Friday, Jul 8, 2016 - Posted by Advertising Department
[The following is a paid advertisement.]
Nearly 600,000 Illinoisans signed a petition to put redistricting reform on the 2016 ballot. The Independent Map Amendment will reform the rules and require a process of drawing maps that is transparent, impartial and fair. Illinois elections should reflect the will of the people, not the politicians.
The 2016 redistricting reform effort builds upon the previous attempts in 2010 and 2014. Our organization worked with reform groups, civic organizations, community leaders, and others to draft an amendment that adheres to the requirements of the Illinois Constitution while creating a new system for redistricting that is independent and protects the rights of minority communities.
That’s why the Independent Map Amendment is supported by a broad coalition that includes the Latino Policy Forum, Better Government Association, Common Cause Illinois, NAACP Chicago Southside Branch, Illinois Chamber of Commerce, League of Women Voters, Illinois Campaign for Political Reform, Illinois Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, AARP Illinois, the Illinois Farm Bureau and many others.
Visit mapamendment.org to view a full list of supporters of redistricting reform and to read the latest news and editorials supporting this constitutional change.
Television ads condemning Republican Congressional candidates, linking them to the party’s presumptive nominee Donald Trump, will begin airing nationwide this week. More specifically, the ads will be aired in Illinois’ 10th congressional District.
This is a cable buy with an online component. According to Comcast, the buy is $153,680, and will run July 11-17. They’ve purchased spots on: AMC, BRVO, CNN, CSNC, ENT, FOOD, HALL, HGTV, LIF, MNBC, TBSC, TLC, TNT, USA. More info is below.
“Everyone realizes that the DCCC can’t actually attack Bob Dold on his record of effective, independent leadership that’s been endorsed across the political spectrum and in every corner of the 10th district, so they’re now falsely hoping voters aren’t smart enough to see through this laughably dishonest ad as they desperately try to prop-up their embarrassingly incompetent and hyper-partisan candidate Brad Schneider,” Dold campaign spokesperson Danielle Hagan said.
In May, Dold told Big John Howell that he wouldn’t support the divisive Trump.
How would it feel to find out your child was the school bully? Would you feel much better to learn they were only the bully’s sidekick? Well we’ve got bad news for you. Because as Donald Trump runs a campaign pitting Americans against each other. And pushing ideas that threaten our country’s security Republicans in Congress are just standing by him. But shouldn’t they really be standing up to the bully?
I want to say something to my Congressman. I’ve been a Republican all my life. I get Party loyalty. But there’s loyalty to your country. And the things Donald Trump says. About immigrants and women… Veterans… I mean, how can we put up with that? How can Republican members of Congress support that? If he’s our standard bearer, what the heck happened to our standards?
* Background from the DCCC…
SCOPE: This is a national cable television and digital ad campaign, with an additional emphasis in 10 targeted House districts
COST: Seven figures
DURATION: This will run starting Monday, through the Republican National Convention
TARGETED DEMOGRAPHICS:
* Advertisements will target independent women, 25+ years in age
PROGRAMING DETAILS:
* National Cable buy focused on CNN, MSNBC and sister networks. This will be highly targeted to key demographics and will appear in homes across the country, anywhere that the specified news programs are shown.
* Additional local Cable spot buys in specific districts on lifestyle and entertainment networks, such as HGTV, Hallmark, Food Network, TNT, USA and Bravo. This will be customized and targeted based on sophisticated targeting of persuadable voters. These specific districts will see additional spots of the ad throughout their cable network.
Logic Behind Local Cable Spot Buys:
The goal is to set the stage early and define the connection between the House Republicans and Donald Trump, leading up to Convention and before House races have engaged.
Particularly focused in districts where:
* There are well-funded Republican incumbents […]
Messaging behind ads:
* Over the last year and a half, House Republicans have repeatedly failed to stand up to Donald Trump at times that it mattered most.
* Now, he is the Republican Party’s standard bearer and every House Republican owns that, whether they support him, endorse him, or continue to hide from him when he visits their districts.
Additional Information on Timing:
* This is a nationalized election environment where voters are focused on one person, and one person only– Donald Trump. Certainly all presidential races have a top-down impact on House races, but rarely is it so lopsided to the advantage of one party.
* Donald Trump is House Republicans’ biggest negative, and through this national cable buy, with an additional emphasis and impressions in key districts, we are taking advantage of that, leaning in and not allowing House Republicans to draw any daylight between them and Trump.
* We are also ensuring that these Republican incumbents are unable to try and define themselves first.
I am writing to draw to your attention a very important charity event taking place in my district this Saturday that I believe some of you may be interested in attending or contributing to in some way. Many of you will be familiar with Peoria Journal Star Reporter Chris Kaergard and his “Budget Beard.” The typically clean-shaven Chris began growing a beard when the state budget impasse began, in an effort to illustrate the length of time it had been at any given moment since Illinois had last operated under a comprehensive annual budget. As his beard grew, so too did the public’s awareness of just how dysfunctional our statehouse had become in the wake of this conflict. His experiment has even gained quite a bit of media attention throughout the entire state.
