* This is a bit weird, but whatevs. Numbers is numbers…
Tonight, we will launch the first of nearly 100 live NYT Upshot/Siena polls of the fight for Congress. For the first time, we'll publish the results live in real time, respondent by respondent. We start this evening in CA-48, KY-6, IL-6, MN-8, IL-12https://t.co/R4EbBmvGM9
Over the next two months, The New York Times will talk to more voters than ever before. It starts tonight, when we’ll publish the first New York Times Upshot/Siena College polls of the most competitive battlegrounds in the fight for Congress.
But there’s a twist. None of these polls are finished. One hasn’t even begun.
We’re doing it live.
For the first time, we’ll publish our poll results and display them in real time, from start to finish, respondent by respondent. No media organization has ever tried something like this, and we hope to set a new standard of transparency. You’ll see the poll results at the same time we do. You’ll see our exact assumptions about who will turn out, where we’re calling and whether someone is picking up. You’ll see what the results might have been had we made different choices.
You can watch the 6th District get polled live by clicking here and the data on the 12th is here. Scroll down and you’ll see constantly updated crosstabs.
For Chicago business, the good times may be about to end at City Hall. Bigly.
The combination of a populist wave that could capture a majority of the City Council and Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s surprise decision not to seek a third term could halt a nearly-three-decade stretch under which mayors and docile aldermen occasionally made business groan with measures like a higher minimum wage and mandatory sick leave, but more often were a willing partner in trying to lure new growth and expansion. […]
“We’re at a real crossroads,” says Jack Lavin, CEO of the Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce. “The last two mayors (Emanuel and Richard M. Daley) knew that cooperating with business gets you (economic) growth. That growing Chicago could go away.”
“There’s nothing good I see on the horizon,” says Howard Tullman, ex-CEO of the 1871 incubator and the godfather of sorts of the city’s now rapidly expanding tech community.
Emanuel in particular was “unbelievably supportive,” Tullman said. And it paid off with “tens of thousands of new jobs,” many of them at companies such as Motorola Mobility, Gogo, ADM, McDonald’s, Walgreen, Kraft-Heinz and dozens of others that moved either their regional or world headquarters here or shifted large tech operations to the city, lured by large numbers of college graduates here.
Emanuel is known as a mayor who doesn’t hesitate to pick up the phone or get on a plane to lure businesses to Chicago and help home-grown companies thrive.
“There’s definitely uncertainty when a decision as unexpected as this is announced,” said SpotHero CEO and co-founder Mark Lawrence, who praised Emanuel for touting Chicago businesses both nationally and internationally.
Emanuel’s office facilitated introductions in Israel between SpotHero and Google mapping unit Waze, leading to the recent announcement that the companies, along with the city, are installing beacons along Chicago’s 5 miles of lower roads to help drivers navigate underground when GPS fails. […]
“I think there will be some breath holding and some postponing of some decisions for sure, because I think technology businesses are no different than any other business. They want to be sure there’s a certain stability and understanding of the business environment,” Tullman said.
Chicago’s fiscal picture improved under Emanuel, said Laurence Msall, president of the non-partisan Civic Federation, which tracks the city’s finances. He cited Emanuel’s move to end the borrowing for operations and selling bonds to pay off maturing debt.
“It will remain to be seen whether the next mayor will continue to embrace these practices or slip into such financial lapses,” Msall said. “It’s difficult to know who the next mayor will be or whether they will be able to match Mayor Emanuel’s persona and dedication to economic development. But many of the structural improvements that Mayor Emanuel can rightfully take credit for will continue beyond his administration.”
An adviser close to Emanuel said he thinks the announcement was made now so that candidates more to the mayor’s liking still had enough time to enter the race
But that’s not the only big question for real estate investors as Emanuel heads for the exit. Developers now face uncertainty from a wide-open field of candidates to replace him and are left to wonder whether the city’s next mayor will be as friendly to them as its departing one.
The prospect of rent control could instill fear into investors that have made big bets on the city’s booming apartment market, while office landlords are about to lose one of the key pitchmen for the plethora of companies that have moved to the city and filled their spaces.
Then there’s the cloud over what Emanuel’s departure will mean for a series of large-scale development projects that are in the works, many of which were accelerated as prospective destinations for e-commerce giant Amazon as the Seattle-based company searches for a second headquarters location.
Emanuel’s successor will face landscape-changing decisions about the 53-acre Lincoln Yards project that developer Sterling Bay has proposed to completely redraw the North Branch of the Chicago River between Lincoln Park and Bucktown. Other tough calls will need to be made about the 78, Related Midwest’s 62-acre proposal along the river just south of the Loop, as well as the continued redevelopment of the Fulton Market District.
* Related…
* Exit Rahm: Emanuel’s successes are also less impressive than they might first appear. Chicago’s economic turnaround was part of a national boom. Other American cities have been rallying economically, too, and often at a faster rate. Tech is growing all over, and Chicago hasn’t cracked the elite club in venture-capital investing, remaining significantly behind the big four coastal centers (the Bay Area, Los Angeles, New York, and Boston). And unlike the other largest American cities, Chicago continues to see its population fall, as blacks flee in droves and Mexican immigration dries up.
* Mayor 1% Rahm Emanuel Will Not Be Missed in Chicago: But in the Windy City, he will always be remembered by many as Mayor 1%, symbolizing the arrogance and impatience of those who would shape society to celebrate entitlement, fame and wealth.
* Rahm Emanuel denies Chicago is a ‘tale of two cities’: “No world-class global city has a failing central business district. It is not in our interest as a city to pit one side of the city against another. Our challenge is to make that central business district work for all parts of…Chicago,” Emanuel said.
