A package of incentives worth at least $50 million is being offered to Sears to relocate its headquarters and some 5,000 jobs to the Detroit metropolitan area, two sources familiar with the talks said Friday.
Two potential sites in metro Detroit are being offered to Sears. One is Regent Court, a Ford Motor office building in Dearborn. The other is the former Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan complex in Southfield, which is on the market as BCBSM moves employees to downtown Detroit.
Both Wayne and Oakland counties, as well as the Michigan Economic Development Corp., are participating in the attempt to lure the Sears headquarters, the sources said. MEDC had no comment.
The incentives being offered are said to include a mix of tax breaks, relocation grants, housing incentives and more. […]
Kimberly Freely, a spokesperson for Sears Holdings Corp., issued a noncommittal statement Friday. “We do owe it to our associates and shareholders to consider options and alternatives and intend to be very thoughtful and thorough in our deliberations,” the statement said. “Speculation about whether Sears will remain in Hoffman Estates is not fair to our associates, particularly so early in this process.”
If Sears were to take Michigan up on its offer, it would mark a homecoming of sorts. Sears Roebuck & Co. bought Troy, Mich.-based Kmart Corp. in 2005 to form Sears Holdings.
Gov. Pat Quinn has said he would work with Sears to find a way to keep it from leaving Illinois.
The retailer is among 107 companies that will see tax breaks expire in the next three years, a situation that could lead to a number of defections.
* Jim Thompson was the father of Illinois corporate chasing tax breaks, and he reminisced recently with the Tribune’s Melissa Harris
“I think it would be fair to say, that 25 years later, Mitch Daniels next door has the attitude toward his job — as chief salesman for his state — that I did,” Thompson said. “It’s not just the laws of Indiana. It’s what’s the attitude of the state officials? And don’t leave out the legislature. They have as much responsibility for giving the governor the tools, as he does for using the tools.” […]
The Mitsubishi agreement was enormous, even by today’s standards, totaling an estimated $276.1 million when it was announced in 1985, or about $580 million in today’s dollars. The package included everything from $40 million for job training to $11 million for buying the land and $29.7 million in savings on federal import duties. The Tribune reported that Michigan bowed out of the competition the week before, calling the automaker’s requests “excessive.” But Illinois’ package for Sears in 1989 eclipsed it.
Thompson acknowledged it’s harder for Illinois to play offense today because of the state’s fiscal crisis and underfunded pensions. But he said Illinois can still put together a strong pitch based on its transportation infrastructure, universities, cultural attractions and workforce.
The rest, he said, comes down to personality and instinct — “knowing the people and judging their credibility.” Thompson said he couldn’t recall ever turning down a company threatening to leave; nor could he recall writing job-creation or retention requirements into an incentive agreement. Omitting job requirements is rare in the incentive business today.
* In other news, the Post-Dispatch looks at the costs and other drawbacks of smart grid technology…
Across the country, smart grid projects, especially those involving new digital smart meters, have sparked a backlash. In Texas, regulators were asked to investigate the accuracy of the new meters. In San Francisco, customers are worried about electromagnetic radiation. A few California cities have declared moratoriums on the new meters. Privacy advocates worry about what utilities will do with the data they collect on consumer energy use. […]
In Illinois, it’s the debate over the regulatory framework being proposed by utilities that’s raising second thoughts. David Kolata, executive director at Citizens Utility Board, a Chicago-based utility watchdog, said the group backs the bill’s smart grid provisions. What it objects to are more sweeping changes in the legislation that could expose consumers to higher rates. […]
But getting from here to there won’t be easy or cheap. The Electric Power Research Institute estimates implementation of a nationwide smart grid will require investment of as much as $476 billion. […]
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Advancing the smart grid also requires consumers to buy in. And it has been a tough sell so far. Earlier this month, Kansas City-based Black & Veatch released results of an industry survey showing the main impediment to smart grid implementation is a lack of customer interest and knowledge.
Much of the controversy has focused on the new digital meters. Some consumer advocates, like John Coffman, an attorney for the Consumers Council of Missouri and AARP, worry the devices will prove too expensive and need replacement too quickly. Coffman also worries it could make it too easy for utilities to disconnect customers who fall behind on bills.
* Related…
* 10 brands that won’t be around in 2012: The parent of Sears and Kmart — Sears Holdings — is in a lot of trouble. Total revenue dropped $341 million to $9.7 billion for the quarter which closed April 30, 2011. The company had a net loss of $170 million. Sears Holdings was created by a merger of the parents of the two chains on March 24, 2005. The operation has been a disaster ever since. The company has tried to run 4,000 stores which operate across the US and Canada. Neither Sears nor Kmart have done well recently, but Sears’ domestic locations same store numbers were off 5.2 percent in the first quarter and Kmart’s were down 1.6 percent. Last year domestic comparable store sales declined 1.6 percent in the total, with an increase at Kmart of .7 percent and a decline at Sears Domestic of 3.6 percent. New CEO Lou D’Ambrosio recently said of the last quarter that, “we also fell short on executing with excellence. We cannot control the weather or economy or government spending. But we can control how we execute and leverage the potent set of assets we have.” D’Ambrosio needs to pull a rabbit out of his hat soon. Sharex are down 55 percent during the last five years. D’Ambrosio only reasonable solution to the firm’s financial problems is to stop supporting two brands which compete with one another and larger rivals such as Walmart and Target. The cost to market two brands and maintain stores which overlap one another geographically must be in the hundreds of millions of dollars each year. Employee and supply chain costs are also gigantic. The path D’Ambrosio is likely to take is to consolidate two brand into one — keeping the better performing Kmart and shuttering Sears.
* Tribune editorial: Conventional wisdom: Whatever it takes. Better union rules are only the beginning. To remain a world-class convention venue, Chicago needs to make sure exhibitors and attendees get good value at every turn. That means reining in operating costs unrelated to trade-union rules. It means improving the McCormick Place experience by tying together the convention floor with mobile applications and social-media innovations.
* Emanuel announces plan to expand teacher training program - Academy for Urban School Leadership matches National-Louis graduate students with failing schools
* Chicago test scores up, but officials not satisfied - More kids meet standards on ISAT, but other tests show students are not prepared.
* Troubled West Side School Celebrates a Milestone
Lura Lynn Ryan, wife of former Gov. George Ryan, is on a respirator at Riverside Medical Center after being admitted to the hospital last week, Ryan’s Chicago attorney Jim Thompson said this morning.
Officials at Riverside would not confirm any information regarding her patient status.
Thompson, a former governor himself, would not say when she was admitted. He also would not comment on whether or not George Ryan will be allowed out of the federal penitentiary in Terre Haute, Ind., to visit her. Lura Lynn has been diagnosed with terminal lung cancer.
Commenters should try to remember that this is someone’s mother, grandmother and wife. Disrespectful comments will be deleted.
…Adding… Mrs. Daley has also been in the hospital recently…
Former Chicago first lady Maggie Daley has spent the past week at Northwestern Memorial Hospital, her doctor said today.
Dr. Steven Rosen would not disclose why she was in the hospital or the current state of her health. Daley, 67, has battled metastatic breast cancer since 2002. […]
Rosen said she was scheduled to go home on Sunday.
Illinois drivers and passengers need to buckle up.
That was the message Monday from Gov. Pat Quinn, who signed a new Illinois law requiring everyone riding in a vehicle to wear their seat belts.
Senate President John Cullerton was 1 of the measure’s sponsors, and he says the law will save lives. The bill also was sponsored by the late GOP Rep. Mark Beaubien.
Currently, people riding in the front seat of a vehicle have to wear their seat belts, but people in the back seat are only required to be belted in if they are under 18.
The move strengthens the state’s current seat belt laws, which require passengers in the front seat and anyone under the age of 19 to wear safety belts. Police will be able to stop vehicles if they notice a passenger isn’t strapped in. Fines start at $25.
Exemptions include those riding in taxis or emergency vehicles such as police cars and abulances. The measure was sponsored by Senate President John Cullerton, a Chicago Democrat who authored the state’s first law requiring passengers to buckle up during the 1980s. […]
Cullerton and Quinn both recognized the work of the late Rep. Mark Beaubien, a Republican from Barrington Hills, who pushed the bill in the House. Beaubien’s family was at the bill signing at Quinn’s Chicago office.
The governor also signed a law making it illegal for passengers to ride in trailers, wagons and other vehicles while they are being towed on highways. Farm-related activities and parades are exempt.
* Listen to Gov. Quinn and others talk about the bill…
Illinois has borrowed more than $1 million this year to help cover its own expenses from money taxpayers give to charity.
The state government has borrowed about $1.17 million this fiscal year from money that Illinois taxpayers designate on their tax returns for charitable use, The News-Gazette in Champaign reported.
Lawmakers signed off on the plan to help deal with a multibillion-dollar state budget deficit.
Kelly Kraft, spokeswoman for the state Office of Management and Budget, said she expects the state to repay the money within a few months. By law, the money has to be returned, with interest, within 18 months, she said.
Kraft said last week she expects the money to be repaid within a few months, at most. She said legislators approved the temporary borrowing to address cash-flow problems when they passed Gov. Pat Quinn’s lump-sum budget.
But some nonprofit agencies are unhappy, to say the least.
“My concern is that the taxpayers don’t know that they’re donating to charities that don’t even get their money. It just seems really inappropriate to use charities to pull money in, and then pull that money out to pay for bills,” said Stephanie Record, executive director of the Crisis Nursery of Champaign County. “This is crazy.”
