Natalie Davila, former research director for the Illinois Revenue Department, explains in an article in Tax Facts, a publication of the Taxpayers’ Federation of Illinois: In 2012, 1 in 4 Illinois tax returns claimed a retirement income exemption to avoid paying taxes. Altogether, those exemptions cost the state $2.3 billion — money that could pay down Illinois’ pension debt, or help it catch up on the billions in unpaid bills, or fund those human and other services that are getting squeezed out of the budget by the cost of paying interest and principal on the state’s crushing indebtedness.
While the number of residents filing returns overall has actually declined slightly from 2007 to 2012, the number of people claiming a retirement income exemption has increased by 9 percent. While declared income of all residents grew during that time in the single digits, the value of retirement exemptions grew by 36 percent. In other words, the retirement exemption is eating an ever-increasing chunk of the state budget.
As for the “granny tax,” the amazing fact is that most people claiming the retirement income exemption are younger than 65, according to data Davila obtained from the Revenue Department. Overall, some 60 percent of taxpayers claiming a retirement exemption haven’t even reached “retirement age.” It’s even truer for those whose adjusted gross income exceeded $1 million. About 70 percent of the millionaires who claimed the exemption were actually under 65. Their exemption averaged $241,939.
The governor apparently got a phone call from Mayor Emanuel last night giving him a heads up that the House Democrats were going to add $200 million for CPS pension payments to the federal funding appropriations bill.
The Rauner team then notified the Republican legislative leaders and everybody has a thumbs down on the bill.
A spokesman for the House Speaker said he wasn’t aware of any such plans. A source close to Madigan says there’s been no final decision. Madigan said yesterday that he would amend the bill, but indicated it would only include suggestions (from agencies and the governor’s office) for federal funding lines missing in the Senate’s bill.
They really need to keep that bill as clean as possible.
*** UPDATE *** Steve Brown just called and said he asked the Speaker about this rumor and Madigan said he didn’t know anything about it. “That’s news to us.”
Everybody needs to just calm the heck down and take a breath before firing at each other.
The National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL) approved a resolution Thursday urging the federal government to allow states to determine their own marijuana policies. For a resolution to pass, it must be supported by a majority of participating legislators in each of 75% of the states represented at the conference’s general business meeting.
The preamble to the resolution, introduced by New Hampshire State Rep. Renny Cushing, notes that “states are increasingly serving as laboratories for democracy by adopting a variety of policies regarding marijuana and hemp,” and it highlights the fact that “the federal government cannot force a state to criminalize cultivating, possessing, or distributing marijuana or hemp — whether for medical, recreational, industrial, or other uses — because doing so would constitute unconstitutional commandeering.”
The resolution states:
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the National Conference of State Legislatures believes that federal laws, including the Controlled Substances Act, should be amended to explicitly allow states to set their own marijuana and hemp policies without federal interference and urges the administration not to undermine state marijuana and hemp policies.
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the National Conference of State Legislatures recognizes that its members have differing views on how to treat marijuana and hemp in their states and believes that states and localities should be able to set whatever marijuana and hemp policies work best to improve the public safety, health, and economic development of their communities.
“State lawmakers just sent a message to Congress that could not be any clearer,” said Karen O’Keefe, director of state policies for the Marijuana Policy Project, which tracks marijuana policy in all 50 states and lobbies in state legislatures throughout the country. “It’s time to end the federal prohibition of marijuana and let the states decide what policies work best for them.
“A majority of Americans support making marijuana legal for adults and even more think states should be able to establish their own marijuana laws without federal intrusion,” O’Keefe said. “This resolution is a strong indication that legislators throughout the nation are not just hearing from but listening to their constituents when it comes to marijuana policy.”
Twenty-three states, the District of Columbia, and Guam have adopted laws that allow seriously ill patients to use medical marijuana if their doctors recommend it, and four states — Alaska, Colorado, Oregon, and Washington — have adopted laws that make marijuana legal for adults and regulate it similarly to alcohol. Marijuana possession, cultivation, and sales are illegal under federal law, but the Department of Justice has indicated that it will not allocate resources toward enforcing federal marijuana laws in cases involving individuals or businesses that are acting in compliance with state laws.
* I told subscribers about this development earlier today. The stuff in the following piece about Emanuel somehow being behind these mailers seems pretty implausible to me. But, aside from that, have a look…
This week Democratic lawmakers across the City of Chicago have been hit with direct mail brochures criticizing them for their “failure” to help Chicago school students and linked them to budget impasse in Springfield.
A “Democratic” Super PAC – IllinoisGO – is the paid sponsor of the mail pieces and is politically aligned with Governor Bruce Rauner, which is led by an ex-aide to Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel, Greg Goldner.
At a press conference in Springfield on Wednesday, Madigan called out Goldner by name not once but twice regarding the mail pieces, one of which also landed in Madigan’s district.
“The language, the tone, and the message are remarkably similar to Governor Rauner’s message and this was done by Greg Goldner,” said Madigan, flashing copies of the mailers to reporters. “These mailers are similar to those mailers done throughout the City of Chicago; they were done by Greg Goldner, and the language was remarkably similar to the message that comes out of the governor and the governor’s office.”
Madigan linked Goldner to Rauner. “In my judgment, these two people have come together,” Madigan said.
* During his press conference yesterday, Speaker Madigan accidentally knocked off his microphone’s wind cover, repeatedly teased me for looking tired (the firefighters threw a great impromptu party the night before) and skipped his usual opening speech about “acting in moderation, not in the extreme.” But he did get off some pretty good zingers. For example…
Jordan Abudayyeh: “Governor Rauner is handing out pink slips to 171 workers. Is this going to increase the pressure to get a budget done so that more people don’t lose their jobs?”
Mike Madigan: “Why is he doing that?”
Jordan Abudayyeh: “He claims there’s not money, that’s how he’s going to manage the budget deficit.”
Mike Madigan: “Is he going to not pay those high price consultants he’s outsourcing?”
Thursday, Aug 6, 2015 - Posted by Advertising Department
[The following is a paid advertisement.]
Exelon made $638 million in profits in the 2nd quarter of 2015.
That’s an increase of 22.2% from 2014 - adding up to more than $1.3 BILLION in profit for Exelon so far this year. But Exelon says Illinois legislators should help the company make more. Exelon wants to increase costs on struggling families, businesses and government at a time when human services are being slashed and the state is facing a $6 billion budget deficit.
Yet Exelon is demanding a $1.6 BILLION bailout from struggling family, business and government ratepayers including more than $20 million from Chicago and CPS. Maybe Exelon should be bailing out the State of Illinois and City of Chicago instead of the other way around!
Just Say NO to the Exelon Bailout
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Senate President John Cullerton, D-Chicago, said Tuesday he wants to study the legislation before bringing it up for a vote.
“I’m trying to learn as much as I can about the positions that have been taken so far on that,” Cullerton said. “I met with AFSCME yesterday. I’m going to meet with some labor lawyers to see if I can understand what the significance is of that bill.”
Under the legislation, the measure would bar employees from going on strike or Rauner from imposing a lockout. It would allow an independent arbitrator to be appointed to resolve the talks in the event of an impasse.
Rauner vetoed the measure. He said it is unconstitutional and would put the fate of the contract talks in the hands of someone who does not have to answer to voters.
Wait.
He didn’t understand the bill when it first passed?
I kinda find that hard to believe. But, again, avoiding another confrontation this week could be a good sign, no matter where you are on that particular bill.
Rauner on Wednesday said he wants no more “special deals” for Chicago, a day after the Illinois Senate passed a property tax freeze bill that would also pick up $200 million in pension costs for Chicago Public Schools.
“Chicago shouldn’t be getting special deals. All communities should be treated the same,” Rauner said.
The governor said legislators should not be “cherry picking” what they want in terms of school funding.
“We should treat the people of Illinois equitably and fairly and stop giving special deals for Chicago,” he said. “Illinois should not be a dictatorship from Chicago.”
Despite his strong words against giving Chicago favorable treatment, Rauner has supported efforts to do so in the past. In June, the governor backed a plan that would have allowed CPS to delay making a massive $634 million pension payment by several weeks. That plan stalled in the House, and Rauner floated an alternative idea to give CPS an upfront payment of $450 million in grant money that’s normally distributed over the course of the year.
All he was doing was attempting to “win” the day’s news cycle with a populist, base-feeding cheap shot at the city.
The campaign is over. It’s time to start governing, governor.
*** UPDATE 1 *** Doubling down in the city?…
What: Governor Holds Media Briefing Regarding Property Tax Legislation and Chicago Public Schools
Where: James R. Thompson Center – 16th Floor
100 W. Randolph, Chicago
Date: Thursday, August 6, 2015
Time: 2:00 p.m.
*** UPDATE 2 *** From the governor’s press conference…
The city has requested collective bargaining reforms and that should be acknowledged, he said.
Gov. Bruce Rauner wants local governments empowered to decide what topics will, or won’t, be subject to collective bargaining with their employees. To see why that admittedly dramatic proposal could help Chicago and its school system stave off financial disaster, return with us to … 1981.
How long ago was that? Well, Prince Charles married Diana, Princess of Wales. The U.S. encountered its first five known cases of AIDS. And Ronald Reagan entered the White House. Oh — 1981 also was the year that Chicago Public Schools agreed to pay not only the employer’s share of pension contributions, but 77 percent of its employees’ shares too. What could possibly go wrong with that?
Because labor negotiations start with the old contract as the bargaining basis for the new, CPS’ “pension pick-up” has endured for 34 years — even as the district’s finances imploded. Suggest that CPS should pay its share of pension costs and that teachers should pay theirs, as Mayor Rahm Emanuel and schools CEO Forrest Claypool have ventured, and you’re accused of “attacking teachers,” as the Chicago Teachers Union asserted Wednesday.
Chicago, the Chicago Public Schools and many other local governments and school districts in Illinois face a precarious financial situation. But they’re supposed to find their way out without revising the costly provisions of local government contracts that have survived generations of public officials. Gov. Bruce Rauner says, correctly, that copying these provisions from contract to contract creates a one-way ratchet by which decisions made decades ago cannot, in effect, be altered. Unions refuse.
* I think a good case can be made to take pension payments out of the collective bargaining process. It would be a good first step to then phasing out the state pickup of school employer pension payments. But, as you’ll recall, that pension issue is just one small part of the governor’s actual proposal…
Prohibited subjects of bargaining.
