* The White Sox Caucus is meeting tonight at 9 o’clock at DH Brown’s. We’re playing the Angels, so it’s a late game.
Also, tickets will be available for sale at tonight’s caucus event for our annual outing at Sox Park this July 25th. Hopefully, I’ll see you at both extravaganzas!
* Let’s make this a late afternoon/early evening MLB open thread. Go Sox.
* Look, I have no informed opinion one way or another about whether Cook County should be allowed to close Oak Forest Hospital and turn it into an outpatient clinic. But the vote today by the Illinois Health Facilities and Services Review Board was certainly embarrassing for Gov. Pat Quinn…
The county plan needed five votes to be approved, but only five state board members were present today. Four board members voted for it, and one voted against. The nine-member hospital siting board has three vacancies that Democratic Gov. Pat Quinn needs to approve, and one member was absent today.
County officials blamed the vacancies on the board for today’s defeat. County Board President Toni Preckwinkle and health system leaders are regrouping and plan to hold a news conference this afternoon.
If we’re going to have this board, shouldn’t it have the requisite membership? Sheesh, man, get on the stick.
Oak Forest — which in its early history served as a sanitarium for tuberculosis patients — gets six or seven patient admissions a day, but doctors there primarily see people with health issues such as high blood pressure and diabetes who would be better cared for in an outpatient setting, according to Dr. Terry Mason, formerly the county health system’s chief medical officer and now interim chief executive.
Speaking with the SouthtownStar editorial board recently, Mason said Oak Forest isn’t set up to treat patients in need of emergency care.
“Our emergency department is nothing more than the end of a hallway,” he said.
In an analysis of the proposal for the board, the Illinois Department of Public Health determined that the elimination of hospital beds at Oak Forest would result in a shortage of intensive-care and long-term care beds in the Southland.
.But patients and residents in the area said the remaining health care facilities in southern Cook County was inadequate. Closing Oak Forest Hospital would be detrimental, they said. […]
Lynda DeLaforgue, co-director of Citizen Action Illinois, said the board’s vote gives the county a chance to reevaluate its strategic plan for health care and keep the hospital open.
Word’s been going around that President Preckwinkle may seek state legislation to allow her to close the hospital on her own.
* I can understand this person’s argument, but if Sears abandons its Prairie Stone campus in Hoffman Estates, there won’t be many businesses left in that development to pay taxes to the schools…
Allison Strupeck, a spokesperson for Community Unit School District 300 — of which the Sears property is a part — said that [tax incentive] expiration would work for the good of the Carpentersville-based school district, calling it “the light at the end of our fiscal tunnel.”
If that state extended those property tax incentives, she said, “we would not have any financial hope for the future of our school children.
“The light at the end of our fiscal tunnel would be snuffed out in one signature of the governor,” Strupeck said.
Because of the property tax incentives, the school district currently receives the same amount of tax dollars from the Sears property it did 21 years ago, according to the District 300 spokeswoman. But Prairie Stone and the nearby Arboretum shopping center have significantly increased the value of that property, she said.
* Bail Sears out with yet another tax giveaway and we look weak for being taken advantage of. Tell the company to take a flying leap and we look far weaker if they do depart, which won’t help our standing in the world, not to mention the most important part: We’ll lose thousands of good Illinois jobs in the process…
If Sears did pull up its longtime suburban roots, it could cost the state roughly $3 billion, with the loss of about 6,200 local jobs, the ensuing unemployment insurance paid to them and the loss to nearby hotels, businesses and vendors that could ripple through the local economy for years to come, [John Melaniphy, president of Melaniphy & Associates, a Chicago-based retail research firm] said.
A study commissioned by Sears reached a similar conclusion, saying the local job loss could total 9,000 if vendors, contractors and nearby businesses were included.
It’s often difficult to parse whether a company that takes incentives to stay was serious about leaving. In Motorola Mobility’s case, the company promised to spend more than $500 million on research and development over the next three years, essentially what the company already had planned to spend.
As for Sears, the company has been shifting the nucleus of decision-making outside the state in recent years.
Sears moved its apparel buying and merchandising office to San Francisco in 2010. About 80 percent of the staff has been hired as new employees since the move, the company said at its annual meeting last week.
Sears Chairman Edward Lampert, the hedge fund manager who combined Sears and Kmart in 2005, lives and works in Greenwich, Conn. And Sears’ newly appointed CEO and president, Lou D’Ambrosio, has spent most of his career on the East Coast.
* And this very serious mortgage problem isn’t going to get a whole lot better any time soon if we have no jobs…
More than four out of 10 homes with debt in the Chicago area now are worth less than their mortgages, according to a report released Monday.
Home values here have fallen so much that 45.7% of those with debt are “underwater,” meaning their owners’ equity has been completely wiped out, according to Zillow Inc. That’s up from 38.6% in fourth-quarter 2010 and 31.8% a year earlier.
Nationally, 28.4% of homes with mortgages have “negative equity,” up from 27% in the fourth quarter and 23.3% a year earlier, according to Zillow, a Seattle-based company that tracks the residential property market.
* State to give boost to West Side film studio working on ‘Boss’: But the Cinespace studio and its state subsidy could hurt Chicago Studio City, 5660 W. Taylor, which calls itself the biggest filming complex between the U.S. coasts. Owner John Crededio said the state has turned down his requests to help expand his nearly 120,000-square-foot facility. “I wish them well, but how do I compete when the state is subsidizing them?” he said.
Objection after objection, lawyers for Rod Blagojevich took a beating in court Monday. The judge ended the day with a stern warning: If the ex-governor’s team wanted to continue to ask improper questions, they will be sidelined.
Aaron Goldstein tried and tried, over and over, to ask questions of Monday’s witnesses John Harris and later Tom Balanoff, a union head. Almost every question was met with an objection –over 150 tallied for the day.
Over 150 objections sustained during one day? Wow.
Essentially what is happening here is Rod Blagojevich’s lawyer is attempting to put on a defense during cross-examination of the prosecution’s witness. He’s supposed to do that when he presents his own case. But, as you’ll recall, Blagojevich rested without presenting its side during the first trial. Judge Zagel is making sure that the defendant can’t backdoor his defense this time around. He’s also cracking down on deviations from his orders about using the “advice of counsel” defense - that the former governor checked with his lawyers before making decisions.
“I will sit you down,” he warned Blagojevich lawyer Aaron Goldstein, accusing him of violating court orders not to raise the argument that Blagojevich shouldn’t be found guilty because his advisers — most of them attorneys — never warned him that his actions might be illegal.
