* The Illinois Policy Institute is apparently miffed with the media’s coverage of its “documentary” on Speaker Madigan. Click here, and here.
I offered to buy the original of the cartoon about me, but I was rebuffed. Too bad, even though the image looks a lot more like Rick Pearson than me (just kidding, Pearson). [Adding: I’m now told that they’re working on an arrangement, which is fine by me as long as the price is reasonable because I have a spot for it in my office.]
Edwin Bender, executive director of the Montana-based National Institute on Money in State Politics, said this is the first he’s heard of a social welfare group producing this type of documentary at the state level.
But Bender said it’s a natural extension of other activities these groups have engaged in across the country, including campaign-style tactics such as opening field offices, knocking on doors, sending out mailers and making phone calls.
“Any (social welfare group) that says it’s nonpartisan … that’s the letter of the law, but their activities belie that, whether it’s conservative or liberal,” Bender said. “(These groups) are designed to be involved in elections.”
The organizations typically argue that they’re advocating on issues, not doing election work, he said.
“That’s a thinly veiled excuse for being involved in electioneering,” Bender said. “They’re conforming to the letter of the law, but the spirit of the law has long ago vanished.”
* The United States Supreme Court has refused to hear independent congressional candidate David Gill’s case that he was illegally knocked off the ballot for coming up short on petition signatures. Gill won his case at the district level, then lost at the appellate level. Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan denied the request for appeal. The Peoria Journal Star is hopping mad…
For us, it was the principle of the thing in a state where Gill is quite right that the political system is “rigged” — against third parties, in favor of incumbents, etc. To suggest, as the state did in federal court, that Illinois law on this subject is “reasonable and non-discriminatory” is nonsense. It’s clearly discriminatory against independents. It’s only reasonable if you’re among the favored in an Illinois that has made a mockery of every aspect of a government “of the people, by the people, for the people.”
What we have instead in the state we have the gall to call the “Land of Lincoln” is a government for them and against us, that has few peers for incompetence and corruption, that goes out of its way to deny its residents the choices they want (see the Independent Maps effort).
George Washington may have been on to something in warning us to the dangers of a two-party system — “itself a frightful despotism.” Not in our experience have Illinois and U.S. voters been so fed up as they are now with such “deplorable” — to borrow a popular term — choices at the ballot box. Come the revolution, don’t say it came without warning.
Keep in mind when commenting that these were federal judicial rulings about a state law. Also keep in mind that independent candidates aren’t subject to primary opposition, which is one reason why they have to obtain so many signatures. You can make the case that it’s a bad law and does discriminate, but it’s apparently not unconstitutional.
Chicago State University enrolled just 86 freshmen this fall, an alarming drop as the embattled public institution faces an uncertain future.
Overall, the university now has fewer than half the number of total students it did six years ago. There are 3,578 students taking classes at the Far South Side campus this fall, down from 7,362 students in 2010, according to university figures released Tuesday. The numbers include 2,352 undergraduates and 1,226 graduate students.
While enrollment has been declining for years, the past year has been particularly troubling. Overall enrollment is down 25 percent, and undergraduate enrollment is down 32 percent in one year, the largest decline of any public university in the state. The 86 freshmen includes both full-time and part-time students — smaller than a kindergarten cohort at many Chicago Public Schools.
Judging by your social media feeds, it seems nearly everyone was tuned in to the first presidential debate between Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton and Republican nominee Donald Trump.
But don’t ask Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner what he thought of the faceoff — he wouldn’t even tell reporters if he planned to watch the debate.
“I am not commenting on politics,” Rauner said when asked if he’d be in front of the television Monday night.
It’s the same response Rauner has given time and time again when asked about his support for the controversial Trump. In fact, he repeated a version of that phrase four times when pressed on the issue at an unrelated event Monday.
“I’m not commenting on politics,” Rauner said. “I said I’m not commenting on politics. I hope you can believe that. I’m not doing it.” […]
Asked why he won’t show some leadership as the leader of the Illinois Republican Party and take a stand on the presidential race, the GOP governor said “As I’ve said, I’m not commenting on politics today.”
* The Question: Do you think the governor can keep this up through election day? Take the poll and then explain your answer in comments, please.
Enrollment at Chicago Public Schools has dropped by 3.5 percent since last September, according to a preliminary count that shows a loss of about 13,000 students.
The loss is more than twice as large as district officials projected in July.
Some 8,181 of those students left CPS-run schools, which now count 294,967 students in grades K-12, according to numbers tallied from the 10th day of school.
Privately-managed charter schools have so far lost 6,600 students compared to last September, totaling 54,889 students — a loss of about 10 percent. Three charter schools left the district but remained open, though, accounting for about 1,000 of charters’ decline.
Some 195 schools have exceeded expected projections district officials released in July, but 306 fell short.
Pre-kindergarten numbers and enrollment in alternative schools haven’t yet been tallied. CPS will take its official count of students on the 20th day of school, which this year falls on Oct. 3. That count determines a school’s final budget, and whether it will add teachers or lay them off. And last year, CPS picked up about 2,200 kids between the two counts.
Chicago Public Schools’ financial reputation took another hit from a major Wall Street credit ratings agency on Monday.
Moody’s Investors Service dropped the district’s bond rating further into junk status, lowering its view of the school system’s debt one notch to a B3 rating.
Moody’s cited a variety of factors for the downgrade. Among them: the district’s reliance on short-term borrowing, a “deepening structural deficit” and a budget “built on unrealistic expectations” of help from a state government with money woes of its own.
Word of the downgrade came on a day when the district announced budgets at about 300 schools would lose a total of $45 million because of enrollment declines, and the Chicago Teachers Union said its members authorized a strike if contract talks break down.
* Speaker Madigan’s approval rating is about the same as Rod Blagojevich’s was near the end of his rule. So, dealing with questions about Madigan can be tricky for House Democrats.