Chris has long been ready to rid himself of his now unwieldy and unsightly Budget Beard, and now that the General Assembly has passed a stop-gap measure to keep our state’s basic services operational until January, he is taking advantage of the opportunity to do so while also raising funds for select local charities that have been devastated by the absence of a state budget throughout the past year. One of these charities is Lutheran Social Services, a state-wide agency that was hit hard early on in the fiscal year.
I approached Chris about this concept a few months ago, and could not be more pleased to see that he is putting the plan into action. This event—which will take place at a local East Peoria barber shop—will allow legislators, community leaders, and members of the public to each take their own snip off the Budget Beard in exchange for a charitable donation in the amount of their choosing. This will carry on until the Budget Beard is finally gone and Chris is back to his old self.
If you cannot attend the event but are interested in donating, you may do so using the links below.
It is truly devastating for our state what has been allowed to take place throughout this past year, and I am extremely hopeful that this effort will provide some degree of comfort and relief to these agencies—though admittedly insufficient—as they continue their respective missions to serve some of our most vulnerable fellow citizens.
Thank you for your consideration.
Sincerely,
Mike Unes
State Representative, 91st District
The invite is here. And here are the above-mentioned links…
I talked to a buddy of mine today who used to be a reporter about this. He said the Peoria newspaper would’ve done a much greater service by, perhaps, regularly reporting on a family dealing with the loss of a crucial service over the past year.
I dunno. To each his own, I suppose. And LSSI is a charity I’ve raised money for, so I hope they can benefit.
* As anyone who has ever interviewed Gov. Rauner already knows, it ain’t an easy task. He sticks to his talking points like super glue. For instance…
Reporter: “It seems like some people almost became collateral damage with social services being cut, agencies not able to help those who need it most. What do you say to those families who are looking at this situation and saying, ‘Why couldn’t they have done this sooner?’”
Rauner: “I say the system needs to change. Our government has not been working for the people of Illinois. We have the biggest unfunded pension liability in America. We have the biggest deficit in America and we just don’t pay our bills. A lot of those bills go to human service agencies. They’ve been hanging on by their fingernails for years. This is not a recent thing. This has been going on a long time.”
The problem with the interview is that the reporter didn’t follow up. We talked about this exact same thing yesterday when a reporter asked the governor if he accepted any responsibility for the impasse. He dodged the question and the subject was dropped.
* He’s not the only one who does this, of course. I tried to get Speaker Madigan to move beyond his well-worn talking points on workers’ comp reform by asking if he’d be open to rolling back part of the 2005 legislative changes, which drove up costs. He stuck to his talking points. I pointed out that he didn’t answer the question, and he still refused to respond. And then he did it again. I asked him at the next presser if he had any thoughts about the 2005 law, and he wouldn’t answer then, either.
The difference is that Rauner talks to reporters far more often than Madigan. So reporters get more opportunities. One of the better questions he’s been asked this year was by, I think, a PAR intern who asked him to name a Chicago school which qualified as a “crumbling prison.” He wouldn’t answer the question, but that alone said quite a lot about his original remarks.
* The Question: What one question do you think the governor and/or Speaker Madigan should be asked until they finally answer it? And then explain why you believe it’s an all-important question.
* The discourse in this country and in this state is simply out of hand. And our leaders ought to know better than to say things like this…
Rauner claimed his political opponents “have so many voices. You’ve got agencies. You’ve got unions. You’ve got elected officials. You’ve got patronage folks inside my administration. And I’m fighting some of the legacy of the old Republican Party, who are bombing me. I’ve got the Democratic Party bombing me. I’ve got the media bombing me.
“I’ve got World War III on seven levels.”
Bombing you? Seriously, dude?
The comments were made yesterday before the horrific Dallas ambush, but I’ve been worrying for a while now that Illinoisans’ anger, while certainly at least partially justified, is being irresponsibly stoked by all sides for their own political purposes. I’m truly and sincerely frightened that we’re gonna end up with a Jo Cox situation here. During the Memorial Day weekend session, there were times when nobody was in the guardhouse at the entrance to the Statehouse’s southern parking lot and it made me more nervous than I ever expected.
State lawmakers received their first paycheck in more than three months this week after Republican Comptroller Leslie Geissler Munger delayed the payments amid a cash crunch due to the record-setting budget impasse.
