Duckworth’s deputy campaign manager Matt McGrath said in an email she was referencing a statement Kirk made in May 2013 during an interview with Fox 32 Chicago political editor Mike Flannery.
Kirk told Flannery: “My top priority is to arrest the Gangster Disciple gang, which is 18,000 people. I would like to do a mass pickup of them and put them all in the Thomson Correctional Facility. I will be proposing this to the assembled federal law enforcement: ATF, DEA and FBI.”
Kirk made that statement in response to the January 2013 shooting death of 15-year-old Hadiya Pendleton, who was struck in the back by a stray bullet during a gang-related shooting on Chicago’s south side.
The Gangster Disciples is an African-American gang from the city’s south side and has an estimated 18,000 members, though its membership could be as high as 30,000, according to the Chicago Crime Commission’s press officer John Pastuovic.
The statement drew criticism from the media as well as from Kirk’s colleagues in Congress, including U.S. Rep. Bobby Rush, D-Ill, who called the proposal an “upper middle class elitist white boy solution to a problem he knows nothing about.”
But Kirk acknowledged in July 2013 that his plan to arrest every member of the Gangster Disciples was “not actually that practical.”
Still, not only does Duckworth’s tweet take what Kirk said out of context, it also implies he supported the general mass arrest of 18,000 African-Americans, even though Kirk never mentioned race or used the term “African-Americans” during his interview with Fox 32 Chicago.
More troubling in recent weeks, to our thinking, have been a couple of scurrilous accusations by Democratic Senate candidate Tammy Duckworth against her Republican opponent, incumbent Sen. Mark Kirk. If we ever thought Duckworth might be above cheap shots, we know better now.
Duckworth loaded the two false accusations into a single tweet on June 8: “Kirk, who called for the mass arrest of 18,000 African Americans, was apparently fine w/ Trump’s #StillTooRacist call for mass deportation.”
Did Kirk in fact call for the arrest of 18,000 African-Americans? No.
Is it true Kirk has no objection to Trump’s call for the mass deportation of undocumented immigrants? Also not true.
* Oscar got a haircut last week and today is my turn. I also have some errands to run, so blogging will be light to nonexistent until about 3 this afternoon.
Talk amongst yourselves, but let’s keep the conversation focused on Illinois and far away from the national convention and national politics. There are plenty of other posts on here for that.
In it, I correct AFSCME’s erroneous statement that employees who refuse to join the union at the picket line and remain at work become “at will,” a term reserved for a limited group of state employees who can be terminated without just cause. AFSCME’s claim is wrong. AFSCME employees continue to receive the same job protections even if they remain on the job and refuse to join the union on the picket line.
* AFSCME’s Anders Lindall responded today…
Rich –
We can’t imagine where John Terranova came up with the supposed “erroneous statements” alleged in his email and letter and wrongly attributed to us. AFSCME Council 31 has never published anything like these statements, nor are they accurate.
Terranova’s criticism of what he calls “AFSCME’s irresponsible strike talk” is likewise misplaced. Anyone paying attention knows that it’s Governor Rauner who boasted on the campaign trail that he’d force a strike and shut down state government, it’s Rauner who walked away from negotiations more than six months ago, and it’s Rauner who twice vetoed the fair arbitration bill we supported to prevent a strike and instead allow a neutral third party to help settle our differences.
Just as surely, anyone paying attention knows that AFSCME has repeatedly urged the administration to return to the bargaining table and join us in working toward an agreement that’s fair to all.
[Chicago] Police records through the end of June showed 15 children younger than 10 years old had been shot, which is seven more young shooting victims than the same span last year.
- Six-year-old Jaylene Bermeo was drawing with sidewalk chalk on the evening of June 6 in the Logan Square neighborhood on the city’s northwest side when she was shot in the back, the bullet puncturing her lung and lodging near her heart. Police say a 17-year-old boy accidentally shot the girl when he opened fire on rival gang members as he drove down the block.
- Three-year-old Devon Quinn was with his dad on Father’s Day in a car in the Woodlawn neighborhood on the South Side when someone pulled up and fired at least 10 shots at the vehicle. Prosecutors say the gunman was a gang member who opened fire in a rival gang’s territory to pay tribute to a dead member of his own gang. At a court hearing, prosecutors said the boy was left paralyzed from the chest down and that he will never be able to move his limbs or even breathe on his own.
- Five-year-old Taniyah Williams and her 8-year-old cousin, Corey Bondurant, were playing with sparklers on the evening of July 4 in the West Englewood neighborhood on the South Side when someone sprayed the area with bullets. Taniyah was struck in the leg, as were a 19-year-old woman and a 30-year-old man. After the commotion, relatives discovered that 8-year-old Corey was also shot in the leg.
*** UPDATE *** To read today’s opinion in its entirety, click here.
[ *** End Of Update *** ]
* No matter what happened today, this thing has always been destined for the Illinois Supreme Court…
In a written opinion, Cook County Circuit Court Judge Diane Larsen said it violated the state constitution on two grounds. First, it exceeds the constitution’s requirement that citizen-led constitutional amendment proposals be limited to “structural and procedural” changes to the Illinois General Assembly. Larsen also ruled that it violates the constitution’s provision that amendments be limited to a single topic.
* Reboot also posted the final page of the ruling. Click the pic for a larger image…
…Adding… From the ILGOP…
“Hundreds of thousands of citizens petitioned to put the Independent Map Amendment on the ballot. Instead of supporting the chance to vote for fair maps, Mike Madigan’s allies sued to stop voters from having the opportunity to vote for reform. It’s sad to see that Mike Madigan’s Democratic Party would rather deny voters their voice than face fair, competitive elections.
It’s more clear than ever that Illinois needs major political reform. While we expect this legal battle to continue, there is nothing preventing the legislature from passing fair maps and term limits. It’s time for reform-minded Democrats and Republicans to work together to get it done.” – Illinois Republican Party Spokesman Steven Yaffe
…Adding More… Press release…
Independent Maps Chairman Dennis FitzSimons’ statement about today’s Cook County Circuit Court ruling:
“We are disappointed that Judge Larsen has ruled against the Independent Map Amendment and the 564,000 Illinois residents who signed a petition to change a broken system and eliminate the inherent conflict of interest where politicians draw their own legislative districts. We expected from the beginning of this effort that the issue would ultimately be decided by the Illinois Supreme Court. We will file for an expedited appeal to the State’s highest court.
“A great deal of care went into crafting an amendment that follows constitutional guidelines while also creating a system that is independent, fair, transparent, and protects the ability of minority communities to elect candidates of their choosing. Redistricting reform was specifically addressed by the framers of our constitution as a ‘critical’ area for citizen petition initiatives. We believe that the Illinois Supreme Court will side with Illinois voters and not deny citizens the opportunity to vote on this amendment.“
* And…
Governor Bruce Rauner issued the following statement on a Cook County judge’s decision regarding the redistricting referendum on the November ballot:
“Today’s ruling is a harsh reminder that the political system in Illinois is in need of major reforms. I hope the decision to deny voters the chance to consider the Independent Map redistricting referendum is appealed and reversed.
“Independent redistricting is badly needed in our state. A stunning two-thirds of incumbents will be running unopposed in November. That’s certainly not because the politicians in charge are doing such a good job in Springfield. It means the system is broken.
