* You probably saw this go by in the live feed yesterday…
Ousted Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich turned to defense attorney Sheldon Sorosky and asked “What happened?” after he was found guilty of 17 of 20 charges in his corruption retrial.
* And then there was this quote as Blagojevich talked to reporters…
She died late Monday evening at Riverside Medical Center in Kankakee after a long bout with cancer, said Kankakee County Coroner Robert Gessner. She was 76.
Ryan had been released from his prison cell in Terre Haute, Ind., to spend several hours with her on Monday, one of four times since January the prison’s warden has allowed the former governor to see his ailing wife, despite repeatedly denied requests from the courts.
“It was enormously important to him and to her,” said Ryan attorney former Gov. Jim Thompson. “They’ve been together all their lives really.”
According to the Associated Press, the convictions carry a combined maximum prison sentence of around 300 years, but legal experts say a federal judge is likely to send him away for around a decade, give or take a few years.
But Blagojevich, when sentenced later this year, could be awarded 10 to 15 years in jail, according to other legal experts.
“Somewhere between six and 11 years. The sentencing guidelines by the United States Sentencing Commission have a mathematical formula. You punch in who he is, what he did, whether drugs were involved-which they weren’t - weapons, etc. and it gives you a range the judge will be able to sentence him. I think it will be a range somewhere between six and seven on the bottom and 11 on the top,” said Prof. Richard Kling, Kent College of Law.
George Ryan got 6 and a half years.
A status hearing is set for August 11th. A sentencing hearing schedule could be set then.
Before Blagojevich is sentenced, a probation officer using federal sentencing guidelines will calculate the range of punishment faced by Blagojevich. Then prosecutors and Blagojevich’s lawyers will argue about why more time should be added or shaved off.
Since the sentencing guidelines were made advisory and not mandatory about six years ago, Zagel has wide discretion to impose the sentence he thinks is just and fair.
“It’s the essential judgment call,” said former federal prosecutor Dean Polales, who is now a criminal-defense attorney. “The burden is entirely on him.”
Among the factors to be weighed are criminal history, the nature and circumstance of the offense, and the need for deterrence. Judges often also consider family circumstances.
The government will be certain to raise Blagojevich’s breach of the public trust as well as the pervasive culture of corruption that swirled around his administration, Loeb said.
And if he continues to insist he’s innocent? Bad things will happen come sentencing time. Remorseless convicts are rarely given a judicial break.
Also, just think of the deterrence factor if he did get 300 years. That’d make folks think twice, I’d wager.
Convicted of 18 felonies, including the lying charge from a year ago, Blagojevich will be required to post additional bond to remain free. He is likely to put up the remaining equity he has in his Ravenswood home and a half-million dollar condo in Washington. Details will be worked out within the next week at a meeting between his attorneys and prosecutors.
“There’ll be some paperwork that needs to be filled out in terms of his ability to post those things in a forfeiture agreement that he’ll sign and they’ll secure his bond,” said Reid Schar, assistant U.S. Attorney.
There are the post trial motions due four weeks from Monday on July 25. Among them: whether a Blagojevich request to remain free on bond as his appeal is considered. He would have to show a compelling reason that his appeal is likely to succeed, a standard difficult to meet. It didn’t succeed for ex-governor George Ryan.
Blagojevich lawyers will argue the conviction should be reversed because the ex-governor wasn’t allowed to play certain tapes.
His first attorney, Sam Adam Jr., is likely to help prepare the appeal that could take months.
“He was not able to corroborate his own innocence with the tapes that we know and that they wanted to put in that show he was not committing a crime. I think we’ll see that in the Seventh Circuit, I think we’ll see that on the appeal, and I think he’ll end up vindicated,” said Adams Jr.
* Scott Fawell, speaking from experience, offers some sound advice…
Rod will face a different world once he starts prison life. The clothes he wears, his living quarters, his roommates and the food he eats will be decided not by him, but by the Bureau of Prisons . He won’t be Gov. Blagojevich to the prison guards. He’ll be a prisoner with a prison registration number that ends with 424, the “Chicago” designation. His every movement will be limited and watched at all times by the guards and security cameras. He will be given a job earning 12 cents an hour working in the kitchen, as an orderly or on the prison landscaping crew. His communications with loved ones will be limited. He will be allowed 300 phone minutes a month to call home. Three hundred minutes, which averages out to 10 minutes a day. Barely time to say hello, and certainly not enough time to hear about the kids’ school play or deal with even the smallest family crisis. Those matters must wait for visiting day, which may be only one or two weekends a month. Not a lot of time to stay connected.
Daily prison life can be made easier or more difficult depending on your attitude and demeanor. Follow the rules, don’t rock the boat, be respectful of the staff and your life can be bearable. Be arrogant, obnoxious and disrespectful, and the guards and staff can and will make your life a living hell. This is not an environment where independent thought, discussion or actions are encouraged. It’s the BOP’s game, on its court, playing by its rules. You learn quickly to play ball or you pay a price. I was given this piece of advice by an old friend who had been in federal prison: “Check your ego and personality at the door when you check in, and pick them back up on the way out.” It was sound advice. […]
It’s essential that you stay mentally strong. You can make the time bearable or you can let it eat away at you. It’s really only up to you. While I can’t say prison wasn’t difficult and certainly challenging at times, I can say prison is not the end. Rod, here’s some unsolicited advice. Go serve your time quietly, get out and then just move on with your life.
When Betty Loren-Maltese caught glimpses of Rod Blagojevich preening for the cameras during his corruption trial last year, one thought kept coming back to her: This guy is not ready for prison.
Loren-Maltese, the former town president of Cicero, is an expert on the subject. After being convicted in 2002 of helping bilk her town out of $12 million, she spent seven years in federal custody before gaining her freedom last year.
Though she thinks Blagojevich toned down his celebrity act during the second trial, Loren-Maltese still wonders how he’ll adjust to the stark, often humiliating existence behind bars.
“Most people have a fixed opinion of politicians,” she said. “A lot of prisoners feel (politicians) might even be responsible for them being in prison. I don’t think it’ll be easy for him, but it’ll definitely change his attitude and make him realize he’s not the king.”
* Related…
* Prison wouldn’t mean end of locks for Blagojevich
* Blagojevich likely to lose state pension, keep federal perk: Ex-Gov. Rod Blagojevich stands to lose a $65,000-a-year state pension as a felon, but he’s likely to be eligible for $15,000 a year in federal retirement pay for his time as a congressman. The defrocked Democrat also would be eligible for a refund of about $128,000 in personal contributions he made to the state’s retirement fund.
* Yesterday, Gov. Pat Quinn reacted to the Rod Blagojevich verdict by reviving his proposal from last year to give Illinoisans a right to petition the General Assembly to act on ethics bills. Listen…
Quinn used his amendatory veto pen last year to add this referenda language. It would require 100,000 signatures be gathered and then the proposal would be submitted to the House, which would be required to vote up or down. If it pased, it would move on to the Senate, which would also have to give it a recorded vote. If it failed to become law, the proposal would be put on the ballot as an advisory referendum.