Munger’s office said Thursday that lawmakers’ April paychecks went out this week. That should be welcome news to some lawmakers, who argued their work on a stopgap budget bill that was signed into law last week should clear the way for the payments to be released. […]
But the timing had nothing to do with the stopgap budget agreement reached last week by Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner and Democrats who control the General Assembly. Rather, the monthly payments finally reached the top of the state’s nearly $8 billion pile of IOUs — the same queue in which contractors who provide everything from care for the elderly to food for prisoners must wait before they get paid.
It’s unclear when legislators will receive their checks for May and June. Comptroller spokesman Rich Carter said that will “depend on incoming revenues and availability of funds.”
The governor believes they shouldn’t be paid until the budget crisis is resolved but he says that’s not the law right now, and changing it would likely never come up for a vote.
Indeed, some might contend that legislators, having made such a mess of Illinois’ finances, ought to be paid last — maybe even not paid at all.
It’s our opinion that Munger made exactly the right decision in treating legislators just like she treats everyone else. Why should they be exempt from the pain of having to cope with the inevitable financial complications?
Who knows? The inconvenience might serve as an incentive for them to get serious about cleaning up the state’s financial mess.
After all, they — at least theoretically — are the masters of their fate. That’s why no one should begrudge legislators getting what they deserve — whether it’s timely salary payments for doing their jobs or the same financial complications for not doing so that they are visiting upon others.
One legislator cracked to me yesterday that many of his constituents think legislators ought to pay the state to keep their jobs.
There was a total of $2.7 million in political contributions this week, which is more than double last week’s total of $1.2 million. $1 million of this week’s total was a transfer from the Illinois Republican Party to the House Republican Organization on July 1st. While transfers between candidate committees are capped at $53,900, political party committees are able to transfer unlimited funds to other political party committees at any time.
Susana Mendoza, the Democratic candidate for Illinois State Comptroller, was a top earner this week with $326,200 in reported contributions. A large chunk of her contributions this week came from organized labor. The International Union of Operating Engineers, The Construction & General Laborers’ District Council, and the Laborers’ Political League Education Fund all maxed out their contribution limits at $53,900 each.
The Senate Democratic Victory Fund was the third highest top earner for this week, bringing in a total of $217,400. Labor was also a major contributor to this committee, with the UA Political Education Committee and the Finishing Trades of Chicago donating $53,900 and $50,000 respectively.
Illinois State Board of Elections data shows that labor unions and union-related PACs transferred and contributed over $826,000 to Illinois political committees this week.
Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Tammy Duckworth of Illinois hauled in $2.7 million during the second quarter as she tries to unseat Republican Sen. Mark Kirk, her campaign said Thursday.
Duckworth’s campaign also said the two-term Hoffman Estates congresswoman had $5.5 million in the bank to start July.
Kirk campaign manager Kevin Artl said he did not have comparable information to release Thursday. The latest campaign-finance reports must be filed by July 15, and Duckworth’s campaign released only highlights, not the full report. […]
In the 10th Congressional District, the campaign of Republican Rep. Bob Dold of Kenilworth said it took in more than $850,000 between April and June and started the month with more than $2.3 million.
The Old State Capitol, Dana-Thomas House and Lincoln’s New Salem state historic sites will soon expand hours to seven days a week, the Illinois Historical Preservation Agency announced Thursday.
Because of budget cuts, the three sites had been operating four or five days a week.
Justin Blandford, superintendent of state historic sites in Springfield, called it “a really big deal.” Blandford said he has a staff of 10 people who manage the local sites.
“We’re not getting any more funding,” he said, noting that the move is independent of the six-month state budget agreement that was reached by the governor and legislature last week. “It’s about management of our cultural resources and efficiency.”
Just because Illinois lawmakers approved a stopgap budget doesn’t necessarily mean that drivers again will receive reminders in the mail that it’s time to renew their license-plate registrations.
The budget approved last week provides $35 million to cover the Secretary of State’s operations through December, but the office hasn’t determined yet whether some of that money should be used to start sending the notices again.
A spokesman said Secretary of State Jesse White’s staff will study other office expenses before making a decision about resuming the renewal reminders.
* It seems to me that drivers will eventually figure this out on their own, so discontinuing the process could save some real cash. But, maybe I’m wrong. Your thoughts?
* I have been suggesting for months that Chicago’s violence problem is a public health emergency. So, when Crain’s Chicago Business ran this op-ed by Karen Teitelbaum, the president and CEO of Sinai Health System in Chicago, I decided to share it all with you today…
About the numbers, there is no dispute. Deaths and injuries from gun violence in Chicago are our modern-day version of the plague. We have surpassed 300 homicides already this year, with 13 people killed by guns on Father’s Day alone. On the heels of another summer holiday, reports count 2,021 shooting victims so far this year, moving rapidly to overtake the 2,988 victims in all of 2015.
If we continue at this pace, we can expect to see 30,000 Chicagoans killed or wounded from gunshots in the next 10 years. Morbidity and mortality from such violence are two of the most dramatic examples of health disparities in our city, profoundly impacting communities of color.
