CPS Senior Vice President for Finance Ron DeNard issued the following statement regarding CPS’ bond sale of $725 million in tax-exempt bonds today.
“Borrowing money was never a decision that we took lightly and though some wanted our efforts to fail, CPS needed to move forward in order to keep our doors open so we could educate our children. Along with the tough cuts announced yesterday and earlier this year, the sale of these bonds will produce sufficient proceeds to mitigate our cash flow challenges through the end of the fiscal year. CPS faces many financial difficulties ahead, but we are committed to working with CTU on a long-term contract and the State to finally address the inequitable state funding for CPS that is driving the District’s budget imbalance.”
Background
CPS will make its February 15 debt service payments.
CPS priced $725 million in tax-exempt bonds.
These bonds will largely reimburse the operating fund for expenses that the District has already paid, including capital expenses.
The bonds include $206 million of debt restructuring to provide immediate budgetary relief in FY16.
CPS will postpone its plan to convert variable-rate debt to fixed-rate debt.
CPS will postpone reimbursing the general operating fund for some of the swap termination fees.
About $615 million of tax-exempt securities due in 2044 are pricing for a preliminary yield of 8.5 percent and about $60 million of debt due in 2026 is pricing for a preliminary 7.75 percent, according to four people with knowledge of the deal who requested anonymity because the pricing isn’t final. The top yield is about 5.8 percentage points more than benchmark municipal debt that matures in 29 years, data compiled by Bloomberg show.
“They’re in very severe financial straits,” said Dan Heckman, a senior fixed-income strategist in Kansas City at U.S. Bank Wealth Management, which oversees $128 billion. “This is just an effort to hopefully buy some time so they can continue to get their house in order but what a steep price they’re paying.”
They have a statutory cap of 9 percent, so it’s gonna be tough to go back to the markets unless they improve their financial position.
According to a city spokeswoman, $665 million in bonds maturing in 2044 were sold at a price of 8.5 percent,and $60 million in 2026 maturity securities at 7.75 percent. That’s roughly 580 basis points—almost six full percentage points—more than would have been charged to an AAA-rated school district.
Part of that is due to the terrible condition of Chicago schools. And, city aides are suggesting, part of it is due to Gov. Bruce Rauner’s repeated suggestion that CPS file for bankruptcy, raising market skittishness.
Officials originally planned for an $875 million bond issue. There was no immediate indication how they will make up that shortfall.
Groundhog Day was yesterday, but Exelon appears to want to keep celebrating. The Chicago-based nuclear giant is back to threatening to close nuclear plants in Illinois without financial help from the state.
Three months after appearing to soften on demands for hundreds of millions in ratepayer-financed subsidies, Exelon CEO Chris Crane said today that the company needs financial help this spring from Springfield.
If that doesn’t happen, he said on the company’s fourth-quarter earnings call, “we’ll have to make the rational economic decision” on money-losing plants.
At risk of closure, he said, are two of its six Illinois nukes: the Quad Cities station in western Illinois and the Clinton plant downstate.
It was only in November that Crane said Quad Cities had gone from a money loser to break-even as the company looked forward to 2017. That is no longer the case as future wholesale power prices have dropped since then. […]
The renewed threats come as Exelon posted its first year-over-year earnings increase in years for 2015. The company gave investors the welcome news that it plans to raise its dividend 2.5 percent a year for the next three years.
* Some human service providers received this e-mail yesterday…
Good morning ….
Last week in his second State of the State address, Governor Rauner announced a transformation of the way we provide health and human services here in Illinois . The Governor’s vision rests on five important pillars: focusing on prevention and population health, transitioning from institutional to community care, promoting self-sufficiency and education, paying for value and outcomes rather than volume of services, and the use of data to better know and serve the people of Illinois .
Our health and human services leadership teams have been working to lay the groundwork for this historic transformation. You may have already noticed some changes within the state’s health and human service agencies. The agencies are committed to becoming more innovative, collaborative and effective in caring for the citizens of Illinois.
No one is more aware of this need for transformation than leaders such as yourself who have worked so hard for so long within our siloed, expensive, and too often ineffective system.
Governor Rauner invites you to be a partner in fixing this system. One of the most important lessons reinforced from your meeting with the Governor is that this transformation will require your help. Open communication between our office and your organization will be instrumental as we partner with you to transform Illinois into a national model for the delivery of more innovative, compassionate, and effective healthcare and human services.
Aloha,
Linda Lingle
Chief Operating Officer
Office of the Governor
Rape crisis centers cutting back, LSSI lays off nearly half its staff, Haymarket Center is closing its social setting detoxification program, but, yeah, they’re “committed to becoming more innovative, collaborative and effective in caring for the citizens of Illinois.”
* Dan Mihalopoulos is told one thing by the state’s attorney and another by Kim Foxx…
I filed a public records request with the state’s attorney’s office to get a list of all of the felony cases Foxx tried during her 12 years as an assistant state’s attorney, from 2001 to 2013. Though public officials often dawdle at least as long as legally possible to answer such requests, aides to the embattled incumbent state’s attorney, Anita Alvarez, quickly replied this time.
They said there was a single case — just one — in the Felony Trial Division where Foxx worked with a more experienced prosecutor to win guilty verdicts against the two defendants. […]
Foxx said that the office of Alvarez — the two-term incumbent she is challenging in the Democratic primary on March 15 — had purposely given me a list that was missing many cases she had worked on.
