* With Patty Schuh’s move to the governor’s office, he has big shoes to fill…
The following is a statement by Senate Republican Bill Brady on his selection of a new Press Secretary.
“I am excited to announce that Jason Gerwig will serve as my, and the Senate Republican caucus’ new Press Secretary beginning today,” said Brady (R-Bloomington). “Jason brings over 20 years of communications and government experience to this important position, and he’s been a well-respected, and valued, member of our staff. I look forward to working with him, and all or our staff, as we prepare for another important legislative session.”
Jason Gerwig’s biography:
Illinois Senate Republican Staff, Communications, 1996-2001
Illinois State Treasurer’s Office, Legislative Liaison, 2001-2003
Illinois Republican Party, Communication’s Director, 2003-2005
DuPage County Board, Communication’s Manger, 2005-2010
DuPage County Health Department, External Affairs Manager, 2010-2013
FleishmanHillard, Vice President of Public Affairs, 2013-2015
Illinois Senate Republican Staff, Assistant to the Chief of Staff for Communications, 2016-2017
Illinois Senate Republican Staff, Press Secretary, 2017-present
* Democratic Rep. Sam Yingling was absent today, so that hurt the proponents. Retiring GOP Reps. Bill Mitchell, Chad Hays and Bob Pritchard didn’t vote. House Republican Leader Jim Durkin worked the roll call very hard. Rep. McCombie, who voted Yes when it initially passed, didn’t vote today. Rep. McAuliffe didn’t vote last time and voted “Present” this time. The sponsor can make another run at it, however. The Senate overrode the veto yesterday…
The bill is here. It received 67 votes when it originally passed. The House sponsor, Rep. Marty Moylan, said he planned to file a trailer bill to remove criminal penalties for passing local ordinances to implement the zone. The bill has no immediate effective date, so he would have until June to get that done.
…Adding… The misdemeanor criminal penalty was the focus of much of today’s debate…
Rep. Moylan says he will file a trailer bill to take off misdemeanor language. Then call right-to-work bill again the second week of veto.
* Meanwhile, this gubernatorial veto was also overridden with 80 House votes, down from 91 when it originally passed. It now moves to the Senate, where it received 35 votes (one vote shy of an override, but some Dems were missing) in May…
The Illinois House has voted to override Gov. Bruce Rauner on a measure that would prohibit employers from asking applicants about their salary history.
Elgin Democratic Rep. Anna Moeller’s (MOH’-lurz) legislation is seen as a gender-equity bill. Women are often paid less than men for the same work and are at a disadvantage if forced to report a previous, unfairly low wage.
The legislation would prevent employers from demanding past salary history, screening job applicants based on wage history, or requiring that past salary meet a certain criteria.
* And on a related note, this override motion really had no chance. While Republicans may be super angry at the governor these days, they aren’t ever gonna be up for stuff like this…
House fails to override a veto on a state-sponsored workers’ compensation insurance company, 65-50.
On an 86-29 vote, the House overrode Rauner’s veto of legislation that would require small businesses to hire a licensed roofer to perform roofing or waterproofing work on a residential property that is being used as a business, preventing the business owner from using an employee to conduct the work.
Rauner vetoed the legislation, saying it was another example of the over-regulation of job creators in the state.
The bill’s sponsor, Rep. Daniel Burke, D-Chicago, said it’s a public safety issue.
“You can’t expect to hire your dishwasher to use a torch to fix your roof and expect you’re not going to have problems,” Burke said, pointing to a specific example of a non-licensed employee improperly using a torch on a roof in a Chicago neighborhood. “Our job in this body is to protect the public in any way we see fit.”
* In other veto session news…
Daniel Biss released the following statement as the Senate successfully overrode Bruce Rauner’s veto of the Student Loan Bill of Rights.
“I was proud to introduce the Student Loan Bill of Rights, and I’m grateful for the advocates and legislators who fought to override Bruce Rauner’s veto today.
“After a summer of diverting taxpayer dollars to private schools and siding with predatory lenders rather than vulnerable student borrowers, our billionaire businessman governor has again proven himself incapable of setting aside profit motives to protect students and middle-class families like mine. I urge my House colleagues to override the veto as well and finally provide students the protections they deserve as they pursue higher education.”
The bond-market drop didn’t diminish demand in Illinois’s biggest debt sale in more than a decade.
As the state marketed $4.5 billion of bonds Wednesday, securities due November 2028 are being offered at a preliminary yield of 3.74 percent, according to four people with knowledge of the pricing who requested anonymity because the yields aren’t final. That’s lower than the 3.78 percent yield for the November 2029 portion of last week’s $1.5 billion deal, even though bond prices have slid since then.
Investors said the yields are alluring, with benchmark 11-year tax-exempt debt paying about 2.1 percent.
“The issuer still offers a tremendous amount of yield in a pretty yield-starved environment,” said Gabriel Diederich, fixed income portfolio manager at Wells Fargo Asset Management, which holds $41 billion in municipal bonds, including those issued by Illinois. “Outside of this little supply hump here with this deal, there really hasn’t been much muni issuance before this or likely in the weeks ahead.”
Part of the reason it’s a “yield-starved environment” is that most other states have their fiscal houses in order, unlike Illinois.
* The bonds are designed to pay off past due bills…
Of course, whereever the yields land in final wire on $4.5B deal it's A LOT better than 9% and 12% rates on some bills……and better than the 193bp and 185 spreads on 2016 deals and 273 and 292 spreads before budget passed.
Do Your Job, Inc. is debuting a new digital ad in response to Governor Rauner’s re-election slogan in which he reminds people that instead of governing he chooses to fight.
After spending most of his first term campaigning instead of governing, Governor Rauner announced Monday that we’re in for more of the same. He may have ditched the Carharrt jacket and cheap watch but don’t let his costume change fool you, Illinoisans are in for a wild ride.
People from across the political spectrum don’t trust Governor Rauner. With each day, more and more conservatives are voicing their criticisms.
Illinois House Republican Floor Leader Peter Breen was recently quoted as saying: “I’ve had a front-row seat to a governor that is unable to adequately and competently administer Illinois government.” While conservative state Sen. Dan McConchie is on the record questioning “whether the governor’s word can be trusted.” […]
Do Your Job, Inc. will continue to speak up on behalf of Illinoisans disappointed with Bruce Rauner’s refusal to do his job. The organization is led by IL Sen. Michael E. Hastings of South Suburban Cook County, IL Rep. Lou Lang of Skokie and Illinois AFL-CIO President Michael T. Carrigan.
Local and state behavioral health advocates are sounding the alarm on Illinois’ swelling mental health crisis.
“Wait times to see a psychiatrist in Illinois’ community mental health system can now range from 4 to 6 months,” said Tim Sheehan, Chairperson of the Public Policy Committee of the Community Behavioral Healthcare Association of Illinois and Vice President of Home and Community Services at the Des Plaines-based Lutheran Social Services of Illinois. “The lack of an adequate behavioral health care workforce is causing longer and longer wait times for people struggling with mental illness to receive care, a situation which has reached crisis proportions in the state.”
Sheehan noted that according to the Illinois Department of Healthcare and Family Services, the inadequate behavioral health workforce is responsible for the state’s “insufficient community behavioral health services capacity.”
