An Illinois legislative body is being told today that the State’s civil asset forfeiture laws are unfair, inconsistent and chaotic. The American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois today is calling on the legislature to work with urgency to rewrite these laws in order to ensure that Illinois residents whose property is seized by police cannot be permanently deprived of that property without clear proof that they were involved in criminal activity. The legislators will be told that Illinois recently received a failing grade for the fairness and transparency of its civil asset forfeiture laws.
“Our state’s laws in this area currently are grossly unfair,” according to Ben Ruddell, criminal justice policy attorney for the ACLU of Illinois. “As preposterous as it seems, you can lose your property – including your car, cash, or even your home – without ever being arrested or charged with a crime.”
“The system is bent to favor police and prosecutors who can use the laws as a profit center.”
The hearing on this issue is being held jointly by the Judiciary Civil and Criminal Committees of the Illinois House of Representatives. The hearing is set to begin at 4:00 p.m. in 114 Capitol. Among the witnesses will be two prominent Illinois defense attorneys who have dealt extensively with Illinois forfeiture law, as well as Lee McGrath from the Institute for Justice. That national organization, in a recent report evaluating states’ asset forfeiture laws, gave Illinois laws a grade of “D-“for fairness and transparency.
The Committee also will hear from Judy Wiese, a grandmother from the Quad Cities. She learned about the forfeiture laws the hard way when her car was seized after she lent it to her grandson, who turned out to be driving on a suspended license. No attorney was provided to assist Ms. Wiese to assist in getting her vehicle returned. Many people who face a similar situation must post a bond for 10% of the value of the car just to begin the process. It took five months without transportation, the intervention of the local media, and the kindness of strangers for Ms. Wiese to regain possession of her vehicle.
Residents of Illinois forfeit more than $20 million in property each year. The amount was more than $27 million in 2013. This amount does not account for seizures in Illinois by the federal government. The law provides that almost all of the money and property forfeited from Illinoisans goes directly to the law enforcement agency that seized the property. Many critics of forfeiture laws argue that such a system induces law enforcement to seize more property as a revenue generating opportunity.
“Police and prosecutors should not benefit from taking property away from persons when it is not justified,” added Ruddell. “It creates an incentive to engage in aggressive seizures that only hurt more people.”
* Back in the day, the Illinois Gaming Board ruled against putting a casino in Rosemont because they were worried about alleged mob ties. Instead, they put the casino next door in Des Plaines.
And for years, the Chicago Tribune editorial board was completely enamored with former Illinois Gaming Board Chairman Aaron Jaffe and his staff. In one of several laudatory pieces they did on him, they were all cheered for their “stellar record of insulating the Illinois gambling industry.” Another representative Trib editorial quoted Arthur Bilek, executive vice president of the Chicago Crime Commission, as saying…
“What’s safeguarding Illinois now is the integrity of Judge Aaron Jaffe and Mark Ostrowski,” the Gaming Board’s chairman and top administrator.
Rivers Casino has paid one of the largest gaming-related fines in modern times – $1.65 million – following an Illinois Gaming Board investigation spurred in part by questions over a security and maintenance contractor’s ties to reputed mob figures.
Last year, the Better Government Association discovered that Rivers – Illinois’ newest and most lucrative casino – hired United Service Cos. for security and cleaning work at the Des Plaines gaming site.
The BGA asked Rivers officials last May about United’s hiring because Illinois casinos are not supposed to have even a hint of organized crime connections – something that helped sink Rosemont’s years-long push to score a gaming license.
* If you look at the Gaming Board’s report, you’ll see that Simon’s cleaning firm did work for the casino for a year (2011-2012) without any vendor authorization. Simon’s firm was “lacking a documented bidding process and a formal contract” in 2012. In 2013, “no formal contract” was entered into between the casino and Simon’s company for cleaning work. In late 2014, the casino hired Simon’s company to do cleaning work “without an RFP, without soliciting bids and without entering into a contract,” according to the investigation.
Finally, in late 2014, the casino signed a contract with Simon’s company, but backdated it to July, 2011.
Last week, SEIU Healthcare Illinois began airing ads targeting Rauner and cuts to social services. Now the ads will be aimed at more than a dozen Republican House members, a union source tells Illinois Playbook: “The escalation will begin later this week and it will be statewide. More mail is coming. Cable TV spots. Digital. There will be a new child care TV spot coming, too.”
The ads took aim at the governor: “Governor Rauner is attacking those Illinoisans who care for our seniors and people with disabilities. Endangering our most vulnerable.” A caretaker then looks into the camera, saying: “I don’t know how he expects anybody to survive.”
* SEIU reached out about its new direct mail program today…
[Here’s the] first of several mailers. We have GOP targets that span the state. More than a dozen. Fewer than two dozen. They’ve been contacted individually, each asked to support fair contracts for our 53,000 home healthcare and child care workers, an end to the Rauner cuts and support for our our legislative package, which continues to advance in both chambers.
The Illinois House speaker has proposed a constitutional amendment to strengthen the state’s obligation to fund public education.
Chicago Democrat Michael Madigan introduced legislation Monday. It declares that education is a fundamental “right” — as opposed to “goal” — and that the state has the “preponderant financial responsibility” for funding schools.
If the House and Senate approve, the amendment would be on November’s ballot. Madigan spokesman Steve Brown says the Constitution is clear that the state should be the “primary” financial source, but that the language of the proposed amendment makes it abundantly clear.
Provides that a fundamental right (instead of goal) of the People of the State is the educational development of all persons to the limits of their capacities. Provides that it is the paramount duty of the State to provide for a thorough and efficient system of high quality public education institutions and services and to guarantee equality of educational opportunity as a fundamental right of each citizen (instead of requiring the State to provide for an efficient system of high quality public education institutions and services). Provides that the State has the preponderant financial responsibility (instead of the primary responsibility) for financing the system of public education. Effective upon being declared adopted
Subscribers have more background.
* The Question: Do you support this constitutional amendment? Take the poll and then explain your answer in comments, please.
Ed Izenstark inherited Huntington’s disease from his biological father, but he only found out after the fatal nerve disorder began to show itself and after months of frustrating and costly efforts to learn more about his origins.
The 30-year-old father of three from the Chicago suburb of Batavia was hospitalized last May with severe stomach pains, nausea and involuntary twitching that his doctors couldn’t explain. Suspecting it could be genetic, Izenstark sought more information about his background but had a hard time getting it from state adoption agencies. In February, he finally learned that his birth father had the disease. On Friday, his fears were confirmed that he did, too.
“(The information) should be available to anyone, if it’s yours. But it’s not yours. It’s the state’s and the state decides,” Izenstark said.
The Illinois House is considering a measure that would allow agencies to let people know the reasons they were put up for adoption and other information that wouldn’t identify their birth parents, including details of their medical histories. Its sponsor, Rep. Sara Feigenholtz, a Democrat from Chicago who was adopted herself, said the changes would be a real benefit to adult adoptees.
* Meanwhile, from a press release…
Calling attention to the growing staffing crisis affecting people with developmental disabilities and urging immediate action to address the problem by raising wages for Direct Support Professionals (DSPs), a wide-ranging coalition of disability advocacy groups will join key legislators at a press conference [today] in the Illinois State Capitol.
In Illinois, over 27,000 people with developmental disabilities live in apartments, group homes and other residential programs. DSPs in community agencies provide the foundation for community living. They ensure the health, safety and well-being of people with developmental disabilities by providing daily personal care, teaching life skills, and supporting people to be actively engaged and working in their community. But the state has not adjusted reimbursement rates for community agencies to raise DSP wages for eight years. […]
The coalition includes The Arc of Illinois, the Illinois Association of Rehabilitation Facilities, AFSCME Council 31, Don Moss & Associates, The Center for Developmental Disabilities Advocacy & Community Support, The Institute on Public Policy for People with Developmental Disabilities and McManus Consulting.
State Sen. Sam McCann is seeking to protect from government intrusion the longtime practice of “seed sharing.”
McCann, a Plainview Republican, is sponsoring a bill aimed at clarifying ambiguity in current state law that could require the exchanging and sharing of seed to be subject to commercial regulations such as testing and record-keeping.
“This is not a bill saying that anything has been done unfairly,” McCann said. “We’re saying that we’re trying to keep something from being interpreted unduly in the future.”
Illinois lawmakers are in no hurry to pass a state budget after 287 days, but they certainly are in a rush to be the second state in the nation to try to legislate bigotry regarding transgender teens. Those who fail to be effective leaders on the big picture items always seem to busy themselves micromanaging.
* Tax Illinois drivers by the mile?: A new proposal to pay for fixing Illinois’ roads could use devices to track how far Illinois drivers have traveled and tax them by the mile. The plan from Senate President John Cullerton, a Chicago Democrat, is aimed at gasoline tax revenues that have fallen as drivers have bought more fuel-efficient cars.
* Editorial: School funding formula needs to change
* FiveThirtyEight ran the numbers on the recent drop in Chicago police activity and increase in crime…
Chicago police officers have said they are confused by public scrutiny in the wake of the [Laquan McDonald] video’s release and have pointed to new and burdensome paperwork as discouraging them from making street stops and engaging in other “proactive policing.” Department spokesman Anthony Guglielmi acknowledged that officers might have been more uncertain since the release of the video but suggested that the majority of the change was due to the paperwork requirements. Late last month, Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel appointed a new interim police chief, Eddie Johnson, in the hopes of improving department morale. Johnson faces the prospect of the bloodiest year since at least 2003: Chicago is on pace for roughly 570 homicides and nearly 2,100 nonfatal shooting incidents, numbers that could be even higher if the violence increases with warmer weather.
After some cities saw a rise in crime last year, police chiefs and even the head of the FBI suggested that the United States was experiencing a “Ferguson effect”: Police officers sensitive to public scrutiny in the wake of protests over the 2014 police killing of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, were pulling back on police work, the theory went, and emboldened criminals were seizing their chance. The evidence for any such effect nationally was mixed — our colleague Carl Bialik analyzed crime data from 60 major cities in September and found an increase in homicides in some places, but a decrease in others. Chicago had seen a 20 percent increase in homicides from the year before, but, as Carl noted, crime statistics are volatile.
The spike in gun violence in Chicago since the end of November, though, is too sharp to be explained by seasonal fluctuations or chance. There have been 175 homicides and approximately 675 nonfatal shooting incidents1 from Dec. 1 through March 31, according to our analysis of city data.2 The 69 percent drop in the nonfatal shooting arrest rate and the 48 percent drop in the homicide arrest rate since the video’s release also cannot be explained by temperature or bad luck. Even though crime statistics can see a good amount of variation from year to year and from month to month, this spike in gun violence is statistically significant, and the falling arrest numbers suggest real changes in the process of policing in Chicago since the video’s release. […]
Guglielmi placed much of the blame for the decline in proactive policing on a new form that must be filled out after some interactions with members of the public, a result of the city’s August 2015 settlement with the American Civil Liberties Union over the department’s “stop and frisk” program. The form, called an investigatory stop report, is much longer than the contact cards it replaces and can take hours to complete after some encounters. Officers told the Chicago Sun-Times in January that an “ACLU effect” was driving a reduction in police activity. “The rules of the game changed on Jan. 1,” Guglielmi said.
