* It’s been a bit slow on the blog today because I’m still kinda on spring break. Also, Gatehouse’s websites have been crashing my browsers all day and I’m about to lose my mind, which isn’t helpful for getting things done. I’m not sure what tomorrow will bring, either.
In addition to celebrating their 1971 masterpiece Sticky Fingers, the Rolling Stones will release a concert film of a London club gig they played the year that record came out. The release, From the Vault: The Marquee – Live in 1971, will be available on DVD, Blu-ray and digitally June 23rd, with some configurations featuring numerous Stones rarities.
The band performed the gig a few months before the release of Sticky Fingers and used the show to preview nearly half the album, including “Brown Sugar,” “Dead Flowers”… It also served as the first and only time the group played “I Got the Blues” live until dusting it off a handful of times for concerts in 1999.
* And from that new release, watch Mick Taylor wail through “Dead Flowers”…
A former top aide to now-resigned U.S. Rep. Aaron Schock said Tuesday that he will have to return to Springfield next month to testify at a grand jury investigating Schock.
Ben Cole, former communications director for the former congressman, was in Springfield because he had been subpoenaed to testify before the grand jury.
However, Cole said upon leaving the federal building Tuesday afternoon that a prior commitment limited the amount of time he had available to testify, so federal prosecutors allowed him to return to another grand jury session next month.
“The grand jury has been continued until next month,” Cole said. “Because of my tight travel schedule, the U.S. attorney has graciously allowed me to continue my testimony for another date.
The three staffers in Springfield were Mark Roman, Schock’s chief of staff; Ben Cole, Schock’s former communications director, and Bryan Rudolph, the manager of Schock’s district office in Peoria. […]
Cole said he was handed a subpoena March 19 by Springfield-based FBI agents who were in Washington to talk to potential witnesses.
The agents talked to him about his “work for the congressman” as well as asking questions about “the policies of the office.”
The speed with which the federal government has forged ahead with the grand jury has surprised insiders in Schock’s circle as well as onlookers in Washington. And the probe appears to be at full throttle. According to several people familiar with the matter, the government is homing in on his office’s finance and reimbursement practices.
Yeah, man. This is going really fast.
* Meanwhile, I’m told by US Sen. Mark Kirk’s people that Kirk has endorsed state Sen. Darin LaHood in the special election.
Springfield School Board member Adam Lopez says he wants to be the Democratic nominee in the coming special election to take the seat of former U.S. Rep. Aaron Schock, R-Peoria, in the 18th Congressional District.
“Some of my close friends have always known I want to run for Congress,” Lopez said Wednesday. He said he had planned on running for Illinois House against new state Rep. Tim Butler, R-Springfield, but his focus is on Congress now that Schock resigned.
Lopez, 32, a financial representative with County Financial — selling insurance and investment products — also said he has hoped to be able to keep that job and not take the $174,000 annual congressional salary, if that is allowed by Congress and his employer.
However, House ethics rules put a cap on outside income of House members, to $27,255 in 2015. And even if a member of the House were to return their salary, the cap would apparently still apply.
* As I told you before, Brian Hopkins is a friend of mine going back to our college days. We were actually roommates for a while. Brian won his 2nd Ward aldermanic race yesterday by a wide 56-44 margin.
Hopkins has always wanted to be in public service. He’s also an entrepreneur at heart (he’s owned a couple of restaurants), so that, in my opinion, gives him a good life balance.
Brian served as the executive director of the Illinois Coalition to End Homelessness and eventually went on to win the presidency of the highly influential Chicago community group SOAR, Streeterville Organization of Active Residents. He has both a sound philosophical grounding and an eagerness and ability to solve problems for his people.
But the political game is a lot about luck. Are you in the right district, in the right year, against the right opponent? Heck, people sometimes wait decades for an opportunity to present itself. Sometimes, it never does. Hopkins patiently bided his time, and when the new ward boundaries were drawn, he recognized the opportunity and carefully pieced together a battle plan and a core team, including a very capable fundraiser, Mia Phifer, who proved invaluable down the stretch when Hopkins’ opponent Alyx Pattison was raking in large union contributions.