In fact, Illinois ranks 30th in mental health workforce availability with 844 people per mental health worker compared to the national median of 752, Sheehan points out.
A top Illinois behavioral health advocacy group leader says that the limited access to front-line mental health care in Illinois is “staggering and shameful” while local community agencies’ budgets are spending more on administrative costs due to the state’s new managed care system.
“There is a staggering and shameful lack of access to behavioral health care represented by a shortage of specialists, such as child and adolescent psychiatrists, advanced practice nurses, and physician assistants,” said Community Behavioral Health Association of Illinois CEO Marvin Lindsey. “Meanwhile, the administrative staff costs of providing community behavioral health services have increased dramatically, by as much as two to five times, since Illinois implemented Medicaid Managed Care.”
Sheehan agreed.
“More money is being devoured by administrative costs associated with paperwork demands of Illinois’ expanded Medicaid Managed Care program and less on investing in an adequate, front-line behavioral health workforce to care for patients,” Sheehan said.
Lindsey, Sheehan and other behavioral health advocates are planning a two-prong state legislative offensive to address Illinois’ deepening mental health care crisis.
“We’re planning on pushing a Resolution in the Illinois General Assembly to declare a ‘mental health care emergency in Illinois’ to raise awareness of the critical problem of access to care,” Lindsey said. “And we are going to advance legislation that would comprehensively address the behavioral health workforce crisis, which is undermining mental health care in Illinois.”
Fixing behavioral health workforce is a “priority,” says Sheehan.
“For community mental health agencies across the state, including Lutheran Social Services of Illinois, providing more support, more training, and a deeper bench to the behavioral health workforce is a top advocacy priority,” said Sheehan. “It’s critical.”
The three governors say the troubles in Illinois have created new jobs in Wisconsin, Indiana and Missouri. The ad debuted Tuesday, October 24th.
“Our economy’s on fire…so we owe you,” [Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker] says. “Cheeseheads love you, Madigan.”
Democrats said Walker should focus on his own job and improve Wisconsin’s slow economic growth.
“Gov. Walker cutting an attack ad on jobs in Illinois is a bizarre move for a guy who broke his 2010 promise to create 250,000 jobs in here by 2014 and still hasn’t gotten to that number in 2017,” said Scot Ross, executive director of the liberal group One Wisconsin Now.
Rauner donated $100,000 of his own money to Holcomb’s campaign last year immediately after Indiana’s then-lieutenant governor secured the Republican nomination for the state’s top job.
Indiana Democratic Party Chairman John Zody wasn’t impressed by Holcomb’s appearance in Rauner’s ad.
“Gov. Holcomb is implying his party’s policies aren’t responsible for growing good-paying jobs in Indiana, and he’s right about that,” Zody said. “Fact is, Indiana remains 38th in per capita income, and there is no plan to grow wages at the Statehouse — except to study the pay of state elected officials.”
In the latest example of Governor Greitens caring more about out-of-state politicians and wealthy campaign donors than working Missourians, the Missouri Democratic Party is highlighting that Greitens recently focused his attention on shooting a TV ad for an Illinois politician who gave $100,000 to his campaign last year.
In the TV ad for Illinois Governor Bruce Rauner, Eric Greitens talks directly to the camera, along with other anti-worker politicians like Governor Scott Walker, in an attempt to explain why the Republican Governor of Illinois should not be blamed for the state’s economic problems.
“When Eric Greitens promised he’d be an outsider, who would of guessed he literally meant he’d spend all his time and attention outside of Missouri?” said Missouri Democratic Party Chair Stephen Webber. “But then again, we’re not surprised he found a way to step in front of a camera – especially in an attempt to help another politician and wealthy campaign donor.”
* From the Illinois Policy Institute’s news service…
Illinois’ candidates for governor support making businesses pay higher minimum wages but don’t pay their campaign interns.
J.B. Pritzker, Chris Kennedy, Bruce Rauner, and Daniel Biss have together accumulated more than $100 million in campaign funds with more than a year until the election. All of the Democrat candidates last week expressed support for a higher minimum wage than the $8.25 the state has had since 2010. The federal minimum wage is $7.25 an hour. […]
None of their campaigns offer paying internships, including Rauner’s, and none respond Tuesday to requests for comment.
Trevor Smith with the non-profit “Pay Our Interns” said it’s disingenuous when a politician pushes for a minimum wage hike but leaves his interns to work for free.
“If someone is for the ‘Fight for $15′ but doesn’t pay their interns, we see that as someone that’s not truly invested in helping lower income people,” he said. “If they campaign on raising the minimum wage to $15 an hour, but then don’t pay their interns behind peoples’ backs, I would call it phony.”
Smith said unpaid internships also perpetuate the wage gap between students that are able to work for no pay for months and those that must support themselves and possibly others. […]
The governor, whose interns also work for free, says he supports a more modest increase of the state’s minimum wage.
Following a Tribune report on deaths of children in a privatized child welfare program, a state Department of Children and Family Services official said Tuesday that the agency has started taking back some of those cases from contract agencies and will handle them in-house.
Nora Harms-Pavelski, the agency’s deputy director of child protection, also disclosed at a legislative hearing Tuesday that agency administrators are now getting immediate reports on any instance of mistreatment of a child in the “intact family services” program, among other reforms.
The program, which serves roughly 2,700 children statewide, provides counseling, resources and oversight to keep families together instead of removing children from their home and placing them with strangers.
A surge in deaths began in 2012 after DCFS completely privatized the program, putting the care of families in the hands of nonprofit groups but doing little to evaluate the quality of their work, give them guidance and resources, or hold them accountable when children were hurt or put at risk, DCFS officials acknowledged in response to the Tribune investigation.
Illinois House Democrats on Tuesday endorsed [in committee] banning firepower-boosting “bump stocks,” the same device used by the Las Vegas gunman in the nation’s deadliest mass shooting three weeks ago. […]
“It’s a device used to kill and injure as many people as you can by modifying a semi-automatic weapon into an automatic weapon,” the legislation’s sponsor, Democratic Rep. Marin Moylan of Des Plaines, told the committee.
Critics call it an overreach because Moylan’s measure technically addresses “trigger modification.” It’s defined in part as any implement “intended to accelerate the rate of fire of a firearm.”
Sport-shooters routinely make after-market modifications to get an edge on firing speed, the National Rifle Association’s Todd Vandermyde testified. He labeled Moylan’s language so broad, “it would make a criminal out of the vast majority of the state’s 2.2 million” Illinois firearm-permit holders.
Todd Vandermyde, who represents the National Rifle Association, said Moylan’s bill is too broadly written and will effectively outlaw a number of trigger modifications that many gun owners legally have performed on their guns. Those modifications can increase the rate of fire, he said, but do not come close to turning the weapons into machine guns.
“This bill would essentially outlaw, in our estimation, 50 percent of the firearms (in Illinois),” he said. “It would make a criminal out of the vast majority of the 2.3 million FOID card holders for mere possession. This may be a response to what took place in Las Vegas, but the net result is criminalizing a lot of (gun owners).” […]
Vandermyde said the National Rifle Association is open to regulation of the bump stocks but does not want to see a total ban.
