* 3:41 pm - Striking unions have split management in two. Pretty good move on their part and will certainly help their PR battle. From a press release…
Early this morning, the International Union of Operating Engineers Local 150 and the Laborers’ District Council of Chicago & Vicinity reached a tentative three-year agreement with the Chicago Area Independent Contractors Association (CAICA), one of the four major employer associations that bargain on behalf of construction contractors in the Chicago metropolitan area. Once ratified by union members and delegates, this contract would provide annual increases of approximately 3.25 percent over the next three years to cover skyrocketing healthcare and benefit costs.
“This tentative three-year contract with CAICA will protect the healthcare and benefits of the Unions’ members and get hundreds of contractors back to work,” said James M. Sweeney, President-Business Manager of Local 150. “There are about 1,300 small and medium sized contractors in the area that will likely be eligible to sign on to this agreement.”
More than 450 employers are currently signed to the CAICA agreement, and others will be able to sign a “memorandum of agreement,” making them signatory. MARBA currently has nearly 200 association members, who will not be eligible to transfer their bargaining rights to CAICA.
After MARBA delayed further negotiations until July 19th, it became apparent that MARBA’s strategy was likely not only to starve out union members, but also drive small and medium sized contractors out of business by prolonging the work stoppage for longer than these independent contractors can survive.
“There are a lot of contractors out there who don’t agree with MARBA’s stall tactics because it will put them out of business,” said James Connolly, Business Manager of the Laborers’ District Council of Chicago & Vicinity. “Our union members are not the only ones struggling during this strike. Plenty of contractors are asking MARBA to stop playing games and negotiate a settlement. This newly-signed agreement was negotiated with this in mind and will give many contractors the opportunity to get back to work.”
Still, the Unions’ offer to push up the negotiation date with MARBA stands. “We reiterate our willingness to meet day or night to work toward an agreement with MARBA,” said Sweeney. “To sit and wait until next Monday to negotiate is a colossal waste of time, and many independent employers agree with us on that, so signing on to CAICA’s agreement gives them an alternative to waiting for MARBA to take this situation seriously.”
This agreement further illustrates the fact that what the Unions have proposed in negotiations with MARBA is reasonable. In recent weeks, agreements have been reached in Peoria, the Quad Cities, Northwest Indiana, and throughout the construction industry in Northern Illinois for economic packages comparable to what the Unions have proposed to MARBA, and which far exceed what MARBA has offered.
The tables may have been turned here. Your thoughts?
* For decades, folks on the Left complained that whenever they staged a march/protest/event the media would always seem to key in on their craziest speakers or their weirdest participants. The tea party folks are experiencing that same thing now. It’s the nature of the media beast. Crazy sells.
[Bill Brady] prefers the Tea Parties of rural Illinois to the coffee shops of Chicago.
Brady attended a Tea Party in Oglesby on Tuesday night. Like most of the right-wing bloodfeasts he holds south of I-80, it wasn’t reported on in the Chicago media. One of Brady’s biggest challenges as a candidate is to balance his native conservatism with a message that will sell across the entire state. For every LaSalle voter who jumps to his feet as Brady rails against illegal immigration, Brady is in danger of losing three or four voters in Cook County.
“Right-wing bloodfeasts”? Wow. That rhetoric is more worthy of a second-tier Daily Kos blogger than a major Chicago media outlet.
Beverly Perlson of Aurora, organizer of Band of Mothers, a support group for soldiers, spoke [at the Brady event]. Perlson said she protested in Washington D.C. with a sign that said, “Al Qaeda loves Nancy Pelosi.” Perlson said Obama has been “going around the country and telling everyone we are not a Christian nation.”
And expanded a bit on the local story…
The event’s coordinator gave Brady a copy of The Five-Thousand Year Leap , a book by the late anti-communist W. Cleon Skousen, asserting that the United States is a Christian nation founded on Biblical principles. Conservative commentator Glenn Beck has cited the book as one of the biggest influences on his own philosophy. Publishers of The Conservative Magazine of Illinois circulated through the crowd, signing up subscribers with an offer of two tickets to hear Beck in Chicago.
Brady, a businessman from Bloomington, defended the Tea Party. “Some people say ‘ah, it’s just a fringe group.’ Continue what you’re doing and go out and recruit more people.”
Sorry, dude. Perlson is obviously a fringe type. And at least some of those types are active in Brady’s campaign…
It wasn’t hard to find political extremists in the crowd, however. From her seat at a picnic table near the speakers, Streamwood resident Mary Ann McKiernan attacked Obama’s citizenship and denied he is the nation’s president.
“We don’t have a president, we have a usurper,” said McKiernan, who identified herself as a volunteer with the Brady campaign.
“Obama will be judged on his actions and if I were him I’d just provide the proof. One action he should do is provide the proof. I really haven’t seen any proof, but I haven’t been following this issue closely.”
* Brady needs to study how the Chicago media burned Glenn Poshard for his social conservatism back in 1998. He should learn from Poshard’s mistakes. Speaking at these tea party events is just the ammo they need - and are looking for - to sink the battleship.
You wanna be inclusive? Hold inclusive events. You wanna improve GOP performance in Cook County? Dump the crazy rhetoric. You can be angry without being a nutball. Brady is walking right into a trap of his own making. The media isn’t gonna change, so he must.
* We’ve seen a lot of back and forth this week over whether six “satellite” offices established by Treasurer Alexi Giannoulias and his chief of staff Robin Kelly (who is running to replace her boss) are worthwhile or not. From the Sun-Times…
State Sen. Dan Rutherford doesn’t believe State Treasurer Alexi Giannoulias and his deputy and heir-nominee Robin Kelly can open six satellite offices around the state without it costing the state any money.
“They say they’re using state office buildings so they are not getting charged rent,” said Rutherford, the Republican nominee for state treasurer. “We’re closing down Department of Children and Family Services offices across the state, five state police headquarters. If there is space in these regional offices, let them use it.”
A spokeswoman for Kelly, who is running to succeed her boss as state treasurer, said that since Treasurer’s employees no longer have to drive out to remote locations, the satellite offices actually save the state $30,000 a year.
But why does the state treasurer even need satellite offices, Rutherford asked Tuesday.
“I cannot think of one thing worthwhile,” Rutherford said. “They say it’s for ‘outreach, public awareness…’ There’s nothing the consumer needs at offices for the Treasurer. For people to come in and talk about Bright Start, Cash Dash? All of that stuff is on-line. And if it’s not, it should be. At the Thompson Center, there are people waiting at Attorney General’s office the Secretary of State’s office, but there’s not one soul waiting at the Treasurer’s office.”
The two candidates debated this week and longtime commenter and blogger bored now has video of the two going at it over this issue…
Frankly, even if this saves $30,000 a year as Kelly claims, I still think it’s awfully suspect that they would be opening one of those offices in the Metro East a few months before the election.
