Since the state last paid for a majority of road costs in 2000, construction costs have increased 61 percent, according to the Federal Highway Administration. State funds for transportation, however, have fluctuated and on average, remained largely static in that amount of time.
This kind of works like the pension problem: pension costs increase over time, but the state’s appropriation for those costs have simply not kept up. That’s how we end up billions behind in that arena and this one.
Though far less expensive by comparison, even maintaining the roads isn’t cheap. To show just how stretched Illinois’ infrastructure budget is. IDOT Officials are shooting for Illinois roads to be at or better than a “fair” condition between now and 2024. That’s the second to last rating on its pavement condition scale.
[Kevin Burke of the Illinois Asphalt and Pavement Association] says, if that’s the goal, a commute probably won’t get any better; in fact, he warns Illinois roads are probably going get a lot worse.
* A buddy of mine who has worked in southern Illinois for years said he’d driven over three creaky old bridges today in rural Union County. He texted me a pic of one of them…
* Difference between the last impasse and first post-impasse fiscal years…
Table shows State of Illinois General Funds revenues in FY2017 and FY2018. Federal revenues were depressed in FY2017 as the State’s cash flow problems led to delayed payment of Medicaid bills: https://t.co/XW7EZDbPozpic.twitter.com/kOJ9XZ6yxi
— The Civic Federation (@CivicFederation) July 25, 2018
* As I think we’ve already discussed, revenues exceeded expectations by about $900 million…
Federal revenues of $4.0 billion exceeded projections by $614 million, or 18.0%. The federal component of General Funds revenues relates mainly to reimbursements for State Medicaid spending. Budget officials said the federal revenue increase was largely a matter of timing: because the State paid more Medicaid bills before the end of the fiscal year, more matching federal payments were received and booked in FY2018 instead of in FY2019. It should be noted that the federal revenues shown in the table above do not include $1.2 billion of Medicaid reimbursements due to bonds sold in November 2017 to reduce the bill backlog.
The State also brought in more income taxes than expected, which has been attributed to federal tax changes. Corporate income taxes (net of amounts diverted to pay tax refunds) of $2.0 billion exceeded projections by $133 million, or 7.1%. Net individual income taxes of $17.7 billion were $115 million, or 0.7%, above GOMB’s forecast.
Transfers were above projections, largely due to $198 million in additional payments from the Capital Projects Fund to reimburse General Funds for capital purpose debt service costs. Sales tax receipts of $7.8 billion were $141 million below forecast amounts.
Nearly a third of property taxes now collected by City Hall go into 143 special taxing districts controlled by Mayor Rahm Emanuel and aldermen, according to a new report by Cook County Clerk David Orr.
Orr said a record-high $660 million poured into tax-increment financing funds last year, which was more than 31 percent of the $2.1 billion-plus that city government collected. The veteran clerk called the percentage “stunning.”
Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner on Tuesday said he supports the Supreme Court nomination of Brett Kavanaugh, a politically connected conservative judge, just as Democrats in Illinois and across the country sounded the alarm on potential rulings on abortion restrictions, gun rights and a roll back of Obamacare. […]
“I support the nomination of Judge Kavanaugh. I believe he is highly experienced, well-qualified for the position, and I hope that his nomination is voted on and approved expeditiously,” Rauner told reporters in Schaumburg after touring Amada America, Inc.
Rauner, too, accused Democrats of “trying to play politics with this issue.”
Nearly all of the nation’s Republican governors have signed a letter backing Senate confirmation for President Donald Trump’s Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh.
In a letter to Senate leaders, first obtained by the AP, GOP governors from 31 states and territories ask that senators move “expeditiously to confirm” Kavanaugh to the court.
They write: “Judge Kavanaugh’s impeccable credentials demonstrate he is worthy of this nomination.”
The letter is part of a coordinated campaign by the White House to build public support for Kavanaugh, in hopes of securing his confirmation in time for the beginning of the Supreme Court’s term this fall.
The governor’s office did not immediately respond to questions about the letter on Tuesday afternoon.
*** UPDATE *** From Will Allison at the Rauner campaign…
Governor Rauner has supported Judge Kavanaugh as a nominee for the Supreme Court since he was announced earlier this month. The RGA is adding Governor Rauner’s signature to the letter
Those other two aren’t running for reelection this year, so Rauner is the least popular governor in that category. Alaska’s governor is second on that list, according to the poll, with a 54 percent disapproval rating.
Two cases of Legionnaires’ disease have been reported at an Illinois veterans’ home more than two years after an outbreak killed 12 people and sickened 54 at the facility.
The Illinois Department of Veterans’ Affairs said Wednesday that two residents at the Illinois Veterans Home in Quincy contracted the disease. Department spokesman Dave MacDonna said one resident died last week but officials believe the death resulted from other factors.
A new lawsuit alleges medical personnel mishandled testing of a dying Quincy veterans’ home resident last fall, resulting in him not being diagnosed with Legionnaires’ disease until just hours before his death.