Although the ISR may be playing a minor role in curbing proactive policing, it doesn’t appear to be the major reason behind the downward trend in arrests. The ISR was implemented on Jan. 1, 38 days after the release of the Laquan McDonald video. In that five-week span, the overall arrest rate fell from 26 percent to 19 percent. Since Jan. 1, the overall arrest rate has risen slightly. The onset of the decline in arrests significantly predates the ISR, and arrests have actually increased since it was introduced, though they are occurring less frequently than they did in 2015.
Ander noted that several less controversial crime prevention and intervention resources in Chicago have had their funding cut recently because of a state budget crisis in Illinois, perhaps contributing to violence in the most troubled neighborhoods.
Tuesday, Apr 12, 2016 - Posted by Advertising Department
[The following is a paid advertisement.]
Last week, a group of leading climate scientists and conservationists from Illinois and around the world, including Dr. James Hansen, Rachel Pritzker, and Michael Shellenberger, urged Illinois’ leaders in an open letter to save Illinois’ nuclear plants so they can provide clean energy for decades to come. They wrote:
Illinois generates more zero-emissions electricity than any other state. Most of it comes from the state’s six nuclear power plants, which produce about half of Illinois’ total generation and 90 percent of its low-carbon generation. These plants are in their prime and could stay in service many more years and even decades.
Unfortunately, Illinois is at risk of losing one or more of its nuclear plants and with them the progress the state has made in clean energy.
If Clinton and Quad Cities nuclear plants were replaced by natural gas, carbon emissions would immediately increase the equivalent of adding two million cars to the road. If they were replaced by coal, the carbon emissions would more than double.
… Illinois is at an urgent juncture. Failure to keep all of Illinois’ nuclear power plants running for the full lifetimes will result in more air pollution, and further cause Illinois to underperform on climate. Action now would establish all of you as leaders in safeguarding clean air today and the climate for future generations.
When Marty Flaska moved his forklift-manufacturing business to Illinois 18 years ago, he didn’t think to look at the cost of operating in other states.
In 2014, out of curiosity, his son ran the numbers.
“I didn’t believe him,” said the elder Flaska. His son told him that a short drive east would save the business $2 million per year.
Thus began the journey of Hoist Liftruck to greener pastures in Indiana; a move that resulted from policy mistakes that have made the Land of Lincoln a laggard state when it comes to forging well-paying manufacturing jobs.
On March 31, Flaska cut the ribbon on a massive facility in East Chicago, Ind., the new home of Hoist. The Indiana factory will house nearly 300 manufacturing jobs transplanted from Bedford Park as well as 200 new jobs Flaska plans to create. The average salary for one of those positions is $55,000.
Bedford Park is just down the road from Speaker Madigan’s house.
Indiana is giving the company up to $8.25 million in tax credits as a reward for the hiring, and $200,000 for employee training. East Chicago, the Northwest Indiana Regional Development Authority and NIPSCO also are offering additional incentives.
*** UPDATE 1 *** Senate President Cullerton told reporters today that the meeting was called “to discuss the budget,” and that he didn’t believe attendees would be talking about Turnaround Agenda items.
Rich Miller, publisher of the Capitol Fax newsletter and associated blog, is guest speaker at a Citizens Club of Springfield reception on Thursday.
The event, marking the club’s 10-year anniversary, is from 5-7 p.m. at the Illinois Realtors, 522 S. Fifth St. The public is invited, and tickets can be purchased at the door for $25. […]
The club’s mission is to bring area residents impartial, bipartisan discussions about issues affecting the quality of life in the Springfield area.
This is my first speech since the City Club thing last December that’ll be open to the general public, so it should be fun.
* If you go to about the 27-minute mark of this BlueRoomStream.com video, you’ll hear Republican state Rep. Bob Pritchard tell a Chicago audience yesterday that he is open to some specific tax proposals.
“We’ve got to look realistically at some revenue situations,” Pritchard said while speaking on a panel convened by the Illinois Campaign for Political Reform.
“Broadening the sales tax,” Rep. Pritchard said, “could be part of the solution… perhaps even bring the rate down a little bit.” He didn’t say it, but he was likely referring to a sales tax on services.
He also said legislators “should look again at some type of income tax,” and “some type of pension tax,” but said he also wanted some of Gov. Rauner’s business-related reforms, without specifying which ones he backed.
Later, he said he thinks “most legislators” are coming to realize that more revenues are needed. But he also said he wants to see workers’ comp and tort reforms, as well as some modest limits on the prevailing wage.
* Related…
* Illinois Lawmakers: Rank-And-File Legislators Key To Breaking Budget Impasse
To: Members of the General Assembly
From: Richard Goldberg, Deputy Chief of Staff
Date: April 12, 2016
Re: HA 1 to SB 2046 – Another Partisan Spending Bill Filled With Empty Promises
Last week, Governor Rauner called for bipartisan cooperation to solve our budget crisis. “Now is the opportunity to put partisan differences aside and work together on solutions for the people of Illinois,” he wrote in the State Journal-Register.
But rather than work together to find bipartisan solutions to fund higher education and human services, the majority stands ready to pass another phony budget that promises to spend money the state simply doesn’t have. According to GOMB Director Tim Nuding, “at this point, appropriation bills that are not tied to revenue, spending reductions or savings-generating reforms are nothing more than IOUs that drive our state deeper into debt and exacerbate the bill backlog.”
House Amendment 1 (HA1) to SB 2046 would appropriate $3.89 billion, including more than $3 billion in General Funds, without any way to pay for it. That’s not compromise or fiscal responsibility – that’s just another partisan spending bill filled with empty promises for students, universities, community colleges, social service providers and our most vulnerable citizens.
Over the past few weeks, Republicans have proposed ways to fund MAP grants, universities, community colleges, social services, veterans homes, public health grants and much more – all tied to savings-generating government reforms. These alternatives would accomplish the overarching goal of HA 1 to SB 2046 without making empty promises, adding to our debt or exacerbating the bill backlog.
Now is the time to negotiate in good faith, not push each other farther apart. Now is the time for bipartisan solutions, not another partisan spending bill filled with empty promises.
“This money is not just for me,” Romanik said, “it’s for anybody running against any candidate backed by the culture of corruption.” Romanik, on his radio show, often refers to the local Democrat party as a culture of corruption.
He’s previously said he would spend “at least” $325,000 on his own campaign, with the rest going to other candidates.
* The local Democrats have already sent out a mailer blasting him…
On the flip side is a photo of Republican state representative candidate from the 114th District Bob Romanik, wearing a red, white and blue “Uncle Sam” suit. Beside the photo of Romanik, a radio talk show host, is a tersely-worded message urging voters not to vote for Romanik or any of 10 county office Republican candidates he supports in the November election. The photo is below a headline that says “A buffoon.”
“In St. Clair County, (the) Republican Party is in danger. Bob Romanik — the foul-mouthed, bigoted, sleaze jock — has used his ill-gotten money to hijack the party and replace it with his Freedom Coalition,” the Democrat Party’s political flyer states. “It’s time for St. Clair County Republicans to take their party back by rejecting Bob Romanik and his followers.” […]
“I want to thank them for their desperate action,” Romanik said. “This will just mean more votes for us…This shows that the Democrats are just trying to manipulate people like they always have. They are vulgar people.”
*** UPDATE 1 *** For whatever reason, I didn’t notice the “interactive graphic” in the article. According to that document, Chicago Public Schools’ funding would drop by more than $74 million under the governor’s plan. Many thanks to a commenter for pointing that out.
*** UPDATE 2 *** From the governor’s office…
CPS would have lost almost $200m ($189m to be exact) under the Democratic proration method.
Rauner’s 100% funding plan saves CPS over $100 million.
*** UPDATE 3 *** More from the governor’s office…
CPS will receive $74 million less state aid because they have fewer students.
*** UPDATE 4 *** Press release…
State Senator Andy Manar (D-Bunker Hill) issued the following statement in response to the governor’s education funding plan.
“This information gives us the opportunity to thoroughly debate the merits of the governor’s plan. Each school district deserves to know how it would fare under it.”
“Unfortunately, what I’m seeing is that the additional money flowing into the formula would continue to be funneled away from schools with the greatest need.”
“Putting more money into education is a great idea, but our flawed funding formula means that districts that lack resources and have been hit hard by cuts, districts like Taylorville, East St. Louis, Harvey and Streator, will be hit once again. In these four districts alone, there’s over $1.3 million in combined cuts. It’s not fair to the students, teachers, parents or taxpayers. These numbers show why change is needed.”
“I’m looking forward to similar debates about the education funding reform plan currently before the Senate, and I’m very encouraged by the overwhelming majority of legislators and state leaders who agree that the current system is flawed and needs to be changed.”
“The funding formula he defends makes no sense. If you’re a wealthy district you gain, if you’re a poor district you lose,” Claypool said at a news conference Tuesday.
He likened Rauner’s plan to “more akin to what we would see in the education system in Mississippi in the 1960s” because it shortchanges districts full of children who are poor and black or brown.
Claypool would not say what effect the proposal could have on stalled contract negotiations with the Chicago Teachers Union.
“It certainly makes our already grave fiscal crisis graver,” he said. “The threat to our schools in the coming school year is even more profound than yesterday.”
Gov. Bruce Rauner is releasing numbers Tuesday showing how individual school districts would do under his education funding plan as he continues to push lawmakers to approve it despite the ongoing state budget battle.
Rauner has called for adding $55 million to the state’s general school payments, eliminating a series of cuts from previous years known as proration. That’s in addition to $75 million more that would be spent for early childhood programs. […]
Among the biggest winners in Rauner’s general aid numbers: $5.9 million more for Carpentersville-based Community Unit District 300, about $3.6 million more for Elgin Area District U-46 and $2.2 million more for Aurora East District 131 in the next fiscal year.
A few others each would see more than a million dollars more, including districts in Antioch, Grayslake, Huntley, Wauconda and Waukegan.
Among the districts that would lose money next year under Rauner’s proposal: Indian Prairie District 204 would get about $973,000 less. Addison District 4 and North Chicago District 187 would each see a drop of more than $600,000.
Notice anything missing? The impact on Chicago and Downstate districts with high poverty levels. The Democrats have predicted those schools would fare poorly yet again with the Rauner plan. Stay tuned for those numbers.
The governor is speaking to business groups at 11:45 and then to the bankers at 12:30. We’ll have live coverage.
Cracks might be forming in Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan’s decades-long hold on House Democrats, as backbenchers continue to cook under the heat of the state’s incessant budget impasse.
Those fissures appeared suddenly Monday in Rock Island, as a pair of House Democrats championed legislation that would impose limits on how long a lawmaker can hold a legislative leadership post.
Provides that no person may serve more than 8 consecutive years in any of the following leadership roles: Speaker of the House of Representatives, President of the Senate, Minority Leader of the House of Representatives, and Minority Leader of the Senate. Provides that the limitations imposed by the amendatory Act apply to service beginning on and after January 11, 2017.
