* Rep. Rich Brauer (R-Petersburg) is resigning from the House effective Friday. Brauer has been widely rumored to be moving into the Rauner administration.
* Last year’s winner of our Golden Horseshoe Award for Best Insider is moving up in the world…
Nancy Kimme, who was the top aide to the late Illinois Comptroller Judy Baar Topinka, is hanging out a lobbying shingle. Given that she privately was very much inside Gov. Bruce Rauner’s kitchen cabinet, she should do quite well.
Kimme’s clients so far include the Illinois Hospital Association—man, do they need help, given what Rauner is proposing to do with cuts to Medicaid—the Illinois Casino Gaming Association, Ameren and a cable TV group. All are top clients.
“I am going to lobby both the General Assembly and the (Rauner) administration,” Kimme tells me in an email. “That’s the one good thing about being around so long. I have gotten to know a lot of folks.”
She should do more than quite well. She’s one of those people who knows everybody and everything and has been indispensable to Team Rauner. They’ll be lining up around the block to give her contracts.
She’ll also be setting up Comptroller Munger’s campaign.
Wednesday, Feb 18, 2015 - Posted by Advertising Department
[The following is a paid advertisement.]
While the state budget crisis increasingly hits struggling Illinois families, Exelon demands a corporate bailout. This is exactly the wrong thing for Illinois’ citizens and businesses.
Exelon is a successful, profitable company. While we appreciate success, when they claim they need more of OUR MONEY, it’s time to be skeptical.
EXELON 2014 PROFITS: $2,068,000,000.00
That’s two BILLION with a B. And yet this wildly profitable company is asking US for a bailout while Illinois struggles. So let’s review:
In 2014, EXELON made $5,665,753 per day or $236,073 per hour
When legislators are being asked to slash everything from education to healthcare to mental health services, and when Crain’s Chicago Business says Exelon actually MADE money from its Illinois Nuclear Fleet, how can anyone think having struggling Illinois businesses and families bail out a highly profitable company is a good use of OUR money?
* The Tribune has a profile today on Donna Arduin, Gov. Rauner’s $30,000 a month CFO. Here are a couple of excerpts about her time in New York and California…
While Arduin was working for Pataki, the state enacted tax cuts, reduced the number of employees and had a run of budget surpluses. But those successes came at a time when tax revenues were booming from a bull market. Pataki was criticized for not preparing for tougher times ahead, and after a recession hit in 2001, Albany again faced major budget problems. […]
Schwarzenegger used voter-approved borrowing to finance the state deficit and won a one-year, $2 billion cut from education. The rest of the budget was balanced by shifting local property tax revenue and transportation funds, and raising some taxes and fees.
Arduin lasted just 11 months in Sacramento. Some said she had never intended to stay more than a year, but others questioned whether the political environment drove her away.
“Maybe it was difficult because it was a Democratic legislature facing a Republican governor, but it’s also possible that a governor and a finance director with a different approach might have made some headway,” said Graves, the budget advocate. “A lot of it has to do with personal relationships. It seems pretty clear that Donna Arduin did not put much stock in developing personal relationships with members of the legislature.”
* A group called the United Working Families has been pushing stories on Arduin for the past few days. Here’s the latest…
Cutting Medicaid for the sake of cutting, then hoping “for the best”
Before she became more polished in selling her massive cuts to Medicaid, Arduin experienced a rare moment of candor, explaining massive cuts to Medicaid acknowledging that there was nothing to support an argument that it produced efficiency.
In 1995, as a deputy budget director for New York Gov. George Pataki, she told the New York Times: “The first thing you can do is hope that the cut will force industries to create efficiencies. We can only hope for the best there.”
(“In New York The Dying Days of Expansive Government” The New York Times, May 8, 1995)
Replacing more effective drugs with down-brand, generic alternatives
Arduin proposed a cost-cutting plan for then-Florida Gov. “Jeb” Bush to replace effective drugs for Medicaid recipients with down-brand, less-effective generic alternatives. “If they started switching people from the new drugs to the old drugs, it would turn the clock back years,” one critic told the St. Petersburg Times in 1999.
(“Plans Push Cheaper Medicines” St. Petersburg Times, February 28, 1999)
Political appointees limit drugs to Medicaid patients
Arduin’s radical plan for Jeb Bush included installing a politically-appointed panel that “would describe which drugs require authorization,” according to the St. Petersburg Times.
