminating prevailing wage at the local level or changing collective bargaining agreements.
House Speaker Michael Madigan calls that part of the proposal an “extreme.”
“I feel that both Democrats and Republicans in the legislature will view these issues as reducing the wage levels of workers in the state and reducing the standard of living of people in the state,” said Speaker Madigan.
“The charges are baseless,” said Steve Brown, a Madigan spokesman. “The Madigan law firm does not benefit at all from higher taxes.” […]
A spokeswoman for Cullerton said he had met with the governor to discuss how to pursue property-tax freezes while addressing school funding needs. “Instead of demonstrating a willingness to compromise, the governor defaulted to campaign style mudslinging and personal attacks,” said Rikeesha Phelon.
“(Rauner’s) comments are unfortunate,” Cullerton spokeswoman Rikeesha Phelon said. “If he would rather go on the personal attacks rather than talk about reasonable compromises for a property tax freeze, I’d say we have a long way to go.” […]
Madigan defended the process, saying the situation was of Rauner’s making and Democrats were giving Republicans “the opportunity to vote for what their governor has requested.”
“We don’t agree with the governor on the advocacy of his nonbudget issues, but taking up those issues for consideration is an accommodation to the governor,” Madigan said. “We’re here, we’re available, we’re interested in ideas, we’re interested in new ideas. We want to get the job done.”
Madigan criticized Rauner’s unwillingness to compromise on his five points. He said Republicans had a chance to pass a bipartisan bill granting a property tax freeze without local control.
“It’s very interesting that there are over 40 Democrats voting for a freeze on property taxes,” he said. “All we need is 31 Republicans, and the bill would be in the Senate. It would be half way home.”
* We’ll look at the responses to the governor’s press conference yesterday in a separate post. Let’s start with Reuters…
Republican Governor Bruce Rauner of Illinois accused Democratic House Speaker Michael Madigan of personally profiting from the “status quo” as the two leaders fought over the state’s budget crisis.
“Mike Madigan is making millions — millions — from his law firm, from high property taxes,” Rauner said. “Right now, the insiders, the political class, is winning and hard-working families, taxpayers, small-business owners and homeowners, they’re losing and they’re leaving.”
Rauner amped up his criticism of the Democratic leaders, who said both of the lawyers make money off their tax law practices which is a “conflict of interest.” He said the speaker makes “millions” of dollars off of high property taxes and Cullerton makes his “wealth” off of “government inside deals.”
However, Rauner said later that the defeated [property tax freeze] legislation lacked “the single most important reform” in the property tax issue — allowing local governments to ignore the state’s prevailing wage requirement on public works projects and also allowing them to restrict the issues that are subject to collective bargaining with public employee unions such as insurance benefits and privatizing some work.
“My concern is there is not a real sincere focus on controlling costs in local government and getting control in the long term,” Rauner said at a news conference at the Executive Mansion. “Here’s the critical thing we are proposing: We want local voters to control what gets bargained. It empowers local voters.” […]
Rauner said a bill that had a property tax freeze without the collective bargaining and prevailing wage proposals wasn’t real reform.
“Having no real reform and then declaring victory is the way we’ve gotten into the mess we’re in,” Rauner said.
[Gov. Rauner] called debate on the issue in the Legislature a “general, vague discussion and more commentary.”
“Our property taxes — it’s not debatable — that they are punishing our homeowners, punishing our small business owners, punishing Illinois’ competitiveness, causing us to lose jobs, causing family incomes in Illinois to be lower than they should be,” Rauner said. “It’s our biggest tax problem. That’s not debatable and for the Senate to spend time today debating or wondering how important property taxes are or how big a problem they are, that’s a waste of time.”
Following a pattern that has consumed much of the session since early May, Democrats publicly took apart a Rauner proposal to freeze property taxes while setting themselves up to argue in the coming weeks that they had extended an olive branch of compromise.
Rauner, meanwhile, dismissed the activity as a “waste of time,” saying Democrats were not serious about negotiating a deal because their two legislative leaders work at law firms that make money contesting property tax bills. […]
“The ideas on the table didn’t include what really matters, I’ll say that,” Rauner told reporters at a news conference he convened outside the governor’s mansion. The union provisions, which Rauner refers to as “local control of government costs,” are “the single most important thing,” Rauner said. […]
“They [Madigan and Cullerton] have a fundamental conflict of interest with the taxpayers, with homeowners, small business owners in the state,” Rauner said. “We recognize that conflict of interest and we’ve got to talk candidly about the challenges that are in front of us.”