“Legislators in power could have placed the Independent Maps referendum directly on the ballot and avoided this court decision. Instead, they chose to play politics in an effort to protect their own power.
“That is wrong.
“We have it backwards in Illinois. Voters should be able to choose their elected officials through an independently-drawn map that ensures competitive elections. Instead, we have politicians choosing their voters, putting politics ahead of people.
“Independent Maps has strong support from both Democrats and Republicans. It has strong support from non-partisan good government groups. So this ruling is a definitely a setback for the people of Illinois.
“If this decision remains in place, it will prove that we need to put political reform at the top of our legislative agenda. We need to fix our broken political system to ensure taxpayers win instead of the insiders.”
…Adding Still More… Press release from today’s winners…
The Circuit Court’s decision represents a victory for democracy and minority rights. This unconstitutional amendment would put a tremendous amount of authority in the hands of unelected middlemen unaccountable to the taxpayers. Shifting the authority to draw the legislative map from 178 elected officials to 11 people randomly selected or appointed by legislative leaders does not make the process “independent,” rather it removes the ability for voters to have a voice. A group of unelected mapmakers is accountable to no one for the decisions it makes, has no reason to protect minority voters and minority communities, and faces no consequences for failing to give those protections.
Minority groups have spent decades fighting to ensure our voices are heard, and that hard work would be in jeopardy if this amendment were to become law. Any effort to weaken minority rights harms us all and should be seen as nothing more than a major setback in what has been accomplished for minority rights in Illinois. As politicians throughout the country try to make it more difficult for minorities to vote, we should ensure any movement like this is carefully examined.
The proponents of Independent Map claimed their proposal would put the map back in the hands of the voters, but nothing is further from the truth. The current process allows those unhappy with the redistricting process to express their displeasure at the ballot box.
John Hooker
Chairman
People’s Map
…Adding… Press release…
Senate Republican Leader Christine Radogno, on the Independent Map ruling today:
“Unfortunately, I am not shocked. This is a Circuit Court opinion out of Cook County – a very political system. I look forward to a fresh set of eyes at the next level of juridical review. The people of Illinois are demanding change – but the powers that be continue to frustrate their efforts to reform our system. We cannot continue to be stuck with the status quo in Illinois.”
“Today’s ruling by a Cook County Circuit Court Judge is an unfortunate win for the status quo in Illinois. I am disappointed for the 546,000 registered Republican and Democratic voters who felt strongly enough to sign their support for a ballot initiative that would remove politics from the remap process. I am hopeful the Illinois Supreme Court will reverse this decision.”
[Independent Maps Chairman Dennis FitzSimons], in a phone interview, suggested that the judge created what amounted to a dilemma for voters in her ruling.
The judge “accepted or position in general that remap is a structural and procedural subject” and thus can be dealt with by voters, he said. But she delivered “a interpretation that would make it almost impossible to pass any constitutional amendment” on this subject.
Fortunately, the Supreme Court may start all over in examining the issue, FitzSimons concluded. But, “If this stands, it will be almost impossible for voters to change their own constitution.”
* I’ve been getting a lot of calls, e-mails and texts asking me if I know why Rep. Ron Sandack has apparently deleted both of his Twitter accounts and his personal Facebook account. His official Facebook account is still active, however.
Sandack is one of the most active users of social media in all of Illinois politics, so I reached out to him the other day. Here’s our text chat via MightyText…
Check out the attached taxpayer-funded legislative mailing I received in the mail yesterday from my State Rep. Scott Drury. While all these types of mailings are arguably taxpayer-funded campaign mailings disguised as “information,” I have never seen one so cavalier in not even attempting to disguise itself as informative. It provides no value to the constituent and simply touts Scott Drury. It truly is campaigning on the taxpayers’ dime.
And I actually think, despite his reputation, that he is a decent legislator, but this is a very troubling mail piece.
Needless to say, if you choose to use this, please do not associate it with me — I have redacted my name and address from the mailing.
Illinois Republican Chairman Tim Schneider had the honors of casting the Illinois’ delegation vote at the Republican National Convention on Tuesday night, hailing an absent Gov. Bruce Rauner, and leading chants of “Woo” and “Trump.”
“I’m a proud citizen of the state of Illinois and the United States of America and we have the finest governor in our nation in Gov. Bruce Rauner,” said Schneider, a Cook County commissioner who was picked for the state GOP job by Rauner.
Rauner is absent from the convention and aides have said he is not “formally endorsing” Trump, though the governor has called himself the leader of his party and has urged support for the GOP ticket. […]
Schneider then engaged in an uncharacteristic Ronnie “Woo Woo” Wickers-style impression, chanting “woo, woo, woo” and then began shouting “Trump, Trump, Trump,” before his microphone was cut off.
…Adding… Raw video including the “woo woow” is here.
I thought about going to the convention and the thought of spending a week in Cleveland with a bunch of Republicans shouting “Trump, Trump, Trump” – it sounded better for me to actually be in Illinois.
University of Illinois President Timothy Killeen has delivered excellent news: He’ll recommend a freshman tuition freeze for an unprecedented third year in a row. Killeen credits the tuition freeze with helping spur an overall increase in applications (up 13 percent) and acceptances, particularly from Illinois students.
That freeze is “dynamite in terms of not just letting parents know what they are getting into but also improving our competitive position vis-a-vis other states,” Killeen told us during a visit to the Tribune Editorial Board.
Dynamite? You bet.
Name a dozen other major state universities — heck, any universities — holding the line on tuition year after year.
Former Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski told the Illinois GOP delegation at the Republican National Convention he expects Trump to return during the campaign, even though a highly-touted campaign rally at the University of Illinois at Chicago was canceled in March in the face of raucous protests and clashes between anti- and pro-Trump crowds.
Trump did return to Illinois a few days after the aborted Chicago rally to campaign downstate, but hasn’t been back for any public events since the March 15 primary.
Lewandowski said Trump has created new battleground states where Republicans have had little success in recent presidential elections.
“There’s an opportunity that we haven’t had in this country since 1984, in my opinion, and that’s to put states in play that Republicans don’t win anymore; and if you look at a state like Pennsylvania, and a state like Ohio, and Michigan, and places where Republicans have given up, even places like California – like the polls today said Trump is down three points in a state like Michigan – it’s unheard of,” he said.
Actually, it’s very much “heard of.”
* In mid-July of 2008, one Michigan pollster had Barack Obama ahead of John McCain by a mere 2 points. Obama went on to win the state by 16.4 points.
* Now, this isn’t to say that Trump will lose Michigan. I have no idea. Hillary Clinton is yet again running as a cautious incumbent in an environment that does not love cautious incumbents.
But what I do know is that early presidential polling is notoriously weird. You may remember early June of 1992, when Bill Clinton was polling in third place nationally behind President George HW Bush and Ross Perot, who was leading the pack at the time. That lead didn’t last.
We have to wait until after both conventions are finished and voters have had some time to process things before the polls start to make sense.
* And Illinois? Please. I thought Lewandowski works for CNN now. He’s sure not talking like an analyst.
