* That AFSCME memo last week which talked about the possible use of the Illinois National Guard in case of a strike caught the attention of Kurt Erickson…
“The Illinois National Guard will not comment about our internal planning, particularly in regards to speculation of what the Governor might or might not order the National Guard to do in a scenario that may or may not happen,” Lt. Col. Brad Leighton said in an email.
Rauner spokeswoman Catherine Kelly did not deny that a National Guard deployment is under consideration.
* But a former Illinois Guard top commander is opposed…
State Rep. David Harris, an Arlington Heights Republican who served as adjutant general from 1999 to 2003, said he would advise Gov. Bruce Rauner against such a move.
“It’s a terribly impractical and, in my opinion, inadvisable idea,” Harris said Monday. “You’re going to replace paper-pushers — with all due respect to bureaucrats — with people who carry M-16s and .45 pistols?”
Time Running Out to Stop Legislator Pay Raise
– Legislators have until Friday to stop pay hike –
– Pantagraph Newspaper: “Legislator Pay Hike Another Insult to Taxpayers” –
As Illinois legislators head back to Springfield, tomorrow will mark House members’ last chance to stop a pay raise worth more than $1350 before they get paid Friday, July 31.
House Bill 4225 would stop the pay raises, but Speaker Madigan and the legislators he controls refuse to vote on it.
I also happen to think that legislators shouldn’t have authorized a cost of living hike this year. But the structure of that press release is very similar to hundreds I’ve seen from campaigns over the years.
I mean, really, this is the same guy who structures a deal to give his education superintendent a Tier 1 pension.
* Even so, this particular campaign attack might actually work. People understand it and they absolutely hate this stuff…
1978: A lame-duck Legislature votes to raise its $20,000 pay by 40 percent over two years, setting off a protest organized by then-activist and former Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn. It culminated in a 1980 ballot measure to reduce the size of the House of Representatives by one-third, to 118 members.
So, if the Rauner folks are trying to drive a wedge between politically vulnerable Democratic legislators and Speaker Madigan, this is their best bet.
And if Madigan does go along with those members’ wishes, then everybody else is gonna be upset because they’re not getting pay raises.
It’s a winning issue for the governor.
I still highly doubt this will get us to a deal, however. The pay raise stuff won’t lead to blatantly anti-union laws or whatever.
Mitsubishi Motors North America announced July 24 that it will close down the company’s production facilities in Normal, Illinois, jeopardizing the jobs of 918 workers who are represented by the United Automobile Workers union, or UAW.
“We do not have a statement at this time, however, as an organization, we continuously assess our supply chain to ensure we remain competitive and best positioned to serve our customers,” Mitsubishi North America spokesman Dan Irvin told the Journal Star.
Of all the Japanese-owned auto factories in the U.S., the Normal plant is the only one where hourly workers are represented by the UAW, according to the Pantagraph.
The fact of the matter is that manufacturers in Illinois cannot remain competitive given the state’s absurd regulatory and business climate. And it’s no mystery why businesses leave. […]
Notably, Illinois House Speaker Mike Madigan has failed to acknowledge these realities. In refusing to speak about policy errors affecting the state’s middle class, Madigan has offered no thoughts on the causes of Illinois’ manufacturing exodus nor solutions for how to fix the problem.
Mitsubishi, once a bastion of low-priced, sporty models, has struggled in the U.S. for a long time… While a recent sales uptick has helped Mitsubishi claim success, that’s only because the numbers have been so low. The company’s 49,544 units last year weren’t even a quarter of the company’s 2002 peak, when more than 345,000 Mitsus flew out the door… Cars like the awesome 3000GT are no more (with the Lancer Evolution soon to follow), and dealers have little competitive product until the refreshed 2016 Outlander plug-in, next Lancer, and Mirage sedan reach our shores.
“This difficult decision follows years of challenge to remain viable, and was compelled by the combination of insufficient U.S. sales and low production capacity utilization,” Hiroshi Harunari, executive vice president in charge of overseas operations for Mitsubishi Motors Corp., said in the statement. “We greatly value the work of all of our employees in Normal and want to stress that our motivation to exit from this facility is unrelated to labor costs or our relationship with the UAW.
“Our partnership over the years has been both respectful and mutually beneficial. Our primary focus right now is to work together to identify a strategic buyer for the plant in order to transit into next phase.”
[Normal Mayor Chris Koos] said company officials told him the reason for the decision was tied to a decline in Russian sales of the Outlander Sport, which has been built at the plant since 2012.
All that being said, finding a manufacturer to move into that building ain’t gonna be easy, considering our high costs of doing business here.
And it is true that Speaker Madigan has not proposed anything major this year to help our manufacturing base.
The CTA, Metra and Pace would lose almost $130 million in state funding under the 2016 budget plan that Gov. Bruce Rauner presented Wednesday, potentially threatening transit services provided to disabled riders and opening the door to deep service cuts and fare increases for daily commuters on trains and buses, transit officials said. […]
Meanwhile, paratransit services, which are provided through Pace under the Americans with Disabilities Act, would lose about 15 percent of the state funds, or $8.5 million, according to the RTA.
Customers pay $3 per ride, while the cost to provide the federally mandated ADA service is roughly $40 per ride, officials said. The service’s projected annual cost is $172 million, while revenue from fares totals about $14 million, Pace spokesman Patrick Wilmot said. […]
Federal law prohibits transit agencies from discriminating against people with disabilities because transportation is a civil right.
The CTA issued this response: “Eliminating or reducing the $28 million reimbursement for a free and reduced fare rides for seniors and riders with disabilities would place a further burden on a state-mandated program that is already woefully underfunded.”
More than 50,000 people are currently using paratransit to get around at a cost of more than $2800 a year per person – a price tag that cuts deep into an agency that stands to lose millions in funding.
* From this past weekend…
25 years ago, President Bush signed the historic Americans with Disabilities Act, ensuring equal opportunities for all Americans.
* Illinois’ prison population is decreasing. Part of that is because of an early release program for good behavior. Part of it is upstream…
In 2009, for example, the [Department of Corrections] processed 27,400 inmates into the prison system. In the most recent fiscal year, statistics show that number has fallen to 19,600. […]
A review of statistics compiled by IDOC shows that in all but 21 of Illinois 102 counties — most of them smaller, more rural jurisdictions — the number of inmates heading to state correctional facilities has dropped.
In 2009, for example, Cook County sent 13,406 inmates into the system. In the most recent fiscal year, that number dropped to 10,268.
Similar decreases took place through the state, with McLean County’s numbers dropping from 462 inmates in 2009 to 274 in the most recent fiscal year.
Part of the reason for that is the state’s drug courts, which have reduced the number of people being sent to prison.
There’s a word that’s emerged prominently in the coverage surrounding the traffic stop, arrest and subsequent jailhouse death of Sandra Bland that’s worth study.
* Natasha talks to Sen. Kwame Raoul about his “body cam” bill, which does so much more…
In Illinois, Raoul has co-sponsored sweeping law enforcement reform legislation that awaits Gov. Bruce Rauner’s signature. Raoul said elements of the legislation go directly toward addressing the kinds of things that went wrong after Bland’s police encounter.
It’s a traffic stop, recall, that is happening in a post-Ferguson and post-Baltimore era, where racially-charged, police incidents in those cities have heightened tensions across the nation. […]
Those incidents helped drive the legislation in Illinois, SB1304, which sets out clear procedures for the use of body cameras and dashcam cameras. The bill bans Illinois police officers to use chokeholds, unless the use of deadly force is warranted. It requires police to fill out “receipts” for those individuals — including pedestrians — who are “frisked” or patted down but not arrested. Police would have to detail the reason for stopping the person, detailing that person’s race and logging any contraband or other personal items taken from the person.
The provisions work to place additional checks on police authority while also providing police officers evidence if they later face misconduct allegations.
While the words “escalation” or “de-escalation” do not appear in the text of the 174-page bill, the legislation includes clauses requiring additional police training every three years on “constitutional and proper use of law enforcement authority, procedural justice, civil rights, human rights and cultural competency.”
A key component to that training, Raoul says, is practicing scenarios like the one that confronted Encinia that day.