According to the article, Democratic Reps. Pat Verschoore and Mike Smiddy now support that bill, although they haven’t yet signed on as co-sponsors.
“I think sometimes — I don’t think, I know — that the top guy can amass a lot of power,” Verschoore told business leaders at a Quad-Cities Chamber of Commerce luncheon. […]
Rep. Mike Smiddy, D-Hillsdale, is fighting for his political life. Smiddy, like Madigan, is a vocal critic of Rauner’s “Turnaround Agenda.” Yet he, too, joined those supporting the ouster of leadership every eight years, a direct assault on Madigan and Senate President John Cullerton.
“I agree, we need term limits for leadership,” Smiddy said. […]
But it was the candor of Verschoore and Smiddy that raised eyebrows. Madigan not only runs the House and determines a bill’s survival. He’s also head of the state Democratic Party, an organization Smiddy will rely on to beat back a tough challenge by Republican Savanna Mayor Tony McCombie for the District 71 seat. […]
Frustration with the Madigan/Rauner standoff has stewed for months. And distancing oneself from Madigan might behoove any non-Chicago Democrat looking to keep a job. But Verschoore has no reason to pander. And, now, Smiddy is on the record stating unequivocally that leadership should be regularly cleansed.
* The very simple explanation for Verschoore is that he’s still furious at Madigan for not backing his preferred replacement in the recent primary (his nephew Jeff Jacobs). Not to mention that Madigan’s not-so-secret support for the eventual primary winner, Mike Halpin, funded slams on Verschoore himself via negative direct mail and TV ads.
Madigan definitely has some trouble with Verschoore, but it’s not like the guy’s gonna walk over to Rauner. The man bleeds Democratic union blood.
And Smiddy is a Tier One target, so supporting this bill is kind of a no-brainer and isn’t nearly as consequential as saying he won’t vote for Madigan for Speaker come January. Smiddy also got himself elected without help from Madigan in 2012, so he has been more independent-minded, although he had to be bailed out in 2014.
* Madigan only “requires” two votes from his membership: Reelection as Speaker and the House rules. Other than that, they can do pretty much whatever they want, unless they’re a target and then they’re given constant “advice” on how their votes will impact the folks back home and, by extension, their own reelections.
The author of the above piece is the paper’s editorial page editor. And those folks throughout the state are almost uniformly anti-Madigan. I’m not saying there’s no grumbling about Madigan in the ranks. There most certainly is, and for good reason. I’m just saying here that an open revolt is unlikely at this moment, and it’s mainly because of who’s leading the opposition (which is pretty much always the case, but is especially true now).
The increasingly bitter national fight over the loyalty of delegates to this summer’s Republican National Convention is showing signs of spreading to Illinois, which will select 12 at-large delegates and 12 at-large alternate delegates that the Donald Trump campaign would like to consider theirs. […]
In position to make the final call is Gov. Bruce Rauner, who is expected to not only attend the convention but chair Illinois’ delegation as the effective head of he state Republican Party. Stuck in the middle is Sen. Mark Kirk, R-Ill., who normally would be expected to attend the convention, too, but, as an elected at-large delegate would be bound to vote for Trump on the first ballot.
In the March primary, Trump won 37 of the delegates selected at the congressional district level, compared to nine for Cruz and six for Ohio Gov. John Kasich. They technically are bound to Trump only for the first ballot, but were hand-picked by the Trump organization and generally are considered loyal.
Not necessarily so are the 12 at-large delegates and 12 at-large alternates who will be selected at the state party convention in Peoria on May 20-21. The delegates to the state convention, in turn, will be selected at potentially contentious county conventions over the next month. […]
State party Chairman Tim Schneider, who was installed in his job by Rauner, says he’s “hoping” to avoid the sort of nasty fights that have occurred in other states. Specifically, a committee headed by former state GOP Chairman Jack Dorgan will nominate a slate of candidates that likely includes some who will back Trump, as well as some who support Cruz or Kasich.
Hoo boy. What a sticky wicket.
* I have generally avoided national party conventions over the years (I went to one when it was in Chicago). But I do believe I’m gonna attend this one, although wearing a press badge might not be the safest thing to do. Then again, being a delegate might not be all that safe, either…
More than three months before any ballots have been cast at the Republican convention, Roger Stone, Donald Trump’s on-again, off-again consigliere, has delivered the campaign equivalent of a severed horse head to delegates who might consider denying Trump the nomination. Trump’s supporters will find you in your sleep, he merrily informed them this week. He did not mean it metaphorically.
“We will disclose the hotels and the room numbers of those delegates who are directly involved in the steal,” Stone said Monday, on Freedomain Radio. “If you’re from Pennsylvania, we’ll tell you who the culprits are. We urge you to visit their hotel and find them. You have a right to discuss this, if you voted in the Pennsylvania primary, for example, and your votes are being disallowed,” Stone said.
The Trump campaign later disavowed those statements.
Rank-and-file Illinois lawmakers frustrated by the 10-month state budget impasse are meeting on their own in bipartisan groups to discuss potential solutions.
Some of those legislators spoke Monday in Chicago during a forum on the budget hosted by The Illinois Campaign for Political Reform.
State Reps. William Davis, a Homewood Democrat, and Republican Robert Pritchard of Hinckley say they recently attended a lawmaker gathering in suburban Chicago to discuss tactics. They declined to discuss specific proposals, saying they’re in the initial phases. The goal is to present plans to legislative leaders in hopes of resolving the stalemate between Democratic legislative leaders and Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner, who haven’t met in months.
Things are starting to happen again and we might see results pretty quickly. You’ll recall that Gov. Rauner shut down a similar process last year because it didn’t produce enough results for him and, to a lesser extent, because he was angry that the process became public. But times are changing.
An Associated Press analysis of Environmental Protection Agency data found that nearly 1,400 water systems serving 3.6 million Americans exceeded the federal lead standard at least once between Jan. 1, 2013, and Sept. 30, 2015. The affected systems are large and small, public and private, and include 278 systems that are owned and operated by schools and day care centers in 41 states. […]
In Galesburg, a community of 31,000 about 200 miles southwest of Chicago, lead levels have exceeded the federal standard in 22 out of 30 testing periods since 1992. City officials say their ground water and water mains are lead-free, but the toxin enters the supply in service lines that deliver water from the streets to 4,700 homes. Lead-based plumbing fixtures that were common in homes built before 1980 also contribute.
The city discovered its most recent problem last fall, when 7 out of 40 samples came back at unacceptable levels. The city followed EPA guidelines by informing residents of the situation two months later. Its notice said that a chemical added to the water since 1993 has been effective in reducing the lead levels and resulted in “lead compliance since 2010,” a misleading statement since no testing was required in 2013 and 2014.
The notice added that recent testing showed the standard had been exceeded “by a narrow margin.” In reality, lead levels were 1.5 times the standard.
According to data from the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency, tap water in the Champaign County village [of Sydney] has exceeded the national “action level” for lead three times since 2010. […]
There is no safe level for lead exposure — especially for young children, who could suffer behavioral and learning disabilities from the neurotoxin.
Following the crisis in Flint, Michigan, Illinois regulators want to increase their speed when it comes to notifying water customers of systems that exceed the federal lead standard.
The Illinois Environmental Protection Agency and the Illinois Department of Public Health have decided on a 10-day deadline to let customers know about the lead violations.
That is significantly quicker than the federal standard that states homeowners must be notified within 30 days.
Good for them. That 30-day notice requirement is way too long.
* But, Illinois being Illinois, one hand at the IEPA wants action while the other hand at the IEPA is cutting off funding…
A university water-system operator training program is on the chopping block due to a lack of federal student loan money and state funding, even as headlines about the disastrous effects of negligent water system operators continue to appear daily.
The Environmental Resources Training Center at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville is one of the few of its kind in the nation. The year-long program certifies personnel in the operation, maintenance and management of drinking water and wastewater treatment systems for work in Illinois and Missouri. […]
With or without loans, the program may have to be scrapped altogether if the state’s budget impasse is not solved. Gov. Bruce Rauner has not released funds to the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency, which takes money from the U.S. EPA and gives it to the program for operating costs. The funds are mostly used for salaries.
Thus, the program will not receive the “hundreds of thousands of dollars” it is owed by the agency until the governor releases the funds, supposedly when the budget impasse comes to an end, said Marci Webb, program office manager. […]
“This program trains water operators who could help solve some of those problems you’ve seen up in Flint and Chatham,” he noted in reference to disastrous effects of lead-poisoned water in Flint, Michigan, and a new treatment plant in Chatham, Illinois, that has left residents questioning the village’s water quality.
The Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation (IDFPR) and the Illinois Department of Corrections (IDOC) are pleased to announce a new initiative that streamlines the professional licensing process for men and women who are being released from prison.
Starting immediately, offenders who’ve completed the required coursework for Barbering and Cosmetology will be able to apply for their professional license and meet with the licensing board via video conference up to six months before their release or parole date. This common sense policy change reverses the previous approach, which prohibited offenders from starting the application process until they were already released from the institution.
“By creating a pathway towards licensure while still in the institutional setting, we are able to provide near immediate opportunity for individuals exiting prison,” said Bryan A. Schneider, IDFPR Secretary. “We believe this regulatory revision provides real change for those leaving incarceration, while supplying our local economies with able bodied employees at the ready.”
“This is a step in the right direction as we work toward reducing the recidivism rate in Illinois,” said IDOC Acting Director John Baldwin. “When men and women know they’ll be rewarded for their hard work, they are more inclined to participate in programming that will improve their odds of success in the community. This new policy means offenders will be able to join the workforce as soon as they walk out of the correctional center doors.”
This effort is a direct response to the Illinois Criminal Justice and Sentencing Commission’s recommendation to “remove unnecessary barriers to those convicted of crimes from obtaining professional licenses.” It is a small but critical first step in reducing employment barriers for ex-offenders and driving down the prison population in the state of Illinois.
Interviews and b-roll of Cosmetology students at Logan Correctional Center are available on the IDOC Facebook page and on the CMS website at http://www.illinois.gov/cms/agency/media/video/.
With about 200 people dying of heroin overdoses each year in Chicago, the police are preparing to launch a radical new strategy to help addicts caught in narcotics investigations on the West Side.
As usual, officers will arrest people caught buying small amounts of heroin and take them to the police station. But officers will now give them the option of entering a drug-treatment program — and not being charged with a crime.
Users with violent criminal backgrounds and those who are “active gang members” will be excluded, police say.
“This is a one-time get-out-of-jail-free card,” said Ruth Coffman, executive director of the University of Chicago Health Lab, which will evaluate the program. […]
About $1 billion of heroin passes through Cook County alone every year, mostly on the West Side, Riccio said. One open-air market at Grenshaw and Independence had hundreds of people standing in line for heroin until police busted the operation last year, he said.
In the past five years, the legislature has slashed state funding for addiction prevention, cut addiction treatment by 40% and mental health treatment by nearly 25%.
