Today’s quotable
Thursday, Nov 29, 2018 - Posted by Rich Miller
* No question today. Sorry. I was working on my Crain’s column and several other things and forgot. Instead, chew on this…
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* No surprise…
The House voted 62-45 to overturn the “Tobacco 21” veto, but it needed a three-fifths majority of 71 votes to become law. The legislation would have set a minimum age of 21 to buy cigarettes, cigars, chewing tobacco and nicotine-based products such as e-cigarettes and vaping materials.
The bill didn’t have enough House votes to overcome a veto when it was first passed.
* Big surprise…
A veto override vote on a measure that proposed regulations for online car rental programs is on hold.
House Deputy Majority Leader Arthur Turner of Chicago skipped the vote on Rauner’s veto of legislation on so-called peer-to-peer car rental apps. It would subject the rental cars to safety rules and tax collection required for rental car companies .
Turner, who sponsored the measure, hopes he can negotiate a deal and present new legislation in January. Critics said the programs allow people to make extra cash by renting their cars and shouldn’t be required to follow the same rules as companies with large fleets.
That bill received 78 votes in the House when it passed. The car-sharing companies really did a number on it.
* More…
The issue had sparked a massive lobbying campaign on both sides, with substantial campaign cash beginning to flow. Sponsors claimed they had the votes, but I’m told they agreed to talk peace after House Speaker Mike Madigan sent word that he’d prefer not to proceed with an override now. Beyond that, a couple of key lawmakers who favored an override were not able to attend this week’s session, I’m told.
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* Remember this Tribune story from 2011?…
All it took to give nearly two dozen labor leaders from Chicago a windfall worth millions was a few tweaks to a handful of sentences in the state’s lengthy pension code.
The changes became law with no public debate among state legislators and, more importantly, no cost analysis.
Twenty years later, 23 retired union officials from Chicago stand to collect about $56 million from two ailing city pension funds thanks to the changes, a Tribune/WGN-TV investigation found.
Because the law bases the city pensions on the labor leaders’ union salaries, they are reaping retirement benefits that far outstrip the modest salaries they made as city employees. On average, their pensions are nearly three times higher than what the typical retired city worker receives. […]
Pension experts from around the country say they’ve never heard of such a perk for union leaders. They warn that it not only creates opportunities to scam the system but also robs the city of its ability to control pension costs. The city doesn’t set union salaries, the most important ingredient in determining the size of the leaders’ pensions.
What’s more, none of the labor officials retired in the traditional sense. Even as they collected their inflated city pensions, they held on to their high-paying union jobs. A decade ago, those public pension funds were flush, but they’re now in such deep financial trouble that they threaten to burden taxpayers and dues-paying union workers alike.
* The General Assembly quickly passed a law to rein in those pensions, but the Illinois Supreme Court struck it down today…
The State concedes that a statutory right to union service credit was created but argues that the right is not one entitled to constitutional protection because the framers of the constitution did not intend it to be entitled to such protection. In so arguing, the State merely relies upon the general justification for a public pension system, which is to reward past public service, to provide a form of compensation for past public service, and to encourage continued public service.
We find nothing in the case law, in the text of the pension clause, or in the constitutional debates on the clause that would support the State’s argument that the particular benefit conferred here is not entitled to protection. Kanerva held that the text of the pension clause places no limits on the kind of “benefit” that is protected by the clause so long as the benefit is part of the contractual relationship “derived from membership” in the retirement system. The participants at issue here are members of their retirement systems entirely due to their government employment. Each plaintiff was either working in his public job when the option to earn union service credit was added as a benefit or started public employment and joined the retirement system after the benefit was already in place. The benefit was clearly a “benefit” within the meaning of the pension clause, and the State’s argument must therefore be rejected. […]
(W)e hold that the ambiguous statutory framework prior to the amendment of Public Act 97-651 must be construed as allowing the right to use a union salary from a leave of absence under section 8-226(c) or 11-215(c)(3) to calculate the highest average annual salary. The amendments effected by Public Act 97-651 necessarily changed the law and thereby diminished plaintiffs’ retirement system benefits in violation of the pension-protection clause of the Illinois Constitution. […]
Plaintiffs next raise an issue of statutory construction unrelated to the two constitutional issues resolved above. They argue that the circuit court erred in denying their motion for summary judgment with respect to counts X and XI of their complaint, which sought a declaration that the “any pension plan” language of section 8-226(c)(3) of the Pension Code does not apply to defined contribution plans. In that regard, section 8-226(c)(3) provides that an MEABF member may receive service credit for time spent on a leave of absence working for a local labor organization, provided “the participant does not receive credit in any pension plan established by the local labor organization based on his employment by the organization.” […]
Because the term “pension plan” in section 8-226(c)(3) is ambiguous in this respect, it must be liberally construed in favor of the rights of the pensioners so as to apply to a defined benefit plan only and not to defined contribution plans. See Kanerva, 2014 IL 115811, ¶ 55. Accordingly, we reverse the circuit court and hold that the term “receive credit in any pension plan” as used in section 8-226(c)(3) does not include defined contribution plans.
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*** LIVE *** Rauner press conference
Thursday, Nov 29, 2018 - Posted by Rich Miller
* From the governor’s office…
Gov. Bruce Rauner today asked the Illinois Investment Policy Board (IIPB) to investigate the listing practices of home-sharing company Airbnb to determine if there is a violation of Illinois state law prohibiting investment in companies engaged in boycott, divestment or sanction (BDS) against the Jewish state.
Airbnb Inc., the San Francisco-based online marketplace that its members use to list properties for lodging or other tourism experiences, recently decided to remove all listings in Jewish settlements in the West Bank, a development that Rauner called “abhorrent and discriminatory.”
“We find Airbnb’s decision highly disturbing and we are calling on the company to reverse its West Bank decision,” Rauner said. “We are also looking into ways that we can exert pressure on Airbnb to end its prejudicial policy against the Jewish state.”
“We must not — and will not — remain silent when we detect discrimination of the sort being practiced by Airbnb,” Rauner told the IIPB in a letter released today. “An investigation — and the scrutiny that accompanies it — could impact the behavior of investors around the country if Airbnb follows through with a reported potential public stock offering and these concerning policies remain in place.”
Under Rauner, Illinois became the first state in the nation to pass a law aimed at halting discriminatory business practices against Israel. The country is one of the state’s most important business, education and cultural partners.
* He’s holding a press conference right now on this and other things, including the veto session…
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What Is The Credit Union Difference?
Thursday, Nov 29, 2018 - Posted by Advertising Department
[The following is a paid advertisement.]
It’s simple. Credit unions are member-owned, so any earnings are simply returned in the form of lower loan rates, higher interest on deposits and lower fees. Credit unions create a fair financial alternative for the taxpayers of Illinois. Credit unions are not-for-profit financial cooperatives that don’t focus on increasing revenue or paying dividends to outside stockholders. Illinois credit unions are focused on the member-owners we serve. Visit www.asmarterchoice.org to learn more about the benefits of credit union membership.
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Bustos elected DCCC chair
Thursday, Nov 29, 2018 - Posted by Rich Miller
* The Hill…
Rep. Cheri Bustos (D-Ill.) was elected chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee on Thursday, beating out Reps. Suzan DelBene (D-Wash.) and Denny Heck (D-Wash.).
Bustos won 117 votes, compared to 83 for Heck and 32 for DelBene. […]
Bustos dropped out of the assistant leader race to run for the DCCC position. She is slated to succeed DCCC Chairman Ben Ray Luján (N.M.), who was elected Wednesday to serve as the next assistant leader.
Bustos currently serves as the co-chair of the Democratic Policy and Communications Committee and was the committee’s recruitment vice chairwoman during the 2016 election cycle.
* Also…
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FEJA Will Make Solar Power Accessible for All
Thursday, Nov 29, 2018 - Posted by Advertising Department
[The following is a paid advertisement.]
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The state of Illinois must build on the success of FEJA and continue to expand this new clean energy economy to every corner of Illinois.
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The rest of the story
Thursday, Nov 29, 2018 - Posted by Rich Miller
* One of the oldest ploys by interest groups here is to trot out a preacher to use race to make their case for them and the Tribune fell for it hook, line and sinker…
Anti-marijuana forces warned Wednesday that legalization will allow white corporate exploitation of minority customers, comparing its effects to those of alcohol and tobacco.
The Rev. Gregory Seal Livingston of New Hope Baptist Church said that legalization will amount to marijuana companies “pimping” blacks and Hispanics.
“Profit is the motive,” he said. Livingston spoke in downtown Chicago with several other members of Healthy and Productive Illinois, a group that opposes legalization and is supported by Smart Approaches to Marijuana, a national anti-cannabis organization.
Illinois has already decriminalized the possession of small amounts of marijuana, which takes away much of the social justice argument in favor of legalization, said Livingston, who has been active in social justice issues in Chicago.
*Sigh*
* From that same Tribune reporter a few weeks ago…
[Kevin Sabet, head of Smart Approaches to Marijuana, which opposes legalization] said decriminalization of marijuana, which took effect in Illinois in 2016, addresses many of the social justice issues.
That sounds familiar.
Look, stopping at decriminalization means the supply and distribution chain will still be run by criminals, some of them violent criminals. We need to dry up these criminals’ revenue source as much as we can in order to get their operations out of neighborhoods.
* The Tribune used some of Rev. Livingston’s more “reasonable” quotes, but conveniently left out his comparison of legalizing marijuana to the use of alcohol “as an instrument of genocide” against Native American people…
I could say that SAM should stop enriching violent criminal networks, but I won’t. That would be as intemperate as yesterday’s press conference. /s
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* Whoa…
…Adding… Hmm…
*** UPDATE 1 *** Tribune…
Burke’s ward office on the Southwest Side also had the same brown paper taped over its front door with three signs that read, “Office closed.” An officer sitting in a squad car parked behind Burke’s ward office said a search warrant was being executed inside but offered no further details. […]
A law enforcement source told the Chicago Tribune that FBI agents raided Burke’s City Hall office and that the search was ongoing. No arrests were made or are imminent, said the source, who had no details on the nature of the investigation.
…Adding… Prudent…
*** UPDATE 2 *** Greg Hinz…
There was no immediate word on what instigated the raids, but Burke’s influence as chairman of the Finance Committee over the city’s workers’ compensation fund could be a focus. Burke has kept outside oversight of its payouts to a minimum—even outside the purview of the city’s inspector general.
Another area of law-enforcement interest could be reflected by a recent surge in payments to the Internal Revenue Service by one of Burke’s campaign finance committees.
According to filings, Friends of Ed Burke paid nearly $150,000 to the IRS during the three months ended in June. That compared with much more modest sums in earlier periods, including two checks issued for $2,154.80 each and a third for $84 in 2017’s second quarter.
The committee also stepped up its payments to the Illinois Department of Revenue, sending more than $10,000 during the three months ended in June.
And…
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House expunges Kifowit’s remarks
Thursday, Nov 29, 2018 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Background is here. The House Democrats filed their own motion to expunge only after the House Republicans filed one of their own. Here’s the AP…
The Illinois House took the rare step Wednesday of erasing from its record a Democratic legislator’s remark suggesting she’d like to infect the water supply of a GOP colleague’s loved ones with “a broth of Legionella.”
* Sun-Times…
Soon after Kifowit read her apology, Breen addressed the controversy, while also urging legislators to act with more “civility” and “decency.”
“Earlier this year, I received a death threat that prompted police protection for my home and family. And my family and I endured a vile, filthy election campaign with $2.5 million spent to falsely connect me to rapists and child molesters. And yesterday, we all listened as a member of this House leveled a heinous death wish on my family.”
Breen said his wife and two adopted sons — ages 2 and 2-months are “the joy of our lives.”
“We know that if the representative had made that statement to me in the parking lot outside or left it on my office phone voicemail, she’d be in custody right now,” Breen said. “But because she made her remarks right here, they were met with applause, instead of handcuffs.”
* Tribune…
“This body, this state, is at a tipping point,” Breen said. “We are faced with two paths. We can continue on our current path of worsening threats, and even violence. Or we can make the difficult decision to take the path up, to civility and decency.”
* Daily Herald…
“There certainly needs to be accountability for the conduct we saw yesterday. Otherwise this sort of despicable behavior will become the new standard of what we allow in this chamber. And it will set the bar for acceptable conduct very low for the people of our state,” Breen said.