(“Medicaid Cost-Cutters looking to lose Viagra” St. Petersburg Times, April 19, 1999)
Getting “compassionate conservative” rhetoric down, Arduin begins to claim that limiting Medicaid drugs was to benefit other social programs
Where before Arduin provided no “compassionate conservative” justification, in 2000, she justified a draconian program to limit Medicaid drugs by claiming (falsely) that it was being done to expand other social spending. She told the Ledger that, “We’re trying to manage our funds better so we can use the funds for other needs like developmental disabilities and improving student achievement.”
(“Bush Aims to Cut Medicaid Drug Costs” The Ledger [Lakeland, Fla] February 21, 2000)
Arduin’s “efficiency” rhetoric is a sham
As Arduin continued to work for Republican governors seeking to cut Medicaid and social services, her game plan was clear. A Florida lobbyist described it thusly in 2003: “There have been a lot of serious cuts proposed…It was always done in the name of efficiency and streamlining, and the rhetoric always followed that it was not going to hurt the delivery of servides, which in fact never was true.”
(“Budget auditor may target social services” Sacramento Bee [California] October 19, 2003)
Cuts to therapy for the disabled and AIDS programs and reduced payment rates for Medicaid
As part of her controversial 2003 proposal of cuts to California’s Medicaid program, Arduin targeted disabled children and immigrants with AIDS. As well, she sought lower payments to doctors and hospitals for Medicaid patients.(“Schwarzenegger Aide Offers First List of Proposed Budget Cuts” The New York Times November 26, 2003)
Would put tens of thousands of children on a waiting list for Medicaid
Arduin proposed placing tends of thousands of California children on a waiting list for Medicaid benefits as part of her 2003 proposal.
(“Schwarzenegger proposal alarms children health advocates” Associated Press December 1, 2003)
“Donna Arduin is (Gov. Schwarznegger’s) John Ashcroft.”
As she proposed massive cuts to California’s Medicaid program, Arduin was compared in 2004 to the ideologically pure member of George W. Bush’s cabinet. “Her history has been one of slashing and burning on social programs,” one legislator said.
(“Governor’s Hard-Nosed Budget Boss; Arduin Known for Tough Fiscal Views” San Jose Mercury News March 8, 2004)
Draconian proposals included ending access protections for developmentally disabled
Arduin’s massive cuts to Medicaid and social programs were rejected in budget talks in California in 2004, but not before she proposed ending legislation guaranteeing access to programs for the developmentally disabled, care for homebound family members and a string of Medicaid caps.
(“Revised budget backs off cuts; $103 billion plan mostly spares health services” Sacramento Bee [California] May 14, 2004)
Rejects legislative oversight and storms out of hearing
During Schwarznegger’s first week in office, according to the Los Angeles Times, Arduin stormed out of a committee hearing during a question. She left the position in California after 11 months and in controversy.
(“Audit to Leave Finance Position” Los Angeles Times October 14, 2004)
Sought to end $10 million program for strays and more quickly euthanize cats and dogs
As part of her round of cuts in California, Arduin proposed ending $10 million in aid to shelters which would have “shortened the length of time dogs and cats are kept alive at shelters.”
(”A Florida Transplant, Arduin was on Job for Less than a Year” San Francisco Chronicle October 14, 2004)
Anti-ObamaCare, free-market Medicaid voucher program a failure
Arduin has been a critic of ObamaCare and has proposed vouchers as a replacement. A pilot plan in Florida she supported was a total failure. “Hardly any of the 300,000 Medicaid patients enrolled in the pilot project…” the Ft. Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel reported.
(“Skimming Through the GOP Gubernatorial Job Plans” Sun-Sentinel [Fort Lauderdale, Florida] July 29, 2010)
* I’ll be on Jak Tichenor’s Illinois Lawmakers program today before and after the governor’s budget address. Click here to watch. You can watch Speaker Madigan’s budget react by clicking here.
Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner on Wednesday plans to propose a 6.7 percent increase in general school spending despite signals that he’ll call for major cuts elsewhere during his first budget speech.
A Rauner adviser said the governor will suggest a $300 million boost in general state aid, the main pot of state dollars for education. […]
The increase would build on the more than $4.5 billion lawmakers in general aid signed off on last year. However, it would fall $266 million short from what the Illinois State Board of Education says is needed to reach what’s called the “foundation level” — the minimum amount of spending per student to provide a basic education. That benchmark is $6,119 per pupil, which education officials said would require spending more than $5 billion a year.