Elgin Residential Rehab and Men’s Residence West are two inpatient treatment homes that will be closing within the next 30 days, leaving those battling addiction to try to find help elsewhere at a time such places are scarce.
Lutheran Social Services of Illinois announced it is closing both programs, among 30 other programs being phased out, because of the state’s inability to pass a budget. […]
A Roosevelt University study titled “Diminishing Capacity: The Heroin Crisis and Illinois Treatment in a National Perspective” found that as heroin use increases, the state is ranked third worst in the nation for providing publicly-funded addiction treatment.
As Mayor Rahm Emanuel faced growing criticism last fall over the city’s handling of police shootings, Chicago Police Department officials laid plans to have undercover officers spy on protest groups, records obtained by the Chicago Sun-Times show. […]
The undercover police operations last fall stemmed from plans announced by the Black Youth Project, the Workers Center and Southsiders Organized for Unity and Liberation — a coalition of churches and neighborhood groups known as SOUL — to protest the annual conference of the International Association of Chiefs of Police, held Oct. 24-27 at McCormick Place.
Funders for Justice — a nationwide network of philanthropic groups that includes the Ford Foundation, one of the country’s biggest and best-known charitable organizations — posted an announcement of the “counter-conference” on its website. The Funders group had been formed to support discussions of police practices post-Ferguson.
A police department spokesman described the probe as “routine” and within the law, adding that it was “documented to ensure transparency with the public.”
“These protective actions — which happen in limited circumstances — are conducted to protect public safety and people’s First Amendment rights,” police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi told the newspaper.
Wait. They’re conducting these operations to “protect” First Amendment rights?
And I’m sure this had nothing whatsoever to do with the fact that the protesters were going to picket a police chiefs meeting.
Workshop titles include “Pathways to Violent Extremism: Understanding the Radicalization Process and How Best to Prevent Violence in Your Community” and “Use of Force By and Against the Police: Perspectives from the Local, State, and National Level.” […]
There will be a series of talks organized by the Chicago Police Department (CPD) on various themes, including something called “police legitimacy.” Among the CPD workshops is “The Chicago NATO Model: Bringing Order to Disorder While Ensuring First Amendment Rights
The recent reports about the level and breadth of police monitoring of peaceful protest groups is unsettling and requires a response. Thousands of Chicago residents have joined protests in recent months demanding a more accountable, more transparent policing system in the City, and these protests have been conducted largely in a peaceful, considerate fashion. Rather than being dangerous, it has been inspiring to see so many young people take a leadership role in helping to plan and shape these activities.
The exercise of one’s protected First Amendment rights should not be a catalyst for a police investigation, whether overt or the covert insertion of undercover officers inside an organization. Such spying on peaceful protesters chills speech. The ACLU strongly opposes police officers attending meetings and collecting information on people organizing to exercise their First Amendment rights.
Given Chicago’s bleak history of using undercover officers to investigate and infiltrate peaceful groups simply for opposing policies emanating from City Hall, there must be strong, written guidelines for guarding against abuses in the use of police to investigate these sorts of activities. Washington D.C., for example, has a protective ordinance requiring “reasonable suspicion of a crime” before beginning the kind of investigations described here. Chicago used this standard for decades, but since the dissolution of a long-standing federal consent decree in June 2009, the standard of “a legitimate law enforcement purpose” has guided the CPD’s decisions for whether to spy on political movements. That standard is too low and nebulous, and inevitably leads to the kind of troubling spying reported here.
The ACLU of Illinois urges the Chicago City Council to hold hearings into these investigations as a precursor to considering written, formal guidelines, adopted by the Council that can help assure every person in Chicago that exercising free speech is not a predicate for a criminal investigation.
Instead of spying on churches and other groups, how about using those limited resources to spy on some dangerous criminals? I mean, the city’s so very safe, right?
North Side activists rallied Sunday around legislation they hope will end Illinois’ nearly yearlong budget stalemate and secured commitments from lawmakers at a full-house community convention in Lake View.
ONE Northside is pursuing legislation in Springfield its members say would close $2.5 billion annually in corporate tax loopholes. The bill was filed in January by Rep. Will Davis, D-East Hazel Crest. […]
A small group of Democratic state lawmakers agreed to co-sponsor the legislation. Senate President John Cullerton vowed to move it through the Senate.
One person’s loophole is another person’s must-have business incentive. Eliminating them is harder than just about anything.
* This could turn out to be more important, however…
Cullerton also committed to seeking a statewide vote on a fair tax, and to working to pass a fully funded two-year budget that closed the corporate loopholes by May 31.
Yep. The fair (graduated) tax is being revived. It’s reportedly been tweaked a bit, but we’ll get more details soon and then we’ll talk about it when we do.
Also, a two-year budget? Hmm.
* The Question: Would you support the crafting of two-year state budgets? Take the poll and then explain your answer in comments, please.
As noted several times before, as long as anti-union proposals are being demanded in exchange for a tax hike, the Democrats aren’t gonna budge, no matter who the Speaker is.
And even if Rauner isn’t publicly willing to compromise, I see no huge harm in meeting with the man.
Also, more competition in legislative districts will probably lead to more people refusing to tackle tough problems. Not that anybody is doing it now, but I’m just sayin…
* Along those lines, a lobbyist for local governments and a lobbyist for social workers showed a bit more willingness to accept reality in a Twitter exchange over the weekend…
The Comptroller's Office reports that Illinois' most recent tally of unpaid bills neared $6.8 billion.
“Since his recovery from a stroke in 2012, Senator Kirk has raised over $8 million from over 20,000 donors. During the most recent primary election, Kirk won all 102 Illinois counties and even received more votes than Duckworth in 89 counties - a strength that is also reflected in recent polling that outlines the race as a statistical tie. There is no doubt Senator Kirk will have the resources needed to continue highlighting Duckworth’s reckless national security positions, including her call for allowing in 200,000 unsafely-vetted Syrian refugees. At the same time, Rep. Duckworth will be forced to spend considerable resources dealing with her pending legal troubles where she is accused of retaliating against VA whistleblowers who alerted investigators to mistreatment of veterans under Duckworth’s care.”
[ *** End Of Update *** ]
* Press release…
Powered by a significant increase in grassroots, small-dollar donations, Tammy Duckworth’s U.S. Senate campaign raised $2.1 million in the first quarter of 2016, and has over $4 million on hand. Duckworth scored a decisive primary win on March 15th, and more than doubled its fundraising pace over the last half of the quarter, taking in over $1.4 million in that time. The campaign received more than 37,000 individual contributions in the first quarter, and has now received nearly 93,000 individual contributions overall. The average contribution this quarter was just $50, while the median was $20.
“This was our campaign’s strongest quarter yet, with both a decisive primary win and significant growth in our base of grassroots contributors,” Tammy for Illinois campaign manager Kaitlin Fahey said. “Tammy’s strong showing on March 15th and subsequent outreach throughout Illinois has demonstrated real enthusiasm and ability to grow. Our campaign is moving into the general election with momentum and expanding resources, and we couldn’t be more optimistic and enthusiastic. Compare that to Mark Kirk, who last week had to resort to releasing an internal poll showing him losing and under the 40 percent threshold, and who has pledged that he ‘certainly would’ support Republican frontrunner Donald Trump, despite Trump’s increasingly outrageous campaign and deep-seated unpopularity among Illinoisans. Kirk’s record of serving the interests of corporations and Wall Street banks at the expense of Illinois families may finally be catching up to him.”
Some key highlights from the report, which will be filed with the Senate Office of Public Records and Federal Elections Commission this week:
The campaign received 37,366 individual contributions from a total of 28,104 individuals in the first quarter. Since declaring in March of 2015, the Duckworth for Senate campaign has received 92,839 individual contributions;
Of those 1Q contributions, 96.1 percent were for $100 or less, a 1.5% increase over the previous quarter;
The average individual contribution was $50.81, and the median individual contribution was $20, both the lowest such figures for this cycle, demonstrating rapid growth in low-dollar contributors.
The Illinois Senate race is consistently ranked as the top race in the country, and Senator Kirk is routinely listed as the most vulnerable Senate incumbent. The Duckworth campaign raised $1 million more than Kirk over the last two quarters of 2015, essentially erasing Kirk’s longstanding cash-on-hand advantage. Duckworth raised $661,000 during the pre-primary period from January 1st—February 24th, compared to $458,000 for Kirk. Kirk has not publicly released his full first quarter fundraising numbers.
Last week, Duckworth was endorsed by President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden.
As noted in the release, Sen. Kirk has not yet released his latest fundraising totals. Kirk raised $1 million in the fourth quarter, and ended last year with $3.8 million on hand. Duckworth, by contrast raised $1.6 million in that quarter and had $3.65 million on hand. So, her cash position didn’t increase by much.
But this is a long race and there will be tons of outside money spent here, so a few hundred grand difference between the two right now won’t matter much come November.
* Related…
* ADDED: Sun-Times editorial: False facts and fearful talk about Guantanamo give U.S. black eye: But Kirk has it wrong. Federal law already prohibits sending Gitmo detainees to Iran, Sudan or any other country on a list of nations designated as state sponsors of terrorism.
* Laura Washington: Debates will help settle Kirk-Duckworth race
Austin High School on Chicago’s struggling West Side is a proud school with a bad reputation and too few students. It likely has just one more shot at survival.
Austin has hollowed out in recent years, as have dozens of similar schools across Chicago’s poor and mostly Latino and black neighborhoods. With 391 students, including just 57 freshmen across three academies in a building meant for nearly 1,700, Austin is one of 35 Chicago public high schools that are well under half full. Ten schools aren’t even a quarter full.
These schools face a set of woes that make a turnaround all but impossible. A citywide school-choice system leaves these mostly open-enrollment schools with some of Chicago’s most challenging and low-achieving students. Deeply strained budgets fueled by declining enrollment hurt staffing levels, teacher retention, and programming. Mix in a stubborn reputation for violence at many schools—unwarranted in the case of Austin and some others—and these schools are in a death spiral.
In a high-school universe defined by choice, these schools and students are the clear losers. Chicago’s neediest students are clustered at the bottom of the pecking order of the district, in the most under-resourced and embattled schools.
Chicago has a poor track record of delivering for its weakest students but this latest chapter, arguably an inevitable and predictable consequence of school choice, may be a new low. Students who need the healthiest and most stable schools are segregated in the most unstable institutions, often with the most troubled classmates. Victims of a set of powerful and destructive forces that have undermined their schools and neighborhoods, these students and their schools face an increasingly bleak and uncertain future.
Meanwhile, the city since 2000 has opened dozens of schools to offer more choice and retain the middle class. Most are public charter schools that admit by lottery but a bevy of test-based schools and programs also launched. Chicago now has 101,000 students in 140 high schools, excluding alternative schools. In 2000, CPS had 93,000 students in 86 high schools. That’s a 63 percent increase in schools against an 8 percent increase in students. For neighborhoods like Austin that have lost population, this seats-students mismatch is particularly devastating.