* Kelly also defended her office over the Bright Start debacle. Kelly claimed that just 3 percent of Bright Start participants all of their money in the fund that crashed and claimed they got all but 36 percent of their money back. Rutherford wasn’t impressed. Watch…
Kelly also answered questions about who was minding the store while both she and her boss ran statewide and how she was separating her work from her campaign…
* Related…
* Treasurer candidates wrangle at Southland chamber debate
* Rutherford Thinks Treasurer Has Too Many Offices
* Galesburg Mayor Garza backs Dem. treasurer candidate
* Many of you know Matt Ryan, a longtime political operative who is chief of staff to Will County Executive Larry Walsh. Matt is very sick. He’s been back in the hospital for a while and he lapsed into a coma last week. Matt hasn’t stabilized enough yet for the doctors to move him to a bigger hospital, but his wife Angela is updating his condition on a personal blog supplied by the hospital…
Today they took him off the ventilator and he is breathing all on his own.
He has also opened his eyes completely, but does not respond to verbal command as of yet. Our hopes are real soon.
All of the tests continue to come back negative and he is stable. I am awaiting (constant waiting) for the doctors to come and visit for updated information. Dr. Schubert (primary) is the one that has the authority to move him and I know he is already on board for Matt to move to University of Chicago Hospital.
I’ve known Matt for years, as many of you have. Like everyone in politics, he’s made his share of enemies, but I’m positive that even his worst enemy is rooting for him right now. I can’t remember a time when he wasn’t smiling. Even when we argued (and we had some doozies), he’d always be smiling by the end. He’s just a good guy through and through, and he’s a devoted husband to Angela, who I’m sure is devastated by this turn of events.
If you know Matt, take the time to leave him a message here in comments. Angela knows about this post, so she’ll be checking in and hopefully she can read them to him. And if you don’t know him, wish him well anyway. Take my word for it, your karma/prayers/goodwill won’t be wasted on him.
This post replaces our usual “Question of the Day,” so have at it.
llinois voters would no longer have to declare their party in a primary election under a surprise amendatory veto Gov. Quinn issued Tuesday.
Under new rules pushed by Quinn, voters would be handed the ballots of Republicans, Democrats and whatever other parties have primary contests. Voters then would privately choose which ballot to fill out.
No one but the voter would know which party’s primary they voted in. Voters would not be able to vote in more than one party’s primary… Quinn said the bill will end the era of party bosses being able to check whether voters, and especially government employees, voted in the “right” party’s primary.
Quinn, who grew up in DuPage County, said “that county, when I was growing up, was quite Republican.” He added he remembered “some people being afraid to vote in the Democratic Primary.”
However, in addition to simply allowing voters to choose between ballots privately, Collins advocated for taking the measure a step further to allow selection of candidates running in more than one party primary.
“If there’s a good candidate for high office from one party, and from another, I shouldn’t have to choose,” he said.
The specific privacy interest at issue is not the confidentiality of medical records or personal finances, but confidentiality of one’s party affiliation. Even if (as seems unlikely) a scheme for administering a closed primary could not be devised in which the voter’s declaration of party affiliation would not be public information, we do not think that the State’s interest in assuring the privacy of this piece of information in all cases can conceivably be considered a “compelling” one. If such information were generally so sacrosanct, federal statutes would not require a declaration of party affiliation as a condition of appointment to certain offices.
* House GOP Leader Tom Cross just sent out a press release on the subject…
“Primary elections historically draw low voter turn-out partly because some are hesitant to publically declare their party. Some voters actually fear for their jobs and others just view it as an invasion of their privacy.
“Governor Quinn’s Illinois Reform Commission last year recommended that primaries should be open to combat patronage and prevent intimidation of public employees by party leaders.
“I agree that an open primary system is the best way to protect the voters’ right to keep their vote private. Speaker Madigan’s staff says they have this issue under review. In my opinion, a voters’ right to privacy is fundamental and must be protected. But this is only one piece of the election reform puzzle, House Republicans have also supported recall, and special elections for U.S. Senate seat vacancies, and imposing campaign finance caps on legislative leaders and party chairman – it is time to make a clean break from the past.”
Illinois Republican Party Chairman Pat Brady said he thinks an open primary might help Republicans. He thinks taking away patronage might allow some voters to vote their consciences and not vote to keep their jobs.
State Rep. Mike Tryon, R-Crystal Lake, said the governor’s plan would do more to influence elections in Illinois than anything legislators have done in years.
“(An open primary) will triple the cost of an election,” Tryon said. “Because now, instead of worrying about getting your own voters out in a primary, you’re now going to have to mail and campaign to the other party. And the other party may not have pure intentions.”
Tryon, who is also the head of the McHenry County Republican Party, said political operatives could use an open primary to thin out the competition.
“You’re going to have Democrats and Republicans, and Libertarians and Green Party (voters) crossing into each others’ primary, saying I’m going to vote against this guy or I’m going to vote for this guy so this guy doesn’t get the nomination - so our guy has a better chance,” he said.
While Illinois continues its biggest borrowing spree in recent years, it is paying a steep premium for loans because of its failure to significantly address its financial crisis, observers say.
In peddling another $900 million in Build America capital projects bonds on Wednesday, Illinois could face interest costs of about $9 million a year more than if the state were in better financial shape. The extra costs would total about $225 million over the life of the bonds.
The annual hit may not seem like a huge sum compared with the state’s $25 billion budget. But it’s more than Gov. Pat Quinn’s $8 million in cuts to the Department of Natural Resources, for example, or his $8 million in cuts for veterans programs.
And while I sometimes disagree with Laurence Msall, he’s on target here…
“The financial uncertainty of the state and the continued failure of the General Assembly and the governor to address the problem are having very negative consequences for the business climate,” said Laurence Msall, president of the nonpartisan Civic Federation. “Businesses are not willing to invest in a state when they cannot predict the long-term tax policy and fiscal conditions.”
Businesses want stability. Illinois’ government is completely in doubt at the moment. Because Bill Brady isn’t the best candidate the GOP could’ve fielded, nobody really knows what will happen in November. And that means nobody knows what will happen after that in Springfield. The impeachment and removal of Rod Blagojevich has put everything on hold because the current governor has no public mandate for his budget proposals. Nobody voted for higher taxes last time, except maybe that ten percent who cast their ballots for Rich Whitney. More from Miles White, chairman of Abbott Park, Illinois-based Abbott Laboratories…
To address its budget crisis, state officials need to cut spending, especially by finding ways to reduce their commitment to employee pensions, said White, the Abbott chairman. Even if a commitment to cutting spending is demonstrated, they may still need to raise taxes to help eliminate the deficit, he said.
It’s not that they’re wholly opposed to tax hikes, it’s that they want to know what the heck they can expect to see.
* And I’ve been wondering a whole lot lately whether this sort of thinking is just wishful fantasy…
“You can’t afford to decimate the social safety net or fire all the two-year teachers,” meaning the most recent recruits, said Vaught in a phone interview. “You have to use strategic borrowing until times get better.”