Still, Rauner’s office said it was “proud of the commitment we are making in this budget,” saying education spending has been cut in recent years even when it didn’t need to be.
In a report released [yesterday], the Center for Tax and Budget Accountability—a group that leans left but generally gets its math right—says just 11.8 percent of Illinois individual income tax payers got 54.5 percent of the savings when… the tax rate dropped from 5 percent back to 3.75 percent. […]
According to the analysis of state tax collections, those with an adjusted gross income of more than $1 million make up just 2 percent of tax filers, but they got 13.5 percent of the savings, with an average of $37,000. Those with AGI of $200,000 to $1 million got 19.2 percent of the savings, and those earning between $100,000 and $200,000 captured 21.7 percent.
Of course, it’s hard to get much money out of low-income people who don’t make much. To put that a different way, the rich of course will benefit most from a tax cut, at least in the short run, because they make the most.
But the relative shares of who got what still are pretty stark. According to the analysis, the combined savings netted by every taxpayer in the state who reported AGI of under $35,000 was less than the savings earned by the 0.2 percent of taxpayers who are millionaires.
(B)y focusing the majority of tax relief on top income earners, the phase-down of the personal income tax rate cannot be expected to generate much economic activity. That’s because the economy is primarily made up of consumer spending, and typically, affluent families are not likely to spend most of the tax relief they receive, because their disposable income is already increasing significantly over time. Given this growth in disposable income, affluent families do not have significant unmet needs, and tend to save rather than spend what they receive in tax relief.
Low and middle income families, however, have greater unmet needs because in real terms their earnings are declining over time.1 So when low or middle income households obtain an additional dollar of income—say through targeted tax relief—they tend to spend that dollar in the consumer economy. Unfortunately, the bottom 60 percent of income earners in Illinois will receive only $491 million or 13.2 percent of the $3.7 billion in tax relief from the phase-down, which greatly diminishes any potential the phase-down has to stimulate spending.
In fact, to the extent that there is any mild stimulative impact that can be anticipated from the phase-down of the personal income tax rate, it will be negated by the public service spending cuts that will have to be made to pay for the $3.7 billion loss in recurring tax revenue it causes.
* A commenter pointed to this 2014 statement yesterday by Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle as an explanation for why Gov. Bruce Rauner is so hostile to unions. He’s always been hostile to unions…
[Preckwinkle] told a reporter that long before Rauner was a gubernatorial candidate, she had interviewed him for an opening on the board of the county health system, and was turned off by him then.
“First of all, he was very arrogant. He was a know-it-all,” Preckwinkle said.
“Second, he made claim to know about health care, and when I said, ‘What do you know?’ he said, ‘You know I own this health care company,’ and we’ve seen what that’s about. And then he went on a rant against public employee unions when I asked where the challenges were. I said, ‘You understand that almost all our workforce is unionized? How are you going to be an effective board member if that’s your attitude?’
Illinois’ new Republican governor on Wednesday will pitch a plan for fixing the state’s budget mess that includes deep cuts to Medicaid and higher education and a new plan for reducing pension costs, according to three lawmakers with knowledge of the proposal. […]
The three legislators, briefed on details of the plan discussed in a Tuesday meeting between Rauner and legislative leaders, told The Associated Press that the governor will recommend cutting Medicaid by $1.5 billion and reducing funding for higher education by nearly $400 million, or 31 percent. They said he’ll also propose reducing state aid to local governments and ask lawmakers to approve a new pension reform plan he says will save Illinois $2.2 billion. […]
A Rauner administration official said Tuesday the governor will call for hiring more prison guards and spending more money on mental health care for inmates. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because the person was not authorized to speak publicly before the noon speech.
The mental health funds are aimed at meeting a federal court mandate that requires Illinois to improve its services, while the official said hiring more than 470 new prison guards would reduce overtime costs by about $10 million.
Gov. Bruce Rauner’s proposed budget for the fiscal year that begins July 1 would establish the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum as an “independent entity,” according to an administration source with knowledge of the budget.
No details were immediately available on what form that entity would take.
The presidential library and museum is now managed by the Illinois Historic Preservation Agency, which oversees more than 50 historic sites and memorials across the state, including Lincoln’s Tomb and the Old State Capitol in Springfield and Cahokia Mounds in Collinsville.