“It is extremely incomplete,” she said. “I did try quite a few cases. This is crazy to me.”
Alvarez’s aides said what they gave me is everything they have on Foxx.
Weird all around.
* From a press release…
Donna More’s campaign to unseat State’s Attorney Anita Alvarez has taken to the airwaves with a month long TV advertising campaign that will run in targeted cable TV regions of Cook County. The effort includes a :30 second spot that insists “Anita Alvarez must go.”
The schedule that the campaign purchased will have both :30 and :15 second ads running in primetime and daytime. The plan calls for the spots to air on major cable networks for now including CNN, MSNBC, Fox News, Lifetime, TBS, TNT and USA networks.
The ads draw a sharp distinction between More and her opponents in the upcoming primary. Citing Alvarez’ misconduct, one ad criticizes her term in office as “justice delayed, justice denied” and then ticks off More’s unique qualifications: a former federal prosecutor with felony jury trial experience and a plan to reduce gun violence.
More is not a politician; she is a prosecutor who is running for office for the first time. She is the only candidate in the March 15 primary that isn’t beholden to political bosses.
* Kerry Lester has an in-depth interview with Cook County State’s Attorney Anita Alvarez. From Kerry’s bullet points…
• She decided within weeks to hand the reins of the investigation over to federal authorities and that she frequently communicated with them in the months to follow.
• A 13-month delay before bringing first-degree murder charges against officer Jason Van Dyke stemmed from the difficulty of building a strong case, not just making an arrest.
• The timing of the charges days after a judge ordered release of a video showing the shooting of Laquan McDonald was “in the interest of public safety,” but she had decided on the charges weeks earlier.
— Illinois is not providing any funding for MAP grants or colleges and universities, which profoundly impacts women. Fifty-four percent of all undergraduates and 62 percent (more than 80,000 women) of MAP grant recipients are women, who will no longer be able to afford college. Research has shown that women with college degrees earn substantially more throughout their lifetimes. […]
— The budget impasse is costing women jobs. Seven in 10 workers employed in Illinois’ nonprofit sector are women and many of these organizations receive state dollars. An October survey by the United Way of 500 organizations that receive state funding found 22 percent have been forced to lay off staff.
— Economic opportunity has also disappeared for thousands of women in Illinois due to cuts to the Child Care Assistance Program. Seventy-eight percent of families using CCAP are female-headed, single-parent households. Without affordable child care, it’s impossible for many of those women to work. CCAP cuts put in place by the Rauner Administration in July remain in place for 10,000 children. In just one week last month, a local provider in Belvidere reported having to turn away two families seeking child care.
— An estimated 66 percent of unpaid caregivers are female. One-third care for two or more people. Without a doubt, cuts to services for children, seniors and those with disabilities will fall upon the shoulders of unpaid or undercompensated female caregivers.
— 60 percent of seniors experiencing food insecurity, meaning they don’t have enough to eat or don’t know where their next meals will come from, are female. Funding to Meals on Wheels has been stopped, placing at risk the 6.5 million meals delivered each year. Many programs throughout the state have already been drastically cut back.
The cost of worker’s comp is the biggest factor driving our job losses. If we simply aligned our workers’ comp costs with those of a state like Massachusetts – which is hardly a bastion of conservatism – we can save state and local taxpayers over $300 million per year, while protecting those who suffer workplace injuries, and grow more careers at higher wages.
Rauner loves to talk about the economic success that Texas has experienced, and he has a point. Texas has had robust job growth, and its unemployment rate is only 4.7 percent—while Illinois’ is more than a point higher. These are achievements Texas should be proud of. But it must be noted that Mississippi has a higher unemployment rate than Illinois, and so do several other conservative states. Guess what else. Texas has a poverty rate of more than 16 percent—the fifth-worst in the country. Illinois’ poverty rate is 11.5 percent, putting us roughly in the middle of the pack.
In other words, although Texas’ achievements are real, they come at a huge cost: Lower wages, less regulation and a weaker safety net are causing poverty to rise and the middle class to shrink.
And while the anti-worker policies of the far right might have contributed to Texas’ record of mixed economic success, they obviously haven’t conferred the same benefits on all states where they’ve been tried. Yet they seem to have had the same costs.
On the other hand, the Democratic approach to economic growth mitigates poverty, raises wages and helps grow the middle class. What’s the unemployment rate in deep-blue Massachusetts? It’s 4.7 percent—the same as Texas.
And, by the way, some progressive states, such as Minnesota and Vermont, have unemployment rates that are far lower.
Biss told me a sentence was cut for space…
It isn’t clear exactly what about the Massachusetts system the governor is advocating for, so I can’t immediately comment on the specifics.
In its first 73 years, few dramatic changes were made to the Massachusetts compensation system. Meanwhile, other states implemented speedier procedures and paid more adequate benefits. In the early 1980s injured workers, unions, and health and safety organizations in Massachusetts campaigned for reform.
In 1985 these groups convinced the state legislature to revamp the system: the Massachusetts Division of Industrial Accidents was reorganized, benefits were increased, cost-of-living protection was added, and insurers were made responsible for workers’ legal expenses.
Five years later, however, the Massachusetts economy entered a downturn. Business groups, exaggerating the burden of insurance premiums and threatening to leave the state, demanded rollbacks in worker benefits.