“The cronies, the patronage workers, the bureaucrats, the government insiders. They’re doing well under Speaker Madigan,” he said. “Speaker Madigan is making millions of dollars from the status quo in Illinois.”
Rauner says he’s compromised too, reducing his “turnaround agenda” to five points, with fair legislative remapping and restrictions on civil-liability lawsuits rounding out the plan.
“They’ve refused to have real negotiations on specific issues in those five bills,” Rauner told reporters outside the Executive Mansion as the House debated the tax measure. […]
Asked why he won’t accept the stand-alone tax freeze, take credit, and continue working on the tangential issues, the governor rejected the idea as an ultimately hurtful victory.
“That’s how we get in the mess we’re in,” Rauner said. “We can’t afford to nibble around the edges with very, very, minor, short-term things that don’t change the long-term trajectory of the state and then declare victory. That would be a failure of the people of Illinois.”
The governor’s full press conference is on BlueRoomStream’s site. Click here to watch.
“The governments belong to the local voters and the taxpayers. They don’t belong to the special interest groups that work for the government or that are inside government. The governments have got to be responsive and owned by local voters and local taxpayers. That’s what our bill does. It empowers local voters,” said Gov. Rauner.
Wednesday, Jun 10, 2015 - Posted by Advertising Department
[The following is a paid advertisement.]
The cable industry is asking lawmakers to place a NEW 5% tax on satellite TV service. The satellite tax is not about fairness, equity or parity – it’s a tax increase on the 1.3 million Illinois families and businesses who subscribe to satellite TV.
Satellite Tax Will Hurt Illinois Families and Small Businesses
• Satellite TV subscribers will see their monthly bills go up 5%.
• This tax will impact every bar, restaurant and hotel that subscribes to satellite TV service, which will translate into higher prices, decreased revenues, and fewer jobs.
• Rural Illinois has no choice: In many parts of Illinois, cable refuses to provide TV service to rural communities. Satellite TV is their only option.
Satellite Tax Is Not About Parity or Fairness
• Cable’s claim that this discriminatory tax is justified because satellite TV doesn’t pay local franchise fees could not be further from the truth. Cable pays those fees to local towns and cities in exchange for the right to bury cables in the public rights of way—a right that cable companies value in the tens of billions of dollars in their SEC filings.
• Satellite companies don’t pay franchise fees for one simple reason: We use satellites—unlike cable, we don’t need to dig up streets and sidewalks to deliver our TV service.
• Making satellite subscribers pay franchise fees—or, in this case, an equivalent amount in taxes—would be like taxing the air. It’s no different than making airline passengers pay a fee for laying railroad tracks. They don’t use; they shouldn’t have to pay for it.
State employees to rally in support of public services, call on Gov. Rauner to settle fair contract
After six months of negotiations over a new union contract for state of Illinois employees and with less than a month until the current agreement is set to expire on June 30, the Rauner Administration continues to make extreme demands, leaving the two sides very far from a settlement.
It’s against this backdrop that thousands of public service workers employed by state government agencies are participating in more than 100 planned public events throughout Illinois this week. The events—including rallies, marches, leafleting, food drives and more—are raising awareness of the vital public services provided by state employees in every Illinois community, and urging support for settling a fair contract without disrupting those services.
Selected events taking place TODAY—Wednesday, June 10—include:
ALTON Alton Mental Health Center, 4500 College Ave., 3:15 p.m.
ANNA Choate Mental Health Center, 1000 N Main, 11:45 a.m.
AURORA Employment Security office, 260 E Indian Trail Rd., 12:30 p.m.
BLOOMINGTON Human Services office, 501 W Washington, 12:15 p.m.
CHAMPAIGN regional office building, 2125 S First St., 12:15 p.m.
CHARLESTON Human Services office, 1550 Douglas St., 12:15 p.m.
CHICAGO (LOOP) Human Services office, 33 S State, 12:30 p.m.
(SOUTH LOOP) Human Services office, 1112 S Wabash, 12:15 p.m.
(SOUTH SIDE) – Human Services office, 8001 S Cottage Grove Ave., 12:15 p.m.
DANVILLE Human Services office, 220 S Bowman Ave., 12:15 p.m.