Members of the Illinois Republican State Central Committee voted Thursday to impose term limits on committee members. […]
Rodney Davis, the GOP’s interim executive director, said the term limit will take effect in 2014 — the next year members of the state central committee are up for selection. The party has one member from each congressional district, and each of those people appoints a deputy member.
* But Davis’ statement was not accurate. From the Illinois Republican Party’s bylaws ..
No member of the State Central Committee; deputy member of the State Central Committee; National Committeeman or Committeewoman; or State Chairman shall serve more than eight (8) consecutive years in the same office. This section is effective on January 1, 2015 but shall not apply to terms that are the result of vacancies or terms that have commenced prior to the effective date.
It would have been easy to make that section accurately reflect what the State GOP promised the public back in 2011, i.e. that the clock on the 8 years would start running in 2014. But instead, the provision was written to make the effective date January 1, 2015, several months after yet another term for the office had already commenced.
In other words, they don’t apply to members elected in 2014; they apply to members who were elected this year, after the primary. […]
[ILGOP executive director Travis Sterling] said it appears most members of the central committee who started terms this spring can serve to 2026 — and so can Chairman TIM SCHNEIDER. As for Porter and DeMonte, he said, each got new four-year terms in 2016 at the state convention, so they can serve through 2024. […]
I asked Davis about this, and he didn’t recall specifics and referred me to the party, where Sterling provided the details.
Just hours after we reported here that the state comptroller was among those on the list to possibly run for mayor, Mendoza took the stage for a City Club luncheon. “There’s a been a big development for me and for others in Chicago,” she told the hushed crowd. “It was a huge gut check for me. It was pretty emotional. In hindsight I guess I should have seen it coming. I thought I was prepared, but when it happened I just kind of lost it.” She paused. “My husband and I dropped our son off for his first day of kindergarten.” The crowd roared, expecting, of course, an announcement about her possible mayoral ambitions.
Mendoza went on to talk about her work as comptroller, explain Illinois’ budget mess and how she’s worked to bring about government and financial transparency. During the Q&A and later with reporters, Mendoza ducked questions about whether she’ll run for mayor. “I’m not thinking about mayor right now,” she said, adding her focus is on running for comptroller.
A possible scenario if Mendoza wants the mayor job: She keeps running for comptroller and wins re-election Nov. 6. Then (if J.B. Pritzker also wins) Mendoza has three weeks to gather signatures to run for mayor. If she were to win the mayor’s race, then Pritzker would appoint her replacement. If she loses, she’s still comptroller. Lots of ifs.
After a speech to the City Club of Chicago on Wednesday, the first-term Democratic comptroller said she was “fielding a lot of calls yesterday.” She did not say whether she’d join the crowded mayoral field, which is expected to grow between now and November when candidacy papers need to be filed.
“I’m not thinking about mayor right now,” she said. “I’m thinking about the next 62 days. … I think I would be great at any job I do, and I would never run for an office if I don’t think I’m the best person for that office. Right now I’m running for comptroller.”
“These next 62 days are no joke. I mean this is what it’s about. And then, you know, time will …” Mendoza said, pausing. “I don’t even want to talk about the mayor’s race, frankly, until after November.”
Asked later if she was ruling out a mayoral bid, Mendoza didn’t answer directly, again saying she is focused on her re-election campaign.
“In an attempt to deceive voters, Susana Mendoza is hoping to dodge questions about a Chicago Mayoral bid until after Illinoisans have cast their vote for Comptroller in November,” Illinois Republican Party Executive Director Travis Sterling said. “Illinoisans deserve the full truth when they head to the ballot box, and Mendoza has made it clear that she is not committed to four years as Illinois’ Comptroller.”
The Chicago Teachers Union has a new president and vice president.
Jesse Sharkey has officially taken over the labor group’s top post for the time being, following a Wednesday vote from the union’s governing body. The new vice president is Stacy Davis Gates, formerly the union’s political director.
The shift in leadership follows the retirement of former CTU President Karen Lewis, who announced her departure in June amid continued health problems. That cleared the way for Sharkey’s formal takeover of the union’s top job and Davis Gates’ nomination to replace him as second-in-command.
Both leaders will be running for office again soon, as union officers are expected to face some competition in an election by the entire CTU membership next year.
Sharkey and Bruce Rauner appeared on WTTW together after the 2012 teachers’ strike and had a memorable debate. Click here to watch it. Explains a lot about both men.
In concert with J.B. Pritzker’s campaign, a $1 million voter registration program was launched. It will target people who traditionally vote Democrat but often do not have the same ballot access as others. These groups include transient workers, college students, and people of color. There could not be a more important time to make these investments as the face of our party rapidly changes.
In addition to our voter registration initiative, the Party is working with the Pritzker campaign to execute a massive vote-by-mail program, targeting nearly two million eligible voters to ensure broader access and engagement during the traditional “drop-off” (non-presidential) midterm election year.
We’re also facilitating increased data sharing from the top of the ticket to the bottom, giving down-ballot races access to additional data from which they can produce more sophisticated targeting and better coordinate their field operations.
Mitchell also recently hired Sam Salustro away from the Democratic Governors Association. Salustro will be the party’s new director of statewide communications.
…Adding… Mitchell announced the voter registration program when he was appointed, but it’s now underway.
* Usually when governors campaign for legislative candidates, they mainly stick to the positives of the candidates they want to see elected. Gov. Rauner, however, is not a usual governor and this is not a usual state. Here’s what he had to say yesterday when making an appearance for the Republican opponent of Rep. Sue Scherer (D-Decatur)…
Nobody in central Illinois should vote for Sue Scherer. She has refused to sign the Peoples Pledge.
