* Governor Quinn, speaking after a lengthy meeting with the four caucus leaders, announced a ‘meeting of the minds’ had coalesced around the concept of a pension obligation note.
A pension obligation note -basically a short term bond- would most likely have a 5 year term. The pension note will allow the IL to make all constitutionally required pension payments for the coming fiscal year.
The perk, according to Quinn, is that note will free up between $2.2 and $2.3 billion to help balance the budget.
Quinn expects the GA to pass the pension obligation note bill tomorrow.
* Leadership also agreed upon the need for further cuts in the state’s operating budget.
The size and scope of these additional cuts are still to be determined. There has been some talk in the Senate of an additional $1 billion in cuts from the operational budget, but the Governor did not commit to that figure. No specific departments or programs were identified as possible areas of saving.
Once a figure for the cuts is agreed upon, Governor Quinn will determine where the cuts will fall.
* The possibility that the GA will pass a new budget by July 1, already considered to be long-shot, has shrunk considerably.
Quinn said the Legislature’s focus tomorrow will be on passing the pension obligation note. Additionally, the Governor does not expect the GA back until Tuesday, June 30.
Considering that the Governor did not repeat his call for a new budget before July -and given the fact that tuesday is the last day of the current fiscal year- it appears that Quinn has backed away from his demand for a new budget to be passed before the new fiscal year.
* The raw video from the press conference will be posted shortly.
* 9:47 pm - Gov. Quinn’s press conference: part 1…
* 9:53 pm - Gov. Quinn’s press conference: part 2…
* 9:55 pm - Gov. Quinn’s press conference: part 3…
* 3:25 pm - Senate President John Cullerton just told reporters that the governor’s long-sought recall proposal will be tied to Gov. Quinn’s signature on HB 7, the controversial ethics bill passed by both chambers. The governor is under major pressure from reformers and editorial boards to veto the bill.
Cullerton also said the House must take the next vote on tax hikes, since the Senate has already approved an income/sales tax bill. He also said it was imperative that the Republicans agree to work towards a tax hike.
We may have video, but maybe not. The cam crashed. Oops.
* 5:07 pm- Here is the audio, in 3 parts, of President Cullerton at the Sen. Dems’ presser…
Fran Eaton wonders when people who depend on the government to meet their needs will realize how enslaved they’ve become.
2 hours ago
Fran Eaton thinks we should support the Republican House members who are staring down angry tax demanders who’ve been ushered out of the Capitol.
15 minutes ago
The governor still wants to raise the income tax rate on individuals by 50 percent. But now the governor says he’s open to negotiating the size of the tax hike on businesses.
“Some of our Republican friends I think would be interested in seeing that happen,” Quinn told reporters after a rally where thousands of people protested potential budget cuts if no more money is found.
Thousands of people squeezed into the Illinois Capitol to protest possible budget cuts and instead demand higher taxes.
They waved signs in support of programs for children, women, senior citizens, disabled people, drug addicts and more.
Authorities say Tuesday’s rally attracted more than 5,000 people. At one point, police stopped letting more people into the Capitol building because of safety concerns.
*** UPDATE 8 - 1:45 pm *** Here’s my intern Mike Murray’s video of the rally. Very good stuff. He learned how to do this all on his own…
*** UPDATE 7 - 1:32 pm *** Facebook post by Rep. Osmond…
I am in my seat at the Capitol and the building has been closed as to those 5000+ individuals here demanding a yes vote for a tax increase. Just like others have written it is not a good day with the outside 90+ degrees. They just cleared the gallery and told all they have to go thru a security check and the visitors are not happy. There is a security meeting in the back and they have called for additional manpower
It’s just one of those days where it is truly a blessing to have an office in the Capitol building. 5,000+ whining people, you can’t walk anywhere, seems like everyone has a drum, whistle, or microphone, and because its 96 degrees outside we get a really ripe smell to top it all off
@capitolbureau Quinn backing a temporary income tax hike. Said he is open to lowering the proposed corporate rate [hike] of 7.2 in exchange for Republican votes. [emphasis added]
@andreazelinski Upward of 5,000 people flooding the state capitol today, says Sec of State office. For safety’s sake, they won’t let more in the building.
…Adding… That’s confirmed.
*** UPDATE 2 - 12:23 pm *** A photo from inside the Statehouse. Click on the pic for a larger image…
*** UPDATE - 12:18 pm *** I’ll be posting on Twitter off and on today. Here are a few relevant “Tweets” that I’ve seen so far…
@Pov2Opportunity Update From Springfield- Thousands of people inside and outside the Capitol Building http://tiny.cc/OIHzP
@DanProft On my way to Springfield for more discussion as to how we “un-fix” Illinois
@kiyoshimartinez A traffic jam on I-55? Are you kidding me?!
@ILSenDems President Cullerton has filed a letter… scheduling a regular session day on Wednesday, June 24th at 10:00am
8:30 a.m.-10:30 a.m. - Social service providers have a forum at the President Abraham Lincoln Hotel in downtown Springfield to talk with local legislators about devastation caused by possible state budget cuts.
10:30 a.m. - Advocacy groups fighting domestic violence and sexual assault and others gather at the Abraham Lincoln Statue on the east side of the Capitol, with tents, to show the impact of possible budget cuts to their services.
11 a.m. - Service providers meet at the state Capitol’s Lincoln statue, then march nearby to Attorney General Lisa Madigan’s office and the state Republican Party office in downtown Springfield to warn about budget cuts.
11:30 a.m. - About 5,000 providers, workers and clients rally in the state Capitol Rotunda along with Gov. Pat Quinn against budget cuts.
They’ve hit the phones, sent the e-mails and even had face-to-face meetings. On Tuesday, service providers take their message en masse to the state Capitol in hopes of getting better answers.