The judge said he thought Goldstein’s questioning of two witnesses had approached that forbidden area, particularly when the attorney asked one whether he had called authorities after a talk with Blagojevich about naming someone to the U.S. Senate seat vacated by Barack Obama in 2008. […]
Zagel lectured Goldstein in front of the jury for asking Harris too often about his awareness of things and not what he had seen and heard himself.
“This is not a man on the street being asked if he is aware if there are American troops in Pakistan,” the judge said.
And, several times, Goldstein suggested that, whatever other deals were being discussed on tape, Blagojevich was really intent on being a US Senator himself: “You understood, at this point, the governor wanted to appoint himself?” Four times, Goldstein asked a variation on that question. Objection. Objection. Objection. Objection. All were sustained, Zagel warning at one point, “I don’t want an argument disguised as a question.”
But if some questions seemed strategic, many others were barred because Goldstein simply couldn’t word them right. Three times, he tried to ask a question about a call Harris received from political publicist Marilyn Katz, in which she urged the then-governor to appoint Valerie Jarrett to the Senate.
Three times, the government objected to the wording of Goldstein’s queries. The defense lawyer actually apologized at one point, as he struggled to find an acceptable re-wording, but eventually gave up on the question.
Prosecutor Reid Schar asked Balanoff to walk the court through a series of conversations and meetings he had with Blagojevich regarding the possible appointees to the senate post, including Jarrett, and what he wanted in exchange. […]
Goldstein then pressed Balanoff about how he responded.
“After this meeting did you call the authorities?”
Zagel told Goldstein that the defense can’t build on the proposition that because Balanoff didn’t go to the authorities after meetings he had with Blagojevich that “no crime had been committed.”
With her defendant husband at her side, a visibly angry Patti Blagojevich stepped up to the microphone after court to decry what she called “a deliberate attempt to hide the truth” after U.S. District Judge James Zagel spent much of the day blocking witnesses from answering many of the defense lawyers’ questions. Zagel said the questions were improper and were a way for Blagojevich’s lawyers to back-door an improper defense, in violation of his previous orders.
“I almost want to cry,” Patti Blagojevich said after court. “I’m no lawyer, but I thought the whole idea of this was to get the truth to come out, and that’s clearly not what’s happening here.”
Essentially, the resolution would mean that teachers would be encouraged to use the not-for-profit program. The program is run by Nancy Cartwright, who is the voice of Bart Simpson. But, she’s also a Scientologist and the program is based on L. Ron Hubbard’s book “The Way to Happiness.” That connection to the religion has at least one lawmaker up in arms…
Republicans on the House Elementary and Secondary Education Committee initially were unaware that Cartwright’s program was influenced by a Hubbard book. Upon learning that, the panel’s ranking Republican voiced concern over the resolution.
“Would we suggest the KKK for something like this?” asked Rep. Jerry Mitchell (R-Sterling), a former school superintendent. “This might be something for a select private school, but I’m not sure it’s germane for a public school.”
* So, what prompted Rep. Burke to run his resolution? Hollywood, baby….
Initial reservations set aside, Burke said he became enthusiastic about backing the resolution because it would be “fun to have Bart Simpson’s voice down there.”
Sometimes, a fun little publicity stunt can backfire. Or partially backfire, as the case may be. Ms. Cartwright will be in Springfield tonight for a reception. We’ll see how it goes.
Defendants accused of rape, homicide, drug dealing and other serious crimes in five rural Southern Illinois counties have paid thousands of dollars into “anti-crime” funds that benefit or are controlled by local prosecutors in return for probation or dismissal of charges.
Professors at some of the nation’s top law schools say this practice undermines public trust in courts and gives the appearance that defendants with enough money get preferential treatment and can buy their way out of trouble. They say such payments violate a basic ethical principle: Monetary contributions or payments resulting from plea bargains should not in any way benefit or appear to benefit the offices of the prosecutor, the judge or police involved in the prosecution.
“It is clearly unethical and a violation of the Constitution,” said legal ethics expert Monroe H. Freedman, a professor at Hofstra University Law School in Hempstead, N.Y. Like other experts contacted for this story, Freedman cautioned he was not commenting about any specific case.
A Belleville News-Democrat investigation found that payments negotiated by prosecutors and approved by judges ranging from $1,000 to $15,000 resulted in probation or dismissal of felonies in 17 cases in Saline, Pulaski, Franklin, Wayne and Hardin counties.
Ugh.
* Related…
* Losing congressional candidate Dan Seals gets state job: Democratic Gov. Pat Quinn [yesterday] hired Seals as his $121,090-a-year assistant director of the Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity. He starts Tuesday.
* Tollway political hires fired for slacking off, harassment
State Rep. Kenneth Dunkin, D-Chicago, who heads the budget committee on higher education, said his group made it under the House’s higher education budget goal of $2.1 billion by targeting for-profit schools through the state’s monetary award program, or MAP. […]
MAP funds were reduced by $17 million, which represents the largest cut for the higher education budget, Dunkin said. The program’s grants offer financial aid to Illinois residents who attend approved state colleges and demonstrate financial need.
General services also stayed in the black, making the largest cuts to those agencies that had a record of mismanagement based on audit reports, said state Rep. Fred Crespo, D-Streamwood, who chaired the general services appropriations committee. The agencies with records of mismanagement are Department of Revenue, Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity and the Department of Central Management Services.
About 15 percent was cut across the board from fiscal year 2011 from the three agencies, said Crespo, who pointed to smaller cuts for all agencies in telecommunications and contractual services.
After spending hours debating individual line items, “…we realized we (couldn’t) keep nickel-diming this thing. We need to look at fundamentally how to make big cuts to really bring down that number,” Crespo said.
The K-12 approp isn’t finished yet, however…
For elementary and high school education, state Rep. William Davis, D-East Hazel Crest, expects to keep most spending flat, with most of the cuts coming from general state aid. As a result, school districts should expect 96 percent of a fully funded budget.
School transportation was the only line item that saw increased funding, Davis said.
“We left the table with something to give the Republicans to look at. I do not know if they will or will not agree with this idea. That wasn’t decided when we parted company,” said Davis, who emphasized that the budgeting process for $6.8 billion was still ongoing.
* ISN didn’t have numbers for the House Human Services Committee, but the Daily Northwestern did…
The Illinois House finalized a bill to cut state funding for the Department of Human Services by $500 million to $600 million Monday, six days after Service Employees International Union Healthcare Illinois & Indiana, a group that represents health care workers in Illinois, launched its advertising campaign to advocate full funding for its Child Care Assistance Program and Home Service Program, which operate under the DHS.