Here’s an exchange between Democratic state Rep. Sam Yingling and his Republican opponent Rod Drobinski at the Daily Herald…
Drobinski criticized Yingling’s support of veteran House Speaker Michael Madigan.
“His second vote every session, after he votes for Mike Madigan to be speaker of the House, is for the rules that give Mike Madigan the power to cause any bill to die in committee,” Drobinski said.
Yingling said he’s thought about his votes for Madigan as speaker and would consider another Democratic choice.
However, he added, he wouldn’t vote for a Republican if no Democrat challenged Madigan to lead the House.
Crespo responded that he’s been anything but a Madigan puppet during his decade in the state legislature. He counts among his supporters the Republican mayors of Hoffman Estates, Schaumburg and Hanover Park.
“I’m proud to say that I have a lot of Republican friends and have gotten support from Republican elected officials,” he said. “Unlike Chicago, in the suburbs your success is going to be closely connected to your ability to work with the other side.”
But Baumer said there is a need for new ideas and leadership in the House, and only a push for term limits on the position of speaker may bring that about. She said it’s unfair that one person from one part of Chicago has controlled the direction of so many state issues for so long. […]
Crespo declined to say whether he would back Madigan for another term as speaker, but said he supported fellow Democratic state Rep. Jack Franks’ proposal to create term limits for the position.
His most important criteria for House leader is who is best able to bring together a diverse and potentially divided Democratic caucus, he said.
“At the end of the day, I’m taking direction from the people of the 44th District, not the speaker,” Crespo added.
Q: Would state Rep. Andy Skoog, D-La Salle, and his GOP rival, Jerry Long, of Streator, vote to retain Michael Madigan as House speaker?
A: Long, along with virtually every Republican, has vowed to vote against Madigan.
In an Oct. 13, 2015, interview — two days after Skoog’s candidacy for state representative became publicly known — The Times asked him whether he would vote for Madigan as speaker. Skoog, who had yet to be appointed as longtime Rep. Frank Mautino’s replacement, didn’t answer the question directly. Rather, he said he would stand up to Madigan, Gov. Bruce Rauner or any other politician in defending the interests of the 76th House District. His response was published in the Wednesday, Oct. 14, print edition. Skoog has not answered such questions since.
* And Rep. John Bradley turned the Madigan question into a Rauner question…
Severin’s primary attack in this campaign has been that Bradley’s loyalties are to Madigan and Chicago Democrats and not Southern Illinois.
To that, Bradley said, “I would point out that folks that aren’t in leadership in both parties are receiving the same criticisms and I think there’s a tendency in politics, particularly in this very, very ugly campaign season for those kinds of assertions, whether they be true or not, to be made.” Bradley said he has never taken a vote “to the determinant of our area.”
In this election cycle, Bradley said he has been “the victim of a lot of questionable advertising against me.” As for the attack ads he’s running against his opponent, Bradley said those ads are fair. It’s only the ones being run against him that he finds unfair.
Bradley refused to answer specific policy questions related to the attack ads he’s running against Severin. He would only repeat in regards to specific policy questions related to the ads that he thinks they are fair. For example, the ad that states “Dave Severin’s biggest supporter wants to let 25 percent of the state’s prisoners loose into our communities” is a reference to Rauner’s bipartisan efforts to reduce the prison population. But Bradley refused to answer a question about whether he could support any type of prison reforms being proposed by the commission that Rauner created. […]
Bradley also said he worked with Rauner in his first months in office to solve the shortfall in the fiscal year 2015 budget when the temporary income tax increase partially reset to a lower level. But Bradley said that bipartisan spirit eroded shortly after that because Rauner took cuts too far and began picking winners and losers. Bradley said some of the losers were John A. Logan College, SIU and the Hardin County Work Camp. “So the wheels just kind of fell off after that,” he said of Democratic leaders’ ability to work with Rauner to solve the budget.
Voters will decide if the state should put constraints on money raised through license plate fees and motor fuel taxes … by forbidding that money to be used on other needs.
Governor Bruce Rauner won’t say whether it’s a good idea or not.
“I, definitely have always had a view on it … I’m just not going to comment on it.
A well-funded campaign backed by (both) business and labor (groups) is calling on voters to choose “yes.” They say too much money intended for roads has been swept for other uses … and this will keep roads and bridges safe. Critics say it’s writing a gravy train for contractors and labor unions into the constitution. They also say it will leave lawmakers hamstrung to make budgeting decisions.
“There’s a lot of pluses and minuses to it,” Rauner said when asked about the transportation question Monday. “There’s a lot of things I’m focused on, but that’s not one.”
We have a situation where we have our inner cities, African-American, Hispanics, are living in hell because it’s so dangerous. You walk down the street, you get shot. In Chicago, they’ve had thousands of shootings, thousands, since January first. Thousands of shootings. And I’m saying where is this? Is this war-torn country? What are we doing? And we had to stop the violence. We have to bring back law in order.
In a place like Chicago, where thousands of people have been killed, thousands over the last number of years, in fact almost four thousand having killed since Barack Obama became president. Over four, almost four thousand people in Chicago have been killed. We have to bring back law and order. Now, whether or not in a place like Chicago, you do stop and frisk which worked very well Mayor Giuliani is here worked very well in New York. […]
No, the argument is that we had to take the guns away from these people that have them and that are bad people that shouldn’t have them. These are felons and these are people that are bad people that shouldn’t be…when you have three thousand shootings in Chicago from January 1st, when you have four thousand people killed in Chicago by guns from the beginning of the presidency of Barack Obama, his hometown, you have to have stop and frisk.
You need more police. You need a better community, you know relation, you don’t have a good community relations in Chicago. It’s terrible. I have property there. It’s terrible what’s going on in Chicago. But when you look — and Chicago’s not the only one. You go to Ferguson, you go to so many different places. You need better relationships, I agree with Secretary Clinton on this, you need better relationships between communities in the police because in some cases it’s not good but you look at Dallas where the relationships were really studied the relationships were really a beautiful thing. And then five police officers were killed. One night very violently. So there’s some bad things going on, some really bad things.