In a video posted to YouTube, dozens of community members could be seen visibly upset that Chicago Police had removed the car from the crime scene with the bodies of Thomas and Wallace still inside. The video is titled: “So damn disrespectful, this is just not right . . .”
The crowd can be seen shouting, swearing and aggressively approaching police, prompting one officer to ready his baton and hold it in the air.
The video, by user “Jay Hustle,” has garnered more than 700,000 views on various social media sites, including Facebook.
“They tow the car with a body hanging out of the window,” Hustle can be heard saying. “When did it become procedure to tow a car with a deceased body hanging out of a window with a repo truck? Only in Chicago.” […]
“From time to time, depending on the unique circumstances of the death, bodies may be left in vehicles and removed in private area at the ME’S office [CPD responded]. This would be done to protect the integrity of the crime scene (the car) while at the same time preserving the dignity of the deceased by handling their bodies in a private area rather than on the street in full view of onlookers.
But if you watch the video, which contains quite a bit of profanity, you’ll notice how calm the CPD officers are and how they patiently de-escalate the situation, despite being vastly outnumbered.
I dunno about the car towing thing, but those coppers are top notch.
* There is some chatter behind the scenes, but it doesn’t mean anything as long as Sen. Kirk is moving forward with his campaign. And he’s definitely doing that…
Pssst!
Sneed hears rumbles top Republican Party stalwarts are worried U.S. Sen. Mark Kirk, R-Ill., who suffered a massive stroke in 2012, may not have the energy to win re-election.
“The last race for the U.S. Senate seat between Kirk and Dem senatorial hopeful Alexi Giannoulias was a bruiser, and the next race will be heavily funded by the Democratic Party,” said a top GOP source. (U.S. Rep. Tammy Duckworth, D-Ill. and attorney/former Urban League President Andrea Zopp have entered the Dem primary fray.)
Kirk, who had to learn how to walk again and has struggled with speech issues, has dealt recently with verbal gaffes, one of which required him to offer a one-line apology recently after he was caught on a hot microphone referring to U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., a bachelor, as a “bro with no ho.”
More recently, Kirk’s performance while questioning Consumer Financial Protection Bureau chief Richard Cordray at a Senate Banking, Housing & Urban Affairs Committee hearing was described as “disastrous” by a top Republican insider who asked not to be identified.
* From the Kirk campaign…
The Kirk For Senate campaign launched a new ad, titled “Headed to Trial”, in response to Rep. Duckworth’s second negative ad in just the last two months. The new video highlights Rep. Duckworth’s upcoming trial as the motive behind her torrent of negative advertising aimed at Senator Kirk.
“Next month, Rep. Duckworth and her taxpayer-paid legal team are scheduled to be in court facing charges that Duckworth violated the state ethics act by attempting to silence whistleblowers during her time as Director of the Illinois Department of Veterans Affairs,” said Kevin Artl, campaign manager for Kirk for Senate. “The launch of the negative ad by Rep. Duckworth is meant to distract the public from her own mounting legal troubles as yet another member of the Blagojevich administration is headed to trial.”
Background on the upcoming Duckworth Trial:
In 2009, two employees of the Anna Veterans Home sued Tammy Duckworth as an individual in Union County Circuit Court for violations of the State of Illinois Officials and Employees’ Ethics Act. Duckworth is accused of silencing a whistleblower, wrongful termination, humiliating an employee and approving inaccurate performance reviews that rendered the plaintiffs ineligible for bonuses or raises. The first pre-trial hearing of this case is set for August 4, 2015.
“Words have ceased to have meaning now that Mark Kirk has called another campaign ‘desperate.’ Let’s consider just the past week: in response to his over-the-top reaction to the Iran nuclear agreement, Kirk was called the ‘love child of Ted Cruz and Michele Bachman’ in one editorial and ‘a political loose cannon’ in another; a second prominent political handicapper moved the race to ‘Lean Democratic’ from ‘Toss-up;” and Republicans are now talking openly about his ‘disastrous’ campaign. I could go back further to his sexist and racially insensitive comments about a ‘bro with no ho’ and people ‘driving faster through’ African American neighborhoods, but you get the point. Senator Kirk’s campaign is in free fall, and no amount of misdirection can change the fact that Illinois families are tired of his reckless and obnoxious rhetoric.” — Matt McGrath, Democratic Party of Illinois spokesman
* When the Democratic leaders say all they heard at the latest meeting with the governor was talking points, this is what they mean…
Cullerton said he’s willing to meet with Rauner anytime the governor asks.
But, Cullerton was asked, why wait on the governor? Why not set up his own meeting with Rauner and the leaders? Cullerton replied that it was possible but probably not fruitful.
“If it’s like the other meetings, we sit there and the guy reads off a sheet of paper and nothing changes,” Cullerton said.
I asked a prominent state lawmaker the other day when he thought the state budget stalemate might end.
“August,” he replied, before Illinois becomes even more of a national laughingstock than it is today. “Or December,” so voters can have the holiday “gift” of a fiscal 2016 spending plan while much of fiscal 2016 actually remains. “But I really don’t know.”
Governor Bruce Rauner’s attorneys say the governor’s schedules are private, and that revealing the identity of people he’s meeting with could be used to “determine the substance and direction of his judgment and mental processes.”
* The SJ-R follows up on a story here about how the Rauner administration is attempting to recruit retirees to take over for state workers in case of a strike…
Rauner spokeswoman Catherine Kelly didn’t deny that the calls are being made.
“We are actively pursuing all options to continue important services in the event that AFSCME chooses to strike, rather than agree to proposals similar to those recently ratified by the Teamsters,” Kelly said.
A Teamsters local representing about 350 workers in Cook County recently agreed to a new contract that included a four-year wage freeze, but incentive bonuses.
AFSCME said the fact the administration is contacting retirees about returning to work “is the smoking gun that shows Gov. Rauner is seeking to cause a crisis.”
“It echoes his repeated threats on the campaign trail to shut down state government and the public services it provides in order to strip the rights of public service workers and drive down their middle-class standards of living,” said AFSCME spokesman Anders Lindall. “Our union has never had a strike in state government. State employees don’t want to be forced to strike.”
Last week, Gov. Bruce Rauner declared to reporters that if it wasn’t for House Speaker Michael Madigan, the budget impasse would’ve been resolved.
And perhaps if the sky was green, then grass might be blue.
For starters, what the governor said was highly doubtful. It’s not like in the absence of Madigan that Senate President John Cullerton and his liberal Democratic caucus would’ve eagerly gone along with the harshly anti-union aspects of Rauner’s “Turnaround Agenda” in exchange for a budget deal and tax hike, as the governor is demanding.
Cullerton confirmed that fact just a day after Rauner made his remarks.
“This is a supermajority of Democrats and a bunch of pro-union Republicans in this state,” Cullerton told reporters. “This isn’t, you know, Oklahoma or Kansas. And so he’s got to understand, he ran for governor of Illinois,” he said of Rauner.
The governor is demanding things that Democrats just won’t ever go along with, like all but eliminating collective bargaining rights for unions at the local government level, killing off the prevailing wage for construction workers, and doing away with the mostly “no fault” aspect of the workers’ compensation system.
Mayor Rahm Emanuel is more conservative than Cullerton, and he’d like to see some changes to the workers’ comp system, but he has taken the side of unions in this ideological war as well.
Plus, let’s get real here. There is no “absence” of Mike Madigan. He is, love him or hate him (and, if the polls are right, most people hate him), a fact of Statehouse life.
It’s true that Madigan hasn’t been cooperative during the long overtime legislative session. He even intervened in the Senate to prevent Cullerton from passing a compromise bill on property taxes this month.
Cullerton’s proposal attempted to address one of Rauner’s “Turnaround Agenda” demands of a two-year property tax freeze while making sure Chicago schools and other struggling school districts around the state weren’t harmed.
The bill was opposed by the Chicago Teachers Union, which nonetheless called it “well-intentioned.” The Chicago Teachers Pension Fund also opposed the bill because it changed the pension payment “ramp” schedule for the city’s school system. The Republicans, of course, were also opposed, because the governor wants to get rid of most collective bargaining rights for teachers unions as part of his proposal.