“It’s not that I don’t agree with the ads,” said Rep. Patricia Bellock (R-Westmont),, a member of the House Appropriations Human Services Committee. “The bottom line is, we cannot continue to provide services and not pay the provider.”
The new bill will slash state funding to the DHS, Illinois’ largest state agency, by more than 10 percent. The House committee agreed to an across-the-board cut in order to reduce the impact on individual programs, Bellock said. It also reinstated a few programs previously cut in Gov. Quinn’s budget, such as youth prevention programs and substance abuse programs.
“Rather than a few agencies take huge cuts, we try to make it that all agencies will take smaller cuts,” Bellock said.
Whatever comes out of the legislature budgeting process will involve real cuts in people programs. There will thus be intense pressure to increase revenue — painlessly.
So expect a strong push by gambling interests to expand gaming to include a casino in Chicago and others downstate, plus slots at the tracks. This could generate $1 billion plus in license fees this coming year and maybe $500 million a year later in annual tax revenue. Increasing the cigarette tax by a buck a pack could generate $300 million a year.
And “decoupling” Illinois from a federal “bonus depreciation schedule” for industry equipment purchases could raise another $600 million. Business, which already feels the state climate unfriendly, will fight this, as it would come on top of a new 9.5 percent corporate income tax rate.
I can see foresee the legislature sending the governor a budget less than he believes necessary, which could cause him to veto it and send the legislature back into special session.
Sen. Suzi Schmidt’s district office phone wasn’t working Monday, which she attributed to the state’s tardiness in paying the bill.
Schmidt’s Lake Villa office number greeted the caller with the following recorded message: “The party you are trying to reach is not currently accepting calls at this number.” […]
Gov. Pat Quinn has proposed borrowing billions of dollars to pay overdue bills and then paying off the loans with money from the recent income tax increase.
But lawmakers — Schmidt’s fellow Republicans in particular — have resisted Quinn’s plan, saying the state shouldn’t be borrowing more money.
* The State Journal-Register has editorialized in favor of cutting pension benefits for current employees, and now grieves when one top employee - Illinois State Historian Tom Schwartz - decides to leave…
While we believe Schwartz is the perfect choice to advance Hoover’s legacy [at the Herbert Hoover Presidential Library and Museum], we noted with disappointment that the dismal state of financial affairs in Illinois played at least a minor role in Schwartz’s decision to leave.
“In the last two years, to take 36 furlough days is not fun,” Schwartz said. “It could be worse. The poor state workers in California are taking 48. But it doesn’t give one a lot of confidence about the future and discussions about changing pension systems and health-care plans are changing all the time to meet the state’s requirements. This is more stability, I think, in planning for the future.”
Schwartz was emphatic that the opportunity presented by the Hoover library job far outweighed any other factors in his decision.
But his mere mention of the less appealing terms of his employment in the last two years made us wonder: How many other professionals of Schwartz’s caliber does the state risk losing in similar fashion because of its precarious budget situation?
* Related…
* Tribune editorial: Oh, the temptation - Will a temporary Illinois tax hike become permanent?
* Adam Andrzejewski: Local tax share “welfare payment to local governments”
* Heartland Community College leaders urge lawmakers to fight for more funding
* Area lawmaker favors eliminating state gas sales tax
* “Illinois Is Broke” Peddles Broken Rhetoric: The class envy angle is particularly cynical, because the main reason private employees don’t enjoy the same benefits as public employees is that groups such as the Commercial Club have been so successful in destroying the labor movement. Now, they’re trying to turn the impoverished lower-middle class they helped create against one of the last remnants of the middle class, all so the upper class can pay less taxes.
* No doubt you’ve heard of the new Men’s Health magazine cover story on Congressman Aaron Schock: “The Ripped Representative - Fit-to-lead Congressman Aaron Schock has a plan to change America, one set of crunches at a time.” And the cover photo…
How is Illinois Republican Rep. Aaron Schock’s recent bare-chested cover photo on Men’s Health magazine playing at home in Peoria? One local Republican says not terribly well.
Rudy Lewis, Peoria County GOP chairman says “It probably wasn’t the best thing he [Schock] could have done.”
Rep. Aaron Schock (R-Ill.) is taking an unconventional approach to promote a new healthy lifestyles campaign, flaunting his chiseled chest on the cover of the new Men’s Health Magazine, which declares him “America’s Fittest Congressman.” […]
Schock, who turns 30 later this month, had previously drawn attention from gossip sites like TMZ, which posted a photo of him wearing only a bathing suit. He said he wanted to use the notoriety for a positive cause.
“You know, there is some risk with it, but I think it’s risk worth taking,” he said in an interview on NBC’s “Today” show Monday, citing the challenge of rising health costs. Eight of 10 dollars the government spends on health care is on preventable diseases, he says in Men’s Health.
The rest of us could find it a tad peculiar to see our elected representative spotlighted in shirtless splendor. I don’t recall anyone ever confusing Bob Michel with a Chippendale’s dancer. And though you occasionally could find Ray LaHood plodding along various 5K races around Peoria, he wasn’t known for his intimidating physique, except perhaps World’s Mightiest Eyebrows.
But there is Schock, in several strapping magazine shots, amid the tags, “America’s Fittest Congressman” and “The Ripped Representative.” The latter description still probably fits many elected Washington muckety-mucks, not for bicep curls but 12-ounce curls. But not so much for our congressional Boy Scout, who also turns his head away from rumaki and other tasty tidbits.
“You can pack a lot of calories on the end of a toothpick,” Schock tells Men’s Health. “You have a drink and a few hors d’oeuvres and you’ve just downed hundreds of calories.”
Yep, Mr. Goodie Two Shoes. You look at the magazine cover and - even though now he is 29 and we know his youthful-politician backstory - you nonetheless can’t help but think it’s a head shot of Doogie Howser with a model’s bod Photoshopped below.
* I thought about posting the pics yesterday, but didn’t want to monitor the comments. However, Schock is widely rumored to be considering a statewide bid, so we ought to do something. Let’s take a poll, shall we?
The governor said he’s not opposed to the idea of overhauling the antiquated electric grid, but maintained the legislation up for debate in Springfield doesn’t go far enough. Quinn said he wants more investment in alternative energy such as solar, wind and geothermal power, and suggested ComEd needs to pick up more of the cost instead of passing it along to consumers. […]
Quinn said his office is willing to negotiate with ComEd to pass a new version of the bill before lawmakers are scheduled to go home at the end of May. He said there are a number of legislative proposals that could easily be incorporated that would help win his support.