* One of the issues that Pattison used against Hopkins was the involvement of Victor Reyes and Mike Noonan in Hopkins’ campaign. Hopkins’ benchmark polling, I’m told, showed that it wouldn’t move more than a handful of voters. Hopkins did retaliate, though, by dredging up the imprisonment of Congresscritter Jan Schakowsky’s husband Bob Creamer in a mailer. Schakowsky was one of Pattison’s most prominent backers. It was basically just a little “love tap” to show they were paying attention.
Pattison’s attacks actually backfired because, as the earlier polling had showed, voters didn’t care. Reyes was “Public Enemy Number One” for years among a certain crowd, but he hasn’t been in the news for ages. The attacks energized Reyes and Noonan, who ended up leaving nothing on the field. They put everything they physically had into that race.
* Reyes called me last night to sing the praises of two people. The first was 42nd Ward Ald. Brendan Reilly, an old friend of mine whom I endorsed during his first aldermanic race in my Sun-Times column.
Reyes said he’d run a lot of aldermanic races in his day, but he’d never seen any alderman work as hard to elect somebody else to the city council as Reilly did. Indeed, Ald. Reilly was an early Hopkins backer and pumped in a ton of money ($75K). The guy was absolutely relentless. He wrote the direct mail and produced the TV ads (something he did when he was on House Speaker Madigan’s staff).
Reilly also supplied Hopkins with a campaign manager, Matt Cain. Reilly and Cain were all-in. And not to take anything away from Hopkins, but there would probably not have been such a victory last night without those two very skilled men.
* Reyes said another hero was Kevin Fanning. You may remember Kevin because he was my intern several years ago.
After Kevin got his master’s degree from UIUC, he signed on with Reyes and Noonan. I had some trepidation about that. The Reyes stuff was still kinda fresh. I also wanted him to keep his promise to me that he’d go to law school. But I also knew that most of the attacks on Reyes were just plain goofy (and despite all the confident predictions from his detractors, Reyes emerged without a legal mark on him). And Kevin wanted to do it, so whatever. It’s his life, and he swore to me that he’d complete his law degree. Kevin ran the Jeffrey Tobolski campaign on behalf of Reyes and Noonan against Cook County Commissioner Tony Peraica, who most thought couldn’t be beat. As you may recall, Peraica lost and ended up being convicted for damaging a Tobolski campaign sign.
* Commissioner Tobolski hired Kevin after the campaign and it turned out that Brian Hopkins’ office was right next door. Brian was Cook County Commissioner John Daley’s chief of staff back then. So, I reached out to Hopkins and asked him if he’d please keep an eye out for my former intern. He went far beyond that, however, and became Kevin’s mentor. And when Brian left Commissioner Daley’s office to run for alderman, he recommended Kevin for the job.
Kevin was Hopkins’ original campaign treasurer, and he pushed hard to convince Reyes and Noonan to bring their considerable field operation to the Hopkins race. He eventually took a brief leave of absence from his county gig to work for Hopkins and helped finish the campaign, keeping the candidate motivated and focused on the specific tasks at hand 24/7.
Last week, Kevin was notified that he’d passed his state bar exam. This week, one of his most important mentors was elected to the Chicago City Council. Not a bad few days, if you ask me.
* I’ve known Mike Noonan since former state Rep. Clem Balanoff brought him to Springfield many, many moons ago. He rose through the House Democratic staff ranks and became a star.
Brendan Reilly was also on staff back then, and the two developed a strong rivalry. They seemed at times to be brothers fighting to be the favorite Madigan son. They were constantly griping about each other, while doing their best to outwork and out-succeed the other guy. It worked out great for Madigan, but some very hard feelings built up over the years.
Because of that, the two never worked together after they left the House, until the Hopkins race. From what I gathered, they worked quite well together and reestablished their old friendship. Both Reilly and Noonan sent me this photo of the two of them at the Hopkins victory party last night…
I don’t know if they’ll ever work together again, but if they do, watch out.
* Gov. Bruce Rauner expanded on yesterday’s remarks to the Daily Herald about how the Illinois Supreme Court was “corrupt,” too “activist” and biased…
Rauner, too, has pushed cutting pension benefits to help pull the state out of the red. But in a sign of his distrust of the court, he is talking about seeking a constitutional amendment in an attempt to get around language in the state constitution that holds public pension benefits cannot “be diminished or impaired.”