But what if things don’t get better for a few or more years? Can we afford to keep this base spending at these levels and pay off the accumulated debt when things turn around? I’ve heartily fought this goofy “Illinois is Greece” comparison, but without a much faster turnaround than anyone is predicting, this spending is simply not sustainable.
I think what we need to do soon is come up with a list of programs that could be cut or should be preserved and ask all gubernatorial candidates whether they’d be in favor of cutting any or all of them and why. Maybe that’s too detailed for campaigns to deal with, but we need to do something here, so let’s put our heads together today and talk about this.
In answering a question, Brady said he would support shifting social welfare funding to business training in low income neighborhoods.
Thoughts?
* Related and a roundup…
* John Cullerton: Senate Dems have provided Quinn new budget tools
* Lending crisis may hit libraries - Funding cuts put interlibrary loans at risk
* Brady heats up local Tea Party: “We can only bring jobs back to the state by sustained revenue growth through deregulation and lower taxes, not by additional burdens on our citizens and businesses.”
* River Forest plans sales tax referendum in November
* Don’t kill the messenger: Don’t blame the schools. Don’t blame City Hall. Don’t blame the County or the cops. The elimination of programs, the layoff of staff, the decisions not to replace or repair, all falls at the feet of our State Legislature and Governor Pat Quinn. It really is that simple.
* Is 30 million pounds a lot of carp? Yes: The upside? Creation of 180 new jobs. Export revenues for Illinois. And fewer carp. To be precise, 30 million fewer pounds of carp by the end of 2011.
Since launching his campaign, Kirk has come under sharp criticism for exaggerating his military accomplishments, repeatedly choosing to emphasize the few “Top Gun” moments in a 21-year Reserve career that has been spent almost entirely focused on office work.
But an Associated Press review of Navy personnel documents — as well as interviews with former colleagues, commanders and experts — shows Kirk has been an exceptional officer entrusted with vital, sensitive duties. His work was important but not glamorous.
If Kirk had limited his statements to his actual military record, he would not have lacked for achievements to brag about.
During the Kosovo bombing campaign, for instance, Kirk stayed behind at a base in Italy to study data and prepare briefings while the pilots of his unit, known as the “Star Warriors,” were in the air.
But instead of describing his actual duties when talking to voters, Kirk has talked about encountering anti-aircraft fire over Kosovo on what he called his “first mission.” But it was his only flight, and he was just an observer.
It seems to me that Kirk always needs to be the smartest and bravest person in the room. We all have friends with that annoying habit of trying to top every story that everybody tells. Kirk’s problem is he ventures into taboo territory with his false braggadocia about military exploits that never existed. He’s a Commander McBragg for our times…
* And as I’ve written before, once you get the reputation for being dishonest, you’ll have an extremely difficult time overcoming it. From the Sun-Times…
Just when you thought Mark Kirk couldn’t be more disingenuous.
The Republican Senate candidate who tried to pass off a series of exaggerations in his military record as honest errors now is smearing his Democratic opponent, Alexi Giannoulias, with a blatantly misleading TV ad that links him to the Gulf oil spill.
Usually, that ad would’ve been debunked and people would’ve moved on. Considering the press coverage Giannoulias was getting before Kirk’s problems were exposed, the ad might’ve even been ignored. Instead, it now becomes a character issue for Kirk…
And what do we call a candidate who thinks the voters are too stupid to see the truth for what it is?
* For almost two years now, Rod Blagojevich has said he is completely innocent of all charges, that he never did anything wrong, that he was “stolen” from the people by a too-aggressive prosecutor, that the surveillance tapes would prove everything.
The trial of embattled former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich shifts to the defense team this week. Federal prosecutors wrapped their case Tuesday after six weeks of putting on evidence in the racketeering and extortion case against Mr. Blagojevich, attempting to portray him as a crass negotiator who inappropriately secured millions for his own campaign and spent lavishly on his wardrobe.
The defense strategy will not downplay Blagojevich’s actions, but focus on his intent.
His legal team, headed by Sam Adams Sr. and Sam Adams Jr., a well-known father-and-son duo in the city’s county court system, hope to convince jurors that the former governor knew what he was doing but was misguided, due to the poor legal advice from his inner circle.
So, a guy who gets elected to governor twice on the issue of George Ryan’s corruption, who is a lawyer and a former prosecutor is now saying he just did stupid things because of bad legal advice? I’m with Zorn. This situation does remind me of a certain Seinfeld episode…
Mr. Lippman: It’s come to my attention that you and the cleaning woman have engaged in sexual intercourse on the desk in your office. Is that correct?
George Costanza: Who said that?
Mr. Lippman: She did.
George Costanza: [pause] Was that wrong? Should I not have done that? I tell you, I gotta plead ignorance on this thing, because if anyone had said anything to me at all when I first started here that that sort of thing is frowned upon… you know, cause I’ve worked in a lot of offices, and I tell you, people do that all the time.”
Contrary to popular wisdom, “sometimes ignorance of the law is an excuse,” said Northwestern University law professor Albert Alschuler. He mentioned tax- and mail-fraud cases in which the “good faith” defense has prevailed. But to invoke “an ‘advice of counsel’ defense” that blames bum attorneys for one’s misdeeds, Alschuler said, a defendant has to show, among other things, “a request for advice of counsel regarding the legality of the proposed action.”
Alschuler added that “if any lawyer ever did” explicitly give the thumbs-up to some of the Blagojeviches’ alleged schemes and shakedowns, “it wouldn’t have been reasonable to rely on his advice.”
Especially since his predecessor was and is in prison for using the power of the governor’s office for personal gain.
This defense strategy relies far more on skillful argument to the jury at the end of the case than it does on the introduction of more evidence and testimony. Each new witness, particularly those with the last name Blagojevich, will come to the stand dragging a keg — not just a can — of worms ready to be opened.
But when he takes the witness stand, a promise that Adam renewed Tuesday, the former governor will contend he thought he was acting within the law when he did those things.
In other words, he thought it was OK to direct others to try to wring campaign donations from the CEO of Children’s Memorial Hospital at the same time he was in discussions with that same CEO on a government policy change worth up to $10 million annually to the hospital, so long as he didn’t explicitly connect the two subjects in direct contacts with the hospital.
The same would go for his attempts to extract campaign donations from road-building and racetrack industry executives while holding hostage matters of importance to them — and maybe even for his ill-fated effort to get some personal benefit from filling Barack Obama’s U.S. Senate seat.
* Cook County: We can’t afford to police towns — unless they pay
Squeezed by budget cuts, several suburban police departments have talked with Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart’s office about policing their towns — but Cook County Board members say those law enforcement agencies would have to cover the costs and get county board approval.
The county board typically endorses the president’s nominations, but some commissioners told the Sun-Times last week they were balking at the appointment of Williams.
