Question of the day - Golden Horseshoe Awards
Thursday, Dec 4, 2014 - Posted by Rich Miller
* The Beth Hamilton Golden Horseshoe Award for Best House Secretary/Admin. Assistant goes to Beth Chapman…
She’s got a very liberal Chicago legislator (Cassidy) and a downstater (Phelps) and can switch gears on a dime when taking calls. She’s able to serve two almost completely different constituencies with the unique touch needed for both.
She’s also one of the sweetest people you’ll ever meet, and has the best candy on her desk!
Kristin Milligan, whom I dearly love, received quite a few votes, but she won last year and we should spread this around.
* The Golden Horseshoe Award for Best Senate Secretary/Admin. Assistant goes to Lisa Katava…
Having business at the Capitol fairly often you get to meet a lot of people, elected officials, Leg. Asst’s, and State employees in various agencies. Of all that I have met, Senator Mulroe’s L.A. Lisa Katava has to be the best. She speaks to everyone, pays attention to what you are saying, and goes out of her way to accommodate everyone. If I haven’t said it before, ”Thank you Lisa.”
* Let’s move along to our next categories, with last year’s winners in parentheses…
* Best State Senate Staffer - Non Political (Eric Madiar)
* Best State House Staffer - Non Political (Heather Weir Vaught)
Please explain your nominations and do your best to nominate people in both chambers. Thanks!
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* As you already know, the Illinois Supreme Court declared the state’s eavesdropping law to be unconstitutional. There have been several attempts to draft a new law, and the latest has cleared both chambers. Some bullet points from the bill’s sponsor…
_An eavesdropper is someone who uses an eavesdropping device to secretly record a private conversation without the consent of all parties involved in the conversation. A conversation is considered private if at least one of those involved had a reasonable expectation the conversation is private.
_An eavesdropper is anyone who uses a device to secretly record electronic communications without the consent of everyone involved.
_An eavesdropper is someone who discloses the content of a private conversation or private electronic communication without permission.
_The penalty for eavesdropping on a law enforcement officer, state’s attorney or judge is reduced from a Class 1 felony to a Class 3 felony.
_Law enforcement can use an eavesdropping device to record conversations around certain forcible felonies with the approval – written or verbal – of the local state’s attorney. State’s attorneys must submit reports annually explaining how often this exemption was used.
* The “discloses the content of a private conversation or private electronic communication without permission” stuff troubles me. A lot. Here is the language…
Uses or discloses any information which he or she knows or reasonably should know was obtained from a private conversation or private electronic communication in violation of this Article, unless he or she does so with the consent of all of the parties.
* Private conversation defined…
For the purposes of this Article, “private conversation” means any oral communication between 2 or more persons, whether in person or transmitted between the parties by wire or other means, when regardless of whether one or more of the parties intended the their communication to be of a private nature under circumstances reasonably justifying that expectation.
* The reasonable expectation definition should mean that somebody could record a police officer in a public space (which is what the state Supreme Court case was about) without first obtaining permission…
A reasonable expectation shall include any expectation recognized by law, including, but not limited to, an expectation derived from a privilege, immunity, or right established by common law, Supreme Court rule, or the Illinois or United States Constitution.
But…
The eavesdropping of an oral conversation or an electronic communication of any law enforcement officer, State’s Attorney, Assistant State’s Attorney, the Attorney General, Assistant Attorney General, or a judge, while in the performance of his or her official duties, if not authorized by this Article or proper court order, is a Class 3 felony, and for a second or subsequent offenses, is a Class 2 felony.
So, unless we get another top court case, I figure people will still be arrested if they do something like record police officers who are in their homes.
* Now, let’s move on to the definition of private electronic conversations…
…any transfer of signs, signals, writing, images, sounds, data, or intelligence of any nature transmitted in whole or part by a wire, radio, pager, computer, electromagnetic, photo electronic or photo optical system, when the sending or receiving party intends the electronic communication to be private under circumstances reasonably justifying that expectation.