Another vigil, moment of silence or chanting in the streets will not change this awful trajectory. We need answers that lead to solutions, and we need them now.
Answers that work—that provide real and sustainable change for the better—cannot come without research. Without the research that tells us the root causes of gun violence, how toddlers and children find guns in the house, why 60 percent of gun deaths are by suicide and what interventions can curb it, we are just guessing, feeling our way in the dark.
It is an outrage that Congress has specifically prohibited the Centers for Disease Control from funding gun violence research. Following the massacre in Orlando, the American Medical Association House of Delegates last month did the right thing and resolved to lobby Congress actively to overturn this policy.
We can hope for change in Congress, and we must support efforts to move policy, but last month’s Senate votes demonstrated once again how hard it will be to get that change. And with a presidential election looming large, it is unlikely major issues will be addressed until after January.
Chicago cannot wait. To find those answers, we have to come together as researchers, as funders, as leaders, as policy makers, as parents and as people who value life.
As Dr. Leslie Zun, the chairman of the Mount Sinai Hospital Emergency Department states, “We can save lives and continue patching people up who have been shot, but we would much rather be seeing less trauma and more ways to curb the escalating volume of violence that sends these critically wounded patients our way.”
If Chicago is rich in anything, it is rich in intellectual capital and civic commitment. We need to bring together those of us in Chicago who have the research expertise, experience and commitment to health care disparities to identify the causes and solutions to Chicago’s plague. We need to tap those in the streets who fight this violence daily to share their thoughts and strategies. We need our civic leaders and corporate community to support those efforts. We need our university researchers to share their skills. And we need the active participation of our city policy makers to launch this effort.
Every day we see the devastation of gun violence in our emergency room. Every. Single. Day.
There are great examples of public health research saving lives, from rear-facing infant car seats, to earlier cancer detection, to smoking cessation. Now is the time to use these same scientific approaches and Chicago’s considerable resources to find the solutions to reduce gun violence.
Sinai Urban Health Institute has been reaching out to fellow researchers, civic leaders, academic resources, public health experts and others who share our urgency to find a solution to disrupt the violence in Chicago.
We believe in our collective power to bring some of the finest research minds together, and we will have a real impact on this epidemic. This is not an idea; it’s an imperative.
As noted above, the federal government won’t be any help, so my only addition would be that the state needs to get directly and actively involved in this endeavor as well. This crisis cannot be solved solely by the police, prosecutors and the judiciary.
I could have snarked it up on the blog yesterday, but at a core level I care about this state and the role of state government. It’s what made Blagojevich and then Quinn and now Rauner so infuriating. Blagojevich saw state government solely as a way to promote himself and to get political money. Quinn always wanted to be governor and appeared to have no idea how to run a state. And now we have Rauner who wanted the Captain’s chair to start a revolution and seems to have only recently learned that the job comes with actual responsibilities. Like daily responsibilities.
My advice.
Right now, identify five key issues or problems. Then put his administration on alert to identify five doable things to address those issues. As you solve those problems, let people know. Create the image of competent, professional management of our state. That’s what we need: someone who can identify real problems and solve them, not complain about them. We’ve got 11,999,999 people to complain. We need 1 to step up and solve. He wanted to be that 1.
Yes, workers comp is an issue. But you’re not going to solve that today. The Rauner administration can solve all kinds of real world problems without ever needing the General Assembly. Zika Virus. What’s his Public Health director doing? What information can he provide to average Illinoisans who only see media, or worse, social media reports that make it seem like the end is near. What is the state doing? Offer an expert assessment of the issue. Boom. Relevant issue. Creates headlines. Look professional.
Next …
State government – and the real world — is filled with stuff like that. Governor’s shouldn’t need to run to the General Assembly to solve every problem.
Look, you and I both know the Edgar administration wasn’t run by saints. But it gave off the impression of competent management.
I mean, this guy is a near billionaire businessman. Stop worrying about beating Madigan and start showing people that you are a great governor (unless you aren’t and can’t).
* Sorry for the delay this morning. Like many of you, I was up late last night watching the horror unfold in Dallas and had trouble getting going today. Use this as an open thread while I pull some posts together, but do your best to keep your anger to a minimum, please.
…Adding… From the governor…
“The ambush attack on Dallas police officers is outrageous. The men and women who work every day to protect everyone, including those exercising their right to free speech, deserve our respect and support. The shootings in Louisiana and Minnesota that led to last night’s protests, are deeply distressing. All of these events speak to the lack of unity and trust in many of our communities and underscores the urgency in addressing that lack of trust. Diana and I pray that the victims, their families, and our entire country find strength, healing and peace to rebuild trust among our neighbors and communities.”
* Apparently, the ad they bought here is just part of the strategy. According to our pals at Comcast, the group pushing the remap reform constitutional amendment just bought $209,350 in cable and satellite for its new TV ad. All but $16,489 (which was placed in Champaign) was spent on Chicago TV.