Cook County suburbs looking to save money by dropping their police departments and handing over law enforcement to the sheriff would be out of luck under a measure the County Board approved Tuesday.
The resolution, approved with only one commissioner voting against, opposes allowing the sheriff’s department to take over primary police responsibilities in municipalities, as it did in Ford Heights. To hammer home the point, the measure states that no new funding will be provided for such efforts.
The symptoms are troubling: Thousands of impoverished patients rely for their health care on Cook County facilities that don’t match their needs and that cost more than taxpayers can sustain.
The prognosis, though, has brightened. Apply the right treatments and everyone could win — the county health system’s patients, the underused infrastructure and the taxpayers who pay for it all.
* Mayor Daley: Not making gun owners jump through hoops with new law
“We’re not jumping through hoops. We have to have accountability. … This is protection of the city from lawsuits from a lot of people,” the mayor said.
* Alderman wants investigation into offensive graffiti on South Loop building
An alderman who discovered graffiti on a South Loop building that said “we kill cops” just days days after a police officer was gunned down on the South Side wants the defacement removed immediately and criminal charges against its creator.
That new list includes reputed street gang members accused of murder and a former police officer accused of shaking down drug dealers. The nonprofit group’s Most Wanted list has nine men and one woman.
Hamilton said the nearest city neighborhood is about a mile away and the nearest suburbs are about three-quarters of a mile away. Studies have shown the range wouldn’t create noise problems for those residents, he said.[…]
But the Southeast Environmental Task Force didn’t know about the proposal until it was placed on the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District’s agenda in June, said Peggy Salazar, the task force’s interim director. The task force has sent letters to the city’s Department of Environment and to police Supt. Jody Weis with questions about possible noise and lead pollution, Salazar said. She also said the task force envisioned the property becoming open land for recreational use.
[I]n recent years, with more access to information about the disease, increasing numbers of black churches are slowly becoming outspoken advocates for testing, increased government funding and education. For some, it has meant changing their views about religion and opening their doors to gays and lesbians, whom they once shunned.
* Contractor’s error cut off access to riverwalk near Lakeshore East
Residents of Chicago’s Lakeshore East community were denied access to the riverwalk for two days last week when a contractor hired to replace missing aluminum panels separating the riverwalk and Lower Wacker Drive mistakenly installed one too many.[…]
‘’Fifteen thousand people live in that neighborhood. You had people coming off the riverwalk expecting to be able to cut under Lower Wacker and, instead, they were running into this wall. That extended their commute home by five or 10 minutes,'’ said Ald. Brendan Reilly (42nd), who drove to the scene to eyeball the mistake before demanding that the Department of Transportation remove the panel.
It may be too early in the debate to condemn the University of Illinois for firing an adjunct professor whose orthodox Catholic views on homosexuality deeply offended some of his students. But the university’s action against religion professor Kenneth Howell certainly bears more, and careful, scrutiny.
A faculty group at the University of Illinois’ flagship campus will review the decision to fire an adjunct religion professor for saying he agreed with Catholic doctrine on homosexuality.
CARBONDALE - Despite precautions taken to fight a lack of timely state funding, SIUC Chancellor Rita Cheng told the Faculty Senate on Tuesday that some furloughs will likely still have to happen.
“Even with our savings and the 4 percent reductions, we still do not have enough to support our budget next year,” Cheng said.
[T]oday, many students choose to hit the books in June and July so they can rack up extra credits — for a fee — or learn the ropes before starting freshmen year. High schools cater to the new type of teenager with an array of college-prep courses.
* To cut gridlock, drivers should pay for fast lane, new study says
‘’Based on the investigation conducted by this department, it is determined that Salgado’s death was caused by drowning with no indication of the drowning to have been caused by or at the hands of another,'’ according to the report.
The city of Blue Island bears no responsibility for last month’s drowning death of a Calumet Township trustee at an after-hours party on park district property, Mayor Don Peloquin said at Tuesday night’s city council meeting.
As a columnist, I like elected officials throwing after-hours parties in public buildings where women get naked, people get drunk and a couple is seen having sex in a shower stall.[…]
Of course, when a dead body is found the next morning, all of the fun suddenly becomes deadly serious and extremely embarrassing.
The issue: In Blue Island, public officials and employees, using public facilities at public expense for private debauchery that led to tragedy, have been exposed.
We say: It’s time for those responsible to stand up and be counted.
Though a Southland nursing home is back in compliance with recent care violations, state health officials said Tuesday they are still pressing ahead with license revocation based on a history of substandard care.
Naperville Unit District 203 provided a free lunch for construction crews Tuesday in hopes of showing its appreciation for striking workers who returned to the job.
Hewitt, based in Lincolnshire, is one of the world’s biggest human resources consulting and outsourcing companies with over $3 billion in annual revenue.
Hewitt, which employs roughly 4,500 people in the Chicago area and 23,000 globally, will be merged with Aon subsidiary Aon Consulting. Aon Corp. employs 36,000 globally, including 6,300 at its Aon Consulting unit.
The adjoining suburbs of Alsip, Chicago Ridge and Oak Lawn in recent months have signed on to a study by the Metropolitan Mayors Caucus that explores the feasibility of merging some function of their fire departments or consolidating them into a single fire protection district.
Though there was already little doubt about Schaumburg’s negative stance on Cook County’s proposed red-light camera program for the suburbs, village officials Tuesday felt it important there be no doubt at all.
History may be a hard thing for leaders of the Islamic Center of Western Suburbs to overcome in their effort to seek permission from DuPage County to convert a house into a prayer center.
Sangamon County Board Chairman Andy Van Meter said he wants the school representatives to come back with a clearer plan for how improvements to area schools will improve children’s educations.
More than a decade after Illinois changed the way electricity is sold in the state, business customers have more alternatives to traditional utilities than ever, but similar choices have failed to develop for residential users.
We applaud Mayor Larry Morrissey’s decision Monday to release the results of a Police Department internal investigation of officers Oda Poole and Stan North in the Aug. 24, 2009, shooting death of Mark Anthony Barmore in the basement day care of the Kingdom Authority International Ministries Church.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency fined the Greenville Livestock Inc. $40,000 last Friday for not following the Clean Water Act when it discarded animal waste.
The corps announced the plan last month, touting the injection of a slurry of water, coal ash and lime into 25 miles of slide-prone levees in 200-mile stretch of the river from Alton, Ill., near St. Louis to tiny Gale on southern Illinois’ tip as the cheapest, longest-lasting fix among several options it weighed.
* 3:28 pm - Gov. Pat Quinn just announced that he has used his amendatory veto pen to change longstanding state law. Quinn has unilaterally altered statutes that require voters to declare their party affiliation during primary elections.
Today Governor Quinn issued an amendatory veto of House Bill 4842 to create a fairer primary election system in Illinois. The Governor’s amendatory veto eliminates the requirement that a voter publicly declare political party affiliation when voting at a primary election. Under current Illinois law, a voter must declare a party affiliation before voting in the primary election, which is then recorded as public record.