Since last year’s AV, the governor appeared to drop the whole idea and didn’t press for its passage during session this year.
* As I told you yesterday, Quinn also wants a conflict of interest law for the General Assembly. That’s easier said than done, of course. For instance, should a farmer be prohibited from voting on farm bills? Or do you go the way of Congress and forbid all outside income unless assets are put into a blind trust?
* Quinn also talked about open primaries. This is a longstanding cause for the governor, but he’s always been rebuffed. And he spoke about expanding recall to more state and local officials.
Ronan said that despite appearances of business as usual, in some cases the reform movement has gone too far. The climate post-Blagojevich is so sensitive to appearances of conflicts of interest, he said, that it slows innovation and drives businesses away.
“They broke the system for procurement,” Ronan said of the contract-awarding process. “Right now, it’s difficult for legitimate businesses to go through the machinations.”
Changes in the procurement process restrict the contact companies seeking business with the state of Illinois can have with state agency personnel. An engineering firm with new technology to build bridges, for example, can’t meet with Illinois Department of Transportation officials to talk about it, and then bid on a project to install the technology, Ronan said.
The paperwork — and fear that any behind-the-scenes meetings might spur speculation of an inside deal – have resulted in undue, unreasonable constraints and caused some businesses to simply look elsewhere, he said.
* Meanwhile, two Tribune reporters offer up this bit of analysis…
Republicans had hoped to capitalize last year on Blagojevich’s tainted past, yet found themselves losing a third straight election for governor. This time the loss was at the hands of Pat Quinn, the lieutenant governor who ascended to the top spot after Blagojevich was impeached and removed.
Blagojevich himself may be partly responsible for the lack of change. As governor, he courted Republican insiders and others who could strengthen his political hand, regardless of whether it built his standing with fellow Democrats.
Even out of office, the focus was on Blagojevich’s behavior. Instead of keeping his mouth shut as so many politicians facing criminal charges have done in the past, he took two national media tours to tout his innocence, wrote a book, hosted a radio talk show and appeared in a “reality” TV show.
The glib Blagojevich was routinely portrayed as a fool, the jester who turned Illinois politics into the punch line of a national joke. But that also allowed the state’s political class to portray him as an oddity instead of a symptom of a troubled system.
Voters seemed to see it the same way.
He was most certainly an outlier. If the system was full of Rod Blagojevich types, we’d have crashed and burned long ago. The man was a menace.
On Monday, [Fitzgerald] said the key question for the jury was whether to accept the defense suggestion that Blagojevich’s activities amounted to “the kind of political wheeling and dealing that is common in Illinois and around the country.”
“That,” said Fitzgerald, his voice rising, “couldn’t be any further from the truth. … Selling a Senate seat, shaking down a children’s hospital and squeezing a person to give money before you sign a bill that benefits them is not a gray area. It’s a crime.”
* The Tribune editorial board, however, is not impressed…
In the background, the cadence from Springfield never varies: Trust us — We fixed it! Blagojevich was an outlier. You can relax.
Relaxing, though, got the people of Illinois where we are. Too many of us do not treat elections as choices of how respectfully we’ll be governed. U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald alluded to that abdication of civic duty when he announced Blagojevich’s arrest in December 2008. Fitzgerald talked about the pervasive corruption in Illinois and how the feds alone couldn’t end it: “You look to the FBI to do a lot. You look to law enforcement to do a lot. But the real effort to clean up corruption is going to start with the citizenry.”
Blagojevich was an outlier, and, yes, the problem isn’t fixed, and, yes, we need better candidates. Maybe if the Tribune hadn’t wasted its endorsement on Andy McKenna last year, an electable Republican might’ve been nominated. Newspapers don’t have all that much power these days, but even the Trib could’ve swung a couple hundred votes to Kirk Dillard. Also, with the awesome corporate political power unleashed nationally by the US Supreme Court, you’re not going to find many Democratic politicians amenable to putting even stricter campaign caps into law.
Look closely, though, and you’ll see that Illinois already has begun putting the Blago era behind it.
The state Legislature passed important ethics reforms in the dark months following Blagojevich’s arrest. Illinois enacted its first-ever limit on campaign donations, improved the way it lets contracts and strengthened its freedom of information law. And this spring, for the first time in years, we witnessed the workings of functioning state Legislature.
During the Blagojevich years, the governor was deemed so untrustworthy that few in the Legislature would work with him, bringing the process to a halt.
But this spring, the Democratic-led Legislature started its budget work by responsibly projecting state revenues — a novel concept! — and passing a budget. The
Legislature passed a major education-reform package and fixed a broken workers-compensation system.
That was progress, although nobody would call it a whole new day. As Jim Bray of the Illinois Campaign for Political Reform, puts it: “The bar was extremely low.”
None other than House Speaker Michael Madigan — Blagojevich’s political nemesis, we learned in his two trials — co-chaired Blagojevich’s re-election campaign. Apparently in Illinois, having a Democrat as governor was more important than having a governor unencumbered by a federal investigation.
Party leaders can make all the excuses they want for their support of Blagojevich in 2006 — he had too much money to challenge in a primary, we only nominally supported him — but it changes nothing. Given what the general public knew about the federal investigation of the administration, and given the poor record Blagojevich had in his first term, the leaders of his party should have had the courage to challenge him.
* We just barely missed setting a new page-view record yesterday, coming up just barely short of Rod Blagojevich’s arrest day. One reason is our new ScribbleLive software, which doesn’t require reloading the page to see updates. Without that, I’m confident we would’ve easily surpassed that crazy December day in 2008 when we were knocked offline for what seemed like an eternity.
Some folks had difficulty accessing the blog yesterday, particularly just as the jury verdict was read. Site speed did slow down quite a bit, but at least we weren’t knocked completely offline like the Sun-Times, WBEZ and others were. And if you were already on the page and watching the ScribbleLive feed, you didn’t notice a thing.
Instead of private ballot, they did a “fist to five” vote, a consensus-building technique Karin Wilson [a teacher from Palatine] suggested. If a juror raised a hand with all five fingers, that meant they were leaning strongly toward guilty. A fist was innocent. If the juror was somewhere in between, the number of fingers held up gave an indication of which way she or he was leaning.
Connie Wilson said they had about four or five separate votes on each count.
* They seemed to be intelligent, calm, rational and respectful…
“Everybody was very respectful,” Hubinek said. “When I think of how a jury should go, this is what I thought about.”
Maribel DeLeon, a juror who often smiled at the ex-governor during his testimony, said she wanted to side with Blagojevich.
The evidence, though, did not side with him.
“I’d come in thinking, ‘OK, he’s not guilty,’ and then all of a sudden I’m like, Gosh darn you, Rod! You did it again!” said DeLeon, the mother of three. “He proved himself guilty beyond any reasonable doubt. He kept saying ‘Do it.’ ‘Push it.’ ‘Get it done.’ That’s where he crossed the line.” [..]
Another described the former politician as coming across as “personable” during parts of seven days on the stand.