I’d refer you to his public schedule which indicates he will be in Park Ridge signing legislation. That’s where he will be
* Daily public schedule…
Daily Public Schedule: Wednesday, July 20, 2016
What: Governor Tours Advocate Lutheran General Hospital and Signs Legislation Expanding Coverage for Breast Cancer Screenings
Where: Advocate Lutheran General Hospital Center for Advanced Care – First Floor
1700 Luther Ln., Park Ridge
Date: Wednesday, July 20, 2016
Time: 12:00 p.m.
* From a GOP campaign official…
I think there was also an event honoring Radogno in absentia
The vacant Old Main Post Office that hovers over the Eisenhower Expressway is about to be converted from a dilapidated civic embarrassment into a bevy of construction activity.
Five months after Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s bold threat to seize control of the giant hulk, the city has reached a court-approved agreement with its new owner, 601W Companies LLC, to begin a five-year, $500 million renovation and restoration. […]
Strict and staggered deadlines have been set through 2018 to correct more than 20 code violations cited by the city since 2012. The work also will include: replacing the building’s massive roof; restoring its historic lobby; repairing building facades; new high-speed elevators; and overhauling the electrical, plumbing, heating and ventilation systems.
Only after that nitty-gritty work is done can the decaying building be converted into commercial office space expected to house up to 12,000 people. The construction project alone is expected to take about 1,500 building trades workers.
After the three-phase renovation, it is hoped tenants will be drawn to a strategically located building with 18-foot ceilings and wide-open floor plans of up to 250,000 square feet per floor.
* From an Emanuel press release…
601W’s three-phase renovation plan will comprehensively rehabilitate the building as offices, primarily targeting commercial users attracted to the building’s 18-foot ceilings and 250,000-square-foot open floor spaces. Amenities will include a three-acre rooftop park complex and a landscaped riverwalk that will be open to the public.
An estimated 12,000 people could work in the building when fully-leased. The rehabilitation project is projected to generate more than 1,500 construction jobs. The agreement also includes requirements for minority- and women-owned business participation in the work to redevelop the facility.
“Developing the Old Post Office will bring thousands of jobs for Chicagoans and renew a building that has been neglected for decades,” Ald. Daniel Solis (25th) said. “This agreement is a significant step forward, and I look forward to continuing our progress.”
“The scheduled improvements involved significant cooperation by the City and 601W,” Department of Planning and Development Commissioner David Reifman said. “They will result in a first-class development that will benefit the entire City of Chicago,”
International Property Developers North America has also agreed to pay the City $800,000 for the violations incurred by the prior owner from 2009 to March of 2016 when it sold the property to 601W. The complex had been cited with more than 20 building code citations since 2012.
The old Post Office was designed by Graham, Anderson, Probst & White and built in phases from 1921 to 1932. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places, it has been vacant since the city’s main post office operations relocated in 1995.
While Trump has his steadfast supporters, there also are dyed-in-the-wool Republicans who are still struggling to get behind him.
Like U.S. Rep. Peter Roskam, who says he’s been left with a “binary choice.” There’s Hillary Clinton, who he says is an “entirely unacceptable candidate” for President of the United States.
“That makes the alternative then, Donald Trump,” he said. “And so all of the sorts of feelings and things, you know, and the wincing at various comments … I feel those too. Like I said, I’m not here over-communicating and overselling. What I am saying is there’s a choice between these two people.”
Even though he admits this is an either/or “binary choice,” Roskam hasn’t fully committed to backing Trump.
Kirk, a first-term senator facing a difficult contest against Democratic U.S. Rep. Tammy Duckworth, had been backing retired Gen. David Petraeus, the former CIA director who pleaded guilty to mishandling classified information.
Mocked by Duckworth’s campaign over the choice, Kirk told WJBC radio in Bloomington on Wednesday that he’s now backing former secretary of state and retired Gen. Colin Powell.
“I’ve switched out Petraeus now that Colin, being much more experienced at the national level, is the better way to go,” Kirk told the radio station.
Kirk acknowledged a vote for Powell wouldn’t count since write-in candidates must register with the state to be counted.
“He wouldn’t count, yeah. Just kind of a protest vote for me and I think Donald Trump is too bigoted and too racist for the Land of Lincoln,” said Kirk, who had pledged to support the nominee before rescinding his pledge over Trump’s remarks critical of a judge of Hispanic heritage.
Good on that radio host for pointing out that voting for an unregistered write-in has no real world impact whatsoever.
* In related news, Congressman Adam Kinzinger said this morning that he’ll be supporting Trump after all…
Walking tightrope. Cong. Adam Kinzinger tells IL delegation he was early detractor of Trump. But says must support. pic.twitter.com/loW0H97aCy
* Illinois House Republican Leader Jim Durkin is in Cleveland mainly to raise money…
Republican Illinois House Minority Leader Jim Durkin says he is not in Cleveland to attend the Republican National Convention. Instead, he’s here to raise money–gobs of it–with the goal of pouring it into contested House races and chipping away at House Speaker Michael Madigan’s Democratic supermajority. […]
Durkin says that Trump’s name at the top of the ticket could help down-ballot Republicans with their races for the state House, especially in rural areas of Illinois.
“There’s areas where Donald Trump is very strong. Regions like Southern Illinois, the collar counties. That’s going to help our candidates. We have a lot of races we’re investing in downstate and Central Illinois. The suburbs will be a bit of a challenge though. That’s where Donald Trump is having a tough time connecting with Republican voters,” Durkin said.
Trump indeed could be a drag on the Republican ticket in urban and suburban areas of the state, and in statewide races. Illinois has voted for the Democratic candidate for president in every election since 1992. With this in mind, Republican U.S. Sen. Mark Kirk has rejected Trump and decided to stay away from the Republican National Convention in order to fortify his image as an independent moderate. […]
Durkin says that if Republicans can pick up a handful of seats and deny Madigan a supermajority, it might force the speaker to the table to accept more of Rauner’s “turnaround” agenda in exchange for a long-term budget agreement. Then again, it could embolden the speaker to double down and try and help defeat Rauner for re-election in 2018.
Durkin was on floor of the convention arena as the roll call of delegates continued. Trump supporters were cheering around him. Durkin says he welcomes Trump supporters, wants the party to expand, he knows that’s necessary to make any political gains.
But Durkin couldn’t commit to backing his party’s nominee.
“I want to get there. I need to hear more,” he said. “This is a very personal decision for me, to vote for a man or woman for President of the United States.”
Durkin did say that Trump has brought new people to the Illinois Republican Party, and he’s hoping they’re as passionate about helping elect Republican state representatives as they are about Trump.
Um, OK. He won’t commit to Trump, but wants Trump voters to commit to his candidates.
* Oops, I forgot to post a question so today’s will be a quickie: Your one word (and one word only or it’ll be deleted) comment about the Republican National Convention so far?
* Speaking to AFSCME’s convention in Las Vegas today, presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton took a whack at Gov. Bruce Rauner…
“In Illinois, Bruce Rauner has been holding the budget hostage for months, endangering public colleges and universities, hurting families and demanding outrageous concessions from public sector unions.”
As a reporter on Twitter noted, she pronounced his name “Rawner.”
A group waging an aggressive legal battle to keep a redistricting question off November’s Illinois ballot hasn’t reported a single donation or expense since it became a political committee last summer, adding to the mystery of who is funding the effort and paying its legal bills.