In 1991, in a shameful display of blaming the victim, the legislature:
• Reduced the total-disability benefit rate to 60% of wages
• Shortened the duration of total-disability benefits to three years
• Reduced the partial-disability benefit rate by 10%
• Shortened the duration of partial-disability benefits to five years
• Eliminated payments for the first five days of disability (except for extended injuries)
• Eliminated benefits for scarring other than on the face, neck and hands
• Reduced cost-of-living benefits
• Eliminated certain injuries from coverage
The governor at the time was Republican William Weld. He did, however, have a Democratic legislature to deal with.
A gubernatorial candidate travels around Massachusetts and hears complaint after complaint from employers about the spiraling cost of insuring their employees. Annual double-digit rate increases have become the norm. Small businesses are wilting under the weight of these costs. Large businesses are considering relocating to places where insurance costs are lower. Many employees do not have access to quality healthcare. The candidate understands that a crisis exists and makes a priority of controlling, if not reducing, these costs. The candidate becomes governor. Is there any possible way this story ends happily?
Actually, it did, in an almost fairy-tale-like fashion, though not without a lot of angst. The year was 1990, the candidate was Bill Weld, and workers’ compensation insurance rates had gone up a staggering 92 percent over four years. Then, shortly after Weld took office in 1991, things went from bad to horrible. Insurers filed for another rate increase, this time a record 45.6 percent. Faced with this mess, the governor pushed through the Legislature a reform bill that he promised would eliminate the need for any rate increase. Very few people thought he would be able to keep that promise.
Let’s skip to the happy ending. Workers’ compensation rates have plummeted by about 60 percent since passage of the reform, in what many observers have described as the most remarkable turnaround in any insurance market in the country.
So, it did work. Now, all Gov. Rauner has to do is figure out how to be as effective as Bill Weld.
/snark
*** UPDATE *** From Rep. Mark Batinick…
Rich,
I’ve been studying the Mass. model for work comp for a long time. Attached is an LRU report from January of last year I requested. They do several things there well that we don’t. When I look at their model I see a system that focuses on the worker getting paid and healed as fast as possible. Any case open more than 12 weeks after an injury must be reviewed “to ensure that the treatment is necessary, reasonable, effective, and of good quality.” While indemnity costs per worker were near the median, the percentage of claims paid within 21 days of the injury was the highest. The benefit of getting the worker paid and healed quickly is self-evident.
And yes. They do have a causation standard.
The Massachusetts information starts on page 4 of the attached report. But in the interest of transparency, I attached the entire document.
As Illinois moves into its eighth month without a budget, Eastern Illinois University plans an estimated 200 layoffs of non-instructional employees — as well as furloughing all administrative and professional staff additionally in March to make it through the spring semester.
These layoffs, along with cash flow reserves and budget cuts and freezes enacted last week, will be used to push Eastern through the semester financially considering no appropriations from the state have been allotted for higher education. […]
In regard to the layoffs, 30-day notices will be sent out to those employees either late this week or earlier next week, President David Glassman told the Faculty Senate on Tuesday. This will start the normal “bumping” process associated with the layoffs such as in the fall, when employees with higher seniority who get a layoff notice can instead “bump” those with less seniority. […]
While the university will run through spring, uncertainty still lingers in regard to what will happen over the summer and in the fall. Glassman said he along with Paul McCann, interim vice president for business affairs, have started looking into if continuing operations during the summer will be possible, relying on tuition alone as income.
“If I find out from Paul that we would not generate enough tuition dollars to operate the university (in the summer), then I have to figure out what’s our other alternatives,” he said.
Eastern is in a similar boat regarding the fall semester. If funds do not come in from the state by the July, August and September time frame, Eastern will not be able to afford the expenses of the semester at its current capacity without changes. This is also dependent on tuition and federal funding.
* I’ve been wondering aloud lately whether the governor has been deliberately attempting to sabotage CPS bond sales since last April. Greg Hinz follows up…
Though no one will speak for the record, insiders are charging that Rauner, who wants to bust the CTU by forcing it into bankruptcy, is trying to block the system’s ability to borrow that $875 million.
The specific charge is that last month, when Claypool was in New York trying to schlep the bonds, Rauner knew it and intentionally scheduled a press conference to announce revived legislation to allow the state to take over CPS and force it into bankruptcy.
“Rauner knew,” says one source who won’t be named. “He did it on purpose.”
Sources close to the governor shrugged off such charges, one saying that Rauner is willing to give CPS a little help if only Emanuel will “give a little help” to Rauner in his campaign to weaken the power of CPS and other public-sector unions.
But there is a bit of a pattern of Rauner, a conservative Republican, opening his mouth in a high-profile way at very inopportune times for CPS and its proposed bond issue.
Rich Miller of Capitol Fax reported on a pair of Rauner statements, one stemming back to April. Then yesterday, after it became clear CPS would try to go to market today, Rauner told reporters that he’s begun considering who to send in to run CPS, even though it’s doubtful he has the legal authority to do that.
Rauner is not backing down. Says a source close to him, “City Hall is spinning out of control. . . .(Investors) see a CPS balance sheet that is fundamentally broken and a financial plan that is a fairy tale. Chicago is crumbling before our eyes.”
Right. “Crumbling before our eyes.” You might say that game is on, too.
He’s actually done this three times, first in April, then last week and again yesterday.
*** UPDATE 1 *** Gov. Rauner just called the allegation that he’s attempting to sabotage CPS bond sales “ridiculous.”
…Adding… He also said that “Bondholders will make their own decisions. I don’t care about them one way or another.”