The justices on the high court signaled devotion to that language when they ruled in favor of retirees in a separate case last summer involving an attempt to make retirees pay more for their state-subsidized health care. The court ruled 6-1 that the language in the constitution was “aimed at protecting the right to receive the promised retirement benefits, not the adequacy of the funding to pay for them.”
Rauner told the Tribune on Monday he thought the court’s ruling in that case was “off base.” He said he wants to use a constitutional amendment to “end-run the years of lawsuits” that would come from his plan to reduce pension benefits.
“We can’t just let the Supreme Court decide these issues just with the vague language we’ve got now,” Rauner said. “I have no confidence.”
Rauner previously said he wanted to wait for the Supreme Court ruling on the 2013 law so that justices could provide guidance on whether pensions could be altered. Rauner has discussed a plan to grant current workers the benefits they are owed until July 1, then shift them all into a pension plan for newer employees with vastly reduced benefits.
“Vague language”? Is he kidding?
That language is perfectly clear and for a very good reason: The drafters specifically wanted to prevent bills like SB1 from passage. Period. End of story.
His problem isn’t with the Supreme Court, his problem is with the Illinois Constitution. OK, fine. But changing the Constitution can’t be done with a flick of a wrist. That’s a bigtime ask.
And, as a commenter pointed out yesterday, his previous talk about wanting to wait for the Supreme Court to give the other two branches some sort of direction forward was essentially asking the Supremes to be activist legislators and not simply justices ruling narrowly on the case directly in front of them.
But this guy just has to create strawman enemies. It’s his schtick. It ain’t gonna end. Ever.
* On WGN Radio this morning, Rauner said the Daily Herald took his comments out of context. He’s not just talking about the Supremes, Rauner said, he’s talking about the entire judicial branch, which can take campaign cash from lawyers who then argue cases in front of them.
That is a common critique of the judicial branch, but it’s also a a critique of the legislative and executive branches. Rauner, for instance, signed the Ameren/ComEd bill into law last week. Those companies give tons of campaign money to legislators and he just enabled and reinforced that entire process, regardless of the bill’s actual merits.
Only ideological amateurs and corrupt hucksters claim to be purists in this business. Let’s hope it’s the former with this governor and not the latter.
* Radar Online, a celebrity gossip site, claims to have obtained exclusive photos of former Gov. Rod Blagojevich…
The publication also claims that Blagojevich has suffered some sort of “breakdown” in prison, constantly mutters about President Obama, mostly keeps to himself and is somehow being protected by a Texas gang.
Weird stuff. Take it all with a grain of salt, but that pic sure does look like him.
Tuesday, Apr 7, 2015 - Posted by Advertising Department
[The following is a paid advertisement.]
Question: What do members of our congressional delegation, two former Obama Administration officials, a former Bush Administration official and a former U.S. Senator and Governor from a neighboring state all agree on?
Answer: Preventing the premature closure of Illinois’ nuclear energy plants is critically important to our environment and our economy.
• Former U.S. EPA Administrators Carol Browner and Christie Todd Whitman: “Nuclear Energy Is Critical to Fighting Climate Change.”
- Real Clear Energy, March 12, 2015
• U.S. Representatives Adam Kinzinger and Cheri Bustos: “Illinois Reps Urge Nuclear Solution.”
- The Times, March 4, 2015
• Former U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk: “Illinois Must Protect Its Nuclear Energy.”
- Daily Herald, February 13, 2015
• Former Indiana Governor and U.S. Senator Evan Bayh (D-Ind.): “Nuclear Energy Plants Well Worth Saving In Illinois.”
- Chicago Sun-Times, February 4, 2015
Illinois depends on reliable, clean-air energy from nuclear facilities to power Illinois and drive our economy. But three of Illinois’ six nuclear plants are at risk of closing prematurely, and the consequences of these closures would be catastrophic:
• $1.8 billion every year in lost economic activity
• Nearly 8,000 jobs
• Up to $500 million annually in higher energy costs statewide, according to a PJM analysis
• $1.1 billion per year due to increases in carbon and other pollutants
• Hundreds of millions of dollars to construct new transmission lines
Only one legislative solution - the Illinois Low Carbon Portfolio Standard (LCPS) - would help prevent these closures. The LCPS is good for Illinois consumers, good for our economy and good for our environment.