This is the second lawsuit from the family of Valdemar “Roy” Dehn, an 88-year-old Korean War veteran and ex-Chicago Tribune employee who died from Legionnaires’ last October. The first lawsuit, filed last week, was focused solely against the state of Illinois in the state’s obscure Court of Claims, where families suing the state are limited in their damages. […]
The lawsuit alleges staff at Blessing Hospital ordered Dehn be tested for Legionnaires’ disease on Oct. 8, 2017, but the test wasn’t carried out. Three days later, another doctor questioned why the test had not been completed and ordered it be done a second time, according to the lawsuit. The test result came back positive for Legionnaires’ the next day, about eight hours before Dehn died, according to the lawsuit.
The court filing alleges [Zorian Trusewych, the medical director of the Quincy veterans’ home] also failed to test Dehn, even in the months leading up to the 2017 outbreak as other residents tested positive for Legionnaires’.
So, lemme get this straight. Twelve people died during the 2015 Legionnaires’ outbreak. The facility was hit with another outbreak in 2016. And they still apparently couldn’t get it right during the third outbreak?
Gov. Bruce Rauner doesn’t plan to be there when Donald Trump makes his first visit to Illinois as president later this week.
Asked about his plans, Rauner wasn’t even sure when Trump would visit the state.
“I heard the president is coming to Granite City, I think either Thursday or Friday,” Rauner said Monday in Wheaton.
Thursday, a reporter pointed out.
“I, uh, I do not plan to go. I was just in Granite City just in the past week,” he said.
Hilarious.
* The Question: Which would be worse for the governor: POTUS is upset about the guv’s snub and tags him with an unflattering nickname; or POTUS tells the crowd what a great governor Illinois has? Take the poll and then explain your answer in comments, please.
The Rauner campaign continues to focus on the corrupt relationship between JB Pritzker and Mike Madigan with a paid digital ad titled “Pritzker Covers For Madigan” highlighting their failure to defend women who have been victims of sexual harassment.
The ad showcases Pritzker’s inability to challenge Mike Madigan throughout the sexual harassment scandal that has rocked Madigan’s official and political organizations. Not only did Pritzker wait days to even name Madigan when pressed on the issue, he has given millions to Madigan’s political groups AFTER harassment allegations were levied against some of the Speaker’s top allies.
* The two brief clips of Pritzker in this ad have him saying “We need to find out what the facts are” and “We need to make sure that all the facts come out.” I just don’t get how that’s supposed to be a negative. The on-screen messages do try to make the case, however, and a lot of people watch these online ads without sound, so maybe all that makes this ad work. I dunno, though. You be the judge…
Also, they haven’t yet settled on a tagline to unify all these ads, except the single word “Madigan.” A catchy, memorable phrase is the usual route, but maybe that one word is enough considering how massively unpopular the guy is.
The bloodbath that wiped out half the editorial staff of the New York Daily News Monday will continue today at other units of Chicago-based parent company tronc. That’s the word from CEO Justin Dearborn, who told employees the cutbacks would “accelerate our company’s transformation into a truly digitally-focused enterprise — one that creates meaningful journalism, delivers it more quickly and more frequently, and develops new approaches to engage our reader.”
* But Tronc execs apparently have no idea how to do that…
When a top executive from frugal newspaper giant Tronc was asked Tuesday about the specific strategy behind draconian cuts to the New York Daily News on Monday, he didn’t have an answer.
On Monday, the company slashed fifty percent of the editorial staff at one of New York’s two remaining iconic tabloids, including dozens of top longtime staffers from virtually every section of the paper.
During a Tuesday meeting with editorial staff that lasted more than an hour, Tronc executive vice president Grant Whitmore and the Daily News’ newly installed editor in chief Robert York occasionally struggled to answer pointed questions about the underlying strategy behind the cuts.
At one point, York asked for 30 days to develop an editorial strategy, which prompted dismay from some staff.
Tronc bought the money-losing Daily News in 2017 for the token price of one dollar in what many saw as a grab for its printing plant and real estate. […]
Insiders say it’s all about getting the company ready for a sale.
Revenue for the first quarter 2018 includes $25.9 million attributable to the NYDN (acquired in September 2017) […]
First quarter 2018 was impacted by fees associated with a consulting agreement that the Company entered into with Merrick Ventures LLC, Michael W. Ferro, Jr. and Merrick Media, LLC. Following Mr. Ferro’s retirement from the Company’s Board on March 18, 2018, the Company fully expensed the $15.0 million contract in the first quarter, which included $500,000 while Mr. Ferro was actively engaged in the business. Including this charge, net loss for first quarter 2018 was $14.8 million [Emphasis added] […]
Adjusted [Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation and Amortization] for first quarter 2018 was $24.4 million, versus $33.7 million in the first quarter 2017, due primarily to an anticipated negative first quarter 2018 adjusted EBITDA at the NYDN and digital investments.
So, the paper was bleeding some money (hard to tell just how much), but paying off that Ferro contract is what apparently put them under water. And it’s much harder to sell a company when it’s not showing a profit.