“In my four years here, I’ve watched this General Assembly avoid the tough decisions needed to divert our state’s government from the path to fiscal ruin. Now, I wonder whether this General Assembly will have the character to divert our state’s politics from the path of moral and ethical ruin.”
* Illinois News Network…
Republican state Rep. David Harris, who previously served as the Adjutant General of the Illinois National Guard, said Kifowit’s initial comments were inappropriate.
“Sometimes when people get in the heat of a debate they get a little too carried away,” said Harris, R-Arlington Heights. “That doesn’t mean that a resignation is in order.”
Harris said the fact that Kifowit apologized “shows a graciousness on her part.” […]
Kifowit said she wouldn’t resign. Rather, she suggested Illinois Department of Public Health Director Nirav Shah should resign.
“The person who should resign is director Shah,” Kifowit said.
Kifowit said Shah was responsible for the veteran’s deaths. Shah did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
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* Background is here. From One Illinois…
The governor is suing the state attorney general and One Illinois to withhold emails on government appointments from the public.
Although he lost his re-election bid Nov. 6, Gov. Bruce Rauner filed suit a week later to fight a binding opinion issued by Attorney General Lisa Madigan’s office that 1,783 emails should be released to One Illinois in a Freedom of Information Act case.
The move was unexpected — at least by One Illinois — in that Rauner could have simply ignored the binding opinion issued by the attorney general’s public access counselor and forced One Illinois to file suit to compel enforcement. Instead, he took the initiative in filing — and in spending government money and resources to keep the emails from the public.
According to legal experts, suits against binding opinions in FOIA cases are likely losers, as the public access counselor has already examined and ruled on the issues. Madigan’s office will handle the litigation and press for release of the emails.
If the suit’s not decided by the time Gov.-elect J.B. Pritzker is inaugurated Jan. 14, control of it would pass to his administration and he could simply move to release the emails. The Rauner administration would violate several laws if it tried to destroy the emails before he left office. Professor Emeritus Kent Redfield of the University of Illinois at Springfield speculated that Rauner could seek a restraining order that would extend beyond his term in office, but such rulings are rarely granted in these cases.
*** UPDATE *** From the governor’s office…
We’re not suing the AG, we can’t just ignore the opinion.
We’re appealing a binding decision made by the Public Access Counselor.
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* Illinois News Network…
It’s now law for police in Illinois to certify in a timely manner complaints of abuse or assault filed by illegal immigrants, who can then use such reports in working toward certain citizenship visas.
Gov. Bruce Rauner had vetoed Senate Bill 34, the Voices of Immigrant Communities Empowering Survivors, or VOICES, Act. The Senate passed it over his veto earlier this month. On Wednesday, the House did the same.
State Rep. Litesa Wallace, D-Rockford, who supported the measure, said it will protect immigrants who are crime victims, regardless of how they entered the country.
“This is not an automatic pathway to citizenship, but what it is is empowering individuals in our community who may be undocumented to come forth and talk about crimes that have happened which only moves or serves to make the rest of us, all of us, safer because we’re able to address the crimes these individuals are victims of,” Wallace said.
Illinois State Police said the measure could cost an extra $425,000 for additional staff to process requests within 90 days. There’s also the potential for more lawsuits against state police, the agency said in a fiscal note. It’s unclear how much it could cost local police agencies.
State Rep. Allen Skillicorn, R-East Dundee, said he was concerned that an illegal immigrant could potentially get special visa priority for merely reporting a crime.
“Merely.”
* Illinois Public Radio…
The measure requires Illinois law enforcement to submit the proper paperwork to the feds within 90 days. Whether or not an immigrant crime victim ultimately gets a visa will still be up to those authorities. […]
“It has been layers of difficulty to try to place the protections on people, everyday people, that deserve it,” [Rep. Lisa Hernandez. D-Cicero] said of the legislative effort.
* Tribune…
Rauner vetoed the proposal in August in southern Illinois, as he tried to get rural conservatives who back President Donald Trump behind his re-election.
“That ties the hands of law enforcement,” Rauner said at the time. “It can delay deportations that should otherwise occur.”
* JB Pritzker…
“I applaud the House and Senate for overriding the veto of SB 34 and standing up for immigrant families across the state,” said Governor-elect JB Pritzker. “The VOICES Act is critical legislation that protects immigrant survivors of domestic violence, sexual assault, trafficking and other crimes, and I’m proud to see it enacted into law. Illinois is a welcoming state, and I look forward to serving our 1.8 million immigrant residents as your governor.”
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*** UPDATED x1 *** Anecdotes are not data
Thursday, Nov 29, 2018 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Background is here if you need it. From the Illinois News Network…
A report from Oregon shows that workers’ compensation costs are falling in Illinois, but a manufacturing group said employers here have yet to see any savings.
The Illinois Trial Lawyers Association heralded a report this week from the Oregon Department of Consumer and Business Services that ranked Illinois workers’ compensation costs at the 22nd highest in the nation, down from the eighth highest. […]
Illinois Manufacturers’ Association’s Mark Denzler said while the industry group has seen the Oregon report, the state’s employers haven’t seen the savings.
“We talk to companies on a daily basis who actually pay workers’ comp and write the checks for it and they have not seen significant reductions in workers’ compensation costs,” Denzler said.
Love me some Denzler, but show us actual numbers.
*** UPDATE *** With a hat tip to a commenter, these are the premium rates before they dropped from 8th highest to 22nd highest in the nation. You can plainly see premiums were already going down. From the Illinois Department of Insurance…
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Question of the day
Wednesday, Nov 28, 2018 - Posted by Rich Miller
* I’ve known Patty Schuh for something like 28 years. She’s not like a lot of other spokespeople. She doesn’t get up in your grill if she disagrees with you. Instead, she uses reason, even sometimes kindness to make her points. I respect the way she does her job and I also happen to like her as a person.
Patty has worked in this business for something like 33 years and today is her birthday. So, if you see her, wish her well.
Here she is back in the day with her former boss Pate Philip…
I love that pic. But we’re not doing a caption contest. I wouldn’t subject her to that on her birthday.
* The Question: Who are some of your own favorite people in Illinois government? Explain.
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It’s just a bill
Wednesday, Nov 28, 2018 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Tribune…
Illinois consumers will only be able to use controversial, short-term health insurance plans for about six months at a time now that the state legislature has voted to override Gov. Bruce Rauner’s veto of a bill that sets that limit.
Dozens of Illinois consumer advocacy groups had supported the original bill, which took aim at a recent Trump administration change to the rules surrounding short-term plans. Such plans are generally cheaper than traditional health insurance but cover fewer services.
The plans were meant to serve as a stopgap for consumers between health insurance plans. But new federal rules allow them to be used for a year and be renewed for as long as three years. The Trump administration has said the rule change was meant to help more people get affordable coverage.
Consumer advocates, however, sought to limit the use of those plans in Illinois to just six months at a time through the bill.
* Greg Hinz…
Rahm Emanuel soon will leave as Chicago’s mayor, but that isn’t stopping him from quietly pushing through legislation in Springfield to extend the life of four city tax-increment financing districts—including one in the Goose Island area that’s part of the huge proposed Lincoln Yards development.
Approved late yesterday in the Illinois House was a measure adding another 13 years each to the lives of the Bryn Mawr-Broadway, Goose Island, 95th/Western and 71st/Stony Island TIF districts. The Illinois Senate is expected to concur as soon as today, meaning that districts would continue to get to spend much of the growth in property taxes within their borders until 2032 to 2034, depending on the districts.
Each of the four TIFs has accomplished some of what was intended in the past two decades—TIF districts sunset after 23 years, unless their life is extended—but still have more things that the city wants to accomplish, said House Majority Leader Barbara Flynn Currie, D-Chicago, chief sponsor of the legislation. “They’ve completed phase one and two, but still have phases three and four,” Currie said.
The city Department of Planning and Development confirmed that the legislation was introduced at the city’s request and cited a few specifics for each location. But a spokesman yesterday afternoon was unable to say how much money will be involved over the next 13 years.
The bill is here.
* Press release…
More than half a century since the Civil Rights Act became law, workers in the United States continue to earn different wages based on their race.
Assistant Majority Leader Kimberly A. Lightford (D-Maywood) is fighting for legislation that would prohibit wage discrimination against African-Americans under the Equal Pay Act.
“Governor Rauner ignored the wage gap for African-Americans and decided he wanted to ‘All Lives Matter’ this proposal,” Lightford said. “Today, we made sure that wage equity continues to be a priority in Illinois.”
According to a 2017 Federal Reserve study, black men and women earn persistently lower wages compared to their white counterparts and this wage gap cannot be adequately explained by differences in education, age, job type or location.
That gap appears to be expanding rather than contracting. In 1979, the average lack man in the United States earned about 80 percent compared to the average white man, by 2016 that gap had grown to 70 percent. The same is true for black women, who in 1979 earned about 95 percent compared to white women, but by 2016 earned only 82 percent of wages paid to white women on average.
House Bill 4743 prohibits employers from paying wages to an African-American employee at a rate less than the rate paid to an employee who is not African-American for the same or substantially similar work.
Governor Rauner’s veto was overridden in the Senate with a vote of 49-01.
The House had already overridden the veto so it’s now law. The lone Senate “No” vote was Sen. Kyle McCarter.
* Other stuff…
* Our View: Bet on it: Video gaming fuels increase in Illinois gaming revenue
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* Yesterday at the Illinois Policy Institute…
Andrew Hamilton has made millions through an obscure economic development tool that has flown under the radar of Illinois government watchdogs for years.
Recent actions by Gov. Bruce Rauner, the Illinois House of Representatives and Kane County officials suggested that cash flow could soon come to an end. But the Illinois Senate appears to be sitting on its hands – a concerning response to an official under fire for profiting from public influence.
The bill in question is SB2367 and it’s sponsored by Sen. Melinda Bush (D-Grayslake). Her original bill as sponsored was dependent upon the passage of two other bills, only one of which actually passed, so Bush apparently lost track of it when the House did a last-minute gut and replace on the final day of the spring session.
Sen. Bush was clearly surprised when I showed her the Illinois Policy Institute story yesterday and told me she had no idea that the bill had been amended in the House and said she would remove her name as its sponsor.
* From the governor’s office…
Dear Senator Cullerton,
It has come to our attention that the bipartisan reforms of the state’s regional economic development authorities contained within SB2367 as amended have not moved from the Senate Assignments committee since July.
As you know, the reforms of the Regional Economic Development authority were passed out of the Illinois House unanimously, with a vote of 108-0 on May 31st; the bill was then placed on the Senate calendar of concurrence on June 7th before being sent to the Senate Committee on Assignments on July 8th.
The reforms contained in this bill were highlighted in a letter our administration sent to the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity highlighting the apparent conflicts of interest and lack of transparency contained within the RDA system. House Majority Leader Barbara Flynn Currie praised the reforms by noting that: “The regional economic development authorities are not as transparent as they should be, are not as open to the public as they must be.” Adding, “the Governor’s reform proposals are excellent. The idea that there should be no conflict of interest, within these agencies that they should have to report their activities, that people know what kind of financing they’re arranging, I think that makes excellent sense.”
When simple commonsense reforms like these get buried in a Senate committee it gives the appearance of backroom deals cut by insiders in Springfield to stop reforms intended to serve the taxpayer instead of special interests. I believe the public is owed a prompt concurrence vote in the Senate, this week, on these good government reforms. A vote this week will show the public that the Illinois Senate is dedicated to protecting the taxpayer from conflicts of interest, self-dealing, and government waste
Sincerely,
Bruce Rauner
Governor, State of Illinois
…Adding… The more I think about this, the more it sticks in my craw. If the governor had a properly functioning legislative liaison staff, Sen. Bush would’ve been notified months ago about the amendment and maybe she could’ve either handed off the bill to another sponsor or moved it to the governor’s desk in the first week of the veto session. Instead the governor makes some charge about backroom deals at the end of the last week of veto session.
Typical.
…Adding More… As we’ve already discussed, the governor just met with Senate President Cullerton yesterday. Perhaps he could’ve brought it up then? Or did he only discover the problem when the Illinois Policy Institute wrote its story? And what does that say about him?
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* Sun-Times…
Lawyers for a political rival suing Mike Madigan for allegedly placing “sham” candidates on the ballot will be allowed to inspect the powerful speaker’s Southwest Side offices, a federal judge has ruled.
