* One benefit of my vacation was avoiding DC’s debt ceiling nonsense. But now that Congress and the President appear to have struck a deal, my main concern is how this will impact Illinois. There isn’t much out there about the impact on states at the moment. I received this statement from Gov. Pat Quinn’s budget office, which hopes to have more later today or tonight…
We are pleased our leaders in Washington have reached a compromise as to avoid any disruption of government activities. We continue to closely monitor and prepare for the final results and are working with agencies to evaluate the potential outcomes that could affect job creation, Medicaid and our infrastructure.
Yeah. Not much.
* Most of the stories regarding the deal’s impact on the states are now outdated because they were filled with pure speculation. The deal itself was finally released to the public today and you can read the full text by clicking here.
* There are hints, but the actual cuts apparently won’t be known for some time. From Bloomberg…
States received about 35 percent of the $1.62 trillion spent during the 2010 budget year from the federal government, according to the National Association of State Budget Officers. The money is used for programs such as Medicaid, public works projects, and public schools. The debt-ceiling agreement requires Congress to cut $2.4 trillion from the federal deficit, including more than $900 billion in the next decade. […]
The debt-ceiling agreement doesn’t spell out how cuts are to be made, and much of that decision-making is left to a bipartisan congressional panel.
Outlays for discretionary programs, which include defense spending, would be cut by $741 billion.
On top of that, $156 billion would be saved because of reduced interest costs on the country’s debt. And $20 billion would be cut from education loan initiatives and by curtailing waste, fraud and abuse in other mandatory programs.
In terms of education spending, the bill would increase funding for Pell Grants by $17 billion between 2012 and 2015. It would also cut student loan funding by $22 billion over 10 years.
The spending caps in the bill would result in $21 billion in savings in the first year, and grow annually from there. By 2021, outlays would be reduced by $112 billion.
States get money from those “discretionary programs,” but, again, there are no details as of yet. States did get one spot of good news, assuming this thing passes…
Moody’s Investors Service said last month it was reviewing the top credit ratings of municipal borrowers, including the states of Maryland, Tennessee and South Carolina, because of the tussle over the federal government’s finances.
Michael Bird, who tracks federal affairs for the National Conference of State Legislatures, said that may be averted should the compromise pass.
* Related…
* Lack of pay for regional superintendents threatens start of school
* Rod Blagojevich’s sentencing hearing will start October 6th. The Sun-Times reports that Blagojevich plans to testify. For his sake, I certainly hope his lawyer’s comments are not a preview of that testimony…
Blagojevich was “a good, honest governor who tried to help the people of Illinois,” Sorosky said. “He cared about the ordinary guy.”
Unrepentant testimony like that could add more years to his sentence.
In Blagojevich’s case, sentencing at the hands of Judge James Zagel will also come on the heels of a 158-page motion, where the former governor and his lawyers argued that Zagel had his “thumb on the scales of justice” and that the judge’s rulings skewed heavily in favor of the prosecution.
“The motion basically states that we believe that many of Gov. Blagojevich’s constitutional rights were violated at trial, and that therefore he should receive a new trial,” Sorosky said.
Indeed, Blagojevich and his lawyers said categorically that Zagel had reneged on a promise to let Blagojevich testify to his own good intent. In his motion for a new trial, Blagojevich filed an affidavit stating that had he known he would not be allowed to make such claims, he never would have taken the stand.
“His defense to these charges is that he was operating in good faith at all times,” said attorney Lauren Kaeseberg. “And he should have been able to testify to that effect, tell the jury that he operated under good faith and the reasons that he believed he was operating in good faith.”
“And he wasn’t able to do that, and we believe that was not fair.”
The sentencing hearing could last two days, U.S. District Judge James Zagel said in setting the sentencing date, depending on the number of witnesses Blagojevich’s lawyers call to testify to his character and his accomplishments as governor.
That list of character witnesses can’t be very long. And since the disastrous fiscal impact of his gubernatorial reign will be felt for years to come, those who testify about his “accomplishments as governor” could be violating their oath to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth.
* Is he running for Congress or just paying off old debt? That’s the big question here…
State Sen. Chris Lauzen R-Aurora is considering a run against former Congressman Bill Foster in Illinois’ newly drawn 11th Congressional District.
In an undated fundraising letter, Lauzen invites supporters to a Summer Night in Chicago on Friday at the Union League Club featuring U.S. Rep. Joe Walsh, R-McHenry.
“Someday, if my neighbors agree, I hope to enter the national debate in Congress,” Lauzen’s fundraising letter states.
“The first requirement is for me to raise $150,000. It’s a gruesome amount of money, but it represents only a down payment against the millions that Foster has already spent and will spend to win.”