So, forwarding a private e-mail would be a crime? More importantly, if a journalist receives a forwarded private e-mail (which happens more than you might think), could the journalist be charged with a crime if it results in “disclosure”? Sure looks that way.
Not cool at all. I’m told this was inserted at the insistence of the Senate Democrats, but it was done in such a way that if (when) a court strikes it down the action wouldn’t kill off the rest of the law.
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Savings program goes to governor
Thursday, Dec 4, 2014 - Posted by Rich Miller
* From AARP…
On a vote of 30-25-02 in the Senate and 67-45 in the House, the Illinois Secure Choice Savings Program (SB2758) was approved by the Illinois General Assembly today. The bill will give millions of private sector workers in Illinois the opportunity to save their own money for retirement by expanding access to employment-based retirement savings accounts.
SB2758, sponsored by Illinois Senator Daniel Biss and Representative Barbara Flynn Currie, will automatically enroll workers without access to an employment-based retirement plan into the Secure Choice program. While workers can opt-out of the program, those who do participate will be able to build savings in an Individual Retirement Account (IRA) through a payroll deduction. All accounts will be professionally managed; the large number of accounts expected to be under management will ensure that fees are low and investment performance is competitive. […]
More than 2.5 million workers do not have access to a retirement savings account through their employer, according to a report from the Woodstock Institute. The report found lack of access is most serious for low-wage workers, of whom 60 percent lack access, but even for workers making $40,000 or more, 49 percent do not have access to an employment-based retirement savings plan. In every Senate district in Illinois, over half of private-sector workers do not have access to this type of plan.
* Greg Hinz…
No American state now has anything quite like the program, which would apply to employees of firms with at least 25 workers who do not have access to an employer-provided retirement account. That may explain some of the opposition, especially from the insurance industry and Springfield Republicans, who say the measure was rushed through and should have been left for Gov.-elect Bruce Rauner to consider.
But Biss said a similar measure was endorsed both by President Barack Obama and GOP nominee Sen. John McCain in the 2008 election, and he expects great things from it. […]
Biss disputes charges that the plan will place a big new burden on business. Companies merely have to offer new hires a form to decline enrollment and then integrate withholding into their regular payroll software, he said. […]
Fees will be limited to a maximum of 75 basis points, or 0.75 percent, of the value of an individual’s savings account. The bill takes effect June 1, with a two-year setup period, so no savings accounts will be established until June 2017.
Some insurance folks who market “whole life” plans as retirement options were opposed.
* The SJ-R editorialized in favor…
Clearly, it’s easier to save money when it’s an automatic, hands-off process. Few people have the fiscal discipline to set aside a money from every pay check to deposit later for something fun, like a vacation or a car, let alone the long-term goal of retirement.
It’s an especially difficult prospect for those who barely make ends meet in the first place, a problem frequently exacerbated by unemployment or underemployment in this still-recovering economy.
What happens to all of these savings-challenged Americans when they no longer can work and have no money saved to pay for their health care, housing and food? They will be thrust into the nation’s social safety net, which taxpayers support whether they want to or not.
* From a Sen. Michael Frerichs press release…
“I applaud Senator Biss and Leader Currie for championing financial security, and we all thank the businesses, nonprofits and religious groups that helped make Illinois the first in the nation to take this innovative step,” said Treasurer-elect Mike Frerichs. “I’m honored to have helped millions of middle class Illinoisans save their own money for their retirement, and I look forward to implementing Secure Choice as the next state treasurer.”
We’ll see how implementation goes, but this is a really good idea.
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* From Rahm Emanuel campaign manager Mike Ruemmler…
“Today, an objection was filed to the petitions of Mr. Willie Wilson and Mr. Frederick Collins, both candidates for Mayor, by Julian Nicks and Pam McKinney, both of Chicago. Mayor Emanuel’s re-election campaign supports these challenges and believes that they will be successful.