* Meanwhile, Sears’ state incentives are expiring next year and it’s shopping around…
Twenty-two years ago, Sears Roebuck and Co. leveraged an impending move from Sears Tower and fears it would move out of state into a sweet deal valued at $240 million and a sprawling new headquarters in Hoffman Estates.
Now, with the last of those state and local incentives set to expire in 2012, Sears again has been quietly evaluating where it wants to call home.
Sears Holdings Corp., the beleaguered parent to Sears Domestic, Sears Canada and Kmart, reportedly has been talking with officials in North Carolina, Texas, Tennessee and New Jersey. […]
As part of that process, the company commissioned an economic impact study that concluded the company’s departure could send shock waves through the suburbs with the potential loss of about 6,000 Sears employees and another 9,000 ancillary jobs with nearby businesses, vendors and contractors.
House Bill 3435, which amends the Economic Development Area Tax Increment Allocation Act, was introduced in February. It would allow Hoffman Estates to extend the current deal that lured Sears to Hoffman Estates by 15 years beyond the current 23-year limit.
Sears would continue to get the lion’s share of property tax dollars collected from the development area in return for keeping at least 4,000 jobs at its headquarters.
The measure hasn’t really moved since it was introduced.
“Sears has been an Illinois company for decades,” Quinn said at a news conference today.
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Quinn said he has met with Sears officials in recent months. […]
“I know how to work with the big businesses,” Quinn said, referring to news last week that Motorola Mobility would stay in Libertyville with the help of $100 million in credits from the state. The company also was reportedly investigating sites elsewhere.
Quinn sought to sound a confident tone in Chicago, saying he’d work with Sears officials to try to strike a deal that would work well for both taxpayers and the company.
The sixth biennial “Capitol Capers” promises to once again show us unknown talents that lurk, often undetected, under the Statehouse dome.
The show is a fundraiser for the Conference of Women Legislators.
State Rep. KAREN MAY, D-Highland Park, co-producer with Rep. SARA FEIGENHOLTZ, D-Chicago, has hinted at what’s to be seen. Written once again by Chicago scribes RHONA and JULIAN FRAZIN, the theme is based on “The Wizard of Oz,” with a legislative freshman lifted by a Midwestern tornado into Emerald City, also known as Springfield. […]
COWL provides 10 to 12 $2,500 scholarships annually to women of all ages
The show starts this Wednesday at 6:30. Cocktails begin at 5:30. I’ll have a bit more for subscribers tomorrow.
* The Question: Which Illinois politicians or political players would you cast as the wizard, tin-man, lion, scarecrow, the Wicked Witch of the West, Glinda the Good Witch, Dorothy and Toto? Any others?
And take it easy, people. Let’s not go overboard here. It’s supposed to be fun. Also, killjoys should find someplace else to comment.
Rahm Emanuel will be sworn in as Chicago’s new mayor on May 16, just 15 days before the end of the state legislative session.
So, while Emanuel has more than enough on his plate dealing with the first Chicago mayoral transition in 22 years, he and his team appear well aware that they will have precious few days to get what they want out of the Statehouse after he’s inaugurated.
Emanuel’s transition team hired a Statehouse emissary several weeks ago. They’re not calling him a “lobbyist,” however. He’s more of an “observer,” they say.
And they decided not to call attention to themselves by choosing any of the well-known, Chicago-connected contract lobbyists in town. Instead, they hired Mike Ruemmler, who ran Emanuel’s campaign advance team. Born and raised in southern Illinois’ Mount Vernon, Ruemmler is not your typical city lobbyist. He ran a campaign for state Sen. Michael Frerichs, so he has some Statehouse connections.
Emanuel has tried hard not to step on Mayor Daley’s toes, using the “one mayor at a time” phrase over and over. While that philosophy has extended to Springfield, it doesn’t mean Emanuel is completely uninvolved.
He sat down with House Speaker Michael Madigan, Senate President John Cullerton and Sen. Kimberly Lightford before the final school reform deal was made. His staff also worked on behalf of Lightford’s bill, and Emanuel since has pledged to make sure the House passes the reform bill.
As anyone who has tried it most surely knows, working with Madigan is not the easiest thing in the world. Madigan has not yet committed to approving the Senate’s school reforms as-is. Indeed, some of his people have all but declared that the bill will have to be changed.
Too many anti-union tweaks could endanger the bill’s viability in the Senate, however, where the majority Democrats always are resistant to being pushed around by the House.
Making sure the bill survives the usual House vs. Senate back and forth will be a significant test of Emanuel’s abilities.
A source with close ties to Emanuel predicted last week that the mayor-elect and the speaker should be able to work together. Emanuel served time as a leader in Congress, so he understands how to deal with needy, demanding legislators.
More important, Emanuel, like Madigan, absolutely hates being lied to. Nothing upsets him more than someone who makes a commitment and then doesn’t follow through.
Madigan, of course, always has reserved his most intense payback for those he believes haven’t told him the truth.
But Madigan is a one-of-a-kind character in politics. He won’t ever lie to you, but he also won’t come right out and say what he intends to do until he’s ready to do it.
“He’ll say, ‘You’re going to be fine,’ when you ask him if your bill’s gonna pass,” marveled one longtime Statehouse denizen.
“You never know what that means. Am I going to be fine personally even if my bill dies? Is my bill going to pass? You just don’t know.”
Madigan gave Daley a huge welcome wagon present after Daley was first elected in 1989 by jamming through a tax hike solely for schools and local government.
But Madigan’s latest tax hike gives not a penny more to schools and local governments. In fact, cuts to both are likely.
Madigan often has tried to test new leaders to see what they are made of. But he hasn’t yet clearly shown his hand one way or another when it comes to Emanuel.
As mayor, Daley was reluctant to lobby legislators one on one, even when invited to by Madigan. That refusal to get down into the trenches often meant his bills died, which frustrated his allies to no end.
Emanuel broke with that tradition even before he was elected, lobbying individual members on behalf of the civil unions bill late last year. And then there is his ongoing involvement with the school reform bill, which neatly dovetailed with his campaign promises to rein in the teachers’ union.
He reportedly intends to use the same personal touch on major legislation important to his agenda, personally or municipally. But he will try not to overdo it, I’m told. Instead, he’ll keep that weapon “in reserve” and use it only when he has to.
I’ve covered state politics for 21 years, yet this is the first Chicago mayoral transition I’ve ever seen up close. It should be fascinating.