Attorneys for Jason Gonzales in October requested to “inspect, measure” and photograph the speaker and state Democratic Party chairman’s political offices — a demand Madigan’s lawyers called a violation of the First Amendment and “a political fishing expedition.”
But Gonzales’ legal team contends it’s all part of showing that Madigan’s line between politics and official government business is a “mirage.” […]
The goal is to inspect two of the speaker’s Southwest Side offices — the political offices of Friends of Michael J. Madigan and the 13th Ward Democratic Organization offices — to show their “layout,” attorneys said.
“Your honor, one of the things we’re trying to demonstrate is that the articulated differentiation between the political and state functions between the Speaker and his political operations is really a mirage,” Boulton told Kennelly in October.
His state district office is also in the building, which houses the Balzekas Museum of Lithuanian Culture and Ald. Marty Quinn’s city office.
I’ve driven by the place several times, but I’ve never been inside.
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[The following is a paid advertisement.]
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* I mean, it’s not even up to the level of round-tabling…
*** UPDATE *** Ruh-roh…
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Ives’ new pension legal theory
Wednesday, Nov 28, 2018 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Scott Reeder…
A new legal theory is being pondered by outgoing state Rep. Jeanne Ives, R-Wheaton, that she contends would get the state out from under the pension debt.
It goes like this:
The state entered into illegal contracts when it signed up employees for pensions over the last 40 years. While the state constitution says pensions of public employees cannot be diminished, the constitution also mandates that state legislators pass a budget that they believe to be balanced and the constitution also says Illinois cannot take on more debt unless three-fifths of lawmakers agree.
And yet, Ives contends lawmakers have been well aware that the budgets they have passed each year have not adequately covered anticipated pension obligations. Her contention is that this was a deliberate violation of the balanced budget clause of the state constitution and thus its “contract” with pensioners is void. She also says that promising payouts without funding them creates a debt obligation that should have received a super-majority vote of the legislature each year, but didn’t always.
Longtime statehouse observer Charles Wheeler III is quick to note that the state constitution doesn’t require a balanced budget only that lawmakers estimate it to be balanced. The late great state budget director Steve Schnorf, who served under Governors Jim Edgar and George Ryan used to call the practice: “playing make believe.”
I don’t see the Illinois Supreme Court having much of an appetite for taking up Ives’ legal argument. After all, the court unanimously ruled several years ago that the pension benefits cannot be reduced.
But if the case is somehow argued in the federal courts, this legal argument might prevail, especially with the conservative majority on the U.S. Supreme Court.
Discuss.
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* AFSCME Council 31…
Fighting state workers and our union every step of the way—and insisting on using a high-priced outside law firm to do so—Bruce Rauner has already run up a legal tab of more than $6 million.
Now on his way out the door, Rauner hasn’t changed his stripes. Refusing to accept yet another court ruling won by AFSCME—the appellate court decision stating that the Rauner-appointed state labor board erred in finding that the governor and the union had reached impasse in state contract negotiations—on Nov. 27 his administration asked for another 60 days in which to file an appeal to the state Supreme Court.
AFSCME now has an opportunity to respond, after which the justices will consider whether to allow the governor’s late appeal.
Rauner’s ongoing delay tactics and refusal to accept legal findings make clear that he’s never had any intention of bargaining in good faith with state workers.
What’s certain is that Rauner’s $6 million meter counting the public dollars he’s wasted on costly lawyers will keep ticking even higher.
* So, what’s with that $6 million legal tab? Rauner has used outside counsel to fight AFSCME and bargain with other unions instead of using the state’s lawyers. Council 31 has used the FOIA laws to track his spending, which it claims is $6 million and still climbing.
I asked for documentation and they sent me a spreadsheet. Click here.
There are three tabs on that spreadsheet. The union says each tab shows the invoices paid by the Rauner administration to the law firm Laner Muchin. The firm “exclusively represents management in employment-related litigation, labor relations,” etc.
At the bottom of each tab, you’ll see a total amount for the time period…
Jan. 2015-Nov. 2016: $2.82 million
Dec. 2016-Oct. 2017: $1.31 million
Oct. 2017-Sept. 2018: $1.86 million
Not all of these expenses are directly related to AFSCME. Some are about other unions. Anyway, have a look and tell us what pops out at you.
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* JB Pritzker talks about balancing the budget while providing more money for K-12 education…
“We already have a challenge. And I was well aware of it, and I’ve talked about revenue resources and the fact that we have to balance our budget in a real way, and not in ways that, in April you find out you’re short by several billion. So we’re trying to figure that out,” Pritzker said. “You can’t solve all these problems immediately. It’s not like electing a new governor, day one, everything is solved.” […]
Pritkzer on Tuesday talked about trying to “accelerate” [the education funding reform plan, which currently ramps up by $350 million a year over 10 years], saying “we are moving toward a quality education for every child no matter where they live.” […]
He also embraced a contentious plan (Senate Bill 2892) that would require public school teachers be paid a salary of at least $40,000; advocates say it will help address a shortage of teachers, but critics – including Rauner, who vetoed the legislation – believe the expense will put too much strain on districts that already face financial difficulties. […]
Pritzker on Tuesday embraced the plan, saying, “I think the bill that was put forward is the right bill,” and that should the General Assembly fail to override Rauner’s veto, “We’ll be revisiting it in the new administration.”
* Related…
* Pritzker Names Education Advisory Team: These teams serve a purely advisory, unpaid role, although history has shown many transition advisors go on to serve cabinet positions. When Bruce Rauner was elected governor, his six-person education transition team included Tony Smith (then a foundation director), Beth Purvis (then CEO of Chicago International Charter Schools), Al Bowman (then the president emeritus of Illinois State University), and Lazaro Lopez (then an associate superintendent at High School District 214). After Rauner was sworn in, Smith became state superintendent of schools; Purvis became Rauner’s Secretary of Education; Bowman became executive director of the Illinois Board of Higher Education; and Lopez became chair of the Illinois Community College Board. Purvis has since left the state to work for the Kern Family Foundation, a Wisconsin-based philanthropy that has supported Gov. Scott Walker and legislative candidates who back school vouchers.
* Manar named co-chair of Gov.-elect Pritzker’s transition team for education: This is the second of Pritzker’s transition committees to which Manar has been named, as he and Decatur Mayor Julie Moore Wolfe were named earlier this month to Pritzker’s budget committee.
* Former Ottawa, Streator administrator named to Pritzker transition team
* Several area leaders named to Pritzker’s transition teams
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“The Sucker State”
Wednesday, Nov 28, 2018 - Posted by Rich Miller
* From my tchotchke collection…
* Nobody really knows for sure how Illinois got that nickname way back in the 19th Century, but Jared Olar took a look at some of the theories. Here’s one…
For this particular question, the earliest explanation is that given by Illinois Gov. Thomas Ford in his 1854 “A History of Illinois.” Ford said the first settlers of southern Illinois came to be called “Suckers” as an analogy to the “suckers” (young sprouts and shoots) of the tobacco plant.
“These poor emigrants from the slave States were jeeringly and derisively called ‘suckers,’ because there were asserted to be a burthen upon the people of wealth; and when they removed to Illinois they were supposed to have stripped themselves off from the parent stem and gone away to perish like the ‘sucker’ of the tobacco plant. This name was given to the Illinoisans at the Galena mines by the Missourians.”
It is probably no accident that both Ford and Chapman mention the mines at Galena – it seems that is where the nickname “Sucker” was first given to Illinoisans. Ford’s explanation appears earlier than Chapman’s explanation, which makes Ford’s explanation more likely – but it cannot be held to be certainly true.
As it happens, it was also by analogy that plant sprouts first came to be called “suckers.” The Online Etymology Dictionary says “sucker” is a Middle English word from the late 1300s meaning a young child who has not yet been weaned. By the 1570s, the word had begun to be applied to plant shoots, since the shoots were like little “children” of the plant. Sucker fish aren’t mentioned in literature until 1753, and it wasn’t until 1836 that the American slang term “sucker,” meaning a fool, someone with childlike naïveté who is easily tricked, first appeared (and no, it was not in reference to Illinoisans).
Whether the nickname derives from reed straws, fish, tobacco sprouts, or fools, the Illinois General Assembly in 1955 voted to adopt “Land of Lincoln” as our state’s official nickname. Today “Prairie State” is still sometimes heard, but “Sucker State” is rare, heard very little outside the circles of Illinois historical study.
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* This controversy was tailor-made for an otherwise routine veto session day with a packed press box. Here’s the Tribune…
A Democratic state lawmaker said she wanted to pump a lethal “broth of Legionella” bacteria into the water system of a Republican colleague’s family, during heated remarks on the Illinois House floor over a bill aimed at helping families of more than a dozen residents at the Downstate Quincy veterans home who died of Legionnaires’.
The bill would raise limits on damages in some state Court of Claims cases from $100,000 to $2 million, which could affect the victims’ families, who allege the state was negligent in the deaths that resulted from outbreaks at the veterans home over the past three years. Gov. Bruce Rauner rewrote the proposal over the summer to reduce such caps on damage awards to $300,000, but lawmakers voted Tuesday to override him.
During the House floor debate over the proposal, Republican state Rep. Peter Breen of Lombard questioned some of the plan’s details, contending the state doesn’t know how much it will cost. Breen, the outgoing House GOP floor leader, noted that multiple tort claims could be paid out for the same incident.
“And, yes, we know the personal injury lawyers are going to make out like bandits, which they tend to do anytime they come to the General Assembly,” Breen said.
The “broth of Legionella” reference is explained here.
* Dave Dahl…
State Rep. Stephanie Kifowit (D-Oswego), referring to Breen, said, “I’d like to make him a broth of legionella and pump it into the water system of his loved one, so that they can be infected, they can be mistreated, they can sit and suffer by getting aspirin instead of being properly treated, and ultimately die.”
Breen’s mic was not on when he shouted something about “my f—in’ family.”
Kifowit later said her remarks were misinterpreted and that she was making a hypothetical statement: “Imagine if it were your family.”
* Sun-Times…
After Kifowit’s remarks, state Rep. Jeanne Ives, R-Wheaton, quickly came to Breen’s defense saying the Oswego Democrat “essentially wished a death on a Republican floor speaker.”
“How dare you. How dare you concoct up some sort of story about brewing up some batch of Legionella and having him feed it to his family. How dare you take the discussion and the debate about a very serious bill that has a huge cost consequence on both sides, both for the victim and the state taxpayers. How dare you take an honest debate about an issue and then wish death on my colleague Peter Breen, his wife and his two adopted kids,” Ives said. […]
Kifowit, herself, sought to clarify her comments — saying she “quite clearly” wanted him to imagine “if it was your family, hypothetically speaking.”
“For the fact of it being misrepresented, I’m going to say that what was said earlier is a mischaracterization of what my words were,” Kifowit said on the House floor. “And for that, for it being misinterpreted, I will apologize. But I will not apologize for what happened to those families. And I will clearly say to all of us, imagine if it was your family.”
* The former Marine just about killed the override with her remarks…
Three Republican lawmakers who had voted in favor of the bill in May — including Breen — switched their votes from yes to no. Four other Republicans who voted yes were either absent for Tuesday’s vote or chose not to vote.
The motion received the bare minimum of 71 votes.
* With thanks to Dave Dahl, here’s the full audio of her remarks…
Rep. Kifowit told me last night that she was “trying to paint a picture” with her words and that she didn’t intend to wish actual harm on Rep. Breen’s family.
Leave the painting to painters.
There’s just no excuse for stuff like this. She should own up to her remarks and fully retract what she said, which is different than what she claims to have said or meant.
* Illinois Republican Party Chairman Tim Schneider…
Today, Illinois Democrats sunk to a new low, when Democratic State Rep. Stephanie Kifowit wished death upon family members/loved ones of her Republican colleague, State Rep. Peter Breen. Kifowit should be ashamed of her remarks. Since Rep. Kifowit has refused to apologize to Rep. Breen, she should resign from office, as these remarks are unfit for someone serving public office.
Governor-elect J.B. Pritzker appointed Rep. Kifowit to his “Serving Illinois’ Heroes Committee” earlier this month. Does the Governor-elect condone Kifowit’s rhetoric? Will he keep her on his committee?
As leading Illinois Democrats, both Governor-elect Pritzker and Speaker Michael Madigan have a duty to speak out against Rep. Kifowit’s extreme rhetoric and tone down out-of-control public discourse. They should do so immediately.