GALESBURG Children and Family Services office, 467 E Main St., 12:15 p.m.
JOLIET Human Services employees, corner of Chicago and Webster, 12:15 p.m.
KANKAKEE Shapiro Mental Health Center, 100 E Jeffrey, 11:30 a.m.
PONTIAC Pontiac Correctional Center, corner of Lincoln and Vermilion, 2:00 p.m.
ROCK ISLAND Human Services office, 500 42nd St., 12:15 p.m.
Events happening throughout the state tomorrow will be advised later.
In related efforts, more than 20,000 yard signs saying, “We Support State Workers” have been distributed across Illinois in recent weeks, and hundreds of local businesses have posted window signs reading, “State Employees Serve Our Community.”
Public service workers in state government protect public safety, prevent child abuse, care for veterans and people with disabilities, fight crime, respond to emergencies, help struggling families, protect public health, ensure clean air and clean water, maintain state parks and much more.
State employees have never been locked out or forced to strike in some 40 years of collective bargaining in Illinois. But as a candidate, Gov. Rauner repeatedly vowed to “shut down state government” in order to weaken the rights and drive down the wages of public service workers. Since taking office, he has pushed for budget cuts that are harmful to children, seniors and middle-class families, and has spent months giving speeches that attack working people instead of compromising to solve real problems.
Good morning. Please find below a news release on the Illinois House of Representatives’ repeated attempts Tuesday to pass property tax relief for Illinois homeowners. For more information, please contact Rep. John Bradley at xxx-xxx-xxxx.
Rauner Property Tax Relief Proposal Debated in Illinois House, Rejected by House Republicans
SPRINGFIELD, Ill. – For the third time in less than a month, Illinois House Republicans refused to support legislation to freeze property taxes statewide. This time, one of the measures included the exact property tax language Gov. Bruce Rauner has proposed.
“I’m disappointed that House Republicans would again turn their backs on middle-class families and homeowners who struggle to pay their property taxes,” said state Rep. John Bradley, D-Marion, who sponsored one of the tax relief measures. “The record is clear: House Republicans have rejected freezing property taxes not once, not twice, but three times in less than one month’s time.”
On Tuesday, the House debated two measures to freeze property taxes statewide, including House Bill 691 proposed by Bradley. Even though Bradley’s proposal was identical to property tax relief language proposed by Gov. Bruce Rauner, the failure of House Republicans to support the measure led to its defeat.
“House Republicans don’t want compromise, they don’t want to help struggling homeowners and they don’t want to strengthen Illinois’ middle class,” Bradley said. “Three times within a month the House voted to freeze property taxes, and all three attempts were overwhelmingly opposed by House Republicans, including a bill that included Governor Rauner’s own proposal.”
Bradley said he expects the House to continue debating property tax relief for Illinois homeowners, hoping at some point House Republicans will find a proposal they can support.
“The simple question to House Republicans is: are you loyal to your political party, or are you going to vote for taxpayers and homeowners?,” Bradley said.
Rep. Bradley is expected to be a Tier One target next year, so that explains much of this.
But, as we’ll get into more today, the Statehouse atmosphere took a turn for the worse yesterday and this just continues it.
Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s top City Council ally on Tuesday said Gov. Bruce Rauner’s political inexperience and his background in business are complicating matters as the first-term governor tries to reach agreement with the “tremendously experienced” Democrats who control both legislative branches in Springfield. […]
“One of the things Harry Truman said about businessmen when they go into politics… he said the difficulty with businessmen entering politics after they’ve had successful business careers is that they want to start at the top,” O’Connor said in a reference to Rauner’s time in private equity before he ran for governor. “And sometimes government needs a learning curve. Sometimes it’s not as easy as it looks. And sometimes, just because you say it doesn’t mean it’s going to happen.” […]
“And so we’ve got a very inexperienced group in the governor’s office against a tremendously experienced group in the House and the Senate, two individuals who over the course of the last year-and-a-half have been vilified, called names, basically portrayed as evil, corrupt individuals. And now we expect them all to sit down at the table and get along, and put it all behind them and solve our problem. It’s a daunting task,” he said. “And so, for the people who think about ‘Why can’t they just get on with it,’ they’re all human and they’ve all come off a campaign that essentially just tried to eviscerate each other.”