The People’s Map, comprised of business and community leaders who say they represent the interests of minority voters, filed a lawsuit in May against a proposed voter referendum that seeks an independent commission to take over drawing Illinois’ political lines instead of the party in power. Arguing on their behalf was a top Chicago elections lawyer who has long represented the leader of the Democratic Party of Illinois, House Speaker Michael Madigan.
But every line of quarterly disclosures The People’s Map filed with the Illinois State Board of Elections shows a zero. The People’s Map also doesn’t disclose any pro bono work or $12,000 in union donations that appear in state filings by the unions from July to October of last year. The groups says they never cashed the checks.
The lack of disclosures, or any monetary details, raises questions about how the group is functioning and who is covering legal fees. The scrutiny comes as a judge is expected to decide this week whether the remap question is constitutional for the ballot. […]
People’s Map chairman John Hooker declined an interview through a spokesman and said questions about legal fees should posed to Michael Kasper, the lead attorney of five listed in the lawsuit. Kasper, who’s also represented Senate President John Cullerton and Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel, has repeatedly declined comment. He didn’t respond to questions Tuesday.
Kasper, of course, also represents Speaker Madigan, who has unconvincingly denied involvement in the effort.
* Meanwhile…
Judge expected to rule tomorrow on whether Independent Map group can go forward with ballot initiative #ChicagoTonight
*** UPDATE 1 *** A top official with the Illinois AFL-CIO, which gave $2,000 to the People’s Map group last year, told me that the group “never cashed the check.”
*** UPDATE 2 *** I’m told that Kasper hasn’t yet submitted his expense report, but will eventually be reimbursed. Kasper tends not to submit those bills until after the case is over.
In case you missed it, I wanted to share with you my letter to the editor that ran in last weekend’s edition of The State Journal-Register. The letter is copied below. In it, I correct AFSCME’s erroneous statement that employees who refuse to join the union at the picket line and remain at work become “at will,” a term reserved for a limited group of state employees who can be terminated without just cause. AFSCME’s claim is wrong. AFSCME employees continue to receive the same job protections even if they remain on the job and refuse to join the union on the picket line.
Yours,
JT
John Terranova
Deputy Director
Office of Labor Relations
Department of Central Management Services
The following is a Letter to the Editor published in the State Journal-Register on Sunday:
Letter: AFSCME misleading on employees’ strike status
This paper recently reported on the possibility that AFSCME Council 31 employees could go out on strike, perhaps as early as Sept. 1.
As Deputy Director for Labor Relations at the Illinois Department of Central Management Services, one of my goals is to avoid a strike. I therefore feel compelled to correct one item of factually false information the union has provided.
AFSCME incorrectly claims that an employee who fails to join the strikers at the picket line and remains on the job becomes an “at will” employee and thus can be fired without just cause. Not so.
AFSCME members are not “at will.” The state’s last, best and final offer in contract negotiations includes the provision that employees can be discharged or disciplined only for just cause. If the Labor Board determines that the parties are at impasse and the state has implemented its last, best and final offer, AFSCME members and fair share employees alike who remain on the job would continue to receive these protections.
Employees do not lose these protections simply because they fail to join the picket line. Indeed, employees would be protected not only by the state’s last, best and final offer, but also by the state’s Personnel Code and accompanying rules, which extend the same workplace protections, as a matter of state law, to AFSCME employees.
While we hope employees reject AFSCME’s irresponsible strike talk, we firmly believe that a decision to strike or to continue working belongs to each employee and will respect each employee’s decision. AFSCME should do the same. That starts with providing accurate information on this critical issue.
“In terms of the convention, as I’ve been clear, I was never intending to go. Illinois has lots of problems, we’re not fixing them fast enough and I’m full-time focused on getting Illinois strong and I’m focused in Springfield and traveling the state so that’s how I spend my time.”
So far Republican Senate candidates Seth Lewis, Paul Schimpf and Dale Fowler are getting paid staff from both the Republican State Senate Campaign Committee (RSSCC) and the House Republican Organization (HRO). Now the House Republican Organization is running an ad against Democratic incumbent Senator Gary Forby, which would presumably be an in-kind contribution to the Fowler campaign, it even lists HRO in the paid-for-by at the end of the ad.
Someone mentioned to me that the reason you rarely come across a situation where a candidate for the General Assembly is being financially supported by the caucus committee of both chambers is that it’s not allowed. I looked it up and this appears to be the case.
Here is the section on campaign contributions, the relevant section is highlighted:
5/9-8.5 Limitations on campaign contributions
(b) During an election cycle, a candidate political committee may not accept contributions with an aggregate value over the following: (i) $5,000 from any individual, (ii) $10,000 from any corporation, labor organization, or association, or (iii) $50,000 from a candidate political committee or political action committee. A candidate political committee may accept contributions in any amount from a political party committee except during an election cycle in which the candidate seeks nomination at a primary election. During an election cycle in which the candidate seeks nomination at a primary election, a candidate political committee may not accept contributions from political party committees with an aggregate value over the following: (i) $200,000 for a candidate political committee established to support a candidate seeking nomination to statewide office, (ii) $125,000 for a candidate political committee established to support a candidate seeking nomination to the Senate, the Supreme Court or Appellate Court in the First Judicial district, or an office elected by all voters in a county with 1,000,000 or more residents, (iii) $75,000 for a candidate political committee established to support a candidate seeking nomination to the House of Representatives, the Supreme Court or Appellate Court for a judicial district other than the First Judicial District, an office elected by all voters of a county of fewer than 1,000,000 residents, and municipal and county offices in Cook County other than those elected by all voters of Cook County, and (iv) $50,000 for a candidate political committee established to support the nomination of a candidate to any other office. A candidate political committee established to elect a candidate to the General Assembly may accept contributions from only one legislative caucus committee. A candidate political committee may not accept contributions from a ballot initiative committee or from an independent expenditure committee.
And here is the section on committee definitions, the relevant section is highlighted:
5/9-1.8. Political committees
(c) “Political party committee” means the State central committee of a political party, a county central committee of a political party, a legislative caucus committee, or a committee formed by a ward or township committeeman of a political party. For purposes of this Article, a “legislative caucus committee” means a committee established for the purpose of electing candidates to the General Assembly by the person elected President of the Senate, Minority Leader of the Senate, Speaker of the House of Representatives, Minority Leader of the House of Representatives, or a committee established by 5 or more members of the same caucus of the Senate or 10 or more members of the same caucus of the House of Representatives.
I’ve asked Mike Schrimpf for comment and I’ll let you know if he responds.
* Republican Congressman Bob Dold’s new TV ad opens with presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton attacking (although not naming) Donald Trump for not releasing his tax returns. Check it out…
The 10th CD leans Democratic in presidential races, but that’s surely an interesting twist.
* From a Dold campaign press release…
After first coming under fire for campaigning to voters as a successful “business consultant”, only to later disclose he had no actual clients or revenue, serious questions about Schneider’s honesty and financial background have been growing.
And Schneider’s refusal to release his household tax returns has now put him at odds with demands from his own party’s presumptive nominee Hillary Clinton, who labeled the disclosure of a candidates household tax returns from their time in public life as the basic standard of transparency.
Unlike Bob Dold, who has released his household tax returns dating back to 2009 (the year before he first ran for Congress), Schneider has consistently refused calls from the public, the press and even his own party to meet this basic standard of transparency by releasing all of his household tax returns dating back to 2011. Instead, Schneider has effectively said that his tax returns are none of the public’s business—citing “privacy” concerns and offering only vague financial disclosure documents required by federal election law.