Under Rauner’s proposal, the management of all sites under the Historic Preservation Agency — except the Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum in Springfield — would be transferred to the Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity. DCEO’s Illinois tourism office would be in charge of administration of the sites.
You’re not going to get a better overview unless you subscribe. Just sayin…
Rauner wants to cut off services for former foster care children who have passed the age of 18, the source said.
News of that recommendation already drew the ire of the American Civil Liberties Union, which has longstanding legal battles with the state and its child welfare agency.
“For us to essentially throw them out on the street at age 18, if that’s what the governor is going to propose, is just plain cruel,” said Benjamin Wolf, associate legal director of the ACLU of Illinois. “If you want to increase homelessness and suffering, abandoning them at age 18 is a good place to start.”
Child-related funding that was spared the budget ax includes early childhood education. The governor wants to increase state support by $25.3 million. He also wants to continue funding for the All Kids health care program, including for undocumented children, and leave intact health and human services programs for children of immigrants.
Rauner wants the ability to move funds within the current budget to plug gaps in a day care program that helps low-income parents. The state’s main tax collection agency, the Department of Corrections and the Illinois State Police also face funding challenges that could be resolved by giving the governor more flexibility to shuffle money within the budget.
Madigan, however, said that concept remains a hard sell among Democrats.
“There are certain members of the legislature, Democrats and Republicans, who will not be anxious to give up authority,” Madigan said. “It’s going to require some persuasion.”
Slipping, dodging, sneaking
Creeping hiding out down the street
See me life shaking with every who I meet
Refried confusion is making itself clear
Wonder which way do I go to get on out of here
* As subscribers were told this morning, the four tops met with the governor this afternoon. The Tribune has some MJM quotes…
“We had a very pleasant discussion,” said House Speaker Michael Madigan, D-Chicago. “The governor simply said that he’s got some tough medicine to deliver tomorrow. He understands that some people will not be happy, but he’s committed to reforming the finances of the state. And he has a program and an agenda to accomplish that.” […]
Madigan said he doesn’t expect the governor to propose ways to raise new revenue but does anticipate at Rauner push for large spending reductions. Madigan indicated Rauner was in store for a tough fight on that front.
“I said 10 days ago, I don’t think you can cut your way out of the problem,” Madigan said. “I think you need some additional revenue, and that’ll be my position tomorrow.”
Speaker Madigan is scheduled to hold a press conference at 1:15 tomorrow afternoon, shortly after Rauner’s budget address.
An Illinois lawmaker wants motorcycle safety to be a formal part of driver’s education courses.
The proposal by Republican Rep. Tom Bennett of Gibson City would amend the driver’s education act in the Illinois School Code to require that all behind the wheel instruction include lessons on motorcycle safety and awareness “to ensure students understand their surroundings when operating a motor vehicle.”
A bill filed in the Illinois House would form a new task force to address thefts of recyclable metals, including copper.
The Belleville News-Democrat reports the panel would review efforts to combat theft and come up with new ideas. Findings would be reported to the governor annually.
Members of the task force would include state legislators, local police chiefs and industry representatives, among others.
Tuesday, Feb 17, 2015 - Posted by Advertising Department
[The following is a paid advertisement.]
While the state budget crisis increasingly hits struggling Illinois families, Exelon demands a corporate bailout. This is exactly the wrong thing for Illinois’ citizens and businesses.
Exelon is a successful, profitable company. While we appreciate success, when they claim they need more of OUR MONEY, it’s time to be skeptical.
EXELON 2014 PROFITS: $2,068,000,000.00
That’s two BILLION with a B. And yet this wildly profitable company is asking US for a bailout while Illinois struggles. So let’s review:
In 2014, EXELON made $5,665,753 per day or $236,073 per hour
When legislators are being asked to slash everything from education to healthcare to mental health services, and when Crain’s Chicago Business says Exelon actually MADE money from its Illinois Nuclear Fleet, how can anyone think having struggling Illinois businesses and families bail out a highly profitable company is a good use of OUR money?
Tuesday, Feb 17, 2015 - Posted by Advertising Department
[The following is a paid advertisement.]
My name is John Lattner. I grew up and raised my family in the Chicago area. I played football for the University of Notre Dame and was honored to have won the Heisman Trophy in 1953 and went on to continue my football career playing for the Pittsburgh Steelers in 1954.