*** UPDATE 2 *** Greg Hinz has the 5th Floor’s react…
Responding to the governor’s remarks, Emanuel spokeswoman Kelley Quinn shot back: “So much for the governor’s pledge to change his tone in an effort to actually get something accomplished. That lasted almost a week. While it seems he would rather continue pointing fingers and hurling insults, the rest of us will continue working on solutions to the range of challenges facing our city and our state.”
Owed about $200,000 by the state of Illinois, a rape crisis center in Urbana has cut its staff hours and salaries.
And the Rape Advocacy Counseling and Education Services says that without state funding it will have to close by mid-April. RACES, located in Urbana’s Lincoln Square, is among the social service agencies that are not being funded because of the ongoing budget dispute between Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner and Democratic legislators. In 2015, RACES said it served more than 37,408 individuals, ages 3 through adult.
Beginning Monday, the agency cut its staff hours and salaries by 20 percent. […]
The cuts will limit the availability of counselors, legal advocates, and community educators who provide valuable services to survivors of sexual assault, the agency said.
Liberty Principles PAC, which received a $1.8 million contribution from Rauner’s own PAC last month, has moved to boost the campaign of Forest Park Commission Chris Harris who is challenging incumbent State Rep. Chris Welch (D-Hillside), purchasing $14,166 in newspaper advertising for the challenger, according to state election board records.
Run by political operative and radio personality Dan Proft, Liberty Principles PAC, an independent expenditure committee that is prohibited from coordinating its activities with a campaign it backs, is also supporting the reelection campaign of the governor’s Democratic ally in the Illinois House, State Rep. Ken Dunkin (D-Chicago).
Harris, who had at the end of the fourth quarter only $7,727 in the bank, echoes Rauner’s rhetoric on key issues, such as property taxes. […]
Harris reacted to Proft’s purchase of advertising in his behalf saying that he was “uncertain” what triggered the support.
“I did not know this and I haven’t seen any ads. I am not sure if there is a certain issue that they have picked up on that I support that Rep. Welch doesn’t and I guess I won’t know until I see an ad,” Harris told The Illinois Observer in a statement. “This is a Democratic Primary so it doesn’t make a whole lot of sense, in the big picture.”
*** UPDATE *** From the Chris Harris campaign…
The recent discovery that outside PAC money is being
spent in the 7th District State Representative race has raised concerns this group’s motives.
“In modern day politics, you can’t control most of what goes on around you, but you hope you can control your message,” said 7th District State Representative Candidate Chris Harris. “Even that can be altered by 3rd party sources hijacking it, though.”
As first reported by the Illinois Observer, an outside PAC that has received money from Governor Rauner purchased newspaper advertising against current State Rep Chris Welch in the 7th District race.
Harris stated: “There are many reasons PAC’s get involved in races: they want to advance a candidate; they don’t like a particular candidate; or they want a group to have to spend money they may not have planned to. We have yet to see what their plans are for this race, but I am certain that it is not to echo any backing of myself for Governor Rauner. The devastation caused by the budget stalemate should horrify everyone, and I reject Governor Rauner’s strategy of holding Illinois’ most vulnerable people hostage.
“Furthermore, I feel that that it is wrong-headed for Governor Rauner’s people to insert themselves into a Democratic primary election. The people of the 7th District are well aware of Rep. Welch’s poor record, and it is their voices that should decide this election.
“I am a mainstream Democrat. I believe we can have common sense compromise that will secure the financial future of this state. I support increasing funding for our schools and making sure that education is a priority. I am a small business owner who was union-backed in my local race, because I am focused on practical accomplishments that move us all forward.
“I am in this race because our current State Representative has a long history of corruption and patronage that devastated our local schools. We need a Democrat who will focus on fixing our communities and our state, not be a pawn for either Speaker Madigan or Governor Rauner.”
A nonprofit research group says poverty rates in Illinois are up to three times higher for racial minorities.
The Chicago-based Heartland Alliance’s research arm released a report Wednesday outlining significant racial disparities for income, unemployment, birth rates and housing, among other things. The 44-page document is called “Racism’s Toll: Report on Illinois Poverty,” and looks at institutional racism in the state.
* From the press release…
Poverty rates are two to three times higher for Illinoisans of color, and they fare far worse on nearly every measure of well-being. In the latest of its annual reports on poverty in Illinois, “Racism’s Toll,” Heartland Alliance’s Social IMPACT Research Center lays bare the moral, human, and economic cost of the deep inequities in the state and calls out public policies that have and are actively creating these racial inequities.
The disparities are remarkably persistent on nearly all quality of life domains:
Black children in Illinois are nearly 4 times more likely to live below the poverty line than white children.
The Illinois school districts with the most students of color receive 16% less in funding per student than districts serving the fewest students of color.
Unemployment rates are far higher for black Illinois workers than whites at every educational level.
Illinoisans of color are 2 to 3 times more likely to not have health insurance.
Black Illinoisans on average live 6 years less than whites.
Poor black (16%) and Latino (22%) Illinoisans are more likely to live within a mile of a hazardous chemical facility than poor whites (13%).
Nationally, the median net worth for a white household is $110,500 versus $6,314 for a black household.
The consistency and persistence of these severe disparities by race in Illinois underscore how much more work we have to do. As the report makes clear, these inequities are the product of the public policies, market forces, and institutional practices of both yesterday and today, which systematically place barriers in the path of Illinoisans of color.