Lauzen says he still has about $135K in old federal debt from his 2008 congressional bid…
“No matter what I do in my future, I have to pay back for the past,” Lauzen said. “I’m saying I’m exploring it [a congressional run] but if there is any future opportunity, I have to take care of that past obligation.”
It’s possible that Judy Biggert could run in the 11th, which would set up an interesting primary if Lauzen decides to get into the race. Lauzen, however, is also looking at running for Kane County Board Chairman. He says he’ll make his announcement at his annual fundraiser on August 13th.
* Meanwhile, state Rep. Karen Yarbrough wants to be slated for countywide office…
State Rep. Karen Yarbrough, whose 7th District includes Forest Park, confirmed that she is planning to run for the Cook County recorder of deeds when the 2012 election rolls around.
Yarbrough told the Forest Park Review on Friday that she is looking to be slated by the Cook County Democratic Party as a candidate for the office, which has been held by Gene Moore since 1999. Yarbrough, a 10-year state representative, sits on the executive board of the county’s Democratic Party; but a party representative would not confirm Yarbrough was being considered.
“It’s certainly a rumor,” said Kelley Quinn, a spokeswoman for the county’s party. “Everybody will be heard and considered.”
Quinn said it was way too early to be thinking about slating and noted the process doesn’t even begin until October. […]
Furthermore, rumors have circulated that Moore will be retiring, although his office did not return calls for confirmation. Yarbough said it was her understanding that he would be leaving the position. His Maywood home is currently under foreclosure and he owes some $78,000 in back payments the Chicago Tribune reported last month.
* I was talking with a Republican last night about the paucity of potentially strong Democratic candidates to run against GOP Congressman Tim Johnson in the newly redrawn 13th District. That the DCCC is apparently recruiting a candidate from tiny Greene County seems a bit odd…
Greene County State’s Attorney MATT GOETTEN is looking at a possible a run for the U.S. House in the new 13th Congressional District, which includes much of Springfield.
Goetten, a Democrat, said he hadn’t been considering a run until he was contacted by someone from the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee within the last couple of weeks.
Now, said Goetten, 39, of rural Carrollton, “I have been giving it some serious consideration.”
Goetten comes from a politically involved family. A younger brother, BENJAMIN GOETTEN, is Jersey County state’s attorney, and their father, NORB GOETTEN, was not only Greene County state’s attorney from 1972 to 1991, but director of the Illinois State’s Attorneys Appellate Prosecutor from 1991 to 2008. He continues to practice law.
Another day passes; another appointment is made by Gov. Pat Quinn of someone with powerful connections.
The latest appointee to raise eyebrows is Jennifer Burke, who Quinn selected for a seat on the Illinois Pollution Control Board, where she’ll make $117,043. […]
The name “Burke” might sound familiar to those of you who follow Chicago politics. Her father is the powerful Chicago Alderman Ed Burke. That raises the question of whether the daughter of an alderman should be working in a well-paid position for the city, but we suspect he’s not the only alderman with a relative working for the city — and our concern is the state of Illinois. […]
The Friends of Edward M. Burke campaign fund has donated $52,000 to Quinn since he became governor in January 2009 and loaned Quinn’s campaign $200,000 during his race for governor last year. Quinn said the campaign contributions had nothing to do with his decision.
* The Question: Do you think gubernatorial appointments like Burke’s are corrupt, or is the media overreacting? Take the poll and then explain your answer in comments, please. Thanks.
* The Executive Ethics Commission has released its ruling on Gov. Pat Quinn’s former chief of staff Jerry Stermer…
A senior adviser to Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn has been fined $500 for sending a political email from a state telephone. […]
Stermer was the Democratic governor’s chief of staff in January 2010 when he reported that he’d sent the questionable emails the previous month.
The commission determined one email from his state phone was to campaign staffers. The other two were sent from a private computer on a Sunday.
One campaign e-mail that Stermer reported himself, not the three that Stermer initially believed. Stermer’s disclosure led to an eight-month investigation by the Office of Executive Inspector General, who looked at every e-mail the guy ever sent. Stermer resigned when the results of the investigation were apparently leaked by an inspector general who was about to be replaced.
I sure hope the OIEG’s office has learned something from this ridiculous case.
* This didn’t get a lot of play during my break, but CME Group sure seems to be sounding more serious about moving out of Illinois…
CME Group Inc. is evaluating whether to move some operations to other states from Chicago to reduce its taxes, but it has not decided on an exact timeline, CEO Craig Donohue said Thursday.
“Our tax situation is untenable,” Donohue told Reuters, noting that CME is taxed more heavily than any of its global competitors. The company is talking with at least three states — Texas, Florida and Tennessee — about relocating some of its business to take advantage of lower tax rates there, Donohue said. […]
CME has no specific time frame for moving, Donohue said, and does not plan to shut its Chicago-based trading floor. But he said the possibility of moving other operations is real.