“A full and thorough review of all of Mr. Wilson’s 43,000 signatures has revealed an astonishing pattern of deception. After careful review, the campaign found that more than 35,000 signatures included fake and duplicate signatures, false addresses of petitioners, and a particularly sloppy overall petition submission, rife with name and address strikeouts.
“Of particular concern is the fact that there were similar patterns in the petitions of Gabe Beukinga, a candidate for 27th Ward Alderman, whose petitions are also being challenged on similar grounds. The common denominator between Mr. Beukinga and Mr. Wilson is Ricky Hendon. Not only is Ricky Hendon involved with the petition gathering effort for both candidates, but he is Mr. Wilson’s political director.”
“Mr. Collins’ signatures fly in the face of any acceptable standard. His pages feature the same handwriting, page after page, for pages on end.”
Attachments include:
* So, who is Willie Wilson and why is Mayor Emanuel concerned? Charles Thomas profiled the businessman not long ago…
Wilson, who owns a $60 million a year medical supply business, says his voting address is a penthouse apartment overlooking Lake Michigan. It’s a long way from rural Louisiana, where he says he picked cotton and dropped out after seventh grade. […]
“We give away personally about $800,000 to $1 million a year to churches every year,” Wilson said.
And the leaders of those churches say they’ll help the candidate. […]
Wilson, who supported Republican Bruce Rauner in the governor’s race, says Rahm Emanuel failed the city’s children when Emanuel closed schools.
Wilson’s net worth is estimated by some to be as high as $65 million.
* From an October Chicago Magazine story…
Willie Wilson, owner of a medical supply company and a gospel music production company —his weekly Sunday morning gospel show, Singsation! nationally syndicated, airs on WGN-TV—spends many Sunday mornings with Rauner, accompanying him as he makes the rounds of black churches “up and down the state.” The two drive in one car, Wilson says, and their drivers in another. Wilson says he’s been “pretty much a Democrat all my life”; he donated heavily to Quinn’s 2010 race. Quinn is a “personal friend” who “wasn’t happy” when Wilson, a Louisianan sharecropper’s son, the third of 11 children, told him he had switched sides.
The Rauner campaign is understandably steering clear of Wilson’s candidacy these days.
* The Wilson campaign’s response to the petition challenge…
Wilson’s spokesman denied those accusations and said it’s all political chicanery.
“We know that our signatures are good,” said Gregory Livingston. “We’re not putting people out to do those kind of deceptive things.” […]
Livingston chalked up the accusations to “old school Chicago politics” and said Emanuel’s campaign is trying to scare black voters.
“They decided to go with the biggest kind of scare they could,” Livingston said. “It’s going to backfire on them.”
If they don’t succeed in knocking Wilson off, the challenge could very well backfire. I’m assuming the mayor’s campaign knows what it’s doing here and understands the risks involved. We’ll see.
*** UPDATE *** Rickey Hendon just called to say he has starting going through Emanuel’s objections. On the first page alone, Hendon claimed, he found about half of the objections to be spurious.
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Not a good week for the governor’s legacy
Thursday, Dec 4, 2014 - Posted by Rich Miller
* AP…
Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan says he plans to adjourn his chamber on Wednesday and not call lawmakers back before the new governor is seated.
The Chicago Democrat told the Associated Press on Wednesday that the House has “finished our work for this session.”
That would mean lawmakers will not address major legislation such as a minimum wage hike and the state’s financial problems before Republican Gov.-elect Bruce Rauner and a new General Assembly are sworn in in mid-January.
* Tribune…
In gaveling an end to the session Wednesday, House Speaker Michael Madigan ensured plenty of opportunities for the Democratic-led legislature to spar with Republican Gov.-elect Bruce Rauner next year.
Lawmakers did nothing to extend the 2011 income tax hike, which means Illinois residents will get a big tax cut come Jan. 1, when the personal rate rolls back from 5 percent to 3.75 percent, even as state finances will take a $4 billion a year hit.