*** UPDATE *** Rep. Kifowit…
“I offer my sincere apology to Representative Peter Breen, his family, and all of my House colleagues for my poor choice of words during a serious discussion on our Veterans’ health and safety. I would never wish any harm or mortality on anyone’s family, including the Breen family. As a Marine Corps Veteran, I feel very passionate about what happened in our Quincy Veterans home, which resulted in 13 Veterans and 1 spouse’s deaths, in addition to over 70 individuals being ill. The truth is this did happen to our heroes, and my attempt to illustrate empathy for the families that were affected by the loss of their loved ones was not conveyed properly.
“Lost in my comments yesterday was our obligation to work together on behalf of our Veterans to ensure that the situation in Quincy never happens again. As legislators, we are fallible people, but we are tasked with the tremendous responsibility of caring for the Veteran men and women who have never let us down. We owe them so much more.
“I look forward to working with my colleagues to expand access to health care and mental health resources for our Veterans.”
…Adding… Sun-Times…
A Pritzker spokeswoman issued a statement Wednesday saying it was “clear that during the course of an emotional debate over the Legionnaires’ crisis in Quincy Representative Kifowit’s rhetoric went too far and she rightfully apologized.”
The statement continued that Pritzker wanted to “keep the focus on protecting” veterans, and that Pritzker “looks forward to working with” the Serving Illinois’ Heroes Committee “to ensure the administration is ready to serve Veterans on day one in office.”
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* Illinois Trial Lawyers Association…
The Oregon Department of Consumer and Business Services has released its bi-annual analysis of workers’ compensation premiums across the country and it is good news for Illinois.
For several years our high ranking in the Oregon Premium Rate Survey - which ranks states based on how much employers pay for workers’ comp insurance -has been used by the business community and lawmakers as a reason Illinois needs to enact further reforms in the workers’ compensation system.
However, according to the recently released 2018 Oregon Premium Rate Ranking Summary, Illinois has now moved from 8th highest in 2016 to 22nd highest in 2018, which is one of the largest drops in the country.
Illinois now ranks in the middle of the pack compared to other states – which was the goal of lawmakers when bipartisan majorities approved the last workers’ compensation overhaul back in 2011.
This substantial drop in the rankings for Illinois further illustrates that the changes made to the laws in 2011 are producing lower costs for insurers and employers – which, as we predicted, have not been passed on to employers in the form of premium reductions.
More here. Wisconsin was eighth highest, Ohio was 36th highest, Michigan was 37th highest, Massachusetts (which has a program that Gov. Rauner wanted to follow) was 38th and Indiana ranked second lowest.
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* I asked Representative-elect Anne Stava-Murray (D-Naperville) if she spoke with Speaker Madigan during his Sunday night dinner with new House Democrats. Stava-Murray, of course, has said she will not vote for Madigan for another term and has called on him to step down. Here’s her response…
I will respectfully dissent to tomorrow’s caucus call for unanimous support of the current Speaker. It’s important to not only keep my word to my constituents but also honor survivors of workplace harassment in this vote of conscience.
I am grateful to the brave advocates and colleagues of mine who have spoken out far before I arrived to the capital. They have led the charge on changing the workplace culture, enacting with boots on the ground the Speaker’s commitment to change. I look forward to joining them and making work environments safer.
I also brought up many Illinoisans’ priority to strengthen our democracy among other issues of importance to my constituents. We are committed to working with the many passionate Democrats, both new and seasoned, as well as Representatives from across the aisle to fix the pressing problems plaguing our state.
I was thankful for the Speaker taking time out of an extremely busy day to hear my concerns, even when he knew he would not have my vote. I am certain together we will disprove the notion that a person cannot speak their district’s truth and be an effective Springfield legislator.
Well, I guess we’re about to find out.
* Meanwhile, this is from state Sen. Patricia Van Pelt-Scott’s (D-Chicago) Facebook page…
I’m teaching people how to get started in the Multi-B..B..Billion 💰 $$$ Cannabis Stock 💰 Explosion!
💥
Interested? Inbox Me Now!
Posted by Patricia Van Pelt-Scott on Sunday, November 25, 2018
III John 1:2 - Beloved, I would that you prosper….. Cannabis Stock Training Coming December 3rd! Don’t miss it!
Posted by Patricia Van Pelt-Scott on Sunday, November 25, 2018
Ladies! What is the new date? I can hardly wait!
Posted by Patricia Van Pelt-Scott on Sunday, November 25, 2018
Um, OK.
* From the Pink Rush website’s conference page…
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Orr urges three “modest” election reforms
Tuesday, Nov 27, 2018 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Cook County Clerk David Orr…
Petition filing for the February municipal election in Chicago, a process that is painful and costly for candidates and confusing for voters, ended Monday. But it’s only the beginning of a very expensive month of litigation around voters’ signatures.
In May of this year, after once again experiencing an expensive and frustrating ballot access fight during the primary, I released a set of proposals to make determining who will be on the ballot easier for candidates, voters and election administrators. I am reissuing those proposals today.
The Chicago Sun-Times, for one, supported our proposals after we visited with their editorial board. The proposals were turned into legislation in Springfield, as well. If they can’t get through veto session, these reforms should be a priority for the next legislature and governor. Each day for the next six weeks we’ll hear about who is or isn’t going to be on the ballot, who did or did not demonstrate the levels of support by gathering signatures. And while the airwaves will be full of talk about process, they will not be full of candidates talking about safety, health care, policing and the future of our great city and metropolitan area. Chicago, Cook County, and Illinois deserve better. Though I am leaving elected office, I hope those that remain continue to reform the way we do business keeping voters at the center.
My office has pushed to consolidate and professionalize the administration of electoral boards for years. And while we have achieved some important reforms, like moving many small local boards to the jurisdiction of the County Clerk, more changes need to be made. We believe we can make these changes in part by harnessing the power of other election officials’ innovations to further expand access to the ballot.
Below are three modest reforms to the candidate filing and electoral board process that will help ensure that voters, administrators and candidates are best positioned to play their part in democracy. Through these efforts, we can increase the efficiency of the process for candidates and administrators, lower the burden on candidates and give the courts adequate time to sort through all issues.
Increase Process Efficiency – In Denver and D.C., the petition process has moved from paper forms to tablets and we are ready here to allow petition circulating to be conducted in person, but with digital tools. The Denver Elections product, called eSign, is ready for Cook County.
Like Election Day Registration, this can be piloted in Cook County so we can refine it for all of Illinois. We advocate making it available for candidates running for Cook County offices and local schools, parks, libraries and other districts wholly within suburban Cook County.
eSign is a mobile application that enables candidates to gather signatures in person, but digitally, with real time feedback on whether the voter is registered or lives in the political district – and it allows signers to update their voter registrations on the spot. In Denver’s 2015 municipal election, 97 percent of eSign signatures collected were accepted. That’s up from about half that are usually considered good after adjudication here in Cook County. This is a huge win for candidates, for election administrators, and most importantly, for voters.
Lower the Burden on Candidates, Save Time and Money – It’s time to lower the filing requirements for countywide offices in Cook County. It is not necessary to require more signatures for Water Commissioner or Clerk than we require for the Governor of our entire state. We call for a limit on the minimum number of signatures required for any countywide to be equal to the minimum required for Governor. I also call for a cap on the total number of signatures a candidate can file to three times the minimum – similar to candidates for state office.
Currently for all countywide offices in Cook, petitions must be signed by at least .5% of the vote cast for the candidate of his/her party who received the highest number of votes in the county at the 2016 General Election. For Cook County Clerk, for example, that meant a Democratic candidate must have collected at least 8,200 signatures. In comparison, to run for Illinois Governor, candidates needed only 5,000. Our change would mean that Countywide candidates would need 5,000 good signatures and could file no more than 15,000.
This would lower the burden of collection and shift the burden of proof to campaigns, prior to filing. This saves campaigns time and saves taxpayers and election officials money. It also helps ensure that when it’s time to vote, voters are presented with the final ballot, free of notices.
Change the Calendar & Move the Primary Date – I am calling for an increase in time by two weeks between filing and Primary Election Day. This change, coupled with the others should ensure that courts have adequate time to give due process to candidates contesting electoral board decisions. It also helps ensure that administrators can safely remove or replace candidates on the ballot without relying on notices.
This calendar change is best coupled with a move of the Primary Election to May or later. The election calendar is already too long – it promotes what are effectively endless campaigns. With the current calendar design, interested challengers must have made a decision, built a campaign and fundraised at least 15 months in advance of the actual election. This is not good for our democracy.
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* Press release…
Today, Governor-elect JB Pritzker announced the formation and members of the transition’s Educational Success Committee at Genevieve Melody STEM Elementary School in the West Garfield Park neighborhood of Chicago.
The committee is the seventh of several working groups of the transition made up of subject-matter experts who will advise and guide the incoming Pritzker-Stratton administration. The Educational Success Committee will be chaired by state Sen. Andy Manar, state Rep. Emanuel “Chris” Welch, Chicago Public Schools CEO Dr. Janice Jackson, and Illinois Education Association President Kathi Griffin and consist of 35 members.
“Every child in this state deserves a quality education – regardless of the color of their skin, the zip code they come from, or the income of their parents,” said Governor-elect JB Pritzker. “The transition’s Educational Success Committee will confront the challenges students, parents, and teachers face head on and with fierce urgency. If we want to put Springfield back on the side of working families, we must give every student the opportunities they deserve.”
“Educating our children is a foundational obligation of state government, and that’s why I led the charge to update our antiquated K-12 school funding formula to make it equitable for every child,” said state Sen. Andy Manar. “We must build on that progress, and that’s exactly what this committee will do. JB and Juliana are laying the groundwork for a cradle to career success network for every Illinoisan.”
“As chairman of the House Committee on Higher Education, I’ve seen the challenges facing students and educators in our state colleges and universities,” said state Rep. Emanuel “Chris” Welch. “This committee is a sign of new hope for those vital institutions, and for our children’s futures. Together, we’re going to delve into the root issues and present possible solutions for this new administration so they can hit the ground running.”
“JB and Juliana are committed to making sure kids succeed throughout the education pipeline,” said Chicago Public Schools CEO Dr. Janice Jackson. “The state must step up to ensure every child can thrive from cradle to career, and this committee will work every day to make sure JB and Juliana are ready to do that on day one.”
“Serving on this committee means more than 135,000 educators and educational support professionals across the state have a seat at the table,” said Illinois Education Association President Kathi Griffin. “The incoming administration has shown a strong commitment to funding K-12 education, a promise to invest in higher education, and a pledge to protect collective bargaining rights. It’s the kind of agenda Illinois needs to get back on track, for the sake of our students and teachers.”
EDUCATIONAL SUCCESS COMMITTEE MEMBERS
State Sen. Andy Manar co-chairs the transition’s Educational Success Committee and represents the 48th senate district. Before being elected to the senate, he was Macoupin County Board chairman, mayor of Bunker Hill and a Bunker Hill city councilman. Manar was the driving force behind the successful movement to reform Illinois’ worst-in-the-nation school funding formula. Since he became a state senator, he has been a tireless advocate for fair and adequate school funding that doesn’t treat students differently based on zip codes. Manar serves on the education, agriculture, labor and executive appointments committees in the state senate.
State Rep. Chris Welch co-chairs the transition’s Educational Success Committee and has represented the 7th district since 2013. Welch chairs the House Higher Education Committee and serves on several key House Committees including Cities and Villages, Judiciary-Civil, Elementary and Secondary Education Appropriations, Higher Education Appropriations, Revenue, and Executive. As state representative, Welch has focused on improving classroom education, creating jobs, helping the most vulnerable, and streamlining government. Welch has been the chief sponsor of several pieces of historic legislation including the law bringing cursive writing back to our schools and the Historic Illinois Trust Act, the law making Illinois a welcoming state for immigrants.
Dr. Janice Jackson co-chairs the transition’s Educational Success Committee and is the CEO of Chicago Public Schools. Jackson was a CPS student from Head Start through 12th grade, then began her teaching career at Chicago’s South Shore High School. Since that time, Dr. Jackson has served as a principal, a Network Chief, the Chief Education Officer, and now, as Chief Executive Officer for CPS, the third largest school district in the country. Jackson was also the driving force behind GoCPS, the District’s first common application for all CPS and charter high schools. Launched in October 2017, this application system has dramatically simplified the high school application process while improving access and equity for all CPS high school students.