“I don’t think CME group is different from other companies” that relocate to more “hospitable” business environments, he said.
* The vacation was so relaxing that I extended it a few extra days. Everybody’s probably focused on the DC train wreck anyway.
* Sen. Susan Garrett has often told me that she is a big fan of our traditional Friday afternoon music video sign-off. Since she announced her retirement this week, I decided to let her pick today’s song…
* Freshman Congressman Joe Walsh’s biggest obstacle to reelection is the Republican primary next year. Unless the new map is tossed out by the courts, he’ll most likely be up against fellow freshman Republican Randy Hultgren. Whoever wins that primary will almost assuredly win in November.
Walsh, who won a fluke election against Democrat Melissa Bean last year, has brilliantly played to his hardcore base this year with multiple appearances on national cable TV shows. He has displayed an enormous talent for delivering red meat, made-for-cable rants against President Obama. Democrats and moderate independents may be horrified with Walsh’s rather odd schtick, but this is all about the 2012 primary. Up until now, I’ve considered him the odds-on favorite against Hultgren, an equally conservative, but camera-shy and soft-spoken tea partier.
Freshman U.S. Rep. Joe Walsh, a tax-bashing Tea Party champion who sharply lectures President Barack Obama and other Democrats on fiscal responsibility, owes more than $100,000 in child support to his ex-wife and three children, according to documents his ex-wife filed in their divorce case in December.
“I won’t place one more dollar of debt upon the backs of my kids and grandkids unless we structurally reform the way this town spends money!” Walsh says directly into the camera in his viral video lecturing Obama on the need to get the nation’s finances in order. […]
In court documents, after his ex-wife, Laura Walsh, asked a judge to suspend his driver’s license until he paid his child support, Joe Walsh asks his ex-wife’s lawyer: “Have you no decency?”
Joe Walsh’s attorney, R. Steven Polachek, called the claim of a $117,437 debt “unfounded. […]
Before getting elected, he had told Laura Walsh that because he was out of work or between jobs, he could not make child support payments. So she was surprised to read in his congressional campaign disclosures that he was earning enough money to loan his campaign $35,000.
“Joe personally loaned his campaign $35,000, which, given that he failed to make any child support payments to Laura because he ‘had no money’ is surprising,” Laura Walsh’s attorneys wrote in a motion filed in December seeking $117,437 in back child support and interest. “Joe has paid himself back at least $14,200 for the loans he gave himself.”
Walsh’s most fervent supporters will undoubtedly dismiss this story as a “liberal media” attack on their firebrand hero. But it won’t take too many more reports like this to give Hultgren the campaign ammunition he needs to make Walsh a one-termer. Walsh’s curious ability to find money for expensive houses and large campaign loans have never been fully explained, so I expect there will be more follow-up, particularly since he has attempted to become a national spokesperson for the Obama opposition.
Also, this is Illinois. We have a long moderate tradition here (moderate meaning “temperament” rather than actual voting records). His over the top act could easily grow stale, particularly if it’s undermined by personal integrity questions.
*** UPDATE *** From a press release…
Congressman Walsh Statement on Chicago Sun-Times Hit Piece
WASHINGTON –It is not lost on me that a court case filed almost 8 months ago regarding a marriage that ended more than 8 years ago would be brought up today. We are 72 hours away from one of the biggest decisions our country has to make about its financial future. I understand why this is a story and why the media has to ask me about it. I understood as a candidate, and I understand as a sitting member of Congress that the scrutiny of my personal life will be intense. This is a tough business. It’s also not lost on me that not everyone agrees with me politically, I am the tip of the spear in this current debate, and I will be attacked.
Let me say this. I love all the members of my family past and present. I’ve always given everything I have to meet my financial obligations to my children and I will fight until my last breath against anyone who says otherwise. My children are truly the treasure of my life, which is why I’ve been trying to resolve this issue since January in a court of law, rather than drag my children into it. That is the appropriate venue and I will not discuss this private family issue in public.
The people of Illinois’ eighth congressional district voted for me not because I’m wealthy but because they wanted a fighter in Washington. They did not vote for me because I was a career politician, but because they wanted one of them as their Representative in DC. They wanted someone to stand up to Washington and tell them the spending has to stop. This morning that is exactly what I am going to continue to do.
I have tried to be the most accessible Congressman on the planet and I will continue to do so moving forward. These latest attacks against me are false and I will fight them in the appropriate venue. And as your Congressman I promise you that I am going to put my head down, get back to work and continue to fight for our freedoms and our children’s future. I’m not going to let some hit piece in the media deter me from that.