“It made it hard to separate that from what we actually had to do as jurors,” said Juror 103, a bartender and self-described “weekend warrior” who pursues photography on the side.
The jury was “12 strangers” who evolved into “an amazing group of people” that should make taxpayers “proud,” the forewoman said. “They were so wanting to keep ‘innocent until proven guilty.’”
Jurors nodded in agreement as one female juror said the easiest decision was finding Blagojevich guilty of trying to peddle President Obama’s former Senate seat for his personal gain. Blagojevich’s defense lawyers contended Blagojevich’s tape-recorded comments about trading the Senate appointment for a high-powered job were just talk from a politician who liked to talk.
“Our verdict shows we did not believe it,” one juror said. She noted that Blagojevich went beyond talk because “there were several times he said, ‘Do it.’”
“There were just so many times he brought it up to people,” noted another juror.
* This is a far cry from the image of juries conjured up by John Kass earlier this week…
All it takes to sway a jury is one relentless personality, first going one way, then going the other, wearing down the more agreeable and placid folks.
How do I know this?
Because I was that personality (aka “that jerk”) when I performed a rather unscientific experiment in jury dynamics many years ago. […]
And I knew that [the jury forewoman] would soon come to hate me.
On the first day of deliberations, I argued against the boy and his grasping lawyers, saying we should all know this for what it was — an insurance scam. […]
But the next day, our brief meeting wasn’t brief. I dragged it out, saying I had a change of heart, because I wondered what would happen if that little boy wanted to attend the U.S. Naval Academy and fly jets? His eye injury might prevent it. […]
In one sense I was merely airing both sides of the argument, which is what jurors are supposed to do. But I was also testing how easily a jury can be manipulated. What I did was wrong, but I was always for the kid anyway, and justice was served.
Thankfully, the Blagojevich jury wasn’t interested in conducting silly experiments.
A package of incentives worth at least $50 million is being offered to Sears to relocate its headquarters and some 5,000 jobs to the Detroit metropolitan area, two sources familiar with the talks said Friday.
Two potential sites in metro Detroit are being offered to Sears. One is Regent Court, a Ford Motor office building in Dearborn. The other is the former Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan complex in Southfield, which is on the market as BCBSM moves employees to downtown Detroit.
Both Wayne and Oakland counties, as well as the Michigan Economic Development Corp., are participating in the attempt to lure the Sears headquarters, the sources said. MEDC had no comment.
The incentives being offered are said to include a mix of tax breaks, relocation grants, housing incentives and more. […]
Kimberly Freely, a spokesperson for Sears Holdings Corp., issued a noncommittal statement Friday. “We do owe it to our associates and shareholders to consider options and alternatives and intend to be very thoughtful and thorough in our deliberations,” the statement said. “Speculation about whether Sears will remain in Hoffman Estates is not fair to our associates, particularly so early in this process.”
If Sears were to take Michigan up on its offer, it would mark a homecoming of sorts. Sears Roebuck & Co. bought Troy, Mich.-based Kmart Corp. in 2005 to form Sears Holdings.
Gov. Pat Quinn has said he would work with Sears to find a way to keep it from leaving Illinois.
The retailer is among 107 companies that will see tax breaks expire in the next three years, a situation that could lead to a number of defections.
* Jim Thompson was the father of Illinois corporate chasing tax breaks, and he reminisced recently with the Tribune’s Melissa Harris
“I think it would be fair to say, that 25 years later, Mitch Daniels next door has the attitude toward his job — as chief salesman for his state — that I did,” Thompson said. “It’s not just the laws of Indiana. It’s what’s the attitude of the state officials? And don’t leave out the legislature. They have as much responsibility for giving the governor the tools, as he does for using the tools.” […]
The Mitsubishi agreement was enormous, even by today’s standards, totaling an estimated $276.1 million when it was announced in 1985, or about $580 million in today’s dollars. The package included everything from $40 million for job training to $11 million for buying the land and $29.7 million in savings on federal import duties. The Tribune reported that Michigan bowed out of the competition the week before, calling the automaker’s requests “excessive.” But Illinois’ package for Sears in 1989 eclipsed it.
Thompson acknowledged it’s harder for Illinois to play offense today because of the state’s fiscal crisis and underfunded pensions. But he said Illinois can still put together a strong pitch based on its transportation infrastructure, universities, cultural attractions and workforce.
The rest, he said, comes down to personality and instinct — “knowing the people and judging their credibility.” Thompson said he couldn’t recall ever turning down a company threatening to leave; nor could he recall writing job-creation or retention requirements into an incentive agreement. Omitting job requirements is rare in the incentive business today.
* In other news, the Post-Dispatch looks at the costs and other drawbacks of smart grid technology…
Across the country, smart grid projects, especially those involving new digital smart meters, have sparked a backlash. In Texas, regulators were asked to investigate the accuracy of the new meters. In San Francisco, customers are worried about electromagnetic radiation. A few California cities have declared moratoriums on the new meters. Privacy advocates worry about what utilities will do with the data they collect on consumer energy use. […]
In Illinois, it’s the debate over the regulatory framework being proposed by utilities that’s raising second thoughts. David Kolata, executive director at Citizens Utility Board, a Chicago-based utility watchdog, said the group backs the bill’s smart grid provisions. What it objects to are more sweeping changes in the legislation that could expose consumers to higher rates. […]
But getting from here to there won’t be easy or cheap. The Electric Power Research Institute estimates implementation of a nationwide smart grid will require investment of as much as $476 billion. […]
.
Advancing the smart grid also requires consumers to buy in. And it has been a tough sell so far. Earlier this month, Kansas City-based Black & Veatch released results of an industry survey showing the main impediment to smart grid implementation is a lack of customer interest and knowledge.
Much of the controversy has focused on the new digital meters. Some consumer advocates, like John Coffman, an attorney for the Consumers Council of Missouri and AARP, worry the devices will prove too expensive and need replacement too quickly. Coffman also worries it could make it too easy for utilities to disconnect customers who fall behind on bills.
* Related…
* 10 brands that won’t be around in 2012: The parent of Sears and Kmart — Sears Holdings — is in a lot of trouble. Total revenue dropped $341 million to $9.7 billion for the quarter which closed April 30, 2011. The company had a net loss of $170 million. Sears Holdings was created by a merger of the parents of the two chains on March 24, 2005. The operation has been a disaster ever since. The company has tried to run 4,000 stores which operate across the US and Canada. Neither Sears nor Kmart have done well recently, but Sears’ domestic locations same store numbers were off 5.2 percent in the first quarter and Kmart’s were down 1.6 percent. Last year domestic comparable store sales declined 1.6 percent in the total, with an increase at Kmart of .7 percent and a decline at Sears Domestic of 3.6 percent. New CEO Lou D’Ambrosio recently said of the last quarter that, “we also fell short on executing with excellence. We cannot control the weather or economy or government spending. But we can control how we execute and leverage the potent set of assets we have.” D’Ambrosio needs to pull a rabbit out of his hat soon. Sharex are down 55 percent during the last five years. D’Ambrosio only reasonable solution to the firm’s financial problems is to stop supporting two brands which compete with one another and larger rivals such as Walmart and Target. The cost to market two brands and maintain stores which overlap one another geographically must be in the hundreds of millions of dollars each year. Employee and supply chain costs are also gigantic. The path D’Ambrosio is likely to take is to consolidate two brand into one — keeping the better performing Kmart and shuttering Sears.