Kathi Griffin co-chairs the transition’s Educational Success Committee and is the President of the Illinois Education Association, which at 135,000 members strong, is the largest union in Illinois. Griffin started her career as a teacher in Schaumburg and worked there for 30 years. During her time with Schaumburg School District 54, she taught kindergarten through sixth grade students. She also served six years as president of her local union. Prior to becoming the President of the IEA, she was Vice President of the IEA and was a member of the National Education Association’s Board of Directors. Griffin is a member of the state’s Professional Review Panel. She co-chaired former Senator Mark Kirk’s education advisory board and was a member of Tammy Duckworth’s 8th Congressional District education advisory board when Senator Duckworth was a member of the U.S. House of Representatives.
Dr. Michael Amiridis, Chancellor, University of Illinois at Chicago
Dr. Carmen Ayala, Superintendent, Berwyn North SD 98
Christine Benson, Retired Superintendent, Mendota High School
Jennifer Bertino-Tarrant, State Senator, Illinois General Assembly
Dr. Dale Chapman, President, Lewis and Clark Community College
Dr. Brent Clark, Executive Director, Illinois Association of School Administrators
Fred Crespo, State Representative, Illinois General Assembly
Will Davis, State Representative, Illinois General Assembly
Dr. Larry Dietz, President, Illinois State University
Dr. Kenneth Ender, President, Harper College
Dr. Jennifer Garrison, Superintendent, Vandalia 203
Phyllis Glink, Executive Director, Irving B. Harris Foundation
Dr. James Heckman, Professor, University of Chicago
Dr. Ed Hightower, Executive Director, Mannie Jackson Center for the Humanities Foundation
Kimberly Lightford, State Senator, Illinois General Assembly
John Miller, Vice President, Illinois Federation of Teachers
Mary Morten, Board Chair, Safe Schools Alliance
Zena Naiditch, President and CEO, Equip for Equality
Ginger Ostro, Executive Director, Advance Illinois
Kevin O’Mara, Professor, Concordia University
Dr. Cristina Pacione-Zayas, Director of Policy, Erikson Institute
Sylvia Puente, Executive Director, Latino Policy Forum
Dr. Aisha Ray, Retired Professor, Erikson Institute
Mimi Rodman, Executive Director, Stand for Children Illinois
Dr. Kevin Rubenstein, President, Illinois Alliance of Administrators of Special Education
Jane Russell, Vice President, Illinois Federation of Teachers
Juan Salgado, Chancellor, City Colleges of Chicago
Zaldwaynaka “Z” Scott, President, Chicago State University
Gloria Trejo, Principal, Pioneer Elementary School
Maria Whelan, President and CEO, Illinois Action for Children
Dr. Barbara Wilson, Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs, University of Illinois System
Thoughts?
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Trade war hits home
Tuesday, Nov 27, 2018 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Bloomberg…
Back before the U.S. and Europe started slapping tariffs on each other, Paul Hletko was benefiting from the Old World’s growing passion for bourbon, pulling in six figures’ worth of orders at his small-batch distillery in the first half of the year.
Those days are over. Bourbon exports for Hletko’s Few Spirits, based in Evanston, “dropped to zero” from 15 percent of revenue last year, he said. The European Union’s 25 percent tariff on bourbon, implemented in June, wiped out demand for his product, which retails for $51 a bottle in the U.S.
“Every U.K. buyer backed off,” Hletko said. “They may want to buy it, but if they can’t sell it at the right price, that’s not doing us any favors.”
Small distillers cite the drought as proof their fears of a global trade war are coming to fruition. Europe had been blossoming as a source of new revenue — but this market has been effectively cut off for producers that lack the clout or brand recognition of titans like Brown-Forman Corp., Diageo Plc and Chicago’s Beam Suntory. Now they’ve been sent back to square one.
The tariffs, which target U.S. goods such as Levi Strauss & Co. blue jeans and Harley Davidson Inc. motorcycles, are the EU’s retaliation to President Trump’s duties on foreign steel and aluminum.
* On to soybeans…
“I can tell you that the day they announced the tariff, we lost $20 an acre on our farm, and that was not the full impact of the tariff,” said Doug Schroeder, vice chairman of the Illinois Soybean Association and owner of a 4,000-acre soybean and corn farm near Mahomet, Illinois.
“It is really tough. Twenty-five percent of Illinois soybeans used to go to China, and now virtually none of them do,” he said.
Farmers are scrambling to find storage space for the soybeans they can’t sell, which is creating more challenges and raising costs.
“It’s really been devastating,” said Schroeder. “There hasn’t been a demand for the beans to go anywhere, so they just pile up.”
While Illinois soybean farmers are still selling their harvest to Indonesia, Taiwan and Mexico, the demand just isn’t there for what is expected to be a record soybean crop this year.
* Reuters…
US net farm income will fall to $65.7 billion this year, down 47% from just five years ago, the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) forecasts.
* New York Times…
America’s farmers have been shut out of foreign markets, hit with retaliatory tariffs and lost lucrative contracts in the face of President Trump’s trade war. But a $12 billion bailout program Mr. Trump created to “make it up” to farmers has done little to cushion the blow, with red tape and long waiting periods resulting in few payouts so far.
According to the Department of Agriculture, just $838 million has been paid out to farmers since the first $6 billion pot of money was made available in September. Another pool of up to $6 billion is expected to become available next month. The government is unlikely to offer additional money beyond the $12 billion, according to Sonny Perdue, the agriculture secretary.
* Related…
* Trump’s steel tariffs create big profits but few new jobs: At Nucor’s plant in Sedalia, by contrast, 225 people will make steel with a high-tech furnace that shoots electricity through scrap metal to melt it into new products. That technology is now used to produce nearly 70 percent of U.S. steel — with a third less labor and energy, according to Charles Bradford, president of Bradford Research Inc.
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The blue suburban wave
Tuesday, Nov 27, 2018 - Posted by Rich Miller
* We’ve talked a lot about the Democrats’ gains in DuPage and Lake counties. Greg Hinz takes a look at them plus these others…
In Will County, Democrats swept the countywide spots, taking control of the clerk’s job for the first time in 80 years. They also picked up four spots on the county board and now have a majority. […]
Republicans did better in Kane County, retaining the clerk’s and treasurer’s slots but losing to a Democrat for sheriff. Democrats, though, won seven of the 13 county board seats up for election. And former Democratic state Sen. Mike Noland defeated County Circuit Court Clerk (and former Kane County GOP Chairman) Thomas Hartwell for a Circuit Court judgeship.
If Republicans have a stronghold left in suburbia, it’s in McHenry County, which still is largely rural.
Rauner won there by better than 10 percentage points, and Erika Harold, the GOP nominee for attorney general, led Raoul by more than 8. Republicans won all of the countywide positions up for a vote by a wide margin. But even there, Casten and Underwood got more votes than incumbent GOP Reps. Peter Roskam and Randy Hultgren, respectively. And Democrats won a third of the 12 seats up for a vote on the county board.
* More on McHenry’s congressional vote…
One of the most dramatic turnarounds in the region was in McHenry County, where Democrats went from earning 40 percent of the House vote in 2016 to 51 percent this year.
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VOTE NO on the SB 2641 override
Tuesday, Nov 27, 2018 - Posted by Advertising Department
[The following is a paid advertisement.]
With transportation expenses on the rise, Illinoisans are looking to car sharing to help them earn extra income and save costs on transportation.
Yet, legislation that lawmakers are considering, SB 2641, would deny Illinoisans from an opportunity to make money while their cars sit idle and unfairly double tax car owners.
Car sharing is not the same as car rental, and the two industries cannot be treated the same. With car sharing, car owners can benefit financially while they aren’t using their cars. When regular Illinoisans buy a car, they pay sales tax. Rental car companies don’t because they have a sales tax waiver. But, this bill would force a car owner who has already paid sales tax to pay twice if they want to earn extra money sharing their car.
Legislators should VOTE NO on the SB 2641 override.
www.ILCarSharing.com
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* Press release…
Comptroller Susana A. Mendoza’s office today released a report shedding light on a program that has allowed private companies to buy more than $5 billion in state liabilities and claim hundreds of millions in late payment interest penalties originally owed to vendors who have done business with Illinois.
The monthly report is required under bipartisan legislation Comptroller Mendoza championed to open the books on the Vendor Payment Program (VPP).
“Lenders in this program are making hundreds of millions of dollars off the state’s fiscal calamity. Before my legislation was passed, this program wasn’t codified in state law or subject to even a basic level of transparency,” Mendoza said. “This monthly report will, for the first time, give taxpayers and policymakers an accounting of this $5-billion program.”
VPP was created to assist struggling vendors as Illinois’ backlog of unpaid bills grew. It allows state-approved third-party lenders, known as qualified purchasers, to pay a portion of the state’s unpaid bills owed to vendors up-front. In exchange, the qualified purchasers get the late payment interest penalties when they are ultimately paid by the state.
The qualified purchasers played an important role in keeping vendors afloat, a challenge worsened during the two-year budget crisis suffered during the Rauner administration. But before the passage of Comptroller Mendoza’s legislation, little information was made public about their financial interests or how much state debt they have purchased through VPP.
In addition to revealing to the public for the first time that more than $5 billion of state liabilities have been purchased through VPP, qualified purchasers reported that nearly $275 million in late payment interest penalties have been paid to them to date. Another nearly $327 million in late payment interest penalties are still owed to qualified purchasers.
A companion report, also published today, includes information about qualified purchasers and those who hold interests in these entities. Monthly reports going forward will focus on the liabilities and late payment interest penalties that fall under the program. Any new qualified purchasers who apply to participate in VPP are now required to file disclosure statements, and all qualified purchasers are now required to file a disclosure statement once a year.
Senate Bill 3560 passed unanimously in the state Senate and 109-7 in the House of Representatives. It was sponsored by Representative John Connor, D-Lockport, and Senator Omar Aquino, D-Chicago. Under the new law, VPP will be audited by the Illinois Auditor General.
The monthly reports are here and the financial backer disclosures are here.
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* Tom Kacich on how state Rep. Clark Griggs was able to locate the University of Illinois in Champaign-Urbana…
It started with $40,000 appropriated by the supervisors of Champaign and Urbana townships and Griggs’ decision to travel most of the state (everywhere but Jacksonville, Lincoln and Bloomington), meet with other state representatives and build support for Champaign-Urbana.
In five weeks, he said, he interviewed 40 House members and gained pledges from 15 of them.
Next, he met with the governor and lieutenant governor and with the chairmen of the state Republican and Democratic parties. In those conversations he learned that the postwar Legislature would be occupied with a number of special interests.
Southern Illinois wanted a prison; Peoria and Springfield were fighting over which would be the state capital; and Chicago wanted to deepen the Chicago River and develop a system of parks and boulevards. Such knowledge would be important in future vote-trading.
When the Legislature went into session in January 1867, the Champaign County Committee moved into Springfield’s Leland Hotel, where for the next three months it held the principal reception room and a suite of parlors and bedrooms. The rooms were used to entertain legislators and their constituents with either drinks, light refreshments or sumptuous dinners of oysters or quail. Lawmakers were supplied with cigars and theater tickets. Late in the session, Griggs arranged for a special train to take legislators to Champaign-Urbana.
None of the other communities seeking the university had a similar arrangement.
Inside the House Chambers, Griggs showed his skill by running for speaker.
For two days, the House was tied up in endless voting. On the night after the second day, an intermediary visited Griggs and asked what it would take to get him to drop out of the race. Griggs wanted the chairmanship of the Committee on Agriculture and Mechanic Arts — the committee that would hear all the bills about locating the university — and the right to choose its members. He got it, dropped out of the race for speaker and thus was able to control the legislation.
There’s more, so go read the whole thing.
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The hollowing out of state government
Tuesday, Nov 27, 2018 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Les Winkeler on IDNR…
Case in point, over the past decade or so the state has lost out on piles of grant money for one of two reasons. First, cash was in short supply, so matching funds for projects weren’t always available. Second, staff cuts were so deep there was no one to write the grant proposals. […]
Granted, the agency is no longer on life support as it was several years ago, but staffing levels are unacceptable. Some site superintendents are managing 8-12 sites – that serves no one well. Some state parks are without a single full-time employee.
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What Turo Doesn’t Want You to Know
Tuesday, Nov 27, 2018 - Posted by Advertising Department
[The following is a paid advertisement.]
In the heart of Chicago’s Uptown neighborhood sat a collection of cars owned by “Michael O.” — the city’s most successful auto lender on car-sharing platform Turo.