I have recently learned from my doctors that I have been diagnosed with malignant mesothelioma and that I have a challenging prognosis. I am hoping that I get luckier than most folks who get this kind of news. I have been very lucky most of my life and I hope that luck holds up. Any man who has had the life I have had and the family with which I have been blessed with has already had more than his share of good luck.
Back when I was playing at the University of Notre Dame, I was able to get summer jobs working with asbestos in Chicago. No one ever told us anything about it being dangerous and I was happy to have a job at all. I went on to do other things and now learn years later that this asbestos has given me cancer.
My doctors told me that it is medically impossible to get mesothelioma before a minimum of 15 to 20 years of exposure. The outlook for my condition is not good and I’ve been told most people who are diagnosed with this disease die within a year or two. I am someone who has always believed in fairness. I don’t think anyone should have a leg up on any other person. A strong civil justice system in Illinois provides that fairness not just for me, but for the other men and women who get the call from the doctor that I got. I know how tough of a call it is to get.
* I started hearing about this story last week. I’m not sure there’s an Obama connection here, but there might be a Dick Durbin connection…
A Democratic consultancy run by former top Obama campaign aides is working to place stories designed to stir up controversy over the personal finances of a House Republican leader.
The firm is working with other Democratic operatives who are trying to seize on a media frenzy that began with a humorous if slightly embarrassing Washington Post story about the Downton Abbey-themed office of Rep. Aaron Schock (R., Ill.). […]
Behind the scenes, a prominent Democratic consultancy run by former top Obama campaign aides has contacted reporters covering Schock’s tastes in interior design and offensive comments by his staff. The firm is pushing those reporters to cover the sale of Schock’s home as well. […]
The allegations originated at Blue Nation Review, a blog run by Jimmy Williams, a former senior advisor to then-Sen. Joe Biden (D., Del.) and Senate Minority Whip Dick Durbin (D., Ill.), whose leadership PAC has donated $10,500 to Schock’s Democratic opponents. […]
Democratic consultancy Smoot Tewes pitched the story to reporters. The firm is run by former Obama 2012 deputy campaign manager Julianna Smoot and Paul Tewes, a senior official on the president’s 2008 campaign.
Smoot Tewes consultant Gary Ritterstein, who has worked on numerous Democratic congressional campaigns, emailed reporters last week linking to coverage of Schock’s home sale controversy and encouraging them to follow up.
“If you’re interested, I’d be happy to get you on the phone with the folks who have been helping research the story,” he wrote.
In addition to the other connection, Julianna Smoot once worked for Durbin. But why would he care? I’m not sure who’s actually behind this, but consultants don’t usually get involved if there’s no paycheck or reciprocity involved.
* After i heard about this, I started checking around last week. An operative with the firm, I’m told, reached out to the Democratic Party of Illinois to ask what DPI was going to do to help push the Schock stories. The operative was told the party wasn’t much interested, but was given some names of reporters who might be.
The only contact I’ve ever had with the consulting firm was them sending me press releases over the past year promoting ethanol use.
A second University of Illinois campus has formed a union for tenured faculty, even as organizing efforts continue at the Urbana-Champaign campus.
The Illinois Educational Labor Relations Board on Friday certified the faculty union at the UI Springfield, which has 137 members and is affiliated with the Illinois Federation of Teachers. […]
The UI’s Chicago campus signed its first faculty union contract in May 2014, and about 475 non-tenure-track faculty at Urbana won recognition for their union in July. The Campus Faculty Association is also pushing for a union to represent tenured and tenure-track faculty at Urbana.
The lecturers, instructors and other “specialized faculty,” as the campus refers to non-tenure-track faculty, represent about 20 percent of the total faculty at Urbana, according to the Campus Faculty Association Local 6546.
This win is part of a trend in higher education where faculties are pushing back against college administrators turning university teaching into an unstable, temporary job. Stability for educators means higher retention rates and more experience in the classroom. Faculty organized with the goals of: negotiating fair wages and benefits, sharing governance with the administration, and for freedom from retaliation when advocating for the rights of students.
A 22-year-old Washington University law school student has been selected to replace Wayne Rosenthal as state representative in the 95th District.
Avery Bourne of Pawnee, one of 10 people who applied for the job, was chosen Saturday at a meeting of Republican leaders from the four counties within the 95th District: Macoupin, Montgomery, Christian and Madison. […]
She is a law student at Washington University in St. Louis and has volunteered on several candidates’ campaigns, including those of U.S Rep. Rodney Davis, Rauner and Rosenthal.