* Tribune editorial: Conventional wisdom: Whatever it takes. Better union rules are only the beginning. To remain a world-class convention venue, Chicago needs to make sure exhibitors and attendees get good value at every turn. That means reining in operating costs unrelated to trade-union rules. It means improving the McCormick Place experience by tying together the convention floor with mobile applications and social-media innovations.
* Emanuel announces plan to expand teacher training program - Academy for Urban School Leadership matches National-Louis graduate students with failing schools
* Chicago test scores up, but officials not satisfied - More kids meet standards on ISAT, but other tests show students are not prepared.
* Troubled West Side School Celebrates a Milestone
Lura Lynn Ryan, wife of former Gov. George Ryan, is on a respirator at Riverside Medical Center after being admitted to the hospital last week, Ryan’s Chicago attorney Jim Thompson said this morning.
Officials at Riverside would not confirm any information regarding her patient status.
Thompson, a former governor himself, would not say when she was admitted. He also would not comment on whether or not George Ryan will be allowed out of the federal penitentiary in Terre Haute, Ind., to visit her. Lura Lynn has been diagnosed with terminal lung cancer.
Commenters should try to remember that this is someone’s mother, grandmother and wife. Disrespectful comments will be deleted.
…Adding… Mrs. Daley has also been in the hospital recently…
Former Chicago first lady Maggie Daley has spent the past week at Northwestern Memorial Hospital, her doctor said today.
Dr. Steven Rosen would not disclose why she was in the hospital or the current state of her health. Daley, 67, has battled metastatic breast cancer since 2002. […]
Rosen said she was scheduled to go home on Sunday.
Illinois drivers and passengers need to buckle up.
That was the message Monday from Gov. Pat Quinn, who signed a new Illinois law requiring everyone riding in a vehicle to wear their seat belts.
Senate President John Cullerton was 1 of the measure’s sponsors, and he says the law will save lives. The bill also was sponsored by the late GOP Rep. Mark Beaubien.
Currently, people riding in the front seat of a vehicle have to wear their seat belts, but people in the back seat are only required to be belted in if they are under 18.
The move strengthens the state’s current seat belt laws, which require passengers in the front seat and anyone under the age of 19 to wear safety belts. Police will be able to stop vehicles if they notice a passenger isn’t strapped in. Fines start at $25.
Exemptions include those riding in taxis or emergency vehicles such as police cars and abulances. The measure was sponsored by Senate President John Cullerton, a Chicago Democrat who authored the state’s first law requiring passengers to buckle up during the 1980s. […]
Cullerton and Quinn both recognized the work of the late Rep. Mark Beaubien, a Republican from Barrington Hills, who pushed the bill in the House. Beaubien’s family was at the bill signing at Quinn’s Chicago office.
The governor also signed a law making it illegal for passengers to ride in trailers, wagons and other vehicles while they are being towed on highways. Farm-related activities and parades are exempt.
* Listen to Gov. Quinn and others talk about the bill…
Illinois has borrowed more than $1 million this year to help cover its own expenses from money taxpayers give to charity.
The state government has borrowed about $1.17 million this fiscal year from money that Illinois taxpayers designate on their tax returns for charitable use, The News-Gazette in Champaign reported.
Lawmakers signed off on the plan to help deal with a multibillion-dollar state budget deficit.
Kelly Kraft, spokeswoman for the state Office of Management and Budget, said she expects the state to repay the money within a few months. By law, the money has to be returned, with interest, within 18 months, she said.
Kraft said last week she expects the money to be repaid within a few months, at most. She said legislators approved the temporary borrowing to address cash-flow problems when they passed Gov. Pat Quinn’s lump-sum budget.
But some nonprofit agencies are unhappy, to say the least.
“My concern is that the taxpayers don’t know that they’re donating to charities that don’t even get their money. It just seems really inappropriate to use charities to pull money in, and then pull that money out to pay for bills,” said Stephanie Record, executive director of the Crisis Nursery of Champaign County. “This is crazy.”
Record, whose agency is slated to get about $7,000, said she had no idea the state could borrow against that money.
When the state’s crisis nurseries went through the process of getting on the tax checkoff list in 2009, they asked that very question: Will the money get held up because of the state budget crisis?
“We were told over and over and over again, ‘No, it’ll flow straight through an account at DHS (the Department of Human Services),’ and that the flow-through account would be released directly to the nurseries. Obviously, that wasn’t the case,” she said.
For the 2008 tax year, Illinois workers donated a total of $1.4 million to 10 different funds. But, with the approval of the General Assembly, Gov. Pat Quinn authorized $434,300 in sweeps from seven of the funds in Fiscal Year 2010, when the 2008 tax year donations were first available for spending. Sweeps are transfers from special funds with specific purposes to the general revenue fund, the state’s largest pool of money, which pays for basic government operations.
For the 2009 tax year, Illinois taxpayers donated $1.37 million to 10 different funds, but during the current fiscal year, FY2011, Quinn has borrowed $1,176,100 from seven of those funds as well as five other check-off funds that are no longer listed on tax forms but were holding donated money from previous years. […]
“Soon after Governor Quinn took office after former Governor Rod Blagojevich was impeached, the state needed to exercise ways to manage cash flow due to decades of fiscal mismanagement,” Kelly Kraft, spokesperson for the governor’s office of management and budget, said in an emailed response to Illinois Times’ questions about the sweeps. She says the state has not swept any funds since the FY2010 sweeps and that the governor’s office “has no intention of sweeping funds going forward.” As to the borrowed funds, Kraft says the state only tapped “excess” funds.
Though the state had not entered into grant agreements for most of the borrowed funds, at least four fund beneficiaries were told to put their projects on hold until the money was repaid.
On March 21 Gov. Pat Quinn took $134,900 from the Alzheimer’s disease research fund, leaving less than $1,300 behind. During the previous fiscal year, the state swept $112,500 from the fund. In response to the borrowing, the Illinois Department of Public Health this spring had to renege on approved grants for researchers at Eastern Illinois University, the University of Chicago and Northwestern University, which was supposed to receive two grants.
“While promises have been made that the funds will be returned, this money was already committed to Illinois researchers for their projects. Those projects now need to be put on hold and the possibility exists that the funding will not be repaid,” the Illinois chapter of the Alzheimer’s Association told Illinois Times in a written statement.
Illinois’ prepaid tuition program is facing a crisis of confidence that threatens to push it toward insolvency.
During the past three months, families have withdrawn more than $12 million from College Illinois!, according to documents obtained by Illinois Statehouse News. Families pulled out just more than $2 million during the same period last year.