For all of those reasons, plus one, Cullerton’s measure received 32 “yes” votes—four short of the three-fifths majority needed during an overtime session.
The “plus one” angle is that Speaker Madigan was also opposed. If you check the roll call, Sen. Martin Sandoval, who is Madigan’s senator, didn’t vote even though he was in the chamber during the roll call. Sen. Steve Landek, whom Madigan appointed to the Senate four years ago, voted “present.”
The Senate Democrats were aware that Madigan was working against the bill, but Cullerton went ahead with the roll call anyway. Cullerton believes he has the votes to pass the legislation when his chamber returns to town in August.
Look, I won’t excuse any of his actions, but others have found a way to make a deal with Madigan. Heck, even Rod Blagojevich did, and he did so after he accused the chairman of the Democratic Party of being a Republican.
So, enough with the excuses and the eliminationist fantasies. If the governor wants an agreement, then he has to step away from his far-right economic agenda and find some practical solutions to this mess or we will never even get to talking about a budget.
Democrats (and a whole lot of Republicans) are simply not going to vote to eviscerate labor unions. Period. This isn’t so much a personality clash with one stubborn House speaker as it is an ideological war with more than half the state.
Successful governors have always found a way to bridge the oftentimes yawning gaps between the various interests and power centers.
I don’t disagree at all with the governor that we need some economic reforms to spur some much-needed growth. But if this governor was serious about breaking the logjam, he’d find a way to do that in concert with a Democratic supermajority.
A panel of appellate judges in the state’s Fifth District has unanimously upheld a temporary restraining order issued by a St. Clair County Circuit Court that has enabled public service workers in state government to be paid on time and in full even in the absence of an enacted state budget for the fiscal year that started July 1.
The case was brought against the State of Illinois by unions representing state employees. The unions argued that failure to pay state workers on time and in full would be an unconstitutional impairment of contract—violating the unions’ respective collective bargaining agreements that establish employee wages and pay schedules.
The appellate panel today upheld the TRO and remanded the case to St. Clair County Circuit Court for trial. The judges wrote:
“State employees have a protectable right to be paid for work they perform. … State employees will suffer irreparable harm if the TRO is not granted. As the unions stated in their motion requesting the TRO, no one knows when the budget impasse will end. … The loss of pay will, at the very least, cause State employees and their families a good deal of stress. Some may be unable to make payments on their homes, cars, or other debts.”
“Public service workers in state government keep us safe, protect kids, care for veterans and people with disabilities, and provide many other vital services, and it’s right that they will be paid on time and in full for the work they do,” AFSCME Council 31 executive director Roberta Lynch said. “Now instead of holding public services hostage, Governor Rauner should drop his extreme demands for policy changes that are unrelated to the budget and would hurt the middle class, and turn his attention to working with legislative leaders to pass a fair budget without preconditions.”
Today the city of Chicago’s pension-cutting legislation was ruled unconstitutional and void in Cook County Circuit Court. The American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) Council 31, one of four unions joining 14 city employees and retirees as named plaintiffs in the suit (Jones v. MEABF) issued this statement:
“Today’s ruling that overturns city pension cuts and protects the life savings of city workers is a win for all Chicago. All city residents can be reassured that the Constitution—our state’s highest law—means what it says and will be respected, while city employees and retirees can be assured that their modest retirement income is protected.
“Public service workers in city government help children in our libraries and schools, provide health care in neighborhood clinics, keep our streets and water supply safe and clean, and do much more. Their modest pension benefit is just $32,000 a year on average, and they aren’t eligible for Social Security.
“In light of Judge Novak’s ruling and the recent state Supreme Court ruling that made clear there is no exception to the Constitution’s pension protection clause, we urge the city not to take up further time and expend additional taxpayer dollars on an appeal of today’s decision.”
But city officials made it clear they intend to appeal to the state Supreme Court.
“We have always recognized that this matter will ultimately be resolved by the Illinois Supreme Court,” Corporation Counsel Stephen Patton, the top city attorney, said in a statement. “We now look forward to having our arguments heard there.
“We continue to strongly believe that the City’s pension reform legislation, unlike the State legislation held unconstitutional this past spring, does not diminish or impair pension benefits, but rather preserves and protects them. This law not only rescues the municipal and laborer pension funds from certain insolvency, but ensures that, over time, they will be fully funded and the 61,000 affected City workers and retirees will receive the pensions they were promised,” Patton said.
While Emanuel is defending the laborers and city workers case, he’s already acknowledged the new legal landscape created by the state Supreme Court ruling in his proposed fix for the police and fire pension funds. His plan would not diminish benefits for police officers and firefighters. Instead, the city would stretch out the payment schedule so that initial increases in taxpayer contributions would be reduced. Police and fire pension funds are short about $10 billion and stand to go broke in less than a decade.
The approach also would provide the mayor with some short-term budget relief as the city considers new pension funding sources that could include a significant property tax increase. Lawmakers approved the city pension bill May 31 but have yet to send it to Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner amid the state government stalemate.
* House Speaker Michael Madigan doesn’t exactly love Forrest Claypool, so when the mayor hired him as his chief of staff things got a bit icy on the 3rd Floor. Eileen Mitchell was Madigan’s Issues (campaign) Director and, once in that organization, always in that organization…
Mayor Rahm Emanuel on Thursday named Eileen Mitchell as his next Chief of Staff. Ms. Mitchell currently serves as Vice President of External Affairs for AT&T Illinois. Since 2003, she has been responsible for leading the company’s initiatives in public policy, community relations and charitable giving in Illinois. She previously served as Issues Director and Special Assistant to the Speaker in the office of the Illinois Speaker of the House of Representatives in Springfield.
“During her time in public service and the private sector, Eileen has demonstrated a unique ability to help pass important legislation and manage complicated issues – a critical skill set for any Chief of Staff,” said Mayor Emanuel. “Eileen has a passion for public service that will benefit the residents of Chicago as we continue our work to right the City’s financial ship while creating jobs and spurring neighborhood development.”
Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner has been trying to isolate Madigan — and drive a wedge between the mayor and the Speaker — to resolve a state budget stalemate over Rauner’s demands for pro-business, anti-union reforms.
The mayor’s decision to put Mitchell in City Hall’s hottest seat only serves to underscore the futility of Rauner’s strategy.
Yep.
Eileen is also a lifelong White Sox fan. Good people.
A measure that adds companies that boycott Israel to the state’s existing divestiture requirements was signed by Governor Rauner today, making Illinois the first state in the country to enact anti-BDS legislation.
Sponsored by state Rep. Sara Feigenholtz (D-Chicago), Senate Bill 1761 creates the Illinois Investment Policy Board, which will maintain a list of restricted companies for the state-funded pension systems and Illinois State Board of Investments (ISBI).
“Israel is one of our closest allies, and we have a responsibility to protect the economic wellbeing of all of our friends,” said Feigenholtz. “This law ensures that our state invests in a way that is aligned with our interests and moral obligations.”
The pension systems and ISBI could not invest in any restricted company, which includes companies that boycott Israel or have relations with Iran or Sudan. Pension systems currently investing in companies on the restricted list would be required to divest. Divestment is not required if the total investment in a restricted company is less than 0.5% of the market value of all assets of the pension system or ISBI.
“With every investment we’re making a statement about the kind of society we want to live in,” said Feigenholtz. “This legislation uses taxpayer dollars in a conscious, responsible manner and makes it clear that Illinois stands with Israel.”
…Adding… From the governor’s office…
Flanked by bipartisan legislators, Jewish community leaders and the Consul General of Israel to the Midwest, Gov. Bruce Rauner today signed historic legislation making Illinois the first state in America to divest its public pension funds from companies that participate in the Boycott, Sanctions, Divestment (BDS) movement targeting Israel.
The Illinois law is the first state-based measure to take specific concrete action against boycotts of Israel. The legislation, which was modeled after past measures relating to Iran and Sudan, requires state pension systems to terminate direct investment in companies that boycott Israel and issue warnings to fund managers when such companies are held indirectly inside larger portfolios. The statute defines “boycotting Israel” as “engaging in actions that are politically motivated and are intended to penalize, inflict economic harm on, or otherwise limit commercial relations with the State of Israel or companies based in the State of Israel or in territories controlled by the State of Israel.”