And just like that, @BruceRauner campaign spokesman now pipes up and says "No, Rauner will not be giving Wilson any more money." https://t.co/s85EAhacE2
The Chicago construction company behind the 95th Red Line terminal expansion, FH Paschen, is involved in the CRED (Create Real Economic Destiny) program, which gives ex-offenders stability (like housing and a job) after being incarcerated. FH Paschen works with CRED to provide meaningful career pathways to ex-offenders.
Michael Reed (I can get you his info) is a participant in the program and, after being in jail, now works full-time for Paschen and is putting his new skills to use on the 95th station project. He will not only get real construction experience, but also earn any related construction certificates/credentials that he needs to keep his career momentum going. The program is meant to give people an alternative to what they were used to, facing violence in the streets, by teaching them industry skills they need to take control of their own destiny in a positive way. Check out the attached sheet for more info and interview opportunities. This would make an awesome feature or profile.
* Why is this so important? Well, a few minutes after I received Linze’s e-mail, I got this one from the Illinois Sentencing Policy Advisory Council…
The attached report updates the Sentencing Policy Advisory Council’s (SPAC’s) 2015 High Cost of Recidivism report. Similar to regular updating of financial reports on economic activity or investments, this criminal justice update incorporates new trends and improved methodology to provide a more accurate and current picture of the high costs of recidivism in Illinois. The updated report describes the costs, how those costs accumulate over time, and how evidence-based policies and practices can help reduce recidivism such that the benefits outweigh the costs.
Key Findings:
* In 2016, more than 38,477 people were convicted of felonies and 33,074 were convicted of misdemeanors in Illinois.
* Only 11% of the 71,551 total convictions were of individuals with no prior arrests. Roughly 96% of the people admitted to prison eventually return to the community.
* Forty-three percent of those released from prison each year recidivate within three years of release and 17% will recidivate within one year of release.
* Thirty-five percent of those sentenced to probation for felony offenses each year recidivate within three years of sentencing, and 17% will recidivate within one year.
* Thirty-seven percent of those sentenced to probation for misdemeanor offenses each year recidivate within three years of sentencing, and 19% will recidivate within one year.
* The average cost associated with one recidivism event is $151,662. Given current recidivism trends, over the next 5 years recidivism will cost Illinois over $13 billion.
Last Friday, Illinois Senator and Conservative Party gubernatorial candidate Sam McCann filed legislation to undo a $180 million grant from Illinois’ Road Fund supporting the Obama Presidential Library, committing the money instead to road and bridge repairs in downstate Illinois. The grant was part of the budget reached in June.
McCann issued the following statement:
Today, I am calling on my fellow legislators to join me in making the fiscally responsible decision to put this $180 million back in our Road Fund.
Illinois hasn’t had a comprehensive capital bill since 2010 and the American Society of Civil Engineers gave our roads a “D” grade last year. If we cannot provide Central and Southern Illinois with safe and efficient roads, we cannot afford to pump money into high-profile luxury projects.
Citizens in Central and Southern Illinois are counting on us to make sure that their tax dollars make a positive difference in their lives, and that is what this bill will do. It also sends an important message that we will support economic development efforts throughout the entire State of Illinois.
Gov. Bruce Rauner and Democratic nominee J.B. Pritzker aren’t commenting on the move. But Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s office had plenty to say, asserting that the state is doing for Chicago only what it did for Springfield when it helped the Lincoln Library with more than $220 million in subsidies—so far.
“The Illinois Legislature recognizes the significant benefits created by presidential centers,” said a city spokeswoman. “This expenditure is critical to the development of the Obama Presidential Center, and we consider it to be a settled matter.”
Did I mention that McCann’s district happens to include Springfield?
Anyhow, McCann has been far downstate and unavailable for comment today on questions like whether a Lincoln Library is better than an Obama Center.
This isn’t a bad move for McCann, politically speaking. The governor signed the budget and agreed to the Obama expenditure. The House and Senate Republican leaders also agreed to spending that state money.
So, McCann gets a free shot at Obama-hating Republicans. But, it’s just a press release. Not many will really read or hear about it unless he can raise enough money to tout his position on the airwaves.
The Executive Director at the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum, Alan Lowe, joins us in the studio to talk about the ALPLM’s backpack drive.
The District 186 Backpack Drive started July 1st and will end July 31st and is from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Free museum admission is included with every donation.
There are a few ways you can donate.
First, by dropping them off at the museum, off of Sixth Street, or at the Real Estate Group on Wabash, or right here at our WICS/FOX station.
On July 27, we’ll be hosting a live grab-n-go backpack drop-off right in front of the museum.
— Democrats are now a little better than 50-50 to win the House. This is the first time this cycle we’ve gone beyond 50-50 odds on a House turnover.
— We’re making 17 House ratings changes this week, all in favor of the Democrats.
US Rep. Peter Roskam’s district was moved from “Leans Republican” to “Toss-up.”
* From the Chicago Republican Party…
Counter-protest for Peter Roskam, this Thursday
Peter Roskam is in the fight of his life and he needs our help this Thursday. His race was just changed from “Likely Republican” to “Toss-up”. If we hope to keep this district from turning Blue in November, we need to match the other side’s intensity right now.