(a) A public employer and a labor organization may not bargain over, and no collective bargaining agreement entered into, renewed, or extended on or after the effective date of this amendatory Act of the 99th General Assembly may include, provisions related to the following prohibited subjects of collective bargaining:
(1) Employee pensions, including the impact or implementation of changes to employee pensions, including the Employee Consideration Pension Transition Program as set forth in Section 30 of the Personnel Code.
(2) Wages, including any form of compensation including salaries, overtime compensation, vacations, holidays, and any fringe benefits, including the impact or implementation of changes to the same; except nothing in this Section 7.6 will prohibit the employer from electing to bargain collectively over employer-provided health insurance.
(3) Hours of work, including work schedules, shift schedules, overtime hours, compensatory time, and lunch periods, including the impact or implementation of changes to the same.
(4) Matters of employee tenure, including the impact of employee tenure or time in service on the employer’s exercise of authority including, but not limited to, any consideration the employer must give to the tenure of employees adversely affected by the employer’s exercise of management’s right to conduct a layoff.
* While the Tribune editorial board is making it seem like the governor is a wholly reasonable and moderate man who is being unfairly blocked by an entirely unholy, unreasonable cabal of union thugs and “Democrat Party bosses,” the paper’s news side hasn’t bought in…
Gov. Bruce Rauner on Wednesday tried to use Chicago Public Schools’ money woes and lack of a new teacher contract as leverage, saying the state should not help the district pay for pension costs without also giving local governments across Illinois the ability to limit unions’ collective bargaining ability.
The first-year Republican governor’s criticism was directed at a proposal passed a day earlier by Senate Democrats that would freeze property taxes statewide and pick up roughly $200 million in CPS pension costs. Rauner said that while he supported the idea of a two-year tax freeze, he could not support the Senate measure because it doesn’t contain provisions to let towns and school districts determine what benefits were covered by collective bargaining.
CPS CEO Forrest Claypool tried to distance himself shortly after from the governor’s remarks, issuing a statement that said “mixing labor issues” into the Senate proposal wouldn’t relieve the district’s financial pressures.
Last year, on November 4th, a McLean County judge handed down a sentence for drug possession. Two days in jail. Twenty-four months of probation. Thirty hours of community service. All typical for that kind of crime. The $500 base fine was also standard. Ultimately, however, the first-time offender will walk away paying — or owing — $3,165.50. That’s typical, too.
Like many other states, Illinois has tried to fund its criminal justice system through a series of fees and fines on the men and women who are caught up in it. Backers of this approach say it makes sense that criminals should defray the costs they impose on society. There are, however, a number of problems with the practice.
From a practical standpoint, the majority of people who encounter the criminal justice system are among the least affluent in American society. That makes collection a challenge. It can also lead to debt that makes the already difficult job of re-integrating offenders into society that much harder. For the McLean County individual, the $3,165.50 would take nearly 384 hours of work to pay off at Illinois’ minimum wage — nearly 10 weeks — and that’s not accounting for taxes, food, shelter, clothing and bus fare.
In addition to the practical considerations, the concept of fee-based criminal justice raises philosophical questions. If the plethora of costs are styled as “user fees,” who are the primary users of the criminal justice system? Who are its primary beneficiaries? The people being arrested, tried and convicted? Or the rest of us, who enjoy the protection the law provides? […]
For the McLean County offender, the aggregate comprises 33 separate line items. It includes the base felony fine of $500, $100 for the street value of the drugs, $350 for the traffic and criminal conviction surcharge, $250 for DNA analysis, $100 for the Illinois State Police crime lab, $172 for the violent crime victim assistance fund, $30 for the juvenile records expungement fine, $10 for the medical costs fund, $10 for drug court fees, $15 for the child advocacy center fee, $500 for the drug treatment assessment fund, $100 for the drug trauma fund, $5 for the drug spinal cord injury fee, $25 for police drug task forces, $20 for the prescription drug disposal fund, $30 for the state’s attorney, $22 for the sheriff, $15 for document storage, $9.50 for the copy or motion fee, $10 for probation operations and $600 for probation services — 24 months at $25 per month.
And new fees keep coming. This year, in the wake of outrage over police killings of unarmed black men in New York, South Carolina and Missouri, the Illinois General Assembly passed legislation to equip officers with body cameras. It would be funded by a 50 percent hike in the Traffic and Criminal Conviction Surcharge, a fee that, as its name implies, is imposed on everyone convicted of criminal and traffic offenses. Currently it’s a $10 upcharge on every $40 in fines, but that would increase to $15 under the body cam legislation. It would have been an addition $175 for the McLean County offender.
And, as Brian points out, we have a police body cam bill now partly because of the Ferguson incident. But studies have shown that a big reason for all the over-policing and high arrest and incarceration rates in St. Louis County is that local government budgets depend far too heavily on a whole bunch of fees and fines which the poor can’t pay, and because they can’t pay they wind up back in jail.
The budget quagmire has affected everything from the recruitment and retention of faculty to the Monetary Award Program, or MAP grants, for students.
“The MAP students are the first casualties of this budget impasse,” Applegate says. “And of course they’re the low-income students, the students that are the most vulnerable. Now some of our institutions, I know, plan to front the money for the students, in the hopes that they’ll eventually get paid. Not all of them can afford to do that.”
More than 125,000 students are eligible for MAP grants this year.
Although payments for the Monetary Award Program don’t typically start until mid-August, the Illinois Student Assistance Commission said uncertainty over the budget could cause some colleges and universities to wait to credit students with grants.
“In some cases, this could lead a student to take out additional loans, drop some classes, and then even be unable to enroll in the next semester if there was still an unpaid balance on the student’s account,” said ISAC spokeswoman Lynne Baker. […]
And, at the community college level, she said some schools could hold a student’s federal Pell grant to cover the missing MAP money, leaving students without access to cash for immediate expenses.
* Mid-August is coming up fast. Some universities and community colleges will probably just agree to wait for the state money. But will all of them? And for how long?
Statehouse types are gonna feel some major heat from seriously irate parents if tens of thousands of college students can’t afford to go back to school.
“So far, AFSCME has demanded a very big pay hike, pension benefits, health improvements, tough work rules,” Rauner said. “They have not made any concessions. We’ve compromised off of our initial proposals. So we’re stuck.”
* But check out what Dane Placko found when he looked at state school superintendent Tony Smith’s own employment contract…
The three and a half year deal starts at $225-thousand dollars, with three-percent raises each year.
Smith gets 35 days’ vacation, which is seven full weeks, but can bank 20 of those days each year and cash them in when he leaves. […]
And while all state employees are required to pay for part of their health insurance and pension, the Board agreed to pick up Smith’s employee contribution for both, a perk worth thousands of dollars a year.
Not to mention that sweet little deal that makes up for the loss of retirement income for being in the Tier Two pension system.
* The governor’s office denied all knowledge of Smith’s contract, and Rauner’s hand-picked school board chairman James Meeks is reluctantly backtracking…
“We’ll renegotiate (the contract), but it may end up costing us more money…I think it’s all much ado about nothing. The general assembly is bored. They should be more focused on getting a budget.”
he state budget stalemate led two Wall Street ratings agencies Wednesday to downgrade by several notches more than $3 billion in bonds issued by the agency that runs Navy Pier and McCormick Place.
Both Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services and Fitch Ratings kept the debt ratings of bonds used to build facilities near McCormick Place three levels above junk status, but S&P also placed it on a negative watch and Fitch gave it a negative outlook.
Although the Metropolitan Pier and Exposition Authority has more than enough money to make bond payments, it did not make a required $20.8 million monthly payment July 20 to a trust account because of lack of state authorization, according to the ratings reports. Enough money must be in that account to make debt service payments that are due Dec. 15.
Senate lawmakers had hoped to avoid the downgrade, and a day earlier passed legislation that would allow McPier to make the debt payment in spite of the budget impasse that had held up those dollars. S&P was dismissive of that legislation, saying its passage would not affect the rating.
S&P acknowledged McPier’s financial ability to make its next debt service payment on Dec. 15 and that the funds cannot be used for any other purpose without legislative action. But “we now believe this (payment) structure is vulnerable to (state budget) pressures as they play out in the state budget and appropriations process,” the agency said in a statement. “The rating action reflects our view that the bonds are in fact appropriation obligations of the state, rather than special tax bonds, and are now one notch below our current A-/Watch Negative general obligation rating on Illinois.”
The BBB+ rating remains investment grade and three notches above junk status, according to S&P’s rating scale.
McPier bondholders are not immediately in jeopardy of not getting paid, but the ratings downgrade is the latest ripple effect of the deadlock in Springfield.
While the legislation would ensure bondholders get paid later this year, it won’t impact MPEA’s rating given that Standard & Poor’s now considers it an appropriation obligation, which limits the rating to one notch below the state.
Several buyside analysts that follow the MPEA credit said they believe applying that methodology more accurately reflects the risk.
“It’s an example of why it’s hard to trust some public ratings,” said one buyside analyst of Standard & Poor’s previous view. […]
“The previous AA-minus rating reflected Fitch Ratings’ assessment that the bonds were distanced from the general operating pressures of the state,” Fitch analysts wrote.
“This is no longer the case,” they wrote. “Therefore, the rating is limited to one notch below the GO rating of the State of Illinois.”
In secondary market trading on Wednesday, the spread for some of the authority’s bonds over Municipal Market Data’s benchmark triple-A yield scale jumped to 136 basis points from 88 basis points on July 28. That involved $5 million of bonds due in 2028, according to MMD.
On Wednesday, three Republican members of COGFA voted to keep the facilities open: Rep. Raymond Poe of Springfield, Rep. Don Moffitt of Gilson, and Rep. Mike Unes of East Peoria.
Poe said after the hearing that lawmakers should consider putting more teeth into the state’s law covering facility closures so that the COGFA decisions are binding. […]
Moffitt said Rauner should use the COGFA vote as an opportunity to look for new approaches to keep the facility open.
“I think the idea would be he would postpone any actions (to close it). Back off, take a look, how can they bring more revenue to the state?” Moffitt said.
* Over in the Senate, GOP Sen. Sam McCann, who represents Springfield, voted “Yes” on Sen. Andy Manar’s bill to keep the museum open.
* Also, yesterday, 9 Senate Republicans voted “Present” on a bill that would overturn the governor’s emergency rules that will slash childcare assistance admissions by 90 percent, including all three SGOP members of JCAR. One of those Republicans told me today he knew the bill was going to pass and didn’t want to be listed as voting against childcare, especially considering that Gov. Rauner may very well do yet another u-turn.
Smallish defections, for sure, but still somewhat notable.