* From the Illinois Policy Institute’s news service…
While some blame the lack of state funding for various services and programs as a reason why there’s violence in the streets of Chicago, Gov. Bruce Rauner said a lack of opportunity is a bigger culprit.
Rauner said no community is immune from violence and dismissed assertions that dried-up state funds is the root of the problem.
“The No. 1 problem we have for the long term, whether it comes to violence or poverty or low incomes or anything else, is lack of economic opportunity, and that comes from lack of being competitive in Illinois.”
Rauner has been pushing for reforms that he said will make Illinois more competitive.
“We have not been doing this for decades, and it’s the No. 1 reason we have these problems,” Rauner said.
“Violence caused by gangs and drug battles, directly related to lack of opportunity. Directly related to lack of opportunity.”
And then he pointed yet again to Indiana as a model for economic growth, correctly noting that tens of thousands of manufacturing jobs have been added in that state, while Illinois lags infinitely behind.
* But how is Indiana doing on violence and quality of life issues? After all, if it’s such an employment mecca, shouldn’t we also see a far better way of life over there?
Not sure if you saw the governor’s comments today regarding violence and the budget impasse (see here at 3:25). The governor says the “number one problem” causing violence or poverty is “lack of economic opportunity.” The governor then points to Indiana as a model for Illinois, a state that has “created economic opportunity” to address the problems of crime and poverty.
Though the governor may be enamored with our eastern neighbor, there are a few things he failed to mention about Indiana:
* The poverty rate is decreasing faster in Illinois than Indiana — -0.7% vs. -0.8% (data from the Census Bureau)
* Illegal drug dependence or abuse is higher in Indiana than Illinois — 3.0% vs. 2.3% (data from SAMHSA)
* The percentage of people without health insurance is higher in Indiana than Illinois — 11.2% vs. 8.1% (data from the Census Bureau)
* Median income is almost 20% higher in Illinois than Indiana — $57,166 versus $48,737 (data from the Census Bureau)
Though Illinois certainly faces challenges - challenges exacerbated by Rauner’s failed governorship - following the Indiana model would throw Illinois into a race to the bottom. Instead, the governor should drop his extreme agenda, pass a fully funded budget, and work collaboratively to get Illinois back on track.
Indiana has a lower average cost of living than Illinois, so higher median incomes don’t buy as much here as they do there. And the reductions in respective poverty levels are well within the margin of error.
* As we’ve already discussed, the Illinois Policy Institute’s legal arm filed a lawsuit to block implementation of the state’s election day registration law because it allegedly applied unevenly and unfairly to different parts of the state. Large counties were required to have same day registration at the precinct level, while smaller counties only had to provide a single central registration/voting location.
US District Judge Samuel Der-Yeghiayan sided with the plaintiffs today and issued a preliminary injunction. Unless this is successfully appealed, precinct registration on election day in the state’s ten largest counties will be prohibited.
Joint Statement of
ACLU of Illinois and the Chicago Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law
RE: Decision in challenge to Illinois’ Election Day Registration System
September 27, 2016
Earlier today, U.S. District Court Judge Samuel Der-Yeghiayan granted a motion to block Election Day voter registration at polling places in Illinois for the November general election. The decision comes in the case of Harlan v. Schotz, in which plaintiffs claimed that election day registration (EDR) as authorized in Illinois is unconstitutional because while it is mandated in all 102 of the state’s counties, only larger population counties are required to have EDR available at each polling place. All counties are required to have EDR available at their central election headquarters, often the county seat. The court’s order today undermines the wide availability of Election Day registration at polling places.
A group of voting rights advocates, including the ACLU of Illinois, Chicago Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, Better Government Association, League of Women Voters of Illinois, and the Illinois Campaign for Political Reform, filed an amicus brief in August urging Judge Der-Yeghiayan to reject the effort to eliminate EDR so close to the November general election. EDR has been in place in Illinois since the 2014 general election. In the March 2016 primaries, more than 100,000 eligible persons registered and voted using EDR, including Democratic and Republican voters.
The following can be attributed to Edwin C. Yohnka, Director of Communications and Public Policy, ACLU of Illinois:
“We are concerned about the impact of this decision, changing the rules of voting so close to this hotly-contested election. We must continue to use every available method to ensure that every eligible voter in our state can access the ballot – not create obstacles to the franchise. We encourage the State of Illinois and the Cook County Clerk – parties in this matter – to explore all legal options to protect voters’ rights. Thousands of people who are depending on EDR could lose the ability to vote if this ruling stands for the November general election.”
The following can be attributed to Ami Gandhi, Director of Voting Rights and Civic Empowerment:
“We are extremely disappointed in this decision, on National Voter Registration Day, to restrict ballot access across the state. We want to be clear: scaling back Election Day Registration threatens to silence thousands of eligible voters in Illinois. We urge the Illinois State Board of Elections and the Cook County Clerk’s office, who are parties in the action, as well as all election authorities across the state to pursue all options to promote voter access and minimize confusion for voters this close to Election Day.”
*** UPDATE 2 *** Press release…
Common Cause Illinois and other members of the Just Democracy Illinois coalition are disappointed by the federal judge’s decision to grant a preliminary injunction that would suspend Election Day Registration in polling places for the November Presidential election.
“To suspend Election Day Registration and suppress the vote less than two weeks before the voter registration deadline will hurt communities across Illinois who were counting on being able to register and vote on November 8,” said Trevor Gervais, Lead Organizer for Common Cause Illinois. “The court’s decision to side with a conservative group with ties to ALEC and the Koch brothers, combined with Governor Rauner’s recent veto of Automatic Voter Registration, signals a step backwards for voting rights in Illinois and continues a nationwide trend of coordinated and well-funded voter suppression efforts.”