Record, whose agency is slated to get about $7,000, said she had no idea the state could borrow against that money.
When the state’s crisis nurseries went through the process of getting on the tax checkoff list in 2009, they asked that very question: Will the money get held up because of the state budget crisis?
“We were told over and over and over again, ‘No, it’ll flow straight through an account at DHS (the Department of Human Services),’ and that the flow-through account would be released directly to the nurseries. Obviously, that wasn’t the case,” she said.
For the 2008 tax year, Illinois workers donated a total of $1.4 million to 10 different funds. But, with the approval of the General Assembly, Gov. Pat Quinn authorized $434,300 in sweeps from seven of the funds in Fiscal Year 2010, when the 2008 tax year donations were first available for spending. Sweeps are transfers from special funds with specific purposes to the general revenue fund, the state’s largest pool of money, which pays for basic government operations.
For the 2009 tax year, Illinois taxpayers donated $1.37 million to 10 different funds, but during the current fiscal year, FY2011, Quinn has borrowed $1,176,100 from seven of those funds as well as five other check-off funds that are no longer listed on tax forms but were holding donated money from previous years. […]
“Soon after Governor Quinn took office after former Governor Rod Blagojevich was impeached, the state needed to exercise ways to manage cash flow due to decades of fiscal mismanagement,” Kelly Kraft, spokesperson for the governor’s office of management and budget, said in an emailed response to Illinois Times’ questions about the sweeps. She says the state has not swept any funds since the FY2010 sweeps and that the governor’s office “has no intention of sweeping funds going forward.” As to the borrowed funds, Kraft says the state only tapped “excess” funds.
Though the state had not entered into grant agreements for most of the borrowed funds, at least four fund beneficiaries were told to put their projects on hold until the money was repaid.
On March 21 Gov. Pat Quinn took $134,900 from the Alzheimer’s disease research fund, leaving less than $1,300 behind. During the previous fiscal year, the state swept $112,500 from the fund. In response to the borrowing, the Illinois Department of Public Health this spring had to renege on approved grants for researchers at Eastern Illinois University, the University of Chicago and Northwestern University, which was supposed to receive two grants.
“While promises have been made that the funds will be returned, this money was already committed to Illinois researchers for their projects. Those projects now need to be put on hold and the possibility exists that the funding will not be repaid,” the Illinois chapter of the Alzheimer’s Association told Illinois Times in a written statement.
Illinois’ prepaid tuition program is facing a crisis of confidence that threatens to push it toward insolvency.
During the past three months, families have withdrawn more than $12 million from College Illinois!, according to documents obtained by Illinois Statehouse News. Families pulled out just more than $2 million during the same period last year.
Panicked parents who have asked for their money back make up a small percentage of the total contract holders, but a large contingency now are debating whether to follow suit.
The huge increase in refunds comes after scathing articles in the media, an Illinois auditor general’s report, an Illinois Secretary of State investigation and an Illinois attorney general inquiry into possible mismanagement of the program. […]
Created 12 years ago, College Illinois! allows people to pay for tuition and mandatory fees at universities and community colleges years in advance at a lower cost. The money people contribute to the program will be invested and the return on these investments will cover tuition and fee inflation over the next several years or decades.
Most of the anxiety about College Illinois! stems from its large deficit. The fund is a defined benefits program in which a person who pays in now is guaranteed a certain payout. The program went from being 7 percent unfunded for future and current contracts in 2007 to 18 percent as of May.
Adding to the crisis of confidence is a decline in new enrollments, which could dry up as soon as 2014 if recent trends continue, according to projections by Illinois Statehouse News based on Illinois Student Assistance Commission numbers.
“I don’t think there’s going to be very many people who are willing to now subscribe to this program anymore, because it’s like investing in a bankrupt company,” George Pennacchi, professor of finance at University of Illinois in Urbana Champaign.
Andrew Davis, executive director for the Illinois Student Assistance Commission, or ISAC, said he is confident the fund is sustainable and will honor all current and future contracts.
“We’ve paid all our current bills on time and in full. We have fully accounted for with an aggressive view towards what future tuition will be,” Davis said. “The fund is significantly stronger than it was two years ago.”
* Related…
* Quinn spokeswoman gets 48% pay increase: Gov. Pat Quinn’s budget office spokeswoman will be making nearly 50 percent more money after receiving an additional job title this spring. Kelly Ann Krapf, a former broadcast reporter who uses the name Kelly Kraft, received a salary boost from about $71,000 to more than $105,000. Krapf, 38, joined the budget office in 2009 after working at the Fox News television station in Chicago. Quinn spokeswoman Annie Thompson said Krapf now holds a dual position of communications director and assistant director of the office.
Illinois Senate President John Cullerton has received a lot of bad press, sharp condemnation from Republicans and even some quiet criticism from his own members over the past month.
But Cullerton made no apologies during an interview last week for the way his caucus sought to hold the state’s public works bill hostage by tacking on $430 million in additional budget items. The move was rejected by both parties in the House and by the Senate Republicans and even, in the end, by Gov. Pat Quinn, who had pushed for additional spending all year. The General Assembly had to return to town last week so the Senate could officially back down from the spending and send a “clean” bill to the governor’s desk.
The Senate President told me numerous times over the past several months that he believed he could convince fellow Democrat House Speaker Michael Madigan to go along with his budget plans. In the end, however, Madigan stuck to a budget pact he’d made months earlier with House Republican Leader Tom Cross and beat back the Senate Democrats’ plan. So, what went wrong?
“I don’t think anything was a mistake,” Cullerton insisted. He blamed Cross for the collapse of his members’ spending plan. Cross, he said, couldn’t comprehend what the Senate Democrats were proposing: moving money away from some special state funds in order to pay for his caucus’ program spending demands. Cullerton claimed he first approached Cross about the idea three weeks before the end of the session. It wasn’t until the session’s end, he said, that Cross finally grasped the concept, but by then, Cullerton claimed, it was too late.
Several members of his own caucus have grumbled since May 31st about the way Cullerton seemed to give free rein to Black Caucus members and others who aggressively pushed for a showdown with Madigan over the budget and absolutely demanded the additional spending which caused all the trouble. At one point last month, many in that group wanted to force an overtime session rather than pass any budget bill.
Ironically enough, many of those same grumblers who said Cullerton needs to act more forcefully to quell the chaos within his caucus were also the most unhappy with the way former Senate President Emil Jones too often ran his show with a heavy hand. What seemed to irk them most, however, was that a minority of the caucus was able to once again force the majority into an untenable position.
To be fair, no caucus has experienced more internal revolts than the Senate Democrats over the past 40 years. It is, by far, the least “manageable” of the four legislative caucuses. And white legislators from the city and suburbs (in both chambers) always complain at the end of spring session that Downstaters, Latinos and African-Americans are being placated while they’re being left out.
The Senate President chose to look at the bright side.
“Rather than take us into overtime, I got the caucus to vote for the budget,” he pointed out. That was most certainly no mean feat considering the intensely heated opposition to the House’s budget within his own caucus. “My goal was to pass a budget, which we did.”
He also said he now has “leverage to renegotiate the budget in the middle of the fiscal year.” Why? Because, Cullerton said, the House’s budget is full of “phony” cuts. Indeed, the House put off well over a billion dollars in spending until after the end of the fiscal year.
Cullerton seems determined to undermine the legitimacy of that budget, and his focus appears to be on forcing Tom Cross to admit he made a mistake. It’s arguable, Cullerton said, that the Senate cut more than the House did. And the Republican Cross, he claimed “is unaware of how bad his budget is.”
“We’ll get our vindication, if you will, in January, when people realize that we have to cut the budget again,” Cullerton predicted.
As for the grumbling in his own caucus, Cullerton said that nobody has come to him with any of those concerns. “I’m not going to change my personality,” he said, adding “I don’t like to dictate to people.”
However, Cullerton also had a piece of advice for those in his caucus who are constantly clamoring for war with the House Speaker. “You do not win by fighting Mike Madigan.”
There’s another potential problem with the operations budget state lawmakers approved last month: Not enough money to pay all employee salaries for the full year that begins July 1.
“I don’t see Quinn announcing firings,” said state Rep. Frank Mautino, D-Spring Valley. “I think they will pay them until the money runs out.”
Quinn’s options are limited. He signed an agreement with the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees union to not lay off employees or close facilities before June 30, 2012, the end of AFSCME’s current state contract.
“There is not enough money in the budget to fully fund (salaries),” said Quinn budget spokeswoman Kelly Kraft. “This is something we continue to examine as we work to manage and implement an incomplete budget passed by the General Assembly.”
“There’s a lot of things in the House budget that need to be corrected,” Cullerton said Wednesday. “The House budget grossly under-appropriates a number of areas.”
As an example, the budget reduces spending on schools but didn’t change the way the money is distributed, which could result in the formula running out of money before the end of the next fiscal year.
Voices for Illinois Children, a statewide advocacy group, says the budget cuts spending on pre-school programs, which could result in a loss of services for 5,000 children.
Advocates for Illinoisans with disabilities say the plan shortchanges funding for state developmental centers like the Choate Developmental Center in Anna.
* 11:41 am - Gov. Pat Quinn just took some bill action that won’t be appreciated by the Republicans. From a press release…
“The people of Illinois provided input at public hearings for both the congressional and state legislative maps. I have carefully reviewed the congressional redistricting map. This map is fair, maintains competitiveness within congressional districts, and protects the voting rights of minority communities. I would like to thank Sen. Kwame Raoul and Rep. Barbara Flynn Currie for their commitment to encouraging public participation in the remap process.”