According to The Daily Line, Michael Oates owns as many as 40 vehicles that he rents out using Turo, a Silicon Valley-based company that promotes itself as the future of the car rental industry. Oates’ fleet has caused major parking headaches in Uptown, where he once parked a portion of his 40 vehicles on a residential street near the Aragon Ballroom and the Riviera Theatre.*
Would you want 40 extra cars parked on your street?
Car key lockboxes in Uptown. Operated by Turo renter.
Ald. James Cappleman told The Daily Line that he’s received numerous complaints about Oates’ cars, but attempts to resolve the issue stalled after the city’s law department said the legislature would first have to pass a bill regulating the car-sharing industry.
Rep. Art Turner, D-Chicago, said his bill could address “nuisance situations” like Oates’ Turo business.
“As it stands right now, there’s nothing the city or police or local law enforcement can do to even address the situation,” Turner said.*
A PICTURE IS WORTH 1,000 WORDS
VOTE YES ON SB 2641
* Excerpts from Daily Line story from November 13, 2018
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21 candidates file to run for mayor
Tuesday, Nov 27, 2018 - Posted by Rich Miller
* WTTW…
According to a preliminary list compiled by the Chicago Board of Election Commissioners, 21 candidates filed to run for mayor for the upcoming election on Feb. 26 (a runoff between the top two vote-getters is set for April 2):
Willie Wilson
Toni Preckwinkle
Paul Vallas
Jerry Joyce
Catherine Brown D’Tycoon
Conrien Hykes Clark
William M. Daley
Garry McCarthy
Dorothy Brown
Gery Chico
Sandra Mallory
Susana Mendoza
Amara Enyia
La Shawn Ford
Neal Sales-Griffin
Lori Lightfoot
John Kozlar
Bob Fioretti
Ja’Mal Green
Roger Washington
Richard Mayers
The full list of all city candidates is here.
* Tribune…
Candidates will spend the next month or more trying to knock others out of the race. They will cite charges ranging from forgery and fraud to more minor technicalities to argue their competitors didn’t collect the necessary number of signatures from registered Chicago voters to appear on the ballot.
That process, argued by attorneys before city election officials, is certain to narrow the final list of candidates put before voters. By how much remains to be seen. […]
Chico, Lightfoot, Joyce and Brown all stressed they had checked their signatures carefully and were confident they had enough valid ones to weather any attempts to get them booted from the ballot. Mendoza only submitting a little more than twice the required amount raised some eyebrows around City Hall, given her status as a statewide officeholder and an establishment Democrat.
Mendoza sought to downplay the number of signatures she filed, saying they only had been collected in the last three weeks since she announced her mayoral bid after winning re-election as comptroller. A “draft” movement, however, began collecting signatures for Mendoza in early September, and her campaign later confirmed that her nominating petitions included those signatures collected over the last three months.
* Important point from Greg Hinz…
Qualified signatures can come only from registered Chicago voters. Perhaps even more important this year, only the first signature will count for those who signed petitions for multiple candidates. Squabbling over which signature came “first” and related matters is likely to generate much legal jockeying, noted political consultant Tom Bowen. “It is a hell of a mess to knock someone off the ballot in this environment,” he said.
* Context…
When the week-long filing period closed Monday, 21 candidates had submitted petitions for the mayoral race. That’s one more than eight years ago — the last time the mayor’s office was up for grabs. In that race, to succeed retiring Mayor Richard M. Daley, 20 men and women had filed for mayor at the close of the filing period. But only six wound up on the ballot after challenges and candidate withdrawals.
* Impressive if true…
Former City official and Community Activist Amara Enyia has run for mayor before; she said she’s learned a lot since then and is ready to make her voice heard among several contenders. She filed 62,000 signatures, no doubt in part because of Chance the Rapper and Kanye West’s help in supporting her campaign.
“We have done a good job of organizing across the city so it is not just me as a candidate but it is the people of this city,” Enyia said.
* Meanwhile…
Mayoral candidate Gery Chico on Monday took the gloves off and pummeled the only other Hispanic candidate in the race: state Comptroller Susana Mendoza.
Chico charged that Mendoza proved herself “unfit for the job or the responsibilities that come with being the mayor of Chicago” because she “can’t even decide which job she wants” and proved it again by being evasive and duplicitous.
In a statement released by his campaign just as Mendoza was filing her nominating petitions, Chico pointed to Mendoza’s refusal to say whether she would remove or retain Police Supt. Eddie Johnson. […]
“Susana has played political games by refusing to come clean with voters about running for mayor, and now that she’s openly running for mayor she refuses to come clean with voters on where she stands on important issues. She can’t be trusted to be the strong leader Chicagoans can count on,” Chico said.
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A look ahead to the final veto session week
Tuesday, Nov 27, 2018 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Tribune…
State lawmakers return to Springfield on Tuesday for what could be their last clash with Gov. Bruce Rauner, as they consider overriding dozens of the governor’s vetoes less than two months before he leaves office. […]
Two weeks ago, Republicans joined Democrats to vote to override the GOP governor’s vetoes more than three dozen times. Democratic state Rep. Emanuel “Chris” Welch of Hillside said Republicans were “relieved” after years of largely voting with Rauner.
“When the governor first came in the office, he was intimidating and, for lack of a better term, a bully,” Welch said on WGN-AM 720 on Sunday.
But the House has to agree with Senate votes to override Rauner and vice versa if any are to stick.
* AP…
The focus this week is on the House. It is poised to take override action on vetoed legislation which the Senate voted to reverse two weeks ago.
The list includes a measure vetoed by Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner to set a deadline for local police to sign paperwork to help immigrant victims of crime . Victims of certain violent crimes who cooperate with police qualify for visas to let them stay in the country. The legislation requires police to act within 90 days to sign necessary paperwork.
Other vetoes awaiting House action are on legislation prohibiting tobacco sales to those under 21 and requiring online vehicle-sharing services to meet rental-car company safety standards.
* Some veto overrides have been abandoned…
Sen. Andy Manar, D-Bunker Hill, said he’s not giving up on the idea of increasing the minimum salary that every school district in the state will have to pay their teachers.
“There have been ongoing conversations that haven’t stopped since going back to May, when we passed the bill,” Manar said. “Those are going to continue. I would expect to re-file, if not a bill that’s exactly the same, something that’s very similar to what was filed and already passed in the General Assembly.” […]
Twice lawmakers approved a bill that prohibits employers from asking the salary history of an applicant. Twice Rauner used his amendatory veto powers to make changes to it.
Both times, there were not enough votes in the Legislature to override Rauner’s changes, but supporters didn’t want to accept his changes. Consequently, the bills died.
Rep. Anna Moeller, D-Elgin, said she’s probably going to try again, only this time with someone in the Governor’s Mansion who supports the idea.
* This one may not make it, either…
The Senate was able to get enough votes to pass a bill to ban anyone under 21 from getting tobacco and vaping products, but there might not be enough votes in the House to get the bill passed over the governor’s veto. […]
State Rep. Robert Martwick, one of the cosponsors of the bill in the House, said it initially passed with 61 votes. Lawmakers need 71 votes to override.
“I hope that we can garner the votes, but I think it’s a stretch to think we can pick up another ten,” Martwick said.
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Thousands still without power after blizzard
Tuesday, Nov 27, 2018 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Daily Herald…
Roughly 42,000 customers in northern Illinois still were without electricity as of 4:30 a.m. Tuesday because of the snow that hit Chicago and the suburbs.
Sunday’s storm featured blizzardlike conditions with up to 13 inches of wet, heavy snow and wind gusts up to 50 mph in some areas that snapped tree limbs and downed power lines.
Officials said about 350,000 ComEd customers lost power, but service has been restored to many of them.
Arlington Heights officials said the village was the second-hardest hit after Chicago and that ComEd could not say when more than 5,000 without power would get service back.
Oy.
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* Press release…
Today, Governor-elect JB Pritzker and Lieutenant Governor-elect Juliana Stratton announced the formation and members of the transition’s Powering Illinois’ Future Committee.
The committee is the sixth of several working groups of the transition made up of subject-matter experts who will advise and guide the incoming Pritzker-Stratton administration. The Powering Illinois’ Future Committee will be chaired by Illinois Environmental Council Executive Director Jennifer Walling, Exelon Utilities CEO Anne Pramaggiore, and IBEW Local 51 Business Manager John Johnson and consist of 30 members.
“Investing in infrastructure will be a top priority in our administration,” said Lieutenant Governor-elect Juliana Stratton. “We must identify opportunities to invest in a clean energy economy, and this committee will bring both advocacy and industry stakeholders together to put our state on a path toward mutually agreed upon projects that move us toward a clean energy economy.”
“IEC and our advocacy partners know our environment will be protected under the incoming Pritzker-Stratton administration, and we’re excited to work on this committee to make investing in clean water infrastructure and expanding energy efficiency efforts a top priority in Illinois,” said Illinois Environmental Council Executive Director Jennifer Walling.
“Under Governor-elect Pritzker’s vision, Illinois is poised to assume a leadership role in our country’s clean energy future. Making this transformation in our energy sector is critical to our economy and to quality of life in our state. I am enthusiastic about the ability of the diverse group of stakeholders convened by our new Governor to generate ideas that add real value to Illinois,” said Exelon Utilities CEO Anne Pramaggiore.
“This committee will be the first step in making sure the labor movement is an integral part of moving Illinois to a clean energy economy and reinforces JB and Juliana’s commitment to putting Springfield back on the side of working families,” said IBEW Local 51 Business Manager John Johnson.
POWERING ILLINOIS’ FUTURE COMMITTEE MEMBERS
Jennifer Walling co-chairs the transition’s Powering Illinois’ Future Committee and is the executive director of the Illinois Environmental Council. IEC represents over 80 environmental organizations on policy issues. Walling has been involved with the negotiation and passage of many major environmental initiatives including the Future Energy Jobs Act, Lead in Drinking Water Prevention Act, Illinois’ ban on microbeads in personal care products, funding for the Illinois Department of Natural Resources, recreation liability protection for landowners, numerous bills on recycling and composting, and many other statewide policies.
Anne Pramaggiore co-chairs the transition’s Powering Illinois’ Future Committee and is the CEO of Exelon Utilities. In that role, she oversees and manages the six utilities that make up the portfolio of Exelon Utilities, including ComEd. Pramaggiore served as CEO of Commonwealth Edison for over six years and, during that time, oversaw the company’s smart grid modernization program as set forth under the 2011 Illinois Energy Infrastructure Modernization Act. This legislation and ComEd’s work has earned Illinois national recognition for having one of the most advanced power systems in the country (Gridwise Alliance Modernization Index) and has placed ComEd among the leaders in the industry for reliability (EEI Index). Also, she oversaw the company’s efforts under the 2016 Illinois’ Future Energy Jobs Act, which further modernizes the power system, creating a pathway for 3000 MW of solar power and some of the largest and most impactful energy efficiency programs in the country. She joined Commonwealth Edison in 1998 (from McDermott, Will and Emery) as a lawyer and worked on the company’s efforts to restructure the electric industry under Illinois’ Customer Choice Act. Pramaggiore also served as Commonwealth Edison COO and President from 2009 to 2012.
John Johnson co-chairs the transition’s Powering Illinois’ Future Committee and is the business manager of International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 51. Johnson has worked in the Illinois energy field for over 42 years. He was first employed by Illinois Power at its Baldwin Power Station in downstate Randolph County. In 1994, he was appointed as a Business Representative for IBEW Local 51 later becoming the Assistant Business Manager. Johnson has represented nearly 3,500 Illinois workers primarily employed in the public utility industry in downstate Illinois. He has represented employees working for electric and gas utilities; nuclear, coal, and natural gas generating operators; rural electric cooperatives; contractors constructing electric distribution, electric transmission and renewable energy facilities; and telecommunication employers. While working for Local 51, he has participated in various legislative and regulatory efforts, most recently with the Future Energy Jobs Act. Johnson was appointed by organized labor to the Midwest Governors Greenhouse Gas Accord working group.