Labor unions were forced to come to the rescue of their endorsed primary candidate in the 5th state Senate district, Democrat Patricia Van Pelt of Chicago.
On Monday, Van Pelt’s primary opponent, former alderman and unsuccessful mayoral candidate Bob Fioretti, joined the lawmaker for a newspaper endorsement session at the Sun-Times.
“I nearly fell off my chair when Van Pelt said she wants city governments to be able to declare themselves right-to-work zones,” Fioretti told supporters in an email.
“That means she’s against unions, she’s against the prevailing wage, she’s against all the gains unions have gotten for us,” Fioretti said.
What the heck?
* Sen. Van Pelt’s response…
Senator Van Pelt spoke on her longstanding opposition to right-to-work laws and support for unions in a statement today.
“I am against all implementations of right to work in Illinois, including locally,” the senator said. “Right to work in any form is an attempt to undermine unions and working families. Unions are critical in representing the voice of our workers. Having served as a union steward for many years, I know unions have increased fairness, safety, and employer accountability.”
“My opponent is attempting to slander my pro-union record. In a recent interview with the Sun-Times Editorial Board, I misspoke when I misheard a question on right to work zones. I clarified my answer with the board immediately after the interview.
“I’m proud of my record of standing up for unions. I won’t let my opponent distort it.”
The Illinois AFL-CIO, which recently endorsed Senator Van Pelt in the Democratic primary, reiterated their support for the senator. “Senator Van Pelt is a strong voice for unions. She has stood with unions on issues that affect working families and has stated her opposition to wage-killing statewide right to work and local right-to-work zones. We strongly support her re-election,” Illinois AFL-CIO President Michael Carrigan said.
During her tenure in the state senate, Van Pelt has been a tireless advocate for working families. She was a co-sponsor of the legislative override of Governor Rauner’s veto of the AFSCME no strike/no lockout arbitration bill, co-sponsor of civil rights legislation protecting pregnant employees, and co-sponsor of legislation to raise the minimum wage. She is running for re-election for in the 5th legislative district.
Gov. Bruce Rauner on Tuesday said he’s preparing for a state takeover of Chicago Public Schools and has told state Board of Education members to start looking for an interim superintendent for the city’s cash strapped school district.
At a news conference in Springfield to discuss legislation that would change the state’s procurement process, Rauner said he’s already told the state Board of Education to begin the process of identifying who can take over as superintendent of CPS.
“The state’s going to be ready to step in and take action,” Rauner said a day after the Chicago Teachers Union rejected a contract proposal from CPS.
“I asked our administration. I believe it’s coming. I believe a state takeover is appropriate,” Rauner said.
“What’s he gonna take us over with? He has no budget. He has no authority. Please don’t pay attention to the ravings of a madman,” Lewis said of Rauner.
* Rauner eventually walked it back a bit…
.@GovRauner office clarifies earlier remarks: Board of ed preparing for CPS takeover on the condition that legislation enabling it passes.
Senate President John Cullerton issued the following statement regarding the governor directing the Illinois State Board of Education to explore a state takeover of public schools in Chicago:
“I thought we’d already addressed this. The law doesn’t allow him to do that. So it’s not going to happen.”
Claypool said school support staff will likely bear the brunt of the layoffs - teaching assistants, clerks and other administrative roles. A letter to CTU President Karen Lewis from Claypool says the workforce cuts will save $50 million. […]
Claypool said they will also begin deducting 7 percent from all CTU members’ checks as soon as possible due to an inability to meet the pension pickup for teachers. Claypool says the schools will save $130 million with that action. […]
Lewis called the cuts an “act of war” and expects the union will rally against CPS and the “bankers who are siphoning off millions” and announced a demonstration at 4:30 p.m. Thursday and LaSalle and Adams.
* Also…
.@CTULocal1 Will file unfair labor practice over pension pickup and then can strike immediately.
Do they think a strike will somehow restore trust — or will it simply make them feel good to stick their thumb into the administration’s eye? Either way, the hard-liners in the CTU appear to be on a suicide mission to bring the system to its knees.
20-year-incumbent Rep. John Shimkus, R-Collinsville, raised more than $1.3 million last year and had about $1.37 million on hand in his campaign account at the end of 2015, according to his FEC filing. […]
Shimkus’s opponent in the March 15 Illinois primary is state Sen. Kyle McCarter. He raised about $141,000 last year, but about $60,000 of it came from a personal loan, according to his newest campaign reports. McCarter, who has attacked Shimkus as not conservative enough for the district and for going back on a term-limit promise when first elected, had about $87,000 cash in his campaign accounts at the end of last year.
McCarter did raise that much, but it appears that he has to give a big chunk of it back.
Check out his FEC filing. McCarter received money from corporations, which is still not allowed. He’s already identified about $13,000 in corporate contributions as “refund pending” on his FEC report, but some other possible corporate contributions, totaling by my eye somewhere near $8,000, aren’t identified as such.
He also accepted a $37,300 contribution, which is way over the federal limit, and it’s identified on his FEC form as “refund pending.”
So, out of the $81,000 he raised from others (which is a horribly small number to begin with), he admits having to return about $50K of that to donors and might have to return another $8K or so. Either way, that’s most of his January 1st cash on hand.