“We need to stand up to anti-Semitism whenever and wherever we see it,” Gov. Rauner said. “This historic legislation is an important first step in the fight against boycotts of Israel and I hope other states move quickly to follow our lead. I want to thank Sen. Silverstein, Rep. Feigenholtz and all the sponsors of this legislation for working with our Administration to take a stand against BDS.”
The anti-BDS measure, SB 1761, was initiated by Gov. Rauner and sponsored by Sen. Ira Silverstein (D-Chicago) and Rep. Sara Feigenholtz (D-Chicago). It passed 49-0 in the Senate and 102-0 in the House.
As a candidate last year, Rauner talked a lot about term limits. Now that he’s governor, he’s pushing for lawmakers to sign on. The governor often repeats his goal of removing power from what he calls the “political class” — in particular from, House Speaker Michael Madigan whom he charges “controls” legislators.
The governor’s also calling for changes to redistricting, the process for determining what neighborhoods will comprise a legislative district.
Madigan, a Democrat, says Rauner’s plans are pure politics.
“They were Republican Party campaign issues, designed to be used in Republican campaigns. They haven’t changed. That’s the purpose of the Rauner advocacy of those two issues: Republican Party campaign purposes.”
— Trib IL CampaignCash (@ILCampaignCash) July 23, 2015
The biggest contribution reported today was $100K from Sam Zell, a bigtime Rauner backer.
But Robert Judelson was also listed as contributing $20K. Judelson and his company have given to Republicans over the years, but also to some Democrats, including the Illinois Senate Democrats.
* It would be nice if, for once, the Democrats could finally get themselves out in front of a “reform” idea. I get why they don’t want to do term limits. But remap reform is long overdue in this state. Calling it a Republican plot is just plain silly.
* From an AFSCME Council 31 handout, scanned and then pasted below. Emphasis added for obvious reasons…
After more than six months at the bargaining table, the Rauner Administration continues to hold to its demands that would drive down the standard of living of state employees and drastically weaken union rights. While there has been agreement reached on a few issues, the Administration still has a large number of proposals on the table, including:
• No wage increases or step increases for the entire term of the contract
• Eliminate longevity pay (including for all those currently receiving it)
• Eliminate maximum security pay and reduce call-back pay, stand-by pay and roll call pay
• Restructure the group health plan to drastically shift costs to employees-with employees paying as much as 500% more for out-of-pocket costs.
• Increase dental premiums by more than 100%.
• Eliminate all restrictions on subcontracting or personal service contracts.
• Require all employees hired before July 1, 2011 to “voluntarily” agree to reduce their pension benefits to the Tier 2 level.
• Eliminate the Upward Mobility Program in its entirety, as well as a other forms of tuition reimbursement, continuing education, and licensure reimbursement.
• Eliminate any restrictions on forced overtime.
The AFSCME Bargaining Committee has made very clear that state employees will not accept the drastic decline in family income and union rights that these demands represent.
When the union contract expired on June 30, AFSCME proposed that the contract terms be extended until negotiations on a new contract are completed. The Administration refused, agreeing only to sign a so-called “tolling agreement” which keeps the contract’s terms and conditions in place until July 31st. As that date approaches, AFSCME has again proposed that the expired contract be extended. Management has not responded.
AFSCME members want to reach a fair contract settlement at the bargaining table-as we’ve been abl e to do with governors of both political parties for nearly forty years now. For us, a strike is a last resort, a step we wi ll take only if absolutel y necessary to protect our rights and our standard of living.
That’s why we are working to enact SB 1229, legislation that would provide an alternative to a strike or lockout by relying on an ind e pendent arbitrator to resolve outstanding contract issues. We’re calling our legislators to urge them to stand with us and pledge to vote to override the governor’s anticipated veto of this important measure.
But we also know that the Rauner Administration still appears to be planning to try to force a strike or lockout. The Union has received information that the Administration is recruiting retirees to come back to work on contract; hiring temporary workers to ’shadow’ state employees and learn their jobs; and trying to get the Illinois National Guard to perform state employees’ work.
So we have to be prepared as well. AFSCME local unions are beginning now to develop their own plans should a strike be necessary-and many AFSCME members are beginning to plan financially too.
Even in the midst of the current budget uncertainty, state employees are on the job providing the vital services on which citizens depend. We go the extra mile–and then some–to keep Illinois working. Coming together through our union over many years, we’ve gained the fairness and respect that are essential to getting the job done even under the most difficult circumstances. Now we’re at a crossroads. If the Rauner Administration values state employees and the work we do, then we can continue to work constructively toward a fair contract settlement without any disruption in state services. But if the Administration is hostile to state employees and seeks confrontation, then we will be prepared to respond.
This much we know for certain-If we continue to stand together, united and determined, we can preserve the decent standard of living and fair treatment on the job that are so essential to us all.
AFSCME does not have a fund that pays out a stipend when employees are locked out or on strike. However, the Union has a Solidarity Fund that can help in grave emergencies. The Fund will coordinate assistance from other unions that want to support locked out or striking workers and will also work with community organizations that provide emergency assistance.
As Illinois government slogged into uncharted territory — weeks into a new fiscal year with no budget agreement in sight — one might be tempted to wonder whether the warring camps ever will find common ground to agree on much of anything.
Looking beyond the harsh partisan rhetoric and trashed civility that so far has been the norm for legislative overtime, though, across-the-aisle cooperation and give-and-take compromise produced significant results earlier on, before the budget stalemate.
The most notable achievements came in the area of criminal justice, including a far-reaching measure proponents said would become a national model for law enforcement reform. A product of intense, months-long negotiations among police groups, community leaders and civil rights organizations like the NAACP: Senate Bill 1304 cleared both chambers by wide margins — 107 to 3 in the House, 45 to 5, with 6 present votes, in the Senate. As of press time, the legislation awaited action by Gov. Rauner.
In the critical days leading up to Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner’s election last fall, his campaign handed out thousands of $25, $50 and $75 gift cards to people helping get the vote out for him. […]
Asked about the gift cards by the Chicago Tribune, the Rauner campaign said in an email that it bought 5,145 of them in denominations of $25, $50 and $75. A source close to Rauner’s 2014 bid said the campaign office was “awash” in the debit cards, some of which were then passed along to township and county GOP operations. The cards were distributed to people who worked on phone banks as well as those who walked streets to canvass for votes, the campaign said. […]
But the Rauner campaign has not disclosed who got the prepaid gift cards, including anyone who may have received multiple cards worth $150 or more — the threshold in state campaign finance law for reporting compensation to workers. […]
“If they’re giving them a debit card with value on it, that’s payment to these people. You can’t get around it,” said Noble, now senior counsel at the Washington-based Campaign Legal Center, a nonpartisan, nonprofit group involved in campaign finance legal issues. […]
“The campaign reported the gift cards correctly,” Sarah Clamp, a spokeswoman for Rauner’s campaign, said in an email statement. “The campaign is only responsible for reporting when the campaign makes an expenditure and did this by reporting the purchase of gift cards.”
The Rauner folks say this wasn’t compensation, just “property.”
I don’t hugely care about the reporting issue.
* What does interest me is that they used those cards in their GOTV efforts. According to the story, they were handing them out willy nilly, including to township parties. And they had so many that they returned 20 percent of them for refunds.
All appointments to boards, commissions, committees and councils of the State created by the laws of this State and after the effective date of this Act shall be gender balanced to the extent possible and to the extent that appointees are qualified to serve on those boards, commissions, committees and councils. If gender balance is not possible, then appointments shall provide for significant representation of both sexes to boards, commissions, committees and councils governed by this Act and Section 5-510 of the Departments of State Government Law (20 ILCS 5/5-510). If there are multiple appointing authorities for a board, commission, committee, or council, they shall each strive to achieve gender balance in their appointments.
Appointments made in accordance with this Act should be made in a manner that makes a good faith attempt to seek gender balance based on the numbers of each gender belonging to the group from which appointments are made.