The challenge to Election Day Registration is a troubling tactic to limit voter turnout during such a crucial election year. This decision further threatens communities with a history of experiencing voter suppression, at a time when voter interest is anticipated to be extremely high.
“Election Day Registration breaks down barriers to the ballot and ensures that the right to vote is accessible to all citizens,” said Andy Kang, legal director of Asian Americans Advancing Justice | Chicago. “We will fight this ruling on the appeal and also continue our efforts to override the veto of Automatic Voter Registration. Ensuring that these two measures are law will help restore Illinois as a national leader in ballot access.”
More than 110,000 people registered to vote on Election Day last March.
It is fully anticipated that the Illinois Attorney General’s Office will be appealing the decision to the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals. The next court date is set for October 27th, with the appeal to be heard as soon as possible. Common Cause Illinois and other voting rights advocates are confident that there will be a favorable ruling in the appeals process.
*** UPDATE 3 *** From the League of Women Voters…
Today’s decision in Harlan v Schotz (in which plaintiffs claimed that election day registration (EDR) as authorized in Illinois is unconstitutional because while it is required in all 102 of the state’s counties, only counties with populations greater than 100,00 0 must have EDR at each polling place. All counties are required to have EDR available at their central election headquarters), by the United States District Court is a disappointing one – not so much based on the merits of the plaintiff’s underlying argument that smaller counties are at a disadvantage when it comes to EDR but the fact that the decision comes so close to the 2016 election. One voter registration deadline is less than two weeks from today.
With the election in full swing, it’s easy to forget the details regarding the devastating impact the budget impasse continues to have. The Responsible Budget Coalition’s #OneinaMillion campaign is tapping its members (whose numbers now top 300) to share stories about how the lack of a fully funded year-long budget is impacting our state.
Today Voices weighs in by asking and answering the question, “What is going on with the Illinois budget?”
The “stopgap” measure from this summer actually cut programs for children and families by about a third from previous spending levels. It also adds to our back bills, and Illinois will owe over $10 billion by January 1. Worse, the measure doesn’t fund programs for the full fiscal year. On January 1, 2017, Human Services and Higher Education will be back to square one with no budget and no money available to keep programs running. There won’t even be enough money to pay for the full year PK-12 appropriation in the stopgap measure.
Lawmakers and the governor have two choices when they return to Springfield after the election: They can either keep spending money we don’t have, adding to the backlog of unpaid bills, or they can choose to develop a responsible plan to raise revenue for a balanced budget.
Streator resident David Cooke finally secured legal representation to pursue his election board complaint against former state Rep. Frank Mautino.
In another development, Mautino, D-Spring Valley, on Monday appealed the state Board of Elections’ decision last week to deny his request to delay the issue while a related federal investigation continues.
The Chicago-based Liberty Justice Center, a conservative nonprofit group, revealed Monday it had agreed to represent Cooke, a former Streator High School board member.
In February, Cooke filed a complaint with the Board of Elections questioning Mautino’s spending of campaign money for more than a decade. Mautino resigned to become the state’s auditor general Jan. 1. […]
The Liberty Justice Center has filed subpoenas for information from the service station, bank and Mautino himself, Huebert said. […]
The Liberty Justice Center is linked to the Illinois Policy Institute, with which it shares a downtown Chicago office.
They don’t just share an office, the Illinois Policy Institute founded the group.
* From state Sen. Jennifer Bertino-Tarrant (D-Shorewood)…
The Illinois State Board of Elections announced today that the conservative super PAC Liberty Principles PAC broke the contribution limits in the 49th Legislative District through its spending on behalf of candidate Michelle Smith.
“By breaking the contribution limits in the 49th District, Dan Proft is now allowing Michelle Smith to receive unlimited contributions from Bruce Rauner and the Chicago billionaires who already fund her campaign through Proft,” said Bertino-Tarrant. “Unlike my opponent, I am proud to have the support of small-dollar donors across the the 49th District along with organizations that represent working families, educators, and small business owners.”
The Liberty Principles PAC is headed by controversial conservative radio talk show host Dan Proft and is primarily funded by Governor Bruce Rauner and billionaire Richard Uihlein, a financial backer to Rauner’s 2014 gubernatorial campaign. To date, Liberty Principles has spent $180,093 on behalf of Michelle Smith. Illinois election law removes all contribution caps once a super PAC spends $100,000 on a candidate.
“As a fourth-generation Will County resident, a life-long educator, and state senator, I have dedicated my professional career to providing a better future for our children and families throughout the district. I am optimistic constituents will prioritize a candidate’s work-ethic and campaign’s transparency when casting their vote for state senate on November 8, 2016.”
…Adding… Sen. JBT doesn’t actually have a whole lot of small-dollar donors. If you go back to January of 2012, she’s raised just $57,810 from 277 people who have contributed $500 or less. On the other hand, her transfers in (from PACs and other committees) totaled $1,252,961 in the same time period.
Showing his commitment to mentoring programs he intends to bolster fight crime and gun violence, Mayor Rahm Emanuel attended a Becoming a Man meeting at Morgan Park High School Friday.
“You guys haven’t given up on yourselves, and the city shouldn’t give up on you,” Emanuel told a group of a dozen Morgan Park students known as the Dreamchasers. He was joined at the meeting by Ald. Matt O’Shea (19th).
Emanuel’s visit came the day after he touted a three-year, $36 million commitment to youth mentoring as a key part of his comprehensive plan to rein in crime and gun violence in the city.
“I wanted people to see this firsthand,” he said of his visit to the high school.
The main activity of Friday’s session was an exercise in which the boys split into two teams and made paper airplanes that they were supposed to fly across the room.
The mayor mostly watched but took one turn as the paper-plane launcher. It flew back in a loop and hit him in the face.
Afterward, Anderson asked the students to assess their performance.
The plane maker for the losing team took the blame for being too slow to produce one that would fly.