About 5,000 black-clad protestors plan to welcome the Legislature back to Springfield for a special session meant to hash out some of the state’s problems, including human service organizations that could see their funding cut in half in the next budget year.
They promise this won’t be another ordinary legislative rally.
“Every day, you can find another rally, you can find another group that is interested in their issue. What is different is this time … everyone is coming together as a whole,” said Sara Moscato Howe, CEO of the Illinois Alcohol and Drug Dependence Association.
Experience tells us that protest rallies — a big one is scheduled for Tuesday in Springfield — aren’t going to rile up average taxpayers. We’ve heard too many doomsday forecasts and are tired of political posturing that feels an awful lot like extortion:
Fund our programs or real people will really suffer.
My sense is that, this time, only a true crisis will generate popular support for a tax increase. And that even when the suffering is real, the public isn’t going to dig deep until legislators scrap all but the most urgent infrastructure-repair projects in the budget.
They’re not gonna “scrap” anything in the capital bill. Notice that neither side has pointed out the goofy projects in the bill? It’s a “gentlemen’s agreement” - albeit made with one female (the Senate GOP Leader) - not to stir up trouble.
* I should’ve posted this earlier, but I forgot until a commenter reminded me a bit ago.
From that recent statewide poll we talked about yesterday…
In general, do you approve, disapprove or have no opinion about the job the Illinois General
Assembly is doing?
Approve - 16.13%
Disapprove - 42.63%
No Opinion - 41.25%
You gotta wonder how the respondents would’ve reacted if they were told about this little budgetary trick. A bill requiring legislator furloughs calculated the furlough days based on a 365-day working year…
That seems to mean that lawmakers believe they never stop working, even though it would appear from the results of the most recent legislative session, they never really started. […]
If calculated against their base pay of $67,835, the 365-day plan will cost each lawmaker a total of $743 from their paycheck.
If they based it on a five-day workweek, it would cost them a total of $1,043.
And, of course, there are so many committee chairmanships, minority spokespersonships and leadership slots - all which come with higher stipends - that the actual impact for most legislators is far greater.
* Question 1: Should AFSCME agree to reopen its state contract, which doesn’t expire for another three years, in order to help the state balance its budget?
* Question 2: If the contract is reopened, should AFSCME agree to a wage freeze, wage/benefit cuts and/or mandatory furloughs?
Fully explain both your answers, please.
And, please, no drive-by comments that just blast unions in general. We’re talking about one union here and one state contract. Stick to the question.
* Is there a constitutional problem with the “ethics” bill? Chicago Public Radio takes a look…
Paul Ryan, Campaign Legal Center: There’s one provision of the bill that seemingly applies a contribution limit to a political committee organized to support or oppose one or more questions of public policy, which, I’m interpreting as meaning a committee formed to support or oppose a ballot measure in the state.
Ballot questions, Ryan points out, cannot be held to contribution limits. Or, so said the Supreme Court almost 30 years ago. Ryan says there’s a reason it’s alright to limit donations to politicians but not to committees working on ballot questions.
RYAN: Unlimited contributions to candidates and officeholders could corrupt those individuals, potentially. By contrast, in the ballot measure context, there are no human beings who can be corrupted by the contributions.
The sponsor of Illinois’ bill says changes can be made if need be.
* Greg Hinz looks at the failure of a payday loan regulation…
In these days when “reform” supposedly is the mantra in Springfield, business as usual continues, well, as usual. The only thing that’s surprising is the sheer audacity of the players.
A prime example is what didn’t happen late last month on a bill to put more limits on the payday loan guys. You know, the good folks who say they’ll lose their shirts helping worthy citizens if they can’t charge interest rates of 300% or 400%.
The bill, a top priority for Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan, got a grand total of one vote in the Illinois House committee in which it had been dumped. Yes, one vote. Neither House Speaker Michael Madigan (Lisa’s dad) nor anyone else offset the squads of connected lobbyists who pulled strings to kill the bill — and likely will pull out their checkbooks again when lawmakers are raising cash for their next campaign.
It looks like the University of Illinois dropped the ball — and violated the spirit of the law — when redacting public documents connected to its shadow admission process for well-connected students.
In records released last week, U. of I. officials blacked out Cubs broadcaster Ron Santo’s name in an e-mail discussion about one of his Hall of Fame snubs. […]
The e-mail is dated March 2, 2005, the day Santo failed in another bid to enter Cooperstown. U. of I. spokesman Tom Hardy said the employee handling the redactions didn’t know who Santo was and assumed he was a rejected student.
“I know it may surprise the Tribune and die-hard Cubs fans, but Ron Santo is apparently not a household name,” Hardy said.
Quite the comeback. Now, if Hardy would only answer my question about any attempts by “landmark” Tribune employees to clout kids into the U of I…
* And Chris Kelly’s lawyer has a point about some of the charges against his client. Kelly pleaded guilty to moving huge amounts of money around to conceal payments to a Kankakee bookie, but the feds have shown no interest in the bookie…
[Michael Monico] noted the bookie in the case never has been prosecuted and the matter hasn’t been referred to state prosecutors either.
“Because it’s unimportant to the government,” he said.
Strange, that. They’ve got a major illegal gambling enterprise and no criminal referrals?
* Legislators are getting heckled by social service advocates. As I told subscribers this morning, GOP Rep. Mike Bost was booed off the stage…
The cheering gave way to heckling and shouting after State Rep. Mike Bost, R-Murphysboro, took to the microphone. Bost urged those in attendance to remember that even if lawmakers pass a proposed income tax increase the state will still have a $5 billion budget deficit, which will require more cuts.
“Then cut from the top,” one woman yelled.
“Raise more money,” another followed.