* Daley honored by military, marches in final parade
* Mayor Daley’s name turns up in FBI files on embezzler John F. Duff Jr.: There’s nothing in the 600-plus pages — which include intelligence reports from informants, newspaper stories, subpoenas and agents’ notes, some of it with names and details redacted — to suggest that the mayor did anything illegal. In all, there are about 20 references regarding Daley and the elder Duff.
It would take a no-growth spending plan over the next three years to put the budget into the black, according to a new report from the bipartisan Commission on Government Forecasting and Accountability. Keeping a balanced budget when the tax hike expires will be a struggle, especially because Illinois continues to lug billions of dollars in overdue bills.
And, as I told you before, the Democratic leaders and the House GOP Leader are not proposing enough cuts to ensure that the tax hike goes away…
Allied with Democrat Madigan is Rep. Tom Cross, the House Republican leader. The Madigan-Cross spending plan is $33.2 billion out of the state’s main checking account. That’s about $1 billion less than what the Cullerton-led Senate Democrats want to spend and about $2.2 billion less than Quinn’s version.
At this point, the House plan would come closest to the first-year level the state’s budget forecasting commission says is needed to right the financial ship and eventually allow some of the tax hike to go away.
But Cross says there are no worries…
Cross is more confident. “There’s a path there to not continue the tax increase,” he said. “We feel pretty good about that.”
There are worries. Plenty of them. For instance, the Civic Federation’s new report…
Quinn’s budget overestimates revenues by $976 million because it doesn’t set aside enough money for income tax refunds, Msall said. That makes the total budget shortfall $2.4 billion — far more than the $1.45 billion caused by the governor’s added spending alone.
So, the House’s cuts may not be quite enough to even balance next fiscal year’s budget.
About $2.5 billion in outlays aren’t part of the budgets that are being considered by the various General Assembly appropriations committees. The biggest part of that is money the state sends to local governments to prop up their finances.
Gov. Pat Quinn has proposed suspending that revenue-sharing unless lawmakers approve a borrowing plan to pay off old bills. Sen. Donne Trotter, D-Chicago, a Senate budget expert, said the idea of cutting revenue-sharing would be on the negotiating table regardless of the borrowing plan.
“We could take it all, take a percentage, suspend it for a year,” Trotter said of the options open to lawmakers.
Feigenholtz’s measure, an amendment to House Bill 2934, would authorize short-term borrowing $900 million from existing state funds for the purpose of paying down Medicaid health care bills in order to snag extra federal money.
The House voted, 118-0, to approve the bill and send it the Senate for consideration.
Currently, the federal match for Medicaid is 57%. After June 30, the match will drop to 50%. By paying Medicaid bills early, Feigenholtz estimates that the state could save $90 million.
The Illinois Department of Healthcare and Family Services alone will have $1.3 billion in Medicaid bills on hand at the end of the state’s fiscal year on June 30, 2011. Currently, there is insufficient money to pay the bills. By utilizing $400,000,000 from the Water Revolving Fund and $500,000,000 from the General Obligation Bond Retirement and Interest Fund or other state funds from June 25 to July 30,the state could reduce its Medicaid bill by $90 million.
The state funds would be repaid by August 31, 2011.
Last week, state Sen. William Delgado complained that his colleagues on the Democratic side of the aisle in the Senate were trying to sneak through a series of budget cuts to a variety of social service programs.
“I thought this would be a more open process,” he griped. “I wasn’t part of this.”
Turns out, the Senate Democrats did outline the proposed cuts during two meetings — one in a closed-door session in Springfield and the other via a conference call. […]
Senate President John Cullerton, D-Chicago, had hoped to get the budget ball rolling in his chamber last Tuesday with an eye on finishing things up for the spring by the end of the month.
By the end of last week, however, the ball was no longer moving and lawmakers began to murmur about blowing their targeted May 31 adjournment date, forcing them to spend the summer in Springfield.
“This is what the rank and file asked for,” Trotter said of budgets being drafted by committees rather than a handful of lawmakers. “They asked to come into the kitchen. They’re finding out it’s hot in the kitchen.”
Gov. Pat Quinn notched a rare legislative victory last week, when his last-minute veto threat apparently played a role in the defeat of a proposal to allow people to carry concealed handguns in Illinois. Otherwise, however, observers say Quinn hasn’t been closely involved with General Assembly deliberations this spring – even on proposals Quinn himself initiated.
When Quinn gave his budget address in February, he called for saving money by reducing the number of school districts from 868 to 500, eliminating regional school superintendents, getting rid of legislative scholarships and borrowing billions of dollars to refinance the debt the state owes to local governments, schools and vendors.
As the General Assembly enters the final three weeks of its regular session, none of those ideas have gained much traction. Meanwhile, both legislative chambers seem intent on slashing Quinn’s budget proposal by $1 billion or more.
“I don’t think there has even been any request for bills,” said Steve Brown, a spokesman for House Speaker Michael Madigan, D-Chicago, about Quinn’s proposals to consolidate schools and eliminate the state’s regional school superintendents. When he made the budget speech, Quinn estimated school consolidation would save $100 million, while axing the regional superintendents would save $13 million.
On that score, while we cheered Senate Republicans a month ago for coming up with a series of proposed cuts, it is fair to note that they have yet to introduce any of them as bills. Over on the House side, the GOP is actually working with Democrats to craft a budget. If their Senate colleagues aren’t up to doing the latter, could they at least try the former to get more deeply involved in the process?
The bottom line is that everybody in Springfield must get serious about passing a responsible budget that might hurt more than Illinoisans would like, but is vital to setting the state on a course toward solvency. Anything short of that means a future meltdown for everybody. Lawmakers who can’t accept that and who aren’t willing to say no when necessary ought to rethink why they’re in the Legislature.
“[Gov. Quinn] should be looking to try to shape the product as it’s being formed in the legislature so we don’t have an issue of him getting a budget that passed the General Assembly that he’s decided to veto,” [Senate Republican Matt Murphy] said.
* The hidden (federal) costs of Illinois budget cuts: Here’s how it works. Illinois receives over $35 million in ongoing annual federal funding for rental subsidies and other operating costs, and about $7 million in Medicaid reimbursements through supportive housing programs. Those funds come on the condition that Illinois matches 25% (ie, for every dollar Illinois puts in, the Federal Government puts in four). That means any dollar cut at the state level actually costs supportive housing five dollars in the end. This problem hits Continuum of Care and Neighborhood Stabilization Programs especially hard, threatening their ability to provide homeless services and neighborhood development efforts in every county in the state.