“I would hope both sides don’t escalate their attacks. I’m happy I haven’t seen any advertisements and I hope the Democrats stop sending their mailers. I’m not sure either side is going to scare the other side into an agreement.
“I’ve been in a lot of battles and, a year later, you can’t even remember what they were,” he said. “You get caught up in these things. Keep your eye on the bigger picture. We have to have an adequate budget, which we haven’t had for a long time.”
* OK, but Gov. Rauner just told reporters that Speaker Madigan and Senate President Cullerton make money off their property tax law practices which is a “conflict of interest” because they make more money when property taxes are high. He claimed Madigan makes “millions” off of high property taxes and Cullerton makes his “wealth” off of “government inside deals.”
You gotta wonder if Rauner had the stones to tell that to Cullerton’s face when the two met earlier today.
Just a thought, but perhaps Edgar ought to make his “calm down” case directly to the governor himself, because it isn’t what I’m hearing that Edgar has actually been saying.
An Illinois House member has returned fire in what Gov. Bruce Rauner’s staff calls Democrats’ “sexist smear campaign” against the administration’s education adviser.
Chicago Democratic Rep. Sara Feigenholtz told colleagues on a House appropriations committee Tuesday that the Republican governor’s proposed cuts in daycare services are “ultimately the biggest act of sexism.”
Rauner representatives labeled Democrats sexist last week when the committee reviewed the $250,000-a-year contract for education czar Beth Purvis. It’s funded by the Department of Human Services’ budget — a target of Rauner spending cuts.
If there is indeed a government shutdown, however large or small that is, that’s what taking on the Illinois political machine looks like. The long-term benefits of enacting Rauner’s reform agenda far outweigh any short-term impact of a temporary government shutdown.
Voters sent Rauner to Springfield to “shake things up.” If Illinois wants to break away from the downward spiral it’s on, “shutting things down” might be the price we need to pay.
When Minnesota state government shut down in 2011, as much as 80 percent of the government continued to operate. […]
If it happens in Illinois, the usual crew will be taken care of: Under state law, politicians, pensioners and government workers will still collect paychecks. No wonder Illinoisans are so jaded about state politics.
Minnesota missed its budget deadline by only 20 days. That’s nothing compared to what could happen here if the players engage in the full-blown war that Rickert so desires.
Also, state workers here won’t collect paychecks unless they get a judicial order. Come August, however, when the school aid payment doesn’t go out and schools announce they can’t afford to open their doors, you’re gonna hear some serious screaming.
* Kristen McQueary goes a bit overboard in her warning of what could happen with a possible AFSCME strike, but perhaps Ms. Rickert should read it anyway in the context of her own confident war-mongering…
You’ll start squawking when your elderly neighbor’s home care worker doesn’t show up or the state park reserved for your daughter’s wedding gets closed. If unionized workers in the secretary of state’s office honor their striking comrades in AFSCME, you’ll have second thoughts when your driver’s license expires or your teenager needs a driver’s permit.
You won’t have much patience for a strike when the Thompson Center closes or the state election board stops answering the phone or your kid’s university shuts down. You might reconsider Rauner’s tough stance with AFSCME when you can’t get your professional license renewed or your tax return processed.
And of course there are more serious consequences to a strike. How would it affect caseworkers at the Department of Children and Family Services who check on children suspected of being abused? What about severely disabled children and adults who rely on state-employed health care professionals? What about the essential providers — addiction centers and day care centers and juvenile homes — that can barely keep their doors open, waiting for reimbursement from the state? If the state shuts down, all bets are off.
There are no-strike clauses in state government, so there will be no sympathy strikes at the SoS. But those offices could very well shut down during a state budget impasse.
And the universities won’t be impacted by an AFSCME strike, either, and state support is only a small portion of their income, so I doubt any will close their doors anytime soon during a shutdown.
Still, the rest of it is mostly plausible, and not at all pleasant.
The Democrats’ $36.3 billion spending plan for the fiscal year that begins in July avoids about $5 billion in cuts Gov. Bruce Rauner has proposed. Madigan said the Legislature is committed to “work with the governor” to raise the funds needed to protect vulnerable residents.
Here’s the problem: Illinois residents aren’t interested in Democrats working with the Republican governor on ways to raise funds, which is a nicer way of saying, “Raise taxes.” […]
If Illinois residents wanted more of the same, they would have voted for Pat Quinn in November. They didn’t. They voted for Rauner, who promised smaller government and to run the state like a business.