Pat Brady, the state’s Republican Party spokesman, said Quinn’s signature on the map after the governor had said he wanted fair and competitive boundaries was “a little disingenuous.”
“I wish he would have been more honest and just said that he’d sign the map,” Brady said. “This is what we’ve come to expect from him since he was sworn in.”
The congressional map received the least amount of scrutiny of the political boundaries drawn by Democrats this year. Though Democratic state lawmakers held several public hearings, very little time was devoted to the congressional map that was unveiled for Memorial Day weekend.
“They held a bunch of preliminary hearings and that’s great,” said Whitney Woodward of the Illinois Campaign for Political Reform. “But throughout the process, what we and other groups asked for were hearings and the data to consider a new map. Instead, we saw a couple of hearings on draft maps without much demographic information.”
* 1:38 pm - From a press release…
Republican members of the Illinois Congressional delegation today issued the following statement after Governor Pat Quinn singed into law the Democrat proposal to re-draw the boundaries of Congressional districts in Illinois:
“We are disappointed that Governor Quinn chose to sign into law this flawed map, thereby proving that his actions do not match his rhetoric. Despite his expressed desire for “openness and fairness,” Governor Quinn instead rewarded his Democrat allies by approving this highly partisan map that tears apart communities and disrespects the will of Illinois voters as expressed in last fall’s election.
“Governor Quinn said that a fair redistricting process required hearings. Yet the map was unveiled on a Friday and passed the following Monday, with no hearings. Governor Quinn said that the way in which district lines are drawn contributes to the success of our democracy. Yet the map he approved seeks to reverse the results of a democratic election. Governor Quinn advocated for a fair and open process. Instead, he has guaranteed an unfair and closed one.
“This map will be challenged in court, and we do not expect to comment further on a matter that now will be the subject of litigation. As we have said before, we do not believe this map will stand.”
Congressman Tim Johnson was the only member of the state’s Republican delegation who didn’t sign the letter.
Illinois Republican Party Chairman Pat Brady says the new congressional district lines the governor has approved is an attempt to “silence” voters.
Brady says voters sent a GOP majority to Congress just last fall. He says the map signed into law Friday by Democratic Gov. Pat Quinn is unfair to Republicans. […]
Brady says Quinn “lost all claims to the label ‘reformer’” by approving the map and says he hopes courts will overturn it.
“Well, I think that there will be a lawsuit that will likely be brought before a Republican judge who picks two other judges to sit on a panel, and they will review the legality of denying Latino voters their full representation in the Congress. And I expect that lawsuit will come to a decision in October or November,” Kirk said.
Kirk says he believe the chances in a court of law are “pretty good.” [Emphasis added.]
It’s so nice to know that Sen. Kirk believes Republican judges are purely partisan animals.
* A few congressional stories…
* Freeport Mayor Gaulrapp to Announce Bid for 17th District: After falling short in his first bid for congress, Freeport Mayor George Gaulrapp is going to give it another try this time in a different district. Gaulrapp tells me he will make an official announcement on Saturday morning that he aims to represent the 17th District in congress. In 2010, the Freeport democrat lost to long time 16th District congressman Don Manzullo. But now Freeport and parts of Rockford is in a district that stretches along the Mississippi River from the Wisconsin border all the way down to the quad cities.
* Some of my most favorite memories in life involve hanging out at parties with musicians, sharing a jug and listening to them play guitar and talk about their craft. Those parties were usually at some run-down house with beat-up furniture and dogs running around loose. The parties would often last all night, and sometimes a group breakfast was prepared come morning. And then it would start all over again.
The documentary film Heartworn Highways is about as close as you can get to having that experience without actually doing so.
Shot on a shoestring budget in late 1975 and early 1976, Heartworn Highways doesn’t really tell a story. Instead, we’re invited to those parties, with empty beer cans strewn across the table, ashtrays overflowing with cigarettes and some of the best young songwriters of their generation playing music straight out of Heaven.
James Szalapski’s film wasn’t released until 1981, and it’s hard to find these days, although you can watch it on Netflix if you subscribe. I stumbled across several YouTube videos the other day while looking for something else, so let’s get to it.
* At the beginning of our first video, you’ll see the great Guy Clark saying “Listen to this song,” and pointing with reverence to a babyfaced Steve Earle.
“Listen to that song!” Guy again commands the cameraman, knowing - and wanting all of us to know - that his young protege is destined for a greatness that nobody save him can possibly imagine at the time. Unfortunately, the filmmakers failed to heed Clark’s prescience and the song didn’t make the movie’s final cut. Thankfully, it’s on the bonus DVD.
“Did you hear the verses at all?” Clark asks Rodney Crowell toward the end of the song, shaking his head in wonder and amazement. Earle was just 20 years old at the time and this is his first known recording. Steve later said he wrote “The Mercenary Song” on the back of a menu at a pizza restaurant where he was a cook. It’s probably one of my favorites in his vast repertoire…
I guess a man’s got to do what he’s best at
Ain’t found nothin’ better so far
Been called mercenaries and men with no country
We’re just soldiers in search of a war
* Rodney Crowell has written for many of the greats, including Waylon Jennings, Johnny Cash and Crystal Gale. Bob Seger made a big hit out of Crowell’s “Shame on the Moon.” He’s a Grammy winner, was once married to Rosanne Cash and has a slew of hits, including five number one singles in a row in the late 1980s. But we see him here as a 25-year-old who is still learning at Guy Clark’s feet.
Fair warning: Crowell’s song “Bluebird Wine” will not leave your brain easily or quickly. It’s an incredibly catchy tune that was covered by Emmylou Harris. She eventually asked him to join her band and the rest is history…
The party just started
And I’m drunk on Bluebird Wine
* Richard Dobson never made it big and I don’t know why. But his songwriting is top notch. Johnny Cash covered his song “Baby Ride Easy,” as did Dave Edmonds and Carlene Carter. He also wrote a book called The Gulf Coast Boys. It’s full of stories about his running buddies, including Townes Van Zandt. Dobson lives in Switzerland and tours mostly in Europe, but you can catch him every now and then in Texas. Check his website for info.
Four seasons go around on a pinwheel
And tomorrow ain’t nothin’ at all
* Steve Young wrote the outlaw classic “Lonesome, On’ry and Mean” immortalized by Waylon Jennings. But Young also penned the sublime “Seven Bridges Road,” which was beautifully covered by the Eagles. Here he is singing “Alabama Highway”…
Turn supernatural, take me to the stars, and let me play
As Steve Earle tells it, he was just 17 when he met an artist and performer who would mould the shape of his career. The teenage Earle was singing at a club in Houston, Texas, when he was teasingly heckled by an older man in the audience who asked him to play the song Wabash Cannonball, and told him he wasn’t much of a country singer if he couldn’t.
The heckler turned out to be Townes Van Zandt, a legendary Texan singer-songwriter who Earle already admired. Earle was unable to comply with his request, but instead performed a word-perfect version of a tricky, complex Van Zandt song, Mr. Mudd and Mr. Gold. This playful exchange made them firm friends.
“I met this guy, and I was 17,” Earle recalls now. “It was obvious I was going to write songs and make records, but here I was, meeting someone who was making art for the sake of art, at a really high level. He was committed to continuing to do that, whether he made money or not. That’s the most positive thing I took from him.”
From that day to this, Earle has been a diehard Townes Van Zandt fan. It has not always been an easy thing to be: as Earle delicately puts it, “Townes was a real bad role model.”
* Anyway, Steve Earle says that the musicians in Heartworn Highways wanted to take some revenge on the filmmakers over some broken promises. So, they sent them to Austin to interview Townes Van Zandt. Townes was a little, um, difficult to deal with, and they thought this would be proper punishment. But he ended up stealing the whole show.
I came of age and found a girl in a Tuscaloosa bar
She cleaned me out and hit it on the sly
I tried to kill the pain
I bought some booze and hopped a train
Seemed easier than just a-waitin’ around to die
…Adding… I told you a few years ago about the late underground songwriter Blaze Foley. The documentary about his life is now finished and is in limited release. Click here for more info. There’s even a Facebook page.
Since last week — and after the jury began its deliberations — there have been four sealed filings in the case, beginning with a prosecution filing that came one day after a media appearance by a former Blagojevich attorney. Lawyers tied to the trial who usually freely discuss it have since late last week kept their mouths tightly shut.
The filings came after attorney Sam Adam Jr. last week, as jury talks were under way, went on TV and radio predicting “20 not guilty verdicts” for his onetime client. Early last week, two Blagojevich lawyers appeared on “Chicago Tonight.”
On June 16, lawyers were summoned to U.S. District Judge James Zagel’s chambers for a private meeting. Also in the courthouse was Adam, who was not part of the retrial but still a listed attorney on the case. Afterward, the typically talkative Adam would not answer questions about the Blagojevich case. A few times when asked a question, he’d put his hand over his mouth.
“I MUST decline to comment,” Adam repeatedly said. “I cannot tell you why.”
Another defense lawyer, Michael Ettinger, who also still has an appearance on file in the case — and typically answers questions about the trial — responded similarly.
* The Question: Who else in Illinois politics would you like to see placed under a gag order? Explain.
* The NRA refused to back a county-by-county concealed carry “opt-in” compromise during the spring session, but some legislators are now going ahead with it anyway…
Three lawmakers who say carrying concealed weapons should be legal in Illinois are pursuing an alternative that would allow individual counties to decide the matter.