Among those who missed Thursday’s roll call votes in Springfield on legislation providing funding for community colleges and for MAP grants to low-income college students were Sen. Kyle McCarter, R-Lebanon, and Rep. Reggie Phillips, R-Charleston. […]
“It’s clear that Senator McCarter is focused on the job he wants, not the job he was elected to do. The hard-working families of his district deserve better representation than a politician that skips out on votes to campaign,” said Kayleen Carlson, the campaign manager for U.S. Rep. John Shimkus, the Collinsville Republican whom McCarter is challenging in the 15th Congressional District primary.
McCarter, in a statement, called the legislation “not good policy,” but did not explain his absence from Springfield.
“I have and will continue to fight for education policy that is affordable for the state of Illinois and (Thursday’s) vote was a Democrat bill passed by a Democrat majority with no money appropriated. It is simply not good policy,” he wrote. “This attack is another example of Congressman Shimkus shifting the focus off his liberal voting record of funding Planned Parenthood, Obamacare and amnesty.”
Actually, there was money “appropriated.” The Democrats passed an appropriations bill. There were no revenues provided, however.
* There is no question that the state’s procurement reforms were a complete overreaction to Rod Blagojevich’s reign of error. Here’s just one problem that was outlined in a 2012 Crain’s article…
The biggest concern, particularly for the construction industry, is that reforms meant to curb influence-peddling effectively have turned into gag orders for state employees, who ultimately could lose their jobs if they don’t properly report discussions with contractors, even if it’s just to clarify policy or processes. Contractors, in turn, fear they will be barred from bidding if they bring a good idea to the state.
“I think there’s broad agreement there were unintended consequences, primarily a chilling of useful communication that in the long run would undermine the state’s best interests,” says Illinois Sen. Don Harmon, D-Oak Park, co-chair of the Senate Procurement Committee.
Transportation projects often are too complicated and fast-moving to be completely spelled out in a document. Illinois Transportation Secretary Ann Schneider recently issued a memo clarifying rules for vendors to hold discussions with state employees.
The construction industry “appreciates the guidelines, but it’s still a huge problem,” says Jennifer Krug McNaughton, vice president of Lemont-based K-5 Construction Corp. and chairman of the Illinois Road and Transportation Builders Association. “You need to clear it up legislatively.”
Let this be a lesson: Just because something is called “reform” doesn’t mean the idea is any good or will actually work.
* Gov. Bruce Rauner claims that it takes 9-12 months to complete an RFP process in Illinois. Crazy. And it’s even crazier when you find out the process took only 2-3 months before that “reform” was enacted into law.
So, he outlined a list of changes he wants made today…
Requests for Qualification (RFQ)
• Allows state agencies to create a pre-qualified pool of vendors in different categories of supplies and services, speeding up the process by which the State can receive price quotes and proposals.
Cooperative Purchasing
• Allows the State to “piggyback” on the procurements of other states, governmental entities, and purchasing consortiums in order to leverage this large buying power, while at the same time speeding up the procurement process.
Procurement Exemptions
• Allows an exemption from the procurement code for personal services contracts, public-private agreements governed by other State statutes, domestic and international trade shows and exhibitions, tollway improvements when moving railroads and utilities.
• Allows construction agencies to enter into emergency procurements for greater than 90-days in order to streamline the process of repairing state buildings and structures.
Higher Education Exemptions
• Exempts many procurements that higher education institutions enter into from the procurement code to increase speed and give purchasing flexibility back to universities.
Energy Conservation Program
• Permits the State to use the Energy Performance Contracting model authorized by statute to enact capital upgrades designed to reduce operating costs and improve the functionality of existing state-owned buildings in lieu of adequate capital funds.
Buy Illinois
• Creates a preference for buying supplies and services from Illinois businesses.
Vendor Support
• Allows vendors to fix issues with their registrations with the State and creates a cure period for these mistakes.
• Adds more clarity and guidance to vendors on what constitutes acceptable communication and the prohibited bidder process.
• Streamlines the annual certification requirements for multi-year contracts, reducing bureaucratic paperwork.
• Streamlines the disclosure process for vendors when resolving various issues.
• Streamlines the specifications procedures for procurements by allowing the agency making the procurement the lead on these issues.
• Makes the Illinois Procurement Bulletin more navigable for vendors by requiring bulletins be produced by each agency requiring the procurement.
• Removes the confusing procurement communications reporting requirements for vendors. Streamline the Procurement Reporting Structure Proposed Structure Supports more Streamlined, Consistent and Efficient Procurement Revised CPO Structure
• The bill modifies the current Chief Procurement Officer (CPO) structure. Under the current system, there are four CPOs (General Services, Transportation, Capital Development, Higher Education). The proposed language would place procurement authority in one CPO (CMS Director for General Supplies and Services) with statutory delegations of procurement authority to four Designated Procurement Officers (DPO) (Transportation, Tollway, Capital Development, and Higher Education).
• Returns the Procurement Policy Board to an advisory body and focuses their mission on creating policies and rules consistent with the Procurement Code.
• Streamlines the rulemaking process to eliminate confusion for vendors and businesses by working within one set of rules.
Auditor General Audit
• Requires an audit of procurement every two years, while also allowing the Auditor General to perform surprise audits on the agencies to ensure laws and statutes are being followed.
The problem with undoing reforms, even lousy reforms, is that everybody is gonna think you’ve got a hinky angle. For instance, the governor has been blasting universities for their big-spending ways, but now he wants to let them out of procurement procedures? What up with that?
Well, actually, the universities tried like heck without success to keep themselves out of the procurement process reforms. Many of the problems they predicted turned out to be true.