* From Rob Sherman News “Brought to you by: Rob Sherman Airplanes - Builder Assist Center for builders of Zenith Kit Airplanes”…
Rob Sherman is challenging illegal sex discrimination by Illinois Governor Bruce Rauner.
The Governor has chosen to nominate only men to the Illinois Toll Highway Authority Board of Directors and to the Secure Choice Savings Board in violation of Illinois’ mandatory Gender Balanced Appointment Act, which requires that all Boards and Commissions be gender balanced to the greatest extent possible.
Rauner has nominated 6 men to the Tollway Board, thus creating an all-male 11-person board.
The National Council of Women’s Organizations, a coalition of over 200 national, regional and local organizations, has joined Rob Sherman in opposing illegal sex discrimination by Illinois Governor Bruce Rauner in his nominations to State government boards. […]
In a letter that was intended to be dated yesterday, July 21, 2015, but which was dated June 21st due to an inadvertent typo, Martha Burk, the NCWO’s director of their sex discrimination project, urged “that these nominations be withdrawn, as they are in violation of Illinois law as well as basic principles of fairness and good government. Our organization stands ready to publicly oppose any nominations that do not adhere to both the letter and spirit of the law.”
I will be speaking at tomorrow’s (July 23, 2015) Tollway Board meeting, at which time I will ask that the illegally nominated Tollway Directors submit a letter to Governor Rauner, asking that their nominations be withdrawn so that the Governor can present a gender balanced set of nominees to the Illinois Senate for confirmation. I will tell the Board that their nominations are doomed, anyway, because the Senate is dominated by the Democratic Party, which is known for embracing and advocating for diversity. There is no chance that the Democratic Senate or the Democratic controlled Senate Executive Appointments Committee will confirm a Republican slate of nominees that illegally contains zero gender diversity.
The National Council of Women’s Organizations is most famous for its protests against the Augusta National Golf Club’s all-male policy.
* Anyway, the Tribune picked up on the story today…
The National Council of Women’s Organizations is charging that Rauner is violating the Illinois Gender Balanced Appointments Act. The 1991 law is aimed at equalizing representation on state panels “with a good faith attempt to seek gender balance.” It makes no mention of consequences for failing to comply.
The organization urged the nominations be withdrawn. The nominations “are in violation of Illinois law as well as basic principles of fairness and good governance,” the group said in a letter to Rauner.
“Fifty percent of the members the governor has appointed or reappointed to the Tollway board are minorities, so to insinuate that the administration hasn’t made diversity a priority is misguided,” Kelly said Wednesday.
Rauner’s appointments bring the number of African-Americans on the Tollway board to two. Two members have Hispanic surnames.
Diversity isn’t the issue here, it’s the state statute on women.
We’ll see if this gets any legs. If past is prologue, Sherman may do something to step on the story and screw it up.
Five years ago I went through a similar battle with lawyers for the city of Chicago over schedules for then-mayor Richard M. Daley. They argued that releasing them would be too “burdensome” and could endanger the mayor.
But the attorney general’s office eventually rejected those claims and determined that the mayor’s schedule and meeting calendar were indeed public records. “The public has a legitimate interest in learning of its Mayor’s public meetings held in City Hall,” wrote an assistant attorney general.
I cited the ruling in a lawsuit against the city over its FOIA denials. City officials now cough up Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s schedule when asked. […]
And last month I requested a list of private-sector law firms hired to do state work—that is, firms paid with taxpayer money. McClernon refused to provide that information either, saying it too was protected by attorney-client privilege.
Is the governor really claiming that the public doesn’t have the right to know how taxpayer funds are spent? Public contracts are among the classic and longstanding examples of “information regarding the affairs of government” meant to be disclosed under the Illinois FOIA.
During a press conference Tuesday, he said that he and his administration are as open with the public as they need to be, and he doubled down on his claim that he has the right to conceal who has access to his office.
“It’s very clear where I’m going, and we do much more than other elected officials and much more than is required by law,” Rauner told reporters in Springfield. (You can see the video here; these comments start at the 8:40 mark).
The governor made the statement after Illinois Public Radio reporter Amanda Vinicky asked him about my story detailing his efforts to keep his daily meeting schedules a secret. The calendars involve state business, but Rauner doesn’t think the public should get to see whom he’s consulting, even weeks or months after the meetings occur.
“Why are you blocking so much of your public schedule?” Vinicky asked.
Rauner smiled and shook his head. “Boy, I don’t agree with your supposition,” he said.
In an interview, my public radio colleague Amanda Vinicky asked Rauner when he changed his mind about that. Rauner pointed to early campaign statements: “We talked about it all through. Now, I don’t remember a particular timing of emphasis. Obviously there a lot of issues to talk about.”
From a politician as disciplined about adhering to his talking points as Rauner, that answer required a bit too much credulity. That’s particularly true because the “timing of emphasis” was so clear: Before he won the Republican primary, Rauner was rabidly anti-union in his rhetoric, so frequently villifying “government union bosses” that his repetition of the phrase approached the realm of farce. Then, after he won the primary, Rauner was virtually silent on the subject until after the general election. You say timing of emphasis, I say obfuscation, let’s call the whole thing off.
Murphysboro attorney Sharee Langenstein threw her hat into the ring to run for the 58th Senate District seat.
That seat is currently held by Sen. Dave Luechtefeld, R-Okawville, who announced he is not seeking re-election in 2016.
Langenstein, a constitutional law attorney specializing in First Amendment rights, ran unsuccessfully for Jackson County State’s Attorney in 2012. She also specializes in elections and government relations. […]
Langenstein is a registered lobbyist, whose clients include Family PAC and Eagle Forum.
Also having expressed an interest in the seat are former Lt. Gov. Sheila Simon of Carbondale and former attorney general candidate Paul Schimpf, a former military lawyer, of Waterloo.
A Springfield native and assistant state’s attorney in Sangamon County is considering a run for state Senate against incumbent SAM McCANN, R-Plainview, in the 50th Senate District.
“Several people have approached me about running for state Senate,” said STEVE McCLURE, 31. “It is something that I am seriously considering, and I’ve reached out to a lot of really intelligent people that are more politically astute than I am to get their advice.” He said he doesn’t expect to make a decision until at least September.
McClure says he’s a conservative Republican. He has history and political science degrees from Arizona State University, and he was vice chairman of the College Republicans in Arizona. He also was president of Valparaiso University Law School Republicans when he attended there, graduating in 2011.
He has a master’s degree in political studies from the University of Illinois Springfield, was a legislative intern and worked on the appropriations staff for Senate Republicans.
Sangamon County types have never really gotten over the fact that they’re represented by a non-Sangamon County type.
But McCann could very well be vulnerable in a GOP primary. It’ll be interesting to see how the union issue plays out here as well. McCann started off as a tea partier, but has moved to the left on some economic issues.
Empowerment means giving governments the ability to lower costs by reforming project labor agreements and prevailing wage requirements that block true competitive bidding. These requirements can increase the costs of taxpayer funded construction projects by 20 percent or more.
As we all know by now, Gov. Rauner has since made getting rid of the prevailing wage a key demand of his “Turnaround Agenda.”
That’s not mathematically possible, according to Frank Manzo of the Illinois Economic Policy Institute.
He points out that wages only account for 20 to 25 percent of the cost of public construction projects, so reducing costs by that amount solely through wage cuts would require paying workers something close to zero.
The range may be more like 20-30 percent, but point taken.
* There are also studies showing that low wage states have higher total costs. For instance…
While the hourly wage rate for the high wage states was 73 percent more than the low wage, labor hours were 35 percent less and total cost per mile was 4 percent less. Again, not only was hourly wage rate a poor predictor of total highway cost per mile, but there were cost per mile savings associated with construction in the average high wage state
Economic research that is summarized in this report indicates that the use of skilled construction labor is very sensitive to wage rates. As wages decrease, less productive employees replace more skilled craft workers. Manual labor is also used instead of productivity - enhancing capital equipment. In a comparison of states with “ weak ” or no prevailing wage laws to states that have “average” or “strong” laws (like Michigan’s), value added per construction worker is 11 percent higher in the states with effective wage policies. .