Moylan said he didn’t think his bill would have the far-reaching effects that Vandermyde said they would. He also rejected a comment from Vandermyde that the bill was a “knee-jerk” reaction to the Las Vegas shooting.
The bill passed a committee on a 7-5 vote, sending it to the House floor. Republicans voted against it. They favor a competing bill that would only apply the ban to bump stocks, not other devices. That measure, sponsored by Rep. Barbara Wheeler, R-Crystal Lake, has the backing of the Illinois State Rifle Association.
Wheeler contended Democrats’ bill “muddied the water,” noting that it would also require people to obtain a Firearm Owners Identification Card in order to purchase explosive components such as Tannerite, which is commonly used for target practice. Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner vetoed legislation passed earlier this year that put similar restrictions on Tannerite.
Moylan countered that Tannerite was found in the Las Vegas shooter’s car and said requiring a FOID card to buy it would allow it to be more easily tracked.
“Just because my bill tries to protect people, I shouldn’t do it? No. We have to act responsibly,” Moylan said.
[Rep. Jerry Costello II, D-Smithton] said he doesn’t believe the bill would pass the General Assembly.
“At the end of the day, when you look, a lot of liberal anti-gun groups that are in Chicago, in Northern Illinois, those are the ones who are right now pushing this legislation. It’s overly egregious,” Costello said. […]
State Rep. Katie Stuart, D-Edwardsville, said she hasn’t had time to fully read the legislation, but she thinks Moylan’s proposal goes too far.
“I do like looking at these issues at single things at a time, so we could really debate the individual things,” Stuart said. “I think sometimes bills throw a lot of things into the pot, and we’re not sure where someone stands on one specific item like the bump stocks.”
* Remember the post on Monday about how Gov. Rauner is pushing a federal proposal that could allow Illinois to void some of its pension costs through some sort of bankruptcy component?…
“We’ve got a bill now, we’re working with Congress. (If) Congress passed a law, we’re lobbying right now, allow states to restructure their pensions, supercede the restrictions that the special interest groups have put on the state,” Rauner said at the Sept. 28 event
“There’s not a specific proposal - it’s all part of conversations that have taken place in DC for a long time, is my understanding,” said governor’s office spokeswoman Patty Schuh. “The General Assembly is looking for ways to do it - the Attorney General argued for it because of the out-of-whack costs. But as we all know, the Supreme Court stepped in. If it’s necessary for the feds to provide state legislatures like Illinois some flexibility in addressing the costs that are strangling the budget … we’re open.”
We circled back with Congressman Peter Roskam after Rauner told the U.S. Chamber of Commerce he hoped to advance language allowing pension funds to file for bankruptcy reorganization through the tax overhaul that Roskam is helping lead.
That is not looking likely. The congressman’s office tells us that the issue seems better suited for the Judiciary committee and that Roskam is “hyperfocused on tax reform.”
“We’re happy to listen, but honestly the governor’s office has a lot of work to do to build a constituency for this kind of idea,” a Roskam office spokeswoman said.
* And this is from the Illinois Policy Institute’s news service…
But none of Illinois’ Republican congressional delegation would confirm this week that anyone from Rauner’s camp has approached them about a standalone proposal or one that would be tied in with the coming tax reform plan.
Rauner doesn’t have the best relationship with the GOP Congressmen. They strongly rebuked Rauner last month for his signing of a controversial bill allowing for the public funding of abortions.
An open letter outlining rampant sexual harassment in Illinois politics began circulating Monday and garnered signatures from more than 160 women and men vowing to demand better. […]
“A lot of us felt like it was just us — we were being singled out because we were young or we were alone or we were single,” [Katelynd Duncan, founder of political fundraising organization KJD Strategies] told me. “This demonstrates solidarity that there’s not a woman in this industry we know who hasn’t had this experience. It’s a testament to how long we’ve been experiencing this in the shadows and behind closed doors and keeping it to ourselves.” […]
In each of the explosive sexual harassment and sexual assault stories that have captured the public attention since Weinstein’s downfall, we’ve tended to focus — rightly — on the dehumanizing, demoralizing effect of power players preying on their less powerful subordinates.
But we shouldn’t ignore the equally dangerous chilling effect on women’s professional success, particularly as we’re made aware just how many industries the harassment and assault cut across.
“Women in politics are taught very early on there will be negative repercussions for speaking up,” Duncan said. “This type of behavior and this type of culture really deeply changes how women feel about themselves in the workplace, and they limit the opportunities they expose themselves to. You don’t want to go out to dinner with candidate x, y or z. You don’t want to stay out for drinks. You don’t want to meet them at their house to pick up some papers.
“I had a candidate who refused to pay me because I rejected him constantly, to go out to dinner or break up with my boyfriend, and I also had another candidate who fired me when I used the word inappropriate to his campaign,” Duncan said.
Duncan said her harassers include some elected officials who are still in office. She did not want to name them so as not to distract from the effort to change the culture. […]
“For every woman who feels comfortable talking about their experience, there are 100 women who are too afraid to share their story for fear of being fired, for fear of not being believed, for fear of public shaming,” Duncan said.
The issue isn’t just about the hazards women face in the workplace, supporters said – it’s also about the negative impact a toxic culture has on the policies that come from Springfield.
“I’ve devoted my life to fighting for a strong state, to fighting for a healthier planet, for healthier communities and ultimately this culture in Springfield is preventing us from having a stronger democracy,” [Kady McFadden with the Sierra Club] said.
“We’re the ones that pass legislation and laws, and if we can’t set the bar, if we can’t set the standard for how to behave, then shame on us,” added Duncan.
State Sen. Toi Hutchinson, who signed the open letter, said the campaign is not about naming names. It’s about making women feel they don’t have to be ashamed or silenced about their experiences.
“That open letter was never intended to start hauling people out of the Capitol and criminalizing a whole bunch of stuff. That’s not the issue. The issue is this survives in silence. And there are a number of people who are tired of being silenced,” said Hutchinson, D-Olympia Fields.
“Anytime you’re talking about changing the culture around something it starts with robust conversation. There used to be a time when you were the only black lobbyist in the room, you could hear people make racial jokes. And black folks had to grin and bear it if you want to work in the Capitol. There was a time when there were no women lobbyists. So for the first ones that were here, I can’t even imagine what it was like for them.” […]
State Rep. Ann Williams, D-Chicago, said she hopes the conversations expand from sexual harassment to battling sexism in politics.
“I think we get so used to it, it almost becomes something that we work around, coping mechanisms to get around sexism and sexual comments and the objectification of women. But I think the more deeper issue I want involved in any deeper conversation are the systemic issues that exist in the workplace for women and are alive and well in Springfield,” Williams said.
The solutions called for in the letter are for women to speak up, men to call out sexual harassment and voters to hold politicians who engage in sexual harassment accountable on Election Day.
One of the signers of the letter, State Representative Sara Feigenholtz, has also filed a resolution urging those in government to work on changing the culture in Springfield that the resolution says breeds sexual harassment.
* Meanwhile The Hill continues its series about problems at Statehouses throughout the country and our old friend Emily Miller was interviewed…
Miller recalled having to slip away from a colleague who tried to follow her back to her hotel room.
After the man was fired from his job for harassing another young woman, Miller called his boss to share her story. She got a quick view of how difficult it can be for women, whether they are lobbyists, aides or state lawmakers themselves, to get justice.