* But it’s really not so much about Scherer or her GOP opponent Herman Senor as it is Speaker Madigan…
Rauner said Madigan has been entrenched in Illinois politics for decades and uses political power and money to “buy votes” in his district, keeping him eligible to be speaker of the Illinois House.
“And that culture of corruption from Chicago has infiltrated our state government for decades under Mike Madigan,” Rauner said. “We need to throw off that yoke of corruption and get new leadership, fresh ideas.”
“When we collected over 600,000 signatures so you could get term limits on the ballot, so you could vote term limits up or down five years ago, Mike Madigan and his funders — (JB) Pritzker and the Chicago political machine — they sued us in state court, and they won in state court,” Rauner said.
Rauner was not interested in pledges when a pro-choice group asked him to sign one promising to uphold the tenets of an abortion bill he signed. This is different, he says, because he’s trying to change the Constitution to force term limits.
Governor Bruce Rauner is continuing to push for term limits… and for anyone other than Mike Madigan to be speaker of the Illinois House. Rauner joined Republican legislative candidates in Springfield to sign what he calls the People’s Pledge.
Steve Brown, spokesman for Madigan, said later the pledge sounds similar to the “magic formula” that Rauner has been using for months, leaving him 16 points behind his Democratic opponent for governor, J.B. Pritzker, in a recent poll.
“It’s just another low-road smear attempt that’s apparently failing him,” Brown said.
* But, here’s the thing. I watched and read a lot of coverage of yesterday’s “People’s Pledge” event and the one thing conspicuously missing from almost all the stories was Scherer’s Republican opponent. The SJ-R’s piece mentioned in passing (deep in the story) that he attended the event. WCIA was the only outlet that gave him significant coverage.
And if you watch the raw video, you’ll see that when Rauner attacked Rep. Scherer he didn’t even mention Senor’s name. I think the governor only said Senor’s name once - when he introduced all the attendees.
Attorney General Lisa Madigan today announced her office and the City of Chicago agreed to a draft provision in the draft consent decree for reform of the Chicago Police Department (CPD) that requires Chicago police officers to report when they point a firearm at a person.
Under the agreement, beginning in July 2019, (1) Chicago police officers must report when they point their firearm at a person, (2) an officer’s immediate supervisor must be notified each time the pointing of a firearm is reported (3) once notified, CPD supervisors must then review the incident to ensure that the officer followed CPD policy and any misconduct is addressed, and (4) beginning in January 2020, the independent monitor will review any instances in which an officer points a firearm and recommend any changes to the way the incidents are documented.
In addition to review by the officer’s supervisor, the agreement requires CPD headquarters to review and audit all incidents involving an officer pointing a firearm at a person, including documentation and information collected during the stop. Headquarters’ reviews of pointing incidents must be completed within 30 days and must:
* identify whether the pointing of the firearm at a person allegedly violated CPD policy;
* identify any patterns in such occurrences and, to the extent necessary, ensure that any concerns are addressed; and
* identify any tactical, equipment, training, or policy concerns and, to the extent necessary, ensure that the concerns are addressed.
At the conclusion of the review, CPD must make appropriate referrals for misconduct investigations or other corrective actions for alleged violations of CPD policy. CPD headquarters must also issue a written notification to the supervisor of its findings and include whether any further actions were taken or required.
Under the agreement, after each incident when an officer has pointed a firearm, officers must radio the information about pointing their firearms to the city’s Office of Emergency Management and Communications (OEMC). The information will be electronically linked with corresponding police department reports and body-worn camera recordings from the same incident, all of which must be retained and accessible to the officer’s supervisor, be reviewed by the Department, and available to the independent monitor.
The agreement also requires that by January 1, 2019, CPD must instruct officers on weapons discipline and when officers should and should not point a firearm at a person. New training on when an officer points a firearm must be incorporated in the annual use of force training required under the draft consent decree in 2019. Also under the agreement, CPD will clarify in its policy that officers will only point a firearm at a person when it is objectively reasonable to do so.
Beginning in 2020, the independent monitor annually will assesses instances in which an officer points a firearm at a person to determine whether changes to CPD policy, training, practice or supervision are necessary and to recommend any changes to the process of documenting, reviewing, and analyzing these occurrences.
“Knowing when police officers point their guns at someone will allow CPD to improve officer and community safety,” Madigan said. “I believe this is critical in achieving true reform of the Chicago Police Department.”
* Press release from Sen. Kwame Raoul…
“As the consent decree moves closer to its final form, I am encouraged by the prospects for meaningful and sustainable change. The latest point of agreement is an important advance, one that acknowledges the seriousness of the CPD’s need to earn the trust of the people it polices,” said state Senator Kwame Raoul.
“This difficult and necessary work and the public participation informing it were made possible by Attorney General Lisa Madigan’s decision to step up and take responsibility for the reform process when the Department of Justice stepped back from its duty to enforce civil rights laws. State attorneys general are often the last line of defense, and I am ready to step up whenever needed.
“I look forward as attorney general to building on these positive steps, implementing and monitoring the consent decree to bring about lasting reform.”
…Adding… Karen Sheley, Director, Police Practices Project, ACLU of Illinois…
Last night’s filing announcing the agreement reached about recording each time a Chicago police officer points a weapon at someone is welcome news. The City heeded recent public demands supporting this common-sense proposal. The City should also adopt the other demands that the ACLU and our clients have raised in our detailed response to their draft decree. The decree they file in court must be revised to ensure the City has an effective crisis intervention program, addresses police interactions with people with disabilities, and makes the reform plans enforceable and transparent.
Today, Erika Harold’s campaign for Attorney General unveiled RaoulMadigan.com to highlight Kwame Raoul’s and Mike Madigan’s failed fourteen-year partnership in Springfield.