Republican state Reps. Bill Mitchell of Forsyth, Adam Brown of Decatur and Chapin Rose of Mahomet held a news conference Thursday in Clinton about their proposed legislation. They also made stops Thursday in Decatur, Tuscola, Monticello and Mahomet. […]
The new proposal is the same as HB 148 except it would give each of the state’s 102 counties the authority to decide.
“Our ultimate goal is to have conceal-and-carry throughout the state,” said Mitchell.
An opt-in bill would probably only require a simple majority in each chamber, rather than the three-fifths super-majorities required of the previous bill. The earlier legislation was deemed as overriding local home rule powers. This wouldn’t. Details…
As written, the bill would authorize sheriffs to issue concealed carry licenses — once the county board OKs it — to citizens who meet age requirements, complete training courses and pass criminal background tests. Once licensed, a person could carry a concealed handgun in any county that adopts the local option.
Concealed guns could not be carried in schools, courthouses, government buildings, churches, libraries, bars, stadiums and in gambling venues. Business owners would be able to prohibit concealed carry on their property as well.
Quinn stated that he has no plans to allow concealed weapons in Illinois and will veto any such legislation. Illinois is the only state where it is illegal to carry a concealed weapon.
“In too many places in Illinois there is a violence epidemic, and I believe that we need to address that,” Quinn said. “I do not believe that a law that would allow private individuals to carry loaded concealed weapons on their person in public places is the best way to deal with it.”
“The governor says he’s going to veto it. That’s easy for him to say. He’s got a state taxpayer-funded bodyguard,” Rose said. “There are certain counties in my district where on a Saturday night there is only one deputy sheriff for the whole county. This is about a fundamental right to protect yourself and protect your family from an attacker, an assailant.”
* Southtown Star columnist Phil Kadner supports concealed carry, but with reservations…
Even the thought that civilians are packing is enough to make the average criminal think twice about committing a crime, the concealed-carry crowd contends.
I doubt addicts needing money for a fix think that logically.
As for gang members, the fact that rival gangsters frequently carry guns never seems to deter them from making war on each other.
Would a rapist actually think twice about attacking a woman if concealed carry were the law? That could happen. But aren’t most rapists friends or relatives of the women they attack?
Maybe every person really does need a gun to keep the streets safe.
But if there are so many evil people walking around, if our neighbors cannot be trusted, if our police, courts and jails are inadequate, isn’t there something really wrong with this country?
Shouldn’t we be talking about that more and about concealed carry less?
It surprises me that more people don’t seem outraged by this turn of events.
Yes, carrying a gun may someday save your life. But more guns will not make this country a better place to live.
* Yet another reminder to commenters: This topic always seems to bring out the crazy in people. Bumper sticker slogans and drive-by comments are heavily frowned upon here. Keep your arguments elevated and try to come up with an original thought. Deletions will be swift and banishments will be sure.
Quinn did not specify what changes he will make but identified several areas he will focus on.
“There will be some changes, and we want to make sure we put education and public health, job creation, public safety, those are core priorities and we’re going to do the best we can for those, human services and health care,” Quinn said.
The governor can use his veto powers to take a scalpel to parts of the spending plan he doesn’t like without jettisoning the whole document, thus freeing up money he can ask lawmakers to spend on other priorities. The House and Senate have the option of endorsing his moves or rejecting them later this year.
International Business Machines Inc. is owed $1.1 million. Office Depot Inc. is waiting for a $660,955 check. And the 17th Street Bar & Grill in Sparta is due $340.52. They are among at least 8,000 vendors including businesses, charities and government agencies waiting months for the state to pay up. At least 114 companies are due more than $1 million, according to documents from Illinois Comptroller Judy Baar Topinka. […]
“An Illinois phenomenon,” said Ron Ford, CEO of Chicago- based Help at Home Inc., which is owed $43.4 million and hasn’t heard from the state since December. […]
“Banks have refused us a line of credit because of the state,” said David Baker, who runs the nonprofit Open Door Rehabilitation Center in Sandwich, Illinois, and is owed $880,000. “We’ve had a long-time relationship with bankers, but now they wonder ‘What if the state never pays you?’” […]
The consequences of years of ignoring bills fall on organizations such as the South Suburban Council on Alcoholism and Substance Abuse, in the Chicago suburb of East Hazel Crest. The nonprofit has an annual budget of $5 million, and 75 percent of its revenue comes from state funding, said CEO Allen Sandusky.
Sandusky, whose company was owed as much as $1.4 million, has cut his staff to 105 from 155 and obtained a $1 million line of credit at 6 percent interest.
Oof.
As I’ve said before, Illinois’ government is one of the greatest drags on Illinois’ economy.
[ *** End Of Update *** ]
* The budget, of course, isn’t the only legislation that hasn’t yet moved to the governor’s desk. The gaming expansion bill has a parliamentary hold on it. The governor called that “odd” yesterday…
“I mean, if you believe in a bill, and apparently there are members of the House and Senate who believe in this bill, then not to send it to the governor I feel is kind of curious, sort of odd,” Quinn said.
The Constitution says any bill passed by the Legislature “shall be presented” to the governor within 30 calendar days of its passage and that requirement is “judicially enforceable.” That language would seem to create legal questions about Cullerton’s strategy of withholding the legislation to avert the potential of a Quinn veto.
I’m not sure the bill can be classified as “passed” since there’s a legitimate motion filed to reconsider the vote, however. And I doubt the courts will want to jump in on this one, since they tend to shy away from ordering the General Assembly around in this state. Either way, though, it’s an interesting take.
* Meanwhile, the legislative Democrats’ decision to look at the state’s business tax code over the summer won’t be easy, as these comments clearly demonstrate…
“If you are talking only about the corporate tax rate, you are only talking about treating one of the symptoms,” [said Greg Baise, president of the Illinois Manufacturers’ Association], citing high utility taxes as another area that makes Illinois less competitive.
Both also said it may prove difficult to end tax incentives that are part of the business tax structure.
“Incentives built into the tax code had an interest group that convinced the General Assembly that this was good policy,” [said Todd Maisch, vice president of government affairs for the Illinois Chamber of Commerce]. “It will be very interesting to hear that this will not be a means to an increase in the overall business tax burden.”
“One man’s tax incentive is another person’s loophole,” Baise added.
If legislative hearings lead to a less onerous tax code and a level playing field for all employers, grand. Companies will create more jobs here. That said, two obstacles stand in the way:
First, Madigan’s and Cullerton’s caucuses include Democrats whose Job One is raising state spending, consequences be damned. They usually scorn attempts to make Illinois more competitive for jobs by improving the business climate here, because “more competitive” likely means “less taxation.”
Second, bringing lots of companies to the table forces them to ask whether their problem is state government or … each other. Some will criticize tax policies and loopholes that others will defend.
* Roundup…
* RTA warns of transit cuts - Transit agency says it needs some of $400 million due from state
* Casino Bill’s True Believer Enters the Final Stretch: “We wouldn’t say ‘no’ to Starbucks because we have too many Starbucks and too many people are drinking coffee,” Mr. Lang said. “We would never say to an auto dealer, ‘Don’t expand your business. Go to Indiana.’ This is a business like any other.”
* Illinois’ data website: Lots of numbers, few answers
* Lawmakers to address Illinois’ business tax climate
The Illinois General Assembly was back in Springfield for one day this week, but they might return again.
The House and Senate had to come back to make sure there were no delays in the state’s massive infrastructure program.
The Senate Democrats had tacked some budget spending onto a bill authorizing the construction, but the House had refused to go along. The Senate backed down this week, so everything is still on track.
The media tended to misinform about the Senate’s add-ons, neglecting to report that the Senate Democrats actually paid for much of that spending by redirecting money within the state budget. And if history is any guide, if the General Assembly has to double-back to Springfield once more this summer, the media will misinform again.
Talk is in the air of a special session to deal with a federal judge’s ruling that the state’s McCormick Place reforms violated federal law.
Unions at McCormick Place have forever been blamed for the high costs of conventions. And while I’d agree that many of the work rules were way out of hand, much of this is overblown.
The biggest problem at McCormick Place is the markup. Federal Judge Ron Guzman went out of his way to point out that problem when he ruled earlier this year that the state’s new “reforms” of union rules violated federal law.
Guzman refused to set aside his ruling this week while McCormick Place appeals, which prompted McPier czar Jim Reilly to suggest Thursday that an emergency legislative session could be needed.
Rosemont’s convention center uses the same unions and the same workers operating under the same rules as McCormick Place. Yet, for example, prices to move exhibits from Rosemont’s loading docks to its convention floor are 38 percent lower than at McCormick Place, according to a Crain’s Chicago Business report.
Rosemont acts as its own contractor. McCormick Place uses private contractors to handle its shows. Two of those contractors, GES and Freeman, are by far the largest.
So, why not just crack down on the contractors? If it were that simple, it would’ve been done already. Two contractors control most of the shows at McCormick Place as well as most of the big shows around the country.
Rosemont focuses on smaller shows. Because it isn’t trying to tap into the really big shows, it doesn’t need to bother dealing with those two contractors. But without those big shows, McCormick Place goes belly up. You might as well turn it into the world’s largest indoor skateboard park. McCormick Place has no choice but to submit to those two contractors.
If it’s that bad, you may ask, then why don’t the exhibitors revolt against the contractors and force them to lower their prices? That happens in some instances, and part of the new reform law allows it.