“I feel like I could have prevented this, but I didn’t think you would believe me,” Miller told the man’s boss.
“You’re right,” she said the boss told her. “We wouldn’t have.”
* Related…
* Mark Brown: Sadly, Springfield hasn’t outgrown boys’ club nonsense: It’s an awkward discussion, especially coming from a guy, because I know that some of the best insights and story tips can emerge from those after-hours conversations in Springfield’s bars and restaurants. And women shouldn’t have to exclude themselves just because men fail to recognize appropriate boundaries.
House Bill 3649, the Debt Transparency Act, is a good step toward providing increased oversight and better management of Illinois’ still-enormous backlog of unpaid bills. The Civic Federation supports and is encouraged by commonsense legislation that would provide for better public accounting of the State’s liabilities, particularly the requirement to identify interest penalties owed on past due bills.
It is reasonable to require state agencies to disclose certain information to the public on a regular basis, including the amount of bills being held by each agency and an estimate of late payment interest penalties for eligible liabilities. With increased access to this information in real time, legislators and executive leaders can make appropriate policy decisions to better manage the State’s obligations and prevent the backlog from growing. Taxpayers will be informed about whether their tax dollars are being efficiently spent.
Rauner said he vetoed the bill because it would make the bureaucrats work too hard. Awwww. That’s a real eyebrow raiser, governor. We’ve never heard a Republican make that kind of argument.
We don’t know exactly what prompted the reform-minded former investment fund manager to veto this common sense good-government measure, but we have a hunch: Perhaps he wants to hide the whole truth about how much the state owes people or companies that have provided services to the state and have not been paid. It would be an inconvenient truth on the campaign trail.
And perhaps he wants to hide the true condition of Illinois specifically from the young, up-and-coming Mendoza, an ambitious political dynamo with the charisma the good Lord denied Rauner. […]
Our main point remains: Illinois should be striving to open the processes of government to the taxpayers who must pay for decades of mismanagement.
We agree with the Better Government Association and newspaper editorial boards throughout Illinois in urging lawmakers to override Rauner’s veto, which is scheduled to come up for a vote Wednesday.
And I still haven’t seen a single editorial or independent opinion column arguing in favor of the governor’s position.
Republican Gov. Rauner’s new re-election ad unusually features three neighboring state GOP governors bragging about their job climate over Illinois. Now, another Republican governor is on the way to Illinois to try to poach jobs — Florida Gov. Rick Scott.
Scott’s office announced Tuesday he will be leading an economic development mission to Chicago later this week “to share why businesses in Chicago should consider moving their operations to Florida.”
“While Gov. Rauner has tried to grow Illinois’ economy, Chicago leaders and state legislators have for years been passing shortsighted policies and overwhelming increases of taxes and fees,” Scott said in a statement. […]
Not mentioned in the new ad or in Scott’s statement is that several Republican lawmakers broke with Rauner to enact the budget and spending package over the Illinois governor’s veto — effectively ending an historic budget stalemate that nearly sent the state into junk status, hiked unpaid bills and tattered the social service safety net.
Today, Governor Rick Scott announced he will be leading an economic development mission to Chicago this week to share why businesses in Chicago should consider moving their operations to Florida.
Governor Scott said, “Over the past seven years, we have cut taxes more than 75 times in Florida, saving our taxpayers more than $7 billion, and leading to the creation of more than 1.3 million private sector jobs. Florida’s success story is in stark contrast to the anti-business policies that have overburdened Chicago families and companies for far too long. That is why I will be leading an economic development mission to Chicago to meet with site selectors and job creators and encourage them to move to and invest in Florida.
“While Governor Rauner has tried to grow Illinois’ economy, Chicago leaders and state legislators have for years been passing shortsighted policies and overwhelming increases of taxes and fees. In fact, the average Chicago family today pays nearly $1,700 more in taxes and fees every year than they paid only seven years ago. While Florida has been able to pay down $7.6 billion in state debt and increase general revenues by more than 30 percent without raising taxes, Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel and city leaders announced yet another proposed round of burdensome tax and fee increases just last week. This follows the state legislature passing an increase to the state income tax earlier this summer- overriding Governor Rauner’s veto and strict opposition to such a burdensome tax increase. The entire nation needs to follow Florida’s lead- but until then, we will keep calling on businesses to move to Florida.”
* Meanwhile, Bernie wrote about the governor’s new ad as well today…
Now that Illinois is in competition with many other states to land a second headquarters for Amazon, does it make sense for Rauner to let other governors talk down Illinois to its own voters and beyond? Just asking.
It does, said Justin Giorgio, a spokesman for the Rauner campaign.
“With entrenched Democrats like Mike Madigan at the helm, Governor Rauner has vowed to pull out all the stops to make change in Illinois,” Giorgio said. “That includes having three successful governors help make his point that Illinois has to change and we need to get rid of Mike Madigan in order to grow.”
*** UPDATE 1 *** DGA…
After bashing Illinois’ economy for three years as governor, Bruce Rauner launched his reelection campaign by teaming up with out-of-state governors to attack Illinois’ economy. Rauner’s new ad skirts over the fact he’s been governor since 2015 and deflects any responsibilities for his failures.
Just hours later, Florida Governor Rick Scott announced he would come to Chicago in an attempt to lure away jobs. Gov. Scott parroted Rauner’s campaign message and joined in bashing Illinois’ economy – all while calling on companies to set up shop in Florida. Scott praised Gov. Rauner, without mentioning his two-year budget crisis, and said states need to follow Florida’s lead “but until then, we will keep calling on businesses to move to Florida.” Scott wrote “That is why I will be leading an economic development mission to Chicago to meet with site selectors and job creators and encourage them to move to and invest in Florida.”
All of this begs the question – is Governor Rauner okay with this?
“Bruce Rauner’s campaign message is being used by out-of-state governors to steal Illinois jobs,” said DGA Illinois Communications Director Sam Salustro. “Rauner may think it’s a good reelection strategy to highlight the lack of job growth under his failed leadership, but now his rhetoric could hurt middle-class workers even more. Rauner needs to stop putting his reelection before the needs of Illinois families.”
*** UPDATE 2 *** Pritzker campaign…
Florida Governor Rick Scott is in Chicago today openly poaching Illinois companies and badmouthing the state. But where is Bruce Rauner? Sitting by idly and letting it happen on his watch.
The State Journal Register put it this way: “Now that Illinois is in competition with many other states to land a second headquarters for Amazon, does it make sense for Rauner to let other governors talk down Illinois to its own voters and beyond? Just asking.”
“Just a day after Bruce Rauner invited three neighboring governors to bash the state he’s supposed to lead on TV, Rauner is letting yet another Republican governor take a swing at Illinois,” said Pritzker campaign spokeswoman Jordan Abudayyeh. “This failed governor has given up on growing our economy and is doubling down on his mission to drive the state’s reputation into the ground.”
* Ever have one of those mornings when literally everything seemed to go wrong? That was me today. Anyway, all is well now I think, so follow along with ScribbleLive…
* The Illinois Policy Institute’s news service was in a bit of a lather about the bill earlier today…
More than half of the nation’s states have enacted laws barring forced unionization. In Illinois, lawmakers are primed to make enacting local right-to-work laws a criminal offense with up to a year in jail for the local politicians doing so.