Neighborhood schools weren’t working in many neighborhoods at the bottom of the economic ladder. So, Chicago embraced public school choice. But that isn’t working either for kids on the lowest economic rungs. Charters can kick kids out for low performance, behavioral problems, etc. and they do that a lot.
I happen to think charters can be a great thing. But, man, the costs sure are high to run all those new schools. And innovators like Kansas City are also having some very real problems.
All I do know for sure is that slogans on both sides don’t help matters much. So, try to avoid them in comments. Thanks.
* I was reducing some clutter in my office over the weekend and found a bunch of stuff that I forgot I had or hadn’t looked at in years. Here’s a campaign beanie from Bill Stratton’s campaign…
I think my dad bought me that one.
* I went to college with this guy. He was a PAR student back then and wrote a story in the college paper about me after my election as student president…
* I bought a painting online by Henry Hill of “Goodfellas” infamy, didn’t like it, put it away and couldn’t ever find it again. It was still in its original envelope buried in a box…
* A few mementos from a 1999 trip to Cuba…
* And here’s a piece of campaign lit that I completely forgot about…
I think somebody else inked his teeth. But he actually thought this was a good idea for some reason.
(T)he Illinois House still hasn’t had an appropriations hearing on next year’s budgets for Illinois’ public colleges and universities, those annual exercises where higher ed officials get called before House members with oftentimes ask parochial and unpredictable questions.
Normally those hearings are headed by the chair of the Appropriations-Higher Education Committee.
That would be Rep. Ken Dunkin, the Chicago Democrat who is viewed by some of his Democratic colleagues as a Judas for siding with Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner on a couple of high-profile issues. In fact, Dunkin was defeated in last month’s Democratic primary, despite big bucks from Rauner allies.
There’s a higher education budget hearing in the House this week but it’ll be before Rep. Kelly Burke’s Higher Education Committee.
I asked Steve Brown, a spokesman for House Speaker Michael Madigan, why the higher ed budgets weren’t going to Dunkin’s appropriations committee.
“We prefer to think of it as going to Kelly Burke’s committee,” he said with a smile.
Well, at least Dunkin is still getting his chairmanship stipend, even if he isn’t doing anything.
This is SOP for Madigan, by the way. He’s done this very same thing to at least two other members in the past (Al Ronan and Jay Hoffman) when he believed they were plotting against him.
“The last time the general state aid formula for school funding was changed was in ’03 when we had complete Democrat control of our General Assembly and governorship,” Rauner said [last week]. “There was complete Democrat control of our government for 12 years, and there was no change. Now all of a sudden, there’s this perception of crisis. This issue was created by Democrats.”
Not exactly. And you have to be careful not to draw the wrong conclusions from what Rauner is saying.
He’s correct that the last time the formula was changed was in 2003 when Democrats had complete control. Manar said he’s not sure what Rauner is talking about, but here’s his guess: “In 2003, there was a bill that was passed that dealt with how you count children who live in poverty. That’s not a formula change,” Manar said. “That bill in 2003 got 55 votes in the Senate.”
Or, as Manar put it, it wasn’t a bill that “Democrats crammed down Republicans’ throats.”
In fact, the essential part of the funding formula was put in place in 1997 when Republicans controlled the Senate and there was a Republican governor. Both made sure Republican interests were taken care of, so even wealthy school districts in GOP areas got their piece of the school-funding pie.
That’s all true.
But, as Finke clearly points out, Rauner is correct when he says the Democrats had control for a dozen years and did basically nothing and are now all of a sudden demanding reforms.
The problem is that more than two decades of consensus about how to fix the situation - a state income tax hike swapped for a local property tax cut - was tossed out the window by the Democrats when the state’s fiscal position became so imperiled that it needed every dime of a tax hike for itself. And then along came Speaker Madigan’s idea to make local school districts pick up their pension costs. Those two things completely upended the entire process and it took Sen. Andy Manar’s new ideas to finally get something going again.
Governor Bruce Rauner has hit a brick wall attempting to convince House Speaker Michael Madigan to come to the negotiating table to talk about ending the long governmental impasse and then working out a budget deal. So after holding numerous public appearances to demand a sit-down, Rauner shifted gears last week when the two Republican legislative leaders trotted out a new spending plan to provide $1.3 billion to fund human services and other programs.
The proposal would partly be funded with some pension reforms that Republicans claim will save $780 million. The reforms include some accounting changes and pushing off pension costs to local schools and to higher-education institutions for salaries above $180,000 a year. But there are relatively few employees making more than $180K a year, and the $780 million is about a third of the state’s annual “normal costs” for pensions, so it seems somewhat difficult to believe that these savings are actually as high as billed.
And even if the money is real, the $1.3-billion GOP proposal is significantly smaller than either appropriations bill passed by the legislature’s Democratic majorities. The Senate Democrats’ spending plan was pegged at about $3.8 billion, with half of that ($1.9 billion) going to social services.
Still, the bill could very well generate some interest among rank-and-file Democrats worried about the implosion of the state’s social safety net as a possible next step in the negotiating process. For instance, the legislation appropriates more than $10 million for the Adult Redeploy program, which diverts nonviolent offenders from prison terms. That money would come from the General Revenue Fund, but the legislation also uses money from special state funds to pay for programs popular with Democrats that aren’t currently being funded by the state, like homeless-youth services.
By far, however, the most intriguing aspect of the Republican bill is what’s not in it – at least not yet. None of Rauner’s usual anti-union “poison pills” is attached. The governor has demanded the passage of several reforms as a condition for talking about the budget, but none of those is overtly attached to this new Republican proposal.
The GOP legislation also gives the governor some spending-transfer authority within the budget, but it appears to be much more limited than earlier demands for near dictatorial control over moving around just about every state dollar as he saw fit.
And while the GOP appropriations bill might not actually be fully funded by its pension component, it certainly has more funding behind it than either Democratic plan out there right now. And still more funding could be found by using part of the Democrats’ proposal, which includes forgiving about $450 million in loans from special state funds (an idea that the governor had previously said he could probably live with).
The idea, it appears, is to present a far more “reasonable” GOP face than in the recent past – and put Madigan on defense both for hiding behind his incessant political games and for refusing to come to the bargaining table, thus allowing the state to crash and burn while waiting for the governor to cave.
An official close to Mayor Rahm Emanuel said last week that his boss and Rauner have regularly spoken with each other despite all the harsh public sniping between the two men. The governor, he said, claims that he wants to make a deal.
But Madigan just doesn’t believe that private talks with the governor will work because they obviously haven’t borne fruit since this crisis began in late May of last year, when the Democrats rammed through a hugely unbalanced budget that was then almost completely vetoed by Rauner.
I totally get the lack of trust the Democrats have in this governor. He has broken confidences, has broken his word, and has attempted to break their, um, stones by hurling insults for months. I also fully appreciate the tension that has built up on both sides during the past 14 months or so.
But it’s not like anybody’s doing anything else while we all wait around for Armageddon.
Private negotiations are obviously preferable to public negotiations, but private negotiations are off the table right now because Madigan says so. (And he has his reasons, some better than others.) So public negotiations are better than no negotiations at all, and we’ll have to take what we can get.
Hopefully, we’ll see a counter-offer from the Democrats soon.
*** UPDATE *** No surprise here. The governor’s budget office has recommended that the governor sign the GOP bill if passed. Click to read the memo.
Friday, Apr 8, 2016 - Posted by Advertising Department
[The following is a paid advertisement.]
Credit unions exist as member owned cooperative financial institutions. Cooperatives are most often formed to support producers such as farmers, purchasers such as independent business owners, and consumers in the case of electric coops and credit unions. Their primary purpose is to meet members’ needs through affordable goods and services of high quality. Cooperatives such as credit unions may look like other businesses in their operations and, like other businesses, can range in size. However, the cooperative structure is distinctively different regardless of size.
As not-for-profit financial cooperatives, credit unions serve individuals with a common goal or interest. They are owned and democratically controlled by the people who use their services. Their board of directors consists of unpaid volunteers, elected by and from the membership. Members are owners who pool funds to help other members. After expenses and reserve requirements are met, net revenue is returned to members via lower loan and higher savings rates, and lower costs and fees for services. In exceptional years, bonus dividends may be deposited into member accounts as well. It is the structure of credit unions - not their size or range of services - that is the reason for their tax exempt status, and the reason why almost three million Illinois residents are now among 100 million Americans who count on their local credit union every day to reach their financial goals.
Friday, Apr 8, 2016 - Posted by Advertising Department
[The following is a paid advertisement.]
Nearly 1,900 people responded to the recent Citizen’s Utility Board survey about Exelon’s push to bailout its nuclear plants. Here is how CUB put it:
“Exelon says keeping its nuclear plants open will fight climate change—and they need economic help. Opponents say Exelon just wants bigger profits.
Should Illinois give unprofitable nuclear plants more money if it helps fight climate change?
No:1,583 (about 84 percent)
Yes:298 (about 16 percent)”
—————————————————
Illinois still has no budget, the state’s finances and services are in shambles, the social safety net is being decimated but Exelon STILL wants the Legislature to pass a huge BAILOUT.
BEST Coalition is a 501C4 nonprofit group of dozens of business, consumer and government groups, as well as large and small businesses. Visitwww.noexelonbailout.com.
Cash-strapped Illinois needs to provide in-home nursing care to more than 1,200 children with disabilities and severe medical conditions, a federal judge ordered Wednesday, responding to a lawsuit alleging the state has failed to fulfill its Medicaid obligations. […]
The plaintiffs’ lawyers said the state plans to appeal the decision and ask that the order be stayed until the lawsuit is resolved. […]
Jane Perkins, another plaintiffs’ attorney, said some of the children are currently being treated in hospital intensive care units instead of having a nurse at their home. She said that’s problematic because children who are “medically fragile” are prone to contracting hospital-borne diseases.
Wait… They’re keeping some of those kids in ICUs instead of in home nursing care? Yeah, that’s cost effective.
Sheesh. Good luck with your appeal!
Not.
* Meanwhile, remember when the Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy president wrote that his school owes millions to its vendors, but that he was still confident in the future?…
Is IMSA still viable for the remainder of this year and into next year and into future years? My answer is “yes.” Why do I say this? I believe that IMSA is too important to too many people. We’re too important to Illinois and the world to “fail.” While we’re not “too big to fail,” we’re “too important to too many people to fail.”
Officials in Aurora and elsewhere are raising concerns about how the ongoing state budget war might affect the Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy in Aurora, a high school that draws students from across Illinois.
“How are we going to keep getting good teachers to come here and teach?” state Sen. Linda Holmes, an Aurora Democrat, said. […]
Illinois Board of Higher Education Executive Director James Applegate this week praised officials at IMSA for keeping the doors open and making things work, but he made the comments as part of a push to get lawmakers and Gov. Bruce Rauner to finish up their long-delayed work.
“They are in extremely dire straits right now,” Applegate said.
* Related…
* Tribune editorial: Is Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner anti-union? Or pro-taxpayer?
Those who travel through the busy intersection of Lincoln Avenue, Fullerton Avenue and Halsted Street might have noticed the giant sign hanging over the McDonald’s that reads “Chicago Republican Party, Chris Cleveland, Chairman.”