But most of the exhibitors belong to trade associations, and those trade associations make much of their annual profits with their conventions by jacking up the prices even higher. The trade groups are sometimes even showered with perks by the contractors.
Legislative leaders were deathly afraid of angering the two big contractors when they drafted their reform legislation last year. All proposals to cap contractor markups were ignored. But if the appellate court doesn’t lift Judge Guzman’s stay, then a special session may have to be held.
Gov. Quinn said Thursday that he wants all sides to sit down and negotiate a solution. But if the contractors refuse to budge, there’s nothing much anyone can do.
Whatever happens, it would be nice if the media in this town started reporting the full story.
Convention and trade-show workers at McCormick Place may have to be made public employees if the federal courts continue to quash labor reforms, according to the city’s top convention official.
In his first extensive remarks since a federal judge spiked new state-mandated rules on Wednesday, Jim Reilly said he’s hoping the court order either will be overturned by the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals or at least stayed while the appeal is heard.
Mr. Reilly heads the Metropolitan Pier & Exposition Authority, which operates McCormick Place and was on the losing end of a decision by U.S. District Court Judge Ronald Guzman.
If the 7th Circuit will not stay Judge Guzman’s order, “I think we’ll have to seriously consider asking the presiding officers to call the Legislature back” into emergency session, Mr Reilly said. And the most likely option would be to make McCormick Place workers government employees.
The legal maneuver is not a new one, and was once considered by legislators before being abandoned, said Terrance McGann, an attorney representing the Chicago Council of Carpenters. The council and Teamsters Local 727 were the two union organizations that initiated the challenge of the new work rules.
“They wanted to amend a portion of the Illinois code to lump the trades people in with firefighters and police, and it simply doesn’t fit the profile,” he said. “When you talk about the need for public safety, relative to no-strike clauses, it doesn’t fit.” […]
[Gov. Pat Quinn] said he hopes to work with legislators and labor leaders in the coming months to devise McCormick Place reform legislation that meets federal standards.
“We’ll just hash out a law that will survive any kind of legal scrutiny. That’s imperative,” Quinn said. “I want to tell all our conventioneers this is going to happen, and it will happen in a prompt fashion.”
The son of U.S. Rep. Jerry Costello says his father has tried to warn him off the “dirty business” of politics, but that he’s nonetheless making an all-out push to get an upcoming appointment to the Legislature.
“Our state is in a crisis. If there’s any time to serve, now is the time,” Jerry Costello II said today.
Costello, a Belleville-based financial advisor, has said before that he’s interested in taking over the Illinois House seat of state Rep. Dan Reitz, D-Steeleville, since Reitz recently began talking about leaving the post before his term ends in January 2013. Reitz made it official this week, announcing he will immediately leave the seat he has held for 14 years to spend more time with his family. […]
“I’ve made it known I’m interested in seeking the appointment,” said Costello. He pointed to his “lifetime of experience in government,” his Army service during the first Gulf War, and his tenure as a Sauget police officer. He said his current position as a financial advisor at Huntleigh Securities in Belleville gives him footing in dealing with the state’s fiscal crisis.
* Meanwhile, Bernie follows up on some stories I’ve been reporting for several days…
State Sen. LARRY BOMKE, R-Springfield, can’t say yet if he will be a candidate for re-election in 2012.
And if he does run, there’s some chance he’d face a challenge from a fellow Republican, Sen. SAM McCANN, R-Carlinville — though McCann hasn’t decided which new district he’ll seek to represent. […]
Meanwhile, one of McCann’s constituents, who also happens to be chairman of the Macoupin County Board and chief of staff to Senate President JOHN CULLERTON, D-Chicago, is considering a run for the state Senate in the new 48th.
“I’ve had a lot of phone calls from people who believe that I would be a good candidate,” said ANDY MANAR of Bunker Hill. “It’s something obviously that I’m considering at this time.”
Manar had a major hand in drawing that district’s map, and it’s been known for years that he wanted to serve in the Senate. One plus one equals two in this case.
While the new 16th District still tilts Republican, the big challenge Manzullo may face is from freshman U.S. Rep. Adam Kinsinger, R-Manteno, who Democrats tossed into a left-leaning district represented by U.S. Rep. Jesse L. Jackson Jr.
Kinsinger’s only hope of remaining in Congress is to move to a friendlier district. If the 33-year-old does run in the new 16th, he’s sure to give Manzullo one heck of a GOP primary battle — and Manzullo may be rusty. Don hasn’t had serious competition since 1992.
Rep. Aaron Schock (R-Ill.) will throw out the first pitch at the Washington Nationals game on Thursday as part of Ronald Reagan Day at the ballpark.
The Nationals are one of eight Major League Baseball teams that have partnered with the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation to honor Reagan’s 100th birthday.
Schock serves on the Reagan Centennial Commission and was asked to throw out the first pitch, according to his office.
Legislation to prevent another four-person mayoral runoff in Springfield is headed to Gov. Pat Quinn. The bill, which dealt with a number of electoral issues, passed the House 82-22 and cleared the Senate 53-0 on Wednesday. […]
Mayor Mike Houston, who came out on top in March’s four-person general election, said the legislation is a step in the right direction, but it doesn’t address a potential problem if there are fewer than five candidates running in the primary. Current election law states there is only a primary election if more than four candidates run for a given opening.
“If you have three or four (candidates), they would all appear in a consolidated general election without a primary,” Houston said.
Houston, who won with 47 percent of the vote, favors narrowing the field. The next closest vote-getter in Springfield’s mayoral election this year was Sheila Stocks-Smith, with 21 percent of the vote.
* Roundup…
* Durbin, Kirk, Shimkus, Johnson, Schock, Schilling Ask Air Force To Explore Flying Missions For The 183rd Fighter Wing
Illinois Senate President John Cullerton and House Speaker Michael Madigan announced today a joint House-Senate Revenue Committee review of the state’s business tax structure in the months ahead.
This joint effort will be led by State Rep. John Bradley and State Sen. Toi Hutchinson.
Speaker Madigan said he expects the review to involve key groups and leaders representing businesses big and small throughout the state.
“I see this as a timely opportunity for critics and advocates alike to participate in the process and offer their views on what the state’s business policies should be,” Madigan said.
Input would be sought from groups such as the Illinois Chamber of Commerce, Illinois Manufacturers’ Association, Illinois Retail Merchants Association, National Federation of Independent Business, Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce, Illinois Construction Industry Committee and the Civic Committee of The Commercial Club of Chicago.
President Cullerton said there’s a growing sense of urgency regarding the need to reform the state’s current business tax structure, a system often derided in the media as so filled with loopholes that it resembles Swiss cheese.
“We need to take a holistic approach to business taxes as opposed to the continued piecemeal policies that often pit one business against another,” Cullerton said.
The issue of tax policy continues to garner headlines as breaks and exemptions for major businesses have come under scrutiny from both the media and within the business community. CME Group Executive Chairman Terrence Duffy and Caterpillar CEO Doug Oberhelman have been among the business leaders who’ve expressed concerns with the state’s existing business tax structure.
In addition, the Associated Press recently reported that more than $100 million worth of state tax exemptions for numerous companies will expire over the next three years.
That was pretty carefully worded. No confirmation as of yet that this means they’ll look at reducing the corporate tax rate. Senate President Cullerton promised CME Group’s chairman he’d address the tax hike not long ago.
Madigan spokesman Steve Brown did not offer any hope that the legislative initiative would result in a rolling back of that tax increase, which is scheduled to revert to its past rate in 2014 and could not be cut under the state Constitution without also doing so to the tax rate paid by individuals.
“There is a constitutional provision that would have to be adhered to. I’m not going to go down that alley because it might pre-empt the work of the joint committees,” Brown said.
Actually, no. The state Constitution sets a cap on how high the corporate tax rate can go in relation to the individual rate. There is no floor…
In any such tax imposed upon corporations the rate shall not exceed the rate imposed on individuals by more than a ratio of 8 to 5.
The speaker’s aide also suggested further workers’ compensation reforms would not be on the committees’ radar. While the General Assembly did pass a workers’ compensation package, it did not include business’ No. 1 goal of beefing up standards to ensure businesses don’t wind up paying bills for an injured worker if their injury occurred away from the workplace, like a weekend softball game.
“You may want to look at the impact of enterprise zones, of [tax-increment finance districts], a wide range of different incentives that are available. Some are helpful; some may be outmoded. I don’t think we’ll prejudge any particular action,” Brown said.
A parliamentary hold Senate President John Cullerton placed on legislation that would authorize a Chicago casino could stay in place through the fall, the top Senate Democrat said Wednesday.
That pronouncement came on a busy day when lawmakers sent Gov. Pat Quinn a spending bill to preserve funding for billions of dollars in construction projects and gave final approval to a plan to cut lawmakers’ pay.
Cullerton’s move is aimed at buying time for negotiations with Quinn on a follow-up bill designed to narrow the scope of the gambling package that passed in May with Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s backing. […]
“There’s no sense in giving it to him to veto it,” Cullerton told reporters.
Even though the bill passed the House and Senate, Cullerton has the power under Senate rules to keep the legislation in his chamber through the end of this term of the General Assembly, which ends in January 2013.
Last month, Senate Democrats slowed approval when they attached $430 million in spending on schools, social services and other areas to the construction legislation. The House refused to go along, and lawmakers left town. Quinn later threatened to shut down construction projects throughout the state by July 1, a move that would have idled thousands of workers.