Panicked parents who have asked for their money back make up a small percentage of the total contract holders, but a large contingency now are debating whether to follow suit.
The huge increase in refunds comes after scathing articles in the media, an Illinois auditor general’s report, an Illinois Secretary of State investigation and an Illinois attorney general inquiry into possible mismanagement of the program. […]
Created 12 years ago, College Illinois! allows people to pay for tuition and mandatory fees at universities and community colleges years in advance at a lower cost. The money people contribute to the program will be invested and the return on these investments will cover tuition and fee inflation over the next several years or decades.
Most of the anxiety about College Illinois! stems from its large deficit. The fund is a defined benefits program in which a person who pays in now is guaranteed a certain payout. The program went from being 7 percent unfunded for future and current contracts in 2007 to 18 percent as of May.
Adding to the crisis of confidence is a decline in new enrollments, which could dry up as soon as 2014 if recent trends continue, according to projections by Illinois Statehouse News based on Illinois Student Assistance Commission numbers.
“I don’t think there’s going to be very many people who are willing to now subscribe to this program anymore, because it’s like investing in a bankrupt company,” George Pennacchi, professor of finance at University of Illinois in Urbana Champaign.
Andrew Davis, executive director for the Illinois Student Assistance Commission, or ISAC, said he is confident the fund is sustainable and will honor all current and future contracts.
“We’ve paid all our current bills on time and in full. We have fully accounted for with an aggressive view towards what future tuition will be,” Davis said. “The fund is significantly stronger than it was two years ago.”
* Related…
* Quinn spokeswoman gets 48% pay increase: Gov. Pat Quinn’s budget office spokeswoman will be making nearly 50 percent more money after receiving an additional job title this spring. Kelly Ann Krapf, a former broadcast reporter who uses the name Kelly Kraft, received a salary boost from about $71,000 to more than $105,000. Krapf, 38, joined the budget office in 2009 after working at the Fox News television station in Chicago. Quinn spokeswoman Annie Thompson said Krapf now holds a dual position of communications director and assistant director of the office.
Illinois Senate President John Cullerton has received a lot of bad press, sharp condemnation from Republicans and even some quiet criticism from his own members over the past month.
But Cullerton made no apologies during an interview last week for the way his caucus sought to hold the state’s public works bill hostage by tacking on $430 million in additional budget items. The move was rejected by both parties in the House and by the Senate Republicans and even, in the end, by Gov. Pat Quinn, who had pushed for additional spending all year. The General Assembly had to return to town last week so the Senate could officially back down from the spending and send a “clean” bill to the governor’s desk.
The Senate President told me numerous times over the past several months that he believed he could convince fellow Democrat House Speaker Michael Madigan to go along with his budget plans. In the end, however, Madigan stuck to a budget pact he’d made months earlier with House Republican Leader Tom Cross and beat back the Senate Democrats’ plan. So, what went wrong?
“I don’t think anything was a mistake,” Cullerton insisted. He blamed Cross for the collapse of his members’ spending plan. Cross, he said, couldn’t comprehend what the Senate Democrats were proposing: moving money away from some special state funds in order to pay for his caucus’ program spending demands. Cullerton claimed he first approached Cross about the idea three weeks before the end of the session. It wasn’t until the session’s end, he said, that Cross finally grasped the concept, but by then, Cullerton claimed, it was too late.
Several members of his own caucus have grumbled since May 31st about the way Cullerton seemed to give free rein to Black Caucus members and others who aggressively pushed for a showdown with Madigan over the budget and absolutely demanded the additional spending which caused all the trouble. At one point last month, many in that group wanted to force an overtime session rather than pass any budget bill.
Ironically enough, many of those same grumblers who said Cullerton needs to act more forcefully to quell the chaos within his caucus were also the most unhappy with the way former Senate President Emil Jones too often ran his show with a heavy hand. What seemed to irk them most, however, was that a minority of the caucus was able to once again force the majority into an untenable position.
To be fair, no caucus has experienced more internal revolts than the Senate Democrats over the past 40 years. It is, by far, the least “manageable” of the four legislative caucuses. And white legislators from the city and suburbs (in both chambers) always complain at the end of spring session that Downstaters, Latinos and African-Americans are being placated while they’re being left out.
The Senate President chose to look at the bright side.
“Rather than take us into overtime, I got the caucus to vote for the budget,” he pointed out. That was most certainly no mean feat considering the intensely heated opposition to the House’s budget within his own caucus. “My goal was to pass a budget, which we did.”
He also said he now has “leverage to renegotiate the budget in the middle of the fiscal year.” Why? Because, Cullerton said, the House’s budget is full of “phony” cuts. Indeed, the House put off well over a billion dollars in spending until after the end of the fiscal year.
Cullerton seems determined to undermine the legitimacy of that budget, and his focus appears to be on forcing Tom Cross to admit he made a mistake. It’s arguable, Cullerton said, that the Senate cut more than the House did. And the Republican Cross, he claimed “is unaware of how bad his budget is.”
“We’ll get our vindication, if you will, in January, when people realize that we have to cut the budget again,” Cullerton predicted.
As for the grumbling in his own caucus, Cullerton said that nobody has come to him with any of those concerns. “I’m not going to change my personality,” he said, adding “I don’t like to dictate to people.”
However, Cullerton also had a piece of advice for those in his caucus who are constantly clamoring for war with the House Speaker. “You do not win by fighting Mike Madigan.”
There’s another potential problem with the operations budget state lawmakers approved last month: Not enough money to pay all employee salaries for the full year that begins July 1.
“I don’t see Quinn announcing firings,” said state Rep. Frank Mautino, D-Spring Valley. “I think they will pay them until the money runs out.”
Quinn’s options are limited. He signed an agreement with the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees union to not lay off employees or close facilities before June 30, 2012, the end of AFSCME’s current state contract.
“There is not enough money in the budget to fully fund (salaries),” said Quinn budget spokeswoman Kelly Kraft. “This is something we continue to examine as we work to manage and implement an incomplete budget passed by the General Assembly.”
“There’s a lot of things in the House budget that need to be corrected,” Cullerton said Wednesday. “The House budget grossly under-appropriates a number of areas.”
As an example, the budget reduces spending on schools but didn’t change the way the money is distributed, which could result in the formula running out of money before the end of the next fiscal year.
Voices for Illinois Children, a statewide advocacy group, says the budget cuts spending on pre-school programs, which could result in a loss of services for 5,000 children.
Advocates for Illinoisans with disabilities say the plan shortchanges funding for state developmental centers like the Choate Developmental Center in Anna.
* 11:41 am - Gov. Pat Quinn just took some bill action that won’t be appreciated by the Republicans. From a press release…
“The people of Illinois provided input at public hearings for both the congressional and state legislative maps. I have carefully reviewed the congressional redistricting map. This map is fair, maintains competitiveness within congressional districts, and protects the voting rights of minority communities. I would like to thank Sen. Kwame Raoul and Rep. Barbara Flynn Currie for their commitment to encouraging public participation in the remap process.”