* I would’ve preferred a bipartisan process on this. The governor’s press conference to unveil his reforms today featured two three GOP legislators, Dan Brady, Pam Althoff and Chapin Rose.
Hopefully, they can work with the other side of the aisle on this because Rauner isn’t wrong. The Democratic majority didn’t allow Gov. Quinn to change the process when he tried a few years back, but maybe something can be done now because something most definitely should be done.
The full legislation is here. Hopefully, our more knowledgeable commenters can sift through the deets and let us know what they think.
* The Tribune updates the fundraising situation. Bob Dold is doing very well, but Mike Noland essentially raised car fare…
Dold raised more than either Democrat in the period from October through December, as he has since the race kicked off. His overall receipts since his 2014 win: almost $2.4 million. He has no GOP primary rival and had about $1.49 million in the bank at the start of year, reports show. That figure does not take into account about $139,000 in the Dold campaign’s debts and obligations. […]
In the last quarter, Dold raised about $464,000 while Schneider raised about $391,000 and Rotering raised about $265,000, which includes a $100,000 loan she made to her campaign. Rotering has loaned her campaign $345,000 overall. Schneider has loaned his campaign $5,000. Schneider started the year with less in the bank: $882,000 to Rotering’s $936,000. […]
In the 8th Congressional District, Krishnamoorthi, who is from Schaumburg, maintained his commanding lead in campaign fundraising. His campaign opened the year with more than $1.27 million in the bank after picking up $453,000 in the quarter. He has raised more than $1.49 million overall. […]
Krishnamoorthi’s Democratic rivals include state Sen. Mike Noland of Elgin, who collected about $68,000 in the last quarter of the year and $210,000 overall. Noland had about $64,000 in the bank to start the year.
Maybe instead of appearing with former Gov. Quinn at an endorsement event, Noland should’ve handed him a phone and a call list, because obviously Noland isn’t doing what he needs to do here.
Seriously, there are state legislative candidates without opponents who raised more than that in the 4th quarter.
* From the Illinois Policy Institute’s news service…
The Senate President is playing politics with a bill that appears doomed on arrival. That’s according to Governor Bruce Rauner’s office in response to Senate President John Cullerton calling for a cooling-off period before sending over a tuition assistance bill.
Senate Bill 2043, which Democrat majorities say will fund MAP grants for eligible students, passed the legislature last week despite minority Republicans pointing out the governor intends to veto the bill because it’s not tied to any funding stream.
Senate President John Cullerton’s office issued a news release Monday saying he’s waiting until February 16th to send the bill to the governor so the governor will “rethink his veto announcement.”
Cullerton’s office said the state isn’t honoring its commitment to students and urged the governor rethink his position and “not act rashly but rather in the best interest of these students.”
Governor Bruce Rauner’s office responded saying there’s no way to pay for SB 2042. The administration has offered a path toward compromise. A statement from Rauner’s office says the governor has agreed “to sign legislation that funds MAP, community colleges and universities tied to ways to pay for the programs.”
The governor’s office says “rather than playing politics with a dead piece of legislation, we urge the Senate to focus on finding real solutions and vote next week on legislation that would fund MAP grants with a fiscally responsible way to pay for them.”
* From today…
Rauner says he has directed board of Ed to see if CPS meets criteria for takeover, and asked they look for possible superintendents.
* The governor will speak today at 11 about reforming the state’s Procurement Code. Listen or watch here.
Comptroller Munger will “discuss the current bill backlog and spending projections for the remainder of the fiscal year, and then take questions from the media.” Her show also starts at 11. Watch her here.
Lack of funding for higher education creates “uncertainty if you’re a student,” she said. But, she added, “some of these universities have cut some of their administrative costs –- sort of squeeze-the- beast theory.”
She said “global questions” about higher ed could now be asked.
“Should we have six, eight schools of education, everybody having a program and everything? I don’t know,” Radogno said. She noted a couple of two-year colleges went to four years, including what is now the University of Illinois Springfield.
“Maybe we ought to have more going from four to two,” she said.
Look, only a fool would defend skyrocketing administrative spending at universities and colleges. The Senate Democrats’ investigative report was a real eye-opener, but not all that surprising.
* So, we can probably infer from Leader Radogno’s comments and the governor’s own recent attacks on higher ed spending that the object here is to starve the beasts into submission.
In the past, universities have been too politically strong to ever force them to do anything. Their alumni organizations (particularly at the U of I) are fiercely protective.
But if the schools are starving, they will be more amenable to accepting significant reforms to stave off massive cuts or even closure.
At least, that appears to be the theory.
* Meanwhile, poor kids are losing their MAP grants (and with it their paths into the middle class) and adult education programs are closing (which shuts off career advancement for older, mostly poorer folks).
I would be far more comfortable with this idea if somebody in power had an actual plan. Just spitballing the closures of entire college programs isn’t really a plan.
In an apparent effort to turn up the heat on floundering negotiations, the Chicago Public Schools announced it would be forced to make $100 million in new cuts — that could be rolled back if a new contract is reached with teachers.
The Chicago Teachers Union blasted the proposed cuts in a news release the union issued even before CPS held the news conference to announce them.
CTU called the cuts “an act of intimidation and bullying because teachers refused to accept a flawed contract offer.” CTU President Karen Lewis was even more blunt, calling it “the latest act of war” and promising a rally of teachers Thursday.