* I don’t know whether “Very respectfully” was used in an ironic sense here, but I suspect it was…
…Adding… Rep. Bradley actually said during committee today that the tone of the letter showed progress. It did, but it ain’t quite cordial yet. to say the least.
Visit the campus of Dartmouth College in New Hampshire, and you’ll find plenty of signs that our first-year governor, Bruce Rauner, once was there and fondly recalls his time as a student at the Ivy League institution.
There’s the Rauner Special Collections Library. There’s the dorm called Rauner Hall. There’s the economics professorship Rauner and his wife also endowed, and the Rauner Scholarship Fund for Dartmouth students from the Chicago area.
And now, a few months after the college’s hugely successful alumnus was sworn in as Illinois governor, there’s also a state of Illinois contract for Dartmouth.
State documents obtained by the Chicago Sun-Times show Rauner’s aides gave a no-bid deal to Dartmouth on May 4. There’s no record state government previously had given any contracts to Dartmouth.
The total amount of the contract with the college was only $20,000. Yes, that’s a drop in the Springfield bucket.
But again, even as Rauner pushes for deeper and deeper cuts in state spending, we see there’s money still to be found somewhere, somehow for those who know him or are doing what he wants done.
I’m told this is shopped oppo. Another reporter called about it earlier.
* The Department of Human Services responds…
The Illinois Department of Human Service’s Division of Rehabilitation Services is required to provide an evaluation of the Individual Placement and Support (IPS) program because of a federal grant the state receives. Illinois has been offering the IPS program since 2001, which was established under the direction of the Dartmouth Psychiatric Research Center.
Discussions on this contract between IDHS and Dartmouth began in October of 2014. IDHS issued in late FY15 a $20,000 contract to Dartmouth College for an evaluation that’s required because of the federal grant. Dartmouth was selected because of its extensive and renowned work with the program. It developed the IPS model IDHS asked the college to evaluate. Since its development of this model, Dartmouth has conducted training and evaluations in multiple states and for multiple providers. State statute allows agencies to grant money to providers for services to evaluate how programs affected specific clientele.
No one in the governor’s office was involved in awarding this contract or was even aware of the contract until the media inquired about it.
An anchor of the neighborhood for 21 years, Wee Are the World Child Care is a haven not just for kids, but for their mostly low-wage parents. The parents can get a toehold in the workforce while knowing that their children will be safe and school-ready, thanks to a government-subsidized program.
But under new cost-cutting measures that went into effect July 1, the Child Care Assistance Program has essentially put a freeze on future applicants. Stricter income guidelines have slashed the amount an applicant can earn, so now only 10 percent of families once considered eligible qualify, experts say. For a family of three, that means an annual income of about $10,000, a decrease from roughly $37,000 previously. […]
It is the new income levels that require new applicants earn 50 percent or less of the poverty level that early childhood advocates consider the most draconian.
“The front door of the program has been locked — and this was done administratively — without vote or public debate,” said Maria Whelan, director of Illinois Action for Children, a nonprofit. “We have literally pulled the rug out from under these parents, who are doing exactly what we told them to do — go to work.”
The Senate today passed a bill that would negate the governor’s rule changes. The legislation now goes to the House.
* Gov. Rauner said today that he thought AFSCME’s no strike/binding arbitration legislation was the worst bill in state history. He also said he would not ever lock out unionized employees, even offering to put his promise in writing. Rauner said AFSCME wants the bill now because he’s the first governor who didn’t take any campaign contributions from the union.
There’s no doubt that the bill would infringe upon the governor’s traditional right to negotiate a labor contract.
But there’s also no doubt that the threat of a veto override has prodded the governor to move away from some of his more egregious demands, like tying a “Yes” vote on the contract to automatically moving the worker to the Tier 2 pension plan.
As far as I know, though, he’s still demanding that AFSCME hand-collect its dues, which is a ridiculous idea.
* And despite today’s statement, he is on record in the past saying he’d be perfectly willing to shut down the government to get what he wants from the union.
So, I guess this boils down to whether you trust him or not. If the governor’s veto is not overridden, will he revert back to previous form?
I’m kinda leaning in that direction.
Maybe he should put his “no lockout” pledge in writing.
* Lots of editorial boards are firmly on the governor’s side, however, and some do make some valid points…
* Tribune: The Illinois pick-your-pocket bill: Rauner is the elected governor. Stripping him of bargaining powers and handing them over to unelected arbitrators would be a recipe for disaster in a state that can’t pay its bills on time. Rauner needs to negotiate a contract that is less expensive, not more expensive, than the one that recently expired.
* Daily Herald: Governor’s veto of unsettling arbitration law should stand: If arbitration truly has to become a feature of state government negotiations, this is not the bill to make it so. And, in any case, it is far preferable for both sides to cool the rhetoric and approach the negotiations with the kind of realistic expectations and mutual respect that will make any talk of arbitration unnecessary.
* Dispatch and Argus: Tell Illinois lawmakers to uphold this wise veto: We urge our readers who oppose a bill that could put one-fifth of a state budget that already will require a significant tax hike in the hands of unelected, unaccountable arbitrators, to join them in having your voice heard. Please contact the following lawmakers and tell them to uphold the governor’s veto.
* Rockford Register Star: Lawmakers shouldn’t override Gov. Bruce Rauner’s veto of anti-collective bargaining bill: As Rockford has found out over years of negotiating police and fire contracts, binding arbitration offers the unions an easy escape hatch, allowing them to take their final offer to an arbitrator instead of negotiating seriously with the mayor and his negotiators.
* Daily Chronicle: Change the broken system: But why would we want to take the power to negotiate out of the hands of our elected chief executive and turn it over to an arbitrator who is accountable to no one? That’s the kind of backroom dealing that got Illinois where it is in the first place.
* Journal Courier: Don’t override veto of clearly poor legislation: Don’t confuse the role of an arbitrator with the King Solomon-like wisdom of compromise. There is nothing that would require an arbitrator find something balanced. Rather, a decision could be made that benefits just the governor’s side or just the union’s side. That decision would be binding. Not to mention highly threatening to the role of powers and balances in Illinois.
* Pantagraph: Veto of arbitration bill should stand: The arbitration process is stacked in favor of the union. The state and the union both pick an arbitrator, which would cancel each other. So, the decision would be made primarily by the third arbitrator, which the law says must be selected from the “Public Employees Labor Mediation and Arbitration Roster.’’ The Rauner administration general counsel, Jason Barclay, says the names on the list are well known as arbitrators that favor labor unions.
Wednesday, Aug 5, 2015 - Posted by Advertising Department
[The following is a paid advertisement.]
As not-for-profit financial cooperatives, credit unions of all asset sizes have a well-recognized reputation for providing exemplary service in meeting their members’ daily financial needs – especially when unexpected circumstances arise.
With a membership base of state highway and transportation workers and their families, Peoria Hiway is one of the nearly 30 Illinois credit unions that immediately stepped up to the needs of its members in light of the State’s budget impasse. Should members experience a payroll interruption, this $2.9 million credit union is ready to offer a three month no-interest note, a new loan program made possible via a new initiative with Illinois Treasurer Michael W. Frerichs. Treasurer Frerichs recently announced, in partnership with Illinois credit unions, the availability of more than $50 million in funding for interest-free loans during this challenging time.
Peoria Hiway Credit Union is also experiencing membership growth, as more state employees are seeking out the benefits of credit union membership and turning to them as a new source of assistance. To find a credit union near you that is specifically stepping up to help Illinois State employees and their families, please go to www.icul.com. Illinois credit unions – putting people before profits – one of the virtues that define the credit union difference.
Mike Connelly suggested I send you this from your January 30 “It’s Just A Bill” section which was listed as “A good idea but it’s gonna take a whole lot of work and attention to details”. Done and done
In an effort to give terminally-ill patients access to clinical-trial, experimental medical treatments, the bipartisan duo of State Sen. Michael Connelly (R-Lisle) and State Rep. Greg Harris (D-Chicago) are seeking to bring “Right to Try” to Illinois.
If passed, Senate Bill 29 would make Illinois the sixth state in the nation to pass this potentially lifesaving access to experimental medical treatments. Arizona, Colorado, Louisiana, Michigan and Missouri have pass the initiatives either through their legislatures or through referenda.
“It is incumbent upon us in the General Assembly to provide our constituents afflicted with terminal illness access to potentially life-saving or life-extending medications that have been deemed safe by the FDA. This legislation does just that,” Connelly said.
“I hope this shows that in Illinois, Republicans and Democrats, social liberals or social conservatives, can reach across the aisle to solve problems for suffering families. These families are desperate to cut through red-tape to access possible cures for their loved ones when all other treatments have failed.” Harris said. “‘Right to try’ is a huge leap forward to help connect our state’s most terminal patients with some of the nation’s best medical resources, including those here in Chicago and give them the gift of life.”
Despite a court ruling that allows workers to be paid even though there is no state budget, Gov. Bruce Rauner’s administration is planning to lay off more than 120 employees on Sept. 30.
Layoff notices are being handed out this week to 33 conservation police officers, nine workers at the World Shooting Recreational Complex in Sparta, 54 staffers associated with the Illinois State Museum and four Sangamon County-based employees of the state’s coal promotion office.
In addition, 24 employees at the Illinois Commerce Commission, which regulates utilities, will receive pink slips as part of a reorganization. Other workers are sprinkled around various state agencies.
The layoff notices are the latest move in the ongoing budget impasse that has roiled state government. Until now, layoffs associated with the stalemate between Rauner and Democrats who control the General Assembly have been mostly limited to not-for-profit social service agencies that rely on state funds to stay afloat.
I’m hearing more are on the way.
* The union representing conservation police officers has created a map showing where the layoffs are. Click the pic for a larger version, but also check this out…
Since the beginning of 2015, IDNR has filled over 180 positions, including 161 Temporary and 29 Permanent. 59 of these have been since July 1st.
* African-American politicians have been whispering about Cook County Commissioner Richard Boykin’s possible US Senate bid for a couple of weeks now. Boykin, who is black, is suspected by some (without any hard evidence) of being a plant…
Boykin would be running against U.S. Rep. Tammy Duckworth, who has the support of powerful U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin — and former Chicago Urban League CEO Andrea Zopp, who could garner huge support in the African-American community and has the support of former White House Chief of Staff Bill Daley.
Is Boykin hoping to shave votes away from Zopp in order to help Duckworth?
“I have not talked to Senator Durbin and I don’t look at my entry as taking votes away from Zopp or Duckworth,” he told Sneed.