Discuss.
…Adding… The dispute here is over “household tax returns.” Schneider has released his individual returns, but hasn’t released his returns which he filed jointly with his wife.
Two male juveniles were shot while driving a stolen car on the Dan Ryan Expressway near West 63rd Street on Chicago’s South Side overnight, Illinois State Police said.
State police said at least four male juveniles were in the black Chevy when it left a gas station at 63rd and South Wentworth Avenue and headed north on the Dan Ryan. Around 11:55 p.m. Monday, investigators said someone inside another black vehicle fired several shots at the Chevy.
The driver exited the expressway and came to a stop at West 59th Street. It was riddled by bullets on the driver and passenger sides. […]
There have been more than 20 expressway shootings in the Chicago area this year.
More and better police and more laws cannot totally solve this problem.
Tuesday, Jul 19, 2016 - Posted by Advertising Department
[The following is a paid advertisement.]
Some additional editorial support for the Independent Map Amendment from news outlets across Illinois:
“The Independent Map Amendment would change a system that welcomes partisan power brokers to draw legislative district boundaries that enhance their strength into a system requiring boundaries that ensure citizens have choices to select leaders who truly represent their interests and values.”
-The Daily Herald; May 9, 2016
“There’s a remedy to this gerrymandering, called the Independent Maps Amendment. A bipartisan group of Illinoisans is trying to get this constitutional amendment on the November ballot. If voters approve it, political gerrymandering would be replaced by a nonpartisan independent commission that would draw legislative districts starting after the 2020 census.”
-Rockford Register Star; July 12, 2016
“Good government reform groups seeking to change Illinois’ badly broken and undemocratic mapmaking process deserve to celebrate an epic achievement—regardless of what happens next.”
-The Dispatch and Rock Island Argus; June 15, 2016
“Redistricting abuse by parties in power limits competition and accountability for state representatives and senators, who come to care more about pleasing political bosses in Springfield than the folks back home.”
-Sauk Valley Media; June 8, 2016
Sherrie Crabb went without pay for a third of the last fiscal year, laid off members of her staff, cut benefits for those who remained, and finally, closed the only homeless youth shelter in southern Illinois, all because the state legislature and governor couldn’t agree on a budget. […]
Family Counseling Center has closed six different office and residential locations, laid off 36 staff members, and cut holiday and personal time off as well as retirement funding, in addition to draining the agency’s reserve funds and shutting down a homeless youth shelter that had been up and running for a little more than a year. She says the organization is now operating “month to month.” […]
“You have thousands of people who have not been able to access services, you have programs that have shut down and a workforce that will never come back into this field,” says Marvin Lindsey, executive director of the Community Behavioral Healthcare Association of Illinois. […]
According to CBHA’s survey results, 76 percent of the organization’s member agencies have wait lists ranging between two and four months for people in need of a psychiatrist, and 24 percent have wait times from four months to more than six months. […]
Greg Sullivan, director of the Illinois Sheriffs Association, a nonprofit agency that facilitates communication and training between and for state sheriffs departments, says state law enforcement agencies saw an uptick in the number of mentally ill individuals ending up in jail following the closure of psychiatric institutions. That’s “a direct result of the budget impasse,” he says.
“There is nobody to service these people and they end up in county jails,” says Sullivan. “They’re really not criminals. They have a severe mental health problem, and they don’t belong in jail.”
Rauner has said he wants to reduce the state’s prison population by 25 percent over the next decade, but Sullivan says that that’s an impossible goal if Illinois doesn’t adequately fund its behavioral health agencies. […]
Nearly one-quarter of Illinois hospital emergency department visits in the past year were related to behavioral health needs, including both mental health and substance abuse issues, either as the primary or secondary diagnosis, says Danny Chun, a spokesperson for the Illinois Health and Hospital Association.
After 15 months of investigation, the federal grand jury investigating former U.S. Rep. Aaron Schock has been dismissed without indicting the Peoria Republican.
But that doesn’t mean Schock is free and clear of possible federal charges. There currently is a grand jury sitting in Springfield and that body could take up the case. […]
“Our position has been and remains that while administrative errors may have been made during Mr. Schock’s time in Congress, no aspect of this matter involves anything criminal,” said George Terwilliger, Schock’s lead attorney.
The Schock grand jury was impaneled in early 2015 for a one-year term, which was extended, as is allowed, for six months in December. That term ended on June 30 and sources have told the Journal Star that no indictment was handed down against Schock from that panel. […]
However, there has been a second grand jury sitting in Springfield since the beginning of this year and it is possible that grand jury could take up the investigation. It’s possible witnesses heard last year could be recalled or that prosecutors could merely rely on transcripts for the information.
I think that Springfield grand jury has always been the one to keep an eye on. The Springfield federal prosecutor’s office has sparred with Schock about turning over documents. And it has an experienced anti-corruption task force.
A private fundraising campaign is approximately $4.5 million toward the estimated $15 million cost of restoring the historic Illinois Executive Mansion in Springfield, according to figures released Monday by the campaign.
The goal is to complete the work in time for the 200th anniversary of Illinois statehood in 2018.
The 2018 Illinois Bicentennial Commission was created in May 2014 by then-Gov. Pat Quinn and left in the hands of his successor, Bruce Rauner. Its official task: “The Bicentennial Commission will plan and coordinate events, activities, publications, digital media, and other developments and encourage citizen participation at all levels in every community in the state.”
That hasn’t happened. The commission’s Facebook page has made all of three posts in two years. In fact, it seems the commission hasn’t even met. […]
“Right now, there’s nothing going on,” [William Furry, executive director of the Illinois State Historical Society] says. “There should be press releases going out every week. There’s no coordination to put it all together.
“There’s a lot that could be done that wouldn’t cost a lot of money.”
Apparently, all the effort and money is going into the mansion.
Vinci Hamp Architects president Philip Hamp said opening up the north side of the mansion grounds — including a public entrance from Jackson Street — will improve the visibility of the historic structure, as well as access. The existing entrances on Fourth and Fifth streets will be used for vehicle traffic, though a drop-off zone on the north side of the mansion will be eliminated.
The changes also will bring the home into compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act, said Hamp.
“There will be a gate at the bottom of the hill. People will circulate up both walks to the level of the mansion,” said Hamp. “The big sweep of the yard to Jackson Street will be available for events.
One of the worst things about the mansion is that its lone elevator is broken, making the house inaccessible to people in wheelchairs. The renovation will change that, replacing the elevator and installing gradually sloping — and therefore accessible — pathways that lead to the house from a new entrance to the north.
Expect more smart upgrades inside. The ground-floor orientation center will seat about 20. New carpeting and paint will harmonize with the mansion’s Regency-style furniture, upgrading the high ceilings of the first-floor parlors where work by the state’s fine and decorative artists will be displayed. Second-floor bedrooms will get period-style decoration that conveys key events in state history such as the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition.
In the governor’s private quarters, a new kitchen and family room suite will dramatically expand the tiny kitchenette. Right now, “There’s a microwave and a sink that’s this big,” [Mrs.] Rauner said, cupping her hands close together.