All the ads were purchased for CNN, Fox News and MSNBC.
I’ll try to get the Independent Maps folks to send it to me and post it here today if possible.
“I underestimated how much most of the standard media just doesn’t care about this and doesn’t understand and won’t send our message out. We’ve been too slow in creating our own media channels through social media and other outlets. We’re doing that now.”
This from a guy whose Twitter feed is jam packed with pics of him at restaurants. Like just today, for instance…
* Also, “other outlets”? I wonder if he’s referring to outlets like this one.
* Also, too, getting his message out is not our job. Although as Wordslinger regularly points out in comments, the media mainly focuses on the personality conflict between Rauner and Madigan, or Rauner and Emanuel, or Rauner and whoever else he happens to be teeing off on whatever day it might be. They’re definitely getting that message out.
Anyway…
* The Question: What new and inventive ways do you think the governor will use to get his message out?
* From AFSCME Council 31’s Facebook page earlier today…
IMPASSE UPDATE: The Illinois Labor Relations Board is holding a special meeting in Chicago TODAY at 1pm. The board is considering Gov. Rauner’s unprecedented request to bypass the recommendation of the Administrative Law Judge who heard the case in which Rauner seeks approval for his refusal to negotiate a new contract with the union and a green light to impose his own terms on state employees.
* A text from the union’s spokesman Anders Lindall a few minutes ago…
The board voted unanimously to reject the administration’s request.
Updates are assured.
Also, I’m guessing this means that Rauner doesn’t have an iron grip on the ILRB after all.
*** UPDATE 1 *** From Jason Barclay, General Counsel to Governor Rauner…
“While we are disappointed in the result, we voluntarily agreed to these impasse proceedings with AFSCME and will continue to respect and follow the Labor Board’s decisions throughout. This will hopefully also put an end to the reprehensible attacks that AFSCME has made against the independence and integrity of the administrative law judge and the Board.”
*** UPDATE 2 *** From AFSCME…
The Illinois Labor Relations Board voted unanimously today to deny the Rauner Administration’s motion to bypass a recommended decision from the Administrative Law Judge who presided over hearings into the Unfair Labor Practice charges filed by Rauner and by AFSCME. This means that the board will now follow its established procedures of awaiting a recommended decision from the judge before making its final ruling. The Administration is asking the Board to affirm its refusal to negotiate with the union and to allow it to impose its own terms on state employees, while the union is asking the board to direct the parties to return to bargaining.
In response to the Labor Board decision, AFSCME Executive Director Roberta Lynch issued the following statement:
“We’re very pleased with the Labor Board’ s ruling. It maintains a process designed to allow for full consideration of the complex issues in this case.
“However, if the Rauner Administration is truly concerned about a timely resolution of this dispute, it should not have squandered the past six months by refusing to meet with the union bargaining committee. We have been and remain ready to return to the bargaining table, to do the hard work of compromise, and to reach an agreement that is fair to all.”
…Adding… AFSCME has at least twice claimed that the ILRB was too cozy with Rauner. For instance…
However, on the final day of the hearing, the Rauner Administration moved to bypass the judge entirely and have the case go directly to the Labor Board. As an indication of its excessive deference to the Administration, the board immediately called a Special Meeting for July 7 to consider this motion.
FACT: Rauner appointed a majority of members of the Labor Board. There have been few disputes that have reached the Board since he took office, but in a recent case regarding an issue related to contract negotiations, the Board hastily rushed a decision and completely upheld the Administration’s position. Moreover, while Rauner says he will respect the decision of his Labor Board, he makes no mention of the Appellate Court which has review of any Labor Board decision and which is not appointed by him but elected by the voters.
The Illinois Student Assistance Commission sent a survey to nearly 100,000 students who received MAP grants last fall. More than 10,000 responded, and most took time to answer the open-ended questions about how they were coping with the state’s failure to fund the promised financial aid. One in seven said they might not return to school this fall, or would have “extreme difficulty” doing so. If that same percentage holds true for all MAP students, it would mean 18,000 current students might not re-enroll next fall.
Some said they had no choice but to drop out. “I don’t have the funds to attend school anymore,” one student wrote. “I’m 5 classes from completing my degree.”
The survey was taken before the state legislature agreed late last week to reimburse colleges for the spring’s MAP grants. But there’s still no MAP appropriation for the upcoming school year.
Donald Trump’s private meeting Thursday with Senate Republicans – designed to foster greater party unity ahead of the national convention in Cleveland — grew combative as the presumptive presidential nominee admonished three senators who have been critical of his candidacy and predicted they would lose their reelection bids, according to two Republican officials with direct knowledge of the exchanges. […]
Trump also called out Sen. Mark Kirk (R-Ill.), who withdrew his endorsement of Trump last month citing the business mogul’s racially-based attacks on a federal judge, and said he did not approve of the senator’s action, said the officials.