The website will detail at-length the many times Raoul and Madigan worked together to protect their power, line their pockets, and push failed policies, such as:
* Gerrymandering legislative districts
* Voting to raise their own pay
* Skipping pension payments
* Passing unbalanced budgets
* Pushing tax hikes
Paid digital advertising will educate voters on the failed Raoul-Madigan record by directing them to the website.
State Senator Kwame Raoul. House Speaker Mike Madigan. Two career politicians who share the same failed agenda. They might be in separate chambers in the General Assembly, but make no mistake - Raoul and Madigan have worked hand-in-hand over the last fourteen years, pushing policies that have run our state into the ground.
Since 2005, Kwame Raoul and Mike Madigan have worked together to gerrymander legislative districts, skip pension payments, push tax hikes, pass unbalanced budgets, and even vote to raise their own pay.
And when allegations of patronage, sexual harassment, and heavy-handed politics over the years shook Mike Madigan’s political organization, Illinois voters heard nothing from Kwame Raoul. Why? Because he puts the political class and his own personal ambition before the people of Illinois.
Fourteen years of working with Mike Madigan in Springfield have revealed Kwame Raoul for who he is - just another career politician who’s turned his back on us.
Raoul called her attempt to link him to Madigan as carrying out “the lines handed” to her by Rauner in trying to repeat “that broken record (heard) over and over again in the gubernatorial campaign.”
“It’s not ironic that she was given $1 million a couple of weeks ago from Bruce Rauner and introduced herself in a general campaign with an ad comparing me to Mike Madigan,” Raoul told reporters.
“My name is Kwame Raoul. My last name is not Madigan. I’ve never served in the House of Representatives. Mike Madigan did not ask me to run for attorney general. Mike Madigan did not support me in the primary for attorney general. I was not recruited by anybody to run for attorney general like my opponent was,” Raoul said.
…Adding… From Aviva Bowen at the Raoul campaign…
Anything not to talk about Erika’s extreme views on marriage equality or a woman’s right to choose, I guess.
Harold is holding a fundraiser with Rep. Peter Breen tonight. Breen is currently battling in court with Attorney General Lisa Madigan over HB40.
Yesterday, the Casten campaign released their second ad of the general election, highlighting Sean Casten’s background as a clean energy entrepreneur creating jobs in the Sixth Congressional District. Casten released the following statement:
“I am proud of my background creating hundreds of jobs while fighting climate change,” said Casten. “Peter Roskam has spent 25 years in public office, but can’t run on his own reputation. Instead, his ads just resort to throwing mud and distorting my record. Now, thanks to over 75,000 individual donors we can share the truth about my record of protecting our environment and putting people to work.”
The campaign said the new Casten ad would be seen on TV systems and digital platforms across the 6th District, and that the campaign would continue to communicate through the rest of the election.
So far in the general election, Roskam and his allies have spent millions of dollars on mailings, TV and digital ads. Despite that investment, three different organizations that predict the outcomes of congressional races have moved the Illinois 6th District race from “leans Republican” to “toss up” and a “DEM gain.”
Congressional Leadership Fund (@CLFSuperPAC), the super PAC endorsed by House Republican leadership, today released a new ad, “Fraud,” in Illinois’ 6th Congressional District. The ad highlights Sean Casten’s business record that is clouded by scandal and allegations of fraud. The ad will run on television in the Chicago media market and on digital platforms throughout the district.
“Sean Casten’s business record is clouded by scandal and allegations of fraud, he was even sued by investors for mismanagement,” said Michael Byerly, CLF spokesman. “Casten has spent his business career profiting from insider deals, spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on lobbyists, and taking millions of dollars in corporate welfare. Casten talks about cleaning up Washington, but he’s just another shady Madigan-machine politician who would make Washington worse.”
In addition to the ad campaign, CLF previously opened a field office in Illinois’ 6th Congressional District. Each CLF field office is supported by a full-time staffer and hundreds of interns and volunteers who engage with voters on a daily basis through hyper-targeted phone banking and door-to-door canvassing.
* As we discussed months ago, most of Maryann Loncar’s allegations against Rep. Lou Lang (D-Skokie) were full of holes. Her “bribery” claim had changed (and grown) over the years, but was easily disproved. Her claim that Lang had killed legislation because of her involvement was flatly denied by others working on the bill. Her ex-husband denied an allegation that Lang had reached out to him with an offer to help him “bury” Loncar. After Rep. Jeanne Ives told a reporter that Loncar wouldn’t be making sexual harassment allegations, Loncar went on Dan Proft’s radio show the morning of her press conference…
Proft asked her whether the still-unnamed legislator had said if she wouldn’t “play ball, and play ball means of a sexual nature, then you’re not going to get what you want.”
“In every nature,” Loncar replied. “It all starts in Springfield of a sexual nature if you’re female. All of it.”
However, when her statement to Proft was read back to her later that day by my associate Hannah Meisel, Loncar admitted Lang had made no such demand.
Loncar then claimed at her subsequent Statehouse press conference, “I was harassed. I was intimidated. I was humiliated.”
* But now the Legislative Inspector General has cleared Lang of all claims, including harassment…
But in a report issued Wednesday, Julie Porter, the acting legislative inspector general, wrote that there is not enough evidence to support Loncar’s claims and that the matter is now closed.
She also wrote in an email to Lang that she found Loncar’s allegations “unfounded.”
“Given her unwillingness to speak to me, and taking her descriptions and those of her colleague at face value, I do not have sufficient evidence to support a conclusion that such occurrences, if they even happened, constituted sexual harassment,” Porter wrote.
Lang said in a statement issued Wednesday that “the allegations were absurd and false and remain so today.