The upcoming work will build on earlier improvements such as a $500,000 roof that was installed last year after revelations of decrepit conditions at the mansion. These conditions include plaster falling from ceilings, black mold that took root in the basement and rainwater that seeped into the Lincoln bedroom.
The deal that the Democratic-controlled General Assembly and Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner reached in June gave the SIU system $106.2 million on top of the $57.5 million it received in an April emergency funding bill for higher education. But that represents just 82 percent of what the university received from the state for the 2014-15 school year, and it’s supposed to cover 18 months’ worth of expenses, from July 1, 2015, through Dec. 31 of this year.
Speaking after the meeting, Dunn said the university system has decided to apply all the state money it has received thus far to expenses from the 2015-16 school year and to continue urging lawmakers to provide adequate funding for the full 2016-17 school year.
“We thought, ‘Let’s get the bills paid that are out there,’” he said. “And that gives us a very strong argument to say, ‘Now fund us for ’17. You didn’t even get us totally caught up for (fiscal year) ’16.’”
When the Republican Party launches its quadrennial celebration in Cleveland this week to anoint its nominee for president, some prominent party faithful from Illinois won’t be there.
First-term U.S. Sen. Mark Kirk is out-front with his reason — he doesn’t like the presumptive nominee, businessman Donald Trump, calling him “too bigoted and racist” for the job.
But other top leaders, including Gov. Bruce Rauner, are joining Republicans from around the country in ditching the convention without saying why. Many face tough re-election races in November and are trying to distance themselves from the contentious name at the top of the ticket.
“I will be traveling the state of Illinois, meeting with community leaders, business leaders and some legislators and signing some of the most important legislation that got passed this spring,” Rauner said last week after declining to answer reporters’ questions about the convention or the presidential race, in general.
Gov. Bruce Rauner has signed legislation banning the sale of synthetic drugs known as “bath salts” in Illinois. […]
The Republican governor signed the bill on the same day the Republican National Convention began in Cleveland. Rauner said last week he is not attending the convention because he is traveling the state signing bills that lawmakers passed this year.
Gov. Bruce Rauner won’t attend the Republican National Convention or formally endorse Donald Trump for president as fallout from the controversial presumptive nominee reverberates throughout the Illinois GOP.
Aides to the first-term Republican governor said Rauner, who declined to back a candidate in what was once a crowded GOP presidential field, would remain focused on Illinois’ troubled finances. […]
Rauner repeatedly had sought to stay out of the presidential race, though he did say that as leader of the GOP in Illinois, he would back the eventual nominee. But Rauner aides stressed there are various levels of “support,” and that the governor would not be giving Trump a formal endorsement.
That story was published after a March statement by the governor that he would “do everything he can” to support the Republican Party’s nominee. Asked why, the governor said it’s because “I’m the leader of the Republican Party in Illinois.”
As a liberal group called Illinois Working Together correctly noted in a press release today, Rauner has “never clarified his ‘levels of support’ idea or indicated at which level he supported Trump.”
* IWT also pointed out that a couple weeks or so after saying he wouldn’t go to the national convention, and when it was abundantly clear that Donald Trump would be his party’s nominee, Gov. Rauner had this to say to the Illinois Republican Party convention…
“Republicans are gonna control our federal government in every office, in every office… Now is the time to come together, now is the time to unite, up and down the ticket… What we can’t do is have Hillary get in the White House. No way Hillary’s getting into the White House. No way, no way… This is the year we take back the White House.” [Emphasis added.]
The head of Illinois’ Republican Party sought to downplay any division that might exist among the rank and file over the nomination of Donald Trump.
Chairman Tim Schneider riled up the crowd of Illinois delegates at a delegation breakfast Monday morning in Cleveland, vowing that Illinois would work to elect Donald Trump in November, and that, counter to reports of division among the ranks, the state is “in lockstep” with Trump.
Schneider may be the “head,” but Rauner has claimed to be the “leader.”
Pence’s vice presidential race is headed by the same operative, Nick Ayers, who ran Rauner’s 2014 race for governor. Ayers described himself to me in a telephone call last year as a key player in Rauner’s campaign—the guy who drafted the campaign plan, hired staff, and handled media buying. He said, “I was the one who on election night [November 4, 2014] called [Rauner] and Diana in their hotel suite and told them we had won. I gave them the news before the AP called it.”
The Washington Post reported over the weekend that the Trump campaign is allowing Pence to select his own people and that Nick Ayers is heading Pence’s “own team of professional operatives.”
* The governor is clearly sending mixed messages, refusing all recent attempts by reporters to try and get him to clarify where he stands on Trump, while skipping a national convention where his party chairman declares the ILGOP is “in lockstep” with the candidate.
So, please. Pretty please. Answer the questions, governor.
* The Chicago Tribune asks if it’s fair or not to attempt to tie Illinois Republican candidates like Mark Kirk and Bob Dold to Donald Trump…
But really, who cares? Does it matter how often or how loudly candidates repudiate Trump?
Guilt-by-association tactics are a tried-and-true campaign strategy. Smearing a candidate through alleged connections is a cheap pivot away from the nation’s pressing problems — stagnant wages, out-of-control debt, civil unrest, terrorist threats here and abroad, the potential of a nuclear Iran, to name a few. Where a candidate stands on those issues ought to be far more important to voters than whether the candidate openly denounces Trump. […]
Are Kirk’s views on Trump or Pence a top priority for voters? No. Kirk vs. Duckworth is one of the most heated races in the country. It could determine whether Republicans keep their grip on the U.S. Senate or lose it to Democrats. Voters should be learning the candidates’ positions — on trade, immigration, spending, entitlement reform.
We can spend these final months grilling candidates about their ties, real or imaginary, to Trump. Or we can spend the rest of the campaign season focusing on issues that separate and distinguish those running for office.
* The Question: Is it fair or unfair to try and tie Republican candidates to Donald Trump? Take the poll and then explain your answer in comments, please.
* I thought maybe some of y’all would like to see the tweets and coverage of Illinois political reporters who are in Cleveland this week. I’ll be adding to the list as we go along. Follow the bouncing balls with ScribbleLive…
I’ve certainly heard Rauner raging about and impugning Madigan’s integrity and ethics with all the subtlety of an anonymous blog commenter. But I’ve never heard him suggest that perhaps Madigan is simply wrong on the issues, not evil.
“This is the first time he’s ever acknowledged that Madigan is coming from an ‘honest’ position,” wrote Capitol Fax publisher Rich Miller, who highlighted the TV interview on his website.
Maybe Rauner was tired. Maybe his mind wandered for a moment. Or maybe, and pardon my Pollyanna, he’s getting around to realizing that those who’ve been balking at his “reform” demands sincerely believe that his ideas will hurt middle-income earners and make life harder for working families. […]
His fans seem to approve. Every time I write something that casts doubt on elements of Rauner’s “turnaround agenda,” I am reliably inundated with messages demanding to know how much Madigan paid me to write it because, clearly, no independent thinker could possibly doubt the governor.
Ain’t that the truth.
* People love them some cartoons, and there is no greater cartoon battle in this state than Super Man Rauner vs. Darth Vader Madigan. Any criticism of the governor is automatically viewed as 100 percent support for Madigan. Some Facebook creepster actually asked me the other day if I was a drug user who’s being blackmailed by Madigan. I suggested he immediately seek psychiatric help. Let’s hope he does.