Some hospitals serving low-income communities are in imminent danger of closing, according to Shriver Center’s court filing. The filing further states that If those hospitals close because of the state’s failure to pay bills, it would violate a decade-old court order. The Shriver lawyers argued that order requires the state to complete Medicaid payments to hospitals in Cook County, even though Gov. Bruce Rauner and lawmakers have not approved a spending plan authorizing the state to reimburse those hospitals.
The court filing specifically named The New Roseland Community Hospital. It said delayed payments “will force Roseland Community Hospital, in less than a week, to begin the process of closing its hospital.” Roseland Community Hospital is dependent on the Medicaid program for 71 percent of its funding and it anticipates a $2 million shortfall in July and a $2.4 million shortfall in August, according to the Shriver Center’s filing.
Roseland Hospital said in a written statement that it has enough funding to make payroll on July 31st and it will be implementing a voluntary furlough, layoffs and service line suspensions before August 1.
“The families of those who are going to die because of this political budget impasse will not give a damn about party lines,” said Tim Egan, New Roseland President and CEO, in an emailed statement. “Just as bullets don’t recognize political boundaries, grieving families, critically injured patients and an abandoned community will not care about Republicans or Democrats. They will just know that the State of Illinois failed them. And the State of Illinois will have failed the New Roseland Hospital, its patients and its employees over a political stalemate.”
The Illinois Department of Healthcare and Family Services is a named defendant in the lawsuit. John Hoffman, a spokesperson for the department, said in response to the filing, “While we believe this motion incorrectly interprets the consent decree, this does highlight the importance of the General Assembly passing a balanced budget so our most vulnerable citizens will know they can continue receiving the care they need in the long run.”
…Adding More… Illinois Hospital Association…
“IHA and the hospital community appreciate the action taken by the Shriver Center seeking to assure access to health care services for Illinoisans who are insured by the Medicaid program – children, seniors, families and persons with disabilities. Access to health care should not be a bargaining chip in the budget debates in Springfield. Just like state employees, physicians, nurses, pharmacists, aides and other health care workers need to be paid during the budget impasse. IHA continues to urge legislators on both sides of the aisle and the Governor to find a reasonable and workable state budget solution so Illinoisans are able to receive the health care they need.”
To get an assessment of how the fight is playing out, I meandered from my home office in Toulon down the main drag to Connie’s Country Kitchen, the fount of all wisdom.
The farmers start coming into Connie’s about 5 a.m., sitting communally at the big back table near the kitchen. The ladies come in later and sit at an equally big table in a small side room.
I asked about 20 at the two tables what they thought of the budget stalemate in Springfield. After making sure they wouldn’t be quoted, the caffeine addicts opened up.
One in this Republican-oriented café said he thought, “Rauner is trying to do what’s right.” Then came the torrent of general criticisms:
“I think we should fire the whole bunch,” and “They need to act like grownups,” and “We should put them in a room, lock the doors and not let them out ’til they solve this thing,” and, “I wish they could just get along.”
Then the comment that got everyone’s heads nodding in agreement: “They’re both to blame. I’m disgusted with the whole lot!”
* Jim believes that the situation isn’t yet “ripe” and that people will eventually settle on who won and who lost.
But I think his admittedly small sample is saying what Speaker Madigan has been shooting for all along.
Speaker Madigan knows he’s grossly unpopular and that most editorial boards, columnists, etc. will pile on him. And he likely has no illusions that he can increase his popularity in any way during this mess.
* So the object from the beginning, I believe, has been to drag Gov. Rauner down with him.
And I think Rauner understands this, which is why he’s fought so hard to project a good guy image in this battle. He’s the guy pushing to get state employees paid. He’s the reasonable guy who can work with Mayor Emanuel and Senate President Cullerton. He’s the guy in the white hat (literally) pushing popular “reforms” like term limits. And don’t forget that his TV ads featured him in a highly positive light.
According to Jim’s informal little coffee klatch focus group, the governor’s strategy may not be working. But I have yet to see any credible polling on this matter, so we’ll have to wait and see.
Because the state has a backlog of payments (estimated at $4.25 billion as of May), it is paying its vendors several months in arrears. Illinois’ ability to continue making payments owed from fiscal 2015 will delay the cash flow impact on vendors, at least while these vendors continue to collect back payments from fiscal 2015. However, to the extent that budget adoption is delayed, the state will continue to build on its payables as payments that require appropriations cannot be made.
Furthermore, protracted budget negotiations could have a detrimental effect on the state’s economy due to reduced and delayed spending and investment. Illinois already ranks 48th in year-over-year change in personal income in first-quarter 2015, 49th in year-over-year population change as of July 1, 2014, and 38th in year-over-year employment change as of May 2015.
In our view, the absence of a budget, while not affecting debt service, reflects a failure in the fiscal policymaking process. The legislature is looking for the governor to propose tax increases to close the budgetary gap. Gov. Rauner has indicated his willingness to increase income taxes and expand the sales tax base to tax services, but only in exchange for several reforms he is proposing and which haven’t garnered significant support from the legislature. These measures include worker’s compensation and tort reform, and a property tax freeze tied to limits on prevailing wage requirements and collective bargaining. We have yet to see either side exhibit flexibility on their core policy objectives.
And while an extended legislative session can sometimes result in an improved structural alignment or adoption of substantive policy reforms, it can also lead states to resort to budgetary gimmicks. On May 8 we placed our Illinois ratings, including our ‘A-‘ GO rating on the state, on CreditWatch with negative implications. In our view, the outcome of the fiscal 2016 budget deliberations will be pivotal to the state’s credit trajectory given the magnitude of structural imbalance, pension spending burden, and overall liquidity.
As we indicated in our CreditWatch, we could take a rating action within the next two months, even in the absence of an adopted budget if, in our view, there is limited progress in budget deliberations or if credit fundamentals weaken.
Senate President John Cullerton stepped to the microphone Wednesday at the Thompson Center in the Loop and tried to play statesman in the Springfield stalemate, calling for a do-over on negotiations and suggesting that approving a budget is the most important task at the Capitol.
Before Cullerton had even finished, Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner’s aides had fired off an email to reporters ripping the Northwest Side Democrat as a politician who wants to raise taxes and take Illinois backward. A visibly frustrated Cullerton, in turn, blasted Rauner, saying the first-year governor has missed the “nuanced” nature of governing and is stuck on campaign talking points.
“This is a supermajority of Democrats and a bunch of pro-union Republicans in this state,” Cullerton said. “This isn’t, you know, Oklahoma or Kansas. And so he’s got to understand, he ran for governor of Illinois.” […]
The continued bickering is another sign of how far apart Rauner and Democrats are, even as the new governor has tried to isolate Madigan as the only person standing in the way of a compromise. On Tuesday, Rauner told reporters that if he and Cullerton could negotiate a deal on their own, “we would have this done.”
Asked about that Wednesday, Cullerton said: “I don’t know what he’s talking about.”
Rauner wants business-related reforms before a budget and largely blames Madigan for the impasse, saying he could negotiate better if only dealing with Cullerton.
But Cullerton dismissed that notion at a Chicago news conference Wednesday, saying Rauner isn’t negotiating with him.
Referring to the governor’s anti-union agenda, Cullerton declared that his state “is not Oklahoma. He’s got to understand, he was elected in Illinois.”
Another example: the president’s comment that the governor “has spent his time in office prioritizing a corporate agenda that will make his corporate supporters happy.”
Rauner has insisted that the legislature adopt his “reform” measures before he will discuss higher taxes to help balance the budget. They include workers compensation reform, limits on civil lawsuits, a property tax freeze, term limits and redistricting changes. Rauner has said lawmakers only need to pass a handful of bills to break the logjam.
“The handful of bills are pretty radical bills,” Cullerton said. “This anti-union agenda is just not supported not only by (Democrats), but by a number of (Republicans). He seems to be unaware of the fact we passed a major workers compensation bill four years ago.”
Cullerton said he is still willing to work with Rauner on components of his reform agenda. He said he last met with the governor two weeks ago.