Members of the Illinois General Assembly:
VOTE YES ON HB 3293 / SB 1585
Tuesday, Apr 7, 2015 - Posted by Advertising Department
[The following is a paid advertisement.]
“ComEd has long believed that competitive markets will work in the best interests of our customers. So we are concerned about the negative impact on our customers from a requirement that would force utilities to buy subsidized generation at above-market prices.” (Crain’s, February 28, 2013)
Exelon’s Bailout Legislation is Gross Overreach- Exelon has asserted, but not proven, it needs a bailout for three of its Illinois nuclear facilities yet proposed a subsidy for all six Illinois nukes.
No Faith Based Bailouts - Exelon has refused to disclose any information to prove their plants will be in trouble.
Federal Bailout for Exelon Later this Spring – The coming grid auction, under new rules Exelon lobbied for, is expected to generate hundreds of millions of dollars per year for Exelon’s Illinois nuclear plants.
Ratepayer Impact Too Great – The Exelon legislation is going to cost struggling Illinois businesses and consumers $1.6 billion in rate increases over the next five years.
Proposed Solution Not “Market-Based” – The Exelon legislation contains restrictions to ensure only Exelon’s nuclear plants qualify.
Just say no to the Exelon Bailout! Vote no on SB 1585/HB 3293.
Rauner told the Daily Herald editorial board he’s working toward a different pension plan that seeks to break what he calls a “corrupt bargain” between union leaders and politicians who can get campaign money from them.
“I don’t trust the Supreme Court to be rational in their decisions,” Rauner said. “I think they’re activist judges who want to be legislators.”
Asked if the state Supreme Court is part of the same “corrupt” system, Rauner replied: “Yes, correct. Yes. Yes. We have a system where we elect our judges, and the trial lawyers who argue cases in front of those judges give campaign cash to those judges. It’s a corrupt system.” […]
“You tell me if you look at who gives them the money and you decide whether there’s a conflict of interest going on in the courts,” Rauner said. “You tell me. Do you think there’s not?”
I happen to think that we have a pretty good Supreme Court here. I’m not a big fan of much of the appellate bench, but the Supremes get a lot more right than they get wrong. Are there some questionable circumstances at the edges? Maybe, but how many Supreme Court justices have been sent to prison in Illinois’ history? Any? [Adding: OK, back in 1969] Now compare that to the other two branches.
And the “fix” Rauner wants is to allow himself to pick all Supreme Court and appellate judges. But they won’t be influenced by his kabillions?
* Rauner’s pattern is if he doesn’t like something then it’s corrupt. If he does like something, well, then it’s all about the 1st Amendment or some other holy writ.
I’d like to see the governor actually show us some history and some facts to back up his claims about this particular Supreme Court. But, really, this is just one more in a long line of over-blown comic book statements.
It also sets the stage for the failure of the pension law, which he can then blame on those evil unions.
…Adding… Rauner said this about Indiana and his own economic development plan, but it applies here as well…
“I am one of the baddest, you know, enemies anybody can have. And when I set a goal, we do it. I don’t care what the headline is. I want the results.”
“Well then, business will have to suffer, all right? And listen, do me a favor, Tom. No more advice on how to patch things up, just help me win, please. All right?”
…Adding More… From comments…
This isn’t political posturing, it’s destabilizing. This isn’t some person throwing accusations from the peanut gallery, this is the sitting Governor talking about his co-equal branch of government.
“No, no, no! No more! Not this time, Consigliere! No more meetin’s! No more discussions! No more Solozzo tricks! You give ‘em one message - I want Solozzo. If not, it’s all-out war, we go to the mattresses.”
Tuesday, Apr 7, 2015 - Posted by Advertising Department
[The following is a paid advertisement.]
My name is Wendy Warmowski. My son, Jacob, was a perfectly healthy, happy toddler until several medical errors changed his life forever.
Jacob was diagnosed with an ear infection and given antibiotics. When his antibiotic was nearly finished he took a turn for the worse. We eventually ended up in the ER.