As for Trump’s impact on state legislative races, lawmakers and observers say it could vary widely by region.
While his presence on the ballot might help Republicans in Southern Illinois, it could hurt them in the Chicago suburbs, said Chris Mooney, director of the Institute of Government and Public Affairs at the University of Illinois.
The key will likely be which candidate and party inspires more voters to come to the polls – or to stay home, Mooney said.
“It’s not about changing people’s minds,” he said. “It’s about motivating your people to come out to vote and demobilizing the opponent’s voters.”
Yep. And Democrats will attempt to “nationalize” this race by putting Trump up front in certain areas. Republicans will want to make it more state-focused (meaning: Madigan).
Today, the House Republican Organization released two TV ads in Southern Illinois to further highlight Gary Forby and John Bradley’s history of backing Mike Madigan’s Chicago agenda.
Gary Forby has been Mike Madigan’s lieutenant in the Senate for over a decade. He voted for Madigan’s phony budgets 14 times and rubber stamped $13 billion in deficit spending. Instead of working to cut waste, Forby voted to double the income tax and expand the sales tax.
John Bradley claims to fight for Southern Illinois, but does Madigan’s bidding in Springfield, voting for billions in debt and tax breaks for a company that closed shop in Southern Illinois and shipped jobs to Chicago.
Gary Forby and John Bradley serve Mike Madigan, and Southern Illinois pays the price.
Script (Madigan’s Senator):
For decades, Mike Madigan’s had an iron grip on Springfield.
And…our own state Senator, Gary Forby.
Forby’s helped Madigan drive Illinois into the ditch.
Raising our taxes while shortchanging our schools.
14 times Forby backed Madigan’s phony budgets.
Thirteen billion in deficit spending.
He voted to double income tax and expand the sales taxes.
And Forby rubber- stamped Madigan’s bailout for Chicago Public Schools.
Gary Forby: Mike Madigan’s senator — not ours.
Script (The Madigan Thing):
ANNC: John Bradley says one thing here…
BRADLEY AD: “I’m John Bradley, I’ll never stop fighting for Southern Illinois.”
ANNC: But does another thing there — the Madigan thing.
And when Bradley does the Madigan thing, we pay the price.
Massive debt, higher taxes, a bailout for Chicago Schools.
Bradley even supported tax breaks for a company that closed shop here and shipped our jobs to Chicago.
John Bradley doing the Madigan thing — the wrong thing for Southern Illinois.
Although Rauner has said he doesn’t think any school district should get less money under a revised formula, Barickman said he doesn’t necessarily agree.
“It is politically expedient to take an approach where you say there are no losers. I think it’s easier to get votes on something when there’s no losers,” Barickman said. “But I also recognize in these times where no losers means more money, we have to be creative. I have long suggested my belief that some districts may be willing to take less if they are given more flexibility with the dollars they have and are given relief from some of the mandates the state imposes on them.”
There it is.
In order to get a deal, Democrats are going to have to face the music on highly popular unfunded mandates and local control (particularly over collective bargaining). It’s not going to be easy… to say the least.
2012 – 20% increase in school day/year without commensurate compensation.
2013 – 52 schools closed, hundreds laid off.
2015 – 100s of special educators laid off. No raises, no steps/lanes.
I’d say we’ve given a lot, not to mention a brutalizing evaluation culture based on voodoo VAM, incessant paperwork and a system so corrupt and vicious, principals and teachers at “good” schools are fleeing the system in droves let alone the so-called crumbling prisons. STOP THE FALSE EQUIVALENCY. CTU MEMBERS HAVE ALREADY GIVEN AND WE GOT OUR TAX BILLS TOO.
Unendorsing Trump was perhaps a more politically viable option for Kirk than for his fellow endangered Republican senators. “I’m probably the only one around here who absolutely embraces the M-word,” [Sen. Mark Kirk] said, referring to “moderate.”
And as the Crain’s Chicago Business columnist Rich Miller recently wrote, in Illinois “independent suburban women have been the deciding factor in just about every statewide race since 1990.” Given Trump’s 70 percent disapproval rating among women over all, criticizing the nominee may prove not only useful to Kirk, but also — especially against a female opponent like Duckworth — imperative.
That’s true, but suburban women can be more complicated than just that.
U.S. Sen. Mark Kirk may frequently be cited as among the most vulnerable incumbents in the country, but the national organization backing GOP Senate candidates says it’s planning to pour money into his race against Democrat Tammy Duckworth. […]
[NRSC Executive Director Ward Baker] declined to reveal how much the group was willing to invest, saying he wouldn’t disclose strategy. In Kirk’s 2010 race, the NRSC pledged $3.4 million.
“2010 was a different environment. Yesterday was a different day. I try to win a day at a time,” Baker told POLITICO Illinois. “Kirk has always run a suburban strategy. Senator Kirk has never had an easy race. The suburban strategy is how you’ll win. He’s the only candidate we knew who could win this race.” […]
Recent terror attacks in Europe and questions about national security strengthen Kirk’s hand in the race, Baker argued. Kirk, a former Naval intelligence officer, has called for a national moratorium on allowing Syrian refugees into the country, opposed President Obama’s nuclear agreement with Iran, and opposed the closing of Guantanamo Bay.
“It helps him a lot. Do you want someone who has always been a hawk and at the forefront of protecting America? Or someone who supported closing Gitmo [allowing] Syrian refugees into Illinois and backed the Iran deal?” he said. “She’s a dove, he’s a hawk.”
I’ll believe the money when I see it. So far, the NRSC has treated Kirk like a red-headed stepchild.
In 2004, George W. Bush won reelection by mitigating the loss of the women’s vote to Democrat John Kerry to less than 10 percentage points. He did this, in part, by scaring “security moms” not to change horses mid-war.
If the absolute craziness in the world and in the nation the past few weeks continues through November and people truly start to freak out, then Sen. Kirk could capitalize on the fears of “security moms.” It’s probably his best hope.
Former Gov. Jim Edgar publicly endorsed Bruce Rauner for governor in 2014 and traveled the state to help Rauner win.
But less than six months after Rauner was inaugurated, Edgar began to criticize his fellow Republican. It was gentle at first, saying in early June of last year that Rauner should maybe stop calling the Democratic legislative leaders “corrupt” if he wanted to get a budget deal, and suggesting that he set aside his anti-union/pro-business “Turnaround Agenda” to make that deal.
By August, Edgar again urged Rauner to cut a deal on the budget, saying there were just some things in his proposals that no Democrat would ever agree to.
In October, Edgar warned that “government is failing,” and he sharply criticized Rauner for holding people and programs “hostage” to his legislative demands.
Rauner and his top staff were seething by then, but the governor mostly held his tongue. “I don’t spend any time criticizing my fellow Republicans,” the governor said at the time.
But Rauner did add a veiled warning shot, saying, “I do not spend any time criticizing decisions made in the past that created the mess that we’re dealing with.”
Rauner was referring to the now notorious Edgar “pension ramp” law passed in 1994 that finally forced Illinois to make its pension payments but put off any steep contribution increases until after Edgar was safely out of office. Some have claimed that Edgar’s ramp got us into this fiscal mess today.