Bost continued on and said that he didn’t want to “give false hopes” and that people should remember how the state’s finances arrived at their current state.
Here, the shouts tumbled one on top of the other drowning out Bost’s voice.
“Quit politicking,” one man shouted.
“If you don’t want the truth, and you can’t handle the truth, I’m out,” Bost said before dropping the microphone and walking out.
State Rep. Ed Sullivan Jr., a Mundelein Republican, said he was protested and picketed while marching with his wife and two young children at this past weekend’s Libertyville Days parade by local social service groups scared into a frenzy by the governor’s doomsday talk.
“It is absolutely immoral what the governor is doing,” Sullivan said of the governor’s tactic. “If you want to picket me, that’s great. But leave kids out of it.”
Pat Quinn is not Rod Blagojevich. Rod Blagojevich would’ve ordered protesters to shout taunts at legislators. Quinn is not that sort of fellow.
* Parents are some of the most afraid, and angriest…
“I’m infuriated at the lack of responsibility (of state legislators),” said Dianne Hall of Moline, whose son receives aid from the Department of Human Services. “They’re hitting and striking at the most vulnerable population.”
There’s also a lot of activity among organizations as well…
AFSCME members have “picketed, marched and met one-on-one with dozens of lawmakers,” Lindall said. “For the last several weeks, we have sustained an intensive e-mail and phone campaign by our members that has generated many thousands of calls and messages to lawmakers, and those calls and messages are continuing.”
The AARP set up a hotline to connect members with their legislators. So far more than 5,000 people have used the service, according to AARP Spokesman David Irwin. […]
People involved with the Ounce of Prevention Fund, an early childhood education advocacy group, have sent almost 6,000 e-mails and made hundreds of calls to their lawmakers, spokeswoman Jelene Britten said.
Dan Schwick, spokesman for Lutheran Social Services of Illinois, said his group has called on about 1,000 members of a grassroots network to bombard lawmakers with calls and e-mails.
From the Southwest Side campus of Daley College, they marched a dozen blocks to the district office of the man some regard as the most powerful figure in Illinois politics: House Speaker Mike Madigan, D-Chicago. They found his door locked. […]
Madigan’s House Democrats have blocked a big increase in the state income tax sought by Quinn. It’s been approved by the state Senate. The protest at Madigan’s district office was organized by the AFSCME union local representing some 700 adult education instructors at the City Colleges.
“The Speaker could work harder,” Mark Freeman, president of AFSCME Local 3506, said. “There are a lot of Democrats waiting for his leadership.”
“I think a number of legislators who voted `no’ on May 31 understand that when it comes to this crisis, and it is a crisis, they may have to switch their vote,” Quinn said.
But in late May, Quinn also expressed optimism lawmakers would approve. They didn’t.
A memo [fixed link] obtained by the Sun-Times and circulated by House Speaker Michael Madigan (D-Chicago) to his Democratic members lays out an array of “legislative items” to be considered during the Quinn-called special session that begins today.
But one thing missing on Madigan’s to-do list for the week is a vote on a tax increase, which is likely recognition that the Quinn plan seems to be barely registering a pulse in the House with Republicans en masse against it.
Poe and Brauer also favor reforms to the budget process, reforms that the Republican leadership insists are a pre-requisite for Republicans to even consider a tax increase.
They must have amnesia. Dozens of Republicans voted for a menu of tax and fee increases in order to fund projects in their districts, including $500 million in member-initiated, re-election greasing projects. Those votes came before the governor signed a single reform into law.
Last week, Quinn said he wanted them to vote on a tax increase by Wednesday. But he now says that might not happen.
QUINN: I think we want to keep working and working until it’s the right time to take a vote whether it’s this Wednesday. Certainly by the end of this month we got have a vote.
* Check out the drop in personal income taxes, compiled by Stateline.org…
…for the first time in 15 years, welfare numbers are up in at least 26 states. In Illinois it’s 3 percent, but in South Carolina that number is 23 percent; in Florida, it’s 14 percent and in California, it’s 10 percent.
* Budget cuts back on the table today in Illinois: Brady, who is running for governor next year, disputes the deficit numbers that Quinn is using, and insists the state can get by with its existing funding “if the governor stops his scare-tactics crusade for a tax increase, acts like a leader and manages the state’s finances within the resources we have.”
Under a proposed compromise that has been the subject of a series of closed meetings in recent days, the board would repeal half of the one-cent-on-the-dollar hike that was adopted at the request of County Board President Todd Stroger.
The move would reduce the county’s sales tax levy from 1.75% today to 1.25%, effective Jan. 1.
Aides to Mr. Stroger failed to return phone calls seeking comment. But the president, who twice has vetoed bills to repeal the entire one-percentage-point increase but has said he could live with a one-quarter-cent reduction, is said to be willing to back the half-cent cut.
“My understanding is that the president would sign it,” said Commissioner John Daley, who heads the board’s Finance Committee. He said he is inclined to support the measure.
Chicago is home to four of the top 25 most dangerous “neighborhoods” in the country, including a sliver of Washington Park that ranked No. 2, a recently released study of FBI crime statistics shows.
Folks who lived near 55th and State — less than two miles from President Obama’s house and the possible site of a future Olympic stadium — had a 1-in-4 chance of becoming a victim of violent crime each year between 2005 and 2007, according to NeighborhoodScout.com.
A North Chicago police officer is facing battery and assault charges after he allegedly pistol-whipped Waukegan Police Chief Artis Yancey.
The Lake County State Attorney’s office has charged police officer Carl Sain, 45, with beating Yancey, after Sain found Yancey in his estranged wife’s home.
And yet the U.S. Supreme Court last week, in a 5-4 decision that obsessed over procedural matters at the expense of actual justice, ruled that prisoners have no constitutional right to DNA testing that might prove their innocence.