Characterizing Kirk as a loser, Trump vowed that he would carry Illinois in the general election even though the state traditionally has been solidly Democratic in presidential contests. Kirk did not attend the meeting with Trump.
Unreal.
But it’s good for Kirk if you believe a spat with Trump will help.
…Adding… Sen. Kirk’s response…
“As I stated last month, I have come to the conclusion that Donald Trump lacks the judgment and temperament to lead our military and our nation.”
Asked about them later, Kirk told The Associated Press: “I’ve run for election six times in Illinois. Really tough races for the Congress and for the Senate and won every race. Otherwise I wouldn’t be here.”
On why Trump would say Kirk would lose: “I guess the bully side of him. We haven’t seen a personality like his too much in the Midwest. Eastern, privileged, wealthy bully. Our bullies are made of better stuff in Illinois. We’re much more practical and polite.”
Kirk joked that he’s not on Trump’s Christmas card list anymore.
[ *** End Of Update *** ]
* And speaking of the presidential race, here’s the Democratic Party of Illinois…
This morning, Republican Mark Kirk took a peculiar detour from his partisan attack on Secretary Clinton by once again stating his intention to write in disgraced former CIA Director David Petraeus for President. Petraeus resigned in disgrace, had his security clearance revoked, hid classified material in his attic, and plead guilty to intentionally sharing classified information with his biographer, who was also his mistress. Kirk made the comments on a radio interview with WGN. In response, Democratic Party of Illinois spokesperson Sean Savett released the following statement:
“Is Mark Kirk serious with this? Immediately after leveling a partisan attack on Secretary Clinton, he encouraged others to join him in voting for an individual who isn’t running for President and did something the FBI said was ‘far worse’ by lying to investigators and knowingly leaking classified information, for which he plead guilty. It’s one thing for Kirk to reverse himself on supporting Donald Trump, the toxic presumptive Republican nominee who had Kirk’s support right up until his Illinois poll numbers went south — that’s just politics, and Kirk is nothing if not a typical politician. But to encourage others to throw away their votes on the disgraced former CIA director who isn’t seeking the office is absurd, and yet another reason it’s hard to take Mark Kirk seriously anymore.”
Here’s an abridged transcript of what Kirk said this morning. To listen to his full comments about Secretary Clinton and David Petraeus, click here.
COCHRAN: I share your concerns about Trump every day with people. And then I look at the alternative choice and I never thought I’d be in a position to even consider voting for Hillary Clinton. And yet here we are with those being our two main choices. I don’t know what to say to people when they say every day, ‘Well, what are we supposed to do?’
KIRK: Cochran, I got a way out for you. I’m gonna, I’m gonna write in Petraeus when I vote. And I encourage you too. I want to see Petraeus get a lot of votes so that just shows that there are thinking people out there that are really concerned about the security of the United States. Thinking that someone who has an outstanding potential as Commander-in-Chief and can be, should be, our new leader. With these two choices that you almost think it’s Tweedle-Dee Dumb and Tweedle-Dee bad.
Write-in votes aren’t counted in Illinois if the candidate isn’t registered in each county. It’s a complete waste of effort and Kirk undoubtedly knows it.
* On the Petraeus front, here’s FBI Director James Comey today…
But Petraeus clearly did show evidence of intentionally violating the law, Comey said.
Not only was Petraeus caught on tape telling his mistress and biographer that there was “code word stuff” in the “highly classified” material he slipped to her, the retired general also lied about a cache of classified material he had hidden in his attic, Comey said, comprising obstruction of justice and further evidence that he “knew what he was doing was a violation of the law.”
“We found [the classified materials] in a search warrant hidden under the insulation in his attic, and then he lied to us about it during the investigation.”
“That is the perfect illustration of the kind of cases that get prosecuted,” Comey said. “In my mind, it illustrates perfectly the distinction between this case.”
We’re doing big things and good things. For example, we’ve already transformed much of state government, but people don’t know it. We’ve cut more than $800 million out of wasteful spending inside state government already. Huge transformation.
DHS programs, child care, job training, transit assistance for people with disabilities, cop cars and cop equipment, and a delayed opening of a residence for veterans (construction of which, by the way, has started again, so is that wasteful?).
The Psychiatric Leadership Capacity Grant provides funding to community mental health centers in Illinois to help cover the cost of employing a psychiatrist. The money goes to most of the roughly 140 mental health centers in the state. Often, mental health centers do not have a full-time psychiatrist on staff but bring one in for a few days each week or month to meet with patients and prescribe medication. […]
“There was no explanation or notice from DHS and certainly no suggestion about how community mental health folks should proceed without that funding,” says David Cole, director of the Moultrie County Counseling Center in Sullivan. He says his center gets about $37,000 annually for psychiatric service. “It’s a big cut. The entire line was just crossed out.”