Senate President John Cullerton, who would like to be seen as the reasonable man in the state budget battles, suggested Wednesday that Gov. Bruce Rauner and legislators go back to square one and start over.
“His plan is dead. Our plan is dead. Let’s acknowledge that and start moving forward,” Cullerton said.
Cullerton’s overture was promptly rejected by the governor’s office as more of the same from Democrats, so promptly in fact that Cullerton had yet to finish speaking before Rauner’s dismissive response landed in the inboxes of reporters covering the event.
Cullerton appeared surprised but undeterred by the rapid rebuff of his suggestion that Rauner submit a new budget — with the proviso the governor actually make sure it is a balanced budget this time.
Admittedly, this wasn’t a particularly helpful approach, because Rauner has always pretended his budget WAS balanced. Starting over would require the governor to be truthful, which isn’t his strong suit.
* Some Heritage Foundation folks insist in a Sun-Times op-ed that there is rampant vote fraud in the US. Some of their examples…
1. Kentucky
In eastern Kentucky, Ross Harris and Loren Glenn Turner funneled $41,000 to the 2002 county judgeship campaign of Doug Hays for what the defendants claimed was a lawful operation to pay more than 1,200 people $50 each to drive voters to the polls.
But a jury determined that this alleged vote-hauling program was just a disguise for what was in reality a vote-buying scheme. The punishment reflected the severity of the fraud: Hays was sentenced to six months behind bars, and Harris was hit with a $100,000 fine.
2. Mississippi
Not to be outdone, William Greg Eason of Tallahatchie County, Mississippi bribed voters with beer and money to cast fraudulent absentee ballots for a district supervisor candidate in a 2003 run-off election. A jury found him guilty, and he was sentenced to two years in prison. […]
5. Iowa
Martia Yvonne Phillips and eight others in Iowa pleaded guilty to voting in the 2008 election despite being convicted felons who had not had their voting rights restored. She was subsequently sentenced to five years in prison, a sentence that was suspended to two years’ probation.
That is why it is important for state legislatures to enact commonsense legislation designed to combat voter fraud before it can distort an electoral result. Voter ID laws — which many liberals love to criticize, but which a majority of Americans across ideological lines support — are an answer to many types of voter fraud, including fraudulent use of absentee ballots.
But other measures are also needed, such as requiring proof of citizenship to register and verification of the accuracy of voter registration information.
I don’t know how the vote-buying cases listed above would’ve been prevented by any of these so-called reforms.
The absentee fraud in the Mississippi case, for instance, was about how duly registered voters were told to lie about being out of town on election day and then were given a few beers for their troubles. An ID is gonna prevent that? C’mon, man.
And are governments supposed to do a criminal background check before issuing all voter ID cards? Any idea what that could cost?
Plus, they’ve documented less than 250 cases going back 15 years. And most of those cases had zero to do with their proposed reforms.
Senate Republican Leader Christine Radogno (ruh-DOHN’-yoh) says the budget stalemate could be easily resolved with Democratic engagement on reform issues, not another document.
She spoke to reporters Wednesday after Senate President John Cullerton called on Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner to submit a new budget for the July 1 fiscal year after he rejected most of what legislative Democrats sent him. Cullerton says it’s time to press the “reset button.”
But Radogno says Democrats haven’t been willing to negotiate. She says there can’t be a “reset” on the budget if Democrats haven’t “moved an inch.”
* Also, the governor himself just said this yesterday…
At a Springfield press conference, the governor said the budget would have been done by now if he were working solely with Senate President John Cullerton and Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel.
* Rep. David Harris (R-Arlington Heights) on the House floor yesterday…
“We ought to slap (Donald Trump’s) ass in a fighter jet, send him up over enemy territory, have him get shot down, spend five and a half years in the Hanoi Hilton (while) suffering deprivation, suffering torture and let him find out what it is to be a hero.”
* Rep. Jack Franks (D-Marengo) on the House floor yesterday…
“I just want people to know that I hate Donald Trump.”
It’s clear that former Gov. Rod Blagojevich and his legal team believed that after an 18-month wait, an appellate court ruling on his case would not only bring good news — but could even bring Blagojevich home.
Instead, the U.S. Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals delivered a decision that on the one hand threw out Blagojevich’s 14-year prison sentence, but on the other, suggested that if he’s sentenced to that term again, they’d uphold it.
The 23-page ruling at one point even suggested that prosecutors had the right to ask for more prison time for the former governor. […]
“He’s going to get a sentence reduction in my opinion,” said Chicago defense attorney Ed Genson. “It’s just logical. He’s been in a long time. The braggadocio isn’t there, he’s very humble from what I see. . . . If they really wanted to give him the same time, they should retry him. Therefore, I think there’s a justification in reducing the sentence.”
* The Question: Should time be knocked off Blagojevich’s sentence? Take the poll and then explain your answer in comments, please, including what amount of reduction, if any, should happen.
$23.5 billion of state spending is already in motion. That leaves $15 billion in anticipated costs left to budget. That responsibility, however, is balanced against revenue projections that give the governor only $10 billion to spend.
“President Cullerton made clear today that his view of a balanced budget is a budget that makes no spending reforms, no pension reform and only raises taxes. Rather than moving our state backward to the failed tax-and-spend policies of the past, we urge President Cullerton to work with us to pass meaningful structural reforms to change the fiscal trajectory of our state.”
And Cullerton did say that he would work with the governor on structural reforms. What he suggested was that the governor finally introduce a balanced budget so they could get moving. Perhaps disingenuous, I agree, but this statement was truly unhelpful.
…Adding… “We’re not calling for a tax increase,” Cullerton said when told that the governor had sent out a statement while he was talking with the media, adding that he simply wanted the governor to send them a balanced budget. He repeated that he wants to work with the governor on the property tax freeze, workers’ comp, etc.
…Adding More… Cullerton said Rauner was “totally unaware” of the workers’ comp bills that had been passed. He also claimed the governor didn’t know about the report released by his own workers’ comp commission which showed progress was being made on costs.
Weeks into the budget impasse, Gov. Bruce Rauner on Tuesday said the whole mess would be solved if not for one powerful man: Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan.
At a Springfield press conference, the governor said the budget would have been done by now if he were working solely with Senate President John Cullerton and Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel.
“We would have this done,” Rauner said, adding: “The speaker doesn’t want to deal with it right now.”
So, either the governor was flat wrong yesterday about Cullerton, or he went out of his way today to sabotage whatever relationship he had with Cullerton.
…Adding Still Still More… Cullerton’s spokesperson Rikeesha Phelon reacts to Gov. Rauner’s apparent flip-flop from yesterday…
Oh. Now I’m sad. I thought we were friends. Bummer.
In my mind, this was a big mistake by Rauner because it totally undercuts a message he’s been trying to build for weeks. We’ll see if the Chicago media can actually comprehend this.
Senate President John J. Cullerton today called on Gov. Bruce Rauner to reset the budget process by submitting a new balanced budget plan that can end the state’s immediate fiscal crisis.
Three weeks into the new fiscal year, neither the governor’s original plan nor the budget passed by the General Assembly is law. Cullerton called on the governor and members of his party to acknowledge that both plans are dead and that it’s time to reset and move toward a real resolution.
“The budget process traditionally starts with the governor submitting a balanced plan that allows the legislature to review and respond appropriately – something that Governor Rauner never did,” President Cullerton said. “He now has an opportunity to restart negotiations by submitting a new plan to the General Assembly. That balanced plan should reflect the budgetary lessons we’ve learned the past few months.”
Rauner’s budget balancing task may be simpler this time around given the fact that $23.5 billion of state spending is already in motion. That leaves $15 billion in anticipated costs left to budget. That responsibility, however, is balanced against revenue projections that give the governor only $10 billion to spend.
President Cullerton encouraged the governor to focus on priorities outlined by credit rating agencies rather than a corporate class agenda that doesn’t address the current budget crisis and hurts the middle class. Credit rating agencies have made it clear that we must address our structural deficit, pass constitutional pension reform and lower the backlog of bills to change Illinois’ status as the state with the lowest credit ratings in the country.