A right-to-work law allows an employee to refuse union membership and still be employed. It’s proven to be a lightning rod on both sides of issues surrounding organized labor. Twenty-eight states have adopted right-to-work laws.
Under Senate Bill 1905, any local official in Illinois enacting right-to-work laws could potentially be charged with a class A misdemeanor. That’s a penalty often given to prostitutes, burglars, and drunk drivers and means up to a year in prison. It’s one step below a felony.
Laurie Reynolds, Prentice H. Marshall Professor Emeritus at the University of Illinois College of Law, said taking a step to criminalize state-local disagreements warps the nature of local democracy.
“I have to think that a state court in Illinois would invalidate this as an abuse of state legislative power,” she said. “This is really beyond the pale.”
*** UPDATE *** Press release…
Governor Bruce Rauner issued the following statement following the Senate vote on SB 1905:
“Today’s vote could create a damaging loss for the economic competitiveness of Illinois.
Senate Bill 1905 would hurt all the people of our state through lost job opportunities, slower economic growth, a smaller statewide tax base and ultimately higher taxes in the future.
This vote denies local communities – cities and counties – the ability to decide for themselves how they would like to structure their regulations to compete for jobs with other states like Indiana, Wisconsin, Tennessee and Texas.
SB 1905 could be particularly devastating for communities in Illinois with high unemployment – Dolton, Danville, Decatur, Rockford, Englewood and Lawndale.
We urge the House of Representative to uphold the veto and give Illinois a chance to empower local voters to compete for jobs in high need areas throughout the state.”
* Related…
* More Rauner, Democrat showdowns on tap during veto session: Democratic Attorney General Lisa Madigan’s legislation to create a “bill of rights” for student-loan recipients is up for override, as is a measure from Democratic Treasurer Michael Frerichs to make it easier to collect life insurance benefits when a beneficiary dies.
* More GOP lawmakers split from Rauner on Debt Transparency Act: State Rep. Tim Butler, R-Springfield, said he initially thought HB 3649 was an attempt by Mendoza to handcuff Rauner during an election year. “But that being said, transparency is very important,” Butler said. “These bills should be reported on time. Whether or not it’s a monthly basis, or whatever, I think that’s the question.” Butler initially voted against it, but said he said he’s reconsidering that headed into a possible vote to override.
State Representative Barbara Wheeler (R-Crystal Lake) is working in conjunction with the Illinois State Rifle Association on legislation to curtail the presence of so-called “bump-fire stocks” in Illinois. House Bill 4120 prevents the future sale and possession of the device used during the deadly Las Vegas shooting which left 59 people dead.
“I’m the first person to stand-up for our essential right as Americans to keep and bear arms, whether for personal protection, hunting or another sporting purpose,” said Wheeler. “However, the horrific events in Las Vegas showed quite clearly the devastation that can be caused by a rifle attachment like a bump-fire stock in the hands of an ill person. After speaking with firearm experts and the Illinois State Rifle Association, we all agreed that bump-fire stocks have no practical protection or sporting use and should be taken off the market.”
Under HB 4120, it will become illegal to import, sell, manufacture, transfer or possess a bump-fire stock in Illinois. Wheeler noted that since 1935 U.S. law has banned most automatic weapons, like the Tommy gun made famous by horrific mob violence in the early years of the 20th century. Since the only purpose of the bump-fire stock is to increase a rifles rate of fire to perform like an automatic firearm, it is an end-around way of skirting safety laws already in place for decades.
“I want to thank the State Rifle Association for working with me to craft this legislation to improve public safety while ensuring the 2nd Amendment rights of law-abiding Illinoisans is not infringed,” said Wheeler.
In response to the events in Las Vegas, a slew of unreasonable bills have been filed in Illinois, such as HB 4107 and HB 4112. Wheeler said these bills are knee jerk reactions that broadly infringe on the rights of law-abiding Americans rather than addressing specific causes of violence or loopholes in the law that allow dangerous people and criminals to get their hands on firearms.
The bill is here. She has a few Democratic co-sponsors and one Republican (Grant Wehrli).
The “unreasonable” bills she referred to in the press release include a ban on assault weapons (HB4107) and this one…
Provides that it is a violation of the unlawful use of weapons statute to knowingly import, sell, manufacture, transfer, or possess, in this State, a trigger crank, a bump-fire device, or any part, combination of parts, component, device, attachment, or accessory that is designed or functions to accelerate the rate of fire of a semi-automatic rifle but does not convert the semi-automatic rifle into a machine gun. Provides that a person who violates this provision commits a Class 2 felony and shall be sentenced to a term of imprisonment of not less than 3 years and not more than 7 years, unless the trigger crank, bump-fire device, part, combination of parts, component, device, attachment, or accessory is attached to a semi-automatic rifle and possessed in the passenger compartment of a motor vehicle, or on the person, while the rifle is loaded, in which case it shall be a Class X felony. Provides exemptions. Effective immediately.
House Speaker Michael J. Madigan issued the following statement Tuesday:
“Sexual harassment is unacceptable in any workplace. For a number of years, every member of the House has been required to certify that they develop and enforce a sexual harassment policy for their offices and staff. They will continue to do so. However, we can and should do more to ensure no individual is the target of sexual harassment in the Capitol or anywhere else.
“Because harassment thrives in silence, we are continually working to eliminate all forms of harassment from our Statehouse and our legislative offices. With this in mind, we will be advancing legislation that will require everyone—from legislators, to staff, to lobbyists—to complete yearly comprehensive sexual harassment training. We will also be requiring lobbyists develop and submit their own sexual harassment policies, just as legislators currently do.
“I have directed staff to conduct a thorough review of all existing policies related to this issue and to continue identifying further changes that can and should be made.”
This is moving a lot faster than some may have expected.
*** UPDATE 1 *** From Senate GOP Leader Bill Brady’s office…
Leader Brady would be happy to co-sponsor this bill when it comes to the Senate.
*** UPDATE 2 *** From House GOP Leader Jim Durkin’s office…
Leader Durkin believes that harassment of any sort is unacceptable in the House Republican caucus and staff. He fully supports this proposal.
*** UPDATE 3 *** Chris Kennedy…
Thanks to a group of courageous women who gave voice to the experiences of countless women who work in Springfield, legislators are working to make our Statehouse a safe, respectful place for professionals to have the freedom to do their jobs.
During my tenure as Chairman of the University of Illinois Board of Trustees, the university adopted sexual harassment training for university employees and board members. As governor, I would absolutely sign a law requiring legislators, staff and lobbyists to go through sexual harassment training. In addition, I would require Illinois businesses, small and large, to provide sexual harassment training to employees, similar to measures in California, Connecticut, and Maine.
Our government has a responsibility to do everything in our power to protect all citizens. When women are unsafe, so is our society.
*** UPDATE 4 *** Senate President John Cullerton…
“My goal in this office has been to advocate for professional conduct in the workplace and provide a safe space for victims to speak up and be protected. Discrimination, harassment and intimidation are unacceptable and not tolerated.
“I support the legislation being discussed.”