* An obviously understated problem explained by the Commission on Government Forecasting and Accountability in its latest revenue and economic forecasting report…
Perhaps a concern to the economy of Illinois and its financial recovery is the weekly earnings of the subsector of jobs seeing improvement. The “Education and Health Services” and the “Leisure and Hospitality” subsectors have seen the largest improvement in the number of jobs over the last decade but are two of the lowest subsectors in terms of weekly earnings. Equally troublesome is that those subsectors with the highest weekly earnings were the subsectors that have lost the most jobs.
For example, the subsector with the highest weekly earnings in CY 2010 was the construction subsector, paying, on average, $1,237 per week. However, construction jobs are down 26.5% since CY 2000. The second highest paying subsector is the “Information” subsector ($1,039 per week), but employment in this category is down 31.1% over the last 10 years. These statistics would suggest that although employment levels are improving in Illinois, the jobs being added appear to be lower paying jobs.
One of every five patronage workers on a secret clout list filed at least one worker’s compensation claim against the city, a Sun-Times analysis found. That incredibly high injury rate would make patronage work one of the most dangerous jobs in America.
* There are some things missing from this AP story…
Gov. Pat Quinn says the state of Illinois will provide $100 million in tax credits to Motorola Mobility as part of a deal with the company to keep its headquarters in the Chicago suburb of Libertyville.
Under the deal announced Friday, the Motorola spinoff will keep a workforce of about 3,000 at the facility. Motorola Mobility designs mobile phones and other related products.
* That $100 million number is pretty astounding until you realize that it will be doled out over 10 years and requires a significant commitment from Motorola…
Motorola Mobility is committing to spend more than $500 million in research and development related to these jobs over the next three years.
* The cash is a tax credit applied to the company’s annual withholding tax liability or its annual corporate income tax liability. However, Gov. Quinn did not announce a corresponding budget cut to make up for the revenue loss. Then again, the revenue loss to the state would’ve been quite big if the company had left - not to mention the hit to the state’s reputation. And Motorola Mobility had been looking elsewhere…
The cell phone maker had been considering moving its head office to more high-profile tech centers, such as Silicon Valley, San Diego or Austin, Texas, since it was spun off from Motorola Inc. earlier this year.
Morningstar analyst Joseph Beaulieu said, “Given that CEO Sanjay Jha has a second home in Southern California and given that the San Francisco area is home to some of the top technology companies in the United States, this is a big win for Illinois.”
Ed Longanecker, executive director of Naperville-based tech trade association TechAmerica, said Illinois’ efforts to keep Motorola Mobility and to create an Illinois Innovation Council are welcome efforts to accelerate technology and economic growth.
* Back-seat passengers under the age of 19 are already required to wear seat belts in Illinois. The House voted yesterday to expand that to everyone…
Back-seat passengers who now can decide whether to buckle up would have to start wearing seat belts under legislation that narrowly passed the House Thursday.
The bill, which squeaked through 61-55 and now heads to the Senate, would add Illinois to the list of 11 other states that require backseat seat-belt usage for all passengers.
“We’ve had people in our area killed and maimed who hadn’t had a seat belt on in the backseat,” said Rep. Mark Beaubien (R-Barrington Hills), the bill’s chief House sponsor. “Totally unnecessary.”
State data was not immediately available after Thursday’s vote. But nationwide, 1,095 back-seat passengers not wearing seat belts died in 2009, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
* The Question: Do you support mandatory back-seat seat belt usage? Take the poll and then explain your answer in comments, please. Thanks.
*** UPDATE 1 *** The Illinois Federation of Teachers and the Illinois Education Association have just issued a joint statement. Essentiall, this means that the teachers unions support the Chicago Teachers Union desired changes in the education reform bill, but without the CTU’s way over top rhetoric…
“After months of historic collaboration and bargaining in good faith, the Illinois House can, by making necessary adjustments, ensure that Illinois gets education reform legislation that reflects what was intended and agreed upon in the negotiations.
We are on the precipice of passing some the most serious reforms to education that Illinois has seen in decades, and drafting such legislation is a deliberate process. The coalition that came together remains united in our ultimate objective: to pass reforms that protect the voice of the teacher in the classroom while making our schools better for our kids.”
*** UPDATE 2 *** “Joint statement of Robin Steans, Executive Director of Advance Illinois, Jessica Handy, Policy Director of Stand for Children – Illinois and Jeff Mays, President, Illinois Business Roundtable in response to the Chicago Teachers Union’s removal of support from Illinois Senate Bill 7″…
SB 7 is the same legislation that the Chicago Teachers Union assisted in crafting and openly supported in the Illinois Senate. For more than three months, state senators, school management groups, the State Board of Education, education reform organizations and teachers’ unions- including the Chicago Teachers Union- sat at the same negotiating table and hammered out the specifics of SB 7.
This process was extraordinary for its inclusive and collaborative nature and something which proudly sets Illinois apart from other states.
The proposed language of the bill has been available and under discussion for months. All parties were given the chance to review the final language of SB 7 and, indeed, the Chicago Teachers Union did propose last minute changes, which were incorporated before it was passed unanimously by the Illinois Senate on April 14th.
The Chicago Teachers Union has now removed its support from SB 7 and in doing so, has undermined the good faith in which it was negotiated.
Since passage in the Senate, we have worked with the Illinois Education Association, the Illinois Federation of Teachers, school management groups, and legislators on clean-up language in several areas. We remain committed to continuing to work collaboratively with legislators and stakeholders on this landmark legislation.
In another possible blow to the legislation, House Speaker Michael Madigan (D-Chicago) is considering an amendment that would shift the cost of teacher pensions, a move that could torpedo the bill’s chances, according to two sources familiar with the confidential talks. The sources requested anonymity because they remain involved in the negotiations.
The amendment would require school districts to levy a separate property tax for teacher pensions, the sources said. The move would shift the burden from the state to local taxpayers. Senate President John Cullerton (D-Chicago) introduced the concept in February.
There are actually two education reform bills (another, cleanup version was passed the day after the first one passed). I think only one of those two will be amended with Madigan’s pension changes. We’ll see.
It would require that a public body – at both the state and local level –muster a three-fifths supermajority vote before pensions for its employees can be enhanced.
“It’s very easy to vote for a bill that increases a pension benefit,” said House Speaker Michael Madigan, D-Chicago, the amendment’s sponsor. “Everyone would be better served if there were a higher bar regarding pension bills.”
Organizations representing local governments – such as the Illinois Municipal League – signed up in favor of the amendment.