We just got wind that the Democrats are planning to protest at the sold-out debate between Peter and his opponent this Thursday evening in Chicago. They’re planning on having over 100 people there. This is a perfect opportunity for us to show we are ready to fight. Can you come show your support for Peter outside the event this Thursday?
We are gathering with our signs at the north east corner of Jackson and Clark (courtyard of the Federal Building) across from the Union League Club (65 Jackson Blvd, Chicago) where the debate is taking place starting at 4:30 PM and going until the debate starts at 6 PM.
We’re also having a bus take supporters from the suburbs to downtown and back! We’re meeting in Wheaton at 3:15 PM and plan on having everyone back by 7:15. If you’d like to take the bus, let us know and we’ll send you more details!
We can’t let the Democrats’ protest go unanswered, especially on such an important debate night!
Thursday’s Lincoln Forum debate between Republican Rep. Peter Roskam and Democratic challenger Sean Casten is sold out. The event was only supposed to have 100 audience guests, ideally supporters evenly split between the two candidates. But when tickets went on sale, Casten’s supporters gobbled them up. Lincoln Forum co-founders Pat Brady, the former state GOP chairman, and Eric Adelstein, a Dem strategist, decided out of fairness to sell an additional 70 tickets to Roskam supporters. “The Lincoln Forum is nonpartisan and we have a duty to have a balanced room,” Brady said.
I’m told that Casten’s campaign manager bought a big block of tickets, so this reaction seems reasonable to me.
* But check out Casten’s response via press release…
Organizers of Thursday’s debate originally proposed 100 tickets sales, the parties agreed, and both candidates were informed simultaneously of the procedures for online sale. Those 100 seats sold quickly. Thereafter, Peter Roskam expressed concern that more tickets had been purchased by Casten supporters, and insisted upon an additional ticket allotment exclusively for his campaign as a condition to participate. The debate organizers complied, providing Roskam’s campaign with access to a secret stash of 70 additional tickets to the sold-out debate.
“Sixth District residents are clamoring to hear Peter Roskam defend his actions in Washington D.C. When given an opportunity — at $33 per ticket versus free of charge — they jumped. Our campaigns agreed to rules for this debate, but now Peter Roskam wants to change them after the fact in his favor.”
“We still eagerly look forward to the debate on Thursday, but Peter Roskam should agree right now to more debates at home in larger, free venues so all Sixth District residents have a fair and open opportunity to hear about our campaigns. If Peter Roskam is afraid of his own constituents, how can we expect him to stand up to Donald Trump?”
Anyone watching their TV recently may have been startled to see—months earlier than most political spots usually arrive—a TV ad promoting the accomplishments of U.S. Rep. Peter Roskam, R-Wheaton.
The ad now has disappeared from the airwaves. But consider it an omen of what’s to come. […]
The [$209K American Chemistry Council] ad hails Roskam’s work on behalf of the tax bill that Congress approved under strong pleadings by President Donald Trump. The congressman “fought to reform our nation’s tax code to lower taxes for middle class families so they can keep more of their hard earned money,” said ACC President and CEO Cal Dooley in a statement. “His leadership on tax reform has also benefited businesses by allowing them to reinvest in their employees in Illinois and across America.”
Casten’s campaign sees it a lot differently.
It emphasizes that the chemistry council’s members include units of major petroleum companies including BP, Chevron, Occidental and Total, all of which received big benefits from the tax bill. Roskam further voted to open oil drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and restrict federal limits on methane emissions in oil drilling on federal land, it says. More generally, says Casten, “As a senior member of the Ways and Means Committee, Peter Roskam has done a lot of favors for big corporations—not the least of which was giving them billions of dollars in tax cuts in the tax bill he authored. Now these corporate PACs are repaying him for those favors—and hoping for more.”
Illinois taxpayers could save more than $3 billion a year from government consolidation and mandate relief, according to Gov. Bruce Rauner. […]
“The estimate was we’d save Illinois taxpayers $3.5 billion per year,” Rauner said. “$3.5 billion per year if we actually implemented the 27 recommendations our task force laid out.” […]
For consolidation, recommendations [by the Local Government Consolidation and Unfunded Mandates Task Force] included, among others, a moratorium on creating new local governments, expand DuPage County’s pilot program to all 102 counties, allow township consolidations with coterminous municipalities, incentivize school district consolidation, and encourage sharing of public equipment, facilities and other resources regionally.
Mandates to be repealed, the report suggested, included prevailing wage laws, providing third-party contract mandate relief for school districts, making collective bargaining permissive rather than mandatory, eliminating minimum manning from collective bargaining, merging downstate and suburban public safety pension funds into a single fund, and others.