We can’t trust lawmakers with more money. Last time we gave lawmakers more money after a shady, lame-duck vote to raise taxes, they didn’t use the money the way they promised.
Illinois needs to examine spending, not look at ways to find more money so it can spend more money.
OK, first of all, that $5 billion appears to include Rauner’s phony $2.2 billion in savings from shorting the pension funds. Most of the rest can’t be done without significant change to state statutes, like the nearly $800 million he would save by taking health insurance out of the collective bargaining process.
* Secondly, and more importantly, the governor has repeatedly said that he is quite willing to raise taxes if he gets his Turnaround Agenda passed. He offered a one-point income tax increase, which would yield $3.5 billion and take us up to 4.75 percent.
He’s also repeatedly floated the idea of a service tax, which would likely be used to fund a capital bill. The satellite TV tax is also apparently in the mix for that same purpose.
So, all the editorial boards cheering the governor for opposing a tax hike might want to keep in mind that he’s not actually with their program.
Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner told the leadership at the Hardin County Work Camp to prepare for imminent closure despite the fact that the prisoners provide food to local food banks, and cheap labor to local communities. […[
“I don’t want to cut,” Rauner said. “I don’t want to close facilities. I don’t want to do that at all. Madigan and Cullerton have caused this by their financial mismanagement and we’re going to fix it.”
* And thirdly, the governor’s original budget was pretty darned ham-handed, as Zorn explained recently…
Yes, he released a budget document in February. It contained controversial and, to some, alarming cuts to mass transit, higher education, local governments, human service and Medicaid as part of his effort to make up a roughly $6 billion anticipated shortfall in the fiscal year that begins July 1.
It’s hard enough when one side isn’t bringing to the table a tangential set of supposedly non-negotiable demands.
I won’t pretend here to catch the vapors over the very idea of a politician using leverage in one area to extract policy concessions in another, but really? Is Gov. Rauner really planning to hold our state’s most vulnerable citizens hostage until he’s able to check a few items off his broader agenda? Does he really think he has a popular mandate to try to impose dramatic cuts in programs and services if he doesn’t get his way on workers’ comp and property taxes?
Maybe so. But before you fit him for his white hat, you ought to find out what those cuts will look like. Or, since he’s unlikely to say, you ought to at least try to imagine.
Do you remember your first serious crush? You couldn’t think straight, and your tongue got so thick you could hardly get a sentence out without coughing and clearing your throat. It’s sort of the way the Tribune has sounded since it swooned over Bruce Rauner.
And if you’re not blushing and gasping in the throes of adolescent ardor, you’re blurting out besotted hyperboles.
“Mostly they want to scare you, then break you,” said the lovestruck editorial page on May 29, speaking directly to the governor. “You don’t seem fazed . . . . You come across as a patient man. . . . You also come across as a focused man. A governor who won’t flinch . . . . The crony-coddlers in Springfield—and their loyalists who live off state spending—finally have met someone they don’t frighten . . . . You, Governor, are free to keep calm and stand pat. How liberating to answer only to the voters who sent you.”
It was an editorial that might have ended, “Take me.”
* I wouldn’t be too sure that these things are necessarily connected…
Gov. Bruce Rauner’s administration has extended the contract of one if its top-paid consultants, Donna Arduin, but is cutting her $30,000-a-month fee in half, following increased scrutiny over a governor’s office practice of paying top dollar to appointees while threatening to slash state services.
The move comes after an Illinois House committee held a hearing last week reviewing why another top appointee, education secretary Beth Purvis, was drawing her $250,000 salary out of the Department of Human Services, rather than the governor’s office budget. That same committee has called on Purvis to appear for testimony on Tuesday, said state Rep. Greg Harris, D-Chicago. Harris could not yet say whether she would attend.
“Her compensation has been reduced by half from her previous contract and will terminate when the final budget is signed or on August 28, whichever comes first,” according to a statement from the governor’s office.
Sen. Andy Manar, D-Bunker Hill, said Monday he hasn’t changed his view that a property tax freeze should only be discussed in conjunction with school funding reform — to ensure that school districts aren’t handcuffed by having their principal source of revenue frozen.