Unions representing public employees lined up in opposition. Steve Preckwinkle of the Illinois Federation of Teachers said the amendment could hamstring pension changes needed to clear up problems instead of enhancing benefits.
* Illinois Democrats Enrage Public-Worker Unions With Drive to Tame Pensions
* Michael Carrigan: Illinois should honor current pensions - Cutting the retirement benefits earned by state workers is unconstitutional and fundamentally unfair.
* Sean Smoot: Society’s promise to public safety workers goes beyond memorials
* Illinois labor launches campaign to protect pensions
* Rep. Lou Lang said yesterday that he thought he had 58 votes going into the debate on his medical marijuana bill. That’s still two votes shy of the 60 required, but Lang thought he might pick up a couple of extra votes during the debate. He was wrong. When all was said and done, he ended up with just 53 votes. However, four members, all Democrats, switched from Yes to No before the roll call was closed. Watch…
Democratic Reps. Acevedo, Reitz, Thapedi and Verschoore all flipped to No at the end when they saw the bill was going down. Thapedi switched back and forth a couple of times.
[Sigh.]
* That vote was seriously disheartening for those of us who believe we need some sane drug laws in this country. The bill established a three-year pilot project. No growing by patients would be allowed. The amount of pot that people could have was reduced to two and a half ounces. A specific list of maladies that could be treated with medical marijuana was in the bill, as well as a limit on the number of dispensaries and who could operate them. You can’t get much tighter than that, although they could lower the amount of pot that patients could purchase and it wouldn’t bother me much. Even some opponents agreed with that. But the rhetoric by some opponents was just ridiculous. “A flawed piece of West Coast marijuana legislation,” said Rep. Rich Morthland. Watch…
You’d think by listening to some of these people that marijuana is some outrageously dangerous drug. When you talk to legislators, quite a few privately admit that they tried weed in college or even high school, or even since then. Yet, they seem fine now. The simple fact is that pot itself doesn’t damage nearly as many lives as being arrested for smoking it. Our last three presidents all admitted to smoking it. The republic has somehow managed to survive. Yet, it’s highly doubtful that any of them would’ve been elected if they had been busted by the cops for giving it a try. What rank hypocrisy this is.
As the bill failed, Jim Champion of Somonauk watched from his wheelchair in the House gallery. He said he was “deflated” by the vote because he has suffered from multiple sclerosis for 23 years and marijuana is the only thing he has used to control his symptoms without horrible side effects.
But because marijuana is illegal, Champion currently is on methadone, the latest in a long list of legal prescriptions. He said he could move to a state like Michigan or California, where medical marijuana is legal, but Illinois is his home and he wants to stay.
During debate, Lang pointed to Champion, a U.S. Army veteran who said he worked with Lang to craft a bill that would pass.
Champion said he often has people come up and thank him for his service, but he feels the thanks aren’t warranted because he has to break the law to use marijuana.
“I feel like a criminal. I don’t feel like an honored veteran,” Champion said. “I don’t, and my state’s doing it to me.”
“At night when I sleep, my knees grind together, and I almost end up turning into a ball. I wake up in the morning and take my pills, and they do nothing,” Champion said. “I take three puffs off a cannabis cigarette, and I am able to separate my legs. I am able to basically get ready in the morning.”
We don’t wish the pain and suffering of AIDS or cancer or multiple sclerosis on any human being.
But we wouldn’t mind one sleepless night of it for the legislators who voted “no” to legalizing medical marijuana in Illinois.
That tally came to 61 on Thursday. That’s how many members of the Illinois House of Representatives are willing to let others suffer needlessly so they can pose and posture that they’re tough on crime. […]
This is a simple matter. They are choosing to put politics above real people who need real help. […]
*** UPDATE 1 *** The House just passed a bill with 66 votes that allows counties to opt out of the ICE program. Rep. Randy Ramey, Jr., who has been a major backer of proposals to get tough on illegal immigration, is, surprisingly enough, a co-sponsor of the bill and spoke in favor of it during debate. Two counties want to opt out after having opted in, and one of those is in his district. The bill also does this…
…provides that as a condition for its continued participation in the “Secure Communities” program, the State of Illinois shall modify its Memorandum of Agreement with ICE to provide that, in line with ICE’s Congressional authorization of identifying “aliens convicted of a crime, sentenced to imprisonment, and who may be deportable,” Public Law 110-161, 121 Stat. 1844, 2365 (2007), no Illinois arrest record information regarding any individual may be analyzed by ICE through the “Secure Communities” program unless such individual has been convicted of a criminal offense.
DHS officials confirmed to The Huffington Post that they will still require the state to share fingerprints with immigration enforcement — even though Quinn said he wants to terminate a memorandum of understanding with the agency to share the data.
In making this decision, DHS is flouting the state’s decision to withdraw from the program in favor of more universal immigration enforcement and likely setting the stage for a lawsuit.
Recently, the Illinois Senate approved legislation (Senate Bill 2185) aimed at allowing student immigrants who have a valid taxpayer ID to invest in their college education – this legislation has been the subject of much misinformation on the Internet and in the media.
The bill requires the Illinois Student Assistance Commission to create an Illinois DREAM Fund that will provide scholarships funded entirely from private contributions – no Illinois tax dollars will be directed toward these scholarships. In addition, to be eligible for the program, a student must be a resident of the State of Illinois.
Contrary to some of the misinformation being spread by opponents of the measure, it is not an immigration bill – in no way, shape or form does it grant undocumented immigrants citizenship. Also, contrary to what’s been previously reported, the legislation does not permit driving certificates for undocumented immigrants.
*** UPDATE 4 *** This is what you call doubling down. From the Palatine Tea Party…
Shameful Illinois Republican State Senators
(Palatine, Illinois) - It is a sad day in Illinois when 11 Senate Republicans seek the cover of the leftist media over their ill-advised vote. The Illinois Tea Party outrage at the passage of the Illinois Dream Act through the Illinois Senate has now made the Huffington Post.
These 11 Senators spend tax dollars like drunken sailors on shore leave, and once caught try to spin their way out of a problem they created. The Tea Party and its allies in the Illinois know that Illinois is in a financial crisis of epic proportion.
Once again the Illinois dream act is another spending bill that could adversely affect Illinois citizens. It has and will be the job of Tea Parties throughout the state to hold our elected officials accountable. The actions of these 11 Senators will not soon be forgotten. Many of these 11 call themselves conservatives, yet there is nothing conservative about the Illinois Dream Act.
This is a failure to the citizens of Illinois and these shameful Senators need to be held accountable for their actions. Please keep calling these numbers and keep expressing your contempt at this ill-advised vote.