Ford and Chevrolet ranked virtually even with Toyota and Mercedes-Benz in the J.D. Power & Associates initial quality survey for 2009 vehicles.
The widely followed report issued Monday showed the Detroit automakers narrowing — and in some cases eliminating — a quality gap compared with overseas manufacturers. But the report also demonstrated that the competition remains tough, with Lexus, Japan-based Toyota’s luxury brand, producing the most trouble-free lineup.
Federal banking regulators hit Oak Park-based bank holding company FBOP Corp.’s largest bank with an order requiring it to raise capital even as JPMorgan Chase & Co. sued FBOP demanding repayment of a $246-million loan.
The Daley administration spent $480,000 to modify 911 center consoles to accommodate 17-inch monitors instead of the current 15-inch models, even though the consoles themselves were about to be replaced, a source said.
Jim Argiropoulos, deputy executive director of the city’s Office of Emergency Management and Communications, gave AT&T the go-ahead to modify the 107 dispatcher and call taker consoles. At about the same time, OEMC was issuing a request for proposals to furniture vendors interested in ripping them out.
* He’s even getting a boost from Don and Roma. From a press release…
MEDIA ADVISORY:
WLS Commentator Dan Proft to Announce Plans for 2010 Election Cycle
Chicago, Illinois – On Tuesday, June 9, WLS (890AM) political commentator Dan Proft, a longtime Republican political consultant and public relations professional, will announce his decision as to whether or not he will seek the Republican nomination for Governor in the 2010 election cycle.
WHO: - WLS Morning Talk Show Hosts Don Wade & Roma
- Dan Proft
WHERE: Chicago Hilton & Towers
720 S. Michigan Avenue
Room Boulevard C
(second floor off the Michigan Ave entrance to the hotel)
WHEN: Tuesday, June 23
10:00am
Click here for the Proft 2010 campaign website and a video.
Discuss.
* Related…
* Analysts weigh in on Cole’s candidacy - Funds, recognition and Ryan could pose problems: While Carbondale Mayor Brad Cole has said he will not reveal which statewide office he will pursue until Labor Day, he cannot stop local political pundits from speculating about his future candidacy. Though Cole would not confirm that he is considering running for lieutenant governor, several analysts said they believe that position, comptroller or state treasurer would be his likely choices.
Springfield staffer (and interim bureau chief) Dan Carden spotted a member of the House Democrat’s leadership team returning to his Springfield apartment with what appeared to be enough freshly dry-cleaned shirts to last the month.
Oof.
More…
Special session starts tomorrow at 2 p.m.
How long will it last?
The Senate President has a news conference scheduled for 2:30 p.m.
Not unexpected. The tax hike vote will take place Wednesday, and without GOP votes it’s a goner.
* On a completely unrelated topic, I didn’t know David Hernandez, of Sports Webio infamy, looked so much like Gov. Quinn…
The whereabouts of [South Carolina] Gov. Mark Sanford have been unknown to state officials since Thursday, and some state leaders are questioning who is in charge of the executive office.
Neither the governor’s office nor the State Law Enforcement Division, which provides security for governors, has been able to reach Sanford after he left the mansion in a black SLED Suburban SUV, said Sen. Jake Knotts and three others familiar with the situation but who declined to be identified. […]
First lady Jenny Sanford told The Associated Press today her husband has been gone for several days and she doesn’t know where he is. […]
The governor’s office issued a statement Monday afternoon: “Gov. Sanford is taking some time away from the office this week to recharge after the stimulus battle and the legislative session, and to work on a couple of projects that have fallen by the wayside.
Sanford’s office told the lieutenant governor’s office Monday afternoon that Sanford has been reached and he is fine, said Frank Adams, head of Lt. Gov. Andre Bauer’s office on aging.
* Sen. Dick Durbin has suggested that some suspected terrorist detainees at Guantanamo Bay be transferred to the federal prison in Marion to await trial or further disposition. Gov. Quinn responds…
QUINN: We’ll we’d have to look very carefully at that. I haven’t talked to either senator. You know, that’s a serious matter. I think we, uh, understand that the President is focused on that issue, as far as those prisoners there. I’d certainly want to have a lot more study of exactly what they’re talking about and where they’re talking about it.
Senator Durbin says guards at the federal prision in Marion think they can handle Guantanamo detainees. And the mayor of Marion says he can’t think of a better place to send the prisoners.
* The Question: Should Quinn give his consent? Explain.
Also, let’s not get into a debate over the wars here. Just stick to the question and only the question. Thanks.
Christopher Kelly, a former adviser and chief fundraiser for former Gov. Rod Blagojevich, was sentenced to 37 months in prison today on federal tax fraud charges for concealing his use of corporate funds to cover gambling debts.
Kelly had faced up to 4 years in prison. He pleaded guilty to the charges in January, admitting he underreported his roofing company’s profits by nearly $500,000 from 2001 through 2005.
There was no mention in court of any negotiating Kelly may have been doing to cooperate in the Blagojevich investigation. Kelly’s second case,is expected to go to trial in September. Kelly is charged with taking part in a kickback scheme to rip off United and American Airlines at O’Hare International Airport through a roofing company he owned.
Bucklo allowed Kelly to surrender for his sentence on Nov. 2.
These steps are in addition to revenue actions taken by 10 states in late 2007 and 2008 as the recession’s effects began to be felt. Although some of these measures are relatively small in terms of the amount of revenue raised, others — such as packages enacted in California and New York and under consideration in Oregon — are very significant. […]
Historically, raising taxes in a recession is a common response by states. During the recession of the early 1990s, 44 states raised taxes by a significant margin (at least 1 percent). In the recession of 2001, 30 states did so. These actions increased annual revenue collections by tens of billions of dollars. (States often go in the opposite direction during periods of strong economic growth: 36 states cut taxes from 1994 to 2001.)