Man, this guy is really something.
*** UPDATE *** Press release…
In an interview with reporter Chris Kaergard yesterday, Gov. Bruce Rauner said, “We’ve cut more than $800 million out of wasteful spending inside state government already.” When asked by The Capitol Fax’s Rich Miller to provide evidence of these cuts, the Rauner Administration responded with this document that details cuts to child care, healthcare, recycling programs, veterans housing, transportation funding for the disabled, state police funding, and other critical services provided by the state.
Illinois Working Together Campaign Director Jake Lewis released the following statement regarding Governor Rauner’s “wasteful spending” cuts:
“It is absolutely shameful that Governor Rauner would label child care, healthcare, recycling, transportation for the disabled, veterans housing and state police programs as ‘wasteful’. The very idea that Rauner could think of these programs as ‘wasteful’ clearly demonstrates his utter heartlessness when it comes to Illinois’ neediest. Not only does the governor not care about the most vulnerable in Illinois, he views programs to support them as ‘wasteful’.
“Unfortunately, these callous comments are also completely unsurprising. In addition to his harmful cuts to children, veterans, and public safety, Governor Rauner created a devastating budget impasse that has caused untold damage to Illinois’ families, seniors, and economy. But in Governor Rauner’s world, a million Illinoisans losing access to critical services is just cutting ‘waste’. Meanwhile, the state racks up hundreds of millions of dollars in interest fees on its late bills due to the Rauner impasse. It may take years for the state to recover from the damage Rauner has caused.”
HILYARD: Would you say you’re proud of this stop- gap budget or are you disheartened it had to get to this point?”
RAUNER: Some of each of that. the reality is that it shows that the fact getting a stop-gap budget took so long, it shows how broken the system is. And plus, it’s only a six-month spending plan and it’s still not truly in balance. I can’t find a year when we’ve had a balanced budget in Illinois. this is our problem. We don’t have financial discipline or responsibility. We have been a one party state for 30 years. Speaker Madigan has controlled the majority and the General Assembly and controlled the spending, the deficits, the debt, the unfunded pensions for 30 years, and they’ve taken us into a crisis
HILYARD: A lot of finger pointing happening in the last, really two months and even here today. Do you take any responsibility for this stalemate up until last week?
RAUNER: Well, all of us have a job to do, we have a job to deliver results for the people of Illinois. you know, I’ve come in. I’m new in the job at 18 months. We’ve had a system that’s been broken for a long time. I’m trying my best to change it. We’ve got to change. We can’t just go with the status quo. There’s a lot on the line for November. The people of Illinois will be able to decide, do we want a continuation of the status quo, deficits, job loses, or are we going to get reform? [Emphasis added.]
The man knows how to stay on message. And he knows that if he talks long enough (there was a whole other paragraph after the one above), reporters will usually move on to something else because of time constraints. And she did.
“We stopped Speaker Madigan’s super majority from passing a $7 billion, out of balance, budget,” he said. “That was huge. We’re spending much less than what’s in that budget. That’s a big deal.”
The only reason they’re spending much less than Madigan’s budget is that he signed a mainly six-month stopgap budget, vs. MJM’s full-year budget. But, hey, all Madigan, all the time.
“I think it’s going to be a time for the people of Illinois to decide — do they want to support the status quo or do they want to support reform? I honestly hope they support reformers,” Rauner said.
“If Speaker Madigan gets more power and a greater supermajority, the odds of reform go way down and the chance of a much bigger tax hike without reforms go up.”
Rauner said two-thirds of candidates for the Illinois Legislature this fall are running unopposed. He sees that as proof that term limits and legislative mapping reforms are needed.
“We were able to stop Madigan’s supermajority’s $7 billion out-of-balance budget that passed the House; that would have been a disaster. We’ve kind of flattened off the cost curve on everything except pensions.
That’s an interesting way to describe “squeeze the beast.”
U.S. Rep. BILL FOSTER, D-Naperville, was apparently involved in an effort that could have changed the look of this year’s race in the 13th Congressional District.
But as it stands, U.S. Rep. RODNEY DAVIS, R-Taylorville, will still be facing Democrat MARK WICKLUND of Decatur on the Nov. 8 ballot in the district that includes part of Springfield. And the status of the independent candidate, Dr. DAVID GILL of Bloomington, is up in the air as his petitions have been challenged. Wicklund is one of those who filed an objection to the petitions this week.
Wicklund told me on Wednesday that he had received calls urging him to remove himself as the Democratic candidate, allowing Gill to be named to the spot.
Wicklund said one call came from Foster. Gill said Foster also called him.
Foster is a supporter of HILLARY CLINTON for president, but Gill said Foster “had had some talks with the BERNIE SANDERS campaign,” and “they just felt like the Democrats could have a much more effective campaign with me on board. I said I would give it some thought.”