It’s been suggested by top Dem sources Boykin, who has signaled intentions to eventually run for the congressional seat of his old boss when and if Davis retires, is also hoping to start building up a future federal account of support and campaign cash by running against Kirk now.
An attempt by a veteran Southwest Side state lawmaker to resign his seat early and install his son as his replacement has run into what some might consider an unlikely obstacle.
Cook County Commissioner John P. Daley confirmed Monday that he had blocked an effort by state Rep. Edward Acevedo, D-Chicago, to give his seat to his son, Alex.
Acevedo, a former Chicago police officer first elected to the General Assembly in 1996, had previously made known his intention to resign at the end of this term. His son has already declared he will be a candidate to replace him in 2016.
But in what has become a commonplace maneuver by Chicago politicians, Acevedo sought to give up his position now to allow his son to be put in office early by a vote of the Democratic ward committeemen representing the legislative district.
Commissioner Daley had earlier decided not to appoint Patrick Daley Thompson to 11th Ward alderman James Balcer’s seat after Balcer announced his retirement. If Thompson had to run, so will Acevedo.
As workers’ compensation reform talks continue, the Senate President reminded the caucus that as a result of 2011 changes, rates are dropping. There may be more that we can do, but we should acknowledge the progress that has been made. The attached visual illustrates that point.
* Click the pic for a larger image…
Discuss.
*** UPDATE *** Our resident workers’ comp expert Louis Atsaves responded in comments…
Before everyone does their happy dance, let’s keep things in perspective here. Premiums in Workers’ Comp are basically based on payroll totals. Payroll figures alone do not determine premiums but the type of jobs that generate those salaries that appear on the payroll. For example, an office secretary payroll premium is far less than a manufacturing worker who grinds metal. the premium for an office security guard is less than that of a flagger on a road construction site.
I would opine that the current job market with the loss of those high paying, higher premium jobs, coupled with less salary to service employees (department stores, non-union groceries, restaurants) that many of those workers moved into, is more evidence than a simple “premium” comparison.
The rates have declined on an average because of the loss of manufacturing jobs, steady construction jobs (road and bridge building) and other heavy industry (trucking, shipping) that have left this state since the year of the start of that chart.
If anyone plans on cherry picking those numbers by waiving that chart around as “proof” that Workers’ Comp is not in need of reform, then we truly are in sad shape. It means there are folks still out there that don’t fully recognize the problem the loss of higher paying blue collar jobs has created in this state.
* Subscribers already know about some other layoff notices. From AFSCME Council 31…
On Aug. 3, AFSCME received notice from the Rauner Administration of 94 layoffs in state government. The threatened job losses are in the Department of Natural Resources (54 layoffs associated with the Governor’s plan to close the Illinois State Museum sites and the Sparta World Shooting Complex), the Illinois Commerce Commission (24), the Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity (9) and the Illinois Emergency Management Agency (7).
The notices all cited a lack of funds as the rationale for the layoffs, which have an effective date of September 30.
“Most of these layoffs stem from Governor Rauner’s rush to shutter the Illinois State Museum sites, destroying a vital resource for learning and the preservation of cultural heritage and putting professional museum curators, librarians and support staff in the unemployment lines,” AFSCME Council 31 executive director Roberta Lynch said.
“Other layoffs would throw out of work men and women involved with nuclear safety, tourism, recycling and overseeing public utilities.
“Instead of holding hostage the public services Illinois residents rely on and eliminating jobs of public service workers who provide them, the Governor should drop his extreme political agenda that would hurt the middle class and work with legislators to pass a budget that prevents these cuts.”
Illinois has the nation’s smallest state employee workforce per capita. DNR was already cut 40% since 2000, DCEO cut 33% and IEMA cut 39%, hampering the ability of these agencies to meet their goals. At the ICC, this layoff could have a significant impact, eliminating 24 staff from an agency that had just 69 employees at the start of 2015, a 35% cut.
…Adding… The ICC would like you to know that they actually have 222 employees, not the 69 that AFSCME claims.
* The Wall St. Journal interviews our very own Ken Griffin…
WSJ: What is it like to see your personal life, business life and political giving become headline news?
KG: For choice, I prefer not to be a public figure. I don’t have Tom Cruise’s good looks. I don’t have a need to be on the front page of fill-in-the-blank. On my political giving, look, there’s probably not a week that goes by that I don’t realize the sacrifices that our forefathers made for this country. Yes, I’m involved in politics. Because frankly, if not me, who?
WSJ: You’ve given millions to back Republican Bruce Rauner for governor of Illinois, yet also boosted Democrat Rahm Emanuel for mayor of Chicago. Where do your politics lie?
KG: I can’t describe myself as a diehard Republication or faithful Democrat. The distinction between our two parties in the United States is pretty narrow. We need a mayor who understands how to get through a balance sheet; it was an easy call to get behind Rahm. I want Bruce to be comfortable knowing that he’s got my support however he feels it’s best to use. Anyone who knows him knows you don’t have influence with Bruce.
Still a lot of pain out there, particularly those human service grants and programs.
…Adding… A bit more info…
Human services programs include addiction treatment, MH, DH, early intervention, home services, child care. The consent decrees only apply to certain populations of people, not all those eligible, only the population tied to the decree.
Other examples are funeral and burial assistance, homeless prevention for adults and youth, breast and cervical cancer screening program, AIDS/HIV treatment services, immunization and outreach.
Public Health depts. are not receiving their GRF funding.
…Adding More… To clarify, this is only GRF money. There are other state funds out there.
* It’s too bad that the governor isn’t choosing to highlight this legislation with signing ceremonies. But, whatever, as long as they become law, I don’t really care…
Fewer juveniles will be automatically transferred to adult court under a measure Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner signed into law Tuesday.
The legislation, which was pushed by Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle, eliminates the automatic transfer to adult court of 15-year-olds accused of any crime, no matter how serious. For 16- and 17-year-olds, only those charged with murder, aggravated criminal sexual assault and aggravated battery with a firearm would automatically be sent to adult court.
State plans are due in September 2016, though states that need more time can ask for a two-year extension. In Illinois, overall emissions will need to drop by about 31 percent from 2012 levels to 66.5 million tons — equivalent to taking 5.6 million cars off the roads.
Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner declined to comment on the new rules pending a more detailed review. Unlike many of his fellow Republican governors, Rauner is not expected to join in the legal challenges, in part because Exelon’s carbon-free nuclear plants account for nearly half of the state’s energy mix. Illinois also is home to the corporate headquarters of more than a dozen wind companies.
Last month, Rauner’s top environmental regulator told an industry forum that Illinois is taking a “no-regrets approach” to complying with the climate rules. State officials have been meeting throughout the past year with officials from other states and various industries to discuss how to meet the EPA targets without disrupting the economy.
“Illinois is well positioned to meet the challenge with targeted policy initiatives that harness the state’s energy efficiency and renewable energy resources to complement our nuclear and coal resources,” said Illinois EPA Director Lisa Bonnett, a longtime agency official retained by the Rauner administration.
Coal and gas plants in Illinois emitted 2,208 pounds of carbon dioxide for every megawatt-hour of electricity generated in 2012, according to updated EPA data. The new rules will require the state to reduce that rate to 1,245 pounds per megawatt-hour — a decline of nearly 44 percent — by 2030.
* The coal-mining industry is super-efficient in this country. Despite Illinois being the fifth largest producer of coal, and producing more coal in this state last year than at any time since 1992, the industry only employs about 4,200 workers here.
One way to partially meet the president’s goals might be to use more Illinois coal, because it burns so hot and can therefore produce more electricity per ton than western coal. But that’s gonna be expensive because of scrubbers.
It’s a little amazing to me that natural gas trails renewables by so much here. But perhaps with some government incentives, we could kickstart the nonexistent fracking industry here by tying new or converted plants to Illinois natural gas production.
But converting coal-fired plants to gas or building new ones won’t be cheap, either.
Even so, we’re in a much better position than other states, like Indiana, because we have our nukes and significant renewable sources.
* The Senate Democrats’ bill we discussed earlier today is now being supported by Gov. Bruce Rauner, according to his spokesman.
That means almost $5 billion will be appropriated for all sorts of purposes. From a subscriber post earlier today…
The amendment provides appropriations for the remaining federal funds totaling 4.8 billion for FY16. Public Act 99-05 contains federal education funds and, coupled with the amendment, brings the total FF appropriations to $7.65 billion. All federal funds for the executive agencies mirror the level introduced by the governor.
The state administers many federally funded and/or mandated programs. In many instances, agencies simply serve as a pass-through for federal funds to local providers, and the lack of appropriations authority for funds that have already been approved at the federal level prohibits this pass-through from happening.
Program Highlights
DCEO
· $330 million is included for the federally supported portion of the LIHEAP program
· $275 million is included for job training under the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (formerly Workforce Investment Act/WIA)
o Community colleges and private providers throughout the state can access the funding to provide job training services to adults
· $260 million for community block grants for small cities to assist Illinois communities in meeting their greatest economic and community development needs, with an emphasis on helping communities with substantial low to moderate-income populations
· $60 million for the community service block grant program, which provides a range of services that help low-income people attain skills, knowledge and motivation necessary to achieve self-sufficiency. The program also may provide low-income people immediate life necessities such as food, shelter and medicine
DHS
· $304.2 million for family and community services including support for domestic violence victims, food banks, child care and refugees
· $323.8 million for the WIC program (services are currently being provided by court order)
· $33.4 million for mental health services for adults and children
· $80.6 million for alcohol and substance abuse treatment and preventions services
· $50 million for community services for individuals with developmental disabilities
· $176.5 million for rehabilitation services to help disabled individuals live independently and become participating members of society
Veterans’ Affairs
· $125,000 for the homeless veterans program. The veterans home in Manteno provides housing and supportive services for homeless Illinois veterans.
DPH
· $312.8 million for various programs including:
o Breast and cervical cancer screening
o AIDS/HIV prevention
o Immunizations
o Perinatal services
o Rural health centers
o Monitoring of long-term care facilities
Dept. on Aging
· $98.7 million to support statewide Area Agencies on Aging, which provide services to seniors in the community including:
o Home delivered meals
o Employment services
o Elder abuse prevention
o Ombudsmen
Military Affairs
· $9.8 million for the Lincoln’s ChalleNGe Academy
ISBE
· $163.3 million includes funding for Race to the Top, Early learning challenge and student assessments
“I understand the Governor has an agenda. But having your agenda should not come at the expense of running down either the city or the state you’re out there promoting,” Emanuel said.
At another point during the interview, the mayor said the governor was “running down” Illinois with his constant criticism of the state’s business climate.