“The governor has spent all of his time in office prioritizing an agenda that will satisfy the corporate class. While some of those ideas are worthy of debate, he has been unable to provide one shred of evidence that his agenda adds one cent to the ledger for our budget crisis in the short term or elevates our credit rankings in the long term,” Cullerton said.
President Cullerton remains hopeful that the governor will accept this challenge and that a budget resolution can be reached before Aug. 4, when the Senate is scheduled to return to Springfield.
* If you’ve ever wondered what former state and US Senator Peter Fitzgerald is up to these days, well, now you know…
Chain Bridge Bank’s single location is next to a wine store and a café on the ground floor of a luxury condo building in suburban McLean, Va., about a half-hour outside downtown Washington. It looks like any small-town bank. Tellers keep bowls of candy at their windows, and staff members talk to customers about no-fee checking accounts. But right now, Chain Bridge, which has about 40 employees, is responsible for more of the hundreds of millions of dollars flooding into the 2016 presidential race than any other bank in the country.
According to the most recent Federal Election Commission filings, Chain Bridge is the sole bank serving Jeb Bush’s presidential campaign, which reported raising $11.4 million as of June 30, and his allied super-PAC, Right to Rise, which says it’s raised $103 million so far. Donald Trump’s campaign banks at Chain Bridge, and it’s listed as the primary financial institution for the campaigns of Kentucky Senator Rand Paul and former Texas Governor Rick Perry. It’s also the only bank used by super-PACs supporting neurosurgeon and author Ben Carson, South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham, former technology executive Carly Fiorina, Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal, and Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker, all Republicans.
Founded in 2007, Chain Bridge served John McCain’s presidential campaign in 2008 and Mitt Romney’s in 2012. House Speaker John Boehner keeps fundraising accounts there; so does the Republican National Committee. It’s also served political action committees for Altria Group, the National Association of Convenience Stores, and the Outdoor Advertising Association of America. “The largest issue that we would always have with people is that they’d be like, ‘Why would we use this Podunk little bank in McLean, Virginia?’ ” says Bradley Crate, Romney’s 2012 chief financial officer. He routinely refers clients of his consulting firm Red Curve Solutions to the bank, including both Florida Senator Marco Rubio and Trump. Chain Bridge offers services tailored to the idiosyncrasies of campaigns, which deposit and then spend enormous sums quickly, with no credit history to lean on. “I know I can call my contacts at Chain Bridge Bank and have an account open in like 15 minutes,” Crate says. “If you go to a much larger bank, you have a bureaucracy you have to deal with.”
The bank requires employees to list cell phone numbers on their business cards so clients can reach them after hours. It will greenlight credit cards immediately for campaign staffers scattered across the country without waiting for credit checks, and it will let campaigns make large wire transfers as soon as their accounts are open. It will also send and receive wire transfers until the Federal Reserve window closes, usually around 5 p.m.—more than two hours later than most banks. That extra time can make a difference. “If you’re a presidential campaign and you need to be up on the air in Iowa tonight, then you need your wire to go to television stations in Des Moines this afternoon,” says Peter Fitzgerald, the bank’s founder and chairman. “That’s a big deal for campaigns.”
Rauner on Tuesday again complained that lawmakers are in line for a pay raise while the budget impasse continues. Lawmakers are entitled to an automatic cost of living adjustment, although they have voted to reject it in recent years.
The raise this year is 2 percent, which will increase their annual pay by $1,300 at least. Lawmakers make a base salary of $67,836, although most earn more because they hold top committee or leadership posts.
“If they are going to take a $1,300 pay hike for themselves, they should start earning that pay,” Rauner said. […]
“The governor is attempting to divert attention away from solutions to the problem of the budget,” Madigan said, noting that the budget sent to the governor did not include money for the raises.
Madigan says the spending plan approved by the General Assembly that Rauner vetoed in June did not appropriate money for the raises.
He said he couldn’t answer whether the raises will take effect even though there was no action to nix them.
OK, well this shouldn’t be too difficult to figure out.
I checked with the comptroller’s office this morning and was told that Comptroller Munger “regrettably” will be including the raises in upcoming legislative paychecks because of the law passed last year that makes legislative salaries a continuing appropriation.
The good news for Blagojevich—and, frankly, for politicians everywhere—is that horse-trading, the exchange of one government favor for another, not only is not illegal but is at the core of how democratic government works.
“A proposal to trade one public act for another, a form of log-rolling, is fundamentally unlike the swap of an official act for a private placement,” the three-judge panel ruled. “Political log-rolling has never before been condemned as extortion.” […]
“A proposal to appoint a particular person to one office (say, the cabinet) in exchange for some else’s promise to appoint a different office (say, the Senate) is a common exercise in log-rolling,” the decision states. “We asked the prosecutor at oral argument if, before this case, log-rolling had been the basis of a criminal conviction in the history of the United States. Counsel was unaware of any earlier conviction for an exchange of political favors.” […]
Adds the decision, “Suppose that Blagojevich had asked, instead, that Sen. Obama commit himself to supporting a program to build new bridges and highways in Illinois as soon as he became president. Many politicians believe that public-works projects promote their re-election.”
Under the prosecution’s argument, the court reasoned, “If a governor appoints someone to a public commission and proclaims that appointee ‘the best person for the job,’ while the real reason is that some state legislator had asked for a friend’s appointment as a favor, then the governor has committed wire fraud. That’s not a plausible understanding” of the law.
* From Common Cause Illinois…
“Logrolling may not be illegal but it certainly is unethical. In a state that has been mired with corruption and back room deals, we need to aspire to a political culture that breaks down voter disenfranchisement and special interest control.”
”For too long the people of Illinois have been victims of ineffective and inefficient government that has resulted in crumbling schools, poor healthcare, and high unemployment.”
“I hope that the ruling today is a reminder to everyone that we need ethical elected officials that work for the people to solve our state’s important problems. And we need this now more than ever as we are in the midst of a grave fiscal crisis in Springfield and in communities across our state.”
Gov. Bruce Rauner has called for a 30 percent cut to state funding for higher education. The state does not a have a budget for the current fiscal year. As long as lawmakers and the governor fail to come to terms on a spending plan, all we have to work with are estimates of what our final budget might look like.
We are modeling a 20 percent cut in our state support, which is passed through the University of Illinois Springfield. This results in a $120,000 projected deficit for Illinois Issues and a $70,000 projected deficit for WUIS.
We cannot wait to see what will happen. We must make contract decision for the new fiscal year, which is already upon us. And we must make tough choices now to avoid what could be potentially deeper cuts later in the fiscal year, depending on the level of funding we eventually receive.
After much evaluation, we have decided to go digital only. This will be the final print edition of Illinois Issues. When this reality first became apparent, it was difficult for us to accept. Those who have been with the magazine for years are proud of its history and where it stands today. But we have also watched subscription numbers steadily decline in the recent past. We had to ask ourselves: What are the best ways to use our resources and keep the mission of Illinois Issues alive? After consulting with the advisory board and others with longstanding ties to the magazine, the answer became obvious. While it may be difficult to let go of the print edition, it allows us to focus our efforts online, where we have the potential to bring important stories to more people. It also allows us to offer those stories for free — with the support of donors who believe that good public policy journalism is for everyone.
Eliminating print will not close our budget gap, but the choice protects us from having to consider staff cuts. It will also hopefully position us to eventually expand our online offerings to an app that would include news and a version of our Roster of State Government Officials.
Backers of keeping the Illinois State Museum open rallied outside the Statehouse Tuesday, attacking the potential closure of the facility by Gov. Bruce Rauner during the ongoing state budget impasse.
About 300 people, most wearing “Save the Illinois State Museum” T-shirts, heard some strong statements, including from Jonathan Reyman, retired curator of anthropology at the museum.
“There is a right side and a wrong side to history,” Reyman said. “The Taliban and ISIS are bent on the destruction of the cultural heritage of Afghanistan, Syria, Iraq and elsewhere. … Governor Rauner, do you want your legacy to be … akin to that of the Taliban and ISIS?”
Look, I get that emotions can run high at times. But if this guy is representative of the sort of staff that the museum has been hiring over the years, then maybe it ought to close.