Pat Brady, the state’s Republican Party spokesman, said Quinn’s signature on the map after the governor had said he wanted fair and competitive boundaries was “a little disingenuous.”
“I wish he would have been more honest and just said that he’d sign the map,” Brady said. “This is what we’ve come to expect from him since he was sworn in.”
The congressional map received the least amount of scrutiny of the political boundaries drawn by Democrats this year. Though Democratic state lawmakers held several public hearings, very little time was devoted to the congressional map that was unveiled for Memorial Day weekend.
“They held a bunch of preliminary hearings and that’s great,” said Whitney Woodward of the Illinois Campaign for Political Reform. “But throughout the process, what we and other groups asked for were hearings and the data to consider a new map. Instead, we saw a couple of hearings on draft maps without much demographic information.”
* 1:38 pm - From a press release…
Republican members of the Illinois Congressional delegation today issued the following statement after Governor Pat Quinn singed into law the Democrat proposal to re-draw the boundaries of Congressional districts in Illinois:
“We are disappointed that Governor Quinn chose to sign into law this flawed map, thereby proving that his actions do not match his rhetoric. Despite his expressed desire for “openness and fairness,” Governor Quinn instead rewarded his Democrat allies by approving this highly partisan map that tears apart communities and disrespects the will of Illinois voters as expressed in last fall’s election.
“Governor Quinn said that a fair redistricting process required hearings. Yet the map was unveiled on a Friday and passed the following Monday, with no hearings. Governor Quinn said that the way in which district lines are drawn contributes to the success of our democracy. Yet the map he approved seeks to reverse the results of a democratic election. Governor Quinn advocated for a fair and open process. Instead, he has guaranteed an unfair and closed one.
“This map will be challenged in court, and we do not expect to comment further on a matter that now will be the subject of litigation. As we have said before, we do not believe this map will stand.”
Congressman Tim Johnson was the only member of the state’s Republican delegation who didn’t sign the letter.
Illinois Republican Party Chairman Pat Brady says the new congressional district lines the governor has approved is an attempt to “silence” voters.
Brady says voters sent a GOP majority to Congress just last fall. He says the map signed into law Friday by Democratic Gov. Pat Quinn is unfair to Republicans. […]
Brady says Quinn “lost all claims to the label ‘reformer’” by approving the map and says he hopes courts will overturn it.
“Well, I think that there will be a lawsuit that will likely be brought before a Republican judge who picks two other judges to sit on a panel, and they will review the legality of denying Latino voters their full representation in the Congress. And I expect that lawsuit will come to a decision in October or November,” Kirk said.
Kirk says he believe the chances in a court of law are “pretty good.” [Emphasis added.]
It’s so nice to know that Sen. Kirk believes Republican judges are purely partisan animals.
* A few congressional stories…
* Freeport Mayor Gaulrapp to Announce Bid for 17th District: After falling short in his first bid for congress, Freeport Mayor George Gaulrapp is going to give it another try this time in a different district. Gaulrapp tells me he will make an official announcement on Saturday morning that he aims to represent the 17th District in congress. In 2010, the Freeport democrat lost to long time 16th District congressman Don Manzullo. But now Freeport and parts of Rockford is in a district that stretches along the Mississippi River from the Wisconsin border all the way down to the quad cities.
* Some of my most favorite memories in life involve hanging out at parties with musicians, sharing a jug and listening to them play guitar and talk about their craft. Those parties were usually at some run-down house with beat-up furniture and dogs running around loose. The parties would often last all night, and sometimes a group breakfast was prepared come morning. And then it would start all over again.
The documentary film Heartworn Highways is about as close as you can get to having that experience without actually doing so.
Shot on a shoestring budget in late 1975 and early 1976, Heartworn Highways doesn’t really tell a story. Instead, we’re invited to those parties, with empty beer cans strewn across the table, ashtrays overflowing with cigarettes and some of the best young songwriters of their generation playing music straight out of Heaven.
James Szalapski’s film wasn’t released until 1981, and it’s hard to find these days, although you can watch it on Netflix if you subscribe. I stumbled across several YouTube videos the other day while looking for something else, so let’s get to it.
* At the beginning of our first video, you’ll see the great Guy Clark saying “Listen to this song,” and pointing with reverence to a babyfaced Steve Earle.
“Listen to that song!” Guy again commands the cameraman, knowing - and wanting all of us to know - that his young protege is destined for a greatness that nobody save him can possibly imagine at the time. Unfortunately, the filmmakers failed to heed Clark’s prescience and the song didn’t make the movie’s final cut. Thankfully, it’s on the bonus DVD.
“Did you hear the verses at all?” Clark asks Rodney Crowell toward the end of the song, shaking his head in wonder and amazement. Earle was just 20 years old at the time and this is his first known recording. Steve later said he wrote “The Mercenary Song” on the back of a menu at a pizza restaurant where he was a cook. It’s probably one of my favorites in his vast repertoire…
I guess a man’s got to do what he’s best at
Ain’t found nothin’ better so far
Been called mercenaries and men with no country
We’re just soldiers in search of a war
* Rodney Crowell has written for many of the greats, including Waylon Jennings, Johnny Cash and Crystal Gale. Bob Seger made a big hit out of Crowell’s “Shame on the Moon.” He’s a Grammy winner, was once married to Rosanne Cash and has a slew of hits, including five number one singles in a row in the late 1980s. But we see him here as a 25-year-old who is still learning at Guy Clark’s feet.
Fair warning: Crowell’s song “Bluebird Wine” will not leave your brain easily or quickly. It’s an incredibly catchy tune that was covered by Emmylou Harris. She eventually asked him to join her band and the rest is history…
The party just started
And I’m drunk on Bluebird Wine
* Richard Dobson never made it big and I don’t know why. But his songwriting is top notch. Johnny Cash covered his song “Baby Ride Easy,” as did Dave Edmonds and Carlene Carter. He also wrote a book called The Gulf Coast Boys. It’s full of stories about his running buddies, including Townes Van Zandt. Dobson lives in Switzerland and tours mostly in Europe, but you can catch him every now and then in Texas. Check his website for info.
Four seasons go around on a pinwheel
And tomorrow ain’t nothin’ at all
* Steve Young wrote the outlaw classic “Lonesome, On’ry and Mean” immortalized by Waylon Jennings. But Young also penned the sublime “Seven Bridges Road,” which was beautifully covered by the Eagles. Here he is singing “Alabama Highway”…
Turn supernatural, take me to the stars, and let me play
As Steve Earle tells it, he was just 17 when he met an artist and performer who would mould the shape of his career. The teenage Earle was singing at a club in Houston, Texas, when he was teasingly heckled by an older man in the audience who asked him to play the song Wabash Cannonball, and told him he wasn’t much of a country singer if he couldn’t.
The heckler turned out to be Townes Van Zandt, a legendary Texan singer-songwriter who Earle already admired. Earle was unable to comply with his request, but instead performed a word-perfect version of a tricky, complex Van Zandt song, Mr. Mudd and Mr. Gold. This playful exchange made them firm friends.