More…
Six states have enacted measures that will increase revenues from the personal income tax in fiscal year 2010. These changes include rate increases, the addition of new upper-income tax brackets, and reductions in various credits, exemptions, and deductions. […]
In 2009, 10 states have increased sales tax revenues by such means as raising rates, expanding the tax base to cover previously untaxed goods and services, and administrative changes. […]
At least seven states have enacted business tax increases […]
At least 10 states have increased excise taxes on tobacco and alcoholic beverages. […]
Nine states have increased various fees and taxes related to motor vehicles and fuels
* Patrick Collins, the chairman of the now-defunct reform commission, responds to an op-ed written by Senate President John Cullerton…
[Cullerton] has every right to defend his record on ethics reform. But in defending that record, he also denigrated the work of the Illinois Reform Commission. He claimed that portions of our proposals may have been motivated by “partisan” interests and that we did not advance actual legislation.
As to the “legislative leader term limits” recommendation, the commission’s report fails to explain how it targets “the core of the culture of corruption” or even relates to the rampant and bipartisan corruption in the executive branch over the last decade. If anything, the “reform” idea smacks of a personal or partisan animus toward House Speaker Michael Madigan, rather than a proposal supported by evidence.
Sen. Cullerton is right that neither Collins nor the commission have yet to make a specific case for why those specific reforms are needed and why Madigan is the true bad guy in government.
Also on that topic of leadership influence, Cullerton made an interesting and valid point…
…the commission’s proposal to allow only legislative leaders to maintain additional political committees to support multiple candidates would further consolidate, not diminish, the power of legislative leaders.
Yep.
* On to the second point in Collins’ op-ed, that Cullerton wrongly claimed the commission “did not advance actual legislation.” This is what Cullerton actually wrote…
Patrick Collins is incorrect that we “outright ignored” the commission’s legislative rule-changes idea. Early in my presidency, the Senate adopted rules changes that provide members with greater ability to advance and control their own bills. In addition, I reversed the policy of my predecessors by assigning virtually every bill and amendment to a substantive committee. At no time did the commission ever propose actual language for these rule changes. As I’ve said before, the General Assembly enacts legislation, not press releases.
There’s certainly room for good-faith disagreement between Cullerton and reform advocates about whether Illinois “won big” this year. But the bar for what constitutes meaningful ethics reform will not be set in Springfield. It won’t be set by the commission members. It will be set by Illinois citizens.
Let’s hear if they think they won.
* Related…
* Cash goes to districts of Congress members directing corps funds: The states getting the most money — California, Mississippi, Illinois, Texas and Florida — all have lawmakers serving on the appropriations committees. The seven states getting no corps stimulus funding include Michigan, which has the nation’s highest unemployment rate but no members on the energy and water spending panels in either chamber.
* The Republicans appear to be calculating that Gov. Quinn won’t pull the trigger on massive budget cuts…
House Republican leader Tom Cross said he doesn’t know if Quinn can “pull the trigger” on deep human services budget cuts.
“I think he’s too good a human being, too compassionate a human being to harm the social service agencies,” Cross said.
The Republicans, as you already know, want either a “month to month” budget that would drag this thing through the summer and into the fall, or a “six month budget” using available funds. The governor has rejected the second idea, but I don’t believe he’s been asked about a one-month continuing appropriation. And Mother Tribune hates the idea of putting off a budget resolution for six months…
Some of those lawmakers think they’ve found a way to finesse their dilemma: They might vote for a big tax increase — but only after they learn whether they’ll have serious primary election opponents next year. Think of this as calculated cowardice.
* As I told subscribers last week, this pension note idea is under serious consideration…
Watch for a new pension proposal that could help buy some time for the state to recover from the economic slump and free up about $2 billion during the next cash-strapped year.
Gov. Pat Quinn’s administration could propose issuing pension obligation notes, which differ from pension obligation bonds. A note is a form of short-term borrowing that would have to be repaid within five years. The state does short-term borrowing all the time. The notes could carry a lower interest rate than pension obligation bonds, which are repaid over much longer periods of time. […]
One of the largest pressure points on the state budget for the next fiscal year is the contribution to the public employee pension system. Illinois is supposed to pay about $4 billion. Quinn proposed skipping next year’s payment to free up about $2 billion to help fill what his office estimates will be an $11.6 billion deficit. The legislature rejected the idea of skipping the payment; however, the Democratic-approved budget only authorized $1.5 billion for the state’s contribution into the pension system. If enacted, money would have to be skimmed from other state programs to cover the full $4 billion payment, which is required by law. […]
With the $1.5 billion already approved, one idea would be to issue about $2.2 billion in pension notes. That would get the state to about $3.7 billion, leaving only about $300 million that the state needed to find to get all the way up to $4 billion.
Call President Obama and ask him to give the state carte blanche to use the federal stimulus money as operating cash. Lauzen said he would not support a tax increase.
He’d have to call Congress. They’re the ones who passed the law.
Usually when polls are taken about tax hikes, the respondents are “informed” about the benefits of raising more government money, whether it’s for education, public services or what have you. So not surprisingly, those polls regularly show lots of support for tax increases.
But a recent poll of 800 Illinois voters taken this month on behalf of the Illinois Coalition for Jobs, Growth & Prosperity, a business group, only asked whether Illinoisans favored raising taxes to balance the state’s budget.
Because the state is in such a deep hole, that’s pretty much all any tax hike will go for anyway - and it won’t even fully accomplish that. And because most people don’t pay a great deal of attention to state government, that’s all they probably know about the tax hike plan anyway.