* And Patty Schuh…
“Governor Rauner mandated a sexual harassment-free workplace for state employees almost two years ago. Executive Order 16-04 — signed by the Governor on Feb. 26, 2016 –directed the creation of the state’s first Code of Personal Conduct. The order derives from the Governor’s strong belief in an ethical, respectful and accountable workplace and from his personal conviction that sexual harassment is unacceptable in all forms. State agency employees also receive required sexual harassment prevention training.”
Even before his re-election video aired, he was bragging in a TV commercial about increasing the state’s education funding to record levels. That wouldn’t have been possible without that income tax hike.
Rauner doesn’t expect people to make the connection.
It’s worth noting that not a lot of people are [contributing to Rauner’s campaign fund]. His biggest donor in the last quarter was interest on his own donation. It’s him and Ken Griffin and not a lot of other people… I see e-mails that he sends out… and I get e-mails back from friends of mine that were significant donors to him saying ‘Oh, this is the first communication I’ve got from Bruce Rauner since he won.’
Actually, as we’ve already discussed a tiny bit, Rauner is running the number one “small dollar” campaign by far of any statewide candidate this year…
For all the talk about low dollar $ none of the cands really powering their campaigns that way. Pawar's ~13% was the high & he dropped out. pic.twitter.com/EVftqryBSp
The governor is doing pretty well with those smallish checks, which is never easy for a rich guy because people figure he has all the dough he needs. Proft’s Liberty Principles PAC had just one contribution last quarter, $2 million from Dick Uihlein.
Proft went on to complain that Rauner’s ILGOP hadn’t yet found anyone to run for comptroller or treasurer, and he’s most certainly right about that.
He also said that the donor community wishes Rauner would just “go away.” Since that’s not happening, the bigtime Republican contributors want to avoid a “bloody” primary and wait to see if Rauner can, over time, “crawl his way back into the race.” That’s probably spot on.
* Meanwhile, Proft said he would be focusing on House races. The governor is doing the same. You’ll recall that Rauner gave over $4 million to the ILGOP earlier this month. That money has now been distributed to the House and Senate Republicans…
And also the Illinois Republican Party transfers $1 million to the Republican State Senate Campaign Committee.https://t.co/DzlR9xlNfo
It should be interesting to see how all those “outraged” rank and file House and Senate Republicans explain why it’s OK to take that “washed” Rauner money.
* I found this Proft quote interesting because I had a discussion with somebody about a similar topic last night…
The veto session begins today and the Democrats are going to try and trick bag him again now that they’ve got him on the run on all their stuff. Assault weapon ban. Now, he’s supposedly a 2nd Amendment guy, but if he wants to appeal to suburban women in the way that his wife wants him to, you know, by being a Democrat, what’s he gonna do if an assault weapon ban gets to his desk?
Except I’m not sure if there are enough votes to pass that bill out of the House. The legislation to watch could be the bump stock ban.
But what about trying to put marijuana legalization on his desk?
* As I told subscribers the other day, it looks like some really big money is heading Ruiz’s way…
Jesse Ruiz, Democratic candidate for Illinois Attorney General, announced Tuesday that Newton N. Minow – senior counsel at Sidley Austin LLP, former Chair of the Federal Communications Commission, and Presidential Medal of Freedom honoree – has agreed to chair the Ruiz campaign.
“I have known Jesse Ruiz for more than 20 years, and I respect him both for his exceptional legal talents and for his fine character,” said Minow, who was a prominent supporter of President Barack Obama. “In these difficult times, I know Jesse has the strength and tenacity to stand up against governmental overreach and successfully defend the rights of the people of Illinois as our Attorney General.”
Kevin L. Freeman, a global M&A attorney in Chicago, will serve as campaign treasurer.
Ruiz also announced his first campaign finance committee co-chairs:
· Maria Bechily
· James C. Franczek, Jr
· Lenny Gail
· Dr. Mahalia Hines
· Scott Hodes
· Penny Pritzker
· Laura Ricketts
· Brooke Skinner Ricketts
· John W. Rowe
· Manny Sanchez
· Robin Steans
· Yolanda “Dusty” Stemer
“Jesse Ruiz will be a great Attorney General for Illinois,” Pritzker commented. “In addition to his legal abilities, he has a fundamental sense of decency that shapes everything does. He is absolutely the right choice to serve as the ‘people’s lawyer.’”
“I served on the Chicago Board of Education alongside Jesse Ruiz, and I was always impressed by his fairness and his willingness to listen,” Hines added. “He is a strong leader who is passionate about education and protecting the rights of children.”
Laura Ricketts said she and her wife Brooke support Jesse Ruiz “because he will stand up for all of us. For two decades, he has been a tireless volunteer and community leader. I am so encouraged that he has now decided to run for office at last. Illinois needs elected leaders like Jesse Ruiz.”
Ruiz is a partner at Drinker Biddle & Reath, a nationally renowned law firm, where he has worked for more than 20 years. He also serves as President of the Chicago Park District Board of Commissioners.
…Adding… His latest A-1 ain’t bad at all. Click here.
“My grandparents were proud immigrants to the United States of America, here to Illinois in the late 1800s,” Rauner said. “My grandparents did not speak English when they were young.” […]
More recently, when Rauner was interviewed in June 2017 by the conservative Hoover Institution at Stanford University, he again talked of his grandfather. “He was my best buddy growing up. He was an immigrant, didn’t speak much English. He spoke Swedish,” Rauner said.
And he also said this on Aug. 11, 2017, in an interview with Bret Baier on the Fox News Channel: “Illinois is a state built by immigrants. My grandparents were immigrants.” […]
Records from U.S. Censuses taken between 1910 and 1940, the latest year publicly available, clearly show that both of Rauner’s maternal grandparents were born in Wisconsin — Clarence Erickson in 1901 and Viola Erickson (nee Wedin) in 1900. In other words, neither of them were immigrants. […]
Census records and Rauner’s own admission show that this statement has no credibility. That is why it earns our lowest possible rating, Pants On Fire.
* Well, Gov. Rauner received the 2017 Person of the Year Award from the United Hellenic Voters Association yesterday. The full video of the banquet speeches is here.
The state Capitol was evacuated Tuesday morning due to a small fire in a furnace, Springfield Fire Chief Barry Helmerichs said.
Shortly before noon, Helmerichs said firefighters were called to the Statehouse after the building’s fire alarm went off. The fire was put out with an extinguisher. No one was injured.
Helmerichs said there was some lingering smoke in a first-floor room that was being ventilated and people were being allowed back into the building.
The fire delayed the start of today’s veto session.
There is one other crucial factor: Emanuel needs to convince Bezos that Amazon won’t be hobbled by the state’s public debts and political dysfunction. USA Today synthesized an assessment several handicappers have raised: “While Chicago’s got much of what Amazon wants, its state economy is a mess.” It’d be easy for Bezos and his lieutenants to wonder if Illinois, with the worst credit rating of any state, can be trusted to fulfill its end of any deal.
That puts the onus on Springfield lawmakers, starting with House Speaker Michael Madigan and Senate President John Cullerton, to make clear they want Amazon in Illinois. Foxconn rejected Illinois. So did Toyota and Mazda, which are searching for a factory site. It’s one thing for Illinois to lose out in the competition to offer the most incentives. It’s another to be bypassed because the state is seen as a lousy, risky place to do business.