A statewide minimum wage increase fell flat in the House. Senate Democrats passed their own version of a wage hike, and departing Democratic Gov. Pat Quinn said “it isn’t over” and indicated he would use his fading power to ask House lawmakers to reconvene and urge them to pass it. A Madigan aide said a special session would be futile.
* SJ-R…
Sen. Kimberly Lightford, D-Maywood, principal sponsor of the minimum wage bill, said she was told by Gov. Pat Quinn that a special session could be called to give the House a chance to vote on increasing the minimum wage.
“I know for sure that our governor is looking to call a special session for the House to return and take up the measure,” Lightford said following the Senate vote. “He straightforward said that he would not allow the House to not vote for a minimum wage increase before the end of the year. He said before Christmas.” […]
However, a spokesman for House Speaker Michael Madigan, D-Chicago, said there is no indication a special session will be called.
“It’s been said to us they (the Quinn administration) are not contemplating a special session,” spokesman Steve Brown said.
* Kurt Erickson…
An 11th-hour bid to establish a state-based health insurance exchange fell short Wednesday when the Illinois House adjourned for the remainder of the year without bringing up the matter for a vote.
Against the backdrop of a federal deadline to take action and the looming end of single-party control of state government, the sponsor of the measure said she couldn’t round up enough votes to get the measure to outgoing Democratic Gov. Pat Quinn’s desk.
* AP…
Illinois lawmakers have overturned the governor’s veto of legislation aimed at increasing the speed limit to 70 mph on the state’s toll highways.
The House voted 100-11 Wednesday to override Gov. Pat Quinn’s veto of the legislation sponsored by Republican state Sen. Jim Oberweis. A bill passed in 2013 increased the speed limit to 70 miles on interstates, but kept the limit lower in urban areas. Oberweis’ bill allows the state Tollway Authority to establish higher limits in urban areas.
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Trial lawyers win a big late victory
Thursday, Dec 4, 2014 - Posted by Rich Miller
* From a Senate Democratic press release…
Mesothelioma, a type of cancer linked to asbestos exposure, is often an aggressive and fast-moving disease. Attacking the membranes that protect the heart, lungs and other vital organs, it causes death within an average of eight to fourteen months following diagnosis.
But symptoms typically don’t manifest themselves for 20 years — or even as long as 50 years — following exposure to the fibers that make up asbestos, which was widely used in construction as late as 1970s and is still being removed from many homes and buildings.
That’s a problem for sufferers and their families, who are currently barred by Illinois law from seeking damages from negligent construction companies more than 10 years after they were exposed to asbestos.
State Senator Kwame Raoul recently sponsored legislation to change that by removing the time limit on lawsuits over mesothelioma and other asbestos-related diseases.
The House and Senate have both approved the measure, and if signed by the governor, it will become law, allowing victims of this deadly and preventable cancer to seek compensation for their medical expenses and their pain and suffering.
* There are other views, of course…
Described by one opponent as a “last-minute and desperate attempt” to change rules before Republican Gov.-elect Bruce Rauner is sworn-in, Senate Bill 2221 will move to the desk of outgoing Democratic Gov. Pat Quinn’s for signature. […]
Another critic, Travis Akin, executive director of Illinois Lawsuit Abuse Watch, said the bill will “open up a whole new way for personal injury lawyers to file asbestos lawsuits in Madison County.”
“Madison County already attracts about one quarter of the nation’s asbestos lawsuits. This will only attract more out-of-state lawsuits and make Illinois even more of magnet for out-of-state lawyers looking to hit the lawsuit lottery in Illinois,” he said. “This legislation will only lead to more lawsuits and what Illinois needs is jobs – not more ways to sue.”
Approximately 40 business opposed the bill during session on Monday.
Mark Denzler, vice president and chief operating officer of the Illinois Manufacturers’ Association, called the amendment introduced two days before Thanksgiving the “veto session surprise.” He and others said the legislation would be detrimental to business interests.