“Therefore, I welcome the Inspector General’s conclusion that completely dismisses the allegations as ‘unfounded,’” Lang wrote. “As far as I’m concerned, I have been vindicated and this matter is now closed.”
“It is ridiculous to think that any person who feels victimized by a member of the House or Senate would be consoled to reveal their plight to a hand-picked I.G. appointed by the Speaker of House,” Loncar said in the statement.
“What I have seen played out since my press conference confirms everything I assumed about having a Legislative Inspector General appointed by the Speaker of the House: it is a joke,” her statement read. “The joke is on the victims. The joke is on the Illinois taxpayers.”
Today, the Rauner campaign is launching a new TV ad featuring Diana Rauner titled “This Election is a Choice.”
In the ad, Diana directly addresses Illinois voters about the stakes of this election. She outlines the clear choice voters face in November: continue fighting for reform with Governor Rauner or go back to the same policies that have hurt Illinois for decades with JB Pritzker and Mike Madigan.
I’m Diana Rauner. Bruce ran for governor to try and save our state. It hasn’t been easy, but nothing important ever is. Bruce took on the big problems: education funding reform, Medicaid reform, criminal justice reform. He stopped the insanity and delivered. But 40 years of mismanagement can’t be turned around in 4 years. This election is a choice. Do we keep moving towards reform, or go back to the status quo that got us into this mess?
…Adding… Jake pulls up her 2014 ad…
Bruce Rauner's 2018 campaign released an ad today featuring his wife. Here's a look back at Rauner's first 2014 ad featuring Diana (released 10/16/14)#twill#ilgovpic.twitter.com/flKZmecc3b
In featuring Diana Rauner, the Rauner campaign is acknowledging the need to appeal to female voters, particularly socially moderate women in the traditionally GOP suburbs, in his re-election contest with Democrat J.B. Pritzker.
At the same time, the governor, himself, has been spending time campaigning Downstate to try to unify a socially conservative GOP base unhappy with his signature on laws expanding abortion, immigrant and gay rights. […]
Diana Rauner’s script also is noteworthy.
By talking about education, Medicaid and criminal justice, she’s talking about issues of interest to those moderate suburban women without touching on the more controversial issues surrounding the governor — such as abortion rights — that could anger conservatives.
* She flatly denied last year when she announced her retirement that she would run for mayor in 2019, so she’s sticking with that same response now…
Statement from AG Lisa Madigan ruling out bid for mayor: “I am a lifelong resident of Chicago. I care deeply for the city. There are a lot of challenges facing Chicago, and I plan to continue helping as a resident and not as mayor.”
Don't want people showing up at your door telling you to drop your union membership? IEA members can sign up for free window clings and stop the anti-union groups in their tracks. #Imstickingwithmyunion#IEAstronger
* Has the Illinois Policy Institute started knocking on union members’ doors to convince them to drop their memberships? I asked the IEA’s spokesperson to explain…
So far we have no confirmed reports from our members, but we are expecting they’ll be hearing from IPI soon. We know that some of our locals have been hit with not one but two mailers from IPI encouraging them to drop their union memberships. We are arming our members with window clings to deter door knockers from IPI and other anti-union organizations.
* I asked the Illinois Policy Institute if it had any plans for a door-to-door canvass. A spokesperson issued a one-word response: “No.”
That makes sense. Teachers aren’t confined to one precinct, after all. It would be very difficult to canvass them one-by-one.
* I assume the IEA is just ginning up the base. It’s tweeted out some responses by members to Policy Institute mailers…
CTU has responded by urging its teachers to Tweet pictures of their IPI mailers in defiance with the hashtag #solidarity. Erika Wozniak, a CTU member and a candidate for 46th Ward alderman in Chicago, tweeted that the IPI flier had actually prompted her and her husband to increase their contribution to the union’s Political Action Committee.
The union’s Acting President Jesse Sharkey added a statement Thursday, saying, “Bruce Rauner’s front group is asking CTU members to walk away from our power, and our members have an answer: no way, not now, not ever.”
Charging that the IPI “serves the union-busting agenda of this failed governor,” Sharkey said, “It won’t work. Our members are too smart, organized, and committed to fall for this toxic ploy to undermine our rights and our dignity.”
*** UPDATE *** Bridget Shanahan with the IEA…
Our state affiliates out west have been targeted by anti-union, State Policy Network affiliate groups going door to door. Those groups have also said they’ve hired additional staff just for the purpose of going to door to door.
Following a U.S. Supreme Court decision that millions of public sector workers can stop paying union fees, a group tied to Republican billionaires long opposed to organized labor and its support of the Democratic Party has pledged to build on the landmark ruling to further marginalize employee representation.
The conservative nonprofit Freedom Foundation said that starting Wednesday, it will deploy 80 people to a trio of West Coast union bastions: California, Oregon and its home state of Washington. The canvassers were hired in March and trained this month, according to internal documents reviewed by Bloomberg News. The goal of the multi-pronged campaign is to shrink union ranks in the three states by 127,000 members—and to offer an example for similar efforts targeting unions around the country.
As for the millions of dollars in his campaign war chest, the mayor said he would return it to donors. Emanuel said he’d stay out of the political race to succeed him but would be a “keen observer.”
A day after pulling the plug on his bid for a third term, Mayor Rahm Emanuel on Wednesday said Chicago’s next mayor hasn’t yet entered the race to succeed him.
Emanuel told WGN radio host Steve Cochran he doesn’t think any of the 12 announced candidates for the fifth floor office at City Hall has the skill set to do the job, while getting in plugs for some of his own work.