The city recently issued the owner of the building at 2420 N. Lincoln Ave. a violation for putting up the sign without a permit, threatening to fine the group if it doesn’t follow city protocol, according to the complaint. The chairman of the Chicago Republican Party called the request “unconstitutional.” […]
“I refuse to ask permission for any government entity before engaging in political speech. It’s unconstitutional and offensive,” Cleveland said in an interview.
There’s an error in that second paragraph. The city is going after the building owner, not the Chicago GOP.
City officials aren’t the only ones fed up with the Chicago Republican Party’s giant sign.
The sign, which was installed by the group at 2420 N. Lincoln Ave. last fall without a permit, is covering a big window in Tom Alcock’s psychology office — and he’s not happy about it.
“This has been really hard on me,” Alcock said. “I’ve lost sleep and pounds trying to protect my business.” […]
Alcock said not only does the sign violate city law, but it also violates Alcock’s lease.
Um, yeah, I’d be upset too if some guy violated my lease by covering up my office window with a giant sign…
Cover up your own window, freedom fighter dude.
…Adding… I thought I remembered those signs. Thanks to a commenter for this link.
Voices’ Fiscal Policy Center has taken a look at the spending proposals contained in HB2990 HA2 [the House Democrats’ approp bill] and SB3418 [the GOP proposal] to determine whether either are viable options to immediately relieve the built up pressure on the social service and higher education systems.
Each plan is flawed because neither raises any revenue, and both rely on additional GRF spending when we’re already running large GRF deficits.
The appropriations made in HB2990 HA2 come from both special funds, which have current available cash balances, and GRF. While GRF appropriations mean providers can get in line to get paid, the delay on those payments will be substantial because of the large and growing backlog.
SB3418 appropriations come with an additional barrier in that they are payable only upon the passage of a pension reform bill. As in HB2990 HA2, additional GRF appropriations without revenue mean we increase the deficit and add to the backlog.
So where do we go from here? The introduction of both these bills indicates that house and senate members on both sides of the aisle understand there is a crisis. Both bills also include funding from special funds, so it’s clear everyone understands there is money currently sitting in special funds.
In FY15 it was politically palatable for lawmakers and Governor Rauner to sweep and borrow from special funds to support critical services. If it was deemed reasonable to use those funds in FY15 to keep systems from crashing, perhaps there could be agreement that it would be wise to look at special fund balances to prevent total destruction of the social service and higher education infrastructure.
Of course, the daily destruction from this budget crisis started a few months back and will continue until there is a plan including sustainable revenue to fund FY16, FY17 and beyond. On an emergency basis, though, lawmakers should look at using balances as special funds to keep systems alive while they debate bigger tax and policy reform issues.
* She then texted me this…
It’s important to add that sweeps can be done in a responsible way. Obviously the consequences of sweeps have to be examined before the sweeps are made. But they can be useful to keep entire systems from dying.
The lack of state funds due to the continued budget impasse could keep schools that are heavily dependent upon dollars from Springfield from opening on time, creating a dilemma for parents.
Rauner and Democrats led in the House by Speaker Michael Madigan and in the Senate by President John Cullerton may be rolling the political dice in betting who the public will blame on Election Day if that happens.
Such a pressure point was avoided last year when Rauner vetoed all but the Democratic-drawn elementary and secondary education budget for the state.
Seeing what Rauner did with the school budget last year, Democrats may try to use any school budget appropriation this year to try to gain some kind of leverage against the Republican governor’s agenda.
Providing Illinois social services with critical funding, and utilizing proposals currently available to fund higher education, were part of a proposal introduced today by Senate Republican Leader Christine Radogno (R-Lemont) and House Republican Leader Jim Durkin (R-Western Springs), both of whom called on Democrat leaders to stop playing games and begin working in a bipartisan manner to achieve results for residents of Illinois.
“Today, we are introducing legislation that will fund our most critical social services,” said Leader Radogno (R-Lemont). “The social safety net in Illinois is at a breaking point and we need to stop playing games and bring everyone together to demonstrate to Illinois taxpayers that we can put partisanship aside and do what is right for the most vulnerable in our state.”
The proposal introduced by Leaders Radogno and Durkin would fund Illinois’ most critical social services. The proposal, contains $433 million of General Revenue Funds (GRF) and $858 million of Other State Funds, which totals nearly $1.3 billion.
Senate Bill 3418 would support:
• Seniors in the Community Care Program;
• Veterans;
• Those with mental health issues and developmental disabilities;
• Homeless youth, homeless vets and homelessness prevention in general;
• Programs like Adult Redeploy that that are critical to our criminal justice reform efforts;
• Addiction treatment, sexual assault services and prevention; and
• The Special Olympics
The Republican Leaders also reaffirmed their support for funding higher education, and noted there are a range of options available to secure funding, such as using procurement reform savings, using excess special funds, and giving the Governor authority to move money around. Unfortunately, notes Leader Durkin, there’s been zero consideration on these ideas from the Speaker. In fact, as Chicago State University prepares to close their doors, Democrat leaders won’t even come to a meeting to discuss bipartisan proposals to fix the problem.
“House Republicans are very concerned about funding for higher education, and we’ve tried to jumpstart that conversation by introducing new ideas on how to generate taxpayer savings to show taxpayers that we’re pursuing a way to pay for things,” said Leader Durkin. “There are a range of options out there we should be exploring, and we owe it to the people, and students, of Illinois to have an open and bipartisan dialogue. The time to act is now.”
Both Radogno and Durkin believe that comprehensive pension reform can generate enormous taxpayer savings. Governor Rauner has put forward a number of immediate changes to the pension systems that would generate hundreds of millions of dollars in savings for Fiscal Year 2017 – changes that are not subject to court challenge – savings that can be banked immediately. These are items like dealing with salary spiking and capping pension subsidies for salaries over $180,000 – and stabilizing the actuarial projections.
However, Illinois needs more than that.
“We need structural change for the long-term, and as the Governor has said, we’re just waiting for President Cullerton to submit his consideration plan,” said Radogno. “Together, some of the immediate changes from the Governor’s budget and the long-term changes from the Senate President can pay for this bill and – more importantly – fund a robust social safety net for years to come.”
Both Republican Leaders echoed the Governor’s call for a full leaders’ meeting, and are encouraging the Democrat Leaders in both the House and Senate to attend.
Rauner has criticized spending bills passed by Democrats because they do not come attached with cash to cover the costs. Radogno said the Republican plan will be covered by enacting pension changes sought by the administration that will provide the money to cover the human-services spending.
Rauner has proposed requiring public schools and universities to cover the pension costs for salaries they pay above $180,000 a year, the salary authorized for the governor in Illinois. Rauner also wants to implement a plan that would phase in changes to state contributions caused, for example, when the pension systems cut the rate of return they expect to receive on their investments.
Overall, the administration thinks the changes will save $780 million a year. […]
“I think we would continue to note that the idea of spending pension savings before the bill has passed, let alone gone through any court review, probably isn’t wise,” [Senate President John Cullerton’s spokesman John Patterson] said.
OK, but the approp bill passed by the Senate Democrats wasn’t exactly fully funded either. Far from it, in fact.
*** UPDATE *** Important correction issued by the magazine…
Rich, thanks for including our magazine piece on the blog today.
Wanted to let you know that we’ve issued a correction on that particular quote from Victoria Watkins in our April issue of Chicago Lawyer. After checking the original transcripts, she told our reporter “I protect the city in Springfield.” Somewhere on the editing desk, it got changed to “from Springfield.” That one-word difference offers a vastly different connotation than what Ms. Watkins told us, and I’d like to apologize for the error. We’ve updated the web version of the story and left a note of the change.
Best,
Marc Karlinsky
Editor, Chicago Daily Law Bulletin and Chicago Lawyer
[ *** End Of Update *** ]
* Victoria Watkins, deputy director of the city of Chicago’s Office of Legislative Counsel and Government Affairs, asked by Chicago Lawyer Magazine about a typical day…
When people ask what it is I do, the first thing I always tell them is that I protect the city [in] Springfield. I take that job very seriously. Some people might say too seriously… I wish that’s something more people knew — we have to protect the city far more than we can get for the city. There are so many bills that (city) departments hate and are more concerned with not becoming law than there are with getting their other requests granted.
I am the funding and complaint hotline. By September, I started getting routine calls from different city departments asking, “Victoria, when will we get this money and these appropriations because we need to get started on these contracts?”
We started getting cease-and-desist letters on our projects last year, and we’ve been able to get some things done piecemeal. Unfortunately, there are still some things hanging out there, and many of them are human services-related. The heavy financial and infrastructure things are done for the most part but many intangible, important things that are not. We just keep pushing every day.
A $20.3 million payment backlog for cleaning up leaky underground petroleum tanks in Illinois could cost the state federal approval of the program.
Payment delays have left some individual contractors with millions of dollars in unpaid bills for cleanups at 709 storage tank sites statewide, according to figures from the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency.
The Illinois Comptroller’s Office has no authority to pay contractor claims submitted by the state EPA as a result of a state budget impasse that’s now into its 10th month.
As a result, the U.S. EPA is threatening to cancel its approval of the Illinois program, which would force site owners to purchase private insurance or find other ways to pay for future cleanups while the budget impasse drags on. […]
In a March 21 letter to Illinois EPA Director Lisa Bonnett that was obtained by The State Journal-Register, the U.S. EPA also expresses concern that an estimated $20 million from an “underground storage tank” fund was used for non-cleanup purposes in 2015. The Illinois program, funded through a 1.1 cents-per-gallon tax on fuel, has paid out more than $800 million since it was create in 1989, according to state EPA figures.
Notice how there’s a $20.3 million payment backlog and how the state used $20 million from the fund last year for “non-cleanup purposes”?
Well, the state swept $20 million from the LUST fund and deposited the money into the General Revenue Fund as part of the Fiscal Year 2015 budget fix last May. The funds which were swept supposedly all had excess cash in them.
Oops.
…Adding… I’m told by the governor’s office that the fund’s “balance [currently] exceeds $53 million while current claims waiting for appropriation authority total under $20 million.”
OK, fine, but the EPA is still upset about that sweep.
* From a March 31st Illinois Department of Employment Security press release…
“Illinois’ overall job growth rate remains among the slowest in the country and metro area unemployment rates continue to rise, even with an increase in jobs in February,” said IDES Director Jeff Mays. “Structural reforms will provide the resources we need to more effectively build a stronger workforce and help communities towards achieving economic stability.”
* Yeah, well tell that to this East St. Louis provider which plans to lay off 117 workers…
The Lessie Bates Davis Neighborhood House will lay off 117 workers on April 30 due to the state budget impasse.
The workers are involved in a variety of programs administered by the social services agency, including the Homeless Youth Services Program, the Community Youth Services Program, the Comprehensive Community-based Youth Services Program and the Illinois Healthy Families Program. […]
Kreeb said as of February, the state owes Lessie Bates more than $500,000 for the non-Medicaid clients. He said each month, the Neighborhood House is incurring more than $100,000 in expenses that the state is not reimbursing.