The Senate backed off the extra spending, and lawmakers sent a construction bill to Quinn on Wednesday.
“In light of the governor’s action, we obviously didn’t want to jeopardize the capital (construction) bill,” said Senate President John Cullerton, D-Chicago. “We’ll take up the shortcomings of the House budget that we did pass when we come back.”
The Regional Transportation Agency said today that service cuts could occur on the CTA, Metra and Pace as early as July if the state fails to pay part of the nearly $400 million it owes the RTA.
The RTA said it has exhausted its ability to borrow. This borrowing has been used to bridge the cash shortfalls caused until now by delinquent state payments.
Sen. Kyle McCarter brought a whole roast pig to a news conference at the state Capitol. The Lebanon Republican said he was trying to draw attention to spending policies that he compares to “a pig on a feeding frenzy.”
McCarter claims Illinois government spending is climbing too fast. He says the temporary income tax increase will wind up being made permanent to pay for the increases.
Democrats, however, point out that much of the new spending covers costs that were ignored last year, such as government pensions. They also say spending was cut for many programs.
McCarter last month alleged that fellow Sen. Mike Jacobs, D-East Moline, punched him in the chest during a Senate floor argument over utility legislation. Jacobs was mad that McCarter had made a speech chiding Jacobs for ushering a bill friendly to the utility industry—for which Jacobs’ father, ex-Sen. Denny Jacobs, D-East Moline, is a lobbyist.
The younger Jacobs has claimed the physical gesture in question was more of a tap than a punch, but he has issued a public apology.
For awhile there, it looked like this one might be headed to court (McCarter’s complaint was forwarded to a local prosecutor, who declined to file charges), but things seem to have settled down.
“I just talked to him today. I don’t have anything against him,” McCarter said of Jacobs after today’s news conference. He insisted he wasn’t accusing Jacobs of impropriety in pushing the pro-utility bill, but only of failing to avoid “the appearance of impropriety.”
The Illinois Senate did not vote Wednesday on a bill that would have allowed Gov. Pat Quinn to boot nearly 2,000 state employees out of their unions and prevent another 1,700 from going into collective bargaining. Senate President John Cullerton, D- Chicago, said the bill was shelved after it became clear there were not enough votes for its passage.
* Press release: Governor Quinn Announces $100 Million Capital Funding for Local Transportation Projects
* Leaders kick off official push for Rockford gaming casino
* Editorial: Workers’ comp bill a good start on reform
* Some businesses say workers’ comp bill doesn’t go far enough: An employee of his, whom he declined to name, was a skydiver with more than 2,000 jumps, Knight said. That employee worked for one year, then stood up one day and needed a knee replacement, he said.
Based on issues raised by a Texas blogger, Senate Republicans put the brakes on Quinn’s appointment, asking that Chico personally appear before a Senate panel to explain his relationship with Save A Life Foundation, a charity that is undergoing a probe within Attorney General Lisa Madigan’s office.
“To me, this is the biggest non-event there could be,” Chico said when asked about the wrinkle in his confirmation. “I’m happy to come down there and answer any questions.”
The Senate won’t take up Chico’s confirmation until, at the earliest, October, when lawmakers reconvene for their fall veto session. Chico can serve as the board chairman until he’s confirmed.
“No one is accusing him of anything, but if something comes up, you want to resolve it,” said Sen. Tim Bivins (R-Dixon), the ranking Republican on the Senate Executive Appointments Committee. “Without him here, we can’t answer those questions.”
Senate President John Cullerton (D-Chicago) said he “absolutely” favors Chico’s appointment. The head of the Senate appointments panel, Sen. Tony Munoz (D-Chicago), said he did not believe Chico’s nomination is threatened but was willing to accommodate Republicans so they could ask questions of Chico, who was not required to attend Wednesday’s hearing.
* Save a Life Foundation was built on a lie and the group’s founder lied to everybody about just about everything. For instance, founder Carol Spizzirri said she started her organization after her daughter was killed in a hit and run accident and the police responders didn’t know emergency first aid. Turns out, that wasn’t true. Her daughter was allegedly drunk and flipped her own car. She didn’t die at the scene, according to an I-Team report.
Spizzirri claimed to be a nurse. Not true, either. She claimed to have taught nearly 70,000 children how to save a life in Chicago Public Schools in 2006 alone. Apparently not true. The group claimed to have a National Guard contract. Nope. Spizzirri filed defamation lawsuits that failed and her charity closed in 2009.
But before the end came, Spizzirri had managed to dupe a whole lot of people into backing her organization. Click here for a partial list of the duped, which included Mayor Daley. Barack Obama was also a supporter at one time. It got regular grant money from the Center for Disease Control, the state of Illinois, FEMA and others.
* The Chicago Public Schools under Paul Vallas and Gery Chico were also apparently conned. At one point, Chico was listed as being on the group’s board of directors.
Chico flatly denies ever being on the board, and considering that Save a Life was built on a foundation of lies, it’s kinda difficult to believe them and not him. But there is this…
[Chico] appeared at SALF’s “Bridge the Gap” Summit in 2003, where he received a 10th Year Anniversary Award from the organization.
In a news release from that same year, Chico’s wife, Sunny, described her husband as “instrumental to bringing SALF to the Chicago Public Schools” during his tenure there.
* The “Texas blogger” described in the Sun-Times report is Lee Cary, who publishes the SALF Exposed! blog. Cary recently sent a letter to the Illinois Senate Education Committee describing himself as a “writer whose articles have been published by Andrew Breitbart’s Big Government, the American Thinker, and elsewhere.” He’s quite dogged.
The fact that Chico was conned is unfortunate, but so were a heckuva lot of other people. Unless something else comes out between now and October, he ought to be confirmed.
Selection of former Democratic state Rep. Mike Smith for the Educational Labor Relations Board also was held in the Senate Executive Appointments Committee. Bivins said Smith’s appointment might violate a requirement that no more than four members of the seven-person board be from the same political party.
Bivins said there also are questions about whether Smith meets statutory requirements that board members have a “minimum of five years of experience directly related to labor and employment relations in representing educational employers or educational employees in collective bargaining.” […]
In Smith’s case, [Quinn spokeswoman Annie Thompson] cited his 16 years as a member of the House Elementary and Secondary Education Committee, including four years as chairman; 12 years on an appropriation committee for education; and six years on the House Personnel and Pension Committee.
“He was responsible for negotiating with legislators and advocates to make changes to the state’s education labor law — impacting educators and their employers,” Thompson said.
What the Sox have done in interleague play lately -– 17 straight series victories — is nothing short of astounding. That includes six straight, a full three years’ worth, against the Cubs.
Give up yet?
* Related…
* Cubs owner Joe Ricketts sued for harassment retaliation: Two Nebraska women are suing the founder of TD Ameritrade and an owner of the Chicago Cubs, claiming he fired them from his Omaha-based charity after they complained of sexual harassment… The lawsuit alleges Ricketts re-hired the charity’s chief operating officer shortly after the COO was fired amid the women’s complaints. The suit alleges the COO often commented about Davis’ legs and cleavage and once putted a golf ball into Duncan’s office, saying “I’m trying to get into your hole.”
McCormick Place officials have lost a legal battle to keep labor changes in place temporarily while they appeal an earlier court ruling invalidating the measures.
U.S. District Judge Ronald Guzman issued a permanent injunction on Wednesday preventing McCormick Place from operating under labor rules imposed by the state legislature about a year ago.
The labor changes have allowed exhibitors to do more of their own booth setup, and have also limited labor overtime and crew sizes. The provisions, aimed at cutting exhibitors’ costs and hassles, were popular with trade show exhibitors, and led to new and renewed show contracts for the convention center.
Guzman ruled in March that the National Labor Relations Act pre-empts states from enacting legislation that would interfere with the ability of private-sector employees to negotiate employment terms. Most trade union employees who set up and tear down shows work for private contractors.
The state’s and city’s top political leadership — including Democrats and Republicans — is pledging to do “whatever it may take” to preserve McCormick Place labor reforms that are under fire in federal court.
In an extraordinary letter to trade show organizers, Mayor Rahm Emanuel, Gov. Pat Quinn and the four top legislative leaders say they “are aware of the uncertainty” caused by U.S. District Court Judge Ronald Guzman’s decision to overturn the reforms.
That, says the letter, is “why we are committing to provide you the certainty you need to bring your show to our state. We want you to know that this effort has the complete and bipartisan support of state and city leadership, and we pledge to take whatever steps are necessary to provide you that certainty.”
In his ruling Wednesday, U.S. District Court Judge Ronald Guzman said it’s unlikely that MPEA will win its appeal.
“In sum, defendants have some chance of success on appeal, but it is not strong enough to outweigh plaintiffs’ interest in obtaining relief and the interests of the public and other stakeholders in eliminating the cloud hanging over the statute,” he wrote. “Therefore, the court declines to enter a stay.”
Trade-show managers and exhibitors had complained for years about the high costs of hosting trade shows at McCormick Place, which they blamed on complex, restrictive union work rules. A double whammy of a full-blown recession and the threat of a trade-show exodus out of Chicago last year pressured the Legislature, and the governor, to intervene. In May 2010, the General Assembly adopted the reforms and named the new McPier board.
The reforms expanded exhibitors’ rights to put up their own booths on the show floor; reduced labor crew sizes under new rules of “straight” time, overtime and double-time provisions; and changed in-house electrical contractor operations, including pricing and service delivery. The labor changes prompted five trade shows to recommit their conventions to McCormick Place and several others to sign on.