The announcement also raises more immediate questions over whether the Emanuel administration will move forward with a $10 billion pension obligation bond issue that could prove a harder sell with the buyside now that uncertainty looms over the city’s future leadership. The city’s finance department could not immediately be reached to comment. A decision had been expected as soon as this week.
The city’s decision, market participants say, will hinge on rating agency analysis because the city wants to preserve its general obligation rating and higher-grade securitization credits under a structure that would likely tap the securitization.
Mayor Rahm Emanuel drops a political bombshell on Chicago, announcing he won’t run for re-election, and just like that the race for mayor has been transformed: It’s Lord of the Flies on LaSalle Street. […]
But institutional Chicago — the banks and others of the financial sector, the foundations and so on — and those who write the big campaign checks, may now see Vallas as the only announced candidate who can run Chicago from day one.
* And, finally, this revised meme is from a pal who is bored today because he focuses on state politics and everybody is talking about the mayor’s race…
I’d change “entire city of Chicago” to “every Chicago-based political reporter/pundit,” but why quibble with near-greatness?
* In Rahm Emanuel’s tenure, a global vision bogged down by local issues: Although some of Emanuel’s accomplishments helped critics label him as “Mayor 1 percent,” he will leave his mark on a Chicago that now, perhaps more than ever, looks the part of a titan in American business, culture and tourism. He may be remembered as the mayor who brought a Whole Foods to Englewood, but not the one that ended decades of disenfranchisement there and in other neighborhoods like it.
* Zorn: Surprised yet grateful that Emanuel is passing the torch: I’m also glad that, with Emanuel out of the race, the campaign will be less about the past and more about the future. The prospect of an endless relitigation of Emanuel’s most regrettable decisions in office would have made for a harsher and more backward-looking campaign than we need or deserve.
Four women running for the Illinois State Senate released new television ads Tuesday - in which three of them took the unusual step of calling on term limits for powerful House Speaker Michael Madigan.
The Democratic candidates - Laura Ellman, Suzy Glowiak, Ann Gillespie and Bridget Fitzgerald - are each running for Republican-held districts in Chicago’s suburbs that voted for Hillary Clinton in the 2016 presidential election, leading many to believe they may be among the most likely to turn blue in November.
Though Madigan is leader of the Illinois House, Democratic insiders admit that his power impacts the Senate as well.
Last year, the Senate agreed to a 10-year term limit for its leaders. Senate President John Cullerton has been Senate President since 2009, but the new guidelines apply to him beginning in January 2017 when the Senate agreed to the new term limits.
Also take note of the “no budget, no pay” lines in these spots.
* I’m told this will run on broadcast and cable TV…
New ad: @The_RGA chimes in with an attack on @JBPritzker’s mileage tax proposal, but pulls back slightly on @BruceRauner’s empty assertion that it would include a tracking device in your car. RGA says it “might” do that. Today, Rauner doubled down on it. https://t.co/C1tYRhXJ4l
Buying a car, you pay a sales tax. Fill it up, you pay a gas tax. But how would you feel about paying a tax just to drive?
That’s the plan JB Pritzker is considering.
Charge a new tax per mile you drive in Illinois. Charging 1.5 cents per mile.
Not only would they charge you just for driving, but they might even install a state GPS in your car to keep track of it.
Call your legislators. Tell them to oppose the mileage tax.
I’m kinda wondering how Pritzker is gonna respond to this now two-pronged attack. He’s never allowed any negatives to stand unchallenged before. Suggestions?
…Adding… Pritzker campaign…
This is yet another lie from a desperate, failed governor. JB never proposed a vehicle mileage tax. JB has proposed a fair tax and unlike Bruce Rauner, he will maximize available federal dollars when he’s governor. As JB has said, any proposal to pay for infrastructure updates should be studied with stakeholders across the state and should work for working families.
Of course, a real response is delivered in the same format as the original attack. And this is not a TV ad.
* I’m told that every two years for the last ten or so years, at least one Democratic lawyer has called the Kendall County Clerk to object to this notice to voters to “be prepared to present identification to the election judge”…
Whether you agree or disagree, Illinois voters are not required to show identification at the polling place. You show ID when you register and your signature is essentially your ID when you vote. Identification requirements have often been used to suppress the votes of poor people.
* I called Clerk Gillette (a Republican) and asked her why she warned voters about being prepared to present ID. “We always say that just in case the [election] judge has a problem or an issue, can’t find a name,” she said. “It’s not that they’re required to show it. Just have it on you just in case something comes up.”
That’s apparently the same response she has given the Dem lawyers in the past (with the same very pleasant demeanor). I asked the state party’s new executive director for comment…
“Kendall County’s misleading flier on voter identification requirements is troubling and is the first step on the road to voter suppression in Illinois,” said DPI Executive Director Christian Mitchell. “Free and fair access to the polls is a fundamental right across the country and we need public officials who recognize that and encourage voter activity. The Democratic Party of Illinois will work across the aisle to ensure voters have the information they need to exercise their rights and will always stand firmly against voter suppression.”
* I also checked in with the Illinois State Board of Elections. Spokesperson Matt Dietrich chose his words carefully. Election judges “can’t systematically require everyone to show ID,” he said. Voters can use ID to prove who they are if they’re challenged, so the clerk’s recommendation to bring identification was within the law.
“But it’s a little bit questionable about, for the reason you’re calling me, because of the signal it sends,” Dietrich said. “It’s a little surprising that it’s on there.”
* The Question: Did the county clerk make a legitimate suggestion or was it a subtle form of voter suppression? Take the poll and then explain your answer in comments, please.
Today, Governor Rauner will be joined by elected officials and candidates for office to promote The People’s Pledge, a commitment to put term limits on state elected officials and to vote for anyone other than Mike Madigan for House Speaker.
See below for details on today’s event.