* More on the Madison County angle…
This Monday, on the first day of the month, 181 asbestos cases were scheduled for trial in Madison County Court. Can you guess how many of the plaintiffs were from Madison County?
You’re not going to win anything if you guess correctly – other than bragging rights – but it’s a challenge and you have to respond because we’re daring you to do so.
Come on, take a wild guess. Out of 181 suits scheduled for trial, how many plaintiffs are from Madison County? 150? 100? 50?
Believe it or not, out of 181 asbestos cases filed in Madison County Court, only one plaintiff is a Madison County resident.
She is represented by the Simmons Hanly Conroy firm in Alton.
Of the 180 plaintiffs who are not Madison County residents, at least 163 are represented by the Simmons firm.
* But things may be changing elsewhere…
Despite a string of multimillion-dollar jury verdicts in favor of plaintiffs, asbestos defendants may now have a friendlier forum in McLean County, Illinois. Recently, after a three-week trial, it took a McLean County jury just one-and-a-half hours of deliberation to reach a verdict for the defendants in a forum that was once placed on the “Judicial Hellholes Watch List” by the American Tort Reform Foundation. The decedent in McGowan v. Illinois Central Railroad (Case No. 08-L-12) was a former rail yard worker. The plaintiff in McGowan alleged the decedent was exposed to and came into contact with asbestos-containing products of Sprinkmann Sons Corporation of Illinois, an insulation contractor, while working at Illinois Central Railroad. In light of the testimony from the decedent’s brother that he could not specifically remember Sprinkmann or any other insulation contractor being at the Illinois Central Railroad yard, perhaps the verdict for the only two remaining defendants in the case should not be a surprise. After all, Judge Rebecca S. Foley had granted a defendant’s motion for a directed verdict at the end of the plaintiff’s presentation of evidence on the product liability claim, with only the plaintiff’s spoliation of evidence claim proceeding to the jury.
What may be more remarkable is that the verdict for the defendants was the third such verdict recently reached for Sprinkmann in asbestos cases in McLean County, according to HarrisMartin Publishing. Defense counsel in the McGowan case – Matushek, Nilles & Sinars LLC – also report three recent verdicts in favor of asbestos defendants in McLean County. The defense verdicts are significant in part because McLean County is not a high volume asbestos litigation forum and, therefore, the verdicts represent a good sample of cases in the county. To date, only eleven asbestos cases have even been filed in McLean County in 2014.
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* From Michael Sneed…
Sneed hears that powerful Illinois House Speaker Mike Madigan’s decision Wednesday not to call the state’s minimum wage bill during this week’s veto session — which Quinn wanted big-time — was intended to do Mayor Rahm Emanuel a favor.
◆ Translation: “Gov. Quinn wanted the state minimum wage hike passed before he leaves office — but Madigan, instead, tossed a sop to Rahm in order not to steal Rahm’s re-election thunder,” a top Sneed source said. […]
The latest version of the state’s minimum wage bill would have nullified Chicago’s home-rule authority to raise the minimum wage in the future. The City Council — under Rahm’s leadership — passed a bill this week raising the city’s minimum wage to $13 an hour by 2019. […]
Quinn may be a lame duck — but he is still quacking.
“Before the new governor arrives, I want a $10-an-hour minimum wage passed outside Chicago,” he told Sneed Wednesday. “I’ve been waiting for Mike [Madigan] to get this needle threaded. I just want a plain vanilla minimum wage passed. But it has just been hurry up and wait for the Senate to act.”
Two guesses who that “top Sneed source” is.
*** UPDATE *** The Quinn folks say that the governor and his staff were definitely not the source and that the governor doesn’t agree with the sentiment expressed.
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Question of the day - Golden Horseshoe Awards
Wednesday, Dec 3, 2014 - Posted by Rich Miller
* The 2014 Golden Horseshoe Award for best political bar in Springfield goes to DH Brown’s…
Good atmosphere and service. Also agree that it is starting to attract both political parties, which is great to see.