The General Assembly begins its veto session Tuesday. What will Madigan, Cullerton and other elected officials do, and what will they say, to make Amazon want to look closely at Chicago’s bid?
Billing Illinois and Chicago as an “extraordinary opportunity for Amazon” to locate its second headquarters, state and city political leaders entered the nationwide competition to land the online retail giant’s 50,000 jobs by offering $2 billion in incentives while hinting they were willing to dig even deeper, sources familiar with the bid confirmed Monday.
In an official letter to Amazon executives attached to the state and city’s bid, Gov. Bruce Rauner, Mayor Rahm Emanuel, Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle and the legislature’s top four leaders laid out the big-ticket series of state tax breaks, property tax discounts, infrastructure spending and other incentives. In the letter, obtained by the Chicago Tribune, the politicians also offered to spend an additional $250 million that would not go to Amazon directly but would pay to train up a workforce from which the mega tech company could hire.
And, the elected officials wrote, there could be more money and tax breaks should Amazon deem Illinois and Chicago a worthy finalist for the company’s so-called HQ2 and the $5 billion it has promised to spend on it.
“Finally, when you have narrowed the field and are engaged in more specific conversations with us, we are prepared to promptly consider other incentives that represent sound economic policy for Illinois and the greater Chicago area,” the letter reads. “We all want to ensure that Illinois and the greater Chicago area are well understood to have a constructive approach to technology and innovation.”
* Background is here [Republican governors “thank” Madigan in new Rauner ad]. From Speaker Madigan…
“Illinois’ balanced budget is a bipartisan compromise between Republicans and Democrats who worked together to move beyond the governor’s political games and end his 732-day budget crisis. Rauner’s crisis created billions of dollars in unpaid bills, pushed Illinois to the edge of junk bond status, and shuttered social service providers throughout the state. Even now, after a bipartisan group of lawmakers agreed to make the tough decisions the governor was unwilling to make, Governor Rauner would still rather play political games than work cooperatively to repair the damage he has done.
“The governor’s ad highlights his own failure to lead, and fully embraces the race to the bottom being led by his role models from states where middle-class wages are a fraction of what they are in Illinois. It’s deeply disappointing that Governor Rauner would rather work with right-wing governors from other states than with legislators seeking bipartisan compromise right here in Illinois. But his actions ultimately reaffirm our resolve in the Legislature to continue our work in a bipartisan way without the governor’s involvement – just as we have for many months now.”
*** UPDATE *** ILGOP…
Madigan has done it again, deceiving voters with the erroneous claim that the budget he muscled through the legislature is “balanced.” In reality, the budget STILL has a $1.7 billion deficit, despite his massive 32% tax hike. Madigan’s unwillingness to reform state spending has led to the massive tax increases and budget deficit the state now faces.
An open letter alleging widespread sexual harassment in Illinois politics and urging women and their allies to come forward is circulating around the state Capitol.
More than 130 people signed the letter as of Tuesday including legislators and lobbyists. The incidents mentioned in the letter don’t accuse anyone by name but the letter does outline scenarios involving male legislators, including a “chamber leader.”
Political fundraiser Katelynd Duncan says the goal isn’t to out people but to change the culture in Springfield. There’s a private Facebook group with nearly 500 members and a legislative resolution is expected.
The potentially explosive open letter is here. The group’s Facebook page is here.
* This is something that didn’t make it into this morning’s piece from Becky Carroll…
A number of women in Illinois who have worked on campaigns and in government as staffers, as well as consultants, have been engaged in a conversation over the past week around a culture of sexual harassment in Illinois politics. And the more conversations we’ve had with one another the more it’s become apparent just how pervasive this is. Everyone has at least one story of their own, and the common thread has been that most times we’ve had to brush these advances off out of fear of retribution or of being accused of leading someone on or have been encouraged to stay quiet. But the bottom line is this has become the status quo and it’s time for it to come to an end. This letter was written to not only shine a light on the collective experiences that many women share, but to also open the door to a conversation around how we can change this culture. That starts with women sharing their stories. We must also recognize that not all women are comfortable sharing their stories publicly and that’s OK because collectively we will be their voice. There is absolutely no judgment allowed in this group.
We consider this to be an organic process. We started by creating a home on Facebook where women can go to share their stories and engage in a conversation with one another about their experiences and their hopes for change. We also created a letter that women, and the male allies who support them, can sign onto to demonstrate their solidarity. We’ve received an incredible and heartfelt outpouring of support for creating a space where women can engage in this conversation and are discussing next steps in this process. We believe that the solution shouldn’t come from the top down, but from the bottom up and as a collaborative effort driven by the people most impacted and those who have the power to change it. Ultimately the hope is simply to bring an end to the culture of sexual harassment in Illinois politics.
We serve in politics in one form or other because we have committed our lives to being part of the solution in making life better for the people of Illinois. In doing so, we need to make sure that we feel safe, secure and respected as we go about that work.
* Some of the women who worked on the letter, according to Carroll…
Ellie Bahrmasel
Katelynd Duncan
Rep. Sara Feigenholtz
Rep. Toi Hutchinson
Anne Szkatulski
Kate LeFurgy
City Clerk Anna Valencia
* The Statehouse has been evacuated after a fire alarm sounded. Veto session is scheduled to begin at noon, but that could be delayed. UPDATE: People are now being allowed back inside as of about 12:30. Follow along with ScribbleLive…
Is the Legislature as partisan as it seems to be? Can a Republican get anything done?
Eighty-five percent of the things we get done, we do by agreement. You do not have to be a Republican or a Democrat.
I vote what is best for my district. I do not always vote with my caucus or with the governor (Republican Bruce Rauner).
The idea of being bipartisan has been shut down by Madigan, and a certain amount of it will stay shut down as long as he is there. He has power and he knows how to use it, making others disposable and expendable.
So… 85 percent of the stuff they accomplish is bipartisan, but Madigan has shut down the idea of being bipartisan.
Gov. Bruce Rauner kicked off his re-election bid Monday with a campaign video featuring the Republican politician clad in a helmet and black leather motorcycle gear, riding his Harley-Davidson alone past a sometimes-desolate landscape of urban, rural and suburban Illinois.
The lonely ride may serve as a metaphor for the former private equity investor as he tries for a follow-up to a first term that became a tempestuous test of his ability to institute his business-driven agenda, symbolized by a historic, two-year state budget impasse.
Gone are the people who helped Rauner become a Republican governor in a Democratic state a few years ago. They were purged in a summer shake-up, only to see their replacements mostly purged weeks later.
Gone, too, are many socially conservative rank-and-file Republican lawmakers, who had benefited from Rauner bringing to bear his personal wealth in rebuilding a long-in-the-wilderness GOP. Angered most recently by Rauner’s signature on a bill expanding taxpayer-subsidized abortions, they are looking to field a challenger to him while discounting the importance of his campaign checkbook.
Gone as well is the ability of Rauner to portray himself as a fresh outsider, a newcomer to the political scene who pledged to work with all parties, use his business skills amid a boast that he had been “successful at everything I’ve done.”
Has the word “compromise” been restored to your personal dictionary?