All media interested in attending, please RSVP to xxx
WHO
Governor Bruce Rauner
State Representative Tim Butler for the 87th District
Steve McClure, candidate for State Senate for the 50th District
Mike Murphy, candidate for State Representative for the 99th District
Herman Senor, candidate for State Representative for the 96th District
WHERE
Selvaggio Steel, Inc.
1119 W. Dorlan Ave.
Springfield, IL
WHEN
Today - September 5th, 2018
Press Check-in at 9:45 AM
Event will begin at 10:00 AM
* The governor was asked an interesting question…
Rauner has 4 GOP candidates post their signed pledge on a bulletin board. They say they want 10 year term limits to stop Speaker Madigan from controlling the House BUT Rauner wouldn’t commit to holding Minority Leader Durkin to same standards. He’s held office for nearly 20yrs. pic.twitter.com/H2a22dxPR3
This fall marks a first in a decade for Eastern Illinois University: Enrollment numbers are up from the previous year.
Tenth day enrollment numbers, the nationally accepted standard for tracking university and college enrollments, are in. According to Eastern’s fall report, 7,526 students are enrolled at EIU this fall, an increase of 7.1 percent from last fall.
Undergraduate student totals are up from 5,568 last year to 6,012 students, and graduate numbers slightly up from 1,462 last year to 1,514 students.
The freshman class has seen some of the biggest strides. According to EIU officials, the university’s fall-to-fall first-time freshmen enrollment has increased by 24.5 percent, an addition of 155 students.
Fall enrollment at Southern Illinois University Carbondale has decreased by nearly 12 percent from the fall 2017 semester, according to university officials.
The campus reached peak enrollment in 1991 with 24,869 students, but enrollment has been decreasing ever since.
This year, the university’s total student enrollment has hit a new low of 12,817 students, surpassing the low set by previous year’s campus fall enrollment of 14,554.
The largest decrease was in the freshman class, which has 410 fewer students than in 2017 — a 23.86 percent drop. The sophomore class saw 232 fewer students, a 12.7 percent drop, and the junior class went down by 395 students, a 15.48 percent lower from 2016.
Total undergraduate enrollment faced a 13.30 percent decline, with 1,449 fewer students than in fall 2017. Total graduate enrollment faced an 8.39 percent decline with 248 fewer students over last fall.
Bill Daley 1.8%
Chuy Garcia 3.9%
Valerie Jarrett 6.6%
Jerry Joyce 3.2%
Lori Lightfoot 9.6%
Garry McCarthy 16.8%
Susana Mendoza 1.4%
Rick Munoz 1.4%
Toni Preckwinkle 4.6%
Paul Vallas 10.1%
Willie Wilson 15.1%
Voters are showing preferences, although our educated guess is that few are locked in to their choices.
Garry McCarthy had the strongest showing, albeit at a 17 percent clip—followed closely by Willie Wilson and Paul Vallas.
Candidates not listed in the results were lumped together in the OTHER CANDIDATE option.
Mayor Emanuel’s job approval rating was a split decision—a phenomenon probably attributable to his announcement that he would not seek re-election. A more significant finding can be found in the question pertaining to the possibility of him backing a ‘hand-picked’ successor. Nearly 79 percent said he would either have no effect or a negative effect on whether or not voters would support him or her.
The big names added to the mix (Toni Preckwinkle, Susana Mendoza, Bill Daley) barely blipped the radar screen.
I’m told the landline/mobile phone split was right about 50/50.
MORRIS – Fresh off his endorsement interview with the Chicago Tribune, Grundy County States Attorney and Illinois Secretary of State Republican candidate Jason Helland criticized the media for not taking his candidacy seriously.
The Mazon resident held the meet and greet Thursday, with former gubernatorial candidate State Rep. Jeanne Ives (R-Wheaton) as special guest, at Montage Wine Bar and Spirits in downtown Morris.
“The Chicago media loves Jesse White,” Helland told the crowd of about 40 people in attendance. […]
In a post at his Capitol Fax blog on Aug. 16, Rich Miller wrote that Helland should lay off the ageism.
“You’re likely not gonna win this year, dude,” Miller wrote. “Don’t be remembered like this.”
Helland responded at Thursday’s meeting, saying that Miller was “a joke.”
The race for state Senate in the 48th District is getting kind of creepy — or at least crawly.
“Career politicians are like cockroaches; shine a light on them and they scurry,” says a deep-voiced narrator of a radio ad for GOP candidate SETH McMILLAN of Taylorville, the Christian County Republican chairman taking on state Sen. ANDY MANAR, D-Bunker Hill.
He says such politicians have “scurried around the halls of the state Capitol” for decades, doing things including giving “more control to corrupt Chicago politicians.”
The narrator says the solution is “firing career politicians and hiring an outsider.”
McMillan also tweeted a short video of a cockroach.
Republican state senate candidate Seth McMillan failed to disclose a series of small, no-bid contracts his landscaping company secured with the Taylorville school district during a period of time when he sat on the district’s school board, according to documents obtained by WCIA.
“At the time, I did not view that as a conflict,” McMillan said on Tuesday. Without providing any evidence, he claimed that he only charged the school district for materials and labor and did not collect a profit. He did admit, however, that “It was an oversight and it was a mistake on my part.”
State law requires public officials to disclose such business relationships to the public each year. Penalties for willfully failing to disclose an arrangement can be as high as a $1,000 fine or jail time.
McMillan served on the Taylorville School Board from 2009 to 2017. During that period, his company, McMillan’s Landscape Company, invoiced the school district for charges totaling at least $7,196.34. At no time did McMillan report that income to the county clerk. […]
While he admits the error and says he has hired an attorney to file an amended return, McMillan says it was “inadvertent” and that “my company doing a yearly contract of a thousand dollars in some cases to fertilize the grass at a football field is not something to be blown out of proportion.”