“The agency already has had to borrow more than $500,000 and would have to borrow more than $1million by June 30 to keep the In-Home Services Program operating,” Kreeb said.
Obama stepped off AF1 at 1:14 pm into snow flakes and a brisk wind
They were greeted by mayor Rahm Emanuel w hugs -all of the pols in suit jackets no coats
Malia went straight for the car
The pols stopped to talk for a bit before getting into the motorcade
At 1:19 p.m., we’re heading in motorcade to university
The Dold for Congress campaign today released impressive early fundraising numbers for Q1 2016, as Bob Dold heads into the General Election.
Strong support from Illinois donors contributed to Dold’s incredible $730,000 raised for the first quarter, which also puts Dold’s Cash on Hand at nearly $2 million.
“From backing massive Medicare cuts to breaking his promise to oppose the disastrous agreement that gives Iran a green light to fund terrorism and build nuclear weapons, the 2016 version of Brad Schneider is proving to be even more desperate and dishonest than the Brad Schneider that voters fired in 2014. That’s why 10th District voters are demonstrating unprecedented support for Bob Dold and his record of effective, independent leadership that serves the entire 10th District—rather than the party bosses and D.C. special interests that own Brad Schneider,” said Dold for Congress spokeswoman Danielle Hagen.
* Press release…
Following the March 15th primary election, Democrat Brad Schneider enters the race against Republican Bob Dold in a very strong position. Schneider will build for November from a solid foundation. After an 8-point win in the primary, Schneider has more than half a million dollars already on hand for the general, a massive volunteer and donor network, a robust field program, and an established record with voters as a principled, proven leader for the Tenth District.
As in 2012 when Schneider beat Dold by more than 3,000 votes, 2016 turnout will greatly exceed midterm numbers with presidential and U.S. Senate races at the top of the ticket. Historically in presidential years, nearly 100,000 more voters turn out in IL-10. The electorate trends younger and more diverse than in midterms, which favors Democrats. This was evident in this year’s primary as 94,758 ballots were cast in the Democratic congressional primary, nearly as many as the 95,992 TOTAL votes Dold received in the 2014 General Election.
Even though Schneider won in 2012, 2016 shapes up to be an even stronger year for him in at least three ways:
* The Governor of Illinois, Republican Bruce Rauner, is unpopular.
* In 2012, Schneider won a difficult primary and emerged with just $226,000 on hand and a donor base of 1,000 individuals. In 2016, Schneider starts the General Election with a donor base of more than 14,500 and more than $525,000 in the bank.
* Schneider is now well known throughout the district, a fact only bolstered by the Democratic primary.
In Q1 of this year, Brad raised more than $818,000, a number that will almost certainly again rank him among the top congressional fundraisers in the nation. The average donation of just $48 and a median donation of $10 both reflect the depth and breadth of the grassroots campaign we have built. This strong showing, along with a base of low dollar donors who will continue to contribute in the months ahead, will serve as the basis for successful fundraising through November, providing the necessary resources to effectively communicate with voters.
It is already shaping up to be a difficult year for Republicans, and national news outlets continue to report on Republican Bob Dold’s tough path forward. The difficult national climate for Republicans is further exacerbated by the top of the ticket in Illinois. During 2014, Dold himself proclaimed far and wide that the top of the ticket had the ability to drag down a candidate in the Tenth District. This will surely hit home for him this year with the increasing unpopularity of Republican Governor Bruce Rauner, and tepid support for incumbent Senator Mark Kirk.
Our race continues to be highlighted as one of the nation’s most competitive. In a race this close, every one of our advantages will make the difference. We look forward to building on our strong foundation in the weeks and months to come to secure victory in November.
As part of his Turnaround Agenda, Rauner has proposed venue reform that would put an end to a practice employed by attorneys who file suit in perceived “friendly” courts on behalf of clients with injuries that have no connection to the jurisdiction. […]
John Pastuovic, president of the Illinois Civil Justice League (ICJL), pointed to a study conducted by the ICJL that shows how significantly Madison County is targeted with personal injury claims.
Its report, titled “Litigation Imbalance III,” shows lawsuit filings in Madison County average 8.255 per thousand persons, which is double the rate of Cook County; triple the rate of St. Clair County; and six and a half times the rate of the other 99 counties in Illinois combined.
The reason for Madison County’s high per capita lawsuit filings is due to the court’s asbestos docket - the busiest asbestos court in the country. Madison County handles more than one-third of all asbestos-related cases filed in the entire United States each year, and last year, less than one half of 1 percent of the asbestos lawsuits in Madison County were filed on behalf of Madison County residents.
At 1,678 filed asbestos cases in 2013, Madison County likely handles one-third to one-half of all asbestos-related cases filed in the United States each year, and 168 times more per capita than Cook County. There is great secrecy surrounding the wealth exchanging hands through this docket, but with an estimated outcome of $2 million per case, the Madison County asbestos “rocket docket” could be worth more than $1.74 billion annually – larger than the GDP of Belize – and could produce nearly $600 million annually in contingency fees for plaintiffs’ attorneys.
Madison hosts what is basically a unified national docket, overseen by judges who are experienced at dealing with these sorts of asbestos poisoning cases. Presumably, since it’s a national docket with a tiny number of local cases, most of those filings aren’t even against Illinois businesses. In other words, the targeted businesses are mainly located in other states.
So, while there are genuine concerns that the Madison system gives us a bad reputation among the national business community, its actual impact on Illinois would be somewhat difficult to quantify.
* On the other hand, pumping $600 million worth of local plaintiffs’ attorney fees (with that money overwhelmingly coming from outside the region), plus the salaries of defense lawyers and their staffs and office rents, various court fees and other ancillary things like hotels, restaurants, etc. (for out of state lawyers and/or their expert witnesses) into the area’s economy every year can most certainly be quantified. And that’s a very big number, campers. I was stunned when I saw that report. It’s likely one of the Metro East’s largest economic engines, if not the largest.
That’s probably not something to be proud of, and I even feel a little uneasy about mentioning this, but it’s most definitely something to ponder when talking about yanking the rug out from under the system.
For the first time in at least two decades, the Chicago Teachers Union won’t have an election — because no one has filed to challenge popular CTU President Karen Lewis.
With no opposition against Lewis or any other candidates from the ruling Caucus Of Rank-and-file Educators (CORE) for the upcoming May elections, the slate was effectively granted another three-year term and the election has been cancelled.
Observers say the lack of organized opposition demonstrates members’ support for Lewis and her left-of-center caucus, which has taken on a broader “social justice” agenda and garnered support from activists outside the education sphere for last week’s “Day of Action.” The lack of opponents also legitimizes Lewis and CORE’s leadership at a time of contentious contract negotiations with the Board of Education, which encouraged teachers to break ranks for the Day of Action, a one-day strike. […]
When CORE won its first election in 2010, there were four other caucuses running, including incumbent President Marilyn Stewart’s United Progressive Caucus (UPC) and former President Deborah Lynch’s Proactive Chicago Teachers (PACT).
In 2013, just one slate ran against CORE. The Coalition to Save Our Union — which included members of UPC and PACT — pledged to focus more on member services and rebuild the union’s bridges with district management. Lewis won re-reelection by a near four-to-one margin.
Since then, organized opposition to CORE within the union has largely fizzled out. In part that’s because many members who were previously involved in CTU politics with other caucuses have retired or otherwise left CPS.
Six-year-old Madison Pruitt, who has cancer, wanted to become a cop.
So on Wednesday afternoon, interim Chicago Police Supt. Eddie Johnson walked two blocks from the Gresham District police station to Madison’s home in the Auburn Gresham neighborhood to make her dream come true.
Marching behind Johnson were about 75 cops, including two on horseback.
“I heard your lifelong dream was to be a Chicago Police officer,” Johnson told the little girl, who was bundled up and sitting in a wheelchair as the two met on the front porch of her home where she is receiving hospice care. […]
Each officer made their way up to the front porch to see Madison, including one of the mounted patrolman — still on his horse. Another officer had his police canine — a black lab — by his side.
Madison’s grandmother, Pamlor Nelson, smiled and cried as she looked on.
Thursday, Apr 7, 2016 - Posted by Advertising Department
[The following is a paid advertisement.]
Credit unions exist to help people, not to make a profit. It is this motto of ‘People Helping People’ that sets credit unions apart. Credit unions exist as member owned, not-for- profit financial institutions that have a strong sense of community. Historically, credit unions have championed the cause of supporting underserved communities. In its 36 years of service, the Illinois Credit Union Foundation has awarded more than $3.5 million in scholarships, community service grants, assistance to peer assistance programs, emergency and natural disaster efforts, and community involvement projects. If you are not yet a credit union member, go to ASmarterChoice.org to discover of all the advantages that membership holds.
Help to strengthen our communities from the inside out by becoming a credit union member today!
Thursday, Apr 7, 2016 - Posted by Advertising Department
[The following is a paid advertisement.]
Nearly 1,900 people responded to the recent Citizen’s Utility Board survey about Exelon’s push to bailout its nuclear plants. Here is how CUB put it:
“Exelon says keeping its nuclear plants open will fight climate change—and they need economic help. Opponents say Exelon just wants bigger profits.
Should Illinois give unprofitable nuclear plants more money if it helps fight climate change?
No:1,583 (about 84 percent)
Yes:298 (about 16 percent)”
—————————————————
Illinois still has no budget, the state’s finances and services are in shambles, the social safety net is being decimated but Exelon STILL wants the Legislature to pass a huge BAILOUT.
BEST Coalition is a 501C4 nonprofit group of dozens of business, consumer and government groups, as well as large and small businesses. Visitwww.noexelonbailout.com.
Thursday, Apr 7, 2016 - Posted by Advertising Department
[The following is a paid advertisement.]
As Police Chief in Clinton, I know firsthand of the significant impact the Clinton Power Station has on my community. It employs nearly 700 of our friends and neighbors and funds local government services including schools, fire and emergency response through the $12.6 million it pays in taxes every year.
Outdated energy policies are forcing nuclear energy plants nationwide to close down and Clinton could be next. These closures devastate local communities. Jobs are lost. Services are cut. In 2014, a Vermont town eliminated its entire police department after its local plant closed down.
A State of Illinois report found that if some of the plants in Illinois close, it could cost us $1.8 billion in lost economic activity and 8,000 jobs. Clinton cannot afford this and neither can Illinois.
I encourage our state legislators to adopt energy policy reform legislation the would help preserve our state’s nuclear plants. Taking action is necessary for our state’s economic health and would help prevent plants like Clinton Power Station from closing.
A Senate committee Wednesday unanimously approved a bill that would create a foundation for the Illinois State Fair.
Senate Bill 2903 would create the Illinois State Fairgrounds Foundation under the state Department of Agriculture to raise private funds that could be used at the state fairgrounds in Springfield and DuQuoin.
The foundation would be overseen by a 12-member board appointed by the four legislative leaders and Gov. Bruce Rauner.