* Meanwhile, here’s a memo from AFSCME Council 31…
TO: All State Local Union Presidents
FR: Roberta Lynch, Executive Director
Mike Newman, Deputy Director
RE: Rauner Administration Tries to Strip Bargaining Rights from Hundreds of State Employees
In the wake of the US Supreme Court’s ruling in the Janus case, Bruce Rauner has launched an aggressive campaign to strip hundreds of state employees of their contractual rights by attempting to remove their positions from union bargaining units.
Within the past few weeks, the Department of Central Management Services (CMS) has filed over one hundred unit clarification petitions with the Illinois State Labor Relations Board to remove a broad array of positions from AFSCME bargaining units (as well as from the bargaining units of other unions representing state employees). We will shortly send you a list of all affected employees in your local union.
While these employees have been included in the bargaining unit, with full contractual rights, for many years, the Rauner Administration is suddenly alleging that their positions meet one or more of the statutory exclusion definitions under the Illinois Public Labor Relations Act (IPLRA).
This is a very deliberate attempt by the Administration to force these members out of the union and leave them without any guarantees regarding wages, health insurance costs, promotional opportunities, job security, or other essential rights.
Council 31 has sent a letter to all employees in the affected positions informing them of this attempt to strip them of their union rights (see attached sample letter).
The IPLRA is the law that provides collective bargaining rights to public employees in Illinois. It narrowly defines the supervisory, managerial and confidential standards that are the basis for exclusion from union representation. For example, under the Act working supervisors are eligible to be in the union and confidential employees are limited to those who have access to confidential labor relations information. AFSCME does not believe that any of the positions now targeted by CMS meet these standards for exclusion from the act.
When there is a dispute as to whether specific positions should be excluded from a bargaining unit, the Labor Board holds a fact finding hearing to make a determination as to eligibility. You can be assured that Council 31 will vigorously oppose this assault on members’ rights at the Labor Board. Our ability to successfully do so will depend on the affected employees providing the union with comprehensive information on their job duties. We may be contacting you for assistance in gathering such information.
Harassment, beatings and sexual assault are just a few of the abuses transgender inmate Deon Hampton, who goes by Strawberry, claims she suffered at the hands of corrections officers in two southern Illinois prisons.
Federal court filings outline those claims against staff at Pinckneyville and Menard Correctional. […]
Among the allegations, Hampton, who has identified as a woman for more than two decade, says corrections officers at Pinckneyville physically and sexually assaulted her, and regularly forced her to have sex with her cellmate for their entertainment, while shouting racist and homophobic slurs.
And after she reported the incidents under the Prison Rape Elimination Act, Hampton claims the abuse only got worse, with officers demanding she rescind the complaints or face beatings.
The complaint, which seeks damages from IDOC and named employees, describes an incident In May, where Hampton says prison staff beat and sexually assaulted her, before telling her it was retaliation for reporting officers.
Hampton recalled an incident where she and her cellmate were taken from their cell by officers — there are several pages of defendants named in the lawsuit’s complaint document which include the warden of Menard Correctional Center as well as a list of correctional officers — and told to dance for the men. She said she was also told to have phone sex with one officer and forced to put her mouth on the penis of another.
Alan Mills, executive director of the Uptown People’s Law Center, said he and his team came prepared for the second day of a preliminary injunction hearing in one of Hampton’s civil federal cases when representatives from IDOC came to them with an offer.
“With the judge’s help, we spent the day negotiating and seeing if we could resolve this case without a decision by the judge,” Mills said. […]
He said she has been housed in a health care facility, and will be until her transfer Wednesday to the Lawrence Correctional Center in Sumner.
Mills said he hopes the facilities at Lawrence will better suit Hampton’s needs.
“I know that there are other transgender women at Lawrence, so I’m hoping that they will have the sort of materials she and other transgender women need,” he said.
* But the transfer to Lawrence didn’t work out and she was then transferred to Dixon. But that isn’t working out either…
A transgender woman, who’s incarcerated at a men’s correctional facility in northern Illinois, is again suing the state Department of Corrections to be housed in a women’s prison after alleging she’s suffered abuse in several male facilities.
Deon “Strawberry” Hampton has sued the agency multiple times and has been transferred to four different facilities in the last year. Hampton currently resides at the Dixon Correctional Facility, after spending time at the Lawrence Correctional Center where other transgender inmates live.
Hampton’s attorney says abuse has continued regardless of where her client has been sent.
I asked IDOC today whether any guards had been disciplined for their alleged behavior. I’ll let you know if the department responds.
The fleece zip-up vest, the capstone of a new corporate uniform, lurks in air-conditioned corporate cubicles across America. It covers the sweating backs of nervous interns ordering supersize coffees at Starbucks . It’s worn by silver-haired executives in the elevator, heading up to their corner suites. It appears in myriad shades of grey and blue, on men of all shapes and sizes who earn all kinds of salaries. It has become as ubiquitous as the take-out salad in humdrum workplaces, and is slowly supplanting the suit and tie as essential office wear.
Typically, the vest is worn over a button-up shirt and paired with chinos and brown dress shoes of any flavor. “The uniform” is how this ensemble has been branded around the office of one 36-year-old working in capital markets in Pittsburgh, a past practitioner of the much-mocked look who asked that his name be withheld. During a recent trip to New York City this month, he observed scores of men wearing grey fleece vests even as temperatures touched the mid-90s.