Tuesday, Aug 4, 2015 - Posted by Advertising Department
[The following is a paid advertisement.]
While our state budget crisis becomes increasingly dire, Exelon still demands a corporate bailout despite making more than $1.3 BILLION in profit in the first six months of the year. This is exactly the wrong thing for Illinois’ citizens and businesses.
EXELON JUST ANNOUNCED SECOND QUARTER 2015 PROFITS: $638 MILLION
SEVEN MILLION DOLLARS A DAY or $292,125 AN HOUR
That’s up 22.2% from 2014! Sounds like Exelon had a pretty good second quarter. And yet this wildly profitable company still seeks a bailout from struggling Illinois ratepayers and threatens to throw thousands of people out of work because they’re supposedly not making enough money.
EDITORIAL BOARDS FROM CHICAGO TO BELLEVILLE AGREE…JUST SAY NO TO THE EXELON BAILOUT.
Belleville said it best:
“Good old Exelon. The company has come up with legislation to subsidize its nuclear reactors, get electric users throughout the state to pay for it and claim it’s in the interest of clean energy.”
“State lawmakers need to see this bill for the dirty trick it is and kill it.”
Just say no to the Exelon bailout. Vote no on SB1585/HB3293.
BEST Coalition is a 501C4 nonprofit group of dozens of business, consumer and government groups, as well as large and small businesses. Visit www.noexelonbailout.com.
In an action that’s going to set some tongues wagging, the U.S. Supreme Court has cleared the way for a possible appeal of an Illinois Supreme Court decision in May that rejected a state pension reform law.
The action came yesterday when the court granted a request from Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan to extend from Aug. 6 until Sept. 10 the deadline for asking the court to take up the matter, a legal step known as filing a writ of certiorari.
The request for more time was granted by Justice Elena Kagan, who reviews such requests from Illinois and other states in the federal 7th Circuit. Kagan did not indicate why she approved the application.
Madigan’s office has insisted that its request for more time is routine and had almost no comment yesterday evening. A Madigan spokesman wouldn’t even say whether the office was pleased that its request was approved or whether the high court action makes an eventual appeal more likely.
In her petition to Kagan, Madigan said the case “raises important issues regarding the reserved powers doctrine of the U.S. Constitution, which prohibits a state from surrendering ‘an essential attribute of its sovereignty.’ ”
The high court may need to decide “whether the reserved powers doctrine prevents a state from abdicating its police powers authority to modify its own contractual obligations in extreme circumstances” and “if not, whether the Illinois Supreme Court identified the correct standard by which the validity of a state’s exercise of its police power is judged,” the petition said.
Madigan spokeswoman Eileen Boyce downplayed the significance of the petition, terming it “a fairly routine request. We’re reviewing all of our options before deciding on the next step.”
But Boyce could not immediately say when—or if—an Illinois attorney general had ever considered appealing an Illinois Supreme Court decision of this magnitude to the U.S. Supreme Court. And she said the office also is reviewing last week’s Cook Cook County Circuit Court decision that threw out city pension reform on the same constitutional grounds.
Asked flatly if Madigan is considering taking the matter to the U.S. Supreme Court, Boyce replied, “We are continuing to consider all of the next best steps.”
A lawsuit alleging ethics violations nearly a decade ago has become an issue in a Democratic congresswoman’s bid to unseat first-term Republican U.S. Sen. Mark Kirk in what is expected to be one of the country’s most competitive 2016 Senate races.
The complaint alleging workplace retaliation was filed by two employees of a southern Illinois veterans home against Tammy Duckworth, now a Chicago-area congresswoman who at the time led the Illinois Department of Veterans Affairs.
The suit was dismissed by a federal judge in 2008 as a “garden variety workplace case.” It was refiled in state court and dismissed again, but then narrowed and brought back a third time. A judge has scheduled a hearing on the complaint for Tuesday, with a trial date tentatively set for next April, a month after the Senate primaries.
Illinois Republicans have highlighted the case, seeking to thwart Duckworth’s bid against Kirk, a moderate in a Democrat-leaning state who is seen as one of the most vulnerable Republican senators next year. Kirk, who had a stroke in 2012 and has been criticized lately for a string of public gaffes, can expect a tough re-election challenge in a presidential year, especially if Illinois-born Hillary Rodham Clinton is also on the ballot.
The Republicans have portrayed the lawsuit as a “whistleblower” case against Duckworth. The congresswoman denies treating the employees unfairly. Duckworth’s defense is being handled by the state attorney general’s office.
* NRSC…
The NRSC released a new paid web video today to coincide with the beginning of Congresswoman Tammy Duckworth’s trial for silencing whistleblowers at the Illinois Department of Veterans Affairs.
“Tammy Duckworth was appointed to run the IDVA by corrupt former Governor Rod Blagojevich and her management of the department was straight out of the Blagojevich playbook,” said NRSC spokeswoman Andrea Bozek. “When Illinois’ veterans needed her most, Tammy Duckworth was too busy silencing whistleblowers to protect her own political career instead of working to improve conditions for veterans.”
ATTACKS AGAINST DUCKWORTH APPEAR POLITICALLY MOTIVATED
PLAINTIFFS DID NOT MOVE FORWARD WITH CASE FOR 3 YEARS…
Plaintiffs Refused To Turn Over Documents To Duckworth’s Attorneys For 3 Years, Documents Were Requested Five Times. In February 2015, the attorney general’s office filed a motion to compel discovery responses. The attorney general’s office contended they asked for documents from the plaintiffs on March 7, 2012 and received no replay. Duckworth’s attorneys also contended that asked for discovery documents five times and received no response. [Case: 2009-L-2, Motion To Compel Discovery Responses, 2/13/15]
Duckworth’s Attorneys Asked For Dismissal Due To Lack Of Prosecution, Plaintiffs Had Not Turned Over Documents For Over 3 Years. On April 2, 2015 the attorney general’s office asked for dismissal for want of prosecution because plaintiffs had not provided discovery in over 3 years. [Case: 2009-L-2, Motion To Dismiss For Want Of Prosecution, 4/2/15]
…BUT ONLY AFTER DUCKWORTH DECLARED FOR SENATE DID PLAINTIFFS COOPERATE
Duckworth Declared For Senate On March 30, 2015. [Politico, 3/30/15]
Trial Date Was Set Two Months After Duckworth Declared For Senate. The trial date of April 4, 2016 was set in a motion hearing held on June 2, 2015, 2 months after Duckworth filed for Senate On March 30, 2015. [Politico, 3/30/15; First Judicial Court of Illinois, 6/2/15]
LEGAL ACTION DRAGGED ON SINCE 2008, OVER 7 YEARS
Plaintiff’s First Filed Suit Against Duckworth In May 2008. On May 15, 2008, Goins and Butler filed suit against Duckworth and Simms in the United State District Court for the Southern District of Illinois. [U.S. District Court For The Southern District Of Illinois, Civil No. 08-354-GPM, Complaint, 5/15/08]
• Suit Was Dismissed In December 2008. “A practical view of the complaint in this case is that Plaintiffs are complaining about matters within the scope of their job duties at the Anna Veterans Home. Plaintiffs are irked at the way they were treated by their supervisors. But this happens in every organization, public and private, and is best addressed by state law and collective bargaining. The First Amendment is not implicated by office backbiting or petty managers. Plaintiffs spoke as employees and not citizens, so their speech is not protected by the First Amendment. The Court declines to exercise supplemental jurisdiction over the state law claims, and they are dismissed without prejudice.” [U.S. District Court For The Southern District Of Illinois, Civil No. 08-354-GPM, Decided 12/12/08]
ALLEGATIONS AGAINST DUCKWORTH HAVE ALREADY BEEN DISMISSED THREE TIMES
First
U.S. District Court Judge Dismissed VA Employees’ Complaint, Saying The Plaintiffs Had No Protection Under The First Amendment And That Their Allegations Were Best Addressed By State Law And Collective Bargaining. “A practical view of the complaint in this case is that Plaintiffs are complaining about matters within the scope of their job duties at the Anna Veterans Home. Plaintiffs are irked at the way they were treated by their supervisors. But this happens in every organization, public and private, and is best addressed by state law and collective bargaining. The First Amendment is not implicated by office backbiting or petty managers. Plaintiffs spoke as employees and not citizens, so their speech is not protected by the First Amendment. The Court declines to exercise supplemental jurisdiction over the state law claims, and they are dismissed without prejudice.” [U.S. District Court For The Southern District Of Illinois, Civil No. 08-354-GPM, Decided 12/12/08]
Second
Judge Dismissed Plaintiff’s Case Without Prejudice. In August 2009, the Court found “the complaint and demand for jury trial is so confusing that it cannot properly rule on the Defendants’ combined section 2-619.1 motion to dismiss. The plaintiffs allege that each defendant was acting with her respective capacity as an employee of the IDVA. However, their prayers for relief are vague and ambiguous. Accordingly, Counts II, IV, VII and VII should be dismissed without prejudice and Plaintiffs given leave to file an amending pleading.’ The Court also found “the Plaintiffs should allege which law or regulation the Defendants have violated. Accordingly, those counts should be dismissed without prejudice and Plaintiffs given leave to file an amending pleading.” [Case: 2009-L-2, Order, 8/21/09]
Third
Court Dismissed Emotional Distress Allegations Brought Against Duckworth. Court found “in this case, each and every action taken by Defendants Duckworth and Simms alleged in the Plaintiffs’ first amended complaint and demand for jury trial occurred during the course of their respective official responsibilities and in their respective administrative IDVA positions. Each and every action alleged occurred during the scope and course of employment while at the Veterans Home in Anna, Illinois, and not in a public forum. Therefore, the Court finds that the plaintiffs’ claims for intentional infliction of emotional distress are barred by the principles of collateral estoppel and absolute privilege, and the Defendants’ respective motions for summary judgment are granted.” [Case: 2009-L-2, Order, 1/2/14]
A FEDERAL JUDGE WAS DISMISSIVE OF THE UNDERLYING LAWSUIT
Federal Judge Called The Case “A Garden Variety Workplace Case” Over “Office Backbiting”
Federal Judged Called The Case “A Garden Variety Workplace Case” While Dismissing The Lawsuit.Federal district court Judge Patrick Murphy wrote, while dismissing the case, “This is a garden varietyworkplace case that pits Plaintiffs against their bosses and resulted in what Plaintiffs think is unfair disciplinary action against them. [U.S. District Court For The Southern District Of Illinois, Civil No. 08-354-GPM, Decided 12/12/08]
Federal Judge Said Plaintiff’s Brought Suit Over Allegations Of “Office Backbiting And Petty Managers” While Dismissing The Lawsuit. Federal district court Judge Patrick Murphy wrote, “Plaintiffs are irked at the way they were treated by their supervisors. But this happens in every organization, public and private, and is best addressed by state law and collective bargaining. The first amendment is not implicated by office backbiting or petty managers.” [U.S. District Court For The Southern District Of Illinois, Civil No. 08-354-GPM, Decided 12/12/08]
Federal Judge Said lawsuit Was Brought Because “Plaintiffs Are Irked At The Way They Were Treated By Their Supervisors” While Dismissing The Lawsuit. Federal district court Judge Patrick Murphy wrote, “Plaintiffs are irked at the way they were treated by their supervisors. But this happens in every organization, public and private, and is best addressed by state law and collective bargaining. The first amendment is not implicated by office backbiting or petty managers.” [U.S. District Court For The Southern District Of Illinois, Civil No. 08-354-GPM, Decided 12/12/08]
* From Duckworth’s office…
This week, Congresswoman Tammy Duckworth (IL-08) is traveling to Israel on a fact finding mission with Democratic Whip Steny Hoyer and several other members of the House of Representatives. The trip is an opportunity for Members of Congress to meet with Israeli leaders and tour strategically important locations. Duckworth is a Member of the House Armed Services Committee and spent 23 years as a member of the Armed Reserve Forces. She retired at the rank of Lieutenant Colonel last year.