The bill, HB 4842, “Requires (now, permits) the State Board of Elections to publish an Internet voters’ guide before each general primary in the same manner as before each general election.”
That’s all it did. The bill struck language stating “has the discretion to” and replaced it with “shall”
Quinn’s amendatory veto, however, adds several new sections to the bill, then changes those sections to his liking.
“(e) The Governor may return a bill together with specific recommendations for change to the house in which it
originated. The bill shall be considered in the same manner as a vetoed bill but the specific recommendations may be accepted by a record vote of a majority of the members elected to each house. Such bill shall be presented again to the Governor and if he certifies that such acceptance conforms to his specific recommendations, the bill shall become law. If he does not so certify, he shall return it as a vetoed bill to the house in which it originated.” [Changed cite after commenter suggestion]
Here’s the problem. Quinn had no objection to the actual bill. His objection is to sections he added to the bill from standing law. I just cannot see how this is constitutional. If I’m wrong, please correct me in comments.
…Adding… After reading my always bright commenters, I’m becoming more convinced that this may actually be consitutional after all. Whether the GA thinks so is another matter. Still waiting on responses from House and Senate leaders.
*** UPDATE *** The House Democratic response was, as usual, “It’s under review.” The Senate Democratic response essentially says the same thing…
The Senate President is generally supportive of measures designed to increase voter participation. However, the General Assembly will conduct a compliance analysis to determine if the Governor’s actions today alter the fundamental purpose of the original bill. This analysis and any formal legislative action will begin in the House.
The federal judge presiding over former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich’s corruption case says he will delay the trial for one week if prosecutors rest on Tuesday.
Judge James Zagel made the statement in court Tuesday.
Hmm. I may use this as an opportunity to take some time off.
The defense has been arguing that they can’t get a fair trial without a delay…
With just a day or two until showtime — and with vacation schedules and Secret Service logistics to contend with for big-name witnesses such as Rahm Emanuel and Valerie Jarrett — the defense said Monday they could be “out of luck.”
“A fair trial is destroyed,” Blagojevich attorney Sam Adam Sr. told reporters in the courthouse lobby Monday afternoon. “We told our witnesses we’d be in touch late August. All of a sudden, the government cuts their case short . . . They misled us. They misled the court.”
Two defense witnesses subpoenaed from the White House — Chief of Staff Emanuel and presidential adviser Jarrett — also require Secret Service arrangements that are difficult to set up last-minute, Adam said.
DC is gonna go absolutely nuts over that.
* The old rule about federal prosecutions is: “First one on the train doesn’t get thrown under the bus,” or something like that. Lon Monk refused a train ticket in 2005 when the feds came calling. He’s now going to prison. John Wyma eagerly jumped aboard the tren federales in 2008, and today he is testifying against his old friend Rod Blagojevich with a grant of immunity…
Blagojevich, sitting at the defense table, stared at Wyma as he passed him on his way to the witness stand. The ex-governor visibly sighed when hit the stand.
Wyma — a tanned, blond-haired man wearing a gray suit and pink and blue striped tie — says he was one of Blagojevich’s “central raisers.” Fund-raising meetings were attended by the governor, Lon Monk and Chris Kelly, among others. […]
Regarding TRS, Wyma testifies that Chris Kelly told him in 2004 that if Wyma’s clients wanted to do business with TRS, they had to make a $50,000 campaign contribution to Blagojevich.
Wyma said he didn’t pass that on to his client, though — “because I thought it was wrong, obviously wrong.”
* Roundup…
* Brown: Blagojevich got wrong answers from his yes men: It could certainly be argued that Rod Blagojevich was ill-served by the top people working for him in the governor’s office, none of whom apparently had the nerve to tell him he was making a big mistake — and another and another and another. In fact, I was going to argue precisely that, until I realized it partially misses the point, which is that like any chief executive who surrounds himself with yes-men, toadies and butt-kissing ‘’team players,'’ Blagojevich got exactly what he deserved.
U.S. states and municipalities struggling with mounting budget deficits “are not in the same precarious financial condition as Greece,” Samson Capital Advisors said.
The cost of protecting U.S. municipal bonds surged this year as investors bought insurance on U.S. state obligations after global stocks tumbled and Europe’s debt crisis worsened. New Jersey Governor Chris Christie told members of the Manhattan Institute on May 25 that the state is “careening our way toward becoming Greece.” Even so, states aren’t on the verge of default and such comparisons distract from more serious issues, Samson Capital said in a July 8 report.
“The statement that any U.S. state is the next Greece, meaning a near default on their bonds, is not based on fact,” said Judy Wesalo Temel, a principal and director of credit research at Samson, which manages $7 billion. “Comparing the Greek debt crisis to state and local governments is not valid and is distracting from the real concerns about budgets.”
The median debt to gross domestic product of U.S. states is 2 percent, compared with Greece’s 113 percent, according to last week’s report by Samson Capital, a New York-based fixed income investment manager.
One of the most important investment themes in today’s marketplace will be selecting the stable states,
sectors and credits, since the fiscal challenges vary greatly across US state and local governments. For example, Illinois is now in the spotlight as it has done little to solve a significant budget gap and has the worst underfunded pension problem. Illinois joins California as one of two A-rated credits among Moody’s state GO ratings. While California remains challenged, it does not appear at this point to require the same kind of short-term funding that raised concerns last year.
Our pension contributions as a percentage of our state budget are far higher than the average. But this hyperbole about Greece is goofy, and I’m glad at least somebody is sane enough to back me up. Mark Kirk is a different story…
In a speech to members of suburban Chambers of Commerce [yesterday], Congressman Mark Kirk warned that Illinois is rapidly falling into the same financial situation as Greece.
Did you know that a commission named by Gov. Pat Quinn wants to raise the retirement age for state workers to a minimum of 72?
Yes, right there on page 96 of its recent report, Mr. Quinn’s Economic Recovery Commission says that — along with “aggressively” reviewing Medicaid spending, raising the income tax and widening the sales tax base — retirement ought to come at age 72.
I got kind of a chuckle out of the proposal, which somehow failed to make it into Mr. Quinn’s press release on the commission’s final report. But that’s what happens when you ask a bunch of non-Springfield types to tell you what they think.
Nice catch by Greg, especially the part about how Quinn didn’t even mention the idea in his press release. No way does he want to talk about stuff like that. I’m curious what you think of the idea, however. Should the state employee retirement age be raised to 72?
* Unions representing striking workers say employers walked out yet again yesterday on negotiations aimed at ending work-stoppages on dozens of road and construction projects in the Chicago area. No new talks are scheduled until next Monday.
From an Operating Engineers Local 150 press release quoting President-Business Manager James Sweeney…
“The Unions and employers did not reach an agreement tonight, and we are tremendously disappointed at the employers’ lack of urgency, refusing to meet with us until Monday, July 19th. Once again, we made ourselves available around the clock, and the employers are stalling. They do not seem to understand that there are workers and contractors whose survival hinges upon these negotiations.