So, the results probably won’t surprise you.
A whopping 73 percent opposed hiking taxes to balance the budget, while only 23 percent supported the concept.
According to the poll, 82 percent of Illinoisans believe the governor and lawmakers have not done enough to control state spending.
That’s also not a surprising number. Very few governments ever do “enough” to control spending.
The poll asked lots of questions about forcing someone else to bear the brunt of the multibillion-dollar budget deficit nightmare this state faces.
Cut pension benefits for newly hired state workers? Seventy-two percent agreed. Force the state employees union to reopen its contract and renegotiate pay raises? Seventy-four percent said, “Heck yes.” Require unpaid furloughs for state employees? Sixty-five percent were on board. Make state workers pay more for health care? Sixty-five percent wanted it. Roll back Medicaid eligibility a bit? Seventy-two percent were for it.
The survey asked just one specific question about “shared sacrifice.” Human beings tend to want somebody else to carry the load, so the answer to this question wasn’t all that amazing, either.
“Would you support closing state facilities like aged prisons, state parks, historic sites until the state’s finances improve?” the pollster asked.
“No” was the overwhelming response. Almost three-quarters, 74 percent, said they don’t want those facilities to close during the budget meltdown.
Well, too bad.
You can’t come close to balancing the budget - currently estimated at $9.2 billion in the hole - even if the General Assembly enacted all the spending reforms so widely supported in that poll. It would barely make a dent.
The only real way to close that gaping hole is to do the things that three-quarters of Illinoisans don’t want, and a whole lot more.
I assume that if voters were asked the same question about closing down rape treatment centers, drug abuse rehab facilities, scholarship funds for college students and programs for autistic and handicapped children the “no” responses might be even higher.
What about day care for financially strapped single mothers struggling to get on their feet? Home care for the elderly? The “no” responses probably would be off the charts.
We assume that because we live in the richest nation in the world that devastating governmental shutdowns like those listed above shouldn’t happen and couldn’t happen.
Unfortunately, times have changed. Gross mismanagement by Rod Blagojevich (a governor who was elected twice, by the way) and the worst economic climate since the Great Depression mean that one of two things has to happen:
1) Those programs and facilities listed above and many, many more are going to have to be shut down; or
2) Taxes will have to be raised and many of those programs might still have to be shuttered because the budget hole is so big.
I keep seeing newspaper editorials, columnists and letters to the editor practically begging for some sort of magic solution to this problem. Can’t something be done without raising taxes and still preserve vital programs and public facilities?
No.
You have to cut where the spending is.
There is no magic bullet. President Barack Obama has said the states aren’t getting any more bailouts. Our state Constitution, which Illinois voters overwhelmingly refused to change last year, requires a balanced budget.
We’re stuck.
As I write this, legislators are scheduled to return to Springfield to attempt to deal with the budget disaster. If they can’t find a solution, the doomsday will be upon us. Maybe then Illinoisans will realize what “balancing a budget” is really about.
The budget, in the end, is about all of us. It’s our responsibility. I just hope you don’t have to find that out the hard way.
After I wrote Friday about the failed tax cut leading to devastating reductions in social programs, many readers reacted by claiming the solution is to cut waste and fraud. Then there’ll be plenty of money. “It is not too much,” one wrote, “for the taxpayers to expect the corruption to stop now.”
Yes, it is. To say, “Cut waste and you’ll have enough to fund everything” is a theory, a hunch, based on distrust of government — justified distrust, to be sure. But given the tenacity of corruption in Illinois, to demand that it end before social services are funded is a straw man argument.
Corruption and funding social services are not unrelated, but one is a perennial problem and the other is a house on fire.
Which brings us back to the GOP demand for pension reforms as a condition for voting to raise taxes. The largest state employee union, the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, and the Illinois Federation of Teachers and the Illinois Education Association are all opposed to tampering with pension benefits. These are pretty powerful groups that throw around a lot of campaign cash. Most lawmakers are careful about crossing them.
Wouldn’t it be fun, though, to see a bill that changes pension benefits for these groups get a vote in the General Assembly? Just to see how many Republicans are still demanding pension reforms when the vote counts.
The Taxpayer Action Board report says, “Other states have had significant success in implementing a broad-based capitated managed-care program, including North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.”
But taxpayer board member Dory Rand, president of the Chicago-based Woodstock Institute and an advocate for low-income people, wrote in a dissent that Illinois’ fee-for-service Medicaid program spends less per patient than those three states and 38 others.
She wrote that this data, from the nonpartisan Kaiser Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured, supports the Quinn administration’s contention that “its management of the fee-for-service program results in lower costs to the state than if the program relied more heavily on a capitated managed-care model.” [Emphasis added]
* I built a subscriber story around this very same 1989 speech several days ago. It’s probably just a coincidence that GateHouse uses it now, I’m sure…
History has shown, though, that even the skeptical can change their minds [about tax hikes]. In 1989, House Speaker Michael Madigan, D-Chicago, delivered a speech to the House in which he picked apart Thompson’s earlier dire warnings.
“We were told that if we did not pass the $1 billion tax increase that thousands of state employees would be laid off,” Madigan said. “Well, what really happened was that nobody was laid off and in that year the administration hired 3,000 new workers.
“We were told that if we did not pass the tax increase, that one of our largest prisons, the Menard Penitentiary would be closed,” Madigan continued. “Well, as you know, Menard is still operating.”
After talking about how frugal the state had been, Madigan said, “This is a state which does not automatically see the solution of every problem expressed in a call for higher taxes.”
Towards the end of that session, Madigan announced and jammed an income tax hike through his chamber in less than a day. Then again, all the new tax money went to schools and local governments. Not a dime went into the state budget.