Brown’s used to be known as a “Republican tavern,” but it’s now far more “bipartisan.”
* The 2014 Golden Horseshoe Award for best political restaurant in Springfield goes to Obed & Isaac’s…
Their food is fantastic (leg of lamb sandwich, anyone?!), brews and spirits are some of the tastiest in town, and some of the best political convos among staffers take place there. Not to mention their beer garden is great in April for its bocce ball.
O&I is a tad bit outside the usual “sandbox” area, but it’s still close enough to attract a sizable Statehouse crowd.
* OK, on to our next category, with last year’s winners in parentheses…
* The Beth Hamilton Golden Horseshoe Award for Best House Secretary/Admin. Assistant: (Jody Aiello)
* Best Senate Secretary/Admin. Assistant: (Anita Colvin-Barth)
Remember to explain your vote, please.
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Union local stabs Rahm in the back
Wednesday, Dec 3, 2014 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Tribune…
Chicago mayoral hopeful Jesus “Chuy” Garcia more than doubled the amount of cash in his campaign fund Tuesday by depositing a single check from a major government workers union, but it did little to close the growing money advantage Mayor Rahm Emanuel has in his bid for a second term.
Garcia, a Cook County commissioner, reported a $250,000 contribution from the Service Employees International Union Healthcare political fund, driving up the amount he’s raised to $477,000.
* Subscribers know a bit more, but here’s Greg Hinz…
News of the big donation came on the same day that the City Council overwhelmingly approved Emanuel’s plan to boost the city’s minimum wage to $13 an hour over the next five years. Some activists had pushed for a $15 figure, including Garcia.
The SEIU Healthcare donation came even though SEIU’s state council a few days ago tentatively decided to remain neutral in the race for mayor.
* And then Greg updated…
In a statement, SEIU State Council President Balanoff confirmed something he wouldn’t tell me earlier: That last week’s meeting resulted in “a formal vote . . . to remain neutral in the Chicago mayor’s race.”
He adds, “The subsequent contribution to a mayoral candidate by SEIU Healthcare Illinois Indiana is in direct violation of that vote and the constitution and bylaws of the Illinois State Council. The violation will be addressed through SEIU’s official internal processes.”
Looks like the fight is on.
So, the SEIU Healthcare local spends a fortune on voter registration and GOTV for Gov. Pat Quinn’s campaign and his $10 an hour minimum wage proposal, then pushes the state council to endorse Garcia over Emanuel, even though Emanuel is for a $13 an hour minimum wage, but after the state council votes to remain officially neutral, the local violates its own union constitution to give a quarter million bucks to Garcia.
Oy.
And, from what I’m told, SEIU Healthcare now wants to disband the state council, but that can’t be done, either.
* From SEIU’s constitution…
Any Local Union or affiliated body willfully neglecting to enforce the provisions of this Constitution and Bylaws shall be subject to suspension or revocation of its charter or such other sanctions as may be determined by the International President.
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Irony alert!
Wednesday, Dec 3, 2014 - Posted by Rich Miller
* You’ve probably already seen this story about Elizabeth Lauten…
“Dear Sasha and Malia, I get you’re both in those awful teen years, but you’re part of the First Family, try showing a little class,” she wrote in a Facebook post. “Rise to the occasion. Act like being in the White House matters to you. Dress like you deserve respect, not a spot at a bar.”
The remarks didn’t go over well. After a wave of negative publicity, Lauten on Monday resigned her position with Republican Rep. Stephen Lee Fincher of Tennessee. “After many hours of prayer, talking to my parents, and re-reading my words online I can see more clearly just how hurtful my words were,” Lauten explained in a statement, saying her comments had been extemporaneous.
* The Tribune talked to her former boss…
The staffer, Elizabeth Lauten, has been working for Rep. Stephen Fincher of Tennessee after a 2011 stint as the congressional spokeswoman for controversial one-term U.S. Rep. Joe Walsh, an Illinois Republican.