The trend is so pervasive that an Instagram account with nearly 40,000 followers, The Midtown Uniform (@midtownuniform), has sprung up to savagely document these corporate clones in cities like New York, Toronto and Washington D.C. The anonymous account adds pithy captions to crowdsourced photos, riffing on the omnipresence of this particular outfit. “Money isn’t really ours unless you’re fully vested,” read a caption on a recent post showing two men in matching pink shirts and blue vests.
I did not know any of that.
* As you are most certainly aware by now, both major party candidates for governor sport a fleece vest on occasion…
* The Question: Who wears it better? Take the poll and then explain your answer in comments, please.
* From the Anti-Harassment, Equality and Access Panel’s website…
The panel will put forth a set of recommendations intended to:
— Promote and support a culture of equality, safety and respect in Illinois politics free of sexual harassment.
— Improve the process for combating and reporting sexual harassment in Illinois political campaigns.
— Increase the number of women in leadership positions and those on track to leadership positions at all levels of Illinois politics by expanding access and tools for professional and leadership development.
— Facilitate more women running for office in Illinois by identifying and reducing structural obstacles that prevent them from doing so.
In response to the national and state harassment allegations, two lawmakers and the state comptroller are traveling Illinois, gathering stories from women in politics — or who want to be in politics — about barriers that keep them out of leadership roles. The Anti-Harassment, Equality and Access Panel has held meetings in Champaign, Chicago and the Metro East, and will next hear stories from women in Springfield and Carbondale.
And, as it turns out, those stories are about a whole lot more than sexual harassment.
Comptroller Susana Mendoza told me on Monday that the panel’s work has become about elevating women into leadership positions around the state — with the eventual goal of Illinois becoming the first state to boast a majority of women in the Legislature. […]
[Mendoza] says one goal of the panel is to find ways parties can actively encourage women to get involved.
“(Sexual harassment) is an issue that is pervasive across … parties, industries, public and private — it just exists everywhere,” Mendoza says. “What we can do to address sexual harassment is look at the (political) party structure.”
“We’re going to do something really amazing that no one has ever done,” she says. “And get behind this effort of putting more women in office, and doing it intentionally.”
The panel came to Springfield Monday to get input from Springfield-area women about their experiences being involved in politics and public service and steps that can be taken to improve the experience. Springfield is the fifth location for the listening sessions and two more are planned.
“We’re trying to develop policies and guidelines for political parties that are more inclusive for women and that will remove barriers so that more women will feel comfortable working in politics and running for office,” Bush said.
“We started out really focused on the whole issue of sexual harassment,” Mendoza said. “In terms of the panel’s work itself and the people who come to talk to us, it’s amazing how more of the conversation has shifted to the barriers to entry to politics. The fact that there are not enough women in politics seems to be an issue that keeps coming up over and over again.”
In the Illinois General Assembly, 35 percent of lawmakers are women. That puts Illinois sixth among states with the largest percentage of female lawmakers. Bush said it isn’t enough.
“Our representation should look like us,” she said. “We’re 51 percent of the population.”
Reached by phone, F. Scott Winslow, Wilson for Mayor campaign spokesman, told WGN News Sunday’s event was “absolutely not” a campaign event. Winslow says since Wilson launched his second bid for Chicago mayor, he’s probably given away $500,000.
Winslow insists the campaign is not violating any campaign finance laws since the campaign was not involved. He said he didn’t think any of the governor’s money was distributed in cash Sunday, but there was no way to know how much of the governor’s money was part of the hand out.
Once people contribute to Wilson’s foundation “all the money gets mixed together,” he said.
He also said there is a Chinese wall between the foundation and Wilson’s campaign. He said they bent over backwards Sunday to avoid any appearance of vote influencing, even removing political signs from nearby yards.
The governor, who is facing a tough re-election campaign, knew that Wilson would be at that church on Sunday talking about tax relief. It’s unclear whether he knew the checks would be handed out, too.
At a news conference Monday, Rauner said he donated money for people who were vetted through the foundation. He said he had no idea that Wilson would be handing out cash.
“Just handing out cash randomly to people, I’ve never done that and I think it’s not a good thing to do,” Rauner told reporters. “It’s one thing if you’re just a person and you just want to walk around and throw money. I mean, it’s a free country. If you’re a candidate for office, it’s not a proper thing to do.”
Anyone who knows Wilson, though, knows that’s what he does. He gives on the spot and doesn’t spend a lot of time and energy interviewing the recipients. He takes people at their word that their financial horror stories are true.
That last paragraph is totally true. And it shoulda been crystal clear to Rauner that money would be handed out if anyone had bothered to read Wilson’s press release…
On Sunday, July 22nd at 10:00am, Wilson will give away $300,000 to assist struggling homeowners who are being threatened with losing their homes because of staggering property tax bills.