“It is becoming more apparent that MARBA’s intent is likely not only to starve out our members, but also to starve out the smaller contractors within their own ranks. Many of the contractors who have assigned their bargaining rights to MARBA are very small businesses, and delaying negotiations for another week puts those contractors’ survival in jeopardy.
“We are not negotiating for wages, but to protect our healthcare and benefits. Despite the fact that benefit actuaries gave employer representatives the very same cost figures that we have for our funds last Friday, the employers’ latest proposal still would not cover costs, and would require significant reductions in wages or benefits. MARBA says that they are not looking to make cuts, but that is exactly what their proposal would do.
“Local 150 has committed $150 million of our own money to make up the gap in our funds caused by a nearly 40 percent reduction in hours worked. We are asking the employers to share the burden with us. All of these funds are jointly administered by labor and management, so the employers have a responsibility to maintain the health of these funds as well.
A press released issued Monday night by MARBA said the unions “… have been unwilling to come to the table with a proposal that is in line with the state of the industry and the economy.”
MARBA is offering a total 4.25 percent increase in compensation over three years. The unions were asking for 5 percent each year of a three-year contract, but that has dropped to 4.55 percent, according to the MARBA release. […]
MARBA pointed out that workers receive full insurance coverage without having to contribute to their premiums.
The construction season is slipping away. No scheduled talks for another week means the governor really needs to get involved here.
* Bill Brady has a new radio ad, which his campaign claims will air statewide beginning today. The ad is likely an attempt to dilute the focus on and “balance” the news coverage of Pat Quinn’s new TV ad, which hits Brady hard on social issues. TV trumps radio, but radio is quite effective in Chicago because so many people have such long commutes.
Script…
Legend has it that the Roman emperor Nero fiddled and partied with his friends while the City of Rome burned to the ground.
Today in Illinois, Pat Quinn is playing his own tune. The Illinois Comptrollers report said the state ended 2010 in the worst fiscal position in its history. Over 200 thousand of us have lost jobs since Quinn’s been governor.
Pat Quinn’s answer?
He increased the salaries of his own staffers, some by more than 20 percent. Sticking us with the bill, while calling for “shared sacrifice”. Some sacrifice.
The Chicago Tribune’s editorial said that Quinn is oblivious to the plight of recession-battered constituents, and is too undisciplined to do the job.
The Tribune called Pat Quinn, “downright clueless.”
We’ve all had enough of Pat Quinn’s fiddling while were suffering. It’s time for a clean break and real leadership. It’s time for Bill Brady for Governor.
* When you have a bad reputation for serial exaggeration, then fairly normal political attacks on your opponent become tougher to pull off.
For instance, a Mark Kirk TV ad has been assailed by both Politifact and FactCheck.org for stretching the truth when it claims “Alexi Giannoulias’ top aide was a longtime BP lobbyist.”
That’s pretty much bunk, of course. The guy isn’t a top aide and did zoning work for BP gas stations in Chicago. Kirk was pushed on this yesterday by reporters and responded thusly…
“A BP lobbyist is a BP lobbyist,” Kirk said. “When you register as a BP lobbyist, you’re a BP lobbyist.”
But Kirk took $150,000 in campaign contributions from lawyers at Chicago law firm Kirkland & Ellis, which is representing BP in the oil spill case. His response?…
Kirk said it’s difficult to find individuals or companies that don’t have ties to BP, which has a long history in Chicago through its predecessors, Amoco and Standard Oil.
“You could get into the second and third orders of both campaigns,” said Kirk after speaking to several north suburban chambers of commerce. “BP hires lawyers, BP has accountants, BP has property managers. BP has had, because of its heritage from Standard Oil and Amoco, a tremendous economic impact on Chicagoland. So you can get into second and third order connections to BP with just about every family in Chicagoland.”
You wonder whether he even hears himself when he talks out of both sides of his mouth like that.
Republican leaders in the U.S. House have endorsed two different plans to get rid of what they call “ObamaCare.” One, sponsored by Iowa Congressman Steve King, would repeal much of it. Another, from California’s Wally Herger, would repeal the law, and replace it with a different plan. That’s the route Kirk favors.
KIRK: Because I think that as Republicans and Americans we should be for healthcare reform, but the kind of reforms that I want to back don’t weaken the finances of the federal government long-term with new spending.
The Cook County Highway Department was poised to hire six new truck drivers in recent months — without giving applicants a behind-the-wheel driving test.
When county hiring monitors raised a red flag and began to investigate, one official said, they found three of the six finalists for the snow plow jobs hadn’t provided a driving record as required.
If the university truly wishes to be inclusive, it should reverse its decision and allow Howell to keep teaching the class, as he has since 2001 and for which he was rated by students as an excellent teacher in 2008 and 2009.
Proponents say the strategy creates incentives to travel during less-crowded times, encourages carpooling and transit use, and cuts wasted time and money from motorists stuck in traffic. Congestion-priced lanes also have been shown to improve traffic flow in adjacent lanes, backers say.
The tollway and the planning council applied for a federal grant in 2007 to fund the study of congestion pricing. The council supports the concept, while the tollway hasn’t taken a position.
The study did not provide a timeline for how long it would take to implement such a plan in the Chicago area if it were approved.
Salgado’s family has filed a wrongful-death lawsuit against Bilotto, the city of Blue Island and others. Mayor Donald Peloquin has said the city will ask a judge to be removed from the matter because the park district is a separate jurisdiction.
According to the report, off-duty cops drank beer in the beer garden but did not enter the pool area, the report said. Hoglund said their attendance at the party was not a concern because, ‘’They were off-duty.'’
A zoning change would allow the group to conduct services on Fridays and during Ramadan, the Islamic month of fasting and prayer. The group currently conducts those more heavily attended services in the nearby Good Shepherd United Methodist Church. Gallaher estimates 40 to 45 people attend those services.
The center also is seeking a variance to build as many as 30 parking spaces on the Army Trail Road site.
Keeping a tighter fist on its spending helped the city save about $3.9 million in its past fiscal year, and that may help the city’s general fund reserves grow between $3 million and $5 million.
On Monday, the Bloomington City Council received a preliminary report on the city’s $75 million budget for the 2009-10 fiscal year, which ended April 30.
The city may also receive $955,000 more in income than what it was projecting.
Blue-green algae are common in Central Illinois lakes and other bodies of water, but some produce chemicals that can have a toxic effect on humans, pets and livestock, said the Illinois Department of Natural Resources.
According to City Engineer Dennis Sullivan, the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency was pushing the city for about $400,000 borrowed from Illinois to meet state requirements for upgrades to the city’s water system.[…]
The City Council on Tuesday suspended its rules, which typically require two readings to pass an ordinance, to allow the payment to be approved in one meeting.