“I met this guy, and I was 17,” Earle recalls now. “It was obvious I was going to write songs and make records, but here I was, meeting someone who was making art for the sake of art, at a really high level. He was committed to continuing to do that, whether he made money or not. That’s the most positive thing I took from him.”
From that day to this, Earle has been a diehard Townes Van Zandt fan. It has not always been an easy thing to be: as Earle delicately puts it, “Townes was a real bad role model.”
* Anyway, Steve Earle says that the musicians in Heartworn Highways wanted to take some revenge on the filmmakers over some broken promises. So, they sent them to Austin to interview Townes Van Zandt. Townes was a little, um, difficult to deal with, and they thought this would be proper punishment. But he ended up stealing the whole show.
I came of age and found a girl in a Tuscaloosa bar
She cleaned me out and hit it on the sly
I tried to kill the pain
I bought some booze and hopped a train
Seemed easier than just a-waitin’ around to die
…Adding… I told you a few years ago about the late underground songwriter Blaze Foley. The documentary about his life is now finished and is in limited release. Click here for more info. There’s even a Facebook page.
Since last week — and after the jury began its deliberations — there have been four sealed filings in the case, beginning with a prosecution filing that came one day after a media appearance by a former Blagojevich attorney. Lawyers tied to the trial who usually freely discuss it have since late last week kept their mouths tightly shut.
The filings came after attorney Sam Adam Jr. last week, as jury talks were under way, went on TV and radio predicting “20 not guilty verdicts” for his onetime client. Early last week, two Blagojevich lawyers appeared on “Chicago Tonight.”
On June 16, lawyers were summoned to U.S. District Judge James Zagel’s chambers for a private meeting. Also in the courthouse was Adam, who was not part of the retrial but still a listed attorney on the case. Afterward, the typically talkative Adam would not answer questions about the Blagojevich case. A few times when asked a question, he’d put his hand over his mouth.
“I MUST decline to comment,” Adam repeatedly said. “I cannot tell you why.”
Another defense lawyer, Michael Ettinger, who also still has an appearance on file in the case — and typically answers questions about the trial — responded similarly.
* The Question: Who else in Illinois politics would you like to see placed under a gag order? Explain.
* The NRA refused to back a county-by-county concealed carry “opt-in” compromise during the spring session, but some legislators are now going ahead with it anyway…
Three lawmakers who say carrying concealed weapons should be legal in Illinois are pursuing an alternative that would allow individual counties to decide the matter.
Republican state Reps. Bill Mitchell of Forsyth, Adam Brown of Decatur and Chapin Rose of Mahomet held a news conference Thursday in Clinton about their proposed legislation. They also made stops Thursday in Decatur, Tuscola, Monticello and Mahomet. […]
The new proposal is the same as HB 148 except it would give each of the state’s 102 counties the authority to decide.
“Our ultimate goal is to have conceal-and-carry throughout the state,” said Mitchell.
An opt-in bill would probably only require a simple majority in each chamber, rather than the three-fifths super-majorities required of the previous bill. The earlier legislation was deemed as overriding local home rule powers. This wouldn’t. Details…
As written, the bill would authorize sheriffs to issue concealed carry licenses — once the county board OKs it — to citizens who meet age requirements, complete training courses and pass criminal background tests. Once licensed, a person could carry a concealed handgun in any county that adopts the local option.
Concealed guns could not be carried in schools, courthouses, government buildings, churches, libraries, bars, stadiums and in gambling venues. Business owners would be able to prohibit concealed carry on their property as well.
Quinn stated that he has no plans to allow concealed weapons in Illinois and will veto any such legislation. Illinois is the only state where it is illegal to carry a concealed weapon.
“In too many places in Illinois there is a violence epidemic, and I believe that we need to address that,” Quinn said. “I do not believe that a law that would allow private individuals to carry loaded concealed weapons on their person in public places is the best way to deal with it.”
“The governor says he’s going to veto it. That’s easy for him to say. He’s got a state taxpayer-funded bodyguard,” Rose said. “There are certain counties in my district where on a Saturday night there is only one deputy sheriff for the whole county. This is about a fundamental right to protect yourself and protect your family from an attacker, an assailant.”
* Southtown Star columnist Phil Kadner supports concealed carry, but with reservations…
Even the thought that civilians are packing is enough to make the average criminal think twice about committing a crime, the concealed-carry crowd contends.
I doubt addicts needing money for a fix think that logically.
As for gang members, the fact that rival gangsters frequently carry guns never seems to deter them from making war on each other.
Would a rapist actually think twice about attacking a woman if concealed carry were the law? That could happen. But aren’t most rapists friends or relatives of the women they attack?
Maybe every person really does need a gun to keep the streets safe.
But if there are so many evil people walking around, if our neighbors cannot be trusted, if our police, courts and jails are inadequate, isn’t there something really wrong with this country?
Shouldn’t we be talking about that more and about concealed carry less?
It surprises me that more people don’t seem outraged by this turn of events.
Yes, carrying a gun may someday save your life. But more guns will not make this country a better place to live.
* Yet another reminder to commenters: This topic always seems to bring out the crazy in people. Bumper sticker slogans and drive-by comments are heavily frowned upon here. Keep your arguments elevated and try to come up with an original thought. Deletions will be swift and banishments will be sure.
Quinn did not specify what changes he will make but identified several areas he will focus on.
“There will be some changes, and we want to make sure we put education and public health, job creation, public safety, those are core priorities and we’re going to do the best we can for those, human services and health care,” Quinn said.
The governor can use his veto powers to take a scalpel to parts of the spending plan he doesn’t like without jettisoning the whole document, thus freeing up money he can ask lawmakers to spend on other priorities. The House and Senate have the option of endorsing his moves or rejecting them later this year.
International Business Machines Inc. is owed $1.1 million. Office Depot Inc. is waiting for a $660,955 check. And the 17th Street Bar & Grill in Sparta is due $340.52. They are among at least 8,000 vendors including businesses, charities and government agencies waiting months for the state to pay up. At least 114 companies are due more than $1 million, according to documents from Illinois Comptroller Judy Baar Topinka. […]
“An Illinois phenomenon,” said Ron Ford, CEO of Chicago- based Help at Home Inc., which is owed $43.4 million and hasn’t heard from the state since December. […]
“Banks have refused us a line of credit because of the state,” said David Baker, who runs the nonprofit Open Door Rehabilitation Center in Sandwich, Illinois, and is owed $880,000. “We’ve had a long-time relationship with bankers, but now they wonder ‘What if the state never pays you?’” […]
The consequences of years of ignoring bills fall on organizations such as the South Suburban Council on Alcoholism and Substance Abuse, in the Chicago suburb of East Hazel Crest. The nonprofit has an annual budget of $5 million, and 75 percent of its revenue comes from state funding, said CEO Allen Sandusky.
Sandusky, whose company was owed as much as $1.4 million, has cut his staff to 105 from 155 and obtained a $1 million line of credit at 6 percent interest.
Oof.