“Avery shares the conservative values of the constituents in the 95th District. She is very intelligent and has a bright future ahead of her,” Macoupin County Republican Party Chairwoman Terri Koyne, one of the leaders on the committee that chose Bourne, said in a press release. “Avery has shown that she is talented and that she will make it her mission to represent and serve the residents in the district, regardless of their background, experience or views.”
Assistant Field Coordinator
Rodney for Congress
May 2014 – August 2014 (4 months)Taylorville, Illinois
Grassroots Intern
Citizens for Rauner, Inc.
June 2014 – July 2014 (2 months)Taylorville, IL
Congressional Intern, Running Start Wal-Mart Star Fellow
Congresswoman Lynn Jenkins
January 2014 – April 2014 (4 months)Washington, D.C.
Etc.
She’s never held a job outside politics, never had a job longer than 6 months, and all but one of her jobs was an internship.
* And subscribers already know what I think this and another possible GA appointment means…
Now, the governor may be poised to launch another set of political dominoes in motion by naming state Rep. Rich Brauer to a job at the Illinois Department of Transportation.
Other than confirming that rumors about Brauer’s departure have been running rampant through the Capitol for weeks, no one is saying the new position is a done deal for the Republican from Petersburg. […]
Already there is jockeying for the seat. Among those identified as possible appointees is Tim Butler, who is currently chief of staff for U.S. Rep. Rodney Davis of Taylorville.
Butler, a Springfield resident who also served as a spokesman for former U.S. Rep. Ray LaHood of Peoria, could have a leg up on the competition since he hails from the county with the biggest percentage of the weighted vote.
I told subscribers about Butler’s possible appointment last week. He’s not high on the list because he lives in Sangamon County, it’s because he’s close to Team Rauner.
* Last week, Illinois Comptroller Leslie Munger decided to stand with the state constitution and laws (and public employee unions) against her party’s governor. Munger wasn’t supported by a single union in her 2014 state House bid, but she’s obviously not holding a grudge.
The appointed GOP incumbent capped her week by attending Equality Illinois’ Valentines Day event - the only statewide Republican official to show for the gay rights gala.
Running in 2016 isn’t going to be easy for any Republican here, but she’s proving to be a quick study.
First-term Gov. Bruce Rauner has come under increasing pressure to overhaul Illinois’ troubled child welfare system after a leading civil rights group asked for quick federal court action over “dangerously inadequate” care and services.
The American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois filed a complaint against the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services late Friday, the latest turn in a decades-old consent decree aimed at keeping adequate foster care and child protective services in place. Rauner’s administration responded Monday by touting a new director and efforts to help foster care children. But days ahead of his first budget address, questions lingered over how the Republican will make and fund any major changes. […]
[ACLU attorney Benjamin Wolf] said Rauner’s administration inherited issues but that recent talks over problems raised by newspaper stories and lawmakers’ hearings weren’t productive. He said agency officials wouldn’t agree to immediate overhauls, which triggered the lawsuit. In previous years, DCFS has agreed to comply on issues such as reducing worker caseloads.
The complaint said the care of juveniles with mental health needs is “dangerously inadequate,” with long waiting lists for children who need specialized placements and lengthy stays in temporary shelters. The complaint cited reports from experts, providers, clients and caregivers.
Rauner, who has pledged to manage the state’s budget crisis without raising taxes, has asked lawmakers for broad powers to move money around within the current budget and is negotiating with legislative leaders.
“I’ve got to reallocate money from nonessential government services and move it over into essential services,” Rauner told students Tuesday at Lanphier High School in Springfield.
“It is very broad, what has been put on the table and asked for. Very unusual,” [Sen. Heather Steans] said. “We have done emergency budget acts before, but nothing in terms of the scope that’s been requested to date.”
She said the power would essentially take the legislature out of the budget picture. […]
She also said the administration has pushed for latitude over $2.5 billion in “statutory transfers,” which includes things like income tax money shared with local governments. The administration could also be given authority to take about $700 million from special state funds and not be required to repay it. Money in those funds usually comes from fees and assessments on a comparatively small group that benefits from those funds, such as regulating certain businesses.
Subscribers know more about this stuff.