“That was awesome. You manned up. It’s about owning the things you do, good or bad. You didn’t put the blame on others,” Anderson told him.
It might seem silly, but it’s in such small lessons that B.A.M. communicates the values of self-responsibility and integrity that seem to have been lost on the young people pulling the triggers.
Things like debates have gotten so meta. There’s more talk of meta than of substance. Sure the debates are theater, and sure these days you can (though why should you have to? there’s a debate to watch!) click on a candidate website which gives you some policy information, but “we’ve” already spent a couple of weeks talking about the expectations game, and the game to game the expectations game, and the game to game the gaming of the expectations game, all of which is about impacting the post-debate pronouncements of pundits, who are making career choices themselves with these pronouncements. CNN has approximately 87 people on stage whose job it is to argue about what we’re supposed to think about the thing we watched 5 seconds ago based on arbitrary standards they cooked up 10 seconds ago. One of them should say “[expletive deleted] this” and throw down the mic, but, hey, people gotta eat.
Arthur: There was a famous paper a few years ago in The Journal of Politics in which the authors asked what effect the media experts who appear after a debate have on viewers’ opinions. After the 2004 debate in Tempe, Ariz., between Bush and John Kerry, they asked randomly sorted viewers who had seen no post-debate analysis who won. Forty-eight percent said Kerry. Then they asked another group who had seen the debate and NBC’s analysis who won. Kerry got 17 percent.
Gail: But what happened to that group afterward? I am thinking they went back to wherever they were before. After all, Kerry got 48 percent in the actual election.
The first debate of the 2016 presidential campaign will be held tonight, and I would like to preemptively express my outrage over how it will have been handled.
If there’s one thing we know for certain from this event that has not yet happened it’s that it will have been grossly unfair and biased toward (insert candidate’s name). Undoubtedly the American people will see this debate for the sham that it will have been, once it actually occurs, and they will respond positively to (aforementioned candidate) who will certainly have comported (himself/herself) with remarkable poise given the preposterously unjust circumstances (he/she) will, at that time, have faced.
As the nation awaits the first faceoff between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump on Monday night, more Americans are expected to self-medicate than for any other Presidential debate in history.
With over a hundred million people projected to watch the debate, roughly sixty million of them will be barely sentient after ingesting what they deem to be the necessary dose of intoxicants.
Davis Logsdon, of the University of Minnesota, estimated on Monday that the level of self-medication for the Trump-Clinton debate could be seven hundred per cent greater than for the first Obama-Romney debate, in 2012.
* The Question: Your thoughts on tonight’s debate?
“It used to be there were fewer gangs but they were more pronounced—it was not the smaller, what I call ‘splinter’ groups that have formed since,” said the Rev. Walter Johnson, who was the pastor of a church serving the now-demolished Cabrini Green neighborhood throughout the 1990s. “In recent history it’s been just all-out war amongst everybody. In some places, I’ve noted that on one block, three or four different factions are warring against each other.” […]
Today, experts say, the crews that have replaced gangs like Hoover’s are driven by goals less tangible than money, and the conflicts that erupt between them are more often provoked by interpersonal conflict than disputes over drug territory. “Back then, if there was violence, they were fighting over something—they were fighting over drug turf,” said Bradley. “The violence you’re seeing now, it’s almost attitude-driven.”
The officers who patrol the Chicago’s 11th Police District face a daunting challenge. The district, which is centered around Garfield Park on the city’s West Side, has the highest murder rate in the city, and it’s rising fast. By late August the district already had more murders than in all of 2015, when it led the city with 48 homicides.
The officers of the 11th District stand out in another way. They are the youngest and least experienced police officers of any district in Chicago.
The average officer in the 11th joined the force 10 years ago; over a third of the district’s officers have less than five years on the force. Meanwhile, most veteran officers with patrol experience in the late 1990s — the last time Chicago’s murder rate was as high as today — work far from Garfield Park. Half a dozen miles to the north one of the city’s safest districts, Jefferson Park, has only three officers with under 10 years of experience. Over half the patrol officers are 20-year veterans.
Though the rookie/veteran divide is present in many police departments, Chicago does have policies that may leave its force even more skewed. The Chicago Police Department’s union contract allows officers to regularly bid for open positions in other districts. Bids for patrol officer positions are decided primarily by comparing the seniority of the officers, and officers can transfer using a bid once every 12 months.
Illinois is more than a year behind on payments to people who’ve been wronged by state government. Such individuals can seek compensation through the Court of Claims, which hears cases ranging from injuries caused by state workers to people unjustly imprisoned for crimes they did not commit. […]
The problem is that the winners have no way of collecting their awards until the Illinois General Assembly approves each individual payment. Legislators have included Court of Claims awards in several bills. The only ones to pass were vetoed by Governor Bruce Rauner, casualties of his broader budget fight with Democrats.
Those who don’t remember the Quinn years will not recall how affability does not make you a competent governor. On the other hand, maybe Illinois has reached the point where no one could govern it.
Whatever was faulty with Quinn’s management, successor Bruce Rauner made sure to cast each one in the most apocalyptic tone.
The two terms of Quinn as chief executive were multiple messes that not even jacking up the state income tax could cure.
There is only one reason Rauner sits in the governor’s chair. That reason was Pat Quinn.
Quinn was similarly unpopular during his 2010 run, but Bill Brady couldn’t take advantage. So, while there is some truth to the “Rauner didn’t win, Quinn lost” talk, the reality is that Bruce Rauner ran a highly effective campaign and Pat Quinn did not. Both of those predicates were required for the result we got.
* The Omaha World-Herald reports that ConAgra passed up a huge Nebraska subsidy to relocate its headquarters to Chicago. And then this happened…
ConAgra told Illinois officials that tax incentives were needed to justify moving its offices to Chicago. Illinois officials must have been convinced. They found a way around a statewide moratorium on incentives the governor had recently imposed because of a budget crisis in Illinois. […]
An Illinois spokeswoman last year told news media in Chicago that the state’s offer to ConAgra came before the incentives program was suspended. But documents obtained by The World-Herald show a different timeline.