“I am honored to take part in this trip and continue to build upon the strong bonds between our two great nations,” said Duckworth. “Israel is one of the United States’ most important allies and as a Member of the Armed Services Committee it is a priority of mine to find ways to strengthen our strategic partnerships in areas such as missile defense and Iron Dome. As a prospering democracy in a tumultuous region, Israel faces unique challenges and I hope to further my understanding of how the United States can stand shoulder to shoulder with our great ally.”
Community Action Agencies throughout Illinois have begun to close, forcing agencies to turn away thousands of Illinois’ most vulnerable residents. These families will not receive the vital services and support they need because the state budget impasse has no resolution in sight.
Community Action Agencies (CAAs), which are the largest poverty-fighting network in Illinois, are federally designated to locally address the root causes of poverty. In Illinois there are 36 agencies that address poverty through programs and services in all 102 counties. Collectively, CAAs in Illinois serve more than one million individuals on an annual basis.
Many Illinois CAAs are engaged in community and economic development activities that range from affordable housing, housing rehabilitation, supporting local businesses, and employing small contractors to work in programs such as the Illinois Home Weatherization Assistance Program. These agencies use a combination of federal and state funding to address local poverty issues.
“Many of our agencies do not have non-grant resources to keep doors open and continue to provide services during the budget impasse,” said Dalitso Sulamoyo, Ph.D., President and CEO of the Illinois Association of Community Action Agencies. “The federally funded programs have no bearing on the state budget. We do not understand why agencies cannot receive federal funds during the budget impasse. We are deeply concerned that our working families who are struggling will fall deeper into poverty because they will not be able to get the necessary help from our agencies.”
Community Action Agencies have already laid off over 1,000 staff and have begun to shut down facilities and services to seniors, children, and persons with disabilities due to the budget impasse. The absence of a state budget means that these agencies are now not able to help thousands of families with services.
“We are hopeful that the budget issues will be resolved before it is too late for many of our vulnerable families. We realize that tough decisions have to be made to balance our budget. However, federally funded programs that do not require a state match need to be authorized immediately. Without the federal programs our most vulnerable citizens will be on the verge of catastrophe. We are imploring that our legislators and Governor must consider authorizing federal spending so that critical services can continue to be provided. It is simply not fair that federal funds are being tied to our broken budget” said Sulamoyo.
Springfield School District officials say they plan to look into alternatives for keeping the doors open at Lawrence Adult Education Center this year if state funding is scaled back.
Superintendent Jennifer Gill told the school board Monday the district still doesn’t know if it will receive the same, reduced or any funding for the post-secondary school.
Lawrence, 101 E. Laurel St., is funded through a combination of state and federal dollars administered by the Illinois Community College Board.
Gill said the district has been told by the agency it can’t approve grants until lawmakers and Gov. Bruce Rauner reach a deal on a state budget for the fiscal year that began July 1.
The effects of the budget impasse in Springfield have hit Randolph County, as senior centers in Red Bud and Chester were forced to close their doors on Friday until at least an agreement has been reached.
Paulette Hamlin, executive director of the Western Egyptian Economic Opportunity Council (WEEOC), released a letter to the effected sites on Wednesday announcing the closures and said that the WEEOC had been made aware on Tuesday that it will only receive partial payment (50 percent) for the services the organization has already provided in July. […]
In a Friday news release, State Rep. Jerry Costello II (D-Smithton) said the funds that keep senior centers open are mostly federal, but the state is in charge of distributing them.
“With the budget process currently stalled, the federal funds that would provide meals, cooling centers and other services for the elderly are sitting in the state accounts, unable to be disbursed,” Costello said in the release. “That is unacceptable.”
Low income mothers who rely on a supplemental nutrition program for their children may get less help because of the state budget crisis. The organization that operates the Women, Infants and Children (WIC) program in Illinois says it will no longer be able to provide crucial services to tens of thousands of women.
At issue: federal money for WIC must pass through Springfield before it can be distributed in Illinois by the Community Economic Development Association (CEDA).
Illinois lawmakers are considering a new plan to provide almost $5 billion in federal funds for social services during the state’s budget stalemate.
The Illinois Senate is expected to vote on the measure Tuesday. It would authorize spending $4.8 billion in federal dollars for programs that help domestic violence victims, low-income seniors and disabled people, among others.
Majority Democrats and Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner have been at an impasse over the budget for the fiscal year that started July 1. Without authorization to spend the federal money, many social service agencies have had to cut services or eliminate programs.
In January, before the Republican governor issued an executive order to prevent fair-share dues from being collected, about 3,900 of the 38,000 state employees represented by AFSCME, or 10 percent, were fair-share payers. The rest were paying full dues, Lindall said.
Since then, the executive order has been blocked so far by legal challenges, and the number of fair-share fee payers has been cut in half, he said.
“Some 2,000 state employees joined the union in the wake of the governor’s attacks,” Lindall said. “So today, only about 2,000 state employees pay fair share instead of being dues-paying union members. As a result, we have about 95 percent union members and 5 percent fee-payers in state government.”
Governor Bruce Rauner and Jake Steinfeld, Chairman of the National Foundation for Governors’ Fitness Councils, announced [yesterday] the three winning schools that will each receive a state-of-the-art Live PositivelyTM Fitness Center. This multi-million dollar physical fitness campaign has named Abbott Middle School in Elgin, Drake Elementary School in Chicago and Lincoln Middle School in Rockford as Illinois’ most outstanding schools for demonstrating new and innovative ways for promoting student physical activity and wellness.
“Healthy habits begin in childhood, and these new fitness centers will help students build a solid foundation of physical activity at a young age,” Governor Rauner said. “With childhood obesity rates in Illinois among the highest in the nation, it’s imperative we take steps to reverse the trend. I’m happy to see three Illinois schools benefit from this public-private partnership, and thank Jake and the National Foundation for Governors’ Fitness Councils for providing them with this incredible opportunity.”
One of the greatest features of this program is that the Live Positively Fitness Centers are fully funded through public/private partnerships with companies like Coca-Cola, Anthem Foundation and Nike; and even better, there is absolutely no government funding or any costs to taxpayers.
“Childhood obesity is not a partisan issue; it’s a kids’ issue, and Governor Rauner has fully embraced our program and it’s been inspiring,” said Jake “Body by Jake” Steinfeld. “Since 2012, the National Foundation has provided fitness centers to more than a MILLION school kids and community members across the U.S.A. We are thrilled to award three Illinois schools with new fitness centers that will have a lasting impact on kids well into their future. I’ve always said that when you give the schools the tools, amazing things will happen. Not only will kids become more active and fit, they will also have increased confidence, improved self-esteem and will achieve greater academic success!”
The National Foundation’s goal is to build a nation of the fittest, healthiest kids in the world. Physical activity and exercise are shown to help prevent and treat more than 40 chronic diseases, enhance individual health and quality of life and reduce health care costs. In schools, studies show that physical activity improves academic achievement, increases confidence and self-esteem, reduces discipline problems, cuts absenteeism and fosters better interpersonal relationships.
That’s great news for those schools.
* But I wondered what Emily Miller at Voices for Children thought. Miller (no relation that we know of) is a tireless and relentless Statehouse advocate for kids. Here’s her take…
Given this announcement, the Governor seems to understand that some state investment and commitment is necessary to put kids on a healthy path. I agree with him that “healthy habits begin in childhood.”
I wonder, though, if the Governor is aware of his record on supporting programs for kids. Afterschool programs provide combinations of academic and physical fitness programs to get kids off on the right track, headed toward academic success– the same goals the Governor praises in his announcement of the winning schools. But he totally eliminated afterschool funding in his budget, then vetoed $13 million in state funding that came over in the spending plan from the General Assembly.
I wonder if the kids who used to go to the Rockford YMCA will be invited over to use Lincoln Middle School’s new gym since they don’t have anywhere else to go? Or maybe the kids who used to go to the Elgin YMCA will be invited over to use the new gym at Abbott Middle School?
The Rockford YMCA already closed its doors, and the Elgin YMCA program shutdown will coincide with the start of the school year. Any Chicago afterschool programs receiving state afterschool money were also cut completely.
“… Governor Rauner has fully embraced our program and it’s been inspiring.”
Oh, yes. I’m truly inspired.
* Emily also sent this along today…
The attached spreadsheet contains survey results from 35 TeenREACH agencies (of about 122 sites) from this last week. As you can imagine, lots of sites are dealing with how to communicate what’s happening to their kids, parents and staff, so survey response was not perfect. This is a fairly accurate picture of what’s happening across the state, and what’s about to happen.
In total, teen reach served about 15,000 youth in 2015 at about 122 sites across the state.
Between this, child care cuts, and cuts to human services across the board, it’s going to be a very, very rough “back to school” season this year for Illinois families.
* Rep. Frank Mautino told local reporter Steve Stout that he’s “feeling better every day,” in the wake of cancer surgery. He was also asked about a Bruce Rauner attack mailer which hit the boxes last week…
Mautino said he walked around the DePue Boat Races during last weekend and was overwhelmed and grateful for the hundreds of well wishes he received from people while moving through the crowds.