At the ER, Jacob should have had immediate attention and care, but instead we waited. Jacob was eventually diagnosed with strep pneumomeningitis. The doctors ordered antibiotics to be given immediately, but instead we waited again. Because of the delay in treating Jacob he had 6 strokes, fell into a coma and had to have a tube placed down his throat to help him breath. The doctors told me Jacob might not ever wake up from the coma or come off of the ventilator.
Today, Jacob continues to have physical and mental issues. He has vision problems, balance difficulties, attention issues and epilepsy. He has to have special schooling and goes to occupational, physical and speech therapy several times a week.
The civil justice system allowed our family to hold the doctors responsible for their errors and delays that resulted in Jacob’s brain injury. Our settlement allows us to give Jacob the best care he could have so that he can live the best life he can. Trust me; I’d return it all to have that happy, perfectly healthy toddler back.
The Illinois Trial Lawyers Association fights to ensure all citizens get equal footing in the courtroom. To read more about Jacob’s story, click here.
The satellite TV industry in Illinois has started fighting a potential tax it says could add 5 percent to customers’ bills.
A specific proposal isn’t yet being broadcast in Springfield, but it has come up before. And satellite companies said they shouldn’t be taxed just because cable companies have to pay franchise fees with communities that let them use land to run their wires. […]
Cable providers have proposed the tax before saying it would help level the playing field for TV providers. Several years ago, it was approved by the Illinois Senate but didn’t advance further.
“We’re paying 5 percent for the cost of doing business,” Joe Hadley, President of the Cable Television & Communications Association of Illinois, said.
Cable TV companies pay a 5 percent franchise fee to operate in the state. However, McCabe noted that cable uses public rights-of-way for its technology.
“We don’t use the right-of-way,” she said. “It is not a loophole. It is a different technology.”
Mark Denzler, vice president and chief executive officer of the Illinois Manufacturers’ Association, said Illinois has a number of businesses that manufacture components for the satellite TV industry. He said the AMA is concerned that a tax on satellite TV could cost the industry customers and, consequently, hurt the businesses that produce the components.
Dan Clausner, executive director of the Illinois Licensed Beverage Association, said many bars and restaurants, particularly in rural areas, depend on satellite service to provide television in their establishments.
In all, the industry said it serves 1.3 million households in Illinois, which represents about one third of the homes that subscribe to television.
The idea is being bandied about by some as a possible revenue source for a new capital construction program. So…
* The Question: Should satellite TV users pay a 5 percent service tax to help fund a capital bill? Take the poll and then explain your answer in comments, please.
* The Tribune editorial board gushed all over Gov. Rauner today, calling his agenda “The Rauner Revolution”…
“We have a moral duty to have an efficient government. The tax money belongs to the taxpayers. It doesn’t belong to the bureaucracy, and government is not a welfare system.”
— Gov. Bruce Rauner to the Tribune Editorial Board, April 6, 2015.
The common gold-throated U.S. officeholder, politicianus americanus, enters conversations desperate to please you, the voter, right now. Ask about any substantive issue — immigration policy, coal standards, Asian carp — and you’ll often get an obsequious answer intended to convey empathy: “I share your concern about your issue. I’ve looked into it, and, um, everything should be on the table!”
Not so with the rookie governor of Illinois. Bruce Rauner sounds as if he wants to get to every issue, eventually. Now, though, he’s focused on precisely one item: an agenda he calls The Illinois Turnaround. He’s barnstorming the state this week, distributing thick binders and committing himself to transform our governments — especially the broke, broken one headquartered in Springfield.
* And, as usual, the Tribites ain’t worried about the details because WE HAVE A NEW SAINT…
We hope, though, that voters who elected him in November see the thrust of this agenda, if not its every jot and tittle, as a path to growing Illinois’ economy and thus its revenues.
Rauner says the package would save state and local governments money and would make the business climate in Illinois more competitive. But during the hourlong meeting, the rookie governor repeatedly steered discussion away from specifics, preferring instead to drive home his contention that “the system is rigged” against taxpayers and employers.
One such moment came when Rauner railed against public worker unions that donate heavily to further their political aims. Asked how he intended to get a ban on union campaign contributions through a legislature that is heavily backed by organized labor, Rauner pointed to the binders his staff had prepared.