Rodney Davis is a very hard worker, but it has amazed me that the DCCC and the state party did not find a viable candidate in that district, which has a ton of college campuses and leans “D” in presidential years.
Then again, I don’t know why I’ve been so amazed. It’s not like the DCCC has a great track record here, and the state party concerns itself with only one House of Representatives, and that one ain’t in DC.
* Chris Kaergard interviewed Gov. Rauner this week…
Q: It’s been a contentious last 18 months — and we’ve touched on this a couple times before on your past visits — but looking back on everything that’s happened, are there things that you can think of that perhaps you would’ve done differently or approached differently in that time to help you do your job better going forward?
A: Well, the one thing I probably, all of us should’ve done a better job of, I think, is communicate with you and others in the media as well as directly to the voters to get people to really understand what’s at stake and what’s going on. It’s hard to message, there’s a lot of complex issues. Your average person in Illinois doesn’t really even know what worker’s comp is. The average person doesn’t know really what’s going on in the pension system. They know their taxes are too high, they know we’ve got a deficit. But getting that message out and helping the people of Illinois really understand what’s going on, that’s hard. We probably should’ve done more of that, and come up with more creative ways to do it. We’ll try to get it better.
Labor unions are coming up big in Democrat Susana Mendoza’s bid for state comptroller against Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner’s hand-picked candidate.
Mendoza, the Chicago city clerk, this week reported $320,200 in campaign contributions from June 30, with more than $244,000 coming from unions. Leading the way by maxing out at $53,900 each were D.C.-based political funds of the Laborers’ union and the International Union of Operating Engineers. A Chicago Federation of Labor fund gave $15,000, and a south central Illinois laborers’ fund gave $10,000. […]
[Comptroller Leslie Munger], of Lincolnshire, so far has reported raising $82,600 from April through June. She started April with about $225,000 on hand. That’s likely to put her well behind Mendoza, who started the second quarter with $1.1 million on hand and has reported collecting $332,700 since then. It’s a low-profile contest, so both candidates are going to need to build up name recognition with voters. The comptroller’s office controls the state’s checkbook.
Rauner, of course, can make that financial disadvantage go away for Munger in a flash, given his propensity for writing large personal checks to his campaign fund and Illinois GOP accounts.
Yes, Rauner and his buddies most certainly can. And since everything they do is about Speaker Madigan (who may be even more unpopular in Illinois than Donald Trump), I would expect to see photos like this appearing in advertisements…
* And you gotta wonder whether they already have this robocall audio file…
@jasongonzo It's official. You are real. I just got a robocall from Susana Mendoza telling me to support Madigan!
The president of a Chicago-area university says passage of a stopgap Illinois budget has enabled her to do what she’s intended to do for a while, and that is retire.
A statement from Northeastern Illinois University says school president Sharon Hahs plans to retire on Sept. 30 after nearly a decade in the post.
Wednesday’s statement says Hahs delayed those plans as Illinois’ budget crisis worsened. But it says the stopgap budget last week restored stability. […]
The statement says Hahs will recommend that a national search for a permanent new president at the 10,000-student school be postponed until Illinois has at least one full regular budget cycle.
* They missed the real news. Here’s the e-mail she sent, with emphasis added…
TO: University Community
FROM: Sharon Hahs, President
DATE: July 6, 2016
RE: Retirement announcement
I want to share with you my decision to retire on September 30th of this year. It has been my joy and my honor to serve as President of Northeastern Illinois University for nearly a decade. Originally, I had intended to move toward retirement many months ago; Billy and I began making plans. That planning was put aside, however—delayed by the budget crisis. At this point, the University is stable, we have strong leadership, we have demonstrated our resilience, and we have stopgap funding.
In the coming academic year, Northeastern will have its site visit from the Higher Learning Commission for our 10-year reaffirmation of accreditation. In early spring, we will also be going public with our first fundraising campaign, Transforming Lives. It is best for Northeastern to have new leadership in place well ahead of these events. Now is a good time for that transition.
Given the fiscal realities and the reputational damage to the state of Illinois at this time, I have recommended to the Board of Trustees that a national search for president be postponed until Illinois has at least one full regular budget cycle. It is my sincere belief that a national search is not viable at this time. Further, I am recommending to the Board that Provost Richard Helldobler serve as Interim President. He has many significant accomplishments at Northeastern and is deeply committed to our University, our students, and our faculty and staff.
The Board of Trustees will be scheduling a special meeting to address this transition in the next two or three weeks.
Together we have accomplished a great deal over this last decade. I am confident that with continued hard work, the future is bright for Northeastern. Please know that I truly cherish our University and the people who make Northeastern the special place that it is today. I will always keep you in my thoughts and in my heart.
Thank you.