“Senate Democrats for weeks now have been willing to negotiate with Gov. Rauner on a property tax freeze, provided his willingness to discuss reforming school funding in the state, because the two go hand-in-hand,” Manar said. “So far the governor has been just summarily dismissive of that idea. It would be irresponsible to proceed as the governor suggested without taking into consideration the financial plight of hundreds of school districts in the state today.”
The Rauner administration says Manar is under the control of House Speaker Michael Madigan and Senate President John Cullerton, both Chicago Democrats.
“Everyone in Illinois knows that property taxes are too high, and the governor will continue to fight for a property tax freeze,” spokesman Lance Trover said. “Rather than finding excuses to block a property tax freeze, we urge Madigan-Cullerton Democrats like Andy Manar to support a property tax freeze and work with Governor Rauner to increase funding to public education.”
* Text message from a trusted friend…
Just got an IVR poll. Direction of Illinois. Support MJM plan to raise taxes. Support Rauner plan to balance budget and hold line on taxes. Do you support [Rep. Stephanie] Kifowit even though she votes with MJM? Would you support a different candidate? Do you always vote party line or do you vote independently?
Tuesday, Jun 9, 2015 - Posted by Advertising Department
[The following is a paid advertisement.]
Credit unions have a well-recognized reputation for providing exemplary service in meeting their members’ daily financial needs. A “People Helping People” philosophy also motivates credit unions to support countless community charitable activities on a continual basis.
Financial Plus Credit Union in Ottawa is no exception, having raised and donated tens of thousands of dollars for many worthwhile causes throughout north central Illinois. This includes serving as the main sponsor and co-host of the local Easter Seals telethon, conducting food drives for local food pantries, collecting supplies during times of disaster, and much more. Donation canisters in the credit union’s lobbies also facilitate collections for a different local organization each quarter. In addition, Financial Plus staff members themselves have come to the aid of the community via donating individual funds to help families facing significant medical crises, and purchasing holiday gifts on a private basis for foster children.
Credit unions are able to wholly serve their communities because of their not-for-profit cooperative structure and leadership of a volunteer board elected by and from the local membership. Credit unions– locally owned, voluntarily led, and Paying it Forward in your community.
A southern Illinois speech meant to build public support for Gov. Bruce Rauner’s legislative agenda amid a budget impasse with majority Democratic lawmakers instead turned into a test of the first-term Republican’s ability to stay on message, as he faced a flurry of taunts from union protesters.
Sign-carrying members of the International Brotherhood of Electric Workers Local 309 in Collinsville and the Caseyville-based Steamfitters Local 439 repeatedly interrupted Rauner’s nine-minute pitch at Eckert’s Country Store and Farm. The St. Clair County rally Monday afternoon followed a similar event earlier in the day in Marion. […]
“This is going to be a rough summer,” [Rauner] told reporters after the rally, during which he repeatedly laid fault for the impasse with the “Chicago political machine,” a reference that drew the event’s loudest cheers of support. “They’ve just not negotiated in good faith. We need bipartisan compromise.”
I think this was the first time since the campaign ended that union protesters have booed the governor.
When Rauner met with reporters after the speech, he repeated a warning he’s been giving a lot lately: Get ready for “a rough summer.”
“We’ve got to get the power away from (Madigan and Cullerton). They’re not going to give it up easily, this is going to be a rough summer,” Rauner said. “We’re going to negotiate in good faith. We have been for months. We want bipartisan agreement.”
“It’s going to be a number of weeks” before a deal is made, but Rauner said he wants to avoid a state government shutdown. But he said his office is “making contingency plans” anyway since none of the budget bills the General Assembly passed have been delivered to his desk.
A mix of cheers and boos among about 200 people greeted Gov. Bruce Rauner on Monday in Marion.
Both Mayor Robert Butler, as he introduced the Republican governor, and Rauner himself noted Democracy at work in response to the split crowd.
Many who turned out for the appearance at Black Diamond Harley-Davidson were union members with signs calling Rauner bad for Illinois and for jobs. Pro-Rauner signs carried a contrary message.
Rauner, when asked later about the protesters, characterized them as partisan supporters of Democratic House Speaker Michael Madigan and Democratic Senate President John Cullerton.
“There are folks who, the status quo is good to them, and they’re loyal to Madigan, they’ve got a relationship there,” said Rauner. “The reality is, working families in this state are suffering. Suffering … Madigan and Cullerton aren’t for working families. They’re for the political class.”