“Read it,” he said. “Change the law … that’s what our proposal is.”
Pressed to explain, Rauner simply said: “Crisis. Crisis creates leverage.”
But specifics are important, because you gotta pass a bill. So let’s take a look.
Workers’ compensation is a no-fault system. To recover on a workers’ compensation claim, the employee bears the burden of showing s/he has sustained accidental injuries arising out of and in the course of employment.
Currently, if the employment is related at all to the injury, no matter how indirectly, the employee’s injury is compensable. If a work injury aggravates a pre-existing condition even slightly, the employer is 100% liable for the workers’ compensation claim.
Twenty-nine states have a higher causation standard than Illinois. Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma and Tennessee recently passed laws requiring the workplace to be the primary cause for workers’ compensation to be compensable. Florida’s major contributing cause standard is identical to the one we are proposing.
Proposal
• The causation standard should be raised from an “any cause” standard to a “major contributing cause” standard. The accident at work must be more than 50% responsible for the injury compared to all other causes.
* Some have the tiniest bits of meat added. For instance…
This legislation would repeal the Illinois Prevailing Wage Law. Projects funded by the federal government would still be subject to federal requirements, including the Davis-Bacon Act. Wages would also still be subject to generally-applicable state laws, such as the Illinois minimum wage. While home- rule local governments would be able to determine local prevailing wages, a local prevailing wage would not apply to a state-funded project (but a federal prevailing wage would continue to apply, if the project is federally funded).
This legislation would authorize local governments, acting through their governing bodies or by voter- initiated referenda, to exclude certain topics from collective bargaining. These topics include:
• Use of third-party contractors;
• Wages in excess of aggregate limits established by the local government;
• Health insurance benefits;
• Use of employee time for the business of the labor organization;
• Required levels of staffing;
• Procedures and criteria for personnel evaluations and use of seniority; and
• In the case of schools, curriculum or standards of student academic performance, conduct, and
discipline in school.
This legislation explicitly authorizes municipal bankruptcy. There are no requirements, pre-conditions or other limitations to a municipality’s access to Chapter 9 in the proposed legislation. The decision whether to file is left entirely up to a municipality.
Rep. Ron Sandack has already agreed to create some sort of board to help municipalities find a way out of bankruptcy. Rauner wants none of that.
• Starting in property tax year 2016, payable in 2017, all property tax extensions from local taxing districts will be equal to the extension from 2015.
• This will impact home rule and non-home rule units of government and both PTELL and non- PTELL counties.
• It will still be possible for a property owner to see fluctuations in property tax bills due to an increase/decrease in value, new construction or the expiration of a tax increment financing district.
• Through a referendum voters may decide to break through the property tax freeze.
And, “there’s no chance of the property tax freeze” Rauner wants to impose, [GOP state Sen. Dave Syverson] said, because “he’s already cutting funding for local government.”
State funding cuts are threatening services for people living with autism, as families who receive help through a program called the Autism Project say they will be devastated by its elimination.
The Autism Project says Gov. Bruce Rauner confirmed the decision to cut funding for the remainder of the 2015 fiscal year Thursday - on World Autism Day. […]
Help for autism is not covered under Medicaid.
Yes, let’s confirm our autism program elmination on World Autism Day! Hooray for us!
House Speaker Michael Madigan, D-Chicago, told lawmakers on the House floor in late March — before the House and Senate voted on a bipartisan plan to resolve the $1.6 billion shortfall — that state funding for TAP and many other programs for people with mental illness and developmental disabilities would be preserved this fiscal year.
The budget compromise included appropriation authority for TAP to operate through the close of the fiscal year, TAP officials said.
“It appears that Gov. Rauner has turned his back on the budget process for the remainder of this fiscal year, which he and legislative leaders negotiated and passed less than two weeks ago,” Bonanno said. “We can’t understand why he gave his word and then took this action.”
Madigan walked out on a limb, and Rauner sawed it off.
Wonderful.
* The autism cut was only part of a list of grants that Rauner’s administration cut or eliminated on Good Friday/Passover…
Gov. Bruce Rauner suspended $26 million in social services and public health grants as part of his push to whittle away at a $1.6 billion shortfall in the current state budget.