As the governor correctly points out, the state still has financial woes, and homeowners statewide are still looking for some property tax relief. The state also needs a new infrastructure funding plan, a deal to sell the Thompson Center, and whatever tweaks to public sector pensions that the Illinois Supreme Court will allow. Getting any of that means working with Speaker Madigan, like it or not. Calling him a corrupt career politician every 20 seconds won’t expedite that process.
How will the next term be different from the first one, in which the state’s credit rating went down the toilet and its job creation machinery ground to a near halt? In other words, if voters give you a second chance, sir, what are you going to give them beyond another four years of scorched-earth political warfare?
Is Harley-ridin’ Gov. Bruce Rauner “smoke and lightnin’?”
Or smoke and mirrors?
Rauner rides his 2008 Ultra Classic Harley Davidson across the state in an online campaign video to announce his re-election bid. […]
“I know his bike. He’s a rider,” said Dan Harper, of A.B.A.T.E. Illinois, which stands for A Brotherhood Aimed Toward Education. Harper, who has ridden with Rauner, said the governor also passes some biker muster because before he became governor he regularly went to Sturgis, South Dakota, for the famous annual biker rally. […]
The Ultra Classic is among Harley’s best-sellers and it’s used for normal daily riding, or longer trips, according to Larry Bozek of Chi-Town Harley Davidson. The video features a peek at Rauner’s mileage —30,000 — which Bozek called “pretty good.” Bozek said the average Ultra Classic rider puts about 5,000 to 6,000 miles on the bike a year.
On the same day he formally announced his intent to run for a second term as governor of Illinois, Bruce Rauner stopped in Pontiac to tout legislative accomplishments, including a police recruitment bill that had its origin in the city.
The Republican governor, whose approval rating took body blows in the midst of the state budget crisis, said that smaller communities like Pontiac were the “backbone of America” and that he was proud of the parts of school funding formula reform he fought for, claiming it helps places like Livingston County.
During the gathering, Rauner presented certificates honoring two bills. The first, House Bill 305, allows police departments to interview and hire students at four-year schools but have not completed their degrees.
The second, HB 3469, per the bill’s description, reinforces that “a vehicle operated by a fire chief, a chief of police of a municipality, a sheriff of a county, or a chief emergency medical services officer may be equipped with a siren, whistle, or bell capable of emitting sound audible under normal conditions from a distance of not less than 500 feet.”
All eyes are now on State Rep. Jeanne Ives, a three-term House member from west suburban Wheaton. She’s been the most visible voice of conservative anger over Rauner’s abandonment of a past pledge to veto legislation that allows public funding for abortions.
Ives told WBEZ Monday she intends to announce an exploratory committee for governor this week and has gotten commitments of support from past Rauner donors.
She also ridiculed Rauner’s campaign video: “To me, it didn’t matter what he said in that video. You can’t trust his word. Venture capitalist Rauner would have fired Rauner by now for failure to perform and for lying.” […]
Going back to 1990, incumbent Illinois governors have been challenged four times in primaries. Each time, the challengers got clobbered. Protest votes against Republican Gov. Jim Edgar and Democratic Govs. Rod Blagojevich and Pat Quinn trended between 25 percent and 33 percent. Rauner is clearly vulnerable with one poll in March measuring his public approval numbers in the mid-30s.
* Gov. Rauner’s campaign has a new ad featuring Republican governors from three neighboring states (Missouri, Indiana and Wisconsin) thanking House Speaker Michael Madigan for sending jobs their way…
* Script…
Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker: We want to say ‘Thank you.’
Indiana Gov. Eric Holcomb: Thanks, Mike Madigan.
Missouri Gov. Eric Greitens: Thank you.
Walker: For raising Illinois taxes.
Greitens: For blocking Rauner’s reforms.
Holcomb: And helping create new jobs in Indiana.
Walker: In Wisconsin.
Greitens: In Missouri.
Walker: Our economy’s on fire.
Greitens: We’re growing good jobs.
Holcomb: And we’re growing union jobs faster than Illinois.
Walker: So, we owe you.
Greitens: Huge.
Holcomb: Hoosiers love you, Mike Madigan.
Walker: Cheeseheads love you, Madigan.
Greitens: Big fans here in Missouri. Bigtime. Thank you, Mike.
Holcomb: Thanks, Mike.
Overlay: Stop Mike Madigan.
…Adding… As noted elsewhere, Rauner contributed $100,000 to Greitens’ campaign last year and gave $100,000 to Holcomb’s campaign about the same time.
*** UPDATE *** From the DGA…
The Democratic Governors Association, through spokesman Sam Salustro, releases the following statement in response to Governor Bruce Rauner’s new TV ad featuring governors who received substantial donations from Rauner:
“It’s appropriate the only governor not on screen is Bruce Rauner, who has abdicated his leadership position for nearly three years now. Illinois is losing jobs and people because Bruce Rauner forced the state to go through a two-year budget crisis that set the state back years financially and slowed the state’s economy.
“The fact is: Bruce Rauner’s economic policies have been the best thing that’s ever happened to Illinois’ neighbors.”
Following two years of tumult amid Illinois’ historic budget standoff, state funding for human service programs has become so unreliable some providers are now questioning if it might be wiser to forgo it entirely.
Programs that aim to treat addiction, prevent homelessness, provide autism care and more have spent the past two years in fiscal suspense as a political tug-of-war over state resources played out between Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner and the Democratic-controlled General Assembly.
The latest pull came as agencies that get assistance from three-dozen state human service programs learned in recent weeks that Rauner had unilaterally decided to withhold some of the money promised them in the state budget lawmakers passed this summer over the governor’s veto.
“Providers are saying, ‘I don’t know if I can do this,’” said Nora Collins-Mandeville, public policy director of the Illinois Collaboration on Youth, an umbrella group of agencies that help at-risk youths. “They have to decide if they can manage the risk.”
Many agencies have already run up credit lines, laid off staff and dramatically reduced the number of people they serve. In some cases, faced with no way to make ends meet at multiple points over the past few years, some providers have even been forced to close their doors in clients’ faces, which, “goes against every fiber of why agencies do what they do,” Collins-Mandeville said.
Rauner’s administration has outlined to Democratic lawmakers $89 million in spending reductions spread across 36 social service programs, one key lawmaker told the Better Government Association. The Rauner administration has confirmed some, but not all, of those cuts, arguing they are needed because the budget approved in July is badly out of balance.
Daniel Biss and Litesa Wallace will introduce legislation requiring all legislators, legislative staff, and lobbyists to receive sexual harassment training.
“We must acknowledge the toxic culture of sexual harassment in Springfield and end the silence that tacitly demands women accommodate decades of abuse,” said Daniel Biss. “Instead of waiting to hear more stories, instead of evading responsibility, we must use today’s spotlight as an opportunity to create changes that will endure beyond this news cycle. That’s why Litesa and I are introducing legislation that mandates every legislator, legislative staff, and lobbyist receive sexual harassment training.”
“Widespread sexual harassment is one of many reasons women, especially women of color, are underrepresented in Springfield,” said Litesa Wallace. “We have the power to change this culture, and to set up our systems to support women—and with that power comes a responsibility to act. That’s why raising awareness isn’t enough. We owe it to all the women who have shared their experiences, and to all those who haven’t come forward, to build systems set up to prevent sexual harassment.”