“It was a wonderful feeling that I have touched so many lives over the years,” he said. “I was moved.” […]
With a strong voice, he promised, “I’ll be back in Springfield sometime next week for sure.”
Asked about recent advertisements produced by the Turnaround Illinois organization, a political action committee, and Gov. Bruce Rauner, which were recently circulated through the district, Mautino was pragmatic.
The flier criticized the long-time lawmaker as nothing but a puppet of House Speaker Mike Madigan and asked residents to lobby Mautino and other certain state house members into accepting the governor’s budget proposals.
“It shows that the governor’s agenda is not successful and I had the most calls from constituents who were greatly upset by both the content and timing of the piece,” Mautino said.
Background on that mailer is here. Subscribers have a copy of an identical piece targeting a different member.
If you’re gonna ban every artist who “glorifies” violence, your gonna ban acts from a whole lot of genres. After all, Johnny Cash shot a man in Reno just to watch him die.
* We’ve done this before, but I think it’s time we do it again. Do you think both Illinois state fairs should go ahead as planned or should they be canceled? Take the poll and then explain your answer in comments, please.
Low income mothers who rely on a supplemental nutrition program for their children may get less help because of the state budget crisis. The organization that operates the Women, Infants and Children (WIC) program in Illinois says it will no longer be able to provide crucial services to tens of thousands of women.
At issue: federal money for WIC must pass through Springfield before it can be distributed in Illinois by the Community Economic Development Association (CEDA).
Anna Lopez depends on WIC to help feed her baby daughter, Luna.
“They’re helping me each month. They give me some coupons so I can go and buy some milk, eggs,” Lopez said.
The CEDA office, one of 19 Cook County WIC outlets, will close next week and suspend services to 50,000 low income women and children. The kids include many infants on special diets.
“We are the provider for over 5,000 medically fragile children that require a specialized formula,” Margaret Saunders, CEDA, said.
By law, the state is required to have a fair. But, it remains to be seen how exactly it will all work.
Take the grandstand performers, for example. Traditionally, they are paid on the spot with a check after the curtain comes down on their show.
But, there currently is no appropriation to write those checks for acts like Sammy Hagar, Hank Williams Jr. or Rascal Flatts.
On one hand, the Illinois Department of Agriculture is saying don’t worry about it.
“Grandstand acts will be paid,” spokeswoman Rebecca Clark said in an email.
On the other hand, Clark made it sound like they actually don’t know how this is all going to work.
“Department officials are looking into all options at our disposal in the event a budget agreement is not reached prior to the start of the Illinois State Fair. We are hopeful that Speaker Madigan and the legislature can put aside their differences and come together to hammer out an agreement on the FY16 budget,” Clark added.
* From a letter sent to parents whose children are enrolled at the Rauner Family YMCA’s Teen REACH program…
As you may be aware, the State of Illinois remains without a budget, which means critical funding that the Y relies on has not been decided or disbursed for the fiscal year that began in July. Unfortunately, this limbo has impacted our ability to provide after school programming through Teen REACH, and it is with deep regret and sadness that I am formally notifying you that the Rauner Family YMCA has made the difficult decision to end Teen REACH due to lack of funding to adequately operate the program.
The last day of Teen REACH programming at the Rauner Family Y will be Friday, August 14, 2015. However, the teens’ memberships will remain active until the school year begins in September so they can continue to utilize all that our center has to offer to our members.
We truly appreciate your commitment and trust in the Y, which you have demonstrated by faithfully sending your child to Teen REACH each day. We are dedicated to ensuring the Y continues to be a safe place for our youth. Your teen is invited to apply for our new Pilsen Foodies program⎯a culinary arts apprenticeship funded by After School Matters⎯in the fall and spring. This program will teach youth healthy cooking skills and job readiness. Current Teen REACH participants will be given priority enrollment after they go through a required interview. Three Teen REACH participants in this summer’s session have reported they are having great experiences. Pilsen Foodies will operate three days per week, three hours per day. We will notify you once the application becomes available.
We would also like to share that, through resume development and mock interviews, we were able to assist 90 percent of our Teen REACH participants in obtaining either a summer job or internship. Thankfully, this means the majority of our teens are involved in activities for the rest of the summer.
We will notify you if additional opportunities for your youth become available during the school year. Again, it is with regret that we share this news with you. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me at [redacted].
Sincerely,
Maria León
Youth & Family Program Director
This was just one of three YMCA Teen REACH programs that are being shut down because of a lack of state resources. It is, however, the most newsworthy for obvious reasons.
* The full release is here, but this is pretty solid spin, particularly the highlighted text…
Members of a broad coalition of environmental, business, health, faith and community groups said that the Illinois Clean Jobs Bill (SB1485/HB2607) is the best way for Illinois to comply with the standards called for by President Obama’s Clean Power Plan, the final EPA rule released today that calls for states to reduce carbon pollution from power plants by nearly one-third by 2030.
They urged members of the General Assembly and Gov. Bruce Rauner to support the legislation to ensure that Illinois meets the new standards, and can capture new jobs, consumer savings and health benefits.
“The Illinois Clean Jobs bill offers our state the best opportunity to comply with the EPA standard, while also showing that a better environment and a better economy go hand in hand,” said Jen Walling, Executive Director of the Illinois Environmental Council. Walling added that speedy passage of the bill would also make Illinois eligible for incentives available to states that comply quickly.
The Illinois Clean Jobs Bill would meet the clean power goals by increasing the share of energy Illinois generates from renewable energy sources, such as wind and solar, to 35% by 2030, and boosting energy efficiency goals to 20% by 2025. Walling noted that the recent comments by Exelon on the future of their nuclear plants makes the need to dramatically increase renewable energy production a necessary step to comply with the Clean Power Plan.
Dave Kolata, Executive Director of the Citizens Utility Board (CUB), said that the bill would also save customers $1.6 billion by 2030 according to a study by CUB. That would translate into average household savings of nearly $100 per year.
“By strengthening state efficiency standards, the Clean Jobs bill is the only measure in the General Assembly that allows Illinois to meet the new power plant standards while helping Illinois families save more than $1 billion on their power bills. This is a win-win for Illinois,” Kolata said.
A series of studies have confirmed CUB’s conclusion that clean energy measures, like those contained in the Illinois Clean Jobs Bill, will save customers money. The Union of Concerned Scientists determined that the bill would save customers 23% (or $22 per month) by 2030. In just the past week, a study by Georgia Tech University predicted that the Clean Power Plan would mean savings of 20% for Illinois customers.
Chris Nickell of Springfield-based American Wind Energy Management said that the bill would employ more than 32,000 additional workers than there are today and sustain that level for the next decade, and said that the bill would help Illinois capture wind and solar projects that have been built in states with more aggressive clean energy policies.
“We can no longer delay getting Illinois’ renewable energy policy right,” he said. “We have now fallen behind Oklahoma for installed wind, and every day that passes, rural communities across our state are missing out on tax revenue and farmers are missing out on lease payments. It’s time to make help Illinois compete in this growing field.”
Yes, those Exelon nuke jobs are important, but Exelon wants to completely shut out other alt power industries from any benefits, even though those industries can employ lots more people here.
If Exelon wants to save its plants, it needs to get its collective rear to the bargaining table and end its unilateral corporate blackmail attempt.
A primary race may be shaping up for the Democratic nomination for Illinois’ 12th District House seat now held by U.S. Rep. Mike Bost, R-Murphysboro.
On Monday, Belleville lawyer C.J. Baricevic formally announced his candidacy for the seat, while St. Clair County Sheriff Rick Watson confirmed that he will be talking with party leaders in Washington, D.C., about a possible run. […]
Watson, 59, said Monday that he loves his job as county sheriff, but wants to hear the DCCC’s pitch anyway.
“It’s such an honor to be asked,” Watson said. “I have to give it some thought.”
Watson said he has spoken with [Former Congressman Jerry Costello], a longtime friend. Costello held the 12th District seat for nearly a quarter of a century before retiring in 2011.
Baricevic is 30 years old. Sheriff Watson, who was appointed to the spot and then ran unopposed, is 59. Costello’s son, state Rep. Jerry Costello, still has kids to put through college.
You don’t need an advanced political science degree to figure out what’s going on here.
* It came as no surprise that Sheriff Watson turned down the DCCC after his meeting…
Rick Watson, the St. Clair County sheriff, announced Thursday morning he won’t seek the Democratic nomination to run for the 12th U.S. House seat, even as a national Democractic party official was critical of another candidate in the race.
But the national Democratic Party, which tried hard to recruit Watson to join the race, is apparently unhappy that Baricevic — the son of John Baricevic, the St. Clair County chief judge and St. Clair County Democratic Party leader — remains in the race.
Brian Smoot, a political consultant who in 2010 served as director of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee’s Independent Expenditure program, questioned Baricevic’s ability to beat Bost in the November general election.
“I just would say that this is not the type of candidate that DCCC would be interested in,” said Smoot, who in the 2008 cycle served as that group’s political director. “I can’t speak for the DCCC. But I can say he doesn’t reach a certain threshold as a credible candidate.” […]
As for Baricevic’s candidacy, Smoot noted that he raised about $85,000 over the last four months.
“Not good,” Smoot said. “It’s an interesting question. What’s a credible amount? But I can tell you that $85,000 is definitely not credible.”
Smoot probably wouldn’t have stepped up to the mic without prompting from his former employer.
But keep in mind that the DCCC went along with Costello’s choice of Bill Enyart, who turned out to be a guy who eschewed the district work necessary to hold on in an off-year, and ended up losing that seat - which the party has held since World War II - to Mike Bost.
And now they want yet another older white male?
Please.
I know very little about Baricevic and have no idea if he’d be a good candidate, but he does have significant support in the all-important St. Clair County and from two of the deep southern Illinois Democratic legislators. The DCCC had better either find a good candidate who won’t just be a lackadaisical placeholder, or reconsider its bizarre attacks on the only guy who has actually been working the district.
The national party is getting played here.
…Adding… Former Congressman Costello just called to clarify that he wasn’t the original backer of Bill Enyart. That’s true. My bad.
He also said that he fully expects Baricevic will receive the St. Clair County Democratic endorsement.
United Way of Illinois, the statewide association of 52 local United Ways, and collectively the largest non-governmental funder of health and human services in the state, surveyed human service agencies across Illinois to understand the steps they are taking to deliver services in light of the state budget impasse.