* The Democratic Governors Association is up on TV with a significant buy in Chicago. More details for subscribers tomorrow. From Politico…
The Democratic Governors Association is taking a blowtorch to Illinois state Sen. Bill Brady, the Republican nominee for governor, launching a strongly negative ad in the Chicago media market at what one strategist called “saturation levels.”
The commercial, called “Daughters,” starts Tuesday and targets female voters with the message that Brady has “made a career voting against working women,” warning: “Brady opposed the creation of family medical and maternity leave. He was one of only three legislators to vote against expanding mammogram coverage.”
“Bill Brady opposes a woman’s right to choose even in cases of rape and incest,” the narrator continues. “Our daughters and our state deserve better.” […]
“The truth is voters – especially women – don’t know where he stands or who he is,” the strategist said. “In particular, they don’t know how radical and outside the mainstream his views are and the effect they would have on the future of Illinois.”
In a private meeting with White House officials this weekend, Democratic governors voiced deep anxiety about the Obama administration’s suit against Arizona’s new immigration law, worrying that it could cost a vulnerable Democratic Party in the fall elections.
While the weak economy dominated the official agenda at the summer meeting here of the National Governors Association, concern over immigration policy pervaded the closed-door session between Democratic governors and White House officials and simmered throughout the three-day event.
At the Democrats’ meeting on Saturday, some governors bemoaned the timing of the Justice Department lawsuit, according to two governors who spoke anonymously because the discussion was private.
“Universally the governors are saying, ‘We’ve got to talk about jobs,’ ” Gov. Phil Bredesen of Tennessee, a Democrat, said in an interview. “And all of a sudden we have immigration going on.”
* So, I decided to ask the campaigns of Pat Quinn and Bill Brady where the candidates stood on the federal lawsuit against Arizona.
First up, Pat Quinn’s campaign…
Gov Quinn’s top priority is jobs and economic growth in Illinois. He will continue to work tirelessly to put Illinois back to work and keep us on the road to recovery. Similarly, he believes Washington DC should be focused on economic recovery for Illinois and all of the states in the nation. That said, he believes the immigration system is broken and we need to act now with a federal solution. Gov Quinn believes there needs to be comprehensive immigration reform. What we really can’t let happen is 50 separate immigration policies — or having the issue turned into an excuse for racial profiling.
This also is an economic issue for states. The federal government should be reimbursing states for costs associated with immigration enforcement.
That didn’t answer my question, so I asked whether Quinn supports the administration’s lawsuit. The reply…
Y.
I’ll take that as a “yes.”
* Brady’s campaign finally answered my question a few minutes ago, even though I sent it to them last night and followed up a few times today…
“Cracking down on illegal immigration must be addressed by the federal government. It is troubling that the Administration is spending taxpayer money and resources on a lawsuit instead of addressing the problem. The people of Arizona should not be punished for the federal government’s failure to meet its responsibilities.”
– Patty Schuh
I’ll take that as a “No.”
* Keep in mind that we have a whole lot of European illegal immigrants in this state, so the issue plays differently in Illinois than elsewhere. That could explain some of the difficulty in extracting straight answers today. Also keep in mind that over the top remarks about immigrants are always dealt with harshly here. Keep it civil or go away.
State Rep. Bill Mitchell, R-Forsyth, and Adam Brown, Republican candidate for the 101st House District seat, announced Thursday that they plan to ease this burden by introducing an Arizona-style bill in the state legislature.
“Part of the reason Illinois is going broke is because of illegal immigration,” Mitchell said at a news conference at Brown’s campaign headquarters.
Mitchell said the bill will include these components: illegal immigrants who are identified by authorities will be reported to federal law enforcement for detention; the state will not pay welfare benefits to illegal immigrants; and sanctuary cities will not receive state funds. […]
“They’re criminals,” Brown said. “This is based on a fundamental issue that has been ignored by the federal and state governments.”
If Mitchell and Brown don’t believe us, maybe they will listen to former Gov. Jim Edgar. Just this spring, he told reporters that it would be “disastrous political issue for the Republican Party if we are viewed as anti-immigration.” This bill would cement that image into the minds of voters everywhere.
* Republican state Senate candidate Cedra Crenshaw of Bolingbrook has a new radio ad blasting the “Chicago Machine” for conspiring to kick her off the ballot. She’s become quite a celebrity in tea party circles. Background here. The ad is quite something to behold. Have a listen…
* Pat Quinn’s campaign has two new Internet videos. Here’s one on labor support…
Illinois is changing the way political parties select their candidates for lieutenant governor.
Gov. Pat Quinn signed legislation on Saturday that requires candidates of the same party to be nominated jointly instead of letting voters pick each nominee separately.
Under the new law, a gubernatorial candidate would select a running mate for the primary election. Voters would either support the pair or reject them over a different team.
* The Question: If both major party gubernatorial candidates could start all over and choose their own running mates from the get-go, whom should they have picked? Explain.
* As I told subscribers this morning, the tables are now turned on Alexi Giannoulias, who spent the past few weeks mocking Mark Kirk for not facing reporters. From the IL GOP…
Where is Alexi? Day 21
Since media availability at joint candidate forum on June 21st, Giannoulias has ducked weekday public appearances to avoid some tough questions;
Last Giannoulias full-blown weekday press conference in Chicago was May 6th
Kirk has had media availabilities almost every day for the past week or so. Giannoulias is nowhere to be found.
* Giannoulias continues to crank out press releases, however…
As two separate independent watchdog groups conclude that Congressman Mark Kirk’s attack ads are dishonest, the Alexi for Illinois campaign is calling on Kirk to take down the offensive spots. The award-winning groups, Politifact.com and Factcheck.org, both reached the same conclusion that Kirk’s ads are “highly misleading” and “go beyond what the facts support.”
“This is par for the course for Congressman Kirk, whose aversion to the truth is already well-known,” Alexi for Illinois spokesman Matt McGrath said. “We already know that you can’t believe anything Congressman Kirk says about himself, and now two independent groups confirm that you can’t believe what he says about Alexi. The voters of Illinois deserve better than such obvious dishonesty from another typical Washington politician who clearly will say and do anything to win.”
* Natasha Korecki at the Sun-Times has a very good article about the government’s case against Rod Blagojevich. Specifically, the lack of actual completion of so many of his grand conspiracies. Are those still crimes? Likely…
So as the prosecution’s case against Blagojevich winds down to its final days this week, the question remains: Did Blagojevich commit crimes, or was it all just talk?
“The government has charged offenses that do not require completion for them to win,” former federal prosecutor Patrick Collins said.
Collins put it this way: “In an attempted murder case, you don’t have to have a dead body; hiring the hit man is enough.”
And don’t forget, he did, in fact, put the kibosh on state grant money while he tried to extract a huge contribution from Children’s Hospital CEO.