* What’s the biggest cost driver at McCormick Place? It’s the huge markups by private contractors. And that continues unabated…
Trade associations and exhibitors likely will pay more for electrical services under agreements that keep McCormick Place electricians on the job but allow two private contractors to mark up the cost of the electricians’ work, Crain’s has learned.
The agreements appear to flout state legislation passed last year that requires McCormick Place to provide electrical labor at cost but opened the door to competition from the contractors, Las Vegas-based Global Experience Specialists and Dallas-based Freeman. The law also allows trade show exhibitors to choose the lower-cost McCormick Place option over potentially more expensive electrical services offered by the contractors.
Under the new arrangement, McCormick Place electricians will continue to work at cost, but their services will be billed through the general contractors, which are free to mark up the price of labor and materials. Exhibitors no longer will be able to choose among competing electrical providers.
News of the electrical deal comes as Freeman continues to consolidate its hold on the trade show industry by acquiring two competitors, Champion Exposition Services and George Fern Exposition & Event Services.
Freeman’s acquisitions further strengthen the contractor’s hand at McCormick Place. Between Jan. 1, 2009, and mid-June of this year, Champion served as the general contractor for 12 McCormick Place trade shows, including the Chicago Boat, Sports and RV Show. George Fern ran one trade show, the Rock and Roll Chicago Race Expo.
Adding those shows to Freeman’s stable would give the company 82 of the 153 shows at McCormick Place in that period, or about 53.6%. With the 44 shows managed by GES, the two companies will now control four out of five McCormick Place shows.
The Justice Department’s anti-trust division really needs to take a look at this situation.
Some thought yesterday would be the day. Some thought it would have been last week, others were saying next week.
But this morning, I’ve heard several people give the same reaction: “I’m done guessing.”
Here we are, day 9 of deliberations in a case that prosecutors took 11 days to present and no sign from the Rod Blagojevich jury. No note since last Thursday.
We will mention that last year’s jury sent out two notes right away, then went eight days without making a peep. On day 11, the panel sent a flurry of notes before concluding they could not come to a consensus on 23 of the 24 counts.
In the retrial, there are 20 counts the jury of 11 women and one man must ponder. And significantly different this time: Blagojevich was on the witness stand for parts of seven days.
So they’re not only weighing witness testimony, transcripts, tapes and documents — but the defendant’s own words.
* It’s not quite the same, of course, but I’ve been through enough overtime sessions involving deadlocked leaders’ negotiations to have come to a simple conclusion long ago: Never try to guess when it’ll be over. Just go with the flow. Guessing will only drive you crazy.
I’ll never forget my first overtime session, in 1991. It lasted 19 days, but it seemed like forever. I didn’t have the sources that I do now, so I was pretty much in the dark about what was going on behind those closed doors. Some days, it looked to me like it was about over. Some days, it appeared that everything had completely fallen apart. I was almost tearing my hair out after two weeks.
* It’s always fun to speculate about things like whether 11 women on the jury will make a difference, or how this stacks up to the last Blagojevich deliberation, or how it compares to the George Ryan trial. The Ryan jury was a freaking mess, and it took them 10 days to reach a conclusion after the judge replaced two jurors and ordered everything be restarted. Nine days is really no big deal in that context.
It’ll happen when it happens and there’s nothing anybody can do about it.
Former presecutors, interviewed as experts during the first trial, explained to Chicago TV viewers that conspiracy is a crime if there’s evidence that two or more people take action to effect a criminal act, and that doing something as simple as picking up a telephone to bully a subordinate qualifies as such an action.
I cannot agree with some of the more fervent Blago backers, who insisted that the case was a setup. I do wonder whether a law that defines otherwise inconsequential talk as “action” reaches too far. Laws that make mere talking a crime are familiar weapons in government attempts to silence dissidents of all types. They have a long and inglorious history in Illinois, where they have been widely used by government agents to hunt down socialists and trade unionists and “Reds” in the 1880s, during World War I and again during the Cold War.
We don’t hunt Reds in Illinois, at least for the moment. We do hunt politicians. Corruption trials of the sort in which Illinois officeholders have figured so gloriously often have relied on laws that thoughtful Illinoisans might regard as dubious. A good example is the 1988 federal statute that made it a crime to “deprive another of the intangible right of honest services.” It was widely used to punish self-dealing and conflicts of interest by government and corporate officials even, or rather especially, when those officials could not be shown to have received a direct quid pro quo in exchange for their actions. In effect they were charged with having committed what we might call (with apologies to Jimmy Carter) “bribery of the heart.”
* As you already know, the Senate passed a 12-day furlough bill for legislators yesterday. The measure now goes to the governor…
“This is somewhat pandering to an electorate to say we are self-righteous enough to cut when we haven’t been able to cut the overall budget,” said Sen. Tom Johnson, R- West Chicago.
“I just think that this is getting a little ridiculous, and I think that the electorate and I think the press and everybody else knows exactly what we’re doing. … I don’t think it means anything, except it diminishes the work of everybody in this chamber and probably discourages a lot of good people from being able to make the races to come in here.”
The legislation’s sponsor, Sen. Dan Kotowski, D- Park Ridge, said the General Assembly had cut the budget, and this showed lawmakers are willing to share the pain.
“The message that this sends today is that … we’re willing to sacrifice for the second year in a row,” Kotowski said.
Next year will actually be the third year in a row that legislators will take unpaid furlough days. It’ll be the second year in a row that they’ll take 12 days.
“To me, this is a mockery,” said Collins, D-Chicago, who recently came over from the House. Collins argued that “$65,000 is not a lot to get paid to do a job. Not saying we don’t love this job, because I love representing my community, the poor people who cannot be here to be represented.”
* The Question: Are legislative furloughs appropriate? Explain.
A guy can have only so much fun with a Giant Slide.
At least that’s how Dennis Herrington, who has been sole owner of the Giant Slide at the Illinois State Fairgrounds since 1995, sees it.
He’s now 57 years old, has had health problems and has no children at home to help him operate the iconic structure just inside the Main Gate of the fairgrounds.
So he’s hoping to sell it before this year’s fair starts in August.
The asking price is $175,000.
The slide…
* The Question: What would you do with the Giant Slide?
Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn says he has a goal when it comes to trade.
The Chicago Democrat says he wants to double the state’s exports by 2015. His office said the value of Illinois’ exports surpassed $49 billion last year.
Doubling that won’t be easy. But just talking about it won’t make it so.
* From Gov. Quinn’s press release…
llinois Export Week, which runs June 20-24, features a series of seminars designed to help educate business owners on export opportunities. The Illinois Export Awards recognize companies that have achieved excellence in exporting and organizations that have provided substantial export assistance to Illinois companies. Governor Quinn presented 17 companies and organizations with awards at a luncheon on Tuesday.
Illinois Export Week events feature top leaders from Illinois’s export business community. Caterpillar Inc. Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Doug Oberhelman was the keynote speaker.
“Last year Caterpillar exported more than $13.4 billion in products from the United States—more than a third of that is from Illinois — two figures that would have no doubt been higher had the U.S. fully embraced trade liberalization,” Oberhelman said. “Simply put, many of our 47,000 employees in the U.S. and 23,000 employees in Illinois depend on trade.”
* Meanwhile, Florida Gov. Rick Scott wrote a letter to CME Group’s chairman and the media feels the need to call it news…
Republican Florida Gov. Rick Scott is urging CME Group Inc. Chairman Terrence Duffy to move the Chicago-based futures exchange to his state after Mr. Duffy complained recently that this year’s hike in the Illinois corporate taxes may drive the company out.
“I will not rest until the business tax is completely phased out in our state so that both Florida and companies like CME Group can thrive,” Mr. Scott said in a June 16 letter to Mr. Duffy.
Mr. Duffy told shareholders at the company’s annual meeting earlier this month that CME was considering other locations because the state had increased the corporate tax rate to 7% from 4.8% and he was frustrated that some companies are avoiding the brunt of the increase through loopholes.
Scott is about the only US governor more unpopular than Pat Quinn.
Florida is home to other financial services companies, including online stock and options brokerage firm Tradeking, the founders of which chose the state for its base of operations ahead of its launch in 2005. The increasingly electronic nature of trade made it feasible for the company to run from Florida as opposed to financial hubs in Chicago or New York, according to Don Montanaro, chief executive.
The company has 92 employees, and 40 of them are in Florida.
Read the full letter, which is pretty standard stuff, by clicking here.
* Other biz-related news…
* Madigan and other attorneys general meet with banks on foreclosure practices
* Banks Will Be Sued If Foreclosure Talks Collapse, Two States Say
* Al-Qaida member invested with local firm, U.S. says: An al-Qaida member with access to Osama bin Laden invested almost $27 million with a Chicago-based futures broker, an amount that has fallen to less than $7 million because of bad investment moves by an associate
* Lisa Madigan: An experiment too expensive for consumers
* Once Wisconsin’s governor signs this bill into law, Illinois will be the only state without some form of concealed carry statute on the books…
Supporters of the measure in Wisconsin said the fact that none of the 48 other states with similar laws have had to repeal them shows opponents’ fears about concealed carry are unwarranted. […]
Under the Wisconsin bill, people who obtain a permit and go through training will be allowed to carry concealed weapons in most public buildings, including the state Capitol and city halls, unless there is a sign posted saying they are not permitted. The weapons would be barred anywhere within 1,000 feet of school grounds, police stations, jails and prisons, courthouses, secure mental health facilities, and beyond airport security checkpoints.