* Related…
* 29 more kids among Illinois child-welfare agency’s faces of failure
* The Illinois Policy Institute commissioned a statewide poll and reported this result via e-mail…
Gov. Bruce Rauner job approval: 41.2 percent approval, 35.6 percent disapproval and 23.3 unsure
They haven’t posted this online yet, as far as I can tell, and no crosstabs were provided.
But, wow, man. A 41 percent approval rating after only a month in office?
The Policy Institute didn’t say when the poll was conducted, but did disclose this…
According to the pollster [Odgen & Fry], 36.8 percent of respondents self-identified as independent, while 34.5 percent of Illinoisans polled self-identified as Democrats while 28.7 percent self-identified as Republicans. The poll surveyed 481 people with a margin of error at 4.56 percent at a 95 percent confidence interval.
Odgen & Fry conducted a poll on February 11th which found Rauner’s approval at 43 percent, with 28.2 percent disapproving. That poll was of 908 voters, so its MoE was much lower. A poll conducted by We Ask America on January 14th had Rauner’s approval rating at 52 percent, with just 23 percent disapproving.
So, either the two February polls are wrong, or Rauner is already disappointing his constituents.
“Since 2004, the unions have negotiated wage increases of approximately 80 percent during collective bargaining negotiations. By comparison, total inflation over the same time period was approximately 26 percent, and private sector employee salaries increased by a total of 31 percent,” the suit notes.
Erickson calculated that the lawsuit claims a person making $50K a decade ago would be earning $90K right now. Could that possibly be true? He took a look at state union contracts and concluded it wasn’t…
Based on those contracts, workers were in line to receive wage increases totaling just over 32 percent — a figure that matches up more favorably with the private sector number cited by Rauner in his lawsuit.
“It includes overtime and is based on salary averages,” Lance Trover wrote in an email last week.
Overtime costs are mainly driven by worker shortages. Hiring more workers would drastically lower those OT costs, but doing so would also drive up other costs for things like training, health insurance and pensions.
However, there are other ways to get pay raises under the contract, including step increases. I’m no expert here, so maybe some commenters can fill us in. And I have yet to see someone challenge Rauner’s basic fact: State employee salary costs have risen 80 percent over the past decade.
Three top administrators at the Illinois education agency took big bonuses home in their paychecks earlier this month.
According to a review of state payroll records by the Quad-City Times Springfield Bureau, the Illinois State Board of Education paid a total of more than $41,000 in bonuses to the trio.
A state board spokesman said the employees received the extra cash because each of them took on added duties.
“(T)heir salaries will return to the previous levels during the next pay period,” Illinois State Board of Education spokesman Matt Vanover said in an email. […]
“Given the significant reduction in agency headcount and the increased burdens placed on the agency by the Legislature, it is disingenuous to suggest that only the senior level administrators have had to take on additional duties meriting these adjustments in pay,” noted Aviva Bowen, spokeswoman for the Illinois Federation of Teachers.
ISBE employees are represented by the IFT, and those frontline workers have indeed taken on extra duties without additional pay - unlike the top brass.
*** UPDATE *** From AFSCME Council 31…
FALSE CLAIM: “Since 2004, unions have negotiated wage increases of approximately 80 percent”
FACT: Negotiated wage increases since 2004 are 32.25 percent. The average increase over that period is 2.9 percent per year.
FACT: The average wage increase in the current contract is just 1.3 percent per year — below inflation for that period (1.73 percent per year).
FACT: Adjusted for inflation, payroll is effectively flat since 2004 – up just 0.5 percent per year.
FACT: Payroll is a small share of state spending, and dropped from 7.5 percent in FY05 to 6.7 percent in FY13.
Controversial former Rep. Joe Walsh (R-Ill.) is talking up a Tea Party challenge to Sen. Mark Kirk (R-Ill.).
“I am very seriously considering challenging him in a primary,” Walsh told The Hill on Thursday. “Mark Kirk has got to be challenged.” […]
Observers speculate that Walsh is likely looking to stir controversy to boost ratings. Many think that he’s ultimately unlikely to run and is a longshot, at best, if he does. […]
Walsh argued that Kirk’s 2012 stroke, which has left him with slightly slurred speech and forced him to use a wheelchair much of the time, was scaring off other potential primary foes. But he said that the senator’s health is part of the reason he shouldn’t win another term.