The Republican’s office released a list of targeted programs late Friday that included funding to pay for the funerals and burials of public-assistance recipients, smoking cessation, teen programs, autism, and HIV and AIDS programs, among other things. Rauner also froze $3.4 million in funding for immigrant integration assistance as part of his ongoing efforts to keep the state rolling through the June 30 end of the fiscal year. […]
“Part of the solution to solving the inherited $1.6 billion budget hole without raising taxes or increasing borrowing is to continue to evaluate the current fiscal year’s budget,” Rauner spokeswoman Catherine Kelly said. “The governor’s office worked with agencies to see which grants could be suspended and prioritized essential services.”
The cuts will save the state $21.8 million in Department of Human Services grants and $4.5 million in unexpended funding through the Department of Public Health.
Gov. Bruce Rauner’s recent suspension of state payments for indigent funerals will lead to delays in bodies being picked up from hospitals, nursing homes and morgues, funeral industry officials said Monday.
“You will see the coroner system holding bodies longer and funeral homes less able to do a removal if they don’t really know there’s a payment source,” said Jay Markwell, a funeral director from Casey and president of the Illinois Funeral Directors Association.
The Rauner administration informed the association a few days ago that it will stop paying claims submitted after Jan. 15 for funerals of public-aid recipients. The action is estimated to save $6.9 million in the current fiscal year and is part of $26 million in cuts Rauner announced last week.
Rauner has proposed zeroing-out funding for the program in fiscal 2016.
The state in recent years has paid between $10 million and $11 million annually for the program, which reimburses up to $1,103 for a funeral and about $500 for burial expenses for indigent clients. Between 8,500 and 9,900 funerals are covered each year.
That was by far the largest cut in Friday’s blood-letting.
“The suspension of grant funding for epilepsy, autism, developmental disabilities, and mental health programs is devastating to the individuals that rely on these services to receive effective medical treatment and care. These programs are designed to keep individuals out of the emergency room, employed, in school, and save the state millions of dollars in healthcare and disability costs. Elimination of these programs will only put individuals out of work, increase costs to state run medical care programs, and endanger the lives and well-being of hundreds of thousands Illinoisans living with developmental disabilities and mental health issues.”
Governor Rauner says some of the millions of dollars in state grants to social service agencies that he froze on Friday may begin flowing again.
But agencies that counsel drug addicts, the homeless, autistic people and others may need a little patience as the Rauner administration reviews the state’s budget that’s over a billion dollars short – for the period just until the end of June.
“So what I’ll do is just stop things, freeze it where we are today and then bring some thoughtful discipline to it and then free up the money and go back and reauthorize some grants, start spending a little bit more again but do it on a more thoughtful basis,” Rauner said.
The Republican says his management team is reviewing the grants and some could be reissued in days, others in a couple of months.
The former chairman of the legislative Black Caucus on Wednesday endorsed Mayor Rahm Emanuel in the April 7 runoff just six months after delivering a rare public tongue-lashing to the mayor and Chicago Police Supt. Garry McCarthy.
State Rep. Ken Dunkin (D-Chicago) acknowledged he has a contentious “history with the mayor,” particularly when it comes to crime statistics that on Wednesday showed a troubling spike in homicides and shootings during the first quarter of the year. […]
But he also argued that Emanuel has “grown” and “matured” after being forced to fight for his political life in Chicago’s first-ever mayoral runoff.
“You see him engaged a little differently [and] better. He’s out in the communities . . . I see him having two ears, instead of just one mouthpiece. The bottom line is, he is listening more and he’s gonna be that much better of a mayor going forward,” Dunkin said. […]
When Emanuel heard himself described as having “two ears, instead of just one mouthpiece,” he turned to Dunkin and joked, “Your time at the mike’s over.”
Heh.
But that’s not our quotable.
* The endorsement sparked some questions online about whether this was an official Legislative Black Caucus endorsement. It wasn’t, explained Chuy Garcia’s political director…
I think the phrase Clem may have been searching for was “Not the brightest porch light on the block,” but still…
* Paul F. Campos writes about the real reason behind skyrocketing college tuition in the New York Times..