ConAgra bypassed the moratorium by tacking its headquarters request onto an application it had submitted a few weeks before the freeze. That application for incentives was for an unrelated expansion at a northern Illinois cookie factory it owned, according to documents from the Illinois Department of Commerce & Economic Opportunity, requested by The World-Herald under public records law. […]
The application for tax credits on the cookie plant — not including the headquarters move — was dated May 12, 2015, and Illinois informally approved it May 28, five days before Gov. Bruce Rauner’s June 2 moratorium announcement.
On July 17 ConAgra asked Illinois for new financial incentives for a corporate office in Chicago, attaching the request to the cookie plant project even though it knew the plant wouldn’t be with the company much longer. On Aug. 12 an Illinois official wrote to Connolly offering possible financial support for what ConAgra was by then calling a new corporate headquarters.
Me, October 1, 2015: “New ConAgra CEO Sean Connolly lives in Winnetka, according to the Tribune. So, yeah, this move was really about shortening his commute.”
And just 10 days ago, upon the announcement that Duracell was moving its executive suite here: “I sense a trend of HQs moving here because CEOs who already live here don’t want to move to where their companies are actually already located. True? Assignment Desk, activate!”
Not that Chicago doesn’t have a lot to offer companies, but it’s not like they’re moving distribution facilities here because of our geography or moving manufacturing plants here because of our workforce.
Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump’s twice-rescheduled suburban Chicago fundraising luncheon is set for Wednesday. […]
Also serving on the event host committee [with Ron Gidwitz] is Roger Claar, the longtime Bolingbrook mayor and a member of the Illinois Republican State Central Committee.
But the other event hosts, including Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus, are from out of state, reflecting the uneasy alliance that exists between Illinois Republicans and their presidential nominee. Top GOP leaders in the state have actively worked to distance themselves from Trump.
Proceeds from the event go to the victory fund established for Trump and his running mate, Indiana Gov. Mike Pence. Money raised for the fund not only goes to the Trump campaign, but to the RNC and state GOP efforts in 11 states: Arkansas, Connecticut, Louisiana, Mississippi, New Jersey, New York, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia and Wyoming.
Perhaps no surprise that Illinois is not on that list, since Sen. Mark Kirk has been so vocal lately about his disdain for Trump. If he did get any money, there’d be heck to pay.
The National Republican Senatorial Committee is poised to help Sen. Mark Kirk R-Ill., getting ready to spend about $750,000 in Kirk’s battle with Rep. Tammy Duckworth.
The spending, a source said, will show that the NRSC, the Senate GOP political operation, believes that Kirk has a chance to win in Illinois, even though an outpouring of Democratic votes is expected for presidential candidate Hillary Clinton
* And speaking of the presidential race…
Rauner also refused to say if he'd watch presidential debate tonight, he's repeatedly tried to avoid specifics re: support for Donald Trump.
“This should come as no surprise to the board, the mayor or parents because educators have been angry about the school-based cuts that have hurt special education students, reduced librarians, counselors, social workers and teachers’ aides, and eliminated thousands of teaching positions,” the union said in a press release.
*** UPDATE *** From CPS…
“A strike can be averted, and CPS will work tirelessly to make sure children’s education and progress is not interrupted. CPS teachers have helped propel Chicago students’ remarkable academic gains – so even in a difficult financial environment, CPS is offering teachers a raise that was already supported by both the CTU leadership and an independent third party arbitrator.
“A strike is a very serious step that affects the lives of thousands of parents and children, and we hope that before taking the final steps toward a strike, the CTU’s leadership works hard at the bargaining table to reach a fair deal.”
According to the Illinois Gaming Machine Operators Association, and reports from the Illinois Gaming Board, video gaming has generated about $785 million in state and local tax revenues since the first machines went live in September 2012.
In the beginning, there were only 13 establishments throughout the state with about 60 machines, and now there are more than 24,000 machines and more than 5,600 restaurants, bars, fraternal clubs and other businesses with liquor licenses.
The association says the state brings in more than $22 million a month in taxes from gaming that is meant to support capital infrastructure projects. […]
A study by the operator’s association found video gaming tax revenue could grow to about $500 million a year if the about 150 municipalities that don’t allow video gaming jump in the game. The association said that number doesn’t include the city of Chicago, which doesn’t allow video gaming. It says, with the largest city in Illinois, the numbers could reach $700 million a year.
So video gaming for Chicago would generate $200 million a year in tax revenues? And it would tend to benefit the city’s hundreds of small, family-owned taverns and restaurants instead of just a few rich folks if they put a big casino downtown?
The Independent Maps initiative seems to be dead and buried, murdered by Illinois House Speaker Mike Madigan and his four Democratic cohorts on the Illinois Supreme Court. There was an autopsy, but the results were withheld so that no one had a chance to learn anything from the death.
The gang of four that killed the will of 563,974 registered Illinois voters by tossing the Independent Map Amendment off the Nov. 8 ballot also refused to rehear the case. Their additional crime is their silence about why they refused to rehear the case.
A rehearing, or an opinion about why they refused a rehearing, would have been the four justices’ chance to explain themselves. They interpreted the Illinois Constitution very narrowly, saying that the petition for a maps amendment was not constitutional because it created duties for the state comptroller as well as made changes to state legislators’ powers and duties.
Under the justices’ interpretation, there are no conditions under which voters could petition to force lawmakers to give up the power of drawing their own districts. The justices had a duty to explain how a voter initiative ever could pass constitutional muster.
A suspicious package found Sunday at the Illinois Supreme Court building did not contain explosives, officials said.