“I think because of his overall physical condition I don’t know anyone else would consider challenging him and that’s just plain wrong,” he said. “If you privately talk to people who would ordinarily primary him, they’d all say ‘he’s got no business running, but I can’t challenge him, look at who he is, people are going to say I’m mean spirited because I’m challenging him.’ Because of sympathy for Mark Kirk I don’t know of a serious candidate who would challenge him besides me.”
Every governor over the past 25 years—Republican and Democrat—has learned a lesson from Gov. Jim Thompson.
Every governor except one.
Running for re-election in 1982, Thompson was in the fight of his political life, and the Republican speaker of the House was making things worse.
Illinois had plunged into recession under Republican President Ronald Reagan, and Thompson was running against a household name, former U.S. Sen. Adlai Stevenson III.
Then, House Speaker George Ryan of Kankakee allowed an anti-union “right to work” bill to move to the House floor. Organized labor was furious. Thousands of workers gathered on the Statehouse lawn in June to angrily denounce Ryan. Thompson was met with a resounding chorus of boos when he took the stage.
More than a few statehouse types have been wondering aloud for weeks what Gov. Bruce Rauner is up to with his almost daily attacks on organized labor.
Just what, they ask, is the end game here?
His people say that the governor feels “liberated” since the election to speak his mind about a topic that stirs great personal passion in him. He played up the issue during the Republican primary, then all but ran away from it in the general election, including just a few weeks before Election Day when he flatly denied that “right to work” or anything like that would be among his top priorities.
Yet, there he is, day after day, pounding away at unions, demanding right-to-work laws, vilifying public employee unions as corrupt to the point of issuing an executive order barring the distribution of state-deducted employee “fair share” dues to public worker unions such as AFSCME. The dues are paid by people who don’t want to pay full union dues.
Some top Democrats believe that Rauner may be setting them up for a grand bargain this spring. Democratic lawmakers most certainly are going to freak out when Rauner presents his draconian budget. Rank-and-file members undoubtedly will demand some sort of tax hike to prevent draconian cuts to their cherished programs. Rauner eventually could say he’d agree to additional revenues in exchange for passage of his economic package.
But some top Republicans who have regular contact with the governor say they haven’t yet discerned a rhyme or a reason. “I just don’t see an end game here at all with them,” confided one GOP operative. Another concurred, saying if there is an end game, it hasn’t been shared with anyone else.
For their part, the Democratic House speaker and Senate president have asked the governor gently to focus his considerable energy on attacking the state’s massive budget deficit, rather than spend his time attacking labor. The governor will need all the cooperation he can get to fix that budget problem, and he’s making more enemies than friends right now.
Rauner and his top people are misreading the Senate President in particular, I’m told. The Senate Democrats, much like the U.S. House Republicans, vote privately on pretty much every major issue. If a majority is opposed to an idea, they don’t move forward.
So even if Rauner manages to muscle all 20 Senate Republicans onto a bill, that doesn’t mean the majority party will allow it to be called for a vote. And the more Rauner attempts to undermine their traditional supporters in organized labor, the less they may be willing to go along with him on other things.
And the Democrats aren’t his only problem.
Rauner met with members of the Senate Republican Caucus in a Springfield restaurant earlier this month and delivered a stern warning. Rauner started by reportedly referencing the $20 million sitting in his campaign account and said he wanted to be their partner in the upcoming session and would support those who supported him.
But then the hammer came down. Sources say the governor told the Republicans that he would ask for their votes on 10 issues and he needed them all to vote “yes” on all 10. Not five, not seven. Ten. And if anyone in the room didn’t vote for all 10, then they’d have a “[f-bomb expletive deleted] problem” with him.
Organized labor doesn’t have many friends among Senate Republicans, but they do have some House Republican allies. So top House Republicans hope Rauner will exempt those members from taking any anti-union votes. They point to folks such as Rep. Mike Unes, R-East Peoria, as a Republican who represents a traditionally Democratic district. If he starts voting against his district, he could be on the bubble.
In a major Democratic presidential wave year, with unions completely engaged against a hated governor, the Republicans fret they could lose even more seats if any of those 10 votes Rauner wants has to do with demolishing labor unions.
And the governor isn’t exactly inspiring confidence in the ranks. Rauner’s executive order about fair share dues was declared illegal by the attorney general last week. He reworked it to keep it on track, but it’s still not legal, according to the state’s highest-ranking lawyer.
In politics, it’s always unwise to threaten somebody with an unloaded pistol. Then again, $20 million can buy a whole lot of bullets, whatever the objective may be.