Walsh, now a radio talk show host, told the Tribune on Monday that “Elizabeth should have kept her mouth quiet.”
Fill in the blank: Joe Walsh saying somebody “should have kept her mouth quiet” is like ______.
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* Tribune…
In residential treatment centers across Illinois, children are assaulted, sexually abused and running away by the thousands — yet state officials fail to act on reports of harm and continue sending waves of youths to the most troubled and violent facilities, a Tribune investigation found.
At a cost to taxpayers of well over $200 million per year, the residential centers promise round-the-clock supervision and therapy to state wards with histories of abuse and neglect, as well as other disadvantaged youths with mental health and behavioral problems. On any given day, about 1,400 wards live in the centers, although far more cycle through each year.
In the best cases, the facilities rebuild and even save young lives. But the Tribune found that many underprivileged youths — most of them African-American — are shuttled for years from one grim institution to another before emerging more damaged than when they went in.
* Just one example…
At Indian Oaks, which specializes in treating children who have endured sexual trauma, the Tribune identified 17 reports of sexual assault or abuse during a 21/2-year period starting in September 2011. Facility reports to DCFS and police dismissed nearly half of those incidents as consensual, even when alleged victims were not old enough to consent or had cognitive impairments.
* And…
The state’s beleaguered child welfare agency, which has had four directors in the past year and seen its budget sliced by more than 10 percent since 2009, is more than a year behind in analyzing facility performance records that show how many days kids go on the run from each center, or are sent to jail or psychiatric hospitals.
Go read the whole thing, but prepare to be thoroughly disgusted.
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* From In These Times…
AFSCME’s and other unions’ efforts failed to prevent Rauner’s victory over Quinn, and Illinois public employees now face an uncertain future. When their contract expires in July 2015, workers will have to renegotiate with a governor who has questioned the very validity of collective bargaining rights for public employees (and even refused to say whether he believes such rights are valid for any kind of worker).
The union is planning to meet with Rauner for the first time in early December to talk contracts. In preparation, the 200-plus members of the AFSCME contract team convened in Springfield, Illinois, last week to hold a “demands meeting.”
No one knows but Rauner how he will engage with AFSCME, says Brent Eliot (not his real name), a delegate from an Illinois city, and this led to a tense demands meeting.
On the one hand, says Eliot, the union emphasized readiness in case “things go badly” with Rauner, setting up a phone tree among members to quickly communicate about workplace actions such as a “button day” (when all employees at a given workplace don pins with a common message), wearing all the same shirt to work, or going out to the street on lunch break to picket.
Because of a no-strike clause in their current contract, AFSCME members are not allowed to strike—Eliot says that AFSCME discourages workers from even using the word “strike.”
“It was stressed to us at the meeting that we’d have to [report] back to our members that we’ve got to get ready—not to strike, but to do something,” says Eliot.
On the other hand, Eliot claims that leadership at the meeting censured some of the more ambitious proposals for demands that came from the contract team, pushing for more “modesty” in their bargaining, though he declined to give details about what those scaled-back proposals were.
Discuss.
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He may very well be underestimating the problem
Wednesday, Dec 3, 2014 - Posted by Rich Miller
* From yesterday…
Rauner also outlined a series of financial pressures he said totaled $1.4 billion, citing budget gimmicks mostly identified when the General Assembly left town last spring. The items included borrowing as much as $650 million from state funds set aside for myriad specially designated purposes.
The Republican lashed out at what he called “dishonest” Democrat-approved financial tricks, saying the price tag of the current year’s budget was masked by absorbing some of the costs in a previous budget to make the current one look better. In other cases, Rauner maintained that expenses were deferred and will be pushed into the coming year.
* Here is Rauner’s breakdown. You can click the pic for a larger image…
* But Rauner shouldn’t have been so surprised. This is what I wrote back in June of this year…
I based what follows on what I know about how the budget was crafted. But whatever the final number ends up being, it’s crystal clear that whoever wins the governor’s race will face a monstrous challenge after he’s sworn in next January.