* Rauner didn’t know that cold, hard cash would be handed out? Seems a tiny bit difficult to believe after reading this Sun-Times story…
Wilson’s spokesman Scott Winslow said this isn’t the first time Rauner has attended an event in which Wilson has handed out cash and checks. Winslow said Wilson has been doing it for more than 20 years.
And a Wilson campaign ad called “Helping Others” is posted on Wilson’s campaign Facebook page featuring a video of Rauner crediting Wilson for being “generous.” The video was posted on June 19 and features a church banner which reads “God Reigns in 2018.” The campaign ad shows Wilson passing out money in a church.
Wilson’s campaign said it’s a “composite spot.”
“The portion where he is handing cash to a member of the church was a January 15 MLK event, before he had declared himself a candidate for mayor,” Winslow said.
“He’s a wonderful entrepreneur. He’s built his own business from scratch. He’s been very successful. And he’s very generous,” Rauner says in the ad while the camera shows Wilson handing out cash to a man in a church. “He’s taken his success and given back to the community, to help many families who need help.”
* The spot is 49 seconds, which is too long and too short to be a standard :30 or :60 TV ad. And it hasn’t yet shown up on Facebook. There are plenty of other platforms, however, so let’s take a look at it since our late friend Paul Green makes an appearance and the Tribune covered the ad…
Rauner’s out with a new ad that tries to tie Pritzker and powerful House Speaker Michael Madigan together as pushing for a tax increase.
The ad shows both men with the words: “Pritzker-Madigan. Higher taxes. More corruption. Want to raise your taxes.” It then plays various TV news coverage of Madigan as well as Pritzker, who is pushing for a graduated income tax that would levy higher tax rates as income rises.
Pritkzer, however, has refused to say what those tax rates should be—something that has given Rauner an opening to attack a change in the income tax as higher taxes on everyone. Even to impose a graduated income tax rate would require years, including a voter-endorsed change in the state constitution.
The end of the Rauner ad plays a clip of Pritzker at a campaign event saying, “You can hear what a theme for this campaign is going to be, right?”
* The RGA was pleased as punch with the Trib’s coverage…
Chicago Tribune: J.B. Pritzker Still Won’t Say What His Tax Hike Rate Would Be
Despite criticism from editorial boards across Illinois over his refusal to detail the specifics of his “immediate increase” tax hike plan, J.B. Pritzker still won’t say how high he would raise taxes if elected.
The Chicago Tribune is again calling out the Illinois Democrat gubernatorial candidate, writing that “Pritkzer, however, has refused to say what those tax rates should be—something that has given Rauner an opening to attack a change in the income tax as higher taxes on everyone.”
As the heir to the Hyatt hotel fortune and an expert at using insider schemes to avoid paying his fair share in taxes, Pritzker simply does not appreciate what his tax hike would do to struggling families.
Hardworking Illinois families already having a difficult time paying their tax bills should be deeply concerned about Pritzker’s lack of honesty and candor about his tax increase proposals.
* And so was Team Rauner…
ICYMI: Morning Spin Covers Latest Rauner Campaign Ad
This morning, the Chicago Tribune’s Morning Spin covered the Rauner campaign’s latest ad, “Raise Taxes For Everybody.” The ad features a clip of Mike Madigan saying that taxes can go in “whatever direction you want to go” followed by news coverage of Pritzker’s plan to hike taxes on Illinois families.
They started as a University of Illinois garage band and reached the heights of arena rock. Now the members of REO Speedwagon have been voted the top musicians in Illinois history by participants in the Illinois Top 200 project, a part of the state’s bicentennial celebration.
REO Speedwagon was followed by Alison Krauss, the fiddler with an angelic voice and more Grammy wins than any other woman in history, and Nat King Cole, the beloved crooner and trailblazing African-American entertainer.
Cheap Trick, the Rockford band that’s now in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, and jazz legend Miles Davis rounded out the top five.
“Perhaps nothing better represents the state’s cultural and geographic diversity than its many contributions to American music. The most remarkable thing about this list is how many people on it were major contributors to different styles of music: blues, jazz, rock, soul, country, you name it,” said Christian McWhirter, a Lincoln Presidential Library historian and music expert. “And it’s not just Chicago, either. These great acts come from all over the state.”
“Keep On Loving You,” “Can’t Fight This Feeling,” “Take It on the Run.”
Bleh. Not a big fan of hair-band arena rock.
* However, there is one track that redeems all of REO for me. “Golden Country”…
Golden country your face is so red
With all of your money your poor can be fed
You strut around and you flirt with disaster
Never really carin’ just what comes after
Well your blacks are dyin’ but your back is still turned
And your freaks are cryin’ but your back is still turned
You better stop your hidin’ or your country will burn
The time has come for you my friend
To all this ugliness we must put an end
Before we leave we must make a stand
Hindsight is always 20/20. Little did we know how truly corrupt the Obama-era Justice Department and FBI really were. With predawn raids, overzealous prosecutors with a flair for big, flashy press conferences and the need to secure convictions at all costs, even when the evidence suggests otherwise, we have learned the hard way how some prosecutors have weaponized their unchecked power to criminalize the routine practices of politics and government.