Steve Andersson, State Representative, Illinois General Assembly
Andrew Barbeau, President, The Accelerate Group
Dick Breckenridge, Illinois Regional Program Manager, BlueGreen Alliance
Jon Carson, CEO, Trajectory Energy Partners
Jim Connolly, Business Manager, LIUNA Chicago Laborers’ District Council
Jack Darin, Executive Director, Sierra Club Illinois Chapter
Naomi Davis, Founder, Blacks in Green
Joseph Dominguez, CEO, ComEd
Robyn Gabel, State Representative, Illinois General Assembly
Jacky Grimshaw, Vice President of Government Affairs, Center for Neighborhood Technology
Carol Hays, Executive Director, Prairie Rivers Network
Ronnie Huff, Union Representative, Union Mine Workers of America
Paul Kearns, Lab Director, US Department of Energy’s Argonne National Laboratory
Dave Koehler, State Senator, Illinois General Assembly
Howard Learner, President and Executive Director, Environmental Law and Policy Center
Richard Mark, CEO, Ameren Illinois
Iris Martinez, State Senator, General Assembly
Charles Matthews, CEO, Peoples Gas
Michael Polsky, Founder and CEO, Invenergy
Susan Satter, Public Utilities Counsel, Office of the Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan
Debra Shore, Commissioner, Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago
Jim Sweeney, President-Business Manager, International Union of Operating Engineers Local 150
Rick Tervin, Jr., Legislative and Political Director, Illinois Pipe Trades Association
Mary Vandevord, President and CEO, HeartLands Conservancy
Kim Wasserman-Nieto, Executive Director, Little Village Environmental Justice Organization
Ann Williams, State Representative, Illinois General Assembly
Melvin Williams, President, Nicor Gas
That’s not a bad combination of business, labor, greens and legislators with experience getting things done. The people running this transition are impressing me. But transition committees are usually just window dressing. We’ll have to wait and see if the actual governing has this balanced approach.
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One place to look for capital plan cash
Monday, Nov 26, 2018 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Illinois News Network…
In 2013, the first year Illinois lawmakers allowed for video gaming, almost 8,000 machines did $121 million in business. Just five years later, almost 30,000 machines did $1.4 billion in business. That’s enough gambling machines to fill 24 full-sized casinos.
The report is here.
* That $1.4 billion is called Net Terminal Income. It’s the difference between what is bet and what is won. Of the NTI, 30 percent is taxed by the state, with one-sixth of the state’s take going to the municipalities.
The rest, close to $1 billion in this instance, is split equally between the video gaming establishments (bars, truck stops, etc.) and the video gaming terminal operators. Terminal operators own the machines, place them, service them, collect the money, etc. They have significant overhead, but I can’t imagine it’s anywhere near a half a billion dollars a year.
If we’re looking for capital plan money, then increasing the state’s tax rate on that pot of terminal operators gold might be worth looking at, along with increasing the rate on establishments that have more than a couple/tree locations. Leave the mom and pop neighborhood spots alone. Focus on the big chain establishments and the major terminal operators.
Then again, they’ll be the ones with the most lobbyists.
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HDems will have 74 seats, SDems will have 40
Monday, Nov 26, 2018 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Let this sink in: Next year, Sen. John Curran of Downers Grove will be the only Republican Senator who will reside in the former GOP bastion of DuPage County. Sen. Curran was appointed to the Senate last year when Sen. Christine Radogno retired. Pate Philip would be spinning in his grave if he was dead (thankfully, he’s not)…
For context, 1964 was the “bedsheet ballot” year, when the Democrats won two-thirds of all House seats. The old three-member district process limited parties to no more than two members per district, so each party slated 118 candidates for 177 seats and they all ran on one statewide ballot after a redistricting standoff during LBJ’s massive Democratic landslide.
The House Democrats will hold about 63 percent of all House seats come January.
* Some of the last legislative races that were decided…
* Related…
* ‘Blue tsunami’ should be wake-up call for Lake County GOP: In a clean sweep, Democrat candidates won the sheriff, treasurer and county clerk’s office. Democrats flipped five Lake County Board seats held by Republicans and now control the County Board for the first time in history.
* Democrat Hebreard edges Republican Cantore in tight race for DuPage County forest preserve president: Hebreard’s victory extended the blue wave that swept traditionally Republican DuPage this fall and that already had resulted in Democrats winning seven seats on the 18-member county board and capturing both the county clerk’s office and, for the first time, a circuit court judge’s seat. Democrats had held only one county board seat before the Nov. 6 election.
* FINAL TALLY: Democrat Tony Brown wins Macon County sheriff’s race by 1 vote
* Democrat Ellman unseats Republican Connelly in state Senate District 21: Connelly, an attorney from Lisle, has held the state Senate seat since 2012. He previously served in the state House, on the DuPage County Board and on the Lisle village board.
* Republican Morrison holds on for 37-vote victory over Democrat Trevor in 54th House district: It’s the closest race yet for Morrison, a fiscal and social conservative first elected in 2010 after defeating 12-year incumbent Suzanne Bassi in the 2010 GOP primary. He’s faced a Democratic challenger every two years except in 2016.
* Democrat Edly-Allen defeats Republican Miller Walsh in 51st House District: “From the bottom of my heart, I want to extend a sincere thank you to the thousands of voters who have chosen to place their trust in me, as well as the hundreds of dedicated volunteers who helped me get my message out to the community and stood by my side as we fought to ensure every vote was counted,” Edly-Allen said. “Across the county, state and country, this election demonstrated not only that every vote counts, but most importantly, that the divisive rhetoric advanced by extreme politicians like Donald Trump will not go unchallenged.”
* Rep. Batinick still ‘hopeful’ going into Democratic governorship - As one of the few surviving local Republicans, official ready to get back to work in Springfield
* Bernard Schoenburg: McClure says GOP should stress economic policy
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[The following is a paid advertisement.]
Illinois’ clean energy economy is here but there’s still more we can, and must, do.
In 2016, the Illinois Clean Jobs Coalition championed passage of the bipartisan Future Energy Jobs Act (FEJA), the biggest clean energy breakthrough in the state’s history. From Carbondale to Peoria to Chicago and everywhere in between, FEJA is already building a new economy and reshaping Illinois’ energy landscape by reducing pollution, keeping energy bills affordable, and creating new jobs.
But there’s still more the General Assembly can do to make Illinois a leader in clean energy. That’s why earlier this year, the Illinois Clean Jobs Coalition launched “Listen. Lead. Share. A Conversation About Winning a Clean, Equitable Energy Future.”
Over the last 10 months, local residents, community leaders and businesses participated in 58 Listen. Lead. Share. events across Illinois to discuss how Illinois can:
• Put Illinois on a path to 100% renewable energy by 2050
• Achieve a carbon-free power sector by 2030
• Create sustainable and equitable job growth
• Reduce pollution from the transportation sector
The time to act is now, and together we must work exhaustively on economic policies that build on the success of FEJA, lift up all of Illinois, enact much-needed climate and health protections, and spur investment and job creation in the communities where they’re needed most.
Join us today
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* Politico…
Cash is pouring into both sides of a car-sharing bill that’s being considered by the state House for override this week. The Senate already did. Enterprise has donated to the campaign funds of more than 30 state lawmakers, including a few who stood up recently to call for an override of the bill that would regulate online car-sharing startups. Companies that support the veto have also donated tens of thousands of dollars to lawmakers.
The bill would put more restrictions and regulation on companies like Turo, which operates similar to an Airbnb but for your car. Those companies say the bill stifles free enterprise. Turo also takes issue that it was never allowed a seat at the table—there were no public hearings on the issue. (In other states, the company has worked with legislators and rental car companies on the language of the bills.)
Supporters of the Illinois measure say it’s a matter of fairness, that people who rent out their cars should be taxed and regulated the way big rental-car companies are.
State Rep. Grant Wehrli (R-Naperville) and state Sen. Sue Rezin (R-Peru) and other lawmakers joined Enterprise VP Jeff Wilder for a press conference recently in Springfield, where they urged fellow lawmakers to override Gov. Bruce Rauner’s veto. Enterprise also donated to their campaigns. Most of those donations ranged from $1,000 to $1,500. But state Sen. John Cullerton’s campaign was given $10,000, and so was the state Democratic Party. Companies on the other side, including lobbyists for Turo, have also donated money—even to Cullerton. Those firms are Freeborn & Peters, $75,000; All-Circo: $36,500; Leinenweber, Baroni & Daffada Consulting, $61,821; and Thomson Weir, $33,250.
* OK, whenever you see stories like this (and I’m not trying to single this one out because these pieces are very common), you should ask yourself two questions: 1) How many other clients do these lobbying firms have? 2) How far back do these contributions go?
Freeborn & Peters lists 16 Statehouse clients, including several with veto session issues. So, the contributions are not focused on one issue. It’s contributed $77,650 to lots of campaigns and committees (including the Lake County Republican Federation) since March 27 of 2017. That’s way before this car-sharing thing popped up late last spring. It’s contributed about $38K since this past March. Not much.
All-Circo has close to 40 clients and the contributions noted above date back to March 30th of last year. Again, long before this stuff started. It’s contributed about $27K since March, but most of that money went to political committees unrelated to the state legislature.
Etc.
* As far as Enterprise goes, it has contributed $71,200 to 37 legislative campaign committees (counting the $6K to Sen. Kwame Raoul since he’ll be around for veto session) since March, for an average contribution of about $1,900.
Bottom line: I don’t think this thing has proved to be a contribution gusher.
* In other news…
The Senate overturned Rauner’s veto Nov. 14 and the House is supposed to follow suit this week.
Meanwhile, Republican state Rep. David Welter of Morris just floated a bill offering a variety of compromises, which could be a game-changer.
I reached out to a Turo spokesperson to see if he knew about Rep. Welter’s “compromise” bill and he sent me a summary. Click here to read it.
Proponents of the original bill are calling this proposal a last-minute attempt by Turo to derail the override vote in the House. The bill received 78 votes in May, so the Turo folks have their work cut out for them and, at the moment, the Welter bill doesn’t look much like a “game-changer.” It will only be viable if the company can pull 8 votes off the bill and force a compromise. We’ll see.
* Moving right along…
“The tax implications are very tough and would drive Turo out of the market,” said Republican state Rep. Allen Skillicorn, who rents out his Prius with the HyreCar app.
Because Skillicorn rents out his Prius and has a conflict of interest, he voted “Present” in May.
Wait… Skillicorn owns a Prius?
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* Sen. Sam McCann sued when the Senate Republicans stripped him of all services provided to caucus members after he filed to run as a third-party candidate for governor. The 7th US Appellate Circuit has bad news for McCann today…
This case takes us deep into the internal workings of the Illinois State Senate. After Senate Minority Leader William E. Brady (a Republican) decided to oust William (“Sam”) McCann from the Illinois Senate Republican Caucus and thereby to deny certain resources to McCann, McCann and one of his constituents, Bruce Mcdaniel, sued Brady under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 for alleged deprivations of their rights under the First Amendment and the Equal Protection Clause of the federal Constitution. Brady responded with a motion to dismiss on the basis of legislative immunity. The district court agreed that this doctrine blocks all of McCann and Mcdaniels’s theories and dismissed the case. We affirm. […]
The question here is whether Minority Leader Brady’s decisions about who is included within the Minority or Republican Caucus, and how to allocate resources to those people, are protected by the privilege. We conclude that they are. Simply to list the resources is to show how intimately they are tied to the legislative process. Recalling from Gravel that aides are protected by the privilege, we conclude that the minority staff analyses of bills are a valuable input into the legislative process. As Minority Leader, Senator Brady was attempting to use his party’s resources as effectively as possible in furthering the party’s legislative agenda. Setting legislative priorities for the minority party, including when to schedule bills, how to ensure that senators are ready to vote on them, is also quintessentially legislative activity. Drafting assistance is likewise legislative. […]
Extra help in the form of staff resources is part of the leader’s toolkit for managing his troops. We see no objective standard that we could use to second-guess the leadership’s judgment about how and to whom those resources should be distributed. […]
Imagining what would happen if we were to adopt McCann’s position demonstrates why legislative immunity must apply here. McCann would have the federal courts micro-manage exactly which resources, and in what amount, the legislative leaders of the two major political parties dole out to their members. This is emphatically not our job.
Agreed.
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* The Transportation Research Board, a division of the National Research Council, found that Chicago drivers spent an additional 45,000 hours on the road because of this change by the IEPA…
About two years ago, state environmental regulators announced a controversial move to close the last two vehicle emissions testing facilities in Chicago, along with two other testing sites in the suburbs.
Officials with the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency said the closures stemmed from a new seven-year contract with the Chicago-based company Applus Technologies to conduct vehicle emission tests for the state starting in November 2016. The agreement, officials said, would save the state agency $100 million over the course of the contract, reducing the cost of each emissions test from $6.95 to $2.85.