The package was found on the steps of the Court building, Second Street and Capitol Avenue. Around 6 p.m., police blocked Second Street in both directions, Capitol Avenue near the Third Street railroad underpass and Jackson Street. People were also not allowed on the grounds in front of the state Capitol along Second Street.
* From the Secretary of State’s office yesterday…
This evening a suspicious package was discovered on the steps of the Illinois State Supreme Court. The Secretary of State Hazardous Device Unit (HDU) responded. They took X-rays of the package, which were inconclusive for the presence of an explosive device. Subsequently, the package was remotely opened with an HDU robot confirming no explosives were inside the package. The area is now clear. The Secretary of State Police worked in conjunction with the Marshall’s Office of the Supreme Court.
A shooting in the loop, near Millennium Park, left a man in critical condition.
Police say the violent encounter stemmed from an altercation on Michigan Avenue, CBS 2’s Lauren Victory reports, and a witness says it was an argument about politics. […]
One witness said he saw the victim fall and it took a few minutes for him to understand what happened.
“There was a couple ladies, that I guess were with the gentleman that was shot, and they were hysterical. They said some guy on a bike shot him in the head twice and that he rode off. there was a political discussion going on,” Marques Wilson said.
The CBS 2 reporter told me that another witness mentioned a racial slur. The Chicago police initially believed the argument was about a woman.
Our legislators, once again, have sold out the public interest to the highest bidder.
Much of Illinois state government has descended into a sham and farce, so it should be no surprise that legislators have put a constitutional amendment on the fall ballot that also is a sham and farce.
Readers, meet the “Safe Roads Constitutional Amendment” brought to you by cash-rich building contractors and labor unions who want state dollars set aside for their exclusive benefit at the expense of public schools, social service agencies, higher education, law enforcement and just about every other meaningful state program.
Of course, that’s not how the proposal is being sold. Selfish political insiders hope the proposal’s surface appeal will persuade voters to cut their own throats on Election Day.
They even throw in Speaker Madigan for maximum effect.
* Proponents are now airing TV ads. Press release…
Illinois voters have the chance to take back control in Springfield this November and provide more money for transportation needs without raising taxes, a new statewide TV ad campaign argues.
Citizen to Protect Transportation Funding – a coalition of business, labor and construction groups – today announced a $1 million ad buy for a 30-second spot titled “When,” as part of its aggressive statewide public education campaign for a constitutional amendment on the Nov. 8 ballot that will protect Illinois’ investment in its critical transportation infrastructure.
Featuring images of vehicles traveling over crumbling roadways filled with potholes and stark statistics about the high number of bridges and roads needing improvements in Illinois, the ad emphasizes that for too many years, Springfield politicians have shifted road funds to other expenses while the infrastructure decays – and the price to fix it climbs.
“Vote to require politicians to spend those transportation fees on transportation only. We can fix our roads without raising taxes. It’s not a matter of if disaster will strike, but when. Vote yes on the Safe Roads Amendment,” the ad’s narrator says, as a graphic on the screen says: Fix Roads. No New Taxes.
Lawmakers in the Illinois House and Senate in May approved House Joint Resolution Constitutional Amendment 36, which calls for Illinois to put transportation funding in a lockbox. A study by the advocacy group Transportation for Illinois Coalition, whose members are driving this ballot initiative campaign, found more than $6.8 billion in funds earmarked for transportation were swept out of the state’s Road Fund and used for non-transportation spending over more than a dozen years – including more than $500 million in transportation dollars just last year.
* From the Illinois Campaign for Political Reform last week…
The top donation this week went to Citizens to Protect Transportation Funding, the ballot initiative committee supporting a Constitutional Amendment to create a transportation lockbox on the November ballot. The committee received $975,000 yesterday from an organization called the Fight Back Fund. Another $25,000 donation from the group on September 20th led to a total of $1 million from the Fight Back Fund to Citizens to Protect Transportation Funding this week.
Little information is available on the Fight Back Fund. State Board of Elections data shows a political committee by the same name from East Moline that went inactive 10 years ago. However, there does not appear to be a connection between the two organizations. The Illinois Secretary of State’s Corporation database shows that the group is filed as a 501(c)4 or 501(c)6 nonprofit organization, and lists Marc R. Poulos of Joliet as its head. Poulos is the Executive Director of the Indiana-Illinois-Iowa Foundation for Fair Contracting and an advocate for the transportation lockbox amendment.
Unlike political committees, these types of nonprofits are not required to report their donors. Data from the Illinois State Board of Elections shows that yesterday’s $975,000 donation was the 7th largest individual donation of 2016. The other six donations were from SEIU, Governor Rauner, and GOP donors Richard Uihlein and Ken Griffin. 501(C)4 and 501(C)6 nonprofits like the Fight Back Fund are able to participate in political activity as long as it constitutes less than half of their overall activities. This organization alone accounts for 40% of Citizens to Protect Transportation Funding’s $2.5 million in cash on hand. ICPR is in the process of drafting and promoting legislation designed to bring transparency to this area of campaign finance.
* Claire Bushey at Crain’s Chicago Business managed to convince Mike Kasper to consent to an interview. The whole thing is worth a read, but here’s his defense of his battle against remap reformers…
Kasper’s opponents in the redistricting fight sought to take the process out of the sole control of legislators and spread the power among the state auditor general and members of the Supreme Court.
“I happen to believe in the apparently blasphemous proposition that people who draw maps ought to be accountable to the voters who have to live under them,” he says. “The process that we have today is a democratic one—democracy with a small ‘D.’ “
Election law doesn’t pay the bills for any political lawyer, Kasper included. After all, there are only two elections a year, notes Burt Odelson, a veteran in the field. The key is to leverage the relationships it builds into more lucrative work. The 21 attorneys at Odelson & Sterk in Evergreen Park represent 13 municipalities, 11 school districts and a couple of park districts, winning the work “on the back of election law as an ‘in,’ getting into these towns.”