A few hours after the predawn raid where my husband was taken away, federal prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald held a press conference where he announced to the world that Rod was trying to “sell” President-elect Barack Obama’s Senate seat.
That sensational charge is what people remember, but it was a lie. In July 2015, the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals reversed those charges, ruling that the so-called “sale of the Senate seat” was not a crime. It was nothing more than routine “political logrolling.”
My husband fought the charges. He resisted the relentless efforts by the prosecutors bullying him to plead guilty. They even threatened him with a life sentence. But he refused to give in.
Why? Because we trusted the system, unaware that the case against him was rigged from the beginning.
Special counsel Robert Mueller, former FBI chief James Comey, and Fitzgerald have done more than enough damage to our family. Their politically biased agendas and insatiable desire to convict, even where no crimes exist, should frighten every single citizen in our country.
Mueller and Comey are two of President Trump’s “favorite” people.
But notice she doesn’t mention how her husband shook down a children’s hospital exec for bigtime campaign bucks before he’d release their state funding. Wonder why?
Blagojevich, though, was arrested at his home on Dec. 9, 2008, more than a month before home-state U.S. Sen. Barack Obama was inaugurated president. […]
In reality, her husband was still convicted of wire fraud involving discussions to personally profit from selling the Senate appointment. The charges that were dropped were due to a technicality involving jury instructions. […]
On upholding the other 13 charges against the impeached former governor, Easterbrook wrote on behalf of the three-judge appellate panel that “the evidence, much of it from Blagojevich’s own mouth, is overwhelming.”
Not mentioned in Patti Blagojevich’s column were her husband’s convictions of attempting to shakedown an executive of a children’s hospital and a racetrack owner for campaign cash in exchange for official actions.
This development has been expected for weeks. Two of Chuy Garcia's allies won Democratic primaries for House seats in March. This makes the third Chuy-backed House Dems this year. The Chuy-MJM alliance of convenience is perhaps the least reported political story in Chicago https://t.co/eFesaKNb5l
Celina Villanueva will take the oath of office on Tuesday to formalize her appointment to the 21st District state representative seat vacated when former State Rep. Silvana Tabares became alderman of the 23rd Ward in May.
“I am humbled to accept this appointment to represent my community in the Illinois General Assembly,” said Villanueva. “I am committed to advocating for the best interests of working people in the 21st District every day, and will always be a voice for social justice and democracy in Springfield.”
Villanueva was previously the Youth Engagement Manager at the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights (ICIRR), where she led the largest immigrant civic engagement program in Illinois, which registered more than 200,000 new American voters and mobilized hundreds of thousands more to get out to vote.
Villanueva led ICIRR’s efforts through the Just Democracy Illinois coalition to expand voting rights through online voter registration, election day registration, and most recently automatic voter registration, all of which are now law.
Prior to joining ICIRR, Villanueva served as the Director of Organizing at Chicago Votes, and worked as an organizer on various issue-based campaigns, including the fight for marriage equality in Illinois. She also previously served as Outreach Coordinator for Cook County Commissioner Jesus “Chuy” Garcia.
Villanueva graduated with a B.A in Latina/Latino Studies with minors in African-American Studies and Spanish from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. She is a resident of Little Village.
…Adding… Press release…
Following is a statement from Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights (ICIRR) Executive Director Lawrence Benito, in response to the news that ICIRR New Americans Democracy Project and Youth Engagement Manager Celina Villanueva has been appointed to become the 21st District State Representative:
“We are beyond thrilled for Celina, who has been a tireless leader in our work to protect immigrants and refugees in Illinois for the last four years. We know she will bring the same clarity and fierce commitment to the needs of working people and immigrant communities to her role in the General Assembly. We look forward to working with Rep. Villanueva to make Illinois an even more welcoming state for immigrants and refugees.”
…Adding… From the swearing-in…
It was an honor to stand and watch Celina Villanueva take the oath of office as the next State Representative of the 21st District before her family and friends today. It was a proud and emotional moment as we welcomed a new progressive champion to the ILGA. Congrats Celina! pic.twitter.com/rg0dkYgZI9
— Emanuel Chris Welch (@RepChrisWelch) July 24, 2018
* If you search the Illinois attorney general’s charitable trust database (click here) for the Dr. Willie Wilson Foundation, you won’t find anything.
That sometimes doesn’t mean anything because there can occasionally be a data entry backlog or some other glitch. So I reached out to the AG’s office yesterday and asked what was up.
They got back to me just before 4:30 yesterday afternoon with this message: “They are not up to date with us.”
The AG’s office, I’m told, reached out to Wilson’s foundation yesterday, but nobody has called them back.
The last report the AG’s office has, I was told, is for 2016.
It’s unclear what happens next. There could be financial penalties if the foundation doesn’t comply, for example. And the AG’s office could conceivably shut down the foundation.
* From Wilson’s campaign spokesman last night…
The 2017 990 report is on extension and will be filed this week (not due till Nov 15th) to make the foundation up to date