My opinion is that Edgar finally got something done, however flawed, that nobody else had managed to do. The problem was exacerbated by subsequent moves to skip and skimp on those payments.
Edgar didn’t get the hint and didn’t mute his criticism in the intervening months. Rauner finally fired back July 5.
Right off the bat, I should say that I think the so-called “stopgap budget” signed into law on June 30 was a good idea. Not fiscally, but because people who rely on state government desperately needed a break from the all-out legislative war between two ideologically entrenched parties.
Gov. Bruce Rauner absolutely refused to budge on negotiating a fully funded state spending plan until the Democrats agreed to some of his anti-union/pro-business agenda. Democrats wouldn’t move off their support for unions. So after more than 12 solid months of stalemate, the two camps finally agreed to a six-month budget for everything but elementary and secondary education funding, which got a full year’s worth of cash.
And even though social services providers and universities only got about half their previous levels of funding going back the last 12 months and forward through December, the stopgap budget money is probably enough to keep both systems from totally collapsing.
It was a reprieve, of sorts—just enough money to keep most of the “budget hostages” alive while the two warring parties retreated back to their corners to fight the upcoming fall campaign.
The stopgap also prevented state government from grinding to a complete halt. Prisons, for instance, couldn’t pay suppliers for everything from water to electricity to food because they haven’t had any official appropriations since the previous June. Without a court order, agencies can’t spend money if they don’t have a legislative appropriation signed by the governor.
Fiscally, however, the stopgap is a monster.
Comptroller Leslie Munger, who pays the state’s bills, told reporters last week that come late December the state will still be paying off invoices from June and it’ll have a total bill payment backlog of $10 billion.
The very same day, the respected and bipartisan Commission on Government Forecasting and Accountability projected the stopgap deal has an $8 billion deficit.
You may recall that House Speaker Michael Madigan jammed his own spending plan through his chamber in late May, but several rank-and-file Senate Democrats subsequently revolted and stopped that bill dead in its tracks.
Ever since then, Rauner has been busily traveling the state taking credit for killing Madigan’s bill, always claiming it was disastrously out of balance by about $7 billion.
I Googled “Rauner Democrats $7 billion” and came up with 36,200 results. He really burned that message in, and for good reason. His political operation claims its polling shows a vote for that $7 billion deficit is darned near political death.
But . . . wait. Isn’t an almost $8 billion deficit in a budget he signed larger than a $7 billion deficit in a bill he claimed to stop?
Why, yes, it is.
But don’t tell that to the governor.
“We could be way, way worse off if the supermajority’s budget bill had passed,” Rauner said, speaking of Madigan’s proposal. “We’d be spending at an even higher level than we are today.”
Um, huh?
Never mind, because it probably won’t matter anyway when it comes to the campaign.
The Republicans are all about pinning that $7 billion deficit tag on the House Democrats. And the House Democrats are gearing up to whack Republicans for proposing a stopgap budget plan in late May that provided far less funding for K-12, higher education, social services and health care than was eventually approved by both chambers in late June.
Yep, you read that right. Unless somebody changes their mind, we’re about to witness a big, nasty campaign fight over two bills that never became law. Heck, the Republican stopgap proposal never even got a committee hearing, let alone a vote.
The Republicans will slam the Democrats for attempting to force a budget through that would’ve created such a huge deficit that the personal income tax rate would’ve risen to “more than 5.5 percent,” as a Rauner administration memo claimed last week (issued, by the way, the same day the $8 billion deficit projection was released). The tax rate is now 3.75 percent, after partially rolling back in January of last year from a high of 5 percent.
And the Democrats will slam the Republicans for trying to “slash” every politically popular spending program under the sun.
Why won’t the two sides blast each other for putting us in the hole by $8 billion? Because they actually passed that bill and Rauner signed it into law. Whacking each other for a bill that passed with huge bipartisan majorities just wouldn’t be cricket.
And so we’ll get fairy tales.
…Adding… Related…
* Stopgap budget failing to erase damage of state impasse: The ink wasn’t even dry on a partial budget to keep government running through year’s end when most of the state’s public universities saw their credit downgraded — a signal the deal between Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner and Democrats who control the legislature will do little to erase the damage done by their historic stalemate. Indeed, in the days since the agreement was reached, Southern Illinois University announced it’d still need to lay off workers and cut millions in spending; Lutheran Social Services of Illinois, the state’s largest human services provider, says it will not be able to rehire 750 workers cut during the impasse or restore more than 30 programs that cared for the vulnerable… “The good news is that there is a lifeline for social services and universities,” said Laurence Msall, president of the Civic Federation, a nonpartisan fiscal watchdog group. “But it doesn’t allow them to manage their operations in an effective way because it’s not predictable … the damage is continuing.”
* The controversial and ultimately unsuccessful IllinoisGO has officially shut down both of its campaign committees and refunded millions of dollars in contributions.
The group’s full name is Illinoisans for Growth and Opportunity and was created and run by public relations executive Greg Goldner. IllinoisGO spent millions of dollars during the spring primary season, but failed to move the needle toward the governor in any Chicago Democratic legislative races, which was essentially its core mission.
Its most high-profile involvement was supporting Rep. Ken Dunkin’s hapless primary campaign, which ended in electoral disaster. But it played in other campaigns and either lost (2nd Senate District) or wasn’t considered any sort of factor in the win (5th Senate District).
Indeed, the group’s activities only seemed to harden incumbent Democrats against the governor and pushed them even closer to their legislative leaders. To say it was a failure would be a major understatement.
* Goldner’s organization refunded about $4.6 million to several contributors on July 14th, including $600K to Helen Zell (Sam Zell’s wife) and $3 million to Houston billionaire John Arnold and his wife Laura, who have contributed lots of money to pension reform and charter school groups, among others.
I’ve asked the organization for comment and will update this post if they follow through. Its website is still active.
Illinoisans for Growth and Opportunity (IllinoisGO) has ended operations at both its C4 educational arm and independent expenditure committee.
Our purpose was to raise public awareness of and engagement in critical public policy debates. We were driven by a fundamental belief, grounded in progressive principles, that if government is to be an agent for change and equal opportunity, it must operate efficiently in order to maintain public trust and confidence. In Illinois, that trust and confidence has been deeply damaged. The IE intended to protect incumbent Democrats, in the primary and in the general elections, who take tough votes to help restore this trust. We are ending operations, as this did not occur.
While IllinoisGO helped raise awareness among voters of the urgent crisis gripping state and local governments and school districts, in the end, voter awareness and frustration was not enough to prompt state leaders to action. Unfortunately, winning political battles was prioritized over forging a compromise to address Illinois’ budget shortfall, structural deficit, antiquated tax system, insufficient infrastructure and education funding or job-creating initiatives.
Illinois’ current financial crisis was avoidable. It has disproportionately hurt lower income workers, families and our youth. We do not believe it is enough for Democrats to simply stand against Republican policies without also pursuing a proactive, comprehensive set of our own policies to create jobs, economic growth and opportunity. Illinois Democrats have enjoyed electoral success, but in order to remain favored over the long-term, our party has to articulate that vision – and then actually deliver on the policy. Winning elections becomes meaningless without delivering real progress for the people of this state.
As we saw in 2014, voters reject politicians who don’t deliver. We need leadership that produces policy solutions to secure not only Democrats’ political future, but the future of Illinois.