Rauner has called for creation of the foundation in part to help pay for an estimated $180 million in deferred maintenance for buildings and other facilities at the two fairgrounds.
The governor just created, without any legislative action, a private economic development organization. The House Democrats have been arguing he should do the same thing here.
Then again, there is a statute on the books creating a trust fund for the mansion…
The Illinois Executive Mansion Trust Fund is created as a separate trust fund outside the State treasury whose funds are not subject to appropriation by the General Assembly, for the purposes of improving, restoring, maintaining, furnishing and operating the Illinois Executive Mansion and the Hayes Home, and for the furnishing of the official offices of the Governor located in the State Capitol in Springfield and the James R. Thompson Center in Chicago. The State Treasurer shall be custodian of the fund, ex officio, and shall invest moneys in the fund in the same manner and subject to the same restrictions as moneys in the State treasury and shall pay out the moneys in the fund as directed by the Governor for the purposes specified in this Section and for no other purpose.
Colleges in Illinois would not be allowed to ask prospective students about criminal convictions during the admissions process under a bill approved Tuesday by the House Higher Education Committee.
The legislation, HB 4446, is sponsored by Rep. Barbara Wheeler, R-Crystal Lake. It was approved on a 16-1 roll call.
“This bill is part of the overarching idea that education and meaningful employment helps reduce recidivism,” Wheeler said. “This provides an opportunity for students — adult students, young students — who may have had a criminal record. It gives them an opportunity to apply for school without feeling any roadblocks or having any roadblocks.”
Don Sevener is a lobbyist for Northern Illinois University. He said the school opposes the bill because it would prevent schools from taking steps to protect people already on campus.
Good points on both sides.
* Other stuff…
* Editorial: How to give poorer kids a fairer cut of state dollars for school: A strength of the bill introduced Wednesday, by Sen. Andy Manar, D-Bunker Hill, is that it attempts to minimize or eliminate the number of middle-tier school districts — not too rich, but not too poor — that would lose state revenue in a funding formula overhaul. Clearly, this provision is designed to draw support for the bill from both Republican and Democrats legislators who represent such districts, but it also feels fundamentally fair. Nobody wants to see districts that are doing just OK get walloped.
* Emanuel pension bill now in Rauner’s court: But Catherine Kelly, a spokeswoman for the governor, indicated he was not inclined to sign it without action on his so-called turnaround agenda — the pro-business, union-weakening proposals he describes as “structural reforms”… “I don’t have any idea why (Cullerton) would [send the bill to Rauner] now,” Nekritz said. “I think it’s very hard for us to override vetoes. We’ve proven in the House that it’s very hard unless the Republicans are on board.” If the bill isn’t signed, the city will have to pay off the $220 million loan and come up with nearly $1 billion more over the next four years in additional pension payments.
* Government consolidation efforts start to gain steam in Illinois: On Wednesday, the Senate Local Government Committee announced formation of a subcommittee that will begin hearings next week on various consolidation bills with an aim toward acting on consolidation proposals yet this spring. “There are a lot of bills looking at how to consolidate government,” said Sen. Emil Jones III, D-Chicago, chairman of the Local Government Committee. “That’s why we did the subcommittee, to look and see which ones are important and which ones we are going to push forward. If we can do anything to save money during this budget impasse, we should be working toward that.”
* Bill would mean no loss of professional license for student loan default: “Somebody who’s that far behind, they’ve got a lot of stresses on them anyway. There may be an illness or a death in the family, who knows? The last thing they need to be threatened with is losing their livelihood in the meantime. If we’re going to get them back on track with their debt we need to keep them working.” Republicans on the committee voted against the bill and questioned why it was needed… “As of last year when we were looking at this we had 21 people who we had issued letters to,” Gricevich said. “This is intended to be just for really rare cases.”
* Lawmaker introduces two new bills to address the Illinois heroin epidemic: The sponsor of the proposals, state Rep. Lou Lang, D-Skokie, says House Bill 5593 will help educate heroin addicts who receive government assistance about the available treatment options as well as naloxone, an antidote that quickly counteracts the effects of an opiate overdose… The second bill, HB5594, would amend the Drug Court Treatment Act by prohibiting drug court judges from denying medication-assisted treatments like methadone for defendants.
* Bill aims to improve response to sex assault cases: Bennett said the bill would “completely redo the way that we address sexual assault cases, from the investigation level to what hospitals do with the examination kits, to how long they have to hold onto them, to the way that police officers are trained, the way that 911 operators are trained. Now there will be mandatory training to address some of these concerns.”
* Gun-rights advocates lobby for improved concealed carry law: Rep. Tim Butler, R-Springfield, said that the lobbyists he spoke with didn’t push any specific change for the concealed carry law, which was passed three years ago and given limited tweaks last year, but advocated to keep fighting for gun rights. Illinois was the last state in the nation to pass a concealed carry law.
Community colleges will no longer be able to foot the bill for [MAP grant] scholarships the state promised to low-income students if lawmakers don’t reach a budget agreement before the start of the fall semester.
“Each semester as they have to make budget cuts, they are less and less able to do that,” said Karen Hunter Anderson, executive director of the Illinois Community College Board. “I would expect by next fall semester, there are almost no colleges that would be able to offer (to front the scholarships).”
The warning came as officials pleaded for lawmakers to strike a spending agreement with Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner. The state’s colleges and universities have gone without financial assistance from the state since July 1. Most agreed to pick up the costs of the scholarships hoping for repayment from the state, but it’s growing increasingly hard for schools to make ends meet.
Anderson told reporters yesterday that “one or two” community colleges have committed to continue picking up the costs this fall. She said half of the colleges originally covered the grants, but now that number is about 20 percent.
James Applegate, the executive director of the Illinois Board of Higher Education also told reporters yesterday “I can’t predict” what will happen in the fall with public four-year universities.
But there’s a local twist. “If Puerto Rico is allowed to declare bankruptcy,” the group’s new TV ad warns, “high-spending states like Illinois will also want to declare bankruptcy. Retirement accounts crushed. A bailout on the backs of savers and seniors.”
For months, federal authorities have hinted at the motive behind the hush-money payments former U.S. House Speaker Dennis Hastert has admitted to making: the sexual abuse of a teenage boy when Hastert was still a suburban high school teacher and wrestling coach.
But now, a Tribune investigation has uncovered new details of the case — at least four people have made what law enforcement sources say are credible allegations of sexual abuse against Hastert. […]
Hastert is alleged to have sexually abused the teens identified by the Tribune when he was a teacher and coach at Yorkville High School in the far southwest suburbs, decades before he became the longest-serving Republican speaker. Some of the alleged conduct, which prosecutors have not detailed, might come to light this week when prosecutors are expected to file sentencing memorandums. […]
In a small town where the Tastee Freez was a gathering place for local teens, Hastert taught many siblings of the alleged victims and knew most of their parents on a first-name basis. Each of the alleged victims identified by the Tribune had their struggles. Yet they all kept quiet about their hometown’s favorite son and the inappropriate sexual contact that they alleged he had with them when they were high school students and he was in a position of trust.
I felt physically ill reading that story. Just disgusting and disturbing.
Three weeks before Dennis Hastert faces sentencing on hush-money charges, his lawyers laid out their reasons for probation in a court filing Wednesday that says the former U.S. House speaker is “profoundly sorry” for the harm he caused others decades ago.
The carefully worded filing suggests Hastert’s attorneys will likely have to walk a fine line when he is sentenced April 27 by U.S. District Judge Thomas M. Durkin.
While Hastert feels remorse for those he has harmed, his lawyers said, they stopped short of acknowledging accusations he sexually abused students when he was a teacher and wrestling coach at Yorkville High School. In fact, they singled out his teaching and coaching background for praise, saying he chose that career path to “make a difference in the lives of young people.”
They also contended that Hastert had “reshaped his life” many years ago.
This week marks the first time in more than a month that both the House and the Senate will be in Springfield for legislative session. We have all been disappointed in the lack of action on the crises facing our state. Now is the opportunity to put partisan differences aside and work together on solutions for the people of Illinois.
In the short term, we must address the crisis facing higher education and social services. For the long term, we must enact a balanced budget alongside job-creating reforms that grow our economy and drive more value for taxpayers.
Numerous pieces of legislation have been introduced in both the Senate and the House that would fund universities, community colleges and the Monetary Award Program (MAP) to ensure no school shuts its doors and no student is financially harmed. I’ve proposed ways to fund MAP grants by enacting procurement reform. Social service providers cannot survive a months-long payment backlog which is why we’ve proposed funding vital services through savings generated by enacting pension reform.
These spending proposals aren’t empty promises — they are linked to key government reforms that generate taxpayer savings; and they would provide universities, community colleges, students and providers the assurances they need to plan for the months ahead.
Passing spending bills with no money to pay for them is simply exacerbating an ever-growing problem while giving students and communities false hope. We need to assure taxpayers that we are not continuing a broken system where we promise to spend money the state doesn’t have.
Let’s consider these bipartisan proposals so that Chicago State doesn’t close its doors. Let’s consider these bipartisan proposals so that Eastern Illinois, Western Illinois and Harper College don’t lay off employees — so that IIT students don’t get charged for their MAP grants and no social service provider cuts off services to our most vulnerable.
Let’s start negotiations immediately — whenever, wherever — 24 hours a day, 7 days a week — on a bipartisan, balanced budget with a mix of reforms, cost reductions and revenue.
Tina Sfondeles, a general assignment reporter at the Sun-Times, will be promoted Thursday to full-time political reporter for the paper. Her new role essentially consolidates the duties formerly held by political writers Natasha Korecki, who left for politico.com, and Dave McKinney, who resigned in protest and works for the Midwest bureau of Thomson Reuters. Before joining the Sun-Times in 2007, Sfondeles was a news writer at CBS Radio all-news WBBM AM 780 and a production assistant for “The Steve Dahl Show.” She’s a graduate of Lemont High School and holds degrees from Loyola University and Columbia College.
Sfondeles has been making the trip to Springfield to cover the Statehouse, so this formal promotion is welcomed news. She’ll do well and this appears to show that the CS-T is finally getting back on its feet, which is also good news.
* This note from President Barack Obama to US Sen. Mark Kirk about Kirk’s recent meeting with Supreme Court nominee Merrick Garland was sent to me last night by the Kirk campaign…
Obama endorsed Duckworth this week, but Kirk got a decent little consolation prize.
* Both chambers have canceled tomorrow’s session. Friday is the White Sox home opener. Priorities? I dunno. Whatever the case, watch all of today’s action with ScribbleLive…
* One of Merle Haggard’s last major interviews, from early February in Rolling Stone…
As he recovers, Haggard, a news junkie, has been watching Donald Trump’s campaign with amusement and concern. “He’s not a politician. I don’t think he understands the way things work in Washington, that’s what worries me about him. I don’t think he realizes he can’t just tell somebody to do something and have it done, you know. I think he’s dealing from a strange deck.”
A reader pointed out that Haggard could’ve also been talking about somebody else closer to home - but I’ll leave that determination for others.
* Here’s the Grateful Dead covering one of Merle’s most famous songs…