For example, when I was an undergraduate at the University of Michigan in 1980, my parents were paying more than double the resident tuition that undergraduates had been charged in 1960, again in inflation-adjusted terms. And of course tuition has kept rising far faster than inflation in the years since: Resident tuition at Michigan this year is, in today’s dollars, nearly four times higher than it was in 1980.
State appropriations reached a record inflation-adjusted high of $86.6 billion in 2009. They declined as a consequence of the Great Recession, but have since risen to $81 billion. And these totals do not include the enormous expansion of the federal Pell Grant program, which has grown, in today’s dollars, to $34.3 billion per year from $10.3 billion in 2000. […]
Interestingly, increased spending has not been going into the pockets of the typical professor. Salaries of full-time faculty members are, on average, barely higher than they were in 1970. Moreover, while 45 years ago 78 percent of college and university professors were full time, today half of post-secondary faculty members are lower-paid part-time employees, meaning that the average salaries of the people who do the teaching in American higher education are actually quite a bit lower than they were in 1970.
By contrast, a major factor driving increasing costs is the constant expansion of university administration. According to the Department of Education data, administrative positions at colleges and universities grew by 60 percent between 1993 and 2009, which Bloomberg reported was 10 times the rate of growth of tenured faculty positions.
Even more strikingly, an analysis by a professor at California Polytechnic University, Pomona, found that, while the total number of full-time faculty members in the C.S.U. system grew from 11,614 to 12,019 between 1975 and 2008, the total number of administrators grew from 3,800 to 12,183 — a 221 percent increase.
* Greg Hinz looks at the various budget promises made by both Chicago mayoral candidates and concludes…
Ergo, after we see what each man can get out of Gov. Bruce Rauner—Emanuel’s list looks far more likely to me than Garcia’s—we’re back to the one revenue source that is absolutely within the control of the city: the property tax.
I can hear the screaming already. But for those who are upset, I would point you to a recent study by the Civic Federation about how, relative to property values, Chicago homeowners pay a third less than those who live in Evanston, barely half of what they get charged in Schaumburg or Oak Park, and half or less of what homeowners are dinged in Elgin, Aurora, Buffalo Grove and Joliet.
Either Chicago property taxes are going up, at least somewhat, or the city is going down. It’s that simple.
This annual report compares effective property tax rates in the six-county region of northeastern Illinois between 2003 and 2012. Effective tax rates for nearly all selected communities rose between 2011 and 2012, the most recent year for which data are available. Among the 12 selected Cook County communities, the Civic Federation found Harvey had the highest effective tax rate for residential properties at 8.87% in tax year 2012, while Chicago had the lowest residential rate at 1.84%.
Residential property tax rates in Chicago have risen by more than 30% since 2003, while all other selected communities in Cook County have experienced residential property tax increases of at least 55% over the ten year period. Commercial property tax rates also increased in the selected Cook County communities between 2003 and 2012, ranging from an increase of 4.1% in Evanston to an increase of 61.1% in Harvey.
* The AP looks at a questionable Aaron Schock campaign committee mileage reimbursement…
The political director of Schock for Congress, Karen McDonald Haney, received a payment of $4,755.40 on Dec. 20, 2014, labeled “mileage reimbursement” on campaign finance forms filed with the Federal Election Commission.
That payment to Haney, who also is a former political reporter at the Peoria Journal Star, is far larger than any of the travel reimbursements she was paid in February, March, April, July, August, September and October of last year, or four others recorded in September, November and December of 2013. The largest of those checks was $478.80, and appeared to cover all time between Dec. 18, 2013, and Feb. 21, 2014. […]
Travel to some political functions throughout the sprawling, 19-county district was standard with the position.
However, at the standard IRS mileage rate of 56.5 cents per mile in 2014, Haney’s December payment equates to 8,491.78 miles traveled — one-third of the circumference of the Earth. It equates to 157.25 miles per day, assuming she traveled on each of the 54 days between her Oct. 28 payment and the Dec. 20 check, including the Thanksgiving holiday.
That amount actually exceeds the amount on all checks labeled mileage on Schock for Congress disbursement records filed with the FEC for 2012 and 2013 combined, for all campaign staff. Those years together added up to $3,652.86. It also dwarfs the $1,996.51 Haney received in mileage reimbursements for the remainder of 2014.