More than 400 human service agencies across every county in Illinois responded to a survey conducted July 13-17. Survey respondents represented a range of service categories including youth development, early childhood education, mental health, emergency housing, senior services and employment training, and varied in budget size from less than $500,000 to more than $15 million.
Key findings from the survey include:
o 34% of Illinois human service agencies have already cut the number of clients they serve
o Program categories hit particularly hard include childhood education and job training
o 39% of agencies responding have tapped into cash reserves to continue operations
o Of those agencies using cash reserves 70% have 3 months of cash on hand or less
o 24% of agencies have tapped into lines of credit to shore up operations
o 19% of agencies will deplete their cash reserve by the end of August
“Human service organizations are the backbone of the delivery of state programs to needy citizens,” said Kristi Long, Chairman of United Way of Illinois. “Our leaders in Springfield and the citizens of Illinois need to understand that the ongoing budget impasse is causing genuine disruption and hardship for people in Illinois who need services and for the agencies that deliver them.”
Among the other measures human service agencies reported taking to maintain operations during the stalemate are increasing their waiting lists for services, referring clients to other agencies where possible, not filling vacant positions and laying off staff. Several agencies reported the need for more drastic action in the near term, including the Prairie Council on Aging. Based in Jacksonville and serving 3,000 people across five counties, the agency reported that it would exhaust its reserves by September and face dire choices without some resolution to the state budget situation.
“If the delays continue, thousands of mentally ill clients will be without psychiatric support, including medications,” said Rashad Saafir, President of the Bobby E. Wright Comprehensive Behavior Health Center in Garfield Park. “The result is client suffering, disruption to families, and increases in the use of more expensive emergency room and inpatient psychiatric services.”
The overall survey data indicates that government inaction is causing significant challenges for nonprofit agencies that are impacting at-risk populations and working families.
Just as millions of Americans hit the road last month for vacation, even the governor took a quick break from the mess in Springfield.
Although his aides said nothing before he left town and offered no clue about his whereabouts for the weekend, the governor’s office did confirm he spent last weekend visiting one of his college-age children and participating in Parents’ Day activities.
No further details were released.
I think he meant the weekend before this past weekend.
Seven sitting governors, six incumbent senators and two House members — all Republicans — have flown here this weekend for the Koch donor network conference.
There are 450 donors at a seaside resort here, and the network of conservative advocacy groups they fund aims to spend $889 million in advance of the next White House election.
According to the story, Gov. Rauner was there as well.
*** UPDATE *** From Mike Schrimpf…
This is not accurate. The governor was in Springfield all weekend.
You can check out his twitter to see what he was doing in the area all weekend:
Senate President John Cullerton, D-Chicago, has already said the Senate will vote this week on an override. Presumably, the chamber could succeed. The Senate voted 38-17 to approve the bill. It would take 36 votes to override.
The House is a different story. The vote there was 67-25 in May. It takes 71 votes in the House to override.
But 17 House members, all but two of them Republicans, took a walk. They didn’t vote on the bill. That includes most of the Republicans from the Springfield area, who represent large numbers of state workers. They can always take another walk on an override, but in the meantime, they’ll probably get pressure from constituents to support an override — just as they’re likely to get pressure from Republican leadership to support their governor and vote against it.
Unless something changes, there won’t be enough House votes for an override.
There is doom on the way, and nobody wants to talk about it.
The deadlock over the Illinois budget isn’t hurting bondholders or state employees, but it is about to smash social services providers, which depend on about $3.1 billion a year in state funding. These nonprofits do everything from working with kids on probation and finding foster homes to sheltering the homeless, helping autistic children and running group homes for the mentally ill, troubled teens and the developmentally disabled.
“None of my members have authorized me to release any specific information,” Janet Stover, CEO of the Illinois Association of Rehabilitation Facilities, tells me.
All I was trying to find out was how the state budget impasse was impacting or about to impact thousands of social services groups and providers, but I couldn’t find a straight, simple answer.
Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Chicago, for instance, revealed that it had already closed two shelters and two child development centers and laid off about 40 people. But asked when, specifically, it would get really bad, a spokeswoman only would say they would re-evaluate at the end of the summer.
“There could be a time when we suspend services if the negotiations last months, but we are not at that point yet,” Des Plaines-based Lutheran Social Services of Illinois says in a statement.
All of these nonprofits rely heavily on state funding. So you’d think they would want to get the word out about the coming meltdown.
It turns out, quite a few of these providers are flat-out scared to death about their very existence.
A document issued in June by the Springfield-based rehabilitation association shows us why.
* The Tribune finally comes out in favor of a specific Bruce Rauner proposal, except Rauner himself dumped that idea months ago…
Here’s an option: Entice a foreign automaker to Illinois by making it possible to operate the Normal factory in a local right-to-work zone. Yes, this is the idea that has been pitched by Gov. Bruce Rauner and shunned by Democratic leaders.
Ideology, meet practice: Do those leaders want to secure an empty plant for years to come?
Right-to-work status doesn’t bar union organizing, it does say that workers are not compelled to join or pay dues to a union. Foreign automakers have made it clear that right-to-work status is required for them to make an investment.
Here’s an opportunity. By wooing a foreign nameplate, the state could save the plant and its 1,200 jobs and send a dramatic message that Illinois is open for business.
The global economy knocks down borders, intensifies competition and creates all kinds of surprising bedfellows. Mitsubishi once joined Chrysler in Normal. Let’s do everything possible to get someone to follow in their tire tracks.
If there was any doubt before last week, there’s zero uncertainty now. Gov. Bruce Rauner won’t allow anyone else to interfere with his dominance of the Illinois Republican Party.
When the party was out of power for 12 years, several independent actors were always trying to influence elections from behind the scenes, elbowing people out, putting people in. This is a diverse state, and the party has numerous factions, both economic and social. All of those factions have de facto leaders.
One of those independent actors has been Ron Gidwitz, a moderate, wealthy business executive and one-time gubernatorial candidate with a network that includes lots of his rich friends. He ran the monied wing of the party.
Gidwitz used his and his friends’ money to boost candidates who were to his liking. He backed Sen. Kirk Dillard for governor in 2010, for instance, then switched his allegiance to Bruce Rauner four years later. That move did more to hurt Dillard than it did to help the mainly self-funding Rauner because it totally dried up Dillard’s money, leaving him unable to effectively compete until organized labor finally entered the race on his behalf.
After months of public silence, Gidwitz reemerged last week. Sources say he has been bad-mouthing US Sen. Mark Kirk behind the scenes for quite a while. A recent Michael Sneed item in the Chicago Sun-Times about an anonymous top Republican who wanted Kirk to step down from the Senate was widely pinned on him.
Sen. Kirk has had his problems of late, forced to apologize for, or at least back away from some racially charged and just plain weird remarks. Numerous Republican leaders have privately expressed shock at the bad press he’s generated for himself. Kirk has had to fight off rampant speculation about his future ever since his massive stroke, and his oddball statements during the past few months have kept the rumor mill at a fever pitch.
Kirk also faces the fight of his political career next year, running statewide in a presidential election year when Democratic turnout will very likely be much stronger than during his off-year 2010 victory. National political pundit Larry Sabato’s much-watched “Crystal Ball” publication recently moved Kirk’s race from “Toss-up” to “Leans Democratic.”
So, it wasn’t exactly a surprise when Gidwitz told Greg Hinz at Crain’s Chicago Business last week that Kirk ought to let somebody else run.
“I do not believe he will be a US senator in 2017 and, as top of the ticket, he could cause collateral damage (to other Republican candidates),” Gidwitz told Hinz about Kirk. “I call on him to step aside and allow other Republicans to seek his seat.”
If that reads like a prepared script, it’s because it was. These weren’t off the cuff remarks. It was a carefully planned hit.
Well, perhaps “carefully” is the wrong word here.
If you hadn’t noticed, Gov. Rauner is a bit of a control freak, to say the least, and he has taken full command of the Republican Party’s power and money structure here. “I’m the head of the Republican Party,” the governor firmly declared to WJBC Radio just the other day.
He allows very little to no independence. Republican state legislators may grumble about him in private (boy, do they ever), but they toe the Rauner line when it comes time to vote on the House and Senate floors. Only one legislator, Rep. Raymond Poe (R-Springfield), has ever had the temerity to vote against the governor’s commands – and that only happened once.
The state Republican Party Chairman is a Rauner guy, as is the Cook County Party Chairman.
Much of Gov. Rauner’s top staff came out of Mark Kirk’s Senate office and Kirk’s campaigns. Those high-level staffers still have a strong loyalty to their former boss, and Team Rauner is fully behind the incumbent Senator.
So, not long after Greg Hinz called the Kirk campaign for comment about Gidwitz’s statement, Gidwitz himself got a call. And it wasn’t a very nice one, either.
“He sounded like a beaten man” after the governor’s forceful message was relayed to him, declared one GOP source later that evening.
Soon after, Gidwitz called Hinz to fully retract his comments and endorse Kirk’s reelection.
I should say that I’ve always liked Gidwitz and respected him. But the days of Gidwitz and others successfully acting independently are over.
Gidwitz’s complete backtrack was one of the more humiliating scenes I’ve witnessed in quite a while. Others most surely took notice.
* The House Speaker penned a rare op-ed for the State Journal-Register over the weekend…
Solving the fiscal challenges of Illinois requires a balanced approach.
That is why I pledged to work cooperatively and professionally with Gov. Bruce Rauner. I will keep that pledge and continue working to ensure the governor and the Legislature come together in moderation to help Illinois’ middle class and other struggling families.
In addition to that pledge, I stated that the number one issue facing Illinois was the budget deficit. That has not changed.
In February, Gov. Rauner proposed a budget that was not only billions of dollars out of balance, but also cut the medical care services of the elderly, the disabled and struggling families through Medicaid by $1.5 billion, services for victims of child abuse, and the nursing home care of thousands of frail elderly residents.
But the state cannot rely on cuts alone to solve its $4 billion deficit. Eliminating the budget deficit will take a balanced approach that includes both spending reductions and new revenue.
Legislators did not agree with the governor’s unbalanced approach, so we passed a plan that included hundreds of millions of dollars in spending reductions while protecting middle-class families and others who struggle by increasing funding for schools and preventing damaging cuts to public safety and services for the elderly, children and the developmentally disabled.
In addition to approving hundreds of millions of dollars in spending reductions, House Democrats opposed increasing lawmakers’ pay. In the budget we passed, legislators’ pay was frozen at the same level as last year. However, despite the Legislature’s intentions, when the comptroller made it clear that she planned to provide a pay increase to lawmakers, we took action to make clear that we opposed an increase in lawmakers’ pay.