But a new analysis shows that the move came at a cost to hundreds of thousands of Chicagoans, with the biggest impact on low-income and minority drivers. The decision also had a negative impact on area roadways and the environment.
City vehicle owners traveled an estimated additional 1.9 million miles over the past two years as a result of the two Chicago testing sites closing, according to a recently published study. The additional travel amounts to an increase of nearly 768,000 kilograms of carbon dioxide emissions. Put another way, those extra 1.9 million miles produced the same amount of carbon dioxide emissions as that produced by the electricity used in 115 homes in a single year, according to the EPA’s Greenhouse Gas Equivalencies Calculator.
The study is based on state emissions testing data from 2014-15 for more than 380,000 vehicles tested at the two now-closed Chicago facilities. Illinois EPA did not provide researchers with data for the Tinley Park and Elk Grove Village testing sites that closed in 2016.
The study is here.
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* The BGA’s fact checker strikes again…
While defending her criminal justice record, Mendoza said she was “the deciding vote on abolishing the death penalty in the state of Illinois.”
Before making that claim, she accurately described her change of heart on the issue that led her to support the 2011 abolition measure after long backing capital punishment.
And Mendoza is technically correct that the measure would have sunk had she voted the other way. By that standard, however, any one of the 59 other House members who supported the bill on final passage could make the same claim.
Even with Mendoza’s support, the measure came up short on an initial vote. When the sponsor opted for a re-do later that day, a different lawmaker who’d opposed it on the first try switched his vote, securing its passage. In the end, it clearly didn’t come down to Mendoza.
We rate her claim Mostly False.
19 Comments
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* Tribune…
Rising temperatures in the Midwest are projected to be the largest contributing factor to declines in U.S. agricultural productivity, with extreme heat wilting crops and posing a threat to livestock, according to a sweeping federal report on climate change released Friday.
Midwest farmers will be increasingly challenged by warmer, wetter and more humid conditions from climate change, which also will lead to greater incidence of crop disease and more pests and will diminish the quality of stored grain. During the growing season, temperatures are projected to climb more in the Midwest than in any other region of the U.S., the report says.
Without technological advances in agriculture, the onslaught of high-rainfall events and higher temperatures could reduce the Midwest agricultural economy to levels last seen during the economic downturn for farmers in the 1980s.
Overall, yields from major U.S crops are expected to fall, the reports says. To adapt to the rising temperatures, substantial investments will be required, which will in turn will hurt farmers’ bottom lines.
These are some of the findings of the report released by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. The 1,600-page report — vetted by 13 government agencies and written collectively with the help of 300 scientists — is perhaps the most authoritative and comprehensive statement on the risks of climate change, which has contributed to extreme weather that has cost the U.S. nearly $400 billion since 2015, the authors found.
According to the report, the threat to Midwestern agriculture is just one potential blow to the region.
The report is here.
* ABC…
The report concluded that rising temperatures, rising sea levels, and changes in extreme events are expected to “increasingly disrupt” and “critically damage” infrastructure and labor productivity, affecting import and export prices.
Extreme climate disasters could hinder factory production in both the United States and abroad, resulting in price increases in products and crops. According to the report, American businesses rely so heavily on production and supply chains overseas that there wouldn’t be an industry that goes unaffected.
The Midwest region is expected to be hit the hardest, with higher temperatures, drought and flooding contributing to a decline in soybeans and corn — two of the Midwest’s main commodities, the report said. As a result, the region could potentially produce less than 75 percent of the corn it currently produces, and lose more than 25 percent of its soybean yield.
* Inside Climate News…
Climate change will hit the Corn Belt particularly hard. Under a high-emissions scenario, the Midwest will see greater increases in warm-season temperatures than anywhere else in the country, with the frost-free season projected to increase by an average of 10 days from 2016 to 2045.
A rise in temperatures in the Midwest is “projected to be the largest contributing factor to declines in the productivity of U.S. agriculture,” the report says. Agricultural productivity could drop to 1980s levels by 2050, the report said, essentially wiping out gains made in recent decades from improved technologies.
* CNN…
There will be more mosquito- and tickborne diseases like Zika, dengue and chikungunya. West Nile cases are expected to more than double by 2050 due to increasing temperatures. […]
Energy systems will be taxed, meaning more blackouts and power failures, and the potential loss in some sectors could reach hundreds of billions of dollars per year by the end of the century, the report said.
The number of days over 100 degrees Fahrenheit will multiply; Chicago, where these days are rare, could start to resemble Phoenix or Las Vegas, with up to two months worth of these scorching-hot days.
Currently, Chicago sees just one 100-degree day every 4.5 summers.
* And before you comment, read this from NASA…
The difference between weather and climate is a measure of time. Weather is what conditions of the atmosphere are over a short period of time, and climate is how the atmosphere “behaves” over relatively long periods of time.
82 Comments
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A tragic failure
Monday, Nov 26, 2018 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Charlie Wheeler…
Like an actor in a Greek drama or a Shakespearean character, Gov. Bruce Rauner will leave office as a tragic figure, felled by his overriding hubris — excessive pride or self-confidence, arrogance — that led to his political downfall.
The private equity investor never seemed to grasp — or was not willing to accept — that he no longer was someone who could say “Jump” and his minions would respond “How high?”
Instead, he was now the head of most of one of three co-equal branches of Illinois government, and thus needed to work cooperatively with the other two branches, especially his legislative peers, Senate President John Cullerton and House Speaker Michael Madigan. A savvier politician — for that matter, anyone who knows how a bill becomes a law — would have realized that any legislative initiative would need the help of the Democratic majority to become law. Nor can a governor enact a budget by executive order.
Similarly, plain common sense would suggest that finding common ground with negotiating partners probably wouldn’t be made easier by repeatedly calling them “corrupt,” as he referred to Madigan almost nonstop for the past five years or more, in increasingly harsh terms as election day neared. At least he was an equal opportunity insulter — Illinois Supreme Court justices also are part of a “corrupt system,” he told a newspaper editorial board a few months after taking office.
But one suspects Rauner may not have been seeking compromises, but rather intended to impose his will on lawmakers, especially with respect to his overarching goal- - hamstringing public employee unions, notably the detested “Af-scammy,” as he derisively referred to AFSCME, the state’s largest.
He imposed his will on the General Assembly with help from enablers like the Chicago Tribune editorial board until the GA finally had enough and then imposed its will on him. And the tragedy isn’t about what happened to the governor and his political career. The tragedy is what happened to this state in the process of Rauner’s long downfall.
Anyway, go read the whole thing.
61 Comments
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College costs up, graduations down
Monday, Nov 26, 2018 - Posted by Rich Miller
* More on the hollowing out of Illinois from Illinois Public Radio…
College in Illinois is becoming more expensive on average, and fewer students are graduating from the state’s large public universities. That’s according to a decade’s-worth of federal education data. […]
The strain, as the data shows, has mostly fallen on Illinois’ public universities. Schools such as Northern, Southern and Western Illinois universities were among the hardest hit when the state legislature failed to pass a budget for nearly three years.
[Peter D’Amato of education news outlet The Hechinger Report] says Illinois’ budget woes and under-funding of higher education for years have led to enrollment dips and price hikes at some of Illinois’ largest public universities. Since the 2009-2010 school year, those price hikes have amounted to double-digit percentage increases across student income brackets in some cases. At times, prices have climbed higher than the rate of inflation.
“If states are cutting or not fully funding need-based programs and other grant programs,” D’Amato explained, “they’re gonna see the net prices go up or stay flat for some of these students in specific income brackets.”
40 Comments
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The hollowing out of state government
Monday, Nov 26, 2018 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Sometimes it’s deliberate. One Illinois…
Amid charges of deep staff cuts at the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency, it has referred far fewer cases to the Office of the Attorney General for enforcement under Gov. Bruce Rauner.
According to data provided by Attorney General Lisa Madigan’s office, the IEPA averaged 143 case referrals a year seeking enforcement of environmental laws in the second term of Rauner’s predecessor, Gov. Pat Quinn, but has averaged just 80 a year since Rauner took office in 2015.
In fact, IEPA typically referred between 200 and 300 cases a year to the state attorney general under Gov. George Ryan and in the first years of Gov. Rod Blagojevich’s first term. That fell below 200 under Blogojevich and his successor, Quinn. But under Rauner case referrals have dropped below 100 each year. Through September of this year, the IEPA had referred just 59 cases to the attorney general for enforcement. […]
With the state in longterm financial distress, the IEPA has been one of the government agencies that have suffered most. According to a story earlier this year from the Midwest Center for Investigative Reporting, staff has been cut in half over the last 15 years, from 1,260 down to 635 last year, and 190 full-time staffers have been cut under Rauner. According to that story, the agency is budgeted for 768 positions, but remains “significantly understaffed.”
* Sometimes, government makes it tough on providers. Chalkbeat…
At the end of three hours of briefings Monday on advancing care for Illinois’ tiniest residents, an on-the-ground provider’s 3-minute plea shook awake a gathering of the state’s top early childhood leaders and reminded them why they were there.
“We are in a crisis and unable to get help,” said Carla Holtz, who in seven years has cycled through 147 staff members at her two day care centers in south central Effingham.
Turnover in that time among her 35 employees has been enough to staff the two centers more than four times over.
Speaking to the early learning council that directs how the state funds services for children from birth to age 5, Holtz said half of those departing sought better-paying jobs in other fields. Others headed to public school districts that pay better. Some she let go.
“Down here in the trenches, those of us who are cleaning the poop and plunging the toilets — we’re the ones who are not making it,” said Holtz, ticking off how well-intentioned Illinois directives make it tough to run a childcare business. She listed state policies like raising degree requirements for jobs that pay $8.50 to $10.25 an hour in her area, an endless stream of “health and safety” trainings, and lead and radon tests that cost her $1,000 apiece.
In a meeting that focused mainly on future ambitions, Holtz redirected attention to a present hazard: a critical shortage of qualified staffers to work in infant centers, daycare programs, and community-based preschools.
The issue threatens to undercut any sort of universal pre-K program, which governor-elect J.B. Pritzker pledged to pursue as a candidate.
* And sometimes it’s just disgustingly short-sighted. Tribune editorial…
Imagine you get robbed at gunpoint by someone you recognize. You go to the police, report the crime and provide the name of the criminal. And the officer says, “Please come back in 285 days, and we’ll arrest him.”
It would be crazy. But it wouldn’t be much different from what happens to rape victims who undergo forensic exams that provide DNA evidence from their rapists.
The rape kits are an invaluable tool in identifying attackers and bringing them to justice. But in Illinois, the average time it takes to process DNA evidence in crimes is 285 days — more than nine months. That’s 285 days that a particular rapist is free to savage more women; 285 days before the police can even start looking for him. If that doesn’t sound like a lot, start counting to 285 and see if you finish.
A crime-solving instrument is useful if it’s actually used. And in the case of rape kits, no one is using them for months after they become available. The delays are a callous affront to the women who have submitted to lengthy, intrusive forensic exams in the aftermath of their attacks — and a favor to their attackers.
12 Comments
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Blizzard slams northern Illinois
Monday, Nov 26, 2018 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Tribune…
Blizzard warnings were canceled in the Chicago area Monday morning after one of the largest November storms on record dumped as much as 13 inches of snow, jamming the morning commute, canceling more than 460 flights at the city’s airports, shutting hundreds of schools and knocking power out to more than 300,000 homes and businesses.
As of 7 a.m., 7.4 inches of snow was recorded at O’Hare International Airport, the city’s official measuring station. Crystal Lake got 7.6 inches and some areas of McHenry County got 13.1 inches, according to the National Weather Service. Lindenhurst got 9 inches and Downers Grove 4.1 inches.
The north suburbs and southern Wisconsin bore the brunt of the storm. A winter storm warning remains in effect after blizzard warnings issued Sunday night expired early Monday morning.
Chicagoland commute times are here.
* We only had a light dusting of snow in Springfield and the Peoria area was expecting 3 to 6 inches, but the Rockford area was hit pretty hard…
As much as a foot of snow is expected to have blanketed much of Winnebago County by early Monday. […]
By 6 p.m., 7 inches of snow had fallen in Rockford, said National Weather Service meteorologist Ricky Castro. “There’s a heavy snow band from Central Illinois to Winnebago County, and it’s just sitting there. You guys could get up to a foot before it moves to the east.
The Quad Cities area was slammed by more than 13 inches of the white stuff.
How’s it looking by you?
27 Comments
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