Jurors are looking at a transcript of a Nov. 12, 2008, conversation between Rod Blagojevich and Bob Greenlee while defense attorney Aaron Goldstein dissects the ex-governor’s statements, word for word.
On the tape, Blago is asking his deputy governor about a proposed reimbursement rate increase for Children’s Memorial Hospital. Blago asks Greenlee a question about the rate change: “Has that gone out yet, or is that still on hold?”
Goldstein: “There’s something after the word ‘hold.’ What is that squiggly thing?”
Greenlee: “That is a question mark.”
Goldstein: “Do you know what a question mark is?”
Prosecutor Reid Schar has been objecting consistently. He does it again, stands up and stays standing. “I’m just going to keep standing,” he says to another lawyer.
Later, Goldstein asks Greenlee to define the word “could.”
“‘Could,’” you understood to mean ‘possibility,’ correct?” Goldstein asks. “‘We could pull it back’ means there’s a possibility this could be pulled back?”
Goldstein asks Greenlee, a Yale grad, if he knows diff between “know” and word “no”. Judge Zagel has whole hand over his eyes
* Before the trial started, reporters revealed that the feds probably wouldn’t call Tony Rezko to the stand unless their case appeared to be falling apart. Rezko won’t be called, which gives you a good indication of how prosecutors feel about their case…
Even Blagojevich’s trial judge, James Zagel, said late last month that he considered Rezko a toxic witness who would damage whichever side chose to call him, and that he therefore didn’t expect him to be called.
“Rezko scares the prosecutors,” said Andrew Stoltmann, a Barrington Hills attorney who’s been following the case. “He is a wild card, and prosecutors tend to be scared away from wild cards.” […]
“Rezko and Levine are both wild cards,” said Richard Kling of the Chicago-Kent College of Law. “You really have no idea what they’re going to say.”
What prosecutors seem to be saying most clearly with their omission in the Blagojevich trial is that they don’t need them to make the case.
Dan Curry wondered aloud recently whether US Attorney General Eric Holder was making any decisions about whether to call Rezko to the stand. Curry, a longtime Illinois PR guy, has obtained a grant from the money bags behind the “Swift Boat” attacks on John Kerry to amplify his claims that Rezko is being ignored by the media.
I was talking to my mom on the phone last week, and just as I was about to hang up she stopped me short and insisted that we talk about Gov. Pat Quinn’s bigtime raises to his top staff.
If you’ve missed the story, Quinn gave out raises of as much as 20 percent to his senior staff, while those same people were busily cutting everybody else’s budgets and devising tax-increase strategies.
Unlike the state’s mind-boggling $13 billion budget deficit, this is a very easy issue to understand for people who don’t pay close attention to politics.
My mother does follow Illinois politics quite a bit, however, and she appears to be just as incensed about the immorality of handing out selective pay raises during one of the worst fiscal crises in history as she is about the abject political stupidity of Quinn’s decision.
He’s brought it all on himself. “The bottom line is shared sacrifice in tough times,” Quinn told the Daily Herald last spring. “That’s what Americans do.”
Quinn has uttered that “shared sacrifice” line countless times this year as he’s pushed an austere budget and proposed a tax increase. But the complete, utter hypocrisy of calling for “shared sacrifice” from taxpayers, state employees and government vendors on the one hand while dishing out huge pay hikes for his top aides on the other makes me ill.
This is just an incredibly stupid thing to do on almost all possible levels.
I happen to respect Quinn’s budget director, David Vaught. He has an impossible, maddening job right now. But he should’ve known better than to accept a 20 percent pay raise while he was slashing state budgets. And Quinn, who has billed himself as “Mr. Populist” for as long as he’s been involved in politics, should’ve known better than to offer Vaught that raise.
The problem here is that this governor has great difficulty applying to his office the same lessons he’s preached to others. For instance, Quinn is in the process of drastically scaling back mobile phone usage by state employees, but his top aides still use the state’s fleet of turboprop planes.
The governor has bragged about reducing the state’s payroll, but almost all of the high-level officials he’s let go have been provided with golden parachutes.
As for himself, the governor has turned down a salary increase, often pays his own way when he travels, lives frugally, and is definitely no strutting peacock. You won’t see Quinn spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on new suits and ties like Rod Blagojevich did, or jetting off for Jamaica vacations with millionaire pals like George Ryan did.
Quinn mostly lives what he preaches. And it’s admirable that, as an employer, he wants to take care of “his people.” Plus, the amount of money we’re talking about is just a drop in the ocean of red ink flooding the state.
But the governor needs to somehow come to the realization that the pain he is inflicting via his budget and his other actions is all too real for hundreds of thousands of people who aren’t privileged enough to reside within his inner circle. Services for the mentally ill, seniors and countless others are being wiped out right now. Vendors are going out of business because the state is paying them so late. Nonunion state employees are forced to take furloughs and haven’t had a pay hike in years. Even unionized state workers agreed to delay half of their pay raises this year.
You cannot morally demand austerity from the masses while protecting your friends from harsh realities. It is thoroughly repugnant. And it must end.
* Related…
* ADDED: Could The Treasury Save Our State? - University of California-Berkeley law professor Christopher Edley has proposed a novel solution to the budget crises in Illinois and elsewhere: let cash-strapped states borrow from the U.S. Treasury.
The new gun measure allows Chicago residents to register no more than one handgun per month and generally forbids people to have handguns anywhere other than their homes. This would mean owners could not bring a gun into a garage, yard or porch.
The electricity price increase is unrelated to ComEd’s recent filing with the ICC to increase delivery service rates. The review of that case will not be completed until the spring of 2011.
Designed to ensure reliability, strengthen the electric system and reduce the impact of equipment failures or loss of generation to the Loop, the plan would add another 20 cents to the average monthly residential bill, spokesman Bennie Currie said.
If Mary Ellen Caron is tapped as chief education officer, she would be the first white and non-CPS educator to assume that post since Daley won control of the city’s public schools in 1995.
Tidwell and several current Metra managers benefitted from Pagano’s authorizing vacation and sick-day buyouts, according to records obtained by the Sun-Times and the BGA. Pagano authorized a total of $224,157 in payouts to Metra employees in 2009, $428,182 in 2008, and $25,422 in 2007.
About half of the $677,761 in buyout money during that three-year period went to Pagano himself and to Tidwell, with Pagano getting $232,761 and Tidwell $114,945.
Thirty-four other Metra employees got vacation and/or sick-day buyouts last year, the biggest of those totaling $22,220.
Since the storms that began June 18, the city has had to deal with 12,329 “tree emergency” situations, said Jose Santiago, executive director of the Office of Emergency Management and Communication. Many power poles also were down, and more than 70,000 people were left without electricity at one time or another.
The project was announced in April 2009, with the standards released June 2. To date, 23 states, including Illinois, have adopted the math and language arts standards developed by Council of Chief State School Officers and the National Governors Association, with expectations that 41 states will have adopted those standards by the end of the year.