Insurance giant State Farm on Tuesday reached a $250 million preliminary settlement in a federal class-action lawsuit claiming the company funneled money to the campaign of an Illinois Supreme Court candidate.
The lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in East St. Louis alleged Bloomington-based State Farm secretly funneled money to the campaign of Supreme Court Chief Justice Lloyd A. Karmeier while he was a candidate for the high court in 2004.
In the 2005 case of Avery v. State Farm, Karmeier cast the deciding vote to reverse a $1.06 billion judgment in 1999 against State Farm for its use of aftermarket car parts in repairs. The court ruled the nationwide plaintiff class was improperly certified by a Williamson County trial judge. It also contended using aftermarket parts was not a breach of State Farm policyholders’ contracts.
The class-action lawsuit sought nearly $10 billion from State Farm in a trial that was scheduled to begin Tuesday. The plaintiffs alleged State Farm covertly supported Karmeier’s campaign in order to secure his win and reversal of the Avery lawsuit decision.
In a statement released late Tuesday by State Farm and Clifford Law Offices, the Chicago-based law firm representing policyholders in the litigation, the two sides said they reached the agreement “because they believe it is in the best interest of all the parties and to avoid protracted litigation and appeals that could continue for several more years.” […]
State Farm denies liability and maintains its position that the company “considers the claims to be without merit,” according to the settlement. […]
The millions in so-called “dark money” were channeled through donations to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, which then sent the money onto a political action committee and the Illinois Republican Party for use in Karmeier’s 2004 campaign, according to the lawsuit.
Karmeier, who is now chief justice of the Supreme Court, cast the deciding vote in favor of overturning the appellate court ruling that upheld the billion-dollar Avery verdict, policyholders noted in their lawsuit.
State Farm “has consistently denied participating in a RICO scheme and to this day denies any role in electing Judge Karmeier,” Bob Clifford, attorney for the plaintiffs, said in an interview Tuesday. “Now they agree to pay a quarter of a billion dollars, and I think that speaks for itself.”
The settlement came after the jury was selected last week and just before opening statements were set to begin. That probably shows State Farm was spooked by the risk of an adverse verdict, said law professor David Logan, of Roger Williams University in Bristol, Rhode Island.
“Corporations generally don’t part with that kind of money just before the opening statement of a trial unless they got a really negative vibe from the jury that was impaneled,” Logan said. The settlement for far less than what plaintiffs were seeking isn’t unusual, he added. “Two hundred and fifty million dollars in hand may be worth declining a shot at a billion, that only would come after many appeals.”
The plaintiffs were seeking $1 billion in damages based on the original verdict and $1.8 billion in interest, plus tripling under the RICO law.. The jury would have determined damages and the judge would have decided on the interest.
The settlement ends more than 20 years of litigation over by State Farm customers who alleged they were given generic car parts of lower quality than original equipment for more than a decade, violating the terms of their insurance policies.
In 1999, an Illinois state court jury awarded the customers $456 million for breach of contract, and the trial judge added $730 million in damages on a fraud claim. An appellate court reduced the verdict to $1.056 billion, but it was one of the largest class-action awards in U.S. legal history.
In 2004, Karmeier, a Republican who had been a circuit judge in rural Washington County for almost two decades, was elected to the Illinois Supreme Court. A year later, that court threw out the award, and the U.S. Supreme Court refused to review the case, seemingly ending the litigation.
* And check out the headline on this Clifford Law Offices press release…
State Farm Pays $250 Million to Keep Illinois Chief Justice Off the Witness Stand
*They’re calling around or considering bids: Emanuel’s surprise announcement didn’t give would-be candidates much time to act. Some did anyway. Among those not ruling out bids or making phone calls looking for support Tuesday were Bill Daley, the brother of former Mayor Richard M. Daley, GCM Grosvenor CEO Michael Sacks, Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle, 2011 mayoral candidate Gery Chico, state Comptroller Susana Mendoza, city Treasurer Kurt Summers, City Clerk Anna Valencia and Alds. Proco “Joe” Moreno, 1st; Ricardo Munoz, 22nd; Ameya Pawar, 47th; and Tom Tunney, 44th.
*They’re on people’s minds: A few high-profile political names emerged, but they didn’t comment publicly. On that list: former CPS CEO Arne Duncan, former White House senior adviser Valerie Jarrett, Attorney General Lisa Madigan, 2015 Emanuel foe Jesus “Chuy” Garcia and Democratic U.S. Rep. Luis Gutierrez.
*They’re already in: Emanuel faced a diverse army of challengers before his Tuesday decision: former Chicago Police Board leader Lori Lightfoot, Paul Vallas, former Chicago Police Department Superintendent Garry McCarthy, Cook County Circuit Court Clerk Dorothy Brown, Chicago principals association President Troy LaRaviere, millionaire businessman Willie Wilson, activist Ja’Mal Green, tech entrepreneur Neal Sales-Griffin, attorney John Kozlar, pharmaceutical technician and DePaul student Matthew Roney, policy consultant Amara Enyia and Southwest Side attorney Jerry Joyce.
They’ve said no: Both former Gov. Pat Quinn and state Sen. Kwame Raoul said they’re not running.
Hearing @ToniPreckwinkle is polling about possible #ChiMayor19 race, others on the maybe list: Mendoza, Quigley, Guttierez, Bill Daley, Arne Duncan, Valerie Jarrett, Summers, Valencia, Pawar, Munoz, Sawyer, Moreno, Lisa Madigan (and …. fill in the blank) #ChiMayor19