* It’s been known for several weeks that GOP state Sen. Matt Murphy was leaning heavily towards a gubernatorial bid. He’s now made it all but official…
“I’m very serious. I look at it as I really feel that among those in this, I give it the best chance for us to win,” Murphy, a Palatine Republican in his second term, told the Tribune. “It felt like everything kind of came together right in a strange sort of way. The feedback has been good enough. I’m ready to go forward. I’m in.” […]
“The issues that I have spent the most time focusing on are jobs and ethics. Those are the two most important things we’re going to be talking about for the next year and a half and doing things about thereafter,” said Murphy, whose Senate seat is not up for election next year.
“If you’re a Republican and afraid of anything in 2010, you shouldn’t be running,” said Murphy, who considered a bid for Cook County Board chairman. “The time to be afraid is over. What do we have to lose? If you’re not afraid to lose, you’re a whole lot better candidate. I think a compelling message is that there’s an electorate that is ready to fire these [Democrats], but we need to step up and see that we earn that piece of respect.”
* Laura Washington on Lisa Madigan, President Obama and Alexi Giannoulias…
Impeccable sources tell me that in that White House meeting, Obama made it clear he wants her to run for the Senate. […]
All that sputtering shows that Giannoulias has been knocked off his game. It makes you wonder just how well he really knows his old pal. When it comes to winning, pragmatism is Job 1 for Obama. The Obama-ites want to hold onto that seat at all costs, basketball buddies be damned. […]
All the same, she’ll take her time and may run her decision right up until August, when her nominating petitions must hit the streets. At best she could look indecisive, at worst, politically calculating. As the daughter of House Speaker Mike Madigan, that’s a perilous place to be.
The big question: Can Lisa Madigan really say no to the president of the United States? You bet.
I had a very similar analysis to this one last week and came to a somewhat opposite conclusion: Leaning towards.
* Related…
Will a name like Raja play in Peoria? - 35-year-old Indian American Krishnamoorthi eyes state comptroller post, chance to make history
[Updated, comments open and bumped up for visibility.]
* The CBS2 story about Sen. Roland Burris preparing to announce his campaign yesterday has disappeared from the station’s website and has been replaced by a different story. Sen. Burris’ PR flak says Burris is still deciding….
Delmarie Cobb, Burris’ political director, said Burris was still deciding whether to run in the 2010 Senate Democratic primary.
“We always said he was going to take it one step at a time . . . and one of the things he had to weigh were the perjury charges hanging over his head. Now that the perjury charges have gone away, that does not make the decision for him, that was certainly one of the steps in the process.”
But about a dozen people forwarded me a Burris fundraising e-mail yesterday which was originally sent by Cobb’s company and included this header logo…
*** UPDATE *** Burris spoke at an honors luncheon for African-American students and pretty much showed what his campaign will be based on should he run…
…Burris also spoke to the students, telling the audience it was “outrageous” that the Senate has only two Hispanic senators and one black.
“And that’s me,” he said. “And friends, we might not have any black in the Senate if I’m not there. But that’s another story.”
[Sangamon County State’s Attorney John Schmidt] appears to have been thorough and fair, just as Burris says, but the Chicago Democrat overclaims when he says Schmidt’s decision confirms he got his Senate seat “in an honest and legal way.” Legal, maybe. Honest, no way.
It’s still plain as day Burris intentionally misled everyone about his dalliances with disgraced former Gov. Rod Blagojevich in pursuit of the Senate seat until the job was safely his. It’s just not nearly so clear that he committed the very specific act of knowingly making a false statement while being questioned under oath.
Schmidt, a Republican, said Burris’ incomplete answers to the broad questions asked of him by legislators didn’t amount to perjury, explaining that the burden was on them to pin him down. They’ll know better next time.
It’s better this way anyhow.
The last thing the people of this state needed right now was a sensational but marginal prosecution of a public official who has already shown his willingness to turn his tribulations into a racial cause.
The United Neighborhood Organization, the city’s largest Latino community group, is poised to become the biggest charter school manager in Illinois after scoring a $98 million state grant to build eight more schools.
The group’s Mexican-American chief executive, Juan Rangel, said the organization makes a conscious effort to copy the century-old, up-by-the-bootstraps approach of white ethnic immigrants like the Irish and Italians. He renounces the more recent fight-the-power style of some African-American and Latino leaders who have sought to expand their political influence.
“Is this community going to see itself as another victimized minority or are they going to be the next successful immigrant group?” Rangel said. “There is an assumption that this community mimics the African-American community — where it’s been and where it’s going. That’s not the case at all. It has very little in common with the African-American experience.”
Rangel also is not shy about touting the group’s friends in high places, including Mayor Richard Daley and Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan (D-Chicago).
But a new study by the Center for Neighborhood Technology found that while cities produce more greenhouse gases per acre than suburban and rural areas, people who live in cities produce less.
So when a young charismatic reverend, with ties to the local aldermen and to U.S. Rep. Danny K. Davis, touted a jobs program, people came running.
“We met him through word of mouth,'’ said Tracy Wilburn, one of four brothers who got involved in the program. “He kept using Danny Davis’ name. People were saying that this reverend was going around helping ex-cons get jobs.'’
The men were asked to pay $35 for a uniform and were told to come back later for an orientation and a job assignment.
But the jobs did not materialize, and the men did not get anything for their $35.
A long-stalled bid by Wal-Mart to build a huge store on the South Side could come before the City Council’s Rules Committee soon. If the Rules Committee approves, the measure could go to the full council for a vote by the end of July.
The Cook County Clerk of the Circuit Court is holding approximately $18 million in mortgage foreclosure surplus funds — profits generated when the bank sells a property for more than what the original owner owed the lending institution.