Republicans that voted YES are: Althoff, Bomke, Brady, Dillard, Duffy, Tom Johnson, Murphy, Radogno, Sandack, Schmidt, Syverson.
Notice how they don’t explain how and why this is allegedly “another spending bill that could adversely affect Illinois citizens.”
[ *** End Of Updates *** ]
* The Palatine Tea Party issued an outraged press release yesterday blasting the Senate Republicans who voted for the Illinois DREAM Act…
An Open Letter to Illinois Republican Senators
The Illinois Republican Senators who voted ‘YES’ to Dream Act SB 2185 are part of the problem in Illinois. Instead of focusing on issues like jobs, taxes and our economy they are more interested in getting votes. It is clear our current elected officials are much more concerned with their reelection than what matters for the citizens of Illinois.
We will Never forget your VOTE!
Republicans that voted YES are: Althoff, Bomke, Brady, Dillard, Duffy, Tom Johnson, Murphy, Radogno, Sandack, Schmidt, Syverson. If you are outraged with their votes, contact them directly
Note, there is a difference between the state version of the DREAM Act and the federal version, which failed during Congress’ lame-duck session late last fall. The state version, unlike the federal version, does not provide a direct path to citizenship. And some of the Republicans state Senators who voted for it feel like they’re being unnecessarily hammered at.
* There are other differences as well. And Sen. Ron Sandack (R-Downers Grove) is one of those who feel like they’re being whacked for no good reason. From a press release…
“It is important to clarify that this bill is not an immigration bill. It does not grant any sort of legal citizenship status,” Sandack clarified.
Senate Bill 2185 requires the Illinois Student Assistance Commission to create an Illinois DREAM Fund that will provide scholarships funded entirely from private contributions. A potential recipient must meet residency and educational requirements in order to receive the assistance.
“This legislation specifies that the recipient of educational assistance through the Illinois DREAM Fund have at least one parent who immigrated to the country. This bill is in no way affiliated with the Federal DREAM Act.”
The legislation also provides for educational training for school counselors regarding higher education opportunities for undocumented immigrants, as well as specifying that college savings programs must be made available to those with a valid social security number or taxpayer identification number.
It really isn’t a gigantic bill. That was a huge overreaction by that tea party. The bill is here. It passed the Senate 45-11.
* Meanwhile, you’ve probably already read about this already. I didn’t put it on the blog yesterday because I got busy with other stuff…
Illinois this week became the first state in the country to officially pull out of a program known as Secure Communities, saying it will no longer provide information the Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency about illegal immigrants who’ve been arrested.
Governor Pat Quinn’s office cited the deportation of illegal immigrants who were charged with only minor crimes or no crimes at all as a top concern. Quinn spokesperson Brie Callahan says ICE did not follow protocol in the deportations, often removing people from the U.S. before they’d been convicted of any crime.
Yesterday, Illinois Governor Pat Quinn sent a letter to Immigration and Customs Enforcement notifying the agency that because of its indiscriminate use of the “Secure Communities” deportation program, the State is ending its participation in the program. The letter states “that the implementation of the Secure Communities program in Illinois is contrary to the stated purpose of the MOA… By ICE’s own measure, less than 20% of those who have been deported from Illinois under the program have ever been convicted of a serious crime.” The Governor’s letter concludes, “With this termination, no new counties in Illinois can be activated and those counties that were previously activated… must be deactivated and removed from the Secure Communities program.” […]
The Governor’s letter comes in the wake of mounting criticism of the “Secure Communities” program for what U.S. Rep. Zoe Lofgren of California describes as outright deception in its implementation and for the widely reported use of the program to deport people still presumed to be innocent despite the program’s mission of focusing on “convicted dangerous criminals.”
The Illinois legislature is scheduled to weigh in on the program with a pending vote on the Smart Enforcement Act, which would regulate and require reporting on the program.
Nearly a third of all illegal immigrants deported out of Illinois under the program have never been convicted of any crime, the letter stated, citing federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement figures. Quinn’s office suspended the state’s role in the program in November amid concerns about its effectiveness.
“During the suspension, we voiced our concerns to ICE and asked them to prove that Secure Communities can and will be implemented as agreed to,” the governor’s office said in a statement. “After review, we were not satisfied and determined that ICE’s ongoing implementation of Secure Communities is flawed.” […]
“Illinois is without competition the most pro-illegal immigration state in the country, even before this,” said Roy Beck, executive director of the Virginia-based NumbersUSA organization.
However, it wasn’t immediately clear if Quinn’s move would completely end Illinois’ connection to the federal program.
For one, fingerprints of suspects collected by local law enforcement have always been sent to the FBI for checks against criminal history and fingerprint databases, and nothing in Illinois’ notice can stop the FBI from sharing information.
Also, while Illinois’ 26 participating counties rely on state police for the program to work, they could come up with their own systems or work with ICE independently. The letter to ICE said that no new Illinois counties would enroll in the program.
Statistics from the immigration agency showed that nearly one-third of immigrants deported from Illinois under the program had no criminal convictions. It is a civil violation for an immigrant to be in the United States illegally; it is not a crime. [Emphasis added.]
* Related…
* Hispanic Caucus calls on Obama to freeze controversial immigration enforcement program
* Illinois Senate passes DREAM Act - Bill headed for a state House vote
* The fight for the DREAM Act: faltered but not fallen: So far, 10 other states have passed versions of the DREAM Act, extending in-state tuition to undocumented students, including California, Illinois, Kansas, Nebraska, New Mexico, New York, Texas, Utah, Washington and Wisconsin.
* Otis McDonald, the plaintiff in the NRA’s successful lawsuit against Chicago’s handgun laws, told Fox Chicago yesterday that Rep. Monique Davis (D-Chicago) committed to him to support the concealed carry bill. Rep. Davis voted “No” yesterday, which the NRA claims is what actually killed the bill. Watch…
Rep. Davis denied saying any such thing. However, I talked to four people yesterday (the NRA’s lobbyist and three NRA members) who told me that Davis did, indeed, say she’d vote for the bill. Here she is talking to McDonald last year at the Statehouse. She called him a “great hero” and appeared supportive of his cause…
* The bill was placed on the order of “Postponed Consideration,” so there is no recorded roll call. But here’s the video of the big board…
* Split among suburban lawmakers dooms concealed-carry bill: Thursday’s Illinois House defeat of a proposal to allow citizens to carry concealed weapons hinged on regional differences, not partisan ones, with lawmakers from the Chicago suburbs holding the swing votes.