“I can take a pretty darn good guess that (Kasper) makes almost no money in election law, same as me,” Odelson says. “If I can get a few bucks for doing petitions, OK. But if it could lead to a potential big client, then I usually donate my services, just like Mike.”
Fletcher O’Brien Kasper & Nottage boasts big-name lobbying clients, including Uber, Airbnb, Advocate Health Care, Arlington Park racetrack and the Wrigleyville rooftops that overlook Wrigley Field. Public records show Kasper handled $5.1 million in contracts to lobby the city in the last four years. He declines to provide the firm’s total annual revenue.
Interesting that Odelson would freely admit to using campaign legal work as leverage to obtain government work. But that’s how it goes here.
Since his inauguration, Gov. Bruce Rauner has consciously aped Washington, D.C.’s notoriously noxious battle to “win” the daily media spin cycle. The Republican has a set base of talking points based on tried and true poll-tested topics, and he rarely if ever deviates.
While Chicago suffered through its most violent summer in decades, the governor routinely focused his public comments on term limits - a not so subtle dig at the horribly unpopular Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan’s decades-long tenure, but an issue without hope of passage and irrelevant to some very serious and immediate crises, like the one pummeling our state’s largest city.
More bad economic or fiscal news? Rauner reliably trots out a vague promise of “reforms”— swearing that the Democratic leaders have promised to take them up just as soon as the campaign is over, even though his reforms would mean eviscerating the Democrats’ chief political allies (labor unions and trial lawyers) and Senate President John Cullerton has denied any such offer was ever made.
The nuclear dumpster fire that is the presidential campaign? The governor says he is simply too focused on reforming Illinois to care, or even to share who he might be voting for.
And now one of Rauner’s closest allies, the far right Illinois Policy Institute, is producing a campaign-style “documentary” about Madigan, just like similar dark money groups in D.C. have been nauseatingly churning out for years.
It’s no surprise that this movie fits in neatly with Rauner’s entire campaign strategy. Since early June, the Republicans have aired millions of dollars’ worth of television and radio ads and sent out countless mailers all designed to tie Democratic legislators and candidates to Madigan. Almost every dime of their funding for those attacks has come from Gov. Rauner (and yet, Rauner has repeatedly insisted that he’s not involved, other than to write a few checks).
It’s all one big thing. All Madigan, all the time.
And while Gov. Rauner has brought Washington’s never-ending campaign to Illinois’ executive branch, he also has a similarly tiny list of accomplishments to show for it. His administration has so far been little more than a frantic exercise in treading water until his chief nemesis can finally be vanquished, or at least brought to heel.
But this isn’t a completely new development. We’re already familiar with some of this in Illinois.
Speaker Madigan has been doing something similar for years, albeit on a much smaller, less obviously dramatic, less technologically advanced and less expensive scale.
His House chamber’s agenda is almost entirely organized around making sure that Madigan gets his more vulnerable incumbents reelected. And those vulnerable members are advised to take whatever positions are necessary to win reelection (including fanning the already intense flames of hate against Madigan’s home town of Chicago). There was a time when Madigan had a specific “theme” for each legislative week, only voting on bills that matched the weekly issue. He even at one point tried his hand at (ahem) publishing a Statehouse newsletter.
Madigan has refused to discuss any significant deal on the governor’s Turnaround Agenda, sticking closely to his talking points that Rauner is “operating in the extreme,” even though Madigan has often supported legislation in the past that unions didn’t love.
Madigan won’t budge this time because Rauner’s overt hostility has sent all those unions running to the speaker with wide open checkbooks and huge lists of precinct workers. There’s simply no political advantage to compromise, unless Rauner’s gamble pays off and he successfully makes Madigan the big issue of the year and Madigan loses a bunch of seats.
Otherwise, we may not see a deal during the “lame duck” session after the election and the impasse will likely drag on. If there is no progress, Rauner will undoubtedly make his entire 2018 reelection campaign about Madigan. But next time, it won’t be a few tens of millions of dollars like this year. It’ll be real money. Maybe $100 million.
And, unless Hillary Clinton manages to lose the presidential race, the governor’s reelection campaign will occur during yet another Democratic midterm election, which will make it that much easier to get his anti-Madigan message through to voters. (One of Rauner’s many valid and understandable reasons for refusing to give any overt public aid or comfort to Trump is that a Trump win would devastate Rauner’s reelection chances.)
This battered, much-maligned state shouldn’t have to endure this agony, but here we are, like it or not.
“By loaning herself $260,000, Leslie Munger has now broken the campaign finance limits and now can take unlimited money from Governor Rauner, either directly from him or laundered through the Republican Party that he bought with over $20 million in personal contributions. Either way, Leslie Munger will continue to be a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Governor, not the independent financial watchdog Illinois desperately needs.
This is unprecedented — no comptroller in Illinois history has broken the limits and accepted potentially massive contributions from the very officeholder she is supposed to watch over. Judy Barr Topinka didn’t do it. Shelia Simon didn’t do it. Even by Illinois standards, this is beyond the pale.”
The individual contribution limit in Illinois is $5,400. It’s $10,800 for a corporation or labor group and $53,900 from a political committee. Under state election law, dollar limits for state office seekers is lifted for all candidates in the race if one of them accepts a contribution of $250,000 or more. Rauner himself blew the caps in his successful bid for governor, ultimately spending the bulk of his $60 million campaign become the first Republican governor in Illinois in a dozen years. […]
“Susana Mendoza has proven herself to Speaker Madigan by delivering ten years of votes for his unbalanced budgets, tax increases and pension holidays. In return, he has ensured she has the special interest resources she needs for her campaign,” the Munger campaign said in a statement. “With this contribution, Comptroller Munger is balancing the playing field and demonstrating her complete commitment to standing up for Illinois taxpayers.”
At the end of the second quarter of fund-raising, Munger, a Republican, closed out her campaign account with just about the size of her loan — $281,600 in all. Mendoza ended that same period with $1.13 million.