The county has identified about 1,900 onetime owners who are owed money as a result of foreclosure sales in the last decade, and Circuit Court Clerk Dorothy Brown has launched a campaign to get the word out.
In one case, a property owner could collect $460,000, she said.
So many people turn the keys over to the bank and don’t look back — and that’s why the money has accumulated, Brown said.
The advertising company that provides bus shelters in Chicago is now putting up the first of a series of food concession kiosks planned for city parks.
Spartan Light Metals will be hiring back about 30 employees of the more than 100 who were laid off in the winter in the next month, company representatives have announced.
FLORES: To just simply say, ‘Well, we’re going to write a blank check and we’re gonna put the City of Chicago, hold the City of Chicago responsible for that blank check,’ I can’t sign on to that.
Flores plans to introduce an ordinance that would cap the city’s financial responsibility at $500-million. The City Council already committed to guarantee that amount. Mayor Daley and Chicago 2016 officials say it’s unlikely they would need to tap into the money.
The city of Chicago spends more than $22 million a year leasing property, usually from clout-heavy landlords and often at higher rents than other tenants pay, a Chicago Sun-Times investigation has found.
In all, the city’s Department of General Services says it has 75 leases for properties the city uses for such things as libraries, offices, warehouses and clinics.
But the list — provided by the mayor’s staff in response to a Sun-Times records request — appears to be incomplete. It doesn’t include, for instance, the warehouse at 3348 S. Pulaski that the city has occupied on a month-to-month lease since it was acquired by Vanecko and his partners in 2007. City Hall has paid them more than $480,000 in rent over the past 15 months.
Niles Trustee George Alpogianis is a convicted felon and the Cook County state’s attorney’s office will seek to remove him from the village board if he doesn’t resign, spokesman Andy Conklin said.
But in an interview Thursday, Alpogianis said he’s not planning to resign.
“Right now, I’m not stepping down,” Alpogianis said.
Alpogianis was elected in April despite news reports that he had pleaded guilty to six felonies as a teenager.
When Cook County sheriff’s officials opened the evidence vault at the tiny Ford Heights Police Department — a department it took over about a year ago — they found hundreds of weapons, along with drugs, molded sexual assault kits and other items stacked on shelves and sealed in boxes, said Cmdr. Brian White.
Problem is, no one knows why the items were confiscated by Ford Heights police. None of the evidence was properly tagged or marked, meaning authorities don’t know if they are connected to crimes — and if so what crimes — or even how long they’ve been in police possession.
That means there are possibly crimes in Ford Heights that will never be solved, said Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart.
“This is serious. This is horrible. This is devastating,” he said. “There is no way to put a cheery spin on this. … We’ll never know where some of these guns are connected to or where they come from.”
Sgt. Carl Lewis of the Illinois Department of Natural Resources says they’re trying to determine if the run off from a train derailment in the Rockford area got into the Kishaukee River, which flows into the Rock River. That train was carrying ethanol, and Friday’s derailment caused an explosion that killed one person.
Staff Sgt. Joshua Melton, 26, of Germantown and Sgt. Paul Smith, 43, of East Peoria died when their vehicle was hit by an improvised explosive device in Kandahar, the military said.
Including Melton and Smith, the Illinois National Guard has lost 14 soldiers in Afghanistan since September — as many as died in Iraq and Afghanistan in the preceding seven years combined. In September, it called up 2,700 guardsmen in its largest deployment since World War II.
This Father’s Day arrives in the midst of what has been dubbed a “he-cession.” Job losses have hit men with particular fury. The unemployment rate for men is 2.5 percentage points higher than that of women — the biggest gap since World War II — in large part due to plummeting employment in male-dominated fields like manufacturing and construction.
Perhaps reflecting the paper’s readership, the story focuses on upper-income men who’ve found themselves out of work and are enjoying their unemployment. The lede item is about a Lake Forest dad picking up his kids from day camp. Turns out, he was the president of a company whose severance payment “will last till the fall.”
Somehow, I don’t think that’s one of this state’s typical unemployed fathers.
* I’m actually writing from some experience here. As I think I’ve told you before, my father used to work at least two and often three jobs, mostly in factories, to support his five sons. When my mom took a civilian job with the Department of Defense and was sent to Savanna, IL for training, my dad quit his jobs and moved us there. The only available jobs in the region paid so poorly that Dad discovered he could make almost as much from unemployment insurance.
So, Dad stayed home and was “Mr. Mom” for a while. He grew a beard, bought a 1963 Cadillac convertible for a thousand dollars, read a lot of books, rented films and a projector from the local library for “family movie nights,” developed a love for “outlaw” country music, cooked our dinners, cleaned the house and generally ran things with military precision. We were able to rent a huge, gorgeous brick home on a hill in Hanover for practically nothing, and Dad turned out to be a genius at stretching every last dollar.
He was quite the talk of that little town back in the mid-1970s - an unemployed, bearded man who lived in a nice house, spent his days at the library and picked up his government check in a Cadillac.
Most importantly, though, Dad was able to get some real rest and do some extended philosophical reflection for the first time in his adult life. Also, my brothers and I got to know our father for the first time. I was 13 years old when we moved to Hanover.
It wasn’t all fun and games. We had lived for years near my maternal grandparents, whom we all loved dearly and missed terribly when we left. Also, like any unemployed person, Dad occasionally had too much time to think about things. In the long run, though, it was a positive experience for the family.
* My experience and the happy talk Tribune profile of upper-class dads are obviously not your usual unemployment stories. This economic crash has caused severe pain out there, even in leafy suburban villages. We shouldn’t ever forget that.
Still, that Tribune piece did bring back a lot of memories, and for that I’m thankful. I’ll close with a photo of my dad and my mom’s dad taken not long before we left on our excellent adventure, which eventually took us to the Great American West and then to Europe…