Current law would be loosened when it comes to keeping guns in cars. Under the bill, permit holders could keep loaded, uncased guns in their cars. Guns are currently only allowed in cars if they are unloaded and in a case. […]
Carrying a gun without a permit would be a misdemeanor.
Permit holders could carry guns in taverns and other places that sell alcohol, provided they were not drinking.
Under current law, guns are banned in schools, on school grounds and in school zones - the area 1,000 feet beyond school grounds. The bill would keep in place the ban on carrying guns in schools and on school grounds, but would allow permit holders to carry guns in areas just off school grounds.
Private businesses could post signs to keep guns out of their buildings. Signs could also be posted in government buildings, such as city halls and the state Capitol. But guns could not be banned from government-owned grounds, meaning they could be carried on the Capitol lawn or the Milwaukee Public Zoo. […]
State religious groups have said that the bill should have prohibited carrying concealed weapons in churches instead of requiring individual churches to post signs prohibiting concealed weapons. On May 24, the Wisconsin Catholic Conference, Wisconsin Council of Churches, Wisconsin Jewish Council and the Lutheran Office for Public Policy in Wisconsin sent a letter to lawmakers asking them to ban concealed weapons in churches.
* The state decided not to go with a “constitutional carry” bill, which would allow concealed carry without a permit. Four states allow that now. The “constitutional carry” bill apparently had some momentum, but Gov. Scott Walker signaled that he wouldn’t sign it. Still, the NRA is hoping to broaden the law in the future…
Once a proponent of training and permitting concealed carriers, the NRA is now on a mission to get rid of those mandates, putting the group more in line with groups like the Gun Owners of America and Wisconsin Gun Owners, which has in the past blasted the NRA for being too willing to compromise.
Eradicating the training and permitting mandates, LaSorte says, “will certainly be an aspiration of ours down the road.”
* But since the bill allows concealed carry in their Statehouse, you gotta wonder how long this new policy will remain in effect…
MADISON, Wis. — Authorities have removed metal detectors from the state Capitol’s entrances.
Capitol Police set up the detectors at three Capitol entrances and closed all the other ground floor doors after thousands of protesters descended on the building in February to demonstrate against Gov. Scott Walker’s plan to strip almost all public workers of their collective bargaining rights. […]
The metal detectors were in place Tuesday but were gone on Wednesday morning. Police allowed tourists and visitors to enter the building unimpeded.
Since 1986, the NRA has been able to increase from eight to 38 the number of states that “shall issue” concealed carry permits, meaning they will issue permits to anyone who passes the criteria set by law. The NRA is working to change laws in eight other “may issue” states, which give discretion to law enforcement regarding who can receive a permit.
Last year, Arizona passed one of the most permissive concealed carry reform bills in the nation, rolling back training requirements and making the state, along with Alaska and Vermont, the only “constitutional carry” states in the nation. Wyoming made the list earlier this year, and while eight states have turned back attempts to throw out their permit requirements this year, proposed constitutional carry legislation is still on the table in Iowa, Ohio, Georgia and New Hampshire. […]
• Indiana enacted a law that makes it illegal for local governments to prohibit firearms in public libraries, on public transit, in some hospitals and in most local government buildings.
• Florida has adopted a law that prohibits health care providers from asking about or recording information about firearm ownership or the presence of firearms in the home.
• North Dakota enacted a law prohibiting employers from asking if customers or employees are carrying a gun.
• Utah passed a law that allows concealed firearms in parks and stadiums being used for K-12 school activities.
• Both Utah and Arizona have also adopted official state guns.
“By now, Illinois is used to coming in last place in nearly every form of endeavor,” said Pearson. “But one thing is for certain, Illinois comes in first place when it comes to placing politics before public safety.”
* A note to commenters: Bumper sticker slogans and quickie “drive by” comments are frowned upon here. Come up with an original thought, or don’t bother commenting. Thanks.
* Some legislators won’t be happy about voting to cut their own income today, but furlough days were approved the last two years, and the tradition of 12 days with no pay may be around for awhile…
The furloughs would cost each lawmaker more than $3,000. Legislative aides say the total savings is about $564,000.
The cuts reach $1.2 million when furloughs for other state officials are included.
This would be the third straight year lawmakers have cut their pay.
Senate Bill 266 requires lawmakers to forfeit a day of pay each month, and it blocks their annual cost-of-living allowances, which would have been 1.1 percent in the fiscal year that starts July 1, according to a spokesman for Senate President John Cullerton, D-Chicago.
The bill also blocks COLAs for the governor and the other statewide elected constitutional officers and others whose pay is recommended by the Compensation Review Board, and it freezes lawmakers’ per diems at $111, the same as this year but below the $140 they got two years ago. […]
But Sen. Sam McCann, R-Carlinville, believes more can be done. McCann supports taking furlough days but would also like to see a bill passed that would cut legislative pay by at least 10 percent.
“I would even entertain a 25 percent pay cut,” he said.
Former Chicago Police Supt. Jody Weis walked out with a $76,308 check for accrued vacation days when he resigned his $310,000-a-year job on March 1 — a lump-sum payment for 64 unused days that’s raising eyebrows at City Hall.
His former $168,438-a-year chief-of-staff Mike Masters left police headquarters with a check for $30,448. That’s the equivalent of 54 unused vacation days
Weis and Masters are among 1,026 city employees paid $7.4 million for their unused vacation days since September, 2010, in the transition from former Mayor Richard M. Daley to Mayor Rahm Emanuel, according to information released to the Chicago Sun-Times in response to a Freedom of Information request.
* And it’s easy to understand how this can be viewed as unfair…
Newly installed Chicago School Board members Wednesday will be asked to approve six-figure salaries for new Schools CEO Jean-Claude Brizard and four other new top executives that represent raises over what their predecessors were paid.
The vote on whether to boost executive Chicago Public School salaries comes only a week after the same board members, in their first official action, found the deficit-ridden system did not have enough money to pay for 4 percent raises to teachers and other unionized school workers worth $100 million. […]
“It’s not a good way to start a new administration when you elevate the salary level of a lot of administrators and tell the teachers they cannot get raises without putting a plan on the table for higher performance,’’ said Andy Shaw, president of the Better Government Association.
“People who take over a struggling school system ought to implement some positive changes before they are paid higher salaries [than their predecessors]. You could argue previous salaries were too high because the performance level of the schools was dismal,’’ Shaw said.
“This will only further incense teachers.’’
* But should labor leaders’ salaries be public? I dunno…
Is this a case of good for the goose, but not for the gander?
◆ Translation: Last month, Chicago Teachers Union President Karen Lewis called for “transparency” about Chicago Schools chief Jean-Claude Brizard’s salary and threatened to file a Freedom of Information request to get it.
◆ The turn of the screw: So how come Lewis’ salary is so secret?
◆ Explanation: Sneed inquired last week about her salary and was told “I don’t know,” by top Lewis spokeswoman Liz Brown. Her salary is not publicly listed, and Sneed was told: “She doesn’t have to do so.”
* Unfunded pension liabilities are only a fraction of this debt, but you better believe that’s what will be the media’s focus…
The average Chicago household now owes a staggering $63,525 to cover local government debt, according to Cook County Treasurer Maria Pappas.
Suburbanites are deeply in the red, too, with the average household owing $32,901, according to the treasurer.
Among the biggest reasons: $25 billion in unfunded pension liability.
In comments after an appearance Tuesday before the Civic Federation, a watchdog group that has released somewhat similar numbers in recent years, Ms. Pappas said she was “stunned” to learn that county taxpayers on the whole owe more than $108 billion toward local debt.
* Related…
* Civic Federation: City should modernize vacation pay-out policy
* Teachers to picket meeting over denial of raises
* Police chief: I can’t pull Ald. Ed Burke’s security detail: In the past, Burke has cited Circuit Court Judge Joseph Wosik’s 1986 decision to block the city’s attempt to cut his bodyguard detail at the time from four officers to two. Wosik upheld Burke’s argument that he was a high-profile official subject to periodic threats and that a reduction in the number of bodyguards would have stifled his opposition to Washington.
* Editorial: Cook taxpayers are on the hook for $108 billion
* Elmwood Park Leaders Get Home Improvements on Village’s Time: Silvestri admits the work on his house was completed on village time, but said he told Martorana to do the work on his own time. Once the problem was discovered, Silvestri said, the village disciplined Martorana by dipping into his following year’s vacation to pay back the time. He said he also wrote two personal checks to Martorana for the work and materials used.
* Personal financial woes on file for Cook County recorder - Moore faces foreclosure, tax liens, diminished clout
* Reciprocal Act sweetens pension pot for former state legislators
* The White Sox won last night, evening out the Crosstown Classic at one game apiece…
It was Konerko leading the way again with another home run, his fifth in as many games.
Konerko led off the second inning against Matt Garza with the homer, his 21st of the season, giving the Sox a 1-0 lead. They had a 2-0 lead before Cubs first baseman Carlos Pena homered for a second straight game, off Mark Buehrle in the fifth, to make it 2-1 before the nearly two-hour rain delay.
The Cubs tied the score when play resumed. They had two men on in the sixth, and Reed Johnson scored from third on Aramis Ramirez’s sacrifice fly off Jesse Crain (3-2).
But the Sox went ahead for good in the seventh. Alexei Ramirez hit a double off Jeff Samardzija (5-3) and scored on a sacrifice fly by Brent Morel.