As I’ve said before, Illinois’ government is one of the greatest drags on Illinois’ economy.
[ *** End Of Update *** ]
* The budget, of course, isn’t the only legislation that hasn’t yet moved to the governor’s desk. The gaming expansion bill has a parliamentary hold on it. The governor called that “odd” yesterday…
“I mean, if you believe in a bill, and apparently there are members of the House and Senate who believe in this bill, then not to send it to the governor I feel is kind of curious, sort of odd,” Quinn said.
The Constitution says any bill passed by the Legislature “shall be presented” to the governor within 30 calendar days of its passage and that requirement is “judicially enforceable.” That language would seem to create legal questions about Cullerton’s strategy of withholding the legislation to avert the potential of a Quinn veto.
I’m not sure the bill can be classified as “passed” since there’s a legitimate motion filed to reconsider the vote, however. And I doubt the courts will want to jump in on this one, since they tend to shy away from ordering the General Assembly around in this state. Either way, though, it’s an interesting take.
* Meanwhile, the legislative Democrats’ decision to look at the state’s business tax code over the summer won’t be easy, as these comments clearly demonstrate…
“If you are talking only about the corporate tax rate, you are only talking about treating one of the symptoms,” [said Greg Baise, president of the Illinois Manufacturers’ Association], citing high utility taxes as another area that makes Illinois less competitive.
Both also said it may prove difficult to end tax incentives that are part of the business tax structure.
“Incentives built into the tax code had an interest group that convinced the General Assembly that this was good policy,” [said Todd Maisch, vice president of government affairs for the Illinois Chamber of Commerce]. “It will be very interesting to hear that this will not be a means to an increase in the overall business tax burden.”
“One man’s tax incentive is another person’s loophole,” Baise added.
If legislative hearings lead to a less onerous tax code and a level playing field for all employers, grand. Companies will create more jobs here. That said, two obstacles stand in the way:
First, Madigan’s and Cullerton’s caucuses include Democrats whose Job One is raising state spending, consequences be damned. They usually scorn attempts to make Illinois more competitive for jobs by improving the business climate here, because “more competitive” likely means “less taxation.”
Second, bringing lots of companies to the table forces them to ask whether their problem is state government or … each other. Some will criticize tax policies and loopholes that others will defend.
* Roundup…
* RTA warns of transit cuts - Transit agency says it needs some of $400 million due from state
* Casino Bill’s True Believer Enters the Final Stretch: “We wouldn’t say ‘no’ to Starbucks because we have too many Starbucks and too many people are drinking coffee,” Mr. Lang said. “We would never say to an auto dealer, ‘Don’t expand your business. Go to Indiana.’ This is a business like any other.”
* Illinois’ data website: Lots of numbers, few answers
* Lawmakers to address Illinois’ business tax climate
The Illinois General Assembly was back in Springfield for one day this week, but they might return again.
The House and Senate had to come back to make sure there were no delays in the state’s massive infrastructure program.
The Senate Democrats had tacked some budget spending onto a bill authorizing the construction, but the House had refused to go along. The Senate backed down this week, so everything is still on track.
The media tended to misinform about the Senate’s add-ons, neglecting to report that the Senate Democrats actually paid for much of that spending by redirecting money within the state budget. And if history is any guide, if the General Assembly has to double-back to Springfield once more this summer, the media will misinform again.
Talk is in the air of a special session to deal with a federal judge’s ruling that the state’s McCormick Place reforms violated federal law.
Unions at McCormick Place have forever been blamed for the high costs of conventions. And while I’d agree that many of the work rules were way out of hand, much of this is overblown.
The biggest problem at McCormick Place is the markup. Federal Judge Ron Guzman went out of his way to point out that problem when he ruled earlier this year that the state’s new “reforms” of union rules violated federal law.
Guzman refused to set aside his ruling this week while McCormick Place appeals, which prompted McPier czar Jim Reilly to suggest Thursday that an emergency legislative session could be needed.
Rosemont’s convention center uses the same unions and the same workers operating under the same rules as McCormick Place. Yet, for example, prices to move exhibits from Rosemont’s loading docks to its convention floor are 38 percent lower than at McCormick Place, according to a Crain’s Chicago Business report.
Rosemont acts as its own contractor. McCormick Place uses private contractors to handle its shows. Two of those contractors, GES and Freeman, are by far the largest.
So, why not just crack down on the contractors? If it were that simple, it would’ve been done already. Two contractors control most of the shows at McCormick Place as well as most of the big shows around the country.
Rosemont focuses on smaller shows. Because it isn’t trying to tap into the really big shows, it doesn’t need to bother dealing with those two contractors. But without those big shows, McCormick Place goes belly up. You might as well turn it into the world’s largest indoor skateboard park. McCormick Place has no choice but to submit to those two contractors.
If it’s that bad, you may ask, then why don’t the exhibitors revolt against the contractors and force them to lower their prices? That happens in some instances, and part of the new reform law allows it.
But most of the exhibitors belong to trade associations, and those trade associations make much of their annual profits with their conventions by jacking up the prices even higher. The trade groups are sometimes even showered with perks by the contractors.
Legislative leaders were deathly afraid of angering the two big contractors when they drafted their reform legislation last year. All proposals to cap contractor markups were ignored. But if the appellate court doesn’t lift Judge Guzman’s stay, then a special session may have to be held.
Gov. Quinn said Thursday that he wants all sides to sit down and negotiate a solution. But if the contractors refuse to budge, there’s nothing much anyone can do.
Whatever happens, it would be nice if the media in this town started reporting the full story.
Convention and trade-show workers at McCormick Place may have to be made public employees if the federal courts continue to quash labor reforms, according to the city’s top convention official.
In his first extensive remarks since a federal judge spiked new state-mandated rules on Wednesday, Jim Reilly said he’s hoping the court order either will be overturned by the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals or at least stayed while the appeal is heard.
Mr. Reilly heads the Metropolitan Pier & Exposition Authority, which operates McCormick Place and was on the losing end of a decision by U.S. District Court Judge Ronald Guzman.
If the 7th Circuit will not stay Judge Guzman’s order, “I think we’ll have to seriously consider asking the presiding officers to call the Legislature back” into emergency session, Mr Reilly said. And the most likely option would be to make McCormick Place workers government employees.
The legal maneuver is not a new one, and was once considered by legislators before being abandoned, said Terrance McGann, an attorney representing the Chicago Council of Carpenters. The council and Teamsters Local 727 were the two union organizations that initiated the challenge of the new work rules.
“They wanted to amend a portion of the Illinois code to lump the trades people in with firefighters and police, and it simply doesn’t fit the profile,” he said. “When you talk about the need for public safety, relative to no-strike clauses, it doesn’t fit.” […]
[Gov. Pat Quinn] said he hopes to work with legislators and labor leaders in the coming months to devise McCormick Place reform legislation that meets federal standards.
“We’ll just hash out a law that will survive any kind of legal scrutiny. That’s imperative,” Quinn said. “I want to tell all our conventioneers this is going to happen, and it will happen in a prompt fashion.”