* Mark Brown on the CTU bargaining committee’s rejection of the contract deal cut by Karen Lewis…
Looking at it from the other side, how does schools CEO Forrest Claypool and his team negotiate with a union bargaining committee that can’t confidently speak for its members? […]
The CTU is in a very unique place, as far as labor unions go in the 21st century, its members still empowered by the perceived success of its 2012 strike.
But I would caution its members that if they’re seriously contemplating another strike they should expect to encounter a less sympathetic public than they did in 2012, when public opinion was on their side.
Agreed on both points.
* And let’s hope we don’t have a repeat of 2011, when Lewis signed off on an education reform bill along with the IFT and the IEA only to walk it back after she was ripped to shreds by her own union. And, like now, Lewis was also assailed by folks on the other side of the negotiating table for not being a trustworthy bargaining partner. She cut a deal then disowned it.
After that legislative debacle, Lewis was forced to become even more hardline, which led directly to the 2012 strike.
…Adding… I should’ve noted here that the CTU will be electing officers this spring, which is why Claypool wanted these contract negotiations wrapped up as soon as possible. If this isn’t finalized soon, the campaign will make it even more unlikely that they can get a deal because Lewis will have to guard her left flank (and, considering this union’s membership, it’s a huge flank).
Kent Redfield, a campaign finance expert, called the half-million-dollar contribution the largest single Illinois legislative primary contribution since at least 1976, when the State Board of Elections started keeping track of political contributions.
“It’s a huge contribution,’’ said Redfield, professor emeritus of political science at the University of Illinois at Springfield.
“When you have high-profile races, caps in Illinois law are irrelevant,” Redfield said. “They are going to get waived.”
The Dunkin windfall sends the message that “good things happen to you if you support the governor,’’ Redfield said.
The contribution comes less than a week after IllinoisGO, an independent expenditure committee that some observers call a front for Rauner, reported spending nearly $240,000 on behalf of Dunkin, which lifted the contribution caps in the race. Combined, that’s $27.25 for each voter who cast a ballot in the ho-hum Nov. 4 general election.
Dunkin’s opponent in the March 15 primary, Juliana Stratton, has some catching up to do. The former aide to Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle had nearly $70,600 in her campaign fund on Dec. 31, and raised another $78,700 on Jan. 28, mostly from unions.
* Related…
* Ken Dunkin, Sam McCann: Two very different lawmakers facing consequences of crossing their leaders
Family Home Services, a home-care agency that assists hundreds of seniors, plans on cutting agency workers’ pay by half as early as Friday because of the ongoing Springfield stalemate, the Service Employees International Union says.
The union says the action would affect 200 home care workers who now earn between $10 and $11 an hour. Union officials are joining with some Democratic lawmakers for a Chicago news conference to highlight the continued effects of the impasse.
Alvarez, known by nearly all voters, had 34 percent support, while Foxx had 27 percent and More had 12 percent, the poll showed. An additional 26 percent said they backed another candidate or were undecided.
Only about a third of Democratic voters support her, and a quarter are undecided or clueless, but she’s still leading the pack.
The poll found a large percentage of voters don’t accept Alvarez’s explanation for her handling of the McDonald case. More than 7 in 10 Democratic voters said they were not very satisfied or not at all satisfied with it. That included 85 percent of black voters, 67 percent of Hispanic voters and 64 percent of white voters. […]
Overall, half of voters in the poll disapproved of Alvarez job performance, while 30 percent approved and 20 percent had no opinion. White voters were split on the question, while 68 percent of black voters disapproved as did 47 percent of Hispanic voters. The error margin for racial and ethnic subgroups is 5.7 percentage points.
Not to be Mr. Obvious or anything, but if Foxx can tightly sew together blacks, unions and liberals she has a very real path in a three-way primary.
* Meanwhile, this is probably a good move by Alvarez…
Cook County State’s Attorney Anita Alvarez slams Kim Foxx after the Foxx campaign launched a radio ad hitting Alvarez over the Laquan McDonald case, saying she failed to charge in the case for 400 days. Alvarez has contended she was working in concert with the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the period between the shooting and the release of the video. “It’s disappointing that Kim Foxx is running attack ads to score political points off the death of a teenager — in a case that Anita Alvarez has already charged after a joint investigation with the FBI and the US Attorney’s Office,” Alvarez campaign manager Mike Carson said in a statement to POLITICO.”
“Maybe Foxx wants to avoid a discussion about her real record of … raising the sales tax and using tax dollars to give out millions in political pay raises to her supporters. It’s time for voters to learn about the real Kim Foxx.” Given that Foxx is Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle’s chief of staff, it’s clear team Alvarez plans to lay Preckwinkle’s flip-flop tax hike at Foxx’s feet.”
THIRD CANDIDATE — Running in the three-way primary for Cook County State’s Attorney is Donna More. More announced Tuesday she is launching a month-long TV ad campaign. From More’s camp: “The effort includes a 30 second spot entitled ‘Anita Alvarez Must Go.’ The cable TV schedule that the campaign purchased will have both 30 and 15 second ads running in primetime and daytime … The ads are intended to draw a sharp distinction between the ‘justice delayed, justice denied’ term of incumbent Anita Alvarez and More’s qualifications for restoring the integrity of the State’s Attorney’s Office. Citing Alvarez’ misconduct, one of the ads says, ‘Anita Alvarez must go.’ The other is a 15 second spot that focuses on More’s plan for reducing gun violence.”