Borrowing $660 million from special state funds, as this new budget does, is a one-off affair. The money is being put into the state’s spending base and will have to somehow be replaced the following year. A two-year repayment plan means another $330 million will also have to be found in the next budget, for a total hole of about a billion dollars.
Using about $500 million in one-time revenue increases from this fiscal year to pay forward some bills in next fiscal year means that same $500 million will have to be found again when the next budget is crafted.
Not funding employee salary and health insurance-benefit-cost increases kicks another $380 million down the road. So, now we’re at $1.9 billion. […]
Also, Rep. Greg Harris, who chairs a House appropriations committee, told reporters last week that the new budget could create as much as a “couple of billion” dollars in past-due bills in the coming fiscal year. If that’s accurate, then the FY16 hole becomes much, much worse, plus there’s all that new debt owed to providers which will eventually have to be paid back.
…Adding… Don’t forget that the state’s pension payment is expected to rise by almost a billion dollars next fiscal year.
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Always bet on nothing
Wednesday, Dec 3, 2014 - Posted by Rich Miller
* That sound you hear is a big House thud…
House Speaker Michael Madigan told fellow Democrats on Tuesday that the 98th General Assembly will adjourn with the end of business, state Rep. Jack Franks, D-Marengo, said. Lawmakers will next reconvene Jan. 14 with the seating of the 99th General Assembly.
This also means that there will be no January lame-duck session in which legislation can get rammed through by outgoing lawmakers, including any extension of the 2011 income tax increase set to substantially expire Jan. 1.
Madigan spokesman Steve Brown confirmed the news, and said that while Madigan firmly believes in raising the minimum wage, the number of different versions and conflicting interests are preventing him from marshaling the needed votes.
Franks said the move also may be a gesture of good faith on Madigan’s part.
“I think maybe he wants to work with the new governor. Who knows?” Franks said. “This might be an olive branch.”
* Greg Hinz…
The “complications” that Brown referenced was a decision by Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel to move ahead on his own with a city wage hike that is even higher than one that had been contemplated by state lawmakers.
A state bill, raising the current $8.25 figure to $9 to $11 an hour, “is totally dead,” said state Rep. Jack Franks, a McHenry County Democrat, “because of what happened in Chicago.”
Earlier in the day, the City Council voted 44-5, at Emanuel’s request, to raise the minimum wage to $10 in July and $13 by mid-2019. Emanuel said he acted in part because one version of proposed state legislation would have pre-empted action by Chicago, holding the city to a rate no higher than that of the rest of the state.
Mr. Rauner, who takes office in January, has said he’ll sign a wage hike only if it is linked to pro-business moves such as enacting tort reform and changes in the workers’ compensation system.
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Good morning!
Wednesday, Dec 3, 2014 - Posted by Rich Miller
* From the New York Times…
Bobby Keys, a Texas-born sideman whose urgent, wailing saxophone solos wove a prominent thread through more than 40 years of rock ’n’ roll, notably with the Rolling Stones, died on Tuesday at his home in Franklin, Tenn. He was 70.
His family announced the death, without specifying a cause.
A self-taught musician who never learned to read music, Mr. Keys was a rock ’n’ roller in every sense of the term. Born (almost literally) in the shadow of Buddy Holly, he was a lifelong devotee and practitioner of music with a driving pulse and a hard-living, semi-law-abiding participant in the late-night, sex-booze-and-drug-flavored world of musical celebrity. […]
Mostly playing tenor and sometimes baritone saxophone, he recorded with a Who’s Who of rock including Chuck Berry, Eric Clapton, John Lennon, George Harrison, Carly Simon, Country Joe and the Fish, Harry Nilsson, Joe Cocker and Sheryl Crow. He toured with Delaney and Bonnie and was recording with them in 1969 when they shared a Los Angeles studio with the Stones, who were making their album “Let It Bleed.”
* He was our greatest ever rock saxophonist, and here he is at his very best. Turn it up…
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